Les Actrices Chinoises.....almost!

A few months back I was contacted by a fine young gentleman who asked if I would like to be part of a project? A book. The book, Les Actrices Chinoises, as seen above, is a French published edition by Ecrans, concerning our beloved Chinese cinema. What was requested of me were DVD cover scans of some of my CAT III collection to go along with an article on CAT III films in HK cinema. And, as it turned out, the article was being written by a Facebook friend. So, of course I wanted to help out. Pro bono is no problemo. Now, as most of you know, I am virtually computer illiterate. Oh sure, I can get by, Facebooking, searching for HK cinema stuffs, and trolling the depths of depravity by clicking through many a glorious porn site. It's good times! My future ex brother-in-law or my sisters ex-fiance (don't ask) was a bit of a computer nerd and had a scanner handy. I enlisted him for the task and dug through my collection to find some titles that were asked for. I also decided to scan a few CAT III collector item sleaze for the fellow. So, after coming together for an hour here and there, finding time in our lazy ass schedules, the scanning was finished. Copied to a zip, from computer to computer flawlessly, and off to my new book buddy. Simple Simon.

My book buddy got back to me a few days later. No bueno. The pictures, according to the book publisher, were unprintable due to the low picture quality. Sad face. But, all was not lost if I would be able to change the DPI!!! Tah-ha! Sure. No problem! WTF IS DPI????

Well, turns out my affection for CAT III trash led me to a lesson learned. DPI stand for Dots Per Inch. OK. I can see that. Now WTF is Dots Per Inch? The almighty Wikepedia told me that DPI is " a measure of spatial printing or video dot density, in particular the number of individual dots that can be placed in a line within the span of 1 inch (2.54 cm). The DPI value tends to correlate with image resolution, but is related only indirectly." Now, i'm not that dense so I can see where this was headed.....back to my future ex brother-in-law. He tweaked the images with the measurements given by my book buddy. This process, though simply accomplished by pushing a few buttons on the keyboard, is rather tedious. I felt bad for my future ex brother-in-law as he was doing this for me in his spare time. So I bought him a pizza. An entire pie. He ate it. All. The pics were fixed, zipped, computer to computer with ease, and emailed.

Still no bueno. Dag nabbit! I was given another set of measurements and trudged back to my future ex bro-in-law. Another pizza, this time with garlic knots. The pix were fixed and sent off. This time around I got the head nod, high five, thumbs up, chest bump! I was so very happy I could help out. This post is about the scans I sent off for print. A few you have seen on this blog before, namely, the Loletta Lee Lai-chun pics you'll cruise by below. Nothing really obscure, aside from the pics directly above and below. I found a really great paperback photo album of the late Pauline Cha Bo-lin years ago on Ebay and figured it would fit the article. The two pics here are the front and back covers of the album. Enjoy them and the rest.

I hope you enjoyed the scans here because.....they didn't make the final cut! Negatory. I coulda been an offender! Just before the books official release in December my book buddy got back to me and relayed that the publisher still couldn't use the photos. The DPI, or whatever the heck it was this time, was still off. I was a tad discouraged but not completely put out. I had made a new Chinese cinema friend (and Facebook friend, because, isn't that what it's all about?) in my book buddy. He's a nice chap and it wasn't his harm that was foul. I was more than happy to help and will be more than happy to help in the future if such another endeavour should arise. I will do it for love of the game. So, i'm not 'published'? So what? I still have my CAT III movies. My babies. My loves.

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The book is out now. Hook my book buddy up with some of your Paypal cash. Get it HERE.

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And I can't forget to thank a great blog friend, Duriandave, who pointed my book buddy toward my blog. Duriandave, who unfortunately just recently closed up shop on his irreplaceable blog, Soft Film, also helped out my book buddy with this project. Thanks so much Duriandave!