September 5, 2006, 8:03 PM CT

Clash Between Print And Television

The exploding complexity of the media in today's society has set up a clash between traditional media -- print, broadcast television, the recording industry and the corporate giants that own and sponsor them -- and the constantly mutating world of new media -- the Internet, "game worlds" and ever more powerful mobile devices and software.

As MIT's Henry Jenkins explains in his new book, "Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide" (New York University Press), consumers are no longer content to be spoon-fed music, TV, movies and literature. They want to play with it, interact with it, parody it and analyze it -- with or without the by-your-leave of the primary producers.

The battle for turf between the Goliaths of Time Warner and Fox and the masses of little Davids writing, playing and programming in their bedrooms is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, Jenkins says.

"Convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content. ('Convergence Culture') is about the work -- and play -- spectators perform in the new media system".

The book explores a number of case studies in media convergence, which Jenkins, the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities, and founder and director of the Comparative Media Studies (CMS) Program at MIT, defines as "the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want".........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

August 31, 2006, 4:00 PM CT

The Real Miniplayer

Is Meizu making its Miniplayer smaller? No! Let see properly. It is the new Zino 810 which hass similar design with Meizu's Miniplayer but in smaller dimension. It sizes 74mm x 48mm x 9.3mm and weights only 40g. From the given specification, it is most likely based on the new Rockchip solution.

We have MSC Dino A that cloned iPod Nano. And now, we have Zino that ripoff Miniplayer!........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

August 29, 2006, 8:28 PM CT

Shorts 8 24

Tom Tykwer's Perfume, the Bernd Eichinger-produced adaptation of Patrick Süskind's novel, doesn't open in the States until December 27 and doesn't even open in Gera number of until September 14, but Die Zeit's Katja Nicodemus has seen it. I honestly wish I could report that she likes what she's seen. But:.

Perfume is the work of an assiduous illustrator who doesn't know how to use the novel as a gateway to a world of his own imagination. Tom Tykwer may be a fount of invention and enthusiasm, ideas and visions, but his problem is that the images for all this completely escape him. He's the painter who, equipped with all the paints and brushes, stands in front of his easel, the scene before his eyes, and dreams of transcendence but ends up painting by numbers after all.

Anthony Kaufman on Michael Haneke's forthcoming remake of his own Funny Games with Tim Roth and Naomi Watts: "I can't imagine the English language version will be as cold-hearted and subversive as the original version, but then again, with popular, mainstream films such as Hostel and Saw and the US government making torture an accepted aspect of everyday life, maybe Haneke has an even greater licence to upset than he did in 1997."

Charlotte Higgins talks with Charlize Theron about the doc she's produced, East of Havana: "You have to ask: would I take the free healthcare and education and accept being a prisoner in my soul?".........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

August 29, 2006, 8:24 PM CT

Interview. Jamie Babbit

You know Michael Guillen from The Evening Class (and if you don't, do see his wonderful and quite personal entry in the Friz Freleng Blog-A-Thon and his latest, on Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu). Today sees his first interview for GreenCine, in which he talks with Jamie Babbit not only about her latest feature, The Quiet, but also about what makes the closet such a resilient fixture in Hollywood.

Most critics have found The Quiet frustrating. Cinematical's Martha Fischer, for example, finds it "a movie seething with unrealized potential."

Manohla Dargis in the New York Times: "Neither ambitious enough to take seriously nor sleazy enough to enjoy, The Quiet flirts with the trappings of exploitation cinema without going all the way."

Ella Taylor (LA Weekly/Voice): "The Quiet has an excellent supporting cast in Edie Falco, Martin Donovan, and Katy Mixon, in a minor but more interesting role as the school vixen, and is competently, even lyrically, directed in high definition by Babbit (with input from students at the University of Texas). But thematically the movie never reaches beyond the ready-for-prime-time mentality that specializes in psychological shorthand."

Leading a furious round of Reverse Shot reviews at indieWIRE, Lauren Kaminsky seems pretty ticked off: "[T]his film somehow manages to surpass even American Beauty (to which the filmmakers no doubt hope their effort will be compared) in hateful representations of women, dopily sympathetic men, and heaps of misplaced misogyny." Yikes.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

August 29, 2006, 8:10 PM CT

Tom Cruise Gets New (Smaller) Deal

Well. some would call it a rebound signing. Tom Cruise has himself a new deal just a week after getting dumped by Paramount Pictures. No, it's not with another studio. it's with an investment group.

The good folks over at Movieweb give us the following:

Cruise/Wagner Productions (C/W) has partnered with First and Goal, an investment firm headed by Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder, homebuilding and mortgage banking company NVR chair Dwight Schar and Six Flags prexy-CEO Mark Shapiro.

According to Variety, the deal gives C/W development and overhead costs for two years, with the option to renew long term. A dollar amount was not disclosed. The pact is said to be part one of a three-step process for C/W in setting up an independently operated production shingle post-Paramount. The other two parts of the deal include distribution and finance elements.

From an objective perspective, this (on paper anyway) looks like a pretty good deal for Cruise and his partner Wagner. No, the money won't be nearly as good as it was with his old Paramount deal, but it does offer him a flexibility and freedom he didn't quite have before.

But considering how stupid he's acted with his freedom and flexibility. maybe what he really needed is someone who could hold his leash for him and keep him out of trouble. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

August 29, 2006, 8:02 PM CT

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

The Sarah Connor Chronicles are coming. Yes. the same Sarah Connor from The Terminator franchise. Only she isn't coming to a theater near you. she's coming to a TV screen.

Hot on the heels of the Blade TV series, it look like the Terminator is taking to the airwaves. The good folks over at Comingsoon give us this:

The new installment in the "Terminator" franchise revolves around Connor and her savior son, John Connor. The series will explore what happened to Sarah Connor after the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, when the character went on the run.

The franchise seems to be in experienced hands too. David Nutter will direct. he's also directed the pilots for Smallville and Supernatural, so the dude seems to know what he's doing.I'll admit that I think this is a great idea. Sarah Connor is a terrific character and I'd love to see the events after T:2.

There isn't any word on cast yet, but it's a pretty safe bet that it won't be Linda Hamilton which at first I thought was too bad. but she is 50 years old now and probably wouldn't fit the bill. What do you think about this?........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

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