The first
VCR we ever bought was a Mitsubishi I think. It was in the early 80's and the
remote was hard wired to the device, so you sat like a little puppy dog on a
leash to issue commands to the wunderbox. I know that it was Betamax recorder
though, as I soon was dismayed to find out that the inferior, but longer playing
VHS was becoming the norm. I was upset because at the time, we coughed
up over $600 for the darn thing. But my wife loved it and taped her
soap opera every day for years. In fact, the machine was so well designed, that
it never did give out and some ten years later we were still using
it!
But, we eventually
gave in and purchased a VHS along the way, as we couldn't find any movies
in Betamax anymore at Blockbuster and went with the flow. This VCR was a lot
cheaper too! But, the downside was, every 2 or 3 years it would quit, and you
had to buy another one...off to Incredible Universe for another 4-head for 80
bucks.
Of course, being a CD Freak, I had to run and
buy a DVD player as soon as the movies hit, and I have never looked back.
To me, there is no comparison to the quality and this is something I like, a
good clear picture. The VHS machine was quickly relegated to being nothing more
than a recorder of daytime soaps. But, a lot of people still use them for
both I guess, because Wal-mart is just scaling back their inventories, leaving
more shelf space for the more popular DVD iterations of flicks.
Big-name retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. are
"We've seen a growth in DVD [sales]," said "We are not completely phasing out VHS," |
Ok, I'll buy that. But, do you buy a movie for the
outtakes? Some deleted scenes can be interesting, such as a DVD extra from
"The Score"
showing a scene in which Marlon Brando required several takes before director
Frank Oz was a happy camper. It was fascinating to watch Brando take
basically the same scene over and over and each time he gave a different
set of lines to the other actors. The meaning of his words was the same, but the
dialog was totally different each time and he thought of it right off the top of
his head which was great to watch. That guy was amazing. This simple set of
deleted scenes gave me a special insight into what a talent this guy
was.
But, Brando was also quite strange and Frank Oz (this
was his first drama) had difficulties with him during the filming.
According to Time, when the two men were in the same room,
Brando would call Oz "Miss Piggy," and even stated once, "I bet you
wish I was a puppet so you could ... make me do what you want." This was because
as a young puppeteer, Frank Oz was voice for Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show.
Many DVD's that contain a "making of" documentary, or ones that offer
additional background information pertaining to the movie are quite interesting
as well. Alternate endings? I never watched one yet. Head on over to The Washington Post and read the rest of the article.
Source: Washington Post
