Harmony PS3 Adapter next to an iPhone (Photo source: Engadget)
I just read on Engadget HD that Logitech’s finally releasing their official PS3/Harmony adapter!
Pretty much every device I care about in my house is controlled through my Harmony 890: 360, TVs, stereos, lights, my bedroom fan… with one exception. The PS3′s Bluetooth remote was the stumbling block; the 890 speaks infrared and radio frequency, but not Bluetooth.
Once I get this thing ($60, available this month!), the PS3 will feel less like a gimmick/toy. I suppose it’s a little unfair, since the 360 already controls fine w/ the Harmony, but watching HD-DVDs on that thing (w/ the optional drive that you had to buy seperately) always feels juvenile because of the 360′s intentionally youthful UI. The PS3′s Cross Media Bar (XMB) shows a lot more restraint, maturity and elegance. Even the startup routines and sounds on the PS3 are more refined, avoiding the 360′s playful and cliche’ “I’M EXTREME!” attitude. Wrap it up with a sleek, jet black piano finish (don’t forget the quiet fans!) and you’ve got one secksie beast!
Let’s face it: Bluray is still so new to most people that it’s a treat for me to share the new tech w/ them. Showing off your man den is a long standing tradition. Today, tech is a huge part of the man den. When you have a universal remote that bends all of your commands into one button press, deftly turning on all of your different devices, dimming your lights to just the right level and switching everything into GO! mode… you look like a tool when you have to pick up a Dual Shock to press play.
Confirmed: ‘The Hobbit’ Will Be Two Films – Cinematical:
[Guillermo] Del Toro: “We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur.”
I was a little bitter when I heard this because it reminds me of what they’re doing w/ Harry Potter, who’s last book will be split into two movies.
Part of me wants to see the whole story as a complete experience, and the inevitable year between movies is sure to annoy me, but it’s a decently long story, and I think I’d rather see them spend the time to do it right.
Sure, they’re trying to milk two box office trips out of the book, but looking at it long term, I’ll be able to watch both movies back-to-back once the bluray comes out. I only hope they don’t take as long to publish the Hobbit blurays as the LoTR box set. And maybe we’ll be lucky enough to not have to deal w/ an extended edition of the Hobbit.
Now that I think about it, I’m almost certain I’m going to skip the LoTR box set that I just blogged about in favor of saving up for the extended editions. I may just get the regular dvds and rip those to the AppleTV to keep me satisfied for the time being.
As a matter of fact: I think they’re in the box of dvds I’m getting from Nut.
‘Lord of the Rings’ Box Art Revealed, Pre-Orders Up | High-Def Digest:
What’s bummin me out right now is that there are seven discs, but the three movie discs have the theatrical releases, and not the extended =/
If the set weren’t a cool hundred bucks, I’d consider getting it anyway, but for now I’m going to (try to) resist it.
*sigh*
Let’s cut to the chase: 9.23.2008, an entired disc of extras, $120.
Pre-order now, suckas.
‘Godfather’ Coming to Blu-ray | High-Def Digest:
Due on September 23 (day-and-date with a new standard DVD re-issue), ‘The Godfather Collection’ contains all three installments in the epic saga — ‘The Godfather,’ ‘The Godfather Part II,’ and ‘The Godfather Part III’ — each painstakingly restored by the team at Zoetrope Studios in what is being dubbed “The Coppola Restoration.” Enjoying a frame-by-frame remaster under the auspices of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and restoration supervisor Kim Aubry, the project reportedly took a year to complete and was recovered using freshly-minted source materials.
Extras on each of the three individual film discs in the set include audio commentary with director Francis Ford Coppola.
It’s not really big news, but it’s news, and that’s really big.
Wait, what?
BREAKING: Guillermo Del Toro Confirmed for ‘The Hobbit’ Movies! – Cinematical:
Posted Apr 24th 2008 8:03PM by Scott Weinberg
Brace yourselves, genre geeks, because here’s some fantastic news: It’s official. Dark fantasy master Guillermo del Toro has been officially signed to direct the Hobbit adaptation(s). Obviously we halfway knew this was coming, but it’s great to have the news confirmed: We have a few years to wait, but the two-movie MGM/New Line adaptation of The Hobbit … will both be “del Toro films.” That’s just awesome.
According to Variety, Guillermo will actually MOVE to New Zealand for four years to work on the two films. How’s that for commitment to a project? Although it’s not a done deal, it’s expected that producers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens will co-adapt the Tolkien tale together. No word yet on which Lord of the Rings cast members will be invited back for the prequels, but I’m betting we’ll soon see Sir Ian donning that wizard’s hat again!
And if I could just editorialize for a quick second: Guillermo del Toro has never made a bad movie. And don’t say Mimic because that’s a really underrated horror flick.
More details on the last Harry Potter movie adaptation being split into a two-part movie (separated by 14 months). I talked about the split initially in this post.
In this latest story, there’s an interesting bit of insight from the producer, David Heyman.
David Heyman Talks Harry Potter Split
Posted Mar 15th 2008 2:02PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Harry Potter producer David Heyman has given an interview to Empire discussing that controversial Book 7 split. He gives a very good reason for why they are aiming to keep the film short — Harry’s young fans. “Is this going to be a four and a half hour film? That’s probably what it would have been. Would our audience really embrace that? In some way, I think they might. But I think the younger ones would have drifted. There’s always been difficulty making sure that the ones that are two hours, two and a half hours long – making sure that those are the right length. I think by having two films that are two and a half hours – although we’re not sure of the length – then it will be a richer experience.” Young kids did sit through Lord of the Rings quite spellbound though, so I am skeptical that it couldn’t be done, but it is a valid point. You don’t want to numb their poor eyes or butts.
Hm. I hadn’t considered the young fans. That’s a fair point, and one I’m willing to concede. I still think an intermission would do the trick, though.
They haven’t yet begun tackling the script, however, so Heyman cannot say where the break between the two films will be. “It depends what feeling you want [to end on]. I don’t want to answer that just yet because we don’t have the first script. We do have a point roughly where we want to end, but we haven’t got a draft to know if that works yet.” I need to re-read the book (it’s all blurred in a haze of sleep deprivation and tears) so I can’t think of a single place to break it. Maybe when Harry hides with Bill and Fleur? Hmmm.
Man. I envy them the task of choosing where to split it and what feeling to leave viewers with. This series is already a cultural phenomenon and is going to be talked about for generations, much the way Star Wars is. To be so pivotally involved with it would be a real rush.
They are also seeking to give each film its own identity, something I hope they don’t really obsess over too much. I think all fans want this to feel like a single, uninterrupted piece, like it hasn’t been a year since we were last in the theatre. One of the only problems I had with Lord of the Rings was that the films started to reflect popular opinion in the editing process.
I think the most encouraging part of Heyman’s interview is the focus he and director David Yates (who, in the midst of this news, was confirmed as the Deathly Hallows director) are putting on the characters. They aren’t looking to simply add in every moment of action and CGI trickery. When asked what he was looking forward to putting onscreen the most, it is the quieter moments of Deathly Hallows that Hayman is enthusiastic about. “I love the character stuff. I love the resolution of Dumbledore and Snape. I love the multiple Harries at the beginning. I love the scene of Hermione trapped at the Malfoys’. I love Harry and Hermione in the forest. I think there’s so much, it’s such a rich fabric. What we’ve done now, which I think is really exciting, is that we’ve found thematic centres for each of the films. That gives the film heart.”
Bravo.
It’s Official! ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ Will Be Two Films – Cinematical:
Posted Mar 12th 2008 6:46PM by Elisabeth Rappe
After months of speculation, Warner Bros has revealed to the L.A. Times that they plan to split the final Harry Potter book into two films. One will be released in November 2010, the second in May 2011, and will simply be titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I / Part II.
Overall, I’m a little bit let down by this. I would rather see a four hour MONSTER film than have to wait a year and two months for the final moments. I know four hour movies are hard to sell and a bit longer than comfortable, and not good for ticket sales, but if they simply had an intermission, I’d gladly go to that. I’d even pay extra for it. The LoTR movies were easily 3 hours, and some were even a bit longer, iirc. This is a special case in movie making history, and I’m certain that fans would stick it out.
Aware that this looks like a grubby money-maker by cynics (myself included), Daniel Radcliffe insists that’s not so. “I think it’s the only way you can do it without cutting out a huge portion of the book. There have been compartmentalized subplots in the other books that have made them easier to cut — although those cuts were still to the horror of some fans — but the seventh book doesn’t really have any subplots. It’s one driving, pounding story from the word go.”
Good point, and well-received, but I think it’s an even stronger argument for my four-hour point. I know they don’t want to cut anything, but a 14 month interlude is pretty damaging.
I do admire that they are so dedicated to giving us the complete Deathly Hallows story [, so much so] that it wears down my cynicism. I disagree that there aren’t things that couldn’t be trimmed down — Harry, Hermione and Ron’s months upon months of hiding out in a tent, for one. But the fact that it was such an edge-of-the-seat read makes me worry they’ll lose that momentum by splitting it in half. And what of the age factor? Will Radcliffe look 35 by the time this is finished?
I completely agree w/ the whole camping business. It dragged on for me in the book, though it built a decent sense of dreary, isolated solitude for the trio. I’m not really certain it’s necessary, because the remainder of the story has enough flavor of it’s own to carry itself — readers don’t really need the appetizer to set it up. The huge year-long disconnect in the middle is going to seem like an eternity. I know they said that this wasn’t a money-grab, but when you look at the disruptive nature of the break, it becomes all too clear that Cash Rules Everything Around Me.
Dolla dolla bill, y’all.
Did you sign up for your hulu.com account yesterday?
On a semi-related note, am I the only one who signs up for things now simply because I want to “protect” my screen name? It’s like modern day copywrite protection, isn’t it?
Paramount was the last major studio to switch over, and now that they have, my inner-geek is looking to whatever’s up next.
Naturally.
I can’t help that. My brain just works like that.
So what’s kicking around in my gourd, you ask? Well, digital downloads. And Drobo. And faster bandwidth. T_T
Paramount officially Blu-ray (again) – Engadget HD:
Posted Feb 21st 2008 3:17AM by Richard Lawler
Michael Bay can breathe easy, Paramount (Dreamworks included) has officially gone Blu-ray. Two and a half years after announcing itself purple, and exactly five months after becoming HD DVD exclusive, this move makes all six major Hollywood studios Blu.
When I last spoke about the high def optical format war, it was in reference to Best Buy deciding to go blu ray.
In that post, I said I was done speaking about the battle until the war was done. It was tempting to comment on Wal-Mart going blu ray, but that was apparently the nail in the coffin.
My swearing off hd posts lasted…. one story.
R.I.P. HD DVD: Toshiba reportedly ends the war | Crave : The gadget blog:
by Matthew Elliott
Well, that’s it. Toshiba appears to be pulling the plug on HD DVD. Toshiba has not commented publicly, but a report on Japan’s NHK says Toshiba has made the decision to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD production.
This news certainly doesn’t come as surprise to anyone remotely following HD DVD’s format war with rival Blu-ray. HD DVD had suffered a recent string of defections, with Warner, Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart all recently pledging their alliance to Blu-ray.
The NHK report says existing HD DVD products will remain in the market for a while, but Toshiba will stop further development of HD DVD.
MacDork