Currently on sale, the 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone, one of the best
issues of this magazine I've gone through in a loooonnnnnngggg time, features
"twenty interviews with the artists and leaders who helped shape our time." Two
directors are interviewed along with Bob Dylan, the two surviving Beatles, and
Mick and Keith, among others: Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Both directors are interviewed by veteran RS film critic Peter Travers, and what
makes Spielberg's interview especially interesting is how he addresses today's
entertainment technology: How it has changed today, and how it will change
tomorrow.

Spielberg told Travers, "Today with television and the Internet, with kids
putting up Web sites that feature all of their pet projects and their pet peeves,
they are really able to broadcast who they are to the world. That's the big
pardigm shift from the 1960s. And kids have so much more to offer. They know
more, they have more information."

How does he feel about movies being downloaded? "It's just made movies
portable," he replied. "I make all of my movies to be seen in a movie theater,
because I believe in the social experience. I believe people have a better time
in the company of strangers."

He added, "We've become a fast food nation, and that includes how we get our
entertainment. Kids are happy to spend four hours blogging and e-mailing each
other...Kids are already telling us what they want. They want variety. They want a
big-screen movie, but they also want YouTube videos downloadable on a hand-held
device." While movie downloading "will certainly do significant damage to the
art form by today's standards," Spielberg still thinks the potential is there to
create a new art form on a much smaller screen.

For the directors of Spielberg's generation, getting your hands on the tools was
one of the biggest hurtles for a young filmmaker. Now that technology and movies
are right at your fingertips, Spielberg is still keeping his eyes open to what
today's generation can come up with. "And if they invent something great, all of
us will follow."