Man, this day. Well, 95 and 96 are fine ages, and Wiseman's legacy is beyond secure. I sincerely hope that whoever is entrusted with his legacy of more than three dozen masterful documentaries makes them easier to stream, to own, and to share. We'll be learning from his work as long as movies exist.
Happy release day to me!
It would be nice if Democrats would stop text-spamming me every 20 minutes. This isn’t helping save democracy or doing anything to keep the country from wasting gobs of money on an unproductive, overmilitarized ICE.
Abolish ICE and prosecute everyone who stays in it from this day forward as members of a criminal conspiracy to commit murder.
It would be a good thing for all of us to stop insisting that culture of interest to queer people is only truly worthy of attention if it is "universal" or "relatable" enough to win the attention of straight commentators.
This is not 1995.
Featured Films & TV from Penn Libraries, showcasing biographical documentaries, biopics, and films based on memoirs. Have a look at selected films you can stream here at Penn on my Cinema & Media Studies guide, here:
Featured Films & TV - January 2026 guides.library.upenn.edu/cims/jan26
A Weekly Gathering for Those Who Fled the Nazis Ends After 82 Years www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/n...
The Filthy Word That Filmmakers Swear By www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
I’m gonna bake manicotti tonight.
Without jarred sauce.
O'Brien's films are unique time capsules of rural American life using real locals instead of actors. Like many regional indie films from the early 2000s, it has vanished from distribution. No streaming. No new discs. It’s a gentle, funny look at "old vs. new" Vermont that deserves a second life.
I’m concerned about what this will mean for non-theatrical licensing here in higher ed. Netflix content is already walled off to us.
Angst Turns to Anger in Hollywood as Netflix Hooks Warner Bros. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/06/b...
Warner Bros. Discovery Said to Be in Exclusive Talks With Netflix www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/b...
It's disappointing to say goodbye to #Eurovision this next year. It's a serious annual holiday for us. I hope a fun, truly peace-promoting international contest that is really about music across cultures can emerge. It seems to be the end of #ESC as we know it.
I can't believe people in Stockholm are actually waiting in a 3-hour line, in Sweden, in November, to buy a Crunchwrap Supreme from Sweden's first ever Taco Bell. As an American, I'm both amused and horrified to know this.
Breaking News: Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia said that they were boycotting next year’s Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s participation. Eurovision fans who support Palestinian rights have for years expressed concern at Israel’s involvement in the contest.
Burns: The Old Testament says there’s nothing new under the sun. On July 4th, 1776, there was. Everybody up to that point had been under authoritarian rule. It was in the interests of their rulers that they be uneducated, that they be superstitious, that they be distracted by conspiracies…
Accusation in the mirror. DARVO. We can call it out as obvious shenanigans to ourselves. For his acolytes and defenders, they are lemmings following the drumbeat of their own media.
Thank you for saying this plainly.
While I'm ranting: It takes time, nurturing, strategy, and deep knowledge of release patterns and regional idiosyncrasies to nurture a film from, say, October deep into awards season. That's how smaller movies used to make money. And I'm not seeing a lot of distributors eager to put in that effort.
It's so interesting that many of the works that are ephemeral & unlicenseable for libraries are not works of world cinema from the Global South, as I'd expect, but American films, indie films, documentaries, episodic series of all kinds--all seemingly right under our noses. 5/5
As librarians, do we have a mandate to ensure ongoing access? At this point in time, we are directing cultural heritage priorizations, and media librarians have choices to make in terms of what rights we pursue, as content goes more digital. 4/
As we move away from physical objects in our media collections, and it becomes more ephemeral, how do we help people access "locked content"? The business of film and media isn't always interested in improving access, or commodifying certain properties 3/
The data also shows that quite a few films from Japan were among the requested materials that the library was not able to acquire. My thought is that the distributors and filmmakers were likely impossible to reach or communicate with... 2/
So interesting to hear about "unlicenseable," unavailable films from Christine Smith as part of the Video Trust Conference. The most inaccessible films are recent films, from the U.S., and rather than long-form films, now episodic original series are less available. 1/
Would-be censors fortunately cannot disappear streaming content that #libraries have licensed for thematic promotions, and in conjunction with library displays. It's also onerous to do this with #ebooks in public library collections. #censorship
Library policies can be your friend, if you have would-be censors in your community who check out controversial items en masse, in effect enacting #censorship by hoarding materials. Put rules in place to keep materials available and visible if they are on display.
Excited to be with my people online at the 2025 Video Trust Annual Conference this week. Media librarians, film distributors, people who appreciate media in libraries, please join us! Nov 11-12-13. videotrust.org/conferenceinfo #filmdistribution #medialibrarians #filmlibrarians
