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William Gibson on Movies, Music, Media
automatic_jack writes "William Gibson gave a talk at the Directors' Guild of America's Digital Day last week. The text of it is up in his 'blog, and in it he says some intriguing things about the nature of the entertainment and media industries. There's a bit of a surprise conclusion at the end!"
Thats funny since the Bible was never enscribed in stone, at least typically (i.e. it was never the standard form of enscription). Neither was the Torah/Old Testament. Both were originally scribed on fabrics/papers.
Since you mention centuries, you obviously missed Gibson's reference to the fact that "books" have only existed as they do today since the Printing Press was invented by Guttenberg. This of course occured in 1436. Prior to that, books were hand-duplicated by religious scribes, and so their content was almost entirely unrelated to modern books due to their intense cost and limited audience. The post-moving-type book is dramatically different: the ability of the hoi-paloi to both read and write but also to own their own copies of text meant massive changes in content and style.
THAT, is the "centuries" Gibson is talking about.
"Stumble before you crawl"
You mean vellum, not parchment. Even then it's only partly true. The first copies of the New Testament, for example (certainly the oldest fragments that we have), were probably written on papyrus, which while not paper as we know it today, is close enough.
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Do you really think that if films came out at the same time on DVD as on the screen that many people would still go to the theater?
Yes. You'd certainly lose some and it would also depend on the type of movie, but many people would continue to go to the theatre. You'd probably even add others who have seen it on the small screen and now want to experience the big show. The net might be lower, but many people would still go.
Most of the people I know who regularly go to the movies treat it as a social event with their friends or families, usually deciding to go out even before picking which movie they are going to see. Another good case is the latest Matrix movie. Most of the people I know who waited in line to see it on opening were also the very same people who regularly download most of the films they watch at home. For them, the DVD and the film were released on the essentially same day but they were the ones that helped make it such a success on opening day.
On the other hand, there are some who actually prefer watching certain movies on the smaller screen. But very often these are the lower budget, lower effect type movies that don't need the same level of box office to be successful. In the future, production technology will improve to further reduce the costs for many of these movies so that this category might even include some homemade films. So some of the best movies might be produced by near amateurs who don't need or use the Hollywood distribution channels, but I expect that the more expensive and visually oriented films will always find a strong market in the movie houses to make their investments worthwhile even if they can't make anything in the home market anymore.
My next sig will be ready soon, but friends can beat the rush!
Try reading this piece. I think the composition date would be the answer to your question. It's really damn good.
I gave up modding the thread to say that.
Read jack phelps dot net
I think theatre going is changing and the theatres know it and are changing to accomodate. I'm certainly more inclined to wait for most movies to come out on DVD and see less at the theatre because of it. I'm sure the average (rather than avid) filmgoer is the same. On the other hand when I do go to the cinema it is usually for a special movie and I'm happy to pay twice the price for a gold class seat and buy a couple of glasses of wine while I'm at it.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Which isn't neccesarily true: iirc, 2001 was a bust at the box office. Only years later was it recognised as a real masterpiece.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
I would care to wager that the amount of good movies made outside hollywood is probably about equivalent to the movies made in hollywood. Especially if you discount the foreign movies (the ring, 7 samuri, etc) that hollywood just remakes.
Just off the top of my head I'm going list movies that have come out in the last 5 years from overseas that I think were equal to or better than anything in hollywood: Run Lola Run, The Princess and the Warrior, Amelie, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Y tu mamá también, The Devil's Backbone, Hero, Infernal Affairs, Talk to Her, Spirited Away, The Pianist, Ringu, Rabbit Proof Fence, City of God. I'm sure I could name more if I actually thought about it.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.