Secrets of the DVD

[Not intentional secrets; more like afterthoughts. --The Producer]

1. There are 675 pages of text on this disc. Each page has either a photograph or bloody fingerprints. Lance Clark, at Gateway Mastering, tried to devote a page to a paragraph or an idea, resulting in small pages.

2. The photographs were taken on Kodak Verichrome film by Adrian Brinkerhoff on the way in to the monastery with a winterized Nikon F1 and an old Nikon zoom lens (85 - 135mm). Brinkerhoff had had lubricating fluids drained from the camera, as they tend to freeze at minus 40 degrees Farenheit, and had them replaced with outer-space liqids developed by NASA. Brinkerhoff slept with the batteries around his crotch to maintain their heat and thus their charge. Often the text on the page refers to the photo on or near that page. I hope to offer a complete description of the circumstances surrounding each photo in the future.

3. Put the DVD in your computer and, if you have a modem with web software, you can access the web site, himalayasessions.com, by clicking on its page.

4. Put the DVD in your computer and you can also access a "pdf" document which contains the complete text. You need a text reader like Adobe Acrobat to open the pdf. You can then use your normal computer functions to "find" words or works in the text. You can also download and/or print the complete document.

5. As all DVD machines play back 96/24, and, even when they convert 96/24 to the lesser format of 48/20, sound better than Dolby Digital stereo, the latter format has been omitted.

6. By double-clicking on the desired chapter in the "contents," the chapter can be accessed immediately.

7. By double-clicking on the blue-underlined words in the text ("hyperlinks"), the pertinent musical passage can be heard. This passage is limited to the note, arpeggio, chord, or effect being described by the immediate text, and lasts for only a few seconds, although surrounding parts of the music are often included so you can hear the music in context. The links generally are chronological: that is, the first underlined word in the description of Clair de Lune describes music near the beginning of that piece, and the ast underlined word describes music at the end of the piece.

8. As with DVD movies, the command "Menu" on each page returns you to the main menu, from which other chapters or the music itself can be accessed. The command "Back" takes you back one page, and the command "Next" brings you forward one page.

9. If you have the DVD-A, or the DVD-Audio disc, it plays at 96/24 in the new universal Pioneer DVD-A machine, but the text is only available here on the web site, and the photos are only available on the DAD (Digital Audio Disc), also known as a DVD-V (video DVD) or a DVD-5 (one-sided DVD).

10. I intend to publish next year a book with Brinkerhoff's diary of the climb, additional material from Brinkerhoff's youthful diaries, the current text from the DAD, and the photos of the climb.