I wanted to leave GoDaddy anyways

There's no one to blame but myself.

You may have noticed that 7dollarpopcorn.com no longer gets you here. Apparently, everything went to shit with my account at GoDaddy and since the site was registered to an email I rarely check...I never got the notification that there was an issue.

Considering how little I do here any more, it's hard to say that the loss of the custom domain will hurt the blog itself much. Hell, I've done more damage over the past couple years than changing the URL ever could. No, the worst part is everything I had registered with an email linked to that domain. That's going to be something that takes a while to sort out. 

Like I said, it's all my fault. So, for now (and probably the foreseeable future) 7 Dollar Popcorn will be located back here at 7dp.blogspot.com (like it used to be).

An open letter to Netflix

Dear Netflix,

Hi. I'm sure you have no idea who I am. I'm just some guy who lives in Detroit and uses your service. I have for years actually. I've been a big fan since...well...2002 actually. That's a long time. Actually, I hadn't thought it was that long, but I suppose it has been. 2002 was my first free trial. I remember getting the snowboarding classic, Out Cold.

Sorry, I'm getting a warm wave of nostalgia here when I think about it.

Out Cold really has nothing to do with this though. What I'm getting at is that I'm a customer. I have been for years. Hell, 7dp has been fueled these past years by your service. And while 7dp has gone a bit on the back burner for me of late, my use of Netflix has not.

About a year ago I switched my plan around. I went from 3 discs to 1 disc and streaming. The problem was, I found myself using my 1 disc more than the streaming. I kept finding that the things I wanted to watch (TV shows mostly of late) just weren't available for streaming. And if what I want isn't available, then it doesn't matter what you're charging, does it? It's not a good deal for me. So, when you made the pricing change over the summer, I dropped the streaming service (since I didn't use it) and went to the two disc plan. It's worked out fine for me.

But now, I'm not going to be a Netflix customer anymore. Not because I decided I didn't want to use your service anymore, but because you decided I wasn't the kind of customer you wanted. You spend years building up brand loyalty amongst your users and then...what? What the hell is Qwikster? Seriously. It's a nonsense word that means nothing in regards to the business itself. It sounds like the name of an internet start-up that failed by 2005.

When a radio station switches formats, they can't air any of the old commercials that they sold. The reason being that all of that money was spent to advertise based on the old format, demographics and ratings. The sales staff then has the unenviable job of having to go out and sell the new format without any ratings information. This is essentially what you're doing here. You've flipped the format. Netflix is a known entity. Qwikster is not. You can say it's just like Netflix...but you can't back that up yet.

Last week you had a company that offered two services that complimented each other. Today, you have two companies that people aren't sure of. The people who only use the streaming service, they're unaffected. Every other customer though is. And the people that this will affect most are the ones who paid for both services. Now they have to pay to two sites and maintain two queues.

This just seems like a big step backwards, not a step forward.

Sincerely,

smacdonn
7dollarpopcorn.com

Na Na Na Na Na Na Backlash!

I couldn't help but laugh this article on io9 this morning:

So wait. Is there really a Dark Knight Rises backlash?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Wait, why am I laughing you ask?

As you may or may not recall, I've had mixed feelings when it comes to the previous Batman films. In fact, I think that at one point, I referred to The Dark Knight as my least favorite movie of 2008.

And now, here we are, it's 2011, Batman 3 has barely started filming, and won't even be released for another year, and the internet hate machine is already starting to turn against it. Hey, internet, what happened to your hard on for Christopher Nolan and his Batman? HAHAHAHAHAHAAHA

A Life in Movies Blogathon

Last year, you may remember Fandango Groovers Movie Blog did a Desert Island DVD Blogathon, and I participated! Well, they're back with another Blogathon, A Life In Movies.

Following the unexpected popularity of the Desert Island DVDs blogathon I organized last year I am inviting fellow bloggers to tell us what their favourite* movies are from each year of their life so far.  You can put as much or as little effort into you list as you wish. It could just be a list of movies, you may with to add a sentence or two about the movies or what they mean to you, you can brighten it up with images, posters or trailers. The choice is yours.

 Well, hells bells, that sounds fun. Fun enough for me to take some time out from blatant self promotion and join in!

So, I was born in 1980, and haven't seen a single movie that came out in 2011 so far. So, that establishes our range. So...lets start:

	Year	Title	Comments
	Welcome to the 80's!
	1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Like I would put something ELSE in here!
	1981	Raiders of the Lost Ark	Tough one. I love Clash of the Titans and History of the World, Part 1...but I love Raiders just a little bit more!
	1982	Blade Runner	Another tough one because The Thing was great, but Blade Runner has just had too big an impact on me.
	1983	Return of the Jedi	Jedi. Done.
	1984	Temple of Doom	Real tough one here. This is the first year where I start remembering seeing a lot of different movies. I'm giving the nod to Indy because it's one I still love to watch.
	1985	Return of the Living Dead	Re-Animator is a close 2nd.
	1986	Big Trouble in Little China	Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
	1987	Evil Dead II	Jaws 4 is, and I'm not kidding, a very close 2nd.
	1988	Young Guns	Did you see the size of that chicken?
	1989	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	It's my favorite of the three in fact.
	Onward to the 90's!
	1990	Back to the Future: Part III	I might be the only person you know who says that this is their favorite of the 3.
	1991	T2	Of course.
	1992	Encino Man	It's Pauly Shore's best work and you know it.
	1993	Jurassic Park	I don't even know what else came out this year.
	1994	Clerks	Just for the sheer impact it had on me.
	1995	Johnny Mnemonic	What? We all know I love this movie. And while some amazing movies came out this year, if you put all of them on DVD in front of me, I would end up watching Johnny Mnemonic. I know I would!
	1996	Star Trek: First Contact/Trainspotting	It's a tie. One is my favorite Star Trek movie, the other my favorite Danny Boyle movie.

	1997	Grosse Pointe Blank	This just as easily could have been Event Horizon or The Fifth Element or Cube or The Game. In fact, if I swapped GPB out for any of those others, I would be just as comfortable/conflicted with my choice.
	1998	Zero Effect	I really had to fight not to say Armageddon, as bad as it is, I really do like it.
	1999	Godzilla 2000	This was the Godzilla movie that really got me into the series. For that reason, it barely beats out The Matrix.
	Into a new century
	2000	Snatch	Though Battle Royale would have been just as acceptable.
	2001	Session 9	While it could have (and probably SHOULD have) been something else, I really do love this movie.
	2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	This is one of my favorite movies of ANY year.
	2003	Oldboy	This would have been my first exposure to Korean movies
	2004	Shaun of the Dead	I hate not having Kung Fu Hustle here, but I can't
	2005	Serenity	It was almost Land of the Dead
	2006	Pan's Labyrinth	I really REALLY wanted to put Slither here.
	2007	Hot Fuzz	Nothing else even comes close.
	2008	Let the Right One In	Hellboy 2 was here until I remembered that this one came out in 08 and I saw it in SLC.
	2009	The Brothers Bloom	Once again, it's just a movie that I love, regardless of year. Nothing else from 09 was going to come close.
	The twenty...teens?
	2010	True Grit	I really didn't see many movies in 2010. I did see this, and enjoy it. Centurion would have been another good choice.
	2011	Dead Woods	Ok, so it's the movie I was in. I know I said I'd get away from self promotion for the day...I lied. Oh well. http://www.deadwoodsmovie.com

* I was about to correct the spelling of favorite, but then it occurred to me that it must be a British site, and I will respect that particular cultural difference.

Want a FREE copy of Dead Woods?

If you've been reading here (which if you're reading this, I'm just going to assuming...), or following me, or the blog, on Twitter, you may have heard that I was in a movie last year called Dead Woods. Well, that movie is finished, printed and ON SALE NOW.

That's not what I'm here about today though. I was very involved in this movie. I just can't be objective about it. I need someone who can be. So, I'm going to give away a copy of the movie*. That's right, I have a copy of Dead Woods that I want to mail to someone. So what do you need to do? Well, there's two things, 1) Have a movie blog and 2) send me a link to it before 11:59 on May 15t!. You can comment on this post, or you can send me and email at dreamrot @ 7dollarpopcorn.com! That's it! I'll pick a winner at random and
mail off a copy of the movie! It's a pretty simple little contest!

That's right. The copy I hold in my hand there could be YOURS!

*Right now, I only have one copy to give away, but if there are enough people who message me about it, I might try to get a couple more.

A Year in the Movies

It was one year ago today that we started to film Dead Woods. April 11, 2010. I was a last minute addition to the cast. We had a party on Saturday, the 10th. This was a calculated decision, as the first day of filming was supposed to be the day after a big party out in the woods. It was decided somewhere along the way that the best way to look like everyone was hungover would be for everyone to actually BE hungover. It was at this party that I went from potential extra to character with lines.

Someone had to drop out. Tom (Director) was looking for someone to take on his role. I volunteered. As I said, we were at a party. The goal was to appear somewhat hungover. There was some drinking going on. My judgement may have been impaired when I agreed to help.

Trooper that I am, I remembered the next morning and drove out to Jeremy's (Cast member/Set homeowner). At this point, I barely knew most of these people. It was a strange and frightening experience. On top of that, I hadn't done much acting since high school! Sure, a bit of voice stuff for the radio, but that's completely different to me.

Day 1 was a complete debacle. No one was on time. Well, a couple of us were. I was, Jeremy was. Erik (Cast member) and Kelcie (Cast member) were. We spent all day there. We shot a lot of footage, and we also spent a lot of time not shooting anything (this would be a recurring theme). We didn't use much, if any, of the footage from day 1. I mean that. We spent 10 hours out there (well, those of us who arrived on time), and we did more that contributed to the gag reel than the actual movie. We set up tents. Not once is anyone in a tent in the end.

Largely though, we hung out. We talked, we joked around. A year later and the cast of Dead Woods includes some of my closest friends, and these are people I barely knew a year ago. As frustrating as it tended to be at times making the damned thing, I don't regret a minute of it.

Last night, on the anniversary of our pre-movie flip cup party, we got together to record a commentary. Like much of the movie, it was fueled by Miller High Life. Afterwards, we had a bit of a bonfire. The further removed I get from the movie, the more I like it. And the further away we get from shooting it, the more I miss that. I'd do another one right now if I could.

Dead Woods is a finished movie now. There's nothing left to do but make DVDs and try to find ways for people to see it. You'll never see me even TRY to review it here. There's no way I could be objective enough.

Song of the Day: High Hawk Season by The Mountain Goat

For the record, I really like the new album, All Eternals Deck.