movieguyjon

On Cheap Asses And Pandora

Posted on August 19, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets Music 9

The revised royalties are quite high – higher in fact than any other form of radio. As a consequence, we will have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin limiting listening to 40 hours per month on the free version of Pandora. In any given month, a listener who hits this limit can then opt for unlimited listening for the remainder of that month for just $0.99. In essence, we’re asking our heaviest users to put a dollar (well, almost a dollar) in the tip jar in any month in which they listen over 40 hours. We hope this is relatively painless and affordable–the same price as a single song download. (Alternatively, they can upgrade to “Pandora One”, our premium version which offers unlimited monthly listening in addition to its other benefits).

As someone who hopes to one day make a living out of being creative, I tend to side with the people making the content when it comes to issues of compensation. These people need to get paid for what they’ve created just like people who work in any other job deserve to get paid for the job they’ve done. There’s nothing that makes a “creative’s” work less deserving of financial compensation than that of a waiter, an office exec, or a city worker. At the end of the day, we all need to get paid so we can continue to live. In the case of Pandora, they should at least be able to make back some of the ridiculous royalties they have to pay the music industry, right?

Not if you’re a cheap bastard. I can’t count on my hands how many times I’ve heard people state that Pandora charging for extended use is wrong. These people come at it with a sense of entitlement, with the idea that they shouldn’t have to pay to listen to what is essentially “a radio.” When confronted, they backpedal and explain that they’re cheap and can’t afford the fees.

$.99 is hardly expensive in my book. And if you’re a power user, $.99 for the month is ridiculously cheap. Why not pay the small fee and help out a company that provides such an amazing service? Or you know, maybe buy your music for a change?

The big mistake any of us can make is to assume that we deserve ANYTHING for free. These services come to us cheap as a convenience, not as a requirement. These companies certainly aren’t breaking the bank by giving away their content and / or services so we should take a step back and be grateful we only have to pay a dollar for unlimited internet radio.

But…cheap bastards will be cheap bastards.

On Tumblr

Posted on August 18, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets 7

HAY GUISE! I made a tumblr. Actually, I’ve had one for quite some time but dismissed it fairly early on as stupid and kind of redundant. After all, I’ve got my own blog, so why would I want another one? Well, I clearly wasn’t thinking straight as there’s a whole social aspect to it and you can follow your friends and just post random shit. You can even re-share things blatantly with nothing more than a quick link back to the original poster, who took the thing from someone else and so on and so forth.

You got a tumblr? Let me know. I’d like to follow you. You can find mine by clicking on “Tumblr” on the menu above.

On Writing Despite The Void

Posted on August 17, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets My Life Screenwriting 0

Writer’s block is a terrible tragedy that befalls even the best of writers. How they get through this debacle varies. Some take a walk to clear their mind, some eat a bunch of junk food, some watch movies, some take drugs, and so on and so forth. I’ve written a few blog posts about this before and thought I would do so again. Truth is, I’ve been in a bit of a “void” these past few weeks, and really haven’t had that much to write about be it for the blog or for my own script. The question then is, do I “write despite the void?”

The short answer: yes.

The less-short answer: yes, but it sure is a bitch and a half.

See, when you’re in the “void,” you’re fighting an uphill battle. The ideas are all gone, and the inspiration that you may have once had decided to go on that Vegas vacation it has been talking about all these years and not leave you a contact number. You still have to write, though, which brings up the obvious question: How? Here’s some things that have helped me get something onto the page, despite having nothing up there in my noggin.

Incentives

Sounds cheesy, but I reward myself for writing. I reward myself MORE for writing in the void. Ice cream, sweets, coffee, anything that might encourage me to get a few words out. Hell, I’ve even used social engagements as a reward for writing. Oftentimes, the stuff I write under these conditions aren’t all that great, but at least it’s something.

White Noise Method

Sometimes I’ve been able to crank out a page or two of something through what I call the “White Noise Method.” It’s a really simple method involving having the television on, the itunes playing on random, and having my cats racing each other around the room. Somehow through all the chaos I can get myself to focus. If you don’t have a cat, I’m sure you can substitute with a second tv.

Internet Removal Method

This is perhaps the most effective, but the hardest to initiate. It involves halting your access to the internet while you try to write.

Writing Groups

Another method that I’m always keen on trying to get myself writing more is one in which I gather with one or more people and just write. Sometimes, being amongst others is all it takes to get the creative juices flowing. You can step away from the page briefly to chat, and then just as quickly return. You also run the good chance of gaining some insight to what you’re writing as well as some useful brainstorming for future projects.

Anyway, just a few thoughts on what you can do to write while you’re in the “void.” It might be tough as hell, but eventually you’ll find that you have a lot of stuff written that you can go back and re-write. Oh yeah…re-writing. That’s a different story altogether.

On The Things I Do

Posted on August 13, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets My Life Screenwriting 0

I’ve been kind of a busy bee these past few weeks with various projects and just trying to get things moving in a forward momentum. I thought I would let you know how those things are going, in case you….you know…actually cared!

Technicolor Commentary

The film commentary podcast I started awhile back is still going strong. In fact, we’re going to be releasing our 24th episode this friday. We’ve also starting tinkering with methods of live-streaming when we record and various other things to spruce up the overall experience for our listeners. This month we started a new gimmick where we let our listeners decide what we do commentary on for the month of August. So far, we’ve seen Top Gun and will be watching True Lies on Saturday. I’ve also been experimenting with streaming old episodes with the commentary attached like you were actually watching commentary from the DVD. We’ll see if that sticks.

The Disgruntled Screenwriter

I decided that I couldn’t get enough of the whole podcasting thing so I decided to start my own. It’s about the ins and outs of screenwriting that I learned while in film school as well as just going through general knowledge and questioning the rules and why they exist. As of the release of this blog post I’m at 2 episodes, so this venture is a fairly young one. I have high hopes for this and think that I can perhaps become a better speaker by talking into a microphone to no one in particular for a half an hour at a time each week. I might also incorporate my struggles as a screenwriter in the episode for flavor. We’ll see.

Hilarious Henry

I’ve been doodling my alter-ego again recently and have decided to bring back my webcomic from it’s lengthy hiatus. So far I’ve done the rough sketch of three new strips and I plan on doing more in the next day or so. As for when I’m going to be re-debuting this little comic, I’m not quite sure yet. I was thinking next week, but I might go the route of building up a buffer and taking an extra week to do so.

SCREENWRITING

Yeah, I’m working on finishing a really dorky screenplay. I’ve also got another script I need to decide what to do with as well as a garbage rough draft of another that I need to get back to. It’s just a matter of actually getting off my ass and doing this, though. Or on my ass, as I don’t really do any writing while standing.

On the Differences Between TNT and USA

Posted on August 12, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather TV 0

TNT and USA have a distinct way of marketing their television shows. When I watch these television spots, I feel a very distinct way about each and I wonder if anyone else feels the same way. For the TNT ads, I feel dismissive and jaded when the ads cross the screen. This “meh” reaction turns to scorn and then I end up making some kind of insulting quip to the television show. Case in point, HawthoRNe. We see sweeps and zooms of Jada Pinkett-Smith standing all dramatically with voiceover about how she’s the nurse who’s got EVERYTHING and stands up for the little guys. The commercials just bleed stupid and I hate them.

And then there are the USA ads, which feature similar sweeps and zooms, but have the opposite effect on me. I think “aw damn. I gotta see that!” or “Ooooh, this is kind of cool. I gotta see that!” or even “OH SNAP I GOTTA SEE THAT!” It might be that the production value on these commercials are much better and feature the characters doing interesting things. It could also help that they really work at teasing you as opposed to hitting you over the head with how awesome the show is.

Anyone else notice this?

On Crossovers (Hint: They’re Bad)

Posted on August 11, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Screenwriting TV 12

The short answer: Crossovers in television are bad news.

The lengthier answer: Crossovers in television are generally bad news.

I was directed to an article about the future season of Fox’s flagship series BONES and how they were considering a crossover from LIE TO ME, another procedural detective show. After reading the article, I thought about it for all of a minute and came to the conclusion you see above. Seriously, there’s a reason why we don’t get many crossovers in this day and age of television: they DON’T WORK. First, the writers from one show would need to co-ordinate with the writers from the other show and they would need to come up with a logical explanation for why the two heroes would meet. And then you would have to deal with the problem that arises that the two shows share the same universe. What this does, from a logical standpoint, is require that future crossovers happen and that Brennan and Lightman eventually become a team.

Really, who wouldn’t want to see Lightman and Brennan solve cases? Brennan could accuse the bad guys and Lightman could call their bluffs. You could probably cut the show down to a half an hour, since their team-up would be quite epic. And hey, Booth could shack up with Lightman’s spunky protege and calamity could ensue!

Oh, what am I talking about. This shit is retarded. Fox, don’t do it. The end.

On the Marriage of Facebook and Friendfeed

Posted on August 11, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets 0

Got some shocking news when I checked FriendFeed on my mini-break at work yesterday. The word circulating was that FriendFeed had been sold to Facebook. Naturally, my first reaction was to check my phone’s calendar, since April 1st could have come late or something. But then I got home and confirmed what I had read. Facebook HAD in fact bought FriendFeed and in an interview it was said that eventually the services would be assimilated. My reaction to this was as follows:

Naturally, I didn’t quit either of the services, choosing instead to adopt Johnny Worthington’s idea of “going down with the ship.” But things had definitely changed for me with the news. What was once a blossoming service with immense potential became a cancer patient with but a few months to live.

I don’t really want to spend any more time talking about this, because I still need more time to think. But I feel like I’m about to lose something big here, something that I put a lot of my life into.

Angry Gamers, GRRR

Posted on August 10, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Internets 0

Found this via BWANA via Game Politics:

Activision knows it has a ‘hot’ game, knows that the market will pay an additional 10 per cent, and has decided to increase price accordingly.

If you know me, you know my stance on petitions. They don’t really work. I think the boycott is a great idea, though, if enough people can actually do it. The only way you can really change things in the entertainment business is to take your business elsewhere.

Why I Don’t Like Indie Films (mostly)

Posted on August 10, 2009 by movieguyjon Film 4

I have a strange relationship with indie films and the people who make / consume them. For me, indie films came to my attention through Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, which then led me to Steven Soderbergh, Allison Anders, Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater, et al. The 90’s indie film movement was a big part of my film viewing experience and if you let me talk at you long enough, you’ll hear all about how much I long to go back to it. But my opinion of independent films has changed in the past decade, and I think I might have an idea as to why: they are all essentially the same.

It seems like there’s a basic formula these days to make an indie film: Ql + MfP + Um = Profit, where Ql = Quirky lead, MfP = Music from Pitchfork, and Um = Uninspired marketing. Have you seen an indie film these days that doesn’t have the same font used in the posters and title sequence? What about the quirky lead (usually female)? There’s really no characterization other than dorky for dorkiness’ sake. These characters are written in this manner and the viewer is lead to believe that this is how things are because it’s “indie” and “indie” means “real.” Not so. A friend of mine said that “Badass for badass’ sake” is stupid. The same applies here. Sadly, it’s a successful part of the formula.

Let me explain “Music from Pitchfork” a little so you don’t get me wrong. MfP occurs when the filmmakers compose a soundtrack for their indie film (and it’s trailers) with music they found by scanning the Pitchfork site. While I like (500) Days of Summer and am on record for giving it an excellent review, it is a perfect example of the formula. Regina Spektor in the opening credits? Sure. Maybe toss in some Pixies as well for good measure. Juno was another offender in this category as was Away We Go. Granted, I’ve only seen the trailers to Away We Go, but that brings us to the “Uninspired Marketing” or Um.

Every single film lauded as indie borrows the same boring font and claims it as their own, like it has never been used before. The trailers are also cut like a hollywood romantic comedy, if a retard pieced a rom-com trailer together.

The formula is THE reason I don’t like indie films. Now you might be saying, “Those aren’t indie films, they just pretend they’re indie.” I guess. But then you go on to describe everything that’s in the formula. Really, any film that doesn’t fit into the well-established, mainstream formula is called independent and oftentimes it just follows it’s own popular formula. Mumblecore, for example, has a simple formula of BCW (Bad Camera Work) + NM (No money) + NP (No plot). Although, at least the mumblecore crowd is actually out there making things and gaining some traction in their movement with Hump Day.

Agree, disagree? Feel free to voice your thoughts.

A Pretty Girl is Like…

Posted on August 3, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Music 0

A pretty girl is like a minstrel show,
It makes you laugh, It makes you cry, You go
It just isn’t the same on radio.
It’s all about the makeup and the dancing and the Oh,
A pretty girl is like a violent crime,
If you do it wrong you could do time.
But if you do it right it is sublime. I’m so in love with you, girl, it’s like I’m on the moon.
I can’t really breathe, but I feel lighter.
A melody is like a pretty girl,
Who cares if it’s the dumbest in the world.
It’s all about the way that it unfurls.
A pretty girl is like a pretty girl.

– The Magenetic Fields