When Fox decided to stop publishing The Simpsons on DVD, one thing we lamented (apart forcing you to get a cable subscription to watch the show) was the fate of the show’s audio commentary. The creators of The Simpsons recorded in-depth, insightful discussions for every episode of the show, and although you can still access […]
Continue readingTag Archives: inevitable march of time
What was the last VHS ever?
Yesterday’s post about Vidiots had us thinking about the VHS format again. Commercial VHSes have been out of print for nearly a decade, and with the last VHS player leaving the factory in July, it’s glory days are clearly behind. Just for fun, this got us asking: what was the last VHS ever? According to […]
Continue readingHelp a beloved LA film library preserve their old VHSes
If you read this blog, you know we have an affinity for digital preservation and weird, niche films that aren’t available anymore. We do our best to serve the university community in those areas, but there are other groups with their own missions. Take Vidiots, a video rental store that’s served Los Angeles film nerds […]
Continue readingHasta la vista, Molly
We have a bittersweet post to share today: after four years of service, Visual Media Collections Coordinator Molly Hubbs is leaving the AU Library. Molly has been an invaluable member of the Media Services team and a backbone of many of our ongoing projects, especially new acquisition processing and the push to digitize our VHS […]
Continue readingThe New York Times looks at the confusing work of film preservation
Still from Decasia Welcome back! The fall 2016 semester is underway now, and we’re happy to see students back. You can come to us to watch any films you need to watch for class… but as we’re often reminded, there are some things we just can’t get our hands on. Last week, The New York […]
Continue readingThe end of the VHS, and what it means for the library
Well, we’ve been dreading this moment for years now: the VHS is officially obsolete. Funai, the last company that still manufactures VHS players, will end their production at the end of the month. This comes less than a year after Betamax tapes were also discontinued. As of August 1st, the VHS will be a format […]
Continue readingSome of the great, weird things we found while cleaning out our desks
Now that we’re in the slow months of summer, we have a chance to tidy up our department. A big part of that this summer is cleaning out desks that haven’t been emptied in decades and finding all sorts of goodies in them. Most of what we found was old files, but a few wonderful […]
Continue readingIf you’re seeing a movies in the 1910s, kindly remove your hat
Finals week has arrived, folks. In deference to your stress levels, we’ll be sharing some light, entertaining things this week. Firstly, we wanted to show you these great old “lantern slides” that were once displayed in movie theaters at the turn of the 20th century. In the days long before FirstLook and movie theater radio […]
Continue readingMovies don’t get worse than watching them on Videodisc
Occasionally, we have a laugh about some of the obsolete media formats we keep stocked behind the desk. We still have a large number of VHS tapes and a handful of LaserDiscs – and even an extremely unloved U-matic player that looks like part of the Space Shuttle. But there’s a format even clunkier than […]
Continue readingHollywood’s big new technology is 90 years old
As movie theaters search for new technology to drag people into theaters, the latest promise comes from Barco Escape, a three-screen technology designed for “immersive cinema” with a panoramic view or, potentially, action on three different screens at once. But as Dennis Duffy once said, technology is cyclical. These ideas have come up before – […]
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