A Zombie Surprise

Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel (2011 Random House) A cyber-Victorian/steampunk romance – with zombies.  Can you imagine a book less likely for me to enjoy?  Lia Habel is a young lady from right around where I live who wrote a book on a dare from her friends.


Just sounds better and better doesn't it?


Well it is.  Better.  Good.  Really, really good.


Let me define a term  in case you're not familiar with them

Steampunk is a genre which originated during the 1980s and early 1990s and incorporates elements of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and speculative fiction. It involves a setting where steam power is widely used—whether in an alternate history such as Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States, or in a post-apocalyptic time (Wikipedia)

Not a genre I'd ever read although I've read and continue to read all of the foundational genres.  This book was handed to me by my daughter.  Both she and my wife had read it and loved it.  I'll be honest and say I began reading it because 1: I like to make my daughter happy (although not TOO happy) and 2: I like to support local authors.


Then Dearly, Departed did something startling.  It sucked me in.  With solid, believable characters, good storytelling and an astoundingly accomplished touch for a first time novelist.  Habel handles dialogue with the skill of a much more experienced writer.  She turns a lovely phrase and then does it again and again and again.  Beyond that she did her research so that the minimal amount of science actually needed for her story was spot on.  There's no more of it than needed but there's not a micro-gram less than needed either. She even presents a pretty fair argument on why vampires get all the publicity and zombies get the short rotting end of the stick.


It's never hard to market a good book.  When you add in that the author was on the verge of applying for food stamps to keep food on her table when her book sold it's almost too good to be true (at least from a marketing point of view).


Looking for a great summer read?  A change of pace from whatever your usual stuff might be?  A new author to watch if you're into steampunk?  Grab yourself a copy of Dearly Departed.

Hopper Flopper, Facebook Controversy and Old and Unloved

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.



Program scripts from week of May 21, 2012

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. 

Old And Unloved

Let’s summarize a couple different stories that I’ve seen recently.  First young adult viewers, say 18-34, are not watching a lot of TV.  When they do watch it they are probably not watching it on a traditional network broadcast.  And oh yeah, they simply are not watching commercials.  At all if they can avoid it.  

At the other end of the advertising spectrum you have older viewers.  In TV terms “older” begins at age 50.    Now I have some very unpleasant news for all my fellow older viewers.  Advertisers have no interest in us.  I mean zero interest.  Do you want to know the term for viewers over the age of 50 in the advertising world?  Such viewers are referred as “dead”.  Seriously, once you hit 50 you are officially dead.  Now those of us who are dead?  We actually watch TV, we usually watch when the networks put it on and we will even occasionally sit still long enough to watch the commercials.  Probably easier for us since we’re, you know, dead.  In case you think you detect a tiny little taste of bitterness in my voice I would not say you were wrong.

Now the basic business model for TV is that the advertisers buy commercials on the networks so people will see them.  If your target audience doesn’t see the spot then you’re just flushing money down the media toilet.  And TV commercials cost a LOT of money.  So you’d think advertisers might like us older viewers a bit more than they do.

Once again I must be the bearer of bad news.  Let me give you a concrete example.  We’ve talked before about the bad times over at the Peacock network.  NBC has occasionally finished as low fifth in the ratings.  They have virtually no shows that could be described as successful even using the broadest definition.  So picture the show “Harry’s Law”.  The NBC show starring Kathy Bates was one of the most viewed shows on the network.  It had millions of viewers.  And NBC cancelled it.  Why?  Because those viewers were too old.

The days when being 50 was “old” is an outdated concept.  The 50 somethings I know are still active and oh by the way still spending lots of money.  Instead the advertisers want to pursue the younger audience.  You remember them, the ones who don’t watch the commercials.  And on the whole that’s beginning to sound like a pretty good idea to this old dead guy too. 

Facebook Controversy

I can’t believe I even have to waste time on this next subject.  Sadly other people apparently believe it’s worth talking about so let’s just take a moment to show them just how wrong they are.  I came across this story about a week ago and never expected to see it again.  But with Facebook making its IPO of stock last week (which, parenthetically, has turned out to be a circus as predicted) it seems just about anything related to Facebook is news worthy.

In this case the news services are carrying a story that, I don’t even know that I can force the words through my lips but I’ll try, it seems that, well, not everyone likes Facebook.

Yeah, I know.  That’s just about the most obvious point I’ve heard this month.  Yet for some reason it’s deemed worthy of some fairly considerable coverage.  Seriously, really?  There is not a single category where you will find a unanimous decision.  I mean not everyone likes me, hard as that is to imagine.  So why is the fact that not everyone likes slash uses Facebook such a big deal?

The other part of the story that bugs me is the attitude that seems to come from the folks interviewed for the piece.  Like the one who says they have no interest in talking with some one they knew for 6 months 13 years ago.  Well, ‘kay.  If you want a Facebook account with 3 friends you can do that.  I’ll be the first to admit that Facebook can be an enormous time waster.  I have absolutely no problem if you don’t want to be on Facebook.  You’ll never hear me criticize me a decision not to sign on.  But don’t get all high and mighty with me because I do.  Through Facebook I’ve reconnected with friends, got to know one of my youngest cousins and one of my nieces used Facebook to get some help when she wasn’t sure she was in a safe place.  You can focus on the positive or focus on the negative.  When you do that you fail to see the whole picture.

What you end doing then is spending a lot of time talking about something that’s just not worth the time and the effort.  Some people like Facebook.  Some people don’t.  There you go, six words.  Which is just about what the whole thing is worth.  Not even as much as a single share of stock.

Hopper Flopper

When I first started writing advertising copy back in the dark ages on actual typewriters one of the first things I was taught was this - if the consumer doesn’t remember who you are at the end of the commercial it doesn’t matter how clever you were, or how brilliantly you managed to put all the pieces together.  If at the end of the spot they don’t have the name of the product, the service or the business drilled into their minds you’ve failed.  All these years later I’ve found very little that makes me want to question that simple concept.

Here’s what brings it to mind.  Dish Network is currently running a spot that my family loves.  It’s for a new product called the Hopper.  The spot in question revolves around a family from Boston who discuss the new product at pretty much the top of their lungs.  They just keep repeating the name over and over.  “The Hawpeh” “The Hawpeh” “The Hawpeh”  All I have to do is say it once and my lady wife and daughter will immediately pitch in till one of us wrap it up just like the commercial by shouting “Shut Up!”.  The writer planted that hook deep into our brains.  Lovely stuff.

But here’s the problem.  Just what is the Hopper?  (sound of crickets)  Um, yeah.  I don’t have a clue.  In fact till I ran across a story about it I didn’t even realize that I had missed the central point for the ad.  For the record it is a new digital recorder that allows you to automatically skip all the commercials in pretty much anything you record.  It “hops” over them.  Clever, no?

And that got me thinking.  Did the ad make the grade under the standard we discussed earlier or fall short?  If all it had to do was put the name of the product in my brain then it worked.  If it’s also important that I have any clue what it is then it failed.  I guess I would have to give this spot a C plus.  The hook is just so good that you can’t overlook it.  And I did know it was something from a satellite provider and had something to do with the hardware.  So the quality of the writing pulls it up but the pitch of the product pulls it down. The concept is so clever that it overwhelmed the pitch itself.

The Hawpeh.  Sure it cracks me.  But it’s supposed to make me care.


Call that the View From the Phlipside.

Movies - Thor, Avengers, Hunger Games, Midnight in Paris

And here's the absolute latest I've seen, including several in theaters!

Hunger Games - (2012) - Had no idea what to expect when I went to see this movie except that I had heard people just raving about both the books and the movie.  What I got was a pretty impressive movie that works at multiple levels.  It's great Young Adult fare but also offers some intriguing thoughts about politics, society and current events.  The performances are very strong and the story is solid.  The movie moves forward at a good pace but never sacrifices character or plot.  I'm not at all surprised that this has taken the early teen demographic by storm and taken a fair number of adults with them.  I'm told the books grow darker as the trilogy progress and that the third book is found the most disturbing.  It will be interesting to see how they handle that (although the Harry Potter books also became darker and more adult as they progressed as well.  The author and movie makers should dream of being as successful)
Rating - **** Must See

Thor - (2011) I was absolutely pre-disposed by the trailers to dislike this movie.  It just seemed mindless and idiotic.  Turns out it was better than that.  Not a great movie (really doesn't hold a candle to the first Iron Man or the next movie down here) but a perfectly acceptable one that has some pretty good moments.  Thor isn't the easiest character to bring to the screen because of the many elements of high opera that come along with him.  The movie balances the classic character with some appropriate modern spark.
Rating - *** Worth a Look

The Avengers - (2012) - This movie really would have had to work at failing.  The cast is great, the characters have been largely established solidly in previous hit movies and you have Joss Whedon writing and directing.  Whedon shows his trademark touch with ensemble pieces that highlight everyone with memorable material.  Even the bad guy gets some great screen time.  It's comic book good times at its very best.  Seeing Iron Man, Capt. America and/or Thor will help you get some of the inside jokes but you certainly don't need to see them to enjoy it.  And enjoy it you will.
Rating - **** Must See

Midnight in Paris -(2011) - I need to come clean here.  I really had no intention of seeing this movie.  Director Woody Allen's recent stuff hasn't excited me and Owen Wilson in a leading role has just been too disappointing too often.  When I expressed my doubts the film critic at the Tyler Morning Telegraph (Stewart Smith, a bright and insightful up and comer in the movie review business.  And oh yeah, my cousin) informed me that if I didn't like the movie we'd have to settle our differences outside.  Seriously?  Seriously.  So I kicked it up to the top of my Netflix queue.  And would like to say publicly that Mr Smith was correct in all aspects.  This movie is a delight.  Allen shows a wonderful deft touch and Wilson is pitch perfect in the lead as a Hollywood writer who fell in love with the image of Paris in the Roaring '20s.  The problem is he's stuck with his self centered fiancee (Rachel McAdams) in the 21st Century.  Or is he?  I dare you not to fall in love with Paris.  Having seen this one now I'm not so sure I'd still pick "The Artist" as the Movie of the Year Oscar winner.  Still love the modern silent but I don't think it was better than this.
Don't agree?  Stewart and I will meet you outside.
Rating - *****  Add It to Your Collection

Les Diaboliques - (1955) This is what a suspense movie is supposed to look like.  Fabulous in black and white and with subtitles this French classic follows the wife and mistress of an abusive school headmaster as they plot and execute his murder.  Except things don't seem to go the way they expect. This movie honestly scared the bleep out of me once and honestly horrified me once as well.  Carefully paced and never giving into cheap sensationalism the movie is carried by the three main characters.  Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot (wife of the director) and Paul Meurisse.  A great twist at the end as well.  Wow.  Just wow.
Rating - **** Must See

Adam's Rib -(1949) - Here's a classic that I don't think I've ever seen the whole way through before.  Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn...OK I can just stop right there can't I?  A romantic comedy's romantic comedy.  Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin just for the stars it's the story of two lawyers who end up on opposite sides of the same marital dispute.  The dialogue crackles and the deep connection between Hepburn and Tracy shines through.  The direction strikes me as a little "stagey" but even that works nicely.  Also interesting watching the arguments about the law and equal protection under the law is beautifully argued in a comic setting.  There's a reason why it's a classic
Rating - **** Must See

Big Money, Cancellation Season and Negotiation Nonsense

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.


Program scripts from week of May 14, 2012

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. 

Here We Go Again

Here we go again.  And I for one am more than a little tired of it.  It’s the classic game of “Let’s panic the customer base as a negotiating tool”.  It happens every time a service provider like a cable company or satellite system is in negotiation with a content provider like Discovery Channel or ESPN.  

In this case it is the Dish Satellite network and the movie and programming channel American Movie Classics or AMC.  The behind the scenes story on all of this is that this is business.  The service providers have contracts with the content providers that allow them to carry those channels and offer them to you and me, the viewers.  If you think about the number of channels that satellite or cable companies carry you realize that it must be a fairly complicated financial situation for them.   Just like any business the service providers need to keep the cost of their below the level of their sales.  That’s Business Admin 101.

On the other side a content provider like AMC needs to make deals with a variety of service providers as well.   Those fees provide a solid foundation on which they can build their programming.  Commercial advertising sales will wax and wane but these contracts tend to run for several years at a time which provides some stability.  So they need to make sure that the income will be enough to continue to create and license their product.  Again Business Admin 101.

I get all of that.  I also get that the basic equation begins with AMC wanting the fees to be as high as possible and that Dish wants them to be as low as possible.  What I also get is that the timing of this dispute is curious.  Dish Network began threatening to drop AMC along with its sister channels IFC, Sundance and WeTV following a court ruling in favor of the movie channels earlier this spring.  Dish maintains they are thinking about dropping the channels because no one watches them.  In the end AMC needs Dish to as part of its distribution network and Dish needs AMC for quality programming like Mad Men.

And what the viewers need is to not be in the middle of all this.  We may all want access to our Mad Men but what we really need is for everyone to start acting like grown men. 

Cancellation Season

It’s TV series cancellation season again!  That time of year when the networks have to clear away the dead wood to make way for what they hope are better shows.  Of course that’s what they were hoping for when they started airing THESE shows as well.  In network TV you need to have a very short memory I think.

Now the bulk of the shows that get the ax every cancellation season are no surprise.  They are the shows that you either never heard of or only ever saw a promo for.  They generated no buzz, no water cooler talk.  Shows like Best Friends Forever, Free Agents, The River, and rather ironically the completely forgettable Unforgettable.  Shows that may have had an interesting concept or cast but just never found an audience.  That’s TV network speak for “just weren’t very good”.

There’s also usually a couple of these shows that fall into the head scratcher category.  Head scratcher in the sense that you have to wonder who ever thought they were a good idea in the first place.  There are two of those for me this year.  First is GCB a show that can’t even say it’s real name because it has a bad word in it.  Based on a novel whose title includes that same I can’t say it on the radio word it’s about Christian women behaving, well like anything other than Christian women.  But the real head scratcher for me is Rob.  Who thought giving Rob Schneider his own series was a good idea?  Who thought that a series based on ethnic humor doing a re-hash of Bridget Loves Bernie was a good idea?  How did this show last as long as it did?

The other interesting note in this cancellation season is the semi-cancellation of NBC’s Community and 30 Rock.  Both shows were picked up for the fall but with only 13 week basically half season commitments.  The Peacock Network stoutly maintains this doesn’t mean anything but Parks and Recreation was picked up for a full season commitment so it clearly does.  Meanwhile the first of the CSI franchise met the ax.  CSI Miami was dropped after 10 years.  The story lines were increasingly stupid but I will miss the gorgeous cast.  We need to find Eva Larue a new series ASAP.

On the up side this is also when we can celebrate great new series making the cut.  My two personal favorite new series, NBC’s Grimm and CBS’s Person of Interest were both renewed.

So we wait to see what new candidates for next springs cancellation season get launched this fall.

Big Money

Let me be perfectly clear right up front.  I know nothing about big finance, stocks or anything of the sort.  At the same time like a lot of people I am fascinated by the story of Facebook’s IPO which is expected to finally take place at the end of this week.


In case you keep hearing the term IPO and are afraid to embarrass yourself by asking what it means let me help you out.  It stands for Initial Public Offering.  In simple terms it means the first time that stock in the company is sold to the public.  It’s a way for a company to raise money while giving up a little control of the company.

So here we have the company that has probably had the single largest influence on our day to day lives over the last what 6 years taking that big step.  And the numbers that people are throwing around are insane.  If the stocks sell at the top price being tossed around (that would be $35 a share) the total value of the company, both the publically sold stock and the stuff that people like Mark Zuckerberg will hold onto, would be around 100 b-as-in-boy-isn’t-that-a -big-number billion dollars.

What I love about all of this is that the old guard on Wall Street are torn between wanting part of the big money and just being driven insane by the new media tendencies of Zuckerberg and company.  Recently Mark needed to meet with some major investor types prior to the IPO.  He showed up in his trademark hoodie because that’s who Mark is.  Mark keeps saying crazy stuff like the social mission of Facebook (meaning all that stuff that you and I like about Facebook) are more important to him than the financial side.  The sound you just heard was half a dozen venture capitalists swooning in dismay.
You don’t have to be a financial genius to realize that for the investors to feel like it’s worth that kind of money Facebook will have to start making ginormous amounts of money.  And no one is quite sure how that would happen.  Like an awful lot of people Facebook is having trouble trying to figure out how to make money as more of the online experience moves towards mobile devices.

So here’s the deal.  Come Friday sit back and enjoy the circus

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

Bill Murray goes straight

If you had told me that someone was considering Bill Murray for a "straight" role (rather than comedy) I probably would have shrugged.  What most folks learn over the years is that comic actors can be brilliant straight actors.  In the words of the great Shakespearean actor  Edmund Keen is credited with the line "Dying is easy.  Comedy is hard" and that seems to support the idea that is you can do comedy well you should be able to handle drama.  Certainly Murray at his best in comedy (Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, Stripes, Caddyshack) is howlingly funny.  He's done some serious stuff before even to critical acclaim (I will admit I don't get "Lost in Translation" which for me is a big Seinfeld of a movie - about nothing).

However if you had suggested that he play Franklin Delano Roosevelt I'd have doubted your sanity.  Yet this trailer seems to indicate that I would have been wrong.  It's always possible that all the best stuff is in the trailer but I'd bet not.  I will certainly keep my eyes on this one, due out on Pearl Harbor Day.

Movies - Ray, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Real Steel

Holy cow!  I thought I hadn't seen many movies recently.  Then I went back and looked.  Oops.  Time to catch up.


Ray - (2004) - Biopic of the great Ray Charles.  It sheds a new and not always flattering look at a great talent. Jamie Foxx does a great job of bringing Ray to the big screen.  The supporting cast is equally wonderful.  In the end the biopic is a solid movie genre but just not one that blows me away.  Maybe a shade below "Walk The Line" which came out the following year.
Rating - *** Worth Watching


Mr. Smith Goes to Washington -(1939) Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra, what's not to like?  A honest man gets sent to the U.S. Senate and gets chewed up by the cynical political system.  It's a message that probably resonates a lot with the modern American just as it did just before the war.  The downside is that the is the trademark Capra idealism and naivete that comes off as just a little dated to me.  Great cast that does wonderful things with the script.  Set your cynicism aside for a couple hours and enjoy the way we all think it OUGHT to be.
Rating - *** Worth Watching

Real Steel - (2011) Not a huge hit but it made its money back and then some.  The plot is completely predictable.  A one time champion now down on his luck, a beautiful girl and his kid from his now broken marriage.  The underdogs fight because they love each other and rise above it all.  Blah, blah, blah.  And yes I enjoyed it.  Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lily along with kid actor Dakota Goyo have more than enough chemistry to make it a fun time to watch.
Rating - *** Worth Watching.

Who Am I This Time -(1982) One of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut stories brought to life on PBS's American Playhouse starring Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon.  Walken is the uber-shy hardware store clerk who can only express himself on stage with the local community theater.  A really nice version of the story.
Rating - *** Worth Watching

Bottle Shock - (2008) Once upon a time American wines were sneered at by the the classic French wineries.  Then in 1976 Napa valley wineries manage to get a blind tasting by some of the leading French experts and win.  Based on the true story that shattered the myth  of the unapproachable superiority of French wines.  Chris Pine, Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman are wonderful in this David and Goliath story.  You don't have to know much about wine to enjoy the movie.  And you just might learn something along the way.
Rating - *** Worth Watching

Secret Life of Bees - (2008) Read the book and loved it.  Which means I was a little worried about how it would translate to the screen.  This is a wonderful adaptation that captures so much of the emotion and the other worldness of the journey of 14 year old Lily (Dakota Fanning) as she tries to find the truth about her long absent mother.  She will meet three astounding sisters (Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keyes and Sophie Okenodo) who will teach her about life, family, race and what it means to be a woman.  Loved it.
Rating - **** Gotta See It

The Dresser -(1983)  I'll tell you right up front this movie is not for everyone.  It takes you to the dark and demented underbelly of the theater in England during World War II.  Tom Courtenay plays Norman  the dresser, the personal assistant to a lead actor who helps them prepare before and during a performance.  It is an intimate relationship under the best of circumstances.  Given that the actor, known only as Sir (Albert Finney), is at the end of both his career and his sanity and Norman has unrequited feelings for Sir makes it almost unbearable.  The descent into madness of the entire company as they are pulled down with Norman and Sir is hardly enjoyable.  At the same time the movie is brilliantly directed (by Peter Yates) and the acting stunning make it worth watching for anyone who is willing to take the trip.
Rating - *** Worth Watching

Fame - (1980) The classic story of students at New York's High School for the Performing Arts it suffers a little from just feeling dated.  The movie spawned the hit TV series and is inspiring, challenging and interesting to watch.  But you're gonna laugh at the styles and the oh so earnestly '70sness of it all.
Rating - *** Worth Watching

Life is Beautiful - (1997) - A triple Oscar winner this movie will probably be remembered as much for star/writer/director Roberto Begnini's exuberant dash over the seats to accept one of his awards as for the delightful movie itself.  Begnini plays Guido Orifece an Italian Jew sent to a concentration camp during the Second World War.  He uses a fertile imagination and unconquerable sense of humor to protect his small son from the truth.  A beautiful, heart wrenching tale of love in the midst of senseless brutality.  Not short at 118 minutes but a movie you ought to see at least once in your life.
Rating - **** Gotta See It

E Books Again, Criticizing the Critics, and Uncle Bruce

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.



Program scripts from week of May 7, 2012

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. 

E books Again

It’s funny that just last week I commented on e-book readers because it seemed like I hadn’t talked about them in a while.  No sooner had I recorded that program than the readers hit the headlines twice in the same week.  When you’re hot you’re hot I guess.

I was interested in the announcement by the Target store chain that they were dropping the Kindle e-book readers from Amazon.  Exactly why they are doing this isn’t clear.  As per common corporate policy Target is making very few comments and what they are saying are textbook examples of obscurity.  Rumor has it that the once dominant Kindle is suffering a major sales slump partly fueled the new tablet Kindle Fire.  It’s interesting to me that suddenly folks are questioning whether consumers really want the older e ink versions once they get the chance at a more computer like version with an LCD screen.  Amazon has never released sales figures for Kindles so it all remains rumor.

On the other hand what is not rumor is that the folks at Barnes and Noble suddenly have a big new friend to help with their ebook reader line the Nook.  Microsoft has just invested 300 million dollars in the Nook line.  Barnes and Noble is working on spinning the ebook reader and tablet computer line off into its own division and now it suddenly has LOTS of money to push the Nook into a more competitive position.  That’s going to make the folks at Amazon take a second look.  Of course that’s not the only deep pockets competitor out there taking aim at Amazon.  Google continues to lurk at the edges with a potential tablet computer seemingly just on the horizon.

The reality is that it seems pretty clear that the base ebook reader is destined to become a minor player in the overall market.  The real future is some kind of tablet or near tablet computer that also functions as an e-book reader.  At the moment the clear leader is the iPad.

It’s always easy to think that we’ve seen a market segment settle down.  The reality is that the news shows this particular corner of the media market is a long way from stable.  We’re going to see some kind of major change within the next year to 18 months is my bet.   iPad, Kindle, Nook, Google, Galaxy?  Maybe someone we’ve never even heard of yet.

Who knows?  But when you’re hot, you’re hot.

New Theater Life

There is a long and tempestuous relationship between the creative community and the community of critics.  If you are a writer, a musician, an actor you probably spent a great deal of time and energy creating your work.  It’s something that you take a certain pride in, it’s something that is an extension of yourself.  So having someone come along and just trash your work can be devastating.  Sometimes it can be worse if they don’t even do that.  A slighting review can be even more painful.  In the end of course there is also the financial end of the business.  Some folks pay a lot of attention to their favorite critics.  So a bad review means a potential huge loss in revenue.  Consequently a lot of artists have a rather jaundiced view of the critics.

Of course a lot of critics find the artistic types to be rather full of themselves and other stuff as well.  Like it or not the critic does perform a service.  Identifying the truly bad is a gift for the consumer.

Perhaps the classic story of the rivalry between the two is the quote from German composer Max Reger who sent the following message to a critic who didn’t like his latest work “I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me.”

What brings all of this to mind is actor Samuel L. Jackson’s recent Twitter tirade about the less than fawning review of the new Avengers movie by New York Times reviewer A.O. Scott.  While Scott didn’t pan the movie he found it bloated and cynical.  Jackson leaped onto Twitter to denounce the review and state that Scott needed to find a job that he could actually do.  All the usual charge and counter charge then ensued.

Here’s the bottom line.  The vast majority of the critical reviews have been positive for the new Marvel Comics movie.  Even more importantly the box office has been absolutely incredible.  How does the best opening weekend sales figures in Hollywood history grab you?  So in the end Scott’s mild rebuke of the movie in the week or two before the opening doesn’t appear to have had much effect.  Which makes Jackson’s tirade look even more childish.

In the end the movie is a commercial success and I’m told a lot fun.  At the same time it’s not ever going to be confused with Citizen Kane.  So maybe Samuel L.  needs to lighten up and cash his checks.

Uncle Bruce

Uncle Bruce
(Thanks to Bill Dorrian for the photo)

I worked in professional radio for just shy of 20 years.  In that time I worked with probably 100 or more people.  I’m not going to try and tell you that I remember them all.  Specific people stood out for different reasons.  Some because they were tremendously talented.  Some because they were tremendous pains in the butt.  And some just because they were decent, honest human beings.  There were even some who were all of the above.

Over this past weekend I lost one of my former colleagues and the Jamestown radio community lost one of their truly nice guys.  Bruce Baker, known to many as Uncle Bruce, lost his battle  over the weekend and went too young to the broadcast studio in the sky.

I must have met Bruce sometime shortly after I came to Jamestown some 25 years ago.  In the years that I knew him Bruce never changed much.  He was always one of the decent, honest folks in radio.  Good for a long talk about whatever during those interminably long weekend shifts when there’s really not much to do except answer the phone and keep the station on the air.

To borrow a term from hockey Bruce was a grinder.  One of those determined, hard working guys who put in the hard work day in and day out.  They may never get to be the star of the team but they are the kind of guy every team needs.  They’re the kind of team mate every star wants.  Bruce wasn’t going to blow you away with his work.  He was going to charm you and make you feel comfortable and feel like a friend.  He was the guy that you knew you could count on to get the job done.  

Let me be totally honest here.  The radio industry makes its money on guys like me.  The ones with the big mouths and the big egos and sometimes even the big talent.  We get the perks and the preferential treatment.  The radio industry would be in big trouble if they needed to rely on folks like us to keep the industry rolling.  To be honest the stars can really mess things up if you’re not careful.  What radio and every industry needs are the grinders. The pluggers. Those hard working, honest, decent guys that do the job, that get it done, that you can count on.

They need the Bruce Bakers of the world.  And today the world is going to have work a little bit harder because he’s gone.

So long Uncle Bruce.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

Biggest Loser, New Theater Life and E Book Life

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com

Program scripts from week of April 30, 2012

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. 

Biggest Loser

It was a couple months back that we heard about the contestant uprising on NBC’s hit reality show “The Biggest Loser” and it was a couple weeks ago that we finally saw the footage.  Two contestants ended up walking off for reasons that haven’t really been clearly defined.  If you want to get a better feel what kinds of things go on behind the scenes I recommend checking out any of the blogs of past contestants.  Personally I followed Season three contestant Matthew McNutt’s blog.  Just google his name and it should come right up.  I said at the time that the contestants would lose in a showdown with the producers and that seems to be the way it has played out.  But there are two other points that arise from the whole issue.

The first is the level of abuse the two departed contestants are taking in a lot of quarters.  Sadly the internet seems to spawn every mouth breathing closet bully on the planet.  Here’s the bottom line - for whatever reason they made a decision to leave.  A decision that even the show acknowledges they have every right to make.  And let’s not lose sight of the fact that his decision was...to leave a TV show.  On the scale of important decisions in their lives this will show up at the very bottom.  A literal proportion here people.  Seriously.

What really concerns me about all of this is the apparent direction that NBC and the new production company have decided to take.  If you’ve seen the movie “The Hunger Games” you’ve got a feel for how the contestants must have felt.  Rules being changed apparently at random to “improve the competition”.  It’s a stupid pointless manipulation of a successful formula that I believe puts the future of the franchise at risk.  You see The Biggest Loser isn’t like The Amazing Race or Survivor.  Those of us who are fans of the program don’t watch it for the competition.  In fact “playing the game” is something of a dirty word in the Biggest Loser universe.  We don’t watch the show for the conniving and the backstabbing.  The fans watch this program for the inspiration of people making a difference in their lives.  Wrestling with personal demons and gaining control of the forces that are destroying the contestants.

Focusing on playing the game and messing around with the rules to make it more interesting is a sure way to make sure that the Biggest Loser is the biggest loser.

New Theater Life

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years on this program talking about the need for old school media to figure out their place in the new media environment.  Sadly I’ve probably spent more time talking about how the old timers have failed to make that transition than those that have succeeded.  So it was encouraging this past weekend to see an old line medium that might be making a move in the right direction.  

My family and I had gone to catch a movie in Erie.  While we were waiting I took a look at the the upcoming events displays.  What interested me was that most of those displays were not about upcoming new releases.  Instead they were one time special events.  I’ve noted this idea before with live broadcasts of concerts or events like the upcoming broadcast performance of National Public Radio’s “This American Life” show.  You’ll be able to go to select movie theaters and be able to watch the live broadcast of the special concert version of the show.  When I first heard about one of those events I thought it was an interesting concept.  It now seems to have grown to a regular part of the offerings.  There were promotions for everything from a special one night only viewing of the first movie to ever win an Academy Award, 1927’s Wings which starred Clara Bow and introduced a new young actor named Gary Cooper to presentations of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle operas.

Now to be honest while I am a huge old movie fan, I’m not much of an opera fan.  But the opportunity to see what looks to be a visually stunning version of a great piece of music without having to shell out big bucks to go to New York.  So that’s a real chance for the movie theater to bring me back one more time.  And that’s a brilliant concept in this moment in the media.

Now I’m sure that some folks will find the whole concept strange.  Effectively this is watching TV on the world’s biggest screen.  So what?  The experience of going to the movies has changed multiple times over the course of the medium’s history.  The technology now offers movie theaters the chance to offer special events, to bring truly special performances to places where they might never otherwise be seen.

That’s good for the audience and good for business as well.

E Book Life

When I went looking for an ebook reader a couple years ago I looked at both Amazon’s Kindle offering and Barnes and Noble’s Nook.  In the end I went with the Nook Color and really enjoy it.  As more of my friends have gone the ebook reader route they’ve made choices all over the spectrum from all the various manufacturers.  It’s interesting taking a look not only how it’s changed my reading habits but also the effect it’s having on the wider world of readership.

This past Christmas season saw a huge increase in sales numbers for ereaders.  When you add in dedicated software like Nook or Kindle apps for tablet computers and smartphones and a whole lot of people are reading ebooks.  According to  the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in the last year 43% of adults have read either a book or something long form like a magazine on some kind of ebook reader.  21% have done so on a dedicated piece of hardware like a Nook or Kindle.

But here’s the real kicker in this research.  Nearly a third of folks using ebook readers are reporting that they are doing MORE reading than they did before.  And if you’re afraid that ebooks will bring about the end of the DTB (that’s Dead Tree Book) that may be an over stated fear as well.  88% of the folks who read an ebook in the last year also read a traditional book.  In the end reading is reading.  And anything that encourages people to read more is just fine in my book.

My own experience is pretty similar.  Now it would be hard for me to read more than I normally do.  I read all the time.  In fact I used to drive some folks at my last radio station crazy by reading while I was on the air.  During songs I had all this free time so yeah, sometimes I’d read.  I didn’t see it as a problem.  I am reading more widely than I have in the past.  The Nook Color allows me to explore the growing ranks of indie self published authors.  I’ve also found a way to help review some new books from smaller publishers.  Between the two categories I found some exceptional writing and I’ve found some pretty wretched writing.   On the other hand there is also a huge library of classic writing out there that can be picked up legally for free.

So maybe just maybe reading is just reading.  And that’s a good thing.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.