Happy Christmas from APPLEBOX!

Yes, it's that time again, another year has passed and we're now over 2 years old!! We've passed the 3,000 member mark, have almost 10,000 DVDs in stock, a whopping 25,000 bookmarks have been made and we're seeing plenty of new faces as you're also seeing some staff changes. Yep, Sarah and Simon have stepped away from the counter for the moment .. Sarah is back in film and TV (she's in the art department on City Homicide), and Simon's back doing IT odds-and-bobs in the corporate world. Andrew and T'mara are still going strong, James burnt brightly but music rock-stardom has beckoned. We've now got Amanda on side with Jac and Marg swinging into action next year. The elves are out again this year ... no longer the disco of 12 months ago, we've now been sucking helium balloons and will sing to you. Check us out here

Our newsletters used to be monthly .. and then they, umm, slipped for about oooo ... nine months. Life does that to you! Well, we're back and we'll at least make them bi-monthly from now on. There's lots of news, so we'll hit the highlights if you've got 5 minutes to spare ..

The APPLEBOX Movie! Yep, Inglorious Basterds? Pffft. We're better than Tarantino and are out to prove it. Stay tuned .. it was not that long ago when our friendly member/up-and-coming director, Nigel Karikari (of THIRDROW films), accidentally suggested we make a short movie. OOOPS! Well, we've just had a preview .. and it's brilliant. Shot around Fairfield you'll see lots you recognise, and our very own Mara has a starring role with Andrew making a cameo. It's a love story that plays out across the backdrop of an old school video store, and of course, APPLEBOX. Sarah and Simon didn't get past the screen test ... true untapped talent I say! Called 'Change', Change will be released in the next week or two, and we'll be emailing you a link. Get ready as we want this to go viral!

Yep, we're still poking our heads up somewhere or another, getting a bit of attention and getting an award here or there. We weren't quite cool enough to take out pole position at the Anthill Online Cool Company awards, but we did get two - yes that's two - acknowledgments from them. We come 'highly commended' and also made the 'top 50 coolest'. And thats out of .. um .. heaps I'm sure. We also get noticed by the Crown Lager/Smart Company Business start up awards. Again .. not quite rubbing shoulders with the winning crowd, but we got a mention! We're part of the up and comers, so watch out!

ok.. it's not great when a local business must close it's doors, but when it's BLOCKBUSTER with all their brand muscle, 25 years of industry presence, and with pole position in Northcote Plaza .. we can't help but smile a little. Little 'ol APPLEBOX tucked away here in Railway place is weathering the industry downturn, has created one of the most advanced local rental systems in the world (yes that's right, the APPLEBOX system is totally new), AND it's been funded right out of Northcote with mortgages and sheer will power .. we're pretty dang proud to still be here.

So · THANK YOU · THANK YOU · to all our members who have made this possible. And WELCOME to our new Blockbuster inductees .. we hope you like our little shop and please, spread the word!

Our most recent addition to the street is Fadi .. Welcome Fadi! Fadi owns and runs the Nut Shop which sits between us and Indian Summer up on the corner. Fadi is giving Micheal at the Bean Counter Cafe a bit of coffee competition :-), but otherwise specialises in nuts. Beautifully fresh, get on in there and say g'day.

Guido has moved on from his long-time antiques abode, and the newspapers on the window at his shop (between us and The Nut Shop) tell us something is up! Another cafe is what the rumour mill says .. Micheal I swear we'll never go there!

Fan us! Yep, log into facebook and find the APPLEBOX page (not our 'group' that we've since abandoned .. anyone know how to delete this?). We've got over 3,000 members and only 88 of you have become fans of our FB page. There's benefits! Free rentals if you're listening and come down when we throw them up ..

We're adding new icecream flavours .. Kahlua, Dark Rum and Raisin & Baileys. I think Andrew's been ordering after a night out! We've got plenty of Ex-rentals with covers in pristine condition and discs freshly cleaned, and our $10 vouchers are moving well as stocking fillers. Marg of deWolff massage is back in action upstairs, again with gift vouchers for christmas and beyond.

Yep, movies - we've got 'em. Almost 5,500 unique titles, and 9,600 actual DVDs. We've got plenty of TV all with episode listings to help you catch up on those missed episodes. December's releases are running hot! All the big releases have been timed for the holiday season so there's now shortage of blockbusters about. Our arthouse catalogue is deep, so browse around, follow those director and actor links and you'll turn up some gems.

Drumroll ... so here's the APPLEBOX all time top 40. We've listed out the most rented titles since we've opened .. and that gives alot of the older titles a head start over the newbies (Inglorious Basterds is rocketing up the list), but there's a few here that might surprise you. It's worth watching every one of these!

1. Lars and the Real Girl 2. Burn After Reading 3. Into The Wild 4. Juno 5. In Bruges 6. No Country For Old Men 7. Wall-E 8. Slumdog Millionaire 9. Vicky Cristina Barcelona 10. Darjeeling Limited 11. Gran Torino 12. Death At A Funeral 13. The Bank Job 14. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button 15. Rachel Getting Married 16. Happy-Go-Lucky 17. The Visitor 18. Gone Baby Gone 19. Tropic Thunder 20. The Black Balloon

21. Quantum of Solace 22. Milk 23. He's Just Not That Into You 24. Once 25. Man On Wire 26. Iron Man 27. The Boat That Rocked 28. The Dark Knight 29. Lucky Miles 30. 2 Days In Paris 31. Kung Fu Panda 32. Taken 33. Revolutionary Road 34. The Wrestler 35. Noise 36. Sex and the City: The Movie 37. Romulus, My Father 38. Michael Clayton 39. Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix 40. The Kite Runner

That's probably more than 5 minutes worth, so we'll finish up with our final well wishes. Have a great and happy Christmas and we'll hopefully see you soon!

Cheers
Sarah, Simon, T'mara, Andrew, James and Amanda