My Thoughts on William Shatner's - The Captains

When I first heard that William Shatner was doing a film about all the captains in the Star Trek franchise, I was super excited and immediately set out to find a medium to watch it: streaming, Amazon download, iTunes, subscribing to EPIX, but... to no avail.  EPIX wasn't offered thru my cable company, so I had to wait till it came out on DVD or Blue Ray.  The other night, however, I was browsing through Netflix and found the film available!  A rare thank you to Netflix for actually doing something right!

My take aways from watching the film:

• I'd love to just sit and listen to Kate Mulgrew and Patrick Stewart talk about their lives
• Avery Brooks operates on another plane -- He is totally out there!  I get the jazz and I get how he explains things thru music and ambiguity, but man.. He was hard to follow
• A tremendous respect (more so than before) for English and Drama teachers.  Almost all the actors said their passion for being on stage/camera can be traced back to their English or Drama teachers.  This just, again, reinforces the level of respect I have for people in the educational field.  They get paid crap, but their impact on the world is huge... To teachers out there: you never know if you'll be the one to inspire the next Patrick Stewart, Steve Jobs, Yo-Yo Ma, or Wynton Marsalis
• Lastly, a quote by Socrates best sums the film "The unexamined life is not worth living."  It was great to see the depth of examination William Shatner had on his life and his journey to resolution and contentment

This film dug real deep into all the actor's lives, especially Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew, and William Shatner.  There's something about Star Trek that is so appealing to me above, the most notable "rival", Star Wars.  Every single actor brought with them a background and training in classical theater that just added to the show's appeal.  Shakespeare. Broadway.  And if you've seen Star Trek, you can clearly see the love for the classics.

I remember having to read Shakespeare's Hamlet in high school...  We also read another take on Hamlet, but from the perspectives of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  I forget the title.  It was really hard to find an appreciation for it, as a kid that was more interested in playing trumpet and designing websites for fun...  This time, I think I'd love to have the opportunity to read it again.

Question is... Digital or paper?  Perhaps, narrated by someone that really understands the material?  We'll see...

Netflix / Qwikster The Half Apology

Many people woke up this morning to an e-mail from Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings apologizing for the lack of communication regarding the price structure at Netflix (not the price hike)

The e-mail started quite plainly.

"I messed up.  I owe you an explanation."

I'm not finished with my MBA program, nor does an MBA qualify me as an expert in business whatsoever.  However, it's pretty safe to say that the decision to raise prices was probably not a decision that rested squarely on his shoulders.  It's nice to see that he is taking ownership.

The problem with his e-mail is that it was a half attempt at an apology. Essentially, it was a "yes-but". He made a mistake? And yet, he's justifying his said "mistake." I don't think many people view streaming and DVDs as a separate business. However, I think I know where he's going with this (which may be completely off base or naive of me to say).. In order to compete with Red Box, I think he's separating streaming and DVDs in order to have two management teams focused on each market segment. I smell a merger and acquisition in the future... Not sure if Qwikster side of the company has the cash flow to buy out Red Box but that would certainly be interesting!  Video game rentals sounds appealing to me, but that will definitely have to wait until after I finish my MBA.