Category: movies

The Future Is Non-Linear

In this movie, the audience picks the scene | CNET News.com

Non-linear narratives are among the favourite concepts of several post-modernist scholars. The online world in which we live certainly makes non-linearity quite apparent, often equating it with freedom. There’s also a playful dimension here. Although such a movie is quite different from “Choose your own adventure” gamebooks (what we knew, in French, as «livres dont vous êtes le héro»), there’s a clear connection between a non-linear movie and those games/narratives.

Does sound like an interesting project. The film’s website explains some of the technical details (including the fact that it can’t be played on Mac OS X computers).

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They Dropped The Other Shoe

[Disclaimer: I’m not necessarily an Apple fanboy but I have been an enthusiastic Mac user since 1987 and have owned several Apple products, from an iPod to a QuickTake camera. I also think that technology is having a big impact on arts, media, and entertainment.]

Just watched Apple’s "Showtime" Special Event. Didn’t really read or even listen to anything much about it yet. During that event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced new versions of all the iPod models, a new version of iTunes, and the addition of movies to the iTunes store. In addition, Jobs gave a sneak peak of an upcoming box to link iTunes with televisions and stereo systems.

People are likely to have been disappointed by the announcements. They’re probably saying that Steve Jobs’s famous "Reality Distortion Field" isn’t working, or that he lost his "mojo." They might even wonder about his health. Again…

Not that the new products are really boring, but there tend to be high expectations surrounding Apple announcements. This one is no different as people expected wireless capabilities on iPods and recording capabilities on the new "media centre" box, which was in fact part of the expected new products from Apple.

But this event is significant in another way. Through it, Apple explained their strategy, revealed a number of years ago as the Digital Hub. What some have called "convergence," quite a few years ago. Nothing really new. It’s just coming into full focus.

Though we may never know how much of it unfolded as planned, Apple’s media/tech strategy may appear rather prescient in retrospect. IIRC, it started in 1996, during Gil Amelio’s tenure. Or, more probably, in 1997 during the switch between Amelio and Jobs. Even by, say, 1999, that strategy was still considered a bold move. That was before the first iPod which, itself, was before iTunes, the iTunes Music Store, and most other current media-centric technologies at Apple. It was also at a time when user-generated content was relatively unimportant. In other ways, that was during the "Web 1.0" Internet bubble, before the "Web 2.0" craze for blogs, podcasts, and "social networking."

Apple isn’t the only corporation involved in the changes in the convergence between technology and the world of "content" (arts, media, entertainment). But it has played a key role. Whatever his success as a CEO, Steve Jobs has influenced the direction of change and, to an extent, shape a part of digital life to his own liking. While he’s clearly not clueless, his vision of the link between "content" and technology is quite specific. It does integrate user-generated content of "varying degrees of professionalism" (which he joked about during his presentation) but it gives precedence to the "content industry" (involving such powerful groups and lobbies as WIPO, NAB, MPAA, RIAA, etc.). Jobs’s position at Pixar makes him a part of that industry. Which is quite different from what arts and expressive culture can be.

Jobs invites musicians on stage with him (John Mayer, Wynton Marsalis, John Legend). He respects musicians and he might even appreciate their work. But his view of their work is that they produce content to consumed. For Jobs, music tracks, audiobooks, television episodes, movies, and music videos are all "contents" to be enjoyed by consumers. Now, the consumer can enjoy content "anywhere" as Apple is "in your den, in your living-room, in your car, and in your pocket." But what about public spaces? Concert halls, churches, coffee shops, parks, public libraries, classrooms, etc.? Oh! Apple can be there too! Yeah, of course. But those are not part of the primary vision. In Apple’s view, consumers all have their own iTunes accounts, media libraries, preferences, and content-consuming habits. A nuclear family may count as a unit to a certain extent (as Bob Iger pointed out in his "cameo appearance" during Jobs’s event). But the default mode is private consumption.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. Even the coolest things online are often based on the same model. It’s just that it’s not the only way to do things. Music, for instance, can be performed in public. In fact, it can be a collaborative process. The performers themselves need not be professionals. There’s no need for an audience, even. And there’s no need to see it as "intellectual property." Music is not a product. It’s a process by which human beings organize sound.

Ah, well…

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Music, Food, Industries, Piracy

000ady6y (PNG Image, 200×125 pixels)

Noticed it in Steal This Film. A very appropriate message. Process over product. Music is not a commodity. Food does not grow on profits.

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Blogosphère cinéphile

Helen Faradji, qui écrivait des éditoriaux sur le cinéma dans l'hebdo «alternatif» montréalais Ici a maintenant son blogue: Arrête ton cinéma!.

Encore une fois, la blogosphère gagne du terrain par rapport aux «média traditionnels». Vas-y Helen!

The Onion AV Club on W&G

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit | The A.V. Club
Haven't seen this one yet but have been enjoying the other Park/Aardman creations. This review is quite useful because it describes the type of experience one is likely to go through while watching the movie without necessarily evaluating it. That way, audience members are free to enjoy the movie for themselves but know in which context the movie should be seen.
Can't wait to see this one.

[Update: enjoyed it quite a lot!]

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Ken Burns Spoof: Blackstronaut Cover-Up

The Old Negro Space Program
Very explicit (be warned: some foul language) but well-done. Good use of different speech styles.
Pretty funny. Good anti-racism work.
Plays on many aspects of US culture, including European-American Afrocentrists, moralistic pseudo-tolerance, and emotional manipulation. If you will. 😉
Of course, its main effect is to talk about prejudice and make people think about the impact of discrimination. Johnny Brown, who plays “Suitcase Jefferson,” has done a wonderful job of playing the stereotypical Old African-American storyteller. Many people might still perceive African-Americans in such a stereotypical light.
Some funny comments in the guestbook.