DVD’s
BBC Life DVD In Stores Today (Tuesday June 1)
Jun 1st
BBC’s new epic nature series, LIFE, is available today (June 1) on DVD. It follows after the wildly successful series, PLANET EARTH. It’s 11 episodes of wonder, plants, animals, and much more…all about life on the planet. I have a copy and have been watching parts of it (it’s VERY long, over 11 hours!), and it’s fantastic. The photography and epic nature of the thousands of hours of footage is mind boggling. They apparently shot the series over a period of 3, 000 days.
Check out some of the photos below that go along with the series…
click pic for full-sized graphic
Order your copy today, you will not regret it.
click pic for full-sized graphic
Steven Seagal Lawman (A&E) Giveaway (Catch the Premiere Dec 2!)
Nov 8th
To celebrate the premiere of the new A&E series, Steven Seagal Lawman, THE BLUE SITE is giving away 2 prize packs. Check the info. below and see how to enter today.
———————————————
ENTER TO WIN A STEVEN SEAGAL PRIZE PACK TO CELEBRATE THE SERIES PREMIERE OF STEVEN SEAGAL LAWMAN ON A&E
INTERNATIONAL FILM STAR AND LEGENDARY MARTIAL ARTS EXPERT DOCUMENTS HIS EXTRAORDINARY LAW ENFORCEMENT LIFE
PREMIERING WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2ND AT 10PM ET/PT ON A&E WITH
BACK-TO-BACK EPISODES
Steven Seagal’s movies have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide. He is an expert martial artist with a 7th-degree black belt in aikido. Along with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, he is considered one of the film industry’s greatest action stars. But it turns out that Steven Seagal isn’t just an action hero in the movies. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully-commissioned deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana. In fact, in addition to going out on patrol, Seagal is an expert marksman who has worked with their SWAT team and has instructed
Jefferson Parish officers in firearms and hand-to-hand combat.
Until now, Seagal has never sought attention for his work with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. However, over a span of almost two decades, he has regularly gone out on patrol and worked major cases. Each thirty-minute episode will allow fans to ride shotgun with Seagal as he and his hand-selected elite team of deputies respond to crimes-in-progress. Then, when Seagal goes off-duty, the cameras will continue following him as he pursues his many ventures – including musical performances and philanthropic efforts – in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans.
To celebrate the premiere of Steven Seagal Lawman, you can enter to win a Steven Seagal prize pack!
The lucky winners will receive:
**Steven Seagal Collection: 4 Film DVD featuring: the Fire Down Below, Above the Law and The Glimmer Man and Under Siege
**Steven Seagal Lawman long-sleeved T-shirt
**Steven Seagal Lawman Stainless Steel Drink Tumbler
SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING
See it before anybody else! AETV.com is presenting a special, one-time only video stream of the premiere episode of Steven Seagal Lawman on Wednesday, November 18, two weeks before its TV premiere! Go here for more information. (http://www.aetv.com/steven-seagal-lawman/advance-screening/)
STEVEN SEAGAL LAWMAN, airs Wednesdays at 10:00PM ET/PT only on A&E.
Visit the official site for more information and exclusive content. (http://www.aetv.com/steven-seagal-lawman/)
———————————————
HOW TO ENTER
To enter, simply comment below and tell me what your favorite Steven Seagal movie is. Two winners will be chosen at random from the comments. Must be 18 or older and a US resident. Sorry, no PO boxes. TWO winners (there are two prize packs to give away) will be chosen the day of the premiere, December 2, 2009. I will close the comments at 12AM CT Dec 3. I will EMail the winners, and you will need to reply with a US mailing address (cannot send to PO boxes unfortunately). The winner will have 1 week to reply or I will choose another winner at random. Thanks for playing, and good luck.
Be sure to check out the premiere Dec 2 on A&E or catch the first episode preview on Nov 18 at http://www.aetv.com/steven-seagal-lawman/advance-screening/
**Prizes courtesy A&E and Electric Artists**
Monk Final Season Premiere (Prize Pack Giveaway- Enter Now!)
Aug 5th
I just finished watching the premiere episode of Monk for the 8th and final season. To celebrate the new season, The Blue Site is giving away a few Monk prize packs.
Don’t miss the start of the 8th and final season of MONK on USA NETWORK, Friday at 9/8c. Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG award winner Tony Shalhoub returns as the obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk with 16 brand-new laugh-inducing episodes. The final season promises to be a memorable one for all Monk fans. So tune in and watch one of the most successful series in basic cable history give its final farewell. Become a fan on Facebook, Follow Monk on Twitter, and play Monk games on USA’s Character Arcade.
ENTER TO WIN THE FOLLOWING PRIZE PACKS:
Two Winners will receive:
Monk Season 6 & 7 DVD
Monk Novel
Monk T-shirt
Monk Commuter Mug
Five Runners Up will receive:
Monk Novel
TO ENTER TO WIN- Leave a comment below and let me know who your favorite Monk character is. I will choose a random winner from the pool Friday night after the season premiere. I will EMail the winner, so when you enter, you must make sure I have your EMail address. With the commenting system, you can sign in via twitter or facebook or a disqus profile. With facebook and twitter, I can message you somehow, but if you use disqus, it doesn’t list an EMail address on your profile, so please leave it in the comment so I know how to get ahold of you! If you don’t feel comfortable leaving your EMail address you usually use, go to gmail or yahoo.com and create a new address and use it.
Come back to The Blue Site to see if you won, and feel free to discuss the season premiere here with me and the rest of the Monk fans after you watch Friday night! Good luck to everyone!
Psych Season Premiere (Prize Pack Giveaway!!)
Aug 5th
I just finished watching the season 4 premiere of Psych. To celebrate the premeire, The Blue Site is offering the fans (that’s right, you) a chance to win a Psych prize pack.
Don’t miss the season 4 premiere of PSYCH on USA NETWORK, Friday at 10/9c. While vacationing in Canada, Shawn and Gus track Despereux, an elusive international art thief who has alluded Lassiter for years. Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) guest-stars in “Extradition: British Columbia.” Become a fan on Facebook, Follow Psych on Twitter, and play Psych games on USA’s Character Arcade.
ENTER TO WIN THE FOLLOWING PRIZE PACKS:
One Winner will receive:
Psych Season 3DVD
Psych Comic Book
Psych Magic 8 Ball
Psych Talking Bobble Head Set
Psych Novel
Psych T-Shirt
Five Runners Up will receive:
Psych Comic Book
TO ENTER- Comment below and tell me who your favorite PSYCH character is. IMPORTANT! Be sure to leave an email address if you use a disqus profile to comment or comment as a guest. If you don’t want to use your normal EMail, just create a free account at gmail.com (Google mail) to enter the contest. I must have a valid EMail address to contact you if you win.
I will choose a random winner from the entries on Friday night after the premiere episode. I will do the same thing for the runner up winners of the comic! Check back here and watch your EMail to see if you won!
The Blue Site Burn Notice Giveaway!! Enter to Win!
Aug 4th
UPDATE (Aug 7, 2009): Thanks to everyone for entering the giveaway. What a finale, huh? Catch the rest of Burn Notice season 3 in January on USA. A winner has been chosen and notified…if you didn’t win, don’t worry, there will, no doubt, be more contests including Burn Notice giveaways in the future here at The Blue Site. Be sure to check back often for the latest in news, movies, TV, politics, and more.
Scene from Burn Notice on USA Network – “Long Way Back” …
Uploaded by USANetwork – Check out other Film & TV videos.
To celebrate the summer finale of Burn Notice, The Blue Site will be giving away one Burn Notice prize pack (see details below). Enter for your chance to win the season 1 and season 2 DVD sets, a Burn Notice novel, and a special Burn Notice T-shirt.
BURN NOTICE SUMMER FINALE EPISODE:
A dangerous man from Fiona’s past resurfaces in Miami after years of hiding, with deadly intentions.
Follow Burn Notice on Twitter, Become a Fan on Facebook and Visit the Official Website.
Enter To Win:
Burn Notice Season 1 & 2 DVD
Burn Notice Novel
Burn Notice T-Shirt
To enter, simply leave a comment below and tell me who your favorite Burn Notice character is. A winner will be chosen Thursday night, the night of the summer finale…watch the show, then find out if you won the prize pack again. I will notify the winner by Friday afternoon at the latest via EMail, so be sure to leave an EMail address so I can contact you!!!
Good luck, and be sure to catch Burn Notice summer finale- Thursday 9/8C on USA.
Photoshop(ped): Haunted History Of Halloween DVD Box Cover
Oct 19th
I’ve been working in Photoshop outside my class work again. This here is pretty basic stuff, but I notice the History Channel special, The Haunted History of Halloween airs this week and next (over several showings). I wanted to record it to DVD then create a DVD label for the box cover. I have finished the front cover and will work on the back cover and the spine soon.
I will import the front cover into a wraparound DVD cover tutorial I found here. The dimenions that site gives are a bit off from mine, and I didn’t take into consideration the bleed (frankly, I’m not entire certain what that all means, as I haven’t looked into that process indepth yet). But, it should fit fairl well, I think. To get my dimensions, I simply measured a DVD at home and got 5.377 x 7.377. Hope this helps for anyone wanting to make their own DVD covers.
Below are (1) the original actual DVD cover (which I based the basic layout on), (2) my draft version, (3) my final version with the text “THE HISTORY CHANNEL” changed from Times New Roman to Charlemagne. Changine the font sort of officially changes the whole logo itself, as that font is part of their branding, but it’s for my own use and I wasn’t going for exact.
Click on any of the pics for full-sized versions…
“Alfresco” Box Set from Acorn Media (British Comedy)
Jul 22nd
I just got the box set the other day, and it’s very well put together. It’s
on 2 discs inside the regular paperboard box with the one end open. I
haven’t watched the entire thing yet, but I’ve seen some of series 1 and
some of series 2 to try to get a feel for the comedy overall. Each disc has
some extra material. There’s a look into the counter-culture comedy of the
early 80′s (of which Alfresco was a part of), cast bios that are fairly
lenghty and indepth, and the first 3 episodes of the pilot series the show
resulted from. It’s well put together. There’s episode selection and PLAY
ALL on each disc. There’s even an lengthy insert that tells the backstory
of the series and how it all came to be.
So, the set itself is top notch. As always, Acorn Media has put together a
very nice set here.
As for the show itself- it’s VERY hit and miss. A lot of the routines are
just dreadful. A lot of the jokes don’t even make sense. The laughs are
more plentiful in Series 2 where they started to change the form of the
routines. They more closely fit the traditional sketch comedy formula. I
didn’t love it that much as a whole. There were some funny bits, but a lot
of it I just watched and waited. The laugh out loud parts never came. I’d
smile here and there for large chunks, but I don’t think I laughed out loud
once. (so far)
I have a feeling this set was made simply because Hugh Laurie has made it
big in the US with House. He’s got charisma, and you can see he has comedy
chops. I’ve never actually seen Fry and Laurie, but both men show talent
and comedic timing here and there. If the material was funnier, you might
get a better idea of that talent.
I should also mention a lot of the genuine laughs in the show are ruined by
the annoying laugh track. Tho, honestly, I watched entire skits and didn’t
laugh at all, and kept waiting for the laugh track to kick in so I’d have
some idea of when I was supposed to laugh (wondering if I just wasn’t
getting the British political humor of the time). A lot of the times, the
track never did kick in, and the skit itself felt like it wasn’t aiming at
comedy but just an attempt at being anti-establishment.
You do feel like you’re watching a bit of history when you see the show.
I’m a big fan of the 80′s, and tho I was a kid at the time, when you watch
stuff from the early 80′s like this, it feels like a big change was taking
place. Especially the British shows. You feel like you’re witnessing
something historic, even if it’s not all that funny in the end.
In the end, I’m probably being too hard on the show, it’s not horrible.
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of it was unfunny and boring, but there were
bright spots here and there, and I laughed a number of times from what I’ve
seen so far. It’s just that the laughs are too few and they don’t come often
enough to recommend it very highly. The performers all show great energy,
and most of them clearly have great talent for comedy. I wanted to love it,
it felt like an underdog that I wanted to cheer for, but the laughs don’t
come often enough.
A well put together box set, some nice extra features, but the show itself
isn’t funny enough to warrant too much excitement. Fans of Hugh Laurie,
Steven Fry, Robbie Coltrane, and even Emma Thomspon will probably enjoy
seeing these actors in their early years, but the comedy will fall flat for
a lot of people.
Thanks to Acorn Media for an advanced copy of the series for review. You can pre-order the set at Acorn Media’s website.
Not Going Out (BBC America)
Jul 14th
I used to love BBC America. They used to play great British comedies we’d otherwise never see in the US. They used to have what seemed like dozens of series from across the pond, here to satisfy the TV-obsessed with more choices. Then, they started playing nothing but shows where they redo someone’s house or room or gardening or ten hours a day of BBC World news or Newsnight for heaven’s sake! Gone are the days of Father Ted, British Men Behaving Badly, My Hero, or other shows I’d never heard of like Green Wing or Love Soup or Teachers. Some of their shows came from BBC, some came from Channel 4, some from other sources…it was a plethora of British goodness packed into one nice neat channel somewhere in the 200′s on my set top box.
Lately, the choices have been slim. Dragon’s Den, a series about a bunch of mega-rich “dragons” who hear business ideas from contestants and offer up investment money in the good ideas was an interesting series they just started. Robin Hood looks okay, but it’s not really my type of show. I noticed Monty Python is still showing on the channel, but I’ve seen most of them already, and to be honest I was never the biggest fan of the series anyhow.
I miss the days of the old BBC America full of so many choices, you didn’t know where to begin.
One gem I did discover however is Not Going Out. In one word- hilarious. Okay, two words- hilarious and brilliant. Lee Mack exudes an easy going charisma that makes his fairly tame comedy come off perfectly. I’ve only seen him before in The Sketch Show (not to be confused with Kelsey Grammer Presents the Sketch Show which he also appeared in), and I didn’t care much for it. Now I think of it, I remember seeing episodes of that show and wondering how on earth it ever got produced it was so unfunny. The Kelsey Grammer version lasted all of 3 episodes, I think? I think I have the episodes on DVD somewhere? It wasn’t a total waste tho.
In Not Going Out, Mack plays Lee who is living in a flat with Kate…flat is owned by Lee’s best mate Tim and Lucy is Tim’s ex-girlfriend. Tim and Kate are on bad terms but still run into each other. Tim and Lee spend time at the pub, but most of it’s centered around the flat itself. There’s great chemisty between the three, and unfortunately Kate is gone by the second season to be replaced Tim’s sister, Lucy.
Mack’s the funny one here with Tim Vine playing the straight man. Mack’s comedy is usually pretty tame, only occasionally ripping a vulgar joke really. Most of it’s pretty straight stuff- the jokes are simple and sometimes you might not even laugh at them, but Mack delivers it so well you can’t help but chuckle. He’s so charismatic- the kind of guy anyone would want to be around, you can hardly go wrong.
If you’re a fan of British comedy or just need a break from the usual US fare, check this out. It’s in the second season on BBC America- Tuesday nights.
Quickly back to BBC America- whoever programs this channel is set on confusing all of us, I think. They aired the first season of Teachers (from Channel 4), then they never returned the series. They played Love Soup season 1 then left us hanging without season 2. We got Green Wing (a hilariously quirky series with little plot to speak of and a whole lot of craziness) season 1 but no season 2. And season 1 ended with a cliffhanger! It’s like they want to give us bits and pieces of these great British series, then sweep the rug out from under us like that. Let’s hope this trend of showing reality shows, home and garden, nonstop news, and the other boring crap they tend to give us stops soon and they decide to bring back the Britcoms.
Over the years, I’ve become somewhat obsessed with my Amazon.com UK wishlist and have added too many TV DVD sets to even count. I’ve never ordered anything (yet), but hopefully most of these shows aren’t limited to Europe only with some of these absurd licensing agreements they often times have attached to them. If you want to find great British series, I’d recommend checking out the UK version of Amazon.com. Also- check out Acorn Media’s fine selection of British TV. (The fantastic Poirot being one of their big hits.)
Netflix Keeping Profiles Afterall
Jun 30th
Netflix heard from many disappointed customers, and they’ve changed their plans…they are not keeping profiles according to this EMail from today:
We Are Keeping Netflix Profiles
Dear Josh,
You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.
We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.
-Your friends at Netflix
Great news. It was a pretty bad idea from the start, and thankfully enough Netflix customers spoke out against it.
How on Earth is Kevin Smith So Lucky? (or When Did He Jump the Shark?)
Jun 24th
I like Clerks. I think it’s a good movie. Horribly acted, poorly shot, very disorganized overall. But still, it’s witty, it’s got charm, the writing is sometimes clever, and it just made an impact.
So, Kevin Smith made a good movie. ONE good movie.
Mallrats was okay, but it was far too immature and not all that clever. I mean, seriously- ass smell on your hand? This is the humor of slacker potheads. Chasing Amy was just stupid. How Joey Lauren Adams ever got a single gig in acting is beyond me. And that voice? Wow. Pierce my ear drums, will ya? Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back? Well- if you can stand more than 10 mins of this idiotic duo then you’re good to go. More asinine pothead humor for the most part. Fart jokes are cool…to kids. Dogma? Semi-smart, but too often bashes the church Smith sometimes claims he’s part of. Overall, nothing too special here. Chris Rock is, and always has been unfunny. Matt Damon is decent here. Clerks 2- a complete abomination. It’s as if Smith said, “hey, I’m a multi-millionaire, and my fans will go see feces thrown onto film if I attach my name to it…hell, why write a good movie when I can just do that?” It was unfunny, boring, tepid…it’s like- what’s the point? Did you make this film just to say you made the sequel the fans were waiting for? How about you take a big dump in my breakfast now?
So, one good movie.
An Evening with Kevin Smith. Okay, now we’re talking. Listening to Smith go on (and on and on and on- 4 hours long or something like that?) is actually entertaining. I remember being up late one night and seeing this on starz or cinemax or something. It had been on about 20 mins, so I missed that part, but I watched and I could not for the life of me change the channel. I had things to do in the morning, but I couldn’t go to sleep. I had to hear what he said next. Funny stuff about weird meetings with Prince, writing a treatment and script for Superman, talk of Batman and more. This was inside baseball that we all want to hear about Hollywood. Good stuff about his career, happenings in Hollywood, behind the scenes stuff with various projects some of us had no idea he took part in at all. It was funny, it was mostly smart, it was good stuff.
Two good movies then? He didn’t direct this, but he was the star and writer and all that good stuff.
Clerks the animated series I actually liked. Don’t ask me why, but yes- I liked it. A lot. I watched the episodes numerous times (years ago.)
So, I’m watching An Evening with Kevin Smith 2- Evening Harder now on Netflix. I’m about a half hour into about 4 hours, and I’m wondering- why? What’s the point? Where the first one was interesting and usually witty, this so far is…well, it’s just garbage. I guess the stoner humor makes sense now, as Smith himself talks about how he loves to watch Dora the Explorer with his daughter while he’s stoned. Gotta love the fact that anyone can have kids. I’m reading his book MY BORING ASS LIFE now, and it’s interesting. It’s repetitive and there’s not much to it- it’s just a day by day account of what he’s up to…what he’s doing each day. I’m liking it so far, but he does tend to get annoying with the stoner stuff. That and I don’t care to hear about how you “hardcore fuck” your wife. It comes off as the stuff an immature 22 year old would write. But, isn’t Smith in his 40′s by now? Call me a prude.
I do wonder how he got so lucky. I think it mainly comes down to the fact that some people gain fans, and then those fans stick around forever, no matter what. They just cling to the person. Tho, if you watch Evening Harder, you see the audience is comprised of what looks like a bunch of slacker pot smoking 19 year old canadian kids. So, you sort of see why they like his humor.
So what happened to the smart, witty, likeable writing of Clerks? Is this what happens when you seem to have so little drive all you can muster is a film like Jay and Silent Bob? Like I said- I liked Clerks. In fact, I loved Clerks…but it went downhill from there, and it hasn’t started back an upward slope. (Yet?)
Recent Comments