the last documentary
I watched a pretty great documentary after work yesterday on VOD via Prime Video called The Last Blockbuster, which is literally what it's about: the only remaining Blockbuster "video" store, located in Bend, Oregon. I learned shortly after sharing my review, from Gabriel's brother Garret, that the film was a bit misleading about how it continues to stay afloat, but I haven't let that detract from how much I enjoyed the film: the movie is largely an exercise in joy regardless. I still stand by my B+ review.
I knew about the documentary because of its many mentions by Doug Benson on his podcast Doug Loves Movies, because he is featured in the film, and he even visit Bend, Oregon to be filmed walking around the store, sometime in 2019 before the pandemic hit, which is basically the time frame focused on in the film. That's because all the other stores closed and this one became "The Last Blockbuster" last year, garnering it the kind of media attention the previous three stores, which had all been in Alaska, never got—even when factoring in the Russell Crowe memorabilia John Oliver sent them (which is now at the Bend, Oregon store).
In any event, before the day of its release, I was afraid online rental for this movie would be upwards of twenty bucks, which I would never pay in a million years. But then yesterday I saw it could be rented online for four bucks, which is absolutely worth it, so I rented it so I could watch and review it. And that basically took up the bulk of my evening last night.
Shobhit worked quite late, until 10 p.m., and I also spent the evening doing three loads of laundry. I finished the movie around 6:30, and posted the link to the review to Twitter and Facebook just after 7:30, and then I spent some more time working on my "2020 in Ten Minutes" video. I also loaded my old 2014 video as a test, which clocks in at 11 minutes plus, and I got my answer as to what Flickr does: it simply cuts off anything after ten minutes. Thus, I'm going to have to make some more painful cuts in order to keep the full year video at a maximum of ten minutes. I just have to keep reminding myself that no one else will no what they're not seeing. I'm finally leaning toward removing many of the images that had also been used for the calendars, even though those are some of my favorite photos of the entire year. But, the places I was at for those photos are already represented by other shots or video clips more appropriate for this video slide show. Honestly, making these painful cuts will still be easier to deal with than trying to upload the video to YouTube with their draconian copyright rules regarding the song tracks I want to include. Uploading with no sound just isn't an option.
[posted 12:25 pm]