THINGS (FtoF #219)

You may have read about this already. And by ‘this’ I don’t mean the PR stunt that was the Amazon Go ‘launch’ last year – I mean this: Amazon’s new Book Store in New York.

While a predominantly online entity switching to offline is an interesting thing on its own, what I find really interesting in this instance is how Amazon is managing the sections of said book shop.

Paul Shapiro went and had a look:

Hurrah for data-driven sales techniques!

It’s worth clicking on the link to Paul’s original Tweet above (or just click on the image and it’ll open) as he’s threaded a bit more commentary + photos for your reading pleasure.

Enjoy.

From American Tail to The Land Before Time, if you grew up in the 80s then you’ll know the work of Don Bluth. If you grew up in the 90s, the Disney movies you saw were heavily influenced by Don Bluth.

This piece, entitled as above, is a gorgeous and in-depth look at Bluth’s phenomenal work. It is very hard to lift quotes without spoilers to the movies mentioned so I won’t just in case any of you SICK PEOPLE haven’t seen The Land That Time Forgot, for example.

As intros go, this ain’t bad:

“Have a conversation with anyone, anywhere in the world about the greatest living filmmakers, and if the name “Martin Scorsese” isn’t one of the first two or three mentioned, leave that conversation immediately and never speak to that person again. Because Scorsese’s greatness isn’t up for debate, it just isn’t. For nearly a half-century now he has built film upon film into a diverse and heralded oeuvre that includes crime films (Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed), intense character studies (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, The Aviator), religious epics (The Last Temptation of Christ, Kundun, Silence), documentaries (The Last Waltz, Public Speaking, A Letter to Elia), and rollicking tributes to art and artists (New York New York, Life Lessons, Hugo). There is no doubt that no matter who comes after him, Martin Scorsese will always remain not only one of the greatest filmmakers ever, but also one of the most important. If you think we get Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, John Woo, Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers, or even Wes Anderson without the influence of Scorsese, you’re wrong. As a director, a writer, a lover and conservationist of film and film history, Scorsese has had an impact on pretty much every significant filmmaker who’s come after him, and that might sound like over-enthusiastic, hyperbolic mythmaking, but you know I’m right. He’s Martin Fucking Scorsese.”

This is another link to Film School Rejects but this time it’s the mother lode of video essays on Scorsese.

There aren’t many writers that can get from Teddy Ruxpin to dismantling the patriarchy but in her search for emotional intelligence from our robotic friends, Alexander manages just that – and more.

Good reading.

• In last week’s fistful of trailers, I said I needed a fifth trailer. Luc Pestille (via ze Twitters) rightly pointed out that it should’ve been this trailer for Edgar Wright’s latest, BABY DRIVER. Bring it.
• Rosie, via email, also got in touch to point me towards this trailer for 3 Billboards.
• Diverse casting FTW.
• Apparently, there’s a man on Twitter who steals stuff and passes it off as his own. This Twitter account points out when.
• Abel Gance’s Napoleon is 90 years old. Here are 10 highlights (side note: I’ve seen this and it’s INCREDIBLE). 
• Speaking of stuff I’ve seen, I saw UNDER THE SKIN this week, with a live orchestra and it as brilliant. Here’s a write up that reflects why it was just so good.