For my fort-cough-ieth birthday I demanded (well, suggested that I would prefer) to receive cash, not presents and I bundled it all together and added some more of my own and bought myself a 42 inch Sony flatscreen television. Then I went to the Sky website and ordered a high-definition box.

Seven weeks later the Sky engineer finally arrived.

This week most of my free time has been taken up flicking between HD and standard-definition channels showing the same programmes and going, “Wow! You really can see the difference.”

Pirates of the Carribbean 3 doesn’t suddenly become a better movie when you can see every CGI-ed barnacle and nail on the hull of The Black Pearl – sadly – but (at least at the moment) there’s something fascinating about being able to immerse yourself in the detail of every splash of water. Explosions take on a whole new dimension. Even cricket, at high definition, becomes momentarily interesting as new details emerge (although that may also be the novelty of watching the Irish out-perform Australia).

And I’ve also discovered an important new equation.

HD plus slo-mo plus explosion equals Michael Bay nirvana.

All this obsessing over extraneous detail reached something of a nadir last night when I found myself transfixed by how orange the Dutch shirts were during the highlights of Holland versus Chile semi-final of the Toulon Tournament (for under 20s) on Eurosport HD.

There are moments, though, when things really pop from the screen in a way that I’ve only previously experienced in really good cinemas where the projectionist gives a damn about his job and has the technology to get it right. And those moments are, for someone who loves movies like I do, are definitely worth the price of admission.

Now I have to buy a high definition DVD player. And probably some decent speakers. And some sort of media streaming device. And a new sofa…

Thank goodness the recession is over.

Posted June 11, 2009 Comments(0)

So today I was working from home and I was listening to a new CD - “… and all the pieces matter” (which is music from the TV show The Wire).

Don’t panic! I’m not going to turn into one of those people who nags you incessently about how good The Wire is. To be honest I started watching the first season casually recently when the BBC started showing it every night and wasn’t that impressed. But I stuck with it and when the second season ended I suddenly realised that I’d been organising my life around making sure I was watching. Still, if you haven’t got into it by now, I’m not here to convince you. This post is actually about music. Read more »

Posted June 5, 2009 Comments(1)