Tag Archives: Netflix

Celebrities, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Movies

‘Juno’ star Elliot Page’s transgender coming-out trends worldwide: massive curiosity and encouragement

Above: Photo / Netflix

The meaning of him coming out for the LGBTQ community and beyond

Elliot Page, formerly known as Ellen, announced Tuesday,  he identifies as a gender non-binary transgender person and uses both he/him and they/them for pronouns.  If you are not familiar with the term, gender non-binary, it means that someones gender identity and who they know themselves to be is neither man nor woman. And the use of pronouns, as we all have them, whether we are conscious of it or not, for a transgender person, they preferred pronouns are a way of showing and giving respect for who someone authentically is.  

He took to his social media to post the very candid letter.   Below is a portion of the letter, the entirety can be seen on the below post from Elliot’s Twitter.

“Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot.

I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life. I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey.

I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. I’ve been endlessly inspired by so many in the trans community.

Thank you for your courage, your generosity and ceaselessly working to make this world a more inclusive and compassionate place.”

This disclosure from Page, is a game changer for the entertainment industry, as it will give more trans visibility on screen.  Hollywood has been in need of the depiction of more accurate representation in TV shows and movies.  Even though Elliot announcing he was transgender is for obvious personal reasons, there also comes significant and impactful steps that affect the audience. 

Page known for his breakout role in “Juno”, as well as other varied characters including  work in “X-Men”, “Inception”, “Tallulah, “Whit It!” and much more.  Currently starring in Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy”, reports for next season, Page will continue to play the cisgender woman, with no plans to change the character’s gender.  Netflix does have plans to change the credits for all his past work. 

Prior to the announcement, Page has been one of the most visible and publicly gay actors in Hollywood.  Now, Page will be one, if not the, highest profile actor that has publicly identified as transgender. There are a small but growing number of out tran actors and public figures including: Laverne Cox,  Chaz Bono, Caitlyn Jenner, Jazz Jennings, Brian Michael Smith and Trace Lysette.   

GLAAD’s Director of Transgender Media, Nick Adams, commented on the announcement: 

“Elliot Page has given us fantastic characters on-screen, and has been an outspoken advocate for all LGBTQ people. He will now be an inspiration to countless trans and non-binary people. All transgender people deserve the chance to be ourselves and to be accepted for who we are. We celebrate the remarkable Elliot Page today.”

Anytime anyone is able to be their authentic selves, that should be celebrated. Coming out as transgender takes strength and vulnerability, Elliot sharing in such a public way is incredibly up-lifting. 

SUBSCRIBE

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Music, Movies & Entertainment and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Books, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Movies

The new movie ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ on Netflix is sparking major controversy

Above: Photo Courtesy of Netflix “Hillbilly Elegy”

…To Stream or Not To Stream, that is the question? 

Hillbilly Elegy, now on Netflix, is a movie based on the 2016 book, a memoir written by J.D. Vance, that tells his story of the difficulties growing up with his drug-addicted mother in a small working-class town in the Appalachians. As rings true in the book, Vance’s character preservers, through hard work, ultimately to take on a better path that leads to his acceptance into Yale. 

The book became a best-seller, somewhat unexpectedly, with Harper Collins only initially running 10,000 copies, but then found themselves quickly having to  reprint.  Released during the time that the 2016 election was beginning to build steam, it was said to have gained its popularity, by giving both Democrats and Republican readers a better understanding of Donald Trump’s voter base.

Soon after the debut of book and massive success, Ron Howard’s production company bought the filming rights, in 2017, and then Netflix won the bidding war to finance the movie, a $45 million deal. The film is directed by Ron Howard and executive-produced by the author. 

After the release of the movie on Nov. 24, 2020 many critics had mixed reviews. Ranging from Oscar worthy to “worst movie ever”.  

The source of the controversy, no doubt, stems from how the movie plays out the “hillbilly” aspect of the narrative.  Some say that the depiction of the characters, while based on Vance’s life, only serves to further reinforce stereotypes of poor white America. 

Other critics note that the movie tries to sell the “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” type of made-for-film-fantasy while ignoring the very real hardships of addiction and systematic inequalities.  

The star-studded cast includes Glenn Close as J.D’s Mamaw (grandmother) and Amy Adams as Bev (his mother). The film is said to be a mostly straightforward adaptation of Vance’s book. The movie is now available to stream through the Netflix platform.   

Below is some additional information from the publisher about the 2016 book adapted to the new released film.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis 

Click to see “Hillbilly Elegy”
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

Part memoir, part historical and social analysis, J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy is a fascinating consideration of class, culture, and the American dream.

Vance’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love.” They got married and moved north from Kentucky to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. Their grandchild (the author) graduated from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving upward mobility for their family. But Vance cautions that is only the short version. The slightly longer version is that his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and mother struggled to varying degrees with the demands of their new middle class life and they, and Vance himself, still carry around the demons of their chaotic family history.

Delving into his own personal story and drawing on a wide array of sociological studies, Vance takes us deep into working class life in the Appalachian region. This demographic of our country has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, and Vance provides a searching and clear-eyed attempt to understand when and how “hillbillies” lost faith in any hope of upward mobility, and in opportunities to come.

At times funny, disturbing, and deeply moving, this is a family history that is also a troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large portion of this country.

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Politics, Sustainable Energy, Racial Equality & Justice and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Movies

Trump Transition Chaos is subject of Obama produced ‘The G Word’: Netflix Comedy

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Art meets and imitates life squared in new Comedy series inspired by Trump and Produced by the Obamas

Barack and Michelle Obama are producing a sketch comedy series for Netflix inspired by Trump’s 2016 presidential win and transition. The Obamas’ production company “Higher Ground” will bring in U.S. comedian to host the show, which has been titled,  “The G Word with Adam Conover”. Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions has a multi-year agreement to produce films and series (both scripted and unscripted) for Netflix.

Read More: Barack Obama invokes Navy Seals as way to remove Trump from WH in flashback to Bin Laden Take-down

Click to see “The Fifth Risk”
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

The streaming series is loosely inspired by the book “The Fifth Risk” by Michael Lewis. Written in 2018 his book is about the narrative of the Trump administration’s botched presidential transition, and takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its leaders through willful ignorance and greed. 

Interestingly, Barack Obama was himself a topic and participated, to some degree, in the transition and it is interesting to imagine what, if any, insight he may have been able to ad to the comedic potential of the subject matter. 

The Federal Government manages a vast array of critical services that are meant to keep us safe and underpin our lives, from ensuring the safety of our food and drugs and predicting extreme weather events to tracking and locating black market uranium before the terrorists do. Trump’s lack of interest or ability in managing the transition, let alone the Government itself, is the basic fodder for the comedic premise.

BoJack Horseman treatment could yield fantastic and funny results

Adam Conover confirmed the news on Twitter; “Very happy to finally be able to share this news: I’m creating a new comedy series for Netflix about the federal government. It’s called The G Word, and I can’t wait to share it with you.”

Conover is known for “Adam Ruins Everything” and “BoJack Horseman” and will use his comedic chops to blend sketch comedy with documentary elements, as the focus of the show is, in normal times, a pretty serious one,  the government.  

Netflix’s press release shared a little more light into what the show will bring to viewers:

”Using fast-paced visual comedy, Conover reveals the profound power and complexity of the U.S. government, introduces viewers to the heroic civil servants who make it work, and takes an incisive satirical look at its shortcomings.”

NETFLIX PRESS RELEASE

Filming is set to begin sometime early 2021, during the same general time as  Barack Obama’s former vice president Joe Biden will be taking office as the 26th President.  

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Politics, Sustainable Energy, Racial Equality & Justice and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Entertainment, Movies

7 New Movies Releasing Soon to Rescue Us for the Holidays

Above: Photo Collage / Lynxotic

Arduous production and distribution woes make for a slimmer Holiday fare: we found the best hopes for 2020

Because of COVID-19, 2020 will go down in history as one of the most unique years for movies. With theaters closed, blockbusters delayed, and dozens of highly anticipated films getting siphoned off to streaming services, there hasn’t been any major box office highs or prestigious content for the big screen. Given the state of the world, this reality will likely continue through December, robbing the holiday season of its traditional major releases. 

Read More: PS5 Launch Day is Officially Here – Available for Black-Friday-like sales today on Walmart, Amazon and others

Nevertheless, a handful of pictures are still pushing for late 2020 premieres. Not all hope is lost for a Christmas-time movie watching experience. Here are a few anticipated films that plan on coming out before the end of the year…

Wonder Woman: 1984

Patty Jenkins’ sequel to 2017’s “Wonder Woman” was originally slated for a June release, but got perpetually pushed back because of the virus. Now, it is holding onto a Christmas Day theatrical debut. Gal Gadot returns as the titular heroin alongside Chris Pine and Kristen Wiig in this ninth installment to the DC Extended Universe.

Above: Photo “Coming 2 America”

Coming 2 America

After returning to host “Saturday Night Live” and starring in Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name,” legendary comedian Eddie Murphy effectively reentered the zeitgeist in 2019. Therefore, hopes were high for his late sequel to the 1988 classic, “Coming To America.” Although made for the theaters, this 2020 film will now be available exclusively on Amazon Prime starting December 18th. 

Mank

A film historian’s film if there ever was one, the David Fincher-directed “Mank” stars Gary Oldman as real-life screenwriter, Herman J. Mankiewicz. Shot in black-and-white, the biopic focuses on Mankiewicz’s alcoholism and tumultuous experience writing “Citizen Kane” during Hollywood’s Golden Age. This Oscar-bait movie has already started its limited theatrical run, but will find a home on Netflix come December 4th.

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/pixar/soul/soul-trailer-3_h1080p.mov

Above:Official Trailer / Disney’s Soul

Soul

Pixar’s last theatrical release was terribly timed. The critically acclaimed, but commercially underwhelming “Onward” hit theaters the same weekend that the pandemic heated up in America and moviegoers were urged to stay at home. This next Disney-Pixar outing will thus go directly to streaming via Disney+. Available on Christmas Day, “Soul” is the first Pixar feature not to have a big-screen premiere. 

Midnight Sky

Netflix went all in for this George Clooney-directed science fiction adaptation. It’s a story about a man (played by Clooney) living on post-apocalyptic Earth and communicating with astronauts as they make their way back to the shambled planet. The film will stream on December 23rd and in this unique case, 2020 might actually add some timely relevance to the plot.

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/fox/free-guy/free-guy-trailer-1_h1080p.mov

Above: Official Trailer of Free Guy / 20th Century Fox

Free Guy

Riding on the coattails of “Deadpool” and “Detective Pikachu,” Disney’s “Free Guy” is the latest action-comedy to star Ryan Reynolds as a happy-go-lucky protagonist. With a plot involving virtual reality, the movie puts an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances for some hilarious thrills. Carried over from 20th Century Fox and not based on any pre-existing IP, “Free Guy” is a bit of a gamble. We’ll find out if it pays off on when it hits theaters on the eleventh. 

https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/sony_pictures/monster-hunter/monster-hunter-trailer-1_h1080p.mov

Above: Official Trailer of Monster Hunter

Monster Hunter

Another prospective theatrical release for December, Sony’s “Monster Hunter” plans to premiere on the 30th. Based off of the popular video game series of the same title, “Monster Hunter” promises a hybrid of war, science fiction, and fantasy delights. Director Paul W.S. Anderson has missed the mark with his video game adaptations before, but we cannot deny that huge spectacles projected on the big screen are something we’ve been deprived of this year, and therefore deeply crave.

Find books on Music, Movies & Entertainment and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Business, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Movies

The Short and Tragic Life of Quibi: Obituary for a Hollywood Experiment

PHOTO COLLAGE / LYNXOTIC

The unconventional streaming service is done – a flameout less than seven months after launching

On October 21st, The Wall Street Journal caught a whiff that a certain young video streaming service was about to bite the dust. Rumors turned out to be true, as the hardly six-month-old Quibi shut down that same day.

Quibi was an unconventional streaming service from its very beginning, a risky idea from Hollywood veterans Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. Conceptualized in August 2018, their idea was to create a streaming platform dedicated to short-term content on mobile screens. The founders figured that people might appreciate “quick bites” of entertainment on the go— hence the service’s name.

Read More: Quibi Gone after Shortest Stint in Streaming History: WSJ Reports

Although the idea was irregular, Katzenberg and Whitman were still able to work their magic and build up hype for the product. In the months leading up to its April 2020 launch, Quibi ads were everywhere, many of them featuring notable celebrities. The moguls behind the project also raised over $1.75 billion from high-profile investors and garnered an additional $150 million in ad revenue from the likes of Pepsi and Walmart. In the final hours before its release, Quibi was starting to look like a forthcoming underdog success story.

But when the launch happened, audiences quickly realized some issues with Quibi. It lacked particularly alluring content; the small-screen “Turnstyle” optimization was unusual; many questioned, “Why pay money for such a service when there are so many free mobile streaming destinations like YouTube or TikTok?”

Evidently, Quibi was off to a rough start, but the road only got rockier. In May, a lawsuit emerged as the video company Eko sued Quibi for infringing on a patent for the “Trurnstyle” technology.

Now with heavy criticism and a legal battle on their hands, Quibi’s viewership also started to dwindle. The number of subscribers was actually disappointing from the very beginning, but the figures really started declining around Quibi’s three-month birthday, when the service’s lengthy free trial was running out.

Why did it fail? And what does it means for streaming to come?

According to The Verge, one report estimated that Quibi lost ninety percent of its subscribers in July, just when they were all supposed to start paying the monthly fee: $4.99 with ads, $7.99 without ads.

All of these factors could have played into Quibi’s premature demise this week. However, the formal announcement, penned in a letter from Katzenberg and Whitman, blamed the coronavirus. While COVID-19 has helped other streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ boom, forcing audiences to seek home entertainment as theaters closed, it has done the opposite for Quibi.

Essentially, part of Quibi’s appeal was to attract a mobile audience— people who were riding trains or sitting in waiting rooms. Now that most people are working from home and avoiding public spaces, a short piece of visual narrative watched from a smartphone does not seem as appealing, even if the service did just launch its first TV app a few days ago.

Read More: Read More: Quibi Shifts Gears Following Rough Start: Katzenberg Blames Underperformance On Coronavirus

The other part of Katzenberg and Whitman’s letter stressed how Quibi could not carry on as a stand-alone company. Allegedly, the partners tried getting Apple, WarnerMedia, Facebook, and NBCUniversal to acquire Quibi, but no one was buying. Thus, they had no choice but to close up shop.

Quibi stood as a big Hollywood experiment from the get go. Although both of its founders were well experienced in the entertainment industry, a small-screen subscription based streaming service would be considered a bold endeavor for anyone to sell.

We can blame Quibi’s failures on timing, pandemics, competition, or simple over-ambition, but in the end, the only hard truth is that the platform lasted a very short time. Perhaps the shortest time ever for a recognizable streaming service.

Sometimes, Hollywood rewards audacity, like when a young director breaks the rules or a studio chooses to invest in a chancy intellectual property. However, for every Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” or Disney’s acquisition of Marvel, there are a million projects that didn’t make it. Sadly, Quibi is one of them.

In the streaming war, an ongoing battle where Disney+ and Netflix seem to be winning while HBOMax, AppleTV+, and NBCUniversal’s Peacock hold their ground, Quibi will go down as the young, daring private, sent out by senior officers to storm the trenches, only to take one in the gut early on.

We will never know what it could have been, and there may be others like it to come. For now, though, Quibi may be a cautionary tale for entertainment executives, one that has alas met a hasty epilogue. 

Find books on Business, Sustainable Energy, Screenwriting and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac or subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Climate Solutions, Earth and Ecology, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Movies

“Kiss The Ground” Documentary Offers Hopeful Remedy to Climate Change by Focusing on Soil Regeneration

The answer lies in the dirt, or as the movie’s tagline states, “The Solution Is Right Under Our Feet.”

At a time when so many existential, even extinction level issues  [climate change] loom and threaten mankind, it is easy to feel helpless and even hopeless. And, yet, in the most unexpected way imaginable, a simple act such as opening up the Netflix app and choosing a documentary could be the first step towards a new way of thought and, indeed, action. 

The new documentary “Kiss The Ground” does not minimize climate change, or downplay the fact that it is persistent and would bring terrible catastrophes looming on the global horizon, it does not fixate on the negatives. Instead, it offers a rare and amazing thing: solutions to solve the problems and rebalance Earth’s ecosystem. And it does so in a direct, simple and amazingly uplifting manner.

Click photo for more on “Kiss the Ground”

“Kiss The Ground” emphasizes regenerative soil usage and smart agriculture as the keys to saving the planet. Taking the audience to farms and ecosystems all across the world, the doc illustrates how humans have squandered the Earth’s natural bounty by over-tilling the land and drenching crops in pesticides.

Contrary to popular belief, these conventional farming tactics are not only damaging the environment, but they are also hurting the agricultural economy, leaving crops vulnerable and unsustainable in the event of a disaster. The film explains that these tactics are depleting fertile land, and if we don’t change our methods, the planet will only have sixty more years of harvests left.

Salvation is not beyond reach, though. As aforementioned, the bulk of the documentary is optimistic, and it offers a solution in an unlikely place. Namely, carbon.

[Carbon dioxide] is usually the enemy in [environmental documentaries], as we have far too much of it trapped in our atmosphere and the [fossil fuel industry] pumps it out at alarming rates to our planet’s detriment. Although an excess of carbon in the air could be the planet’s doom, “Kiss The Ground” suggests that increasing carbon in the ground could be a solution.

Through extreme close ups, microscopic images, and a few animations, the documentary shows how healthy soil is rife with living things. These things (worms, bacteria, microbes, etc.) all need carbon to live and play a vital part at the base of the food chain.

Unfortunately, the pesticides and over-tilling actively destroy these organisms, rendering the land naturally defenseless. The movie thus calls for a shift towards using soil with increased organic matter that sucks in and sustains carbon. According to one farmer in the film, every one percent increase in the dirt’s organic matter equals ten tons of carbon per acre. This means cleaner air, healthier ecosystems, and a more sustainable form of agriculture that could combat [global warming].

Many farmers have already endorsed this organic method on macro scales. “Kiss The Ground” even brings audiences to China’s [Loess Plateau], a once luscious place rendered a desert through centuries of depletion. With a rejuvenated focus on land management and organic prioritization in recent decades, however, the Plateau has effectively rebounded. Now the brown landscape is once again an Edenic green.

The change does not only have to happen on farms and distant, rural lands, though. The documentary also takes viewers to [San Francisco] and [Haiti] to show how urban hubs are playing their part, stressing the importance of composting and not letting anything go to waste. Seemingly everything—right down to human feces—can be reused and repurposed for a more sustainable world.

In the end, the people of this film – the farmers, scientists and concerned celebrities, come across almost as walking, talking, living, breathing testimonials for the solutions they are proposing. 

In a world where the future will almost certainly hold either oblivion and human extinction, or, if we join together to create it, an almost Utopian rebirth they are the rare exception and point clearly toward a better way for us to live on this planet. 

Seeing those who made and collaborated on this film and how they live and interact during their quest to save themselves and all of us,  it becomes possible to believe in these solutions, and more importantly in human-kind’s ability to choose the right path for a future. 

Tying together the sound, simple yet incredibly powerful ideas of recreating Soil health and Regenerative Agriculture, together with sustainable energy and transportation, the road to survival and hope has never looked so feasible. However, with sustainable energy being more widely known and understood as a priority, it is the ideas in “Kiss The Ground” that most need to be shared and disseminated most urgently. Watch it, then pass the word. 

Environmental authors, activists, and documentarians Josh and Rebecca Tickell directed and produced “Kiss The Ground.” The duo also wrote the film with help from Johnny O’Hara. Meanwhile, actor [Woody Harrelson] narrates and celebrity appearances include [Tom Brady], Gisel Bündchen, Ian Somerhandler, Jason Mraz, and California Governor [Gavin Newsom]. There are also dozens of farmers, scientists, and notable environmental scholars featured in the picture.

Watch Trailer for Documentary ‘Kiss the Ground’:

Find books on  Climate Science, Sustainable Energy and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Breaking News, Entertainment

Quibi Gone after Shortest Stint in Streaming History: WSJ Reports

From the Bigger they come dept.

From initial announcement of the high level duo of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and Hollywood Mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg there was always something unlikely about Quibi. 

Read More: Quibi Shifts Gears Following Rough Start: Katzenberg Blames Underperformance On Coronavirus

In some ways like “WeWork” for streaming – at least in the hype and over-financing department,  the concept of reinventing the way that stories are told on screens and arbitrarily cutting all traditional sizes into 10 minute “bites” (quick-bites, hence the wonky name) seemed from day-one, to many, as a dubious goal. 

Not only driven by outdated thinking on the creative-business axis: stars-only, big money leading the way, astronomical budgets, virtually no one involved with a current digital media background, in some ways its shocking it lasted this long. 

Quibi Holdings LLC, which according to the WSJ article, had raised 1.75 billion in start-up capital is shutting itself down.  

A lawsuit from a tech company who claims ownership of the streaming tech used by the service, in particular the “turn style” feature, where the videos could be watched either in landscape mode or portrait, with the viewer able to switch back and forth at any time.  Interactive-video company Eko initiated a lawsuit with the help of Elliot Management.

This is a better, more plausible, reason, in addition to the lack of interest from viewers, than using the pandemic and the timing of the initial launch coming during lock-down as an excuse.

Although Quibi attracted major advertisers and achieved a pre-sale of $150 million in booked ad-revenue, ahead of the initial launch, payments where predicated, as is typical, on viewership numbers which never materialized. 

This news is yet another indicator of the incredibly volatile nature of the online video market, and is a harbinger of likely many more shake-ups and flame-outs in the near future…

Find books on Business, Sustainable Energy, Screenwriting and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac or subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Books, Tech

Dig deeper into Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma” with these books on the dangers of Social Media

Reprogramming civilization via Social Media….

“The Social Dilemma” a documentary now available to watch on Netflix, exposes some hard truths and dangers of social networking.  Former employees from juggernaut tech companies including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and many others are interviewed, many of whom co-invented and developed the very structures and business models that are creating major problems as broken-down and discussed in the docu-drama. 

Read More: Apple’s Ad Spotlights in a Hilarious Tour de Force: Why Privacy Matters on your iPhone

Not much of a spoiler alert, but social media companies not only sell our user data, but in conjunction use all that data to create an ultra-sophisticated psychological profile, ultimately to have the powerful ability to manipulate us. Your privacy, surveillance capitalism, positive intermittent reinforcement, artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms, dopamine hits, are just some of the terms used within the film and very much prevalent in social media. 

There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software”

Edward Tufte 

We’ve curated a list of books written by the former tech employees that appeared in the documentary, as well as provided some additional information from the publisher. Click to see more book information, we’ve provided links for purchase that if interested that helps out independent books stores.  

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil

Click Here to See “Weapons of Math Destruction”
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also Available on Amazon.

We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives–where we go to school, whether we can get a job or a loan, how much we pay for health insurance–are being made not by humans, but by machines. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules.

But as mathematician and data scientist Cathy O’Neil reveals, the mathematical models being used today are unregulated and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination–propping up the lucky, punishing the downtrodden, and undermining our democracy in the process. Welcome to the dark side of Big Data.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – A former Wall Street quant sounds the alarm on Big Data and the mathematical models that threaten to rip apart our social fabric–with a new afterword. “A manual for the twenty-first-century citizen . . . relevant and urgent.”–Financial Times. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST – NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review – Boston Globe – Wired – Fortune – Kirkus Reviews – The Guardian – Nature – On Point

Automating Humanity by Joe Toscano 

Click Here to See “Automating Humanity”
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also Available on Amazon.

Automating Humanity is an insider’s perspective on everything Big Tech doesn’t want the public to know–or think about–from the addictions installed on a global scale to the profits being driven by fake news and disinformation, to the way they’re manipulating the world for profit and using our data to train systems that will automate jobs at an explosive, unprecedented scale.

Toscano provides a critique of modern regulation, including parts of the new European Union’s General Data Proctection Regulation (GDPR) suggesting how we can create proactive, adaptable regulation that satisfies both the needs of consumer safety and commercial success in the international economy. The content touches on everything from technology, economics, and public policy to psychology, history, and ethics, and is written in a way that is accessible to everyone from the average reader to the technical expert. Click Here to See “Automating Humanity” and help Independent Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon.

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff 

Click Here to See “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism”
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also Available on Amazon.

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth.

Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new “behavioral futures markets,” where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new “means of behavioral modification.”

The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a “Big Other” operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff’s comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to twenty-first century society: a controlled “hive” of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit–at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future. Click Here to See “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” and help Independent Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon.

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

Click Here to See
“Ten Argument for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts“
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also Available on Amazon.

You might have trouble imagining life without your social media accounts, but virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier insists that we’re better off without them. In Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Lanier, who participates in no social media, offers powerful and personal reasons for all of us to leave these dangerous online platforms.

Lanier’s reasons for freeing ourselves from social media’s poisonous grip include its tendency to bring out the worst in us, to make politics terrifying, to trick us with illusions of popularity and success, to twist our relationship with the truth, to disconnect us from other people even as we are more “connected” than ever, to rob us of our free will with relentless targeted ads. How can we remain autonomous in a world where we are under continual surveillance and are constantly being prodded by algorithms run by some of the richest corporations in history that have no way of making money other than being paid to manipulate our behavior? How could the benefits of social media possibly outweigh the catastrophic losses to our personal dignity, happiness, and freedom? Lanier remains a tech optimist, so while demonstrating the evil that rules social media business models today, he also envisions a humanistic setting for social networking that can direct us toward a richer and fuller way of living and connecting with our world. Click Here to See “Ten Argument for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts” and help Independent Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon.

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt 

Click Here to See “The Righteous Mind“
and help Independent Bookstores.
Also Available on Amazon.

Drawing on his twenty five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, Haidt shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. In this subtle yet accessible book, Haidt gives you the key to understanding the miracle of human cooperation, as well as the curse of our eternal divisions and conflicts. If you’re ready to trade in anger for understanding, read The Righteous Mind.

In this “landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself” (The New York Times Book Review) social psychologist Jonathan Haidt challenges conventional thinking about morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks to conservatives and liberals alike. Click Here to See “The Righteous Mind” and help Independent Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on The Social Dilemma,  Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Entertainment, Politics

Sarah Cooper digs into Trump’s “unhinged” attack on mail-in voting during the final night of DNC

Video

Cooper effortlessly taps into the ridiculousness that is Trump 

Sarah Cooper, writer and comedian, delivered her latest lip-synced impersonation of Donald Trump for the final night of the virtual Democratic National Convention. Her new video spotlights Trump’s latest rant attacking USPS and mail-in voting. Cooper also commented personally on the matter. 

Read More: Trump’s Mental Decline: Serious as a Heart Attack yet Entertaining Nevertheless

“Let me put this in my own words, I’ve heard Donald Trump say some pretty unhinged things, I’ve heard them over and over and over again. But nothing is more dangerous to our democracy than his attacks on mail in voting during a pandemic.

Here’s the truth: Donald Trump doesn’t want any of us to vote because he knows he can’t win fair and square. So whether you plan to vote by mail, or in person, wearing your mask, it is your vote and it’s your right. Don’t let Donald Trump take that away from you.”

sarah cooper video during democratic National Convention

Cooper is now famously known for her lip-syncing political satire videos impersonating Donald Trump. Her first “How to President” video which was posted back in April 2020 got over 22 million views on just her Twitter page alone.  There are now 23 (and most likely more coming) on the hilarious series. 

The comedian has much in store for her aside from her social media video fame. The entertainer bagged a Netflix comedy special titled “Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine” and is set to premiere this Fall 2020. Based on a press release by Netflix the  variety special will include a series of vignettes dealing with issues of politics, race, gender, class, and other light subjects. The special will be directed by Natasha Lyonne and executive produced by Maya Rudolph.

In addition, based on a report from Deadline, Cooper has made a deal with CBS to adapt her book, “How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings” into a TV series.

Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.

Find books on Politics,  Racial Equality, Undiscovered Gems and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Books

Twitter Video of Ozark Pool Party is a Hit for all the Wrong Reasons

Video
https://video-lynxotic.akamaized.net/Ozarks1.mov
twitter Video of Pool Party in Osage Beach, Missouri

After a Wild Memorial Day of Beach Parties, BBQ and Pools Gone Wild is the 2nd Wave Coming?

Anyone who’s seen the stories or noticed what’s been trending on twitter knows by now that the extended holiday weekend was a scene for the ages. It appears that our patience with lockdowns and quarantines is not just running out, it has literally exploded into its opposite.

The video above, of a pool party sans distancing, in the area made famous by the Netflix series “Ozark” is just one of many examples of a wild weekend that seems to have surpassed even pre-pandemic levels of reveling and rioting.

In Los Angeles, perhaps due to the aversion to flying to out-of-town destinations during a pandemic, the beaches were mobbed like it was 4th of July 2018. Photos of Venice beach circulated twitter on Saturday and the whole weekend appeared to have elevated traffic levels above what is traditionally seen on otherwise sleepy holiday weekends.

This out-come was generally feared by the medical experts, and it appears that other than professionals and medical front-line personnel no-one was considering the 1918 pandemic experience where a too early loosening of quarantine controls resulted in a powerful second wave of the flu epidemic a month or so later.

From Sea to Shining Sea hardly a mask to be seen…

Not only on the West Coast, but all the way on the other side of the country in North Carolina, crowds gathered to celebrate. The video below shows a NASCAR crowd whooping it up to the whining engines, shoulder to shoulder with no mask in sight. There appears to be an “instinct” and a feeling among the US population that there’s no longer any need to pay any attention to the coronavirus or contagious diseases of any kind. Let’s hope that feeling is “magical” cause, if not, June is going to be a blowback party of the wrong sort.

The scary part, if you are among those that actually believe the scientific studies, is that the highest level of contagion is during the asymptomatic phase of a person that has contracted the virus. This would imply that any one of these healthy looking folks could be an asymptomatic carrier and could transmit to dozens, hundreds or even thousands as they come in contact. Can’t help but think of the choir in Washington State that shared the infection at a practice session at a rate of almost 90%. 2 died within 14 days.

So let’s hope that this is the day we all get a “pass” from above and that it is not the beginning of any new wave of cases or, worse. Let’s just enjoy the sunshine, our youth and some burgers and brews. And hope for the best.

Find books on Pandemics, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Venice Beach, Memorial Day Weekend, May, 2020. Photo / Twitter
Books, Business, Entertainment, Movies

Sony And Tom Hanks’ “Greyhound” Goes To Apple TV+ For Direct-To-Streaming Release

Video
https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/sony_pictures/greyhound/greyhound-trailer-1_h1080p.mov
Official Trailer for “Greyhound

Competitive bidding underway for films previously set for worldwide release to theaters

Tom Hanks stars in the new Sony Pictures World War II drama, “Greyhound,” which was due for a theatrical release on June 12th. Like many other films meant to come out this summer, though, “Greyhound” has been derailed by the coronavirus and the worldwide shutdown of movie theaters. Thus, the film has been expedited to the streaming market and will now be available exclusively on Apple TV+.

Launched just last November, Apple TV+ has been an underdog in the streaming war so far. The affordable $4.99/month service met some early awards for its highly praised “The Morning Show” and has created a few shows starring major talent such as “Defending Jacob” with Chris Evans and “See” with Jason Mamoa. The platform has also done a few spinoff shows such as the children’s “Fraggle Rock: Rock On” and a revival of Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories.”

Read More: SpaceX Starship Plans for The Moon, Mars and Earth-to-Earth Transport

By-and-large, Apple TV+ has been committed to original content, opting to produce in-house series and movies rather than acquire outside titles. However, Apple TV+ does not have the vast libraries of Disney+, HBO Max, or NBCUniversal’s Peacock. It is a tech company that just entered the film and TV entertainment world and it must to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime, both of which have created more original series in recent years, but still rely heavily on mergers and acquisitions for variety.

Apple TV+ appears to have a long road ahead in order to gain significant foothold

While Apple’s closed-system quality-over-quantity approach to streaming is admirable, it’s not giving them any leg-up on their rivals. Hence, they are presently bending their own rules a bit, talking with bigger studios about licensing out additional content. The service allegedly paid Sony $70 million for “Greyhound” and according to Deadline, the site will treat the film as its biggest movie release yet.

The deal also works out for Sony. Unlike Disney, WarnerMedia, or NBCUniversal, Sony does not have its own streaming service, so allocating its property to Apple gives them a presence in the streaming world without selling out to one of their theatrical competitors. Of course, Sony would probably prefer to release “Greyhound” on the big screen, but the global pandemic has all but slaughtered that possibility.

Read More: New Trailer for Chris Nolan’s “Tenet”: WB stays true to Original Release Despite Coronavirus

During the coronavirus, all streaming sites have seen increases in activity. Apple TV+, like any of the other platforms, is profiting off of, but also vying for the attention of people stuck at home. Throwing a Sony-produced Tom Hanks war epic in the captive audience’s faces will certainly help the site’s cause.

Aaron Shneider directs “Greyhound,” and its narrative comes from a screenplay by C.S. Forester and Hanks himself. It follows the true story of an American navy ship crossing the Atlantic in the early days of World War II while being pursued by troves of enemy German U-Boats. Apple has not yet scheduled a release date for the film, but it will likely come out sometime this summer.

Find books on Movies and Filmmaking, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Entertainment, Movies

Quibi Shifts Gears Following Rough Start: Katzenberg Blames Underperformance On Coronavirus

New Subscriber Count Underwhelming

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman launched Quibi on April 6th. The latest project from the two well-experienced entertainment moguls, Quibi is a streaming service designed for the smallest of screens— namely, smartphones and other mobile devices. The subscription based platform’s initiative is to provide short bursts of entertainment for people on the go, keeping content between seven and ten minutes long apiece.

Quibi entered the streaming war with a lot of hype, propelled by a massive marketing campaign and a line up including several noteworthy filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Guillermo Del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Sam Raimi, and more. Many industry insiders had high hopes for the novel platform, even after it decided to stay true to its April 6th launch date amidst the coronavirus.

Sadly, that decision might be coming back to haunt Quibi, as the service came out over a month ago and has so far severely underperformed. The service cost roughly $1.4 billion to create— most of the money coming from Hollywood studio investors and the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba— and according to the New York Times, it has garnered under 2 million active subscribers in its first month. At a price of $4.99-$7.99 per month, this is a long way from breaking even.

Read more: “Quibi Embraces Smallest Screens and Biggest Talent in New Mobile Streaming Service“

Despite knowing the risk of launching Quibi during COVID-19, Jeffrey Katzenberg is now attributing the site’s underperformance to the pandemic. In a New York Times video interview, he unambiguously stated, “I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus.”

The founder’s rationale is that the platform is best consumed for people with busy, mobile lives. Quibi provides content catered to people on tight schedules, with news and entertainment served in quick doses. Under the current quarantine, however, people are more sedentary than ever before. Katzenberg continued to the Times, “My hope, my belief was that there would still be many in-between moments while sheltering in place. There are still those moments, but it’s not the same. It’s out of sync.” 

This makes sense, but is called into question when considering the success of other streaming sites during the lockdown. Established platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ have benefitted immensely from people staying at home. With theaters closed, lots of content is getting expedited to streaming and these sites are serving as the last lines of entertainment during these isolating times. Netflix has added 15.8 million subscribers in 2020, and Disney+ 4.5 million in the month of April alone.

Of course, Quibi lacks a lot of what these preexisting services have to offer. It does not possess the name brand recognition of a Netflix or Amazon, nor does it have have the vast, familiar library of Disney+. Despite its impressive rolodex of attached producers and a few reboots of popular shows, Quibi has had to build from the bottom up with original programming.

No Blockbuster (yet?) and Now A Changed Attitude Re: TV

Unfortunately, on top of all the circumstantial roadblocks facing Quibi as a company right now, its shows have not been well received either. Many critics and consumers are not buying into the concept of watching content on a phone. Even though Quibi invested lots of effort into creating “turnstyle” technology for a seamless vertical/horizontal viewing experience, the final product has been underwhelming. A review from The Vulture called the technological attempt’s outcome, “a sad cropped, vertical version of a show that looked better in widescreen.”

Now, Quibi is looking towards the future. With so much money and human capital tied up in the project, it has no choice but to keep moving forward, trying to rebound and improve upon itself.

Read more: “Five Stories perfect for our time“

Marketing-wise, Quibi plans to start advertising for individual shows. Up until now, the platform has marketed itself as a whole, with celebrity-endorsed commercials promoting the overall site rather than specific programs. Going forward, Quibi will create more ads centered on particular shows, much in the same vein as Netflix and Disney+.

The site will also be updating its terms of usage. For starters, Quibi users will no longer be tethered to their phone screens. Subscribers will soon be able to watch Quibi shows on their televisions. This was always something that Quibi aspired to in the longterm, but wanted to get its customers used to the small screen standard first. Given the users’ apparent aversion to mobile viewing, though, Quibi is accelerating the process.

Moreover, Quibi content will be sharable on social media going forward. At first, Katzenberg and Whitman wanted to keep all of Quibi (including screenshots) behind its subscriber paywall. Those walls are now becoming permeable, as Quibi demands more traction. Allowing users to share Quibi shows on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will help spread its popularity and get more people talking about it.

Evidently, Quibi is undergoing some changes at the moment. Regardless of the peculiar situation, the bottom line is that Quibi has not been so successful out the gate. Things will probably get even more competitive in the coming months as NBCUniversal’s Peacock and AT&T’s HBOMax enter the streaming world. Consequentially, Quibi executives are changing their approach immediately, lest the Quibi craze be over before it even begins.

Find books on Business, Sustainable Energy, Screenwriting and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac or subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Books, Entertainment, Movies, Tech

Scorsese’s Next Big-Budget Project Starring DiCaprio and De Niro: “Killers of the Flower Moon” looking at Apple and Netflix

Streaming Power on the Rise in Production Finance

Last November, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese made his debut into the world of streaming with “The Irishman.” After ViacomCBS deemed the project too costly, Paramount withdrew support from the movie and Netflix picked it up, willing to give Scorsese the creative freedom (and $159 million budget) he needed to see his vision come alive.

Click to buy
“Killers of the Flower Moon” 
and at the same time help Lynxotic 
and all independent local bookstores. Also on Amazon

Now, it looks as if that recent history already about to repeat itself. Scorsese’s next big project, titled “Killers Of The Flower Moon,” has been in development under Paramount since early 2019. However, its budget has been perpetually increasing, now requiring an estimated $200 million. This is a tall price for any studio to pay for a film, but ViacomCBS in particular is already in a precarious financial situation as it struggles to keep up with conglomerate competitors like Disney, WarnerMedia, and Universal.

Furthermore, Paramount (like all other studios) is currently dealing with the COVID-19 setbacks and economic crashes. Now is not a safe time for anyone to take extravagant risks in the entertainment industry, and a $200 million Scorsese project is far from a conservative investment.

While Paramount has not officially detached itself from the film yet, Scorsese has already started eyeing other production companies, most notably his old pals at Netflix and some new faces at Apple. Last year’s “The Irishman” was one of Netflix’s biggest selling points, especially as the streaming wars started taking off in mid-November. The film set a new standard for Netflix as a company that supports creative and prestigious filmmakers. During awards season, “The Irishman” earned the streaming site an unprecedented 10 Oscar nominations. Sadly, it took home none.

Apple is the New Kid on the Block but with Very Deep Pockets

Apple, on the other hand, would be new territory for Scorsese. The tech company’s new streaming site, Apple TV+, launched just last November, and has focused more on creating quality television series than films. However, the platform recently released its first original movie—“The Banker” starring Samuel L. Jackson—and is allegedly spending big money on a Will Farrel-Ryan Reynolds musical adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” for an upcoming holiday season. Adding the new Scorsese project to the platform’s budding filmography would likely benefit Apple’s rising studio image.

Scorsese reportedly talked with executives at Universal and MGM as well, so there remains a possibility that the film will not end up on a streaming site at all.

Of course, whatever studio or website “Killers Of The Flower Moon” ends up on, the adopting company will have to go through ViacomCBS first. Paramount is not required to sell the film, and it will definitely want compensation for all of the money it has already invested. The way things are going, though, selling will probably be in Paramount’s best interest, for the film is becoming far too expensive to hold on to.

In addition to Paramount, a smaller, independent company called Imperative Entertainment is also attached to the film. Unlike Paramount, though, Imperative will likely continue its attachment, for it bares far less of the financial burden.

“Killers Of The Flower Moon” is meant to come out sometime next year, but with the coronavirus affecting schedules across the board as well as the current studio mix-ups, it very well might take longer to finish.

Book Origin is Intriguing as a Backdrop to a A-List Team Effort

The film is an adaptation of the 2017 book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” by bestselling author David Grann. The book follows the federal investigation into the murders of Osage County Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma. It’s a slow burning true story that will lend itself well to Scorsese’s hardboiled, historical take on narrative film.

Scorsese veterans Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are meant to star in the movie. Di Niro starred in last year’s “The Irishman” and has appeared in nine Scorsese features since they first collaborated in 1973’s “Mean Streets.” The much younger DiCaprio last worked with Scorsese in 2013’s “The Wolf Of Wall Street” and has done a total of five movies with the auteur since 2002’s “Gangs Of New York.” He is also expected to star in a Theodore Roosevelt biopic, which Scorsese has been developing and hopes to start directing after finishing “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

This project will be the twenty-sixth feature in Martin Scorsese illustrious directorial career, which has lasted over half a century now. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are two of his most loyal collaborators, and their creative relationships with the director have been quite fruitful from artistic and financial perspectives. Both actors are Oscar winning leads, yet “Killers Of The Flower Moon” will be the first time they share the screen in a feature since 1996’s “Marvin’s Room.”

Regardless of where it ends up studio-wise, “Killers Of The Flower Moon” is bound to be a cinematic spectacle and a much talked about movie in the coming years. Whoever ends up getting their hands on the film will be lucky. That being said, it comes at a hefty ($200+ million) price, which is a sizable gamble even in the most normal of circumstances.

For such a figure, the luck better run deep.

Find books on Big Tech, Climate Change, Sustainable Energy, Esoteric Spirituality and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.

Entertainment, Tech

NBC’s “Peacock” to Escalate Streaming Wars with varied Price and Experience options

Logo Collage / Lynxotic

Massive Library May be included and Increase Streaming Compitition

NBCUniversal and Comcast will be making their debut into the media market’s ongoing streaming war on July 15th, 2020. On that Wednesday in the midst of the summer, the globally renowned entertainment conglomerate will launch “Peacock,” the ultimate online service for all things Comcast.

Just to set the record straight, NBCUniversal owns far more than just the Nightly News and old horror movies. DreamWorks, Illumination, Focus Features, G4TV, USA Network, and Syfy amongst others all fall under the company’s corporate umbrella. Thus, there is a lot of reason behind consolidating all of its content to one streaming service, especially when competitors Disney, WarnerMedia, and CBS are all starting to do it.

Comcast first announced that it would be starting its own streaming service over a year ago in January 2019, and it released the name “Peacock” (based on NBC’s colorful feathered symbol) on September 17th. At that time, NBCUniversal also stated that the website would be launched in April 2020 and that it will eventually be the sole place to stream NBC favorites “The Office” and “Parks & Recreation.”

Obviously, the launch date has been pushed back since then. Nevertheless, the announcement that “The Office” and “Parks & Rec” will be barred from other streaming services is a big blow for the competition. Netlflix, for one, will certainly suffer from the loss of these shows, as “The Office” in particular has been one of the most popular programs in its catalogue for years. With shows like “The Office” and “Parks & Rec” (and “Saturday Night Live” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) having such vast, dedicated fan bases, one can imagine customers subscribing to Peacock just for the access to specific programs.

Peacock will also have movies from Universal Pictures and its subsidiaries, and a slew of original content from veteran NBC and USA showrunners such as Mike Schur of “The Good Place” and Sam Eslami of “Mr. Robot.” Hopping on Hollywood’s current nostalgic bandwagon, Schur will be creating a reboot of 1980s sitcom “Punky Brewster” for the service and Eslami will be leading a revival of “Battlestar Galactica.”

From “Free” to $10 per Month with Comcast Customer Link

When it comes to pricing, Comcast is offering Peacock at three different tiers. The least expensive tier costs absolutely nothing. This version of the platform will be called “Peacock Free” and it will have limited, ad-supported content. The next level up will again be ad-supported, but it will have access to the service’s full library. This will be free for Comcast customers and cost $5/month for everyone else.

The final tier will be called “Peacock Premium.” It will cost $10/month and will run ad-free. Like the second tier, it will have access to the service’s complete catalogue plus live sports, including Premiere League soccer, which is a television rarity in the United States.

At $10/month, even Peacock’s priciest option is relatively cheap compared with the competition. While it costs more than Disney+’s generous $7/month fee, it remains thriftier than Netflix and Amazon Prime’s standard $12/month plans and HBOMax’s forthcoming $15/month price tag.

Still, Comcast is willing to offer even better Peacock deals for their loyal customers. Comcast and Cox cable users can get Peacock Premium for free with ads, or for half price without ads. Those who subscribe to Comcast Xfinity X1 or Flex will be also able to get Premium early—in April.

As opposed to Netflix that began its business in streaming or Disney and Warner that are only now starting to transition, NBCUniversal is evidently trying to keep its foot in conventional television with Peacock. The deals that Comcast is making with its cable subscribers are direct incentives to stifle the cord-cutting phenomenon while still keeping up with the times.

With Netflix getting copious nominations this awards season, Apple TV coming in hot with “The Morning Show,” Disney+ estimating to earn $2.2 billion in 2020, and HBOMax coming out it May, the streaming wars are in full swing. Throw Hulu, Amazon Prime, Quibi, and multiple other platforms into the mix and one can clearly see that the competition is quite fierce. The media sphere is changing, and NBCUniversal is straddling the line between the old and the new. We’ll just have to wait until July to see where Peacock stands and how it plays out.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Entertainment, Movies

Oscar Nominations Revealed: Joker” Dominates, Johansson Gets Double Noms – Academy has a Diversity Problem (still)

Video
https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/wb/joker/joker-trailer-2_h1080p.mov
Joker official trailer

ScarJo and Joker cast shadows over the hope for new faces

On the morning after a Critics Choice Movie Awards ceremony that heavily paralleled the Golden Globes—“Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood” won best picture, Joaquin Phoenix won best actor, Renèe Zellweger best actress, Brad Pitt best supporting actor, Laura Dern best supporting actress, etc., the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released their nominations for the 92nd Oscars, the pinnacle of the awards season that will take place in early February as per tradition at the famed Dolby Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.

Renée Zellweger as “Judy”

The Oscar Nominations for 2020 offer the usual suspects in most categories. Like the Critics Choice Awards’ Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Golden Globes’ Foreign Hollywood Press, the Academy is big on yesteryear’s work from Tarantino, Mendez, and Scorsese. Likewise, they favor performances from Phoenix, Pitt, and Zellweger.

That being said, there are still a few head turners on this year’s nomination list, from the names included, to the names left out, to the handful of names that dominated.

First off, it should really be no surprise at this point in the awards season that Netflix got a lot of love for its 2019 filmography.

The Academy nominated both Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” for best picture and Fernando Meirelles’ “The Two Popes” appeared in several categories as well.

This bodes well for the streaming service that clearly spent the year trying to produce and promote prestigious original content.

If one film dominated the list, however, it was Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” which garnered eleven nominations including best picture, best director, and best actor.

This is significant as not every year does a movie based on a comic book character lead the race, especially not when that comic book character is a controversy-inducing villain brought to the screen by the director of “The Hangover.”

Nevertheless, “Joker” stood out amongst the competition. In terms of noms, the film was narrowly followed by “The Irishman,” “Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood,” and “1917,” all fellow best picture contenders that received ten nominations each.

Moreover, while there weren’t really any surprises on the best actor or best actress fronts, Scarlett Johansson managed to snag both best actress and best supporting actress nominations for her respective roles in “Marriage Story” and “Jojo Rabbit.”

Snubs and Overlooked Talent that was Coincidentally Diverse Abounded

Adam Sandler went unsung for his groundbreaking performance in “Uncut Gems,” and critic favorites Awkwafina from “The Farewell” and Jennifer Lopez from “Hustlers” were similarly snubbed, not receiving any accolades from the Academy despite earning praise elsewhere.

This brings us to the biggest elephant in the room, which has been a persistent topic for the past few Academy Awards—how diverse are this year’s nominees?

The noticeably whitewashed 2016 Oscars sparked this long overdue conversation about diversity in the Awards. Since then, the Academy has been seemingly more inclusive, nominating and honoring racially-charged films like “Moonlight,” “Get Out,” “BlackKklansman,” and, “Black Panther”, feminist features like “Lady Bird” and “Roma,” and queer narratives like “Call Me By Your Name” and “The Favourite.”

This year, however, despite all of the progress over the past couple of several telecasts, the Academy seems to have relapsed into yet another celebration of a white male dominated Hollywood. The only big 2020 nominees that deviate from this norm are Greta Gerwig’s female-centric “Little Women” and Bong Joon-ho’s Korean “Parasite.”

Both of these films were nominated for best picture and Bong Joon-ho was nominated for best director.

The rest of the nominations in these categories are filled with the work of white men. Characteristically, the films are overwhelmingly white as well—from the Western European World War I narrative in “1917,” to the Nazi-Germany satire in “Jojo Rabbit” to a movie literally titled “The Irishman,” there is not a whole lot of diversity going on.

Likewise, many of these movies also sideline female characters to subordinate roles such as wives, mothers, and girlfriends to the male leads.

While these skewed nominations may be mere products of their not being as many women or minority filmmakers in the industry, that very underrepresentation is a testimony to Hollywood’s systemic gender and racial inequality both in front of and behind the camera.

Thus, when the red carpet rolls out on February 9th, we can expect to see a lot of talent on it, but probably not as much color as we’d prefer.

Following the success of last year’s hostless ceremony, the Academy also recently announced that the event will again not have a host. Hence, there will be no central figure on stage to comically quell (or egregiously highlight) the Academy’s systematic issues regarding representation.

Still, if the Golden Globes were any indicator, we will probably still hear a lot of social commentary through the acceptance speeches.

In total, the Academy has taken a big step back this year, not showing the level of diversity that the public might desire or expect.

However, the Academy Awards are only the opinions of a handful of aged industry professionals. Just because they don’t recognize certain talent does not mean that there won’t be eventual recognition, at the latest once the demographics change in the voting block (cold comfort till then).

Academy Awards, Oscars, Joker, Scarlett Johansson, Whitewashed Hollywood, Netflix, Bong Joon-ho, Todd Phillips, Awkwafina, Jennifer Lopez, Movie,

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Entertainment, Movies

77th Golden Globes Recap: Ricky Gervais hits a nerve, On Stage Activism & Netflix goes Unsung

’Big Winners Mostly Among the Predicted with a few Notable Exceptions

With the 77th Golden Globes concluded, Hollywood’s 2020 awards season is officially underway, celebrating the best and brightest that the film and television industries had to offer in the past year.

The Golden Globes took place on Sunday, January 5th at the famous Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The ceremony began at 5:00 PM Hollywood time, when stars from around the world took their seats to eagerly await the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s picks for 2019’s best film, show, actor, actress, and so on… as well as the obligatory drama and awkward moments that come with any award show.

The event started far from subtly, as host Ricky Gervais took the stage. A notoriously raw British comedian, Gervais did not shy away from controversy in his opening monologue. He poked fun at just about every industry professional in the room, humorously calling out individuals for their leftist stances on political issues while engaging in an exploitative business led by capitalist juggernauts like Apple, Amazon, and Disney. Add in a Jeffrey Epstein suicide joke, a comparison between Joe Pesci and Baby Yoda, and a shot at Felicity Huffman’s prison sentence, and the night was off to a deliciously cringey start.

Despite his forewarning jests, through, Gervais did not manage to silence the award winners in their acceptance speeches. With few exceptions, it seemed as if each recipient used his or her stage time to make a statement regarding the world’s current turbulent condition.

Upon receiving the award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV film, “Fosse/Verdon” star Michelle Williams spoke out for a woman’s right to choose; While accepting his Best Director title for “1917,” Sam Mendes made a sly remark about war that was indubitably tied to President Trump’s recent actions in Iran; Actor Jared Harris also touched on the cost of political lies when getting the Best Limited Series award for the ever-so-relevant “Chernobyl.”

Undoubtedly (and unsurprisingly), however, the social issue most addressed on the stage was climate change. Nobody addressed this topic more profoundly than Joaquin Phoenix, who upon winning Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture for his performance in “Joker,” took to the stage with peculiar reticence before immediately thanking the HFP for making the event plant-based. He then proceeded to get on Gervais’ level by dropping several f-bombs in calling out Hollywood hypocrisy. The speech was jarring, yet well received, as the actor delivered the message with far more sincerity than Gervais did at the night’s beginning.

Climate change was on many people’s mind throughout the night, especially in light of the ongoing bushfire epidemic in Australia. Russell Crowe even missed winning best actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie for his performance in “The Loudest Voice,” because he was Down Under protecting his house and family from the catastrophic infernos. In absentia, Jennifer Anniston read the New Zeland-born (yet Australian-raised) actor’s acceptance speech, where he definitively articulated the link between the country’s present forest fires and the planet’s continuing climate crisis.

Ellen DeGeneres also started out her speech expressing her concern and love for Australia. DeGeneres was honored with winning the Carol Burnett Award for achievement in television. After her touching words for Australia, the comedian-actress-talk show host shared her humble rise to stardom and her thoughts on the power of television, all with a characteristically stellar mix of endearing humor and unmistakable earnestness.

Later in the evening, actor Tom Hanks won the second special award of the night—the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. Hanks gave a deeply impassioned speech and even got choked up while thanking his family. He touched on the duty of an actor to think creatively, know ones part, and “show up on time.”

This brings us to the meat of the event—the actual winners. While the drama, activism, and jokes all make for good television, the Golden Globes are ultimately there to recognize yesteryear’s outstanding works in the entertainment industry.

First off, we obviously had a number of expected outcomes. On the TV side, Brian Cox and Olivia Coleman won best series actor and actress for their respective work in “Succession” and “The Crown.” “Succession” also won Best TV Drama Series while “Fleabag” won in the Comedy category.

As for movies, we saw the anticipated Brad Pitt win Best Supporting Actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino “Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood.” Tarantino himself also won Best Original Screenplay and the film as a whole won Best Film in the Musical or Comedy category. Similarly predictable, the Korean “Parasite” won Best Foreign Language Film, Hildur Guðnadóttir won best original score for “Joker,” and Renée Zellweger won Best Drama Actress for “Judy.”

1917 is Stealth Favorite and Takes Top Drama

The upsets, however, came about in some other fields. As aforementioned, Sam Mendes won Best Director for “1917,” and the movie went on to win Best Film in the Drama category. Neither award was anticipated for Mendes. On the directorial front, he faced competition from the likes of Tarantino and Scorsese. Likewise, for best picture, he went up against bona fide critical hits such as “The Irishman,” “Joker,” and “Marriage Story.” “1917” is yet to get a wide release, however, which may be the reason many people did not foresee its success.

Another upset occurred in the Best Musical/Comedy Actor category, where Taron Egerton won the title for portraying Elton John in “Rocketman.” The thirty-year-old actor beat out stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Eddie Murphy, and Daniel Craig. Furthermore, in the Animated Film category, Laika Entertainment’s “Missing Link” beat DreamWorks’ “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” along with Disney’s triple-threat nominees “The Lion King,” “Toy Story 4,” and “Forzen II.” “Missing Link” performed abysmally in the theaters and director Chris Butler was utterly baffled during his acceptance speech. Evidently, big studios and box office figures do not always correlate with talent or translate to critical success.

That being said, the films that had no box office earnings whatsoever (i.e. the copious direct-to-streaming nominees this year) did far worse than expected at the 77th Golden Globes. Going into the night, Netflix had more film nominations than any other production company. Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” led the race with six nominations, trailed only by Scorsese’s “The Irishman” with five—both of which were Netflix originals.

It seemed as if the Globes was going to be a game-changing event for the streaming world as well as a defining moment for Netflix to rebrand itself as the “prestigious” streaming platform amongst the competition. Maybe just getting the nominations was enough for Netflix to earn this reputation. However, the company walked away with just one film award—Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress in “Marriage Story.” For all the hype that Netflix’s “The Irishman,” “Dolemite Is My Name,” and “The Two Popes” went in with, they all left empty handed.

Contrary to expectations, perhaps the Hollywood Foreign Press was not quite ready to hold direct-to-streaming titles in the same regards as traditional theatrical releases. Maybe the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will think otherwise, as they announce the Oscar nominees on January 13th—if nothing else, maybe they’ll at least select a host with a touch more compassion.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Entertainment, Movies, Tech

The Streaming Wars as the Decade Begins: Disney Up, Netflix Down, Apple Emerging, and HBO Max TBD

The Carnage and Consumer Choice Explosion has only just begun

2019 will go down in history as a game-changing year for television. It was the year that put the nail cable’s coffin as major networks and production companies turned over to the Internet, creating a streaming war between the various online platforms for consumers to watch content on.

The war unofficially began when the Walt Disney Company launched Disney+ on November 12th. In its first day, the service attained over 10 million subscribers. One month in, it had over 24 million, an unprecedented growth rate.

Much of Disney’s success has come at the expense of other streaming services, though. At just $7 a month, Disney+ is one of the less expensive streaming subscriptions on the market. Amazon Prime costs just under $10 a month and Netflix can cost up to $16 a month depending on the plan.

Since Disney+ launched, Netflix has lost 1.1 million subscribers. This is a 5.8% reduction in the company’s customer figures, and it is likely correlated to the fresh competition.

Netflix has tried to combat its rivals by focusing on their in-house productions and creating Oscar-savvy films. While the Academy picks are still yet to come, Netflix is already the most nominated production company for the 2020 Golden Globes. Their movies “The Irishman,” “Marriage Story,” “Dolemite Is My Name,” and “The Two Popes” were all nominated for best picture. “Marriage Story” and “The Irishman” even lead the race with six and five nominations respectively.

Many, however, believe that these prestigious projects are not enough to keep Netflix afloat in the long run. With the rise of Disney+, Netflix is losing all of its licensed-out Disney content, and its library will continue to dwindle as more studios create their own platforms. Perhaps the company’s recent deal with Viacom to produce new Nickelodeon content will help keep Netflix safe for a little while longer. After that, it might have to consider lowering the monthly cost, or even selling the data that it keeps so close to its chest.

Launch Announcement at Apple Special Event in 2019

Apple TV+ could be a Sleeper Hit with Upside Potential to Grow

One of the few streaming services that costs less than Disney+ right now is Apple TV+, another new kid on the block that launched on November 1st. Apple TV+ costs only $5 a month, and since its emergence it has garnered around 9 million subscribers. These figures seem small when standing next to Disney, but that 9 million may not account for all of the people who bought new Apple devices this year. As an extension of the tech company, Apple TV+ is included free-of-charge for one year on all new iPhones, iPads, Apple SmartTVs, or Mac computers.

Like Netflix, Apple TV+ is also making a big debut in the upcoming awards season. Its original series, “The Morning Show” already earned the company three Golden Globe nominations. This marks the first time that a streaming service has achieved recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in its inauguration year.

On the other end of the spectrum from Apple TV+’s affordable price is the forthcoming HBO Max, which AT&T’s WarnerMedia will launch in May 2020. HBO Max will cost a hefty $15 a month, and its release date has been pushed back multiple times since its announcement in 2018.

Thus, HBO Max has been a confusing and quiet underdog in the streaming war. Part of the confusion surrounding the future service is the fact that WarnerMedia already has two different premiere subscription services—HBO Go and HBO Now (not to mention the DC Universe streaming service also under Warner’s corporate umbrella).

Netflix Facing new competition from all sides

To put it plainly, HBO Max will combine HBO Go and HBO Now to offer both service’s entire libraries plus original shows, all the DC content, and additional intellectual properties from other TimeWarner networks such as TNT, TBS, CNN, and Cartoon Network. It will have all episodes of “Friends,” “South Park,” and “Game Of Thrones.” Oddly, it will not have Warner Brothers’ famed Harry Potter or Fantastic Beast films, as their streaming rights are still licensed out to Universal.

This consolidation of all TimeWarner content will be another hit against Netflix. Based on viewership, Netflix’s two most popular shows are “Friends” and “The Office,” and they will be losing both of them to HBO Max and NBC’s Peacock respectively.

These streaming services are the major players in the game, but they are not alone. Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo, CBS All-Access, fuboTV and others may not be as talked about, but they still have stakes in the streaming wars. Competition amongst the entertainment conglomerates in the cybersphere will undoubtedly continue into the new year, and it will likely come to redefine television in the approaching decade.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Entertainment, Movies

Golden Globes: Netflix Dominates and Apple TV+ makes Big Debut as Streaming still Shines

Photo / Adobe Stock

Streaming is now Fully Integrated into Hollywood Awards System…

After Netflix’s “Roma” earned ten nominations at last years Academy Awards and took home three Oscars, director Stephen Spielberg came out with some controversial statements about streaming content’s questionable eligibility for cinematic awards. Ever since the esteemed director made these comments, streaming services have become an increasingly divisive topic in the film industry—especially as most of them are transitioning towards creating more in-house productions.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), however, clearly does not see an issue in recognizing streaming platforms for creating excellent content. On December 9th, the HFPA released its nominations for the 77th Golden Globes and a number of the most picked out titles came from streaming companies.

In the Best Picture categories, Netflix reigned supreme, with its original movies adding up to four of the ten nominees. In the Musical/Comedy category, Craig Brewer’s “Dolemite Is My Name” received a nomination alongside “Jojo Rabbit,” “Knives Out,” “Rocketman,” and “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.” Meanwhile, in the Drama category, Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” and Fernando Meirelles “The Two Popes” were all nominated alongside “Joker” and “1917.”

Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” actually led the entire race with more nominations than any other title. It received six nominations including Best Drama Motion Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern), Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture (Adam Driver), Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture (Scarlett Johannson), and Best Original Score (Randy Newman).

The movie just narrowly beat out Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” which earned five nominations including Best Drama Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Steven Zaillian) and two for Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci and Al Pacino). Oddly enough, leading man Robert De Niro did not earn recognition for his performance in the film.

Regardless, both are Netflix titles, and with them leading the nominations by the numbers, it makes Netflix the most recognized production company in the runnings. Obviously, the streaming service’s newfound focus on producing prestigious content is paying off in a critical sense, and Spielberg’s comments have not slowed it down on the road to success.

Stars of “The Morning Show” from Apple TV+

New Kid on the Block Hits Pay-dirt on first Try

Meanwhile, Apple TV+ also received three nominations for its original series “The Morning Show”—one for Best Drama TV Series and two for Best Actress in a Drama Television Series (Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, both of whom are also executive producers on the show).

“The Morning Show” debuted just over a month ago on November 1st, the same day that Apple TV+ launched. While the new service may not be as popular as Disney+ or Amazon, it is the first streaming website to receive recognition from the HFPA in its first year online. This bodes well for the young platform’s future.

Other direct-to-streaming shows that received nominations this year include Hulu’s “Catch-22,” Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and Netflix’s “Unbelievable,” “The Crown,” “The Kominsky Method,” and “The Politician.” And that’s not including all of the individual actors, actresses, composers, and songwriters who also got nominated.

Clearly, streaming is dominating television nowadays, but if this year’s Golden Globes are any indication, it is also starting to leave a mark on film. This recognition is good news for both Apple and Netflix. With the recent oversaturation of options causing a streaming war within the entertainment market right now, awards will start to mean a lot more than they did in the past. Everything else aside, at least these two companies are not skimping on quality.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Entertainment, Movies

Disney+ & “The Mandalorian” Tops Netflix’s “Stranger Things” as America’s most In-Demand Streaming Series

“Baby Yoda” a.k.a. “The Child” – Photo / Disney

Streaming Wars heating up and Disney+ lets loose the First Salvo

Disney+ launched in early November, and it quickly became a major contender in the world of streaming. Achieving over 10 million subscribers within a single day, the Walt Disney Company’s new site entered the streaming war with a bang, immediately establishing itself as a fierce competitor with other services such as Amazon, Hulu, Apple TV+ and Netflix.

As of right now, Netflix still reigns supreme as the most popular streaming service out there. However, Disney+ recently got their first leg-up on the streaming frontrunner, as their original series “The Mandalorian” topped Netflix’s “Stranger Things” as the most in-demand series in America according to Parrot Analytics.

“Stranger Things” Season 3 came out this past July, and it swiftly broke records as the most highly-demanded direct-to-streaming show ever created. The show then held the number one spot for an astounding twenty-one weeks. After just three episodes, though, “The Mandalorian” reached 100 million demand expressions, besting Netflix’s record and leaving the cross-generational sci-fi bildungsroman “Stranger Things” in the dust.

“The Mandalorian” was one of the most highly anticipated shows of 2019 well before Disney+ launched. An original program for the streaming service, “The Mandalorian” is also the first live-action series to take place in the Star Wars universe.  It thus has a built in fan base as well as a talented cast and crew—including “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau as executive producer and “Game of Thrones” actor Pedro Pascal playing the titular bounty-hunter protagonist.

Baby Yoda is a Meme Factory already and may be Christmas Merch Hit

What is really leading the “The Mandalorian” to success, however, is the sensational “Baby Yoda” character, who debuted in the opening episode and has since become an integral part of the plot. The wide-eyed, adorable alien has ambiguous origins, but he looks like an infant version of the legendary Jedi Master Yoda, and he is effectively stealing the hearts of audiences everywhere.

Disney did not reveal “Baby Yoda”—actually called “The Child” on the show—until the series premiered. Since then, however, they company has begun capitalizing on his (or her?) cuteness with merchandize, making “The Mandalorian” an even bigger money-maker than it would otherwise be as just a high-demand subscriber magnet for Disney+.

Of course, having more “demand expressions” does not definitively mean that “The Mandalorian” is more popular than “Stranger Things.” Parrot Analytics estimates how highly demanded a show is using audience statistics as well as digital imprint data across multiple media platforms. Essentially, even though Netflix still has more subscribers to watch “Stranger Things” than Disney+ does for “The Mandalorian,” the latter is getting more buzz, appeal, and views altogether.

No Binge Watching as Episodes are Released in Sequence

Unlike Netflix series, which come out with entire seasons at once, “The Mandalorian” is getting released one chapter at a time. The first season will have eight episodes total with the last one premiering on December 27th—and season 2 has already been ordered. Furthermore, Disney+ has many additional original shows lined up for its future, including two more Star Wars series and three Marvel series. “The Mandalorian” is thus a strong starting point for Disney+ and a positive indicator that its subscribers will go up with the more original content it releases.

Netflix, however, is not out of the picture just yet. Although it will be losing a lot of its library as the streaming wars intensify, Netflix has been investing more in original productions lately. The service’s recent movies like “The Irishman,” “Marriage Story,” and “The Two Popes” have received lots of critical praise. Likewise, “The Crown” came out with Season 3 in early November, creating yet another increase in demand.

Lastly, Netflix already announced “Stranger Things” Season 4, which will likely come out in 2021. A lot could obviously take place between now and then, and there is no guarantee what will happen with Disney+, “The Mandalorian,” or the streaming wars in general before that comes out. Nevertheless, “Stranger Things” is bound to bring Netflix yet another spike in demand when it returns. Let’s just hope the service is still afloat at that time to make the most of it.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Entertainment, Movies

Netflix: Smell the Roses or Binge in Overdrive @1.5 Original Speed

Graphic Collage / Lynxotic

Netflix Ignores Creative Intention as they Scramble After gimmicky Innovation

Ever since Netflix got the world hooked on online streaming, the company has innovatively transformed how people consume both film and television. For a long time, it was also uncontested, seemingly secured as the premiere streaming service. However, with the launches of Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Apple+, and the streaming war that will ensue by the end of the year, Netflix will no longer be in the safe zone. 

To survive this oncoming competition, Netflix has been looking for ways to distinguish itself. It has done this partially by creating more original content and making a name for itself as a production company. At the same time, though, Netflix is also trying to get creative within its distinct medium.

Unlike Disney, WarnerMedia, or NBCUniversal, Netflix did not begin as a TV station or a film studio. It started as a DVD rental site and evolved into streaming to keep up with the digital age. Therefore, the company has always been seeking ways to use its online platform to its advantage—from offering multi-lingual subtitles, to recording new dubs, to implementing the choose-your-own adventure model in “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.”

1.5 Playback Speed Isn’t New, but for Movies? That’s Uncharted Territory with Good Reason

Almost all of these innovations have been embraced and accepted by viewers and filmmakers alike. However, Netflix’s next move in harnessing its digital medium may be taking things a step too far.  

Currently in the works, Netflix may soon give its users the option to view content at 1.5 the original speed. This means that they could watch an hour-long television episode in just forty-five minutes, or a two-hour movie in no more than ninety minutes. Everything would go by 50% faster. The company has already started testing this development on Android mobile devices, but has not yet declared when or if it will become available to all subscribers.   

Granted, consuming media and watching videos at non-standard speeds is not completely novel. YouTube has been allowing its patrons to adjust playback speeds for a while now. At the most severe, viewers can speed through content twice as fast or slog through videos at a mere quarter of the original pace. These options are also common on podcast sites, allowing listeners to hear material more efficiently.

However, there is a difference between watching a five-minute video on YouTube and watching a full-length movie on Netflix. The service’s extensive library contains the work of many esteemed filmmakers—its original content alone comes from the directorial likes of Steven Soderbergh, Alfonso Cuarón, Martin Scorsese, and even Orson Welles. It seems borderline blasphemous to consider rushing these masters’ works with improper haste.  

Film Playback Speed-up option Cheapens Work Extracted from Movie Industry Creators

Likewise, all of the content available on Netflix has a degree of artistic merit. There are screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, animators, editors, and many more people behind each of the titles. Film being a collaborative art-form, there are hundreds of names (and not to mention millions of dollars) attached to every project. Perhaps Netflix ought to honor all of the individuals who creatively and financially slaved over its material.

Ever since Netflix started creating more prestigious original work, it has been held to a new standard. Today, the company is a rather divisive topic amongst the Hollywood elite—Scorsese is obviously willing to work with it, while Spielberg openly dug into it following the 91st Academy Awards. This new 1.5 speed addition to the site, however, is unlikely to earn it any new friends in the filmmaking community. Judd Apatow and Brad Bird have already pushed back against the idea.

After all, a film’s timing is not a haphazard thing. Directors and editors take time and effort to create ideal pacing in a movie. When curated correctly, a movie’s tempo can be just as meaningful as its script. Imagine, for example, if Hitchcock’s camera ran through a house rather than crept through it, or if Kubrick’s painfully long takes were cut off too soon—we would all lose something.  

Watching content at 1.5 the speed is essentially watching content on fast-forward. While Netflix may be responsible for binge culture and slip-screen viewing, this latest idea of theirs may be pushing the envelope too severely. It jeopardizes filmic integrity and comes at the expense of so much creative effort. Netflix should certainly continue to think progressively and outside the box when it comes to entertainment, but meanwhile, it should also keep a toe in the waters of tradition and not forget the fundamental values of cinematic art upon which the company stands. 

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Business

Disney+ Vastly Exceeds its own Expectations, Achieving 10 Million Subscribers within First Day

Video
https://movietrailers.apple.com/movies/lucasfilm/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-trailer-2_h1080p.mov
Star Wars

Streaming Wars are adding Choices for Consumers

Nobody ever doubted that Disney+ would be a success. From the second that the streaming service was announced, almost everyone knew that the website—which offers nearly every film and TV show in the Walt Disney catalogue—would be an enormous step forward for the company.

When Disney+ finally arrived on Tuesday, however, it did not just meet expectations. It immediately surpassed them, surprising even its parent company in the process. 

Within twenty-four hours of the website’s launch, Disney+ reached over 10 million subscribers. This is a number that many did not expect Disney+ to reach for at least a year. To put it in perspective, Disney+ already has more subscribers than HBO Now, CBS All-Access, and Showtime… all reputable services that have been in existence for several years. Disney+ surpassed each of them in the course of a single day.

Of course, this is reason for the Walt Disney Company to celebrate. Even at the affordable price of $7 per month or $70 per year, Disney+ is bound to be a financial goldmine for the company. 

That being said, not all of the 10 million current subscribers are guaranteed customers. Disney+ offers new members a seven-day free trial, so we can assume that at least a few people will binge for a week and then drop the service once they have to pay. Likewise, Verizon has offered the service for free to some of its users, which could account for some of the people lumped into Disney’s hefty figure. 

Nevertheless, not even the higher-ups at Disney anticipated so many people to subscribe on day one. The website’s initial activity was so intense that it actually overwhelmed the service, leaving many users with Error pages and foreboding screens reading “Unable to Connect to Disney+” accompanied by Disney’s very own Wreck-It-Ralph. Over ten thousand reports of this took place on Tuesday, making many subscribers nervous. Luckily, Disney apologized for the inconvenience and swiftly adapted to the unexpectedly large number of patrons. 

The service has been running smoothly ever since, offering users everything that it advertised. With very few exceptions, the service has every piece of Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar content along with Disney classics, National Geographic shows, and several original programs, most notably “The Mandalorian,” which is the first ever live-action series to take place in the Star Wars universe. 

Baby Yoda / Photo / Disney

Do I sound like a Fan? Ok, sorry, you got me

And this is only the beginning! The service promises more originals including “WandaVision,” “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” and “What If…?” under the Marvel banner as well as two more Star Wars series: one focusing on Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi from the prequel trilogy and another one focusing on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor from “Rogue One.” This is not even to mention all of the original movies, animated content, and pre-released Disney titles that are yet to make their way onto the service. Clearly, the current 10 million subscribers are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

The only ones not celebrating Disney+ right now may be its streaming competitors. While Netflix responded to the Disney’s success with optimism, looking forward to improving their own brand with original content, Amazon, CBS, and other companies of the sort are probably shaking. Likewise, we can imagine that WarnerMedia, Apple, and NBCUniversal, each of whom are about to launch their own streaming services, are sitting on the edges of their seats, fearfully glaring at Disney’s instant accomplishment.

The streaming wars have begun. Many more armies are yet to arrive on the battlefield, but Disney+ has certainly made its presence known. Not even a week into its life, it is striding into combat with confidence, power, and a militia of 10 million soldiers, joyfully armed with a vast inventory of intellectual property that is far from tapped out.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Entertainment, Movies, Tech

Netflix Aiming for Prestige to Combat Debt as Streaming War Brings Extreme Competition

Can this Digital GrandDaddy Stay Relevant as Disney+, Apple TV+ and more enter the Fray?

For years, Netflix has been pointed to as the premiere streaming service and the foremost company responsible for popularizing watching content online instead of on a television or movie screen. It has earned a spot alongside Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google as one of the most influential companies in the world of 21st century technology and entertainment—being the N in the notorious acronym FAANG. 

Recently, however, Netflix has been hitting some hard times. Its debt has been steadily increasing for a while and fewer companies are renewing their contracts with it, thus limiting the breadth of its library. Likewise, the launches of Disney+, HBO Max, NBCUniversal’s Peacock, and Apple+ are creeping closer and closer. When these new streaming services become available, their parent companies will stop licensing content to Netflix, and they will bring about unprecedented competition.

While Netflix has slowly been increasing its amount of original content over the years, its most popular offerings remain properties from outside sources. As it has been for a couple years now, the two most watched programs on Netflix are “The Office” and “Friends.” In fact, one has to go pretty far down the list before finding a Netflix original among company’s most popular shows.

Once the streaming war begins, though, Netflix will lose many of these licensed-out titles. Originally airing on NBC, “The Office” will be available exclusively on Peacock. Likewise, being a Warner Brother’s television production, “Friends” will find its new streaming home on HBO Max. Netflix will thus be in a pickle, as they will have fewer titles in their libraries and fewer active deals with pre-established studios and networks.

Nevertheless, Netflix is responding to the impending streaming war with surprising optimism. The company’s CEO, Reed Hastings has expressed feelings of confidence, explaining how the increased competition will force Netflix to be creative and improve its model.

Content is, once again, Key in a Competitive Market

Creativity will be the key to success in the streaming war, as original content will largely determine which platforms outlast the others. Netflix has certainly been upping its original content game throughout 2018 and 2019. On the series side, season three of “Stranger Things” broke records for the company, and the innovative “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” introduced the choose-your-own-adventure model to television and garnered a Primetime Emmy win in the process.

Likewise, ever since Alfonso Cuaron’s 2018 Netflix original film “Roma” earned several Oscar nominations—including wins for best director and best foreign film, and a nomination for best picture—Netflix has been seen as a far more legitimate production company, worthy of immense talent and prestigious content. To an extent, Netflix has ran with this new reputation in 2019, creating Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat” starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, and Antonio Banderas, as well as Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.

It is a bold strategy for Netflix, but it seems like the company is going for prestige as its new brand. When the streaming war takes place, one of the things Disney, Warner Brothers, and NBC have that Netflix currently lacks is an identifiable brand-type. For the majority of streaming history, a subscription to a service simply meant that you were paying for a smorgasbord of content that could range all different genres and cater to diverse tastes. Now that streaming services and production companies are merging into one entity, subscribing becomes a far more divisive strategy based on brand recognition.

In order for Netflix to remain afloat, they will need to sell themselves as offering something not available anywhere else. For years creative and business-minded people have scratched their heads trying to figure out what kind of content Netflix desires. Perhaps this prestigious trend brings us closer to an answer.

Nevertheless, Netflix has also employed a couple other strategies to keep itself moving through 2019. It has dug into some preexisting intellectual properties and expanded upon them. Recently, it re-capitalized on “Breaking Bad” with Vince Gilligan’s “El Camino” taking place in the same universe as the show. Meanwhile, it also exploited 1990s nostalgia by producing original movies based off of old Nickelodeon cartoon shows “Rocko’s Modern Life” and “Invader Zim.”

Therefore, Netflix’s playbook remains mysterious. Unlike other web-based companies of its caliber, Netflix keeps its data private. So while there are guesses and estimates about trends in Netflix’s model, it is quite possible that the company has a few unseen tricks still hidden up its sleeve. Only time will tell if Netflix will find a way to keep up with the competition, or if the service will go down as an immensely influential, yet tragically short-lived blip in entertainment history.

Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org

Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and subscribe to our newsletter.

Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.