Netflix: Streaming Beats Discs, But Loses to Downtime
November 9, 2010
Netflix is now a digital video streaming company first that happens to also offer DVDs by mail, observes Forrester’s James McQuivey at Paid Content (via RWW). Netflix is starting to deliver more content by streaming than my mail.
That’s mostly good news, although it does rely on Netflix being able to stream. It was down a few minutes ago (but is back up right now). Netflix does downtime less gracefully than a certain whale-watching site I could mention: it blamed my computers, got stuck on at the license stage. It didn’t own up to having problems, and it didn’t show me a cute animal. Then again, Twitter has had more practice with downtime than has Netflix.
That suggests a couple of games. The first is to come up with a mascot for Netflix downtime. I suggest the Netflix narwhal, but will leave the artwork/implementation to others. Then there’s the Netflix version of rock-paper-scissors. Downtime beats streaming, which beats discs, which beat downtime. I hope that streaming wins…
Without the Family, I Stop Making Sense
May 1, 2010
For the first time since we moved down to Maryland, I have the house to myself for an evening. I put on Stop Making Sense, the Talking Heads performance movie.
Although I miss the family (who will be back tomorrow), it’s great to have the place to myself, to choose a movie, to choose this movie, to play it loud, to start it at just the right time so that it’s getting dark as the show gets under way. Here’s the first song with the full augmented band (FAB?). I note that the still features guitarist Alex Weir, perhaps my favorite “character” from the movie.
I love so much about Stop Making Sense. It famously starts with David Byrne alone, then adds the other Talking Heads one at a time. “Heaven,” the second track, is my favorite from this four-song sequence (here’s a link to video).
There is some cheating: although only David Byrne and Tina Weymouth are on stage, Lynn Mabry sings from the wings, as the movie’s Wikipedia entry points out. Her singing, and Tina’s wonderful bassline, really make this track, setting the tone for a show that’s about a lot more than the genius of David Byrne. Byrne recognized that, introducing the band by name, and bringing the crew on to be acknowledged, during the last songs.
If I had to choose one movie to own for myself, it would be Stop Making Sense. That’s not the same as declaring it the best movie ever (although I wouldn’t argue with you if you declared it so), or saying that it would be a great choice for family movie night with the kids being 6 and 3.
Ink, the movie
November 27, 2009
I’ve just watched the movie Ink. I’ll embed one of the trailers. As you can see, it won’t be to everybody’s liking, but if the trailer appeals, the movie probably will too.
It was written and directed by Jamin Winans, whose short movie Spin you may have seen: it was much blogged about a year or two back. He and his wife/producer Kiowa run Double Edge Films, and sell the movie direct from that site. You can also buy it at Amazon, where Ink [Blu-ray] is only $14 right now.
There are numerous cool and/or interesting things about the movie and its web presence. Jamin and Kiowa thank the people who have BitTorrented Ink. Kiowa is doing an Ask Me Anything on Reddit.
The couple have a blog. Here’s Kiowa’s fascinating post about the release strategy. She quotes an earlier post from Jamin: “the battle we all fight is against obscurity.”
This post is my small contribution to Jamin and Kiowa’s side of that battle. I’d say they’re winning it. It’s too early to tell whether this will translate into financial success. There is a button on their site for PayPal contributions. I just made one, since I don’t think they get much money from my viewing. But no, I didn’t BitTorrent it.
I watched Ink at Netflix, where it is available for streaming. I don’t think that a stream sends much money to the makers, though.
Sex, Books, and Movies
May 17, 2009
Describe Your Sex Life With A Movie Title is a currently popular topic on Reddit (and, I believe, elsewhere). Among the comments I’ve upvoted are:
- Stop or My Mom Will Shoot.
- Alone in the Dark.
- 28 Weeks Later. For us, it was more than 30 weeks later, but not as near to 40 as we were expecting. But things worked out well for our early baby, as I hope that they did for the 28-week baby.
There was an earlier topic, Describe Your Sex Life With A Book Title. My comment there referred to Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion. I strongly recommend the novel.
There is a movie, which I recommend less heartily. It is sometimes referred to by the same title as the book, and sometimes as Never Give an Inch. As someone remarked on Reddit, once you start thinking about these topics, almost anything seems to fit. Perhaps I should rephrase that. Or perhaps I should just top typing now…
30-Second Bunnies Movie Theatre
October 12, 2008
How could I have lived this long without finding the site at which a troupe of bunnies parodies a collection of movies by re-enacting them in 30 seconds? Perhaps it’s because I never found the excellently-named Applefoot before.
You might be able to guess what eminently parody-ready movie the icon represents. As an additional clue, I hear that it has recently been parodied, unintentionally and at full length, by its most recent sequel.
Totoro: There’s a Movie Too?
September 25, 2008
I just watched My Neighbor Totoro for the first time. That’s ridiculous, for a number of reasons: I’ve seen, and loved, other movies by Hayao Miyazaki; this is one of a number of Totoroesque posts here, although the previous ones refer to the Totoro Forest Project.
I watched it with my kids: Maddie, who is 4 (and three quarters) and Max, who is 2. They were entranced, although Maddie was also upset. The mother of the two little girls in the movie is in hospital. Maddie’s mother was at work, in the Longwood medical center. But when you’re 4, and watching a movie in which a 4-yo gets lost on the way to the hospital where her mother is… Next time we watch Totoro, we should do so all together.
Anyway, come with me to a rainy bus stop, where two girls waiting for their father are joined by Big Totoro, see the bus that Totoro catches, and stay until the end of the clip for a little context.
By the way, even in this 6-minute scene, I notice differences between the subtitles in this version, and the soundtrack of the DVD. The DVD in question is the 2006 Disney version; there’s some debate (e.g., among the reviewers at Amazon) about the (de)merits of the different DVD editions.
Mamma Mia!
August 30, 2008
I just went to see Mamma Mia!! Yes, I did mean to use two exclamation marks, the first of which is part of the movie title/link. A few observations:
- I doubt that I will ever recover. Clarification, added later: the movie is as dreadful as I expected without being quite as bad as I feared.
- I only actually saw the first hour, after which my daughter pronounced herself bored.
- It includes a rather likable performance from Meryl Streep. This is worthy of note because she usually seems to me to be acting very hard, and in a way that distracts from the character she is trying to portray.
- The star of the movie, Amanda Seyfried, grew up about an hour from where we’re spending the weekend (she in Allentown, PA, we in Blue Bell).
- Update: I forgot to add, since it seems so obvious, that the movie is dreadful.
Meet My Daemon
December 7, 2007
By daemon, I mean part of a person manifested as an animal companion, as featured in Philip Pullman‘s His Dark Materials trilogy.
I generated Uruvia at the Golden Compass movie website. I’m not sure I like the assertion that she reflects a passive nature, but I don’t know what I can do about that.
