“[Online conference calls] come with problems — technical, cultural, and practical. And a lot of the challenges we have with [them] come down to the many small quirks of the internet. … Despite four decades of evolving technology, video conferencing is a sort of low-level magic that still konks out half the time. Here’s why.” – Tedium
Category: media
L.A. Times Film Critic Kenneth Turan To Step Down After Three Decades
“Arguably the most widely read film critic in the town most associated with the making of movies, … Turan is known as a soft-spoken gentleman … in a [city] filled with brash and attention-seeking people.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Will Movie Theatres Survive The Apocalypse?
Even during past recessions, consumers still flocked to theaters to forget their troubles. With ticketing and concession sales now evaporated, many analysts fret that some cinemas will not be able to survive without government assistance. – Los Angeles Times
Six Indie Filmmakers, Their New Movies Shelved, Talk About Cinema’s COVID Apocalypse
“Their sentiments run the gamut from hope to doom (‘I’ve been wondering when the next mass extinction event would come. This is it.’) and collectively form an uncertain picture of the future of film.” – Vulture
Thanks To Social Distancing, Drive-In Movie Theaters Are Having A Comeback
“Drive-in movie theaters may seem like a blast from the past, something out of the 1950s or ’60s. Numerous baby boomers haven’t gone for decades; Gen Xers and millennials, perhaps never. But there are still 305 of them in the United States” — and they’re seeing increased demand from stir-crazy customers. – The New York Times
U.S. Supreme Court Throws Out Filmmaker’s Copyright Lawsuit Against North Carolina
“The justices unanimously upheld a lower court’s 2018 ruling that the state was protected by a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity and could not be sued for copyright infringement for using filmmaker Frederick Allen’s images [of the salvaging of the pirate Blackbeard’s ship] online.” – Reuters
Movie Theatres Reopen In China As Threat Recedes For Now
No one is comfortable buying tickets yet (literally no one, as in zero people, in two of the provinces where theatres reopened), but the distributors had a plan for that: “Most of the films currently available are re-runs of recent and popular Chinese movies, a move that is intended to minimize risk.” – Variety
Here Are 4,000 Canadian Films To Stream For Free; Please Stop Complaining You’re Bored
Who needs Netflix when you’ve got the Canadian Film Board, right? (Also, if you like Canadian work, Kim’s Convenience is on Netflix.) – CBC
How Did Disney Swallow Up Everything?
Disney is so big it’s even creating metaphors about itself in its many, many, many, many properties. “Disney’s gravitational pull is warping the very space-time continuum of the media landscape. You will have to work harder than ever to escape the Magic Kingdom’s reach. If it doesn’t get you with the Avengers, it will get you with The Simpsons, or National Geographic, or Wes Anderson. If it doesn’t get you with Elsa sticking plasters, it will get you with Baby Yoda memes.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Comedian Who Tried To Put On An Entire Saturday Night Live By Himself
After multiple sketches and a cold open, not to mention a quarantine-themed title sequence, Ian Abramson might be just a bit exhausted. “If it doesn’t kill him, Abramson should do this again, too. Or perhaps other performers should pick up the baton and make their own SNL homebrew. It may be bathtub gin now that there’s Prohibition and the distilleries have been converted to make hand sanitizer, but it’ll still get you buzzed. And it may be the future of entertainment. For now, at least.” – Fast Company