Mario Piano Medley!
Pianist Andrew Johnson put together a medley of some of the themes from Super Mario Brothers. He’s even got the sheet music for sale.
∞ March 28th, 2012
Steve Martin Composing New Music for Shakespeare
Dave Itzkoff reporting for the New York Times:
Steve Martin — who, when he is not writing, acting or tweeting, is also an accomplished banjo player — will write new music to be performed by a live bluegrass band for the Shakespeare in the Park production of “As You Like It.”
“As You Like It” will be presented at the Delacorte Theater from June 5 through 30.
I am incredibly excited for this.
∞ March 8th, 2012The Wizard of Oz Focus Group
Hands down, the best part of Sunday’s Academy Awards show. This will have to tide us over until Christopher Guest and Company buckle down and make another movie.
∞ February 28th, 2012
Now I Know
Dan Lewis started this great little daily newsletter (I normally hate those) called Now I Know with a few paragraphs on a topic that you likely know nothing about. Or, more often, some specific bit of new information about a topic that you are familiar (i.e. movies, coffee, apples, etc)
My favorite bit from a recent edition titled “Moving Pictures” on how the motion picture industry ended up in Hollywood:
Because [Thomas] Edison held so many patents, and because these patents applied to both the creation of movies and the technology used to run movie theaters, he was able to cajole other patent holders into forming a consortium which he would lead. Together, these firms formed the Motion Picture Patent Company, and exhibited a near monopoly on the production, distribution, and exhibition of all things film. The MPPC’s Wikipedia entry sums up well how viciously the company enforced its patents:
[T]he MPPC also established a monopoly on all aspects of filmmaking. Eastman Kodak, which owned the patent on raw film stock, was a member of the Trust and thus agreed to only sell stock to other members. Likewise, the Trust’s control of patents on motion picture cameras ensured that only MPPC studios were able to film, and the projector patents allowed the Trust to make licensing agreements with distributors and theaters – and thus determine who screened their films and where.
In short, if you wanted to be in the movie business, you did so at the pleasure of Thomas Edison. And Edison (via the MPPC) was not one to back down. The Company took to the courts to prevent the unauthorized use of everything from cameras to projectors — and in many cases, the films themselves. According to Steven Bach in his book, Final Cut, the MPPC even went to the extreme “solution” of hiring mob-affiliated thugs to enforce the patents extra-judiciously. Pay up — or else.
Many in the film industry, known as “independents,” chose a third option: flee. California made a lot of sense, not only for the reasons listed above, but also because it was in an area where judges were less friendly to the patents awarded to Edison and company. And even if the patents were held valid (or if the MPPC again tried to go with the extrajudicial solution), enforcement would be tricky, as cross-continental travel was expensive and cumbersome for mobsters and federal marshals alike. This time lag was all the “independents” needed, as the Company’s patents were expiring and the organization was losing antitrust cases in the courts.
Hollywood, born out of a desire to avoid Edison’s intellectual property claims, quickly became the primary location of the motion picture industry.
Thomas Edison, Hollywood scoundrel.
∞ February 24th, 2012