Blockbuster bankrupt

I recall years ago the CEO of Blockbuster (at the time driving local video stores out of business) mocking an upstart called … Netflix.

Just like Borders, Blockbuster could not adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace.

… Bloomberg News is reporting that the video chain will be making the filing official on Thursday morning. …

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who bought about one-third of Blockbuster’s bonds, will join with a group of creditors in swapping their debt for all of the video-rental company’s stock, …

If creditors get all of Blockbuster’s stock, current shareholders will be wiped out. …

Consumerist

If you have an unused Blockbuster gift card sitting around, use it now.

Which will be the next dinosaur to declare bankruptcy?

One of the big four music labels (I wish), perhaps Sony Music. Amazon will be happy to eat their lunch.

Precious – the film

I finally saw the critically acclaimed and award winning movie.

Life is hard. Life is precious.

In 1987, obese, illiterate, 16-year-old Claireece P. “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) lives in the ghetto of Harlem with her dysfunctional and abusive mother, Mary (Mo’Nique).

Precious

The acting is excellent, especially Mo’Nique. But everyone in the film is believable: Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Paula Patton. Everyone.

It feels more like a documentary than a film.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Recommended. But know that it’s a very harsh slice of life from a very harsh environment. I wouldn’t blame you a bit for NOT wanting to see it.

The Social Network … really?

It’s a good movie.

No question. Everybody agrees.

The acting was good. I was especially impressed with Justin Timberlake.

But if it wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, this will be the weakest to do so since Shakespeare in Love.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

They got a main plot line of the movie wrong. Mark Zuckerberg’s had the same girlfriend since the early days of Facebook. He didn’t invent the site to pick up chicks.

UP … the movie

Up is a 2009 computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar …

The film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes (the best reviewed wide-released film of 2009 on the site), and grossed over $731 million worldwide …

This was the third time I’ve watched it, a perfect film where I cannot find a single scene or frame to delete.

Many feel this is the best scene. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Seagate sold me pirated movies

Today I bought a FreeAgent® GoFlex™ Ultra–portable Drive from FutureShop.

It came preloaded with pirated Hollywood movies.

Of course I’m outraged.

Somebody is stealing food from Brad Pitt’s baby.

I’ll head back to FutureShop to register my outrage. And to ask why they are encoded in a crappy .wmv format.
🙂

_____

After returning and replacing that drive, the next had exactly the same movies!

Turns out they are preinstalled, encrypted … and cost $10 or more to unlock. Bleh.

unique subcultures: Scrabble

I have this friend who was addicted to Scrabble.

Eventually they led her away in handcuffs. She’s clean now, … so far as I know.

“Scrabylon” is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed documentary on the cutthroat world of tournament Scrabble®.

Featuring the most fierce anagrammers, rack balancers, and bingo experts in competitive Scrabble®, “Scrabylon” delves deep into this sometimes wacky, sometimes odd, always compelling subculture. Shot primarily during the World Scrabble® Championships in Las Vegas, “Scrabylon” features players from around the globe and gives an up-close look at why people get so obsessed with that seemingly benign game played at countless kitchen tables.

“Scrabylon” spotlights “GI (gastrointestinal) Joel” Sherman, the world’s only professional Scrabble® player – so named for his various stomach ailments …

Amazon

Click PLAY or watch a short clip from the film on YouTube.

It’s charmingly unedited. These addicts speak for themselves.

… kind of reminds me of my own unique subculture: gymnastics.

older women in Hollywood movies?

Is it my imagination, or are roles for older women getting better?

… slightly better.

(Not counting Merle Streep. She’s her own industry.)

I just saw Julianne Moore and Annette Bening starring as a lesbian couple living in California in The Kids Are All Right. (My defense? I thought it was a documentary on The Who.)

They’re both older than me. Ancient.

Low budget indie Chloe, with Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried is the most skillful movie I’ve seen in a long, long time. A remake of the 2004 French film Nathalie, the screenplay was written with Julianne in mind. (Neeson’s wife, Natasha Richardson, died of injuries during a ski lesson during filming, adding a poignancy to his always enigmatic performance.)

Sigourney Weaver is still killing it. Andie MacDowell never stops working.

Glenn Close, Helen Mirren, Diane Keaton. … Who else?

What ever happened to Woody Allen being the love interest of the latest starlet?

Related:

• WOMEN & HOLLYWOOD blog
• Could Betty White’s Success Help Older Women Onscreen?
• Hollywood finally abandons its prejudice against older women in romantic roles

proving there is no God

Many have spent lifetimes reflecting on the Existence of God.

Of course you cannot debate the question unless you first agree on the definition of God.

Atheists conclude that there’s no evidence that “God” exists.

Believers agree, explaining that you must have “faith”.

I finally saw Bill Maher‘s movie Religulous.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

According to Maher, the title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words “religion” and “ridiculous”; the documentary examines and mocks organized religion and religious belief …

It’s worth seeing. But my first comment is that Maher’s like Jon Stewart, but not nearly so witty. Or incisive.

Organized religion is a pretty soft target. Easy to skewer. There were no revelations in the film for me. Nothing new.

Scientology and Mormonism come off worst. Evangelical Christians the most hateful.

In my opinion organized religions do more good than harm. They bring community and comfort. But at a cost. (I’m quite content not to belong to one, though. Most appealing is Buddhism, though that’s a philosophy, not a religion.)

Personally I’m agnostic. I’ve not yet seen any evidence that there’s no sentient power in the universe more advanced than man.

Some bacteria in my lower intestine might deny that I exist. It would be wrong.

education in America – Waiting for Superman

Brian starts teaching Math at a High School in Canada today. Good luck.

He works in a socialist system, far from perfect.

A documentary on the even worse American school system won the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. I really want to see this.

The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

It features Geoffrey Canada, one of my heros.

waitingforsuperman.com

Bill Gates opinion of the film.

Thanks Lauraleigh.

Almost Famous – Tiny Dancer

Once again I ended up watching Almost Famous at a hostel. It’s a feel good experience that strangers can share.

Almost Famous is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and telling the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the rock band Stillwater, and his efforts to get his first cover story published. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.

The film is based on Crowe’s experiences touring with rock bands The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In a Rolling Stone article, he talks about how he lost his virginity, fell in love, and met his heroes, experiences that are shared by William, the main character in the film. …

Here’s one of the very best scenes.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Kate Hudson is perfect. Her Mom, Goldie Hawn, played similar roles a generation earlier.

This scene has its own Facebook page. I Like.