Reactions

• The passing of Charles Bronson
• The response to "The World of Nolan" debut episode (surprisingly mixed, and why)
• Going Pizza?
• A new Top Ten Challenge (see "Letters")

Believe it or not, the first time I was really ever cognizant of Charles Bronson, was due to a Tim Thomerson impression of him done on an old comedy show in, I believe, the late '70s. Hysterical stuff. Before that, I generally thought of Bronson as a background character actor. Funny how a comedy bit can open your eyes a little, huh?

I began to watch his "Death Wish" movies (and others) with renewed interest, and reassessed the value of Bronson as an actor. Still regarded by many as an action-hero (more from the Clint Eastwood school, than say, Vin Diesel), he was also capable of quite a range.

Bronson died last week at the age of 81. I was saddened by that and I thought to myself I'm sad not only because of another celebrity death notice (we've had so many lately), but mostly because I felt that I should've paid closer attention to his output while he was alive. Another fine example of classic Hollywood, sadly no longer with us.

This week's "Mike's Rant" has something to say about this and Mike does his usual great job of summarizing a celebrity's life and career.

Reactions to "The World Of Nolan", episode 1

The internet TV show I've wanted to do for years is finally on the web and has been playing here at pagetop since last Friday. I emailed indy film associates far and wide (who otherwise don't check in that frequently) to alert them. I waited for reactions.

Well....the number of reactions from the very filmmakers I'm trying to promote have been very disappointing, and I can only speculate as to why. I've heard back from only two who actually watched it (and were very enthused, thank you ladies!). I've heard from no one else. That's just depressing. And not a little discouraging.

Don't get me wrong, I heard back from some PCR staff (and other inner circle) immediately, and the support there was most positive as to the format and approach (thank you Mike, Matt, Steve, William, Terence, Scott, and via IM from Poland, Christian Dumais).

UPDATE 9-9-03. OK, OK, after I carped and bellyached here and elsewhere I managed to scare up a few more positive reactions, so I can't let this issue go to the Archives saying I got just a couple. But there were unforseen technical problems discussed below.---Nolan

Part of the problem seems to be not as many people as I would've thought were owners of Real Players (I was shocked to learn Andy Lalino is a casualty here). Of those who were, a couple had outdated Players requiring a time-consuming online update process. Despite the guarantee of a decent steady picture even on dial-up, some viewers with bad connections got lousy video anyway. Further, the long-form approach I aimed for may not be as suitable as I thought to reach the masses. I am trying to make a fully-featured program here, not a series of vignettes anymore. If folks only check their email before work, however, they're not going to devote 15 minutes (or longer) to an internet video. Sticking it in "Favorites" to watch later is all fine and good if it's not forgotten about.

The good news: when it worked, it worked spectacularly well. DSL and broadband connections yielded the very best results (predictably), but even many dial-up customers were able to watch the whole thing with nary a drop-out. That was my Holy Grail at its most basic.

Whatever. TWON will go on, but I will be diversifying the content well beyond that of the first episode. (And the production values will improve, the first one was rough, I admit.) There is scripting language that can be employed to break up the video into segments (altho I'd rather encourage a full sit-thru). I myself am still thoroughly jazzed about this and am anxious to explore what can be achieved thrugh this medium.

Going Pizza?
News of the weird: in the past two weeks, TWO pizza-delivery employees have gone homicidal, right out of the blue. If it's called "going postal" when you work at the Post Office, what do you call this? Going Pepperoni?