Harry's 1st PSP Report! KILL BILL VOL 1, TRON, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN & LUMINES!

Greetings Programs, Harry here with his new 2nd favorite thing to do with his hands. That's right - I got one of them new fangled PSP thingamagigs from SONY. I figured with this 21 day road adventure that I'm set to take with Father Geek and my Nephew - that I should have something fun for the kiddo as part of the reward system for doing his daily lessons. He's at the beginning stages of learning to form words on paper - an archaic method that early man utilized to communicate... that we, for mainly sadistic purposes, continue to inflict upon the young. Each day of the drive he'll have to earn time with my PSP - for which he'll spend it mostly playing SPIDER-MAN 2 - I suspect. But I picked up various movies for the trip - things that I may enjoy watching - some that he'll enjoy - and still others that ol Father Geek will vibe to. I've been checking out the little device and figured that this new portable cinematic and gaming toy is exactly the sort of thing I dig - and thought some of you may as well. So here's what I've checked out so far...

I'll start with the addictive game -

LUMINES

This game from UBISOFT is like crack. I really can't express just how addictive it is. Sure - it's a bit like Tetris, but it's just got a European Techno-y beat that actually drives the game - it'll slow down to this nice calm Run Lola Run sorta calm, then it'll speed up... making you go faster and faster - and if somehow you pull it out - it sets into a nice calm. I unlocked 3 skins so far - and each one has a different vibe. If you have a friend with another PSP - you can go head to head apparently - I don't have that option as... sniffle... I have no friends... sniffle... that have this game. But there's challenge levels - you can play against the machine, there's puzzle stages and they're all just a fucking blast. It clears your mind of everything, but the puzzle. The strong pulsing of the music and the colorful landscape. The resulting zen state - was bliss. Playing with Earbuds and the sound on max - to drown out the outside sounds... have a fan blowing on you as you play in a lotus position... yesterday - whilst in a 30 minute continuous flow - where I made over a 1000 of them bastard beat boxes disappear - I actually levitated and my astral form left Earth and communicated with my spirit guide Gwangati The Fragile Sage Spirit of the Mutawanga Clan. I was one with LUMINES and my PSP. I knew Kung Fu. Then the machine brought on a brutal onslaught and I came tumbling through millenia of human bloodshed into a puddle of self-loathing. Worry not Gwangati - I will see you soon. Great game!

KILL BILL VOL 1

Ok - ya know - holding KILL BILL VOL 1 in my hands - in glorious widescreen... with the same extras as on the DVD... that's right - extra 5,6,7,8's playing at the House of Blue Leaves... and the making of... all right here for me. The light output and clarity of this little device is heaven. It feels like a plasma screen with full on HD clarity - and once you pop those lil earbuds in... You've got that ol ShawScope mono going, followed by that Grindhouse feature presentation bit of psychedelia followed by a black and white bit of brutality and... Nancy belting a helluva song. Richardson's cinematography - that wonderful bit of animated bliss... the Toho modeled city... the glowing of Chiba's robes... There's a bit of this film that feels like a home movie due to the two weeks I spent on this production... and I'm dying for THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY's release next year of the 'combined' Tarantino masterpiece. But for now... I'll have this to carry around. It is a film I can watch a thousand times in my life and smile each and everytime. Though I have to admit - this was the second film I put in the PSP.

TRON

TRON was the first cinematic insertion into my virginal PSP. I beefed up the memory on this sucker with a little 1 gig (SanDisk Memory Stick Pro-Duo 1.0gb) Not that you need to - but... ya see, the gateway film to open my mind to computers was TRON. It made me dream of other sentient universes inside the inventions of man... and as a result - I have to have more storage space on this baby - so that I can store wonderful little programs... some of which, perhaps you wrote. Heh. Anyway... I was shocked when I got my TRON UMD that it held extras. The deleted scenes and more. I love this movie. The production design is just stunning. To me - it isn't dated a day. In fact, FLYNN'S arcade... god - wouldn't that be the greatest game franchise... a series of FLYNN'S arcades that only had vintage stand-up machines and played 80's tunes. Held ZAXXON tournaments and TEMPEST leagues? Ok... ok... I'm sorta kinda a geek. I still want to see discs of Tron as a real olympic sport. Wouldn't that be the shit? Tell me, wouldn't you watch that live sport. Screw cycling, tennis, golf, baseball, soccer and football... give me Discs of Tron and ROLLERBALL! That'd be the shit. Being able to carry TRON with you anywhere you go... it's akin to being able to test instantly if the people around you are... you know... "one of us" I mean - how many of you have opened the door to let friends in to the pronouncement, "GREETINGS PROGRAMS"? You'll also find trailers for NARNIA, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and NATIONAL TREASURE. In all - it's a geek essential - and a film I can't wait to see my nephew's reaction to.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Since at some point on this trip we'll be taking my nephew to DISNEYLAND - how can I not have PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN for the munchkin to habitually zombify to. Now - the coolest thing is... the aspect ratio of the film is the exact same as the widescreen of this wondrous device. Not that I complain when things are letterboxed - and I do wish widescreens were full on 2.35 to 1 - but thats cuz - I'm just not satisfied with technology - no matter how cool it is... it could always be cooler. The detail on this is so sharp you can see Kiera Knightley's nipples through her blouse top after Sparrow rescues her from her corset. Tis a wonderful detail. Absolutely splendid. The sound again is full 5.1 if you wish to hook it into such a device. However, a tad disappointing is the fact that it doesn't have any extras. Being spoilt by the KILL BILL VOL 1 and TRON UMDs well... I kinda expected me extras. Now I'll go get all pouty about not getting them. Still a great film - and definately one that'll capture my nephew's imagination on this journey. Besides - he must learn to Take what you can, Give nothing back... it's the American way! I mean Pirate way!

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS

While this UMD isn't loaded with extras - it has its original language... as well as an English and French dub. Now - that'd usually be pretty useless in my mind - as the subtitles are very nicely done on the original track - but - my nephew who can't read - but loves what he calls "badass sword films" will enjoy this without havint me read it all to him. BUT - part of this trip will involve him learning the spell and write better - cuz... well he can't be listening to dubs of cool films... that just must be remedied. Now - it seems there's a weird bitch streak in some about this film. Personally - I've always felt the backlash laid pretty squarely upon the title change. The original title of THE LOVERS is frankly... the more fitting title. And that is the film. Sure, there's amazing fight scenes... that Bamboo sequence is just damn near my favorite sequence in a period martial arts film. The sound design, the awesome majesty of it. It's just bliss. Ziyi Zhang is just one of the purest beauties on the planet Earth - and her performance and dances at the beginning of this film - well, they just kick ass. BTW - the bamboo sequence sounds awesome on the earbuds - the cracking and splintering of the bamboo... Zhang's heavy breathing... it's just awesome.

Ok - now for a bit about the PSP itself. My favorite little feature on this baby is on the power switch on the side... if you push it all the way down - you stop time, but you can continue to move. It really freaks out people, cuz you suddenly disappear... you can get all the money in the bank... you... ok... that's not true. What it does when you push it all the way down is it turns off all the buttons on the thing so that when you're watching a movie... listening to some groovy tunes... you don't fuck it up. Which I find incredibly helpful due to these nubs some call fingers of mine.

I figure - I'll be giving you folks a run down on the various UMDs and GAMES I get for this little bugger - just cuz... Hope some of you found this useful. I haven't tested how long this lasts on battery power alone. But I have a lighter charger for it - as well as a full on plug in. But I'm sure at some point on this trip I or my nephew will give it a full test. And if there's any problems with this little Jetson device - I'll let ya know. But on the whole - so far - this sucker is incredibly nifty.