BreakBeatDJ

When I beat you all by 3 points . . .

Did I get the fifth one or the sixth?

That’s nothing, all I need are 7 numbers and I’ll have 8 Bingos!!

@LeadFarmer I think we'll just throw gummy bears and not rocks for not seeing this one. I was about to write the exact same thing as @hal56 above and completely agree. In 1969 it was not well received, even in its original release. It's become a cult film, really, based on its silliness, imo. And also, with the early 2000s Mini Cooper revival, it has gained some traction simply because, well, the Mini is really the star of the movie. Knowing your music prefs @LeadFarmer, the score by Q is great, prob best thing about the film. I enjoy the original for the late sixties swagger, but the remake is a much better film imo.

Thanks for this . . . the algorithm has been throwing this movie in front of us daily, I sorta said no, just because, but we'll take a watch now. Thanks Cam.

@Hollywood E Rock hey bud, I corrected one typo and it got unapproved again. sorry.

@Gary K can you approve the above. Thanks bud.

Well, you asked me, so I'll pontificate a bit . . . Imo, it was much easier back then for those with real talent and the drive to be professional creatives than it is now. Now, it is much easier for mediocre talent to find an audience and crowd out real talent. Most of the gatekeepers back then were pretty good at evaluating talent and putting them on a path to succeed (not perfect). A close friend who had a very successful agency and taught me a lot (he was too big to sign me, but we were still good friends) used to say, undeniable talent will not be denied. The system found the talent, the system promoted them, sometimes abused them, gave them the tools, and pushed them out to the public (again, not perfect and there are examples of this not happening). (Was it a racist, sexist system, absolutely, but I'd argue that the discrimination lay more in talent development than talent promotion, but that's another topic). In those days mediocrity was quickly dismissed. Now, every truly talented person is competing with every mediocre talent who can manage, through alternate means (kickstarter, YouTube, Reels, etc), to get something created. But, they, through traditional and non-traditional, promotional channels, find an audience. When the barriers to entry are removed, it dilutes the audience, and it becomes harder for the truly talented to find an audience, and harder to make money. Everything moves to the margins : large studios want safe guaranteed, independents get more and more stretched in what they can offer. The middle, which is what most of us want to see, goes away). But, the whole system has become more egalitarian, and one can argue, and I'd agree, that it has resulted in a landscape where anyone can have a chance (but a 1 in a million one), and that has been great for marginalized communities and I fully support that. But, we are not done yet . . . I have been following AI for a few years, and it is the beginning of the end of the creative class. From the Quadra 840AV (the first real multi-media production computer) in 1993 to now, that 30 years saw the rise of a wealthy, influential, class of people serving all creative sectors, and it has only grown. And that's about to go away in a significant way. No one is sure what will rise from it, but more fragmentation seems to be the consensus. I have not hired a VO person in a year, which means no studio time, no recording engineers, no assistance, no microphone sales, no VO talent. The AI VO generators are indistinguishable in most cases. And, that's only a small part. AI tools for coloring, for script cleaning, etc are ramping up so fast it's amazing. A friend who is a novelist is now writing 100k words a month, using NovelCreator and NovelAI. Most have their heads in the sands about this, or, are in that, meh, we've seen this before, "I read an article" and it said it's no big deal, etc. But we are at a moment of creative evolutionary change, and it's tough to know what will happen. A lot is riding on the NYTimes vs OpenAI lawsuit, that will probably set the precedent for the copyright viability of AI generated content and could be the game changer we creatives need. But it is far from settled law. The WGA contract was a huge win. But, musicians, artists, designers, etc. do not have nearly the strength of unionization that the WGA provides, and there currently are not those types of protections for most creatives. Yeah, so to answer your question, imo, the filters are gone, and that has created a landscape of content that is almost all, virtually all, forgettable, with very little space for true creatives to breakthrough.

Interesting story. Too bad he didn't get it green lit. When I started my career 25 years ago, there was a pretty clear path to get where you wanted to go. It wasn't rocket science. Join IFC, go to conferences, get a lawyer/agent, and then sort of go forward. Now, it's the Wild West. There are so many random stories of how things get made, green lit, options for production, etc. During the pandemic some friends of mine from Tampa built Vu Studios, they now have four virtual production facilities, and are doing amazingly well. I find it boring shooting on those LED sets. But it works, and is convincing. And, anyone can buy one now, the tech (they use a lot of game tech, sensors in the floors and ceiling to adjust POV as the camera moves) is getting to the point anyone can make a movie who can get on one of these sets. I think they will continue to grow, until . . . text to video AI gets better, then, you can make a movie on your laptop with prompts. It's coming.

Yeah, that's interesting it's out there in the zeitgeist. Your point about smaller forcing more creativity, maybe better shows/films, is a good one. But, I'll say, from spending thousands of hours on sets, it's stressful and the margin of error is super small, and often the lack of resources causes those errors. So, while I agree with your premise, it is a fine line to walk, I think : bloat vs need isn't always clear until after it's in the can.

A couple months ago I worked on a trailer for a show a friend (won't say a name or gender here) is pitching to Warners. Yesterday, we finally got together and had lunch when they were in town. We ended up talking about the post-strike situation in Hollywood and how it's affecting production (I don't work in LA or NYC much any more so I'm out of the loop). They are currently working on the IT prequel, Welcome to Derry, in production in Toronto. Warners lost about 500 million during the strike and the studio is clawing it back, penny by penny, on any production they can, making production very difficult in ways it wasn't pre-strike. We began discussing how this is going to affect the final product and what that will mean for viewers. Obviously the creators are working as hard as they can to make their shows great, but it seems the mood is still very hostile between the studios and production entities at this point, and the expectation is that many shows/movies, will move to smaller studios, pitch less production-heavy projects, over the next months if it doesn't change. And, in fact, it already is happening. I couldn't get my friend to admit that this will obviously affect the final product, for obvious reasons, but hearing of some of the things they are dealing with from Warners, it's hard to imagine it won't. So, I guess the takeaway is that some of these post-strike shows/films may suffer a studio caused drop in production value, etc. We'll see.

Based on some recommendations here, we watched Wonka . . . Overall enjoyed it. Timothée Chalamet was fun to watch. The plot was a little . . . meh. Loved the foreshadowing, Oompa songs,,Slugworth, etc. . . My fav thing was the production . . . so great to see actual locations and sets being used for fantasy. There was still the digital post-prod sheen on the look, but still, a great production. Lotta Easter eggs. But the one I thought was the best was . . . In the beginning, Wonka is giving away his money, and he has one coin left, flips it in to the air, and it goes in the sewer drain . . . only to be found by Charlie Bucket 25 years later? . . . did wizard Wonka put it there for Charlie to find? Oooooooooooooh

Curious what you all thought? Have you seen Wonka, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

2-21

Wow, that's a bold take. I loved it and had high hopes during the first season, then Karen decided to be a member of MILF manor, and I was afraid it would descend in to melodrama and gave up. And, Sarah Jones . . . well, she is just . . . impressive. But, now . . . . I have to revisit. Thanks for the push.

@hansreinhardt alright alright, I'll give a weekend in St. Bart a shot, I doubt I'll like it, but if you pay, I'm happy to try it out for ya.

Okay . . . this is getting bizarre . . . Dentist appointment yesterday . . . cracked tooth . . . @Casiusco @Heywoodmoutaw . . . No infection, a simple crown, but three of us in three days????????? Hope you two get through it soon without too much pain. But other MP members . . .

0-15 Bud

0-15

Went to this film in the theater, uh . . . altered . . . and have never laughed so hard in my life.