"Can I email it to ya when I figure it out?"
Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) in Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Feeling a little tired lately? Spending less time watching TV? Wonder how you're going to absorb it all? Well...Yes...Yes...we'll email you on that.
If it's any consolation, you're not alone.
The beauty of today's content sources is that they are always on, always available, always sending stuff to you.
When Kevin Macdonald was deciding where to shoot his debut dramatic feature, The Last King of Scotland, the resounding advice he received was that he should shoot in a country with an established film industry infrastructure and skilled crews, like South Africa.
The Vancouver International Film Festival closed on Friday with a closing party at the capacious and airy venue of the station for the Rocky Mountaineer tourist train in Vancouver.
On Thursday evening, artistic director Alan Franey announced the winners of this year's VIFF awards.
In cinemas all around the capital - from London's West End, Leicester Square, the NFT, through to the Brixton Ritzy, the East Finchley Phoenix, Croydon's David Lean Cinema and the Tricycle in Kilburn, cinema staff all across London are gearing up for a frenetic fortnight in which over 180 new feature films and 130 short movies will get shown to audiences.
The Vancouver International Film Festival annual Film and Television Forum wrapped on Saturday with the popular New Filmmaker's Day. The last event I caught at the forum, and probably the highlight of NFD, was a morning workshop, "the Actor/Director Relationship", with Sarah Polley (The Sweet Hereafter, Away from Her), actor/director Beau Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys, My Name is Earl) and Sook-Yin Lee (Shortbus, Hedwig and the Angry Inch). The 175-seater cinema was filled to capacity, with standing room only.
All the people who really know how to put entertainment content to work for them are back in school with all of the essentials - notebook computers, smartphones, video MP3/iPods, PSPs.
Working to win their hearts and minds, content owners, aggregators and manufacturers heard (and believe) what Sparky said in Bring It On, "Follow me, or perish, sweater monkeys."
The Vancouver International Film Festival yesterday launched the programme for its 25th anniversary film festival. Over 340 films will be screened between 28th Sept - 13th Oct, ten of which are world premieres, 26 international premieres, and 28 North American premieres.
The film opens with Pedro Almodovar's Volver and closes with Stephen Frears's The Queen, in which Helen Mirren plays HRH during the period before and after the death of Princess Diana.
The VIFF's Film & Television Forum, Western Canada's four-day industry event launches its 21st year with a focus on content. The event, which takes place 27- 30 September, features master classes, seminars, workshops, tete-a-tete sessions and industry networking events.
Newly appointed Forum Program Director Helen du Toit says, "Strong content is the key to all success stories." Du Toit adds, "In such a competitive marketplace, we need to be bolder with our original content, and savvier about pitching and packaging."
"This is my boat. I got it the way I like it. You take up space and you slow me down." - Mariner, Waterworld
The future never gets here fast enough until it's the past.
It is certainly true of optical storage and right now blue laser technology.
Self proclaimed experts have been declaring each (BD, HD DVD) is winning and each is losing for months. Others proclaim that it will be DOA.
Let's put this in perspective:
"Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid." - Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Sparrow was right! Honest people do/say stupid things. Reviewers said the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, Dead Man's Chest, would be a bomb. It still racked up record ticket sales of $258.2 million in its first 10 days.