Paranoia. Hypochondria. Delusions of Grandeur.
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| chrisnull.com Paranoia. Hypochondria. Delusions of Grandeur. |
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9.30.2003 Really only one other movie opening this weekend that EW hasn't already reviewed... which I predict thusly: MOVIE: EW Estimate Out of Time: B- posted by Christopher Null | 1:50 PM 9.29.2003 The more publicity this story can get, the better. Please link away. The Subpoenas are Coming! posted by Christopher Null | 10:47 AM 9.28.2003 Congrats, Jack Valenti. You've hit a new level of lunacy. In case you're not a film critic or an Oscar voter, this probably doesn't matter to you, but Valenti seems to have claimed that he has all the major studios in line to stop sending out home video screeners of movies during awards season, claiming that those screeners result in pirated copies of films. I won't comment on the narrowsightedness of this move -- it's fully in keeping with the usual knee-jerk Gestapo tactics of the MPAA and (even moreso) the RIAA. But what I will note is that if Valenti gets his way, it will only hasten the demise of the movie theater as we know it. How's that? Smart studios wanting to push their movies to critics and voters during Oscar season will simply release films earlier in the year, then release them on DVD for real before the end of the year, thus getting around the restriction. The catch is that the time lag between a theatrical release and a DVD release will shrink considerably. A decade ago, it took a year to get to home video. Only a year ago this lag time was 6 months. Now it varies -- as low as 3 or 4 months in many cases and as little as 6 weeks for (the admittedly embarassing) From Justin to Kelly. 2003 is probably too far gone to make much of an impact, but when we look back, I predict 2004 will go down as the year theatrical movie going began to die. Congrats to Mr. Valenti for aiding his industry's own demise. The cruel irony of course is that I've never actually heard of an Oscar voter or film critic pirating a film. By far the culprits are studio insiders who leak copies of the movies, followed by shaky-cam audience members who record from the screen. Any enterprising soul can find all of this week's theatrical releases for free on the Internet. It doesn't take a DVD mailed to your house. E! Online News - MPAA Seeks Oscar Home Movie Ban posted by Christopher Null | 8:02 AM 9.27.2003 MOVIE: EW Estimate / Actual Rating Duplex: B+ / C- (This is my fault; I had no idea how bad this movie would be. A C- is a pretty fair assessment.) Under the Tuscan Sun: B / C+ The Rundown: B- / B Underworld: B / C Case de los Babys: A / B- (inconceivable!) Hmm, got the ratings backwards this week. They also went a week early with a surprising "A" review for School of Rock... indicating how their love affair with Jack Black goes on and on. Not that I don't like Jack Black, but an "A"? (Fun fact: EW movie critics never give "A+" ratings.) posted by Christopher Null | 9:07 AM 9.26.2003 The San Francisco Chronicle weighs in on Half Mast. Thanks to Alan Black for taking the time to review my book! posted by Christopher Null | 3:45 PM 9.25.2003 Mis-sent dispatch to Christie Null regarding the Trinity College 5-Year Reunion. Christie graduated and spent $100,000 on her education, yet still can't figure out what her e-mail address is. Here are the details. Trinity University - 1998 Class Reunion Information Three pitchers of Shiner at Bombay�s: $20. One dozen tortillas and queso at TC�s: $3. Staying up past 11:30 p.m. and acting like a college student again: priceless. Hello Christie, Only 31 Days Until Your Five-Year Reunion� Are you ready? Have you made your plans to come back to Trinity yet? We are looking forward to seeing you October 24-26 for Alumni Weekend 2003! Highlights of the weekend include: Friday Scholarship Golf Tournament at the Alamo Quarry Golf Club All Alumni get-together and jazz concert in the Ruth Taylor Foyer Men�s and women�s soccer matches against Rhodes in the evening. Saturday Saturday Morning Classes offer an opportunity to revisit favorite professors and subjects in a casual, homework-free setting. Alumni Picnic on the Holt Center lawn Saturday afternoon Football game vs. Centre College. Official 5-year Reunion Buffet at the lawn by Murchison Tower. To register online, go to � www.trinity.edu/alumni/SSL/aw03register.htm Get Connected with your classmates on the new online directory - www.alumni.trinity.edu See you in October! 1998 Class Reunion Committee Chanda Brotemarkle Cynthia Ferguson Fagan Dathan Weems Heather Morlang Melissa Piekos Ruehl Stacy Murrow Bunck posted by Christopher Null | 10:37 AM At last... Science weighs in on 5-second rule' posted by Christopher Null | 9:25 AM 9.24.2003 If this is not the perfect reason for a revolution, I don't know what is. Yahoo! News - U.S. Court Blocks Anti-Telemarketing List posted by Christopher Null | 8:48 AM 9.23.2003 Week three of EW review handicapping... I predict pandering and mediocrity this week. As usual. MOVIE: EW Estimate Duplex: B+ Under the Tuscan Sun: B The Rundown: B- posted by Christopher Null | 10:42 AM The scene in sleepy Diamond Heights this morning: Looks like a domestic squabble, with one party tossing all the belongings of the other party out the window! Included: copious amounts of clothing, plus some wooden furniture which was smashed to bits in the street. I thought stuff like this only happened in the movies! posted by Christopher Null | 10:38 AM 9.20.2003 Most excellent spam of the day: Important notice We have just charged your credit card for money laundry service in amount of $234.65 (because you are either child pornography webmaster or deal with dirty money, which require us to layndry them and then send to your checking account). If you feel this transaction was made by our mistake, please press "No". If you confirm this transaction, please press "Yes" and fill in the form below. Enter your credit card number here: Enter your credit card expiration date: [YES] [NO] Contacts: icq: 181184; admin@carderportal.com - Err0r32; icq: 106561; svs@paris.com - Fidel posted by Christopher Null | 9:28 PM How long will the $1,000,000 keyboard remain on Amazon? Sales Rank: 27,303 Amazon.com: Electronics: Key Tronic E05305US205-C 104-Key Keyboard Win95 PS/2 L-Shape Enter Key posted by Christopher Null | 9:20 PM 9.19.2003 How'd I do in week two? Not bad. Too generous. MOVIE: EW Estimate / Actual Rating Secondhand Lions: B+ / C+ Anything Else: B- / C- Cold Creek Manor: C / C (boo yeah!) The Fighting Temptations: C- / B+ (worst movie of the week gets the highest rating! that's some smarts!) Underworld and Casa de los Babys were not reviewed posted by Christopher Null | 11:08 PM 9.18.2003 I linked this story when ZDNet ran it. CNET did it's own version. Here it is. Which is your favorite business buying guide? CNET's business buying guide - CNET.com posted by Christopher Null | 5:19 PM Best spam subject line of the day: We sell Heroin First line of message: "If you think you are receiving this message in an error - call here to unsubscribe..." Awesome. posted by Christopher Null | 10:03 AM 9.17.2003 Nuisance of the day: On Amazon, "Amazon.com Visa" and "Visa" are different payment choices. And of course it defaults to "Amazon.com Visa," their private-label credit card. Enter in all your data, then do it all again! Grumble grumble. posted by Christopher Null | 4:52 PM 9.16.2003 Here's this week's EW handicapping: MOVIE: EW Estimate Casa de los Babys: A Secondhand Lions: B+ Underworld: B Anything Else: B- Cold Creek Manor: C The Fighting Temptations: C- (don't wanna offend Beyonce!) Stay tuned for the results on Friday! posted by Christopher Null | 2:08 PM 9.15.2003 So I'm driving along, waiting to turn left, and in the opposite lane, a woman veers out into another lane of traffic, narrowly -- and I mean by a quarter of an inch -- misses the car that's already in that lane. She just didn't see the car... and, I swear to God, the woman does a full-on head-smack with the palm of her hand. The "I coulda had a V8!" head smack! I've never seen that done non-ironically. PS I suspect the reason she didn't see the car approaching was her enormous head wrap, which appeared to have cut off any sort of peripheral vision. Good thinkin', there. posted by Christopher Null | 9:57 PM 9.14.2003 How come there's an elm tree in the yard of every house in every movie ever made, but nothing is ever made out of elm wood? What's wrong with elm wood? posted by Christopher Null | 10:22 AM 9.12.2003 Heh, I wrote that Cingular story (see last line of article). Yahoo! News - Computer Hacker Ordered to Live with Parents posted by Christopher Null | 4:40 PM And now the results... I didn't do as well as I do normally... I figured this week's token "best" rating would go to Matchstick Men, as Lost in Translation seems to be getting less solid notice. The D- for Dummy is a big surprise, though Owen Gleiberman is clearly turned off by the satirical Jewish content of the film. Not terribly surprising that they didn't go for Cabin Fever although it's been getting rave reviews everywhere else. MOVIE: My Guess / Actual EW Rating Matchstick Men: B+ / B- Cabin Fever: B / C+ Lost in Translation: B / A Dummy: A- / D- OK, I'm honing my skills and will try to do better next week! posted by Christopher Null | 4:24 PM Just how predictable are the film critics of Entertainment Weekly? While I'm anxiously waiting for my subscription to expire in January 2006, let's have a little fun. There's rarely any surprise to be found in the EW movie review pages, so I'm going to put my own powers of intuition to the test to see if I can guess how the mag's resident film critics (who now have their own ridiculous Q&A column, but that's another story) will judge this week's films. This way I won't ever have to read the reviews at all, not even those clever grades they drop! Full disclosure: I have no inside knowledge of the EW operation, don't get advance copies of the magazine, and have no vested interest in cheating. In fact, I don't see the vast majority of films each week -- I typically see them over the next few months. My picks are based solely on my guess about exactly how predictable, homogenized, and unwilling-to-offend that EW's critics will be, week in and week out. Also note that EW doesn't always review all of that week's releases, and sometimes it reviews films a week early. I'll try to post my picks on Wednesdays and post results as soon as my issue arrives, which is usually Friday afternoon (along with any commentary). I haven't seen this week's issue yet, so let's get started! (Once Upon a Time in Mexico was inexplicably reviewed last week, so I'm skipping that one...) MOVIE - My Guess Matchstick Men: B+ Cabin Fever: B Lost in Translation: B Dummy: A- posted by Christopher Null | 2:51 PM 9.10.2003 And now, ladies and gentlemen, the complete and uncensored 2003 California recall ballot! (Boy, this is gonna be fun.) posted by Christopher Null | 7:15 PM Of all these things, this sounds the worst: "Very fine, insoluble glass particles which travel through the lungs to the bloodstream and heart." BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Brutal' effects of Ground Zero fumes posted by Christopher Null | 11:58 AM 9.09.2003 Adrian Lamo turned himself in to the FBI this morning at 9am. I'm still trying to find video of the event, as camera crews were allegedly on hand. Here's a shot of Adrian right before he went into custody. 
posted by Christopher Null |
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Leni Riefenstahl's death is going relatively unnoticed, and while Matt Langdon and I have had a big debate over some of her work, her impact on cinema is unmistakable. Yahoo! News - Hitler's Filmmaker Riefenstahl Dies at 101 posted by Christopher Null | 9:44 AM 9.08.2003 Say what you will, but this is probably the funniest Doonesbury strip in a decade. posted by Christopher Null | 9:59 AM 9.05.2003 Good luck, Adrian. Faith manages. posted by Christopher Null | 9:31 PM 9.04.2003 I get a lot of email about my remarks regarding Bowling for Columbine. Here's one (of many) sites that does a lot of debunking of the fantasies in Moore's film. Sure, it's equally biased the other way, but it's good to give people like this guy equal time. posted by Christopher Null | 10:18 PM 9.03.2003 The Best Software You're Not Using Yeah I wrote this bad boy! posted by Christopher Null | 3:20 PM 9.02.2003 Now that's love. (Check out the final line in the story.) posted by Christopher Null | 5:03 PM |
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