Movie Warmth, Tech Exhaustion, Second Screen TV

 "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 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of March 25, 2013



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. 

Second Screen TV                                                                                                       

So what’s the hot new thing in television these days?  It’s people not giving the boob tube their undivided attention.  Of course to be honest the number of folks who really do just stare at the flickering screen with drool hanging off their chins has probably been overestimated down through the years.

In this case however what is being watched may just be a good thing for TV.  It’s called second screens.  That means your tablet, your laptop, your smartphone that is used while you are watching the home version of the big screen.

Now the traditional reaction would be how can that possibly be a good thing for TV shows?  These are people who are looking at something else and not paying attention.  There are two points to be made here.  First the ratings aren’t actually based on whether or not you’re paying attention.  As long as you’re in the room and facing the screen they’re happy.  The second point is just what those second screen folks are doing on that device.

What we’re discovering is that they are going social networking about the show they’re watching.  I have never seen so much as a second of PBS’s hit “Downton Abbey” but I know when it’s on.  Because my Facebook feed goes nuts with people commenting on the action.

Facebook and Twitter offer folks the chance to share their opinions in real time (or close to it) with other folks who are fans of their show.  It actually draws them deeper into the program rather than distract from it.

Even more interesting are early studies that show a direct correlation between Twitter traffic for a program and an increase in TV ratings.  In fact the folks at Nielsen say that Twitter traffic is now one of three significantly consistent variables in trending ratings (the other two are last year’s ratings and advertising spent for the show).

So now we know that active TV viewers can be found on Twitter, that they can be significant in the success of a show.  That means money is headed that direction.  Which perhaps explains why Facebook is now exploring things like hashtags.

Seems like Twitter has made the big time.

Tech Exhaustion                                                                                                       

With all the technology that fills our lives it was inevitable that a backlash would be coming.  Call it tech overload or tech exhaustion it’s the feeling you get when it just feels like all of your social media and technology have become a second job for you.  That rather than being an extension or addition to your life it has become your life.

Now if you’ve made the decision not to jump into the digital social scene you can sit back and feel smug.  Because most people in that category say they just don’t have time for all that nonsense.  While I’m not ready to give up ALL of my online stuff I am starting to think about how much time it takes up.

The worst part is that never seems to be an end to it all.  If it were just Facebook for social stuff that would be fine.  But then you start playing games.  It doesn’t stop there.  Maybe Twitter is the next one down the list.  Or you start getting professional pressure to join services like LinkedIn or Google+ or Klout.  Then you get to the point where you have so many places to post you start investigating places like HootSuite or Ping.fm which allow you post over several different platforms at the same time.  Or even start planning out your posts in advance so it can be done automatically for you.

It was about that time that I suddenly stopped and said “Why Am I Doing This?”.  I’ll be honest and say that while I have a Google+ account I never look at it.  I keep it mostly for the odd occasion when I need a quick conference call type thing and I can use Google Hangout.  I have a LinkedIn account which I guess is supposed to help me professionally.  The problem is that my career has taken a unique and slightly weird track over the years.

In the end we are all facing a time when we will have to decided what social media actually adds something to our lives that we want.  If all it adds is time wasting activity and more tasks that need to be accomplished every day.  We need to decide if it’s more important to enjoy the activity we’re doing or posting that we’re doing the activity on Foursquare.

Our technology and social media have the potential to be a great addition to our lives.  We just need to make sure that along the way we don’t sacrifice that life at technology’s altar.

Movie Warmth

Well so far my desperate desire for it to be spring hasn’t helped at all.  But I refuse to give in.  It will be warm, it will be spring and then it will be summer.  I just have to keep positive thoughts in my head.  (I’m not sure I really believe that stuff but an old college buddy of mine who lives in California keeps telling me to do it when the winter weather overwhelms me.)

So what better way to keep warm and happy thoughts inside my head than to think about some spring and summer movie releases?  There’s a lot to look forward to in that category.

As per usual we will get an enormous load of sequels.  This includes Red 2 (which I will definitely go see.  What a great cast) Despicable Me 2 and Smurfs 2 for the family audience, The Hangover 3 for the not family audience, Scary Movie 5 and Fast and Furious 6 for I have no idea what audience still is paying to see these movies.

Also in the we’ve done this before category Iron Man 3, a new Superman movie called “Man of Steel”, Jurraisic Park 3D (might work, still not sold on 3D), Johnny Depp in “The Lone Ranger” which to my eye looks awful in the previews, a “Monsters, Inc” prequel called “Monsters University” and my own personal oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy movie of the summer “Star Trek Into Darkness”

On the other hand we have Tyler Perry who is always bringing the crowds so we get not one but two movies from him this year one called “Temptation” and the other “We the Peeples”.

In other movies it will continue to be a tough year for the White House.  “Olympus Has Fallen” has just opened and “White House Down” is still to come.  We have classics of literature coming to the big screen Joss Wheedon directs “Much Ado About Nothing”, and Leonardo DiCaprio stars in“The Great Gatsby”, plus “I, Frankenstein” where the monster meets the graphic novel Which might just work,  a re-make of Kon-Tiki (remember Kon-tiki?  You’re old!), a Jackie Robinson baseball bio-pic just in time for the season to get started and last but not least “10 Habits of Highly Effective People”  which is NOT a business systems movie but what the promo material describes as business executives being murdered in a darkly comedic romp.

I feel warmer already.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Book Review - Happy Face

Happy Face by Christopher Reel (2010) - There's a story that goes along with this book.

The story begins here at Soho Pizza on Market Street in Philadelphia.  I had to be in the City of Brotherly Love for a couple days of meetings.  As is traditional with my travels I had some challenges.  In this case it was a simple if annoying one.  I boarded my place too long before lunch to eat and arrived well after.  So I was starving and needed something quick to tide me over.  A couple blocks walk brought me to Market and my eye settled on Soho.  Just what I was looking for.  It was mid-afternoon so the place was deserted other than a couple young guys talking about the Eagles.  I grabbed two slices and a drink (the two slices was a mistake.  I forgot how big slices are on the East Coast) and sat down in the window by the ATM sign with my Nook e-book reader.  Heaven.

While I was sitting there a young black man approached me. He had noticed I had the Nook and wanted to talk with me about a book he had published.  I give him huge credit for courage.  To walk up to a total stranger and follow your dream.  Christopher Reel was the perfect gentleman, spoke briefly about the book, asked me to consider buying, then wished me well and took his leave.  He really impressed me so I looked up the book and bought it.

What a great surprise I found when I opened it.  Root begins with a fabulous image.  In describing the lives of most people he turns to mythology.  We are Sisyphus, the Greek kind condemned to forever roll a stone uphill without ever reaching the top.  But Root goes beyond the simple image, he actually develops it.  With it he hooked me in the first two pages.

It is the story of a young man just out of jail.  Trying to find his place in a strange world beset by ghosts of his past.  Here's how the author introduces the character:

I, Archibald Johnson, am of the confused, the lonely, the skeptical, the lost, the exiled, the sick the stupid, the ironic, the...

And then just leaves it there.  Archie has thousands of words in his head and can't always find the ones he needs.  Along the way he will find love and even a little fame.  He will also find pain and betrayal.

The book is the work of an author who has a feel for the story and the character.  He has an ear for the time and place.  It is a book that wouldn't let me go.

Which is not to say it is perfect.  Reel could use a really good editor.  One to help clean up a few things in the writing without ever disturbing the special voice of this author.

A pretty good profit from investing the courage to ask.  A nice addition to some pretty good pizza.

Rating - **** Recommended

A Change in Comments

I have been inundated with spam anonymous comments so I have turned that function off.  The only real person this is likely to disrupt is my brother.  Who will simply have to remember one of his online identities in order to bring his particular brand of comment here.

Sorry, bro.

Movie Reviews - The Greatest Game Ever Played, Margin Call, Winter's Bone

The real Francis Ouimet and Eddy Lowery

The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) - So this is either a movie that has a lot going for it (a rags to riches story, the poor boy rising up to challenge the rich and powerful) or has a lot to fight against (it's a golf movie about an event most people have never heard of 100 years ago).  In the end what it has to struggle the hardest to overcome is somebody's lack of belief in the story.

It's the story of the legendary 1913 U.S. Open Golf Championship.  Harry Varden is the visiting English champion and the greatest player of his day.  To everyone's utter surprise a local boy, Francis Ouimet, plays himself into a tie with Varden and one other golfer (Ted Ray who like Varden was from the British Crown Dependency of Jersey) at the end of regulation.  Ouimet was a 20 year old amateur and a former caddy at the course where the Championship was being played that year.  Adding a unique twist to it all was Ouimet's caddy, a fifth grade boy barely taller than the bag he carried.  Golf was a "gentleman's game" back then and none of the three were anything of the sort.  The final 18 hole playoff is one of the legendary rounds of golf history.

Sadly either Director Bill Paxton or screenwriter Mark Frost don't seem to trust the story.  My bet is that it was Paxton (Frost wrote the book that the movie was based on).  In a movie about a simpler time and place the effect heavy opening credits strike me as grossly out of place.  Periodically during the rest of the movie we get odd flashbacks and strangely placed effects.  Ouimet's story in real life is one of the most astounding in the annals of the sport.  The 1913 Open was a stunning event (in which the actual end of the tournament was not close) that should have provided all the story telling "juice" needed.  But Paxton's work here is heavy handed and virtually tone deaf.  There's a romance story line that never gets developed, the caddy's story gets treated like comic relief (in real life Ouimet and Eddy

For the million of amateur players like me this is the event that opened the game for us.  Ouimet became the premier amateur player in America (until Bobby Jones came along).  We should all know the name of the man who led the way.  If you're a golf history afficionado this is worth a look.  Otherwise...

Rating - ** Not Impressed

Margin Call - (2011) Remember 2008?  When the worst stock market crash of most our lifetimes took place, the bottom fell out of the market and lots of us lost lots of money?  (My wife made me stop watching the news because what was happening to my very small investment portfolio was making me beyond crazy). This is a movie about why that happened.

A Wall Street firm is making a bundle by taking all kinds of mortgages, lumping them together and then selling them as a new commodity.  The problem is that as the value of the mortgages fell the books got way, way, way out of balance.  The folks in the know at the top f the company did whatever they could to save themselves at any cost.  It's a story of venality, greed and and capitalism without heart or ethical direction.

So it's a real cheerful movie.

The good news is that it's a solid story, nicely directed and with an absolutely grade A cast.  Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, Simon Baker and Paul Bettany.  You give these actors a shot at a story this good and you'll get something well worth watching.

The problem is that it's still a depressing, depressing story.  And one that will probably make you sick to your stomach by the end.

Rating - *** Worth A Look  (the cast deserves ****)

Winter's Bone (2010) - This is one of just a couple movies nominated for Best Picture last year that I hadn't seen yet.  In fact I don't even remember even hearing of it.  It is a stark and unflinching look at life in the part of modern America most of us try to never think about.

 Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrenc,e who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar) is a 17 year old Ozark girl forced to care for her two small siblings and her mentally ill mother.  Her father is a meth cook who has disappeared leaving their house as collateral for his bail.  When he doesn't show up for his hearing Ree and her family face eviction.  Ree will do whatever it takes to keep her family together but the options are few and dangerous.  That includes an alliance with her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes who earned an Oscar nomination for the role) who is one of the most dangerous men in that part of the country.

This is not a movie for the faint of heart.  Life is hard in this part of the world and it makes for hard people living hard lives.  Methamphetamine is a plague throughout the poorest regions of our country. It is slowly destroying families and ways of life.  In a world where choices are few too often many of them are bad.

Compelling, horrifying yet uplifting at the same time.  This is a truly amazing movie and launched Lawrence onto the movie world's radar.  There is a strong premonition of her role in "Hunger Games" here as well.  This is not a movie like all the others you'll see.  It's the kind of movie that leaves me searching for words to describe and finding myself just landing on "Wow".  I'll leave it there.

Rating  **** Recommended

RIP Reader, ESPN and Crowdsourced Creation

 "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 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of March 18, 2013



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. 

Crowdsourced Creation                                                                                                        

One of the coolest things that the Internet allows us to do is called crowdsourcing.  If you’re not familiar with the term it is a way of getting services provided or tasks accomplished by calling on a large group of people.  The idea is an old one really.  It’s called “Many hands make light work”.  Crowdsourcing has been used by all kinds of groups to do all kinds of things.

Here are just a few examples - movies have been made, translations done, the Department of Defense has done some research using crowdsourcing, satellite photo review searching for lost people, creating texts that are accessible to the visually impaired, creating maps, creating an encyclopedia, environmental monitoring.  Heck you can even fund a new album for your band by crowdsourcing the finances!

But of all those projects (and several of them are really cool) I think THE coolest one was the project that crowdsourced the design of a sports car.  A company called Local Motors wanted to see if they could use the Internet community to design a race car more efficiently and less expensively than the old school way.  What they got took only 18 months and three million dollars to develop the Rally Fighter, an eight cylinder, 430 horsepower racing machine.  Cost?  $99,900.  There is one other small catch.  You have to build the car yourself.  Included in the price is a six day stay at the factory, all the instructions you can use (including wikis and videos) plus the assistance of the Local Motors expert staff.  Pretty amazing really.

The old school way requires a large design team and layers of corporate bureaucracy.  Sometimes that creates great cars.  Most of the time it just generates pretty good ones.  And Local Motors isn’t done.  They have a design process underway for a military vehicle for the folks at DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm (and ironically the origin of the World Wide Web) plus they have community challenges out there for the creation of a new pizza delivery vehicle for Domino’s (which explains part of their current ad campaign) and the best design for a driving shoe as requested by Nike.

Imagine hopping into your crowdsource designed car, opening your crowdsource created map to plan your trip while you listen to a crowdsource financed album from your favorite band.

The mind boggles.

The March of Time                                                                                                       

If there is one entity in the TV world that stands pretty much unchallenged right now it’s the network that has adopted the title of “World Wide Leader in Sports”, ESPN.  Yes there are other sports networks out there, most of them focused on specific sport, a few of them trying to be more all encompassing but the reality is that second place in this particular race is so distant that first place can barely be glimpsed.

Now I’m a big sports fan and I watch more than my share of ESPN.  At the same time I’ve recently become more and more annoyed with the sports network.  Maybe it’s just because it’s my least favorite sports month of the year.  March.  When most of the sporting media world in the U.S. seem to forget that there’s anything other than basketball going on right now.  Between the avalanche known as March Madness and ESPN’s over emphasis on the NBA trying to find any other sports on the “World Leader” can be problematic.

And yes I said over emphasis on the NBA.  Now I know that this will bring on the howls of the hoops fandom world.  They would have you believe that pro hoops is on the verge of becoming the second most popular team sport in America behind only the NFL.  Everybody loves the NBA.  What would you add in?  Football is off season, Baseball is only spring training and it’s not like the NHL is a major sport.  But there’s a problem with that argument.

It’s the assumption that the NBA is more popular than it really is.  Take a look at the attendance statistics for the 2011-12 seasons.  Baseball and football are way out in first and second place.  It’s baseball for overall attendance and football for per game attendance.  But when you take a look at the hockey versus basketball numbers it’s very interesting.  Because the NHL actually draws a little better.  

So why the imbalance in coverage on ESPN?  That’s easy.  They have a basketball contract but no hockey contract.  That may be the opening some new competition needs.  And both NBCSports and the deep pockets of Rupert Murdoch and FoxSport Network are coming.  FoxSports is quite upfront that they are gunning for ESPN.

Maybe we’ll end up with just another “World Wide Leader in Sports We Have Contracts With” but at the moment I think I’d take that happily.

Next On Tonight

It has become something of a tradition here on The View From the Phlipside to note the passing of folks that I believe deserve a final salute but who may not get it.  Today we’ll alter that just a bit by offering a salute to a lesser known but sorely to be missed computer application.  Farewell to Google Reader.

Google Reader is (for a few weeks more) an RSS aggregator.  RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  It’s an old online application but a potentially useful one.  Think of it as a simple subscription system that allows you to sign up to follow your favorite web sites.  An aggregator is the application that handles all those subscriptions.  

Now there are three groups of people on the subject of Google pulling the plug on Reader July 1.  People like me for whom Reader is a part of our daily lives.  We are not happy.  There are people who think, for various reasons, that Reader needs to die.  And then there’s everybody else.  Who mostly don’t care.

Here’s the reality - RSS has been around for a long time but not a lot of people use it.  And the number has been falling especially the last couple years.  So there is a reasonable argument for Google’s decision.

What’s really stood out for me has been some of the arguments made by the “Reader should die” camp.  This is includes Dave Winer who is actually one of the guys who helped create RSS.  What jumped out at me was this quote “Next time, please pay a fair price for the services you depend on.”

And that’s the rub isn’t it?  We’ve become accustomed to getting cool stuff and services on the Internet for free.  The problem is that free is a tough business model to make work.

But here’s the challenge I’d offer in return.  When cable took on “free TV” (which wasn’t really free of course but a different topic for a different day) conventional wisdom said it couldn’t be done.  So why is pay TV virtually universal these days?  Because they offered something over the air TV couldn’t.

Just dumping free services doesn’t guarantee that we’ll move to fee based services unless there’s an improvement in our experience.  In the end you can take away our Reader but you can’t make us pay.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Music Review - 10,000 Maniacs - Music From the Motion Picture

Music From The Motion Picture - 10,000 Maniacs - The first album from the "alt icons" (I found that description several different places for the band) in 13 years. The band had just celebrated their 30th year together and decided to partner with their fans to fund the album.  Raising the needed funds they've created another classic Maniacs effort.  It's an album of firsts.  The first record with Jeff Erickson featured on lead guitar taking the late Rob Buck's place in the lineup.  Of course Mary Ramsey took over the primary vocals but in a change the ladies don't carry all the lead singing.  Erickson does some and founding member and keyboardist Dennis Drew makes his debut as well.  There's a nice diversity of music styles as always with the Maniacs.

They open with a nice kind of '70s Country/Rock feel with  "I Don't Love You Too".  They move into a more familiar 10,000 Maniacs sound with the next three cuts - "When We Walked on Cloud", "Gold" and "Triangles".  For me this is really the heart of the album.  When We Walked begins with a wonderful acoustic guitar intro then drops into a readily familiar Maniacs piano riff and Mary Ramsey's voice and violin.  "Gold" would be my choice for a first single.  Again it's classic Maniacs with a serious thoughtful lyric played against a bouncy tune.  This just screams for pop airplay somewhere.  The sound is a little different with Jeff Erickson singing. "Triangles" is the third cut in a row that begins with Jeff Erickson's acoustic guitar intro.  This time drummer Jerry Augustyniak is the first one to follow and his steady rhythm drives the music under Mary's singing. 

  The album also shows the time that has passed since the last one.  "Live for the Time of Your Life" and "Downhill" are not songs that they would have written in their '20s or '30s.  "Downhill" also marks the lead singing debut for keyboard player Dennis Drew who does a creditable job with this down tempo ballad to aging.  "Whipporwill" strikes me as another classic Maniacs style tune that takes the mundane and turns it into something special, maybe even other worldly. Then "It's a Beautiful Life" grabs a beat that feels a little Carribean and gives you the lift you just might need on a gray overcast winter day in western New York.  For reasons that I'm not sure I can explain "Fine Line" always makes me think of a kind of melodic, late '60s psychedelic kind of vibe.  "Tiny Arrows" is the only song that doesn't generate any particular feeling in me either way.  Nothing wrong with it but nothing that grabs me either.  The only tune that really fails for me is the last cut "Chautauqua Moon", an instrumental that displays Mary's virtuosity on the violin.  It comes off feeling rather experimental to me and just doesn't work for me at any level.

If you're waiting for the band to crank up and rock out you'll come away disappointed.  "Music From the Motion Picture" is the album of an older, more experience band.  You hear it not only in the music but the lyrics as well. This is is a mature reflective album that shows the confidence of a band that's been there, done that and isn't intent on meeting anyone's expectations other than their own.  Some folks have said that "Music From The Motion Picture" lacks any hits.  I think bassist Steven Gustafson responded best when he said "...we've been hearing that for 30 years".  10,000 Maniacs have always gone their own way, made their own music and this is more of the same.

Thank God.

Rating - **** Recommended

Movie Reviews - Next, Man On A Ledge, Road to Perdition

Next (2007) - Consider the case of Nicholas Cage.  In the early to mid '80s he looked like he could be the "next big thing".  That special actor that takes us to that special place that only they can go.  "Rumble Fish", "Peggy Sue Got Married", "Raising Arizona", "Moonstruck".  With "Leaving Las Vegas" (an an Oscar win for Best Actor) it looked like he might be prepared to move into the next phase of a brilliant career.   The problem is that what followed was less rather than more.  A lot of strange choices, poor choices and action films that are easy box office wins.  "National Treasure" is fun but it's not what we thought we saw for Cage's future.

Sadly what we get mostly are turkeys like this one.  Chris Johnson (Cage) is a small time Vegas magician (is Cage on the payroll of the Vegas Tourism Board?) with the ability to see two minutes into his own future.  Normally this just helps him win at the blackjack table.  Somehow a FBI agent (Julianne Moore) has discovered this ability (Johnson hides it) and wants to use it to fight against terrorists who have smuggled a nuclear weapon into the U.S.  Somehow the terrorists have also figured his talent out and are trying to eliminate him.  Meanwhile it turns out there's only one event that he's ever seen beyond the two minute limit, a woman named Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel, lucky fella).  The rest of the movie plays out pretty much as expected.  There's a little bit of a twist ending but it's hardly earth shattering.

Beyond the lame plot (and when someone points out that this movie is "Based on a Philip K. Dick story" you have my permission to slap them.  The Dick estate should sue because they use the author's name but virtually none of the story "The Golden Man") the movie is filled with dumb mistakes.  Cage's character enters a Fremont Street casino but exits onto the Strip.  He manages to totally screw up a simple joke.  Worst of all is the scene of  the future that the character sees that lasts, wait for it, THREE minutes.  Um, oops.

Got a Saturday afternoon with nothing better to do?  That's pretty much what Cage's career is good for these days.  I'll be nice.

Rating - *** Worth A Look

Man On A Ledge (2012) - I really wanted to like this movie.  And in the end I guess I kind of do.  It's the story of Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) who was convicted of stealing one of the world's largest diamonds.  He escapes from prison, makes his way to downtown Manhattan hotel and climbs out on the ledge.  Meanwhile a team consisting of his brother and the brother's girlfriend are trying to prove that the evil corporate owner actually faked the the theft.  Pretty much everything  that happens after that is what you'd expect.

The cast is pretty good, and the concept is quite good.  The problem is that there's just not enough there.  The suspense is supposed rise from moving from the tension between the ledge and the team inside looking for evidence.  But since we know that Cassidy isn't going to jump that never quite works.  The bad guys are standard issue cardboard cutouts (Ed Harris plays corporate creeps as well as anyone).

On a side note I love reading reviews of action flicks where people complain about plot holes.  Here's a challenge watch the original "Die Hard".  It's as good as any in the genre and a heckuva lot better than most.  Drink a shot every time you hit a plot hole (a plot hole is anything that goes against the logic of the story line, is blatantly impossible or is just missing information).  You will be unconscious before the first 45 minutes are gone.  This kind of action movie can't survive with a few juicy plot holes.  So if plot holes bother you stop watching action movies.  You have to be willing to give the story a little room for fantasy (because action movies are fantasy flicks.  First, last, always) and have some fun.

In the end there are too many holes, not enough plot to really make this a good one.  Call it another rainy Saturday afternoon movie and be happy.

Rating - *** Worth A Look

Road to Perdition (2002) - As a general rule I am less than thrilled with movies made from graphic novels.  Before fans of the art form jump down my throat I don't have anything against graphic novels.  But translating that distinctive style, a style that has its roots in the classic comic book, to the screen is hard.  It tends to come off awkward and contrived.  I think "Sin City" (2005) probably did it as well as any I've seen.  On the other hand this movie is based on a graphic novel but translates the story to a much more classic movie style of telling the story.  At the same time it retains the the feel of the original.

1930s mob hit man Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks)  is betrayed by his boss (Paul Newman) when they murder Sullivan's wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and youngest son.  With his surviving son Sullivan goes on the road in search of vengeance.  Along the way he discovers a relationship with that son he never knew he could have. The cast is stellar including Stanley Tucci (who is just amazing.  But then he's Stanley Tucci so why am I amazed?), Daniel Craig (who does a fabulous job playing against his usual tough guy role by playing the unstable,weakling son of the mob boss) and Jude Law in a small but wonderful turn as the killer sent after Sullivan. Then add a string of talented character actors in smaller roles and you get a cast of depth and talent.  Director Sam Mendes does an excellent job weaving all the pieces together.  In the end you get a stylish, visually gorgeous movie with compelling characters and story.

What more could you want?

Rating - **** Recommended

The Duck Disease, The March of Time, Next On Tonight

 "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 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of March 11, 2013



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 Duck Disease                                                                                                         

I have confessed here before my guilty pleasure in a lot of “reality” television.  Some of it is compelling because of the nature of the activity like “Ice Road Truckers” or “Deadliest Catch”.  Never really thought about either of those jobs and I come away with a deeper respect for the people who make their living doing those kinds of dangerous and difficult work.

At the other end I have also enjoyed things like “Storage Wars” and “Swamp People” because of the personalities involved.  Nothing like some really over the top people to make sure that a show hooks me.

But my latest favorite in this category has gone somewhere that no other show of its kind has ever done.  Last year I stumbled on “Duck Dynasty” and fell in love hook, line and sinker.  If you haven’t seen the A&E network hit it’s pretty simple.  The show follows the Robertson family and their company Duck Commander.  They make duck calls, which right up front doesn’t sound like a very exciting TV show.  But the family and their employees are right up there on the personality charts.  Father and company founder Phil who was a good enough college quarterback to keep Terry Bradshaw as his backup.  His brother Si who is, well beyond description.  Miss Kay is the matriarch of the family and a classic southern lady.

Put them all together with a bunch of sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and assorted others and you get some classic TV gumbo.

I’m not the only one to have caught the duck disease.  When the third season debuted just a couple weeks ago the audience was huge.  Big enough to tie for first place in that time slot with shows on ABC and Fox.  Remember this is on A&E, what we rather archaically call a “cable station” competing with the big boys.  The two half hour episodes grabbed over 8.6 million viewers that night.

What makes this show about a family of crazy redneck duck call manufacturers so compelling?  I think because it feels real.  These could be your crazy relatives.  But it’s also about family.  Each episode ends with the Robertsons et al gathered around the dinner table saying a prayer of thanks and love for one another.

It’s the kind of reality most of us would love to have a little more of in our lives.

The March of Time                                                                                                       

I’ve mentioned before that in real life I work with teenagers.  It’s mostly in the context of church youth ministry plus some work with groups like the Eastside YMCA.  It means that I’ve spent a lot of time with young people over the last decade.  It’s out of that experience that today’s commentary grows.  You see I think that the folks at Apple may be in need of someone with my background.

Apple has seen some of it’s sales numbers dip a little recently.  The rise of Android based phones have put a dent in the iPhone’s dominance.  Other tablets are beginning to crimp the iPad as well.  So, not surprisingly, Apple is looking for the next big thing.  They have a great brand and a retail arm that needs hot new products.  The near term idea is in the arena of a smart television.  It’s the long range plan that I have doubts about.

You see the next idea down the line is apparently a smart watch.  Now the first problem I have is that you say smart watch and the first thing I think of is from the days of the old Dick Tracy cartoon.  The real problem that I see comes from my experience with teens.  You see the one thing that most of those teens don’t have any more is a watch.  When they need to check the time they look at their phone.  So Apple is going to have to fight up a hill that they helped to create.

Now I’m aware that the watch industry is still perking along.  Last year it was a 60 billion dollar industry with a 60% profit margin.  And there are plenty of people who wear them, young and old.  I own two myself.  Add into that Apple’s track record for creating products that we didn’t even know we wanted and there’s always a chance for success.

At the same time I just can’t help thinking about a generation that hasn’t been raised relying on their wrist for time.  So what can you offer that makes them want to strap one on?  Watching TV on it would be awkward, don’t know that it would be a huge improvement to listening to music over the smaller ipods.  I know I’m working from a small sample size versus Apple but I just don’t get a real good feeling from this one.

At the same time it’s not the worst tech idea I’ve heard this week.  That would be Google’s talking shoe technology.

I’ll take Dick Tracy over Maxwell Smart any day.

Next On Tonight

So here we go again.  We can only hope that the principal players have learned their lesson and do a better job this time.

The story that is going into reruns this time is the Jay Leno retiring story.  You may remember the first viewing of this particular classic.  Leno was the king of late night TV.  Conan O’Brien wanted to be the heir apparent when the time came.  So his new contract in 2004 guaranteed the spot to him.  Five long years later Jay Leno decides to move from late night to prime time and Conan moves into the most historic and coveted seat in late night television.  The host of “The Tonight Show”.  The problem was that Leno (as predicted here) was a complete bomb in prime time.  Suddenly we have a problem.  One seat.  Two hosts.  There was a suggestion of inserting Leno into a new program and moving the “Tonight Show” back.  Which was just dumb and Conan knew it.  A deal was made and he eventually landed on TBS.  To be honest while Leno has re-taken the number one slot it’s a lot closer than it was before he left.

So now the rumor begins that Jay is thinking about actually retiring.  The situation is a little different in a variety of ways.  First there’s more competition than before.  Conan is now out there.  The real wild card is that ABC has moved into the network late night wars with Jimmy Kimmel Live.  And no I haven’t forgotten Letterman.  The competition breaks down into two groups, the old and the young.  Letterman is actually older than Leno while Conan and Kimmel draw a decidedly younger audience.

The early word is that NBC will follow the pattern that they’ve kind of created recently with Jimmy Fallon moving up from
“Late Night”.  The Peacock network is in an interesting position.  The last couple years have been awful.  The current season has shown signs of a real renewal for them but it’s still a delicate balance.  Add in that suddenly the long time king of MORNING TV “The Today Show” has slipped from its perch as “Good Morning America” on ABC has moved by them.

Fallon would seem to be the obvious next choice for that historic host slot. To avoid the kind of train wreck that happened in 2010  NBC needs to make the commitment to Fallon and Leno needs to walk away and keep on walking.
There’s no guarantee that any of those moves will be winners but anything else is sure to be a catastrophe.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Book Review - Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber

Swords and Deviltry and Swords Against Death - Fritz Leiber (1970) - This is probably the series that first introduced me to sword and sorcery fantasy.  My parents did not have a huge personal library but looking back I realize that you could find some amazing things in it.  My memory says that one of this series (there are seven titles of the collected stories of the two gallants from the world of Nehwon.  Fafrhd is a seven foot tall northern barbarian and the Gray Mouser is a small deft southerner.  Together they will fight, drink, steal and wench their way through life.

These stories are probably the best known work of one of the many fascinating writers from the Golden Age of Science Fiction.  Writer, poet, chess player, fencer, actor.  Lieber is one of the writers who establish the outlines of all the sword and sorcery that have followed.  These stories hold up incredibly well.  The earliest story ("The Howling Tower" which is found in "Swords Against Death") dates back to 1941 but strikes me as being fresh and fascinating.  If you're a fan of Terry Pratchett (and why wouldn't you be?) you'll feel the roots of his work in Ankh-Morpork and his direct parody with his characters of Bravd and the Weasel.

Beyond all of that these are classic stories of the genre and show Fritz Lieber at the top of his considerable game.  If you love sword and sorcery stories this is a must have collection.

Rating - **** Recommended

Movies - Chinatown, Becket, Amazing Grace

Chinatown (1974) - For many of us Los Angeles and all of Southern California are simply lands of sun and palm trees and easy living.  The reality is that the history especially of LA have quite a few skeletons in the closet.  Like where the water comes from to support all those people.  Once upon a time it was an enormous political deal that brought water from sometimes hundreds of miles away to the city.

This movie is one that draws awe from movie fans.  Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunnaway, directed by Roman Polanski and with perhaps the perfect movie script written by Robert Towne (who would win the only Oscar for the film, 10 other nominations came up empty).  The story of a private detective (Nicholson) drawn into the middle of intrigues of the California Water Wars through an adultery case that leads to a murder.  There is so much about this movie to love.  The acting, the script, the directing, the overall look of film noir, the stunning ending.  This was the movie that made Nicholson an established star.  It was Polanski's last American film (in which he makes a small but incredibly creepy cameo appearance).

Quite simply this is what movie making can be.

Rating - ***** Put It In Your Collection 

Becket (1964) - Based on the tony award winning play by Jean Anouilh it tells the story of King Henry II(Peter O'Toole) of England and his friend Thomas Becket(Richard Burton).  Henry thinks that he has made a brilliant counter to the growing power of the church by placing Becket on the throne of the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Instead he discovers that Becket takes his role as the head of the church every bit as seriously as he took his role as Chancellor.  The resulting conflict would lead to Becket's death and a pivotal moment in English history.

As history the movie leaves a lot to desire.  Anouilh acknowledged that he had done virtually no research prior to writing the original play.  But what makes this movie so wonderful isn't the historicity.  Fans of Eleanor of Aquitaine won't like the way she is portrayed here.nnThis is one of the most story rich periods of English history.  This same Henry, at the other end of his life, is the subject of the equally wonderful "The Lion in Winter" (O'Toole plays the king in both movies and received Oscar nominations both times).

As a character study this is a beautiful creation.  The movie received 12 Oscar nominations but stands at the very head of the list Oscar flame outs with 10 misses.  Burton plays the role of the master politician and tactician to an infinite sharpness.  O'Toole's Henry is charismatic and flawed and devious in his own right.  John Gielgud does a wonderful turn as King Louis VII (he's actually only in two scenes and does well enough to garner an Oscar nomination).  The screenplay was one of the Academy winners and it's the other true jewel here.  It takes us on a journey to understanding of faith and honor, exactly the journey that Becket faced.

Rating **** Recommended

Amazing Grace (2006) The story of the man who spearheaded the end of the slave trade in England probably doesn't sound like the most exciting movie viewing of the year.  Yet this movie about William Wilberforce brings great energy and emotion to the subject.  It is the very human struggle over a political and theological argument.  A talented cast and director bring the story to life.  While Wilberforce is the at the center of the movement he is surrounded by a slate of unusual partners.  The woman who would become his wife and her belief in him, the author of the hymn from which the movie draws its name who is tormented by the memory of  the thousands of slaves he brought to the New World in the hold of his ships, cynical politicians willing to fight for the cause and more just as happy to fight for the status quo.   An important moment of history is examined here and made into an engaging movie.

Rating - **** Recommended

Why Swimsuits?, Social Death and Variety Fades

 "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 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of March 4, 2013



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. 

Variety Fades                                                                                                         

This is one of those oddball stories that just feels like it needs to be shared.  Another iconic print publication has found itself on the ropes and is downsizing and moving more emphasis to the online publishing.  In this case it’s a publication that you have probably never held in your hand but you may have seen several times.  What is it?  It’s Variety magazine.

Variety may not always have been the top dog in reporting on Hollywood but it’s hard to imagine that any of its competitors are better known outside the movie capital.  Over the years it has been a favorite device in the movies for quickly moving the plot forward in movies about the stage or screen.  You may remember them in the movie “White Christmas” for example.  The other reason to use Variety headlines is that Variety was known for its snappy headline style often involving what was called “slanguage”.  Thus you got “Sticks Nix Hick Pix” in 1935 over a story about how rural audiences did not like pictures about rural themes and “Good Book Books Boffo Biz” in 2004 over a story about the box office success of “The Passion of the Christ”.

Variety began as a vaudeville magazine back in 1905 published in New York City.  In 1933 they added “Daily Variety” which was headquartered in Los Angeles.  It probably published the very first movie review in 1907.  That “slanguage” of Variety’s helped to popularize words like “sitcom”, “sex appeal” and “striptease”.  Pretty good for a magazine aimed at a pretty focused market.

In the end all the usual problems arose.  The magazines and associated web sites were sold late last year to the Penske Media Corporation for about 25 million dollars.  To try and keep the icon ticking Penske announced they are ending the Daily Variety, going back to just being a weekly (that’s how the magazine started) and putting more emphasis on the online reporting.  In an interesting twist they also announced that they will eliminate the paywall at Variety.com.  The big question now is how will they replace the income after losing both the daily subscription and sales PLUS the paywall income too.  Penske also owns one of Variety’s biggest online competitors “Deadline.com”.

One way or the other it’s the end of the line for an American icon.  We can only hope that they came up with an appropriately pithy headline for their last daily edition.

Social Death                                                                                                       

Have you ever opened up your favorite social media site and found that one of your friends there was threatening to quit?  Just walk away from the whole deal and never post again and close their account and they’re serious this time?  Happens to me a couple times each year.  They almost never go through with it but something has just made the experience less than warm and fuzzy for them and they think about quitting.  Most of the time you just shrug it off or maybe even laugh it off.  I’m sure that’s what the staff and owners of the social network do.

Turns out it’s actually something they need to pay a little more attention to if they know what’s good for them.

A second question (and yes it’s related to the first I promise) do you remember the web site Friendster?  Friendster is probably the granddad of the modern social media.  It was founded the year before MySpace and two years before Facebook.  At its height it boasted 100 million users and snubbed a thirty million dollar buyout offer from Google.  And in 2009 it basically curled up and died.  Friendster still exists but as a gaming platform.

So what happened?  According to a group from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich what basically happened was it simply become too much of a hassle for its users and they left.  The group did what is being called a digital autopsy.  The results showed that following some technical problems and an unpopular re-design users simply decided it was more trouble than it was worth and left.

Now here’s where your friends come in.  YOU may think that the network is just fine.  But if enough of your friends leave the study shows that you will leave too.  That’s exactly what happened to Friendster.  A critical mass of users left, their friends left with them and suddenly you have social media death spiral.  These are SOCIAL networks.  If your social group doesn’t hang out there any more why would you?

It’s a lesson that current social networks need to heed.  The problem as I see it is that the folks designing a lot of this are technophiles who really want to jazz the site up with some nifty new whiz bang.  Most of the users simply want the darn thing to work they way they expect it to work.  Most of us don’t care if our social network is the latest word in programming.  If it makes the experience even slightly more difficult it may be a tiny step in the direction of digital death.  Something Facebook should probably keep in mind.

Why Swimsuits?

I have no doubt that this topic is going to get me a fair amount of disbelief and abuse from my fellow men.  In fact I expect at least a few of them to hold that I am in fact betraying my gender by taking the position that I am.  I will in fact even admit to a small amount of conflict within my own person about this issue.  With all that said I’m still not sure I can honestly answer this question:

Why is there an annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue?

Let’s start by acknowledging the purely business argument in favor.  It sells a ton of issues and makes lots of money.  It is popular enough that there are SI Swimsuit calendars and videos and TV programs.  It’s a money maker.  I am willing to stipulate all of that.
   
But I still keep coming around to the original question.  Sports Illustrated is a SPORTS magazine.  So why an annual issue that has become quite simply about parading beautiful young women (and they are beautiful and yes I like looking at beautiful women, in photos or in person) in as little clothing as you can?  The new thing for this issue is to in fact have the women in no clothing and to substitute body paint for the clothes.

And this is sport related how?

Back in 1964 when the first swimsuit issue came out they at least tried.   The headline on the cover of that issue read “A Skin Diver’s Guide to the Caribbean”.  In very short order this predominantly male read magazine (out of the 23 million readers each week over 18 million are men) staked out its claim to women’s fashion?  Am I reading that right?  Today there isn’t even an attempt to pretend that this is anything other than what it is.  An appeal to the prurient interests of the male readers.  It has nothing to do with sports and has very little to do with women’s fashion.  It also has little to do with a mature view of women in general.  The Swimsuit issue has its roots firmly in the sweaty palmed, furtive sniggering of adolescent boys  trying to sneak a peek down a girl’s blouse.

Jumping back to the financial arguments it should probably be noted that SI turning a profit for the first time and that first swimsuit issue occur within a year of each other.  Take that for what it’s worth.

Call me a traitor to my gender but there’s just not much of defensible rationale for this issue from this magazine.

Call that the View From the Phlipside