------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o --------. ,----------. ,----------. ,----------. ,-------- | | | | | | | | | T H E I N T E R N E T M O V I E D A T A B A S E | | | | | | | | | --------' `----------' `----------' `----------' `-------- o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWSLETTER #1 - 5th July 1995 edited by Col Needham Welcome to the first issue of the IMDB newsletter. Based on a suggestion by team member Murray Chapman this newsletter is intended to keep users of the system informed of the latest news from the management team. Comments and suggestions are welcome and should be directed to me at the address above. See the further information section at the end of this newsletter for more information about The Internet Movie Database (IMDB). We'll see how it goes before deciding how often to publish this - every other week seems right to me. We will also look into alternative delivery mechanisms via an e-mail distribution list, via the WWW and maybe an ftp archive. If you have the resources to manage an automatic mailing list and would be willing to handle the distribution of the newsletter, please let me know. --------------------------------------------------------------- Contents ======== - Database Statistics - Tracking data updates in the WWW interface - WWW publicity manager - Quotes section relaunched - WWW title additions interface simplified - New biography field - Celebrity birthdays/obituaries mailing list - Plot summaries list covers 6,000 movies, but more help needed - Volunteers needed to help complete the directors section - Future developments - For more information... --------------------------------------------------------------- DATABASE STATISTICS =================== This is a regular section giving information about the current size and growth of the IMDB. We receive between 15,000 and 30,000 additions every week from users all over the world so it grows at an incredible rate. Number of filmography entries: 626,608 Number of people covered: 186,628 Number of movies covered: 47,862 Size of the database (Mb): 45 --------------------------------------------------------------- TRACKING DATA UPDATES IN THE WWW INTERFACE ========================================== by Col Needham A new feature in the WWW interface makes it easy to see when each section of the database was updated at that site. Some of the mirrors are already supporting this feature (see below), the rest will follow shortly. http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Movies/update_info.html http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/update_info.html http://www.leo.org/Movies/update_info.html http://ballet.cit.gu.edu.au/Movies/update_info.html --------------------------------------------------------------- WWW PUBLICITY MANAGER ===================== by Col Needham Murray Chapman , manager of the trivia and goofs sections has agreed to take on the additional role of WWW publicity manager within the team. This involves promoting links to the IMDB from other movie related sites around the web as well as checking existing links are set-up correctly. If you spot a movie site which doesn't have links to us, please let Murray know. --------------------------------------------------------------- QUOTES SECTION RELAUNCHED ========================= by Col Needham After an extended hand-over period, the quotes section has been relaunched with a new manager, Bob Glickstein . If you've been saving any additions, now's the time to send them in. --------------------------------------------------------------- WWW TITLE ADDITIONS INTERFACE SIMPLIFIED ======================================== by Col Needham The title additions interface now has a "pick and mix" menu on it's entry page. This enables users to get a simplified, custom form tuned to the sections for which they have new information. Hopefully people will find the new interface much less daunting. Again, this is already available at the UK, USA, German and Australian sites. --------------------------------------------------------------- NEW BIOGRAPHY FIELD =================== by Mark Harding After a recent suggestion by one of the users there is now a new field in the Biographies section - the "Where are they now?" field. It's purpose is to document the activities of people that have retired from the movies. Additions can be made via the usual routes. So, if you know what some ex-film star is up to, why not let us now . . . comments or questions to Mark Harding --------------------------------------------------------------- CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS/OBITUARIES MAILING LIST =========================================== by Mark Harding In an attempt to satisfy user demand for a mailing list, I am now willing to accept requests to add people to a weekly mailing of my two lists. Please send subscription requests directly to me at the address above. --------------------------------------------------------------- PLOT SUMMARIES LIST COVERS 6,000 MOVIES, BUT MORE HELP NEEDED ============================================================= by Col Tinto The plot summary list has just burst through the 6000 barrier... It now covers over 6000 different movies, with over 6300 summaries. Pretty good, you may think. But no - remember there are over 47,000 movies in the database. To cover every movie, at the current rate of 150 summaries a week, would take over 5 years ! So we need your help ! I have worked my way through the ratings list, and extracted some of the more popular movies that don't have summaries yet, and listed them below. Why not pick a few you've seen, write a short summary, and submit them in the usual way... ...And Justice for All (1979) Accidental Tourist, The (1988) All of Me (1984) Casualties of War (1989) Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) Cousins (1989) Crossing Delancey (1988) Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) Falcon and the Snowman, The (1984) Fright Night (1985) Hair (1979) Hairspray (1988) Mermaids (1990) NeverEnding Story, The (1984) Omen, The (1976) Paper Moon (1973) Return of the Pink Panther, The (1974) Steel Magnolias (1989) Westworld (1973) World According to Garp, The (1982) Watch out for more plot-less movies in the next issue of IMDB-News. --------------------------------------------------------------- VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP COMPLETE THE DIRECTORS SECTION ======================================================== by Col Needham As part of my on-going quest to complete the directors section of the database, I'm looking for volunteers to help research the directors for the remaining 3,000 or so movies which lack this information. I can break the missing information down by year or decade if you have a particular interest in an specific era. A listing of the number of titles in each year is available on request. If you like serious challenges, I have only a handful of 1940s titles left, but no one so far has been able to complete them - a great task if you're a trivia nut. Please contact me via e-mail --------------------------------------------------------------- FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS =================== This is a regular section listing some of the enhancements we're currently looking at. Please bear in mind that some of these may take quite a while to come to fruition or even fail to materialise because the original volunteer decides not to proceed. - a new business information section for the database to store distributors and rights holders contact details, box office grosses and other information concerned with the business side of the industry. - an alternative versions section grown from the current holdings in the trivia section in this area. The section will cover details and differences between directors cuts, video versions, censored versions of movies in the database. - a LaserDisc availability section. Note: this section will be strictly limited to LD's only and not grown into any kind of generic video catalog. - a locally installable MS-Windows interface to the database is under final testing for those of you who want to reduce your phonebills! - new "professional" looking icons under construction for the WWW interface. --------------------------------------------------------------- FOR MORE INFORMATION... ======================= The Internet Movie Database is an international volunteer effort whose objective is to provide useful and up to date movie information *freely* available on-line, across as many systems and platforms as possible. It currently covers over 46,000 movies with over 610,000 filmography entries and is expanding continuously. The database includes filmographies for actors, directors, writers, composers, cinematographers, editors, production designers, costume designers, producers and a miscellaneous catch all section; plot summaries; character names; movie ratings; year of release; running times; movie trivia; quotes; goofs; soundtracks; personal trivia; alternative names; certificates; color information; country of production; genres; production companies; sound mix; reference literature; filming locations; sequel/remake information; release dates; advertising tag lines; detailed technical data; and Academy Award information. Many thousands of movies are covered completely from the major actors to the minor bit players. The movie database frequently asked questions list contains more information on the whole movie database project. For a copy send an e-mail message with the subject "HELP FAQ" to . Here is a summary of the ways to access the database: (1) e-mail interface For details send a message with the subject HELP to (2) WWW interface The Internet Movie Database is available over the WWW (World Wide Web). There are numerous WWW clients (browsers) available for almost every system. e.g. NetScape (X, Windows, Mac) ftp.mcom.com Mosaic (X, Windows, Mac) ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu /Web lynx (vt100 terminal) ftp.wustl.edu /packages/www/lynx Using a WWW client, open one of the following URLs. http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Movies/welcome.html http://www.leo.org/Movies/welcome.html http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/welcome.html http://ballet.cit.gu.edu.au/Movies/welcome.html http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/Movies/welcome.html http://cezanne.daum.co.kr/Movies/welcome.html http://www.gem.co.za/Movies/welcome.html See the comp.infosystems.www.users newsgroup and its FAQ for more info on the WWW and discussion on availability of browsers for your system. (3) local installation (Unix/Amiga) The movie database package enables you to install the data locally and provides a variety of search tools. It is available via anonymous FTP: ftp.cathouse.org in /pub/cathouse/movies/database/tools/moviedb-3.2b.tar.gz ftp.funet.fi in /pub/culture/tv+film/database/tools/moviedb-3.2b.tar.gz ftp.fu-berlin.de in /pub/misc/movies/database/tools/moviedb-3.2b.tar.gz see the README file in the same directories for more information. The Amiga version is in the file imdb3_1_Amiga.lha (4) local installation (MS-DOS) The CineBASE program provides an MS-DOS interface to the database and is also available via anonymous FTP: ftp.cathouse.org in /pub/cathouse/movies/database/tools/cb152.arj ftp.funet.fi in /pub/culture/tv+film/database/tools/msdos/cb152.arj ftp.fu-berlin.de in pub/misc/movies/database/tools/cb152.arj (note: preloaded database files for CineBASE are available from the ftp.funet.fi site in the same directory as the program archive) (5) telnet access to the WWW interface There are several telnet'able servers which will provide a WWW client service. However, if you have telnet capability you should use your own client/browser. See (2) for more information. Some telnet sites with WWW client software can be found at; telnet www.njit.edu (login as "www") telnet ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (login as "www") Use their online help to determine how to connect to any of the URLs listed in (2) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o --------. ,----------. ,----------. ,----------. ,-------- | | | | | | | | | | | T H E E N D | | | | | | | | | | | --------' `----------' `----------' `----------' `-------- o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o -------------------------------------------------------------------------------