The "I Just Bought" thread

Went for the Harry Potter collection. I kept wanting to finisht it, but I've only seen the first 5 of the movies. And very randomly as they were shown in cinemas. I think I also read the first 4 or 5 books, and I loved them.

The latest purchase was a handpainted cow skull two days ago. cow skull is madeup of real cow skull bone and it is also use to decorate houses in antique ways.

The discussion in the movie thread inspired this. Apparently it's the only 4k version of any Tarantino film. Weird. Hateful Eight in particular would look amazing in 4k.

Seems my 4k blu-ray collecting is getting a bit out of hand. I said I was only gonna bother with movies that really have visuals that would make it worth it, but it seems I'm starting to go overboard. Just got Joker, Arrival and V for Vendetta in 4k. They look nice and all, but I wonder where I will draw the new line.

And I've got Phantom Thread, Dark Knight trilogy, The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road incoming. Also, Mad Men but that's not in 4k.

I'm beginning to think I may have found another endless holeto throw money in, besides games, which I also seem to be collecting more than playing. Especially since apparently it's illegal to make copies of movies that have DRM. Well, if I understand it correctly, copying is not a problem but breaking the DRM to get at the content is the problem. Fucking legal system. So if I don't manage my discs properly they're lost.

danutz_plusplus said:

Especially since apparently it's illegal to make copies of movies that have DRM. Well, if I understand it correctly, copying is not a problem but breaking the DRM to get at the content is the problem. Fucking legal system. So if I don't manage my discs properly they're lost.

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It's why I stopped buying Blu-Rays. At some point I was contemplating a software like AnyDVD or similar, after decrypting a few BD and storing them on my harddisk, which takes a lot of disk space and also takes quite some time. I've never tried though.

I'm still not sure what to do about it. It's quite wrong of them, fortunately the shift to streaming should eventually solve this question, though right now one would need to pay a lot of different registrations, because the offer is too scattered. Netflix only has average stuff, they're getting better but it's still mostly easy-to-watch films which are more about maximizing the audience than widening their repertoire Amazon is just ridiculous at this point, and the rest is small series like HBO and others - I can't even get HBO in Europe, actually.

So everything is pushing people to get illegal copies, it's just silly.

EDIT: I could say the same of games. Now I look at the DRM, if that's something like Denuvo, I have no problem skipping titles. I just wait a year or so, when it's debugged, on sale and has possibly been enhanced since the initial release. Or I'm just not buying them at all, like Metro: Exodus for example. It's not as if there weren't other interesting games anyway, many indies are great

just bought a Dell 1703FP LCD 17" display for my vintage Mac setup. Oh, and a HUGE L-shaped desk (it was way bigger than i thought it would be. dead heavy, too.), with a white, nice ash-try for the desk. And a mouse pad that supposedly increases the precision of optical mice. So that's fun.

Redglyph said:

It's why I stopped buying Blu-Rays. At some point I was contemplating a software like AnyDVD or similar, after decrypting a few BD and storing them on my harddisk, which takes a lot of disk space and also takes quite some time. I've never tried though.

I'm still not sure what to do about it. It's quite wrong of them, fortunately the shift to streaming should eventually solve this question, though right now one would need to pay a lot of different registrations, because the offer is too scattered. Netflix only has average stuff, they're getting better but it's still mostly easy-to-watch films which are more about maximizing the audience than widening their repertoire Amazon is just ridiculous at this point, and the rest is small series like HBO and others - I can't even get HBO in Europe, actually.

So everything is pushing people to get illegal copies, it's just silly.

EDIT: I could say the same of games. Now I look at the DRM, if that's something like Denuvo, I have no problem skipping titles. I just wait a year or so, when it's debugged, on sale and has possibly been enhanced since the initial release. Or I'm just not buying them at all, like Metro: Exodus for example. It's not as if there weren't other interesting games anyway, many indies are great

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My only issue with streaming is that:
#1 these movies usually go in and out of their offering depending on how much their pay for the rights
#2 streamed movies will never have the consistent quality I'd like, especially at 4K. Both due to artefacting in compression and due to inconsistent networking.
#3 I'd just like to own these ones that I consider great

It's just insane how worse of an experience you have as a legal buyers vs a pirate. It's no wonder piracy is so prevalent. It's not that most people would prefer pirating. There's a small minority. But the majority of people would love to support things they like. But when pirates offer a better deal …

I mentioned in another thread that I have been deprived of my coffee shop visits by the virus. I quite enjoy brewed coffee at home, but I really missed a good espresso-based coffee that you can get from the pros.

I've always been a bit reluctant to get into home espresso-making. A lot of the standard home machines are pretty crap IMO, and produce lousy coffee. You really need a good machine, and a high quality grinder. And with a proper espresso machine, you have to let it heat up for a good while before use. It's all very expensive and inconvenient. But, I did a bit of research and discovered that going manual could be a good option - a high quality hand grinder and a hand pump machine.

I went for a Flair Neo (£115), and some extras based on this guy's review. I like him among the coffee nerds, as he's supported on Patreon, buys the machines for review, and then gives them away to his patrons. So he can do proper reviews, and not infomercials. The machine comes with a flow-controlled basket, which helps to provide consistency for beginners, but then you can upgrade the parts if you want more precise control, and get extra baskets if you want to make multiple shots quickly.

For a manual grinder, I went with a 1Zpresso JX Pro (£160), which does a nice job of different grinds for espresso and brewing.

I'm very impressed with the results, and it's way nicer than what I've had from some of my friends' expensive all-in-one machines. It's obviously a bit more work than a machine, but it also avoids a lot of the hassle and expense, is not likely to break down anytime soon, and is easy to put away in the cupboard. I reckon you'd have to spend a whole lot more to get similar results with automatic machines and grinders.

I thought my findings might interest some Watchers who enjoy a good cup.

The price of nostalgia....

More for the collection.

More for the collection
The Sopranos
OZ
Rome

Interesting that OZ is only available on dvds. I thought it was a success for HBO.

The Sopranos is another benchmark, IMO. I don't think it was consistently great throughout its run, but again the first couple of seasons I think were exceptional. There was a depth to it that I don't think many shows achieve.

I particularly remember the catholic priest that was close to the mum, and she slowly starts to realise the strange game he is playing. Great stuff.

A chess clock I've not used that for ages, I had to sacrifice a few occupations because of university back then, but we were using those clocks at the local chess club.

A vertical turntable...

...and a Star Trek picture disc, among a few others.

Could not abstain myself. I really liked this one.

Dredd was in 2012? Damn, time goes fast.

Finally got my hands on one. But I'm not really sure, why I bothered as much since the only game that's a must-play is Demon's Soul. But that's fine. Maybe I'll finally finish TLOU2.

You could hang your socks to dry on it or staple some carpet scraps on it for your cat.

Capt. Huggy Face said:

You could hang your socks to dry on it or staple some carpet scraps on it for your cat.

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Nah, it's fine. It's running The Last of Us 2 smoothly as hell without sounding like a airplane engine. Unlike the PS4.

It does not happen very often but I have treated myself to a more expensive toy. A LG OLED 65 inch GX. As an OLED, and with HDR finally working, gaming just took on another new level. It is just fantastic, and big. Boy, is it big. I wanted a more reasonable 55 inch first, but the 65 inch was only 200 euro more. I hope I don't regret it with all the talk about burn-in (hoping to do 15 years with it). I sit about 3.5 meters away which seems to be ok.