I can't remember if I've already posted about this, but I have to admit that about the biggest perk of my new computer thus far is the ability to watch high definition movie trailers. I could watch them on my old computer, and saw the glorious image quality, but the fact that they played at about .1fps (yes, that 1 frame per 10 seconds) made it kind of pointless. The new computer is some incalculable (for me, anyway)
exponential faster, and HD trailers play like butter. (Proverbially speaking.) The biggest bottleneck is downloading their bosom-bursting 150meg packages, especially since I only think to look at trailers every week or so, and then end up clicking about a dozen at once.
Seriously, a movie trailer in 1024 on my 21" monitor looks so much better than a DVD on my (old) 24" TV screen that it's not even comparable. Of course I'm sitting about a foot from the monitor, vs. across the room from the TV, and the TV probably has a resolution of about 480x320, but let's not quibble over details, shall we?
For some current trailer recommendations, (click names for links) I just watched
Pirates of the Caribbean III and while it wasn't a great trailer, it sure as hell looked good.
Ratatoille still isn't that good a trailer, but the animation is amazing in HD.
Day Watch (which I've been assured was even better than
Nightwatch, by a European, who of course got to see it like 8 months ago, when it was released everywhere in the world but the US) looks terrific too, which is an achievement since you know they filmed it on like, eight dollar pirated video camera software.
I don't know that I'd say a new $800 computer is worth it just to see movie trailers in higher quality, but it's definitely a welcome perk.
Update: Beware of Wikipedia spoilers! I clicked on the link for
the Miss Potter trailer just to see what it was about -- Harry Potter's mom? Not quite. It's about the life story of Beatrix Potter, author of
Peter Rabbit and various other children's books about clothes-wearing lower life forms. I probably knew her name from reading those books, but since it's been a while since I was seven years old, the author's name didn't really leap to mind. The trailer shows Beatrix as an upper class girl, oppressed by her parents and the 1900s English society, writing her books and drawing her pictures in private, and then finally getting them published with the help of a devoted printer. He and she court and fall in love and of course her upper class parents don't approve of a "tradesman," etc, but love wins and out they seem destined to end up happily ever after. At least that's what it looks like from the trailer.
Curious, I hit
Beatrix Potter on wikipedia, and learned that the movie is very true to life, but that the happily is probably not going to be very ever after:
...She was encouraged to publish her story, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, but she struggled to find a publisher until it was accepted when she was 36 in 1902, by Frederick Warne & Company. The small book and her following works were extremely well received and she gained an independent income from the sales. She also became secretly engaged to the publisher, Norman Warne, but her parents were set against her marrying a tradesman. Their opposition to the wedding caused a breach between Beatrix and her parents. However, the wedding was not to be, for soon after the engagement, Norman fell ill of pernicious anemia and died within a few weeks.
Glad I wasn't going to see the movie anyway, since after reading that, what would be the point?
Labels: movies
