Results tagged “sony”

The music industry has never been the savviest when it came to the internet and its possibilities. Suing kids, grandmas and college students left and right. But when the latest, happiest and most popular YouTube video with a Chris Brown song became a hit last week, they profited instead of becoming another lawsuit headline.

Warner Bros. Entertainment announced today that they'll be slashing their worldwide staff by 10%, or 800 people. Yes, it's the recession. Hollywood has become more savvy to outsourcing and for Warner, management information systems and accounts payable are among the first to go that way. "There are both cyclical and secular issues with film production. For many years, there has probably been too many movies being produced and a cyclical downturn has forced some rationalization," an analyst told Reuters. Sony has already announced a cut in 8,000 jobs in their electronics division, but their Hollywood division is expected to be next.

The holiday box office season is generally a time for light-hearted, star-driven films that keep audiences engaged. After all, it is tough in this economic climate and with so few days before Christmas to take two hours out of your day to sit in a theater and really become involved in the characters on screen, even if the dialogue is upbeat and the main squeeze is totally that one guy from that one movie. The new Will Smith film Seven Pounds does an admirable job of two of these key elements, eschewing the easy-to-swallow fare in favor of meatier pieces for the audience to chew on.

what with all the booth babes and swag bags and throngs of gamers huddled outside the LA Convention Center chomping at the bit for a taste of the next Soul Calibur or Resident Evil or Final Fantasy. But that isn’t to say that the entire industry is at a loss for its bespectacled past. In fact, the reinvented, invite-only E3 (as of 2007) and the creation of E for All (which welcomes the public) is highly indicative of the scope of the gaming world. So its hard to argue that the industry is more popular now than it ever was. That being said, read on to find out the highlights of this year’s E3.

Kind of a slow weekend ahead folks, even on the movie channels, Sunday's programming is particularly deplorable. Rejoice though, in the news that Sony, within the next three years, will be offering a video-downloading service through all its key products, including its televisions, computers, music players and videogame devices. It plans to give most of its products network and wireless capability in that same window of time. Yup, download Hollywood movies through your PS3, etc.

Here we go again with the Cloverfield type buzz, but this time, some speculate that this movie is of a Los Angeles setting for the plot. Defamer points out that this latest YouTube viral sensation released Saturday (video embedded below) could easily be suspected as Cloverfield 2 or M. Night Shyamalan's forthcoming Philadelphia disaster flick, The Happening.

Mediocre political thriller ($5.1M/$21.7M).

Hollywood's latest exercise in Justin Chang providing some choice barbs.

Sony's Blu-ray high definition video disc won a contentious, expensive, and possibly over-hyped video format war reminiscent of the VHS v. Beta battles of yore.

At nearly 3am last night, WGA members received an email announcing that "we have a tentative deal." I'm told that the language of the deal could have been done earlier, but that the AMPTP attempted some last minute shenanigans - most reprehensible in the fact that it made me use the word "shenanigans."

In some TV news with local flavor, Santa Monica-based Ovation, "The Arts Network" (I thought this was Lifetime's tagline?), has announced a series of partnerships with cultural institutions across the country to produce and promote their content and collections. Local organizations include: the LA Opera, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and P.S. ARTS. Now if I could only get Ovation on local cable....

It seems that if you want to pick up on hot men, you apparently need to check out the WGA strikes -- those men in red t-shirts are sizzling. Radar has the exclusive scoop:

The scheme, according to a striking Fox scribe, goes something like this: "The first step in the 'picket pickup' is picking who you want to picket behind. You don't even have to worry about looking like a stalker, because you're supposed to stand close to people and follow them around. The flirting is easy, since you have a built-in pickup line: 'What did you used to do?' You angle your sign in a way that lets your target know you're interested, and then smile a lot. They get the hint. Soon it's time to go to lunch, and from that point the sky's the limit!" [Radar]

Here in LA, we’ve seen record store closures from the behemoth Tower chain to the local gem Sea Level Records as of late – a clear sign that the record business is edging closer to extinction with each new year. We are most likely heading towards a world where music is primarily consumed digitally, with physical product existing only for the die-hards who feel that they need to own something tangible along with their music. Would a plastic card emblazoned with album artwork or a band photo do the trick? That’s what Starbucks and now Sony are betting on.

As you might have guessed, we're pretty big into gaming over at my house -- our console set-up includes the both generations of the Xbox, not one but TWO PS2's (one for the living room, one for the bedroom), a Dell XPS with a wide-screen monitor (for PC gaming), a Nintendo Gamecube, a Nintendo 64, an SNES, and a Gameboy -- oh, and possibly a Sony PSP floating around somewhere. Our 50" big-screen is optimized for the best gaming experience, with surround-sound Bose speakers and wireless networking.

If you're not mall-ward bound, frantically baking fruitcake, cleaning house for arriving relatives, or headed to LAX, there are still plenty of things to do tonight in LA.

Though his recent output has been sparse and not particularly memorable, there can be no argument that Francis Ford Coppola has left one of the larger imprints on the history of film. This is a man who once directed, consecutively-- at the Landmark Theater at Pico and Westwood. Incidentally, if you haven't been to this amazing theater yet, you now have the perfect reason.

As you may have heard NBC is bringing back American Gladiators. The revamped version of the classic game show of the early 90s will begin to air on January 6. I wish I would have waited until January 6 for my first chance to see the new Gladiators in action. Saturday morning I got up early and headed down to the Sony lot to be a member of the Gladiator audience. I gave up...

Because he's too shy (and way too busy) to announce it here himself, I am proud to do the honors: Zach Behrens has officially accepted the Editor position here at LAist and he'll be starting on December 17th. BloggingLA has the announcement, as well as a nice picture of the new editor's "Sexy Face." That's how you get your Canadian fanbase, Behrens!!! Rain. Please. Rain. Effects of the strike are starting to ripple out...

Right around Labor Day we interviewed KCRW dj Jason Bentley about the 30th anniversary of Morning Becomes Eclectic. Today he provides us with his top ten albums of 2007, and you Radiohead fans will be glad to see that he adds them to his list just like most of his cohorts did. Interestingly when Mathieu Schreyner left Radiohead off his list, not only was he not criticized, but he received many more positive comments...

It is estimated that 200 firms, 6000 workers and 1200 actors produce 4000-7000 adult films a year in Los Angeles. Yes, there are more porn-related, adult industry jobs than software jobs in this town. With $4.3 billion in sales and rentals (which is still nothing compared to the $12 Billion made from toys and books), the Adult Entertainment Industry puts $4 billion in revenue back into the local economy. “It’s in an industry producing...

This week we have been delivering Top 10 lists from KCRW's most popular on-air personalities. Tonight we're going to give you a two-fer. First up is native Los Angeleno Raul Campos, host of Nocturna, and the first one on these lists to give it up to Brit faves Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. Also if you're scoring at home, Radiohead seems to be doing quite well on these KCRW lists. Have a gander at...

Yesterday we started our Best of 2007 list with choices from KCRW's Nic Harcourt and Tom Schnabel. But then we realized we weren't being gentlemen. The ladies of KCRW should have gone first! D'oh! So fasten your seatbelts for The Drop's host Liza Richardson's picks for 2007. Something tells us our comments will be buzzing. Will it be for the inclusion of M.I.A.? Let's hope. 1) Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon...

You might recall that right around Labor Day we celebrated KCRW's 30th anniversary of Morning Becomes Eclectic with a series of interviews with a handful of their on-air personalities. Today we are lucky enough to get the Top 10 list of Nic Harcourt's top albums of 2007. We are very happy to see that he's just as down with local kids Sea Wolf and Great Northern as we are. Not only that, but atop his list is another local girl, Jesca Hoop!

Destiny's Child vs The Cardigans - "My Favorite Name" About a year and a half ago we introduced you to Indie's mashup DJ Paul V. as he was celebrating the one-year anniversary of Bootie LA, the monthly dance party fueled by the current day's mashups. Since then Bootie LA has moved from the Echo to Safari Sam's but the party hasn't missed a step. Matter of fact, tonight Bootie LA is welcoming French mashup...

will wake up everyone who sees it regarding the situation in Darfur.

For 55 years there has been once place to go at 2am for good Pastrami. Johnnie's Pastrami is a Culver City landmark. Just around the corner from Titos Tacos you find this 1950's neon clad restaurant. I have lived down the street from it for five years and never seen it empty. It's the hub of the late shift workers, Cops, Teens, Sony employees, and Pastrami aficionados. You can sit inside at the counter and...

Guitar Hero was in full-effect at E-For-All

Ninitendo Wii demonstration units at the 2007 E for All Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center Nintendo extended an invitation for a female writer from LAist to meet Perrin Kaplan , VP of Marketing for Nintendo at the E for All Expo. I sent my R.S.V.P. and planned to check out the latest games and technology that Nintendo has to offer. Now I should tell you that I know next to nothing about...

Sure, the inaugural E For All doesn't really hold a candle to the bloated spectacle of old E3, but then again, the new low-key Santa Monica-based E3 doesn't hold a candle to the old E3 either.

Nothing causes more craziness in Culver City these days than a new place to have lunch. You’d think the Beatles had come to town. Those guys at Sony make lines that wrap around the block. In a few months, the lines calm down and then the rest of us can come in. I’ve been to Melt Down a couple of times now. It’s a small place with an open kitchen and mostly outdoor seating,...