It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
A $5 Rashomon Restored ticket to anyone who can say where The Godfather Restored is going to be playing in L.A.
Last night I watched BLACK SNAKE MOAN on Blu-ray.
It made me shoot a White-ray.
That was a great joke.
Stupid, it was a Sting-ray.
For anyone that’s considering it, the pre-order price for this set at Amazon just dropped today to $61.95. That’s what finally tipped me over the edge.
looking forward to the GODFATHER blue ray, but have you taken a look at the restored HOW THE WEST WAS WON on blue ray? it’s a wonder.
Arclight
Friday, September 19
Godfather 11:30am, 7:30pm
Godfather Part II 3:20pm, 11:20pm
Saturday, September 20
Godfather 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm, 11:20pm
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Godfather Part II 11am, 3:10pm, 7:20pm, 11:25pm
with additional staggered showtimes during week.
That’s still a lot of money, but it’s half off. I wonder if David would buy it. Hat off to Ray Pride for reading the Arclight newsletter.
Why buy something when you can get it for free?
When Paramount sent out a note asking people to request it, I responded that if they were unable to accomodate me, I would be pre-buying it on Amazon so I could get it ASAP… so yes, I would have bought it.
As someone who really never got into buying DVDs, I have been gobsmacked by how many Blu-rays and, still, HDs, I have bought. (I was at Virgin Records in NY this last weekend, looking for HD bargains… movies I would only buy at a discount, but would like to have. The salesman very quizically asked why I would bother buying HDs. I explained that I own 2 machines and at $10 and under, it is still enough of a bargain over Blu-ray that something like Transformers is worth buying in an HD format.)
That said, the vast majority of my now-oversized collection is kindly given to me by studios.
I would probably buy about 2 Blu-rays a week if left to my own devices.
The rumour is that there will be a few stores selling $150 Blu-ray players on black friday.
Can I also get a ruling on 720p vs 1080i vs 1080p. I just got a new 37 inch HDMI tv in my bedroom but I went with the 720p to save a few hundred bucks ($750 vs $1100). When I finally hook up a blu-ray will I see a big difference? I’m having a hard time getting a straight answer. Dave, are you 1080p?
“Would seeing a great film for the 20th time on a big screen with a pristine print be better? Sure. But that isn’t a real option, is it?”
It is, and it was.
yes, there is a clear difference between 720 and 1080… if you have a blu-ray… not so much on hd cable or satellite, in my experience. And the bigger the screen, the bigger the difference.
Both of my HDTVs (58″/42″) are Panasonic 1080i.
And per the previous question by T Holly and the suggestion by Seattlemoviegoer, I just bought How The West Was Won, Patton, The Proposition, Speed Racer, and There Will Be Blood from Amazon.
I think this all just terrible.
I liked DP’s $ting story just for the visual of him singing along to “Moon Over Bourbon Street” while getting ready for a date on Friday night, but unfortunately the analogy with music doesn’t really hold up.
Cassettes were not an improvement on vinyl from a sound perspective; it was actually a downgrade in that department. So it wasn’t difficult to be impressed by CDs when they appeared. It also was a completely new format–new look, new mode of delivery (digital over analog), etc. Made it seem like you were getting something TOTALLY new.
In home video we went from essentially nothing to VHS, which was godawful. DVDs were an enormous improvement, comparable to CD over audio cassette. But because Blu-Ray looks the same as DVD from a physical standpoint, and because the upgrade in quality is going from something very good to something great, instead of from crap to very good, I don’t know that the average person is gonna get on board. It just doesn’t blow me away like DVDs did when I first saw them.
I plan on buying a Blu-Ray player somewhere down the line, but because owning an HDTV is a prerequisite, it makes the change much more difficult. When CDs came out, you didn’t need to buy a whole new amplifier and speakers to use a CD player, as long as you had an AUX jack in the back of your stereo.
And, most people can’t afford a big enough 1080i TV in order to see the most dramatic difference in picture quality (like me). Which is why I’ll spend $28 to see Godfather 1 & 2 at the Arclight instead of $1500 for all the hardware to be able to watch the Bluray discs.
But Laz, vinyl was already in decline when CD happened. The Walkman had made the portability of tape a key to life. If you bought vinyl, you surely made tapes from it. And there, CD had a huge edge in quality.
And unless you were an audiophile, the arguments of vinyl over CDs were meaningless… just as the argument that cable or satellite delivered HD is inferior to Blu-ray… a fact that is even more apparent to the average owner of both formats… but then again, the expense of a blu-ray player is so great that it automatically puts owners in that audiophile class. People just don’t think any DVD player is worth $400.
And I don’t discount J-Mc’s complaint at all. Even the added cost of having HD on cable or satellite – at least $120 a year – keep some people from considering it.
I say that Sony has 2 years to get a $150 quality Blu-ray into the market or the format – however much I love it – will be dead, run over to cable/satellite delivery that is not as good, but it still a big step over non-HD.
Just purchased a pristine 24 inch monitor, and plan to buy a Blu-Ray PC drive in December with the release of The Dark Knight. Seeing as how some drives can be purchased on newegg.com for $100 even now, there really isn’t any excuses left for myself.
DVD is the new VHS. this means Blu-ray is the new laserdisc.
The main reason (I think) DVD took off was that it combined the high-end qualities of laserdiscs with the affordability of VHS. The fact is most purchasers of DVDs don’t delve into al the bells and whistles like the laserdisc geeks.
Until Wal-Mart starts a Blu-ray cut-out rack, it’ll remain a (decidedly great) niche market.
I haven’t bought a Blu-Ray player yet…but I plan on getting one sooner or later. I don’t plan on re-buying my DVD collection, but I’ll definitely double dip for a few favourites – like Godfather.
Really? Dream of the Blue Turtles?
Christ I hate Sting.
On the contrary, discovering that David likes Sting, is only a year older than me, and the correctness in his decision to support Obama over McCain has made me finally decide that I actually kinda like the guy after all… took me a decade of reading to decide this.
C’mon, Sting was huge at the time. Now if he had anything post Soul Cages that might be something to snicker about.
My first CD was Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet so I can certainly not throw any stones.
“DVD is the new VHS. this means Blu-ray is the new laserdisc.”
Blu’s market penetration is already many times the reach of laserdisc in it’s lifespan. In any case, we owe a greater debt to laserdisc than many realise – the format introduced us to new ways to watch movies in the home (5.1 Dolby sound, director commentaries, correct aspect ratios) that we take for granted now.
The first album I remember receiving was Belinda Carlisle’s Runaway Horses. “Dancing with you in the summer rain…” bliss.
wow, the first album i ever bought with my own saved-up allowance was ‘fleetwood mac’ by fleetwood mac, way back in the olden days (the 1970’s). i remember going to the record store with my older cousin as if it were 30 years ago. it was such a big deal. (my cuz got ‘black sabbath’ and ‘dressed to kill’, he thought he was so hard-core. i think he was like 14 or something)
Blu’s market penetration is already many times the reach of laserdisc in it’s lifespan. In any case, we owe a greater debt to laserdisc than many realise – the format introduced us to new ways to watch movies in the home (5.1 Dolby sound, director commentaries, correct aspect ratios) that we take for granted now.
Allow me to be all anal-retentive for a moment and point out that OAR widescreen video was introduced on CED, not laserdisc.
My first CD was Bon Jovi, but the first saved my allowence bought the album purchase was Men at Work’s Cargo. I was flipping through the channels one time and landed on the episode of Scrubs that had Colin Hay singing ‘overkill’ and a strange wave of nostalgia swept over me as I was able to recall every word.