Paramount Will No Longer Make 35mm Film Prints

This week the LA TIMES reports that Paramount Pictures has officially announced that it will no longer release its films on actual film. ANCHORMAN II would be the last of its movies to hit theaters as standard 35mm release prints and, conversely, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET would be the first of its flicks to be distributed only digitally. This is big news and marks the beginning of a big transition for the major studios that began nearly 10 years ago with the introduction of digital projection technology.

Originally, digital projection was seen as a potential boon to indie filmmakers. In summer of 2003, BOYS LIFE 4 (a project I executive produced which included my short BUMPING HEADS) was released digitally in 20 cinemas across the county. It saved a lot of money on the cost of striking film prints but, at that point, it limited our release somewhat as a lot of theaters were not yet equipped for digital screening. A decade later, some indie cinemas are still trying to make that expensive upgrade because if they don't, they may have to go out of business.

The NEW YORKER has put together an interesting and beautifully shot short film about such a theatre in Hudson, NY. The Fairview is a small 3 screen art house that shows indie fare but is struggling with the upgrade. Fortunately, the local community there has helped support the transition but it might not be enough to make it happen. A compelling look at the changes and challenges in commercial cinema today.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Has A New Short Story Out This Week

Though he's been dead for more than 70 years, F. Scott Fitzgerald keeps cranking them out apparently.

This week's New Yorker has a short story that was previously unpublished called "Thank You For The Light". It is a very short story about a women having trouble with smoking in public and it contains some classic FSF turns of phrase. I found it delightful and somewhat contemporary given the way smoking has been demonized in today's culture.  Would he have every imagined someone today that a person could get a ticket for lighting up in Central Park?

Fitzgerald was such a prolific writer that many works of his have turned up in recent years as new to us, though they were written years ago. The great irony with this story is that he submitted it to the New Yorker back in 1936 and they rejected it.

A Twitter Contest Celebrating 35th Anniversary of STAR WARS

Over at The New Yorker's website, they threw a Twitter contest to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of STAR WARS.  Yes, it was Memorial Day weekend 1977 when George Lucas' blockbuster sci-fi epic hit screens across the country and spawned lines around the block.  So to commemorate the occassion, the magazine asked readers to sum up the movie's plot in a Tweet.  That's right--140 characters to summarize a cultural touchstone and a legendary film.  Easy right?  :)

I'm actually not that crazy about the two winners, which you can read about in full here, but there were a few runners up that caught my attention.  

@fabiorojas: “Whiny, but gifted, teenager trashes spiffy new military base”   LOL!

@samanthaglavin: “In a galaxy far far away, witty robots save stupid humans from trouble over and over again, set to a dramatic musical score”  ROTFL!
And then my favorite for it's simplicity and honesty. How would you sum it all up? Put your tweet in the comment below....or just tweet it!

@mattyshaz: “‘Star Wars’ pretty much sums it up.”

The White House Gets A Colorful Paint Job For THE NEW YORKER

THE NEW YORKER has created another one of their striking and bold covers for next week's issue. To commemorate President Obama's historic support of marriage equality this week, artist Bob Staake gave the South Portico a rainbow-colored paint job that mimics the colors found in the rainbow pride flag.

There's a nice little quote on THE NEW YORKER site, explaining his work. "I am honored to be doing this cover. It’s a celebratory moment for our country, and that’s what I tried to capture. (I don’t especially like those rainbow colors, but they are what they are—I had to use them.) I wanted to celebrate the bravery of the President’s statement—a statement long overdue—but all the more appreciated in this political year. We are on the right side of history."

The New Yorker Reports On Tyler Clementi's Suicide

This week, the New Yorker published a lengthy look at the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a 19-year-old Rutgers freshman who jumped off the GW Bridge in September 2010. Clementi's death, along with another highly publicized teen suicide that month, sparked the It Gets Better movement and increased awareness of "bullying" of gay and lesbian teenagers.

The New Yorker article focuses mainly on Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi.  Ravi famously spied on Clementi via webcam making out with another guy and then tweeted about his roommates' sexuality.  It is a tragic tale all around, as Ravi is now being tried on 15 counts of invasion of privacy, intimidation and harassment and could spend 5 to 10 years in jail.  Regardless of the   judicial outcome, his life will be haunted by this loss forever.

Reading the New Yorker story, the thing that struck me was the lack of communication between these two freshman who, though roommates for nearly a month, did not appear to speak to each other at all.  Legal issues aside, the real crime appears to be that they did not communicate.  There are a couple telling scenes where they are both sitting in their dorm room as they type away about each other on message boards, tweets, and IMs instead of actually speaking to one another about the issues that are coming up. And it's this lack of engagement with each other in the real world that seems to have led to an unnecessarily tragic outcome.

Clearly, Ravi is guilty of spying and then bragging about it on his Twitter account. But the true tragedy of this story and the one that seems endemic of the millennial generation is that these two roommates just did not make any attempt to communicate in real life. That to me is the real failure here and an alarming sign of the digital times as well. I hope this story serves as a strong warning to everyone buried in their electronic devices and living their lives online to look up, unplug and live your life...before it is too late.

Paul Rudnick Creates A New Kinsey Scale

Over on the New Yorker website, I came across this very funny essay by Paul Rudnick in which he creates a new version of the famous Kinsey Scale of sexuality.

With 24-points, this is a much more nuanced version than Alfred Kinsey's 6-point scale marking the degrees of sexuality from 100% hetero to 100% homo. Rudnick's new scale has entries that take into account some very modern factors in calculating someone's sexuality, such as Regis and Kelly (#14) and the revival of FOLLIES (#24).  One only wonders where Rick Perry might fall on here...

11/11/11, aka National Corduroy Day

There's been a lot of buzz today on Twitter, Facebook, et al about today's date being 11/11/11.  It's a day on which you are supposed to make a wish and it will come true. Or to simply wonder at the alignment of the universe as your clock hits 11:11:11 on 11/11/11.

But all numerology and superstition aside, this date is actually been serving at National Corduroy Day for the last few years.  Why?  Because 11/11 is the day of the year that most resembles the paralell lines of corduroy fabric.

The New Yorker wrote about this unofficial fashion holiday in 2005 in a Talk of the Town piece. Today on the magazine's website, they recall that original piece and how this unique date is being celebrated this year by its founder Miles Rohan.  You can also check out the official website for the Corduroy Club for more on this beloved fall/wintry fabric.  Happy Corduory!

The Riveting Story Of The Raid That Killed Osama Bin Laden

This week's NEW YORKER magazine has a fascinating and intensely detailed story about the U.S. military raid that killed Al Queda cheif Osama Bin Laden on May 1st.  There are some incredible details about the operation as the writer, Nichoas Schmidle, puts you in the helicopter, flying illegally over Pakistani air space with a team of elite Navy operatives on a mission to kill the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

It's incredible how the raid seemed like it was going to be a disaster from the minute of their arrival, when the team's Blackhawk stalled and crash landed into the compound.  But, in an interesting point of view, one of the Seals later says it was best the copter was left behind as it's physical evidence instantly quelled any conspiracy nuts. Another great detail was what was found in the computers and hard drives in the compound. There were plots to assassinate President Obama, General Patraeus and even plans for another massive attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  But more shocking was the sizable cache of digital pornography too.  However, this discovery didn't phase the intelligence folks... they have found that on every computer they've seized in all their Al Quadea raids.

Anyway, this is an amazing story reported to death in true New Yorker style.  Coming in 2012--the movie version of this fateful night via THE HURT LOCKER's Kathryn Bigelow.

NEXT, The New Yorker & Other Press Hits For WTC VIEW @ 59E59

We got some press hitting today, namely a listing in The New Yorker's "Goings On About Town".  That was amazing!

We also got a great write up in NEXT magazine's current issue, which has a nice picture of me and our two male leads, Nick Lewis (right) and Patrick Edward O'Brien.  This was based on an interview I did with Dan Avery, the magazine's Senior Editor which happened the day after Osama was killed. We talked about the effect that would have on references in to Bin Laden in the show but how I decided not make changes to those references as the play is squarely set in the last week of September 2001.  No editorializing from the future...

We also got a listing in The Advocate from Brandon Voss, who put WTC VIEW on his Hot Sheet of the top 10 things in entertainment on his radar this week. These mentions have double our ticket sales in the last 24 hours. So if you want to see the show, I encourage you to get your seats now.....only 18$ and selling fast.  They're available online at www.59e59.org/next.html.

Hello Dolly

Dolly Parton has been in New York for the last few weeks as she preps her Broadway musical "9 To 5", opening tomorrow night at the Marriot Marquis Theatre. The current issue of The New Yorker has a funny, little Talk of the Town piece in which Dolly discusses her first visit to NYC on a high school class trip in '64 and then a subsequent visit in '70. And here's Dolly in her own inimitable words:

“We came here and we stayed down on, what is it, Forty-second Street, where all the whores run?”

Classic. She was also on David Letterman last night singing "Backwoods Barbie" and doing a Top Ten list of her pet peeves. Hilarious. I just love this woman! But, then again, who the hell doesn't?