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

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

did you catch the crash live?

Well, there are crashes somewhere along the course nearly every day of a multi-stage race having a large peleton even when the field is loaded with international talent but, I didn’t see any at the finish line in Big Bear, which is where we were spectating most of the day.

I’m assuming you’re referring to Lance Armstrong's crash which was precipitated by some rider(s) going down in front of him.
That malady actually happened the previous day to the Big Bear Lake stage which I drove up the mountain to attend.

It did knock Lance out of the race but, I just hope it doesn’t place in jeopardy his optimal participation in the Tour de France because even he’s admitting on a regular basis now that he’s getting long in the tooth.

He may only have one more left in him.

[Jeff Kleist]

I don’t pester any colleagues.
I’ll make an inquiry.

I think the pestering request was to me

Given that they're using TrueHD, this disc has probably been done for a long time

Just be glad that Sony always knows that the original language has lossless priority each and every time

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, there are crashes somewhere along the course nearly every day of a multi-stage race having a large peleton even when the field is loaded with international talent but, I didn’t see any at the finish line in Big Bear, which is where we were spectating most of the day.

I’m assuming you’re referring to Lance Armstrong's crash which was precipitated by some rider(s) going down in front of him.
That malady actually happened the previous day to the Big Bear Lake stage which I drove up the mountain to attend.

It did knock Lance out of the race but, I just hope it doesn’t place in jeopardy his optimal participation in the Tour de France because even he’s admitting on a regular basis now that he’s getting long in the tooth.

He may only have one more left in him.

Everyone falls once in awhile, he'll be fine.

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Hey, Mr. Harris... How's your weekend going?

You forgot the multiple cuts so that the salt stings during your Sisyphean task.

Any elaboration from your comments that the article links to? I know it's old hat to talk about the condition of the SW negs, Lowry's role in the "restoration", etc. but, well, it remains pretty interesting for us civilians...

I would have great trouble believing that:

Separation masters were not made;

OCN of 1976 film stock has faded horribly;


What I do believe:

OCN overused due to 70mm printing;

OCN re-cut.

The people handling these elements know what they're doing based upon some (at least minimal) value placed upon the original elements.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

I would have great trouble believing that:

Separation masters were not made;

OCN of 1976 film stock has faded horribly;


What I do believe:

OCN overused due to 70mm printing;

OCN re-cut.

The people handling these elements know what they're doing based upon some (at least minimal) value placed upon the original elements.

All of that certainly seems logical - excusing the whole auteur thing, I'd find it quite shocking if the OCN was really allowed to be butchered. The explanation regarding the stock used for the wipes/dissolves does seem to make some sense, that they would have used a "lesser" stock, but would the negative really be in such brutal shape as to be unusable. Frankly, I can only assume that you've worked with much, much worse.

Secondly, much is made (naturally) about the first film - are there any concerns about ESB and ROTJ OCN? The 30th Anniversary was this past week for Empire, so it needs a bit of the love as well.

Again, independent of the =creative= decision (by the living filmmaker, no less) that he doesn't want, at least publicly, to have the original versions be the definitive ones, is there a genuine concern that for a film of that particular vintage that if a full restoration is not made, and made soon, that it will in fact be lost (or already lost) forever?

Also, do you know which version of the film was enshrined in the Library of Congress? I assume they strike new prints for that collection, no? I wonder, have they of late been submitting digital resources instead? Yes, a whole 'nother topic, but a fascinating one!

[sharkshark]

Yeah, I was talking about Lance, and being coy in case you hadn't for some reason heard/seen it yet. It was from the day I wrote the note, I think you saw it the day later.

At any rate, yeah, it's not looking good for the Tour. Amusing as always it came the same day as Landis' doucheyness...

(ps. There! I participated in talk of 2-wheeled craziness!)

Now: 1) you should really watch that Nike ad, it's freakishly fun, and 2) Did you watch the BM/I match yet?

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, there are crashes somewhere along the course nearly every day of a multi-stage race having a large peleton even when the field is loaded with international talent but, I didn’t see any at the finish line in Big Bear, which is where we were spectating most of the day.

I’m assuming you’re referring to Lance Armstrong's crash which was precipitated by some rider(s) going down in front of him.
That malady actually happened the previous day to the Big Bear Lake stage which I drove up the mountain to attend.

It did knock Lance out of the race but, I just hope it doesn’t place in jeopardy his optimal participation in the Tour de France because even he’s admitting on a regular basis now that he’s getting long in the tooth.

He may only have one more left in him.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I think the pestering request was to me

Given that they're using TrueHD, this disc has probably been done for a long time

Just be glad that Sony always knows that the original language has lossless priority each and every time

Did we ever figure out if things like Subtitles could be added via BD-Live? Ie., would the disc be able to be updated to a new version of a subtitle file that would play off of permanent storage? I assume the disc would have had to be programmed ahead of time just to look for such things, but would there be another way around, should any studio decide to do an update?

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

All of that certainly seems logical - excusing the whole auteur thing, I'd find it quite shocking if the OCN was really allowed to be butchered. The explanation regarding the stock used for the wipes/dissolves does seem to make some sense, that they would have used a "lesser" stock, but would the negative really be in such brutal shape as to be unusable. Frankly, I can only assume that you've worked with much, much worse.

Like Close Encounters, composited effects shots would have been cut in via CRI, which has less than stellar fading characteristics. Are there ways around the problems? I would think so.

[Bobby Henderson]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Think of it this way. Photoshop is akin to Pac Man today… http://www.google.com/ whereas color correction software is like modern day video games.

That's really more of an apples to oranges comparison.

Photoshop is oriented toward editing still images and creating still images from scratch. It's more of a mainstream, creative graphics tool. Photoshop works on a wide variety of computing hardware. And none of its rivals are equal to it.

High end "turn key" systems that specialize in effects compositing, color grading, etc. have a very narrow range of focus. They demand very powerful, very expensive computing hardware systems. They are designed foremost about getting the job done well in as short an amount of time as possible -something a mainstream software application on affordable computing hardware will not be able to do.

The funny thing is those high end systems can't serve as complete replacements to mainstream graphics applications, which is why "cheap" programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects are still used on many movie productions.

[Jeff Kleist]

Did we ever figure out if things like Subtitles could be added via BD-Live? Ie., would the disc be able to be updated to a new version of a subtitle file that would play off of permanent storage? I assume the disc would have had to be programmed ahead of time just to look for such things, but would there be another way around, should any studio decide to do an update?

Only if the disc is pre programmer for it. Which none are. In fact I consulted on a disc where we were going to use vector based subs as a sales gimmick, but the authoring house was really worried about compatibility. Right now it's just screaming that it's a feature that'll never get used. Sadly

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I think the pestering request was to me

Yeah, I guess.
I read that post just prior to midnight, late last night.
Seems sort of a roundabout request given my presence here.

So, bottom line, don’t send me any pestering PM’s about it because I already did one favor for you and your buddy this year…namely, Breaking Bad on Blu-ray.

[Jeff Kleist]

Oh Breaking Bad was solely for me man, and I've lived them and hugged them and squeezed them and named them George

This season is the best one yet Penton. Aaron Paul gas really stepped on the gas this year and hopefully he'll pick up that deserved Emmy this year on the third go.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Yeah, I was talking about Lance, and being coy in case you hadn't for some reason heard/seen it yet. It was from the day I wrote the note, I think you saw it the day later.

At any rate, yeah, it's not looking good for the Tour. Amusing as always it came the same day as Landis' doucheyness...

For those that are interested and don't understand what shark is alluding to-

Go here - http://www.versus.com/shows/tour-of-california/
Click on what essentially is page ‘2’ of the available videoclips
Then click on “Following Crash, Armstrong quits Tour”

It was rather BIG news this weekend not just in the pro bicycling community but also in the Sporting community itself.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Amusing as always it came the same day as Landis' doucheyness...

Shark, did you also hear that reportedly in those e-mails by F.L., that unless they allowed his team to race in The Tour of California, he threatened the Tour’s founder and organizer (Amgen -http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Tour/about.html) with publically discrediting their FDA approved medication “Epogen” which is intended by the manufacturer to be used for the treatment of myelodysplasia in cancer patients and anemia secondary to such things as chronic renal disease rather than as some EPO doping agent used by unscrupulous and cheating athletes. F.L. has turned out to be one class act.

Click on ‘3’ of the available videoclips on Versus as noted above.
Then start with ‘Landis Armstrong on Landis Part I’ and continue for continuity clicking on Part 2, and Part 4.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

For those that are interested and don't understand what shark is alluding to-

Go here - http://www.versus.com/shows/tour-of-california/
Click on what essentially is page ‘2’ of the available videoclips
Then click on “Following Crash, Armstrong quits Tour”

It was rather BIG news this weekend not just in the pro bicycling community but also in the Sporting community itself.

Wow I thought he was just set back, I didn't realize he quit the race as well.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Now: 1) you should really watch that Nike ad, it's freakishly fun, and 2) Did you watch the BM/I match yet?

1. Not yet.
2. Not yet, I definitely will this evening with family and friends.
Just too many other conflicts this weekend. In fact, in order to attend the bike race,
I had to sacrifice attending this screening on Friday evening…
http://www.oscars.org/press/pressrel.../20100422.html

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Oh Breaking Bad was solely for me man...

Don't care as you asked the favor...and you can consider me The Godfather.

[Penton-Man]

News for Merrick (as I think I scared him away) and the other gamers –
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179445

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Shark, did you also hear that reportedly in those e-mails by F.L., that unless they allowed his team to race in The Tour of California, he threatened the Tour’s founder and organizer (Amgen -http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Tour/about.html) with publically discrediting their FDA approved medication “Epogen” which is intended by the manufacturer to be used for the treatment of myelodysplasia in cancer patients and anemia secondary to such things as chronic renal disease rather than as some EPO doping agent used by unscrupulous and cheating athletes. F.L. has turned out to be one class act.

Click on ‘3’ of the available videoclips on Versus as noted above.
Then start with ‘Landis Armstrong on Landis Part I’ and continue for continuity clicking on Part 2, and Part 4.

Landis, Bonds, Rodriguez, Sosa and McGwire all need to be banned from any possible honors they're up for for their careers.

[Penton-Man]

Shoot, I better make the 4K lovers/3D haters happy now for some balance on the forum.

Let me think. One moment.