Rog Blog
Still Battling the Internet & Erotica LA
Cable Trouble: I’ve had spotty internet connection for the past week and supposedly it will all be fixed today. The cable guy is supposed to show up in the next three hours. They can’t seem to tell me what the problem in. In fact, every time I call, they give me a different explanation. It has almost become a game. What will they think up next? I am hoping that it’s just my modem acting up and that they will just replace it so I can be on line full time later. If not, I may just have to start breaking things and seriously look into DSL or some other high-speed option.
Eye Candy: Gallery time. Annie Cruz gets to know Daddy’s Friend really well. Lucky bastard.
Erotica LA: This weekend is Erotica LA and The Fame Awards. I’m not going to make it this year I’m afraid. Normally I like to go Friday night and all day Saturday, but the timing was bad this year. I actually have something to do all three days. Family stuff mostly, but Saturday we’ve got Police tickets at Dodger Stadium. Floor/Field seats almost dead center. Since I’ve been waiting to see my favorite band of all time live for twenty-five years, I’m going to have to pass on a day with porn babes. I was going to try to make the ADT dinner on Friday night, but I wasn’t able to get out of the plans we have. Have a good time everyone and if anyone takes some shots, I would love to have an unofficial photographer on the floor. Good look to everyone of the nominee at The Fame Awards. I’m going to do a full list of nominees and my ballot in a separate post so get the flame throwers ready to go.
Eye Candy: Need a cure for the summertime blues? Nothing cures those faster than a hot brunette in a tiny bikini from BikiniDreams.com.
YouTube Update: As you may remember, I got kicked off of YouTube for that horribly obscene video of Whitney Stevens eating a sandwich. (I’m being sarcastic, you can view it here.) I have created a new account and will have the videos up again soon. Since I may run into the same problem again, what other sites are out there? I have some cute little videos and would like to do more of them in the future, but I need a place to store them. Any ideas?
Eye Candy: They’re big, they’re real, they’re racks, they’re RealBigRacks.com. Very nice.
DVD Extras: I was discussing DVDs with a director recently and he told me that some critics actually mark down the overall score of a DVD based on the bonus material provided. I was a little shocked by that, but did some checking and found that many critics do in fact grade down for bonus material. I have heard from different people that these extras are important because they are what the customers want. As a customer myself I don’t think I’ve ever given much thought to what bonus material might be on a DVD, but this seemed like a good topic to explore. I decided to do a series of pieces on different bonus features on DVDs and to open it up all of you to weigh in. How important are bonus features? Should they count for or against the overall rating? What are your favorite bonus features? Which ones are over-rated? If I get some good responses I will include them as part of this resource page.
Bonus Material Overview::
Those of you who read my reviews know that I do offer a grade for Extras. Like all of the other categories it gets an A-F grade. I have always struggled a bit with this. What exactly makes for “average” extras? Over the years the standard has changed quite a bit. In the beginning a photo gallery and a few trailers were better than average. Now we get bonus scenes, bonus footage, behind the scenes reels, bloopers, bios and some things that are just beyond categorization. Right now, I tend to start out just about ever DVD with a “C” in bonus material. What raises it up? A really well done BTS feature or two can knock it up. Not just a camera rolling in the background, but a “making of” mini-documentary can be very interesting. The fastest way to raise up a bonus rating is with extra scenes though. Some companies throw in a scene from another movie. Other companies tack on a new scene and call it a “bonus.” Some companies give you more than one scene. Right now Vivid seems to be the best at this. They offer a nice package of trailers, star-specific galleries and at least four bonus scenes. That certainly works for me. What drops it down? If all we get are a few trailers or some commercials I will give it a “D”. I almost never give the extras an “F” though. When they drop down that low I just list them as “No Extras.” I’ll go over the individual extras later.
My overall thought on DVD Extras is that they are just that, extra. I don’t understand how anyone can grade DOWN for something that is a “bonus.” That’s sort of like doing extra credit work in a class and having it hurt your grade. I understand how these extra items can add value to a DVD, but how can they take away from the value? If a great movie has only a single photo gallery is it not still a great movie? If an average movie has great extras, then bump up the grade. When VCA released “Neu Wave Hookers” they gave us a copy of “New Wave Hookers” for free. That was a great bonus. Every DVD “Extra” is something beyond the movie itself and I am a firm believer that it is the movie itself we should be concerned with. All the rest is icing on the cake. Even that is a bad metaphor though. Bad icing can make the whole cake taste like crap. Bad, weak or even non-existent bonus materials can’t take away from the quality of a DVD. It would seem we have become spoiled and are viewing bonus material as something other than what it is…..extra. That’s my take anyway. Who knows, by breaking all of this down I may even change my mind.
More to come…..let me know what you think.
