Why is it that anytime somebody wants to share good news with another person, there's always bad news to go along with it? I'm not alone, thankfully.
The good news I have to share is that I have landed a job at last! I'll be teaching over at Sumner Hill High School in Clinton in the fall. I'll have four classes of English and a class of public speaking, so I'm excited about finally landing on my feet once again with a job! I'm now waiting for the paperwork to come in from the central office so I can complete it and be ready for the new school year.
In the meantime, I'll have to do some work in the interim through the summer months until the school year starts. Whatever that is, I'll be glad to get something, anything, to do until the school year begins.
Now the bad news... My wife said yesterday that she wants to file for legal separation and child support. This is not acceptable. I want to be able to get Lily moved from Alabama to Mississippi, and whatever it takes, I will do it. If it costs me my marriage, I can live with it - I think. I talked with a buddy of mine I've known for 20 years, and he made some practical suggestions. What I'll have to do is follow up with those suggestions and go from there.
Right now I'm at wits' end with this whole separation anxiety. All that matters to me is working once again and being with Lily once again.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
The rumors are true...
Wouldn't you know it? Four days before the release of the highly anticipated "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", I happened to find the hardcover novelization of the film (along with reprints of the 12 Indy novels from the 1990's and the novelizations of the first three films) at Wal-Mart. Naturally, I couldn't resist taking a peek at some of the pages of the book, since it's going to be a while before I pick up the novel at all.
Of course, they (being, naturally, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg) kept the major surprises of the new film's story until the final quarter of the film. And then of course there were the rumors that were rampant for months. Now it can be told once and for all:
Mutt Williams IS indeed the son of Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood.
How he got the last name of Williams is beyond me. I can only surmise that Marion married someone sometime later whose last name was Williams, though she still kept her maiden name, while she kept the Williams surname for her and Indy's son.
Somehow I'm not too surprised, given all of the rampant rumors over the months. And then there was the mention that Mutt would be Indy's son reported months before in one of the teen tabloid magazines that my stepdaughter happened to pick up. Oh, and you'll get to see a wedding at the end of the film, too!
So those are the big things we'll get to see in this new movie, along with a rousing adventure from start to finish. Somehow I feel like I've let myself down in the same way that I ruined it for myself about the big spoilers in "Return of the Jedi" from 25 years ago.
So sue me. Then again, you can't sue something that's publicly out there for everyone to consume, especially this close to game time. Nickel give you a dollar that someone's already spoiled that information elsewhere by now.
See you this Thursday at the starting line!
Of course, they (being, naturally, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg) kept the major surprises of the new film's story until the final quarter of the film. And then of course there were the rumors that were rampant for months. Now it can be told once and for all:
Mutt Williams IS indeed the son of Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood.
How he got the last name of Williams is beyond me. I can only surmise that Marion married someone sometime later whose last name was Williams, though she still kept her maiden name, while she kept the Williams surname for her and Indy's son.
Somehow I'm not too surprised, given all of the rampant rumors over the months. And then there was the mention that Mutt would be Indy's son reported months before in one of the teen tabloid magazines that my stepdaughter happened to pick up. Oh, and you'll get to see a wedding at the end of the film, too!
So those are the big things we'll get to see in this new movie, along with a rousing adventure from start to finish. Somehow I feel like I've let myself down in the same way that I ruined it for myself about the big spoilers in "Return of the Jedi" from 25 years ago.
So sue me. Then again, you can't sue something that's publicly out there for everyone to consume, especially this close to game time. Nickel give you a dollar that someone's already spoiled that information elsewhere by now.
See you this Thursday at the starting line!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Not-so-"Special" Edition
You knew it was inevitable. Paramount has a storied history of milking its franchises for multiple dips on every conceivable home video format known to man whenever something really big happens. They're especially bad when it comes to the "Star Trek" franchise - I can't tell you how many times it seemed inevitable to upgrade from VHS to laserdisc to DVD over the years. (BTW, I happened to find used copies of the Original Series' third season and Deep Space Nine's fifth and seventh seasons over at a local GameStop, along with an affordable used copy of Battlestar Galactica Season 2.0, so all that awaits me is scraping up enough money to get those DVD sets and begin rebuilding my DVD collections!) I remember shelling out $200 back in 1993 just to double-dip on getting the first six "Star Trek" films in a limited edition box set just to get a six-pack of trading cards and a watch - big whoop! And of course, I'm equally guilty of multi-dipping for the films and series on DVD.
So it should come as no surprise that Paramount is going the double-dip DVD route with the "Indiana Jones" trilogy, given its recent three-volume release of the "Young Indiana Jones" series and the upcoming theatrical release of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (man, is that film gonna rock or what!). Each of the first three Indy films have been released in newly-packaged and relabeled "special" editions, as well as a three-disc Adventure Collection.
The problem I have is that Paramount, as well as Wal-Mart and who knows how many other retail outlets, have publicly promoted that this is the "first" time that the "Indiana Jones" films have been released on DVD in a special edition. Let me see a show of hands out there... how many of you recall, say, about five years ago when the Indy trilogy was first released on DVD in a four-disc (or five-disc, if you got it at Best Buy) boxed set edition? How many of you went ape nuts over that DVD set? Count me among them - if my dad were still alive, he'd have loved that set (and the "Young Indy" volumes) as well. So why should Paramount publicly say that this is the "first" time these films are coming onto DVD? Makes no sense. I'll bet you that you could go into almost any video store and still find that four-disc box set on sale. Publicly promoting this trilogy as coming out "for the first time" is a major misnomer, and their PR department should know better than that.
As for the films themselves, each film's transfer is identical to the previous DVD set, in full anamorphic widescreen format, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, and optional subtitles in English, Spanish, or French. So visually and sonically you're getting the same transfer that was afforded the films back in 2003.
What's new is the collection of extras included with each disc. Since I just picked up the "Raiders" disc, I'll go with the bonus content on this one (the "Temple of Doom" and "Last Crusade" DVDs were not available for review at this time). Starting off the disc is a preview trailer for the upcoming "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at the head of the disc. Remember how I griped about there being a lack of a trailer for the new film on the "Young Indy" sets? Well, this definitely satisfies my taste (along with the different TV spots I've been picking up along the way on USA, Sci-Fi, Spike, and other channels). Also included on this set is a new introduction to the film with series creators Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, which runs approximately 5-10 minutes. (Remember how, the last time that the trilogy was issued on DVD, it contained "new" interview segments with Spielberg, Lucas, and Harrison Ford? Here we go again...)
The remainder of the discs' supplements include a 12-minute feature called "The Indy Trilogy: A Crystal Clear Appreciation", which looks back at the first three films while offering some new interviews on the set of "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Another feature is "Snakes Alive!" (10 minutes), which looks at the Well of Souls sequence, while "The Melting Face" (4 minutes) shows how actor Ronald Lacey's face was modeled to melt in the final film. Storyboards galore accompany this disc - for "Raiders" there's some 400 storyboards alone! Finally, we have a preview trailer for Lego's upcoming "Indiana Jones" game for Playstation 3 and XBox 360, along with a playable PC demo. (Just the thought of a Lego Indiana Jones game makes me want to shell out $400 to buy a system!)
Still missing in action from this DVD release are a pair of vintage documentaries from 1981 - "Great Movie Stunts" (narrated by Harrison Ford) and "The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark", both of which were issued on VHS from Paramount in the 1980's. For "Temple of Doom", there are two documentaries from 1984 - "Heroes and Sidekicks" (narrated by William Shatner) and "The Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and a 60-second teaser trailer for "Temple of Doom" (first included on the very first VHS release of "Raiders") - that have never been released on VHS or DVD at all! Finally we have a 45-minute documentary, "Great Adventurers and their Quests" (narrated by Dennis Weaver), from 1989 that looks at the making of "The Last Crusade" and profiles some real-life Indys and their adventures. Where are all of these documentaries when the DVDs first came out? Where are they now? Still MIA, I'm afraid. (Thank goodness I recorded these onto DVD+R discs, turning my five-disc collection into an eight-disc box set blowout!)
So the bottom line is this: Is it worth shelling out the extra bucks to double-dip for around 30 minutes of extras on each disc? Well, if you got the set last time, then you could replace the film-only discs with these new releases. The main casualty from the original set is the bonus fourth disc of documentaries and featurettes on the making of the original trilogy. If you didn't get the set last time, it's worth getting the discs. It's really hard justifying the need to double-dip just to put a few extra bucks into Luca$'s cash-cow pockets to get a few new bonuses this time around. What would have made these new releases really worth it would have been to include feature-length running audio commentaries with Lucas and Ford (since Spielberg doesn't like audio commentaries) and much-ballyhooed deleted scenes (which we got hints at in the BTS footage on the first DVD set but still not represented at all, along with the remaining deleted footage from the original "Star Wars" trilogy), along with something extremely more substantial than what we get here in these new single-disc releases. Or maybe I should just hardwire my DVD player up to a computer and do my own podcast commentary on this film.
Indy may say, "It's not the years, it's the mileage," but in this case your mileage definitely varies.
So it should come as no surprise that Paramount is going the double-dip DVD route with the "Indiana Jones" trilogy, given its recent three-volume release of the "Young Indiana Jones" series and the upcoming theatrical release of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (man, is that film gonna rock or what!). Each of the first three Indy films have been released in newly-packaged and relabeled "special" editions, as well as a three-disc Adventure Collection.
The problem I have is that Paramount, as well as Wal-Mart and who knows how many other retail outlets, have publicly promoted that this is the "first" time that the "Indiana Jones" films have been released on DVD in a special edition. Let me see a show of hands out there... how many of you recall, say, about five years ago when the Indy trilogy was first released on DVD in a four-disc (or five-disc, if you got it at Best Buy) boxed set edition? How many of you went ape nuts over that DVD set? Count me among them - if my dad were still alive, he'd have loved that set (and the "Young Indy" volumes) as well. So why should Paramount publicly say that this is the "first" time these films are coming onto DVD? Makes no sense. I'll bet you that you could go into almost any video store and still find that four-disc box set on sale. Publicly promoting this trilogy as coming out "for the first time" is a major misnomer, and their PR department should know better than that.
As for the films themselves, each film's transfer is identical to the previous DVD set, in full anamorphic widescreen format, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, and optional subtitles in English, Spanish, or French. So visually and sonically you're getting the same transfer that was afforded the films back in 2003.
What's new is the collection of extras included with each disc. Since I just picked up the "Raiders" disc, I'll go with the bonus content on this one (the "Temple of Doom" and "Last Crusade" DVDs were not available for review at this time). Starting off the disc is a preview trailer for the upcoming "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at the head of the disc. Remember how I griped about there being a lack of a trailer for the new film on the "Young Indy" sets? Well, this definitely satisfies my taste (along with the different TV spots I've been picking up along the way on USA, Sci-Fi, Spike, and other channels). Also included on this set is a new introduction to the film with series creators Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, which runs approximately 5-10 minutes. (Remember how, the last time that the trilogy was issued on DVD, it contained "new" interview segments with Spielberg, Lucas, and Harrison Ford? Here we go again...)
The remainder of the discs' supplements include a 12-minute feature called "The Indy Trilogy: A Crystal Clear Appreciation", which looks back at the first three films while offering some new interviews on the set of "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Another feature is "Snakes Alive!" (10 minutes), which looks at the Well of Souls sequence, while "The Melting Face" (4 minutes) shows how actor Ronald Lacey's face was modeled to melt in the final film. Storyboards galore accompany this disc - for "Raiders" there's some 400 storyboards alone! Finally, we have a preview trailer for Lego's upcoming "Indiana Jones" game for Playstation 3 and XBox 360, along with a playable PC demo. (Just the thought of a Lego Indiana Jones game makes me want to shell out $400 to buy a system!)
Still missing in action from this DVD release are a pair of vintage documentaries from 1981 - "Great Movie Stunts" (narrated by Harrison Ford) and "The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark", both of which were issued on VHS from Paramount in the 1980's. For "Temple of Doom", there are two documentaries from 1984 - "Heroes and Sidekicks" (narrated by William Shatner) and "The Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and a 60-second teaser trailer for "Temple of Doom" (first included on the very first VHS release of "Raiders") - that have never been released on VHS or DVD at all! Finally we have a 45-minute documentary, "Great Adventurers and their Quests" (narrated by Dennis Weaver), from 1989 that looks at the making of "The Last Crusade" and profiles some real-life Indys and their adventures. Where are all of these documentaries when the DVDs first came out? Where are they now? Still MIA, I'm afraid. (Thank goodness I recorded these onto DVD+R discs, turning my five-disc collection into an eight-disc box set blowout!)
So the bottom line is this: Is it worth shelling out the extra bucks to double-dip for around 30 minutes of extras on each disc? Well, if you got the set last time, then you could replace the film-only discs with these new releases. The main casualty from the original set is the bonus fourth disc of documentaries and featurettes on the making of the original trilogy. If you didn't get the set last time, it's worth getting the discs. It's really hard justifying the need to double-dip just to put a few extra bucks into Luca$'s cash-cow pockets to get a few new bonuses this time around. What would have made these new releases really worth it would have been to include feature-length running audio commentaries with Lucas and Ford (since Spielberg doesn't like audio commentaries) and much-ballyhooed deleted scenes (which we got hints at in the BTS footage on the first DVD set but still not represented at all, along with the remaining deleted footage from the original "Star Wars" trilogy), along with something extremely more substantial than what we get here in these new single-disc releases. Or maybe I should just hardwire my DVD player up to a computer and do my own podcast commentary on this film.
Indy may say, "It's not the years, it's the mileage," but in this case your mileage definitely varies.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Battlestar Galactica S3 - first thoughts
Well, I just finished going through my DVD set of the third season of "Battlestar Galactica", and I'm just really stunned beyond belief. No wonder this show keeps getting better and better in its storytelling!
Of course, part of the problem I had with this set was the fact that, having watched the "Razor" spinoff film a few months back, then catching up with the series during its fourth season upon my return to Mississippi, some of the major plot points had already been spilled to me without my watching the third season in its entirety (sorry, guys!), especially with Baltar (James Callis) being let off the hook for his crimes against humanity; Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) mysteriously returning from the dead; and Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas), Colonel Tigh (Michael Hogan), Kara's husband Samuel Anders (Michael Trucco), and presidential advisor Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma) all revealed to be four of the final five Cylons! Add to it the suggestion that, between S3 and "Razor", Kara is allegedly destined to be the doom of the entire fleet, and you've got an interesting mix that leads into the final episodes of the series.
The six-disc set has more extras than the episodes themselves - more audio podcasts, deleted scenes galore, a 70-minute extended cut of the episode "Unfinished Business", original DVD audio commentaries, three bonus podcast commentaries with actor Mark Sheppard (who played Baltar's defense attorney in the final three episodes of the season), and no less than 20 video blogs from SciFi.com! Could you pack anything else onto this set that hasn't already been thought of?
Now we're approaching the final batch of episodes for the entire series. Still one question remains: Who is the final Cylon? There's not a lot of suspects left among the main cast. My choice is among the top three leading suspects - Kara Thrace (after all, she died and supposedly returned at the end of the third season); President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), who's currently dying of cancer; and, unbelievably, the big man himself, Admiral William Adama (Edward James Olmos). What would his agenda be? No doubt a surprise twist that would leave everyone saying, "Oh s---!" Or could it be someone else we haven't thought of?
Whatever your guess, the third season of BSG is a major addition to undoubtedly the best series on TV. Watching these final episodes on the SciFi Channel gives me that same feeling I had back in 1994 when I knew the end of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was approaching its end: I'm definitely gonna miss this series. That's why man made DVD.
Look for the full review soon!
Of course, part of the problem I had with this set was the fact that, having watched the "Razor" spinoff film a few months back, then catching up with the series during its fourth season upon my return to Mississippi, some of the major plot points had already been spilled to me without my watching the third season in its entirety (sorry, guys!), especially with Baltar (James Callis) being let off the hook for his crimes against humanity; Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) mysteriously returning from the dead; and Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas), Colonel Tigh (Michael Hogan), Kara's husband Samuel Anders (Michael Trucco), and presidential advisor Tory Foster (Rekha Sharma) all revealed to be four of the final five Cylons! Add to it the suggestion that, between S3 and "Razor", Kara is allegedly destined to be the doom of the entire fleet, and you've got an interesting mix that leads into the final episodes of the series.
The six-disc set has more extras than the episodes themselves - more audio podcasts, deleted scenes galore, a 70-minute extended cut of the episode "Unfinished Business", original DVD audio commentaries, three bonus podcast commentaries with actor Mark Sheppard (who played Baltar's defense attorney in the final three episodes of the season), and no less than 20 video blogs from SciFi.com! Could you pack anything else onto this set that hasn't already been thought of?
Now we're approaching the final batch of episodes for the entire series. Still one question remains: Who is the final Cylon? There's not a lot of suspects left among the main cast. My choice is among the top three leading suspects - Kara Thrace (after all, she died and supposedly returned at the end of the third season); President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), who's currently dying of cancer; and, unbelievably, the big man himself, Admiral William Adama (Edward James Olmos). What would his agenda be? No doubt a surprise twist that would leave everyone saying, "Oh s---!" Or could it be someone else we haven't thought of?
Whatever your guess, the third season of BSG is a major addition to undoubtedly the best series on TV. Watching these final episodes on the SciFi Channel gives me that same feeling I had back in 1994 when I knew the end of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was approaching its end: I'm definitely gonna miss this series. That's why man made DVD.
Look for the full review soon!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Everything would happen on a Monday...
Well, you know how much Mondays sometimes suck. That's only because everything that could possibly happen on a Monday has happened thus far today.
First off, I had a good interview with the principal at a middle school here in Mississippi for an English teacher's slot on staff. That would be a wonderful way for me to get my feet back on solid ground here, given my experience as a teacher (not to mention my work in Alabama in curriculum development and management). I'm supposed to hear something by the end of this week, so that would definitely be a step in the right direction.
But I was lucky enough to have even made it to the interview in the first place today. Earlier I'd been battling a serious case of diarrhea and had to go to the store to get some medicine to counteract it. On the way out of the driveway, my car died out on me for no uncertain reason. From what I could tell, the engine just up and died on me. I'm thinking and hoping that it's not the timing belt. That happened two years ago in Huntsville when I was on the way for a routine checkup - the car just up and died for no reason, and it turned out to be the timing belt as well. Anyway, it meant calling for a tow truck to haul my car over to the local Chevron station to find out what the problem is. No word on it yet.
As if that weren't enough, I got a callback from DirecTV asking me to come in for an interview this Wednesday - in Huntsville! This after putting in many months before for a job there, and only now after I've relocated back to Mississippi do I get a call to interview for DirecTV in Huntsville! Turns out that they called the house, April gave them my mother's phone number in Mississippi, and called me here for the job interview. I really don't know if I could go back to Alabama, knowing that it would give Lois many more opportunities to raise hell toward me and accuse me of a bunch of false malarky for no uncertain reason. I've already endured enough hell from Lois, not to mention feeling betrayed that April would support her every false accusation and not stick up for me one time. I'm not going back. My mother agrees with me.
And I've got another interview tomorrow with a temp staffing agency in Jackson, where I'm to bring my driver's license and Social Security card to fill out the I-9 paperwork and do the standard drug testing (which of course I"ll pass with flying colors). I'm hoping that I'll get something - anything - soon so I can get back on my feet working once again. Then I'll go back to Alabama and get Lily moved here.
And the "Indiana Jones" trilogy is being re-released on DVD tomorrow in separate discs to hype up the forthcoming "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" film on the 22nd. This past weekend channels left and right have been running a slew of Harrison Ford films to hype the new movie - "Witness", "Patriot Games", "Working Girl", and of course "Star Wars" and the "Indy" trilogy (the latter four just yesterday alone!). All they're doing is stripping the fourth disc off the previous box set release and including a few new featurettes, including a trailer for the upcoming Lego Indiana Jones game for XBox 360 and Playstation 3. I don't know if it's worth shelling out the bucks just to get a few new features. The original box set was pretty comprehensive. And still MIA are the original five TV documentaries from the 1980's on the making of the trilogy - oddly enough, the "Raiders" and "Last Crusade" documentaries were issued on VHS, but the "Temple of Doom" docs weren't, and none of them were released to DVD in an official capacity! To further add insult to injury, where's the original "Temple of Doom" teaser on the DVDs? Nowhere to be found but only on the head of the first VHS release of "Raiders". Thankfully I was able to transfer all of that material, as well as a collection of DVD trailers and a feature on soundtrack deconstruction (using "The Last Crusade" as an example) onto DVD+R for my collection, expanding that set to eight discs. And now there's several new TV spots for the new DVD releases and the upcoming film that I've got - looking forward to getting those burned to disc soon!
Gotta run for now... the dog's getting his vaccine shots. Maybe I'll get the "Indy" DVDs tomorrow, maybe I won't. Is it worth shelling out the buck again? Your guess is as good as mine. My buddy Andy Dursin at the Aisle Seat doesn't think so.
First off, I had a good interview with the principal at a middle school here in Mississippi for an English teacher's slot on staff. That would be a wonderful way for me to get my feet back on solid ground here, given my experience as a teacher (not to mention my work in Alabama in curriculum development and management). I'm supposed to hear something by the end of this week, so that would definitely be a step in the right direction.
But I was lucky enough to have even made it to the interview in the first place today. Earlier I'd been battling a serious case of diarrhea and had to go to the store to get some medicine to counteract it. On the way out of the driveway, my car died out on me for no uncertain reason. From what I could tell, the engine just up and died on me. I'm thinking and hoping that it's not the timing belt. That happened two years ago in Huntsville when I was on the way for a routine checkup - the car just up and died for no reason, and it turned out to be the timing belt as well. Anyway, it meant calling for a tow truck to haul my car over to the local Chevron station to find out what the problem is. No word on it yet.
As if that weren't enough, I got a callback from DirecTV asking me to come in for an interview this Wednesday - in Huntsville! This after putting in many months before for a job there, and only now after I've relocated back to Mississippi do I get a call to interview for DirecTV in Huntsville! Turns out that they called the house, April gave them my mother's phone number in Mississippi, and called me here for the job interview. I really don't know if I could go back to Alabama, knowing that it would give Lois many more opportunities to raise hell toward me and accuse me of a bunch of false malarky for no uncertain reason. I've already endured enough hell from Lois, not to mention feeling betrayed that April would support her every false accusation and not stick up for me one time. I'm not going back. My mother agrees with me.
And I've got another interview tomorrow with a temp staffing agency in Jackson, where I'm to bring my driver's license and Social Security card to fill out the I-9 paperwork and do the standard drug testing (which of course I"ll pass with flying colors). I'm hoping that I'll get something - anything - soon so I can get back on my feet working once again. Then I'll go back to Alabama and get Lily moved here.
And the "Indiana Jones" trilogy is being re-released on DVD tomorrow in separate discs to hype up the forthcoming "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" film on the 22nd. This past weekend channels left and right have been running a slew of Harrison Ford films to hype the new movie - "Witness", "Patriot Games", "Working Girl", and of course "Star Wars" and the "Indy" trilogy (the latter four just yesterday alone!). All they're doing is stripping the fourth disc off the previous box set release and including a few new featurettes, including a trailer for the upcoming Lego Indiana Jones game for XBox 360 and Playstation 3. I don't know if it's worth shelling out the bucks just to get a few new features. The original box set was pretty comprehensive. And still MIA are the original five TV documentaries from the 1980's on the making of the trilogy - oddly enough, the "Raiders" and "Last Crusade" documentaries were issued on VHS, but the "Temple of Doom" docs weren't, and none of them were released to DVD in an official capacity! To further add insult to injury, where's the original "Temple of Doom" teaser on the DVDs? Nowhere to be found but only on the head of the first VHS release of "Raiders". Thankfully I was able to transfer all of that material, as well as a collection of DVD trailers and a feature on soundtrack deconstruction (using "The Last Crusade" as an example) onto DVD+R for my collection, expanding that set to eight discs. And now there's several new TV spots for the new DVD releases and the upcoming film that I've got - looking forward to getting those burned to disc soon!
Gotta run for now... the dog's getting his vaccine shots. Maybe I'll get the "Indy" DVDs tomorrow, maybe I won't. Is it worth shelling out the buck again? Your guess is as good as mine. My buddy Andy Dursin at the Aisle Seat doesn't think so.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Young Indiana Jones, Volume 3 - final thoughts...
Well, in preparation for the latest Indiana Jones feature film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", Paramount Home Video has completed the trilogy of DVD releases of its "Young Indiana Jones" series with the third and final volume, The Years of Change.
Having the chance to go back and revisit this series has been like a breath of fresh air to me, because it's been, like, 10 years or so since I last saw this on television, and at that it was in re-edited form on the USA Network. The final seven chapters of this volume - "Tales of Innocence", "Masks of Evil", "The Treasure of the Peacock's Eye", "The Winds of Change", "The Mystery of the Blues", "The Scandal of 1920", and "The Hollywood Follies" - are shown in mostly re-edited form from their original 1990's broadcast versions. I say mostly, because of one important example I'll get to later. All of the episodes are presented in full-frame format, Dolby 2.0 surround sound, and optional English subtitles. That's all nice and good, which means you're getting crisp transfers that I have to admit look better than what I remember during the 90's broadcasts. Only two of the seven segments - "The Winds of Change" and "The Mystery of the Blues" - are presented in separate volumes with their respective documentaries ported over to separate discs.
The remaining discs contain a total of 31 all-new documentaries produced by CBS News producer David Schneider spotlighting the real stories of the incidents and people young Indy (Sean Patrick Flanery) encounters in his journeys around the world. Disc 1, as I have previous commented on, covers the lives of writers Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway and news broadcasting pioneer Lowell Thomas, as well as the history of the French Foreign Legion. Disc 2 spotlights the history of the Ottoman Empire, the Ataturk revolution that led to the creation of the independent nation of Turkey, the revolutionary work of Turkish writer Halide Edib, and the fact and fiction behind the real-life Vlad (the Impaler) Dracula (aka Dracula). Disc 3 covers the life and career of philosopher Bronislaw Malinowski, the history of anthropology, and the land and troubles of New Guinea. Disc 5, the companion disc to "The Winds of Change", profiles the Versailles Treaty conference, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, Iraqi leader Gertrude Bell, Chinese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, Paul Robeson (who fought to overcome racial barriers as an accomplished writer in his own right), and space pioneer Robert Goddard.
From there, Disc 7 (the companion disc to "The Mystery of the Blues") gives viewers a history of jazz and blues and one of its pioneering musicians, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong; the Untouchable Eliot Ness and his arch-enemy Al Capone; the history of the Prohibition era in the 1920's; a profile of screenwriter Ben Hecht; and a look at the Hellfighters, Harlem's unsung black heroes during World War I. Disc 8 further explores the musical scene with a history of Tin Pan Alley, the success of Broadway, and the Algonquin Round Table. Finally, Disc 9 profiles the pioneers of filmmaking with looks at the eccentric Erich von Stroheim, Hollywood's boy wonder Irving Thalberg, maverick Western director John Ford (who was recently spotlighted in a massive 21-disc box set from Fox Video), and the media moguls who transformed Hollywood from a small town in California into the glamour capitol of the world. On Disc 10 we're given "New Gods for Old", the third and final installment in Professor H.W. Brands' historical narratives, as well as DVD-ROM interactive programs of a third adventure game with young Indy and an interactive timeline of Indy's adventures and the people he encounters.
Overall, this is a nice addition to the previous two volumes. I only wish that they had preserved the original TV broadcasts intact with all of the original bookend segments as first shown on ABC... Wait a minute, did I say that mostly all of the segments were re-edited? I've got to clarify one point here. With the exception of tweaked main and end title credits, one segment has survived virtually intact from its original U.S. airing back in 1993, and it's the one that concerned Indy fans need not worry about...
In other words, HARRISON FORD IS ON THE SET!!!!!
To dismiss the original Indiana Jones' appearance in "The Mystery of the Blues" would be completely sacrilege, and Ford very rarely makes TV appearances, making this segment well worth the watch just for him alone. The only thing that would have made this set even just a little more sweeter would have been a preview for "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Oh well...
See you in the theaters on the 22nd!
Having the chance to go back and revisit this series has been like a breath of fresh air to me, because it's been, like, 10 years or so since I last saw this on television, and at that it was in re-edited form on the USA Network. The final seven chapters of this volume - "Tales of Innocence", "Masks of Evil", "The Treasure of the Peacock's Eye", "The Winds of Change", "The Mystery of the Blues", "The Scandal of 1920", and "The Hollywood Follies" - are shown in mostly re-edited form from their original 1990's broadcast versions. I say mostly, because of one important example I'll get to later. All of the episodes are presented in full-frame format, Dolby 2.0 surround sound, and optional English subtitles. That's all nice and good, which means you're getting crisp transfers that I have to admit look better than what I remember during the 90's broadcasts. Only two of the seven segments - "The Winds of Change" and "The Mystery of the Blues" - are presented in separate volumes with their respective documentaries ported over to separate discs.
The remaining discs contain a total of 31 all-new documentaries produced by CBS News producer David Schneider spotlighting the real stories of the incidents and people young Indy (Sean Patrick Flanery) encounters in his journeys around the world. Disc 1, as I have previous commented on, covers the lives of writers Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway and news broadcasting pioneer Lowell Thomas, as well as the history of the French Foreign Legion. Disc 2 spotlights the history of the Ottoman Empire, the Ataturk revolution that led to the creation of the independent nation of Turkey, the revolutionary work of Turkish writer Halide Edib, and the fact and fiction behind the real-life Vlad (the Impaler) Dracula (aka Dracula). Disc 3 covers the life and career of philosopher Bronislaw Malinowski, the history of anthropology, and the land and troubles of New Guinea. Disc 5, the companion disc to "The Winds of Change", profiles the Versailles Treaty conference, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, Iraqi leader Gertrude Bell, Chinese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, Paul Robeson (who fought to overcome racial barriers as an accomplished writer in his own right), and space pioneer Robert Goddard.
From there, Disc 7 (the companion disc to "The Mystery of the Blues") gives viewers a history of jazz and blues and one of its pioneering musicians, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong; the Untouchable Eliot Ness and his arch-enemy Al Capone; the history of the Prohibition era in the 1920's; a profile of screenwriter Ben Hecht; and a look at the Hellfighters, Harlem's unsung black heroes during World War I. Disc 8 further explores the musical scene with a history of Tin Pan Alley, the success of Broadway, and the Algonquin Round Table. Finally, Disc 9 profiles the pioneers of filmmaking with looks at the eccentric Erich von Stroheim, Hollywood's boy wonder Irving Thalberg, maverick Western director John Ford (who was recently spotlighted in a massive 21-disc box set from Fox Video), and the media moguls who transformed Hollywood from a small town in California into the glamour capitol of the world. On Disc 10 we're given "New Gods for Old", the third and final installment in Professor H.W. Brands' historical narratives, as well as DVD-ROM interactive programs of a third adventure game with young Indy and an interactive timeline of Indy's adventures and the people he encounters.
Overall, this is a nice addition to the previous two volumes. I only wish that they had preserved the original TV broadcasts intact with all of the original bookend segments as first shown on ABC... Wait a minute, did I say that mostly all of the segments were re-edited? I've got to clarify one point here. With the exception of tweaked main and end title credits, one segment has survived virtually intact from its original U.S. airing back in 1993, and it's the one that concerned Indy fans need not worry about...
In other words, HARRISON FORD IS ON THE SET!!!!!
To dismiss the original Indiana Jones' appearance in "The Mystery of the Blues" would be completely sacrilege, and Ford very rarely makes TV appearances, making this segment well worth the watch just for him alone. The only thing that would have made this set even just a little more sweeter would have been a preview for "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Oh well...
See you in the theaters on the 22nd!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Words of encouragement from Bob Greene
The first time I encountered Bob Greene's writings was during the late 1980's. He wrote, and continues to write, funny and introspective columns for the Chicago Tribune about slices of everyday life. The earliest piece I recall was a funny piece he wrote about the rising prices of movie tickets and parking in 1989 at the time of the first "Batman" film's release. He said, and hopefully I'll get his words right, "I don't mind paying $10 a ticket to go see 'Batman'. It's the extra $2 for parking that bothers me."
He also authored a number of great books, among them "Be True to Your School: A Diary of 1964" (a funny and heartfelt poignant look at his life as a teenager during the 60's) and his fictional piece "All Summer Long" (about three 40-something men who take one last trip across America to recapture some of their carefree glory days of their long-gone youths). Many of the books he wrote were compilations of his newspaper columns, among them "He Was a Midwestern Boy on His Own", taken from a lyric in the Bob Seger song "Hollywood Nights".
I picked up "Midwestern Boy" just a couple of days ago for the first time in years and found myself enjoying the many colums that compile this book. Among the columns reprinted in the book is "A Father's Words", a piece about a father who wrote Greene to ask for his help in finding his 33-year-old son a job. Greene described how the father did everything he could to help him, how the son was intelligent and talented enough to land any job he would apply for, but the responses were always the same: either "No" or "We'll keep your resume on file." And the son sank into deeper and deeper depression over not being able to land a job. When Greene questioned the father why he was going to this extent, the father's response was very honest:
"Because he's the only son I've got."
At the end of the column Greene wrote an extremely touching final paragraph, which says as follows:
"Things might not be going so well, and you might believe that your life and your luck will never turn around. There are a lot of jobs in this world, though, and a lot of people who take their jobs for granted. You have something that some people don't have, and that no one should ever take for granted - you have a father who truly loves you. On your darkest nights, never forget that. It's something that no one can ever deny you, and no one can ever take away."
When I read that column, I see myself in that exact same position, because I'm there right now. The only thing that would need to be changed is the father to a mother.
I don't know why I'm not getting any calls, even though I'm plugging away left and right in applying for job after job, talking with one job agency after another. And I've just left an environment where I faced the most impossible form of hell I could ever face in one false accusation after another from my mother-in-law. And I don't know what has hurt worse, her accusations that drove me to the breaking point, or the fact that April didn't stand up to her in my defense even after I tried valiantly to defend myself.
All I know is that coming back to Mississippi, I have felt broken inside physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And I'm doing my best to pick up the pieces of my broken life by searching for a job so I can start over again. But I know this:
I've got a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and a mother who cares about her only son. Nobody can take that away from me, not even that damned Lois Howell with her false accusations.
And I will be going back to Alabama to bring my daughter Lily to live with me... mark my word.
He also authored a number of great books, among them "Be True to Your School: A Diary of 1964" (a funny and heartfelt poignant look at his life as a teenager during the 60's) and his fictional piece "All Summer Long" (about three 40-something men who take one last trip across America to recapture some of their carefree glory days of their long-gone youths). Many of the books he wrote were compilations of his newspaper columns, among them "He Was a Midwestern Boy on His Own", taken from a lyric in the Bob Seger song "Hollywood Nights".
I picked up "Midwestern Boy" just a couple of days ago for the first time in years and found myself enjoying the many colums that compile this book. Among the columns reprinted in the book is "A Father's Words", a piece about a father who wrote Greene to ask for his help in finding his 33-year-old son a job. Greene described how the father did everything he could to help him, how the son was intelligent and talented enough to land any job he would apply for, but the responses were always the same: either "No" or "We'll keep your resume on file." And the son sank into deeper and deeper depression over not being able to land a job. When Greene questioned the father why he was going to this extent, the father's response was very honest:
"Because he's the only son I've got."
At the end of the column Greene wrote an extremely touching final paragraph, which says as follows:
"Things might not be going so well, and you might believe that your life and your luck will never turn around. There are a lot of jobs in this world, though, and a lot of people who take their jobs for granted. You have something that some people don't have, and that no one should ever take for granted - you have a father who truly loves you. On your darkest nights, never forget that. It's something that no one can ever deny you, and no one can ever take away."
When I read that column, I see myself in that exact same position, because I'm there right now. The only thing that would need to be changed is the father to a mother.
I don't know why I'm not getting any calls, even though I'm plugging away left and right in applying for job after job, talking with one job agency after another. And I've just left an environment where I faced the most impossible form of hell I could ever face in one false accusation after another from my mother-in-law. And I don't know what has hurt worse, her accusations that drove me to the breaking point, or the fact that April didn't stand up to her in my defense even after I tried valiantly to defend myself.
All I know is that coming back to Mississippi, I have felt broken inside physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And I'm doing my best to pick up the pieces of my broken life by searching for a job so I can start over again. But I know this:
I've got a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and a mother who cares about her only son. Nobody can take that away from me, not even that damned Lois Howell with her false accusations.
And I will be going back to Alabama to bring my daughter Lily to live with me... mark my word.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
More on BSG, jobs, etc.
So I've started pouring into the latest BSG DVD set, and I continue to be impressed with this series! One quality episode after another, all in Dolby 5.1 digital sound, with multiple podcast commentaries, extended versions of episodes, webisodes, deleted scenes, video blogs, you name it - how much better could this series get? Well, they could have more BSG trailers on the set and not clutter it up with junky cross-promotional trailers for other series on DVD. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Still, it continues to prove why "Battlestar Galactica" is, hands down, one of the top series on television today. The quality is that exceptional. When this series ends, I'm going to be really bummed. Now I'll have to go back and track down the first two seasons and the "Razor" spinoff movie my wife threw out of the house.
Still job-searching. Got a promising lead today from a contact of mine at my alma mater. He said that there's a good possibility of a job opening up, and once that job becomes available it would be the foot in the door for me to eventually teach a couple of English classes each semester. It wouldn't be the greatest work in the world, but at least I would be living a normal life once again. But things won't be normal until Lily's here with me.
I saw where John Langworthy's still at Morrison Heights. Lying two-faced bastard.
Still job-searching. Got a promising lead today from a contact of mine at my alma mater. He said that there's a good possibility of a job opening up, and once that job becomes available it would be the foot in the door for me to eventually teach a couple of English classes each semester. It wouldn't be the greatest work in the world, but at least I would be living a normal life once again. But things won't be normal until Lily's here with me.
I saw where John Langworthy's still at Morrison Heights. Lying two-faced bastard.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Battlestar Galactica S3 here at last!
Well, in the middle of checking out the second batch of documentaries on Young Indiana Jones, Volume 3, what happened to arrive at my doorstep today but none other than the third season of Battlestar Galactica! YES!!!!!
Since returning to Mississippi, I've been catching up on the current batch of fourth (and final) season episodes of this really terrific series that just seems to keep turning the notch up higher and higher in terms of storytelling quality (not to mention all of those realistic and impressive visual effects!). It's the first time since the DVD release of the BSG spinoff film "Razor" that I've been able to sit back down and watch anything BSG-related. And now with the series heading into its final hurrahs, I can now go back and check out the entire third season that saw, among other things, the series itself reset a year into its future; President Gaius Baltar (James Callis, who plays the most textured villain on TV this side of Michael Rosenbaum's portrayal of Lex Luthor on Smallville) on trial for betraying the fleet; the disappearance and return of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff); and the shocking revelation of four more Cylons within the fleet, among them engineering Chief Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) and Colonel Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) aboard the Galactica itself! Talk about missing out!
Now that I've got the six-disc DVD set, I can check out the entire third season for myself and find out everything that I've missed. That'll definitely prep me for when the fourth and final season hits DVD eventually. I only wish that I still had the first two seasons and the "Razor" spinoff movie with me, but they were unfortunate casualties along with all of the Star Trek and Star Wars DVDs that my wife saw to it were thrown out. Even a couple of recorded DVDs of extra BSG content, with stuff not on the season sets, thrown out and gone. The only good thing about it is, as opposed to Star Trek and Star Wars, there isn't as much to go back and attempt to regain. Perhaps Universal Home Video will be kind enough to issue the entire series down the road in a complete series package with some extra bonus content, as some series have been issued in recent years, among them MASH, Star Trek: TNG, and Miami Vice, among others.
Looking forward to tonight's all new episode! See you then... so say we all!
Since returning to Mississippi, I've been catching up on the current batch of fourth (and final) season episodes of this really terrific series that just seems to keep turning the notch up higher and higher in terms of storytelling quality (not to mention all of those realistic and impressive visual effects!). It's the first time since the DVD release of the BSG spinoff film "Razor" that I've been able to sit back down and watch anything BSG-related. And now with the series heading into its final hurrahs, I can now go back and check out the entire third season that saw, among other things, the series itself reset a year into its future; President Gaius Baltar (James Callis, who plays the most textured villain on TV this side of Michael Rosenbaum's portrayal of Lex Luthor on Smallville) on trial for betraying the fleet; the disappearance and return of Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff); and the shocking revelation of four more Cylons within the fleet, among them engineering Chief Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) and Colonel Saul Tigh (Michael Hogan) aboard the Galactica itself! Talk about missing out!
Now that I've got the six-disc DVD set, I can check out the entire third season for myself and find out everything that I've missed. That'll definitely prep me for when the fourth and final season hits DVD eventually. I only wish that I still had the first two seasons and the "Razor" spinoff movie with me, but they were unfortunate casualties along with all of the Star Trek and Star Wars DVDs that my wife saw to it were thrown out. Even a couple of recorded DVDs of extra BSG content, with stuff not on the season sets, thrown out and gone. The only good thing about it is, as opposed to Star Trek and Star Wars, there isn't as much to go back and attempt to regain. Perhaps Universal Home Video will be kind enough to issue the entire series down the road in a complete series package with some extra bonus content, as some series have been issued in recent years, among them MASH, Star Trek: TNG, and Miami Vice, among others.
Looking forward to tonight's all new episode! See you then... so say we all!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Quick note today...
Just thought I'd chime in with a little note to let you know that I should be able to review the "Blade Runner" Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD set very soon! This is one film that, with its myriad versions (the U.S. cut, the international cut, the 1990's Director's Cut, the recent Final Cut, and the seldom-seen workprint cut), I'm definitely interested in comparing. And you thought all of the myriad versions of "Superman" and "Superman II" were staggering!
Look for that review coming soon!
Look for that review coming soon!
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