ChainsawAsh

Well, I gave up on the Eighth Doctor audios and such.  Instead, I've gone back and started watching the show from the beginning (I'm partway through the last serial of season 1 right now).  I did, however, get a chance to check out the new episode over the weekend after it aired.

Impressions:

- Story was a bit all over the place, but this episode was more about the new Doctor finding out who he is and taking us along with him.  I can forgive it for this episode.

- Matt Smith = freakin' AMAZING!  I was skeptical, especially after how awesome Tennant was, but damn if he didn't exceed every one of my expectations.  I'm really looking forward to seeing him in action over the course of the next few years.

- Karen Gillan as Amy Pond = super hot, and a nice feisty personality that isn't outright bitchy like Donna was (I know people liked Donna, but, well, I didn't).

- New TARDIS = MUCH improved over the last one.  Some people have been complaining that it's over-the-top, but the way I see it, it's the second time (after the atricous TV movie) that they've really taken advantage of the "It's bigger on the inside!" idea (bearing in mind that I haven't seen seasons 2-26, so I could be wrong on that).  I like it a lot.

- New Sonic Screwdriver = I was really hoping he wouldn't get a new one after his was broken.  It better not become as overused as it was in the Eccleston/Tennant era.  I do like the design, though, and green is my favorite color.

- Ten Doctors Hologram = awesome, if very fan-service-y.

All in all, I was more entertained by this than nearly any episode of series 4.  I'm excited about where this will go!

Also, the CGI didn't bother me too much.  Sure, it wasn't perfect, but none of the CGI in the last 4 series was any better IMO.

Let's not forget that, in The Constant, Lapidus took off during clear skies, flew through a horrible storm, and ended up on the boat in clear skies.  No indication was seen from the island or the boat that there was a storm anywhere near them, yet they flew through one and almost crashed because of it.

(It's possible that my memory's not entirely accurate on this episode, it's been a while.)

Ab Aeterno = tied for my favorite episode of the series (with The Constant).

I myself am an agnostic atheist, in that I don't believe there can be proof of God's existence or nonexistence (agnostic), but I also don't believe there is one, despite the fact that I can't know for sure (atheist).  (For those confused by this line of reasoning, check this out.)

At the same time, I don't look at it as "respecting" or "disrespecting" another person's beliefs - I simply don't care.  You believe in God?  Cool.  That does not change my opinion of you as a person one iota.  Same goes for if you don't.

I only have a problem if someone tries to "convert" me - then I lose a bit of respect for them.  I'll never try to "convert" someone to atheism - if their religion gives them comfort in their lives, why should I deprive them of that?  No one converted me to atheism, I sussed it out on my own.

Last year, an acquaintance of mine asked me to go to church with him.  I politely refused, and told him I wasn't religious.  He asked me if I believed in God, and I said no.  He then proceeded to quote scripture at me and repeatedly told me I'd burn in hell if I didn't accept Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior right then.  I asked him how he'd feel if I tried to convince him there wasn't a God, and he became incredibly offended, gathered together all of his shit, and left.

I've seen him once since then.  He glared at me the entire time and said nothing.  It's a shame, really - he was a nice guy.

I've recently started getting into Doctor Who - I've watched all the Ninth and Tenth Doctor episodes, some random ones throughout the rest of the series (the first two First Doctor serials, the Fifth Doctor's last serial, and one of the Fourth Doctor's serials), and the Eighth Doctor movie.

I really liked the Eighth Doctor (despite the movie not being particularly good), and was disappointed that he was only in one "episode."  So I started poking around, and lo and behold, there's a shit-ton of Eighth Doctor short stories, comics, novels, and audio dramas!

The problem is ... no one seems to know for sure what order they should go in.

So, I managed to find the Doctor Who Reference Guide (http://www.drwhoguide.com/who.htm), which has a list of everything in order.  But this order conflicts somewhat with the Doctor Who Wiki and other sources.

So, I was wondering how you guys would arrange them.  So far, I've read/listened to, in this order:

1. The Eight Doctors (novel; read the Reference Guide's synopsis)
2. Bounty (audiobook read by Paul McGann; pretty good)
3. Model Train Set (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
4. The Glass Princess (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
5. Greenaway (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
6. Totem (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
7. Second Contact (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
8. D.S. al Fine (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
9. The Dying Days (novel; read Reference Guide synopsis)
10. The Company of Friends: Benny's Story (audio drama)
11. Thinking Warrior (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
12. The Ethereal (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
13. ...Be Forgot (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
14. Not in My Back Yard (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
15. The Wickerwork Man (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
16. Dreadnought (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
17. Descendance (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
18. Ascendance (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
19. Perceptions (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
20. Coda (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
21. Shada (audio drama; on part 3 right now)

That's where I'm at now.  Beyond this, there seems to be a discrepancy over whether the Big Finish audio dramas (from Storm Warning on) take place before or after the Vampire Science novel, or whether the novels or audio dramas are separate continuities (and which of the two is canon).  Any help with this?

Oh, and does anyone know when Matt Smith's season starts?

Blade Runner gets better the more you watch it.  I thought it was "meh" when I first saw it - now it's my favorite film of all time.

Lawrence of Arabia simply cannot be appreciated on a TV screen.  You need to see it in a movie theater, with the largest screen possible, preferably in 70mm (which is how it was shot).  It is a completely different experience, in such a good way.

2001 is, indeed, long and boring.  That movie should only have been about an hour and forty minutes, not two hours twenty.  I like 2010 (yes, with Roy Scheider) much, MUCH better than 2001.  Having said that, 2001 is an absolutely perfect film if you watch it while on LSD.

Easy Rider isn't terrible, but it is grossly overrated.

It's a Wonderful Life - oh dear God how much I hate this movie.  I'm so glad I'm not alone in that.

Saving Private Ryan - the first 45 minutes or so are good, the rest is pretty terrible.  Band of Brothers is a far better WWII-related film, despite the fact that it's a television miniseries and not a film at all.

Zoolander is just terrible.

Now for my own additions ... hmm ... firstly, Vertigo.  I don't hate it, I just don't get why it's supposedly such a "masterpiece."

Apocalypse Now Redux.  Completely ruins the power of the theatrical cut, yet I know people who've only seen the Redux version.

A Clockwork Orange.  I absolutely love the book.  The film?  It made me want to hunt down and destroy every copy of it, anywhere.

Full Metal Jacket.  Just not good after the boot camp part.

Braveheart.  Piece of shit film.

Slumdog Millionaire.  See Braveheart.

That's all I've got right now.

Now that's a good idea ...

If you have the ability to release the complete soundtrack, why not do it yourself instead of bitching about someone else taking too long?  Especially when you claim to have better source material ...

Interesting.  I hadn't thought of that.  (Shows how much I know about computers and such ... )

I'll give that a try as soon as I can.  Good thing I didn't throw the hard drive out!

ABC said:

How can you trust only one computer to keep your most precious datas... ?! I can't understand.

I originally had them on my computer's hard drive and an external.  The last week of last semester, my computer's logic board took a dive, and I had to get it fixed by Apple who, in their infinite wisdom, decided to wipe my hard drive completely.  So there goes one copy.

For some stupid reason, I never copied the mixes back over from my external to my computer's HDD.  This came back to bite me in the ass yesterday when said external decided to just stop working.  I also lost all the files to my nearly-completed Star Wars edit when this happened.

And Moth3r, if you could RapidShare the 77 mono/stereo mixes and the '93 mixes and PM me the links, that would be fantastic!

I'm certainly going to.

On top of that problem, in the SAME DAY I was caught with a gram of weed and four beers in my fridge (I live in a college dorm, and I turn 21 tomorrow ... goddammit), so I may have to pay a fine for that.  Since I don't know how large said fine may or may not be, I'm putting a freeze on spending any non-essential money, which includes money I'd spend on replacing this hard drive.

So, while I certainly want to try to re-build this project, there are now a GREAT many obstacles to that.  On top of all this, I no longer have the AVCHDs to work from (and only got lucky by having burned a DVD-9 copy of ANH:R a while ago).

Yesterday was NOT a good day for me ...

*beats head against desk repeatedly*

Well, as anyone who’s been following my sporadic updates on my Trilogy edits knows, my hard drive decided to stop working on me today.  Unfortunately, this means I’ve lost all of the audio mixes I’d had for Star Wars.  So, if anyone has links to these, synchronized to the GOUT, in a lossless format, please please please help me out!

Star Wars

• 1977 Restored Mono Mix (MOST IMPORTANT!)
• 1977 Original Stereo Mix (SECOND MOST IMPORTANT!)
• 1985 Stereo Remix (Not quite as important!)
• 1993 Stereo Remix (Not terribly important)

Empire

• 1980 Original Stereo Mix (VERY VERY IMPORTANT!)
• 1985 Mix (possibly same as 1980 mix) (pretty important)
• 1993 Remix (not terribly important)

Jedi

• 1983 Original Stereo Mix (if possible) (VERY IMPORTANT)
• 1985 Mix (possibly the same as 1983 mix) (pretty important)
• 1993 Remix (possibly the same as the other two mixes) (not terribly important)

If anyone can help me out with any of these, I’d be eternally grateful!

Well, I have pretty terrible news.  It seems that my hard drive just decided to fuck off and stop working on me.  I've tried everything I can think of, and it's simply dead. Which means that all project and media files for this edit are now gone.

I'm sorry to disappoint everyone.  If I manage to get things worked out, I'll certainly keep you in the loop, but it looks for now that I'd have to start all over from scratch, and honestly ... that's not something I'm too keen on doing.

I may decide to do this again after Empire: Revisited is released, so I can work on those two while ROTJ:R is being made.  That'll also help push the release dates of all 3 edits much closer together.

But I also may not start this up again at all.  I'm really not sure.

Sorry to disappear for two months then come back with this bad news.  I had something really cool that I was going to reveal very soon (namely that I'd finally sussed out that Dewback scene, which, in my mind, was one of the major keys to this whole project), but I'd kinda wanted to just keep out of sight until the project was done entirely.

So, unless something changes in the near future, I have to unfortunately classify this project as dead.  Sorry to disappoint you guys.

I'm very sorry to hear about your mother, Ady.  I know it's nowhere near the same kind of loss, but my cat has been slowly dying for the last week or so and it's taking its toll on me.  I can only imagine how hard losing someone as close to you as your mother must feel.

Be strong, and remember: Time heals all wounds.

Jay said:

ferris209 said:

I don't have anything against Macs except their outrageous pricing. You can get the equivalent of a Mac Pro for $1200 in a PC while Apple want $3200 for it. That's the only thing I really have against Apple, but I do love their stuff.

I see this argument a lot and have to assume it comes from not actually knowing what hardware is in a Mac Pro and how much it would cost to configure a PC that is truly identical part-for-part. The dual Nehalem quad core processors in the Mac Pro cost at least $800 by themselves. I'm not sure where you get your parts, but if you can build the equivalent of a current Mac Pro for $1200, you're one hell of a bargain hunter.

The only place Macs consistently lag behind their PC counterparts is in graphics performance, which even I'll admit is annoying. Paying a premium for a graphics card that's at least a generation behind is ridiculous.

Despite this one issue, I've been using Macs for about 5 years now. Best decision I ever made.

I assumed that ferris was talking about a MacBook Pro (which is what I have, and the $3,200 comment fits with that), for which his statement is pretty much accurate.  You can get a more-or-less equivalent HP laptop for about half to two-thirds the cost of the comparable MacBook or MacBook Pro.

I do, however, agree with you about the Mac Pro, Jay.  Man, I'd love one of those ...

I'm 100% in agreement there, Ferris.

Alright.  Here's the run-down:

- There are NO DIFFERENCES in the edit of the IMAX, 35mm, DVD, or Blu-Ray cuts of the film.  The differences are entirely in the aspect ratio.

- The only official preservation of the taller framing of all the IMAX shots is the Blu-Ray, which crops the top third or so of the shot to 1.78:1 to fill a 16:9 television.

- The DVD contains the six main IMAX sequences in 1.44:1, pillarboxed inside a 1.78:1 frame, but it's missing many individual shots (like when the seaplane lands next to the sailboat, for instance) that were filmed in IMAX.

- The HBO fullscreen broadcast - and, presumably, the fullscreen DVD - contains all the IMAX shots with the sides cropped off to fill a 1.33:1 frame.  Less of the image is cropped in this case than on the Blu-Ray.

- The IMAX shots were framed in such a way that the top third or so of the frame is basically empty, because in a true IMAX theater, you most likely wouldn't be able to see that part of the frame anyway.  So, one could argue that the Blu-Ray's 1.78:1 preserves the intended framing more than the IMAX-theatrical 1.44:1, or the fullscreen DVD's 1.33:1.

Ever heard of seamless branching?

That many lossless audio tracks might add up a bit, though.  And Blu-Rays are 25GB single-layer, 50GB dual-layer, not 100.

Darth Chaltab said:

Not too long ago Rachet and Clank was getting a sequel a year, and they were pretty much all stellar.

Speaking of this, have you played A Crack in Time yet?  It's a hell of a lot of fun, and the splitting up of Ratchet and Clank puts a nice, fresh spin on things.

Well, you don't *need* an HD capable system.  I have a PS3 with a 20" Toshiba analog SDTV, and I've already stopped buying DVDs in favor of Blu-Rays.  (Though to be fair, I've more or less stopped buying movies altogether in favor of converting my library-borrowed or Netflix-borrowed discs into MKVs that I can play with my Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ Media Player ... )

Point being, now that Blu-Ray players are at a decent price range, it's smarter now to buy a Blu-Ray player (which can still play SD DVD's) even if you don't have an HDTV, if only to future-proof yourself.

Besides, I'm sure you could download a BR-rip of TDK that has the shifting aspect ratio intact (some people crop it all to 2.39:1, though I don't know why) and convert that to DVD format.

The one on the right is correct, but may be non-anamorphic.  The one on the left is what it would look like as a 16:9 anamorphic file with the flag set improperly (in other words, on the left is what the video actually looks like on the disc, on the right is what it's supposed to look like after the player processes it correctly).

So, what happened exactly?  Do you know whether or not it reached Lucas' hands?

ChainsawAsh said:

The DVD [special] features use the full 1.44:1, but pillarboxed in a 1.78:1 frame.  Also, they don't include every IMAX shot, just the six main "sequences."

I sincerely apologize if this post is out of line - if that's the case, go ahead and delete the whole thing.

So I recently got a Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ networked media player along with a 1TB Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive.  The player will play almost anything, including high-definition MKV files.

The problem is, most torrent sites I frequent don't have a wide variety of high-def MKVs in the quality level I'm looking for.

So I was wondering if anyone here has, and would be willing to give out (via PM, of course), invites to private torrent trackers like [deleted], etc.?  I have a couple Demonoid invites I can share with anyone who can help me out with this, but that's about all I have to offer.

I wouldn't post this here, it's just that I have NO idea how to go about finding invites for these places.  I figured here was as good a place as any to start.  Right?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  And again, if this topic is out of line, just go ahead and delete it, Moth3r.

Thanks Ady, that sounds good.  Once I have the opportunity to try fixing it again, I'll give it a go.