As we all go about our daily lives and enjoy the tremendous entertainment experience that Blu-ray gives us, it is important, from time to time, to think about the hard-working folks who bring this fantastic level of entertainment to our home theaters. One such talented individual is Paul Prischman. Paul has been a key factor in creating many of the DVD and Blu-ray special editions that we all know and love. Now we all have a chance to give something back to Paul - - Here's more from Bill Hunt of www.thedigitalbits.com:
"A couple of months ago, I received a phone call from a good friend of mine, a fellow by the name of Paul Prischman. I've known Paul for... wow, ten years now? To call him a friend of The Bits would be a significant understatement. I first met him back in 1998, when he was working at Dave Video: The Laser Place, a beloved (and now defunct) haunt for every L.A. area movie fan back in the day. Paul used to coordinate a lot of the DVD signing events for Dave's, as well as the infamous Studio Day events, at which I was a regular figure. When Dave's closed a few years back, Paul began working with another old friend of ours here, DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika. At the time, Charlie was working to finish the Alien Quadrilogy box set, so he brought Paul on to help with that. That was, I think, 2003? They've been working together on DVD projects ever since, with Paul serving as an associate producer on such special editions as Kingdom of Heaven (both versions), the Spider-Man 2: Special Edition, the Gladiator: Extended Edition and most recently, the outstanding Blade Runner: Ultimate Collector's Edition box set.
Anyway, so back to Paul's call. He'd been working from home in the previous weeks, feeling under the weather, but doctors hadn't been able to figure out what was wrong... until they finally did. He'd called to say that he'd been diagnosed with cancer, which turned out to be a really aggressive brain tumor, and that he was about to have it removed. What do you say when your friend tells you something like that? I think I swore a couple of times, and just listened as he talked about how upbeat he was, and that he had the best doctors and a great treatment plan. And all I could think about was my friend, and his wife Cristin and their two young daughters. Soon I called Charlie, who had been talking to a pair of Paul's other friends, Christopher Drake and Jared Rivet, both obviously determined to help Paul in any way they could. As it happens, Paul's insurance (not surprisingly) was only going to cover a small portion of the treatment he needed, which meant that Paul and Cristin were facing serious debt. What came out of all this was something called Paul's Brain Trust, an organized effort by Paul's friends to help raise money for him and his family.
We've established a website with information about Paul (hosted here at The Bits), where you can donate money to help his family through PayPal. We're also going to be hosting online auctions of one-of-a-kind movie collectibles (props, signed art and the like, donated by Paul's many friends throughout the film industry). What's more, tomorrow at Noon (Pacific) we'll be announcing the first of several fundraising events for Paul here in the L.A. area. What we're announcing tomorrow is EXTREMELY cool - a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will be of interest to almost any movie fan.
Paul has given so much to movie fans around the world through his film and DVD work over the years, that it's our hope those fans will want to give a little something back to help Paul in his time of need. So we hope you'll visit the Paul's Brain Trust website to learn more about him, that you'll consider making a donation, and that you'll help spread the word. And be sure to check back both here and on theBrain Trust site tomorrow at Noon (Pacific) for our special event announcement. If you're a fan of big screen science fiction, you're not going to want to miss it. And on behalf of Paul, and his many friends and family, thanks for listening."
Blu-ray.com fully supports Paul's Brain Trust... Thanks for your time and consideration.
Thanks to Blu-ray.com from all of us at Paul's Brain Trust for your support.
To all Blu-ray.com members... if you guys live in the L.A. area (or will be in the L.A. area in mid-June), and you love science fiction films, you're going to want to visit the Brain Trust website tomorrow at Noon (Pacific). We'll be announcing an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime movie screening event that's not to be missed. Tickets are going to be VERY affordable, and if you're a fan of the particular film in question, it will be WELL worth your while to attend, believe me.
Here's the website URL (remember, tomorrow at Noon Pacific):
Something to think about: If we were all to donate what we would normally spend on a single Blu-ray title, just think of all the good that we could do. We all attack the Folding @ Home rankings with serious verve... who's up for making sure that Blu-ray.com contributes the most to help Paul and his family?
In case you haven't seen the announcement, the big event is a digital screening of of Blade Runner on the Warner backlot, WITH director Ridley Scott and members of the cast and crew (TBA) who will do Q&A afterwards. Everyone who attends will get a Blade Runner collectible.
The screening is on June 14th, and tickets are just $50 each (available here):
No problem, I have another offer to help you. I have 10 Blu-rays I am going to ship for $149.99 or more
They are:
Ghost Rider
Daddy Day Camp
Perfect Stranger
Delta Farce
Final Fantasy
Hitman
Saw 4
Spider-Man 3
Oceans 13
No catches, no strings attached here. You pay the Pauls Fund direct Link
click other and submit the payment to him directly. Then forward me a copy of the receipt of payment and I will mail these out with d/c#. Only catch is you must submit payment for that amount in one transaction.
I think that the screening is sold out, but I just want to tell every one to please help out. I used to work with paul, he was one of my managers at Dave's Video. Paul is one of the most driven film lovers I know. Before I worked for Dave's I thought I knew a lot about movies, Paul put me to shame. He opened my eyes to many films and filmmakers and introduced me to many people that walked through the doors. Paul was the most intouch person with the people who came there. He's a good guy, so please help him.
I went to the screening. Once is a lifetime is a great way to describe it!!!
World class in every way.
2k digital projection, set up perfectly for a fantastic picture.
Sound......out of this world. The best I have ever heard. I have seen stuff at the CAA screening room, and I thought that sound was great, but the theater at Warner Bros. beat it by a mile. Light years better sound than at any public theater I have ever been at--including Arclight in LA. Not even in the same league. And Blade Runner showed it off to the max.
Both picture and sound made you hold on to every frame.
After, the panel was better than I expected. Ridley Scott, the two screen writers, the producer, art director, effects director, etc. About 10 people in all. I think the Q and A lasted for about 90 minutes. The questions were excellent and not 'fan' type questions. I learned alot about the film.
The security was heavy too. Someone to watch you if you went to the bathroom to make sure you came back. Or went to the drinking fountain. A few others scanning the crowd to make sure no one was recording. Very tight.
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