Day: May 14, 2015

High praise for CRIMSON PEAK trailer

Yet another film is getting this line: The ‘best horror movie of the year’ .. it’s only May.
The trailer for acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro is being celebrated.. even being called ”viral” (as so many things are these days) .. This is the official description of the movie:

When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger, a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place ﬁlled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak.

And that all sounds well and good.
But horror movie of the year?
It has competition with IT FOLLOWS .

The only helpful thing for PEAK vs others: It gets a near Halloween 2015 release in mid-October. Just as the mood turns paranormal ..

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLWsNDZqXpo]

May 14, 2015
THE NIGHT RETURNS: But will the new Hitchcock or laughing stock show up?

M NIGHT SHYAMALAN is back with a ten episode miniseries set to air tonight, THURSDAY at 9pm edt..

The long anticipated program, WAYWARD PINES, is promising typical plot twists in the M NIGHT style.. But the question will now be: Will viewers appreciate it after all of the duds that people have attributed to the Shyamalan name..?

Matt Dillon stars as a Secret Service agent who arrives in a tiny, picturesque Idaho town (that could be called Creepyville, USA) to investigate a case, but learns he can’t leave. No one can. If people try to escape, it can deadly..

Cast members also include Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Toby Jones and Juliette Lewis. Shyamalan said that after casting Dillon, it was Leo’s role that helped shape his vision of the series.

The UK GUARDIAN took the chance to profile Shyalaman as he leaps from movies to television (but back to movies this fall with the VISIT).. The report points out that the director went to a celebrated new version of Hitchcock to a laughing stock.. Which version shows up for WAYWARD is yet to be seen–but even more interesting will be the ratings game.

The NIGHT brand has been acclaimed before it turned lame. Movies like SIXTH SENSE were forgotten by the time THE HAPPENING didn’t happen–ironically the bee collapse is in the news today. Maybe we should have listened closer in 2008.. Regardless, Night is coming back this fall with THE VISIT. The trailer for that movie about people going to their grandparents house in Pennsylvania has already become the butt of jokes..

WAYWARD PINES seems immune to such unkind words. As a matter of fact, the reviews appear to be mostly positive–helped more by Matt Dillon as an actor than M Night as a creator..

But time will tell how WAYWARD these pines get.

10 episodes begins tonight..

Will you stay for all of them?

May 14, 2015
The colony continues to collapse

More than two out of five American honeybee colonies died in the past year, and surprisingly the worst die-off was in the summer, according to a federal survey.

MORE :
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_BEE_DEATHS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-13-09-15-22

May 14, 2015
GET THE CCRANES READY: ARTBELL.COM RELEASES AN FAQ ON HOST’S RETURN

THE MODERN STUDIO. SIMPLE IS IN

An excited Art Bell posted a link on his Facebook page to ArtBell.com tonight. The site announces a set of FAQs in relation to the MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT program set to appear this summer..

You can read the full text of what Keith Rowland posted here.

A couple of points worth repeating as well.. including this: Art Bell will most likely not be coming back in any form to terrestrial radio, according to the FAQ sheet. The program is made to work online–less commercials and more free flowing. Something that will not translate into the structured world of corporate stations..

According to Rowland, the basics to know:

The show is now called “Midnight in the Desert” and will broadcast LIVE from 9pm to Midnight Pacific, Midnight to 3am Eastern for FREE, Monday thru Friday.
You can listen via this website, or use an app on your smartphone or tablet. Currently you can listen via the TuneIn app. Install TuneIn from your App store and search for Dark Matter Radio and you’ll be listening to the current schedule of shows.
On-demand archives will be available under a subscription membership service, soon to be announced.

The site advertises both a CC-WIFI or CC-WIFI2 radio from C Crane as the best means of hearing Bell, besides of course streaming directly from ArtBell.com.

Also, Bell can boast that he is merging the 21st century with amazing days of old: He will also be broadcasting MIDNIGHT on SHORTWAVE radio station 5,085 khz. Rowland writes,

We have made a deal with a shortwave station out of Tennessee, WTWW on 5,085 khz, a good frequency to be heard at that time of night. They will carry just the LIVE portion of the show.

There will by SKYPE calls..
There will be a message board–two actually, one not moderated at all..
And there will be a message service to talk to Art during the show.

The excitement is building..
This seems very different from the SIRIUS radio setup. This time, Art Bell seems to be doing it not to prove a point, not to recreate magic, but to create brand new magic and be himself.

Perhaps the best thing about SIRIUS was the mistake it all was.. the backroom deals between NOORY and Company.. the corporate ignorance of Bell’s simple requests.. And a two year respite non compete for Bell and Rowland to truly consider what approach they want.

And fans love it.
C CRANE may have their busiest year in some time.
I for one will be making a call very soon..

May 14, 2015
THE SECURITY FLAWS AMONG US

BUZZFEED reports about a vulnerability in Verizon’s service that could have allowed anyone to view the personal information of any of its 9 million home internet customers simply by visiting its website with a spoofed IP address — the very same personal information that can be used to obtain password resets and gain full control over those home accounts…

Verizon Security Flaw Left Millions Of Home Internet Users Vulnerable To Attack

And this is of most interest to me, as of late.. this website has been hacked a number of times. And .. I have Verizon DSL.. Hmm..

May 14, 2015