Tool book index letter t

Cabinet Hardware
Picture Frames Thank you browsing our Book store
We hope you have found a book or 2.
Please come back again
as our Book list continues to grow.
Woodworking
Tool Woodworking
Book Store

Tool Book Store

Tool books for index: t
986 Tool books available in this index.
Showing 25 results 101 to 125.

Please feel free to brows our book store we have many title to choose from. Book reviews are located at the bottom of the page. Can not find what you are looking for? Check out the Amazon search box below.
Thank you
Navigation:
<< PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT >>

Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Woodworking, Vol. 2: Finishing, Sharpening, Using Woodworking Tools
ISBN: 1561587451  ASIN: 1561587451
Author: Taunton Press
Publisher: The Taunton Press 10 October, 2004
Our Price: $75.60 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: May 13th, 2005 10:55:10 PM

Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Working with Wood (Complete Illustrated Guides (Taunton))
ISBN: 1561586838  ASIN: 1561586838
Author: Andy Rae
Publisher: The Taunton Press 12 March, 2005
Our Price: $26.37 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 05th, 2005 05:29:00 AM

Taunton's Deck & Patio Idea Book
ISBN: 1561586390  ASIN: 1561586390
Author: Julie Stillman
Publisher: Taunton Press 01 December, 2003
Our Price: $13.97 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 07:52:57 PM

Taunton's Front Yard Idea Book
ISBN: 156158519X  ASIN: 156158519X
Author: Jeni Webber
Publisher: Taunton Press 01 December, 2002
Our Price: $13.57 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 26th, 2005 07:24:10 PM

Taunton's Home Storage Idea Book (Taunton's Idea Book Series)
ISBN: 1561585262  ASIN: 1561585262
Author: Joanne Kellar Bouknight
Publisher: Taunton Press 01 September, 2002
Our Price: $19.77 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 05:47:41 AM

Taunton's Home Workspace Idea Book (Idea Book Series)
ISBN: 1561586269  ASIN: 1561586269
Author: Neal Zimmerman
Publisher: Taunton Press 01 September, 2002
Our Price: $16.47 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 05:47:28 AM

Taunton's Kidspace Idea Book : Creative Playrooms Clever Storage Ideas Retreats for Teens Toddler-Friendly Bedrooms (Idea Book Series)
ISBN: 156158617X  ASIN: 156158617X
Author: Wendy A. Jordan
Publisher: Taunton 01 October, 2002
Our Price: $16.47 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 06:14:22 AM

Tax Planning for U.S. Mncs With Eu Holding Companies: Goals, Tools, Barriers
ISBN: 9041199225  ASIN: 9041199225
Author: Pia Dorfmueller
Publisher: Kluwer Law International 01 July, 2003
Our Price: $87.00 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: May 13th, 2005 10:55:10 PM

Tax This! An Insider's Guide to Standing Up to the IRS (Self-Counsel Legal Series.)
ISBN: 1551804131  ASIN: 1551804131
Author: Scott M. Estill
Publisher: Self-Counsel Press 01 December, 2002
Our Price: $13.57 Usually ships in 3 to 5 weeks
As of: July 01st, 2005 01:51:02 AM

TaxCut 2004 Deluxe
ISBN:   ASIN: B0006460RM
Author:
Publisher: H&R Block 23 November, 2004
Our Price: This item is currently not available.
As of: June 28th, 2005 11:55:35 PM

TaxCut 2004 Premium
ISBN:   ASIN: B0006461NK
Author:
Publisher: H&R Block 19 December, 2004
Our Price: This item is currently not available.
As of: June 30th, 2005 07:00:39 PM

TaxCut 2004 Standard
ISBN:   ASIN: B000645ZBE
Author:
Publisher: H&R Block 23 November, 2004
Our Price: This item is currently not available.
As of: July 01st, 2005 04:42:58 AM

TaxCut 2004 State
ISBN:   ASIN: B0006466DA
Author:
Publisher: H&R Block 30 November, 2004
Our Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 28th, 2005 11:56:24 PM

Taxes For Dummies 2005
ISBN: 0764572113  ASIN: 0764572113
Author: Eric Tyson
Publisher: For Dummies 06 December, 2004
Our Price: $11.53 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 29th, 2005 08:12:45 AM

Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing, A: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
ISBN: 080131903X  ASIN: 080131903X
Author: Lorin W. Anderson
Publisher: Allyn & Bacon 29 December, 2000
Our Price: $28.55 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 27th, 2005 09:51:50 AM

Taylor's 50 Best Herbs and Edible Flowers : Easy Plants for More Beautiful Gardens (Taylor's 50 Best)
ISBN: 0395873355  ASIN: 0395873355
Author: Frances Tenenbaum
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 01 February, 1999
Our Price: $8.00 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 01:42:40 AM

Taylor's 50 Best Perennials for Shade : Easy Plants for More Beautiful Gardens (Taylor's 50 Best)
ISBN: 0395873312  ASIN: 0395873312
Author: Frances Tenenbaum
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 01 February, 1999
Our Price: $8.00 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 28th, 2005 07:00:03 PM

Taylor's Guide to Annuals : How to Select and Grow more than 400 Annuals, Biennials, and Tender Perennials - Flexible Binding (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
ISBN: 0395943523  ASIN: 0395943523
Author: Barbara Ellis
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 11 January, 2000
Our Price: $15.64 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 05:27:11 PM

Taylor's Guide to Ground Covers: More than 400 Flowering and Foliage Ground Covers for Every Garden Situation - Flexible Binding (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
ISBN: 0618030107  ASIN: 0618030107
Author: Nan Sinton
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 05 February, 2002
Our Price: $15.64 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 05:27:03 PM

Taylor's Guide to Heirloom Vegetables : A Complete Guide to the Best Historic and Ethnic Varieties (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
ISBN: 0395708184  ASIN: 0395708184
Author: Benjamin A Watson
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 28 February, 1996
Our Price: $13.57 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 12:01:32 AM

Taylor's Guide to Ornamental Grasses : More Than 165 of These Versatile, Low-Maintenance Plants, Pictured in Color with Full Descriptions of How to Use Them (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
ISBN: 0395797616  ASIN: 0395797616
Author: Roger Holmes
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 09 September, 1996
Our Price: $15.64 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 05:34:23 PM

Taylor's Guide to Perennials
ISBN: 0395983630  ASIN: 0395983630
Author: Barbara Ellis
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 20 February, 2001
Our Price: $15.64 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 30th, 2005 09:51:26 AM

Taylor's Guide to Shade Gardening : More Than 350 Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers That Thrive Under Difficult Conditions, Illustrated with Color Photograph ... Detailed Drawings (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
ISBN: 0395651654  ASIN: 0395651654
Author: Frances Tenenbaum
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 10 March, 1994
Our Price: $15.64 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 30th, 2005 10:16:00 AM

Taylor's Guide to Shrubs: How to Select and Grow More than 500 Ornamental and Useful Shrubs for Privacy, Ground Covers, and Specimen Plantings
ISBN: 0618004378  ASIN: 0618004378
Author: Kathleen Fisher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 20 February, 2001
Our Price: $15.64 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: June 30th, 2005 10:33:35 AM

Taylor's Guide to Trees : The Definitive, Easy-to-use Guide to 200 of the Garden's Most Important Plants (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
ISBN: 0618068899  ASIN: 0618068899
Author: Susan A. Roth
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin 24 May, 2001
Our Price: $15.64 Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: July 01st, 2005 05:27:20 PM

Navigation:
<< PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT >>

Search for products like

Review: 'Pineapple Express' Lightens Summer Superhero Overload

Judd Apatow's R-rated stoner flick reunites <cite>Freaks and Geeks</cite> alums Seth Rogen and James Franco for a round of dope-smoking, violence and nerdy laughs.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=0192dbf2069afe69a820f19323ef6606"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=0192dbf2069afe69a820f19323ef6606"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=0192dbf2069afe69a820f19323ef6606" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=531R9K"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=531R9K" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=JB57xk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=JB57xk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=CDWC7k"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=CDWC7k" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=knJ0GK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=knJ0GK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/357901773" height="1" width="1"/>

Paris Hilton Enters Election Fray, Viral History

As the hotel heiress announces her faux run for the White House, she takes a jokey jab at a McCain campaign ad that called Obama a lightweight. Hilton's clip is a hit for Funny or Die.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=62176815b8966857f02465c5ff530c6c" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=62176815b8966857f02465c5ff530c6c" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=g1R5zK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=g1R5zK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=YWYcok"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=YWYcok" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=Sx8VDk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=Sx8VDk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=Iq2mwK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=Iq2mwK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/357691922" height="1" width="1"/>

Settle the Beef: Does Rush Deserve the Hall of Fame?

If you could ask the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about a Rush candidacy, what would you ask? Listening Post will sift through your queries and lob the best three at our contact in Cleveland.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=a00af484d3a1982cf20a6d646fd546da" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=a00af484d3a1982cf20a6d646fd546da" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=rNPGMK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=rNPGMK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=mr2vhk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=mr2vhk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=CgQgHk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=CgQgHk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=mlaH7K"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=mlaH7K" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/354667696" height="1" width="1"/>

Review: <i>Mummy</i> 3 Comes Unraveled

The first <i>Mummy</i> movie was a rousing pulp adventure, giving us Brendan Fraser at his wise-cracking best. Ken Denmead reviews the third installment of the series, <cite>The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor</cite>.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=525accd1d665142c38a1b0b974e29a15" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=525accd1d665142c38a1b0b974e29a15" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=Ki2WJK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=Ki2WJK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=cf35Nk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=cf35Nk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=QekGGk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=QekGGk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=iPmDeK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=iPmDeK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/354548758" height="1" width="1"/>

Would You Pay $1,700 for a Digital Print of Dylan?

Sony's Icon Collectibles line is indicative of an overall collapse in the music industry. In an earlier time, this venture would have been a peripheral bonus. But with CDs on their deathbed, and Sony still smarting from the Great Rootkit Fiasco of 2005, it feels like a desperation move.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=84200f932b6079bdc45285f28fab38fd" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=84200f932b6079bdc45285f28fab38fd" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=7Byb9K"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=7Byb9K" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=fKiQ7k"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=fKiQ7k" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=oO2mMk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=oO2mMk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=bRixpK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=bRixpK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/353970500" height="1" width="1"/>

<cite>Guitar Hero, Rock Band</cite> and the Rock 'n' Roll Money Machine

<p> The booming success of the <cite>Guitar Hero</cite> and <cite>Rock Band</cite> franchises has dropped a bomb on the music biz. Record labels and rock stars alike are eyeing new revenue streams as gamemakers compete for musical talent, scramble to secure rights to original master tapes and bring in aging artists to re-record classic rock hits. </p> <p> Activision Blizzard -- publisher of <cite>Guitar Hero</cite>, the groundbreaking videogame that lets wannabe rockers tap out songs on Les Paul-shaped controllers -- raked in a reported <a href="http://www.portfolio.com/resources/company-profiles/Activision-Blizzard-Incorporated-2539/financials">$830 million in 2007</a>, an annual record for any game franchise. </p> <p> Now an industry reeling from the disruptive effects of technology is looking at music games as a lucrative new income stream. </p> </p> <p> Here are a few ways that <cite>Rock Band</cite> and <cite>Guitar Hero</cite> are changing the game for the record industry: <p> <strong>Old bands, new fans</strong> </p> <p> Young gamers are getting turned on to classic rock songs recorded before they were born, with videogame consoles functioning almost like radio did in its hit-making heyday. </p> <p> "<cite>Guitar Hero</cite> is a really funny craze, kind of like the Hula-Hoop," says Nancy Wilson of Heart, whose 1976 hit "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2OgiP3mDL4">Crazy on You</a>" appears in <cite>Guitar Hero II.</cite> "It also is one big reason why so many really young kids are showing up at Heart concerts these days." </p> <p> <strong>Musical mimicry</strong> </p> <p> "Crazy on You" might be winning Heart new fans, but it's not the original recording that gamers are playing along to. Of the 106 recordings featured in the first three releases of <cite>Guitar Hero</cite>, only nine are original recordings. The other 97, including the Heart hit, are re-recordings done by a stable of studio hired guns at <a href="http://www.wavegroup.com/">WaveGroup Sound</a> in Fremont, California, according to Will Littlejohn, WaveGroup's president. </p> <p> "We usually shoot for the same vibe, and pick players and vocalists that will work with the song," says Littlejohn. "We don't over-think it, we just have them play the song as they hear it or sing the tune with their own voice. In terms of the arrangements, we often make changes to the guitar and bass parts in order to make gameplay more interesting in <cite>Guitar Hero.</cite>" </p> <p> <strong>Looming lawsuits</strong> </p> <p> While record labels and classic rock groups are enjoying newfound success as a result of music games' popularity, at least one band is not happy about the situation and is challenging Activision in court. Members of '80s rock band The Romantics are suing Activision, claiming their hit "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DetWyQDQYGs">What I Like About You</a>" and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VAag8Vxipc"><cite>Guitar Hero</cite> cover version of the song</a> sound so much alike that gamers are confused and the band suffers as a result. </p> <p> "There's at least a half-dozen other bands waiting in the wings to see what happens with this case," says Romantics' attorney Mike Novak. </p> <p> Activision insists it obtained proper licensing to include the song in the game, and says the band is on a fishing expedition. "What they did was file for a preliminary injunction over the Thanksgiving holiday trying to disrupt sales of <cite>Guitar Hero</cite> on a theory that just doesn't hold water," says Activision attorney George Hedges, referring to The Romantics' lawsuit. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has agreed with Activision at least at the preliminary stage, finding that the band sold its rights in the song and recordings to a music publisher and record company, neither of whom is suing. </p> <p> In her <a href="http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/media_law_prof_blog/files/romantics.pdf">opinion denying the band's bid</a> (.pdf) for an injunction to stop sales of the game, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds noted that the lead singer of the song, Jimmy Marinos, is not even a plaintiff and is no longer in the band. The court held a summary judgment hearing July 9 and is expected to decide soon who wins. </p>  <p> <strong>Old bands, new sessions</strong> </p> <div id="embed_wide"> <div id="pic"> <a href="#" onclick="launchWindow('/imageviewer/?imagePath=/images/article/full/2008/08/soundalikes_2.jpg&imageCaption=%3Cem%3EJon+Snyder%2FWired%3C%2Fem%3E&image Credit=','1092','827')" title=""><img src="/images/article/full/2008/08/soundalikes_2.jpg" alt=""></a> <div id="caption"> Studio magic tweaks classic rock songs for today's hottest videogames. Dave Urrutia and Will Littlejohn work behind the soundboard at WaveGroup, while Darryl C. Anders, Marcus Henderson and Scott Dugdale (left to right) lay down tracks. <br> <em>Photo courtesy WaveGroup Sound</em> </div> </div> </div> <p> Perhaps in part because of litigation fears and the game's wild success, Activision is now more often using record labels' original master recordings or going to original band members for re-recordings of their hits rather than using sound-alike recordings. </p> <p> "In some cases it's karaoke, except with the original band members," says <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=MARTI|FREDERIKSEN&samples=1&sql=11:wbfuxqy5ldse~T3">Marti Frederiksen</a>, a top producer who has re-recorded hits by Aerosmith, Foreigner and others. "Other times they'll go back to the original to get the vibe but go for something new. With Aerosmith, the vocals and guitar and every sound is different. We didn't go for retro, we wanted it different for <cite>Guitar Hero.</cite>" </p> <p> Frederiksen and mix engineer <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dnfpxq9aldfe~T4">Anthony Focx</a> have remixed many original Aerosmith multitrack recordings for <cite><a href="http://www.guitarherogame.com/ghaerosmith/">Guitar Hero: Aerosmith</a></cite>, an upcoming release to feature only tracks from Aerosmith and select bands that have toured with the 38-year-old supergroup. Because master tapes of the band's debut album have been lost, the band recently re-recorded megahits "Dream On" and "Mama Kin." </p> <p> <strong>Power to the performers</strong> </p> <p> Many artists would rather re-record an old hit and own it outright than share licensing income with a record label. For example, the timing was perfect for Sammy Hagar when Activision came looking for a re-recording of his hit "I Can't Drive 55" after Geffen Records couldn't locate the master. </p> <p> "By coincidence," Hagar says, "we had re-recorded the song a couple years earlier because we did a commercial for Napa Auto Parts, but we couldn't close the deal at the time and so we had a great multitrack of the song sitting on the shelf. <cite>Guitar Hero</cite> needed it, we were ready." </p> <p><strong>Games as starmakers</strong> </p> <p> With once-dominant record labels now staggering blindly, young bands like the Silversun Pickups view <cite>Rock Band</cite> and <cite>Guitar Hero</cite>, which licensed the band's hit "Lazy Eye," as a sort of band-breaking vehicle similar to MTV in the '80s. With music titles rocking the videogame charts, getting a song picked up for <cite>Guitar Hero</cite> is a great way to gain all-important exposure. </p> <p> "It's really cool to have a record out, or radio spins, or get your song in a movie," says the band's label head, Jeff Castelaz. "But kids don't listen to a song on the radio or watch it in a movie 30 times a night with a bunch of friends." </p><br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=d6d0db5ec346896029ee8caf897cadca"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=d6d0db5ec346896029ee8caf897cadca"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=d6d0db5ec346896029ee8caf897cadca" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=Ux4ApK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=Ux4ApK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=Z2PbRk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=Z2PbRk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=8hDygk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=8hDygk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=Qf4LUK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=Qf4LUK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/353277581" height="1" width="1"/>

Meet the Next <cite>Rocky Horrors</cite>: Tarantino's <cite>Hell Ride</cite> and Four Other Freaky Flicks

<p><strong>Think "midnight movie,"</strong> and John Waters' <cite>Pink Flamingos</cite> or David Lynch's <cite>Eraserhead</cite> likely springs to mind. These '70s experimental flicks — deemed too raw and weird for mainstream audiences — flopped on initial theatrical release only to creep back as late-night fare. Now there's a new crop of films taking the express route to cultdom. Rather than banking on big box-office draw, these movies are playing up their fringe appeal with witching-hour screenings. Among them is the Quentin Tarantino-produced biker bloodbath homage <em>Hell Ride</em>, starring Larry Bishop, Dennis Hopper, and Michael Madsen (out August 8). "The thing you don't want," says writer-director Bishop, "is people walking out of the theater and going, 'That was nice.' This movie is not nice." Here's the next wave of outlandish night-frights invading a theater near you.</p> <p> <strong>1: <cite>Hell Ride</cite></strong> <br/> High-octane bikes, buckets of beer, and a whole lot of booty — it's no surprise that Tarantino, the heir apparent of midnight movies, is behind this. QT tapped Larry Bishop, a B-movie legend, five years ago to make <cite>Hell Ride</cite>, telling him it was his destiny to produce the greatest motorcycle movie ever. "The earlier films always hinted at wildness," Bishop says. "We delivered." (He's not joking: According to Bishop, the first eight minutes depicts a full-on orgy.) </p> <p> <strong>2: <cite>Sukiyaki Western Django</cite></strong> <br/> Japanese auteur Takashi Miike, best known for cult classics like <cite>Audition</cite>, <cite>Ichi the Killer</cite>, and <cite>The City of Lost Souls</cite>, pits a lone gunman against two feuding clans in this Asian-infused spaghetti (er, udon) western, out August 29. A classic '60s spurs, guns, and glory soundtrack rolls while Japanese actors sound out cowboyisms like "I reckon." A serape-wearing Tarantino even pops up as a gunslinger called Ringo. </p> <p> <strong>3: <cite>The Midnight Meat Train</cite></strong> <br/> Adapted from Clive Barker's 1984 debut <cite>Books of Blood</cite> collection, Ryuhei Kitamura's deliciously horrifying slasher flick lives up to its inspiration. The gore fiesta stars Bradley Cooper (<cite>Alias</cite>) as a photographer investigating a serial killer lurking in the underground railways. What he finds is a singularly demented butcher with a very effective meat tenderizer. </p> <p> <strong>4: <cite>Big Man</cite></strong> <br/> Japan Asian superstar comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto hits the US with this ludicrous mockumentary chronicling the life of a down-and-out superhero. A film fest hit — night owls will relish its over-the-top monster sequences and <cite>Ultraman</cite> references. </p> <p> <strong>5: <cite>Speed Racer</cite></strong> <br/> Hey, Warner Bros. Why not pull a <cite>Showgirls</cite> and recast the Wachowskis' box-office bomb as late-night snack? It's got bad dialog, car chases, physics-defying stunts, and logic-defying plot points. Bonus: Audiences can throw bananas each time Chim Chim the chimp gets time. </p><br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=cfbb8fce7b209412c7c5caed03b93130" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=cfbb8fce7b209412c7c5caed03b93130" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=fFLH3J"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=fFLH3J" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=v9hq0j"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=v9hq0j" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=9fmnkj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=9fmnkj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=H0bqZJ"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=H0bqZJ" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/352246486" height="1" width="1"/>

New <cite>In Rainbows</cite>' Numbers Offer Lessons for Music Industry

A British economist teamed with a firm that measures file sharing to show that Radiohead's 'pay what you want' album release strategy was a success, despite millions of copies being traded online.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=24a9105e22783d0e93f223d5f954eb88" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=24a9105e22783d0e93f223d5f954eb88" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=FaauNJ"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=FaauNJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=Vz2VXj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=Vz2VXj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=pi2ckj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=pi2ckj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=4y767J"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=4y767J" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/352087701" height="1" width="1"/>

Hollywood Has Finally Figured Out How to Make Web Video Pay

<p><strong>It's a quintessential Hollywood moment:</strong> a star on a soundstage, the focal point of every person and every piece of equipment in the room. The star on this particular January day is Rosario Dawson, the 29-year-old actress who earned her cred as an Uzi-wielding prostitute in <cite>Sin City</cite>. She's being filmed against a greenscreen in extreme close-up, highlighting her sculpted cheekbones and olive skin. "We've got this joke in vice," she murmurs in a voice that's uncommonly sultry for a police detective. "Love costs 10 bucks. <cite>True</cite> love costs 20."</p> <p>In her studded black tunic and high-heeled boots, Dawson is apparently Tinseltown's idea of how to clean up the streets. "She looks like she can kick some ass," observes Brent Friedman, the chief screenwriter, who's watching on a nearby monitor. But even though we're in a Hollywood zip code, this is no film or television shoot. The rented space looks more like an oversize garage than a studio soundstage. Instead of the usual army of grips and gaffers, the production is staffed by a skeleton crew. And the parking lot outside? Barely big enough for 20 cars.</p> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/487cd7e4d5f8a1eb/4741e3c 5156499a7/a49ca760" id="W4727a250e66f9723487cd7e4d5f8a1eb" height="283" width="384" style="float:left;margin:0px 9px 9px 0px;"><param value="http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/487cd7e4d5f8a1eb/4741e3 c5156499a7/a49ca760" name="movie"/><param value="transparent" name="wmode"/><param value="all" name="allowNetworking"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/></object> <p>All of which can mean only one thing: another Web production. Two years after the success of <cite><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15">Lonelygirl15</a></cite> — the groundbreaking YouTube serial that turned out to be not the DIY diary of a 16-year-old girl but the work of three wannabe auteurs in Beverly Hills — Web video has finally captured Hollywood's imagination. Last year, former Disney chief Michael Eisner launched <cite><a href="http://summerheat.promqueen.tv/episodes/watch/1">Prom Queen</a></cite>, a daily 90-second teen drama; Judd Apatow has joined Will Ferrell on Funny or Die, a sort of YouTube for comedy; producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz had a modest success with <cite><a href="http://www.quarterlife.com/theshow/view">Quarterlife</a></cite>, a Web show about self-obsessed twentysomethings, only to see it flop on TV. But <cite>Gemini Division</cite>, the sci-fi serial Dawson is shooting today, will be the first Web series to feature a bona fide Hollywood star.</p> <p>Sure, the YouTube explosion was fueled by amateurs, but it will be showbiz professionals who cash in on Web video. That's because most big corporate advertisers want a safe, predictable environment — not the latest YouTube one-off, no matter how viral. Once the major brands get on board, millions of ad dollars will follow. Which is why when the writers' strike idled most of Hollywood last winter, talent agents fielded calls from clients eager to try their hand. At the same time, the fact that a three-minute clip can be shot for as little as $2,000 means Web video will be more open to ambitious neophytes than television ever was — witness the guys behind <cite>Lonelygirl15</cite>, who now have a second hit Web series called <cite>KateModern</cite> and a deal to develop more for CBS.</p> <p>So far, however, this is a gold rush without any gold. Nobody knows how the business is supposed to work — what kind of stories to tell, whether to tell them in 90 seconds or 20 minutes, whether to build a destination site or distribute episodes across the Net, how to generate revenue, how to do it all on a shoestring. The <cite>Gemini</cite> team is betting they can figure it out. "People ask, 'What's your business model?'" says the director, Stan Rogow, during a lull in the shoot. "And I say, 'This morning's or this afternoon's?' It's only partly a joke."</p> <p>A wiry figure who wears his long silver hair brushed straight back, Rogow is dressed in softly faded jeans and an extravagantly collared white shirt open halfway to the waist, a set of aviator glasses tucked neatly into the V. In an earlier life he was "the king of tweens," the producer who made <cite>Lizzie McGuire</cite> for Disney and turned Hilary Duff into a star. <cite>Gemini Division</cite> is the first of eight Web serials he has in the works at Electric Farm Entertainment, the production company he's formed with Friedman, the writer, and Jeff Sagansky, a former copresident of Sony Pictures Entertainment and head of CBS Entertainment before that.</p> <p>Right now they need a distributor, and they've been talking with everyone from NBC Universal to MySpace about putting <cite>Gemini Division</cite> on their sites. Whoever they partner with would sell advertising and maybe even help fund the production. MySpace isn't offering money up front, but it does sell ads and split the revenue with producers. Eisner partnered with MySpace on <cite>Prom Queen</cite>, as did Herskovitz with <cite>Quarterlife</cite>, but Rogow is hoping for a more lucrative arrangement — which is why he has spent half the afternoon squiring around a pair of suits from NBC. The deal he's discussing would put Electric Farm well on its way to recouping the $1.75 million or so it will cost to make the 50 three-minute episodes Rogow plans to shoot. But the deal's not done yet.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Rogow has been talking with Cisco and a handful of other companies about another way to make money: product placement. As a <cite>Buck Rogers</cite>-style serial set "five minutes in the future," the show presents many possibilities for tech companies. Dawson's smartphone, for instance, is the aperture through which we see the entire series. She talks urgently into the device throughout each episode, sending the feed to someone — we don't know whom — and occasionally holding it up to capture what's going on around her. It's a prominent branding opportunity for any handset maker willing to plunk down the money.</p> <p>Like <cite>Prom Queen</cite> and <cite>Lonelygirl15</cite>, <cite>Gemini Division</cite> is essentially a female first-person confessional — in this case, a confessional about biotech run wild. Dawson plays Anna Diaz, a New York City detective having a crazy fling with a guy who's tall, blond, and ripped. By episode 4, the one they're shooting now, he has spirited her off to Paris for a romantic getaway, but she realizes something isn't right. Like, what's with the orange ring he left around the bathtub? "I really do love Nick," Dawson confides to the camera. "But being a cop, you get cynical. And you learn to trust your gut."</p> <p>For the next scene, two crew members wheel a queen-size bed into place. Justin Hartley, the 6'3" <cite>Smallville</cite> actor who plays Nick, is lolling on the bed in his boxer shorts, sporting six-pack abs and a bright orange belly button. The script calls for Anna to come out in a sexy black negligee and climb into bed with him. The sound man cues up Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." Everybody laughs.</p>  <div id="embed" style="float:left;margin-right:9px;"> <div id="pic"> <img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini3_f.jpg" alt="" /> <div id="caption">Dawson as detective Anna Diaz <br/><em>Screenshot: Courtesy Electric Farm</em></div> </div> </div> <p>For Anna, romance has given way to suspicion: first the orange tub ring and now, as she settles reluctantly into Nick's arms, his orange navel. If the camera were to pan a little wider, it would also catch two grips crouching behind the headboard to keep the bed from sliding across the set. Rogow smiles ruefully at the amateurishness of it all. "I think we should keep those guys in the background," he quips. "It's a nice touch."</p> <p><strong>Two years ago,</strong>when <cite>Lonelygirl15</cite> first showed that a scripted Web-only serial could attract a sizable audience, most people in show business thought of the Web as a promotional vehicle — if they thought of it at all. Then a couple of major players caught the bug. Michael Eisner was one; another was Jeff Sagansky, who was investing in small production companies like the one that makes <cite>The Tudors</cite> for Showtime. Web video was uncharted territory: no rules, limitless potential. "We're at the vanguard of something that can explode," Sagansky declares a few weeks after the January shoot. A trim 56-year-old, he's seated in his elegantly appointed town house on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "You know TV; it's been around in its present form since <cite>Hill Street Blues</cite>," the '80s ensemble show that's still the template for most drama series. "But this is all new."</p> <p>Fans of <cite>Mad Men</cite>, <cite>Weeds</cite>, and <cite>Battlestar Galactica</cite> may think television has entered a new golden age, but many in the business see a medium in decline. TV programs used to be made by independent production companies. Now, with few exceptions, a handful of giant media conglomerates own the networks that air the shows, the film studios that make the shows, and the shows themselves. Network suits tell the producers what to do, and when it doesn't work — which is most of the time — they cancel the show. The Web puts power back in the hands of the creators: Producers own their shows and answer only to themselves. If they develop spinoffs for television, videogames, or the movies, they're well positioned to retain control when a property migrates to other media. That's why everyone took note of the deal NBC made last year to air <cite>Quarterlife</cite> in prime time. For the first time in memory, the producers of a TV show got full ownership and creative control.</p> <p>There's a downside, of course. Top writer-producers in television live like pampered pets, the kind that get caviar for breakfast. To succeed online, they'll have to be as entrepreneurial as anyone in Silicon Valley. Instead of pulling in millions a year, they'll be scrambling for nickels and dimes. No surprise, then, that some of them think of Web video as a sort of farm club for TV: Why spend $2 million to make a half-hour pilot when you can shoot some high-quality Web episodes at $10,000 to $30,000 a pop, post them online to build buzz, string them together to make a series, and then port the whole thing back to television, where the real money is?</p> <p><cite>Quarterlife</cite> looked like the perfect prototype. Its episodes even happened to be seven to 10 minutes long, the typical interval between commercial breaks on TV. But while it did OK online, garnering some 6 million views after its November launch, its premiere on NBC drew only 3.9 million viewers — an all-time low for the network in that slot. When it was summarily canceled, Herskovitz was stunned. Not Sagansky. "This is a whole new medium," he says. "To think it's going to fix the old medium is a warped way of looking at things."</p> <p>Not that anyone yet has a recipe for success online. "We know that the Internet is about short-form entertainment," Sagansky says. "And most of it is personally narrated," as <cite>Lonelygirl15</cite> was. Other people, Eisner among them, will tell you that Web video isn't about Hollywood stars like Dawson, that this medium is for regular people. But the truth is that nobody really knows what form Web video will eventually take. The technology that has made it possible — broadband Internet connections, more-efficient data compression, ever-cheaper storage and servers, hi-res computer and smartphone screens — could seem ludicrously primitive before long. In 1908, movies were 10 minutes long because that's all you could get on a reel of film, and the actors who appeared in them were anonymous. Movies as we know them were still years away.</p> <div id="embed" style="float:right;margin-left:9px;"> <div id="pic"> <img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini4_f.jpg" alt="" /> <div id="caption"><em>Screenshot: Courtesy Electric Farm</em></div> </div> </div> <p><strong>Sometimes even Rosario Dawson</strong> wonders if people want to see a Hollywood star in a Web serial. "The thing that's succeeded on the Web — besides, obviously, porn — is people themselves," she says over lunch. She's on a break from shooting the DreamWorks thriller <cite>Eagle Eye</cite> with Shia LaBeouf; soon she'll start rehearsals for <cite>Seven Pounds</cite>, a Sony film in which she plays a desperately ill heart patient Will Smith falls in love with. "They're putting up their own stuff — really off the cuff, no money involved. So we're taking a huge risk. But it's exciting to be part of something new. Even if we mess it up, we were the first, you know? That's kind of awesome in itself."</p> <p>But if casting Dawson was a break from the nascent conventions of Web video, the format of <cite>Gemini Division</cite> is not. It isn't just that this is short-attention-span entertainment. It's that, like <cite>Lonelygirl15</cite> and <cite>Prom Queen</cite> and even such TV shows as <cite>Lost</cite> and <cite>Heroes</cite>, <cite>Gemini Division</cite> is designed to involve the audience in ways that more closely resemble videogames than conventional narrative drama.</p>  <div style="position:relative;width:630px;padding-bottom:12px;"> <img style="width:630px;display:block;clear:both;" src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini2_f.jpg" alt="" /> <div style="padding:5px;background-color:#000;color:#fff;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:0.8em;">Dawson and director Stan Rogow (far right) on the Gemini Division set.<br/><em>Photo: Roger Deckker</em></div> </div> <p>That's no coincidence. A seasoned film and television writer, Friedman left Hollywood three years ago for Electronic Arts, where he wrote the best-selling <cite>Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars</cite> and the soon-to-be-released <cite>Tiberium</cite>. At EA, he had to relearn scriptwriting, because the conventions of TV don't work in interactive media. In a one-hour drama, he explains, "you put the characters together over some beers and let them bring out the plot. It's exposition disguised as dialog." But games dispense with the entire first act, the part that sets the plot in motion. "When the story begins, you're in-world — you have a gun, all hell is breaking loose, and your job as a player is to stay alive and figure out where you are." Web video gets subjected to that same compression algorithm. "We're starting every episode with Anna on the run," Friedman says. "She's already in the second act — the part where everything goes wrong."</p> <p>But Friedman's ambition is to merge television with videogames in a form of storytelling that engages audience members on multiple levels — and not just with the narrative but with each other. So while Anna dodges "sims" (simulated life-forms, with their telltale orange stigmata) and agents from the mysterioso outfit known as <cite>Gemini Division</cite>, fans will be able to log on to the show's Web site and get transmissions from Anna's partner in the police department. Users will be recruited as Gemini agents themselves, at which point they can talk with other agents — er, users — by webcam. "I think this is where entertainment is heading," he says. "It's where <cite>I</cite> want entertainment to head, because that's what I want to experience."</p> <p>Rogow and Friedman first tried this approach to storytelling in an earlier Web effort, an animated serial called <cite><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/AfterworldTV">Afterworld</a></cite>. Developed just after <cite>Lonelygirl15</cite> made such a splash, <cite>Afterworld</cite> was where they met Rosario Dawson. Dawson is a comics geek, and as a favor to a comics writer she knew who was working on <cite>Afterworld</cite>, she agreed to do a voice-over for one of the characters. Rogow asked her about doing a video series based on <cite><a href="http://www.12gaugecomics.com/oct.html">Occult Crimes Taskforce</a></cite>, a comic she had helped create. That didn't happen because a film deal was already in the works. But a couple of months later, Rogow called to say they were developing <cite>Gemini Division</cite>. It had been written for a male lead, but they were thinking of reworking it for her. They would make her a partner in the production and give her a cut of any profits.</p> <p>Dawson had already signed on to play a military investigations officer in <cite>Eagle Eye</cite>, and her character in <cite>Occult Crimes Taskforce</cite> is also a detective. "When Stan told me I'd be playing an officer in <cite>Gemini Division</cite>, I was like, you know, this is going to seem weird." Even so, she liked the idea. She'd been acting for a dozen years, ever since she was discovered on the stoop of her parents' squat on Manhattan's Lower East Side and cast in Larry Clark's <cite><a href="http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi613679385/">Kids</a></cite>. "Normally at this point it starts to get stagnant," she says. "You're worrying about looking older, are they going to like you anymore. But I'm more going, what new can I do? I'd rather put myself into the fray than sit back and go, well, I played it safe."</p> <p><strong>On a sunny afternoon</strong> in March, Rogow pulls his black Porsche SUV to the curb, collects a ticket from the valet, and walks briskly into the Creative Artists Agency building on LA's Avenue of the Stars. Perfectly framed in an enormous glass wall is the Hollywood sign, 8 miles away. Rogow is here to meet with Anita Lawhon, the Cisco executive in charge of entertainment partnerships. This is crunch time for <cite>Gemini Division</cite>, the weeks when everything — advertising, distribution, financing, production — must come together. On a table in the vast marble reception zone sits this morning's <cite>Daily Variety</cite>. "Changes to Biz Give Town the Jitters," reads the front-page headline.</p> <p>Today, Rogow is focused on how to get that business model working. It's going well — so well that Herskovitz recently met with his CAA agents to learn how Electric Farm is doing it. Cisco is key. Those Gemini Division agents are going to wield some pretty cool tech, much of it — thanks to a deal brokered by CAA — actual products from Cisco: a video surveillance system that sends an alert when someone penetrates the wrong sector; digital billboards that can be reprogrammed on the fly; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X28-XVxYeAc&feature=related">TelePresence</a>, a teleconferencing system with life-size video so hi-def it makes virtual meetings seem almost real. In the past few weeks, similar deals have been cut with Acura, Intel, Microsoft, and UPS. "In a cold business sense," Rogow confides, "this show is a self-financing marketing vehicle."</p> <p>Settling into an all-white conference room, Rogow tells Lawhon they think it would be cool to show TelePresence on a private jet. "You think Rosario's at a table on the plane talking to people," he explains, "and we pull back and reveal they're not there."</p> <p>Lawhon isn't sure — after all, TelePresence isn't being marketed for private jets, and the goal here is to show Cisco's products as they're actually used. She'll check. "But if you could look at other insertion opportunities ..."</p> <p>"Like putting it in an office? Absolutely."</p> <p>Rogow is thrilled with Cisco's digital signs, which can be remotely programmed to display anything you want — like a coded message for Anna. "Which is, I think, why you really invented it: for superspies to get secret messages in malls," he quips. "We think that's real cool." He's equally happy with the surveillance system, which can send Anna a digital alert on her smartphone. "But we want to make sure we've got the Cisco logo in a prominent position," Lawhon points out. The days when product placement meant going full frontal on a Coke can are supposed to be over, but the client still has to get something in exchange for its six-figure fee. "That's why I love being able to see the script," she says.</p> <p>"That's great," Rogow replies. "I'll have script material for you next week."</p>  <style type="text/css"> #celeb_table {font-size:95%;} #celeb_table img {width:100px;height:100px;margin:9px 0px;} #celeb_table .img_cell {text-align:center;} #celeb_table .txt_cell {padding:12px 25px;} </style> <div style="float:left;width:275px;margin-right:10px;"> <div style="background-color:#000;color:#fff;padding:6px;"> <h3>Prime Time on the Web</h3> <span style="font-size:95%">Some big names in entertainment are turning to Web video. Here's a sneak preview of what to watch for in the coming months. — Frank Rose</span> </div> <table id="celeb_table" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background-color:#bff979;">  <tr valign="top"> <td class="img_cell" style=""><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini6_f.jpg"/></td> <td class="img_cell" style=""><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini7_f.jpg"/></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td class="txt_cell" style="border-bottom-width:8px;border-bottom-color:#fff200;border-bottom-style:solid;"> <strong>The Awesomes</strong> <br/> Can a team of superheroes rebuild after its founder retires? An animated comedy from <cite>Saturday Night Live</cite>'s Seth Meyers. </td> <td class="txt_cell" style="border-bottom-width:8px;border-bottom-color:#fff200;border-bottom-style:solid;"> <strong>Back on Topps</strong> <br/> Comedians Randy and Jason Sklar, heirs to the Topps baseball card empire, discover that Michael Eisner has taken over the company. </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td class="img_cell" style=""><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini8_f.jpg"/></td> <td class="img_cell" style=""><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini9_f.jpg"/></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td class="txt_cell" style="border-bottom-width:8px;border-bottom-color:#fff200;border-bottom-style:solid;"> <strong>Blah, Blah, Blah</strong> <br/> Ashton Kutcher does an animated gossip show. Live from the bedroom, cohosts Britney, Tiffany, and Krystie scoop the poop. </td> <td class="txt_cell" style="border-bottom-width:8px;border-bottom-color:#fff200;border-bottom-style:solid;"> <strong>Blood Cell</strong> <br/> <cite>Lonelygirl15</cite>'s Jessica Rose stars in a thriller about kidnapping and mobile telephony. Eduardo Rodriguez (<cite>Curandero</cite>) directs. </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td class="img_cell" style=""><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini10_f.jpg"/></td> <td class="img_cell" style=""><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini11_f.jpg"/></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="txt_cell" style="border-bottom-width:8px;border-bottom-color:#fff200;border-bottom-style:solid;"> <strong>Carpet Bros</strong> <br/> With David Spade as the carpet king of Rancho Cucamonga, the hapless also-rans of Carpet Galaxy don't stand a chance. </td> <td class="txt_cell" style="border-bottom-width:8px;border-bottom-color:#fff200;border-bottom-style:solid;"> <strong>Men With Guns: Assassin</strong> <br/> <cite>Oz</cite> creator Tom Fontana takes us into a secret organization out to improve society through judicious assassination. </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td class="img_cell" style=""><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/ff_gemini12_f.jpg"/></td> <td style=""></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td class="txt_cell" style=""> <strong>The Line</strong> <br/> Weeks before the premiere of the ultimate sci-fi/fantasy flick, <cite>SNL</cite>'s Bill Hader gets in line with a couple of buddies and a change of clothes. </td> <td style=""></td> </tr> </table> <br/> <div class="matchbook_plus" style="width:275px"></div> <br/> </div> <p>The next day, Friedman is at Electric Farm, in a Santa Monica office park, reworking scripts to integrate the products they've done deals for. There's the Acura TSX, the superspeedy UPS delivery, the search and mapping functions from Microsoft. He's not sure yet what to do with Intel. Maybe slap a <span style="text-transform: uppercase">powered by intel</span> badge on Dawson's smartphone? "It has to pass the creative smell test," he says, "so we feel we're enhancing the story rather than trying to sell you something." In any case, they'll have to make up a brand for the phone itself: CAA approached several handset manufacturers, but none bit.</p> <p>There's one other way to bring in money: venture capital. Funny or Die was funded by Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley venture firm behind YouTube. VCs like the idea that big Hollywood names can break through the clutter. But VCs also want an exit — a sale or stock offering that will net them the kind of payoff Sequoia got with YouTube. And while many would-be Web producers see venture money as manna from heaven, they haven't yet had to report to a frustrated money guy who doesn't know show business.</p> <p>"There's an old joke," Rogow says, trying to explain why Electric Farm hasn't tried this route. "A filmmaker dies and goes to heaven. Saint Peter greets him at the pearly gates. 'Good news!' he says. 'You can make any movie you want! You can get Beethoven to do the score. You can get Shakespeare to write the script.' The filmmaker gets all excited. 'And who can I have to play the girl?' he asks." Long pause. "'Well,' comes the reply, 'God's got a girlfriend ...'"</p> <p><strong>It's a Saturday afternoon</strong> in May. Two weeks earlier, NBC announced the formation of NBC Universal Digital Studio, with <cite>Gemini Division</cite> and <cite>Woke Up Dead</cite>, another Web series Electric Farm has in the works, as its first offerings. Now Rogow is back on a soundstage with Dawson — but this time the soundstage is bigger and the operation is far more professional.</p> <p>The last shoot, back in January, was almost too bare-bones to work. The camera's shutter speed was set too slow, causing a motion blur so bad that some scenes needed to be reshot. Worse, Dawson's hair wasn't properly styled — it had big, wispy curls that congealed into unsightly blobs once the green backdrop was pulled away. "Hair turds!" cried Duane Loose, the burly EA veteran who's the show's production designer.</p> <p>Nonetheless, they've put together a couple of episodes. A crew member is playing episode 5 on a computer screen in the corner: Anna Diaz in an abandoned factory in Paris, watching openmouthed as a man in a lab coat inserts a steel rod into Nick's orange navel. Seconds later, a pair of agents bursts in. One gets his arm sliced off by the doc's surgical laser. The other pulls out a weapon of his own and reduces Nick to a boiling puddle of goo. Anna screams: The man she loved is dead — and he wasn't even human!</p> <p>Today they're shooting episode 12. Dawson is on the greenscreen with a tall, well-muscled actor who's wielding the same kind of weapon that killed Nick. Anna is caught in a war between the sims — creatures like Nick — and the seemingly all-powerful Gemini Division, which is bent on eradicating them. Muscle Man plays a Gemini agent who's just puddled a sim that was gripping Anna's throat. Now he's turning away, leaving her as mystified as ever. "I want in," Dawson cries, reaching for his arm — in on <cite>Gemini Division</cite>, in on why they destroyed Nick, in on whatever the hell is going on.</p> <p>On the sidelines, arms folded across his black Che Guevara T-shirt, Friedman nods approvingly. In fits and starts, the world he's imagined is taking shape before him. Not a game world, not a TV world, but something different: a world viewed through the tiny window of Anna's phone. "That's an intimacy you don't get from television," he says. "And our mantra is, we want to do what television doesn't."</p> <p><cite>Contributing editor Frank Rose</cite> (<a href="mailto:frank_rose@wired.com">frank_rose@wired.com</a>) <cite>wrote about alternate reality games in issue 16.01.</cite></p><br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=127b011f988e1a67b62010ac26217aa9" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=127b011f988e1a67b62010ac26217aa9" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=hVsGWJ"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=hVsGWJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=gTccej"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=gTccej" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=gXVZSj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=gXVZSj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=MNC50J"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=MNC50J" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/351165657" height="1" width="1"/>

South Park Studios Releases Uncensored 'Imaginationland'

A new director's cut of the three-episode arc is available online for free.<br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=3e925689d8afa067e23decdf2cf52595" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=3e925689d8afa067e23decdf2cf52595" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=9DdeGJ"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=9DdeGJ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=skAxUj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=skAxUj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=jhKzhj"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=jhKzhj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?a=G6leDJ"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/entertainment?i=G6leDJ" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/entertainment/~4/351822437" height="1" width="1"/>

Books | Links | Add Link | Site Map