Future Shop Trade and Upgrade Offer
You can once again trade in your used DVDs for a credit towards the purchase of select Blu-Rays at Futureshop stores until August 15th, 2013.
On select Blu-rays you will get $5 off. On select 3D Blu-ray Combos you will get $10 off. And on select TV Series Blu-rays you will get $15 off.
Trade-ins are accepted at the customer service desk, where you will receive a receipt coupon per individual DVD and DVD box set. And after you’ve redeemed these coupons you with receive an additional coupon for CinemaNow, enabling you to save $5 on select titles on that web site.
More Memorabilia
Amazon.ca
Their selection is limited compared to their American Store
Universal Records & The Resurgence of Vinyl
Universal Records has decided to start a new crowd funding campaign to address the resurgence of vinyl.
UVinyl, a.k.a The Vinyl Project, is proposing limited re-releases on vinyl from the Universal Music catalog. But few details have been made available yet and the official web site, which will be at uvinyl.com, has yet to have gone online.
All that is known is that donations may result in bonus content, like free music and/or video downloads and personalized art prints. But personally I’d like to see an artist / label partnership that enables donators to obtain rare recordings, like that of Eight Second’s “Almacantar.”
Eight Seconds is a rock band from Ottawa primarily known for Canadian hits “Kiss You When It’s Dangerous“, “Where’s Bula” and Sincere“, which were taken from this Universal Records album. And for “Tell Diane” and “No Picasso” from their subsequent release, “Big Houses” on ATCO Records.
A re-release of Almacantar may be imminent independent of this new project this year. But this could have been an interesting fallback, provided the band were consulted in an acceptable amount of time.
This being an American project I suspect most Canadian releases would take some time to be considered, not only because of popularity in the states but because of contractual and rights issues.
I suspect its success will depend on the compensation artists will receive for these re-releases, especially the lesser known acts. I’ve signed on to get more details on UVinyl and will post additional information, if any.
Canada Post To Honor More Canadian Recording Artists
Canada Post will be issuing a series of postage stamps, prepaid post cards and limited edition frame prints dedicated to Canadian recording artists The Guess Who, Beau Dommage, Rush and The Tragically Hip on July 19th, 2013.
These collectibles are available for pre-order and previous collectibles for Bryan Adams, Edith Butler, Robert Charlebois, Stompin’ Tom Connors, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Robertson, Ginette Reno, Paul Anka and Joni Mitchell remain available at their online store.
Library and Archives Canada’s Secret Deal
I’ve been keeping an eye out for details on this secret deal for several days now, since the Ottawa Citizen broke the story.
Apparently Library and Archives Canada has decided to contract out their digital conversion. And instead of consulting the archivists of Canada, they entered into secret negotiations with canadiana.org in exchange for an exclusive contract that would last ten years.
Unfortunately this deal may translate into user fees for Canadians who want to access anything considered other than “basic” on the database. And the Ottawa Citizen article mentions a $10 per month fee for this online access, making some wonder why Canadians need to pay to access their own material.
Having accessed these services for decades for free, I am concerned that these fees may shut out researchers like yours truly. Will I be able to access this database for free at the Archives in Ottawa ? Will individuals have access through their public library for free ? Will students be able to access the database via their university or college for free ?
Yes, it is quite expensive and time consuming to digitize material. But what will happen after that contract expires ? The public has clearly not been consulted and were not given answers as to what is involved here.
And this is why I signed the openmedia.org petition and may also consider contacting my local Member of Parliament over this issue.
Please consider doing this as well on this Canada Day weekend.
Empire Theaters Is No More
It looks like my local theaters will again change owners, within a year of it’s conversion from an AMC Theater to an Empire Theater.
Empire Theaters west of Ontario have been sold to Landmark Cinemas whilst the Atlantic Canada locations have been sold to Cineplex Inc. But in Ontario itself all but two Empire Theaters have been purchased by Landmark Cinemas, the Kanata and Whitby locations having been purchased by Cineplex Inc.