Around seven years ago the former Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott was fairly mocked for having just discovered that street libraries exist, publishing a video about it online.
Discovering the existence of street libraries in 2019 speaks to the idea that he was out of touch, which I do think is slightly unfair. I suspect that there were likely a lot of people who saw the mockery who at that time weren’t aware such things existed either.
What should be celebrated is that he took the time to highlight the value that they bring to the community. A good street library brings great benefit to the community. I am regularly in and out of one of the nearby street libraries dropping off kids book my child has aged out of, while picking up first reader books and the occasional other gem.
Street libraries, which I believe are known as ‘lending libraries’ in North America (…?), have been a fixture in suburbia for decades now, adding a layer of substance to the neighborhood. But, recently, there has been an evolution in the street library.
DVDs.
On various social platforms, I’ve seen users talk about launching their own DVD/Bluray street libraries. I like the idea of browsing a collection of movies shared by the community where you can, instead of finding multiple copies of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, you can instead find the Tom Hanks movie version of The Da Vinci Code.
But maybe more interesting than that is the idea of these movie libraries being part of a chain. Gathering steam is the Free Blockbuster movement. Across the globe there are now 400 Free Blockbuster libraries.
To have a Free Blockbuster, the franchise owners don’t need to pay any fees. They just need to set up a box and distribute free movies.
The project started with Brian Morrison, an LA resident who noticed a lot of discarded newspaper dispensers in 2019. This from an interview in The AV Club:
Morrison founded his first franchise in 2019 to solve a problem. Noticing the hollowed-out husks of L.A. Weekly newspaper dispensers left in the wake of the publisher’s decision to cease filling them, he wondered, “How do we take this corporate blight and turn it into something useful instead of just putting it in the trash?” Simple: He painted it blue and stuffed it with movies. What started as a waste-free initiative to do something with all these empty newspaper boxes and unwanted VHS cassettes, DVDs, and Blu-rays left behind in the streaming revolution now has just under 400 outposts throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the U.K. Free Blockbuster is now an international art project that goes well beyond nostalgia.
This isn’t something that fits into my life at all, with my watchlists already too long and there being no shortage of movies at my fingertips, but I really like this as an art project that puts movies out into the world.
Free Blockbuster is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit with a board, but don’t let the formalizations scare you. “It’s not a business. It’s not a job. It’s a collective art project, and we want people to add to it in whatever way they can,” says Morrison. And it’s a project which requires faith in one’s community while also challenging the typical markers of success. One of those challenges, Morrison says, is what to do when the box sells out, so to speak. It’s among the few things he hears from franchisees: Someone “stole” all the movies.
“That is the point,” Morrison says. “They’re free. People always say, ‘someone stole.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they can’t steal them. They’re free.’ Right? My advice is always leave it empty because it is not a job, right? It is a gift. And then something amazing happens, which is someone else who values it [arrives]. Suddenly it’s full again.”
I’m pretty keen to build my own Free Blockbuster. I just need a welding mask and some blue spraypaint…
News Desk
Paramount and California AG Rob Bonta‘s office are set to meet Monday for early talks on possibly settling the states’ lawsuit to block the $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Read: The Wall Street Journal
Mark Ruffalo has called Paramount’s characterization of his anti-merger posts as “antisemitic” both “appalling and fundamentally dishonest,” insisting that criticizing an Israeli military-tech contract is not the same as criticizing Jewish people. Read: Variety
Shelley Fabares, who starred on The Donna Reed Show and Coach and topped the charts with 1962’s “Johnny Angel,” has died at 82; she is survived by her husband Mike Farrell. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Wright, who I remember well from his role in V, has died at 70 from heart failure and complications of a rare neurological disease. Read: Deadline
Bunny Levine, a former school librarian who became a prolific character actress in her 60s with roles across Everybody Loves Raymond, Shameless, Gilmore Girls, and La La Land, has died at 97. Read: TheWrap
HBO Max has ordered The People v. Gorilla Grodd, an eight-episode DC true-crime mockumentary from the American Vandal team, with Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen investigating whether Jimmy Tatro‘s murder-convicted super-ape was framed. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
Meghan Markle, briefly eyed for a role in a potential third season of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, has reportedly been dropped from consideration amid intense backlash. Read: Deadline
Peter Berg‘s WWII drama The Mosquito Bowl will open in theaters on October 30 before streaming on Netflix from November 25. Read: Variety
Masters of the Universe topped Nielsen’s streaming chart for July 20–26 with 1.17 billion minutes in its first week on Prime Video, edging out The Big Bang Theory. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
Taylor Sheridan is being sued for copyright infringement by writer Lauren J. Salkin, who claims Yellowstone lifted elements from a 2016 pitch she submitted to his representatives. Read: The Hollywood Reporter
ITV’s 70 Up — the final chapter of the seven-decade documentary experiment, now directed by Asif Kapadia after Michael Apted‘s death — will be joined by two bonus programs, including rediscovered interviews with people who were 70 in the 1960s. Read: Radio Times
Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey — the first major studio film shot entirely in IMAX — will reportedly arrive on disc in a 1.78:1 ratio, stirring debate over whether the release should also preserve the original 1.43:1 IMAX framing. Read: Dark Horizons
The group behind the Grand Theft Auto VI leaks, CyberLeek, increasingly looks to be running a crypto pump-and-dump, watermarking stolen footage to hawk a memecoin. Read: Polygon
Trailer Park
The Pitt returns for season three in January on HBO Max.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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