Light at the End of the Tunnel

So I’m a little tipsy at the moment…apologies for the likely scattered thoughts and whatnot. I’ve just been to dinner with my boss and other executives from our department and the alcohol tends to flow freely. Not that I’m complaining: my trip to New York was supposed to be filled with food and drink, but I didn’t make it to that trip, so I’m making up for it now. It was quite fun, though, and I’m reminded why I like my job: the people and the content. Like I’ve said before, when I’m in the office or hanging out with my friends, no one cares that I know the Blu-ray release schedule for my studio’s titles for all of 2009. But at a convention, that’s like gold, and I admit that I milk it when I can. All these years, I’ve read about DVD and comments from studios about some of my favorite titles: “We’re working on it”; “Look for it in 2002”; “We have no plans at this time”…etc. It’s immensely gratifying to be that person who says “We’re evaluating that title for 2009,” while knowing full well that it’s coming out in June. A little bit petty? Maybe. A power trip? Perhaps…but God it feels good sometimes.

I don’t currently have access to the internet (I’m typing this to be posted later, when I pay for internet access, probably tomorrow) or else I would copy and paste the section from The Digital Bits about our studio. Like I’ve said before, Bill Hunt is the creator of The Digital Bits, which is basically a blog about DVD and now Blu-ray releases…I haven’t told him this, but I’ve actually been reading his site for 10 years now. So it’s always amusing to me to be a part of an interview with him, as my boss and I were on Thursday (we actually did three hours of interviews back to back that day).

Actually, my boss was late to that interview, so I got a chance to give some “pre-interview” notes to Bill (I wouldn’t have presumed to do my boss’s interview, but my boss actually said it would have been okay if I had just done it…my boss is the greatest). During that time, it was fun to actually address some of his prior comments (he did a whole editorial about how our Blu-ray release of La Femme Nikita didn’t have special features and I pointed out that the special features had been created by MGM and there were licensing issues, etc.) and just talk about Blu-ray. When my boss arrived and we did our large block of interviews (I say “our” because my boss had me stand next to him the whole time and interject when relevant), it was neat to do the actual interview with Bill. And in reading the finished write-up on The Digital Bits, it’s funny to see a couple of my comments become “news” that a younger version of myself would have read. I’m probably romanticizing it a lot more than need be, but it was kind of fun.

But CES as a whole has been…interesting this year. Last year, there were a ton of people from our department here, but this year, it’s all been cut way back, so it’s a smaller group of executives. That’s been good, as I’ve gotten some great opportunities to hang out with them, but it’s been different, as there’s no one on my level here, specifically Jamie. I’ve actually been texting and speaking with Jamie every day, which has been nice, but it’s not the same. And as for the overall show, I’ve heard that attendance is down this year, thanks mostly to the economy. Our booth has still been busy, but it’s not comparable to last year. Plus, there’s no “killer gadget” this year, like the OLED TVs were last year or Blu-ray was the year before. That’s not to say that there’s not some neat stuff, but it’s definitely more subdued than last year.

I’m very hesitant to say that my role here has been successful or unsuccessful…after all, I still have a whole day and three quarters left here (show hours are 9-6 tomorrow, 9-4 on Sunday and my flight home is around 8:30 PM). Knock on wood and all, but it seems like my content has been pretty successful…perhaps a bit too much so for some people.

Today I was a victim of crime. At our booth, we have a PSP that’s showing off Digital Copy (bringing a standard definition version of the movie that’s packaged in with your Blu-ray to a portable device for on-the-go usage). The PSP is anchored to the wall with a retractable cable and it’s been safe for the last two days. Today, as I was giving a demo of BD-Live to someone, a fat guy in a brown shirt in his thirties came to the PSP and picked it up. I made eye contact with him to let him know I was watching him and went about my demo. Suddenly, I saw another fat man in a brown shirt (identical twins!) come up to the PSP and my view was blocked…were they stealing it? No, it couldn’t be. And yet, it was. When I looked up, there was only one fat man there and the PSP was gone. I went up to the remaining twin and said, “Excuse me, I think your colleague stole my PSP.” The fat twin said, “You mean me?!”

They were very crafty: if I had called security, they would have searched the fat man and he wouldn’t have had the PSP, because his fat twin made off with it. And being the “stupid” person that I am, the fat twins assumed I would then say to security, “Well, no, I saw him take it!” And yet he wouldn’t have it and security would let him go. Very tricky. And so, I was hoodwinked…it was embarrassing.  From that point on, I literally hugged all of our “valuables” to my chest that I could (remotes, Blu-rays, etc.), and when we got a new PSP, I kept it in my pocket. Today, my faith in humanity was destroyed. Actually, it still makes me mad to think about it…it’s not like a PSP is worth a million dollars, but I just felt so used. It sucked. Luckily, my team mostly found it funny and we got that replacement pretty quickly. Apparently, 5 PSPs have been stolen from the show floor during this show and the guys didn’t anchor it correctly, anyway…it’s not really my fault, but I still felt pretty crappy about it for a while.

There have been other minor adventures during my time here at CES so far (like when I walked about ten miles Wednesday night to meet everyone for dinner, only to find that they had already gone back to the hotel when I arrived at the restaurant), but for the most part, I’ve been focusing on getting through the days. It’s grueling to be on the show floor of these things…my feet, legs, knees and back are aching and sore. But happily, I only have another day and three quarters left…and then I go home and I’m taking Monday off from work. Like I said before, CES has been this huge wall that’s been in the way of any plans beyond mid-January, so it’ll be an astonishing relief to get through it (preferably successfully and without any more losses). But I’m trying not to think about how much I want it to be done, as that will only drive me crazy. Instead, I’ll focus on the fact that tomorrow is the last full day of the event (again, 9-6) and that I’m more than halfway through.

And for now, I’ll also take some Tylenol, drink some water and go to sleep. A blessed early evening….

And now it's now 5:48 in the morning. I actually got some good sleep as I passed out soon after finishing the above, but I inexplicably woke up at about 4:45 and couldn't get back to sleep. I tried for a while, but then just started to think about things that are upsetting me, so I got up and decided to kill those thoughts by browsing the internet. How did our forefathers survive without it?

Anyway, here's that mention from The Digital Bits:

Obviously, I came to CES to check out the latest Blu-ray developments, so let's have a quick software update first. I've already covered [studio]'s Ghostbusters announcement, so there's no need for an update there, though I did learn that Ghostbusters 2 is being held for a special release of its own. In talking with the folks at [studio], I learned that titles like Dr. Strangelove, Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia are all still in the works - the studio really wants to get them right, so they're taking their time. Obviously, big new release titles like Angels and Demons are in the works - no surprise there. And the studio tells me that they have plans for about 100 Blu-ray releases total in 2009, including a mix of new release and catalog titles. And the studio is working on ways to evolve and enhance their BD-Live offerings - really trying to explore the features people want and enjoy, to create the best online and advanced interactive experience.

If newspaper were still a viable medium and this were the 1980s, I would clip this out and put it up on my bulletin board. But instead, it's 2009 and I'm sitting in my hotel room wondering if I made a mistake by not trying harder to get back to sleep. Also, are there mailboxes here in Las Vegas, readily available? I want to send my Netflix movies back from here. And should I gamble my one remaining dollar that I have in cash (I'd prefer not to use the ATMs here, as they charge a whopping $4.99 fee)? What else would I do with that dollar, really? Questions, questions....