Questions I have been wondering.How is your social network doing? Are you staying connected with everyone you love? Do you have a phone list taped to the wall next to the home telephone? Do you still have a home telephone? Do you have an address book on paper? Is everything you need coded in little 1’s and 0’s inside your super computer in your pocket? Do you have a smart phone? Is it smart to rely on a phone for everything? How would you find your way around a strange city without a GPS device? What would you do while waiting for the plane without your phone? Can you add two three digit numbers in your head?
Does Google love me?
I would ask Mark Zuckerberg, but after watching THE SOCIAL NETWORK, I’m afraid he would give me some cryptic answer while staring out a window. Mark, Mark! Fund me! I’ll change the name of the store to Facebook Video! (Cool it, Kennyboy). Oops, sorry folks.
Actually, I went into the experience of watching the film about the founders of Facebook with a very skeptical feeling. I am nagged with irritation at that website, though as you all must know, I use it frequently. I have a Four Star Video page, and a Succulence page, and my band The Dont’s has a page, and I have a personal page, too. It is a smart tool for many reasons, yet…sometimes I am just deeply concerned about my peeps that seem to post every little moment of their lives on their pages. Hey everyone – I “checked in” to the bathroom! However, I must admit, THE SOCIAL NETWORK is a great film, and it makes for a very compelling watch. The performances are terrific, and Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg is particularly wonderful.
Two days ago, tomorrow was 1/11/11! But today, that was yesterday, and tomorrow it will be the distant past. What does it mean! Tell me what it means!
I’m fine with it meaning nothing. Actually, I hear this is the year of the corduroy. And I also hear 11/11/11 is like the biggest date in Corduroy history! But 1/11/11 has got to be not far behind. I am (was) wearing corduroy right now, actually, but I think I’ll wear it tomorrow (I did) as well, as a statement of love. You should, too.
Speaking of love, and our endless need for it, I don’t know about you, but I was pretty devastated about the shooting in Arizona this weekend. I would make a bunch of statements about how polarized we are right now as a nation; and I would point out how horribly wrong the violent rhetoric of the Right Wing commentators and pundits is, and how it riles people up and seems regularly to condone violence; and I would point out that Arizona itself is now a hotbed of hate and disagreement between neighbors; and I even suggest that this environment is what brought the young killer down the path that led him to commit this act of terrorism…But it seems like the kid is just mentally ill and not really politically motivated. I saw today that Palin is blaming journalists for pushing a violent agenda on society. When I read this quote of hers - “There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those 'calm days' when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols?" – I couldn’t help thinking about the numerous current political figures who would probably be happy to settle their differences with her with dueling pistols.
Hey Sarah, in the immortal words of my buddy, John, “Let’s try to be good to each other, OK?”
Hey other than THE SOCIAL NETWORK (which by the way, is very good and probably will get a bit of attention from the Academy), also out on DVD this week is PIRANHA, some DOCTOR WHO specials, an animated film called ALPHA AND OMEGA and an HBO comedy show called FUNNY OR DIE PRESENTS… There are also some interesting looking indie films, and a couple of newly released titles starring Robert De Niro on Blu-ray (RAGING BULL, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA). There’s more; scroll down.
A couple other quick hits: today is the deadline for the call to artists for new art work on our library. Sorry for the last minute post, but if you are interested, click this link and fill out the site-Artist application can be found here. This is a very big deal in our little hood. Here’s an opportunity to be a part of it.
Also, many of you know my wife, Amy Shelf, is an estate planning attorney. She is also a super talented writer (and singer, musician, parent, artist, chef, pickler, partner, jam-maker, and she dresses well, too). Each year she begins the year by sending out a big hello to the world at large. Here is her 2011 entry.
Lastly, I discovered an amazing thing recently. My blog site has stats and tells me where the blog is being read (just by Country, not city and block) and it turns out we have readers in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Russia, France, The United Kingdom, Slovenia, Poland, Canada and Japan. That is so awesome! Welcome, international readers! I love you! Drop me a line and tell us how you stumbled across The Four Star Gazer!
Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.
Love and Kisses,
Ken
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............//NEW RELEASES//............
ALPHA AND OMEGA.
Family/Animation.
Justin Long/Hayden Pannettiere/Christina Ricci/Danny Glover/Dennis Hopper.
Directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck.
* Two mismatched wolves find themselves relying on each other to get out of a difficult situation in this funny animated family film.
DAVID’S BIRTHDAY.
Drama/Foreign (Italian).
Directed by Marco Filiberti.
* Two long-time and long-term couples vacation together is fraught with tension and disturbance when one of their sons arrives from the US where he has been going to boarding school.
HAPPY EVER AFTERS.
Comedy/Romance.
Sally Hawkins/Tom Riley.
Directed by Stephen Burke.
* Two wedding, in Ireland, occur at the same hotel, mixing the guests and the participants in a comedy of errors.
PIRANHA.****BD****
Horrorish.
Richard Dreyfuss/Ving Rhames/Elizabeth Shue/Christopher Lloyd.
Directed by Alexandra Aja.
* A long list of familiar names may distract you from the truth which is that this is a schlocky remake of a schlocky horror film about piranha from the deep chewing up scantily clad (and unclad) ladies (and a couple of gentlemen) on spring break. It is what it is, and I am sure that it is entertaining in that respect.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK.****BD****
Drama.
Jesse Eisenberg/Justin Timberlake/Armie Hammer/Andrew Garfield/Rashida Jones.
Directed by David Fincher.
* Fincher (SE7EN, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON) is a part of a tremendous production team on this borderline fictobiopic about Mark Zuckerberg, one of the creators of the tremendously successful website Facebook (used literally by around 1/10 of the planet earth). Told in part in lawyer’s depositions mapping out the two major lawsuits against Zuckerberg, one by the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer in an awesome performance) who claim that he stole their idea and stonewalled them for 6 weeks while he built Facebook instead of their site that they had hired him to build, and the other by Eduardo Saverin (Garfield, also excellent) Zuckerberg’s one-time best friend and Facebook’s original CFO who is cut out of the business by signing a trick contract, and also told through flashbacks set to intense soundtrack music scored by Trent Reznor (NINE INCH NAILS) and Atticus Ross, the film tracks the insanely quick rise to value and use of this site in just a few short years. Reznor’s soundtrack drags you along the early portion of the development of the site relentlessly in a way that really suggests that scoring films may be a solid next act for the former Industrial Music maker. Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg is cold-blooded, extremely brilliant, and very young. One of the biggest things you walk away from this film thinking about is how young this guy is, and how his youth has both helped and hindered him. As Facebook is beginning its unstoppable climb, Zuckerberg meets Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the one-time founder of the early music-sharing site Napster. Parker becomes a bit of a guru for Mark, and convinces him to come to California, eventually connecting him to tremendous VC money and becoming an owner in the company that is valued today at somewhere between 25 and 50 billion dollars. Yipes! According to the film, Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history. I am not sure if this movie will win Academy awards, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see more than a few nominations. It is certainly tremendously well-made and pulls you along through the strange and jealousy-provoking tale of one man’s uber success. I would keep writing about this, but I have to go right now and make a status update on my Facebook page.
Click to “Like”.
............//DOCUMENTARY/............
DUKE ELLINGTON AND MORE STORIES.
Documentary/History.
* This DVD is part of a series by Scholastic Storybook Treasures celebrating African American history.
NFL’S GREATEST PLAYERS: TOP 100.
Documentary/Sports.
* Actually, when I bought this, I thought it was NFL’s 100 Greatest Plays, not Players. Ah well, for a football fan, I imagine this will be fun to watch.
............//TELEVISION/............
DR. WHO: DOMINATORS.
Television/Sci-Fi.
DR. WHO: MEGLOS.
Television/Sci-Fi.
FUNNY OR DIE PRESENTS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Comedy/HBO.
Will Ferrell/Don Cheadle/Zach Galifiniakis/Thomas Lennon.
* Created by some of the biggest names in comedy, this is a sketch comedy show currently on HBO. They also have a website where they post some really funny stuff…like Drunk History, and Between Two Ferns. If you like weird comedy, click these links and be prepared to spend some time.
............//FAMILY/KIDS/............
MAX AND RUBY: BUNNY TALES.
YO GABBA GABBA: LET’S VISIT THE DOCTOR.
............//NEW ON BLU/............
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA.
* This incredible Sergio Leone film stars Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern and many more and tells the story of the Jewish mafia from the 1930’s.
RAGING BULL: 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION.
* A couple of Oscars were won in 1981 for this film telling the story of boxer, Jake LaMotta.
............//NEW ADDITIONS/............
HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING.
* Richard Grant is genius in this parody of the advertising world. The final scene and monologue in this film is brilliant!
STRAPPED.
* This locally made film (including production work by a Four Star customer!) tells the story of a handsome male prostitute on a trick that keeps giving.
****
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