CatBus

Queer is the Q in LGBTQ. There’s also the chant “We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it.” The word is used within the LGBTQ community as a catch-all umbrella term for any gender nonconformity–including LGBT, but also things that don’t quite fit neatly into those categories. Like all reclaimed pejorative terms, the meaning changes significantly depending on the context, and can present outsiders with some anxiety about when it’s okay to use it. For example, it also still gets yelled at LGBTQ-perceived people in a threatening manner (the pejorative usage). So if you’re not sure you’re using the word correctly, it’s probably best to steer clear. But the headline seems fine to me.

yotsuya said:

As I said, I have not done a complete examination of the UK PAL versions of TESB and ROTJ, but the ANH UK PAL GOUT is not missing a single frame at the reel changes that is included in any other version nor is it missing any other frames. It matches the DE LD frame for frame and the DVD and Blu-ray at all the reel changes and in all the non SE sections. The US GOUT is not far off, but it is missing that one frame.

PAL GOUT (including UK) is missing a frame compared to NTSC GOUT in ROTJ (Ewoks jump a log reel change), but there’s the whole thread linked above talking about frames missing from both, which I can’t verify, but seems pretty exhaustive.

Again, missing is a misnomer IMO. A frame can’t be missing if it was never seen in any theatre in the first place. But some home releases contain more extra/bonus frames than others 😉

TV’s Frink said:

Ha, this just keeps getting better.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/deputy-attorney-general-privately-acknowledges-recuse-russia-probe/story?id=48080253

That’s not better at all. Brand is much more politically connected than Rosenstein (in particular, with Ted Cruz). Even if she doesn’t kill the investigation outright, which is the most probable outcome, the next most likely scenario is she may politicize it to the advantage of the Cruz camp. Rosenstein really needs to sit tight–no recusal. You really should never make any decision based on the contents of a Trump tweet.

It’s not an anomaly, it’s a reel change. Frames always get cut at reel changes. Even PAL GOUT is missing frames. I don’t think there’s a single home video release that contains “all the frames ever included in any home video release”. It just happens. But most home video releases contain all the frames seen theatrically, and then some.

LexX said:

Does anyone know if the GOUT is really complete or if there are frames it doesn’t have?

http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Whats-missing-from-GOUT/id/6725

Also, for our purposes, we’re talking NTSC GOUT. PAL GOUT has some frames that NTSC GOUT doesn’t.

But “complete” is a bit in the eye of the beholder. GOUT already has more frames than anyone ever saw theatrically, so if you’re talking about theatrical fidelity, GOUT is already beyond complete. But as far as every frame that ever made it into any home video release ever, no, it’s not.

Sooo let me get this straight. Wait, let me step back. This seems awesome. Okay, that’s done. But I’m not sure what this is exactly.

What exactly do you feed the bot at the beginning? The corrected frames plus equivalent original frames, right? Any guidelines, like make sure the primaries are well-represented? Number of frames? Mix interior/exterior lighting?

Then step 2 machine learning happens, which I’m perfectly happy to leave at: ???

Then for step 3, here’s where this crap always falls apart for me. It seems to produce, what’s the word… damn good results. Are there exceptions? Does it fall down on filtered shots? Grain, dirt, damage, misalignment? And if it doesn’t, umm, I dunno, I was just wondering when we could take a turn with this shiny new toy of yours?

NeverarGreat said:

Are they really this desperate for attention?

Bingo. Assign the action a number in terms of payoff divided by effort. For an assassination attempt, that number is scraping near zero. For creating a media circus, the number is huge. Such reasoning can always be thrown by the “complete idiot” factor, though. Which, to be honest, I think I’ve been failing to adequately account for lately.

GOUT is just a reference for which video frames to include. Lots of video/film releases are missing frames here and there, particularly at reel changes. In fact, the GOUT frames probably include more frames than anyone ever actually saw in theatres, but it is consistent (well, assuming you stick with NTSC or PAL…), and no other release is consistent with another, so “just pick a standard and stick with it” applies here.

So everyone syncs up their audio (and subtitles, natch) to the GOUT, and then as long as whoever releases the video makes it GOUT-synced, it all just works–video from one guy, audio from another, subtitles from a third. Makes the sort of informal cross-project collaboration we do around here easy. The problem is, if your video is missing GOUT frames, how do you fix that? Some will add black frames, some will add color-matched frames from a comparable alternate source. Some will just say to hell with it and not be GOUT synced. If your video has frames the GOUT doesn’t, that’s easy–just chop them out.

I have never been able to notice a one-frame sync difference (42 ms off). Probably because there are already ADR and SFX sync problems in the movies themselves, and a one-frame difference is less than that. A two-frame sync difference (83 ms off), however, is right on the edge of perception for me. It requires just the right sort of thing to be happening, but then I notice it. For other things, I don’t. Three frames is right out.

I wouldn’t sweat the 1 frame sync issue in ESB (but it’s also dead simple to fix, so why not?). ROTJ used to have a 2 frame sync problem that was bad enough I made my own audio files for it. IIRC, I never noticed it at all on SFX or the score, or even most dialogue–but every time Han spoke, it was obvious. I think it’s because Harrison Ford moves his mouth a lot (unlike Carrie Fisher), and he talks quickly (unlike Ian McDiarmid). It takes both factors for me to notice a two-frame offset. ESB also used to have a two-frame sync problem for a much smaller section of film, but Han didn’t speak during that part, so I never noticed.

Handman said:

"Every member of the Judiciary Committee who voted for President Nixon last week has now reversed his position. As a group they feel particularly badly let down and have taken the lead in calling for the President’s resignation.

I did not know that, point conceded. I knew they eventually reversed their positions, but I didn’t know they’d done it before he resigned.

Handman said:

CatBus said:

NeverarGreat said:

Yeah, but it took a Democratic majority.

And I know I’ve already mentioned this a couple of times, but when it came down to impeachment time for Nixon, a majority of the Republican members of the committee voted against all charges for impeachment. After there was already a recording available of Nixon committing the crime he was being charged with. Meaning, if Republicans had a majority, and the chairship, Nixon’s impeachment would likely have never even come up for a vote, and Nixon would have served out his full second term.

“What did the president know and when did he know it?” was uttered by a Republican senator, partisanship was not what it is now. And it was the public/media who rose to the occassion to hold their government officials accountable, not the opposing political party. Barry Goldwater himself urged the president to resign, which essentially cemented the decision in his mind. We all know Trump wouldn’t make that call.

I agree things are more polarized now, but the votes from the time reveal most Republicans lined up behind Nixon even after the facts were out and incontrovertible. So that really just means that Republicans would not have considered impeachment if they ran the show back then, and they’re even less likely to vote to impeach today. I disagree about the cause for resignation though. Nixon resigned after many things happened–enough Republicans broke with their party to give the Democrats a comfortable margin on impeachment (my point was not that none broke with Nixon, but that most didn’t), the Supreme Court ordered the release of damning evidence, but Goldwater? He was a Nixon competitor–a leader of the nascent conservative movement getting a chance to get a dig at America’s last arguably liberal President. Of course he called on Nixon to resign.

But I also agree Trump wouldn’t make that call under any imaginable circumstances either.

NeverarGreat said:

Yeah, but it took a Democratic majority.

And I know I’ve already mentioned this a couple of times, but when it came down to impeachment time for Nixon, a majority of the Republican members of the committee voted against all charges for impeachment. After there was already a recording available of Nixon committing the crime he was being charged with. Meaning, if Republicans had a majority, and the chairship, Nixon’s impeachment would likely have never even come up for a vote, and Nixon would have served out his full second term.

That’s not to say we’re completely out of other avenues. There’s the theory that Rosenstein could simply ignore any attempts to fire him, claiming that if he’s being fired for not shutting down an investigation by the very people under investigation, then that firing is improper and void. But that’s uncharted legal territory. And the courts could step in, and it could be a lovely mess. But frankly it’s not very good odds. State attorneys general can bring suits, New York seems likely already. You’ve got money laundering, racketeering, RICO, all the good stuff at their disposal. But since we’re on the topic of legally uncharted territory, the president may actually have the power to pardon himself (it’s never been tried), only matters of impeachment are explicitly barred–and state AG’s can’t impeach the president.

I’m saying that Trump’s allies control the House and the Senate, and they have already bent over backward to avoid investigating this matter, so it’s abundantly clear what they’d do if he fired Mueller (same thing as when he fired Comey–either nothing at all, talk about how Mueller was a liberal partisan hack, or the McCain Special*). The courts have no legal authority to investigate, prosecute, or remove a President, so it doesn’t matter where they stand.

* Talk about what a sad, bad, terrible thing this is. Outrageous, unwarranted, and unprecedented. And then do nothing.

Warbler said:

TV’s Frink said:

So WaPo is reporting that Trump is under investigation by Mueller for possible obstruction of justice, and there’s also a report that Trump floated the idea of firing Mueller publicly in order to influence Mueller to go easy on the investigation.

Amazing.

I hope he does fire Mueller it will add ammunition to the case.

More to the case, yes… but with nobody left to prosecute it.

I think a lot of people underestimate how lucky we are to have a Special Prosecutor in the first place. If the stars hadn’t aligned just right, the only things checking the power of this menace would have been the House, the Senate, and the courts. And while the courts are doing an admirable job going it alone on the whole checks and balances business, there are some things they simply lack the legal authority to do.

There’s this school of thought that if Trump indirectly fires Mueller by cycling through justice department heads just like Nixon did (he can’t fire him directly), that this will lead to widespread outrage, and that this outrage will lead to Trump’s goose finally being cooked. But what’s missing from this theory is the legal mechanism and authority that would cause Trump’s downfall. Courts can’t do it. House and Senate won’t do it. 25th amendment? Pfft, Trump’s own hand-picked cabinet of sycophants won’t do it. Voters? Show me how any amount of voter outrage can work against this map to do anything but give Trump an even friendlier Senate than he already has, and don’t even talk about House maps. Where’s the realistic path? Are we counting on military coups now? [Different, friendly] foreign interventions? Alien abductions?

Mueller is all we have. Please don’t wish for him to be fired just so you can feel the rush of righteous indignation, because it would only be followed by the utter incredulity of watching nobody doing anything about it.

ROTJ is now synced. ESB currently has an extra frame at the very beginning, so audio should be slightly delayed.

rodneyfaile said:

I just thought I would have a conversation with a few people knowledgeable about the subject. I didn’t know it was already talked about and was to never to be brought up again. I thought people here would enjoy talking about it.

Bleh. Just answer the question. If there are follow-ups, start a new thread.

Harmy: Blu-ray footage of trilogy despecialized using film elements, etc. The quality you’d expect from a Blu-ray restoration, some (usually unnoticeable) SE elements still present. Complete trilogy available.

Verta/Legacy: Professional restoration of Star Wars from multiple Technicolor prints. Not available to the public. An attempt to archive the film legally for the benefit of future generations.

Whatever Negative1 is calling himself this week (4K77 and whatnot): Scans of faded theatrical prints of Star Wars and Empire (Jedi eventually?), color-corrected. Star Wars and Empire available, looks more like it did in theatres, no SE elements (except maybe individual frames for GOUT-syncing?), but not the sort of quality you’d expect from a Blu-ray restoration (print source vs negative source, and the prints aren’t in pristine condition). Works well with Harmy’s Grindhouse release of Jedi.

And don’t forget Poita – like Negative1 but with Verta’s professional resources, but nothing available just yet 😉 And Puggo – 16mm prints just as lo-fi as they ought to be, Jedi still pending (any day now, Puggo!).

How low have we fallen when USA Effing Today has an investigative reporting scoop?

Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies – corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners’ names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before.

Because simply staying at one of his hotels doesn’t shift quite enough of your cash into his pockets to get real leverage, and sometimes paper trails can be such a hassle.

Wonder which paper won’t be found in Trump hotels real soon now? That is, assuming it hadn’t already been replaced with the print edition of InfoWars.

Simply not answering any questions from reporters achieves the same thing, without the nasty PR of officially restricting access. Even better, they could still answer questions, but only from friendly outlets like Breitbart and the National Enquirer. Sorry, only have so much time for questions, guys! Maybe you’ll get your chance next time! *snicker*

Mocata said:

George isn’t going to last forever… I can’t believe anyone would think it won’t ever happen.

The second I can buy a new copy of the Narnia series numbered in the correct order, I’ll start entertaining the possibility. But C.S. Lewis has been dead for 50 years, and fans still can’t get what they want (although they are admittedly way easier to despecialize, and decades-old correctly-numbered versions aren’t inferior in any way, so the analogy only goes so far). Publishers and studios may fight authorial control tooth and nail in the production stage, but once they have a hit on their hands, they are incredibly deferential to the perceived desires of the perceived creator. C.S. Lewis made a comment in a private letter humoring an enthusiastic fan and that had an impact 50 years past his death (and counting). Why would an unwavering, obnoxiously loud public 20-year (and counting) campaign by Lucas and his sycophants have less impact?

It will happen, though. When the copyright expires and anyone is free to do it–and not a second earlier.

crissrudd4554 said:

Theoretically speaking what sounds like it’ll profit more even if by a fraction?? A 4K release with only the SE or a 4K release with both cuts??

From 1997:

Theoretically speaking what sounds like it’ll profit more even if by a fraction?? A DVD release with only the SE or a DVD release with both cuts??

From 2011:

Theoretically speaking what sounds like it’ll profit more even if by a fraction?? A Blu-ray release with only the SE or a Blu-ray release with both cuts??

It’s always made market sense. It’s made market sense for twenty years. But it makes a little less sense every year, as fewer people even remember the Star Wars trilogy. What’s stopping it has nothing to do with profitability. It’s deference to Lucas’ ego.

Besides they did a half-assed run at the dual DVD release with the GOUT’s DVD SE/Laserdisc OOT set. The relative unpopularity of that set will likely sabotage the projected sales numbers should this ever reach the beancounter stage, because nobody will admit they did a crap job.

TV’s Frink said:

Is he an idiot because it makes him look even more guilty, or brilliant because nothing he does matters?

Not a brilliant guy, just a connected guy. In every sense of the phrase.

TV’s Frink said:

CatBus said:

We’re already in a handbasket

I just heard that NBC will air Megyn Kelly interviewing Alex Jones. What the fuck?

As Fox implodes, they’re leaving behind a whole lot of viewers who like their news heavy on unsubstantiated racist conspiracy theories. Enter MSNBC, picking up the slack. When the cable news demographic skews heavily toward angry white grandpas anyway, they’re just following the money. Maybe soon we’ll have three or four cable news outlets fighting for the worst-possible-news-outlet crown! Oh, wait…

LOZ Ocarina was a dance craze about twenty years back.

Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Ocarina
Que tu cuerpo es pa’ darle alegria y cosa buena
Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Ocarina
LOZ Ocarina

We’re already in a handbasket, and look where we’re heading.

A federal judge in Florida has granted bail to a self-professed neo-Nazi who was taken into custody last month by police who discovered bomb-making materials, weapons and ammo in the his Tampa apartment, reports Fox 13.

Federal Judge Thomas McCoun granted bond for 21-year-old Brandon Russell on Friday, stating there was no clear and convincing evidence “the defendant represents a threat to any person or community.”

According to the police who took Russell into custody, they discovered the weapons and materials used for making bombs in Russell’s garage and that he had a framed picture of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh on his dresser. Police also state they discovered Nazi and white supremacist literature on Russell’s computer.

Investigators report that Russell, a member of the Florida National Guard, admitted that he is a Nazi sympathizer and that he previously had created explosives.

Whether the judge’s rationale behind granting bail makes any sense at all depends on how you define the word “person”.

oojason said:

‘Trump travel ban suffers new court defeat’…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40252724

And yet after who knows how many many times the courts have plainly called it out as such, the headline still refuses to call it the Muslim ban that it is. They lose in the courts, but they still control the headlines.