…to be the fad it already was. Roger Ebert, my Chicago favorite in film criticism, lays out a powerful slate of reasons for the medium’s irrelevance to the actual development of new and better cinematic experiences. You can read the entire Newsweek article here, but I’ve quoted the follow section as of particular food for thought for Artistic Energies:

Whenever Hollywood has felt threatened, it has turned to technology: sound, color, widescreen, cinerama, 3-D stereophonic sound, and now 3-D again. In marketing terms, this means offering an experience that can’t be had at home. With the advent of Blu-ray discs, HD cable, and home digital projectors, the gap between the theater and home experience has been narrowed. 3-D widened it again. Now home 3-D TV set may narrow that gap as well.

This last line is especially salient as we wrestle with how to develop new technology that isn’t just a marketing gimmick:

What Hollywood needs is a “premium” experience that is obviously, dramatically better than anything at home, suitable for films aimed at all ages, and worth a surcharge.