Weird New stuff in the Pipeline

We just got in a bunch of new movies for our users… and as usual, our focus remains on the weird and hard to find gems that have gotten lost with the passing of time. Next up, Seven Doors of Death - one of the most powerful and bloody horror films ever made…. in fact, it is banned in West Germany.. so for all our buddies in Berlin, be good - otherwise the movie cops will yank your net connection and throw you in the klink. Directed by Lucio Fulci, the film tells the story of an old hotel that has a doorway to hell… anyone who enters this door… never returns. Very very scary… and yikes… lots of blood and gore. Not for the faint of heart.

Also coming soon… a real monster in Martial Arts classics - The Street Fighter with Sonny Chiba, perhaps the only guy who could compete against Bruce Lee in the martial arts field. I think this is the film that inspired the popular video game, Street Fighter.. but I am just guessing. Yep… this film also offers gratuitous violence to the Nth degree, just like Mel Gibson’s Passion of The Christ. How gory you ask? When the film was originally released - it received an X rating, though it has since been bumped to an R rating as our culture of death now seems less impressed by people getting their hearts ripped out of their chests.

The next offering is a Sci-Fi classic - called First Spaceship on Venus. Made in 1959, the original film was made in Eastern Europe and features some of the coolest analog dials, knobs and doohickeys ever put on film. The spaceship is so cool… prehistoric computing machines and all. We just loved this film… and laughed our butts off. It starts off with a mysterious “spool” found somewhere on the planet - that is actually a secret message from Venus. We concocted an interesting way to view the film - as a drinking game… everytime someone says - “SPOOL” … you take a sip of your beer. It is overkill for the first half hour… and then the viewers need to spout out some comment related to the SPOOL during the later parts of the film. Oh yeah… you really need to say SPOOL.. with a German accent… like SHHHPOOL for the full effect. Any comments with SPOOL work, but it is best to keep it with the storyline like… why can’t we decode ‘dis SHHPOOOL!

Also in the pipeline… a really wild 1983 film called Corrupt starring Harvey Keitel and John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. I wish it also had Sid Vicious.. but he couldn’t deliver his lines with any coherence. Keitel plays a pyscho cop gone way bad (similar to his BAD LIEUTENANT role in 1992). Also of note - is the incredibly lame sound track by Ennio Morricone, that is gloriously annoying. Believe it not, he also scored a Clint Eastwood classic - Sergio Leone’s For A Few Dollars More… and 2 other films in LikeTelevision’s library - The Battle of Algiers, and Lovers and Liars with Goldie Hawn and Giancarlo Giannini.

How Do I burn a DVD?

We get this question enough in our daily pile of email… that we thought it best to provide a detailed explanation of How To Burn A DVD… so here goes. First of all, this explanation is for those folks who are new to the DVD burning excercise… and as such, we will not examine all the poindexter nerd nuiances associated with burning a DVD …. like transport vs. program mpeg-2? or other specs designed for mass production, regional limitations… and all the kind of stuff most of us could care less about. As such - the focus is…. how do I burn a DVD with as little effort as possible…. i am not an engineer… and can’t even get the time right on my VCR…. OK! We hear you!

The easiest way to create a DVD from the download library is to search our site for DVD ISO. These titles have a DVD iso in the download folder for the title. Making a DVD from an ISO file is easy. Just download the file - which is massive, often a gig plus to your computer. Then open your CD/DVD DATA creation software, and create a new session that creates a DVD from an “image file” - which is an *.iso file. Select the iso file you downloaded as the image file, and ok. Boom! You just made your own DVD!

To create a DVD from the MPEG-1 files provided in the Download library - you will need to have a DVD-R burner… or a DVD+R burner - this is hardware that goes into a bay into your computer. Many new computers now come with a DVD burner as part of the package… if you are buying a new computer, by all means, it is worth getting a DVD burner as part of the package. You can also purchase one at Best Buy, Circuit City… or your friendly neighborhood computer dealer as an add-on device. They currently cost about $125-$400, depending on the make and software bundle. We have used DVD burners from Sony, Pioneer, Philips, and HP. All of them worked fine for us… though we did have some troubles installing them on some older WIN NT boxes, but nothing that would remind one of “computer hell” or anything like that. To be honest, it isn’t that hard to install the devices, especially if you have ever put in a new PCI card or added another drive.

All these DVD-R,+R,-RW types drives come with a modest bundle of software - including a very wimpy… DVD authoring program from somebody… that in the end, is woefully inadequate at getting the job done. The bundled DVD authoring software like the Sonic DVD-it, or Neo-DVD standard… are of NO help. Imagine trying to bake a batch of toll house cookies in an EZ Bake oven. It won’t do the job. Period, end of story.

All right… do you need to get a new workstaion with Sonic Solutions… for a mere $20,000? or more? No… we found a decent software program that does the job, it easy to work with, pretty stable, and best of all, you have the tools to customize it in a way that makes it look pretty professional. We suggest trying a DVD authoring program from ULEAD called DVD Workstation (learn more from ULEAD’s site - or read a review). How much, you ask? Last time i checked it was around $400 or $500 bucks, or if you have another related ULEAD “lite” program… just $250 or $300 to upgrade. Yes… it is pretty expensive, but this program does a lot of heavy lifting for you, making the process very easy without losing a lot of power.

As most know - our MPEG-1 files for downloads have a window size of 352 x 240, an MPEG std. size. These clips are loaded in the proper order (part 1, part 2, etc)… , you create some menus or chapters if you like… and then test it in a simulation. The program also tells you places you might have screwed up.

After a great deal of trial and error - we found that setting the DVD video output to Half D-1 with a data rate of ~2.6 M/sec worked very nicely. The window size on Half D-1 is 352 x 480. When the file is played - the width is doubled - for a video window of 720 x 480. Because we were interested in keeping the files as small as possible - our logic here is considering the trade off between download times for you - and as high a quality video as possible. And there are exceptions - like Owl Creek Bridge DVD iso file- that offers a wonderful quality DVD encoded at nearly double the data rate.

My DVD authoring program won’t accept your MPG files as videos - what’s wrong? The program you are using to author - does not have the ability to re-encode the media files - and probably fails trying to de-MUX. I’ll spare you the details… but it describes how all the compression, sound, video, and keyframes etc…. get flattened into the mpg file output. The higher quality DVD authoring programs provide the feature - and many less expensive programs don’t handle it well or at all. But don’t despair - there are workarounds - programs that do a decent job de-MUX ing… and transcoding into files your DVD authoring program will accept. A little while back - we provided some info on MUX issues for those using Apple. You can always find some inexpensive or free software that converts our MPG files to an avi, and use the avi files as input for your authoring program. There are workarounds - but getting some decent pro-sumer authoring software is a lot easier - and faster too.

Akira Kurosawa’s Birthday Bash!

For most Americans - Kurosawa is a Japanese film director they heard about in a Bare Naked Ladies song. But in the world of film directors - Kurosawa is considered the master of the craft - honored by Steven Speilberg, George Lucas - well pretty much everybody. Why? Because the quality of his cinematography - his uncanny ability to fill the screen with beautiful pictures and tell a compelling heroic story at the same time. Gifted… genius, it was all there.

And here’s some video to learn more about this great man, Akira Kurosawa - born today, March 23, 1910. By all means - if you have not seen Seven Samurai (a.k.a. Shichinin no samurai) - what are you waiting for? The film is listed as #6 right now at IMDB’s top 250. At the British Film Institute - top 10 movies of all time, voted by directors, Akira Kurosawa has 2 movies in the top 10. Seven Samurai and Rashomon, another must see Kurosawa film. Yes… there’s more too - Yojimbo, Throne of Blood, and Drunken Angel.

Make sure you check yesterday’s entry - made some really cool updates to the Johnny Carson Tonight Show video clips. Check out Drew Barrymore, as a kid from 1982, Ed Ames throwing the hatchett… must see it to believe it! … Tiny Tim sings Tip Toe thru the Tulips - and marries Miss Vicky! Hold on… I am just starting… watch a montage with Raquel Welch, Madeline Kahn, and a vintage Roseanne Barr stand-up routine. Bob Hope sings Thanks for the Memories, Dolly Parton, Albert Brooks - lots more too! Free for all our guests.

Drew Barrymore, Raquel Welch, & Tiny Tim!

I just finished updating the Johnny Carson Tonight Show page… and loaded some of the greatest moments of TV history… including Tiny Tim not only singing Tip Toe Thru the Tulips, but getting married to Miss Vicky (Miss Vicki? not sure), Drew Barrymore takes of her top set of teeth and lays them on Johnny’s desk, Raquel Welch, Roseanne Barr’s big stand-up debut, Albert Brooks, Bob Hope, Jack Benny… and one of the funniest bloopers in early tv history - Ed Ames and the hatchet - once you’ve seen this clip, you’ll never forget it. Live tv was really funny sometimes. Enjoy some great Johnny Carson moments - it’s free to all our guests and members alike.

March 18, 1962 - War Ends

On March 18, 1962 - the French end their seven year war with Algeria. Check out this old newsreel clip of the moment in history, or better still - you should watch The Battle of Algiers, a powerful film on the conflict - with disturbing portraits of Islamic terrorists as well as a sadistic French military. Most people have never seen this movie - which is a shame because it was very well done - and certainly relevant to current times.

Amos and Andy and Duke

There was a time in this land when Amos and Andy were very popular. In case you never heard of them - Amos and Andy were two white guys who wore black face (a cream to make you look black skinned) - and preceded to act as black men, in a demeaning, racial stereotype fashion. Parts of it should make you wince. In spite of that - we just added another film, Check and Double Check starring Amos and Andy. There are some funny scenes in Check and Double Check, which was Amos and Andy’s first talkie (a motion picture with sound) - PLUS -watch a cool performance by Duke Ellington and His Cotten Club Orchestra.

And in case you fell asleep - today is St Patrick’s Day. Which would be a perfect time to see what Irish related videos we offer. Oops.. missed this one - check out Clan Na Gael too. Also of note - the cartoon fresh vegetable mystery is also very disturbing in a racial stereotype kind of way. The toon features a bunch of Irish policemen, who are all potatoes, (from a sack of Paddy’s poptatoes no less)…. who proceed to hit the sauce, in this case… root beer.

Which of course led me to a search of Paddy - and i found this funky OSB episode, Last Round - where a boxer, Charles Bronson is haunted by an old Irish ghost named Paddy.

New Mpeg Downloads

Time for another download rotation in the library. Just added - a killer episode of Night Court U.S.A. with a man who knows not the meaning of judicial restraint - Judge Jay Jostyn. And now - you can download high quality mpegs of episode one. Richard Diamond, PI episode was removed from the library as part of the rotation.

In case you missed the funny previews Frank made for this show - check out the previews for episode four, episode three, episode five, Kafka’s playlist, and episode two… too.

Jolene Live Music Video

Yes…. we did notice, X-Periment only had one guitar - a bass guitar, which isn’t what most people mean when they say a guitar. So… take it easy, and relax - because today, we will be featuring Jolene - a band that has 3 guitar players! And they do a great job of blending these 3 guitars into a glorious wall of sound that reminds one of R.E.M. But unlike Michael Stipe, singer songwriter John Crook has something to say that makes perfect sense. I really like this song - and this band. Check it out… Jolene - Live at LikeTelevision with their song - Wave To The Worrying.

Wanna hear more Jolene - it’s easy to do… Just type in Jolene in the search box and see what gives.

Hey Man - Scratch this

And for those who like more eclectic music… this next band delivers. X-periment performs New Foundation live at the studio. Hey, you gotta love a band that features a DJ spinning vinyl for scratches, with a large rhythm section. And just blown away by Tony, the saxaphone player. Check it out - X-periment, Live at LikeTelevision.

Cravin’ Melon Live Music Video

Back in the late nineties, Cravin’ Melon was a very popular band and signed with Mercury Records. National. They sold a ton of CDs… they were B.I.G. And also very talented and really nice people, every one of them, including their manager Dick Hodgin. We had a blast - and got it down to tape, even though the band and everyone here had a previous engagement - at a spring music festival in Charlotte. We were giving away 10,000 CDs and Cravin’ Melon was slated to play a concert there. Basically - we were all kinda rushed… the cameras were on for less than 10 minutes before we all had to go… but what a great song, nice performance, and the engineering on the audio is awesome! It sounds great. Check it out… Cravin’ Melon - Live @ LikeTelevision. If you want to hear another song from that session - search for melon, you’ll find some there in the melon patch.

In case you missed yesterday’s featured band Hobex, here’s a link to watch that. More?… Blue Dogs too. Coming next - X-periment and another song from Jolene called Wave to the Worrying.