To Blue-Ray Or Not To Blue-Ray

I have never been one to resist any new trends or fads or even better yet-new technology! The past holiday season provided me a chance to be able to afford purchasing a Blue-Ray disc player and yes, Virginia-there is a Santa Claus! I could never imagine how much more clearer and crisper the visuals are and how much richer the sound/music become! The specifications listed the video as having 1080 p high definition ( whatever that means ) and the sound as 5.1 uncompressed 8KHZ/24-bit ( on some disc and it can go up to 6.1 ). I was able to resist the lure of Playstation 3 and the siren song of the Ipod phone-but this piece of machinery was very much worth it, with options to view the menu while viewing the movie etc. Animated movies of the Pixar variety work especially well in this format combined with your high def plasma or LCD. So fellow movie lovers and DVD collectors, this is the ultimate in home theatre satisfaction and perfection-until the next invention is revealed. Albeit there is one already more advanced hidden "secret" dvd player kept under wraps for the future- ready to steal our hard earned moolah away! Hopefully it won't be revealed till much later - like in the next 10 years!!! The only down side, blue-ray discs are much more expensive than the regular disc and there aren't that many "used" ones for sale yet. But remember when the DVD player first came out in 1998, the disc were pricey too- till finally there were so many used ones to choose from in the top Movie rental chains. Well till the next "expensive'" man toy comes along.....I'll be sitting slouched in my comfy sofa in front of my 42 inch LCD , intently transfixed by the latest releases that will assault my senses....horror movies in blue-ray anyone?

Multi-Culti Nick

Oscars Or No Oscars?

By this time, everyone in Los Angeles is typically aware of the Writer's strike-they're everywhere-on the news, in magazines-gossip or otherwise, newspapers-the subject of intense scrutiny. Oh boy, in America- we really do things in a "big" way including "strikes" and demonstrations! I can hardly wait for the Golden Globes' "one hour press conference" on the news tonight announcing the winners and losers of their annual television and motion picture industry "mish-mash". This will serve as a percursor to the other award shows to come as in the biggie "Oscars", but wait , two other award shows have already aired-last week's Broadcast Critics Awards and the Queen Latifah hosted People's Choice Awards. The former, a star studded glittery affair ( if you consider KC Affleck and Hairspray newcomer Nikki Blonsky as stars-but at least Brangelina and Clooney were there ) and the latter a hodgepodge of film and "acceptance speech" clips. I have never been a fan of both of these shows but I watched the Critics awards with a curiousity befitting a cat seeing a toy mouse laced with catnip. The host for the evening was comedian D.L. Hughley, announced at the beginning of the show as "our host for the evening D.L. Hee-ooG-ly. I've always thought that the "G" in Hughley was silent-my bad... Thus started the night full of-you guessed it- references to the WGA strike . What I did not expect was the onslaught of sarcastic self-depracating "black" jokes courtesy of the aforementioned Hughley- worthy of Chris Rock. As the cameras zoomed across celeb faces that reacted in -take your pick- silent puzzlement, embarrased tittering,or seething distaste but definitely no joy and loud bellowing of laughter. It was clear that the mood for award shows in the year 2008, would be one of somber reflection and a tad of the sad state of tinseltown with the strike dragging on. What about the "other" award show -People's Choice or something, I switched channels after seeing Joaquin Phoenix "silent" acceptance speech for Favorite Male Actor, utilizing idiot boards facing the cameras. So if it is a choice between glitzy events or press conferences or taped segments, it doesn't matter because we are still honoring the best achievement in cinema and televison. The real losers are the fashion designers, jewelers, commercial sponsors and their ilk. We , however, as witnesses and bystanders not in any way connected to the entertainment industry can finally say, "we are not affected"- till we puke from watching all those reality shows coming our way! Nest week- what about the Grammy's?

Multi-Culti Nick