jayembee
Senior HTF Member
Howdy. I've been acquainted with HTF for quite a while, and have occasionally linked to it from elsewhere to read specific comments or information. But I finally bit the bullet and joined.
I'm a curmudgeonly old fart (or fartly old curmudgeon) who's been watching films and television for over 60 years. The earliest theatrical film experience I can recall was when my father took me and my brother into Boston to see The Mysterians back when I was about six or so years old. Through the 60s, I watched just about any sf/fantasy/horror film that popped up on TV.
When I was 14½ years old, I spent about a week's paper-route money to go into Boston by bus to see 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Cinerama Theater. It had a transcendental effect on me. I started to watch just about any movie on TV, and became a fan of film as an artistic medium.
When home video became a thing, I was buying blank Beta cassettes (it's hard to believe that a 1-hour tape cost about $18) and recording off TV, and eventually started buying commercial pre-recorded tapes. Then came laserdiscs, and I was in hog heaven. One of my first LDs was Criterion's Blade Runner, and blind-buying Criteria seriously expanded my exposure to foreign films.
I've also been a TV watcher since I was a tyke. And a voracious reader. I've been a part of science fiction fandom since 1970. I started using the handle "jayembee" (it's my initials: JMB) in my SF fan activities, and then when I joined the internet back in the early-to-mid-80s. For about the last 10 years I've been reading and posting at blu-ray.com
Top TV show choice: The Wire
Top film choice: Citizen Kane
Yeah, the latter choice seems too obvious. But to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, "When a man is tired of Citizen Kane, he is tired of cinema, for there is in Citizen Kane all that cinema can afford."
I'm a curmudgeonly old fart (or fartly old curmudgeon) who's been watching films and television for over 60 years. The earliest theatrical film experience I can recall was when my father took me and my brother into Boston to see The Mysterians back when I was about six or so years old. Through the 60s, I watched just about any sf/fantasy/horror film that popped up on TV.
When I was 14½ years old, I spent about a week's paper-route money to go into Boston by bus to see 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Cinerama Theater. It had a transcendental effect on me. I started to watch just about any movie on TV, and became a fan of film as an artistic medium.
When home video became a thing, I was buying blank Beta cassettes (it's hard to believe that a 1-hour tape cost about $18) and recording off TV, and eventually started buying commercial pre-recorded tapes. Then came laserdiscs, and I was in hog heaven. One of my first LDs was Criterion's Blade Runner, and blind-buying Criteria seriously expanded my exposure to foreign films.
I've also been a TV watcher since I was a tyke. And a voracious reader. I've been a part of science fiction fandom since 1970. I started using the handle "jayembee" (it's my initials: JMB) in my SF fan activities, and then when I joined the internet back in the early-to-mid-80s. For about the last 10 years I've been reading and posting at blu-ray.com
Top TV show choice: The Wire
Top film choice: Citizen Kane
Yeah, the latter choice seems too obvious. But to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, "When a man is tired of Citizen Kane, he is tired of cinema, for there is in Citizen Kane all that cinema can afford."
