First, the rag that doubled as every pseudo geek’s wet dream, whored itself out this month to the highest bidder for the mere promise of tail by shamelessly promoting the tech world’s very own Paris Hilton. The only takeaway from Wired’s cover feature being if you’re greedy enough and cocktease make eyes at the right people, there are places you can go online and offline, btw.
Next, MediaBistro jumped aboard the Anderson lovebug by giving us a cheap imitation (you have to pay $15 to preview the whole clip of Chris) of a marketing man’s bible to Web 2.0 social communities in the form of a video clip.
While most of the content on the video is pretty vague marko-babbly, (we are talking about the guy that launched the long tail phenomenon) Anderson is a source for all things innovative by sheer virtue that he works for “the most tolerant site out there.” If only he had been groomed in an elitist French boarding school that taught him proper elocution maybe I could stand to hear about his or anyone else’s “raison d’etre.”
Think Goofus and Gallant are enough to teach today’s kids the stuff that they need to make it in the real world? You’re wrong. These days it’s all about differentiation and having the proper toolkit in place to build your brain from the ground up.
So whether you’re a parent, educator, or kid looking to understand Math & Science in terms that actually mean something to the average individual who is not mathematically endowed (guilty!), A Write to Learn is an innovative and dare I say, fun approach to learning for kids and adults of all ages.
The brainchild of Barbara Gottfried Hollander, a former Book Reviewer for The Jerusalem Post and Columnist for The New Jersey Jewish News, the destination site for educational consulting features creative exercises geared to teaching kids practical and relevant applications, such as how to wrap your head around Chinese currency in time for the upcoming Olympics, and even lends itself to curriculum developers looking for a little inspiration for their courses. A Write to Learn aims to involve teachers and kids (how novel, right?), by showcasing the writing talents of young adults and looking to involve them in making a difference for the future.
Maybe I woke up on the less cynical side of the bed today, but Hollander’s world is one that makes me think that there might just be a brighter future in store.
Beating all records for opening weekend known to mankind, The Dark Knight stormed into the box office with a fierce vengeance. Closing its 3-day weekend run with a cool $155 million (over $30 million more than its production cost), the film’s producer, Chuck Roven, went on to gush aboutHeath Ledger’s fatal performance as the villainous Joker.
With Oscar buzz all around mounting over Ledger’s portrayal and some going as far as to say, his “method acting” antics put him over the edge (who buys that, really?), no one’s arguing that Ledger’s the real draw in all this movie-going mania frenzy, even with Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes and Katie giving some bogus excuse as to why her love for Tom Cruise Scientology prevented her from resuming her role in the follow-up sequel.
Last time I checked the Summer movie line-up however, this year has been a doozy as far as decent films in the theatres so maybe we could all use a little reality check here.
Hollywood’s golden couple, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett blah-blah-blah have officially got with the program and are opening a “non-affiliated” private school.
On the mythological waiting list/roster of shoe-in attendees, Suri Cruise and possibly the Preston-Travolta clan. While the Hancock star and his wife are insistent that the school is not grounded in L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings, “several teachers on board at the school are members of the Church.”
Will and Jada’s New Village is different. For one, unlike your standard everyday brand of school sports which are nothing more than thinly veiled exercises in masochism where humans get used as target practice (dodgeball, kickball), New Village students will have the option of doing yoga. How very progressive. We’re no Scientologists here (and therefore ignorant as to the ways of the future), but we foresee a very heartfelt Oprah episode airing towards the mid-August in which Tom and Katie make cameos alongside their bestest friends and everyone shares some “I love you(s)”.
If only the ending to this sad story weren’t quite as predictable as Hancock’s twisted denouement.
According to an article in this week’s Newsweek, Israeli TV is quickly becoming the hottest commodity to hit Hollywood since Ben Stiller did his Derelicte schtick in Zoolander. Not to nuke the fridge here, but with acts like Yael Naim picking up steam in MacAir commercials and shows like HBO’sIn Treatment (B’tipul) managing to muster a modest, but staunchly loyal cult following, it’s not at all surprising that TV and film execs are looking to Israel to provide them with some much needed fresh and original programming. Have you seen NBC’s and ABC’s Summer programming? There’s not one show among the bunch that’s not reality TV.
It’s telling of Israel’s rising popularity and perhaps indicative of its viability as a fixture in the entertainment industry that network TV had followed in the footsteps of HBO and chosen to add and adapt an Israeli show, Mythological X, (about love, nonetheless) to their Fall roster. (To sneak a preview of The Ex-List, click here)Loaded, a FOX-produced show about dot-com millionaires is also slated to air in the Fall.
But aside from the creative, engaging story lines that Israel seems to have the capacity to deliver, why has Hollywood looked to another country to fulfill what seems to be a gaping hole in the U.S. entertainment industry at present? To quote Joshua Alston, “Israeli shows are cheap”:
“In Treatment” premiered new episodes five days a week over nine weeks. “We’re used to doing 12 or 13 episodes per season,” says HBO executive Michael Lombardo. “The cost-effectiveness of the show is what enabled us to take on this huge commitment of 45 episodes.
“The relatively low cost will allow U.S. networks to try out Israeli formats and give them space to find an audience. “In Treatment” premiered to sluggish numbers that would spell trouble for a pricier show. But it built steam by the end of the season, and performed well enough relative to its cost that HBO will launch a second season this fall.
What may be considered “shoestring budgets” by U.S. standards is fueling the passion and stamina of Israel’s entertainment industry and in turn delivering a premium product at a bargain rate. And as long as this translates to the end result being more Gabriel Byrne, then I’m one happy gal.
Talk about having to expand your mental schema around inter-species relationships. In the film Wall-E (adorable Pixar-Disney flick, btw), the film’s title character, a robut named Wall-E, falls in love with Eve, who is another robot that inhabits the form of a a sleek, whitish veneered androgynous (suppository-ish) Apple-looking product. Now Wall-E is a junky, vintage object, but even he even reboots himself each morning with the sound of a Mac starting up, so it’s clear the old chap is a bonafide Apple product (maybe an Apple IIe?). All this Apple love is no coincidence as the film’s computer generated voices were the product of Apple. Did you happen to see the trailers too?
Pixar’s Wall-E is opening in wide release today. We’ve been waiting for a long time to see the lonely robot who is still cleaning Earth, many years after humans have left the planet.
I can’t believe they turned Mama Mia into a movie. And what a cast: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and more. I got a chance to watch the show a few years ago in Vegas, and though the storyline was as stupid as a musical storyline can be, I enjoyed listening to the to the immortal ABBA songs performed by the cast.
But now they turned Mama Mia into a movie. That’s unbelievable!
Think 
