The fact that “The Wandering Earth debuted in February and
had the highest IMAX gross, which was then beaten by Avengers, creates an
interest in seeing the movie. Endgame could gross more in China than “The
Wandering Earth” and creating an even greater interest in seeing the Chinese
film. If it was that good, it must be worth seeing, and for those who want to
be able to say anything intelligent about the heavyweight duel overseas, they’ll
have to find a way to see ‘The Wandering Earth” and find out what made it such
a huge hit in China. In steps Netflix to fill the gap.
By promoting it as something people can see, Netflix is
effectively able to use the free advertising generated by the comparison
between “The Wandering Earth” and Endgame to get views of a Chinese film most
wouldn’t ordinarily even find to watch much less consider. If Netflix or other
streaming services begin to capitalize on the comparisons that go on with box
office incomes, we could see a slew of international films gaining steam first
through streaming. Once Americans get used to seeing foreign films with
subtitles, there’ll be no stopping the influx of new and better films.
Even if those foreign film studios are as mired in sequel-itis
as U.S. studios are, the stories and concepts will be new and more original to
U.S. audiences. That’s good for storytelling and creativity because foreign
films can introduce different ideas and viewpoints into American culture. For
now, Netflix gains with having “The Wandering Earth” available to stream, and
having one more way to create buzz through using another studios success.
Town drunk Al Denton is more than he seems. The other men in
town abuse him, make fun of him and make him sing for his drinks. When Fate
steps in, Denton is forced to come to grips with his gunslinger past.
Formerly, Denton was the fastest gunslinger in the area.
Every day men would come in to challenge him to a duel. Every day he would
start drinking earlier in the day. One day he killed a 16-year old; that’s when
he put up his guns.
Denton lives in a time that is contrary to his nature. He
doesn’t want to kill people, even if he’s good at it, because he realizes that
one day he won’t be fast enough. He’ll be the one dead in the street.
Unfortunately, word gets out that he has quit drinking and he has bested the
fastest gun in town. Denton receives warning that another gunfighter is coming
to challenge him.
Denton couldn’t forgive himself for killing the 16-year old
because there was no point in doing so. If he had been able to, someone would
have shown up the next day and the day after that. Denton would’ve kept having
to fight men and boys who thought they were fast with a gun. Forgiveness can
only happen when the behavior that has brought on the need for forgiveness has
ended, and Denton had no control over ending the behavior without dropping into
the bottom of a bottle.
It’s not until Fate steps in and lends a, uh, hand that
Denton is blessed to be able to live a life free from the threat of his times.
He is redeemed, and he his able to forgive himself. Some people aren’t able to
free themselves of a situation because their times don’t allow it; they need
help from someone or the luck of Fate. If you can get yourself out of whatever
situation is keeping yourself from forgiveness, do it.
What makes “Instant Hotel” a little different from other
reality game shows is that it pits a group of entrepreneurs in the hospitality
industry and share economy against each other. Each couple owns an instant
hotel, which means they rent out their homes to vacationers. The other couples
visit the hotel and rank it based on the home itself, local amenities and
attractions, a good night’s sleep and value for the money. These scores, all on
a scale of 1 to 10, are combined with the interior design professional’s score.
In addition, the group of 8 are given a score from the hosts based on how the
home was left and if all the rules were followed. The winner of the game gets a
trip to California to stay at an exclusive instant hotel rumored to be run by a
Hollywood celebrity.
So, how do you win this game? Since it’s the first season,
episode two, it doesn’t appear that many of the participants are looking to win
in the traditional sense – getting the prize. Instead, they’re looking to enjoy
themselves, see what other instant hotels are doing and just go along for a
good time. The mother/daughter team tried to plant the seeds of some sort of
alliance against the two gay men, but it was more of a “let’s not let them win
because we don’t like them” kind of thing.
If someone wanted to win, they could rate every experience
they were on with a zero. The scores are anonymous, and it would probably be
too late before anyone did the math to figure out what was going on. That same
team could then rate their guests as a zero, and it would still put them ahead
but reveal the strategy. This would work best with a team that is later in the
series. No one knows when they will be the hosting hotel, but even the first
hotel could rate its guests with a six without giving anything away.
However, that’s not actually the point of this competition.
The point is for every hotel to get more guests after the episodes air. How do
we get more people to come to our hotel rather than the other hotels featured
and the other hotels in our area? The first step is to have a great hotel. The
second step is to treat your guests well. The third step is to hope the guest
at your hotel on this show say good things about your hotel. Whatever happens,
the hotel experience needs to be memorable so that no one forgets what your
hotel was like.
These steps should help the team connect with the viewing
audience in some way and improve booking rates. More needs to happen though.
People need to feel like the team is made of people they want to hang out with.
They need to feel like the team is something they can support. Most
importantly, team members need to find a way to create a story that will last
and motivate people to book.
The longer-term gain from “Instant Hotel” is increased
tourism for Australia from both nationals and foreigners. So, there needs to be
a minimum of bad-mouthing of places and hotels and a maximum of showing off the
best the country has to offer. Could a team employ a zero-sum strategy? Sure,
and while it might win that team the trip to California, it would undermine the
meta game goals of improved bookings at their own hotel and improved tourism
for Australia. Because who would want to stay with a team that lied to win?
When someone does something with passion and the do it well,
it’s a joy to watch them be rewarded. In the second episode, Jannine and Mark
have a ‘50s-inspired Instant Hotel that’s amazing. The other guests love it,
too. When they tell the couple how they feel, Jannine and Mark tear up. It’s a
beautiful moment that’ll touch your heart strings, too.
As a series, “Instant Hotel” is fun. Because the
participants are Australian, I’m never sure what I’m going to get. Sure, they
speak English, but the cultures are different enough to catch an American off
guard. So far, they tend to stick with their stereotypes: The two gay guys, the
spoiled little girl who can’t get out of bed and her enabling mother, and the
young couple with the wife who is spoiled but “in a different way.” But most of
them seem to be enjoying themselves. The competition is bound to ratchet up as
the mother-daughter team look to bring down the gay-team, but for the moment,
there are only seeds for this future conflict.
I don’t normally watch reality television shows, but
“Instant Hotel” is a good time that has a different cultural element to it. If
you want to diversify your viewing habits and watch something that you don’t
normally watch, this show is a good choice. Improve your creativity by
replenishing your well and learning about instant hotels in Australia.
Every m-f-ing major media website has posted more stories
about “Avengers: Endgame” by now than it has any right to, but I’m not upset
about that. What I am upset about is that I haven’t had the opportunity to see
Endgame yet and with every frickin’ new headline, its photo and its accompanying
article summary, I come closer to having the movie spoiled for me. I don’t want
headlines about certain characters and accompanying questions. And I would repeat
them here, except then I would be doing the same thing to you that Yahoo!,
Entertainment Weekly, and others have already done to me.
Why do they do it? Money. In a couple of weeks, no one is
going to care about Avengers: Endgame. They’re going to be on to something else:
Godzilla, maybe, or Pokémon, or John Wick… Whatever it is, the general public
isn’t going to want to click on Avengers: Endgame stories anymore. Even if it
does, those stories are worth a lot more because they are already on the web,
so people who are late to the game will still be able to click and find them.
In journalism and the Internet, it’s all about speed. Get it
out first and fast. You can correct errors later and, in the case of a movie article,
people who don’t want spoilers shouldn’t click on the link and F them anyway. I
have unfollowed spoiler accounts including the New York and LA times and Yahoo!
Entertainment. I will continue to do so. I might follow them back later on, because
print media like the New York Times and the LA Times need saving for the sake
of the First Amendment and democracy, but for now, they can believe that Thanos
snapped me out of existence.
So, for now, Thanos demands my silence. If you want to read a review from me, you’re going to have to swim against the tide and wait a couple of weeks. I will post my review then. It may or may not have spoilers. I don’t know. What I do know is that now is not the time to be publishing stories about the movie that could ruin it for others. And that, true believer, includes information about cameos, Easter eggs, and any of the characters we’ve spent the last 22 movies following. Follow my blog, follow me on Twitter and on Facebook if you want to read my review of Avengers: Endgame later and show the other news media that you will support a review even after the original furor goes by. When it comes up, share it and comment on it. (You can do the same with this article if you feel like I do about spoiling things, except commenting – no commenting, no GIFs, no SPOILERS.)
Death comes in with a gentle kindness though obtuse in his
assertions. Maybe, he needs people to recognize that their time is up, or he is
unable to tell them outright. He is firm in his proposition but explains the
ways out that Lou Bookman could take. The last one suits Bookman’s purposes: he
never got to make a big picture, one that opened the skies. Death grants
bookman a reprieve and asks him when he thinks the pitch will be made. Bookman
shuts the door on Death and shouts that he is done pitching.
Death follows Bookman pleading with him to reconsider and
telling him there are consequences to his actions. Bookman refuses to listen
until he hears squealing tires and one of his neighbor children is hit by a
truck. Death had to take someone if Bookman wasn’t going to come willingly.
Death will arrive for the girl at midnight, leaving Bookman to consider what
has happened and what he can do to stop Death, who will no longer listen to
Bookman’s pleas.
Bookman has two things in his heart. He has really wanted to
make a big pitch and never gotten to, and he loved the children in his
neighborhood. No one has to fear death who accomplishes in this life his or her
heart’s desires and loves children. That’s true of Bookman, who has his last
wish fulfilled and saves a little girl in the process. If there is something
that you want to accomplish go out there and do it, but do it with kindness.
When people are isolated, they get depressed and go crazy. In real life, babies fail to thrive if they are denied human touch. In the middle ages, banishment was an equivalent punishment to death. It denied people access to their homes, their friends, and their support systems. For many, it was a literal death sentence without an executioner. In its first episode, Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” openly addresses the need people have for human contact. It’s the moral of the story, but it isn’t the entire story.
The main character opens the story on a dusty road headed toward a diner that has hot coffee on the stove but is deserted. He doesn’t know who he is. There’s no one in the diner to help him or to help identify him. This character’s identity is missing because he doesn’t have anyone to measure himself against. He doesn’t have people who reflect him and tell him who he is. He has no context.
The first identifier he remembers is his nationality. He’s
American. People draw a strong identity from their country and their
birthplace. When abroad, Americans find each other and ask where the other one
is from. It’s often the first question before what one does for a living. His
job is the second thing He remembers. He’s in the Air Force.
But this character is still missing his identity. What’s his name? Who is his family? Why is he in a deserted town? Was a bomb dropped? He doesn’t know, and it’s not until he’s back among his Air Force command that he remembers everything that happened before the town. He has people to help him remember who he is. It takes a strong sense of identity to withstand isolation for any length of time. It takes others to remind us who we are, especially when we lose ourselves.
Rod Serling’s original “The Twilight Zone” is a timeless television show that continues to be relevant and thought-provoking. I have wanted to own the entire series for a very long time. With each trip to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Disneyland, I looked at the collected series and its price, and decided I just couldn’t afford it. During one of my brainstorming sessions, I thought about adding Rod Serling and “the Twilight Zone” to my “… Is Creativity” series. That gave me the excuse to get the series on DVD, and I’m so glad I did.
I waited until recently to open the DVDs because I was working on “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity” (to be released June 1, 2019 at Lilac City Comicon 2019). Now that I’ve started watching them though, I’m so glad I bought them. “The Twilight Zone” is hands down one of the best written series I have ever watched. In 30 minutes, Rod Serling creates characters that you can engage with and stories that move you.
Nothing may ever come of my wanting to do something with Rod
Serling, creativity and “the Twilight Zone,” but that doesn’t matter. What
matters is that the was a man who wrote such wonderful stories for the
betterment of the world. I may never attain the stature of Serling, but I’m
glad that I have been able to see the fruits of his labors.
I have been to enough comic conventions to know that people
who love comic books complain about the people who love the movies but don’t
buy comic books. There’s a whole faction of geeks who love every issue of their
favorite comic and consider someone who only knows the character from the
movies and abomination.
Comic stores say they haven’t noticed an uptick in
individuals coming into their store because of the film. For them, there just
is no crossover. Perhaps, that’s because the comic stores need to take more initiative.
Call it “The Avengers Initiative.”
A majority of movie-goers don’t go to comic stores. They
probably don’t even know where the comic stores are. The simplest way for a
comic store to attempt to harness the movie-goers who love the movies is to pay
for an ad before the movie. Most movie theaters offer the opportunity to be in
a slide show before the trailers. This offers an easy and less expensive way to
get the word out about the shop, and placed before a “comic book” movie, it
hits the target audience right where they live.
If the comic store can afford it, a comic store trailer, shot
in high-def, should be appropriate for the movie screen. A trailer will even
reach more people in their seats. Still, this isn’t the most effective way to reach
people because most movie goers probably don’t have a reason to go to the
store.
Setting up a booth with items themed to the film is the
single best way to provide movie-goers an opportunity to find out about the
comics. Any comic store that has also participated in a comic convention should
already have the tools available to create a booth. By targeting the movie(s)
in the theater at the time, a comic store can create an impulse buy and point
of contact for new fans. Include a business card with every purchase, and you’re
all set for getting new people involved in comics fandom.
It won’t be that easy. “Avengers: Endgame” openings promise
to be chaotic. Imagine Free Comic Book Day without the giveaways. That also
means more opportunities to generate revenue from the event.
National chain theaters may be less willing to give up lobby
space for a booth. Of course, DC and Marvel could step in because it would be good
for their comic sales and their movies. The theaters could see a rise in movie
goers if the comic store is able to bring their patrons to the movie. Theaters
also get the good will of comics fans and the advertisement that comes with the
promotion of the event. A local theater may be more willing to partner with a
local comic shop, and both could benefit from the exposure.
Most shops are run by one or two dedicated people. Having to
give up a weekend, move everything, set up and take down is already a lot of
stress. The change in routine, in addition to the increase in dealing with
people who may not know what they want, can also be daunting, especially when
there may not be any return. The keys to a successful theater run for a comic
store setup is a willingness to get out of the comfort zone and a desire to improve
sales at the store. Even if there aren’t any sales at the theater, the chance
to meet people who love films can be worthwhile in and of itself.
Wicked Comics in Malta has partnered with Eden Cinemas for the opening weekend of “Avengers: Endgame” for Comic Fest. They will have booths, cosplayers, retro-gaming, performances, local artists’ booths and comics. It looks like they’ve organized a mini-comic convention to celebrate “Avengers: Endgame.” Wicked Comics organizes the annual Malta Comic Con, so they have a head start on any comic store that may not have organized events outside the store before.
Private showings are already sponsored by larger comic conventions like Salt Lake’s Fan X’ “Avengers: Endgame” screening. They could add a comic store component to the screening, giving people more opportunity to purchase from local businesses.
It may be too late for comic stores to partner with movie
theaters for “Avengers: Endgame,” but it can be something to keep in mind for
the next big movie. Of course, it doesn’t have to be applied to just Marvel
movies. Disney’s “Frozen 2” and DC’s next film could also make for good
opportunities to partner with a local movie theater.
“Aloha” (2015) brings broken Brian Gilchrist (Bradley Cooper) back to his Hawaiian military roots as a contractor designated to get the blessing of the king of Hawaii for a military base’s pedestrian gate, which would allow private contractors access to the launch area of the military base. Gilchrist is assigned Fighter Pilot Allison Ng (Emma Stone) as his military watchdog for his time in Hawaii. There is a love triangle involving quiet man Woody (John Krasinski) and his wife Tracy (Rachel McAdams), who also happens to be Gilchrist’s ex from 13 years ago.
The real problems arise when Ng discovers that billionaire
Carson Welch (Bill Murray) has put a nuke in the payload of the rocket being
sent into space. Weapons aren’t allowed in the sky, and this would violate
treaties. However, because Welch is a private citizen, it falls in a gray area;
he never signed a treaty. Gilchrist is faced with the choice of further
disgrace and saving the sky or keeping his lucrative job and losing Ng.
Stone chews the scenery as the intense, socially awkward,
quarter Hawaiian, who loves the sky and Hawaiian mythology. Krasinski provides
an amazing performance as the man who doesn’t talk much. Cooper and McAdams are
good in their roles as is the rest of the cast, which includes Murray, Alec
Baldwin, and Danny McBride.
“Aloha” is a surprisingly good film. It’s low key nature and
quirky characters provide an interesting family/friend drama. If you need to
find your way back to yourself, there are worse places to do it than Hawaii.
Welcome to a pleasant diversion, or as they say on the islands – Aloha!
Penguinate! Positive Creativity 