ON THIS DAY in 1960, Dr. Jane Goodall discovered chimpanzees creating tools, the first-ever such observation made about non-human animals. Her discovery was featured in the 2006 HBO film, CHIMPS, SO LIKE US.
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We’re not only celebrating 50 years of bad boy James Bond this year, but it’s also the 50th year of rock ‘n roll bad boys, the Rolling Stones. These may be old guys, but they’re still fascinating to watch.
To recognize the Stones’ impressive milestone, on November 15, HBO is showing its new documentary, CROSSFIRE HURRICANE.
About the film, director Brett Morgan says, “This is not an academic history lesson,” but an opportunity to “experience firsthand the Stones’ nearly mythical journey from outsiders to rock & roll royalty.”
The band also debuted a tour documentary THE ROLLING STONES: CHARLIE IS MY DARLING — IRELAND 1965 as part of the New York Film Festival on September 29.
With these kinds of films available, along with all the archival clips being rolled out on the official Rolling Stones YouTube channel, it’s time to plan your own at-home Stones party. After watching old friends Mick, Keith, and the gang go from fresh faced to craggy, still legends, still appealing, everyone will want to get up and dance when you start playing “Satisfaction.”
Image courtesy of Fanhattan.com
First it was big screen projection technology that dramatically changed the way we watch movies in our own abodes. And now we’re cozying up with small-screen tablets for in-home watching like never before. It’s predicted that by next year, “there will be more mobile devices than people” on our lovely planet Earth (source: IBM ad).
My tablet has become a good little friend, like a pet, actually. I can hunker down to watch whatever, wherever, and whenever I want, and the magic is that I don’t even need to find the remote to use it.
Best yet is that if I want to transform my tablet image into something big and cinematic, there are new projectors, like the less-than-three-pound Optoma ML500, which can connect to my tablet and transform the small-screen image into a big one — and for less than $600 too.
All of this innovation is thriving with a little help from the streaming content boom. It seems that every day there is an announcement about expanded content availability on one platform or another. But now, instead of separately searching Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon Prime, or other video content provider to find what we want to watch, Fanhattan lets us search across all of these platforms in one simple app.
And the opportunities to nab huge quantities of streaming content continue to come at us at an extraordinary pace. In addition to its aggregating capability, Fanhattan recently announced a new WatchList feature, which allows users to add a show to a personal watch list and eagerly await a Fanhattan email when the show is available for streaming.
I’ve been stumped sometimes, standing in a drug store or grocery aisle, just staring at the array of toothpaste, olive oil, soup, and organic cereal. Regardless of all the algorithm recommendations that appear on our screens, I can’t help but wonder how all of these content choices will impact our ability to make the final decision on what to watch. But I’m not complaining. Choice is good. A little overwhelming, to be sure, but good.
With big screens, small screens, streaming, and who knows what’s next, in a very short time indeed, everyone in the world will be a Home Projectionist. And in that, you’ll actually have no choice in the matter.
ON THIS DAY in 2008, global financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The 2011 HBO movie TOO BIG TO FAIL recounted the events that led to the the largest Chapter 11 filing in U.S. history.
Home Projectionist 