Thursday, December 27, 2012

Sporting News Goes Digital

The Sporting News, an American-based sports magazine which was established in 1886 and became the dominant American publication covering baseball so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball" and it eventually covered MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NASCAR, NCAA men’s basketball and football and occasionally other sports.

Today, Sporting News is owned by Charlotte– based American City Business Journals, a subsidiary of Advance Publications. However, after years of existence as a weekly publication, the magazine switched to a biweekly publishing in 2008. Then, in 2011, it was published in print  only monthly. December 2012 rolls around and the magazine announced it would go digital-only  in 2013.

The proud tradition that began in St. Louis and was nutured as a unique brand for 127 years, The Sporting News is now going digital. This, of course, is consistent with the overwhelming trend. Daily newspapers, magazines and printed material in general.    

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Sundance on Track


“Quiet on the set,” the director calls out from behind the camera. “Now Sundance, I know it might feel awkward but I need full frontal nudity from Destiny, our pole-dancer in this tracking shot and therefore you cannot be so close in. The camera will naturally foreshorten things and you will only be in the frame for 4 seconds.”

Sundance was thrilled to get the call from the casting agent who pulled his 8X10 glossy and bio from the stack of local New Orleans characters. As an adult continuing education student at the community college, he’d been making straight A’s in Theater Performance Methods, Acting for the Stage and Improvisation. He was a natural and a character actor to be sure. It was one of his instructors who encouraged him to apply as an extra in this film.   

“And roll sound. Action.”

“Oh, for crying out loud Sundance, we can’t have you method-acting differently on each take. What’s your motivation? Puhhhhlease. Your motivation is to gently place the folded bill on the hip and allow Destiny the opportunity to turn, shake a little bit and smile. That’s it, for Christ sake! Now let’s see if we can get it right this time. Do you need anything from the craft service? Somebody get Mr. Sundance some peanut M&Ms before we roll again.”    

“Destiny, I know that’s not your real name but I like it. Are you getting tired?  Because you have been running through my mind all day. Ha Ha Ha. Are you from New Orleans? You know I have only a short list of credits since I started acting professionally. All this business of showing up at a particular place and time…And the waiting. My acting teacher, she’s a 35 year old version of Julia Roberts, only prettier. Well, she said I really need to treat this like a job. Maybe she’s right, the time I’ve spent with you today has been a real pleasure, I must say. Want an M&M? Never mind …the director and camera crew are coming back.”

“Oh Jesus. Can someone from wardrobe get Marlon here another T-Shirt. Is it that hard to eat M&Ms?”

Fictional account of something entirely possible in the world of Sundance Morgan.
Blog: Bunker Mentality
Post: Sundance on Track
Link:
http://morganstudioeast.blogspot.com/2012/12/sundance-on-track.html

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Truth about Your Business


Listen carefully to people around you. It is not always easy to hear the truth, especially when it seems like the obvious is obscured by a prevailing rhetoric in the organization.

Once upon a time there lived a vain Emperor whose only worry in life was to dress in elegant clothes. He changed clothes almost every hour and loved to show them off to his people. Word of the Emperor's refined habits spread over his kingdom and beyond. Two scoundrels who had heard of the Emperor's vanity decided to take advantage of it. They introduced themselves at the gates of the palace with a scheme in mind. "We are two very good tailors and after many years of research we have invented an extraordinary method to weave a cloth so light and fine that it looks invisible. As a matter of fact it is invisible to anyone who is too stupid and incompetent to appreciate its quality."

The story of The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson goes on until the tailors' con is exposed by a child who blurts out the truth of things. The Emperor has no clothes! We should all be on the lookout for those situations where absurdity seems to thrive perhaps due to a miscalculation, a flawed premise, a bad strategy, poor planning or a some other presumed truth. The Emperor's New Clothes is a Danish fairy tale which was first published in 1837 but offers an enduring lesson: It reminds us to look at the world through the eyes of a child.