New Addition - Samurai 3

The Final chapter of Hiroshi Inagaki’s epic Samurai Trilogy is ready to go! We strongly suggest that you first view Samurai Part One - Miyamoto Musashi and Part Two, Duel at Ichijoji Temple before taking in Part Three - Duel at Ganryi Island. Here’s a new preview for Part three - where Musashi will battle with the ambitious and very talented young Samurai Kojiro, who longs to be the number one Samurai in all of Japan… but first, he has to defeat Musashi who is the reining swordsman of the land. Musashi wants no part of the battle - but it can’t be avoided. The cinematography is just plain awesome - and the trilogy tells a great story… all in all, one of the best films you probably never seen. Check it out!

DVD iso files & Samurai Warriors

We have been busting butt behind the scenes… preparing a massive new feature for all our Premium Subscribers. (or perhaps I should say … subscribers with a NTSC formated TV. For those in North America, like the US and Canada and Mexico… the format used on our TVs is called NTSC…. which plays entertainment at a specified frame rate and window size. Users in other countries and regions often used a different format for their TVs called PAL).

anyway… the new feature allows users w/ NTSC tvs… to create and burn a fully authored DVD for their TVs of selected titles. You will need a DVD burner of course and a blank DVD-R, or DVD+R…. and a hardware DVD player hooked to your TV that will play DVDs (most do…. especially if it is a newer model). For our first month’s offering - we will be providing five titles. And some are already here! Andy Griffith Show - vol 1 features 3 killer shows from Mayberry’s finest - Aunt Bee’s Medicine Man (where Aunt Bee gets drunk with some church ladies (tiddly as Barney says) by drinking an elixir from the medicine man, The Big House - w/ special guest George Kennedy. Barney imagines that the Mayberry jail should be like Alcatraz - hilarious, …and the third is also a gem - A wife For Andy - where Andy meets Helen Crump for the first time. The DVD iso file is about 1.2 gig and all three episode are on the DVD iso file that is located from the download mpeg link on Aunt Bees Medicine Man page.

The 2nd DVD iso file is a trilogy of One Step Beyond episodes - and a huge guest star lineup! The Visitor - starring Warren Beatty and Joan Fontaine, The Echo with Ross Martin, and The Clown with Yvette Mimieux. For all you One Step fans - this is a must have DVD - the titles were all transferred from film, and cleaned up in the video post area… and really look fine - for 40 plus year old footage anyway.The DVD iso file is about 1.2 gig.

The third offering will be Brigitte Bardot’s debut film - And God Created Woman. oooo la la. This DVD iso file is a whopper - weighing in at 2.4 gig! So make sure you get yourself some download software - to optimize the transfer, and resume the download if your ISP cuts you off for some unknown reason. (BTW - if you have DSL lite - in the small print, many ISPs throttle your total download data size…. we are not messing with you… your ISP is throttling you. Check with them for details… and upgrade to the full DSL offering if you wish).

The fourth DVD iso file features a cool collection of Bugs Bunny cartoons - including the politically incorrect and offensive classic - All this and Rabbit Stew (racist stereotypes abound - not a pretty picture), Wacky Wabbit (Bugs vs. Elmer Fudd), The Wabbit who Came to Supper (more Bugs vs. Elmer Fudd), Falling Hare (Bugs takes on a Gremlin - very funny), Waikiki Wabbit (Bugs and 2 castaways - a classic!), The Case of the Missing Hare (Bugs vs. a Magician), and Fresh Hare (another killer Bugs vs. Elmer confrontation). This is the smallest data size of the DVD iso files - about 700+ meg.

The fifth DVD - is… Get Christie Love.

Creating your own DVDs is easy. 1) download the DVD iso file. 2) Open My Computer or Explorer… and click on the DVD iso file. This should launch your DVD burning software automatically (most DVD creation software tweaks windows file associations - so an iso type file opens the DVD creator software…. if not, don’t fret… just follow the instructions in your DVD creation software for creating a DVD from a Disc image - which is the iso file. 3) insert a blank DVD recordable disc… and burn baby burn. When it’s finished - just load it in your Tv’s DVD player, and have fun.

To speed up the downloads - we decided to author the DVDs at a modest data rate - of approx 2.4 meg/sec… we thought it best to come up with a way to lower the download time - i.e. slightly smaller data sizes… and still keep the quality as high as that data rate allows. Window encoding size is 352x 480 for all your pointly heads.

We plan to offer more each month… and from time to time, pull the older DVD iso files from previous months. And of course… this new feature is way above and beyond the call of what we promised to provide… but we can do it… so we figured - why not? Enjoy yourselves - we’ll make more!

So if you wondered why it was taking so long to see the final chapter of Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy - now you know. We’re putting the finishing touches on it now… and it should be ready by tomorrow.

A Cool Fellini Classic

Ok - you have heard that Federico Fellini is one of the greatest directors of all time… and you may have enjoyed his masterpiece La Strada or 8 1/2… but admit it… you have never seen that many, if any of his films. Well, here at LikeTelevision - we offer one of his best, and you probably have never seen it. Today’s featured content is called - Il Bidone, which means “The Drum”. The movie is part of Fellini’s gloomy period - called The Trilogy of Loneliness, which includes 2 of his more famous works, La Strade and Nights of Cabiria. Welll… the third leg of the the stool is Il Bidone, which features Broderick Crawford, best known as Dan Matthews on Highway Patrol and Richard Basehart, who played the captain of the submarine in Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea. Crawford is the leader of a bunch of low life con men, who pose as priests and scam the innocent rubes of the Italian countryside. He gets in deep trouble when he tries to rip off his bosses - so he can pay for the continuing education of his estranged daughter. The poor guy learns that the end don’t justify the means…. and that trying to steal from the mob is a good way to get the mean guys to hasten your end. Darn… there was a good pun in there, but I couldn’t find it.

Check out a few of the previews… or better yet watch the whole movie… or better still, download the higher quality MPEGs and burn your own DVD.

More Killer Cartoons

As we mentioned in the blog not long ago… we were working out a deal to offer more killer cartoons for LikeTelevision’s cartoon library… well guess what? ding ding ding … the deal is done. And get ready for some awesome new animation. Without getting into specifics… over the next month… look to see a bunch more classic Betty Boop and Popeye…. including a rare gem with Popeye’s progeny - Sweet Pea. Plus a bunch more of some favorites from Warner Brothers, and a cult classic with Casper the Friendly Ghost. We’ll keep you informed when they are all cleaned up, encoded and ready - just check the blog for details.

Still working on Samurai part 3 - which needed a lot more restoration work than we thought.. so it might not be ready for the weekend. Most of the work centered around the need for a lot of color correction, and removing broken frames from the origianl film… which takes time. Look for the final chapter early next week. Sorry ’bout that…. but if it is worth doing - it is worth doing right, as my Grandpa used to say.

What’s Next @ LikeTelevision

Currently the creative department is working on Hiroshi Inagaki’s final chapter in the epic trilogy - Samurai Part Three, Duel at Ganryu Island, which tells the story of Japan’s most legendary Samurai warrior - the great Musashi Miyamoto, a.k.a. Takezo, played by the greatest Samurai actor of cinema history - Toshirô Mifune. If you are a fan of the genre - you certainly recognize Toshirô Mifune from his seemingly endless stream of movies with Japan’s greatest most famous director - Akira Kurosawa, who created such classics as Seven Samurai (reworked for english as The Magnificent Seven), or Yojimbo (re-worked for english as A Fist Full of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood) and of course The Hidden Fortress, which was the inspiration for George Lucas’ Star Wars films. Anyway - Toshirô Mifune decided to work with Inagaki to create this incredible series of films, and all those years working with Kurosawa paid off in a major way. All the films offer a terrific storyline, unbelieveable, over-the-top color, cinematography at its highest levels as an artform, all combined with the Japanese cultural sense of minimalism and understated elegance. If you are watching these films for the first time…. we suggest you do a little research by watching some Kurosawa classics like Seven Samurai, or Throne of Blood… as a warm up exercise…. and getting you to dump your cell phone down by a van near the river… slow down from today’s hectic life… so you can fully appreciaite the sense of simplicity and wonder of days gone by, and the art created in these simpler times… and also get a little historical background into the history of Japanese filmakers, and the vital role they played as the film medium developed into a global medium for telling stories and the growth of the visual arts. If you are have a sense for all that…. please start with Samurai Part One… followed by Part Two - so you might fully appreciate the story of Musashi Miyamoto. We expect to have part three ready by the weekend…. so get cracking! While you enjoy part 3, you might want to snuggle up with some sushi, and a glorious simple and beautiful flower display … and try your hand at Ikebana, the art of Japanese flower display. In any event…. turn off your cell phone, slow down, smell the roses and find peace in the simple and finer things this world has to offer. And of course… slip into some Silk Pajamas….You’ll be glad you did!

Elvis Has Left The Planet

On August 16, 1977 - The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley dies in his home, Graceland - in Memphis Tenn. Even today - mystery and nasty stories surround the death of Elvis, and the group that surrounded him, affectionately known as the Memphis Mafia. We’ll leave the conspiracy theories behind… and simply pay tribute to a great entertainer, a man who lost his twin brother during childbirth (hence the middle name, Aaron - his brother). We’re happy to imagine the 2 brothers harmonizing somewhere in heaven… doing a killer rendition of Amazing Grace. Check out this newsreel on Elvis’ death .. or wtch him in a musical variety show with ol blues and a bunch of the rat pack. We miss you Elvis… and yes… you still ROCK! and of course… you could just search for Elvis - that’ll work too. Maybe he’s still alive… abducted by aliens…. hmmmm there’s a conspiracy born every minute

Happy Birthday Rose Marie

Happy Birthday to Rose Marie.. born August 15, 1925…. in the tiny hamlet known as New York, NY USA. Best known for her work on the Dick Van Dyke show - where she starred as Sally Rogers, the lonely gal on Rob Petrie’s writing team for The Allen Brady Show. Or perhaps you might remember her second career on the Hollywood Squares with Peter Marshall…. I’ll take Rose Marie for the block, please… (here comes a quip by Chrlie Weaver… great show!). Here’s a classic episode of Dick Van Dyke we recommend - Hustling the Hustler or if time is short, check out Rose Marie singing with the gang on the Dick Van Dyke show.

More One Step Beyond

The Aerialist - starring Mike Connors

As any chronic user of LikeTelevision knows - we are major fans of One Step Beyond - the sci-fi tv series from the late 50s & early 60s that started the whole genre. Before Rod Serling and Twight Zone… before The Outer Limits took over control of the horizantal of your ancient TV tube with foil on the rabbit ears… there was John Newland and One Step Beyond. Originally - the show was sponsored by Alcoa… the folks who made the tin foil one put on their attennae to improve television reception. For those young puppies who only know of the coax connection… back in the day, it was a great challenge to view a show without screen flicker or ghosting, especially if you lived in a rural area (or an urban area that was often congested with unknown electrical interference). Ahhh… the good old days… back when we all walked five miles to school. HA!

Anyway - this episode of One Step Beyond was called The Aerialist and aired in the first year of the show on April 28, 1959. The story centers around an Italian circus family of trapeze artists and stars Mike Connors, who is best known for his role as super cool TV dectective, Joe Mannix. Here he stars as Mario Patruzzi - the guy who is the catcher in the trapeze act. Well… one night before their act was introduced by the circus barker, Mario has a fight with his Dad about Carlotta, Mario’s wife. It seems Dad thinks Carlotta is a good for nothing bimbo and a disgrace to the Patruzzio name. Mario tells his pop… well maybe I won’t catch you tonight old man! And that’s just what happens. But the weird sci-fi story comes later…. when Mario tries to kill himself in a moment of drunken despair… but he is caught by his Dad… who is acting miles away in a hospital bed paralyzed for life. The phenomonon is called bi-location - or the ability to actually be 2 places at once. If you are interested - there’s another One Step episode on bi-location called Dead Ringer, about a pyscho lady who likes to start fires. Both episodes are quite good. We hope you enjoy the latest addition to our library… which is available to stream or download the mpeg-1 files. Also, make sure you check out the image library - as the pictures we provided for this title are pretty cool.

08/10 Mother Teresa’s Birthday

There seems to be some conflicting history regarding Mother Teresa’s day of birth… to the best of our knowledge…. she was born near Skopje in Albania
on August 10, 1910. She was one of the greatest examples of what humans are capable of… and she lived her life serving the broken, sick and downcast people, most of the world treated as refuse. A role model for our generation - she gave us a glimpse of what a saint looked like…. and how they acted. She is a heroine and shining example of living a Holy life. Believe it or not… she went to confession almost every day… and was constantly seeking to grow in her relationship with God.

In a world where we suffer through religious conflict and ideologial dogma - that turns into war and hate… it is a good time to remember her words regarding our love for God….


“There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God.
I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a
better Catholic. “


Each day… Mother Teresa Teresa would say the following prayer…

DEAR JESUS, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go.

Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life
may only be a radiance of Thine.

Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with

may feel Thy presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus.

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine,

so to shine as to be a light to others.

Make sure you check out this page about Mother Teresa - which features her being honored with a Nobel Peace Prize.

Happy Birthday Betty Boop

On August 9, 1930 - Betty Boop’s first movie - Dirty Dishes is released. Created by Max Fleischer, (who also created Popeye and Superman cartoons), Betty was deemed “too sexy” by the Hayes Office, Hollywood’s early “Moral Authority”. So - she loses the garter belt and wears longer dresses with less cleavage. Check out one of those offensive garter belt era toons - as Betty works with the great Cab Calloway in Minnie the Moocher!