AN AFTERNOON WITH TED LASSO’S JASON SUDEIKIS AT THE RSA CONFERENCE 2024

Posted on May 29, 2024 by mlsentertainment
Spectators in back at the Moscone West had a decent view of the Emmy Award Winner, Jason Sudeikis.

Article and photos by Marcus Siu

BELIEVE

As I was shifting through the RSA Conference 2024 program guide, with it’s impressive comprehensive five day agenda, there was an enormous amount of activities going on to easily fill anyone’s calendar as an attendee for the week. 33 keynote presentations given on two stages in the West and South Stages at the Moscone Center, 650 speakers across 425 sessions, the Expo floors in the South and North Halls had over 600 exhibitors.

As I glanced into the program’s “keynote” section, I noticed one that immediately caught my eye entitled “A Conversation with Actor, Comedian, and Writer, Jason Sudeikis, hosted by RSAC Chairman, Hugh Thompson. It read…

BELIEVE. The Ted Lasso Way has put smiles on the faces of millions worldwide, and maybe made us all a little kinder. A little more focused on teamwork and collaboration. A little more aware of the power of community, and the importance of mental health needs. And a lot more aware of the impact of an inspiring leader. Join this keynote as Jason Sudeikis shares insights, laughs, and inspiration.

As a huge fan of the show, I was curious to know how much knowledge the four-time Emmy Award Winner Jason Sudeikis had in the Cybersecurity field. As I entered Moscone West Hall and tried to find a seat, I discovered that most of the capacity crowd also probably wanted to know, as well.

The Executive chair of RSAC and host Hugh Thompson introduced Sudeikis to the much appreciative crowd at Moscone West, and immediately asked Sudeikis what inspired him to be an actor and performer.

“I saw Beverly Hills Cop when I was nine years old… it was very motivational to me and I knew that’s what I wanted … to be a black cop from Detroit.”, Sudeikis replied.

From that moment on, you knew it was going to be a fun-filled afternoon with plenty of laughs with the always very playful Thompson, as host.

BE CURIOUS – NOT JUDGEMENTAL

A conversation with Actor, Comedian and Writer, Jason Sudeikis hosted by Hugh Thompson at the RSAConference2024.

In a few minutes after the introduction, the lights were further darkened to show a clip from the episode, “Diamond Dogs”, from Season One/Episode 8 of Ted Lasso. They played the infamous darts scene that contained the famous Lasso quote “Be curious, not judgmental”, which perhaps may be one of the most representative quotes based on Ted Lasso’s character reportoire, that easily can be applied practically everywhere in so many different situations. Thompson asked Sudeikis what he wanted people to take away from that scene.

“I just wanted to be cheering for the good guys…like the fact that people have taken and used that in commencement speeches… and I think even some political speeches”, Sudeikis explained...“I’m not sure what politics exactly…that monologue spilled out of me in 1/2 hour… I’m sure everybody has versions of this I know people speak about it a lot in the arts…”

Hopefully, to many of the conference attendees, they can bring this idea of “be curious, not judgemental”, when dealing with others. They should never “judge” whether someone has the means to effect change by contribution, but rather be “curious” having the power to apply and transform change for the better. With the advent of A.I. already now being a major force in Cybersecurity technology, it helps to not be judgemental.

ALL ABOUT NETWORKING:

At the very beginning of the RSA conference, Thompson encouraged all attendees in the audience to go out an meet new people in the giant RSAC community where people could learn and feed off each other. He presented a hypothetical scenario in the “mean streets” of San Francisco during lunchtime to Sudeikis to the audience: If he was in line at a taco truck stand and would want to connect with a person right next to him, what would be his top five “icebreakers”?

Though Sudeikis didn’t come up with five all together, he and the audience certainly did have alot fun listening to his brainstorming answers.

“Well, I think I’d go “rub bellies” and ask what taco you getting?” “Have you been to this taco truck before?” “You know where the hot spots are?” Or if they are wearing a badge maybe ask them something about that…the big laminates…I don’t know what information is on there but” Sudeikis continued, “I don’t speak “curious”, to know… I mean this is “Playground 101″, I’d ask them their name OK?”

In the middle of Sudeikis’ rant, Thompson asked if tapping a person was okay…

“I think tapping someone might feel a little aggressive. (audience laughs) It depends on the line…if it’s proper like the way like Germans line up, like right behind each other and very rigid (audience laughs) …but if it’s a little “loosey-goosey” and I don’t know, you know, then maybe, yeah”.

Sudeikis then playfully voice acts out two characters in line.

“I apologize for my own hunger because of my tummy.”

“Sorry to hear that…oh, I didn’t hear your stomach.”

“Oh, OK, well it was actually my butt.”

The audience roared with laughter.

“So much of this stuff though is really just about hitting the playing TV Upbeat like your kids… you hit the balloon over to them and you see if they hit it back.“

“Number five would be, “have you seen anything on television that you’ve enjoyed recently?” as Sudeikis glances into the crowd and says “They are all looking for recommendations, and they can always go on “Rotten Tomatoes” but let me ask you perfect strangers.”, Sudeikis explained.

“This is great…which would be great if the answer was “Perfect Strangers”?”

THE ADMINISTER OF LAUGHTER

When Thompson asked Sudeikis, what role humor plays when battling, stress, depression, or burnout, Sudeikis credits his ten year experience on Saturday Night Live, which he was a both a writer and featured performer, as well as various TV projects, shows, and movies.

He highly credited his grandmother during his upbringing, Loretta Wendt, (also mother of Actor George Wendt) who was a volunteer at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in the Southside of Chicago, for teaching him how important humor was to healing.

“It’s always really moving and compelling to me what good medicine laughter is and being an administer of such things or at least a vessel, these projects has always really knocked my socks off and it was something about my grandmother, Loretta Wendt, she worked it, did a lot of work “, Sudeikis continued, “A big part of it was all about how important humor was to healing and I do believe that in between laughter, sleeping and crying are the three best medicines that you’re not going to give any money to a pharmaceutical company. There’s a fourth one too, the love and appreciation and execution of the arts…”

Of course, Thompson couldn’t resist pitching his own “brilliant” idea to Sudeikis for kicking the Emyy Award show into the next level by introducing a new character into the series and possibly leading up to the season finale for Ted Lasso. The concept of a mildly bald, suave, (but not to suave) cybersecurity character from some exotic background like Jamaica or the Carribean, who stalks down a hacker somehow didn’t quite make a very convincing pitch, even with Thompson’s impressive background in the Cybersecurity field.

“Would anyone believe that a character like that really existed…as a person?”, Sudeikis questioned.

So it became pretty obvious after the interview was over that the very delightful Jason Sudeikis didn’t have much to say about the very latest in cybersecurity trends at the RSA Conference, but to give him some due credit, his alter ego Ted Lasso certainly didn’t know much about European soccer (futbol) in his first season, either…and look what can happen. In any case, it couldn’t have been a more fun-filled entertaining afternoon for the RSA conference attendees.

Or am I being just “judgemental”?

The RSAConference2024 at The Moscone Center, San Francisco, California. Photo by Marcus Siu.

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GDC 2024 – THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY IS ALMOST BECOMING TOO UNREAL

Posted on April 30, 2024 by mlsentertainment
The Unreal booth continues to dominate the Expo floor at this years GDC. Photo by Marcus Siu

Article and photos by Marcus Siu

THE CURRENT STATE OF THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY

Just like the movie industry from a year ago, the last twelve months have not been very kind to the video game industry. In contrast to the movie industry, where the pandemic single-handedly nearly ruined it with the “stay at home” order, video game sales spiked and reached unprescented highs, but soon plummeted as the pandemic slowly went away. Sales could not be sustained, which is why gaming companies had to make cuts in order to survive. Games in production were cancelled, studios shut their doors, as thousands of workers suddenly found themselves without a job.

Unfortunately, massive job layoffs started last quarter, with well over 10,000 jobs lost, and an additional 8,000 jobs were lost in the first quarter of this year. The industry has never experienced this much devastation ever. Even the big companies were vulnerable, as Sony Interactive Entertainment laid off 1,000 people in their last two quarters and Epic Games, laid off almost as many in just one day last year. As of today, layoffs still continue to worry the entire industry.

Even the prestigious E3 Conference, the most highly anticipated video game industry event in the country had to halt its operations a few years ago due to the the pandemic. It’s actual last live event was in 2019, the year before the pandemic hit. After the pandemic was over, the industry’s biggest names had pulled themselves out, such as Microsoft and Sony, two of the three biggest gaming console companies out there.

Meta Quest demo booth at GDC 2024. Photo by Marcus Siu.

WELCOME TO GDC 2024

This year, the Game Developer’s Conference, known as GDC, helped fill the empty void in the world of gaming conferences, at least in California and the West Coast. However, since the pandemic, companies continued to pull out conferences over the last few years. It became obvious that there just wasn’t a whole lot of new product to promote on the Expo floor compared to the pre-pandemic years.

Notably absent at GDC 2024 were Amazon Web Services and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Unity and Google were present, but did not have any product demos on the Expo floor. At least Epic – Unreal and Meta were at the show with their latest product demos.

One can easily make an argument that 2-D gaming that utilizes Unity isn’t as impressive as the heavy-weight large-scale advanced projects that Unreal Engine has or even the games coming from Meta using their latest Meta Quest 3 VR headset which is geared for Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of the Metaverse.

Regardless of the turnout on the floor, this year’s conference held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco still registered nearly 30,000 attendees from all walks of life from around the globe, which was about 2,000 more than a year before. The 730 nonstop sessions, workshops, and roundtable discussions to kept game developers busy for the entire week.

The Expo floor still was quite active mostly with Indie games, where you can play them as well as meet with the games creators and developers. In addition, hundreds of exhibitors were showing off there latest wares and tools, depending on your project needs. There were also various networking parties at separate off-site venues scattered around the city in a more relaxing atmostphere, as well.

Attendees came to meet, learn, and connect…and they did.

Alex Crane in front of the entrance at Moscone Convention Center for GDC2024. Photo by Marcus Siu

A GDC NEWBIE: MEET ALEX CRANE

Alex Crane, a 2019 graduate from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in computer science, was unsure what to expect at his first ever GDC. However, he was certain about achieving his ultimate goal; to be a game producer, project lead for a game company, or find another indie studio in the Midwest. He expressed what his intentions were while attending the GDC conference.

“My goals here were definitely to attend a lot of talks and learn a lot. I attempted to start an indie studio in the past…so attending talks about people who have done the same…figure out where we went wrong, what we could have done better…it would have been good attending talks at bigger companies and learn a lot about game development.”, Crane explained.

While an undergraduate, Crane’s background included a game project called “No Lives Left”, (much like the style of the classic game “The Legend of Zelda”), a meta imagining of what would happen if your games kept on going without you. Though he had regrets on not having completed the project during the three years he worked on it, he still gained tremendous knowledge in game design and its development, as well as having experience as a project lead for over thirty developers, engineers, and artists while using Unreal Engine 4.

    At the same time, he became the President and Events chair for the “KU Game Developers Association” for the University of Kansas and has hosted many hackathons and jam events, such as “Game Jam”, which he is currently the Midwest Regional Organizer overseeing eight U.S. states for the “Global Game Jam”, an event that spans the entire world. In addition to having the opportunity to connect with professors who teach game design, as well as IGDA (International Game Developer’s Association) members, Crane was an organizer for “Flyaway Indies” and “Amber Waves of Games”, which is dedicated to connecting and showcasing video game developers who live in the Midwestern United States all through a discord server.

    Even with all his Midwest connections, Crane was somewhat disappointed not having the opportunity to meet or connect with some of the bigger name game companies at GDC 2024, especially on the Expo floor.

    “There’s a few of the bigger names and then not much else other than third party software that assists with the development of games as opposed to companies that develop games or game engines”, Crane continued. “You’ve got Epic and Unity here, a couple of other bigger names but I was expecting a bit more of that…Microsoft has their thing upstairs but it’s just for swag. They don’t really have recruiters here or anything or any of that. I didn’t know what to expect though since it’s my first time.”

    However, as far as networking and connecting with other game developers from around the country, Crane found GDC to be quite useful. “I was surprised to meet so many people from the Midwest. I didn’t know there were so many developers in Wisconsin and Michigan. I wasn’t actually aware some companies have some campuses there.”, Crane remarked.

    Indeed, out of all the advantages that the conference has to offer, connecting and networking is a huge plus at GDC. Despite all the gloom and doom around the Gaming industry now even more vulnerable than ever with the threat of A.I. in the horizon, it hopefully won’t stop the 30,000 attendees who like Crane, have drive and passion to pursue their dreams as game developers.

    The world certainly needs them.

    Indie games showcased at the IGF Pavilion at GDC2024 at the Moscone Convention Center. Photo by Marcus Siu.

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    THE RETURN OF THE FAB 5 AT THE OSCARS – THE 96TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD PREDICTIONS

    Posted on March 10, 2024 by mlsentertainment

    Article by Marcus Siu

    It was just two year ago, that the Academy planned to cut eight categories (out of twenty four) from the main telecast. Instead giving out the awards for film editing, sound, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, documentary short, animated short, and live action short an hour before the show begins, and editing the winners into the live telecast.

    The reasoning was a way to shorten the shows running time, boost Oscar ratings by trimming the boredom time to “unseasoned” viewers, who prefer not to see filmmakers who are usually working behind the camera, but to see their favorite actors and actresses, who are in front of the camera. To summarize, most viewers want to see the stars…not the filmmakers who made them stars.

    Luckily for serious movie goers, that news received quite a backlash from the Academy branches, and the Academy reversed its decision. However, it gives the producers of the telecast a real challenge on how to format the three and a half hour Award show.

    With Jimmy Kimmel at the helm, and with the producers repeating the magic of the 2009 telecast with the Fab Five, this will make everyone happy.

    THE MAGIC OF THE FAB FIVE

    Traditionally, the previous year’s winners for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor present the awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, while the previous year’s winners for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress present the awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

    Last year, rather than opting for the traditional presentation, Oscar winners, Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry presented the awards for both Best Actress and Actor, in succession. It certainly saved time, but certainly seemed rushed when it came to sheer presentation, though the results were quite spectaular and memorable when Michelle Yeoh and Brendan Fraser accepted their gold statutes and gave their emotional speeches.

    This year, they are going to repeat the magic of what they did in 2009 for the Acting categories:

    Five past Oscar winners introduced the five current nominees for each award. This resulted in massive standing ovations from the audience at the Dolby. You had a group of five of the most respected actors in the Academy and actresses Academy Award winners presenting in their respective category to each individually tributing to one of the five current nominees.

    There is nothing more emotionally gratifying for the most respected actors and peers, expressing their appreciation for fellow actors at an Awards ceremony. It is priceless. It will be surely be an emotional evening and rewarding moment. Tears will be moved.

    OSCAR PREDICTIONS

    It’s still hard to fathom that it’s already been seven and a half months ago that both Oppenheimer and Barbie (“Barbenheimer”) had its box-office opening weekend in the United States, making it a cultural pop culture phenomenom. It changed the way making going to movies an unforgettable “event”. The “Barbenheimer” opening night weekend, the five hour double feature that exploded the summer box-office.

    “Barbenheimer” combined with a total of 21 nominations. Based on my predictions, it looks like “Oppenheimer” will be racking at least eight Oscars, and “Barbie” will at least take at least one Oscar for Original Song, but possibly three when the evening is done, if there are any surprises.

    BEST PICTURE:

    Robert Downey Jr. and Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

    Early on in 2023, I remember seeing a giant “Oppenheimer” cardboard standup all alone in the lobby at the AMC Theaters showing a red LED digital display, giving a countdown of when the movie was going to be released. It looked like it was hooked up to an actual bomb ready to detonate. Being several months away, I thought was how bombastic the movie studio was to publicize this movie this way, in advance of its July 2023 opening. Did it deserve all this attention to the movie going public given the dismal start of the year 2023 had?

    Yes, it certainly did.

    “Oppenheimer” will easily win eight Academy Awards, including the big prizes: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director…not to mention Cinematography, Sound, Score and Editing. It still has a decent chance to pick up Best Adapted Screenplay, if the Oscars decide to not give it to “American Fiction”, which won at the BAFTA’s.

    Oppenheimer is the reason why people go see movies on the big screen, especially large screen formats such as IMAX 70mm, Digital IMAX or even regular 35mm. The highest grossing biopic at the box office of all-time, the film will stand the test of time of epic moviemaking that will be appreciated by all generations worldwide, not just the older generation who grew up playing with Barbie dolls. This will stand the test of time to be a classic.

    Even when retailers decided to discontinue physical media like DVD’s and UHD Blu-Rays, there was an overwhelming demand who wanted to buy them. Needless to say, inventory was sold out of during the Christmas season.

    BEST ACTOR:

    Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer in “Oppenheimer”. Courtesy of Universal Studios.

    Unless you are well versed in the Christopher Nolan universe, you may not be too familiar with the man who played “Oppenheimer”. Cillian Murphy was perfectly cast by Director, Christopher Nolan, who had previsously casted him before in six of his films. Most of his other films were UK productions.

    Like many super dedicated actors, he lost weight for the role to resemble his real-life character. He was on screen for the majority of the three hour film, and it was perfectly nuanced throughout. He was entirely convincing as someone who knew everything about quantum physics. He has swept most of the major awards this season, as well as Golden Globes, BAFTA and SAG.

    His main competition will be Paul Giamatti, another veteran actor who gave his career-best performance in “The Holdovers” as a grumpy school instructor at a New England boarding school. Unfortunately, for Giamatti, he will probably take back seat to Murphy. But at least he was recognized and nominated for this work, in contrast to his amazing performance as Miles in “Sideways” which oddly did not even get a nomination back in 2002. Most likely, he will see his fellow “Best Supporting” Actress Da’Vine Jay Randolph take the award and walk away with the statue, the same way Virginia Madsen did for Alexander Payne’s screenplay twenty years ago.

    BEST ACTRESS:

    Yancey Red Corn and Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon”. Courtesy of Apple.

    Another difficult category to predict is Best Actress, which is really a tight race between Oscar winner, Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone. Even on a fair playing field, I may have leaned for Emma Stone for her performance as Bella Baxter, one of the most extraordinary performances that she has ever done, if not the best. Given that fact, and that she still continues to work with Yorgos Lanthimos, there will be more great performances to come.

    Lily Gladstone was the heart of “Killers of the Flower Moon”. She is the fourth Indigenous actress and first Native American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award. I would be very surprised if she doesn’t take home the gold statuette, especially with her all white nominees, who all were magnificent, as well.

    Hopefully, she will and represent “Killers of the Flower Moon” only trophy.

    Where’s Barbie?

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

    Robert Downey, Jr as Lewis Strauss in “Oppenheimer”. Courtesy of Universal Studios.

    The man famous for playing Anthony Edward Stark in the Iron Man movies, Robert Downey Jr. has described Oppenheimer as “the best film” in which he has appeared to date. Instead of his $20 million upfront salary, he took “only” a $4 million salary, as did his co-stars, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. For many moviegoers, not just fans of the Marvel Comic Universe, but filmgoer’s in general… they didn’t even recognize Downey, Jr at all in the film until the last hour, as he absolutely transformed into Lewis Strauss.

    If there is any category that is the “sure thing”, this is it. He has swept every “Best Supporting Actor” award out there during the Awards season.

    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

    Da’Vine Joy Randolph stars as Mary Lamb in director Alexander Payne’s THE HOLDOVERS, a Focus Features release.

    Credit: Seacia Pavao / © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

    Paul Giamatti’s loss will be Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s win. Randolph has swept every “Best Supporting Actress” award out there, as well as the Critics Awards. This another sure thing.

    MLS Entertainment’s Oscar Predictions:

    Best Picture: “Oppenheimer”
    Best Actor: Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
    Best Actress: Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
    Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”
    Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
    Best Director: Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
    Best Adapted Screenplay:  Cord Jefferson, “American Fiction”
    Best Original Screenplay: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, “Anatomy of a Fall”
    Best Cinematography: “Oppenheimer”
    Best Costume Design: “Barbie”
    Best Film Editing: “Oppenheimer”
    Best Makeup and Hairstyling: “Maestro”
    Best Music (Original Score): “Oppenheimer”
    Best Music (Original Song): “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
    Best Production Design: “Poor Things”
    Best Sound: “Oppenheimer”
    Best Visual Effects: “Godzilla Minus One”
    Best Animated Feature Film: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
    Best International Feature Film: “The Zone of Interest”
    Best Documentary (Feature): “20 Days in Mariupol”
    Best Documentary (Short Subject): “The Last Repair Shop”
    Best Short Film (Animated): “WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
    Best Short Film (Live Action): “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”

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    THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS PLAYING AT A THEATER NEAR YOU – (ANIMATED, LIVE ACTION AND DOCUMENTARY)

    Posted on February 23, 2024 by mlsentertainment

    Article by Marcus Siu

    A “must see” for those who regularly participate in Oscar contests, the Oscar Nominated shorts are no longer difficult to find as compared to just a few years ago. It used to be a haul to drive to one of the theaters that played them back in the day, but now you can probably find a theater within a reasonable distance. They are not just shown exclusively in North America, but also in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, India, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, China, and Australia, among others, making it a truly international release.

    Already on its second weekend, the 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films is a terrific selection of films ranging to many issues and topics, and all are worthy of their recognition with the Academy.

    Each nominee is released in one of three distinct feature-length compilations according to their category of nomination: Live Action, Animation, or Documentary. As usual, the Live Action shorts and Animation shorts have always been much more popular than the documentary shorts, but there are certainly many more theaters showing them now compared to past years.

    For those who prefer to stream and watch the short films at home, you can actually watch a few of these on YouTube, as many of the filmmakers opted for as much exposure for their film, as much as possible. You can easily Google many of the Live Action and Documentary shorts, and watch them in its entirety. Others are either streaming on premium platforms, or are available through pay per view for a nominal fee.

    Netflix, as usual, has a few Live Action films nominated this year, such as “The After” starring David Oyelowo, and “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”, directed by Wes Anderson, so you can stream them, if you are a Netflix subscriber. However, if you are looking for the Oscar Nominated Animated short films, then you will have very little luck finding any of them, except for “Ninety-Five Senses”, which is streaming free on Documentary Plus.

    However, I would strongly urge you to see these in the theaters. Nothing can beat the big screen when you have an exhilarating film, such as the Documentary Short film directed by Academy Award winning directors, Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers (“Queen of Basketball”). With its sumptuous cinematography, crisp sound and its compelling musical score and story, “The Last Repair Shop” deserves to be seen in the theater. It showcases why moviegoers need go to movie theaters instead of streaming at home in the first place.

    https://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/tickets

    TRAILER

    ANIMATION

    LETTER TO A PIG ISRAEL/16 MINS/2022

    Director: Tal Kantor
    Producer: Amit R. Gicelter, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron


    Synopsis: A Holocaust survivor reads a letter he wrote to the pig who saved his life. A young schoolgirl hears his testimony in class and sinks into a twisted dream where she confronts questions of identity, collective trauma, and the extremes of human nature.

    NINETY-FIVE SENSES USA/13 MINS/2023

    Director: Jerusha Hess & Jared Hess
    Producer: Miles David Romney and Tori A. Baker


    Synopsis: An ode to the body’s five senses delivered by a man with little time left to enjoy them.

    OUR UNIFORM IRAN/7 MINS/2023

    Director: Yegane Moghaddam
    Producer: Jalil Moghaddam


    Synopsis: An Iranian girl unfolds her school memories on the folds and fabrics of her old uniform.

    PACHYDERME FRANCE/11 MINS/2021

    Director: Stéphanie Clement
    Producer: Thomas Giusiano, Mathieu Rey, Marc Rius, Reginald de Guillebon


    Synopsis: As every summer, Louise is entrusted to her grand-parents for a few days of vacation in the country. The green grass of the garden, the swimming in the lake, the fishing with Grandpa, everything seems as sweet as Grandma’s strawberry pies. Yet this year, the snow will fall in summer and a monster will die.

    WAR IS OVER! INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OFJOHN & YOKO USA/11 MINS/2023

    Director: Dave Mullins
    Producer: Brad Booker

    Synopsis: Set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers’ chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climactic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.

    LIVE ACTION

    THE AFTER UK/18 MINS/2023

    Director: Misan Harriman
    Producer: Nicky Bentham, David Oyelowo
    Cast: David Oyelowo, Jessica Plummer, Amelie Dokubo


    Synopsis: THE AFTER is a powerful and affecting story that follows Dayo (Oyelowo), a Londoner who has to reconnect with himself and society after witnessing a devastating random attack in the capital.

    INVINCIBLE CANADA/29 MINS/2022

    Director: Vincent René-Lortie
    Producer: Samuel Caron


    Synopsis: Inspired by a true story, INVINCIBLE recounts the last 48 hours in the life of Marc-Antoine Bernier, a 14-year-old boy on a desperate quest for freedom.

    KNIGHT OF FORTUNE (RIDDER LYKKE) DENMARK/25 MINS/2022

    Director: Lasse Lyskjær Noer
    Producer: Kim Magnusson, Christian Norlyk


    Synopsis: The loss of a loved one, the grief, the risk of yellow skin, and a coffin, this is too much for Karl to face. It is much easier to fix a broken lamp. A chance encounter with a stranger will help him face his pain.

    RED, WHITE AND BLUE USA/23 MINS/2023

    Director: Nazrin Choudhury
    Producer: Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane


    Synopsis: Rachel (Brittany Snow) is a single parent living paycheck to paycheck. When an unexpected pregnancy threatens to unravel her already precarious position, she’s forced to cross state lines in search of an abortion. As Rachel contemplates the series of events that necessitated this journey and the obstacles placed in her path, we learn a heartbreaking truth that means her life will never be the same again.

    THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR UK/37 MINS/2023

    Director: Wes Anderson
    Producer: Wes Anderson, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson
    Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade


    Synopsis: A beloved Roald Dahl story about a rich man who learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes and then sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling.

    DOCUMENTARY

    THE ABCS OF BOOK BANNING USA/27 MINS/2023

    Director: Sheila Nevins
    Producer: Trish Adelsic


    Synopsis: Over 2000 books have been removed from school districts in the U.S. THE ABCS OF BOOK BANNING follows the human toll the future will pay for depriving children of their right to read and learn about a complex world. Interviews with children and authors shed light on this ongoing dangerous precedent.

    THE BARBER OF LITTLE ROCK USA/35 MINS/2023

    Director: John Hoffman & Christine Turner
    Producer: Christina Avalos, John Hoffman, Christine Turner; Eps Dwyane Wade, Liz Garbus, Dan Cogan, Jon Bardin, Jon Marcus


    Synopsis: THE BARBER OF LITTLE ROCK explores America’s widening racial wealth gap through the story of Arlo Washington, a local barber whose visionary approach to a just economy can be found in the mission of People Trust, the nonprofit community bank he founded.

    ISLAND IN BETWEEN TAIWAN/USA/19 MINS/2023

    Director: S. Leo Chiang
    Producer: Jean Tsien, Yorke Wu, Yulan Chang


    Synopsis: From Taiwan’s frontline amid rising tensions with China, filmmaker S. Leo Chiang weaves lyrical glimpses of local life with his own struggle negotiating ambivalent bonds to Taiwan, China, and the USA. ISLAND IN BETWEEN explores the uneasy peace in Taiwan, and contemplates its uncertain future.

    THE LAST REPAIR SHOP USA/39 MINS/2023

    Director: Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers
    Producer: Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers, Jeremy Lambert, Josh Rosenberg


    Synopsis: Los Angeles is one of the last American cities to provide free and freely repaired musical instruments to its public schoolchildren. THE LAST REPAIR SHOP showcases the warehouse where devoted craftspeople keep over 80,000 instruments in good repair.

    NǍI NAI & WÀI PÓ USA/16 MINS/2023

    Director: Sean Wang
    Producer: Sam Davis, Malcolm Pullinger


    Synopsis: Nǎi Nai is my grandma. Wài Pó is also my grandma. Together, they are a grandma super team that dances, stretches, and farts their sorrows away.

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    THERE’S NO SNUBBING IN HOLLYWOOD! OR IS THERE?

    Posted on January 31, 2024 by mlsentertainment

    Article by Marcus Siu

    Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig on the set of “Barbie”. Courtesy of Warner Bros.

    “It’s definitely not a good look that the Academy members left out Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for directing and starring in a movie that’s largely about how impressive women are often marginalized,” says Dave Karger, Turner Classic Movies host and author of 50 Oscar Nights.

    That quote was taken from an article from People Magazine. Karger, along with many others were very surprised about the recent Barbie “snubs” after the Academy Award nominations were announced; mainly the exclusion of director, Greta Gerwig not receiving a Best Director nomination and its star, Margot Robbie, not getting a Best Actress nomination, playing the title role in “Barbie”.

    Even co-star Ryan Gosling who played Ken spoke out, as one of the two supporting actors who received nominations in the supporting categories for the movie, “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement,” he said about the pair. Gosling added that he was “extremely honored to be nominated”, the three time Oscar nominee concluded, “there is no Ken without Barbie. And there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.”

    Though, I certainly agree Gerwig is worthy of a nomination in the Best Director category, it’s very difficult to argue that any of the other five were less deserving, as the Academy has gotten to be very “global”. In fact, out of the five nominated, only one of them is American; ten time Oscar nominated, Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon”. The other four are European.

    One can certainly make an argument in saying that all of the following American directors were “snubbed”: Alexander Payne for “The Holdovers”, Bradley Cooper for “Maestro”, Cord Jefferson for “American Fiction”, first timer, Celine Song for “Past Lives”, and Ava duVernay for “Origins”.

    However, just like the Olympics, we are not just competing exclusively in domestic waters anymore. The Academy has become very global in the last ten years ever since the #OscarsSoWhite movement that promoted diversity. International films and filmmakers are becoming more recognized more than ever.

    Director Greta Gerwig on the set of “Barbie”. Courtesy of Warner Bros.

    There are 587 directors in the Academy Branch. If you look over the nominated directors over the years and the films they have been nominated for, they tend to be more dramatic and less comedic, with scripts whose characters inspire and move them and keeping their audiences at the edge of their seats.

    “Barbie” doesn’t quite fit in that category. 

    Despite being a pop culture phenomenon that swept the box office by storm, taking in nearly 1.5 billion dollars globally, making it the highest grossing film of 2023, and the 14th of all time, “Barbie” is still bravura filmmaking from Greta Gerwig’s creative vision sending a “positive” message to all girls and women alike around the world. It’s a modern day women’s lib movie. It’s also the kind of movie that the public needs and wants to see.

    The only other box office smash of recent times in comparison that comes to mind with having such a huge inspirational social impact like “Barbie” was Marvel’s “Black Panther” which empowered both black men and women alike. That film made 1.4 billion dollars globally and is in the Top 20 all-time list, but even director, Ryan Coogler wasn’t up for a nomination either.

    In response to Margot Robbie not getting the nomination for Best Actress,..it’s not “snubbery” at all.

    The Actor’s branch tend to nominate actors who takes risks and challenges with scripts that require a full range of human emotions that plastic doll characters cannot possibly possess. The Actor’s branch know Robbie can act in biopics, such as Tonya Harding (I, Tonya) or even a caricature of one, such as Kayla Pospisil (Bombshell) in which she received Academy Award nominations for, but they don’t generally recognize actors who don’t need to transform themselves much. What is the challenge in that?

    Margot Robbie personifies “Barbie”. She looks and sounds like “Barbie”, so you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to have cast her in the title role, since she is “Barbie” in real life. She was made for “Barbie”…or should I say “Barbie” was made for her.

    Which is why, Ryan Gosling got the nomination. He overshadowed Robbie in just about every scene they were in together. Before the movie was in production, everyone questioned and even doubted the casting of Gosling to portray Ken. It just seemed like a bad choice. No one questioned the casting of Margot Robbie. When the movie was finally released those doubts were thrown out the window. Pure casting genius.

    Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig on the set of “Barbie”. Courtesy of Warner Bros.

    If you still want to play the “snub” game, you don’t have to look far at all to notice the other incredible performances who were left out of this year’s race. For the Best Actress category, it wasn’t just Margot Robbie who didn’t make the cut, but Greta Lee (Past Lives), Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple), Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman (May December). 

    If there are any snubs in Hollywood, it would be for actors who have the portray “bad people”. For example, Leonard diCaprio, in another unforgettable role plays “the white man” who plots to kill his Native American wife, Molly (Lily Gladstone), in “Killer’s of the Flower Moon”.

    Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman from “May December” didn’t get nominations either. Is it because Moore plays a pedaphile and Portman, who plays an actress in the movie, wants to portray her in her own movie?

    Still, with Barbie’s astounding eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Gerwig and Robbie deservedly still got Oscar nominations, since they were both producers of the film, so they weren’t totally snubbed by the Academy as a whole…and they certainly were not snubbed by the movie going public who made it the most popular movie of 2023.

    As far as the word “snub”. It’s just a four-letter word and should be used sparingly. 90% of the time, I feel it is used inappapropriately, especially when it comes to the Oscar season.

    If I had to choose the “perfect snub”, I would have to choose Paul Giamatti’s snub for Best Actor for his performance in the 2003 film “Sideways”. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including two for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, screenplay, and Director, Alexander Payne.

    Perhaps the Academy thought he was playing himself? Perhaps he will get payback for “The Holdovers”.

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    THE DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR THAT MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN MADE: 20 DAYS OF MARIUPOL

    Posted on December 30, 2023 by mlsentertainment
    20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
    directed, produced and filmed by MSTYSLAV CHERNOV. Courtesy of PBS

    Article by Marcus Siu

    When watching the evening news every night on television with its almost repetitive nature of headlines covering yet another senseless mass killing somewhere in the U.S, I often hear criticism from others claiming there is hardly any media coverage in other parts of the world whose acts are even more tragic and horrific. 

    This is true, especially in those countries that do not represent human rights and whose brutal leaders do not want the “truth” to be exposed, especially when they are hiding possible war crimes. Such is the case in Ukraine, with the Russian invasion of the city of Mariupol.

    The public takes it for granted that media covers just about everything with the utmost detail in the free world, but in reality, they have very little knowledge of what types of obstacles that journalists are up against in many corners of the world. Media certainly has its limitations with communications and can possibly spread misinformation or even disinformation that follows a propaganda agenda.

    This is why director Mstyslav Chernov made “20 Days of Mariupol”.

    “20 Days of Mariupol” is one of those rare films that shows the challenges that war-journalists have to face. Chernov, who also produced and shot the film, gives us a humanistic, yet non-sympathetic first person perspective of the ongoing crisis span during the first twenty days of the Russia-Ukraine war that your nightly news cannot possibly summarize, even if they had all of the footage sent to them on a timely basis each night for the broadcast.

    Chernov had forty minutes of his footage published on television, but still had a good thirty hours of unused footage that would be used for the source of his documentary, which won the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival nearly a year ago.

    “I wanted to do more with that because the scale was so huge and you can’t really show that with news pieces”, Chernov continues, “We live in age of not just misinformation but misinterpretation…to persist that misinterpretation we need much more context for better understanding in the audience.”

    “That’s where documentary films are becoming to be so important that they they give more than just one or two minute news pieces which can be overwhelming, but still you see them and you forget”, Cerno explained. “I kept meeting people who escaped from Mariupol who carried this city within them, but the city was did not exist anymore, so the city was just there in in their hearts. Making this film was also a way to to preserve it as it was being bombed and destroyed, but still existed. It was the way to preserve Mariupol in history, as well”.

    Along with Chernov, the film documents his AP (Associated Press) team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol as they struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more. 

    The film also draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.

    Chernov also serves as the narrator of the film and in spite of its subject matter, he does so in a calm fashionable manner. This was done after he realized he was imposing his emotions to the audience on the first take. His team agreed that his narration should sound like he would in a normal conversation, regardless of what was on screen. His narration reminds me of how Werner Herzog would narrate as an effective storyteller in his films, and it worked extremely well for this documentary.

    Courtesy of PBS

    Chernov initially emerged in 2008 as a fine arts photographer shooting in as many as forty different countries and winning awards all around the world. In 2013, he became the President of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPF) and eventually started documentary multi-format (photo/video/text) working in journalism for the Associated Press, as well as being a war correspondent covering international conflicts and novelist known for his coverage of the Revolution of Dignity, War in Donbas, the downing of flight MH17, Syrian civil war, and the Battle of Mosul in Iraq.

    He recently received the Pulitzer Prize for his work, shared with Evgeniy Maloletka, Vasilisa Stepanenko, and Lori Hinnant, for the Ukraine coverage. In addition, “20 Days of Mariupol” had just been selected last week as one of the fifteen shortlisted films to be elgible for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature film, as well as being shortlisted for International Feature film representing the country of Ukraine.

    Unlike most documentaries, it is free to stream and accessible to everyone on YouTube above. It is also available on the PBS app. and is also available on DVD. Regardless of its bleak nature, this is essential viewing for everyone.

    (L-R) Rick Goldsmith interviews Director Mstyslav Chernov at a screening of “20 Days of Mariupol” in San Francisco. Photo by Marcus Siu.

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    THE ONGOING BATTLE BETWEEN MOVIE STUDIOS AND STREAMING COMPANIES

    Posted on November 29, 2023 by mlsentertainment
    Epic movies such as Napoleon needs the big screen experience. Courtesy of Apple TV+

    Article by Marcus Siu

    Does anyone remember the good old days when families would gather together at the dinner table and interact with each other in meaningful conversations? The same days when we get our news through printed newspapers that were delivered to people’s homes everyday, along with watching real news broadcasts on local TV? The same days when newly released movies were exclusively only shown in movie theaters?

    Times have certainly changed.

    The difference between the past and the present is that is we were all connected through human interaction instead of connected through a user interface of a computer device. Back then, there was no internet, no cell phones, no computers, and no tablets to distract our plain and simple lives.

    Who would have thought that before PC’s became mainstream that the classic Eagles song lyrics to “Hotel California” would be even more meaningful than it was when it was originally released over forty years ago – “we are just all prisoners of our own device”. Certainly that sure rings true more than ever before.

    As technology changed, so did the way we consumed our movies. You can see it with each brand new generation over the years. No one would have ever thought thirty years ago, that kids these days would prefer to watch movies on their iPhones than have an immersive personal and social experience at a movie theater with their friends.

    Certainly, the great epic cinematic directors of the past, like David Lean and Stanley Kubrick never would have imagined that people would be able to watch their classic films, “Lawrence of Arabia” or “2001: A Space Odyssey” on a small device, such as a smartphone, but I would think they would be turning over their grave if they overheard someone saying that they watched their entire film while waiting at the DMV, but due to the movie’s length, had to recharge their smartphone battery in the middle of it…because it was too long.

    Both “2001: A Space Odyssey”and “Lawrence of Arabia” was shot in Panavision in 70mm. Movies like that were made to be socially experienced on the big screen. The great movie theaters that displayed them, like the legendary iconic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood were the “chosen” few where the masses would wait in line for hours for the total larger than life experience. That’s how epic filmmakers initally intended to present it.

    Unfortunately for movie theaters, which are becoming more extinct each day, the majority of the movie going audience shifted toward streaming services. You can partially blame it on the studios lack of original content and focusing on movies based on the Marvel Comic Universe, studio franchises (Mission Impossible, Fast and the Furious), and remakes that have been done numerous times. There is just not much offering to a demographic that wants originality.

    I mean, really, do we really need another “Willy Wonka” movie?

    Barbie became Warner Brothers highest grossing movie ever. Courtesy of Warner Bros.

    However, there is hope as witnessed by last summer. Moviegoers flocked back to the movie theaters, thanks to the “Barbenheimer” nationwide phenomena that saved movie theaters from a potentially dreadful year at the box office.

    Barbie became Warner Brother’s highest grossing movie ever both domestically and globally raking in over $1.4 billion. It is also became number 11 in the all-time top ten box office, passing the “Avenger’s End Game” and helped boost the R-rated “Oppenheimer” box office ticket sales as the campaign encouraged a much younger demographic audience to want to see it.

    Now with the serious fall movie offerings finally upon us, the studios are finally showing some of their aces to hopefully grab some Oscar nominations. Many of these are from” streaming studios that normally don’t have limited or wide release theatrical showings.

    Netflix’s “Maestro”, “May December” and “Nyad”, Amazon’s “American Fiction” and “Rustin”, and Apple’s “Flower and the Killer Moon”, and “Napoleon”, just to name a few, will most likely get nominations for numerous awards, as well as for Best Picture.

    However, it looks like out of all the streaming services, Apple is the only company that is capitalizing on nationwide theatrical releases. “Killers of the Flower Moon” has already raked in over $150 million at the box office. “Napoleon” is it’s second week and has already made $78.8 million. Both films have greatly benefited through large film formats, such as IMAX.

    With both films costing $200 million to make, it is not necessary for their box office revenue numbers to surpass it. Ironically, Apple never really intended their movies to generate as much as it did. Hopefully, they will continue showing their films in theaters before streaming in onto their platform, but only time will tell.

    As a side note, director Ridley Scott who used 11 to 14 cameras and shot “Napoleon” in just 62 days, is currently editing a four hour version cut that focuses more on Josephine Bonaparte, played by Vanessa Kirby. It will be streamed on AppleTV+ at a later date and you can bet fans of Scott will want to see both versions.

    Overall, it doesn’t really seem like much of a risk for Apple to throw in gigantic production budgets to bonafide caliber directors with a great track record. We, as an audience, can experience a more accurate portrayal of their true vision on screen. Along with $200 million dollar budgets to play with along with and total creative control, you can bet the world’s greatest directors, such as Scorcese or Scott, will give you your moneys worth on the big screen at your local theater…

    …but maybe not so much on a smartphone, though.

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    META’S LATEST NEXT-GEN RAY BAN SMART-GLASSES CAN MAKE ANYONE A SMART-PERSON

    Posted on October 30, 2023 by mlsentertainment
    Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg addresses the crowd at the Meta Connect Keynote on 9/27/23. Photo by Marcus Siu.

    Article by Marcus Siu

    Do you remember the scene in the classic 1999 science fiction thriller film “The Matrix”, when Neo (Keanu Reeves) asks Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) if she could fly the “B-21 2” helicopter, and she responds “not yet” and makes a phone call to Tank, the operator. and says, “Tank, I need a pilot program for a B-21/2 helicopter. … Hurry!” As Tank searches the program and uploads it into Trinity’s mind, Trinity re-opens her eyes, and says to Neo, “let’s go!”.

    Don’t we all wish we could do something magical like that?

    As Neo and Trinity fly in the helicopter to save their friend Morpheus, wouldn’t it be great to be able to experience first hand to what they are experiencing with their own eyes and ears? Maybe, even in real time?

    Well, Meta’s latest Ray Ban smart-glasses seem to be heading in that direction with their latest next-gen Meta Ray Ban smart-glasses but instead of using “Tank” as the operator, the operator is “Meta”…and yes, you can now experience someone else’s POV experience with the new smart-glasses through live streaming with the help of Meta A.I.

    Though, you might not be able to fly a helicopter immediately like Trinity did in “The Matrix” with Meta’s smart-glasses, you might be able to do simpler things that you might not have been able to do in the past. For example, you will be soon be able to fix a leaky faucet…but more on that later.

    Compared to the first generation of Meta smart-glasses, “Ray Ban Stories”, which Meta introduced two years ago, it’s latest model is quite a huge leap forward in technological specs and design.

    The next-gen model has a superior 12MP camera that produces superior images with its 1080p HD video, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 Platform, all-new custom designed speakers with extended bass two times more powerful than the original, 50% higher maximum volume, and improved directional audio that provides reduced audio leakage for improved calls, music, and podcasts — even in noisy or windy environments.

    The new design of the microphone has a five microphone array, which captures the sound exactly how it was experienced, so you can relive your experience anytime you want. They are a lot lighter in weight, so they are much more comfortable then its predecessor.

    Amidst the much improved physical and technical specifications, the real selling point, though is its Meta A.I. These next-gen smart-glasses are the very first Meta smart-glasses to include Meta A.I. in them.

    “I think that’s smart glasses are gonna be an important platform for the future, not only because they’re the natural way to put holograms in the world and put digital objects in our physical space but also because smart glasses are the ideal form factor for you to let an A.I. see what you’re seeing and hear what you’re hearing…” Mark Zuckerberg

    Presently, in its present form – right out of the box, Meta smart-glasses users are able to ask basic A.I. questions, recommendations or even translations, just as Google or Alexa would answer, except you would address the name as “Meta”. However, because the glasses are much more portable with you while wearing them where ever you go, as opposed to having to be near a Google Home or Amazon Alexa device, it will always be much more convenient to utilize Meta A.I. because you can always be connected where ever you go…

    But that’s just the beginning of Meta A.I.

    Next year, according to Meta’s co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta is planning on issuing a freeware update which will make the Meta smart-glasses multimodal, which means the Meta A.I. assistant will understand what you are looking at while you are asking your question. Examples include having Meta A.I. identify a building, landmark or monument that you are looking at and giving you a brief history or description of it, just like a personal tour guide would, or translating an international sign not in English and translating it for you, and of course that I mentioned earlier, looking at a leaky faucet and asking how to fix it.

    Continuous updates will just only make it smarter and smarter.

    “Multimodal” will be the latest word for next years update for the Meta/Ray Ban glasses. Photo by Marcus Siu

    Even after seventy five years, the classic Ray-Ban Wayfarer glasses never seemed to go out of style. They were made famous by iconic Hollywood stars such as James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause”, Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany”, Tom Cruise in “Risky Business”, and not to mention Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones from the “Men in Black” movie franchise.

    Meta added Ray-Ban’s “Headliner” line glasses to their new lineup smart-glasses, for those who prefer a more retro-style design. They even come with prescription glasses, for those who already wear glasses. Overall, there are at least 150 different combination/options you can choose from that Ray Ban has to offer.

    I was lucky enough to experience a full demo of the the Ray Ban/Meta glasses at Meta Connect last month. I was quite impressed and believe Zuckerberg will probably be correct in predicting that Meta A.I. smart-glasses will be the next big platform for the masses.

    It’s incredible what we can do with it in its compact form: listening to music, podcasts or just taking phone calls. Considering the smart-glasses weigh only 1.7 ounces, the speakers, even when outside, sound surprisingly clear and accurate. Also, the sound doesn’t drown out the physical environment noise around you. It seems to blend naturally into the physical soundscape.

    With five microphones, it will seamlessly record what you are experiencing as realistically, as possible. The multichannel surround is not just coming from the left-right side, but in front and from behind, and to the sides, adding to its immersive realism during playback. I was able to playback my recorded experience and felt that I was reliving it all over again. Talk about deja vu.

    Without even touching a button on the smart-glasses, all the user has to say now is, “Meta, shoot photo” or “Meta, shoot video”, or even “Meta, send photo to mom” while wearing Meta’s smart-glasses. It shoots exactly what you see through your glasses (POV) and captures and sends the experience on command. As an option, you can also live-stream it in real time to your friends or audience on Instagram or Facebook.

    Gone are the days of abruptly fumbling with ones smartphone and trying to locate the camera (or video) app for that quick photo that they don’t want to miss.

    Sharing an experiencing going down a ski slope, or hiking trip, or on top of a mountain will bring brand new immersive experiences to others. Other experiences that might be great to document would be meeting a person for the first time, or going through a petting zoo, or just walking through a crowd of people in the street. The possibilities are endless…though, we are limited to up to 60 seconds of HD video. Of course, birthday parties, weddings, graduations or any traditional gatherings of any kind are always welcome, as well.

    Up to 32GB of storage can be saved. which is equivalent to 500 photos or one hundred 30 second HD video clips. The camera shoots in portrait mode, and has video stabilization built in.

    Thanks to Meta A.I., exciting times are ahead of us for wannabe helicopter pilots and plumbers.

    The many selections that you can choose from on display at Meta Connect 2023. Photo by Marcus Siu.
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    FAREWELL TO 25 YEARS OF RED ENVELOPES MAILBOXES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

    Posted on September 30, 2023 by mlsentertainment
    Netflix ends its DVD rental business

    Article by Marcus Siu

    September 29th marks a very sad day for the remaining one million loyal Netflix DVD subscribers including myself. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the company announced earlier this year to pull the plug and close its DVD rental operations.

    Needless to say, the DVD rental business for the company had been dwindling down ever since its streaming services became the primary choice for its subscribers all over the world and disrupted the video and movie industry.

    To give you an idea, Netflix’s DVD revenue totaled $60 million for the first six months of 2023. In comparison, Netflix’s streaming revenue in the United States for the same period reached $6.5 billion. In 2022, the DVD business generated $145.7 million, down 20% year-over-year, which represented just 0.5% of its total revenue. That’s just half of one percent!

    In their early beginnings in 1998, they couldn’t have chosen a more opportune time to get into the DVD rental business. DVD’s were at the beginning of their popularity. It also was the perfect format to ship and mail off to millions of customers due to its light weight and size. They wouldn’t have been very profitable during the days of VHS and Beta. Could you imagine Netflix stuffings bulky VHS or Beta tapes in the mail to make it in the video rental business to try to make a profit?

    Instead of wasting time and gas and driving back and forth to rent and return the movies to brick and mortar video stores, customers only had to deal with their mailboxes with Netflix. They also had the luxury of returning it anytime, without any late fee to any mailbox. To many customers who are habitually late in returning their DVD rentals, it was a blessing.

    Netflix was the primary reason why Blockbuster Video went out of business in 2010, along with the many independent mom and pop video stores that was virtually in nearly every neighborhood.

    Nowadays, it’s unfathomable to even think that people actually made special trips back and forth to a video store just to rent and return a video.

    As a Netflix subscriber, I had two gripes. There was no way to filter down movie titles that were only available in blu-ray when searching thru their inventory. The other issue that I had was trying to figure out what version of the movie that I would get if there was a title that had been released multiple times, I wouldn’t be able to tell which version of the movie I would get. Customer service was useless with those issues.

    But, overall, I will miss this wonderful service.

    Netflix not only changed our lives forever with the good old “red envelope” rental subscription for a good ten to fifteen years, but also with the introduction of their streaming services in 2007 it changed the world and the way we watched movies.

    But is that a good thing?

    Sure there are lots of great popular shows that are currently streaming on Netflix, but unfortunately the number of streaming titles in their catalog are very limited and cannot compete with the number of titles in the Netflix DVD catalog. Netflix streams about 4,000 titles at any given time, but during the peak of DVD rentals ten years ago, there were as many as 100,000 titles to choose from when DVD rental subscription peaked with over 20 million subscribers before streaming was even an option.

    With their former DVD subscription, it was great to be able to search their vast inventory ranging from not just blockbuster feature films, but TV shows, documentaries, foreign films, and even music performances and videos. In addition, I loved being able to watch the extras and bonus features that were included on the DVD’s.

    After mailing over five billion DVD’s and Blu-ray’s envelopes since 1998, Netflix has come to the end of an era for DVD rentals, but it certainly has been a great twenty five year run for Netflix and its appreciative customers, such as myself. It was a major part of my life.

    In the future, I hope Netflix will realize that there is a demand for their own titles that should be released to home media. I do see some hope as “The Irishman” did get a release on the Criterion label, but would love to see more Netflix releases, such as “Squid Game” get a release, as well.

    If they decide against releasing their movies to retail, they could at least compromise and have more special supplements streamable, like they did for “The Irishman”, with a Q&A session. I still want to know how certain movies were made along with a behind the scenes featurette, and watch interviews and commentaries with the filmmakers.

    Now with my Netflix DVD subscription coming to an end, I may be forced to change my viewing habits and subscribe to their streaming services, but I know I will absolutely miss seeing Netflix’s red envelope in my mailbox every few days.

    It’s like losing a good friend…

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    COMING SOON TO A 2024 TV NEAR YOU – INTRODUCING DOLBY ATMOS FLEXCONNECT

    Posted on August 31, 2023 by mlsentertainment

    Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, a first coming to TCL TVs in 2024, is setting a new benchmark for TV sound    .
    Courtesy of Dolby Laboratories.

    Article by Marcus Siu

    Exciting news from Dolby Laboratories this week, as they just announced their latest innovation in immersive audio – Dolby Atmos FlexConnect. Dolby has partnered TCL, who will be the first to implement Dolby Atmos FlexConnect into its 2024 TV lineup.

    This would mean that consumers will actually have the option of not having to buy a sound bar with their new TV’s, which have become almost mandatory since flat panel screens were introduced twenty five years ago, as these TV’s rarely had great sound systems built into them to begin with.

    Dolby Atmos FlexConnect is a new feature that seamlessly pairs together a TV’s sound system, with accessory wireless speakers to unlock a more extensive and immersive Dolby Atmos sound experience. It then intelligently optimizes the sound for any room layout and speaker setup, transforming any seat into the best seat in the house. TCL will also launch a line of accessory wireless speakers designed to complement its upcoming lineup of TVs with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect.

    What does this mean to your average consumer? To many housewives who prefer a living room, rather than a living room surrounded by mammoth speakers, cables and wires, it means not having to bitch to their home-theater husbands, “it’s either you or your home theater” ultimatum. That can be quite consoling to the average family household.

    Consumers no longer need to trade aesthetic appeal for sound performance. Thanks to Dolby Atmos FlexConnect ‘s calibration technology, there is no need to reconfigure existing living spaces. Once calibrated, the system combines each accessory device with the TV’s speakers to unlock the best sound performance and deliver a great Dolby Atmos sound experience tailored to the listener’s home. Sound systems will assume the speakers are set in reference locations.

    There will also be no need to move the surrounding furniture equidistant to where your living room sofa, coffee table and TV are located, that your typical home theater setup requires. The freedom of keeping that perfectly designed space before the very thought of adding a home theater, strategically having to deal with speaker placement of the rear speakers or surrounds is no longer an issue.

    Also, imagine the luxury of not having to deal with speaker wires or HDMI cables going across the floor that A/V receivers need to deal with. Accidents will be prevented. No more tripping over the speaker wires that you thought were concealed enough not to be noticed. Even the location of power outlets will no longer be an issue.

    “Consumers shouldn’t have to move their furniture to experience better audio, but rather audio should adapt to them,” said John Couling, Senior Vice President, Entertainment, Dolby Laboratories. “Dolby Atmos FlexConnect is an entirely new category of experience that offers consumers the freedom and flexibility to choose how they want to arrange their devices while still getting a great immersive Dolby Atmos experience.”

    “We are very proud to take a significant step forward on the future of immersive audio with our latest partnership with Dolby. Delivering great experiences for our customers is at the forefront of what we do,” said Frédéric Langin, Chief Commercial Officer, TCL Europe. “With Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, users can unlock incredible immersive sound no matter how they arrange their audio devices. We can’t wait to introduce the world to this new tailored sound experience with our upcoming lineup of TVs and accessory wireless speakers.”

    According to Dolby, FlexConnect will be able to adapt to various different types of speakers, even if they’re made by different brands. It gives speaker makers lots of freedom to come up with different device combinations and form factors, Dolby added, so we could see some interesting new audio devices appear in support of the technology. 

    With Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, listeners will be drawn deeper into their favorite entertainment, fully immersing them in sound through the simplicity of their TV’s sound system and complementing speakers.

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