Hollywood2020

Backstage at Book Expo of America, Author Joyce Schwarz chats with Jeff Bezos & other VIP's

Harper Collins Publishing author Joyce Schwarz & Jeff Bezos at Book Expo America 2008

AMAZON FOUNDER JEFF BEZOS IN SPOTLIGHT AT BOOK EXPO AMERICA...in Los Angeles...

Backstage at the Book Expo of America, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos hung around to talk to some VIP's and press after his panel on Friday.

        Joyce Schwarz author and new media consultant backstage chatting with Jeff Bezos and other VIP's and press at Book Expo of America.

Is it really 1994 for the Book Publishing Industry?

Author and new media consultant Joyce Schwarz, JCOM got a chance to chat with Bezos about her theory that it's 1994 for the book pubilshing industry and he agrees. His first response was -- "Yes, and it's so exciting".

New business models needed:

Later Joyce ventured to suggest that new business models are coming to the book industry and that one of the best ones she sees could work is the independent film model. Bezos seemed interested. Now as they say in Hollywood Show me the money. Joyce said if he'd give her $100,000 she'd give him $200,000 in production value/marketing/publicity and he could do what they do best at Amazon-- distribution!

Amazon and pay per view video & 5000 more kindle titles!

Earlier this week Amazon announced pay per view streaming video and they already have Amazon Unbox for showing other indy films -- why not Amazon Studios! Hmm or do they have that already-- better check it out tomorrow! They move so fast over there, 5000 new books from Simon and Schuster for Kindle tis week.

you can reach blogger/author Joyce Schwarz via email at [email protected]. Her websites are www.joycecom.com for her firm JCOM new media consulting, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com for her new media & Hollywood blog and www.ihaveavision.org for the newest book from Collins Design, Harper Collins Publishing, fall, 2008.

BOOK EXPO AMERICA Blogged By Hollywood2020.blogs.com

It's 1994 again for the book publishing industry blogged by Joyce Schwarz, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com. That's my call at what you can expect this weekend at the Book Expo of America.

Here's a hint on why I'm saying that the book publishing industry is at a pivotal time in it's history and future...not unlike the Internet was back in 1994. (Yes, I know the Book Publishing industry is hundreds of years old, but finally they are recognizing that multi-platform delivery is essential to it's furture!) PS we're talking a $35 billion dollar industry here -- that's still the equivalent of the film and video game industry combined!

Check out these book publishing headlines that back up my opinion about the massive changes ahead:

Vuguru Launches Robin Cook Prequel, Foreign Body So Cal Tech calendar, 5/29/08----
Beverly Hills-based new media studio Vuguru said Wednesday that it has
launched its web series, Robin Cook's Foreign Body The Prequel, a prequel
to Robin Cook's upcoming novel, Foreign Body. The studio, which is headed
by Michael Eisner, said that the series will air everyday, five days a
week, for 10 weeks on YouTube, Veoh, Hulu, blip.tv, Dailymotion, and on
its own web site. Vuguru signed a deal in January for production of the
series, with publisher G.P. Putnam's Sons. Cyber Group Digital Media
co-produced the series with Vuguru; the series is being sponsored by
American Honda Motor Co.

Ingram, OverDrive, eMusic, DNAML, LibreDigital Get a Jump on BEA Publishers Weekly, NY - 18 hours ago In the digital download market, eMusic said it has added DRM-free digital audiobooks to its selection from nine new publishers including Simon & Schuster, ...

Publishers Weekly

Live from BEA, Thursday, May 29 Publishers Weekly, NY - 17 hours ago by Craig Morgan Teicher One of the first talks at BEA 2008 on Thursday featured eMusic CEO David Pakman, who advocated for a DRM-free online marketplace for ...

Troubled book world is going for novel ideas Los Angeles Times, CA - 6 hours ago At Book Expo America, publishers and booksellers will look at ways to attract readers in a new age. Key word: Change. By Josh Getlin, Los Angeles Times ...

Hollywood2020 Blog Podcast With Alan Neal Hubbs, director Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

As promised, here is the podcast with Alan Neal Hubbs, director of the latest production of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 by Ray's Pandemonium Theatre Co. at the Fremont Centre Theatre running now through the end of June, blogged by Joyce Schwarz, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

Fahrenheit 451, the latest version of Ray Bradbury's play, directed by Alan Neal Hubbs is showing to sold out audiences at the Fremont Centre Theatre through the end of June.

HERE's the link to that podcast with Alan Neal Hubbs:

Click yellow bar to Play:

. For questions or if the link does not work, email me at [email protected].

Millennial Makeover Hollywood2020 Podcast

Hollywood2020.blogs.com founder Joyce Schwarz did a podcast with the authors of Millennial Makeover -- the new book from Rutgers University Press -- see the link below and links to their websites and a couple upcoming gigs that look fascinating. Enjoy. (note these authors are STAUNCH Democrats listen closely to how quickly they jump on the mention of George W's Thousand Points of Light during the podcast .

Here's the link to that Hollywood2020 Millennial Makeover podcast:

http://joycecom.audioacrobat.com/download/a3213543-c4d0-6c2b-1d1c-feef84d1b3bb.mp3

Since I'm on deadline for my own book, I have a limited amount of time to blog and was starting to feel guilty until I found the perfect solution by checking the Millennial Makeover blog -- you just TWITTER update your blog like the Millennial Makeover authors do -- see below. Their last entry is May 19 and a few Twitter updates carry you through...ah the wonder of millennial technology! js:

MILLENNIAL MAKEOVER WEBSITE:

"The book is Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics, it's a must-read if you're a political junkie, and it's especially a ... www.millennialmakeover.com/ - 13k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Two of their many speaking gigs look quite fascinating-- can't wait to hear what Current TV has to say-- could not find a lot or in fact many responses from Millennials on this topic and what has to be one of the most prestigious bookings in Silicon Valley-- a taping at Youtube studios!. See below:

Current TV Taping
http://current.com
Darren Foster, Producer, and Mariana van Zeller.
Topic: what appears to be a generational divide in the Democratic primaries.

Check out this upcoming gig-- tape at the Youtube corporate offices -- I didn't even know they did that? Who said that Youtube.com was totally user-generated?? js

June 2

Lunch meeting and taping At YouTube Corporate Offices San Bruno, CA W/ Steve Grove, YouTube News & Politics Editor 12:00 p.m.

:

WII BALANCE BOARD -- Is it the tipping point?

Nintendo's Wii remote control system clicked us into the next-generation of video games, blogged by Joyce Schwarz @ www.hollywoood2020.blogs.com. But now the addition of a new peripheral (additional device you buy and plug into the Wii system) that looks like a household scale and allows people of all ages to step into a whole new world of immersive experiences Now you can simulate fitness exercises and even experience sports 'simulations' iike ski and skating. Who knows soon we may be dancing with the stars or jumping into the boots of a Hollywood stuntman or woman. Shown below Wii remote pix front and back from wikipedia.com

My question is -- is this the tipping point for the next-generation of immersive movies, truly interactive television and even a next -generation of sports spectatorship. Why just sit at an Xgames event if you can bring your remote Wii balance board and simulate the experience on the big screen or on center stage. Anything's possible in this always on, wireless environment of enter- tainment!

Joyce Schwarz Podcast with Dave Polcyn, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 Fremont Theatre, South Pasadena

Fahrenheit 451, the play is hotter than ever as it plays to sold out audiences at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, through June 29, 2008....blogged by Joyce Schwarz, new media guru/author @ www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

Fahrenheit 451 podcast -- link http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WwfqtKqQ

Here's a great podcast with Joyce Schwarz and lead actor Dave Polcyn playing a stunning version of Montag in Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451 with Ray's own Pandemonium Theatre company.

May 11, 2008 reprint of hollywood2020.blogs.com post

RAY BRADBURY ON BOOKS & LIBRARIES ...and Fahrenheit 451 Play & more

Fahrenheit 451, the play by our national treasure Ray Bradbury and produced by Ray's theatrical production company - The Pandemonium Theater Company -  continues through June 1 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena...blogged by Joyce Schwarz,at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

I highly recommend the production ---for tickets --323) 960-4451; Thurs, Friday, Saturday @ 8 pm Sundays @ 3 pm no show on May 25 -- because of the holiday, www.plays411.com/raybradbury.

The Pandemonium Theatre Company adaptation of Ray Bradbury's stunner Fahrenheit 451 continues through June 1, 2008 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, don't miss it! Seen (left) is the cover of the program for that production which only hints at the amazing costumes and staging.

RAY BRADBURY WAS IN THE HOUSE....

Prior to the curtain opening on Saturday night when I saw the play, Ray Bradbury spoke to the audience from the front row -- yes, he was there himself looking quite debonair I must say. He was wearing a new medal from the French government that designates him a Commander of the Order of Arts and Literature.' This honor is bestowed for significantly contributing to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance

Author Joyce Schwarz is honored to be shown in the photo with Sci-Fi legend Ray Bradbury after a production  of his Pandemonium Theatre company adaption of Fahrenheit 451, now at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena.

Bradbury kiddingly commanded us in the audience to enjoy this evening's production after he mentioned one of his favorite topics -- libraries and how important they were to his life and to many of ours. Blogger note -- Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451's first incarnation at the UCLA Library basement on a rental typewriter that cost him $9.50 (10 cents for each half hour).

BRADBURY ON BOOKS....in re-reading Fahrenheit 451's Simon and Schuster Classic edition, I was particularly drawn to the section where Professor Faber tells Fireman Montag that 'it's not books you need, it's some of the things that were once in books...Faber explains " There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us

The three things Prof. Faber tells us are missing in the society depicted are :

#1 Qquality of information.

#2 Leisure to digest it.

#3 Right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two!

Hmmmm those are probably the most compelling reasons to see this production -- in these days of new media, mass media, Youtube vidiots and mobisodes (episodes on cell phones), big screen TVs, Time Square videotrons & sports stadium vision boards, just what is our quality of information? How much leisure do we really have in the go-go, always on society of today, and if we don't have the first two how can we carry out valid actions without learning from that duo?

Fahrenheit 451, the play by our national treasure Ray Bradbury and produced by Ray's theatrical production company - The Pandemonium Theater Company -  continues through June 1 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena...blogged by Joyce Schwarz,at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

I highly recommend the production ---for tickets --323) 960-4451; Thurs, Friday, Saturday @ 8 pm Sundays @ 3 pm no show on May 25 -- because of the holiday, www.plays411.com/raybradbury.

The Pandemonium Theatre Company adaptation of Ray Bradbury's stunner Fahrenheit 451 continues through June 1, 2008 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, don't miss it! Seen (left) is the cover of the program for that production which only hints at the amazing costumes and staging.

RAY BRADBURY WAS IN THE HOUSE....

Prior to the curtain opening on Saturday night when I saw the play, Ray Bradbury spoke to the audience from the front row -- yes, he was there himself looking quite debonair I must say. He was wearing a new medal from the French government that designates him a Commander of the Order of Arts and Literature.' This honor is bestowed for significantly contributing to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance

Author Joyce Schwarz is honored to be shown in the photo with Sci-Fi legend Ray Bradbury after a production  of his Pandemonium Theatre company adaption of Fahrenheit 451, now at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena.

Bradbury kiddingly commanded us in the audience to enjoy this evening's production after he mentioned one of his favorite topics -- libraries and how important they were to his life and to many of ours. Blogger note -- Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451's first incarnation at the UCLA Library basement on a rental typewriter that cost him $9.50 (10 cents for each half hour).

BRADBURY ON BOOKS....in re-reading Fahrenheit 451's Simon and Schuster Classic edition, I was particularly drawn to the section where Professor Faber tells Fireman Montag that 'it's not books you need, it's some of the things that were once in books...Faber explains " There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us

The three things Prof. Faber tells us are missing in the society depicted are :

#1 Qquality of information.

#2 Leisure to digest it.

#3 Right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two!

Hmmmm those are probably the most compelling reasons to see this production -- in these days of new media, mass media, Youtube vidiots and mobisodes (episodes on cell phones), big screen TVs, Time Square videotrons & sports stadium vision boards, just what is our quality of information? How much leisure do we really have in the go-go, always on society of today, and if we don't have the first two how can we carry out valid actions without learning from that duo?

RAY BRADBURY ON BOOKS & LIBRARIES ...and Fahrenheit 451 Play & more

Fahrenheit 451, the play by our national treasure Ray Bradbury and produced by Ray's theatrical production company - The Pandemonium Theater Company -  continues through June 1 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena...blogged by Joyce Schwarz,at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

I highly recommend the production ---for tickets --323) 960-4451; Thurs, Friday, Saturday @ 8 pm Sundays @ 3 pm no show on May 25 -- because of the holiday, www.plays411.com/raybradbury.

The Pandemonium Theatre Company adaptation of Ray Bradbury's stunner Fahrenheit 451 continues through June 1, 2008 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, don't miss it! Seen (left) is the cover of the program for that production which only hints at the amazing costumes and staging.

RAY BRADBURY WAS IN THE HOUSE....

Prior to the curtain opening on Saturday night when I saw the play, Ray Bradbury spoke to the audience from the front row -- yes, he was there himself looking quite debonair I must say. He was wearing a new medal from the French government that designates him a Commander of the Order of Arts and Literature.' This honor is bestowed for significantly contributing to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance

Author Joyce Schwarz is honored to be shown in the photo with Sci-Fi legend Ray Bradbury after a production  of his Pandemonium Theatre company adaption of Fahrenheit 451, now at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena.

Bradbury kiddingly commanded us in the audience to enjoy this evening's production after he mentioned one of his favorite topics -- libraries and how important they were to his life and to many of ours. Blogger note -- Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451's first incarnation at the UCLA Library basement on a rental typewriter that cost him $9.50 (10 cents for each half hour).

BRADBURY ON BOOKS....in re-reading Fahrenheit 451's Simon and Schuster Classic edition, I was particularly drawn to the section where Professor Faber tells Fireman Montag that 'it's not books you need, it's some of the things that were once in books...Faber explains " There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us

The three things Prof. Faber tells us are missing in the society depicted are :

#1 Qquality of information.

#2 Leisure to digest it.

#3 Right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two!

Hmmmm those are probably the most compelling reasons to see this production -- in these days of new media, mass media, Youtube vidiots and mobisodes (episodes on cell phones), big screen TVs, Time Square videotrons & sports stadium vision boards, just what is our quality of information? How much leisure do we really have in the go-go, always on society of today, and if we don't have the first two how can we carry out valid actions without learning from that duo?

OPERA ANNOUNCES CROSS DEVICE WIDGET SDK BETA -- Widgets wherever & whenever

As many of you faithful readers know, I moderated a panel at Digital Hollywood on the Widget Economy -- earlier this month blogged by Joyce Schwarz, www.hollywood2020.blogs.com, author & emerging media company & product launch consultancy, JCOM, www.joycecom.com

Cross-Device Widgets-- as bridget to next-gen content delivery

During that panel I maintained that the future of widgets is beyond the web -- and here's a great press release that reinforces that belief from Opera Software who today released the Opera Widgets SDK beta. I don't usually run press releases here but it may be helpful to developers who have heard of my strong belief that widgets are not just for the web and that they belong on all devices/screens and in all apps as a way to "bridge' us to the next-gen of content delivery systems. It does appear that these Opera widgets will make it easier to port to TV.

Even games?

After the panel at DH, I talked with a prominent game developer and it seems to me that widgets can certainly have apps for games, previewing games, content previews (ie trailers/promos etc) and probably a zillion other uses. And certainly the next level of interactivity and INTERFACE....yes, I do believe that we are talking about some kind of interface that is not unlike the popular apps for ITV -- where you have multiple windows, hyper-content delivery on one screen and also ability to use multiple devices with that screen ie your iPod player/Mp3, mobile phone, wearable bluetooth device & more.

WEARABLE BLUETOOTH --with the right wearable bluetooth device-- you could come pretty close to the Minority Report-- Hall of Advertising so that when you walk past the screen or come within 3-4 feet -- not unlike security systems or lights on your house -- the content you are most likely to want at that time of day or night is flashed on a screen on a wall or a hand-held Star-Trek type navigator/web pad you carry with you.

CHUMBY APP -- Mini-billboard --cross-device?

THERE I think is the perfect app for CHUMBY...it becomes a mini-billboard that could be posted on any screen, everywhere and I pre-select what I want or it learns my profile for time, date, weather, news alerts, my daily appointments and becomes my virtual reminder/update system.

Proving the promise of One Web:
Your killer app goes cross-device with the Opera Widgets SDK beta

Oslo, Norway - May 21, 2008 - Opera Software today released the Opera Widgets SDK beta, enabling Web developers to deploy Web applications on any device. The Opera Widgets SDK is based on open, W3C-set standards to employ common web technologies such as HTML, CSS and media queries, JavaScript and Ajax, in creating advanced Web applications. The SDK features an emulator, libraries, documentation and Opera Dragonfly for debugging. The Opera Widgets SDK beta is available at: http:/www.opera.com/widgets/sdk

"Opera continues to lead the way to real convergence with the Opera Widgets SDK," says Christen Krogh, Chief Development Officer, Opera Software. "Promoting One Web takes on additional meaning with the support of an SDK to develop full-scale Web applications for any range of devices at one time."

Features of the Opera Widgets SDK beta include:

Widget emulator
Instantly experience how widgets should appear and function across TV, computer and mobile screens, for easier cross-device development.

Libraries
Save time by using libraries for animation and other characteristics that will add compelling functionality to your applications.

Documentation
Gain access to extensive information on how to develop Opera Widgets.

User forums
Solicit help and participate in community forums.

Opera Dragonfly
Use the latest cross-device developer tools for easy debugging.

Today the Opera Widgets repository contains over 1,200 widgets for desktop, mobile phones and devices such as ARCHOS portable media players. These widgets include games, news feeds, information widgets for travel and weather, as well as Web developer tools for color pickers, pixel rulers and more. The Opera Widgets SDK makes it even easier to create widgets of various complexity, using known and practiced Web standards, that can run across devices.

"Opera has had the foresight to leverage the Web as a way to deliver content across devices," says Jill Aldort, Senior Analyst of Consumer Mobility Applications, Yankee Group. "Demand to access information, content, and communities while mobile, is high enough such that having a full Web browsing experience is becoming a requirement for mobile phones and devices. The mobile internet is developing as a  platform for application deployment, with widgets enabling improved content syndication. Opera is well positioned to play in this convergence initiative."

Be heard

Opera Widgets SDK is still in development. We invite your feedback to ensure the final release fits your needs. Learn more and share your thoughts at dev.opera.com.

Availability

Opera Widgets SDK beta is supported by Opera 9.5 and above and is available at: http://www.opera.com/widgets/sdk

View the Opera Widgets SDK guided tour at: http://www.opera.com/b2b/solutions/widgets/video/.

About Opera Dragonfly

The developer tools with Opera Dragonfly will debug Web pages, Widgets and Web applications on any device. Features include a JavaScript Debugger, DOM and CSS Inspectors, Error Console and Command Line. For more information, please visit: http://www.opera.com/products/dragonfly/

About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera's cross-platform Web browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com

FEAR SUCKS -- Let's Ride-- new Harley Motto

NEW HARLEY DAVIDSON CAMPAIGN....reflects culture ready to JUST RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe ride it out...or ride the new in...but not stand still -- RIDE...blogged by Joyce Schwarz @ www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

The new rally cry of Harley Davidson as it reaches out to the next audience born to ride!

On my way to research THE NEW AMERICAN DREAM ...I came across the next Harley Davidson campaign and got to agree- these dudes/chicks know their stuff.....

FEAR SUCKS...personal empowerment-- and social comraderie! -- WOW and a Harley in between your legs heading for the road trip of a life...what more could you want at any age! Check out the new campaign at www.harley-davidson.com and move some words around like refrigerator magnets to create your own war cry. Fascinating cross-generation campaign and perfect for pre-election times and summer time journeys!

More about the campaign at: Harley's new motto aims to lift low spirits

Fahrenheit 452? Ray Bradbury's newest rendition of F451 smolders with angst

Review and commentary on the newest version of the Ray Bradbury play F451 by Joyce Schwarz, blogging at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com:

“Welcome to Fahrenheit 452” says director Alan Hubbs as a prelude to the curtain rising on the newest adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s famous play. In the program under ‘director’s notes, Hubbs writes, “With recent major productions of F451 in New York City and Moscow, and the novel’s inclusion at the Library of Alexandria, it is perhaps the right time to answer an oft asked question: “What is F451 about? Answer: “It is about two hours plus intermission. (P.S. Regardless what you remember from the Cliff Notes, F451 is not about censorship!). Note: This new production produced by Ray Bradbury and Racquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners runs through June 28 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena

The time is the future, the place is a city like none we have ever known – or have we? Hubb’s version of this classic depicts a mediascape of sound, video and inner fury. The key F451 characters are present – Fireman Montag and Fire Chief Beatty and of course Mildred and Clarisse but this production evolves from an alternate universe where the Media portrays the protagonist. Pixilated shadows of what people once were, dot this inverse snow globe of a world gone so wrong.  Center-stage David Polcyn as Montag is wound as tight as a videotape never played. During the production, he begins to unspool to become real, not reel!

As an audience member, part of me wanted Dave to break that fourth wall and yell “I’m Mad As Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” but director Hubbs taut approach denies us that scream of consciousness and instead brilliantly ploys at us by gnawing at our own media addictions that frustrates and entices the audience into this fantastical screen-age.

Clarisse played by Jessica D. Stone is an errant fairy godchild to Montag and shares her wings of wonder to a world beyond, where books are read not burned.  Her Tinkerbelle innocence is countered by the cunning of a cougar as she plays the maverick wild child whose house is full of lights not just neon reflections. Polcyn’s Montag is haunting with his steady rhythm of unrest. His loveless house and yearning for family of flesh and blood is too achingly familiar to many of us whose life is filled with cyber pals and Facebook friends we never see in person.

Chief Beatty portrayed by Michael Prichard could be the voice of reason but masterfully plays a rewind of ‘ the man’ we all cow-tow to sometime in our own lives before we find our way or veer back onto our own rightful paths. Beatty knows so much yet shares so little, he passive- aggressively demands us to ask how high as we jump, when we really want to leap past his static Pritchard skillfully uses subtle variations in his tones and gestures to hint at Beatty’s underbelly of fanaticism gone awry.

Meaghan Boeing’s Mildred says little, but strongly reflects the desire to be special that mesmorizes the masses into being best ‘pals’ with late night talk show hosts and share snacks with at 3 p.m. each day as Oprah arrives in our living rooms.  When will your 15 minutes of fame finally arrive? Why can’t you be the star, not the audience?  Hubbs “Family Theatre’ episodes projected on big screen augment a sparse but stunning set that upstages even Youtube ‘vidiots‘ by giving each Mildred and Tom and Dick and Mary a role to play that’s safe but all too dangerously same-old.

And the books, of course the books, isn’t that what we came to see walk among us—to be alive, to utter the words of wisdom we all yearn to remember, to know and to say...in this production they arrive so late we feel the media and the message have mashed us up to smithereens of what we once were or could have been. But they are there and so is Ray Bradbury with a Fahrenheit 451 that smolders rather than enflames. It left me, excuse the pun, bewitched, bothered and bewildered – but isn’t that what the theatre does best. And it made me proud that I’m writing a real hard cover book that will be out this fall; a book with pages that turn and paper you can feel

BUT ..It made more aware than ever about two inane cyber facts  I came across recently-- copper melts at Fahrenheit 1981.4 and Amazon’s ebook reader is named Kindle. So which book do you want to be?

Joyce Schwarz is an author and new media strategist who has launched 75 venture funded companies with her consulting firm JCOM located in Marina Del Rey, She wrote or co-wrote and edited some of the earliest mass-market books on multimedia beginning in 1991 with the NAB Book "Multimedia 2000". She has written more than 200 articles on next-gen media and entertainment. And yes, she watches Oprah almost daily and has more than 600 friends on Facebook but she's also writing a real book for Harper Collins Publishing, Collins Design already up for pre-sale on Amazon.com for fall, 2008 publication. You can reach her via email (of course) via [email protected].

RAY BRADBURY ON BOOKS & LIBRARIES ...and Fahrenheit 451 Play & more

Fahrenheit 451, the play by our national treasure Ray Bradbury and produced by Ray's theatrical production company - The Pandemonium Theater Company -  continues through June 1 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena...blogged by Joyce Schwarz,at www.hollywood2020.blogs.com.

I highly recommend the production ---for tickets --323) 960-4451; Thurs, Friday, Saturday @ 8 pm Sundays @ 3 pm no show on May 25 -- because of the holiday, www.plays411.com/raybradbury. (Note my review will follow later this week)js

The Pandemonium Theatre Company adaptation of Ray Bradbury's stunner Fahrenheit 451 continues through June 1, 2008 at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, don't miss it! Seen (left) is the cover of the program for that production which only hints at the amazing costumes and staging.

RAY BRADBURY WAS IN THE HOUSE....

Prior to the curtain opening on Saturday night when I saw the play, Ray Bradbury spoke to the audience from the front row -- yes, he was there himself looking quite debonair I must say. He was wearing a new medal from the French government that designates him a Commander of the Order of Arts and Literature.' This honor is bestowed for significantly contributing to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance

Author Joyce Schwarz is honored to be shown in the photo with Sci-Fi legend Ray Bradbury after a production  of his Pandemonium Theatre company adaption of Fahrenheit 451, now at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena.

Bradbury kiddingly commanded us in the audience to enjoy this evening's production after he mentioned one of his favorite topics -- libraries and how important they were to his life and to many of ours. Blogger note -- Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451's first incarnation at the UCLA Library basement on a rental typewriter that cost him $9.50 (10 cents for each half hour).

BRADBURY ON BOOKS....in re-reading Fahrenheit 451's Simon and Schuster Classic edition, I was particularly drawn to the section where Professor Faber tells Fireman Montag that 'it's not books you need, it's some of the things that were once in books...Faber explains " There is nothing magical in them, at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us

The three things Prof. Faber tells us are missing in the society depicted are :

#1 Qquality of information.

#2 Leisure to digest it.

#3 Right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two!

Hmmmm those are probably the most compelling reasons to see this production -- in these days of new media, mass media, Youtube vidiots and mobisodes (episodes on cell phones), big screen TVs, Time Square videotrons & sports stadium vision boards, just what is our quality of information? How much leisure do we really have in the go-go, always on society of today, and if we don't have the first two how can we carry out valid actions without learning from that duo?

As many of you readers note, two summers ago I wrote about VIDEOPHILIA --too much Xbox and not enough sand box!

So I recommend that:

a) You order tickets to this new version of Fahrenheit 451 -- see details in the opening graph of this blog

b) Check out my quiz on Videophilia -- to see if you have it -- and lean forward not backwards in your own life! js.

Hollywood2020: POP QUIZ: DO YOU SUFFER FROM VIDEOPHILIA?