I'm A Crapper, She's A Crapper, Wouldn't You Like To Be A Crapper Too?
By Paul Rudoff on May. 13, 2017 at 5:43 PM in Personal, Wrestling
Wrestlecrap.com,the internet's premiere wrestling humor site, has chronicled the worst in professional wrestling since 2000 (which still makes it younger than Spook Central). Regular visitors to the site and its forum are called Crappers, and I'm proud to admit that I'm a Crapper. I even own all three Wrestlecrap books. This should all come as no surprise considering that I've written about wrestling on Spook Central and have a category dedicated to it here on The Corner Penthouse.
Over the years, I have made many submissions to the site. I had my letters appear in the now-defunct RD's Mailbag/RD's Ramblings column on January 9, 2004, May 14, 2004, and December 10, 2004. On February 17, 2012, a video link I submitted, which I never thought would ever appear on the site, was published in the "It Came From YouTube" column. It actually surprised me to see my name up there. I literally thought, "Holy crap, that's me!"
(click to enlarge)
Yikes! Three in one year, then it took me over seven years to make another appearance on the site. However, it wouldn't take long before I showed up again. On September 28, 2012 I guest wrote a "Someone Bought This" column on some bootleg WWE coloring books I bought. RD Reynolds, the cool cat who runs the site, nor anyone else asked me to write it. I just bought the books and thought it would be fun to write about them. At the time, I didn't have The Corner Penthouse site/blog to write about non-Ghostbusters stuff. I submitted it to RD hoping he would like my writing enough to post it. There was no guarantee it would be "worthy". I assume that my article is in the Wrestlecrap archives somewhere, though I'll reprint it at the end of this article.
One years and one Hurricane (not Shane Helms) later, and the George "The Animal" Steele video I submitted would appear in the April 11, 2013 edition of It Came From YouTube. Fast forward three years to April 29, 2016, and my photos of a really unique bootleg TNA jigsaw puzzle was posted in the Someone Bought This column by the new editor of the column (and fellow member of the Paul Patrol wrestling faction) Paul "The Big Cheese" Kraft.
I found/bought more crappy wrestling merchandise, and just made two more submissions to Paul about a really creepy Brock Lesnar children's play outfit I saw recently in Toys R Us, and a Road To Wrestlemania 2014 Topps trading card I bought that goes out of it's way to pretend that Chris Benoit was never in the Wrestlemania 20 Triple Threat match. If/when they get posted, I'll link them in here later.
Over the years, I have made many submissions to the site. I had my letters appear in the now-defunct RD's Mailbag/RD's Ramblings column on January 9, 2004, May 14, 2004, and December 10, 2004. On February 17, 2012, a video link I submitted, which I never thought would ever appear on the site, was published in the "It Came From YouTube" column. It actually surprised me to see my name up there. I literally thought, "Holy crap, that's me!"
(click to enlarge)
Yikes! Three in one year, then it took me over seven years to make another appearance on the site. However, it wouldn't take long before I showed up again. On September 28, 2012 I guest wrote a "Someone Bought This" column on some bootleg WWE coloring books I bought. RD Reynolds, the cool cat who runs the site, nor anyone else asked me to write it. I just bought the books and thought it would be fun to write about them. At the time, I didn't have The Corner Penthouse site/blog to write about non-Ghostbusters stuff. I submitted it to RD hoping he would like my writing enough to post it. There was no guarantee it would be "worthy". I assume that my article is in the Wrestlecrap archives somewhere, though I'll reprint it at the end of this article.
One years and one Hurricane (not Shane Helms) later, and the George "The Animal" Steele video I submitted would appear in the April 11, 2013 edition of It Came From YouTube. Fast forward three years to April 29, 2016, and my photos of a really unique bootleg TNA jigsaw puzzle was posted in the Someone Bought This column by the new editor of the column (and fellow member of the Paul Patrol wrestling faction) Paul "The Big Cheese" Kraft.
I found/bought more crappy wrestling merchandise, and just made two more submissions to Paul about a really creepy Brock Lesnar children's play outfit I saw recently in Toys R Us, and a Road To Wrestlemania 2014 Topps trading card I bought that goes out of it's way to pretend that Chris Benoit was never in the Wrestlemania 20 Triple Threat match. If/when they get posted, I'll link them in here later.
Billy Joel: Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 DVD Review
By Paul Rudoff on May. 12, 2017 at 12:00 PM in Home Video
This review was originally written on July 1, 2004
They Chopped Up The Music Videos!
They Chopped Up The Music Videos!
As a fan I enjoy hearing Billy speak about his music and videos, but not at the expense of the videos themselves. The person who edited the Billy Joel: Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 DVD together chopped up most of the music videos so as to intersperse Billy's comments within them. All of the music videos are chopped up, except for:
-- And So It Goes [though Billy speaks over it]
-- No Man's Land [after a false start, the real video plays complete]
-- Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) [though Billy speaks over the last few seconds of the video]
-- To Make Your Feel My Love [though Billy speaks over the very end of the video]
It should also be noted that the last two videos are in reverse order from how they are listed on the packaging. "Hey Girl" and "To Make Your Feel My Love" is the correct order.
DVD (SD) Vs. Blu-Ray (HD) Runtimes & Video Formats
By Paul Rudoff on May. 11, 2017 at 10:04 PM in Miscellaneous
The following was written by Amazon user Interzone_Records on January 22, 2011 in regards to a review that was posted for the Angelina Jolie film "Salt". I found the information so informative, that I thought it best to archive a copy here.
I rented the standard disc [of the Angelina Jolie film "Salt"] from Netflix. It contains all three versions, but the times are nowhere near what Senor Zoidbergo mentions in his review. This is probably due to the difference in the encoding speed of Blu-Ray, which runs at 24 frames per second, and NTSC format, which runs at 29.97 frames per second. The difference between the PAL and NTSC versions of films is 4%. So the speed difference between the US NTSC standard DVD format and the Blu-Ray is probably closer to 5%.
On the standard[-definition] U.S. [DVD], the actual times are:
Theatrical Version: 1:39:56
Unrated Extended Cut: 1:40:58
Unrated Director's Cut: 1:43:59
Senor Zoidbergo lists the following times for the three versions on the Blu-Ray disc
Theatrical: 1:35:54
Extended: 1:36:56
Director's Cut: 1:39:48
This is a difference of about 4 minutes on each version. Some time ago, I asked the owner of the Masters of Cinema label, in England (the UK equivalent of a Criterion specialty label), about the difference between NTSC and PAL and Blu-Ray. Here is his reply:
"The encoding format of HD material on Blu-ray has nothing to do with either PAL or NTSC. The 'problem' of these two competing DVD formats (NTSC and PAL) evaporates with Blu-ray, where the HD material is in 1080p resolution at 24 frames per second, not the standard definition 480p (NTSC 29.97fps) or 576p (PAL 25fps) resolution of "old TV".
In this respect, because of the increased resolution of 1080p HD Blu-rays *and* the fact that the material is now running at 24 frames per second (the exact same speed as film projected in a cinema) - Blu-ray is a stunning global format in which to view films as they should be seen.
Confusingly, a Blu-ray can also hold standard definition PAL or NTSC format encodes as well, but this will look exactly the same as it would on a DVD disc. It will remain standard definition. Thankfully, Blu-rays are being used to hold HD 1080p material, rather than as repositories for huge amounts of standard definition DVD footage."
I rented the standard disc [of the Angelina Jolie film "Salt"] from Netflix. It contains all three versions, but the times are nowhere near what Senor Zoidbergo mentions in his review. This is probably due to the difference in the encoding speed of Blu-Ray, which runs at 24 frames per second, and NTSC format, which runs at 29.97 frames per second. The difference between the PAL and NTSC versions of films is 4%. So the speed difference between the US NTSC standard DVD format and the Blu-Ray is probably closer to 5%.
On the standard[-definition] U.S. [DVD], the actual times are:
Theatrical Version: 1:39:56
Unrated Extended Cut: 1:40:58
Unrated Director's Cut: 1:43:59
Senor Zoidbergo lists the following times for the three versions on the Blu-Ray disc
Theatrical: 1:35:54
Extended: 1:36:56
Director's Cut: 1:39:48
This is a difference of about 4 minutes on each version. Some time ago, I asked the owner of the Masters of Cinema label, in England (the UK equivalent of a Criterion specialty label), about the difference between NTSC and PAL and Blu-Ray. Here is his reply:
"The encoding format of HD material on Blu-ray has nothing to do with either PAL or NTSC. The 'problem' of these two competing DVD formats (NTSC and PAL) evaporates with Blu-ray, where the HD material is in 1080p resolution at 24 frames per second, not the standard definition 480p (NTSC 29.97fps) or 576p (PAL 25fps) resolution of "old TV".
In this respect, because of the increased resolution of 1080p HD Blu-rays *and* the fact that the material is now running at 24 frames per second (the exact same speed as film projected in a cinema) - Blu-ray is a stunning global format in which to view films as they should be seen.
Confusingly, a Blu-ray can also hold standard definition PAL or NTSC format encodes as well, but this will look exactly the same as it would on a DVD disc. It will remain standard definition. Thankfully, Blu-rays are being used to hold HD 1080p material, rather than as repositories for huge amounts of standard definition DVD footage."
Best of The Beverly Hillbillies Mill Creek DVD Review
By Paul Rudoff on May. 10, 2017 at 12:00 PM in Home Video
This review was originally written on September 4, 2008
Excellent Set For The Price - With The Original Theme Music (Mostly)!!!
Excellent Set For The Price - With The Original Theme Music (Mostly)!!!
After getting burned on so many budget DVD releases of The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, and Petticoat Junction due to the replacement music, I really lucked out when I picked Mill Creek Entertainment's The Best of The Beverly Hillbillies 40 Episode, 4 DVD set yesterday at Walmart for 5.00.
The quality could be better - I noticed some compression artifacts on the side of the mansion when I quickly checked out the first few episodes - but for the price, number of episodes, and MOST IMPORTANTLY the original theme music, it's WELL worth it! Of course, a die-hard fan should buy the two "Ultimate Collection" volumes and "The Beverly Hillbillies/Petticoat Junction Ultimate Christmas Collection" disc, in order to get all of the public domain episodes and a TON of extras - albeit for about fifty bucks in total; but for the casual fan, this set is the best single item you can purchase.
This set includes 40 black & white episodes on 4 discs, and they're all in chronological airdate order (for the full list, see AlphaControl's review of this item). As I stated in my review title, the original theme music is used in ALMOST all episodes. Only two episodes don't use the original music:
* "No Place Like Home" uses replacement music and the titles are in progress, starting at "The Beverly Hillbillies" title screen and leaving out the "shooting at food" scenes beforehand. Since replacement music is used, I have no problem with cutting the full opening sequence.
* "Elly Needs a Maw" doesn't have any beginning titles at all. However, it's missing on another disc I have, so maybe all copies of this episode leave out the beginning title sequence - though they could have tacked one on from another episode.
I should also note that the theme song starts a few seconds late in the episode "Christmas at the Clampetts", though at least it's the original music!
I don't know if I got a bum copy, but the "Pygmalion and Elly" episode on Disc 1 won't play. When I try to view it, my player stops. If this defect exists in all copies, then technically there are only 39 episodes on the disc, and this episode should be added to the list of missing episodes below.
I tried the DVD in four different players, and the episode didn't play in any of them. Mill Creek was kind enough to send me a replacement set and that one also had the same problem. This is the only Mill Creek DVD I have that I've had a problem with - and I have about a dozen of their sets.
From what I've read, all 36 season one episodes and the first 19 season two episodes are in the public domain, which means that only 15 public domain episodes are missing from this set. Although it would be better if this were a six disc set and included those remaining episodes, all things considered, that's a fairly small number of episodes to be missing. For the record, these are the missing 15 episodes (excluding the two that need original music and/or beginning titles, and the one that wouldn't play on any of my DVD players):
1.05 10/24/1962 Jed Buys Stock
1.06 10/31/1962 Trick or Treat
1.09 11/21/1962 Elly's First Date
1.22 02/20/1963 Duke Steals a Wife
1.28 04/03/1963 Jed Pays His Income Tax
1.30 04/17/1963 Duke Becomes a Father
1.31 04/24/1963 The Clampetts Entertain
1.35 05/22/1963 Elly Becomes a Secretary
1.36 05/29/1963 Jethro's Friend
2.01 09/25/1963 Jed Gets the Misery
2.05 10/23/1963 The Clampett Look
2.10 11/27/1963 Turkey Day
2.11 12/04/1963 The Garden Party
2.13 12/18/1963 The Clampetts Get Culture
2.17 01/15/1964 The Girl from Home
That is all.
Audio Format Sound Qualities
By Paul Rudoff on May. 9, 2017 at 9:58 PM in Miscellaneous
I made this little table for my own personal use, but I thought I'd add it to this page in case anyone else might find it useful.