While it won’t move the needle much on its content library, IFC Entertainment announced yesterday that it will offer 53 films through Netflix’s (s NFLX) Watch Instantly streaming service, reports Variety.

True, that’s not a very large number, but it marks the first time IFC is providing its content to a subscription streaming service. Up until now, the company has placed films from its 300-title library on EST destinations like Amazon (s AMZN), iTunes (s AAPL) and Blockbuster (s BBI).

IFC titles heading to Netflix’s streaming service include Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line and John Sayles’ Return of the Secaucus Seven.

As we’ve written before, Netflix’s Achilles’ heel is its streaming content library. Though it has over 17,000 titles, it needs to make sure that service is robust enough so that the number of subscribers using the service keeps growing. Check out Om’s recent talk with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings at our recent NewTeeVee Live Conference for more on his company’s streaming efforts.

Separately, though we didn’t see anything official announced, it looks like Netflix also just got a whole boatload of Saturday Night Live content in this week, including seasons 1 – 5.

To learn more about streaming directly to TVs, check out the report on The Evolution of Over-the-Top Video over at our subscription research service, GigaOM Pro.

November 19, 2009.

Spot the building I can’t not photograph? Yep, there it is behind this incredibly subtle Christmas decoration lining the way to the IFC mall at Exchange Square. The decorations look like giant lollipops. But not exactly, because they are flowers not candy. You know, same, same, but different. Right?

The prevalence of night shots lately is indicative of the pace of my days. And I forgot to go and get my Andrew Bird tickets today, so that sort of sucks. Ah well, I hear there is always tomorrow…

There’s some pretty major blu-ray releases this week: “Star Trek”, “Bruno”, “Gone With the Wind”, “Fight Club”. On the arthouse level, however, there are some noteworthy entertainments as well: “Thirst”, “Humpday”, “The Limits of Control”. Which of these films is most worthy of your time this weekend? Read ahead, and i’ll give you my pick for the DVD you should rent this week.

Additionally, a new release that has yet to find it’s way to DVD will be airing on Sundance this week. Here’s One to Rent, One to DVR for the week of 11/17/09 – exclusively at ForReel.net.

RENT

Thirst (2009)
dir. Park Chan-wook
Availability: DVD (11/17/09)

Why?: “Thirst” was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It’s the latest film by the highly acclaimed Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, whose Vengeance Trilogy (“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”, “Oldboy”, “Lady Vengeance”) has become a sort of cult phenomenon. I’ve yet to see “Thirst”, but the plot is certainly intriguing, and Park Chan-wook has proven himself to be a consistently interesting filmmaker.

The film follows a priest who, after volunteering for a vaccine development project, becomes fatally ill. He is saved by a blood transfusion – but, of course, it happens to be vampire blood.

The disc is light on extras, and unfortunately there’s no accompanying blu-ray. That being said, however, now that vampire-hysteria will once again run  rampant this weekend, “Thirst” is a good alternative to glitter-skinned hunks.

DVR

Everlasting Moments (2008)
dir. Jan Troell
Playing: Thursday, November 19th, 11:00 PM on Sundance.

Why?: “Everlasting Moments” got a very limited release earlier this year from IFC Films. This week, Sundance is showing a slew of recent IFC releases – “A Christmas Tale”, “Che”, and “Everlasting Moments” – before they make their way to the Criterion Collection under this new Criterion/IFC partnership.

I know what you’re thinking – Swedish period piece with a plot (overworked mother, abusive husband) that seems more fitting for Oxygen. But Troell handles this material tremendously. It’s shot with a great elegance, and the film boasts a wonderful lead performance by the great Maria Heiskanen.  Mikael Persbrant, as her husband, is also terrific.

The film is very episodic in structure, meandering around Troell’s beautiful early 20th century Sweden. It’s never less than engaging and, quite often, the film is literally breath-taking in it’s visual splendor.

“A Christmas Tale” makes it’s way to blu-ray in a few weeks, and “Che” will be out in January. You’ll have to wait a little bit longer for “Everlasting Moments”, however, which is a good reason to set your DVR for it now.

Fishing with John is a 1991 cult television series conceived, directed by and starring actor and musician John Lurie. On the surface, the series resembles a standard travel or fishing show: in each episode, Lurie takes a famous guest on a fishing expedition. Since Lurie has no expert knowledge of fishing, the interest is in the interaction between Lurie and his guests, all of whom are his friends. Nothing particularly unusual actually happens, but the show is edited and narrated in a way to suggest that Lurie and his guest are involved in dramatic and even supernatural adventures. The deadpan, laconic style of the show is heavily influenced by the films of director Jim Jarmusch, who appears as the guest in the first episode.

Besides Jarmusch, the guests featured are actor Matt Dillon, musician Tom Waits, actor Willem Dafoe and actor-director Dennis Hopper. The series ran for 6 episodes, each featuring a different guest and locale, except for episodes 5 and 6 which both feature Hopper in Thailand. Each episode has voice-over narration by Robb Webb, which is sometimes bizarre and off-topic. The soundtrack is by Lurie, with several guest performers. (source)

I’ve had a manic few weeks since mid October, mostly related to my starting-up my own Marketing and Fundraising Consultancy (called Strategy Refresh – do take a look when you have a spare moment) with a bit of house moving thrown-in for good measure. All of which means that things have been very quiet on the Giving in a Digital World Front – so apologies for that. Normal service is close to being resumed as I’m starting to get into the swing of working as an independent consultant.

One think I’ve been meaning to post about but have only now had the opportunity to get to was the great response to the presentation Jonathan Waddingham from JustGiving and I gave at the International Fundraising Congress over in Holland last month. It was all about ‘The new breed of digital donor‘ and sparked all sorts of post presentation discussions – both online and offline – which was great. You can see the full presentation in the Slideshare embed below.

One part of the presentation that got a lot of folks interested was the story of the 93 Dollar Club – so I thought it worth repeating that here for anyone who hasn’t come across it before (you can see more about it in the presentation).

The 93 Dollar Club all began back in August this year through a chance meeting and act of personal kindness in a Trader Joes grocery store. Jenni Ware was shopping there when she realised that she had forgotten her purse. Fortunately, next in the line was Carolee Hazard who, on seeing Jenni’s situation, kindly offered to cover her $207 bill. Jenni gratefully accepted and as the two left the store she reassured Carolee that she would mail her a cheque later that day. However, as Carolee drove away she couldn’t help wondering if she would ever actually see her $207 again. Being an active Facebook user, on arriving home she shared the story with her online network of Friends and they started to add to it, reassuring her that she had done a good thing and that it was sure to be repaid.

And so it was – with a check arriving not just for $207 but for $300, including a $93 ‘thank you’ gift. Carolee was surprised by this and at first intended to return the $93. However her Facebook Friends, who were by now an active part of this story, proposed she donate it to a non-profit instead. They even suggested which – the local Second Harvest Food Bank. Carolee liked this idea so much that she decided to match the $93 windfall donation with $93 of her own. Then, as is the way with social networks, her Facebook Friends agreed to follow-suite and by the next morning they had together collected over $1,000.

Encouraged by this, Carolee set-up a Facebook Page – entitled the 93 Dollar Club – and so the story continued, not just on Facebook but being picked-up and given massively greater reach by traditional news media too. Indeed, so much did the story grow that if you take a look at Carolee’s 93 Dollar Club page today you’ll see that the total raised has now gone from $93 to over $23,000 – and they’ve now set themselves a target of $93,000!

Do take a moment to visit the 93 Dollar Club Facebook page. On it you’ll see contributions from an incredibly vibrant community of donors, sharing ideas for fundraising and plans to expand the whole 93 Dollar Club concept to help achieve their great $93,000 target. A true community, focused on fundraising yet entirely inspired and organised by the donors themselves – a fantastic example of just what the new breed of digital donors can achieve when they get to grips with doing it for themselves.

So, Reb, how are things going?

I don’t want to talk about how school is going (new media = win, group projects = not so much).

I can’t get into how the internship search is going (swell, a few interviews here and there, fingers crossed about a few possibilities).

I just want to talk about a few of my favorite things at the moment.

Uncut episodes of Arrested Development on IFC.

Brouwerij Lane in Greenpoint – drank Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen with my friend Brianne one rainy Saturday afternoon and sat for  two hours talking = probably one of the best afternoons I’ve had all fall.  Embarassingly enough we just called it “B-lane” for the longest time because of our intimidation about German pronunications.

My apparent love for all things El Dia de los Muertos.  The tote bag is from the apparently defunct Fuego, and the skeleton hanging and skull ring were both gifts from my friend Stacey.  The ring alone amused me for an entire day – it lights up and is made of a consistency that makes it easy to pretend the skull is headbanging.

13/11: I hope you do not suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia.

You may think I would get sick of photographing this building. No such luck.
Just be grateful I didn’t post cat photos, it being Friday the 13th and all.

by AMEinfo, November 9, 2009.

Regional and international experts on corporate governance are gathered in Dubai to review the progress in reforming corporate governance frameworks in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries and to discuss ways to speed up their implementation process in the region.

This two-day regionally-focused Annual Conference organised by the Hawkamah Institute of Corporate Governance in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is being held from today at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

The Hawkamah-OECD Annual Gathering theme of ‘Emerging Middle East Markets and the Corporate Governance Imperatives’ has been specifically chosen to impart a sense of urgency regarding the adoption, strengthening and effective implementation of corporate governance frameworks in the region in the upcoming post-crisis era…(continue reading)

Hello everyone. Yesterday I went and saw Where the Wild Things Are for a second time, but you already know how I feel about that. This weekend was Halloween. Needless to say there has been a lot going on, but not much in the way of new movie viewings. David will have a review of 2001: A Space Odyssey up tomorrow, but in the mean time, if you are thirsty for some movie knowledge you should go to some of Lara and the Reel Boy’s favorite sites: /Film, Cinematical, IFC, Totally Rad Show, or Cinemablend. There are many more, but that should satisfy your movie craving appetite for now.

Off to the video rental store,

Lara

Arrested Development

IFC, is one of my favorite TV stations. There’s always great independent movies to watch .   Now, on Sunday and Tuesday nights, IFC is airing Arrested Development (one of my favorite TV shows ever).  Arrested Development originally aired from 2003-2006. I actually own the first season on DVD, and I watch the episodes over and over.

“Arrested Development is one of the smartest and funniest shows of the last decade with a hilarious presentation of absurd family dysfunction,” said Jennifer Caserta, executive VP/General Manager of IFC. “It’s a perfect fit for IFC, which viewers recognize as an authority on what’s new, next and relevant in television, film, music, gaming and online, and, more recently, comedy.” *

Apparently, a feature script is in the works! Yay! But until then,  you can watch the 53 TV episodes on IFC or Hulu.

Here’s the link to the Arrested Development Pilot on Hulu.

*broadcastingcable.com

]]> http://gynomite.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/awesome-list-nothing-witty-to-say-about-it/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:01:27 +0000 Emily Gordon is.....Gynomite! http://gynomite.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/awesome-list-nothing-witty-to-say-about-it/

This is an amazing list of the 25 scariest moments in non-horror movies.  It’s got the face melting scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the nightmare scene in Vertigo, Pyle’s suicide in Full Metal Jacket, the horrifying Altamont murder scene in Gimmie Shelter, the boat scene in Willy Wonka, etc and so on.  It’s a good list, but even better, they have videos of every single scene.

After the jump, you’ll see my favorite terrifying scene from a non-horror movie (besides the entirety of E.T., which genuinely terrifies me).

Ohhhhhhh my lord that scared me as a kid.

by Rana Mesbah, for AMEinfo, Ocotber 27, 2009.

Regional and international experts on corporate governance will gather on 9-10 November in Dubai to review the progress in reforming corporate governance frameworks in MENA countries and ways to enhance their implementation.

This regional annual gathering, organised by the Hawkamah Institute of Corporate Governance in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will be held at the Dubai International Financial Center.

As the causes and consequences of the global financial crisis are becoming clearer, this will be the first regional gathering to consider the role of corporate governance for the economic stability and prosperity of the region.

H.E. Dr. Omar bin Sulaiman, Governor of the DIFC and Founder of Hawkamah, pointed out:

“The world – and especially the Middle East – is emerging from the global financial crisis and will seek to implement policies to ensure a period of sustained and more stable growth. Now is the time for companies to prepare and position themselves for the future opportunities and challenges. Good corporate governance offers them a competitive edge.”…(continue reading)