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Reboots, Remakes, and The Total Tolerance of The Public

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A new Superman movie.  A new Spiderman movie.  New Star Trek.  Reboots and remakes raining down rapidly on us in a seemingly endless procession of "let's do it over again."

Now I'm not necessarily against remakes.  I find them appropriate at some times, and at other times at least intriguing – seeing how material is handled by different people.  But it seems like we're really getting swamped in start-it-over stuff as of late.  This led me to a question.

"What are the limits on remakes?  How many years can you go between remakes?  How many times can you remake something?  In short, when does this not become profitable and accepted and just becomes a joke or worse?"

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Portability, Culture, and Mobile Technology

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I commute on a train to work every weekday, and it's often a festival of portable devices.  I often have my DS or my laptop.  I see plenty of Smartphones, iPads, and of course other laptops and notebooks.  There's the usual gaming devices (though it seems like most of the gaming I see is on phones and tablets as of late).

In my household, most everyone has laptops  – and among my friends laptops are becoming more common over time.  Netbooks are popular among many people I know, low-cost and portable.

It doesn't matter if it's work or if it's personal, portable is where it's at for geeks and progeeks.

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Go Farther: Two-Dollar Dreadfuls

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I've often heard Twilight called a modern "Penny Dreadful."  I myself am no fan of the series – I find it overblown and turgid, and frankly feel the manga incarnation looks superior in artistry to the novels.

But when people call it a Penny Dreadful, I think they're missing an opportunity here, and they're dismissing a valid business model.

Let us be honest, there is plenty of room for guilty pleasures: overblown romance, cheesy action, video games filled with more explosions than dialogue, and so on.  There is plenty of room for the "Penny Dreadful," the overblown, trashy, and ultimately just plain fun.

There is room for the literary/artistic equivalent of junk food in our lives.

This is a perfect time for it.

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