Angry the Clown

Having been met with the same problem I've found only two solutions (beyond selling some discs to make space for films of more value as you're already doing). 1) Build a media server and rip everything to it. Sell discs and/or place them into storage out of sight. PRO: Space saving and quite fun to have your entire collection available at the touch of a button via something like Plex! CON: Prohibitively time consuming and expensive to rip 1:1 copies to hard drives for those of us with large collections, and still a pain in the backside knowing what the correct files to rip from a disc are, what subtitle tracks you need to bind to the file, what audio tracks...etc, and how to get Dolby Vision support on the software playback end. 2) What I've actually done for a chunk of my collection this year... Remove the covers from boxes and place them into thin plastic or vinyl Blu-ray/DVD sleeves. You can then drop the disc in behind the cover as shown in the photograph or, as I do to ensure the disc's protection, buy ultra slim jewel cases, put the discs in those and slip them into the plastic sleeve behind the folded cover art. I still find that there's room for most booklets too. You can then sell the original plastic cases on eBay, or just box them away into storage in the hope of someday owning a mansion or doing a Guillermo del Toro and owning a second house entirely dedicated to all the stuff you accumulate. PRO: Space saving! Even with a slim jewel case inserted into a sleeve I now get around 3 to 4 films for every single Blu-ray case on the shelf (at least compared to the typical fatter UK/European cases). CON: Quite expensive to buy up a load of sleeves and jewel cases for those with larger collections. I was intending to do it for all but my 4k discs and boutique label titles, however for the time being I have opted to do it only when necessary to give myself back some shelf space for new purchases. The sleeves pictured are ones I buy from Amazon UK but I know there will be something similar in the US. Worth noting that scanvo cases, e.g the one's Criterion use, have taller covers so would be better off in DVD sized plastic sleeves rather than Blu-ray ones. The idea had been lingering in the back of my mind after watching this video of someone's collection that I first saw years ago. At around 5mins 20s you'll see what his approach is with re-packaging some of his discs. I haven't got anything in drawers like that but if I moved it's something I'd consider as while I can actually bend the spines back on the shelf to know what the film is, I think being able to see the covers face on and scan through a collection as shown in the video is a nicer solution (it kind of resembles thumbing through someone's prized comic book collection in a way). That video is from 2013, but this is who he got his sleeves from: https://www.bagsunlimited.com/category/458/dvd-collection-protection-supplies They look better for just slipping a disc into safely compared the ones I have (I went the ultra slim jewel case route as I didn't want any pressure to risk the back of a disc sticking to the back of the plastic sleeve which I know can happen if the quality of the sleeve itself is not the best. Cheaper printed covers may also stick to plastic sleeves over time too, and I believe in those cases the guy recommended cutting a rectangle of plastic from the actual DVD/Blu-ray case, and placing that in front of the cover art before sliding it into the sleeve). I wonder what his disc collection looks like eight years later? My vice is that I buy a lot of films beyond those with personal value. I can't help it. Whether it's films I downright adore, films with historical value, childhood sentimentality (no matter how awful), films as reference material.... It's very hard for me to conceive of cutting my purchases down to the bare essentials like a normal human being would. As ever, my movie buying habits and my other expensive obsession (collecting monographs) comes before budgeting for gaming, but thank goodness for Game Pass. One thing I rarely break down and buy these days are collector's editions. I was never big on them anyway due to storage space concerns but it's rare that I will not just sit and wait for a re-packaged standard edition later down the line. Unless there is something of serious value exclusive to a collector's edition then I will wait for a cheaper repackaged standard release, which is why I've yet to buy Donnie Darko, Dune or True Romance. In instances where a collector's edition is cheap though, I will occasionally bite (I grabbed the Babadook on a whim as it was basically half price, though again I am not 100% certain I am guaranteed a copy as it's out of stock and quite possibly now out of print. If not and Amazon refund me then so be it and I will wait for a standard edition release). I was quite a big steelbook fan about six or seven years ago, notably for the ones Eureka used to do here but they stopped and I've rarely bought any since outside of Arrow's discs for Robocop and The Thing. Having bought the Labyrinth re-issue I am now left wondering what to do with the gorgeous UHD steelbook I have of the original release though. It makes no sense to keep both, but it's so nice, and it was my first UHD purchase. I expect common sense to prevail in time and I'll end up putting it on eBay however (the going rate for the steelbook will pay for double dipping on the recent re-issue, and probably with some extra money to spare). Of course, now I started re-packaging my discs anything in my collection that isn't in a standard amaray or scanvo case is kind of an annoyance. I've definitely warmed more to iTunes purchases though, but remain picky about precisely what titles I'm willing to "own" as a download/stream. 4k itunes is generally pretty good video quality and one would hope it can only improve further with time and technological advancements. HD can be hit or miss though and I hope they will someday shift to transcoding HD as h.265 or AV1 to help bump up the bitrates for ore challenging material. I don't even know if streaming is on par with DVD for audio quality. If it is, then that's nothing to scoff at. I'm not really a lossless snob when it comes to movies (but will always welcome the best quality available naturally). If I still had 5.1 I might be even more inclined to settle for streaming purchases, but without it I have no way of judging the sound quality for myself. Itunes, or any digital purchasing platform for film/tv content for that matter, could be so much more sophisticated. There's a gap in the market at a consumer level that's otherwise only being catered for by Kaleidescape (which is limited to the wealthier people who can afford it).

Ah. That's what really baffles me as I don't see the argument that Game Pass is a store, and again it's the contradiction of Apple's App Store that will give the OK for Netflix or Amazon Prime apps, but not Game Pass.

In the post show it was revealed that Richard Schiff is playing Odin which I thought was a fascinating choice. He's terrific.

Indeed. Thor would regularly eat an entire animal carcass as if it were an hors d'oeuvre. He also drank a lot, so having some flab and a beer belly on top of what what still looks to be a hulking muscly frame feels right. He still looks like he could crush a skull between his thumb and index finger there. I can't blame people for thinking of him with a Hemsworth/modern super hero type physique though, not just because, for better or worse, that's the most ingrained reference of the character in modern culture now. A shift in depicting him as more of an Adonis like figure with flowing gold hair dates back centuries.

It's funny how I went so long resisting them, to the point of never even really doing the experiments that I did today with the cameras right up to my eye. You just get so used to a way of life after several decades you tend not to seriously explore any alternatives. If I can master applying and removing contacts, and then find some lifestyle balance where I can happily alternate between them and my glasses, then I think I'll finally embrace them. I find glasses make me more approachable, which is a plus if photographing people, so I'm still a touch apprehensive. There are other benefits I'd get from contacts though, like running or going to the gym which have generally been the main reason I've considered them in the past. I think Leica know how to make a lens that's consistently impressive from wide open to around f11, with great micro-contrast and rendering (or "character" as some might say). NoT necessarily perfect, whatever that really means in this context, but consistent. On sharpness, I think most modern glass is actually likely to be very similar, especially between f4 and f11. As ever, the Leica stuff primarily costs more because they don't rely on mass factory production, which is a fact easily overlooked (particularly by those who love to mock the company), so on performance I doubt there's honestly a whole lot in it these days between Leica, Fuji, Canon, Sigma, Sony or Nikon, so the differences are usually in the nuances of the glass. Micro-contrast and differences in colour might be easily recognisible in a lens, but rendering/character is more of a subjective thing. Sigma's lenses seem quite clinical to me, but it's hard to knock their balance of performance/value. They're seemingly unmatched in that regard. Leica and Canon have a rendering I've always been drawn to, while I've not had enough experience with Sony or Nikon's glass to form a solid opinion (Sony seem quite clinical, while some Nikon lenses strike me as unassuming and a little bit boring, while others in their range most definitely display uniquely attractive character). Zeiss is quite clinical too, yet there's still an extra special something about a lot of their lenses and I've honestly loved the Zeiss M mount glass that I have owned in the past. Were I to buy a digital M again I'd be wise to grab another Zeiss lens to make a saving and get within 95% of what Leica's own equivalent lens might give me. I don't know if I will part with my 50mm Summicrom M as it currently only functions on my M2. If I knew for certain I'd end up with a digital M again in the near future I'd hold onto it. I don't see it happening unless an embrace of contact lenses radically leaves me re-evaluating the value I might get out of a rangefinder... or I am blessed with a random financial windfall. Speaking of the M11, it's due to be announced in November and it already looks like the M10 has ceased production as my dealer has not had black M10s in stock for a while now, so I assume whatever remaining new stock is floating around out there is all that's left. I might keep an eye on used M10 prices once the M11 launches though as that might prove a sensible way back into the system if I wanted to go that route, but damn, having owned the M10-P and that quiet shutter, it'd be strange to have to fallback to a used M10. What would be great is if Leica brought back the M-E, which at the time was a re-badged M9 with a different colour finish to the body at a reduced price that came out around the time of the M240. An M10 re-badged as an M-E for a lower price would be nice to see. Leicarumours claims the M11 will have a 36MP BSI sensor, and the baseplate will now be fixed and the battery will be more like the one in the Q/SL (if not the very same battery model). I've seen some rumour suggesting the M11 sensor will be even higher than the 40MP M10R though which sounds ludicrous to me and I hope isn't true. Save that silliness for an M11R. 36MP would be very nice, and BSI seems inevitable following the SL2-S. I wonder if the M10Ps shutter mechanism will naturally trickle down to the base M11 though.

Since the documentary was dropped I've opted to wait for the regular disc only release of Dune. Roger Rabbit I am definitely getting on release. I'd get Unbreakable next month but I watched it not too long ago. Since it's quite fresh in my memory it can wait until it's on sale. Shawshank I know so well I am happy to wait a few months (apparently it looks superb though). If Shout don't screw up Halloween and Halloween II in any way I will be importing those but probably not in time for the end of next month, in which case I might as well defer buying them for a year or so until next Halloween. I really want the Universal Monsters set but it's quite expensive to pre-order at the moment. Addams Family I will definitely import as it's owned by Disney/Fox here so will never get a UK release, and Carlito's Way I will pick up on release too as I love that film and haven't seen it in ages. I've got the Columbia Classics vol2 set on order, so that was a big investment. I got the Labyrinth re-issue the other week. I've got Second Sight's release of The Babadook on backorder as Amazon priced it very cheap recently (£20!). Hopefully there is stock of the ltd edition remaining to actually get hold of though. Beyond those, regular Blus are stealing my interests more at the moment (some great UK editions of The Sabata trilogy and The Great Silence are coming up, and I might break down and get Arrow's Shaw Bros box set in December. I'd also like to finally pick up Criterion's Agnes Varda set which I would have to import, so I want to see if Amazon do a Criterion sale to compete with Barnes and Noble in November as B&N are no longer as friendly shipping to the UK as they used to be).

Yes. Those are the kind of enforced changes I'd get behind if that's what this actually means. I really don't want an abundance of app stores on my device. I like many aspects of the so called walled garden, but nonsensical contradictions of the platform like being able to to buy a product in the Amazon app, but not buy an audiobook within the Audible app, always struck me as ridiculous. It doesn't seem as if either party truly "won" this fight, but that a logical middle ground was met. Whether Sweeney is happy to stop there remains to be seen of course.

Interesting progress in this ongoing mess. That should reverse the woes Microsoft have had with a Game Pass app, no? It should finally allow people to do something as simple as purchase an audiobook within something like Audible's app at least!

I'm surprised they haven't announced a non-ltd edition of Donnie Darko yet. I can't imagine it will be long until they do. Perhaps the disc error issue delayed things. All I want is the discs so I am happy to hold out for a regular release. I'm being a bit of a cheapskate lately and leaving more and more discs until they show up in sales. There aren't many UHDs I'm dead set on picking up on release this year now I don't think. The Star Trek discs look very pleasing from the screencaps I've seen, but I'd still like to know what the plan is for the remaining films as I think I'd sooner have them all individually on the shelf, or as part of an expanded box set. I'm definitely getting the BFI's disc of The Seventh Seal next month, and if Criterion aren't going to bring some of their UHDs to the UK then I'll be pressed to import those sooner rather than later (hopefully they will bring Kane and Menace II Society to the UK in December to save me the added expense on those two at least).

I had an eye test today as I was long overdue thanks to the pandemic. Thankfully no deterioration, but I opted for some new glasses frames nevertheless and will pick those up in a couple of weeks. Of the two pairs I ordered one allows for ultra thin cut lenses and I am really interested to see how that affects my eye with small EVFs and being able to see wider focal length frame lines on a Leica M. I did also sit and try contact lenses today. I've tried them before, but only with assistance applying them. I did in fact manage to get so far as to be able to apply them myself this morning without freaking out which was something of a small triumph having always hated the idea of touching my eye, though I needed assistance removing them as I just couldn't get a grip on them to take them out. I'm fascinated by just how strong our eyelids are in their ability to resist fingers prying them open. I'll be trying them again when I collect my frames though as they've offered me a free trial period. Anyway, to get to the point of why I'm even sharing this... I've commented regularly about the troubles my glasses introduce with certain cameras. The reason has never been related to my prescription itself, but the fact the very nature of wearing glasses means inherently creating greater distance between my eye and the viewfinder of any camera I pick up. The cramped and small EVF on my 100V for example becomes a lot more pleasurable if I remove my glasses and adjust the built in diopter accordingly, but that's never struck me as a practical method of enjoying photography with my eyesight as I need my glasses to see my surroundings and what I intend to photograph before raising the camera to my eye, and it's impractical to keep removing my glasses and rely on a diopter every time I want to then capture an image. Similarly, while my perception of an image is blurred of course, I can nevertheless look through the viewfinder of my M2 without my glasses and comfortably see the 35mm framelines (and the area outside of them) which is in stark contrast to looking through a rangefinder vf with my glasses on, where 50, 75 and 90mm framelines have always been my only useable options. The lenses in my current glasses are already thin, but again it will certainly be interesting to see if the ultra thin ones in one of my new pairs improves things. I'll make a point to take my M2 and X100v to the optician when I go back later in the month. I prefer wearing glasses. They seem to suit me and I just don't recognise myself without them. Knowing contacts would completely eradicate my viewfinder woes is nevertheless eye opening if you'll excuse the obvious pun, and I've probably wasted years creating problems for myself having not been willing to wear them on occasions when I know I'm going to be using a camera all day.

The Muppets Haunted Mansion will go up on Oct 8th. I got a giggle out of Fozzie as the Hat Box Ghost. I still have a 1 month Disney+ trial offer to redeem via Xbox so I will grab that in a couple of weeks to see me through to the end of October. That will allow me time to see The Muppets, Star Wars Visions, and catch up on the Marvel things I have missed (Falcon & Winter Soldier, Loki and What if.).

I think Romier mentioned in the chat last night that it's the Miles Morales team working on this one. Are they at the Burbank HQ? I'm not sure.

I think it makes sense. I can't imagine the two of them are together all the time and would expect the action to alternate between each character's stories regularly, and then throw them together at pivotal moments. I'm excited, though don't know how to feel about Venom. I'll be curious to see which comes first, this or Wolverine. You'd have to imagine both games are going to exist in the same universe though.

European price for the R3 has apparently been leaked, with signs pointing to it costing €6099, which would translate to £5200 here in the UK but I could see Canon charging more on this silly little island by needlessly inflaiting it to £5499. It would put it under $5500 in the US. I must admit, given R5 pricing and 1DXIII pricing that is around about where the R3's pricing should fairly land given they don't consider it a flagship camera, but I wasn't entirely confident Canon would play fair in this instance. Assuming it has no real drawbacks in the video department, by which I mean so long as it doesn't overheat, then I think the price is fair given the specs Canon have shared so far (again, it's technically better than a 1DXIII in many ways, and in a smaller body but a body still built to go to war). If you factored in the price of a vertical grip with an R5 the alleged R3 price would compare quite favourably if higher 45MP resolution in the R5 was negligible to the buyer.

Some retail listings in Europe are showing up for a Karate Kid collection (just the original trilogy). I'd welcome that, though hopefully they do individual releases too as I already own the disc of the first film.

This game from the Playstation showcase looked rather charming:

That's actually quite in keeping with how he was written in the original mythology.

Only the PC port by the sounds of it. PS5 is in house at Naughty Dog. "Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will be available in early 2022 for PS5. The PC version is in development by our partners at Iron Galaxy and will release shortly after the PS5 version. As these dates approach, we’ll discuss more details. https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/uncharted-legacy-of-thieves-collection-coming-to-ps5-and-pc/

That's precisely it, yes. It's not so much the song, but the decades of lazy music editors reaching for it as their go to "druuuuugs" song of choice in media, that's made me come to hate it over time to the point where it just makes me cringe whenever I now here it. Here, I agree it works... just don't put it in the movie too.

I'll be interested to see. I can't help but think they will definitely start afresh with the music and bring in a new composer for the score though given accusations made against Soule a few years back.

Crazy to think of this as a Playstation console exclusive. Never would have bet on such a thing. It's going to feel strange given how KOTR was associated with Xbox. I'm very much looking forward to seeing this re-imagined though. Aspyr have a big task ahead of them and hopefully they'll live up to the challenge. It sounds like an almost bluepoint like level of commitment to a remake that they're making here.

It would certainly be mine if I had the funds to go for an SL lens, but really only for paid purposes. I don't think I'd enjoy running around with an SL+SL lens as my day to day or travel camera. An SL with one or two of those dinky Sigma contemporary primes though? That opens up more possibilities if I were desperate for more portable autofocus lenses, but with that EVF I'd be perfectly at ease with M mount lenses.

I never hated the sequels. I had issues with them certainly. Reloaded I actually think is a great bridge in the series, expanding the lore of its universe nicely and capping it with that breathtaking car chase. Revolutions, and how it regularly abandons character development in favour of its set pieces (it frustrated me how Morpheus was barely a presence in the story) was the bigger letdown, though revisiting all three when the 4k discs came out was nevertheless extremely enjoyable and I was pleased how much I was actually enjoying the third film years later, freed from lofty expectations I put upon it on release. The music to all three films is just utterly sublime too. Three of the most sophisticated scores for any film series, criminally overlooked by virtue of the sequels never being held in high regard as films. I'm looking forward to watching them all again ahead of Resurrections. The series is bursting with so many wild and brilliant ideas. So yes, I am absolutely excited for this as the trailer not only left me eager to know just what the hell is going on in this film, but it also doesn't seem to be letting go of its characters in favour of spectacle (which it also clearly has in abundance) which is the most exciting thing. Plus the trailer made me not hate that fucking Jefferson Airplane song, and it ends with a musical tease that they might indeed be looking to reference some Don Davis themes in the score even without him returning (given that they're still willing to associate the main theme with the series for marketing purposes. It bodes well).

Sigma announced two more lenses to their DN 'Contemporary' mirrorless lineup today, a 24mm f2 and 90mm 2.8. As usual they are available for both Sony E mount and Leica/Panasonic/Sigma L mount. 24mm: https://www.sigma-global.com/en/lenses/c021_24_2/ 90mm: https://www.sigma-global.com/en/lenses/c021_90_28/ It's a damn shame they're not able (allowed?) to bring these to Z and RF mounts right now. I've been pricing up every camera set up of interest under the sun recently along with all the technical/ergonomic pros and cons of each system and by far the biggest knock against a Canon R6 or R5 for me is lack of small lenses that would leave me happy to carry a single camera for work and personal use. The price and size of the higher end RF lenses make it so difficult, and Canon put next to no effort into dampening the noise of the af motors in their smaller and cheaper 1.8 and f2 RF lenses which are otherwise optically excellent. So frustrating. The Sigma Contemporary primes are small, quiet, metal and are typically landing at around a £600 price point.

This is very cute: https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/super-mario-64-question-mark-block-71395?p=71395&cmp=social-1ni96g-SHOP