Let other kids have those electric cars...

I'll get mine a dalek!



Unfortunately, judging by the kids in the commercial, I'm afraid mine's too old for one of these. Darn. Maybe I could just get one to sit in the corner.

It's Groundhog Day...again?

Eternal clock
Photo by Robbert van der Steeg
I know Groundhog Day is over (or is it?) but I didn't come across this until late last night as I was about to go to bed, and I didn't have a chance to read all the way through it until lunch (and I read the WHOLE thing - feel free to skip to the end if you want), so here it is, better late than never: 
Just How Many Days Does Bill Murray REALLY Spend Stuck Reliving GROUNDHOG DAY? (via /Film)

I'm just glad it was Simon Gallagher, and not me, who spent all the time it would take to figure this out. Phew!

How rejections have changed...and how they probably haven't


The rejection slip the motion picture studio Essanay Film Manufacturing Company  (1907-1925) sent screenwriters whose submissions were found wanting. Essanay is best remembered today for its series of Charlie Chaplin films. (via Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture)


I came across a link to this rejection slip from the company that produced many of Charlie Chaplin's flms at Nathan Bransford's blog. I had to chuckle over some of the comments about the slip at BoingBoing:

"It seems to have been mistaken for some form of checklist on how to make a successful movie by current day Hollywood."

"Isn't this the set of Apple App Store guidelines?"

"Now I want to fill this form out for every horrible new movie that comes out. There's gotta be a movie that completely fills the sheet. "

#16 is my favorite.  I wonder how many possibly great movies were passed over because the screenwriter had bad handwriting.