For whatever dumb reason I thought it was important to be able to covertly smoke cigarettes inside Wilton High School when I was 17 and 18. Talk about a stupid bullshit distraction but in my infinite infantile wisdom I thought it was cool to light up in the boy's bathrooms (there were two or three) and get away with it. Four or five friends felt the same away.
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This morning I watched portions of the new Titanic 4K UHD Bluray (12.5), and I was seriously impressed by the super-sharp detail, enhanced compositions and generally exquisite fine-grain clarity.
My eyes recall very clearly what the film looked like 26 years ago (I saw it five or six times), and James Cameron‘s classic looks appreciably upgraded. It’s relatively rare for a 4K disc to deliver this kind of bump, but this one qualifies. The downside is that they’re charging $30 but I’m thinking I might pop for it.
@DemetriosPatsiaris (12.11): “As someone who worked on the 2011/2012 restoration/stereo conversion of Titanic, I can tell you that the raw scans looked very clean and well preserved. This UHD accurately reflects what was there, but better.”
@rmn070 (12.14): “Every review has given it a perfect score, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. As nitpicky as it sounds but I’m pretty disappointed that the changes made in 2012 have been carried over. That original sunset would have looked glorious on 4K, but looks like it will stay in SD for the rest of time. Preservation purposes, you know?”
“The N.Y. Times’ problem has metastasized from liberal bias to illiberal bias, from an inclination to favor one side of the national debate to an impulse to shut debate down altogether. All the empathy and humility in the world will not mean much against the pressures of intolerance and tribalism without an invaluable quality that Sulzberger did not emphasise: courage.” — from James Bennet‘s “When the New York Times Lost Its Way.” posted on 12.14.23 in 1843 magazine.
"History is brutal, sad and full of wrongs. Was it unjust that even a single Arab family was forced to move upon the [1948] founding of the Jewish state? Yes. But it's also not rare. Happening all through history, all over the world, and mostly what people do is make the best of it. Eventually everybody comes to an accomodation."
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I'm sorry but this "Overtime" passage made me feel good and settled and among friends. It mnade me feel the exact opposite of how I usually feel when I consider 50% or 60% of the acrimonious denial brigade on HE any given day.
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Imagine being honestly, sincerely persuaded that MayDecember is 2023’s finest film…imagine.
It is HE’s solemn opinion that anyone arriving at this conclusion is in the grip of a serious aesthetic fetish or an obsessive imbalance of some kind.
HE is earnestly supportive of FallenLeaves (#4) and half-heartedly supportive of Showing Up (#2), Killers of The Flower Moon (#3) asfarasitgoes, Pacifiction, AnatomyofaFall, Afire and TheZoneofInterest (#5 through #8).
On 12.8 Ava DuVernay's Origin, an instructional drama about a writer exploring the racial caste system in this country, opened theatrically.
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Friendo: "I think it’s significant that the REVERSE example — that is, one line uttered by a sympathetic WHITE character that maligned the integrity of blacks (eg., ‘Don’t trust anyone, especially black people’) -- would NEVER be excused or brushed aside by the likes of Glen Runciter. Not in a million years.
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Back in the days of reserved–seatroadshowengagements of big-budget, prestige-level films during the ‘40s, 50s and 60s, theatres would sell glossy, cardboard-fortified booklets that had lots of high-end images and smelled of fresh publisher’s ink.
This is the Spartacus program they sold at the DeMille theatere (B’way at 47th) when it opened on 10.6.60 — a month before JFK’s election.
They charged at least 75 cents if not a buck for these souvenir programs -— in 2023 terms they were charging $7.50 to $10 a pop.