There have been some funny movies about marijuana and I was interested to learn that AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson was involved with one called Totally Baked. To promote the Totally Baked DVD, Johnson sang three songs with AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams laying the lowdown.
The 3 free song downloads sung by Brian Johnson for Totally Baked movie: Chain Gang, Chase The Tail and Who Phoned The Law sound very AC/DC-like and aren’t bad. Give them a download, queue and listen to ‘em.
Speaking of AC/DC, they just finished recording their newest studio album which is due out at the end of 2008. It’s been 8 years since their last studio album Stiff Upper Lip. There are some rumors that this album might be accompanied with a farewell tour. Hope this isn’t true.
Good stuff on the horizon for Blu-ray fans as some much needed web-interactive features will become available.
The downloadable content will range from bonus movie scenes and trailers to "interactive movie-based games."
"With Blu-ray established as the high-definition optical disc standard, more consumers are ready to jump in and take advantage of everything the format offers," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of product marketing, in a statement.
Interactive movie-based games? Like Dragon’s Lair? Or how about a version of the upcoming Indiana Jones where you control Indy through perilous situations? One wrong move and Indy’s toast. I’m just dreaming aloud here, so don’t get too excited.
While this might work with action movies, it won’t work well with romance flicks. Or maybe it would? Oh boy, I better stop the brain before I get into trouble.
This morning’s news that Toshiba is officially ceasing support of HD DVD and will shut down production in March signals a (small) victory for Blu-ray as many publications are touting, but also means the price of existing HD DVD inventory will plummet soon:
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation
The writing was already on the wall with Wal-mart and Netflix saying they would only carry Blu-ray following the CES 2008 bombshell that Warner Bros. was going only Blu-ray. Now watch those PS3 sales soar even further.
Where does this leave the Xbox 360 which has the HD DVD as an add-on drive? Making a standalone Blu-ray Xbox 360 drive, possibly available in a few months, if you believe what alleged insiders told SmartHouse:
Insiders at Microsoft in the USA have told SmartHouse that Microsoft has already configured a standalone Blu-ray player that can be connected into an Xbox 360 and that subject to internal marketing and sales approvals the model could be on sale within 3 months
There is further speculation that Microsoft is working on a newer version of an Xbox 360 with a built-in Blu-ray drive, but I don’t think that will happen, at least in 2008. Microsoft would be wiser to continue to promote their Xbox Live Marketplace as a viable next generation movie download platform. They have the best online gaming and video area but Sony has HOME up its sleeve.
One big problem that Microsoft has is that their downloads are all wrapped in a DRM scheme on a proprietary drive while the PS3 supports using any hard drive. You can easily copy downloaded content on the PS3 to an external drive and can even run Linux. The Xbox 360 even with their 120GB hard drive is outclassed by the PS3 storage architecture.
Back to HD DVD, set your bargain bin sensor on high alert. In particular, watch for goodies like the Star Trek Original Series HD DVD sets. Star Trek Original Series Season One HD DVD (affiliate) I’ve seen the first season at the local Fred Meyer and hope the other two will be released. It’s possible all three will be available on Blu-ray.
More TV Seasons, please I’ve been saying for some time that one major weakness in both nextgen HD formats is the lack of TV seasons. A few TV seasons are trickling in on both HD DVD and Blu-ray, but not nearly the amount that are available in DVD. When/if this changes, Blu-ray might have a fighting chance for a little while staving off downloads.
It remains important when looking at the future of movies to remember collectors. People like buying and owning physical media. You can touch, display, there’s artwork and inserts and creative packaging. You can’t do any of that with downloadable media.
After seeing the trailer below, I’m looking as forward to the fourth Indiana Jones movie as Iron Man.
Who knows how good Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be that comes out on May 22? I’ve been fooled by seductive trailers before (Dragon Wars anyone?). May is shaping up as a potentially great movie month with Iron Man in theaters everywhere May 2.
I can hardly wait to see how good both these May movies look in HD. What movies are you looking forward to, if any?
Just got back from watching the new Rambo movie with our oldest teen.
It doesn’t take long for Rambo to get in the middle of a civil war and this time he goes on a machete wielding tear a la Jason Vorhees. I’m smelling sequel at the end and cinemablend stokes the fire:
For Rambo V, the rumor is that Stallone wants to use an alternative script he wrote for Rambo IV, which involves Rambo’s daughter being kidnapped by cult leaders. Until there’s some kind of official announcement though, consider it conjecture.
Even though the reviews aren’t that good, if Rambo makes enough money at the box office, there will be more. I don’t think Stallone is ready to hang up his weapons, although the series is in danger of becoming a farce, similar to the neverending stream of horror flicks.
Rambo (#4) official website: http://movies.break.com/rambo/. I’d wait for the DVD unless you’re a big Rambo fan. And if you’re squeamish, don’t see this at all. No spoilers but there is extreme gore in this film. I thought I’d miss Colonel Troutman who is only in voice in the film but didn’t. Here’s how I’d rank the Rambo films to date:
(best) First Blood
Rambo 2
Rambo (#4)
(worst) Rambo 3
Grade: C+
Update 1/28/08 5:10am PST: The Rambo kill chart has a breakdown of the Rambo franchise kill stats.
Last night we signed up (again) for the unlimited Hollywood Video DVD rental plan 3 DVDs out at a time which runs $19.99 for the first 30 days and $29.99/mo. thereafter, but I’m feeling buyer’s remorse after reading Netflix has expanded their streaming option.
With Monday’s change, virtually all Netflix subscribers will be able to stream as many movies and TV shows as they want from a library containing more than 6,000 titles. There will be no additional charge for the unlimited access.
So essentially we paid $3 more + gas and travel time to/from to be able to cycle through the Hollywood Video inventory of movies we haven’t seen. I’m certain the quality of the DVD streaming will be less than watching DVDs, but will it be worth the extra $$? We’ll be canceling at the end of the month and going back to Netflix to try the streaming option.
Netflix move looks intended as a spoiler to Apple’s expected announcement that they will be offering movie rentals for $3.99 a movie at their annual MacWorld event which kicks off today. This pricing is similar to the Xbox Live movie service which our family has enjoyed, renting over a dozen movies. Good quality and convenient. Getting in the car to go back and forth to the video store might be exercise of sorts, but it gets old. That’s why we only do the unlimited Hollywood Video in one month surges once a year or so.
Another downside of Netflix deal is selection. 6,000 titles available for streaming versus 90,000 DVDs. On Xbox Live the selection of movies is even smaller. No idea yet how many movies will be available from Apple. Selection and video streaming quality will ultimately decide how long we stay subscribed to Netflix.
From the photo at the top of this movie you can see our first three movie picks at Hollywood: Epic Movie, Ball’s Fury and Hot Rod. Epic Movie was one of the stupidest movies I’ve ever seen. Ball’s Fury was medicore, but had some funny parts. Will be watching Hot Rod later today but it won’t be difficult to be better than the other two.
Remember the wall that switches from TV to scenery in the science fiction movie Total Recall? The scene where Sharon Stone’s character tries to district Arnold Schwarzenegger from paying attention to the TV playing on the wall.
Panasonic, who is responsible for the 150 inch plasma TV at CES shared a concept that sounds similar to that movie scene:
… concept called LifeWall, and something called “You Know Me TV,” which involves having full wall adjustable video screens. This a lot like a concept of full-wall HD screens that Microsoft’s Bill Gates mentioned in his keynote.
Still in search of that “must be there [at CES 2008] to see this” moment. With the cool media advancements of Podtech’s Bloghaus with live video through Mogulus (see mogulus.com/podtech_ces_live), it’s like you are almost in the room talking to the people beating their feet (literally) up and down the show floor.
Update 1/8/08 2:03pm PST: Gizmodo has pictures of the 150-inch TV showing an elephant next to a man. Gives perspective of the size.
A success and failure in legal online downloading to discuss. I’ve done business with both AmazonMP3 and Wal-Mart video, the former being a more satisfying customer experience.
AmazonMP3 grows by adding Warner Music to their library of online songs being sold DRM-free in MP3 format. This adds artists like Van Halen, Green Day and Led Zeppelin and brings their total to nearly three million songs. The iTunes store only sells DRM-free music from EMI while AmazonMP3 now offers EMI, Universal Music Group and Warner. If Sony offers their catalog to AmazonMP3 and that’s a big if, they’ll have four major music outlets licensing digital music for download legally.
This is a positive story for expansion of DRM-free legal digital music delivery. Conversely, Wal-Mart trying to sell digital video with DRM on the same day the DVDs release has failed. Wal-Mart might be good at offering cheap prices in their retail stores, but at least some of their online retail efforts aren’t successful, as shown on December 21 when they killed their online video service launched back in February.
Wal-Mart will continue offering physical DVDs for sale at its stores and online … Wal-Mart’s attempt at downloading came two years after it pulled out of online DVD rental and directed its subscribers to Netflix Inc, and months after it protested Walt Disney Co’s move to sell movies on Apple Inc’s iTunes online music store at below-retail prices.
We bought one movie through Wal-mart Video and had trouble with the video software backed by HP. We were able to watch the movie one time but it remains a stinging $15 memory that might as well have been two tickets to a crowded theater because it was a one watch only experience. This remains the major danger with buying any DRM-infected file and the reason we buy very little music and video this way.
We picked up a set of four HD DVD movies from Costco for $55 as a Christmas present.
The movies in the set: Happy Feet, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Scooby-Doo and The Antbully. I’ve only seen Scooby-Doo so far which ironically has something to do with the problem with the set. See if you can tell the problem with the set pictured above that we didn’t realize until opening the package. We should have seen the problem before paying for it, but didn’t.
We’ll be checking this more carefully heretofore.
Costco had no problem refunding, even though the item had been opened. We repurchased the same set. Of the hundreds of movies (1,000+ more likely) we’ve purchased over the years this is the first time this particular problem has ever happened.
I’ve waited to weigh in on the writer’s strike mainly because I hoped it would be settled right away, that both parties would reach an acceptable deal and that it would be a minor entertainment speed bump. It’s dragging into week four now, the holidays are looming and TV shows already shot from completed scripts are running out. If something good is going to happen, the next couple weeks of negotiations are critical.
Readers already know I’m pro-writer and if they don’t, they’ll learn quickly from past posts like Another Sweatshop Blog Emerges. Those who have been writing in the blog format for any length of time and consistency fully realize it’s work. And for any kind of legal work, I strongly support fair, reasonable pay.
Writers, by and large, are not paid fairly. Sure, there are exceptions and please spare naming them in the comments. Stephen King is more than fairly compensated. Dean Koontz makes good money. Danielle Steele isn’t suffering. Once you break through like these writers have, and huge kudos to them for doing so, being compensated fairly for each project is no longer an issue.
To better understand the disequity the star on the silver screen (think Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston) making millions for what essentially is a few months work versus a writer making significantly less who spent at a minimum the same amount of time and probably much more. Actors aren’t brain surgeons and writers aren’t the also largely underpaid nurses. Once you factor in disparity in residual income from creative works and the current dispute: web income, one can better comprehend why writers are striking.
Joss Whedon, the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity and other fine works writes eloquently:
It’s always hard. Not just dealing with obtuse, intrusive studio execs, temperamental stars and family-prohibiting hours. Those are producer issues as much as anything else. Not just trying to get your first script sold, or seen, or finished, when nobody around believes you can/will/should… the ACT of writing is hard. When Buffy was flowing at its flowingest, David Greenwalt used to turn to me at some point during every torturous story-breaking session and say “Why is it still hard? When do we just get to be good at it?” I’ll only bore you with one theory: because every good story needs to be completely personal (so there are no guidelines) and completely universal (so it’s all been done). It’s just never simple.
It’s always been like this, right down to the producers’ rhetoric and the suggestions that they can live well without us. That’s what they were saying back in 1933 when ten top crafters of movie scripts agreed to organize. Immediately and predictably, the studios resisted … In 1951, the Guild began to represent the writers of that newfangled thing called television … The strike of 1960 - which lasted 151 days, making it the longest strike in Hollywood until the Writers Guild later bettered its own record - was the one that secured a pension plan as well as residual payments when a movie was run on television … It wasn’t until a threatened strike in ‘77 that we began receiving [TV residuals] in perpetuity … In 1981, there was a three-month WGA strike to establish compensation in the then-new markets of “pay TV” and home video … The strike of [1988] year lasted 22 weeks - one day longer than the strike of ‘60. [In 2007] the burgeoning import of Internet delivery and other new technologies meant that we had to take a stand. There are too many dollars at stake for us not to establish our place at the table.
I’m hoping this gets settled much sooner than the 151 day strike of 1960. When it comes to episodic television, even though we haven’t had TV in our home for over 500 days, we eventually watch TV as it trickles down to DVD format and/or appears (legally) on the web. This situation could suck worse for those who pay to have cable or satellite and need to endure a steady diet of unscripted TV and game shows.
To play devil’s advocate, this could have more people making the move like our family: canceling TV altogether. As big a fan of internet video as I am, the general population isn’t ready for crappy, pixelated web video to replace episodic television.
When will the strike end?
A deal will get done. I think it most likely happens in the next couple weeks before Christmas. If not, then this could drag on like 1960 because the sense of urgency and compassion for writers will begin to deteriorate when the holidays pass. Not from me, I’m with the writers all the way. Give them a fair, reasonable deal.
There have been some funny movies about marijuana and I was interested to learn that AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson was involved with one called Totally Baked. To promote the Totally Baked DVD
