Square Eyes
Oct. 18th, 2010 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tj_teejayAnother week has gone by where I've just been too busy for proper blogging. Had a visitor over for the weekend, but thankfully she loved slouching on the couch as much as me, so that's where we spent most of Sunday, trying to get closer to our goal of rewatching The X-Files from episode 1 all the way to the end. She now lives in Denmark, which makes it kinda hard to accomplish that goal in anything under three years. However, she's taking a 2-year weekend Master's course in Bonn right now, so we're seeing each other a little more often now than twice a year. And I can happily report that we've already arrived in season four!
It's a lot of fun making fun of Scully's ridiculous early 90's shoulder-padded jackets, the standard issue FBI trenchcoats and, of course, Mulder's horrible ties. Both of us holding Master's or PhD degrees in biology, you should see the facepalming that's going on when Mulder or Scully start explaining another one of their wacko theories. It's hard not to do so when some of the pseudo-scientific explanations they spout are just plain wrong. But it's still all in good fun. It is TV, after all.
I took a closer look at the Making of AVATAR book last night, basically going through it to ogle all the pictures. I hope I'll find the time to read the text some time soon. However, is it wrong that I also don't really want to? I'm a little afraid it'll ruin the illusion of the movie. I'm the kind of person who, once they know how something was filmed or animated, can't help analyzing the special effects rather than enjoying them for what they are. Maybe I'm gonna wait with reading the book until after I've received and watched the Collector's Edition Blu-rays. I also kinda wanna order another one of the Making of books to cut it apart and scan all the beautiful images. There's so many great photos in there I haven't seen online that I want in digitalized form. But I think that'd be overkill...
I also find it strange that they have all these different collector's editions in the different countries. The "usual" collector's edition (3 discs with the movie and the special features) seems to be available everywhere, but the UK and Germany are also getting a limited collector's edition that, in addition to the 3 discs, also has a 55-page book and a film cell included (costs ~50 EUR in Germany and ~100 EUR in the UK with only 1000 copies available each). As to why that's not available in the US eludes me. Other countries (such as Sweden and France) seem to get an "ultimate fan edition" that is the limited CE plus a Jake Sully statue (costs ~80 EUR in Sweden, ~140 EUR in France). Why not release the same limited edition sets in all countries at roughly the same price? With the way people communicate globally via the internet these days, fans in the different countries get kinda annoyed at this stuff.
Another gap in my cinematic education was filled last night. For the very first time, I watched Blade Runner. A colleague had lent me the Blu-ray. I can't say I liked it all that much. Such a weird-ass movie. I got the overall story, but a lot of the details eluded me. Maybe it's one of those movies you have to see multiple times to really get it. Reminded me a little bit of The Fifth Element, which I'm not too fond of either. Well, at least now I can say I've seen it. But I must say: Either they did a lot of revamping of the special effects for the Blu-ray, or they did a pretty darn good job, back in the early 80's.
On the Chris Marquette front, there's also good news to report. He's recently shot two movies (smaller roles), one with Richard Gere (The Double) and one with Anthony Hopkins (The Rite). After a long absence, he's also showed his face on TV, once in a small guest role on Weeds (two episodes) and a guest spot on Criminal Minds. I most enjoyed the latter because he had a good amount of screen time and also got the chance to play opposite his good friend and Joan of Arcadia co-star Michael Welch. Another project he's been involved in is an AFI Master's thesis short film project called Thule. He actually plays the lead in that one, which was first supposed to go to Justin Chatwin. The film is said to screen at a few upcoming film festivals, but I don't have any details.
It's a lot of fun making fun of Scully's ridiculous early 90's shoulder-padded jackets, the standard issue FBI trenchcoats and, of course, Mulder's horrible ties. Both of us holding Master's or PhD degrees in biology, you should see the facepalming that's going on when Mulder or Scully start explaining another one of their wacko theories. It's hard not to do so when some of the pseudo-scientific explanations they spout are just plain wrong. But it's still all in good fun. It is TV, after all.
I took a closer look at the Making of AVATAR book last night, basically going through it to ogle all the pictures. I hope I'll find the time to read the text some time soon. However, is it wrong that I also don't really want to? I'm a little afraid it'll ruin the illusion of the movie. I'm the kind of person who, once they know how something was filmed or animated, can't help analyzing the special effects rather than enjoying them for what they are. Maybe I'm gonna wait with reading the book until after I've received and watched the Collector's Edition Blu-rays. I also kinda wanna order another one of the Making of books to cut it apart and scan all the beautiful images. There's so many great photos in there I haven't seen online that I want in digitalized form. But I think that'd be overkill...
I also find it strange that they have all these different collector's editions in the different countries. The "usual" collector's edition (3 discs with the movie and the special features) seems to be available everywhere, but the UK and Germany are also getting a limited collector's edition that, in addition to the 3 discs, also has a 55-page book and a film cell included (costs ~50 EUR in Germany and ~100 EUR in the UK with only 1000 copies available each). As to why that's not available in the US eludes me. Other countries (such as Sweden and France) seem to get an "ultimate fan edition" that is the limited CE plus a Jake Sully statue (costs ~80 EUR in Sweden, ~140 EUR in France). Why not release the same limited edition sets in all countries at roughly the same price? With the way people communicate globally via the internet these days, fans in the different countries get kinda annoyed at this stuff.
Another gap in my cinematic education was filled last night. For the very first time, I watched Blade Runner. A colleague had lent me the Blu-ray. I can't say I liked it all that much. Such a weird-ass movie. I got the overall story, but a lot of the details eluded me. Maybe it's one of those movies you have to see multiple times to really get it. Reminded me a little bit of The Fifth Element, which I'm not too fond of either. Well, at least now I can say I've seen it. But I must say: Either they did a lot of revamping of the special effects for the Blu-ray, or they did a pretty darn good job, back in the early 80's.
On the Chris Marquette front, there's also good news to report. He's recently shot two movies (smaller roles), one with Richard Gere (The Double) and one with Anthony Hopkins (The Rite). After a long absence, he's also showed his face on TV, once in a small guest role on Weeds (two episodes) and a guest spot on Criminal Minds. I most enjoyed the latter because he had a good amount of screen time and also got the chance to play opposite his good friend and Joan of Arcadia co-star Michael Welch. Another project he's been involved in is an AFI Master's thesis short film project called Thule. He actually plays the lead in that one, which was first supposed to go to Justin Chatwin. The film is said to screen at a few upcoming film festivals, but I don't have any details.
