2011. New film(s).

I’m very excited about speaking with financiers about film projects.  The first is a psychological drama about a man who gets too entangled with his dealer, called ‘DOWNSIZE’.  The second is a horror project of mine about alchemy, hair, & control called ‘FERAL’. And I’ve been reworking my first feature, SHINER, in hopes of releasing it as a re-make. 

Tumblr, what I consider to be the next generation of social networking, is seeing an improved interface for iPad. It’s about time is what comes to mind but it’s hard to not be super happy because the new iPad2 is just perfect for micro-blogging (camera, big keyboard, fantastic touch surface). It’s all there, finally. I’ll never stop stealing free time for Tumblr now. Here’s the link from Tumblr’s tumblr blog. 
Zoom

Tumblr, what I consider to be the next generation of social networking, is seeing an improved interface for iPad. It’s about time is what comes to mind but it’s hard to not be super happy because the new iPad2 is just perfect for micro-blogging (camera, big keyboard, fantastic touch surface). It’s all there, finally. I’ll never stop stealing free time for Tumblr now. Here’s the link from Tumblr’s tumblr blog. 

Remembering ‘the internet’

Remember when we thought AOL was ‘the internet’?  Well these days, facebook seems to be the internet. Or so everyone likes to tell us how social networks have changed the playing field. Have they? We heard this before. A few years ago, it was Myspace & Google.com. They were big game changers, too, right? Tonight, I stumbled up on this TV commercial on youtube (remember youtube was ‘the internet’ a few years ago, too).

I think the biggest lesson I get from this (now very aged & dated) commercial is that what works brilliantly about ‘the internet’ is exploration & content, which can’t be contained & hoarded. I’m talking to you Mr. Network Police & Mr. Cable/Telecom & Mr. Social Network. But I’m mainly talking to the user which is the most valuable part of the equation yet gets overlooked for the ‘revenue’.

The desire to hoard & trap attention spans is driven by that much outdated ‘content VS ad revenue’ fantasy that has taken down so many companies/brands. When will we move away from that fantasy & see that ‘the internet’ doesn’t give a damn about ad revenue but is driven by interesting modular experiences & unique content? Should every site become a mini-studio? No, but every site should look at their fantasy that ad revenue is king.

When will we let go of the TV & publishing models & admit that they slowly became vulgar & not worth paying for? How many commercials & ads did it take to make you stop watching or paying for that magazine or watching that tv show/network? Revenue is NOT enough when it comes to ‘the internet’ (& possibly not enough for other mediums). Maybe I’m wrong but maybe I’m on to something. Sometimes an idea or fantasy can spread like a virus & poison other ideas.

Surely, there’s enough intelligent minds in the room to try a different model. Or create one. Anyone? Anyone? Maybe we’ll just sit around & hoard only to find ourselves looking back on how tacky & outdated our thinking was (like this commercial)?

The Man With The Abnormally Large Heart There was a man who had an abnormally large heart and everywhere he went all the ladies would smile. They’d tempt him with drink & perfume. They’d kiss him on the ears. It constantly embarrassed him wherever he went. He hid it in his coat. He hid it in his pants. He hid it in his pocket to keep it out of sight. He always hid it because he couldn’t leave it at home. He tried to leave it home twice one Summer. But it cried out & woke the baby next door. The other time, the police got called. ‘Vile immigrants! Poor people have poor ways!’, they said. But it kept crying.  One day he said enough’s enough and he drove it to the beach. As he stood there on the beach he lit one of the fire pits. ‘All you do is cause me grief. All you do is earn me pity. I’m through with you.’, he told his strange appendage. And as quickly as a car passing, he tossed it in the fire. It cried out for a while but eventually everything burns in a fire.  He almost couldn’t believe his luck. No more crying. No more loose women. No more perfume. No more grief. Now he could wear shorts & run about like everyone. ‘This is easy.’, he though. Easy as pie. From that day on, he did as he pleased. 
Zoom

The Man With The Abnormally Large Heart

There was a man who had an abnormally large heart and everywhere he went all the ladies would smile. They’d tempt him with drink & perfume. They’d kiss him on the ears. It constantly embarrassed him wherever he went. He hid it in his coat. He hid it in his pants. He hid it in his pocket to keep it out of sight.

He always hid it because he couldn’t leave it at home. He tried to leave it home twice one Summer. But it cried out & woke the baby next door. The other time, the police got called. ‘Vile immigrants! Poor people have poor ways!’, they said. But it kept crying. 

One day he said enough’s enough and he drove it to the beach. As he stood there on the beach he lit one of the fire pits. ‘All you do is cause me grief. All you do is earn me pity. I’m through with you.’, he told his strange appendage. And as quickly as a car passing, he tossed it in the fire. It cried out for a while but eventually everything burns in a fire. 

He almost couldn’t believe his luck. No more crying. No more loose women. No more perfume. No more grief. Now he could wear shorts & run about like everyone. ‘This is easy.’, he though. Easy as pie. From that day on, he did as he pleased.