Buying Blind

The other night I was out having dinner with friends and among the things we talked about were a couple of the blind buys in my Blu-ray collection. If you don’t know, a “blind buy” is a term Blu-ray geeks use to describe a movie they’ve decided to buy based solely on excellent reviews or friends’ recommendations. It’s a movie they’ve never seen before. So, it’s a blind buy!

Why would someone take the risk and do that? For me, it’s cuz I’m totally addicted to the HD picture quality (PQ) I now have at home. I keep wanting to find more new examples of awesome PQ to play on my HDTV!

But then why buy when I can just rent it first? Well, I got no good reason for that. I’m just a geek that way. ;)

So back to my dinner conversation, I was very proud to say I probably had a good 25 percent of my Blu-ray collection that were blind buys. But then afterwards, being a geek, I had this irresistible urge to spend some time reviewing my collection and finding out exactly how many were in fact blind buys. I have them all conveniently listed on Blu-ray.com, and a quick check of them shows that I currently have 140 Blu-ray titles in my Blu-ray library. (For the sake of argument, we’ll have to ignore the fact that Blu-ray.com’s system counts a release as a single entry even tho’ a release like X-Men Trilogy or Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy obviously each have three movies.) Of those, I’ve complied the following list of 39 titles I've bought blind, films I had never ever watched before but heard or read were good movies and probably looked damn good in high definition.

Now, to be fair, I marked 9 of those movies with an asterisk, which you could probably remove from the list. Why? Because those films are either Disney movies or direct-to-video movies based on DC Comics characters. And being a huge Disney geek and a lifelong DC Comics reader, I likely would’ve bought these flicks regardless of my high def home set-up anyway!

So out of 140 titles, turns out 30 are pure blind buys or 21 percent of my collection. Close guess over dinner the other night. I’ve seen most of them. The General, Baraka, Coraline, Pan’s Labyrinth, How the West Was Won, Gone with the Wind, and The Day the Earth Stood Still are among the most satisfying blind buys on the list. I’ve linked Blu-ray.com’s reviews to them if you want to learn more about each one.

Check out the list. Perhaps there’s a blind buy in your future!

1. My Name Is Bruce
2. 3:10 to Yuma
3. Analyze This/Analyze That
4. Band of Brothers
5. Baraka
6. Batman: Gotham Knight*
7. Bolt*
8. Coraline
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
10. Flags of Our Fathers
11. For All Mankind
12. The General
13. Gone with the Wind
14. Gran Torino
15. Green Lantern: First Flight*
16. High School Musical 3: Senior Year*
17. Home
18. How the West Was Won
19. Inglorious Basterds
20. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths*
21. Kung Fu Panda
22. Marine Aquarium
23. Michael Jackson's This Is It
24. Pan's Labyrinth
25. Planet Earth
26. Quincy Jones: 75th Birthday Celebration Live at Montreax 2008
27. Rob Thomas: Something To Be Tour - Live at Red Rocks
28. Rocky Balboa
29. The Searchers
30. Sleepy Hollow
31. Space Cowboys
32. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One
33. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies*
34. The Third Man
35. Tinker Bell*
36. Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure*
37. Twilight
38. Wonder Woman*
39. WWII in HD

My Top 9 Blu-rays Discs of Oh 9

For any inquiring minds, here’s a list of the top nine Blu-ray Discs I picked up this year. Of course, I’m a geek who still picks up his new comic books to read every Wednesday and I’ve attended my fair share of Star Trek conventions, so half of the ones on the list probably don’t matter to some. But the rest are interesting.

1. The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition

Watching very old movies in high definition at home is such a treat now. It blows my mind to see a film created seventy years ago looking like it was shot seven months ago. My Number One new addition of the past year, this set not only includes a beautiful, re-mastered edition of the film, but two more discs of bonus material that enjoyed pouring through, like the made-for-TV biopic “The Dreamer of Oz” with John Ritter as L. Frank Baum, five silent movies from the 1920’s based on the Oz books, and a fantastic six-hour documentary “MGM: When the Lion Roars.” This gift set edition comes with a new hardcover book, a replica of the original 1939 Campaign Book, and a commemorative watch that frankly I’ll never use or wear. But it’s the three discs in the set that really make this purchase the best of the year for me.


2. Watchmen: Director’s Cut in Nite Owl Ship Packaging
(Amazon exclusive)

I couldn’t successfully finish reading the original graphic novel when it came out almost twenty years ago until my latest attempt last year. It’s a densely constructed work of comic panels and prose, and every bit of it provides an integral element to the story. New ending notwithstanding, the film was as great an adaptation one could possibly make of the book tho’ it’s certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. I chose Amazon’s exclusive edition when I added this to my library, because the discs came housed in the base of a replica of ship used by one of the heroes in the story. Besides the great detailing and thematic base design, the Nite Owl Ship also lights up and plays engine noises at the push of a button.


3. Star Trek in U.S.S. Enterprise Packaging (Target exclusive)



4. Star Trek with Starfleet Badge Replica Set (Best Buy exclusive)


I never thought I’d ever be so manipulated into buying the same movie twice, but if it had to happen, thank God it was JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. I pre-ordered it on Best Buy’s website two months before its November release when they had a phenomenal sale on their version which included a set of metal replica pins of four Starfleet badges. But when I later learned that Target’s exclusive packaging was not only a replica of the new starship but that it also housed the Blu-ray Discs in its saucer section, my wallet willingly fell victim to buying the movie twice. But despite whoring myself to the Star Trek swag, the movie and the material on the bonus disc are worth every penny!


5. Coraline

I missed out on watching this in theatres but picked up the Blu-ray based on great reviews. Wow! What a great movie this is! Creative, edgy, charming. My only bummer about it is has nothing to do with the great movie. But for some reason, they released a neat shadow box package for it some four months after its summer home video release, and I would’ve liked to have it in that packaging instead. But only Starfleet can make me double dip.


6. The General

Oh. My. GOD! I’ve never seen this Buster Keaton film that apparently is the first black-and white silent movie to make it on Blu-ray. But based on great reviews, I sought it out and WOW! Not only is it a beautiful movie to watch that looks as if it was shot recently with film distressing added for effect (it debuted in 1927, folks!), but it’s a hilarious adventure of a story. Highly recommended for any other high def home video owners out there.

7. Quincy Jones: The 75th Birthday Celebration


I own one Quincy Jones CD, “Q’s Jook Joint,” but have played over and over since I picked it up 10-15 years ago. I picked up this Blu-ray, again based on excellent reviews, and found the picture quality probably the best live footage on Blu-ray I’ve ever seen. And with jazz talent like Patti Austin, Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, James Moody, Lee Ritenour and Curtis Stigers plus a fun performance by a capella group called Naturally 7 I’d never heard of, I was a dancin’ fool in my living room whille playing this concert.


8. Green Lantern: First Flight with Green Lantern: First Flight Figurine (Best Buy exclusive)

There were three direct-to-video DC Universe Original Movie releases this year, and this one was my favorite. Coincidentally, DC Comics chose to “kill” Batman in their line of books for a while, so I’ve been reading more Green Lantern books which have been awesome. There’s also a new live-action movie that starts filming in the Spring starring Ryan Reynolds as the hero and will be directed by the same director of “GoldenEye” and “Casino Royale” Martin Campbell. So, GL is on a role with me!


9. The Last Emperor

I’d seen this back in 1987 when it ran in theatres. It’s an epic film about the life of a child who became Emperor of China just after the world entered the 20th century, and how his world and ours evolve over the next sixty years of his life. My first Criterion Collection Blu-ray title to add to my library, it was still just as captivating to watch uninterrupted in high def during all two hours and forty-five minutes of it.

Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut

I ultimately couldn't pass up the $30.99 pre-order price that Amazon had for this. Sort of a double dip for me because I already have the Director's Cut version, and sorta not since I didn't pick up either of the separate Tales of the Black Freighter or Motion Comic discs. (Am I still trying to justify this purchase to myself, lol? ) Anyway, I watched over two hours of the 3:35 minute cut last night before going to bed. (I blame a long office meeting tonight for my sleepiness, not the film.) I'm excited to finish watching the rest of it sometime today. For a guy who's read the graphic novel a couple of times, I enjoyed and appreciated the new Black Freighter material edited into the Director's Cut, including additional new bookend scenes with the newsstand guy and the comic book teen. Did it need it? No, I don't think so. It does enhance the experience a tad, but ultimately (sorry, no pun intended), I am glad I picked up this version; I'm sure I'll re-watch again and lend it to friends who're interested seeing it. Plus there's the two new commentaries by director Zack Snyder and graphic novel co-author and illustrator Dave Gibbons to listen to as well. The snazzy Blu-ray slipcase with the magnetically sealing cover is cool too.

The Final Frontier…on the World Wide Web

I cannot wait to see the new Star Trek film. I even got my IMAX tickets for opening night last week. But darnit, I hafta! But in the meantime, I've been exploring the 'net and found some fun new movie tie-in websites to whet my appetite until May 7 comes around.

Star Trek Fan Kit



The Iconfactory presents Star Trek



Kellogg's & Keebler Star Trek Promotion



Star Trek toys from Playmates Toys





Plus the first season of the original Star Trek series is debuting on Blu-ray Disc this Tuesday. Here are two rave reviews about them.



TheDigitalBits.com Review Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1

TrekMovie.com Review - Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1

"20th Century Folk Songs"

That's what I like to call television theme songs. If you think about it, they truly are the folk songs of the modern era. TV theme songs, whether instrumental or with lyrics (or in some cases, just whistling), defined our lives, our experiences and our culture over the past century in a way that is unique to this era. As television entertainment debuted and matured, television programming became the center of everyday life. It enabled families across the country to experience what life is like of others, either in fantasy or in reality, that they may never have gotten to know - or do know and be entertained by that. But while some shows' popularity might have faded away after their hey-day years, their theme songs continue to be familiar and more popular many decades later.

I suppose someone looked at how musical plays were structured when they decided to include a musical introduction before every television show. Most early television shows of the 50's opened with just instrumental songs, such as "Dragnet" and its theme song "Danger Ahead" and the signature theme from "Peter Gunn" by Henry Mancini which was popularized again some twenty-five years later by the Blues Brothers and Art of Noise and especially for variety shows like "The Jackie Gleason Show."

But by the 1960's when the situation comedy, or sit-coms as they have come to be known, flourished, theme songs with lyrics were more commonly used to help the audience get a quick one-minute lesson on what the show they are about to watch is all about. And many were not only very good at doing that job, they were also quite catchy. Obvious examples are "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" from "Gilligan's Island" or "The Theme from The Brady Bunch", both legendary classics now. I mean, you can sing the entire song right now if I asked you too, right? You might even be eager to point out the two different endings for the Gilligan's Island theme, huh? The fact that you know them enough to immediately sing them - and share them - is the basic reason why I consider theme songs our era's folk songs.

I was in college when I somehow managed to become fascinated by theme songs. I began collecting theme songs I could find on vinyl (before the time of CDs). Many albums were released in the 60's, either as soundtracks or as whimsical cast albums such as one I own called "Hogan's Heroes Sing the Best of World War II". On the album, four of Bob Crane's team of POW spies actually do the singing on popular wartime songs like "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition" while the show's theme song composer Jerry Fielding conducts the orchestra.

I even remember recording theme songs on video tape and cassette tape, just the opening bit, just to have a collection of them. Then, there seemed to be a collective consciousness for theme song mania in the mid-80's when a two-record collection debuted simply called "Television's Greatest Hits". I remember seeing a TV commercial (how appropriate) advertising the release and ordered my copy right away. Also at this time, I discovered a terrifically geeky book, The TV Theme Song Sing-Along Songbook. And in it, and its subsequent Volume Two, I found not only a treasure trove of theme song lyrics and trivia of scores of popular and obscure television shows, but another bit of trivia I'd heretofore never had known existed before.

Unknown lyrics!

From this book, I learned some classic theme songs that had been ingrained into our consciousness so clearly as signature instrumentals actually had unknown lyrics written for them. And the added kicker was that some were recorded and available on vinyl. Yes, and the hunt began.

Over the years, I've discovered a good number of songs such as these, either on vinyl or now on CD. And recently I've been putting together a new compilation of theme songs on my iTunes, which inspired today's blog post. So I thought I'd share some of the ones with unknown lyrics that I could find on YouTube with you here to enjoy!

One of the first television shows of the golden era is "I Love Lucy." Many probably do know that Desi Arnaz actually introduced the lyrics-version of the show's theme song in an episode and later released it as a single. Here's that snippet from the episode.



One of the funniest unknown lyrics I discovered is from "Bonanza." Here are two versions available on YouTube, one sung by Ben Cartright himself, Lorne Greene, and another by the Man in Black, Johnny Cash.





The theme from "Bewitched" is a jazzy instrumental arrangement on the TV show, but Peggy Lee recorded a version with the lyrics. Just be warned tho' as you play this YouTube video that the songs was edited with scenes from a very weird and risque silent movie called "Häxan" behind it. I'd never seen it before but I suppose its creator thought its theme of witchcraft and Satan were an appropriate theme for the theme from "Bewitched".



And finally I'll end with one of my favorites, the theme from "Hogan's Heroes" as performed by Kinch, Carter, LeBeau and Newkirk.

The Film I Missed That Won

I may be the only animation geek who still hasn't seen "Kung Fu Panda". But after learning that it beat out "WALL•E" at last night's Annie Awards ceremony as well as winning several more major honors, methinks I'll need bow down before the DreamWorks feature soon and bump up that title to the top of my "Want" Blu-ray list.

Sites2See

Here are some sites that interested me that you might be interested in too.

The official Watchmen movie site has been updated.

If you've never read the original graphic novel but have been fascinated by the trailers that have come out for this new movie, you can whet your knowledge a little more new glimpses to what the film's about, now that a few more bits of video and character background have been updated this week on the official site. Be sure to click on each character link listed on the main page to see all the video clips.

Star Trek movie props, or "Every old is new again"

Actual props from the J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek film were on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week in Las Vegas. On display were props for Dr. McCoy's medical tricorder (or the medical scanner that's used with the tricorder), Uhura's classic communications earpiece and a Starfleet flip-top style communicator that Kirk, Spock and the rest of Starfleet get to use. TrekMovie.com posted pictures of them, and they've also conveniently included stills of the original 1960's era props for comparison.

The next wave of exclusive James Bond steelbook Blu-rays will be at Amazon

Movie geeks lately have made a metal type of DVD case very popular these days. A steelbook is a trademarked product that's simply a DVD case with a metal exterior (it has plastic inside to hold the DVD(s). Not only is it durable, but fans also like that it looks sharp on their shelves. The fact that many studios have offered their tentpole films in the popular steelbook packaging in limited distribution (e.g., exclusive to Best Buy or F.Y.E. or by region) only fuels that collector mentality for fans. So many James Bond fans shopped Best Buy when the first wave of James Bond films on Blu-ray were available there exclusively in steelbook packaging last year. But now, someone at the Blu-ray.com forums said they found listings on Amazon that the next wave of Bond films in steelbook packaging will be exclusive on their site.