movies

DVD Commentary Tracks

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I’ve been a little inspired by this blog here today during my read through of the usual suspects. My first thought on reading this was – do people still buy cd’s? Over the past couple of years I have bought two, to be precise. Metallica’s The Black Album and Guy Sebastian’s A Beautiful Life and that’s only because I am a huge fan of his. But don’t shoot me, we’re all entitled to like stuff whether it’s good or shyte. ;)

I’m not into reading CD liners but I am really into listening to DVD commentary tracks. Over the past 24 hours I have listened to two – Top Gun (Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Jack Epps, along with technical advisors Captain Mike Galpin, Pete Pettigrew and Vice Admiral Mike McCabe) and Pretty Woman (Director Garry Marshall).

The question you’re probably asking is, why do I love commentary tracks? If you have never sat down and listened to one yourself you might wonder what the heck I am on about. Take a movie that you really enjoy or love, and then get a whole new dimension added to it by people who were involved in the making of it or even acted in it perhaps. I’ve listened to probably more than 50 of them over the last couple of years, I don’t like to buy a DVD unless it contains a commentary and I have noticed now that sometimes they are adding commentaries to movies which means I have to buy another copy! This happened with both Romeo + Juliet and Top Gun – I now have early copies without any extra features which I may as well use as coasters because I value the new copies a lot more.

So the ones I listened to yesterday were just completely fascinating. Top Gun is a movie which I do love – mainly for the opening sequence more than anything. I’ve been demonstrating that to customers for about 14 years – I used to have it on laserdisc and I used to demonstrate it on a $10,000 THX system we had in a sound lounge in the very first store I worked in. The sound on that movie is incredible, there’s no doubt about it.

Seriously, if you have a decent surround sound system, go play just the opening sequence at a fairly high volume and you’ll see why I used to sell so many of those THX systems and surround sound systems in general. There’s something so indescribable in that opening sequence. 9 times out of ten it actually makes my eyes water and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. So it was hilarious to hear Tony Scott say that he was fired 3 times from Top Gun and one of the times was for that opening sequence footage.

The Pretty Woman commentary track was just lovely. Garry Marshall was the director of a lot of stuff I really loved when growing up, including Happy Days. You’d think one guy would have trouble carrying a track all on his own but he talked for most of the way through the movie about all kinds of stuff, and he was funny and friendly and so interesting. I didn’t realise until he mentioned it that he also directed The Princess Diaries which I also loved, one of the major reasons being Hector Elizondo who plays a similar type of character to his Pretty Woman role.

I’ll sit down and put together a list of some of my all time favourite commentary tracks over the next week or so, just in case anyone is interested. In the meantime, you might want to check out ratethatcommentary and see if your favourite movie has a track and then go find a copy of it to watch.

There’s also Wikipedia with info on alternate commentary tracks, which is something I may have to look into, sounds interesting! ;) and a really interesting quote from Jack Nicholson..

Commentary Tracks, movies, music

Black or White

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“I can’t see the point of painting everything black or white” – lyric from A-ha’s The Sun Never Shone That Day.

Well I really love A-ha. This lyric makes me think. I really do think of everything in terms of black or white. Good or bad. Hero or Zero. Love or Hate. Right or Wrong. For me there really are no in betweens. I do not think this is a bad thing for the most part but I know other people find it difficult to deal with when they are dealing with me – especially when they disagree with me.

On the other hand, people always know where they stand with me – if they bother to ask. I make no bones about it. I don’t go around behind peoples backs – I’ll say it to your face. Unlike a lot of people people in life.

However, I am happy to agree to disagree – it won’t stop me believing what I believe, it won’t change my opinion or way of doing things. I believe regardless of how compatible two people might be, they will never agree on everything.

Tomorrow I plan to get up early and watch a couple of movies. I haven’t seen Romeo + Juliet in a bit too long now, I bought Priscilla Queen Of The Desert ages ago but haven’t sat down to watch it on DVD yet, there’s a few others I may consider as well.

Last weekend I watched Grease with the commentary track – I got it on DVD, it’s a 2 disc version with a cute little leather jacket over it. They cleaned up the movie a fair bit digitally and it looks incredible on my TV. So good I want to watch it again a few more times. ;) Commentary tracks are always fascinating to me and this was no exception. Well worth watching.

About Snoskred, movies, Who Is Snoskred

Exposure.

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I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the girl with the one track mind saga. It’s a blog on the internet where a girl has been pretty intimately blogging details of her life. Somehow it got turned into a book and the girl decided to release it under a pseudonym – however, she may have forgotten for a moment that she lives in the UK, and that is the home of tabloid journalism. A newspaper found out her real name, who she really was, and then published those details.

I feel really sorry for her – I can’t imagine blogging that sort of stuff, let alone having everyone from your parents to everyone in your entire country then finding out you wrote it, and reading that kind of personal stuff.

That and another incident which I have been reminded of have led to this blog about baiters and our potential exposure. I personally would feel *safe* if my real information got out on the net, because I live in a country where there’s not too many lads, but I would be plenty not happy all the same. For some of the baiters reading this who live in the US, Canada, UK, Amsterdam and possibly even South Africa, there’s a lot more potential for harm actually finding its way to a baiter who is exposed.

So when any of us tell other people information about ourselves, we *trust* that information won’t be given to others. There’s been a couple of occasions where I have *deliberately* led fellow **baiters** astray about who someone actually is. Once it was for a joke, which the baiter himself came up with, and several of us went along with. I believe there are still some baiters who are completely unaware that it was a joke – I do not believe the baiter involved ever got a chance to dispel the myths about himself. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he got busy. And they *were* brilliant myths.. that was a heck of a lot of fun, that joke.

Once it was because unknown to other baiters, we have an incredible secret in our midst, which myself and only the baiter involved are actually aware of – as far as I know. There’s very good reasons to keep it secret and I certainly do not intend to share the secret here but the reason I mention it is.. underlying everything there has been a fear that it will get found out somehow. Looking at the One Track Mind blog, I cannot imagine the aftermath if it were to be exposed.

Those of you thinking you know what it is, you’re dead wrong. To make sure you realise this, I will now state that the secret is who someone is in real life, not who they are on the internet. Just so you know.

And now to other topics of lesser import.

1. Pride and Prejudice. I read it again. What a surprise, huh? I love this book. I actually have a big book with all Jane Austen‘s books in there – Sense and Sensibility, P&P, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan and Persuasion. I bought it for $20 a couple of years ago. The amount of times I have read it, I would hate to think. This is the book I always read in between other books. This is the book I always pick up when I go to bed, want to read a little, but am too tired to start a new book. The language is so soothing. It is almost as good as Shakespeare but my Shakespeare book is way too heavy to hold up in bed. :(

2. Indiana Jones and the temple of doom. I was playing this at work today and a kid who was about 8 years old got scared by it. Hello? What closet has this kid been sheltered in? So his Mother says to me “You should have something a bit more kid friendly on”. I said, this IS kid friendly, it’s PG rated, and most of the other movies I have which “look” kid friendly are packed full of swearing. I can’t play animation because it makes the screens look terrible and we’d never sell any. So while I was doing the invoice, she kept telling this kid not to look but he was mesmerized, and he was starting to get a bit freaked out, so I said to him, hey mate, don’t worry, he’s Indiana Jones and it all turns out fine in the end. It makes me wonder what kind of movies (if any) this kid is allowed to watch at home. It was the bit of the movie where the little kid has the voodoo doll and is stabbing it while Indy is fighting some guy. If something as simple as stabbing a voodoo doll makes this kid freak out.. I fear for his future in this world. BTW I am gonna order this, too.

3. I just watched Girl with a Pearl Earring. There’s never enough Colin Firth. Even the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice did not contain enough of him. The movie was good though.

That’s it for now, off to bed. Night all.. :)

Angry Snoskred, anonymity, books, internet, Internet Safety, movies, pseudonym

It’s a mystery..

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Suspense can drive one crazy.

My other half is in the running to win a contest which will take him to Thailand to the factory of a manufacturer to make his *own* washing machine. We don’t find out until the 1st of September, but they’re already asking him for his passport details and about travel insurance and the guy as much as said he’s going – but it’s not certain yet.

This kind of messes with another overseas trip we almost had organised but luckily it was Frequent Flyer points and we were waiting for confirmation on a couple of the sectors so it isn’t 100% booked yet and we can back out without losing anything right up to the first week of September so that’ll work out ok.

This trip, if he wins it, is the kind of thing you only get to do once in a lifetime and imagine him being able to say to customers that he’s been to ‘s factory and even made his own washing machine there. On the other hand, it is to Thailand, and it’s not exactly the first choice destination for him – or for me sitting here at home while he goes there. He’s never been overseas before and I kinda wanted to go with him when he did, but there’s no way I can go as a part of this trip if he does win. :(

Meanwhile – I watched The Italian Job – brilliant! Loved it.

We started watching the Star Wars box set with commentary – I am not a SW fan but it was really interesting.

– I have heard about this movie – The Departed.

It is an adaptation of the highly acclaimed Hong Kong action film Infernal Affairs. The local mob boss (Jack Nicholson) has planted an informer (Matt Damon) in the élite police unit, the sole purpose of which is to break up his operation. The cops, in turn, have introduced a snitch (Leonardo DiCaprio) into his mob. Both sides are frantic to trap the intruding rats, with the possibilities of bloody betrayal rising exponentially as the movie unfolds.

You probably already know I am a huge Leonardo Di Caprio fan, add Matt Damon to the mix, and this will be a very interesting film. I think. Add Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin, and this gets even more worth seeing IMO.- It was a nice peaceful day at work today ;)

– I have the next 3 days off! YAY!

movies, The Other Half, travel

School Ties

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It’s a movie, with Brenden Fraser and a bunch of other great actors, including Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It probably wasn’t the best choice for my current frame of mind, which is to be honest, noting a lack of right around the place.

It talks about bigotry, and doing the right thing even though it may cost you, and something I believe few people in this world believe in – honor. If you look at the definition of honor, it may not make much sense. Honorable makes a little more –

honorable

adj 1: not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent;

I guess my real point is, at the end of the movie, when David attends the headmasters office to confess to cheating when he did not do it, the friend of the guy who *did* do it and saw him do it has already been there, and has told them what he saw. That is doing the right thing – standing up even if the people doing wrong are your very good friends.

I lost all respect today for someone I used to consider honorable. That someone is so busy defending his friends wrong doing that he cannot see the forest for the trees. It had been coming for a while, but today was the final straw.

Movie worlds are so perfect, you tend to forget that in real life, for the most part, many people suck. You get sold dreams, and then you find out the people selling them are only lying for their own purposes. Or, people want to control you, so they tell you what you want to hear, only until they realise they can’t control you, and they can’t handle that.

I’m feeling pretty down about it right now. I won’t lie to you about that, like others will.

No disrespect for the movie though, it’s a good movie and worth seeing. The acting is very good quality and shows you Matt Damon and Ben Affleck 5 years before Good Will Hunting, though they don’t have many scenes together and Ben’s role is quite minor.

Back to work tomorrow. Probably a good thing right now.

bitches, movies

Entertainment

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Stephen King’s Cell – I read this book again over the last couple of days, and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time. I don’t want to spoil the book for you because sitting down to read it should hopefully have an impact on you, but basically anyone who read Stephen King’s The Stand – swap superflu with cell phones.

There is only one thing I would change about the book, and that is the ending. I’d like to know what happened when Johnny Gee took the phone call.

I also watched Interview with a Vampire – to be honest, I’m not a huge Anne Rice fan, but this movie is actually pretty good. Kirsten Dunst in particular. And the costumes are stunning.

Recently seen too – Chocolat – I love that movie. :)

On the soon to be watched list – A Knight’s Tale – I have never seen the whole thing in one sitting as yet, but I have seen Jousting for real, in real life. It was brilliant.

Also Girl with a Pearl Earring – a bit of Colin Firth never goes astray ;)I’m going to take a bit of a break from baiting for most of tomorrow, I’ve been working hard today on the various projects I have going right now.

books, movies