A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via hdbeat)

In: "Cubaning." The term "Cubaning," which we borrowed from Paidcontent, refers to the art of releasing a movie simultaneously in theaters and on DVD and/or on VOD. According to Paidcontent:

"...On Friday, Steven Soderbergh's 'Bubble,' has been financed by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, two former Internet entrepreneurs. The film will open in Cuban's chain, Landmark Theaters, as well as on his HDNet high-definition network. The DVD will be available four days later.

"... -- IFCing Windows: IFC Entertainment unveils a plan to release 24 films in theaters and on cable at the same time this year. The program, called First Take, will place films in indie theaters while also making them available over a new VOD service that will be carried by all the major cable companies. The IFC service will ramp up to making 10 to 15 films available a month, including some from other distributors, at a cost of $6.95 a month for subscribers or $5.95 per film."

Paidcontent analyzes instances of "Cubaning" here. (Also, via paidcontent, Why Video is the Audio of the future-- here.)



(image via withoutantoinette)

Out: Eisner. Fuckin' Eisner. Wow, talk about sour grapes. Eisner, perhaps seeing his Mousey legacy crumble before the Iger regime, is squeaking. According to Fortune (link via iwantmedia):

"Here's the latest on the perhaps-to-happen, Pixar/Disney merger. The deal, to be considered by Disney's board today, has a high probability to go through, because Disney CEO Bob Iger -- bent on bringing 'the magic back to Disney'-- wants it."

One can almost see Eisner mouthing the words, "kinder and gentler than whom ...

"But the price is a very high, $7 billion in stock. A source says Michael Eisner (who if nothing else is still a major stockholder) thinks that's too high. That case rests on the thought that when Disney was under attack from Comcast, Disney was claiming that its stock was undervalued. If that's the truth, then Disney should be placing a higher value than its current stock price on every share it hands over to Pixar ... Also there has been some chatter that Steve Jobs was slated to be chairman of Disney. As of now, that does not appear to be the case. And Pixar's creative genius, John Lasseter, is supposed to be joining Disney. But there's one knock on Lasseter, which is that supposedly he's spending a lot of time and energy these days on his vineyard. On the other hand, Lasseter is supposed to have a lot of very good people working for him."

Eisner with the boardroom hardball. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) What is it with he and Steve Jobs? We won't entertain the possibility that he actually has a point. This little manufactured Corsair scenario is just so much better to get all snarky on. Besides, we love pimpslapping Eisner on this blog ...



(image via fishbowlny)

In: Lunch at Michael's. We just got back from lunch at Michael's with our favorite social chronicler David Patrick Columbia. As always, we reveled in DPC's encycolopedic knowledge of politics, High Society and, of course, The Media in between the crab bisque and the ethereally delicate blinis. It was fun meeting Laurel Touby, who was fetchingly adorable; we also loved briefly meeting Anna Quindlen of the NYTimes. Touby writes today (Better than I) of the powerlunchers, summing up the talent in the room, thusly:

"Table 1: Beverly Sills, with Marlene Hess.

"2: Founder of MediaVillage.com, Jack Myers ...

"... 4: Owen Laster, head of William Morris, with someone else.

"... 6: The fabulous Steve Rubenstein, with Bill Wolff, vp of primetime programming at MSNBC and Richard Kaplan, president of MSNBC and another woman (also with MSNBC?).

"7: Sherry Rawlins and JoLee Hunt"

JoLee Hunt, hott, of the Financial Times, who, we overheard is headed to South Beach. And, why not, considering FT may be worth $350 "large." (link via paidcontent)

"8: New York Social Diary's David Patrick Columbia with a very serious looking blogger, Ron Mwangaguhunga, who does Corsair."

Darn that Ron Mwangaguhunga, media whore! (True, we have always been known as "serious-looking (All Ugandan-born Watusi's have that mojo)," even though we are, at heart, Gemenian pranksters). Blog love for the mention, Laurel Touby.

".. 15: David Hirshey, with the fantastically witty Susan Lehman, who wrote the just-out book 'Mouthpiece' with Edward Hayes. 'I made up every word,' she quipped, in between bites of her Cobb.

"18: Arthur Schlesinger, with Barry Landau.

"19: We were at this table with Matthew Hiltzik, the uber PR guy who launched Freud PR in NY. His latest client catch: Katie Couric.

"... 27: Atoosa Rubenstein looking very celeb-like with two Jossips and a CNN camera crew."

More media crack here.



(image via georgetown.edu)

Out: Blackberries. Blackberries, or Crackberries (Thanks, Ana Marie Cox), have taken over Sundance as if it were, say, Washington circa 2005. Unfortunately, the Supremes aren't impressed. Hardly. From Matt Dentler:

"In the middle of the chaos that is Sundance, I stumbled upon this following story on CNN... Meanwhile, everywhere you go, there are BlackBerries (myself included) buzzing and typing away in-between screenings, meetings, and at parties. In fact BlackBerry has sponsored a few parties at the fest. It makes you wonder what Sundance (and the entertainment industry as a whole) would do if there was no more BlackBerry. From CNNMoney.com:

"'BlackBerry maker Research in Motion was dealt a setback Monday after the Supreme Court turned down a request to review a major patent infringement ruling against it. The move takes away yet another barrier between BlackBerry users and service interruptions. There are more than 4 million users of the BlackBerry e-mail service. Research In Motion (RIM) had petitioned the Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court ruling that could lead to a shutdown of most U.S. BlackBerry sales and service...

"...But analysts said the Supreme Court decision wasn't surprising and that a blackout of the BlackBerry service is unlikely, even if an injunction is issued."

More here.



(image via brekanarts)

In: John Waters. Ubiquitous Sundance presence John Waters -- even more ubiquitous, it seems, than Al Gore -- has received, by all accounts, unanimous praise for being a generally warm and accessable man despite his icon indie status. He is, it seems (via our restricted little cubbyhole in the blogosphere), as ubiquitous as Robin Tunney, only without her overpowering aura of Hollywood defeat. (Averted Gaze)

You do your thing, John Waters; you do your thing.... (We still love you even if you have done crack)