View From the Phlipside Radio - Talk Show Caller 101

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.

OK something a little different this week.  Call it Talk Show Caller 101, a Phlipside guide to being part of the media.  I was a talk show host here in Jamestown for about a year and there are certain things that just make talk show hosts crazy.  First remember that after commercials, the news and various other obligatory stuff the talk show host really only has a maximum of about 40 minutes of program time in each hour.  Given that most talk show hosts like to hear themselves talk they need a fair portion of that time to show you how smart they are.  This means they need their callers to be good.  So here’s how to do your part.

Rule number 1 - don’t ask the host how they are doing.  This is NOT a social interaction.  This especially annoying if you are the sixth caller in a row to enquire.  This just a waste of time.  The host showed up for work and is talking.  They’re fine.  Move on.

Rule number 2 - don’t say what a big fan of the show you are.  While talk show hosts have ENORMOUS egos they know that people who hate their show DON’T CALL.  If you are calling you probably like the show at least a little.  Another time waster.  The only exception to this is “Long time listener, first time caller line”.  You can use this exactly once.

Rule number three - introducing yourself “Hi this is Jay from Jamestown”.  If the host introduces all his callers “Next up is Bob from Bemus Point” then the host has a screen with all this info on it.  By repeating his intro you sound idiotic and waste time (seeing the pattern here).  If the host DOESN’T do intros then it’s OK, but don’t linger over it.

Finally we have the most important rule, Rule number 4 - pick a single topic or subject before you get on the air.  There is nothing more annoying than a caller who gets on and rambles for a minute or so then just when the host is going to say “Gotta move on, thanks for the call” the caller says “But what I really called about is...”.  When I was a talk show host I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the person who said this.  Why are you wasting my limited air time with stuff that isn’t what you really wanted to talk about?

Follow these simple rules and you will become the darling of your favorite talk show.  When your name comes up they will always make sure to get you on the air because you will be talk show gold.

And I won’t have to listen to any more awful talk show callers.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Movie Madness

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’ve talked before about the challenges facing artists in the new digital world when it comes to getting paid for their work.  The new paradigms seems to work on the basis that many people will only pay for something if they are absolutely forced to do it.  This creates a real problem for the creative people.  They make their living from the sale of their product, music, books, movies, TV shows and the like.  Because make an infinite number of digital copies is infinitely easy trying to figure out a way to be fair to everyone is a huge issue.  

The recording industry tried the blunt instrument approach by basically suing everyone for as much money as possible.  This created a huge negative reaction and turned out to be a financial flop.  It cost more in court and attorneys fees than they ever made by suing college students who were downloading the latest Eminem tunes through internet sites.  There are also the DRMs, that’s digital rights management which is computer code that restricts your ability to make copies of the product.  That gives much better protection the artist or copyright owner but makes it largely impossible for the buying public to do simple things like loan a book to a friend.  There’s a booming business in circumventing DRM codes.  So the search goes on for some kind of middle way.

Maybe the dumbest attempt is the one by the folks at Warner Brothers, the great movie studio.  According a lawsuit filed against them Warner Brothers went to the online file hosting site Hotfile and complained about people putting pirated materials belong to Warner on the site.  Hotfile responded by giving the WB folks a tool that allowed them remove any illegal content from the site.  The idea was that they would eliminate anything that belonged to them.  It appears that the power went to their head.  They began to eliminate all kinds of files that had nothing to do with Warner Brothers and then went to Hotfile to make a deal where they could offer Warner Brothers materials to folks who had lost files on Hotfile because of Warner Brothers unethical eliminations.  Hotfile repeatedly warned the studio to knock it off and finally went to court claiming, quoting now “...violation of the DMCA, intentional interference with a contractual or business relationship and negligence" driven by economic interest.”

Once again an industry has tried to protect it’s legitimate economic interests in a way that will end up costing them a small fortune.  You’d think these folks could be more creative than that.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Self Inflicted Wounds

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 spent a lot of time trying to come up with just the right metaphor or image or whatever for this story.  And none of them seemed to fit.  Then I remember a basic rule in my family.  There’s no sympathy for a self inflicted wound.  If you hurt yourself by being stupid you get no sympathy.  So I have no sympathy for the folks at Netflix.  They are on a truly horrible roll and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Earlier in the summer Netflix drew immense negative reaction when they suddenly announced they were splitting DVD service and streaming video services and changed the fee structure.  They lost significant numbers of subscribers.  So you’d figure they be trying to smooth things over at this point.  On Sunday Netflix CEO Reed Hastings found a way to make it all worse.  Netflix is in fact splitting the company spinning off the DVD section.  And they are making every possible mistake along the way.  First they are sacrificing one of the most valuable assets any business has, name recognition.  The DVD service will no longer be Netflix but something called Qwikster.  Beyond losing the brand loyalty built into the old name they’ve chosen a meaningless, stupid name. Netflix combines two familiar terms for the internet and the movies.  It’s a perfect name for the service.  What the heck is a Qwikster?

But it keeps getting worse.  Because these will now be treated as completely different companies they will now have two completely separate web sites.  So if you actually decided to hang onto both the DVD and streaming services after the price increase you are now stuck having to deal with two different bills and two websites.  That’s right Netflix has decided to make your more complicated as well as charge you more money for it. It’s a truly astounding example of self inflicted wound after self inflicted wound after self inflicted wound.

How bad is it really?  One day after the Netflix announcement you found news stories titled “Are Netflix’s Best Days Behind Them?”, and “Is Netflix Committing Suicide?” and an article exploring all the other companies whose services could replace your Netflix account.  Netflix stock has lost almost 50% of its value just this year.

And they get no sympathy from this corner.  Not for self inflicted wounds.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Football pool update

I'm going to focus on the positives.  I'm going to focus on the positives.  Still have the Monday night game to go but I only missed two games this week.  Atlanta was a better team than I thought.  Tip my hat to Matty Ice and the Birds.

On the other hand THE BALTIMORE RAVENS SUCK!  Losing to a very mediocre Tennessee team and killing me by losing my 14 point game.  Atlanta was only my 4 point game.

At the same time I was #20 for the week and if the Giants win I'll move up another handful of slots.  If they lose I shouldn't be affected.  Pretty much everyone has the Giants so a loss is a wash.  I have more points riding on this game than most of the folks right above me so a win is a win for me.  I'm also #20 in the season standings now with a 68.5% correct pick rate.  A Giants win probably won't move me more than a slot or two in the overall.  But Top 20 isn't a bad place to be right now.

Otherwise the Bills were truly impressive and I may have to re-assess my opinion of Cam Newton.  It's only two games but fairly amazing two games.  Pittsburgh did what I expected, got nasty after being humiliated.

Reading, reading, reading!

Books have been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember.  Been doing some reading recently:

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich - I don't remember who turned me on to these books  just that it was someone from my extended church family.  I should probably thank them or buy them a donut.  I LOVE the Stephanie Plum series.  How much?  This book is 310 pages and I read it all in about 3 hours.  Between the end of dinner and before bed time.  Funny and fun to read.  And Grandma Mazur to boot. I can't remember a character that I look forward to as much as Stephanie's delightfully nuts maternal grandmother.   Plus waiting for the day when her dad finally loses control.   Looking for a series to follow?  Highest recommendation.
I already have the next one in the series "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" and will probably dispatch that tomorrow.

After the Prophet - The Epic Story of the Shia Sunni Split in Islam by Lesley Hazelton - Most Americans know virtually nothing about Islam or it's two major sects.  What gets tossed around as common knowledge is largely wrong and biased.  If you'd like to understand the whos, whats and whys I would strongly recommend this book.  It is an easy read and lays out the landscape of Islam in the years following the death of Mohammed in a clear and concise way.  The book helped me piece together little bits and get a better global understanding of the reasons and causes for the deep seated animosity between these two groups.  It doesn't cover the theology and doctrine of Islam but you'll know a lot more than you did before.

Breath of the Soul by Sister Joan Chittester - I belong to a book group and this is the book that we've been working our way through.  It's a tiny little book but is wonderfully written (as always with Sister Joan) and offers some wonderful insight into a life of prayer and faith.  Each chapter is about 3 pages long but they cover a wide range of ideas and concepts.  Really enjoyed this one.  It's a keeper.

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie - Hard to go wrong with Dame Agatha.  This is the very first of the Miss Marple series and the very first of that series I've ever read.  Not sure what I expected,  a kind of "Murder She Wrote" little old lady detective.  Miss Marple isn't really that at all.  There's a definite style to the English country mystery and this fits to a t.  I enjoyed the story and would certainly read some more.




Legions of Space by Keith Laumer - Another Baen Books release of one of my favorite Sci-Fi authors.  This is two novels and several shorter works.  Just rollicking good stuff.


On the less than thrilling side I've been trying some "popular history" stuff that has left me cold. "How We Got Here", "Stupid History" and "The Slacker's Guide to U.S. History" all try for the breezy style of say James Burke's "The Pinball Effect".  Sadly they don't want to work hard enough to be witty and bright and settle for being snarky and smug.  I wasn't able to finish any of them.  I was offended as a writer and a lover of history.  Read anything by Burke or any of the books in the Mental Floss series.  Don't waste your time with these.  There are more than enough people in our country with truly crappy understandings of history.  Don't become one of them.

View From the Phlipside Radio - DC reboot

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.

Ok I think I’m about to surprise some long time listeners to this show.  In fact I have to admit I’m having a little trouble grasping what I’m about to say myself.

I’ve spent the last couple years grumping about how I don’t like re-mixes and re-boots and just am generally against people messing around too much with the familiar and iconic.  Well I suddenly find myself on the other side of the fence.  That’s right a major re-boot announcement was made just a couple weeks ago and after careful consideration I’m thinking I might just be in favor of it.

I think I need to sit down, I’ll probably get light headed here soon.

The announcement is from the oldest comic company in these United States DC Comics.  Between August 31 and September 30 they will undertake a complete re-launch of the entire DC universe of comics with some dramatic changes for some of their best known characters.  DC has been around for ever and has some of the best known comic superheroes in the world (can you say Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to mention just a few?) but to be honest the business side has been tough.  Of course this is nothing new in the comic industry.  Even when times are good things can be tough.  DC has already done some ground breaking changes like offering the print version and all the digital versions on the same day at the same price.

But it’s the re-boot of some of the characters that grab me.  Batman and Green Lantern are at the top of DC’s sales charts so they’ll see the least change.  At the other end some series are being shut down and replaced.  But Wonder Woman is being taken much more back to her mythological roots.  And Superman.  Superman is getting taken back to his roots too, to the point that DC will issue a brand new Action #1 almost a thousand issues after the original Action #1.  The description of the new young Clark Kent is as a Bruce Springsteen version.  Superman has desperately needed some way to drag him out of the 1930’s paradigm that has hobbled him for the last couple decades.  Could this be it?

It’s a radical change.  But the time might just be right.  This might just be the re-boot that proves the rule.  Or it could be the end of the oldest comic publisher in America.  Gotta admit it’s gonna make it worth checking out some old familiar books.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Amazon vs Libraries

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.

It’s not often that I come across a media story that makes me uncomfortable.  Not creepy uncomfortable just I’m not sure I like this idea.  And that kind of uncomfortable is probably a very bad sign for this particular business model.

The media world in general is very imitative.  If you see someone else doing something and succeeding you immediately try and figure out how you can get in on the same thing.  One

reality TV show is a success and suddenly the whole world is filled with reality TV.  Streaming video is a success online?  Then everybody has to offer streaming video.  Needless to say not everyone does it well which means that some of those folks end up losing a lot of money on bad imitations.

For example we’ve talked about the success of Netflix in offering first DVD rental service then streaming media.  It’s not that they were first but rather that they were the first to really make it fly.  So people start imitating.  Amazon earlier this year decided to jump in.  So far the results are eh.  But Amazon didn’t become Amazon by being shy and retiring in business.  The other way of imitating a success is trying to find a slightly different approach.  And that’s where my discomfort begins.

Amazon is looking at taking the Netflix concept and use it in their prime product line, books.  Word is that you pay a monthly subscription fee just like Netflix and you get access to their massive inventory of books.  Now there’s still lots of details to work out, like hard copy, digital or both?  What kind of payment to the publishers will be needed?  There are others who are already trying this like the folks at booksfree and bookswim.  Neither of whom I’d heard of before this story surfaced.

So what makes me uncomfortable?  It’s that neither of those companies are who has the most to lose in all this.  That would be your local public library.  If Amazon makes a deal for e-books with the major publishers it creates a huge and insurmountable challenge to libraries moving into the digital age.  In times of tight budgets this is a game that the libraries just won’t be able to stay in.  Netflix helped put brick and mortar video stores on the endangered list.  I have an uncomfortable feeling about the outcome of this particular piece of imitation.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Lucas Redux

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.

So here’s our question for today - What is wrong with George Lucas?  George Lucas the man who brought us the iconic movies/series American Graffiti, Star Wars and Indiana Jones.   It would seem he had a grip on the movie making process.  But apparently not.

Here’s the bit he seems to have forgotten.  Once you have created an iconic image or story or whatever you LEAVE IT ALONE!  But not our George.

Earlier this year I discussed the announced Star Wars 3D version scheduled to be inflicted on the movie watching world starting early next year.  I’m still in the 3D is a passing fad (again) camp.  I’ve seen it used really well a couple times and with no particular distinction a couple more.  

But just in case the folks at LucasFilm haven't alienated enough of the Star Wars faithful they’ve now announced that for the upcoming Blu-Ray boxed set they are making more changes to the original material.   This isn’t new, George has done it before.  He’s used improved CGI technology to change things in previous releases.  Now he’s  fiddling around even more.  The change getting the most attention is adding a long Noooooo to Darth Vader’s dialogue when he saves Luke from destruction by the Emperor.  Think Capt Kirk in The Wrath of Khan.  The other is changing the sound Obi Wan uses to scare away the Sand People.  Both sound silly and out of place to my ear.

The reality is that most of the changes are small and only the dedicated fan base will even notice them.  But the other side of the coin is that you don’t fiddle with an icon.  Lucas seemed to realize this when he said that the original DVD releases would be the definitive version.  That was back in 1997!  When you keep fiddling with an icon you’re telling all the fans that they have idolized a lesser creation.  Any artist will tell you that eventually you have to say “OK, I’m done now” and let the work have its own life.  To be constantly adjusting and fiddling and changing says that it’s all about you.  At this point George Lucas needs to step away his movies and stop letting his ego call him to the Dark Side.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Ah football season again

I'm back playing the football pool organized by Aran Walter and the youth community at St. Thomas Episcopal church in Oshkosh Wisconsin.  The pool is called STYGNFLPEC which stands for Saint Thomas Youth Group National Football League something P, something E, something C.  I honestly don't remember.  It's a fun pool just for the bragging rights.

The concept seems easy enough.  Pick the straight up winner of each week's game and then assign a point value to it.  The idea is you assign the highest value to the game you're most confident in and the lowest to the one you have the least faith in.  At the end of the week's games your points are totalled up and the person with the most points at the end of the season wins.  Easy.

Yeah, right.

My goal each year is to finish in the Top 10.  My bottom standard is to finish in the top half of the entire field.  I think I've failed that bottom one once.  I don't believe I've ever finished in the Top 10.

So here we go.  Week 1.  A pretty good week.  I was let down by Cleveland (9 points), Denver (12 points) and NY Giants (14 points).  The Bengals, the Raiders and the Redskins were better out of the box than I expected.  Also missed that the Giants had as many injured.  For a first week (which is traditionally awful for me) 88 points and a 56.26% correct pick percentage was actually pretty good.  To be at the top of this poll I probably need to keep it in the 60% on picks (this weeks top player had 115 points and a 68% pick rate.  Best pick rate was 75% for places 2, 3, and 4.  Obviously they missed a bigger point game or two).  I'm #30 at the moment in  a field of 82.  So I'm OK.  As I said week 1 tends to be awful for me so I'm happy.  If Denver and the NY had come through for me I'd probably be about 10 places higher.  But that's the way it goes.

In case you wondering about why the Steelers didn't get a mention in the "let me down" list I had them as my 1 point game.  I knew that Baltimore certainly could beat them.  Beat them like a drum was NOT what I was expecting.

Next weeks games look like they'll be fun to pick as well.  Sigh.

Movie Updates

Let's see what I've been watching:

Secretariat - (2010)  This was one I meant to see in the theaters and just never got to it.  I'm betting I missed some of the experience because of it.  I remember the time of the film vividly (the early '70s).  I remember the amazing buzz around this big horse.  No one could believe that he was doing what he did.  As it turned out his owner, his trainer, his jockey and Big Red himself believed.  And that was all that was needed.  With each win the buzz grew until that stunning, astounding, not-even-Hollywood-would-try-to-sell-this-ending that actually happened.  Maybe it was just the memories carrying me along but I don't think so.  This is a wonderful movie with some fabulous characters including the horse himself and an outstanding cast.  Well worth seeing.

2012 - (2009)  When this one popped up on one of my movie channels I thought "What movie is this?"  I have no memory of it in the theaters or being advertised or anything.  Weirdly it finished as one of the Top 20 films of the year.  With John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt and Woody Harrelson the cast had plenty of recognizable names.  This is an end of the world flick and isn't too bad.  It just isn't real good either.  The 200 million dollar budget resulted in great effects but as per usual big effects movies leave the story line a little thin.  Not a bad movie for a rainy, lazy afternoon.

The Three Burials of Melchiades Estrada - (2005)  Tommy Lee Jones directorial debut is a movie that is strange and compelling for me.  The story unfolds in pieces that bounce between different times and characters.  Things are never quite what they appear and the ending appeals to me because it was well done, unexpected and decidedly NOT standard Hollywood.  I was particularly impressed by Jones' visual sense.  A couple of times you get just a taste of John Huston's mastery of the wide open western skies. This is not your stock Hollywood movie.  And that may be the best, most complimentary thing I can say about it.  I enjoyed the movie immensely.

The Machinist - (2004) Speaking of not your stock Hollywood movie.  Although once upon a time Hollywood made movies like this.  The first thing you notice about this movie is the Christian Bale's skeletal look.  He dropped something like 60 pounds for the role and wanted to lose more but the director feared for his health.  Given that he had to turn right around and put on all kinds of muscle for his next movie (Batman Begins) they were probably right.  This is a good old fashioned psychological thriller with a large dose of Hitchcock and just a touch of Fellini.  This movie is not casual viewing.  It wants to think, to wonder, quite honestly to be confused.  Visually striking and impressive.  Not surprisingly it did much better worldwide than it did at home.

View From the Phlipside Radio - Social Oldies

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 remember an old Flip Wilson routine.  His character Geraldine Jones would proclaim “When you’re hot you’re hot”.  Well in the world of the social network who is hot just might surprise you.  It surprised me.  And I’m a member of the group that’s hot.

That’s right it’s older folks.  Baby Boomers.  Older Gen X types.  Even among the retired crowd the social networks are having to sit up and pay attention.  In part the reason why the business types are paying attention is because we older folks do something that the young folks don’t.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Young folks are still flocking to the social media sites and they are a huge part of the user group.  On the other hand the largest growth group are us oldsters.  Over 50% of adults over 30 are involved in some kind of social media, like Facebook or LinkedIn.  And for those of us who are over 65 (which lets me out by a fair margin) about a third of that age group are on the social networks.  So the older generation are certainly worth the attention of the media moguls.

The real reason why they are  paying attention is the fact that while we may not be inclined to hit the “Like” button for advertisers we are more likely than the younger generation to actually click on the advertisements.  You can imagine the excitement of the advertisers when they find people who might actually check out their ads rather than clicking on the link that says “See what this girl did when her Father posted on her Facebook page”.  As an aside do yourself a favor.  DON’T click on those links.  They are scams and trying to get your contact info so they can drown you in annoying spam.

Turns out that this could be a big deal.  You see social network sites are now the third most visited category for all internet users.  The younger generation will no doubt be astounded to hear that e-mail is still safely in first place, followed by search engines and then social network.  So a growth in the demographic that actually clicks through (that’s the technical term) on the advertising has to be good news for all.  As usual it looks like the adults will have to pay for the good times of the younger generation.  Ah well.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Starz Strikes

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 think most people who know me would say that I’m a pretty easy going guy.  I don’t get ruffled or ticked off too easily.  But the folks at Starz are really starting to get on my nerves.

You may remember earlier in the year I noted that Starz apparently didn’t value folks like me too highly when they took Dish Network to court for giving long time subscribers like me a year’s worth of Starz for free.  Seems they see themselves only as a value added higher price tier and not for the everyday hoi polloi.  That was fine.  It’ll take a while to drag through the courts and for the time being I was getting my extra movies and even kind of liking the whole Starz package.

Now it turns out that Starz really doesn’t like me (and maybe you too) unless they can put their hand into my pocket.  The latest is in some ways a repeat of the first act.  Except now they are woofing in the direction of Netflix.

Netflix has been in my dog house most of the summer after their announcement that I would have to pay more to get the same service I’ve had for a couple years now.  Suddenly I’m feeling a little more chummy with the folks at the DVD and streaming video service now that Starz has given them the back of their hand.

Here’s the deal, Starz owns the rights to a variety of recent release movies.  If Netflix wants to stream them then they have to pay Starz for the rights.  Since that includes the films of Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures that’s a pretty valuable asset.  Not  a problem, the two had an agreement since 2008.  This time around Netflix offered 300 million dollars.  A year.  More than 10x what it was paying now according to people who should know.
And Starz said no.  You see on top of the annual rights fees Starz wants Netflix to charge the subscribers more with additional cost tiered pricing for access to the Starz stuff.  They want Netflix’s money and my money too.

The idea apparently is to protect their relationship with cable TV and satellite services.  Yeah, folks like Dish.  To me this sounds like shooting yourself in BOTH feet.  Maybe I need to start looking at some other movie services out there.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Two in Trouble?

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.

Over the last couple years we’ve charted the predicted declines of a variety of media types and individual nameplates.  Some, like the print media in various forms, keep hearing their obituaries but never quite seem to fade away.

So I thought it might be interesting to take a look ahead and see who may be next up on that list.  I was rather surprised at the two names that suggested themselves.  The first is Google owned Blogger and the other was the hot ticket just a year ago, Groupon.

Let’s take age before beauty.  Once upon a time Blogger was the name in online journalling, otherwise known as blogging.  A decade back this was the brain child of Evan Williams the guy who would go on to co-found Twitter.  In 2003 Google stepped up and bought the store.  It would seem like the perfect scenario.  Google is everywhere and doing lots of things very well (not everything mind you but their batting average is pretty good).  Unfortunately they haven’t spent much time with Blogger since then and it has taken a huge slide.  Today WordPress represents almost 55% of the blogging world while Blogger has dropped to about 3%.  A new dashboard has been added but this is one Blogger, well blogger, that has tried it and turned it off.  It is NOT an improvement.

Elsewhere we have Groupon, the hot new online service from 2008 where you can get essentially online coupon deals from local sponsors.  The idea took off like fireworks at Labor Day Fest.  It’s only been three years but Groupon is gearing up for an IPO (that’s Initial Public Offering for those of you who don’t speak Finance.  It means they’re going to sell stock.).  So things must be going really well, right?  Well maybe not.  Traffic at the website has fallen off 50%, a highly touted top manager quit after only 2 months on the job and it appears that costs are out stripping profits by a significant margin.  It’s certainly possible to get rich quick in this new digital world but it’s also possible to go broke fast too.

So which one outlasts the other?  My bet is that Google’s deep pockets keep Blogger afloat longer than Groupon.  Just a hunch although Google has shown no compunction with pulling the plug.  But consider this piece of wisdom I just ran across - it’s easier to turn water into wine than it is turn vinegar back into wine.  The future may be skunked for both these companies.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Wingsfest!

The family decided to check out the Wing Festival this year up at Coca Cola Field in Buffalo.  It was quite the event!   Wings places from all over the country including Oregon and Washington (state) and more.

The most intriguing tastes included a Maple Cinnamon wing and a Sea Salt and Vinegar one.  Lots of great BBQ, various levels of spiciness, and some interesting flavors.

$3.50 for a bottle of water or pop was the typical festival rip-off.  Even the vendors seemed to be embarrassed by the outrageous prices.

Someone got married on the main stage while we were there!  Officiated by Buffalo's mayor and with the bride given away by the "Chicken Wing King" (who is all ham when the camera is on him, lol!)

The festival actually got started because of a movie "Osmosis Jones" starring Bill Murray.  A local promoter named Drew Cerza decided that Buffalo needed a REAL wings fest and 10 years later both Cerza and Murray were inducted into the Wings Hall of Fame.  Here's the clip that started it all:

So a good time was had by all.  If you're a Buffalo Wings fan mark it down for next Labor Day.  Maybe we'll see you there!

Peace

And the movies...

OK let's get caught up on the movies of the summer:

Green Lantern - Man, I wanted this movie to be really good.  Green Lantern was always a special favorite of mine among comic book heroes when I was a kid.  And the movie was...good.  Just nothing to get really excited about.  At the moment it's Top 20 for the year in ticket sales but there's still the Christmas rush so if it's lucky it stays in the Top 40.  And that's about right.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2  - Found it completely satisfying.  Well OK, everything except the absolutely ridiculous final shot of the main characters standing hand in hand amidst the ruins and the sunshine at the end of the main action.  The hokey factor shot completely off the scale.  At the moment  the #1 movie of the year and quite likely to stay there.

Source Code - A thriller centered about a man who wakes up and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.  I LIKED this movie!  It's not brilliant or a great movie but it's a well done thriller with a twist that still got you involved mentally.  Well worth your time.  Seems like not everyone liked as well as I did as it's only number 33 right now.  Hope it stays in the top 50 for the year.


The Adjustment Bureau - Just ahead of Source Code at #32 and yet somehow a movie I found a bit less satisfying.  The whole thing with hats was just so anachronistic.  I know it was part of the original story and the original story was by Philip K. Dick (and one does not mess with PKD more than one has to) but it just became ludicrous after a while.  Too bad because basically this wasn't a bad idea for a movie and it was nicely done.

Super 8  -  Summer movie.  J.J. Abrams.  Steven Spielberg.  A teenage buddy movie.  This had summer smash written all over it.  And finishing the summer at #15 certainly keeps it out of the flop category but it just never took off.  Which is too bad because I really enjoyed this movie.  My bet is it develops a following as the years go by.

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides - #2 movie of the year.  I had to go back and look to remember what it was about.  I enjoyed it, it was fun but...

Wow, that was it for this summer.  Kinda sad really.  2 movies in the Top 10, 1 more at the Top 15, and 1 more at the Top 20.  To be honest there's not a lot I feel like going out of my way to see on DVD.  I'll probably catch Cars 2, I have ZERO interest in Thor even though it got decent reviews, I would like to catch Capt. America, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Paul and Water for Elephants.  After that maybe Cowboys and Aliens.   That's about it.  The rest will be if it pops up and I've nothing better to do I might give them a shot.  Any recommendations?

Did watch some TV series on DVD that I liked a lot:

Vicar of Dibley - Another great British comedy series.  For those of us who work in the church, especially in historically Anglican churches, this is really funny stuff.  Call it the "WKRP" of church comedies.

Ballykissangel - Great TV series set in a small Irish village.  Wonderful characters and a lot of fun.

Recommend them both.

Caught two on TV yesterday.  "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941) Erroll Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland  in a fairly ridiculous version of the George Armstrong Custer story.  Some fact, lotta legend.  Interesting supporting cast - Anthony Quinn as Crazy Horse, Sidney Greenstreet as General Winfield Scott and Hattie McDaniel playing her usual role.  Not awful but...
and then there was "Sunset Boulevard"  (1950) William Holden and Gloria Swanson.  What to say?  If you love old Hollywood, noir movies, great stories and even better characters you have to watch this movie.  If you claim to love movies and haven't seen this then your credentials are lacking.  A great movie IMO.

Gotta see some more movies!

NaBloPoMo - Or more of my thoughts than you'd care for probably

I'm trying something new this month - National Blog Posting Month.  It's a blog post a day all month.  Since I've already posted something so far each day I thought I'd jump in.

And this takes care of today I'm thinking!

So what's on your Nook Jay?

For no particular reason:

Here's what is currently resident on the Nook Color (there are more books stored on my computer):
Organized by author (* indicates I've read it, - means started and put down):

Little Women Louisa May Alcott
Betrayal Aaron Alston (a Star Wars book)
*The Time Hunters  Carl Ashmore
Radix, and Solis both by A.A. Attanasio
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
*Shakespeare in an Hour Christopher Baker (GREAT book!)
*Two Barnes and Noble User Guides
*Soul Identity and *Soul Intent both by Dennis Batchelder
The Winds of Khalakovo  Bradley P Beaulieu
Guns Phil Bowie
A Princess of Mars Edgar Rice Boroughs
*50 Classic Science Fiction Novels collection
The Murder at the Vicarage, *The Secret Adversary   Agatha Christie
*The Book of Common Prayer
101 Famous Poems
*15 Decisive Battles of the Western World   Edward Creasy
*Dark Legacy Anna DeStefano
Robinson Crusoe Daniel DeFoe
An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser
The Autobiography of Ben Franklin  Benjamin Franklin
Early Frost A Boys' Will, North of Boston  Robert Frost
*Stupid History Leland Gregory (lives up/down to its title)
Guide to Spiritual Practices  George Herbert Gunn
*Arson Plus, and *The Assistant Murderer  Dashiell Hammett
The Black Moth, and *Footsteps in the Dark  Georgette Heyer
The Multiplex Man   James Hogan
*Life Blood, *Syndrome  Thomas Hoover
*God's War  Kameron Hurley
Sharp Writing   Kaplan
How We Got Here   Andy Kessler
The Elephant's Child  Rudyard Kipling
Write for Life   Kominars and McCourt
The Altar at Midnight   C.M. Kornbluth
*Dead(ish)  Naomi Kramer
*A Plague of Demons, Future Imperfect, Keith Laumer- The Lighter Side, Legions of Space and Retief!   Keith Laumer
The Practice of the Presence of God    Brother Lawrence
*The Haunted Bookshop  Christopher Morley
*The Hunt  Jan Neuharth
Fallen Angels    Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn
*50 Classic Science Fiction works collection
*Bone Rattler  Eliot Pattison (Excellent!)
*Son of the Revolution   Rachel Phillippi (yes, THAT Rachel Phillippi!)
The Answer   H Beam Piper
Orthodoxy   G K Chesterton
West of Honor  Jerry Pournelle
The Millenials   Rainer and Rainer
Living with the Himalayan Masters   Swami Rama
Berserker Throne  Fred Saberhagen
*Sepitmus Heap Book One  Angie Sage
*Santa's Little Red Spaceship  H Jason Schulz
Arms and the Man   George Bernard Shaw
Dracula  Bram Stoker
-The Blue Light Project    Timothy Taylor
Social Media and the Episcopal Church    Various
*50 Classic Books collection  Vol 1
*50 Classic Books collection  Vol 2
*The Golden Age of Science Fiction Vol 1
*The Golden Age of Science Fiction Vol 2
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea   Jules Verne
*The Angel of Terror   Edgar Wallace
The Time Machine  H G Wells
The Age of Innocence  Edith Wharton
Portable MFA in Creative Writing   NY Writers Workshop
The Last Ringbearer  Kiril Yeskov
The Sentinels Fortunes of War   Gordon Zuckerman
After the Prophet - The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam   Lesley Hazleton (library book)

That is some 82 books across a wide range of topics, styles and generations.  I intend to read them all.

And then keep going!  You see my list, anything jump out at you that I really ought to read next?  Anything you'd warn me away from?

Virtually all of these books I got for free (legally).  If you have the Barnes and Noble reader or a Nook you should definitely check out their Free Friday program.  There are lots of other places to get free books for free as well.  Maybe I'll share those in a future post.  They are VERY easy to find however.  Just Google it!

View From the Phlipside Radio - Steve Jobs

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.

Visionary, egomaniac, pioneer, loose cannon.  The greatest innovator of the last 25 years or the worst boss on the planet.  Love him or hate him (and plenty of people fall into either of those categories) Steve Jobs has been a pivotal part of our recent history.  The latest chapter in that history was written last week when Jobs announced he was stepping down as CEO of Apple,the company he helped found, because he was no longer able to fulfill his duties.

A thumbnail sketch of Jobs life is the best I can do on a program this short.  He was an adopted child who later dropped out of college after only a single semester.  With a few friends he founded a computer company called Apple in 1976.  Jobs brought a vision of what a computer should look like that was decidedly different.  He focused on the aesthetics and how the user interacted with the computer.  He was, and largely remains, a perfectionist much the dismay of some of his employees.  Jobs also plays to win and is an intimidating business rival much to the dismay of just about everyone in the world not working at Apple.  For Apple fanatics every pronouncement from Steve Jobs has the impact of Moses coming down the mountain with stone tablets.  He has been the spirit, the voice and the face of Apple Incorporated.

Which is not to say that all has been peaches and cream.  In 1985 Jobs lost a power struggle and left Apple.  While he was gone he created several innovative and/or successful companies while Apple gradually lost momentum and direction.  His triumphant return helped put Apple on course to becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world.

So where does that leave us in the course of finding Jobs place in history?  I’ve criticized his heavy handed decision making on more than a couple occasions here.  The reality is that like any of the great captains of industry Steve Jobs has gone his own way, demanded that world bend to his will, and made it stick.  His impact on the world we live in right now with smartphones, personal computers and digital music has his fingerprints all over it.  When history looks back at this time whether it is technology, business or social influence I think Steve Jobs name will get prominent mention.

And that is exactly as it should be.  Be well Mr. Jobs and thank you.

Call that the View From the Phlipside