We went to a great Oscars party last night… the competition was fierce, all our predictions were in on Saturday and the whole party competed for prize money. Simon and I didn’t take the prize but were even on 15 correct predictions out of the 24 categories…. Lots of champagne, popcorn and fun.

For anyone who heard Sean Penn’s acceptance speech and wondered what the reference to the protestors outside the awards was about head to Courage Campaign…. bit scray

One kelpie cross belonging to local DVD store owner starring in a certain Melbourne police drama. Ruby was having her paw sunk into mud setting up a forensics photo to solve a murder case. Ruby was baffled when she was told not to avoid the mud but to sit in it….. and how many people does it take to take a photo! Sarah may not be working in the Art Department any more but her dog has been put to work.

Bucknall squints, sun blazing, sweat drips from his brow. Gilligan stands facing him, dead ahead, hand hovering over his holster, sun to his back and with the advantage. The Notebook. Chick flick supreme or not even worth the effort? Bucknall grants one star for effort. Gilligan gives 3 ’cause although a chick flick is always gonna be overdone, The Notebook holds it’s own. Disagreement leads to a stand off. Barnes throws her vote into the ring .. THREE and a HALF! OMG .. Bucknall’s facing the heat and squeezes off a round to save face but Gilligan dives left as Bucknall rolls right .. the insults fly ..

Thanks Rory! We’ve now added Never Say Never Again, which only leaves On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (George Lazenby) to fill out our 007 back-collection (Quantum of Solace is due March 16).

And just for some inane trivia .. did you know NSNA was filmed outside of the Bond franchise, which is licenced to the EON production company (started by Ablert Broccoli who first filmed Dr No)? That’s why it’s not part of the ‘Ultimate Edition’ series that we picked up to flesh out our back-catalogue. In fact… NSNA is now a deleted DVD so thanks to Rory for trading it in

When you run a business that is open seven days a week and only closed on christmas day and 4 people do it all it’s hard to find a time to go out together. We are one of those workplaces where we actually like each other and want to do that! Whilst I hear everyone say don’t become too friendly with your staff how could you resist the charms of T’mara and Andrew?!!

Needless to say we made up for all those missed Friday night drinks at our Christmas Party on Wednesday night. Mid week functions are great as it’s the quiet time and our good friend Darrell can help us out but mid week is not so good for the working week… Andrew was at the coffee machine at the bean counter at 6.30am after some quality Bourbon at Simon’s… I am not 26 anymore…

Why did you have to break out the Cimicky Simon?

seedy sarah

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We recently completed our Bond collection with all titles bar On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with George Lazenby and Never Say Never Again with Connery. This has of course sparked the perenial debate (thanks Kath!), which Bond is best? Well, by rental its … drum roll .. Daniel Craig! Ok, could have guessed that with Quantum of Solace hitting the big screen, as for the oldies, its Sean Connery then Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton. I’ve ordered the covers by popularity .. check it out:

I’ve baselined the count to when all copies became available, so all’s fair in love and war. Craig has suitably taken the mantle from Connery .. we’ve finally got a Bond back that we can believe in! (Pierce Brosnan always got my goat .. what a faker). Roger Moore was fun but he’s proved not to have the longevity of Connery. His shining light was The Spy Who Loved Me, but then with Barbara Bach on-side, perhaps he had an unfair advantage! Loved Jaws as well.

Quantum of Solace is in-store for March and we’ll also be adding On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. That leaves us shy only 1 title - Never Say Never Again - which is unfortunately now a deleted item. If anyone has a copy .. let us know! We do trade-ins and would love to grab it off you.

You could have knocked me over with a feather.  Absolutely stunned. Turned 40 last year .. 29 December .. and with a birthday between Christmas and New Year’s Eve it’s never a big event for me. Last proper party I had was my 21st (egads) as a New Years Eve/Birthday bash. I ended up doing the same this year for my 40th, but was a much quieter affair with a few friends over for dinner. ANYWAY .. the gist of it is birthdays aren’t a big deal, so when my son says I’ve gotta close my eyes and go into another room, somethings up. I come out and there’s this big thing in the living room under a sheet. I have no idea whats under it. I start to pull off the sheet and my mate Daz jumps out, g-string on and all. Ok .. rewind no g-string. But underneath is a flat panel tv and Blu-ray player to come. WHAT? I’m used to not spending .. years of getting APPLEBOX to where it is today (& props also to everyone involved), bootstrapping to my eyeballs means ordering the cheap meals, not pissing on at the pub, holidays? bah!, clothes? I’m still wearing the same black t-shirts I’ve worn for years. My car was written off and I haven’t even replaced it. So when friends and family band together and give such a goddamn generous gift .. left me speechless.

And I LOVE it!

Blu-ray with a full high-def TV screen is an absolutely gorgeous, immersive way to watch a movie. I’m not a torrent-head who waits days to get a ripped movie with crap sound and down-sampled video that I watch on my computer. Movies are an experience that I love to be drawn into. I dim the lights, pull out the bean-bag/lounge on the sofa, watch and enjoy. My old CRT did the job ok .. but this full hd with Blu-ray is stunning. HD-TV is also stunning, with some broadcasts pushing out 1080i which almost matches Blu-ray resolution (at 1080p). The poor old DVD, even when upscaled, just can’t compete in this hi-def world. To those that argue Blu-ray is going to die .. bollocks! The experience is just too good, the stats are positive and VOD is a mess that is going to take a long, long time to evolve to the point it gets used by the majority market. In the meantime I’m a-grinnin’ and the APPLEBOX Blu-ray library will be a-buildin’.

And a very special thanks to Daz, Gillie and Andrew.