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carrobin |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:36 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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If I haven't got the right tech stuff to plug into the right places, it might be there but I can't see it. I suppose that there'll be people who will do it for me, though, for a price. Fortunately my friend does it merely to thank me for watering his plants and checking his mailbox when he's spending months down in South Carolina. |
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marantzo |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:55 pm |
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I'm perfectly happy with DVD's and don't care if they are Bluray or HD or whatever. If the picture isn't screwed up I don't need to see it as if it were in my room. Flat screen, that's a big improvement of TV. HD, I can take it or leave it.
When companies decided to market 3D television sets, of course at a high price which all developments start out with, I was sure that it would bomb spectacularly. It did and I don't think it will ever be a great success. It's more of an novelty than anything else. I think 3D movies will be more selective as time passes. I can see animated movies carrying on in 3D though. And pictures with lots of special effects.
I Phones, I Pods et al? I don't even have a cell phone, though they are very useful in special circumstances. |
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carrobin |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:15 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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A couple of weeks ago I was proofreading an article for a medical publication about the dangerous shortages of some necessary drugs. Seems that most drugs are manufactured in only two or three locations, and a number of problems can slow or stop production--including the drug company's decision to cut back on products that aren't profitable enough. So this discussion of entertainment media has reminded me of that--and the fact that profits are dictating not only our leisure activities but everything in our lives these days. Pretty scary, really. |
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Joe Vitus |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:29 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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shannon wrote: If they've ever been available, they always will be available. It doesn't matter if someone decides it's worth streaming to you or not. You can still have it. You may not be able to hold it in your hand, but it's still there.
What does this mean, exactly? If someone doesn't deem it worthy of putting online or in a home viewing format, how is it always available? Your logic is kinda escaping me here. |
_________________ You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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gromit |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:14 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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carrobin wrote: A couple of weeks ago I was proofreading an article for a medical publication about the dangerous shortages of some necessary drugs. Seems that most drugs are manufactured in only two or three locations, and a number of problems can slow or stop production
That was the case with heparin a few years back. It's an anti-coagulant used during various surgeries. Made from pig intestines, mostly in China. There was a problem with contaminated supplies in China and not many alternative sources. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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marantzo |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 4:31 pm |
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A Canadian discovery by the way. My late wife used to need it when she was being treated for her cancer. I used to inject it into a small IV tube that she had implanted so she wouldn't have to have it injected by a needle every day. |
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Befade |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:00 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Quote: "The Rockford Files"?
Carol.......actually that's one of the streaming netflixs that are suggested I would like.
As to Ray Liotta. I think he played a spectacular villian in Forever Mine, a Paul Schrader film with Gretchen Mol and Joseph Fiennes. Has anyone here even seen this? I own it and have watched it a bunch of times. Has a St. Petersburg, FL locale. |
_________________ Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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marantzo |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:12 pm |
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We get The Rockford Files up here every Monday at 7 PM. |
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gromit |
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:53 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Semi-related: I'm reading a book about HeLa cells, the first line of immortal human cells. They were cancer cells from the cervix of one Henrietta Lacks, a "colored" woman from Baltimore. Problem was that her cancerous cells multiplied so well in culture that they would take over any other line if even one cell got in. So the problem was that there was only one line of human cells being used all over the globe for experiments, and it was cancerous. The book is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Well-researched, a lot about her family, but not very detailed on the science. Also a little too fond of pushing the minority female angle at times. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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Syd |
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 12:57 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Still going through the Blues, I've watched Wim Wenders' The Soul of a Man which I loved. He's taken three of his favorite blues artists, Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James and J. B. Lenoir (pronounced, as near as I can tell, Le-noy-er rather than the French way), none of whom I was familiar with, showed lots of footage of their performances, and showing modern artists also doing their songs. Many of these modern artists, especially Garland Jeffreys, Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Cassandra Wilson and Lou Reed are also excellent, though I wish Nick Cave and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion had been left on the cutting room floor. I thought the addition of the modern-day artists generally worked very well. It gave a historical perspective of how the music has lasted through the decades.
I was amazed how many Skip James's performances have survived. According to the documentary he re-recorded his songs in the sixties, and it looked to me like these are the re-recordings. He had an unusual high-pitched voice and odd phrasing that's hard to describe.
Lenoir was a bigger problem because for a long time it was thought next to no film had been recorded of him, but it turns out a couple of amateurs shot some footage of him in the 1960s for a would-be documentary, and we get a lot of that here. I liked him the best of the three featured bluesmen, but they were all fine.
Altogether a labor of love and a wonderful film. |
_________________ Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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Marc |
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:16 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: Give it maybe two years, DVD's won't around anymore.
Like out-of-print vinyl, there will be a market for DVDs that aren't available on Blu-Ray or via streaming. The same is true of certain titles on VHS. I own a copy of Jean Eustache's masterpiece The Mother And The Whore on VHS. It's never been released on DVD and is not available as a stream from any source. Used video copies sell for around $100.
I hate the sterile look of Blu-Ray. |
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Joe Vitus |
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 3:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Interesting comment about Blu-Ray. Whenever I start getting paid again, I was planning on buying one. I've got a high definition television, and my non-region player upgrades the picture quality. Maybe I'll stick with that.
Marc, I know this is a long shot, but do you/did you ever own Song of the Loon on VHS? |
_________________ You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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gromit |
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:37 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Syd, I'm a Skip James fan.
He has an eerie haunted voice and a distinctive style.
Some song recs:
Look at the People Standing at the Judgement;
Devil Got My Woman;
I'm So Glad
I watched half of that Blues series (4 of 7 I think).
Let us know which you thought were best.
One or two were weak. A few very good.
As I recall. |
_________________ Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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bartist |
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:23 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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Go offline for a day and this place wakes from its slumbers, of course.
Shannon, Marc and Carrobin both offered reasons to not declare DVD dead. You called them a "standard definition medium" but there are, as well as Blu-Ray, also HD DVDs that give excellent resolution and are cheaper than Blu-Ray. Many current DVD will play as either standard or high-def. and the purchase of a $10 HDMI cable means you can watch them on most DVD players in HD. |
_________________ He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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shannon |
Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:46 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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Joe Vitus wrote: shannon wrote: If they've ever been available, they always will be available. It doesn't matter if someone decides it's worth streaming to you or not. You can still have it. You may not be able to hold it in your hand, but it's still there.
What does this mean, exactly? If someone doesn't deem it worthy of putting online or in a home viewing format, how is it always available? Your logic is kinda escaping me here.
Meaning that you don't have to wait on some company like Netflix or Hulu to deem it profitable enough to be placed online. There will always be someone in Internet Land who's willing to just give it to you for free if you're interested. I know of several torrent sites where members share obscure, esoteric crap that you can have for nothing. (for example: http://karagarga.net/) And using them really requires very little technical know-how.
bartist wrote: ...there are, as well as Blu-Ray, also HD DVDs that give excellent resolution and are cheaper than Blu-Ray. Many current DVD will play as either standard or high-def. and the purchase of a $10 HDMI cable means you can watch them on most DVD players in HD.
HD DVDs have been discontinued. And they wouldn't play on a standard DVD player.
Also, the necessity of HDMI is a fallacy being perpetuated by stores like Best Buy who are selling these cables at ridiculously high markups. (You can find them on Amazon and other sites for less than $5 apiece, but Target or whatever won't sell you one for less than $50. And there's no such thing as a better cable in this circumstance, so don't get suckered into a super-expensive "Monster Cable" or whatever it's called. It's digital; it's either sent or not sent, there's no good or bad to it.) They're unnecessary, although undeniably convenient. Those normal red/white/yellow component cables that come with every piece of electronics you've ever purchased are perfectly capable of transmitting HD. |
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