Today's Video: showing off my excessive dinosaur toy collection

Believe it or not, but a fellow forum member of the Dinosaur Toy Forum (yes, there actually is such a thing) recently asked me to create a video walkthrough of my overly extensive dinosaur toy collection. Not one to turn down a request that touches my ego, I filmed this 20-minute walkthrough yesterday and uploaded it on YouTube today. Since I unfortunately did not have enough memory storage on my camera to film it all in one take, it ended up in three pieces: one briefly covering about everything there is to see in my kitchen, dining room and lounge (top), and two short compendium pieces that cover the attic (below), for those few dinosaur die-hards who could stand to watch more. I must apologize for the phony English accent I apply when, basically, talking to myself. Dinosaur (toy) enthusiasts will get a kick out of seeing just how many wonderful models of prehistoric critters (plus assorted nerd toys) have accumulated over the years and now grace my living area. Everybody else will likely consider it a obsessive waste of time, money and effort, but I've grown accustomed to that.

Today's Double News: Amazon wants Barbarella, we want Game of Thrones

A few more items I collected for MS these past few days:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153167/set_visit_video_game_of_thrones_seizoen_4

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153191/amazon_wil_barbarella_serie

Good television series continue to be made due to ever growing public demand, and so the search for potentially profitable properties also drones on. While Game of Thrones is currently at the height of its popularity - despite its fabulous quality, you know in terms of success it can only go down at a certain point, and I think that's not far off, as there's little new audiences to be reached (except for paying ones instead of them dirty freeloadin' downloaders!) - rival studios won't sit still, looking for that next piece of audiovisual entertainment that grips spectators by the eyeballs and won't let go until the season is over, at which point it has proven so addictive that stopping the show would be nothing less than a crime against humanity. I doubt Barbarella will be that next hit. That is, if they stick to the campy, Sixties' tone of love and permissiveness established by both the original comics and the 1968 movie, which just seems to outdated. It's basically soft-erotic Sci-Fi escapism with a touch of surreal comedy mixed in. There's nothing wrong with that (far from it!), but would audiences be waiting for such fare in these darker, grittier times of crisis and misery, where serious and bloody shows like Game of Thrones reign supreme? Maybe I'm wrong and Barbarella will prove popular amongst mature audiences (certainly won't be a kids' show!) just because it's so cheerful and positive and silly, so it will be a great addition to the existing fantasy shows due to its different style. That is, if they indeed stick to the Barbarella of old instead of needlessly adapting her to the present times, which I hope they won't. With someone like Nicolas Winding Refn, a connoisseur of classic (or less so) movies if ever I saw one, at the helm, I doubt Barbarella will undergo many changes to her promiscuous personality, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Nor would the HBO-saturated audience that expects a fair amount of bare skin these days. But Amazon is not HBO, and would do well not to gratuitously copy HBO. Better the studio develops its own distinct personality, just like Barbarella has. If you want HBO, stick to Game of Thrones. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm as pumped for Season 4 as the next man, and I have already scoured this seductive little video for any new revelations it might insidiously offer. Not much of those, except for a first glimpse at Mace Tyrell, and the continuing promise of a badass Red Viper. Just ten more weeks until Season 4 premieres, sit tight! And HBO, please keep these videos coming to help us get over any signs of withdrawal...

Be Kind Rewind

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Michel Gondry's ode to creativity in general and the old VHS video cassettes in particular. After old Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) leaves his small shabby video store in the hands of his young assistant Mike for a few days, his clumsy and slightly insane friend Jerry (Jack Black) accidentally erases the contents of all the tapes, due to being magnetized after a failed attempt to sabotage the local power plant. Desperate to continue business, the pair decides to reshoot the films themselves with whatever help and means they can find, and soon these so-called 'Sweded' films turn out more popular among their customers than the real deal. Unfortunately, this gets them under the authorities' radar for copyright infringements. To preserve the new sense of community and save Mr. Fletcher's store from demolition, the whole neighbourhood therefore assists in making a movie about a local (fictional) jazz legend. Sweded films include Ghostbusters, Rush Hour 2 and Robocop: these selfmade shorts provide the biggest laughs in this otherwise overly feel-good comedy which trades in humour for sentiment towards the end of the film, but maintains honest and good intentions throughout the piece and calls for an end to paranoid copyright violation laws in favour of people celebrating their favorite films by being creative together, just for the fun of it.

Starring: Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover

Directed by Michel Gondry

USA: New Line Cinema, 2008