The DVD to Hard Drive Project.

I want to let everyone in on a project I have been working on with ye ole laptop. 

I have been copying a small collection of my favorite movies on to my laptop.  The thought is when in the airport , or between appointments, or waiting at the DMV I can get my movie on.  I have even copied 5 of Addy's favorite DVD's on the old laptop so when Eileen is recording two shows on the DVR and watching a recorded copy of Wife Swap or Toddlers and Tiaras or any of those shows that instill nausea in my deep core at least Addy can stop her whining and watch a movie on my laptop. 

This is kind of where I am going with this today...I have 26 videos so far on the old laptop.  With a combination of Handbrake and AnyDVD I can decript and record a movie on to about a 1 to 1.25 GB size patch of hard drive.

 I have probably 150 DVDs in the Corley family DVD collection...I have a list of DVDs I want to record on the laptop especially since I am going to be in Chicago by myself for a solid week and then another trip coming up in October. 

So far on my recording list I have copied :

a) 40 Year Old Virgin: Classic Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and of course Steve Carrell movie that I get something new from everytime I watch it.  Plus the added bonus of Jane Lynch hysterics before everyone knew her schtick...she is hilarious.

b) Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy....come on, Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell again with some good cameos from Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller.  This movie is comedy gold my peeps...easily in my top 5 comedy list ( I 'll pick that back up later fo sho...) The Afternoon Delight ahcapella action is the bomb, puts me in a good mood everytime...am I still talking about the movie now?  Uh, lets move on.

c) Batman Begins:  I may be in the minority here, not sure...but Christian Bale is the best Batman period.  The grittyness and darkness of the movie gives it a legitimacy that Jack Nicholson dressed as Bozo the Clown and Uma Thurman wearing green tights never could.

d) Borat:  reminds me that I need to get The Legend of Ricky Bobby on the laptop download list.  But , Borat has so many laugh out loud moments in it..." Hey, what's up vanilla face".  I may use that in the next hotel check in.  At one point in time I may have thought about tracking across America for Pam Anderson...jeez , youth is wasted on the dumb , huh?

e) Couples Retreat: this might be weird, but I have never watched it.  I got it as a B-day present a year ago, and never got around to watching it.  I figured it would be one of the first ones I would watch due to the fact I haven't seen it. Any opinions on it out there?

f) Die Another Day ( James Bond: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry )...me watch stuff blow up and me watch Halle Berry...next.

g) Dodgeball: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn , Justin Long....not the best movie of all time, I agree.  But, I still laugh everyonce in a while when I see this one...that's right folks I am a big, dumb animal.

h) ***GUILTY PLEASURE ALERT*** Fast and the Furious: Paul Walker and Vin Diesel...I can watch this testosterone fest and still enjoy the race scenes like I have never seen them before.  I have seen all of the Fast and The Furious movies and enjoyed them all on some level...Siskel and /or Ebert I am not.

i) Gladiator: I seriously thought about naming my Blog, " Do I Not Entertain You ?"  .  Didn't. Don't ponder on it too long.  While I think Russell Crowe may be one of the largest ego centric jerks of the 21st century...can't say this is not a genuine classic of a movie.

j)  Iron Man: I am a big fan of Robert Downey Jr.  While he may be the white Otis Nixon, the boy is very talented.  This is another movie I have never watched, just recorded straight to the laptop and thought one day , it will be there like  golden god...( Note to self: Almost Famous would be a good add).

k) Italian Job: This movie is just above average, but some of the chase scenes transcend the quality of the film...a few years ago I realized that I truly love a good  race scene....

OK...Quick page break here!
my favorite 5 race scenes from movies: Italian Job, Ronan, The Transporter...OK, I lost my concentration at three. Please give me a few notions on the best race scenes.  Would appreciate the input.

to continue...

l and m) Meet the Fockers and Meet the Parents: Can't wait for the 3rd part of this series: "Little Fockers" to come out ...but another Ben Stiller movie that always gets me laughing, DeNiro was quite good in it also, tons of cred. for Academy Award Winner wearing a Man Breast Feeding Implement....ain't ever happening with me, but I ain't got an Academy Award do I?  So who cares...next!

 n, o, and p) Star Wars episodes I, II, and III.  I know they aren't as good as the original 3...and I only have the original 3 on VHS...I have brought shame upon myself I fear.  I grew up with pretty much all the Star Wars stuff you could imagine.  A complete classic series that has changed film making as we know it.

q and r ) Rush Hour 1 and Rush Hour 2:  I think that this pairing of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker was pure comedy gold. 

s) Superbad: 1 Scottish inspired word for 'ya...McLovin'....moving on.

t) The Dark Knight: Heath Ledger as the Joker was one of the best performances in film in my lifetime.  I always get geeked a little before he makes the pencil "disappear"...if you've seen the movie you know what I am talking about here.

u) The Hangover: If my whole roster of movies were a baseball team , The Hangover would be my clean up hitter.  Another movie I can always watch and get something new out of it.  Looking forward to the remake for certain.

v) Training Day:  quick question...has Denzel Washington been in a bad movie...I'll leave you to ponder that.  This movie in particular is super gritty goodness.  The back story of how Ethan Hawke's character saves the girl in the alley and how that comes back around was brilliant.  When watching that the first time and the lightbulb goes off...brilliant.

w) Transformers: Robots go boom...next

x) Wedding Crashers:  another comedy classic, Will Ferrell's character yelling at his mom cracks me up every time.

y) XXX: with Vin Diesel you pervs...good action movie, entertaining.

z) Zoolander

OK...I was hoping to get some feed back from folks about what movies they would feel are must adds to their video collection if caught on an island with electrical service, DVD, and TV but nothing else.  Please tell me a little about them please, I am looking to add to the meager collection I have so far.

I have a list of films I still want to add to my list, just haven't seen any really good deals on them of late and don't have them at home...in a few cases I was really surprised with myself that I didn't have them in the house...thanks again from reading the blog and here's my current Wish List for the Movie Additions.

Munich
Black Hawk Down
Saving Private Ryan
Bourne Trilogy
Matrix Trilogy
Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Collateral
Hurt Locker
Casino Royale
Godfather I and II
Predator
Swordfish
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Legend of Ricky Bobby
Pulp Fiction
The Usual Suspects
Transporter 1 & 2
Old School
3:10 to Yuma
V for Vendetta
The Departed
Memento

For you who made it this far. Congrats, I think you have a qualified time for the Peachtree for next year.  Look forward to some responses hopefully, and if nothing else a few great movie recommendations for the Movie Collection.  Thanks again and remember to help control the Pet Population...shoot the ones that are the whiniest. Good night Blog.