1/03/2008

Performing without a net

Well, tonight, in just a little while, we get to see just how funny Jay Leno & Conan O'Brian can be without a staff of writers, because even without a paid staff, they are coming back on TV (so has Carson Daly, but no one cares). David Letterman & Craig Ferguson are back on the air as well, but they were able to strike a deal with the striking writers guild for their own shows. Jay Leno isn't too damn funny with a full staff, my guess is he'll bomb pretty damn horribly without one. Conan is sort of a wildcard. He is definitely one of the funniest guys in Hollywood, and was responsible for some of the all-time greatest Simpsons episodes. But live, in front of an audience, with absolutely no prepared material is a whole different type of performing. It's anybody's guess if Conan's improv skills are truly up to snuff.

I am finally an HD convert. Even though I work in a place that has a Home Theater department filled with giant 50+ inch-plasmas, I honestly never thought HD looked that much better than standard-def, when I I saw it at work. And at home, all I had was a fairly poor-quality 15-inch LCD by Magnavox (not the greatest of TV brands to begin with). But since I did just recently acquire a PS3, I also picked up my first blu-ray movie a couple of days ago, the brilliant Ratatouille. Granted, last night on my TV, it didn't make much of a case for going HD on anything. But I just picked up a cool new 26-inch Samsung, and I'm watching Ratatouille right now, and it does make one hell of a difference. I'm not saying blu-ray is better than HD-DVD, I'll probably need to break down and get the HD-add on for my 360 to truly judge that; but I'm a much bigger HD than I was just yesterday.

Trailer of the Week: MY NAME IS BRUCE

4 comments:

Pelechati said...

I have 53 and counting blu-ray movies. Next on the purchase list is 3:10 to Yuma.

Dont support HD-DVD even though it has Serenity.

Eric Chrisman said...

FYE had a really good sale, so I'm up to 5 movies now-added Casino Royale, TMNT, MI 3 & Hellboy.

Pelechati said...

Warner just went Blu-ray exclusive time to start ringing the death bell. Paramount is locked into a deal for the next year to be HD DVD only.

I think it would be hilarious if Universal throws in the towel this year and just leaves Paramount floundering.

Eric Chrisman said...

Paramount is a subsidiary of Universal, if Universal bails, they go with them. But yeah, I read about that just a little while ago.