Electric Shadow

Awful Wii U Commercials

I have a Wii U. I like it. I skipped the Wii, so I have a lot to catch up on. Sales figures have been in the toilet for it. These new commercials on Nintendo's YouTube channel are so unfocused and bland, I just don't know what they're thinking.

The quickest solution to all of this is releasing three big games this summer and then keep actual games coming out instead of ports of year-plus-old games.

UPDATE: John Gholson sums up exactly how I missed this one. It's actually a commercial for a church, right?

Konami Announces METAL GEAR SOLID Collection Worth Buying

Kotaku reports that the PS3/HD-enhanced collection I've been waiting for since they started doing these is finally in the offing. It will include:

METAL GEAR SOLID
METAL GEAR SOLID 2: HD Edition
METAL GEAR SOLID 3: HD Edition (which includes the original MSX versions of METAL GEAR and METAL GEAR 2)
METAL GEAR SOLID: Peace Walker HD Edition
METAL GEAR SOLID: VR MISSIONS
METAL GEAR SOLID 4: Trophy Edition.

In addition, the collection will also include two Ashley Wood digital graphic novels

The previous one included 2, 3, and Peace Walker. I played part of 3 and have been dormant on the series since. I'm the target customer looking to catch up on almost ten years of games in a couple of weekends. I'll probably re-play the super-ridiculous Sons of Liberty. Their recasting Snake by ditching David Hayter for the next game makes me less interested in it.

Explosion Near Waco

A fertilizer plant in West, Texas exploded around an hour ago. It's a small town just off Interstate 35 about 20-30 minutes north of Waco. I drive through there every time I visit my parents in Dallas. The photo in this article from Dallas' WFAA Channel 8 shows a tiny corner of The Czech Stop, well-known to central and north Texans.

Czech Stop is a bakery and gas station where I stop every time I go back home. They're known for their kolaches, a Czech import to texas where meats and chesses and various other fillings are baked inside a yeast roll.

NBC News has another, closer angle.

This is literally a close-to-home thing for me. I've interacted with the people of that town, driven past countless times, and I believe in preserving small town Texas culture. Contrary to mis-reporting all over social media (my trigger finger included), the majority of the city was not "leveled" (see update), but the shockwave was felt as far north as Arlington, which is about an hour away. The destruction as reported so far, however, is pretty significant for a town as small as West.

I fear that in the coming weeks, a lot of I-35 travelers will stop in at Czech Stop (like I do), and either not know or remember that this happened. I hope, however, that people stop, think, and ask these people how they're holding up, and tell them that people are thinking of them. That's what I plan to do. As a society, we don't do things like that as much as we used to.

I've been off gluten for a long while, but in addition to a coffee, I plan to grab a couple of sausage, cheese and sauerkraut kolaches the next time I'm through.

SHANE Blu-ray Will be 1.37, 1.66 Version Dead

Lou Lumenick gets the scoop that the outcry from fans has resulted in Warner Home Video scrapping a 1.66:1 aspect ratio bastardization of Paramount's Shane in favor of the correct original aspect ratio of 1.37:1.

"Shane'' was shot in the then-prevailing classic, squarish "Academy'' ratio by director George Stevens and cinematographer Loyal Griggs in 1951. But by the time it was ready for release in early 1953, Hollywood was gearing up for widescreen presentations to compete with TV. "Shane'' thus became the first Hollywood film of this era -- there had been experiments with 70mm for early talkies -- to be released in 1:66, shown that way at Radio City Music Hall and for other premiere engagements. But for most of the past 60 years, "Shane'' has been exhibite[d] -- theatrically, on TV and on home video -- the way Stevens shot it, in 1:37.

The film was shown in 1:66 in 1953 when the projectionist masked off a portion of the tops and/or bottoms of the picture. For the film's recent restoration, Paramount reportedly decided to create video masters of both versions. The cropping of 1:66 version, TCM says, was personally supervised by George Stevens Jr. -- the director's son, a filmmaker himself who was on location when the film was shot -- and he decided the framing on a shot by shot basis.

He goes on to mention the full-blooded crusade of my friend Jeffrey Wells to get the 1.66 version axed:

Wells' crusade was supported by Woody Allen , whose office faxed a letter indicating that he "wanted to add my strenuous objection to putting out an edition of Shane in any format other than the precise original.'

Like Lumenick and many, many others, I do not support Wells' insistence on 1.78:1 movies being cropped to 1.66:1 (which seems to conflict with his holy war on Modified Aspect Ratios), and especially Wells' ardor in favor of massive levels of DNR. I am, however, happy to have been there with him on this one. George Stevens Jr., who authorized the 1.66-ization, has since cancelled his appearance to present the movie at the upcoming TCM Festival. Shocker.

"X" Century-Fox

Deadline retracts/corrects a story they helped blow up earlier today. 20th Century Fox is still going to be 20th Century Fox in all consumer-facing ways. "21st Century Fox" is just a name for the new umbrella corporation that envelops all of News Corp's being-spun-off media properties.

This, the latest choice from the company that decided to launch a new cable channel called FXX when they already have one called FX. No one will get confused, I'm sure.

The title of this post references the 1953 merger of 20th Century Pictures and the Fox Film Corporation, where the new company's name featured a hyphen for some years as "20th Century-Fox".

Finished Steel

What Zack Snyder has done with Superman feels markedly different than what Bryan Singer did within the self-created trap of his own choosing. Snyder's Man of Steel feels unchained from what is expected or what has come before, either from the Superman franchise or his own filmography.

A major difference I've felt is in overheard conversations: sometimes in movie theaters, sometimes (more rarely) when just out and about. I very distinctly recall the first weekend that Superman Returns trailers were playing in cinemas across the country. I was in a half-full screening of something or another. The audience collectively groaned, and then a woman behind me said in full voice "are they kidding us with this shit?". The below is how you sell even the most jaded audience on a new Superman.

Sick

I returned from a conference in Miami and succumbed to some unholy combination of bronchitis and a sinus infection. I had been on heavy steroidal meds from my recent sinus surgery, which reduced my capacity to fight infection. Add to that the exhaustion from the rigors of a conference schedule (in Miami no less).

Mostly, I only feel well enough to lay around, watch TV, and try to resist coughing. I'm trying to get some posts out tonight and throughout the rest of the week.

UK's LoveFilm Strikes Warner International Deal

A small news nugget at Deadline caught my eye today:

Netflix competitor Lovefilm has entered what it calls a “milestone” deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution for the UK. From today, library content that includes The West Wing, One Tree Hill, Nip Tuck and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be available to subscribers. The Amazon-owned streaming service has 2M+ subscribers across Europe. Netflix entered the market in January 2012 where Sky also continues to build its business. The three companies each have deals with the major U.S. studios. In November, Netflix signed its own multi-year pact with WBITD that included shows like The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl.

LoveFilm is an Amazon UK service like the all-you-can-eat video component of the Amazon Prime membership in the United States. The "New TV" war is finally heating up across the pond. I talked about UK streaming with Myke Hurley on Screen Time a few weeks ago.

Apple Bans a Secondary Storefront from iOS

The AppGratis story is three days old, but bears re-examination in light of the "Saga Saga":

Over this past weekend, Apple pulled AppGratis from the App Store, explaining on Monday that the app discovery software violated two App Store regulations in particular: one banning apps that promote other apps in a manner similar to the App Store, and another forbidding apps using push notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind.

As the piece goes on to say, that the app was approved mutliple times and then suddenly got yanked is interesting, to say the least.

The behavior they're objecting to is technically the sort of thing that apps like ComiXology and other content storefronts could engage in as part of their core business. Some do. Many games actively engage in push notification behaviors like those described. If you want to read it a certain way, many in-app purchases could make that inventory considered a secondary storefront, whether in games or other apps.

This case makes you wonder whether Apple even gives content providers the level of attention or responsiveness they need to keep publishing, and instead pay more attention to what needs to be shut down (for their needs) like this.

GLEE Takes on Newtown

TVLine's Michael Slezak takes a spoiler-filled look at the events and consequences of shots fired in the school on Glee. The URL includes what some may consider a spoiler. I'll excerpt spoiler-free:

For starters, I know a lot of folks will probably ask if it was “too soon” for Ryan Murphy & Co. to tackle a story arc about gunshots ringing out in the hallways of McKinley High a mere four months after the real and unspeakable shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary. I understand that question, but the sad fact is Sandy Hook wasn’t the first tragedy of its kind, nor will it be the last. So perhaps it’s folly to debate the timing of such an episode: You’re either going to go there, or you’re not. You’re either going to use the real-life dread we experienced as a nation for dramatic purposes — and, yeah, to possibly make a political statement — or you’re not.

There's such a thing as topicality, but it's quite another, as the piece goes on to analyze, to potentially and permanently shift the status quo of a show. This is especially the case when it involves major, beloved characters.

 

BTIG: Netflix Holds More Attention Than Cable

I would link BTIG's data, but it's locked behind a registration wall. Deadline's David Lieberman gives us a look inside the findings of a recent study:

The analyst figures that Netflix had 28.1M subscribers here. Do some simple division, and it comes to 87 minutes per subscriber each day — up from his calculation last July of 79 minutes. At the new threshold, “Netflix is now likely the most watched cable network, essentially in-line with the Disney Channel,” Greenfield says.

Since Netflix's content is mostly analogous to the target audience of Disney Channel, this is a super-apt comparison.

On second thought...

Cinedigm Helps Take Drive-Ins Digital

Deadline's David Lieberman reports that one of the sleeping giants of content is going after screens it seems no one else is paying much attention to:

For the digital projection to work in drive-ins, the groups needed to team up with the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association and secure some exceptions to the Digital Cinema Initiatives specifications for the technology. It means that “the unique movie-going experience outdoor exhibitors offer will continue for generations to come,” says UDITOA President John Vincent Jr. Cinedigm says it hopes to sign additional drive in theaters next week to preserve what VP Business Affairs Alison Choppelas calls “such an important piece of Americana.”

I'm sure we'll get more of an idea why Cinedigm is getting chummy with these specific exhibitors at CinemaCon next week. Cinedigm own New Video, Flatiron Films, and much more. Most of their content falls into the categories of documentary, arthouse, and specialty/genre cinema. They are amassing a considerable stockpile of weapons-grade content alongside a very digital-friendly model, and I follow them closer than many emerging distributors.

Jonathan Winters

The AP reports that Jonathan Winters is gone:

Jonathan Winters, the cherub-faced comedian whose breakneck improvisations and misfit characters inspired the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey, has died. He was 87.

Winters was one of the earliest comedy influences I had as a young actor, thanks to syndicated reruns of Mork and Mindy. When I discovered his records and his performances in movies and other shows in the pre-Internet world, his rapid-fire wit really blew me away.

Winters was a pioneer of improvisational standup comedy, with an exceptional gift for mimicry, a grab bag of eccentric personalities and a bottomless reservoir of creative energy. Facial contortions, sound effects, tall tales — all could be used in a matter of seconds to get a laugh.

In particular, his voice and mimicry work was most influential on me as a young, non-white (or "off-white") actor. I always played either the "ethnic other" or "the guy with an accent". He taught me by example that you can be funny and interesting without making yourself the joke. He transformed the art of silly into something more intellectually stimulating and dynamic. He has been one of my idols since I was a kid, and I'm less sad knowing that I still haven't seen everything he did that was recorded.

Chinese Theater Going IMAX

The cinema that was Grauman's Chinese is getting an IMAX retrofit:

 

Imax plans to make the Chinese Theatre one of its main venues for holding premieres of big budget action movies. The new Imax theater will be 94 feet wide and seat 986 people, making it the largest in terms of seating capacity among more than 730 Imax theaters in at least 50 countries. It would be the third-largest Imax theater in North America, only slightly smaller than Imax venues in San Francisco and Lincoln Square in New York City.

 

Although Imax has two dozen theaters in Los Angeles County, including AMC Universal Citywalk, none have been large enough to host premieres, an important source of business for Imax.

I assume the "third-largest" measure is of the screen size, right?

 

Disney Massively Downsizes Hand-Drawn Animation Department

From Cartoon Brew today:

According to former Disney animator Tom Bancroft on Twitter, Disney gutted their hand-drawn animation division this afternoon, and laid off some of the studio’s biggest names: Nik Ranieri, Ruben Aquino, Alex Kupershmidt, Frans Vischer, Russ Edmonds, Brian Ferguson, Jamie Lopez and Dan Tanaka. Two of the animators who still have jobs are Eric Goldberg and Mark Henn.

These people are all considered at the top of their field. Sad news indeed.