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Insights from home entertainment industry experts. Home Media blogs give you the inside scoop on entertainment news, DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases, and the happenings at key studios and entertainment retailers. “TK's Take” analyzes and comments on home entertainment news and trends, “Agent DVD Insider” talks fanboy entertainment, “IndieFile” delivers independent film news, “Steph Sums It Up” offers pithy opinions on the state of the industry, and “Mike’s Picks” offers bite-sized recommendations of the latest DVD and Blu-ray releases.


Opinion
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16 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: If You Have Trouble Playing Games or Interactive Features on Some of the Studio's Super-Special DVDs, You're Not Alone

Call me an idiot, but I still can't figure it out.

I'm referring to the highly acclaimed game "Aladar's Adventure" on Disney's Dinosaur Collectors Edition DVD.

My 5-year-old and I watched the movies and, afterward, were trying to play the game. "Let Daddy show you," I said as I snatched the controls out of his hands.

All the poor fellow learned was some new cuss words. The directions, which an onscreen voice directed at me, appeared simple enough, but the line about using the "arrow" buttons on my remote caught me for a loop, because I've got one of those new Samsung Nuon machines and there are all sorts of arrows and toggles and I couldn't figure out which one to use.

Nothing worked. I found the dinosaurs I was supposed to, found them over and over again without getting anywhere, got eaten by a mean dinosaur because I didn't know how to move away, seemed to get pulled into caves against my will and finally threw the remote on the ground in frustration and told Justin to try the Dinopedia instead.

Is it me, or this stuff awfully hard to digest? It would have been nice to have printed step-by-step instructions in the little booklet, however brief, but the voice is all there is, and its directives aren't clear at all.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at things) I subsequently discovered I'm not alone. Lots of my friends also have had trouble playing the various games or other interactive features on some of these super-special discs the studios are putting out. They share my frustrations at not being able to access what is supposed to be a very simple feature and they agree that a couple of explanatory paragraphs in the accompanying booklet might make this experience a little easier for the technologically challenged among us.

By the way, if anyone has any tips on how I can make "Aladar's Adventure" work, please let me know. I'd sure like to give it a run before my 5-year-old figures it out on his own.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


15 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: DVD Awards Screenings Reveal Quality Fare From Independent Companies That Entices, Entertains and Amazes

It's exactly ONE WEEK before the fourth annual DVD Awards, which Video Store Magazine this year is producing as part of the International Recording MediaAssociation (IRMA) and Medialine's DVD Entertainment 2001 conference.

And I have this burning desire to share some things I've learned and discovered as I work closely with Advanstar's content guru Bruce Apar in helping to put the show together.

For starters, while an independent panel of judges spent the better part ofthe last two weeks screening the more than 300 entries we received, I took it upon myself to screen some of the entries myself. What amazed me the most was not just the expected DVD extravaganzas from the major studios, but also the quality independent fare from companies like Anchor Bay Entertainment and DVD International.

Anchor Bay's Mr. Bill DVD is a treasure. I grew up with Mr. Bill during my high school and college days, and now my 5-year-old is a certifiable addict, roaming the house screaming "Ooh noooo!!" The credit (blame?) goes to this enticing disc, in which Mr. Bill himself guides the viewer through allsorts of tantalizing special features, including an assortment of games andquizzes. The actual episodes, too, are as funny as I remember them, and the disc does a faithful job of preserving them all in their original splendor.

DVD International's Point of View is an "interactive movie" I've never had the chance to watch until now. I spent a couple of hours with it last nightand was thoroughly entertained -- this disc truly maximizes DVD's potential, literally allowing the viewer to assemble his own movie. David Goodman, DVDInternational's founder, is a veteran of the laserdisc days, but with DVD he's found his true calling. Talk about stretching the bounds -- this is really great stuff, and I urge you all to see for yourself.

I've also gotten the chance to experience, first-hand, what Nuon is all about. The first thing I did was use the "zoom" function to zero in on the anguished face of the woman Sylvester Stallone is trying in vain to rescue inthe opening scene from Cliffhanger. It brought a whole new dimension to the film. And Nuon's "screen fit" function should forever silence fans ofpan-and-scan who complain about all the widescreen-only DVDs coming their way -- it lets you bend the picture to fit your TV screen, and while I much prefer watching a movie the way it appeared on the Big Screen, I realizethere are pan-and-scan zealots out there and this is right up their alley.

I also met a great lady named Samatha Cheng, a veteran broadcast producer who four years ago turned her attention to DVD. She's founder and executiveproducer of the Heritage Series, an independent producer of educational DVDtitles. Cheng has spoken at numerous DVD industry events, including the 1999 and 2001 DVD Pro Conferences, and recently has been receiving much praise for U.S. Capitol: A Vision in Stone, an absolutely fascinating DVD she producedin association with the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

The disc, the first in a series of interactive DVDs about national treasures, is equally at home in a set-top DVD player and in a computer DVD-ROM drive. There's a version for consumers, and another version, aimed at educators, that comes with a teacher's guide. The latter version's video contents havebeen barcoded for educational and classroom use.

Talk about special features. The disc includes a 16-minute documentary on the history of the Capitol, an interactive graphical timeline that presents significant events since the first meeting of the Continental Congress inPhiladelphia in 1774, a virtual "tour" of the Capitol, a gallery ofnoteworthy pieces of art housed in the Capitol, and much more.

DVD-ROM elements include historical database reports listing all members of the first through the 107th Congresses; officers of the House, Senate and Joint Committees; architects of the Capitol; presidential inaugurations at the Capitol; and, again, much more.

Cool stuff. With only one week to go until this year's DVD Awards, I can't wait for next year's process to begin.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


14 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: Welcome to the Home Video Boom in Nigeria, Where There Are Few Imports, Fewer Theaters and 30,000 VCR-Equipped 'Video Clubs'

Friday was a tough day. We're putting the finishing touches on the fourth annual DVD Awards, which Video Store Magazine this year is producing, and coordinating all the entries, judging and general logistics is keeping our staff busier than we've been since Show Daily time.

What better way to end the day than to scan the wire service reports and find an article with the tantalizing headline, "Home Video Booming in Nigeria."

"Despite power outages, low budgets and ailing equipment, the art of filmmaking is booming in the West African nation of Nigeria — but not up on the big screen," the article maintains.

"With only a few dozen movie theaters in a country of 120 million — and none in the commercial capital, Lagos, Africa's largest city — filmmakers are reaching audiences the only way they can: on home video. 'We don't have any multiplex cinemas, so if you want to watch a movie here, you've got to watch it on video cassette,' says director Mahmood Ali-Balogun."

Apparently a government plan back in the 1970s to boost the native film industry by discouraging imports ended up killing many movie theaters. Add to that the proliferation of VCRs and cheap and simple digital video cameras and you've got, well, a booming market in homegrown direct-to-video fare.

Most of the movies are sold rather than rented for a few dollars each, the article says. "Others screen in what passes for public cinemas: dirt-floored rooms equipped with a TV, a VCR and wooden benches."

And yet Nigerians don't seem to mind. Indeed — starved of imported fare for so long, they've come to like the native stuff their countrymen produce. The facts and figures: Last year, 650 movies were produced in Nigeria, up from 205 in 1995, according to the National Film and Video Censors Board. The average film costs $30,000 to $50,000 to produce, takes one week to shoot and another to edit, and is then distributed on 50,000 to 100,000 video cassettes to Nigeria's network of some 30,000 "video clubs." The industry is valued at about $50 million a year, no small potatoes in a country where most people earn just a few dollars a day.

The article notes that Nigerian films are so popular that video stores as far away as London have begun carrying them, targeting African immigrants.

And there's no end in sight, with the government refusing to help the theatrical industry — what's left of it — because it's too busy building soccer stadiums.

Food for thought.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


13 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: Will Nintendo Turn Its Back on Rental Dealers If GameCube Winds Up Winning the Game?

I love it. Nintendo of America is talking to Blockbuster and other big video rental chains to line up support for its new GameCube video game system,which is scheduled to launch Nov. 5.

"We hope to have a deal in the next 30 days or so," Nintendo senior marketingv.p. George Harrison told Video Store Magazine/Hive4media's David Ward.

Hmmm. If my memory serves me correctly, it was Nintendo that was furious when video retailers first tried to rent its games in the early 1990s, to the point where what was then the world's leading video game maker even used thecourts to try to pull the plug on rental.

In 1994, as more and more video retailers began renting games, the video trade magazines made a concerted push to attract video game advertising. They met with very little success -- until Nintendo, on the eve of the VSDA convention, booked a full-page ad in one of them.

The account executive's joy was cut short, however, when the actual ad arrived. It was a warning to video retailers to stop renting Nintendo gamesor risk legal action.

But now times have changed. Nintendo is no longer No. 1. The momentum is with Sony, still riding high with its PlayStation 2, while the buzz is with Microsoft and it's foray into gaming with the Xbox.

Nintendo is scrambling for attention, and with the fourth quarter approaching, the game maker appears willing to try anything it can to lift its new system above the competition.

Don't get me wrong -- I think it's great that Nintendo is welcoming video retailers with open arms, and I think rental dealers who rent GameCube systems and games -- assuming, of course, that Nintendo doesn't giveBlockbuster or the other biggies an exclusive -- will find not opposition butsupport, perhaps even in the form of perks like co-op advertising or specialhardware-software rental packages.

But smart dealers will also watch their backs. I have a hunch that if Nintendo happens to succeed in its uphill fight to regain the gaming crown, old attitudes will prevail and the company will turn its back on the rental dealers who helped it score this come-from-behind victory.

Rental dealers should know, by now, that they have no real friends in thisbusiness. They only get treated well if someone deems them useful.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


10 Aug, 2001

APAR's WORKING WEEKEND: Meet Video Retailers Yin & Yang

You don’t need a crystal ball or caller ID to surmise that one of the phone calls next week to retailer Eric Smith of Video King in St. Cloud, Florida, undoubtedly will be from someone at the Video Software Dealers Association.

To what do we owe this flash of clairvoyance days ahead of the event? The power of the press.

Smith wrote a letter to Video Store Magazine that appears in next week’s issue (Aug. 12-18, page 6). He opens and closes the mischevious missive with the incredulous-sounding claim that, in his 13 years of video retailing, he has never been asked to join the trade association dedicated to representing rental stores just like the 11 he operates.

Maybe Smith’s gambit in writing the letter was to induce just such a response from VSDA. His piquant position begs, by way of rejoinder, the clich?, “What are you waiting for, a written invitation?” Apparently, Smith’s answer would be yes, because the zinger is that he ends the letter by allowing that he would join VSDA – but only if asked.

(Come on, Eric; judging by your letter and your 11 storefronts, you are a successful businessperson. If it is true that you’ve never received one piece of material from VSDA mentioning membership, that would be something for VSDA to seriously question internally. But at the VSDA events you attended, there are visible opportunities to inquire about and sign up for membership. Plus, there are constant mentions of VSDA in Video Store Magazine. Your point is provocative, but the insistence on a personal invite is a tad precious.)

Paradoxically, he leads with his heart in standing on ceremony with a demand for a personal invitation to join, but shows a much more clear-headed side in 95% of his comments. The core of Smith’s correspondence to Video Store is refreshing, sobering and guaranteed to make some other rentailers recoil in self-recognition. One of those, no doubt, would be the one who shares the letters column with him next week, Steve Cowan of Movieland Video in Lisbon Falls, Maine.

It’s what Smith warbles between the “want me, want my membership” operatic overture and finale that is truly worthy of VSDA’s attention, not to mention that of the rental industry at large. Heck, VSDA shouldn’t just “invite” him to become a member, but appoint him to its board of directors.

Smith recounts three different VSDA-sponsored events in the past 12 months at which he came, he saw, he left vowing to never again knowingly subject himself to the “whining, crying and complaining” of retailers “blaming all of their problems on others.” (Eric, are you sure you don’t really work at one of those video labels that used to have large, elaborate exhibits and parties at the VSDA conventions?)

Perhaps the editors of Video Store – present company included – owe Smith a mea culpa for, wouldn’t you know it, coupling him in our letters space with, to judge by the letter alongside his, the very type of retailer from whom he hopes to keep a safe distance.

That would be the aforementioned Steve Cowan. Did somebody say complain? This gentle man [sic] manages to find fault with Movie Gallery’s “hardball marketing tactics,” which he defines as any attempt to boost “underperforming stores” or to protect its market share when a new store steps on its footprint.

To hear Cowan tell it, Movie Gallery wasn’t considerate enough to consult its competition before charging 99 cents for rentals. (We figure the copy of “Softball Marketing Etiquette” it ordered from Amazon got lost in the mail.) But that’s minor-league stuff, per Cowan, compared to Movie Gallery’s major-league error of its ways in wanting “to be just like Blockbuster, just with smaller stores in smaller towns with smaller overhead.”

Nobody begrudges a retailer like Cowan his right and preference to tread softly and manage a quiet operation that doesn’t get in anybody’s way, so he shouldn’t begrudge Movie Gallery or Blockbuster their preference to tread heavily, without violating free-market limits, of course. When a market isn’t big enough for everybody, it’s dubious whether the meek will inherit much of anything.

Who in his right mind would argue with Cowan’s implied logic that there oughta be a law against Movie Gallery’s kind of savvy – and effective – retail strategy. While we’re in the mood, why not also legislate against the kind of loopy letters we sometimes publish in our efforts to maintain fairness and balance. We sincerely hope this Mainer soon recovers from the not uncommon ailment that afflicts a certain genus of business folk: fear of success.


Comments? Contact Bruce directly at:bapar@advanstar.com


10 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: Consumers Are More Involved in the DVD Production Process Than They Ever Were in VHS Days

There's a significant change going on in DVD production mentality and it bodes well for consumers.

For awhile there, it appeared as though the studios were trying to outdo one another in the amount of extra stuff they could load onto DVDs. One studio releases a disc with two documentaries and three running commentaries; another studio slaps on five documentaries and four commentaries -- the director, the cast, the crew and someone who knew the key grip while he was a boy in Dubuque.

Get the picture? Talk about too much of a good thing.

But now the studios are getting smart. Walt Disney Home Video is putting games on its animated classics and New Line is bowing its "infinifilm" line, in which consumers can access special features at the appropriate moments during the film. DIC is talking about putting a default on children's DVDs so they start playing as soon as the little tykes slip them into the player. And now you've got Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment giving consumers a choice between special features or better audio-video quality.

In short, the studios are paying attention to the consumer, more than they ever did in the VHS days, when the formula was always the same: put the movie on tape, add a few clips of other stuff you're trying to sell and that's it.

Of course, consumers are more involved in the DVD production process than they ever were in the VHS days. Credit the World Wide Web. DVD chat rooms were flourishing in the format's infancy and smart studio executives like Fox's Peter Staddon were quick to tap into this amazing pipeline of public thought and sentiments.

DVD has enabled the studios to create a whole new product and the way they're going about the creation process is very smart. They're keeping their eyes open and their minds open and they're demonstrating a remarkable willingness to experiment --something Hollywood has never been known for.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


7 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: Industry Tongues Are Wagging About Hollywood's DVD Rev-Share Deal With MGM and Warner's 'Swordfish' Cassettes Served at Sellthrough

Industry tongues are wagging about two hot news stories that just broke: Hollywood Entertainment Corp. inking a DVD revenue-sharing deal with MGM Home Entertainment, and Warner Home Video releasing Swordfish at a sellthrough price even though the film doesn't fit the standard sellthrough profile.

VHS, the end is near.

By sharing revenue on DVD rentals even though the price of discs hasn't gone up, Hollywood has sent an important message to the Hollywood studios: demand for DVDs is going to exceed anyone's wildest expectations, and he who has the most discs is going to win. Consumers are going to see a marked increase in DVDs at Hollywood Video stores, and the chain wouldn't be plotting such a drastic move without extensive research that indicates consumer demand for DVD is going to continue to soar.

Now, logic tells us we're not going to see a sudden spurt in overall consumer home entertainment spending, particularly on the rental end. It's just that middle America is ready to jump head - first into DVD, at the expense of VHS.

Hollywood has seen the writing on the wall, and it wants to be the first big chain to take action. Hollywood is hedging its bets; regardless of whether studios raise prices on DVD, Hollywood, as the first big brick-and-mortar chain to share revenue on DVDs, is bound to get them cheaper than the competition, and that can only help as the general public's transition from VHS to DVD accelerates -- and, rest assured, it will.

Warner's decision to price Swordfish cassettes directly for sellthrough also bodes ill for VHS. As one of our regular readers, Tom Hannah of Video Quest in Joliet, Ill., points out in a recent e-mail, "This movie does NOT fit the profile of a sellthrough- priced title." It's rated 'R', it only grossed $68 million at the box office, and it's not a comedy or a family film -- it's an actioner."

I haven't talked to my friends at Warner yet, and I hesitate to speculate on their reasoning until we do get a chance to chat. And yet I've had lots and lots of conversations with them in the past, and I know their average yield per cassette isn't that much more than that of a DVD. I also know that Warner's long-range plans don't include rental.

Is Warner, as Tom Hannah speculates, "testing the market to see if the future is in sellthrough pricing for all formats?"

Again, without talking to Warner, I hesitate to make any judgments.

But if I were a betting man, know where I'd put my money.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


6 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: It Doesn't Take More Than a Few Seconds Before a Table Full of Retailers Who Don't Know Each Other Begin Comparing Notes

Sunsplash 2001 is now a memory, and members of the Video Software Dealers Association's Carolinas Chapter are already making plans for next year's show, buoyed by an uptick in attendance and quite crowded seminars and show floor.

The real value of regional events like Sunsplash, however, were driven home to me during a buffet lunch sponsored by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. I sat at a table full of retailers from as far away as Albany, N.Y. From the moment they sat down, it was clear that they didn't know each other. But it didn't take more than a few seconds before they began comparing notes.

"How much are you doing in DVD [rental?" asked one. "Twenty, 25%," responded another, and so it went down the line, with the average in the low 20s and the consensus that within a year, they would all hit or surpass the 50% mark.

"Where do you buy your DVDs?" was the second question and, again, the responses came one after the other. This time, Best Buy was the definite "wholesaler" of choice, getting the vote both for its price and its timeliness ("they've got stuff on their shelves before my distributor even gets it into his warehouse," said one retailer).

When VSDA president Bo Andersen warned that some studios are talking about issuing different discs for the sellthrough and rental markets, and cracking down on retailers who rent the lower-priced sellthrough discs, eyebrows were raised. No sooner had Bo left the podium than the retailers were vowing to fight this, peppering me with questions about First Sale and swearing they would not play ball.

They sat around the table long after they had finished their lunch, swapping stories and ideas, talking about how they do things, why they do what they do and tricks of the trade they've picked up. Phone numbers were exchanged, friendships begun.

We walked out together. One retailer turned to me and said, "This is why we come."

Amen.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


3 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: Bob Edwards Had a Good, Long Ride in the Video Business, and Now He's Driving a Truck


MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- I've written many times about independent retailers who could no longer weather the storm, so they left the business. Closed up shop, sold out, got out.

Well, here's another one, and this time it's not an unknown name or even a casual acquaintance, but a good friend, a true friend, a buddy and close source who I haven't spoken to in about a year.

Now I know why.

I drove into this seaside resort town last night for Sunsplash 2001, the 13th annual retailer retreat sponsored by the Carolinas Chapter of the VSDA.

The opening-night event was a pleasant affair, a "Southern pig pickin'" orchestrated by Tom Warren, the longtime Carolinas Chapter activist and leader who also happens to be president of the national Video Software Dealers Association and the self-styled "godfather" of regional retailers.

Between chasing my 3-year-old between the legs of fiddlers and trying to convince him not to throw watermelon rinds into the torches, I met and mingled with a bunch of regulars, including ETD's Phyllis Hicks, Carolinas Chapter president Dave Batten and Harold and Sharon Chamberlain.

Conspicuously absent was Bob Edwards, of the Movie Man in Greensboro.

I asked Tom where he was, and his response: "He's driving a truck."

Bob Edwards, it appears, has left the business. He sold his last remaining store (at one time there were three) and went back to what he was doing before he entered home video back in the 1980s.

A little background. I first met Bob Edwards at the 1993 Regional Leaders Conference in San Diego, where his unbridled enthusiasm for the business caught a young editor's ear and we became fast friends. I followed Bob through his career triumphs, and in January 1998, when the Hollywood Reporter asked me to write a cover story on indie survivors, Bob was the lead profile.

"I just opened a new store, my third, and it's as pretty as anything that Hollywood [Entertainment] has," he boasted proudly.

Indeed, things were going well for Bob. His whole family had helped him build a mini-video empire, and now all that hard work was paying off. Bob was even able to buy his lovely wife, Donna, a Cadillac.

But then the revenue-sharing juggernaut gathered momentum, and independent retailers began finding out they couldn't compete against Blockbuster or Hollywood, regardless of how good they were at running their businesses. This was before the lifeline of sideways selling caught on; if a Blockbuster or Hollywood opened across the street from you, you were dead.

A Blockbuster opened across the street from Bob's new store. Within two months, he was losing so much money he was beside himself. He wrote an open letter to Blockbuster chief John Antioco that was posted on the VSDA discussion board, pointedly asking him why he was so aggressively going after market share if he knew any such gains had to come at other retailers' expense. At the time, Bob and John were both on the VSDA board. Bob wondered aloud, to me, why John would do this to him. "He was always very friendly," Bob mused. "But I guess business is business."

Business is business, too, to Bob's landlord, who wouldn't let him out of his lease. Bob continued to lose money. Finally he was able to close it, but by then several months of tight pursestrings had taken their toll on his other stores, and they began slacking off as well.

About a year ago, the last time I spoke with Bob, he told me things were so-so. He was down to one store, and essentially treading water. He was down, but not out. "I've got daughters growing up, weddings to pay for, grandkids," he said. "I never imagined this business would turn the way he did."

After that, we lost touch. I tried to reach Bob a few times, but to no avail. Now that he's out of the business, I have no way of getting in touch with him, but if by chance he's reading this, let me just say I miss him and I wish him all the best.

Bob, you had a good ride, for many years, in this video business of ours. We're always going to remember you.


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com


2 Aug, 2001

TK's MORNING BUZZ: There's a Brewing Storm Beneath the Calm on the DVD Front That Will Rock the Status Quo

It's almost funny, how calm and peaceful things are on the DVD front these days. Everyone's high on the format -- sales records are broken almost every week; reports float in from retailers that DVD is selling as well as, or better than, VHS; and studio executives are exceeding goals to the point where one recently said about a title his studio released a few months back: "It's amazing -- I keep on putting them out, and they keep on selling. It's like the early days of VHS."

Yet beneath this calm is a brewing storm. Come next year, there are going to be some surprises. Top studio minds are grappling with such issues as two-tier pricing and rental windows, and I'm fairly certain at least one major studio will drastically rock the status quo in an attempt to gain a share of burgeoning DVD rental revenues.

As you read this, meetings are being held, options are being weighed, decisions are being made and remade. In a sense, DVD has been much too successful for its own good. Studios are making more money than they ever expected, and yet they want more. DVD was never intended to be a rental product, and yet DVD rental is one of our industry's biggest growth areas. Studios are determined to get a piece of the pie, and they're going to do everything they can to get it.

It's not even a question any longer of the studios needing the money. DVD sellthrough sales are so huge that DVD rental cannibalization isn't nearly the problem it was once thought to be. Anything the studios are losing on the VHS rental end they're more than making up with DVD sellthrough sales.

But it's the principle. DVD was supposed to finally give studios control over their product, but the development of a strong rental channel wrested that control right out of their grasp, just as it did with VHS 20 years earlier.

The studios are determined not to let the same thing happen twice -- even if it means going against the old rule of thumb, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."


Comments? Contact TK directly at:TKArnold@aol.com