Philly Man Pulls NY-Only Crime

Sarah and I always wonder how the video store near her apartment stays in business. The Hollywood Video down the street closed a long time ago, the West Coast Video location on 15th was last seen hosting a Scientology anti-psychiatry exhibit, nobody under 40 rents videos, et cetera.

Not everyone just downloads movies or catches them on TV, I know, but video stores are on the long road to extinction. Some owners might get desperate, like the FBI says one Philadelphia man allegedly did. Philly’s own Farid Gilani owned the recently-closed Flik’s Video in New York, and he’s in a bit of a pickle:

Mr. Gilani, 54, lives in Philadelphia. He has been charged with trademark counterfeiting in the second degree (manufacturing, distributing or selling goods with a retail value of more than $1,000 that bear a trademark the defendant knows to be counterfeit) and failure to disclose the origin of a recording in the first degree (involving at least 100 unauthorized audiovisual recordings). Both are felonies. [...]

Mr. Flicker, 38, who lives on the Upper West Side, said he had not filed any formal complaints, though he had followed the breakup of Flik’s. “I bumped into a guy who worked at the store,” Mr. Flicker said. “He told me he kind of thought they were using duplicate DVDs. He told me in the middle of the night he sold all his inventory to another video store in the city. Isn’t that amazing? Only in New York.”

Bootleg DVDs? Shady late-night business deals? Yes, yes: Only in New York! Whew.

A Shuttered Video Store, With Troubles Still Brewing [City Room]
Image by John Manoogian III, Creative Commons license

Broad Street Review Doesn’t Mince Words

When the Broad Street Review writes about art, we get Hitler and slavery references. When the Broad Street Review writes about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy, as Reed Stevens did today, we get comparisons to Juno (obviously) and calling her future child “essentially unwanted.”

Then, this to end:

Yes, Granny knows there are worse problems. Children are starving because resources are scarce. We don’t need more children; we need to love the ones we’ve got at home and around the world. Put a fucking sock on it, Bristol and Juno. Until you understand resource management, you are expensive, selfish sluts. Your parents are fools.

And you have no story to tell your daughters.

She knows the one (Juno, I think) is a fictional character, right? I’m really happy somebody just came right out and called Bristol Palin a selfish slut. Thanks, Reed Stevens, for brightening up everyone’s Wednesday.

A Few Questions for Bristol Palin [Broad Street Review]
Thanks, RJ

Transformers 2 In Philadelphia?

Film Geek geeks all over the Internet are freaking out about this quote in March’s Main Line Today, where Philadelphia is mentioned as a possible location for the filming of Transformers 2.

It’s all mentioned in an interview with the Philadelphia Film Office’s Sharon Pinkenson and how Philly is a booming movie town; this article is notable for being the 453rd one to use that premise. (Yeah, yeah, I’ve written it too.)

Hilarious N.J. Escapees Leave Thank You Note

In a story that would be even funnier if they weren’t, you know, violent criminals, one of the inmates who escaped from prison in a Shawshank Redemption-type escape actually left a note for a guard:

“Thank you officer (name redacted) for the tools needed. You’re a real pal! Happy holidays,” Jose Espinosa wrote in a message left in his cell before he and fellow inmate Otis Blunt jumped down 15 feet to a landing, then 30 feet further down and over a razor-wired fence to freedom. The two, both charged with violent felonies, remain at large.

Meanwhile, somebody else says the escape is like Escape from Alcatraz. Personally, I find it more like the escape scene in Masterminds.

Update: Oh, yeah, a dude escaped from a prison in Bucks County, too. He was in jail on forgery charges.

Revenge Of The, Erhm, Dorks

Ahh, yes, but wither the child (me) who goes to school between the high points of this genre, post-Revenge of the Nerds and pre-Rocket Science et al. I got American Pie and (as the article notes) Election, but by then it was my senior year, and those movies weren’t nerd-centric anyway. All I got in high school were a series of horrible movies about teams of losers overcoming all the odds to win it all, occasionally by cheating. Screw you, Little Giants. Don’t even talk to me, Ladybugs.

Theme of nerds popular in movies [Gannett/Courier-Post]

Mike Nutter Quickly Getting Priorities Straight

With the Democratic nomination in hand and a walk-over in November on schedule, Michael Nutter is already attempting to push his much-celebrated “reform” measures he campaigned on. Also, he’s taking his daughter to Masterman.

He talked with KYW 1060 and let them know he will not stand for fatcat Hollywood producers making movies in New York. Well, making movies set in Philadelphia in New York City.

There’s a new movie coming out, “It Is What It Is,” which was filmed in NYC but set in Philadelphia. “Look, I’m glad that there’s a film set in Philadelphia,” Nutter said. “But it is a little crazy that a film about Philadelphia is being made in New York.”

Nutter said when he was a City Councilman, he tried to push through a film industry bill but his daughter’s commercial for that one wasn’t all that hot. Interestingly enough, New York’s City Council successfully passed a bill a few years back to have the NYC-set Jersey Girl film in Philadelphia pretending to be New York. That city wanted no parts of that movie.

Nutter: Movies Set in Phila. Should Be Filmed in Phila. [KYW 1060]

Penn Kids Carrying On In Fine Tradition Of, Uh, Me

While the music industry appears to be loosening restrictions on DRM — MP3s have been widely traded online longer than most things — the movie industry is tightening its grip.

The Motion Picture Association of America recently released its Top 25 schools for movie sharing, and two local schools are on the list: Penn at #2 and Drexel at #22. It’s one giant West Philly vortex of filesharing.

I remember back in the early days of downloading movies during my freshman year at Penn. Ahh, memories. The list, by the way, is woefully undercounted — Penn is second with only 934 students sharing movies, while Drexel has 455. If you think that only 455 Drexel students or 934 Penn students are sharing movies, then insert your own cliche here.

The list was formed after Rep. Howard Berman, chair of the House committee on courts, the Internet and intellectual property, asked for it. (Apparently if you get lots of campaign contributions from Hollywood, you can also get them to do things for you.)

So, apparently, college kids trade movies! In other news, the sky is freaking blue.

MPAA names its Top 25 movie piracy schools [Ars Technica]
EMI to allow Apple to sell songs online [AP/Yahoo!]

Leftovers: Clever Police Fool Idiot

• Police managed to capture two suspects wanted for murder — their ages, of course, are 15 and 19 — after the two stole cell phones. The cops called the suspects on the stolen phones, set up a meet to buy the phones back for $100 and — presto! — two murder suspects captured. Excellent. [Inquirer]

• Will Smith’s annoyingly-spelled The Pursuit of Happyness took first place in the box office over the weekend, taking in $27 million in sales. $27 million, incidentally, is what Smith should be fined for making that crime against humanity, Wild Wild West. [AP/Yahoo!]

• PATCO train passengers were forced out onto a catwalk on the Ben Franklin Bridge this morning after smoke was seen coming from the first car. Unfortunately, the bridge was closed to walkers (as it usually is), so the passengers had to hold on to the side of the bridge instead. [AP/Metro]

• And, finally, a puppy for Monday. [Daily Puppy]

Incidentally, ‘West’ Is Salma Hayek’s Best Movie

Alfonso Ribeiro — best known for playing Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — recently attended a New York party thrown in honor of Will Smith. New York magazine interviewed Riberio and asked him what part of Will Smith’s career was easiest to make fun of.

Now, remember, the last thing of note Riberio really did was this instructional DVD that came with a washing machine. (I swear to God. My friend got it.) But how does he reply?

“Well, there was Wild Wild West. That’s really all we can ever really make fun of.”

That’s pretty bad, but I’m fairly sure these lyrics to “Freakin’ It” are much, much worse: “I read in Rap Pages they refer to me as soft/ Yeah, more like Microsoft… As soon as it drop watch the phones blow up!/ BOOM then ship a mill/ Quick to the store/What, sold out?/When y’all gettin more?”

Party Lines [NY Mag via Gawker]
Wild Wild West [IMDb]

North Philly Residents Rush To See Crap

Yesterday was the grand opening of developer and Joey Sweeney patron — that’s a joke, people — Bart Blatstein’s new Avenue North complex in North Philly.

Although there are drawbacks — “It’s definitely going to bring a lot more people. A lot more traffic. I’m definitely going to have to use the crosswalk rather than jaywalking,” Stanley Daniel told Metro — the benefits of the retail/student housing project on Broad Street inbetween Oxford and Cecil B. Moore seem to outweigh having to cross the street at the light.

There $100 mil project features 1,200 student housing units, 20 retail spaces — Qdoba! Foot Locker! Bank of America! — and, best of all, a movie theater. Although Blatstein’s company also built Riverview, The Worst Movie Theater In The City™, prospects are a little better for the Pearl.

But although you can put a $100 million dollar complex in North Philly, you can’t buy taste. Just ask our friend Daniel:

With the gala red carpet opening for the first movie theater in North Philadelphia to open in 60 years going on across the street, Stanley Daniel was trying to get movie times. “Is the new ‘Van Wilder’ playing here?” he asked, while the well-dressed patrons inside ate popcorn and hors d’oeuvres at the opening of the Pearl Theatre at the new Avenue North complex on Broad Street last night.

Unfortunately, The Pearl isn’t playing National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj. But the dollar movies running right now aren’t so bad: They have Invincible!

Theater of engagement [Metro]