Watching Buffy Then Watch the Original DVDs

If you are coming to the universe of Buffy for the first time I do recommend the DVDs over the streaming services because the HD remastering done by Fox is terrible. Cropping problems from the 4 x 3 box size to the wider 16 x 9 format. Color filters making evening scenes look like morning scenes. It will need to totally redone.

The Great Tragedy of the 'Buffy' HD Remaster

Buffy Seasons 1-7: The Complete Series (Region 1)
This is the current print DVD, American, stand definition, 4:3 boxed set for the series. This is the format as originally intended by Joss Whedon.This version will ONLY work in a Region 1 (North American) DVD player unless ripped.
https://amzn.to/2JcAPKZ

Buffy Complete Season 1-7 - 20th Anniversary Edition [DVD] [2017] (Region 2)
This is the 16:9 Standard Definition European DVD printing. This is the second best version of the series currently available for purchase. Second best because the show was not protected for 16:9 so SOME onscreen errors are present (vignetting, mics, etc.) but NOTHING on par with the current HD remaster. These DVD's will ONLY work in a Region 2 (Eurpopean) DVD
Luckily I have all the seasons on DVD in their original formats.

My October Footfall

Your October visits

9 Cities

45 Places

 

Good Morning

Classic Disco

Timewarp tripping -

Sheila & B Devotion - Spacer

Chic - Le Freak (1978)

T-Connection ‎– Do What You Wanna Do

The Gap Band - Oops Upside Your Head (1979)

ENJOY

Latest Wire

More days spent engaged in this  December issue of the mag.

Wired For Sound #1

From the December issue of Wire - first of from the boomerang section - that is reissues. -


Dave Brubeck - When It’s Sleepy Time Down South

CD - Lullabies

℗ A Verve Records release; ℗ 2020 Derry Music Company, under exclusive license to UMG Recordings, Inc
Released on: 2020-11-06

The Gun Club - Brother and Sister

Charlie Morrow - America Lament

America Lament · Charlie Morrow

America Lament
℗ Recital
Released on: 2020-10-23

Michael Rother - Bitter Tang

Enjoy

Just Wondering

What are you completely over and done with?

What's the most riduclous argument you've ever had?

What do you wish people would stop asking you?

Book 88 - Ernest Hemingway "A Farewell To Arms"

Ernest Hemingway "A Farewell To Arms" (Scribner)





Having never read a book by Ernest Hemingway before, this seminal work was my first experience with his bibliography of work. Considered to be a semi-autobiographical work, 'A Farewell to Arms' is the story of Frederic Henry, an American ambulance driver for the Italian Army during World War I. While there, he soon experiences the horror of a total and seemingly endless war that slowly seems to grind even the best of men to cynicism and despair.

Parallel to this story is the romance that develops between Frederic and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse, who helps Henry recuperate after receiving a shrapnel injury at the front.

Overall, 'A Farewell to Arms' can be considered as a first-hand experience of military life on the Italian Front. Though not quite as in-depth with both characters and story, as Erich Maria Remarque's 'All Quiet on the Western Front', the story still manages to paint a grim picture of life in a war that never seems to end. This is especially punctuated during the disastrous retreat of the Battle of Caporetto.

If there is a weakness to this book for me, it is probably from the unbelievable romance that develops between Henry and Barkley. Perhaps, it's one of those cases where a product needs to be divorced from a contemporary mindset. Whereas the romance that develops in this book would be considered as "TMI" (too much information) during the time it was first published. Regardless, whereas the development of the romance felt artificial and superficial, the tragic resolution of it at the end of the novel, more than makes up for its weak beginning.

While I wouldn't consider this one of the greatest books I've ever read, it certainly raised awareness and interest in the Italian Front of World War I for me.

Book 89 - Charlie Brooker " Dawn Of The Dumb"

Charlie Brooker " Dawn Of The Dumb" (Faber & Faber)




It's hard to know how to comment on this book. On the one hand, I thought it was screamingly funny when I started reading it. Charlie Brooker is the master of the insult and he's prepared to describe segments of society as stupid, boring, useless and generally give voice to all the frustrations we feel with the rubbish we face every day and say the things that we would love (but simply wouldn't dare) to have said ourselves. He does it very well. Extremely well, in fact. I can't think of anyone who does it better.

The problem is that that's pretty well all he does and by the time I got halfway through this collection of articles I was desperately willing him to say something new rather than simply come up with another outrageous metaphor for how stupid Big Brother contestants are. So I really enjoyed the first half of the book but the second half was a real struggle. In hindsight, it would have been a good book to dip into. As it is, I ended up feeling that it was very samey — you don't notice this in a weekly newspaper column as you have seven days to reset yourself but presented all at once there feels like there's a distinct lack of variety

Good Night