I wanted my presentation to be most oral because I feel like to get my point across I want to explain it not have my audience read it. I wanted the theme to be a movie theater because the whole point of my application is movie previews and I figured that a faded black and white movie theater where I put my pictures on the screen would convey my point. I wanted to explain my widget with a few examples of why it is so convenient and easy to use. By explaining the three main ways to see movie previews and why they are not convenient. Commercials on TV, Movie theaters when you are going to see a movie and the internet which has about a million sites you can see previews from.

I tried to explain the widget in detail so that my audience could see every aspect of it and they wouldn’t be confused at all. I also wanted to talk about the apple website because it has the information laid out and it’s easy to use. I couldn’t put too much time into that part of my presentation because the focus needed to be on the widget but the site is very cool as well.

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My widget is pretty cool! You can check it out on apple’s website and its right there on your right, movie previews. If you are a Mac user you already have this application though you may not know. Its on your dashboard but it doesn’t come on the page its in the home page part. If you hit you dashboard at the bottom is a little plus sign and if you click that a list pops up underneath. On that list there is a movie option and you just drag that icon onto your dashboard and a little window will pop up displaying movie posters.

What you can do (and what I like to do) is watch it on my dashboard going through the movie posters. It literally has every movie that is out in theaters whether it is arthouse or mainstream and thats what I like most about it. You don’t have to search anywhere for a list of certain movies. It has them all for you right there in a little tiny box. When you double click the poster a box opens up.

Then you can search by movie and see what theater is is playing in around your area. Then by clicking on the theater you plan to go to, it gives you a list of the times that movie is available. Its like Mr. Movie Phone on your dashboard. It also gives you the option of searching up through the week to see if a movie is going to be released later on in the week. Then below it gives you the run time, release date, cast, genre and plot synopsis. The it gives you the option to buy tickets or watch the preview. The ticket purchase is through fandango and it only works on certain movies so I don’t utilize that aspect of the widget as much as the preview watching. By clicking on the preview icon you can  watch the preview right there. It doesn’t direct you to another page but brings in the clip from the internet. It is good quality and so easy to use and really fun to watch.

It also gives you the option of finding movies by theaters. If you click the  icon on the bottom then it allows you to put in your city, state and zip to find a theater near you. You can also find movies by date. It goes up to a week to let you see what’s going to be released.

Then if you want to put some time into it, you can go to apples site and look at their section because they have all the movies out there in a list so you can look at them all at once. Basically this widget is very simple, convenient and fun to watch.

Well in my previous post you will find all the major scoop on my widget. Basically you need to be a Mac user to access this widget. The good news is you don’t need to find it off their website because all Macs since I believe fall ’07 have them already installed on their dashboard.

This is very useful because a lot of people in the entertainment industry use macs because of their convenience and quickness. This widget just allows anyone industry related to see all films that are coming out, their previews and where they are playing.

The best part about this is it benefits almost everyone. I’m sure everybody sees at least one movie every year and this just makes looking much easier. It also allows you to look at future releases by date for up to a week.

    Well, I found a few killer apps and I can’t decided between them which I think its most efficient for my industry. There was one about counting how many hours you’re on set with pay roll so that may be quick and easy for accountants in the industry. For me, I use my dashboard on my Mac computer. I honestly didn’t even know these were applications until I was informed by a very smart professor that they were in fact apps! I have four industry related widgets on my dashboard: 1. I have a small rectangle that flashes through the movies that are playing in theaters. I like this because it reminds me what movies I want to go see and its the movie poster so I don’t have to read through which films are playing. Its eye catching and  fun to watch scan through all the movies. 2. I have top box-office list, which displays the 5 highest money makers of the week 3. I have top movie headlines, this is also an RSS feed so it’s not really considered an app and 4. I have IMDB short cut.  I look up actors/directors etc on IMDB everyday so its easy to just hit my dashboard botton and type in the name and it cuts quickly to the page I want to see.

When I went through my pageflake looking for a topic to write about, I realized that things that effect the entertainment industry are constant. Blockbusters, movie deals, actors personal lives etc. is an everyday thing for this fast paced world. Rarely do you find one major event that effects the entire industry that this happening is being talked about all over and for a long period of time. Since the writers strike is over and the threatening SAG strike will most likely not happen in the near future, what better to write about then whats causing this lack of priority! The speed of the media and how its effecting culture and the industry.

As I started looking up articles, I realized that the majority (and I mean the MAJORITY) of them took a negative angle when talking about the new innovative media. A lot of journalist (who are the ones writing the articles) feel like their job is on the line and their industry is about to be reinvented. Because people can get their news almost as quickly as its written, it takes something nationally effecting to get all attention on one item. Yesterdays news is most definitely yesterdays news. An event or person will out do the scandalous/intriguing event of the previous day causing that to be forgotten. As readers, we have become desensitized to a lot of serious issues. Bombings, high school shootings, robberies, political scandals all seem to just continuously happen therefore making us say “surprise surprise….another shooting.” Its actually awful if you think about it!

Anyway, my point is that these new innovations or convergences are effecting the media in terms of journalism and information transference. Whether it’s good or bad (most journalist would argue its bad but there are some arguments in positive light) it is effecting society.

Many articles I have read have all argued that there has now become two eras of media; the old media and the new media (or as some say intrusive innovations) and the question still hangs if the old will die out completely. Now by old media were talking about newspapers mostly and magazines maybe even broadcasts. The new media is the web and all things that fall under like blogging, chat rooms, URLs, RSS feeds etc.

In Chip Browns article “State of the American Newspaper, FEAR.com” he talks about even the younger people who have semi-new media jobs like site designers and on-line producers that wouldn’t have been related to the newspaper industry before were talking about how they think their method is old fashioned and will soon be washed out by newer and more innovative ideas. He says that the paper has a fear of innovating and trying new things because its whole idea is that people want to sit down and read information for themselves. He also argues that a newspaper is very one sided on its angles of stories. The web, however, is full of many opinions and ideas on topics and therefore makes it more interesting for people to read. He also notes that the New York Times found out that only HALF of the 3 million users that visit their page for news have ever read their newspaper. People are just finding out it’s easier and more convenient to get news elsewhere.

By getting our information on the web, we are able to cut through the stuff we don’t want to hear/see. We can get straight to the point with certain clips and articles. Broadcast stations were smart in adding clips to their website but, this also takes away from TV viewers. It seems this battle will always be hurting one medium of information.

A lot of people argue that their jobs are in jeopardy! Not only because it takes less people to run a website then a newspaper but because the industry is calling for younger and fresher writers who are up-to-date in interesting topics and lingo. Since our generation has grown up with the Internet, we are better at using it and are used to a fast paced environment. This concerns a lot of industry writers who are new at the web and are slower to pick things up. Chances are that they will get replaced by a younger technology raised person.

This industry has turned into such a consumer prioritized world, they have started referring to their readers as their audience, showing how even the notions of taking in the news has changed. We as audience members need to be entertained with flashy, stylized stimulation. Why sit down to read when you can watch the story on TV?

    Well folks….I’m not going to lie, pageflakes is quite convenient. I honestly didn’t think much good would come of it because I usually just use my widgets on my mac or go to specific sites to find out information regarding the film industry. I have been using pageflakes to get all my information at once and although sometimes it’s a little much (since I have like 14 sites telling me the same thing) I get all my information there. It is like a one-stop-shop.

Also the games on there are really fun!

Let’s talk about me….haha…but really

Lets talk about Pageflakes.…. it’s sort of an interesting name for a website. I don’t know about you but it reminds me of snowflakes (when I first hear it). The little goodies you can add to your page are sort of like little snowflakes placed all over your page with quick access to your favorite or most used sites. Here is a little look at my pageflake:My

RSS Feeds:

Well naturally, most of my RSS feeds are going to be about movies and such. My first RSS feed is Hollywood.com. This site is more tabloid-y then preferred, but it still gives me the most pertinent information of the day (or hour depending on when you check it out)

My second RSS feed is the Underground Online. This site is more closely linked to information I write about on my movie blah-blah-blog. Since it’s in the title, this site posts mostly on current films (good and bad) and actors.

My Third RSS feed is My Movie Blog. This site is almost all about previews for upcoming films. It also posts about reviews for already released films. The thing that intrigued me about this site, is it have a lot of movie trailers. I know you can see trailers all over the web these days but this site has the newest and most highly anticipated film trailers making them easy to find and accessible.

Another RSS feed I use is apple.com’s latest movie trailers. It’s very similar to MyMovieBlog but it’s more elaborate and has more detail for specific movies then does the other. It is also sponsored by a giant corporation rather then the average viewer so it takes away a lot of the truth and tries to sell films.

Ain’t It Cool News is a lot of interesting information dealing with the media. It is not just about film but also about television.

Lastly, The Movie Blog (which I profiled earlier) is similar to all previously mentioned RSS feeds. It has a lot of information that is probably not mentioned in other sites. Because, it has so much popularity, it can talk about the underdog films that other sites use to pull in readers.

My Active Searches:

I have Wikipedia on my pageflake because, lets be honest, who doesn’t use wiki for a quick check up on lost information.
I also have sites that don’t relate to my blog but I find interesting and like to keep up with. CBS Sport Scores is one of them, containing the latest and current game information. This is super convenient because I don’t have to open another tab to check up on my teams but merely overt my eyes towards my pageflake!!
I also have a sudoku flake for when I get overwhelmed from all this information and just want to take a break and look at something besides film.

My Zotero Bibliography

Right now I only have two books in my Zotero flake because I don’t need to do research immediately (this will be changing in the upcoming weeks because I have two film related papers due as finals). It’s really nifty to have around when trying to be organized.

My Diigo bookmarks

Go old Diigo is always popping up everywhere. Of course it would be connected to pageflake. It just adds all my links from diigo to my pageflake so I can access them even more easily.

I also have movie show times to check up on films I want to see. Pageflake is like having a dashboard (for all you MAC users) and just makes the web easier to use and more organized. I also have a Universal News Search, which lets me look up general movie news (most of which I find in my RSS feeds, but once in awhile will have something new) Same goes with my Universal Blog Search, just more specific to blogs. There is only so much movie news one can find because a lot of sites have the same information. Pageflake allows me to access all these sites in one quick easy click of my mouse.

The Movie Blog Annotated

tags: no_tag

Apparently, Larry the Cable Guy’s newest film “WITless Protection” is a no go. People and critics who have seen have only bad things to say. Film School Rejects
have a seemingly accurate review of what most are saying. On MovieBlog , the author of the post ranks “WITless Protection” UNDERNEATH Paris Hilton’s film “The Hottie and the Nottie” (Which I have never even heard of)

“The Hottie and the Nottie”

The film was beyond bad, and for only the 3rd time in my limited career I gave a movie a 0 our of 10.

• Only three movies ever?? I could think of five right now that should never have been made. This kind of takes away his credibility. – post by hpncb9

This movie smells like 7 different flavors of shit downwind from a tire fire in August.

• HAHA this is a funny comment. You can read his personality here. – post by hpncb9

Our buddy Michael over at MoviesOnline gives us this:

• I like he sources other movie sites – post by hpncb9

In a world where Meet The Spartans comes in at #1 at the box office, anything is possibl

• This is so true! People will spend money going to a theater just to see how bad a movie is! That makes no sense to me. Why wouldn’t you want to see a movie that is getting great reviews and looks like it has some cinematic quality to it? – post by hpncb9

Well, this is a tough one.  I am just going to get straight to the point: I was bored. There was no anticipation for me as to see if someone specific won. I have only seen “Atonement”, “Juno”, “Sweeny Todd” and I think thats it for the big movies.  I hear “No Country” and “There Will Be Blood” are really good so maybe I am not the best person to hear opinions from.

I was upset that Saoirse Ronan didn’t win for best supporting. I don’t know who of you saw “Atonement” but she basically held the movie for the first hour or so. She was phenomenal! I saw it at a special premiere and the director was there. He told us that she just blew him away and that although he can’t pronounce her name very well, she is going to be turning heads in the next few years after this performance.

I like how they did the past winners and re-caped the old moments, it was pretty touching. Besides that, I didn’t think there was anything TOO memorable about the whole event.  I just felt that like a day-old-seven-up, it was just flat.

     What’s new with me? Well since you asked I was j.ust contemplating how I never get to see movies in the theater anymore. It makes me sad Last time I tried to get out there to the Grove to see the widely talked about “Step Up 2,” it was sold out. I think the LA traffic is a major factor in my absence of theater in my life. To drive to the nearest theater usually takes about 20-30 minutes. Not that I am super busy but its hard to factor that each way plus the time of the film itself. Netflix has been a good substitution for me lately but I am getting off subject….

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(Good article at Movies.com)

Word on the street is that Lindsey Lohan is making a movie comeback. It’s funny because I was talking about this with my friends last night. We all agreed that Lohan is a talented actress and that if she was challenged with a hard role (I didn’t see “Georgia Rule” so I can’t say how that role was) she would be able to show her skills to doubters.  Everyone likes a rehabilitated celebrity and I am rooting for her to succeed.