New Acquisitions – August 2012

With the school year about to begin, it’s time for another batch of our newest DVDs. The highlight this month is the fourth season of Breaking Bad, one of the most popular shows in our collection. If you’re looking for something to watch before the upcoming party conventions, we’ve added a number of politically charged […]

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Hitchcock turns 113

It would be remiss not to mention Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday, which passed by yesterday. The legendary director, who needs no introduction, would have turned 113. Celebrate the big 1-1-3 by enjoying a deep cut of his filmography at Media Services: Vertigo – HU DVD 14* Psycho – HU DVD 77*Easy Virtue – DVD 332 Blackmail – DVD […]

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Shark Week begins!

Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week extravaganza has officially begun. Often maligned but never ignored, sharks are one of the most feared and most misunderstood creatures of the seas. Their appearances on screen are among the most memorable, from the sublime blockbuster Jaws to… well, Shark Attack 3 (above). If your looking for supplemental Shark Week […]

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Should we be enhancing the classics?

With The Hobbit hitting theaters at the end of the year in ultra-high-definition, it’s no wonder that electronics manufacturers are racing to produce televisions and home videos with the brightest colors and crispest image. But in this dash for image quality, they might be losing some clarity. What about films with intentionally dark palettes or […]

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NoMa doomsday film series ends this month (UPDATED)

The NoMa-hosted summer film series “2012: The End of the World?” ends continues tonight with a screening of Deep Impact, one of several disaster movies from 1998 about a giant meteor on a collision course with Earth. The NoMa Business Improvement District has been screening apocalypse-themed movies all summer long, along with live music and barbecue. […]

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Composer Marvin Hamlisch dies

Prolific composer Marvin Hamlisch died this Monday. Hamlisch was a media legend who won every conceivable award for his music – including an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. His accomplishments are staggering; even if you don’t know his name, you may have heard pieces from one of his […]

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Whoops! YouTube accidentally pulls NASA videos

Sunday’s impressive Mars landing somehow continues to be relevant for Media Services – this time in a less fun and exciting way. NASA broadcasted live footage of Mission Control as the Curiosity rover landed, and to commemorate the occasion, they uploaded the clip to YouTube. But because of a snafu in YouTube’s copyright enforcement software, […]

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Take to the stars with Cosmos

Tonight, NASA will attempt to land the Curiosity rover on Mars to investigate whether the red planet once housed life. It’s a risky and hilariously expensive ($2.5 billion!), but the rover is part of an important mission to discover whether or not we are alone in the universe. Nobody has explored that goal in popular […]

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