Wii's Software Update

Netflix has updated their software for the Wii. There is longer a "Retrieving Screen", but a solid black "Loading" screen instead.

Hot Bubblegum

"Hot Bubblegum" is a pretty entertaining and crazy Hebrew language (although overdubbed in English in this case) teen flick with lots of sex and swearing. Among the rampant profanities are good 1950's rock'n'roll (mostly Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" at every possible opportunity), cool clothes and almost every "Popsicle Girl" in an elastic waist belt. Here, we find main character, Benzi chasing the manipulative, slutty, shiny lipped Niki (played by Orna Dagan instead of Anat Atzmon who was Niki in "Lemon Popsicle") in a cloud of blind love. Supposedly, the "Nikis" are two separate characters. I haven't seen, "Going Steady" which is the film that's right before this one, so I may be a little lost of the continuing story line. 

Be sure to check out a fansite from the UK called "Lemon Popsicle Forever" that has a thorough overview of all the movies in the "Popsicle" series.

Again with the funny Netflix created box covers, they use this image here:

BUT, as far as I could tell, this image is not from this movie. 

Here's the original poster art:

Party Down

"Party Down" is hilarious, although, I think the best episodes are with Constance (Jane Lynch who left the show for "Glee"). I've heard it has similarities to "Veronica Mars" and "Children's Hospital" but I haven't seen either of those. They share some cast and crew members as far as I know, and the same goes with "Freaks And Geeks" who share Martin Starr and Lizzy Caplan. 

RuPaul's Drag Race (Season 3)

This show is so much fun to watch. I wish the first season was on Instant. I'm excited about the fourth season. This picture is good timing. 

Skins (U.K.)

This is my second viewing of the original U.K. version of "Skins". The first season is the best season with the most likable group of characters in the show's 6 season run (so far). The second and third seasons are okay, but not as infectious or dreamy, and even the clothing is better in the first. I also could have done without the Cat Stevens' "Wild World" montage sung by some of the cast in the season finale (the first season I think). *barf*. 

I haven't watched the American, MTV version, but I can't imagine it even coming close. Especially since the British version is unrated, with lots of swearing, sex, nudity and rampant drug use. 

Mad Men

I started watching "Mad Men" maybe just last month. I don't have cable, so I wasn't swept up in the fury of a revival of the early 1960's like the rest of the country hinted at. It sadly hasn't taken over the horrible excuse that is the fashion trends of today (leggings and tights as pants, dolman tops, ill-fitting, cheaply made clothing in general). Everything worn in this show is well made, tailored to fit and none of the characters would be caught dead at the mall in pajama pants with large words scribbled across their butt. Bleecchh.

I stopped watching at episode 30 (I think) because I watched past where my husband left off. I thought he didn't like the show, so I kept watching, wanting to see what happens next. It's definitely a well written show, but I can't seem to figure out why I'm so hooked. It is because it takes place in the early 60's? If it was present time, would I feel the same way? The plot lines would be different in modern times for sure. I also like that Tim Hunter (writer of "Over The Edge" and "River's Edge") is involved. 

So, to tide me over, I've been watching my "Bewitched" DVDs. There's actually more than a few others online who made this same comparison. Darin Stephens (Dick York's character on "Bewitched") is an ad executive on Madison Avenue, New York just like "Mad" Man, Donald Draper. That's basically the gist of it, all the advertising talk and such that occurs in both shows. Of course, "Witch", Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) is the main character in her show, whereas, Betty Draper (January Jones) is placed fourth in the credits. 

Beavis And Butt-Head/The Wonder Years

Supposedly "Beavis And Butt-Head" is being renewed, or really brought back for a new generation of watchers. MTV is completely different from what it was in the early 1990's when "B&B" was first aired.  Now, instead of panning music videos (which was the best part of the show) they are supposedly poking fun at the awful crapload of reality shows MTV has been spewing out left and right. We'll just have to wait and see how this all turns out when it airs on October 27th. Or actually, you can check out a 4 minute sneak peek that's on MTV's website, or here from a You Tube copy of that same video:

You Tube is also where you can watch the last remaining evidence of Beavis and Butt-Head making fun of music videos. 

Unfortunately, music rights have always been an issue when it comes to releasing a DVD of a TV Show. This has plagued "The Wonder Years" (I don't have a photo from that as of now) from ever being released on DVD because of the crippling amount of music licensing that would need to be worked out. It has also effected the Instant Streaming version as well because the theme song (Joe Cocker's version of the Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends") isn't even correct. Sure, in the few episodes I watched, I heard Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds, but I have no clue what I haven't heard. 

Malcolm In The Middle

Malcolm In The Middle

RuPaul's Drag Race

RuPaul's Drag Race

This show is pretty addictive. Too bad they only have the 2nd season. 

Cash In The Attic

The Munsters

 

I always thought "The Munsters" were way cooler than "The Addams Family" show. I remember once they had The Standells play in their living room. Wow! 

Marwencol (2010)

 

 

Marwencol (2010)

I fell asleep and missed this. I heard its really good.

Heavy Petting (1989)

Some of the old footage in "Heavy Petting" was pretty neat, but the interviews about various celebrities' sex lives not so much. Meh. 

South Park

This character was wrongfully blamed for a fire that disfigured an elementary school teacher who now exists silently in a motorized black box. The "South Park" kids pointed the finger at this guy, a bad kid (a.k.a easy target) and so he was sent off to Juvenile for a few years.

Lemon Popsicle (1978)

"Lemon Popsicle" is a teen flick set in 1950's Israel, but made in 1978. It's spoken in Herbrew language, but unfortunately overdubbed in English. Subtitles might've made for a better translation. I would say that "Popsicle" is similar to "Porky's", but this movie actually predates it by 3 or 4 years. I think "Porky's" is kinda bad anyway. Funny enough, 1982 is the year that "Lemon Popsicle" was remade for America as "The Last American Virgin" which is by the same director as the original, Boaz Davidson. Would you believe that there are 8 or 9 of these "Lemon Popsicle" movies? The third one in the series is "Hot Bubblegum", which came out (again) in 1982. That seems to be the only other one available via streaming at the moment.

This movie was crude, but also kinda sweet and funny at times. It went from one extreme to another. There was more nudity than any American movie would have shown at the time. For instance, during some scenes of undressing, you can casually see someone's weiner, while back in American (a few years later), you can hear Amy Heckerling being told that "Fast Times.." character, Damone's penis is too "aggressive". How odd.

There was a ridiculous amount of 1950's era music crammed into just about every scene in this movie. In my mind, I kept getting "Puppy Love" and "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" mixed up. Then I thought about the Doug Clark & The Hot Nuts parody which was something like, "Put your legs 'round my shoulders". ha. "Baaay-Bee".

Futurama

Pow! To the moon! 

So it has come to this...

Hello everyone! I'm taking this opportunity to drag out my soap box and share some of my own commentary on the latest in Netflix.

As you can see in an earlier post, I spoke about the new pricing and plans that Netflix unveiled much to the masses' absurdly negative reaction. Well, because of all the pouting and quite frankly, childish ranting about the plan increasing to a still WAY cheaper price than cable, about $17 (For one DVD at a time and Streaming), we now have a blog entry/email from the CEO, as follows:

Dear Kristin,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.


That is the email version I received in my inbox this afternoon. So now because everyone was up in arms about the whole thing, Netflix is actually splitting their website in two separate entities. This is crazy. Maybe Netflix shouldn't listen to their customers so much, because the majority of them can't seem to give up 4 or 5 $4 Starbucks coffees to pay for their Netflix subscription. I wouldn't exactly call myself a misanthrope, but I just find that a whole lot of people should probably keep their opinions to themselves, or at least stop jumping to conclusions. That may be battle scars from working retail and hearing people vent their frustrations at complete strangers (us, retail workers) who I guess are seen as beneath them.

At the moment, I'm keeping my subscription until the end of the year when I'll be out of town for awhile (my account will be on hold so I don't have to pick out my movies all over again). I'll have to wait and see how this new separate sites for DVD's and streaming service works out. That may be my suggestion for everybody, basically freaking out over this: why don't you wait and see how it goes before you make a such a quick judgement about it?

By the way, Red Box SUCKS.

Edge Of Seventeen (1998)

"Edge Of Seventeen" is a pretty good, coming of age movie. I love almost anything "coming of age", so this is up my alley. Its about Annie Lennox obsessed Eric (Chris Stafford) who can't figure out if he's gay or straight in 1984 Sandusky, Ohio. This movie was made to look old, like it was actually filmed in 1984. Its not exact, but pretty close with its nice and grainy film lines. There's some kool costumes and a pretty good New Romantic/New Wave soundtrack with lots of A Flock Of Seagulls. Tina Holmes (who I remember from "Six Feet Under" whose character name is Maggie in both of these) is his adorable best friend/girlfriend. 

This is the second gay related movie/TV show I've watched lately. The last being my DVD Netflix rental of "Queer As Folk", the last season. I'm glad Rosie O'Donnell didn't become a permanent character. 

Heart Of The Beholder (2005)

Wow-wee, "Heart Of The Beholder" was pretty bad. It was filmed like a made for tv movie, except there's lots of swearing and awkward sex scenes. Really off-putting. I added this movie to my queue after watching the super violent "Kick Ass". "Heart" was Chloe Moretz first movie. I thought the "based on a true story" was pretty interesting even though it was poorly made. It's about a video store that faces backlash from the religious community about the videos they rent in their store in the 1980's. Namely, "The Last Temptation Of Christ". I had to laugh at the scene where a woman claims that "Splash" is a movie about bestiality. Who knew? There was a reporter who says "This is Mike Deetz On The Streets" so many times its almost at drinking game status. Also, the lead actor who plays the store owner looks so familiar to me, but I couldn't find what movie I had seen him in. I did find out though that he was Mike Love in the fantastic made-for-tv movie about the Beach Boys called "An American Family". 

The Basketball Diaries (1995)

As you can see, I had a lot of stall outs with trying to watch "The Basketball Diaries". I think it added an extra half hour or so and I nodded off during the last 40 minutes of the movie. 

I was prompted to put this movie on (since I've never seen it) because I'm rereading "Please Kill Me" and Jim Carroll (whose book this movie is based on) has a few comments in it. He talks about his poetry readings with Patti Smith, the time he was thrown in jail and missed a performance of theirs and how he was "terrible hustler". He was referring to a time when he was 15, and turning tricks on 53rd and 3rd (which many Ramones fans know the song about Dee Dee's experience there) in New York City.

So, I thought maybe the movie was about that period in his life. Nope, I guess not. Sure, there were drugs, but I don't recall seeing him (I mean, Leonardo Dicaprio portraying him) as a prostitute (maybe I missed that part). I mean, he nearly breaks Bruno Kirby's nose when he starts coming on to him. I barely know anything about Jim Carroll and I still feel like I don't from watching this movie.  

I always knew of the "People Who Died" song, but I didn't really hear it beginning to end so it didn't stick.  I remember hearing it referenced in a song by Detention called "Dead Rock'n'Rollers". Now it seems out of date because poor Jim died in 2009 of a heart attack.

I was really annoyed with the time setting in "Basketball Diaries". You know that its supposed to be the 1960's, but its obviously not. I mean, a Terminator reference and an "IHOP" (Not International House Of Pancakes)? What am I, an idiot? Maybe the filmmakers thought that it was irrelevant? Or maybe they just didn't care? It could have been a better movie. 

Youngblood (1978)

I unfortunately missed most of "Youngblood" by falling asleep. I'll probably update this entry sometime soon. 

Man Vs. Food

I'm pretty sure this episode was in Puerto Rico where there seemed to be lots of crazy pork dishes. I've never been to Puerto Rico, but I like Davila 666 who are from there. 

Jeffrey and I have gone to Munchie's in Sarasota after seeing it in an episode. We were there to play a show at Pasttimes Pub across the street. The first time we went, he had a...

 

and I had a 

I think after getting through half the sandwich, I felt pretty terrible, like I had eaten too much salt or something. Even so, we still went back again a year later. They're actually pretty good, just not all the time of course.