Category: TV/Movies

There’s an MTV-U? And Kevin Smith’s on it?

Yeah, really. There’s MTV, MTV 2, and now MTV U. Considering that the last time I ever actually watched MTV with interest was in 1991 (I never really liked MTV even when I was the age at which I was supposed to like MTV), I’m not suprised that I was unaware of MTV U, a new MTV station focused on the college student. I was also suprised to find out that Kevin Smith, director and writer of great cult films like Chasing Amy, Clerks, and Clerks 2 is writing and producing webisodes for the MTVU website. They’re basically comedic shorts reporting on cool things you can do on the weekends when not studying for class. The segments focus on things like a Haunted House in Arizona, a nerdy computer rapper, and Roller Derby with hot chicks. You can check out all the webisodes HERE. (The topics really don’t apply to me anymore since I’m getting ready to hit the big 3-0 in February, but I like Kevin’s self-depricating humor.)

Movie – The Prestige

Chrissy and I went to see The Prestige last Sunday, and I gotta say, it’s a GREAT movie.

Written and Directed by Chistopher Nolan (of Memento, Insomnia, and Batman Returns fame) this movie tells the story of 2 competing Magicians in the late 1800s. Like Nolan’s “Memento”, the movie does not run in chronological order, but jumps back and forth between flashbacks and “current” time. Even with story being told in a “jumpy” manner, the flow of the story is not interupted and is still easy to understand. The movie’s visuals, costumes, and acting are stunning (as is Scarlett Johannson as a magicians assistant) and the world in which this story takes place borders on history and fantasy.

The Prestige is a very entertaining movie with unexpected twists and a nicely “wrapped up” plot at the end which doesn’t leave you asking questions, or finding plot holes. Go see this movie.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Oh wait, did I mention that David Bowie plays Nicola Telsa in the movie?

Bored…hmm…ooh! How about my favorite movies?

I was bored and wanted to post something. So, I figured, why not post a list of my top 5 favorite movies? Now keep in mind that I am a movie junkie. There is a metric buttload of movies that I like. I could have a top 5 list for about every movie genre, and every movie budget category. This list is a collection of movies that make my top 5 because they mean something to me; not just because they’re a good, fun, escape from reality.

5. Grosse Point Blank – How can you not like this movie? I mean com’on… It’s got John Cusak, Dan Ackroyd, guns, and a great “dark comedy” vibe. I feel this is John Cusak’s best movie.

4. Donnie Darko – This film is in my Top 5 because it’s so different. I like “different” movies; movies that make you think. This is one of those movies that you watch with a crowd, and an hour after the movie is over, everyone is still discussing the meaning of the movie. I dig that.

3. The Girl Next Door – I like this comedy a lot. Granted, there’s a lot of hot women in the movie, and that’s always a good thing, but the main reason I like this movie is that it’s a teen comedy that isn’t trite, and has a lot of heart. I can relate to the main character in this movie a lot. (Not with his porn aspirations obviously.) He’s the guy in High School who always followed the rules, and was an all-around good kid. That was also me in High School, and in retrospect I should have been raising hell and having fun like everybody else. (Damn parents and their morality! 😉 )

2. Big Fish – This movie is incredibly imaginative, with great characters and great visuals. If you don’t feel something at the end of this movie, you have a rock for a heart. I relate to this movie a lot because my father died when I was 15, and the father-son centered plot connects with me.

1. Almost Famous – I love this movie. The best part about the movie is the characters. They’re extremely well developed and “real” feeling. You experience everything that they do, from the comfort of your theater seat. Hell, even the jerks in the movie are likable. This movie is loosely based on Carmeron Crowe’s life, so that adds another dimension to the film. Like I said, I love this movie.

The Beauty that is Apple’s Firewire SDK

For a long time I’ve been aware that Apple’s Firewire SDK contains applications that allow you capture MPEG video streams over firewire from a digital video source. This means that if you have a digital/HD television or set-top box with a firewire port, you can capture that HD content onto your Mac. I’ve never bothered trying it because I assumed my Time Warner 8300HD would have it’s firewire ports disabled. Then, one night I was bored and decided to reasearch it some more. I found out that it is a FCC regulation that cable operators are not allowed to disable the firewire ports on any of their STBs. So, armed with that knowledge, I connected my MacBook to my 8300HD using their firewire ports, and was successful in capturing HD content. There are 2 ways you can this. With the VirtualDVHS application, or the AVCVideoCap application. Use the VirtualDVHS steps below if your TV or STB doesn’t support AV/C. Use the AVCVideoCap steps if your TV or STB supports AV/C.

Virtual DVHS :
1) Download and install Apple’s Firewire SDK found HERE.
2) Connect your Mac to either firewire port located at the back of the 8300HD while the Mac is off.
3) Power on the Mac
4) Tune to the HD channel you wish to capture. (On your STB)
5) Run the AVCBrowser application located under /Developer/FirewireSDK22/Applications/
6) In the Output section of the AVCBrowser’s UI, select channel 63.
7) Run the VirtualDVHS app. (found under the same path in step 5)
8) Set VirtualDVHS’ record channel to 63.
9) Click the connect button in the output section of the AVCBrowser’s UI.
10) Make sure you have the VirtualDVHS’ “Stats Drawer” open and click the record button in the VirtualDVHS UI.
11) Recording should begin, and you should see the Bitrate, Packets, and Resolution stats start chugging away.

AVCVideoCap :

1a) Perform steps 1-4 from above.
2a) Run the AVCVideoCap app located under the same path as stated in step 5.
3a) Select your device in the AVCVideoCap UI.
4a) Click the Capture from Device button.
5a) Choose where you want the video saved.
6a) Enter how long you want to capture in minutes.
7a) Hit continue.
8a) Capturing occurs!

Tips:

1) If you see a lot of “Overruns” occur in AVCVideoCap or if you only see bitrate and packets being populated with data in VirtualDVHS, then your capture won’t be playable. It is most likely because the channel you are viewing is being encrypted by Time Warner. For the most part, local HD stations don’t encrypt their content so give those a try.
2) I recommend using VLC or MPEG Streamclip for playing back your video captures in M2V format. (You’ll have to buy the Apple MPEG-2 Quicktime plugin from Apple if you want to use MPEG Streamclip to convert your M2V into Quicktime or MPEG format.)

SciFi Channel Sucks – Another Example

You know what I’ve always thought the SciFi channel was missing in its lineup? Wrestling! If there’s one thing you must have as part of a science fiction show schedule, it’s wrestling. The SciFi channel has recently announced that ECW will be added to its show lineup. So, in addition to horrible movies about killer animals, the Scifi channel will now have live coverage of grown men hitting, throwing, and pinning each other inside a bouncy ring. What’s more “scifi” than that!? How about anything else?! Jesus! How freaking retarded are the execs at the SciFi channel? Do they have even the slightest idea what SciFi fans want? As I’ve said in an earlier post, the SciFi channel only has a couple of decent shows : Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, and Dr Who. (and Doctor Who isn’t even a SciFi production.) They need to get a frickin grip. Seeing them do crap like this pisses off Science Fiction fans everywhere. It’s time for some SciFi channel execs to get fired so that some people who know what the hell the SciFi fans want can take their place.

End of Line (If you’re a TV executive and know what movie I’m referencing here, please apply to replace those fired SciFi channel execs. 😉 )

TNTHD – HD Fakers

So I’ve been “DVR’ing” the syndicated reruns of Angel from TNT-HD, the “HD” version of the TNT network, and have discovered that for some reason, TNT stretches the image to fill a 16×9 screen. My Angel episodes are all deformed horizontally. I can understand stretching commercials. (Who cares about image quality for a commercial anyway.) But, deforming the show I’m watching is not cool. I understand why they do it. The TNT channel, and the TNT-HD channel have the exact same programming. I figure that it’s a lot easier to run it that way. However, don’t screw up my watching experience on the HD channel by making everything by default (whether it was in 16×9 originally or not) fill my 16×9 screen. I would much rather they just display the 4:3 programming in it’s original “square” form. So sure, the image clarity is still pretty dang impressive on TNT-HD, but if it’s going to screw up 4:3 shows, I’ll just record those from the ol’ school analog TNT station.