Haines His Way

VERY HINKY GOINGS-ON!

I just came back to the site and it had logged me off.

I had to think really hard to remember my password.

And now I have a headache.

From the WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN Department:

Competing DVD Formats at Impasse as Deadline Nears
By Alex Pham
Times Staff Writer

August 24, 2005

A fight over the next generation of DVDs appears inevitable as manufacturers of rival technologies near a self-imposed deadline without agreeing on how to merge their designs into a single standard.

Although some executives hold out hope that a last-minute compromise can be reached, many analysts are skeptical that the two camps — led by Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. — can reach a deal that would allow them to jointly roll out new, high-definition DVD players and movies by Christmas.

The impasse recalls the battle 20 years ago between VHS and Betamax for dominance in the fledgling home video market.

Toshiba backs a format called HD DVD, while Sony is behind the Blu-ray format. Both promise ultra-crisp pictures and crystal-clear sound using high-capacity discs the size of current DVDs. Sony and Toshiba want to avoid a format war because consumers are likely to hold off on buying either technology until a winner is established.

"Late August is the practical time limit" to reach an accord, Yoshihide Fujii, Toshiba corporate senior vice president, told the Yomiuri newspaper in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Executives from Sony and the Blu-ray Disc Assn. acknowledged Tuesday that time was running out, but that a deal was still possible.

"We are still optimistic that we can still craft an 11th-hour solution," said Andy Parsons, a spokesman for the Blu-ray association.

Toshiba and Sony plan to launch devices in the coming months. Toshiba has said it will ship an HD DVD player for about $1,000 by Christmas. Sony plans to incorporate a Blu-ray player in its PlayStation 3 game console, set for release in spring 2006; the company also will sell stand-alone Blu-ray DVD players.

Because the underlying technologies are so different, it would take six to nine months for the companies to modify the design and manufacturing of their products to accommodate a unified format once executives agree to a deal, said P.J. McNealy, an analyst at American Technology Research.
…
Movie studios also are backing off plans for a big debut this holiday. Paramount Pictures, which said in January that it would release 20 films on HD DVD, recently said it would not release any this year. And NBC Universal, which had pledged to release 16 titles on HD DVD, said Tuesday that it was unclear whether those movies would be out by the end of this year.
…

(The above excepted from LA TIMES)

der Brucer

Whatever will Matt H do?

DR Elmoore:  I find your ghost story fascinating.....  Spooky, but fascinating.

Both my mother's and father's families have many accounts, some funny and some terrfifying, of paranormal activity.

I'm just back from an orchestra rehearsal of Act One of THE GOLDEN APPLE, which so needs a complete recording, if only for an appreciation of its compositional brilliance.  Every scene seems to be variations on two or three themes and its truly boggling.  Some of it sounds like Moross' BIG COUNTRY score, some parts remind me of Respighi's "Ancient Airs and Dances," and then there are "Windflowers" and "Lazy Afternoon," two examples of perfection in songwriting.

Here is my ask BK question

Can you ewxplain to me the process by which a story goes from book to the screen.

For example, say I thought one of your books would make a great movie... what steps would I have to take to get it to the screen?

I'm just back from an orchestra rehearsal of Act One of THE GOLDEN APPLE, which so needs a complete recording, if only for an appreciation of its compositional brilliance.  .

Your comments on the RCA OBC, please.

der Brucer

Your comments on the RCA OBC, please.

der Brucer

The OBC recording is pathetically short, and I wish the RCA producer had the foresight/clout of Goddard Lieberson to record the complete show on 3 LPs with that fantastic cast.  The show is thorough-composed, and the album can give you a section of, say, "Helen Is Always Willin'" but it cannot show you how brilliantly the melodies in that song are developed in a 10-minute scene.  

The entire opening "Nothing Ever Happens In Angel's Roost," takes the harmonies and melody and runs rampant through a number of moods: Helen's boredom, the three townsladies' chauvinism, Mother Hare's mysticism and cynicism, and Penelope's elation that the Spanish-American War is over and the boys are coming home, at which point "My Love Is On the Way" ends the sequence, which is about 7-8 minutes long.

The only spot on the OBC that shows how some of the piece is composed is truncated "Judgment of Paris."  The theme is on the sax, Mrs Juniper's Angel food sequence is a variation on the theme, and it's about 75% recorded from the entrance of Paris to the can-can off.  Unfortunately, the opening agitato sequence with the balloon is gone (very BIG COUNTRY), as is the ladies' first appearance with their baked goods and the introduction of the theme.  I think the bits and pieces on the OBC arewell-performed and I'm grateful we have what we have.  Alas, it's about one-third of the score.

I know!

I'll go to lunch now.

Eating always makes me feel better.

Today...szechuan chicken and rice, braised green beans and hand-made dumplings!

Ahhh...I'm feeling better already!

Had all but the dumplings.  There were only three of us, and the dumpling plate holds 10 dumplings.  I can't eat 3 of them AND the chicken and green beans...so.

But it was soooo gooood!

Thanks for your comments, DR elmore, I'm going to get out my cast CD and listen to it.  Right now, I'm on a "Mack and Mabel" kick.  Gotta love it!

 I think the bits and pieces on the OBC arewell-performed and I'm grateful we have what we have.  Alas, it's about one-third of the score.

Like getting one of those "Highlights" albums of a Puccini opera.

der Brucer

PS Thank you

You'd have to find a producer or studio who liked the book enough to want to option it or have it adapted into a screenplay.  Producers, as a lot, are mostly ignorant people who place far too much reliance on what their teenage "readers" coverage is.  I happen to think the Kritzer books would make three beautiful films, or they could all be rolled into one mini-series or much longer film.  They're soft, but soft in a good way and a way that movies need to get back to.  People are so ready for a film with characters and heart and simplicity and no bombast and I think a look back at a much simpler and better time would be just what the doctor ordered.

So, BK, is this something that you might actively pursue, or would you just wait until someone else comes to you wanting to do it?

Yes, we did do junk food for lunch - Burger King. If I'm going to have  a burger, I like the taste of theirs, so it was fine.

Imagining the response is Miss Petula Clark's voice makes me laugh!  

Me TOO!!!!!  

Next week, Fox issues that Shirley Temple boxed set with LITTLE MISS BROADWAY, CURLY TOP, and HEIDI in it. Interestingly, you can buy LITTLE MISS BROADWAY and CURLY TOP separately but not HEIDI (it was released in a separate DVD a few years ago which I have, but it seems to be out of print now). The price of the two separate discs is about the same price as the boxed set of three films.

My roommate spent last year at Round Barn in Nappannee...and DR Jose spent a summer there a few years back. Oh, the stories they have to tell. I actually visited Jenn when she was up there last August. It's beautiful, but I can't imagine living there year-round.

I am finally going to get to see TWO WOMEN. It's coming on TCM at some point tonight/early morning tomorrow, and I have the DVR set to record it.