Forbes has the info. “It all started with a story treatment, handwritten in pencil on a few sheets of lined yellow legal paper.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
They also have a breakdown of the “Star Wars” franchise and how the dollars flow and where they go. Inspiring or depressing? Take your pick. I’ll go with both.
Sorry, but I am really busy again and only had time to write for one site at the moment. However, here’s my latest bit for LAist for your reading pleasure.
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There is something missing at the movies this year. Butts. No, not on screen, although perhaps you didn’t notice. No, we’re talking about in the theaters. As in, theaters have more empty seats. People are not going to see movies as much as they did last year and the year before that.
Perhaps many people didn’t realize that the summer movie season has started? Or, they are just not very excited about medicore remakes of classic horror films, like House of Wax. Even if they do have Paris Hilton in them. Or, they don’t realy care about big-budget movies with stars that perhaps are not ready to carry a big movie on their slim shoulders, like Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever their motivation, audiences are finding other things to do than go to the movies.
If you look at ticket sales, movie studios threw a party but not very many people decided to attend. Maybe they don’t like who was invited? According to industry watch group Exibitor Relations, which tracks these things, ticket sales declined 22 percent this year versus last year at the same time. That’s a big drop which represents quite a few dollars, and for that matter, butts. And, overall box office is down about 11 percent for the year compared to last year.
Also, movie studios are releasing at least a dozen fewer films this year than last year and the time it takes for a film to hit DVD is getting shorter and shorter. All of these factors contribute to the less than stellar business for the movies and for the people that make the movies.
With so many people in Los Angeles having their livelood tied one way or another to entertainment, how long will it be before this box office slump, if it continues, becomes a problem for them? If the trend continues, many of those people may be forced to look elsewhere to make a buck and that buck may be smaller than they are used to. In that case, they may be forced to spend less and buy less.
That reduction in spending could potentially have a negative effect on the entire economy of Los Angeles. With less money out there, other services and businesses could be effected. So, help save Los Angeles. Go out and see a movie this weekend.
In case you were wondering (and who hasn’t?), here’s how Lightsabers work. Cool.
I have been busy for the last week or so. Thanks, in part, to the good folks at Apple Computer putting out a new version of OSX that has, shall we say, a few “issues”. There are many things to like about Mac OSX 10.4 Tiger. Features such as Spotlight, the new iChat AV, new Mail, improved speed and a host of other features make it a great upgrade in most cases. There are some problems and some annoyances that I have been dealing with not only on my own machines, but on machines of people I work with as well.
As always, MacFixit has the scoop on many of the problems as well as some solution that have worked for other users. Macintouch also has a cool matrix of reported software incompatibilities. And, there is, of course, the Apple Tiger Discussion Forums. No matter what, always make a complete backup of anything you care about on your computer before installing a major upgrade like Tiger. Better safe than sorry.
It’s no secret that people are having problems. Take your pic as to where to find a possible solution or work-around for any issues you might be having. There might be one or it might take a little time for one to be available. No matter what third-party software vendors do, i’m sure we’ll be seeing Mac OSX 10.4.1 sooner rather than later.
Apple’s latest OS, Mac OSX Tiger has arrived. We went down to the Pasadena Apple Store last night to get our copy. I installed it on my Powerbook and my G5 and all is well. So, go out and get yours right now and enjoy. I have provided a convenient link for you on the right. Isn’t that nice of me?
Happy Tigering (is that a word?) Sure, why not.
This is pretty cool. People with talent amaze me. I wish I had some. Is being a pain in the ass a talent? Well, if it isn’t, it should be. Or something like that.
Happy Wednesday everyone.
From the “oops” department. Amazon.com accidentally leaked the details of the yet to be released update to the Power Mac G5 Tower. Of course, now they have pulled it. And of course, here’s what it looked like:
Click on the image for a larger view. Too bad, doesn’t seem like much of a bump. I do like dual-layer DVD burning though. I bet Steve J. wishes he hadn’t promised the machines would be to 3Ghz by now. That’s kind of an “oops” too, I guess.
Someone at Amazon is so fired.
If anyone is offended that i have adds and sponsors just realize that the it costs something to maintain a website, even one as modest as this. So, i am just trying to cover that cost, no more. Believe me, I don’t expect to get rich from this site. Besides, who wants to be rich anyway? All that trouble deciding which high-performance car to drive around LA, where we can usually drive no faster than about 20 mph.
Or, the tedium of having to deal with non-Mercedes drivers on the road who simply can’t understand why they can’t change lanes at the last second, without a signal, while talking on the phone and reading the newspaper. The fact that people get upset and sometimes even make obscene gestures must be so emotionally taxing on the rich that they spend thousands of dollars pouring their hearts out in therapy. I feel bad for them. Really I do. But, its their own fault.
I’m not rich. Probably never will be. So, please don’t give me a hard time about a few adds. Besides, the girl from Busted Tees is cute, right? Anyway, the actual purpose of this post was to introduce you to another sponsor who I personally use and recommend to everyone who uses Photoshop and has a digital camera.
I’m talking about, of course, Mr. Fred Miranda. So, click on the link at the left that says “FM Software” to go to his site for the best Photoshop actions and plugins out there. I use them and recommend them to my clients all the time.
Now to go to the vault and count my money again.
I was wondering what my problem was. (besides the obvious). Apparently, if you check your email too often your IQ begins to drop. More so than if you smoke weed (aka pot, gonja, mary jane . . . you get the idea).
Here’s the info about that. Although, this study was apparently done in England so who knows. Really, what do the English know about good weed? Oh well, I don’t smoke and I have tried to curtail my constant checking of email. I’m trying not to get stupid.
At least I went to an interesting party last night. Some details. The party was at the home of my managers (yes, i have managers. and an agent and a lawyer too. fun.). They invited a bunch of people, mostly actors, to come over and have drinks, snacks and good conversation. I went with Mr. Tony Mark as the wife and his girl were not interested in “networking”. So, we went, had a few drinks, walked around, talked to people, etc.
The interesting thing about the evening to me was how many of the actresses that were there were 19 years old. I spoke to at least four and they were all 19. And, all of them were from somewhere else (Seattle, Oregon, Texas, wherever) and they had all moved to LA in the last few months. Plus, they all seemed really interested in what I had to say. Which is, of course, a good boost to my already healthy ego. You need that now and again, even if deep down you know it can’t be real.
Now, I know I’m interesting and all and what I say is really interesting and important but come on, I’m not that cool. Only 19, just here off the bus (or whatever) and they already know how to play the game. You gotta love LA.
I was wondering what my problem was. (besides the obvious). Apparently, if you check your email too often your IQ begins to drop. More so than if you smoke weed (aka pot, gonja, mary jane . . . you get the idea).
Here’s the info about that. Although, this study was apparently done in England so who knows. Really, what do the English know about good weed? Oh well, I don’t smoke and I have tried to curtail my constant checking of email. I’m trying not to get stupid.
At least I went to an interesting party last night. Some details. The party was at the home of my managers (yes, i have managers. and an agent and a lawyer too. fun.). They invited a bunch of people, mostly actors, to come over and have drinks, snacks and good conversation. I went with Mr. Tony Mark as the wife and his girl were not interested in “networking”. So, we went, had a few drinks, walked around, talked to people, etc.
The interesting thing about the evening to me was how many of the actresses that were there were 19 years old. I spoke to at least four and they were all 19. And, all of them were from somewhere else (Seattle, Oregon, Texas, wherever) and they had all moved to LA in the last few months. Plus, they all seemed really interested in what I had to say. Which is, of course, a good boost to my already healthy ego. You need that now and again, even if deep down you know it can’t be real.
Now, I know I’m interesting and all and what I say is really interesting and important but come on, I’m not that cool. Only 19, just here off the bus (or whatever) and they already know how to play the game. You gotta love LA.