P3D Had to tell somebody...

[osadcil9@xxxxxxx (Walter & Lisa Osadciw)]

My family and I just got back from a long weekend in Orlando. At the risk of
drawing some "who cares" flames, I'd like to relate some experiences in the
stereo vein:

1)  Terminator 3-D at Universal - excellent mix of polarized stereo
projection with live action.  Very exciting but quite intense for younger
kids (and some wives).  I went alone.

2)  Alfred Hitchock presents Making Movies (Universal) - darn, I didn't get
to see this and later found out it had 3-D parts (possibly from Dial M for
Murder?).  Next time.

3)  Tribute to Lucille Ball (Universal) - along with lots of personal items,
there was the actual Realist used at many family functions.  Six slides
mounted in fixed museum display type viewers could be viewed by the public.
However, there was no interocular adjustment and it took me considerable
effort to fuse the images.  My wife could not see five of the six.  Also,
one of the slides looked like it was reverse mounted and presented pseudo
stereo.  The caption on the display said something like "... with the stereo
craze taking off in the fifties, Lucy and Desi took hundreds of slides..."
I was dissapointed that another public display of stereo photography such as
this will probably continue to foster the gimicky, I-just-don't-see-it
repututation the public already has of 3-D.  A stack of a couple dozen
slides in the display showed that a Hollywood custom stereo firm performed
the mounting service and also had "Lucy & Desi" stamped in gold emboss on
the cardboard with aluminum mask mounts.

4)  Double feature IMAX 3-D:  T-Rex & Into the Deep - My first time in an
Imax 3D and I had to coax a little to get my wife and daughter to agree to
sit through both.  T-Rex seemed a little bit of a "cashing in" on the
Jurassic movies.  Great stereo but very little screen time for the
dinosaurs.  That would be OK if there was some sort of story to tell.  But
the story couldn't decide if the was dcoumentary or fiction.  Into the Deep
(as noted before on P3D) was worth the admission price to both movies.
Absolutely beautiful.  Where T-Rex was starting to bore my 5-year old
dinosaur loving daughter, she was riveted by Into the Deep.  The stereo was
so natural, she kept grabbing for drifting kelp or darting fish.  This was
our first experience with the LCD shutter goggles. Trying to wear these
things for two 45 minutes shows was bordering on torture.  And, they don't
fit kids no matter how much fiddling you do with the straps!  My daughter
finlly had to just hold them up for most of the show.  Imax either has to
shrink these helmuts down to lighter glasses or go with the polarized
glasses. This model also had little speakers imbedded to enhance the stereo
sound.

5)  Finally, I shot 4 rolls of family snapshots with my Kodak stereo.

All in all, a pretty decent 3-D weekend.

Walter Osadciw


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