Sorry, at the moment I have nothing to report. Friday is the Mitsubishi line show, so check back Monday and I'll post what I saw. Rumor has it they've got a new TV that's got lasers! Now if I can just get my plasma tweeter speakers I'll be all set.
This DVD-Audio has been a long time coming. Many a planned release date came and went before this one finally hit the shelves back in November, but I assure you that it was worth the wait. The high-resolution, multichannel audio soundtrack allows an already great album to realize its full potential.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
Forty-year-old retail employee Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) loves sci-fi, comic books, video games, magic, and action figures, but, alas, he's given up on loving women. After he is unable to come up with a convincing tale of sexual conquest for his coworkers, they form a mission: get this geek laid.
Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 3 The Yards is a moody little film noir that, while pretty to look at, doesn't become the movie it desperately wants to be. It's cut cleanly from the Mean Streets cloth, as it tells the story of Leo (Mark Wahlberg, barely making eye contact with anyone), a recently paroled thief. Leo's attempts to go straight run afoul by his Uncle Frank (James Caan, sporting a nice mustache) and best friend Willie (Joaquin Phoenix), both shady characters involved in the corrupt world of railroad contractors. There's also some creepy sexual undertones between Leo and his cousin Erica (a pre-Oscar Charlize Theron). The visuals (in anamorphic 2.35:1) seem kind of foggy, which seems to be the director's intention but does not look very good. The Dolby Digital 5.1 is the highlight of the entire package, providing a rich soundscape that achieves what the film as a whole could not.
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 5
Leaving my first theatrical viewing of MirrorMask, I was reminded of the dream sequence in the middle of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, where Salvador Dali was given carte blanche to design a surrealist dream. It's a great sequence. Sixty years later, a top-notch visual artist and an accomplished storyteller had the limitless potential of computer-generated imagery at their disposal. It's as if Dali had been given today's technology, but, instead of melting clocks and big crutch-like sticks, there's Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman's lexicon of sphinxes, monkey-birds, and fish.
Axion says it's shipping the company's latest portable DVD system. Designed primarily for use in the car, although it comes with both AC and DC adaptors, the new AXN-6079 includes a small DVD player and two seven-inch widescreen LCD screens.
Complaints about scratched iPod nanos are giving way to solutions from Apple and other parties. First there are those three Apple-branded iPod cases in Italian leather. Tug a little ribbon and your iPod slides out gracefully. Cases are available for the 60GB, 30GB, and nano. The $99 pricetag may raise an eyebrow among the hoi i-polloi but clearly Apple is lunging for the carriage trade here. Meanwhile NYC retailer J&R is selling iPod nanos that have been put through a custom hardening procedure described this way: "Each custom colored iPod goes through a thorough process of cleaning, painting, protection and curing before it is ready for use. The protection comprises of the unique X2 scratch resistant liquid plastic coating. It's applied right after the painting process and cured with ultraviolet light, to achieve superior scratch resistance and clarity. The final product has a finish that won't fade or crack!" The price for a treated 2GB nano is $265 or $66 more than list.
