To some of you today's title might mean something, to others they're just the total count of round spheres of frozen water. To those of you who "get it" - Snoogins!
Today I watched the Supplement disc of the Clerks.X DVD set which included the 2+hour documentary on the making of Clerks. - "The Snowball Effect". The title has a double-meaning to Kevin Smith fans; it appropriately describes the phenomenon of Clerks. as told by the people involved, 10 years later (yes, it's really been 10 years) and it also is a reference to a certain act committed following another certain act. For an explanation I highly recommend checking out Clerks. either on VHS or even better - on this new 3-disc DVD set from Miramax.
The documentary is fascinating and covers all aspects of the production, indie film festivals and purchase by Miramax of this crude and hilarious comedy that follows a day in the life of Dante & Randal, two retail store clerks that enjoy their jobs "except for all the customers". The writing is brilliant, the acting is spotty at times, the language is foul (but it's true to life) and the black & white print is from 16mm, so it's not in the best shape (though the new 10th Anniversary edition is the best print ever seen), but it all works beautifully.
There are two versions of the film in this set, the newly remastered 10th Anniversary Edition, in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound that has an alternate audio commentary track (that's the same one from the 1997 DVD edition), and there's a third disc that has the original 105 minute version with the original ending that was shown at the indie film festivals, this was not the version that later appeared in theaters after being bought by Miramax. This version contains an all new audio commentary (2004), but as I've yet to watch it (and listen to the commentary) I can't really comment on it yet.
I also watched the extras on the Star Trek: Generations DVD as well as pieces of the actual film to check the quality. The extras are pretty standard compared to the first 6 Special Edition DVD sets (aside from the missing Teaser & Trailer....as it turns out Paramount has announced a new official release date for this set as September 28, so if you missed it you won't have to wait but 2 more weeks). The film quality is better than the non-anamorphic version, though there is some annoying edge enhancement which gives it a video look/feel instead of a film quality, which is a little disappointing (though this will NOT be fixed on the new release, all that will be fixed on that is the outer insert, with a sticker no less, saying that the Teaser & Trailer are not part of the set). The DTS surround track however is very open and very punchy when it needs to be, so kudos to Paramount for adding this on there!
Last night saw the premiere of Joey, the Friends spin-off starring Matt LeBlanc and I have to say, being the pilot episode, which sets up the basic premise and introduces characters (and actors unfamiliar as of yet with those characters) it was not that bad. I know I am spoiled now, but being that Joey is in NBC-HD Widescreen, that's another point in its favor, Friends was not. Of course, only the coming weeks will tell if Joey can stand on its own or if it was a horrible mistake, but hey, Frasier pulled it off after Cheers, so it's very possible Joey is here to stay.
Today I did a little cleaning in my storage shed, so it's becoming less and less crowded and eventually I'll be able to move everything into the condo.
I also went to Sam's Club (a warehouse market, a division of Wal*Mart) and picked up a 7lb container of cat food and a 40lb container of cat litter...three cats eat and shit a lot!!!
Today I will try to watch Jersey Girl and write a review (this is another Kevin Smith film and it didn't do well in the wake of Gigli, though I'm going in with an open mind, and being unspoilt by Gigli I think I can be fairly objective about it....although I'm already biased towards Smith's writing and directing....so we'll see...).
Tonight sees the return of StarGate SG-1 and StarGate: Atlantis after taking a week off. So from 9pm to 11pm I'll be tuned to the SciFi Channel......
RobMac
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