Blu-Ray Disc – What’s all the fuss about?

So your thinking about buying a Playstation 3 but your not sure if your enough of a hard-core gamer? Well what about movies? Do you enjoying sitting down in front of a big LCD TV and watching the Godfather on DVD (just like pretty much every other man who ever lived)? Well if you do then the PS3 offers you another treat … Blu-Ray Disc!

Blu-Ray disc is the next generation entertainment format specially designed to show superb, crystal clear images on a high definition (HD) television. It is claimed the picture is SIX times better quality than that of standard DVDs. That’s not all, with up to 7.1 digital surround sound and the ability to offer advanced interactive content, Blue-Ray discs offer an entertainment experience that is out of this world.

I know what your thinking; “is this another Betamax”? and “how long will this format be around”? Well Blu-Ray disc has the support of over 170 leading entertainment companies including Sony, MGM, Panasonic, HP, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers to name but a few. So with the biggest names in movies, video games, electronics, computing and music there seems to be a commitment to bring the best content onto the Blu-Ray format so that you have an amazing range of high definition films, TV, games and music to choose from now and well into the future.

High definition content takes up a lot of space. As such a dual layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB, almost 6 times the size of a dual layer DVD at 8.5 GB. This allows a much better definition of picture quality which is immediately noticeable when comparing to a normal DVD. But to see this you’ll need to have a TV that is HD ready! Most LCD flat screen televisions are HD ready nowadays but to be sure check on the box or in the manual. Finally, if you don’t have or want a PS3, you will need to purchase a dedicated Blu-Ray Disc player available from the likes of Sony, Philips, Pioneer, and Sharp.

So thinking of making a purchase? Well with the support of so many big companies we suspect Blu-Ray will be around for many years to come, and the quality over standard DVDs is unquestionable, so MFB can guarantee you will be able to enjoy an advanced entertainment now and well into the future. Go on, go out and buy one, you know you want to!

MFB

Ocean's 13

One of the most fashion stylish movie franchises is back for more this summer!

Yes, George Clooney reprises his role as Danny Ocean, the coolest conman around, and returns in Ocean’s 13 on the 8th June 2007 in cinemas across the USA and UK.

In this outing the group (including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and the ever cool Don Cheadle) are minus Julia Robert and Catherine Zeta Jones but joined by Ellen Barkin and the one and only Al Pacino!

The movie Ocean’s Eleven (the 2001 remake of the 1960s Rat Pack movie) was the epitome of cool. A massive box office success with very good reviews, it had a fashion wardrobe any cool man could only envy. The makers confess they didn’t try to copy the original 1960’s movie wardrobe, which looked stunning itself, but they did try to live up to the Frank Sinatra flick. In 2001, a “heightened Las Vegas” was created. Not Vegas as it is, but Vegas as we would like to see it…with dazzling suits and cool, cool threads.

The Ocean's 13 wardrobe was created by Louise Frogley, costume designer on movies such as Kurt Russell’s “Exectutive Decision”, Brad Pitt’s “Spy Game” and Denzel Washington’s “Man on Fire”, so she was by no means new to making celebrities look great! Creating a distinctive look for a massive cast, and the fact that most of the actors are playing established characters mean’t Louise had challenge a challenge to keep things fresh. “These are really difficult projects for the costume designer. They have so many characters, each of which has to have a totally distinctive quality” says Frogley.

The two leads Pitt and Clooney steal the fashion show!

Danny Ocean on the other hand is the glue that holds the gang together. He is a solid character and dresses accordingly. Lots of blacks, greys and a bit of white. George Clooney is so stylish, so cool. He walks around Vegas looking fantastic.

In creating the costumes for the Ocean’s crew, Frogley wanted to pay tribute to the work of costume designer Jeffrey Kurland (the designer on the original movie” while spicing things up to modern men’s fashion. For both George Clooney and Brad Pitt, clean lines and simple styles ruled the day. “With George Clooney, the simpler the better,” she states. “He developed his look in the first film, and we thought it was brilliant and decided to follow that route. George is an actor who doesn’t like too much fuss; apart from his tuxedo and one disguise, he’s primarily in dark gray suits and white shirts.”

The Brad Pitt character, Rusty Ryan, wears simple suits with over the top colours, lots of reflective, shiny materials, but gets away with it. Rusty Ryan is quick; everything about him is fast, including his clothes.

Frogley relates, “Brad also wanted to keep it simple with just a bit of ‘bling.’ He felt his character had grown up, so it made sense that Rusty’s clothing would be simpler, but it had to be colorful, in contrast to Danny.”

As for the other celebrity fashion stars of Ocean's 13! Well...

Matt Damon’s fashion wardrobe noticeably conveys the most character development. Indeed Frogley offers, “Jerry wanted Linus to be much more grown up. He’s not a kid any more; he’s about to pull his own con jobs and has become more important in the Ocean’s organization, so we felt he should be dressing in more suits. Matt also wanted a completely different look for his Lenny Pepperidge persona, so we copied a Chairman Mao suit, and pushed it a bit.”

Basher Tarr is hip! “Don Cheadle wanted to be very American-looking this time out, but his mining outfit is this beautiful Yohji Yamamoto jacket that we bashed up a lot. Basher’s wardrobe is very basic—except, of course, when he ‘borrows’ the costume of motorcycle daredevil Fender Roads,” the designer smiles.

Carl Reiner’s Saul Bloom also had a distinct wardrobe for his alias, the phoney "Five Diamond" hotel reviewer Kensington Chubb. “We made Kensington ersatz English—more like an American view of what an Englishman would wear. We used lots of Harris, Irish and Scottish tweeds. It was all very tweedy with moleskin trousers and tattersall shirts,” Frogley describes.

But the most interesting fashion character is that of Andy Garcia’s; Terry Benedict. The “bad guy” of the trilogy looks just as good as his rivals. Benedict’s wardrobe has an eastern feel. His suits are western in fit but Asian in style, a fashion twist that works well.

Frogley says she followed Terry Benedict’s previously established style for his wardrobe. She affirms, “Andy Garcia had worn a cravat almost all the time in ‘Ocean’s 12.’ I thought it suited his character, but this time, I decided to push it a bit and go for a ‘Death in Venice’ look.”

The MFB team are looking forward to the next Danny Ocean outing this summer!

MFB