Less Than ... Nada?

 ... Our friemesis - Steff McKee may have susinctly stated.

I am a fan of Rabbit Holes. 

I am a fan of Blogs. (But I've not been "ired" up the way I am today and this month, now the kid's back in college ....) 

I am also a fan of Less Than Zero. 

Therefore, several things can be and are very true -

1. The Shards is happening in real time
2. The Shards is about Bret Easton Ellis writing Less Than Zero
3. The Shards has inspired Vanity Fair, Vogue, etc., to ...
• ... repost archived articles about Less Than Zero
• ... read Less Than Zero in their respective Book Clubs
• ... interview the stars of The Shards and ask them if they've actually read Less Than Zero (yes!) - see the September 2026 issue of Vogue
4. The Shards recalls all things fabulous (and terrible) for extremely privileged teenagers in America in the 1980s

Several Things "Shards Adjacent" are also true - 

1. Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ) is about to be featured in the new Avengers movie
2. Andrew McCarthy has been doing his own deep dive into the Brat Pack and is in the public eye as much as he has ever been - Pretty in Pink was re-released in theatres this summer
3. James Spader is everywhere and his characters are awful and he is beloved
4. Jami Gertz is awesome

It is here this Rabbit Hole, while clearly justified, takes a truly unexpected path. 

See, when I Rabbit Hole, I am used to instantaneously finding the obscura provided by our beloved interwebs. Surely, my Google search or even my multifarious friendly neighborhood web-searching robots will find what I am seeking, in 30 seconds. Flat.

So, once one has stymied the bots of - Amazon Prime, Netflix, Roku, dare I say Fandango - there's a bit of anxiousness ....

And once one has also stymied digital droid friends - Google-Gemini; ChatGPT (Mr. Roboto, familiarly), Claude, et al, panic sets in.

The resounding and ONLY answers from all of these hailed mountain-sitting soothsayers being as follows:

• DVD
• "Your public library may have it on DVD or via Kanopy/Hoopla if you have a library card"

Sit with that for just a moment. 

In 2026, an iconic movie from the 1980s, that is all over the media, with an incredible soundtrack and some sizeable stars ...

... is not available in the United States except on DVD. 

I mean. 

What?

Are you sure?

Am I the only one who? 

No, I am not the only one - as the DVD has been procured on Amazon more than 100 times this month. And the paperback price has gone up over 50% in 5 days. Forget trying to find a hardcover.

I'm ...

... Flummoxed

... Incredulous

... Flabbergasted

... Stymied (well, apparently not)

... Ired

What marketing person, in the history of marketing and advertising, could not see this coming?

Or, is it because it's better when the demand is there and they just needed someone to write this and other similar points of view and then it will be okay ...? 

That's what I'd like to think. 

.

The Author at PIP in her own
Members Only jacket