LOL

Bill Hunt over at Digital Bits had me laughing with a couple of recent updates:

First one was about the upcoming release of Curious George to home video formats:

The film will be available in anamorphic widescreen and full frame DVD versions, as well as a VHS full frame version too. VHS? Set the Wayback Machine, Sherman...

:-)

We fully intended to get to a theater with Hannah to see this, but never did. Looks like it will be out on DVD (& VHS!!!) in just a few months, anyway.

Second one was about an item I've posted about before [here and here], a unified Hi-Def video format:

On a related note, Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida is again claiming that they're STILL not ruling out the possibility of creating a united high-definition format: "We have not given up on a unified format. We would like to seek ways for unifying the standards if opportunities arise." Isn't that a little bit like closing the barn doors AFTER the cows have run loose across the south forty? Yikes, man.

:-)

This blog needs a laugh-track!

For those that don't know, HD-DVD and Blu-ray both have hardware and software in stores now. Early reviews for both formats are mixed. Bottom line, save your $1,000 and wait for second or third (or, if you're my parents -- tenth) generation players and software. If the unified format mentioned in the quote doesn't happen by then, the format war might be over by other means, or, worst-case, the two formats will co-exist and there will likely be a reasonable universal player available that will play anything you can throw at it.



Films Recently Watched:

The Princess Bride (1987) dir. by Rob Reiner

Lady and the Tramp (1955) dir. by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) dir. by George Roy Hill
First time seeing this.

I didn't care for the "poppy" music soundtrack -- for a Western?? Give me Ennio Morricone any day.

I did like the sepia-toned sequences.

Overall, it was OK, but you won't find me heaping accolades on it, as some do.

I do have to mention writer, William Goldman, here.

He wrote original screenplays for two of the films mentioned here in this post, Princess Bride & BC/SK, but his filmography (as both a writer of original stories/screenplays as well as adapted screenplays) is quite astounding:

All the President's Men (1976)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Misery (1990)
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Dreamcatcher (2003)
etc.

Also, I should mention that I'm working my way through Scrubs - Season 1, which I received as a Father's Day gift! I really love the style of humor there, but also the ability to quickly turn a moment of hilarity into poignancy and right back again. It's also a show where I've only seen a handful of episodes, so much of it is brand new to me. I'm quite enjoying it.