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This is the reason that indie music, games and movies can often break through and become a runaway success.

They can, but I'm not sure I'd say often.

For an interesting look into indie game development, take a look at the film Indie Game. It is quite revealing

Why not start a club? After hours?

White Collar season 3 has an episode with this exact plot line http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942780/ apart from i think it was 125M USD

Oh, until I read the definition I was thinking of that movie

All I'm seeing is couple of wavy lines..

This franchise needs to die. It's been 35 years now. Enough already.

There's plenty of modern hard SF out there that could be made into movies. Most of David Weber or John Ringo's works would translate well into action movies or TV. A Snow Crash movie or series would work. ("Dark Angel" came close, but they lost the plot in Season 2.)

Trend: At Barnes and Noble, there are now fewer bookcases of "Teen Paranormal Romance", and more of "Teen Survival". Most of the latter consists of Hunger Games clones. Vampires and werewolves seem to be on the way out.

If you like bad franchises that just won't stop, Police Academy 8 is currently in development.

Even French beats English in this area actually.

Indeed it does.

Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d'enculé de ta mère.

Is it a water heater?

"I don't know what to tell you, there, Bobbo. Either this kid has a light bulb up his butt or his colon has a great idea."
Source

Foster and Mac have pulled a man over for speeding and are deciding what game to play]
Mac: All right, how about "Cat Game?"
Foster: Cat Game? What's the record?
Mac: Thorny did six, but I think you can do ten.
Foster: Ten? Starting right 'meow?'
[Mac laughs - they walk up to the car, and Foster taps on the driver side]
Larry Johnson: Sorry about the...
Foster: All right meow. (1) Hand over your license and registration.
[the man hands him his license]
Foster: Your registration? Hurry up meow. (2)
[Mac ticks off two fingers]
Larry Johnson: Sorry.
[the man laughs a little]
Foster: Is there something funny here boy?
Larry Johnson: Oh, no.
Foster: Then why you laughing, Mister... Larry Johnson?
[pause]
Foster: All right meow, (3) where were we?
Larry Johnson: Excuse me, are you saying meow?
Foster: Am I saying meow?
[Mac puts his hands up for the fourth one, but makes an "eehhh" facial expression, as he is considering the last one]
Larry Johnson: I thought...
Foster: Don't think boy. Meow, (4) do you know how fast you were going?
[man laughs]
Foster: Meow. (5) What is so damn funny?
Larry Johnson: I could have sworn you said meow.
Foster: Do I look like a cat to you, boy? Am I jumpin' around all nimbly bimbly from tree to tree?
[Mac is gut-busting laughing]
Foster: Am I drinking milk from a saucer?
[feigned anger]
Foster: Do you see me eating mice?
Foster: [Mac and the man are laughing their heads off now] You stop laughing right meow! (6)
Larry Johnson: [the man stops and swallows hard] Yes sir.
Foster: Meow, (7) I'm gonna have to give you a ticket on this one. No buts meow. (8) It's the law.
[rips off the ticket and hands it to the man]
Foster: Not so funny meow, (9) is it?
Foster: [Foster gets up to leave, but Mac shakes his hands at him, indicating only nine meows] Meow! (10)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247745/quotes?qt0470809

I nominate your comment as the first WHOOOSH I've read in 2013. So far no one else is in contention, and I don't expect that to change.

It's a Blade Runner quote.

The other day I was chatting with someone from an Islamic country and the guy told me that he **WAS FORCED TO DOWNLOAD PIRATED MOVIES** because of the censorship that was being practiced in his country.

He posted a list of movies that he said he had to pirate because they were ***ILLEGAL*** in his country.

The local cinemas were prohibited from showing those movies, and he couldn't buy any legal version of those movies on legal DVDs either.

Among the names of the movies that he posted, I only remember two of them, and they were:

The Prince of Egypt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120794/

and

Babe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/

The person claimed that he felt bad for downloading the pirated version of the movies but he had no choice.

He could also just consider not watching those movies...

The other day I was chatting with someone from an Islamic country and the guy told me that he **WAS FORCED TO DOWNLOAD PIRATED MOVIES** because of the censorship that was being practiced in his country.

He posted a list of movies that he said he had to pirate because they were ***ILLEGAL*** in his country.

The local cinemas were prohibited from showing those movies, and he couldn't buy any legal version of those movies on legal DVDs either.

Among the names of the movies that he posted, I only remember two of them, and they were:

The Prince of Egypt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120794/

and

Babe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/

The person claimed that he felt bad for downloading the pirated version of the movies but he had no choice.

He could also just consider not watching those movies...

The other day I was chatting with someone from an Islamic country and the guy told me that he **WAS FORCED TO DOWNLOAD PIRATED MOVIES** because of the censorship that was being practiced in his country.

He posted a list of movies that he said he had to pirate because they were ***ILLEGAL*** in his country.

The local cinemas were prohibited from showing those movies, and he couldn't buy any legal version of those movies on legal DVDs either.

Among the names of the movies that he posted, I only remember two of them, and they were:

The Prince of Egypt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120794/

and

Babe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/

The person claimed that he felt bad for downloading the pirated version of the movies but he had no choice.

Had no choice! What a load of non-sense.

I don't buy illegal drugs from an illegal source because I have no choice!
I just don't do drugs!

If this person really thinks that the censorship in his/her country is that bad, move! Or at least wonder if all this hassle is really worth it for 'Babe'!!!

The other day I was chatting with someone from an Islamic country and the guy told me that he **WAS FORCED TO DOWNLOAD PIRATED MOVIES** because of the censorship that was being practiced in his country.

He posted a list of movies that he said he had to pirate because they were ***ILLEGAL*** in his country.

The local cinemas were prohibited from showing those movies, and he couldn't buy any legal version of those movies on legal DVDs either.

Among the names of the movies that he posted, I only remember two of them, and they were:

The Prince of Egypt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120794/

and

Babe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/

The person claimed that he felt bad for downloading the pirated version of the movies but he had no choice.

Had no choice! What a load of non-sense.

I don't buy illegal drugs from an illegal source because I have no choice!
I just don't do drugs!

If this person really thinks that the censorship in his/her country is that bad, move! Or at least wonder if all this hassle is really worth it for 'Babe'!!!

The other day I was chatting with someone from an Islamic country and the guy told me that he **WAS FORCED TO DOWNLOAD PIRATED MOVIES** because of the censorship that was being practiced in his country.

He posted a list of movies that he said he had to pirate because they were ***ILLEGAL*** in his country.

The local cinemas were prohibited from showing those movies, and he couldn't buy any legal version of those movies on legal DVDs either.

Among the names of the movies that he posted, I only remember two of them, and they were:

The Prince of Egypt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120794/

and

Babe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/

The person claimed that he felt bad for downloading the pirated version of the movies but he had no choice.

The other day I was chatting with someone from an Islamic country and the guy told me that he **WAS FORCED TO DOWNLOAD PIRATED MOVIES** because of the censorship that was being practiced in his country.

He posted a list of movies that he said he had to pirate because they were ***ILLEGAL*** in his country.

The local cinemas were prohibited from showing those movies, and he couldn't buy any legal version of those movies on legal DVDs either.

Among the names of the movies that he posted, I only remember two of them, and they were:

The Prince of Egypt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120794/

and

Babe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/

The person claimed that he felt bad for downloading the pirated version of the movies but he had no choice.

I know don't feed the trolls, but this is just lazy.

What about the top comment? Titled "Serves Obama right..."

Ok, ok... nobody other than OP is saying that.

I've never been to any amusement park so I can't tell whether they are actually fun and worth it, but whenever I hear of one I'm thinking of Westworld with Yul Brynner. Oh, and by the way, whenever someone mentions McDonalds or a circus, It comes to my mind.

Needless to say I avoid amusement parks and McDonalds.

I've never been to any amusement park so I can't tell whether they are actually fun and worth it, but whenever I hear of one I'm thinking of Westworld with Yul Brynner. Oh, and by the way, whenever someone mentions McDonalds or a circus, It comes to my mind.

Needless to say I avoid amusement parks and McDonalds.

Highly effective too. Another use would be to blind enemy pilots as well as ground troops. That's against the Geneva Convention.

But hey, they're Germany... Sieg heil?
At least Pailin kicked their asses in 2018. xD

So how well does it make popcorn?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/

Are you sure their first impulse was to EAT it? I mean...it's Japan.

Japan is widely reviled for using its permitted "research whaling" activities as a cover for what essentially amounts to hunting for food. They kill whales (mostly minke, I think, which are at least fairly common) in the hundreds or thousands every year, I believe in the Antarctic, supposedly for research purposes, but since there is no prohibition on using the leftovers after the "research" is done, the meat ends up being sold in Japan. The problem is that most Japanese don't even know what whale meat tastes like, and from what I've read it's not very appealing, so it's not like there's any wide demand for the product - in fact the government has tried to promote its consumption to gain support for their policies. Obviously certain interests have great interest in the government, but it's never been clear to me whether this was a "protect our livelihoods" thing, or traditionalists and reactionaries trying to preserve a custom in the face of Western imperialism. (There's a lot of this in the US and Canada too, but it's the Indian tribes, not the central governments. Norway is one of the few other governments that pushes the practice, and you can buy whale meat there too.)

The Japanese are also notorious for their dolphin killing - there was a documentary called The Cove from a few years ago that captured the whole mess on film.

In two years from now when it is upgraded and running at maximum levels will anyone think to warn Gordan Freeman??? :)

I agree with your sentiment, but you've nothing to fear. You must have hopped dimensions: In this universe his name is Morgan Freeman, and I'd say he's pretty much on top of such things...

But perhaps they did accidentally create 10**12 new universes from the one we used to have (I doubt that this one is it).

SERN Dis-topic Recommendation Engine:
People who posted comments like yours also liked: Steins;Gate

Australia was after all, the last nation to survive a global nuclear war On the Beach in 1959.

Wooooossssshhhhh

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295178/quotes

Nigel Powers: All right Goldmember. Don't play the laughing boy. There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch.
Goldmember: What? Take the fahza away! Dutch hater! And now, it is time to say goodbye. Dr. Evil's orders. Which, for you, is bad news bears,
[talks in a deep vioce]
Goldmember: Walter Matthau.

Or maybe the kids watched Rat Race recently.

Maybe someone should add that scene to the Parent's Guide for the movie .

Or maybe the kids watched Rat Race recently.

Maybe someone should add that scene to the Parent's Guide for the movie .

How about Mr. Creosote?

I just decided to settle for the compressed version. Much smaller file size and I don't think it degraded the quality appreciably.

Well, I can't find an official number, but we can estimate using data from here and here:

From the first link, which says the max data rate is 250Mbps, and doubling that to account for HFR, we have a 500Mbps data rate. Multiply that by the 169 minute running time and you get

500e6 bit/sec x 1/8,589,934,592 GB/bit x 169 min x 3600 sec/min = 35,400 GB

(assuming the limit on precision is the running time at three significant digits).

Divide that by 1024 GB/TB and you have about 34.6 TB. Not impossible to set up, and probably far less expensive than the projector... but that's for the non-IMAX version, which probably explains why I could only find three theaters with the HFR IMAX version near my house in Pasadena CA.

I also expect that some theaters will not operate at the maximum data rate but use some other, more lossy compression. It's probably safe to assume a lot of theaters are showing distributed versions that are about 10 or 20 TB large.

D&D - anyone remember Tom Hanks' first major lead role in a film?

Covered here too

But I see from your website that you do not write art music, but rather scores for foreign lowbrow cinema and the like. If you have chosen to forsake public funding and work in a corporate milieu, than filesharing should be the least of your worries about exploitation, as your creative energies are already entirely at the manipulation of corporations.

And that sort of music is actually fairly movie-specific. It's not like you can film another movie and "lift" the score from another to use it - it's completely wrong and generates the wrong mood, etc.

Scores are very source-specific and are designed to fit the theme, mood and action in the movie. Sometimes a movie trailer will use another movie's score (I think the very early Robocop promo trailers used the Terminator score), but that's just a 30 second clip.

At best, a composer will use a score written by someone else for inspiration for a sequel - but that's because the themes are identifiable to that series.

People who are into soundtracks use them as a way to :relive" sequences of the film - a score by a good composer will evoke the same feelings that happened in the movie. In fact, a score is often the primary emotion manipulator in a movie - take it away and the movie will feel lacking. But take away the pictures and the impact of the movie will still be there.

The only worry as a score composer? The current era of Hollywood remakes where they take 15+ year old films and remake them, at which point the new composer will draw inspiration from the old score.

I've worked on quite a few so indeed I know how it works. I've seen how in Hollywood especially the temp tracks are almost gospel, and sometimes the expectation is to pretty much plagiarize it. If the studios could just plaster Gladiator all over their new films for free today, you can be sure they would.

But I don't think even that matters. Trying to define what is best for art is almost as impossible an endeavor as is defining art. Again, most of new stuff is really derivative anyway, so it'd just be one step further into that pit. Many people do prefer originality, so not everything would be the same. But the point is, no one knows the extent of this change.

So I worry about what happens to the people who make a living on creating content, if you radically change the system suddenly. There's an immense amount of conjecture here about an industry most don't really know enough about. It reminds me of when I see people suggesting how bands should make money instead of selling records. You know, sell T-shirts and all that. Not realistic. It's the typical cognitive dissonance from applying an ideology to the extreme.

The fact is, no one really knows what would happen. That's why you should do incremental, not radical changes. Maybe it would be fine for mostly everyone. We don't know. People who aren't intimately familiar with the workings of an industry definitely don't. I think those in the technology world of all people should know how frustrating it is when people (e.g. politicians) that have at best a cursory understanding of an issue try to tell others how it should work.

Just as an example, CRCulver's reply above is completely nonsensical with its art music tangent that applies to a tiny niche of composers, and furthermore offensive with its ad hominem about low brow cinema (take a look at my list; Nanking for example was on the documentary Oscar shortlist, and I've been nominated for the Finnish Film Award for The Home of Dark Butterflies). Yet it's at 5, Insightful, because it fits the ideological narrative that has become popular in tech circles.

Guys, if you want to be of the opinion that copyright has to be abolished even if it hurts a lot of people, that's fine. I'm totally ok with that, if you sincerely think that. But please don't make up stuff to try to support that case.

I would rather everyone try

Yeah, it would be more fun if they shrunk it further and called it Chucky

He looks more like a cross between something from "Leprechaun" and "Hardware".

He looks more like a cross between something from "Leprechaun" and "Hardware".

This is ZPG all over again!

Nice to know you have the "biological imperative" to kill steal and go with someone other's wife... but I am digressing.

The problem is that killing is frowned upon by the same religion, so I don't see how showing a gun can be tolerated more than showing a penis.

"The gun is good the penis is bad" is another religion.

(From the side of ebook authoring): this is a good idea, but won't help much. I would say that the biggest problems with reviews on Amazon are:

(1) "Shills" or "sock puppeting" to promote one's own product. We'll often see a new author appear with a single book, hardly any sales, and five or six 5-star reviews. One particular example had five 5-star reviews from new reviewers (no other activity), all with the same poor level of English. Interestingly, that ebook hasn't shown up again. I do know of other 5-star reviews that were removed as they looked suspect, so it seems that Amazon at least do something here.

(2) Shills to sabotage rivals. Example: we had a few kids' ebooks in the top of their categories over Christmas, then in one day all of those that were on the first page get 2-star reviews, all from different reviewers who had not reviewed anything else, with suspiciously similar wording. This one is probably a bit harder to police, but I'd like to hope that Amazon have the sense to look for this sort of thing. It's quite tragic really to realise how nasty authors - children's authors! - can be.

(3) Stupid people who have no idea about the concept of objectivity. There isn't much one can do here, but most user reviews seem to be either something to the effect of "OMG, this was the best thing evar!" with 5-stars, or "My daughter wasn't interested [as if that's an objective measure], this is crap. Oh, I liked the illustrations and the story though" with 1 star, or the reviews "This is not what I expected", followed by comments that make it obvious they didn't read the description, the other reviews, or information like the number of pages... This is perhaps where a "reviewer rating" system would be good - and I think this needs to happen; New Zealand's TradeMe website's user rating would be the sort of thing I would suggest, with reviews weighted by the reviewer's rating - in summary, highlight suspect (new) accounts, and give more credence to someone who has done lots of reviews and has been frequently marked as "Helpful".

It has made me realise that the average star rating is irrelevant - you'd have to look at individual reviews, and their quality and sense (or lack thereof) and judge for yourself.

But, your suggestion of marking author accounts would help, even if it didn't completely do away with the first two. I think that the first filter I'd put in place against shills is something that checks against IP address, credit card details, etc. Amazon's idea of stopping authors from reviewing other books in their categories is useless (and counter-productive) unless they make a really good effort to deal with sock puppeting, as that's where the real problems lie. I would say they should let authors review others' work, but have something that marks this, exclude it from the calculation of the average, and have a good "report abuse" system, which can hurt the author if they abuse it (e.g. a "Not helpful" on an author's review counts as negative points in the ranking of all their own books).

Also, they need to make the calculation of star ratings more comprehensive, and design it to filter abuses - like what IMDb does.

It might just be the descendents of a Russian Sneeze: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1109488/

A while ago I saw a movie called The Cave of Forgotten Dreams. It is an exploration of 40000 year old cave paintings found in Europe. It is shot in proper 3D, and is mainly concerned with actually exploring the caves. It gave a sense of being inside the caves that I believe would otherwise be impossible. Since these caves are generally kept sealed off from visitors, this movie allowed me to visit a place that would otherwise be inaccessible. Apart from Avatar and The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, I have not seen a 3D movie that adequately makes proper use of 3D technology.

BTW, I won't consider 3D successful until they convert My Dinner with Andre to 3D.

So far I've only seen Pina in 3D, but with this flick it was really great. I think that it is one of the movies that really gained from the technology. Still, at times it was annoying that you have to look more or less exactly where the director wants you to look, because otherwise its out of focus.

...and Pia Zadora, too!

I prefer this one : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1958067/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

He did exist. I've seen the documentary http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311361/

No it has not. The GPL makes no restrictions on the use of the code, on the contrary, it grands your rights that you normally do not have.

The GPL makes only restrictions if you give the code or application to other users. And the restrictions are only that you grand your users the same rights you previously enjoyed.

How is so, that if you are enjoying the rights you normally would not have it is fine, but if other want to enjoy the same rights, you come and tell: the GPL is restrictive?

it's the same as the slave trade back in the days. You enjoy your right of freedom but if others wants to enjoy the same right, you don't want. (only reference slave trade because I watched the movie Amistad recently)

Yes, let's create controlled tornadoes in the immediate vicinity of nuclear reactors. What could possibly go wrong?

this: http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0281617/