THE 80'S JUST DIED TODAY

Despite the untimely and very sad passings this year of Michael Jackson, Bea Arthur, Walter Chronkite, Dom Deluise, Farrah Fawcett, Nathasha Richardson, Ricardo Monotalban, and Ron Silver, the saddest death of all for me has to be the death today of John Hughes.

I know, who?

For his time (the 80's and early 90's), John Hughes was a very famous screenwriter and film director who's most successful film was Macaulay Culkin's Home Alone (but that film was trash, a good kid empowerment film, but trash nonetheless). I remember John Hughes from my 2 favorite 1980's film of all time, The Breakfast Club and the less successful, but even funnier and better written film, Sixteen Candles (with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall in both casts). But he also wrote and/or directed, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Curly Sue, and Uncle Buck (John Candy's final film).

I distinctly remember seeing both The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles in the 1980's and both films made me laugh out loud and cry. They were both amazing films for their time. It was actually from those John Hughes films and others like St. Elmo's Fire that created the Hollywood's party and drug fueled "Brat Pack" (Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall) of the 1980's. John Hughes did what only 1 other writer I know of has ever done, and that's successful capture on film the way teenagers actually talked and thought. This was no small achievement for a older man from the MidWest. And it began Hollywood obession with the youth market. Prior to John Hughes films of the 1980's, teenagers were not specifically targeted in films. But John Hughes' films changed all that.

I would like to say a little prayer for Mr. Hughes. His films had an enormous impact on my life and definitely shaped my career view of wanting to work in an industry that produced such well written and timely films. And I have to say, I have the DVD's of both films, and even though they are classically "stuck" in the 1980's, his films are just as relevant to the problems every teenager faces, even in the 21st century. And that's the real test of any film. Of course you can speak to the time and the generation when the film was made, but how does it play in the next decade, or the decade after that? Specifically, The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles still make me laugh and cry today.

Below is the final voice over from The Breakfast Club:

"Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us. In the simpliest terms, in the most convenient definitions, what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours - The Breakfast Club"

Rest in Peace Mr. Hughes.

UPDATE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/fashion/17obits.html

Rest In Peace Patrick Swayze. I loved you in The Outsiders and Dirty Dancing.

AND THEN THERE WERE 2.....

The biggest news of last week had to be Yahoo selling its Search business to Microsoft. That now leaves Microsoft's Bing and Google to fight it out for search. Poor Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is going to sell off the other crown jewels of Yahoo (Music, Sports, etc.) in what will basically amount to a 1980's style LBO. After a great decade long run, Yahoo is soon to join AOL in the internet history books of failed companies.

1. I need to revise my first blog about Microsoft's Bing versus Google. I am actually using Bing, but only for travel searches. Their flight predictor and ease of booking travel is really taking over my travel needs from Expedia.

2. Steve Ballmer proved himself a worthy successor to Bill Gates recently abdicated Microsoft throne. After wanting to overpay for Yahoo with it's initial $45 billion bid for the whole company, all Microsoft really needed was the Search business, which it got for a song. Definitely the best business deal of any company in the last 5 years.

Which gets us right back to Google. Google Chief Eric Schmidt just quit the Apple Board. Given the long simmering tensions and business overlaps, this resignation was a long time coming. Apple also finally has a competitive threat from the Palm Pre. Apple recently blocked Pre phones from having access to ITunes. But don't count Apple out yet....Mark my words, and you heard it here first......drum roll please.....

Apple is releasing a new phone next year. Not a next generation (like the 3GS), but whole new phone. Apple must have watched in horror as it new competitiors - LG, Motorola, Blackberry all rolled out IPhone clones. Nothing to do for the Apple design engineers but to come up with a new phone altogether. Mind you, I could be wrong, but I think we'll see a whole new IPhone come July 2010.

3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF TV VIEWERS

In the television research industry, much of the latest research surrounds what we call the "3 Screens," that all consumers interact with on a daily basis. The 3 Screens are your television screen, your computer screen, and your cell phone screen. At any point during the day, you're spending enormous amounts of time looking at 1 of your 3 screens. How many per screen and how much it varies is one of the most debated about topics. How to capture it, measure it and most importantly, advertising to it, is the new frontier of 21st century of TV Research. (Exciting, isn't it?)

But rather than talk about the 3 Screens, I would rather talk about the 3 different types of TV viewers. Currently, there are 3 types: the linear TV viewer, the DVR viewer, and the TV DVD & VOD viewer. (I'm talking exclusively about TV viewing on a TV, and not taking into consideration computer or cell phone viewing).

The linear TV viewer just comes home, pops on the TV, channel surfs and watches whatever is on. This person isn't really attacted to the TV too much, but enjoys it. I would say that in the U.S. and U.K., that's probably 60% of the TV population. 30% is the DVR viewer. They don't watch linear TV at all, they just watch what they recorded. And 10% is the TV DVD & VOD users. These people don't have a lot of time to watch TV, but they usually take a night or weekend day/night to watch 4 or more episodes of their favorite show all in 1 sitting. Now none of these groups are mutually exclusive. There is some overlap, but almost everyone fits into 1 of those 3 categories. There are also live sporting (Super Bowl) and live entertainment events (Academy Awards) that all 3 viewers are watching the linear feed. Big new events, ie. Michael Jackson, also radically reshift viewing habits almost exclusively to linear.

The fact is, no matter which bucket you fall into, most are consuming large amounts of television, just in very distinct ways.

COUNTING CROWS

Last night I watched what has to be my 50th plus Counting Crows concert. I remember first seeing the Counting Crows in 1993 when they had just burst onto the music scene with their first hit, "Mr. Jones" off of their debut album, August and Everything After. In 1993, I was 23 years old and dating a screenwriter in Los Angeles. My boyfriend at the time somehow knew lead singer Adam Duritz and so we ended up backstage at several LA concerts. I watched the then unknown Counting Crows have a blazing set at the Henry Ford Theater, which is the most intimate outdoor concert space in Los Angeles. It was mesmerizing. Soaring music, a piercing guitar, emotional lyrics, all at the height of what was then the grunge movement. I had a front row seat watching someone go from complete unknown to the height of lead singer fame. It must have been quite a difficult ride for lead singer Adam Duritz.

Off stage lead singer Adam Duritz was piling on the ladies. First he dated Courtney Cox, then trading up to Jennifer Aniston (who continued her love affair with lead singers with John Mayer). I even watched in awe as Adam Duritz and Charlize Theron hooked up one night. The man has some game. He's been called this generations' Van Morrison, and that's not too far off the mark.

Although the Counting Crows now tour all over the world, they're a distinctly American band. Duritz writes about girls. Make no doubt about it, every song is about a girl or a relationship, finding love, falling in love, losing love, but the root is always a song about a girl. Another interesting point that was brought up to me is that Counting Crows is now a band with 7 members, with the other 6 backing up Adam Duritz.

What's interesting is that in between the time I first saw the Counting Crows, I have now seen them in Los Angeles, Miami, and London. Their music and subsequent albums (while often uneven always have some great music) have been part of the soundtrack of my life for the last 15 years.

STUPIDIEST IDEA I EVER HEARD

The move back to LA has definitely been interesting. First of all, I cannot stand the corporate housing apartment I am living in for the month of July. The last time I was in LA, I only knew of 2 Oakwood corporate apartments in LA - the Burbank & Century City apartments - both sucked. When I looked again this year for where I wanted to live temporarily, Oakwood had over 60 different properties in LA from the Valley all the way down to Playa del Rey. I wanted to be centrally located and near where I thought I would want to live. The best available property was the Palazzo West on 3rd Street, right across the street from The Grove. Well, I made a good decision to explore the neighorhood because I did get an apartment right up the street, making The Grove my walkable neighborhood. But the Palazzo West is terrible.

First of all the apartments are fine, but the floor plan is awkward, the light switches are not where they should be. Where I am directly overlooks what basically passes for "the projects", I can hear the footfalls of the people upstairs from me. But beyond the construction, what I didn't know is that this is where they filmed that horrible MTV show "The Hills." So now, everyone who can afford an apartment, and this is usually people from out of town who are here trying to "make it" in LA thinks that some magic from "The Hills" will wash over them and make them as successful in Hollywood. Rubbish, but that's what people think. So all day long, by the pool, in the gym, it's all wanna-be's and posers. Awful. Thank God I am not actually living here.

And with my return to LA, came the inevitable weekend pool party. First some quick background. Hollywood is the only legitimate businss industry I know of that has almost a "Shadow Hollywood" attached to it. If you work in finance on Wall Street, you can't just hand a sign outside you apartment, print up some business cards and call yourself an investment banker, you actually have to work at Goldman Sachs or Merrill Lynch. If you work in energy in Texas, you can't just say you do, you actually have to work at Exxon or BP, but not so in Hollywood. You can just say you're a Director or a Writer or a Producer with having actually been paid for directing, writing or producing anything. Consequently, you get a whole group of people that want to work in Hollywood. And what is their "In"? Their million dollar idea. This is the idea that people have thought about their whole life and are determined that if they just meet the right person, they will make millions of dollars from their idea. So that's the set up, here's the story.....

I'm at the Saturday pool party and the guy hosting the party (a Brit), says to me, "Hey Mike, you work for a big studio, can I get your reaction to my idea?" (Oh boy, here it comes). And this was his idea: "What do you think about a 3D dance movie?"

This was my response: "3D is fine, but it has to be organic to the script and the movie, rather than a gimmick. Audiences today don't like gimmick 3D movies - witness the failure of the horror 3D remake of My Bloody Valentine. 3D is working in kids animated films, but animated films are very adaptable to a 3D environment and the box office proves it. We'll see how live action 3D movies perform in December when James Cameron's Avatar comes out in December."

Don't get me wrong, someone will make a 3D dance movie, but definitely not this kid. Why would anyone pay $15 to see a 3D dance movie? What would that even look like?

Regardless, don't just come up with what you think is a million dollar idea and just have the idea. To make a movie you need little things.......like a script, talent attached, financing, a talented choreographer lined up, anything more substantial than just an idea.

Later telling this story to a friend of mine, he asked why I just didn't call him on it and call a 3D dance movie the stupidest idea ever? And the fact is that I used to do that in Hollywood when I was younger. It always turned out that I crushed someone's dream, and then had to endure the inevitable comeback: "You'll see when my movie ends up making $100 million." Now to this day that's never happened, but when I end up crushing people's dreams, I usually wouldn't end up with additional invitations to their pool parties.

Stupidiest idea ever, right?

UPDATE: Disney is making a 3D dance movie, as I predicted almost a year ago. Behold Step UP 3D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89TLbK6o-og

FIRE ISLAND JULY 2009

Fire Island is a magical place. This was my second time there and it was very different from my first time. First of all, 2 dear friends of mine whom I love were unable to attend for personal reasons. I completely understand, but they're the boys whom I love the most, so their presence was sorely missed.

First some geography, Google Map Fire Island. As you can see, it's a tiny sliver of a barrier island in front of Long Island. (Wikipedia.org Fire Island if you want a rather bland overview). What's funny is how long it takes New Yorkers to get to the beach. The usual rountine is you have to take a taxi to Penn Station, then Penn Station to the Long Island Railroad. The LIRR drops you off at the ferry, and you take a 20 minute ferry to Fire Island (since there is no land bridge connected to it). On a good day it takes over 2 hours and an average cost of $40 or so. That's right, at least 3 forms of transportation to get to the beach. To get to the beachg in Miami, I simply woke up, went the elevator and hit "L" for Lobby and walked 4 blocks. Total cost $0, Total time - 10 minutes. New Yorkers do get motivated to get some beach time.

Fire Island really does give me a good idea what it would be like if gays ruled the world. All the homes would be fabulous, environmentally friendly, architecturally distinct, filled with expensive, delicious food, tons of alcohol, and a really open, sharing, caring place. A nice gentlemen offered to help carry my bags back to the harbor to get on the ferry. Some of the guys driving the little trolleys asked an elderly gentleman if he needed a ride to his house. Strangers being nice to one another. What a concept! There are no cars allowed on the island. Also, what's fascinating to me is that everything that is there on Fire Island was shipped there via a boat. Every board, every nail, all the food, everything has to loaded, shipped and unloaded.

But it's not just the houses, it's the whole routine. Most people get up late after partying all night, lay by their pool or go to the beach or visit their friends, then comes low tea, high tea, then a late dinner followed by a night out at the best named gay bar in the whole world - Sip & Twirl. (I've been to over a 200 gay bars around the world, believe me - Sip & Twirl is the most innovatively named).

Last year in the city I met a really nice guy, let's call him Wes - since that's his name. We had a nice time in the city and then a nice time together out on FI for 2 days. We continued our little "affair" for a month and then he came to visit me in Miami. That weekend was a complete disaster in a cartoonish, almost inappropriately bad sitcom. Funny stories, but a train wreck and I couldn't get him to the airport quickly enough. I got stung.

Well, this year, I got shot with an arrow. I met a guy I really like. And I mean, we got along so well it was scary (good scary, not Saw 4 torture scary). We met on Wednesday night. I went out with some friends to Sip & Twirl. I spied this really cute guy playing pool with 3 other friends. They all seemed pretty close and I assumed one of them was his boyfriend, but I figured I'd flirt and see what happened. So here's my move (I was getting some signals and established he didn't have a boyfriend), we start talking and I go in for a smootch. He backs away (never a good sign), and says that if I beat him at pool, I get a kiss. Done. I was drunk, but I did beat him at pool. He was pretty good, but I was better. (I have to say though, how many gay stories start with, "Well...after beating him at pool..."). We spent as much time as we could together for the rest of the weekend. I still had my stuff to do and dinners to attend with my posse, as did he, but we went to the beach, and spent every night together. It was a really nice experience.

It just feels like I'm ready for a relationship. I wanted at least a year to be single after my last relationship ended, and then the possible LA move thing would come up occassionally for the next year. I didn't want to be in a relationship and wonder about transplanting it 3000 miles away in Los Angeles, so I held off on anything that would get serious. But knowing that I was leaving Miami and moving to LA, my perspective changed.

All in all, a great second trip to Fire Island.

SMOOTH TRANSITION

Leaving Miami was tough all over. Hard emotionally to leave my lifestyle and friends, hard physically with the actual moving, and hard mentally with double and triple checking that the condo was shut down properly. Then my very first European style vacation could begin.....

First it was off to New York City for Pride. As usual, New York City did not disappoint. This year was the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, a landmark in the gay rights civil movement. Besides the festivities and parties, I saw 9 to 5 The Musical, which was funny, but forgettable. Then I fulfilled a life long dream of seeing West Side Story on Broadway. WSS was amazing. I have seen many amateur productions, but to see it live on Broadway was a completely different experience. WSS is one of those musicals where I can't decide what I love more - the music, the lyrics, the choreography, the story. Simply put, it was just a magical musical experience.

After a great time partying all week long in New York City, it was off the Fire Island. I'll write more about Fire Island. And Fire Island worked it's magic on me (more on that later too).

After a week in NYC and then a week in Fire Island, it was off to JFK to fly to Los Angeles to start LA 3.8. Since I was flying on Warner Bros., I flew business class. As luck would have it, the flight was oversold. The airline must have upgraded some passengers from coach to business class and I ended up flying first class from JFK to LAX. As I was flying over this beautiful country of ours, I couldn't help but think......

When I moved to Los Angeles the first time, I was 21 years old. I drove my Dodge Shadow with all of my belongings across country. Now, here it was 17 years later, promoted to VP, flying first class to LA and my Mercedes was being shipped.

Now that I'm in LA, taking this week to get set up was definitely a good move. I moved into the new apartment today, the Mercedes got delivered and I start apartment hunting tomorrow. So far, everything has been relatively problem free. (Knock on wood!)

That's quite a smooth transition for 3 weeks. It's been great.