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#now why does half of their '4k footage' looks like it was shot with a nokia in 2003
femaleidols · 1 year
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BAHIYYIH /  'I do! Do you?' JK Behind
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shima-draws · 5 years
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Remember that one episode in Gravity Falls where Stan loses a bet to Mabel and does that stan-wrong-dance?? Can you write a drabble where Ford finds the footage pls the imagery is so freaking funny lmao
[[Send me a fandom/ship/prompt and I’ll write a drabble for it!]]
I’M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG BUT I FINALLY FINISHED…I had a total blast writing it tho!!
I kinda took your prompt and went way beyond the original concept anjsakbnda so there’s some angst in here because Stan’s a self-sacrificial idiot and Ford almost loses his shit, but I hope you like it nonetheless :’)
Also this ended up being nearly 4k words so. Yeah. That’s why it took so long LOL but hopefully you got more than what you asked for!
This is also on Archive, if you’d rather read it there!
——————————————————–
Ford is absolutely furious.
Now, he’s no stranger to anger, having fallen victim to it many, many times throughout his life. His bouts of rage usually result in catastrophe if he isn’t careful. A prime example: letting Stan get kicked out of the house forty years ago. Or, when his irritation caused a fight between them that ended up in Stan’s permanently scarred shoulder and his own thirty year trip into the multiverse. It’s never simple and it usually doesn’t end well, especially if Stan happens to be on the other side of the argument.
This time, however, is a bit different.
It’s one thing if his brother has done something to piss him off. It’s another if Stanley does something so unbelievably stupid it scares the absolute shit out of Ford. He doesn’t like being angry. He doesn’t like being angry as a result of him being terrified even more.
And so, he’s taken to pacing in his study, trying to let off some steam. He’d separated himself from Stan after lecturing at him for twenty-five minutes about the very many reasons why Stan shouldn’t have charged right into battle against a particularly violent group of bullasps (an enormous wasp-bull anomaly hybrid, helpfully named by Mabel). Stan had come this close to being pierced by one of their enormous stingers—and if he had, well. The venom they secrete works so quickly Ford doubts he would have been able to do anything about it in time. And that is what had triggered his hysteria.
Mabel sits on one of the oversized chairs in the room, munching on a bag of popcorn. She’d followed him after his frustration had shot through the ceiling, needing to get away before he said anything he’d come to regret. Dipper had stayed behind to admonish Stan further, but not as harshly as Ford originally had.
It’s been almost a year since Ford and Stan left Gravity Falls to travel the world together. They’ve had plenty of arguments and heated late night discussions on board the Stan O’ War II, but they’d never escalated to this level. The two of them hashed out all of their past history and mistakes, and they’ve been attached at the hip ever since—but Stanley’s always had a bit of a reckless steak, and Ford will never admit it, but he’s unbelievably overprotective of his twin, especially after the whole shooting-him-with-a-memory-gun thing. (They try not to talk about that, much, mostly because it makes Ford feel so guilty it brings him to tears, and Stan hates seeing him like that.) This sort of takes the cake for every previous situation where Stan has willingly put himself in danger on their journey out at sea. Ford can’t remember the last time he’s felt so high strung.
“I just can’t believe him,” Ford hisses, his fingers tangled in his hair. His heart is still pounding, fear spiking through his veins and making him as taught as a bowstring. “Out of all the reckless, most monumentally moronic—”
“I know you’re upset, Grunkle Ford, but we took care of it!” Mabel points out, trying to be helpful. She does sound worried, though, if her expression has anything to say about it. “Those things ran right off after I used that cannon to shoot that t-shirt into the woods! Who knew bullasps are actually attracted to red things? I thought regular bulls hated the color red!”
Ford can’t help but smile a bit at her observation. “Actually, regular bulls are red-green colorblind, Mabel. It’s not that they particularly dislike the color red, it’s the action of a matador moving their cape that stimulates hyper aggression in—wait, wait, that’s not the point!” He heaves out a sigh. He turns to her and frowns. “Do you—do you even know why I’m so furious with Stanley right now?”
Mabel makes a funny sound with her mouth, her legs kicking back and forth, and then she answers. “‘Cause he shook his butt at them and told them to shove it where the sun don’t shine?”
Ford groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. Could Stan have any less tact? The children are almost 14 now, but still.
“That’s part of it,” he grumbles. “But it’s his insistence on constantly throwing himself headlong into danger before even considering the consequences of doing so. Stanley is—he’s ridiculously defensive of his family, which isn’t a bad quality to have at all, but…it gets him into unnecessary trouble. A lot.”
Mabel looks truly concerned now, which is good. “Is that why you looked like Dipper in the middle of a Wendy crisis when Grunkle Stan almost got hit by one of those super giant sharp and pointy stingers?”
Ford considers telling her that the venom would have killed Stanley in minutes, but then decides he should probably spare her those morbid details.
“Yes. It would have been…very catastrophic if he’d actually come into contact with one.” Ford slumps, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I’ve come this close to losing him once, I…the mere thought of possibly losing him again, and him ending up somewhere I couldn’t ever possibly reach…”
His throat tightens and he feels pressure building behind his eyelids. Emotion makes his heart feel like it’s being constricted, squeezed tight, and he swallows. He’d gone half his life without his brother and he regrets every single minute he didn’t spend by Stanley’s side. Almost losing him to Bill was a huge wake up call, and Ford’s barely been without him since then.
“So that’s why you’re so frowny,” Mabel chirps. Ford can’t tell if she’s totally oblivious to the seriousness of the situation or if she’s just trying to act upbeat for his sake—but he appreciates it either way. “You were pretty scared for him, huh, Grunkle Ford?”
Ford wipes his eyes and nods wordlessly. In the past he might have brushed her off but he knows better now—his family is the most important thing he has, and confiding in them when times are difficult is usually the best course of action.
The young teen hums thoughtfully, scratching her chin, and then her eyes practically light up.
“Wait, hold on! I have an idea,” she says excitedly. Her smile turns wicked. Oh, no. Ford knows that look. He’s been on the receiving end of it many times before.
“Grunkle Ford, have you seen the Stan Wrong Song?”
Ford tilts his head. “The…what?”
Mabel giggles insanely. “The Stan Wrong Song! It’s a song we forced Grunkle Stan to sing after he lost a bet to me.”
“Stanley lost a bet.”
“Uh-huh!”
“To you.” If Ford didn’t know her so well, he’d think she was lying. It’s extremely hard to believe, knowing how brilliant his twin is in the conning department.
Her grin becomes wider, if that’s even possible. Her braces glint in the dim light. “We bet to see who could make more money—me, taking over Grunkle Stan’s position as a morally ambiguous tour guide, or him on vacation. And I won the bet by a dollar! A dollar, Grunkle Ford!”
“Incredible,” Ford breathes, shaking his head.
“We made him sing it at least thirty-six times,” his nibling tells him. She really could give Stan a run for his money with how mischievous she is.
“Or, wait, maybe it was thirty-eight? Anyway, it was a whole lot! We were all singing it for weeks. The power of catchy made up songs prevailed! Grunkle Stan says he hates it, but I hear him singing it in the bathroom sometimes when he thinks I can’t hear him!”
The older man chuckles at that, amused.
“Anyway,” Mabel sing-songs. “Since Grunkle Stan was a dumb-dumb and almost got speared today and scared the bejeebers out of all of us, I think this is a good opportunity to bust that video out and give him a good ol’ dose of shame!”
“You truly are a peculiar girl, Mabel,” Ford says in wonder.
The brunette beams at this, her smile almost blinding.
“Come on,” she says, grabbing his wrist. Her grip is surprisingly strong, and so is the way she tugs him along with her. “It’s payback time! Revenge tastes sweet, like gummy worms!”
——————————————————–
Ten minutes later they’re seated together in the living room, prepared for the show. Mabel has already plugged her phone into the TV, which can broadcast anything she wants, thanks to a helpful little device Fiddleford had made for the family a while back. (It definitely helped when Ford wanted to show off all the videos he’d taken while he and Stan were out at sea on a larger screen for the whole family to watch.)
Stan is nowhere to be seen—which Ford supposes is a good sign as any. He’d rather not have Stan confiscate Mabel’s phone before Ford even gets to watch whatever the young girl is intent on showing him. Dipper’s probably still keeping watch over Stan, so that’s reassuring. He’s sure that there’s nobody more capable of watching his twin, except maybe Soos.
Mabel is practically vibrating in her seat, posture tense with excitement, and Ford fidgets. He’s honestly not sure what to expect—but when the video finally loads and the first thing he sees is Stan in a neon orange track suit covered with sparkles, Ford blinks in shock. He definitely didn’t expect that.
His twin looks like he’d rather be chased by a horrendous monster of the deep than perform in front of the camera, and the deadpan expression on his face has Ford releasing an amused snort.
Stan glances offscreen, gruff and irritated. “Ugh, l-look, I’m not gonna—”
Mabel’s voice interjects before he can finish protesting. “Do it!”
Stan begins to bounce as a song plays in the background. He looks so goofy doing it that Ford starts to giggle a little, the stress of the day rolling off his shoulders.
“I’m Stan and I was wrong.” Stan sings, dryly, with all the emotion of a desert cactus. “I’m singing the Stan Wrong Song.”
Something in Ford breaks, then—and he’s laughing, incredulously, sort of struck dumb by the whole situation. Mabel sniggers beside him. Stan starts to swing his arms, and Ford wheezes. His brother looks so foolish. Ford is absolutely reveling in it. (He’s so using this for blackmail material later.)
“I shouldn’t have taken that chance. Now here’s my remorseful dance,” Stan finishes, pouty and clearly embarrassed.
“Do the kicks!” Mabel’s voice calls out again, and Stan makes a feeble attempt at performing a kick, to which she demands them to be “Jazzier!”
It’s when Gompers comes in and starts a tug of war match with Stan that’s one for the history books that Ford loses it completely. The entire thing is just so wild and hysterical that he can’t help it, clutching at his side as he laughs and laughs and laughs. The video resets, going back to the beginning, and Ford happily sits through it again.
By the time the video loops for the fifth round Ford is howling with laughter, nearly bowled over by the force of it. His side has a stitch and it hurts and he’s pretty sure he’s crying but he can’t stop, too overwhelmed at the hilarity of his brother in a sparkly suit singing a song clearly meant to humiliate him—and maybe it’s the fact that Stan had had another close brush with death earlier and the built up tension from the incident that has him letting it all out through his chortles. Mabel is giggling madly beside him—whether she’s laughing at Stan or laughing at him laughing at Stan is unclear, but it’s contagious, and Ford can’t stop smiling.
God, how utterly ridiculous this all is. He loves his family.
The video is on its eighth loop and Ford is pretty sure he’s going to pass out from lack of oxygen when Stan bursts into the room, his eyes wide. Dipper follows close behind.
“What’s going on in—Ford?!”
Stan rushes over to him, his face drawn up in concern, and Ford’s heart melts a little. He might still be angry at his twin for scaring him half to death, but really, Stan’s mother hen tendencies never fail to make him smile.
“Ford—Jesus, you’re cryin’, Sixer! What the hell happened?”
Ford giggles and wipes the tears from his eyes, struggling to get his breathing back under control. “I’m—ahaha! I’m fine, Stanley.”
“With all the noise you were making, I thought you were dying,” Stan says with a worried frown. “It sounded like you were in pain or—”
Ford playfully rolls his eyes and nudges him in the shin with his foot.
“Now you know how I feel.”
Once he finally settles down, and when Mabel’s tittering fades, Stan finally registers the video playing behind him. His face immediately goes ash white, his expression quickly morphing into one of utter horror, and if Ford weren’t so wiped out by nearly laughing his ass into unconsciousness he’d probably start doing it again.
Dipper sees what they’re watching and he snorts, covering his mouth to hide any further giggles from coming out.
"Mabel, pumpkin?”
Mabel is the picture of pure innocence, her smile sickly sweet. “Yes, Grunkle Stan?”
“Either I’m having memory issues again or I swear I made you promise me in confidence that you would never ever show this video to Ford,” Stan says, slowly. His grin is wide and almost terrifying. If Ford didn’t know how much Stan loves Mabel he would have thought his twin was seriously considering strangling her. “And what did you do?”
“I showed the video to Ford,” Mabel says, looking shameful. She twirls a piece of long brown hair around her finger. Ford chokes back a bark of laughter at how well she’s pulling this off.
“Don’t be too hard on her, Stan,” Ford soothes in an attempt to curb his brother’s embarrassment. “She was only trying to help.”
Stan simply pouts, and suddenly all Ford can see is a young boy, cheeks bright red from the sun, childishly complaining about having to wear glasses because he thinks it’ll make him look like a nerd. Something warm blooms inside Ford’s chest and he bites his cheek, trying not to get lost in the memory of their childhood.
“How is this helping anything,” Stan mumbles, his cheeks flushing a charming shade of pink.
“It’s teaching you some humility,” Ford states, crossing his arms. “Maybe you should sing it again, Stanley.”
“What?!” His twin barks in outrage.
“He does have a point, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper provides helpfully from where he’s now lounging on the couch with Mabel. The video continues to loop, much to Stan’s chagrin. “You did do something wrong today.”
“Wh—are you still on about that? My god,” Stan groans, throwing his head back. “I was trying to be, ya know, heroic! Live up to my title.”
Ford is tempted to kick him again, but harder. His glare makes the other man wilt slightly.
“You already live up to your title, Stan,” Ford points out. “You don’t have to throw yourself in front of a beast with a toxicity level of 94 percent to prove that.”
“94? Holy crow, that’s high,” Dipper squeaks.
“You’ve already saved the world and paid the price for it once,” Ford continues. He slumps a bit in his chair, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to him. “Please, Stan, you have to understand—there’s no point in trying to protect us if we lose you in the process. It’s just…just…” And he shakes his head, frustrated that he can’t put it into words properly.
“Okay, alright,” Stan says sheepishly, edging closer to where he’s sitting. “I get it. I didn’t mean to scare ya. It’s just habit for me to be self-sacrificial at this point.”
“That’s a terrible habit!” Mabel accuses.
“She’s right,” Ford mumbles. “If you hadn’t…if that stinger had come into contact, you would have…and then I…I…” He chokes up, his eyes watering. His heart clenches painfully, fear making his body feel like it’s encased in ice. “If I lost you…”
“Hey, easy there on the waterworks, Poindexter,” Stan teases lightly. He holds his hands out in a pacifying gesture. “I’m fine, see? Still in one piece. Mostly.”
“This isn’t funny, Stanley! How can you still refuse to comprehend—ugh!”
Ford is nearly tearing his hair out in frustration now, his teeth grinding together. Seriously, how can his brother still be such an idiot? He thought the lecturing and the clear distress the rest of the family is expressing would be enough to make Stan realize, but—
Stan folds his arms, huffing, and Ford notes that his face is coloring again. Mabel and Dipper gaze at him curiously, and before Ford can question his twin, Stan releases a soft, irritated noise from his throat.
“I’m Stan and I was wrong,” Stan mutters.
Ford blinks in shock.
The other man sighs, a deep-sounding one that slackens his posture. “I’m singing…the Stan Wrong Song.”
Mabel makes a high-pitched keen of excitement, and Dipper grins. Ford almost falls right out of his chair.
He isn’t sure what’s more surprising—Stan willingly putting his pride on the line, or begrudgingly singing about his mistake in front of the family, who he knows are more than capable of holding this against him.
“I shouldn’t have taken that chance…”
Stan edges closer until he’s standing over Ford, his cheeks the color of a ripe apple.
“I’m sorry, okay? Now will you please forgive me already?”
Something lodges itself in Ford’s throat, and his whole body feels as if it’s being flooded with warmth. Even after all this time, Stan still puts his want for Ford’s forgiveness over everything else. His heart glows.
“Stanley…”
“Don’t gimme that look,” Stan grumbles, refusing to meet his eyes.
The older twin beams and launches himself out of his chair, scooping his brother up in a hug.
“Wh—Ford?!”
Ford nuzzles happily into Stan’s hair, grinning wide.
“Thank you, Stanley.”
“What! You cannot leave me out of this family hug action!” Mabel cries, leaping off the couch to run over and throw her arms around her Grunkles’ legs.
“Squeeeeze!” She says, squeezing them tight. Ford laughs jubilantly and Stan rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile that refuses to go away on his face.
Mabel presses her nose into Stan’s leg for a moment, and then she looks over her shoulder at Dipper.
“Come on, Dippin Dots, you know you want in on this!”
Dipper rolls his eyes but slides off the couch nonetheless, coming over to circle them before ending up beside Ford in the group hug.
The young girl starts giggling, a happy, wonderful sound that makes Ford’s heart swell like a balloon. He feels all sorts of fuzzy, the euphoria of being with the people he loves the most—and with his twin, his other half, the person who almost gave his life for him today—making him burst into merry laughter as well. Soon enough Dipper joins them, and finally, Stan is roped into it, their laughter too contagious to ignore.
When they finally all calm down, Ford nudges his head against Stan’s temple. So maybe he’s feeling a bit clingy now, so what?
“Next time you do something like that again I will sneak horrifying body-altering concoctions into your coffee,” Ford tells him way too cheerfully for someone who’s threatening possible disfiguration.
“Yikes, Sixer. What sort of crap did you learn how to do on the other side of that portal?”
“I know how to disembody someone in a total of 103 unique ways,” Ford responds brightly while he rubs his cheek against Stan’s shoulder, hiding a grin into his shirt.
Much to his delight, Stan stiffens beneath him, and Ford almost laughs.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Stan gruffs, patting him on the back. He pauses. “…Again.”
“Hey,” Dipper playfully elbows Stan. “Grunkle Stan, you didn’t finish.”
Mabel’s entire face lights up, and her smile is blinding—and devilish. “Oh, that’s right! You didn’t finish, Grunkle Stan! You have to commit to it all the way!”
Stan looks down at them, puzzled. He tries to squirm out of Ford’s hold but Ford just hums and hugs him tighter, his forehead pressing against the man’s shoulder.
Stan promptly gives up on getting free (because he knows from experience once Ford starts clinging it’s all over). Instead, he addresses the younger twins with an air of confusion.
“What are you gremlins going on about? Finish what?”
“Your song, silly!” Mabel chirps.
Dipper nods, his smirk matching his sister’s. “Yeah, you didn’t sing the entire thing. Or even do the dance! That was a pretty lackluster performance if you ask me.”
Stan’s face draws up in horror. “Oh, no.”
Ford leans back, but doesn’t detach himself from their interwoven limbs. Giving Stan another dose of shame, as Mabel put it, sounds thrilling right about now.
“You know, they do have a point,” he says, pretending to mull it over. He can’t stop grinning. “I’d love to see the most recent rendition of the Stan Wrong Song, from start to finish. Wouldn’t you, kids?”
“Abso-lutely!” Mabel almost screams. “I’ll have to go get my camera!”
Dipper nods, a hand on his chin. “Oh, yes, yes. Gotta have it.”
“You are the worst,” Stan hisses, his entire face matching the color of Ford’s sweater.
Ford laughs for the millionth time that day, his body feeling lighter than air.
——————————————————–
After that, they make him sing it a total of seven times before finally giving mercy. Stan swears he’s never going to do anything super dangerous again until he does two days later. Then the whole process repeats. LMAO
I can never get enough of Pines family fluff it makes me weak in the knees and oh so happy
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wedragontech-blog · 5 years
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Why you need to travel with tech
hey guys this is Austin and today we're going on an adventure so a meme reached out and want to sponsor a video on their Powerbank Pro I felt like what better way of showing it off than to give you guys a sneak peek at the kind of travel Tecna we take with us with 10,000 milliamp hours of capacity this is going to have plenty of juice to power all of our devices during the trip and it does common a pretty small and sleek form factor unlike some other larger battery banks this is gonna be easy to fit in your pocket easy to fit in a bag no problem so as you'd expect.
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It's straightforward to use we have a full sized USB a port to charge your devices the power bank itself is charged with a USB C port and you do have a little battery indicator here to see how much charge your battery bank has the main power bank also comes with this USB a cable to USB C so you just plug it in you can charge your devices this way but if you don't have something that charges with USB C you just pop off this little end here you're also going to be getting micro USB and of course you can't leave without making sure your phone is charged so the power bank Pro has enough juice to charge something like the pixel two two and a half times and it does support a full 18 watts of output so something like the pixel is going to be easy to fast charge alright that's enough talk let's get out of here and actually will show the travel tank that's what you came for right so the first things we do want any trip is well spend time on a plane and what better way to do that then with a Nintendo switch so not only is it great for a little bit of two-player and Mario Kart but of course 
The mi power bank is able to fully charge it no problem just keep in mind that you can't fast charge the switch and I will have you know that I would have won the mario kart match if it weren't for Ken not actually shooting the video you know it's kinda hard to play with one hand and shoot with the other and yes these are excuses in fact now because we're just up here for about 24 hours and we're shooting a couple videos I'm traveling pretty light so in addition to the camera we're shooting with right now I also have my Sony rx100 it was that's about this guy is that even though it's a tiny little pocket ball camera we're actually still getting some pretty nice looking for K video so this camera also has its fair bit of trade-offs like for example it only records for five minutes and 4k which obviously I'd like for that to be longer but also it doesn't have the greatest battery life of the world which is where something like the V power bank comes in the main camera we're using today though is the sony a6000 now in a lot of ways you can think of this as the bigger brother to the rx100 so not only do we have an interchangeable lens we're also getting a proper microphone input and importantly a much bigger super 35 sensor however we actually forgot to charge the batteries so the new power bank about to come in handy.
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I should've the Jimin I'm gonna plug your camera in right now now I can legitimately say that me is literally powering this video of course no travel is complete without a smartphone which is where the iPhone 10 comes in so this is my daily driver right now and for the most part I've been pretty happy however both Kay and I are also rocking the Google pixel - I like the pixel - whereas Ken's rocking the XL but we both use it for pretty much the same reason the camera is absolutely the best you can get on a smartphone right now so what are the things I've been doing recently is taking thumbnails for YouTube using the pixel - and this is gonna be the one for this video so after a day of shooting the next step is to bring the footage back and actually start editing so our weapon of choice here is going to be the 2016 MacBook Pro 
I actually never really updated to the newer one but this is sort of our mobile workstation as you can see the desk is a little bit of a mess thanks - well all the stuff we need including dongles and SSDs to edit off of one of the most important things is going to be our headphones so talked about these in many videos before but these are the status CB ones and especially when you're editing on like planes and hotel rooms and all over the place it's nice to have a good pair of headphones that you know you can trust especially when you're editing footage that was shot in a park in Chinatown and on a plane it's nice to actually know that your audio is not going to be terrible so that is everything that is in our travel bag now of course you shout out to me for sponsoring this video if he has one she got the Powerbank Pro for yourselves the links will be in the description over on Amazon now you might be wondering why am i riding this incredibly stylish scooter well this is the me electric scooter and they actually gave me one to another check out for this video but also to give away for you guys this is really cool because none are you getting 18 miles of range on this guy but it's also convenient if you need to take it for a little trip for example I know ken takes this back and forth around work all the time and what's cool is if you want to actually travel with it it's simple just undoing this one thing and then it'll clip together right here and you just pick it up and walk around with it like this it's pretty lightweight so just like with the Powerbank pro you can check out a link to this guy on Amazon in the description and I do have one extra to give away to you guys to enter all you do is just leave the word scooter in a comment in this video and two weeks I'm going to randomly select one and send you guys a scooter 
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aion-rsa · 3 years
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Werner Herzog On Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe…from Earth
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
There may be nothing more pleasing than watching a room full of scientists erupt in glee as the probe they spent hurtling into space years prior finally touches down on a moving object in the farthest reaches of space. The information and material that the probe will send back can hopefully answer questions of the universe we’ve been trying to ask since the beginning of our existence. Since before humans even walked the earth, however, the dark blanket of the sky has been depositing meteors to our world that hold important answers of the unknown.
The new Apple TV+ documentary Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds by the filmmaking team of Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer takes a look at the history of meteors falling to Earth, and the impact they have on both science and our cultural roots. We spoke with Werner and Clive to discuss the importance of documenting these phenomena and the process of bringing it to audiences in an informational, entertaining package.
DEN OF GEEK: In these types of projects, obviously you want to be able to teach people and show them something they may not know; but is there a need to balance wanting to feed your own curiosities as well? 
Werner Herzog: It’s only curiosity. If we wanted to teach somebody, we would be teachers. But it was always clear we must not be didactic. This has to be entertaining, there has to be that excitement of science. It has to be the awe of what we are seeing, then we are on the right track.
Clive Oppenheimer: It’s show business. And cinema.
But in the same breath, obviously we’re in a time right now where science is somehow under attack, it’s more important that we get these things out there for people.
Clive Oppenheimer: I think with the attack on science, this is probably unstoppable and it serves various agendas and vested interests. You know in some ways I’ve seen it, I’ve seen how it operates, and I think we just have to set this aside. We know what we’re about and we know what we’re trying to do with these films. Above all, it’s to make hopefully a lasting piece of art, which brings together music, cinematography, and extraordinary people and locations and ideas of the human imagination.
Talking about cinematography specifically, I think it’s interesting that there’s so much more being captured now because people have cameras in their hands all the time. It’s so interesting to know that we’re catching these physical occurrences like the meteor in Russia because there’s a whole country of people worried about insurance fraud and using dash cams. 
Werner Herzog: Well, in Russia it’s not insurance fraud. The police would try to extort money from you, stopping you saying you ran the traffic light and extort money. But that all dates back to Yeltsin’s time when police were not properly paid, when pensions were not paid, when school teachers were not paid. So it was a time of catastrophe for Russia. That’s over, but the dashboard cameras remained in the cars. You see them everywhere. 
We were lucky that an event like this was filmed. We were asked by some people who were interested to be in production if we had footage. Yes, but we need this kind of footage in 4k and all there is are such lousy videos from Russian dashboards. And I said, fine, let’s sit with a camera for 800,000 years on Mount Rushmore… maybe we will be sponsored by someone [laughter]. Of course, it’s very fortunate that we have this dash cam footage.
Obviously, the empirical evidence that someone is looking for is coming from these objects as they are studied. But I’m wondering if there are also comparisons that can be made from actual meteors to the space junk that may have fallen back into orbit.
Clive Oppenheimer: I mean, space junk is…I would see this as quite a different kind of phenomenon. There are now archaeologists studying space junk, which I find very, very interesting in itself. But with meteorites we’re looking at things that are four and a half billion years old. So, you know, reaching back to the earliest times of the solar system indeed there are even presolar grains into stellar grains that date before the formation of our own services and that are found in some of these meteorites. 
We’re reaching way, way back in time and we’re also looking at objects that have had, and have huge cultural significance for us. One of the earliest recorded falls of a meteorite was in Japan 1200 years ago. The stone is now a relic in a Shinto temple in Nōgata, Japan. Every five years it’s processed through the streets and this fascinates me just as much as the revelation that they’re carbonaceous meteorites full of amino acids and sugars and other organic molecules. So it’s a very rich topic to dig into.
In regards to the organic molecules, when it came to Jon Larsen’s micro meteorites, I remember him saying that they’ve never found one that was exactly like the other. Or that the compounds found in each one never repeat; but in essence, somewhere that has to be something that broke up and split apart…there has to be another one out there to compare it to right?
Werner Herzog: Because I think some of them were always dust, and only at some time in the history of the universe– billions of years ago–they coagulated to solid larger bodies of metal. And I think about what Jon Larsen, the jazz musician turned scientist says, “Dust is the currency of the cosmos.” Some of them never break up; they were always only dust. And that’s the currency of the cosmos
Obviously, it’s going to be easier to study something that lands on a certain type of terrain, but I’m surprised we didn’t hear a lot about something that possibly may have been found under the ocean, or that created craters in the ocean itself. Are those existent?
Clive Oppenheimer: Yes, almost certainly. If you think about just the probability of where a stone is going to land, most of them are falling in the oceans. And so for sure there will be the down there, but you’ve also got to think of the size of a stone that is going to leave a crater on the ocean floor if it’s traveling through two miles of ocean.
Werner Herzog: You can say that you wouldn’t see anything, but of course in the Yucatan Peninsula you have a crater that’s 200 kilometers in diameter. Part of it is in the ocean, which I think didn’t exist like that before, 65 million years ago. 
Clive Oppenheimer: Interestingly, the micrometeorites –  this cosmic dust that Jon Larsen looks for on roofs of sports arenas and elsewhere – this was first discovered in the late 19th century during what’s regarded as the first oceanographic research cruise. They dredged up sediments from the deep Pacific, and they found these little spherical particles which they realize were extraterrestrial. They’re there because they’re in areas of very, very low sedimentation from the continents that are a long way from where erosion is washing land sediments to the seabed. So they concentrated there. 
They’re found as well in the icing remote parts of Antarctica. The remarkable thing that Jon Larsen did was he said, “Well, this dust must be everywhere. It must also be in car parks in New York City and on the roofs of shopping malls. I’m going to have to sift through an awful lot of bird excrement, but I’ll find it.” He spent five years doing that till he found his first particle but now he’s got thousands of them and found out how to discriminate between them. It’s extraordinary, it’s a whole new branch of science.
Did you look into anything interesting that didn’t make it into the film?
Werner Herzog: We have something that made it halfway into the film, and that’s a black stone in Mecca, the holiest site of the Muslim world. Neither Clive nor I are Muslims – we’re not allowed to set foot into the city of Mecca. Of course we respect this, and we tried to organize with this young, very gifted Saudi filmmaker who had filmed before in Mecca. We gave him very precise instructions, there’s a wonderful shot in the film, but we have it only for three seconds. We needed it for 30 seconds but he never got the full permits to do it and we were already into editing. So, if we had to rely on cell phone footage, which was shot by one of the pilgrims.
Clive Oppenheimer: There’s nothing in the way of something being left out of the film but there are other topics (I would have liked to cover). There’s the whole year of asteroid mining; of going out there and coming back with rare earth elements and precious metals. And there are outfits that are seriously looking into the logistics of that. There’s a Japanese company that does – let’s say you know you really want a fancy wedding, well why not have a meteor shower for the reception? So they are dropping little bits of dust from satellites to make your very own meteor shower.
Werner Herzog: Sand falling to create a meteor shower for the bride [laughter].
Clive Oppenheimer: I’d have loved it if we could have done that.
Werner Herzog: The Japanese have the most wonderful, spectacular idea when it comes to that. 
Clive Oppenheimer: Great for the premiere of the movie.
What is your dynamic like when you enter into these projects? Do you approach it as Clive having a certain expertise and that Werner is kind of acting in our place as the novice – to ask the questions the audience may have?
Clive Oppenheimer: We work very closely and we’re in frequent contact throughout the pre-production, as we’re thinking about locations and crew, and during the editing. But we bring different skills to it and I think for me it’s neither a disadvantage or an advantage that I don’t have a training in fine arts or in filmmaking. So I can say, or suggest possibly outrageous ideas, and generally with Werner they don’t meet with negative reactions. Werner also has a very different approach.
Werner Herzog: The beauty of life is that I never had any training in fine arts and filmmaking either. I never went to film school.
That may be true, but so many people revere your films. And even though you are still making narrative films, a lot of people now know you for these documentaries. 
Werner Herzog: It’s an abomination because much of my documentary filmmaking is feature films in disguise. And what will remain of what I have done will be two things. The book that I have written–the prose texts is one thing. Like, Conquest of the Useless or, Of Walking in Ice. Then there are the feature films; Aguirre: The Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, or Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans…anyway.
There are still throngs of younger audiences now who just know your voice from various cartoons you’ve lent it to (American Dad, Rick and Morty), and of course because of things like The Mandalorian. It’s almost like you’re creating another version of yourself. 
Werner Herzog: No, it’s not another version of myself, It’s just me doing professional work. I’m a professional man and I do what I’m good at. I would never be in a film as an actor in a romantic comedy. See, I gotta play the badass.
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Clive Oppenheimer: I’ve lost sleep, you know, ever since I saw him in Jack Reacher. That was terrifying.
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday. Nov. 13.
The post Werner Herzog On Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe…from Earth appeared first on Den of Geek.
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pogueman · 6 years
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The tiny, 4K Mavic Air crushes other DJI drones
yahoo
Every consumer product goes through three stages of life. It’s invented; it’s improved and adjusted; and, finally, it becomes a commodity. There’s not a lot of innovation anymore in microwave ovens, ceiling fans, or toilets — they’ve pretty much stopped morphing. They’ve reached the third stage, their ultimate incarnations.
Drones, love ‘em or hate ‘em, are still in the second stage: They’re rapidly changing direction, gaining features, finding out what they want to be. It’s an exciting period in this category’s life, because new models come out fast, each better and more interesting than the last.
For proof, just look at the Chinese company DJI, the 800-pound gorilla of drones. It releases a new drone or two every single year.
They’ve just introduced a drone called the Mavic Air ($800). It’s so small and smart, it makes you wonder why anyone would buy the 2016 Mavic Pro, which costs $200 more — but it’s not what you’d call perfect.
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The new Mavic Pro is incredibly tiny, stable, and lightweight.
  Meet the Air
The 15-ounce Mavic Air is small — and that’s huge. It folds up for travel: its four arms collapse against the body to make the whole thing small enough to fit into a coat pocket, about 6.5 inches by 3.5 inches by 2 inches. (The top two arms swing horizontally, as you’d expect. The bottom two, though, are hinged in two dimensions: They fold downward and inward, and you have to remember to do those before you do the upper arms. You’ll figure it out.)
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The Mavic Air’s arms fold up.
Of course, there are plenty of small drones — but not in this league. The Mavic Air, for example, can capture gorgeous 4K video. And its camera is on a three-axis gimbal for stabilization; the video looks like it was shot from a tripod even when the drone was being buffeted by 20 mph winds, as you can see in the video above.
The box includes the drone, a remote control (it uses your smartphone as its screen), a battery, a charger, a set of propeller guards for indoor flying, and a spare set of propellers (in crashes, they’re the first to go).
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The Mavic Air comes with four propeller guards for indoor flight, 1 battery, a case, spare propellers and a charger.
The Mavic Air is also smarter than any sub-$1,000 drone DJI has ever made. It has depth-sensing cameras on three sides — forward, down, and backward (that’s new) — so that it can avoid collisions automatically in those directions.
Like most drones, this one has an automatic Return to Home feature that kicks in whenever the battery is getting low or if it loses the signal with the remote control. (You can also call it home with one button press whenever you’re just feeling anxious.) Thanks to the cameras underneath, this thing lands exactly where it took off — within a few inches.
The competitive landscape
The Mavic Air’s primary competition comes from two other DJI drones. Here’s the rundown:
Mavic Pro (2016 model, $1,000). Twice the size of the Air. Folding arms. 4K video. “27 minutes” of flight per charge (in the real world, 22 minutes). Front and bottom collision avoidance. Remote control included with built-in screen (no phone necessary). Very few palm control gestures (see below).
Mavic Air (2018 model, $800 — the new one). Folds up. 4K video. “21 minutes” per charge (more like 18). Front, bottom, and back collision avoidance. Remote control folds up tiny — even the joysticks unscrew and store inside the body, for even smaller packing. Has the most palm gestures of the three drones — and the most reliable palm gestures. 8 GB of internal storage for video and stills, so you can still record if you don’t have a micro SD card on you. Another $200 buys you a “Fly More” kit that includes two extra batteries, an ingenious folding four-battery charger, and even more spare props.
Spark (2017 model, $400). The smallest body of all, but its arms don’t fold, so it winds up being bigger for travel. 1080p video. “18 minutes” per charge (more like 11). Front and bottom collision avoidance. Remote control is an extra purchase ($120); uses your phone as a screen. Responds to hand gestures, but not reliably.
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The Spark may look smaller than the Mavic Air, but remember that it doesn’t fold up.
True, the Mavic Pro gets a little more flight per battery. And there’s an even more expensive model, the $1,100 Mavic Pro Platinum, that gets “30” minutes per charge.
(Do those seem like incredibly short flights? Yup. But that’s drones for you. As it is, a modern drone is basically a flying frame designed to haul its own battery around.)
But in my book, the Air’s tiny size is far more important than the marginally greater battery life. As the old saying doesn’t go, “The best drone is the drone you have with you.”
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Only the front “arms” have landing gear (the white thing), which fold up for travel.
In-flight entertainment
You can fly the Mavic Air in three ways.
First, you can use the included remote control. If you insert your smartphone into its grippers and connect the little cord, you get a number of perks — like actual joysticks, which make the drone much easier to fly than using the phone alone. The remote also has a dial at the outer corner for adjusting the camera’s tilt in flight, as well as a switch for Sport mode, which unlocks the drone’s top speed of 42 mph (by turning off the obstacle-avoidance features).
The remote also gives the drone a much greater range. It uses a Wi-Fi connection to the drone, instead of the proprietary radio connection of the Mavic Pro. DJI says that still gives you 2.4 miles of range, but I say baloney; even in the middle of the Texas desert, you’ll be lucky to get half that distance. It doesn’t really matter, though, since Federal Aviation Administration rules say you can’t fly a drone out of sight. (Speaking of the FAA: You don’t need a license to fly the Mavic Air as a hobby, but you do need to register the drone itself. And if you intend to fly it professionally — this means you, wedding videographers, filmmakers, construction firms, realtors, police, and farmers — you have to get permission from the FAA.)
The second way to fly the drone is using your smartphone. It works, but you get a much shorter range (about 250 feet), and it’s harder; DJI’s app has become one super-crowded, complex piece of software.
The third way: using hand gestures. The drone must be facing you at all times, and it has to remain pretty close to you, so this trick is primarily useful for positioning it for “dronies” (selfies from the air). Keep in mind that you also need the phone app with you, though, to turn on the palm-control mode.
You stand with your arm out, palm forward, in a “Stop! In the name of love!” pose. Now, you can “drag” your hand up, down, or around you; the drone follows as though connected to your palm by a magnet. It’s the next best thing to The Force.
New, two-handed gestures let you push the drone farther away or pull it closer to you. And you can now make the drone land by pointing your palm toward the ground and waiting.
In the previous model, the Spark, those palm gestures were super iffy; sometimes they worked, sometimes not. The Mavic Air makes them far more reliable, although I never got the new “take off from the ground” gesture working.
As in other DJI drones, the Mavic Air can follow you as you ski, bike, drive, or run (it tracks you optically — you don’t have to have the remote control on you). Unlike earlier ones, this one doesn’t just hover when it encounters an obstacle; it actually attempts to fly around the obstacle and keep going.
How’s it look?
“4K” may be a buzzword, but it doesn’t automatically mean “great picture”; it could refer to 4,000 pixels’ worth of ugly blotch.
The Mavic Air contains the same tiny camera sensor as the Spark and the Mavic Pro. The footage and stills generally look terrific — anything shot from the air is automatically kind of stunning, and the Air uses more data (100 Mbps) to record data than the Pro does.
Unfortunately, this sensor is still fairly disastrous when it comes to dynamic range. That is, it tends to “blow out” bright areas and “muddy up” dark areas. Alas, those are things you get a lot of when you’re shooting from the sky.
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  The Mavic Air’s footage is often marred by blown-out highlights (sun, left) and goopy, murky shadows (people, right).
The Air can also do half-speed slow motion (in 1080p, not 4K), and take high-dynamic range photos (not videos).
All of these drones offer preprogrammed flight patterns, called QuickShots, that make great 10-second videos, incorporating flight maneuvers and camera operations that would be incredibly difficult to do yourself.
For example, the one called Circle makes the drone fly around you, keeping the camera pointed toward you the whole time; Helix makes the drone spiral out and away from you; and so on. There are two new ones: Boomerang flies a grand oval around you, up/out and back. Asteroid combines a flight up and away, with a spherical panorama. On playback, the video is reversed, so that it seems to start with a whole planet earth viewed from space, as the camera rushes down toward you. Here, have a look.
But it’s small
Like all drones in this price range, the Mavic Air is complicated and sometimes frustrating. It does a lot of beeping at you, it’s still full of options that are “not available now” for one reason or another, and it still doesn’t come with a printed instruction manual.
And yeah, someday, we’ll look back and laugh at an $800 drone that flies for only 18 minutes.
But you can’t buy a dream drone that doesn’t exist. And among the ones that do, the Mavic Air is ingeniously designed, impressively rugged, and incredibly small. Its features beat the cheaper DJI Spark in every category — and even the more expensive Mavic Pro in almost every category.
In other words, if you’re the kind of person considering a drone, the Mavic Air strikes a new sweet spot on the great spectrum of drones, somewhere between beginner and pro, between tiny and luggage-sized, between cheap and pricey. Invest as much time learning it as you’ve invested in buying it, and you’ll be flying high.
David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You can sign up to get his stuff by email, here.  
Read more:
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One thing you can’t say about Alien: Covenant is that it didn’t spark conversation. While filmmaker Ridley Scott’s Prometheus follow-up amassed a somewhat divisive response among fans, it certainly posed a lot of fascinating questions for folks to argue over. So it’s a good thing the Blu-ray release of Alien: Covenant includes a full audio commentary from Scott, along with plenty of other bonus features that dive deep into the conception and making of the film.
Scott’s commentary for Covenant is, somewhat disappointingly, a bit of a mixed bag. There are times when he spends a bit too much time discussing things that are obvious to the viewer, but it ends up being a worthwhile listen for the insights he does give. He addresses some of the criticisms, from the scientists touching things to the particulars of A.I. anatomy, while also offering some great insight into some of the decisions he made and the backstory of the characters. It’s clear in the commentary, as in the film, that Scott is really interested in Michael Fassbender’s David, and there’s a lot of time spent discussing the philosophy of A.I. and the characters of David and Walter.
But the Blu-ray has even more to offer, as a nearly hourlong series of featurettes called Master Class – Ridley Scott go deep behind the scenes of the conception and making of the film, with interviews with Scott, the cast, and writer John Logan. There’s a lot of great stuff to be found there, especially for cinephiles, but for now I’ve put together a list of some of the more glaring insights that Scott offers on his audio commentary below:
Ridley says David wasn’t an A.I. that was an embryo and grew up—when we see him in the prologue, he’s freshly “born.”
David realizes in the prologue that his creator has limitations (i.e. will die), and when Peter asks him to pour him tea after David points out that Peter will die, it was a challenge—his first “order” to David. Scott says that David’s choice to pour the tea immediately, with no reaction, shows that he’s political, and therefore dangerous. He’s biding his time and choosing his actions wisely.
The opening title font, information about the ship, and even the score all harken back to the original Alien directly after the prologue.
Scott says the nail necklace represents the idea of the cabin on the lake that Katherine Waterston and James Franco’s character’s planned to build.
There’s no random choice in the crew members—they all had to earn their spots on the ship.
Danny McBride’s character was inspired by Slim Pickens, down to the hat. Scott calls him his hat tip to Stanley Kubrick’s Strangelove.
The holodeck on the Covenant is meant to be an evolution of the holodeck from Prometheus.
Scott says on the set of Alien his actors would get fussy with him about not having any backstory or motivation beyond surviving the titular menace, so Scott sat down and wrote a page of backstory for each character.
In the original script, Shaw’s transmission was a prayer. But Scott felt it was corny and instead changed it to the John Denver song because of its purity and focus on loneliness, despite not actually being a big John Denver fan himself.
Scott acknowledges the plot point of receiving a transmission and going to its source is from the original Alien: “I think there’s a comfort zone when a film is so popular and is popular for 30 years, that it’s good to slightly revisit old ideas.”
Scott says this planet, Origae-6, has two moons and is roughly the size of Earth. 
All the landing shots are actual location shots from New Zealand.
Scott confirms the planet we saw in Prometheus was a military research outpost, which he based on what he learned about Anthrax Island where they developed anthrax during World War II.
Scott says he storyboards everything, noting that he went through many years of art school and can thus storyboard incredibly quickly.
The neomorph literally grows as he’s running after Amy Seimetz’s character.
Scott develops almost everything he makes, but he says The Martian came out of the blue as something he didn’t personally develop.
Scott says on the commentary that Covenant is the middle chapter for this new series of Alien films: “There’s a platform for what we’re doing right now. It’ll be Prometheus, Covenant 1, and Covenant 2, then we’ll probably come in the back end of Alien 1, and that’s already kind of been worked out. Covenant 2’s already being written [by] John Logan.”
The big statues inside David’s stronghold are probably the six elders of the entire civilization: “The intellects, the artists, the wise men.”
Scott says he thinks the Engineers have a lifespan of around 150 years.
The flashback that shows what happened to the dead Engineers wasn’t in the original script. Scott insisted they needed to show who killed all of them and why.
David has been marooned on the planet for 10 years.
Scott has answers for all your David body hair questions: “Does the hair of an A.I. grow? If David’s a super A.I., they’ll want his hair to grow. They couldn’t quite work out the red blood—they wanted to differentiate with white blood—but hair will grow, beard will grow… Does he get dirty? Probably, but he doesn’t have body odor or anything like that, so he probably just keeps the parts clean.”
The building David is housed in was based in part on the beauty of the Pantheon. 
Scott says the entire film boils down to issues of A.I. and creator/creation: “The subtext of this whole story is the evolution of an A.I. will eventually demonstrate his superiority to their human intellect, and if we invent a perfect A.I. and the next thing you do is have that A.I. create or invent an equal A.I., from that moment we’re in trouble, unless we can control it.”
Scott says there were about 2 million Engineers in the plaza when David released the biological weapon. The weapon can kill a planet entirely in months, flora and fauna, then the planet will take years to rebuild.
Visually Scott originally wanted Alien: Covenant to be like Black Hawk Down, but once they dug into it he felt Black Hawk didn’t look “cosmetic” enough for what he needed, so they found a middle ground between that look and Prometheus.
Scott defends Billy Crudup’s character’s decision to touch and look in the eggs noting that John Hurt’s character did it in the first Alien.
Daniels gradually taking over the group in Covenant harkens back to Ripley’s arc in the first Alien.
Scott’s first cut was 2:20, 2:15 and he removed about 15 minutes of footage: “Half the time it’s when shots are too long or the sequence is too long, but I’m quite good at judging where I am and have I done too much and do I waste money by shooting stuff I don’t use.”
The alien that comes out of Crudup’s chest was a puppet on set, then replaced with a digital version in post-production.
Scott says David’s love for Elizabeth is real.
Scott was worried people wouldn’t buy the fact that David stabbing Walter didn’t kill him, and he explains that the “kill button” that David thought he hit was already starting to evolve in this new version of the A.I., thus he comes back.
There was debate over whether to keep the scene in which Daniels flips through David’s drawings, which Scott thinks gives us insight into how David’s mind works. 
Scott wanted to keep the A.I. fight short and violent because we’ve seen similar kinds of fights before.
Scott says he wants the audience wondering if the A.I. is Walter or David on the ship.
On the original Alien, as written, when Ripley gets into the shuttle the movie ends. “I felt it was flat, it needs another evolution, so you need a fourth act. So I sat down and wrote the fourth act, which is what happens inside the escape shuttle, and it cost money so they didn’t want to do it, but I think it’s the whole difference in the film.” It constituted an extra five days of shooting, and Scott wanted to tack on a similar “extra ending” for Covenant.
David sneaking the embryos onto the ship in his stomach was inspired by research Scott had done for a film called Cartel, where he learned that girls were swallowing drugs and carrying them across the border.
David’s final walk down the corridor used to have a kick inspired by Adolf Hitler, but Scott removed it.
For much more on the film, Alien: Covenant is currently available on Digital HD, 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD.
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componentplanet · 4 years
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Deep Space Nine Upscale Project Update: Variable Frame Rate DVDs Can Burn in Hell
The following unhinged rant article is the sole opinion of its author. ExtremeTech does not discriminate against variable frame rate media.
In my previous two Star Trek: Deep Space Nine articles, I’ve discussed my efforts to upscale the content, provided some video and image samples, and discussed the process of slowly attempting to remaster the show using commercially available software. I have continued to make real progress on the show in terms of overall image quality, to the point that I’m turning my attention to fixing some other problems I haven��t been sure how to deal with.
Specifically: The frame rate.
In Which My Barely Video-Literate and Underslept Self Attempts to Explain the Mechanics of Hell
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager weren’t recorded in anything as sensible as a steady 23.976fps. When these shows aired in the 1980s and 1990s, they were constructed from at least two different types of content: 23.976fps progressive content and 29.97fps interlaced content. Episodes of these shows do not run at one frame rate; they run at different frame rates depending on what’s happening on-screen. A show that runs at one frame rate, start to finish, uses Constant Frame Rate encoding (CFR). Deep Space Nine, TNG, and VOY all use VFR. Stargate SG-1 and Babylon 5 do the same thing. Most of the best nerd content of the late 1990s and early 2000s is locked behind media that go for this kind of manipulation.
One of the things I haven’t talked about, but have been privately confused by, is why so many of the filters I deployed in an attempt to fix DS9’s frame rate weren’t producing the results I wanted. When I reported in my last article that DS9 used 3:2 pulldown, in which three progressive frames of data are followed by two interlaced frames, I was right — and I was wrong.
The Deep Space Nine episode “Sacrifice of Angels” absolutely contains video footage that was mastered with 3:2 pulldown applied. It is not made of this footage. It contains interlaced frames that were there when the videos were transferred to DVD in the first place. It isn’t made of this footage, either. No, Deep Space Nine, or at least “Sacrifice of Angels,” is mostly 23.976fps (which looks fine), but with enough 29.97fps footage spliced into it to make it jarring.
Part of the problem is that interlacing and 3:2 pulldown are a lot more visible on modern LCDs than they were on older CRTs. Issues like this have cropped up in gaming as well. If you look back at reviews of these DVDs, they were lauded for their quality when the show came out in the early 2000s — and probably reviewed on CRT monitors. This, at least, is what a long-suffering video editor friend told me when I pestered him to answer my questions for three months straight a few hours.
Part of the problem is that TVEAI does a really good job enhancing half-field interlaced frames when they appear on-screen. They’re far more visible when upscaled than at native resolution.
This is what a telecined or interlaced frame looks like. You can clearly see that it’s just half a field of visual information, not the full frame.
Here’s another issue: A lot of video editing applications, including AviSynth and TVEAI itself, are none too fond of VFR content.
When I feed a MakeMKV-derived source file directly into Topaz Video Enhance AI, it detects more than 80,000 frames in an episode that ought to contain around 65,000 frames. TVEAI exposes no encoding options to the end-user, and the default output from content scaled in this mode runs at 29.97fps. If you were the kind of kid who enjoyed playing 33 1/2 RPM records at 45 RPM, you’ll be very excited by this result. If you weren’t, Captain Benjamin “Alvin” Sisko is not an improvement on the original version. (Assuming, at least, that I was nuts enough to pitch-shift the audio to match it).
If you don’t want to run content at 29.97fps, there’s another option — re-encode it at 23.976fps. Convert the interlaced frames, lower the frame rate, and you’ll end up with imperfect, highly noticeable jerks and jumps during fast-paced space combat scenes — which are exactly the ones we are trying to preserve. This is known as judder. Judder sucks.
Topaz Video Enhance AI is not the only application that gets confused by VFR content. I’ve been using StaxRip as a front-end for AviSynth+ and have been mystified as to why the program constantly detects a frame rate of 24.66fps when loaded with MakeMKV source. It turns out that 24.66fps is the average frame rate over the entire episode if you average together the relatively small number of 29.97fps scenes with the much larger number of 23.976fps scenes.
So. The goal is to duplicate the smoothness of the 29.97fps content in the stream without judder. I’ve actually made some real progress towards that goal — enough to say I feel like I’m nearing the end of the first stage of this process. (Color grading is going to be the second stage, oh joy of my heart.)
Where I’m running into trouble, however, is figuring out to remux the audio. I haven’t yet figured out how to synchronize audio to video playback at new frame rates, and the judder management isn’t perfect yet. This (near) final video is from several days ago. I’ve actually improved further on this since I ran the encode. And since if you’re reading this, you’re probably wanting to see the content, so I’ve got an interim version of the credits I’m happy to share. You’ll have to ignore the misaligned audio and you need to set YouTube to 4K for best image quality, even if you don’t have a 4K monitor.
youtube
Let’s compare this new video with the video I created back in February. There are a few things I want to specifically call out. Both videos were upscaled using Topaz Video Enhance AI, but Topaz has updated the application in the intervening period. This does not seem to have had a large impact on image quality, but may have tweaked it in some ways. The top video is April, the bottom video is from February. Run both of them in 4K mode or as close to it as you can get.
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Speed: The old video runs at 49.32fps, while the new one is encoded at 24.66fps. I’m still grappling with StaxRip / AviSynth+ to get this problem out of the video, but 24.66fps is close enough to see what it’s going to look like, where 49.32fps looks artificially smooth to eyeballs used to slower video refresh.
Blur: The February video is over-sharp when it passes through the comet, while this April video is too blurry. I’ve already cleaned this up substantially since I uploaded the video a couple of days ago, so no worries on that score.
Aliasing: The February edition of DS9 is heavily aliased in certain places, like when the runabouts approach the logo in the first part of the credits. The new version shows far less aliasing. With that said, there are certain shots, like the Defiant’s final approach into the wormhole, where the ship is badly aliased no matter what I do. Haven’t figured a solution for that yet.
Shimmer: The February video makes it look as if DS9 (the station, not the show) is crawling with ants in certain places. The reason the April video looks a bit blurred is that my efforts to lock that problem down were a little too enthusiastically applied. Watch the station pans to see the difference here.
Judder: My new, enthusiastic, and least-wanted best friend has been substantially improved, but you can see some clear instances of judder in the April video, including when the runabouts pass in front of the camera and the Defiant passes the outer docking pylon. I’ve already got an encode that improves sharpness and the Defiant’s passage while yanking the frame rate down to 23.976fps rather than this dorky 24.66 faux-hybrid thing.
Overall, you can see the rate of progression from February to April in these two videos. February represents the beginning of my work, when I was just running an application through TVEAI to upscale. The April video represents the application of additional filters.
What Comes Next?
I figure it’s time I lay out a formal roadmap for where I’m going with this thing.
Video Quality: After three months of working on DS9 and literally hundreds of video encodes, I am hopeful that I’m nearing the end of the road, as far as video work. Judder is the last major problem to solve, to the extent that judder can be “solved” in the first place. I have attempted some rather … whacky experimentation to solve this problem. I launched 17 different encodes of the MakeMKV source file last night. The first 12 had serious names that reflected the settings I picked for them. #13 – #17 were named “F***It.mkv.” I’ll go downstairs later on and check the results before repairing to AviSynth documentation to attempt more testing.
I’d like to know more about antialiasing scripts than I do (most of them reference anime, not video content) and I need to run some tests to confirm that DAA is actually still getting me a visual improvement. I’d love to find a better AA solution to clean up a few niggling issues.
Color Reprocessing: I have decided to separate out any work I do on DS9’s color from the work I’m doing on the video. I haven’t dropped this aspect of the project, but I’m not picking it back up until I have the visual processing nailed down. Not everyone is going to want color tweaking in the first place, after all. Users should note that Topaz Video Enhance AI introduces some color shifting when it upscales. In the initial version of the application, this applied a subtle lightening effect in HQ-CG mode, as shown below:
It’s subtle, but you can see that the image on the right is slightly lighter than the one on the left.
Topaz recently updated the application to a new version that now appears to have a different impact on color, but I wanted to show the original. I’m keeping both the original and newer version of the application handy to cross-compare video output.
Audio: HELP WANTED: INQUIRE WITHIN.
More seriously, I expect to nail down the audio issues, too. I just can’t remember how I solved the problem last time.
Tools Used: Right now, MakeMKV, StaxRip 2.0.8 with AviSynth+, and Topaz Video Enhance AI itself. The front-end is a useful way to code AviSynth scripts. The goal is to create this project with as much free software as possible. Still evaluating a run through Handbrake, if only to try syncing the audio/video that way.
Once I’ve hammered the workflow into shape, I’m going to publish a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this on ExtremeTech. Honestly, it doesn’t take that much in terms of filters — well, not yet. I haven’t shared my specific settings yet because I’m still trying to figure out which variables and filters are the right ones to use. I don’t want to publish pieces of a guide that then become separated from the final product.
Finally: A great many people have reached out to me following the publication of my second article with encouragement, well wishes, and technical assistance. A longer list of thank-yous will accompany the final version of my article, once I’ve checked in with people and figured out how they want to be acknowledged. The help I have received from some of you has been vital to pulling off this project. Anyone with ideas on how to improve image quality or solve the judder problem is welcome to get in touch.
Once Deep Space Nine is complete, I’m moving on to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, another beloved show with an execrable 16:9 “conversion” that very few people seem to like. I’ll be using the 4:3 version of the show to see what kind of improvements I can bring to the Scooby Gang. We’ll also check in with the Blu-ray version of Firefly to see how Topaz Video Enhance AI handles upscaling already-HD content.
Now Read:
 Deep Space Nine Upscale Project Update: ‘Sacrifice of Angels’
Upscaling Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Using Topaz Video Enhance AI
Star Trek: Voyager Gets 4K Upscale Remaster via AI
from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/309653-deep-space-nine-upscale-project-update-variable-frame-rate-dvds-can-burn-in-hell from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/04/deep-space-nine-upscale-project-update.html
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wwbnews · 5 years
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Best mirrorless camera 2019: 10 top models to suit every budget If you want to find out what's the best mirrorless camera you can buy in 2019, you've come to the right place. Since Panasonic launched the first mirrorless camera in 2008, the genre has grown massively, with models to suit every budget and ability. Mirrorless cameras allow you to swap and change lenses like a DSLR, but because the mirror inside the camera has been removed (hence the name, with mirrors used to bounce light from the path of the lens up into the optical viewfinder of a DSLR), it has allowed designers to make mirrorless cameras much more compact than DSLRs. No mirror means that instead of optical viewfinders to frame your subject, mirrorless cameras rely on electronic viewfinders instead. Be aware, too, that most cheaper mirrorless cameras don't come with viewfinders at all – instead, you compose the photo on the rear screen, just as you do with most compact cameras or smartphones. You'll find that mirrorless cameras are also known as compact system cameras (or CSCs for short), with models ranging from the simple to use beginner models to sophisticated full-frame monsters that rival the very best DSLRs out there. Why are mirrorless cameras better? Is a mirrorless camera better than a DSLR then? There are still quite a few pros and cons to both designs, so if you want to find out more, read this: Mirrorless vs DSLR cameras: 10 key differences Mirrorless cameras certainly offer more choice. If you're looking to buy a DSLR, there's only really two main players in the shape of Canon and Nikon. If you opt for a mirrorless camera, the choice is much broader, with the likes of Canon, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Sony, Olympus and Leica all offering a wide range of cameras to suit most budgets. Things got really interesting in the last half of 2018, with big announcements from Canon and Nikon in the shape of the EOS R, Z6 and Z7. While it would be very easy to select 10 high-end models to make up our pick of the best mirrorless camera, we've tried to pick out some more affordable options as well. These models might not be dripping in features, but they represent great options for new users and those on a budget. That said, if you're looking specifically for a budget mirrorless camera, take a look at our best mirrorless camera for beginners buying guide. So whether you're after a better camera than the one featured on your smartphone or are looking for an advanced, high-end model to push your creativity even further, read on to find out what are the best mirrorless cameras you can buy right now. Best mirrorless cameras in 2019 As we've touched on, 2018 saw the mirrorless camera market really take off, with a flurry of new launches, from entry-level to professional-focused cameras. 2019 has already seen Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, Canon and Fujifilm announce new mirrorless cameras in the shape of the Alpha A6400, OM-D E-M1X, Lumix S1R, EOS RP and X-T30. For now though, this is our pick of the best mirrorless cameras in 2019. Nikon's Z6 rockets straight to the top of our best mirrorless camera charts, and just edging out its closest rival, the Sony Alpha A7 III. There's not much to choose between them, but we reckon the Z6 just nudges it thanks to its brilliant blend of features and performance which makes it a brilliant choice for the enthusiast photographer or pro photographer looking for a second body. The 24.5MP full-frame sensor delivers beautiful results with great color reproduction and detail, while the 273-point AF system (while not quite as sophisticated as the 693-point AF in the A7 III) and 12fps burst shooting should mean you'll never miss another shot. Handling is polished too, while the large and bright electronic viewfinder is a joy to use. Read our in-depth Nikon Z6 review The Alpha A7 III may sit on the bottom rung of Sony's full-frame mirrorless camera range, but it should no longer be seen as the poor relation to its pricier siblings. This is a brilliant choice for the enthusiast photographer or pro, and when you look at the specification, it's easy to see why. Sony has taken some of the best bits from its flagship Alpha A9 and A7R III cameras, and distilled them into a single camera that offers a fantastic mix of performance and image quality. The full-frame 24.2MP sensor is excellent in a range of lighting conditions, while the advanced 693-point AF looks set to get even better with a firmware upgrade in April. This is one advanced camera that's at a great price considering the features and performance on offer. Read our in-depth Sony Alpha A7 III review Like the sound of the Z6, but want more megapixels? Then the 45.7MP Z7 should do the trick. Sharing an identical design to the Z6, Nikon's first full-frame mirrorless camera is a real triumph. It may be a first-generation camera, but we think Nikon's knocked it out of the park with the Z7 right from the get-go. The densely populated 45.7MP sensor is brilliant, delivering some of the best results we've seen on a mirrorless camera, while the effective in-camera image stabilization also delivers. Factor in a beautiful EVF, excellent handling, very competent AF performance and great response throughout, and it's easy to see why the Z7 is such a pleasure to use. Read our in-depth Nikon Z7 review Like the look of the A7 III but want even more pixels? Step forward the 42.2MP Alpha A7R III. It has to be one of the most complete and versatile cameras available today. With a brilliant full-frame 42.2MP sensor, the Alpha A7R III is supported by an advanced 399-point AF system and 10fps burst shooting, proving you no longer have to sacrifice performance for resolution or vice versa. Did we mention it shoots excellent 4K footage as well? This is a camera that would be equally at home perched on a mountain shooting brooding landscapes, in a studio capturing high-end portraits or shooting fast moving sport or wildlife. Read our in-depth Sony Alpha A7R III review The X-T2 was one of our favorite cameras for a long time, but the X-T3 improves on it in pretty much every single way. The new 26.1MP X-Trans sensor might not be a massive leap in resolution over the 24.3MP sensor in the X-T2, but noise control is even better. Focusing also takes a leap forward, with a staggering 2.16-million phase detect AF pixels (with a maximum of 425 selectable points) to help the X-T3 track focus smoothly. There's also now touchscreen control, 11fps burst shooting and a number of other improvements, particularly when it comes to shooting 4K video. That's not forgetting the array of body-mounted controls that's all wrapped-up in a tactile body, that all goes to make the X-T3 a brilliant camera. Read our in-depth Fujifilm X-T3 review The OM-D E-M10 Mark III might not be a massive leap forward over the Mark II, with much of the camera's specification remaining the same. However, Olympus has refined and tweaked one of our favorite mirrorless cameras to make it an even more tempting proposition for new users and enthusiasts alike. Some will criticise the smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor format (roughly half the area of APS-C) but the effect on image quality is minor and it means that the lenses are as compact and lightweight as the camera itself. Sporting a 5-axis image stabilization system, decent electronic viewfinder, an impressive 8.6fps burst shooting speed and 4K video, it's no toy – the E-M10 Mark III is a properly powerful camera. Read our in-depth Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III review You don't have to go full-frame to get the benefit of Sony's great camera technology and this APS-C format model makes a great choice for enthusiasts looking for an alternative to big, heavy DSLR. Sony's equipped the A6400 with a brilliant AF system that not only offers fast focus tracking, but a clever EyeAF system the locks focus on the eye. There's also an excellent electronic viewfinder that makes it easy to see when the subject is sharp and correctly exposed, while the touchscreen can be rotated round 180-degrees that makes it a good choice for vloggers. Image quality is very high and there's built-in Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity to allow to share images via a connected smartphone. Read our in-depth Sony Alpha A6400 review Fujifilm's X-T10 and X-T20 models squished the best bits from the X-T1 and X-T2 respectively into much smaller and cheaper bodies, and the new X-T30 does the same from the X-T3. The result? A powerful, mid-range mirrorless option that's no bother to carry around and is just as much of a star when shooting images as it is 4K video. With a relatively new 26.1MP backlit APS-C sensor, a better autofocus system than before, a tough body and plenty of direct control falling to hand, this is a great all-rounder for a very nice price. Those with larger hands may find its body a little too fiddly, though, which is where the X-T3 (above) has an advantage. Read our in-depth Fujifilm X-T30 hands-on review We're still putting the finishing touches to our review of the Panasonic S1R, but having used it for a while – and having already tested its similar S1 sibling – were pretty confident when we say this camera has the edge over rival bodies in a handful of areas. It's 47.3MP sensor is already impressive as it is, but its ability to output images at 187MP, for example, is insane – superfluous, perhaps, in many environments but with massive possibilities for cropping and for macro work. That 5.76million-dot viewfinder is also streets ahead of the 3.69million-dot alternatives in rival bodies, while the rugged build, effective sensor-based stabilization and cracking 4K video show it to be a camera that excels in a wealth of areas. It's not perfect, but if full-frame shooting is your thing, Panasonic is one to watch right now. Until recently this was the flagship option in Olympus's mirrorless portfolio, and while the E-M1X model tat now sits above it does hold a few advantages, much of what we have there we have here – for about half the price. Built around a 20MP Four Thirds sensor and the Micro Four Thirds lens mount that will happy accept hundreds of different lenses, the weather-sealed E-M1 Mark II boasts a superb image stabilization system, 4K video in both DC1 4K and UHD 4K resolutions, 60fps – yes, 60fps – burst shooting at full resolution and the option to capture images at a 50MP resolution. Sure, the Micro Four Thirds format isn't for everyone, but if you need extra reach with your lenses and speed is a priority, this affordable mirrorless model would serve you beautifully. Read our full in-depth Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II review Finally, let's take a quick look at a camera that doesn't quite make the cut in our top 10 mirrorless buying guide, but represents great value. As you can see further up the top you'll see the Alpha A7 III from Sony is one of our favorite mirrorless cameras you can buy right now. If your budget can't quite stretch that far, then why not take a look at the model it replaces? Still available (so is the even cheaper Alpha A7), you get an awful lot of camera for your money. This includes a great 24.2MP full-frame sensor, high-resolution electronic viewfinder and a very capable AF system. Handling isn't quite as refined though as the newer camera, but for the incredibly tempting price, this can be overlooked. You'll be hard pressed to find a better camera for your money. Read our in-depth Sony Alpha A7 II review Best camera Best beginner DSLR Best DSLR Best 4K camera Best full-frame camera Best compact camera What camera should I buy? Mirrorless vs DSLR: 10 key differences Camera rumors #Newsytechno.com #Latest_Technology_Trends #Cool_Gadgets
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Spike Lee Has Something Hilarious and Important to Say With Our Pick of the Week
New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/spike-lee-has-something-hilarious-and-important-to-say-with-our-pick-of-the-week/
Spike Lee Has Something Hilarious and Important to Say With Our Pick of the Week
Pick of the Week
BlackKklansman
What is it? The true story of a black policeman who went undercover with the KKK.
Why see it? Spike Lee’s latest ranks easily among his best as it tackles the still-relevant issue of racism in America with humanity, humor, and a fierce rage. It walks a fine line celebrating the absurdity of it all while still condemning hate with as sharp a razor as the screen can hold. It almost lulls you in with some Coen-esque ridiculousness while never failing to remind you that people like David Duke, while morons, are still dangerous. It’s a very funny movie that also features some incredibly tense scenes and an end reminder that this all too real.
[Blu-ray/DVD extras: Featurette]
The Best
Air Force One [4K UltraHD]
What is it? An American president fights terror with his fists.
Why see it? This Harrison Ford-led action gem was pure escapism even before a certain dipshit-in-chief took office in 2017 and proceeded to embarrass and damage the hell out of our country, but these days it’s even more cathartic of a watch. It’s a solid action movie regardless thanks to Ford’s commanding presence, a strong supporting cast that includes Gary Oldman, William H. Macy, and Wolfgang Petersen’s energetic direction. It’s a good film to have in your action library, and this new 4K upgrade offers a sharp and vibrant image as it all goes down.
[4K UltraHD/Blu-ray extras: Commentary]
Art School Confidential
What is it? An idealistic art school student finds romance, madness, and a serial killer in his pursuit of greatness.
Why see it? Terry Zwigoff found greater success with Ghost World and Bad Santa, but this smart and funny dissection of ambition, arrogance, and the art world is every bit as funny and satisfying. Max Minghella takes the lead supported by John Malkovich, Anjelica Huston, Jim Broadbent, and more, and it’s just a fast-moving comedy with both dialogue zingers and grander stabs at institutions. MVD’s new Blu-ray includes some fun special features, but the film itself is more than enough reason to watch.
[Blu-ray extras: Featurettes, deleted scenes, blooper reel]
Destination Wedding
What is it? Two strangers meet en route to a mutual’s wedding and banter-filled romance follows.
Why see it? The casting of Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves in the lead roles for this romantic comedy is reason enough to give it a watch, but as a bonus the film’s actually pretty damn great. Sure it’s still a rom-com, and yes the stays mostly with these two regardless of what’s happening around them, but their chemistry is ridiculously good and their dialogue is deserving of their presence. It’s funny, smart, and witty banter passing between them that grows into something more, and it’s a damn delight.
[DVD extras: None]
A Man Alone [KL Studio Classics]
What is it? A man on the run finds nothing but trouble.
Why see it? This mid 50s western features one hell of an opening as our antihero (Ray Milland, who also directs) comes across a stagecoach that’s been ransacked and all of its occupants left for dead including a young girl. His luck goes from bad to worse once he reaches town, and from there we’re treated to an engaging western tale highlighting the dangers of mob mentality. We also get an unfortunate detour into romance — Milland is four years older than the father of the girl he woos here — but it’s a small dip in an otherwise strong entry in the western canon.
[Blu-ray extras: Commentary]
The Rest
Beyond the Sky
What is it? A young skeptic looks into alien abductions.
Why see it? There’s some genre fun to be had here, but it takes faith as the film’s first half fights its generic trappings every frame of the way. It threatens more than once to become found footage but thankfully resists. It doesn’t really find its way, though, until its back half when things take a turn for the fantastic. The story turns are paired with some attractive visuals too involving spaceship interiors and the aliens themselves. Give it a shot, you may dig it.
[DVD extras: Interviews]
Big Trouble [KL Studio Classics]
What is it? A suitcase and its contents cause mayhem in Miami.
Why see it? It’s almost impossible to find fault with this Barry Sonnenfeld flick’s cast which includes Rene Russo, Dennis Farina, Ben Foster, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Zooey Deschanel, Omar Epps, Andy Richter, and more, but while they rock the script just tries way too hard to find the funny. Worse, it usually fails. It feels every bit like Sonnenfeld hoping to recreate the beautiful chaos of Get Shorty, but while Dave Barry’s source novel is a solid start the pieces just don’t come together on the screen. Tim Allen in the lead doesn’t help or hurt.
[Blu-ray extras: Commentary]
Blood, Sweat, and Terrors
What is it? An anthology of action-heavy genre shorts.
Why see it? The best action movies are typically those with terrific fight choreography as it’s always more impressive than CG explosions and the like. The nine shorts here all know this, and while they don’t all impress equally, there are four or five guaranteed to leave action junkies smiling. This is less of a feature film than a collection of shorts, though, and that’s probably its biggest downfall. A cohesive feel, maybe via a steady through-line of connective tissue between the shorts, is sorely missing here. Still, it’s hard to argue with some of the action/fight sequences here.
[DVD extras: None]
Girls vs Gangsters
What is it? Three friends enjoying a bachelorette trip find danger, adventure, and Mike Tyson along the way.
Why see it? Fans of goofy, mindless comedies may find some enjoyment here, but as Hangover riffs go this is awfully mediocre. The laughs are minimal (if not absent), the action relies too often on rough CG effects, and while it’s bad enough seeing Mike Tyson act and emote it’s just disturbing seeing him as a finger-sucking love interest. It’s a harmless movie that just wants to have fun, but viewers seeking the same will most likely leave unsatisfied.
[DVD extras: Interview]
An Interview with God
What is it? A journalist interviews a man who claims to be God.
Why see it? Movies made specifically for Christian audiences get a bad rap, and for the most part it’s an earned reputation. They’re typically poorly written, poorly directed affairs that preach to the choir with simplicity. This latest stab at the sub-genre is a couple steps up from that, though, in large part due to the presence of David Strathairn as God. He’s just that damn good, and while the script still gets a bit obnoxious in its avoidance of real questions — and loses points for the generic representation of God as an old white dude — the back and forth between them offers some mildly engaging philosophical and personal banter.
[DVD extras: Featurette, interviews]
Law Abiding Citizen [4K UltraHD]
What is it? A man seeks revenge on those who killed his family and the people who failed to make them pay.
Why see it? This F. Gary Gray flick doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves for being a thrilling, fun, and cathartic slice of exploitation cinema. It has a pair of engaging leads in Gerard Butler (he’s good here, I swear!) and Jamie Foxx, and the script does great work with its locked-room mystery. It’s an entertaining ride. The 4K upgrade might not be enough to warrant a double dip, though, as the extras are all ported over from the previous Blu-ray and the picture, while vibrant and sharp only makes a good-looking movie a bit better.
[4K UltraHD/Blu-ray extras: Featurettes, commentary, two versions]
Papillon
What is it? A criminal seems to determined to be a free man.
Why see it? 1973’s Papillon is a fantastic character study, and while it’s a bit overlong the onscreen charisma and talents of Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman make it a compelling watch. The only hope a remake has of improving on the original comes in the area of running time, and on that front at least, this new version is a success. Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek are both fine, but there’s ultimately little reason to watch this over the original (outside of time constraints).
[Blu-ray/DVD extras: Deleted scenes]
Sleepwalkers [Scream Factory]
What is it? A mother and son pair of feline vampire-like creatures hide in a small town.
Why see it? Stephen King wrote this directly for the screen, but while there are more than a few things to like here — cameo cast, some gory beats, some solid direction from Mick Garris — King’s script just drags it all down. It’s so dumb. CG morphing effects that were super new at the time now feel super dated, the tone is a mess, the dialogue is lame, and the script never gels its horror with its absurdity. I saw it first on opening weekend, and as the end credits rolled my friend broke our disappointed silence to say only this: “Stephen King has put better things to paper when he wipes his ass.” It’s a harsh criticism, but it’s also an understandable one.
[Blu-ray extras: Commentary, interviews, featurette]
Superman [4K UltraHD]
What is it? You will believe a man can fly in 4K.
Why see it? Richard Donner’s 1978 classic remains one of the best superhero films ever made. It’s a fresh, vibrant, and fun movie, and Christopher Reeve shines in the role. Toss in Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty, and plenty of thrills, and you have a memorable comic book movie with staying power. The film recently re-released to Blu-ray paired with an alternate cut, but this 4K upgrade sticks with the theatrical. It makes a double dip wholly reliant on your interest in the 4K aspect, and that’s something of a mixed bag. The colors pop and cleanup is evident, but some purists may find its image too scrubbed in regard to grain. Like I said, mixed bag, but I think the improvements outweigh the drawbacks especially if you don’t already own another Blu of the film.
[4K UltraHD/Blu-ray extras: Commentary, making of TV special]
Windtalkers
What is it? A soldier is tasked with protecting a young Navajo during World War II.
Why see it? John Woo’s career has seen numerous ups and downs since his arrival in Hollywood, and while his greatest films are all pre-2000 some gems remain in the new millennium. This WWII action/drama is one of them as it pairs some strong action sequences with an engaging tale of friendship, loyalty, and our endless penchant for racist behavior. The Blu-ray includes both the theatrical and director’s cuts along with numerous extras including three commentary tracks — one with Woo and another with both Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale. It’s no The Killer or Face/Off, but it’s solid.
[Blu-ray extras: Two cuts of the film, commentaries, featurettes]
Also out this week:
Armed, Benji’s Very Own Christmas Story, Claire’s Camera, The Heretics, Incredibles 2, Krampus Origins, Midaq Alley, Sound of Music Live!, Succession – The Complete First Season, Transformers: The Ultimate Five-Movie Collection [4K UltraHD]
Source: https://filmschoolrejects.com/new-dvd-releases-november-6th-2018/
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mrmichaelchadler · 6 years
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Grace and Nature: On Criterion’s Release of The Tree of Life
Following the premiere of a new extended cut of the film at the Venice Film Festival, the Criterion Collection has released Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” on a Blu-ray with a new 4K digital transfer, 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio, and fascinating extras, including a printed essay by Roger Ebert and a video essay by our very own Matt Zoller Seitz. The film itself remains divisive—someone on Twitter tried to use it as a film that critics pretend to like just this week—but it remains a masterpiece in my eyes, only growing in power with repeat viewings, and gaining emotional strength as I have raised three boys of my own this decade. It’s a film I respond to like none other from this era—the real world falls away as I watch it, and I return to it only when it’s over. In an age of increasing distraction, “The Tree of Life” has a nearly religious impact on me, something in which I can immerse myself and find beauty and truth within it. There's no other movie like it.
The reason Malick’s personal masterpiece continues to divide people is simple—he asks a great deal of the viewer. Some people, even critics, don’t think what he asks for is worth giving, but Malick wants you to participate, and not just intellectually but emotionally. What does this mean? How does this make me feel? What does this make me think of in my own life? The new era of Malick sees cinema as more of a sermon than a passive experience. Like a great church service, you won’t get anything out of his films unless you submit to an ineffable connection that inspires both critical insight and barely perceptible emotion. His films of the ‘10s have been about a very personal search for meaning. He looks for it in his family in “The Tree of Life,” in religion in “To the Wonder,” in excess in “Knight of Cups,” and in relationships in “Song to Song.” “The Tree of Life” remains the best of his recently prolific output and the Criterion release places it on the appropriate pedestal, even offering a whole new cut of the masterpiece that offers a deeper take without losing much of the original’s power.
By the now the story of “The Tree of Life” is well-known but a bit of background seems appropriate. For decades, as far back his work on Great Movie “Days of Heaven,” Malick talked about making a film about the history of the universe. Yes, “The Tree of Life” actually sprouted from its infamous sequence in which Malick attempts to capture creation and evolution in visuals, somehow finding a way to merge the religious and the scientific, and even include CGI dinosaurs. Known for years under the codename “Q,” Malick could never quite figure out the second half of the film, only cracking it when he decided to use his own Texas upbringing as the foundation of the story. In doing so, Malick unlocks the magic of “The Tree of Life” in the way it illustrates the perspective we all have on our background and how it shaped us—we are created by it as much as the universe was created by the big bang. Everyone's personal CGI dinosaur is different.
“The Tree of Life” is a visual masterpiece, (shot by Emmanuel Lubezki, who would win three Oscars for Cinematography after this but bafflingly lose this one to "Hugo") and has never looked better than it does on this Blu-ray. Much has been written about how Malick seeks to find that “magic moment” when he’s making a film, only really knowing if he got it when he’s editing. He got so many of those moments here, from the butterfly that lands on Jessica Chastain’s wrist to the light streaming through a stained glass cinema to the framing of a father touching his new son’s foot for the first time—the film is so full of remarkable imagery that it’s emotionally overwhelming at times. I’ve long been a proponent of films that only work as films—not merely faithful adaptations of books or filmed plays, for example—and “The Tree of Life” understands visual language as well as any movie of the last decade. And it uses those striking images to ask the truly big questions. How do we grieve? How do we remember? How do we live? And what role does God play in all of this?
“The Tree of Life” was a pretty substantial 139 minutes on its initial release, but the new cut, which is not being billed as a director’s cut even though Malick oversaw it, is 50 minutes longer. Believe it or not, it feels a bit more conventional in the three-hour length as most of the new footage fills in some of the background of Jack’s family, almost making the movie into more of a traditional flashback story. There’s a fascinating early sequence with Sean Penn’s Jack that offers a bit more of an explanation as to why he would look to memory for stability—and feels almost like an early take on “Knight of Cups” with its multiple partners, chaos in the streets, etc.—but most of the new footage is in the center of the film. Some parts feel like extended versions of stuff from the original, but it’s actually Brad Pitt’s Father and Jessica Chastain’s Mother who get the most fleshing out. We even learn more about their upbringings, which plays into Malick’s cinematic representations of life's cyclical nature. Perhaps the best thing about the Extended Cut is how richly it deepens Pitt and Chastain’s work, which may be the best performances of their careers. Clearly, it’s a must-see for film fans, but I prefer the original if I had to pick. The theatrical cut is pure cinematic poetry; the extended, while also absolutely phenomenal, is closer to prose.
The Blu-ray from Criterion contains some excellent special features, but I may be a bit biased in claiming that a 2011 video essay from Matt Zoller Seitz and Serena Bramble done for the Museum of the Moving Image is my favorite. The printed essays by Roger Ebert and Kent Jones are two of the best from Criterion all year. And a 2011 documentary called “Exploring The Tree of Life” is included, which offers insight into why the film is such a masterpiece from Christopher Nolan and David Fincher, as well as interviews with many of the major players, including Pitt and Chastain. Criterion also provides a new interview with Chastain and senior visual effects supervisor Dan Glass; a new interview with critic Alex Ross about Malick’s use of classic music; and a new video essay by critic Benjamin B about the film’s cinematography and style, featuring audio interviews with Lubezki, production designer Jack Fisk, and other crew members.
We’re just about a year away from the impassioned conversations about the best films of the ‘10s. The Criterion release of “The Tree of Life” only deepens my belief that this is one of them.
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