“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-14 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Program scripts from week of February 16, 2014
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Synchronicity
Synchronicity is when two unrelated concepts come together to create a new meaning. It’s also the final studio album from the Police. But I’m not going to discuss the album as much as the concept.
There were two items in the news this past month that don’t seem to have anything in common. When I thought about them there was an interesting intersection between the two for me.
The first was the arrest of pop star Justin Bieber in Florida for drag racing in his Lamborghini on residential streets. This was just the latest in a string of stupid moves by the teenthrob singing star. Over the last year we’ve had a series of stories about alcohol, drugs and general misbehavior from the Biebs. His hardcore fandom is outraged at the treatment of the media. While the rest of us have pretty much decided that his final crash and burn event is only a matter of when rather than if at this point.
The second item was the passing of former movie star and later diplomat Shirley Temple Black. The former child star died at home at age 85 after a long and respected life.
Justin Bieber has sold a ton of records and ranks as the third most powerful celebrity in the world in 2012 by Forbes Magazine. Back in the day, when movies were the premier entertainment medium, Shirley Temple was the top box office draw in the world for four straight years. The Academy Awards made up an award just so they could give it to her.
So what do the two have in common? Both were child stars, both rose to the very height of fame and fortune. Both arrived at a crossroads and had to make a decision. It’s the tough transition decision that every child or teen star has to make. How do you move from cute kid to grown up adult. Temple left Hollywood and established a respected career in the adult world. Bieber doesn’t have to do that, he could follow in the footsteps of someone like Justin Timberlake, and become a respected adult entertainer.
What is apparent is that Bieber is flying way too close to the sun at the moment. Making excuses for him is probably the least helpful thing his fans can do for him right now.
Curious to think that his best role model just might a mop top tap dancer from the Depression era
Flappy Bird
So, I’m skimming through my media news last week and I see this same name over and over and over again. “Flappy Bird”. I have no idea what they’re talking about but for a while EVERYONE seemed to be talking about it.
In case you’re as lost as I was here’s a little background. Flappy Bird is a game for your cell phone that launched in May of last year. It was created in a small independent game studio in Vietnam by a gentleman named Dong Nguyen. The concept is pretty simple. There’s a flying bird that you have to guide through a series of pipe obstacles. If it hits a pipe you lose and start again. You are scored on the number of pipe sets you succeed in navigating.
By pretty much any standard this game was a success. It ended last month as the most downloaded free app for the iPhone in the United States, China and the United Kingdom. It has followers all around the world and generates around fifty thousand dollars a day for it’s creator in advertising revenue. Pretty much any independent game developer’s ultimate fantasy, right?
Which makes Nguyen’s decision to pull the game from all app stores in January more than a little puzzling. His explanation has been less than clear, saying he feels the game is “…an addictive product…” and “…a problem…”. A problem that he didn’t want to be part of any more. Claiming that his life wasn’t happy, and that he was having trouble sleeping, he pulled the plug. He claims it’s gone forever.
It’s an interesting dilemma. Some of these silly games can be astoundingly addictive. I had a little run with “Angry Birds” when I first discovered it where I was not quite as productive as I might have been.
So do we applaud the creator for protecting us from ourselves? Do we deride him for choosing to play parent to us all? Do we suspect that it’s all just a big marketing ploy? So far I’ve come across all those reactions.
Nguyen has said that if any of his other games become as addictive he will pull those as well. So I suppose I’ll give him credit for standing up for his own personal standards.
In the end the responsibility really falls on us, to step away from the games and get back to real life.
The Winter Olympics are under way and like millions of people all around the world I’ve been enjoying the Games. As with any competition there’s been a certain number of disputes about officiating or scoring and the like. In the last week there’s also been some controversy about a media aspect of the Games.
Bode Miller is arguably one of the greatest American Winter Olympians of all times. He’s won six Olympic medals, most of any U.S. skier. He’s won them in four different disciplines, making him one of only five skiers ever, from any country, to do so. Last week he added that sixth medal with a bronze in the Super-G.
The controversy has nothing to do with the event but what happened afterwards. As is the custom NBC reporter Christin Cooper was waiting in the run out area at the end of the course to interview the athletes. During the interview the subject of Bode’s brother who died last year, known as “Chilly”,came up. In the course of the interview Bode became very emotional, finally breaking down and skiing away to deal with his profound emotion. There has been a huge backlash against Cooper for what has been termed her “badgering” of Miller.
I didn’t see the original interview but since we live in the Golden Age of Media it was easy to find the video. I’ve looked at it several times and I don’t see the problem.
First, it’s Miller who brings up his brother. The follow up questions Cooper asks are respectful and reasonable. The Millers had hoped to both be on the Olympic team so the question about whether Bode was carrying on in his brother’s memory seems perfectly reasonable.
Was it a deeply emotional moment? Absolutely. But isn’t that why, at least in part, we watch the Olympics? If we’re honest, as Americans we watch the Olympics more for the hometown personalities than the events. Europeans are much more focused on the sporting aspects of the Olympics whereas we are pretty much only interested in the American athletes. So I’m not sure why we’re surprised, let alone outraged, when the media gives us that up close and personal look at one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Finally, when Miller was asked about the interview later he said he had no trouble with Cooper or her questions. If it doesn’t bother him it’s time to climb down off our high horses.
Better to spend that time trying to understand the finer points of the biathlon.
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