FYI. For the next 13 hours, the Criterion Collection is running a flash sale (click here), giving you a chance to purchase “all in-stock Blu-rays & DVDs at 50% off.” Just use the promo code COOP and get classic films by Hitchcock, Lynch, Welles, Kubrick, the Coen Brothers, and many others.
Prior to becoming a household name, Stephen King did time as a high school English teacher and a laborer in an industrial laundry. These days, he could insulate his lovely Victorian home with crisp hundreds if such were his whim. Yet it seems he hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to watch every penny, wishing there was enough fat in the budget for the purchase of one measly comic book based on an insanely famous author’s obscure short story…
Or is he researching what it feels like to be an undiscovered writer in the digital age, anxiously dangling free content on his website in an attempt to build readership?
Broken into thrice weekly installments to be delivered over a period of eight weeks, King’s story concerns one Andrew Newsome, the sixth richest man in the world, and Kat MacDonald, the exponentially less well-to-do RN caring for him in the wake of a debilitating accident, another subject to which King is no stranger. As of this writing, the comic is only available on the author’s website, though the King juggernaut is so unstoppable, the next move may well be a film, a tv miniseries or a Broadway musical. Maine winters are long and cold. Perhaps even the master of suspense warms to the prospect of some extra insulation.
Not a bad deal. Right now, Barnes and Noble is running a big sale on films in the Criterion Collection. They’re offering 50% off of hundreds of classic and contemporary films, including Fellini’s 8 1/2, John Ford’s Stagecoach, Howards End with Anthony Hopkins, Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train, Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, Steven Soderbergh’sChe and many more. Films are available in DVD and Blu-ray. Dig into the sale here.
A quick note: Audible has recently launched a series called the Audible Modern Vanguard (more details here) that brings groundbreaking works and authors into unabridged audio for the first time. Here, you’ll find works by Paul Auster (one of my faves), Saul Bellow, John Cheever, John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, and William Kennedy.
There are some good “reads” here, and, unless I’m mistaken, there’s a way that you can download one for free. I’ve created a page where you can get information on Audible’s (no strings attached) 14 day trial here, which gives you a completely free download of any audio book you choose.
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