Archive for the “Television & Movies” Category

Normally, I watch Larry King Live on my TIVO.  But because I am in Portland working with a business friend and associate, I was forced to see Larry King Live on YouTube. I saw the interview of Carrie Prejean by Larry King and was stunned that she actually made herself look more of an idiot than she already had shown.

That interview was an embarrassment on so many levels. She had this annoying habit of clicking her fingernails on the interview desk during the beginning of the interview. She had no ability to make the distinction or counter Larry’s question as to her motive to dropping the lawsuit.

If she wanted to walk off the set, she should have left. Everyone would have been better off for it. Larry King is traditionally very polite and flattering to his guests.  If she can’t handle being interviewed with Larry, she can’t do it anywhere.

She is an idiot for not knowing why people continue to attack her.  It is because she continues to be a lightning rod and dredging the same crap up.  Even her so-called book seems to continue this.  The news had been calm for a few weeks until she decided to enflame the situation by filing a lawsuit against the pageant officials.

Fortunately, more hypocrisy was found of a secret solo-performance tape that shut her down.  Her lack of accountability is stunning. Her ability to distort the facts is stunning.  The fact that she claims she represents conservative women is embarrassing.  I know a lot of conservative women and none would ever behave like she does.

And I about laughed out loud when I her say about how much she accomplished in her 22-years.  Like what?  Parading around showing her body? Being unaccountable for anything bad that happened?  For being an intellectual midget? For continually seeking media attention, then complaining about it?

It is pretty rare for me to write a post of this kind about anyone but I had to vent somewhere.  Carrie Prejean is an idiot. She brought all this on herself and she deserves what she gets.  She needs to grow up. She is fooling very few people with her words.  They ring very hollow.

During lunch, we went to the WB Commissary.  When I hear the word commissary, I am thinking it is this cafeteria where lots of people are being pushed through a food line and you have to sit in this rowdy lunch room.  Boy, was I tremendously happy I was completely off-base.

It turns out that the lunch included at the WB Commissary is actually a near fine-dining experience with nice table cloths, cloth napkins, and formal silverware with first-class service.  The menu and selection were those you would find from a formal restaurant except that this is the place were executives, producers, actors, other higher echelon employees would eat.

To give some perspective, the soup I ordered was $5.00, the salad was $8.00, the Diet Coke was $2.75, and the NY Steak was $24.00.  Remember, this is LUNCH, not dinner!  When I tallied my own bill, I easily had a $40.00 lunch without gratuity.  We were provided with a complimentary dessert (slice of pear pie) which by my estimation would have cost $6.00 on their menu.  Basically, if I had to pay for this entire dining experience with gratuity, this would have been close to a $60.00 lunch tab!

When I thought about the $150.00 ticket I purchased for the 5-hour tour, easily 1/3 of that cost went to the WB Comissary lunch experience.  I told the tour guide that I had expected a cafeteria or a box-lunch experience, not a fine-dining experience.  The food was good but the service was rushed mainly because the tour guide said that we did not pay to sit at lunch for over an hour.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed lunch, I had to agree with him.

He took us to a screening room which had an large-size mixer stretching to what I estimated to be at least 20 ft.  It was a very stylish and elegant room where there were many computer monitors connected to a network of Macintosh PCs.

We eventually went into another studio where a small orchestra could fit in and play music to be recorded.  Supposedly, this room was one that Clint Eastwood favored to record music for his own movies.

We visited a few sound stages.  We visited a huge sound stage where they made “The Perfect Storm” minus the filled tank of water.  We visited a sit-com sound stage similar to what they used when they made “Friends”.  We also visited the set of “Cold Case” where it looks a worn office of a city government building.  Once again, the attention to detail was extraordinary.  The furniture, cabinets, paperwork, books, folders, floor tiles, telephones, etc.

During one of our last stops, we went into the private WB Museum.  Being a fan of the Superman and Batman movies, I had the opportunity to closely inspect the superhero costumes.  The detail on the costumes were amazing.  You see way more in person than you can see on the movie screen.  There were costumes from “300″, Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions, and many other movies.  The 2nd floor was entirely dedicated to the Harry Potter movies.  I have to confess I have never seen a Harry Potter movie, nor have I ever attempted to read a Harry Potter book.  So, the whole Harry Potter thing did not do much for me.

In this review, I clearly cannot cover everything in the tour because I cannot remember every thing.  Even if I did, this is only a review, not a blow-by-blow account of my tour.

Overall, I felt I got tremendous value out of the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour (Deluxe version).  It is designed to be an attraction but it is also close to a 1-day educational experience.  I liked the fact there was only 10 of us on the tour and we really got VIP treatment.  It is actually kind of funny.  I thought the 5-hour Deluxe tour is the true VIP experience with a more personalized experience, not the 2-hour version they call the VIP tour where I saw up to 20 people on those tours.

The Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour like the other movie studio tours are really under-promoted and under-marked in my opinion.  I don’t recommend young children going on most of the movie tours.  I don’t think they would truly appreciate the grandeur and sophistication of the movie-making process.  Because of the prices, I would not bring any children under 15 on most of the movie tours.

Otherwise, I highly recommend this great experience.

Prior to leaving on my final day in Los Angeles, I went to the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour in Burbank, California.  More specifically, I signed up for the 5-hour Deluxe version of the studio tour at a cost of $150.00.  Only 10-people are allowed in a Deluxe Tour.  This followed my Sony Pictures Studios Tour the day before.

Because I am in the publishing industry where I deal with Internet, print, audio and video media, this was an easily justifiable business expense.  Without question I am a movie buff but I was very much there for educational reasons.  I looked at this tour as a one-day seminar of how the “big boys” create these multi-million dollar productions.

This tour begins with a 15-minute retrospective of the origins of Warner Brothers.  There literally were 4 brothers with the last name Warner.  These brothers originally began in the East Coast with their movie theatre business .  And then they decided they might be able to make more money if they were able to also create and produce their own movies to show in their own theatres.  Clearly, that was the beginning of a legacy which has lasted to this day.

The Warner Brothers exterior sets were more extensive and impressive than Sony Pictures.  In fact, the WB lot is so large, we were taken around in a cart by the tour guide.  Our tour guide was clearly passionate about his job and it showed.  However, I did think he was a bit regimented in that it was very difficult to ask questions.  You would think that in this longer tour, there would be ample opportunity to ask questions but that was frequently not the case.  He was clearly in charge of the group and rattled off trivia after trivia as we visited various sets.

One of the most impressive sets I have ever seen is the Chicago set used by the producers of E.R.  E.R. is a long-runnning medical drama.  I am not a big fan but I have seen a few episodes of it.  The exterior sets of E.R. is very impressive for the detail that was put into it.  Although the sets have been around 12+ years, they looked like they had been around for 50 years with considerable wear and tear having that aged, filthy, back-alley look in Chicago.  Even up close, it was difficult to tell that these sets were artificially aged and worn.  The authentic look was simply amazing.

The set also had the back entrance to the E.R. hospital where ambulances roll in patients.  That set was also amazing.  It really looked like a hospital E.R entrance with the wear and tear of one.

Being a fan of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, we had the chance to see the actual sets of where the characters live.  We even see the scars in the street as a result of the explosion in the season finale.

We passed by the exterior sets of Uncle Jesse’s and Boss Hoggs’ home from Dukes of Hazzard.  In the TV show, they were two different buildings in two different locations.  In actuality, they are the same building!  One is filmed from the front, the other from the rear.  Again, move movie magic.

We went through an exterior set of a suburban neighborhood which actually had office workers in each of the houses.  When you are walking in those sets, it really does feel like you are in a suburban neighborhood, not a movie set on a movie lot.

We eventually broke for lunch.  End of Part 1.

Having planned a couple of extra days to enjoy Los Angeles, I booked a ticket to visit Sony Pictures Studios Tours.  Like most of the movie studio tours, they are not well advertised or marketed.  Most people find out about movie studio tours from word-of-mouth or by seeking it out.

Being a big movie fan myself, it was a high priority for me to check out all the movie studio tours.  (I scheduled the Paramount Movie Studio Tour for the morning but goofed up my schedule and arriving too late.)

The Sony Pictures Studios Tour located in Culver City, CA costs $28.00.  You can purchase tickets online in advance (with a $2.00 fee) or simply make reservations.  I did not know I could make reservations until AFTER I had bought tickets online.  Because I also wanted to attend the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour, it was a bit of a trick to schedule 3 studio tours within a 2-day period.  Because of limited availability of the Warner Brothers Deluxe Studio Tour (a 5-hour version of the WB VIP Studio Tour), I was forced to reschedule my tickets with Sony Pictures Studio Tour.  Fortunately, the folks at Sony were accommodating.  They were able to simply use my same ticket but schedule it for another day.

The Sony Pictures Studios Tour is a 2-hour walking tour of the old MGM Studios that Sony Pictures bought out.  Underground parking is free in the visitor section of the Sony Pictures office building.  One of the things you learn early in the tour is how MGM sold off so much of their backlots over the years that what they have left is much smaller than how they started.

Even with that, there is still plenty of walking to do.  I recommend some comfortable walking shoes.  They say that no two tours are exactly alike.  They attribute this to the fact that every tour guide has a different style and the daily circumstances are such that the tour is designed to be flexible just in case the tour encounters an actual TV or movie production.  If that happens, the tour obviously work around these important and well-controlled events.

On my tour, sound stages had been set on the upcoming movie “Angels & Demons” which is a prequel to the movie and book of the same name “Da Vinci Code”.  We also passed by Beyonce Knowle’s trailer and the sound stages for her upcoming movie “Obsessed”.

I made my first visit to a Foley studio which is where many sound effects are created.  We also visited the set and green room of “Jeopardy”.  I have to say that Green Room was a bit nasty but the tour guide said it was because a party was thrown a couple of nights earlier and it had not yet been clean.  The Green Room is really a green room.  Apparently, green is supposed to help calm the nerves of people who will eventually go out on stage.

We walked through many interesting exterior sets that had real-life workers within the building!  Apparently, the designers and architects make the insides of the buildings functional but decorate the outside in such a way to create the illusion you are in a different city or locale.

I don’t want to give the entire tour away but those were the highlights.  My tour guide, Tony, is an aspiring screenwriter and seems to enjoy giving movie studio tours as he looks for his big break.

Overall, anyone who loves movies and wants to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of movie-making should check out Sony Pictures Studios Tour.

I haven’t been too productive today. One of those reasons is my flipping through the 3 national news channels: CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC. I have been following the New Hampshire Primaries like I have never done before.

It has been a great show. On the Democratic side, Hillary had a touching emotional moment. Either she has gotten worn down or it was just a moment of weakness. It was interesting to see that side of her. I didn’t see much of John Edwards but he is going all out as the self-appointed underdog. And the rock star named Obama? Damn, people are inspired by him. And I cannot say I am immune. I was inspired since I first heard him speak in 2004 on the televised Democratic National Convention.

On the Republican side, Romney continues to offend my sensibilities. That is all I have to say about him. I am rooting for McCain on the Republican side. When I hear him speak, he really is very wise. I just wish he didn’t look so old. It makes me feel like he won’t last long enough to make a difference even if he were elected. I am not trying to be insulting but it is how I feel. With Giuliani, I like how he took accountability for his past and admits that he is not perfect on the GOP NH Forum.

On the Democratic side, although I would still like to see John Edwards come out on top, it looks like Obama will win. It seems like he is now a rock star. How can anyone compete with someone who has become a political rock star? Hillary will likely come in at a close 2nd to Obama. Unless she has ticked off a ton of voters in the last few days, Hillary is still a force to be reckoned with.

On the Republican side, I think McCain will win, thank goodness. But Romney will likely come in at a close second. Ugh, that means he will continue on and I have to listen to him yak more. Huckabee is a great talker and will come in 3rd.

I am looking forward to the results tomorrow night.

For the last two years, I have been looking for signs on what would be the technological successor to the standard DVD. I love buying and owning movies on DVD. I am also a power user on the personal computing side. And so, I have a vested interest in knowing what direction the high definition DVD format would eventually go.

Warner Brothers, the owner of the largest movie library in the world, announced they would give full support to Blu-ray by releasing their movies exclusively on Blu-ray discs and discontinue releasing HD-DVD movies.  The tipping point has finally been reached.

For so long, it was HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray with no clear leader. I read all the technical opinions and the consensus was that Sony’s Blu-ray was technologically superior in many ways. However, HD-DVD offered a more affordable path for manufacturers to produce the format.

Sony has continued to brag about the number Blu-ray units sold that include the PlayStation 3 units. Quite frankly, I don’t think that a gaming machine is terribly decisive so I mentally discounted that. I know some of the PC industry folks such as Intel, HP, and Microsoft support HD-DVD. However, they are also not the driving force for adopting a new DVD format. So, I mentally discounted them also.

When Blockbuster adopted Blu-ray exclusively, that was a big sign of trouble for HD-DVD but not a deal-killer.

As much as I hate to admit it, the consumer market rules. They will follow whatever the movie studios decide. Most consumers have no interest in being bleeding edge. I have often said I would have no trouble shifting over to Macintosh computing if the market share was much larger. At 5% market share, Macintosh’s continue to be a minor player in mainstream personal computing.

The analogy is similar. I actually leaned towards HD-DVD, not Blu-ray, because of the cost factor. Although I like superior technology, I am not always willing to pay a large premium for it.

However, with Warner Brothers (the studio owning the largest movie library) committing to Blu-ray exclusively (joining Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, MGM, Lionsgate, and Sony), they have seriously tipped the balance in favor of Blu-ray, ensuring the inevitable demise of HD-DVD. Essentially, that leaves only Universal and Paramount hanging on to HD-DVD.

I believe the only way HD-DVD can be resurrected is if there was a sudden surge in the numbers of HD-DVD players being bought and owned by consumers this year. And the only way I can see that happening is that players need to be less than $150. If that does not happen, I believe the folks in charge of the HD-DVD format will have to concede.

I think the HD-DVD camp will not give up without a fight. However, given how quickly technology markets move, vendors who don’t have any religious or financial commitment to HD-DVD will simply and easily accept Blu-ray as the triumphant format where the only barrier to entry is the cost factor. Once that happens, I believe the HD-DVD folks will concede the fight next year.

Quite frankly, I hope they will concede sooner so that everyone can move forward and let competitive forces start releasing more Blu-ray players and software (movies) in volume to help lower prices further.

R.I.P. HD-DVD, Long live Blu-Ray!

I am not sure when the commercials took hold in my brain but after nearly 2 years of seeing Apple put on different “Mac vs. PC” commercials, I decided to go to YouTube.com to find more of those “Mac vs. PC” commercials to view.

Can you imagine that? I actually went out of my way to go view MORE commercials! I guess the ads appeal to two sides of me: the techno-geek and the entrepreneurial marketing sides.

I have long listened to both the PC and Mac sides fight for their side. I personally use the PC and Windows XP simply because there are so many more hardware and software options to choose from. Yes, I admit I have had my share of of PC and Windows problems over the years. But, at the end of the day, it is very much in the majority and well supported.

In any case, I don’t have a lot of emotion either way. However, I found it interesting that there were some very negative comments regarding the same commercials I found quite funny and charming. I know the commercials are supposed to be in favor of Macs. Duh, it was made by Apple. And yet, some of the PC-mongers are bent out of shape because they think the commercials are “malicious” and “hateful”. Are you kidding me?

Yes, there are friendly jabs at the PC but I found them to be honest and truthful. What I like about the commercials…. it is consistent, simple, and humorous. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. As a student of marketing, I thought it was genius.

According to Wikipedia, there are 3 dozen versions of the “Mac vs. PC” commercials. Yikes, that is a long series of commercials. I think through YouTube.com, I saw at least 20 of them.

Anyhow, here is a batch of 15 short commercials from YouTube.com. (The videos were deleted from YouTube. You can do a search on “mac vs. pc commercials” to find samples to watch)

Do you agree with me that they are funny and charming commercials? Or do you really think, they are truly “hateful, malicious, and offensive”?

During my week at the NAR 2007 Convention, I had the unexpected pleasure of running into and meeting Kendra Todd, Season 3 Winner of Donald Trump’s TV show “The Apprentice”.

Wes and I were near the NAR Booth in the center of the Expo area.  We were looking around to figure out which direction we wanted to walk next when I noticed a young, attractive woman in a green dress speaking on a small stage.  It took me 2 seconds to recognize this woman as Kendra Todd, Season 3 Winner of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice”.  Being a fan of “The Apprentice”, I have to admit I was excited about meeting and chatting with Kendra.

Wes and I walked over to the Lowe’s booth to where she was speaking on stage to a small group of expo attendees.  We had arrived at the last 10-minutes of her presentation so it did not take long for us to get a chance to meet and chat with Kendra.

Interestingly, it did not seem many people recognized Kendra so it was easy for us to approach and speak with her.  I did ask her where her current homebase was (Delray Beach).  I asked her about her current schedule.  She commented how if she had 10 days to herself without travel, it would be wonderful.  I asked about where her future direction lies.  I don’t think I am betraying her confidence when she stated that she wanted to work more with women and wealth-building.  I surmised she wanted to move away from the real estate field from which she is known.

It is my guess Kendra wants to make a bigger impact on the world than working exclusively in the real estate world.  (We share that trait in common.) She has a lot going on right now from what I could tell from her comments but I got the feeling she was having fun.  She admitted to me winning “The Apprentice” opened up a lot of doors for her.  (No big surprise there.)  Kendra did mention she did appreciate the quiet times the few times she gets it.

All in all, meeting and chatting with Kendra Todd was a fun experience.  She was a down to earth young woman.  I found Kendra to be more petite in person than on TV.  She was also gracious enough to stand in a photo with me as you can see.