Thursday, July 29, 2010
Movie and a Book
I've been reading at a tremendous rate recently. Not sure what's up with that but I never complain about having time to read. Plus caught a classic film I'd never seen before.
The Dig by Alan Dean Foster(1995) - I've read Foster before (most especially his books involving Flinx and Pip) and always enjoyed him. So I assumed this would be more of the same when I picked it up at my local library's annual book sale. What I didn't know till I'd finished it was that the book is actually based on a video game. Foster does a lot of novelizations of TV shows, movies and the like. This one didn't really do much for me. The video game roots of the book didn't serve it especially well. My first impression was "These characters sure have dumb names" (Boston Low? Seriously?) I'll give it this, the book starts off pretty well. This is a First Contact story but the most obvious conclusions are ignored over and over by the characters (a meteor suddenly appears in the solar system basically just outside the Moon's orbit. Then it suddenly decelerates and goes into low earth orbit. Somehow it doesn't occur to ANYONE that maybe, just maybe this thing is acting like an artificial artifact NOT a natural one? It stays consistent from there. Whatever they should do they almost certainly DON'T do) setting up the conflict in the story by simply being stupid. Despite the fact that everyone in the story is supposedly quite bright. The ending is obvious by about half way through the book and the conclusion just seems to arrive very abruptly. Not a waste of time but certainly going right back into the give away pile.
Green for Danger (1946) - Not sure how this ended up in my Netflix queue but I'm glad it did. Probably because it stars Alastair Sim. Sim is a wonderful actor (my favorite Scrooge) and lived up to my expectations. Never sure about movies of this vintage. Many are brilliant and many are also really cliched and hackneyed. This one is one of the better class. A war time murder mystery in a small hospital in the English countryside. Seems that one member of a 5 person surgical team killed the local postman. Part of the mystery is why anyone would kill the old geezer. The movie is pretty straight forward till Sim's Inspector Cockrill arrives. Cockrill is very much the modern movie police detective - quick with a quip and with his own set of quirks. The Inspector has a whimsical side and brings a whole new tone to the movie. I will admit that the murderer was not obvious to me even though the clues were there (no surprise twists just good plotting). The cast isn't particularly well known to me other than Sim and Trevor Howard. The "creative team" of Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder (between them they covered most of the writing, producing and directing duties) have more than 60 movies credits each to their resumes. They had a long and productive career together. I would bet that they're virtually unknown in the States but they shouldn't be. I really enjoyed this movie. A good story with a solid cast and only 91 minutes long. What's not to like?
View From the Phlipside - Syfy movies
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
The essence of story telling is the question of “What if...?”. And no genre of story telling dives deeper into that question than science fiction. What if robots were real and looked like people? What if aliens looked like giant bugs and liked the taste of human flesh? What if you could control the basic power of the universe and your father was a bad, bad man?
How about this one? What if a cable television
network decided to let it’s viewers make the decisions on what movies to make for the network? Syfy, the science fiction network with the dumb way of spelling its name, has decided to do just that. They’ve created a web site in partnership with entertainment site IGN called “B Movie Mogul”. Fans will be given the ability to choose everything from the basic concept to character’s final words. Those decisions will form the basis for a made for TV movie to air next year on the network.
Surfing over to the website provides some interesting reading. Our first choice is on basic premise and we are given three. The movie will be about A: The Bermuda Triangle, B: The Roswell crash or C: 2012 and the alleged end of the world. Nothing real exciting or new there but then the website IS called B-Movie Mogul. Which is a fun choice all by itself. Clearly these movies aren’t going to take themselves too seriously. With any luck at all they’ll capture some of the old Roger Corman B movie magic again. With titles like “Sharktopus” and “Mansquito” I’d say they’re headed in the right direction.
Got to admit I enjoyed reading the section on “Rejected Syfy Movies” too. How can you not love concepts like “Lobster Swarm” which involves flying killer lobsters, “TaMantula” your basic science screw up movie, and because you always need a good monster battle film how about “Uber Whale vs. Jumbo Shrimp”? There’s several more titles most of which are at least slightly disturbing so I’ll spare you them.
It’ll be fascinating to see just what the fans at Syfy come up with for the movie. They might even create a new classic. What if?
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
The essence of story telling is the question of “What if...?”. And no genre of story telling dives deeper into that question than science fiction. What if robots were real and looked like people? What if aliens looked like giant bugs and liked the taste of human flesh? What if you could control the basic power of the universe and your father was a bad, bad man?
How about this one? What if a cable television
Surfing over to the website provides some interesting reading. Our first choice is on basic premise and we are given three. The movie will be about A: The Bermuda Triangle, B: The Roswell crash or C: 2012 and the alleged end of the world. Nothing real exciting or new there but then the website IS called B-Movie Mogul. Which is a fun choice all by itself. Clearly these movies aren’t going to take themselves too seriously. With any luck at all they’ll capture some of the old Roger Corman B movie magic again. With titles like “Sharktopus” and “Mansquito” I’d say they’re headed in the right direction.
Got to admit I enjoyed reading the section on “Rejected Syfy Movies” too. How can you not love concepts like “Lobster Swarm” which involves flying killer lobsters, “TaMantula” your basic science screw up movie, and because you always need a good monster battle film how about “Uber Whale vs. Jumbo Shrimp”? There’s several more titles most of which are at least slightly disturbing so I’ll spare you them.
It’ll be fascinating to see just what the fans at Syfy come up with for the movie. They might even create a new classic. What if?
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
View From the Phlipside - FCC
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
There comes a time when you just need to trade in your old stuff and move on to something new. I’m not talking about tossing something perfectly workable aside for the latest fashion. Rather I’m thinking that eventually things become obsolete, worn out and no longer able to fulfill the function for which they were created.
Back in the day the FCC was given oversight of the radio and television airwaves. Control of them was done largely through a licensing system. Every station has to obtain a license and obey certain rules in order to keep it. A basic carrot and stick approach. That worked pretty well for a long time. Well kinda. Now the FCC is also charged with oversight things like satellite and cable communications and the internet. And the carrot and stick don’t work as well.
The Commission spends a lot of time worrying about indecency, whatever that means. It has tightened the rules on obscene language to the point that news reports and documentaries could result in fines of considerable size to the stations. Now even that function is being challenged when a federal appeals court struck down long standing rules as being in violation of the Constitution.
What we’ve got is the equivalent a 1934 vintage police car trying to catch a 2010 sports car. What began with the FCC not wanting to hear George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” turned into trying to fine every single TV station that carried the Super Bowl for airing Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”. The Commission has become increasingly more political in the last 20 years and increasingly more challenged to deal with the modern media world.
We certainly need something. I’m just not sure that Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s solutions work in Barack Obama’s world.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Journalism Rant
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
What follows is a rant. An expression of personal outrage at a complete failure of the media in the last week. Add my voice to those wondering just what happened with the coverage of the Shirley Sherrod speech. Sherrod was the USDA official who was accused of racist comments during a speech before a chapter of the NAACP. She temporarily lost her job because of the furor.
What outrages me in all of this was not the unthinking knee jerk reactions of the White House or the NAACP. This is not a political commentary program. My outrage is directed at the news outlets that failed to perform the most basic level of journalism in their coverage. Journalism 101 teaches that you must always verify the story. That single source stories are to be viewed with a certain scepticism. That you always check the facts before you present them. The coverage on this story was singularly lacking in this particular fundamental practice.
The first warning bells should have gone off with the name of Andrew Brietbart. Brietbart is an advocate, not a journalist. There’s nothing wrong with being an advocate but they operate under a different set of assumptions and rules than journalists. As an advocate there is no call for him to verify whether the quotation was in or out of context. It should have been the first thing a journalist should have done.
Sadly journalism has descended to a place where it is more important to be fast rather than right. There is much ballyhooing of the new age of “citizen journalism”. Unless journalistic standards are respected and taught we must be honest and say that this is not a new age of journalism. It is a return to days of “yellow” journalism and gossip mongering. I truly fear for our republic if that is the best information available for our political discourse.
There is no excuse for what was presented as journalism in this case. A woman’s life and career were very nearly destroyed. All because no one at the White House, the NAACP or the vast majority of the media could be bothered to make a simple check on the veracity of their source.
Call that whatever you like, just don’t call it journalism.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
What outrages me in all of this was not the unthinking knee jerk reactions of the White House or the NAACP. This is not a political commentary program. My outrage is directed at the news outlets that failed to perform the most basic level of journalism in their coverage. Journalism 101 teaches that you must always verify the story. That single source stories are to be viewed with a certain scepticism. That you always check the facts before you present them. The coverage on this story was singularly lacking in this particular fundamental practice.
The first warning bells should have gone off with the name of Andrew Brietbart. Brietbart is an advocate, not a journalist. There’s nothing wrong with being an advocate but they operate under a different set of assumptions and rules than journalists. As an advocate there is no call for him to verify whether the quotation was in or out of context. It should have been the first thing a journalist should have done.
Sadly journalism has descended to a place where it is more important to be fast rather than right. There is much ballyhooing of the new age of “citizen journalism”. Unless journalistic standards are respected and taught we must be honest and say that this is not a new age of journalism. It is a return to days of “yellow” journalism and gossip mongering. I truly fear for our republic if that is the best information available for our political discourse.
There is no excuse for what was presented as journalism in this case. A woman’s life and career were very nearly destroyed. All because no one at the White House, the NAACP or the vast majority of the media could be bothered to make a simple check on the veracity of their source.
Call that whatever you like, just don’t call it journalism.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
View From the Phlipside - iPhone 4
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
Have to admit the most recent furor in the electronic communications world took me a little by surprise. Not the positive furor that came when Apple launched the iPad and the iPhone 4. That’s so ordinary that it’s really rather boring. We expect Apple to come with something new and cool and we expect the Apple sycophants to go totally gaga over them. Yawn.
But this, this is rather stunning. Turns out that iPhone 4 may be, well I shudder to even say this, flawed. They may have gotten something, gulp, wrong. In case you haven’t heard there’s some kind of problem with the reception in some areas on the new Apple phone. Critics claim its a defective antenna, Apple responded by saying it was just a long standing glitch in the software. That’s when I started to grow puzzled. You see NEITHER answer is particularly helpful. If it’s a long standing problem and apparently well known, then why didn’t they fix it? Instead the apparent fix is to hand out free cases for the phone that get you around the whole antenna problem. If that is the problem. Which no one is really admitting just yet.
But the problems just keep piling on. Like when Consumer Reports, arguably the most respected consumer products review publication in the world, decided NOT to recommend the new iPhone. They’d given the thumbs up to all previous iterations but not this one. You can count Consumer Reports in the faulty antenna camp as well. They took a pass on both the software answer and the more quietly bandied about “blame it on AT&T” explanation. Nope, this is all Apple’s fault.
But my favorite line in all of this came from someone at Microsoft. Relations between Apple and Microsoft have always been a bit, shall we say, touchy. Had to hit the “Like” button when I saw the comment that said the iPhone 4 is Apple’s version of Windows Vista. Ouch.
While it’s a great line and very funny it’s also probably a pretty good comparison. Vista started with problems which were relatively quickly solved but no one seems to have taken much notice of that. Everyone remembers the problems.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
But this, this is rather stunning. Turns out that iPhone 4 may be, well I shudder to even say this, flawed. They may have gotten something, gulp, wrong. In case you haven’t heard there’s some kind of problem with the reception in some areas on the new Apple phone. Critics claim its a defective antenna, Apple responded by saying it was just a long standing glitch in the software. That’s when I started to grow puzzled. You see NEITHER answer is particularly helpful. If it’s a long standing problem and apparently well known, then why didn’t they fix it? Instead the apparent fix is to hand out free cases for the phone that get you around the whole antenna problem. If that is the problem. Which no one is really admitting just yet.
But the problems just keep piling on. Like when Consumer Reports, arguably the most respected consumer products review publication in the world, decided NOT to recommend the new iPhone. They’d given the thumbs up to all previous iterations but not this one. You can count Consumer Reports in the faulty antenna camp as well. They took a pass on both the software answer and the more quietly bandied about “blame it on AT&T” explanation. Nope, this is all Apple’s fault.
But my favorite line in all of this came from someone at Microsoft. Relations between Apple and Microsoft have always been a bit, shall we say, touchy. Had to hit the “Like” button when I saw the comment that said the iPhone 4 is Apple’s version of Windows Vista. Ouch.
While it’s a great line and very funny it’s also probably a pretty good comparison. Vista started with problems which were relatively quickly solved but no one seems to have taken much notice of that. Everyone remembers the problems.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Media Contracts
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
Ah the wonderful world of contracts. It’s easy to forget sometimes that all this media we enjoy - communications, entertainment, video, audio, cell phone, internet, books and more would not exist as we know them if there weren’t contracts signed somewhere. Every time you agree to a User’s agreement you are making a contract. If I’m honest I will admit that I never even bother to read them. For the average person clicking on an End User Licensing Agreement that usually not a big deal. But contracts still ARE a big deal and two of them hit the news in the past month.
First we have the case of a local man, western New Yorker Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, claims to have a contract that would give him 84% ownership of Facebook. That would probably be a pretty cool thing to possess. There are questions surrounding this story, like why he waited 7 years to try and enforce the contract. Did he not know that the whole Facebook thing had taken off? I find a couple things curious. First Facebook’s reaction is that the claim is ridiculous followed by the statement that the statute of limitations has run out at the six year mark. If it’s really ridiculous why worry about the statute of limitations? Makes me wonder, it does. The other is how Ceglia can claim ownership of Facebook when his contract appears to pre-date the invention of the website by almost a year.
The other contract is one between William Paul Young, the author of the best selling Christian novel “The Shack”, his original partners at Windblown Media and the unfortunate mainstream publisher Hachette Book Group. The original contract was one of those simple, just between friends in case this thing actually ever sells kind of a deal. 12 million copies later suddenly we’re talking real money and as per usual it’s making people crazy. The only folks I feel sorry for in this are the publishers at Hachette Books. All they want to do is pay someone the royalty money in peace.
Every attorney out there is shaking their head sadly at all this. As much as we like to bash the lawyers they know that these problems could have been solved right from the git go. Instead people pretend that contracts are no big deal. 84% of Facebook? 12 million copies sold? I think I’ll start reading those agreements a little more closely from now on.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
First we have the case of a local man, western New Yorker Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, claims to have a contract that would give him 84% ownership of Facebook. That would probably be a pretty cool thing to possess. There are questions surrounding this story, like why he waited 7 years to try and enforce the contract. Did he not know that the whole Facebook thing had taken off? I find a couple things curious. First Facebook’s reaction is that the claim is ridiculous followed by the statement that the statute of limitations has run out at the six year mark. If it’s really ridiculous why worry about the statute of limitations? Makes me wonder, it does. The other is how Ceglia can claim ownership of Facebook when his contract appears to pre-date the invention of the website by almost a year.
The other contract is one between William Paul Young, the author of the best selling Christian novel “The Shack”, his original partners at Windblown Media and the unfortunate mainstream publisher Hachette Book Group. The original contract was one of those simple, just between friends in case this thing actually ever sells kind of a deal. 12 million copies later suddenly we’re talking real money and as per usual it’s making people crazy. The only folks I feel sorry for in this are the publishers at Hachette Books. All they want to do is pay someone the royalty money in peace.
Every attorney out there is shaking their head sadly at all this. As much as we like to bash the lawyers they know that these problems could have been solved right from the git go. Instead people pretend that contracts are no big deal. 84% of Facebook? 12 million copies sold? I think I’ll start reading those agreements a little more closely from now on.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Reality Romance
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
I must admit to being a bit ambivalent when it comes to reality TV. I either really like the show or I really dislike it. . I really LIKE the ones that offer a bit of a contest of skill and intelligence. Shows like Top Chef and Biggest Loser. On the other hand I really dislike ones that rely on deception and game playing. Never been much of a fan of Survivor as an example. But there is one kind of show that I loath and despise. Call them the Reality Romance shows.
The standard bearers of the odious breed are “The Bachelor” and “The Bachlorette”. I can’t escape the break up of the latest couple whoever they are. I don’t know why anyone is surprised. “The Bachelor”’s track record is AWFUL. 14 couples so far and exactly 1 of them is still together as I write this. “The Bachelorette”’s record is equally bad.
What kills me is when I hear people talking about how romantic this all is. Romantic? A bunch of people lured in by their 15 minutes of stardom and the chance to win some big cash. If you stay together for two years you get to keep all the goodies. This does not sound like “...the beginning of a beautiful friendship” to me. This is the surface appearance of romance, packaged carefully to sucker you in. It’s superficial and shallow and fake. These people don’t know each other and are pushed together in an unreal situation that doesn’t help them learn anything real about one another. All of this is entertainment somehow. Spare me.
Some guy surrounded by a bunch of women who don’t know him from Adam but see some pretty cool prizes connected to him. And a bunch of women trying to figure out just how far they’re willing to go to land this turkey. That, apparently, is romance in America today.
If you’re looking for romance on a TV show let me remind you of the ‘70’s song lyric that says “You’re looking for love in all the wrong places”.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
I must admit to being a bit ambivalent when it comes to reality TV. I either really like the show or I really dislike it. . I really LIKE the ones that offer a bit of a contest of skill and intelligence. Shows like Top Chef and Biggest Loser. On the other hand I really dislike ones that rely on deception and game playing. Never been much of a fan of Survivor as an example. But there is one kind of show that I loath and despise. Call them the Reality Romance shows.
What kills me is when I hear people talking about how romantic this all is. Romantic? A bunch of people lured in by their 15 minutes of stardom and the chance to win some big cash. If you stay together for two years you get to keep all the goodies. This does not sound like “...the beginning of a beautiful friendship” to me. This is the surface appearance of romance, packaged carefully to sucker you in. It’s superficial and shallow and fake. These people don’t know each other and are pushed together in an unreal situation that doesn’t help them learn anything real about one another. All of this is entertainment somehow. Spare me.
Some guy surrounded by a bunch of women who don’t know him from Adam but see some pretty cool prizes connected to him. And a bunch of women trying to figure out just how far they’re willing to go to land this turkey. That, apparently, is romance in America today.
If you’re looking for romance on a TV show let me remind you of the ‘70’s song lyric that says “You’re looking for love in all the wrong places”.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Loop the Lake 2010
Riding around Lake Chautauqua is something of a landmark for cyclists around here. The ride is somewhere between 41 and 43 miles depending on just how you do it. The terrain ranges from long hills to long flats with both urban and rural riding. Most of the roads have decent paved berms, in some cases excellent riding. My church, St. Lukes, has been doing the ride for 8 years (we think) and doing it as a fund raiser for Episcopal Community Services for most of that time.
I mentioned before that this year I set a new goal. Not just to complete the ride but try for a new personal best. The lake basically divides into four sections so I knew I had some basic mile markers to keep me going. The first leg is fairly simple, especially since you do it fresh. The southern side of the lower lake is mostly flat with one short steep section then some moderate hills. I busted through that section over 20 minutes ahead of my internal estimate and completed the entire southern portion in a little over an hour which is well ahead of schedule.
The "third" leg is my least favorite. It is the home of the "Three Sisters" (side note - In local Native American culture the Three Sisters are corn, beans and squash. Three vegetables that not only grow well together but in fact thrive together. They are staples of the traditional local diet. So I'm stealing this image from them and appropriating it for my own. Which is fairly typical sadly), three long climbs that basically ARE the third leg. You ride from Mayville to Point Chautauqua take a quick ride down into Dewittville then climb again to LCLC, ride down into Maple Springs and begin the worst of the three climbs up to Long Point State Park. This is the worst because it comes last when you're pretty well beat and it's a long winding climb that makes you think the peak is almost there only to fool you. I'll take the traditional Three Sisters any day. I was actually doing quite well through this bit and arrived at the end of leg 3 at the 2 hour mark. Which was impressive.
With that in mind I took at short break for some water and a couple of orange wedges and pushed on. I completed the fourth leg in another hour which put me in Jamestown at the south end of the lake at the 3 hour mark. Now my previous best was 3:50 and I was aiming at 3:30 - 3:45 so I figured I was in great shape. All I needed to do was make the turn around the end of the lake and travel a handful of miles back to the start finish line. Piece of cake.
Two problems. By then my legs were shot. I pushed as hard as I could but needed to keep coasting to take a break. The final insult was when I made the final turn up lake for a quick couple of final miles and turned right into a nasty headwind. I wasn't sure just how bad it was till I saw some yard pinwheels trying to go supersonic. It was too much. I put my head down and just tried to stay on the near side of 3.5 hours.
And it worked. I arrived back at my starting point in 3 hours 28 minutes and change. 22 minutes better than my previous mark and ahead of my goals. And totally spent.
The ride would have been more fun if I'd been able to find my earphones so I could listen to the music I'd loaded on the iPod just for this run but they refused to cooperate. Still can't find them. And without that head wind I think I might have cracked 3:25. Even so it was a great ride. As always great to sit around after with the other riders, many of whom I'd never met, and talk about the ride and other things.
On the whole a pretty good day.
I'll go fall down now.
Peace
I mentioned before that this year I set a new goal. Not just to complete the ride but try for a new personal best. The lake basically divides into four sections so I knew I had some basic mile markers to keep me going. The first leg is fairly simple, especially since you do it fresh. The southern side of the lower lake is mostly flat with one short steep section then some moderate hills. I busted through that section over 20 minutes ahead of my internal estimate and completed the entire southern portion in a little over an hour which is well ahead of schedule.
The "third" leg is my least favorite. It is the home of the "Three Sisters" (side note - In local Native American culture the Three Sisters are corn, beans and squash. Three vegetables that not only grow well together but in fact thrive together. They are staples of the traditional local diet. So I'm stealing this image from them and appropriating it for my own. Which is fairly typical sadly), three long climbs that basically ARE the third leg. You ride from Mayville to Point Chautauqua take a quick ride down into Dewittville then climb again to LCLC, ride down into Maple Springs and begin the worst of the three climbs up to Long Point State Park. This is the worst because it comes last when you're pretty well beat and it's a long winding climb that makes you think the peak is almost there only to fool you. I'll take the traditional Three Sisters any day. I was actually doing quite well through this bit and arrived at the end of leg 3 at the 2 hour mark. Which was impressive.
With that in mind I took at short break for some water and a couple of orange wedges and pushed on. I completed the fourth leg in another hour which put me in Jamestown at the south end of the lake at the 3 hour mark. Now my previous best was 3:50 and I was aiming at 3:30 - 3:45 so I figured I was in great shape. All I needed to do was make the turn around the end of the lake and travel a handful of miles back to the start finish line. Piece of cake.
Two problems. By then my legs were shot. I pushed as hard as I could but needed to keep coasting to take a break. The final insult was when I made the final turn up lake for a quick couple of final miles and turned right into a nasty headwind. I wasn't sure just how bad it was till I saw some yard pinwheels trying to go supersonic. It was too much. I put my head down and just tried to stay on the near side of 3.5 hours.
And it worked. I arrived back at my starting point in 3 hours 28 minutes and change. 22 minutes better than my previous mark and ahead of my goals. And totally spent.
The ride would have been more fun if I'd been able to find my earphones so I could listen to the music I'd loaded on the iPod just for this run but they refused to cooperate. Still can't find them. And without that head wind I think I might have cracked 3:25. Even so it was a great ride. As always great to sit around after with the other riders, many of whom I'd never met, and talk about the ride and other things.
On the whole a pretty good day.
I'll go fall down now.
Peace
Thursday, July 15, 2010
So here we go...
I promised to do some more blogging. Some actual real blogging, not just posting the scripts to my radio show.
So as the title says...
It has been very warm here of late. Temps up into the 90s are not common here in Great Lakes country. But we've managed to muddle along.
Senior High Conference went very well. Had a generally good teaching series (one session that wasn't up to snuff in my opinion but it wasn't awful. Just dull)
Day after tomorrow I will take on one of the big physical challenges of the summer - the Loop the Lake ride
Somewhere around 42 miles, fair number of hills. The steepest tend to be short but a couple of them are a mile or more long. When I started doing this ride (which St. Luke's Jamestown now sponsors as a fund raiser for Episcopal Community Services - the outreach arm of our Diocese) my goal was just to finish without dying. This year my goal is to set a new personal best time. Looking back for my benchmark turned out to be a bit murky. A couple years ago I did it in 4 hours, and last year my time was 3 hours and 50 minutes start to finish but I took a long break (too long, I started to stiffen up). I figure my total cycling time was around 3:24. But to make it clear and fair I'm looking at total time from start to finish. Breaks are part of the run. So my goal is between 3:30 and 3:45 total cycling time. Which would seem eminently doable. I've been averaging over 12 MPH on my practice runs. The question is can I hold about a 12.5 MPH average for the overall ride? We'll see.
Other than that we have four tomato plants going. Three are thriving and one isn't. Which is better than usual. Summer is busy time at our house. My two ladies are working away steadily. The younger lady of the house is starting to wrap her mind around the bizarre concept that school is now over. Just like the song says "School's out for-ever!"
There a little bit of catching up done. 9 AM Eastern time Saturday keep me in your prayers as I set off on my ride.
Peace
So as the title says...
It has been very warm here of late. Temps up into the 90s are not common here in Great Lakes country. But we've managed to muddle along.
Senior High Conference went very well. Had a generally good teaching series (one session that wasn't up to snuff in my opinion but it wasn't awful. Just dull)
Day after tomorrow I will take on one of the big physical challenges of the summer - the Loop the Lake ride
Somewhere around 42 miles, fair number of hills. The steepest tend to be short but a couple of them are a mile or more long. When I started doing this ride (which St. Luke's Jamestown now sponsors as a fund raiser for Episcopal Community Services - the outreach arm of our Diocese) my goal was just to finish without dying. This year my goal is to set a new personal best time. Looking back for my benchmark turned out to be a bit murky. A couple years ago I did it in 4 hours, and last year my time was 3 hours and 50 minutes start to finish but I took a long break (too long, I started to stiffen up). I figure my total cycling time was around 3:24. But to make it clear and fair I'm looking at total time from start to finish. Breaks are part of the run. So my goal is between 3:30 and 3:45 total cycling time. Which would seem eminently doable. I've been averaging over 12 MPH on my practice runs. The question is can I hold about a 12.5 MPH average for the overall ride? We'll see.
Other than that we have four tomato plants going. Three are thriving and one isn't. Which is better than usual. Summer is busy time at our house. My two ladies are working away steadily. The younger lady of the house is starting to wrap her mind around the bizarre concept that school is now over. Just like the song says "School's out for-ever!"
There a little bit of catching up done. 9 AM Eastern time Saturday keep me in your prayers as I set off on my ride.
Peace
A total geek intersection of my life
I've just been feeling guilty about not posting anything other than the radio scripts here and I promise to amend my ways very soon. But as soon as I saw this I KNEW I was posting it on the blog.
The intersection of my love of movies and theater:
Love it! The reactions are great too. Especially the couple people who start looking worried when the Storm Troopers arrive.
h/t to Chris at Youth Ministry Geek
The intersection of my love of movies and theater:
Love it! The reactions are great too. Especially the couple people who start looking worried when the Storm Troopers arrive.
h/t to Chris at Youth Ministry Geek
View From the Phlipside - Mind Games
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
If you think about it we live in rather amazing times. Beyond instant communications with computers and cell phones, we have cars that park themselves (I still don’t have any idea how that works but apparently it does), ATMS that can read checks and toll booths that collect your fees on the interstate without even stopping. But all of that may pale completely with what may be coming next in the gaming world. How about playing your games using only...your mind?
It comes from a company in California called NeuroSky Brain-Computer Interface Technologies. Last year they began selling their technology to companies like Mattel. The bit in question is called “Mindflex” a headset with a small sensor that reads brain waves looking for patterns. Those patterns are then used to have effect on the games being played. At the moment it’s mostly simple things. For example there’s a game where you direct blasts of air at a small foam ball, all controlled by your mind. NeuroSky has also come up with a video game where you can light objects on fire on the screen by concentrating or make them float by relaxing. Obviously as they continue to work on the technology more and more could be done with it. I can hear the World of Warcraft and other first person shooter games salivating at the very thought.
But what’s really cool is that the exact same technology offers many more serious and amazing possibilities. Beginning with issues like memory loss and anger management it may also lead to advances with prosthetics for people who have lost limbs. Imagine actually being able to connect the new limbs to the brain! I will admit that some of what’s being discussed sounds a bit scary to me as well. Eventually they believe that they will be able to plant the sensor directly into the brain. I’ve watched enough science fiction movies to be worried about that.
I’d be happy enough if I could just play my Tiger Woods golf game entirely with my mind.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
If you think about it we live in rather amazing times. Beyond instant communications with computers and cell phones, we have cars that park themselves (I still don’t have any idea how that works but apparently it does), ATMS that can read checks and toll booths that collect your fees on the interstate without even stopping. But all of that may pale completely with what may be coming next in the gaming world. How about playing your games using only...your mind?
It comes from a company in California called NeuroSky Brain-Computer Interface Technologies. Last year they began selling their technology to companies like Mattel. The bit in question is called “Mindflex” a headset with a small sensor that reads brain waves looking for patterns. Those patterns are then used to have effect on the games being played. At the moment it’s mostly simple things. For example there’s a game where you direct blasts of air at a small foam ball, all controlled by your mind. NeuroSky has also come up with a video game where you can light objects on fire on the screen by concentrating or make them float by relaxing. Obviously as they continue to work on the technology more and more could be done with it. I can hear the World of Warcraft and other first person shooter games salivating at the very thought. But what’s really cool is that the exact same technology offers many more serious and amazing possibilities. Beginning with issues like memory loss and anger management it may also lead to advances with prosthetics for people who have lost limbs. Imagine actually being able to connect the new limbs to the brain! I will admit that some of what’s being discussed sounds a bit scary to me as well. Eventually they believe that they will be able to plant the sensor directly into the brain. I’ve watched enough science fiction movies to be worried about that.
I’d be happy enough if I could just play my Tiger Woods golf game entirely with my mind.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Movie Piracy
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
Part of this story is very serious. The rest however is either deeply ironic or just absurdly amusing. Maybe it’s both.
The serious part has to do with movie piracy. The real downside of the digital revolution is how easy it is to steal and mass
produce copies of all kinds of media files. Audio, video whatever can be copied on even the most basic computer. If left in a digital form and shared on the internet the ability to cut into the profits of the artists and companies creating those pieces is absolutely enormous.
I’ve talked before about some practices in the music industry that have probably done more damage to the industry itself than to the pirates. The reality is that some kind of solution has to be found that offers the buyer a reasonable ability to make use of the product they buy while protecting the long term interests and businesses of the producers. At the moment the systems most end users like don’t leave much room for the producers and the ones the producers like put a stranglehold on the consumer.
This is becoming a real problem for the movie industry, especially in places like Spain. Spanish law only makes piracy illegal if you are doing it for profit. So Spanish movie lovers feel no compunction what so ever about going around the movie companies and just downloading bootleg versions off the internet. Without the law on their side the movie companies don’t have much room to maneuver. The situation is so bad that Sony Pictures is thinking about getting out of the Spanish DVD retail business all together. That’s a potential major hit to the bottom line for Hollywood at a time when they don’t really need to see any more hits.
So that’s the serious part. What’s the funny/ironic part? Well that would be that Warner Bros., a leader in the anti-piracy fight here in the United States is currently being sued by a German company that makes, wait for it, anti-piracy technology. According to the suit filed in the spring of this year Warner Bros. began using the technology, without paying for it, back in 2004. That’s right Warner Bros. allegedly is using anti-piracy technology that it...pirated.
Your whole sympathy quotient for the movie industry just dropped a couple points, didn’t it? Yeah, mine too.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
Part of this story is very serious. The rest however is either deeply ironic or just absurdly amusing. Maybe it’s both.
The serious part has to do with movie piracy. The real downside of the digital revolution is how easy it is to steal and mass
produce copies of all kinds of media files. Audio, video whatever can be copied on even the most basic computer. If left in a digital form and shared on the internet the ability to cut into the profits of the artists and companies creating those pieces is absolutely enormous.I’ve talked before about some practices in the music industry that have probably done more damage to the industry itself than to the pirates. The reality is that some kind of solution has to be found that offers the buyer a reasonable ability to make use of the product they buy while protecting the long term interests and businesses of the producers. At the moment the systems most end users like don’t leave much room for the producers and the ones the producers like put a stranglehold on the consumer.
This is becoming a real problem for the movie industry, especially in places like Spain. Spanish law only makes piracy illegal if you are doing it for profit. So Spanish movie lovers feel no compunction what so ever about going around the movie companies and just downloading bootleg versions off the internet. Without the law on their side the movie companies don’t have much room to maneuver. The situation is so bad that Sony Pictures is thinking about getting out of the Spanish DVD retail business all together. That’s a potential major hit to the bottom line for Hollywood at a time when they don’t really need to see any more hits.
So that’s the serious part. What’s the funny/ironic part? Well that would be that Warner Bros., a leader in the anti-piracy fight here in the United States is currently being sued by a German company that makes, wait for it, anti-piracy technology. According to the suit filed in the spring of this year Warner Bros. began using the technology, without paying for it, back in 2004. That’s right Warner Bros. allegedly is using anti-piracy technology that it...pirated.
Your whole sympathy quotient for the movie industry just dropped a couple points, didn’t it? Yeah, mine too.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
View From the Phlipside - LeBron and the Decision
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
Well it lasted right around a month, claiming to be a major moment in sports and ended in a massive television event. It was a huge splashy event that turned out to be a massive disaster.
Oh did you think I was talking about the World Cup? Oh no I’m thinking about “The Decision”. You know, that whole LeBron
James thing.
In case you managed to avoid hearing about this (and you need to tell me how you managed that) James, one of the young stars of the NBA announced his decision on where he would be playing basketball for the next six years.
Now I’m not a basketball fan and this is not a sports commentary program. So what draws my attention is what a disaster it has become for LeBron James.
Start with making a simple decision into a major event. Yes, he’s one of the top players in the league. Yes the team signing him will gain a huge talent. But players change teams every year. Big name players change teams every couple years. So is this REALLY that big a story? Clearly Team LeBron wanted just that. This was their script. As it went along it just got worse. Suddenly there was an hour long special dedicated to something that could be expressed in a single sentence. Once the show started LeBron made a crucial mistake. He began to refer to himself in the third person. No one, not even the Queen, should refer to themselves in the third person. It just sounds stupid. At this point LeBron has made himself appear to be astoundingly self involved. Yet, he wasn’t done. After the decision was made and he arrived in Miami he tweets the words “The Road to history begins here”. That’s probably the terms that LeBron’s advisors saw this whole little drama in, history.
The greatest players have always let their play make the statement and let history take care of itself. They also remember that the road to history is filled with defeat and unfulfilled promise. The smart man allows history to come to him. It’s a lesson LeBron may learn the hard way.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Well it lasted right around a month, claiming to be a major moment in sports and ended in a massive television event. It was a huge splashy event that turned out to be a massive disaster.
Oh did you think I was talking about the World Cup? Oh no I’m thinking about “The Decision”. You know, that whole LeBron
James thing. In case you managed to avoid hearing about this (and you need to tell me how you managed that) James, one of the young stars of the NBA announced his decision on where he would be playing basketball for the next six years.
Now I’m not a basketball fan and this is not a sports commentary program. So what draws my attention is what a disaster it has become for LeBron James.
Start with making a simple decision into a major event. Yes, he’s one of the top players in the league. Yes the team signing him will gain a huge talent. But players change teams every year. Big name players change teams every couple years. So is this REALLY that big a story? Clearly Team LeBron wanted just that. This was their script. As it went along it just got worse. Suddenly there was an hour long special dedicated to something that could be expressed in a single sentence. Once the show started LeBron made a crucial mistake. He began to refer to himself in the third person. No one, not even the Queen, should refer to themselves in the third person. It just sounds stupid. At this point LeBron has made himself appear to be astoundingly self involved. Yet, he wasn’t done. After the decision was made and he arrived in Miami he tweets the words “The Road to history begins here”. That’s probably the terms that LeBron’s advisors saw this whole little drama in, history.
The greatest players have always let their play make the statement and let history take care of itself. They also remember that the road to history is filled with defeat and unfulfilled promise. The smart man allows history to come to him. It’s a lesson LeBron may learn the hard way.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Bad PR move
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
In my family we have a rule. It’s called the self inflicted injury rule. Quite simply if you do something dumb and end up hurting yourself no one is required to offer you any sympathy. Sadly I must report that I am probably the most common recipient of a ruling of self inflicted injury. The two ladies in my life being kind, compassionate souls who have resigned themselves to living with all my little failings usually are generous without a strict interpretation of the rule. I am deeply grateful for that.
Needless to say I am not that generous outside my own inner circle. Which allows me to take the good folks at Best Buy to task for making a very tiny little piece of silliness into a major internet event.
It all began with a 25 year old Best Buy mobile phone
salesman named Brian Maupin. Brian really wants a career in digital animation and was messing around with an online service that will take your script and turn it into a quickie animated video. I’ve used the service, Xtra Normal, myself. It’s very easy and fun. In this case Brian used it to create an obscenity laced parody of the mindless devotion of some customers to anything with an Apple logo on it. Like the new iPhone 4. Now note that there is NO mention of Best Buy anywhere in the video. Nor is that any visual signs of the company either. The entire parody is of the rabid, brain dead responses of the customer. Despite the gratuitous obscenity it’s actually very funny.
Well I thought so. Best Buy? Not so much. The video developed a huge following, it’s well over a million views, when someone at corporate saw it and did the math. At which point Brian was told to remove all other videos on his website that did mention Best Buy. He has a very small video company with a couple of his buds. Then they asked him to quit. He declined. So they’ve suspended him and told him that they are working on terminating his employment.
Remember if it hadn’t been for Best Buy drawing attention to the fact that Brian worked for them you would have NO WAY OF KNOWING the video was connected to them at all! Instead of having a quiet word with Brian and letting this all have it’s moment in the sun then disappearing they’ve made it a “thing”. The kind of thing that gets media commentators, oh say like me, to perk up our ears and start nosing around. Now they look ham handed in their PR efforts and like a dictatorial employer that may lash out at you for anything they don’t much like in your private life.
And those are completely self inflicted wounds. Nice job guys.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
In my family we have a rule. It’s called the self inflicted injury rule. Quite simply if you do something dumb and end up hurting yourself no one is required to offer you any sympathy. Sadly I must report that I am probably the most common recipient of a ruling of self inflicted injury. The two ladies in my life being kind, compassionate souls who have resigned themselves to living with all my little failings usually are generous without a strict interpretation of the rule. I am deeply grateful for that.
Needless to say I am not that generous outside my own inner circle. Which allows me to take the good folks at Best Buy to task for making a very tiny little piece of silliness into a major internet event.
It all began with a 25 year old Best Buy mobile phone
salesman named Brian Maupin. Brian really wants a career in digital animation and was messing around with an online service that will take your script and turn it into a quickie animated video. I’ve used the service, Xtra Normal, myself. It’s very easy and fun. In this case Brian used it to create an obscenity laced parody of the mindless devotion of some customers to anything with an Apple logo on it. Like the new iPhone 4. Now note that there is NO mention of Best Buy anywhere in the video. Nor is that any visual signs of the company either. The entire parody is of the rabid, brain dead responses of the customer. Despite the gratuitous obscenity it’s actually very funny.Well I thought so. Best Buy? Not so much. The video developed a huge following, it’s well over a million views, when someone at corporate saw it and did the math. At which point Brian was told to remove all other videos on his website that did mention Best Buy. He has a very small video company with a couple of his buds. Then they asked him to quit. He declined. So they’ve suspended him and told him that they are working on terminating his employment.
Remember if it hadn’t been for Best Buy drawing attention to the fact that Brian worked for them you would have NO WAY OF KNOWING the video was connected to them at all! Instead of having a quiet word with Brian and letting this all have it’s moment in the sun then disappearing they’ve made it a “thing”. The kind of thing that gets media commentators, oh say like me, to perk up our ears and start nosing around. Now they look ham handed in their PR efforts and like a dictatorial employer that may lash out at you for anything they don’t much like in your private life.
And those are completely self inflicted wounds. Nice job guys.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Superman the Musical
Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
I came across an article about a newly opened musical revival of a Broadway flop and realized I didn’t know which surprised me more. That the musical had been made in the first place or that someone was trying to revive it. The scale is almost perfectly balanced by both surprises.
I must admit that I never knew that someone had not only written a Superman musical but that it had run on Broadway for almost 130 performances. The original was offered up in the mid-60’s when the button down image of the Clark Kent/Superman look was not particularly fashionable. My research also indicates that there wasn’t much of a story line, called the book, for the original. It had a couple good songs and a decent cast but disappeared without much of a ripple.
Some 40 years later the Dallas Theater Center has debuted an update of the original. The Center’s director Kevin Moriarty brought two of his childhood obsessions, musicals and The Man of Steel, back together again. Working with the original musical composers, Broadway legends Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (think Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie and) plus a well respected writer with a background at Marvel Comics AND playwrighting Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and they were off and running.
The show has just debuted in Dallas in the last two weeks. Reviews are generally pretty good. Some reviews indicate there are some rough spots but that should be expected for any brand new version of a show. The cast presents some interesting new looks. Not only is Lois Lane a much more assertive professional woman she is being played by an African American actress, Zakiya Young. When asked if she thought audiences would be troubled by that she laughingly shrugged it off noting that Superman was from outer space anyway.
Early ticket sales have been pretty good apparently if only from the curious.
So what then to make of all of this? Even the original got pretty good reviews though it never generated much of an audience. In the hands of some like Moriaty gives it a good head start since he has such a devotion to both the genre and the character. Add in talented writing and the flexibility of Strouse and Adams to add tunes, drop others and juggle things around and it just might work.
“It’s a Bird...It’s a Plane...It’s Superman” has until the end of the month to prove if it can fly.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
I came across an article about a newly opened musical revival of a Broadway flop and realized I didn’t know which surprised me more. That the musical had been made in the first place or that someone was trying to revive it. The scale is almost perfectly balanced by both surprises.
Some 40 years later the Dallas Theater Center has debuted an update of the original. The Center’s director Kevin Moriarty brought two of his childhood obsessions, musicals and The Man of Steel, back together again. Working with the original musical composers, Broadway legends Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (think Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie and) plus a well respected writer with a background at Marvel Comics AND playwrighting Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and they were off and running.
The show has just debuted in Dallas in the last two weeks. Reviews are generally pretty good. Some reviews indicate there are some rough spots but that should be expected for any brand new version of a show. The cast presents some interesting new looks. Not only is Lois Lane a much more assertive professional woman she is being played by an African American actress, Zakiya Young. When asked if she thought audiences would be troubled by that she laughingly shrugged it off noting that Superman was from outer space anyway.
Early ticket sales have been pretty good apparently if only from the curious.
So what then to make of all of this? Even the original got pretty good reviews though it never generated much of an audience. In the hands of some like Moriaty gives it a good head start since he has such a devotion to both the genre and the character. Add in talented writing and the flexibility of Strouse and Adams to add tunes, drop others and juggle things around and it just might work.
“It’s a Bird...It’s a Plane...It’s Superman” has until the end of the month to prove if it can fly.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Mega corporation follies
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
There was a time back in the what, ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, when it seemed like every big company had one goal. To become even bigger. To have a finger in every possible pie and expand their reach. Seems to me that within a decade those same companies began to sell off many of those businesses. They were referred to as “non-core” businesses. In other words they were companies that offered services or made products or competed in markets that the parent company simply didn’t understand very well. And they had discovered that not knowing what you were doing was really a bad business plan.
Somehow that lesson doesn’t seem to have made the jump to some of the big technology companies. They seem intent on doing the same thing all over again. I begin to wonder if the result will be any better.
Take a look at Microsoft’s desperate attempts to create consumer products. In other words the devices that use all that spiffy software they create. Time and again they come up short. The Zune has made no noticeable impression on the iPod, the tablet computer they were talking up died virtually the instant the iPad debuted and an mobile phone they spent two years developing, the Kin, was killed only months after it’s launch. Apple is bound and determined to move into the TV business, even though they crashed and burned once in this field (and they’re not alone in that) and Google is now into the Voice over Internet Protocol business, is planning a music service later this year and apparently is thinking about moving into the bookstore business as well.
To be perfectly honest I’m not a big fan of super corporations. No matter what business they are in. I’ve talked before about my reservations concerning Apple’s tendency to place themselves in the parental role over what I can and can not access through their devices. I have great respect for expertise. If I want to buy a book I want to talk with someone who knows, lives and breathes books, same for music, movies, TV and even the devices I may use to see, read or hear them.
The track record for corporate jacks of all trades is pretty poor. My bet is that isn’t about to change. Looks like some folks are just slow to learn.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
There was a time back in the what, ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, when it seemed like every big company had one goal. To become even bigger. To have a finger in every possible pie and expand their reach. Seems to me that within a decade those same companies began to sell off many of those businesses. They were referred to as “non-core” businesses. In other words they were companies that offered services or made products or competed in markets that the parent company simply didn’t understand very well. And they had discovered that not knowing what you were doing was really a bad business plan.
Somehow that lesson doesn’t seem to have made the jump to some of the big technology companies. They seem intent on doing the same thing all over again. I begin to wonder if the result will be any better.
Take a look at Microsoft’s desperate attempts to create consumer products. In other words the devices that use all that spiffy software they create. Time and again they come up short. The Zune has made no noticeable impression on the iPod, the tablet computer they were talking up died virtually the instant the iPad debuted and an mobile phone they spent two years developing, the Kin, was killed only months after it’s launch. Apple is bound and determined to move into the TV business, even though they crashed and burned once in this field (and they’re not alone in that) and Google is now into the Voice over Internet Protocol business, is planning a music service later this year and apparently is thinking about moving into the bookstore business as well.
To be perfectly honest I’m not a big fan of super corporations. No matter what business they are in. I’ve talked before about my reservations concerning Apple’s tendency to place themselves in the parental role over what I can and can not access through their devices. I have great respect for expertise. If I want to buy a book I want to talk with someone who knows, lives and breathes books, same for music, movies, TV and even the devices I may use to see, read or hear them.
The track record for corporate jacks of all trades is pretty poor. My bet is that isn’t about to change. Looks like some folks are just slow to learn.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
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