A Media Slathered State of the Union Plus Some Michael Mann Musing

It's time for an update on how my media intake changed since moving back to my hometown, Los Angeles.

For about three years, I watched movies. That was my intake. I watched them for class and for fun - and if both happened at the same time, I was happy. I graduated with a degree in communication from a wonderful little institution in San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University. Very late in my college career, I found that path of study and been giddy ever since. Wow, I can watch television and movies and get a rather large diploma! This is great!

Against all odds, I got into a grad school, getting a master's degree in Cinema Studies from NYU - the only school that would accept me. And I kept watching movies. I was introduced to avante-garde and films floating in obscure film history purgatory. Most people seem to enjoy these films and want to talk about them and in effect, shine a brighter light on obscure pieces. I run the other way. I want to bring the mainstream movies to the academic circle. Let's float a barstool argument here: in final papers, who wrote about films that grossed the most money? I might be in the running for highest grossing papers (Braveheart, Syriana/Babel, Toy Story, Sin City, Minority Report, 300, and The Fellowship of the Ring).

I don't think I am cut out for the PhD, but maybe. I don't think it would be in film exclusively. It would be in a fuller media discussion, including television, video games, and social networking. I like films and I like them a lot, but I am interested in so many other things. I LOVE teen television. I love watching the progression of video games moving closer to an interactive social networking experience. Oh and by the way, I like sports. And its easy to let it in my life - it happens all the time.

Basically, I need structure. Let me list what I like again. (Movies, Television, Sports, Video Games, and Fiction Lit.) By my count, that's five things, right? How do I take care of all my interests? I think I need a spreadsheet - which sounds a lot like my dad (genes right?).

I feel disconnected right now. I have not watched a TV show that wasn't on DVD for at least a month now. Been to a few movies. TRANSFORMERS 2 was actually pretty funny and then it turns into a large special effect (which last time I checked still wins an Academy Award). No one is better than Michael Bay when delivering a special effect. Incomprehensible, maybe. But I wonder if that's not the point. PUBLIC ENEMIES was great! I loved it. Michael Mann's violence is heavy, intense yet restrained. Women are a problem because as heterosexual men, we love them, but they get us into trouble.

But color is so very important to Mann and completely based on the film's setting. Think of HEAT, everything is blue and grey because that's LA - the streets, the sky, the uniform. COLLATERAL is mostly dark, but filled with many colors because that's what an LA freeway looks like - a cornucopia of visual onslaught. Everything is blue in MIAMI VICE because the water is blue. PUBLIC ENEMIES uses a warmer color pallette, mostly brown. The shootout happens in the woods, the cars are brown and the roads are still dirty, not completely paved.

I have too many interests. As Colin Cowherd, host of The HERD on ESPN radio: simplify your life. "If I haven't worn a shirt in the past three months, I get rid of it." I need to pare down my media life to the important things. But I can't live in a hole either. Geez, Charley, want some cheese with that w(h)ine? I think I might take up running.

Where Have All The Theme Songs Gone? Just one anyway.

At a recent Sound Symposium at NYU, Steven Wurtzler presented a topic on sound design, particularly that of retail locations. Now, I am currently employed at one such retail location and I can tell you that Wurtzler is right. Music is an integral part of the experience. In fact, customers come into to the store and routinely sing along with classic tunes such as "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley or my personal favorite "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Besides merely providing some background entertainment and pleasure, it can help in the selling process.

For instance, a lot of the music is danceable and try as I might to resist, I can't help myself from getting my groove on. The music also creates the right environment. Sometimes a simple volume adjustment can make all the difference. Retailers wants positive energy and shoppers want to shop in a fun place. Louder music can help that.

Theme parks understand this as well. There is constant music playing evoking the ouvre of the particular land. Wurtzler adapted the idea of sound design to everyday life. An experience will be more memorable if there is ample sound design.

The same is true for television shows and their theme songs and nowhere is this more noticeable than on the DVD sets for "Dawson's Creek." Part of the enjoyment is Paula Cole's "I Don't' Want To Wait." She really belts it out. However, beginning on the third DVD set and continuing through to the end of the series, something changed. A different song replaced the great one, changing the entire complexion of the fictional town, Capeside. So irked by this change, I began to mute the television and play the song through my computer. It's not the same experience, but as close as I can get.

At times, some consumers grow tired of a theme song when campaigning through episode after episode. This specific example advises those consumers to appreciate a well-done and well-placed theme song. Appreciate the song!