TurquoiseB wrote: > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozg...@...> wrote: > >> With the local Hollywood Video going out of business and a new >> Samsung networked Bluray player I decided to sign up again for >> Netflix. As I've mentioned before I used Netflix over 10 years >> ago when DVD first came out because few if any of the local >> stores had DVDs to rent. Then they began getting them and I >> stopped using Netflix. So upon Turq's recommendation I put >> Starz's "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" in my Instant Watch list. >> Last night I watched the first half of the first episode. >> Interesting series though nowhere as well produced as HBO's >> "Rome"... >> > > Just you wait. Heh heh. :-) > The second episode was better. There is an interesting subtext going on which is almost more about current affairs than life in Rome. > >> ...but quite interesting how they put green screen and CG to >> work to create the episode. Not sure if it's my cup of tea as >> I found plenty to fill the queue otherwise. Of course I've seen >> enough to see why Turq liked it. ;-) >> > > As much as I like tits, it's not just the tits. :-) > "Spartacus" has some of the best villains I have > ever seen onscreen, and some of the most nefarious > plotting. Not to mention a depth of characterization > I had absolutely no reason to suspect was coming in > the first couple of episodes. > > I have gone beyond being an apologetic fan and have > become an unapologetic fan. I think that -- for good > or ill -- it defines the future of television. I > expect there to be six knockoff copycat series within > a year. None of them will be as good, but all of them > will use the "violence porn" metaphor. >
Unfortunately that is the way that horror has gone especially since the Saw and Hostel successes. > >> The first thing I watched in HD on Instant Play was was a quirky >> psychological thriller which could easily make the "weird film" >> list called "Order of Chaos". >> > > I have a download of this, but haven't watched it yet. > > >> I had stumbled across the movie looking at the Alan Watt >> http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com site as they used >> a couple of Alan's Internet radio raps in the movie and >> he had put a link to Amazon's listing there. Those not >> familiar with Alan is he is a Scotsman living in Canada >> doing historical conspiracy podcasts. >> > > I can somehow see why this would be your cuppa tea. :-) > > I had some email exchanges with Alan a few years back. He had claimed on his podcast that rock musicians of the 1960s didn't know that much about music (he claims to be a former profession songwriter). Au contraire, even people like Graham Parson had jazz backgrounds. Brian Wilson was also into jazz and composition. So were many of the well known rock stars I met and we used to compare notes. I particularly remember siting with some of the guys from the Greatful Dead at my house listening to John Cage. We were all music students that looked at the rock scene and thought "hey we can write that stuff in our sleep!" Well writing it was one thing the politics of the record industry is another. >> You can find these on his site and they can be very >> entertaining. One interesting thing is he claims that TM >> was an attempt by the Freemason's to create a new religion >> using Maharishi. >> > > That's just silly. The Freemasons I've met were much smarter > than that. :-) > I'm thinking he was into TM and went to Charlie's lectures and derived it from that. > >> I suspect that Alan may have at one time practiced TM or was >> even a teacher. The movie was interesting enough that I had >> Netflix send me the DVD so that I could listen to the commentary >> and see what was behind the making of the movie. >> > > Let me guess: "The making of money?" :-) > > Or losing it. I was reading a commentary in THR this morning on companies looking to make money in Hollywood and winding up losing instead. No, what I'm interested in is how he came up with the story line. The DVD arrives today. How you write for money is to make the story compelling enough that people want to back its production. Before the 1986 tax laws the losing of money was also profitable. >> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1159721/ >> >> Between Netflix, Vudu, Redbox and Amazon's service I might ditch >> most of my cable bill. Cable companies are so yesterday. >> > > I find it difficult to even conceive of why I'd need cable > or a satellite hookup. The only rationale I see for them is > if you're a sports fan or, in the case of many UK ex-pats > living here, lonely for British TV shows from home. I am > neither, and live in a country that wisely sees nothing > wrong with downloading media for private viewing, so I don't > see myself ever needing to hook up to a "media tit" other > than the Internet ever again. > Well they are finally waking up to VOD as the way. Sort of a "if you can't beat them join them" attitude though the software industry saw the Internet as a new means of distribution from the beginning. The record and movie industries are run by Neanderthals. The found of Hollywood Video told his company back in the 1990s they needed to get into movies over the Internet and they laughed at him.
