I love reviewing things especially things I like and want to recommend. And I am a sucker for the movies.
No, I don’t get to pop out to the latest big flick junket, there’s no red carpet premier for me or my family. No sneaky peeks at the latest 3-D epic but honestly I really couldn’t fit that in my already hectic social life what with parties by the River (OK it was a birthday party for a four year old) and putting on grand events on one’s estate (a BBQ), really, I’m not that bothered because I love watching movies at home.
Any movie, in fact it is quite distressing to note how very undiscerning I am. In my defence though, it’s not until you see the really bad ones that you appreciate how good the really good ones are.
Now I am not particularly tech minded and in the past that has saved me a lot of money. I mean I was so long deciding about whether to go Betamax or VHS that the market made up its mind and I landed up with a very serviceable Video recorder made ironically by Sony. It lasted year and years and years. In fact I still have it and it’s doing sterling work even now. Come on! I still can get classic movies on VHS for 10p down the road although the quality has a lot to be desired….
And that’s where my problem with Disney started. Now I am not so far behind the world that I did not also have a DVD player, I did. And I have watched some great movies on it, I’ve reviewed some great movies on it but they weren’t in Blu-Ray. Big deal I thought no worries I mean I could see everything fine and the stories are the thing aren’t they?
Well I was extremely lucky in that the very kind people at Disney thought I should be able to appreciate all their hard work by being able to view their films in Blu Ray so they sent me a Blu Ray DVD player.
Everyone was SO excited. The whole family was so excited. Not since crystal radios has my family been able to keep up with the Joneses nay perhaps even a little ahead of everyone else in the technology stakes. That is until we tried to get the wretched thing to work.
It seems as if my TV and the Blu Ray DVD player didn't like each other much, in fact were imcompatible becuase of the simple fact that my TV is a trifle old – in technology terms. In real terms it’s only 5 years old; in tech terms TVs are ancient history in 24 months not as bad as computers which are passé in 24 weeks or as bad as mobile phones which go into extinction after 24 days…or is that mobile phone tariffs???
Anyway, in order not to lose face and have to send the gift back, I decided to buy myself a new HD-ready TV (i.e. Hight definition ready) and to take advantage the great leaps in viewing technology and the fact that you can pick up great flat screen TVs really, really, cheaply nowadays. Or so I thought.
If this should ever happen to you do NOT, I repeat NOT take your partner/husband/father/father-in-law or in fact any male member of the species with you to Comet just days before the First Test Series/World Cup/Masters etc in order to salvage your conscience about getting a freebie. It is expensive. Very expensive.
But I hear you say was it worth it? Well £500 for a new state of the art 36” flat screen TV, which is so clear I hardly have to wear glasses anymore...yup it was worth it and as for the Blu Ray? Come on Guys what are you waiting for, it’s brill!
PS: Many apologies to Disney I had a mad techie problem and this was posted (or something pretty similar but I lost it) on what I thought was a really cool stand alone Review site attached to my main blog. But it’s not and I’ve lost that and a whole load of other stuff somewhere in the ether, if anyone comes across it please could they point me in the right direction!!!!
