Tag: Hypomania

HOW, exactly, does one write reality?

That’s the question being asked by close watchers of the credit rolls at the beginning or ending of theatrically released documentaries, which are increasingly featuring “written by” credits.

While a documentarian taking a writing credit for narration rarely raises eyebrows, nonfiction filmmakers are also beginning to consider the behind-the-scenes structuring of their films to be a type of writing. The trend, which is being shepherded by the Writers Guild, a union representing television and film writers, has some documentary film editors and directors worried that it threatens to redefine their job descriptions and confuse viewers, who may believe that a documentary that has been written is a less credible depiction of reality.

COULD James Adomian become the first man to break through as an openly gay stand-up star?

The thought popped into my head as he performed last month in front of an almost entirely male audience at the Rockbar, on Christopher Street. In a hat, with a confident, wry smile and a thin mustache, Mr. Adomian, whose debut album “Low Hangin Fruit” (Earwolf) was released on Monday, is a casually handsome performer who doesn’t come across as clearly gay or straight. He has a low-boiling energy onstage — confident, jaunty but not aggressive — and his set features solidly constructed, verbally playful jokes enlivened by an uncanny ability to channel a subway crowd or a larger-than-life character.

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/saving_cnn_v4rMBpSzQU7RKO4pmHZwwI

Suffering its worst ratings in 20 years, CNN is going Hollywood.

In the past few weeks, the No. 3 cable news channel has started seeking out reality-show ideas and big-name stars not afraid to talk politics. They have even begun working on a late-night talk show, The Post has learned.

Convinced that its current programming badly needs updating, CNN execs have been making the rounds of Hollywood’s top talent agencies — something entertainment networks do several times a year but a first for the old-line news channel.

In a series of conference calls, the network has also been soliciting ideas from the same producers who supply reality shows to channels like Bravo, Discovery and History, according to sources.

Even as cable/satellite TV carriers like Comcast and DirecTV squabble over dollars and cents with broadcast and cable networks like NBC and Viacom, the very structure of their decades-old business model is under attack from new Internet technologies and services, as well as new government regulations. At stake is the future of how people watch and pay for television and video – and who controls the experience.

I’m probably going to sound like the stereotypical old guy in the room here, but bear with me.

The first time I voted for president was in 1992 and, like many my age at the time, I voted for Bill Clinton. The reason should be obvious to anyone who lived through the presidential election of 1992: Clinton and his optimistic vision for America spoke to me as a young adult; he was the first president in my lifetime to truly reach out to the youth in a meaningful way and value their involvement in the political process and in building the country’s future.

Later, of course, we’d find out that the hand he was extending to the female youth of America was aimed mostly at their breasts, but it’s not like I knew that at the time. Clinton got me excited about politics, about America, and about my role in our democracy in a way that no one had before; he made me believe that I mattered; that the course the nation would take depended on me and those my age; that I indeed had a voice and a responsibility to use it — and so I rewarded him with my support and my vote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chez-pazienza/mtv-fantasy-election-2012_b_1760306.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/capital-girls-a-sort-of-gossip-girl-crossed-with-pretty-little-liars/2012/08/06/af145b6a-d5b8-11e1-a9e3-c5249ea531ca_story.html?hpid=z13

Their children left for college. And then Maz Rauber and Amy Reingold launched a project capitalizing on their strongest areas of expertise: Teenage girls and the U.S. capital.

Imagine “Gossip Girl,” but Washington-ized. Imagine if the power of “The West Wing” mated with the sleaze of “Jersey Shore” and the money of “Real Housewives of New York” — and the resulting offspring looked like “Pretty Little Liars,” but the falsehoods in question could derail the U.S. government. Imagine how oozy-rotten addicting that would be for your brain.

When Rauber and Reingold first pitched the idea to an agent, she sighed. “Five years ago,” in the fatter days of book publishing, she said, “I could have sold that on concept alone.”

But no. Rauber and Reingold’s new series “Capital Girls” had to happen now. It’s primed for this time of low approval ratings, of government stink eye — this time when the only way to get elected to go to Washington is to talk about how much you hate Washington.

It’s equally primed for this era in young adult literature when it seems like heroines are either master archers fighting in post-apocalyptic death matches or master back-stabbers fighting in post-adolescent grapples to get to the top of the social ladder (a marginally different kind of death match).

St. Martins Press bought the series in a three-book deal, published under the pseudonym Ella Monroe. The WB has already optioned a television adaptation.

The first book, “Capital Girls,” released Tuesday, introduces Jackie, the daughter of the chief of staff to the U.S. president. She’s dating Madame President’s son, Andrew, but sneaking into well-appointed offices with a handsome, older Hill aide. This dalliance leaves the door open for her friend Laura Beth, a Republicenne who fantasizes about a party-crossed love match with Andrew herself. Both girls mourn Taylor — a member of their clique who died in a mysterious car accident the year before — and suss out the motives of Whitney, the new-girl daughter of a gossip columnist who seems like she’s out to get them. Probably because she is out to get them.

For Google Inc.’s YouTube it was a $150 million experiment: Seed dozens of new video “channels” on its Web service and see what works.

So far, Google likes what it sees from the eight-month effort. The company says it will put in another $200 million to market the channels as it attempts to upgrade its content from simple user-generated videos and to lure more viewers and advertising.

The site has launched nearly 100 new channels so far this year, attracting talent such as actor Amy Poehler to create or star in original episodes in an effort to draw new audiences—and blue-chip advertisers.

YouTube has secured commitments from advertisers to run more than $150 million of ads on the channels this year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the sales.

YouTube officials declined to comment on the figures.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10000872396390444840104577549632241258356-lMyQjAxMTAyMDMwMTAzODE3Wj.html?mod=wsj_valetbottom_email