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Feb. 4th, 2011
It has been an exceedingly busy day at work, and I've got about twenty minutes of downtime to share a few things. You will not be surprised to learn they are mostly about movies.
1. Bucky Barnes has a promo still from Captain America. You may be forgiven if you don't spot him right away. (You are also forgiven if you have no idea who he is.) He's not at the center of the still. (Chris Evans, playing the Cap, is.) He's definitely not wearing his, ahem, old uniform. In fact, the only way to tell he's of any more significance than the other dudes standing around in WWII costume who are not the Cap is that he is facing the camera. I think that article title--"Nobody Cares About Bucky"--probably extends to the person choosing stills to release to the press.
2. Unlike most theories about the state of contemporary cinema, this one may be correct. Although I still take issue with the hyperbolic use of the words "death spiral" to describe things, it stands to reason that there's a supply and demand issue with movies. The demand for movies has not ebbed, it has shifted past what the suppliers are able to, financially, provide in the manner to which they had become accustomed. I'm not entirely sure how the studios will handle this shift, either, because there's no way Netflix is going away. Hell, Netflix could double its subscription fees, and I guarantee their business would be fine. (Pretend you didn't hear that, PLZ, Netflix!) People have found a solution that works for them that is legal, and they'll be loath to part from it easily. The 28-day release window that Netflix has hasn't hurt them at all. If they made it a 45-day window, I bet no one would notice. My queue is so long, they could make it a 5-year window, and I bet I wouldn't notice.
This is all relevant to my interests as someone who is not only not on trend, as far as seeing movies is concerned, but who is actively bucking it by making the effort to give Hollywood all of my money. I will continue to go see movies in the theater. I may be slightly less inclined to part with my money after I complete this zany screening schedule for a year, but I'll still always like the theater experience. It's a shame that it's turned off so many others. But I do understand their point. It's the studios' move.
3. The only coherent thing I can say about Egypt is this: It is not about you. That goes for Americans, that goes for Europeans, that goes for the various groups all holding their breath to see who will come out on top. Coverage has been mostly atrocious on this side of the pond, though I do think that Rachel Maddow's coverage has been more thoughtful than most. Her tack has been to not pigeonhole the demonstrators so much as to understand the long game of a revolution as one happens. I appreciate that.
1. Bucky Barnes has a promo still from Captain America. You may be forgiven if you don't spot him right away. (You are also forgiven if you have no idea who he is.) He's not at the center of the still. (Chris Evans, playing the Cap, is.) He's definitely not wearing his, ahem, old uniform. In fact, the only way to tell he's of any more significance than the other dudes standing around in WWII costume who are not the Cap is that he is facing the camera. I think that article title--"Nobody Cares About Bucky"--probably extends to the person choosing stills to release to the press.
2. Unlike most theories about the state of contemporary cinema, this one may be correct. Although I still take issue with the hyperbolic use of the words "death spiral" to describe things, it stands to reason that there's a supply and demand issue with movies. The demand for movies has not ebbed, it has shifted past what the suppliers are able to, financially, provide in the manner to which they had become accustomed. I'm not entirely sure how the studios will handle this shift, either, because there's no way Netflix is going away. Hell, Netflix could double its subscription fees, and I guarantee their business would be fine. (Pretend you didn't hear that, PLZ, Netflix!) People have found a solution that works for them that is legal, and they'll be loath to part from it easily. The 28-day release window that Netflix has hasn't hurt them at all. If they made it a 45-day window, I bet no one would notice. My queue is so long, they could make it a 5-year window, and I bet I wouldn't notice.
This is all relevant to my interests as someone who is not only not on trend, as far as seeing movies is concerned, but who is actively bucking it by making the effort to give Hollywood all of my money. I will continue to go see movies in the theater. I may be slightly less inclined to part with my money after I complete this zany screening schedule for a year, but I'll still always like the theater experience. It's a shame that it's turned off so many others. But I do understand their point. It's the studios' move.
3. The only coherent thing I can say about Egypt is this: It is not about you. That goes for Americans, that goes for Europeans, that goes for the various groups all holding their breath to see who will come out on top. Coverage has been mostly atrocious on this side of the pond, though I do think that Rachel Maddow's coverage has been more thoughtful than most. Her tack has been to not pigeonhole the demonstrators so much as to understand the long game of a revolution as one happens. I appreciate that.