Amber Sparks
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Could filmmaking possibly get more commercial? Um, yes.
April 7, 2010
Harold Meyerson has a great/depressing piece in the Washington Post today on how product placement, or “brand integration,” (it’s a serious business these days) has become more important than ever to the funding of film. Now, he says, it’s not enough for one of the main characters to just be drinking a Pepsi. No, now a lawyer Company X has hired sits in on story conferences and suggests ways to integrate the products into scenes, action and dialogue. Sometimes these decisions can even affect casting and plot.
We used to have the studio system, and when it dissolved it was generally considered a good thing. And it was, for a while. But now that movies are more expensive and funding more difficult than ever to secure, the studio system’s starting to look not-so-bad. Most of our greatest movies (IMHO) were produced under it, after all. It doesn’t seem to have stifled creativity in the same way ridiculous amounts of money can.
But as Meyerson points out, no system designed solely to make money works all that well in the arts.
Every system has its own logic, but none of those systems — be they theocratic, feudal, capitalist or communist — has a logic that’s ultimately compatible with that of the artist.
It’s the age old problem, whatever the art, whatever the medium. How to make money and get audience without sacrificing integrity. The push and pull of business vs. creativity. We need both. But do we really need “brand integration?”
Death of the Gayborhood
April 6, 2010
Matt Katz declares the gayborhood dead, and mourns the loss.
h/t Andrew Sullivan
Felix Salmon Reviews The Big Short
March 18, 2010
Here at the B&N Review. A new angle on the story before the story of the financial crisis:
The Big Short is not the story of the crisis, as the crisis is commonly understood. The failure of Lehman brothers and of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; the stock-market crash; the bail-out of Detroit; the fevered all-nighters pulled at Treasury and the New York Fed; the fears that the entire global financial system was on the brink of collapse — little if any of that is in this book.
Instead, Lewis has found a different story — one which he started mining for a spectacular cover story in the December 2007 issue of Portfolio magazine, and which has culminated in this book, over two years later. It’s the story of what used to be called the “subprime crisis” before it metastasized into something much larger and more dangerous than that. And it’s also, like all Michael Lewis tales, a human story, which takes us deep inside unique characters like Steve Eisman and Mike Burry.
Michael Lewis is good. And this book is bound to very good. And quite eye-opening–as if we haven’t had our lids stretched far enough in the past two years already.
H/t Balloon Juice.
The Snowpocalypse is Apparently Upon Us
February 5, 2010 — 1 Comment
The panic is amazing. Apparently, when a major snowstorm approaches you must stock up with food, water, and survival supplies as though a pandemic were coming.
Oh, Minnesotans. I wish you were here. You would cry laughing.
New Story; and it’s Like Christmas Up in Here
December 12, 2009 — 2 Comments
Yesterday I sat around my house dying of probable food poisoning (entirely my own fault, if so.) So I feel like I double deserve the collective awesomeness happening this weekend:
• I have a href=”http://www.storyglossia.com/37/as_believe.html”>new story up today in the new December issue of Storyglossia, called “If You Don’t Believe, They Go Away.” Make sure you check out the whole issue; there are new stories by Meg Pokrass and J.A. Tyler, among others.
• My nook is here and it is so so so much better than I could have imagined. I love the touch screen that shows the covers of all my books. I love being able to buy a book in like five seconds. The e-ink screen looks great, too. The only downside is, there aren’t as many new or indie books available–yet. Hopefully that will change. I was able to buy Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link, and reading that has been an amazing experience for many reasons. But more on that later.
• Molly Gaudry was kind enough to send me a copy of her new book, “We Take Me Apart,” and I’m hoping to read it tomorrow. It’s a beautiful little book, the kind I’d never want to read on an ereader. But more on this book later, too.
• I just bought a million presents for myself and others with my Citicard points, which makes me feel like all that spending throughout the year was for a good cause. Uh, huh. Just allow me my fantasy.
• Chris and I have a week ahead of holiday parties starting tonight with a friend’s yearly cookie party. Thus the diet-ruining begins.
Holiday Gifts and Stuff Part II
December 7, 2009
I always give books and more books for the holidays. This year, though, I’m limiting myself to my favorite indie press books, since I want to 1)support indie writers and presses and b)introduce friends and relatives to books they might not see on the front table at Barnes and Noble or in the “best of” lists circulating widely at this time of year.
So far, I’ve picked up extra copies of Blake Butler’s Scorch Atlas, Amelia Gray’s AM/PM, Shane Jones’ Light Boxes, and Brian Evenson’s Fugue State. I highly recommend all four as fantastic gifts for the book lover(s) in your life. (I hope there are many.)
Speaking/writing of Brian Evenson, his holiday picks appear today on the Emerging Writers Network’s Holiday Shopping Guide, which is really worth checking out. Everyday until Christmas the site is featuring a writer showcasing their recommendations for holiday gifts, with writers like Laura van den Berg, Peter Markus, Scott Garson, and Molly Gaudry chiming in. I’ve already added several more books to my long, LOOOONG wish list from their excellent picks.
Enough chatter. Go shopping!
So, I pre-ordered a Nook.
November 3, 2009
It just looked so cool. So much prettier than the Kindle. And appealed to my great love of gadgets and books, all at the same time.
Plus, you can download all kinds of free books. And when I travel, which I do a lot, I won’t have to load my suitcase down with 87 books like I usually do. This certainly isn’t going to replace the walls of books I surround myself with, but it will be a nice way to read on the Metro or the bus, or when I’m out of town.
But now there is a lawsuit. Will I still get my Nook? Damnit.
