Well I haven't updated my blog in a while. And even though I am uploading the pictures from my Easter vacation now, I don't know when I will have time to post them. I also need to update the template to my blog with some more current information.
One key thing I need to update is the link to my calendar. As we get nearer to summer, things are starting to get really busy!
According to my calendar, my recent activities have included rejoining my tennis league after a long layoff due to injury, taking Alex to the state math finals in Springfield, a number of backyard barbecue on our new super giant grill, many lodge activities, and a business trip to San Francisco that included a visit to PacBell park to see the Giants and Padre's play. This Tuesday I took most of my family out to the ballpark to see the Cardinals play the Padre's. Sadly, the Cardinals lost but the game was very exciting anyway and included a triple play!!
I just recently found out at work that I have to produce a demo for E3, so I have been very busy working on that. It is certainly a fun project, but I will be working a large part of the next two weekends on it. I was also informed that I have to attend E3. I know most people would think that was good news, but I simply hate LA as well as the noise and crowds of that particular event. I suppose I should adopt a better attitude or I will get out of it exactly what I am expecting.
I have really been enjoying being involved with my lodge. Next Saturday we are hosting a pancake and sausage breakfast for the boyscouts. If at all possible come on by and have a huge breakfast for only a five dollar donation. Contact me if you do not know where to find the Wentzville lodge. I am going to work the early shift, at 6am and it should be a fun event.
In other, somewhat related, Masonic developments my 12 year old son Alex has decided to join DeMolay. DeMolay is more or less 'freemasons for kids'. It is a most excellent organization, which teaches young men, 12-21, how to become responsible leaders who contribute back to their community. The members also have a lot of fun too, learning that responsibility must be mixed in with play. Alex is very excited about becoming involved. On Memorial day weekend DeMolay has their big annual 'conclave' which is a three day event. Alex will be getting initiated that weekend and, from everything I hear, it will be a great experience. Logistically things will be complicated for me because I will have to drive back from conclave, which is in Jefferson City, on Saturday to watch my older son Johnny graduate from high school then I will have to drive right back to conclave again in the evening. The main thing I am looking forward to about DeMolay is that I will be directly involved in the organization with my son. It is sad, but true, that I have rarely done much with my own children. I have always worked long hours my adult life, in large part so that my wife could be a stay at home mom. In this arrangement she always handled all of these kinds of activities, from Hapkido, to piano lessons, to Boy Scouts. This was simply a mistake on my part, but since I don't have a 'way back time machine' the best thing I can do is not perpetuate those mistakes. I believe getting more directly involved in Alex's activities will be a great experience for us both.
There have been some developments on the 16mm front. About a month ago I decided that I simply didn't have enough 'good' cartoons to show. While it is sometimes difficult to get an audience to sit down for a full length movie, I always get an easy reception to cartoon shorts. A couple of months ago I acquired a bunch of el-cheapo cartoons, like Casper the ghost and such. The thing is, I really don't like watching them all that much myself, whatever their camp value might be.
So, I decided that I would try to acquire some of the better Warner Brothers cartoons. I started bidding on a few on Ebay and after winning them I was contacted by the seller. He wanted to just sell me a whole batch at one set price. That seemed very reasonable and I now have ten fantastic Warner Brothers cartoons, featuring Bugs Bunny, Sylverster the Cat, and Elmer Fudd.
My friend Steven Sigel has been slowly selling off the Laurel and Hardy prints we acquired in January or so. They are now finally all sold and, at the end of the day, we turned a tidy profit. I decided to take some of the 'profit' and reinvest it in a few of the greatest cartoons ever made.
Fairly soon I should receive three amazing prints. "One Froggy Evening", "What's Opera Doc", and "Roger Dodger".
You may recall "What's Opera Doc" as Wagner's ring cycle compressed into a 7 minute cartoon. Perhaps this will ring a bell, "Kill the wabbit!!! Kill the wabbit!!!!..."
"One Froggy Evening" is about a singing frog that shuts up at the most inappropriate times and "Roger Dodger" introduces "Marvin the Martian" to "Bugs Bunny".
These prints are going to cost $150 apiece, so the notion of spending almost $500 on three cartoons is still rattling around my brain. I find that I can always rationalize any 16mm purchase if I call it an 'investment'. In fact, I manage my entire 16mm collection exactly that way. I have every single 16mm film and major piece of equipment listed in my money management software. If I ever 'had' to sell it, I could raise a lot of money in a few months. I hope that never happens, of course, because I enjoy my collection far too much to do that. I sort of get the sense that 16mm film collecting is in decline. Too many people happier with their DVD's and DLP video projectors. However, film has magic. It will always be rare and special and will never have the same allure as video to any true collector. I suspect that 16mm film collecting will go in cycles and may, at some point, increase in value as they become progressively more rare. I only collect the absolute top of the line prints so I have no junk film that would be of little interest to the market.
Speaking of excellent films. I just made a purchase this week that I hardly expected to win. There were auctions on Ebay for two incredible classic films. I went ahead and put a modest bid on one, never thinking I would win the auction. Imagine my surprise when I received an email last Sunday informing me I was the winning bidder!
I am now the proud owner of a near perfect LPP print of "Back to the Future". What an amazing addition to my collection of feature films. For the low, low, price of only $620 I was able to acquire this amazing print. My friend Steven Sigel said that was a very good price with prints of BTF typically selling for over $1,000 if and when they ever become available in the first place. Unfortunately the print is in Britain so I had to pay another $70 in shipping costs and it probably won't be here for a few weeks. I suspect the fact that the seller was international is the main reason people were reticent to bid very high on it.
So, in the past few months I have acquired three new features, "Dumbo", "King Kong", and now "Back to the Future". I figured this was a good time to update my blog with an image of my feature collections. I also purchased movie posters for these films, but I am running out of wall space to hang them!
Even though I am working today, and my wife doesn't want me to throw a another big BBQ, I am planning to show a movie outside this evening. It is supposed to be absolutely beautiful and 80 degrees outside all day! So, this evening my friend Rob Mocca is coming over and we are going to have fun setting up the projector and showing one of my great feature films. We haven't decided which one yet. If you have no plans for Saturday, feel free to come on by!
. My *seventeen* feature films!!!!
Ok, well that is all I have time for today. I need to get back to work now that my 'rebuild all' has finally completed. I *will* make a blog entry with the photographs from my Easter vacation sometime soon. If not for anyone else reading my blog, at least for me. I really like how my blog doubles as an online photo album. The only thing is, now that I switched the site over to showing just the most recent posts, I can no longer scroll my way down through all of my pictures; and navigating them using the archives links is a pain in the ass.
Here is my *complete* list of 16mm assets. I probably shouldn't include the prices, but it helps me keep things straight for myself.
=======================================================
Ghostbusters $750 Scope, LPP
Xenon Projector $750 350watt, 2000 lumens
The Little Mermaid $750 LPP
Pinnochio $700 LPP
Back to the Future $700 LPP
Yamaha Gas Generator $650 1000 watts
Empire of the Sun $500 LPP
The Wizard of Oz $500 Slightly faded, some wear.
The Court Jester $420 IB Technicolor
101 Dalmations $330 LPP
Beetlejuice $300 LPP
Dumbo $250 Reel one IB-Tech? Reel-two faded.
Movie Screen $250 Portable tripod
King Kong $200 B&W, Monkey print, dupe.
Lady and the Tramp $250 LPP, captioned
Deep Cell Batteries, power inverter $200 700wat power inverter
It's A Wonderful Life $175 B&W
6 Warner Brother Cartoons $160 Good to somewhat faded color
Roger Doger $150 LPP
What's Opera Doc? $150 LPP
One Froggy Evening $150 LPP
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure $135 LPP, reel one scope.
Mr. Mom $125 LPP
The Secret of NIMH $125 LPP, heavy wear.
Mickey's Christmas Carol $120 LPP
The Last Starfighter $107 LPP
Eiki 16mm Projector $100 600 lumens
Ricky's Temper (I Love Lucy) $75 B&W
The Big Snit $75 LPP
Broomstick Bunny $66 Slightly faded color
A Cricket in Times Square $61 LPP
The Cat Came Back $60 LPP
The Sorcerors Apprentice $60 LPP
Hyde and Hare $59 Slightly faded color
Homeless Hare $59 Slightly faded color
Lambert the Sheepish Lion $50 Slightly faded color
Tortoise and the Hare $50 Slightly faded color
Who's On First, Abbot and Costello $50 B&W, heavy wear, poor contrast
Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip $50 Slightly faded color.
Baseball Bugs $41 Faded color
Slick Hare $40 Faded color
Paddington Bear $35 LPP
I Love Lucy #169 $35 B&W
Tortoise and the Hare, Disney $35 Very faded color.
Popeye $30 four cartoons.
Woody Plays Santa $25 B&W
The Zax : Dr. Suess $25 Slightly faded color
Andy Panda, Mousie Come Home $15 B&W
Andy Panda, Wacky Weed $10 B&W, silent
Ship 'A Hooey $10 B&W
Casper, Red White and Boo $10 B&W
Newshound $10 B&W
Andy Panda, Mouse Trappers $10 B&W
Grand Uproar : Terry Tunes $10 B&W
Old Time Terry Tunes $10 B&W
Mr. Magoo $10 B&W
Casper : Boo Bop $10 B&W
Moisure Herman $10 B&W
Woody Woodpecker : Mars $10 B&W
Popeye : Farmer and the Belle $10 B&W
Casper : Do or Die $10 B&W
Mickey Plays Santa $10 B&W, Silent
Choosing Specific Words $1 Color, educational.
One key thing I need to update is the link to my calendar. As we get nearer to summer, things are starting to get really busy!
According to my calendar, my recent activities have included rejoining my tennis league after a long layoff due to injury, taking Alex to the state math finals in Springfield, a number of backyard barbecue on our new super giant grill, many lodge activities, and a business trip to San Francisco that included a visit to PacBell park to see the Giants and Padre's play. This Tuesday I took most of my family out to the ballpark to see the Cardinals play the Padre's. Sadly, the Cardinals lost but the game was very exciting anyway and included a triple play!!
I just recently found out at work that I have to produce a demo for E3, so I have been very busy working on that. It is certainly a fun project, but I will be working a large part of the next two weekends on it. I was also informed that I have to attend E3. I know most people would think that was good news, but I simply hate LA as well as the noise and crowds of that particular event. I suppose I should adopt a better attitude or I will get out of it exactly what I am expecting.
I have really been enjoying being involved with my lodge. Next Saturday we are hosting a pancake and sausage breakfast for the boyscouts. If at all possible come on by and have a huge breakfast for only a five dollar donation. Contact me if you do not know where to find the Wentzville lodge. I am going to work the early shift, at 6am and it should be a fun event.
In other, somewhat related, Masonic developments my 12 year old son Alex has decided to join DeMolay. DeMolay is more or less 'freemasons for kids'. It is a most excellent organization, which teaches young men, 12-21, how to become responsible leaders who contribute back to their community. The members also have a lot of fun too, learning that responsibility must be mixed in with play. Alex is very excited about becoming involved. On Memorial day weekend DeMolay has their big annual 'conclave' which is a three day event. Alex will be getting initiated that weekend and, from everything I hear, it will be a great experience. Logistically things will be complicated for me because I will have to drive back from conclave, which is in Jefferson City, on Saturday to watch my older son Johnny graduate from high school then I will have to drive right back to conclave again in the evening. The main thing I am looking forward to about DeMolay is that I will be directly involved in the organization with my son. It is sad, but true, that I have rarely done much with my own children. I have always worked long hours my adult life, in large part so that my wife could be a stay at home mom. In this arrangement she always handled all of these kinds of activities, from Hapkido, to piano lessons, to Boy Scouts. This was simply a mistake on my part, but since I don't have a 'way back time machine' the best thing I can do is not perpetuate those mistakes. I believe getting more directly involved in Alex's activities will be a great experience for us both.
There have been some developments on the 16mm front. About a month ago I decided that I simply didn't have enough 'good' cartoons to show. While it is sometimes difficult to get an audience to sit down for a full length movie, I always get an easy reception to cartoon shorts. A couple of months ago I acquired a bunch of el-cheapo cartoons, like Casper the ghost and such. The thing is, I really don't like watching them all that much myself, whatever their camp value might be.
So, I decided that I would try to acquire some of the better Warner Brothers cartoons. I started bidding on a few on Ebay and after winning them I was contacted by the seller. He wanted to just sell me a whole batch at one set price. That seemed very reasonable and I now have ten fantastic Warner Brothers cartoons, featuring Bugs Bunny, Sylverster the Cat, and Elmer Fudd.
My friend Steven Sigel has been slowly selling off the Laurel and Hardy prints we acquired in January or so. They are now finally all sold and, at the end of the day, we turned a tidy profit. I decided to take some of the 'profit' and reinvest it in a few of the greatest cartoons ever made.
Fairly soon I should receive three amazing prints. "One Froggy Evening", "What's Opera Doc", and "Roger Dodger".
You may recall "What's Opera Doc" as Wagner's ring cycle compressed into a 7 minute cartoon. Perhaps this will ring a bell, "Kill the wabbit!!! Kill the wabbit!!!!..."
"One Froggy Evening" is about a singing frog that shuts up at the most inappropriate times and "Roger Dodger" introduces "Marvin the Martian" to "Bugs Bunny".
These prints are going to cost $150 apiece, so the notion of spending almost $500 on three cartoons is still rattling around my brain. I find that I can always rationalize any 16mm purchase if I call it an 'investment'. In fact, I manage my entire 16mm collection exactly that way. I have every single 16mm film and major piece of equipment listed in my money management software. If I ever 'had' to sell it, I could raise a lot of money in a few months. I hope that never happens, of course, because I enjoy my collection far too much to do that. I sort of get the sense that 16mm film collecting is in decline. Too many people happier with their DVD's and DLP video projectors. However, film has magic. It will always be rare and special and will never have the same allure as video to any true collector. I suspect that 16mm film collecting will go in cycles and may, at some point, increase in value as they become progressively more rare. I only collect the absolute top of the line prints so I have no junk film that would be of little interest to the market.
Speaking of excellent films. I just made a purchase this week that I hardly expected to win. There were auctions on Ebay for two incredible classic films. I went ahead and put a modest bid on one, never thinking I would win the auction. Imagine my surprise when I received an email last Sunday informing me I was the winning bidder!
I am now the proud owner of a near perfect LPP print of "Back to the Future". What an amazing addition to my collection of feature films. For the low, low, price of only $620 I was able to acquire this amazing print. My friend Steven Sigel said that was a very good price with prints of BTF typically selling for over $1,000 if and when they ever become available in the first place. Unfortunately the print is in Britain so I had to pay another $70 in shipping costs and it probably won't be here for a few weeks. I suspect the fact that the seller was international is the main reason people were reticent to bid very high on it.
So, in the past few months I have acquired three new features, "Dumbo", "King Kong", and now "Back to the Future". I figured this was a good time to update my blog with an image of my feature collections. I also purchased movie posters for these films, but I am running out of wall space to hang them!
Even though I am working today, and my wife doesn't want me to throw a another big BBQ, I am planning to show a movie outside this evening. It is supposed to be absolutely beautiful and 80 degrees outside all day! So, this evening my friend Rob Mocca is coming over and we are going to have fun setting up the projector and showing one of my great feature films. We haven't decided which one yet. If you have no plans for Saturday, feel free to come on by!
. My *seventeen* feature films!!!!Ok, well that is all I have time for today. I need to get back to work now that my 'rebuild all' has finally completed. I *will* make a blog entry with the photographs from my Easter vacation sometime soon. If not for anyone else reading my blog, at least for me. I really like how my blog doubles as an online photo album. The only thing is, now that I switched the site over to showing just the most recent posts, I can no longer scroll my way down through all of my pictures; and navigating them using the archives links is a pain in the ass.
Here is my *complete* list of 16mm assets. I probably shouldn't include the prices, but it helps me keep things straight for myself.
=======================================================
Ghostbusters $750 Scope, LPP
Xenon Projector $750 350watt, 2000 lumens
The Little Mermaid $750 LPP
Pinnochio $700 LPP
Back to the Future $700 LPP
Yamaha Gas Generator $650 1000 watts
Empire of the Sun $500 LPP
The Wizard of Oz $500 Slightly faded, some wear.
The Court Jester $420 IB Technicolor
101 Dalmations $330 LPP
Beetlejuice $300 LPP
Dumbo $250 Reel one IB-Tech? Reel-two faded.
Movie Screen $250 Portable tripod
King Kong $200 B&W, Monkey print, dupe.
Lady and the Tramp $250 LPP, captioned
Deep Cell Batteries, power inverter $200 700wat power inverter
It's A Wonderful Life $175 B&W
6 Warner Brother Cartoons $160 Good to somewhat faded color
Roger Doger $150 LPP
What's Opera Doc? $150 LPP
One Froggy Evening $150 LPP
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure $135 LPP, reel one scope.
Mr. Mom $125 LPP
The Secret of NIMH $125 LPP, heavy wear.
Mickey's Christmas Carol $120 LPP
The Last Starfighter $107 LPP
Eiki 16mm Projector $100 600 lumens
Ricky's Temper (I Love Lucy) $75 B&W
The Big Snit $75 LPP
Broomstick Bunny $66 Slightly faded color
A Cricket in Times Square $61 LPP
The Cat Came Back $60 LPP
The Sorcerors Apprentice $60 LPP
Hyde and Hare $59 Slightly faded color
Homeless Hare $59 Slightly faded color
Lambert the Sheepish Lion $50 Slightly faded color
Tortoise and the Hare $50 Slightly faded color
Who's On First, Abbot and Costello $50 B&W, heavy wear, poor contrast
Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip $50 Slightly faded color.
Baseball Bugs $41 Faded color
Slick Hare $40 Faded color
Paddington Bear $35 LPP
I Love Lucy #169 $35 B&W
Tortoise and the Hare, Disney $35 Very faded color.
Popeye $30 four cartoons.
Woody Plays Santa $25 B&W
The Zax : Dr. Suess $25 Slightly faded color
Andy Panda, Mousie Come Home $15 B&W
Andy Panda, Wacky Weed $10 B&W, silent
Ship 'A Hooey $10 B&W
Casper, Red White and Boo $10 B&W
Newshound $10 B&W
Andy Panda, Mouse Trappers $10 B&W
Grand Uproar : Terry Tunes $10 B&W
Old Time Terry Tunes $10 B&W
Mr. Magoo $10 B&W
Casper : Boo Bop $10 B&W
Moisure Herman $10 B&W
Woody Woodpecker : Mars $10 B&W
Popeye : Farmer and the Belle $10 B&W
Casper : Do or Die $10 B&W
Mickey Plays Santa $10 B&W, Silent
Choosing Specific Words $1 Color, educational.
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