Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Aug. 1st, 2010 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartI've recently achieved the new, digitally enhanced DVDs. They were on sale in my favourite supermarkt (Auchan, if you must know, and favoured because it's only two tram stops away, unlike all the other supermarkts that can't be reached without a car, which we do *not* have), and quite the bargain.
At first, I hesitated whether to buy them or not, since I already own the entire series on videotapes - also honestly bought for hard-earned money, I'm not into piracy. In the end, the chance to watch them in English original won out, and I'm really happy it did.
The series is every bit as wonderful and inspiring as I remembered. Plus, Carl Sagan is a jewel for every foreigner - he speaks so clearly that I don't even need to put up the English subtitles... I understand every single word of his. I still put on the subtitles, b/c hearing and seeing at the same time does wonders for my woeful English pronounciation, or at least I hope it will.
Also, he added these little "ten years later" updates, enriching the original series, which is a bit outdated in some places by now, with the newer scientific discoveries. It's strange to see him as an old man, after having had him in my memory as he looked when the series was first aired.
All in all, it was a great purchase. The old videotapes I'll donate to the science lab of our school; I spoke today with Gaby, one of our science teachers, and she was ecstatic about us. So I made two people happy - her and myself. Isn't that a good thing?
Afterthought: I've looked up Sagan on Wikipedia and was shaken to realize that he's been dead for 14 years already. Under which rock have I lived in all those years that I didn't know about that? Even without an internet access, which I didn't have at that time, I ought to have heard about his passing over.
This must be the most edited entry of the year, BTW...
At first, I hesitated whether to buy them or not, since I already own the entire series on videotapes - also honestly bought for hard-earned money, I'm not into piracy. In the end, the chance to watch them in English original won out, and I'm really happy it did.
The series is every bit as wonderful and inspiring as I remembered. Plus, Carl Sagan is a jewel for every foreigner - he speaks so clearly that I don't even need to put up the English subtitles... I understand every single word of his. I still put on the subtitles, b/c hearing and seeing at the same time does wonders for my woeful English pronounciation, or at least I hope it will.
Also, he added these little "ten years later" updates, enriching the original series, which is a bit outdated in some places by now, with the newer scientific discoveries. It's strange to see him as an old man, after having had him in my memory as he looked when the series was first aired.
All in all, it was a great purchase. The old videotapes I'll donate to the science lab of our school; I spoke today with Gaby, one of our science teachers, and she was ecstatic about us. So I made two people happy - her and myself. Isn't that a good thing?
Afterthought: I've looked up Sagan on Wikipedia and was shaken to realize that he's been dead for 14 years already. Under which rock have I lived in all those years that I didn't know about that? Even without an internet access, which I didn't have at that time, I ought to have heard about his passing over.
This must be the most edited entry of the year, BTW...
