NYDiscovery

Adam Lambert - The Anti-American Idol?

I am stuck in a Downtown F-Train while writing this hoping to make it right in time for American Idol. Remember the contestants from previous seasons? Mostly good looking but certainly up for some serious glam up!

Just think of season 7 winner David Cook! While from the start being totally likable, there was a lot of room for improvement in the looks department. And by now, I think we all agree on that one, he even looks HOT! Yes, really hot.

Three episodes into season 8, there's sort of an Anti-David-Cook! Adam Lambert doesn't need much help with his visuals. If anything, he needs to glam down and not up! He (and his crew) keep it interesting though and as said before, he's exactly along my alley. Totally dig his looks.

Okay, hoping to make it home in time for not missing a single moment of my winter- spring show! Finally! Delancey street... I am off. In front of the telly, iPhone next to me, laptop in front, twittering and enjoying yet another Adam Lambert moment. Bring it on!!!

-- Elke

Exchanging Buz Luhrman's "Australia" with Trueba's "Belle Epoque"

Buz Luhrman's AUSTRALIA opened the weekend I boarded the Queen Mary 2 to go on my anniversary cruise together with Oliver. Despite considering myself a huge "Huge Jackman fan", I didn't manage to watch the movie while it was still running in the theaters. Having read enough negative reviews, my desire to sit through it for 3 hours simply wasn't big enough. So I waited for the DVD release and 2 weeks ago, Netflix sent me the awaited DVD. But I still didn't watch it immediately but waited 2 more weekes to eventually sit down and play the disc.

Yesterday though seemed to be the perfect evening to see AUSTRALIA. We even bought Australian red wine to go with it which would not have been my first choice since I prefer Italian, Spanish or American wines. Not this time. The wine was an excellent choice but the movie was not!

I won't be able to say if there's a turn to the better or if there's anything of interest happening in the movie at all because it lost me, or better yet, never got me, right at its opening credits. 5 minutes in, we stopped the movie and agreed that we can't stand neither the female nor the male lead which both were introduced in an excessive matter that was very hard to believe. Everything seemed like coming straight from a rag. What has beautifully worked in MOULIN ROUGE didn't work at all in AUSTRALIA. Not even Hugh Jackman's build up body, half nacked, could save me from absolutely hating the movie. We gave up! After the "tent scene" we removed the disc, put it back in it's Netflix envelope and still couldn't believe what we were just trying to watch.

What has happened Buz Luhrman? Why?

In for a quiet evening - for a change - we then decided to watch the other DVD that Netflix has sent us. I've decided on a Spanish language movie, to support our Spanish learning experience: Belle Epoque by Fernando Trueba. What a different experience! The movie didn't want to be anything but a romantic romp and it succeeded on every level. There's a reason why in 1993 it won an Oscar as Best Foreign Film. After having seen this joyful movie, I was happy again with the evening's turnout which hasn't started promising at all.

-- Elke

Words do matter: What do online communication and Adam Lambert's lyric modification have in common?

There are still a lot of people out there who believe that the assumed anonymity of the Internet would protect them. Some go even great lengths in creating a 2nd persona so that they can speak their minds freely without fearing to get discovered.

I am not just referring to leaving rude or insulting commentaries, a behavior which I see in my job on a daily basis. I am also referring to the assumption that nobody would care or this is all one big game anyway. When the realization kicks in that words do in deed matter, then people want to hastily erase all their online traces which by then have long been picked up by Google's spiders. So it's too late!

And yet it doesn't have to be that way and it's not complicated either!

It is possible to have fun in life, on- or offline, without having to hide your true self. This is 2009. You can show who you are without the need to hurt others or the fear for rejection (this goes at least for democratic societies).

In the more than 15 years that I am professionally online, I've very well learned what I can say online and more importantly even what I want to say online. For me, it's okay to show passion and tell a little bit about myself because that's art of my life and that's what gets me going.

Somebody else who seems to stay true to himself despite some entertainment industry craziness is American Idol's Adam Lambert. Have you listened to the "Tracks of My Tears" original version from Smokey Robinson? And then Adam's Studio version with the original Motown soundtrack? He modified the lyrics slightly. They are no longer gender specific, which in a way makes him even more believable and definitely very contemporary.

It is possible to be honest and sincere and yet believable and charming! And the same is true for everybody who's socializing online be it on twitter, facebook or Fotolog. If we treat each other with respect, a lot is possible. While some might think that my thoughts here are a bit far fetched, let me tell you that this in deed is a topic that I am dealing with day by day and if it is Adam Lambert who inspires me to blog about it, so be it. It's all good.

 -- Elke

From Buying Records in a Store to AI's Adam Lambert

A good 15 years in, minimum, it's hard to remember the times when there were no cellphones and when the Internet was not yet a common household staple.

Just this morning, Oliver and I were discussing, how we, "back in the days" were getting informed or were trying to inform ourselves about what's out there. As far as music goes, I was glued to the radio in order to get to know new music. And there were friends of course, sharing records and tapes. Yep, those mechanical thingies that easily would wind up in a big mess in your recorder. But at least, you could record music from the radio! Woohoo! This was long, long before iTunes. This was even before there was a "Walkman" not to mention the iPod.

Besides of radio and friends, there were special interest magazines and there were record stores and back then, they were even fun! I remember the excitement of browsing through the 2 (sic!) stores the small town I lived in had. When I found a "new" record of my favorite bands. When I listened to records there. I remember vividly when I wanted to buy "A Love like Blood" from Killing Joke and bought something else  instead because they didn't have what I wanted. This is something that wouldn't happen today. You can find everything you want on iTunes (except for the original Beatles catalaogue) and if you can't find it on iTunes, you'll find it on YouTube.

Music works differently today. Surely, there are LUCKILY bands like those of our friend's Lani (Stark), Swati, John (Statues of Liberty) or Ken (Favourite Sons) but there are so many more chances! People get popular, famous even through many other channels. If musicians are smart, they know how to ride the social networking wave (if you need some advice, contact me!). And if they want to become super famous and don't have any reservations, then they audition for American Idol.

And as much as it bugs me to admit it, I am hooked! Totally. Me, who was always so proud for being able to avoid Reality TV. For 6 seasons, I was strong. Didn't know what the American Idol hype was all about. The 7th season I got somewhat sucked into it and anticipated David Cook's victory. For the 8th season, well, I found my crush in Adam Lambert. I feel the excitement from back then when I was a teenager again! The one, when finding a great, new record in the store with a gorgeous cover of course! So, I am ready to admit that I totally dig Adam Lambert's looks and while it took me a little longer to also like the sound of his voice, he got me at Black or White, and he got me good!

Hope he's doing well in tonight's Motown show. Can't wait to see it!

-- By Elke

Photo: Taken by Oliver, March 22nd, Battery Park

Nights in Rodanthe: why can be a film so boring?

I do believe that love stories can be at least as suspenseful and riveting as when people pointing guns at each other. However, romantic comedies and dramas are much more difficult to make and often fail utterly. So was "Nights in Rodanthe", which fell through with the critics when it was released last fall. When wed watched it last Saturday on iTunes, I felt pretty empty, even though I generally liked the actors, Diane Lane and Richard Gere and the locale, the Outer Banks in Northern Carolina, was extremely beautiful. But other than that there was absolutely no reason why this film has been made. I don't know the Nicholas Sparks novel, so I cannot say if there was a reason why this book was ever written.

So why did the story of "Nights in Rodanthe" fail so miserably?

• You need interesting characters. A woman and a man from mildly dysfunctional families is not cutting it. Living separated from husband and being in a conflict with her teenage daughter? Estranged with his son over work? Just look around, really does a movie have to be made around this? And a doctor loosing a patient, not through malpractice, but just bad luck?
• Love needs to be believable. This usually requires that the audience falls in love with both characters. The fact that actors are attractive people helps, but there needs to be something else and a movie needs time to show that. But "Nights" couldn't spend a lot time on the love story, because it needed some left for it's dramatic after-play. So we just had to believe that they found soulmates in each other.
• Something needs to happen. Exposing the characters to a stream of unrelated, random events is not a story we need to watch a movie for. That happens to us every day. A story for a movie needs more - it needs to glue the audience in front of the screen, anticipating or dreading the next scene. In "Nights" drama strikes like a lightning out of blue sky (you could almost hear writer and/or screenwriter mutter: "I don't do happy ends! Never!"), at a time when I was looking forward going to bed and dreaming of a beach house.

But again, this movie was funded and filmed, failed at the box office, but probably still is profitable in the end (we paid $3.99 to see it). But it is disheartening why there are so few filmmakers out there who can get a decent romantic drama or comedy going.

Tying up loose ends with iPhone OS 3.0

I couldn't help to notice that many of the features that Apple announced  today for the iPhone OS 3.0 looked more like filling some glaring holes than really new features. Syncing notes, a way to login to your YouTube account and reading e-mail in landscape modes was something I had expected for 1.0.1 or 1.1.1 at the latest. Cut & Paste maybe was tricky and MMS perhaps didn't work to well on the original iPhone, but it should have been there with 2.0. Other things like Calendar subscription and sending invites from the IPhone were inexplicably omitted from the 2.0 release - now they are finally coming.

I can only thank Palm, which raised from the almost dead and brought on a device that will compete with the iPhone (Android still lacks sexy hardware, but it surly will get there too). Apple seemed far too comfortable with the iPhone success and improvements trickled down only slowly. I do appreciate being diligent with developing new features, but no syncing of text notes for two years?

Apart from that it is a very impressive release, which surpassed my expectations. Can't wait for summer.

Of course, OS 3.0 will then coincide with the third iteration of the iPhone and I can only repeat: please a much improved battery life. There is apparently some research going on at Apple, which was demonstrated with the new 17" MacBook Pro. Since there's more and more you can do with the iPhone and you still want to be able to receive a call in the evening, there needs to be a serious improvement. I'm looking forward to that.

Music online, still not what it's supposed to be

Long, long ago, when vinyl still ruled, it was all so easy. Teens would buy records, tape them on cassettes and freely exchange them. I assume that the music industry didn't like that very much, but it was kind of okay as duplicating tapes would require a fairly expensive setup and quality would degrade quickly.

Paradoxically, nowadays, where technology is much more advanced and sharing music requires just a few clicks rather than real-time recording sessions, everything got very complex and difficult. Sometimes too easy is bad.

Now I very much understand that everybody involved in making an producing music deserves compensation for their efforts (we get all our music strictly from legal sources). But so far nobody has figured out an elegant way of monetizing music. Fortunately the industry has realized that standing in the way of available technology that makes life of their customers more convenient is not a feasible way and widely dropped attempts to copy-protect tracks, but there are still some regulations that make sense only in the boardroom of a large record label, such as when an online service can be treated as radio and when not.

So here are our sources of music:

• eMusic was a pioneer in selling unprotected MP3 files, but only from labels that would allow it - which means a rather random collection of musicians and bands. Big hits are usually not there. Some artists are there, but not with their complete work. And some releases are only available a couple of weeks after sale started in other shops. This guarantees some level of frustration, especially since eMusic is only sold as a monthly subscription, which means that we usually frantically search for good stuff at the end of the month. But then it's cheap: starting at 27 cents per track and as eraly adopters we have an even better deal.
• iTunes: the gold standard of music shops. Expensive, but so convenient, presuming that you have an Apple device (and who doesn't?)
• last.fm is a social music site, which tracks the music listened on iTunes or Windows Media Player. With that information it builds some nice stats about your listening behavior it allows you to listen to your music online (if available on last.fm) and also gives you recommendations, which really work well. It also allows to find others with similar tastes and listen to their music. Everything is considered radio and subject to the restrictions mentioned above. last.fm offers links to iTunes and other music buying services, but not eMusic, for whatever reason. That all works at the computer and on the iPhone and but it doesn't play over AirTunes to network speakers, which is a major downturn.
• Rhapsody is Elke's paid subscription music service. She got there via MusicMatch and Yahoo. I haven't seen it myself, but she likes it, even though it's not working with the iPod.

If I want to buy music, I have no other choice than first look into eMusic, then into iTunes. Amazingly, there's still stuff around that isn't in both.

Confessions of a Peopleholic

 

Yeah! I think, that's what I am. A "peopleholic" which comes in handy in my profession and job as Fotolog's Head of Community. I am genuinely fascinated by people and I enjoy getting to know new people and their stories.

When I was a child, I remember that I enjoyed reading biographies. I read one about Mozart and Jean Harlow and later many more biographies followed. I even read one about Jim Carrey which sort of helped me getting into reading and being creative again after 9/11, when I lost pretty much interest in everthing. I enjoyed reading a biography about Martin Scorsese, who's still the No 1 person I would LOVE - hands down - to meet! And I loved reading the biography about my long time and still current idol, Roger Federer.

Speaking of Idol, something funny happened yesterday! Admittedly, I am watching American Idol, after having absolutely loved watching season 7 and having followed David Cook's way into stardom. So I am following my 2nd AI season, which is the officially 8th season and I am having a blast!

The funniest thing is, that I should know myself better by now: there's this guy, who dared to sing Bohamian Rhapsody during the auditions which must only be sung by Freddy Mercury - God bless! - (or maybe Michael Johns) but by Adam Lambert? No, no and a big NO! Yet, I liked the guy's chuzpe and his style. Of course I did. I never lost my nack for all things "Goth" and so he's exactly along my alley!

And what can I say? He got me with "Black or White". And he got me good. Danny Gokey might have the more pleasant voice but Adam Lambert is the real deal. He might get voted off as being "too edgy" and Danny Gokey or even Scott MacIntyre will win, but Adam Lambert will get the music career he's dreaming off and he deserves.*

-- Elke

* As so many of my New York or L.A. musician friends. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you guys and don't get tired going to your concerts and rooting for you!!!

Wrong Time to Chicken Out (part 2) and Right to Listen to "Wrong"

Over the last couple of years, U2 and Depeche Mode have been releasing their albums around the same time and so there's not only U2's Get on Your Boots but also DM's Wrong which sounds very much like the early DM and is actually pretty awesome.

I am looking forward to listening to the whole album and not just the single!

Like with Bono, whom I saw sitting in a cafe one day, I once passed by Dave Gahan on a very empty street on a Sunday afternoon in Tribeca. And like with Bono, there was an incredible energy around Dave. Very exciting.

Possibly exciting would have been my encounter with a potential Fotolog member, at the very least with somebody who dresses in "estilo flogger" (Flogger Style) like many Fotolog members in Argentina do.

Sadly, I chickened out and didn't ask him - the guy in green & black - where he's from and if he's a Fotolog member (Check out the picture behind that link).  Next time, I'll do!

-- Elke

Kindle for the iPhone - what took Amazon so long?

This was the news of the day: Amazon released a Kindle version for the iPhone. This didn't come as a surprise, as they announced WhisperSync, which could sync reading positions between different devices, but besides the Kindle none were available so far. This has changed with an iPhone app and I'm sure versions for other mobile platforms are not far behind. For Amazon this does make sense - with this app they opened the Kindle store to millions of new users (and maybe even internationally). If I was Amazon, I'd have this done right with the opening of the App Store last July.

I love the idea of having my books always with me. The Kindle gives a nice reading experience, but is pretty bulky, so I cannot carry it always around with me.

But there are many unexpected idle times in life where reading a nice book is just the right thing to do - so having the library and the Kindle store available in my pocket certainly helps.

Of course this is one more reason to turn on the iPhone and consume its precious battery. That's why, in the announcement for the next iPhone, I want to have the words "revolutionary breakthrough in battery technology" included, more than ever.