Kivus

The Republican presidential candidates rolled through the heart of South Carolina in the year 2000, I was right in the middle of the action. I remember both John McCain & George W. Bush coming to the Clemson campus, and the feud among the guys on my hall about which one should carry the Republican mantle in that year’s presidential election. Though Senator McCain arrived in the Palmetto state with momentum from Iowa and New Hampshire, President Bush’s win in the state was what sent him on the path to eventual Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency. South Carolina was the first state to get the Republican nomination right and I cast a ballot in that very primary, South Carolina and I were king makers.

This year, however, I was not part of the South Carolina primary. I moved across the South Carolinian border to North Carolina a few years back and am no longer registered to vote in the state to my south. I am no longer a king maker. Nevertheless, looking at the results of this year’s South Carolina primary, I have to wonder if South Carolina is no longer a king maker either.

The final tally in the South Carolina showed Senator McCain coming in at 33% of the vote, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee coming in at 29% of the vote and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney coming in at 15% of the vote. Former Senator Fred Thompson finished in a virtual tie with Governor Romney at 4th place. In a state that is normally associated with a strong conservative element, I have to say that I’m disappointed in my former home state.

There are a number of theories associated with why Senator McCain did well in South Carolina, with the idea that he had some remaining infrastructure from 2000 seeming the most credible. I am hopeful that the notion that South Carolinians voted for Senator McCain because they thought he would have a stronger chance in the general election is not something that actually floated through voter’s minds, as it seems to be a weak standard by which to pick the man that will represent your party.

Looking to tonight’s race in Florida, odds seems to be much higher that those in the Sunshine State are now holding the crown that will be placed on the eventual nominee’s head. This is a year, however, when the nomination might not come down to who wins the big battles but who wins the most small skirmishes and that means that people will not be looking back at the South Carolina primary and saying it was the the key to the Republican nomination. This time around, South Carolina, a king maker, you are not.

Stop me if you’ve seen this before, the slow pan up the desk to reveal “Guy Jones, Private Investigator” on the name plate. The camera swings around behind the desk, so the silhouette of a female can be seen through the window of the door. The door creaks open, and the camera works from the floor, to face of the room’s new entry, a face that’s always slightly covered by a hat or a shadow, something to give that extra air of mystery. The private investigator leans forward in the chair, because he knows, that he’s the only one who can help out the beautiful damsel in distress.

It’s fairly easy to see why a guy would want to put himself in the shoes of the P.I. in the preceding example. It’s the same reason that guys enjoy watching shows like _Mad Men_: even those that are too young to remember the 60s still dream of the office where the guys sit around, smoke cigars, and have a glass of scotch with the guys after work. Modern shows like _Boston Legal_ continue this trend with their scotch shipping, cigar smoking, balcony end scenes. The time of cigars after work and P.I.s helping the damsel in distress might have passed us by, but television seems to want to bring some of those themes to the forefront, though with a slightly modern twist.

Over the past few years, a number of shows have tried adding “unique” spins to the classic private investigator formula. It started with _Angel_, the vampire with a soul, who opened up _Angel Investigations_ in, appropriately, the “city of Angels_”. The Sci-Fi channel tried their hand at the modern P.I. genre with their adaptation of the Jim Butcher series of books, _The Dresden Files_, a story of a wizard working as P.I. and police consultant in Chicago. Late last year, CBS threw its proverbial hat into the ring with _Moonlight_, a story of a vampire P.I., living in Los Angeles (yes, that does look familiar, however, comparing those to shows is not the purpose of this piece). Having seen every single episode of the three shows just mentioned, it’s time to take a look at FOX’s latest offering to the modern P.I. world, _New Amsterdam_.

To start off with a little bit of a technicality, the lead character of _New Amsterdam_, John Amsterdam, is not technically a P.I., he’s a homicide detective. This doesn’t stop the show from having some classic P.I. hooks, most noticeably the main character giving a slight narration as a story progresses (something that occurred both _The Dresden Files_ and _Moonlight_, but was absent from _Angel_). What separates Amsterdam from your average detective is his immortality. (The rest of this paragraph is going to explain how he acquired his immorality, so move on if you want to have that revealed in the context of the show.) The back story follows the tale of young John Amsterdam when he first crossed over to the New World. During a battle with Indians, Amsterdam prevents one of his fellow soldiers from slaughtering a helpless female, and receives a sword through the chest for his trouble. As a reward for his honor, the Indian female uses some form of magic to grant Amsterdam immortality, including freedom from aging, until he “[finds] the one and [their] souls are wed”. It is explained that he will feel it in his heart when he meets “The One”.

Since an average TV show last about 43 minutes when the commercials are stripped out, it’s always a good sign when you pause the show for the first time and find there’s only 5 minutes left. Unfortunately, with _New Amsterdam_, I was checking the time remaining when there was 30 minutes left. The show tries to do a lot: setting up the back story, establishing John’s role in the world, laying out the negatives associated with immortality, and yes, introducing “The One”. Oh, and there’s a semi-straight forward murder mystery involving a real estate developer, the developer’s son (who reveals his sexuality for no compelling plot reason), the developer’s mistress, and the boy who loves the mistress. Looking at that setup, it’s probably not too hard to figure out the mystery. In fact, it seemed rather tacked on to the show, as if the show was moving into and out of that story in sharp, abrupt turns.

The main problem with the pilot, however, wasn’t the plot (though it sure didn’t help), it was that the lead character just was not particularly compelling. Yes, he’s immortal, but its not his immortality that helps him solve the case, it’s just his vast knowledge. Though it’s impressive that he know so much, mostly because he was around for it, the things he knows could have just as easily been known by someone who was well versed in local history. Adding to the problem is that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau does not light up the screen like David Boreanez did in _Angel_ and does in _Bones_. Coster-Waldau isn’t in the same league as the star of NBC’s _Life_, Damien Lewis. And without the ability to suddenly throw out magic (like Harry Dresden in _The Dresden Files_) or go full-on vampire (like Mick St. John in _Moonlight_), Coster-Waldau’s John Amsterdam is pretty much just a walking encyclopedia who has a near death experience when a pretty doctor gets off the subway. Unfortunately, his spouting off with “To be human is to die” and “dying is what makes life worth living” do not help his cause.

Since _Angel_ went off the air, I’ve been hoping for something to come along and takes its place. A show that has a strong lead character who ,when push comes to shove, can throw down with anyone. Someone who isn’t afraid to get into areas of grey, even dark grey, when fighting the proverbial “good fight”. Oh, and that person having cool power like immortality wouldn’t hurt. FOX’s _New Amsterdam_ falls pretty far short of those goals. Instead of waiting to see if _New Amsterdam_ can gain its footing in this strike shortened season, it would be much wiser to catch up on the BBC’s _Torchwood_, with lead actor John Barrowman playing time traveler and former con man Jack Harkness, who nearly fits my 3 point criteria from the opening sentences. At least that way, you’ll have a James Marsters appearance to look forward to.

For a number of weeks I took a break. I took a break from listening to the constant dumb beat of the media doom and gloom, I took a break from listening to people like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid spew forth their ideas to “fix” our country, and I took a break from the presidential election. After years of following everything so closely, I needed to recharge. Now, since we’re actually in an presidential election year, I’ve started following things closely again. Based on what I’ve seen and heard, here’s my run down of presidential candidates:

Mrs. Clinton & Obama

They’re fairly interchangeable at this point. Hilary is the devil we know, while Obama is the devil no one knows. Neither one articulates any position on anything (except that they’re against fighting Islamic radicals in Iraq) and neither one of them has ever accomplished anything of substance. If they were beholden to a group other than the far left, I’d write them off as useless; however, due to their allegiance to the kooks of left, I find both of them to have potential to impact our country’s future in a very negative way.

Ron Paul

The darling of the internet. An isolationist & a protectionist who publicly claims to be in favor of a strictly abiding my the constitution. In a quick survey among my non-political online friends, it seems that a large number of them align strongly with Ron Paul’s views. I, on the other hand, find his views to be outdated and detrimental to continued American exceptionalism.

John McCain

I have utmost respect for a man who has given so much for his country. I do not, however, agree with him on a number of issue: (1) his opposition to the Bush tax cuts, (2) his immigration policy that includes amnesty for illegals (if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck…), (3) and the way he would deal with terrorist detainees, an approach inline with the ACLU. I cannot support a man who I disagree with that dramatically.

Mike Huckabee

His strong Christian faith is always a positive for a candidate. On a number of social issues (abortion, gay “marriage”, etc…) I align with him. His fiscal policies, however, as outlined by his record in Arkansas, are distressing. Combined with his populist rhetoric and apparent open border tendencies, I fear that those who are in his camp are being duped.

Rudy Giuliani

We are at war with the irreconcilable element of radical Islam. For that reason, Rudy Giuliani stands out as a strong candidate to lead us. Unfortunately, his stance on social issues such as being pro-abortion, pro-gun control, and pro-open borders prevent him from being a candidate I can fully get behind.

Fred Thompson

If D.A. Arthur Branch was running for president, I would vote for him in a heart beat. Unfortunately, it’s not Arthur Branch that’s running, but the actor who played Arthur Branch: Fred Thompson. I have high hopes for Fred Thompson, because he has articulated the things I believe in. It also unfortunate, because I fear that not enough people are hearing him. His late entry into the race generated buzz, however, his name has been lacking in a large amount of the media coverage recently and I worry that the chance he had to kick in the door of the established candidates has passed.

Mitt Romney

The charges leveled against Mitt are rather weak in context, namely “he’s a politician” and “he’s a flip flopper.” Looking at the latter charge first, Mitt’s apparent transgression was switching from a pro-abortion position to pro-life position. The general rule in politics is you get one change on the abortion issue. Both Al Gore & Dick Gephart were pro-life before they realized that in order to excel with the Left, one must be in favor of unfettered abortion. Unlike Mr. Gore & Mr. Gephart, however, Mitt’s realignment has been scrutinized heavily and, more importantly, was a move in the right direction (pun partially intended). The charge of Mitt being a “politician” are also built on a foundation of cards. Mitt was a successfully CEO as well as a Governor who managed to implement strong free market principles in a very liberal state. The main difference between Mitt and someone like McCain or Giuliani is that, if in the past, he has said the wrong thing, everything he’s saying now, is the right thing.

With CES going in Vegas and Macworld occurring next week, the tubes are full of rumors dealing with media distribution. Some of the hot topics include: (1) a set top box for Netflix, (2) movie rentals via iTunes, (3) updates to the Vudu platform, (4) Quicktime versions of FOX movies included on DVD releases, and (5) Sony going “DRM-Free” on its music distribution. This is far from a complete list, but it’s a good enough sampling to show that media companies are inching forward on their distribution channels. Unfortunately, a examination of the above rumors and stories shows that media companies are still behind the times in their thinking.

To start things off, let me know articulate what I think is the ideal scenario for media distribution: (I’m going to limit this discussion to movies, just to simplify things)

I’m watching the Red Sox on television when the game goes to commercial. An ad comes on for the latest Milla Jovovich movie (for the sake of this example, lets say she’s humanities’ last hope against a horde of evil zombies…since she seems quite good at that role). I find the ad interesting enough to want to watch the movie, so I flip over to my AppleTV and browse through “New Releases”. I find the movie I want and click purchase. Apple deducts from my iTunes account and starts downloading a High Definition copy of the movie to my AppleTV directly as well as marking that’s I’ve purchased the movie within the iTunes database.

Later, I decide I’m going to go dinner and want some entertainment when I eat. I have the movie I just purchased on my AppleTV, but I obviously can’t bring that whole contraption with me, so I head over to my computer, open up iTunes and browse to “Recently Purchase Movies”. I find the Milla Movie in the listing and choose “Download in an Alternate format”. I pick “iPod” and set it to download while I go get ready to head out. After it’s finished downloading, I sync the movie to my iPod and go on my way.

The main point of the above scenario is that when I pay money to see a movie, I want that movie in whatever format I want to view it in. Currently, I own a lot of DVDs. They take up shelf space, they don’t look aesthetically pleasing wherever I have them on display, and putting them in any sort of order can be rather cumbersome. I would much rather have all of them stored digitally and available for playback on my AppleTV whenever I want to view them. Today’s laws, however, make it illegal for me to rip the content off the DVDs I own and store them digitally. I’m, therefore, forced to use my media, that I own, in a way that I feel is less than ideal.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the rumors and stories mentioned earlier to see if the media companies are getting any closer to reaching the ideal viewing scenario. Story (1) was a new set top box from Netflix that will allow streaming of content to your television. I have to admit, this sound promising. Assuming the box is affordable, the subscription plans are similar to Netflix’s current approx. $20 for unlimited downloads of media content, and the library of available content is as extensive as their rental library, then this really has potential. Of course, those are three very big “ifs”. Also, there is no portability with this “strategery”. I’m stuck watching content on the TV that has the Netflix box attached to it, I can’t load the content onto my iPod and take it with me.

iTunes movie rentals (Story (2) from above) have been getting a lot of play on Apple blogs, Tech blogs, and Media blogs. I am going to go off the rumors at this time, making a note that the official plan might change things. Currently, it appears the plan is to provide movie rentals at $3.99 a piece. The most common rumors concerning DRM on the movie rentals is that you will have 1 week to watch the movie after you download it and 24 hours to finish watching the movie once you start watching it (this DRM “strategery” is similar to that used within Xbox 360 movie rentals). I have a few problems with this method of getting media. The first problem is the method of delivery. Currently, there are no rumors about being able to purchase the rental directly from my AppleTV. Though this might change at the official announcement, the current plan involves purchasing the media on my computer and then transferring it or streaming it to my AppleTV. Second, there is no mention about the quality of the downloads. Most sources point to the downloads being “iPod Hi resolution” quality (i.e. 640 x 480), a resolution lower than current DVD standards. If I’m paying money for content, I want it in the highest resolution possible. Third, the price point. At a $4 per rental price plan, I would only have to rent 5 movies in the course of a month to blow through the cost of my Netflix subscription. My Netflix subscription lets me have 3 movies out at a time, allows me to keep the DVD as long as I want it, and contains TV on a DVD (and odds are you won’t be able to get 4 episodes of a show for $4).

The price point issue discussed in the previous paragraph requires some further exploration. I intentionally left price point out of my scenario so I could discuss it in depth later. The basic question comes down to: What price would I be willing to pay to own a particular piece of media content? There are a number of camps on this question, some dealing with complicated “pay less for less resolution” formulas, and some suggesting a “rent to own” model. Personally, after putting in some time thinking about how much I’d pay for the content in my ideal scenario, I’ve decided that my price point is $4. That’s $4 to own a movie, that I can download an unlimited number of times, in an assortment of digital formats. I pay $4 for a movie today, I download it to my iPod tonight and watch it, and then, in 4 months, I can download it in HiDef to my AppleTV for no extra cost. Now, I do not want be a pollyanna and suggest that this type of plan is right around the corner. Clearly, the media companies think their content is worth approx. $15 to own at this time. A trip to Best Buy on the day of a movie release or finding a gem in a bargain bin might result in you picking up a movie for $13 or even $10, but most likely you’re going to be paying around $15 for most recent movies. The question then becomes: if a media company can sell a million copies of the movie at $15, why would they charge less than 1/3 of that price in the future? Two possible reasons come to mind: (1) piracy and (2) rental service.

Let’s examine (1), Piracy, from the paragraph above. A quick search on a few popular BitTorrent websites for a recently released movie will reveal hundreds of thousands of people downloading the film. How many of these people would pay $4 for this movie to avoid the hassle of going through a BitTorrent service? 60%? 70%? Combine that with the people who think $13 is too much to pay for the latest Jason Stratham shoot ‘em up movie, but wouldn’t mind paying $4 for it, and I find it hard to believe that the total amount of money brought in by the movie studio wouldn’t surpass the amount brought in with their $13 DVDS, with the added side effect of dramatically reducing piracy. Item (2) above, Rental Service, is a little more difficult to understand. A quick glance at the monetary issue would probably point out the obvious question: “Who would pay $3 to rent a movie when you can pay $4 and own it forever?” Well, odds are, probably no one. But is that such a bad thing? Are people actually renting movies 2 or 3 times? Though this move might prove to be the end of the rental industry, those funds should be transfered back to the media companies through purchases. Also, would someone continue to spend $20 a month for a Netflix subscription when they could use that same $20 to purchase 5 movies? The latter seems much more likely to me.

Rumor (3) from the opening paragraph was the updates to the Vudu platform. For those unfamiliar with Vudu, it’s a set top box that allows television purchases, movie purchases, and movie rentals via the interwebs. It’s very similar to the functionality found within the Media part of the Xbox 360, but with a slightly easier to interface and a higher cost ($399 for the box). Movie purchases cost $20, but it is unclear of whether you can download a movie, watch it, delete it and then re-download it again without cost. Also, there is no way to transfer the content to your portable media player, so we’re once again forced to watch the movie from our Vudu box. The main rumor concerns the availability of more HiDef rentals via Vudu. That sounds like promising news, however, it turns out to fall into the same pattern we’ve seen before, namely: price. HiDef movie rentals on Vudu are rumored to run $5.99 with 24 hour clock. You can watch the movie as many times you want within 24 hours, but once the 24 hours are up, you have to pay full rental price to see it again. That seems to be a high level of restriction for a $6 rental.

The inclusion of Quicktime versions of movies on new FOX DVDs (rumor (4) from above) seems like a very promising development. It shows FOX is aware that people might not always want to watch a move via their home DVD player, but possibly on their iPod or iPhone when they’re traveling. There is not sufficient information concerning DRM requirements on these files, or concerning the quality of the included video file,to give an accurate thumbs up / thumbs down rating. This development, however, appears to be a move in the right direction.

Up to this point, I’ve mostly discussed video content. Though Rumor (5) concerns audio content, it’s a perfect illustration of how media companies simply don’t understand how customers want to receive their content. Once again, on the surface, Sony’s announcement to go DRM-free on some of their music catalogue seemed quite promising. It turns out, however, their distribution model is severely flawed. Instead of using one of the existing online stores (iTunes, Amazon Mp3, etc..) to sell the content, Sony is requiring its customers to go to a brick-and-mortar store (a Best Buy, a Wal-Mart) and purchase an “album unlock card” there. A customer can then go home and use the code on this card to download the album in the un-DRMed format. It is almost inconprehensible that a company could think that this method of media distribution would be effective. Instead of sitting in front of the computer, clicking on the albums I want to purchase, I have to go down to the store and buy a card so I can go home and download the music? What advantage is there to that over a standard CD purchase? And with the cards priced at approx. $12.99 a piece, aren’t the odds in favor of the CD actually being cheaper? I do not foresee Sony’s DRM-free sales to be particularly stellar.

In the preceding paragraph, I chastised Sony for their “buy in the store / unlock at home” model. My complaint requires some clarification. I have no problem with the “buy in the store / unlock at home” being one aspect of the distribution channel, as long as a “buy at home” model exists. In fact, there are some scenarios where I think that the “buy in the store / unlock at home” model could be quite effective. Imagine going to see a movie in the theatre and, as you leave, there are places where you can purchase the movie you just saw for the $4 mentioned previously. Just walk up to the seller (whether it is person or machine), plunk down $4 and leave with a little card so you can unlock the movie when you get home. Obviously, this “strategery” would fly in the face of the current “Wait 3-5 months before putting out the DVD” model that’s currently in place, but wouldn’t it result in many more impulse buys? What if the only way you could get the movie while it was in the theatres was via this “buy in the theatre / unlock at home” channel? That would provide some shelter for the theatres but also capitalize on people’s feelings about a particular film. A whole column could easily be written on these type of movie “release in the theatre v. release to the public for purchase” issues and how the media companies have refused to evolve within the market place.

A disconnect exists today between media companies that produce content and the customers that consume said content. Though this disconnect might not be as wide for a large percentage of the population as it is for me, it’s hard to imagine people aren’t frustrated with the way their forced into certain behavior concerning their media watching. Will media companies make changes as drastic as those I’ve outlined here? Most likely, the media companies won’t make those changes any time in the foreseeable future, however, there are some promising developments that they’re at least trying to experiment with the idea of modernizing their distribution channels. Until such time though, it’s going to be their way or the highway.