A Movie of Convenience

Jessie Atkin posted a blog on Digital Landing about the new site that lets you in on where the boring parts of new movie releases will happen.

We all know and love Fandango. We can buy tickets (most importantly) but also read reviews. More popular review sites include Rotten Tomatoes (they’re usually pretty accurate in their ratings). Now there’s a new site that goes one step further in its reviews.

Runpee.com doesn’t care if the movie’s great or not, it wants the experience to be enjoyable. In that sense this site does something no one else does, they screen for the most appropriate times in any new releases to run to the bathroom. They list both the time (how long the movie’s been running) as well as the line/scene you’re waiting for before you run out. That’s right, sometimes with that extra large Pepsi there just isn’t a chance you’re gonna make it to the end. But hey, you’ve checked Rotten Tomatoes and you know the movie’s good. Well Runpee makes sure you only miss the less than necessary parts. How convenient.

Movie Mash

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog on Digital Landing about how you can make videos using tv clips, and the program that helps you do just that.

I love Youtube. I love watching music videos full of clips of my favorite shows. I like watching clip mashups, and I like seeing home made trailers. Now Elgato has made it even easier for Mac users to create just such masterpieces with its video capture.

Video capture basically connects your computer to an analog video source and helps you convert video from your television to video on your computer (ready to use online, or on your ipod). With these new files you can watch your favorite TV on the go or use it to create the next great online sensation. It’s totally worth it for the advancement of online art.

New Notes

Jessie Atkin posted a blog on Digital Landing. Read about an on-the-go notebook good for jotting down extraneous notes.

Tech continues to shrink, but I still find it easier to walk around with a pen and a pad of paper in my pocket than any gadget (even my cell phone). I’ve got witnesses and ink stains to prove it.

One of the more popular portable diaries of sorts are the Moleskine (which claims to have held the ideas of both Picasso and Hemingway). The notebooks come in all sorts of sizes and varieties, even portable portfolio folders for artists or other sets of notes.

Moleskines are a very particular brand of notebook and thus they have a particular size and page shape. No need to guess because now, when you’re not on the go, you can print the perfect page for your notebook off the web. MSK wizard sets up a Moleskine sized page online you can print and then take with you. Need a picture off of google to help with the inspiration you’ve already jotted down? No problem.

It’s not a necessity obviously, part of Moleskines popularity is using it on the go when you can’t access a computer. But if you can, this definitely enhances the experience. Simplicity is bliss.

Summer School

Jessie Atkin posted a blog on Digital Landing about the upgrade in learning online.

I for one get enough class time five days a week and enough homework that spare time for online courses is not really available (or a priority). But that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize a good learning tool when I see one.

Academicearth.org is the next step in intellectual growth at our fingertips. Like iTunes U the site provides taped lectures free to the masses. These aren’t just any schools either, but lectures from the likes of Stanford and Yale. I can’t attest to the quality of one lecturer over another myself, but the big school names are likely to get people in the door.

It’s never to late to learn (in life, or in the day) and it’s always nice when you can work for pure interest instead of a grade and extra homework.

TV Trends

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog on Digital Landing! Read about the latest updates in tv on the internet.

The time has come, Lost and Heroes are both going to be on Hulu!

Disney has officially joined Hulu and thus ABC shows will be available on the great legal video streaming site. Supposedly ABC shows will start appearing this summer. I’m all for it, Hulu is simpler, clearer, and more convenient than most other video streaming services, but the truth is, if the shows aren’t there we all find ways to watch anyway (that’s why Disney was wise to join up).

Now, many shows appear on Hulu the next day already, but not all. House for instances does not post episodes until the week after they have aired. I understand that this is supposed to bottleneck viewers off to the network’s official web site, but the truth is it doesn’t. Lots of the time people don’t even wait until the next morning none the less the next week. On other less reputable sites shows often make appearances a mere hour after they air. When you don’t have a Tivo these sites are a big draw.

As always, as with the Disney deal, things continue to improve with network presence and availability on the internet, but if networks (and movie studios for that matter) want to really utilize the web as a distribution tool a lot of work still needs to be done.

Blockbuster to rent video games by mail

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing about Blockbuster's new offers in DVD and video game rentals.

Blockbuster plans to pilot a program for Blockbuster Total Access customers to rent both video games and movies via mail this spring.

Currently BLOCKBUSTER Total Access offers DVD rentals to customers with free shipping and in-store exchanges at thousands of participating stores. With the new program, customers could (based on their plan) exchange DVD rentals for free in-store or games for half-price in store. According to the company’s release:

“A combination video game and movie online offering — with in-store exchange privileges — is a tremendous value and convenience offering not available through anyone other than Blockbuster.”

The games will be available for a variety of formats including Nintendo Wii™, PS2™, PS3™, Xbox and Xbox 360.

The company hopes to roll out the program nationwide by summer.

Will this be their way to outmaneuver Netflix?

Muppet Magic

Jessie Atkin posted a blog up on Digital Landing. Read about how you can create your own muppet online.

I grew up on Sesame Street (the show not the place) and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like Kermit the Frog. Lets be honest muppets are a part of everyone’s life whether we want to admit it or not. Well now they can become a real member of the family, and you get to design who you want to join you around the kitchen table.

FAO Schwarz now has the Whatnot Muppet Workshop where you can pick a body, eyes, hair, nose, and outfit for your own personal muppet. It’s all online! Think of the holiday possibilities! Muppets have never been just any old puppet and at last it seems we the young at heart can do our childhood stories justice with the real thing.

At $90 each they’re a bit expensive, but so are a lot of things at FAO Schwarz. What price can you put on childhood dreams anyway? It’s the holiday season, splurge.

Beyond Scissors

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog up on Digital Landing about a new product designed to open the plastic packaging we all fight with, without the fight.

We, the gadget obsessed, are no strangers to the hassle that is package opening. I’m not talking about wrapping paper and cardboard boxes, I’m speaking of the evil that is air tight plastic packaging with razor sharp edges and the reputation for back breaking hassle.

Supposedly we now have a solution. Open It (conveniently named) is a new product by Zibra, that claims to easily open all packaging from toys to battery compartments. It looks like a cross between garden clippers and a can opener.

The “Open It” boasts clippers, an exacto knife, and a screw driver. What else could you possibly need when opening a package? Other than Band-Aids? The Open It claims to remove the need for first aid anyway. For $10 I for one am willing to give it a try.

To Reach the Masses

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog up on Digital Landing about fire side chats, which is a way to tune in to what's going on in the White House.

Just because the election’s over doesn’t mean politics is through utilizing the internet until four years from now. Youtube is once again going to play host to political innovation.

The fire side chat (a short presidential radio speech in place since FDR’s presidency) will begin broadcasting on Youtube when Obama takes office.

I’ve honestly never listened to one of these fire side chats, but I’m much more likely to look into it if it’s on Youtube. On my own time, through my own procrastination listening to a few minutes of the President seems like a much more likely practice online. We’ve got a little time to go, but we’ll see what kind of view count Obama gets once his chats are posted.

Copyright Compromise

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog up on Digital Landing about a contract between Youtube and MGM.

Movies have started their legal clime into the world of Youtube. After years of copyright infringement and movies posted in twelve parts a new era seems to be making its way online.

MGM has become the first major Hollywood studio to sign a deal with Youtube. The hope is that other studios will follow suit. Things aren’t perfect yet of course, right now the only official clips to be aired on the web site are shorts and television shows, but the deal does open a line of communication that didn’t exist before.

Perhaps Hulu is the best streaming site for official shows and movies at the moment but it seems Youtube is ready to work its way into the legitimate market. Only so many “funniest home videos” are funny for long.

A New Kind of Premiere

Jessie Atkin has posted a new blog at http://www.digitallanding.com/ called a A New Kind of Premiere.

Film on Facebook is one of the many social networking projects the site has created to connect fans and utilize the community building power of the internet.

Specifically Film on Facebook is a group that connects film makers and fans. Filmakers can post behind the scenes videos, photos, showtimes, and comments through what facebook designates as “fan pages”. The most newsworthy bit is the premiere of One Track Mind (by Woodshed films), a surfing movie, directly on facebook this past week (October 16 and 17). There was a live chat session online as well.

The internet is a the new way to promote anything so film is no surprise. Facebook is an especially good stage for such promotion since the site already has a built in audience. The movie industry is going to have to deal with file sharing and rights in much the same way the music industry has struggled the past few years. But Imagine the possibilities if the movie industry were to get on board rather than figh the inevitable.