Thursday, June 21, 2001

Entertainment Innovators and Tapas

Helena's Tapas Bar on Lafayette Street drew a small but enthusiastic group of media professionals at the first Entertainment Innovators Association gathering for tapas, drinks and compelling conversations. The small, informal gathering was just like the original breakfast that lead to the creation of the EIA list. Diana Laskaris, who started the mailing list as a forum for people interested in all areas of entertainment and communications, reported that (as usual) a good time was had by all and the conversational topics ranged dramatically. There were a lot of different conversations going on at once, including discussions of rethinking copyright law, publishing on the Net versus traditional publishing, Arthur C. Clarke and Sri Lanka, cold fusion, space elevators, how great Amazon and eBay are, the development of online gaming, whether or not we actually have anything resembling privacy any longer, sword swallowing, what is fun about Las Vegas, serendipity, the Mermaid parade, AIBO, product placement, good & bad advertising, tivo & replayTV, individuality vs. the collective and more! The fried artichokes got a lot of praise and afterwards, a handful headed over to a nearby bookstore and continued chatting about things like Napster, Open Source, negativland, Copyright's Highway (by Paul Goldstein), what makes a book good, why would anyone call Anne Frank's Diary "summer reading" and why doesn't anyone seem to carry Pen World magazine! Anyone interested in talking about the future of media, sharing new insights or discoveries or imagining the possibilities for entertainment in its present and emerging forms, can join the discussion by sending a blank email to: EIA_list-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.