Oh, good. Another good foreign film being pointlessly remade.

Yes, there will be a completely inconsequential remake of The Host.

Me, I'll stick with the original, which is already a pretty American film in terms of humor, excess, and violence, and really doesn't need to be made again.

Aww

Just found out -- thanks to Facebook -- that one of my former student workers from my Emory days worker is now married. They grow up so quickly.

Mid-week Amazon deals: Video games, Criterion DVDs, TV shows, Mos Def, and free holiday music

Lots of new ones:

Starting with the today-only deals:

The Video Game Deal of the Day is Alone in the Dark for $14.95 for the X-Box 360, or $9.99 for the PS2 or Wii. That's 50-63% off.

The Video Game Countdown to Black Friday Sale (an entirely different one-day video game sale) offers a choice of a number of huge hits for all systems (GTA4, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Animal Crossing City Folk, Wii Music, Resistance 2, etc) with a bonus $25 off a future game purchase if you buy two, or $50 off a future purchase if you buy three.

And the MP3 album of the day is Mos Def's Black on Both Sides for $1.99

As for longer-lasting sales:

First, there's a huge sale on Criterion Collection DVDs, with a bunch of them at 40-44% off. This includes Brazil, Olivier's Henry V, Insomnia (the original), Sparticus, The Thief of Bagdad, Seven Samurai, the Eclipse box sets, and lots of others. This sale alone makes me very happy, in a going broke sort of way.

The TV show sale includes the Buffy and Angel deals I posted yesterday, as well as King of the Hill, Kitchen Confidential, Wonderfalls, and others.

Amazon's also conveniently posted a list of all DVDs discounted 55% or more. This one includes Time Bandits, Heathers, Black Sunday, the animated Hellboy flicks, Perfect Blue, The Long Good Friday (not the Criterion version, but still a great movie), and a lot of movies that probably won't sell even at that discount (Stan Lee Presents: The Condor).

The related 50-55% off sale (linked off that same page) throws in a few more interesting titles, including Bad Boys, My Big Fat Independent Movie, Kentucky Fried Movie, and the classic Reform School Girls.

The Music and Concert DVD Sale includes 50% and up discounts on lots of musicals (Passion, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park With George, Jekyll and Hyde. The Mikado), and 40-50% off nearly 100 music DVDs, ranging from The Go-Gos to Fairport Convention to The Ramones to Chuck Berry to Gordon Lightfoot to The Moody Blues. Pretty much every genre is represented. There's even an Engelbert Humperdinck set (Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck! ).

If you're a Microsoft fan (and who isn't?), there's a massive Zune sale, with up to 33% off some of them.

If you'd rather have a different MP3 player, the latest iPod Nano is going for $109.95 (26% off). That's $10 more than the Zune, but still a good deal.

Finally, the MP3 Store has a free sampler of Holiday songs, featuring Bing Crosby, The Beach Boys, Peggy Lee, and others.

Good grief

This is disgusting.

Universities are cutting jobs left and right in this economy, but U of Tennessee is going to spend nearly $10 million to fight music piracy.

I'm more disgusted with Gov. Phil Bredesen and his lawmakers than with the RIAA here. I expect the RIAA to commit disgusting acts, as that's the entire foundation of their existence. Politicians, all snarking aside, are actually supposed to serve the people.

(link ganked from gwynraven)

Pushing Daisies

Reminder: Pushing Daisies has not yet been renewed, and ratings over the next couple of weeks will determine if we get a full season of the best show currently on TV.

Please, please, please, if you love quality television, watch (and Tivo) this show tonight.

Someday, a Bryan Fuller show will make it to thirty episodes. If PD gets picked up for a full season, we'll finally see that happen.

Yo, X-Box 360 Owners

Check your Amazon Gold Box.

Too Human is the Lightning Deal for the next three hours, going for $34.98 (38% off). They've already sold 10% of their stock.

Also, the 9PM (6PM West Coast Time) deal is likely one of the Cooking Mama games, although whether for the DS or the Wii, it's hard to say.