Tag Archives: DVD

Butterfly Effect!

Posted on April 4, 2004 | Leave a comment

I wish I hadn’t gone to see this. I wish I had waited for the DVD. Why? buterflyeffect Because if I had waited for the DVD I could replay the few scenes I had questions about over and over again. And more importantly I could see the deleted scenes; I’m certain there are at least two and they would answer my other few questions. Why? Becuase the movie takes care of all the little details and I’m sure they didn’t forget these few, I figure they were editied out and I have to know the rest because I enjoyed this movie so much. BUT it’s not even out on DVD yet! This was a great flick.

You need to understand two things: Chaos Theory and Time Travel (both relativly simple concepts, not).

  1. Time travel – If you travel into the past don’t interfere with anything you may screw up the future. I.E. don’t go to watch your parents meet for the first time since just being there to observe you may do something to influence the outcome. (Almost a Heisenberg/Schroding dilemma which is you will influence the outcome).
  2. Chaos Theory – It is said that the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Chicago can create a hurricane in Peking. I.E. If you stop and buy gum on the way to watch your parents meet, it may be the last pack of gum that your mother-to-be can’t buy and now when she meets your dad-to-be she has bad breath and he doesn’t ask her out and you vanish in a puff of smoke.

It’s a great movie, it’s my favorite movie concept, time-travel, and as such it offers many what ifs. The only downside, it was kind of violent and I almost want to say it was in an unnecessary way, but I’m sure that without it, it might have changed how I viewed the movie.

I have to also say I laughed the absolute hardest I’ve ever laughed in a movie in my life. One scene was so ironic it hit me all the way to my funny bone. I hope I used ironic correctly (I think it’s ironic that most people use the word ironic incorrectly, I hope I used it right the third time too).

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“Does it bring us together, or draw us apart?”

Posted on April 1, 2004 | 3 comments

A quick evaluation on whether a technology is good or not. That is a pretty short evaluation and I like it (it’s short, it’s powerful and it meets my 3 second attention span requirement). I got this from a Mike Rohde blog entry that was referring to a Howard Rheingold article quoting an Amish person as to why cell phones are okay for them. It’s got to be causing some conflict for them, remember cell phones are a lot more these days than just phones they are e-mail, web browsers, PDAs, video games, calulators, cameras, mp3 players, etc… and some of those functions are standard these days. The Amish aren’t the focus of my entry but they are the round about source of the quote.

Back to the quote: “Does it bring us together, or draw us apart?” – While it is a nice short evaluation on technology, the continuum between the two ends of the spectrum leaves a lot of grey area. But I’ve been thinking about it every since I read the entry. Computers (sans Internet) can take people away from the people they know. The Internet can bring them the world but also take them away from people they know. But for some it could be a creative outlet – photography, music, movies, art design. This could be what brings them out.

My question is what are some very clear technologies that fit at one end of our spectrum or another?
There is no research here, I’m just making it up as I go along (so don’t get upset with me).

  • Digital Photography – probably brings people together more.
  • Video games / on-line gaming – probably separates the gamer from live people (but more virtual friends).
  • Laptop Computers – possibly keeps you in touch but at the cafe and resturant and airplane you probably aren’t paying attention to the world around you (where the people are). This is probably true with handheld video games, cd/mp3 players, PDAs, text messaging, etc. also. You could probably say about regular old paper books too.
  • DVD Players / Home Theatre – this could be social or not just depends if you stay home instead of going out or if you have friends over. As the technology gets better, why leave the house?

    No big conclusion, just thoughts about the topic. If you think of any please leave me a note.

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    My DVDs

    Posted on March 31, 2004 | 1 comment

    1998 Olympic Gold Gift Set, Alias - The Complete First Season, Alien Quadrilogy, The American President, Analyze This, Animatrix, The, Armageddon -- Criterion Collection, Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker, Batman Beyond - The Movie, Blade Runner Director's Cut, Boys on the Side, Canyon Dreams, Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection, Clerks - Collector's Edition, Cutting Edge, The, Day the Earth Stood Still, The, Desert Vision, Dido - Here With Me/Thankyou (_DVD Single), Diner, Ever After - A Cinderella Story, Flight Of The Navigator , Fools Rush In, High Fidelity, Highlander, Indigo Girls - Live at the Fillmore, Jewel - A Life Uncommon, Jewel - Live at Humphrey's by the Bay, Jumanji (Collectors' Edition), Kim Possible - The Secret Files, Lilith Fair - A Celebration of Women in Music, Mary Chapin Carpenter- Jubilee - Live at Wolf Trap, The Mask , Roswell, Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball, Sarah McLachlan- Video Collection 1989-1998, Sorta Fairytale -_Dvd Single/Jewelbox, Sports Night - The Complete Series Boxed Set, Standard Deviants - Astronomy 2-pack, The, Stargate, Stargate (Ultimate Edition), Stealing Beauty, Three Colors Trilogy (Blue / White / Red), Titanic, Tori Amos - A Sorta Fairytale (Special Edition EP _DVD Single), VH1 Storytellers - Sarah McLachlan
    These are all the DVDs I own, many are music. I’m not a big movie collector but I’ve picked up a few here and there. Most of the movies were really good deals (many were under $10, if not $8) even with shipping but they still show my taste(?). I should have slightly editied since there were a few (Analyze This, The Mask) that I wouldn’t have bought but came free with a player. SO click on the icon to check them out.

    FYI – ‘Flight of the Navigator’ is the best movie every (and it’s by Disney). ‘A Christmas Story’ is great too, I’m not sure why it isn’t in the list?!?

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    Favorite ‘Recently Viewed Movies’ List

    Posted on March 30, 2004 | Leave a comment

    Recent and Favorites…? These were all on TV recently, it’s rare that I watch movies while surfing but I kinda get sucked into them sometimes.

  • Speed
  • The America President
  • Fire in the Sky
  • Terminator

    The last movie I saw at the theater that I liked was Paycheck.

    Question from What’s On… Right Now?

    Actually what came to mind is favorites that I’ve recently purchased but not watched yet: The Cutting Edge, Stealing Beauty, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Alien Quadrilogy (9 DVDs). Most of these I got a very good deals on-line or on sale.

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    Theme songs

    Posted on March 30, 2004 | Leave a comment

    So every time I watch two of my favorite shows I smile when I hear the theme sonngs

    1. I’m With Her – A superstar dating a regular guy with the theme “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” (by Rhett Miller performed by Sugar Ray)
    2. Joan of Arcadia – A girl who meets God embodied in regular people with the theme “(What If God Was) One Of Us(?)” (by Eric Bazilian performed by _Joan Osborne)

    What’s also interesting is the both are questions (kind of). I’ll be paying more attention to the other themes that I like more… I like the opening credit sequences too, which I normally just TiVo past.

    And don’t forget this Friday is a new episode of Joan!

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    Why don’t more people use Macintosh more?

    Posted on February 27, 2004 | 1 comment

    I’ve been in computers for a long time now. Back before The Apple Macintosh has been around for most of that time. I do not understand how it has not dominated the market. It always reminds me of Sony and Beta (you do remember Beta don’t you?). Beta was the superior competitor to VHS but look what happened to that…

    It’s just some of the software and how much easier they make it. Anyone can figure out how to convert and store photos from their digital camera, create a jukebox, edit movies and burn it all to an impressive looking looking DVD. Of course it’s the iLife applications that I’m talking about, they come free with any Macintosh these days.

    I thought Macs were a little easier to use even when iLife didn’t exist. It’s always been it little be easier to me. It’s not that I have any problem learning, I’ve programed computers from assembly code to fortran any used operating systems from Atari to pSystem to Linux. Macs are definitely a little bit more money but I always think it’s worth it.

    I just got the new version of iLife but haven’t had much time to play with it but it even has a few more features that makes you DVDs even look more professional. The iPhoto program is supposed to be a lot faster and store more photos, but I don’t use it for much other than red-eye reduction. They also have a new program called Garage Band to create your own music.

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    “It was you…”

    Posted on February 25, 2004 | 1 comment

    They said they’d never release Roswell on DVD. They said that it would cost to much for all the music rights. But it just came out on DVD. But they said they couldn’t because… Oh. I got it… They changed the music…

    I’m better now. Let’s get back on topic.

    I’ve seen the first episode again (and again). It’s proably my most watched show ever (except maybe Sports Night but that’s another story). It’s a great show: aliens, kids tricking the authorities, a festival, Sarah McLachlan, Area 51, Jonathan Frakes and more great music. What could be better than that?

    It starts off with Liz writing in her journal and a flashback to the Crashdown Cafe . Two customers in the cafe get in an argument and Liz accidentally gets shot and then Max heals her. It’s a great scene, great visuals, great music (did I mention Sarah?), just plain great. The sheriff’s dad used to believe in aliens and now he’s starting to believe. Did I mention that Liz is dating the sheriff’s son? It just gets better from there. :)

    Did I tell you it’s a really good episode? If they changed any of the music, I didn’t notice anything. But I think the band was the same one who did some of the background music for the original episodes (but I could be wrong on that). It had a (minor) deleted scene, but I think it’ll be fun to seen them all again. They’re mildly widescreened (letterboxed), I don’t think they originally were. Well, I’m happy that’s it’s out and just needed to say so.

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    Have you Scene It?

    Posted on January 3, 2004 | 1 comment

    Have you seen Scene It? It’s a great new game that you play on a board and on the TV (with a DVD player). It asks a bunch of trivial questions about movies, but about a third of them are on the TV. I’ve played this with several groups of friends and it’s been a hit every time. There is a short and long version of the game (you fold the board in half!) and they make a junior edition too. It’s fun, you get to shout out answers and it really gets everyone interested…


    Some show you a scene and ask a question (different questions for the same scene), put these movies in order, figure out the puzzle as the pieces appear, guess the actor from the HS photo, invisibles where they remove the people and you guess the movie, pictogram , fill in the blank and more…. Some are all plays so anyone can answer your question. They make a Junior version of the game too.

    Check this out when you get a chance. There is a more interactive demo if you have flash.

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