When the Star Trek franchise was awarded a special Emmy in 2018, it was William "Captain Kirk" Shatner who'd co-delivered its acceptance speech, remembers ComicBook.com. "Thank you so much. 52 years. What a gift. We're grateful... Star Trek has endured because it represents an idea — one that's greater than the sum of our parts... we watch and we reach to see the best version of ourselves..."

And now three years later, they report that Shatner "will celebrate his 90th birthday back on the bridge of the USS Enterprise." Sort of... Shatner will partake in a two-day event at the Star Trek: The Original Series Set Tour site in Ticonderoga, New York. The exhibit is famed among fans for its replica of the bridge set where Shatner gave orders as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series.

The two-day event begins on July 23rd (a belated celebration coming a few months after his actual birthday in March), with the COVID-19 mask and social distancing rules still in effect... The limited $1500 all-inclusive packages will let fans participate in Shatner's 90th Birthday Dinner Celebration, take a set tour with Shatner, plus a Bridge Chat, a photo, and an autograph. Regular admission is $80 for a standard tour with a la carte photos and autographs available... The replica set is likely the closest fans will ever come to seeing Shatner return to a Starfleet bridge.
So what is William Shatner doing on Monday, the actual date of his 90th birthday? The New York Daily News reports: He's got a series airing on the History channel, he's heading overseas to shoot an episode of a television show, and is in the middle of promoting his latest feature film, a romantic comedy called "Senior Moment..."

The indie film features Shatner as Victor, a former test pilot who dates younger women and loves burning rubber behind the wheel of his beautiful 1955 Porsche.
The movie also stars Watchmen actress Jean Smart, along with Christopher Lloyd (who memorably played a Klingon in the 1984 movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.)

And meanwhile Priceline.com plans a special series of deals this week to honor Shatner's years as their spokesperson (as well as his singing in their earliest dotcom-era commercials, which revived Shatner's spoken-word singing career).

In Captain Kirk's final appearance in 1994's Star Trek: Generations, one of the last things he says is "It was fun." But it looks like in real life, William Shatner is living long and prospering.

Here's that great moment in Slashdot history when Shatner actually answered questions from Slashdot's readers. Have your own favorite William Shatner memory? Share it in the comments to help celebrate his 90th birthday!

From a report: On Saturday, Zack Snyder himself will head to Twitch to unveil the first look at Justice League: Justice Is Gray... the grayscale version that will soon arrive on HBO Max. The "pre-show" for the event kicks off at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time on the MANvsGAME channel, with the Snyder and and Justice League star Joe Manganiello joining the broadcast for the big reveal at 4:00 p.m. Pacific. StreamElements designed audience tools to use during the stream, including an engaging donation functionality that will benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
The Chicago Tribune argues all you needed to know about Joss Whedon's original 2017 version is encapsulated in the 68-second YouTube video "Sad Affleck." (An SFGate columnist calls the new version "vastly better.") But the Tribune calls Snyder's four-hour director's cut "a 14-year-old's idea of gravitas. Epic, violent, full of naughty words, told with the lyricism of a pharmaceutical ad about bloating. And more importantly, for now, it's complete."

Yahoo Entertainment's Insider has compiled "The 45 biggest differences between 'Zack Snyder's Justice League' and the 2017 theatrical version." But Variety just specifically asked Zack Snyder, "Why is Justice League so violent?" [T]he violence in "Justice League" is bloodier and more violent than audiences are typically accustomed to with superhero movies, which are almost always rated PG-13 — and therefore largely bloodless. Snyder wanted to push the envelope. "It's a pure exercise in creative freedom," the director told Variety this week... Snyder says knowing his film would be streaming on HBO Max freed him from having to make his "Justice League" work for a PG-13 rating.

"Let's just do it the exact way we would if there was no ratings board," he said of his team's thinking. "Let's not use any second guessing. Let's just do it the way we think is the coolest. That was the philosophical approach." Part of the reason that "Justice League" is so violent is to realistically demonstrate what it would be like to actually face off against god-like superheroes.
ComicBook.com reports that Snyder is now also planning "a multi-day SnyderVerse movie marathon later in 2021, where showings of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will culminate in a theatrical IMAX screening of Zack Snyder's Justice League. The filmmaker is a "huge admirer" of the Justice Is Gray Edition in IMAX, calling it the "ultimate version" of Justice League that is "sort of the penultimate ridiculous movie that shouldn't exist at its highest most fetishistic level."
Snyder tells Esquire his four-hour re-edit was "a labor of love and I would do it again in a second. I wouldn't hesitate. And look, we were doing it for free. I really didn't care. I just wanted to get it, fix it."

Esquire adds that "Even if you decide not to dive into a four hour super hero movie, at least take away a lesson from the making of the Snyder Cut: in a time when so much of us have experienced wrongs and tragedy, sometimes wrongs can be righted, and sometimes your biggest visions find a way to get out into the world."

After a year in which most people were stuck indoors, it should come as little surprise that streaming platforms skyrocketed in popularity over the past 12 months. For the first time ever, subscriptions to streaming services surpassed one billion, reaching 1.1 billion globally. From a report: At the same time, box office receipts plummeted because movie theaters across the world were closed for a significant part of 2020. Global ticket sales tapped out at $12 billion, with North America accounting for $2.2 billion of that haul. Though the circumstances aren't comparable, worldwide box office receipts totaled $42.5 billion in 2019, with $11.4 billion coming from domestic theaters. Still, it marks a 72% year-over-year decline. These statistics come from the Motion Pictures Association's annual theme report, which is conducted by the entertainment industry trade group and intends to analyze how film, television and streaming content performs yearly.

The 2020 study covers a year that was overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, making some of the data understandably skewed and difficult to compare box office totals between countries. In Asian countries, particularly in China, the box office has already returned to pre-pandemic levels. That hasn't been the case in the U.S. and Canada, where new movies are few and far between and audiences are returning to theaters at a glacial pace. Outside of North America, the top three box office markets were China ($3 billion), Japan ($1.3 billion), and France ($500 million). Combined, the global theatrical business and home and mobile entertainment market totaled $80.8 billion in revenues in 2020, shrinking by 18% from the $98.3 billion amassed last year. The success of digital home entertainment, which grew 23% to $68.8 billion, helped offset the depleted theatrical box office numbers. In the U.S., subscriptions reached 308.6 million, representing a 32% increase from 2019.

ComicBook.com reports: Back in 2019, Avengers: Endgame hit theatres and after a couple of months, it ended up knocking Avatar out of the highest-grossing film spot. The James Cameron movie was number one for an entire decade before the Marvel film came along, but thanks to a recent re-release in China, Avatar is back on top...

When the news broke yesterday, many people took to social media to point out that the "real" winner was actually Zoe Saldana, who plays Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Neytiri in Avatar. No matter which movie ultimately wins the box office wars, Saldana can't lose... Saldana is expected to return for both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Avatar 2.
Deadline reports the directors of Marvel's Avengers: Endgame, Joe and Anthony Russo, "have graciously saluted James Cameron's film Avatar for edging past them in the all-time worldwide box office totals," by tweeting a custom piece of artwork merging the Avatar and Avengers logos. James Cameron himself shared the tweet he'd received from Marvel Studios congratulating "ALL of Na'vi Nation for reclaiming the box office crown" (which also included a memorable line from Avengers: Endgame).

Deadline says it's part of a long-standing Hollywood tradition: A practice of taking out ads to pat each other on the back began in 1977 when Steven Spielberg congratulated buddy George Lucas after Star Wars overtook Jaws at the domestic box office. It carried on from there including when Lucas later gave a shout-out to Cameron as Titanic unseated Star Wars in 1998.

In 2015, Disney/Marvel and The Avengers paid tribute to Universal's Jurassic World and its record-smashing opening weekend. Later that year, Uni returned the hat tip as Disney/Lucasfilm's The Force Awakens rode past the dinosaurs, moving to social media for the first time. Then in 2019, Cameron saluted Endgame for overtaking Titanic and in July that year Cameron again said bravo when Endgame crossed Avatar.

Netflix is testing a new feature that could signal the start of an effort to crack down on password sharing. Hollywood Reporter reports: Spotted by GammaWire, some viewers attempting to use somebody else's account are now being stopped by a screen that says, "If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching." Netflix confirmed the new feature, which is getting a limited rollout at this time. "This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so," a Netflix spokesperson said.

In order to continue watching, the viewer is given the option of either verifying their identity (with a texted or emailed code to the account's owner), or opting to "verify later," which gives the viewer an unspecified additional amount of time to continue watching and later confirm they are a valid account user. A source familiar with the tests said the extent of the rollout varies from country to country, but noted that one reason for the feature is a desire to help protect subscribers from security concerns that can arise from unauthorized use of their account.

Netflix is officially dropping a documentary about the last ever Blockbuster video store. Titled, The Last Blockbuster, the film gives a nostalgic glimpse of the video store, featuring bevy of interviews from previous employees, fans and business people. From a report: The documentary focuses on the last-ever remaining Blockbuster in the world in Bend, Oregon. A recent statement on the documentary's official Facebook page reads, "A lot of people know that Blockbuster had the chance to buy Netflix early on and they passed on the opportunity. In an ironic twist of fate, our movie The Last Blockbuster is coming to Netflix one week from today. We are beyond excited for people to get to see this tribute to era of home video on the world's largest streaming service. Just don't forget to rewind it when you're done watching it and bring it back by noon on Wednesday."

After almost 100 years and more than half a dozen real live, roaring lions, MGM is replacing its iconic mascot for a near-identical computer-generated duplicate. CNET reports: This change has been in the works for a while. MGM originally planned to debut its new CG mascot in the latest James Bond film, but when No Time to Die was delayed from 2019 to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, so was Leo's first roar from the uncanny valley. Instead, MGM revealed the logo on YouTube Monday and in a sizzle reel shared with Adweek, which said MGM worked with Culver City, Calif.-based Baked Studios on the new look.

Netflix today launched Fast Laughs, a new feature for its mobile apps that presents a string of comedy clips from its stand-up specials, TV series and movies. From a report: Netflix's Fast Laughs displays full-screen vertical video in an auto-playing feed, borrowing a page from apps likes TikTok, and lets users share their favorite bits with friends and social media. The company says the section will provide up to 100 curated clips per day. The main goal, obviously, is to nail up yet another entry point for Netflix subs to find new content to binge on.

Fast Laughs lets you add specific titles to your Netflix watch list or click to start watching a program immediately. But Netflix also built Fast Laughs as a destination unto itself to watch entertaining moments on-the-go, calling to mind a key idea of now-defunct startup Quibi. You can just lean back and watch the jokes fly in a scrolling montage. The length of each video segment will vary, as short as around 15 seconds and up to 45 seconds or even longer.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Have you ever bought a movie or TV show through the PlayStation Store? Me neither. As a result, Sony announced today it will remove them, starting August 31, 2021. "We've seen tremendous growth from PlayStation fans using subscription-based and ad-based entertainment streaming services on our consoles," Sony wrote in a post over on the PlayStation Blog. "With this shift in customer behavior, we have decided to no longer offer movie and TV purchases and rentals through PlayStation Store." As a multimedia company producing movies and TV alongside music and games, it made sense for Sony to sell all of it through various iterations of the PlayStation's digital storefront, in theory at least. In practice, it seems like console owners were mostly just interested in buying games, especially following the rise of Netflix and Amazon Prime.

As Disney prepares to release "Raya and the Last Dragon" in theaters and as a premium on-demand title this Friday, CEO Bob Chapek says that he thinks the experimentation his studio and others in Hollywood are doing with releasing movies during the pandemic will permanently change the movie business. From a report "The consumer is probably more impatient than they've ever been before," Chapek said during a Q&A at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference, "particularly since now they've had the luxury of an entire year of getting titles at home pretty much when they want them. So, I'm not sure there's going back. But we certainly don't want to do anything like cut the legs off a theatrical exhibition run." Disney previously released its remake of "Mulan," initially a March 2020 theatrical release, as a premium title for $29.99 for Disney+ subscribers while Pixar's "Soul" went from being a theatrical June 2020 release to a Christmas Day release on Disney+ at no extra cost.

[...] Disney has yet to show an exact number of days it would like to shorten the theatrical window to, but Chapek's remarks suggest that the hybrid release strategy Disney is using for "Raya" may be a model it continues to explore while it waits for the box office to return to normal. Once it does, Disney has a very good reason not to leave movie theaters behind, as the studio grossed a record $11.1 billion worldwide in 2019 off of films like "Avengers: Endgame," "Frozen II," and a CGI remake of "The Lion King." "This is a fluid situation and it's fluid for two reasons: The short term impact of COVID on the number of screens open and on consumers' willingness to go back, but also the fundamental changes of consumer behavior, which might be more profound," Chapek said. "We are watching very carefully... to see how long term those preferences are going to shift. and that's why we talk about flexibility so often."

Variety magazine reports that Netflix has ordered Terminator anime series: "'Terminator' is one of the most iconic sci-fi stories ever created -- and has only grown more relevant to our world over time," said John Derderian, Netflix's vice president of Japan and anime. "The new animated series will explore this universe in a way that has never been done before. We can't wait for fans to experience this amazing new chapter in the epic battle between machines and humans."

Mattson Tomlin will serve as showrunner and executive producer on the series. Tomlin most recently wrote the Netflix original film "Project Power" and worked on the screenplay for Matt Reeves' upcoming film "The Batman...."

"Anyone who knows my writing knows I believe in taking big swings and going for the heart," Tomlin said. "I'm honored that Netflix and Skydance have given me the opportunity to approach 'Terminator' in a way that breaks conventions, subverts expectations and has real guts."

An anonymous reader writes: NASA's Perseverence rover, which is currently exploring Mars, has as it's CPU a BAE Systems RAD 750 running at a 200 Mhz and featuring 256 Megabytes of RAM with 2 Gigabytes of storage. This is a radiation hardened version of the PowerPC G3, with specs roughly equivalent to the Clamshell Ibook that Reese Witherspoon used in Legally Blond back in 2001. This follows a tradition of old tech on space rovers — the Sojourner rover which explored Mars in 1997 used an Intel 80C85 running at 2 Mhz, similar to what could have been found in the classic Radio Shack TRS-80 model 100 portable from 1983.
In a comment on the original submission, long-time Slashdot reader Mal-2 argues "There's not as much distance between the actual capabilities of a CPU now and twenty years ago as there would be if you made the same comparison a decade ago." In the last 12 years or so, the CPUs have gotten more efficient and cooler-running (thus suitable for portable devices) to a much greater degree than they've actually gained new functionality. Retro computing is either going to stay stuck in the 1990s, or it's not going to be very interesting in the future.

118 episodes of Jim Henson's classic TV series The Muppet Show are now streaming on Disney+, writes the AV Club — but 18 episodes now begin with a content disclaimer... The text of the disclaimers, which cannot be skipped past and include little 12-second timers so you know that you have to sit through them, explain that the episodes feature "negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures," and while "these stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now," Disney has decided to leave them in order to "acknowledge the [content's] harmful impact, learn from it, and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together..."

The disclaimer-worthy stuff includes Johnny Cash performing in front of a confederate flag in his episode and the brief appearance of a puppet dressed as a stereotypical Native American (referred to as an "Indian") in the Jim Nabors episode.
MovieWeb adds: Putting a disclaimer on the show is not a new practice at Disney+. The streamer had previously put disclaimers at the start of several classic animated movies, warning viewers about "outdated cultural depictions." Last month, Disney+ took it a step further by pulling many of these movies from kids' profiles, such as Dumbo, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and The Jungle Book. The titles are still available to watch on adult profiles with a disclaimer.
To celebrate their arrival on Disney+ the Muppets spliced themselves into posters parodying other TV shows, including The Mandalorian.

But MovieWeb also notes reports that two Muppet Show episodes from season 5 also had to be removed — and another episode heavily edited — due to trouble securing the music rights, "something that also prevented most of the series from getting released on home video for years."

In a new essay for Harper's magazine, Martin Scorsese argues the art of cinema is being systematically devalued and demeaned by streaming services and their algorithms, "and reduced to its lowest common denominator, 'content.'" "Content" became a business term for all moving images: a David Lean movie, a cat video, a Super Bowl commercial, a superhero sequel, a series episode. It was linked, of course, not to the theatrical experience but to home viewing, on the streaming platforms that have come to overtake the moviegoing experience, just as Amazon overtook physical stores.

On the one hand, this has been good for filmmakers, myself included. On the other hand, it has created a situation in which everything is presented to the viewer on a level playing field, which sounds democratic but isn't. If further viewing is "suggested" by algorithms based on what you've already seen, and the suggestions are based only on subject matter or genre, then what does that do to the art of cinema...?

[A]t this point, we can't take anything for granted. We can't depend on the movie business, such as it is, to take care of cinema. In the movie business, which is now the mass visual entertainment business, the emphasis is always on the word "business," and value is always determined by the amount of money to be made from any given property — in that sense, everything from Sunrise to La Strada to 2001 is now pretty much wrung dry and ready for the "Art Film" swim lane on a streaming platform.
Is Scorsese right? Slashdot reader entertainme shared some reactions gathered by the BBC's Entertainment reporter. Elinor Carmi, research associate at Liverpool University's communication and media department sees a "battle between the old and new gatekeepers of art and culture." "At its core, curation has always been conducted behind the scenes", with little clarity as to the rationale behind the choices made to produce and distribute art and culture, she says. Take the U.S.'s Motion Picture Association film rating system. The 2006 documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, explored how film ratings affect the distribution of films, and accusations that big studio films get more lenient ratings than independent companies... "[I]t would be a mistake to present the old gatekeepers in romantic colours compared to new technology companies. In both cases, we are talking about powerful institutions that define, control and manage the boundaries of what is art and culture," Carmi says....

So is Scorsese right to suggest that streaming services reduce content to the "lowest common denominator"? Journalist and media lecturer Tufayel Ahmed suggests they are an easy target, and the reality is a little more complex. He says the focus on "pulling in the numbers" can mean some of the best shows don't get the promotion and are therefore cancelled... "Some of the best stuff on streaming seems to get little buzz, while tons of marketing and publicity is thrown behind more generic fare that they know people will watch. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy." Scorsese himself directly benefited from this by relying on Netflix to fund his 2019 gangster film The Irishman after traditional studios baulked at the cost. "There's an argument to be made about streaming services investing in publicity and marketing for these projects to create awareness," says Ahmed.

But if responsibility in part lands on the shoulders of streaming services, the choices of the audience themselves cannot be forgotten. "Algorithms alone can't be blamed for people consuming lowbrow content over series and movies that are deemed worthy, because people have flocked to easy viewing over acclaimed dramas on television, for example, for years."
The BBC ultimately argues that perhaps "the streaming algorithms really aren't to blame after all, but simply made in our image." But in his essay Scorsese remembered how the brave pioneering decisions made in the 1960s by film distributors and exhibitors led to that moment's "shared excitement over the possibilities of cinema" — and seems to want to preserve that special feeling: Those of us who know the cinema and its history have to share our love and our knowledge with as many people as possible. And we have to make it crystal clear to the current legal owners of these films that they amount to much, much more than mere property to be exploited and then locked away. They are among the greatest treasures of our culture, and they must be treated accordingly.

Content from abroad is boosting its share of the American entertainment diet, thanks in large part to streaming, the pandemic and the creator economy. From a report: "As 'American exceptionalism' has become less of a truth geopolitically, the same goes for entertainment," says Brad Grossman, founder and CEO of ZEITGUIDE. The U.S. demand share for non-U.S. content was higher each quarter in 2020 than in the previous two years, according to data provided to Axios from Parrot Analytics, which measures demand for entertainment content "This trend started in mid 2019, so it pre-dates COVID-19, but the strong upward trend has continued into 2020," says Wade Payson-Denney, an insights analyst at Parrot. In Q3 2020, non-U.S. shows accounted for nearly 30% of demand in the U.S. The data shows that U.S. audiences are discovering content from previously unfamiliar markets, like India, Spain and Turkey. The top 5 international markets in the U.S. by Q4 2020 were the U.K. (8.3%), Japan (5.7%), Canada (3.2%), Korea (1.9%), and India (1.5%), per Parrot.

Not content anymore with just streaming Hollywood's old shows and movies, Roku is looking to produce originals: The company published a job listing for a lead production attorney, which spells out plans to build out an "expanding slate of original content." From a report: This renewed push into originals comes just weeks after Roku acquired Quibi's content library, for which the company reportedly shelled out less than $100 million. The job listing was first spotted by Revealera, a data provider for job openings. A Roku spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Roku's job listing is the clearest evidence yet that the Quibi deal doesn't represent a one-off. The listing tells potential applicants that they would "serve as lead production attorney for Roku's original episodic and feature length productions." The listing also makes it clear that Roku may be looking beyond simply acquiring existing shows and films on an exclusive basis. The attorney would be interacting with guilds and unions, and part of the job would entail working on "option purchase agreements, script acquisition agreements, life rights agreements, agreements to hire writers, actors, directors and individual producers, production services agreements, below-the-line agreements including for department heads, location agreements, clearances, prop rental agreements, likeness releases and credit memos," according to the listing.

Some movie theaters around the world are renting out their screens to gamers to bring in a new revenue stream amid the coronavirus pandemic. The BBC reports: With many cinemas across the country closed due to coronavirus restrictions meaning that they can only open with 50% capacity, and far fewer movies being released to tempt cinemagoers, CGV [South Korea's largest cinema chain] came up with the idea of renting out its auditoriums to gamers to bring in a new revenue stream. Before 6pm up to four people can hire a screen for two hours for around $90. This then rises to $135 in the evening. Users have to bring their consoles, games and controllers with them. The auditoriums being hired out have between 100 and 200 seats, and by comparison CGV movie tickets cost around $12 each. So a 100-seat screen half filled for a film would bring in revenues of $600, rising to $1,200 for a 200-seat one at 50% capacity. And that is before the filmgoers buy their drinks and popcorn.

Yet while CGV isn't making anywhere as much money from the gamers, it is bringing in some additional income. The scheme is called Azit-X after "azit," the Korean word for hideout. Since the new service launched at the start of this year, auditoriums have been booked more than 130 times so far. While the majority of customers are said to be men in their 30s or 40s, couples and families have also taken part.

Korea's CGV is not the only cinema chain now letting gamers book cinema screens, as U.S. group Malco Theatres has been doing the same since November. Memphis-based Malco allows up to 20 people to hire a screen at its 36 cinemas across Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. The prices for service, which is called Malco Select, are $100 for two hours or $150 for three. Other U.S. chains, such as AMC and Cinemark, have been allowing customers in small groups to book auditoriums for private screenings.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Eui Jeong Lee and three of her friends sit in an otherwise empty 200-seat cinema auditorium and play a video game on the giant screen. As Ms Lee blasts her gaming opponents with her wireless controller, the sound whips loudly around the dark room from the numerous cinema speakers. "The sound quality is particularly amazing," says the 25-year-old student. "The sound of the gunshots is just so vivid, and when something flew directly at me from the screen I even screamed." Ms Lee and her mates had hired the screen for two hours at a branch of South Korea's largest cinema chain, CGV. With many cinemas across the country closed due to coronavirus restrictions meaning that they can only open with 50% capacity, and far fewer movies being released to tempt cinemagoers, CGV came up with the idea of renting out its auditoriums to gamers to bring in a new revenue stream.

Before 6pm up to four people can hire a screen for two hours for around $90. This then rises to $135 in the evening. Users have to bring their consoles, games and controllers with them. The auditoriums being hired out have between 100 and 200 seats, and by comparison CGV movie tickets cost around $12 each. So a 100-seat screen half filled for a film would bring in revenues of $600, rising to $1,200 for a 200-seat one at 50% capacity. And that is before the filmgoers buy their drinks and popcorn. Yet while CGV isn't making anywhere as much money from the gamers, it is bringing in some additional income. The scheme is called Azit-X after "azit", the Korean word for hideout. CGV employee Seung Woo Han came up with the idea after he realised that films and video games share many similarities.

The Internet Archive: The Internet Archive has reached a new milestone: 2 million. That's how many modern books are now in its lending collection -- available free to the public to borrow at any time, even from home. "We are going strong," said Chris Freeland, a librarian at the Internet Archive and director of the Open Libraries program. "We are making books available that people need access to online, and our patrons are really invested. We are doing a library's work in the digital era." The lending collection is an encyclopedic mix of purchased books, ebooks, and donations from individuals, organizations, and institutions. It has been curated by Freeland and other librarians at the Internet Archive according to a prioritized wish list that has guided collection development. The collection has been purpose-built to reach a wide base of both public and academic library patrons, and to contain books that people want to read and access online -- titles that are widely held by libraries, cited in Wikipedia and frequently assigned on syllabi and course reading lists.

"The Internet Archive is trying to achieve a collection reflective of great research and public libraries like the Boston Public Library," said Brewster Kahle, digital librarian and founder of the Internet Archive, who began building the diverse library more than 20 years ago. "Libraries from around the world have been contributing books so that we can make sure the digital generation has access to the best knowledge ever written," Kahle said. "These wide ranging collections include books curated by educators, librarians and individuals, that they see are critical to educating an informed populace at a time of massive disinformation and misinformation." The 2 million modern books are part of the Archive's larger collection of 28 million texts that include older books in the public domain, magazines, and documents. Beyond texts, millions of movies, television news programs, images, live music concerts, and other sound recordings are also available, as well as more than 500 billion web pages that have been archived by the Wayback Machine. Nearly 1.5 million unique patrons use the Internet Archive each day, and about 17,000 items are uploaded daily.

This week's bizarre "meme stock" rally, which has delivered lottery-like windfalls for holders of GameStop stock, also wiped out $600 million in debt owed by the AMC theater chain. Polygon reports: That's because, on Wednesday, a private equity firm named Silver Lake -- and private equity firms are popularly considered the "bad guys" in this snobs-versus-slobs drama -- elected to convert the corporate bonds it held into AMC Entertainment Holdings stock. Although the theater chain's stock price has tumbled and soared since the move, the debt relief is permanent. Just Monday, AMC was warning investors that "there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern."

Wiping out more than half-a-billion dollars in debt, though, should take a lot of pressure off AMC in the short term. "A week ago, it was not crazy to think this company was doomed," Bloomberg's Matt Levine wrote on Thursday. "Now it is entirely possible that it will survive and thrive and show movies in movie theaters for decades to come because everyone went nuts and bought meme stocks this week."

Yet, by converting their AMC debt holding to AMC stock, the Silver Lake equity firm has gotten hurt by a falling stock price, too. The conversion price for the bonds Silver Lake held was $13.51; Silver Lake cashed in on Wednesday, when AMC's shares ended the day at $19.90, more than 400% better than the day before. Smart move, right? Well, AMC's share price at publication time Friday was about $15 -- but it closed Thursday at $8.63. So, unless Silver Lake found some other sucker to buy the stock before it bottomed out, they've been riding a roller coaster that at best has them about 5% to 7% ahead of their original position, with no guarantee of staying there.