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Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:53 pm
by sskeats
Hey Guys...Page 10 of current issue. Let's hear it for the guys. Maybe next issue they'll talk more in detail about the superb releases of MoC. It gets better each month. Jerry
SITE SPECIFICS: DVD BEAVER & MASTERS OF CINEMA
Community Service The passion of the collector knows no bounds. So it's not surprising to find that websites catering to avid DVD collectors constitute some of the most spirited precincts of online film culture. Out of a handful of essential outposts, two sites stand out: DVD Beaver and Master of Cinema.
Besides offering a comprehensive release calendar,
DVDBeaver specializes in meticulously technical disc reviews, including side-by-side comparisons of alternate editions of the same film. Navigate through the site's hyperactive and kaleidoscopic layout—no doubt a reflection of owner Gary Tooze's exuberant writing style—and you'll find a large archive filled to the brim with frame grabs, detailed listings of supplements, and other information, all organized and evaluated to direct you to the best quality product available.
Launched in 2001,
Masters of Cinema is run by an eclectic group hailing from the U.S., Canada and England: Jan Bielawski, Doug Cummings, R. Dixon Smith, Trond S. Tronsen, and Nick Wrigley. So which masters tie this collective together? Many celebrated auteurs, but from the beginning it seems there was one sanctified quartet: Ozu, Bresson, Tarkovsky, and Dreyer. Check out the eminently useful worldwide DVD release calendar posted on the sharply designed home page and explore four years' worth of DVD of the Year readers' polls. Since 2004, the site's team has collaborated with the British DVD company Eureka to produce a Masters of Cinema curated collection, notable for the sterling care taken with each disc and the inclusion of top-notch book-length liner notes.
Communities of dedicated amateurs link and sustain DVDBeaver and Masters of Cinema as valuable resources for anyone with access to a multi-region DVD player. It's an increasingly familiar figure who enters these virtual gathering places: the domestic cinephile, constantly struggling with the ever-present pitfalls and temptations of technophilia, consumer fetishism, and a withdrawal from public space.—Paul Fileri
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:11 pm
by fiddlesticks
Yunda Eddie Feng could not be reached for comment...
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:28 am
by arsonfilms
Wow... he's really gone off his rocker. I admit that keeping part of a review and not crediting it could be a bit of a grey area... but his reviews were SO bad! Zodiac in particular seemed to be a last straw for a lot of people, as it so comically missed the point. I almost wish Feng would take issue with us rather than with Gary, as we were the ones begging for him to be stopped.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:05 am
by HerrSchreck
Hmmm... Yunda Eddie Fung: "Gary Tooze you can't delete the evidence!"
Thomas J: "Criterionforum, with no integrity, removes the evidence from the scene of the crime..."
Doppelganger chills again... someone get me a forehead ice pack..
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:11 am
by Oedipax
It's just incredibly damning for our current academic system that this guy holds an MA in Film Studies. Ugh.
But, lest this thread get derailed by more Feng discussion, let me extend my congratulations to Gary and all the people at MoC. I look forward to reading this in my copy of Film Comment once they get around to mailing it out to me
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:43 am
by HerrSchreck
College is absolute poison for some minds as it skews their attention away from their core selves over the years that they should more than anything be doing just that.
I really dug his pic of himself with that admonishing pose from Death of a Salesman (dvdreviewer? Yundy Loman? Willy LoFeng?)
I smell a new skuhn8 avatar?
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:26 pm
by fiddlesticks
Oedipax wrote:But, lest this thread get derailed by more Feng discussion, let me extend my congratulations to Gary and all the people at MoC.
Yes; I feel ashamed to have taken what should have been a truckful of praise for Gary and the MoC-ly crew and driven it straight into the Feng ditch. It's great that they are getting richly deserved accolades, and I =D> them. Both DVDBeaver and Masters of Cinema have made my live much richer and my bankbook much poorer, and for that I thank them.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:27 pm
by colinr0380
davidhare wrote:To my own astonishment I actually emailed Yunda offline after that unbelievable review of Funny Face and - very gently for me - tried to take him through some points and indeed screen caps attached from the older release. No reply ever which neither surprises me nor displeases me frankly.
Perhaps he passed it on to his sister, as he did his review?
The thing that shocked me was that Eastern Promises was his first exposure to Cronenberg! Aside from The Fly but that apparently doesn't count (unfortunately he tries to apply this comment to the exception that proves the rule!) I know some people are not horror fans but it must have taken some effort to completely avoid the work of one of the most interesting filmmakers of the last few decades!
Film Comment wrote:temptations of technophilia, consumer fetishism, and a withdrawal from public space
It might just be my perverted mind but this final sentence came across kinkier than probably intended - never have I shown tendencies of technophilia by whipping myself with the cord of my mouse, I have never shown consumer fetishism by fashioning a gimp mask out of plastic from empty DVD cases and if I ever asked someone if I could "withdraw from their public space" I'd be quite rightly slapped silly!
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:11 pm
by M
He must have meant commodity fetishism, but there are sexual implications either way.
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:36 pm
by tryavna
Oedipax wrote:It's just incredibly damning for our current academic system that this guy holds an MA in Film Studies. Ugh.
Why? MA's are joke degrees. (And I'm speaking as someone who has one, albeit in a different discipline.) It's about as easy to get accepted into a terminal MA program as it is to get accepted into an undergraduate program. Most universities treat their MA programs as cash cows, since they don't have to offer financial support to the students (unless they're trying to lure those students into a PhD program).
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:44 pm
by Matt
tryavna wrote:MA's are joke degrees.
No wonder I'm stuck unjamming staplers for a living.
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:48 pm
by jguitar
Matt wrote:tryavna wrote:MA's are joke degrees.
No wonder I'm stuck unjamming staplers for a living.
No, that's because of the MLS degree. That and pointing out to people where the bathroom is.
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:51 am
by hddvdreviews
Oedipax wrote:It's just incredibly damning for our current academic system that this guy holds an MA in Film Studies. Ugh.
you might want to
read my real academic work before passing judgment on my degree.
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:00 am
by Cabiria21
your jig is up, feng...
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:12 pm
by gubbelsj
jguitar wrote:Matt wrote:tryavna wrote:MA's are joke degrees.
No wonder I'm stuck unjamming staplers for a living.
No, that's because of the MLS degree. That and pointing out to people where the bathroom is.
Of course, it's technically an ML
IS degree these days. As in, Information (because books weren't filled with info until quite recently, and computers have now beaten them at their own game....). Which doesn't mean we don't still spend a good portion of our days, yes, pointing to the bathrooms.
Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt the Feng Fest.
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:15 pm
by Matt
One thread of this business is enough.