Eric Shmeric

@ericdienstfrey

Film/Media/Comm/Sound MAKING STEREO FIT www.ucpress.edu/books/making-stereo-fit/ Lover of Kiarostami, Rivette, Sondheim, Philip Roth, The Dark Tower, Twin Peaks, Pale Fire, Calvino, and Taylor Swift. "The cinema has not yet been invented!" - Spinoza

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Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· 24d

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· 26d

Anyone else out there follow the necessary conversation family? The parents are hardcore MAGA while the son and daughter (both anti-Trump) patiently talk politics with them. Anyway, the mom is now saying "Abolish ICE." It's one person, but that feels significant as we head toward then midterms.

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· 27d

One of his potential victims? A sound effects designer. The film is a beautifully executed art-horror that is far more interesting that the usual suspects of early Dolby Stereo releases. Nice to see Criterion's blu includes the original 2.0 surround sound mix. www.criterion.com/films/27993-...

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· 27d

THE SHOUT! Finally! Among the few truly experimental uses Dolby in the late 70s. Mixed by Pinewood's Gordon McCallum & Graham Hartstone, who were initially skeptical of Dolby, and who would later design the split-surrounds for SUPERMAN. The premise? A man with a voice so loud it kills people.

The cover for Criterion's upcoming blu ray release of Jerzy Skolimowski's THE SHOUT

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Jul 1

Also, we need to talk about how stunning these books look, matching spines to boot!

Covers for all 8 of Kundera's Czech era books

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Jul 1

I'm reminded of this video.

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Jun 29

The last batch of birthday presents arrived. Did not anticipate Italian Folktales being quite so large. Again, publishers, don't throw away the designs of the spines. Look at those gorgeous Kunderas!

A stack of 5 Kundera books, 8 Calvino books, and 2 Radiance blu rays (Joan the Maid and Hi Mom)

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Jun 28

Saw this for the first time a few years ago and was shocked by how bad it was.

Rob Lowe playing the sax in ST ELMO'S FIRE

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Jun 26

Arrow is releasing FORBIDDEN PLANET alongside its original Perspecta stereo soundtrack. Though, it doesn't look like the original 4.0 surround sound mix will be included. AFAIK, this was *the* stereo mix of the mid-1950s, MGM's attempt to one-up Fox.

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Jun 20

It's a me.

Screenshot showing AI recognizes Eric Dienstfrey as a film scholar and historian, with data.

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 27

For context, people were bullish on Beto when he trailed by 5. Y'all.

James Talarico Opens Up Lead Over Ken Paxton

May 27, 2026 at 7:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Texas finds James Talarico (D) leading Ken Paxton (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 45% to 38%.

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 24

Philip Roth on Anne Frank's place in literary history, from his appropriately titled novella The Ghost Writer.

“The ardor in her, the spirit in her—always on the move, always starting things, being boring as unbearable to her as being bored—a terrific writer, really. And an enormously appealing child. I was thinking she’s like some impassioned little sister of Kafka’s, his lost little daughter—a kinship is even there in the face. I think. Kafka’s garrets and closets, the hidden attics where they hand down the indictments, the camouflaged doors—everything he dreamed in Prague was, to her, real Amsterdam life. What he invented, she suffered. Do you remember the first sentence of The Trial? It could be the epigraph for her book. ‘Someone must have falsely traduced Anne F., because one morning without having done anything wrong, she was placed under arrest.’”

Philip Roth
The Ghost Writer

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 19

I know that @cinementalist.bsky.social and @markharris.bsky.social both know this, and certainly my wife @kqsound.bsky.social knows this... but my goodness HEARTBURN is one of the greatest films of the 1980s in every measurable way. Every moment. Anyway... HBD Nora Ephron!

Streep (looking pissed) and Nicholson (smiling, holding his son) on a plane in HEARTBURN

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 14

Reading DeLillo's THE NAMES and then this passage happened.

"Then I was a man. In fact I was forty. I realized I saw the age of forty from a child's viewpoint."
"I know the feeling," I said. "Forty was my father's age. All fathers were forty. I keep fighting the idea I'm fast approaching his age. As an adult I've only been two ages. Twenty-two and forty. I was twenty-two well into my thirties. Now I've begun to be forty, two years shy of the actual fact. In ten years I'll still be forty."

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 12

They're slowly rolling out new Nabokov covers, so naturally I'm using this opportunity to slowly collect them all (already got PALE FIRE & PNIN). But the B&Ns still carry the older versions on their shelves. I'm wondering if these 3 are phantom covers, like what happened with the Malamud reissues.

new cover for Nabokov's INVITATION TO A BEHEADING

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 11

Calvino's SIX MEMOS is the real deal. The final chapter especially, my goodness.

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 8

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 6

I had no idea the original poster was so emo, but this film. Kore-eda's AFTER LIFE. I love Ozu, Oshima, Kurosawa, the whole gamut. But AFTER LIFE remains my favorite. (Would make a nice double feature with DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, as well.)

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· May 4

The new Taylor Swift song is 🔥

Two people wearing a Taylor Swift shirt thay says "SOMETIMES FREUD IN HAND, SOMETIMES PORTNOY, SOMETIMES BOTH."

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Apr 29

On the corner of Valley Forge and Stump Hall near Skippack. Seems safe.

A broken telephone pole being propped up solely by telephone lines.

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Apr 26

Top 5 Favorite Lubitsch Films: 1) TROUBLE IN PARADISE 2) TO BE OR NOT TO BE 3) HEAVEN CAN WAIT 4) SO THIS IS PARIS 5) THE MERRY WIDOW

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Apr 21

The dream: A well-designed clothbound novel with no accompanying dust jacket. Especially if that novel is Calvino's IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELER. (Fingers crossed there isn't a misprint in chapter two that leads me on an adventure involving literary terrorists and fascist book burners.)

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Apr 12

Is this bad?

Eric Shmeric@ericdienstfrey· Apr 11

Cleaning up my computer and found this random screenshot potentially about the first known recording of sound on film -- an 1899 German patent from a Russian Prof. Poliakoff. Feel free to do with this info what you will.