Please Respect the Original Aspect Ratio

 I'm a fan of older works. I love classic film, and I've been trying to watch more older, classic television. But as I've delved more into this, I've been noticing something that sometimes makes things unwatchable for me: the aspect ratio.

When something is remastered, they remaster it to fill the new aspect ratio for televisions today, not how it was shown at original release. Which means the picture is zoomed to fit, and the edges are cut off. It's something that I notice and it drives me crazy. I know the picture is not supposed to look like that, I know that the center of the screen is off. 

This especially drives me crazy when watching comedies. I've been working my way through M*A*S*H, and I've been watching it on streaming, and since it was remastered it's doing that cutoff thing, and I'm missing jokes. Things are now just slightly off screen where the joke doesn't land as much because I can't see all of what is funny!

And watching television shows this century that were made before the 16:9 aspect became standard drives me nuts too. I can tell the picture isn't right even though I haven't seen the picture before! There are people (idiots) online who say they don't like the black bars on the sides of the screen when they're watching a classic movie but I don't care. I don't really notice the dead space because I can see the full picture. 

Give it to me how it was intended! And don't even get me started on remasters that get rid of film grain and finer details, because that is something that also kills me. I'll rant about that another day. Stop this bastardization of the picture! Enough!

cinema, the telly, thoughts

George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" Has Become My New Comfort Music

So, one afternoon, I was looking for something to put on. I was going through the various streaming platforms and found Fantasia. And for all of my Disney love, I'd never actually seen it before. Put it on and really liked it. Then, I knew they had made a new Fantasia in 2000, and I didn't want to do a double feature, but I decided to look up the musical pieces that film used. When I saw George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was used in the piece, and immediately thought "I must listen to this now." 

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earworm, journal

I Did the Long Walk Home Today

Today, on this beautiful fall day, I decided to walk around midtown and do a bit of window shopping and browsing. See some of the holiday collections before the crowds descend on midtown. I hit up Anthropologie, FAO Schwarz, McNally Jackson, Urban Outfitters, and Macy's. While I didn't buy anything, I did take pictures and make a list for the future, cause I will return to some of those stores. Especially to beef up my holiday decor. 

Once I was done doing my browsing and making sure the credit card stayed in the wallet, I decided since it was so nice out, I would just keep walking back towards home. My plan was to just keep walking and when I decided I was done I would go to the nearest subway station and train the rest of the way back. Welp. That did not happen. It was beautiful. A nice, crisp 70 degrees, and nothing but blue skies that it got me singing that melody. So, I just kept walking. Took a detour to Magnolia Bakery to pick up a dessert for tonight, because I deserved to get one. 

This is something that reminds me just how great it is to live in a place where you can walk from your main shopping district all the way to your home. It's something that I don't have the opportunity, or the will, to do a lot. And to have the option to take a bus or train. A walkable city with great access to public transportation, what do you know, it's great to live there! It's something I should do more, especially before winter kicks in and it's not so nice out. 

Though maybe next time it'll be a planned walk, and I'll be wearing sneakers and boots. Those boots were not made for walking over 100 blocks.

journal

The Sportification of Art

Oscar Season is incoming, and while I'm always excited to see all the movies, it's got me thinking about all of the industry that surrounds it. It has turned arts into sports. All of the prognosticating and the betting over the Oscars. How we measure the length of standing ovations at festival. Jockeying over the better Rotten Tomatoes score, both the critic's and the audience's.

And it’s not just movies, it’s music, too. Especially with the fandoms and factions. Trying to use numbers of streams and sales, chart positions, Grammy nominations and wins, and reviews to prove their fave is the best or better than your fave. 

I just hate that the conversation has mirrored how we talk about sports and the "ring culture" over it all. People want the hard data to prove their fave is better, instead of letting any sort of subjectivity in. It turns the whole enterprise of discussing art into a cynical enterprise where we lose why we go to the movies or listen to the music in the first place. To make us feel, let us escape, recognize the commonalities of our lives to those on the screen and in our ears. Can we go cack to talking about the art?

thoughts

We Need the Primetime Soap Back

 People over the last year or so have realized the greatness of the 22 episode, fall-to-spring, yearly television schedule. They are sick of the streaming model of 8 episode seasons with years in between. I've written here before about how I think we need a journalism procedural. But there's another genre of television that I think the public needs: the primetime soap. 

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the telly

Where Are the Original Musicals?

With the Tony Awards this weekend, and looking at the state of the past few Broadway seasons, it's just movie adaptation, after movie adaptation. Jukebox musical after jukebox musical. And I know it's not a new phenomena, but it does feel few and far between that we get a musical that wasn't based on a popular movie or singer. It's just got me asking where are all of the original musicals?

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the theatre, thoughts

The Apple TV Peanuts Selections Are My New Comfort Watches

Obviously, everyone loves Peanuts. A Charlie Brown Christmas is part of our holiday tradition, as well as the Thanksgiving and Halloween specials. I think the rest of the Peanuts canon is just starting to get lost to time, because until Apple TV became their new home, I forgot that there were other television specials and movies featuring our favorite beagle and friends. So when I discovered a bunch of the old Peanuts on Apple TV, I was filled with joy. 

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journal, the telly

I Want to Be Someone Who Lounges in a Park

Spring is finally here! It was such a brutal winter, and I worked outside for all of it, I know who brutal it got. Now that it’s nice to be outside again, we can all go back to the park.

I love going to the park. My preferred form of exercise is walking through the park and finding new paths to take, and new places to sit while I take my breaks just to extend my time outdoors. But, as I go on my walks, I see all these people with their picnic blankets, and books, and whatever else they've got with them to pass the time.  

I wish I could be one of those people. I tried. I bought a very nice picnic blanket that has a very cute patchwork floral pattern. I brought a book with me and my very nice water bottle, found a spot in the shade. But I just could not relax. I kept putting the book down, readjusting my position. In retrospect, I should've brought something to make some sort of pillow, that maybe would've helped that part. But even then, I couldn't relax and turn off the outside world. I felt the same way laying on my blanket in the park the last time I tried to take a bath to relax. 

But it’s something I want to able to do. To turn the brain off and feel the fresh air and take a deep breath. So this season, I’m gonna try to lounge in the park, let go and relax. Maybe pick up some food, bring my book, maybe listen to some music or a podcast, just be.

journal

I Want to Bring Life and Soul Back to Disney

Bob Iger is stepping down as Disney’s CEO, again. (We’ll see if it sticks this time.) Disney is entering a new phase and it feels like they really need to turn the page. All seems to want to do is make Marvel movies, sequels, live action (“live action”) remakes. They’re missing that Disney Magic, and they need to get it back. And I have some ideas. 

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cinema, the telly, thoughts

Sports Broadcasters, Please, Shut Up

With the Australian Open wrapped and the Winter Olympics about to begin, it’s got me thinking. Not just about the athletes and who I want to win, but the broadcasts itself. I know less is more is such a cliché, but I feel like sports broadcasters should really use it as a guiding principle. They do not stop talking!

I know that they have to throw a lot of information at you sometimes. Though I would argue they share too much, sometimes, because some of that stuff could be left to the sports talk shows the next day. But it’s not like the sports talk shows these days are reliable for more than shouting and the same old questions. That’s a rant for another day.

It would be different if they were narrating the action and giving relevant background information or statistics to explain any significance of a game or moment. It just turns into story time, or worse, incessant rambling (*cough* John McEnroe *cough*). To the point where they’re not even talking about the action in front of us. 

I wish they would embrace the art of silence, and letting the action speak for itself. The good thing about sports on television is that we can see what is going on. The TV broadcasters don’t have to narrate everything that happens like radio broadcasters have to so the listeners can follow the action. They can task advantage of us seeing the players and hearing the crowd reaction. Take last year’s French Open final, for example. From my memory of watching it, it felt like the broadcasters laid out, and from time to time Brian Anderson would chime in with something we would need to know or an exclamation after a big moment, but mostly let the drama of that final speak for itself. 

Sol sports broadcasters, sometimes the best way to do your job is to say nothing at all.

sportsball, the telly