Pete Austin’s Blog

I’ve been a huge fan of Trent Reznor’s band Nine Inch Nails for as long as they’ve been around. First introduced to their music in high school, I’ve followed every album release right up to today. Nine Inch Nails has been known for producing one of the most visually spectacular concert tours each and every time they hit the road. Detroit was a regular tour stop for them on every tour and it pained me as each tour went by and another series of unfortunate circumstances prevented me from seeing them live in concert. In all, it’s been 10 years since I discovered the music of Nine Inch Nails and  finally in December I made it to one of their concerts – and it was everything I hoped it to be!!

Ultimately, it turned out to be amazingly fortuitous timing as I caught one of the final American shows at the end of the tour. After the tour ended Reznor posted on his website that this tour’s shows were in fact “the last shows for the foreseeable future”. Wow, talk about great timing. As for the show itself, no description I put in writing can really capture the experience, but if you ever get the change to see video of one of Nine Inch Nails’ live shows check it out. YouTube has a decent collection of fan video from the latest couple tours. You’ll be wowed. For this most recent “Lights In The Sky” tour Reznor partnered with Canadian production house Moment Factory to create one of the most technologically advanced tours ever produced. Wired magazine even did a write up on the show’s production that you can read here.

Whether you’re a fan of their music or not you simply cannot deny that Trent Reznor knows how to give back to his fans. He has launch a whole host of community projects since leaving his previous record label and going independent. Most significant of these is the release of his latest album The Slip, in its entirety, completely for free online. Reznor took it even one step further at the conclusion of this latest tour by making available (for free) over 400GB (yes, GB!) of raw HD video footage of three US tour shows. And guess what, the show I attended in Portland – and was about fifth row back for the entire time – was one of the three cities filmed. Fucking awesome!! I feel lucky to have found an artist who is so connected back to his fans. Even if Nine Inch Nails never released another album (highly unlikely) I would feel at peace having now been to one of their epic live performances.

One of my first posts on this blog was about the revelation I had when talking with one of my friends who works at Microsoft. What he opened my eyes to was a brave new world of streaming media distribution that will become the wave of the future. I said back then that the first company to successfully develop a streaming media infrastructure where you actually retain ownership privileges for what you buy online, will be the leader in the new era of content distribution. I also said that there are only a handful of companies on the cusp of achieving this including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, and others.

CES 2009 has come and gone and having looked at all the players and their announcements for 2009, I believe that a clear winner has emerged. Keep in mind that the key to winning the digital content distribution crown is that when you purchase an item, be it a song or a movie, that item goes into your own personal media library with that company. From there you can play the media as often as you like, at any time you like, and from anywhere you like. Just like when you own a piece of physical media such as a CD or DVD.

Internet integrated televisions were everywhere at CES this year. Everything from YouTube streaming, the Flickr browsing, to sports, weather, and news streams. But only one company presented integration into a key technology. Panasonic announced it’s streaming media technology for plasma screen TVs called VieraCast. And the content provider of choice was Amazon Video on Demand. What separates Amazon’s Video on Demand service from all other stream media providers is that they are the only one to add your video purchase to a personal online media library from which you can play the video in all the ways I described above. When you consider other streaming media services what you get is a nickel-and-dime structure where you essentially rent the media for some amount of time with inherant restrictions. Amazon stands alone in their approach and as the combination of being first to market with this approach as well as providing non-content-protected music downloads.

Amazon’s service is not perfect out of the gate though. Right now they are still working with manufacturers to develop devices with access to their web-service. Current partners include TiVo, Sony Internet Video Link, an Internet-connected Windows or Apple PCs connected to your TV, and new VieraCast Panasonic plasma TVs. The only drawback of the current implementation of the service is that it is standard definition content only. Eventually HD content will be available, but there is no firm date for this. The bottom line though, is that Amazon is the first content provider to give you a personal online media library for your online media purchases. Before you continue to throw money at physical media, consider how streaming media through Amazon Video on Demand might make movie-watching a little easier.

Once again life has gotten the better of my schedule and it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. Believe me when I say though that it’s not for a lack of things happening in my life. I’ve got a ton of commentaries lined up regarding the auto-bailout, the larger floundering economy, CES, and other things that have really captured my interest of late. But first, I want to get some movie reviews posted. Given how long it’s been since I’ve posted I’ve seen a few movies (still not as many as I would like) so in the interest of time I’m going to give some really quick reviews in one post. I know that a few of these movies have been nominated for awards. Honestly, I don’t really need an award of any kind to validate whether I like a movie or not so I won’t go into the debate of whether or not any part of these movies warrant award.

Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle is one of my favorite directors and has been for a long time. The man is a master of the intangibles that separate the good movies from the great ones. Most people know his hit movies like Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, but he keeps a pretty low profile and there are some real gems in his filmography that many people have never heard of. Millions and Sunshine are two fantastic movies that got almost no press. Both are highly recommended and especially Sunshine which ranks in the top 5 science fiction movies I’ve ever seen. In Slumdog Millionaire Boyle makes and incredibly bold move and creates a film based entirely in the dizzying world and culture of India. The basic premise of the story is about a young man from the slums of Mumbai who finds himself on (and about to win) the Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. Sounds kind of lame right? The film was marketed domestically based on this premise, so it’s no surprise that it failed as a mainstream success. What the story really is, is an amazing tale of a boy’s survival in a chaotic world. You’ve likely never imaged what it would be like to grow up in the slums of a third-world environment, in Slumdog Millionaire you get to see one very moving version of it.  It’s definitely one of the best of the year and yet another triumph of storytelling by Boyle. It’s not exactly the feel-good movie of the year but it’s still damn good. BTW, if you’re familiar with India’s Bollywood films stick around for the end credits for the cast’s fun Bollywood tribute.

4.5 out of 5
See it in the theaters
Buy it on DVD (if you’re a movie-lover)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I absolutely love David Fincher’s movies. More than other people, I enjoy the artistic aspect of filmaking as much as the storytelling and special F/X. Fincher’s films aren’t always blockbusters but he knows how to create a tight film. Benjamin Button is an epic movie about a man who ages in reverse. If that makes your mind do a double-take, that’s a good thing because the movie is probably best enjoyed if you know nothing about the story. Some of my favorite movies are ones that cover a litanny of themes and not just the one that the plot is about. Pleasantville is a perfect example of this. Benjamin Button casts a fascinating light on our own aging process and mortality. You might be tempted to wow over Brad Pitt’s performance given his character’s journey, but trust me it’s Fincher’s filmaking process that makes this film what it is. I could go on forever about the intricacies of what makes this movie so great but there just isn’t time. All you need to know is this one actually gets my vote for “the” movie of the year and is a must-see.

5 out of 5
See it in theaters
Buy it on DVD

Yes Man

Generally speaking I’ve grown less found of Jim Carrey’s movies over the years. Ace Ventura came out when I was in middle school as was a perfect fit for my juvinile sense of humor at the time. Now that I’m a little older I just don’t find Carrey’s brand of humor that funny any more – and yes, it is still the same kind of humor no matter how it’s packaged. Yes Man is an ever-so-slightly more mature turn for Carrey where a lot of the comedy is in the world around him rather than his character himself. It’s still good wholesome fun and at least the premise doesn’t feel recylced like so many Hollywood comedies. If you like Jim Carrey comedies, this is a pitch right down the middle. Mainstream comedy for the mainsteam masses.

3 out of 5
Worth a rental
Not worth buying on DVD

Revolutionary Road

If you can’t tell, I’m a fan of certain directors. This is because there’s a huge difference in talent between film’s top directors and all the rest. Sam Mendes is a director with amazing vision. His movies (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead) are impeccably filmed but rarely aimed at mainstream audiences. His latest is based on the best-selling novel of the same name and once again allows Mendes to focus on the suburban American family experience. This time however, the story takes place in the mid-1950′s. My wife and I spent the first half of the movie nodding along to much of what the young couple is going through but in the second half things start to turn toward less relatable themes but the story remains absolutely gripping. DiCaprio and Winslet give unbelievable performances and while the story is good, it’s their portrayals of these two flawed people that makes this movie great. What this movie shows painfully clearly is that the “American Dream” is not always what it seems. I get the feeling that had I seen this film with my parents or grandparents it may have been very awkward. I’m sure that the premise of Revolutionary Road is more common than most adults of the past two generations would like to admit. It’s an amazingly powerful movie and one that I highly recommended seeing. That said it’s lacks the dark and overt humor of American Beauty and as such is not a movie you’re likely to watch repeatedly.

4.5 out of 5
See it in theaters
Good enough to purchase but I doubt you’ll want to