LB's Rambles

"The Bells of Old Bailey"

"When will you pay me/Say the bells of Old Bailey"

Sound familiar? It's a couplet from a familiar English nursery rhyme, one that names the bells of London. That nursery rhyme is woven through a marvelous, if rather grim, mystery, "The Bells of Old Bailey," by Dorothy Bowers. In a small English village, where five people apparently have committed suicide, the local police turn to a Scotland Yard detective for help. Soon, there is a murder to be solved, and a truly vicious plot eventually is uncovered.

Dorothy Bowers is little remembered today; she died quite young and completed only a handful of novels. Part of the fun of doing my "Classic Mysteries" podcast is having the chance to introduce authors like Dorothy Bowers to readers who might enjoy her work. You can check out this review here - and, as always, I would welcome your subscription to these free weekly podcasts by pasting this RSS link - http://classicmysteries.podbus.com/index.xml - into iTunes or any other RSS podcast-capable program.

Look! Up in the Sky!...

So you think that some Internet advertising in intrusive? You can't get away from those ads that are popping up all over your screen?

The Daily Dog reports, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

I wonder how you pronounce "flogos" anyway - is it flow-goes? Or, perhaps more appropriately in this case, flog-ohs...

Video: The Simpsons Ride

This is kind of neat. I've been working on behalf of the new Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios Florida, in Orlando. It's a new roller coaster simulation ride using the latest technology, including some really great Simpsons video. Anyway, there's a preview - a welcome from Krusty the Clown, followed by some video from the start of the ride itself. Just imagine yourself in a ride car...and...

Time Warp

A followup on my last post about 3D technology.

There are times I think I have been living in a time warp. Last week, I wrote about a reunion of ABC Radio News personnel, some of whom I have known for more than four decades. After that reunion, I received a video that was put together back in 1969, to promote what were then the brand new ABC Radio Networks. In 1968, ABC became the first US radio network to program four distinct newscasts each hour, each one aimed at a particular group of radio stations. This allowed ABC to have up to four affiliates in each market - very clever indeed.

At any rate, watching that video, I found myself amazed at how far we have come. For example, there are shots of audio tape being edited with a razor blade and a grease pencil. That's how we did it, folks. Even video tapes started out that way. The editors, newscasters and writers all used typewriters. MANUAL typewriters; I was pounding away on an Olivetti until the early 1980s. Video? TV relied on film, which had to be shot, shipped, developed and edited; the entire process took at least hours and often, for overseas stories, days.

The narrator notes, with pride, that all of the ABC news bureaus were linked by private teletype. I remember that one; I was quite proud of being able to type at the machine's maximum speed of 60 words per minute. We also had "facsimile" machines that could transmit documents over phone lines; it generally took six minutes per page. And the newsroom was filled with the clattering noise made by the AP, UPI and Reuters machines, disgorging reams of paper, usually running multiple carbon paper rolls.

Time warp. This morning, I sat and watched people demonstrating console editing of 3D digital video. Punch a few buttons, move a mouse, and a miracle happens. I don't think the people doing the presentation had ever worked with a film doublechainer; certainly not as their primary source. I doubt they were born when that promotional video was made.

Yes, I AM older than dirt.

Time warp.

Enhancing the Consumer Video Experience

3D technology has been used in movies for more than half a century – with considerable success, in some cases. The Disney Corporation has incorporated some of it into top-of-the-line attractions at Disney World and Disneyland. As the world moves to HDTV, what are the chances for improving this technology to expand the use of 3D in both movies and television?

At Bill Sobel’s monthly breakfast for the New York Media Information Exchange Group, we had a demonstration of the work being done in this field, and a chance to see how it is working right now.

David Dever, VP Broadcast and Network Sales of Quantel, presented a 3D video on their HDTV system. It’s pretty impressive. It does require wearing a set of special glasses to make the imagery work, but – once you get past that hurdle – the images themselves are quite impressive; the illusion of 3D is very good on a large HDTV screen.

According to Danny Peters, Director of Creative Services, Quantel, what’s different now is that we are able to do stereoscopic processing in post production. That has always been the primary problem in doing 3D productions. Traditionally, left and right images had to be edited separately. Quantel has come up with a way to make it work in post production. Peters provided a hands-on demonstration of how the editing can be carried out. Other techniques are possible as well – ways to provide color correction, depth perception and convergence, etc. Peters calls this one of the most significant developments in post production creation.

The demo was followed by a broader panel discussion of the 3D process and its possibilities, along with a review of some of the many considerations that need to be considered when shooting, editing and displaying 3D video.

The post-production technology on display could be used for virtually any display technology – from HDTV to Imax to the old Viewmaster “stereoscopic” viewer slides.

One key question: when will this get into the home and reach a much wider audience? Chris Chinnock says there are already a lot of 3D capable HDTVs in people’s homes – and nobody knows it. They do still require glasses. Some of the manufacturers are starting to do demo programs – it’s just starting to happen

Chinnock says there IS an audience for this. More theaters are coming on line virtually every day with the capability to display 3D entertainment releases, including fine arts and Metropolitan Opera productions. He also discussed a 3D in home consortium that is working on getting the technology into homes.

But there was also discussion of the need to change focus – to use the technology not as a novelty, but as a storytelling mechanism. There was general agreement on the panel that it is important to move past novelty and exploit the creative possibilities of the medium and the technology.

Chris Chinnock also says there are displays being made today that do not require glasses. This seems to me to be the direction that the industry will have to go. As long as you require an extra piece of hardware – the glasses – you’re going to be limiting your impact. Not a universally held sentiment among this group – but these are the pioneers in extending the technology.

"The Loss of the Jane Vosper"

A small freighter sinks at sea, after a series of explosions. It sounds like sabotage - but how could it have happened? Apparently, it's a dangerous question; a detective investigating the sinking disappears. Enter Inspector French - the creation of Freeman Wills Crofts, one of the early Golden Age masters of the detective novel, and the star of "The Loss of the Jane Vosper," this week's novel reviewed on our Classic Mysteries podcast.

Crofts is not often remembered today, but he was the master of the intricate timetable mystery. If you have ever read one of those stories in which the crime could only have happened on a Tuesday, the one day in the week when the London train stopped at Little Croydon instead of Nether Hampstead, then you have read a story that is inspired in part by Crofts.

His stories are also very early police procedural novels, for Inspector French has the full resources of Scotland Yard behind him and knows how to use them.

"The Loss of the Jane Vosper" is a fine example of a master at work. Listen to the complete review - it's free, as always.

"Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief"

He was a fictional rogue, a thief, a con man who could plan and execute a daring burglary while imprisoned, a Robin Hood-type, an adventurer, even occasionally a detective, and his popularity rivalled that of Sherlock Holmes himself. Arsene Lupin, the creation of French writer Maurice Leblanc, has remained in print in France for a century, and his popularity keeps him in print in the United States as well, fitting tribute to a man who believed, as he said, that "adventure is everywhere."

Leblanc's stories about Arsene Lupin, many of which have been gathered into a new anthology called "Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief," are the subject of discussion on this week's "Classic Mysteries" podcast. Please follow the link to listen. As always, it's free. The Lupin stories are funny, witty, adventure-filled, heart-warming and quite thoroughly enjoyable.

Oh - and in one story Lupin did, in fact, meet Sherlock Holmes.

And stole his pocket watch...

More Than 10 Billion Sold...er...Viewed

This is starting to sound like those BILLIONS AND BILLIONS SOLD signs outside McDonald's: MultiChannel News quotes a new comScore report showing U. S. Internet users viewed more than 10 billion online videos in February. That's 10 billion. In one month. In the U. S. alone. Up 66% from the previous year. 34% went to YouTube.

With numbers like that, sooner or later, somebody's gonna figure out how to make serious money at it...

Hat tip: IAB SmartBrief.

Podcasting Standards

As promised, the Association for Downloadable Media has developed two sets of guidelines for podcasting. One document deals with advertising standards, defining and outlining the kinds of ads that may be available on any particular podcast. The other tries to define standards for the kinds of audience and performance measurement that may be available.

The guidelines were rolled out today at AdTech, in San Francisco, and the idea is to gather comments from as many people as possible inside and outside of advertising and podcasting. The documents are open for comment for 30 days, after which they will be refined, based on the comments and suggestions received. Take a look and please do comment.

"The Youth Hostel Murders"

I am not now and never will be a mountain climber. I have considerable difficulty getting up on a ladder to change a lightbulb. The prospect of clinging to a mountainside on a six-inch ledge, with the next step down several thousand feed below me, horrifies me. That said, I find myself really enjoying a series of British mountain-climbing mysteries written by Glyn Carr half a century ago. That includes "The Youth Hostel Murders," which is the subject of this week's review on my "Classic Mysteries" podcast.

"The Youth Hostel Murders" is a good read, with murder and a dash of witchcraft, and a great deal of detail about mountain climbing as well. Listen to the podcast to learn more about the book and how to find it - and why I think that, if you enjoy classic mysteries, you would enjoy it.