"A Different World" Upscaling is Not Good

 “A Different World” (1987 NBC) is now on Netflix, and the HD upscale is... not good.

The show was shot and mastered on video in 4:3. The version on Netflix is cropped to 16:9, and has significant ML sharpening and odd softening. The show looks both over-crisp and gauzy/dreamy.

Many shots have a flicker, too. And, this is the fun one - any shot with text gets really garbled.

These screengrabs are all from "A Different World" on Netflix, s01e01.

Contrast this with the classic MTV Unplugged (1989) that just dropped on Paramount+. Like "A Different World", the show was shot and mastered on video in 4:3. And they're presented on Paramount+ in the proper aspect ratio, without excessive sharpening. The upscaling did a terrific job of eliminating any scanline artifacts (if there were any!). To my eyes, this is the proper way to show 4:3 video content on a modern streaming service.

This Goofy iPhone Bug Could Really Mess You Up

Having just migrated two new iPhones, Apple needs to address this specific issue, because it can really really mess you up. 

After migrating from an older phone using iCloud backup, any Apple apps that use an account other than the primary iCloud account requires an extra step of authentication — but the user is never prompted for this, and until you authenticate the app just doesn’t work. 

This affects Apple apps Mail.app and Contacts, but I suspect it also affects Calendar. 

Mail.app - I use a Gmail email address and the first time I opened Mail.app on iPhone after migration it displayed zero emails. That was a huge indicator that something was wrong. I knew to go to Settings>Mail and re-authenticate Gmail from Mail.app. After authenticating, I saw all my email.

Seeing ZERO emails in Mail.app certainly indicated that there was a problem, but there was no indication of what to do next, so that's not great. Most regular users are going to get stuck here and simply think their iPhone is broken.

Contacts - My wife and I use a completely separate third iCloud account for Contacts because we want to share all of our contacts, and there's no built-in way to do this. (As an aside, it’s utterly ridiculous that Apple still doesn’t support sharing Contacts.) After migrating, I opened Contacts and it appeared as though my contacts were there. But because I’m paranoid I always do additional tests to ensure that syncing between devices is working properly. I created a brand new contact on the new iPhone named Krusty The Clown and sure enough, Krusty was not syncing to my other devices, and vice versa. 

All I needed to do was re-authenticate in Settings>Contacts but this was far more insidious situation because there was no clear indication that the new iPhone wouldn’t sync its contacts. A customer could go for weeks without realizing their contacts are not syncing properly.

And this wasn’t just a “me” thing. This happened with my wife’s iPhone (she also used iCloud backup to migrate to the new phone) and my mom (who also used iCloud to migrate), who spent an hour on the phone with AppleCare in order to figure out that she needed to re-authenticate Gmail for Mail.app.

A Feedback has been sent to Apple.

Oscar Pool Ballot, 97th Academy Awards

 It's time for the Awesomest Oscar Pool Ballot In The History Of Oscar Pool Ballots.

Every year I create a special ballot based on a typical Academy Awards printable ballot -- but on my ballot, each category has a different point value. The highest valued category is "Best Picture," while the mainstream films' categories are valued at two points. The non-mainstream categories (like the documentary and short film categories) are valued at one point.

This way, in a tight race for the winner of the pool, the winner most likely would not be determined by the non-mainstream films (in other words, blind guesses).

Download the ballot here for the 97th Academy Awards and use it at your Oscar party.

click here for larger

And if you're wondering why Tom Cruise is on my ballot... he's been on every one of my Oscar ballots. Because he's soooooooooo cool.

The Directors of Visual Effects Oscar Winning Films, 1977-2024

James Cameron, directing "Titanic" (1997)

updated 3/4/25 for the 97th Academy Awards, with Denis Villeneuve snagging another VFX Oscar.

I've compiled a list of the directors of Academy Award-winning films for the visual effects trophy. Do with this as you will.

For me, when looking at this list of nearly fifty years of visual effects Oscar wins, I think one can see trends of the types of films (and directors) that make films that win the ultimate VFX award.

The Directors of Visual Effects Oscar Winning Films, 1977-2024

• 1977 - George Lucas, “Star Wars”
• 1978 - Richard Donner, “Superman”
• 1979 - Ridley Scott, “Alien”
• 1980 - Irvin Kershner, “The Empire Strikes Back”
• 1981 - Steven Spielberg, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
• 1982 - Steven Spielberg, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”
• 1983 - Richard Marquand, “Return of the Jedi”
• 1984 - Steven Spielberg, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”
• 1985 - Ron Howard, “Cocoon”
• 1986 - James Cameron, “Aliens”
• 1987 - Joe Dante, “Innerspace”
• 1988 - Robert Zemeckis, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”
• 1989 - James Cameron, “The Abyss”
• 1990 - Paul Verhoeven, “Total Recall”
• 1991 - James Cameron, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”
• 1992 - Robert Zemeckis, “Death Becomes Her”
• 1993 - Steven Spielberg, “Jurassic Park”
• 1994 - Robert Zemeckis, “Forrest Gump”
• 1995 - Chris Noonan, “Babe”
• 1996 - Roland Emmerich, “Independence Day”
• 1997 - James Cameron, “Titanic”
• 1998 - Vincent Ward, “What Dreams May Come”
• 1999 - The Wachowskis, “The Matrix”
• 2000 - Ridley Scott, “Gladiator”
• 2001 - Peter Jackson, “The Fellowship of the Ring”
• 2002 - Peter Jackson, “The Two Towers”
• 2003 - Peter Jackson, “The Return of the King”
• 2004 - Sam Raimi, “Spider-Man 2”
• 2005 - Peter Jackson, “King Kong”
• 2006 - Gore Verbinski, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
• 2007 - Chris Weitz, “The Golden Compass”
• 2008 - David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
• 2009 - James Cameron, “Avatar”
• 2010 - Christopher Nolan, “Inception”
• 2011 - Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
• 2012 - Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”
• 2013 - Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
• 2014 - Christopher Nolan, “Interstellar”
• 2015 - Alex Garland, “Ex Machina”
• 2016 - Jon Favreau, “The Jungle Book”
• 2017 - Denis Villeneuve, “Blade Runner 2049”
• 2018 - Damien Chazelle, “First Man”
• 2019 - Sam Mendes, “1917”
• 2020 - Christopher Nolan, “Tenet”
• 2021 - Denis Villeneuve, “Dune”
• 2022 - James Cameron, “Avatar: The Way of Water”
• 2023 - Takashi Yamazaki, “Godzilla Minus One”
• 2024 - Denis Villeneuve, “Dune: Part Two”

Steven Spielberg, directing "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)

Directors with Multiple Wins

• 6 - James Cameron
• 4 - Steven Spielberg
• 4 - Peter Jackson
• 
3 - Christopher Nolan
• 3 - Robert Zemeckis
• 3 - Denis Villeneuve
• 2 - Ridley Scott

Peter Jackson, directing "The Return of the King" (2003)

Directors with Visual Effects Experience

• 6 - James Cameron (artist, models, founded VFX company)
• 4 - Peter Jackson (founded VFX company)
• 1 - David Fincher (VFX artist)
• 1 - Gore Verbinski (VFX artist)
• 1 - Takashi Yamazaki (VFX supervisor)
• 1 - George Lucas (founded VFX company)
• 1 - Roland Emmerich (founded VFX company)

A "Terminator 2" Callback

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Modern franchise pictures frequently utilize easter eggs, references and callbacks as meaningful cinematic nutrition. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Here's an understated, unassuming, blink-and-you'll-miss it callback in "Terminator 2" (1991) to "The Terminator" (1984) which repeats a motif yet uses the callback in a completely different manner.

Image description: In "The Terminator" (1984), Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) destroys a T-800 robot using a giant, four-button industrial activator. In "Terminator 2" (1991), Connor again destroys a T-800 robot using a giant, two-button industrial activator, but this time in a completely different context.