Category: TV & Movies

  • Why Don’t We Have This Already?—Streaming

    In a new thread about technologies and services that should already exist, I ask why—with all the data streamers have about us—it’s so hard to find something to watch together? I have long worried that Amazon thinks I’m crazy. More precisely, I worry that Amazon thinks I suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder—a.k.a. the many faces…

  • Experience Stacks, Romantasy, and Harry Potter Fanfic

    A terrific NYT article explored a new genre of big books emerging from online fan fiction and missed a few things along the way. On Wednesday, August 20, The New York Times ($) ran a fascinating article: “Why Magic, Dragons and Explicit Sex Are in Bookstores Everywhere: Romantasy is propping up the fiction market. Thanks to a…

  • What Folks Are Missing About “South Park”

    The first episode of season 27 of the iconic animated series lit up media last week, but in the tumult over profane political satire pundits only got part of the picture. “Take heed, sirrah—the whip.”  —Lear to his Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear   It was a terrific water cooler week for people who follow the…

  • Mission Implausible

    Tom Cruise’s new movie has amazing stunts, a ludicrous plot, and doesn’t understand Artificial Intelligence. Here’s my snarky review.  “Thank you for saving my marriage.” That’s what I said to my friend Jeff when we exited the IMAX theater at 10:30pm on Wednesday, having taken in the 7:00pm Mission Impossible: the Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise’s eighth…

  • Gen AI and the Future of Entertainment

    Will algorithms take over Hollywood and make personalized video the dominant way people entertain themselves? Like me, my friend Shelly Palmer is in the futurist business—peering into trends, technologies, and tea leaves to make sense of what’s coming. Last week, Shelly published, “Hollywood’s AI Blind Spot: The Fatal Mistake That Will Kill the Industry,” which…

  • Movie Marketing Magic and… Stupidity

    Two Hollywood stories this week prompted a mediation on the two things movies need to succeed—and yes, it’s only two.  Two things in the movie biz happened last week: one fantastic and one fatuous. Let’s start with the dumb one. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal ($) ran an article titled, “Here’s a Hollywood Twist: Streaming Success…

  • Tempest on a Toy Box

    Mattel printed the wrong URL on the back of the boxes of toys for the new “Wicked” movie, which was not good, but just how bad was it? Lady Sneerwell in Sheridan’s School for Scandal observes, “There’s no possibility of being witty without a little ill-nature: the malice of a good thing is the barb that makes…

  • Retro Futures: War Games

    Can a 1983 movie thriller about computers and the military tell us anything about drone warfare today?  In 1984, my lifelong friend Juliet and I were watching a then-recent movie, War Games, at my parents’ house. This was in the early years of home video. The first Blockbuster store had yet to open, and Tim Berners-Lee…

  • Will Ozempic Kill Movie Theaters?

    The social disruptions that new, injectable, weight-loss drugs like Ozempic will create go far beyond health and health care. We humans organize our mental worlds with categories and consideration sets, so it can be hard to see when trends from different categories collide. Back in the day when I worked at EarthLink, a dial-up ISP,…

  • A “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Happy Meal?

    The giant luxury goods company LVMH is getting into the entertainment business. What are the opportunities and obstacles it faces? A few days ago, luxury conglomerate LVMH announced that it was getting into the entertainment business. In a joint venture with Superconnector Studios (a consultancy): LVMH will seek to bolster promotion of the group’s brands—which include fashion houses Louis…