LADIES: We Need To Start Getting Some From This Male-Dominated Industry

There's a new economic boom occurring right now, and one that has happened in a stealthy manner. High oil prices and new drilling technologies have revolutionized the energy industry — once again.

According to Maribeth Anderson, director of corporate development for Chesapeake Energy Corp., the industry is projected to produce more than 17,000 jobs by 2020 (via Charleston Daily News) and Kirk Siegler at NPR reported that graduates in petroleum engineering from Colorado School of Mines have a starting salary of $79,000. That's right. A starting salary of $79,000.

But one gender is disproportionately benefiting from the boom. ExxonMobil reported that only 26 percent of women currently make up its entire international workforce.

So, why are women not represented in this field and should we even care? Seems kind of boring, in my opinion, especially when I hear of how they teach it in school. I can already feel myself nodding away to the thought.

But I spoke to Latha Ramchand, Dean at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, a couple of weeks ago, and some of the arguments she made seemed to make sense. She says women should start taking interests because we have "just the right skills for it."

Here's what the Dean had to say:

"If you look at what the energy industry faces, one thing I've noticed are the global challenges. Yes, you need to understand the economics and have the technical skills, but you also need to have the natural skills that women exhibit. Women are better equipped to deal with uncomfortable situations, and this happens in the energy sector as you often find yourself interacting with people who speak different languages or come from different cultures."

According to Ramchand, women have a knack for making others feel comfortable and you need to be able to do this when negotiating with different groups of people from different backgrounds.

"Women are better at saying it's not about me, it's about the company," Ramchand says. "Going forward, I think we will see more women in leadership positions in this field."

Here's the argument: I'm not saying men don't have the "right skills." They obviously do since they represent basically the entire industry, but what the Dean said made sense. In the energy industry, there will be times when you'll have to work with people who come from very different backgrounds than yourself. And who to better make people feel comfortable than women?

And yes, maybe you can argue this for all industries now, especially since our workplace has become so diverse. What makes the energy industry different than every other industry? Well, not all industries are thriving and the energy sector is.

So maybe, ladies, we should start thinking outside the box, outside our norm career paths where women typically dominate. Maybe we should start stepping into their boundaries, make them feel a little uncomfortable and start profiting from what's always been known as a man's world, which is the energy industry, in my opinion, if you haven't noticed.

Furthermore, we should start thinking this way with all career choices. Not just this industry, that industry, this specialization, or that one. But then again, easy for me to say, I'm in journalism, which is dominated by women. One day, I'll start taking my own advice.

The New Breed of Business Personnel

Disclosure: I wrote this to explain the versatility of the new business personnel. The story is true. The court case is a real one. The defendants were sentenced in May 2011. The true name of Mr. Smith has been changed.

In a Manhattan criminal courtroom, John Smith’s name was heard but he was nowhere to be seen. The case was an insurance fraud scandal involving two wholesale jewelers from the Diamond District accused of staging a real-life version of the movie  “Snatch” – a fake $7 million fraud heist to collect insurance reimbursement.

When the insurance company – Lloyds of London – began to suspect their clients were not being entirely truthful, they brought in Mr. Smith, a well-known general adjuster of McLarens Young International.

“The real mantra of insurance is to put things back to where they were five seconds before it happened,” Mr. Smith explained in a nearly empty diner in White Plains, N.Y. a month after the two “Snatch” jewelers were convicted of insurance fraud, attempted grand larceny and falsifying business records.

“I take the claim cradle to the grave.”

Putting together pieces to a puzzle is not unfamiliar territory for Mr. Smith, a former New York City detective who now works ferreting out scam artists making false claims against insurance companies to collect millions of dollars in payoffs.

When a package from Tel Aviv arrives in New York sans it’s content of a three-carat diamond, it is Mr. Smith's responsibility to determine what happened during the trip across the Atlantic.

And when a jeweler in Boynton Beach, FL decided he no longer loved his wife and wanted to be with his lover instead, Mr. Smith revealed the man’s desperate attempts to collect a hefty amount in fraudulent claims.

And when a 7.5-carat diamond, with an estimated wholesale value of $750,000, fell out of a broker’s pocket in the crowded Diamond District exchange, Lloyds of London immediately assigned Mr. Smith to the case.

“I went to every single video camera, even ones they didn’t know they had,” Mr. Smith said.

After some street investigation, he recovered the missing diamond and the man who pretended to tie his shoes in order to confiscate it.

“Like [the “Snatch” jewelers], most of these guys are flat broke,” Mr. Smith explained. “Did these people think they’d get as much attention as they did?”

“Probably not.”

His professional title hasn’t been “detective” for more than twenty years, yet he still looks the part – white hair, thick mustache, inquiring green eyes and a big gold, NYPD band on his left ring finger, as if he were married to the job.

He drinks his coffee black.

In the late 1960s, Mr. Smith joined the police department at the age of 18 and just three years later, he caught a glimpse of a dangerous world that would eventually follow him throughout his professional life when members of the Black Liberation Army assassinated his partner and friend, Gregory Foster.

Throughout his law enforcement career, Mr. Smith was credited with solving more than 25 homicides and responsible for at least 1000 arrests. He was also chosen to protect Indira Gandhi, Hafer Assad and Teddy Kollek. But, after 19 years of numerous battle wounds and getting passed over on a number of promotions, he reconsidered his career and eventually chose a path less taken by decorative officers: investigating insurance claims with an eye on catching those who might commit fraud.

His unexpected switch to a career in business began two years before his retirement from the force. On the way to work as an officer, Mr. Smith would drive by assigned homes to verify their descriptions with insurance companies. His part-time gig earned him $25 an hour and, eventually, a long-term career.

Upon retiring from the NYPD, Mr. Smith worked for Adjustco, a third party administrator, while obtaining the necessary qualifications to officially make the switch from detective to general adjuster.

Now, instead of investigating homicides and narcotic cases, Mr. Smith examines claims of insurance, liability, fidelity and rape.

In one of the rape claims he investigated, a robber slipped pass a doorman and took an elevator to the top of the building before breaking into a woman’s apartment on 44^th St. The perpetrator robbed and raped the victim and she later sued apartment management. Mr. Smith found the victim’s claim rightfully filed.

“I don’t just look at one thing,” he said. “I look at everything.”

He described the case on 44^th St. as “painful” since the woman was attacked in her home “minding her own business.”

“In the ‘70's Connie Francis was attacked while in a hotel and that was a turning point in culpability,” Mr. Smith said.

His background in law enforcement has created a lack of trust amongst some defense lawyers who believe the retired detective has a bias in favor of the state and accuses him of colluding with prosecutors to “go after” their clients. 

“My counterparts…they’ve watched too much CSI,” Mr. Smith said.

“And the brokers…they get good PR if their claims are paid quickly so they’re going to blame the adjustors if [the investigation] is slow. They don’t want the adjustors coming in there…they think ‘Is he going to notify the IRS?’ The answer is, ‘No’… actually it depends.”

He does admit to speaking to cops and using past connections during his law enforcement days to get to the truth in fraudulent insurance claims.

“Sometimes you have to use the bad guys to get to the bad guys,” Mr. Smith explained. “You have to be nice to people even when they’re doing something wrong…I never know if I’ll need that guy again to help me out.”

FAA Training Questioned

Obviously not a business entertainment blog entry - I need to change the name of this blog soon enough.  Still...enjoy:

The Federal Aviation Administration recently adopted a new data system for its aviation controller training program after an audit by the Department of Transportation found the FAA’s method outdated and inaccurate.

The modified system will more accurately track failure statistics among those in the program to help FAA sufficiently train 11,000 new air traffic controllers by the fiscal year 2019 to replace vacant positions left by retirees.

“The important thing is that we don’t change the training – we don’t look at the attrition rate and say, ‘[the program’s] too hard,’” said Paul Takemoto, a spokesperson for the DOT. “We have a strict standard that we have to adhere to.”

Nearly two weeks after the FAA adopted the changes recommended by the DOT, the organization faces new challenges in the overall sufficiency of its training program.

A recent incident involving a Southwest Airlines jet and a small plane flying dangerously close together resulted in the suspension of an air traffic supervisor and an investigation into the aviation controller training program by the National Transportation Safety Board.

“By placing this passenger aircraft in close proximity to another plane, the air traffic controller compromised the safety of everyone involved. This incident was totally inappropriate,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt in statement released Tuesday.

“We are reviewing the air traffic procedures used here and making sure everyone understands the protocols for contacting unresponsive aircraft.”

In a separate incident the week prior, a supervisor fell asleep while two aircrafts landed at Reagan National Airport. The supervisor was suspended. 

Update: Read my article about President Ronald Reagan's role on cycles of FAA staffing issues here.
 

Men's Web site Speaks out to Demographic and Rakes in the Cash

Inc.com ranked Thrillist - a men's lifestyle webzine - #93 in their list of 500 fastest-growing companies in America. 

The concept is simple...

 

Imagine being able to see everything – the perfect table, the right music and ambiance – that a restaurant has to offer before bringing a date in for a special evening

For young men wanting to orchestrate the perfect evening, a new Web site, Thrillist.com, promises to help them do just that. Thrillist, a six-year-old Web site, was started by two fraternity brothers wanting to navigate single men around the city’s restaurant and club scene and impress their dates in the process. 

Acting as an insider’s guide to affordable and trendy places, Thrillist distributes a daily newsletter to more than 2.5 million subscribers and the number increases at a rate of 100,000 subscribers every month. The media company has grown at a rate of 2702 percent in the past three years.

The daily newsletters introduce something new, unknown or underappreciated, such as an underground supper club, a maker of custom shoes operating out of a warehouse in Brooklyn or a restaurant with an off-the-menu three martini lunch special.

The two fraternity brothers behind the operation – Adam Rich and Ben Lerer – decided to start the company when they moved to New York City and realized city guide publications, such as NYMag.com or Citysearch, weren’t written for “guys like them.”

The recent graduates from the University of Pennsylvania saw a problem with daily deal sites, such as Groupon, since they typically featured everything in the area. Rich, 31, and Lerer, 29, wanted a guide that would eliminate all the extra materials and focus solely on the targeted demographic. Other national men’s magazine had the tone, but most of the content is written months in advance with little, local information. 

The gap in the market encouraged the two co-founders to start something specifically for their demographic of educated, twenty-something, affluent, urban guys with decent-sized wallets.

“We couldn’t trust other city guides – it was written for everyone in New York,” Lerer said. “Were my mom and I supposed to have the same idea of what a romantic restaurant is?”

Rich and Lerer started Thrillist.com with a $250,000 investment from Pilot Group, the same company who funded DailyCandy, a similar e-commerce company geared towards women.

The private investment firm’s interest in DailyCandy proved profitable when the company sold its first investment – DailyCandy – to Comcast for $125 million in 2008.

Along with its second investment, Thrillist, the equity firm invests in other corporations, such as David’s Bridal, Double O Radio and Barrington Broadcasting.

“Thrillist is getting close to the size of DailyCandy when we sold it,” said an associate at Pilot Group. “[The company] caught our attention because they are able to evolve and expand into new markets…we saw great potential in them.”

Since their beginnings in 2005, Thrillist currently has 60 employees and has expanded to 16 editions in U.S. cities and London. In 2009, the Web site raked in $7.1 million in revenues.

Their business model is simple – a daily email is sent to subscribers’ inboxes across the nation – and London – of hip places to dine, wine, play and shop. The ubiquitous email system is preferred since most working men in their mid- to late-twenties possess an email address.

“It’s been said that by 2014, there will be over 2 billion people with email addresses,” Lerer said. “Email’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.”

The use of email, an opt-in service, assures potential subscribers that anyone who has been exposed to their advertisements have consented to communications with Thrillist. Email is also an inherently viral medium, making sharing between users uncomplicated and doesn’t require one to visit a different site.

For the content itself, Thrillist ensues a team of edition editors – at least one in each of the 16 cities Thrillist covers – and senior editors to scour the cities, reach out to different venues, gather information and choose only the places they believe will most likely appeal to their audience.

“We’re no B.S…We’re speaking as guys to guys and that definitely sets us apart,“ Lerer said.

The recommendations are strictly editorial and the company does not make a profit from any places they recommend.

Recently, the Web site incorporated online video tours of many of the recommended venues along with useful information as whether the filet is tastier than the strip or which table angle provides the perfect setting for intimate conversations.

Kings County Jerky Co., a homemade jerky operation in Brooklyn, N.Y., reached out to Thrillist and witnessed an uptick in sales the day the Web site featured them.

“Thrillist is successful because they have a distinctive voice,” said Chris Woerhrle, the company’s co-founder. “They cater to an urban male audience which tend to be more liberal and open to a bit of sass, snark, impolite language…there’s no reason to worry about their tone because it’s right for their audience.”

In 2010, Thrillist switched gears from online media company to commerce corporation when they acquired JackThreads, a member-only retailer Web site. Although terms of the deal has yet to be disclosed, the digital lifestyle publication will allow subscribers access to JackThreads’ exclusive shopping community.

JackThreads.com is part of the group buying industry, offering significant discounts with numerous brands, such as Mishka, ALIFE, WeSC and Shades of Greige, through bulk purchases.

At the end of 2010, Thrillist launched Rewards, a Groupon-like program allowing local businesses to participate in deals Thrillist believes would appeal to its subscribers, such as “Unlimited Beer and Ribs at Hill Country BBQ” and “A Strip and a Strip at Robert’s and Score’s.” The latter deal offered actually includes an exotic dance alongside a strip of steak.

“It is our way of helping to curate fantastic experiences on a local level, and give another round of exposure to our audience for the participating businesses,” Lerer said.

Last June, the company launched their iPhone app and recently, the Android app became available. The idea is more of a supplement to the daily email and Web site with geo-targeted recommendations for eating, drinking and shopping, depending on where you are. The app also allows users to check into recommended places, similar to the frenzy behind Foursquare.

“We’ve also evolved into more than just the original business model…so in that respect, we’ve developed far beyond any other publication that could have previously been considered a competitor,” Lerer said. “We zone in on a very specific part of the male demographic that is untouched by any of the other email newsletters.”

The testosterone-driven editorials seem to be appealing to their target demographic; last year, Thrillist raked in anywhere between $5 and $10 million, the actual numbers are unknown since Lerer and Rich are keeping quiet.

“[Men] are probably even more graphic,” Lerer said. “We speak to guys as guys, so what may seem shocking to someone outside the demographic is exactly what builds trust within it. “

“We've never aimed to be all things to all people.”

A Weak-Tie Generation, A Strong Revolution.

A funny thing occurred to me a couple of months ago.

I was reading The New Yorker when I came across an article written by Malcolm Gladwell, a colorful writer whose pieces are oftentimes filled with so many grandiose ideas, it can be difficult to keep one thought separate from the next. I like him as a writer for that very reason.

In this particular article, Gladwell called our current generation a “weak-tie generation” due to the social networking takeovers during our lifetimes.

He toyed with the idea that great events throughout history transpired only from passion, courage and beliefs deeply rooted in the participators…passion not present in the current generation. 

He called this a “strong-tie phenomena.”

It occurred in 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina when four dark-skinned college students sat at a lunch counter and refused to move. Less than two weeks later, news of the protest spread throughout the South and eventually, the number of protesters soared to seventy thousand.

Thirty years later, across the Atlantic, another “strong-tie phenomena” occurred when a Wall collapsed and a people was given the chance for reunification.

“Weak ties seldom lead to high-risk activism,” Gladwell wrote.

He doesn’t believe the deep roots present at that lunch counter in 1960 lives in us today.

Perhaps he is right.

The printing press. The telegraph. The telephone. Magnetic spectrum in the air. The radio. And finally, Twitter and Facebook.

Like it or not, we are living in the most expressive age; so expressive that how we read into that expression is another expression of its own.

I see a graffiti wall and it's expression. I see a man sitting in the middle of household objects making music and it's expression. I see a woman dancing to a technique I can’t even pretend to recognize and it's expression.

If I meet a person and the only communication I have with them is through texting or social media, the first time we have voice on voice contact will be awkward. The mediums have switched gears and perhaps that is too much, too soon.

We have become a generation where we notify others of our daily lives, daily thoughts, and have “followers” and “friends” whom we will seldom ever share a meaningful relationship.

But it is these exact thoughts shared that have allowed for ideas to evolve and the exchanging of ideas to occur. It is these instantaneous thoughts that have given us all a glimpse of the revolution occurring in that foreign land. 

From the beginning – three weeks ago – I scrolled down the screen of my phone, scanned the headlines and I am rewarded with each move documented in Egypt. I can simply scan headlines from multiple news organizations and the revolution unfolds with every word I read. 

"[It's] so much more exciting than waiting till the end of the day to read a newspaper report. It’s also better than simply watching one news channel. Instead, I get reports from ALL the news channels — both English and Arabic," blogged Matt Duffy, journalism professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. 

"I can’t imagine I’ll watch any breaking news story in another fashion." 

Muslims and Christians are uniting for a change. Their change. Their revolution. And I feel connected. In contrast to what Gladwell thinks, I feel deeply rooted.  

So perhaps when Gladwell wrote his piece in The New Yorker a couple of months back, he didn’t envision the hundreds of thousands of people camping, chanting, yelling and hoping in Tahrir Square. But of course, this has happened before - in Moldova. And before that - all throughout the Middle East. 

Can it happen in America? If it must, I believe it can. I believe in our generation and I believe we are deeply rooted. Don’t let the users who tweet about relationship problems or what was happening for breakfast, lunch and dinner make you believe that you already have us all figured out. 

Accept social media for what it is, and not for what it was never meant to substitute. 

Viva la revolución.

Note: Follow me on Twitter @vivian_giang

So you want to be a journalist...

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Devil Boys: A breakup over money issues

With a plastic cup of cabernet sauvignon in my hand, I couldn’t remember another time I laughed so hard on a Friday night, alone. Well, I wasn’t technically alone since I was sitting in a dimly lit room with, say, thirty other people.

But it WAS a Friday night and I had traveled to midtown’s New World Stages to witness the wackiness circulating the off-Broadway play “Devil Boys from Beyond.”

The hilarious script made its public debut during the previous year’s New York International Fringe Festival and broke box office records, despite limited stage props and an inability to pay their talents. But the funny lines and chemistry between those involved kept the show sold out every night as people lined the streets to witness the success of a low budget production.

Then, Buddy Thomas took his science-fiction spoof and collaborated with Kenneth Elliott to produce an even more bizarre script.

Despite a stomach-clenching comedic act that was fresh, unique and everything else you wanted in a performance, the play ended nearly three weeks early for one main reason: money.

Devil Boys’ budget was set at a standard (in regards to off-Broadway productions) $100,000 but when the show didn’t instantly take off and expenses kept racking up as the weeks continued, the show came to an abrupt end before its time was up.

When I heard of the news, I was heartbroken. Honestly, the play made me laugh, cry and think. But aside from the storyline...it was the chemistry…I could feel the chemistry from my seat in the audience. And if there wasn’t chemistry behind the curtains, well, the actors certainly knew how to pretend there was when the spotlight hit them.

“Simply to me, that’s what theater is all about – connecting the actors to the audience,” said Elliott, director and co-author. “It’s how I got my start…doing shows in clubs in the East Village when I moved to New York.”

Elliott talked about the good ol’ days when he was involved in plays like “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom” and the whole performance was acted out in front of a backdrop in some dark club.

With all that said, you must be prepared for operating preview losses associated with off-Broadway productions, Elliott explained.

“Usually it takes a few weeks where there are previews that you have to pay for,” he said. “Advertising is extremely expensive...contingency funds… in most theater budgets, there are significant items needed in capitalization.”

 

With all the attention that a big money production can receive before its art is even shared with the world, the low budget entertainment industry – the “underdog” of show business – must take on creative endeavors to fight against the big money.

“When the script and the cast is right, it doesn’t matter how much money is put into the play, it’s good,” said Jeff Riberdy, a casted alien in the out-of-this-world 'Devil Boys.’ “But in order to make the big bucks, you have to go Broadway… it’s just the place to be for the money.” 

Top Secret: Facebook Takes Over with New...Phone??

Following Apple's footsteps, word is out that Facebook is building the software and working with a third party to produce the hardware for a new phone.

 

Currently the number one Web site in the United States (with Google coming in a close second), Facebook has reasons to feel threatened and left behind by the power held by the iPhone and Android. Less than a year ago, news circulated that Google was working on a phone which we now know is the Nexus One. It won't be surprising if Facebook will have their own phone by next year. 

And why shouldn't they? Why stay an app when you can etch your name on the entire software? In other words, why rent when you can own? Zuckerberg, the youngest self-made billionaire to-date, has reasons to feel owning a mere app on a smartphone isn't going to cut it in long-term competition.  

So what's the phone going to look like? Is it going to be blue? The phone could come out in a number of styles and appearances, but the bottom line here is price. And who's going to buy it?

I'd say, most likely, the phone will be cheap...probably dirt cheap...cheap enough so that more people can afford to buy it. Facebook is free to the public and now it's the number one Web site so why shouldn't the phone be affordable and be the number one phone?

Two upper-level employees - Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos - are said to be working on the top secret project. Creating all of Facebook's iPhone web applications and formerly assisting to create the Firefox browser, Hewitt is qualified to work on a new software for a top secret phone. On the same scale, Papakipos is equally qualified as the recent lead developer of the Google Chrome OS project. Interestingly enough, Papakipos left this past June before the project was finished, most likely, for a more "exciting" project speculated to be - that's right - the new Facebook phone. 

Officially the word isn’t out yet and we don’t know when the secret launch date will be. And how the Facebook geniuses will integrate Facebook into the phone will, well, be another blog post. 

A Race to Dominate Television Market

First, we saw newspapers across the country frantically come up with innovative alterations to stay afloat financially and now online options are blurring the lines for another traditional medium: television.

As online services offer more flexibility in scheduling and prices, the race in the home television market no longer is the playing field merely between cable and satellite television. Among the most popular competitors include Netflix, Hulu and even Microsoft. 

Netflix recently acquired new deals with NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros to cast their footsteps on the video streaming market. The Los Gatos, California-based company offers a $7.99 per month option allowing subscribers to watch unlimited television episodes and movies streamed into a computer or television set.

To officially shift their focus from DVD rentals to primarily video streaming, Netflix has raised prices on their DVD rental plans, increasing prices by $1 on their two most popular plans: the one and two-DVD rental at-a-time option.

Netflix experienced their fourth consecutive quarter of acquiring more than one million additional subscribers and shares have increased by 200 percent since the beginning of the year.

The company reported a net income of $37,967 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, at the end of their third fiscal quarter ending on September 30, 2010. The numbers represented a significant growth in the company compared to a net income of $30,141 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, from the same quarter of the previous year.

Netflix ended the third quarter with approximately 16,933,000 total subscribers, a 52 percent growth compared to 2009.

Similar to Netflix being fundamentally known as the internet movie provider, Hulu Plus is known as the internet television provider and their new $10 per month option offers subscribers the ability to watch episodes from current and past popular television series on ABC, NBC and Fox.

Even the world’s largest software company – Microsoft – can’t keep away from the enticing market; its latest move uses the Xbox game console’s internet and streaming capabilities for access to CBS, ESPN, CNN and Fox. With 25 million subscribers worldwide, Xbox Live currently has more subscribers than Comcast.

The race to be the first to successfully place software in television sets across America has hit cable service providers hard. Between July and September of this year, Time Warner Cable experienced a loss of 155,000 subscribers, a 41.3 percent increase compared to a loss of 64,000 subscribers during the same period the previous year.

During the third quarter of this year, U.S. cable companies experienced the largest decline since 1980 with the loss of 741,000 basic subscribers, according to research by SNL Kagan.

Show Me Your Undies...er...Indies

So here's another “underdog” entertainment business story...

Indieflix, an online independent film distribution company, made headlines in September when they launched Film Festival in a Box (FFB), a game the size of a pizza box, also used as a distribution platform, in Times Square. In each cardboard box, four films are strategically placed in versions, such as Comedies, Pottymouth Comedies, and Powered by Girls. 

After players watch the four films, they can vote online for their favorites and the chosen filmmakers are eligible for monetary prizes.  The physical box can be purchased through Indieflix’s Web site or a small number of boutique stores for $14.99.

Indieflix started in 2004 when Scilla Andreen set out to create a fair distribution option for independent filmmakers, specifically the “little guys,” while working as a costume designer on the set of “The Wonder Years.” More importantly, Andreen wanted to expose and create awareness for low budget films to the community. 

“It’s about getting people physically together,” said Alex Bush, programmer and executive assistant to Andreen. “People have an idea of what they think indie films is…it’s like ‘put on your turtle neck and lets go cry for an hour.’ ”

“But watching indie films doesn’t have to be a dark and sad experience.”

Eventually, Indieflix hopes to move towards being entirely digital.

In the past decade, more people are able to make films and tell their stories with cheaper camera and editing software costs. But as film production becomes more accessible, with so many films, it is more difficult for every film to find an audience, said marketing manager of a New York City's film company

“The simple fact is, some films break through and some films do not,” he said.

 

Every low-budget indie film I have ever watched – with the exception of one or two – there is always some morbid underlying message and I am embarked with reactions of “Geez, what the heck is going on?” or “That was kind of gross” but I'll take Bush's expertise above and try it again. Perhaps indie films can be a joyful experience. Either way, you can't help but cheer on the underdogs here. Let's hope FFB takes off fast and stays high.

Glorious Italian Renaissance Days No More

Imagine 250,000 culture and arts employees so angry that they abandon their jobs to join a 24-hour strike, leaving movie theaters, film/television sets, opera houses and concert venues vacant and shut down.

Earlier this week, the scenario above became a reality as Italian workers marched from their businesses to protest the government’s culture spending cuts to its lowest level in 20 years. Silvio Berlusconi’s 2011 Budget Law reduced the country’s single arts fund, FUS, to €300 million ($416 million), approximately €200 million less than where it stood three years prior. 

Raphael's famous The School of Athens, or Scuola di Atene

Last month, more than 1,000 actors, director and producers disrupted the International Rome Film Festival at Rome’s Auditorium Parco Della Musica to protest against budget cuts.

Despite union strikes and tension, Minister of Culture Sandro Bondi refuses to back down on spending cuts and the government is pushing to slash the budget even sooner – three weeks earlier than usual. Instead, the budget vote will be scheduled four days before the confidence vote for Berlusconi. If he loses, he will have to resign and more money could possibly be added to the FUS budget by a new government. The culture minister has a confidence vote of his own scheduled Nov. 29 in which he will also have to step down if he doesn’t receive a majority nod from parliament.   

I say, c'mon! They gave us Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli and Raphael ... a major international contributor to the art world, the Italians' reactions imply something much deeper is being taken away than merely money. Currently, the country's FUS is far more restricting than funds in Germany and France.  

Yet another Wall Street lawsuit

I know, I know...this doesn't have anything to do with entertainment unless you view it as entertaining to watch...another lawsuit has been filed against JP Morgan with co-defendant HSBC on their side:

JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and HSBC Securities Inc. (NYSE: HBC) face allegations of manipulating the silver futures and options market and violating the Commodity Exchange Act and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Filed on behalf of Carl Loeb, an independent investor, by litigation firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, the lawsuit accuses JP Morgan and London-based HSBC of manipulating the silver futures market by naked short selling a considerable amount of silver futures contracts, but not intending on delivering the futures by its “expiration” date. 

According to the complaint, JP Morgan accumulated substantial short positions, or contracts to sell an asset, in silver futures when they acquired rival investment bank Bear Stearns in 2008. In the following months, JP Morgan and HSBC owned more than 85 percent of the short positions in the market of silver futures contracts.   

“In the short period of time, these companies have made $100 million off the activity,” said Sean Matt, co-counsel and partner at Seattle-based Hagens Berman, in a conference call with New York University students. “It’s a very large damage case the farther you go out…like you throw a pebble in a lake and you actually see energy from that pebble and the waves span out from where that pebble is dropped.”

The lawsuit alleges that the two giant investment and security firms colluded to flood the Commodity Exchange, or "COMEX," with a substantial amount of futures contracts in a given time to force prices to rapidly decline. 

“The top four largest traders in silver futures own about 20-45 percent of the annual silver market so I highly doubt [JP Morgan and HSBC] own anywhere near the positions they hold,” Matt said. “If they don’t own enough, they cover it and close out the contracts by doing the opposite.”

In the late 1970s, Nelson and William Hunt lost their billionaire fortune after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) found the brothers guilty of conspiring to manipulate and monopolize the silver market, committing fraud and racketeering and violating antitrust laws. To date, there have been twenty-two similar lawsuits filed in New York’s Southern District Court, but issues still arise as to the question of manipulation: when is it legally manipulation?

“If people believe there is no collusion between market participants, their view of the market participants is skewed,” said Itamar Dreschler, assistant professor of finance at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. 

To determine manipulation, the CFTC use a four-part test: First, does the defendant have the ability to influence market prices? Second, Did the defendant specifically intend to do so? Third, does artificial prices exist? Lastly, Has the defendant caused an artificial price to occur?

“In most commodity markets, there are position limits such that this cannot happen…there are limits on the amount of short positions you can amass…not so for silver, gold and copper,” Matt said. “I have read that people believe to reform the market, part of what they need to do is put in position limits.”

“We hope on behalf of our clients that it [the impact of case] will lead to a market free of manipulation…that will likely involve the price of silver going up, I suspect.”

To be honest, I am still pretty confused about the process of naked short selling of futures and options. If "manipulating" the silver market push the price down, it will eventually bring the price up again. So where is the big payoff in the end for the accused? But I guess it doesn't take an investment banker to understand that eventually, a bubble WILL burst if you continue to short items you can't deliver.  I mean, there was a case where a trader was prosecuted after cornering merely 5 percent of the market. I guess all we can do is wait and see what will come out of yet ANOTHER Wall street case.

Broadway or Please Try Again

With so many talents, so many choices and so many hardworking people, to make it anywhere nowadays, you have to make it BIG. To be honest, who can afford greatness if it doesn’t pay?

And sadly, this is most true of the arts.

In today’s society, the theater pros know that if a play is ever going to have half a chance of making it, it’s got to make it on Broadway.  Yes, most of us are romantics and we want to believe that the passion, the fuel, the drive is going to make up for the lack of money, but to be frank, the passion, the fuel, the drive is going to realistically pay your bills for about as long as you can work that extra part-time, nighttime job.

When I first moved to the city, my roommate took me to a tiny, Off Broadway show hosted by The Acting Company. The storyline was amazing, the actors were talented and the audience was fascinated. After the lights came on, I sat there playing the minute details over and over again in my head, wondering what they could all mean and how they transcended into my life. It was a deep sense of enlightenment that you hope to gain after a movie, a poem, a story, a song. A wonderful sensation that could make you feel empty or satisfied, depending on the intentions of the producer/screenwriter/author.

But despite how wonderful that play was, I doubt it would ever see Broadway in the near future. Not enough bright lights for the big city, I guess. In our time, Broadway needs big stars, over the top sets and perilous stunts in order to rake in the big Benjamins.

Take the anticipated “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” the most expensive Broadway show ever made with an estimated budget of $60 million. Opening day for the show has recently been delayed again due to incomplete safety inspections from the New York State Department of Labor.

The theatrical musical directed by Tony Award winner Julie Taymor, most known for “The Lion King,” shut down productions for months in 2009 after not having enough funds to continue the show, which was estimated to cost $40 million at the time.

I understand that people expect a big show after spending a handsome sum on tickets, but what bothers me is that you might not have a chance if you’re not inclined to go the mainstream route. Some of the most talented people in the world are involved in Off Broadway plays and low-budget films. Most of them seek nothing more than to generate some kind of idea, thought, meaning to the public.

And does Broadway really mean that you’ve made it? I guess the answer depends on what your meaning of “making it” truly is. If it means falling asleep during a Broadway production – as my roommate and her friend did while watching “A Life in the Theater” – then no, I do not take that as “making it.”

But the question remains: why does it always have to be all or nothing? Or in this case, why is it always Broadway or “Sorry, you didn’t have enough aerial maneuvers in this one. Please try again.”

Bravo to Baghdadiya

For me, the Middle East has always been a mysterious, struggling place and people. So many cultures. So many beliefs. So many views. And all in such close proximity to one another. Its rapid changes and complexities is what keeps us all guessing.

 

So when I read about Baghdadiya, I thought, “Bravo.”

Baghdadiya is a satellite channel best known for its infamous reporter Muntader al-Zaidi, or the guy who threw his shoe at former President George W. Bush in 2008. The channel broadcasts from Cairo and is notoriously known for controversial programs, even hosting a morning program that allows for viewers to share their criticisms of the government. The channel is as opposite to censorship as the Middle East, or perhaps any region, can possibly achieve.

But this past week, it all ended and a banner hung from the empty studio: “The Closing of Baghdadiya is a Funeral for Democracy.”

On All Hallows Eve, government officials arrested two of Baghdadiya’s employees on allegations that they were working with terrorists. The officials then forced everyone to vacate and closed the studio.

Juma Hilfi, media adviser to Baghdad’s licensing commission, ordered the arrests and claimed the station violated regulations governed by the Communications and Media Commission, specifically mentioning a show when the channel played pranks on actors by having fake security officials find bombs in their vehicles and then question them on suspicions of terroristic involvement.

In America, this is known as a parody, a protected form of speech. It is imperative that we are all thinking about certain issues - even intertwined with humor -that affect our lives and futures. Bluntly stating something is too harsh for some, but when the same message is shared in a parody, it opens up our minds to think, “hmmm…”

Again, I say one thing to Baghdadiya: Bravo! It is not so much that I support everything they report or their views, but that I applaud them for stepping out and opening doors to the future in such a turmoil state. Bravo for being different and speaking your mind. Bravo for breaking the silence.

Let’s hope that the recent shut down of the station will cause others in the region to second guess censorship regulations currently practiced. The long road to freedom still lies ahead and the Middle East has a long way to go, but Baghdad is on her way.

Revolutionary musical steps in Vietnam

In many countries - fortunately - creative disciplines such as music, fashion and art have had a long-standing history so it is welcoming for students to follow in the footsteps of those who came before them. But imagine going to school and not having a standard academic discipline to adhere to.

School systems in Vietnam have not quite caught up with the country’s breakthrough into international mainstream and students are forced to learn on their own – researching and discovering their idols and coming up with new ideas.

The lack of resources and support from school may initially be a halt but in a sense, Vietnamese youngsters are truly blank slates. They are given markers and pens and its up to them to make up their own rules, their own fashion, their own paths to greatness. 

More exciting news: recently, the first television channel and Web site dedicated to urban music has been launched in the fast-changing country. Jennifer Ravolet, creative director at Yan TV, traveled from France to tell the story about the beginning of a new chapter in Vietnam’s media world.

Music television and Web sites make up huge industries almost everywhere else in the world; it’s exciting that something with such successful roots in other places is finally having its “first” in Vietnam. 

Aside from music videos and entertainment news, Ravolet will try to spread cultural values and establish a strong brand and identity for Yan TV.

Vietnam’s Web site dedicated to music (www.vnclubbersguide.com.vn) features news and international trends and names in the industry.

A New Kind of Reality

America is fascinated by reality television as much as we are obsessed with our celebrities. We are enticed by how the other half lives, whether they’re the crème de la crème or slums of the earth.  We want to let go of our own struggles and troubles and be a part of other people’s woes and dramas.

Now, aside from watching how the worst housewives behave or socialites spend their money across the continent, viewers can tune in to another kind of reality show that may hit a little too close to home.

Responding to the country’s economic conditions, reality shows like “Downsized,” “The Fairy Jobmother,” “Outsourced” and “Raising Hope” document the nature of how the economy has affected American families. Of course, we must remember that they are reality shows and can only portray “reality” to an extent, although we applaud them for trying.

Lifetime’s “The Fairy Jobmother” is probably the most fictitious out of the above mentioned economic derived reality shows, centering around British “expert” consultant Hayley Taylor, who announced to the public, “It’s time to get America back to work!”

There is a new struggling family every episode and Taylor helps them change their financial luck, but the idea of a foreigner aiding Americans back on their feet can be hard for some to accept. And of course, unlike the real reality, the families on the show are offered jobs and new prospects at the end of each episode.

The WE TV’s “Downsized,” is a tad more realistic, surrounding a Brady-like Arizona family with seven children. When the Bruce couple married, their kids were teenagers and the blended family enjoyed some good times with Todd’s thriving construction company. Unfortunately, the real-estate crisis hit right in their home and the family’s two properties foreclosed while they struggled to make credit card and rent payments. The children also help out, selling their possessions and collecting aluminum cans and glassed bottles for extra change.

Reality television provides an escape route out of our real lives, but networks are taking a new move to show the world what is essentially on the country’s mind at the moment: the economy.  Reality shows “Outsourced” and “Raising Hope” also focus on foreclosures and unemployment.  Get ready – you might not be laughing or sneering at the characters, but at least you’ll be rooting for them. But then again, we rooted for Jon and Kate and look what happened there.