|
|
| Wednesday, September 7, 2005 11:16 AM |
| Signs of Life |
 by Fëanor |
- Check out the third bullet point down on this list of items from the latest issue of Variety. Bad news for Blockbuster always warms my heart and makes me chuckle, and this news is no exception. Blockbuster is one of those monstrous, evil companies that arose suddenly out of the sea of obscurity and spread their tentacles far and wide across the land, quickly putting a stranglehold on their particular market. If you wanted to rent a movie, it used to be that you couldn't escape them, and just had to put up with their poor service, bad selection, and various other shortcomings. But with the rise of services like Netflix, Blockbuster has slid more and more into the past, a dinosaur ready for extinction. And now it sounds like the end is near: they can hardly pay to purchase new releases from the studios anymore, and they're expected to lose $400 million this year. Hee hee.
- Aerenchyma sent me this story yesterday, entitled "Barbara Bush: Relocation 'working very well' for poor." In it, Barbara is quoted as saying that the horrendous conditions in the Astrodome were just fine for the underprivileged, since they're used to living like that anyway.
Later, when Barbara was told that the refugees were having a hard time finding bread to eat, she suggested that they "eat cake."
- Somebody on an LJ somewhere made me aware of more poor word choices on the part of the Bush family: W is apparently calling government attempts to help folks displaced by Katrina "a tidal wave of compassion." I think maybe he should go with something more like, "a tidal wave of tasteless metaphors."
- I haven't linked to a Monkeys in the News post for a while, but I couldn't resist this insane one about a demonic were-monkey.
- Thanks to The Movie Blog for pointing me towards this trailer for Casanova (just scroll down the page and wait--and wait, and wait--for it to buffer; sorry, that's Windows Media Player format only). It looks rather like a stereotypical historical romantic comedy, unfortunately, but there's a lot of great talent involved here (director Lasse Hallstrom, who also made Chocolat, which is a favorite of mine, and stars Heath Ledger, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt, and Lena Olin), and for some reason I'm kind of fascinated by the character of Casanova (maybe because I remember hearing that a favorite author of mine, Italo Calvino, was fascinated by him). Anyway, you never know; it could be good.
- The Coen brothers and George Clooney, together again, this time on a project about a 1920s theater troupe staging Shakespeare's Julius Caesar?
You had me at "Coen brothers."
It's true that I didn't love O Brother Where Art Thou, but Intolerable Cruelty is hilarious, and besides, I'll see anything those guys make. They're a couple of the most talented, innovative, and imaginative filmmakers alive right now. And Clooney ain't so bad, either.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
