View From the Phlipside Radio - Starz Strikes

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Two in Trouble?

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

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

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

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

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

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

Call that the View From the Phlipside

Wingsfest!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peace

And the movies...

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recommend them both.

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

Gotta see some more movies!

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

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

And this takes care of today I'm thinking!

So what's on your Nook Jay?

For no particular reason:

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

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

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

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

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

View From the Phlipside Radio - Steve Jobs

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

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

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

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

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

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

Call that the View From the Phlipside