matthew’s alibi

The iconic Tivo peanut remote.

Big news when TiVo spokesperson Shanan confirmed in a recent email that Netflix was coming to TiVo:

Starting next month, all TiVo® HD customers* are going to fall in love withNetflix® all over again (it’s even better the second time around!)

I was suprised at the “second time around” phrasing.  Just me, or is her implication that most TiVo customers — who were on the bleeding edge before cable and satellite providers got in the DVR business — have probably abandoned physical media like Netflix by now?

My own wishful thinking, or is she calling physical media passé?  

If that is what she’s saying, it’s so Everything is Miscellaneous I can hardly stand it.  

I also think that it’s true.  

OnDemand and DVRs make it easy to have more-than-you-could-ever-watch waiting every time you turn on the TV.  I let my Blockbuster Online membership go for that reason: between cable OnDemand and Amazon Video On Demand, there are better options than waiting on a disc in the mail. 

At this point, the only advantage Netflix has left is the depth of their catalogue.  But, that’s no small consideration, and with the prospect of their bigger catalogue available set-top — which would mean no longer having to fumble with mail and wait days before movies arrived — I was all set to re-join Netflix.

But wait, there’s bad news:

Netflix is only available for the HD Tivo boxes, and those require cable cards.  I may be the only person in the U.S. who’s in no hurry to upgrade to HD – (HD?  Please.  I watch Roseanne and Paula Deen.  I love them both, but I can see as much of them as I need to in regular definition) – but I’m sure that I’m not the only Tivo customer who doesn’t want to switch to cable card (which would mean losing access to my cable’s OnDemand service, which is how I watch about half of the TV I see, and pretty much all of the premium stuff like True Blood, Dexter, and This American Life.)

But wait, there’s less!  Not only do Series2 users not get the new Netflix feature, they also get to be guinea pigs for interstitial ads when they pause or fast forward!

To be clear, this is not a solution to the problem of lower ad revenue for content producers because of less eyeballs on TV ads — this is an end run around content producers.  The folks who benefit from these interstitial ads are not the people producing the shows — rather, it’s TiVo who benefits, and, as a subscriber, I am already paying them monthly in order to be able to skip the ads.  Or, as Gizmodo commenter Killtodie succintly phrases:  ”this is bullshit. im already paying your fuckin ass. no fuckin ads for paid service godfuckin damn it.”

 Gizmodo, incidentally, hit the nail on the head:

Evidently, asking customers to pay a reasonable subscription cost for small bits of publicly available data to be downloaded to proprietary hardware sold above cost is just not as profitable as it used to be.

Too bad.  I love TiVo, but this is no way to keep the loyalty of (even the most rabidly evangelical) customer.

Random House offers backlist titles for free on iPhone e-book reader Stanza

I got an early Christmas present this morning, when I read on Charlie Huston’s blog, PulpNoir, that the third book in his Hank Thompson trilogy is now available, free and legal, as an over-the-air download, for the best iPhone e-book reader around, Stanza.

And better still, it’s not just Huston’s books that are available:

This promotion will allow over 500,000 Stanza users to enjoy free eBooks from a varied list of authors including Alan Furst, Julie Garwood, Charlie Huston, David Liss, Laurie Notaro, Arthur Phillips and Simon Rich. The initial offerings will be drawn from each author’s backlist and will include excerpts for any new hardcovers coming in 2009. Random House is providing links to retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Borders.com, Powells.com and IndieBound.org to encourage readers to purchase more books by these authors.

Is it possible that the book business is finally learning from the music industry’s mistakes?  Just maybe they’re not going to fight this whole digital age thing tooth and nail?

“A free eBook is a great way to sample a new writer, and help spread the word,” says Charlie Huston, whose novels ‘Caught Stealing’, ‘Six Bad Things’, and ‘A Dangerous Man’ will all be available on Stanza. “Besides, it’s good to give things away. They’re books. We write them for people to read them.”

So, can I just take a minute on how much I love Charlie Huston?  A friend recommended him to me just last week on Facebook, and, having since read Caught Stealing in a few breathless sittings, I’ll vouch for the fact that this is a guy writes fantastic neo-noir.

Also, he says all the right things about the digital future of reading.  I am seriously swooning.

What are publishing houses doing with their backlist right now?  For all their big talk about the long tail, the answer is still “not nearly enough.”

Here’s an opportunity for writers and publishers to use backlist titles that are too costly to stock in a physical store in order to build a writer’s reputation, and to engender goodwill among readers.  And it doesn’t cost them anything.  It creates a market for the writer’s new books by lowering the threshold to giving an unfamiliar author a try.  

And, more readers rise all boats, so to speak.

As Huston has pointed out elsewhere on his blog, the whole experience of reading on a screen is new, and not for everyone.  I suspect that many folks will decide they don’t want to read a whole book on a 3.5 inch screen, and will pick up a paper copy.  Or, they’ll order the dead tree version of Already Dead to have on hand for when they finish Caught Stealing onscreen, like I did this week.

After a decade of general bone-headedness about digital distribution, smart moves from content creators and content distributors are the exception rather than the rule.  So, Hallelujah and good job, Random House.

Old Bank District dressed up for the holidays. Photo credit: Brian Callaway Photography

They’re shutting down the streets of the Old Bank District tonight (that’s main street between 4th and 5th) in downtown L.A., to make room for a holiday block party.

Besides cool buildings and pretty lights, they’re planning on

• a jazz cafe
• a beer garden
• extended hours at some local merchants and restaurants; some restaurants will be donating a portion of their proceeds to local charities, while some retailers will have one-night-only specials (details at LABuzzBlog)
• a local artists bazaar, with nothing priced over $200

Plus, awesome bands, presented by LittleRadio.com. Here’s the line-up:

06:30-07:00 Restaurant
07:15-07:45 Dawes
08:00-08:30 Rumspringa
08:45-09:15 The Like
09:30-10:00 Whispertown 2000
10:15-10:45 The Afternoons

I’m going to try to make it down to see the Like, in particular, plus Whispertown 2000, who are very buzzy right now (alledgedly Jenny Lewis’s favorite band, if that means anything to you…)

Volksbuhne gets the party started in their production of Ivanov.

It’s been a day now since I saw Volksbuhne’s production of Ivanov, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

While I was watching it, my mind was made up:  I have not checked my watch as often at a performance in I don’t know how long.  And I like avant-garde, but two and a half intermission-less hours of a Russian play, performed in shout-y German, with poorly-paced English supertitle translations?  Yowzers!

This is a far cry from that other smokey people-in-funny-costumes-yelling-at-the-audience show that rocked the festival a couple of seasons ago, Forced Entertainment’s exquisite Bloody Mess.

One key difference: Forced Entertainment must believe that, first and foremost, avant-garde or not, you’ve got to entertain the audience.

That may be unfair; if I understood German, I imagine I would feel very differently about this production, but since I don’t, I found it to be closer to 4.48 Psychose (the Isabelle Huppert version!) than Bloody Mess.

And my issue is not with the company – Volksbuhne is deservedly acclaimed, first-rate, brilliant, and worth seeing.  These actors are magnetic, even if you don’t understand their words.

And it’s not the staging, which is inventive and beautiful, making use of a towering wall of smoke, whose creation involved re-venting the entire theater.  Worth every bit of the considerable trouble and expense it must have taken to create.

But if you’re not familiar with Chekhov’s first play, this show is tremendously inaccessible.

This is Checkhov chopped and screwed; Russian classic drama ground up and reconstituted as German post-modernism.  And what was missing, (for me, anyway), was the context.

After reading some of today’s reviews and getting some background on the production, I began to like it better.  But, if you’re not familiar with the plot and themes of Ivanov — and honestly, even among regulars at the International Theater Festival, that’s pretty obscure, right?  am I the only one who missed out on Ivanov in school? — and if you don’t have a passing familiarity with themes in Chekov, I wouldn’t hope to get much out of this production.   (If it hadn’t been for Charles McNulty’s generous review, I would not have realized that part of the pastiche here is dialogue from The Cherry Orchard.  Also part of the pastiche:  lots of Celine Dion.  Did I mention “yowzers?”)

If you are familiar with those things (apparently some people are), I bet you’ve already got your tickets to this production.  If you aren’t, but you’re intrigued, I suggest spending some time with Wikipedia before you head to the Freud Playhouse.

So, shame on me for not doing my research before I saw the show, so I could have enjoyed it while I was watching it, rather than just admiring it in retrospect.

Looking for trouble in Los Angeles? Here are five ideas for this week…

Mary Kay Wulf, Angela Goethals and Rusty Schwimmer in John Guare's "The House of Blue Leaves" at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo Credit: Craig Schwartz

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2008:  HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES at the MARK TAPER FORUM

With a $30 million renovation complete, the Mark Taper Forum re-opens with America’s first major production of John Guare’s House of Blue Leaves in over twenty years.

The most impressive thing about the play’s original Broadway run was the cast — which included Swoosie Kurtz, Stockard Channing, Danny Aiello, Ben Stiller, Julie Hagerty, Christine Baranski and Patricia Clarkson.

Which is to say, I’ve never been a fan of the play itself.

And also, I think it’s an odd choice for the Taper’s gala re-opening.  John Guare has better (and better-known) plays  (Six Degrees of Separation, anyone?)

The Taper has hosted plenty of notable world premieres  in its history, as well – plays from writers like August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, Neil Simon, Ariel Dorman and (notably) Tony Kushner. They’ve got such a rich history of great work which they played a role in creating – why pick a show that has no history at the Taper?
How great would it be to showcase a revival of Angels in America, which actually premiered at the Taper nearly twenty years ago, and which went on to win the Pulitzer?

It’s probably worth seeing House of Blue Leaves just in order to see the theater renovations, but I’m sure that I’m not the only one scratching my head over this choice.

Daniel Okulitch portrays Seth Brundle in "The Fly," at the LA Opera. Photo credit: LA Opera, Robert Millard

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2008:  THE FLY at the L.A. OPERA

Thank heaven for the L.A. Opera, which, unlike some performing arts companies in Los Angeles *ahem* does actually make a point of showcasing new work.

And then gets mixed reviews and technical gremlins for the trouble, granted. But still – how fantastic is it to live in a city that gets a world premiere of a really interesting new opera, one that even has a shot of attracting some non-opera fans?

The Fly brings together composer Howard Shore (who composed the Lord of the Rings film music), director David Cronenberg (who directed the still-beloved 1986 film), and playwright David Henry Hwang (best known for the Tony Award winning M. Butterfly.)

But, if you read certain blogs, you’re probably most familiar with the show because of the hunky fly-to-be (larva?) Daniel Okulitch.  If all opera singers looked like this, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion would be filled with gay men every night.  Oh, wait…

Chazz Paminteri in "A Bronx Tale." Photo credit: Joan Marcus.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2008:  A BRONX TALE at the WADSWORTH THEATER

Chazz Paminteri brings his revival of A Bronx Tale on tour to Los Angeles after last year’s Broadway revival.

The play, which got its premiere right here in L.A. in 1990, is perhaps better known for the 1993 film version, which marked Robert DeNiro’s directorial debut.

DeNiro aside, this revival’s director is hardly a slacker – four-time Tony winner Jerry Zaks helms the show.  (Coincidentally, one of those Tonys was for directing the Broadway production of House of Blue Leaves.)

The stage version is a one-man show about Palminteri’s childhood in the Bronx in the 1960’s, reach your potential, trust your heart, etc. etc.

"9 to 5" cast members Stephanie J. Block, Allison Janney and Megan Hilty with Dolly Parton. Photo credit: Justin Stephens for Center Theater Group.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2008:  9 to 5 at the AHMANSON THEATER

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here!  (and on its way to Broadway!)

And I’m usually all uppity about musicals based on movies, and jukebox musicals, and other cynical ploys to fill theaters by rehashing established franchises.

But this is Dolly.  Plus, the film was written and directed by Colin Higgins (whose Harold and Maude has got to be the greatest movie of the 70’s.  Or possibly, ever.)  And Allison Janney!

Not long ago, I watched 9 to 5 the movie for the first time in years, and came away feeling that it holds up unevenly.  Ultimately, though, it’s just not possible to fail too badly with Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in the lead.

But the movie works best on the level of kitschy period piece with a twist (namely, Dabney Coleman in bondage); the sexual politics of the film seem much closer to Mad Men than it is to the twenty-first century.  It will be interesting to see how (and if) the stage version dusts off the movie’s gender politics.

826la

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008:  826LA’s FALL-TIME YUK-FEST at the AVALON HOLLYWOOD

The hipster homework-helpers at 826la promise an evening “full of insightful comedy (and dogs on tightropes)” at their Fall Time Yuk-Fest this Wednesday at Avalon Hollywood.

Slated to appear are “Patton Oswalt, Janeane Garofalo, Tim & Eric, Jimmy Pardo, Bill Burr, Al Madrigal, and Bob Moore’s Amazing Mongrels, along with surprise guests.”

I know it’s for a good cause and all, but I’m not sure the PETA member in me can in good conscience support dogs on tightropes, so I may just stick to patronizing 826la’s recently-opened Time Travel Mart in Echo Park (which really is the obvious place for a Time Travel Mart in L.A. …)