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that is, the movies we have seen since we entered the world of home theater
(or, RE-entered, in my case)…
this is another list i was mentioning to someone the other day, so, wanted to
post…

ok, so, the story is something like this…

may 25th, 2002, we got a free dvd player… at this time, our tv was mainly
only used for video games and nasatv during shuttle missions, we had a vcr but
didn’t use it for much…
coincidentally, this is also the day we got our first dreameye, so, the dvd
player was ignored…

then, some time in november 2002, someone loaned us three dvd’s (reservoir
dogs, a beautiful mind, zoolander)… we decided to see what all the fuss was
about…
eventually, we bought a couple of our own (fight club, the matrix, wargames,
which is also the first commentary we listened to), later on, we got a
“ht-in-a-box”, then in june of 2003, we started seriously building a home
theater…

just on a whim, back in the first days of all this, we started actually
jotting down each movie we watched… we have continued to add to this list,
every movie we watch, then, at some point, we started dating each entry…
this is all kept in a database that we each have a copy of on our psion…

so, here is the list… there are about 250, a little less or a lot less,
depending on how you choose to count them (different versions of the same
movie, etc.)…

and, btw, i will refrain from adding other comments in the database this list
came from, such as what we thought of the movie, why we saw wanted to see it,
what format and aspect ratio it was in, which ones we own, etc…. you will
also occasionally see one labelled [him] or [her], which means we did not
watch it together… and there are one or two marked with the name of a movie
theater in brackets, which means we actually went out to see it…

the dated entries come first and the rest are alphabetically listed…

2004.05.06 – caddyshack
2004.05.06 – vacation
2004.03.30 – AI
2004.03.29 – the big lebowski
2004.03.29 – mixed nuts
2004.03.26 – better off dead…
2004.02.22 – hard eight (aka Sydney)
2004.02.15 – lost in translation
2004.02.15 – love liza
2004.02.09 – raising arizona
2004.02.09 – star trek 7 – generations
2004.02.09 – time after time
2004.02.08 – back to the future
2004.02.08 – back to the future 2
2004.02.08 – back to the future 3
2004.02.06 – jerry macguire [her]
2004.02.05 – a few good men
2004.02.05 – rush
2004.02.05 – true romance
2004.02.01 – biloxi blues
2004.01.25 – fargo
2004.01.25 – pirates of silicon valley
2004.01.20 – arthur
2004.01.20 – fletch
2004.01.11 – hook
2004.01.08 – the apostle
2004.01.06 – seven
2004.01.05 – the life of david gale
2004.01.04 – alien 3
2003.12.27 – the american president
2003.12.25 – a christmas story
2003.12.23 – it’s a wonderful life
2003.12.21 – lord of the rings 2 – the two towers
2003.12.20 – star trek 10 – nemesis
2003.12.17 – braveheart
2003.12.16 – 28 days later
2003.12.16 – frequency
2003.12.14 – scrooged
2003.11.13 – conspiracy theory
2003.11.09 – alien – director’s cut [amc grand, dallas, theater 8]
2003.11.08 – truman show
2003.11.05 – shanghai knights
2003.11.02 – ed wood
2003.11.01 – matrix reloaded
2003.10.18 – spaceship
2003.10.16 – galaxy quest
2003.10.16 – trekkies
2003.10.13 – Magnolia
2003.10.11 – The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
2003.10.10 – spawn – director’s cut
2003.10.05 – book of shadows – blair witch 2
2003.10.04 – addams family
2003.09.28 – shock treatment
2003.09.27 – event horizon
2003.09.23 – city of lost children
2003.09.12 – the jerk
2003.09.11 – blair witch project
2003.09.11 – stargate – director’s cut
2003.09.10 – 12 monkeys
2003.09.10 – outland
2003.09.10 – psycho
2003.09.08 – from dusk til dawn
2003.09.07 – leviathan
2001: a space odyssey
2010
9/11
the abyss – special edition
Addams Family Values
Akira
alien
aliens – director’s cut
almost famous
almost famous – untitled director’s cut
Amelie
american beauty
apollo 13
as good as it gets
backdraft
basketball diaries
batman
beauty and the beast
being john malkovich
the black hole
blade runner – “director’s cut”
boogie nights
boyz in the hood
brazil
a bronx tale
buckaroo banzai
a bug’s life
the cell
Chicago
chicken run
Citizen Kane
close encounters of the third kind
close encounters of the third kind, collector’s edition
close encounters of the third kind, special edition
clueless
contact
dances with wolves
Dark City
the dark crystal
Darkman
the doors
dr. strangelove
dune
e.t. – the extra terrestrial
escape from new york [him]
eyes wide shut
finding nemo [parks mall amc]
far and away
fear and loathing in las vegas
the fifth element
fight club
final fantasy: the spirits within
a fish called wanda
flatliners
forbidden planet
Forrest Gump
friday
full metal jacket
get shorty
the game
gattaca
ghostbusters
glengarry glenross
the godfather [him]
the godfather – part two [him]
Goodfellas [him]
the grifters
Grosse Pointe Blank [her]
harry potter 1
house
the hudsucker proxy
the hunt for red october
i spit on your grave
independence day – director’s cut
Indiana Jones – Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Iron Giant
It
jackie brown
Jacob’s Ladder
Jaws
jfk
k-pax
krull
L.A. Confidential
l.a. story
labyrinth
ladyhawke
the lawnmower man – director’s cut
leap of faith
legend of drunken master
Little Shop of Horrors
Logan’s Run
lolita
lord of the rings – fellowship of the ring
mars attacks!
memento
men in black
minority report
monsters inc
monty python and the holy grail
the mosquito coast
Moulin Rouge
mulholland drive
murder by death
natural born killers
night of the living dead
nightmare before christmas
a nightmare on elm street
the one
oscar
the others
phantasm
pi
pink floyd – the wall
poltergeist
the princess bride
pulp fiction
Punch-Drunk Love
Quiz Show
red dawn
requiem for a dream – director’s cut
reservoir dogs
the rocky horror picture show
Romeo + juliet
the royal tenenbaums
rushmore
say anything
secret of nimh
the seven samurai [him]
Shadowlands
Shanghai Noon
signs
silence of the lambs
Silverado
the sixth sense
Sneakers
south park movie
Spaceballs
the spanish prisoner
Sphere
spiderman
spirited away
The Stand
star trek – the motion picture – director’s cut
star trek 2 – the wrath of khan – director’s cut
star trek 3 – the search for spock
star trek 4 – the voyage home
star trek 5 – the final frontier
star trek 6 – the undiscovered country
star trek 8 – first contact
star wars
star wars 2 – empire strikes back
star wars 2 – empire strikes back – special edition
star wars 3 – return of the jedi
star wars 4 – phantom menace
star wars 5 – attack of the clones
Starman
Strange Days
suicide kings
Taxi Driver
terminator
terminator 2
the thing
this is spinal tap
three colors – white
three colors – red
time bandits
titan a.e.
titanic
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
trainspotting
tron
uhf
unforgiven
wag the dog
the War of the Roses
wargames
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
what dreams may come
who framed roger rabbit

actually, seen/heard/overheard since we often put on a well-known movie as
background noise and did not sit and watch it…
also, a couple of these are due to my growing up in something of an in-home
daycare, being surrounded by a half dozen kids at all times and sometimes as
many as a full dozen, and everyone’s name went on a list and, when their name
came up, they got to select what will be on the tv next (not that they usually
spent much time sitting quietly in front of it)…

i know i am still missing a few off this list, maybe quite a few, but, this is
something i was mentioning to someone the other day and wanted to put this
list up, even if it is not totally compete…
i still know most of these movies by heart, could probably quote most of them
beginning to end, and the images and sounds are an indelible part of my
subconscious to this day… (darth vader is still in my nightmares to this
day!)

growing up in a house of hardcore movie interest is an interesting
experience… in our house, movie quotes were almost non-stop, life was
constantly compared to movies… in fact, the staff noticed this when i was
at the hospital with my parents… mom said to one nurse something to the
effect of “we are a movie family. we use them to teach lessons of life.” by
which she means, for instance, i was talking about how magnolia inspired me,
both phil parma and the change t.j. mackey made in his attitude toward his
father were things going through my mind non-stop in the hospital… they
were the inspiration that helped me to keep a better frame of mind through it
all… so, if i want to explain to my mom how i saw my responsibility in that
situation, she would have to watch magnolia…
in fact, my mom’s online handle, for as long as i can remember, is “Ripley”,
the heroine of Alien… and i am sure she would relate ripley as the
embodiment of a strong woman…

my childhood heros were not historical figures or otherwise “real” people,
they were movie characters…

but now, i am straying way off the topic of this post…
back to the list…

btw, very important…
THIS IS *NOT* A LIST OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES…
more than a few of them are movies i cannot stand today…
these are also in no order, except maybe the order in which i thought of
them…
i would also add that it is best to take most of what i said above as not
relating much to the list… most of the “background movies” around the house
were not the deep ones, those demanded too much attention…

and now, a partial list of movies i saw/heard/overheard COUNTLESS times
growing up…

close encounters of the third kind (special edition)

btw, ce3k reigns supreme TO THIS DAY as the one i have seen/heard/overheard
more than any other…

better off dead
ghostbusters
star trek 1-4
star wars
caddyshack
vacation
2010
aliens
raiders of the lost ark
murder by death
wargames
secret of nimh
spaceballs
time after time
the money pit
spaceship
pete’s dragon
cloak and dagger
romancing the stone
fletch

The Straight Dope — By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

THE STRAIGHT DOPE 05/21/2004

[snip]

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #1 – 06/26/1981

Dear Cecil:

Here is a matter that has not been on my mind for qu
ite a while now, that isn’t a matter of life or deat
h, and that doesn’t have 50 bucks riding on it: tell
me, what are the differences between Cinerama, Pana
vision, and Super Panavision? Are any of these simpl
y trade names for ordinary 70mm film?
–Bruce Lund, Western Springs, Illinois

Dear Bruce:

You might have mentioned CinemaScope, Metroscope, Ul
tra Panavision, or any of about a dozen other cinema
tic breakthroughs while you were at it, Bruce; the m
ovie industry has never been at a loss for grandiose
titles for its dubious products. All of the above r
efer to various widescreen techniques intended to he
lp Hollywood meet the TV challenge of the 50s.
The earliest, Cinerama (1952), required three projec
tors flashing onto a huge curved screen to give the
illusion of depth. 1953 saw the debut of CinemaScope
, which was the first of several processes to use an
anamorphic lens. Such lenses squeezed the unusually
wide screen image like an accordion so that it woul
d fit onto an ordinary 35mm negative–i.e., everythi
ng got skinnier. When projected, a reverse anamorphi
c lense stretched the compacted image back out to it
s original width. In some instances, the stretching
was done in the lab, meaning you used a 35mm negativ
e to make a 70mm print, which was then projected wit
h an ordinary 70mm lens. Panavision appeared on the
scene a year or two after CinemaScope, and eventuall
y offered three techniques: ordinary Panavision, whi
ch uses a 2.35:1 anamorphic lens to squeeze a wide i
mage onto a 35mm negative; Ultra Panavision, with 1.
25:1 lens and a 65mm negative; and Super Panavision,
with an ordinary 1:1 lens and a 65mm negative. 65mm
, incidentally, is the size of the film used in the
camera. When the film is processed, a 5mm sound stri
pe is added and what the movie houses get is 70mm wi
de.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_366c.html

[snip]
____________________________________________
Here’s how you can get your OWN FREE Subscription:
Send a blank mailto:join-straightdope-list@jokeaday.
com
____________________________________________
Copyright 1995 – 2004 Chicago Reader, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
You may forward this document by email ONLY if you i
nclude the entire document INCLUDING the information
at the bottom of this publication
____________________________________________
Visit our good friends at Joke A Day http://www.joke
aday.com
They’re kind enough to mail THE STRAIGHT DOPE for us
.
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insidious_plots…
http://insidiousplots.com

ok, yeah, we took a little while getting these posted…

this batch is from the trip we took in the middle of april, going from albuquerque to alamogordo to visit my parents, then through el paso to d/fw (to go to her dentist, which was the reason for all of this), then back via amarillo… also, a few pics of the apt…

(btw, if you just want to see the pics and skip the story, they are in the usual place… though, this is an interesting one…)

as i said, there are a few pics of the apt, so, let’s get those out of the way first…

the drawings and pics of us over the fireplace…

and three pics of the bar as it is now…
(having had a fairly respectable bar when we lived in vegas, it hardly seems accurate to call this a bar, but, it will have to do until we think of a better name for it…)

ok, so, the trip…

as i said, first was alamo…
and i had miss mary take a couple pics of me and my father in “the pit”, his corner of the house… too bad they came out so dark… we are in the market for a proper digital camera so these things won’t be a problem anymore…

while we were there, we went up to the space hall of fame thingy… pretty much the same as when i was growing up there, but, they had this fascinating new thing called a “whisper dish”…

two dishes, like 10, 15 yards or so apart, facing each other, with a pole standing in front of each, with a ring on top of the pole… the first pic is the dish i stood at, the second, the dish she was at, taken from where i was standing (wish i had had her stand in front of it for scale)…
the instructions say to have one person stand in front of one and whisper into the ring while the other holds their ear to their ring…
amazing is not too strong a word for it…
she sounded like she was right next to me, or rather, like her mouth was at the ring i had my ear to…

trippy…

ok, no pics of d/fw, plenty of those in the previous directories, so, we now skip straight to amarillo…

firstly, there was the hotel she found…
i basically laugh at little tourist coupon books, maybe that is why i don’t get cool deals like this…
she found this one that, with the coupon, was only going to be like $23… i did not expect much… boy was i wrong…
i cannot remember the name of it, since it was over a month ago, but, this place was huge and had this massive courtyard with a translucent ceiling over it, with a pool, jacuzzi, a whole convention space sort of thing, and even a raised platform with video games and a pool table… this was all surrounded by the rooms on three floors… and the rooms were huge, too… we have stayed at a nice hotel or two and i liked this one better… front door of our room went to the courtyard, back door went to parking…
anyway, here are the pics…

then, get this… talk about modern amenities… they had this by-the-minute internet station that had a keyboard and all, or you could just connect wirelessly and it had some nifty software onboard…
alas, memory also fails me on the pricing for it…

ok, now the weird story…

we were going down what i think was 2nd street when i noticed an odd sign… like a diamond-shaped traffic sign… odder still, it was in someone’s yard… what was odd about the sign was what it said…

“his movements are dull and graceless
he reminds me of a factory machine”

huh?

then a bit later, i saw another in someone else’s yard…
and then another…

i have a note in my psion that we saw most of them in the mcmasters/amarillo road area…

enough talk, here are some pics of a few of them…

is that weird or what?

ok, then, we were going down amarillo road, headed out of town, satisfied we had gotten pics of some of the more interesting ones (once we started driving around and looking, we found there were dozens of them, no two exactly alike, yet only in this one part of the town), when we saw one on the side of the road, so we stopped and got this pic of it…

as i am standing there, i happened to see something off in the distance…
on sort of a hill quite a ways out, among quite a few trees on the hill, i noticed that what i at first thought were more trees were actually black letters that must have been at least six feet tall…
i took a pic, you may see what i mean and perhaps get an idea of the scale, but, you will not be able to read them… (again, we need a real cam, one with ZOOM!)

the letters say “ACTUAL SIZE”…

curiouser and curiouser, as alice was wont to say…

we were very tempted to hang out a while and maybe ask around to see what the deal with all these bizarre signs was, but, we were already running late, with a ways to drive still, and figured it was probably nowhere near as interesting as it appeared, so, we figured we would just take our pics and look it up on the web when we got home…
of course, we found no info…

if anyone knows anything about this or has any theories, we are all ears… click on the comment link below or use the chatterbox on the left menu… (dk/dp users need the “new window” bookmarklet for the chatterbox post button to work…)

ok, anyway, we have lived in texas for four or five years and hated most of it (except for the amazing laserdisc market the metroplex has going), and we knew this was the last trip into texas we will probably ever have to take, so, we marked the exact time we could say we left texas the last time (2:30pm, local time, april 15th 2004) and took pics of “the crossing”, as it were…

and that is pretty much it…

oh, except one more pic…

i used to love travel, but, i don’t anymore, it seems… too long and boring, not to mention my little motion sickness issues… so, for this trip, i interrupted my day-counting and success record and acquired the one and only thing that has ever worked for me to alleviate those issues…

which required a “pacifier”, as i called it in the last couple years of my full-time indulgence, which ended two years previous to this trip, almost to the day…

this particular pacifier even sort of looks like a pacifier, and it is exactly like the one i had back in the road trip with my brother many years ago…

and if you don’t know what i mean, it doesn’t matter anyway…

well, that is it… there are no may pics yet, but, when there are, i think i will do another entry like this… and i am going to link to this entry from the ALLPICS.html page that i always make up for the batches of pics…

well, i just cannot make haloscan work right…
and i am tired of trying, since they do not even offer mail notification when someone posts anyway…

blogger comments also has some real problems, most importantly not being able to post on any device i use, and having to go four clicks from a post to comment (five if you count having to click “preview” before you can post it), and then only being able to post as “anonymous” if you don’t have a blogger account…

(and, on top of everything else, after the first couple problem-free days of using blogger, i am now getting errors every other time i try to republish and sometimes the eror results in my homepage here missing large portions…)

so, i have no idea what i am going to do…
for now, i am leaving the blogger comments on, taking off the haloscan comments and probably go offline for awhile and find a wall to repeatedly bang my head on…

the posts now have haloscan comment links… the blogger comment links may or may not also show up, not confident of what i am doing yet…

i am still having one probelm, though… they all say zero comments… the post before this one has two comments at the moment i am writing this, yet, it still says zero… i must be doing something wrong because over at my testing ground, it is working right…
problem is that the coding for all of this is so jumbled, from all my c/p’ing parts and tweaking things here and there, that it is just one confusing mess, a few parts of which i don’t even understand, and so it is making finding the problem harder…

it is pissing me off, but, i will keep tinkering with it…

btw, thanks to the anonymous commenter, ruins my day, but, at least i finally have my answer about it…