Slashdot Mirror
Attack of the Clones to Cost Economy $300m
Audent writes: "Attack of the Clones may make you sick but according to this story, it will cost the US economy $300 million in lost productivity what with all the nerds calling in with a bad case of midiclorianitis. ...
Nerds and geeks and propellorheads are singled out as being most at risk. Take your medication now! dammit." A nameless reader also points to a review (looks like two, but only one is up at the time of this writing) up at http://www.pstwo.net/.
I'm sorry but if I'm not waiting in line for this movie, I'd just be playing solitairre at work. So really the economy is being spurred by me going out and spending money, no?
Enough to fund a small nation would be my guess.
yes i run a goth/punk/emo porn site.
the Republic, not just screw up the Economy?
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
Imagine how much lost nerd & geek productivity does Slashdot produce. It's scary to even try to imagine the number in $$....
;)
I wonder how much Slashdot costs to the economy?
--Metrollica
Aren't most of the geeks in the states unemployed anyway? Most of us aren't contributing anyway, wouldn't us spending money at the theatre actually help out the economy then?
Did they use FreeBSD to render the special graphics for this movie like they did with The Matrix? I hope so, for FreeBSD is truly a wonderful cost-effective solution.
I would imagine the resulting increase in entertainment spending may help offset the reduced work output by the crazy Star Wars fans who don't seem to notice that "Attack of the Clones" is also the name of a kid's cartoon.
Challenger, Gray and Christmas based its projection on the assumption that a random cross section of the American population will see the movie
Great assumption!
The Searchers... staring Jar Jar Binks. The last scene, with his ears flopping in the wind standing in the doorway!
"She be comanch-a--wwooobbeeedo---!"
Someone you trust is one of us.
Crud, I shoulda took a vacation day, instead I am going to the late showing.
I should lose no more productivity than I do on an average day.
I would say the Diablo II cost more in the IT sector than AotC will, as far as productivity goes.
"Stay Awhile, and listen..."
(/local/home/curiosity)-#who -u|grep thecat|cut -c 44-49|xargs kill -9
Congress just voted on a $31 billion farm subsidy bill which benefits mainly large agricultural corporations. Here $300 million is "wasted" over a few million people.
All I have to say is, that's a lot of money, and this is a very, very stupid estimate. I've gotta start making up stupid crap like this to get into the news.
The argument in the article is fundamentally flawed. In the US, as in most countries I think, employees typically have a fixed number of sick days, vacation days and/or personal days. Claiming that Attack of the Clones will somehow increase the total number of such days taken in 2002 by a non-negligable number is just plain silly. If an employee doesn't take vacation or call in sick on Clone Day, then surely he/she will make up for it some other time.
26d6173bbc9af7cfdb7ce60600e6aded518bfe51acca9a84a
The only line I'll be standing in is my gnuttella queue :P Sure I'll go when my friends decide to make an event of it but other than that I wouldnt miss my exams for this...
A smart company would just take their office to go see the matinee and lose 2 hours of productivity and the price of admission rather than lose an entire day for a bunch of "sick" workers. It's not like anything gets done in the afternoon anyways.
Geeks tend to work more than 40 hours a week anyways - or at least work at places that don't enforce a 9 to 5 schedule.
Besides, I've heard most of the folks who are already lining up are being sponsored by local businesses or radio stations.
$300M...yeah, whatever. Somehow, I think the opening day of Baseball does more "damage".
How willing do you think geeks would be to work for the half week the company said "No one may leave to go see Attack of the Clones. That's what the weekends are for."
If I were in charge (Sun take note...I get the feeling you could use some new higher-ups!), I'd rent out a theater or two and make the geeks attend! It'd be good for morale...and good morale gets people working harder and faster!
Check out the picture they're running at starwars.com Hot damn!
My experience is that the high tech industry is pretty laid back about time off. I'm confident that if I wanted to take the afternoon off for something I considered important that I could simply do so and promise to make the time up. Even more likely, I probably already put in extra hours the night before. I certainly wouldn't feel any need to lie about it. How easy would it be for you?
Miko O'Sullivan
I guess I should just get tickets for the whole office so that we can all conform to the norm.... I will even get tickets for the sales people... and that dude that seems to be tagging along who works for a ?telephone company?
At least not around here, as most of the geeks are unemployed, and those with jobs are too scared to play hooky.
A well-crafted lie appears unquestionable - Dama Mahaleo
"Anything is better than IE, and you can quote me on that." -- Wil Wheaton.
I believe that what that means is that they based it on the average day wages of a random cross section of america,
Notice, that it says about 300 million will be lost, but if 2.6 million geeks call in sick, and they all work in IT, imagine what their day wage is, let alone what will happen when thousands of computer systems go down. Of course, some might be working in engineering, or other geeky professions, but these people still usually make over 100 dollars in wages a day.
And the companies always make more money off the worker than they pay them on average,
but an average of a random section of society may make only 100 dollars in wages a day.
Disclaimer:The "Human" attached to this account is unresponsible for anything unless it wants responsibility.
Why is it that there are always studies like this of the "geeks", but there's nothing representative of the other masses? Shouldn't someone do a study of stuff like this when a Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts film hits the theaters and millions of housewives, secretaries and others flock to see it?
What about take-your-daughter/son-to-work day? I wonder how much that costs us?
How about what it costs us ever time Clinton stopped to get a h$mmer.... If that's not a massive waste of cash, what is?
Isn't this just more geek bashing?
Joel, if you can read this, stop wasting time on slashdot, and get your ass back to writing that review!
What signature defines me as a person?
Osama Bin Laden could only wish. There are lies, damn lies, and marketing generated statistics. If there was such a thing as an "employment expert", I think they would have, by now, figured out the whole unemployment problem and solved it. Three hundred million bucks in lost productivity? The 9/11 atrocity is estimated at 1.2 billion dollars in economic damage to US worker productivity, not counting lost jobs, from what I have read. To say that Star Wars is going to do 1/4 of the economic damage as September 11th might send Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge's color coded domestic terrorism scale to RED causing him to ban all showings before 6pm local time.
Write this one off to cheap and easy journalism recycling a press release. If this is true, however, I expect to see George Lucas at Gitmo in the next month.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Let me (hopefully) be the first to announce that SlashDot discussed this when Episode 1 came out. Slash linked to an article that's still there. It talked about the same Chicago company, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, that publicised EP2 estimates. They were almost the same numbers for EP1.
_______
2B1ASK1
What about all positive impact of the movie? I'm speaking of all the merchanise that will be sold, extra buckets of popcorn and large drinks, promotional tie-ins and so on.
Granted, most of the money will end up in George's pockets, but the middle man will still make a few extra bucks.
This could open up the job market a little for those of us who understand priorities in the real world...
Shift happens. Fire it up.
They're still using personal days that would be used anyway. It doesn't make any difference whether they're used for Star Wars or anything else.
You know, like a nerd blackout. Perhaps it would boost tech's salaries. At least nerds who don't like starwars :-)
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
Does Slashdot have any clue how much they cost employers around the world?! It could be in the billions of dollars a year!!
The journey is better then the end.
Does it count for lost productivity if your boss closes the company for the afternoon? I guess so. But I'm still looking forward to it...
a delorean.
will be the loss of productive Slashdot reading time due to the inevitable new round of Natalie Portman Hot Grit posts!
Does anyone have a link so I can find a list of theaters with digital projection? I ask, of course, because I want to see Ep2 in a digitally equipped theater.
People need to relax, have fun, and enjoy life. That both makes them more productive when they do work, and it gives them a reason to earn money.
Companies prepare for this when they give you sick/vacation time. By giving you that time they've already accounted for the lost productivity and agreed to pay you anyway.
Everyone knows that vacation days are for vaction, and sick days are for when you just don't want to go in.
This time round little appears to have changed and in America fans have already been queueing for weeks outside cinemas to get their tickets.
Queuing up for weeks eh? I don't know about the rest of the Starwars fans but I didn't have to queue at all for my Starwars Episode 2 tickets. In Sydney Australia, Kings Comics often organises premier nights for geek/comic related movies and these are announced on their email list. When it came to Episode 2 they announced it the night before and luckily my email addiction paid off because I managed to get two tickets before they sold out within 12 hours.
I notice that Star Walking the Australian Stars Wars socities is also organising premiere screenings. So assuming that other socities around the world do the same what's all this talk of hardcore fans queueing for weeks? Is it just something some fans do show off their dedication, and sometimes to also earn money for charities?
aus.music.scrapbook
Yes I do
Maybe I will in fact continue my boycott of RIAA/MPAA.
I don't know. When Ep1 came out, one office mate took the day off to wait for tickets. Then all three of us took the day off to go see it.
As much as I think that Ep2 will be much better, I think that if Ep1 was a lot better the figure would be $600m.
Cost the economy??? I don't think so.
Just "redirected."
Remember: "The Force can have a strong influence on the weakminded."
Hey, I'm glad to see that every aspect of our lives is being given a dollar value, right down to entertainment. If kids want to call in sick to work so they can go see a movie, who cares? It's part of humanity that we occasionally like to goof off and shirk our duties for a couple days a year. I weep for your bottom line, truly. Sniff.
Just a warning: don't ever fall in love, kids. Time spent daydreaming at work about that girl you saw at the grocery store could seriously affect your project being on time. And we all know which is more important.
...when half of us are out of work anyway?
Ryosen
One man's "Troll, +1" is another man's "Insightful, +1".
doing this all the time
shameless
tcd004
The star wars bug is already hitting me and costing my employer tommorow my day at work...I just rented the original trillogy and episode I. Dont think ill make it tommorow.
The thing is, if I go and see Episode II, and it's anywhere near as horrible as Episode I, I won't be faking it when I call in sick.
You can mulitiply that number by at least 10 people that won't be able to work without your help.
:)
Now Science Fiction Tax makes sense.
So to help the MPAA and Valenti get more money to help
keep the DMCA into law and the US Constitution thrown out.
Thanks, QED. Unfortunately, I have to drive from Mid Michigan all the way to Ohio. Better start planning now :)
from going to see the movie at least 10 times. 9 bucks a visit, plus food, plus my girlfriend will want to at least see it once, plus all the episode 2 shit I going to buy, then all the work I am goign to miss. This movie is going to cost me a lot!!!
I'll talk for hours about how crappy this movie will be.
This kinda of assumes that you have or can find a job.
Since it's Attack of the Clones and all, why don't we just send our own clones in to work in our stead?
"For success, it is essential you have Thunderball Fists." "I can have such a thing?" "That's right. Thunderball Fists."
1 Large Red Tent: $140 1 DVD Equipped Laptop for Entertainment for a month of waiting in line: $2,204 4 Tickets to Star Wars Episode 2: $40 4 Nacho Chip theater combos: $51 Waiting one month to see a the premier of Star Wars Episode one: Priceless There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, use cash.
Canadian Cynic, canadian politics is less boring than you
I don't know a whole lot about how this works yet, but it seems to me that in awarding sick days, companies would have already planned for this. Don't they expect people might take days off? This just happens to be everybody leaving on the same day.
I understand that other factors might be involved, such as not having enough employees available to run a piece of equipment, but that's not what they're talking about. Raw wage calculations should have been taken care of already.
Yes?
No to mention the awfulness of Jar Jar Binks..
Here's hoping Episode 2 is better. I'll play it safe and catch it matinee...
"Slashteam": can we please moderate stories, already?
Want to exercise your voice in choosing the stories on a popular tech/culture board? You can.
Will I retire or break 10K?
...from standing in line to buy tickets for TPM. This was in Gainesville Fl and lines werent allowed to form until that morning, so this prolly isnt as extreme as most citys. I hung out with like 10 different ppl who were skipping out of work to be ther that day (one guy even got fired over the phone while he was waiting in line - dumbass).
We had it all...liquer, tent, pizza. Best fucking line ive ever been in.
I wonder if these are the same buffoons who calculate damages due to software piracy - aka the nebulous experts. If they really want to tabulate wasted productivity, send a team over to Disneyland. I mean, you got schmoes waiting for hours to get in a metal bucket that shakes through a hallway of Indiana Jones decor.
In that case Phantom Menace must have been close to destoying western culture as we know it.
Science may someday discover what faith has always known.
Yeah, appointment, disappointment... very clever.
One company I worked at had the problem that employees perceived sick leave just like you said: it's just vacation with a different name. The CEO had to hold a meeting to explain that sick leave is for "things that have to be taken care of now". If I wanted to take off an afternoon for a movie, I might use vacation, I might arrange to make it up, I wouldn't use sick leave.
Miko O'Sullivan
The guys who wrote the article must be the same people who calculate how much money the music industry has lost because of file sharing.
... how much does Slashdot cost the economy? :)
Why exactly is Star Wars a 'geek' thing? The only thing geeky about it is the fact that it's set in space, but imo the basic story could easily be transposed/transferred onto Earth. That article is retarded.
WHY IS IT SO?
My school's alumni association rented out the local theatre for graduating seniors. We get to see the movie opening day for free. It almost makes up for our school not providing any help in finding a job... actually it doesn't but still it's kinda neat.
There's no emoticon for what I'm feeling!
Yoda then unleashes a combination of spins, slashes, and jumps so overwhelming I think my heart stopped.
This, from someone old enough to have a job. Get a grip, Sparky; it's a puppet.
Thanks. I take pride in my work. It is not a troll. More just complete and utter nonsense.
If sitting through Jar-Jar's scenes directly results in periods of prolonged wretching accompanied by violent mood-swings in a large percentage of Star Wars fans, does that constitute adequate grounds for calling in sick? I think it does.
BTW, where I live it is somewhat of an inside joke. There was a restaurant that for months had a sign that loudly proclaimed "YES!! WE HAVE YAKISOYBA!" as if they were constantly accosted by calls asking if they had yakisoyba.
each day tech geeks visit slashdot.org and waste seconds, minutes, hours per week,,
shame on you!
You should be proud that geekish people are going out into public to view a movie for a change.
It will likely be a slow day at work anyhow, what with all the IT types out of the building.
Or maybe the lone clueless guy left holding the fort in tech support will have to handle all the calls usually reserved for the whole department.
On the other hand, it is not like you couldn't arrange some vacation time or a personal day or something. I would think it would be worth it.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Pistons win it!!! Pistons win it!!! Pistons win it!!!
Starwars is that kind of movies that geeks and non-geeks can enjoy. So it makes a good excuse for a mini-social event.
:)
In my case, all the company is going at the same time (well those who are interrested) ( 20, people, easy to organize), it makes a social event, it reservces me the seat to the back of mine so that way if it's someone that I already know that is going to kick in my chair, I'll have full authority to choke him in his popcorn without fearing that the next 10 other people next to him are his street friends and are going to wait for me outside after the movie
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
This article is ridiculous. Geeks taking a day or half day to watch star wars aren't any more harmful to the economy than construction workers taking the day off to watch a day baseball playoff game, or more likely having a hang-over from drinking and watching Monday Night Football.
Thank you Dave Raggett
and kill the page-widening troll while at it.
I'm thinking that the projected total of geeks playing hooky to go se AotC multiplied by the cost of admission to the theater would amount to greater than $300 million. I'm wondering if someone could provide an estimate on the total of geeks playing hooky and also obtain the average price of the movie ticket and then multiply the two. It will be interesting to compare the two numbers.
Any mention of how much money Episode II will bring in? It seems to me that this thing will probably bring in as much, if not more, than Episode I did. And how much money DID Episode I bring in? Well, according to the IMDB, The Phantom Menace raked in $431m domestically by January of 2000. Then you add in worldwide grosses, plus video sales and rentals, plus merchandising, etc., etc., etc. So while software companies and games stores may have one day of lost productivity (which, if they pay for sick days anyway, they should be able to afford), George Lucas is doing more good than harm to the economy. Notice I said to the economy. The movie itself might still suck.
"I think you guys with quotes in your signatures should go have an original thought." -- Dan Miller
In Japan, they require by law that events this popular (Dragon Quest games) get moved to Sunday. Should we do the same?
Why can't people just go to the movie _after work_?
Bah, I've already downloaded it.
30,000
/. about how George Lucas owes them a better movie
100,000 to wait in line
100,000 to buy action figures
70,000 to buy the special set of dvds with "never before seen footage"
10,000 to complain at
10,000 to cheer when the N'sync jedis get killed
10,000 to complain that my addition is bad when it's really just a typo
testing out my trending skills
Ok, so the proportion of geeks who go for the movie is N, and when movie comes out, it will be very close, or over N. Now, imagine all companies that actually have *real* projects going on now, that will affect company bottom line.
Geeks who take a day or two off, even sick is not going to add too much more to businesses who are overrun with problems of overzelaous managers, poor project management and overall opaqueness in communications channels of the company. Does this remind you of your own company? We booboo, many people ride to their fame on announcing the bad and the evils of the world, riding waves created by bigger causes like large corporations with large promotional budgets.
At the end geeks who will attend the movie will have great time and will code better in weeks to come. Now was that accounted for?
Oh wait, tomorrow our economy may collapse because maybe binladen has biologial weapons capsules planted in water distribution systems of possible large cities of western world.
I'm sure there's some academic terms for these, but some people(idiots) like to simplify the calculation without making proper assumption.
:/
They assumed that they must be doing something productive if they are not watching movies. Hell, they might spend more unproductive hours elsewhere.
Same ill-logic can be found everywhere. I saw in yeasterday's news the local custom confisticated piracy software which said to be causing 15 billions net lost of software industry. 15 billions! It's many times more than the total revuene made by all industries here!
It sounds like all people would buy a $5000 software if they couldn't find a $5 in piracy market. I know they should make it a big deal to attract public attention, but sadly some people(idiots) would believe these figures.
These are the kinds of figures people like to tout when talking about how much damage the latest Outlook Virus/Worm has caused. It infected 100,000 computers, requiring 30 minutes/computer = 50,000 hours lost, bla bla bla. At this rate, "the economy" must be churning out trillions of dollars a year, which makes $300m a good sound bite, but a drop in the bucket as the economy goes. I mean, an afternoon off? How much do you think that can really hurt the economy? If that's the case, maybe we should cancel July 4th, because that's a whole day off!
Unfortunatly, the brainiacs at the Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 Megaplex in Irvine, California decided that this month and next would be a good time to transform the theater with the digital projector into a "stadium" theater. That means no SW:AOTC in digital there.
Works for me, even when I am in the office.
testing out my trending skills
in a related story, a $300 million economic boost was seen in the tech sector when /.'s servers went down for a day.
so what's the joke? i know it's some kind of noodle.
we'd all be walking on streets paved with gold.
While hallucinating from lack of sleep.
So what am I supposed to be doing to help the economy today, producing, or spending my income on leisure consumer goods? You can't have it both ways boys and girls.
Hey, I've got a neat idea. I'll just * do what I want.* I think there's a term for that:
Democratic Free Market
Man, we don't want anything like *that* getting lose in the American economy!
KFG
I have friends in the IT business who haven't been to work for about a year.
Not because they're waiting in line for tickets, but because they're unemployed.
I wonder how much that's costing the economy.
To think that just three years ago, my employer would give everyone the day off for big events -- 2-3 times a year.
That company is long gone now--sold off--and all the people I know from there (as well as myself) have had big benefit cuts.
Gone are the days of the hope of Java and the joy of seeing a Kim Polese presentation.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
See my user info for links.
I WILL go see the movie, however I will go a week or two later and buy a ticket to another movie. the last thing I want is for him to some of my money. He fucked up EP1 too much.
if you want "No More Hiroshimas" then I say "You First. No More Pearl Harbors."
Is anyone else sick of the anti star wars sentiment around here? Of course everybody is entitled to their own opinion but come on. I am getting pretty excited for ep2. While ep1 may had a few parts that i wish it didn't, I still enjoyed it. I bought the dvd. During the pod race I felt like a little kid.
I hate to break it to you but nothing is ever going to top a childhood favorite. And lets be honest. The original trilogy didn't feature the best dialog either. Fuzzball anyone? The point is that it is supposed to be fun. People take it too seriously these days. I mean when you have people claiming jedi knight as their religion, nothing new is ever going to live up to fanatical expectations.
I'm ready to see the next story from a galaxy far far away. Bring on the saber battles!
-matt
Ron Epstein, owner of the Home Theater Forum has a good review online.
A choice quote:
I won't waste any time in saying that Attack Of The Clones is the most remarkable Star Wars film to date. It not only breathes new life into the series, but it brings us back to the original magic that made Star Wars a cultural phenomenon. It is ultimately the Empire Strikes Back of this new saga, that takes us to the darkest corners of the Star Wars universe, as we come face-to-face with the master plan of Darth Sidious.
Just got back from the Ziegfeld showing.. Much better than Episode I.
..and Natalie.. (she's legal now!)
After getting burned by Episode I, I won't necessarily be rushing out to see Episode II right away. Although I'm sure I'll see it not terribly long after it comes out.
But I will go see an afternoon matinee of Spider-Man on opening day (later today, Friday May 3). I've been waiting years for that movie. I grew up on Spider-Man (got my first Spidey comic when I was about 6). I just wanna say, the movie better not suck.
As for skipping out of work, I teach at Cornell. Fortunately, today is Slope Day at Cornell, the last day of classes. On Slope Day, all the students go get drunk on the big hill by the main library. It's quite a spectacle. Anyway, no one will notice/care if I take off early, and most of the students will be drunk on the slope, so I'm hoping the theater won't be too crowded (and especially hoping it doesn't fill up with drunken students).
(As a former Cornell grad student, I've participated in plenty of Slope Days myself. For this one, I'll check it out, but won't be drinking.)
Uh...how many of us are contractors? I'm going to go see the movie opening day, but I won't be billing for it. I imagine that the proportion of contractors is much higher in IT...
Obviously, that won't have the same impact. I'll probably make up the hours somewhere else in the week.
The older I get, the last confidence I have in the ability of "authority"...
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
My experience is that the high tech industry is pretty laid off.
c-hack.com |
Won't Star Wars make that money back? A lot of it will go right back into the economy (minus a hefty sum George Lucas will pocket). As shitty as Phantom Menace was it still made $925,600,000 worldwide. I think that more than compensates. Now there could be argument made that the world will become dummer from ditching classes to go to Star Wars (that's what I am doing).
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
Here. There are also all the Star Wars trailers in the download area.
Click here or here.
$300 million dollars sounds like a lot, but it helps to put the number in perspective. Consider that the 1999 U.S. GDP was $9,248,000,000,000. Subtracting $300M from the US economy of $9,248B is similar to subtracting $1.62 from a person's $50,000 annual salary. That's peanuts.
This is not Flame Bait.
I have NEVER understood any sci-fi fan's infatuation with Star Wars. I mean it's really crappy. YES, it was a special effects treat when it started and the masses luved it. But let's FACE IT. The following movies have done nothing with that popular sci-fi genre acceptance and at worse, played to the fuzzy-wuzzy film going public.
If anything, the continued Star Wars series has only reduced the sci-fi genre down to the CRAP the masses ingest with their McDonalds hamburgers.
Now, on a positive note to avoid the Troll label, I point to the final season of Space Above and Beyond, the Matrix(yes, we said it) Gattaca, ect. Good quality uses of the genre. NOT stupid muppets, bad acting, and a plot derivative of a high school drama club!
Ya Sure! You Betcha!, The_THOMAS
Did they even figure out if the show is going to be happening at the location they picked?
http://www.waitingforstarwars.com/
those reviews are faker than the one on somethingawful.com
So if I take the day off it cost the economy $300M in "lost productivity. What about the fucking 16-hour days/7-days a week I've been putting for the last 10 years? Fuck them. Fuck them with a royal toilette plunger. Now I'm taking the whole fucking week off.
It sounds like those fucking bogus "piracy reports". "China is robbing the US billions in pirated software". Like those fucking Chinese would ever buy Autocad or Oracle, or whatever. Considering that the cost of one of these packages is the equivalent of the GDP of a median Chinese town, it is ludicrous to think they are affecting the economy.
Fuck them all (can you tell I'm pissed? I think I was very subtle). Boneheads doing bathroom research while masturbating in front of a picture of the latest Yuppie BMW. Fuck'em.
No, seriously. As far as I can tell, Jar-jar's only REAL crime was being the only character in the first movie with a personality of any sort (the fact that the personality in question was that of an annoying muppet only made this fact more painful, as it meant HE was the only character a semi-sane human being could relate to...which of course, nobody wanted to do...).
His speech and voice aren't really much sillier than Yoda's (and Yoda didn't even have the gee-whiz CGI effects to to keep him from being such an obvious puppet). His slapstick antics weren't really any more annoying than R2D2/C3P0's (heck, the "how rude!" schtick just REEKS of C3P0) were in the original movies...but in the original movies, the main characters HAD personalities that outshone the 'droids, so they weren't so "glaring". In TPM, it just made Jar-jar stand out way more than he would have if the other characters weren't acting like emotionless drones most of the time...
From the brief blurb in the review, it sounds like Lucas is still keeping Jar-jar in the "annoying comic relief" category (though for only a very brief appearance this time)...but I'd much rather they actually let Jar-jar develop beyond that. Seriously - if they let him hang around the other characters long enough, they can have him lose the more outrageous aspects of his speech, get a grip on his tendency to comically panic everytime something happens, and accomplish something once in a while. Or, perhaps he'll just get fed up with the abuse he gets from the alleged "good guys" and give in to the Dark Side - perhaps Lucas' "Big Plans" involve Jar-jar coming back as a vengeful Sith to kick everyone's butts for tormenting him in the first two movies while letting R2D2 and C3P0 do their thing without comment (evidently, they're back in this movie as well).
(If Jar-jar using Magic Force Powers(tm) seems improbable to you, take a look at this article. It may just be that Lucas overdid Jar-jar's "fool" act as much as he overdid the Jedi's "calm and cool" act in the first movie...)
Now if only someone will found the Association for Prevention of Cruelty to Comedy Sidekicks, we'll be in business...
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
By just going to the starwars.com website you get a MAJOR spoiler. It's obvious princess Amidala screws Anakin over and goes to the dark side with Sidious.
:o)
Dear Pathetic Drones,
Thanks for seeing this movie! I'll be using your money to find new ways to piss on the Bill of Rights! While you're being distracted by entertainment, my army of lobbyists will be hard at work. Don't be surprised if some new laws get passed while you're waiting in line! After the movie, when you're busy cleaning the spooge off of your crusty sweatpants, I'll be getting a blowjob from an 18-year-old hooker, paid for with YOUR MONEY! Thanks!
Sincerely,
Jack Valenti
what about the worthless, oxygen-thieving fucktards who really believe that camping out in line for months on end will somehow add meaning to their useless lives? I'm actually happy that they're not contributing to the economy.
If you guys are reading this, guess what? George Lucas DOES NOT CARE about you. You are NOT going to be invited to his ranch. You will NOT be famous, other than to be an object of ridicule. Lucas WILL NOT be asking you for advice on the next film. Fifty years from now, when you look back on your empty lives and wonder what happened, remember these words.
This is just another PR stunt by a firm to get lots of coverage by tying its name to the Star Wars brand. It worked the first time around and the numbers were shown to be wildly exaggerated.
0 .h tml
Episode I had 20 years of anticpation built up so the idea of people skipping out of work to see it was plausible.
After audiences discovered that Phantom Menace was less than spectacular it's doubtful masses of people will skip out of work to see Attack of the Clones a mere 3 years later, especially because it will be playing at every multiplex all summer.
Still, the PR stunt seems to be working the second time around because it is being picked up by various media outlets, including Slashdot.
Funny, since John Fluevog's Open Source shoes story over at Red Herring says...
'Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, cofounder of the open-source site Slashdot.org, calls it a "PR stunt. I ignore stuff like that."'
http://www.redherring.com/insider/2002/0424/278
Geek-magnet, blockbuster movie events like AoTC only happen once in a while, whereas slashdot happens every single day. Why doesn't somebody do a study on how much slashdot costs the economy?
This is the sort of people that run pstwo.net. Great folk, apparently. Very in-tune with netiquette...
Empoyment experts also estimate that sex costs the US economy over 1.4 trillion dollars in lost production.
Dallas-based recruitment firm Gray, Limp, and Lifeless Corp. projects that over 40 million man-hours per day are lost because
of fatigue and injury due to the previous night's sexual activities, and because of lost work caused
by thinking about sex in the forthcoming night. According to CEO Dick Lifeless, "Tens of thousands of sick days result from painful contusions and spained backs alone, caused by these slacker's propensity for wild, excessive sex".
Mr. Lifeless told Reuters that only technology firms were likely to be immune to the economic losses, because of the high proportion of geeks among staff, who were likely to be spending the night alone, eating pizza, reading slashdot, and web-surfing for pornography.
Camping out weeks ahead of time versus normal life, decisions to live by.
A warm cozy bed or air mattress and sleeping bag.
Free living or oodles of loitering fines.
Three warm meals a day or eating M.R.E. packs.
Pooping in porcelain or dehumanizing yourself by crapping in a chemical toilet.
Hot showers or reeking worse than a sewage plant.
I rest my case.
Despising the living crap out of you. --ManBeef
The US loses $750 billion in productivity and revenue every day due to employees going to the bathroom and refilling coffee mugs every day.
To counter this, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has recommended that all coffee machines include meters as well as toilets and urinals, along with seats to enforcing work ethics via electrode embedded toilet seats.
The rubber pants, cork, spackling and caulk industries have applauded this suggestion, foreseeing an explosion in demand for their products.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
so I guess they really are geniuses and not a bunch of mindless, conformist ants.
I (when I had a job) always thought that sick days should be treated like holidays. I mean you get a maximim allowance per year of them, so why not use them?
You should be able to book them in advance too:
"Erm, Jack's taking that week off with 'flu, could you take the week after that ? Actually, if you wait until two weeks on Friday, I can let you have ten days off with prostate trouble. OK? I'll pencil you in..."
graspee
You haven't even taken into account the taxation of the trade routes by the trade federation. that $300m could balloon to 500m in no time.
i am one the few geeks (with a life) wait in line to see the latest installment in the star wars movie. i am planning will wait until its releast on dvd. unless my nerds friends kidnap me. and force me watch it
Slashdot causes at least this much in lost productivity, every week.
dominionrd.blogspot.com - Restaurants on
It's a good thing us trekkies will be at work whilst those fantasy nerds goof off.
Warp 3, Mr.Sulu (but will that be way too slow?)
random recruitment agency exec #1 - argh! our revenues are through the floor! How will we afford advertising?
RRAE #2 - I know, let's make up some bullshit press release and ride on the coattails of the "geek culture" fantasy.
RRAE #1 - I love you, Phil
-- Proud descendant of semi-nomadic cattle-herders.
Not me, I have immunity. The Phantom Menace made me so sick, that I will never get that bug again.:-)
I think it's time for people to stop putting a price tag in everything.
Unfortunately, I have to drive from Mid Michigan all the way to Ohio. Better start planning now :)
Yeah, who would have thought that the Valley View, OH Cinemark would have this capability? Not I, and I've lived in CLeveburg most of my life.
The downside is, if you go the the link, they DO offer advanced ticket sales, but only for confirmed films and showtimes. SWep2 hasn't appeared on their radar yet, apparently, because the website has nothing and they will give me no info on the phone. Come on; it's less than two weeks away!!
-Roger
SlashSigTheorem: Humorous, Political, Critical, Constructive- If you have a
So because of star wars we'll see a bunch of people play hookie and go see a movie. That may "cost" the economy 300+ Mil, but with all the toys, ticket sales, various other memoribilia ( from underwhere to mouse pads) how much is star wars bringing back into the economy. I'm sure it's a lot more than a measly 300 Mil. just my 2 cents though. -
Later,
Phil
Wait, the calculation assumes that you only fit in one of those categories! Personally, I'm a Nerd and a Geek and would love to be a propellorhead. So the real figure must be much closer to $1B. Then again, we haven't included all the time 13 year old boys spend pulling down trailers, or the time 12 year old girls spend pining over our young darth vader, or.... Well you get the idea!
And to back up my beliefs, I have two different non-SE widescreen versions of all three movies (notice I didn't say four) on glorious laserdisc.
So all those of you who still haven't seen Episode 1, come out of the closet and admit to the world: I am Jar-Jar free!
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
The whole assumption of this story is sick and twisted.
"Time Not Spent Working Is WASTED ! We must work MORE !"If solitaire wasn't essential to the OS why is it in all the Server installs like NT, W2K etc...
Elfod
ÓÕ
Random quote: 8632 Dances With Tribbles: Stomp SQUEAK Stomp SQUEAK
Fnord! Any sufficiently undocumented code is indistinguishable from magic.
I am lucky enough to only work 40 hours per week, but I know people with 2 jobs just so they can get by.
Minimum wage should be able to afford someone transportation, food, and a cheap appartment -- at 40 hours per week, and not 60+.
The upcoming Memorial Day Weekend will cost America 2 billion dollars due to paid holiday time, double time for those who work that day, movie tickets sold and the like.
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
Hell half the blokes going to see this movie will know everything there is to about the production anyway... even the endless hoards who think lucas should be put to death for the CRAP that was EP1. Being the exact same people who have all the toys sealed in tupperware in their basement.
Sadly, I will be seeing the movie, wouldn't miss any work to do so but, chances are it will be pretty good, not being able to find the thing on the internet, seeing all the previews, reading the script, knowing what all the cgi models look like and buying most of the toys.
I hope I don't have to spend the rest of the week trolling slashdot about how crappy such and such was like I did with last one
For the love of god, please please please, don't fuck this one up George
Pianist : Some jerk whos taught themselves how to type in rhythm
How many be were stimulated, in part, to become geeks because of movies from Luca, Speilberg and the like? The resulting technology boom more than paid paid back a few $300 million holidays, by a factor of 10,000 (3 trillion) or more growth in the economy. Bravo for new scifi movies to encourage further geekdom.
No one seems to consider how much money is lost due to corporate types who like to go to football games and sports bars. Imagine how much money is lost during a whole season/series. eeeesh.
Last night on "Politically Incorrect", the guy who plays Red on "That 70's Show" quoted the same amount lost due to mental illness!
*coincidence?*
Emacs: for people who just never know when to
"Atttack of the Clones may make you sick but according to this story, it will cost the US
economy $300 million in lost productivity what with all the nerds calling in with a bad case of
midiclorianitis. "
Bull, plain and simple. All the people missing either won't get paid, or they will make it up by working extra hours or working more efficently(not reading as much Slashdot!)
If they take a vacation day, that's not lost productivity as it will be used up someday.
Of course, the article doesn't seem to mention all the workers involved in every aspect of film that created jobs.
Statements like these drive me nuts.
Hmm... anyone for the Psychic Friends Movie Review Network?
Basically, The thing run like this, The scene opened in an empty office will all these phones started ringing of employees leaving messages on answering machines giving crazy excuses for not going to work. ie I can't come to work today because my taxi cab was kidnapped by aliens etc etc.
Now, this is all fair enough untill the tag line, "WOMEN can not be expected to work will such and such sale is on". Until I saw that ad I thought feminists, were just a bunch of militant lesbians as much as the next guy. But somthing about that was JUST PLAIN WROUNG. No one should market anything by drawing a generalisation about a group of people. To say somthing like "such and such" is a bad worker becasue they are "such and such" is as bad as saying all black people are gang members or jews are all mean with money.
In our society it is the person that counts not who they are. It is the invidual who decides if they should take the day off, and not some marketing crap thay says your a nerd and thus your life is about Star Wars. Thus you will skip work to see this movie because it is your life.
This article is really just a piece of marketing, but insidiously it's saying people who know a thing or two about computers (who doesn't these days) are all over weight nerds who live with in their mothers basement, have no life apart from everquest, and are basically lesser to us jocks and should be mocked between classes at high school.
That this was mirrored on slashdot, demonstrates how deep this "sterotype" has become.
Pianist : Some jerk whos taught themselves how to type in rhythm
no need to drive to ohio, you can see it on a digital screen at star southfield!
I wonder how much the motion picture "Tomb Raider" cost the geek population in health care and cosmetics? (lotion, tissue, wrist and elbow sprains, etc)
i think this just proves how essential us geeks are. time to take over i think
so has someone analyzed how much "lost productivity" that crap has cost us? especially for the droves of bubbas and skeeters that call in sick from drinking too many cases watching the game???
*hiccup*
;)
Is it just me, or is the Star Wars franchise being attacked from all quarters here? I mean first they tear down the Lucas claim to Cambellesque "mythos." Then they go on the offensive and and say the story is a fascist fantasy. Then they claim the certain characters are racist stereotypes! Now they are considering the economic impact of the movie (i.e. "Can we really afford this kind of entertainment?") What's next? A Star Wars tax?
What about all the merchandise that *won't* be sold if AOTC sucks, much as there are still warehouses full of TPM stuff. It seems to me that a more credible source of lost revenue would be the *unsold* merchandise because *somebody* had to pay to make all of it. If they then don't sell it, they've lost money. However, as has been mentioned elsewhere, most employers have sick/vacation/personal days that are used for this sort of thing.
We started going up a hill and there was another busload worth of people at the next stop. The driver didn't even slow down. Then I saw something that I had never seen before (outside of athletic events and cops'n'robbers type stuff): Brazillians running! People were sprinting up the hill to get to their homes in time for kick-off.
The same scenario was repeated for nearly every game. When they won the tournament the party lasted for days. It was estimated that Brazil's GNP suffered a $2 billion loss because of the World Cup that year.
Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, the team isn't as good this year, people down there don't seem too excited, and the country will likely not lose as much money as it did last time.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Last I heard, That vacation time was something I was ENTITLED to. Isn't that already built into the cost of employment? What Wharton-school, scientific-management-worshiping monkeyf@#$r would consider a day off negative to the economy? I'd just take it another day, what's the real difference?
Next, someone will start whining about the incredible impact of weekends...
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
All those geeks refreshing every 5 seconds to get first post...
It is estimated 100Million employees will take an average of an ENTIRE WEEK off work to see the latest installment of their local church's annual nativity. "This is a big event. It's seen as kind of foundational to their lives," said the analysis company's chief executive John Challenger
when will the insanity stop?!
What kind of geek are you who doesn't own every version of the trillogy and Episode 1 already? I mean, geez!!!
The people like me who are taking a legitimate VACATION day to watch the movie....That will not cost anyone anymore than if I were actually going on vacation....Well it will cost my kids a day of school, but hey it's Star Wars.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
I think the correct spelling is midiclorianTitis.
10 January 1610
I'm willing to bet that it brings more than 300 Million into the economy.
You have a fixed number of sick days?!
Geez, you guys must really plan your illness well. :-/
Over here (UK) you take time off sick if you need to. Short term, it's not a big deal. More than a week and most places want to see weekly doctor's notes confirming the necessity of continued absence, but it's still paid if justified. More than a few months and pay usually starts dropping off, though some places provide insurance against salary loss due to long term sick leave as part of their package.
I had an unusually high number of days off sick in my first year of full-time work, about 3x the average person's, but all were legit and most were caused by a recurring problem that would knock me out for a week at a time. My boss understood that and, while expressing mild concern at a review, otherwise overlooked it. Since then, I think I've had consistently below average sick time every other year, so I guess it balances out in the end.
If anyone over here was caught taking a sick day for something as lame as this, or working out some sort of "quota" to abuse the statutory sick pay, I imagine it would (quite rightly) be grounds for immediate dismissal. After all, why the hell should the healthy people work harder to make up the shortfall from some lazy guy who's not even sick?
Then again, I s'pose we all get at least 20 days' annual leave, whereas lots of you guys in the US put up with some abusive number so small you can barely even have a holiday. I seem to remember being attacked by US-based employees over this before, claiming that I was lucky to get so much (in spite of the fact that most of the western world gets much more leave than the US -- it's not like I'm unusual in that respect). Apparently some of you guys go for a "don't get mad, get even" policy, but in your situation, it's hard to blame you.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
I would have gone with midicloripenia, an unusual reduction of the midicloria (due to all the geeks at the theatre instead of work,) or midiclororhea, an excessive flow (from work) of midicloria.
And of course, if the movie sucks, all those poor geeks will return with midiclorodynia (should be evident from context.)
You know, I was watching Return of The Jedi on Fox last night, and I was wondering when John Ashcroft would decide to ban the movie because it supports terrorism.
I'm not calling in sick on the 16th, but I work at a high tech company, so someone probably will. I'll let you know then how empty our parking lot is.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
She sent out a memo last week saying that sick and vacation time will NOT be approved, nor will personal days, without doctors notices indicating illness the week of the release.
There is about 200 of us here, and though she may be a deathstar sized bitch (she really is a round thing, oh about 400 pounds), we decided instead to fuxor her in every way possible. The network is going to crash more that week than anyone has ever seen in the past five years, email is going to be misrouted, and I guarantee that all of her private email is going to be blind copied to the CEO who she hates and regularly disparages in her emails to her numerous fat friends.
I give her three days into the week before the management asks for her resignation. Even the verizon guy who works in house on our phone system is in on this one...
Her boss (one down from CEO) hates her anyway since she got her job through a lawsuit alleging that she was discriminated against due to her sex and looks (could not have been her shit attitude or amazing powers of stink since I doubt she has taken a bath in five or six days, let alone the food stains on her clothing).
TOASTY!!!!
Who the hell are you people to say what I can and cannot use my days off for? This costs the economy no more than it would if I took the day off to shave my cat or have my brain pierced!
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
I wonder how much it would cost if techies started insisting on an average 37-42 hours work week?
If it costs that much to let a bunch of people go and see Star Wars, how much is gained by other sectors that service the moveigoers?
Reminds me...gotaa buy some popcorn-company stocks.........
-.sig sauer-
It's not installed by default -- you have to select it in the custom install options.
...is the suggestion that we labor for the sake of an economy. I don't think you need to be a socialist to agree that an economy exists as an expression of the competing needs of society. Being an individual, I'll enjoy the cinema sans guilt.
This whole idea just seems so fucking neo-Calvinist.
I believe that the technical folks should show just how much money would be lost if we only worked 40 hours per week and did not take calls in the middle of the night and carry pagers and phones everywhere we go.
I'm all for being understanding at work, until it comes down to people being dumb about how my job. Then it is time to draw the line.
What do you say to the same week that "Attack of the Clowns" comes out? 40 hours, and all of our batteries mysteriously die after 5PM (huh, no I didn't get your call... oh hey, the battery is dead!)
:)
Well, as I arrived home this evening what greeted me in my mail but a big Star Wars pic with the caption, "See the movie in theaters May 16th. Get the merchandise now at WALL*MART"
Hmmm, I know it is one store but still I chuckled and thought of the above /. story.
I seek not only to follow in the footsteps of the men of old, I seek the things they sought.
They went on sale today, Friday May 3rd.
I'm going to see AOTC on Friday May 17th.
Excellent!
...is not even a word. According to GDict, anyway.
If you don't believe me, ask that guy over there.
I am always somewhat skeptical about enormous estimates of "lost productivity". Potential isn't actual. We can't lose what we haven't made yet.
... we have some good news and some bad news for you.
The good news is that you can start your vacation now.
The bad news is that your vacation has no end date.
Have fun! We won't miss ya!
:(
hawk
http://www.iamnotadramaqueen.com Attend a seminar the same day as Episode II. It just so happens that this seminar's at the same theaters as II. Nice. Is this legal?