Radiohead Freakonomics: Did the U of C revolutionize the music industry?
Most of the time my media whorage and love of arts and entertainment are in spite of my efforts as a University of Chicago student. That's why I cherish every moment that Chicago contributes to the arts world.
When Radiohead announced their plan, to shake up the music industry, I realized Steven Levitt, Allen Sanderson, and the rest of the U of C econ crowd must be going batshit with glee over the economic questions such an experiment raised (and Levitt did indeed blog about it). Now, I find they may have directly influenced Radiohead's decision.
It's totally speculative, of course, but the U.K. Telegraph wonders if Freakonomics could inspire a rock band with a leftist, anti-establishment reputation (even though, as I have argued, selling out is a dated concept). Radiohead's experiment is virtually identical to the example of Frank the Bagel Man in Freakonomics, but of course Radiohead's experiment is much more massively scaled and higher profile. The bagel experiment, where people paid whatever they wanted based on an honor system, showed people were generally honest when price was unregulated. Considering Radiohead is rumored to be making £4 per album to the tune of a £4.8 million gross, Levitt may be right once again. It's all a nice setup for the Nobel Prize in Economics announcement later today.
When Radiohead announced their plan, to shake up the music industry, I realized Steven Levitt, Allen Sanderson, and the rest of the U of C econ crowd must be going batshit with glee over the economic questions such an experiment raised (and Levitt did indeed blog about it). Now, I find they may have directly influenced Radiohead's decision.
It's totally speculative, of course, but the U.K. Telegraph wonders if Freakonomics could inspire a rock band with a leftist, anti-establishment reputation (even though, as I have argued, selling out is a dated concept). Radiohead's experiment is virtually identical to the example of Frank the Bagel Man in Freakonomics, but of course Radiohead's experiment is much more massively scaled and higher profile. The bagel experiment, where people paid whatever they wanted based on an honor system, showed people were generally honest when price was unregulated. Considering Radiohead is rumored to be making £4 per album to the tune of a £4.8 million gross, Levitt may be right once again. It's all a nice setup for the Nobel Prize in Economics announcement later today.
Ray Davies to follow Radiohead's lead
The crappier the music industry gets, the more popular musicians will look for other strategies to release albums - even musicians of the 60-year old geezer variety. Ray Davies, one of my favorite musicians in the world and one who's vastly underrated in the United States, will be releasing his second solo album Working Man's Cafe in the October 21 issue of the Sunday Times in London, according to Spinner. It's free with the paper.
Ray Davies, of course, is best remembered as the the frontman of The Kinks, most famous for their British Invasion hits like "You Really Got Me," "All Day and All of the Night," "Tired of Waiting for You," and "Lola." However, they're legacy in America was dampened by being banned from the U.S. for years during the 60s. The Kinks responded by producing some of the most distinctly British rock of all time, both with their now-class The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society and classic tracks such as "Waterloo Sunset" and "David Watts."
It wasn't really until the Britpop sensation of the '90s that the Kinks started to get their full respect in the States, as bands such as Oasis and Blur listed the Kinks as Oasis. Like Oasis, the Kinks were led by constantly sparring brothers, and Ray Davies released his first solo album Other People's Lives in February 2006 while his brother Dave was recovering from a stroke. Davies and the Kinks have toyed with the trends of the time in the past, whether it was their disco-like Come Dancing or their failed rock opera Preservation, and now Ray Davies is giving record executives a headache, but in a subtle, incisive manner. Basically, it's a deceptively subversive move, as deceptively subversive as, say "Apeman," "Plastic Man," and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" so I'm fine with it.
Ray Davies, of course, is best remembered as the the frontman of The Kinks, most famous for their British Invasion hits like "You Really Got Me," "All Day and All of the Night," "Tired of Waiting for You," and "Lola." However, they're legacy in America was dampened by being banned from the U.S. for years during the 60s. The Kinks responded by producing some of the most distinctly British rock of all time, both with their now-class The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society and classic tracks such as "Waterloo Sunset" and "David Watts."
It wasn't really until the Britpop sensation of the '90s that the Kinks started to get their full respect in the States, as bands such as Oasis and Blur listed the Kinks as Oasis. Like Oasis, the Kinks were led by constantly sparring brothers, and Ray Davies released his first solo album Other People's Lives in February 2006 while his brother Dave was recovering from a stroke. Davies and the Kinks have toyed with the trends of the time in the past, whether it was their disco-like Come Dancing or their failed rock opera Preservation, and now Ray Davies is giving record executives a headache, but in a subtle, incisive manner. Basically, it's a deceptively subversive move, as deceptively subversive as, say "Apeman," "Plastic Man," and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" so I'm fine with it.
MEET THE ROBINSONS
A 12-year-old boy genius named Lewis invents the Memory Scanner, a machine he hopes will recover forgotten memories and reveal why his mother put him up for adoption. But before he can find out, his latest invention is heisted by Bowler Hat Guy and his evil hat Doris. Having given up nearly all hope, Lewis gets whisked away to the future by a mysterious boy named Wilbur Robinson. There, in a world filled with flying cars and floating cities, Lewis gets to spend a day with Wilbur's eccentric family while attempting to hunt down Bowler Hat Guy, save the future, and uncover his family's amazing secret.
This comedic adventure is being made the way that, until recently, all of Disney's major animated features were planned: with computers. The film is adapted from a 1990 book by William Joyce, who created the preschool series "Rolie Polie Olie" for the Disney Channel and was an executive producer on Fox's mechanical CGI comedy Robots. The voice cast includes Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck, Harland Williams (Rocketman), Adam West, Kelly Ripa, Laurie Metcalf, Tom Kenny, and Ethan Sandler. Three-time Disney story artist Stephen J. Anderson is directing; he also voices villain Bowler Hat Guy. Along with Danny Elfman (who is also scoring), pop artists Rob Thomas and Rufus Wainwright have written original songs for the film. Following the successful 3-D engagements of Chicken Little, Disney will be employing the same tactic for Robinsons with a 3-D version accompanying standard theatrical prints in the spring of 2007.
NATIONAL TREASURE: THE BOOK OF SECRETS (National Treasure 2)
Even with the mostly golden track record of producer Jerry Bruckheimer (who had thrice topped the $100 million mark for Disney branches with Nicolas Cage in a leading role), nobody quite expected National Treasure to perform as well with audiences as it did. Feeling more like Bruckheimer's Touchstone fare than the Walt Disney Pictures label it was moved to at the last moment, the PG-rated action flick narrowly claimed the #1 box office spot in November 2004 and held onto it for three straight weeks. It would end up with $173 million domestically and a tiny bit more overseas, easily making it one of the year's top-grossers. Despite an alternate ending that was dropped because it suggested a sequel, that's exactly what the producer intends to make now that filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (the third and, for the moment, final chapter in that even more profitable Disney/Bruckheimer franchise) has wrapped.
Director Jon Turtletaub and star Nicolas Cage are expected to return, as are supporting cast members Justin Bartha, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight and Diane Kruger, while Greg Poirier (the forthcoming Swiss Family Robinson remake discussed directly above) is currently credited with the screenplay, though others may still have a hand in it (the first film gave writing credits to five individuals). Thus far, plot particulars remain guarded, but one assumes viewers can expect to see some more treasure hunting. According to Bruckheimer, the hunt will center on eighteen pages missing from the journal of presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. Production begin January 2007, with the film's predictably potent opening scheduled for December 21, 2007.
Director Jon Turtletaub and star Nicolas Cage are expected to return, as are supporting cast members Justin Bartha, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight and Diane Kruger, while Greg Poirier (the forthcoming Swiss Family Robinson remake discussed directly above) is currently credited with the screenplay, though others may still have a hand in it (the first film gave writing credits to five individuals). Thus far, plot particulars remain guarded, but one assumes viewers can expect to see some more treasure hunting. According to Bruckheimer, the hunt will center on eighteen pages missing from the journal of presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. Production begin January 2007, with the film's predictably potent opening scheduled for December 21, 2007.
ENCHANTED - The Movie
In this part-animated, part-live-action romantic fable, a beautiful princess named Giselle is banished by an evil queen from the cartoon world to gritty present-day New York City. There, she must rescue herself and find true love. After undergoing eight years worth of rewrites, the project finally was filmed spring 2006 with Disney veteran Kevin Lima in the helm. Lima is no stranger to either medium; he began his career working on story for Oliver & Company and Aladdin, moved onto directing "Goof Troop", its big screen spin-off A Goofy Movie, and Tarzan, and most recently has been in the director's chair for live action fare including 102 Dalmatians and the two Eloise TV movies.
Enchanted's cast includes Amy Adams as Princess Giselle, Susan Sarandon as the wicked Queen Narissa, James Marsden as the seemingly perfect Prince, and Broadway actress Idina Menzel. Former '80s icon and current "Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey plays a single father (love interest, anyone?) who helps Giselle find her way around New York. The script in use is credited to Bill Kelly, who wrote the well-received 1999 romantic comedy Blast From the Past. While originally announced as being part CG-animation, it was later determined that 2-D animation would be employed for the fairy tale world scenes. This, coupled with the fact that the film is intended to feature six songs written by Stephen Schwartz (Pocahontas) and composed by Alan Menken (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid), is rightfully leading many to consider this a callback of sorts to Disney's animation renaissance of the late '80s/early '90s.
Enchanted's cast includes Amy Adams as Princess Giselle, Susan Sarandon as the wicked Queen Narissa, James Marsden as the seemingly perfect Prince, and Broadway actress Idina Menzel. Former '80s icon and current "Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey plays a single father (love interest, anyone?) who helps Giselle find her way around New York. The script in use is credited to Bill Kelly, who wrote the well-received 1999 romantic comedy Blast From the Past. While originally announced as being part CG-animation, it was later determined that 2-D animation would be employed for the fairy tale world scenes. This, coupled with the fact that the film is intended to feature six songs written by Stephen Schwartz (Pocahontas) and composed by Alan Menken (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid), is rightfully leading many to consider this a callback of sorts to Disney's animation renaissance of the late '80s/early '90s.
DISNEY CRUISE LINE
nly the Disney Cruise Line® offers fun-filled activities and experiences for cruisers of all ages, favorite Disney Characters in Broadway-style shows, dining at extraordinary eateries, fabulous family-size staterooms, a private island paradise, and amenities and service that define Disney.
The Disney Difference
Activities for all ages
Find fun for all with delightful Disney-style activities designed for every age group. Your kids can play with new friends, you can enjoy adult-only activities, or you can all enjoy quality family-together time.
- Kids: Little Kids, Big Kids
- Teens
- Adults: Active Fun, Romance, Rest & Relaxation
- Families
Original Disney Entertainment
Thrill to all kinds of exhilarating venues with inspiring shows for every member of the family. See again and again why nobody creates entertainment like Disney.
Castaway Cay
Discover Disney's perfect private paradise — for kids and teens, it's Never Land; for adults, it's Shangri-La. Step off the ship and you know, instantly, you've arrived at a magical place.
Rotational Dining
Experience savory worlds that could only have been designed by Disney. Gather together to share stories of your day as you "rotate" each night through three uniquely themed restaurants with distinctive cuisine — always staffed with your own personal servers who know and anticipate your tastes.
Family-sized Staterooms
Stretch out in a Disney stateroom, designed with the family in mind. Delight in substantially more space for relaxation than you'd find on most other cruise ships. Discover split baths, ample storage, natural woods, imported tiles and superior attention to detail in your home away from home.
JUNGLE BOOK is back
The holiday gift-giving season is fast approaching, and that means it's time for Disney to give another of its classic animated tales the "platinum-edition" treatment. This time "The Jungle Book" ($29.99), which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, receives the honor.
The buoyant take on Rudyard Kipling's story about man-cub Mowgli has been remastered for this two-disc set. The result is a sharper, brighter view of the more-lovable-than-ferocious beasts who inhabit the Walt Disney cartoon-wild. Of course, kids accustomed to the pristine, digitally animated Pixar flicks may not find this movie quite as eye-popping, but that's only because "The Jungle Book" -- with its hand-drawn characters and backgrounds that resemble paintings -- is Disney done the old-school way.
In addition to earning an Oscar nomination for its most famous song, the catchy "Bare Necessities," "The Jungle Book" is best known as the last animated movie Walt Disney worked on before succumbing to lung cancer. He died almost a year before the film was released, but his influence -- as the many bonus features on the DVD make clear -- can be seen and felt throughout all of its 78 minutes. Several of the animators who worked on "Jungle Book" emphasize the importance of the movie's characters, a nice way of saying that the picture is a little short on plot. But it's also worth noting that Baloo the bear, tiger Shere Khan and other creatures were built around the actors who provided their voices (including Phil Harris, George Saunders and Sebastian Cabot), an approach that has become status quo in today's celebrity-studded cartoons.
The extras in the collection follow the template laid out by previous Disney DVDs -- viewers will find a well-done making-of documentary; several respectable featurettes; a few so-so games for the little ones; and a peek at what wound up on the cutting room floor.
In this case, what wound up on the cutting-room floot was Rocky the Rhino, an animal Disney helped develop and described as "a sort of Mr. Magoo of a rhinocerous ... half-blind and really dumb." As the storyboards from Rocky's big deleted "Jungle Book" scene demonstrate, the world of animation lost nothing by leaving Rocky out of the final cut. But knowing that this cliche mammal once existed may make "Jungle Book" fans value the jovial Baloo and his buddies all the more.
Disney Taps Hollywood Talent for Turok Relaunch
Disney Interactive Studios has enlisted the help of veteran Hollywood television and movie actors to breathe life into next year's relaunch of the Turok game franchise, which debuts on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 February 5, 2008.
The first-person shooter features the voice acting of Gregory Norman Cruz (Saving Grace) as former black ops commando Joseph Turok. He's crash-landed on a planet inhabited by dinosaurs with members of Whiskey Company. Actors who make up this elite special forces squad include: Timothy Olyphant (Hitman) as Cowboy, Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as Slade, Donnie Wahlberg (Saw II) as Shepard, William Fichtner (Prison Break) as Logan, Mark Rolston (The Departed) as Cole, Chris Judge (StarGate: SG1) as Jericho, Lombardo Boyar (Happy Feet) as Gonzales, Gideon Emery (Primevil) as Reese, Josh Gomez (Chuck) as Parker, Jon Curry (7th Heaven) as Foster, Jason Harris (The Wild) as Carter and Steve Van Wormer (TimeCop 2) as Henderson.
Rounding out the cast, Powers Boothe (Deadwood) breathes life into the villain, Roland Kane, an escaped war criminal and Turok's former mentor. Sean Donnellan (The Kingdom) voices Grimes, Kane's mysterious, elusive henchman, who is also part of the evil Mendel-Gruman Corporation.
"I enjoyed (working on) that (game)," said Olyphant, who plays Agent 47 in 20th Century Fox's Hitman movie adaptation. "I'd never done anything like that before. It was a cool experience. I assume that as games evolve that they're going to be more fun to be a part of because the characters will become more compelling and more three-dimensional and more fun to bring to life."
Josh Holmes, vice president and general manager of Vancouver, British Columbia-based developer Propaganda Games, said that it was important to bring this level of Hollywood talent on board this game to because the story is paramount to the gaming experience.
"Many of the roles in the story were written with specific performers in mind and we were really excited when those actors agreed to participate in the project," said Holmes. "We had a lot of fun at all of the voice sessions. We did several recordings for each of the major characters, starting early in the development cycle. At the first sessions, we were just able to show the actors concept art and early renders of their characters. At later sessions, we were able to demonstrate the game running with their characters polished and fully animated, which was pretty cool and we saw their excitement."
For some of the actors, like Olyphant, this was their first experience doing voice work for a game, while others like Perlman have had a ton of experience with this medium. Pearlman is also featured in Konami Digital Entertainment's Hellboy: The Science of Evil game and THQ's Conan game this fall.
"Many of the actors who worked on the game are avid gamers or at least expressed an interest in playing games," said Holmes. "Honestly, with the emergence of video games as a part of mainstream entertainment, it's rare to come across people without some degree of gaming experience. I was surprised to learn that Powers Boothe is such a hardcore gamer. At the time that we did his initial sessions, he was thoroughly hooked on Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 and said that he would often come home from a set and settle into a session of the game. He was particularly enthusiastic to be involved in the creation of a first-person shooter."
Holmes said high quality voice acting adds to both the impact of the storytelling and the overall immersion of the game experience.
"Nothing sticks out worse or pulls you out of an experience quicker than lackluster voice performances," said Holmes. "Working with this high caliber of talent has ensured strong performances for all of the characters in the story. It also brings a certain level of credibility to the game. Performers at this level of their craft are selective about the projects they work on – they can afford to pick and choose their parts. The fact that they were so excited to be a part of this new Turok speaks volumes for the quality of the game."
Source: Gamedaily
Disney is extending its "Year of a Million Dreams" program through 2008, after granting wishes large and small to a million park visitors since the giveaways began in the fall of 2006.
Another new "dream" option at Disneyland will be nightly stays in a new family suite in the park's New Orleans Square, beginning Jan. 31. The suite was originally designed by a Hollywood setmaker commissioned by Walt Disney in the 1960s as in-park accommodations for his family, but the suite is only now being built.
Parks on both coasts have other new attractions open to all, not just dream winners, including:
• "High School Musical 2: School's Out!" interactive show, which already started at both parks.
• "Jedi Training Academy" for young Star Wars fans, underway at Disneyland and coming this month to Disney World.
• A "Playhouse Disney-Live on Stage!" show for preschoolers with characters from Disney Channel programs, in both parks next year.
• A new ride-game in both parks next year, "Toy Story Mania!"
• A "Block Party Bash" with characters from Toy Story, Monster's, Inc. and A Bug's Life, underway at Disneyland and starting next year at Walt Disney World. In 2008, Disneyland will also get a "Pixar Play! Parade" with characters from Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille.
Source: USAtoday
Game Plan Disney's Movie tops US chart
Family film The Game Plan has beaten Middle Eastern terror thriller The Kingdom to become the weekend's biggest box office success in North America.
The Disney movie took $22.7m (£11m), leaving its rival - starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner - trailing in second place with $17.7m (£8.6m). Last week's number one, Resident Evil: Extinction, suffered a 66% slump in ticket sales and fell to number three. Cinema takings dropped for a second weekend following a record summer. 'Pent-up demand' The top 12 films made a total of $76.7m (£37.4m) - down 11% compared to the same weekend last year. Paul Deragabedian, president of Media By Numbers who assess the US box office, said: "It would be really difficult to maintain three, four months of 'up' box office, so this was kind of inevitable." He added that last autumn was strong, "so we're having a little trouble competing". The Game Plan is about a footballer whose life is distrupted by the arrival of a daughter he never knew existed. Its star is former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, better known as an action hero. "There was definitely pent-up demand for people who don't necessarily want to go to the heavy 'R-rated' films," according to Chuck Viane, the head of distribution for Disney. Elsewhere, the only other entry in the top 10 was Beatle-themed musical film Across the Universe. It climbed to number 10 on its third week of release.Source: BBC
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