www.vulture.com/2013/06/the-room-10th-anniversary-history.html

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From Evernote:

The Room: The Decade's Biggest Cult Film -- Vulture Clipped from: http://www.vulture.com/2013/06/the-room-10th-anniversary-history.html

How The Room Became the Biggest Cult Film of the Past Decade 

• By Nate Jones

Ten years ago, in June 2003, a small independent film with a terrible script, a no-name director, and a cast of unknowns opened for a short run in Los Angeles. It was panned by the few critics who saw it and closed two weeks later, having grossed $1,800. But the film had something that set it apart. For while there are plenty of bad movies, there are no movies that are bad in all the ways The Room is bad. It suspends all normal rules of drama. Conflicts are introduced and then disappear instantly. Characters experience rapid mood swings, and everyone speaks in a weird brand of English filled with bizarre idioms. ("Keep your stupid comments in your pocket!") The sex scenes are scarier than the scary scenes.

The Room hit theaters at the right time. As it turns out, its unending series of bizarre moments were perfect for the dawn of the Internet's GIF and YouTube culture. As word of "the Worst Movie Ever Made" spread throughout message boards, an embryonic Room fandom coalesced around a series of midnight screenings in L.A. The movie's director became the center of a strange cult of personality, one that grew to include some of the top names in Hollywood. With their help, The Room became an international phenomenon, replete with a computer game , a stage adaptation, countless memes , celebrity parodies , ironic scholarship , an upcoming tell-all memoir , and regular screenings in three countries. Here's how the biggest cult movie of the past decade came to be.

Sometime in the Twentieth Century  
Tommy Wiseau, The Room's mysterious star-director-writer, is born. Little else is known.  

Wiseau: "[My past] has nothing to do with what I do. My private life is my private life."

Juliette Danielle, Room cast member : "We tried for a long time to find out where he's from. We never got an answer."

Sometime in the Late Twentieth Century
Wiseau is inspired.

Wiseau: "I got the idea of The Room from life," he says. "I conducted a lot of research, detailed work about human behavior, based on my environment. So I decided that I have this 'concept,' you know, about human behavior, and that's where everything started.

The idea begins as a 600-page book, which Wiseau considers turning into a stage play. Eventually, he decides to make a film, written by, directed by, and starring himself. 

1998  
In an acting class in San Francisco, Wiseau meets Greg Sestero, who will become his right-hand man.

Sestero : "He went up onstage and was just so entertaining. The whole class was laughing and chanting his name, and he was getting into it with the teacher and I thought, This guy's kind of cool. We just clicked. He told me, 'I have a movie I'd love to make, and I think you'd be great.'"

2002  
Production begins on The Room, though how Wiseau raised the film's $6 million budget is a mystery. In interviews, the director says that he got it from his leather jacket business.

Wiseau : ''If you work, you have to save money, right? I didn't get money from the sky. I was preparing, let's put it this way.''

The cast has no illusions that they're making a serious film.

Danielle : "I can remember one time that I just lost it. It's the line where Johnny has locked himself in the bathroom and he says, 'In a few minutes, bitch.' I was doing okay until I saw the entire crew in my field of vision, stifling their laughter. I couldn't help it. Tommy came out and demanded to know what was so funny. That made it worse!"

But Wiseau's eccentricities hamper production.

Anonymous crew member : "[The script] was actually a lot longer. There was stuff that was just unsayeable. I know it's hard to imagine there was stuff that was worse. But there was.''

Sestero: "[Production lasted] almost six months. It took longer than Transformers. That is sad."

June 27, 2003  
The film has its world premiere in Los Angeles. Wiseau arrives in a limousine.

Sestero: "People were hypnotized with laughter. Some people [walking out of the theater] looked dismayed. One guy said he may never get hard again."

Variety  critic Scott Foundas : "Given audience reaction at screening attended, pic may be something of a first: A movie that prompts most of its viewers to ask for their money back — before even 30 minutes have passed."

By the end of its two-week run, the film has found a super-fan in screenwriter Michael Rousselet.

Rousselet : "'It was like our own private Mystery Science Theater. I was calling friends during the end and saying, 'You have to come to this movie.' We saw it four times in three days, and on the last day I had over 100 people there.''

A Los Angeles billboard that was essentially The Room's only piece of advertising.

Late 2003  
The first wave of Room diehards begin a campaign to bring the film back.

Wiseau : "We got several phone calls from the theater that people were campaigning because they wanted to see The Room. I said to myself, What the heck? We got thousands of e-mails."

2004

The Room begins regular midnight screenings at the Laemmle Sunset in Los Angeles. Fans take to the Internet to sing the film's praises.

IMDb user Brickyard Jimmy : "See this film at all costs. See it twice. Or three times. Or as one kid that I met from Woodland Hills has, 12 times! See it until you can recite every precious line of dialogue this movie has to offer. Let The Room become your new religion."

Room fever infects the L.A. comedy scene. Members of the State seem particularly prone.

David Wain : "I was at Paul Rudd's house a couple of years ago, and he said, 'You have to watch this. Within two minutes, I'm like, 'Okay, this is my favorite thing I've ever seen.'''

December 2005  
Wiseau releases the film on DVD, allowing Room fans to mock the film from the comfort of their homes.

May 5, 2006  
NPR runs the first trend piece on Room screenings.

NPR : "During the movie, audience members shout out their own commentary about the dialogue, the sets — and notably, the framed photograph of a spoon that inexplicably reappears. Each time this happens, plastic spoons are thrown at the screen, in the can-do spirit of Rocky Horror Picture Show fans"

March 8. 2009  
Tim and Eric, Room fans both, get Wiseau to guest-direct an episode of Awesome Show. Watch it here.

The experience is a strange one, even for them .

May 21, 2009  
Monthly midnight screenings begin in New York City. The Room is now bicoastal.

July 24, 2009  
The Room makes its London Premiere at Soho's Prince Charles Theater.

The Independent : "The Room's crappiness is so compelling that, rather than market it as the Greek tragedy it was so obviously meant to be be, Wiseau nowadays insists it was conceived as black comedy." 

April 30, 2010  
The Room celebrates its one-year NYC premiere with a sell-out show at the 1,200-seat Ziegfield Theater. Wiseau is on hand to embrace the circus.

Entertainment Weekly :"While Sestero hung back, quietly signing autographs and taking pictures with fans, Wiseau — wearing a suit and those trademark sunglasses — was immediately bombarded with requests to pose in photos with football-wielding fans dressed in his likeness, and to sign shirts that read 'I heart Tommy Wiseau.' […] In fact, during the half hour that Wiseau rubbed elbows with fans outside the theatre, he was constantly surrounded by a mob worthy of Rob Pattinson, which made unknowing passersby curiously ask folks in line, "Who is that?"

September 7, 2010  
With the arrival of an online computer game, The Room becomes fully meme-ified.

Vulture : "Can you find Lisa's red dress in time?"

May 23, 2011  
Sestero becomes Wiseau's Boswell in earnest, signing a book deal with Simon & Schuster to write a tell-all about the making of the film. The Disaster Artist  will hit shelves in October.

June 11, 2011  
Wiseau's vision finally comes full circle with a stage adaptation of The Room, which premieres  at the AFI Silver Screen in Maryland. (Watch a video of it here .)

2013  
Wiseau announces a special tenth-anniversary tour for the film , with appearances in Hollywood, Minneapolis, and Denver. He will likely introduce each of them with what has become his trademark phrase.

Wiseau: "I always say, 'You can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourself, but please don't hurt each other.'"

 

From Evernote:

Powerful Ad Campaign, How Facebook 'Likes' Don't Help | Fstoppers Clipped from: http://fstoppers.com/powerful-ad-campaign-how-facebook-likes-dont-help

Powerful Ad Campaign, How Facebook 'Likes' Don't Help 

"Liking isn't helping"

Ad agency Publicis Singapore, put together that powerful tag line for Crisis Relief Singapore's latest ad campaign. The C.R.S. is a disaster relief organization run by volunteers. The jarring ads reveal the fact that simply clicking on a 'Like' button doesn't help crisis situations. 

The three ads: Flood, War and Earthquake, used real press photographs with dropped in 'Thumbs Up' to reflect the famous Facebook button. It is a powerful statement that definitely tugs at the heartstrings and shines light onto the fact that simply clicking on a button doesn't help.

The compelling motive can best be summarized in the copy, "Be a volunteer. Change a life."

Flood

Earthquake

Via Design Taxi and Buzzfeed

 

From Evernote:

Google Blimps To Bring Wireless Internet To Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Other Developing Countries Clipped from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/25/google-blimp-wireless-internet_n_3333834.html

Google Blimps To Bring Wireless Internet To Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Other Developing Countries 

Reuters  |  Posted: 05/24/2013 5:51 pm EDT

(Reuters) - Google Inc intends to finance, build and help operate wireless networks from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, hoping to connect a billion or so people in emerging countries to the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The Internet search giant - which has for years espoused universal Web access - is employing a patchwork quilt of technologies and holding discussions with regulators from South Africa to Kenya, the WSJ cited people familiar with the strategy as saying.

Access to the vast trove of information on the Internet, and the tools to make use of it, is considered key to lifting economies up the value chain. But countries are often hampered by the vast sums needed to build infrastructure, thorny regulations or geographical terrain.

To reach its goal, Google, which benefits the more people have access to its search and other Internet services, is lobbying regulators to use airwaves reserved for television broadcasts, which at lower frequencies can pass through buildings and over longer distances, the WSJ reported.

It is also working on providing low-cost cellphones and employing balloons or blimps to transmit signals over hundreds of square miles from high altitudes.

The company has already begun several small-scale trials, including in Cape Town, South Africa, where it is using a base station in conjunction with wireless access boxes to broadcast signals over several miles, the newspaper reported.

Chief Executive Larry Page has made no secret of his plans to use his company to work toward broader, non-profit goals. Google on Friday declined to comment on its plans.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Also on HuffPost:

 

From Evernote:

Is HTC Coming Out with a HTC One that Runs Stock Android? Clipped from: http://gizmodo.com/is-htc-coming-out-with-a-htc-one-that-runs-stock-androi-509649190

Is HTC Coming Out with a HTC One that Runs Stock Android?

Please be true, please be true, please be true. After Google announced that it would be selling a pure Android version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 on Google Play , the entire world screamed joys of Hallelujah Halle Berry. An awesome phone running completely stock Android has always been the dream. Now, HTC might be making real life better than any dream by making the HTC One pure Android too.

Related

Supposedly, according to Geek.com's sources , HTC is considering making a stock variant of the HTC One. That'd mean there would be no HTC Sense to muddle the Android experience. That means we'd use a phone the way Google would want us to use it. What's unclear now is if it happens, how we'll get the pure Android HTC One.

Google's version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is sold unlocked for $650 on Google Play. Would HTC go down that same route? What should be noted is that Geek.com had initially reported on the stock Android version of the Galaxy S4 before it was announced. They nailed that rumor. Maybe this one will be true too. In any case, I'm crossing my fingers. You should too. [Geek via Phandroid ]

 

From Evernote:

Consumers Go Crazy For Wii U Following Xbox One Reveal - Wii U News @ Nintendo Life Clipped from: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/05/consumers_go_crazy_for_wii_u_following_xbox_one_reveal

Consumers Go Crazy For Wii U Following Xbox One Reveal 

Posted Fri, 24 May 2013 | 03:00 BST by Darren Calvert

One of Amazon UK's biggest movers and shakers

It's no secret that the Xbox One reveal did not go as smoothly as Microsoft might have hoped. For some, the idea of buying a giant Betamax-styled brick that blocks used games and requires the Kinect camera to function was a big turn-off — even if it does make changing the TV channel a fraction of a second quicker. Even dog-based shooters failed to win the crowds over, and to top it all off there is no backwards compatibility whatsoever either.

Nintendo might well have been feeling a little nervous before the Xbox announcement, but it would seem that consumers are voting with their feet and suddenly buying the Wii U in droves if Amazon UK's movers and shakers list is a reliable barometer.

At the time of writing we're seeing an increase of 386% as the sales rank of the Wii U Premium Pack skyrockets on Amazon from #243 to #50. With Nintendo's E3 Wii U Nintendo Direct only weeks away, we should see interest continue to rise as it's upcoming games are revealed. Some armchair analysts may have written off Nintendo's home console, but it would seem that the race is far from over.

[via amazon.co.uk ]

About Darren Calvert 

Darren is Nintendo Life's Batman: fearless in the face of danger, he loves gadgets and talking in a really, really deep voice. As Operations Director he stays mostly behind the scenes in a room he insists on calling "The Batcave".

From Evernote:

HTC One and the harsh reality of the Android ecosystem — Tech News and Analysis Clipped from: http://gigaom.com/2013/05/22/htc-one-and-the-harsh-reality-of-the-android-ecosystem/

HTC One and the harsh reality of the Android ecosystem — Tech News and Analysis 

A few days ago when hanging out with a friend, I got a chance to play around with HTC One, the newest and shiniest Android phone on the market (of course until it wasn't when Sony launched its Experia Z.) I was quite impressed by the build quality, the industrial design and the beauty of the device. Despite its supersize — I have normal people's hands — it did feel like something I would want to buy, especially if I was picking amongst the ever increasing array of Android smartphones.

Maybe, I thought to myself, HTC was going to make a comeback. I mean, these were the guys who jumpstarted the Android smartphone ecosystem in partnership with Google and T-Mobile USA. These were the guys who innovated fast and even came up with their own skin for Android . They pushed the design and speed envelope. They had edgy marketing . They were the first movers and their early sales were red-hot.

And yet, when they spent $300 million on headphones maker Beats by Dre , it became obvious that this company was going to run into some stormy weather. Of course, it was an idea that didn't go down well with many of its fans and its investors — HTC eventually sold back half its stake .

This (relatively) tiny Taiwanese company was going to get squeezed by cheaper Android phones on one end and Samsung on the other. In fact, as far back as 2010 we have argued that the real smartphone battle was going to be between Apple and Samsung. And when it comes to hardware, nothing really has changed. It is Apple vs Samsung.

According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung now accounts for about 95 percent of the total operating profits of the global Android business. During the first quarter of 2013, Samsung had an operating profit of $5.1 billion, while LG made $100 million and all other vendors (HTC, ZTE, Huawei, Sony and no-name brands) collectively made $100 million in operating (not net) profit.

It is hardly surprising to see that HTC is in trouble. A report in The Verge suggested that HTC's chief product officer, Kouji Kodera, has left the company. The report also implied that other senior executives are leaving the company . The most recent high-profile bet — the HTC First, which was launched in partnership with Facebook — has been a flop and one wonders if the company really has the wherewithal, both intellectual and financial, to undertake such experiments.

I am not sure if people remember, but Motorola was another company that found itself on a Sysephian quest and eventually found a $12 billion bailout from Google. The trouble with the smaller Android players is that despite all the talk about a PC-like ecosystem of sourcing components and using others to assemble their products, it is fundamentally not true.

Apple has used all the billions in the bank to lock up supplies for processors, memory chips, radios, displays and other such components at favorable prices. It has worked out long term manufacturing arrangements with the likes of Foxconn. It has its own retail outlets. While most of us try and focus on Apple's hardware and software integration, we forget that it is software, hardware and supply chain integration that allows the company to sell 37.5 million phones in the most recent quarter . It allows the company to make phones that meet the needs of different carriers.

Samsung too is an integration beast . It owns memory chip plants. It makes its own processors. It makes displays and it owns the factories. It has the unique ability to churn out new products faster than anyone else in the consumer electronics business and thus overwhelm the market with dozens of models. Just look at the many flavors on its latest Samsung S4 device and you start to see that this is a game only for big boys.

The only other company with Apple and Samsung-like manufacturing oomph was Nokia. I say was, because they are losing a grip on the phone business. However, their supply chain and manufacturing was legendary. It still is. I have yet to see a badly made Nokia smartphone — I just see smartphones with an OS that makes no sense. I bet if they entered the market with their own flavor of Android — something we suggested in 2010 — they would instantly become number three in the smartphone market, behind Samsung and Apple.

Sadly, smaller players like HTC can't compete with the manufacturing and marketing capabilities of Samsung. The HTC One, which is an awesome looking device, was hit by manufacturing issues earlier this year. So it needs to rethink its strategies. HTC needs to become comfortable with the idea of being a one or two product company, and hope that it can keep comping up with winning products every single time. Even that is a long shot. The marketing budgets of Samsung and Apple are enough to finance some small nations.

HTC's story is all too familiar to those who have studied the first mover phenomenon. A story in Economist points out that innovators captured seven percent of their market over time. THey point to various examples like White Castle who invented the idea of fast food burger joint but McDonalds is the big daddy now. Apple and Samsung are going through some of that as well. The lesson here for everyone — even tiny startups — is as Scott Anthony once perfectly said (and I paraphrase him): no one remembers who was leading the race midway through, and everyone remembers who finished first. And in order to finish first, a lot has to go right.

So where do companies like HTC go? And sad as it might be, perhaps nowhere. I am going to do my bit to give them some support — I will buy that HTC One, just because it is actually a great little device. It truly is.

5-year HTC stock chart, source: Yahoo Finance