Life is Not a Vlog

I harbour a profound and absolute loathing for YouTube travel videos. If one must endure another painfully chipper "Hello, Guys" introduction, it might just be grounds to throw the router directly out the window. The atrocious planning and abysmal production values of these quote-influencers-unquote are truly staggering. They are perpetually unprepared, entirely winging their itineraries, and offering absolutely nothing of value to learn. Instead, one is subjected to interminable, overly long broadcasts featuring aimless walking or utterly inconsequential documentation of what they happened to eat for lunch. Attempting to unearth content that is both up-to-date and of acceptable quality is a complete and utter waste of precious time.

   

My own alternative for pre-trip preparation, however, is admittedly just as absurd. As the accompanying photograph of our television displaying the classic 1942 Casablanca title card indicates, we depart for the city tomorrow, and my cinematic research is a masterclass in irrelevance. The film was shot almost entirely on California soundstages, save for the local Van Nuys airport and one brief introductory snippet, and a World War II melodrama has absolutely nothing to do with the city in 2026. Do not be surprised if my forthcoming photographs are actually in colour! This is a recurring affliction of mine. I have previously discovered that West Side Story makes for a dreadful practical guide to New York City, and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday is remarkably unhelpful before visiting the eternal city in the current century, especially if one's not a princess.

Avatar in IMAX 3D

Day 109 of Our Winter:  I cannot remember the last time were went to a movie.  Maybe during COVID.  I recall needing to show British Columbia proof of vaccination to get inside.  Today, as are in Nugegoda, we went to the Havelock Scope Cinemas to watch the new Avatar sequel.  Well it is the end of February but the movie was released last year, so it is really not very new.  

The 13:00 show was on one of the IMAX screens in 3D.  There were probably only 30 guests at that time on a weekday.  Avatar: Fire and Ash was colourful, action-packed, and long, very long.  I think we've seen them all if this is the third.  I'm not particularly excited about the series but it sure had some beautiful visuals.  

After 3 hours and 15 minutes, we stumbled out of the theatre feeling a little dizzy from all the furious action.  We came back to the Nugegoda house just as we went, in a tuk-tuk.  The little vehicles can weave in and out of the traffic nearly as effectively as a motorcycle.  When I stumbled out of the red tuk-tuk I also felt a little dizzy from all the furious action.

Penguins and Penguins II

On Monday for Canada Day, the first image in my blog post shows a photo of Jay and me at the Vancouver Waterfront. We are not big fans of selfies. Of course during most of our lives, we had to ask strangers to take our photo if we were both to be in it. That type of shot always emphasizes the location. It also give one a chance to actually talk to someone who one doesn't know. Asking for or accepting help is a human trait. This is a skill that Gen Z has never learned to do in person. 

--- Anyway, sorry for getting sidetracked.   I keep a Flickr album with pictures of Jay and me over the years.  Interestingly, it only has around 125 pictures in it.  So, I added the Canada Day photo as the most recent one. While looking through the album, I noticed that two images had something in common. 

One was taken in 2007 and the other 2022.

 

This image was taken in Hollywood, California.  We were inside the Dolby Theatre back when it was known as the Kodak Theatre.  There was some sort of blue-screen arrangement and we were able to get this free Polaroid snap.  Obviously, it was when that particular original, animated movie was being promoted.

We didn't know that fifteen years later, we'd be standing among real penguins.  During December, we were on a cruise that'd left Miami and went through the Panama Canal and down the western side of South America.  After rounding the Cape Horn, we headed straight for the Falkland Islands.  We'd arranged to go to Volunteer Point in a 4-wheel-drive vehicle.  It was an amazing day among these quirky creatures.  We continued onwards for our extended winter stay in Buenos Aires.

Finding Movies Good Enough to Watch Again

 

There's a portable hard drive on our home network that is expressly for movies. Today, it contains two new classics; in this case, one Italian and one French. They were mentioned last night in a conversation with friends. 

Over the last one hundred or so years, there have been many moving pictures that should be considered common knowledge for all.  We are in interesting times now that one can curate titles themselves.

On Screen 6 this Afternoon ...

Day 68 - Last week, we discovered Wednesdays are 'cheap movie days'. So, we checked to see what was showing at the Abasto Cinemark. Going to the movies here is pretty reasonable on any day.  However, on this special day, admission is half-price.  The total for two tickets only set us back the equivalent of $US 2.86.

More importantly, Babylon was a fitting film to see on a big screen as it was all about that industry.

I've always been fascinated by films that are all about making movies.  The genre seems delightfully self-involved.  Being reflectively congratulatory helps to define that whole industry.  It is a form of narcissism that actually cements many divergent characters, events, and projects.

We will make it a point to see what is playing every Wednesday while staying in Buenos Aires.

On Exomoon Pandora

Day 61 - I could hardly remember the last time we went to the movies.  It was when cinemas were re-opened after COVID but we were required to show BC vaccine status.  That does seem like a long time ago.

Last weekend, we visited the Abasto mall and noticed its cinemas complex. We feared that the new Avatar might disappear soon as it started showing last month.  We checked the showtimes and found that an English version with Spanish subtitles was showing at 2:10 today.  

We hopped on the chance.  I forget how engaging 3D really is!  The film felt rather long but there was certainly a great deal of eye candy.  Oh, in the following photo, the big screen is showing a pre-feature advertisement for a local brand of cookies. 

Because movies are cheaper on Wednesdays, we paid just US$2.70 for each 3D ticket.

Making Use of What I Have

I've been eyeing a NAS drive for our home network. I have a mobile drive with a collection of movies and it'd be handy to be able to stream them from the network rather than directly plugging the drive into the television.  For example, on my Nvidia Shield, there are excellent programs to sort and maintain info on my entire, current collection of around 1,000 titles.

   

The cheapest, 2-bay network-accessible drive enclosures go for about $CA 250 and that's without the actual disks!  I cannot justify paying over $CA 500 for this solution. So, I dug through the closet and located a really old Android TV box. 

I should be able to plug my existing 5TB mobile drive into the device. I won't even bother with video output from the box as I'll just need the movie files' network locations to play them. I may even be able to plug this box/disc combo into the extra ethernet port on the bedroom mesh router.  Yay, something new to try.

What's Your Favourite Movie?

For years, I've had a dedicated mobile drive for a collection of popular and favourite movies. The current red Seagate drive is 5TB with lots of remaining space. I have around a thousand mp4 and mkv files preserving films from the 1920s through this very year. 

Most recently, I'd been accessing the digital accumulation by plugging the drive's USB directly into our LG TV.  Its WebOS software player worked well for the task. 

I am extremely organized and have accurate file names.  The drive has folders for every decade and subfolders for individual years.  Still, that was not a very efficient way of browsing hundreds of feature films.  Therefore, today, I decided to directly plug the Seagate drive into my modem/router.  

Modifying the router's firmware to use one empty USB port was not very difficult.  Then, I set up the drive as network storage so all devices in my apartment can access its folders.  Android was a cinch but getting Windows 10 to access via BCRM-LVG took a bit of sleuthing.  Yay, success.  There is no more need for plugging and unplugging the movie drive!

      

I happened to find the most marvellous Android software for my Nvidia Shield. It's called Nova Media Player.  It is an open-source app based on the former Archos player.  As it allows for passthrough, my receiver can best decide what to do with the audio tracks.

Perhaps the best part is how Nova runs a great library front-end.  It scrapes IMDb for movie posters and tons of information.  It automatically organizes everything into a large number of categories.  Because a TV-friendly version runs on my Shield device, I can simply pick up the remote and, by saying the name of the title, search the collection.  Every time I add a new file, the app will automatically add it to the easy-to-use menus.  It has been years since my movies have been this well organized.

Two Ears Can Hear in 3D

Paying a bit more to Netflix every month provides us with 4K HDR and a bit better sound quality. The majority of new series are streamed with a clearly better picture and in the newer Dolby ATMOS format.

On my new Onkyo system, the front two speakers, which up-fire towards the ceiling, do not provide a noticeable 3D environment. I suppose the extra enclosed speakers do help to produce better overall sound. After reading about ATMOS, I'm convinced that sound mixing for movies and TV will continue to improve acoustically in order to keep up with this advancing technology.

The bigger question: In 2020, why does the music industry still downmix to a mere two channels?

A Bigger Screen without Bigger Sound?

If my Onkyo Home Theatre System were a person, he/she would be old enough to vote. I cannot pin my purchase to an exact date because it preceded the advent of this blog, a place where I usually note such things.

I was aware of how old it is when I was playing with all the wires behind our new television. The back of our present receiver has no HDMI inputs or outputs. It cannot decode the new Dolby or DTS formats either. I do like the fact the present system is only 5.1 as we've no place to mount an extra two side ones required in the 7.1 setups. So, as soon I noted an Onkyo TX-SR393 open-box special on Amazon for two bills plus change, I decided I will toss my trusty, yet ancient, receiver. Our speakers are old and discoloured a bit, but moving them would be hard and throwing them out would seem wasteful. The receiver arrives next week sometime.

Then upon reading the technical literature, I learned that the new receiver is 5.1.2 which means there are two 'high' speakers for Dolby Atmos reproduction. So even though I stayed with my tired old speakers, I must add two more for a complete, Atmos environment. I just ordered these little Onkyo speakers as well ...



London Drugs will ship these to me tomorrow. They are designed to sit on the front, left and right speakers. They are meant to point upwards and bounce sound off the ceiling. Still, even with their unexpected purchase, my system will be pretty damned economical because I often stretch dollars until I can hear them scream. Soon, I'll hear most screaming in Dolby Atmos!

---

Note: The following day, on April 20th, I cancelled the Amazon order because when up during the night, I read the product manual I found online. This would have been a great unit to simply replace the existing receiver; however, it could only be set up as normal 5.1 or 3.1 with Atmos height channels. I read about how Atmos may become important in music distribution as well as for movies and I wanted a more robust solution. I ordered an Onkyo HT-S5800 5.1.2 Channel Dolby Atmos Home Theatre System through the same Ontario supplier. It was quite a steal as it is now a close-out item. Also, fortunately, London Drugs called the next day to tell me they were out of stock on the speakers which were now unnecessary. I will be getting rid of all the parts of my present home theatre system for only a bit more cash.

Classics, Blockbusters, and Cult Films

Do you remember how bulky VHS tapes were? A collection of favourite movies used to take up a whole lot of physical space.



Nowadays, I keep my extensive collection here on this 2 TB drive. It may be time to buy a replacement external drive now as I could double that capacity for around $100 Canadian. I keep a lot of favourites but often end up saving a number I'll probably never watch again. I might easily weed out the excess, but with the fairly cheap price of storage, it's not worth the effort of bothering to delete files.

If you're reading today's blog post via a social media link, let me know of the titles of a few movies that you'd love to keep at home. I will let you know if I already have a copy!

People are Stupid

Our recent goal of watching 'every James Bond film ever made in order' has taken us longer than we first anticipated. As we approach ones made during the current millennium, I've not been able to help but notice the role of technology. Last night, James' super spy phone, looked a lot like a Nokia I once owned. We've noticed more and more screens as the decades have rolled by.


The Google Home Mini in the bedroom is the one of three in the apartment.
The promise of the Internet back in the mid-1990's seemed to indicate a future with a markedly freer and smarter society. Okay, it's not necessarily turned out that way, has it? People spend their time posting Facebook game scores, cat videos, and some polarizing, fake news article believing it defines their own thoughts. It's all more than a little sad, in my view.

However, I cannot imagine living without so much global information at my fingertips. Wait, my answers don't even require typing skills nowadays. I find myself asking one of my Google Home speakers innumerable questions in an average week. The amazing thing to me is that many of these queries would have been unanswerable without a trip to an encyclopedia even as recently as the 1990's.

I've never surrounded myself with friends smart enough to fill my gaps in knowledge, I guess. You may consider that I'm being pompous and pretentious. Well, all right! Where are the Faroe Islands, then?

Back to Big Seats for Big ...

Hey, wait a minute! Yesterday's posting was about movies but we're not turning into an entertainment blog. This place is still all about me and mine. I cannot think of another subject worthy of 15-years of daily comments.

Today, Jay and I decided to finally see the newest Marvel® flick. Oh my! Talk about overkill; this movie was nearly its purest definition. I have to admit I sort of enjoyed all the onscreen mayhem. It succeeded in the ways a summer blockbuster should, even though it is not quite summertime yet. There was a lot of noise, copious CGI, and relatively interesting banter for dialogue. The 3D action made me only slightly nauseous.

We'd not been to our local cinema since getting back to New Westminster. We saw a fair number of movies over the winter in Penang, Siem Reap, and Pattaya. Oh. We have now been home exactly a month today! So although there was a certain amount of sticker shock involved, it was nice to remember the location of our local screens.

Cult Classics

I have some time to explore a new genre of films. I have a propensity for collecting the weird and unique. Many films in my permanent collection tend toward this type of film. Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), Barbarella (1968), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and The Warriors (1979) are clearly staples in my collection of over 700 titles.

When one searches for cult movies online, a fair number of titles seem to show up on everyone's list. I'm determined to put a dent in those lists by downloading new mp4s and watching as many as I can.


Eraserhead (1977)
I've loved some of our recent viewings. For example, I can't believe I'd lived 41 years after the release of Eraserhead but had never seen it. Some of the other movies, however, are proving to be simply beyond me.

Our Final Day in Pattaya

Day 128 - This will be our last complete day in Pattaya, Thailand, at least for this trip. These last 12 days have gone super quickly. I find myself saying that more and more. Of course, this is surely a sign of getting older.

This morning we decided to see what was playing at the movies. We'd seen all three complexes in downtown Pattaya and walked to the Major Cineplex at The Avenue. There was an 11:30 show in English with Thai subtitles. We were in #3 and it was spacious with really good sound and comfortable seats which reclined a lot.

'Ready Player One' was a perfect movie for today. I didn't notice how long it really was. There were enough cultural references to keep most ages happy, even for those who may not really be gamers. I kept thinking, "My, we've come a long way since the original TRON, haven't we?"

We will use up our last two tickets from the buffet dinner booklet later. I'm sure we will stroll the beach one last evening to see the quality of the hookers on display ...

Tomorrow, we must get up a little earlier than usual. We'll try to eat breakfast at the hotel and check out around 8:00 AM. We will take bhat-buses to get to the location for the airport buses, a bit south of Pattaya. It will take a little over two hours to get to back to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Our return flight to Siem Reap doesn't fly until 2:05 PM.

Rather a Literal Rack!

Day 114 - Yesterday we were going to see a movie; today we did. We wanted to walk to the 12:35 showing of Lara Croft. The new cinema complex is on the other side of the old market and approximately 2.5 kilometers from the Nine Incense Sticks. Interestingly, it is very near to where we stayed when visiting Siem Reap in 2009. That area was completely different as the main road wasn't even tarred in those days.

The cinema has just three screens but they were immaculately clean for being three years old. By looking I'd have guessed the place had just opened. We saw a number of people entering one of the other movies, but there were just six patrons for ours.

The Major Cineplex is apparently a Thai company. The location is perfect right near the old market so it is accessible for tourists and locals alike.




I enjoyed the reboot of the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider film franchise. As mentioned in yesterday's blog, the original movie with Angelina Jolie was shot right here in Cambodia at the beginning of the millennium. However, the original Lara dates back to a 1996 video-game release. I had to find a screenshot. You've come a long way, baby!

Golden Screen Cinemas

Day 62 - After staying home yesterday, we felt like we should get out today. So, we learned that the final Maze Runner franchise had an 11:05 matinee at the cinemas in Queensbay Mall. It was in Cinema 1, a large one with ATMOS sound.

As we didn't manage to get bus passes this week, we took Uber. It cost about 7.50 Malaysian Ringgit for the 20-minute trip. Splitting US$ 1.93 between two people seemed like a pretty reasonable option.


The cinemas are on the top floor of the mall, as is the company where I ordered my eye glasses.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure was enjoyable. It had zombies, thousands of explosions, a train robbery, and a lot of fight scenes. What more could one want, right?

After it was all over, we returned home in an Uber too. Life is mostly a pleasure.

Screeching Tires and Elephants

Day 30 - After managing to first visit the Queensbay Mall a few weeks ago, I wasn't sure whether we'd have the need to visit again. We have never been fans of mega-malls nor the concept of shopping as a form of entertainment. However, we do like movies and after looking online, we decided that the biggest mall on the island offers the closest venue for cinemas.



We left a bit early for the 11:30 am matinée of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As it was the early show the price for each ticket came to a bit less than $US 2.10. After making the purchase, we had to walk around a bit before Cinema #4 was ready. I stopped in an optical shop as I think I could use a new set of glasses. Progressive, photochromic lenses cost hundreds of dollars whenever purchased. Eyewear, however, seems at least 30% cheaper here than what I'd be able to get at home.



When walking away from the ticket counter I apparently dropped them. When we returned for seating I couldn't find the small pieces of paper. I had the receipt but not the two, small tickets. Fortunately, I must have looked panicked as a fellow asked if I'd lost something. He had returned the tickets to a ticket window and I was able to retrieve them. Imagine me suggesting to Jay that I must have given them to him!

We liked the movie. Carrie Fisher as her daughter's stand-in sort of made me a little queasy, but in general I thought everything fit. Crystal wolves and little birds with big eyes should soon be big sellers in toy departments around the world.

Oh, and on Facebook, I mentioned about occasionally hearing the sound of TIE fighters during the 40 years since the original Star Wars. You see that film was released the summer of our high school graduation. The sound as they rip through the near vacuum of space is memorable (and impossible). After a little searching on the Internet tonight, I found that it was audio mixed from the sound of cars on wet pavement and charging elephants. How cool is that?

Santorini, Greece

Day 25 - With the extra pounds I've put on during this cruise, riding a donkey up to the town of Thira would have been classed as animal cruelty. The cable car wait seemed too long so we walked up.

We didn't celebrate the five month anniversary of Jay's open heart surgery yesterday. So, today marks a new beginning in recovery! My Mi Band has recorded our daily, count between 6 KM on sea days to over 13 KM on several port days. Today, it wasn't the total number as celebration; it was the accomplishment of 900 steps both up and back from the biggest town to the Old Port!

The MS Westerdam dropped anchor inside the water-filled caldera of the ancient volcano. Thira is one of the strips of land that make up a noncontinuous, ring of land.







As soon as we scaled the donkey trail with the multitude of people and animals, we found the public bus station. It cost €1.80 each to ride to Oia (pronounced Eee-ah). It took 35 minutes due to the small, crowded highway. This is the spot that makes all the Greek tourism publications. Two other large cruise ships were at Santorini today and thousands of tourists were swamping the picturesque streets and alleys.







One of my favourite cult movies from the 1980's, featuring Daryl Hannah, was shot in Santorini. Summer Lovers took place here. At last, after thirty years, I got to see the island with my own eyes.

Captivated by 'Dunkirk'

We really liked it when the Landmark Cinemas went in at the New Westminster SkyTrain Station. It was a beautiful half mile walk this morning in the sunshine. Films screened before noon are cheap too.



We also like the recent renovations now that the whole place has the wide, luxury seats. These example seats are in the lobby, but every theatre in the complex has ones just like these. I'm sure that each screen now holds only half as many people as in the past. Watching something is now more comfortable than from our couch at home.