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On newspapers – Time (Inc.) for a shift in strategy
It's no secret that the publishing industry is struggling mightily as customers shift from paying for physical newspapers and magazines to reading information online, often for free. The shift has caused ruptures among other places at that bastion of French journalism, Le Monde, with the recent exit of the editor as staff rued the switch to online. So-called 'lad's mags', the FHMs and Loaded magazines of the world, have been hit particularly hard, as the family PC and dial-up internet gave way to personal, portable devices and broadband connections, which provided easier access to more salacious content than the likes of Nuts could ever hope to provide. FHM's monthly circulation is down almost 90% from a 1998 peak, according to the Financial Times. Condé Nast have pushed bravely into the new digital era, launching a comprehensive list of digital editions of its wares when the iPad launched in 2010. More recently, the company launched a new venture, La Maison. In association with Publicis and Google, the idea is to provide luxury goods companies with customer insights as well as content and technology solutions. We've often written about the need for more rigorous customer insights in the world of luxury, so it's refreshing to see Condé Nast innovating and continuing to look beyond newsstand sales. We've written about other ways publishers are monetising their content here and here.
Time Warner is not alone then in its struggles for new ways of making money from previously flourishing revenue streams. According to The New York Times, Time Warner will be spinning off its publishing arm, Time Inc., with 90 magazines, 45 websites and $1.3bn in debt. In 2006, the article reports, Time Inc. produced $1bn in earnings, which has now receded to $370m. Revenue has declined in 22 of the last 24 quarters. This kind of move is not new. Rupert Murdoch acted in similar fashion recently when he split up News Corporation, creating 21st Century Fox. But with the publishing side of the business there were some diamonds in the rough for investors to take interest in; a couple of TV companies, as well as of course Dow Jones' Wall Street Journal, which has been invested in heavily. Conversely, the feeling of the Time Inc spin-off was more one of being put out to pasture, particularly as the company will not have enough money to make any significant acquisitions. Like the turmoil at Le Monde, there have been managerial controversies, as those seeking to shake things up have tried to overcome historical divisions between the sales and editorial teams – something other large business journalism companies are reportedly struggling with – only to be met with frustration.
Setting that aside, Time Warner moved swiftly. A day later, the FT reported that the company was "finalising an investment" in Vice Media. We have written extensively about Vice previously, here. The company certainly seems to know how to reach fickle millennials, through a combination of interesting, off-beat journalism, content designed to create its own news, as well as compelling video documentaries that take an unusual look at topical subjects. Such an outlook however does not preclude it from partnering with corporations. As a millennial myself, it seems what people look for from those like Vice is authenticity, rather than the vanilla mediocrity arguably offered by others. We don't mind commercialism as long as it's transparent. It does not jar then when Intel is a major investor in its 'content verticals', or when last year 21st Century Fox invested $70m in the company. This bore fruit for the movie studio most recently in a tie-up promoting the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The sequel takes place 10 years after the 2011 film, and Fox briefed Vice to create three short films that would fill in the gaps. A great ploy, and the result is some compelling content to keep fans engaged in the run-up to the film's release, particularly in territories where the film opens after the US market. Such activity is far beyond the purview of the traditional newspaper. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Publishers must face up to the reality that newspapers alone will not deliver enough revenue to be sustainable. Seeking other content revenue streams while engaging in strategic partnerships with other companies looks, for now, to be a winning formula.
UPDATE 08/07/14: When it comes to engaging with millennials, mobile is most definitely the medium of choice. The FT reported today on Cosmopolitan magazine's 200% surge in web visitors, year on year in May. Fully 69% of page views were from mobile devices (compared to a 25% average for the rest of the web). The publication has also wised up to the type of content this group likes to consume, as well as create. Troy Young, Hearst's president of digital media, said the new site is "designed for fast creation of content of all types… Posts aren't just text and pictures. They're gifs, Tweets, Instagrams." Mobile will only get the company so far though. PwC thinks US mobile advertising spending will account for only 4.6% of total media and entertainment advertising outlays this year. Cosmo is looking beyond mobile though to "exclusive events or experiences", perhaps along the same lines as those other businesses are practicing who are looking for additional revenue streams. The article suggests users might "pay to see the first pictures of an occasion like Kanye West's and Kim Kardashian's recent wedding". Beggars can't be choosers.
UPDATE 10/07/14: Have all these corporate manoeuvres on the part of Time Warner been in the service of making itself appear an attractive acquisition? As the famous and clandestine Sun Valley conference takes place this week, rumours abounded that Google or 21st Century Fox were both interested in buying TW. This according to entertainment industry trade mag Variety, which commented, "Time Warner could be an attractive target. Moreover, unlike Fox or Liberty Media, it is not controlled by a founder or a founder's family and with a market cap of $63.9 billion it is a relative bargain compared to the Walt Disney Co. and its $151 billion market cap".
Embracing digital – New moves for old companies
Are incumbent companies starting to see the light when it comes to embracing digital? Evidence is slowly starting to point in that direction.
Artists are known for embracing change and innovation, but the art market itself has been slow to adapt to changing consumer behaviour. Now mega e-tailer Amazon is selling art on its site, and venerable auction house Christie's is pushing headlong into online-only sales, as Mashable recently reported. And while fashion designers know how to use digital to push the envelope, the fashion industry as a business has been notorious for their skittishness at investing in efficient, immersive digital experiences for their customers, so worried are they about detracting from the brand. So it was reassuring to see during Paris Fashion Week recently that French marque Chloé had gotten the message. As Zeitgeist's dear friend and fashion aficionado Rachel Arthur details on her blog, the brand launched a dedicated microsite for their runway show. Brands like Burberry and Louis Vuitton have been doing this for at least three years, so in of itself it's nothing new. What made the experience different were two things. Firstly, the site created a journey that started before the show, and continued after it, rather than merely offering a stream of live video and little else. More importantly, it tried to make the experience one that reflected the influence of those watching. As Rachel points out,
"As the event unfolded, so too did different albums under a moodboard header, including one for the collection looks, one for accessories, another for the guests, and one from backstage. Users could click on individual images and share them via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Weibo, or heart them to add them to their own personal moodboard page.
'[We] are excited to see how you direct your own Chloé show,' read the invite."
The recognition of platforms like Weibo should be seen as another coup for Chloé. Too often, companies send out communications to global audiences with perfunctory links to Facebook and Twitter. Not only is there no call to action for these links (why is it that the user should go there?), but there is no recognition that one of the world's most populous and prosperous markets are more into their Renren and Weibo.
Elsewhere, despite what seems like some niggling problems, Zeitgeist was excited and intrigued to read about Disney's latest foray into embracing how consumers use digital devices, this time creating a second-screen experience in movie theaters. Second Screen Live, as Disney have branded it, doesn't immediately sound particularly logical, as GigaOm point out,
"Of all the places I'd thought would be forbidden to the second screen experience, movie theaters were near the top of my list. After all, you're paying a premium ticket price for the opportunity to sit in a dark theater and immerse yourself in a narrative — second screen devices operate in direct opposition to that."
And yet the Little Mermaid experience that the writer goes on to describe cannot be faulted for its attempt at innovation, at reaching beyond current thinking (not to mention revenue streams), in order to forge a new relationship between the viewer and the product. Kudos.
Lastly, Zeitgeist wanted to mention the US television network Fox as a classic example of a company that has slowly come to realise the power of working with digital, rather than against it. In years passed, companies like Fox were indisputably heavily involved in digital, but only from a punitive standpoint. Fox and others were ruthless in their distribution of takedown notices to sites hosting content they deemed to infringe on their product. Fan sites that exploded in support and admiration for shows like The X-Files were summarily threatened with legal action and closed. There was little thought given to the positive sentiment sites were creating around the product, and little thought given to the destruction of brand equity that such takedown notices brought about. Not to mention the dessication of communities that had come together from different parts of the world, their single shared attribute being that they were evangelists of what you were selling. Clips of shows, such as The Simpsons, appearing on YouTube would be treated with similar disdain. So it shows how far we've come in a few years that this morning when Zeitgeist went onto YouTube he was greeted on the homepage with a sponsored link from Fox pointing him to the opening scenes of the latest Simpsons episode, before it aired. Definitely a move in the right direction.
The next 'Ishtar': Is the film industry nearing "implosion"?
This post serves as a companion piece and extended update to our previous article on rethinking film industry strategy, which can be found here.
"For me, the business of tentpoles is about generating franchises. The more tentpoles that are being made, the more risky the first installment of a potential franchise is going to be. That's why I think everybody needs to be asking hard questions about what is a real tentpole and what is a faux tentpole."
- Jean-Luc De Fanti, managing partner at Hemisphere Media Capital
Since our last post a few weeks ago on the need to rethink film industry strategy, when Steven Spielberg publicly predicted an "implosion" in the industry, the subject remains in the zeitgeist. As we referenced in our last post, Mr. Spielberg has some familiarity with the industry's modus operandi, having created the blockbuster phenomenon way back in the 70s with Jaws. Like a mutant in a film of that genre though, the nature of blockbusters has changed since then. Jaws, were it made today, would look very different (i.e. terrible). Despite Mr. Spielberg's warnings, studios presumably took some comfort in an animated sequel – Despicable Me 2 – becoming, in the words of NBCUniversal chief Steve Burke, "the single most profitable film in the 100 year history of Universal Studios", more than E.T., Jurassic Park, etc. Not only did it paint a picture of an industry continuing to grow (though presumably the figure did not take inflation into consideration), it must have also quietened any further calls for originality, safe in the knowledge that it was a pretty lowbrow sequel that had triumphed.
The caveat is a large one though, that any proponents of summer blockbusters need to pay close attention to. Despicable Me 2 has made £437 million so far, with a production budget of just £50 million. While on the surface then Despicable Me 2 seems to prove how successful and profitable summer movies can be, it actually provides a lesson in what commercial success can look like with a small-budgeted film. Instead, the rule of thumb during the summer is more likely to involve investing some $200m+ in a film that fails spectacularly – think The Lone Ranger. Though this Disney production is the most visible disappointment of the season, it is by no means alone. The New York Times count "six big-budget duds since May 1". It is interesting to note that Now You See Me, "the kind of midrange film that studios have largely abandoned as they focus more on pictures that play globally — has taken in $200.4 million worldwide and is still playing", after costing $75m to make.
Those responsible try to spread the blame. Johnny Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer absolved themselves of wrongdoing for their involvement in The Lone Ranger by blaming the critics. Said Depp, "They had expectations that it must be a blockbuster. I didn't have any expectations of that". Yet it is easy to see how one might assume the film – created at such expense, with ripe intellectual property to be exploited, with talent involved in the phenomenally successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – had all the appropriate ingredients to make it a blockbuster. Studios meanwhile harp on about Twitter, which lets people instantly share their thoughts on a film and is now considered a worrisome bellwether for box office potential. But this is a reaction to poor filmmaking, not a reason why a bad film exists in the first place. They also cite a tight calendar. As The New York Times elaborates, "One or more cinematic behemoths — those loaded with similar-looking computer-generated effects, films that cost $130 million to $225 million to make — have arrived almost weekly since May, fragmenting and fatiguing the audience". Again, this is no one's fault but that of the industry. The idea of launching films in a specific time window, when consumers now enjoy time-shifting and device-shifting with their content, is antiquated. It is just as irrelevant in winter, when back-to-back "prestige" films clutter cinemas, desperate for Oscar attention. It is overwhelming for audiences, reduces choice, and in the case of the winter season implies that the voting member of the Academy have no long-term memory.
The summer product is so derivative that evidently audiences are pushing back, showing indifference to the "clones" that feature so prominently at Comic-Con. Films are either direct sequels / reimaginings, or strongly resemble other recent projects. Again, The New York Times has an excellent article on this, elaborating,
"Studios showcased another Amazing Spider-Man, another Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, another Avengers, another Thor and another Captain America… In addition to Godzilla, remakes teased here in recent days included RoboCop… and Riddick,… Even many of the original movies introduced at Comic-Con this year had a been-there-done-that feeling to them, notably Legendary's sword-and-sorcery picture Seventh Son, which co-stars Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore and Ben Barnes. In thundering snippets of footage shown on Saturday, the movie at times resembled Clash of the Titans, Snow White and the Huntsman and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."
Cheering news for Sony came last week when it announced a $35m profit in the last quarter, but turbulence lay beyond that. In our last post, we mentioned the imbroglio that Sony found itself in as investor Daniel Loeb – whose hedge fund owns roughly 7% of Sony – continued to urge Sony to spin off its entertainment assets. Last week, he wrote a third letter to Sony – the most aggressive yet, with the Financial Times calling it "blistering" – comparing the film division's two recent duds After Earth and White House Down to Ishtar and Waterworld (two of the floppiest flops to ever flop). He wrote that the CEO, Kazuo Hirai was sitting by complacently while the film division remained "poorly managed, with a famously bloated corporate structure, generous perk packages, high salaries for underperforming executives and marketing budgets that do not seem to be in line with any sense of return on capital invested". It was with some interest then that, this past Friday, Zeitgeist saw that none other than George Clooney had stepped into the fray, calling Loeb an "activist" who "knows nothing about our business". He lambasted the hedge fund industry in general, saying "if you look at those guys, there is no conscience at work".
Clooney added that the "climate of fear" Loeb was creating would lead to even more risk-averse productions. It is creative, rather than financial risk, that Hollywood is sorely in need of. Art doesn't engage audiences when it is timid and derivative. It inspires people when it is innovative, daring and different. Usually such creative thoughts do not spring forth from the mind of a hedge fund manager. Such new thinking – involving a review of a market research firms say is suffering from "overcrowding" – will require a significant course correction, one that is not going to come anytime soon. The summer slate for 2015 currently includes a Terminator sequel, an Avengers sequel, a Smurfs sequel, Independence Day 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 5.
The "Jaws" of death? – Rethinking film industry strategy
This past week, Zeitgeist had the pleasure of enjoying a new adaptation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing". This adaptation was not performed at the theatre but at the cinema. It was not directed by Kenneth Branagh or any other luminary of the legitimate stage, but rather by the quiet, modest, nerdy Joss Whedon, who until a few years ago was best known to millions as the brains behind the cult TV series phenomenon "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (full disclosure: Zeitgeist worked on the show in his days of youth). Whedon was picked to direct a film released last year that can, without much difficulty, be seen as the apotheosis of the Hollywood film industry; "The Avengers". A mise-en-abyme of a concept, involving disparate characters, some of whom already have their own fully-fledged franchises, coming together to form another vehicle for future iterations. "The Avengers" became the third-highest grossing film of all time, and it is a thoroughly enjoyable romp. Moreover, to go from directing on such a broad canvas to shooting a film mostly with friends in one's own home – as with "Much Ado…" – displays an impressive range of creative ingenuity.
Sadly for shareholders and studio executives' career aspirations, not every film is as sure-fire a hit as "The Avengers", try though as they might (and do) to replicate the same mercurial ingredients that lead to success. Marvel, which originally conceived of the myriad characters surrounding The Avengers mythology, was bought in 2009 by Disney for $4bn. Disney for all intents and purposes have a steady strategic head on their shareholders. They parted ways with the quixotic Weinstein brothers while welcoming Pixar back into the fold. They were one of the first to concede the inevitability of closed platforms release windows – something Zeitgeist has written about in the past – they are debuting a game-changing platform, Infinity, which might revolutionise the way children interact with the plethora of memorable characters the studio have dreamt up over the years. However, such sound business strategy could not save them from the uber-flop that was 2012's "John Carter", which lost the studio $200m. This summer, the rationale for their biggest release has been built on what appears to be sound logic; taking the on- and off-screen talent behind their massively successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, and bringing them together again for another reboot in the form of "The Lone Ranger". The New York Times said the film "descends into nerve-racking incoherence"; it has severely underperformed at the box office, after a budget of $250m. Sony's "After Earth" similarly underperformed, suddenly throwing Will Smith's bullet-proof reputation for producing hits into jeopardy.
These summer films – "tentpoles" to use the terminology bandied about in Los Angeles – are where the money is made (or not) for studios. As an industry over the past ten years, Zeitgeist has watched as these tentpoles have become more concentrated, more risk-averse and therefore less original, more expensive and more likely either to produce either stratospheric results or spectacular failures. Paramount is an interesting example of a studio that has made itself leaner recently, releasing far fewer films, and relying on franchises to keep the ship afloat. Edtorial Director of Variety Peter Bart seems to think there's a point when avoiding risk leads to courting entropy. It's an evolution that has escaped few, yet is was still notable when, last month, famed directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas spoke out publicly against the way the industry seemed to be headed. Indeed, the atmosphere at studios in Hollywood seems to mimic that of a pre-2008 financial sector; leveraging ever more collateral against assets with significant – and unsustainable – levels of risk. The financial sector uses arcane algorithms and has a large number of Wharton grads whose aim should be to preserve stability and profit. Yet even with all this analysis, they failed to see the gigantic readjustment that was imminent. In the film industry, Relativity Media's reputation for rigorous predictive models on what will make a film successful is rare enough to have earned it a feature in Vanity Fair. So what hope is there the film industry will change its tune before it is too late? Spielberg pontificates,
"There's eventually going to be a big meltdown. There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen of these mega-budgeted movies go crashing into the ground and that's going to change the paradigm again."
Instead of correcting course as failures at the box office failed to abate, studios have dug in harder. Said Lucas,
"They're going for gold, but that isn't going to work forever. And as a result they're getting narrower and narrower in their focus. People are going to get tired of it. They're not going to know how to do anything else."
Such artistic ennui in audiences is admittedly sclerotic in its visibility at the moment. "Man of Steel", another attempt at rebooting a franchise – coming only seven years after the last attempt – is performing admirably, with a position still firmly in the top ten at the US box office after four weeks of release, with over $275m taken domestically. It's interesting to note that audiences have been happy to embrace the new version so quickly after the last franchise launch failed; though actor James Franco finds it contentious, the same has been true with the "Spider-Man" franchise relaunch.
Part of the problem in the industry, some say, is to do with those at the top running the various film studios. In "Curse of the Mogul", written by lecturers at Columbia University, the authors contend that since 2005 the industry as a whole has underperformed versus the S&P stock index, yet such stocks are still eminently attractive to investors. The reason, the authors say, is that those running the businesses frame the notion of success differently. They argue that it takes a very special type of person (i.e. them) to be able to manage not only different media and the different audiences they reach and the different trends that come out of that, but more importantly (in their eyes) to be able to manage the talent. They asked to be judged on Academy Awards rather than bottom lines. The most striking thing in the book – which Zeitgeist is still reading – is the continual pursuit by said mogul of strategic synergies. This M&A activity excites shareholders but has historically led to minimal returns (think Vivendi or AOL Time Warner), often because what was presented as operational or content-based synergy is actually nothing of the sort. It's a point Richard Rumelt makes in his excellent book, "Good Strategy / Bad Strategy". Some companies are beginning to get the idea. Viacom seemed an outlier in 2006 when it divested CBS. Lately, News Corporation has followed a similar tack, albeit under duress after suffering from scandalous revelations about hacking in its news division. A recent article in The Economist states,
"Most shareholders now see that television networks, newspapers, film studios, music labels and other sundry assets add little value by sharing a parent. Their proximity can even hinder performance by distracting management… they have become more assertive and less likely to believe the moguls' flannel about 'synergies'."
So in some ways it was of little surprise that Sony came under the microscope recently as well, part of this larger trend of scrutiny. The company has experienced dark times of late, with shares having plunged 85% over the past 13 years. The departure of Howard Stringer in 2012 coincided with an annual loss of some $6.4bn. Now headed up by Kazuo Hirai, the company has undoubtedly become more focused, with much more being made of their mobile division. Losses have been stemmed, but the company is still floundering, with an annual loss reported in May of $4.6bn. It was only a couple of weeks later that hedge-fun billionaire Dan Loeb – instrumental in getting Marissa Meyer to lead Yahoo – upped his ownership stake in Sony, calling on it to divest its entertainment division in a letter to CEO Hirai. Part of the issue with Sony is a cultural one, where Japan's ways of working differ strongly from the West's. This is covered in some detail in a profile with Stringer featured in The New Yorker. In a speech he gave last year, Stringer said, "Japan is a harmonious society which cherishes its social values, including full employment. That leads to conflicts in a world where shareholder value calls for ever greater efficiency". But Sony's film division – which includes the James Bond franchise – is performing well; in the year to March 2013 Sony's film and music businesses produced $905m of operating income, compared with combined losses of $1.9 billion in mobile phones, according to The Economist. It ended 2012 first place among the other film studios in market share. Sony is the last studio to consistently deliver hits across genres, reports The New York Times in an excellent article. The article quotes an anonymous Sony exeuctive, "We may not look like the rest of Hollywood, but that doesn't mean this isn't a painstakingly thought-through strategy and a profitable one". Sadly the strategy behind films like 'After Earth' begin to look flimsy when one glances at the box office results. While Hirai and the Sony board concede that have met to discuss the possibility of honouring Mr. Loeb's suggestion – offering 15-20% of it as an IPO rather than selling it off in full – Mr. Hirai also commented in an interview with CNBC, "We definitely want to make sure we can continue a successful business in the entertainment space. That is for me, first and foremost, the top priority". In mid-June Loeb sent a second letter, advocating the IPO proposal and saying "Our research has confirmed media reports depicting Entertainment as lacking the discipline an accountability that exist at many of its competitors". The question is whether selling off its entertainment assets would remove any synergies with other divisions, thus making the divisions left over less profitable, or whether such synergies even existed in the first place. For Loeb, the "most valuable untapped synergies" are still in the studio and music divisions yet after decades as one company they still remain untapped. That point won't make for pleasant reading at Sony HQ.
Another problem is the changing nature of media consumption habits. Not only are we watching films in different ways over different platforms, we are also doing much else besides, from playing video games, which have successfully transitioned beyond the nerdy clique of yesteryear, to general mobile use and second screening. This transition – and with it a realisation that competition is not likely to come from across regional boarders but from startup platforms – is largely being ignored by the French as they insist on trade talks with the US that centre on the preservation of l'exception culturelle. Such trends are evident in business dealings. The Financial Times this weekend detailed Google's significant foray into developing content, setting up YouTube Space LA. The project gives free soundstage space to artists who are likely to guarantee eyeballs on YouTube, and lead to advertising revenue for the platform. From the stellar success of the first season of "House of Cards", to DreamWorks Animation's original content partnership announced last month, Netflix has become the bête noire for traditional content producers as it shakes up traditional models. We have written before about the IHS Screen Digest data from earlier this year, showing worrying trends for the industry; as predicted, audiences are beginning to favour access over ownership, preferring to rent rather than own, which means less profit for the studio. As much due to a decline in revenue from other platforms as growth in of itself, cinemas are expected to be the major area of profit going forward to 2016 (see above chart). We've written before about the power cinema still has. Spielberg and Lucas pick up on this;
"You're going to end up with fewer theaters, bigger theaters with a lot of nice things. Going to the movies will cost 50 bucks or 100 or 150 bucks, like what Broadway costs today, or a football game. It'll be an expensive thing… [Films] will sit in the theaters for a year, like a Broadway show does. That will be called the 'movie' business."
In a conversation over Twitter, (excerpts of which are featured above), Cameron Saunders, MD of 20th Century Fox UK told Zeitgeist that "major changes were afoot". Such potential disruption is by no means unique to the film industry, and should come as a surprise to one. Zeitgeist recently went to see Columbia faculty member Rita McGrath speak at a Harvard Business Review event. In her latest book, "The End of Competitive Advantage", McGrath discounts the old management consultant attempts at providing sustainable competitive advantages to business. Her assertion is that any advantage is transient, that incumbency and success often lead to entropy, unless there is constant innovation to build on that success. Such a verdict of entropy could well be applied to the film industry. The model has worked well for decades, despite predictions of doom at the advent of television, the VCR, the DVD, et cetera ad nauseum. But fundamental behavioural shifts are now at play, and the way we devise strategies for what content people want to see and how they wish to see it need to be readdressed, quickly. Otherwise all this deliberation will eventually become much ado about nothing.
UPDATE (15/4/13): Of course, context is everything. The New York Times published an interesting article today saying investing in Hollywood is less risky than investing in Silicon Valley, though the returns in the latter are likely to be greater. Neither are seen as reliable.
This issue isn't going away. We write again about it, here.
When. Cinema. Works.
"[T]he big screen. That is its natural habitat—the only place, you might say, where its proud and leonine presence has any meaning. Anything more cramped is a cage, as Jon Stewart showed during this year's Oscar ceremony. At one point, we found him gazing at his iPhone. "I'm watching 'Lawrence of Arabia.' It's just awesome," he said, adding, "To really appreciate it, you have to see it in the wide screen." And he turned the phone on its side. Deserts of vast eternity, reduced to three inches by two."
- Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
Film can sometimes be a mercurial medium. Especially nowadays. It encompasses multiple genres, and, like food, is meant for different occasions, for different needs. Of course, sometimes we go to bad restaurants, or order in, and the experience is terrible. Uber-flop John Carter cost Disney a cool $200m, and wasted many a precious dollar and hour for those that went to see it (admittedly few). But sometimes it's like a great burger and fries – Die Hard springs to mind – and sometimes it's a sumptuous 6-course meal cooked by a Michelin-starrred chef – Lawrence of Arabia, or All the King's Men. Film can stimulate us, it can teach us, and it can be a breezy bit of consumption to pass the time, like a coffee at Starbucks. Moreover, as with food, it can be consumed in different places and circumstances. There are times when the right way to watch a certain film is on your iPad in a cramped airline seat. Pure escapism. But cinema has a crucial place too.
It was interesting today, when Zeitgeist went to see a movie, that it was preceded by an announcement showing an empty cinema, covered in cobwebs and dust, bemoaning the death of the medium at the hands of pirates. Its aim was to take the audience on a guilt trip: 'Why are you illegally downloading films?' 'Why aren't you coming to see more films at the cinema?' it pleaded. There are a couple of things strategically wrong with this approach. Firstly, what is the principle problem here? Alright, people are not going to the cinema as often as we would like. Zeitgeist remembers in a brief stint working for Fox several years ago that people went to the cinema 1.8 times a year in the UK. The Economist reports that the share of Americans who attend cinema at least once a month has declined from 30% in 2000 to 10% in 2011. The assumption is that people are instead pirating films at home, thereby depriving studios of money (ignoring research that suggests those that pirate are often avid cinema-goers, and optimistically equating every film downloaded to ticket revenue lost). Well, one quick way to address this is to make films legally available – at a sizeable premium – on multiple platforms day and date. We've argued this before, and entertainment trade Variety has used our argument for a lead editorial. It should be recognised, that, although the most prominent face of the film industry, cinema is not what makes the studio money; for years the bulk of profits have been made in home entertainment consumption. Furthermore, there are two fallacies here. One is that cinemas make most of their profit from the snacks people buy at the cinema, not the films themselves. If you want to increase margins, there should be a much more prominent focus on food options, and that means offering a wider, more tempting range of food to be eaten, which is then promoted more effectively. The way such snacks are currently promoted – "Let's all go the lobby" – has not altered for a half century. Lastly and most egregiously, the communication is completely misdirected, talking to the very audience who is already doing what the ad asks them to do. The ad is shown nowhere but the cinema, therefore only people who go to the cinema will be subject to this guilt trip. To avoid feeling guilty, one can avoid the ad by avoiding the cinema. The logic is completely twisted. Negative communications have been shown to be much less effective in influencing behaviour than positive affirmation. So let's think about a way to promote cinema that goes beyond a highlight reel of what movies are on in a particular season. More robust revenue streams will have to be found soon. Less people are turning out to the cinema, and in foreign markets, which are doing relatively well, a far smaller chunk of box-office receipts go to the studios.
What also played during the reel before the film started was a short film by Disney Animation that has been nominated for an Academy Award, called Paperman (see trailer above). Zeitgeist had watched the short some days ago on his iPhone after coming across it on Twitter, and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was exciting and convenient to be able to consume something so quickly after hearing about it. Moreover, it was instantly shareable with the 400-odd people who follow our tweets when we retweeted the link. Seeing it in the cinema today though really reinforced the power of the big screen; the detail you couldn't see on the iPhone, the great sound, and the shared laughter and enjoyment from those around you. "Grandeur is a far from simple blessing", writes Anthony Lane in the same article quoted at the beginning of this post, in The New Yorker back in 2008. The pleasure of watching something in the cinema is ultimately an irrational benefit, which can be hard to quantify, but even harder to ignore.
UPDATE (06.12.13): The Economist featured a good article on how cinemas are seeking new revenue streams around the world, here.
On motion picture marketing – Star Trek shows the way
Zeitgeist was lucky enough to be a guest at the BFI Imax the other day when a select few members of the press, film industry folk, hangers-on and, yes, Trekkies, were shown footage from the Star Trek film to be released next summer, "Into Darkness". It was a mere nine-minute clip of the film – the rest of which is still under lock and key / being edited under the watchful gaze of J.J. Abrams – but it was deemed enough to hold a Friday morning event around, with a very well-catered brunch afterward. What made the morning special was the presence of two of the stars, Alice Eve and Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as the producer, Bryan Burk. The Q&A session, preceded by video salutations from J.J. and Simon Pegg, had many Trekkies in the audience aflutter and was a nice bit of promotion.
Regarding the footage itself, any excitement at seeing fleeting glances of futuristic shots brimming with portent were somewhat diluted by the fact that the same nine minutes were to be shown from that day before select showings of "The Hobbit". Which of course means it was also pretty much immediately available on YouTube (if only to be removed, in an understandable but somewhat counter-intuitive move by the studio).
The status quo at the moment is one in which films often have longer life-spans than ever before (especially if more than one iteration is being shot simultaneously a la Lord of the Rings, or the studio making the film falls into financial trouble, as with the last James Bond film, Skyfall). If the production time isn't longer, the lead-in for marketing certainly is. Disney's Tron remake, which came out in 2010, was several years in the making. The marketing campaign was three and a half years long. One promotional tactic used was to give away free – but very scarce – tickets to select sneak peeks at the film, several months before its release, which at the time Zeitgeist took full advantage of.
This is not without drawbacks for the studio of course, as early bad press could scupper a film's chance of commercial success. But in part perhaps recognising the need to constantly remind people of a product, in a society today that values instantaneous media and loves to second-screen, the risk is one worth taking. It's especially appropriate if the film has a built-in, excitable fanbase, which both Star Trek and Tron do, and you can feed them occasional scraps to keep them satisfied. The TV series Lost, which invited similar nerdy inclinations – and was another brainchild of J.J. Abrams – made a similar move when the studio behind it released tantalising clips on YouTube in an effort to stir interest. Crucially, it also meant they beat the pirates at their own game. All in all it was a nice little bit of promotion by Paramount, creating coverage in media old and new as the stars gave interviews afterwards, and keeping die-hard fans on the slow-boil, ensuring the film remained top of mind while the final product remains a work in progress.
On movie release windows – I love the sound of breaking glass
It's fair to say that in the past ten years, the pace of technology has evolved at an ever-increasing rate. The way in which devices have changed, and with it our use of them, was humourously summed up in the above cartoon from The New Yorker. Digital trends have affected the way we communicate, the way we consume media, and indeed the way we consume goods and services, i.e. shop.
So it is a little surprising to many – your humble correspondent included – that we still have to put up with a film being released in one country one day, and in another months later. That we still have to wait a certain number of months for a film to amble its way from the cinema screens to our home, whether on Blu-ray / DVD or on VOD. It's interesting to note that vertical integration isn't a key issue; Disney recently launched the second subscription video on demand (SVOD) service in Europe, with a library of constantly refreshed titles that can be viewed on platforms ranging from TVs to Xbox to iPads. Indeed, Disney's CEO Bob Iger announced way back in 2005 in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he foresaw a day of collapsed release windows, when a film came out the same day at the cinema as it was available to watch in the home:
We'd be better off as a company and an industry if we compressed that window. We could spend less money pushing the box office and get to the next window sooner where a movie has more perceived value to the consumer because it's more fresh.
So there is money to be saved in such an exercise. Yet seven years later, such a situation is still mostly a fantasy for major films. Studios have undoubtedly dipped their toe in the water, and some moderate success has been seen on the indie scene, specifically with recent films like Margin Call, Melancholia and Arbitrage. The former film was released simultaneously in the cinema and on VOD (seemingly only in the US, however), eventually recording strong results, months after its initial release at Sundance Film Festival. Again, what is the justification for such a change in platform release timings? Not meeting consumer desires and addressing piracy, but simple cost savings. Variety reports:
"We're a star-driven culture, and on a crowded (VOD) menu, what are you going to be drawn to?" posits WME Global head Graham Taylor, who adds that with marketing budgets skyrocketing, the ability to use a single campaign across closely spaced bows on multiple platforms is an important cost savings.
The whole situation is quite frustrating for any fan of film or television. It is a frustration shared by Frederic Filloux, co-author of the excellent blog Monday Note, which Zeitgeist strongly recommends to anyone with an interest in insightful thoughts and reasoning on media industry goings-on.
Their most recent post also happened to detail the author's frustrations with such seemingly arbitrary release windows. One of the most pertinent charts displays the achingly slow rate of change in platform release changes, that is so at odds with the pace of change in other media (above). The content of the post has rational recommendations, which at first glance seem eminently appropriate and overdue for implementation. Some of the recommendations though fail to account for the fact that the film industry and its machinations are often governed by winds of irrationality.
To summarise, Filloux recommends a global day-and date, shorter, more flexible window of time between cinema and home release. There are a number of obstacles to these ideas though. Firstly, exhibitors must be placated. They hold such a sway over studios that they cannot easily be ignored. Bob Iger, in the interview mentioned earlier, mentions exhibitors as being a key obstacle. Think about it, why on earth would a cinema want their film to be available in the comfort of their audience's home any sooner than it already is? It wants to enforce scarcity, so that when the film's marketing machine is at its height, the cinema is the only place you can see it. As already mentioned, indie films have had some success with multi-platform releases, but even these have met with consternation from exhibitors, as a recent example in Canada shows. The consternation becomes outright war for larger films. Zetigeist reported when, in 2010, many exhibitors refused to show Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland when the studio, Disney, flirted with releasing the film to home release less than four months after its theatrical debut. After much back and forth, exhibitors eventually relented, and the film went on to gross over a billion dollars at the global box office. Exhibitors are not going to be convinced about flat release windows anytime soon. They are perhaps the largest roadblock to such a move, and the largest point of advocating a return to vertical integration of production, distribution and exhibition that was the case until the Paramount Decree in 1948.
Moreover, while the argument about having flexible, shifting window releases depending upon a film's success is logical, it does not acknowledge the existence of sleeper hits, films which do not open to huge returns but gradually accrue it over months of release (as illustrated by Margin Call, mentioned earlier). It would also be hard to define when a movie "succeeds" or "bombs". You could use box office as a figure, but would this be without context, as a ratio of the film's budget, or against its current peers? Using box office fails to take awards – principally Oscar – coverage into consideration, which invariably adds its own box office bump to a movie when it is nominated or wins.
The recommendation for simultaneous worldwide release is also a valid point. Zeitgeist has written before on the ridiculous prices pirated films go for in markets that have no access to the official product. To their credit, studios are moving further toward a "day and date" system. However, doing so exclusively would be dangerous. Releasing some films market by market allows the studio to gauge audience reaction, and if necessary tinker with the marketing or the film itself. Staggering release dates is also necessary for cultural events, such as the World Cup, which may be more relevant to some countries than others.
It is the last point made in the article, that of making TV shows "universally available from the day when they are aired on TV" that Zeitgeist could not agree more with. Apart from audience frustration – and recent technological development such as DVR show how the opportunity can shape viewer habits – such a move would also surely divert people from resorting to illegal downloading.
To conclude, while there are caveats and significant roadbumps to be addressed, and some progress has been made over the years, the film industry has a long way to go in a short time if it wants to catch up with consumer habits. Flat release windows should be an inevitability, and a priority. Moreover, they should not be seen purely as cost-saving measure, but as an important way of keeping an increasingly technologically and globally savvy customer base happy.


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Earlier this year, we announced a concert photography contest. We received more than 46 submissions, and a crack panel of judges winnowed down the submissions to 10 finalists. We are now introducing you to each photographer, presented in random order. Next up is Christopher Mark.
By Mike Seely Mainstream country music gets an unfair rap as being universally over-polished and formulaic, a notion that artists like Kacey Musgraves and Eric Church obliterate every time they strap on their guitars. But there's a granule of truth to the stereotype, and a particularly damaging sub ... More >>
As Taylor Swift's tour mates, finding Billboard success and as the winners of multiple Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, NEEDTOBREATHE make for quite the musical intersection. With a driving blend of faith-infused rock, the South Carolinian trio of bassist Seth Bolt, vocalist Bear Rinehart and g ... More >>
Taylor Swift sold out Jobing.com Arena in Glendale twice this week, which means--if we're doing our math right--that she was able to get more than 25,000 Taylor Swift fans in, processed, and out for their Best Nights Ever in 48 hours. We couldn't possibly hope to catch all of the signs and t-shirt ... More >>
by K.C. Libman Taylor Swift is far from just a female-only icon at this point. The erstwhile country star's crossover appeal has placed her firmly inside the pop pantheon, and it's more apparent than ever that Swift's infectious sound is the definition of radio-ready. Show me a red-blooded American ... More >>
Taylor Swift (See the complete slideshow here.)Jobing.com Arena, GlendaleMay 28, 2013 First, you'll notice the makeup -- you'll notice, more generally, the feeling of being underdressed in the company of 9-year-olds. All around Westgate, which feels itself like a mock downtown, a big occasion to pl ... More >>
When the kind of band I usually go see plays the same setlist over and over, I get a little indignant. If Taylor Swift plays the same setlist Wednesday night that she did Tuesday at Jobing.com Arena, I'll forgive her--when the grand finale involves a ticker tape parade, a bunch of dancers chasing a ... More >>
Taylor Swift is just hours away from Prince-ing Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, and people are -- well, people are conflicted about it. It isn't that individuals are conflicted -- it's just that the music fans of the Valley are, to a [wo]man, either incredibly excited or aggressively, vocally indiffer ... More >>
I'm not sure this is a conventional reason to feel civic pride, but I'm going to put it out there: Phoenix completed Taylor Swift's Willy Wonka scavenger hunt in two hours flat, with two of eight sets of tickets going out in less than 30 minutes. That's faster, in my limited research, than most of t ... More >>
When it comes to music, do kids today have it better or worse than the generations before them? I decided to do some research into the matter. By "research," I mean I asked my teenagers some questions, and then compared their answers to my opinions. Around here, we call that science. (What do yo ... More >>
When people and brands re-create the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket promotion, they don't always seem aware that Willy Wonka is kind of a sociopath. Regardless: Taylor Swift is re-creating the Golden Ticket promotion, and it's coming to Phoenix. If you can connect a series of clues on Diet Coke's Twitter ... More >>
Ryan Avery, wearing a safari hat, ran around with a megaphone. JRC turned on a record player and asked the crowd to arrange themselves from shortest to tallest. Then he grabbed random people, spun them around three times, put a cardboard box over their heads, and had them hit a Strawberry Shortcake ... More >>
She's a multi-million-album-selling crop (country-pop) artist, a perfumer and a maneater. Head on over to your local Albertsons, and take a gander at the greeting cards section, and you'll discover Taylor Swift is also super-adept at slapping pictures of cute puppies onto cardstock and writing gems ... More >>
The Grammys are a huge night for music fans. While we tend to shake our head and wonder how some of these artists won (ie. "Album of the Year"), it's entertaining to watch the live performances and keep fingers crossed for our favorite artists. fun. won big last night, sweeping up the "Song of the Y ... More >>
Our sister paper, the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop music critic's poll is live, and the results are in: Frank Ocean's neo-neo-soul record channel ORANGE is the album of the year, and Carly Rae Jepsen's infectious (and impossible to escape) "Call Me Maybe" is the single of the year. This yea ... More >>
Taylor Swift is coming to town on Tuesday, May 28, at Jobing.com Arena. And...never has the thought of the pending apocalypse been so appealing. Sure, Swift has her vocal detractors (like me), but her new album, Red was released in October and quickly sold a whole bunch of copies, which is somethi ... More >>
By Dan Moore Psy's Gangnam Style is now the most-viewed YouTube video ever, and as we go to press Monday morning that means it's been watched coming up on 830 million times. That means that the single biggest pop culture event of 2012--the video you're most likely to talk about with your grandma at ... More >>
Someone has taken concert creativity to a whole new level. I can't decide if they're an idiot or a genius, but their idea is definitely ridiculous; so much so that I'm set on believing it's just not cool. An announcement was made yesterday that the first in-flight music festival will take place ... More >>
A new queen of pop has been crowned by Rolling Stone, according to Idolator.Rolling Stone put 16 female pop stars head to head in the ultimate statistical showdown to see who would reign as queen. Competitors included Adele, Beyonce Knowles, Britney Spears, Carrie Underwood, Christina Aguilera, Katy ... More >>
This week, New Times ran a list in our print publication highlighting some of the most interesting posts published at Up On The Sun over the past week. Here are links to those posts.Has My Chemical Romance also abandoned the Sound Strike boycott of Arizona?Which song by local band Gospel Claws h ... More >>
Taylor Swift may be headlining the 2011 version of the Country Thunder music festival in Arizona.The event's organizers sent out a press releases today announcing the dates for the annual hootenanny: April 7-10, in Florence where the festival has been staged at Canyon Moon Ranch since outgrowing ... More >>
The Fall's frontman Mark E. Smith allegedly threw a bottle at Mumford & Sons at a festival in Dublin last month, according to NME.Way to get aggressive, Mark. And for what? It turns out he simply didn't like the way Mumford & Sons played during their sound check. Smith also reportedly cal ... More >>
Weezer, a favorite band among nerdy Americans, has teamed up with the crew of the show Jackass to produce a fun-filled music video for their new single "Memories."I don't know about you, but I definitely want to party with these guys. It's not every day that I get to ride a jet ski through a row ... More >>
It took Kanye West long enough to give Taylor Swift the musical apology many say he's owed her for a long time. In fact, it took him almost a year. But finally, the apology has arrived in the form of a song called "Devil in a New Dress." Surprisingly, he actually sounds remorseful. Good to know ... More >>
I just spent all morning catching up on the latest music videos by watching VH1 (since MTV doesn't show music videos unless its viewers are sound asleep.) Here are my impressions of some of the stuff I saw:Adam Lambert- "What Do you Want from Me"- Wow, I was a Kris Allen fan last season, but Adam La ... More >>
Taylor Swift may have to keep Kanye off-stage again if she wins at the Grammy'sAfter getting chummy at the 2009 Video Music Awards, Beyonc é and Taylor Swift will go head-to-head once again at the 2010 Grammy Awards, when they compete in several categories, including Album of the Year. Swift, ... More >>
In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries: Feathered Bastard: Lou Dobbs Delivers His Head to Hispanics, But That's Not Necessarily a Good Thing Up on the ... More >>
The Killers are fun but vapid, like their hometown
Watch out, Taylor Swift, you're next -- especially if that already opened bottle of Hennessy is any indication. In a move that is shocked no one, Kanye West once again bum-rushed the stage to interrupt an acceptance speech. At last night's MTV Music Video Awards, the Late Graduator himself took t ... More >>
Rolling Stone: Lil Wayne's Lawyer Questions Role of Drug-Sniffing Dog in Bust NME: Deftones re-record new album without bassist Pitchfork: Jay Bennett's Death: Overdose Idolator: Casey Kasem To Reach For The Stars For The Last Time Next Week Electric Mustache: Video: Know Your Enemy NME: Florence An ... More >>
Girl Power: Females Flock to Cricket Wireless Pavilion for No Doubt and Paramore Right now my ears are ringing something fierce after enduring a non-stop auditory assault of thousands of tweens and teenyboppers girls screaming in absolute elation during No Doubt and Paramore's show at Cricket Wirel ... More >>
In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries: Up on the Sun: No Doubt, Fun., Pool Parties and Taylor Swift Over the (Memorial Day) Weekend You Asked For It: Car ... More >>
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Country star Taylor Swift has to be the coolest 19-year-old who admittedly didn't have any friends in junior high. Now, she has famous friends like Garth Brooks and Miley Cyrus define the word "fearless" -- also the title of her latest album -- in a pre-show video. She ... More >>
Why isn't Taylor Swift bigger than she is? Being the best selling artist of last year and having her own line of clothing at Wal-Mart, you might expect Taylor swift to be a little more exposed than she is. With a Rolling Stone cover this month and a Saturday Night Live appearance in January she's ge ... More >>
Less than a decade ago, an album would have to sell well over 100,000 copies in a single week to become the number-one album in the country. Single-week sales of over a million units were not uncommon for major acts. Now, with the collapse of the CD market, DigitalmusicNews.com is reporting the num ... More >>
As reported on this past Friday, Fleet Foxes have been named the musical guest for this Saturday's episode of Saturday Night Live with host Rosario Dawson. Lorne Michaels booked the band to perform a week after sugary-sweet teen pop-star Taylor Swift graced the stage, ushering in the second time Fle ... More >>
By Randall Roberts You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barrier ... More >>
What do musicians want in their stockings?
From farmer's daughter to hitmaker


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IndyMyIndy commented on IndyMyIndy's profile
"Ending The Game 87.7 has to smack down of another "My So Called Life" vs. "Friends" Conundrum, when "My So Called Life" should have been Claire Danes for 10 Years and an edgier "Welcome Freshmen", but, America was quicker to welcome a Good Sitcom to their homes. To me, Viacom's "Clarissa" Problem is a company wide,Music Industry Wide, and Entertainment Industry Wide Gutrot where it got to the point you had to tell me 106 AND Park Ended but NOT Rap City? I feel that we put "bet money" on the wrong kind of politicans, the wrong kind of athletes, the wrong kind of educators who deform learning and the wrong kind of entertainers. Even my school friends where down with Tanya Tucker's "I Ain't That Kind of Girl", but I see Young Adults and Adolescents today filling out roles that they didn't earn or walked 3 Feet In To. I'd paid to see Mayweather-Pacaqiao I, but reality and agendas hurt like crazy."


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NEW YORK — Duke and Michigan remain the top two teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, while Syracuse drops from third to ninth after its first loss.
The Blue Devils received all but two of the first-place votes Monday from the 65-member national media panel. Michigan got the others.
Arizona, Louisville and Indiana all moved up one place to third through fifth.
Kansas, which won at Ohio State, moved from ninth to sixth. Missouri, which beat Illinois, jumped from 12th to seventh.
Cincinnati advanced from 11th to eighth.
Syracuse, which lost to Temple, and Ohio State complete the top 10.
Gonzaga, at 11-1, is 13th in the poll.
Pittsburgh and Kansas State are the newcomers to the poll at 24th and 25th. They replace New Mexico and North Carolina, which dropped out from 16th and 23rd after losses to South Dakota State and Texas.
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Tribal Vortex Bowls are here!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013 1:35:23 PM America/New_York
After vigorous hours spent improving the design and function of our Vortex Bowl, we wanted to update the style as well. Read More
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Keep it clean, wash your hose
Thursday, October 31, 2013 1:45:24 PM America/New_York
If you're one to try out new flavors and smoke your hookah often, you know that in order to have the best smoke and best flavor out of your tobacco it is necessary to clean out the old tobacco from your bowl and used water from your hookah vase. Read More
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Sahara Smoke Sonic Diffuser
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David Friedlander
Latest Stories from David Friedlander - Page 3
Stagnation at White House May be Attributable to Sewer Sludge in President's Produce
In truth, the levels, while not ideal, are far from unusual or unsafe for
Yale Essay Says Sustainability and Open Immigration are Often at Odds
Image by YaleGlobal A recent essay in YaleGlobal online by Jamie Chamie explores the controversial connection between immigration and overpopulation—a subject that is constantly framed morally or economically, but rarely environmentally. The essay
How Californians Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Global Warming
A recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) shows that Californians are less than concerned with global warming than in years past. Moreover, their diminishing concern is increasing faster amongst those
EATR: The Vegetarian Robot that Kills
Photo by RTI The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (aka EATR) by Robotic Technology Inc. is a proposed military robot that can do all sorts of things according to the company's brochure. It can perform long-range reconnaissance, surveillance,
Commuter Couture by Outlier Tailored Performance
Photo via Outlier If you're a bike commuter (or just a vain rider), and you don't want to abide by the traditional archetypical aesthetic (rearview mirror on glasses, 1985 Bell helmet, rubber-bands around your pant cuff), check out Outlier Tailored
No Impact Man Documentary Film Is Low on Carbon, High on Awareness
TreeHugger attended a pre-release screening No Impact Man, a documentary made about Colin Beavan (aka No Impact Man) and his family's yearlong experiment to live a zero waste lifestyle in New York City. We were happy to see that the movie treated its
Author of Whole Earth Catalog Favors Nuclear, GMOs, and Geoengineering at Off-Site TED Conference
On June 3rd, TreeHugger was able to attend TED@State, a one-day mini-conference sponsored by the US State Department, and organized by the folks over at TED Conference. As part of their Global Partnership Initiative, TED@State was meant to reflect
TreeHugger Welcomes David Friedlander!
David Friedlander believes community is the key to many of our human and environmental problems. Having lived in many different communities—from his suburban-Chicago birthplace, to his many years in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado to the streets of


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Peter Murphy - Grand Central, Miami - August 5
By Crossfade
Pretty Tony Came Up with Freestyle Music
By Jacob Katel
Six Best Club Parties in Miami This Week
By Laurie Charles
Photos: Gathering of the Juggalos 2014
By Nate "Igor" Smith
Churchill's Vinyl Solutions: "Our Ears Are Open!"
By Abel Folgar
By Kat Bein
Haiti's Michael Brun Talks EDM Stardom and Label
By Jacob Katel
On this debut, the chameleonic Vancouver fivesome is lovin' the Seventies. "Oh, we can't stand/Your modern music/We feel afflicted," singer Stephen McBean moans on the saxophone-and-drums swells of "Modern Music." Things get retro on the bounding-down-the-boulevard "Druganaut," which sounds like Jimi Hendrix by way of Band of Gypsys. But when it comes to the lyrics, McBean and co-vocalist Amber Webber focus their sights on bashing U.S. foreign policy. "The war machine/ Keeps on rolling/Evil minds and hearts of stone," they sing wearily on "Set Us Free," later pleading: "Lord, won't you let us be?"


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Prisoner Of Love Lyrics - Frank Sinatra
Alone from night to night you'll find me too weak to break the chains that bind me.
I need no shackles to remind me, I'm just a prisoner of love.
For one command, I stand and wait now from one who's master of my fate now.
I can't escape for it's too late now, I'm just a prisoner of love.
What's the good of my caring if someone is sharing those arms with me.
Although she has another, I can't find another for I'm not free.
She's in my dreams awake or sleeping, upon my knees to her I'm creeping,
My very life is in her keeping, I'm just a prisoner of love.
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November 28, 2014
POSTED Tuesday April 1, 2014-- 5:45 p.m.
About $1,000 could get you an all inclusive vacation to the Caribbean or Mexico. But die hard badger fans are willing to spend about double that amount to be in Dallas, Texas for the NCAA Final Four.
"You can't put a price on it for some people," said Kristi McCarthy with Middleton Travel.
McCarthy says their phones have been ringing off the hook. They offer a package including tickets to the game and a hotel for $1,695. She says round trip flights are at least an additional $600, making the whole trip around $2,300.
"We've got some great fans here in Madison," said McCarthy.
A ticket for the game alone was priced at $300 dollars. This is compared to nearly the same price for a season pass and less than $30 for a typical game. But this didn't scare fans away. The University's allotment of 3,250 tickets are sold out, never even open to the public.
"Those were all sold to our donors or season ticket holders," said UW athletic communications director, Brian Lucas.
Students get the best deal-- just $40 to all three games. But the 700 tickets allotted to students are also gone. To get there, 162 of them are hopping on a bus to Dallas provided by the University for just $100.
"We really wanted to offer a safe and cost effective way to get down there," said Lucas. "It's up there in terms of great sporting events in the country that people will be watching."
There is standing room only seating still available.
Friday there will be open practice with all four teams. Saturday before the game there will be an open and free pep rally.
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We Like Linkin Park, and We Will Not Apologize
By Ashley Zimmerman
Better Than Ezra "Know a Lot of Fans by Name"
By Dana Krangel
T-Pain Says, "I May Get Into Some Gypsy Shit" Next
By John Hood
Review & Photos: Sara Bareilles at Hard Rock Live
By Ashley Zimmerman
Psych-Metal Outfit Orbweaver Releases Vinyl EP
By David Von Bader
Photos: John Legend in Boca Raton
By Sayre Berman
Five Things Weird Al Critiques in Mandatory Fun
By Steve Brennan
By Ashley Zimmerman
Anthony Green was California dreamin'. In 2003, he left his hometown of Philadelphia for the golden sands of Newport Beach, where he formed Saosin. But a year later, Green exited stage east, back to Philly, where he hooked up with former This Day Forward guitarist Colin Frangicetto to start a new band Circa Survive. In the tradition of prog-rock greats like Led Zeppelin, the four Circa Survive members found a house and shacked up together, all in the name of nonstop songwriting. The result was Juturna, a progressive mix of emo-ish post-hardcore and artfully hard-edged screamers. Sure, the guys have their chops down cold, but that doesn't mean they can't feel a little anxious about touring. As guitarist Brendan Ekstrom notes on the band's blog: "In preparation for the tour we managed to sleep about two hours before the first day. I felt as if I'd smoked a bowl of acid out of a helium balloon." Let's hope he wakes up in time for Sunday's show.
Circa Survive joins the Receiving End of Sirens, Days Away, and You in Series at 7 p.m. Sunday, July 16, at the Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $12 to $15. Call 954-564-1074, or visit www.cultureroom.net.


text: Bi-Sexual Jesus: 'Money-Driven' Hollywood Eager to Offend the Faithful by John Nolte 25 Apr 2011 post a comment Share This: Anyone familiar with the "Acts of the Apostles" will understand that using the word "sequel" in reference to Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" is a perfectly appropriate description. Picking up right where the "Passion" left off would be absurdly easy. ANY money-hungry producer or director eager to recreate the cinematic phenom of the double aughts, not to mention one of the most profitable films in history, need only bring "Acts" to life on the silver screen. Then why don't they? Well, that's the $60,000 question. There's so much money being left on the table, it's very much the elephant in Hollywood's gilded room. Sure, we're getting films like the "Blind Side," "Narnia," and "Fireproof" -- all of which are appreciated, but nothing like the visceral emotional experience of a "Passion" that hits the faithful in their very soul and translates into a real religious experience. For all the obvious reasons, Hollywood seems unwilling to do what they do with every other hit film: recreate it over and over and over until it drops dead of fatigue. But why would any sane filmmaker take the risk? We all saw what the Hollywood establishment and the MSM did to Gibson long before he said those terrible things during his DWI arrest a year or so later. We all watched as they set out to destroy an Academy-Award-winning director in every way possible, to toxify him. But that was the idea. The MSM and Hollywood were so threatened by the very idea of the "Passion" (no one had seen it when the attacks began) -- especially should it be a hit -- that their only recourse was to launch into the ugliest and most personal campaign of destruction launched against a filmmaker since the 1950s. And the message to the rest of Hollywood was clear.... "This will happen to you. " On a smaller scale, we just saw the same thing happen to Joel Surnow with respect to "The Kennedys." And so with all that money sitting there on the table, here's one direction Hollywood's decided to go in: Via DHD: Mel Gibson hewed closely to the New Testament with 2004's The Passion of the Christ and the film grossed over $600 million worldwide to become the largest independent film of its day and the top-grossing non-English language film ever. But veering from that strategy can do more than alienate that audience segment as Universal Pictures found out when Martin Scorsese filmed 1988's controversial and in some eyes blasphemous The Last Temptation of Christ from Nikos Kazantzakis' novel and angry protesters were dragging crosses in front of the home of MCA Universal head Lew Wasserman. Have things changed since then? ... Hollywood agency WME will soon shop the movie rights to The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, a James Frey book published this weekend that imagines what the Second Coming of Christ would be like in contemporary America and depicts Jesus Christ as bisexual and promiscuous. ... Director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers) and his ICM reps have spent the last half year unsuccessfully trying to raise financing for a movie version of Jesus of Nazareth, a book Verhoeven co-wrote and researched for nearly two decades. In his revisionist vision of Christ, Verhoeven rejects the miracles, the immaculate conception, and the resurrection that Catholics all over the world will celebrate tomorrow. Verhoeven feels they undermine the core teachings that have kept Christ relevant for more than 2,000 years. Verhoeven had developed a Jesus Christ film idea with comedian Mel Brooks years ago and became consumed. "The Last Temptation of Christ" made $8.4 million. "The Passion of the Christ" made $612 million. Please tell me again how Hollywood is money driven and not agenda-driven.


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A delicious potato salad. It goes well with a green salad on the side for vegetarians, or as a side dish with chicken or meat. You can prepare the potatoes and eggs ahead of time, but using them warm is nice too. If sweet corn isn't in season, use a can of kernels, well drained. Additions for non-vegetarians: salmon, tuna, or a little chicken.
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FUBU Founder Daymond John on Starting a Billion Dollar Business
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Chinese team Newbee has won International 4, the world championship for Dota 2. The squad took home a grand prize of over $5 million, the largest purse yet for the MOBA.
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Counter-Strike co-creator Minh "Gooseman" Le said in a new interview that he's seen Left 4 Dead 3 in action. He was impressed by it, too.
Dota 2 players can now purchase the Compendium for the International 2014. The all-in-one, virtual guide to this year's world championship provides several in-game bonuses.
Dota 2's worldwide championship The International will return this summer. Today Valve announced the teams that will be competing for a shot at a huge cash prize.
Steam users have accused Valve of scanning their Internet history with their anti-cheat software. Valve CEO Gabe Newell denied this today and stated that they have no interest in tracking your porn habits.
Steam Early Access lets developers sell games before they've been completed to help fund their development. If these games are never finished, though, you won't be able to get a refund.
Valve's digital games platform Steam has set another usage record. Over 7.6 million gamers were using Steam simultaneously on December 29th.
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Today Valve launched Steam Reviews, a way for users of their gaming platform to voice their opinions on their games and share them with the Steam community. The feature is now in open beta and can be accessed by anyone with a Steam account.
Valve plans to release a major update for Dota 2 today. The "Three Spirits" patch provides two new Heroes for the game and revises the appearance of Storm Spirit.
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Catholic Church Says Cruise, Kidman Were Never Marriedby Free Britney at . Comments
Nicole Kidman and crazy former spouse Tom Cruise may have pulled a fast one on the Catholic Church and blinded it... with Scientology!
While it has been speculated that Kidman got her first marriage annulled so that she and Keith Urban could marry in a Catholic chapel, it turns out she and Cruise weren't legally married in the first place -- as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, at least.
Father Paul Coleman, the longtime Kidman family friend and priest who presided over the Kurban nuptials in Sydney, Australia, told the BBC that in Kidman's first marriage, the requirements for a valid union were not fulfilled. She wed Cruise in private, in accordance with his Church of Scientology views.
"The Catholic Church sets down requirements to have a valid Catholic marriage," he said, referring to this past Sunday's wedding as a spiritual homecoming for Kidman.
You don't have to be Catholic yourself, interestingly, but you do have to seal the deal in a Catholic place of worship, which Cruise and Kidman did not. Therefore, while Catholicism frowns on divorce as a rule, the fact that Cruise and Kidman parted ways in 2001 did not affect her second trip down the aisle.
Chances were slim that Kidman would have been granted an annulment, though, given that they were legally married for 10 years, a long time to suddenly claim that the union was fraudulent, entered into under misleading circumstances or other such reasons people give for erasing a marriage from the record books.
On a happier note, after Kidman and Urban were cleared to get hitched in a romantic, cliffside Catholic ceremony, they were good to go on a romantic, secluded honeymoon before returning to their new home in Nashville, Tenn. The newlyweds were spotted boarding the blushing bride's private jet and were reportedly bound for either Fiji or Tahiti.
Just to be clear, it's not the Catholic Church's fault that people like Kidman play fast & loose with the rules. As any parish, and they'll tell you that trying to deal with people who suddenly want to be Catholic after living a secularized lifestyle for years is an ongoing problem. Anyone is welcome back, but not always welcome to receive communion -- at least not immediately, for instance. Did Kidman express sincere contrition at living an unchaste life all those years? Only her confessor knows for sure... Meanwhile, may I suggest folks who want to have a Catholic wedding start out by being Catholic every day, not just when planning a wedding.


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|Oct. 4-5, 2013
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Join us for the 7th annual Generate, a professor–led, 24–hour marathon where students from graphic design, illustration, animation, motion media design, interactive design and game development, visual effects and more, endeavor to create completed works of art.
Coffee and snacks will be provided throughout the night.


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In wet winters, Soquel Creek storms past his downtown Capitola hotel in a rage of muddy water and fallen redwoods after a 16 mile run through the Santa Cruz Mountains.
As the creek empties into the Pacific, high tides, storm surges and wild waves push back, inundating on local businesses. The beachfront hotel can get hit from both sides.
For years, the federal government subsidized many flood insurance policies. But premiums haven't covered payouts, and now, billions of dollars in debt, the National Flood Insurance Program is reducing its assistance. For Allen and thousands of Californians living near the ocean, rivers and creeks, this means their flood insurance costs are on the rise.
Statewide, more than 48,000 home and business owners received subsidies in 2012 for their flood insurance through the federal program. Those policies could rise up to 18 percent each year for homeowners; second homes and businesses will see mandatory increases of 25 percent every year until they drop out of the subsidy program and get a rate based on the actual risk of flooding.
More than half of policyholders in communities including the city of Monterey, San Rafael and Long Beach who had subsidized flood insurance will face higher premiums in coming years. In Capitola, 71 percent of those with flood insurance face higher rates.
Those hikes are "a big concern," said Allen, noting that the cost of flood insurance affects property values. His family has owned the Venetian for decades and can absorb the increase, but for future buyers, or sellers, the expense may price them out of the market.
"Not the best news just coming out of a multi-year real estate recession," said Allen.
A historic community of 10,000, Capitola is known as the Jewel Box for its adorable boutiques, coffee shops and ocean front bistros.
To fend off flooding, the city has wooden storm gates to keep out waves. Sand bags, even this dry winter, are piled in front of most homes and businesses, just in case.
Yet, the city itself can't afford to pay flood insurance, leaving the police and fire stations and City Hall vulnerable.
"It's just beyond our reach," said Capitola administrative services director Lisa Murphy.
When heavy rains caused a culvert to collapse in 2011, deluging the town, Murphy said they learned most local business owners also didn't have flood insurance.
"It's extremely expensive to have flood insurance and floods are rare," she said. "People try to roll the dice."
Nationally, market studies have shown that generally only half of the people in flood hazard zones actually get the insurance. And unless people are required to get flood insurance as a condition of their mortgage, they almost never buy it.
Standing on the brick patio of his romantic, century-old Shadowbrook Restaurant, Ted Burke recalls the last time a flood washed through. He watched the creek crest, boarded up windows and pumped slate floors dry.
"The water just came up and up," he said. "Where I'm standing now, this was plywood, and it just washed away."
Burke said he dropped his $500,000 flood insurance policy two years ago when ever-rising annual costs hit $2,000. With a $10,000 deductible, it just didn't seem worth it. Now, facing a 25 percent increase, he's not inclined to renew.
"I just don't think the risk-reward equation is in balance," he said.
Smith reported from Fresno, Calif.


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5 Ways to Sneak Veggies into Family Meals
Try these sneaky tips and kid-friendly recipes to get your family to eat more vegetables.
"I hate vegetables!!!! But I am trying to change that slowly. After seeing this article I just made some spaghetti and meat sauce with fresh pumpkin. I diced the pumpkin with the skin on and boiled it till it was soft. When I put the Ragu...
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5. Already hiding steamed broccoli or cauliflower under cheese sauce?
There's nothing wrong with that if that's what it takes to get your children to eat their veggies. Just be sure you're making a healthy cheese sauce—traditional cheese sauces are made with lots of butter and cream. This lightened version uses flour to thicken low-fat milk and a small amount of full-flavored sharp Cheddar.
Try this: Light Cheese Sauce