So you got an iPad (or iPhone) for Christmas. That’s pretty awesome, friend. Congratulations, you’re now one of millions of people who have a world’s worth of entertainment in two hands (or one, if you got an iPad mini or iPhone). Seeing as a few of us around the Reject HQ offices are iPeople, we thought we’d offer up a few suggestions to help you get the most movie-related enjoyment out of your new device. From our favorite apps to the best movies you can download right now from the iTunes Store, here’s a shopping list that will help you get through week one of being a movie fan with an iPad. Because now that you’ve moved up the technological ladder a bit, there’s no reason why you should ever be disconnected from the best that the world of film has to offer.

Amongst the many reactions to Steve Jobs’s death last week, I found one comparison that people drew to be quite compelling. In order to find a fitting historic analogy to illustrate the cultural significance of Jobs’s life, comparisons ran the gamut from Nikola Tesla to, erm, John Lennon (“think different,” I guess?). But several people, including, Roger Ebert, brought to light continuities with Thomas Edison. Edison, like Jobs, was an industrialist: part inventor, mostly capitalist. But specific to his own life, Edison spent most of his career securing patents and making improvements to existing technologies rather than building something from scratch. Edison’s reputation associates him with a great deal more invention than he was actually involved in. I’m not trying to be cynical about Jobs. Far from it. In fact, I’ve been more than a little annoyed with the backlash to consumer mourning about Jobs than any initial hyperbole associated with Jobs’s death in the first place. I don’t give a flying shit about executives in pretty much any industry, but saying “he’s just a CEO” does not negate the great intellectual worth and cultural interest of Jobs himself. Jobs, like Edison, developed a cult of personality that extended well beyond the person.

Between 1991 and 2004 Jeff Smith released 55 issues of his comic book “Bone” and built a legacy as one of the most beloved comic creators of all time. People love “Bone”. I mean, they’re crazy about it. It’s a shame then that it has never managed to get a film adaptation, despite living in the mires of developmental hell for quite a while now. The good news is there seems to be some new traction for the project, and the new stuff that’s popping up is even impressive enough to have Smith pleased with what he has seen. After both Paramount and Nickelodeon swung and missed with the “Bone” property, the rights got moved over to Warner Bros. where several scripts have been tried out but the third seems to be the charm. WB wants to turn their latest take onto the character into a three part, computer animated, 3D film series, and they’ve even put together a four minute short to show off what it would look like. Series creator Smith told the L.A. Times’ Hero Complex that he is, “actually excited about the movie for the first time in a long time.” That’s probably high praise coming from a guy who has reportedly waded through a ton of crappy film treatments of his baby.

In a recent Movie News After Dark, good ol’ Neil Miller posted a link to an article explaining that the modern cable box is one of the most power draining items in the modern home. While this is not surprising in the least, it did get me thinking. Why hasn’t the way television is delivered to us moved to the “cloud” yet? Now, the “cloud” is a word that gets kicked around a lot in modern computing, and I’m sure if you’re reading this you already know what it is. But in case you don’t, in a nut shell (at least defined by Wikipedia) the “cloud” refers to  ”access of multiple server-based computational resources via a digital network.” In other words, if I put my new Limp Bizkit album on one computer, I can then access it on another computer or mobile device. So what about television? I think we can all agree that unless you’re over the age of thirty five, you probably don’t get your television delivered to you in the traditional sense. That traditional sense being the formula of you + couch/bed/chair + remote + TV + (depending on your servce) receiver box = entertainment. No, for the new age the formula is iTunes/Amazon/Hulu/Netflix/any other VOD service you use + internet + mobile device/computer + (any location on earth) = entertainment.  And that’s what this is all about.

What is Movie News After Dark? Usually it’s a pretty straightforward look at what’s happening in the world of film. But sometimes, mostly on Friday nights when we’ve run out of actual news, it becomes an eclectic mix of notes and links that will tickle your cinema-loving fancy. It’s full of things you might want to read after heading out to see this week’s new releases. So read it, before you fall asleep and dream of what’s in Super 8‘s mystery box… Roger Ebert has extended the reach of his ever-growing empire. He will now be on your iPad, should you choose to download him. Ebert’s Greatest Movies app has hit iOS devices, recommending to you all the greatest that cinema has to offer. Think of it as a Cliff’s Notes version of his books, and a great cheat-sheet for filling up your Netflix queue.

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this shit late at night, what do you expect?

Did you know that Thursday nights is Ladies Night here on Movie News After Dark? Yes it is, friends. It simply means that ladies get half off their door price, which as you know is zero. So I guess I’m not sure what the bonus is for ladies on Thursday nights. Perhaps it has something to do with the phases of the moon and my extremely manish musk. Or maybe is has something to do with another round of awesome clips from the world of movie news!

If you thought we were meta enough with our list of best editorials, you were wrong. You were also wrong about that pub quiz question you missed last night but kept claiming, “the wording was confusing.” That’s okay. Soothe your second place loss to the “Long Beach Pub All Stars” by digging in deep to this list of lists. What criteria did we use to pick them? Simple. The key was finding those lists which acted as a catalyst for discussion, for reverie, for passion, and for self-reflection. The subjects might seem ridiculous, but there’s nothing like looking back on the year and seeing where movies took our minds. Time to get meta and do our part to bring about that ETEWAF Patton Oswalt keeps talking about.

So you bought yourself an iPad. If that’s true, it can only mean one thing. You’re one of those people. Good for you. Now, all you need to do is figure out what to do with your over-sized iPhone and you’ll be in good shape. Here are a few ideas, for movie lovers.

With the launch of the iPad coming soon, I have to ask a fundamental question about Apple’s latest gadget: Will it toast your bread while you slice it?