This is topic Strange web site to poke fun at... in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 06-24-2001, 06:07 AM:
Here is the address to strange site I found a few years ago before the DVD format was introduced.
http://members.aol.com/savetele/savetele.html This guy is some some sort of lawyer and in his spare time he ranting that running letterboxed movies on standard 4:3 TV's is censorship. HE claims that it is censorship of your TV and that artistic integrity means nothing. Mainly alot of double talk and what-not. To make matters worse, he no will no longer reply or debate anyone against his views. A friend of mine had a long running email debate with him and the lawyer kept making statements that kept circling back upon itself.
Anyhoo, I thought some you movie geeks (such as myself) would get a good laugh at this...
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Chris Duvall
General Manager
Regal Cinemas Colonnade14
Las Vegas, NV
Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 06-24-2001, 08:17 AM:
I came across this site before, he has a very strange attitude.
Posted by Michael Barry (Member # 237) on 06-24-2001, 11:42 AM:
Christopher: I remember this guy from a few years back on usenet. When you said the words 'censorship' and 'lawyer' it just clicked and all those usenet memories came back. His name is Bernard J. Farber, and if you do a google.com search for his name you will find all his alt.video.dvd posts in particular. He simply refuses to accept that letterboxing preserves the image and instead claims, as you pointed out, that it is censorship. Madness.
Most people who came across him and remember him from usenet (yes, many still do!) basically came to the conclusion that he must be a troll.
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-24-2001, 12:07 PM:
Somewhere in his diatribe are the words "they want to take away our rights to watch and enjoy television as it now is"If that is the case, then color TV is also censorship. What about the people of the past who "want to watch and enjoy television as it was"?
Perhaps this guy just likes attention?
I can't take this guy seriously. He MUST be joking. Saying that letterboxing is the most vile evil of ALL TIME kind of gives it away for me. Wait. No. Actually I think perhaps letterboxing may have been the cause of those Columbine shootings that happened not too far from my house.
Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 06-24-2001, 11:05 PM:
This guy's just trying to get some attention. When DIVX came out he added something to his site that gave it all away- he said that DIVX-"Enhanced" DVD players (as they were called) should only be able to play DIVX discs and not DVDs. Most DIVX discs were pan and scan but there were a handful of widescreen ones too.
If this guy was for real about "saving television" he'd be much more angrier about how TV has been ruined by the constant onscreen logos shown by the networks.
Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 06-24-2001, 11:07 PM:
I tried to get a rise out of him and get a response by sending him email last night. To make a long message short...I stated that we in the theatre industry "censor" our screens as well by masking out the unused area of the screen for scope and flat films. I tried to goad him into a debate in which I think he is taking the cowardly way out by responding to me with the message that states..."we have no interest in what you say, lettershlocking is evil and will end"
...and I agree with Michael Barry, the guy has to be a troll. He is definately looking for the flame messages. If not, he must be a complete moron. Whatta goof...
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Chris Duvall
General Manager
Regal Cinemas Colonnade14
Las Vegas, NV
Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 06-24-2001, 11:46 PM:
Are you so sure this guy is that evil? He wants to abolish "letterboxing", which of course, is totally illogical to the proper enjoyment of a Cinemascope film on televison. On the other hand, he seems also to be anti HDTV as well. Considering the competition we have in the entertaimemt industry already, this may not be so bad....
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-25-2001, 12:11 AM:
Ummm.... They make drugs that'll cure people like that. (Seriously!)
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 06-25-2001, 12:11 AM:
This guy is a total idiot. Guess he likes watching those pan scan movies that are done so bad that when two people ar talking on each side of the screen all you see are their noses. You would think he would want the wide screen tv. Since they put the whole letter boxed image on the screen. Of course maybe he has so many pan scan movies that the side bars would be an issue for him. If he doesn't want to debate the issue any more then all he is doing is beating a dead horse. Since letterboxing isn't going anywhere.
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-25-2001, 12:43 AM:
Maybe someone should send him a short e-mail, posing as an ex-government employee. Tell him how it was your job to encode mind-controlling signals into the letterboxing area of home video. Maintaining the aspect ratio of a film is only a convenient excuse. In fact, that's why films are shot with a wider aspect ratio, so that they'll HAVE to be letterboxed on home video, and then there is more opportunity to control people's minds.It sure is fun to play with stupid people 
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-25-2001, 03:17 AM:
>>In widescreen/lettershlocked garbage, the image is squashed down small between the black bars so that it pretends to look like a movie screen<<OK...so the guy's a fruit-loop, but it sure is a good laugh to read!
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"If you think THIS is fantastic...wait until you see the full effect with the HIMP!"
- Chief Inspector Clouseau.
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-25-2001, 11:24 AM:
Some good stuff and some real fun on Marty Hart's "American Widescreen Museum" website:
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/flikfx/default.htm
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/lbx.htm
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/lbx2.htm
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/lbx3.htm
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/lbx4.htm ------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 06-25-2001, 11:06 PM:
I was just checking out Marty's websites the other day. What a treasure trove of info. I actually enjoyed the history on how color was developed, especially the 2 color strip process. Neat stuff...------------------
Chris Duvall
General Manager
Regal Cinemas Colonnade14
Las Vegas, NV