Selling my Denon 2910 but keeping the others

I posted a classified today at Audiogon for my beloved Denon 2910! Since 1998, the Denon 2910 counts as my 3rd DVD player. With the quality upconversion the Denon was intended to be a stop gap for me until the HDM format war was over. But we all know how that turned out.

I tend to gravitate toward the mid-end DVD players which often get many of the goodies of their top-of-the-line brothers or the boutique manufacturers but at a much more reasonable price point. I still have my first DVD player, the Sony DVP-S7000 (technically it's my cousin's player - we swapped players because my version was an early enough version that you could mod to be region free). I have kept the Sony mainly for nostalgic reasons. I still remember being blown away when I first saw "The Fugitive" DVD on a 35" Sony "vertically flat" CRT TV. The picture quality was such a quantum leap over VHS and LD. Right then and there, the S7000 became an obsession. I also thought the rock solid disc tray hidden behind the electronic aluminum face plate was the coolest thing ever - it's still very cool to me even after all these years!

This weekend, I also thought about selling my Toshiba SD-9200 (my #2). This was a pretty good 480p progressive scan DVD player at the time but in fact it's probably a better CD/DVD-Audio player. I was listening to a few CDs over the weekend with the Toshiba and I forgot just how much fun and satisfying it is to listen to music on a home system. Hate to say it but so much detail and that "connection" to the music is lost when listening to it in a car or through headphones. Like my Sony, the Toshiba is an over-engineered-built-like-a-tank player ( they seriously don't make DVD players like this anymore!) but sadly it is not worth very much today in the used market. Maybe I had a better window of opportunity had I tried selling it in 2005. So I've decided that it's not worthwhile to sell it now. I might try out a few DVD Audio discs someday whenever I ever get around to upgrading to a surround processor with 5.1 analog in.

Hilarious BA housing market blog

The commentary is just so funny here. I must add this to my side bar.

Ant attack

The certainties in life are death, taxes and having ants in our house every summer. They are mostly in our kitchen and bathrooms. If you leave a dish in the sink or on the countertop that is not "scrubbed" within 15-30 minutes, it's game over. Heck even if it is scrubbed they will still come. What we've had to do is soak our dishes in soap immediately after we were done eating. The kitchen trash cannot be left unfortified. What that means is that we've had to put a mini cardboard box (ie costco carryout boxes) laced with ant spray and place it underneath the trash container. During the really hot days, I've found that the ants will still infest the kitchen trash despite the ant spray around it.

Those Ortho house perimeter sprays have not worked out really well. I suspect as the house has settled, new cracks have emerged in the foundation or underneath the house and the ants have started to come from underneath and not just from the outside. Spot spraying the cracks where the ants come in with Hot Shots seems to work best but I've had to take extra care as to not spray on areas exposed to food or touch. And how to remove the corpses or the stragglers? Vacuum baby...the Dyson-ator :-)

Carnage

Dow at 12597
Nasdaq at 2405
S&P at 1378

Oil, gold, silver and copper are down big time... WTF... and so much for VMW IPO fever.

Diversification is my hedge supposedly... but even the global markets are down. There really is no where to hide. Might be time to move into cash? But if I do that I know the market will rally after. If I don't, I just know the market will continue to slide. It happens to me all the time. Whenever I time the market, the opposite desired outcome always occurs! I know I should just "stick to the plan" but it really is easier said than done.

One thing I learned from all of this is that even money market funds are not safe if they are backed by mortgage related CDOs (vs FDIC).

HD Pirates..rejoice

I am not a pirate of movies but this looks very interesting indeed .

Getting the itch(es)

When HD DVD offered 20 movies that I actually wanted to own (mostly HD DVD exclusive) I caved in. Feeling like a spoiled child, there are now 11 Blu Ray movies on my want-to-own list so not quite there yet. Looking at the release calender I shouldn't have to worry about it for the remainder of this year unless there is a spike in announcements. I'm really waiting to see if the PS3 60gb will still be around by year end or 2008 at an attractive price and can support profile 1.1 and 2.0. If not, then fuggetaboutit..no deal.

Since I am in a spoiled mood (man, I'm sick - I deserve to think about things that will make me feel better!) I've been also thinking about building my next computer. One of my buddies just built this. It's a really nice set up, very quiet ( a must for my next rig), and plays the latest DX9 games at a blissful framerate. What is holding me back is a) convincing the Mrs. that I really really really need this new PC and b) I want to wait for the hardware reviews for DX10 games like Crysis and Call of Duty 4. What's all the fuss with Crysis? Check out the video demos . For the first time in a long long time, I feel like PC gaming is about to take a huge leap in graphics, immersion, and ..we'll see about gameplay. Hopefully the games live up to the hype.

Still sick as a dog

Hot Fuzz - Funny movie and the image quality = top notch!

It's been over a week and I had a sign of improvement over the weekend but then my cough relapsed today. I went to see a another physician and he gave me some codeine which seemed to work well until today. I must've tried a buffet of OTC meds by now. Out of concern for nuking my liver, Viks made me stop taking any cold medication with acetaminophen after a week's usage since I have not exhibited any signs of fever.

So what to do when you're sick with a stubborn cold? Well, of course you rest and drink gallons of water. But if one were to do that 24x7, it can get kind of boring. If it hasn't been obvious by now, I've been watching a lot of movies!

If there is one consolation in this whole ordeal, I've actually lost 2.5 lbs while being sick. Loss of appetite? The war inside me burning more calories than normal? Whatever it is (minus sign of something horrible) I'll take it!

300 HD DVD - very cool bonus feature

"Bluescreen Picture-in-Picture Version" of the film where the entire film of 300 is shown without the CGI & post processing. Here you learn that in fact the actor playing Xerxes is about the same height as Gerard Butler and during blue screen filming he was talking to a stub with a screwdriver improvised as a head :-)

Movie only (PIP commentary off)

Maybe my last post is a good segue to this one. Many of the bonus features in early HD disc releases have been straight 480i ports of the SD DVDs. Part of the value proposition for the new hi-def optical formats have been enhancements to the bonus features like PIP video commentaries / documentaries. What this means is that you can play a video commentary (as opposed to audio only in regular DVD) in a smaller window alongside the movie presentation . I initially thought it was gimmicky but after trying it out on a few movies, I have found myself enjoying this feature more than the audio commentary track as it allows you to see and hear scene-for-scene what director and production crew did behind the camera.

Side note: The picture quality of the movie itself is not reflected well on these screenshots due to Zack Snyder intentionally injecting a lot of grain, cranking up the contrast, and heavily desaturating the colors of the film to approximate the look of the original graphic novel. With that said, you can take my word for it that the 300 HD DVD is a great HD presentation and really looks like HD. Since the 300 HD DVD is a combo release with the SD version on side B I've watched a bit of it as well. Don't get me wrong. The upscaled SD version is very good in itself but doesn't have the fine detail, depth, and punch of the HD version.

To the studio's top brass - your marketing dollars at work

Other than renting, I find myself steering clear of any "bare bones" version of a DVD. You know, the DVD featuring the movie only - with little or none of the special documentaries/bonus features. All it takes are the following key words on the box- "Special Edition," "Collector's Edition," "Extended Edition," "Director's Cut," or a mish mash variant of the aforementioned. Despite the $5-$15 premium over the "bare bones" flavor, whenever I see those key words "Special," "Collectors" etc. my eyes light up, my heart races, and I find myself handing over the credit card to the cashier.

The irony is that I will often only watch a portion of the documentaries. I won't finish all of them because after the movie is over
a) I am simply tired
b) the documentary is too much of an EPK (where everyone just pats each other on the back saying the same ol recycled "He/She was so great to work with. He/She was just so amazingly talented...blah blah blah blah" vs a genuinely interesting and insightful "film school-in-a-box" type documentary or perhaps a reflective account of the challenges during the filming (The Star Wars Trilogy DVD set is a great example of "film school-in-a-box" + great retrospective documentary).
c) the documentary is way too in depth and I lose interest after a while (ie the extras on Ultimate Matrix and Extended LOTR were overwhelming for me)
d) watching it the next day disrupts the "continuity" and 4 out of 5 times I'll end up wanting to watch another movie and not "bonus features."

You'd think by now I've learned my lesson and will only buy the most economical version of a DVD release. Nope. I still fall for it every time!

Summer movies winding down...

The previews for Ratatouille didn't really draw me in but the movie was much better than I expected.

And for something off the beaten path, Sunshine was OK. The effects were really good for a film of relatively modest budget but it was hard to really connect with the characters. Really, really good sci-fi flicks are few and far between I suppose.

Another limited release, Rescue Dawn was pretty good. No "high octane action/adventure" or large budget special effects but a good tale of survival, great supporting cast and you really feel the plight of the prisoners. I think it's great when A-list actors like Christian Bale will take on more character driven roles / lower budget movies.

Bourne Ultimatum

If Paul Greengrass' shaky hand camera doesn't make you sick to the point of ad nauseam , then you'll probably enjoy this film. I am a big fan of Greengrass' shaky cam and how he frames his shots which effectively create a lot of tension. Ultimatum feels like Bourne Supremacy part II as it picks up right where Supremacy left off and moves at a 190mph and pretty much doesn't stop until the end. There is a particular hand-to-hand fight scene that is just as raw and exciting as the Germany apartment fight scene (if not more) in Supremacy. It helps to watch the first two movies right before you watch this one as there is key line uttered near the end that poignantly brings the trilogy to a full circle.

My tastes & expectations in the spy genre have changed a lot since watching the Bourne trilogy. I now prefer the action "raw" and seeing the protagonist relying more on instinct, intellect, and improvisation vs the action feeling staged and having the right gadget at the right time. A knock on the Bond films? Maybe a little. But I do think Bond films are fun and offer a lot more escapism.

What is wrong with this picture?

Bloody sick...bollacks!

/begin rant...

Not that blogging about it will make me any better but I've been coughing non stop since last Friday. Last night was the worst when my throat was so itchy despite the "Nite-quil" and as a result I was coughing non stop and I kicked myself out to the futon in our loft as to not constantly wake up Viks. There are few things as frustrating as not being able to sleep. Viks checked my throat and says it looks viral so no antibiotics. Looks like I gotta tough this out with OTC meds and lots of water.

end rant/