Big HD Boggin

Front projectors for home video aren’t for everyone. They’re not good for casual TV viewing, especially in SD. But for sports in HD, and a true home theatre experience, if you can manage a front projector it’s the way to go.

I’m very happy with my Panasonic PT-AX200U, a 720p model. Regular widescreen DVD’s look awesome, and FiOS HD is jaw-dropping good. The price on this model has just been cut to $999. This is the best front projector deal going.

With the $300 savings compared to last year, you can get a projector cart like the Da-Lite PH 800-1250, avoiding the expense and difficulty of a ceiling mount. If you need to mount the projector on a wall, there’s a shelf at Target for less than $40. The Epson Duet portable screen can be set up and taken down in two minutes. It’s called “duet” because it can be adjusted for 4:3 and 16:9. Very nifty.

DTV PSA

Samjay has suggested this helpful public service announcement about Digital TV for everybody who relies on over-air television reception.
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Those Nazi Bastards

This past 3-day weekend, Carol and I watched two movies. Both are about WWII — the fictional tragic romance Atonement, and The Counterfeiters, based on a true story. In this scene, the forger Salomon Sorowitsch uses his artistic talents to curry favor and improve his condition in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

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In this regard Sorowitsch paralleled Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, who survived Auschwitz by painting portraits for the Nazis, most notably the infamous Josef Mengele. Babbitt was later an artist at the Disney studio. Babbitt is still alive, and she’s trying to regain ownership of her Auschwitz paintings. In that effort she is being helped by two comic book artists — Neal Adams and Joe Kubert.

I knew an artist who escaped the Nazis. He was my drawing teacher in college. His name was Arno Maris.

Arno Maris

Arno had been a champion gymnast in his native Holland. He wasn’t a tall man, but he was powerfully built. As I recall Arno telling me the story, after the Nazis had occupied the Netherlands, he took a row boat and, in the darkness of night, headed out into the open ocean, with no idea what would become of him. As luck would have it, he was picked up by a Merchant Marine ship, and he lived to tell the tale.

“Those Nazi bastards,” Arno would say, with great emphasis. In my mind right now I can still hear Arno talking to me, in that unmistakable Dutch accent of his, calling me “Dock-less.” Arno Maris was an excellent art instructor, and a wonderful man.