The Other Bomb Drops [The Nation]:
Jeremy Scahill of Democracy Now! on the Downing Street Memo/Minutes and (basically) proof enough that George Bush should be impeached. Why is hardly anyone talking about this? Am I blind? More on this later. [See also, an interview at DN!]
Joanna Newsom at Birmingham, Nov. 2004: live video of individual songs. [via del.icio.us/successless]
R.I.P. Mrs. Robinson:
Anne Bancroft dies at 73 [Guardian]
Obituary [W. Post]
Appreciation [W. Post]
6.08.2005
Dr. Katz
So I got my Dr. Katz DVDs the other day. As I mentioned previously, I'm a big fan of the show and have been waiting for a legitimate DVD release for quite some time. Since this doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon, I went ahead and got a bootleg of the entire series from eBay.
The series is spread across five DVD-Rs, each labeled and packaged together in a single DVD case with printed artwork. I was slightly dismayed to open the case and find four of the five discs stacked one on top of the other, without any sort of protection. Luckily, save for a few minor scuffs, the DVDs arrived unharmed. What a bad idea, though. Also included is a computer print out of the contents of each disc, with details for each episode. The guy definitely used rough draft mode here, but whatever.
The DVD menus are minimal. Each entry includes either a screenshot from the episode or the show's title page and an episode number (which corresponds to the printed episode guide). The background is some default graphic from whatever burner was used. No frills, but it's easy enough to find the episode you're looking for.
The quality of the video varies with each episode; it ranges from OK to pretty piss poor. Granted, I've only watched about five or six episodes so far, but I've already noticed drastic differences in quality. At best, there are obvious digital artifacts visible, probably due to some compression (AVI?) on the source files. Here and there, there is the kind of glitching you see with a weak satellite signal. On the other end of the spectrum, one of my favorite episodes (with David Cross as one of the guests/patients) is pretty terrible. It looks like it was sourced from a worn VHS copy and then digitally compressed. The audio is also pretty bad with this one, with lots of noise and hissing, again likely attributable to the VHS source. The worst detriment by far, at least in terms of annoyance, appears in a few episodes where the audio falls out of sync with the video. This really bothers me. And though it's not as bad as when this happens with live-action video, you'd be surprised at how important it is for animation. Even in “Squigglevision” the characters mouths are pretty tightly timed with the audio, and when it's off it is extremely distracting. Watchable, I guess, but very annoying.
Overall, I'm glad I bought this thing. It's great to see the show after so long, and I'm sure there are at least a few episodes I missed. The quality is not great, but it is a bootleg afterall. Hopefully, if whoever owns the rights to the show finds out that dorks like me are willing to plunk down the cash ($30+) for poor quality bootlegs, they'll wise up and release a proper set of DVDs for this awesome cult show.
The series is spread across five DVD-Rs, each labeled and packaged together in a single DVD case with printed artwork. I was slightly dismayed to open the case and find four of the five discs stacked one on top of the other, without any sort of protection. Luckily, save for a few minor scuffs, the DVDs arrived unharmed. What a bad idea, though. Also included is a computer print out of the contents of each disc, with details for each episode. The guy definitely used rough draft mode here, but whatever.
The DVD menus are minimal. Each entry includes either a screenshot from the episode or the show's title page and an episode number (which corresponds to the printed episode guide). The background is some default graphic from whatever burner was used. No frills, but it's easy enough to find the episode you're looking for.
The quality of the video varies with each episode; it ranges from OK to pretty piss poor. Granted, I've only watched about five or six episodes so far, but I've already noticed drastic differences in quality. At best, there are obvious digital artifacts visible, probably due to some compression (AVI?) on the source files. Here and there, there is the kind of glitching you see with a weak satellite signal. On the other end of the spectrum, one of my favorite episodes (with David Cross as one of the guests/patients) is pretty terrible. It looks like it was sourced from a worn VHS copy and then digitally compressed. The audio is also pretty bad with this one, with lots of noise and hissing, again likely attributable to the VHS source. The worst detriment by far, at least in terms of annoyance, appears in a few episodes where the audio falls out of sync with the video. This really bothers me. And though it's not as bad as when this happens with live-action video, you'd be surprised at how important it is for animation. Even in “Squigglevision” the characters mouths are pretty tightly timed with the audio, and when it's off it is extremely distracting. Watchable, I guess, but very annoying.
Overall, I'm glad I bought this thing. It's great to see the show after so long, and I'm sure there are at least a few episodes I missed. The quality is not great, but it is a bootleg afterall. Hopefully, if whoever owns the rights to the show finds out that dorks like me are willing to plunk down the cash ($30+) for poor quality bootlegs, they'll wise up and release a proper set of DVDs for this awesome cult show.
6.06.2005
There Will Always Be Sadness
I got in free to the Spoon/Clientele show. Lucky me, I owe a debt of gratitude to Shannon, her friend Chris, and some guy Chris met at the bar in DC9. I could've easily gotten in otherwise—there were plenty of tickets and extra guest list spots for sale outside the 9:30—but I'm glad I didn't have to pay. This show was not worth the fifteen bucks.
The Clientele, who were my reason for going to the show, were pretty good. They played well and played several of my favorite songs. [Though I have to admit it's almost all the same song with them, at least it's a very good one.] It was cool to hear them and be able to appreciate it, as opposed to the first time I saw them and didn't really know their music.
So why was it unworthy of my money? Here's why: the fucking din of background noise I had to put up with was enough to nearly drive me nuts. I shit you not, it sounded like I was in a goddamn stadium. Yes, the Clientele are a fairly quiet band, and yes, they were the openers. But really—do these motherfuckers have to talk so damn much? I'm assuming at least some of them paid to get in. And surely most of them realized there was a live band on the stage. Yet there they were, blabbing incessantly throughout the band's entire performance. Spoiled fucking brats.
So yeah, it basically ruined the show for me. I guess I'm getting old. Or maybe I just really do hate people. Who the fuck knows. I hate to say it, but the Iota show was much better.
The Clientele, who were my reason for going to the show, were pretty good. They played well and played several of my favorite songs. [Though I have to admit it's almost all the same song with them, at least it's a very good one.] It was cool to hear them and be able to appreciate it, as opposed to the first time I saw them and didn't really know their music.
So why was it unworthy of my money? Here's why: the fucking din of background noise I had to put up with was enough to nearly drive me nuts. I shit you not, it sounded like I was in a goddamn stadium. Yes, the Clientele are a fairly quiet band, and yes, they were the openers. But really—do these motherfuckers have to talk so damn much? I'm assuming at least some of them paid to get in. And surely most of them realized there was a live band on the stage. Yet there they were, blabbing incessantly throughout the band's entire performance. Spoiled fucking brats.
So yeah, it basically ruined the show for me. I guess I'm getting old. Or maybe I just really do hate people. Who the fuck knows. I hate to say it, but the Iota show was much better.
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