What are you watching on "Little Christmas" - the 25th of each month (3 Viewers)

[Mike Frezon]

Apparently, the OP is enjoying his monthly celebrations just fine.


As that great sage, Taylor Swift, recently observed: "And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

 

[Ejanss]

He can dance in the streets in a Santa suit like Albert Finney on April 25, FAIC, singing "Merry Christmas, Father Christmas", just so long as he observes the one social contract:
Every man is allowed to be the raving lunatic he wants to be, so long as he doesn't continually TELL the outside world about it, let alone make a stab at recruitment drives.


(Being open-minded enough of others opinions--which, coming from non-lunatics, are more likely to be facts--to stay away from the meme .GIF's when said outside world complains about breach of said contract is also a step toward maturity.

And if he doesn't like it, he can follow Swift's and other singers' examples, and do equally schoolyard covers of "Dirty Laundry" and "Our Lips are Sealed" as if it's the rest of the world's fault, but you'll excuse me if I don't buy the single.)

 

[Mike Frezon]

Differences of opinion are fine. But I also prefer to think of the HTF as a place where people can discuss their HT viewing habits without fear of getting flamed by those who don't share the same interests.


We offer an IGNORE feature..with which members can choose to not subject themselves to the musings of another member (as opposed to their "raving lunacy") if that is the goal.


Repeated name-calling and references to lunacy and immaturity--IMO especially towards me--violates the HTF rules and is a step towards disciplinary action. If a refresher is needed...


And as to "social contracts" and the need for HTF members to follow them...that is the providence of the moderating team and not the membership.

 

[davidmatychuk]

For April, a stealth "Little Christmas". Tonight, my usual Little Christmas Eve dose of "A Christmas Carol" will be supplied by the 1910 Edison version from the "A Christmas Past" DVD (it's only ten minutes long). Tomorrow, for music we'll go with Rhino's "Punk Rock Christmas" and Kate Rusby's 2009 "Sweet Bells", both devoid of traditional selections. For my viewing pleasure, the Blu-Ray of "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" and the DVD's of "Lady In The Lake" and "Three Godfathers". And for reading material, I'll re-read all of the Christmas movie reviews in "Doug Pratt's DVD", the Leonard Maltin guides, and Videohound. Who could object? Also, Christmas will come early when the Canucks win Game Six of the playoffs!

 

[davidmatychuk]

Well, that Canucks game was, shall we say, the opposite of an early Christmas, but other than that April's "Little Christmas" was highly, stealthily, unobjectionably enjoyable. The stealth approach is a good one, I think. See you in May!

 

[davidmatychuk]

Tonight: "1941" on Blu-Ray, "The Lion In Winter" on DVD. Music from the two Sufjan Stevens CD box sets. And I'm going to read one of the other Dickens Christmas books while eating a turkey sandwich.

 

[davidmatychuk]

Marvelous! When the weather warms up, "Little Christmas" does too! And to all a good May Little Christmas night!

 

[davidmatychuk]

Halfway to December 25th! Tonight I watched the Blu-Rays of "Robin And The 7 Hoods" (with Frank, Dean, and Sammy as street corner Santas at the end) and the Rolling Stones' "Charlie Is My Darling" (which contains Mick and Keith doing an impromptu "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me"). Right now, the very weak Emerald Edition Blu-Ray of the 1951 "A Christmas Carol" is playing, simply so that my HTF buddy Tony Bensley knows that Mrs. Dilber's words "for reaching it out", unique to this video, are being heard this very Little Christmas Eve somewhere in our beloved Canada.

 

[Martin_Teller]

Why do you post so many pictures of yourself? It's really freaky.

 

[DaveF]

Please no personal attacks or thread crapping.

10. No personal attacks. We expect all members to treat each other with consideration and respect. While we encourage lively debate, we do not allow personal attacks. This includes direct attacks, such as name-calling, as well as indirect attacks, such as repeated baiting of a member in a provocative or belittling manner. If you believe that you have been subjected to a personal attack, or have witnessed one on another member, please see the section on Dealing with Problems for instructions on how to proceed.


Personal opinion: Two selfies is isn't "so many". Visit After Hours Lounge. Count the number of photos we post of our dogs and cats.

 

[davidmatychuk]

As a June "Little Christmas" bonus, here's the esteemed cult video expert Danny Peary on why Alastair Sim should have shared the 1951 Best Actor Oscar:

And here's me holding up the book. In my opinion, photos of inanimate objects are not as interesting as photos of inanimate objects with people in them.

 

[davidmatychuk]

Tonight's "Little Christmas" concluded with Ukrainian choral music and turkey sandwiches, along with Bruce Springsteen singing a lively version of "Blue Christmas" from the Blu-Ray of "The Promise: The Making Of Darkness On The Edge Of Town"; from the VCI DVD of the colourized 1951 "A Christmas Carol", the introduction and closing remarks by the great Patrick Macnee; the ever-so-slightly defective Blu-Ray of "The Bishop's Wife" just to see if anyone noticed the glitch (they didn't); and Blu-Rays of the Mad Men episodes "Christmas Comes But Once A Year" and "Christmas Waltz". It made for a nice, varied program. See you all next month, when there may well be an answer to the question "Does he dare watch 'Christmas In July' as part of 'Little Christmas In July'?"

 

[Mike Frezon]

David: Are you aware there was a replacement program from WB for the glitch in The Bishop's Wife?


I got mine replaced.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Yes, you are aware. You were an active participant in that thread!


You shouldn't be havin' no glitch!

 

[davidmatychuk]

I kept both, Mike. Why not? The little yellow plastic container the replacement disc came in fits perfectly inside the Blu-Ray case.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Yeah...but...why play the glitchy one if you've got the non-glitchy one?!?

 

[davidmatychuk]

To make it feel better? To see if anyone notices (tonight, they didn't)? Because I couldn't throw Cary Grant in the garbage? Because the replacement disc is see-through silver, while the defective one is matte-finish white? Hey, did I just accidentally offer up some useful information about the defective Blu-Ray?

 

[davidmatychuk]

I got an early start on the July "Little Christmas" by doing a comparison of the Blu-Ray of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" to a laserdisc copy I bought for $2 from a street vendor. No getting around it; the PCM 2.0 audio on the laserdisc is much stronger and better than the vanilla Dolby Digital 2,0 audio on the Blu-Ray. Of course, the laserdisc can't compete for picture quality, but how could they not go for PCM sound on the Blu-Ray, if not a DTS-HDMA audio track? Anyhow, "Christmas In July" on DVD tonight, and I'm winging it for the rest this month.

 

[Dr Griffin]

I got an early start on the July "Little Christmas" by doing a comparison of the Blu-Ray of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" to a laserdisc copy I bought for $2 from a street vendor. No getting around it; the PCM 2.0 audio on the laserdisc is much stronger and better than the vanilla Dolby Digital 2,0 audio on the Blu-Ray. Of course, the laserdisc can't compete for picture quality, but how could they not go for PCM sound on the Blu-Ray, if not a DTS-HDMA audio track? Anyhow, "Christmas In July" on DVD tonight, and I'm winging it for the rest this month.

This is frequent comment, especially with the later surround mixes on Laserdisc vs some of the remixed lossless Blu-ray tracks. I can't ignore it. I wonder why?. I know the lossy Dolby tracks on some early Blu-rays sound much better (to me) decoded by my processor than my OPPO, which has a much better DAC!(?) Maybe it was all those algorhithms in the theater during my formative years. Maybe my brain just prefers it.

 

[davidmatychuk]

Hearing the PCM laserdisc audio from down the hallway, it sounded like Chevy Chase was adjusting an aluminum ladder in my living room. The Blu-Ray audio is the same low-bit rate Dolby Digital track as the DVD, and just doesn't have the same presence as the laserdisc. Now that you mention DAC's, I bought Yamaha's first stand-alone Dolby Digital processor for laserdisc, the DDP-1, early in 1997, and my first experience with Dolby Digital on DVD was a few months later through that processor, which I still have. When I finally bought a new home theatre amp that could do the Dolby Digital decoding, I found that using the DDP-1 and its analog outputs sounded much better to me (more dynamic, clearer, and more detailed) than letting the new amp do the digital decoding internally. So I think good-quality DAC's are crucial, but so are personal taste and listening experience.