Be a Voice for the Voiceless,
Be a Guardian for the Lost,
Forever Walk in Spirit,
Come Sun, Rain, or Frost.

• 25Jul 08

  Allison, Sunny, & The Roses

  Allison (& her first border crossing)

  

  

  

  Sunny

  

  

  The Roses I finally coaxed into blooming

  

  

  

  

  • Posted Jul 25, 2008 12:09 pm PT
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• 23Jul 08

  Recent Film Purchases Vol. 2

  A new week means new releases, so I picked up these Blu-Rays yesterday:

  The Mummy (1999)

  

  The Mummy Returns

  

  The Sand Pebbles

  

  As I was driving home with my loot, I got to thinking......"The Mummy" & "The Mummy Returns" are my first "triple dips", meaning I've purchased these on DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray. The choice to upgrade the DVD to HD-DVD is obvious, but why, you may ask, purchase the Blu-Ray on release day when I already have the HD-DVD? Because, as an early adopter and a fan of CONTENT, I began collecting for both HD formats. Paramount was HD-DVD exclusive, meaning if you wanted this studio's films in HD, you had to purchase them on HD-DVD. With the HD format war dead and gone and Paramount (along with basically all other studios) swearing their allegiance to Blu-Ray, films once available only on HD-DVD are now beginning to be released on Blu.

  The reason I re-purchased is because for some reason, Paramount didn't feel the need to include lossless audio on the HD-DVD, instead opting for Dolby Digital Plus. Now that they're releasing on Blu-Ray, they are encoding their disks with DTS-HD Master Lossless, which is identical, bit for bit, to the studio masters. What does this mean? It means if you have a home theater with the right equipment, surround speakers, subwoofers, etc.....you are in for an aural treat. The crispness and clarity of lossless audio is leaps and bound better than lossy Dolby Digital or DTS. I've been building my theater, piece by piece, for many years now....and since music is my first love (even over movies) I've concentrated on buying the finest audio equipment I can afford (or what the wife will let me spend). After many thousands of dollars, I have an audio set-up that I'm very pleased with (I still get upgradeitis at times). So the choice to spend money AGAIN for the same film is worth it, to me at least, in order to have the finest audio available. If I were just a little more patient when these formats first launched, I wouldn't have to worry about this, but I'm a nut when it comes to this stuff, and I wanted all the HD content I could get....so now I'm obviously paying the price for being an early-adopter and a consumer whore.

  • Posted Jul 23, 2008 9:46 am PT
  • Category: Movies
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• 21Jul 08

  Recent Film Purchases Vol. 1

  My Blu-Ray collection is growing exponentially. I quit collecting DVDs months ago, choosing instead to focus on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD (I did purchase "There Will Be Blood" & "The Darjeeling Limited" on DVD, just because they were movies I couldn't wait to come out on Blu-Ray). And now that HD-DVD is defunct, I'm purchasing exclusively on Blu-Ray, unless I find incredible deals on HD-DVD. So, here's what I picked up on Blu-Ray last week from Amazon, including what will most likely be my final HD-DVD purchase:

  Casablanca

  

  Patton

  

  The Professionals

  

  The Longest Day

  

  And I bought this, mainly for Angie & Alli (although I've been told I WILL watch them):

  Harry Potter Years 1-5 Limited Edition Gift Set

  

  I'm importing these from the UK, via Amazon UK:

  Black Narcissus

  

  Det Sjunde Inseglet (The Seventh Seal)

  

  I've been collecting as many of my favorite vintage / c l a s s i c films as possible as they become available. I've got a long ways to go, but I'm slowly making headway. I'm not sure of the exact number, but these additions put my Blu-Ray collection at over 150 titles, while my HD-DVD collection is most likely finished at 87 titles.

  • Posted Jul 21, 2008 1:46 pm PT
  • Category: Movies
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