Retro Thing

IKEA Helps Store Your Records In Style

I've joked many times that collecting records qualifies as a "lifestyle choice". Once you're bitten by the vinyl bug, you'll find yourself scouring the bins at collector shops, scanning the tables at flea markets, and sorting through boxes at the thrift to find your next treasure. It doesn't take long for the records to start stacking up and needing a home of their own. When LPs were more of a mainstay, there were plenty of storage choices out there, but these days its often specialized and very expensive.

That's what makes IKEA's Expedit shelving system a godsend for those of us who have too many records. The biggest one costs in the range of $200, and is perfect for holding thousands of records. Once I'd discovered this for myself, I started sharing the word and found that many of my other record collector friends found the same solution. I've had mine for close to ten years without a hint of sag (you can even see mine in the background of episodes of Retro Thing TV). So there is a whole network of DJs and vinyl fans who have made the trek to their local IKEA (or Amazon) to find a home for their LPs.

A clever Kickstarter project just secured the funding to create a set of front doors for the Expedit that would also display your favorite LP art. I'm totally on board as it's not only stylish, but it's easy to change the whole look of the unit with a whim. Though because it's a small run, it looks like it won't be able to match IKEAs usual economy for these sorts of things i.e. it's not going to be IKEA-level cheap. Looks like we're talking $35 per door.

Even more, I'd also really like IKEA to get on something like this custom DJ booth a friend turned me on to.

Let's make it happen, IKEA - I hereby dub this fantastic contrivance the Expedit 360!

links:

No Ikea nearby? Order your Expedit from Amazon.
Kickstarter project to create LP fronted doors

35mm Slide Show In Your Pocket

So your friends are wise to you - they won't come over to your house anymore in fear of a slideshow breaking out. You can't just keep those Kodachrome slides of your trip to the canyon and your gall bladder surgery to yourself. You're a natural showman! IF you forgot to bring your Minolta pocket sized 35mm slide projector, you can always whip out your Arrow-View pocket viewer.

With a heart made of two C batteries and a flashlight bulb, there's not a lot of tech going on here, but you've still got just about everything you need for a slide show - one slide at a time, of course. Just drop the slide in the slot and push down. The slide pushes a contact into place, and the rear light fires up. The bottom knob physically moves the magifier to adjust for any level of focus and/or myopia.

Of course these days practically any MP3 player can display a much more elaborate multimedia slideshow. This viewer hearkens back to somewhat more "monomedia" times. I still think this is a kicky little slide viewer - especially the mysterious marble-ized finish and the shape reminiscent of a camera. It's no smartphone powerhouse, but at least the 50's were trying.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Beaming To Earth In HD

This year will mark the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not only was it the keystone of many, many years of new Trek (and renewed interest in TV sci-fi in general) on television, the series and its success in many ways re-defined our expectations of TV. When the series premiered in 1987, few believed that a costly non-network show could be popular. Each episode cost upwards of a million dollars, and you could see it on the screen with the many dazzling special effects that brought the future to life every week.

One way they cut costs was to shoot on 35mm film, but do their editing entirely on video. Special composited effects (adding phaser blasts, or putting visuals into the big viewscreen on the bridge set) were also realized using video techniques. Those video sourced effects were all locked in at SD quality, and with all of the editing also having been done at SD, I often wondered how they would re-release the series into an HD world.

A few years ago when Paramount "re-mastered" the original 60's series, their job was somewhat easier since all the material had been shot on film, edited on film, and special effects composited on film. The original 60's workflow was at a full 4K quality, so it was just a matter of digitizing those original master film prints. Paramount took the extra step of re-creating the shots of the Enterprise and updating some of the ropey effects they felt could use some polish, but the bulk of what we saw was just a direct copy off the original broadcast master reels.

So for the re-release of TNG, Paramount has to go back to the original camera negatives to digitize the footage, then re-edit every episode to create a new HD broadcast master. It's not an easy job, but it's made easier thanks to extensive records of takes that made it into final edits, and various other paperwork from the original production. The model shots were also shot on film, so those can be retained as-is. The only material that will need to be remanufactured are the composited elements I mentioned above, which today you could probably accomplish on your smartphone. Those scenes are thankfully not going to be upconverted from the original SD masters.

The visuals that once dazzled us in the 80's, will dazzle us again now. The first season's belabored plots and wooden acting that befuddled us then, will baffle us now. I'm teasing, of course. The show quickly found its footing, and became a modern TV classic. You can order a preview disc for $24.99 $14.99 (when you use the link below!) with the pilot film "Encounter At Farpoint", and two other favorite episodes, with the rest of season one to follow in 2012.

One note - if you poke around the message boards buzzing with this news (which I'm really, really not recommending), there is some misinformation going around about the release of this show in 16:9. While it's correct that the show was shot on 35mm film, the 35mm film frame is a more-or-less square aspect ratio (just like a roll of still photo film you've seen before). When movies are shot for a widescreen presentation using 35mm, they're using a special anamorphic lens, or possibly cropping the 35mm film frame - neither of which was in the plan for TNG. Any attempt to present TNG in a widescreen format would mean chopping off existing parts of the picture, and reframing every single shot. When you see the full frame 4:3 image of a TNG episode, you're seeing exactly what the director of photography wanted you to see. A 16:9 matte would mean seeing less of the picture.. not more.

link:
Pre-order "Encounter at Farpoint" +2 more eps in HD for only $15!

Pioneering Video Genius Ernie Kovacs - DVD Box Set

Long time readers of Retro Thing may have noticed that I'm a huge fan of Ernie Kovacs, one of television's earliest geniuses. You hear the word "genius" flung around a lot, but I use the word deliberately as we're still living in a TV world molded by his many innovations. Watching the long overdue 6 DVD Ernie Kovacs Collection box set, you'll be amazed at how many times you see Kovacs echoed in the offbeat TV comedy of a David Letterman (who names Kovacs as a hero, even hiring Kovacs' old announcer Bill Wendell for his NBC show), or a Conan O'Brien. Kovacs was first to lift the veil on the secret world of making TV, inviting viewers to peek on on behind the scenes nonsense, and having lots of fun even when things didn't quite work out the way they were supposed to.

Today is the 50th anniversary of Kovacs' untimely death, and were it not for the untiring efforts of his wife Edie Adams, his work would have disappeared too. She single-handedly rescued many of the master tapes that were destined for the demagnetizer. Kovacs' work has always been hard to find (a scant few VHS releases and a 2 DVD compilation that quickly went out of print), making this DVD box set a boon.

In the set you'll get extended clips from his morning show; Kovacs pioneered the first morning show ever, when his bosses at NBC saw how well the format worked they cancelled Ernie to put on a little thing called the Today Show. The set includes many of his favorite bits like the Nairobi Trio, Percy Dovetonsils, Miklos Molnar (a growling and surly Eastern European, decades before Borat),or how about the classic song "Sentimental Journey" brilliantly brought to life by an empty office...

The bulk of this material hasn't been seen since original airings of the show. All these rarities feel amazingly fresh even today (I recently spent a year launching a morning TV show, and I cribbed a lot of Kovacs). If you're a fan of TV, especially early TV... or you just like to laugh, this is a terrific set. I'll be commemorating the 50th anniversary of the loss of this under-sung genius by playing some of the discs from this set today. Yes, I'll be marvelling at the genius of Ernie Kovacs, but more importantly I'll be laughing too.

link:

Pick up the 6 DVD Ernie Kovacs Collection on Amazon, and help out Retro Thing!

Playskool Rockin' Robot - The Grinning Cassette Recorder

If there's a theme we encounter time and time again here on Retro Thing, it's the irrational emotional bond people form with retro tech... but this 80's (or 90's? This particular one is labeled 1991) tape recorder makes me a little uneasy. Is it just me, or is it almost like this kiddie cassette player is looking and grinning at us?

There have been lots of tape recorders (fewer these days, I suppose) made expressly for children. Usually these were just chunkier versions of regular adult tape recorders with giant colorful buttons. Playskool took kid-friendly design that extra step to create a funny faced recorder that my adult friends seem to take a shine to, even today.

As a budding junior audio engineer, I would have killed for a tape recorder with features like built-in AM/FM radio, and a hardwired mic for recording my own tapes as well as barking out my demands over the PA system. It's in this public address role that we saw the Rockin' Robot make an appearance in the first two Toy Story movies. Our lanky lead, Woody, used Mr. Mike (the recorder's stage name) to make speeches to the other characters.

Mr. Mike was even issued in non tape-recorder mini version as a Toy Story tie-in later in the 90's. The hard-to-find toy includes a voice-changer to turn you into any of several robots, which is very cool... but doesn't really explain the high prices either version of the toy seems to command on Ebay. I've seen this analog relic go for over a hundred dollars - which may be just enough to break my irrational emotional bond with this grimacing tape deck.

Star Wars Has Always Had A Lot To Answer For

The 70s were a decade of the gritty anti-hero in movies. Some film historians credit the success of Star Wars to audiences responding to the movie's "good guy" heroes and high adventure. 1977's blockbuster success influenced more than just movies - sci fi trappings beamed up in a big way everywhere you looked.

Sadly, it wasn't all good. Here's a clip from ITV's Kenny Everett Video Show - British comedy skits and pop music, if you don't remember. This wasn't shown an awful lot in the states, but as a pre-teen I was fascinated by the show's early video effects, music I'd never heard before, and the (quite controversial and underdressed) Hot Gossip dancers. Here they are with their own simply awful sci-fi musical tribute. See how many SF theme songs snippets you can spot in this 1978 video clip.

Epic Adventure: A New Game For The Atari 2600

Todd Holcomb writes, "Here's my new Atari 2600 game that's a follow-up to the classic Atari game, Adventure. Featuring all new enemies, castles, and mazes, it utilizes the Pitfall II engine to produce pretty graphics. It will soon be available in the AtariAge store. Check it out in the development thread at Atari Age—you'll need the latest version of Stella or Harmony cart to play."

Because the graphics are based on the Pitfall II engine, it really pushes the limits of the 2600. I would have loved a game like this back in the day. Todd plans to release Epic Adventure on cartridge in early 2012. It's like being back in 1982... except better.