Ridley Scott is going back to the futurism. The "Blade Runner" director is joining forces with Leonardo DiCaprio to take on one of the most highly regarded dystopian works of literature, Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A gold watch owned by Abraham Lincoln bears a message marking the start of the U.S. Civil War, but the president never knew of the "secret" inscription uncovered on Tuesday at the National Museum of American History. The engraving, by watchmaker Jonathan Dillon, is dated April 13, 1861, and reads in part:

Why, oh why, Netflix?

We will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account.

When? Profiles will be eliminated on September 1, 2008.

Why? While it may be disappointing to see this feature go away, this change will help us to continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.

[ Netflix FAQ ]

Granted, I haven't used this function in a while. With Iman at her mother's during the week, Yaty focused on the baby, and us down to just 2 movies at one time there isn't much need for multiple queues, but when we did use it, it was awesome. Unless this is followed by something amazing, I'm afraid that Netflix is making a bad move.

Update: They're here to stay! Props to Bull for the URL.

[ The Simpsons Movie ]

Props to Alykat

Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer were 2 classic movies from my teen years. Anyone my age has seen them, and we'll all yell "I want my two dollars!" with glee. But what ever happened to the writer/director Savage Steve Holland? For years I just though he had disappeared or worse was the target of foul play. Now I know better. I have kids, and one is old enough to watch pre-teen comedies on Nickelodeon. One of these shows is called "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide", which I thought was a quirky little show that isn't too painful to watch (like much of kids programming). Then one day I noticed in the credits the name of the genius behind the show: Savage Steve Holland. No it's not Better Off Dead the series, and John Cusack isn't in this one, but it's certainly one of the few shows that I would encourage my daughter to watch due to it actually being enjoyable with good writing and a great sense of wacky and absurd.

Project 51 Productions Ltd. is proud to announce that it has acquired the worldwide animation and related rights to the classic video game series “Castlevania” from Konami Digital Entertainment.

[ Project 51 Productions Ltd. ]

I hope for something with the feel of Vampire Hunter D, but much better updated animation and the Castlevania world plot. Hopefully they aren't too tied to just the Castlevania III story, and can work in elements from the entire timeline.

1. Create a video for fun:

I have a feeling this is one of those blog entries that confuses my mum to no end...

Mark this one on your calendars:

The adventures of Curious George, a very inquisitive monkey, and his best friend, the Man in the Yellow Hat.

[ Curious George Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies ]

Opens February 10th, 2006.

In my life that is.

Netflix Delivers DVD Rentals To You With Netflix you can rent as many DVDs from the comfort of your home and have them delivered to your door in about 1 business day! There are no late fees and no due dates, and shipping is free both ways. Plans start at $9.99 plus any applicable tax. With our most popular plan, 3-at-a-time, you can rent as many DVDs as you want for just $17.99 a month plus any applicable tax. You keep a revolving library of up to 3 DVDs at a time and can exchange them for new available DVDs as often as you like. There are no additional charges.

[ Netflix - Rent DVDs Online - Try Free ]

After I found a queue filled with nothing I was looking forward to, I decided to go on a movie moratorium. I should now have a sufficient amount of back log to fill a queue with movies. And now that Yaty's here, and Netflix supports more than one queue per account, we should have a steady supply of movies for quite a while.

How can you help? Have you seen a good movie in the last year and a half that I haven't? You could suggest a few of the gems I've missed...

I'm in the process of a movie freeze to build up a good list of movies when I eventually re-sign-up for NetFlix. There are a few exceptions to this, movies so good I've just got to see them in the theater, though I've even missed a couple of them due to poor scheduling (i.e. by the time I get around to it, everyone else has seen it).

I'm expecting that Yaty has seen Kung Fu Hustle (Gong Fu) so I won't feel guilty seeing it without her. It looks darn good, and I should have no problems seeing it, as long as I can find someone to go with (I rather dislike seeing movies by myself).

Anyone else expecting to see this? And want to clue me in? And not mind my company?

Even better, scheduled in advance with a meal to follow, preferably Chinese, with a lively discussion of the movie. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

But I don't think it's required to enjoy this excellent music video:

Frankly, I can not speak in English.(a friend of mine helped me to write this one) but it would be quite comfortable for you to watch movie which I had made, because there is quite few letter and words. Please make yourself at home while watching it

[ amalloc of SamBakZa ]

The story then continues with step 2. Perhaps even more on SamBakZa.net, but as I said I don't speak Korean.

Props to Ed (who has no web page).

Perhaps this is why:

[ Muffin Films ]

If only Yaty was here, and I wasn't so sick, I'm sure I'd try and catch part of this:

Once again this year we at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital have embarked on the exciting journey of presenting a diverse and engaging array of films from around the globe to challenge and broaden our audiences’ perception and understanding of the complex world that surrounds us.

[ DC Environmental Film Festival ]

Think I'll just go hug a tree instead.

The good news? My favorite manga was made into a movie, and now is being released in the US:

The year is 2131. A non-nuclear war has left the earth barren. Deunan Knute roams the badlands, one of the many soldiers who, with lines of communication cut, continue to fight, unaware that the war has ended. Deunan is never one to take things lying down: a highly trained soldier with police and SWAT experience, she is prepared for nearly anything -- but not for the heavily armed helicopter that assaults her without warning. Before she realizes what's going on, Deunan is losing consciousness: her last thought is hazy realization that she's been hit by a tranquilizer. Not only that, but one of the perpetrators is her old love Briareos. He has arrived with the beautiful Hitomi to intercept Deunan and take her back with the to the enigmatic utopia, Olympus.

[ Appleseed ]

The bad news? Limited release. Apparently there is no perceived market for Anime in the DC area. New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Hawai'i, and Philadelphia are all represented, but nothing anywhere near DC. Obviously the distributors have never been to Annandale or near the Merrifield Theater, I'm sure this thing could run a week or two and do a good deal of business. *sigh* I guess I'll have to keep my eye out for the DVD release.

Ab-so-frig-gen-awe-some!

Coming July 2005: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and trailer)

Dari's come through again...

And is coming to the big screen? I can't tell you how excited I am, and I see that Avril agrees.

Plot Outline: A remake of the classic 80s sex comedy, where a group of high schoolers seek revenge on a nightclub owner and his sheriff brother.

[ Porky's (2005) ]

And they'll make us sit through every disgusting frame... twice.

Though, with Savage Steve writing, perhaps it'll be good. Mikah mentioned Better Off Dead, and now I'm craving a Savage Steve Holland movie night. Though, on second thought it will still be Porky's, and therefore pretty base. Of course, in that case, Nar will like it.

I heard it was good. And I resisted.

[ davidkearns.com: Cowboy Bebop ]

The geekery continues. I found an Amazon.com seller who had the Cowboy Bebop Movie, Series, and soundtrack for a decent enough price that I just had to order. Seems like they were all made for the Chinese market, but the DVDs appear to be region-free, and seemingly legit, so I'm happy.

Wizards by Ralph Bakshi answers the age-old question, what if, in a post apocalyptic world, wizards rose up to fight the eternal conflict between good and evil, with armies of fairies, troll, ogres, and other magical creatures. And what if, in this world, the evil side employed a “super weapon” from World War II.

Truly a masterpiece of animation, even though the Amazon reviewer doesn't think so. What he forgets is that before Ralph Bakshi there was 20 years of stagnation in American animation. And for only about $12, how can you beat owning such a historical film?