Mostly True Tales

I’ve been searching for a nice way to integrate my home movies with the blog. I ran across a fairly new video hosting site called Vimeo.

Vimeo is a pretty nice site that, at least so far, is not filled up with a bunch of crap like YouTube. They allow 500MB of uploading per week, which is more than enough for me. As usual, Vimeo, converts your videos to flash for streaming, but it seems to me that the end result is cleaner and faster than other video sites. Vimeo also embeds quite nicely into Wordpress.

So, I am experimenting by going back to the master of my movies and exporting them in a higher quality than I had online before, once uploaded, Vimeo provides the code to embed the video. The end result is pretty nice.

It’s a slow process though, as the export from dv takes a while, then the larger file has to be uploaded. It will be a while before I have all the movies online, but look for a movie page from the main menu soon, and drop me line telling me what you think.

It takes a lot to get me to the movies. In the past 20 years, I’ve only been to 4 movies shown in a theater, Home Alone (out of town guests), Laurence of Arabia (a matinee showing of the re-release), Contact (I read the book), and the Matrix 2 (a huge disappointment). I like the super big screen and the sound of the big screen movie, but I just prefer to watch movies at home.

Once in a while, a movie comes out that could get me to the theater, The Illusionist, was certainly one of those movies. It’s a natural, it’s about a Magician. That’s all I needed to know, it was like required reading, I had to see it. But, often, travel and timing prevent me from seeing a movie that meets the requirements to get me out, this was the case, when The Illusionist came to theaters. When this happens, I patiently wait for the DVD to be released.

The Illusionist was released this past Tuesday and I just finished watching it. It was fantastic. I loved it! Of course, I’m prejudice, I’m a Magician, but I recommend this movie to almost anyone (PG-13).

As the opening credits and soundtrack to the movie begin, I almost immediately notice the music sounds a lot like the soundtrack to Dracula. Sure enough, as the opening credits end, the last entry reads, “Original Soundtrack by Philip Glass.”

[audio http://amazingbrian.com/01-the_illusionist.mp3]

You can enjoy the first track of this fantastic soundtrack by simply pressing the play button above. This audio player is a new Wordpress feature.

I was both surprised and greatly saddened to hear the news of Peter Boyle’s death this past Tuesday. In my opinion, this was one of America’s most talented and underrated actors ever. He was a very young 71 years old, which is kind of surprising. It’s funny how these actors always look younger on TV.

Boyle’s career was giant, but he will most be remembered by me for his unbelievable performance in Young Frankenstein. Born in 1935 Boyle would have been 39 when this movie was made.

Why is it I feel so old? Peter Boyle is dead. Young Frankenstein is 32 years old.

I’d have to give this an R rating, so look over your shoulder before watching it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGP6ZrinP2I]
This is the funniest digital camera commercial I’ve ever seen. As much as I enjoy digital photography, I’ve yet to experience this aspect of the hobby. Those silly Europeans have all the fun!

I’ve heard a lot about the new Bond Film, Casino Royal, and now finally there is a trailer available to view. The new Bond (which is the young Bond) looks really great, fresh. I’m glad they have a new face and at least to me, an unfamiliar face. The trailer itself is great and certainly makes me anxious to see the movie, which will be released November 17th.

Check it out at…

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/casinoroyale/trailer1a/