Watch Things On VCR…
After an incredibly protracted delay I finally bought one of those newly fangled dvd recorder boxes. An LG DRT389H to be precise, and jolly good it seems too. Region-free to boot, so no searching for hacks to play my Region 1 Marx Bros. box sets. “My life was wrapped around the circus. Her name was Lydia. I met her at the world’s fair in 1900, marked down from 1940.”
VHS Peel Volume 1
The main reason for purchasing this future piece of landfill detritus is to cap all those dusty VHS tapes, make some space, then bury those in a landfill as well. Isn’t greed a wonderful thing?
First on the list is the collection of John Peel related programmes that I’m very keen to share with the Peel community at large. First capture appears to have gone very well and without a hitch: Travels With My Camera – Autobahn Blues from 1996 & Snaphots ’93. Well done LG. Next task is to get to grips with Gordian Knot, which I shall begin in earnest tomorrow, or possibly tonight when I get back from the Stewart Lee gig.
It all sounds very jolly if one discounts last night’s panic attack and lack of sleep. Drugs and alcohol seem to be doing a reasonable job of propping me up at the moment, but this agoraphobic is extremely anxious about venturing outdoors tonight. I had hoped to hang around the venue and collar Lee into a bit of an interview, but I really don’t think I’m up to that today. All I want to do right now is sleep, sleep, sleep, and to wake up feeling better.
Sounds good. Looking forward to seeing any Peels vids. I think the only programs I remember seeing we’re some of the sounds of the suburbs series, even those I only caught randomly in the early hours.
I bought a prehistoric box with two handfuls of wires in order to convert a bunch of old videos, running them on the antique video player, through the wires into my computer via this box and into a program called Roxio myDVD. It did work to be fair the box required the occasional tap as it would sometimes loose signal. Progress.
Hope you enjoyed the Stewart Lee gig. I caught the Birmingham show, enjoyed it a lot, but I did feel it lacked a kind of point.
Sadly I’m in agreement with regard to Stewart Lee’s latest tour. Not nearly as strong as previous shows, but then I’m judging this from the DVDs. This was the first time I’d seen him in person. Perhaps we were seeing the early work-in-progress. Before it becomes properly bedded down. Before it reaches the DVD-ready plateau of sell-through performance standards. I did enjoy the Richard ‘The Hamster’ Hammond – he’s not a real hamster – routine. Lee has a knack of picking on all the right people in my view. Hope the tour is archived to video though, I’d like what changes are made. As with you Chris, it was an enjoyable show nonetheless. I was hoping to badger him into an impromptu interview on the day, for this site, but it wasn’t to be – my fault. I think he would be an interesting person to talk to.
Re. The Peel videos. I’m aware I should be getting on with it. I just need to get around to becoming acquainted with the Gordian Knot software. Plus I still need to hunt down various episodes within the VHS mountain. Thanks for the reminder though Chris. It certainly does help to have someone nudge me back into action. :)