DigiThoughts

Digi@themovies - Woman in Black, Chronicle

 February 03, 2012 by Digitaria Staff

The Woman in Black is a throwback to old-fashioned haunted house movies, and the best one I can think of since The Others. Fresh off the Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe is sent back to the Victorian age to star as recent widower Arthur Kipps, dispatched to a small town to work out the legal entanglements surrounding an estate whose owner recently died.

Arthur spends time in the estate’s mansion, setting out to improve the estate and sell the place, but gets caught up in chasing the "Woman in Black" who haunts the desolate house, and solving the mystery of her history.

The first half of the movie is an expert update of the traditional old spooky mansion movie – full of slowly building suspense and subtle scares that keep you on the edge of your seat: Shadows, creaking floors, porcelain dolls and windup toys all creep you out and brought screams from the audience I saw it with.  This, in fact, is the best ting about the movie – with a minimum of blood or gore or violence, The Woman in Black brings the fear.

Directed by James Watkins, the film visually pulses with lovely dark gothic look.  Towards the end, as the pieces start to come together, the movie loses traction and the plot veers into the cheesy before a weak ending. But horror film finishes are always tough, so at least the ride there is satisfyingly full of chills and thrills.

Overall, The Woman in Black is was a very successful first role for Radcliffe in his post-Harry Potter career.  Perhaps most pivotally, by picture’s (mediocre) end, I didn’t see him as Harry anymore. But, then again, even though he’s the movie’s lead, the haunted house is the star and that’s ultimately what makes it successful. *** – Ashley Sullivan

Chronicle is a movie to be seen in theaters, and the largest theater you can find – IMAX, if possible. It’s a picture with moments of true exhilaration that leaves you frustrated – and I mean that in the best possible way.

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Avoiding Rhinos & Getting Things Done

 February 01, 2012 by Michelle Andrews

It takes an average of 15 minutes to start working at maximum productivity. Interruptions--from coworkers, phone calls and breaks--all reset the productivity clock. Recently, Digitaria’s Chief Technology Officer Chuck Phillips emphasized the significance of interruptions, helped raise awareness of limiting our own interruptions and shared tips on maintaining productivity despite them.

Interruptions are a necessary evil. We’ve all done it and we do so in our own style in an effort to get our own work done. Interrupting styles include:

The Fawn: The fawn does not wish to interrupt you, but feels as though it must. The fawn will timidly make laps around your desk until you make eye contact, which the fawn interprets as an invitation to interrupt.
The Lion: The lion is all about the surprise attack. If you appear to lose focus at any point, the lion will strike, e.g. if you stop typing to stretch your arms -- BAM!
The Rhino: Nothing is of greater importance than the rhino’s interruption. The rhino charges. The rhino is made up of pure and supreme self-confidence which gives it the ability to remain unaware of the fact that the rhino is even interrupting anyone at all.

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Michelle Andrews Office Coordinator

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Digi@themovies - Man on a Ledge, Underword, Albert Nobbs

 January 27, 2012 by Digitaria Staff
Movie Reviews

Man on a Ledge is set up like your typical bank heist movie, only this time the leader of the pack, our "Danny Ocean," is trying to prove he didn't steal something....by stealing it.

The problem is, most other caper movies know viewers like to see how the heist will be pulled off through a series of montages, as each specialist does his or her part, usually with a dash of dry humor and sarcasm. This setup is exactly what’s missing from Man on a Ledge.  The story hinges on the audience not minding that the incarcerated protagonist could put a plan together that required in-depth knowledge of a building he has never been to or seen inside.

Now that I’ve put this critical narrative flaw on the table, the movie’s not half bad: Predictable but not dull, moderately enjoyable. Sam Worthington, whose breakout role as a humanoid robot in Terminator: Salvation was slightly ironic since he has always been labeled as a stiff, emotionless actor since. But the writing for Worthington's character is decent and the story is paced well enough to build enough suspense that I occasionally found myself on the edge of my ledge...er, seat.

Man on a Ledge is okay multiplex fodder and not horribly long to sit through. If you’re looking for a crime thriller that’s smarter than you, though, this ain’t it. It’s got nothing new to put on the table. ** -- Guy Meyer

Underworld: Awakening is the the fourth movie in an action/horror genre franchise. Any number of word combinations from that statement raises flags. But you know what you’re getting, and if you’re not already a fan of the series and go to see it, you’re probably just looking for something to complain about. But if you’re already on board for this sort of thing, chances are you’ll enjoy the ride. 

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What’s New(s) in a Data-Driven World

 January 24, 2012 by Nicole Rawski
WAALA Analytics

Last week, Digitaria’s Analytics team attended the regional LA/Southern California chapter’s inaugural Web Analytics Association Symposium in Santa Monica. After a busy train ride to L.A., the Digitaria analytics team rode in unaccustomed limo style (pictured) to Santa Monica.

The one-day event allowed SoCal analytics experts to share learnings in an ever-changing industry. We heard success stories (and cautionary tales) and discussed what the industry should anticipate in 2012. Here’s a brief overview on what’s new -- or news -- in the world of analytics:

1. Web Analysts should be specified and delineated as either Business Web Analysts or Technical Web Analysts. Focusing on a specialty will enhance the quality of work and the expertise of the analyst.
~ Gigi Geiger, Sr. Analyst & Web Analytics Evangelist

2. Reports should be digestible in five minutes or less. Summarize key findings up front before delving into more detail, since stakeholders will most likely not have time to read through everything.
~ Hayley Bruton, Web Analyst

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Nicole Rawski Sr. Analyst

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Digi@themovies: Red Tails, Haywire, Extremely Loud

 January 20, 2012 by Digitaria Staff
movie reviews

Today we launch the weekly Digi@themovies blog entry, thanks to our friends at Allied Advertising. Each week, different Digitarians will offer their thoughts on what’s new at the multiplex, and whether it’s worth the money now or better off waiting to pirate it in a couple months (only kidding, SOPA!). Here goes.

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE -- The highest profile release this weekend is director Stephen Baldry’s critically polarizing 9/11 aftermath movie, which opened in New York and L.A. last year as Oscar-bait but goes wide around the country today. There’s not been a lot of middle ground on this adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s best-selling novel -- people seem to think it's either one of the most powerful, moving films of the year or a shamelessly manipulative piece of claptrap.

I got picked to review this movie for Digitaria because I’d read the book, but after seeing it I’m not sure literary familiarity with the material gives you a leg up on enjoying the movie -- if “enjoying” is the proper term for a picture that left at least half the theater is gut-wrenching sobs.

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An Unconventional Take on CES: Tracking, Television, Creativity and Power

 January 19, 2012 by Sarah Kotlova
Creativity and Power

Last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was an overwhelming swirl of badge-wearing and suited humanity, packed tightly into the tradeshow floors and the Venetian Hotel.

The actual gadgets, roughly (and inaccurately) defined by me as: Beeping Things, Glowing Things, Loud Things, Connectivity Things, Things that Work with your iPhone/iPad, and Things that Cover your iPhone/iPad – I am generalizing here of course, but the mind does glaze under those florescent lights after a while – offered the usual cornucopia of slight functional improvements and rather more design improvements.  The two trends I noted (or maybe just enjoyed) the most, however, were:

(1)    You Can Now Monitor Everything. Especially Yourself.

Calories, location, physical activity (duration AND intensity), objects behind you in a car or in front of you on a ski slope, levels of milk and eggs in your refrigerator (thanks LG) … there are systems and devices to constantly monitor all these things now, and post them on Facebook (sorry Google+) while you’re at it.  Clearly, the future is in carefully recording the metrics on our favorite subject: ourselves.  I predict next year the trend will be how this information is best integrated with reality TV, which brings me to our second trend.

(2) Television is Dead (but Long Live Television)

Between continuing press and push for both Google TV and the Yahoo! Connected TV (now augmented further by the new Tom Hanks content deal), and the increasing connectivity of every device we have with large-scale whisper-thin LCD screens that hang on our (presumably) Architectural Digest-worthy walls … traditional television networks as content streamers have never seemed less relevant, while the creative format they devised continues to expand and develop.

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Sarah Kotlova Account Director

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