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Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Researching David Thomson's novel Suspects I found a couple interviews from the end of '02 when his film reference book's new edition was published, and David Toop's review of Jon Hassell's Dressing for Pleasure I haven't been into Hassell's 90's stuff, but I'm reading Toop's superb Ocean of Sound and the review gives a nice taste of the book.
10:55 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
The end of the record storeIt's not just the indies, and it's not just the smaller markets. On Thursday the parent company of Tower Records, which has stores in major cities nationwide, was on the verge of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to news reports, having failed to find a suitable buyer. In September, the bankrupt Wherehouse Entertainment chain was acquired by a company that promptly said it would close 35 underperforming stores. Mall chains such as Sam Goody are hurting, too. As pop's superstars strut down the red carpet in Los Angeles tonight for the Grammy Awards, there is something close to panic in the retail trenches of the music business. The record store is in serious trouble. Sales have been hammered by Internet piracy as well as competition from big-box retailers such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart, two of the nation's leading music vendors. Online CD stores such as Amazon.com are gaining momentum, too: 3 percent of the market in the most recent survey by the Recording Industry Association of America, up from zero eight years ago. Now a new threat looms. The market for legally downloadable music is tiny today, but the success of Apple's iTunes online music store and the rush of rival services to the marketplace is expected to gobble up an ever-larger share of the pop music pie. A recent study by Forrester Research, which examines technology trends, predicts that in five years one-third of all music will be delivered through modems and the CD will be passe, if not obsolete, in the years after.
2:55 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Just got a note from amazon that Altman's 3 Women will be out on DVD April 20th No extras apparently, though it seems a preliminary listing. It's a challenging Bergmanesque meditation on identity that I liked a lot. You either find it fascinating or interminable. Like the comment on the IMDB page above says, the main problem for me is the music, which overdoes the mood. It's one of Altman's best either way, and Spacek and Duvall are great. I'd like to see one of his lesser-known 70s films -- A Perfect Couple -- released too. Too bittersweet and "European" for its time, I think it would find a more receptive audience now. And Paul Dooley is the male lead! Neither of these films were ever released on tape, as far as I know. Another one from the 70s I hadn't seen until recently (which is on DVD) is Images, with Susannah York. It's worth a look too. A Wedding isn't out on disc yet either, and it's kind of a guilty pleasure, because it's not as good, but I like it anyway. It is out on tape, as is Thieves Like Us, which is the only one I haven't seen from his early period that looks worth seeking out.
10:59 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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