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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
True Grit (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 07, 2011
Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) wants justice when her father is killed by Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Headstrong to the nth-degree, the teenager hires U.S. Marshall "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and insists she's part of the posse. Cogburn grudgingly approves but Matty isn't happy when he allows a Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) into the group who's in search of the same man for a murder in Texas.

Filling the shoes of John Wayne is an impossible task, but Bridges did the best he could do and still doesn't measure up to Wayne's Oscar-winning portrayal of the gruff Cogburn. Having watched the original less than six months ago I couldn't help compare each of the respective roles and other than Bridges impossible undertaking, the other two main characters (Damon and Steinfeld) more than make up the difference.

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Audio Video News
iTunes Lofted Skyward
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 07, 2011
What game-changing moves did yesterday's Apple software announcements hold for home theater enthusiasts?

Among the few mentions of Apple TV, the company's video streaming set top box, came in connection with Photo Stream. This new app pushes photos and other content to the cloud, then sends them to your computer, portable, and other devices. Apple TV is one of those devices.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Cambridge Audio Minx S215 Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 06, 2011

Performance
Value
Build Quality
Price: $850 (updated V2 system)
At A Glance: Single-cube speaker with full-range driver • Polymer and extruded-aluminum enclosure • Wireless option

Surround Cubed

The cube speaker at the heart of Cambridge Audio’s Minx satellite/subwoofer set has become an enduring form factor for people who don’t like loudspeakers. Of course, in their zeal to get speakers off the floor, some speaker-haters poke holes in their walls for in-walls. But not everyone is willing to go to that extreme. And while in-wall and on-wall speakers have no footprint, they do have what you might call a wallprint. For folks who don’t like speakers, don’t like holes in their walls, and don’t like wallprints, but do like movies and music, the cube speaker—something the size of a Girl Scout’s fist—shapes up as the least invasive solution.

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Curtain Call
Int. Bedroom, Night
Michael J. Nelson  |  Jun 06, 2011
Back before he started marrying his daughters, Woody Allen used to make funny films. In one of the better of them, 1977’s critically acclaimed Annie Hall, Allen’s character, Alvy Singer, is standing in line for a film while the guy behind him pontificates loudly on various things, among them influential scholar Marshall McLuhan. Singer challenges him, and the man pompously reveals that he teaches a class on media at Columbia University. So Allen replies, “I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here,” and retrieves him from behind a lobby card. McLuhan retorts, “I heard what you were saying. You know nothing of my work. How you ever got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing.” 
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Audio Video News
iCloud rolls in
Michael Berk  |  Jun 06, 2011

As expected, Steve Jobs took to the stage at the close of this years WWDC keynote to introduce the highly anticipated iCloud service.

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Audio Video News
Xbox, set (at last) to take over your living room
Michael Berk  |  Jun 06, 2011

Microsoft's keynote was the hot ticket this morning at the E3 Expo, and the company didn't disappoint. While a few had held out hopes for a hardware surprise (the company dominated last year's event with the Kinect motion controller), no such thing was forthcoming from Redmond.

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Ask S&V
In-Wall Speakers in the Ceiling
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jun 06, 2011
I'm setting up a home-theater area in our living room, and there can't be any freestanding speakers. I don't have side walls for surrounds, only ceiling space. Can in-wall dipoles be used in the ceiling? If so, what is the ideal placement and configuration? I'm setting up a 5.1 system, which is all the space will allow for.

Theo Nikolakis

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Gadget Gary
See It Now!
Gary Dell'Abate  |  Jun 06, 2011

Everybody loves to post fun videos of the cool things they’re doing on Facebook, YouTube, and even Twitter. Sometimes, though, you miss the coolest, funnest stuff because it’s hard to record all the time. But wait. What if you could?

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New Products
Hi-Fi Returns to L.A.
Brent Butterworth  |  Jun 06, 2011

We seem to be going through a mini-renaissance in the hallowed tradition of the American hi-fi show, what with this year's burgeoning crop of existing shows and welcome upstarts. Yet Southern California audiophiles, despite living in what some would consider the nexus of the audio industry, haven't been treated to a good show for years.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Happy Gilmore (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Jun 06, 2011
When a failed hockey player (Adam Sandler) discovers he can hit a golf ball 400 yards, he must check his pride at the door and play the "sissy" sport in order to save his grandmother's home from the IRS. With the help of a retired golfer (Carl Weathers) and a new love interest (Julie Bowen), he must adapt to life on tour in order to win enough prize money to save the day.

I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of Sandler, but I have to admit his juvenile humor makes me laugh. His star was brightest in the 1990s and this is probably his biggest hit. The pacing is excellent at 92 minutes and there's enough of a story to keep it interesting.

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