December 12, 2006 by Omar Khudari
In this week’s New Yorker, Anthony Lane reviews Neal Gabler’s new biography, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, which is now on my Christmas wish list.
Since I was raised in the Peoples’ Republic of Cambridge, I grew up thinking “Disney” stood for “phony” or “commercial.” Disney was vilified for dumbing down and sugar-coating such classics of children’s literature as Mary Poppins, Winnie The Pooh, and The Jungle Books.
When I had the privilege of working with a group of Walt Disney Feature Animation veterans on The Act, I learned enough about Disney’s accomplishments to totally change my point of view. I now think of Disney as the creative genius who revolutionized entertainment so many ways it is hard to count them.
Anthony Lane nails both sides of the Disney coin in his review.
I’ll add only one quibble as a footnote. Lane writes:
Everyone recalls being distressed by the death of Bambi’s mother, and of his stick-legged pining in the snow, but how many of us recall what happens next? The oblivious birds strike up an immediate chorus: “Let’s sing a gay little spring song, tra-la-la.” The episode is closed, like a trapdoor. And so it is with Walt Disney.
We may not consciously remember it that way, but it is precisely that chipper chorus of birds that stabs us in the heart and makes us scream, “Noooooo!” when watching the film. In a fast-forward moment we see Bambi, himself, having moved on, grown up, and recovered from the death of his mother. Without that juxtaposition, the scene would have been much less powerful.
Posted in Books, Disney, The Act | 1 Comment »
December 11, 2006 by Omar Khudari
Last night I saw a stage adaptation of the classic 1983 film A Christmas Story. There were strong performances from the actors playing Mrs. Parker, The Old Man (Mr. Parker) and Ralphie. However, the narration that works so well in the film did not work at all on stage. Seeing this live narrator over and over ruined my willing suspension of disbelief. It kept yanking me out of the story and reminding me it is all a play.
Writing guru, Robert McKee, believes narration in film should only be used if it is not needed (as counterpoint). I’m thinking the rule on stage should be: never.
Posted in Movies, Storytelling, Theater | Leave a Comment »
December 7, 2006 by Omar Khudari
Many writers have pointed out (e.g. Crooked Timber, Daniel Read et al, and the Wall Street Journal) that when we have to choose what movie to watch days ahead of time (as with Netflix), we tend to make more ambitious choices than what we want when the time comes to watch. For example, many people select a bunch of “highbrow” movies on Netflix, then don’t feel like watching them when they arrive.
Netflix is a great bonanza for highbrow movies today, but what will happen when people have access to a library the size of Netflix, but no longer have to make choices days ahead of time?
Brad Templeton wrote a great piece about this, predicting:
…the real shift coming is to pay-per-view and downloading. If people look at the PPV menu and usually pick the light movie over the serious one, then the market for the serious ones is sunk.
Sadly, I think he is right. But neither good nor bad is his other interesting observation:
I’ve also noticed a push for shorter programming… When you just sit down to choose something from your library, the temptation is strong to watch shorter things instead of making a 2 hour committment to a longer thing.
The data sample is small, but my experience is definitely similar. I now have a pile of a few dozen DVDs acquired through Peerflix. Picking a movie at my house means straining my eyes to find the “running time” in tiny print on every disc, and more often than not, choosing among the shortest.
This could be good news for independent filmmakers, because shorter means cheaper. But if this small sample is predicting correctly, even the big studios would be wise to take note.
Posted in Economics, Movie Business, Netflix, Peerflix, Psychology | Leave a Comment »
December 6, 2006 by Omar Khudari
There is a short article by James Surowiecki in this week’s New Yorker about how well Nintendo is doing, profit-wise, while Sony and Microsoft are fighting an arms race in the video game hardware business. Surowiecki’s spin is that Nintendo is disproving Jack Welch’s rule that it is better to be an industry leader.
Posted in Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Video Game Business | Leave a Comment »
December 3, 2006 by Omar Khudari
There is an interesting article in today’s New York Times about Disney’s move (a few years ago) to resume development of short animated films. Disney has a long, illustrious history of making shorts, and the company has tried unsuccessfully to revive the old format before. Now, under John Lasseter’s leadership, there is no requirement or expectation that short films be profitable. The express purposes of the projects are to experiment with new techniques and to develop the next generation of talent.
Buried near the end of the article is the momentous news that one of the new shorts will be the first animated film in Disney’s history to be directed by a woman (Stevie Wermers).
Posted in Animation, Disney, Movie Business, Movies | Leave a Comment »
December 2, 2006 by Omar Khudari
I have written about Pzizz before, but I am now officially a fan. There are two “modules” that can be bought separately: an “energizer” module (for naps) that wakes you up at the end and a “sleep” module that doesn’t. I used the sleep module on a redeye flight home from Seattle Thursday night. What a product! We flew through a cold front over Toronto and the turbulence woke me up. No problem, I just ran Pzizz again. On Friday night, I was overtired, but jet-lagged, and I felt I really had to go to bed early to make sure I caught up on sleep. Pzizz to the rescue again!
You may be thinking, “What’s the big deal? Sleep tapes have been around for ages.” This is true. However, Pzizz offers one innovation that is the “tipping point” for me: it is different every time you use it.
Repeated speech is annoying. This is an effect that video game developers have long struggled with (and one reason why we decided to do without dialogue altogether in The Act). There is a lot of repetition from one Pzizz track to the next. However, there is just enough variety that it feels a little like a real person talking through a familiar routine.
I still don’t want to be caught napping at work, so I think the killer app is the sleep module, not the energizer (nap) module. Pzizz is very focused on promoting the energizer module. Do they know how big the sleeping pill market is?
Posted in Pzizz | Leave a Comment »
November 29, 2006 by Omar Khudari
I just bought a Sony Playstation 3 on eBay (for research! Honest!). I am not a very experienced user, so perhaps my observations will be old hat.
I have never participated in such an active market for any one item on eBay. There are currently over 15,000 new PS3 systems for sale on eBay. About 50,000 auctions have ended since the PS3 went on sale. Every few seconds, another auction ends, so there are tons of data about the market price. The problem is, the tools for looking at the data are abysmal.
There is a lot of noise in the data. Some sellers are blatantly advertising off-eBay auctions. Others are setting very high starting bids or reserve prices. Many are offering extras such as software—I even saw an auction for a PS3 plus a Nintendo Wii. EBay’s search limitations make it very difficult to filter out the noise. For example, you cannot search for completed auctions with a certain number of bids. I also don’t see a way to filter for highly rated sellers.
Is it just me, or does eBay look like a web site stuck in the 1990′s? I have heard the explanation that fanatical users scream whenever eBay tries to improve their look and feel. However, it seems to me that their core asset is just a database. Why can’t they offer the old interface to whoever wants it and a better one for everybody else?
P.S. It looks as though the market price for the PS3 is about $300 above retail. This does not bode well for the PS3, given that now is the peak buying season and there is a very real shortage of supply.
Posted in PS3, PlayStation 3, Shopping, eBay | Leave a Comment »
November 28, 2006 by Omar Khudari
The Act is now installed at Cityside Bar and Grille in Cleveland Circle (1960 Beacon St., Brighton, Massachusetts). Cityside looks like a fun place! They have Team Trivia every Wednesday night and speed dating once a month. Um… I won’t be trying that—but the steak tips look good! 
Posted in Cecropia, The Act, Things To Do | Leave a Comment »
November 27, 2006 by Omar Khudari
As part of our field test of The Act, we are running this advertisement in the pre-movie slide show at the Circle Cinema in Brighton, Massachusetts. We will monitor the earnings at the advertised locations to see how effective the advertisement is.
The design is Joe Calabresi‘s handiwork—proving that his talents are not limited to incredibly appealing illustrations. The photograph is by Tanit Sakakini—the photographer with the supermodel name. If you ever meet her, you will agree that she should really be working on the other side of the lens as well!
Posted in Cecropia, The Act | Leave a Comment »
November 24, 2006 by Omar Khudari
This month’s Harvard Magazine has a fascinating article about teacher effectiveness.
Here’s the gist: our public education system focuses hard on pre-qualifying teachers by looking at their education, test scores, and grades. But a new study by Professor Thomas Kane shows that these are all poor predictors of how effective a teacher will be. In fact, teacher effectiveness is almost impossible to predict ahead of time—it must be measured on the job. Kane recommends that
school districts need to open the doors to a wide pool of candidates, certified or not, and then assess each teacher’s value over a three-year trial period—using not only student test scores, but also classroom observations, reviews of student work, and parent evaluations. “If we’re going to be selective,” Kane asks, “why don’t we be selective at the point where we actually have some information?”
I bet Keith Johnstone would agree.
Posted in Education | Leave a Comment »
