musikone
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Posts posted by musikone
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But it is too much to expect that the day, whatever that may be, should always begin at 12:00 AM, regardless of the particular time zone!
When I change the URL to reconcile the schedule with my time zone (pacific), the first entry on the list is at some random time, rather than properly being the time of the first movie that is shown *after midnight on the preceding day!* Apparently whoever is programming the schedule cannot understand these complicated facts of life in the time zone. Why, then, is this person *still* on the job screwing up the schedules? Maybe this is because he/she is making the minimum wage. That's it!
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are not what they seem to be
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How can you show a movie relative (presumably a relative who acts in the movies) if he or she is dead :-)?
musikone
(just wondering)
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Before the excellent online schedule, several years in development, was trashed in favor of an abomination which everyone hates, it was unnecessary to resort to the Now Playing printed guide in order to obtain certain now-missing information.
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are *not* what they seem to be
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*I was asked for my opinion of what "classic" means in regard to movies:*
*One that over time has come to be recognized as a quality film of its era or that touched a chord in the popular psyche; popularity and artistic quality do not always co-exist The studio time from the beginning to the mid-60's when it collapsed made the most of these, of course, but there are some from recent times that would fit right in. I have to say that not all movies I've seen on TCM are four star quality but many I would not have any other way and I'm glad to have had the opportunity. I will support TCM until they start breaking in with commercials every ten minutes like AMC and run only the real dregs of filmdom. That hasn't happened yet and hopefully never will.*
*The Family Way was well done and showed us over here what working class English like was like then, warts and all. I'm sure families who lived in our one-room tenements of the 18 and 1900's caught each other in the buff at times, too. TCM is the only place I've seen it outside of a theater.*
The problem with your definition lies with the word "quality." Unfortunately, one person's notion of quality may be very different from another's. Hence we are back where we started--no definition of classic.
On your second point, "popular psyche" is subjective. How can it be quantified? The answer, of course, is that it cannot. So once again, we are back where we started--no definition of classic.
I am not suggesting that, since the indefinable "classic" cannot be pinned down, it is necessary to draw some artificial lines before it can be shown on TCM. Clarity can only be obtained in the search for this classical holy grail when it is revealed just who makes the decision what to show and what not to show. Clearly, these decisions are not being made on the basis of "quality" or "popular psyche". Since profit from the sale of DVDs has come to the fore, the choice of which movies to show has become a business decision. The word "classic" is merely a foil for business purposes, so what does it matter if it is now a meaningless term?
At the moment, although there are no commercial breaks during a movie, there are nevertheless commercials galore between movies, albeit related to the movie industry. I suspect that this situation will remain as it is unless the profit from the sale of DVDs declines to the point where, at long last, product commercials (unrelated to the movie industry) will start showing up during the movies. In which case, of course, TCM will be just like the rest of them. The "classical" foil will not be able to save it from the same fate.
This is what I see when I look into my crystal ball. It is only a matter of time, just as it was only a matter of time with AMC, which started out without commercials and ended up in today's mess. Alternatively, when it can manage to make a go of it, TCM will resort to paid downloads from its website, instead of showing movies "freely" on TV. Or, in an evolutionary fashion, the variety of movies shown freely on TV will continually shrink, as the desirable movies are saved for paid downloading from TCM.COM.
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are *not* what they seem to be
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How can this question be answered when the "classic" movie remains indefinable?
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are *not* what they seem to be
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Yes.
musikone
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Infinitely worse?
"Infinitely" is not the word to describe the chaotic status of this web site. I would suggest that "ominously" is a much more suitable replacement. It is as though everyone who has been involved in keeping this operation running smoothly for a great many years has now disappeared *on cue,* and has been replaced by a brand new crew-without-a-clue.
What does this mean? I would suggest that everyone prepare for the unthinkable. Keep in mind that TCM is a business :-(.
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are *not* what they seem to be
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Keep in mind that this festival is held in *France,* where people don't know how to make movies!
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are seldom what they seem to be
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Now why did you have to spoil the challenge for the rest of us? What's a poor gamesman to do when confronted with a spoiler?
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where a new and Wonderful challenge emerges every day
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I sure know who these April fools are--those who, like sheep, continue to tolerate all of this incompetent schedule nonsense!
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are seldom what they seem to be
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Repetitiveness, you say?
OK. You may not have been diagnosed yet, but the symptoms suggest that you are suffering from that infamous TCM virus: "Repetitis Persistens."
The doctor's prescription for this debilitating malady is prolonged rest, listen to some Mozart (I prefer Shostakovich, of course), and avoid contact with an infected environment.
musikone
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Paste a copy of the (recently provided) description-less schedule WHERE?
Of course, if the PRINT icon at the top of the schedule would properly reformat the schedule so that it is suitable for printing, I could print the result. As it now stands however, clicking on this icon gives an error message which states that there is not a web page with the expected schedule reformatted for printing.
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are seldom what they seem to be
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It is rare that TCM plays something that I am willing to watch over and over again. It is also very rare when TCM plays something that I would see fit to watch over and over again.
This is one of many good reasons for me to build my own TV-recorded archive (this is not a violation of the copyright law as long as the copy is not distributed or used within the "fair use" provisions of the law) of TCM movies so that, once and for all, I can avoid repetitively watching those movies which I have already seen, but may not remember this for sure. Of course, I will remember having seen North by Northwest, for example, without the need for searching my archive :-).
musikone
doing constant battle with that hearty TCM virus "Repetitis Persistens"
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Perhaps we should change the name from "classic" to "we-don't-know-what-to-call-it." Then we would have TWDKWTCIM instead of the current TCM. How's *this* for reality?
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where "reality" is a naughty word
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TCM is giving away the product every time that they show a film?
No they are *not giving away anything*. They are getting paid by a cable TV company (and I am in turn paying this cable TV company for being given this movie to watch). There was a landmark legal decision by the US Supreme Court many years against Sony (in Sony v. Betamax). Sony filed suit against Betamax for copyright infringement when it allowed video users to record video broadcast material without permission from the copyright owner. In its (earth-shaking!) decision against Sony, the court justified a user being able to record video material for his/her own use, on the basis that the exhibitor of this broadcast material was getting paid a royalty fee for this material. Just as TCM today is getting paid such a fee for permitting the cable company to televise TCM movies.
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where what seems to be "giving away" movies is not
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Although Fred is undoubtedly not crazy about foreign films, perhaps he is just crazy :-).
I was about to post a response to Fred's statement when you beat me to the punch.
To wit:
Since *when* is logic/reality the criterion for judging whether the maker of a particular movie knows how to make a movie? The French are widely admired for their innovation, charm, fancy, fantasy, and fun in crafting truly delightful (and often very touching) movies, which I (and scores of others) simply adore. Give me a "Mon Oncle" any day (to name one of my very favorite films), or a "Red Balloon" (to name another ), and on and on and on and on into the night, instead of (no doubt) one of Fred's probable choices of a movie like Kitty Foyle to demonstrate a movie made by those who know how to make movies. Or again, A Summer Place, as another example of one of Fred's probable choices for an award for those who know how to make a good movie. Ugh!
I'll leave Fred with his "good" movies, before I get sick!
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
a new Wonder emerges here every day
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My explanation was not directed at you. It was directed at the author of this thread, who seems to be lost in this modern world of digital video recording. Perhaps I missed something here in all of this chit-chat which involves posts and responses and responses to the responses, etc.
musikone
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Wouldn't you settle instead for seeing the following at least once every month? We can then get some much-needed shuteye while they are being aired. Why should we be kept awake with all of these new, startling, and unexpected intrusions into our TCM routine?
Doctor Zhivago
North by Northwest
Singing in the Rain
Casablanca
etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum......
musikone
Al is in Wonderland
where things are seldom what they seem to be
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Don't go there? Surely you must be kidding! Just because *you* don't want to face up to the issue is not a credible reason for not doing so.
This is indeed the *central* issue for a business which is vigorously marketing *something or other* that it refers to as "classic" movies! If the object is to make money selling DVDs of movies (and would anybody deny that this is the object of TCM?), then why should it even bother to employ this meaningless(?) terminology to hawk its wares?
Perhaps we should ask TCM what it thinks is a "classic" movie. Let's go there and find out.
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
WHERE THINGS ARE SELDOM WHAT THEY SEEM TO BE
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To answer your question: *I* am going to record all of them and then watch them later when it is convenient. It may be a revelation to you that this can easily be done with relatively old technology, using just one Digital Video Recorder with a sufficient hard drive capacity to record all of these Crime Doctor episodes sequentially. Such a recorder is commonly referred to as a "DVR" in the popular vernacular. To be precise, this type of recorder with a hard drive is just a sub-class of Digital Video Recorders. The contents of the hard drive are then read at a convenient later time. Voila! This is often referred to as recording for the purpose of "time-shifting."
Another type of Digital Video Recorder does not use a built-in hard drive. Rather, video content is recorded onto a DVD, which generally has a much smaller capacity than the hard drive built into current recorders. Hence a single low capacity DVD cannot be used to record all of the Crime Doctor movies. However, if two or more such disc recorders (often called DVDR in the popular vernacular) are used, and if recorded at a slow enough speed (with a quality reduction), eight hours of video can be recorded without serious reduction in quality. In particular, with these very old movies, the quality is so poor to begin with that anything less than an extreme loss of quality due to the recording process will not be noticeable. With eight hours available (without attention) at a reasonable quality level, there is no reason that one who uses two direct-to-disc recorders should be whining about it.
One who is unwilling to use direct-to-disc recording technique will then have to settle for a Tivo-type recorder containing a hard drive. This is hardly too much to ask, when such a recorder can be rented for about 12 dollars a month from a cable TV provider.
I can think of a lot more serious objections to what is currently happening in the back rooms of TCM than decrying this movie or that movie or a whole series of this and that shown around the clock!
If you really want something to legitimately protest, then by all means shout from the rooftop about TCM's trashing of the long-respected web site and replacing it with something that virtually no knowledgeable "classic" movie fan respects.
Now then, any questions?
Anyone?
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are seldom what they seem to be
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How would *you* define a "classic" film? What is fair game for showing under this label and what is not? How about a film released in the year 2000? Or the year 1990? Or the year 1980? Etc., etc.
Should and of these films be denied a "classic" designation?
*Think* about it.
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are seldom what they seem to be
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This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I will have more to say about in the future, probably with a new thread on this very important subject. For the moment, however, I would suggest that you read my post under General Discussions, dated Mar. 27, 2011, 2:36 AM, in the thread Re: APRIL, MAY, JUNE SCHEDULES HERE.
This post is related to your concern about what is happening to the so-called "classic" movie and why. This is a virus which infects this entire operation. If it is not checked, and soon, more and more and more silent movies, movies from the 30s and 40s, and foreign movies, in particular, are going to disappear, as movies of the type that you mention from the 60s and later (some even later than 2000!) take center stage as the "new" classics.
Unless we put a stop to this. Figure it out......
musikone
[Al is in Wonderland!]
[A Marketer's Paradise]
[Where things are seldom what they seem to be]
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It is wrong to reach an eminently logical conclusion based upon the overwhelming number and intensity of complaints voiced here against the new format at TCM.COM. These numbers fail to reflect the path that we are on, due to marketing considerations. Namely, a marketing decision was made, rightly or wrongly, that the number of lost DVD sales from longtime classic movie enthusiasts who are very upset with the misguided dumbing-down of this format will be more than counter-balanced by additional DVD sales from new arrivals who have discovered the attraction of a type of movie (ill-defined) quite unlike that to which they are currently accustomed.
However, an unforeseen (by an aggressive marketing department) response occurred. When this new format was sprung without warning upon an unsuspecting support base, the instantaneous firestorm of criticism surely prompted some second thoughts about its decision to adopt a new (and insulting) format, well before this new format's effect upon TCM's total DVD sales becomes known.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Surely the longtime support base for classic movies far exceeds the number of newly acquired (and hence not yet firmly committed) "enthusiasts." It follows that, if a disgruntled longtime base fails to buy DVDs from TCM, TCM's total DVD sales will decline--not what TCM expected from its marketing calculations. Whether or not TCM seeks to correct its mistake by a painful, slow tinkering around the edges, as now appears to be likely, or by a quick (albeit highly embarrassing in real-time) backtracking remains to be seen.
It has taken many long years for TCM to acquire a base of goodwill and earn respect for its [former :-(] award-winning web site. How much of this capital is TCM willing to spend in the interim period before the inevitable housecleaning?
Why not *NOW,* before this capital is depleted?
Musikone
[Al is in Wonderland!]
[where things are seldom what they appear to be]
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I am in (more than) complete agreement with this response! Some important details that TCM should take the time and effort to learn--but won't.
Musikone
[Al is in Wonderland!]
[where things are seldom what they appear to be]
The Cannes Film Festival in Retrospect
in General Discussions
Posted
Don't you think that you should be asking FredCDobbs this question? After all, *he* is the one who made this statement (have you not been reading *his* posts?) and, with all due respect to Fred's superior knowledge about the capabilities/qualifications of French film makers, I deferred to him.
Perhaps Fred is the one who is looking for firefights :-)
Please continue reading my posts. You may find a topic that will really stir you up properly. Then by all means let it fly!
musikone
Al is in Wonderland!
where things are *not* what they seem to be--as exemplified by *your* comment