9TimeZones.com - The Buzz

a) Interviews published at Amazon.com

{Seattle, WA, US} List of titles which Alan shamelessly hyped: Fearless (Ð), A Few Good Men (Ð), Searching for Bobby Fischer (Ð), Schindler's List (VHS), Burton biography, Mountains of the Moon (Ð), The Alexandria Quartet (VHS), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Ð), Nordan, Twelve Moons, 9TimeZones.com, The Essential Rumi, Seven Souls, Twi§ted P@ir, à l'Écoute des Vents Solaires (Hearing Solar Winds), and Tangram. For a sharp contrast in styles, read the interview with Anikó!

b) TV interviews

{San Francisco, CA, US} The "Coppola's Zoetrope" segment (17 February 2001) includes a short commentary from Alan, about director Francis Ford Coppola's new Virtual Studio. After appearing in broadcast syndication on television stations nationwide, and on the CNBC international cable/satellite network, this report is now available in a 24/7 webcast version [photo essay with complete video links]. (Later: here's a bit of improbable--but true--news. In a grueling ten-hour shoot, the names "Bartos" and "Baird" were added to this august list: Tom Hanks, Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, David Duchovny, Luciano Pavarotti, David Copperfield, Bill Gates, the Maharaja of Jaipur, Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and Nobel Prizewinner Nelson Mandela. If you guessed that we've all been interviewed by Tamás Frei, host of tv2's Frei Dosszié [Dossier], you win a whip or doll, anything on the top shelf. The airdate was on 4 November 2002 [see :38 to :48 of this :58 promo], so we hope you didn't wait 'til the last minute to reserve your Hungarian interpreter. <g>) (Still later: it ain't TV, but the Los Angeles Downtown News, a 28-page newspaper [142,000 readership], has just printed this lovely article, accompanied by an over-the-top photo.)

c) Whitney Museum Exhibition

{New York, NY, US} Courtesy of ®^TMark, this website became part of the Whitney Biennial Internet Art rotation (23 March - 4 June 2000).

d) Review printed in the book

"In America we take so many things for granted, and the most consequential things can seem so mundane. We are isolated from the grueling realities of other parts of the world, where people mean things when they say them, because their very survival might be at stake. Reading the correspondence of Alan C. Baird and Anikó J. Bartos, and watching the development of their co-written screenplay across the Internet, with accompanying commentary on each of the participants' lives, loves and longings, one can't help but feel a little better about the world, and our possibilities. May many more flowers like this one come to bloom."

-Skip Press, author of Writer's Guide to Hollywood

Creative Screenwriting

e) Watch for upcoming print commentary

{Budapest, Pest, HU} A heartwarming interview with Anikó is featured in both the print and online versions of Internet Kalauz, Hungary's leading cyber-issues magazine (this English translation includes some photos), so please raise your glass of Tokaji Aszú and join a toast: "Egészségedre!" On the Atlantic's western shores, several more publications have scheduled articles during the next few months, and a great deal of this material will appear on the web almost simultaneously. Stay tuned. (Later: a Creative Screenwriting review was pretty rough on the book, but praised The Fall In Budapest by saying, "The backdrop of the screenplay is unusual and the story has tremendous possibilities as a romantic thriller [...]")

f) Interview published by Wired

{San Francisco, CA, US} It's not really an interview, just a tiny quote in the article on Francis Ford Coppola. He'd offered unsolicited praise for our screenplay at a recent live chat ("I think that script set in Budapest is quality stuff"), so it seemed polite to say something nice about his new website. ;-)

g) Review published at *spark-online

{Vancouver, BC, CA} "Variegated shafts of light pulsate against the retina with explosive intensity. Optic nerves quiver, dancing with the sweet electrical joy of the messages they carry. As the ganglia become aroused, fresh neural pathways spring into existence..."

h) Review published at The Opinion

{Aston, PA, US} "This book really gets to the heart of artistic angst: how to rip out your guts and paste 'em on the page. It's somehow encouraging, to watch two writers cross-pollinate and create something from nothing, by baring their souls to each other, and to us."

i) Review published at Under the Covers

{Santa Maria, CA, US} "We all know that the Internet's potential remains largely untapped, but a project like 9TIMEZONES.COM reveals wider and deeper possibilities. When our imaginations know no borders, we can use technology to overcome the barrier of distance, producing tangible effects in our everyday lives, such as a screenplay... or a romance."

j) Review published at MovieBytes

{Palatine, IL, US} "If you've ever felt the need for some creative inspiration, [this book] can provide an electrifying jump start."

k) Review published at Epinions.com

{Menlo Park, CA, US} "[...] definitely a keeper. The coauthors not only write a hot screenplay while falling in love, they also invite us along for their roller-coaster ride."

l) Reviews by Amazon.com customers

{Nationwide} Each of the initial two ratings awarded 5 out of 5 stars!

m) First book inducted by Zoetrope

{San Francisco, CA, US} 9TimeZones.com received an exceptional honor from Mr. Coppola's Hall of Fame (31 January - 10 February 2000).

n) Article published in Screenwriter

{London, England, UK} This British periodical requested a piece describing our collaborative process, for the February '99 issue of their virtual- and paper-based magazine.

ZDNet 4-star Editors' Pick

o) Software (mentioned in the book) becomes Editors' Pick

{Cambridge, MA, US} Magazine colossus Ziff-Davis gave a wonderful review to the Screenwright(R) screenplay formatter.

p) Screenplay (featured in the Appendix) named SCRNWRiT finalist

{Edinburg, TX, US} The Fall In Budapest was also a Writers Network quarterfinalist.

q) Hall of Fame stories from the book published on all 5 continents

{Africa/America/Asia/Europe/Oceania} Major league horn-tooting; not for the faint of heart!

r) Kudos from Random House

{New York, NY, US} This world-renowned publisher was kind enough to salute the book in an item originating at their Del Rey division (now listed in the new Hall of Fame).

FLiXER

s) FLiXER featured member

{Los Angeles, CA, US} Alan's production office was spotlighted on this virtual theater's front page (19 - 26 January 2001), just before their format changed.

t) Interview uploaded to The Spec Script Library

{Paddington, NSW, AU} Mind numbing, over-the-top silliness. Maybe you had to be there.

u) Poem from the book anthologized in A Palette of Life

{Owings Mills, MD, US} Somebody spank me. When this no-cost opportunity appeared, the hint of scandal looked extra juicy, so it was darn near impossible to resist sneaking some doggerel ("To Serve") onto the coffee tables, and into the browsers, of an unsuspecting public. The devil made me do it.

PLEASE HELP US:
If you notice any other mentions of the 9TimeZones.com book/website, we'd be grateful for a heads-up!