Hey all
Yes, I?m back?although the only people who knew I was away are those who signed up for the newsletter. So if you didn?t know you can thank Kris for that.
As for that newsletter, which Kris dragged me over the coals about, I DID include a subject and I DIDN?T hear any warnings when I told him I was going to send it out. I used the distribution name he asked me to and?yeah?as you can see we?re very good at the “blame game” here at np.com.
Well, I had a fantastic little holiday, not that you all care, but I guess it?s back to business.
First I thought it would be a good idea to clear up the bandwidth situation. We got a few emails suggesting we find a new host and while we appreciate it, you guys are underestimating how much ?work? np.com does. This is a reply that Kris sent to someone about it.
The last time I did a backup of the site it was appx. 6 gigabytes of space. The transfer rate goes up and down, but if we look at the peak during the past 5 months, which was february, it transferred a whole 1 340 214 046 kbytes and had 45 050 975 hits. That’s 1 340 gigabytes in a month, 46 gigs per day, 2 gigs per hour and 600 kbytes per second – during a whole month. And february wasn’t even a busy month, all we had then was a garden state clip and the vogue pics. During the “Star Wars” rush that was at least doubled (I don’t have the specifics right now) This is why the site NP.com has now been moved to its own server!
If you compare that to say Simplenet who’s maximum transfer is 320 gigabyte per month (which is 1/4 of what we used in february) which costs $900, beyond the $99 monthly charge for a server with 10 gigs space.
So despite the occasional server issues, we?re VERY lucky to be on HAL for free.
Right, so what?s new in Nat world?
Strangely enough, I think this is the big news of the week.
I was flipping through the channels today and I saw Natalie on Sesame Street! It must be recent because she has her whole Mathilda Redux hairdo. She was in a restaurant ordering pineapple juice when that elephant from the episode she was in before came. Then she sang a song about making an omelet. Now she works as a waitress in the restaurant she was in. Just thought I?d let you know since I didn?t hear it mentioned on the site.
Normally I would recommend Natalie singing about omelet news to be taken with a pinch of salt (the news, not the omelet) but it came from a very reliable source. So keep your eyes open and your video machines ready.
The Garden State love has been flowing like beer at a frat house and here are the results of the Garden State poll.
The Garden State trailer is…
Good, but just a trailer. 45.43% (149 votes)
Better than sex. 36.89% (121 votes)
Not bad but I’m still not convinced. 6.1% (20 votes)
My father. 5.18% (17 votes)
Crap, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. 4.57% (15 votes)
Bringing us back down to earth from the Garden State high is Dave Poland.
Fox Searchlight has an absolutely brilliant new trailer for Garden State, their Sundance co-pick-up (with Miramax), which is markedly better than the film, although the Searchlighters don?t agree with my assessment. The trailer, which emphasizes the quirky elements of the film ahead of the lame sitcomedy, hits exactly on what the company sees as the best elements of the film. Thing is, if Garden State hits $10 million at the domestic box office, Searchlight/Miramax wins. They can afford to sell the movie instead of managing expectations because they are embracing the niche nature of the
film, much as they did 28 Days Later, which should win some sort of prize for being the most sucked-up to $45 million domestic grosser of this decade. (I liked the movie a lot, but with due respect, it is still just the 66th highest grosser of last year, behind such original dependent releases as Underworld and Bad Santa? though it did outgross Lost in Translation domestically.)
That would worry me a bit if I hadn?t seen so many rave reviews from Sundance but still, it?s probably a good idea to *try* and lower expectations a tad. We don?t want another Phantom Menace here.
Since I?m struggling to come up with an idea for a new poll tonight I?ve decided to ask you the deepest question known to man. Are you a male or female? We did the same poll a couple years back and incredibly the females ?won?. I?m interested to see if the ladies still hold the majority and hopefully you are too! And if you?re not, hang in there, the battle of the Nat pics is coming sooner rather than later.
Cal found out that the “Voices of the Holocaust – Children Speak” film is now up. If you remember we reported awhile back that she was one of the narrators. Kris checked it out and had these instructions.
Go to the site, close the intro window, click menu, click themes and chose one of the 18 themes and natalie does narratives for both Rose & Margot, I lost count at 10 voiceovers.
Ok, I had some scans and fanart to post but I?m beginning to fade here. So let?s say we meet up tomorrow to finish up this update. Ok? It?s a date.
Bring flowers.
