Shannon vs. Tron

[kungfuwaynewho]

Thursday - that's four days ago now - nhpw told me that Tron (1982) was up on YouTube.  Now, I have not seen Tron since I was a tiny little kid.  I don't actually remember anything about it.  I have been trying to watch Tron since June - right around the time I got obsessed really into Babylon 5 and wanted to see more of Bruce Boxleitner.  So, as you can imagine, I was pretty excited.

I was even more excited when I clicked the link and saw that it was a really, really high quality upload.  I decided to download the movie from YouTube.  First of all, I was afraid it would get yanked, and I didn't want to risk missing it now that it was so close.  Second, I didn't want to watch it on my crappy old computer monitor.  No, I would convert the mp4s to AVIs, merge them into one file, and watch the movie on my nice big actual TV.

Thursday I downloaded.  Friday I converted.  Friday night!  Tron night!  A night for which to watch Tron!  Except...I couldn't get the mp4s to convert.  And when I finally did, I couldn't get the files to merge.  It's now Saturday.  I'm still working on it.  Reading FAQs.  Downloading new programs.  Finally my sister asks why I don't just download the movie from megaupload or something.  That is a great idea!  Why I have never thought of this!

So I did.  A great big AVI file.  It was shiny.  Happy, beaming, maybe crying a little, I burned it onto a DVD and pranced to the TV.  I loaded the DVD.  It...did not play.  

Hmm.  So I downloaded another one.  This time I just put it on a flash drive - make sure it works first.  I was troubled when a prompt came up telling me that some file properties couldn't be transferred, but I was still hopeful at this point.  But no.  It didn't play, either.

Sunday morning...

If the charm is dubbed in Spanish! 

At this point I just threw up my hands and laughed helplessly.  I tried one last time, Sunday afternoon wearing away into evening, time running out.  Failure. 

Shannon 0, Tron 1.  Which is appropriate, I guess.

So now I've resigned myself to just watching it on my computer, like I could have done days ago, but now probably won't be able to do until this Friday.  It's okay, though!  I'm trying to look at it as though I've got that many more days to anticipate and get excited about it, and maybe I'll buy some Ben and Jerry's, or some hard cider, or both.

Comments

[jerusha]

I HATE it when things like that happen. It may not be the end of the world, but it is so freaking frustrating.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I can deal with actual bad stuff pretty well. Little ticky-tack stuff is what makes me FFFFUUUU and go absolutely batshit.

[pwincess.livejournal.com]

Tron is crazy hard to find! But we tracked down a copy of the DVD at a locally-owned video store after a few phone calls and failures from Netflix and Blockbuster. Your comedy of errors is a lot more impressive. Dang that's a lot of bad luck!

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, this isn't even the half of it. It started back in June, when I tried to check it out from the library. It was in the catalog, but never on the shelf. I remember making a blog post at one point like JESUS CHRIST I WILL START KILLING BITCHES IF THEY DON'T STOP CHECKING OUT TRON. I finally asked the A/V librarian, who looked it up and saw that it hadn't been checked out since 2001 and was likely missing.

Then I thought, oh, I'll buy it used off Amazon. My sister buys used movies all the time, they're always cheap (and sometimes essentially free, just shipping and handling), no problem. I'd forgotten that Tron was a Disney movie, and that Disney only makes 100 DVDs at a time, in a crypt underneath Disneyworld, just some dude, hand-engraving each DVD with like his own teeth or something. Tron was totally actually like $35 used. USED. I pretty much gave up then, and figured that some network would show it before the new movie. Right? Wouldn't that make sense? Wouldn't you think?

It's okay. This way I can cap and make icons.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Hi, you don't know me, but we're mutual friends with enigmaticblues. Anyway, I was wondering if you could point me to where you located the Tron file on Megaupload. I'm completely lame at finding anything. Thanks!

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Hi! Check your in-box.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-D

[ufgator1977.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you could have just asked me for a copy?

I could have sworn I offered to send you one.

I understand though; I refuse to let something like that beat me as well.

ETA: I just looked at how much my 20th Anniversary Special Edition goes for. Damn!

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you could have made me a copy! I remember that you offered a month of Netflix, which I couldn't take you up on because I've had Netflix in the past and you can't do free months on the same credit card once you've already had one. (Boo.)

Yeah, it was just me being stubborn, LOL. I'm okay with it now.

They are so expensive, right!!

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

Hee. I have the DVD courtesy Netflix sitting on the teevee and have had for a couple of months.

I AM one of those bitches! R and I started it once, but didn't get very far (interruptions? don't remember). I didn't like it first time around, and don't know if distance will lend it charm. I did dig the crazy eyewear though...

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah, I am definitely not really watching if for the plot and such. I do kind of want to know what's going on for the new movie - though I'm sure they'll figure a lot of people won't have seen the original and will catch people up - and for the eyecandies.

Oh, the eyecandies.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

Just so we're clear: I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with you. (Just maybe you're not joining in.)

Let me tell you where we're at. Now that we're caught up on the original, we're presented with:

Do we see Legacy as a date movie or with our geeky friends?

Do we spend the money to see it in IMAX 3D, or do we be responsible adults and save our money since, you know, hubby about to be out of work and all that?

If we DO go with geeky friends, can hubby keep his mouth shut about my BIGHUGEGIANT crush on Bruce Boxleitner? For that matter, can I?

It never ends, man.

[xphilehb.livejournal.com]

If we DO go with geeky friends, can hubby keep his mouth shut about my BIGHUGEGIANT crush on Bruce Boxleitner?

HA! I may have already blabbed about my BIGHUGEGIANT crush on Bruce to my boyfriend. And suddenly, he didn't think the fact that I want to see Tron: Legacy was as cool as before. ;)

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

It was gonna come out eventually. ;)

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

We had a similar conversation. The tone he used to say the words, "So... I guess you're going to want to see Tron now, aren't you?" was far more resigned and less excited than it should have been.

Now that it's only a couple of weeks away, though, I don't think he cares as much WHY - it'll just be a fun movie. With the added bonus of sqeeeee for me.

(IDK what movie Anne Hathaway is in this Christmas? But he keeps saying that the trade-off is I have to go with him to see - exact quote - "Anne Hathaway's boobies.")

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

HAHA. That's Love and Other Drugs. My mom went and saw it, and reported that it "might as well have been porn." So.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

So... if I go with him, we'd be even, then?

Assuming that in MY end of the bargain there is Bruce in the tight Tron suit.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I couldn't post about it until I was ready to laugh about it. Sunday I was nearly apoplectic. At that point it wasn't even about watching the movie but about beating my computer and all those stupid files - which is why I finally decided to give up, so that I would actually enjoy the movie when I watched it.

You could always threaten hubby to keep his mouth shut. Although I don't think it's a big deal if your crush comes out; lots of people have crushes. You haven't bought like things he's touched on eBay or mailed him your own bra or anything, so you're okay and not crazy.*

*If you have done any of these things, please don't tell me.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

It probably wouldn't be the worst thing. As it is I'll probably be grinning like a damn fool through the whole thing. (Movie theaters are dark, though. The question is whether I'll still be grinning like a fool when we come out at the end.)

I'm glad you decided just to give up and enjoy it! Watching on the crappy computer monitor is better than not watching at all, right?

You haven't bought like things he's touched on eBay or mailed him your own bra or anything, so you're okay and not crazy.

...People actually do these things?

*headscratch*

...

Seriously?

I... think I'm a little creeped out by that.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Oh, the crazy things I've read on Fandom Wank. People giving an actor a box of sex toys. Giving them manipulations of two of them engaged in sexytimes. Groping them in line at cons.

The best are the Snapewives, though, who seem to actually, legitimately believe they are married to Snape. I don't even know.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

This is disturbing on a level I didn't think possible.

Wow.

Just. Wow.

[xphilehb.livejournal.com]

So it's still up on YouTube? This is promising. I hope to watch it this week.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

As far as I know - if it's somehow yanked before you get to it, let me know. :D

[hollywobbles.livejournal.com]

:::pets you despite threats of hazing:::

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

:::thanks you and promises that there won't actually be any hazing:::

(THERE IS TOTALLY GOING TO BE HAZING.)