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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 60: Erik Aadahl
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 06, 2011
Erik Aadahl, sound designer and supervising sound editor on such movies as Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, I, Robot, Superman Returns, Valkyrie, and Transformers, talks about the importance of sound in storytelling and the process of sound design, and he shares anecdotes from some of the movies he's worked on. He also takes us on a tour of the Kim Novak Theater at Sony Pictures Studios, where he's working on a blockbuster due to be released this summer, though he couldn't reveal the title.

Run Time: 57:19

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Audio Video News
Monsters of Prog
Michael Berk  |  Apr 06, 2011

Once and future progressive rock titans Yes and Styx are heading out together on a US tour beginning this July 4, wrapping up August 3.

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Audio Video News
Flaming Lips on Broadway
Michael Berk  |  Apr 06, 2011

 

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Audio Video News
3D is coming for you, whatever your budget
Michael Berk  |  Apr 06, 2011

 

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Audio Video News
Blockbuster Gets Dished
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 06, 2011
Troubled Blockbuster Inc. has recently been in bankruptcy court and on the block. Now it has a new owner, the Dish Network. The satellite TV operator won the video rental chain with a bid of $320 million including $228 million in cash.

Dish takes over what remains the country's largest brick-and-mortar video rental chain, though it has shut down thousands of stores to reach the current total of 1700. One factor in its downfall was the huge debt load it took on when Viacom spun off the company in 2004. As recently as 2009, Blockbuster was confident (if not actually robust) enough to bid a cool billion for Circuit City. Now its share price has dropped so low, it's been delisted from the NYSE.

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Audio Video News
DISH scoops up busted Blockbuster
Michael Berk  |  Apr 06, 2011

DISH Network today made the winning $320 million bid for the bankrupt Blockbuster, the onetime leader in brick-and-mortar physical movie rentals left reeling by the rise of Netflix and the more recent explosion of streaming services.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Little Fockers (Blu-ray)
David Vaughn  |  Apr 06, 2011
After his brother-in-law ruins his marriage with his philandering ways, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is his father-in-law's (Robert DeNiro) last hope to assume the role as the family patriarch (aka, "The Godfocker"). When a beautiful pharmaceutical rep (Jessica Alba) enters the scene, Greg must repel her sexual advances in order to keep his marriage sacred and not lose the new found admiration from the family patriarch.

After being skewered by critics in its theatrical run, I had extremely low expectations for the third installment of the trials and tribulations of Greg Focker. While it doesn't measure up to the first film (or the second), there are quite a few laughs, especially when Stiller and DeNiro share the screen together. Unfortunately the screenplay doesn't flow very well and I expected to see more of the kids given the title of the film, but their time on screen is very limited.

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Audio Video News
Lucasfilm Selects Prime Focus to Convert Star Wars to 3D
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 05, 2011
Converting 2D content to 3D is controversial at best, but when George Lucas wants to do it to Star Wars, that's big news. Following an exhaustive testing process, Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic have selected Prime Focus to convert Episode I: The Phantom Menace to 3D for theatrical release on February 10, 2012.
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Audio Video News
Integration for homes big and small
Michael Berk  |  Apr 05, 2011

Altec Lansing's newly announced Octiv 650 iPhone/iPod Touch dock makes your mobile companion the centerpiece of your living room.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Klipsch Synergy B-20 Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 05, 2011
Price: $1,307 At A Glance: Horn-loaded tweeter draws on long Klipsch tradition • Tweeter surround allows more piston-like movement • High sensitivity suits any A/V receiver

Toot Your Horn

Surround sound is an indispensable part of home theater. But some people still have difficulty making the leap from two-channel to 5.1-channel-plus. One question that comes up is: Doesn’t going from two speakers to five or more place a strain on the amplifier? After all, an amp driven into clipping suffers from harshness and compression, and that’s never pleasant to listen to.

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