Def Leper

Funny, after years of seeing some of the garbage that garners Oscars (and Grammy's) and some good stuff that is ignored, I no longer pay any attention to these award shows.

Yes. Victims.

Already turned that one in, too. It will be gone soon. I got a scam "second chance offer" from the Khorns in Illinois that I bid on recently. You can always tell a scam second chance because it does not have a "respond now" key and does not show up in your "My Ebay" messages. I told them to send me pickup address and phone number and I'd be happy to pick them up in a few days and pay cash. Also contacted the real seller and let them know a scammer is sending out fake second chance offers. If I get a reply at all from the scammer, it will be the usual "I'm out of the country, send payment via Western Union, pickup at a relative's home, etc."

Definitely a "buy" if you liked NBC. They've done a great job refining the puppets and adding more facial articulation, which makes them much more expressive. Also, the score is a less operatic than NBC with few librettos, and I did enjoy the rousing take-off on Gilbert & Sullivan.

....And the winner is Larry1 !!!!

Picked up and watched Corpse Bride by Tim Burton yesterday. Of course, if you hate Tim you won't like the movie. It's pure Tim Burton. That said, for those of us who enjoy his work, it's pure Tim Burton. The design is firmly taken from Tim's original sketches so there is a very strong visual connection to Nightmare Before Christmas, and Danny Elfman's score is also stylistically similar to N.B.C. It's an unusual story, with some interesting characters, some odd and eccentric comments on England's class structure of the victorian age. In my opinion, a negative about Tim's animated work is that is starting to take on some of the less desirable aspects of Disney animation.....the inclusion of some "cute" supporting characters, presumably to entertain the kiddies. Gotta admit that Disney generally doesn't have talking maggots, though. Best feature on the DVD is the "music only" track that eliminates all sound except the musical score. This allows you to truly hear the score without all the distractions of dialogue and sound effects, and usually notches up your respect for the composer after seeing the film this way. Audio quality is very good, especially the piano-only parts of the score, but I was disappointed that the 5.1 soundtrack was a bit flat with not much use of the surround channel. There are also a large number of mini-featurettes about the production process including some great stuff showing the voice artists as they create the voice tracks superimposed on the film, and some fascinating stuff showing some of the features added to these impressive stop-motion animation puppets. Trivia question: What tribute is made in the film to the "father" of stop-motion animation, and what is his name?

Yes indeed, the CD prices are way too high..... and oddly, they seem to be going even higher. When I first started buying consumer video tapes (even before the rental industry) they retailed for $80-$150 in 1970's dollars and were atrocious quality. Now the DVD equivalent is $15 or so some have astronomical quality and features in comparison to consumer video tapes. When CD's first came out, they were selling for $15-$20 in 1980's dollars and early quality ran the gamut. They are still in the same range, quality still runs the gamut, and most manufacturers don't even bother to use features like CD text to take advantage of modern players. Of course, a dollar is worth a bit less now. However, in comparison with DVD's of movies that cost $10,000,000 to $75,000,000 to produce, an $18 CD that cost $50,000 to produce is a JOKE. No wonder people are stealing the music. $18 for a disk with two good songs on it. If the music industry wants to sell their product, they need to follow the lead of the movie industry and get the prices down to where the average person would rather buy the disk than rent or borrow it. That means about $6-$10 for music.

Metropolis 1984 Movie Soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder Pop electronic/progressive rock Star-studded cast of musicians and some of Moroder's better work. Where else can you hear Pat Benetar, Bonnie Tyler, Freddie Mercury, Jon Anderson and Adam Ant in the same place?

Five pages of remarks and not one single, solid technical fact. This isn't a discussion about the relative technical merits of these technologies, it's a religious debate.

I've gotta bet they're lovin' their new ebay store, where people are paying retail for refurbs and closeouts.

I don't know why so many of you are listing top-quality films that were big hits as "guilty pleasures." What we're talkng about here is those slinkers, stinkers and wannabees, box office bombs, or monster budget films made by people who should have known better. A few of mine that immediately come to mind: Strange Brew starring the Makenzie Brothers. Proves that the Canadian film industry isn't all good. Certainly the high point of several people's careers. Dune directed by David Lynch. Between the Elephant Man and Blue Velvet, David decided to go on vacation and have absolutely nothing to do with film making. Dune is the result. Crap within Crap within Crap. Battle Beyond the Stars by Roger Corman. Watch the credits and look at the people who did the space ship models and the music. God bless Roger, he has probably started more Hollywood greats than anyone else in history. Team America Unrated Version by the South Park guys. Most likely George Bush's favorite Saturday Night at the Movies flick. Really gets Laura hot. Explorers Joe Dante must have been a bit stung by criticisms that Gremlins had a mean streak, and Explorers was aimed a bit too far to the kiddie side of the street. But the saccharin script is saved by an amazing first performance by Ethan Hawke and one of Jerry Goldsmith's best scores. (Along with another Dante hit, The 'Burbs.) Armageddon I know the credits say the Michael Bay directed this one, but it's a Jerry Bruckheimer stinker through and through. Lots of explosions, noise, expensive special effects. pricey stars, and not a single shred of intelligence, wit, class or scrap of respect for the audience. And yet I watch it again and again. Go figger.

They should evict both of you. [6]

Given some of the threads I've read here on the Klipsch forums (one going on right now discussing crossover wires), this "product" can find some enthusiastic customers right here.

These are almost always scams on hijacked ebay accounts. Here are the warning signals: 1. 24-hour auction 2. No reserve price or BIN 3. Low starting bid ($10 or so) on expensive, high demand products 4. Prominent (usually first line of description) message telling bidders to email, often with the admonition that "Ask seller a question" feature will be ignored 5. Item location usually doesn't match the seller location. 6. Iten is listed in an unusual category, like Klipsch speakers listed in the Barbie Doll section. More often than not, you can click on the "view sellers other auctions" and you'll see a list of miscellaneous similar auctions for premium high-demand goods of all kinds (computers, telescopes, digital SLR's, high-end speakers and high-fi) but then the real account owners auctions. If you open one of the "real" auctions, you'll usually see a completely different auction description, with (of course) the request to email the seller at a hotmail account missing. Potential victims who email asking about these auctions almost always receive a reply offering the item at a rediculously low price, noting that the seller is traveling in Romania or something similar and asking for payment to be sent via Western Union moneygram to a European address.

Sure am glad I don't have that disease. Sounds contagious. And expensive.

My reaction to Jack is "Van Morrison Wannabe" except Van Morrison is much better. I'll have to find a copy to audition, though, since there is no substitute for listening uninterrupted in one's own music lair.

Perhaps the reason so many are not participating is the same as my reason-- Your canned poll responses do not include my opinion. Certainly the case with the Klipsch speaker poll. At the very least, you should include a response "Different opinion" or "None of the above" in your list.

I share your pain. After I got my Cornwalls I immediately started going through my music collection, both CD and vinyl, and found many new gems that that came alive, and some old favorites that went from "WOW" to "OW". The "OW's" I just listen to on the home theater system, which is a decent all-JBL setup that I chose for a neutral sound.

I have two recommendations this week: Amelie' Soundtrack by Yann Tiersen. Delightful Francophilia, a treasury of layered, unusual instrumental textures and sounds. Really stands out on Klipsch heritage systems. Tales From a Parallel Universe TV Miniseries soundtrack by Marty Simon. Steps way beyond the usual TV show synthesizer mill with some very inventive stuff. This music was written for the original miniseries, with the best music being in the first episode, "I Worship His Shadow." Not quite the pizzazz and funk of a feature movie soundtrack like "Fifth Element" but a great production nonetheless. Recording is transparently adequate. Apparently the composer is a one-trick pony with no other credits. Too bad.

If you haven't seen this film in Imax 3-D, you haven't really seen it at all. I'm a 3-D fan from way, way back, and this is the finest 3-D production I've ever seen. Truly breathtaking quality.

When you compare the latest Kong against the original Kong, it's amazing that they could do so much with so little in the original, and that Jackson could do so little with so much in the remake. I agree it could stand some mild trimming. That said, however, most folks of the fast food generation don't have the attention spans or comprehension to digest anything that takes place in a time span longer than a few minutes, so the time complaints are not surprising. It was interesting to see Weta digital meet it's match and fail to hit the target on the CGI, but at the same time to see the performance capture system elevated to a new level. The music complaints might be unfounded. Apparently Howard Shore left or was fired from the project with very little time remaining, and James Newton Howard had to produce a score and record it in only a few weeks. Althtough that helps by having a fairly stable cut to work with, it does require machine gun scoring. Jack Black-- Perfect casting . His character is a type of the obsessed director. I thought it obvious that he looks so much like a young Orson Welles, Jackson's uberhero, and shares the single-minded obsession with getting his shots, just like Jackson himself. Alas, like M. Night Shyamalan, Mr. Jackson needs stories with more meat on them. (And I don't mean Dinosaur meat.) He needs to stay away from remakes and stick with stories that other directors are afraid to tackle.

the same goods are back today on yet another hijacked account. They were removed yesterday evening and are already back.

Wow, that wood-topped turntable was rather dashing and pretty. The metal one looks like a Teutonic torture fantasy. I'd be embarrassed to even have it seen in my trash.

Our big hit at Christmas gathering this year was my "new" HMV slimline portable 78, a hand-cranked "picnic" record player. I've got quite a few Christmas classics on 78, including Arthur Godfrey, Bing Crosby, and many others. Even though the Cornwalls are there in the living room, everyone was having a great time cranking the HMV and listening to the 78's. The kids were absolutely spellbound and couldn't believe the thing has no batteries or cord. So don't feel weird competing with those "old guys" to buy some LP's.

Already reported the 3197 relist. Note that the real seller only sells DVD's and tapes and never has the "email me at etc." header. Also 24 hour auction, no reserve and too low starting price are prime tip-offs.