#and now Peter Jackson is working with the rival company

[gossip-girl-of-middleearth]

Oh my GODS it’s starting guys, Amazon and Warner Bros are beginning to get petty and fight each other over who’s better at LOTR 😂

[fandom-and-fantasy]

CAPTAIN FANDOM REVIEWS: SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME

In another powerhouse blockbuster from the Walt Disney Company’s Golden Goose (also known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Spider-Man: Far From Home brings a new hope to audiences left crushed by the climactic cinematic crossover finale — Avengers: Endgame. Starring Tom Holland in his reprisal role of Peter Parker, and Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) as Quentin Beck, Spider-Man: Far From Home slings a delightfully iconic character across the European continent in this laughter packed sequel.

Freshly returned from dust, Peter Parker and company are now living in a world “Post-Blip”. After the Avengers succeeded in bringing back those dusted in Avengers: Infinity War, the world contained within the MCU now sits 5 years in the future and with a division in their society created by those who were blipped and those who were not. Peter and friends are all the same age as they were in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which means that Peter, MJ, Ned, Flash, and Betty from the Student News were all dusted, and are now attending school with students who were previously five years younger than them.

While the set up for the brave new world is rigorous and a vital part of the story, the audience is never lost in the minutia of what the Marvel Universe is like now that everything has changed. Along with constant reminders of the five years where half of the world had been disintegrated in the pursuit of balance, broken down infrastructure, buildings in disrepair and disarray, the universe all has subtle but constant reminders of what was lost — murals and art projects and walls and shrines to Tony Stark’s Iron Man litter the background of the film. The reminders of Tony an ever present looming shade to Peter’s reminder that he is meant to be “the next Iron Man” and that he has impossibly big shoes to fill.

In a true teenage attempt to avoid a responsibility that he should not have to bear, Peter tries valiantly to avoid being Spider-Man as he accompanies his class on a trip through Europe.

While in Venice, a massive water monster appears and begins to wreak havoc on the city. Enter: Mysterio, a globe headed magician with glowing hands and sigils reminiscent of Doctor Strange, who valiantly fights off the canal water creature called an elemental - and Peter, having left his suit in the hotel, is forced to work with just his web shooters and a Venetian Carnival mask as he assists the newest player in the superhero scene.

Peter is then officially brought in by Nick Fury and Maria Hill (played by Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders, reprising from their Avengers roles) to assist Mysterio — Quentin Beck — who introduces himself as a dimension hopper from Earth-833 fighting Elementals that destroyed his own world.

With Fury and Hill equipping Peter, he works alongside Beck as “Spy”der-Man, and fights to not only save the picturesque European countryside, but also his classmates and his chances at a date with MJ.

The only real question audiences have left is — “Can Peter Parker really live up to the legacy of Iron Man?”

Overall: 5/5 — If I could rate it higher, I would. I laughed, I cried, I was constantly surprised. I enjoyed the ride 100%, and would definitely see it again.

Story: 3/5 — Okay, here’s where it gets complicated. On the surface this is a very simple story with a very simple villain and motivations that are clear but not necessarily the deepest. The best part of the story was the twist ending (found in the mid-credit scene, so if you don’t stay you’ll miss it!). I have several issues with the story overall, but my first and largest being that the MCU is in no way Earth-616 from the Marvel comics. There is no conceivable way. They’ve diverted far too much from the characters in 616 to even come close — and the storylines don’t match up. As an avid comics fan I’d have been happier if they’d changed the designation slightly to even Earth-617 since the films are loosely based on the current comics runs that are set in Earth-616. Giving the MCU a different Earth designation than the comics would still open up the endless possibility of multiple Earth’s and multiple time-lines (several which absolutely need to be addressed from Avengers: Endgame… but that’s for anther review).

The second major issue I have is that Spider-Man really shouldn’t be the next Iron Man. I love the entire story they’ve built up for Peter and Tony that begins with Tony appearing in Peter and May’s apartment in Captain America: Civil War -- but what I don’t like is the constant reminder that somehow this sixteen year old “Friendly Neighborhood Hero” is meant to fill the space left by Tony Stark. Not only is that impossible in-universe, but within the meta-universe as well. No one can fill the hole left by Robert Downey Jr. — who literally carried the billion dollar mega franchise of the MCU to fruition by his amazing portrayals of arguably one of Marvel’s least favorite heroes at the time.

So, long story short, is the story good? Yes. Would I hold it up with other MCU classics like Black Panther and Captain America: Winter Soldier? Not quite.

Music: 5/5 — a MULTILINGUAL JAM!

SFX/VFX: 5/5 — The Elementals and Mysterio are top notch as per usual from Disney and Marvel

Costumes: 4/5 — I loved the new Spider-suit and Mysterio has a great style, but there wasn’t anything quite as innovative as the Iron Spider suit from Avengers: Infinity War/Avengers: Endgame

Production Design: 5/5 — You literally never forgot that Tony Stark was a massive part of the story despite only one flashback sequence of RDJ himself. I have to credit that to the amazing production design and the way the locations were integrated into the film was top notch.

BONUS

Romantic Plot: 5/5 — For a hot minute I was entirely convinced that this was going to turn into Spider-Man (2001), with Peter pining over the oblivious and haughty MJ — but the MCU saved the day with MJ ever the awkward and shy nerd who watches Peter because of her crush, this time rivaled by Peter’s own watching, because of his crush. It felt authentic to their age group and the characters. It was also completely adorable and a huge highlight of the film.

[tbogost]

From The Sopranos to Succession: HBOs twenty-year strategy to maintain cinematic television

Ask anyone who they think is the most influential player in the streaming wars and they are likely to respond with the obvious answer: Netflix. Evolving from a small media distribution company barely large enough to pose a threat to Blockbuster to becoming one of the most influential media technology companies in Silicon Valley, Netflix’s effect on the distribution industry is undeniable. But although they may be the most well-known television distributor in the modern era, especially since making the preliminary switch from physical DVD subscriptions to online streaming subscriptions in 2007, Netflix is too young to be identified as a timeless icon in the space. Rather, Netflix followed the lead of competitor and television producer Home Box Office for many years before adapting to a new and successful strategy of their own in the late 2010s. Now, Netflix has finally developed their own identity, a strategy based on creating a diversified portfolio of vast content fueled by social media and technology. But they should not become brash. Home Box Office has been evolving over the course of a twenty-year plan, a strategy that bests Netflix in terms of both distribution and quality, but that is often remembered only for the latter.

Home Box Office, or HBO, has consistently redefined the television space in their own terms since before Netflix existed and since streaming became the consumption norm. HBO’s first major contribution to the broader industry of television was using a revolutionary method to identify and fund content that could rival film in terms of quality, a method that replicated specific films that had already proven successful. But HBO’s accomplishments over the last twenty years are not limited to prophesying what audiences would like to see by repurposing what they have already enjoyed. HBO has also disrupted new streaming habits like binge-watching put into motion by competitors like Netflix, coaxing audiences back into weekly television viewings with higher quality and greater convenience than ever before. HBO is truly successful because of the way it has meshed content with packaging, making television entertaining and easily accessible. Their strategy began with The Sopranos back in 1999, but that DNA threads all the way through to Succession today.

When HBO was founded in 1972, it immediately established itself as a key player in the amalgamation of cable television and Hollywood film. It was already known as a premium network, but it was distributing film, not TV, airing uncut, commercial free movies licensed from top studios on its channel. The first of these, Sometimes a Great Notion (1971), premiered on HBO less than 2 years after its theatrical release. Eventually, the company helped to fund new films in exchange for exclusive broadcasting rights. HBO was the top channel for watching films on the television screen at home, but it was also one of the first to standardize premium fees in exchange for a premium entertainment experience.[1]

Soon, HBO noticed an opportunity that would end their relying on licensing to keep their operation running. The decision to start producing their own exclusive programming seems obvious in retrospect, but the reality is that this type of series had never existed before. Film and television had been seen as complements since the 1950s, but they had never really been meshed together to foster a new type of entertainment entirely. For this reason, HBO had to play it safe. They had to provide entertainment that would move forward quickly enough so as to keep audiences engaged, but slow enough that it could be enjoyed over a period of weeks so that they could hold on to their subscribers for longer. The safest bet was to adapt material that had already been successful before.

When The Sopranos first premiered in 1999, the comparisons came immediately. From Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy in the 1970s to Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Casino in the 1990s, gangster films had ruled Hollywood for years. These key models had not only been critical successes, but their themes also aligned with the gritty, dark, adult tone that HBO had previously established with their licensed programming. But what was it about the Italian gangster that America found so appealing, and would that appeal transition to the home screen?

Coppola argues that the appeal is not so much the Italian Mafia itself, but a broader interest in a classic American criminal. “America has always had an interest in outlaws,” said the director in a 2003 interview. “…We liked to see cowboy movies or learn about Jesse James, or when we were kids and played pirates … There's always a romantic fascination with the idea of people who don't take those limitations and kind of do what they want.”[2] While Coppola seems to imply that the grand appeal of the Mafia specifically was merely a factor of luck, it is worth pointing to the second film in his Godfather trilogy to identify a more concrete reason. This film, the most critically appraised of the three, focuses on a dual narrative that takes place over two historical periods. The young Vito Corleone (Robert DeNiro) builds his New York empire from scratch in the early 20th century while his son Michael (Al Pacino) slowly destroys that same empire many years later. The story is still one of outlaws, but it is also enriched with fundamental values of the 20thcentury, of the American dream; with enough hard work, even humble beginnings can lead to family, prosperity, and success. Coppola agrees that those who welcome the American dream will be rewarded, showcasing some of the legitimate business endeavors that Vito goes through with to kickstart his empire, but he also emphasizes the penalties that come with crime, penalties that soak family and empire with blood and tragedy.

The Sopranos took the same underlying themes of films like The Godfather that had proven so successful among Americans and toned them down for TV by breaking them up into easily consumable fragments. Although the overall storyline was made up of a longer total running time, there was less violence and a slower pacing. The series still had elements of a crime drama, complete with mobster politics, restaurant gatherings, and shoot-outs, but with a more relatable side as well. Characters’ accents were made less Italian and more reminiscent of suburban America. The struggles of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) were not only criminal, but just as often personal; Tony’s primary task is still to run the Mafiosi, but he makes time to visit his psychiatrist too. Mysteries and revenge arcs were slow burns, made to sustain over many hours of programming and many weeks of anticipation. In other words, rather than creating a perfect copy of the Vito Corleone of the 1970s, HBO created a character more relatable to a middle-class American audience and more suitable to the laidback, extended programming of Sunday night television.

Ten years later, as The Sopranos and other premium programs were finishing their runs on traditional television, a new type of distribution method was making itself known. In 2007, Netflix began their own streaming service by licensing content from Starz, recreating what HBO had done with film in the 70s for cable, but this time for the internet. In 2010, HBO GO attempted to make the HBO catalogue similarly accessible by providing premium cable subscription members with an app that could access content anywhere, but Netflix had arrived at the party first. HBO GO was a necessary step in moving towards the online space, but it was not a method of acquiring new subscribers. The move was largely reactionary. It did little to move existing Netflix subscribers to HBO and it took place in a market increasingly saturated with other streaming channels that also did not require cable subscriptions, like Hulu and Prime Video. In anticipation of an influx of new television series, each exclusive to its respective network, HBO temporarily took a step back from distribution innovation and fell back on what had made it so successful before: quality television.

Game of Thrones began an era that would define modern HBO, lead to the creation of HBO NOW, and influence Netflix to create their own exclusive premium programming, even if no one anticipated these things at the premiere. The property was certainly a riskier one to adapt to television than anything HBO had done before. The Sopranos had had a wide slate of film history to fall back on for inspiration and an original story that could be tailored and tapered however the writers saw fit. Game of Thrones had only Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films for financial confidence and was restricted to George R.R. Martin’s unfinished and unknown book series when writing for the screen. There was both less broad material to take inspiration from and more source material, making for a challenging and high-risk series at the time. HBO hoped to capitalize on the growing market visibility of the fantasy genre at the time, but beautiful landscapes, special effects, and complex costumes make fantasy expensive and risky to shoot and produce.

Game of Thrones was more complicated than any other series the network had done before. A plethora of arcs threaded throughout multiple seasons with new characters being introduced almost weekly, each season only got more complicated in terms of story, fight scenes, and overall scope. Audiences had to focus during episodes and interpret events among each other and other book readers later to understand what was going on. Once the show began to see success, funding and story threads increased significantly. Later seasons cost at least 2.5x what the first had, budgets reminiscent of films:

“The $15 million-plus price tag is due in part to a shooting schedule that more resembles that of a feature film than an episodic series. But “Thrones” is an anomaly. When it debuted, its price tag was in line with what HBO typically spends on dramas, around $6 million or so. But as the program grew into a four-continent behemoth with multiple production units shooting at once, it also began to generate dozens of healthy revenue streams for HBO.”[3]

The expansion into multicontinental shooting schedules is another evolution of HBO’s commitment to showcasing high quality television to viewers, as well as its viewers’ commitment to engage with their show as intensely as possible. Unlike The Sopranos, which was shot largely in New Jersey and New York, Game of Thrones was shot across Croatia, Spain, Iceland, Malta, and Northern Ireland. In order to connect with the characters and set pieces on a deeper level, fans not only created fan fictions and memes across Twitter and Tumblr but set out on pilgrimages to engage with the physical locations where Game of Thrones took place. “Dozens of tours and attractions offer to take them to the 'real' Winterfell (Castle Ward), Kingsroad (the Dark Hedges) or Vaes Dothrak (the Mourne Mountains),” a testament to the longevity and influence of the series as a whole.”[4]

At first, HBO’s competition in the 2010s came from similarly quality Netflix properties like House of Cards or Orange is the New Black, shows that emulated the pattern of cinematic television that HBO had first begun. Although audiences binging a nuanced show like House of Cards on Netflix would consume it much faster than audiences watching Game of Thrones over a period of weeks on HBO, discussions remained drawn out for both shows. Audiences would watch new series around the same time and discuss their nuances with one another over the following weeks. The few shows produced by Netflix were noticeably recommended to subscribers in-platform, and there were few enough quality shows that everyone had the time and attention spans to follow them communally. But over the last few years, Netflix has changed those habits, creating its own unique identity and moving away from the strategies that they originally borrowed from HBO. While HBO continues to focus on a few quality programs, Netflix is determined to diversify their portfolio as much as possible with a pipeline of mediocre content. Yes, they have seen plenty of hits like Master of None (2015), Stranger Things (2016), and the recent Russian Doll (2019), but that is the benefit of any diversified portfolio. For every number of quality shows Netflix creates, there is a plethora of less interesting content to sort through first.

Three of the most popular Netflix shows last month were vastly different and quickly consumed but hovered around just 70% to 80% on Rotten Tomatoes: Love is Blind, Tiger King, and Extraction. A reality dating series, a documentary limited series, and an action film, none of these pieces were related to each other except in the way that Netflix marketed them to subscribers. Individual partiality for these shows and films is irrelevant if the public is not likely to remember them. Excluding the few hits like Stranger Things, Netflix content gains and loses traction among viewers fast. In the long-term, they do not hold value.

As they propel more and more exclusive content down a pipeline of risky investments, Netflix simulates meaningful social engagement and, ironically, gives audiences a false sense of user choice hidden amidst an array of highly tailored options. An aggressive algorithm chooses a few shows with a high likelihood of success via data that the casual viewer will never see. Then, a series of meme-ified screengrabs and video clips posted to official Netflix social accounts extends the lifeline of each high potential series for a few hours past the total time it takes to binge it. A recent Netflix Twitter thread highlights the new releases of the week, encouraging prospective audiences to consume and discuss them as quickly as possible before the next week’s updated set of trendy options.[5] Meanwhile, long-running Netflix shows with cult followings and critical acclaims are cancelled. One Day at a Time, for example, a family sitcom with a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, was cancelled by Netflix, citing poor ratings. After fans organized a massive social media campaign to try and save the show, it was revived by Pop TV instead, a small cable channel owned by CBS.[6]

The newly redesigned Netflix interface takes these aggressive tactics to another level, promoting a highly volatile list of the top ten films and series currently available, encouraging viewers to stay up to speed with whatever is most popular in the moment, lest they are permanently left behind by the agit-prop train of the future. All this is to say that while Netflix was briefly in the television business – aspiring to be HBO – at the start of the decade, the company has now pivoted back into the distribution business, collecting data and building a diversified portfolio of easily consumable television funded by increasing subscriber fees. More than ever, Netflix has positioned itself as a technocratic take on the traditional cable network.

Rather than combat Netflix’s recent strategy of oversaturating the market with content that can succeed in the short-term via social media and binge-able viewing, HBO has maintained its roots in premium quality television by emulating past success stories while also driving forward an evolved episodic structure that encourages traditional once-a-week viewings and is easily accessible to a plethora of audiences. They have taken aspects of both The Sopranos and Game of Thrones and molded them together to form Succession, a show that reflects contemporary values and that encourages audiences to experience it together over time. Simultaneously, they have made this show easy to access for traditional cable-subscribers using cable, younger cable subscribers using the HBO GO extension, and non-cable subscribers streaming on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smart TVs via 2015s HBO NOW app.

2018’s Succession focuses on the conflicts between various members of an eccentric and dysfunctional family that owns a mass media conglomerate. When heir Logan Roy decides that it may be time for retirement, he struggles to determine who to hand the reins since every member of his extended family is a greedy, snappish backstabber with their own hidden frailties. The show draws from the hybrid drama of both The Sopranos and Game of Thrones with its intertwining political and familial soap opera, this time with a contemporary framing and a somber Shakespearean tone. Rather than creating conflict among a Mafia empire or a continent of royal families, Succession reveals a Murdoch-like company corrupted by shareholders, hedge fund managers, and nepotism. If gangsters and dragons reflected taboo desires to take part in casinos, assassinations, medieval battles, and dark magic, Succession is a contemporary parallel, where power is only achievable by succumbing to a deplorable corporate world.

Like the decision to greenlight previous HBO series, the reasons for focusing on the corporate world comes from Americans’ tendency to “worship workism” as well as recent filmic success.[7] However, this time HBO was able to broaden the scope of media that they evaluated beyond just films due to the increase in cinematic television. Films like Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, and Adam McKay’s The Big Short still paved inspiration for a series focused loosely on the criminals of finance and business. But Showtime’s Billions had demonstrated that audiences also wanted a glimpse of the ultra-wealthy’s lives, both to gasp and to scoff at:

“Truth isn’t always flattering. Unlike the wealth-porn TV of earlier decades �� “Dynasty,” “Dallas,” “Gossip Girl” — these shows address a cultural moment in which many of us are infatuated with extreme wealth and also disturbed by it. Dramas with glints of dark comedy, “Succession” and “Billions” aren’t exactly aspirational. The camera finds every under-eye circle, amplifies each impersonal office. Even that penthouse looks almost ugly from certain angles.”[8]

Succession works not just because of the aesthetic of cash. HBO carefully mirrored various traits of previous media to create the optimal genre mix. First, the writing assumes that the audiences are looking to be challenged. For The Big Short (and the Succession pilot, which he also directed), Adam McKay uses fast-pacing and snappy dialogue to move the story forward quickly, but he also inserts comedic and informative scenes into the diegesis that explain concepts like shorting stocks and bear hugs. Succession doesn’t attempt to portray itself as highbrow, but it does make a point of appearing realistically corporate while still being entertaining.

Second, Succession makes use of an entire cast of characters that the audience simultaneously idolizes and despises, just like the Jordan Belforts and the Michael Burrys before it. Game of Thrones had characters like John Snow who were canonically without fault, but Succession spares no time enlightening the audience of every flaw these characters possess, not to draw you away, but to drag you in. As critic Matt Zoller Seitz puts it,

“The vast majority of shows about rich and/or antiheroic characters encourage viewers to feel sympathy for hollowed-out, thoroughly corrupt people like these, via the simple alchemy of watching them each week and identifying with them over time. But the acid-bath viciousness of Succession prevents the usual mechanism of identification from snapping into place.”[9]

People are fascinated by the ivory tower characters and the horrible things they can do with their power, and that fascination seeps into their discussions of the show. Although the pace of each episode is slowed down for television, Adam McKay’s snappy dialogue is consistent throughout Succession. Conversations that constantly turn one character against another ensure that viewers are locked to the screen in front of them, not the one in their back pocket. Like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones, Succession is easily discussed with coworkers, family, and social media acquaintances in-person and over the internet. One of the most fascinating ways in which it sparks conversation is in its ability to detach you from the billionaire characters onscreen, to make you figure them out.

Finally, Succession takes a step back from other finance media by marking itself as distinctly apolitical, lest it offend or segment any portion of modern viewers. Remember, HBO is strategically targeting a massive prospective audience by “broadcasting” Succession across cable, HBO GO, and HBO NOW. By drawing parallels between Fox News and the fictionalized station of the show, Succession allows audiences to make their own connections without stating any of its own opinions.

While the content and quality of Succession is appealing to the everyday American, the show also takes steps to refortify HBO’s once-a-week distribution strategy and to encourage repeat viewings by means of the structure. Each episode establishes a story that is extremely self-contained, even if elements of the story will make up a season-long serialization. Every episode is designated by a grandiose set piece that acts as both character and central location: a therapy session in a $500 million ranch home in Southwest America, a wedding in a British castle, a mystery on a superyacht in the Adriatic. Game of Thrones featured occasional set piece episodes like the highly anticipated Battle of the Bastards from 2016. On Succession, every episode is a set piece, personalizing individual episodes and summoning audiences back to the feeling of watching a feature length film. In fact, each episode is so expertly planned to minimize costs and maximize flair that the producers had to hire wealth consultants to determine exactly which storylines were in the realms of reality and what items could be rented to carry them out.[10]

Although HBO ensures that audiences can watch Succession on any screen they like, most audiences are more likely to watch shows shot like this on the largest screen possible. An additional industry factor that raises that likelihood is the increased penetration rate of televisions that support 4K HDR outputs. As of 2018, 31 percent of US households made use of 4K Ultra HDTV products, and in 2019 108 million more units were sold.[11] [12] Consumers have slowly adapted back to watching television in their homes, and with the COVID-19 catastrophe that number will surely increase. Watching cinematic content like Succession on traditional televisions was always an option, but due to a mix of self-contained set pieces, big-budget television, as well as global factors, it is starting to become the optimal one. With its loose ties to modern corporations, tightly knit writing and characters, ambitious shooting locations, high critical ratings, and a consistent Sunday night schedule, Succession is at the forefront of all conversations Monday morning and throughout the week.

HBO has developed a formula for success that identifies and greenlights series based on previously successful properties and distributes them weekly to be consumed thoroughly across all platforms. Succession is the latest example of a high-quality show that maintains HBO’s adult brand and has the potential to be long-lasting. The Sopranos is often viewed as a lesser successor to The Godfather merely because it was created for television instead of for the theater. Twenty years later, Succession will have the opposite effect on the films it was inspired by. The show first aired on HBO in the summer of 2018 and a second season premiered in August of 2019, garnering over half a million viewers every Sunday night.[13] Just after its second season began, Succession was renewed for a third. HBO Executive Vice President chimed in to express her excitement for the show’s continuation, making sure to use buzzwords like politics and media without drawing attention to any real political or business connections, a strategy that has worked well for Succession so far: “We cannot wait to see how the complex characters that Jesse Armstrong has created continue to navigate this captivating, ruthless world of the uber-rich. In today’s world where the intersection of politics and media is increasingly prevalent, SUCCESSION presents an especially piercing look behind the curtain of this elite, influential, and cutthroat community.”[14]

For years, Netflix followed HBOs forays into novel broadcasting and cinematic television before finally creating their own innovations. They saturated the market with highly consumable television cleverly fueled by meme culture and an intricate yet accessible online platform. While there is something to be said for Netflix’s unprecedented technological advancements, it is unfair not to recognize HBO for so diligently evolving a strategic plan that has influenced competitors like Netflix and that has been proven successful since HBO’s first transition into television production in 1999. HBO has consistently dominated both the film/television space and the television/internet space. By sticking to a method that was successful for The Sopranos and reinventing it in the modern age for Succession, HBO reminded audiences that whether they used cable or the internet, they wanted to be in their home theaters for television every Sunday night.

Citations

[1] Gregersen, Erik. “HBO.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 19 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/HBO.

[2] Shanken, Marvin R. “The Godfather Speaks.” Cigar Aficionado, Cigar Aficionado, 15 Aug. 2017, www.cigaraficionado.com/article/the-godfather-speaks-6147.

[3] Ryan, Maureen. “TV Series Budgets Hit the Breaking Point as Costs Skyrocket in Peak TV Era.” Variety, Variety, 15 Mar. 2018, variety.com/2017/tv/news/tv-series-budgets-costs-rising-peak-tv-1202570158/

[4] "From 'Lord Of The Rings' to 'Game Of Thrones': the rise of film tourism". Screen International, March 18, 2017 Saturday. advance-lexis-com.proxy.libraries.smu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:5N41-WCF1-JDSX-C1S5-00000-00&context=1516831.

[5] Netflix, Twitter, 17, Apr. 2020,  https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1251250068155330560.

[6] Allyn, Bobby. “'One Day At A Time' Picked Up For Fourth Season Following Netflix Cancellation.” NPR, NPR, 28 June 2019, www.npr.org/2019/06/27/736816022/one-day-at-a-time-picked-up-for-fourth-season-following-netflix-cancellation.

[7] Thompson, Derek. “Workism Is Making Americans Miserable.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 13 Aug. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/.

[8] Soloski, Alexis. “'Billions,' 'Succession' and the Making of Wealth Porn.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/arts/television/billions-showtime-succession-hbo.html.

[9] Seitz, Matt Zoller. “Succession Season Two Is Merciless, Cruel, and Better Than Ever.” Vulture, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2019, www.vulture.com/2019/08/succession-hbo-season-2-review.html.

[10] "How to make TV look a billion dollars: meet the 'wealth consultants' behind Succession and Billions." Telegraph Online 26 Aug. 2019. Business Insights: Global. Web. 15 Apr. 2020.

[11] Statista Research Department. “4K Ultra HDTV US Household Penetration 2014-2018.” Statista, 19 Feb. 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/736142/4k-ultra-hdtv-us-household-penetration/.

[12] Statista Research Department. “Global 4K UHD TV Unit Sales 2014-2019.” Statista, 19 Feb. 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/540680/global-4k-tv-unit-sales/.

[13] “Succession TV Show on HBO: Ratings (Cancel or Season 3?).” Canceled Renewed TV Shows - TV Series Finale, 15 Oct. 2019, tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/succession-season-two-ratings/.

[14] Hbo. “HBO Renews Drama Series SUCCESSION for a Third Season.” Medium, HBO & Cinemax PR, 20 Aug. 2019, medium.com/hbo-cinemax-pr/hbo-renews-drama-series-succession-for-a-third-season-d2d8d0ca3037.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man: Homecoming Review Part 1

Goes without saying but there will of course be SPOILERS

Story

Adrian Toomes runs a salvage company that’s cleaning up after the Avengers battle with the Chitauri in Avengers Assemble. He’s put out of business by Tony Stark’s new company Damage Control. Consequently he and his gang use some of the alien tech they salvaged and become criminals.

 8 years later we follow Peter Parker chronicling an exuberant personal video diary during his trip to Berlin and his battle with Cap’s team from Captain America: Civil War. After he comes home Tony Stark tells him he’s not yet ready to be an Avenger but that he can keep the high tech suit he made for him.

 Two months later Peter has been fighting crime in Queens as Spider-Man (reporting in to a frustrated Happy Hogan seemingly every day) and claiming he’s working under a Stark internship as cover.

 During an encounter with some of Toomes’ men trying to rob an ATM Spidey notes the high tech weapons they were using. Later that night he comes home and inadvertently reveals his identity to his nerdy Lego loving best friend Ganke Ned.

 The next day at school Ned blurts out to Peter’s crush (Liz Allan) that Peter knows Spidey. After being goaded by his school rival Flash Thompson, Peter agrees to bring Spider-Man along to Liz’s party. However just before he makes his grand entrance Peter spots weird lights in the distance and goes to check it out.

 There he finds Toomes’ men (led by Jackson ‘Montana’ Brice/the Shocker) selling weapons to a man named Aaron Davis. Spidey distrusts the deal and give chase to the criminals but is attacked and dumped underwater by Toomes (who is sporting flight technology). However thanks to the tracking device in his suit he is saved by one of Iron Man’s suits that Tony Stark is remotely controlling. He is lectured by Stark to leave the situation alone and ‘stay on the ground’ but later Peter recovers some Chitauri tech that had been misplaced during the battle.

 Toomes fires Brice for his incompetence but when Brice threatens to talk Toomes kills him and gives his ‘Shocker’ weaponry to Herman Schultz. Schultz tracks the Chitauri energy core (which Peter and Ned removed) to Peter’s high school. Peter manages to evade Schultz but tags him with a tracking device and he and Ned learn Schultz is in Washington DC.

 Coincidentally this is where the school decathlon team are heading for Nationals so Peter and Ned tag along. Together the pair disable the tracking device in Peter’s suit along with enabling the full features of his suit, including his own personal A.I. (Karen). Peter fights Toomes on a Damage Control truck but (partially due to his inexperience with the new abilities of his suit) winds up imprisoned within it and consequently stuck in Damage Control’s warehouse, missing the Nationals.

 Learning from Karen that the Chitauri core in Ned’s possession is unstable and dangerous he escapes from the warehouse and tracks the decathlon team (sans the silent and cynical Michelle Jones) to the Washington monument. Unfortunately the power core goes off and damages the elevator in the monument prompting Spidey to climb up it and enter through a window near the top (scouting the area out with a drone released from his chest).

 He manages to save the team and back in NYC tracks down Davis in order to locate Toomes, trying (and failing) to intimidate him using the suit’s voice modulating feature. Davis is concerned about the weapons being on the street since he has a nephew in the neighbourhood (a reference to Miles Morales) so he informs Spidey that Toomes will be at the Staten Island ferry.

 On the ferry Spidey identifies Toomes’ new buyer as a gangster called Mac Gargan and proceeds to intervene. However Toomes and Schultz get away whilst one of the weapons goes haywire and cuts the ferry in half. Spidey tries to save it but lacks the strength to do so. Thankfully Iron Man is on hand and manages to rescue everybody.

 Stark (now in person) rakes Peter over the coals for his screw up informing him he set up an FBI sting on the ferry that Peter ruined. Peter claims he was just trying to be like him but Stark retorts that he wanted him to be better (admonishing himself for sounding like his own father) and demands the return of the Spider-Man suit. Peter protests that he is nothing without the suit to which Stark replies that if that’s true he shouldn’t have the costume at all.

 Peter returns home to an angry and upset May, gets a talking to by the school faculty about cutting out on class and generally accepts his life is on a real downer. However Liz agrees to go to the Homecoming dance with him and after May helps him prepare he heads over to Liz’s home. However he is greeted by Liz’s Dad who is in fact Adrian Toomes himself. Whilst driving Peter and Liz to the dance Toomes figures out Peter is Spider-Man and threatens to kill him and his loved ones if he interferes in his business again.

 Peter however cannot let Toomes walk free and after informing Ned of what he is doing heads off to stop him. He is however confronted in the school parking lot by Shocker who Ned helps take down.

 Garbed in his original homemade costume, Peter (directed by Ned from the computer lab) confronts Toomes at his lair where the villain tries to persuade him to his side. He cites how guys like Tony Stark step on normal folks like them. Peter doesn’t buy it and Toomes promptly buries him in the ruins of his base. Toomes, aided by his tech guy Mason (the Tinkerer), heads over to Stark Tower where Happy Hogan is loading tech onto an automated plane headed for the new Avengers headquarters.

 Meanwhile Peter buried under the rubble thinks about what Stark said after the ferry, screws up his will power and frees himself finding his way onto the automated plane mid-flight and battling Toomes. The plane crashes on Coney Island and eventually Toomes is defeated, Peter having saved his life.

 Days later at the school Michelle (whose friends call her ‘MJ’) becomes leader of the decathlon team; she also stares a little too suspiciously after Peter as he leaves. Her promotion is due to Liz’s family moving away in light of Toomes’ arrest. Happy Hogan shows up at the school to thank Peter for what he did and also takes him to see Tony at the new Avengers HQ. Stark congratulates him on his efforts, tells Peter he has a press court waiting to announce him as the newest Avenger and presents him with an all new armoured Spider suit.

 Peter is elated before ultimately turning the offer down and reaffirming that he should probably stick to the ground as a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man for now. He leaves Stark at a loss as to what to tell the press when Pepper Potts walks in and Happy gives them an engagement ring he’d been holding onto since 2008.

 Back at the Parker residence Peter finds that Stark has returned his old suit to him. As he dons it though he doesn’t notice May behind him. She then exclaims in surprise.

 In prison Toomes meets up with Gargan who asks if the rumours that he knows Spider-Man’s identity are true. Toomes affirms that they are not.

 The movie wraps up with a Captain America clip that I dare not spoil because it is simply amazing.

 Review

When it comes to comic book films (or any films that adapt previously existing source material) there are three key points of view to evaluate the movie from.

·         The experience of actually watching the movie.

·         How the film works just as a story unto itself.

·         How the film works as an adaptation of the source material.

 For old dinosaur fans like myself it can be sometimes hard to divorce the third point from the second, so married are we to the source material.

However this isn’t to say it is impossible and I am going to try my best to be objective going forward. To help myself I’ve divided this review into two parts. Part 1 will cover my thoughts on the film as just a film. Part 2 my (much lengthier) thoughts on the film as an adaptation.

However, even when doing this evaluating this movie no easy task.

As an experience I’m not sure I ever walked out of a Spider-Man movie more fundamentally mixed in my feelings. Not disappointed exactly, but then I wasn’t exactly hyped when booking my tickets (by the way don’t bother seeing this in 3D like I did).

Okay to begin with let’s put things into context. This film had a Herculean job on its hands as it had to accomplish four key tasks:

 1.    Be a good stand alone film (or as stand alone as MCU movies can be)

2.    Showcase new possibilities from presenting Spidey in the context of the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe

3.    Lay groundwork for future Spider-Man movies

4.    Rehabilitate Spider-Man’s standing in the public eye following the Marc Webb Spider-Man films which left audiences fatigued and disenchanted with the character.

 And it did accomplish all of those...mostly.

 I could never in my heart of hearts call this a bad movie. It isn’t. It’s a good movie. It’s fun. It has action, humour, solid special effects, a perfectly serviceable story and strong performances all round.

 Last year after Captain America: Civil War I felt that I’d need to see more from Holland to determine how suitable he was for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and how he measured up to Garfield or Maguire.

 This film has now convinced me Holland is perfectly qualified for the role. As for how he measures up...that’s a little hard to determine.

 His performance is much closer to Garfield than Maguire’s but ultimately the script is asking very different things of him than either of the two previous Spider-Men. As such it’s a little hard to compare their performances.

 He absolutely sells you on everything he is doing. The problem is everything he’s doing is kind of...atypical for Spider-Man. As such how he measures up as the character is tricky. Garfield’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man in comparison to Maguire’s essentially emphasised certain traits over the other. For example his Spider-Man was the superior quipster though this wasn’t wholly devoid of Maguire’s version of the character either. Meanwhile Maguire’s Peter Parker was most assuredly more introspective and nerdy than Garfield’s even if there were less examples of him operating as a scientist. Holland’s Spider-Man is in large part just a different animal altogether.

 Here Peter Parker and Spider-Man both are defined by their youthful inexperience and desire to play in the big leagues with the grown-ups, a league they aren’t yet ready for precisely because of that youthful inexperience.

 In this regard the film succeeds at most of the above points as this is undeniably something fresh and original for Spider-Man on film and it takes advantage of the possibilities of Spider-Man existing within a shared universe. Similarly Peter’s high tech suit definitely gives audiences something they’ve never seen before for the wall-crawler and it is firmly rooted in the wider MCU.

 In fact the whole movie can be said to be defined by the guiding philosophy of using the MCU at large to do something different. The characters are firmly rooted in showing you the ground level of a universe that in previous films has mostly showcased much larger stakes. Though this doesn’t apply to the whole movie as the inclusion of Ned as Peter’s friend and confidant and a greater emphasis upon Peter’s school mates help give the film a different flavour to what’s come before.

 And it does work...up to a point.

 Confession time. Back in 2016 when BvS: Dawn of Justice was released I dismissed just about everyone who ever tried defending that train wreck with the argument that the film was refreshing because there was a formula to the MCU films that employed light hearted goofy comedy. However between Doctor Strange and this film I have to admit that I’ve changed my tune.

 More than once in this movie Spider-Man is involved in slapstick comedy usually at his expense. It’s like advanced superhero clowning where the characters bumble and trip around. Now whilst this is fairly new to Spider-Man on film it’s actually not that uncommon for the MCU at large. You can see it for example in Iron Man 2008, Ant Man and Doctor Strange. That last one is particularly poignant because if there is one character who really does not lend himself to slapstick or goofy humour it is the ever enigmatic Doctor Stephen Strange.

 That sort of bumbling is cranked up in this movie because the point is the lead is inexperienced and learning the ropes. And when looked at on its own its honestly not insufferable or anything but along with the rest of the winking, quippy, jovial humour of the film does kind of feel repetitive of other MCU films. I think it’s definitely time for that formula to change if not be abandoned entirely.

 It doesn’t kill the movie though.

 Really there are only a few really serious marks against this movie as a film I have.

 To begin with the promotional material egregiously misrepresented Iron Man’s involvement (and spoilt way too much) but that’s not exactly the movie’s fault.

 The climax is not that satisfying as Spider-Man doesn’t beat Vulture so much as survives against him. The romance was kind of just there and existed more to serve other plot points rather than be its own legitimate subplot (a by product of trying to be different to previous movies I suspect). And the timeline with the other MCU films makes my head hurt. Seriously Avengers Assemble was 8 years before this movie? How does that make sense?

 The worst moment though is when Peter claims he is nothing without the high tech Spider suit Stark gave him. I have more problems about this when we get into part 2 but just in the context of the movie and the MCU this doesn’t really add up.

 Peter was operating as Spider-Man in Queens for something like a year before Stark showed up. Before unlocking the other features of it, the Spider suit he wore amounted to giving him an easily adjustable body suit, some high tech lenses and an advanced tracer. He used that for 2 months straight and only unlocked the added abilities of the suit a few days before Stark took the suit away (abilities that he couldn’t fully control).

 So he really didn’t need the suit to do what he’d been doing mostly up until then and he said it himself earlier in the movie, he was a kid who could stop a bus with his hands. He still has immense super powers and it seems illogical that he’d honestly not be able to recognize that. By extension the scene where he lifts the rubble to prove how he is more than a fancy suit doesn’t make much sense because of all the problems I just outlined.

 These hardly ruin the movie though.

 As for setting up future instalments, there is admittedly not too much done in this regard. The film is surprisingly self-contained for an MCU feature. There is a little tease of the Sinister Six but it’s very up in the air, it’s more likely we’ll simply be seeing the Scorpion in the next movie and maybe some more of Toomes. Other than that we have May learning Peter’s secret which may or may not turn out to be a really big source of drama going forward. We will have to wait and see.

 So as a movie that’s the latest instalment of the MCU I’d award this film a solid B. It’s a good movie about Spider-Man but probably not the best, but definitely not up there with the likes of Iron Man, the First Avenger, the Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and most certainly none of the large scale team up films like Avengers Assemble, Age of Ultron or Civil War.

 I’d recommend you go see it as a fun entertaining time killer.

 However...as an adaptation...well, that’s a different matter entirely.

[ucflibrary]

American history is a broad and varied topic. It ranges from the native inhabitants who formed communities here thousands of years ago to the creation of a new nation of states to the dreamers who immigrate to these shores today. It is a vast tract of information to cover, but it is important that we all learn about our past. As Edmund Burke said in Reflections on the Revolution in France, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

The founders of the United States, beyond their faults and foibles, began this nation with a grand and noble sentiment of “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity….”

Never forget “We the people” is us.

Click on the Read More link to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the 20 titles on American History suggested by UCF Library employees.

1776 directed by Peter H. Hunt You'll be seeing stars and stripes as the most fascinating leaders in American history come to life in 1776, a musical about the birth of a nation. With the Boston Harbor still stained from over-taxed British tea, a revolution is brewing in the colonies, and now England has thousands of troops headed for America's shores to squelch her subjects' freedom-loving spirit. It's up to John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to convince a stubborn congress of British colonists to unite as American patriots turn the inevitable war with England into a Declaration of Independence! Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden: the Story of the Philosophers' Camp in the Adirondacks by James Schlett In this book, James Schlett recounts the story of the Philosophers’ Camp, from the lives and careers of—and friendships and frictions among—the participants to the extensive preparations for the expedition and the several-day encampment to its lasting legacy. Schlett’s account is a sweeping tale that provides vistas of the dramatically changing landscapes of the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. Suggested by Christina Wray, Digital Learning & Engagement Librarian

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers. Suggested by Mary Rubin, Special Collections & University Archives, and Susan MacDuffee, Acquisitions & Collections

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld A stunning graphic novel that makes plain the undeniable horrors and humanity triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six New Orleanians who survived the storm. A.D. follows each of the six from the hours before Katrina struck to its horrific aftermath. Here is Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian who will experience the chaos of the Superdome; the Doctor, whose unscathed French Quarter home becomes a refuge for those not so lucky; Abbas and his friend Mansell, who face the storm from the roof of Abbas’s family-run market; Kwame, a pastor’s son whose young life will remain wildly unsettled well into the future; and Leo, a comic-book fan, and his girlfriend, Michelle, who will lose everything but each other. We watch as they make the wrenching decision between staying and evacuating. And we see them coping not only with the outcome of their own decisions but also with those made by politicians, police, and others like themselves--decisions that drastically affect their lives, but over which they have no control. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance, servants flutter about preparing for one of New York society’s biggest events: the Schuylers’ grand ball. Descended from two of the oldest and most distinguished bloodlines in New York, the Schuylers are proud to be one of their fledgling country’s founding families, and even prouder still of their three daughters—Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit; Peggy, with her dazzling looks; and Eliza, whose beauty and charm rival those of both her sisters, though she’d rather be aiding the colonists’ cause than dressing up for some silly ball. Still, Eliza can barely contain her excitement when she hears of the arrival of one Alexander Hamilton, a mysterious, rakish young colonel and General George Washington’s right-hand man. Though Alex has arrived as the bearer of bad news for the Schuylers, he can’t believe his luck—as an orphan, and a bastard one at that—to be in such esteemed company. And when Alex and Eliza meet that fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Alexander Hamilton, American by Richard Brookhiser Alexander Hamilton is one of the least understood, most important, and most impassioned and inspiring of the founding fathers. In these pages, Alexander Hamilton sheds his skewed image as the "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," sex scandal survivor, and notoriously doomed dueling partner of Aaron Burr. Examined up close, throughout his meteoric and ever-fascinating (if tragically brief) life, Hamilton can at last be seen as one of the most crucial of the founders. Here, thanks to Brookhiser's accustomed wit and grace, this quintessential American lives again. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information Services

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph Ellis For the historian Joseph J. Ellis, the experience of writing about Jefferson was "as if a pathologist, just about to begin an autopsy, has discovered that the body on the operating table was still breathing." In American Sphinx, Ellis sifts the facts shrewdly from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero worship in order to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still today "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams." For, at the grass roots, Jefferson is no longer liberal or conservative, agrarian or industrialist, pro- or anti-slavery, privileged or populist. He is all things to all people. His own obliviousness to incompatible convictions within himself (which left him deaf to most forms of irony) has leaked out into the world at large--a world determined to idolize him despite his foibles. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information Services

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other -- a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: a story of wealth, ambition, and survival by Peter Stark In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Skeletons in the Zahara, Astoria is the thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to forge an American empire on the Pacific Coast. Peter Stark offers a harrowing saga in which a band of explorers battled nature, starvation, and madness to establish the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest and opened up what would become the Oregon Trail, permanently altering the nation's landscape and its global standing. Suggested by Christina Wray, Digital Learning & Engagement Librarian

Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 by James Oakes Freedom National is a groundbreaking history of emancipation that joins the political initiatives of Lincoln and the Republicans in Congress with the courageous actions of Union soldiers and runaway slaves in the South. It shatters the widespread conviction that the Civil War was first and foremost a war to restore the Union and only gradually, when it became a military necessity, a war to end slavery. These two aims―"Liberty and Union, one and inseparable"―were intertwined in Republican policy from the very start of the war. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information Services

His Final Battle: The Last Months of Franklin Roosevelt by Joseph Lelyveld “By far the most enigmatic leading figure” of World War II. That’s how the British military historian John Keegan described Franklin D. Roosevelt, who frequently left his contemporaries guessing, never more so than at the end of his life. Here, in a hugely insightful account, a prizewinning author and journalist untangles the narrative threads of Roosevelt’s final months, showing how he juggled the strategic, political, and personal choices he faced as the war, his presidency, and his life raced in tandem to their climax. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Subject Librarian

In the Shadow of Liberty: the Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis Through the powerful stories of five enslaved people who were “owned” by four of our greatest presidents, this book helps set the record straight about the role slavery played in the founding of America. From Billy Lee, valet to George Washington, to Alfred Jackson, faithful servant of Andrew Jackson, these dramatic narratives explore our country’s great tragedy―that a nation “conceived in liberty” was also born in shackles. Suggested by Emma Gisclair, Curriculum Materials Center

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell Chronicling General Lafayette’s years in Washington’s army, Vowell reflects on the ideals of the American Revolution versus the reality of the Revolutionary War.  Riding shotgun with Lafayette, Vowell swerves from the high-minded debates of Independence Hall to the frozen wasteland of Valley Forge, from bloody battlefields to the Palace of Versailles, bumping into John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Antoinette and various kings, Quakers and redcoats along the way.  Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen Americans have lost touch with their history, and in Lies My Teacher Told Me Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying eighteen leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. Suggested by Nola Pettit, Research & Information Services

Lincoln's Hundred Days: the Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union by Louis P. Masur This title tells the story of the period between September 22nd, 1862, when Lincoln issued his preliminary Proclamation, and January 1st, 1863, when he signed the significantly altered decree. As battlefield deaths mounted and debate raged, Lincoln hesitated, calculated, prayed, and reckoned with the anxieties and expectations of millions. Suggested by Mary Page, Administration

No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: the home front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin masterfully weaves together a striking number of story lines—Eleanor and Franklin’s marriage and remarkable partnership, Eleanor’s life as First Lady, and FDR’s White House and its impact on America as well as on a world at war. Goodwin effectively melds these details and stories into an unforgettable and intimate portrait of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and of the time during which a new, modern America was born. Suggested by Meg Scharf, Administration

Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World by Sarah Vowell While tackling subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history, these autobiographical tales are written with a biting humor, placing Vowell solidly in the tradition of Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker. Vowell searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. Take the Cannoli is an eclectic tour of the New World, a collection of alternately hilarious and heartbreaking essays and autobiographical yarns. Suggested by Joanie Reynolds, Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Services

The Irish Americans: A History by Jay P. Dolan Jay Dolan of the University of Notre Dame is one of America's most acclaimed scholars of immigration and ethnic history. In The Irish Americans, he caps his decades of writing and teaching with a magisterial history of the Irish experience in the United States—the first general-reader’s account to be published since the 1960s. Dolan draws on his own original research and much other recent other scholarship to weave a fresh and vivid narrative. He follows the Irish from their first arrival in the American colonies through the bleak days of the potato famine that brought millions of poor immigrants; the years of ethnic prejudice and "No Irish Need Apply;" the rise of Irish political power and the heyday of Tammany politics; to the historic moment when John F. Kennedy was elected to the highest office in the land. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

The March: the Story of the Greatest March in American History produced by Smoking Dog Films Witness the compelling and dramatic story of the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his stirring "I Have a Dream" speech. This watershed event in the Civil Rights Movement helped change the face of America. Recounts the events when 250,000 people came together to form the largest demonstration the young American democracy had ever seen. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck In the bestselling tradition of Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz, Rinker Buck's "The Oregon Trail" is a major work of participatory history: an epic account of traveling the 2,000-mile length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way, in a covered wagon with a team of mules--which hasn't been done in a century--that also tells the rich history of the trail, the people who made the migration, and its significance to the country.  Suggested by Christina Wray, Digital Learning & Engagement Librarian

[dylanobriennugget1-blog]

Australia – Audience

Despite its comparatively small inhabitants unfold over, in some instances, hundreds of miles, and handful  of main cities, the market is remarkably robust and growing, with numerous exhibits at stadium degree, touring festivals and some very aggressive promoters.  Christopher Barrett stories

It isn’t be the simplest or least expensive nation to succeed in from Europe or the USA, and as soon as there it may be necessary to travel hundreds of miles between cities and throughout multiple time zones.

Nevertheless, for many who take the time and have an viewers there, it’s is a rustic with a robust financial system and a population with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for reside music.

The newest Ticket Attendance and Income report, revealed in October last yr by business physique Reside Efficiency Australia (LPA), paints an image of a market in exceptional shape.

Modern music ticket sales revenue in 2017 was up 87.7 per cent year-on-year to A$826.1 million (US$568), in response to the LPA, with attendance up 49.6 per cent over the same time-frame, to eight.5m.

It was the sector’s first yr of progress in income since 2013 and the very best revenue and attendance recorded for modern music since LPA began producing the report back in 2004.

Australia is a massively competitive market with quite a bit to play for and one which has seen vital consolidation this yr amongst a few of its foremost promoters.

In March, Frontier Touring founder Michael Gudinski and Chugg Entertainment boss Michael Chugg reunited to type a three way partnership some 40 years after they co-founded Frontier Touring (see Audience challenge 230). That they had cut up in 1999.

Only a month later the market noticed additional consolidation when AEG bought a 50 per cent stake in Frontier Touring. The AEG-Frontier venture cements a relationship that goes back 12 years, throughout which era Frontier promoted AEG tours in Australia and New Zealand.

Included within the deal is main venue operator AEG Ogden, which owns and operates Qudos Bank Area (cap. 21,389) in Sydney, Brisbane Leisure Centre (14,500), Perth Area (15,000), Newcastle Entertainment Centre (7,500) and the 9,000-capacity ICC Sydney Theatre.

The mixture of Frontier, Chugg, AEG Presents and globally formidable promoter AEG Presents is a big rival to Reside Nation Australia.

AEG Presents chief operating officer and CEO/chairman Jay Marciano, based mostly in Los Angeles, says that following the Frontier acquisition the corporate plans to develop a touring network of mid-sized venues across Australia (see Audience situation 231).

“There are not enough small clubs and theatres in Australia for international artistes to be able to have the 10 or more shows that make it affordable to make the journey there,” he says.

AEG Ogden group director Tim Worton says the Frontier and AEG Presents deal shall be good for the market.

“We expect there will be the potential for even more AEG product to come to Australia as a result of the joint venture, so that is a positive,” he says.

Worton also expects AEG Ogden to profit from the merging of multinational venue management corporations AEG Amenities and SMG to type ASM International.

“SMG does not have any venues in our market, but we will benefit from the resources of this expanded network of venues,” he says.

Worton describes the native market as being “extremely buoyant” with AEG’s venues having fun with very robust ticket gross sales for exhibits by acts together with Phil Collins, Keith City, Pink Scorching Chili Peppers, Pink and Hugh Jackman.

Nevertheless, he factors out that there are difficulties, not least the very fact the Australian dollar has fallen in value to its lowest degree in around a decade.

“Promoters face the challenge of rising artiste fees and show production costs in addition to a weaker Australian dollar and that puts pressure on ticket prices, it can push them to a level that endangers the ticket sales needed to make the tours stack up,” he says.

Report returns

Stay Nation Entertainment entered the Australian market when it acquired Michael Coppel Presents (MCP) in 2012, which on the time was the nation’s second largest promoter. Coppel is chairman of Reside Nation Australia (LNA).

Coppel says that is shaping up to be a report yr for LNA when it comes to the number of live shows and tickets bought.

In the spring LNA promoted Pink Scorching Chili Peppers’ first headline exhibits in Australia for 12 years, selling-out 12 arenas and open-air venues ranging in capacity from 12,00Zero to 35,00Zero. Around 176,657 tickets have been bought at costs ranging from A$101 to A$165 (US$70-115).

Among its different major excursions is Metallica, who will play eight stadium exhibits to a mixed audience of greater than 300,00Zero, with ticket prices from A$127 to A$250 (US$88-174).

U2 may even play eight stadium exhibits and a combined audience of 380,000.

“The market is two-paced; major headliners are doing great business but lesser names can struggle due to the high volume of competing tours and high ticket prices,” says Coppel.

At Reside Nation Leisure-owned Ticketmaster Australia a serious focus this yr has been shifting away from paperless tickets to a mobile-only service.

The Discussion board Melbourne (2,00Zero) turned the first venue in Australia to completely adopt the know-how and Ticketmaster has introduced paperless ticketing for all basic admission tickets for U2 exhibits.

“Fans want an easier and more secure ticketing system which fits seamlessly into their lives,” says Ticketmaster Australia & NZ MD Maria O’Connor,. “Not only will digital tickets simplify the entire ticketing process, it will also increase security, decrease fraud and unlock unprecedented value from customer relationships.”

The company just lately partnered with the new North Queensland Stadium (25,000) as its official ticketing agent. Opening in 2020, Elton John will carry out there in February.

“Live entertainment across Australia and New Zealand has never been stronger,” says O’Connor. “We’re seeing new venues being built around the country and further expansion into regional areas to cope with demand and further enhance the live experience.”

Michaels reunited

Michael Gudinski founded the Mushroom Group in 1972 and seven years later launched Frontier Touring as part of the group. Among the many acts it has worked with are Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. Forthcoming exhibits embrace The Chemical Brothers and Shawn Mendes.

Frontier Touring’s three way partnership with Chugg Entertainment means the 2 operations now co-promote all Chugg tours, whereas Frontier has also joined Chugg and Potts Leisure as a companion in country music pageant CMC Rocks (24,00Zero).

Gudinski says it’s great to be working with Chugg once more and factors out it is rather much a partnership not an acquisition.

“It is not the band getting back together, Chugg is not part of Frontier, but Frontier is right behind him,” he says.

The veteran promoter says the cope with AEG does not imply the top of Frontier as an unbiased company.

“We are adding staff, going strong, and hopefully AEG will deliver more tours. We are thinking of the future,” he says.

Michael Chugg founded Chugg Leisure in 2000, touring acts corresponding to Coldplay, Radiohead, The Who and Florence + The Machine.

Chugg promotes around 600 exhibits per yr and its key tours this yr embrace Australian and New Zealand exhibits with Elton John, with 460,00Zero tickets bought for 31 exhibits, with prices ranging from A$139 to A$339 (US$97-237).

The company is finding environment friendly methods to market exhibits by way of digital platforms but Chugg factors out that traditional media stays vitally necessary. For its largest excursions the company makes use of radio, TV and outside promoting and has been recognized to supply particular TV and radio programming.

“When we sell-out we continue to promote the tours as it makes people aware of the act and their success,” he says. “Nothing frustrates our team more than seeing social media posts like ‘Oh dear, I’m a huge fan of … but I didn’t know they were here in Oz’.”

Chugg says ticket gross sales for his firm’s exhibits are usually robust however he doesn’t like other promoters decreasing prices for exhibits that aren’t selling nicely.

“We feel it must be really frustrating for fans when they pay full price and end up next to someone who paid as little as 25 per cent of the real ticket price,” he says.

Consolidating energy

Another veteran Australian concert promoter is Paul Dainty, who started organising exhibits in the early 1970s, working with David Bowie, U2, Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus along the best way.

TEG Dainty was shaped in 2016 when TEG, which owns the country’s largest ticket agency Ticketek, acquired Dainty Group Worldwide, which had been owned and operated independently by Dainty. In a mean yr the company promotes round 200 live shows.

He says the Australian market could be very robust and his company had an “amazing” start to the yr with Phil Collins’s Not Lifeless But: Reside! tour.

“We sold-out 11 shows in stadiums and arenas across Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “On one night we had Phil at AAMI Park [30,000] in Melbourne and Slash at Margaret Court Arena [7,500] literally across the road at the same time.”

One other firm spotlight was Eminem’s The Rapture 2019 tour in February, with five sold-out exhibits throughout Australia and New Zealand collectively attracting 304,Zero16 followers.

“We set new concert attendance records at the MCG Melbourne, with 80,708,” says Dainty.

TEG Dainty just lately introduced a 10-show stadium tour by Queen + Adam Lambert and can also be working on 28-date area tour by Hugh Jackman.

Noble ventures

Founder and director of Byron Bay’s Bluesfest (25,00Zero) Peter Noble is among the last remaining really unbiased established promoters.

Ticket costs for the annual five-day Bluesfest, held in April, ranged from A$160 to A$700 (US$112-490). Headliners included Jack Johnson, Tash Sultana, David Gray and Iggy Pop.

Grey and Iggy Pop have been among those to enterprise further afield during April with exhibits in Sydney and Melbourne, beneath the BluesFest Touring banner, but Noble additionally works on tours throughout the year.

“Iggy Pop was the biggest tour so far this, with 9,199 tickets sold and prices starting at A$89[$62)”saysNoble[$62)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble

With greater than 40-years expertise in the business, Noble says now is a superb time to be within the enterprise regardless of the stiff competitors.

“It is a healthy business and a very exciting time, we are out there touring artistes at all levels from small clubs through to arenas,” he says. “We don’t want to end-up with two monopolies running the industry.”

Unbiased strengths

Also based mostly in Byron Bay, One World Entertainment (OWE) promotes throughout the region and runs touring pageant Beneath The Southern Stars.

Headlined by Hoodoo Gurus, it completed a six-city run in January, enjoying to round 5,000 individuals per night time. OWE also lately promoted a tour by Boyzone and is working on tours by Kris Kristofferson and The Strangers.

“The live market is as strong as it’s ever been for the right act placed in the right venue,” says OWE CEO Andrew McManus. “It all comes down to awareness of your product and the local market.”

Prime of the listing of his considerations, nevertheless, is the “user pays” scheme launched by New South Wales police that permits it to add additional safety to festivals at the cost of the occasion organiser.

McManus says, “It is crippling. Police can determine how many cops they insist on having at an event while charging anything north of A$124.00 [US] per hour for them, and this is on top of the security guards we are obligated to have,” he says. “Something has to give otherwise more and more festivals and outdoor concerts will be unable to proceed.”

James Brown, Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson and The Stranglers are among artistes to have been promoted by Lennard Promotions over the previous three many years. Among the artistes the company is selling are Billy Ocean, 10cc and Suzi Quatro.

“Due to a glut of international and local tours the market is saturated and discretionary spending is tight,” says Lennard Promotions founder Aldo Lennard. “The challenge is to ascertain the right ticket prices as fans can only attend a certain number of concerts per year, and as ticket prices rise due to escalating costs and Australian dollar devaluation, the task will continue to be difficult.”

Together with his rivals collaborating extra strongly than ever, Lennard says he’s also open to joint ventures.

Paying the proper worth

The Van Egmond Group (VEG) has worked with acts corresponding to Michael Jackson, AC/DC and Prince because it launched greater than 40 years ago.

MD Garry Van Egmond says the corporate is making a buoyant market, however he would additionally wish to see less ticket discounting.

On the again of widespread consolidation among his rivals, Egmond thinks it’s constructive improvement.

“We have seen a lot of strong partnerships take place with the independents in Australia, both with international players and local players, and we want to be part of it.”

Like Chugg and Egmond, Destroy All Strains (DAL) common manager of touring Chris O’Brien is worried at the prevalence of discounted tickets.

“It affects people’s buying patterns,” he says. “We have found a good percentage of them are waiting until the back end to see if they can get a cheaper ticket. We have spent a huge amount of energy training our ticket buyers that this will never happen with our tours.”

Regardless of the challenges, O’Brien says the corporate’s first quarter was the strongest up to now. In a mean yr it works on 40 tours, but this yr it’s on track to promote 60.

Aside excursions by rock, metallic and various acts reminiscent of Combichrist and The Damned, DAL organises the Good Things pageant, which takes place in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with a day by day capacity of 25,000.

Headliners this yr embrace The Offspring, All Time Low and Bullet For My Valentine.

O’Brien says it’s irritating that some artists do not prioritise Australia of their touring plans.

“A lot of artistes leave Australia late in their plans,” he says. “They get to a certain degree in the US or Europe after which anticipate the identical from their first go to to Australia.

“Trying to convince people that their artistes can have a long-term future in Australia can be a challenge.”

Constructing the longer term

After greater than nine years as CEO of the two,896-capacity Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Neil Croker launched live performance consultancy The Status Presents (TPP) in early 2017.

He says he has found it robust to seek out obtainable venues and shopper confidence could possibly be better.

“The market is always strong for the right product but it is generally patchy with consumer confidence low for most of this year, largely due to declining property values and the election period,” he says.

Among TPP’s current tasks was a nine-show tour of Quick Love – A Tribute To George Michael, which sold-out most of the venues, with capacities up to 2,00Zero and a mean ticket worth of A$69 (US$47).

“Following our first successful presentation of Fast Love, we have developed a co-promoting relationship with the show’s producers Entertainers UK that will see us tour more of their shows,” says Croker.

Melbourne and Olympic Parks (M&OP) manages public areas, parks and sporting amenities, in addition to the Rod Laver Area (16,000), Hisense Area (10,00Zero), Margaret Courtroom Area (7,500) and AAMI Park (30,050).

When the Rod Lever Area opened on the banks of the Yarra River in 1988 it was the first in Australia to have a retractable roof. Thirty years later the venue is conming to the top of a four-year, multi-million-dollar, redevelopment programme.

Arts Centre Melbourne (ACM) is a posh of theatres and concert halls within the central Melbourne suburb of Southbank that is to profit from a A$200m (US$137) local government funded overhaul.

Amongst its amenities is the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and a 12,500-capacity amphitheatre. ACM additionally houses the Hamer Hall (2,464) and State Theatre (2,0850).

Nearly all of live shows at ACM take place on the Bowl, which has this yr hosted acts including Florence + The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Kylie Minogue and Tash Sultana.

“The [redevelopment] project will transform the area around the Arts Centre, creating new and renewed open public space, including an elevated pedestrian park and outdoor performance and event spaces,” says ACM director presenter providers Glen Hirst.

There isn’t a doubt the market remains constructive and dynamic, with intense competition between promoters on the prime finish, but what seems to be an increase in last-minute ticket discounting suggests some pricing may need readjusting.

The post Australia – Audience appeared first on Black Dot Mobile.

[iinsatiablezus]

Australia – Audience

Despite its comparatively small inhabitants unfold over, in some instances, hundreds of miles, and handful  of main cities, the market is remarkably robust and growing, with numerous exhibits at stadium degree, touring festivals and some very aggressive promoters.  Christopher Barrett stories

It isn’t be the simplest or least expensive nation to succeed in from Europe or the USA, and as soon as there it may be necessary to travel hundreds of miles between cities and throughout multiple time zones.

Nevertheless, for many who take the time and have an viewers there, it’s is a rustic with a robust financial system and a population with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for reside music.

The newest Ticket Attendance and Income report, revealed in October last yr by business physique Reside Efficiency Australia (LPA), paints an image of a market in exceptional shape.

Modern music ticket sales revenue in 2017 was up 87.7 per cent year-on-year to A$826.1 million (US$568), in response to the LPA, with attendance up 49.6 per cent over the same time-frame, to eight.5m.

It was the sector’s first yr of progress in income since 2013 and the very best revenue and attendance recorded for modern music since LPA began producing the report back in 2004.

Australia is a massively competitive market with quite a bit to play for and one which has seen vital consolidation this yr amongst a few of its foremost promoters.

In March, Frontier Touring founder Michael Gudinski and Chugg Entertainment boss Michael Chugg reunited to type a three way partnership some 40 years after they co-founded Frontier Touring (see Audience challenge 230). That they had cut up in 1999.

Only a month later the market noticed additional consolidation when AEG bought a 50 per cent stake in Frontier Touring. The AEG-Frontier venture cements a relationship that goes back 12 years, throughout which era Frontier promoted AEG tours in Australia and New Zealand.

Included within the deal is main venue operator AEG Ogden, which owns and operates Qudos Bank Area (cap. 21,389) in Sydney, Brisbane Leisure Centre (14,500), Perth Area (15,000), Newcastle Entertainment Centre (7,500) and the 9,000-capacity ICC Sydney Theatre.

The mixture of Frontier, Chugg, AEG Presents and globally formidable promoter AEG Presents is a big rival to Reside Nation Australia.

AEG Presents chief operating officer and CEO/chairman Jay Marciano, based mostly in Los Angeles, says that following the Frontier acquisition the corporate plans to develop a touring network of mid-sized venues across Australia (see Audience situation 231).

“There are not enough small clubs and theatres in Australia for international artistes to be able to have the 10 or more shows that make it affordable to make the journey there,” he says.

AEG Ogden group director Tim Worton says the Frontier and AEG Presents deal shall be good for the market.

“We expect there will be the potential for even more AEG product to come to Australia as a result of the joint venture, so that is a positive,” he says.

Worton also expects AEG Ogden to profit from the merging of multinational venue management corporations AEG Amenities and SMG to type ASM International.

“SMG does not have any venues in our market, but we will benefit from the resources of this expanded network of venues,” he says.

Worton describes the native market as being “extremely buoyant” with AEG’s venues having fun with very robust ticket gross sales for exhibits by acts together with Phil Collins, Keith City, Pink Scorching Chili Peppers, Pink and Hugh Jackman.

Nevertheless, he factors out that there are difficulties, not least the very fact the Australian dollar has fallen in value to its lowest degree in around a decade.

“Promoters face the challenge of rising artiste fees and show production costs in addition to a weaker Australian dollar and that puts pressure on ticket prices, it can push them to a level that endangers the ticket sales needed to make the tours stack up,” he says.

Report returns

Stay Nation Entertainment entered the Australian market when it acquired Michael Coppel Presents (MCP) in 2012, which on the time was the nation’s second largest promoter. Coppel is chairman of Reside Nation Australia (LNA).

Coppel says that is shaping up to be a report yr for LNA when it comes to the number of live shows and tickets bought.

In the spring LNA promoted Pink Scorching Chili Peppers’ first headline exhibits in Australia for 12 years, selling-out 12 arenas and open-air venues ranging in capacity from 12,00Zero to 35,00Zero. Around 176,657 tickets have been bought at costs ranging from A$101 to A$165 (US$70-115).

Among its different major excursions is Metallica, who will play eight stadium exhibits to a mixed audience of greater than 300,00Zero, with ticket prices from A$127 to A$250 (US$88-174).

U2 may even play eight stadium exhibits and a combined audience of 380,000.

“The market is two-paced; major headliners are doing great business but lesser names can struggle due to the high volume of competing tours and high ticket prices,” says Coppel.

At Reside Nation Leisure-owned Ticketmaster Australia a serious focus this yr has been shifting away from paperless tickets to a mobile-only service.

The Discussion board Melbourne (2,00Zero) turned the first venue in Australia to completely adopt the know-how and Ticketmaster has introduced paperless ticketing for all basic admission tickets for U2 exhibits.

“Fans want an easier and more secure ticketing system which fits seamlessly into their lives,” says Ticketmaster Australia & NZ MD Maria O’Connor,. “Not only will digital tickets simplify the entire ticketing process, it will also increase security, decrease fraud and unlock unprecedented value from customer relationships.”

The company just lately partnered with the new North Queensland Stadium (25,000) as its official ticketing agent. Opening in 2020, Elton John will carry out there in February.

“Live entertainment across Australia and New Zealand has never been stronger,” says O’Connor. “We’re seeing new venues being built around the country and further expansion into regional areas to cope with demand and further enhance the live experience.”

Michaels reunited

Michael Gudinski founded the Mushroom Group in 1972 and seven years later launched Frontier Touring as part of the group. Among the many acts it has worked with are Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. Forthcoming exhibits embrace The Chemical Brothers and Shawn Mendes.

Frontier Touring’s three way partnership with Chugg Entertainment means the 2 operations now co-promote all Chugg tours, whereas Frontier has also joined Chugg and Potts Leisure as a companion in country music pageant CMC Rocks (24,00Zero).

Gudinski says it’s great to be working with Chugg once more and factors out it is rather much a partnership not an acquisition.

“It is not the band getting back together, Chugg is not part of Frontier, but Frontier is right behind him,” he says.

The veteran promoter says the cope with AEG does not imply the top of Frontier as an unbiased company.

“We are adding staff, going strong, and hopefully AEG will deliver more tours. We are thinking of the future,” he says.

Michael Chugg founded Chugg Leisure in 2000, touring acts corresponding to Coldplay, Radiohead, The Who and Florence + The Machine.

Chugg promotes around 600 exhibits per yr and its key tours this yr embrace Australian and New Zealand exhibits with Elton John, with 460,00Zero tickets bought for 31 exhibits, with prices ranging from A$139 to A$339 (US$97-237).

The company is finding environment friendly methods to market exhibits by way of digital platforms but Chugg factors out that traditional media stays vitally necessary. For its largest excursions the company makes use of radio, TV and outside promoting and has been recognized to supply particular TV and radio programming.

“When we sell-out we continue to promote the tours as it makes people aware of the act and their success,” he says. “Nothing frustrates our team more than seeing social media posts like ‘Oh dear, I’m a huge fan of … but I didn’t know they were here in Oz’.”

Chugg says ticket gross sales for his firm’s exhibits are usually robust however he doesn’t like other promoters decreasing prices for exhibits that aren’t selling nicely.

“We feel it must be really frustrating for fans when they pay full price and end up next to someone who paid as little as 25 per cent of the real ticket price,” he says.

Consolidating energy

Another veteran Australian concert promoter is Paul Dainty, who started organising exhibits in the early 1970s, working with David Bowie, U2, Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus along the best way.

TEG Dainty was shaped in 2016 when TEG, which owns the country’s largest ticket agency Ticketek, acquired Dainty Group Worldwide, which had been owned and operated independently by Dainty. In a mean yr the company promotes round 200 live shows.

He says the Australian market could be very robust and his company had an “amazing” start to the yr with Phil Collins’s Not Lifeless But: Reside! tour.

“We sold-out 11 shows in stadiums and arenas across Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “On one night we had Phil at AAMI Park [30,000] in Melbourne and Slash at Margaret Court Arena [7,500] literally across the road at the same time.”

One other firm spotlight was Eminem’s The Rapture 2019 tour in February, with five sold-out exhibits throughout Australia and New Zealand collectively attracting 304,Zero16 followers.

“We set new concert attendance records at the MCG Melbourne, with 80,708,” says Dainty.

TEG Dainty just lately introduced a 10-show stadium tour by Queen + Adam Lambert and can also be working on 28-date area tour by Hugh Jackman.

Noble ventures

Founder and director of Byron Bay’s Bluesfest (25,00Zero) Peter Noble is among the last remaining really unbiased established promoters.

Ticket costs for the annual five-day Bluesfest, held in April, ranged from A$160 to A$700 (US$112-490). Headliners included Jack Johnson, Tash Sultana, David Gray and Iggy Pop.

Grey and Iggy Pop have been among those to enterprise further afield during April with exhibits in Sydney and Melbourne, beneath the BluesFest Touring banner, but Noble additionally works on tours throughout the year.

“Iggy Pop was the biggest tour so far this, with 9,199 tickets sold and prices starting at A$89[$62)”saysNoble[$62)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble

With greater than 40-years expertise in the business, Noble says now is a superb time to be within the enterprise regardless of the stiff competitors.

“It is a healthy business and a very exciting time, we are out there touring artistes at all levels from small clubs through to arenas,” he says. “We don’t want to end-up with two monopolies running the industry.”

Unbiased strengths

Also based mostly in Byron Bay, One World Entertainment (OWE) promotes throughout the region and runs touring pageant Beneath The Southern Stars.

Headlined by Hoodoo Gurus, it completed a six-city run in January, enjoying to round 5,000 individuals per night time. OWE also lately promoted a tour by Boyzone and is working on tours by Kris Kristofferson and The Strangers.

“The live market is as strong as it’s ever been for the right act placed in the right venue,” says OWE CEO Andrew McManus. “It all comes down to awareness of your product and the local market.”

Prime of the listing of his considerations, nevertheless, is the “user pays” scheme launched by New South Wales police that permits it to add additional safety to festivals at the cost of the occasion organiser.

McManus says, “It is crippling. Police can determine how many cops they insist on having at an event while charging anything north of A$124.00 [US] per hour for them, and this is on top of the security guards we are obligated to have,” he says. “Something has to give otherwise more and more festivals and outdoor concerts will be unable to proceed.”

James Brown, Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson and The Stranglers are among artistes to have been promoted by Lennard Promotions over the previous three many years. Among the artistes the company is selling are Billy Ocean, 10cc and Suzi Quatro.

“Due to a glut of international and local tours the market is saturated and discretionary spending is tight,” says Lennard Promotions founder Aldo Lennard. “The challenge is to ascertain the right ticket prices as fans can only attend a certain number of concerts per year, and as ticket prices rise due to escalating costs and Australian dollar devaluation, the task will continue to be difficult.”

Together with his rivals collaborating extra strongly than ever, Lennard says he’s also open to joint ventures.

Paying the proper worth

The Van Egmond Group (VEG) has worked with acts corresponding to Michael Jackson, AC/DC and Prince because it launched greater than 40 years ago.

MD Garry Van Egmond says the corporate is making a buoyant market, however he would additionally wish to see less ticket discounting.

On the again of widespread consolidation among his rivals, Egmond thinks it’s constructive improvement.

“We have seen a lot of strong partnerships take place with the independents in Australia, both with international players and local players, and we want to be part of it.”

Like Chugg and Egmond, Destroy All Strains (DAL) common manager of touring Chris O’Brien is worried at the prevalence of discounted tickets.

“It affects people’s buying patterns,” he says. “We have found a good percentage of them are waiting until the back end to see if they can get a cheaper ticket. We have spent a huge amount of energy training our ticket buyers that this will never happen with our tours.”

Regardless of the challenges, O’Brien says the corporate’s first quarter was the strongest up to now. In a mean yr it works on 40 tours, but this yr it’s on track to promote 60.

Aside excursions by rock, metallic and various acts reminiscent of Combichrist and The Damned, DAL organises the Good Things pageant, which takes place in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with a day by day capacity of 25,000.

Headliners this yr embrace The Offspring, All Time Low and Bullet For My Valentine.

O’Brien says it’s irritating that some artists do not prioritise Australia of their touring plans.

“A lot of artistes leave Australia late in their plans,” he says. “They get to a certain degree in the US or Europe after which anticipate the identical from their first go to to Australia.

“Trying to convince people that their artistes can have a long-term future in Australia can be a challenge.”

Constructing the longer term

After greater than nine years as CEO of the two,896-capacity Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Neil Croker launched live performance consultancy The Status Presents (TPP) in early 2017.

He says he has found it robust to seek out obtainable venues and shopper confidence could possibly be better.

“The market is always strong for the right product but it is generally patchy with consumer confidence low for most of this year, largely due to declining property values and the election period,” he says.

Among TPP’s current tasks was a nine-show tour of Quick Love – A Tribute To George Michael, which sold-out most of the venues, with capacities up to 2,00Zero and a mean ticket worth of A$69 (US$47).

“Following our first successful presentation of Fast Love, we have developed a co-promoting relationship with the show’s producers Entertainers UK that will see us tour more of their shows,” says Croker.

Melbourne and Olympic Parks (M&OP) manages public areas, parks and sporting amenities, in addition to the Rod Laver Area (16,000), Hisense Area (10,00Zero), Margaret Courtroom Area (7,500) and AAMI Park (30,050).

When the Rod Lever Area opened on the banks of the Yarra River in 1988 it was the first in Australia to have a retractable roof. Thirty years later the venue is conming to the top of a four-year, multi-million-dollar, redevelopment programme.

Arts Centre Melbourne (ACM) is a posh of theatres and concert halls within the central Melbourne suburb of Southbank that is to profit from a A$200m (US$137) local government funded overhaul.

Amongst its amenities is the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and a 12,500-capacity amphitheatre. ACM additionally houses the Hamer Hall (2,464) and State Theatre (2,0850).

Nearly all of live shows at ACM take place on the Bowl, which has this yr hosted acts including Florence + The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Kylie Minogue and Tash Sultana.

“The [redevelopment] project will transform the area around the Arts Centre, creating new and renewed open public space, including an elevated pedestrian park and outdoor performance and event spaces,” says ACM director presenter providers Glen Hirst.

There isn’t a doubt the market remains constructive and dynamic, with intense competition between promoters on the prime finish, but what seems to be an increase in last-minute ticket discounting suggests some pricing may need readjusting.

The post Australia – Audience appeared first on Black Dot Mobile.

[lets-carameth]

Australia – Audience

Despite its comparatively small inhabitants unfold over, in some instances, hundreds of miles, and handful  of main cities, the market is remarkably robust and growing, with numerous exhibits at stadium degree, touring festivals and some very aggressive promoters.  Christopher Barrett stories

It isn’t be the simplest or least expensive nation to succeed in from Europe or the USA, and as soon as there it may be necessary to travel hundreds of miles between cities and throughout multiple time zones.

Nevertheless, for many who take the time and have an viewers there, it’s is a rustic with a robust financial system and a population with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for reside music.

The newest Ticket Attendance and Income report, revealed in October last yr by business physique Reside Efficiency Australia (LPA), paints an image of a market in exceptional shape.

Modern music ticket sales revenue in 2017 was up 87.7 per cent year-on-year to A$826.1 million (US$568), in response to the LPA, with attendance up 49.6 per cent over the same time-frame, to eight.5m.

It was the sector’s first yr of progress in income since 2013 and the very best revenue and attendance recorded for modern music since LPA began producing the report back in 2004.

Australia is a massively competitive market with quite a bit to play for and one which has seen vital consolidation this yr amongst a few of its foremost promoters.

In March, Frontier Touring founder Michael Gudinski and Chugg Entertainment boss Michael Chugg reunited to type a three way partnership some 40 years after they co-founded Frontier Touring (see Audience challenge 230). That they had cut up in 1999.

Only a month later the market noticed additional consolidation when AEG bought a 50 per cent stake in Frontier Touring. The AEG-Frontier venture cements a relationship that goes back 12 years, throughout which era Frontier promoted AEG tours in Australia and New Zealand.

Included within the deal is main venue operator AEG Ogden, which owns and operates Qudos Bank Area (cap. 21,389) in Sydney, Brisbane Leisure Centre (14,500), Perth Area (15,000), Newcastle Entertainment Centre (7,500) and the 9,000-capacity ICC Sydney Theatre.

The mixture of Frontier, Chugg, AEG Presents and globally formidable promoter AEG Presents is a big rival to Reside Nation Australia.

AEG Presents chief operating officer and CEO/chairman Jay Marciano, based mostly in Los Angeles, says that following the Frontier acquisition the corporate plans to develop a touring network of mid-sized venues across Australia (see Audience situation 231).

“There are not enough small clubs and theatres in Australia for international artistes to be able to have the 10 or more shows that make it affordable to make the journey there,” he says.

AEG Ogden group director Tim Worton says the Frontier and AEG Presents deal shall be good for the market.

“We expect there will be the potential for even more AEG product to come to Australia as a result of the joint venture, so that is a positive,” he says.

Worton also expects AEG Ogden to profit from the merging of multinational venue management corporations AEG Amenities and SMG to type ASM International.

“SMG does not have any venues in our market, but we will benefit from the resources of this expanded network of venues,” he says.

Worton describes the native market as being “extremely buoyant” with AEG’s venues having fun with very robust ticket gross sales for exhibits by acts together with Phil Collins, Keith City, Pink Scorching Chili Peppers, Pink and Hugh Jackman.

Nevertheless, he factors out that there are difficulties, not least the very fact the Australian dollar has fallen in value to its lowest degree in around a decade.

“Promoters face the challenge of rising artiste fees and show production costs in addition to a weaker Australian dollar and that puts pressure on ticket prices, it can push them to a level that endangers the ticket sales needed to make the tours stack up,” he says.

Report returns

Stay Nation Entertainment entered the Australian market when it acquired Michael Coppel Presents (MCP) in 2012, which on the time was the nation’s second largest promoter. Coppel is chairman of Reside Nation Australia (LNA).

Coppel says that is shaping up to be a report yr for LNA when it comes to the number of live shows and tickets bought.

In the spring LNA promoted Pink Scorching Chili Peppers’ first headline exhibits in Australia for 12 years, selling-out 12 arenas and open-air venues ranging in capacity from 12,00Zero to 35,00Zero. Around 176,657 tickets have been bought at costs ranging from A$101 to A$165 (US$70-115).

Among its different major excursions is Metallica, who will play eight stadium exhibits to a mixed audience of greater than 300,00Zero, with ticket prices from A$127 to A$250 (US$88-174).

U2 may even play eight stadium exhibits and a combined audience of 380,000.

“The market is two-paced; major headliners are doing great business but lesser names can struggle due to the high volume of competing tours and high ticket prices,” says Coppel.

At Reside Nation Leisure-owned Ticketmaster Australia a serious focus this yr has been shifting away from paperless tickets to a mobile-only service.

The Discussion board Melbourne (2,00Zero) turned the first venue in Australia to completely adopt the know-how and Ticketmaster has introduced paperless ticketing for all basic admission tickets for U2 exhibits.

“Fans want an easier and more secure ticketing system which fits seamlessly into their lives,” says Ticketmaster Australia & NZ MD Maria O’Connor,. “Not only will digital tickets simplify the entire ticketing process, it will also increase security, decrease fraud and unlock unprecedented value from customer relationships.”

The company just lately partnered with the new North Queensland Stadium (25,000) as its official ticketing agent. Opening in 2020, Elton John will carry out there in February.

“Live entertainment across Australia and New Zealand has never been stronger,” says O’Connor. “We’re seeing new venues being built around the country and further expansion into regional areas to cope with demand and further enhance the live experience.”

Michaels reunited

Michael Gudinski founded the Mushroom Group in 1972 and seven years later launched Frontier Touring as part of the group. Among the many acts it has worked with are Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. Forthcoming exhibits embrace The Chemical Brothers and Shawn Mendes.

Frontier Touring’s three way partnership with Chugg Entertainment means the 2 operations now co-promote all Chugg tours, whereas Frontier has also joined Chugg and Potts Leisure as a companion in country music pageant CMC Rocks (24,00Zero).

Gudinski says it’s great to be working with Chugg once more and factors out it is rather much a partnership not an acquisition.

“It is not the band getting back together, Chugg is not part of Frontier, but Frontier is right behind him,” he says.

The veteran promoter says the cope with AEG does not imply the top of Frontier as an unbiased company.

“We are adding staff, going strong, and hopefully AEG will deliver more tours. We are thinking of the future,” he says.

Michael Chugg founded Chugg Leisure in 2000, touring acts corresponding to Coldplay, Radiohead, The Who and Florence + The Machine.

Chugg promotes around 600 exhibits per yr and its key tours this yr embrace Australian and New Zealand exhibits with Elton John, with 460,00Zero tickets bought for 31 exhibits, with prices ranging from A$139 to A$339 (US$97-237).

The company is finding environment friendly methods to market exhibits by way of digital platforms but Chugg factors out that traditional media stays vitally necessary. For its largest excursions the company makes use of radio, TV and outside promoting and has been recognized to supply particular TV and radio programming.

“When we sell-out we continue to promote the tours as it makes people aware of the act and their success,” he says. “Nothing frustrates our team more than seeing social media posts like ‘Oh dear, I’m a huge fan of … but I didn’t know they were here in Oz’.”

Chugg says ticket gross sales for his firm’s exhibits are usually robust however he doesn’t like other promoters decreasing prices for exhibits that aren’t selling nicely.

“We feel it must be really frustrating for fans when they pay full price and end up next to someone who paid as little as 25 per cent of the real ticket price,” he says.

Consolidating energy

Another veteran Australian concert promoter is Paul Dainty, who started organising exhibits in the early 1970s, working with David Bowie, U2, Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus along the best way.

TEG Dainty was shaped in 2016 when TEG, which owns the country’s largest ticket agency Ticketek, acquired Dainty Group Worldwide, which had been owned and operated independently by Dainty. In a mean yr the company promotes round 200 live shows.

He says the Australian market could be very robust and his company had an “amazing” start to the yr with Phil Collins’s Not Lifeless But: Reside! tour.

“We sold-out 11 shows in stadiums and arenas across Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “On one night we had Phil at AAMI Park [30,000] in Melbourne and Slash at Margaret Court Arena [7,500] literally across the road at the same time.”

One other firm spotlight was Eminem’s The Rapture 2019 tour in February, with five sold-out exhibits throughout Australia and New Zealand collectively attracting 304,Zero16 followers.

“We set new concert attendance records at the MCG Melbourne, with 80,708,” says Dainty.

TEG Dainty just lately introduced a 10-show stadium tour by Queen + Adam Lambert and can also be working on 28-date area tour by Hugh Jackman.

Noble ventures

Founder and director of Byron Bay’s Bluesfest (25,00Zero) Peter Noble is among the last remaining really unbiased established promoters.

Ticket costs for the annual five-day Bluesfest, held in April, ranged from A$160 to A$700 (US$112-490). Headliners included Jack Johnson, Tash Sultana, David Gray and Iggy Pop.

Grey and Iggy Pop have been among those to enterprise further afield during April with exhibits in Sydney and Melbourne, beneath the BluesFest Touring banner, but Noble additionally works on tours throughout the year.

“Iggy Pop was the biggest tour so far this, with 9,199 tickets sold and prices starting at A$89[$62)”saysNoble[$62)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble

With greater than 40-years expertise in the business, Noble says now is a superb time to be within the enterprise regardless of the stiff competitors.

“It is a healthy business and a very exciting time, we are out there touring artistes at all levels from small clubs through to arenas,” he says. “We don’t want to end-up with two monopolies running the industry.”

Unbiased strengths

Also based mostly in Byron Bay, One World Entertainment (OWE) promotes throughout the region and runs touring pageant Beneath The Southern Stars.

Headlined by Hoodoo Gurus, it completed a six-city run in January, enjoying to round 5,000 individuals per night time. OWE also lately promoted a tour by Boyzone and is working on tours by Kris Kristofferson and The Strangers.

“The live market is as strong as it’s ever been for the right act placed in the right venue,” says OWE CEO Andrew McManus. “It all comes down to awareness of your product and the local market.”

Prime of the listing of his considerations, nevertheless, is the “user pays” scheme launched by New South Wales police that permits it to add additional safety to festivals at the cost of the occasion organiser.

McManus says, “It is crippling. Police can determine how many cops they insist on having at an event while charging anything north of A$124.00 [US] per hour for them, and this is on top of the security guards we are obligated to have,” he says. “Something has to give otherwise more and more festivals and outdoor concerts will be unable to proceed.”

James Brown, Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson and The Stranglers are among artistes to have been promoted by Lennard Promotions over the previous three many years. Among the artistes the company is selling are Billy Ocean, 10cc and Suzi Quatro.

“Due to a glut of international and local tours the market is saturated and discretionary spending is tight,” says Lennard Promotions founder Aldo Lennard. “The challenge is to ascertain the right ticket prices as fans can only attend a certain number of concerts per year, and as ticket prices rise due to escalating costs and Australian dollar devaluation, the task will continue to be difficult.”

Together with his rivals collaborating extra strongly than ever, Lennard says he’s also open to joint ventures.

Paying the proper worth

The Van Egmond Group (VEG) has worked with acts corresponding to Michael Jackson, AC/DC and Prince because it launched greater than 40 years ago.

MD Garry Van Egmond says the corporate is making a buoyant market, however he would additionally wish to see less ticket discounting.

On the again of widespread consolidation among his rivals, Egmond thinks it’s constructive improvement.

“We have seen a lot of strong partnerships take place with the independents in Australia, both with international players and local players, and we want to be part of it.”

Like Chugg and Egmond, Destroy All Strains (DAL) common manager of touring Chris O’Brien is worried at the prevalence of discounted tickets.

“It affects people’s buying patterns,” he says. “We have found a good percentage of them are waiting until the back end to see if they can get a cheaper ticket. We have spent a huge amount of energy training our ticket buyers that this will never happen with our tours.”

Regardless of the challenges, O’Brien says the corporate’s first quarter was the strongest up to now. In a mean yr it works on 40 tours, but this yr it’s on track to promote 60.

Aside excursions by rock, metallic and various acts reminiscent of Combichrist and The Damned, DAL organises the Good Things pageant, which takes place in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with a day by day capacity of 25,000.

Headliners this yr embrace The Offspring, All Time Low and Bullet For My Valentine.

O’Brien says it’s irritating that some artists do not prioritise Australia of their touring plans.

“A lot of artistes leave Australia late in their plans,” he says. “They get to a certain degree in the US or Europe after which anticipate the identical from their first go to to Australia.

“Trying to convince people that their artistes can have a long-term future in Australia can be a challenge.”

Constructing the longer term

After greater than nine years as CEO of the two,896-capacity Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Neil Croker launched live performance consultancy The Status Presents (TPP) in early 2017.

He says he has found it robust to seek out obtainable venues and shopper confidence could possibly be better.

“The market is always strong for the right product but it is generally patchy with consumer confidence low for most of this year, largely due to declining property values and the election period,” he says.

Among TPP’s current tasks was a nine-show tour of Quick Love – A Tribute To George Michael, which sold-out most of the venues, with capacities up to 2,00Zero and a mean ticket worth of A$69 (US$47).

“Following our first successful presentation of Fast Love, we have developed a co-promoting relationship with the show’s producers Entertainers UK that will see us tour more of their shows,” says Croker.

Melbourne and Olympic Parks (M&OP) manages public areas, parks and sporting amenities, in addition to the Rod Laver Area (16,000), Hisense Area (10,00Zero), Margaret Courtroom Area (7,500) and AAMI Park (30,050).

When the Rod Lever Area opened on the banks of the Yarra River in 1988 it was the first in Australia to have a retractable roof. Thirty years later the venue is conming to the top of a four-year, multi-million-dollar, redevelopment programme.

Arts Centre Melbourne (ACM) is a posh of theatres and concert halls within the central Melbourne suburb of Southbank that is to profit from a A$200m (US$137) local government funded overhaul.

Amongst its amenities is the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and a 12,500-capacity amphitheatre. ACM additionally houses the Hamer Hall (2,464) and State Theatre (2,0850).

Nearly all of live shows at ACM take place on the Bowl, which has this yr hosted acts including Florence + The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Kylie Minogue and Tash Sultana.

“The [redevelopment] project will transform the area around the Arts Centre, creating new and renewed open public space, including an elevated pedestrian park and outdoor performance and event spaces,” says ACM director presenter providers Glen Hirst.

There isn’t a doubt the market remains constructive and dynamic, with intense competition between promoters on the prime finish, but what seems to be an increase in last-minute ticket discounting suggests some pricing may need readjusting.

The post Australia – Audience appeared first on Black Dot Mobile.

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Australia – Audience

Despite its comparatively small inhabitants unfold over, in some instances, hundreds of miles, and handful  of main cities, the market is remarkably robust and growing, with numerous exhibits at stadium degree, touring festivals and some very aggressive promoters.  Christopher Barrett stories

It isn’t be the simplest or least expensive nation to succeed in from Europe or the USA, and as soon as there it may be necessary to travel hundreds of miles between cities and throughout multiple time zones.

Nevertheless, for many who take the time and have an viewers there, it’s is a rustic with a robust financial system and a population with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for reside music.

The newest Ticket Attendance and Income report, revealed in October last yr by business physique Reside Efficiency Australia (LPA), paints an image of a market in exceptional shape.

Modern music ticket sales revenue in 2017 was up 87.7 per cent year-on-year to A$826.1 million (US$568), in response to the LPA, with attendance up 49.6 per cent over the same time-frame, to eight.5m.

It was the sector’s first yr of progress in income since 2013 and the very best revenue and attendance recorded for modern music since LPA began producing the report back in 2004.

Australia is a massively competitive market with quite a bit to play for and one which has seen vital consolidation this yr amongst a few of its foremost promoters.

In March, Frontier Touring founder Michael Gudinski and Chugg Entertainment boss Michael Chugg reunited to type a three way partnership some 40 years after they co-founded Frontier Touring (see Audience challenge 230). That they had cut up in 1999.

Only a month later the market noticed additional consolidation when AEG bought a 50 per cent stake in Frontier Touring. The AEG-Frontier venture cements a relationship that goes back 12 years, throughout which era Frontier promoted AEG tours in Australia and New Zealand.

Included within the deal is main venue operator AEG Ogden, which owns and operates Qudos Bank Area (cap. 21,389) in Sydney, Brisbane Leisure Centre (14,500), Perth Area (15,000), Newcastle Entertainment Centre (7,500) and the 9,000-capacity ICC Sydney Theatre.

The mixture of Frontier, Chugg, AEG Presents and globally formidable promoter AEG Presents is a big rival to Reside Nation Australia.

AEG Presents chief operating officer and CEO/chairman Jay Marciano, based mostly in Los Angeles, says that following the Frontier acquisition the corporate plans to develop a touring network of mid-sized venues across Australia (see Audience situation 231).

“There are not enough small clubs and theatres in Australia for international artistes to be able to have the 10 or more shows that make it affordable to make the journey there,” he says.

AEG Ogden group director Tim Worton says the Frontier and AEG Presents deal shall be good for the market.

“We expect there will be the potential for even more AEG product to come to Australia as a result of the joint venture, so that is a positive,” he says.

Worton also expects AEG Ogden to profit from the merging of multinational venue management corporations AEG Amenities and SMG to type ASM International.

“SMG does not have any venues in our market, but we will benefit from the resources of this expanded network of venues,” he says.

Worton describes the native market as being “extremely buoyant” with AEG’s venues having fun with very robust ticket gross sales for exhibits by acts together with Phil Collins, Keith City, Pink Scorching Chili Peppers, Pink and Hugh Jackman.

Nevertheless, he factors out that there are difficulties, not least the very fact the Australian dollar has fallen in value to its lowest degree in around a decade.

“Promoters face the challenge of rising artiste fees and show production costs in addition to a weaker Australian dollar and that puts pressure on ticket prices, it can push them to a level that endangers the ticket sales needed to make the tours stack up,” he says.

Report returns

Stay Nation Entertainment entered the Australian market when it acquired Michael Coppel Presents (MCP) in 2012, which on the time was the nation’s second largest promoter. Coppel is chairman of Reside Nation Australia (LNA).

Coppel says that is shaping up to be a report yr for LNA when it comes to the number of live shows and tickets bought.

In the spring LNA promoted Pink Scorching Chili Peppers’ first headline exhibits in Australia for 12 years, selling-out 12 arenas and open-air venues ranging in capacity from 12,00Zero to 35,00Zero. Around 176,657 tickets have been bought at costs ranging from A$101 to A$165 (US$70-115).

Among its different major excursions is Metallica, who will play eight stadium exhibits to a mixed audience of greater than 300,00Zero, with ticket prices from A$127 to A$250 (US$88-174).

U2 may even play eight stadium exhibits and a combined audience of 380,000.

“The market is two-paced; major headliners are doing great business but lesser names can struggle due to the high volume of competing tours and high ticket prices,” says Coppel.

At Reside Nation Leisure-owned Ticketmaster Australia a serious focus this yr has been shifting away from paperless tickets to a mobile-only service.

The Discussion board Melbourne (2,00Zero) turned the first venue in Australia to completely adopt the know-how and Ticketmaster has introduced paperless ticketing for all basic admission tickets for U2 exhibits.

“Fans want an easier and more secure ticketing system which fits seamlessly into their lives,” says Ticketmaster Australia & NZ MD Maria O’Connor,. “Not only will digital tickets simplify the entire ticketing process, it will also increase security, decrease fraud and unlock unprecedented value from customer relationships.”

The company just lately partnered with the new North Queensland Stadium (25,000) as its official ticketing agent. Opening in 2020, Elton John will carry out there in February.

“Live entertainment across Australia and New Zealand has never been stronger,” says O’Connor. “We’re seeing new venues being built around the country and further expansion into regional areas to cope with demand and further enhance the live experience.”

Michaels reunited

Michael Gudinski founded the Mushroom Group in 1972 and seven years later launched Frontier Touring as part of the group. Among the many acts it has worked with are Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. Forthcoming exhibits embrace The Chemical Brothers and Shawn Mendes.

Frontier Touring’s three way partnership with Chugg Entertainment means the 2 operations now co-promote all Chugg tours, whereas Frontier has also joined Chugg and Potts Leisure as a companion in country music pageant CMC Rocks (24,00Zero).

Gudinski says it’s great to be working with Chugg once more and factors out it is rather much a partnership not an acquisition.

“It is not the band getting back together, Chugg is not part of Frontier, but Frontier is right behind him,” he says.

The veteran promoter says the cope with AEG does not imply the top of Frontier as an unbiased company.

“We are adding staff, going strong, and hopefully AEG will deliver more tours. We are thinking of the future,” he says.

Michael Chugg founded Chugg Leisure in 2000, touring acts corresponding to Coldplay, Radiohead, The Who and Florence + The Machine.

Chugg promotes around 600 exhibits per yr and its key tours this yr embrace Australian and New Zealand exhibits with Elton John, with 460,00Zero tickets bought for 31 exhibits, with prices ranging from A$139 to A$339 (US$97-237).

The company is finding environment friendly methods to market exhibits by way of digital platforms but Chugg factors out that traditional media stays vitally necessary. For its largest excursions the company makes use of radio, TV and outside promoting and has been recognized to supply particular TV and radio programming.

“When we sell-out we continue to promote the tours as it makes people aware of the act and their success,” he says. “Nothing frustrates our team more than seeing social media posts like ‘Oh dear, I’m a huge fan of … but I didn’t know they were here in Oz’.”

Chugg says ticket gross sales for his firm’s exhibits are usually robust however he doesn’t like other promoters decreasing prices for exhibits that aren’t selling nicely.

“We feel it must be really frustrating for fans when they pay full price and end up next to someone who paid as little as 25 per cent of the real ticket price,” he says.

Consolidating energy

Another veteran Australian concert promoter is Paul Dainty, who started organising exhibits in the early 1970s, working with David Bowie, U2, Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus along the best way.

TEG Dainty was shaped in 2016 when TEG, which owns the country’s largest ticket agency Ticketek, acquired Dainty Group Worldwide, which had been owned and operated independently by Dainty. In a mean yr the company promotes round 200 live shows.

He says the Australian market could be very robust and his company had an “amazing” start to the yr with Phil Collins’s Not Lifeless But: Reside! tour.

“We sold-out 11 shows in stadiums and arenas across Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “On one night we had Phil at AAMI Park [30,000] in Melbourne and Slash at Margaret Court Arena [7,500] literally across the road at the same time.”

One other firm spotlight was Eminem’s The Rapture 2019 tour in February, with five sold-out exhibits throughout Australia and New Zealand collectively attracting 304,Zero16 followers.

“We set new concert attendance records at the MCG Melbourne, with 80,708,” says Dainty.

TEG Dainty just lately introduced a 10-show stadium tour by Queen + Adam Lambert and can also be working on 28-date area tour by Hugh Jackman.

Noble ventures

Founder and director of Byron Bay’s Bluesfest (25,00Zero) Peter Noble is among the last remaining really unbiased established promoters.

Ticket costs for the annual five-day Bluesfest, held in April, ranged from A$160 to A$700 (US$112-490). Headliners included Jack Johnson, Tash Sultana, David Gray and Iggy Pop.

Grey and Iggy Pop have been among those to enterprise further afield during April with exhibits in Sydney and Melbourne, beneath the BluesFest Touring banner, but Noble additionally works on tours throughout the year.

“Iggy Pop was the biggest tour so far this, with 9,199 tickets sold and prices starting at A$89[$62)”saysNoble[$62)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble[)”saysNoble

With greater than 40-years expertise in the business, Noble says now is a superb time to be within the enterprise regardless of the stiff competitors.

“It is a healthy business and a very exciting time, we are out there touring artistes at all levels from small clubs through to arenas,” he says. “We don’t want to end-up with two monopolies running the industry.”

Unbiased strengths

Also based mostly in Byron Bay, One World Entertainment (OWE) promotes throughout the region and runs touring pageant Beneath The Southern Stars.

Headlined by Hoodoo Gurus, it completed a six-city run in January, enjoying to round 5,000 individuals per night time. OWE also lately promoted a tour by Boyzone and is working on tours by Kris Kristofferson and The Strangers.

“The live market is as strong as it’s ever been for the right act placed in the right venue,” says OWE CEO Andrew McManus. “It all comes down to awareness of your product and the local market.”

Prime of the listing of his considerations, nevertheless, is the “user pays” scheme launched by New South Wales police that permits it to add additional safety to festivals at the cost of the occasion organiser.

McManus says, “It is crippling. Police can determine how many cops they insist on having at an event while charging anything north of A$124.00 [US] per hour for them, and this is on top of the security guards we are obligated to have,” he says. “Something has to give otherwise more and more festivals and outdoor concerts will be unable to proceed.”

James Brown, Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson and The Stranglers are among artistes to have been promoted by Lennard Promotions over the previous three many years. Among the artistes the company is selling are Billy Ocean, 10cc and Suzi Quatro.

“Due to a glut of international and local tours the market is saturated and discretionary spending is tight,” says Lennard Promotions founder Aldo Lennard. “The challenge is to ascertain the right ticket prices as fans can only attend a certain number of concerts per year, and as ticket prices rise due to escalating costs and Australian dollar devaluation, the task will continue to be difficult.”

Together with his rivals collaborating extra strongly than ever, Lennard says he’s also open to joint ventures.

Paying the proper worth

The Van Egmond Group (VEG) has worked with acts corresponding to Michael Jackson, AC/DC and Prince because it launched greater than 40 years ago.

MD Garry Van Egmond says the corporate is making a buoyant market, however he would additionally wish to see less ticket discounting.

On the again of widespread consolidation among his rivals, Egmond thinks it’s constructive improvement.

“We have seen a lot of strong partnerships take place with the independents in Australia, both with international players and local players, and we want to be part of it.”

Like Chugg and Egmond, Destroy All Strains (DAL) common manager of touring Chris O’Brien is worried at the prevalence of discounted tickets.

“It affects people’s buying patterns,” he says. “We have found a good percentage of them are waiting until the back end to see if they can get a cheaper ticket. We have spent a huge amount of energy training our ticket buyers that this will never happen with our tours.”

Regardless of the challenges, O’Brien says the corporate’s first quarter was the strongest up to now. In a mean yr it works on 40 tours, but this yr it’s on track to promote 60.

Aside excursions by rock, metallic and various acts reminiscent of Combichrist and The Damned, DAL organises the Good Things pageant, which takes place in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with a day by day capacity of 25,000.

Headliners this yr embrace The Offspring, All Time Low and Bullet For My Valentine.

O’Brien says it’s irritating that some artists do not prioritise Australia of their touring plans.

“A lot of artistes leave Australia late in their plans,” he says. “They get to a certain degree in the US or Europe after which anticipate the identical from their first go to to Australia.

“Trying to convince people that their artistes can have a long-term future in Australia can be a challenge.”

Constructing the longer term

After greater than nine years as CEO of the two,896-capacity Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Neil Croker launched live performance consultancy The Status Presents (TPP) in early 2017.

He says he has found it robust to seek out obtainable venues and shopper confidence could possibly be better.

“The market is always strong for the right product but it is generally patchy with consumer confidence low for most of this year, largely due to declining property values and the election period,” he says.

Among TPP’s current tasks was a nine-show tour of Quick Love – A Tribute To George Michael, which sold-out most of the venues, with capacities up to 2,00Zero and a mean ticket worth of A$69 (US$47).

“Following our first successful presentation of Fast Love, we have developed a co-promoting relationship with the show’s producers Entertainers UK that will see us tour more of their shows,” says Croker.

Melbourne and Olympic Parks (M&OP) manages public areas, parks and sporting amenities, in addition to the Rod Laver Area (16,000), Hisense Area (10,00Zero), Margaret Courtroom Area (7,500) and AAMI Park (30,050).

When the Rod Lever Area opened on the banks of the Yarra River in 1988 it was the first in Australia to have a retractable roof. Thirty years later the venue is conming to the top of a four-year, multi-million-dollar, redevelopment programme.

Arts Centre Melbourne (ACM) is a posh of theatres and concert halls within the central Melbourne suburb of Southbank that is to profit from a A$200m (US$137) local government funded overhaul.

Amongst its amenities is the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and a 12,500-capacity amphitheatre. ACM additionally houses the Hamer Hall (2,464) and State Theatre (2,0850).

Nearly all of live shows at ACM take place on the Bowl, which has this yr hosted acts including Florence + The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Kylie Minogue and Tash Sultana.

“The [redevelopment] project will transform the area around the Arts Centre, creating new and renewed open public space, including an elevated pedestrian park and outdoor performance and event spaces,” says ACM director presenter providers Glen Hirst.

There isn’t a doubt the market remains constructive and dynamic, with intense competition between promoters on the prime finish, but what seems to be an increase in last-minute ticket discounting suggests some pricing may need readjusting.

The post Australia – Audience appeared first on Black Dot Mobile.

[hermanwatts]

Fantasy New Releases: 22 June, 2019

Finales and debuts, steampunk and litRPG gamerpunk, dungeon lords and adventurous raiders, and the return of the Destroyermen feature in this week’s fantasy new releases.

Bloodwood Forest – Jeremy Fabiano and Cadeen Fabiano

A deadly curse. A life hanging in the balance. One girl holds the key.

Catherine knows one thing: She needs to get stronger. Much stronger.

But is the adventurer’s guild training enough?

When a deadly curse leaves her mother’s life hanging in the balance, Catherine makes a vow to save her.

To keep her promise, she must journey through a mysterious and deadly forest full of hostile spirits and many other dangers.

She has her father’s former adventuring party by her side. But can they teach her to defeat the evil sorcerer sapping her mother’s life force away?

Chainworld (Quantum Assassin #1) – Matt Langley and Paul Ebbs

How do you escape an enemy who can follow you everywhere and everywhen?

Shryke knows you can’t, yet still he runs for his life. There are horrors buried deep in his memory that have been locked away from him by some secret magic. All he knows is that he is the Quantum Assassin, and he stands alone against the end of everything – the lone warrior in a war he can’t hope to win.

The God-Queen’s hunger for destruction will only be sated by the end of Chainworld, a series of impossible constructs held together by science so advanced the inhabitants mistake it for magic. Shryke and those he meets along the way must complete his memory so he can stand against her; otherwise, the Chainworld will be shattered and life as they know it will cease to be.

Everflame: Mystic Wind – Dylan Lee Peters

My name is ARTHUR KAGE and I have a secret: I spent a month in the forbidden forest the other survivors call the NULLWOOD.

ANNA says the Nullwood appeared the night the skies fell, the night we call the Demise. Anna uses a wheelchair, but she’s the strongest person I’ve ever met. She has a secret, too; a friend who is a fox but… is so much more. I help her keep her secret, and she helps me keep mine. The other survivors would kill me if they knew I had been in the Nullwood. Monsters come out of there. Everyone is afraid of that black forest, and fear makes people dangerous

I don’t have many memories of the Demise, except it’s the last I saw my mother. I can’t remember being in the Nullwood either, except for what I see when I dream. In dreams, I see a shadow bear amid the gnarled black trees, and I see a mysterious flame. I don’t know what any of it means but…

I have to find my mother.

I have to go back into the Nullwood.

Evolution (Djinn-Tamer: Bronze League #3) – Derek Alan Siddoway and A. J. Cerna

It’s time to crown a champion. It’s time to evolve.

Jackson Hunt has spent countless hours training his team of monsters and battling rivals as an up and coming Djinn Tamer. All his hard work, the stunning wins, and heartbreaking losses lead to one place: the league playoffs.

But what got Jackson where he is won’t be enough to take him to the top.

As the season draws to a close, Jackson and his friends find themselves far away from the stadiums and crowds, searching for a means to take his Djinn to the next level. The strength he seeks lies in a remote, untamed corner of the world, where myth and legend walk hand in hand.

Competition for the championship will be fierce and the dangers of the wild are only the beginning. Is Jackson ready for the biggest battle of his young career?

Skills will be tested, new powers unleashed. Victory won’t come without a cost.

Forger of Worlds – Simon Archer

Craft your own World. Trade with neighboring Empires. Become a God.

Garrett thought Terra Forma was just a game, but in reality, it was a test created by a devastatingly beautiful ancient goddess to find the most creative man in the universe.

Now, in order to help her defeat an ancient primordial deity, Garrett will have to take a dirt rock and transform it into the heart of the most powerful empire the universe has ever seen.

And to do that, he’ll have to unlock portals to other worlds, harvest their resources, and bring back settlers to his world.

Sure, it’s a nearly impossible task, but at the same time, how often do you get the chance to play god?

The King’s Regret (The Falconbone Chronicles #1) – Philip Ligon

Jason is not a child anymore.

He hasn’t been a child since the King betrayed his family, killing his mother and all his friends in a terrible surprise attack against his home.

He is not a child anymore, but everyone still treats him like he is. His father, his uncle, his sister. And especially Nanny Grace. Jason knows he can help. But he’s stuck washing dishes, tucked away and protected as the heir to the Falconbone family. All he can do is dream of the day when he finishes his ship, The King’s Regret, and flies it to the capital to avenge his family.

When Father flies away to search for allies, a saboteur wrecks havoc on their refuge. Jason is determined to find the traitor, to prove that he can be useful. The last thing he expects is to find his family’s oldest enemy lurking in the shadows of their mountain hideaway.

And for that man to be his only hope for bringing his Father home alive.

Pass of Fire (Destroyermen #14) – Taylor Anderson

After being transported to a strange alternate Earth, Matt Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker have learned desperate times call for desperate measures, in the return to the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.

Time is running out for the Grand Human and Lemurian Alliance. The longer they take to prepare for their confrontations with the reptilian Grik, the Holy Dominion, and the League of Tripoli, the stronger their enemies become. Ready or not, they have to move–or the price in blood will break them.

Matt Reddy and his battered old destroyer USS Walker lead the greatest army the humans and their Lemurian allies have ever assembled up the Zambezi toward the ancient Grik capital city. Standing against them is the largest, most dangerous force of Grik yet gathered.

On the far side of the world, General Shinya and his Army of the Sisters are finally prepared for their long-expected assault on the mysterious El Paso del Fuego. Not only is the dreaded Dominion ready and waiting for them; they’ve formed closer, more sinister ties with the fascist League of Tripoli.

Everything is on the line in both complex, grueling campaigns, and the Grand Alliance is stretched to its breaking point. Victory is the only option, whatever the cost, because there can be no second chances.

A Sellsword’s Hope (Seven Virtues #7) – Jacob Peppers

Grinner and his conspiracy to overthrow Perennia have been defeated, but victory came at a high cost. The alliance suffered losses it could ill afford, for the true enemy still lies in Baresh, growing stronger with each day that passes.

Leading the combined armies of three kingdoms, Aaron and his companions march to the city, but even with such a force, even with the power of the Virtues, victory is anything but assured.

For when blades are drawn, when battle begins, the only certainty is blood.

Aaron knows this, just as he knows the terrible odds he faces. Yet, he is not alone. His allies march with him—creatures out of myth and legend, cut-throats and thieves, sailors and smugglers, and the mysterious Akalians who have finally chosen to step out of the shadows and into the light.

But the ancient mage has allies of his own, creatures endowed with speed and strength greater than any man, bereft of any human feeling, including pain. But there is strength in emotion, a power that even the thousand-year-old mage, even creatures out of legend, cannot stand against.

For with emotion comes valor and courage, honor and duty.

With emotion comes hope.

Troll Nation (Rogue Dungeon #3) – James Hunter and eden Hudson

Build. Evolve. Conquer. The dawn of the Troll Nation has begun …

Roark von Graf—former noble and hedge-mage, current mid-level mob in a MMORPG—has taken down the Dungeon Lord of the Cruel Citadel, but the battle has only started.

Lowen, right hand to the Tyrant King, has come to Hearthworld, and he is building an army of his own. Worse, Lowen and company have taken over one of the most powerful dungeons in the game, The Vault of the Radiant Shield. Even as a Jotnar and a newly minted Dungeon Lord, Roark is supremely outclassed and he bloody well knows it. If he’s going to weather what’s to come and topple the Tyrant King, he’ll have to unlock the secrets of the stolen World Stone Pendant, master his new Hexorcist class, form some very unlikely allies, and most important … Grief some heroes. Let the games begin!

Seven Fold Sword: Sovereign (Seven Fold Sword #12) – Jonathan Moeller

The quest of the Seven Swords has been a trap all along.

For the dark elven tyrant known as the Sovereign will use the power of the Swords to ascend to godhood and enslave the world for all time.

And only Ridmark Arban stands in his way…

Fantasy New Releases: 22 June, 2019 published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[uniteordie-usa]

The American Left: RIP

http://uniteordiemedia.com/the-american-left-rip/ https://uniteordiemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Its-a-two-party-system-600x509.jpg The American Left: RIP Paul Craig Roberts Once upon a time the leftwing of the political spectrum was committed to the advancement of the working class and its protection from political and economic abuse by the owners of the means of production. Consequently, the leftwing was politically potent and reached a...

Paul Craig Roberts

Once upon a time the leftwing of the political spectrum was committed to the advancement of the working class and its protection from political and economic abuse by the owners of the means of production. Consequently, the leftwing was politically potent and reached a pinnacle of power when Henry Wallace was selected by Franklin D. Roosevelt as his third term vice president. Despite his wealth from the company he founded, Wallace stood for the farmer and the working class.

The Democratic Party power brokers refused to accept Wallace as the vice president candidate until FDR told them he otherwise would decline the presidential nomination.

Wallace was Roosevelt’s and the Democratic voters’ choice for vice president in Roosevelt’s fourth term. But Wallace’s progressive views had alienated the party bosses, Wall Street bankers, anti-union businesses, and America’s British and French allies with his support for labor unions, women, minorities, and victims of colonialism. When he called for the emancipation of colonial subjects and for working with the Soviet Union in the cause of peace and working class justice, he sealed his fate. Despite a Gallup Poll released during the Democratic national convention in July 1944 showing that Wallace was the favorite with 65% of the vote and Roosevelt’s announcement that if he were a delegate, he would choose Wallace, the party bosses chose Harry Truman who was preferred by only 2% of Democratic voters.

This was a turning point in US politics and world history. If the people had prevailed over the corrupt Democratic party bosses, Wallace instead of Truman would have become the first postwar US president. Most likely, there would have been no Cold War, no Korean War, no Vietnam War, no NATO, and no decades of mutual distrust between the US and Russia that today threatens life on earth.

Moreover, in place of today’s highly skewed income and wealth distribution toward the very rich fraction of one percent, there would be an equitable distribution that would support a strong consumer market instead of declining real incomes and debt expansion that threatens economic growth, business profits, employment, and high equity values.

Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick in their best seller, The Untold History of the United States, describe the Clinton-style Democratic Party corruption that was used to block Wallace as the vice presidential candidate:

“Party insiders made sure they had an iron grip on the convention. Yet the rank-and-file Democrats would not go quietly, staging a rebellion on the convention floor. The groundswell of support for Wallace among the delegates and attendees was so great that despite the bosses’ stranglehold over the proceedings and strong-arm tactics, Wallace’s supporters almost carried the day as an uproarious demonstration for Wallace broke out on the convention floor. In the midst of the demonstration, Florida Senator Claude Pepper realized that if he got Wallace’s name into nomination that night, Wallace would sweep the convention. Pepper fought his way through the crowd to get within five feet of the microphone when the nearly hysterical Mayor Kelly, purporting that there was a fire hazard, got the Chairman, Senator Samuel Jackson, to adjourn the proceedings. Had Pepper made it five more feet and nominated Wallace before the bosses forced adjournment against the will of the delegates, Wallace would have become president in 1945 and the course of history would have been dramatically altered.”

The next day Senator Jackson apologized to Senator Pepper: “I had strict instructions from Hannegan not to let the convention nominate the vice president last night. So I had to adjourn the convention in your face.”

Thus was the power of interest groups to prevail over democracy 73 years ago when there was still a press that would on occasion speak for the people. Dave Kranzler and Brett Arends describe the power of the interests and the degeneration of the media today:

“It’s been my view since circa 2003 that [the oligarchs] would hold up the system with printed money and credit creation until every last crumb of middle class wealth was swept off the table and into the pockets of those in position to do the sweeping.

“Obama delivered nothing on his original campaign promises. He was going to “reform” Wall Street.  But the concept of Too Big To Fail was legislated under Obama, and Wall Street indictments/prosecutions fell precipitously from the previous Administration.

“Obama left office and entered into a world of high six-figure Wall Street-sponsored speaking engagements and to live in a $10 million estate in Hawaii paid for by the Chicago elite (Pritzkers etc).  Now Obama will be paid off $10’s of millions for his role in aiding and abetting the transfer of trillions from the middle class to the elitists. Look at Bill and Hillary – need I say more?  Trump has reversed course on his campaign promises twice as quickly as Obama.  Almost overnight after his inauguration, Trump became a war-mongering hand-puppet for the Deep State’s ‘Swamp’ creatures.

“The media has been willingly complicit in this big charade. Much to my complete shock, Brett Arends has published a commentary on Marketwatch which, from an insider, warns about the media:

‘Do you want to know what kind of person makes the best reporter? I’ll tell you. A borderline sociopath. Someone smart, inquisitive, stubborn, disorganized, chaotic, and in a perpetual state of simmering rage at the failings of the world. Once upon a time you saw people like this in every newsroom in the country. They often had chaotic personal lives and they died early of cirrhosis or a heart attack. But they were tough, angry SOBs and they produced great stories.

‘Do you want to know what kind of people get promoted and succeed in the modern news organization? Social climbers. Networkers. People who are gregarious, who “buy in” to the dominant consensus, who go along to get along and don’t ask too many really awkward questions. They are flexible, well-organized, and happy with life. And it shows.’

“This is why so many reporters are happy to report that U.S. corporations are in great financial shape, even though they also have surging debts, or that a ‘diversified portfolio’ of stocks and bonds will protect you in all circumstances, even though this is not the case, or that defense budgets are being slashed, when they aren’t, or that the U.S. economy has massively outperformed rivals such as Japan, when on key metrics it hasn’t, or that companies must pay CEOs gazillions of dollars to secure the top ‘talent’ when they don’t need to do any such thing and such pay is just plunder.”http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/the-sqeeze-is-on/

The American leftwing has been transmogrified. The left, which formerly stood for “peace and bread,” today stands for Identity Politics and war. The working class has been redefined as “the Trump deplorables” and splintered into separate “victim groups”—women, racial minorities, homosexuals, transgendered. The oppressors are no longer oligarchs who own the means of production. The oppressor is the sexist, misogynist, homophobic, heterosexual, fascist, white supremacist male working class.

The rise of Identity Politics has brought with it politically controlled speech. Primarily white people, especially heterosexual white males, are subject to this control. The limits on their free speech are growing ever more severe, and no one has to be concerned about white heterosexual males being offended by offensive or threatening speech. White males can be called anything and they are.

By splintering the working class into victim groups, Identity Politics has made opposition to war and income inequality impossible. In place of unity, Identity Politics has dismembered the working class and directed its energies into internal disputes. We now have fistfights in London’s Hyde Park between radical feminists and transgendered activists. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4891484/Fists-fly-politically-correct-rally.html

Diana Johnstone has shown how Antifa, the violent arm of Identity Politics, has turned the leftwing into a suppressor of free speech and a supporter of war. See https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/09/antifa-in-theory-and-in-practice/ andhttps://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/10/23/harmful-effects-antifa-diana-johnstone/ .

A splintered society cannot recognize or resist its oppression by a ruling elite. Feminism turns wives and husbands from complements into rivals. Indeed, Sarah Knapton, science editor for the London Telegraph, reports on the rise of “bromance,” strong emotional relationships between heterosexual men. Feminist attacks on men and political correctness have reduced millennial heterosexual males’ relationships with women to sex only. Their emotional commitments are to their male friends. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/10/12/rise-bromance-threatens-heterosexual-relationships-warn-social/ This doesn’t seem like a victory for women.

  Read More: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/10/23/american-left-rip/

[junker-town]

Louisville has Lamar Jackson, but all of 2016’s weaknesses might return

That glaring issue from last year? Not necessarily solved.

Stefan Lefors, Brian Brohm, Casey Dick, Ryan Mallett, Tyler Wilson, Brandon Doughty.

In his first nine seasons as a college head coach, Bobby Petrino was the mentor for some massively successful quarterbacks. Those six averaged more than 3,100 passing yards per season with 2.4 touchdowns to every interception and a 151.5 passer rating. If you take out Petrino’s first seasons at Arkansas and WKU, the passer rating rises to 158.2.

In those nine seasons, these quarterbacks also amassed 481 net rushing yards. Jackson had 526 net yards four games into the 2016 season.

Petrino is a damn evil genius. He will forever be the guy who flirted with every job within a 1,000-mile radius in the mid-2000s; the guy who was angling for former boss Tommy Tuberville’s Auburn job; who finally left Louisville after years of flirtation and rumors, only to leave his new job not even a full year in; and who nearly took Arkansas to the BCS title game, then lost his job because of the lies that followed a motorcycle crash.

He’s also now the guy who decided, upon his 2014 return to Louisville, that he wanted to dabble in the universe of dual-threat quarterbacks. And he’s the guy who, within three seasons of adaptation, had himself a Heisman winning quarterback.

It started with Reggie Bonnafon. When Petrino came aboard, he kept Bonnafon on the commit list, then added another dual-threat, Pat Thomas from a JUCO, after National Signing Day. Bonnafon threw 144 passes over two seasons before moving to receiver in 2016 and, evidently, running back in 2017. Thomas moved to receiver.

Bonnafon couldn’t stay at quarterback because midway through 2015, four-star true freshman Jackson began to figure things out.

A product of Boynton Beach, Fla., Jackson was well-regarded, but on the 247Sports Composite list of dual-threat QBs, he ranked behind players who either have yet to earn a starting job (Oklahoma State’s John Kolar, Ohio State’s Joe Burrow) or have already changed positions (UNC’s Anthony Ratliff-Williams, Tennessee’s Jauan Jennings). But those guys didn’t sign up to play for the quarterback whisperer.

In last year’s Louisville preview, I said this:

Upside, upside, upside. It's impossible not to use the word. Jackson didn't finalize his starting role until the bowl game, he was part of plenty of iffy performances, his INT and fumble rates were a little bit high, and his sack rate was far too high. But he still threw for 1,840 yards, and before factoring in sacks, he still rushed for 1,143. If that's the unvarnished version ... goodness.

If Jackson ends up Louisville's primary quarterback all year (meaning, if he stays healthy and doesn't fall into a slump), he should pass 2,500 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards. That's incredible in and of itself. The question is, how many glitches will we see?

Yeah, 2,500 and 1,500 were undercutting it. In his first full year, Jackson threw for 3,543 yards, and not including sacks, he rushed for 1,896. Combined touchdowns: 51. During a 9-1 start, the Cardinals scored at least 44 points in eight games and posted 36 points and 568 yards against eventual national champion Clemson in Death Valley. Jackson had the Heisman secured by basically midseason.

Of course, it’s good he had things squared away, because the final act was ... lacking. After reaching No. 3 in mid-November, the Cardinals finished by getting blown out at Houston, upset at home by rival Kentucky, and run out of the Citrus Bowl by LSU. After averaging 49.6 points per game through 10, they scored a combined 57 during this losing streak, and 38 came in one game (UK). Suddenly, Jackson’s line couldn’t protect him, and his receivers couldn’t hold onto his passes.

The mid-November hiccup isn’t new for a championship-level Petrino team. In 2006, he had Louisville to third in the country, but the Cards lost at No. 15 Rutgers. In 2011, his best Arkansas team was third when it bolted to a 14-0 lead at No. 1 LSU ... and gave up a 41-3 run.

Jackson’s still only a junior-to-be, though. Can Louisville put together another run before he either leaves for the pros or runs out of eligibility? Jackson’s still going to be awesome, mind you, but he heads in without last year’s best rusher, his top three receiving targets, and three of last year’s starting linemen. And the defense is reasonably experienced, but must replace a successful coordinator.

The schedule will help. S&P+ projects UL as a healthy favorite in 10 of 12 games and as only a slight underdog (by 1.7 points at home to Clemson) in one of the other two. But two of the toughest games (at UNC, Clemson) happen in the first three weeks of the year, when the offense might still be under transition. If the Cardinals start 3-0, they are well on their way to 10 wins or more. But a 1-2 start is on the table, too.

Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images

Bobby Petrino

2016 in review

2016 Louisville statistical profile.

It all worked. Until it didn’t.

First 4 games (4-0): Avg. percentile performance: 95% (~top 5) | Avg. yards per play: UL 9.0, Opp 3.9 (plus-5.1) | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: plus-29.9 PPG

Next 6 games (5-1): Avg. percentile performance: 85% (~top 20) | Avg. yards per play: UL 7.0, Opp 4.5 (plus-2.5) | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: minus-2.2 PPG

Last 3 games (0-3): Avg. percentile performance: 34% (~top 85) | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.0, UL 5.1 (minus-0.9) | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: minus-31.7 PPG

Louisville had the same offensive weaknesses throughout the season; Jackson’s completion rate was 58 percent even during the Cardinals’ torrid 4-0 start, and it was 56 percent for the season. Meanwhile, Jackson took a ton of sacks (10 percent sack rate). If you were going to slow them down, the formula — sell out to stop the run, hope the receivers drop some passes (or Jackson misfires), then overwhelm the UL line in pass rush — was obvious.

It’s just that no one could do it until UL went to Houston and got destroyed by Ed Oliver, Steven Taylor, and company. Given a firmer blueprint, LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda was able to dial up a winning game plan, too.

Still ... wow, what a ridiculous start. Louisville was maybe the best team in the country over the first four weeks, and now Petrino has had another offseason to make adjustments.

Offense

This offensive radar is less a chart and more a puzzle with two missing pieces:

Full advanced stats glossary.

Louisville’s weaknesses were both sparse and stark. The Cardinals were elite at almost everything, but when they fell behind schedule, they fell far behind schedule.

Louisville’s strengths are obvious. Jackson is terrifying in the open field — part of the problem with selling out to get him is that it might not work if you don’t have LSU- or Oliver-level talent — and while Radcliff is gone, exciting backups Jeremy Smith and Malik Williams (combined: 76 carries, 527 yards, nine touchdowns) are back, and four-star freshman Colin Wilson is big and exciting, too. Plus, Bonnafon has shown enough promise to end up atop the running backs depth chart.

All four backs are at least 6’1 and at least 212 pounds. Elite defenses aside, they don’t need a ton of help from their line. They’re everything Jackson needs to distract most defenses.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Jeremy Smith

At a few points, however, Louisville is going to have to pass. And not only is Jackson going to be protected by a line that returns just two starters, but there’s also not a senior in sight up front. Returning tackles Geron Christian and Lukayus McNeil are juniors, as are most of the potential new starters.

Plus, when Jackson’s surveying the field, he’s not going to find wideouts Jamari Staples and James Quick or tight end Cole Hikutini. The three combined for 131 catches, 2,052 yards, 16 touchdowns, and a 55 percent success rate. Yeah, there were some drops late. There were also lots of catches.

That’s not to say the receiving corps doesn’t still have potential. Junior Jaylen Smith and sophomore Seth Dawkins combined for 38 catches and 790 yards, and junior Traveon Samuel had the best success rate among regular UL WRs. There’s a world of potential, and as with the RB position, there’s quite a bit of size. Samuel’s tiny, but Smith and Dawkins are at least 6’3, junior Devante Peete is 6’6, and four-star redshirt freshman Dez Fitzpatrick is 6’2.

Photo by Chet Strange/Getty Images

Jaylen Smith

Be it by Clemson, Florida State, or maybe an NC State or Boston College, Louisville will be forced to pass. The result will determine whether this is a good season or one that is even better than last year.

Defense

The Louisville defense saw diminishing returns. Part of that was probably related — when the offense stopped doing as well, the defense couldn’t tee off on desperate opponents. But there was also a “nowhere to go but down” aspect.

Todd Grantham’s final Cardinal defense was mean; UL attacked the run and made you one-dimensional. Granted, they weren’t good enough at stopping the pass to master this, but all three Petrino-Grantham defenses ranked 21st or better in Def. S&P+. When you’ve got a Heisman quarterback at your disposal, that should be more than enough.

Grantham was lured away to run his 3-4 defense at Mississippi State, and instead of promoting someone from within, Petrino took a chance by bringing in an outsider. Strangely enough, it was a trade: Grantham went to Starkville, and Petrino brought in former MSU defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon.

Sirmon is known more for recruiting than defense. He was the recruiting coordinator at USC and Washington — you could see why Petrino, stuck in a division with FSU and Clemson, would be willing to attempt an upgrade in this regard — but his first MSU defense was lacking. The Bulldogs slumped to 73rd in Def. S&P+ thanks to a rebuilt secondary.

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

James Hearns

Sirmon’s first Louisville defense will be more experienced than his last one, at least. Instead of a strict 3-4 structure, he tends to lean toward multiplicity, and his returning personnel might be suited.

OLB-turned-defensive end James Hearns is fast enough to line up without a hand on the ground but is big enough to potentially do damage as a traditional end. And the return of Trevon Young from injury gives him a nice dance partner. In their last seasons, they combined for 16.5 sacks. Inside linebacker Stacy Thomas is a nice complement in run defense.

Replacing DeAngelo Brown could be the key. He was a rare, active force on the interior of Grantham’s three-man line, recording 14 tackles for loss, mostly of the non-sack variety. He was huge in rendering opponents one-dimensional, and while senior tackles Drew Bailey, Chris Williams, and big De’Asian Richardson are all back, they weren’t quite as disruptive as Brown. Combined, they managed only four more TFLs than him.

Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images

Chucky Williams

The secondary was a revolving door, and it showed. Of the top eight tacklers, only two played in all 13 games, and this appeared to wear particularly on the cornerbacks. Trumaine Washington went from seven TFLs and 10 passes defensed to one and eight, respectively, and fellow starter Shaq Wiggins missed nearly half the year.

This created too many glitches. Louisville ranked 17th in Rushing S&P+ but only 67th in Passing S&P+. And when the glitches showed up, they didn’t go away. The Cardinals allowed just a 110.3 passer rating in wins but a 156.6 in four losses. In two shootout losses, Clemson managed a 181.3, and more egregiously, Kentucky had a 187.8. Think that might have been important?

Wiggins and safety Josh Harvey-Clemons are gone, but corners Washington, Jaire Alexander, and Ronald Walker are all back, as are senior safeties Chucky Williams and Zykiesis Cannon. This is an experienced unit, at least, and if the front seven remains sturdy, the pass defense will likely suffice most of the time at least.

Special Teams

Alexander is important as a cornerback but dynamite as a punt returner; he averaged 10.5 yards per return with a touchdown and was the reason UL ranked 18th in punt return success rate. Punter Mason King averaged 43.9 yards as a freshman, too.

The rest of the unit was lacking, however; Blanton Creque and Evan O’Hara were fine on shorter kicks but just 2-for-6 outside of 40 yards, and only 11 percent of the kickoffs from Creque and Anthony George ended in touchbacks. The result of that was a No. 73 overall Special Teams S&P+ ranking. Everybody’s back; with another six or eight yards of place-kicking range, that should be more better than worse.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep vs. Purdue 87 24.7 92% 9-Sep at North Carolina 38 9.0 70% 16-Sep Clemson 6 -1.7 46% 23-Sep Kent State 123 36.2 98% 30-Sep Murray State NR 50.3 100% 7-Oct at N.C. State 27 6.1 64% 14-Oct Boston College 76 23.0 91% 21-Oct at Florida State 3 -10.2 28% 28-Oct at Wake Forest 64 13.1 78% 11-Nov Virginia 70 21.0 89% 18-Nov Syracuse 60 17.5 84% 25-Nov at Kentucky 41 9.6 71%

Projected S&P+ Rk 14 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 17 / 17 Projected wins 9.1 Five-Year S&P+ Rk 11.6 (20) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 34 / 33 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* -7 / -5.1 2016 TO Luck/Game -0.7 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 69% (58%, 80%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 9.6 (-0.6)

Most of the reasons Louisville was good last year remain in place. The skill corps remains full of big, athletic dudes, the Cardinals should still be able to attack from the edges of the defense (be they lined up in a 3-4 or 4-3), and Lamar Jackson is still Lamar Jackson. In fact, he might be at least a little bit better.

That alone will be enough for at least seven or eight wins in and of itself. But the Cardinals have to travel to UNC, NC State, Florida State, Wake Forest, and Kentucky and of course welcome Clemson early in the year. And the reasons why Louisville collapsed late in the year — diminishing returns on defense, a letdown from Jackson’s supporting cast — haven’t really been fixed either.

We don’t know if his line can protect him any better when a good pass rush starts attacking. If he’s a bit more harried, we don’t know if his skill guys will help him out. And in terms of known on-paper results, the Cardinals just underwent a clear downgrade in the defensive coordinator department.

In his fourth year at Louisville the first time around, his Cardinals went 12-1 and finished sixth in the country. In his fourth year at Arkansas, the Hogs went 11-2 and finished fifth. Petrino has a knack for finding answers, so he probably gets the benefit of the doubt. But that offensive line and that coordinator hire scare me a bit.

Team preview stats

All power conference preview data to date.