Monday, November 7, 2005

The Insider: DVD set lets fans enjoy skiing indoors

JUST IN TIME FOR SKI SEASON: With the snow falling in the mountains, there's no better time than the present to curl up in front of the fire and relive the golden age of alpine skiing -- from World War II mountain training films to footage of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. At least that's the view of Renton-based Topics Entertainment, which this month is releasing a comprehensive eight-DVD box set of "Classic Ski Films."

The 396-minute collection, which includes the ski films of John Jay, Otto Lang and Dick Barrymore, will be sold at Costco, Best Buy and other select retailers for $49.99.

Just how does one compile historical ski footage from the 1930s or 1970s? Topics Entertainment Chief Executive Greg James said it was not easy -- with the quest taking him from West Seattle to New Mexico to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The 47-year-old entrepreneur said he came up with the idea while in Sun Valley, Idaho, and just happened to look up Barrymore's name in the phone book. Amazingly, he ended up talking to the filmmaker's daughter, who said her father was selling real estate in Cabo San Lucas.

James -- whose 55-person company publishes a wide range of software, DVD and audiobook titles -- sent an e-mail to Barrymore, who got excited about the idea. The only problem was that the collection of films, which had never been transferred to DVD, was sitting in a garage in Ketchum, Idaho.

"It was unbelievable," said James. "I sometimes wonder how much great content is just sitting in garages or basements -- old music recordings and old films. There is probably just a ton of that stuff out there that is underutilized."

Topics Entertainment then went on to secure celebrity and military ski films from Otto Lang, who is in his 90s and lives in West Seattle, and the estate of John Jay, whose heirs reside in New Mexico.

James -- an avid skier -- admits that six hours and 36 minutes of historical ski footage may not appeal to everyone.

"I mean this is not going to sell in Des Moines, Iowa," he said.

AT LEAST IT'S NOT MISSISSIPPI: University of Washington computer science professor Ed Lazowska isn't one to hold back his opinions. And that certainly was the case Thursday at the department's annual Industrial Affiliates Meeting.

Lazowska tossed out disappointing statistics -- 49th in the nation in state-supported research per capita, and the UW's per-student state funding is 32 percent behind the average of 24 peers.

"That is not to say that we at the University of Washington couldn't clean up our act with the resources we have," he said. "But God bless Mississippi or we would be last."

BE PREPARED: Viking Financial Services Corp. President Patrick Redmond took over the chairmanship of the American Bankers Association's Community Bankers Council with a number of perennial issues on the agenda -- competition with tax-exempt credit unions and a proliferation of federal regulations top among them.

But there's an even bigger and much more immediate topic for the council and its 97 bank CEOs: emergency preparedness.

It's not as though the banking industry didn't have plans in place before the twin hurricanes struck the Gulf Coast, says Redmond, whose company operates Ballard-based Viking Bank. In fact the plans that banks in that region had worked pretty well, certainly better than government response plans, he says.

But many of those plans were designed primarily to get banks back into business as fast as possible. A lesson from the hurricanes is the need for plans to deal with what happens beyond that. "We thought in terms of weeks, not in terms of months," Redmond says. "In New Orleans there's a lot of stuff that still isn't working."

Among the aspects of recovery plans that banks such as Viking are reviewing: Redmond says the bank's preparedness plan called for using cell phones to communicate in the event of a disaster that wiped out land lines. One problem with that: Cell service was also severely disrupted by the hurricane. Community banks plan to "use this as an opportunity" to review their own plans and incorporate the lessons from Katrina/Rita.

NEW FUNDS ON THE HORIZON?: Word on the street is that two Washington state venture capital firms are out looking to raise new funds. Sources tell us that Voyager Capital is shopping a proposal to raise up to $200 million, while Northwest Venture Associates is looking to pull in about $100 million.

Founded in 1997, Seattle-based Voyager -- whose investments include Attenex, Melodeo, GMI and Pipestone -- currently manages $265 million.

NWVA, with offices in Seattle and Spokane, manages three funds totaling $172 million. Its investments include Action Engine, MessageGate, Sur La Table and Wireless Services Corp.

Seattle's Madrona Venture Group also is on the fund-raising trail, though its efforts were previously reported.

Voyager Capital's Enrique Godreau declined to comment. Tom Simpson at Northwest Venture Associates could not be reached.

The firms, neither of which have a massive home run in their portfolios, are raising money at an opportune time. Returns are starting to inch up for venture firms. And fund- raising already has surpassed last year's totals, with 130 funds raising $17.3 billion, according to Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.

E-MAIL OVERLOAD: Venture capitalists -- who are energetically looking to invest in new startups -- say they are busier than ever. But how do you quantify that?

SeaPoint Ventures' Tom Huseby has one way. After returning from a recent European business trip, Huseby said he had accumulated 1,277 unread e-mails.

Huseby -- who worries that the market may be overheating -- described his work life right now as "freakishly busy."