3D Or Not 3D, That Is The Question
After two years and five months, it was time to retire our trusty 32” LG LCD. The picture was starting to show signs of deterioration, with the very edges of the screen looking a little darker than the centre. It had given us sterling service, our...
Posted by Mark Oates

Revisiting Old Friends
Sparked off by Jitendar's revisiting of Lethal Weapon 4, I started thinking about how much I revisit old movie friends.  Of course anybody who knows me knows I have a catalogue of comfort movies which I regularly revisit from time to time, but I was...
Posted by Mark Oates

Look At The Muck In 'Ere!
I can't believe it's nearly a year since I last poked my head in the Sprocket Hole. Let me rephrase that.  I'm amazed I haven't written any blog entries for the Sprocket Hole since last September.  I'd like to say "Doesn't Time Fly When You're...
Posted by Mark Oates

The Eyes Have It
It's just a week since a Croatian blonde gave me a black eye. Let me put that in context - it's a week since one of the doctors at the maxillo-facial unit of Blackpool Victoria Hospital carried out a skin tag on a small growth I had at the corner...
Posted by Mark Oates

I Hate Steelbooks
Why do so many of the Studios think Steelbooks are a wonderful thing? I can't stand the damn things. Give me a bog-standard Amaray case any day. Pretty much the same goes for Tins as well. I'd rather have a well-appointed cardboard box than something...
Posted by Mark Oates

Forums - Social Networking Godsend Or Work Of The Devil?
I really have to clean up my act. I spend way, way too much time on the internet interacting in a bunch of forums with - what I hope are - like minded souls. On the one hand, in the main my fellow forumites are friendly, empathetic souls I can...
Posted by Mark Oates

Home Sweet Home
Come on in!  Sit yourself down and cut yourself a slice of cake!* After nine years and three months stinking out DVDReviewer, I've decided it's time for a change of scenery and a change of web presence. Over that past nine years, I've probably...
Posted by Mark Oates

Who Said Print Was Dead??
Say hello to my leedle friend. This is currently my favourite toy. The Sony E-Reader PRS-505. About the same size and weight as an A5 Diary, it is for an old sci-fi whore like me, the implementation of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. The...
Posted by Mark Oates

Many Happy Returns
If my maternal grandfather was still around, today (4th May) would have been his Eleventy-First Birthday.  I couldn't let the day pass without making the observation.
Posted by Mark Oates

I'm Pretty Sure I Haven't Got Writer's Block
But I've got something that's stopping me putting thoughts into cyberspace. That's a more hi-tech way of saying "pen to paper" as I don't write much except shopping lists in longhand these days because my handwriting is so bad I could be a Doctor....
Posted by Mark Oates

So - What Have We Got To Look Forward To?
Blimey O'Riley - 2009. That's Two Thousand And Nine. Twenty-Oh-Nine. Two-Kay-Nine. Nope, no matter how you say it, it doesn't sound any better. Come May, I'll have been on this planet for forty-six years, and it feels like four hundred and six....
Posted by Mark Oates

It's That Time Of Year
I say Christmas, he says Hannukah. She says Eid, he says Diwali. At this time of year, we're all in serious need of cheering up. The weather's at its worst, the days are at their shortest. You can understand why early mankind spent most of the winter...
Posted by Mark Oates

What Does Remembrance Sunday Mean To You?
What does Remembrance Sunday mean to you? This year being the 90th Anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in the First World War, much has been made of the enormous, needless waste that was that utterly pointless war. I consider myself...
Posted by Mark Oates

What The Hell Happened To September?
It's kind of scary when a month of your life flits by almost in the blink of an eye. I just noticed that the last blog I posted was 30th August, and it's already the 4th October. Where did September go?
Posted by Mark Oates

Some Days I Don't Know Why I Bother
I've just spent a good half-hour I'll never get back registering with the IMDb to add a comment to a movie. Gave them my details, waited for the registration email to come back, went through the login and profiling section and typed in my three line...
Posted by Mark Oates

Gouged Or Supply-And-Demand?
Further to my last blog entry about the Warner-Best Buy release of the Hammer rarities When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth and Moon Zero Two - on Wednesday (20th) I bit the bullet and ordered the disc from an Amazon Marketplace seller. The disc arrived...
Posted by Mark Oates

My Collection Is Complete
Do you think you'll ever reach a day when you can say "my collection is complete?" Without, of course, owning every movie ever made since 1898? And of course not counting new movies you can't buy yet. Can you see the day you've got every movie...
Posted by Mark Oates

Sick Of The Dark Knight
Am I the only person on the planet who's sick of the Dark Knight? Not Batman himself, but the current vogue for portraying the caped crusader as a dangerous vigilante psychopath. I think Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan have a lot to answer for....
Posted by Mark Oates

The Sprocket Hole - Bizzaro World Casting
I’m always fascinated hearing alternative casting to famous movie roles. How weird a world could it be if Sir Sean Connery had accepted the role as Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, or Christopher Walken had taken the role as Han...
Posted by Mark Oates

Welcome To The Sprocket Hole
Wipe yer feet. I'm hoping this will be the start of something that will develop into a pleasant place to hang out at MyReviewer.com and chat about DVDs, movies and old telly programmes - in fact pretty much anything you like to discuss. Except...
Posted by Mark Oates