Is it ironic to watch a movie about movie rentals on Netflix?

We've finally decided to sign up for Netflix, since all our local movie rental places shut down.

Our first viewing was a documentary about cracking the Maya glyphs writing system - so this Flixster thing does have the potential to be educational and not just a bunch of brain-numbing movies.

Next we moved onto movies - and the independent movies were the most intriguing. We watched a movie called The Sasquatch Gang - which was very well done and quite funny - a bit of teenaged adventure angst wrapped in a Pulp Fiction-like time editing package. The main characters had a lot of connections to movie rental places - during the time of the old VHS tapes. One worked at a movie rental shop, another rented his own tapes out to friends - a main story conflict was focussed around getting one of his tapes back.

So is it ironic that the first movie we watched on Netflix was a movie centered around renting movies? The stores that are no more because Netflix is here?

We weren't shooting for ironic... it just sat there and stuck out it's tongue at us.

Did I really want to see actors' faces that close up?

Star Trek on an IMAX screen! Sounds fabulous, and it was, but did I really want to see pores the size of my head?

We were in Victoria last weekend. The museum was showing a display of things from the British Museum (what they acquired and aren't going to give back) from all over the world. It was a sparse, but interesting display of everything from replica rocks from the Olduvai Gorge to modern pieces made within the last couple of years specifically for the museum. But as we were buying tickets to get into the museum, they mentioned that they were showing Star Trek on the IMAX screen... well, that's a goer, so we got tickets for that for a couple of days later.

The movie was sold out, so it was good I had my loaner wheelchair - they reserved a seat for my spouse right beside the spot for me - it was close to the screen, but isn't everything in an IMAX theatre?

The screen in an IMAX theatre is 6 storeys tall. In most movies there are some very close close-ups on many of the actors. They all appear to have lovely skin from afar, but it's not nearly as complimentary when their noses are 2 storeys tall.

I would not enjoy the pressure that a makeup artist must face if they realize how close everyone will be to their art.

It actually produced some interesting dreams that night! I dreamt that I was growing the black hair from the villain's eyebrows on my knuckles. I don't have hair on my knuckles, so I also wondered who had pasted the hair onto my hands... and when questions of reality hit a dream, it wakes you up, but it's easy to remember those dreams afterwards!

I think I can get over it... but I think I could have lived a full, happy life without ever seeing actors' faces that close up.

What's wrong with my screen?

On Saturday my husband and I went to a movie to get out of the heat for a while. We saw Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 3D. 

I love the 3D movies. We took my trial motorized wheelchair, and the area for wheelchairs is off to the side in the theatre, so the 3D didn't work as well, but it was fun anyway. The movie was about as scientifically accurate as The Flintstones, an old TV program from my youth, so you had to leave any ideas of reality at the door, but it was meant to be a kid's movie.

My trial wheelchair has a screen with a display of the chosen speed on it. It's a grey and black screen. I kept the wheelchair on while waiting for my husband to arrive with the popcorn, so I could do some final maneuvering after he sat down. Some of the previews were for 3D movies, so they said put your 3D glasses on, and I did. The previews were fun too!

When my husband sat down, I looked down at the screen of my wheelchair to check it was on and do my final maneuver, the screen looked way out of focus! I was worried... for a second or so.

Tee Hee, the screen on motorized wheelchairs can't be read while you're wearing 3D glasses!

The things you learn when you try something new!

Is it better to be in an empty theatre or an over-full one?

Recently we've been to a very well attended movie - Running the Sahara - where the theatre was so full they had to defrag the audience. Groups of people were asked to get up and move down to free up empty seats and some people had to leave their friends and sit in single empty seats. The place was packed.

I haven't seen a theatre that full since Rocky Horror... but in this one they actually served wine! That was definitely a first for me!

And then about a week later we went to see - Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D - in a matinee showing where there were only about 15 people in the entire audience.

Now that was a fun movie! I loved the 3D experience! The story line was pretty much fluff, but the effects were so much fun (trying to avoid meteorites flying off the screen and into your face is quite the giggle)!

So the packed audience was amazingly quiet... and the small audience was talkative. Does the experience of being packed-in make you quiet for the sake of the other people around you, and a lack of people make you act like you are in your own living room?

I do enjoy having my pick of any seat in the theatre, but the other extreme of audience attendance does have its appeal.

What does the status evaluation "5 by 5" mean?

It's a term used by the pilot in Aliens right before the small landing craft is launched from the interstellar mother ship (in the 2nd Alien movie). It's also a term used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer - the Faith character uses it a lot, but no one else knows what it means.

I've found the answer to this one! It is a way of describing the quality of sound in communications. The first number is for the strength of the signal, and the second number is the clarity of the signal. 5 is the best rating for each, so it means "excellent strength and perfect clarity".

The question then becomes, does that have anything to do with the movie or the TV show?

No one is left on the interstellar mother ship in Aliens to communicate with the people in the landing craft, everyone is in the same ship. They could turn around and talk to each other in person. The landing ship does drop off a big tank with most of the people in it and then flies away from them, but they were not testing the communications between the two of those vehicles.

There is no testing of any equipment for sound or other abilities on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think the Faith character was just quoting from the Aliens movie because "5 by 5" sounds cool.

I think the Aliens movie uses "5 by 5" just because it sounds cool too.

Pondering questions of "what does that mean" can be fun, but don't expect deeply philosophical answers.

What do I want to watch?

On the weekend the spouse was busy putting together some of his favourite photos to create a book (potentially quite a nice book, updates to follow). So he said "watch whatever you want on the TV, but not a pirate movie". OK, so maybe I've played those DVDs too much lately, but what do I want to watch?

I want to watch something with adventure, humour, fun, physical action... no, actually I want to be IN something with all those things. I want movies to take the next step and be 3 dimensional, and I want to be involved in them, not just watching them on a flat screen.

We have a Wii game console, it's a great tool for having fun because you typically stand while playing a game, and your arms swing and you can actually work up a sweat. Unlike other game consoles, your thumbs are not the only part of your body getting exercise when you play with the Wii. I want the same kind of interaction with movies. I want to do sword fights and swim underwater and be inside the movie.

So how long do we have to wait for this to happen? The Star Trek series was said to inspire the iPod and other MP3 players into existence. When will something inspire enough smart people to create the technology to put people inside a movie rather than in a chair watching a flat screen?

Sometimes progress is just too slow.