Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...CNET had an interesting article last week on "Netflix's Lost Year: The Inside Story of the Price-Hike Train Wreck." Hard to believe, but it's been a year since the infamous price hike, which was quickly followed by the shark-jumping Qwikster debacle.

...Here's an interview with Ben Mankiewicz, who says working as a host on Turner Classic Movies "is a big responsibility," as classic film fans "really see you as playing a critical role in protecting something in their lives that they love."

...Will McKinley shares his experiences with TCM/Fathom movie screenings in general, and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) in particular, in "Flawed Technology, Delightful Results," posted at his new blog, Cinematically Insane. TCM and Fathom have more screenings on the calendar, including THE BIRDS (1963) on September 19th and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) on November 15th.

...And Slate has an illuminating article on Amazon's future plans, speculating that the company gave up fighting collecting sales taxes in numerous states because of plans to open distribution centers offering same-day delivery in areas with large populations, such as California.

...John Mills starred in several submarine movies over the years. Glenn Erickson reviews VCI's new DVD release of MORNING DEPARTURE (1950), also known as OPERATION DISASTER, at DVD Savant.

...The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan, which was memorably featured in the 1980 fantasy film SOMEWHERE IN TIME, just turned 125 years old.

...Lou Lumenick shares infomation on the debut of the new Fox Cinema Archives DVD program.

...Jacqueline has a fun look at MILDRED PIERCE (1945) at Another Old Movie Blog, paying particular attention to the film's cinematography. I got a kick out of her comment "Bess Flowers shows up as a restaurant patron, but really, that is to be expected. She's a walk-on in everything. I noticed her in one of my old vacation videos."

...Coming to DVD from TCM: Universal Rarities: Films of the 1930s. The titles are W.C. Fields in MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1932), Mae West in BELLE OF THE NINETIES (1934), Jack Benny in ARTISTS AND MODELS (1937), and Gary Cooper and Frances Dee in SOULS AT SEA (1937). The set is available August 6th. As a side note, SOULS AT SEA is also available on a Region 2 DVD, which I own.

...Attention Southern Californians: UCLA has great series coming up later this summer featuring the work of Rod Serling and Jean Arthur, as well as a tribute to choreographer Jack Cole featuring Mitzi Gaynor. I'll share more info here in the future.

Have a great week!