Streaming TV Guide of the Day : Youtube Video Discovery of the Day.

 

If you have never watched THE RICH REBUILDS channel, which at its heart is about the love of getting the most out of your cars, this is arguably not the episode to start with. But for us long time fans, this is Rich at his most irreverant and funniest. I laughed and cringed all the way through this one. Comedic gold.

 

UFC252 Part2 : Post Fight Results – The Final Word

Wow.

UFC252 lived up to the hype in surprising ways.

Chito Marlon Vera stops the unbeaten Sean O’Malley in great style. By all reports it was Vera’s great kicks to O’Malley’s legs that caused the leg to buckle. And Vera, like the warrior he has proved himself to be,  finished O’Malley. Thumbs up for Vera. And hats off to O’Malley, he is a young tough guy, falling down and learning from it, should only make him a better fighter.

Stipe defeats Cormier by decision. I heard the play by play and have seen the screen grabs, what a great fight. Stipe gets it done, cementing himself as one of the best and longest running Heavyweight champions (adding all his time as heavyweight champion, and all his title defenses).

And Cormier’s already high stock, only goes up with this fight. To put on the kind of performance he did, from bell to bell, and after effectively losing an eye in the 2nd round— wow. When you use the term legend and champion performance, its hard not to have Daniel Cormier in mind.

It does bring up the thought they need to either alter the gloves like fighter Cory MacDonald suggested, so that fighters can still grapple but not fully extend their fingers, to make eye-pokes less prevalent, or have these guys go in with at least protective contacts. Contacts won’t help with avoiding a detached retina (that may come with a severe eye-poke), however they should help protect the cornea from getting scratched, which is potentially the more severe issue.

That damage to DC’s eye looked very severe. Hoping he gets immediate and great care, and that therE is no permanent or irreparable damage. He can go into retirement knowing he has repeatedly fought the best in the world and, in victory or in defeat, always been the best in the world.

My best goes out to all the fighters, and hoping they all have a speedy and full recovery.

Greatest of All Time MMA List! The Final Word???

You will see a lot of people reacting to Connor McGregor’s GOAT List.

Most people with axes to grind, including the original video itself. However, I think this video by Youtube channel Weasel really gives you a list of Greatest of All Time, with ego removed, and one that actually makes sense.

Really great list. I give it a thumbs up!

 

 

 

 

Must own Blu-Rays in the Age of Streaming/VOD : BLACK JOY Arrow Bluray

BLACK JOY – For the soundtrack alone this is a great purchase. A wild, raucous, caustic, but also tender, funny, troubling, dangerous bitter-sweet little film about the life and struggles and shenanigans of a specific bunch of people , in a specific place, at a specific time. It is a snapshot of a population, and a neighborhood, and a city, and even a world and music, that is far removed from today, and yet still resonates by the timeless conceit of the fish out of water, the good hearted but simple county-innocent… among hip city wolves.

Well shot and engrossingly performed. However, you will need subtitles, as the Patwa/West Indian slang flows fast and free, but despite that the meaning is always crystal clear.

Now, You are not going to mistake this for a blockbuster of cinema, but it is a surprisingly adept and charming (when not being of its time offensive) little film. This was a blind buy for me, and I am glad I bought it, because I am enriched by the viewing of it. Trevor Thomas is a wonderful actor, as is the whole cast, but definitely catch his interview on the disc, as well as the brilliant Floella Benjamin interview. Some of the stronger special features included.

 

“The opportunity to star in a film was great. Infact you got more opportunities, back in those days, the late 70s, 80s to play meaningful roles, as a Black actress, than you do today.”– Floella Benjamin

 

Grade: B-/C+ – A charming little film.

Get your copy here! As the Arrow Edition with booklet, will sell out.

New favorite TV Pilot of the Day : Marc & Alana Scott Zicree’s SPACE COMMAND

 

Kemmer, The Son:

Now you don’t like Synthetics?

My God, i don’t believe it. You’re missing the good old days.

 

Kemmer, The Father:

Humans weren’t designed to observe, we were built to do.

So yeah… I miss ’em.

Let me tell you something.

Soft lives make soft men.

Soft men… make soft choices.

 

That beautiful exchange 10 minutes in to SPACE COMMAND tells you everything you need to know about why this may be your must watch and must support show of the day. A 3 year in the making pilot, having seen it, it has charm and wit, and has proved itself worthy of the time and effort that went into its forging. With stars such as the great Mira Furlan, Bill Mumy, McClure, Robert Picardo, Bruce Boxleiter and Doug Jones, alongside new faces, such as Ethan McDowell.

With any project, especially one done for love, on virtually no-budget, and no corporate backing, there will be limitations. Generally the younger actors don’t have the comfort or gravitas, the subtlety of the older actors, and with the exception of Ethan McDowell, that disparity comes across. Ethan McDowell however, manages to hold his own alongside actors who were forged in the fires of many years of theater, and television and movies.

But that disparity with most of the younger actors,  is to be expected given the budget limitations, but those limitations aside, I was completely captivated by the one hour pilot. In the age of streaming where content is the new gold rush, if I was a Netflix, or Apple, or Disney, or At&t I would be attempting to acquire content and production teams like this, that have a built in passionate fan-base.

All in all SPACE COMMAND is a worthy addition to the dreams of men named Roddenberry and Straczynski.

 

 

View it here:

Currently Watching : Absolutely Best Video of the Day-Krasinki’s SGN

Almost 4 million views in a single day, tells you everything you need to know about John Krasinski’s SOME GOOD NEWS. Always a must watch.

Motivating Streaming VOD Video of the Day

 

Streaming VOD TV Guide for Today 6 April 2020 : Youtube Morning Edition

 

 

Great information for all affected by the current crisis as of the date of this writing.

 

Mark Felix still competing and medaling at 52 years of age. Amazing.

If you are a fan of iconic artist Jim Steranko, give this video a watch. Shows off some of his lesser known comic book covers from the 1970s period.

 

 

Just an essential physical media channel.

 

 

If you found this post helpful, your subscription, likes and purchases through my below links, greatly appreciated!

 

ARTBOOK OF THE DAY

 

Youtube and Pandemic Video of the Day, France, Revolutionary War and Captain America?

 

There are a couple things and a couple places that historically enrage me.

You will find injustice and stupidity everywhere, but some places seem to have more than their fair share. Some places where the rule of law and government, is put in the hands of the most venal, and these miscarriages of not just justice, but of humanity continue to proliferate and occur.

The MOVE Bombing in Philadelphia comes to mind, the LA riots, sentencing mentally disabled children as adults in Florida and locking them up with Adults.

Ah Florida.

You bring to mind a quote from Henry the Vth.

And when I think of Henry the Vth, it is not the play I read that comes to mind, or the many film adaptations, it is a very specific film and performance. It is Branagh’s HENRY THE V. And there is this scene where he has just seen the bodies of the children that France killed in a sneak attack. He says, he seethes, “I was not angry till I came to France!”

Often I have heard news dealing with Florida, and it rises in me that self same rage, and I think… “I was not angry till I heard of Florida!”

And again I am sure there are great parts to Florida, great people in Florida, however it seems rightly or wrongly, they are overshadowed by the… mad.

Though it could be argued that… considering who some people voted for in the last presidential election, that all of America is mad.

***

Perhaps one of the greatest warriors America has ever produced, perhaps he was right.

Perhaps he was right when he switched sides.

I’m talking about Benedict Arnold.

History only remembers him as traitor.

They forget that he was the one everyone looked to, Washington, Jefferson, Banneker all of them. He was the Captain America of his day.  Winning battle after battle, until at some point he saw a dichotomy between a colony seeking its Freedom from England, while ever more earnest about creating its wealth through a system of petty tyrannies, fiefdoms, slavery and impoverishment.

Ah Arnold, they have roughly used you.

Perhaps he was right.

An 1880 Bio of Benedict Arnold, By A Sympathetic Relative

 

All that to say, that video… riled me.

********

Now a bit more on that Henry the Vth quote:

“I was not angry till I came to France!”

That line has always stuck with me. What was said, and how he said it, and the enormity of the villainy to prompt such words.

However I don’t want people to confuse me  being moved by that line, with any problems with France.

I like France, I went through it when I was younger, on a trip from Germany to London than back down through France to Spain.

While some American media has this totally undeserved derision toward France, the truth of the matter is… there would not be an America without France. The 100 year war between France and England, actually being just a small part of a 1000 year rivalry between those Super-Powers of that age, and the battle ground of America, what we called the Revolutionary War, was simply, for those Super Powers, their Vietnam.

Britain was fighting too many wars on too many fronts, battles with Spain, and France and on their own shores, and now a treasonous colony to deal with, that was being supported by their enemies. It was too much.

America likes to think we beat Britain, that is not the case. No, more than Vietnam beat America. In both cases battles on too many fronts, at home and abroad, required that the super power relinquish their expansionist wars, to concentrate on maintaining the nation proper.

So yeah, while Henry the Vth rightfully raged against France at the Battle of Agincourt, for myself, and for I think any American who has studied even basic history, and appreciates (for all its horrendous flaws) the dream of America, well you have to thank France for there even being a nation called America. Much as Vietnam has China to thank for them not being annexed by the United States.

So historically a fan of France, though these days they are dealing, like much of Europe and the World, with the rise of a new form of colonialism and fascism, under the guise of big business supplanting the rights of the individual.

 

Woah, man. That post went all over the place.  🙂

Somewhere in all that rambling there is probably a point. Me, I’ll leave it there. With this last refrain…

• Travel when you can.
• Defend each other and yourselves when you must.
• Find and spread joy where you may.

These are my only laws.

Oh, and deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.

In the words of Tennessee Williams and Blance Dubois. Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.

Be well all.

And here endeth the rant. 🙂

 

-HT

 

Deal of the Day!

The Best of Boutique Blu-ray Labels in the age of Streaming! Oct 2019 to February 2020 ARROW Collection Update! Part 2 of 2!

Despite claims of the death of physical media, Blu-ray Boutique labels, HERE IN 2020, are putting out some of the best physical content… EVER!

Here then are MUST OWN Blu-rays in the age of streaming and digital, acquired between October 2019 and February 2020!

 

PT 2 of 2 of my Arrow Video Pickups for that period:

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN – Just in terms of art, this is not one of the better Arrow releases. The art, both versions of the reversible cover, are pretty awful.  Unworthy of such a great film. However because it is a great film, and the Arrow release is the only legitimate Bluray option out there, I can definitely overlook the art, in order to own this essential sci-fi tinged horror film. But I do hope we in the futuure get a superior version.

J.D’S REVENGE – I saw this film recently courtesy of Amazon Prime, my first time seeing this 40+ year old film… and I loved it. What a gem! Surprisingly gripping and exciting and Volatile. And this is one that ARROW VIDEO does a Fantastic job with the art, And i look forward to checking out the special features.

 

Get your copies at the following links:

INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN

JD’S REVENGE

 

ONE FINAL WORD, AS i wrap up this quick update on arrow video titles acquired recently.

One OF THE STANDOUT FEATURES OF ARROW IN ADDITION TO THE SPECIAL FEATURES THEY INCLUDE ON THEIR RELEASES AND THE METICULOUS WORK THEY TYPICALLY DO COMMISSIONING NEW ARTWORK, is their booklets that come with their releases. however, that is also one of the main frustrations of collecting arrow releases.

arrow does this policy, where they only release the book or booklet with the ‘first pressing’ of their movies. basically when their initial batch of blu-rays of a title sell out, when they release subsequent pressings, those subsequent batches will not come with the book or booklet.

NOW I DO UNDERSTAND THE BENEFITS OF DOING THIS FROM ARROW’S PERSPECTIVE, COST BEING A VERY MINOR ONE. BUT I THINK THE REAL REASON THEY DO IT, IS IT CREATES THIS AURA OF collectibility AND DEMAND AND URGENCY. it feeds into the ‘limited edition’ collectibles market, which is a valid part of their customer base.

here is the issue with that, that is only part of your customer base.

as a buyer and fan of arrow video releases, you do not know when you place your order, via a retailer, whether the new product you are getting will come with or without the booklet. and for most fans of arrow (or any boutique label, such as criterion), the booklet is part of why you collect physical media, as opposed to just streaming the movie, or getting the film from a different label. even today, four years after its initial release, i can order black narcissus (one of the most stunning films ever made) from criterion, and be assured of getting the beautiful booklet with it. that assurance of quality whenever you pick up a criterion product, well that says everything about why they remain synonymous with quality and confidence.

so while the limited nature of arrow’s books and booklet, ensures you create a quick sell out of your initial run, it hampers sales of subsequent runs. And gives the buyer pause before buying that release, and has them turn from you and your retailers to the secondary market for a used item, but one that guarantees they get the book or booklet.

this policy is actually training potential customers to be wary of getting the item new from arrow or its retailers, and to rather patronize the secondary market.

now i am a supporter of the secondary market typically, but in this case i think arrow may actually be losing sales on older titles this way. training your customer base to seek out used product as opposed to your in-stock product, courting the exclusivity fervor, is a tricky tight rope to walk, especially when it may be actually sacrificing some sales from a potentially larger customer base, to support this model.

at the very least if arrow, wants to not provide the book/booklet in all releases, and continue to court to some extent the limited edition part of their customer base, what they can still do is offer the books and booklets as an add on to customers. give customers the option to buy the book or booklet at a nominal fee, to include s&h. worldwide shipping of a booklet, even today is only few pounds. And to differentiate it from the first pressing, just simply mark it aS ‘2nd printing’.

this way your limited edition audience, still keep their ‘limited edition status- they have first prints’. and at the same time you generate revenue from people who missed out on the books or booklets. it strengthens peoples trust in arrow, since what you get is not totally left up to chance or the secondary market.

anyhow that is my two cents on the one issue, as someone only several months into arrow video patronage, that i see as room for improvement, with the otherwise excellent arrow label.