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

[Jeff Kleist]

Both titles are the same discs previously available. If they'd redone them, it would have been lossless

[sharkshark]

Hey, Cipher, what's with the scouse Avatar?


Actually, come to think of it, the scouse avatars would make, what, Yellow Submarine redux? I do shudder at the thought of the man behind Polar Express doing the Beatles, but I'm sceptical like that....

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

I'm certainly a fan of two of the above, so if I ever get a chance to listen to your recommendations, I'll check them out!

~Alan

I'll make a very short list...

"Country" albums you should listen to that you may not have:

Neil Young:
After the Gold Rush
Harvest
Harvest Moon
Prairie Wind (incl. the DVD/forthcoming BD of the concert, Heart of Gold, shot in Nashville)
Live at Massey Hall

Bob Dylan
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
Desire
Blood on the Tracks

Johnny Cash
At Fulsom Prison
At San Quentin
American Recordings (cover versions, produced by Rick Rubin)


...these are hardly obscure discs, but as a fan of contemporary music you should dig into these, each is in its own way not just a record that fits a genre you like, but downright masterpieces.

For more out there stuff, check out the likes of Lambchop - their Nixon record is just haunting and amazing, and it shows a whole 'nother side of the Nashville scene. I'm sure you've heard the Alison Krauss stuff, especially the album with Robert Plant, but digging into the other T-Bone Burnett produced albums is also pretty amazing (Oh Brother soundtrack being an obvious starting spot, but also including the live album from that tour).

Plus, and I can't say this highly enough, pick up each and every one of Joni Mitchell's records... It's not country per-se, but you'll get a full and complete musical education, from the light folk of her early stuff, to the impeccable Jazz of Mingus and the sublime Shadows and Light, to her more recent forays into big band. While you're at it, pick up Herbie's River album (like the AK/RP, another Grammy record-of-the-year).

Nothing too scary or surprising here - once you're done these, PM me if you'd like and I'll take you down some weirder paths...

Oh, and when you listen to Joni sing about Coyotes, take a moment to think of our friend Penton and his minor obsession with the feral little creatures...

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Oh, and when you listen to Joni sing about Coyotes, take a moment to think of our friend Penton and his minor obsession with the feral little creatures...

Lovely and excellent-sounding rendition of that song on The Last Waltz.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

I'll make a very short list...

Neil Young:
Pants on the Ground

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon....on-the-ground/

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Now, Penton, with the impending sale of Miramax (NOT to the Weinsteins, it seems) we've got another major bowing out of the indie market... How do you think this bodes for the future of Sony Pictures Classics, being pretty much the last one standing?

There is still (and will be) acquisition competition out there with several players bidding for good stuff all the time.
Just Google some phrase like Sundance Film and the word “acquires” or “acquired” for recent deal making.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Both titles are the same discs previously available. If they'd redone them, it would have been lossless

And I could have asked Ice on 1/14/2010, for a new font, and to rename this thread –

“Club Penton – 2nd ANNIVERSARY EDITION"

and you could have done the same on 1/16/2010 for -
“Ask questions to The 2nd ANIVERSARY EDITION Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)”

But we didn’t.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Oh, and when you listen to Joni sing about Coyotes, take a moment to think of our friend Penton and his minor obsession with the feral little creatures...

hah!, believe me, they’re only “little” when they’re pups.
My coyotes are all BUFFED cause they eat well and I make sure they work out daily at L.A. Feral-Fitness.
This is a pic from only a few days ago of one of Maya’s 2 year-olds.

Just Hangin Out.jpg


Deci, don’t blow it up too much because I shot this one-handed while riding my bike and it may turn out blurry.

[Penton-Man]

Wide angle - With Mama watching.jpg

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon....on-the-ground/

OK, as amazing an amusing as Fallon doing POTG was, check THIS out:

http://www.swift.fm/questlove/song/19538/

Thanks to Questlove, that's soundcheck from Conan's last show, and it's REALLY NY doing the song!

It's so deliciously meta-meta, it's making my head spin...

ps. Gotta brag - got what may be my first legit straight flush in a game of Hold 'Em in about 13+ years of playing weekly (weakly more like it!)... They come to me in Omaha, but not so often in the other game (aparently, the odds are 1.4 in a lifetime...)

[cipher]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Hey, Cipher, what's with the scouse Avatar?

A long story involving a lad being born in the UK and raised in Canada, but never forgetting his boyhood team. Plus, I have to balance all the gooners in this thread!

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Actually, come to think of it, the scouse avatars would make, what, Yellow Submarine redux? I do shudder at the thought of the man behind Polar Express doing the Beatles, but I'm sceptical like that....

I don't know how I missed this piece of news, but methinks this might be pretty bad.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by cipher

A long story involving a lad being born in the UK and raised in Canada, but never forgetting his boyhood team. Plus, I have to balance all the gooners in this thread!



I don't know how I missed this piece of news, but methinks this might be pretty bad.

Uh huh...

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdail...marine-remake/

[hanser]

Hi Penton,

your coyote picture reminds me of a french movie "The fox and the Child" which describes the growing friendship between the title characters. Do you know it? I know that a fox is not a coyote, but they share some similaries, so you might be interested.

It´s on a very nice Blu-ray here in Europe (https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Der-F...-Blu-ray/7450/), very recommended, excellent picture and impressive sound design (I always have to look around for those coocoos and other animal sounds I am hearing ) . Interesting documentary about the problem of shooting with wild foxes in the Italian mountains is included in HD, too.

[Stacey Spears]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Apple does own a lot of patents in AVC

If by a lot you mean one, then yes, they own a lot.

Here are the patents, and their owners, for AVC. http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/...s/avc-att1.pdf

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by Stacey Spears

If by a lot you mean one, then yes, they own a lot.

Here are the patents, and their owners, for AVC. http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/...s/avc-att1.pdf

Wow. Looks like Panasonic, LG and Toshiba are the big winners there. Even Microsoft trounces Apple in terms of patents on it.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

Wow. Looks like Panasonic, LG and Toshiba are the big winners there. Even Microsoft trounces Apple in terms of patents on it.

Ah, Kris... You (wisely) missed lots of the rhetoric during the VC1/AVC "debates" where it was pitted as MS vs Apple (just as silly as the Sony vs Warner games at the time).

Here's the Patent Pool for VC1 (PPT file converted to HTML via Google)

The questions remain about what constitutes "core" patents in terms of licensing, and other esoteric stuff that back in the day when I thought of doing patent/copyright law I might have cared about.

Guess who also is named in VC1? Panasonic, LG and Toshiba...

[Jeff Kleist]

Isn't AVC using a variation of the QuickTime Container? Isn't that the patent?

Oh well, then yes, ONE, which gives Jobs even less reason to care about Blu-ray

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by hanser

Hi Penton,

your coyote picture reminds me of a french movie "The fox and the Child" which describes the growing friendship between the title characters. Do you know it? I know that a fox is not a coyote, but they share some similaries, so you might be interested.

It´s on a very nice Blu-ray here in Europe (https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Der-F...-Blu-ray/7450/), very recommended, excellent picture and impressive sound design (I always have to look around for those coocoos and other animal sounds I am hearing ) . Interesting documentary about the problem of shooting with wild foxes in the Italian mountains is included in HD, too.

No, I hadn’t heard about that Blu-ray.
Thanks for the recommendation.

I love movies about animals…..esp. wild animals, because for one thing, -
“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A bird will fall frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.”
What these creatures have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, just for survival, makes most ‘human problems’ seem like a drop in the bucket.

I will say though, if you’re a BBC photog, best to stay away from dem wild male birds (you have to watch the whole clip)……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vf...layer_embedded

[Jeff Kleist]

I can't watch any film that features animals in jeopardy or otherwise badness

Marley and Me, Incredible Journey, Old Yeller, all should be NC-17.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by hanser

For German speakers only! My blog about psychology in movies: http://www.brainlogs.de/blogs/blog/gyrus-celluloid

hanser, I notice in your sig, which I quoted above, you have a blog about “psychology in movies”.
Which reminds me, the next time one of these *I hate film grain because it is not ‘natural’ in the real world* discussions comes up on some forum…..again, you can always refer them to this article………………..
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...se.html?page=1

Which is not the only piece that has described the fact that “humans are better able to recognize a faint image on a screen when a dash of noise is added to it.”
Texture (be it grain or ‘noise’, no matter which) makes an image look real because in essence, very few (if any) objects in the ‘real world' are totally devoid of texture. Consciously, some people may hate grain or noise but, subconsciously, like it or not, we are all wired to recognize and appreciate imagery with such faint texture as more real than a completely ‘clean’ image.

I think ‘grain’ or ‘noise’ becomes subconsciously and consciously unacceptable (in terms of detracting from the thought that the imagery is ‘real’) to truly unbiased folks when there is a variation of its presence in the mid-tones and it is too apparent in the shadows. Sometimes that’s a technical *flaw* and other times it’s creative intent…..like it or not, as they say, cinema is an art form.