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The Age of Blu-Ray

Do you remember how awesome it was when you upgraded from you old VHS tapes to DVDs? The picture was way clearer and the sound was amazing, right? Well another technology shift of even greater proportions is on the horizon in the home entertainment industry.

A standard dvd or dvd-R disc has about 4.7 GB of storage, but the new Blu-Ray discs have over 25 GB of storage on a single-layer disc and 50 GB on a dual-layer disc! And all that extra space, over 10 times more than a regular dvd, does not go to waste. Movies in Blu-Ray format will have crystal clear, life-like High Definition picture and superb digital sound. This unprecedented high quality combined with a 1080p High-Definition TV will be like nothing you have ever seen before. Are you salivating yet?

The only thing that will stop you from running to your nearest Circuit City, best Buy or Sony Style to pick up a Blu-Ray player and a couple movies to go with it (and if youre really ambitious, you can buy a Blu-Ray disc burner too) is the large and almost unwieldy price tag.

Today, a stand-alone Blu-Ray player will cost you around $1000, with each movie at about $50, meaning it would take a sizable chunk out of that portion of your bank account you allocate towards home entertainment. Now if you have a phone number annual salary that wont be a problem, but what about for the rest of us?

Well, just as with any new and emerging technology, the price will be very high at the outset, meaning that mostly techies and people who dont mind dishing out a few thousand bucks will buy it. But with time (maybe even in time for the 2006 holiday season), the price will drop until it becomes affordable. And for those of you who absolutely can not wait to get one of these awesome pieces of technology in your living room, you will be glad to hear that the new Sony Playstation 3 coming in November 2006 will come equipped with a Blu-Ray player. This next-gen console will cost around $600, a bargain for just the Blu-ray player.

The Playstation 3 will be the most powerful gaming machine ever released in terms of raw computing power. It features a new technology called a Cell chip, which works like 9 CPU microchips in one. This allows for blazing speeds and spectacular graphics, especially when it comes to running lots of programs simultaneously.

So, how do you obtain this tantalizing cinematic machine without overdrawing your checking account? My advice is to wait until the holiday season. The mainstream will have caught wind of the new Blu-Ray technology and it will become a holiday must-have. The price will inevitably be lower, and it will be your choice whether you want to go with a stand-alone player or a ps3.

If you wish to find out more about Blu-Ray players and what movies are available, check out http://blu-ray-site.com for more information. This is a technology that will awe and inspire, and it will forever change the home theater experience.

Richard Weber

posted by 19462 @ 6:06 PM 0 comments

C.S. Lewis "The Silver Chair"

The second to last book in the Chronicles of narnia takes Eustace, known to readers of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and his classmate Jill on a perilous quest. Prince Rilian, the son of king Caspian, has been missing for years and must be found before the king dies.

As most of the books in the narnia series, this one also begins and ends in the prosaic world of England, more specifically in a "progressive" school (that the narrator openly derides) attended by Eustace. Eustace has definitely improved after his adventures in narnia, and while he helps his schoolmate Jill escape from a gang of bullies, the two of them suddenly discover a door that leads into narnia. The boy and the girl soon become separated, and Jill has to overcome her fears when she encounters a lion, who of course turns out to be Aslan. Aslan sends them to search for Prince Rilian, the only son of the now aged Caspian (as we know from previous books, time flows at a different rate in Narnia) and gives Jill certain instructions and clues, which she unfortunately will not always remember.

During their journey, the two are accompanied by another of Lewis memorable and odd characters, Puddleglum the Marshwiggle, who despite his innate pessimism turns out to be a true friend. They encounter the mysterious Lady of the green Kirtle who directs them to the City of Giants. Let it just be mentioned that they are supposed to play a rather peculiar role at a great feast there

In the last chapters of this heavily allegorical book, the protagonists descend into an underworld, meet Prince Rilian who has been obviously bewitched and have to overcome the danger of materialism when they are pressured to deny the existence of Aslan and the overworld. only then can they reascend into narnia.

The silver Chair is not one of the best books in the Chronicles of narnia. Readers of the other volumes will find certain events rather predictable. Eustace and Jill never become the rounded characters that Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy were. only the strange Marshwiggle shows some of Lewis old creativity in creating odd and memorable creatures.

posted by 19462 @ 8:44 AM 0 comments