Olson’s Observations

For anyone that has ever wanted to know more about the film rating system this is for you. OK, a lot of you probably don’t care about the film rating system but I am a film geek and I do. Quite frankly, if you care about free speech you should too.

All documentaries have their slant on things so you have to take the info in them with a grain of salt but director Kirby Dick does provide a lot of compelling evidence in this film that would lead you to believe that the film rating system is pretty corrupt.

Here are some of the interesting bits:

1. Raters tend to let studio films slide through with R ratings while they slap independents with NC-17s for the same content (which basically means no one will get to see their film).

2. Raters will not tell filmmakers what they need to cut to get the rating they need/want under the guise that they aren’t censors but “just raters.” However, it seems they do help you when you are with a studio and they don’t if you are independent.

3. If you appeal your rating you are brought before a group of folks that wear numbers so you don’t know who they are or where they are from and you aren’t allowed to plead your case.

There are many more interesting points brought up in this documentary (like violence is much more accepted by raters than sex) but the points above all lead to the conclusion that studios, who back the MPAA, get preferential treatment over independents thus creating an inequality in the free speech arena. The raters are also acting as censors in a roundabout way by rating films they don’t think folks should see NC-17 (a lot of theaters wont carry NC-17 films meaning most people won’t see the film).

These raters are essentially the moral compass of America and (get this) the MPAA won’t even tell you, or anyone, who they are. In an open and transparent society like ours it seems crazy that the MPAA won’t tell you who gives films their ratings and essentially decides what you have easy access to watch.

Check out this movie if you have a chance. It may sound stupid to care about film ratings at first but I think you’ll see things differently after watching This Film is Not Yet Rated.

This third book by Joe Kurmaskie (see my reviews of his other two books here and here) is by far his best written. If you were to read all three of his books in a row as I have done you will see how the writing gets better each and every time. I can’t wait for his forthcoming book which I believe he will be turning over to the editor soon (maybe I can get an advance copy - Joe?).

Momentum allows the reader to ride with Joe on another bike adventure and meet some very interesting people. As always Joe finds what is best in people and this book has a number of poignant stories that will remind you to take a step back sometimes and just breathe. What is even more interesting about the journey in Momentum is that Joe does it with his two sons literally in tow (their rig measured something like 14 feet in length and it added an extra 250 pounds to Joe’s riding weight).  Having all of this weight shows Joe that Momentum is, in fact, his friend.

The feat of crossing the country on a bike with that large of a load is one thing but having in his young sons in tow definitely gave the stories an interesting element that made them different from the first two books.

I am sure a lot of the fatherly stuff in Momentum was lost on me as I am not yet a dad so I will have to re-read this one come fatherhood time. That said, I think this book will appeal to many more people than cyclists. Dads, in general, will love it and I am sure will find a lot of humor in Joe’s stories and his kids actions. I also think that people who are adventurous and enjoy the good in people will get a kick out of this book. There are some great characters again.

In the end of the day Joe’s writing always does two things to me:

1. Makes me want to just get on my bike and not stop for a few thousand miles.
2. Reminds me that people are generally good and kind hearted.

If you are up for a read that will inspire and provide hope this is it.

As with his other two books I highly recommend you check this one out. If you do decide to get the book please buy it directly from Joe since his publisher will give him a much larger portion of the proceeds to put to work in his new venture, Camp Creative, a camp designed to get kids outside and active along with allowing their creativity to flow free.

I know this review is a little thin but that’s only because I have said so many good things about Joe in my other two reviews and all that stuff is still true. Check out Momentum this summer. You won’t regret it.

I wish Senator Stevens and other lawmakers had shown up tonight for TECH cocktail DC so they could see what the people that make the web what it is think about it current state and its future. I think they would have walked away with a lot of interesting ideas and maybe even stopped calling the internet a series of tubes. They didn’t show though but it’s all good because a bunch of great people did.

We had a great group of folks tonight coming from companies like USA Today, AOL, Revolution Health, and others. The demoers were top notch and the sponsors, which make the event possible, came through big time.

As we have consistently shown in Chicago, there are a lot of interesting things going on outside the Bay Area that just aren’t getting the spotlight they deserve and DC was no exception to this.

One of my favorite stories of the night was that of WineLibrary.com and WineLibraryTV.com. Gary brought his family’s wine selling business online in 1997 which was truly a visionary move and has made them one of the premier wine sellers on the net. About 18 months ago he started up WineLibraryTV.com which is a series of videos about wine that has made him a defacto wine expert to many. This is a perfect example of applying new technology to an existing business.

Anyhow, back to TC DC. Here is the wrap-up we put together for TECHcocktail.com. Enjoy it and thanks again to everyone who came out and made the inaugural event such a big success. Moving the TECH cocktail concept to DC was a big first step towards bringing the concept to other underserved markets so having a great turnout was especially important.

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More than 250 bloggers, technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists gathered at the premier DC night club MCCXXIII for drinks, fun, and socializing last night at TECH cocktail DC 1. In addition to free beer and wine (some brought by Wine Library TV who recently acquired Cork’d.com) the bar was filled with music as up-and-coming website developers highlighted promising sites such as Sportvite, Clearspring, Buzz XYZ, Patent Monkey and Wine Library TV.

While TECH Cocktail has already been a big success in Chicago, it is exciting to know that DC and potentially other markets are ready for social gatherings like TECH Cocktail.

Also attending was CollectiveX who helped us out with their new TECH Cocktail group which showcased their web site - join today!

Thank you to all our sponsors, demo’ers, helpers and guests for making TECH cocktail a reality thus proving that the Internet and web technology is more than just a series a tubes in DC.

Frank and I are finally expanding TECH cocktail into other areas with tonights event in Washington D.C..  I will be flying out in a few hours to be there for the event and I am very excited to see how it turns out.  We have a number of great demos and the sponsors have come up big again in order to make this event free which is fantastic.  Please check out the sponsors on the top right side of TECHcocktail.com and send some business their way if you can. 

If you are coming to the event tonight shoot me a note (eric [at] ericjohnolson.com) so I can make sure to find you in the crowd. 

Next up on my TECH cocktail wishlist: NYC and Boston.  Stay tuned…

I was going back and forth with Carson Conant this morning (President of Mediafly) on e-mail about Joost and this blog when he threw an idea over the fence to me about a new series of posts. The idea was simply to talk to start-ups (most likely via a quick e-mail interview) and ask them about their inflection points.

When did they get funding? Why did they decide to go the route they did for funding (i.e. fam and friends, angel, VC, debt)? Where was the product at when they started to search for and when they obtained funding? How much funding did they take and why that amount? How much equity did they give up? How were board seats assigned?

These are all questions I’d look to have different start-ups and established technology companies answer.

Here’s the challenge. In order to start this up I need to get some people who are willing and able to talk about these kinds of things. I will put out some feelers to start-ups I know but I would love to land someone like Yahoo! or Google to talk about this stuff. If any of you out there know entrepreneurs, are entrepreneurs or know folks at established tech companies that you think would like to talk about this kind of stuff on this blog please send me a note (eric [at] ericjohnolson.com) and make introductions if you can.

I think this could be a fun and very useful ongoing segment for Olson’s Observations and I hope I, along with all of you, can get it together.

Side note: Yes, I realize that Inflection Points sounds like a smooth jazz radio station but I like it.

I was appalled to see this headline in the Boston Herald a couple days ago:

Papi unwitting ‘roid user?

As was Papi himself.

How did that headline come about you ask? Here is the quote that sparked it:

“I tell you, I don’t know too much about steroids, but I started listening about steroids when they started to bring that (expletive) up, and I started realizing and getting to know a little bit about it,” Ortiz said Sunday. “You’ve got to be careful. . . . I used to buy a protein shake in my country. I don’t do that any more because they don’t have the approval for that here, so I know that, so I’m off of buying things at the GNC back in the Dominican (Republic). But it can happen anytime, it can happen. I don’t know. I don’t know if I drank something in my youth, not knowing it.”

Michael Silverman should be ashamed of himself for taking a benign comment and warping into a sensational headline which ended up hurting one of the nicest and greatest Red Sox of all time. Now Papi is saying he may stop talking to the media and that’s a total bummer. It’s not like these guys ever give us groundbreaking insight into the game during post game interviews but Ortiz is a good and fun guy and hearing him talk always reminds you that the game is fun and we shouldn’t forget that.

Hurting an impeccable role model and Bostonian like Papi for no reason is inexcusable but it looks like Silverman got what he wanted. I, along with the rest of Red Sox Nation, are talking about him and his article.

This coincides with some other doping related issues in the cycling arena. Sure, a lot of these guys are guilty as sin which is too bad for the sport. In fact, a lot of smaller races are starting to be cancelled due to lack of sponsors. They are all spooked by the doping scandals of course. The killer here is that the aggressive anti-doping procedures in cycling are very progressive (and good overall) but they are outing a lot of people and hurting the sport. Other sports who probably have similar doping issues are not being as strict so their sports are still thriving while cycling is taking a nose dive.

Most of the problem probably lies in the catty and unprofessional way the doping scandals are handled in the media (ahem - L’Equipe that means you) by the testing labs, anti-doping agencies and media alike. If they could all handle themselves with a bit more tact and professionalism perhaps the sport wouldn’t be taking such a hit.

On that note, I read the article in this months Bicycling Magazine about Floyd Landis and his fight to clear his name. Whether he is guilty of doping on Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour is still up for debate (I think he’s probably innocent or at least I want to believe he is) what seems to be clear is that the test samples were handled improperly and the results of the tests could have been easily affected in a handful of different ways. For the details please check out the info on Floyd’s Fairness Fund website. Bottom Line: the tests are probably inaccurate.

It seems that there should be some ort of anti-doping standard across all sports in order to provide the best attack on doping. It also seems like the testing facilities need to be managed better (i.e. have standards across all testing facilities - in Floyd’s case the French lab that hit him with the doping charge is much less strict in terms of handling samples and has a crummy track record compared to other labs like the one at UCLA).

The facilities should also have regular and unscheduled observation periods in order to keep their credentials. Lastly, the media needs to take a step back and figure out what the real story is and stop trying to sell papers will allegations that are unfounded (of course this gets back to the fact that we judge news in the same way we do entertainment which is worrisome in and of itself).

Will all of this happen? I am not sure but one thing that’s clear is reform is needed across sport, anti-doping agencies and their labs and the media before we can really rid sports of doping while continuing to preserve the sports.

Photo Credit: Waldo Jaquith on Flickr

I have been playing around with Joost, the new TV-over-the-internet platform formally known as the Venice Project (next they’ll be going by a weird logo I think and no name), for a while now. I was psyched to start using it mainly since I no longer have cable TV (yes, it’s by choice). I have enjoyed my Joost experience so far and as they get more content deals done I think they will continue to pick up users pretty quickly.

Let’s cut to the case. Joost was invite only for its’ whole life and it still is but they recently gave all their beta testers unlimited invites so if you’d like an invite please shoot me a note (eric [at] ericjohnolson.com) and I’ll get one to you. After you check out the platform I’d love to hear what you think of it so make sure to comment on this post.