Raimi war hier

Auweia, was fuer eine aufregende Zeit. Habe gar keine, das hier alles festzuhalten, muss ich nachholen. Vor allem die Fotos vom Karate-Lehrgang in Korsika. (Den eigentlich Knueller kennt Ihr ja schon, wenn Ihr mich kennt).

Jetzt ist aber erstmal Fantasy Filmfest (diesmal ohne Links) und ich plane, folgendes zu sehen:

• 16.8. (KultBr) 21:45 The Banquet
• 17.8. (CineXX) 23:45 Shadowboxer
• 18.8. [Mutti besuchen]
• 19.8. (CineXX) 17:00 The Snake
• 20.8. (KultBr) 21:45 Get Shorty
• 21.8. (KultBr) 21:45 La Antena
• 22.8. (KultBr) 19:30 The Lookout ODER 21:45 I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK

Stay tuned...

Ganz grosses Kino.

I have to update my reference. Video 1 is now connected to the old VCR and Video 2 is the TV card (mostly because the buttons on the remote are labeled accordingly). The self-learning/programmable remote control of the AVR is great but lacks support for the old VCR. Bummer.

Interestingly the composite connector of the AVR-235 doesnt work with the signal from the VCR's SCART cable. With a simple converter-plug to S-Video it works on the other hand. Strange. While the TV card is connected with S-Video itself to the AVR I have to select "Composite1" as the video source (or otherwise only black and white video is shown). All this analog technique is very strange.

Anyway, why connect an old VCR? Someone gave me a VHS tape with Steven Spielberg's Duel (1971). Definitly worth to watch for various reasons.

Oh, I replaced the front sattelite speakers with my old Grundig HiFi Box 5500 speakers. Their larger volume is better suited for music playback. The HKTS speakers are not very well fit for that. Seems audio people in the internet are right after all :) Perhaps I should replace the other sattelites as well and only keep the HKTS' impressive sub.

Boring, aint it...

Finally, I've managed to make a dream come true for me. I invested some money I saved in a home cinema system by Harman/Kardon. It's based on the AVR-235 A/V-Receiver which puts noise with up to 50W to 7.1 speakers. I use only 5 speakers and the giant subwoofer of the HKTS 7 set. Content is delivered by a DVD-47 also by HK (which other company uses this acronym? Dont even think about it).

Hooking up the AVR is pretty flexible so I need this spot as a reference for my configuration:

• The DVD player is connected with S-Video, Optical 2 and Coax 1. I use optical, usaully - just bough the coax cable accidentally.
• My SB Live is connected with analog 5.1 to the only analog input called 6/8 channel direct. This allows multichannel output from the computer but disables any DSP processing in the AVR.
• The on-board sound card is connected to Optical 1 but not configured and untested. Will be interesting.
• The TV card is both connected to line-in of the SB and to Video 1 of the AVR. This allows for Dolby decoding of TV audio and provides emergency TV audio in "computer mode".
• The video output of the AVR is is connected via S-Video with the TV card. To watch a DVD the xawtv input source has to point there and the AVR has to be set to DVD. Note: Do not confuse with TV mode where the video signal is not passed through the AVR so the OSD doesnt work there.
• I should hook up the old VCR to Video 2 for the fun of it and perhaps some other audio-capable devices (Apple SE, Sun Sparc) to Video 3 and 4. Let's see...

The sound quality is great. My ears aren't used to anything but this is the best audio equipment I ever had. And it looks cool, too.

A note to the music industry: Mark my words: I will _never_ buy a SACD or DVD audio. This is really too bad, because I have all these great audio devices that use lossless digital connections. But for some reason the DVD player is only allowed to playback SACD/DVDA (which is multi-channel capable) via a lossy analog cable. As far as I understand it, this is a restriction specifically wished for my "content providers" (or those who call themselves that). Now, this wouldnt be more than an inconvenience with some proper cabling, but there is only one 6/8 channel input - and I need that one for my primary entertainment device (which accidentally is controlled by me).

A few dozen of you already discovered my little "collage" on a movie called Bad Taste below. It's an old little low budget splatter movie by the - now famous - IMDB(Peter Jackson,name,nm0001392). I saw it somewhen in the 90ies late at night in a small cinema, forgetting its title but remembering the fun. Some weeks ago I found a cheap DVD but hesitated to buy it because it had only german (badly) dubbed audio. The more disappointed I was when I finally bought it (it was cheap, see) and the bloody thing had only 78 minutes - while the original move (the one I saw at the cinema) has more than 90 minutes. They simply cut all the splatter. Now the movie is completely pointless. Well, it's still a little funny and the image below shows why. The aliens look just great and action is good - without fany tricks or a big budget. Then I spent friday night watching The Sentinel in the cinema. Good entertainment. Nothing spectacular but well watchable. But I dont get why the spell "Jack Bauer" "David Breckinridge" Kiefer Sutherland's role is the very same. Oh, and Sledge Hammer as the US predident is just hilarious.

I consider south korean movies as always good for a surprise. They sometimes produce really interesting stuff as the last Fantasy Filmfests have shown. I just watched JSA which is really good. As a german I can relate to the country being divided story as I can relate to the "stupid wars" story as a human being. Watch it.

Predictable. Surpisingly. Up to the last 3 minutes.

If you heard about that Maria Magdalene story before there won't be much new to you. There entire story is probably more condensed than in the book, but i never read that.

Due to the weight of the story it sometimes is on the edge of being ridiculous. There were in fact some giggles in the audience, too.

From being a movie fan there is nothing to excite me about this flick. Everything is streamlined for a blockbuster. The actors are stereotypes of themselfes, the camera work is nearly boring. The movie is watchable but eventually irrelevant. I'll forget about it within days - but I still remember the TV documentary on the same subject.

PS: I like the pagans (or about all archaic religions) for worshipping the female itself. I also think this part of spirituality is forcefully and wrongly forced out of the three major book religions. PPS: I have lots more of opinion on this and related subjects, but you have to invite me over for a coffee to discuss it :)

Just to drop two random notes. First I like those icons i saw ot the Milan Malpensa Airport:
Second: The movie Equilibrium was on TV tonight. Surprisingly good, really. Need to watch the original version on DVD sometime.

I was in the cinema today to see this great movie. Be careful, you might develop a lung cancer just by watching how much people smoked in the 50ies. Besides that, I can recommend this piece with great actors, brilliant voices and expository scenes from TV of that time.

One can certainly see the parallels to todays binary argumentation of "if you're not with us, your're against us". Which kind of makes me wonder if kids learn about the McCarthy era in school. At least in Germany, I'm afraid they dont.

Watch it!

I recently watched Bullit (1968) which is another cool old movie. The music is great and stops (suddenly) when that increases the tension. When you dive into it everything is believable and the story develops nicely. You might also get a grip of the US-american society in the sixties, I guess.

Two more things are remarkable: Steve McQueen (about whom Bruce Lee once said he was a tough guy) does his own driving (see below). The other thing is that there doesn't seem to be the youth craze in the sixties. Everyone is at least 30 years old and the professional killers are well in the 50ies. Grandpa looks mean wit the shotgun :)



PS: This is the movie with the famous pursuit.

Today I lost 5% of my brain cells.

I was in the cinema and watched The Pink Panther. You do not need to watch this flick unless you are six years old or otherwise into juvenile humor.

The movie itself is not inherently bad, it just hurts to watch. I cannot tell if the original is better or worse, but this one is not a cheap ripp off. If you want to see a ton of native english speakers with fake french accents mixed with two or three native french speakers with with real french accents, this might be for you. This kind of makes me wonder how bad the german dubbed version of this movie is...

I picked up a DVD lateley: The Getaway (1972) with Steve McQueen. I have to say: This one is cool. Everything was shot on location and the atmosphere is very real. Each character is authentic and everything fits. The action is good, too.
Well, some characters are a little conservative, but that's ok since the setup is in Texas (and it's more than 30 years ago). Funny side note: Slim Pickens has a small but important role. You don't know the name? It's the cowboy riding the a-bomb in Dr. Strangelove, which is still the best movie, ever.

Ilu und Kaaa haben ja schon gesagt, dass Ihr The Descent kucken muesst. Ich bin dann mit ein paar Freunden nochmal reingegangen: Ich glaube, beim zweiten mal ist es noch gruseliger, weil man Angst vor dem hat, was gleich kommt. Jedenfalls ist die deutsche Uebersetzung tauglich, auch wenn wieder etwas Atmosphaere verloren geht. Auch wurde seit dem Fantasy Filmfest nichts veraendert. Ich hatte ja befuerchtet, dass sie das andere Ende nehmen.