"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

No, note that poll, the other poll. You know, Doc, the one about the top 10 reasons why Sharkboy disappeared. What were the results, anyway?

I can't remember, but I'm sure I voted "banned after becoming pregnant when he ate the wrong person's cheese sandwich".

Oh, wait... That was just a dream I had once... Once.

"Sharkboy"... I like it! Sounds...dangerous somehow....

[Jeff Kleist]

I've got no idea what the Deli situation is like in LA, I'm sure there's some wicked awesome diners. Frankly, I'd just be eating hamburgers from the bazillion awesome places there

Horrific. You should see what they think pickles are out there

They have some good sandwhich shops of their own, but they do not have proper deli, Italian or Jewish (I'm sure there's a few decent ones I missed). The Chinese food as a rule is also terrible unless you go to Chinatown, and then it's hit or miss (yes, I'm taking authentic as well as Americanized into account). On the flipside, the Korean is more reliably good. Upscale Japanese is good in LA, but NYC is better when it comes to more staple foods. And for those not in the know, Jewish and Italian deli are drastically different foods, despite being superficially the same. The flavors, spicing and style of preparation are wildly divergant.

Langer's Delicatessen-Restaurant | 213-483-8050 | The World's Best Pastrami | Home

False advertising, I've had it They just tell themselves that cause they can't get Katz's

The DVS track on the Brüno BD certainly evokes some disturbing imagery if you want to explore "interesting" versions of these. Perhaps less disturbing than the images themselves, but I suppose that depends on your powers of imagination.

Hmm, that would require watching Bruno again, which I only did to do the review, which I had to be bribed into doing. It wasn't the content so much as the fact that Bruno is just so wildly unlikeable that you don't give a rat's about his plight.

[Jeff Kleist]

I forgot to mention while I was out tonight, before catching Dr Parnassas (was I the only one impressed with Colin Farrell big time? Depp I was expecting to be amazing, but not expecting it from him) that I got a look at what certain magic elves have done to a particular Madam Librarian.

The ten minutes I got to spend flipping around the disc pleased me greatly. I can't wait to get a closer look

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Oh, dude... All this time I assumed you were a Brit!

Only by avocation.

Originally Posted by sharkshark

In NYC you must go to Blue Ribbon... Super awesome place, a total Soho experience... The tartare is bad-ass...

If you've never done it, you've gots to try the Burger at the Meridien... It's a comically excellent place.

Thanks for these, shark! I can't promise I'll hit them this time, but we're gonna do Manhattan a bunch of times over the next couple months, so they'll be in there somewhere. I'll issue a report.

[horseflesh]

I hope to get back to New York later this year so I will too.

BTW Shark & Doc, if you're Jewish I think you're supporting the wrong North London team.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

At first thought, the BIG thing this month that would bring sunshine to my house is if District 9 starting picking up some Guild or Society nominations prior to the Academy noms…………………..
"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man" - Page 538 - Blu-ray Forum

I know that it is too early for the 2010 CAS nominations to be announced

^ above from 1/13/2010

Well, it’s not too early now.
The nominations by CAS
Cinema Audio Society - Dedicated To The Advancement Of Sound - CAS - Official Site of the CAS Awards - Cinema Audio Society

were announced late last night -
CAS announces sound mixing noms - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety
and I notice that District 9 was given an accolade by the professional sound mixers. This is double-sweet as I’ve been told that some *scientific* ‘golden eared’ online opinion givers thought and posted in their ‘reviews’ several weeks ago that the sound mix for D9 was either nothing special or just plain sucked all around.

Sounds good to me.
The MPSE noms (sound editing) are due out tomorrow.
MPSE Golden Reel Awards

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

BTW Shark & Doc, if you're Jewish I think you're supporting the wrong North London team.

heh, I've actually had this conversation...

I was told all the North London Jews support the Spurs, which I assume you're referring to...

Here's how I became a Gunners fan - years ago, I lived in the South of France (AIX-en Pce.), and met a guy who became a close friend. We were chatting, "my mom does this... my dad does this...", and he mentioned that his dad did two things that at the time meant nothing to me.

"My dad owns the Park Lane Hotel and is Director of Arsenal..."

I literally had no idea it was a team. I also had no idea what a Park Lane was.

His dad's no longer director, and I think I missed my chance to get boxed seats, but I did hook him up with another friend of mine from Blighty who was always a big supporter, and he got to watch a match sitting in the prime box.

Anyhoo, back then I had heard about who the Jews were "supposed" to support, and he got all defensive (comically), and let me know that "just as many Jews support Arsenal!"

So, yeah. I love the Arses cuz two of my good mates were nuts about them, and back then I did love watching Henry do crazy things with the footieball.

I also became mates with a Michael Collins of Dublin (now some Backpacking magazine impresario), who apparently is a direct descendant of the MC, but that's another story...

In turn, I'd be curious how Penton and Doc became such footie fans... I'd think it a bit more rare down there than up here, where the ties to UK are a bit stronger...

[sharkshark]

Not sure if you've been given a disc, but the Star Trek "extras" have a lovely little bit with Ben Burtt playing with some of his toys and digging through the archives on the Paramount lot for finding archival material detailing how certain sounds were made. You see his ARP 2600 that he used (along with his own vocalizations/"cooing") for R2-D2.

Still have yet to watch my copy of D9 (missing it in theatres), but I'm super pleased that it's still getting accolades, given the genuinely modest beginnings of the project.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

^ above from 1/13/2010

Well, it’s not too early now.
The nominations by CAS
Cinema Audio Society - Dedicated To The Advancement Of Sound - CAS - Official Site of the CAS Awards - Cinema Audio Society

were announced late last night -
CAS announces sound mixing noms - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety
and I notice that District 9 was given an accolade by the professional sound mixers. This is double-sweet as I’ve been told that some *scientific* ‘golden eared’ online opinion givers thought and posted in their ‘reviews’ several weeks ago that the sound mix for D9 was either nothing special or just plain sucked all around.

Sounds good to me.
The MPSE noms (sound editing) are due out tomorrow.
MPSE Golden Reel Awards

[Doctorossi]

Anecdotally, I know more Arsenal-supporting Jews than Sp*rs-supporting Jews, but then, I tend to gravitate toward the Arsenal ones.

Yes, I'm an odd duck in this part of the world. I tend to fall into obscure sports, but not through any conscious effort at obtusion; I just like what I like when I find it. And that's what happened with Arsenal- I fell in love the old-fashioned way: on the tv. It probably started with Dennis Bergkamp and wasn't too long before "Look at the brain on Arsene!" followed.

I don't have any exciting club director stories (in fact, my closest connection is probably to a staffer at Chelsea), but I'm happy to have sat with my dad on the North Bank at Highbury on opening day and watched Henry tap one in right in front of us.

Meanwhile, shark, you've given me my two mysteries of the day:

Originally Posted by sharkshark

You see his ARP 2600 that he used (along with his own vocalizations/"cooing") for R2-D2.

What's Ben Burtt's old synth kit doing on the Paramount lot (besides gathering dust)?

And...

Originally Posted by sharkshark

the genuinely modest beginnings of the project.

On which planet can 'Peter Jackson-produced Halo movie' be described as such?

[Doctorossi]

Looks like Vale's messing about again.

BBC Sport - Motorbikes - Rossi tries his hand at F1 with Ferrari

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

What's Ben Burtt's old synth kit doing on the Paramount lot (besides gathering dust)?

Sorry, conflated the two stories... He was on the Paramount lot digging through the archives, then back in his studio noodling. There's a quick shot showing the 2600, then he's mostly tweaking with his soft-sampler (I think he's using a Edirol controller, but I haven't double checked).

It's a super quick, throwaway shot of the 2600...so yummy. He's also got a minimoog that he used for otehr sound effects, rumbles etc.

The REALLY insane kit that he had was back in the Ep 1 days, where he was still making noises with a Synclavier. While I love the analogue goodness, there's something so obscenely insane about the spec of the synclavier when it came out, to the point that I'm not sure there's an equivalent today that's as far ahead of the competition... I guess if anybody ever does realtime synthesis with some 1000+ processor box that'll be the equivalent jump from normal to insane that the Synclavier represented.



And...

On which planet can 'Peter Jackson-produced Halo movie' be described as such?

Well, I'm buying into the fact that he was some schmuck making backyard movies that got noticed by PJ and brought in to do a major studio pic that then fell through... So, yeah. Still underdog stuff... But point taken.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Looks like Vale's messing about again.

BBC Sport - Motorbikes - Rossi tries his hand at F1 with Ferrari

Amusing, I was just sent this (speaking of Smoked Meat)

BBC Sport - F1 - Sebastien Buemi drives Toro Rosso on ice

BTW, this came out a few weeks ago:

Dakar Rally 2010 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

BP has some stunning pics of the devastation in Haiti, but thought you 2-wheelie nerds would enjoy the stupidity of flying through the sand...

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Anecdotally, I know more Arsenal-supporting Jews than Sp*rs-supporting Jews, but then, I tend to gravitate toward the Arsenal ones.

Yes, I'm an odd duck in this part of the world. I tend to fall into obscure sports, but not through any conscious effort at obtusion; I just like what I like when I find it. And that's what happened with Arsenal- I fell in love the old-fashioned way: on the tv. It probably started with Dennis Bergkamp and wasn't too long before "Look at the brain on Arsene!" followed.

I don't have any exciting club director stories (in fact, my closest connection is probably to a staffer at Chelsea), but I'm happy to have sat with my dad on the North Bank at Highbury on opening day and watched Henry tap one in right in front of us.

Originally Posted by sharkshark

heh, I've actually had this conversation...

I was told all the North London Jews support the Spurs, which I assume you're referring to...

Here's how I became a Gunners fan - years ago, I lived in the South of France (AIX-en Pce.), and met a guy who became a close friend. We were chatting, "my mom does this... my dad does this...", and he mentioned that his dad did two things that at the time meant nothing to me.

"My dad owns the Park Lane Hotel and is Director of Arsenal..."

I literally had no idea it was a team. I also had no idea what a Park Lane was.

His dad's no longer director, and I think I missed my chance to get boxed seats, but I did hook him up with another friend of mine from Blighty who was always a big supporter, and he got to watch a match sitting in the prime box.

Anyhoo, back then I had heard about who the Jews were "supposed" to support, and he got all defensive (comically), and let me know that "just as many Jews support Arsenal!"

So, yeah. I love the Arses cuz two of my good mates were nuts about them, and back then I did love watching Henry do crazy things with the footieball.

I also became mates with a Michael Collins of Dublin (now some Backpacking magazine impresario), who apparently is a direct descendant of the MC, but that's another story...

In turn, I'd be curious how Penton and Doc became such footie fans... I'd think it a bit more rare down there than up here, where the ties to UK are a bit stronger...

As far as I know Tottenham have traditionally been associated with the Jewish community in that area of North London, but nowadays I don't know how much truth there is in that.
I've actually been at a Spurs-Arsenal game at White Hart Lane, about 5 years ago (my brother lived in London at the time). One of the Tottenham chants was; "Yid Army....Yid Army!!!"
It was a great game too, 4-5 with nine different goalscorers. Henry scored that day too, what a wonderful player. I think I've even forgiven him for this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxw1-Id91lQ

(I'm actually neither an Arsenal or Spurs supporter, but I've always liked both sides)

[jrcorwin31]

I'm beginning to wonder if there should be a dedicated thread here for people who were banned from AVS (or chose to leave) for disagreeing with the screenshot scientists. Our numbers are growing.

Isn't it funny that most of the "scientists" and the moderators of the blu-ray section of that forum were once squarely and passionately in the HD-DVD camp?

I'm happy to be here however and I have read this thread with great interest since its inception.

[sharkshark]

...I'm not sure I've seen anyone on this thread comment on this...

(https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4051)

[H9k_]

Thats just plain pathetic.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by H9k_

Thats just plain pathetic.

oh, it gets weirder than that... Sure, there have been lots of rebranded boxes for as long as I've been in this hobby - heck, my first BD player, the BD10 from Panny, was their computer burner hooked up via ribbon cable to the motherboard... not quite the same, but the fact is that when you open up your devices you often find amusing surprises like this.

What's I think unique about this situation is that they're -actual- BD83s (not just the inner guts...) Peel away the aluminium exterior and you've got an OPPO player without a backplate. This is literally like a really thick or bling-y protector on your Blackberry/iPhone, one that costs 7x the price of the phone itself.

Oh, wait. That's been done.

Anyhoo, what's really amusing, for those not following it, are the comments on the original review where people are questioning, justifiably, the perceived differences that the reviewer found.

Much has been made in Penton's thread about having actual proof before making wild, subjective claims. It seems, if I'm reading the comments from the site owners at HTR correctly, that they actively avoid trying to take measurements, relying exlusively upon subjective perceptions. I'd be the first to say that the misuse of stats or figures to justify qualitative differences should be taken with the requisite grains of salt (re: good specs in isolation do not guarantee good quality...think megapixels without regard to optics, or those boomboxes/amps bragging 1000W without regard to how those numbers were measured/what freq/under what load, etc.) Frequency response graphs into the range far beyond human hearing are common, as are microvoltage variations that can easily be blown out of proportion, and give little regard to whether they're humanly perceptable aside from placebo effects. Then there's the picking and choosing of stats (think tube amps and their "good" type of measurable distortion).


Still, to see it baldly written that in an a/v publication that lab testing plays no role is surprising, to say the least, and when said publication is then called out for a review that neglected to notice that the emperor really doesn't seem to have any clothes, only to have them continue to stand by their claims regardin the luxury and superiority of the outfit, is a bit baffling.


Plus, companies often downright lie about their own published specs.

At least, that's what I think...

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

In turn, I'd be curious how Penton and Doc became such footie fans... I'd think it a bit more rare down there than up here, where the ties to UK are a bit stronger...

I initially took up soccer as a winter intramural sport in 9th grade because I wanted to do something outdoors (rather than inside, like basketball, swimming, wrestling) and I wanted to run, but not run too much in a mindless fashion (at least to me) like cross country. I soon found myself loving to play the sport in the somewhat harsh winter climate of the Northeast with the cold, mud, rain and sometimes snowy conditions. The tougher the weather……….the better!
Used to wrap thee ole feet in saran wrap to keep them dry.

The following summer my Dad took me to Yankee stadium to watch AC Milan play Inter in an exhibition match during which I was mesmerized with the European players great skill and virtually speechless on the way home just thinking about what I had just witnessed. I had the opportunity to meet Pele, later the same summer in Wash. D.C., who was a great inspiration to me.

I was hooked…..switched from playing American football on Junior Varsity in the fall to Soccer in the fall….captain of high school team, etc. I went on to play Varsity at the University which I think to this day, still holds the record for the most consecutive NCAA Championships in the sport.

I started watching the English Premier League once it became available on TV. I immediately was attracted to it because the conditions reminded me so much of my childhood days in high school……and the players run, more so I thought, than the play in other top leagues in Italy, Spain, etc. I became an Arsenal supporter because I liked that team more than any other which I saw play at the time, of the matches which were televised.

Here I am, 5 knee surgeries later (as the result of playing), with no regrets………yet.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

I don't have any exciting club director stories (in fact, my closest connection is probably to a staffer at Chelsea)..

See if your buddy can get me a ride on Roman’s toy……….
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6841380.ece

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by jrcorwin31

I'm beginning to wonder if there should be a dedicated thread here for people who were banned from AVS (or chose to leave) for disagreeing with the screenshot scientists. Our numbers are growing.

Isn't it funny that most of the "scientists" and the moderators of the blu-ray section of that forum were once squarely and passionately in the HD-DVD camp?

I'm happy to be here however and I have read this thread with great interest since its inception.

I guess that makes you one of the Band of Brothers of ‘Easy Company’.
Glad to see you’re still around.
I’m not sure how many of us are left.