Mike O

Delete this post.

Vile? Maybe just honest. There’s some harsh but accurate criticism out there. It I’ve always known that and been able to take it on the chin. This feel like an inexplicable obsession. I need a distance intellectually. I’m still not sure if this is straight-up OCD; for it to simply manifest itself for No reason when I’m almost 30 just makes no sense to me. Why would that happen biologically? I’m looking at medication, but it’s a slow process, and that’s hard when you’re hurting. It’s hard to even want to get out of bed, much less excercise. But I know what you mean. I don’t self-medicate; no caffeine, cigarettes, weed, or booze. Just want the doctor prescribes. I just wish it was working better.

CatBus said:

VPN’s are just a technology to allow secure communication over insecure networks. They’re used all the time for regular corporate communications. However, in addition to protecting your data from prying eyes, they also allow you to make your Internet connections appear to come from the VPN endpoint rather than from your PC. As such, they are used to get unfettered Internet access under repressive regimes, bypass country restrictions on services like Netflix, and hide/unblock torrent activity. So the tech is legal and widely available. The usage? No idea, probably varies.

You need (usually free) VPN client software on your PC, and some (probably not free) VPN endpoint on the other side willing to accept communication from your machine. I’ve never done this for recreational purposes, so I know the technical concepts but honestly don’t know what the options are. The truly paranoid might hop over multiple VPNs to better hide their location. The even truly paranoider might wonder why those people on he other end of their VPN are being so nice about encrypting their traffic for them, and if they happen to be a front company for some three-letter agency who could just read their unencrypted data before encrypting it. The question of who exactly you’re trusting with your data in the process of hiding that data from people you don’t trust can get pretty knotty. A secure system can often be compromised intentionally or unintentionally by a poor implementation choice that would probably be invisible to a non-expert. So enjoy your sense of security, it’s probably real. But possibly not.

Also, you’ll be fine downloading Harmy’s stuff, as everyone here has said. And 720p actually pretty well captures the available detail in the official Blu-rays, so 1080p won’t be a huge step up unless there’s another source with more detail than the Blu-rays. ESB (2.0) and Jedi (2.5) are both damn near perfect already. Star Wars is… really good with a few warts (get 2.7). What are you waiting for?

Knowledge of how to make a Blu-ray cover and stomp the discs 😉? I kid, I kid. I’m just still nervous. I have a BD Burner.

darthrush said:

Mike O said:

Where do they stand legally? Can I buy one on Amazon?

The only reason you would ever need a VPN is if you are a consistent heavy downloader of illegal content. I’m talking HEAVY downloading. If your just occasionally downloading a few fan edits then I can assure you that you won’t get any flak from your ISP or whatever.

I still can’t get past the nightmares of getting throw into jail. Do I just need a BitTorrent client for the downloads? Do I need MySpleen for the DE?

In any case, where would I get a VPN? You know, hypothetically?

Kennedy’s comments make it sound 100% certain that the OUT is never coming.

Where do they stand legally? Can I buy one on Amazon?

generalfrevious said:

Mike O said:

danny_boy said:

Mike O said:

Fang Zei said:

Mike O said:

JawsTDS said:

Fang Zei said:

Cthulhunicron said:

What exactly does it mean for the negative to be disassembled?

The negative has been conformed to the SE since 1997. George decided to cut the changes directly into the negative because, as far as he was concerned, the SE was the official version of the movie now.

We recently got confirmation from the relevant person at Fox that the pieces of the negative replaced for the SE were indeed put into storage and not discarded.

I think I remember reading on zombie’s website that the negative need not be disassembled to reconstruct the unaltered version. Because a modern restoration would be done digitally anyway, they would simply need to take a scan of the o-neg as it is now, scan in the pieces that got replaced, and rebuild everything in the digital realm.

For further context, the negative is the first-generation source for the footage used in the final cut. They are also without any color timing as that comes later in the process, and unlike a 35mm print, which is a few generations down from the negative, there is only one layer of grain to deal with (this is not the case with SW as there is optical compositing).*

*if I’ve made any mistakes, please correct me.

Would any IPs or separation masters still be usable and around?

Nothing I’m reading here suggests ANY hope for a remastered OOT.

The separation masters are still intact, as are other film elements closer to the o-neg than the theatrical prints.

Robert A. Harris emphasized several years ago that “these assets are well-protected.” If a user on the blu-ray.com forums is to be believed, Disney has been meticulously going through every last piece of Star Wars film material and scanning them in. It’s simply a matter of time … and of timing.

I hate to be eternally negative, but A) why believe this, and B) how much time?! I’m not getting any younger.

Combining the separation masters will not yield the same quality as that which can be derived from a scan (or even a photochemical replication to a first generation interpositive) from the original negative.

A massive chunk of the original negative was lost/damaged beyond repair from the scene where Supes confronts Lex Luther in Superman The Movie.
For the restoration in 1999, they recombined the separation masters to recreate that scene.
But the colors were slightly out of sync and the resolution noticeably compromised.

Lucas has already gone on record saying that the separation masters for Star Wars were not preserved correctly(Fox were to blame).

So the original negative is the only salvation for Star Wars.

So we’re fucked, essentially.

Yes we are. It was such a fucking great idea for George to tamper with the restoration with pointless CGI on films HE DID NOT EVEN MAKE when they were already in such bad conditions.

I figured.

I’m deliberately going back to it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but it’s like some sort of compulsion. I “forgot” my phone all day at work today, and when I came home, I ran to it and ran to this particularly nasty new one that bothers the most yet. Something must be wrong with me 😦. I was barely able to get out of bed this morning.

Jetrell Fo said:

Mike O said:

My iPhone joyously flagged another of Matt Dillahunty’s anti-Catholic rants for me. How nice of it to keep feeding my monster. Fuck you and the fucking wifi you rode in on. Fuck my life.

I had a rare decent day at work and all I can think about is my OCD shit. Fuck you, brain. No medicine will ever restore my faith or erase my memories. I’m tired of this. I just want to go to sleep and not dread waking up every morning.

May I ask why it flags these things and isn’t there any way you can remove this flag so that it does not show these?

Because I actively look for them because it’s part of my incomprehensible onsession. I wish I knew WHY I kept looking at things that upset me, but I do. And this one was fucking nasty. So, naturally, I went back to it. Several times.

Disco_Lobot said:

The only thing that is actually illegal is distributing a fan edit. It’s perfectly legal to create a fan edit and watch it in your own home. It’s not even technically illegal to download anything copyrighted… only uploading.

In addition - it’s generally a civil matter and not a criminal one (the potential damages are very steep, but there’s no risk of jail time or criminal record… that generally would only happen if you were profiting from it).

All that being said; I wouldn’t use my real name and I would use a VPN for all torrent/upload/download activity. (not that I would know anything about that 😃)

How much is a VPN?

danny_boy said:

Mike O said:

Fang Zei said:

Mike O said:

JawsTDS said:

Fang Zei said:

Cthulhunicron said:

What exactly does it mean for the negative to be disassembled?

The negative has been conformed to the SE since 1997. George decided to cut the changes directly into the negative because, as far as he was concerned, the SE was the official version of the movie now.

We recently got confirmation from the relevant person at Fox that the pieces of the negative replaced for the SE were indeed put into storage and not discarded.

I think I remember reading on zombie’s website that the negative need not be disassembled to reconstruct the unaltered version. Because a modern restoration would be done digitally anyway, they would simply need to take a scan of the o-neg as it is now, scan in the pieces that got replaced, and rebuild everything in the digital realm.

For further context, the negative is the first-generation source for the footage used in the final cut. They are also without any color timing as that comes later in the process, and unlike a 35mm print, which is a few generations down from the negative, there is only one layer of grain to deal with (this is not the case with SW as there is optical compositing).*

*if I’ve made any mistakes, please correct me.

Would any IPs or separation masters still be usable and around?

Nothing I’m reading here suggests ANY hope for a remastered OOT.

The separation masters are still intact, as are other film elements closer to the o-neg than the theatrical prints.

Robert A. Harris emphasized several years ago that “these assets are well-protected.” If a user on the blu-ray.com forums is to be believed, Disney has been meticulously going through every last piece of Star Wars film material and scanning them in. It’s simply a matter of time … and of timing.

I hate to be eternally negative, but A) why believe this, and B) how much time?! I’m not getting any younger.

Combining the separation masters will not yield the same quality as that which can be derived from a scan (or even a photochemical replication to a first generation interpositive) from the original negative.

A massive chunk of the original negative was lost/damaged beyond repair from the scene where Supes confronts Lex Luther in Superman The Movie.
For the restoration in 1999, they recombined the separation masters to recreate that scene.
But the colors were slightly out of sync and the resolution noticeably compromised.

Lucas has already gone on record saying that the separation masters for Star Wars were not preserved correctly(Fox were to blame).

So the original negative is the only salvation for Star Wars.

So we’re fucked, essentially.

My iPhone joyously flagged another of Matt Dillahunty’s anti-Catholic rants for me. How nice of it to keep feeding my monster. Fuck you and the fucking wifi you rode in on. Fuck my life.

I had a rare decent day at work and all I can think about is my OCD shit. Fuck you, brain. No medicine will ever restore my faith or erase my memories. I’m tired of this. I just want to go to sleep and not dread waking up every morning.

Jetrell Fo said:

Mike O said:

Really wish after all the kindness offered to me, I could offer up some good advice to all the other suffering people in their thread, but sadly, I can only offer empathy and hopes that everything will work out for the best. That feels sadly hollow, though. If I weren’t having a crippling crisis of losing faith, I may offer some prayers. Lots of love, and hope you guys figure things out.

Your faith in yourself needs to be healed before your faith in other things can follow. We will do what we can to help.

😃

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Really wish after all the kindness offered to me, I could offer up some good advice to all the other suffering people in their thread, but sadly, I can only offer empathy and hopes that everything will work out for the best. That feels sadly hollow, though. If I weren’t having a crippling crisis of losing faith, I may offer some prayers. Lots of love, and hope you guys figure things out.

I managed to watch some TV. Still would like to derive more pleasure from what I do, I’m still numb to it, but at least I did. My mother has one of her oldest friends over-a couple, actually. Nice, good people.She mentioned the priest who married her and my father when they were all reminiscing, and I immediately went into an attack memory of Dillahunty: “Clergy are leeches on society! And pedophiles!” They’re talking about Easter with her (adorable) triplet grandkids, and I’m thinking “Brainwashing.” I see I still have a long way to go if I’m ever back to normal. I don’t think I ever will be, I think I’m going to have to find a way to live with this. I still kind of feel like a piece of shit during things like this. I’ve been trying. I’ve going out with my friends several times. and we’ve planned a whole day for Monday. I’ll have to see my dad’s doctor the following week. Kind of hoping he’ll raise the Abilify again. I’ll tell him the honest truth; it’s tenuously working a little. I looked up the “Neurobehavioral consultant” he’s recommenced for psychological testing; presumably that’s a fancy way of saying “psychologist.” One rather nasty review, and two pretty solid ones. I guess I’ll find out in a few weeks.God, I fucking hate my brain. Sorry, just wanted a little mind-dump. Anyway, as always, love you guys and thanks for your support.

Ah, but how do make my own stomps for the discs and covers 😉?

Everyone keeps telling me this, and they’re right. It just so fucking hard. I’m spending a lot of time saying I want to get better, but I’m sure not spending much in action pushing to get better? And why? Because it’s too hard. That’s not fair of me to others. And I know that. But Christ, is it fucking hard, and even the smallest steps are hard. So this kick in the ass is probably necessary. I just wish I could make SOME progress. If I did, I’d see how it was possible and feel more hopeful. But enough of my pity party. And thanks, you guys. You’re good to have around to talk to, and hopefully I haven’t been driving everyone nuts with my whining about all of this.

Saw the new psychiatrist, finally. My doctor has an odd definition of “real nice guy.” He’s a little brittle and distant. I don’t necessarily mean that in an unpleasant, and being detached from emotions is part of his job, but it felt like I was in a movie or something; getting dry questions, having him write everything down. I know, I know, it takes multiple sessions. I was pretty disappointed not to be prescribed any new medications or dosage increases, but he did recommend some psychological. I’ll be honest, the experience wasn’t particularly pleasant or helpful, at least not yet. I know, I need to be patient, and hurting takes a long time to heal. I just wish I was a little better than I’d been before the appointment.

Family dinner was nice. My brother is getting married!! He’s getting married in a church, so that triggered me and now the attacs have made me sick to my stomach so instead of thinking about my brother’s wedding I’m running over my usual atheism/Dillahunty obsession and thinning about how their wedding will be in a church and Oh God I’m so obsessive and anxious. How about being happy for your brother and his sweetheart girlfriend, you piece of shit? My mother, meanwhile “You’re going to worry yourself into an early grave” is worried about me and I’m all “Oh, she’s Catholic!” She’s doing nothing which affects me in any way, shape, form, or fashion, and I’m thinking about a Dillahunty rant about how the church is “evil and full of child molesters and fvck you for saying there’s anything good about it, it’s poison to its core!” (she’s good friends with several priests, good people all) and is a criminal organization and blah blah blah. I feel like a piece of shit. The anxiety and the compulsions are spiking up again, and they’re making me sick to my stomach. I hate myself right now.

Fang Zei said:

Mike O said:

JawsTDS said:

Fang Zei said:

Cthulhunicron said:

What exactly does it mean for the negative to be disassembled?

The negative has been conformed to the SE since 1997. George decided to cut the changes directly into the negative because, as far as he was concerned, the SE was the official version of the movie now.

We recently got confirmation from the relevant person at Fox that the pieces of the negative replaced for the SE were indeed put into storage and not discarded.

I think I remember reading on zombie’s website that the negative need not be disassembled to reconstruct the unaltered version. Because a modern restoration would be done digitally anyway, they would simply need to take a scan of the o-neg as it is now, scan in the pieces that got replaced, and rebuild everything in the digital realm.

For further context, the negative is the first-generation source for the footage used in the final cut. They are also without any color timing as that comes later in the process, and unlike a 35mm print, which is a few generations down from the negative, there is only one layer of grain to deal with (this is not the case with SW as there is optical compositing).*

*if I’ve made any mistakes, please correct me.

Would any IPs or separation masters still be usable and around?

Nothing I’m reading here suggests ANY hope for a remastered OOT.

The separation masters are still intact, as are other film elements closer to the o-neg than the theatrical prints.

Robert A. Harris emphasized several years ago that “these assets are well-protected.” If a user on the blu-ray.com forums is to be believed, Disney has been meticulously going through every last piece of Star Wars film material and scanning them in. It’s simply a matter of time … and of timing.

I hate to be eternally negative, but A) why believe this, and B) how much time?! I’m not getting any younger.

My only gripe is that my dumbass DVR keeps saying another show is playing.

RicOlie_2 said:

If you ever want to talk about the whole God/religion thing, shoot me a PM. I also went through a period of extreme doubt, including a few months of (secretly) identifying as agnostic. During that time I really dug into the meatier questions, which eventually convinced me to become fully Catholic again.

I wish I could give you a quick run-down in one forum post, but I’m afraid there’s too much to talk about for that to really help…

Thanks, man. I think maybe I will soon.

Sorry for the tantrum, everybody. Just wanted to get some stuff out.

Christ, fighting this stuff is physically exhausting. I feel like I’ve run a mile every work shift. I’m six days away from the psychiatrist after the previous foul-up. Frankly, unless he can can tell me that God exists or erase my memories of all the Matt Dillahunty hate-theists videos which have become my nasty obsession and cycling thoughts, I’m not sure if there’s any point. I’m sick of pills and shrinks. Why can I talk to you guys more comfortably than I can to actual people? I’m just exhausted, physically, spiritually, mentally, and every other fucking way. God, I feel broken. And I’m so fucking selfish as a result of this. And I’m scared to death about my grandfather. And I have half a shift to go.

Sorry for bitching, just wanted to vent. I just want to enjoy ANYTHING again. Life’s too short for this shit. I don’t want to think about Matt Dillahunty anymore. Or ever again. ENOUGH. FUCKING HELL. Sorry. Just wanted to get some of this out. I hope to God the drugs will help somewhat. I’m so broken.

Any chance of a 1080 version? The man seems to work tirelessly. I have a Blu-ray burner. Wonder if I could make a custom case and stomp the discs? Those blank BDs are expensive.

Fang Zei said:

The extensive LotR appendices, completed in 2004 with the Extended Edition of Return of the King, were also done in SD. At least they and EoD were 16:9. The Alien Quadrilogy making-ofs from right around that same time (2003/2004) were 4:3 and had to be both cropped and upscaled when they were carried over to the blu-ray in 2010.

Dangerous Days was made in 2007 but only released on a regular dvd across all of the various SKUs of Blade Runner released that year (even for the bd and hddvd). It’s 16:9 and looks like it could have been done at a higher resolution and then downscaled. I’m not sure if this was ever definitively answered, but it’s been ten years and the documentary was never released in hd.

Why crop them? Why? Don’t fuck with the aspect ratio, for God’s sake!