In honour of my favorite holiday of the year coming up next month, I've decided to dedicate a few blogs to a somewhat secret phenomenon: DVD Easter Eggs. Not this kind of egg:



These eggs actually have nothing whatsoever to do with Jesus or Easter or bunnies for that matter, they just got their name because you have to hunt to find them. For those of you who don't know, some DVD makers hide bonus features in the DVD program and if you push the right buttons you can sometimes get a special treat. Easter Eggs by definition are not the features listed on the back of the DVD box- they are links that are only accessed through a specific series of button selections. If you want to find one on your own try navigating through your favorite DVD using ALL the cursor buttons in random order.

This weekend I dedicated a bunch of time to watching DVDs, and the best of the bunch that I rented was A History of Violence.



I LOVE Viggo Mortensen, I am a fan of David Cronenberg, and I thought this movie deserved a whole lot more credit than it got in the awards circuit last year. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Yes it's a bit violent, and yes there's sex (ask Cronenberg- they go hand in hand in most movies), but there's also some fundamental questions posed about human nature: how well we know the people we love, whether or not a person can truly change him/herself, what makes a hero, how do we justify some violence and condemn other acts of obvious cruelty... It's is not a fluffy movie.

There are some fantastic extras on the DVD, including a video diary of Cronenberg at Cannes. A very in depth series of 'making-of' featurettes were the next best feature. I didn't watch with the director commentary, but I think I'd like to get to it someday. I know some people can't stand audio commentaries on their DVDs but I really enjoy some of 'em. I think it depends on the personality of the commentator as to how much they can add to watching the movie when they're talking over it. (I loooove the cast commentaries on all the LOTR director's cuts, and Back to the Future has some really good stuff too). Cronenberg is a brilliant intellectual director and I know he would have a lot to say that I'd like to hear about A History of Violence. But I digress.

I told you I was gonna share some Easter Eggs with you. Here ya go.

-Pop in the DVD of A History of Violence.
-Go to the Special Features menu.
-Select "Acts of Violence"
-hit DOWN (so the cursor is on "Act 1") then press RIGHT arrow key on your remote.
-A little candle icon will appear at the bottom right part of your screen. Hit enter and you will get to see Viggo Mortensen blow out the candles of his birthday cake on set.

Even better, if you hit LEFT arrow instead of RIGHT when your cursor is next to "Act 1", a fish icon will appear on the bottom left of your screen. Hit enter when you see the fish and you'll get to see some behind the scenes silliness that fits with the whole "Fish Fridays" theme of the movie set that you get to see in the authorized featurettes.

And no, I did not read this on any other website- I found this one myself! A true Bitetv.ca exclusive. Horray for having too much time on my hands this weekend!

I'm such a Minx.