Film Forum in NYC will be doing something called Pythonalot in September and October. I’m hoping I can find time to get into the city and see a few Python (and Python-related) classics on the big screen!
Category: movies
Incredibles
I was watching The Incredibles just now, and I realized something that had gone right past me the first few times I saw the movie. When Helen says “india golf niner niner”, that’s a reference to Iron Giant, which was released in 1999. Obvious, now that I think about it. (I’m used to looking for THX-1138 references in George Lucas films, but not Iron Giant references in Pixar films.)
Kung-Fu films
Heroic Grace II and Shaw Brothers Classics: classic martial arts (and related) movies at Lincoln Center. Some of this stuff overlaps with the San Diego con, so I’m going to have to miss some great stuff, like Dirty Ho, which I’ve wanted to see for a while now. (Alas, no domestic DVD available.)
getting rid of stuff
Of the 15 books I posted on eBay on Saturday, I’ve already sold two at the “Buy It Now” price. Only one other book has any bids on it, though. Hopefully, I can get rid of at least 5 books, if not 10 or 15, before the auctions close.
It’s been a while since I’ve sold anything on eBay. I like a lot of the new features. The shipping calculator integrated into the listings, and the ability to pay for and print shipping labels on-line is great. I picked up a small scale at Staples, so I can make sure I’ve got the weights right. Now I don’t need to go down to the post office at all. I can just weigh the package, print the label, and dump the thing in the mail. Nice.
I’ve sent out eight DVDs through Peerflix so far. I’ve received one DVD (Mystic River), and six more are on their way. The six DVDs coming in are not ones that were near the top of my want list. They’re all basically what I’d consider second-tier titles. That’s OK though, since that’s basically what I was trading off.
I’ve also discovered PeerFlixTalk.com, an independent discussion board site for Peerflix. There’s some interesting discussion going on over there, along with some pretty esoteric stuff about people’s preferences for mailers. A couple of Peerflix employees hop on the board now and again, so that’s a good sign. A few people seem to be dead-set against the new “peermailer” system, where you just print out a template on two pieces of paper, then fold them into an envelope of sorts. Apparently, Peerflix used to send out envelopes, like Lala does.
I only just got the mailers from Lala, so I wasn’t able to send anything out until today. I sent out 3 CDs, and I’ve now got 3 CDs coming in already. Two of the CDs I’m getting are titles that I have on casette; I’m trying to gradually replace all my old casettes and LPs with CDs (or digital files from iTunes or wherever), and Lala seems like a good way to do some of that.
So, in a nutshell, I’m gradually creating a bit more shelf space, without resorting to fire. With Peerflix and Lala, even though I’m probably getting in about the same number of titles I’m sending out, I’ll still be clearing some space, since I’m tossing out some old clamshell and jewel cases. The new stuff will either go in paper envelopes or thin cases. And, for the DVDs at least, I’ll probably trade some of them back out right after I watch them.
Peerflix
Since I’m on this whole trading kick, I decided to sign up for a Peerflix account, which is a DVD-trading service similar to Lala. They operate a little differently from Lala; trades are $1 each, like Lala, but you have to pay in advance for them, 5 at a time. And they don’t use prepaid mailers like Lala. Instead, they generate and send a two-page custom mailer to your printer. You’re supposed to put the DVD between the two pieces of paper and fold them into an envelope of sorts, which you then tape shut. I’m really not sure a DVD would survive the rigors of the Somerville post office without any padding, but I guess we’ll see how it works out.
Meanwhile, I’m ready to send out a couple of CDs via Lala, as soon as I get their mailers. And there’s one CD on the way to me already.
The one thing that bothers me a bit about both services is that they encourage you to throw out the packaging and booklets that come with CDs and DVDs. I realize it’s cheaper to mail that way, but my collector mentality just thinks it’s wrong to toss that stuff out. There’s stuff I’d never put up on Lala or Peerflix, just because I couldn’t bear to toss out the packaging and/or booklets. I guess I’ll have to stick with eBay for that kind of stuff.
Ziegfeld Classics
They’re showing some interesting stuff at the Ziegfeld this month. It looks like I’ve already missed some good stuff (LoTR and Indy), but there’s more good stuff coming up (North by Northwest, Alien, and Lawrence of Arabia, for example).
Chop Socky
I caught Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong on IFC a while ago. I thought it might be fun to put together a list of some of the classic kung-fu movies mentioned in this documentary, along with links to reviews and such.
Batman: New Times
Batman: New Times is a fun little Batman fan film.
Cartoon Musicals II
Lincoln Center will be running part two of their Cartoon Musicals program from Dec 28 – Jan 4. I caught a number of the features from the first part of this series, and there was some great stuff shown. Part two seems to feature even more obscure and esoteric stuff. Plus a couple of showings of the South Park movie, which is certainly not a bad thing.
Superman Returns
Seeing the Superman Returns trailer yesterday brought back fond memories of the original Superman movie soundtrack. They used the original theme in the trailer; I’m not sure if they’ll be using the original John Williams music in the actual movie or not, but it would sure be nice if they did.
There’s a version of the soundtrack on iTunes by the Royal Scottish Orchestra instead of the LSO, by the way. I haven’t listened to enough of it to know if it’s better or worse than the original LSO version.