Category: Culture

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This is Cinerama

One of the things we miss very much is going to see a film on the big screen. We mean THE BIG SCREEN, not just not television and not the screens you normally get at your local multiplex, but actually something huge and immersive and wonderful. Something that could even be curved!

There are many different systems for wide screen filming: yes, nowadays we have IMAX, but in the old days there was Panavision, Cinemascope, VistaVision, 70mm, Ultra Panavision…

Our favourite, on the very rare occasions we ave seen it in all its glory, was Cinerama. There are still Cinerama theatres in the world. We once went to the one in Seattle.

If you don’t know, Cinerama used three cameras to film a wide screen view, and three projectors to show it back. Films like How The West Was Won appeared using this format (mostly) and you can see where the three strips meet when you watch the tv version.

We thought that this video about restoring Cinerama films was very interesting:

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Puzzle

A family member sent me a puzzle the other day. It had apparently appeared on tv in a quiz and was worth close to £100,000.

I did not see the show, and here is my version of the question:

there are 100 people in a room. 99% are left handed. How many left handed people need to leave the room to bring the percentage down to 98%?

There are plenty of people doing this on-line, including this:

It’s fine to do it by algebra, but you couldn’t and wouldn’t use this method on tv in a timed quiz for a huge sum of money. But we know why he has posted this – the arithmetic is really interesting.

Have a go yourself, then look at the next page.

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Still Barking

If you are a fan of the Bonzo Dog Band, then you may be interested in the new extensive box set “Still Barking”.

To be honest, if you are a fan then you will probably already know, and will have seen this:

It looks like the cost is approaching £300 at launch.

There are 20 discs, a book and all sorts of other stuff which you may look at occasionally.

If you are a fan, then you will probably have much of this anyway. We certainly have many original vinyl discs. How much is completely new needs to be determined, and demo versions and backing tracks are fine to listen to once but often don’t bear repeated listenings.

We’ve yet to hear a CD version of The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse that is actually a correct reproduction of the original.

We’re not trying to put anyone off, but if you’re buying it, do tell….