5 posts tagged “dvd”
Sorry, couldn't resist the headline...
So Posh Spice Beckham decided that LA was the place to be, and David goes from being just one of Madrid's galacticos to the undisputed centre of the Galaxy.
I'm not surprised that he chose the US. Having played for United and Real, there was really nowhere in Europe that he could've gone without it being an obvious letdown. As it is, the tone of the British press has been merciless - the worst was FU's Russell Brand describing Beckham as "an old dog looking for a quiet place to die". But US$125m over five years probably makes all that easy to ignore. Frankly, I think the British press is being unfair, not to mention typically xenophobic and arrogant in their dismissal of 'soccer' in the US.
What has been surprising is the reaction of the US press, who have been giving Beckham fantastic, positive coverage. His decision even made the Wall Street Journal and was the main picture story on the NY Times website. I even heard a passing reference to Beckham on CNBC's Morning Bell!
Who knows? Perhaps Beckham's arrival will have the same effect that Pele's arrival at the New York Cosmos had in the 1970s. Certainly, that appears to be the plan, and I can see other aging superstars moving over to the US if Beckham is successful.
In footballing terms, I just have one question : apart from his freekicks, Beckham's game is built on assists - but who is he going to be creating goals for? Beckham's crosses are great, but you still need a striker with sufficient skill to make use of them, especially when they come in at pace.
We'll see. In the meantime, if you want to see how all this has actually happened before, I highly recommend the documentary Once In A Lifetime. Released last year, it tells the fascinating story of the New York Cosmos era that I mentioned earlier, when soccer-fever suddenly swept the US and stars like Pele, Beckenbauer and Cruyff all ended up in the NASL.
Of course, it all fizzled out in the end, and it's hilarious to watch everyone in the documentary laying the blame at Tony Soprano lookalike Giorgio Chinaglia's feet.
In fact, if I were Beckham, I'd sit down with the missus and watch this. History might be about to repeat itself.
Oh yeah, and given all the hoopla about the Beckham-Cruise friendship, does anybody want to bet that Beckham and Posh are going end up as Scientologists?
Being both a DVD junkie and a home theater enthusiast, the flurry of HD-DVD and Blu-ray news from the Consumer Electronics Show is worrying. As TheDigitalBits commented in their first CES post, 2007 appears to be the year that studios and manufacturers are really bringing their stuff where the new HD formats are concerned.
The home theater side of me is less concerned, because upgrading to either HD format (or both, with a dual-platform player) would simply be too expensive. Besides the cost of a player (about US$1000+ at present), I'd also have to upgrade my plasma TV to make it worthwhile, since my 42" Panny doesn't have HDMI. Although prices of LCDs and plasmas have come down significantly, that would still be S$4000+, so the total cost would be over S$5000. Simply not worth it.
I'm a bit more worried about the DVD collection. The format is still thriving, and I continue to queue stuff up at Amazon. But am I going to end up buying a whole bunch of stuff again on whichever HD format I eventually adopt? Or will it suffice to buy a top-of-tine-line upscaling DVD player (like the Denon 2930 I've been lusting after) to 'upgrade' my DVD collection and ensure it remains watchable next to HD content?
I keep telling myself to just be satisfied with the decent system that I have - no complaints about sound or vision, really - but upgradeitis is a chronic and incurable disease.
Oh well, I guess I'll just get my fix from whatever Jobs announces tonight. I'm sure there'll be something that makes me want to spend money.
I recently bought the DVD of a classic 1978 production of Macbeth, starring Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench as the titular couple. Haven't watched it yet, but it was pretty funny seeing the back cover blurb, which mentions that "the porter" is played by "Ian McDiaiarmid (Star Wars : Return of the Jedi)" and Macduff is played by "Bob Peck (Jurassic Park)".
Fortunately, the blurb didn't see the need to explain who McKellen and Dame Judi are, but once again it brings to mind how painful it must be for these serious Shakespearean actors sometimes. Those who had already achieved acclaim as stage actors probably don't feel it so much, but it must still be rather frustrating to know that you will end up being remembered as Ian ("Gandalf", "Magneto") McKellen, Dame Judi ("M") Dench, Patrick ("Jean-Luc Picard", "Professor X") Stewart, Alec ("Obiwan Kenobi") Guinness or Ian ("Darth Sidious") McDiarmid.
Work is work, I guess...
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Just started watching the DVD...it's one of those productions where the director - Trevor ("Cats", "Les Miserables") Nunn, no less - has 'reimagined' the setting. It takes place against a featureless darkness, and everyone is wearing an odd mishmash of costumes, that bring to mind Blake's 7 or Dr Who.
Maybe it isn't so bad to be Ian ("Gandalf", "Magneto") McKellen after all...at least you have a decent costume budget, and won't be embarrassed at how you looked 20 years later...
BTW the actor playing Malcolm looked really familiar, and after imdb'ing him, I figured out why : he's Roger Rees, who played Lord John Marbury in West Wing.
Technorati Tags: humor, movies, RSC, shakespeare
Great news! Lucasfilm has announced that they will finally be releasing the undoctored, non-'special edition' versions of the original trilogy on DVD. Sure, it's a double-dip after the (slightly disappointing) mega boxed set, but I'm definitely getting Episode 4 (and only that episode, probably) just for two things : (1) Han shoots first, and (2) the rebel fanfare as the X-wings dive towards the Death Star for the first time. More than anything, that soundtrack change in the mega boxed set really made me angry, because it had always been a crucial heroic moment in the score.
The release will be for a limited time only, from September to December. The only downside is that the original cuts will be presented with only Dolby 2.0 sound...but then again, original means original, I guess. Oh, and I wonder how much we'll have to pay for the privilege...
The official Lucasfilm announcement even has a photo of Han shooting first!
Of course, the ultimate would be to release next-generation versions with all versions on one disc, with the ability to watch different versions side-by-side, or picture-in-picture, for comparison. Or maybe I'm just being too geeky!
The Wild Geese : 30th Anniversary Edition is released on 27 September. Already ordered mine!
I'm pretty sure that any male of around my age remembers this film...Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Roger Moore (at the peak of his fame, and before he was too old) as aging mercenaries leading a rescue mission into some dodgy African country. A real Boy's Own adventure film, which together with A Bridge Too Far, ensured that my imaginary-weapon-of-choice when playing war in primary school was a British Sten gun, with the magazine sticking out the side.
In fact, the Sten was probably the movie machine gun of the 1970s, until Uzis became more popular ('cuz you can hold TWO of them!).
What gun did YOU use when playing war?
