DVD Blues

Had a bit of a mishap with our old DVD player last week when I went to view my region 1 edition of Top Gun. Basically it appears that our old multi-region DVD player is no longer multi-region, no matter how many times I reset it. When this is the major reason for it being in the cabinet underneath the TV it somewhat defeats the purpose of keeping it.

The good news? A search at Amazon seems to indicate that multi-region DVD players are now pretty cheap. Certainly they're considerably cheaper than they were when we bought our one six years ago.

The lesson here is that technology always gets cheaper, and so it isn't worth stretching yourself to get it. In fact when I have saved for items I have found that my savings and a price dropping have met at a satisfactory middle ground. For instance the digital camera that I want to upgrade to is dropping significantly on some sites, so hopefully it might even be less than it currently is when I finally choose to buy it (here's hoping anyway).

Thoughts on Sorkin and A Few Good Men

One thing I love about buying films or TV series on DVD as opposed to VHS is all the bonus content that comes with it. A set of good extras is sometimes the difference between buying a DVD or leaving it on the shelf to me.

So when I made the big mistake of stepping into HMV during a sale and saw that the DVD of A Few Good Men was packed full of extras I left quickly, thought about it for a few days and then returned to pick up a copy. I love the film anyway, so why not pick it up?

Anyway, the most interesting extra on the DVD is a section relating to the adaption of the original play to a screenplay. While the parts with director Rob Reiner are somewhat interesting I found the interview with writer Aaron Sorkin fascinating. Stories as far apart as putting original ideas on napkins while he was writing the original play (which working as a bartender) to struggling to convert to a screenplay format. Very, very interesting. Highly recommended.

P.S. Typical, I recommend Sorkin and then I go to his wikipedia page which mentions he has some interesting ways of getting inspiration. Still a good writer though.