Tag Archives: Steven Spielberg

Books

The Best Alien, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) and UFO Books

Curious about aliens encounters, extraterrestrial life and UFO sightings?  Us humans have and continue to search for answers on that big question.  And it seems like the more we uncover about our vast universe, the more questions and less we actually know.  

Read More: Aliens and “Galactic Federation” reported on by Major News Outlets as if ‘Real’

 Life beyond Earth has held a long been an interest and have made a resurgence in news. Including mysterious monoliths appears in different parts of the world.  Even reports from a former Israeli space program claiming an existing government alliance between aliens (via the Galactic Federation) with humans. 

Chariots of the Gods: 50th Anniversary Edition

Click to see “Chariots of the Gods”
and help bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

AS SEEN ON ANCIENT ALIENS’ “THE ALIEN PHENOMENON” Now in a beautiful 50th anniversary edition with a new foreword and afterword by the author, this is the groundbreaking classic that introduced the theory that ancient Earth established contact with aliens.

Immediately recognized as a work of monumental importance, Chariots of the Godsendures as proof that Earth has been visited repeatedly by advanced aliens from other worlds. Here, Erich von Däniken examines ancient ruins, lost cities, spaceports, and a myriad of hard scientific facts that point to extraterrestrial intervention in human history. Most incredible of all, however, is von Däniken’s theory that we are the descendants of these galactic pioneers–and he reveals the archaeological discoveries that prove it… An alien astronaut preserved in a pyramid
* Thousand-year-old spaceflight navigation charts
* Computer astronomy from Incan and Egyptian ruins
* A map of the land beneath the ice cap of Antarctica
* A giant spaceport discovered in the Andes
Includes remarkable photos that document mankind’s first contact with aliens at the dawn of civilization

Gateway

Click to see “Gateway”
and help independent bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

WINNER OF THE HUGO AND NEBULA AWARDS – Frederik Pohl stands shoulder to shoulder with Philip K. Dick, Larry Niven, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury as one of the brilliant vision-aries in the science fiction stratosphere. Gateway is a modern masterpiece that defines–and transcends–its genre.

Seeded among the stars are troves of valuable artifactsleft behind by the enigmatic, long-vanished alien racecalled the Heechee. For the right price, anyone can climb aboard one of the abandoned Heechee spaceships, castoff on an autopilot voyage to parts unknown, and takea chance on finding wealth . . . or facing death.

Robinette Broadhead took that chance and walked awaya winner. But at what cost? Despite living a millionaire’s life of material luxury, he’s haunted by crippling despair–and the dark secrets buried deep in his psyche. With the help of his computerized psychiatrist, the truth about whathappened “out there” could set Broadhead free. But only after a personal journey more terrifying and, ultimately, more devastating than his last fateful trip into space. Click to see “Gateway” and help independent bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

The Left Hand of Darkness: 50th Anniversary Edition

Click to see “The Left Hand of Darkness”
and help bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION–WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY DAVID MITCHELL AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY CHARLIE JANE ANDERS Ursula K. Le Guin’s groundbreaking work of science fiction–winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards. A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants’ gender is fluid.

His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters… Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction. Click to see “The Left Hand of Darkness” and help bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record

Click to see “UFOs”
and help independent bookstores.
Also available on Amazon.

Leslie Kean, a veteran investigative reporter who has spent the past ten years studying the still-unexplained UFO phenomenon, reviewed hundreds of government documents, aviation reports, radar data, and case studies with corroborating physical evidence. She interviewed dozens of high-level officials and aviation witnesses from around the world.

Among them, five Air Force generals and a host of high-level sources–including Fife Symington III, former governor of Arizona, and Nick Pope, former head of the British Defence Ministry’s UFO Investigative Unit–have written their own breathtaking, firsthand accounts about UFO encounters and investigations exclusively for this book. With the support of former White House chief of staff John Podesta, Kean lifts the veil on decades of U.S. government misinformation about this mysterious phenomenon and presents irrefutable evidence that unknown flying objects–metallic, luminous, and seemingly able to maneuver in ways that defy the laws of physics–actually exist. Click to see “UFOs” and help independent bookstores. Also available on Amazon.

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Entertainment, Tech

Quibi Embraces Smallest Screens and Biggest Talent in New Mobile Streaming Service from Jeffrey Katzenberg

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Aging Mogul and CEO Eye Disruption with Innovative Mobile Platform

In a market apparently oversaturated with online video streaming platforms, it may seem like an inopportune time to start up a brand new service for audiences to consume content on their personal screens. This outlook, however, has not stopped Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, two aging entertainment tycoons, in raising over a billion dollars to fund their novel mobile streaming project, Quibi.

Katzenberg and Whitman is, on paper, a corporate match made is heaven. Katzenberg was the chief of Walt Disney Studios during its 1990s animation renaissance and then went on to create DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. Whitman, meanwhile, was a tech mogul, formerly serving as CEO of eBay and Hewlett-Packard. Both in their sixties, these two veteran experts in their respective industries have recently combined their knowledge to launch Quibi—an upcoming streaming service made for the smallest of screens. Namely, mobile devices.

Of course, watching content on a smartphone or tablet is nothing new. Almost every streaming service has a mobile app, and YouTube alone has a seemingly endless amount of free content for viewers to watch wherever is convenient. Nevertheless, while most of these platforms hold true to the philosophy that the bigger-the-screen-the-better, Quibi embraces the small, personalized screen format exclusively, working it into their very production model.

https://video-lynxotic.akamaized.net/Quibi-Demo.mov

Can “Turnstyle” Take Off along with 10 min “Quick Bites”?

Quibi is incorporating new technologies and resources to make their content highly personalized and appropriate for smartphone screens. Perhaps the company’s most innovative initiative is its “Turnstyle” format, whereby all content is made for both vertical and horizontal screens.

Unlike most mobile videos that are best watched horizontally, Quibi content will adjust for the phone’s orientation. Thus, there is no optimal way to watch Quibi; viewers can do so however they deem comfortable and switch back and forth in a seamless fashion.

Furthermore, Quibi has factored in the short attention spans of young audiences using mobile devices. Realizing that most mobile viewers seek quick bursts of information or entertainment, Quibi aims to keep its shows between seven and ten minutes long, providing episodic gusts of action often ending on cliffhangers. Moreover, the company is also looking to expand its daily video programming, whereby new content comes out each day.

While this high-turnover temporal model may appear as a mere means of reducing costs for the up-and-coming Quibi, Katzenberg and Whitman are far from pinching pennies for the service. Estimates claim that Quibi will pay its creators up to $125,000 for every minute of scripted and unscripted content, and around $10,000 for the daily programming. This is a bold, yet consciences effort to ensure quality, thus helping Quibi stand out amongst the competition and justify its subscription cost—$4.99 a month with ads, or $7.99 without ads.

The prospect of quality content on Quibi is further confirmed by the copious prestigious names already attached to the service. As aforementioned, Katzenberg and Whitman are far from beginners in the industry, and they have long lists of professional connections. Hence, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo Del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Sam Raimi, Anna Kendrick, Kevin Hart, Jennifer Lopez and Zac Efron amongst other A-list names have already committed to Quibi.

Likewise, the company already has investment deals with some of the biggest studios in Hollywood including Disney and Warner Brothers, and will have content connected to ESPN, NBC News, and BBC.

Quibi’s exhaustive and impressive list of attached talent is made possible in no small part thanks to Katzenberg and Whitman’s networking prowess. However, the company is also incentivizing its creative minds with unprecedented terrain to explore on.

Additionally, Quibi promises its talent the right to retain ownership, after a specified interval, over creations. That way, no projects or characters are eternally bound to Quibi—directors can take their ideas to new platforms if need be and can keep all merchandizing and marketing rights to themselves. In a world where syndication dominates the entertainment industry, this is a very rare and appealing offer.

”Too Rich to Fail” Motto seems Apt, and Resonates with with Big Name Talent

Some of the shows on Quibi are already well into production or even post-production. Sam Raimi is working on an anthology series titled “Fifty States of Fright,” where he will be going back to his early horror roots as a filmmaker. Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh is directing a suspenseful series called “Wireless” for the platform.

The projects that have garnered the most buzz, however, include a documentary series on DC and Marvel Comics spearheaded by “Avengers: Endgame” directors Joe and Anthony Russo, as well as a revived continuation of the hit Comedy Central show “Reno 911!” Projects from Spielberg and Del Toro are yet to be fleshed out, but the two filmmakers’ unparalleled reputations are likely to bring Quibi even more interest.

In short, the industry is certainly on board with Quibi. The real question now is whether or not consumers will be into it. With so much free content to scroll through on one’s phone, many viewers might not see adequate reason to pay a monthly fee for particular shows—especially when they are already paying for Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other services.

Quibi is certainly showing creativity in their use of the mobile platform and they definitely have a lot of promising talent in their corner. Nevertheless, some might deem Quibi’s mobile innovations as excessive gimmicks, and their talent as impressive, but not quite alluring enough of an end to justify the means.

A lot of skepticism existis that this entirely new format, in terms of show length, cost and price as well as the somewhat wacky “turnstyle” tech has a chance to become established. In some ways it is similar to Apple TV+ in the sense that the massive cash hoard backing each service (Quibi at least $1.4 Billion, Apple TV+ $6 Billion+) will ensure that, regardless of how long it takes to become popular with the public, in the end they are “too rich to fail”.

We won’t really know until April 6th, when Quibi officially launches and enters into the streaming war as a tactical and unpredictable underdog.

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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Tech

Apple TV+ – Preview Clips and All That’s Been Revealed So Far about the Upcoming Launch

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https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/c5a05301_ed18_47f6_a7f8_bba47bf3e0f4/films/sneak-peek/apple-tv-plus-sneak-peek-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080h.mp4

Secretive Media Giant about to Awaken?

Although it’s been quietly hovering in the shadows since WWDC in May, Apple TV+ is about to explode onto the scene very soon, it would appear. As can be seen in the various teasers we’ve assembled here – big, nay, huge names and stars are onboard.

What’s not so well known, is that there are many, many productions already in the pipeline, presumably to be released over the next year. How many? Already outlined in available information are over 30 original series or features that are at various stages of production.

Here are just a few headline titles:

  • Amazing Stories (Spielberg revisits classic series from his childhood)
  • The Morning Show (see above, all star cast: Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell and Billy Crudup)
  • See (directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2), production budget rumored at $15 million per episode)
  • Little America (topical series of human stories that feature immigrants)
  • Helpsters (An educational entertainment series aimed at pre-schoolers)
  • Little Voice (J.J. Abrams executive produced comedy/drama series)
  • Truth Be Told (10-episode series based on the bestselling book: Are You Sleeping: A Novel)
  • Servant (produced by M. Night Shyamalan, 10 episode drama series)
  • Dickinson (comedy series about the early life of Emily Dickinson)
https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/ca7883f2_885a_42c7_b0cc_529b287c1925/films/morning-show/apple-tv-plus-morning-show-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080h.mp4
Preview Trailer for “The MOrning Show”, Starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (Apple)

The service will be available in over 100 countries world wide, and the production war chest is rumored to be upwards of Six Billion Dollars.

The size and scope of this “hobby” project, as Steve Job’s once called the Apple TV device, is far larger, from all indications, than the somewhat underwhelming reactions from the press would have one believe.

“There’s truth pumping through your veins and into the story that you’re telling”

– Jennifer Aniston

Although there has not been much noise or hoopla yet, there are many indications that this could be a sleeping giant. Not necessarily an overnight success, but a long grinding campaign that will eventually reach higher and further than anyone is imagining at present.

https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/c5a05301_ed18_47f6_a7f8_bba47bf3e0f4/films/creative-minds/apple-tv-plus-creative-minds-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080l.mp4

The Evolution of an Ecosystem, Decades in the Making

Sharing the “plus” with its smaller sister Apple News +, it looks like the plus designation will mark the first foundational bricks of a possible future media empire, while in hardware everything “pro” begins to emerge.

Current rumors indicate that a new “pro” model iPhone is imminent to go along with the already established iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, iMac Pro and newly updated Mac Pro.

It would stand to reason, therefore, that, in the very near future, the “gang of Pro” will meet up with the Plus sisters, and a new extended services based media, software expansion will unite with the upper echelon hardware empire, and, if successful, will reveal a truly balanced spectrum of offerings.

“A story should make you forget your surroundings, forget your agenda, your day and, hopefully, makes you forget yourself”

– Steven Spielberg

And for a company that invented desktop publishing, pushed digital music transmission and photography into the mainstream, not to mention, put the smart into smartphone, there is an unavoidable logic and symmetry that is emerging. As Apple increases its focus on service income, original entertainment and educational production a balance across all sectors begins to take shape.

Naturally, coming “late” on the heels of the extremely successful growth of Netflix Original productions, Amazon, HBO, Hulu and now Disney’s Streaming Service, many will say that Apple is behind the curve and not likely to dominate.

Now, it would be wrong to mention Nokia, Blackberry, or Steve Ballmer, and say that Apple is not a company that you’d be wise to underestimate, but, after all, coming “late” with a significantly better product is what Apple does best.

“Life often makes no sense. There is something about stories, that brings a sense of order and purpose to the world and allows us to live other lives than the life we’re living”

– J.J. Abrams

The hardware, software, media content production and distribution networks are, over a period of decades, evolving into the only ecosystem that has a benign, if not heroic purpose in it’s relationships with its user base as well as its professional partnerships.

Constant complaints that Apple earns too much money or somehow takes advantage of customers often have a hollow ring. When you look at the innovative accomplishments and world changing technology created, and compare that to empty, corrupt almost meaningless advertising empires such as FaceBook or Google, somehow it seems a different level of trust has been earned.

Yes, in a sense Apple is following the lead of other tech behemoths that have upended the Hollywood Power structure, but, at the same time, one gets the sense that the slow, deliberate moves can be traced all the way back to Steve Jobs, his days at Pixar and that, somehow, his superior vision guides the entire evolution, even the new “plus” wing, of the ecosystem to this very day.

https://www.apple.com/105/media/us/apple-tv-plus/2019/c5a05301_ed18_47f6_a7f8_bba47bf3e0f4/films/o/apple-tv-plus-o-tpl-cc-us-2019_1920x1080l.mp4

In then end, the broad array of product and service offerings that Apple is building, now being expanded into the realm of not just entertainment and educational distribution (as iTunes has had in place since 2001), but also into the production and financing of original programming, marks the beginning of a more complete and potentially better functioning ecosystem.

Overall, this is extremely positive, not only for Apple’s financial health but, indeed, for the vast legion of Apple adherents around the globe.

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