Technically Speaking

Some of my faithful readers have probably skipped this post. I know for a fact that I have two close family members who abhor American Idol, and that is okay. I understand. But I still like the show. And I’m okay with that. American Idol is, in fact, the only television show that we watch. We really don’t watch anything else — not even the news.
This week we watched the first two episodes of the season, and I have to admit that this isn’t my favorite part of the ship. I much prefer Idol in the second-half of the season when it gets down to 12 really good singers. The first half of the season tries to get too much mileage from bad performances and rude comments from Simon. The part I look forward to seeing is the part where they’ve narrowed it down to the cream of the crop.

The funny thing about the first part of the season, though, is that this is the half of the season when Christina and I actually agree with the judges. Last year when we were watching the second half of the season, we would listen to the performers, and it seemed that almost invariably if we thought the performer had done a good job, the judges hated it. And when we didn’t like the performance, the judges seemed to give it a lot of praise. (Yet another reason why we aren’t judges on the show.) But at this stage of the show, we’re still at the point where we like who the judges like and agree on who’s not up to snuff. (Well mostly. I still think they should have given the Statue of Liberty guy more of a chance. But thats just me.)

Here is my American Idol tip of the day: watch the show on tape-delay. I have meetings on Tuesday evenings, so I can’t watch the show live. We taped the show (I think it is our first time taping something from TV in like 3 years; maybe more), and then we watched it later. The great thing is we watched the 2-hour episode from Tuesday in like 80-90 minutes, because we could fast forward through all the sleazy commercials.

Oh. And one last Idol comment — a guy from SL tried out at the Denver auditions and made it through. His audition wasn’t shown on TV last night, but he made it to Hollywood, and I expect we’ll see him in a future epsiode. I don’t know his name, but when I find out, I’ll let you know.

Okay, anti-Idol readers: you can come back. I’m done for now.

So I’ve been wondering what to do about our book club, Chronicles.

Last year we started an online book club so we could discuss and be exposed to new literature. However with the hectic end of year, participation dropped through the floor, despite getting a few new members of the club (who I think would have participated more if there had been more activity).

There are a number of reasons why I think the book club is mostly dead right now, and I’m not really wanting to debate those right now. But what I really want to know is this: What should be done to increase participation and resurrect the club?

Is it worth it?

If you are interested, Chronicles Book Club is located at http://bookclub.pehrsonfamily.net.

I’m open for suggestions. Post ‘em here or e-mail me. (Remember, if you don’t already have an account, you don’t need one in order to post.)

I bet you haven’t guessed that we went to see the new Harry Potter movie over the weekend. Unlike my brother, we didn’t see it twice, but then I remember my single days when I went to see Pearl Harbor three times in the opening week. So I can relate to him.

Anyway, I thought I’d post my Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire response here at Technically Speaking. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. It was a really good movie, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

(Oh, and by the way, I wanted to say thanks to Dave and Courtney for saving our place in line; we watched the movie at a Provo theater which was over an hour away from our house, when you consider traffic. I mean, we passed five (maybe six?) theaters that were playing the movie in order to watch it in Provo. So, um, sorry we were late… )

I won’t go ahead and rehash the plot; if you don’t know it already, you can find it on plenty of websites. Instead, I’ll just give my reactions to the movie.

First, I think that the latest Harry Potter installment was well-written. Props go to Steven Kloves, who adapted J.K. Rowling’s massive novel into a 2.5-hour movie. Kloves did a great job trimming the book and adapting it into a movie. Some loyal Potterites have expressed disappointment that there were a number of specific details that were different in the movie and in the book, but that is to be expected, in my opinion. The film medium is distinctly different from the novel medium, and they have different conventions and practices that distinguish them. The things that make for a great novel aren’t all of the same things that make for a great movie. Thus, when a novel is adapted to film, changes are usually necessary. Characters have to be combined or eliminated. Plots have to be simplified. Kloves did a great job finding the central plot and theme of the novel, and then he adapted it in a way that did the novel justice while modifying it in a way that fits the conventions of a motion picture.

I really liked the pace of the movie. It was funny in all the right places, and I thought it was well-acted. Since the complexity of the story has increased, the number of characters has increased. This means that some of our best-loved characters of former films had less screen time in Goblet of Fire, but I think it worked.
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I mentioned previously that we rented the movie Robots from Redbox a couple of nights ago and as soon as you put the DVD into the player, these previews come on. And they aren’t even really previews. They were more like a commercial for the studio that distributed the movie. What’s worse is the DVD won’t let you skip the commercial and get to the menu.

Can I tell you how much I hate it when the DVD has previews, but won’t let you skip past them to the menu?

It’s not so much that I dislike previews. I mean, they give you a chance to make sure you have your pop corn and orange smoothie ready (staples at our house for movie watching), and you can adjust the sound so it is right, and you can find the comfortable place on the couch; but I digress…

No, previews are okay, if the manufacturers really insist on including them. But what I can’t stand is when they force us to watch the whole preview because they disable the menu and next chapter buttons on the remote.

One of the principle benefits (for me) of DVDs over VHS tapes is that on a DVD I can skip around to see what I want to see without having to find it on the tape. When DVD manufacturers block the menu function, they are essentially dragging us out of the DVD era and throwing us back into the VHS tape era of rewinding and fast forwarding.

Seriously people. If your previews are good, we’ll probably watch them. Once. But please don’t make us watch them every time. Enable the menu button during the previews. Please. Join us in the 21st century and let our DVDs work like we want them to!

Loyal readers, I come to you today to make a(n unnecessary) promise: I vow never to direct a Harry Potter film for Warner Brothers. I’m outraged (outraged! I tell you!) that I was passed over for the first four films, and I’m lashing back by promising never, ever to bow to the Warner Brother’s producers — even if they come begging to my humble duplex door.

This isn’t totally unlike the recent remarks from filmmaker Terry Gilliam, who has made the same promise, for the same reason.

Are you, loyal readers, just as outraged? I mean, who does this guy think he is? Give me a break! I mean, is this a ploy to get sympathy or what? ‘Cauz I’m not feelin’ too bad for him.

And Warner Brothers, if you’re listening, I was just kidding. I’d direct Harry Potter 6 or 7 for as little as $100,000; so if you’re looking to save the money you didn’t spend on Mr. Gilliam, you can give me a call.