Electric Shadow

How Many Christmases?


If this movie continued at the same level as the opening scene, I wouldn't have lost interest so quickly during its 88 minute length. My mother-in-law watched it after watching The Proposal and said this one was "just all right, I guess" compared to "really enjoying" The Proposal. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon are great individually, but they don't have much to do here. Robert Duvall was good, but the "redneck dad" scene was unfairly and inaccurately stereotypical. Show me someone who lives in rural America who doesn't know how a satellite TV system works. Jon Favreau and Tim McGraw do tear it up as Vaughn's abusive, nasty brothers. The evangelical church that had the energy and good vibes of a gangbang was hilarious, however. Take it from someone who was immersed in that world as a kid. Kristin Chenoweth's presence as a real-life evangelical made the scene yet more enjoyable. Dwight Yoakam could convert most of the non-Christian world single-handedly. Sissy Spacek and her boy-friend work nicely. Some of the things that come up during a game of Taboo are vomit-worthy. Jon Voight's father-daughter chat with Witherspoon's Kate is unexpectedly charming and a little touching, considering his own daddy-daughter communication issues. It's almost like Clooney in Up in the Air, but I'm not certain Voight gets how close to himself he's playing here. Extras include a couple of featurettes and a Gag Reel. "Seven-Layer Holiday Meals in a Flash" is hosted by TV food star Paula Deen and Katy Mixon, who plays Favreau's country-fried wife in the movie and Kenny Powers' hometown sweetheart in Eastbound and Down. The other featurette isn't much more than "gee, how close to real-life craziness was that scene in the movie, right?". The Gag Reel is better than the movie in terms of second-for-second laughs, as any reel of its sort featuring Vaughn. This one hit the street on 11.24.
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HD Guide: So You Want to Buy a Blu-ray Player

I found myself incorporating a great deal of what I'm going over in this installment in the Black Friday Buying Guide. I've reworked and consolidated the basics of picking a Blu-ray player here.

Profile 1.0 vs. 1.1 vs. 2.0: What That Means 1.0 & 1.1: Birds of a Feather A Profile 1.0 or 1.1 Blu-ray player may not play newer discs well or at all (in theory). They also do not support internet connection for firmware updates or BD-Live. To update the firmware, you generally have to download a file from the manufacturer's website, mount it as a CD image, and then burn that to disc. If all of that meant gibberish to you, then you are among the 90% of people on the planet that are disadvantaged by this "inconvenience". BD-Live pretty much blows at this point anyway, so you aren't missing much on that front. Across the board, it takes forever for them to open the tray after you push eject, and the load times are longer than any 2.0 player. 1.0 players do not support BonusView (though 1.1 players do), which includes all of the pop-up trivia tracks or enhanced commentary tracks. BonusView features can be found on a lot of discs, and the studios all use different names for it. Disney, for example, calls this Cinexplore. Warner Bros. uses BonusView for their Maximum Movie Mode found on Watchmen, 300, and Terminator Salvation, among others. 2.0: The Wave of the Future All Profile 2.0 players support internet connection in one way or another, whether over ethernet or WiFi. Any one of these players should, without fail or hesitation, play all the Blu-ray discs currently on the market. Not all 2.0 players are created alike. Newer ones tend to load and open the tray much faster. None of the older players support BD-Live, but these do. The only BD-Live feature I've thus far found even marginally useful to anyone is the IMDb Live Lookup on some Fox discs. The real reason to flock to 2.0 players is the newer, faster operating system for the player. Services, "Apps", and So On Now we're seeing newer Blu-ray players with built-in compatibility for services like Netflix Watch Instantly (the most popular), Pandora for free music streaming, YouTube, and Roxio CinemaNow. Honestly, if you already have a device that does things like Watch Instantly, then just get a good player that loads quickly and ignore the extra bells and whistles. WiFi versus Ethernet Not having Wifi built-in isn't a deal-breaker, but it makes things like firmware updates (which happen fairly often) a pain in the ass. On top of that, BD-Live is no big loss, but if you want to use new features like Netflix Watch Instantly or Pandora...get ready to run a cable or spend extra for a Wifi adapter of some kind ($75-95 depending on model and quality). Until prices come down a bit on the WiFi-enabled players with the extras (if you care about those) or not, it's actually cheaper to get one of the hard-wired ethernet players and one of these adapters. WiFi Adapters and Dongles If you have a Samsung player that's "WiFi ready", then you can go with the proprietary Samsung USB Wifi Adapter. Otherwise, you'll need the brand-agnostic Linksys Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter. Brand Loyalty I trust the following brands: LG, Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic. The more recent the model, the better. Amazon does a great job of listing the date of release on these. The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.
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The Moral Of...Night at the Museum 2

Resisting the urge to grow old in the bowels of a museum banging a mannequin that looks like Amy Adams and comes to life only at night is a virtue. You can always retreat into your younger, more ambitious self to avoid the pressures of fame and success. Always leave your kid at home so that he can provide you and the audience with ample exposition via cell phone.

The Moral Of... sprang forth fully-formed from the head of a post I made to my Twitter feed.

The Moral Of...Overboard

Sometimes all an uppity rich bitch needs to learn her lesson is a good knock upside the head and amnesiac sex with a day laborer. Misinformed consensual sex and plenty of housework are the secret to happiness for women everywhere. Being an otherwise loutish, lazy bastard is fine as long as you're a single parent. Accountability is always too much of a pain in the ass!

I'm realizing how often "misinformed consensual sex" is going to appear in The Moral Of's for romantic comedies.

The Moral Of... sprang forth fully-formed from the head of a post I made to my Twitter feed.

Disc Roundup (TV) November 2009

With this post, we bid adieu to the month of November's disc releases (with the exception of individual reviews I've got coming). Adieu until, of course, I complete the Discs of the Year series of posts for 2009. Week of 11.03 Catalog Release of the Week Disney Treasures: Zorro Seasons 1 & 2 (DVD only) This is the kind of treatment a show of this stature deserves. I've found that the cases are extremely prone to scratching. New Release of the Week (tie) The Genius of Charles Darwin Some thoughts on this one are coming rather shortly. G.I. Joe: Resolute (DVD only) If the live-action Joe movie had the balls Warren Ellis put on this cartoon, I'd have been half-interested. I said as much in my review. New Release Clone Wars Catalog Mission: Impossible Season 7 Fraggle Rock The Final Season Fraggle Rock Complete Series Here's Lucy Season 2 The Donna Reed Show Season 3 The Shield Complete Series Spin City Season 3 Edge of Darkness Complete Series Week of 11.10 Catalog Release of the Week G.I. Joe Complete Series (DVD only) I would have lost my mind as a kid to have been able to get my hands on this set. New Release Stories from the Vaults Season 2 Tom Cavanagh guides viewers on a tour of things that aren't often seen when you visit the Smithsonian on vacation. I wish I had this channel on the entry-level tier Digital Cable package I pay Time Warner Cable too much for each month. One of the featurettes on the DVD set covers the premiere of Night at the Museum 2. I found a single episode of this show more entertaining than that entire movie. Catalog The Untouchables Season 3 Volume 2 Week of 11.17 Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week Rome Complete Series (Blu-ray & DVD) All the existing DVD extras from the separate Seasons 1 & 2 sets are carried over here. Newly-added is an optional historical fact track. The Blu-ray set was on sale at Amazon yesterday for $60. New Release of the Week A Very Sunny Christmas (Blu-ray & DVD) It takes a very special show to make modern episodic TV worth watching. A review is coming in an all-Christmas-themed post. New Release The Little Couple Season 1 My wife and I love this show. Dr. Jen Arnold and her husband Bill are very interesting people, and this TLC show that documents their newlywed life together bucks the trend of most reality TV. Catalog The Steve Coogan Collection I'm dying to get my hands on this. I've seen bits and pieces of various shows included in this thing. Andy Barker, PI Another dead Andy Richter show, Andy Barker wasn't as good as Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Glad it's out there and available now. Week of 11.24 British Import of the Week Life on Mars Season 2 (DVD only) Acorn Media has brought the second half of Life on Mars to DVD in Region 1 at last. This one is part of this week's first Discs of the Year installment: The Best of British TV on Disc. Catalog Release of the Week Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 4 (DVD only) This is one of my favorite shows I've ever seen. Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week The Sopranos Season 1 (DVD only) Like I said the other day, "Considering that I never watched the show, I could see digging right in to it right away. Yes, I realize that I'm probably the only person in the world who hasn't watched The Sopranos." New Release of the Week Three Sheets Season 4 (DVD only) This show is the rare little show that could. Originally shown on a network I'd never herd of (let alone watched), its dedicated fanbase of pub crawl enthusiasts petitioned it all the way to the Fine Living Network. New Release Kobe Doin' Work This game-in-the-life piece was directed by die-hard Lakers fan Spike Lee. Individual coverage for this coming this week. Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 4 I don't recall if this is the season when Jeff Goldblum joined the show or the one just before. Catalog Superman: The Complete Animated Series Hogan's Heroes: The Komplete Series Kommandant's Kollection The Best of Spike Jones The Jerry Lewis Collection TV on Disc is generally posted a few days after the corresponding week's Disc Roundup (Movies) and covers the week's TV releases on DVD & Blu-ray. Unless otherwise noted, assume that screener copies of titles reviewed were provided by the respective studio.
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Disc Roundup (Movies) November 2009

There's a certain point when you get so far behind that you feel like you're ahead. I've yet to discover that alternate dimension. The last month has been full of frustrating conflicts and the usual seasonal malaise. I've got to get the previous month worth of Roundups posted so I can move on.

A lot of what's to come below will be extremely brief, but I've either already written this stuff up, it doesn't really require much depth, or I haven't touched the release in question. The TV version of this item will run later today, and the first week of December will be up by the morning. Week of 11.03

Catalog Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week North by Northwest (Blu-ray & DVD) "I didn't think I'd be as stunned as I was within the opening minutes of watching Warner's North by Northwest Blu-ray..." Full review here. New Release of the Week Food, Inc. (Blu-ray & DVD) Good on Magnolia for picking this one up, and good for it being Oscar shortlisted. New Release G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Blu-ray & DVD) I don't know when or why I'd make time for this one. The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (Blu-ray & DVD) This movie is better than you might think. I Love You, Beth Cooper (Blu-ray & DVD) A horrible movie with a too-old-for-the-part lead guy. Avoid this at all costs. Aliens in the Attic (Blu-ray & DVD) The most annoying thing about this disc is the forced intro before the movie, where High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale says "hey guys, it's me Ashley Tisdale, hope you enjoy watching Aliens in the Attic. blahblahblah". It's not optional, it just plays when you tell the disc to "Play Movie". The guy who plays her boyfriend in the movie is an extremely gifted physical comedian. Kevin Nealon, Andy Richter, and Tim Meadows make the most of what they have to work with. I must admit that Doris Roberts doing wire-fu was fun. The movie isn't really that bad compared to all the family-friendly PG junk cranked out each year. Catalog New to Blu Wings of Desire The Criterion Collection Howard's End The Criterion Collection Both of these, based on friends and colleagues' accounts, are rather wonderful. I'll have to catch up with them down the road. It's a Wonderful Life Forrest Gump I dashed off some thoughts on these here. The picture on both is exceptional. Wonderful Life splits the shameful colorized version onto its own disc. A Christmas Carol I have no idea how good of a job VCI did on this. This Alistair Sim-starring version is a favorite of many. They include a DVD of the film with the Blu-ray (smart). Rocky: The Undisputed Collection As I said earlier, the transfers on these are "as close as I've seen to 'a film print at home'...Yes, they're grainy, but that's how they're supposed to look." Love Actually I'm a sucker for a couple sequences in here. I was recently-single when I first saw it, and every manipulative, cloying moment worked on me back then. Say Anything From my review: "The contents are worth the upgrade, but that cover is going to chain me to a desk to Photoshop my own." Catalog Columbia Film Noir (DVD only) The Big Heat / 5 Against the House / The Lineup / Murder by Contract / The Sniper The only title previously on legitimate (non-public domain, lousy transfer) DVD is The Big Heat. The Sniper has never been on DVD (in the US at least). The Claudette Colbert Collection (DVD only) Three-Cornered Moon / Maid of Salem / I Met Him in Paris / Bluebeard's Eighth Wife / No Time for Love / The Egg and I These titles are all new to DVD with the exception of The Egg and I, previously available as part of The Adventures of Ma & Pa Kettle Volume 1. Reissue White Christmas (DVD only) Paramount added some bells and whistles to this double dip. Direct to Video Command Performance (Blu-ray & DVD) Dolph Lundgren + military action movie he directed himself. Not Forgotten (DVD only) Simon Baker and Paz Vega in a movie I gather isn't necessarily that bad. Hardwired (DVD only) I'll watch this one this week. It stars Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Val Kilmer, with a supporting turn by the excellent Michael Ironside that the box and press release don't go into detail about. Gooding's wife dies and he wakes up to find he's been implanted with a mind-control device that forces him to kill people. Kilmer is some sort of corporate weirdo tracking Gooding's every move. Oddly, Kilmer looks dorky and disheveled on the back cover but clean-cut and handsome on the front. Week of 11.10

Vintage Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week The General I've only taken a little more time to play with this disc since I wrote about it here, but I've gotten all the way through watching the movie now. The picture quality really holds up nicely throughout. New Release of the Week UP (Blu-ray & DVD) I covered both this and Monsters here. New Release Must Read After My Death (DVD only) This looks really intriguing. Suppressed suburban secrets and the facade of normality wrestle one another in this found media documentary. The filmmaker's grandmother left an amazing archive of stuff behind. The only thing he added were his own voice reading correspondence and editing. It's going into the top tier of my "Where Do I Find the Time For This Thing I Find Interesting?" list. Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut(Blu-ray & DVD) I think I'll stick with the Director's Cut if and when I need to re-watch this thing. The Ugly Truth (Blu-ray & DVD) This movie spends away whatever moral high ground Katherine Heigl thought she had when she called her role in Knocked Up "sexist". The Alternate Endings are the same morally compromised garbage as the regular one. The Accidental Husband (DVD only) My The Moral Of entry on this one sums up how I feel about the movie. The Answer Man (Blu-ray & DVD) I hadn't heard of this one until I saw it on the release list. It looks interesting. Spread (Blu-ray & DVD) The Merry Gentleman (Blu-ray & DVD) Ballast (Blu-ray & DVD) Catalog New to Blu Heat I've set aside time to do a side-by-side comparison in the two cuts this week. I'll report back. Near Dark Now with Twilight-esque cover! Logan's Run The Negotiator Covered here. Monsters, Inc. Godzilla (USA) Red Heat Week of 11.17

Vintage Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week Gone With the Wind (DVD also) They've finally gotten the color, contrast, and resolution perfect. Recent Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week (tie) Clerks / Chasing Amy / Fight Club I covered the two Kevin Smith films here and have something on its way for Fight Club. New Release of the Week Star Trek(2009) (Blu-ray & DVD) This was lavished with praise here. Trek is one of the very best new release home video titles of the year thus far. New Release My Sister's Keeper (Blu-ray & DVD) My review hits tomorrow, including a look at the alternate ending that sets up a franchise (kidding, kidding). Bruno (Blu-ray & DVD) I'm surprised I ended up defending this movie. Thirst (DVD only) Limits of Control (DVD only) Is Anybody There? (Blu-ray & DVD) Franklyn (Blu-ray & DVD) The Canyon (DVD only) Catalog New to Blu Galaxy Quest Leon: The Professional Sex, Lies, and Videotape Catalog New to DVD Downhill Racer (The Criterion Collection) Jeff has covered this one pretty extensively. The Exiles This is a wonderful addition to any cineaste's film education. Reviewed in full here. Week of 11.24

New Release of the Week (tie) Gomorrah (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray & DVD) A raw, brutal movie that demands great treatment. This is yet another addition to my Criterion backlog. Three Monkeys (DVD only) Jeff's gone on about this movie so much I feel an imperative to track this down before the end of the year. Direct to Video Release of the Week The Maiden Heist (DVD only) This is another Yari Film Group movie whose theatrical plans fizzled when the company went under. I haven't watched it yet, but I expect it to at least rent well for the same reason I want to watch it: Walken, Freeman, and Macy star along with Marcia Gay Harden. They could have called it Grumpy Old Heist. I'm glad they didn't. New Release Funny People (Blu-ray & DVD) This is a better movie than its reviews might indicate. It slows in the third act, but is worth the ride. Angels & Demons (Blu-ray & DVD) I'm tackling this one next week before BNAT devours me whole. Shorts (Blu-ray & DVD) I have an individual piece on this one pegged for Wednesday. I want to get into how few movies for kids are really made for kids currently. Santa Buddies (Blu-ray & DVD) Four Christmases (Blu-ray & DVD) I'm sure everyone reading this has been anxiously anticipating my reviews of these titles. I have good news: the wait will be over by Monday. Catalog New to Blu Angel Heart The Monster Squad New Police Story Blood: The Last Vampire (Anime) Frailty Way of the Gun Cujo Air America Ichi the Killer My Brilliant Career Catalog New to DVD Mad Dog Morgan Hopper's Troma classic is finally available on disc. Reissue Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (DVD only) This is the DVD version of the wonderful Blu-ray that came out about 6 months ago. Disc Roundup (Movies) is posted as promptly as is possible, depending on how many discs there are to get through. Unless otherwise noted, assume that screener copies of titles reviewed were provided by the respective studio.
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The Moral Of...The Ugly Truth

Being a career-focused, independent woman will lead to psychological disorders only curable by banging a Scotsman who should have been allowed to use his native accent since it slips out all the time anyway. Being a human sex toy for your man will transform you into the obedient, servile Stepford Slut every guy wants and deserves. Lighten up you uptight bitch, and unfurl your skank flag!

The Moral Of... sprang forth fully-formed from the head of a post I made to my Twitter feed.

Discs of the Year 2009

I made a major shift in the amount of time and column space I dedicate to home video this year. Consequently, I've got my year-end Blu-ray and DVD lists more fully-formed than my favorite theatrical releases. I've been adding titles to conventional category lists that appear on many home video-centric sites, and I've invented a few of my own. The content of the few Discs of the Year pieces will only marginally overlap the HD Guide series.
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HD Guide: HBO on Blu-ray


TV shows in HD is a broader topic that I'll get to soon enough, but the recent arrival of the Blu-ray edition of Rome: The Complete Series pushed this notecard up in my priority stack. HBO has been doing something different on TV for a while now, and it's certainly paying off with the few Blu-ray releases they've put out there. They filmed Generation Kill and various other miniseries just as you would a movie in terms of scale, but with the depth afforded by a 6-hour-plus running time. When you transfer that proportion to HD, it's like you're watching something completely new. Please take for granted that the picture and audio are beyond compare on all of the following titles so that I don't have to invent new adjectives to describe them. All sets feature solid docs, behind-the-scenes and making-of pieces, as well as commentaries. John Adams notably has no yack track, but I don't really miss it.

The reason I feel so strongly that 1080p really changes the experience is that the Band of Brothers promo that auto-plays on the Adams set made me choke on my wine and nearly punt a dog. I barely missed Lucy (my Beagle) in my moment of surprise. She lay at my feet. I sat up to get the remote and all of a sudden, "Wham! Boom!" went the TV. "Glurg! Kick!" went I. "The? Fuck?" said Lucy's eyes. The first time I watched Band was on a 27" tube in college. At that point in the life of DVD, I was impressed that it was in original aspect ratio and came in a metal case. The idea of investing the 12 hours back in to it actually seems appealing now, but who knows when I'd have time to do that.

The first season of The Sopranos is on Blu as of just last week. Considering that I never watched the show, I could see digging right in to it right away. Yes, I realize that I'm probably the only person in the world who hasn't watched The Sopranos. I was in college during most of its run, and I didn't have a trust fund to buy me HBO like others did. I've had the "ending" spoiled for me already. I'm sure I'll love it if only due to my deep-seated affection for perpetuating ethnic stereotypes. Eyyy!!


The new generation of shows, like John Adams, Generation Kill and True Blood, have been shot with HD presentation in mind from the get-go. HBO is actually making the "BonusView" (pop-up trivia) option on these titles moderately interesting (glad someone is!). They're designing these to cater to the diehard fans of the particular program, which is why they work. They don't cast an impossibly unfocused True Blood's is all about gossip, backstories, and revealing info. Kill's has a military glossary, a chain of command chart, and mission maps. Adams' includes historical facts and biographies relevant to the real people and events going on in fictionalized form. Why isn't anyone else doing this as well as HBO on other TV or film releases? I guarantee that it's lack of effort or caring. Most studios are using the capabilities of the format on auto-pilot. I should mention that CBS/Paramount is the exception with their Star Trek: TOS sets.

I apologize for the terrible quality of this Google-Image-Searched shot. I will remedy this in a Screen Candy post tomorrow that features this and some other notable packaging of late.
I really can't explain why it's so satisfying to me that the case for the Rome full series Blu-ray set is shorter and thinner than the case for only my Season 1 DVDs. Even more disgustingly materialistic is the fact that I love the hard-bound leather book styling of the case. It goes so far as to include a bookmark ribbon. The BonusView for Rome features an extremely thorough guide prepared by the series' history consultant. All the other extras are the same as the DVD sets: 13 commentaries and a big pile of featurettes. The biggest deal, for me, was finally seeing my favorite modern (22 hour) Roman epic in HD for the first time. In the interest of not getting myself into trouble, I set a strict limit of 20 minutes to taste-test it. I first popped in the DVD (for a then/now comparison) and gave it a good 15 minutes. The moment I got really comfortable, I jumped right up. In went the Blu-ray. About an hour later, I realized I was running hopelessly late for the day. I hope rumors of a feature film prove to be true. Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson (Vorenus and Pullo) haven't gotten enough of a career bump out of this property just yet. Angels in America, From the Earth to the Moon, and Deadwood have all been mentioned for Blu-ray release, but without dates attached. I consider Angels one of my favorite films of 2003, and the other two are among my favorite shows HBO has ever done. As long as they get these out before Carnivale, I'll be fine. All this stuff comes in at better pricing than equivalent DVD sets did back when they were the hot new thing. I have, however, had it mentioned to me more than once by owners of existing HBO sets that they'd love to see something like Warner Bros.' DVD2Blu program in place to defray cost for loyal customers. Here's to that, but HBO is a separate home video outfit than WB, so no one should get their hopes up. I'll follow up with future installments as HBO broadens their offerings down the line. I'm currently toiling away on a multi-part set of Guide entries on Criterion's releases in a slightly different vein. The HD Guide is an ongoing series focusing on the evolving world of HD in the home: getting started, understanding the lingo, and appreciating the best (and worst) discs that are out there.
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Golden Girls on Gay Marriage

For a show that's been off the air for 17 years, The Golden Girls is still ahead of its time in dealing with hot button issues. See how simple an explanation this is?
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495: Golden Kinescopes


Desi Arnaz presenting Rod Serling with his Emmy for Patterns
One of the two or three most stirring and intriguing Criterion releases of the year for me has been The Golden Age of Television, which I've been working through over the last couple weeks. It's the three-disc home video revival of teleplays few have seen in the last half-century, if ever. It's a combination of various firsts, like Andy Griffith's first post-"What It Was, Was Football" performance to the first 90-minute TV drama (which starred Jack Palance). Piles of now-legendary actors cut their teeth on these TV dramas (and one comedy) from Griffith, Steiger, and Palance to Paul Newman, Everett Sloane, Piper Laurie, Cliff Robertson, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Julie Harris, among others. Directors like John Frankenheimer, Delbert Mann, and Daniel Petrie really came into their own on these shows. Rod Serling and Paddy Chayefsky wrote most of the teleplays included in this set.

Merv Griffin (l.) introducing A Wind from the South and Roddy McDowell(r.) introducing No Time for Sergeants
These shows played the one time live and then re-aired for a second time nearly 30 years later (in 1982) on PBS' The Golden Age of Television anthology series. Stars who had cut their teeth in the 50's like Roddy McDowell, Eva Marie Saint, Jack Klugman, Carl Reiner, and others did short introductions that include cuts of interviews with surviving talent. All of these original intros accompany the respective teleplays.

Andy Griffith in a 1982 interview for No Time for Sergeants
The video transfers of the programs are the best ones available of the kinescopes made for re-airing the program in other timezones. The quick and dirty explanation for what a kinescope is to the uninitiated is that it's like setting up a camcorder to record whatever is playing on your TV. In this case, they had a film camera set up to record the live feed monitor in the studio. The frame warps at the edges as well as at random points in the middle of the frame. These were never recorded for archival purposes (videotape wasn't invented until 1957), so the quality is not what cineastes are accustomed to from Criterion. I'm just glad that the needs of airing at different times in different places accidentally preserved them at all.

Roy Scheider as an extra (!) in A Wind from the South
I hate most modern US TV, but this is nothing like the garbage clogging my overpriced channel lineup. The eight shows are an odd amalgam of a play, a TV show, and a movie. The discovery in each for me was also a cross-section: the marvel of seeing a new live production of a play, the little flubs here and there, and the unearthing of new-to-many performances from some of the greatest actors of the filmed era. Extras include the aforementioned 1982 introductions to each show, a couple of interviews with John Frankenheimer (regarding The Comedian and Days of Wine and Roses), and commentary on some of the plays by their respective directors. This is one of the top releases of the year, thanks to both the unearthed treasure aspect and the content within. I can only hope this release sells well and we see a "Volume 2" from Criterion of other kinescope recordings.

(l.-r., top-bottom) Rod Steiger in Marty, Patterns, Andy Griffith just after singing the lyric "stuck her nose in the butter" in No Time for Sergeants, and Julie Harris in A Wind from the South
Marty (May 24, 1953) The character of Marty, famous for declaring himself "a fat, ugly man" in the movie version, made his debut on live TV. Paddy Chayefsky had his deadlines writing the script moved up out of necessity when another script/show was abruptly deemed not ready for production. Rod Steiger and Nancy Marchand starred, and both put in touching, nuanced performances that are still rare in filmed entertainment. The movie would be made two years later with Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. The story of an ordinary butcher in postwar America was one of the major turning points in the history of TV, as networks came to realize that there was an appetite for the rhythms and sounds of real lives. Patterns (January 12, 1955) The success of Patterns made it possible for Rod Serling to have a real writing career and paved the way for The Twilight Zone. It's not outlandish to claim that had this Kraft Television Theatre program not happened, TV and media history would be very different. The play itself wonders what morality and ethics really mean in the corporate world. It proved so popular that they reunited the cast to perform it a second time live, and most of the cast (including Ed Begley) returned for the film version in 1956. No Time for Sergeants (March 15th, 1955) There weren't many live TV comedy plays, and of those, this is one of the most prominent (if not the most). Andy Griffith had appeared on Ed Sullivan the year before, and this show truly made him a star. The story of how country bumpkin Will Stockdale (Griffith) turns a military barracks on its ear proved so popular that the play transferred to Broadway and then was made into a film. The Broadway production co-starred Don Knotts and Roddy McDowell. Since the networks now saw viewer interest in rural or "gee shucks" subject matter, Griffith and Knotts' chemistry and friendship helped conceive The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Gomer Pyle, USMC (a knockoff of No Time) only happened because No Time for Sergeants aired first. A Wind from the South (September 14th, 1955) Julie Harris stars, Daniel Petrie directs, and Merv Griffin sings the theme song. Lots of "theatre Irish" accents abound, and they re-spell "Siobhan" as "Shevawn" in the credits to not confuse all the Americans watching. I expect they'd have spelled "Niamh" as "Neeve" had someone had that name. Frankly, they probably still would. The play is a good example of the "working young woman looking for love" story that has become so sexist and sloppy in modern feature films.

Paul Newman at the beginning of Bang the Drum Slowly, Jack Palance insisting he "coulda been the heavyweight champion of the world!" in Requiem for a Heavyweight, Mickey Rooney searing in intensity in The Comedian, and Piper Laurie/Cliff Robertson getting into a row in Days of Wine and Roses
Bang the Drum Slowly (September 26th, 1956) People told Newman he probably wouldn't have much of a career as a leading man because he "look[ed] too much like Brando." A series of supporting roles lead to this, his first real shot at taking the lead. George Peppard and Clu Gulager played supporting roles in this "tragic friendship" story about fellow baseball players. Newman's preparation and dogged work ethic show in his effortless, naturalistic portrayal of Henry Wiggen. It's a performance that really reflects what he offered throughout the rest of his career: preparation so intense that the actual "doing" of it appears to be effortless. Requiem for a Heavyweight (October 11th, 1956) This first 90-minute drama produced for TV starred Jack Palance as "Mountain" McClintock, was directed by Ralph Nelson, and was written by Rod Serling. Father and son Ed and Keenan Wynn played supporting parts, and their on-set friction was fodder for a 1960 production that pulled the curtain back on live TV production (also written by Serling). Ed had never done drama in his 54-year career that stretched back to the days of vaudeville, and playing Mountain's trainer proved difficult in that he couldn't fall back on his common ad-libs that worked when he was clowning. The film version starred Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, and Mickey Rooney in the Palance/K. Wynn/E. Wynn roles six years later. Having seen both now, I really prefer these performances to the movie. Like all the titles in this set, this is a sterling example of the difference from teleplay to film in how much more fresh and daring the "no-name" actor can be compared to the "box office draw". The Comedian (February 14th, 1957) If you've only seen Mickey Rooney do heart-warming, funny, or not-racist-at-the-time dumb show (or a combination of the three), the vicious little man he plays in this one will stop you cold. Directed for Playhouse 90 by John Frankenheimer and co-starring Kim Hunter and Mel Torme, The Comedian could be considered one of very few filmed performances that truly shows off the depth of Rooney's talent. The Comedian in particular was impossibly complex in production due to inserting filmed audience reaction shots to give the impression of a live studio audience. Days of Wine and Roses (October 2,1958) One of my favorite Jack Lemmon performances is in the film version of this play. It turns out Frankenheimer didn't direct the movie because Lemmon didn't think he had the chops. The drama behind the scenes is always so juicy and interesting in retrospect. Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie originated the lead roles in the debut of the play, which the presenter introduces as a story about "two young, attractive people who find themselves affected by this problem" (alcoholism).

Amazon currently has The Golden Age of Television listed for $36.99. Fans of the various masters of their respective arts and media history enthusiasts alike will be very pleased with this set.
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Jersey Hat Trick


John & Janet Pierson, now Austinites, in a still from the new Chasing Amy Blu-ray
Kevin Smith is a very important figure in my film education. I was introduced to the indie movement of the 90's by VHS tapes of Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy that I got my hands on in high school. I missed Dogma in theaters, but snapped it up on video as soon as it was available. I found out about the existence of other favorite filmmakers (Linklater, Soderbergh, and Tarantino, among others) after him, but his work has yet to diminish for me.

Tarantino on Charlie Rose calling Amy one of his favorite films of that year.
For trivia and other film connections, I had to pick my best friend's brain and dig deep on the sites of the day that would load over dialup. The internet was a much less evolved place then, and DVD commentaries didn't yet exist. I remember a video store clerk trying to convince me that Kevin went to her high school in East Dallas and "was drawin' those stoner dudes in school an' shit." No one could get away with that in the age of the internet on cell phones. I didn't believe her because I knew better, but I played along because she seemed to so completely believe everything she was saying.

The man himself.
My first five DVDs included Clerks, Mallrats and Amy. I've owned all three on VHS and DVD twice each. The lost tapes got loaned out and never returned. Clerks and Mallrats were double dipped on DVD, and my original copy of Amy was stolen along with my Jay & Bob discs that I never replaced. In high school, I wrote short plays for stage and screen that shamelessly aped the Original Jersey Trilogy. I've never shown them to anyone, but I continue to mine those ape-plays for good components. I saw Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back in college at a mall theater. Jersey Girl was my first Kevin Smith movie at a festival (South by Southwest). It's easy to defend Jersey Girl when the people telling you you're wrong for liking it never saw the movie and are going off of "what people say". My now-wife, then-fiancee and I went to see Clerks II with a friend and his wife. He loved it, and she...did not seem to enjoy it much at all. Zack and Miri was the first Smith film I saw at a press screening instead of with a real audience or on video. I really lived the golden age of VHS, when it was cheaper and less of a hassle for my parents to rent a pile of movies to let me watch and only every so often go to the theater. Even though there were frequently Blockbuster boxes in the house, most of what my dad picked up were disposable action movies that I barely remembered a week later and my mom didn't usually pipe in with her own taste. The internet, as I mentioned above, was not even remotely as pervasive and encyclopedic as it is now. Siskel and Ebert/Ebert and Roeper came on at 3:30am. I didn't have the mountain of advantages a kid does now. The short version of all that would have been the following: I'm always glad to watch anything with Kevin's name on it. These three movies are points on a map in Kevin's Askewniverse, and they're landmarks in my filmgoing life. That's why I shared generously before getting to what I thought of the new Blu-ray Askewniverse discs. Cracking open the new Kevin Smith Collection of Blu-rays was a little intimidating and a little cathartic at first, and I haven't devoured them all the way through. In acting, sense memory is or isn't a big deal (depending on who you talk to), but in real life, it's integral to our emotional responses and personal history. It's why people buy sports jersey after sports jersey or set up little rituals for themselves each year like family meals. You want to re-live those moments that really make you feel vibrant and meaningful. This is why the masses avoid arthouse cinema, since they assume there's always some pain involved. Opening up a video copy of Clerks or Amy flashes me back to manually adjusting the volume so that my mom wouldn't hear all the "dick" "fuck" "shit" "cock" and other words she hated hearing coming from my room (and still hates seeing me use in writing something viewed by members of the public). I recall all the times I defended Affleck to people who hadn't seen Amy but had seen Forces of Nature and Pearl Harbor. These movies have helped define friendships and sparked so many conversations in my life that going through every last thing on them was a bit too much for me all in one gulp. I have watched all the new features on Clerks and Amy (no new stuff on J&SBSB), and it's all fantastic. The Clerks disc includes all of the extras from the Clerks X DVD three-disc DVD on one Blu-ray, a new introduction by Kevin, and Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Tea Party is mostly behind-the-scenes footage, but touches just about every major (and minor) cast member from what I consider Cannonball Run 3: Kickin' It Askew. The one thing missing for me was the booklet that came with Clerks X. These things don't usually matter to me, but I like the pieces written by Kevin and Scott Mosier, and the photos of the Sundance submission check and other things. If you simply must sell your Clerks X set, keep the book. The transfer is actually an improvement over the DVD, so the joke about "how is Clerks going to look better in 1080p?" is misguided to say the least. The previous discs suffer from lack of contrast that the Blu-ray has in spades. The most important thing is to make sure your monitor is calibrated for black & white picture with lots (and lots) of grain. There are only two outfits that I've seen do unparalleled (except by each other) color 16mm to Blu-ray transfer: Criterion and Kino. Chasing Amy may not be a completely ideal transfer to HD (soft black levels), but honestly I can't be certain, because I've never seen it theatrically. It looked fine to me, but after that virtuoso Criterion Monsoon Wedding transfer, I wonder how much richer the color could get. The Amy disc, and frankly, the boxset itself, is worth it for the new extras alone. Tracing Amy [1:21:15] is the feature-length, warts and all retrospective doc that any big fan of the film has been waiting for. Bits and pieces of stories that have been told before by Smith in Q&A's and appearances are fully fleshed-out here and in "Was It Something I Said?" [18:17], a back-and-forth between director Smith and star Joey Lauren Adams. Smith and Adams were together romantically during the lead-up and making of the film, and they are very candid about how that impacted the whole endeavor. I haven't listened to the new commentary in full just yet, but the opening 20 minutes are true to form for these guys, who are among the best when it comes to commentary recording. The 10 Years Later Q&A at the Arclight 10th Anniversary screening includes Smith, Jason Mewes, Affleck, Adams, Jason Lee, Scott Mosier, and Dwight Ewell. I particularly liked it thanks to the presence of Ewell, one of Amy's most memorable actors. I wish I could say I've seen him in more than one thing since Amy, because he's a truly present and powerful actor.

Amazon will have to come down on that $54 price tag for a ton of people to jump on this thing, but fans will gladly drop $18 per to get these. Amy and Clerks are $50 together separately, so the box is the way to go.
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Disc Roundup (TV) 12.01 & 12.08.09


Blu-ray Upgrade of the Week Catalog Release of the Week New Release of the Week New Release Catalog New to Blu Catalog New to Region 1 Reissue/Repackage TV on Disc is generally posted a few days after the corresponding week's Disc Roundup (Movies) and covers the week's TV releases on DVD & Blu-ray. Unless otherwise noted, assume that screener copies of titles reviewed were provided by the respective studio.
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HD Guide: Blu Criterion v1 (Black & White)

The thing that really sticks out looking at the titles Criterion has very carefully selected from their existing library and new releases is the broad range in content and era. The variety is wonderful and refreshing. Traditional studios are only just getting the slightest of a grip on how to program their catalog Blu-ray upgrades. There's a little of something for everyone
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The God Delusion

I categorize strict Creationists and Scientologists in the same theological bucket of strange creatures. I actively enjoy watching Creationists squirm when I talk about Darwinian evolution and the very old age of the planet. Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, presents The Genius of Charles Darwin, an exceptional three-episode program about the development of the theory presented in Darwin's On the Origin of Species. It's now on DVD thanks to Acorn Media's Athena Learning label.

The thing that's most valuable about this DVD set is that the special itself is about 2.5 hours long, and the extras disc includes 4.5 hours of content. Of that, 4 hours is made up of interviews with the subjects of the main program, so you can go more or less in-depth as you wish. The remaining half hour is comprised of three Tales from the Galapagos Islands specials.
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HD Guide: Black Friday Deals and Don'ts

I will have to follow this up at some point with updated last-minute additions, since the retailers have wised up and left items off their printed ads that now always leak. I've gone through what is out there and have compiled some tips for you, the reader. I was going to do all of this for myself anyway, so I might as well spill for the greater good. I meant to post this yesterday, but enough changed since then that I've rewritten this about seven times. I'm specifically looking at TVs, Blu-ray players, and Blu-ray discs. I'm excluding crap that no one should bother with like Monsters vs. Aliens and, honestly, the mountains of DVDs that'll be $4 (The Dark Knight, Hellboy 2). Best Buy has the most of those in-store, but as far as I can tell, all of them have been matched by Amazon. Why buy The Dark Knight for $4 on DVD if you know you want to get it on Blu-ray soon (or for $10 tomorrow) anyway? The Rule of Thumb is: you really shouldn't have to leave your house to get the best deals. If you see something (TV/Blu player/Blu-ray disc) from a doorbuster ad missing from this entry, the reason is that it's a waste of your time or it's a movie I don't care for (or missed, I'm sure there'll be a few). Don't Do It As much as you may be tempted by the price tag, these aren't going to be worth it for various reasons. They could be an unreliable/badly-supported brand, the prior year (or year before last's) model, or just not worth your money. I spoke to a friend who is in the process of getting a third HDTV thanks to not following my Ten HD Commandments. It's my fault for not delivering them down from the mountain of experience in time to save him and his pocketbook. It's not too late for you. TVs Almost every TV that looks too good to be true is, with a notable trio of exceptions listed a bit further down. There are a ton of 720p TVs on the doorbuster ads. The stores and manufacturers are just trying to get rid of them. A TV is an investment, not something you want to cheap-out on. You don't need to spend $4000 to be happy, but you will not be happy with any of the $499-$599 junkers on those ads. Across the board, I recommend you avoid Westinghouse, Insignia (in-house BestBuy brand), Apex, AOC, ProScan, Sylvania, Element, Dynex, and Sanyo. The Sony sets are overpriced. Blu-rays $12.99 Target Exclusive Gone With the Wind Anniversary Blu-ray Unlike the Wizard of Oz Target Exclusive set (which I recommend further down), stay away from this one. Instead of being the same three-disc set included in the giant $60+ collector's box like Oz, this is only the Feature disc and no extras, aside from the commentary track. I'm more a fan of the making of GWTW than the movie itself, so it's the big box (reviewed soon) for me. $12.99 Ghostbusters (Amazon, Best Buy, you name it) I still haven't seen this transfer with my own eyes, but the consensus seems to be that the picture quality is terrible at first and gets better as it goes. $10.99 Casino Royale (Amazon) This isn't the Collector's Edition (currently $22.99) that has been found for as low as about $12 previously. This looks like a stock-clearing. $7.99 Stargate Extended Edition (Amazon) This one has already been double dipped on Blu-ray. The transfer on the $7.99 one is no good. The "Good One" is $17.99 from Amazon, and has garnered rave reviews from friends who are fans. $10 each Harry Potter 1 & 2 (Amazon) If you're really into these, there are new editions of Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets with a bunch of new stuff on them and in the box coming in just a couple weeks. If all you want is the movie, fine, but be warned of the coming double-dip. $10 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Amazon) This movie is not worth buying, even if you have small kids and are dying to find something else to stick in front of them. Your kid(s) will not watch it a second time. Simon Pegg helps, but there is exactly one sequence in the whole movie I was really impressed with that involved a lot of rain, a weasel, and a Baryonyx. The moral of the movie is: it is impossible to be happy outside of a domesticated family life full of merchandising--er, friends. Rent or Netflix it if you just have to see it. Players Not having Wifi built-in isn't a deal-breaker, but it makes things like firmware updates (which happen fairly often) a pain in the ass. On top of that, BD-Live is no big loss, but if you want to use new features like Netflix Watch Instantly or Pandora...get ready to run a cable or spend extra for a Wifi adapter of some kind ($75-95 depending on model and quality). $78 Magnavox NB500MG1F (Walmart) Do not, do not, do not buy this. This is going to get a bunch of Blu-ray players in people's homes, which is good for the format, but bad for the people getting this box that's little more than a DVD up-converter that happens to play (most) Blu-ray discs. A $78 Blu-ray player sounds like a great idea until you realize this player doesn't have two very important things: (1) Profile 2.0, which means some newer discs may not play properly or at all, and... (2) Internet connectivity of any kind, which means no easy means of updating the firmware $99 LG BD270 (Amazon) The same downsides as the Magnavox above (Profile 1.1, no ethernet or Wifi), but better performance. $148 Sony BDP-S369 (Walmart)/$149.99 Sony BDP-S360 (Best Buy/Target) These are functionally the same Blu-ray player at all three stores, but Walmart has their own model number variant. Profile 2.0 and ethernet aren't that big a deal compared to the value of a couple below. Available Online (Avoid the Stores) Amazon is matching all of Best Buy and Walmart's best-priced Blu-rays with few exceptions (listed just below). Avoid lines and sales tax if at all possible. Players The best way to go is to have a player that has Wifi already built-in (PS3 or otherwise), but there's nothing wrong with getting one of the more inexpensive ones with the features you want and add some sort of Wifi adapter like the Linksys Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter ($70.99 at Amazon). If you already have a device that does things like Netflix Watch Instantly, then just get a good player and ignore the extra bells and whistles. The Best Price with Built-in Wifi $199.95 Sony BDP-S560 (Amazon) Assuming you don't care about Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, or whatever on your player, but do want Wifi, this is the best price you'll find. It starts up faster and the tray opens quicker than older Sony Models. Best Balance and Bang-for-Buck $148 Samsung BD-P1590 (Walmart)/$149.99 Samsung BD-P1600 (Best Buy) Amazon has this for the same price, sans sales tax. Be aware that "Wifi ready" doesn't mean "Wifi built-in". These are functionally the same unit. They are much better than the Magnavox Box of 99 Problems above. They have Profile 2.0 and can have their firmware updated. They also have Pandora, Netflix Watch Instantly, and YouTube capability, but without a proprietary Samsung USB Wifi Adapter or the Linksys listed above, you'll have to hard-wire it into ethernet. $220 for the player and the adapter gives you the combination of Profile 2.0, Wifi, and the extra "apps". ANyone who wants a player and doesn't have some sort of Netflix WI box already should go this route. The Best TVs Panasonic, LG, Samsung, and Sharp are the most reasonably-priced for the quality, aside from the three listed below. At Amazon: $909.69 Panasonic VIERA G10 TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma ($290 off) $1135.85 Panasonic VIERA G10 TC-P46G10 46-Inch 1080p Plasma ($364 off) $1249.85 Panasonic VIERA G10 TC-P50G10 50-Inch 1080p Plasma ($350 off) Depending on the size you're hunting for, go with one of these. The 46" would be the sweet spot for me. These are THX-certified TVs that do better self-calibration than just about anything on the market. These are the only TVs listed by anyone that I'd consider to have my full, unbiased and unequaled endorsement. These three TVs are among the best value I've seen, and remember you don't have hundreds in sales tax ordering from Amazon and they ship for free. Blu-ray Discs Amazon Be ready to set some calendar alarms to get some of these time-sensitive deals. Amazon is shipping everything free, even items usually under the $25 free shipping threshold. Many of the below discs include Digital Copy as well (like the Batman titles). $6.99 Superman: The Movie This one is seven bucks until they run out in the still-ongoing Lightning Deal. It's $9.99 once they run out. $59.99 James Bond Blu-ray 10-pack (Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, The World is Enough, Die Another Day, Quantum of Solace) This is the best deal of the day, available from 4:45-8:00am PST on Friday until they run out (and they will). $6 per disc can't be beat, since this set is normally $159.99. $9.99 The Dark Knight This one is available at this price from 8am-12pm PST. It's $12.99 the rest of the weekend, same as Target's price. $14.99 Mad Men Season 1 This one is time-sensitive as well. Get it while it lasts 12pm-4pm PST tomorrow (Friday). $11.99 Coraline One of the top New Release disc transfers of the year combined with some of the most engaging extras in a year full of featurette fluff. $10 Braveheart $10 Gladiator Yes, there are issues with the Gladiator transfer (and none with Braveheart), but the $10 rebate included makes this a free-after-rebate title since I still own the DVD. I'm going to get both of these this way and avoid giving Walmart any of my money (or Best Buy $12.99 apiece). $10 Harry Potter 1-5 (each, Prisoner of Azkaban linked) $7.99 2001: A Space Odyssey $7.99 The Searchers $7.99 Ronin $7.99 The Terminator $7.99 The Departed $7.99 Goodfellas $7.99 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan $7.99 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home $7.99 Star Trek: First Contact $7.99 Silence of the Lambs $7.99 V for Vendetta $7.99 Dogma $7.99 Full Metal Jacket $7.99 Reservoir Dogs $7.99 Dark City: Director's Cut $7.99 Robocop $7.99 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country $8.49 Bullitt $8.99 The Aviator $9.49 The Fountain $9.99 There Will Be Blood $9.99 Wedding Crashers $9.99 The Visitor $9.99 The Thing $10.49 The Mist 2-Disc Collector's Edition $11.49 Batman Begins $11.99 Lonesome Dove $11.99 The Monster Squad $11.99 Away We Go $12.99 The 400 Blows: Criterion Collection $12.99 300: The Complete Experience $14.99 Baraka One of the most stunning HD transfers on home video, according to many sources including Roger Ebert. $14.99 Becket $20.49 Mad Men Season 2 $22.99 John Adams (HBO) $40.99 Planet Earth: The Complete Series $9.99 Eastbound and Down Season 1 DVD This is the only DVD I'm listing because I enjoy this series so much. In-Store Only Best Buy All their in-store Blu-ray deals shown in the ad are now matched by Amazon. Target $12.99 The Wizard of Oz 3-disc Emerald Edition Blu-ray If you don't care about the pile of tchotchkes in the Limited Collector's Edition box, you can get just the movie, extras, and 6-hour documentary disc for much less. $12.99 Gremlins Blu-ray This is a retailer exclusive that you can't get anywhere else, and this is $10 off the lowest price I see on it regularly. Will it be available at some point at a lower price? Maybe so, but you can only buy it from Target for now. The Big Question Marks A bunch of retailers are purposely withholding every last doorbuster from their ads, listing/showing 15 out of "over 30" Blu-rays on sale. These will be all over the net the day of. Best Buy is the one of the big three (Walmart/Target/Best Buy) that has most notably expanded Blu-ray shelf space in advance of Friday, so they will probably have some desirable stuff that Amazon won't know about in advance. As with last year, Amazon will probably abruptly drop pricing on some items to match the brick & mortar outlets during the day, so bring a smartphone with you if you're going to stores.
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