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3.25.2006


Devon Menendez Announces Retirement After Incident with Local Cops

And since every movie from the 1970's will be remade within the next 24 months, I was confident Mr. Menendez would soon be in line to follow Mr. Lumet and direct a remake of Dog Day Afternoon. I hope he will take some time and reconsider and not let the Fernandina Beach Police dissuade him from a career in the arts. After all, the right kind of brush with the law can help a career ...

Film Shoot Mistaken for Hostage Situation
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March 25,2006 FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A movie set at the downtown post office turned all too real for a group of high school filmmakers. Members of the high school Spanish club were shooting a movie Thursday night when the police showed up believing a hostage crisis was going on inside the post office.


But apparently, someone saw the teens carrying toy guns into the building on Centre Street, which is the heart of the town's historical district. When they couldn't get an answer to calls placed inside the building, they assumed the worst.

Police cordoned off the block, cleared nearby buildings and surrounded the post office ready for a hostage crisis. When a group of students left the post office, they were ordered to get on the ground, face down.

Postmaster Ron Steedley had given permission for the school group to use the post office after hours to make a movie, "Rolling Thunder." Steedley said he didn't think the student's movie would frighten anyone.

Devon Menendez, the film's director, said his film career is over.
"I'm not accepting any more offers to direct a movie," he said.


Photo: The Gotham Gazette

3.24.2006

On The Positive Friday



Queens native and University of Miami graduate Lucas Prata's, "And She Said."

3.22.2006

What Sells on the Mag Covers

So you want your magazine to move off the shelves? Use a bad actress (Jessica Simpson) a lip-syncher (sister Ashlee) or, well, Tom Cruise.

Want to lose big time on the newstand? Feature an Oscar winner like Jamie Foxx.

Media Industry Newsletter lays out the layouts that sold, and the photo shoots that missed.

3.19.2006

What if the new mainstream is no mainstream?

New artists of every stripe have always found it hard to "break in" and become a "break out" artist in the mainstream. But what if there is no mainstream? We already have a world where Barry Manilow can sell about 160,000 units and be on top of the Billboard charts. Have music's fans already abandoned the traditional and are not only buying music online but aggregating in new communities online that are defined by these shared interests and are buying accordingly?

A good article that refers to the phenomenon of The Long Tail appears in the Miami Herald. Check that out. I think it particularly applies to my favorite music: dance, house, etc. which definitely has a following but you aren't going to hear it on the radio and you may not find much at a place like the already troubled Tower Records ...

... but you will find it online, on satellite, and on Amazon.

It's all about finding the sliver of audience and giving them what they like.

Aha! I think Mr. Daniel Franco is doing exactly that on the fashion side of things. He is opening an online boutique and has already cultivated a potential market through his MySpace site, all done on the platform of another niche audience: the 2,000,000 die hard fans of Project Runway.

3.12.2006

"Slivercasting" and the Return of Trio

Trio was a very cool, artsy, quirky cable channel, more like Bravo when it was Canadian-owned. Now Trio is back and rolling out content not on cable or satellite but on several websites.

I suppose there has to be a name for it, and slivercasting will do as well as anything else. As high-speed internet access and cheap(er) production equipment and software hit the market, it is easier than ever to deliver content to your audience of three or three thousand. Remember how on Max Headroom there were these one person networks?

3.07.2006

Rebuild the New Orleans Library

Much of the New Orleans Public Library system was destroyed by Katrina. For example, in the hard hit lower Ninth, there was "nothing salvageable" at the MLK Branch.

The photos are hard to look at, but important to see.

The New Orleans Public Library is asking for any and all hardcover
and paperback books for people of all ages in an effort to restock
the shelves after Katrina. The staff will assess which titles will
be designated for its collections. The rest will be distributed to
destitute families or sold for library fundraising. Please send your
books to:

Rica A. Trigs, Public Relations
New Orleans Public Library
219 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112


If you tell the post office that they are for the library in New
Orleans, they will give you the library rate which is slightly less
than the book rate.

3.06.2006

My Oscar Highlight



It was great to see Clooney win and it was a positive to see the social significance of "Crash" recognized (although I think it won because the Academy simply wasn't going to endorse "Brokeback" with Best Picture.) But my personal fave of the evening was the video montage celebrating that character that turns out to be as old as Hollywood ... the Gay Cowboy.

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