Category: Article
0 Adam’s Weekly Video Picks – Vol. 5
I’m back with week five, presenting a handful of videos I hope you won’t immediately forget you watched moments after you watch them, as is the case most of the time when surfing this Grand Interweb of ours. Because of the unfathomable volume of content out there to consume and the ludicrous level of convenience by which it is delivered, our attention spans are so short that sometimes it can feel like a chore to commit more than ten minutes to one video when you could simply scroll to the next post in your News Feed or click the “Stumble” button for the umpteenth time. That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m aiming to avoid in my little series here, selecting quality stuff that I think you’ll enjoy or find educational and perhaps even reflect on later. This week, we’ll go for a drive with Sir Patrick Stewart, join some skiers/snowboarders in the mountains, look at a new spin on coming out to your parents, and hike Machu Picchu with full 3D sound. Avanti!
1. Carpool – Sir Patrick Stewart
It seems I’ve found the British precursor to “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” There a few more notable big names in this series, but for the most part, you’d probably have to be from the U.K. to know who the rest are. I love this interview format! It’s easy to imagine what it would be like to go on a car ride with Patrick Stewart while watching this.
2. Searching for Spines // Episode Two
Just some all-around excellent skiing/snowboarding footage with great music and some exciting first-person views.
3. Coming Out Straight – Josh Healey
Hilarious! I laughed out loud, especially when he’s describing the liberal parents.
4. 3D Audio Machu Picchu – Smarter Every Day
Put those headphones on! The Binaural sound adds a great immersion factor.
Thanks for joining me for this week’s picks! See you next week!
0 Adam’s Weekly Video Picks – Vol. 4
Volume 4 comes a bit later in the week than I would like (very busy week, no time to post until now), but it’s certainly worth the wait! This week, we’ll hear a fairy tale re-told in Shakespearean language, learn about what the internet is doing to our brains, find out what lengths people will go to for free gas, see a modern-day samurai cut through a speeding bullet and iron, and hear a great song Dan picked out for you. Onward!
1. The Three Little Pigs – John Branyan
I love this – I’m especially astounded by the numbers he gives in the beginning about our current average working vocabulary. I certainly hope I have a working vocabulary higher than 3000!
2. What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains – Epipheo.tv
Eye-opening, isn’t it? Dan found a browser extension that coincides nicely with this theme of de-cluttering and minimizing distractions; you can find it here: http://clea.nr/
3. Pumpcast News – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
I’m not a huge Jay Leno fan and this video has a few more hits than those I like to post, but this is too great not too share.
4. Modern Samurai – Isao Machii
So it’s a BB, but that’s still super impressive – especially to a guy who has tried to block Nerf darts with a lightsaber. Quite the impressive weapon and wielder.
5. Flat Random Noise – Hurricane Dean
This is Dan’s song pick for you this week. Pretty catchy!
That’s it for now! Thanks for checking out this week’s video picks! More to come next week.
0 Adam’s Weekly Video Picks – Vol. 3
Welcome to volume three of my weekly selection of hand-picked videos for your viewing enjoyment. This week, we’ll gain some cosmic perspective, learn what the “Q” in Q-tips stands for, and then we’ll stand and testify. Onward:
1. OVERVIEW
This one is in HD, so full-screen it. Absolutely fascinating. Someday, I hope I’ll get the chance to look at Earth from space, too.
2. 56 Acronyms and Initialisms – Mental Floss
This is a well-delivered video full of useless but interesting information. Funny!
3. Rage Against The Machine – Live in London 2010 (Full Concert)
If you don’t stay for the whole concert, at least watch the story at the beginning. Awesome! Power to the people.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for watching!
0 Adam’s Weekly Video Picks – Vol. 2
Hello again, friends! Adam here, back with another set of videos handpicked for your viewing pleasure. This week, we’re gonna run all over the place. We’ll see a dramatic death, a brain-scrambling music video, the natural beauty of Yosemite, the forging of a Lannister sword by a master smith, a bit of comedy, and I’m also including one humorous video on behalf of Producer Caity. Here we go!
1. Worst Movie Death Scene of all Time
…Or is it the best movie death scene of all time? I can tell you this for certin – the best comment on this video: “Legend has it, that to this day he is still being shot and dying.”
2. Melt Yourself Down – Fix My Life
WARNING: If you’re prone to seizures, don’t watch this. If you aren’t, set this to full screen, stare in the middle, and have a seizure anyway! I also really dig the song.
3. Yosemite Range of Light
Absolutely gorgeous footage shot at Yosemite National Park. Figured you’d need a brain-cleanser after that last one. Watch in full-screen on HD to get the full effect.
4. Man at Arms – Forging Game of Thrones Sword (Jaime Lannister)
This is an excellent new series I’ve just discovered. I was having a lot of trouble deciding which one I would post, so I went with the first one I saw. It’s informative and just plain cool to see how this is done. Check out the channel to view the other weapons he’s made!
5. Russians are Scary – Dan Soder Stand-up, 1/7/2013
A little comedy for you. He’s onto something, here!
6. Kobayashi vs. Giant Bear (A Hot Dog Eating Contest)
This is Producer Caity’s video pick for you this week, in all its hot dog-devouring glory.
That’s all for this week. See you next week for more!
0 Adam’s Weekly Video Picks – Vol. 1
With Dan’s recent admission that there is quality content with great production value readily available on YouTube that deserves our attention, it seems only right to commence a new weekly series featuring choice picks from the YouTube-verse and similar sites for your viewing and listening enjoyment. Part of my objective in this venture is to bring you content you haven’t seen before, which means skipping over the super-viral videos that everyone’s already seen and doesn’t care about anymore (I’m looking at you, Harlem Shake) in favor of the diamonds in the rough. This week, I’ll be featuring 3 fantastic music tracks with great visual accompaniment, a super cool new gadget from Japan, and an inspiring message from Ze Frank. Here we go:
1. Can’t Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Your Podcast hosts love Macklemore, so of course this is a great place to start. Fantastic song, amusing video. Listen to this first thing in the morning to get your day started right. This video was shot using RED cameras, the film industry’s favored camera.
2. Samuel Truth – Let Me Breathe
This is a Japanese animation from 1929 set to music by Troy Samuela, AKA Samuel Truth. He’s an experimental hip-hop artist who hails from Auckland, New Zealand. If you like this, you should hear his other tracks on soundcloud! Watch for the little pop ‘n’ lock move the man does when he gets out of the tree.
3. Bonobo – Cirrus
This one’s just trippy.
4. Spherical Flying Machine
Cooooooooooooool! How soon until I can buy one at Brookstone?
5. An Invocation for Beginnings – Ze Frank
Speaks for itself. Ze Frank has been creating funny, inspiring works for years and years.
That’s all for now! I hope you enjoyed the first installment.
0 We’ve Opened Our Hearts to YouTube
First off, I’m going for the royal ‘we’ with the headline. Adam has been on-board since Buffering came to be. I recall discussions as we began put the show together, and I was incredibly stubborn about keeping YouTube out of our scope due to the large majority of crap, cat videos, and crappy cat videos, but I have learned.
Yes, the crap is still there, but there are legitimate production values driven toward YouTube viewers, and I’m here to provide those I have binged upon, thus far. In a way, I hope this becomes a discussion vector where you can also provide additional insight, but I’ll get the ball rolling.
And before I start my list, I thought it’d be worth-while to provide you with my context of “production value”, in terms of YouTube videos. I’m referring to the videos with sets and filming locations, with audio editors and camera operators. No videos filmed by someone talking to their webcam in their rumpus room. There are a number of artists on YouTube that produce said ‘living room’ style clips, but there is a burst of QUALITY videos that have hit the scene, and are freakin’ FREE, that you should check out. Seriously.
To start, I’ll mention a YouTube program that has made its way on to the podcast many a time: Nerdist presents All-Star Celebrity Bowling. It’s fun to mention this program specifically, as AMC is looking to produce the show on the real-deal televisions (read about it here). To me, this show (as well as the next program on my list) is fun and interesting because it holds a similar charm to those celebrity poker programs of the early 2000’s. It didn’t read like a reality show, where there’s unnecessary drama that is produced, but, instead, just one liners from every participant for the entire game. Picture that same vibe, but in a bowling alley predominantly populated by comics. It’s comedian Chris Hardwick, plus two to three of his Nerdist compatriots, paired up against movers and shakers in the entertainment biz, be thay celebrity chefs, or the casts and show runners, respectively, of “The Walking Dead” and “Mad Men”. The over-arching concept for the show is that one to two thousand bucks are on the line, where the challenging team will receive $1k (for a charity) from Nerdist if said challengers are defeated, but that same challenging team will win two grand for their charity if they win the match. It’s fun to see who is good, it’s hilarious to see recognizable figures bowl worse than you, and it’s all for a good cause. Win-Win … win. Check it out.
My next program follows that ‘celebrity acting candidly during a relatable activity’ flow, but uproots the venue from the bowling alley to the fictitious basement/game room of Wil Wheaton. That’s right. I’m talking about TableTop, produced by Geek & Sundry (Felicia Day’s channel). My friends and I are getting back into board games, with a lot of credit going to this program. Buffering guest Connor Boran was my infection vector to Ticket to Ride and Elder Sign, as well as to TableTop. Since watching (and repetitively re-watching) each episode, I have purchased two games featured on the program (Dixit & Small World [for the iPad]), which gives a bit of credibility to the level of quality when it comes to featured games, and the variety of guests gives it a hearty re-watch value. It’s a mess of Wheaton’s friends from the worlds of Internet video, TV, movies, music, and nerdery. And don’t worry if you don’t know how the games work. Time is dedicated in each episode to give the gist of the rules. Definitely check it out.
To change gears, my next YouTube feature is a scripted comedy program, produced by Cracked. Yes, the magazine that runs in the same circles as MAD. But before you shun me and skip this paragraph, they’ve really stepped up their game to become a near-‘CollegeHumor.com at its peak’ site. Nerdy, funny, and in snippets rather than long-format. After Hours is a four-character adaptation on the “Star Wars/Contractor” conversation from “Clerks”, if that off-beat approach comparing pop culture to reality was applied to additional nerdy topics, such as the Sexism in Star Wars, why Indiana Jones Sucked at his Job, why “Back To The Future” is a REALLY creepy movie, and more. The four characters impart a number of viewpoints on each topic upon viewers (like how I learned that “Sex in the City” is the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” for women), combined with somewhat stereotypical mannerisms relating to said character (jock, nerd, screwball, and “the girl”). That last part sounds like it’s a slam against the show’s approach, but it really does work. The quirks aren’t heavy-handed, and balance well as breathers between each argument. Check it out.
Finally, we end our tour with a bit o’ music. It’s A.V. Club’s Undercover Project, the two-year-old YouTube program that features musicians stopping by The Onion‘s Chicago offices to perform in a small circular room in the A.V. Club department. The catch is that they are playing covers of songs suggested by A.V Club readers, so, through this program, you’ll see The Polyphonic Spree playing Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold”, They Might Be Giants playing Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumper”, and Young the Giant playing R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)” and so many more. I’ve found it to be somewhat hit and miss, as you’ll see when you check out GWAR’s cover of Kansas’s “Carry On My Wayward Son”. There are also plenty of reinterpretations when it comes to executing some of the songs, so it’s good to watch videos with a grain of salt, as you may go in expecting a perfect rendition of a familiar/favorite song and walk away crushed. But, it’s still definitely worth your time. Check it out.
I’ll continue to search for quality programming within the muck of YouTube, and I’ll report back with more in the future.
2 “House of Cards” – First Steps
Despite the availability of the new Netflix original series’ 13 chapters, I’m going into this with just a toe in the water to start: exposure to just the first 50+ minute episode, and hesitation from even glancing at episode summaries so not to alter my perspective, reactions and expectations.
(And I will try my damnedest to refrain from making card-related puns, but no promises)
“House of Cards” is Netflix’s second bout in the original, big-name, episodic entertainment arena, but you probably know about the background by now, especially if you’re reading this, so we can skip THAT battleground and dive right into the show. Plus, with all of the announcements and news surrounding more green-lighted original streaming shows coming out daily, we’ll tackle that luchador soon.
It’s a good show. I probably should rephrase that as “It was a good episode”, as no series is given the free pass from putting a bullet in its foot in the initial, but it was enjoyable. Even coming from a short-attention-spaned, would-rather-watch-nostalgic-childhood-programming 20-something, there were enough moving parts to keep me interested … but it’s not without its bumps.
To launch us into the fray, I really enjoy the style of HoC. When the initial trailers/previews came out, I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing, which included a lot of on-screen narration and fourth-wall breaks by Kevin Spacey, was original promo material, or actual content, and I’m happy to say it is a reoccurring device in the show. A lot of people aren’t a fan of programming that tells a story, rather than just showing them, but it is incredibly effective for HoC to introduce a lot of characters and ideas without starting at character development square one. It also doesn’t feel like a spoon-feeding of facts and details, due to Spacey’s genuine delivery, as if he’s narrating for himself in the anticipation of the onset of Alzheimer’s, or something of the like. It feels like he’s addressing someone on his level when it occurs. Spacey’s character’s dry wit also seeps in from time to time to lighten transitions between overlapping plot points, and draws a nice sweet to sour line drawn from the tenser material.
The pacing is also well-managed, while David Fincher sits at the Directing (Chapters 1 & 2, exclusively) and Executive Producing helms of the program. Minimalistic lulls in the perpetuation of Spacey’s drive to achieve allows for fast-paced exchanges and hand-offs. Think of it like the pacing of Fincher’s action movies, but without the action bit. “Fight Club” meets “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” with a dash of “Our Town” (if “Our Town” was the epicenter of the free world). You won’t be able to multi-task stream to this one.
I also believe that casting choices have been strong so far, regardless of role size, but leads Spacey and Robin Wright are definitely the break-aways on this one. The pair (playing husband and wife) starts strong and does not dial it down. Even one-on-one scenes have a certain cadence and tone that remains consistent throughout, creating silhouettes of very, very aggressive characters. Kate Mara joins the first chapter as a hungry reporter in D.C. looking for some sort of angle to lift her above council meeting articles, and does a great job as a neutral underdog character, but I may have ruined a bit of the series for myself by reading on IMDB.com that she only appears in two episodes*, despite my enjoyment over the dynamic of her character’s interactions with Spacey. Her capacity for an outsider status with insider know-how makes her the easiest to root for in my opinion (but that perspective is clouded by a journalism minor) since her actions are, in all rights, legal. Either way, Mara is great with Spacey, Wright is great with Spacey, and Spacey is … great.
The issue that I do have from the get-go is that there are a few lesser plot points that have the potential to grow as the game goes forward, but are hard to stomach in round one. For example, the storyline featuring an irresponsible Representative brought into Spacey’s fold, played by Corey Stoll, carried a lot of sex and scandal (yes, in the first episode) but it came off as somewhat unnecessary. It was an attempt to provide background for the character to depict where his morals lie, but they almost served more as commercial breaks for me. The character is effectively portrayed as smarmy, but, until he gains relevance within the series (many a seemingly unneeded scene from his introduction) there’s little put forth to get me to care. Had there not been a number of exchanges about his character to reveal a larger part of the whole in the future, I would rule him out, but I’ll give him a stay of execution … for now.
The show is pretty, smart, funny, deep, interesting, timely, and such and so on to include a long string of compliments. I do think it’s worth your time to investigate. Political-drama fan or not, it’s worth an hour. From here on out, I’m left with an interest and inclination to continue down the rabbit hole, but not so gripping that I was able to sit down and power this out instead. I wouldn’t say, “Sign up for Netflix in order to get access for ‘House of Cards’ exclusively”, but I am willing to wholeheartedly endorse it.
*Author’s note: I am incredibly happy to say that IMDB.com was not factual at all based on what I have seen, having viewed additional chapters in the series. I cannot say why IMDB is inaccurate at this point, but I blame that on the fact that this is a new playing field for IMDB. (Of course I wrote this after watching Chapter 2. It even sounds like a politician’s statement. Rest assured that if you enjoyed Kate Mara in Chapter 1, you will get more soon)
0 From The Basement: Polished, Honest, Intimate Music Performance
Not long ago, I stumbled upon a video of Gnarls Barkley singing a down-tempo, mellowed-out version of Crazy. It was so heartfelt and intimate – the version showed me a side of the song I hadn’t seen before. That was when From the Basement first got my attention. When I discovered the long, impressive list of artists who have already been on the show (Radiohead, The White Stripes, Foster the People, The Raconteurs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Feist, The Shins, Andrew Bird, Fleet Foxes – I would love to go on), I became a believer.
For music lovers who enjoy live or acoustic versions of songs, there are several different sources producing great versions of our favorite tracks. NPR has their studio sessions, Big Ugly Yellow Couch provides performances by up-and-coming bands, and so on. From the Basement started as a podcast, but grew up quickly into a TV show streaming on Crackle and DirecTV’s 3-D channel 3net.
Nigel Godrich, the visionary music producer most famous for his work with Radiohead, takes the helm in this endeavor. Since its humble beginnings in 2006, transition into a UK Television show in 2007, and on into the present where season 3 is being broadcast in HD in 2-D and 3-D, Godrich’s intent has been to “authentically document the pulse of music being made today.” In a recent interview with Entertainment weekly, Godrich says, “I think what happened was MTV came along in the ’80s and destroyed the way that people film music on television. The performance ended up in the edit, and it wasn’t very direct. It’s a selfish thing, really—as a music fan, I really wanted to see people performing on television, so we went ahead and did it. Musicians hate doing TV because it’s such a different world and a horrible environment for them, so wouldn’t it be cool for me as a music person to do a TV show? Then I could get something out of them that TV shows wouldn’t get.” To that end, Godrich uses an intimate basement setting with no audience (except a few HD cameras), making the artists as comfortable as possible to get the best, purest performance possible.
It’s like PBS’s Austin City Limits, but better.
The thing I appreciate most about From the Basement is that it displays the great musicianship of the artists in a way that hyper-produced studio recordings and blasting live performances cannot. You get to hear and see in stunning detail just how soulful a singer Cee-Lo is, or how beautifully blended Fleet Foxes’ harmonies really are. There’s no Auto-Tune, no backup tracks, and absolutely no lip-syncing – just pure performance chops at work. From the Basement is quality proof that there are wonderfully talented artists making great music today.
0 Redbox Instant: All the hype with none of the calories … I mean, content
Through multiple press releases and interviews in 2012’s third and fourth quarters (July-December for you non-business folks), a number of high-ranking executives for Verizon and Coinstar (owner of Redbox) state that the Redbox Instant service, currently in customer BETA testing, would focus on quality over quantity.
“Do you really need 100,000 titles? I mean, really,” said Paul Davis, CEO of Coinstar.
As I wade through the RB Instant library, I’m glad Davis stuck to his word, offering such featured titles as “Soccer Nanny (unrated)”, “Demonic Toys 2”, and “Biebermania”. Upon further investigation into the library, which will be available to subscribers for $8 per month, I discovered the well-honed tastes of Davis and others comes out in spades with a plethora of B-, C-, and even D-list thriller and horror titles, with little else to distract viewers.
Alright. I jest. I have no idea of that which Davis calls quality entertainment. However, based on that which has been made readily available during this BETA test, it’s hard to imagine that RB Instant will pose any sort of threat to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu (especially since Redbox currently has no plans to add TV shows to its concoction).
The service does offer a few recognizable titles (using “few” in its strictest definition), including “Thor”, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”, “Rango”, and the recent remake of “True Grit”. Sadly, (and I’m being 100 percent sincere about this) beyond those four films, there are only a handful of additional movies that I recognize. Plus, all four listed above are already available on Netflix AND Amazon Prime.
Before I rag on this service TOO much, there are two additional tiers to the RB Instant account: monthly Redbox kiosk credits, and the ability to pay-to-rent and/or purchase videos electronically.
First, the RB Instant subscription, as I’ve stated before, runs you $8 per month and includes four DVD rental credits to be used at any Redbox kiosk. At roughly $1.20 per DVD (plus tax), you’re technically investing more than half of that $8 on DVD rentals, while throwing $3.20 at the subscription service, which actually starts to explain the quality of films available for streaming. The RB Instant site really hammers it home that you will receive four free DVD rentals, which means you will most likely experience an additional charge if you opt for Blu-rays (usually about $1.50 at the kiosk).
From afar, this piece of the puzzle seems appealing, as everyone likes getting something for nothing. However, at its core, it is a contradiction to the service’s name: Redbox INSTANT. Through most of my Redbox kiosk experiences, very little has ever been instant. Limited and/or poor selections at my nearby locations, not to mention long lines, have deterred me multiple times from using the service spontaneously; in my world of movie consumption, pre-selecting and reserving a movie is like picking a restaurant for dinner at 12:30 PM. I really don’t know what I want until I’m hungry. That’s why I already ditched the Netflix DVD delivery service. I have yet to utilize the four credits bestowed upon me, but as you can probably understand, I’m hesitant. I’ll give it the ol’ college try this week and will give an update IF my experience differs from the norm.
The remaining feature is the ability to purchase or pay-to-rent films electronically. This service is not available on Netflix, but has been a part of Amazon Prime since its release and is also a large part of the Apple iTunes store experience.
The renting aspect is fairly straightforward: I would pay $X amount for a film, either in standard- or high-definition, and then I can watch it when I want within a 30-day window. As soon as I start to watch it, I have 48 hours to complete it as many times as I want. Standard stuff. However, there is little to no documentation as to the purchase process. From the looks of it, I’m not even sure the movie is technically downloaded. I believe, if I’m reading the site correctly, that it just goes into my RB Instant library, and can only be viewed with an Internet connection. Not much of a selling point there.
I also reviewed pricing, and found RB Instant tends to charge MORE for both rentals and purchases. I picked a few titles at random (“Ted”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, and “Juan of the Dead” [yes, it’s a real movie]), and here’s what I found:
Across the board, RB Instant is more expensive than Amazon Prime and iTunes. In some cases, it is cheaper to rent or purchase the HD version from either Amazon Prime or iTunes versus the SD version via RB Instant. No points awarded there.
Before I wrap things up, I know some folks out there will want to know about the user interface, as the ease of use is a big part of the streaming game. Here’s my take: it isn’t bad, but there’s nothing new there. I tested the web site, as well as the iOS app, and I found nothing special about it. It comes across as cluttered, like most streaming sites, and includes the hover-over for cryptic descriptions.
I did find one major fault to the site that rubbed me the wrong way. Every time I performed a search query for a new movie, multiple entries for said movie would pop up, forcing me to sift between the physical, Redbox kiosk copy, and the digital copy, which was usually buried beneath the former. On some occasions, I had to run multiple attempts to locate that which I sought. As the search occurred on the Instant site, I had hoped (and assumed) that the digital copy would trump the physical.
Also, you cannot purchase or pay-to-rent movies on the iOS app. A lot of people will see value in that, so to prevent unintentional pocket purchases, but it stinks if you’re on the road, or out and about and want to watch something new. It’s a nit-picky issue, but it’s something that can be completed elsewhere through alternate services.
Based on the hype surrounding the service, as well as statements provided by leadership leading up to the release, I had high expectations for this service, and RB Instant has fallen short. Buffering does not yet have an in-house rating system, but RB Instant has set the bar for how low it can go. The most positive thing I can say about RB Instant right now is that the first month is free, and it includes the four DVD credits. However, I am setting a reminder on my calendar to cancel my subscription the day before my month is up, because I have no want or need to keep it.
My recommendation to you is to exploit the loophole, get four free rentals, and cancel it too. Otherwise, it is not worth your time. Most, if not all, of its library and features are available elsewhere.
0 Disney’s exclusive deal with Netflix
Netflix has returned from another content hunt with massive bounty as the result of a huge bidding war. They have locked in an exclusive streaming contract with Disney for a large catalog of content, including movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Disneynature, according to CNN Money.
The catch? Netflix users won’t see a lot of this content until 2016, when Disney’s current agreement with Starz (a la Sony) expires.
This reads a lot like the deal between Netflix and Dreamworks to post their computer animated library by 2013. It’s also mirroring that deal, as Disney has already provided Netflix with some recognizable and notable content, including “Alice in Wonderland”, “Pocahontas” and “Dumbo”, to name a few.
The deal also includes many sequel-heavy series, like the “Air Bud” sequels, and the “Brave Little Toaster” sequels, but not their originals.
A big piece of this agreement is that it yanks a lot of future content out of the hands of premium cable TV channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz, as they lose access to new Disney/Marvel/Pixar content released after 2016 that would usually linger on their channels between each film’s exit from the theater, but before they hit DVD/Blu-ray. It also blocks streaming sites like Amazon Prime and Crackle from access to the content as well.
It’s nice to see Netflix experiencing success through this agreement (including a recent rise in the company’s stock), but there will still be the gaggles of nay-sayers uninterested in waiting four years for the overall payoff.
At the same time, there are speculators wondering how this will affect Disney’s recently acquired gold-mine of the Star Wars universe. Although LucasFilm was not listed among the content providers (as far as I have seen), the release of Episode 7 in 2015 may lay the groundwork for future negotiations and deals to continue to feed us desired content.
I am, personally, among those excited now, as two of my childhood Disney favorites, “The Great Mouse Detective” and “The Rescuers Down Under” are among the titles already available on Netflix. The fact that the voice talents of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, John Candy, and Vincent Price are just a click away makes me wish I wasn’t at work so I could start a Disney binge right now.
Still, there are a number of additional Netflix releases to look forward to this month, as we’ve discussed on the show before, including “ParaNorman”, “Looper” and “The Campaign”. All three of these will be on Netflix around Christmas or New Years, according to movieinsider.com.
Looks like we have at least 1,121 days until we will reap the benefits of this deal, but we’ll keep an eye on things here in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio.
The Buffering Podcast 