Oscar Isn't Automatic Gold

Thursday's medianote came from a recent Los Angeles Times story about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and other major-studio "prestige pictures." These movies are crafted to be winners at the box office and on Oscar night, unlike, say, Hey, Dude Where's My Car? It was long thought in Hollywood that these prestige pictures, like Button or Australia or Memoirs of a Geisha would almost certainly be profitable if they gathered some important Oscar considerations, especially for Best Picture.

But this article indicates that these films don't always get consideration from the Academy, and even if they do profits are still hard to come by.

Questions for the class...

•Would you be more likely to see a movie because it was nominated for Best Picture?
•Are prestige pictures a better financial bet in the long run?
•How should the movie studios ride out the economic downturn?

DTV Delay

February 17, 2009 was supposed to be one of the biggest, most eventful, and probably most chaotic days in the history of broadcast television in the United States. that was the much-publicized date that analog broadcasts would end, forever, and be replaced with digital broadcasts. Millions of Americans with analog TVs and set-top or rooftop antennas would suddenly be without television.

But Congress is very close to pushing to official end of analog TV back to June 12. The reason is that the federal government's program to give financial help to persons needing converter boxes to keep their TVs operating has run out of money. This Los Angeles Times story fills in some details about the likely delay to June.

Questions discussed by the class...

•Who wins with this delay? Who loses?
•Is it important that poor or elderly people have access to television?
•Is TV destined to be replaced by Internet video, anyway?

Text Messager-in-Chief

Hail to the Text Messager-in-Chief! President Obama has been allowed to keep his BlackBerry, despite concerns that the handheld communications device could be a security risk. This NPR story indicates the depth of the President's attachment to his BlackBerry, and also discusses how smartphones create a potential security problem for all who use them.

Questions discussed by the class were...

•Is the President's BlackBerry a security risk? What could happen?
•How is your smart phone a security or privacy risk to you?
•Does it bother you that your location may be trackable through your phone? Is that a violation of your privacy?
•Will you welcome the day, coming soon, when your phone will be a credit or debit card?

But Wait, There's More!

In the world of advertising, infomercials don't seem to carry a lot of prestige. But in this economic downturn they are turning up more and more in prime time. And people still seem to be buying the wares being hawked in infomercials, according to this NPR story.

Here were the discussion questions for the class...

•Do infomercials work? What are your favorites?
•Are infomercials more effective than the traditional 30-second ad?
•What do you see as the future of television advertising?

This was the Medianote posted on Thursday, Jan. 22.

Inauguration 2.0

Today's medianote comes from an Associated Press story about the large role that online and wireless media played in Barack Obama's presidential inauguration yesterday. It turned out to be much more than a simple streaming of the festivities over the web. Among other things, President Obama pulled out his Blackberry and sent a text message over Twitter to supporters.

Questions for the MC101s were...

•Is there a reason for television news to exist?
•Do social networking sites have a role to play in making big news events into more of a shared experience?
•Will journalism become more interactive and, if so, in what ways?

Putting Online Dangers in Perspective

The danger of children running into an adult sexual predator online is perhaps a bit overstated, according to a study released by Harvard researchers. However, the danger of online cyberbullying by other children is an all-too-common problem, the study concludes.

Today's medianote is from the Los Angeles Times.

Here are the discussion questions presented to the class...

•On balance, are children helped or hurt by exposure to the Internet?

•At what age should a child be allowed to go online unsupervised?

•What should be done about cyberbullying incidents?

***MONDAY IS A HOLIDAY. On Tuesday we will have Quiz #2 and will have a presentation from the Transfer Center.

Tough Times for Hollywood

The nation's economic recession is hurting a lot of businesses. Restaurants have fewer customers, car dealers are making fewer sales, and California community colleges are anxiously waiting for a state budget to see just how bad the cutbacks will be. but the Hollywood-based entertainment business has long been considered to be immune to all but the worst economic downturns.

But according to this recent Los Angeles Times article, increased difficulties in financing projects and changing consumer tastes are going to make 2009 a difficult year for the local movie and television industries.

Here are discussion questions I've written for this medianote:

•Which will be hurt more by the recession: DVD sales or movie ticket sales?

•Will the recession be harder on broadcast TV stations or cable/satellite stations? Why?

•What types of video entertainment will be helped by the recession?

•Will online entertainment be helped by this recession?


(NOTE: If we have the service learning presentation by Hoover Zariani at the beginning of class on Thursday, I will probably hold this medianote until next week.)

***SPEAKING OF TELEVISION, we had a spectacular turnout for last night's Osbournes Reloaded taping. Most of us got in, and it turned out to be a long evening (yours truly left around 10:45 after the aerial balloon-popping segment). I generally take pictures of field trips, but not when the field trip is a TV taping and cameras aren't allowed.

Putting the Net into Netflix

Today's medianote is based on a Yahoo! Tech News article about the announcement by Korean electronics company LG that it will produce a TV set that will be able to screen Netflix movies from the web without an external box.

Is this the beginning of the end for the corner video store, for DVDs, for prime time television?

Rethinking Comic Strips

The first medianote of this Winter Intersession is about how comic strips, struggling in the traditional paper format, are beginning to find a place for themselves online, as reported in this National Public Radio story.

***OPENING DAY in Mass Comm 101 was overwhelming. The official enrollment in the class this morning is at 88, and I'm sure many of the students whose add slips I signed yesterday are not yet officially enrolled.