As I sit here, my bags are packed and my alarms are set to get me up for a fun-filled 9 hour flight to get back to the states.  I leave with a lot of memories and experiences and one very clear theory: London is not ready for the Olympics.

After spending six days in London I am certainly not an expert on the city, but I will say from what I’ve seen, this city’s public transport system can barely handle it’s day to day residents.  Add in the number of people coming in for the games and, well, I pretty much predict doom.  Tonight while trying to leave Covent Garden after spending a nice evening with some friends who had just returned to town, we had to opt for other stations as the line to get out was out into the street.  Imagine a bustling center of tourists, add the games on top … it isn’t going to be fun.

I’m glad I visited now before this city gets crushed.

In the meantime, I leave you with an image of the statue dedicated to the candy, Jelly Babies … because the world needed this to exist.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Closing Out London

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Filming on The Dark Knight Rises has moved to New York City and it looks like it wil again be focused around the citizens of Gotham taking to the streets in protest of something.

All of the filming that was seen involved the three desert camo Tumblers we’ve seen showing up all over the place, and at least some scenes did involve Batman (Christian Bale) and Bane (Tom Hardy).  The primary focus seems to be on a confrontation between the Gotham City police and a huge group of rioters, but whatever is firing them up is unclear.

All I can say is thank goodness Christopher Nolan doesn’t like to shoot indoor on soundstages because it gives us just that much more to speculate about what is happening in these scenes.

In this take, it appears the cops run past the rioters more than actually fight with them.

In this version you can hear a bit of the dialog of the police saying “Disperse … disperse now or you will be fired upon … this is your last warning … disperse now …” and then the fight happens.

More of a street level take on the happenings.

A good close up of the fighting.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

The Dark Knight Rises Moves Filming to NYC

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Amazing Spider-Man 2 will hit theaters on May 2, 2014.

I’m sorry, but, what?

The confusion here comes from the fact the first film, Amazing Spider-Man, doesn’t come out until July 3, 2012, so we now have a release date for a sequel to a film that hasn’t even been released yet.  ”I think it speaks volumes about our confidence in what we are seeing on the new film and our desire to move quickly on the next installment,” a Sony executive told Deadline.

What it tells me is you’re racing to get a lock on a weekend and make it extremely clear to Marvel that you’re never going to let these rights revert back to them.  (So long as Sony keeps production on a Spider-Man film churning every few years, the rights will never return to the comics company, or its parent company Disney.)  Do you even have a script ready?  Have you locked crew yet?  I’m sure you locked Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (pictured to the right) for multiple films, but do you have a director ready to go?

The first film is still in post-production, and now these same folks have to get pre-production ready on the next one?  True, it’s a little under three years away, but you are definitely overlapping productions here, and that can go horribly wrong if not managed correctly.  True, the Harry Potter series kept a similar schedule up, so it is possible, but it definitely makes me nervous about what sort of quality we can expect.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Sets a Release Date

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Despite still being a year away from release, The Dark Knight Rises is gearing up its promotional campaign with the release of its first teaser poster today.  While not as exciting as getting our first look at the villain Bane, it’s still nice to see any new imagery from one of the most anticipated movies out there.

The poster doesn’t tell us a heck of a lot, and it took me a little bit of time actually to spot the Bat symbol in the sky, but beyond that it just shows the buildings of Gotham City crumbling down to the street.  (You can click the image for a much larger view)  Are we to take it literally or figuratively?  Are the buildings of the city actually crumbling for some reason, or is to represent the moral decay of this city?  I guess we’ll find out next July.

Considering how much I’ve loved the first two films in this series, I can’t wait for this third one where Christopher Nolan wraps up his trilogy.  Come on, you’ve knocked it out of the park twice, do it for us a third time.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Dark Knight Rises Gets its First Teaser Poster

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The final ratings tallies are in for the 2010-11 television season are in, and things are not looking good for the broadcast networks.

It would seem that young folks are fleeing the television networks in bigger numbers each year, and things are getting a bit worrisome for good old commercial television.  The only channel showing any growth is the Spanish language Univision, everyone else is plummeting like a rock.

While everyone is down, NBC has been sitting in fourth place for years, and its problems seem to be escalating instead of slowing, let alone turning around.  They shouldn’t be singled out as everyone did poorly, but losing 15 percent more of your viewers when your numbers are already in the basement is not a good thing.

Disturbing across the board is the continuing rise of the median age of viewers.  It is obvious that the younger viewers are flocking away from traditional television in droves.  Spending time on the Internet, watching streaming video and a slew of other distractions, they just aren’t interested in watching TV, and even if they are, they watch it on their terms and not at some time appointed by a network programmer.

Here are the numbers.

Adults 18-49

• FOX:  3.5/10 (-5%)
• CBS:  2.9/8 (-9%)
• ABC:  2.5/7 (-7%)
• NBC:  2.3/6 (-15%)
• UNI: 1.5 (+8%)

Adults 18-34

• CW: 1.0/3 (-9%)

Total Viewers

• CBS: 11.6 million (-3%)
• FOX:  9.8 million (-3%)
• ABC:  8.5 million (-2%)
• NBC:  7.0 million (-16%)
• UNI: 3.7 million
• CW: 2.0 million (even)

Median Age

• CBS: 55
• ABC: 51
• NBC: 49
• FOX: 45
• CW: 34

It’ll be interesting to see next year’s numbers, but after the lineups of new shows I’ve seen, I’m not holding my breath for things to get better.

[via Deadline]

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Final Network Rankings For 2010-11 Season

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When you’re a popular company like Starbucks, you get so tightly associated with your logo that people grow attached to it. This past sumer The Gap attempted to change its logo, and from the reaction online, you would have thought someone had killed a baby.

Apparently Starbucks somehow missed this?

Starbucks announced yesterday that it was updating its logo.

Personally I love the logo they are getting rid of, but I understand the change.  First off, it fits more with modern design principles, but can you guess the second one?

They just saved a bunch of money.

They eliminated a second color which save them costs in ink, and potentially even labor.  With a solid green logo, the company is only going to need one printing pass, and huzzah, instant money savings that will add up.  No, per cup it wouldn’t be that much, but you add them up and it does.

Now, lets just watch the Internet once again go insane over a logo change.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Starbucks Changes Its Logo; Internet Freaks Out

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It used to be in that Thanksgiving marked the beginning of the Christmas season in the United States. Over the past few years that has been slipping earlier and earlier with people beginning to wonder if Halloween was the new landmark date.

If my e-mail this morning was any indication, yes, Halloween is the new Thanksgiving when it comes to Christmas shopping.

Considering that when I woke up this morning, almost every e-mail I had subject lines such as:

“Get a Jump Start on Holiday Shopping and Save up to 45% in our Gift Guide!”

“Pre-holiday savings: Optiplex desktops from $869″

“HOLIDAY SEATING only $59.95 each with 2 or more”

And on, and on, and on … I guess we’ll just have to get used to it no matter how annoying it might be.  Of course, is the next step moving it all to Labor Day?  I’m figuring by 2025 we’ll be up to July 4th, so make sure to clean up all those fireworks off your roof while you’re up there putting up the lights.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Halloween Is Officially The New Thanksgiving

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Is it wrong to take obvious pleasure in the train wreck that is The Tonight Show with Jay Leno? Yeah … it’s not wrong of me all.

Back in April I wrote up how Jay Leno’s ratings slipped below Conan O’Brien’s in the all important 18-to-49 demographic.  Of course, NBC isn’t going to say anything about this because of the whole public debacle it already experienced when it gave The Tonight Show back to Leno, but you know executives had to be displeased with this news when it happened.

Well, it’s happened again.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Jay Leno version of the show is suffering the worst summer ratings in the history of the show.  While the overall numbers are up slightly over Conan O’Brien, they are down 12 percent in the 18-to-49 demographic that advertisers covet so much.  Comparing Leno to his performance to his ratings from the summer of 2008, things are ever worse.

Considering that when O’Brien was suffering from a weak lead-in in the form of The Jay Leno Show, NBC blamed O’Brien for things going wrong.  Well, who do you blame now?   NBC is oddly quiet on all of this when it couldn’t seem to wait to point a finger last year.

The sad thing is, I don’t see NBC doing anything about this.  They will stand behind Leno no matter what at this point, and people such as myself will just enjoy watching him slipping further and further into oblivion where he belongs.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Leno’s Ratings Continue To Fall

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The 2010 Emmys have come to an end and … I tried to watch live, couldn’t stand Jimmy Fallon and ended up waiting until the show was over and fast forwarded through any time he was on screen. It made for a more pleasant viewing experience.

So the network tallies for this year, including the Creative Arts Emmys from last week, are:

• HBO – 25
• ABC – 18
• Fox – 11
• CBS – 10
• NBC – 8
• PBS – 7
• Showtime – 7
• AMC – 6

The tallies for series/specials go as follows:

• The Pacific – 8
• Temple Grandin – 7
• Modern Family – 6
• Disney Prep and Landing – 4
• Glee – 4
• Mad Men – 4
• SNL – 3
• 24 – 2
• Breaking Bad – 2
• CSI – 2
• Dancing With the Stars – 2
• Dexter – 2

You can look back at the complete list of nominees here, as for the primetime winners, check them out at the “Continue Reading” link.

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy: Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Modern Family “Pilot”

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series:Jane Lynch (Glee)

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series: Ryan Murphy (Glee)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series: Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series: Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)

Outstanding Reality – Competition Program: Top Chef

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Mad Men “Shut The Door. Have A Seat.” – AMC

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series: Steve Shill (Dexter)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)

Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Special: 63rd Annual Tony Awards

Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Special: Bucky Gunts (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony)

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Julia Ormond (Temple Grandin)

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie: David Strathairn (Temple Grandin)

Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special: Adam Mazer (You Don’t Know Jack)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie: Claire Danes (Temple Grandin)

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special: Mick Jackson (Temple Grandin)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie: Al Pacino (You Don’t Know Jack)

Outstanding Miniseries: The Pacific

Outstanding Made For Television Movie: Temple Grandin

Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men

Outstanding Comedy Series: Modern Family

Post from: SeanPAune.com

2010 Emmy Winner List

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The first batch of Emmys has been given out, this time in the oddly named “Creative Arts” ceremony as it deals with things like make-up and photography as well as some acting statuettes are given out. Awards are odd.

As you could see from the massive list of 2010 Emmy Nominations I posted last month, there was no way all of them could be given away during the televised ceremony.  The “Creative Arts” categories are done a week prior, and it’s kind of considered where the less important awards are dealt with.  This led to some annoyance from Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor, as the Best Reality Host category got moved to this night for the first time this year.

That aside, there were some notable wins this year such as Betty White winning for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy for her job hosting Saturday Night Live.  John Lithgow won for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his recent stint on Dexter.  Neil Patrick Harris won for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his appearance on Glee. HBO’s The Pacific picked up five Emmys, all technical, but still nice.

You can see the full list after the cut.

Best Casting of a Drama Series: “Mad Men”

Best Casting of a Movie/Mini: “The Pacific”

Best Casting of a Comedy Series: “Modern Family” (announced by Jane Lynch of “Glee,” a losing nominee)

Best Prosthetic Makeup for Series, Movie or Mini: “The Pacific”

Best Makeup for Movie or Mini (Non-Prosthetic): “The Pacific”

Best Makeup for a Single-Camera Series, Movie, Mini or Special (Non-Prosthetic): “Grey’s Anatomy”

Best Makeup/ Multi-Camera (Non-Prosthetic): “Saturday Night Live”

Best Guest Actress in a Comedy: Betty White, “Saturday Night Live”

Best Costumes for Movie/Mini: “Return to Cranford”

Best Costumes for a Series: “The Tudors”

Best Music Direction: “Olympic Games”

Best Choreography: Mia Michaels, “So You Think You Can Dance”

Best Music Score: “24″

Best Music Score for Movie/Mini: “Temple Grandin”

Best Music and Lyrics: “Monk”

Best Art Direction for Variety or Nonfiction Program: “Academy Awards”

Best Art Direction for Movie/Mini: “The Pacific”

Best Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series: “The Tudors”

Best Picture Editing for Comedy Series: “Modern Family”

Best Picture Editing for Drama Series (Single Camera): “Lost”

Best Picture Editing for Movie/Mini (Single Camera): “Temple Grandin”

Best Short Form Picture Editing: “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”

Best Picture Editing for Nonfiction Program: “By the People: Election of Barack Obama”

Best Picture Editing for Reality Program: “Intervention”

Best Animated Program: “Disney Prep and Landing”

Best Short Form Animated Program: “Robot Chicken”

Best Voiceover Performance: Anne Hathaway, “The Simpsons”

Best Stunt Coordination: “Flash Forward”

Best Visual Effects in a Series: “CSI”

Best Visual Effects in a Movie/Mini/Special: “The Pacific, Part 5″

Best Main Titles Design: “Bored to Death”

Best Main Title Theme Music: “Nurse Jackie”

Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series: John Lithgow, “Dexter”

Best Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series: “Glee”

Best Sound Mixing for a Mini/Movie: “The Pacific, Part 2″

Best Sound Mixing for Half-Hour Series (Tie): “Entourage” and “Modern Family”

Best Sound Mixing for Music Series or Special (tie): “Grammy Awards” and “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert”

Best Tech Direction for a Series: “Dancing with the Stars”

Best Tech Direction for a Mini/Special: “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert”

Best Cinematography for Nonfiction: “Life”

Best Cinematography for Movie/Mini: “Return to Cranford”

Best Cinematography for One-Hour Show: “CSI”

Best Cinematrophy for Half-Hour Series: “Weeds”

Best Cinematography for Nonfiction: “Survivor”

Best Lighting: Winter Olympics Opening

Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Neil Patrick Harris, “Glee”

Best Direction for Nonfiction: “My Lai”

Best Writing for Nonfiction: “National Parks”

Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking: “Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)”

Best Nonfiction Special: “Teddy: In His Own Words”

Best Nonfiction Series: “National Parks: America’s Best Idea”

Best Special Class Program: “Tony Awards”

Best Creative Achievement Interactive: “Star Wars Uncut”

Best Creative Achievement in Interactive: “The Jimmy Fallon Digital Experience”

Best Direction of Variety: “Saturday Night Live”

Best Children’s Program: “Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie”

Best Variety Special: “Kennedy Center Honors”

Best Variety Writing: “Colbert Report”

Best Children’s Nonfiction Program: “Nick News With Linda Ellerbee – The Face Of Courage: Kids Living With Cancer”

Best Commercial: “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like • Old Spice Body Wash”

Best Reality Program: “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution”

Best Reality Host: Jeff Probst, “Survivor”

Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Ann-Margret, “Law & Order: SVU”

Post from: SeanPAune.com

2010 Emmy Winners List: Creative Arts

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