Fri, 28 November 2008  I recently finished watching the documentary Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (which was pretty interesting btw), so I was already thinking about Andy W. when Greg from the Warhol called to ask me if Dreaming Ant would be interested in sponsoring (translation: promoting) a couple film screenings coming up. Anything to help my friend Greg (who is always doing cool stuff)...so check 'em out. And if you miss Hell's Ground on the big screen, Dreaming Ant has a copy in Bloomfield for rent. Hell’s Ground (Zibahkhana) (Pakistan/UK, 2007) Directed by Omar Ali Khan Zombies return to the Warhol in new horror film from Pakistan Friday, December 5, 2008 @ 8:00 pm ($7.50) Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (France, 2006) Directed by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno The fine arts of film and soccer meet in this Pittsburgh Premiere Friday, December 19, 2008 @ 7:00 pm & 9:00 pm ($10.00) Acclaimed visual artists Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno transform spectacular footage of French soccer star Zinédine Zidane. Glorious in its simplicity, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait traces the movements of international soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane during a complete match between Real Madrid and Villareal. Using 17 synchronized cameras, the film tracks the world-class athlete from the first kick until he leaves the field, resulting in a mesmerizing real-time portrait of a man and the full range of his actions, emotional intensity, and unwavering concentration during the game. The scenario is set to a sound track that combines music by the Scottish band Mogwai, the cheers of 80,000 fans, commentary by Spanish television announcers, and Zidane’s own internal thoughts as voiced by the legend himself. The result is a rigorous experiment with cinematic form and an arresting study of a sports icon. Category: Ad -- posted at: 5:45 PM Comments[0] |
Sun, 16 November 2008 Should Dreaming Ant move out of Crazy Mocha Coffee Co. in Bloomfield and into its own space? Big debate. You've probably experienced the annoyance of DVD cases falling on the floor or juggling our display cases just to see what's behind them. Well, Dreaming Ant has officially run out of display space - not just at one location, but at both. And because we get 50-100 new movies each week, this problem is only going to get worse. So the question is: What should we do? We NEED your feedback, so PLEASE visit the [Dreaming Ant Facebook Page] and join the discussion. The discussion topic is: Sans Coffee? You might need to sign up for Facebook (very simple - just need email & password) to participate in discussion. Please let us know if you'd support us moving. Or if you desperately want us to remain in Crazy Mocha, we need your creative solutions to our current space/organizational issues. Thanks in advance! We appreciate your comments and rely on your guidance for our continued survival. dB Category: News -- posted at: 6:47 PM Comments[1] |
Sun, 16 November 2008 BLOOMFIELD 2008 HOLIDAY HOURS THANKSGIVING (Thu 11/27) - CLOSED CHRISTMAS EVE (Wed 12/24) OPEN @ Noon-6PM CHRISTMAS (Thu 12/25) - CLOSED NEW YEAR'S EVE (Wed 12/31) OPEN @ Noon-9PM NEW YEAR'S DAY (Thu 1/1/2009) OPEN @ Noon-Midnight OAKLAND CLOSED: THANKSGIVING (Thu 11/27) & SUN 12/21 - THU 1/1/2009 Reopen on Friday, January 2, 2009 @ Noon-10PM Category: News -- posted at: 5:55 PM Comments[0] |
Sat, 1 November 2008  Bring your Voter Stub to either Dreaming Ant location on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 and receive: 1/2 Off One Rental or Rent 3 for the Price of 2 ($8)! Category: News -- posted at: 4:02 AM Comments[1] |
Thu, 4 September 2008  Dreaming Ant and Qdoba Mexican Grill (Shadyside) are teaming up in September-October for the taste-good deal of the year! RENT 3 DVDs at Dreaming Ant & Receive a FREE ENTRÉE at Qdoba Mexican Grill* BUY 2 ENTRÉES at Qdoba Mexican Grill* & Receive a FREE DVD RENTAL at Dreaming Ant * Valid only at Qdoba Shadyside, 4815 Centre Ave, 412-621-2003, qdoba.com. Offer expires October 31, 2008. Limit of one free rental per member per visit to Dreaming Ant. Limit of one free entree per visit to Qdoba Shadyside. Not valid with any other offer. Must be a Dreaming Ant member (free) in order to redeem free rental. Category: News -- posted at: 8:24 PM Comments[0] |
Mon, 1 September 2008  Greetings from Pittsburgh: Neighborhood Narratives is a collection of short films celebrating the wonderfully diverse communities of our city. Inspired by the film Paris je t’aime, which presents a selection of short films taking place in each of the arrondissements or neighborhoods of Paris, Greetings from Pittsburgh: Neighborhood Narratives engaged nine local filmmakers to create short narrative films (10-15 min. each) that creatively represent some of Pittsburgh’s unique neighborhoods (two of which are host to Dreaming Ant locations!). Join brainchildren Andrew Halasz and Kristen Lauth Shaeffer as they celebrate Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary with their own brand of video Hallmark. Tickets: $5 for all screenings, available on site only, except Regent Square Premier which will be $10, available in advance at Pittsburgh Filmmakers' box offices - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bring your Greetings from Pittsburgh: Neighborhood Narratives - - ticket stub to Dreaming Ant & Receive ½ Off Next Rental! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The 100-minute film, a collection of the 9 shorts, will be screened at the following venues over the course of the next two months. If you miss the public screenings, don’t fret, your friends at Dreaming Ant will be carrying the DVD for rental and sale as soon as production is completed (no eta as of yet). Q&As with the respective directors should happen after each screening. Snacks will be provided by Pittsburgh Popcorn Company and Whole Foods Market at most of the screenings. Regent Square Premier & Kickoff Party Nelson Chipman & Jeremy Braverman (directors) Thursday, September 25, 7:30PM @ Regent Square Theater Bloomfield Jason Georgiades (director) Sunday, September 28, 8:00PM @ Brillobox A church fair serves as the setting for a story about a woman torn between the world of her old neighborhood, and a new world beyond it in Jason Georgiades’ submission. Homestead Matthew J. Fridg & Jenn Golling (directors) Friday, October 3, 7:30PM @ The Pumphouse Hill District Timothy Hall & Marc Nieson (directors) Sunday, October 5, 2:00PM @ Hill House Theater Downtown Justin Crimone (director) Sunday, October 12, 2:00PM @ Harris Theater South Side John Rice (director) Tuesday, October 21, 7:30PM @ Rex Theater Oakland Justin Francart (director) Thursday, October 23, 8:00PM @ Melwood Screening Room A man returns to the neighborhood of his college years, as well as the love of his life. He learns you might not be able to go back home again in Justin Francart’s tale of young love blossoming in Oakland. Lawrenceville Sam Turich & Gab Reznek (directors) Thursday, October 30, 8:00PM @ Your Inner Vagabond Strip District Ray Werner (director) Saturday, November 8, 7:00PM @ Firehouse Lounge Learn more about Greetings from Pittsburgh: Neighborhood Narratives by visiting their website: http://www.pghneighborhoodnarratives.com/ Category: News -- posted at: 5:40 PM Comments[0] |
Mon, 23 June 2008 Dreaming Ant Oakland will be closed on Friday, July 4th. Dreaming Ant Bloomfield will be open normal hours (4p-midnight). Category: News -- posted at: 8:25 PM Comments[0] |
Wed, 21 May 2008 Bam! Good Will has done it again. This time, he's developed & implemented a website feature that we've been talking about for at least 3 years. Dreaming Ant members can now rate & review all of the movies in our database! Oh yea! Once logged in, just click on a Review/Rate button at the bottom of any movie page and you will be taken to a new page where you can input your personal rating (on a scale from 1-10) and review of the movie. Click the Submit button, and return to read your rating and review at the bottom of the movie's page...along with the Average Dreaming Ant Member Rating and other member reviews. Change your mind or realize you made a mistake? No problem. Just click on the Review/Rate button again and you can adjust either or. Another minor feature recently added is the option to adjust your dreamingant.com username (your default username will be your Dreaming Ant Member Number). Your username will be associated with all of your ratings and reviews. So if Sally Sue likes one of your reviews, for example, she'll be able to click on a link to see a list of all of your ratings/reviews. Be a part of Dreaming Ant's online community and have your opinion heard...check it out today! Category: News -- posted at: 4:36 PM Comments[1] |
Wed, 21 May 2008  Dreaming Ant made the leap, well a small step anyway, toward the "next generation" of packaged media. And what better movie to introduce Blu-ray to Dreaming Ant members then our #2 all-time top rental - Oldboy? Before renting Oldboy (or any Blu-ray Disc) from Dreaming Ant, please be sure you have a Blu-ray Player because we will not give refunds for this mistake. And honestly, in order to fully appreciate Blu-ray's quality (1080p), you should have an HDTV as well. Visit the Blu-ray FAQ for answers to all of your Blu-ray questions. Please respond to this post and let us know what movies you'd like Dreaming Ant to add to its inventory, or if you'd like to add any insight or comments regarding Blu-ray Discs. Browse movies currently available on Blu-ray Disc.
Category: News -- posted at: 4:24 PM Comments[2] |
Fri, 16 May 2008 Ever wished there was a way to filter your search results on dreamingant.com? Well, thanks to Will Simmons, dreamingant.com now allows you to do just that...utilizing a genre subset search filter. For example, click on the link for New Arrivals. This searches our inventory and outputs all titles that Dreaming Ant has added in the past four months. As you'll notice, this list tends to be a bit tedious to sift through. However, now...now, you can filter our New Arrivals list by genre such as New Arrivals > Documentary titles or New Arrivals > BBC releases. The genre subset search filter can also be utilized when searching by Country e.g. all Spanish > Horror films, by Director e.g. Fassbinder > Melodramas, or by Cast Member e.g. Vincent D'Onofrio > Comedies. Coming Soon: We're very, very close to launching new functionality that will enable Dreaming Ant members to rate and review all of the titles in our database. We're also working on an overhaul of the website design. Please let us know if you have any other suggestions; just leave a comment to this entry. Category: News -- posted at: 5:08 PM Comments[0] |
Tue, 13 May 2008 Dreaming Ant Oakland will be closed Monday, May 26th (Memorial Day). We're expecting our exterior steps to finally be repaired that day, so we'll see ya on Tuesday. Category: News -- posted at: 1:50 PM Comments[0] |
Sun, 23 March 2008 Local DVD rentailer thanks its members for 5 years of business On Sunday, March 30, Dreaming Ant, one of Pittsburgh’s surviving independent DVD rental shops, will commemorate its first five years of business by throwing a party – a high-five to its members. Customers can ease into the evening’s activities beginning at 8:00PM with movie soundtrack music & trivia games, cake, a raffle and member awards (Dreamies). At 10:00PM, when Crazy Mocha Coffee Company closes, the store will be transformed into a mini-screening room and an exhibition of local short films and ‘Ant’ecdotes - video clips from members sharing brief accounts of Dreaming Ant-related experiences - will commence. Short films from local filmmakers Christopher Smalley, Keith Tassick, Eric Swisher, Tara Merenda and Gordon Nelson along with art collective Paper Rad have been confirmed. WHAT: Dreaming Ant 5-Year Anniversary Celebration WHEN: Sunday, March 30 | 8-10pm: PARTY: music, cake, games & Dreamies | 10pm-12am: SCREENING: short films & ‘Ant’ecdotes WHERE: Dreaming Ant, 4525 Liberty Ave, Bloomfield (inside Crazy Mocha) Dreaming Ant opened its weather-worn, green wooden doors to the public for the first time on March 23, 2003. Initially, just a single, sparsely-filled wall with slightly more than 800 DVDs tucked in the back of Bloomfield’s Crazy Mocha Coffee Company, this one-man operation opened during a time when brick & mortar rentailers, chains and independents alike, were thriving due to the skyrocketing success of the DVD. Then, web-based services, video-on-demand, and digital downloading began luring customers with promises of convenience, selection and low prices, a triumvirate that many brick & mortars couldn’t compete with. “We’re celebrating because, despite the current economic and industry conditions, we’re still here.� Dreaming Ant owner Dean Brandt offers. “Since opening in 2003, I’ve watched most of Pittsburgh’s video stores close: 3 West Coasts, 9 Blockbusters, 3 Hollywoods, and at least 5 independents – Classic Video and Incredibly Strange being the most recent casualties. So we’re grateful. We have amazingly loyal and supportive members, people we care about. So we want to publicly thank them for their support over the past five years.“ Dreaming Ant continues to survive in this Internet age in part due to the standard appeal of independent retailers – an eclectic inventory built by listening to customer requests, personal service, immediacy that only a physical store can offer, and a sense of community. But Dreaming Ant has also thrived by building a reputation for being fair, for supporting local filmmakers, and for innovating – implementing services like an interactive website that enables members to check real-time availability of movies and maintain a record of past rentals and wishlists, return-by-mail envelopes enabling distant members to return rentals when not in the area, partnerships with local universities, DVD delivery (since cancelled, Dreaming Ant partnered with Wheel Deliver for this service), and unique, high-traffic locations with small physical imprints and low overhead. Now, five years later, although Dreaming Ant’s wooden entranceway has been replaced by glass & aluminum, the warm independent atmosphere remains. And the burgeoning DVD collection has actually outgrown Crazy Mocha’s walls, motivating a second store to be opened in Oakland in 2007. Dean’s vision quest has also been blessed with seven affable employees – Andrew, Jenn, Rob, Ben, Ashley, Bill and Colleen. As suburban landscapes grow more homogenous, Dreaming Ant hopes to remain competitive for years to come, offering personal attention and a selection of movies aligned with its philosophy of independence and diversity. As Giovanni Ribisi exclaimed while on break from shooting 10th & Wolf in September 2004, "This place is f*#kin' great!" Voted best local video/DVD rental store in Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2004 Best of Pittsburgh Reader’s Poll, Dreaming Ant boasts an eclectic collection of DVDs for rent, brimming with international, documentary, independent, gay-lesbian-transgender, television, music and Hollywood movies. Dreaming Ant Bloomfield is located inside Crazy Mocha Coffee Co. at 4525 Liberty Avenue. Dreaming Ant Oakland shares 426 South Craig Street with fellow independent retailers Phantom of the Attic Comics, Wicked Discs and History Beads. For further information about Dreaming Ant’s 5-Year Anniversary celebration, visit www.dreamingant.com or contact Dean Brandt at (412) 683-2200 or via email at dean@dreamingant.com. Category: News -- posted at: 9:49 PM Comments[0] |
Thu, 28 February 2008 Dreaming Ant's 5-year anniversary is rapidly approaching. As part of our celebration on Sunday, March 23, we'd like to show as many local short films and/or videos as we can (within a 2 hour window). If you have something under 10 minutes long that you'd like to submit, we'd love to consider it for inclusion in our celebration exhibition. ------------------------------------------------------ WHO: Local Filmmakers / Videographers WHAT: Request for Short Film / Video WHY: Dreaming Ant 5-Year Anniversary Celebration SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Sunday, March 16 ------------------------------------------------------ We have but one requirement: all shorts must have some connection to Pittsburgh e.g. director or actor from Pittsburgh, shot in Pittsburgh, about Pittsburgh, etc. And the more connections, the better. Ideally, we'd like new works, films/videos that have not been shown anywhere else and are not available on any compilations or releases. However, we're aware that this might be difficult on such short notice. In addition to showing it at our Anniversary Party, we intend to compile the submissions on DVD and make it available to rent for free at both of our stores. By submitting your short, you are giving us permission to do both. If interested, please submit your short(s) on DVD (or MiniDV tape if necessary) no later than Sunday, March 16th. You can drop it off at either of our stores or mail it to: Dreaming Ant DVDs 4525 Liberty Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15224 Attn: Shorts We'd like to include the names of as many confirmed filmmakers as possible in our press release, so please email Dean ASAP if you intend to submit something. Category: News -- posted at: 8:20 PM Comments[0] |
Sun, 23 December 2007 Still need a (very) last minute holiday gift? Now you can purchase a wide variety of Dreaming Ant-branded merchandise online at: http://www.cafepress.com/dreamingant Category: News -- posted at: 6:41 AM Comments[0] |
Wed, 12 December 2007 BLOOMFIELD HOLIDAY HOURS: CHRISTMAS EVE (Mon 12/24) @ Noon-6:00PM CHRISTMAS (Tue 12/25) - CLOSED NEW YEAR'S EVE (Mon 12/31) @ Noon-9:00PM NEW YEAR'S DAY (Tue 1/1/2008) @ Noon-Midnight OAKLAND CLOSED: SUN 12/23 - THU 12/27 NEW YEAR'S EVE (Mon 12/31) NEW YEAR'S DAY (Tue 1/1/2008) revised: 12/12/07 Category: News -- posted at: 2:00 PM Comments[0] |
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