Month: March 2023

Walmart Beats Amazon!

I’m miffed at Amazon for ending Kindle magazines and newspapers. Even before that announcement I was annoyed to see the only place taking pre-orders for the Max Fleischer’s Superman (1941-1943) Blu-ray set isn’t Amazon, it’s Walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Max-Fleischer-s-Superman-1941-1943-Blu-Ray/1574573807

Update: Amazon now has a listing, but Walmart’s price is $4 less.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BXQM8FTK/

Update: Amazon’s price now matches Walmart’s.

That’s the Way the Kindle Crumbles

The end of magazine subscriptions through Amazon…

Dear Amazon Customer,

Thank you for being a valued Amazon Newsstand magazine subscriber. We are writing to inform you that we have made the decision to stop selling print magazine subscriptions on Amazon as of March 9, 2023.

According to our records, here are your subscription(s):

The New Yorker

Starting today, you will no longer be able to purchase new subscriptions or renew your existing subscription(s) through Amazon. For the subscription(s) you’ve already purchased, you will continue to receive all remaining issues in your subscription term unless you decide to cancel.

You can continue to manage your subscription(s) through Amazon until June 5, 2023, 11:59PM PST. After that date, all customer service inquiries for any remaining active subscriptions will be serviced directly by the publisher. More details on the publisher customer service options will be shared in the coming months.

Publishers have provided alternative subscription options for your magazine(s) when your current Amazon subscription expires. Visit the Your Memberships and Subscriptions page on Amazon for more details at https://www.amazon.com/yourmembershipsandsubscriptions. Select digital magazine subscriptions are also available in Kindle Unlimited. Visit https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/ku-aycr-magazines for more information.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please visit the Newsstand FAQ page or contact customer service.

Sincerely,
Amazon Newsstand Team

… including Kindle edition newspapers and magazines.

Dear Amazon Customer,

Thank you for being a valued Amazon Kindle Newsstand subscriber. We are writing to inform you that we have made the decision to stop selling Kindle magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Amazon.

According to our records, here are your monthly subscription(s):

The New York Times – Daily Edition for Kindle

Fantasy & Science Fiction

You will continue to receive your issues through September 4, 2023 unless you decide to cancel. After that date, you will no longer be able to renew your subscription(s) through Amazon. You will still be able to read all issues that have already been delivered to you by visiting Your Kindle Library. If you wish to continue receiving content from a publisher directly, please visit their website for alternative subscription options. Visit the Your Memberships and Subscriptions page on Amazon for more information at: https://www.amazon.com/yourmembershipsandsubscriptions.

Select digital magazine subscriptions are also available in Kindle Unlimited. Visit https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/ku-aycr-magazines for more information.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please visit the Newsstand FAQ or contact customer service.

Sincerely,
Amazon Newsstand Team

The New Yorker stopped offering a Kindle edition a long time ago, but I was mostly reading the print copies anyway. I’ve been reading The New York Times on Kindle ($20/month) for only the past six months, and being blissfully free of ads and comments, it’s the only way I read the NYT. Now I’ll be forced to subscribe online in the way that I wanted to avoid.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction has been in the news recently, being one of the genre magazines receiving AI-generated story submissions. I’m mostly a Sci-Fi guy, and not so much into Fantasy. I’m not sure what I’ll do about my F&SF subscription.

The Music Man of Steel

A tip o’ the Dog Rat toupee to my best buddy Denro, for tipping me off to this 1975 ABC-TV production of the 1966 musical, It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman. Lesley Ann Warren plays Lois Lane. She would have been good in The Rocky Horror Picture Show if Susan Sarandon hadn’t played Janet in the movie.

Coming in May will be an official Warner Blu-ray release of the 1940’s Fleischer/Famous Superman cartoons. It’s being reported that the original negatives have been scanned for perfectly super image quality. The cartoons will also be available to purchase for online streaming.

Digital HD Purchase: $14.99 / Blu-ray: $33.99

Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Depression

Walter Huston in American Madness

August 4, 1932, with the Great Depression at its worst, Frank Capra’s American Madness is released.

‘American Madness’ was a shocker to the public. It created controversy among critics and bitter contention in financial circles. Some called it “New Dealish”… “impractical star-gazing:… “fuzzy thinking.” Other said the thinking was no fuzzier than the “thinking” of financiers which created the boom and the crash.

– Frank Capra, The Name Above the Title, 1971

That quote is an example of why Capra’s autobiography is best read with an occasional grain of salt. The New Deal didn’t exist yet, and FDR hadn’t even been elected. Regardless, American Madness has Walter Huston as a bank president stating the case for new thinking to deal with the Depression. Herbert “Business as Usual” Hoover did not represent new thinking.

American Madness is a must-see movie, if only for its value as a time capsule, dramatizing the very real fears of a desperate, panicking public. But it has much more going for it. With the exception of the clichéd gangsters, the interactions between the characters are delightful, and Constance Cummings is an absolute dream.