Now I have been fairly slow to hop on the High Def bandwagon for many reasons. I don’t like being forced into buying a new technology, nor have I fallen for the claims of how HD is the new standard bearer. HD still is vastly inferior to film, and no amount of campaigning by Sony is going to change that fact. But that all being said when it comes to home viewing HD is the best option. And my 25 inch analog set has hit 15 years old and is ready for a well earned retirement, leading me to have a less then ideal home viewing environment for the oodles of movies I watch on a weekly basis. So while I wasn’t ready to proclaim my undying love for all things HD, that didn’t change the fact that I needed a new television set.

So this week Anna and I have begun to do some shopping. Unlike most shopping, for example the kind where I have to find clothes that I don’t particularly like but try on simply because a certain someone thinks I look good in them only to discover that I feel even less attractive and by the third or fourth trip to the dressing room I have what could only be described as a meltdown in which I threaten to buy a Family Guy t-shirt or some other ridiculous advertisement of stupidity if I am not allowed to immediately leave the store, I quite enjoy shopping for televisions and home theaters. Probably because I don’t feel the need to immediately go on a diet after completing the entire ordeal.

(more…)

Last week was a bit crazy. Like seemingly most of Netflix’s subscribers, my shipments were interrupted for several days. Unlike most subscriber’s my movies were delayed for an entire week, which lead me to a slight problem, in that I had no way of watching The Devil’s Rain. Thus putting me in a bit of a bind with what to write this week. Luckily here in Minneapolis there is an outstanding video store that would come to my aid, a video store by the name of Cinema Revolution.

Now Cinema Revolution is not your average ordinary video rental store. You won’t find any video games, or used DVD’s for sale, or even candy and soda carefully distributed near the counter to spur impulse buys. No, Cinema Revolution simply has movies to rent, and what great movies they are. Dedicated to carrying only foreign and independent films, Cinema Revolution is a cinephile’s dream store. Organized by country with subcategories for directors, Cinema Revolution is designed for those who both know and love film and I was confident I would find a suitable replacement to watch and review for Monday’s column.

Then I went and joined Andrew and Kurt from Row Three on their podcast Monday night.

(more…)

I was a bit of a bookworm growing up. Oh sure I played outside and excelled at sports and was an all around active lad who spent hours outside on any average day, but I loved me some books. You see, I was the kind of 8 year old boy who found the idea of reading an Encyclopedia to be just as exciting and fun as watching your average Transformers episode. But since we didn’t have cable I spent far more time reading then I did watching the heroic Autobots defeating the evil Decepticons.

It didn’t take me long to discover I loved science, all shapes and sizes of science. I started reading books on homemade experiments one could try. I took computer classes and self-taught myself BASIC so I could write my own computer games. I used my microscope and a neighbors stagnant pond as an excuse to introduce myself to the wonderful universe populated with paramecium and amoebas. My mother even tells a tale of my exploits during a family vacation to The Smithsonian. It seems I happened to explain to my older sister why a Blue Whale was also a baleen whale. I was six years old at the time of this incident.

(more…)

Well my little sister’s wedding went off with nary a hitch resulting in a pretty positive family get together for all involved. My father somehow managed to stay controlled throughout the proceedings, which considering his was giving away his baby girl is quite the feat. Sure he lied during his toast about not crying during the wedding ceremony, this was in an effort to squash the rather large pool circulating about taking bets on just how quickly he would cry, but other then that small misstep he was shockingly composed the entire weekend.

During the reception Meghan and Jake (the newlyweds) had a nice change of pace by eliminating the tired cliché of clinking glasses to have them kiss. Instead, they asked for the guests to tell a story about either or both of them, and while I chose not to tell a story at that time, I thought it might be fitting to tell a story about Meghan during this review. Trust me, it somehow ties together with The Mirror Crack’d. (more…)

Well maybe, as I still don’t know if I will have the time to watch the movie and write up a review while simultaneously attending a wedding in Wisconsin. I think I can pull it off though, so put me down for a most definitely … probably. That means be prepared to read about Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor and a horde of others who don’t warrant inclusion on this list. it’s Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d!