Well, just after I last posted my thoughts on the documentaries on Disc 1 of Young Indiana Jones, Volume 3, I happened to remember the other documentary spotlighted on the disc. There is an excellent 30-minute piece on the history of the French Foreign Legion. Originally organized around 150 years ago, the French Foreign Legion originally consisted of outcasts from other societies who had no place else to go and wanted to get their lives back in order. Over a five-year tour of duty, those associated with the Foreign Legion put themselves through an extremely rigorous training where death is considered the ultimate way to go out - their mindset: "Today is a good day to die." (And you thought the Klingons first came up with it!)
Through the eyes of two surviving officers, we learn about the history of the French Foreign Legion and what drives people to pursue such aspirations of glorious, romantic adventures and dying for a cause. Hollywood had its hand in perpetuating the romantic myth of the Legion through numerous movies in the 1930's, the myth of which still continues to this day in the harsh guerrilla warfare of the 21st century. Desertion was the norm in the Foreign Legion, and if you returned, more often than not your punishment was to go back to your unit and start all over again. And if you survived five years of hell, you had a story to tell, as those soldiers interviewed for this documentary have to offer.
I'm currently getting started on the documentaries for Disc 2, which include a look at the formation of the Turkish Empire in the 20th century and an exploration of the myth of Dracula. See you then!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Documentaries on Young Indy, Volume 3, Disc 1...
I've gotten through the first disc of documentaries on Volume 3 of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, which hit stores today, and I've got to admit I'm more than impressed with the substance of information and material on these and all of the documentaries on the previous two volumes. This isn't just simply talking head fluff, this is substantial commentaries on the people and places spotlighted in the entire Young Indy TV series that really gives you the most in-depth look this side of a history book.
Disc 1 starts off with a great 30-minute documentary on the life of Ernest Hemingway, the author of classic 20th century novels such as "The Sun Also Rises", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", and "The Old Man and the Sea". Here was a guy who found his passion through his writing because of the lack of love from his parents. When I read "The Sun Also Rises" in college, I found it extremely dull and boring, because in my college-age eyes it was about people partying, going to one cafe' after another in Paris, and going off to the bullfights in Spain. Not the most thrilling of tales in my book. But now I understand why Hemingway wrote in such sparse, "He said, she said" language. He wanted the accuracy of the description to take hold of the reader's attention. Now I wonder if I should go back and re-read his novels.
There's another interesting 30-minute documentary on the life and career of Edith Wharton, the author of works such as "Ethan Frome", another book I read in college. The reasoning for her frequently depressing works all stemmed back to the fact that Edith Jones started out trapped in that upper class society of the 19th to 20th centuries, and she didn't want to be a part of it. She saw herself as a revolutionary, writing to express her thoughts and feelings of being trapped in society and loveless marriages as a token trophy piece, the way most women of the time were. She was definitely a modern woman living decades before the term "women's liberation" became commonplace in America.
A third documentary on Disc 1 focuses on the life and career of journalist Lowell Thomas, who pioneered the craft of informational entertainment in traveling slideshow presentations, radio, newsreels, and television. He was one of those rare breed of reporters who, according to the legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, loved to get the human side of the story, not taking any sides in the progress, and accurately reporting on lands and peoples and conditions to a hungry American public. And to think this was way back in the day before CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and the Internet! With all of the tabloid-like media crap surrounding the current presidential races, every single reporter on the scene today could take a major lesson or 20 from the life and career of Lowell Thomas.
And to be honest, I completely forgot the other documentary on Disc 1. With the emphasis on this disc of writers and reporters, it completely slipped my mind! I'll comment on it soon.
The remainder of this 10-disc set is carved up mostly the same way, though the documentaries for "Winds of Change" and "The Mystery of the Blues" are separated from their respective films and placed on separate discs a la the first Young Indy volume. The final volume, as in the previous two sets, contains an hour-long commentary from Professor H.W. Brands on the progress of the 20th century in the years after World War II and the changes in the world's societies; an interactive timeline on the real-life people, places, and events depicted in this set; and an interactive video game where you can lead young Indy on an adventure through time, sort of like those old-school "choose your own path" books but set to DVD-ROM. That's the down side of this series - the final disc of each set requires DVD-ROM usage to access the interactive timelines and video games.
With the release next month of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", this is an excellent precursor to the film and a wonderful way to round out one of the most enjoyable and underappreciated series of the 1990's. My dad would have loved seeing this on DVD.
Disc 1 starts off with a great 30-minute documentary on the life of Ernest Hemingway, the author of classic 20th century novels such as "The Sun Also Rises", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", and "The Old Man and the Sea". Here was a guy who found his passion through his writing because of the lack of love from his parents. When I read "The Sun Also Rises" in college, I found it extremely dull and boring, because in my college-age eyes it was about people partying, going to one cafe' after another in Paris, and going off to the bullfights in Spain. Not the most thrilling of tales in my book. But now I understand why Hemingway wrote in such sparse, "He said, she said" language. He wanted the accuracy of the description to take hold of the reader's attention. Now I wonder if I should go back and re-read his novels.
There's another interesting 30-minute documentary on the life and career of Edith Wharton, the author of works such as "Ethan Frome", another book I read in college. The reasoning for her frequently depressing works all stemmed back to the fact that Edith Jones started out trapped in that upper class society of the 19th to 20th centuries, and she didn't want to be a part of it. She saw herself as a revolutionary, writing to express her thoughts and feelings of being trapped in society and loveless marriages as a token trophy piece, the way most women of the time were. She was definitely a modern woman living decades before the term "women's liberation" became commonplace in America.
A third documentary on Disc 1 focuses on the life and career of journalist Lowell Thomas, who pioneered the craft of informational entertainment in traveling slideshow presentations, radio, newsreels, and television. He was one of those rare breed of reporters who, according to the legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, loved to get the human side of the story, not taking any sides in the progress, and accurately reporting on lands and peoples and conditions to a hungry American public. And to think this was way back in the day before CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and the Internet! With all of the tabloid-like media crap surrounding the current presidential races, every single reporter on the scene today could take a major lesson or 20 from the life and career of Lowell Thomas.
And to be honest, I completely forgot the other documentary on Disc 1. With the emphasis on this disc of writers and reporters, it completely slipped my mind! I'll comment on it soon.
The remainder of this 10-disc set is carved up mostly the same way, though the documentaries for "Winds of Change" and "The Mystery of the Blues" are separated from their respective films and placed on separate discs a la the first Young Indy volume. The final volume, as in the previous two sets, contains an hour-long commentary from Professor H.W. Brands on the progress of the 20th century in the years after World War II and the changes in the world's societies; an interactive timeline on the real-life people, places, and events depicted in this set; and an interactive video game where you can lead young Indy on an adventure through time, sort of like those old-school "choose your own path" books but set to DVD-ROM. That's the down side of this series - the final disc of each set requires DVD-ROM usage to access the interactive timelines and video games.
With the release next month of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", this is an excellent precursor to the film and a wonderful way to round out one of the most enjoyable and underappreciated series of the 1990's. My dad would have loved seeing this on DVD.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Something amiss here...
I just noticed this on my copy of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume 2: The War Years. Does that documentary "Colonel Lawrence's War" on Disc 8 look awfully familiar? It should - that's because it was included on the first disc of Volume 1: The Early Years!
You would have thought that somewhere along the way during the review process, the QA people at Lucasfilm and/or CBS/Paramount Video would have picked up on the fact that the same documentary was included in Volumes 1 and 2! But it went by completely unnoticed, and so the same documentary appears twice across two sets! Is there any more overlapping between the three sets, in terms of duplicating the same documentaries, that we should be aware of? I certainly hope not...
BTW, I've just started into the documentaries for Volume 3 and have gotten thus far with the docs on Disc 1. Really informative information on Ernest Hemingway, Lowell Thomas, and Edith Wharton. I only wish that somewhere along the way they could have included a little teaser for the fourth Indiana Jones feature film, though I'm thinking it'll be included on the upcoming reissues of the first three films.
For some unusual reason I have yet to receive my review copy of Battlestar Galactica, Season 3. I've requested it for review here and on TrekWeb.com like only three times (or is it four?), and I've not received it at all. Why? I've missed the entire third season, and already I'm in the middle of watching the latest fourth season episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel. That just really chaffs my hide for some reason.
Now that I'm back in Mississippi, I can now start looking at picking up all, if not as many, of the Star Trek DVDs, books, and comics that April made me throw out of the house back in 2006, not to mention all of the Star Wars and BSG DVDs as well. Thank goodness I got back here with all of the Superman and Indiana Jones DVDs intact! I've got a contact here who said he would help me track down as many of the ST comics as possible. Again, I don't know how many of them I can find and locate, or how long it'll take, if I can ever get them completely replaced again. All that matters right now is getting back on my feet with a good job and getting back to Alabama long enough to get my daughter relocated to Mississippi so she and I can be together again.
Oh, and I'm finally getting ahold of the Blade Runner Ultimate Collector's Edition! I missed out on it this past Christmas when it came out, but I should be getting it soon. Now I'll be able to check out all five of the different editions, especially the final cut and the treasured work print version that I've heard much about. I wish I had come back with my DVD+R recorder, though. Oh well, the next return trip I'll see to it.
Separation sucks, especially when there's children involved.
You would have thought that somewhere along the way during the review process, the QA people at Lucasfilm and/or CBS/Paramount Video would have picked up on the fact that the same documentary was included in Volumes 1 and 2! But it went by completely unnoticed, and so the same documentary appears twice across two sets! Is there any more overlapping between the three sets, in terms of duplicating the same documentaries, that we should be aware of? I certainly hope not...
BTW, I've just started into the documentaries for Volume 3 and have gotten thus far with the docs on Disc 1. Really informative information on Ernest Hemingway, Lowell Thomas, and Edith Wharton. I only wish that somewhere along the way they could have included a little teaser for the fourth Indiana Jones feature film, though I'm thinking it'll be included on the upcoming reissues of the first three films.
For some unusual reason I have yet to receive my review copy of Battlestar Galactica, Season 3. I've requested it for review here and on TrekWeb.com like only three times (or is it four?), and I've not received it at all. Why? I've missed the entire third season, and already I'm in the middle of watching the latest fourth season episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel. That just really chaffs my hide for some reason.
Now that I'm back in Mississippi, I can now start looking at picking up all, if not as many, of the Star Trek DVDs, books, and comics that April made me throw out of the house back in 2006, not to mention all of the Star Wars and BSG DVDs as well. Thank goodness I got back here with all of the Superman and Indiana Jones DVDs intact! I've got a contact here who said he would help me track down as many of the ST comics as possible. Again, I don't know how many of them I can find and locate, or how long it'll take, if I can ever get them completely replaced again. All that matters right now is getting back on my feet with a good job and getting back to Alabama long enough to get my daughter relocated to Mississippi so she and I can be together again.
Oh, and I'm finally getting ahold of the Blade Runner Ultimate Collector's Edition! I missed out on it this past Christmas when it came out, but I should be getting it soon. Now I'll be able to check out all five of the different editions, especially the final cut and the treasured work print version that I've heard much about. I wish I had come back with my DVD+R recorder, though. Oh well, the next return trip I'll see to it.
Separation sucks, especially when there's children involved.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sometimes things happen...
Sometimes things happen for a reason. Call it God-inspired direction, serendipity, being in the right place at the right time, you name it.
Today I went to my alma mater, where I got my bachelor's and master's degrees, to apply for a student recruitment position and also for a position in the registrar's office. It turns out that the lady in HR referred me to the vice-president of academic affairs, who was one of my former teachers as an undergraduate student. She suggested I put in for an adjunct teacher's slot, and my former teacher recommended I put in for an assistant webmaster's position as well. Both of those, where I did web work by day and taught classes by night, would be wonderful opportunities for me to get back on my feet at my former college once again.
This comes on the heels of a pretty productive day yesterday that saw my teacher's license renewed until 2013, as well as a job interview scheduled for Friday afternoon after another job interview that same day. I have to admit, for being back only a few days, I've made some serious progress in my job search that's yielding some pretty decent results.
I don't know what's happening or why, all I know is that God's directing my footsteps now for a reason, and I want to find out what that reason is. I mean, it's obvious, I need a position so I can get back on my feet and take care of my daughter and family. Even if it does wind up in divorce, at least I'd be able to provide for my daughter. All I know is that I'm ready to go back to work...very soon.
Today I went to my alma mater, where I got my bachelor's and master's degrees, to apply for a student recruitment position and also for a position in the registrar's office. It turns out that the lady in HR referred me to the vice-president of academic affairs, who was one of my former teachers as an undergraduate student. She suggested I put in for an adjunct teacher's slot, and my former teacher recommended I put in for an assistant webmaster's position as well. Both of those, where I did web work by day and taught classes by night, would be wonderful opportunities for me to get back on my feet at my former college once again.
This comes on the heels of a pretty productive day yesterday that saw my teacher's license renewed until 2013, as well as a job interview scheduled for Friday afternoon after another job interview that same day. I have to admit, for being back only a few days, I've made some serious progress in my job search that's yielding some pretty decent results.
I don't know what's happening or why, all I know is that God's directing my footsteps now for a reason, and I want to find out what that reason is. I mean, it's obvious, I need a position so I can get back on my feet and take care of my daughter and family. Even if it does wind up in divorce, at least I'd be able to provide for my daughter. All I know is that I'm ready to go back to work...very soon.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Branching out, or returning to familiar territory...
Before and even after I moved to Alabama, one thing that I enjoyed doing in my free time was reviewing all of the latest Star Trek titles from Pocket Books. From 2002 to 2006 I was the regular book and media reviewer for TrekWeb.com, one of the largest Star Trek fan-maintained websites on the Internet. Part of its success came because of my many contributions to the site in the forms of regular book reviews (sometimes I would have as many as three or four per week, that's how up to date I was!); DVD reviews of many of the different Star Trek season sets, Battlestar Galactica, and miscellaneous films and TV series; and on occasion interviews with writers (when my schedule permitted it).
Unfortunately, I had been forced into a corner by my wife where I had to give it up. In her words, she said, "It's either me or Star Trek." So she forced me to throw it all out, and I walked away from it by the end of 2006. All of the DVDs, not to mention the books and magazines that were in the house, even the Starship Creator CD-ROMs and the CD collections of Rich Handley's excellent comic strip compilations - all gone. On rare occasion I would return for an occasional DVD product review, but otherwise that was the extent of it. I had been pretty much forced to give it all up.
Flash forward to 2008. My wife and I are going through a separation at this time, one that I wish I could say could be peacefully resolved and result in us getting back together, but at this point it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. As a result of a job loss that was beyond my control, months of struggling to make ends meet, and a mother-in-law who had repeatedly made false accusations against me (all of which my wife believed and wouldn't stand with me to oppose), I returned to Mississippi to start job-searching once again, which has resulted in a number of good leads through job agencies and direct applications, and I haven't stopped. I'm also making plans to return to Alabama to bring my three-year-old daughter to live with me here in Mississippi. My mother and I have been in contact with our attorneys, one here and one in Alabama, and both have indicated that I have an equal right as my daughter's father and that I can move her to Mississippi. When that will be, I don't know.
In the meantime, I've been reconnecting with some old friends... namely, the crews of the starships Enterprise and Voyager, among others. I've caught a few episodes on TV, and the majority of the novels are still at my mother's house. There's also a few comics, I would say about ten percent of the complete collection, still intact. I'm in the process of trading other comics out for the remaining Star Trek comics to rebuild my collection. I'm also looking at getting the series and films on DVD once again, which I know will be costly and will take a long time to reacquire. Not to mention getting hold of those missing books and keeping up with the current and upcoming titles.
Which brings me to this... since launching this website last year I've been thinking about branching out into conducting book reviews as well as DVD and CD reviews. Make it all three of those forms of media. I think it would only be a natural progression to expand my reviewing skills on this blog site. I'm hoping to get in contact with someone in the PR department at Pocket Books to get me back on the mailing list to get all of the latest and current Star Trek titles for review here - hopefully I'll be successful. If that happens, then look for book reviews here in the near future, along of course with the latest DVD product reviews.
All I can do is try. When you've got nothing much left, all you can do is pick up and start over again. We'll see what happens.
Unfortunately, I had been forced into a corner by my wife where I had to give it up. In her words, she said, "It's either me or Star Trek." So she forced me to throw it all out, and I walked away from it by the end of 2006. All of the DVDs, not to mention the books and magazines that were in the house, even the Starship Creator CD-ROMs and the CD collections of Rich Handley's excellent comic strip compilations - all gone. On rare occasion I would return for an occasional DVD product review, but otherwise that was the extent of it. I had been pretty much forced to give it all up.
Flash forward to 2008. My wife and I are going through a separation at this time, one that I wish I could say could be peacefully resolved and result in us getting back together, but at this point it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. As a result of a job loss that was beyond my control, months of struggling to make ends meet, and a mother-in-law who had repeatedly made false accusations against me (all of which my wife believed and wouldn't stand with me to oppose), I returned to Mississippi to start job-searching once again, which has resulted in a number of good leads through job agencies and direct applications, and I haven't stopped. I'm also making plans to return to Alabama to bring my three-year-old daughter to live with me here in Mississippi. My mother and I have been in contact with our attorneys, one here and one in Alabama, and both have indicated that I have an equal right as my daughter's father and that I can move her to Mississippi. When that will be, I don't know.
In the meantime, I've been reconnecting with some old friends... namely, the crews of the starships Enterprise and Voyager, among others. I've caught a few episodes on TV, and the majority of the novels are still at my mother's house. There's also a few comics, I would say about ten percent of the complete collection, still intact. I'm in the process of trading other comics out for the remaining Star Trek comics to rebuild my collection. I'm also looking at getting the series and films on DVD once again, which I know will be costly and will take a long time to reacquire. Not to mention getting hold of those missing books and keeping up with the current and upcoming titles.
Which brings me to this... since launching this website last year I've been thinking about branching out into conducting book reviews as well as DVD and CD reviews. Make it all three of those forms of media. I think it would only be a natural progression to expand my reviewing skills on this blog site. I'm hoping to get in contact with someone in the PR department at Pocket Books to get me back on the mailing list to get all of the latest and current Star Trek titles for review here - hopefully I'll be successful. If that happens, then look for book reviews here in the near future, along of course with the latest DVD product reviews.
All I can do is try. When you've got nothing much left, all you can do is pick up and start over again. We'll see what happens.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume 3: The Years of Change - first thoughts
Well, yesterday I happened to find at my doorstep the third and final volume of "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones", entitled "The Years of Change". This 10-disc set contains the final seven chapters of the series in mostly re-edited form from their original broadcast versions, along with 31 all-new historial documentaries and a historical commentary on Disc 10. All of the discs are reproduced in their original full-frame broadcast aspect ratio in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound with optional English subtitles, and the discs look and sound great.
All good and fine and dandy, yada yada yada. Enough said of that. Now for the really big news about this set that will please all of the Indy fans out there:
HARRISON FORD IS IN THE SET!
That's right, the original Indy's cameo appearance in "The Mystery of the Blues" is preserved intact from the original ABC telecast from 1992-93. The only minor edits to this segment are in a slight re-editing of the main title credits and cleaner bridgings from one segment to another (as opposed to its original telecast, with the commercial break fade-ins and fade-outs included). Other than that, this remains the sole "Young Indy" segment with the original bridging bookends preserved for DVD.
YES!!!!!! I knew it would be sacrilege to edit out Ford's bookend segments from the episode. Good thing I was wrong about the editing on this one! Hopefully I'll have a more complete review of the set in a few days.
All good and fine and dandy, yada yada yada. Enough said of that. Now for the really big news about this set that will please all of the Indy fans out there:
HARRISON FORD IS IN THE SET!
That's right, the original Indy's cameo appearance in "The Mystery of the Blues" is preserved intact from the original ABC telecast from 1992-93. The only minor edits to this segment are in a slight re-editing of the main title credits and cleaner bridgings from one segment to another (as opposed to its original telecast, with the commercial break fade-ins and fade-outs included). Other than that, this remains the sole "Young Indy" segment with the original bridging bookends preserved for DVD.
YES!!!!!! I knew it would be sacrilege to edit out Ford's bookend segments from the episode. Good thing I was wrong about the editing on this one! Hopefully I'll have a more complete review of the set in a few days.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Somewhere in transition...
I wish I had better and more enjoyable news to share with you, but this is much more serious than any DVD review commentary I could ever do...
April and I have separated.
Things finally reached the breaking point with us because of her mother's repeated accusations of reproach, passing it down to my daughter Lily, not actively job searching when in fact I had been looking for better work to take care of my family, and one repeated accusation after another that I know in the bottom of my heart and spirit are completely false and inaccurate. And instead of standing with me, as she should have, April chose to believe the lies and spin her mother was creating just to get me out of the house. Needless to say, this has hurt me more than anything in my life, more than even my dad's death.
Right now I have relocated back to Mississippi to get the pieces of my life back together into some form. This means looking for work here and doing what I can to bring Lily here to live with me. April had said on Tuesday, if not on multiple occasions, that I could bring Lily to live with me and my mother. But when I left on Tuesday, I had no more room in the car for anything, much less my three-year-old daughter.
So now I'm having to start all over, look for a new job, and do all I can to get Lily out of Alabama. My mother has said that Lily shouldn't be without her mother, but right now she's without her father. Which is the lesser of the two evils? I have no idea.
I don't know when I'll be back on to report on new DVD releases. Right now my main focus is getting my life back together and being with my daughter again.
This hurts like hell... no, worse than hell itself. And all I can do is cry and mourn.
April and I have separated.
Things finally reached the breaking point with us because of her mother's repeated accusations of reproach, passing it down to my daughter Lily, not actively job searching when in fact I had been looking for better work to take care of my family, and one repeated accusation after another that I know in the bottom of my heart and spirit are completely false and inaccurate. And instead of standing with me, as she should have, April chose to believe the lies and spin her mother was creating just to get me out of the house. Needless to say, this has hurt me more than anything in my life, more than even my dad's death.
Right now I have relocated back to Mississippi to get the pieces of my life back together into some form. This means looking for work here and doing what I can to bring Lily here to live with me. April had said on Tuesday, if not on multiple occasions, that I could bring Lily to live with me and my mother. But when I left on Tuesday, I had no more room in the car for anything, much less my three-year-old daughter.
So now I'm having to start all over, look for a new job, and do all I can to get Lily out of Alabama. My mother has said that Lily shouldn't be without her mother, but right now she's without her father. Which is the lesser of the two evils? I have no idea.
I don't know when I'll be back on to report on new DVD releases. Right now my main focus is getting my life back together and being with my daughter again.
This hurts like hell... no, worse than hell itself. And all I can do is cry and mourn.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
My interview with Mike Matessino...
I've known and talked with film and music restorationist Mike Matessino off and on for nearly a decade, and I have to admit he is one of the top go-to guys when it comes to restoring and preserving film and music scores. He's extremely knowledgable in his field, especially when it comes to films like "Alien", the original "Star Wars" trilogy, "The Sound of Music", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", and, of course, "Superman". I first had the pleasure of talking with Mike back in 2000 in hosting a special online chat with him upon the release of Rhino Records' 2-CD release of John Williams' "Superman" musical score, then at the time the most complete version released to the public.
Flash forward to 2008. Mike, Lukas Kendall, and the guys at Film Score Monthly and Screen Archives Entertainment have significantly raised the bar when it comes to film score sets with their magnum opus, the eight-disc "Superman: The Music (1978-1988) soundtrack set. Far and away, it is extremely light years ahead in terms of completeness and sound quality, definitely unparalleled to anything I've heard - and I've followed film music for 30 years now!
In addition to his credentials, Mike is one of the nicest and friendliest guys you could ever talk to, not to mention a serious film fan like the rest of us. What began as an e-mail of congratulations to him on the FSM set has turned into a great interview with him that's now posted at CapedWonder.com. Here, he answers my questions on the eight-disc set, as well as reflections on his beginnings, his thoughts on a possible "Superman IV" restoration (look for a separate article by him coming soon on the FSM web site), and possible future projects down the pike. Check out the interview, along with the latest information on the eight-disc set!
Just to let you know, the original first edition pressing of 3,000 has sold out, and it looks like it'll be before the end of May before a second edition pressing is made available. That's how hot the set is!
Thanks to Jim Bowers for posting and hosting the interview, and a big special thanks to Mike for all of the hard work and fun he's given to everyone!
Flash forward to 2008. Mike, Lukas Kendall, and the guys at Film Score Monthly and Screen Archives Entertainment have significantly raised the bar when it comes to film score sets with their magnum opus, the eight-disc "Superman: The Music (1978-1988) soundtrack set. Far and away, it is extremely light years ahead in terms of completeness and sound quality, definitely unparalleled to anything I've heard - and I've followed film music for 30 years now!
In addition to his credentials, Mike is one of the nicest and friendliest guys you could ever talk to, not to mention a serious film fan like the rest of us. What began as an e-mail of congratulations to him on the FSM set has turned into a great interview with him that's now posted at CapedWonder.com. Here, he answers my questions on the eight-disc set, as well as reflections on his beginnings, his thoughts on a possible "Superman IV" restoration (look for a separate article by him coming soon on the FSM web site), and possible future projects down the pike. Check out the interview, along with the latest information on the eight-disc set!
Just to let you know, the original first edition pressing of 3,000 has sold out, and it looks like it'll be before the end of May before a second edition pressing is made available. That's how hot the set is!
Thanks to Jim Bowers for posting and hosting the interview, and a big special thanks to Mike for all of the hard work and fun he's given to everyone!
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