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	<title>Christopher&#039;s Lives (v5.4) &#187; LaserDisc</title>
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		<title>Movies I watched &#8211; April 2009</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/05/08/movies-i-watched-april-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/05/08/movies-i-watched-april-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2009 18:28:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>christopher</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[films/movies]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=1485</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Didn&#8217;t get a lot of movie time this past month, but, here&#8217;s some thoughts on what we did get to see, in reverse chronological order.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;
Battlestar Galactica
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I just wanted to make a few comments on this before I get into the actual movies.  Terra and I have watched the pilot mini-series and the first four episodes <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/05/08/movies-i-watched-april-2009/">Movies I watched &#8211; April 2009</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/05/29/horror-night/' rel='bookmark' title='horror night'>horror night</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/03/31/march-movies/' rel='bookmark' title='march movies'>march movies</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/03/29/chudcoms-100-movies-that-deserve-more-love/' rel='bookmark' title='CHUD.com&#8217;s 100 Movies That Deserve More Love'>CHUD.com&#8217;s 100 Movies That Deserve More Love</a></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Didn&#8217;t get a lot of movie time this past month, but, here&#8217;s some thoughts on what we did get to see, in reverse chronological order.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Battlestar Galactica</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I just wanted to make a few comments on this before I get into the actual movies.  Terra and I have watched the pilot mini-series and the first four episodes in this last couple weeks and I love it so far.  I grew up on sci-fi, but, I think sci-fi really changed in the early 90s or so.  I watched the first season of ST:TNG back in the day but then lost interest in Trek altogether &#8211; especially when the god-awful fifth movie came out (followed by the god-awful sixth and god-awful seventh, etc.).  But I still love the first four films and I can sit through most of the old episodes.  So, as they say, &#8220;Kirk is <em>my</em> captain&#8221;.  And I have tried various sci-fi stuff over the years and just have seen very little that is any good, especially on tv.  Most sci-fi seems to have turned into action, popcorn stuff in a future/tech setting, but, little actual thoughtful stuff.  Sci-fi is supposed to be about IDEAS.  Good science fiction leaves you thinking and discussing long after you have seen it.  1954&#8242;s The Day The Earth Stood Still is a good example, 1982&#8242;s Blade Runner is one of my favorites, and a good recent example would be 1999&#8242;s The Matrix.  Who am I to define what sci-fi is?  Good question.  So, perhaps all I am doing is referring to a sub-genre.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Anyway, what I have seen of BSG so far is great sci-fi;  sci-fi as I understand great sci-fi to be.  And just great in general.  Great premise, great stories, great characters.  And I really love the sound design.  I am really looking forward to seeing more and I already have so many questions.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Primer</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Speaking of great sci-fi&#8230;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I watched this in bed on my PSP.  This is my fourth time or so to do this &#8211; I still haven&#8217;t watched it any other way.  I love love love this movie.  I love the small scale, just a couple of guys with little lives.  And, made for $7,000, this truly is a &#8216;garage movie&#8217;.  And sci-fi of concepts, no special effects needed.  I also love the way it is filmed and acted &#8211; I always feel like I am just looking in, the acting is so natural I forget I am watching performances.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is on my mental list of greatest science fiction films ever made.  And such a unique twist on the whole time travel concept.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Vanilla Sky</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wow, um, what to say.  I remember loving this movie &#8211; watched it several times with my wife and liked it enough to listen to the commentary a couple times.  And, Terra had seen it and has been wanting to see it again.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Well, we didn&#8217;t really like it.  Not sure why.  Though, this was the second in a Cameron Crowe double feature.  We watched Almost Famous, followed by this.  Maybe it was too late at night to appreciate, maybe it couldn&#8217;t measure up to Almost Famous.  Dunno&#8217;.  Anyway, something just didn&#8217;t click.  We both felt it took too long to tell the story.  Just sitting there waiting for the surprise ending and not really getting much else from it.  I have no idea how this happened.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But, I want to give it another chance some time.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Almost Famous</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I didn&#8217;t know if Terra would like this one or not, so, I went easy on her and started off with the much shorter theatrical cut.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I knew I loved this movie but I had forgotten how much.  This easily is in my top twenty of all time and I have really been thinking it deserves top ten placement.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is real comfort movie material here.  And it is all about the people.  I want to spend more time with these people.  (Maybe, like is said of the main character, they make me feel cool?)  I was absolutely smitten with this film every moment it was on and I converted the director&#8217;s cut plus commentary and put it on my PSP the very next day so I can spend some real quality, personal time with it.  Speaking of the commentary &#8211; this film has the best. commentary. ever.  At least, if you love the film.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I have seen it many times and, again, I remember loving it, but, anytime I have considered watching it in the last year or so, I kept finding myself trying to remember WHY I loved it and couldn&#8217;t really think of anything.  Like, maybe it was just the sort of thing I was into back then.  I finally chose it one night because Terra loves Frances McDormand and I thought she&#8217;d love her in this one.  And I expected to like it, but, I was just totally carried along the whole time.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I have that little list of ten movies I can&#8217;t live without on my sidebar, and I may very well bump one to add this one to the list.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;	By the way, see also August Rush for a movie about the love of music.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>JFK</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This was the director&#8217;s cut we watched and boy was I sorry.  She had never seen this film and even the theatrical cut is just way too long.  But, she loves mysteries and didn&#8217;t know much about the whole Kennedy assassination thing and I grew up in the Dallas area, so, I&#8217;ve heard it all.  The problem is that Oliver Stone always takes forever to tell a story.  I can&#8217;t even say it is always worth the journey.  I think Natural Born Killers is and this one probably is.  Obviously, you come to this one for the last forty minutes and have to sit through the first (what feels like) five hours to get to the finale.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yes, this is a great film, but I would almost condone invasive studio control over a director&#8217;s work in this case :P<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Iron Man</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Meh.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I am biased, I don&#8217;t like action movies.  Any movie that you can sum up to someone in terms of &#8220;this happened then that happened then this happened&#8221; etc. is an action flick.  I used to have a practice that, whenever I watched a genre film in a genre I was not fond of, I would make it a double feature so I could compare them to each other rather than compare one to a &#8220;real movie&#8221;.  But, even if I had done that and watched this with, say, one of the new Batman movies, Batman would win hands down.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tony Stark was an interesting character and was well-acted, but, all that did was point out how everyone else in the movie is a cardboard cut-out.  And, the plot was totally color by numbers.  You knew the guy in the cave was going to be dead, you knew Jeff Bridges was going to become the bad guy, this is all typical comic book stuff.  Then it was combined with typical popcorn flick stuff &#8211; action sequences and pratfall humor, etc..<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A genre film is always predictable but tries to tell the story this time around with enough stylistic and interpretive differences to try to be a replacement for the previous versions and perhaps this succeeds somewhat for the superhero movie &#8211; I don&#8217;t know the genre very well.  But that doesn&#8217;t make it a good film &#8211; it will be forgotten in fifty years, it leaves no legacy, it will not endure.  I read Ebert&#8217;s review and just couldn&#8217;t believe his high praise for it and he even called it one of the best of the year.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There are much better films out there that tell a story of a bad man becoming a good man and making his wrongs right and no special effects or suspension of disbelief are required.  And they WILL endure, so, if you haven&#8217;t seen them, that&#8217;s ok, they&#8217;ll still be around when you are ready.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>L.A. Story</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There was a day that Terra and I wanted to have a &#8220;light movie day&#8221;.  Nothing deep, nothing to explain or ponder, just entertainment.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Heh, um, I had a REAL problem finding many like that in my collection.  Just to be clear, remember I have a huge LaserDisc collection of all kinds of movies, but most of them are in storage and my DVDs and Blu-Rays are only movies I love.  There are plenty of &#8220;light&#8221; movies in my LD collection.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Anyway, I love L.A. Story.  It is a very romantic love story.  But, there is so much more to it &#8211; it fits into my category of &#8216;movies that can&#8217;t figure out what they wanted to be&#8217;.  But, it is another movie I say &#8220;watch it until you don&#8217;t laugh at the jokes anymore&#8221;.  Sure, it works great as a comedy (see also American Psycho for a satirical view of L.A. life) but, if you want to get the full impact of the fantasy romantic side of it, watch it until that&#8217;s all you see.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On that note, though, it sort of failed us as a &#8220;light&#8221; movie because there were more than a few moments that I couldn&#8217;t help but pause and call Terra&#8217;s attention to something subtle.  In that way, Clueless is another &#8216;see also&#8217; for this one.  I know so many teens that love Clueless and don&#8217;t seem to see that they are being made fun of.  It works so well on the surface level that it is easy to miss the underlying messages.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There is a scene or two in L.A. Story that seem to be only there so someone could get a cameo (I&#8217;m looking at you, Rick-Moranis-as-a-gravedigger scene!), but, there are a couple scenes that are so magical.  For instance, when they go for a walk and feel young again, not middle-aged and hopeless, thinking love can never find them again &#8211; they now feel so much hope, like they have their whole lives ahead of them all over again.  At least, that&#8217;s my interpretation of that scene.  And I still get teary when she is on the plane to leave and I always hear his words spoken earlier about what he would do if he could to stop her from leaving.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(I have on my to-do list to make a blog post about movies that make me cry.  But not today.)<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Fletch</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is just a comfort film.  I have seen it more times than I can count since I was a kid.  I always love Chevy Chase&#8217;s shtick.  The story is ok, the acting, whatever &#8211; none of it is anything special but I love Chevy Chase in pretty much anything.  I can sit through a bad movie if it has Chevy Chase in it and this is probably my favorite.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;BTW, this was the first in our &#8220;light movie day&#8221;, followed by L.A. Story.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<strong>The Matrix</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One of the greatest science fiction films ever made and I stand by that ten years after seeing it the first time.  And an action move I actually like &#8211; the chase scene at the beginning is so exhilarating and a big reason why I got the game Mirror&#8217;s Edge &#8211; just so I could live something similar.  And, I love the visual style of it &#8211; I wish I had a poster of the group shot of them behind the phone, the first time they all go into the Matrix.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;My main complaints with this one are as an action film, oddly enough.  The fight scenes should have been done by real martial artists.  Watch an old Jackie Chan film &#8211; these guys move like old men.  In fact, Jackie Chan at his age now, moves faster than these young actors.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But, this one is full of great science fiction, semi-cyberpunk moments and ideas.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Oh, I almost forgot, this was the new Blu-ray release we watched and, um, WOW!  IT looks absolutely stunning.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://xkcd.com/566/">Too bad they never made any sequels :P</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
So, that brings this post to this month&#8217;s <strong>bottom line:</strong><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
<u>Was Ready To Re-Watch It As Soon As It Was Over</u>: <strong>Almost Famous</strong><br />
<u>Would Rather Re-Watch Any Other Film In This List Than This One</u>: <strong>JFK</strong></p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/05/29/horror-night/' rel='bookmark' title='horror night'>horror night</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/03/31/march-movies/' rel='bookmark' title='march movies'>march movies</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/03/29/chudcoms-100-movies-that-deserve-more-love/' rel='bookmark' title='CHUD.com&#8217;s 100 Movies That Deserve More Love'>CHUD.com&#8217;s 100 Movies That Deserve More Love</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>hell has frozen over?</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 May 2006 07:28:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>christopher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LaserDisc]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/archives/188</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Star Wars: Episode IV &#124; This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD
</p>
<p>when lucas said he never would, i believed him and patted my laserdisc box set, swearing it would be the only way you would ever see the theatrical cuts (uh, vhs doesn&#8217;t count!)&#8230;</p>
<p>yet, from the announcement on starwars.com:</p>
<p>&#8220;In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/">hell has frozen over?</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/23/star-wars-dvd-notes/' rel='bookmark' title='star wars dvd notes'>star wars dvd notes</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/10/our-laserdisc-wishlist/' rel='bookmark' title='our laserdisc wishlist'>our laserdisc wishlist</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/release/video/news20060503.html">Star Wars: Episode IV | This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD<br />
</a></p>
<p>when lucas said he never would, i believed him and patted my laserdisc box set, swearing it would be the only way you would ever see the theatrical cuts (uh, vhs doesn&#8217;t count!)&#8230;</p>
<p>yet, from the announcement on starwars.com:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of <em>Star Wars</em>, <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em> and <em>Return of the Jedi</em>. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film. That means you&#8217;ll be able to enjoy <em>Star Wars</em> as it first appeared in 1977, <em>Empire</em> in 1980, and <em>Jedi</em> in 1983.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>i am really low on sleep lately, but, i don&#8217;t think this is dream nor hallucination&#8230;<br />
i&#8217;ll believe it in the morning&#8230;</p>
<p>and continue patting my criterion laserdisc of close encounters of the third kind, the only way to see the original theatrical cut&#8230;  even if vhs DID count, it was never released on vhs, you can only get this treasure on laserdisc :)</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/23/star-wars-dvd-notes/' rel='bookmark' title='star wars dvd notes'>star wars dvd notes</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/10/our-laserdisc-wishlist/' rel='bookmark' title='our laserdisc wishlist'>our laserdisc wishlist</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>links &#8211; couple of star wars dvd bits, a few various</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/26/links-couple-of-star-wars-dvd-bits-a-few-various/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/26/links-couple-of-star-wars-dvd-bits-a-few-various/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Sep 2004 16:31:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=155</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>
The true cost of free iPods &#8211; Engadget</p>
<p>Boing Boing: Lucas put malicious Xbox trojan on Star Wars DVD
Star Wars DVD Grosses $115M</p>
<p>Google Search: star wars holiday special
[not only do i remember the fam rushing home so my brother and i could watch this over 25 years ago, i have always rather vividly remembered a couple moments <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/26/links-couple-of-star-wars-dvd-bits-a-few-various/">links &#8211; couple of star wars dvd bits, a few various</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/23/star-wars-dvd-notes/' rel='bookmark' title='star wars dvd notes'>star wars dvd notes</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>
<a href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/0783446245612191/"><b>The true cost of free iPods &#8211; Engadget</b></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/24/lucas_put_malicious_.html">Boing Boing: Lucas put malicious Xbox trojan on Star Wars DVD</a><br />
<a href="http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2004-09/23/10.00.film">Star Wars DVD Grosses $115M</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=star+wars+holiday+special">Google Search: star wars holiday special</a><br />
[not only do i remember the fam rushing home so my brother and i could watch this over 25 years ago, i have always rather vividly remembered a couple moments from it (like the stormtroopers searching the wookie kid's room), and the images at these sites were so familiar i found myself saying "oh yeah, i forgot about that part"...  yet i have trouble remembering my own phone number...]</p>
<p><a href="http://web.icq.com/chatrequest">ICQ Chat Request</a></p>
<p><a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing/archive/2004/09/16/230388.aspx">A visual history of spam (and virus) email</a><br />
<a href="http://spam.weblogsinc.com/">The Spam Weblog</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/23/fave_music_site_oddi.html">Boing Boing: Fave music site: Oddio Overplay</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/1883446133489767/">Play the PlayStation Portable &#8212; in Japan &#8211; Engadget</a><br />
[um, yeah, i'd probably like to play with that...  btw, best pics of the PSP i've seen yet...]</p>
<p><a href="http://film.guardian.co.uk/patterson/story/0,12830,1311239,00.html">Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | Ruined by R ratings</a><br />
[something of a history of not-safe-for-network-tv language in movies being dubbed for broadcast...]</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/news/2004/0818netrabroad.html?net&amp;code=nlnetflash520">NetRatings: Broadband users a majority in U.S.</a><br />
[i somehow missed this news until now...]</p>
<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/19961120160958/www.thx.com/thx/ldisc.html">The Making of a THX LaserDisc</a></p>
<p><a href="http://city.jsc.nasa.gov/cities/default.htm">Cities Collection</a> [via <a href="http://lists.refdesk.com">RefDesk's SotD</a>]<br />
This NASA site offers outstanding astronaut photography of cities taken during space-flight.</p>
<p><a href="http://craigslist.org/vac/43544340.html">craigslist &#8211; Gorgeous 2br Penthouse on Las Vegas Strip</a>  [sigh]
</p></blockquote>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/23/star-wars-dvd-notes/' rel='bookmark' title='star wars dvd notes'>star wars dvd notes</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>links &#8211; a few various, a few from site feeds, and a .name</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/19/links-a-few-various-a-few-from-site-feeds-and-a-name/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/19/links-a-few-various-a-few-from-site-feeds-and-a-name/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Sep 2004 01:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bartending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geeky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet/web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LaserDisc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=152</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Waxy.org: Links Miniblog</p>
<p>Pioneer CLD-D704 notorious for streaking problems???(!!)</p>
<p>Bartender Magazine
Webtender.com &#8211; &#8220;In My Bar&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;Tell The Webtender what you have in your bar, and get a list of all the drinks you can make.&#8221;</p>
<p>Earth and Moon Viewer: Expert Request
</p>
<p>the following links come from my LiveJournal Friends page, which i use as a simple online aggregator of <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/19/links-a-few-various-a-few-from-site-feeds-and-a-name/">links &#8211; a few various, a few from site feeds, and a .name</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/03/an-audioblogging-manifesto/' rel='bookmark' title='An Audioblogging Manifesto'>An Audioblogging Manifesto</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/03/19/bird%e2%80%99s-eye-tourist/' rel='bookmark' title='Bird’s Eye Tourist'>Bird’s Eye Tourist</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/03/25/lifestream-for-2009-03-25/' rel='bookmark' title='LifeStream for 2009-03-25'>LifeStream for 2009-03-25</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p><a href="http://waxy.org/links/">Waxy.org: Links Miniblog</a></p>
<p><a href="http://groups.google.com/groups?q=laserdisc+player+streak+bright+dark&amp;num=30">Pioneer CLD-D704 notorious for streaking problems???(!!)</a></p>
<p><a href="http://bartender.com">Bartender Magazine</a><br />
<a href="http://webtender.com/cgi-bin/imbselect">Webtender.com &#8211; &#8220;In My Bar&#8221;</a> &#8211; &#8220;Tell The Webtender what you have in your bar, and get a list of all the drinks you can make.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/expert.html">Earth and Moon Viewer: Expert Request</a>
</p></blockquote>
<p>the following links come from <a href="http://livejournal.com/~insidious_plots/friends">my LiveJournal Friends page</a>, which i use as a simple online aggregator of site feeds&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/18/deaf_children_in_nic.html"><b>boingboing:</b> Deaf children in Nicaragua create new language</a><br />
<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/17/dd_rarities_sold_off.html"><b>boingboing:</b> D&amp;D rarities sold off by terminally ill TSR illustrator</a><br />
<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/17/remembering_.html"><b>boingboing:</b> Remembering</a></p>
<p><a href="http://cgi.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments-avantgo.pl?IDLink=1129040"><b>fark:</b> VIDEO &#8211; Reporter covers dangerous intersection &#8211; huge crash happens behind him, live</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/7313209331031632/"><b>Engadget:</b> The Godfather horse head pillow</a></p>
<p><a href="http://lists.refdesk.com"><b>RefDesk&#8217;s SotD:</b></a> <a href="http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/">MapMachine</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8221;National Geographic&#8217;s redesigned online atlas gives you the world &#8211; your way. Find nearly any place on Earth, and view it by population, climate, and much more. Plus, browse antique maps, find country facts, or plan your next outdoor adventure with our trail maps&#8221;
</p></blockquote>
<p>and i finally bumped into a website with someone using the .name domain&#8230;  i really wanted one of these for a long time, before i decided to just get a .com&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://grant.henninger.name/">http://grant.henninger.name/</a></p></blockquote>
<p>btw, it is just some guy&#8217;s blog, so no telling if it will be of any interest to anyone, it is just the domain name that caught my attention&#8230;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/03/an-audioblogging-manifesto/' rel='bookmark' title='An Audioblogging Manifesto'>An Audioblogging Manifesto</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/03/19/bird%e2%80%99s-eye-tourist/' rel='bookmark' title='Bird’s Eye Tourist'>Bird’s Eye Tourist</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/03/25/lifestream-for-2009-03-25/' rel='bookmark' title='LifeStream for 2009-03-25'>LifeStream for 2009-03-25</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>links &#8211; various, from karl, from SOTD, for family</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/17/links-various-from-karl-from-sotd-for-family/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/17/links-various-from-karl-from-sotd-for-family/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Sep 2004 21:44:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[audio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interesting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet/web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LaserDisc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OPP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soapbox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weird]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=149</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>first, the various&#8230;</p>
<p>Ender&#8217;s Game
&#8220;Intruder Signal&#8221; on 40 Meters Remains a Mystery for Now
Creepy crawly blanket
apod: Above the Eye of Hurricane Ivan
me with my LaserDisc evangelist hat on
</p>
<p>karl sent me these months ago&#8230;  yes, i am just now getting to them&#8230;</p>
<p>MetaSpy
OpenDiary.com
Web FTP Client Version3.5.0
Phone Phreaking Trips [RealAudio]
</p>
<p>these links with descriptions are copied from three RefDesk&#8217;s Site-of-the-Day <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/17/links-various-from-karl-from-sotd-for-family/">links &#8211; various, from karl, from SOTD, for family</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/04/19/30-years-of-penn-teller/' rel='bookmark' title='30 Years of Penn &amp; Teller'>30 Years of Penn &amp; Teller</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/02/14/we-have-been-online-three-years-today/' rel='bookmark' title='we have been online three years today'>we have been online three years today</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/31/two-news-bits/' rel='bookmark' title='two news bits'>two news bits</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>first, the various&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.ender.com/ender/">Ender&#8217;s Game</a><br />
<a href="http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/09/09/103/?nc=1">&#8220;Intruder Signal&#8221; on 40 Meters Remains a Mystery for Now</a><br />
<a href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/8412075874341621/">Creepy crawly blanket</a><br />
<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/apod/191986.html?nc=38&amp;style=mine">apod: Above the Eye of Hurricane Ivan</a><br />
<a href="http://forums.craigslist.org/?act=showThread&amp;ID=19066402">me with my LaserDisc evangelist hat on</a>
</p></blockquote>
<p>karl sent me these months ago&#8230;  yes, i am just now getting to them&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.metaspy.com/info.metac.spy/metaspy/">MetaSpy</a><br />
<a href="http://www.opendiary.com/">OpenDiary.com</a><br />
<a href="http://hokgo.atz.jp/cgi/ftp/">Web FTP Client Version3.5.0</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wideweb.com/phonetrips/">Phone Phreaking Trips</a> [RealAudio]
</p></blockquote>
<p>these links with descriptions are copied from three <a href="http://lists.refdesk.com/">RefDesk&#8217;s Site-of-the-Day email newsletter</a>s i have had sitting in my inbox, meaning to check them out&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html">MIT OpenCourseWare</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8221;Welcome to Massachusetts Institute of Technology&#8217;s OpenCourseWare: a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world. OCW supports MIT&#8217;s mission to advance knowledge and education, and serve the world in the 21st century. It is true to MIT&#8217;s values of excellence, innovation, and leadership. With the publication of 700 courses, MIT OCW offers educational materials from 33 academic disciplines and all five of MIT&#8217;s schools.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://dmarie.com/timecap/">Time Capsuler</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8221;To begin your trip in this Time Capsule enter a date. You will be presented with your own customized page that includes all the information you&#8217;ve chosen, plus typical consumer prices from that year, Academy Award winners that year, etc. Site has data online for the years 1800 through 2002, although data for the years 1800 &#8211; 1875 is probably spotty.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://buzz.yahoo.com/">The Yahoo! Buzz Index Weekly</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8221;Check out the top 20 search subjects on Yahoo!, complete with a sardonic round-up of all the newsmakers that are moving and shaking web traffic this week.&#8221;
</p></blockquote>
<p>and i am posting these specifically for members of my family&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&amp;storyID=6234798">one for mary</a>, <a href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/7829472160436794/">one for mom</a>, <a href="http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:EnqxmuO5lYwJ:24.174.1.65/Art%2520Bell/letters16.html&amp;hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;strip=1">and one for jeff</a> (i have been meaning to point this one out to him for something like three years)&#8230;
</p></blockquote>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/04/19/30-years-of-penn-teller/' rel='bookmark' title='30 Years of Penn &amp; Teller'>30 Years of Penn &amp; Teller</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/02/14/we-have-been-online-three-years-today/' rel='bookmark' title='we have been online three years today'>we have been online three years today</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/31/two-news-bits/' rel='bookmark' title='two news bits'>two news bits</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		<item>
		<title>problems with LaserDiscs and HDTV</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/30/problems-with-laserdiscs-and-hdtv/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/30/problems-with-laserdiscs-and-hdtv/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Aug 2004 06:05:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home theater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LaserDisc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[me]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=133</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Watching Laserdiscs in the Digital Age
great, detailed, new(!!) article by Josh Zyber on dealing with the problems trying to get laserdiscs&#8217; analog video to look good on modern digital monitors&#8230;
wish we had had this article when we went shopping&#8230;</p>
<p>in our case (large-ish, much loved laserdisc collection and seven players;  less than a hundred DVD&#8217;s and <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/30/problems-with-laserdiscs-and-hdtv/">problems with LaserDiscs and HDTV</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/02/26/pics-of-my-psion-5/' rel='bookmark' title='pics of my psion 5'>pics of my psion 5</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/' rel='bookmark' title='When DVD Spells B-A-D'>When DVD Spells B-A-D</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/02/11/the-whole-ebert-on-games-thing/' rel='bookmark' title='the whole &#8220;Ebert on games&#8221; thing'>the whole &#8220;Ebert on games&#8221; thing</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~laserguru/digitalage.html">Watching Laserdiscs in the Digital Age</a><br />
great, detailed, new(!!) article by <a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~laserdiscforever">Josh Zyber</a> on dealing with the problems trying to get laserdiscs&#8217; analog video to look good on modern digital monitors&#8230;<br />
wish we had had this article when we went shopping&#8230;</p>
<p>in our case (<a href="http://japanld.free.fr/collection.php?user=insidious_plots">large-ish, much loved laserdisc collection</a> and <a href="alert('a Pioneer CLD-D704, a Pioneer Elite CLD-97, and a Yamaha CDV-W901, all great players, and we have a few lesser players, two Pioneer CLD-D503s, an old Pioneer CLD-980 and a Panasonic LX-121...  only the three nice ones are hooked up full time, we are still deciding which one we like best...')">seven players</a>;  less than a hundred DVD&#8217;s and a progressive scan DVD player; multiple video game consoles;  almost nothing VHS;  small space, modest home theater system), we decided to go with EDTV (Enhanced Definition TV, 480p) and wait for HDTV to be worth the trouble&#8230;<br />
specifically, <a href="http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/product/b2c_product_detail.jsp?eUser=guest&amp;prod_id=TXN2745FPX%2fXAA&amp;selTab=Features">the Samsung TXN2745FP</a> (if that page redirects you, just hit back and it loads fine), which is definitely a step up from a standard interlaced image and flatscreen is great, but, though there are days we love it, we aren&#8217;t very satisfied with it most days&#8230;  the choice to go EDTV was probably a sound decision (again, in <i>our</i> case, ymmv), but, the model we got has what appear to be power supply issues that are very common for this model from <a href="http://www.hometheaterspot.com/htsthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&amp;Board=UBB36&amp;page=0&amp;view=collapsed&amp;sb=5&amp;o=">what i read online from other owners</a>&#8230;<br />
and thus far, we have not gotten around to doing much about it but complain amongst ourselves&#8230;</p>
<p>and for anyone who is wondering what the big deal is, here is a fantastic article that explains video definition differences pretty clearly and defends EDTV as a better choice than HDTV at this time&#8230;<br />
<a href="http://www.projectorcentral.com/video_signals.htm">ProjectorCentral.com &#8211; The Difference between HDTV, EDTV, and SDTV</a></p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/02/26/pics-of-my-psion-5/' rel='bookmark' title='pics of my psion 5'>pics of my psion 5</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/' rel='bookmark' title='When DVD Spells B-A-D'>When DVD Spells B-A-D</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/02/11/the-whole-ebert-on-games-thing/' rel='bookmark' title='the whole &#8220;Ebert on games&#8221; thing'>the whole &#8220;Ebert on games&#8221; thing</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>our laserdisc wishlist</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/10/our-laserdisc-wishlist/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/10/our-laserdisc-wishlist/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Aug 2004 19:53:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LaserDisc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[me]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=126</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>well, since we no longer have the amazing laserdisc market in dfw to go and hunt down new treasures, i have finally gotten around to putting our LDDb.com wishlist to use&#8230;
the lddb (laserdisc database) is truly well on its way to being the definitive source for ld info and we have had our collection listed there <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/10/our-laserdisc-wishlist/">our laserdisc wishlist</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/' rel='bookmark' title='our CE3K collection is complete!'>our CE3K collection is complete!</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>well, since we no longer have the amazing <a href="http://insidiousplots.com/lddfw.html">laserdisc market in dfw</a> to go and hunt down new treasures, i have finally gotten around to putting our LDDb.com wishlist to use&#8230;<br />
<a href="http://lddb.com">the lddb (laserdisc database)</a> is truly well on its way to being the definitive source for ld info and we have had <a href="http://lddb.com/collection.php?user=insidious_plots">our collection</a> listed there for quite some time, but never really used the wishlist&#8230;<br />
after collecting for over a year now, over 350 laserdiscs, we have 99% of what we want and some rather much-sought-after items (the thx demo disc, the toy story box set, both u.s. star wars box sets, etc.), but, there are still a few we have not yet acquired, such as the matrix, fight club, shock treatment, the jfk box set, the anamorphic unforgiven (yes, they made a few 16:9 anamorphic laserdiscs), star wars phantom menace (it is the theatrical cut in dolby digital ex), and the criterion theatrical cut of blade runner&#8230;  mostly stuff not available on dvd, some just because&#8230;<br />
i also threw in a few that we are not THAT hot over, but would be nice to get a trade offer for, such as some of the various japanese-release-only metallica discs out there&#8230;<br />
the only things we have gotten offers for to this point have been our godfather box set and our silent running/colossus: the forbin project double feature set&#8230;  and those were buy offers, we prefer trade&#8230;  we will see if having our wishlist online changes things&#8230;</p>
<p>anyway, with no further ado, i give you&#8230;</p>
<p><font size="4"><b><a href="http://lddb.com/wishlist.php?user=insidious_plots">Our LDDb LaserDisc Wishlist</a></b></font></p>
<p>(once there, you can click on &#8220;view all by title&#8221; for an easy overview&#8230;)<br />
i may add this link to the sidebar, or maybe just to our <a href="http://insidiousplots.com/">shared homepage</a>&#8230;</p>
<p>btw, yes, <a href="/missmary/">miss mary</a> and i are working on what will be cross-linked posts about our recent trip, but, that is not ready yet&#8230;</p>
<hr width="250"/>
<p><b><u>UPDATE</u></b></p>
<p>GRRRRAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!</p>
<p>so far as i can tell, the wishlist feature is private and cannot be changed to public&#8230;  for now, i will leave this post and look into it&#8230;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/' rel='bookmark' title='our CE3K collection is complete!'>our CE3K collection is complete!</a></li>
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		<title>When DVD Spells B-A-D</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 Jun 2004 00:33:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=119</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>When DVD Spells B-A-D
Some Great Films Suffer in Transition To New Format
November 12, 2003
By FRED KAPLAN
The New York Times</p>
<p>a great article about things that drive us nuts about the dvd industry/format and why we are not giving up on our laserdisc collection any time soon&#8230;</p>
<p>for instance, here he adresses a great example of some of the <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/">When DVD Spells B-A-D</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/' rel='bookmark' title='our CE3K collection is complete!'>our CE3K collection is complete!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/01/interesting-ld-vs-dvd-avl-thread/' rel='bookmark' title='interesting ld vs. dvd a.v.l thread'>interesting ld vs. dvd a.v.l thread</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031112/NEWS/311120309/1021">When DVD Spells B-A-D<br />
Some Great Films Suffer in Transition To New Format</a><br />
November 12, 2003<br />
By FRED KAPLAN<br />
The New York Times</p>
<p>a great article about things that drive us nuts about the dvd industry/format and why we are not giving up on our laserdisc collection any time soon&#8230;</p>
<p>for instance, here he adresses a great example of some of the issues at the very heart of the matter&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p>
Digital technology seems, on the face of it, a preposterously inadequate medium for storing movies, and we should gape in wonder that DVDs yield coherent pictures at all, much less the gloriously sharp, detailed images they churn out under the best of conditions. Consider: A DVD stores only 17 gigabytes of data. A two-hour film, transferred to digital data and otherwise untreated, would take up more than 150 gigabytes.<br />
So the data must first be massively compressed, mainly by digitally sampling a frame, then sampling only the information that changes in subsequent frames.<br />
This is no big deal for a scene of someone standing still against a blank wall. But it&#8217;s a major challenge for a scene of someone running through traffic surrounded by dozens of flashing lights and moving objects.
</p></blockquote>
<p>while ld video definitely has its own issues, it is NOT compressed and cav laserdiscs even store actual individual frames of film, something no other format does even today&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p>
If a film is old and damaged, the compression machine will &#8220;read&#8221; random dirt and scratches in the same way it reads motion. If the machine&#8217;s operator doesn&#8217;t pay attention and make adjustments, or if the machine is subpar, the digitized image will be full of waves, zigzags and other distracting distortions.<br />
Similar problems can plague color or, if it&#8217;s a black-and-white film, the gradations of gray. When transferring film from a negative to a print, someone has to practice the fine art of &#8220;color timing.&#8221; The same thing has to be done, though electronically, when transferring it to DVD. The job can be done well or it can be done badly.<br />
&#8220;The main reason a lot of DVDs are so bad,&#8221; says Robert A. Harris, president of the Film Preserve, one of the top film-restoring companies, &#8220;is that the people making them don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re doing and don&#8217;t care what they&#8217;re doing.&#8221;
</p></blockquote>
<p>well, why should they care???  they are going to price these things to sell to any shlub, so, they will not bother&#8230;  dvd regularly cheaps out, while makers of ld knew they could not sell them at the prices they were asking unless they threw in GOOD extras&#8230;  Boogie Nights is a great example&#8230;  criterion paid for the john holmes documentary the film was based on, but when the dvd came around, new line was not willing to pay for it&#8230;  the dvd was around $30, the ld was nearly $100&#8230;  but, you get what you pay for&#8230;  and, right now, many ld collectors are selling off their discs at insane prices, therefore, now is a great time to buy&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p>
Doing a DVD right takes time and money. A good Telecine machine, which transfers film to an image suited for television, costs about $2 million. Use of an outside lab&#8217;s Telecine facilities can cost up to $1,000 an hour.<br />
The Criterion Collection, which produces some of the finest DVDs of classic films, routinely takes months to make a digital transfer. Lee Klein, Criterion&#8217;s chief technician, says: &#8220;If there&#8217;s a scratch, we draw it out frame by frame. When there&#8217;s 12 pieces of debris on each frame, it takes a long time.&#8221;<br />
Most studios don&#8217;t bother.<br />
Some simply take the master that was made for laser disc, or even for VHS videotape, and transfer it to DVD. This was an especially common practice in the infancy of DVD, four to six years ago.
</p></blockquote>
<p>and he gives a few good examples in the article of lousy dvd&#8217;s, showing the widespread apathy of dvd makers&#8230;  their attitude is getting better, so, i hope by the time hd-dvd is the standard, they will have learned and can offer a consistently worthy product&#8230;</p>
<p>i am NOT saying that laserdisc is necesarily better in every way to dvd, my point is that laserdisc is still a viable format today, for those willing to pay, and should not have been discontinued so early (the last u.s. laserdisc release was in 2000)&#8230;  many ld collectors out there are already regretting selling off their collection when they are left with substandard dvd&#8217;s, or even no dvd release available, such as the theatrical cuts of close encounters and star wars&#8230;  and those two are great examples because there will NEVER be a dvd release of them&#8230;</p>
<p>laserdisc is a format for the serious film lover, dvd is the next vhs, the format for the masses&#8230;<br />
what hd-dvd will be remains to be seen&#8230;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/' rel='bookmark' title='our CE3K collection is complete!'>our CE3K collection is complete!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/01/interesting-ld-vs-dvd-avl-thread/' rel='bookmark' title='interesting ld vs. dvd a.v.l thread'>interesting ld vs. dvd a.v.l thread</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
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		<title>our CE3K collection is complete!</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2004 23:32:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p>today, we finally got our Close Encounters of the Third Kind &#8211; Collector&#8217;s Edition LaserDisc Box Set!</p>
<p>it is a gorgeous set, great high-res cover, three discs, the film on three sides, and three sides of extras&#8230;  in fact, the documentary runs 140 minutes and the movie is just 137&#8230;  this is the laserdisc upon <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/">our CE3K collection is complete!</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/' rel='bookmark' title='When DVD Spells B-A-D'>When DVD Spells B-A-D</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/10/our-laserdisc-wishlist/' rel='bookmark' title='our laserdisc wishlist'>our laserdisc wishlist</a></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>today, we finally got our Close Encounters of the Third Kind &#8211; Collector&#8217;s Edition <a href="http://db.widescreenreview.com/wsrmmbr/ldreview/FMPro?-db=ldreview.fp5&amp;-format=record%5fdetailld.htm&amp;-lay=main%20data%20entry&amp;-sortfield=title&amp;Title=close%20encounters&amp;-recid=36194&amp;-find=">LaserDisc</a> <a href="http://www.dvdlaser.com/search/detail.cfm?ID=20669">Box</a> <a href="http://lddb.com/laserdisc.php?id=8266">Set</a>!</p>
<p>it is a gorgeous set, great high-res cover, three discs, the film on three sides, and three sides of extras&#8230;  in fact, the documentary runs 140 minutes and the movie is just 137&#8230;  this is the laserdisc upon which the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075860/dvd#X31usa">Collector&#8217;s Edition DVD</a> is based, (which we also have, of course) and so far as we can tell, it has almost all of the extras that appear on the dvd&#8230;<br />
<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&amp;item=4193262952">got it off of ebay for just over $20</a> and it is in excellent condition&#8230;</p>
<p>this was the last ce3k item we wanted, we already had the dvd, <a href="http://lddb.com/laserdisc.php?id=2908">the CAV Criterion set</a>, <a href="http://lddb.com/laserdisc.php?id=4021">the CLV Criterion set</a>, and <a href="http://lddb.com/collection.php?user=insidious_plots&amp;action=list&amp;sort=title&amp;start=72&amp;max=5">a couple releases</a> of the inferior &#8220;Special Edition&#8221; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075860/alternateversions">version of the film</a>&#8230;  and, we also have the collector&#8217;s edition versions of the <a href="http://insidiousplots.com/photos/2004-march/aptprogrep2-2.jpg">theatrical one-sheet poster</a> and soundtrack cd, both released at the same time as the laserdisc set&#8230;</p>
<p>so, this set fills a gaping hole in our collection&#8230;</p>
<p>we will watch it tonight or tomorrow, but, we popped on side three (which is cav) and it looks fantastic, you can tell it is the same transfer used for the dvd&#8230;  released in &#8217;98, dolby digital 5.1, thx-certified, surely this is going to be on our list of the best looking laserdiscs ever made&#8230;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/' rel='bookmark' title='When DVD Spells B-A-D'>When DVD Spells B-A-D</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2006/05/06/hell-has-frozen-over/' rel='bookmark' title='hell has frozen over?'>hell has frozen over?</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/10/our-laserdisc-wishlist/' rel='bookmark' title='our laserdisc wishlist'>our laserdisc wishlist</a></li>
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		<title>interesting ld vs. dvd a.v.l thread</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/01/interesting-ld-vs-dvd-avl-thread/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/01/interesting-ld-vs-dvd-avl-thread/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2004 04:45:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=109</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>after you get past the first few posts, anyway&#8230;</p>
<p>covers some usual ld vs. dvd stuff, with some dvhs stuff thrown in and even a couple chinese formats&#8230;  also interesting are some good numbers about compression of audio formats on dvd, superbit dvd, dvhs, and ld, which is a very important point of comparison in home <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/01/interesting-ld-vs-dvd-avl-thread/">interesting ld vs. dvd a.v.l thread</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/' rel='bookmark' title='our CE3K collection is complete!'>our CE3K collection is complete!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/' rel='bookmark' title='When DVD Spells B-A-D'>When DVD Spells B-A-D</a></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://groups.google.com/groups?th=5ed5b334621eed0f">after you get past the first few posts, anyway</a>&#8230;</p>
<p>covers some usual ld vs. dvd stuff, with some dvhs stuff thrown in and even a couple chinese formats&#8230;  also interesting are some good numbers about compression of audio formats on dvd, superbit dvd, dvhs, and ld, which is a very important point of comparison in home video formats&#8230;</p>
<p>i still say laserdisc is very worthwhile, dvd is a transitional format, hd-dvd will be here eventually and that format will be much more worth having than current dvd&#8230;  dvd will be remembered for its faults&#8230;  dvd will be like <a href="http://www.oz.net/blam/DiscoVision/DiscoVision_intro.htm">discovision</a> is to the modern laserdisc&#8230;</p>
<p>if hd-dvd hurries along, dvd may some day end up as &#8220;obscure&#8221; as ld (in the mass-market mind)&#8230;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/09/11/links-the-holy-trilogy-on-dvd-two-more-911-links-and-a-few-various/' rel='bookmark' title='links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various'>links &#8211; The Holy Trilogy on dvd, two more 9/11 links, and a few various</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/our-ce3k-collection-is-complete/' rel='bookmark' title='our CE3K collection is complete!'>our CE3K collection is complete!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/06/25/when-dvd-spells-b-a-d/' rel='bookmark' title='When DVD Spells B-A-D'>When DVD Spells B-A-D</a></li>
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		<title>horror night</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/05/29/horror-night/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/05/29/horror-night/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 May 2004 23:16:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>insidious_plots</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p>seems every time we meet someone that actually has a real interest in movies, it is always horror&#8230;  usually cheap, sleazy, b-grade horror&#8230;  we try to be open-minded and go with the idea that maybe there is just something we don&#8217;t know and perhaps it is simply a matter of broadening our horizons, so, <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/05/29/horror-night/">horror night</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/03/31/march-movies/' rel='bookmark' title='march movies'>march movies</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/05/08/movies-i-watched-april-2009/' rel='bookmark' title='Movies I watched &#8211; April 2009'>Movies I watched &#8211; April 2009</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/02/23/follow-the-music-august-rush/' rel='bookmark' title='Follow the music&#8230;  August Rush'>Follow the music&#8230;  August Rush</a></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>seems every time we meet someone that actually has a real interest in movies, it is always horror&#8230;  usually cheap, sleazy, b-grade horror&#8230;  we try to be open-minded and go with the idea that maybe there is just something we don&#8217;t know and perhaps it is simply a matter of broadening our horizons, so, we decided to try a couple of horror classics to see what might be there that we never saw in horror before&#8230;</p>
<p>so, we have the criterion laserdisc of <i>halloween</i> and a standard laser release of <i>the omen</i> and we watched them both the other night&#8230;</p>
<p>first up was <i>halloween</i>, the film credited with starting the &#8220;slasher&#8221; genre&#8230;<br />
and, it was not long until we were wishing it would hurry up and end&#8230;<br />
of course, after <i>starman</i>, <i>the thing</i>, <i>escape from new york</i>, and now this, i think we are ready to really and truly give up on john carpenter&#8230;</p>
<p>the only good thing i have to say about it is that the music was very good&#8230;</p>
<p>one interesting device i noticed was that, as the movie built up to the climax, it seemed to me that the director was intentionally using a lot of shots to show the time of day&#8230;  no indoor shots without plenty of windows and most shots prominently showed the placement of the sun, like a ticking countdown to nightfall&#8230;  in fact, at one point, it is suddenly and abruptly night, which gave me a feeling of &#8220;it&#8217;s night already!?  they&#8217;re out of time!&#8221;&#8230;<br />
while this kept me (almost unconsciously) estimating how much time was left, i really could not care less if these people were actually going to survive or not&#8230;  we were hardly told anything about them, so, they really did not seem like real people, just actors doing what the director told them to&#8230;<br />
and, as is always the case, the characters seemed to behave in very unbelievable ways&#8230;  i know this is a staple of the genre, but, that is one of the things that alienates me from the genre&#8230;  too much of having to give up reason to follow the story&#8230;  not that there is usually much of a story&#8230;  i often hear horror described as a sub-genre of sci-fi, but, to me it seems more a sub-genre of action&#8230;  any film where you can relate pretty much everything it covers as just &#8220;this happened, then that happened, etc.&#8221; is an action movie&#8230;  no concepts to ponder, no characters to get to know better, no reason to care WHY things are happening, most of the time&#8230;  all of that comes in scarce tidbits, which is why, to be totally coherent, you need a whole series of films&#8230;  maybe by <i>die hard 3</i>, i might care what happens to john maclaine, maybe by <i>halloween 9</i> i might know why michael myers killed his sister and all these others&#8230;</p>
<p>if they were better movies, i might take that journey&#8230;</p>
<p>or maybe i will listen to the commentary on <i>halloween</i> and see if john carpenter can reveal to me the subtle intricacies&#8230;</p>
<p>then, with a bad taste in our mouths, we took a chance on <i>the omen</i>&#8230;<br />
this one was much better, but, there was very little action, just lots of dialogue and concepts&#8230;  it was more like a mystery to be solved&#8230;<br />
now, i must say i thought the dialogue was very weak&#8230;  it got the point across, but, there was no personality, no cadence, no art&#8230;  with good dialogue, you can take a line out of context and, if you know the characters, you can usually deduce who said it&#8230;  and this is true of life as well&#8230;  the omen is one of countless movies where you could have mixed and matched the dialogue between characters&#8230;  the characters were definitely not defined by how they said what they said, they were just telling us what we needed to know to advance the plot&#8230;  in a movie filled with dialogue, you need more personalized speech to really carry it, or at least to keep it interesting&#8230;  (cf. david mamet, btw&#8230;)<br />
but still, it was a good movie&#8230;  pacing was good, i was never really bored, the material was great, and the music was superb, even though it was mono&#8230;  the actors were varied;  the kid was great (not that it was a demanding part), the various clergy were good, and the nannies were great, but, too many other parts seemed totally interchangable&#8230;</p>
<p>we liked it&#8230;  it does not go on &#8220;the shelf&#8221;, but, i will definitely watch it again sometime to look for other nuances&#8230;  i just don&#8217;t expect much from donner in that area&#8230;</p>
<p>i just have a hard time calling it &#8220;horror&#8221;&#8230;  it was more of a mystery, as i said above&#8230;  yes, there were horrific IDEAS, but, again, that makes it a movie of IDEAS, not actions&#8230;</p>
<p>as far as &#8220;horror&#8221; goes, we have only really seen a few and disliked most of them&#8230;  (btw, remember, we pretty much only count what we have seen since we started into the world of dvd and home theater, since we now &#8220;see&#8221; movies differently than we used to&#8230;  i have seen literally thousands of movies, but, i know a lot more about movies now and feel i need to give them all another chance&#8230;)<br />
i will briefly touch on a few and try to avoid sci-fi horror, like <i>alien</i>, <i>forbidden planet</i>, or <i>event horizon</i>, just to try to prove we are capable of contemplating another genre&#8230;</p>
<p>we have seen <i>a nightmare on elm street</i> and <i>wes craven&#8217;s new nightmare</i> and only new nightmare was any good to us&#8230;  i guess because it was likeable even if you scoffed at the genre&#8230;  hell, it scoffed with you&#8230;  but, even new nightmare is in &#8220;the pile&#8221;, not on &#8220;the shelf&#8221;&#8230;  it was good once, may be again, but, we are not in any hurry&#8230;  the next viewing would probably be for the commentary&#8230;</p>
<p><i>poltergeist</i> IS on the shelf&#8230;  now that is one creepy film&#8230;  the chair-stacking scene chills me every time&#8230;  in fact, there is so much good about that movie, i will not even get started lest i go three paragraphs&#8230;</p>
<p>then, there is that &#8220;m. night&#8221; dude or whatever&#8230;  we have seen both <i>signs</i> and <i>sixth sense</i> and disliked both of them&#8230;  and there was very little that we found disturbing, creepy, and very very little that was anything like scary&#8230;  sure, a few disturbing concepts, no action movies here, but, still, they are old concepts and the films really brought very little, if anything, to the genre that we had not seen before&#8230;<br />
and, btw, we generally despise surprise endings&#8230;  in <i>fight club</i>, it explained a lot, in <i>sixth sense</i>, it seemed just a gimmick&#8230;  (iow, with the former, you want to watch it again more to understand the symptoms better now that you know the cause, in the latter you want to watch again to see if the film is internally consistent with the ending&#8230;)<br />
[must've re-written the last two sentences twenty times to ensure it was spoiler free :P]</p>
<p>now, one horror movie we really liked was the others (and, no, not because it had our beloved nicole in it, though that doesn&#8217;t hurt it any)&#8230;<br />
that was one SCARY frickin&#8217; movie!<br />
i mean, it was disturbing!<br />
and, one of the best uses of surround that we have ever heard&#8230;<br />
we were jumping, cringing, hoping that what we knew must happen next would not happen;  i think <i>the others</i>, so far, is the only movie to actually put a fright in us&#8230;<br />
it was just plain well-directed&#8230;  the kids, the rules of the house, the cinematography, including the overall look, the time setting, it just starts pulling you in to an alternate reality, so, you already have no idea what to expect and it unhinges your mind from the everyday, emptying it, so it can fill it up with what the director chooses, hopefully freeing you from expectations of normality&#8230;  like misdirection&#8230;  and the unfamiliarity<br />
means it will be more unpredictable, which means it has the potential to be scarier&#8230;  and the director did not disappoint, though, admittedly, the first half of the movie is much much better than the second half&#8230;<br />
it is a dvd, not a laserdisc, so there is no &#8220;shelf vs. pile&#8221; issue (all our dvd&#8217;s are in one place), but, if there was a choice to be made, it would go on the shelf&#8230;</p>
<p>so, anyway, next in our horror education will probably be clive barker&#8230;  we have nice laserdiscs of <i>the serpent and the rainbow</i>, <i>hellraiser</i>, and <i>lord of illusions</i> (or is it <i>the frighteners</i>?  can&#8217;t remember)&#8230;  i read <i>the great and secret show</i> and loved it (though, more fantasy than horror)&#8230;  i found it to be very original, creative, and interesting, so i figure i will like more of his stuff&#8230;  having seen some clive barker long ago, i think it is safe to assume it will be truly horrifying stuff, with more in common with <i>event horizon</i> than the other stuff i have been covering here&#8230;<br />
hopefully in a good way&#8230;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/03/31/march-movies/' rel='bookmark' title='march movies'>march movies</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/05/08/movies-i-watched-april-2009/' rel='bookmark' title='Movies I watched &#8211; April 2009'>Movies I watched &#8211; April 2009</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2009/02/23/follow-the-music-august-rush/' rel='bookmark' title='Follow the music&#8230;  August Rush'>Follow the music&#8230;  August Rush</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>more than 310 laserdiscs now</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/27/more-than-310-laserdiscs-now/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/27/more-than-310-laserdiscs-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Dec 2003 17:32:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>christopher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LaserDisc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[me]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=53</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>[moved from my LiveJournal, with some link fixes....]</p>
<p>well, all the half-price books stores are having their 20% off sale, so, we hit a couple in fort worth and grabbed a few new LaserDiscs, including some of the first Criterions, all movies we care nothing about (39 Steps, The Magnificent Ambersons, High Noon, and The Third Man), <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/27/more-than-310-laserdiscs-now/">more than 310 laserdiscs now</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2010/05/24/lifestream-for-may-24th-2010/' rel='bookmark' title='Lifestream for May 24th, 2010'>Lifestream for May 24th, 2010</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2008/05/05/2timothy-316-17/' rel='bookmark' title='2Timothy 3:16-17'>2Timothy 3:16-17</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/01/18/screenshots/' rel='bookmark' title='screenshots'>screenshots</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[moved from <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/~insidious_plots/1143.html">my LiveJournal</a>, with some link fixes....]</p>
<p>well, all the half-price books stores are having their 20% off sale, so, we hit a couple in fort worth and grabbed a few new LaserDiscs, including some of the first Criterions, all movies we care nothing about (<em>39 Steps</em>, <em>The Magnificent Ambersons</em>, <em>High Noon</em>, and <em>The Third Man</em>), but, they were only like $6 a piece and in pretty good shape&#8230;<br />
at this point, we have mostly what we want on laser now, except a few rare ones, so, there is rarely any stuff that makes us say &#8216;wow&#8217;&#8230;</p>
<p>our collection looks a little something like this&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://insidiousplots.com/photos/2003-dec"><img src="http://insidiousplots.com/photos/2003-dec/moviediscs2.jpg" /></a></p>
<p>and that is before the new ones, which are about 15 or so&#8230;  (our favorites are on the shelf, the rest are on the floor until we get some new shelves :P)</p>
<p>so, this latest buy brings our LaserDisc Database total to <a href="http://lddb.com/collection.php?user=insidious_plots">310</a>, and there are 10 or more that have no listing there yet, so, we need to submit the entries&#8230;<br />
our database we keep on our <a href="http://insidiousplots.com/psion">Psion palmtops</a> tracks our DVDs and LDs and it says we now have 404&#8230;  sooner or later, i will put that db on the web&#8230;<br />
we used to keep pages where we listed all our <a href="http://insidiousplots.com/dvd.html">DVDs</a> and <a href="http://insidiousplots.com/ld.html">LDs</a>, but, when the inheritence came, we started buying them so fast it was work to keep them updated&#8230;</p>
<p>in other news, i am reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0735611319/002-3807279-6384832?v=glance"><em><strong>Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software</strong></em></a> by <a href="http://charlespetzold.com/">Charles Petzold</a> and it is pretty amazing so far&#8230;  i was with it word-by-word up until the 12th chapter where you build a binary calculator in your head&#8230;  but, i am going to back up and come at it a bit slower (no pun intended), must have not grasped all the prerequisite knowledge or something&#8230;</p>
<p>anyway, damn fascinating so far&#8230;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2010/05/24/lifestream-for-may-24th-2010/' rel='bookmark' title='Lifestream for May 24th, 2010'>Lifestream for May 24th, 2010</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2008/05/05/2timothy-316-17/' rel='bookmark' title='2Timothy 3:16-17'>2Timothy 3:16-17</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/01/18/screenshots/' rel='bookmark' title='screenshots'>screenshots</a></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>leeeeeeet laserness</title>
		<link>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/24/leeeeeeet-laserness/</link>
		<comments>http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/24/leeeeeeet-laserness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Dec 2003 19:12:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>christopher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LaserDisc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[me]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://christophercornelius.com/wp/?p=52</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>[moved from my LiveJournal (with some link fixes), where there is also a comment to this post that i did not move to here...]</p>
<p>Current Mood:  satisfied
Current Music:  some weird version of &#8220;god rest ye merry gentlemen&#8221;</p>
<p>behold the Pioneer Elite CLD-97 Reference LaserDisc Player&#8230;
 </p>
<p>it actually says &#8220;reference&#8221; on it, how cool is that&#8230;  <span style="color:#777"> . . . &#8594; Read More: <a href="http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2003/12/24/leeeeeeet-laserness/">leeeeeeet laserness</a></span>


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/30/problems-with-laserdiscs-and-hdtv/' rel='bookmark' title='problems with LaserDiscs and HDTV'>problems with LaserDiscs and HDTV</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2010/12/22/lifestream-for-december-22nd-2010/' rel='bookmark' title='Lifestream for December 22nd, 2010'>Lifestream for December 22nd, 2010</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/05/11/insidiousplotscomblog/' rel='bookmark' title='insidiousplots.com/blog?'>insidiousplots.com/blog?</a></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[moved from <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/~insidious_plots/781.html">my LiveJournal</a> (with some link fixes), where there is also a comment to this post that i did not move to here...]</p>
<p>Current Mood:  satisfied<br />
Current Music:  some weird version of &#8220;god rest ye merry gentlemen&#8221;</p>
<p>behold the Pioneer Elite CLD-97 Reference LaserDisc Player&#8230;<br />
<img src="http://insidiousplots.com/photos/2003-dec/cld97-1.jpg" /> <img src="http://insidiousplots.com/photos/2003-dec/cld97-2.jpg" /></p>
<p>it actually says &#8220;reference&#8221; on it, how cool is that&#8230;  (not that you can see it in these pics&#8230;)</p>
<p>got it at <a href="http://www.marvinelectronics.com/">Marvin&#8217;s Electronics in Fort Worth</a> for $270 after tax, which is <a href="http://tinyurl.com/23ufe">a</a> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2l85s">damn</a> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3324k">good</a> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2qv7u">price</a>&#8230;  (btw, the guy showed me the bluebook and it is $288, so, even when not comparing to ebay prices, it is a nice deal&#8230;)</p>
<p>we tried parts from our DTS Toy Story, CAV Toy Story, THX Wow Disc, The Stand, and our anamorphic The Fugitive, and then we watched It&#8217;s A Wonderful Life, and so far we are extremely impressed&#8230;  obviously, we wish it had AC-3 out but we are leaving our Yamaha CDV-W901 (Pioneer D503 clone) in the system and it does have it&#8230;  this elite may now be our favorite player&#8230;  the D704 goes over to miss mary&#8217;s corner, and that leaves our pioneer 980, our D503, both unused and another D503 at my parent&#8217;s house&#8230;</p>
<p>our only other complaint with the 97 is how it displays a frame during side flip and that sucks&#8230;  if there is a way to disable that, i wish we would find it&#8230;<br />
for another point on the good side, we finally get to use the 704 remote we love, we never use the 704, but, prefer the remote to any other&#8230;</p>
<p>so, it looks like today is movie-watching day, we picked up A Christmas Story the same day we got the It&#8217;s A Wonderful Life, a couple nice LD finds for xmas&#8230;</p>
<p>so, anyway, merry christmas to us!</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/08/30/problems-with-laserdiscs-and-hdtv/' rel='bookmark' title='problems with LaserDiscs and HDTV'>problems with LaserDiscs and HDTV</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2010/12/22/lifestream-for-december-22nd-2010/' rel='bookmark' title='Lifestream for December 22nd, 2010'>Lifestream for December 22nd, 2010</a></li>
<li><a href='http://christophercornelius.com/wp/2004/05/11/insidiousplotscomblog/' rel='bookmark' title='insidiousplots.com/blog?'>insidiousplots.com/blog?</a></li>
</ol></p>
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