DIGITAL L.A. IN SPITE OF FLAMEOUTS, AN EXCITING DIGITAL YEAR.Byline: David Bloom David Bloom (May 22, 1963 – April 6, 2003) was an NBC journalist (co-anchor of Weekend Today and reporter) until his sudden death in 2003 at the age of 39. Early life What a difference a year has made in the digital entertainment world. Just ask Jason McCabe Calcanis, the peripatetic editor/founder of New York's Silicon Alley Reporter Silicon Alley Reporter was an American trade publication focused on New York's Silicon Alley. Founded by Jason McCabe Calacanis in 1996, then was renamed the Venture Reporter in 2001 and was eventually sold to Dow Jones in 2003. and its SoCal sister publication, the Digital Coast Reporter. Calcanis has watched some spectacular flameouts and the rise of promising new entertainment sites as the Web, especially in Los Angeles' back yard, starts to actually show people a good time. This week, the frenetic Calcanis will be even busier than usual, presiding over the second Digital Coast Conference at the Directors Guild of America headquarters in Hollywood. Last year, the conference featured one of the more incendiary INCENDIARY, crim. law. One who maliciously and willfully sets another person's house on fire; one guilty of the crime of arson. 2. This offence is punished by the statute laws of the different states according to their several provisions. moments of any such show in memory (which, admittedly, isn't saying much). During a panel on online entertainment, then-Sony executive Rob Tercek tartly wondered how DEN could make money given its small audiences and high overhead. ``That company caused more bad PR for digital entertainment than anybody,'' said Calcanis. Tercek left Sony, too, part of a remarkable recent hemorrhage of top executive talent from that company. He's now president of programming at Packet Video, and will be this year's opening day keynote speaker, talking about putting entertainment and information on mobile systems of all kinds. Tercek will be hard-pressed to duplicate the pyrotechnics pyrotechnics (pī'rōtĕk`nĭks, pī'rə–), technology of making and using fireworks. Gunpowder was used in fireworks by the Chinese as early as the 9th cent. of last year's panel, though other groups, talking about issues such as online music, promise some sparks. DEN's problems to the contrary, the year since the last Digital Coast conference has been ``fabulous'' for the region's online entertainment business, said Calcanis. He points to the huge success of animation online (with several online series being optioned for films and TV series); the hard lessons learned about how much to spend making online content (hint: less than DEN); and the explosion of excellent short films created by all kinds of people for online viewing. ``I think there's a renaissance that's just starting to bubble up Verb 1. bubble up - move upwards in bubbles, as from the effect of heating; also used metaphorically; "Gases bubbled up from the earth"; "Marx's ideas have bubbled up in many places in Latin America" intumesce that will be the equivalent to the rock 'n' roll rock 'n' roll: see rock music. era of filmmaking, when Scorsese and Coppola and films like 'All the President's Men,' 'The Conversation' and 'Easy Rider' came along and re-created film and took it to another sort of level and forced a generational switch. I think that's what's about to happen in short film.'' < Conference speakers include basketball player (and Dunk.net part-owner) Shaquille O'Neal and his agent, Leonard Armato; Recording Industry Association of America CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Hilary Rosen; the U.S. Copyright Office's general counsel; Electronic Frontier Foundation See EFF. (body) Electronic Frontier Foundation - (EFF) A group established to address social and legal issues arising from the impact on society of the increasingly pervasive use of computers as a means of communication and information distribution. founder John Perry Barlow John Perry Barlow (born October 3, 1947) is an American poet, essayist, retired Wyoming cattle rancher, political activist and former lyricist for the Grateful Dead. Biography Born in Sublette County, Wyoming, Barlow attended elementary school in a one room schoolhouse. ; comic book king Stan Lee; film directors Wayne Wang and Penelope Spheeris; digital gurus Bill Gross of Idealab! and Mark Cuban of Yahoo Broadcast Services; and the co-founder of Serbian opposition radio station B92, Gordan Paunovic. The three-day conference will also feature, like seemingly every other conference these days, an awards show on Thursday. The Digital Coast Awards will honor top online entertainment sites. For more information or to register, go to www.digitalcoast2000.com. SITE OF THE WEEK --Wham-O.com: The light-as-air site for the company that makes Frisbees, Hacky Sacks, Hula Hoops and more. In the land of Endless Summer, these guys ought to be the official toymakers. --Where: www.wham-o.com --What's cool: Gotta love the trivia and history sections (the company got its name from a slingshot (networking, business, tool, product, protocol) Slingshot - CSK Software's real time financial server for the Internet. Slingshot allows the delivery of real time market data across the Internet and private intranets quickly, cheaply and securely. that it made), and it's fun to peruse pe·ruse tr.v. pe·rused, pe·rus·ing, pe·rus·es To read or examine, typically with great care. [Middle English perusen, to use up : Latin per-, per- the variations on a Frisbee theme. Even better, a quick click links you to Shrednow, an all-things-extreme sports site with a very cool, minimalist design that opens you up to dozens of obscure sports and pastimes, some of which just happen to involve Wham-O products, along with chat and discussion boards and much else. --Features: Some areas remain under construction, such as ``Where to Buy,'' but they do provide some great photos of people at the Ultimate Frisbee championships and other competitions. There's also useful information for inventors who would want to sell products to the company, and tips about a dizzying array of new kinds of games using Wham-O products (anyone for a game of birdie golf?). --You'll like this if: You like your sports ... different. Think your Web fave fave Informal n. One that is preferred above others or likely to win; a favorite. adj. Favorite. [Short for favorite.] is good enough for Site of the Week? Send your suggestions to davidbloom@earthlink.net. CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Wham-O.com Box: Site of the Week (see text) |
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