Mark Sigal's Blog - The Network Garden

Social Media, Koans and Virtual Theaters

Okay, so I am not necessarily even sure what the hell a Koan is, but let's just say that this one is pretty close.

A few months back, I was intrigued by a movie trailer that presented a story narrative along the lines of "there are all of these horrific serial killers that we know by name but there is one whom you've probably never heard of named Gustave, and he wrote the book on human atrocities..."

Intrigued, I did some googling to find out what I could about Gustave, which led me to write the following blog post.

Flash forward, we recently had the opportunity to work with Disney and their interactive agency on a new project that seeks to re-invent the way DVDs are marketed.  Long tail friendly. 

It is called the virtual theater, and essentially it allows movie producers to hold online showings of their full-length motion picture releases on an on-demand or scheduled basis with secure, single use seating. 

What do you use a virtual theater for?  Well for one thing, to connect with both print and online media when geography or cost economics dictate that it is impractical to have everyone physically in the same space.

Nonetheless, the theater is a place where the creative team and media gain access to one anther via moderated conversations and conversation building tools.   Other functionality is in the works, which I can't talk about.

Back to Koans. So completely randomly, what was the first movie in the virtual theater? Primeval.

Does it work?  You decide. Here is an excerpt from a blog post by one of the attendees, Josh Tyler of Cinema Blend:

I was recently invited to participate in something new: An online chat and watch with the director of Primeval.  Disney figured out a way to stream the movie for us online, while simultaneously chatting with the film’s director Michael Katleman. The streaming movie ended up serving more as background, a way to set the scene while the journalists in attendance pounded him with questions; but on the whole the experience worked out as a quick and easy way to connect filmmakers with journalists all over the world and by extension, their audience.

The funniest joke you've never heard before

I came across this story in the August, '05 issue of Vanity Fair (a great magazine in terms of breadth of topics and depth of coverage on those topics).  Penn Jillette (of Penn &Teller) and comedian Paul Provenza are about to release The Aristocrats, essentially a documentary about one thing: a joke so disgusting and in such poor taste that you don't know whether to laugh or be offended. 

The angle that is unique here is the fact that the telling of the joke is a sort of rite of passage for comedians, and the movie captures the veritable who's who of Robin Williams, Steven Wright and even Bob Saget (plus many other BIG names) telling their version of the joke. 

The movie is one part slice of disgusto life and one part story behind the story of the telling of the joke and its place in comedian hazing and acceptance.  Three links to help frame if it's something of interest to you. 

One is an interview with Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, makers of the film. 

Two is a Southpark version of the joke (Southpark Aristocrats)

Three is Taylor Negron refusing to share his version of the joke in Defamer.  Supposedly, his version sets the bar, so to speak.