General
Abuse
Addiction
Depression
“[Virginia Mayo] enjoyed working with Peck, whom she called ‘a beautiful, sensitive man: what he gives you as an actor he gives with gentility and kindness…. [H]e studies each role so thoroughly that it is little wonder that his performances are so great.’ ”
—Gregory Peck: A Biography (2002) by Gary Fishgall, p. 155
France
Paris
–Three Colors: Blue
–Three Colors: White
Ciociaria
–Two Women
Tokyo
–Ikiru
Unspecified Location
–Three Women
The Fountain is about two people who like each other a lot.
One of them, Izzi, is dying of brain cancer; the other, Tommy, is really sad about that.
As she is dying, Izzi writes the fictional account of Tomas and Queen Isabel.
Isabel asks Tomas, the conquistador, “Will you deliver Spain from bondage?” Tomas replies, “Upon my honor and my life.” Isabel says, “Then you shall take this ring to remind you of your promise. You shall wear it when you find Eden. And, when you return, I shall be your Eve. Together we will live forever.” Read the rest of this entry »
It seems that Angier/Caldlow would’ve been much less angry at Borden/Fallon if Borden/Fallon had assured him that, whatever knot Borden/Fallon had tied, Julia had very clearly signaled her approval. Don’t believe me? Fast forward 23 minutes and 40 seconds into the movie and watch Julia nod her approval to Borden/Fallon as he makes a knot choice. Why did Julia really die? To give Angier/Caldlow a reason to be pissed at Borden/Fallon. Why should Angier/Caldlow be pissed at Borden/Fallon? One reason might be that it adds extra spice to their rivalry and makes for a tenser movie. Read the rest of this entry »
The Ultimate Carson Collection: Vol. 3
May 21, 1992: Guests Bette Midler and Robin Williams (then filming Toys). Williams jokes that H.W. Bush told Quayle to talk about Jerry Brown and Quayle, confused, spoke about Murphy Brown: “‘Jerry Brown, Jerry Brown, Jerry Brown, Buster Brown, Buster Brown, Buster Brown, Buster Brown, Audie Murphy, Audie Murphy, Audie Murphy…Murphy Brown! Murphy Brown makes me so….’ Don’t you realize that he’s rain man”?! Read the rest of this entry »
Audio
—Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0: I imported an 80mb WMV file and then dragged it onto the timeline. I scrolled through the audio tracks in the timeline and found the one with my audio information already in it. I right-clicked it and selected Audio Gain…. Once I exported the new video, I could hear a noticeable increase in loudness.
—Auto Movie Creator 3.26: I imported an 80mb WMV file and increased the Clip Audio through the Volume Balance Control. I exported the result as a 50mb MP4 with no obvious quality deterioration. However, there was no change in the volume level.
—Blaze Media Pro 9: When I tried to open a WMV file for editing I received the following error message: “The object invoked has disconnected from its clients.”
Capture
—AoA DVD Ripper 5.1.8: Converts clips less than ten minutes after the trial period expires. No water mark.
—WinAVI DVD Copy: converts full DVD–no option for clips
After hours of searching, I finally figured out that the free version of Any Video Converter will convert video files I have into ones I can view on my Walkman device.
I have used the mpeg4 option at a resolution of 320×240. I chose a bit rate of 112 and a frame rate of 15.
Using that method, I get a pretty good picture. A roughly 700 MB .avi file became a roughly 64 MB .mp4 file. Puzzlingly, a roughly 400 MB .avi file became a roughly 120 MB .mp4.
I’m afraid I don’t care enough to figure out what caused these differences. To my knowledge, I encoded these files using the same method.
Anyway, I hope someone finds some of this useful!
The basic idea of Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men sounds simple enough. It begins with little fanfare and the words of a judge who, it seems obvious, is not saying them for the first time:
You’ve listened to a long and complex case of murder in the first degree. Premeditated murder is the most serious charge tried in our criminal courts. You’ve listened to the testimony. You’ve had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case. It’s now your duty to sit down and separate the facts from the fancy. One man is dead, another man’s life is at stake. If there is a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused—a reasonable doubt—then you must bring me a verdict of not guilt. If, however, there’s no reasonable doubt, then you must, in good conscience, find the accused guilty. However you decide, your verdict must be unanimous. In the event you find the accused guilty, the bench will not entertain a recommendation for mercy. The death sentence is mandatory in this case. You’re faced with a grave responsibility.
The following is the plot summary of the film Elmer Gantry from Wikipedia. This clip covers some events from paragraphs three through six.
Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a hard-drinking, fast-talking traveling salesman with a charismatic personality. While traveling, he’s drawn to the road show of Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) and is immediately attracted to the saintly revivalist. He soon cons his way into her good graces and joins the troupe as a fiery preacher. Gantry and Falconer develop what her manager calls a “good cop/bad cop” routine, with Elmer telling the audience members that they will burn in Hell for their sins and Sharon promising them salvation if they repent. With Elmer’s support, the group makes its way out of exclusively provincial venues and into Zenith, Winnemac. Falconer eventually admits to Gantry that her real name is Katie Jones and that her origins are humbler than she publicly admits. Read the rest of this entry »
