The Vernacularist

Cannes Festival review

The festival was terrific. Here are the pics of me and my classmates at Cannes. It was a week of beautiful weather, long lines for movies and great evenings out with new and old friends. We had some great discussions with executives at Variety, Nielsen, Sony Classics Pictures, and The Weinstein Company who talked about the growing pains of the film business during this digital revolution.  Film is really the laggard within the media and entertainment industry because the traditional distribution system through theaters is so ingrained in the industry.  No one, except maybe the consumer (and 2929 Entertainment), wants it any other way. Variety was our sponsor, and they were absolutely amazing at helping us navigate the festival. 

Although we never got to a formal red carpet premier -- tickets were impossible to get -- we all got to see several movies in the Grand Lumiere theater.  I expected a little more gradieur from the theater, but walking up the red carpet steps was fun still. 

Talk about luxury, there were over a hundred yachts in the bay (this pic is just a sliver of the bay).  Everywhere you looked, you could see ginormous boats.  We all wanted to jump into the ocean with a plastic bag protecting our black tie dress and swim out to a yacht and just see what happened.  Of course, we never did it.

We partied at M1nt most nights. DJ that played hip hop and house. Pool, mansion, tents & couches, and signiture drink all included. One night, Harvey Weinstein even showed up with his entourage and held court in the tent next to us. Every night, people were there to unwind and party after long days of movies and sun.

A highlight was working the door for the Variety party. It was fun to see what people tried to do to get into the party. Everyone had a story or a business card.  Of course, we had staff from Variety to determine whose case warranted appeal.

Unfortunately, we had to wait in long lines for all the movies.  Our badges let us into films but buyers badges and press badges had preference over our badges for many of the screenings.  This meant we had to arrive 1-1.5 hours ahead of schedule to get at the front of the line. Hey, beggars can't be choosers and it was totally worth it. 

The movies were everything between great and awful. Here are my picks and pans:

• Sicko, (Dir. Michael Moore):  A great exposition on the failures of the American health system for those who are insured -- not those uninsured, which usually gets the screen time.  Absolutely, Michael Moore is not a journalist.  But he is a great story teller who has something important to say.  See the film, regardless of your feelings about Moore.
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Dir. Julian Schnabel):  A beautiful film from the bestselling book by and about Jean-Dominique Bauby. Besides the powerful story behind Bauby's rare illness, Schnabel shoots this film with an oversaturation to the colors that's breathtaking.
• A Mighty Heart (Dir. Michael Winterbottom): Angelina Jolie plays Marianne Pearl during the tragic story of the death of her husband, Daniel Pearl. I've never seen Angelina become someone else like she did in this role.  Marianne Pearl is a very distinct character -- in style, tone and voice -- and Angelina hits it very well  On the other hand, the editing of the film seemed choppy.   It's as if the Director needed to have certain scenes in the film, regardless of the rhythm.

Pans:

• Ulzhan: TOO LONG.  It's a Kazakh film about a man who lost his family and goes on a cleansing journey.  He finds a female companion along the way to help guide his journey to the mountains.  It was well shot, but the plot takes forever to get you nowhere emotionally.
• U2 3D:  This 3D film of U2's live show is really just a teaser for their live shows.  It makes you want to see the band play life, and a 3D film isn't a good enough substitute to shake it off. I really thought the Director didn't use the 3D effect enough to make the movie special.

Cannes-a-go-go

I'm also at the Cannes Film Festival until May 24.  It's the final event for a class I took on the Craft and Commerce of Cinema.  26 of us from Stern are taking in all the sites, sounds and films in the beautiful south of France.  It's a massive event with easily 20 venues to see films each day.  I saw the world premier of U2 3D, a film of U2 concerts in 3D.  It's about an hour in length and makes you really want to see the band live, if you haven't already.  In fact, U2 performed 2 songs (Vertigo and Where the Streets Have No Name) live on the steps of the Palais (the famous red carpet of Cannes). It was a great performance and a fun movie...not a must see though.

Because of the industry panels we are required to go to, I haven't seen many movies yet.  But that will change today. I will miss the new Cohen brothers film, No Country for Old Men. But Caramel, My Bluberry Nights and Paranoid Park are high on my list to see today and tomorrow.

Last night I worked the reception desk for the Variety party.  Variety is hosting us here, so we were all thrilled to help them and get a taste for the industry parties.  We had a great time, but maning the registration table was exhausting.  Everyone wants to get in and few are on the list.  So it ends up being a judgement call on entry.  It was fun to see Harvey Weinstein, Malcolm McDowell, Peter Bart, Peter Gruber and other notables among the guests.  McDowell could not have been more fun and friendly. Just what you would expect from a guy with his career (Clockwork Orange, Caligula, Entourage, etc).

More reviews and updates soon....   

First year of B-School...Done

I finally finished my first year of business school two weeks ago.  Everything has been a blur from Japan in March until today. In sum, my first year of school was fantastic.  I finally put a language and conceptual framework to many of the professional experiences and best practices I've learned over my 7 years in working since college. Some of my favorite classes were things like Finance and Negotiation, things that I've had little exposure to but loved to formally learn.  I've decided to specialize in Marketing and Finance because they are such a cohesive combination to get the full breadth of business education.  I've already picked my classes for next semester.  It's going to be jammed with more quantitative classess in Finance and Statistics...hold on to your seats for that wild ride into Excel goodness.

Fall Classes will (hopefully) be: Decision Models, Competitive Strategies in Marketing, Competitive Strategies in Entertainment and Media Companies, Entrepreneurial Selling, Valuation, Customer Relationship Management.

Overused words in B-School: synergy, leverage, strategic, value (I'm guilty of this last one)

I start my Unilever internship on June 4.  It's going to be a tremendous eyeopening experience into major marketing. More lists to come...

Hello Tokyo...come in Tokyo

Just arrived at my hotel about an hour ago.  The trip was smooth. 12 hours in the air and then another 2 hours in a bus to get from Narita airport to our Tokyo hotel.  The All Nippon flight was excellent.  A couple of my Stern classmates befriended the stewardesses, who were adorable and sweet and very 1950's.  I should have taken a pic of their outfits: perfect matching pink and purple aprons with scarves tied around their neck in bows. I was all smiles.

My body thinks it's about 4:30am but it's 6:30pm here in Tokyo.  I'm pretty easy with time differences and jet lag.  It doesn't affect me very much.  If it's light outside, I just stay awake for the most part.  Especially traveling to new countries.  I wouldn't go to sleep before having dinner at some Tokyo restaurant even if I was paid.  In fact, I'm really starting to get dizzy right now.  Better drink some water....

Brain is pretty much friend right now from reading Crytonomicon (Nicco, I told you I would read it), wathching movies on the plane, kicking the plane's ass in chess (medium level, so I really shouldn't be boasting), and actually doing a little school work too. 

Pics for the fun of it:

 

summer internship

It's been hard for me to write about what's on my mind recently.  I really wish my blog was anonymous sometimes. I have a lot to say, but it's not something I want to have on the internet forever. Maybe I will start an anonymous blog at some point too. 

I definitely have updates, though.  I accepted a summer internship with Unilever in their Englewood Cliffs office.  I'll be working in their Foods division, but I don't know which brand yet. 

I'm pretty excited to work in a big, traditional company for the first time in my life. It's not surprising that many at business school want to find smaller organizations to work for, given their experience with the conglomerates and Fortune 1000. It's really the type of experience I need to kick me in the ass and teach me about marketing.  No matter what I choose for a full-time job, working at Unilever will be a tremendous asset.

I probably won't blog about it at all (confidentiality agreements and all), but I know I will be smarter at the marketing subjects I do tackle on this blog.  Heh, like I really ever do that anymore. 

School has been challenging still.  I have many more mathematical courses this semester.  I'm learning about financial investments, operations, marketing research, entertainment & media industries and managing organizations. It's all too much to summarize here, but I'm having a good time in most of the courses...I don't really enjoy operations, but I have to take it to then take a great course in quanitfiable decision models.   

recharged

The holiday and some serious snow activity has recharged my batteries.  I needed it bad after an exhausting second half to my semester.  Time to play a little catch up....

1. Finished my first semester of B School.  I ended very strong.  Received a 100 on my strategy case analysis of The New York Times Company.  It was my strategy team's final project for the semester.  Although we each had our own segment of the work, I am still very proud of my contribution of the corporate level strategy assessment and editing. Rest of the classes went very well too.
2. Went skiing with my friend Gregg to Snowbird, Utah.  It snowed 15in on the first of 3 days of excellent skiing. 
3. Came back to some great family time. Saw many nieces and nephews.  "Uncle Josh, Uncle Josh, let's play ping-pong"  and other ramblings and activities made my holiday.
4. Saw Avenue Q with my little sis and mom.  Basically Sesame Street for adults.  I recommend it, although I thought Spamalot was just a little more enjoyable. Fornicating puppets  made me more uncomfortable than human fornication.   

Now I have to prepare for a few summer internship interviews in mid-January. Thankfully, I'm generally good at these because I'm used to thinking on my feet.  However, I'm not going to leave anything to chance, so time to prepare. Also get to finalize my sports panel for the 2007 Media & Entertainment Conference on Feb 9.

I need Spring Break advice

I have the option of traveling to 1 of 4 cities, through Stern, during Spring Break (10 days).  I've put my considerations next to each city and they are in order of preference, given my current considerations.  All the trips are basically tourist trips with very little time seeing any businesses.  I included the website for the itineraries when I could. (These may be password protected, so sorry if you can't see them)  However, I would really like to hear your thoughts about traveling to these countries, since you all know so much:

1. India - would really like to go, this is the first time NYU students have planned a trip there.  35 people will attend.
http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~sabas/trek2007

2. Morocco - up to 80 might go, 25 are listed right now.  Is it safe?  I assume so or Stern students wouldn't plan a trip, but your thoughts? 
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~ahbbs/members/spring_break_2007.php

3. Japan - I might get to go for work at some point in the future, big plus is that they planned this same trip last year and everyone liked it

4. China - already went there in 1994 for 6 weeks so I think I can pass

I know...what terrible choices to have.  Hey, at least I'm working my ass off for it.

and the winner is?

not my team.  We didn't make it into the final round.  One of the judges said they thought we presented our ideas very well but we didn't show any examples of our recommended strategy working for another company.  They actually liked our idea the best, but it's all about the numbers, baby. 

Went home at 6pm, which means I was awake for 34 hours straight.  I slept for 12 HOURS, which matches my record from college.  Gonna go see Borat this weekend as a gift to myself.  Maybe even find time to exercise.

no sleep

Forgot how messed up you can get without sleeping for 26 hours.  Along with 4 other classmates, I entered the Deloitte Case Challenge, which is a 24 hour competition to solve a business problem and present it to senior partners at Deloitte Consulting. 

A normal, not jacked on coffee and business school person might ask why would anyone put themselves through this kinda torture? Interestingly, all consulting firms have a unique method of recruting employees.  During an interview, you have to solve 1-2 business problems -- called "cases" -- to show that you have the brain power and quick thinking to make it on the inside. This Challenge is another, more elongated, version of a case you might see in an interview. 

At 5:30 last night, 12 teams of 5 were each given a cd-rom of data and articles as well as summary of the situation and problem. At 8am, we had to hand in our final powerpoint presentation.  9am was our 30 minute presentation in front of 3 Deloitte senior executives.  And now I am sitting on my couch, taking a moment to write on my blog so that I don't fall asleep before the 1st round results are announced at noon.  Only 3 teams move on to the 2nd round and then those teams have to present again.  Except this time the Deloitte team can interrupt you as you go, rather than saving their questions for the end.

I won't be surprised if my team moves on.  I think we presented very well and had a sound strategy.  (I actually not allowed to talk about the details of the case at all) Crazy thing about business school is that 60 people wanted to pull their hair out, roll their eyes at each other, and compete on an intellectual level. Oh yeah, winning team get $5000.  But no one is really playing for that prize.

This place rocks...I'm tired.

Can you say Speaker Pelosi?

It's so freakin satisfying to see the Democratic party showing their strength across the country.  I was trying to study all night, but couldn't tear myself away from CNN site and ABC News site.  I was kinda worried that turnout wouldn't be high enough. Or polling was skewed.  Or someone was going to plug in one of these election machines and an entire state would blackout. Basically, if it could happen, it would.

Funny enough, I've been content watching from the sidelines at business school.  Overall, I've gotten tired of the he said, she said. The ads. The long hours with no money and little recognition.   And then after all of that, on election night, my heart is still beating hard.  I'm still jumping from website to television to blog for the latest information. I have friends on races across the country and they have all been sending imcredibly positive emails about the thousands of phone calls they have made or all the doors they have knocked on by 11am.  Really inspiring stuff to a guy who has become a little jaded and little tired of the reliable ups and downs of an election cycle

Thank you America for taking this election seriously.  Thank you to all the people who volunteer on campaigns.  Thank you to donors who might not have all the time, but sacrifice all the same.

I'm gonna go to sleep and dream of some Democrat in the House doing accounting and financial planning with a pencil in his/her ear and an abaccus.

I know, that's kinda weird.  But with business school and politics on the brain, you get weird combinations.