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handeaux · 3 years

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17 Curious Facts About The Cincinnati Reds

The Original Cincinnati Baseball Team Now Plays In Atlanta

Everyone knows baseball’s first professional team was organized in Cincinnati in 1869. What’s forgotten is that team’s disappointing 1870 season, after which the franchise dissolved. Manager Harry Wright moved to Boston, where he organized, with some former Cincinnati teammates, the Boston Red Stockings in 1871. Renamed the Boston Braves in 1912, that team moved to Milwaukee in 1953, and to Atlanta in 1966.

Red Stockings Were Dangerous

The 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings created a sensation by wearing knickerbocker trousers to show off their manly calves, clothed in lurid scarlet, to entice more women to the ball park. Other clubs adopted Cincinnati’s style, but players reported cases of blood poisoning when they were spiked, because the toxic dyes coloring their stockings seeped into the wounds. By the early 1900s, players started wearing white “sanitary socks” under brightly (and dangerously) dyed “stirrup socks” to avoid infection.

Today’s Reds Are Cincinnati’s Fifth Professional Baseball Team

1. The Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 dissolved after the 1870 season. 2. A revived Reds, formed in 1875, joined the new National League in 1876, but was expelled from the league and dissolved in 1880 because they refused to stop serving beer. 3. The current Cincinnati Reds team was organized in 1881 to join the rival American Association, then quit the AA in 1889 to rejoin the National League. 4. The American Association returned to town in 1891 with team known as Kelly's Killers, who played in the East End. 5. A short-lived professional league, the Union Association, recruited a Cincinnati franchise, the “Outlaw Reds,” who competed during that league’s only season in 1884.

Too Much Sunshine.

Baseball games have been called on account of rain, snow, earthquakes, darkness and all sorts of factors, but the Cincinnati Reds once had a game called on account of sunshine. The Reds and the Boston Braves squared off on 6 May 1892 in League Park. This ancestor of Crosley Field was built facing west and, after 14 innings of scoreless play, the catchers and hitters complained they couldn’t see the ball as the sun slowly settled behind Price Hill. Umpire Jack Sheridan agreed and called the tie game on account of sunshine. The next day’s Enquirer called the decision “just and sensible.”

Cicadas Are Good Luck

Local maven Joe Hoffecker notes the Reds have played eight seasons during which Cincinnati endured an infestation of 17-year cicadas. During those eight seasons, the Reds won a World Series, two National League pennants and two second-place finishes. The combined won-lost record for those eight years is 633-553, for a cumulative .534 percentage. This bodes well for the 2021 season.

Build It And They Will Come

Before settling in at the corner of Western Avenue and Findlay Street, the Reds played ball at Union Grounds, located approximately where the Union Terminal Fountain is today (1867 to 1870), at a park variously known as Cincinnati Baseball Park, Avenue Grounds, and Brighton Park, located in Camp Washington on Spring Grove Avenue north of the stockyards (1876 to 1880), and at the Bank Street Grounds in Brighton, near where Bank Street ends at I-75 today (1882 to 1883). The team settled at a former brickyard at the corner of Western Avenue and Findlay Street, named League Park (1884 to 1901), rebuilt as the Palace of the Fans in 1902, and as Redland Field in 1912. This venue was renamed Crosley field in 1934.

Ovine Groundskeepers

On the morning of 4 July 1894, somebody opened the gates at League Park and all the lawnmowers escaped. Groundskeeper John Schwab arrived at the ball grounds early to get the lines painted and stands swept for a double header only to discover that a flock of sheep he employed to trim the grass had wandered off. By nightfall, he hadn’t located his errant grounds crew.

Palms Of Seasoned Leather

Second baseman John Alexander “Bid” McPhee was the first major leaguer to play his entire professional career (1882-99) for the Cincinnati Reds. Many years later, Johnny Bench and Barry Larkin also achieved this feat. But there is another curious feat associated with Bid McPhee. He was certainly the last second baseman, and some sources claim he was the last player, to take the field without a glove. After 14 years of outstanding fielding without a mitt, McPhee donned a glove in 1896 and had a Hall of fame year.

Let’s Go Out To The Lobby

In 1913, the hottest concept in movie theaters was the airdome, an outdoor set-up under the stars with a piano player pounding away as silent films unspooled. The Reds organization hopped on that bandwagon by opening Cincinnati’s only roof-covered airdome at Redland Field. The nightly theater sat 3,000 viewers who got to see a feature and four shorts for a nickel. The Reds also leased their ballpark for dances, boxing, wrestling and track events.

Spring Training In A Cemetery

Although the 1919 Reds went on to claim the World Series crown, the year got off to an inauspicious start. Manager Pat Moran hauled the team to Waxahachie, Texas for spring training but found the weather anything but vernal. Constant rain and plunging temperatures prevented play on the field at Jungle Park, so the team practiced on the adjacent railroad tracks or crossed the road and found higher – and dryer – ground in the Waxahachie City Cemetery. It was the “dead ball” era, after all!

Ejected For Napping

Hall-of-Fame center-fielder Edd Roush has the distinction of being the only major leaguer ever ejected from a game for taking a nap on the field. The Reds opened an East Coast road trip on 8 June 1920, facing the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. The defending world champions played miserably but vociferously challenged an eighth-inning call by umpire Barry McCormick. The ump allowed the debate to go on for a good 15 minutes, so Roush made a pillow of his cap and glove and reclined in the outfield. At length, McCormick ejected a couple of players and ordered play to resume, but Roush couldn’t be roused and was sent to the showers. New York won, 5 to 4.

Three Is Better Than Two

In all of major league history, there have been only three occasions in which two ball clubs played three games on a single day. The last of those rare triple headers involved the Cincinnati Reds. Fighting against Pittsburgh for third place in the National League, the Reds faced the Pirates at Forbes Field on 2 October 1920 for a marathon outing beginning at noon. The Reds took the first two games, clinching their third-place finish. The Pirates were ahead 6-0 when the third game was called on account of darkness.

Postponed On Account Of Lindbergh

In May 1927, Colonel Charles Lindbergh flew alone across the Atlantic Ocean. After returning stateside, Lindbergh embarked on a nationwide tour, arriving in Cincinnati on 6 August 1927. The Reds hastily erected a temporary platform at Redland Field and the gates opened for a standing-room-only crowd to hear their hero speak. So many aviation enthusiasts filled the stands that the Reds couldn’t clear them out to let the paying baseball crowd in. That day’s game was postponed and the Reds and Phillies turned the next day’s game into a double-header.

Up, Up And Away!

On 8 June 1934, the Cincinnati Reds became the first major league baseball team to travel to a game by airplane when they journeyed to Chicago. Manager Bob O’Farrell and 19 players flew to Chicago, some said, in a bid to distract attention from their last-place standing. The Reds beat the Cubs that day, 4 to 3.

No Commies Here!

Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, Americans suspected anyone with liberal leanings of supporting Communism. Nationally televised hearings led by Senator Joseph McCarthy raised anti-Communist feelings to a fever pitch, and no one wanted to be labelled a “Red.” Bowing to popular pressure, the Cincinnati Reds became the Cincinnati Redlegs from 1954 to 1959 to allay any concerns about their patriotism.

Fewer Trains Meant Parking For The Reds

In 1957, both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants departed for sunny California, and New York City was left holding the bag. That bag contained an unfulfilled offer to build what would become Shea Stadium as part of a futile effort to hold either of the National League teams in Gotham. Snubbed by both, New York determined to build that stadium anyway and attempted to lure the Reds to the Big Apple. Reds owner Powel Crosley Jr. hinted that he might consider such an offer, because he needed parking. Cincinnati rushed a plan to demolish Union Terminal’s maintenance facilities to create more parking spaces around Crosley Field.

Rosie Reds Kept The Team In Cincinnati

Despite winning the National League pennant in 1961, the Reds saw dwindling attendance over the following years. When owner Bill DeWitt let it be known in 1964 that he was entertaining an offer to sell the team to a San Diego syndicate, the Queen City panicked. Among the proposals to boost attendance was the successful formation of the Rosie Reds to encourage women to attend games. The Rosie Reds are still going strong after more than 50 years. “Rosie,” by the way, is an acronym. It stands for Rooters Organized to Stimulate Interest & Enthusiasm.

[A tip of the hat to Cincinnati Reds Historian Greg Rhodes whose research was invaluable in compiling this list.]

#cincinnati reds #greg rhodes #joe hoffecker #edd roush #powel crosley #bill dewitt #harry wright #pat moran #redlegs

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terror-in-the-aisles-2021 · 3 years

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Props to Richard Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino for paying homage to the double feature Grindhouse movies.in 2007 the pair released the movie Grindhouse with 2 movies and some fake trailers, except for one that actually made it as a movie, machete. Anyway I wish more producers and directors would follow in the steps of Grindhouse. The double feature movies in the 1970s which I remember were fun , hey 2 for one price at the plaza theater in Paterson New Jersey. And showing my age but it was 75 cents. An example in 1972 I watched tales from the crypt and the house that dripped blood. At another time it was Frogs 1971 and the incredible 2 headed transplant. How I wish they had a revival of these classic cheesy b movies. Of course at the time of my blog we are still going through the real horrors of COVID and going to the movies is still a no show. Well personally do a drive in would be more acceptable. And with the drive in countdowns retro that is. The dancing and singing cans of soda and popcorn, and the continuous countdown to the next feature. The first feature was usually better than the 2nd. But why not revive these movies to a new generation who weren’t around during the 1950s and 1970s? Some of the new movies are not even good enough to pay 15.00 for watching. Anyway my opinion. I enjoy the vintage movies but at the same time I love some of the modern movies. My point is movies like Frogs and the previous movies I blogged should get a new lease on life. Feeling nostalgic about these gems but really watching movies should be fun not boring. Cheesy and campy vs dull long and boring. I think me and drive in critic Joe Bob Briggs have the same taste. I love his reviews and his series on shudder. Yes he even gave me an autograph back in the 1990s. If someone asked me choose between gone with the wind and attack of the killer tomatoes. Ha ha I would pick the killer tomatoes. Ow that’s entertainment. And one person’s opinion. Long live the Grindhouse movies.

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calzona-ga · 5 years

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Taraji P. Henson and Ellen Pompeo are two of the most powerful women on television, sitting at the center of major broadcast hits. On Fox’s “Empire,” Henson’s Cookie Lyon has proved to be a fan favorite, while Pompeo’s Meredith Grey has kept viewers obsessed with ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” for a decade and a half — making the series history’s longest-running medical drama. Both stars, too, have found their voices, speaking out about inclusion and inequity in Hollywood.

TARAJI P. HENSON: Ellen, we’ve been living with your character for 15 years now. How was the character written on the page?

ELLEN POMPEO: When I read the script, the thing that stood out was that it was the lead character. I had been in a bunch of movies, but just the girlfriend or the wife. And then — listen, the nature of how she’s evolved is that I’m 15 years older. What about you when you read the pilot for “Empire”?

TpH: I thought, “The NAACP, they’re going to get me for this one.” She calls one son, who’s gay, the F-bomb, and she beats one son with a broom. This is something that has never been shown on national television — certainly not by a black woman. When you’re a person of color, you have to be careful about the roles you pick. You want to uplift the people. Once I got past the fear, I was able to really see her. I didn’t want just black people to identify with her. I wanted every mother in the world to understand the sacrifices that only mothers can make.

EP: I think that Caucasian actresses don’t understand the nuanced struggles that you have as a black woman, and the roles you choose — what you’re sidestepping, what you want to make sure gets out there. It’s a whole different layer of difficulty that I certainly didn’t understand when I started my show. I knew that we were doing special things by showing people of color as doctors, which hadn’t been done on television in a long time. But when we’re young actresses you’re trying to get any role you can. You don’t have time to have empathy. I’ve had a tremendous education, not always in the most pleasant of ways. I’ve had to observe and have a lot of uncomfortable moments, which is fine, because I’m happy to have uncomfortable moments as long as I’ve learned.

TpH: That means you’re growing. Growth is uncomfortable. When I booked “Empire,” I had a momentum going that I’d been waiting my entire career for. I seized every opportunity. If I was getting 5 or 10 million a movie, I wouldn’t work so much. I’m working because I have bills to pay. I have dreams. I have to get it in.

EP: For me the performance that stands out is “Hustle & Flow.” Your quote should have shot up after that.

TpH: It did not. I think the industry knew I was talented. But it’s about money. Are you bankable? I had to continuously prove that. I’ve been trying to prove and improve. I was asking for half a million. I didn’t get paid that until I did my first Tyler Perry film. He was the first person who paid me $500,000. I was never in a position where I could not take a job; by the grace of God, they have all been really good characters. But it was never a situation where I was like, “I’m not going to do that.” Now, I’m finally there.

EP: It’s impossible to have this conversation without talking about race. It’s such a significant piece of pay parity.

TpH: It’s not going to change until privilege reaches across the table and helps. Otherwise, we’re playing a rerun. The only narrative that I wish I could change is my money. It’s almost like they want this incredible performance for a discount price. The black movies — we don’t get big budgets. I have to wait until Scorsese or someone with a franchise film calls.

EP: You hear that? She wants a franchise movie. Who’s calling?

TpH: We’re going into our sixth season. How did you do 15? Was there any moment where you were like, “Child, I want off this bus”?

EP: There were many moments. It’s funny: I never wanted off the bus in the year that I could get off. The first 10 years we had serious culture issues, very bad behavior, really toxic work environment. But once I started having kids, it became no longer about me. I need to provide for my family.

TpH: I know that.

EP: At 40 years old, where am I ever going to get this kind of money? I need to take care of my kids. But after Season 10, we had some big shifts in front of the camera, behind the camera. It became my goal to have an experience there that I could be happy and proud about, because we had so much turmoil for 10 years. My mission became, this can’t be fantastic to the public and a disaster behind the scenes. Shonda Rhimes and I decided to rewrite the ending of this story. That’s what’s kept me. Patrick Dempsey left the show in Season 11, and the studio and network believed the show could not go on without the male lead. So I had a mission to prove that it could. I was on a double mission.

TpH: Were you and Patrick getting paid the same in the beginning?

EP: He was being paid almost double what I was in the beginning. He had a television quote. I had never done TV.

TpH: I know that story. Is there wine in this cup?

EP: “He’s done 13 pilots.” Well, none of them have gone. I didn’t even realize until we were renegotiating Season 3. No one was offering that up.

TpH: That story sounds about like mine. But when all the tweets were about Cookie, I said, “It’s time to renegotiate. Can everybody sit down at the table, please?” I’d been in the game long enough to know the numbers game, and I knew Cookie had become iconic. You need her. So I need my money.

EP: My husband says, “Closed mouths don’t get fed.” But if you have to walk, don’t be a victim. If you don’t get what you want, put your big-girl panties on …

TpH: And bounce.

EP: You can know your worth, but if they don’t know it, you can’t cry.

TpH: I had to leave a show before, and it was the most money I’d ever seen in my life, and I was so miserable. It was stealing my joy. I just remember praying to God: “God, I’m not happy creatively.” And the next day, I called the producer. He got it. And I walked away, not even knowing where I was going. I ended up doing a play in Pasadena. I didn’t care about who was coming to the theater, executives or casting directors. It was about Taraji falling back in love with this craft. Fox had to woo me. I wouldn’t read the script. I was done with television.

EP: It’s a grind.

TpH: It’s really not for me. I had to say, “I want my money because I know what I bring to the table and I know the following that I have.” I know if there’s money to be had, I should be paid.

EP: I now have three kids. And we turned the culture around. I’ve hit some marks that have made me feel accomplished in a different way. Shonda Rhimes has been amazing. She lets us be mothers. I don’t have to travel. I don’t have to go anywhere.

TpH: I don’t know if I could do 15 seasons of Cookie.

EP: Are you involved in your storyline at all?

TpH: Absolutely. No one knows Cookie better than me.

EP: I haven’t been challenged creatively at all. Every once in a while we do an amazing storyline. But for the last five years, I’ve had other milestones that we were trying to achieve behind the camera.

TpH: For me, one of our proudest moments was with gay marriage. Because we didn’t know how the black community would accept Jamal, the gay son [played by Jussie Smollett, who since this conversation has not been asked back to the sixth and final season of the show], because it’s so taboo. There’s still the homophobes on Twitter, but those are small voices compared to the resounding voices of love that he gets, the character. I’m just proud to be a part of this show that’s not afraid to get people talking. That’s the only way you’re going to get change.

EP: We have the most incredible community of actresses right now. Everybody is just pushing and taking all these old stereotypes and throwing them out the window.

TpH: I don’t want anyone that looks like me, or any woman at 40, to feel they have to stop being sexy on-screen. I’m not ready to just collect a check. I want to open films. I’ll be 49 this year.

EP: Me too.

TpH: And we still have an audience.

EP: We still have an audience.

TpH: We’re still bankable, and we’re still sexy as hell.

#Ellen Pompeo #Taraji P. Henson #variety #grey's anatomy #empire #news

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twotwinks · 4 years

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a thing i was tagged in a long time ago by @rochc93. i am, believe it or not, attempting to catch up on these things. i always intend to do them but it’s either not a good time when i think about them or i’m not thinking about them. sorry i’m a mess

Who were you named after?

First name, nobody bitch. That’s all me. Middle name, like twenty different characters who are important to me but all on accident because I didn’t realize we shared the name until after I’d picked it. Notable instances include Rita Rose Vrataski from Edge of Tomorrow and also Amy Rose (a recent discovery). Last name, Gary King and also because I like confusing people about my gender by deliberately using a “male” title while presenting female (though hopefully not for much longer) and also being nonbinary. (Also s/o to ladies who call themselves king instead of queen. Yes I’m thinking of Kagamine Rin in the WanOpo songs Death Should Not Have Taken Thee and Our Adventure Log Has Vanished.)

Last time you cried?

two weeks ago to the day, when my dad let our dog Koko get hit by a car, things have been Extra Bad around here since then

Do you like your handwriting?

No. When I was little everyone always used to tell me how pretty it was but then I started trying to be a Serious Writer and my penmanship degraded as a result of how fast I had to get the words out of my head. Now my mom whines all the time about how messy and illegible my writing is.

What is your favorite lunch meat?

TURKEY

Longest relationship?

Umm....about two years ago for about three months-ish? I think? Maybe two months? I don’t know, we were dating for Christmas and then I broke up with him right before Valentine’s Day because my mental health couldn’t take it. I realized I was aro shortly after. Who would’ve guessed, huh?

Do you still have your tonsils?

Yep!

Do you bungee jump?

no and i never will

What is your favorite kind of cereal?

Dude this changes like monthly. Sometimes Honey Bunches of Oats. Sometimes Frosted Flakes. Sometimes I get a ridiculously strong craving for Strawberry Awake or Lucky Charms or Honey Nut Cheerios. I just get to eat cereal so infrequently that I can’t really have a favorite, I just have to indulge whatever craving I currently have because I only get the chance to eat one box every three months or so.

Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

Yes because when I was little my mom ingrained into me that not untying my shoes first would ruin the backs of them way faster than they should. In all fairness we were poor and couldn’t afford to buy me new shoes that often because my feet are so sensitive that an actual comfortable pair costs $100.

Do you think you’re strong willed?

oh fuck no i mean have you ever spoken to me??? i’m the biggest baby pushover to ever live

Favorite ice cream?

Either that Death by Chocolate stuff they serve at Purdue’s dining courts sometimes or mint chocolate chip. It has to be green though or it loses something sdkhsdhk

What is the first thing you notice about a person?

Usually like their shirt, I guess? I don’t know, this isn’t something I’ve ever really thought about. Maybe it’s also if they have one of those annoying faces or voices. Or if they have a queer vibe. Look I’m not good with people ok.

Football or baseball?

Football but only because marching band and/or soccer

Favorite doughnut?

Okay this is going to sound weirdly specific but. Chocolate cake donut with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles. Also on a related note I once let a girl in high school copy my homework (that I myself had found the answers to on the internet, it was a really unfair English assignment). She was so happy that she said she’d buy me a donut for breakfast the next day (she made a donut run for herself once a week as a special treat). I gave her my oddly specific request, but since I knew it was kind of a rare donut to find I told her anything chocolate would work. The next day, lo and behold, she showed up with the perfect donut. She had them make it special for me (insert Discord’s pleading face emoji). That was the day I learned my lesson about judging “dumb blondes”.

What music are you listening to?

I’ve been back into Touhou doujin arrangements again lately, especially eurobeat. However I’m also hyperfixating on Sonic the Hedgehog again so the game soundtracks and the Crush 40 albums are starting to show up in my frequent rotation on Spotify.

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

The obvious choice is mint green but I could also very easily be a lime green or a glittery ruby slippers red.

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?

I believe I talked to my grandma a little bit on my mom’s phone not that long ago? Other than that according to my phone it looks like I took a call from my dad back in April?

Hair color?

that real deep almost black brown. i nearly got into a fistfight with some boys in second grade who insisted my hair was black. it’s not black it’s just very thick. it actually looks much lighter if you just separate a smaller chunk and look at it.

Eye color?

Hazel. Brown with some green flecks. Or possibly green with some brown flecks. Also both of my irises look different up close but you can’t tell unless you’re really up in my face.

Favorite food to eat?

pasta but it can’t have red sauce

Scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings all the way

Last film you watched in the cinema?

do you really expect me to remember this. i honestly do not fucking know. i have no brain when it comes to movie theaters. i was gonna do a double feature of birds of prey and the sonic movie the tuesday before spring break (cheap prices for students!!!) but i ended up having a headache that day so i couldn’t go and then shit hit the fan and there was no theatergoing. i have tried and failed to get my parents to rent the sonic movie since. i’m very unhappy about it now that i’m hyperfixating again.

What color shirt are you wearing?

well i think it used to be white but it’s really old so now it’s like off-white. also it has a big snake on the back. i don’t even like snakes i just enjoy this shirt.

Favorite holiday?

Christmas!!! I don’t necessarily actually enjoy celebrating the holiday (thanks fam) but I love the idea behind it and the aesthetics. Also it’s peppermint season!

Beer or wine?

Listen I am super picky about alcohol. I haven’t liked any of the wine I’ve tried, but the first two wines I had other people told me it was bad (and then they took me out and bought me alcohol I would actually like because I’d never drank before and apparently getting me tipsy in Ireland over spring break was an Honor for them I literally didn’t pay for a single drink that night) and the third wine I had was paired with the wrong type of food (we couldn’t get the Right wine bottle open). I didn’t really mind the beer I tried in Ireland though, so I guess beer? I really like cider best though, and apparently I can also handle vodka.

Night owl or morning person?

night owl i wish i could be nocturnal

Favorite day of the week?

Friday. It has all the joy and anticipation of the coming weekend without the curse of my dad being home or the responsibility of homework looming over everything.

Favorite animal?

HEDGEHOG yeah i never really got past that from when i was little. but i also just love pretty much all animals. except like. snakes and spiders but sometimes snakes have their moments.

Do you have a pet?

Yeah. We have a lot of “family” pets but I consider Patches (cat) and Gabby (dog) to be Mine Specifically. If my mom hadn’t forced me out of therapy I’d probably be bringing Patches with me to college next year as an emotional support animal.

Where would you like to travel?

Europe babey. I just wanna hang out in France and England and Scotland and also go back to Ireland. I miss Ireland so much y’all.

ok that’s it. that’s all for this one. i’m not tagging anyone because i’m sure it’s already made the rounds among everyone. but if it missed you and you still wanna do it go for it. consider yourself tagged. poof.

#mt's ramblings #tagged #long post #also given some of what i discussed here #animal death #sad times y'all

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royatlyfree1923 · 6 years

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DAGMAR

January 22, 1923

Dagmar is a drama in two parts by Louis Anspacher based on a play by Ferencz Herczeg. The play is set at a European resort. The play concerns a Countess (played by Nazimova) who leaves one man for another and pays the ultimate price.

Under the direction of Iden Payne, it played at the Selywyn Theatre for 56 performances. It then moved uptown to the Shubert-Riveria Theatre, part of Broadway’s subway circuit.

“’Dagmar’ is just plain boring. It is exactly the boarding-school girl’s idea of a drama of passion.” ~ Dorothy Parker

CAST (5F 4M)

Alla Nazimova (Countess Dagmar) was a Russian actress who emigrated to the United States in 1905. By 1918 she was a box-office star for Metro Pictures and completed 11 films for the studio over a three-year period. A torrid, stylish and rather outré tragedienne who played exotic, liberal women confronted by great personal anguish. Performing under a singular moniker, Dagmar was intended to hail her return to the stage. Broadway's 39th Street Playhouse was originally known as The Nazimova Theater. She became a US citizen in 1927 and died in 1945.

VENUE

Selwyn Theatre (227 West 42nd Street) opened its doors in 1918. By 1934, it was showing movies. In 1950, a unique policy was introduced: a sixty-minute play to precede each screening. Traditional double features quickly took over, lasting into the 1990s, when the theatre fell into the hands of The New 42nd Street. Roundabout Theatre signed a long-term lease and renovated the theatre renaming it the American Airlines Theatre in 2000.

The production later moved uptown to...

The Shubet-Riviera Theatre (2575 Broadway at 97th Street) was built in 1913 but was soon leased to the Shubert Brothers. It contained a separate upstairs theater called the Japanese Gardens which, along with their "sister" theatre, the next-door Riverside Theatre were part of the “Subway Circuit” of legitimate venues during the Golden Age of Broadway. The Shubert-Riviera had 1718 seats and a Moller organ. The Riviera later became a United Artists movie theater. All theatres were demolished and replaced by an apartment tower.

#Broadway #1923 #Stage #Theatre #Dagmar #Alla Nazimova #Nazimova #Selwyn Theatre #Shubert-Riviera Theatre #Subway Circuit #play #drama #melodrama #American Airlines Theatre #New York City #Louis Anspacher #Dorothy Parker #Iden Payne #Ferencz Herczeg

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adamwatchesmovies · 6 years

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Pandas (2018)

IMAX's Pandas follows Chinese researcher Rong Hou and American panda expert Jacob Owens as they prepare panda cub Qian Qian for her release in her natural environment where as few as 2,000 pandas live in isolated pockets. Aiding them is Ben Kilham, an American who has, for decades, helped orphaned baby black bears get ready for the wilderness.

This documentary is aimed at young children but adults will smile throughout. This is a gorgeous film and on an IMAX screen where you really get to see all of the sylvan colors, it kinda takes your breath away. Then there are the pandas themselves. It’s impossible not to “awwww” at the multiple shots of cubs playing, climbing trees and tumbling among the leaves. Obviously, I’d seen pictures of China’s signature animal before but seeing them here made for a completely different experience. With those funny noises they make? Ah! You just want to reach inside the screen and squeeze them.

Most of the film is quiet, perhaps with some music playing in the background as we observe the passionate researcher’s efforts to get Qian Qian ready for release. Occasionally, Kristen Bell's narration explains a few key points. This documentary short has two objectives: 1) get people to care about pandas and 2) showcase the beauty of nature. At these, it excels, making it particularly beneficial for small children who will learn, through the adorable balls of fur to care about animals and the environment.

With that said, my rating comes with an asterisk. Pandas is only 40 minutes long with the intro and end credits. I went to see the film on a Tuesday, meaning admission was discounted. Even at 6.99 a ticket, the value isn't great. Assuming it’s just the one parent and one child, an outing this short for that much is difficult to endorse. If the IMAX people are listening, I recommend making these into double-features. It doesn’t even have to be two new movies, just SOMETHING to make it last somewhere near the 90-minute length even the lousiest animated films boast. How about digging through the archives with a 10-minute bathroom break between the two?

Paying full price to see Pandas is a bit of a hard sell, which probably explains why I was all alone in the theater. I am happy to have seen it, however. If you don’t care about money, are renting it, or find it on home video to own and watch over and over, then yes, you should absolutely see this gorgeous and sweet documentary. (Theatrical version on the big screen, August 28, 2018)

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handeaux · 6 years

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More Than Charlie Chaplin: Cincinnati’s Uncensored 1916 Movies

Adultery, abortion, venereal disease, prostitution, even full-frontal nudity were all on screen at Cincinnati’s movie theaters a century ago. Audiences flocked to racy “moving pictures” while the State of Ohio attempted to censor films.

Looking back from the blasé Twenty-First Century, we think we know all about the pre-World War I movies. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Keystone Kops and lots of maudlin melodrama with “soundtracks” provided by piano players with straw boater hats, right? You might be surprised to find that your great-grandparents watched some fairly risqué stuff. Here is a selection of films that played in Cincinnati over just one year – 1916:

Forbidden Fruit

This 1915 film by writer and director Ivan Abramson concerns a young woman who breaks her engagement when she discovers that her fiancé has slept with multiple women. She marries his best friend instead. In a moment of financial panic, her husband forges the ex-fiancé’s name to a stock certificate. The ex-fiancé offers to drop the charges if the woman has sex with him. She does. Drama ensues.

Damaged Goods

Most Cincinnati exhibitors compared “Forbidden Fruit” to a 1914 movie still in circulation titled “Damaged Goods,” which explored the travails of a young married couple whose lives are ruined because the husband contracted syphilis while in college. While censors railed against the loose morals of the film, the Post [21 February 1916] advised teenage girls to see it:

“This scenario contains a wonderful lesson in purity and hygiene and brings out truths which all young people should understand. Ask your mother to go with you and explain the purpose of the play.”

The Little Girl Next Door

Another “lesson” film playing Cincinnati in 1916 was “The Little Girl Next Door” which focused on white slavery and prostitution. The distributor solicited endorsements from local clergy and social workers and advertised the importance of seeing this movie “for your daughter’s sake.” The Cincinnati Enquirer [25 June 1916] described the docudramatic content:

“It really has no plot. It is merely a recital of the lives of several unfortunate girls; how they were trapped, and, in some cases, rescued, and in others forced to lead a life of shame.”

Where Are My Children?

After infidelity, venereal disease and prostitution, it’s no surprise Cincinnati audiences flocked to a film about birth control and abortion. In this Tyrone Power (Senior) vehicle, it is revealed that the wife of an ambitious prosecutor has avoided pregnancy when she can and procured abortions when she can’t, all to maintain her glamorous social calendar. Audiences packed the Grand Opera House on Vine Street for two months at inflated prices of 25 cents to watch this melodrama.

The Eternal Sapho

Cincinnati’s own Theda Bara got into the censor’s crosshairs with “The Eternal Sapho.” Based on a French novel, the film tracks Bara as, of course, a vamp who schemes the marry a rich man but is forced to return to a poor sculptor, only to discover that he has committed suicide. This leads her into insanity. The manager of the Walnut Theater, where “The Eternal Sapho” was exhibited found himself arrested on charges preferred by a local minister who claimed the Cincinnati theater was showing a print containing scenes ordered excised by Ohio censors. The Cincinnati Post [9 May 1916] gave the film a good, if circumspect, review:

“The ‘Sapho’ of Theda Bara is a very vital, a beautiful and interesting thing. Sometimes we have suspected – even said – that the acting art of our own Theda is limited to big eyes and an ability to shiver; but that suspicion is unfounded. In ‘The Eternal Sapho,’ a Fox film, now on exhibition, Miss Bara has a big role, and she fills it. No adjectives necessary. When you’ve said that of any role, you’ve said all there was to say, you know.”

Undine

While the films described so far tested the limits of censorship with situational content like extramarital sex, infidelity, venereal disease and prostitution, Ida Schnall’s 1916 film, “Undine,” went for sheer – very sheer, apparently – exhibitionism. Schnall was famous for her athleticism as a swimmer, diver, skater and baseball player. Undine was about mermaids. The film played at the Nordland – now known as Bogart’s. Trade publication The Moving Picture World [5 February 1916] described the attraction:

“’Undine’ promises to uncover possibilities for a sensational vogue – and ‘uncover’ is a word well chosen.”

Purity

While “Undine” attracted audiences with scantily clad mermaids, “Purity” featured total female nudity, in the form of a true 1916 supermodel named Audrey Munson. Famous – or infamous – for her career as an artist’s model, Munson portrayed Purity, a country girl who gains employment as (Surprise!) an artist's model and wins the affections of a young poet. He rejects her when he learns of her scandalous profession – until he discovers that she was saving up her modeling fees to pay for publication of his first book. Multiple scenes involve Munson naked in the studio and in nature. How did this get by the Ohio censors? The Cincinnati Post [23 January 1917] explained:

“Ohio censors have decided there may be such a thing as nude art in the photoplay, just as there are in pictures and statuary. As a result ‘Purity,’ the big ‘morality photodrama,’ featuring Audrey Munson, artist’s model, will be given its first showing in Cincinnati next week at the Walnut. Miss Munson has been rated as possessing a perfect feminine physique.”

The Enquirer [29 January 1917] approved:

“Its frank treatment of the subject of art, and its arraignment of mawkish prudery are the things that stand out with virile force.”

Your proprietor believes that last comment to be an intentional double entendre, but the author of that amazing line is, alas, no longer available to interrogate about things that “stand out with virile force.”

#motion picture #movie theater #Theda Bara #Audrey Munson #Ida Schnall

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architectuul · 7 years

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FOMA 9: Radical Open Architecture

Our ninth edition of Forgotten Masterpieces focuses on two Dutch architects from the period between 1950’s until the 1970’s, Herman Haan and Frank van Klingeren, which are relatively unknown outside the Netherlands. Although they differ in their architecture, what connects them is their position towards an open society, which was – sometimes quite literally – realized in their work. Besides that, they were both media (television mainly) personalities in an era when this was not common among architects.

Materiality of the Haan’s House. | Photo by Violette Cornelius

Herman Haan (1914-1996), a typical architect’s architect, was admired among colleagues, but hardly known by the general public. In his case it must be noted that he was very well-known in the 1960’s outside the profession because of the media attention (television, newspapers, books) he received for his travels and explorations in and around the Sahara and Mali. In Mali he documented the life and artefacts of the Dogon people and he was leader and initiator of an expedition that discovered the remains of the forefathers of the Dogon: the Tellem people. In fact, he had travelled to Africa on a yearly basis (mainly in and around the Sahara) since he was a young boy, and one could say that he lived two full lives; one of an adventurer/ explorer/ archaeologist and another life as an architect in the Netherlands. He was a sort of an architect Indiana Jones.

Herman Haan among the Dogon. | Source via Partners Pays-Dogon

As an architect he was one of the incidental participants of the Team 10 family and he brought Aldo van Eyck into contact with the Dogon people. He was also one of the Team 10 members that attended the famous CIAM meeting in Otterlo (NL) in 1959, that caused CIAM to break up definitely. His work consists mainly of private houses. It is very much within the post-war, modernist tradition of Team 10, but with a special open brutality and a humanist twist. He was one of the first modern architects that re-used building materials in his designs.

Herman Haan’s house in Rotterdam, 1951-53. | Photo by Violette Cornelius

Haan build the radically open house for himself and his wife Hansje on a piece of land at the edge of Rotterdam, where the debris of the demolished city centre during a bombardment in 1940 was collected. It consists of two elongated volumes: an elevated, floating open volume with the living room above and a small architect’s studio underneath half of this volume, and a second, closed volume with garage and two small bedrooms. In-between is a double height open space that connects both volumes as an entrance lobby.

The main feature of the living room volume is the set of four glass sliding doors, that can all be opened at the same time, thus literally opening the living room to the outdoors and the view over one of the main entrance roads of the city (and Haan did not believe in the use of curtains either). Another feature is the open kitchen, if not one of the first in architecture, then certainly of one the most radical open kitchens ever. It consists of a simple, small cooking table with a floating kitchen sink that stands in the middle of the living room and is connected to the open fire chimney only. Cooking is a social activity, so Haan had learned in Africa.

Open space and open kitchen. | Photo by Violette Cornelius

The bricks of the closed bedroom volume used in the interior are re-used pavement bricks from the quays of the Rotterdam harbor. An old poplar tree that stood on the site was cut into veneer and used as a finishing layer of cupboards all around the house. Parts of the stone flooring was salvaged from the rubble heap on which the house is build. The house is still standing, but the radical openness proved to be too much for the current owners. It is today surrounded by a wall of conifers, and parts of the glass facades are closed off.

Patio Student Housing, Drienerlo Enschede, 1964-65. | Source Rijksdient voor het Cultureel Erfgoed

Herman Haan was asked by his mentor Willem Van Tijen (a first generation functionalist modernist) to build a batch of student housing for the campus of a new technical university in Enschede. It is unquestionably his most African project. The concept was based on the Matmata cave dwellings of southern Tunesia, famous for being the home of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars IV. It is also his most structuralist design, a so called mat-building based on a continuous square configuration, that was also one of the Team 10 tropes. The design consists of seventeen square units, joined in a larger configuration. Each unit consists of a patio with student rooms on two sides. Eight students live in such a patio unit (six one-person rooms, one two-person). Access to the rooms is from the patio, so each student room has his own front-door. Access to these patio’s themselves is mainly from the roof of the one - storey complex. A foot-path and bicycle road crosses the roof of the complex. The roof itself was one of the first green roofs in the Netherlands, sowed in with grasses. In the middle of the complex a larger central square and pool serves as a meeting place for the student community. The same pavement bricks from the quays of Rotterdam harbor, that he used in his own house and other projects, were used extensively in this one too. The project was recently fully restored and established as a National Monument of post-war architecture.

Frank van Klingeren selling his open architecture. | Source via Nieuwlanderfgoed

Frank van Klingeren (1919-1999), a Provo in a business suit was, unlike Herman Haan, a real outsider in the Dutch architecture scene of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Trained as a construction engineer, he was a self-taught architect that kept away from architecture gatherings or cliques. He was more at home among people from avant-garde theatre of the period, than among ‘Forum’ architects like Van Eyck, Bakema and Hertzberger, although he shared a lot of his ideas with the latter. They even received the Fritz-Schumacher-Preis in 1974 together, Hertzberger for his Centraal Beheer office in Apeldoorn, and Van Klingeren for ‘t Karregat in Eindhoven. Both buildings celebrating multi-functionality and an openness towards change.

Although Van Klingeren was quite productive as an architect from the late ‘50’s to the mid ‘70’s, his main claim to fame was established with the design of three consecutive multi-cultural community buildings or Agora as he called them; De Meerpaal in Dronten, Agora in Lelystad and ‘t Karregat in Eindhoven. But his media presence was broader than that. Especially after finishing De Meerpaal, he evolved towards a counterculture societal critic and television personality, while keeping his distance from direct involvement in flower power, hippie or provo movements. He was in that sense a Provo(cateur) in a business suit.

De Meerpaal, Dronten, 1965-1967 | Photo by Jan Versnel

Asked for a simple multipurpose community building with provisions for amateur theatre and music, sports and a small café for new inhabitants of the pioneer-village Dronten that was being built in the new polder Flevoland, Van Klingeren did much more than that, and in a sense also much less. He gave more space, more functionalities and more possibilities, but less stuff (walls, floors) and in a way less architecture. Van Klingeren was inspired by the village squares or agora of the Mediterranean that functioned as meeting places, open-air theaters and playground, while showing a generic, in fact absent, architecture. In this sense his agora can be seen as a sort of architectural urbanism.

De Meerpaal is in fact nothing more than a covered village square, protected from the northern climate by glass walls. It is a large glass-and-steel box measuring 50x70 meters with a couple of smaller brick boxes (some art and exhibition rooms, a tilted box with restaurant/ café, and a small staff office) added along the edges. In the middle of the covered space an oval open-air theatre - soon dubbed ‘The Egg’ - is the main architectural gesture. There are hardly any walls inside, neither are there many spaces for any specific function. All functions mix, sometimes causing hindrance. According to Van Klingeren, hindrance leads to conversation and mutual understanding. De Meerpaal was used for many different functions; the weekly market, agricultural exhibitions, sports, parties, large scale meetings etcetera. The oval theatre with its central stage (the setting of audience and use could be changed easily, anything was possible except a traditional proscenium set-up), became a place where alternative theatre groups loved to perform.

De Meerpaal was also the main stage for large size, live national television productions and games, until large-scale studios were built in Hilversum. Besides this television attention for Dronten, it was also equipped with a (rotating) film screen on which, besides normal movies, live television could be screened of the so-called Eidophor technique. Thus, the whole village could watch the news or football matches together from the indoor terrace of the café. De Meerpaal has, with some merit, been compared to Cedric Prices (unbuild) Fun Factory of the same time. But while Fun Factory can be called a machine for multi functionality, full of specific intentionality, De Meerpaal is more like a generic square where the intentionality of use and meeting is not outspoken, but nevertheless - maybe more so than in Fun Factory - more open to chance and unpredictable uses.

Agora Lelystad, 1966-1972 | Photo by Jan Versnel

While construction work for De Meerpaal was still going on, Van Klingeren was commissioned to design a similar multifunctional building for Lelystad, the second new town to be built in Flevoland. It was planned to become the largest city and capital of the new polder province. The first design elaborated further on the open concept and mix of functions of De Meerpaal. In this case the scale was larger and Van Klingeren managed to lure in the churches (three different denominations) into the collective. Although each church would have its own space, it was to be open like the open-air theatre and - as Van Klingeren argued - since these spaces would only be used on Sundays, they could double as extra theatre and meeting spaces for the rest of the week.

Meanwhile it was decided that not Lelystad but a newer town Almere to be built closer to Amsterdam would be more important and bigger, and construction of Lelystad was delayed. This meant that the scale and budget of Van Klingeren’s Lelystad Agora diminished too. Instead Van Klingeren proposed the opposite; to enlarge the program with shops and housing facilities (hotel, boarding house), but to do this within the limited budget (to do more with less, was one of his favorite slogans). He proposed a U-shaped steel post-and-beam structure of three storeys, to be left open and to be colonized over time by the people and by entrepreneurs. The ground floor would still be like De Meerpaal, only a swimming pool was added. This open ground floor would be connected to the adjoining park so that Van Klingeren started to title the different zones in the lay-out as if they were landscapes: theatre landscape, youth-cave, swimming and undressing landscape. All in an open ‘wall-less’ setting. While De Meerpaal could be called urbanism (realised with architectural means), this last design for Lelystad would have been a landscape design instead, growing over time. The proposal proved to be too radical for Lelystad and a toned down. Conventional Agora was built in the city centre by one of Van Klingeren former employees.

‘t Karregat Eindhoven, 1970-1973 | Photo by Jan Versnel

Van Klingerens attention had already shifted towards Eindhoven. There he was given the opportunity to build another multifunctional community building for a new experimental housing project. This time it would include – besides the cultural and sports facilities – a small shopping mall (bakery, greengrocer, a small supermarket) and a health facility with general practice (the café serving as a waiting room) and a pharmacy. But the real experiment was the inclusion of two elementary schools and a nursery school. These too would be built without any internal walls to speak of, one organic whole with the rest of the spaces and facilities, a field of communal activity. Children, according to Van Klingeren, would learn their arithmetic next to the supermarket cash desk, mothers could meet each other at the café bar after bringing their kids to school.

The one storey building (or rather the enclosed and climate controlled landscape) is situated underneath a flat roof with an open steel structure, that is supported by steel umbrellas; pyramid shaped skylights on open steel columns. All services (air-conditioning, electricity, rainwater drainage and ventilation) are positioned in sight within the steel roof structure, and can be accessed (and changed when the floor configuration is changed) from below. The perimeter facade is built-up out of off-the-rack components (mainly from the glass-house industry). In general, there is a certain high-tech feel to the architecture, albeit with the informal sloppiness of a self-built community house. Named ‘t Karregat (cart-sink after the shopping carts that would gather there) it was opened in 1973 without hardly any change in the original concept. After a couple of years, the schools without walls proved to be too much for the teachers, that went into the experiment without any primary experience whatsoever in new schooling methods. Glass partitions were applied, but besides that the openness was maintained and ‘t Karregat became an overnight success, also because the community ran the cultural facilities for themselves.

Afterlife

Both De Meerpaal and ‘t Karregat were highly successful until the 1990’s. When De Meerpaal, formerly publicly owned, was privatized in the 1980’s the open space was divided into smaller areas, and finally plans were made to demolish it around the year 2000. Protests from the architecture community and the State Architect managed to save the structure, especially the roof and The Egg. But several theatre spaces and a public library (all very much enclosed) were added so that the new Meerpaal can hardly be called open anymore, at least not in the sense that it was open in the 1960’s, both architecturally and functionally. More or less the same fate came over ‘t Karregat. After a successful period of a couple of decades, plans for demolishment were halted, and it is now restored; but a smooth false ceiling has killed the informal sloppiness of the original, partition walls have been added, patios are cut into the roof. Operation succeeded, patient died.

One may wonder whether this open architecture of De Meerpaal and ‘t Karregat was not so much geared towards it’s own time, and so much part of the open society, that it failed to be open towards societal change in the 1990’s. It very well may be the case, but then so is the architecture of the renewal. One of the protesting architects against demolishing De Meerpaal, Kas Oosterhuis, proposed to wrap the building up in plastic and to wait until society and technology would have been advanced towards a new phase fitting the original intentions of De Meerpaal. This would actually have been a great solution, and one has the feeling that now, only fifteen years after, the new Meerpaal feels old, and the old Meerpaal would fit much better in our current times, which are media driven, semi-virtual, but also with a longing for the open society of 50 years ago. The plastic could have been wrapped of already.

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#FOMA 9: Piet Vollaard

Piet Vollaard is an architect and architectural critic working in Rotterdam. Besides monographs on both featured architects; ‘Herman Haan, architect’, Rotterdam (1995) and ‘Hinder en ontklonteren, architectuur en maatschappij in het werk van Frank van Klingeren’ with Marina van den Bergen, Rotterdam (2003), his publications include several Architectural guides to the Netherlands with Paul Groenendijk, Smart Architecture with Jacques Vink and Ed van Hinte, Rotterdam (2003); Positions, six Dutch architecture photographers with Simon Franke and Allard Jolles, Rotterdam (2010); Making Urban Nature with Jacques Vink and Niels de Zwarte, Rotterdam (2017), on nature-inclusive design in an urban context. He was founder and editor in chief of ArchiNed (1996-2013), and visiting teacher at several architecture schools in the Netherlands. His current activities focus on urban nature in a designer and ecologists collective The Natural City, and Stad in de Maak / City in the Making a collective of architects, designers and artists working in the field of commoning and activating empty buildings and related urban activism.

#forgotten masterpieces #foma

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hudders-and-hiddles · 7 years

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Hi, I just wanted to ask you about the MoviePass thing? Apparently I've been living under a rock or something because its the first I've heard of it. I've read a few articles on it, but I was hoping to get some insight from just a customer. Do you think its worth it? Have you had any issues with it? Because it all seems really convenient and that seems too good to be true. Thanks in advance!

Hi! Yes, I’m more than happy to give you some insight into my MoviePass experience. There are definite benefits and drawbacks, but for me personally, I do think it’s been worth it overall, though that could certainly change in the future. Most of the drawbacks for me are potential future issues rather than current ones: I’ve read a lot about where they want to go with all of this, and I could definitely foresee a point at which I might cancel my subscription, but for now I have largely been satisfied with using it in the way that it is currently set up.

I want to give you a really thorough response to your questions here, and in addition to talking about the practicalities of the subscription, it’s going to involve telling you probably more about MoviePass’s business model than you really wanted to know. But you wanted to know if it’s too good to be true or not, and I think that model is largely where the answer lies. I apologize about the length in advance…

Cost and frequency of use

I absolutely love going to the movies, and I typically go alone, which is basically the ideal situation for someone to benefit from a MoviePass subscription. The card can only be used by one person, so if you typically go to the movies with a friend or partner, they would also need their own subscription. At this point, I am going to the movies about once a week, so in an average month I’m going to probably see around 4 movies with my subscription at a total cost of $9.95, which is what the subscription price was when I signed up. (Currently, they’re running a promotion where it’s only $6.95 a month if you pay it as an annual lump sum–it’s $7.95 if you pay per month instead.) As a comparison, during the three months before I got my card in the mail, I saw ten movies at a total cost of $105. Two of those were IMAX showings, which wouldn’t have been eligible for MoviePass, so my total cost if I’d had my subscription then would have been $60.63 (3 months x $9.95, plus $15.39 each for the IMAX showings). Saving 45-ish dollars over the course of those three months wouldn’t have made a huge difference in my wallet obviously, but it’s not nothing either–who wouldn’t take an extra $15 a month if someone handed it to them?

Most people don’t go to the movies that frequently, however, so the savings may not be that great. MoviePass has actually been around since 2011, at various pricing structures, and they’ve found that frequency of attendance seems to be related to the subscription price, which makes sense. The more you pay, the more you’re going to use it to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. They believe that most subscribers will only see about one movie a month at the current price point, and if that’s true, most people aren’t really losing any money from a subscription, but they aren’t really saving anything either. This also really makes me the kind of subscriber MoviePass doesn’t want–someone paying them less than $10 a month to see 4 or 5 movies–but I’m perfectly happy to take advantage of their pricing structure for my own benefit. The benefit you see is definitely going to relate to how often you go and how sustainable that is, too. Even if you go four times the first month you have it, will that eventually taper off?

Some of the cost benefit also depends on when and where you go to the movies, too, though. Back when I was fresh out of undergrad, I decided I wanted to see a movie a week in theaters for an entire year, and so I did, typically going to Sunday morning matinees each week at a cost of $5 a ticket. If MoviePass had been a thing back then, it probably still would have been worth it (that’s still about 10 bucks a month saved), but if you only go once a month and you typically go to matinees, it may work out to cost you more. With my subscription now, however, I’ve been going to Friday night showings, when tickets are $10.99 at my preferred theater, so even one ticket would cost me more than I’m paying per month. If you live in a bigger city, those tickets may cost even more. You just have to look at the costs for yourself and see how much, if any, you’ll actually save there.

Putting your [MoviePass’s] money to work

Another benefit for me is that I’m also seeing more movies now than I probably would have otherwise. Late winter/early spring is usually a bit slower for me, with less out that I want to see, but since almost everything I see after the first movie each month is essentially free, I can take a chance on things I might have waited to try to catch on Netflix or elsewhere (I’m going to come back around to talk more about how this fits into their business model later). MoviePass has referred to this as essentially being “bad movie insurance.” You can take a chance on something, and if you don’t like it, it’s not a big deal because you didn’t really pay for it. So far I haven’t gone to see anything that I would really have considered a risk as to whether or not I would at least somewhat like it, but I have used it to see things I probably wouldn’t have spent my own money to see in theaters. For instance, I went to see a well-reviewed French film at my local art cinema one night earlier this week that I probably would have just waited to watch at home at some point if I could find it, but since it was free to me, hey why not go check it out? Out of the five movies I’ve seen in the last month, I probably would have only gone to two or three of them without the subscription, so getting to see more movies has definitely been a nice bonus.

As a diversity-related sidenote here, I think one of the biggest benefits to seeing more movies than I might otherwise is that I can help generate revenue for the kind of films that I want to see more of. Sometimes in the past a film premise didn’t interest me quite enough to spend my own money on it, but I wished I could support the people making it somehow anyway. Now I can use my MoviePass to do that. The five movies I’ve seen so far this month were a big budget Disney film directed by a black woman, a big studio romcom about a gay teenager, a foreign film about gay men, a foreign film about a trans woman, and a sci-fi film where the five main cast members were women, two of whom were women of color, and one of their characters was a lesbian. It was a really nice mix of films. Now obviously every month probably isn’t going to look like that [unfortunately], but I am happy to have the chance to throw MoviePass’s dollars at films created by, starring, and/or about non-white, non-male, non-cis, and non-straight people whenever possible. We need more of that, and the only way to convince the studios to make more of it is to buy tickets.

Speaking of tickets, let me also note here that the theaters are still getting paid the full price of these tickets [right now], so they’re not losing out on that revenue, which is particularly important for supporting your local mom and pop or arthouse theater. Now if you know anything about the way theaters work, you’ll know that little revenue is actually made on ticket sales–most of it is made on concessions which is why those typically cost so much–so your local theater isn’t making a bunch extra off of you using your subscription. But it’s also very much not hurting your local theater if you choose to use your card there. MoviePass isn’t paying them some discounted price for your ticket, so the theater is making the same off of you that they would make off of anyone else. This means you can help to support local business with your subscription the same way you would with your own money, and if you see even more movies there now, in the long run small, local theaters could definitely see a boost from this.

Customer service

Ok, so, cost and frequency and the ability to more generously support some causes I care about make the subscription a win for me personally, but obviously there are also drawbacks. Let’s start with my experience in getting my card, which nearly made me cancel my subscription before I even saw my first movie.

When you sign up, they tell you it typically takes about two weeks for you to receive your card. Two weeks come and go, and I have no card. I look in the app, and I notice that my address on file is missing my apartment number (which I remember double-checking when I signed up, so I know I entered it). I try updating it in the app, and every time I add my apartment number to it, it deletes it again and leaves just the rest of my street address. Ok, so clearly there’s some kind of glitch in their system and, putting two and two together, I decide this is probably why I haven’t received my card. Not a huge deal–I’ll just reach out to customer service and get another one sent. There’s a chat feature in the app for contacting customer service. I send them a message, 24 hours come and go, and no response. I send them an email through their website instead. 48 hours come and go, and no response. Now I’m really irritated, so I take to publicly shaming them for their poor customer service on Twitter, and within probably 20 minutes, I get a reply telling me to DM them with my issue. Finally got their attention, though it’s sad I had to resort to that tactic, but ok, here we go, I tell them the problem, they update my address manually and say they’ll send me a new card.

Two more weeks come and go, and of course, I still have no card. I have to DM them twice more on Twitter to get them to respond, at which point I get a different customer service agent who is basically like, sorry, that person didn’t send it when they should have and we’re sending it for real now. Major eye roll.

At this point I definitely had to stop and consider whether or not the subscription was actually worth it because their customer service was not giving me great confidence. (One saving grace of their subscription model here is that your first month doesn’t actually start until you activate your card, so I wasn’t paying extra subscription fees while I waited for the card to arrive, which is a large part of the reason I decided to stick it out.) Finally, now that it’s been six weeks since I signed up, I get my card in the mail. But of course, the card number showing in the app doesn’t match (it’s probably the first card they sent), so I have to contact customer service yet again to have them update the card number. I email them through the website again just to give that another go, and this time I get a response in just a couple hours, thankfully, and then everything is good to go.

So my initial experience with their customer service team was a bit hairy, but I have had no problems at all using the card and haven’t had to contact them since then. Another part of the reason that I held on instead of cancelling is that all the other people I know who also have a subscription have said that in the rare instances that they’ve had an issue using their card somewhere, they’ve been able to contact customer service and get it taken care of in time to still make the showing they were trying to go to. I haven’t had any problems with the card yet, so I don’t have experience with that part myself, but everyone else I’ve talked to about it only had good things to say about their customer service experiences. My impression from reading around about it is that their customer base has grown more quickly than their customer service capabilities, and it looks like most of their employees and resources must be going toward dealing with pressing issues, like people who are standing at the theater and unable to use their card, rather than things that can wait a little longer, like shipping a new customer their card. That’s my impression at least–I don’t have any solid source to really back that up–but it does seem from anecdotal data that their customer service has been getting better in recent months compared to what it once was (or maybe that’s wishful thinking). I can only hope they keep improving.

Quirks of the service

There are a few other things that could potentially be drawbacks for others, though I find them to be minor inconveniences at worst. Unless you live somewhere that offers e-ticketing through the MoviePass app (there are only three or four theater chains that offer it so far, none of which operate where I live), you cannot buy tickets online in advance. At most, you could go to the theater in the morning and purchase a ticket for a showing that evening, but you would still have to physically go to the theater to do that. And I believe that even if you have an e-ticketing theater, you can still only buy same-day tickets; the difference is just that you can buy them from home before you leave.

The way it works when you want to go to a movie [at a regular, non e-ticketing theater] is that you pull up the app on your phone, find your theater, and check in for the showtime you want to attend. Then MoviePass will load the cost of the ticket onto your card, which is essentially just a regular MasterCard debit card, and you go to the box office and purchase your ticket with it. The finer details of how that works though are that you have to be within 100 yards of the theater before you check in, and you have 30 minutes from the time you check in to purchase your ticket. Therefore, you can’t check in from home and go to the theater whenever–you have to already be there. Checking in also doesn’t reserve you a ticket in any way; it essentially just lets MoviePass know how much money they need to load onto your card, so in theory you could decide to go to a showing and then when you go to buy a ticket, it’s sold out. If that happens, you can easily switch your check-in in the app to a different film or showtime, but it could certainly be annoying to get there and not be able to attend the showing you were planning to go to.

None of this has been a problem at all for me, but I know from reading things online that some people have found it to be inconvenient. Typically, I drive to the theater and check in from my car in the parking lot, and by the time I walk to the box office, the card is loaded and ready to go. I haven’t seen anything yet that I thought might sell out, and I also always get to the theater really early, which cuts down on those kinds of issues. Before I got my subscription, I did usually buy my tickets online in advance, but for most showings it doesn’t really make a difference if I have to wait and buy it the day of. If there’s something that I still feel the need to buy in advance, it’s probably a big event movie like Black Panther, which I saw in IMAX and wouldn’t have been able to use my subscription for anyway. And I personally wouldn’t have a problem paying for that occasional ticket separately even for a showing that would have been covered for my subscription, just for the benefit of knowing that I would for sure have a ticket.

Related to that, you can’t use your card to see any movies that have an upcharge of any sort–no 3D, no IMAX, no Fathom Events, etc. The amount that loads onto your card is just the typical price of a standard ticket for that time of day, so you won’t be able to use it on anything that costs more than that. I do really like to go to Fathom Events showings, so that is sort of a drawback, but I also get why they wouldn’t cover those things in their current model. Case in point: I was thinking about going to go see the Fathom Events screening of Julius Caesar on Thursday, and it was $24 for a ticket. If I were them, I wouldn’t pay for you to go to that either, lol.

The future of MoviePass

All of this brings me around to my last set of points. In terms of doing what it says it does–allowing you to see one standard, 2D movie a day, every single day, for a low monthly cost–I think MoviePass is great. You said in your question that it seems too good to be true, and at the moment I would say that it really and absolutely is that good.

But that’s going to change.

If everything stayed exactly the way that it is now, this business model would be completely untenable. From all indications, MoviePass is basically bleeding money. They have around 2 million subscribers (projected to grow to 5 million by the end of 2018), and if the majority of them are seeing even just one movie a month with the company paying the theaters the full ticket price on each of those transactions, with some customers like me seeing several more, they’re clearly operating at a loss. They even fully admit that they’re not making money right now. So what is their goal? How do they plan to make money off of this?

First of all, there’s your data. Since everything is done through the app, they’re collecting all kinds of data about when you go to the movies and where and what you see. They know your address, so they know how far you’re willing to drive to see a movie. They know what theaters are closer to you that you pass up in favor of going to the one you prefer. They know how early you arrive before the showing. They know if you’re more likely to see an action movie or a drama or a comedy when you go to a movie on a Tuesday night. They know how long the average subscriber waits after a movie comes out before they go to see it. I’ve seen conflicting reports about their GPS tracking, but they may know where you go directly after you leave the theater, whether that’s back home or to dinner or wherever. They’re getting all kinds of insight into the moviegoing experiences of their subscribers, and you and I both know they’re absolutely selling that data to theater chains, to studios and distributors, to whoever wants to know about putting butts into movie theater seats. Clearly I don’t consider this enough of a drawback for me not to subscribe–basically who isn’t collecting and selling your data at this point?–but if you’re someone much more concerned about that kind of thing, obviously this may be a make or break point for you.

They’re also going to use that data for their own purposes to promote particular theaters or particular showings or particular movies over others, giving them a couple ways of using that data themselves to make money. First, they have started to co-purchase films. They know what their subscribers like to watch, so they can buy films they know you would want to see, and then they have the means already in place to promote those films directly to you. Earlier I said I’d come back to the idea of seeing movies you otherwise might not see in theaters. This is where that comes in to play for MoviePass’s bottom line. Even if it’s not a movie that you would typically make the effort to see in theaters, they promote it enough that you think, eh why not, it’s basically free. When you check it out, now a portion of the ticket revenue is going right back to MoviePass, which helps to balance out the money they’re losing on other ticket sales. Then if the movie is any good, that improves word of mouth, more non-subscribers go to see it, and even more money goes into MoviePass’s pockets. On top of that, they get a part of the dvd/digital sales, too.

I think that this is something to keep an eye on–the kinds of things that they purchase and how they go about promoting them, particularly in terms of what’s happened recently with social media, where political influences have been made to extents that we’re really just beginning to comprehend. Now I’m not overly worried about it, and I’m not saying that MoviePass is going to turn into the propaganda arm of a foreign entity–I think it’s ultimately not going to be any more insidious than Netflix or Hulu in terms of promoting its own content over others–but it is obviously still important to look at the types of films they’re buying and/or promoting as they get further involved in that part of their business. As their subscriptions grow, they will have a lot of power to influence what we see and when we see it, both for films they have purchased and films that distributors have paid them to promote, and as consumers, we always need to be critical of the hows and the whys of what anyone is promoting.

The other way they want to make money is from the theaters, and what they want is a discount on tickets and, ideally, a cut of concession sales. As I mentioned earlier, concessions are where theaters make their money, and MoviePass wants a portion of it in return for driving more traffic to their doors. Their subscribers as a whole go to the movies more often and tend to spend more money on concessions as well (if you didn’t really pay for a ticket, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal to then drop $5 on a coke or popcorn), so as their customer base grows, they will have more power to bargain with the big theater chains over it. If AMC, for instance, isn’t interested in cutting MoviePass a deal, maybe some of their busier showtimes disappear from the app. Maybe some of their more popular theaters no longer appear. Maybe the card is no longer valid at AMC at all. MoviePass already knows from all that data they’re collecting that there’s a Regal or a Cinemark across town that their subscribers are willing to drive to if they can use their card there instead, so they can choose to withhold their customers’ business from AMC in whatever ways they want. Right now, their customer base is still small enough that this isn’t going to have a huge effect, but if the numbers continue to grow, they’re going to reach a tipping point where they can begin to put that kind of pressure on the theater chains. It’s really just a matter of when that’s going to happen, not if.

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, I think that if you typically see more than one movie a month, it’s probably worth giving it a go. You can cancel at any time if you decide it’s no longer worth it (you’re barred from signing up again for 9 months after cancelling, btw, in case that’s a concern). For me, signing up was really a question of why not? Why not give it a try? At the moment, it’s still a free-for-all in terms of where and when you can use your card. That means there are 16 theaters within 15 miles of my flat where I can use the card for any showtime of any standard film, as frequently as once a day.

I have one theater that I choose to go to on a regular basis, even though it’s not the closest one to where I live, because I like the theater itself–it’s always decently clean, the seats are in good shape, the screens are a nice size even in the smaller theaters, and there’s a bar so I can buy a drink and take it in with me, lol. The only reason I would go to a different theater right now is if there’s something they’re not showing. That’s pretty rare–typically it’s either that something is playing at the art cinema and nowhere else, or on occasion there’s a Fathom Events screening they don’t get but a different theater does.

But if MoviePass suddenly offered only half the showings I wanted to see there and I couldn’t go at the times I wanted, or perhaps I could no longer use my card there at all, the question becomes, would I switch theaters to keep using my subscription? It’s almost a guarantee that at some point in the not-too-distant future MoviePass is going to ask me to make that choice. They’re going to test the waters with the theaters (and by extension, their subscribers), and some will get on board and some won’t. And the truth is that I don’t yet know my answer. I don’t know yet where I would draw the line between saving money and having a greater choice.

But until that time comes–and it may be coming sooner rather than later–I am more than happy to use their willingness to hemorrhage money to save some of my own.

Sources

I’ve read a ton about the service both before and since I signed up, so I may have referenced something not linked below. I think these cover most of the businessy points though:

https://www.moviepass.com/

https://www.wired.com/story/moviepass-second-act/

https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/how-does-moviepass-make-money

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1704512/how-moviepass-plans-to-make-money-despite-cheap-rates

One final note: there is a competitor to MoviePass called Sinemia. If you typically see a lot of 3D or IMAX showings, or if you typically go with someone else, you might want to check them out. I don’t know a ton about them, but I do know that they allow you to see [at least some] films with upcharges, they offer a couples plan, and I think they allow you to buy tickets in advance. They do, however, limit you to a set number of movies each month depending on how much you pay (I think you can choose between 2 and 3, iirc). It could be something to check out if that suits your viewing habits.

Edited to add: Check to see if your theater of choice has a rewards program and whether or not you can still use it with MoviePass. Some have disallowed it, but not all. Currently, I’m earning rewards points for every movie that I go to with my subscription, which I can then put toward concessions or tickets to the kinds of screenings MoviePass doesn’t cover.

#natsinsanity #replies #wow that got stupid long and i'm sorry about that #i had a lot of thoughts lol #anyway i hope that helps somehow #feel free to ask more questions if there's something i didn't cover or you want to know more about #moviepass #not sherlock

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perfectirishgifts · 4 years

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Holiday Gift Guide 2020: Best Travel Gifts For Movie Fans

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Holiday Gift Guide 2020: Best Travel Gifts For Movie Fans

Can you remember the time of year and where you were sitting when you first saw your favorite film? Just the opening scene of a movie can instantly take you back to another place and time, and films can bring back floods of memories. Watching movies with loved ones or simply by yourself can be a transformative experience. No wonder frequent travelers often find comfort in movies during their journeys. If you are looking for just the right present for the feature film lover in your life, consider these gift ideas.

Just the Ticket: Ticket Stub Organizer

Just The Ticket: Ticket Stub Organizer

What movie fan wouldn’t enjoy looking back over memorabilia from times spent going to see their favorite flicks? Just The Ticket: The Ticket Stub Organizer is a great gift for the traveler who always finds the cinema everywhere they go. This guided journal from Peter Pauper Press empowers the recipient to preserve tickets from movies as well as other concerts and trips. It has 20 acid-free plastic pages that are ideal for preserving movie tickets without causing fading or other damage. It also has lined paper inserts where the user can write about their thoughts and experiences with each film. It holds up to 80 movie tickets. Price: $15.99 on Amazon.

Fairuza Balk’s Armed Love Militia ‘Raw Live Lo-Fi’ EP

Armed Love Militia – Raw Live Lo-Fi EP

Fairuza Balk is a dynamic actress who has starred in films like Return To Oz, The Craft, and The Waterboy, to name just a few. Any film fan likely has enjoyed her performances, and she has wowed fans with her many other talents, too. On her website, Fairuza.org, Fairuza offers her original EP with Armed Love Militia called “Raw Live Lo-Fi”. The CD is an awesome companion to any road trip, flight, or train expedition. She also offers merchandise on her site so you can wear a button or patch to remind you of the star and her celebrated music. Fairuza’s original artwork, art prints, and autographed photos are sure to please a movie fan, too. You can get the EP on CD or cassette, and you can choose to have it autographed directly to the movie fan in your life. Price: $30 for the autographed CD, $10 for the CD with no autograph from Fairuza.org.

The Polar Express Bracelet by Alex and Ani

Alex and Ani

Fans of The Polar Express, the whimsical, groundbreaking holiday film, are likely to appreciate this Alex and Ani bracelet with beautiful bangles inspired by the movie. The Rafaelian Silver bracelet expands from 2 to 3.5 inches. One of its bangles has a charm with the title of the movie under the depiction of the beloved train from the film. The second beaded accent bangle adds an extra bit of pizazz. Price: $59 from Alex and Ani.

Gateway 10.1” Tablet

What more could a movie fan want than a way to stream their favorite films from anywhere? They can download their favorite streaming apps and use this tablet to watch them. This Gateway tablet is easy to pack and carry for travel and has the Android 10 Go operating system. With a front and rear camera, the recipient can use it to make some short films of their own or simply chat with family and friends while they are traveling. Price: $109.99 at Walmart.

IGLOO Star Wars The Child Cooler

IGLOO Star Wars The Child

Few things are cuter than Baby Yoda! Anyone who has fallen in love with the world of the Star Wars movies will love seeing this cooler. Yes, this character is Grogu or “The Child” from the Disney series The Mandalorian, but he’s affectionally known as Baby Yoda by all fans from the Star Wars movies. The magic of this phenomenon started in 1977 with the original Star Wars movie, and the character is instantly recognizable as Yoda even among people who’ve never seen any of the movies or shows. This 16-quart cooler with the image of “The Child” can hold up to 30 cans or a nice mix of food and drinks. Price: $49.99 from IGLOO.

ISlide ‘The Shining’ Maze Sandal

The Shining collection of sandals from ISlide are eye-catching and sure to spark joy in any fan of the classic Stanley Kubrick film and the captivating Stephen King novel that it’s based on. You can customize the sandals with a name or other message for the recipient. The rubber and fabric slide sandal is officially licensed and has a print that pays homage to the creepy maze in the movie along with the film’s logo. Whether the recipient is at home or in a hotel room, these sandals would be fun to wear for a double feature of The Shining and its sequel Doctor Sleep. Price: $49.99 at ISlide.

Gift Card to Movie Locale Red Rock Casino

Red Rock Casino is a Vegas destination.

With the 25th Anniversary of the Movie Casino this year, a fun gift for any movie buff is the present of experienced Las Vegas for themselves after the pandemic when travel is safe again. You can now give them a gift card to the Red Rock Casino where the hit gambling movie 21 was filmed. By giving them a gift card, you’re empowering them to travel to the fun destination in the future at the time of their choosing. It’s a gift that will be remembered well beyond this holiday season. For an additional $3,95 in addition to the gift card amount you choose, the recipient will receive a card in the mail with your personalized message. Price: Your choice of price points from Red Rock Casino.

Bruce Lee Roots of Fight T-Shirt

The Bruce Lee collection from Roots of Fight features the legendary film star and martial artist who appeared in over 20 movies in his career. The Asian-American action hero created Jeet Kune Do, which notably inspired modern Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and he was also an entrepreneur and devoted father. His life was cut tragically short when he was only 32 years old, but his legacy continues as his prolific career is celebrated by generation after generation. This Bruce Lee shirt celebrates Bruce Lee’s 80th birthday in 2020, and it’s a good option to wear when catching a flight. After all, it will be a great conversation starter. Price: $48 from Roots of Fight.

Heat Holders Festive Fairisle Socks

Whether someone is at home or in a hotel room to watch a favorite holiday flick, there’s nothing better than being warm and cozy for the presentation. These socks are perfect for business travelers, especially since they cannot always control the temperature when they’re away from home. Heat Holders socks have been tested to be four times warmer than regular cotton socks. The Festive Fairisle pattern is perfect for the holidays, and many other options are available if you want something more subtle. Price: $19.99 from Heat Holders.

Movie Buff: The World’s Greatest Movie Trivia Game

Movie Buff: The World’s Greatest Movie Trivia Card Game

The Movie Buff: The World’s Greatest Movie Trivia Card Game is a well-designed game for those who are really into the history and fascinating details of cinema. Since it’s a compact card game, it’s also convenient for frequent travelers to take with them wherever they go. It contains 160 trivia and strategy cards. The game is for 2 to 16 players, so you can have fun playing it with just two of you or a group at a party. Price: $19.95 from Amazon.

Hallmark Movies Ornament

If the movie fan you love has an affinity for Hallmark movies, this ornament is sure to bring them comfort and joy during the holidays. It sends a sweet message, “I heart Hallmark Channel and Flannel”. The ornament is sturdy and made of metal. If someone is traveling during the holidays, it’s small and easy to bring along as a reminder of some of their favorite things to do during the season no matter where they are. Price: $9.99 from Hallmark.

MadeGood Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Movies and great snacks go hand-in-hand. The MadeGood Chocolate Chip Granola Bars taste indulgent like any movie theater snack you can find, but they are also nutritious. They’re also vegan, organic, kosher, and allergy-friendly. If you’re looking for a tasty treat for the business traveler in your life, this would be a great gift to pair with a blu-ray of a travel film like Up In The Air or a fun holiday film like A Very Brady Christmas. Price: $3.99 from Target.

Movie Marquee Planner Stickers

Any film lover on the go can enjoy these movie marquee planner stickers. That way, they can plan which movies they want to watch on their travels, or they can carry them along with their planner to add when they watch an impromptu film on a plane. These marquee stickers come in a pack with different colors, including red, green, gold, and silver. Price: $3.25 from Pink Leaf Prints on Etsy.

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charger-batteries · 4 years

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The Best Kids' Tablets for 2020

Do Kids Even Need Tablets?

Kids want tablets. My daughter has had one since she was pretty small. First, it was just a music player helping to lull her to sleep at night. Then it was the indispensable movie theater for long plane and train rides. Now it's primarily a vehicle for Marvel Unlimited, the infinite comics app.

But tablets are fragile, expensive gadgets with potentially unlimited access to the internet, both issues that I've tried to stay away from in my parenting. A good kid tablet is different from a good adult tablet: While you want a grown-up tablet to be slim, light, and fast, you want a tablet for kids to be cheap, rugged, and protected.

Our picks here some of our favorite tablets for children, chosen for a balance of affordability, durability, and kid-friendly features. Here's a quick walkthrough of how to decide which is best for you and your child. And whatever tablet you get, buy a case. With kids, it'll pay for itself.

The Best Tablets For School

The best tablet for school is probably a base model iPad. The iPad's dominant role in the tablet landscape means it's supported by most schools, many teachers will have them, and it will be easy to get tech support. Other tablets may not be able to run the third-party apps that schools demand, or even fill out the right web forms. The worst offenders here are Amazon's Fire tablets, which are inexpensive and popular, but aren't designed for productivity.

If an iPad won't do for your school, you're probably going to have to go to a Chromebook, not a tablet.

Specs Still Matter

Just because you're giving this tablet to a kid, doesn't mean you should give them a piece of junk. Hardware specs are important. Let's start with screen size and resolution. An 8-inch, 1,280-by-800 display is good for reading comics and watching videos, so use that as your baseline.

Also pay close attention to storage specs. We recommend 16GB of storage rather than 8GB. This will let you install more apps and take more pictures and video. A microSD card slot can't hurt either, especially if you want to download movies to watch on long trips.

Look for 1.5GB of RAM or more. This will help apps launch and run more smoothly, particularly if there's anything else running in the background. Battery life is another factor to keep in mind—you don't want the tablet to die in the middle of a long car ride. Carrying a backup battery can help.

iPads for Kids

The most recent iPads have really come down in price and are a tremendous value for what you pay. An iPad will always have the best tablet apps, will grow with your kid, and can double as a pseudo-laptop for schoolwork. Apple's operating system has tools to let you monitor your kids' tablet use and keep an eye on what applications they're using and for how long. Apple also has parental controls that can filter content and prevent purchases, and you should use them to prevent your kids from spending money without your permission.

The iPad has by far the best ecosystem of accessories for productive and creative kids of any individual tablet model: cases, keyboards, and the Apple Pencil stylus. It's versatile and extensible.

So if you have about $350 available—$309 for the tablet at Apple's Education Store, plus a nice big, rubbery case—an iPad is the most sensible buy right now by far. The rest of this roundup is, primarily, for people either with very small children, people who are entirely in the Android ecosystem, or people who don't want to spend $300 or more on an iPad.

Set Your Kids on Fire

Amazon's inexpensive Fire lineup is our top low-cost choice. The tablets are inexpensive and have a Kids Edition that comes with a rubber case and a no-questions-asked two-year guarantee. The 8-inch Kids model (based on the standard Fire HD 8 above) costs $139.99 right now, which is worth the increase in price over the regular model if you think there's a possibility for breakage.

Amazon's tablets have a simplified interface, strong parental controls, and FreeTime Unlimited, which is basically a giant bucket of content for kids. A "parent dashboard" lets you keep track of what your children are doing and restrict their screen time. You can put multiple user profiles on the tablets as well.

Falling Back on Android

My family doesn't have an iPad or a Fire at home, we have an Android tablet. Here's why.

Our family is all-in with Google services; we communicate through Hangouts and my daughter has a G Suite email account that I supervise. If you primarily use Google cloud services and Android apps, an Android tablet can get you what you need for a little less money than an iPad, and it's not locked down to Amazon services the way a Fire tablet is.

In terms of parental controls, Android has restricted user profiles that can also prevent accidental purchases and filter Google Play apps. But if you intend to let your kids use one of these tablets out of your sight, you should really consider installing some parental control software.

Toy Tablets

Companies like Fuhu, Kurio, and Leapfrog have made their names with highly restricted tablets that come preloaded with kid-friendly software and, by default, don't offer access to the open internet. By and large, though, these tablets haven't been updated for years and are running old, insecure versions of Android that we no longer recommend, so do your research before buying.

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acuitilabslondon · 4 years

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Transformation of Media and Entertainment Industry with SAP BRIM

Media and entertainment industry have evolved rapidly over the past few years and have become early adopters of technology. The evolution of the industry has led to more subscription-based economy with a healthy dose of usage-based charging. Easy and flexible options to watch movies or their favorite shows which is now at their fingertip with the online streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon video, Hotstar and the list goes on. The need to modernize and adopt a digital transformation-based approach has become imperative for the industry old timers to match with the new technology based streaming platforms.

Releasing movies on the conventional theaters and cinema houses is now being challenged by the new streaming platforms. There is a big shift in the revenue model for movie makers. More and more movie makers and studios are now releasing content directly on the streaming platforms making the traditional model close to obsolete. Along with this the consumer expectations have changed considerably. They are now looking at pure subscription of their desired bundles or pay per use or a combination of the two. They are no longer willing to be tied to the conventional media content delivery, where the choice was driven by the media service providers.

Imperatives of Media and Entertainment World today –

Consumers of media are now the millennials whose expectations are completely different from yester years. The viewing habits and demands are very technology driven. It is very important to understand that the combination of new digital distribution modalities and evolution of customer’s consumption habits. This is continuously challenging the traditional Media and Entertainment business model. It has already been considered the start of a sweeping transformation that will continue to reshape the entire Media and Entertainment ecosystem.

We cannot ignore the unyielding competition as far as the media and entertainment industry is concerned, with even the biggest of industry players battling for the eyeballs of the viewers and subscribers. The media companies that will rapidly identify and react to the evolving requirements and consumption patterns of the end-users will survive in this rate race.

The rapid growth in the advanced technologies has been the single biggest factor behind this resurgence. The same advancement in the technologies has also created the commonly witnessed enlightening shifts. The audience now have understood their power and have become more demanding. Gone is the time when they use to adjust their daily routine, to the availability or airing of the content. Content providers are wrapping up their broadcasting and publishing as per the requirement and convenience of the customers. With the growing completion amongst the streaming platforms, the companies have become more customer centric over time.

When, at any given point people can exchange notes with each other about any of the newly launch media content by the means of several social media website like YouTube or Instagram or review sites, the death or survival of any published or broadcast content can be decided in seconds.

One thing is very clear, consumers are more liberal and are keen to exercise greater choices and express personal freedoms as far as media & entertainment are concerned. Along with independence, consumption has also significantly gone up. This has led to a double-edged challenge for the content providers, greater opportunities and much higher risks. In the era of technology shifts it is imperative that only those media and entertainment entities that enable themselves rapidly, identify and act on this tectonic shift in the consumer mindset will survive and indeed thrive.

In summary, challenges faced by Media and Entertainment Industry –

Knowing the fact that media and entertainment industry is witnessing massive transformation at the moment, it is also reacting by working towards improving the customer experience. Nevertheless, here are some major challenges that are being faced by this industry. 1. Higher Customer Expectations – The customers are expecting the various media and entertainment providers to deliver choice, convenience and value, all these wrapped inside personalized and customized experiences that should be available on demand and on a cross-platform basis which should also include limited advertising and strong data protection.

2. Adaption of new realities – Growing competition for viewers and advertisers, combined with ongoing declines in subscribers, has become quite a cause for topline media and entertainment business owners to relook at the new realities and adapt them for being all time better. All that Media and Entertainment industry requires is a new level of operational superiority — the kind of strategic expense reduction that provides short-term results and long-term efficiencies.

3. Constant desire of customers for something new and unique – Speaking about the traditional Media and Entertainment model, creativity, distribution, and monetisation were direct. It was common for consumers to be passive and wait for content that was made available at a time prescribed by others. Digitalization has changed the face of the world and that has reduced the need of an intermediary, that is more atomized, yet a bit complex and, above all, lively. As mentioned earlier, Media and Entertainment consumers are more inspired and demanding. Their expectations are rather high on being able to control how the content, products or services should be delivered to them. This behavior and expectations have been fueled by personalized experiences across their daily life, right from mobility and financial services to communications and indeed entertainment.

4. Mitigation of Cyber risks – Huge amount of data is being created every minute as a result of millions of clicks, views, and downloads. This data offers media and entertainment companies a real competitive advantage, however, this same data is a real threat for them as it acts as a magnet for cyber criminals. Companies need to have a better plan in place in order to deal with any cyber security issue.

5. Race to deliver the best content – The rapid growth in video creation and distribution platforms and a consistent raise in engagement metrics, subscription fees, advertising revenue or a combination of all of these together has created an intense competitive landscape for developing and acquiring the best content.

With so much content available across many distribution alternatives, Media and entertainment businesses are forced to think of innovative strategies to deliver more compelling programs for their consumers to watch. AI and machine learning technologies can be leveraged by these companies to dissect viewing patterns from multiple perspectives to build personalized recommendations into consumers’ digital interaction.

Role of SAP in changing the face of Media and Entertainment Industry

The content offered by media and entertainment industry plays a crucial role in customer satisfaction, SAP S/4 HANA and the cloud platform can help in streamlining and personalizing the content as per the taste of the Audience. SAP S/4 HANA has collaborated with SAP Cloud Platform and is facilitating the media houses to digitize and innovate their business models.

Here are a few points that can help in understanding the role of SAP in media and entertainment industries –

Creating New Cloud-Based Multipurpose Applications

The SAP Cloud based platform is helping media companies to build new cloud-based mobile applications rapidly which can in turn help them for the next-generation audience, that are more technology driven and are always hooked online through their mobile devices.

Bundling

Many new media companies are opting for bundling service offered by SAP. Product bundling feature enables them to easily create complex and personalized product offerings of digital goods and services for their customers. With the help of this feature you can also offer flexible pricing and availability rules based on the customer selection

Packaging

In this competitive world of new digital a reality, SAP S/4HANA can help your deal with all packaging requirements efficiently.

Monthly Subscription Billing

SAP Subscription Billing solution can help your business with a simplified, automated approach to billing and ordering processes to help you create and monetize new offers quickly and effectively which can also be chosen on the Subscription basis.

Customer Experience

SAP Billing Services can help your company in delivering better customer experience by providing transparency and flexible billing choices. It can help you in managing huge number of users with ease and also keep a track of user-based charging.

SAP innovative software solutions remain the game changer when it comes to targeting the right audience, dealing with customer problems, establishing better connections with them, and a lot more.

Speaking about the facts, as per SAP’s official website, near about 83% of the media-based companies listed in Forbes Global 2000 are SAP customers, 74 % of radio and TV broadcasting content worldwide is produced by SAP customers and 90 % of the printers and publishers in the Forbes Global 2000 are SAP customers.

SAP’s easy approach to solve to your specific your specific media business requirements –

SAP’s intelligent technologies optimizes the overall experience of your customers. Move a step ahead by increasing the transparency of end-to-end processes and leverage real-world awareness which involves consumers, talent, and also business to business (B2B) partners get more innovative.

SAP innovative solutions can help you in unlocking business values and potential with digital technology. Get an all new approach to content delivery by connecting innovative technologies with integrated business solutions and get more closer to creating an intelligent enterprise

SAP CX to improve Customer Experience –

With a lot of new options coming up in the market so promptly, it is quite a task for businesses to win customer’s trust and keep it intact in the long run. These fascinating options for the customers are capable enough to drag their complete focus away from you. SAP Customer Experience is one of the best solutions to make each step of your customers journey count. Understand their intentions, interact frequently to show that you care, offer them complete support at each step of their journey. This is how SAP helps you in providing the best of customer service.

SAP BRIM Solution to improve customer experience – Example of the Use-case

The role of SAP Billing solution for a media and entertainment industry can be clearly understood with the help of an example of the use-case where the primary requirement was to improve the customer experience.

Business challenges –

In this use case, the media and entertainment industry wanted a system to deal with:

Product bundling and pricing,

Manage subscriptions

Manage offers efficiently

Single billing for subscription and consumption events

They required a provision that can offer the customers bundled product with a lot of unique options for them and a robust OTC process that includes quotation approval.

What SAP Innovative solutions were used to deal with the above-mentioned challenges –

SAP Solutions can significantly reduce manual efforts and operational cost by offering support for businesses that deal with subscription models. A few SAP solutions that are involved in this process includes SAP CX C4C, Commerce, Data Mediation, SAP BRIM and Subscription Billing.

Depending on your business goals, SAP solutions are implemented which helps the businesses understand the scenario of getting numerous advantages for both customers and business itself.

Solution Architecture to use SAP BRIM for Media and Entertainment Industry

Benefits

After implementing SAP BRIM services, the end user was provided with a highly scalable and high-performance SAP CX Integrated solution along with a 360° view of customer records to accelerate collections processes and improve customer service. The business also gets the benefit of provision of performing usage and recurring based billing.

How Acuiti Labs can help –

Acuiti Labs is a UK based SAP Silver Partner and offers innovate solutions like BRIM, Subscription Billing, CPQ, C4C and more. Business growth or improving customer relationships, we can help you with customized solutions for all your requirements. We can help you in accelerating implementation time, reducing risks, reducing manual processes, enhancing sales activities, improved customer interactions and moreover, get you ready for your digital journey with our SAP based solutions.

#BRIM #Subscription Billing #CPQ #C4C

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pogueman · 7 years

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The Pogie Awards: The best ideas in tech of 2017

yahoo

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Please find your seats and silence your phones… it’s time now for the 13th annual Pogie Awards!

To be clear: These awards don’t go to the best products of the year. You really don’t need another one of those articles.

These are awards for the best feature ideas within products—even if the products themselves aren’t so hot. The point is to celebrate the inspiration that struck some designer or engineer—and to hail that idea’s successful journey out of committee, past the lawyers, and into the hands of the public.

So what were the best ideas in tech of 2017?

The Safety With Numbers Award

This new feature in iOS 11 could save your bacon—or your life. It’s called Emergency SOS.

Once you’ve set it up, it works like this: If you ever feel that you’re in danger—walking down the street, or someone’s assaulting you, or you’ve been in an accident—you click the power button five times fast. You can even do that in your pocket without looking at the phone.

After a 3-second countdown, it automatically dials 911 … texts anyone you’ve setup in the Settings, letting them know you’re in danger and showing where you are … and starts a loud whooping alarm, to rattle whoever’s bothering you.

The new Emergency SOS feature of iOS 11 is always there if you need it.

Just knowing that your phone is an emergency beacon can give you a little boost of confidence—and a big boost of safety.

A New UI for You and I Award

The public wants bigger screens on their phones, and also wants more features every year. But if you’re the manufacturer, it’s hard to expand the screen without taking away buttons.

But HTC’s U11 phone introduces a new form of user-interface that adds features without adding buttons: Squeezing the sides. Since you’re already holding the phone with your hand wrapped around the sides, it’s a natural, one-handed, useful move.

The HTC U11 is squeezably good.

You decide what that action does. It can open the camera app, bring up the Google Assistant, turn on the flashlight, take a screenshot, start a voice recording, ask a question of Alexa, or turn the personal hotspot on or off, for example. You can also make a short squeeze and a long one do different things.

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has now added that same idea to its Pixel 2 phones; looks like it’s a good idea catching on.

The Cut Cord Award

At this point, tens of millions of us own voice-assistant speakers, like Alexa on the Amazon (AMZN) Echo, or OK Google on the Google Home. But this year, both companies added a killer idea: free phone calls. To regular phone numbers.

Without budging from the couch, you can say, “Alexa, call Casey’s cellphone,” or “OK Google, call mom,” and boom—free speakerphone call. Free as in hands-free, and free as in, the calls are free.

Free phone calls? We’ll take it.

The Massive Transportation Award

OurBus gives power to the people—by letting the people crowdsource new commuter bus routes.

The buses are luxury liners, with power and WiFi at every deluxe, reclining seat. (OurBus doesn’t actually own any buses. It supplies only the technology and software to existing bus companies—usually charter bus companies whose buses aren’t being used to their full capacity.) If you can find 100 people who’d be interested in a certain bus route, they’ll put it together.

OurBus crowdsources commuter bus routes.

The Pedal Wins a Medal Award

Buses aren’t the only way to get around without choking up the air and the roads. Bikes are free to ride, free to park, great exercise, and they never get stuck in traffic. Too bad you show up at work panting and sweaty.

Electric bikes are all the rage in Europe, but the nice ones are very expensive. But suppose you could electrify the bike you already have? Suppose you could just pop off its wheel, and replace it with a motorized one—without giving up the frame, seat, brakes, gears, and handlebars you already own and love?

That’s where the Copenhagen Wheel comes in. It replaces the rear wheel of your existing bike.

The Copenhagen Wheel electrifies your existing bike.

It’s a beautiful, compact, simple-looking machine. There’s nothing on your handlebar, no cable snaking up your bike frame. Instead, the shiny red capsule hub of your wheel contains everything: motor, battery, circuitry, and 74 sensors.

When you start to pedal, the Wheel amplifies the power of your foot. The boost is smooth, silent, and controlled, and the feeling is exhilarating. Everyone who tries it utters one delighted exclamation or another: “WOOHOO!!” or “Whoa!” or “Oh, wow!” or “Omigod!”

The huge benefit of replacing your rear wheel is, of course, that the Wheel knows when you’re pedaling, and how hard. It gives you a boost proportional to the effort you’re expending.

The Stick It in Your Ear Award

Like it or not, the smartphone headphone jack is gradually going away. It’s gone from Apple’s phones, Google’s phones, HTC’s phones. We’ve entered the age of wireless earbuds.

Apple’s AirPods look bizarre, because of that little stick, and because they’re completely detached. (The Airpods technically went on sale in December 2016, but the idea behind them really took off this year.) The beauty is that you can pull out just one when you need a quick listen—some phone call, some Facebook video—and then pop it right back into the charging case.

The AirPods are completely detached, making them quicker to put on and off.

You may love the AirPods or you may hate them, but the idea here—two completely detached earbuds—puts them into a new realm of instant access. (It also means double the battery life, because each earbud plays for 5 hours on a charge.)

The Pogie Ultimo

And finally, we come to our biggest award of the evening: The Pogie Ultimo!

The one idea that has the most potential to improve the lives of the downtrodden technology-using masses with a single, ingenious stroke. And that award goes to: the MoviePass card.

The MoviePass card gets you into movie theaters every day—for $10 a month, flat fee.

It’s like Netflix for movie theaters. You pay a flat 10 bucks a month, and for that flat fee, you can go out to the movies all you want! A movie every day, if you want. But with movie tickets at $15 in cities, even if you see one movie a month, you’re coming out ahead.

Movie Pass buys you a ticket at full price, so the theaters don’t lose out, either. (MoviePass says that it will make money by selling the data it collects about its customers—anonymized, of course.)

The only footnote is that 3D and IMAX movies aren’t included. But otherwise, this is the deal—and the idea—of the year!

Happy New Year

And there you have it, folks—the 2017 Pogie Awards. Let these bursts of inspiration show you that even products that are turkeys… sometimes harbor a little bit of gravy. Good night, everyone—and happy New Year!