What's the difference, experience-wise, between watching a movie in a theatre and renting/buying one?
Going to a theatre is immersive. There are (ideally - screaming children and cells aside) no distractions at a movie. You're completely involved with what's going on on-screen. Same thing happens in a play - they darken the theatre for a reason, and it's not to see the actors better.
Watching a movie in your typical living-room is completely different. You know you're watching a movie, you don't become as involved in it.
I think $10 for a movie is ludicrous (I grew up with a $4 second-run moviehouse on the corner of my street). I can't really afford it, but I go anyway. Why? Because it's a change of scenery, it's a night out, it's not sitting in my living-room. And because, for any given movie, I have a better shot of enjoying it in the theatre's immersive environment.
Therin lies the contradiction - why would corporations go through great lengths to exclude people with inferior genes, if those are not real indicators of performance?
Gee, I don't know - wonder why some people thing black people are inferior just because they're black (or green, or gay or whatever). That's what prejudice is - basing a judgement of someone on something arbitrary rather than experience, education level, etc.
There was a great episode of "This American Life" called Them that talks about this, particularly the last story.
From the show's description of this last story:
Act III: Newfies. Reporter Chris Brookes had always thought the story was a joke. During World War II, a black sailor from the U.S. washed up nearly dead onshore in Newfoundland, and the white nurses -- never having seen a black man -- thought he was covered in oil and tried to scrub him clean. But when Brookes finally tracked the sailor down, decades later, it turned the whole thing was true. And the sailor said that sort of treatment was a lot nicer than what he'd been used to at the hands of whites down south. Brookes tells the incredible story of the sailor, Lanier Phillips, and how his experience in Newfoundland changed his life.
Yeah, I know the feeling. I used my last modpoint yesterday. I hadn't had them in quite awhile before that. Probably because I check/. compulsively when I'm at work.
I tend to respond to posts that deserve some followup or that I disagree with instead of modding them, but one-liners or well-thought out posts I'll mod. If there's nothing to say, might as well. I guess that's why most of my mods tend to be +1 funny.:)
FYI, Ramjet's usually cheaper. I don't know what system you're running, but 512MB's of laptop RAM for my flatpanel iMac's user slot is $99 - Crucial lists it at $110 after a rebate.
Well, that depends on how old you are, doesn't it? I think I can guarantee that I'm quite a bit younger than you, not older.:)
I live and work in New York City. There was a starbucks across the street from (and inside of, but that doesn't count) the Barnes & Noble where I used to work. The coffee was ridiculously expensive and uniformly bad. There was a deli half a block from B&N's back door which served fresher, cheaper and (IMO) better coffee.
I grant you, I'm biased. As much as I dislike their coffee I detest their clientel even more. It sours the coffee a bit. It's like...yuppie heaven. I mean, there's a coffeehouse half a block from the starbucks that's better than their's. It's the sheep-mentality. Shudder.
Odd...I feel very young and very old at the same time. Counter-culture and crochety.:)
CD's (and their cases) take up a LOT of room - I just packed up two double-stacked crates of CDs to get 'em out of the way (they're all ripped anyway and the iPod takes care of the portability). I'd love a cd that can be played on a standard CD player (well, a tray or spindle one anyway) that's half the size of a normal disc and holds the same amount of audio. I don't think there's anything wrong with the FORMAT, just the BULK of it. The last thing I need is more big shiny disks. I buy 'em, rip 'em and store 'em. Smaller is ideal.:)
I'm still waiting for people to realise that Starbucks has nothing to do with selling coffee and McDonald's has nothing to do with burgers. Both businesses are in the real-estate / branding game. Starbucks sells awful coffee and yet it's a hit. Why? Because it's everywhere - starbucks buys up property left and right, sticks their store-fronts in 'em, and smothers local coffee houses with sheer marketing pressure. There was a great figure in harper's index a few months ago...(looking)...(can't find it. Damnit) well, it basically said that a huge number of Manhattan's hundreds of Starbucks' are within three blocks of another one. I don't think many places can coexist with that kind of marketing pressure.
I actually LIKE having my calendars on my iPod - it reminds me where my classes are, what my girlfriend's work/class schedule is if I'm meeting her somewhere and what homework I have due without the extra weight of a PDA. YMMV, of course, but I think it's a cute little addition that makes my life a little bit easier. Now if it could only record our conversations so I'd have the same stunningly accurate "But you said..." memory that she has I'd be set.:)
Now only ProTools and Digital Performer are left on the Mac OS 9 side
[rant]
Am I the only composer on the face of the planet who wants Finale to be ported to OS X? It's an industry standard for producing professional-quality scores. Their website says "Runs under classic mode," which I translate into "too much hassle to port." But there's a 2003 version. ARGH.
[/rant]
I have a NEW ten gig iPod with a touchwheel and "don't steal music" isn't anywhere on it. Not that I think it would be a bad move per se, it's just not there.
OS 10.1.x's midi interface was practically nonexistant - maybe I was missing something, but I couldn't get it to talk to my Roland JV-1080 at all. It works perfectly under 10.2
A friend of mine does exactly that at CompUSA. He uses a palm with a barcode reader to scan item barcodes and send them to a networked printer to print new price labels. Don't know exactly how it works tho.
It's from the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, "Mostly Harmless," by Douglas Adams (who died suddenly of a massive coronary last May.) One of the plot points revolves around how the discovery of a tenth planet (offically called Persephone, though usually known as Rupert after one of the planet's discoverers parrot) would effect astrology and horoscopes.
For the sake of geekdom everywhere -- If there's a tenth planet out there, it's gotta be called Persephone (I don't think Rupert would go over too well).
This sort of thing, reusing a soundtrack, happens all the time. Usually, when a trailer needs to be released to promote a new flick, the soundtrack for the movie hasn't been finalized yet. Whatever music you hear in a trailer is just filler (there's gotta be something there) - I just saw a preview (I can't remember what for - the trailer was before "Secretary")that used the "American Beauty Theme". It's a solid bet that "Lux Aeterna" won't appear anywhere in the finished movie.
Seeing how there's so much interesting information to be found on the net ('interesting' being good or bad, depending), what do you think about mandatory filtering on public (library, etc) computers? Whose responsability is it to decide what we can and can't see?
It's human nature, but it's a fallacy for young people to think that whatever music you listen to is in the majority. Even Britney's not the majority. It might be in 30 years, but it's not now. In a way, the record and radio companies are planning way in advance to clean up when the teenie-boppers come of age.
The majority right now is easy listening, classical and lite jazz. Elevator music. Billy Joel, Elton John, Kenny G, yada yada yada. Music people put on while doing dishes because it's comfortably ignored as background music. As time goes on the chaff will separate from the wheat and the 'best' stuff will stick around. That's how music works - we look at Beethoven as a singular event, but he wasn't: There were hundreds of other romantic composers, but the ones we have around now have stood the test of time, as cheezy as that sounds. He was part of a timeline and everything else gradually faded away because it really wasn't anywhere near as good.
A friend of mine has a sticker on his locker in the music department in college which said "It is a great tragedy that we don't have all the music ever written, but it is a greater victory that we don't have all of the music ever written."
In thirty years the musical landscape will be quite different than it is now. Britney will be easy listening. Billy Joel will be popular music like Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter are now. Duke Ellington, Cole porter et al will be considered classical (parts of Gershwin already are, it's just a matter of time).
Classical music doesn't just stop at 19?0. It will swell to engulf everything that lasts in the public conciousness for more than, say, 75 years. Hang onto your pants, kiddo.:)
here goes - I have an audible account and an iPod. Audible doesn't ship their files as mp3's - they're a propriatory format (.aa - AudibleAudio) that only work with computers you have an account set up on, up to three and you can't edit the files (like, to take out the "THIS...is AUDIBLE" intro to each track). BUT. You can copy the files to an iPod. You can burn them to a CD as audio (and technically rip it back, but it's a hassle, a waste of media and greatly increases the file size). You can do this an unlimited number of times. And if you cancel your audible account, you still keep the files.
Here's the question: is this GOOD DRM? Is there such a thing? (going on-topic) with the exception of emusic, I haven't seen a p2p alternative that isn't DRMed to the point of unuseability. I'll pay for MP3's on a per track basis (that's essentially what I do at audible) that I can load up on my portable or rip.
ok, call me crazy, but doesn't the Zire look an awful lot like an iPod? Hell, it looks like it was designed to match my flatpanel iMac and my iPod. AND...it's dirt cheap.
For sub-100 bucks, i'd prolly buy one in a heartbeat. It broke the pricepoint for me.:)
Slashdot Mirror
"Fine pewter portraits of Apathy and Major Boredom singin'...'Whatever and ever, Amen."
;)
You just got added to my friends' list for that one. Oh yeah, and I agree with what you were saying too. Right on. (But it's all about the Ben.)
Triv
What's the difference, experience-wise, between watching a movie in a theatre and renting/buying one?
Going to a theatre is immersive. There are (ideally - screaming children and cells aside) no distractions at a movie. You're completely involved with what's going on on-screen. Same thing happens in a play - they darken the theatre for a reason, and it's not to see the actors better.
Watching a movie in your typical living-room is completely different. You know you're watching a movie, you don't become as involved in it.
I think $10 for a movie is ludicrous (I grew up with a $4 second-run moviehouse on the corner of my street). I can't really afford it, but I go anyway. Why? Because it's a change of scenery, it's a night out, it's not sitting in my living-room. And because, for any given movie, I have a better shot of enjoying it in the theatre's immersive environment.
Triv
Gee, I don't know - wonder why some people thing black people are inferior just because they're black (or green, or gay or whatever). That's what prejudice is - basing a judgement of someone on something arbitrary rather than experience, education level, etc.
There was a great episode of "This American Life" called Them that talks about this, particularly the last story.
From the show's description of this last story:
Grab it. Give a listen.
Triv
Yeah, I know the feeling. I used my last modpoint yesterday. I hadn't had them in quite awhile before that. Probably because I check /. compulsively when I'm at work.
:)
I tend to respond to posts that deserve some followup or that I disagree with instead of modding them, but one-liners or well-thought out posts I'll mod. If there's nothing to say, might as well. I guess that's why most of my mods tend to be +1 funny.
Triv
welcome, friend. That first line of yours is gonna keep me smiling all night.
See you around.
triv
no clue. It's worked for me in the past, but I honestly have no idea how their quality compares with anyone's. :)
Triv
FYI, Ramjet's usually cheaper. I don't know what system you're running, but 512MB's of laptop RAM for my flatpanel iMac's user slot is $99 - Crucial lists it at $110 after a rebate.
:)
Triv
Well, that depends on how old you are, doesn't it? I think I can guarantee that I'm quite a bit younger than you, not older. :)
:)
I live and work in New York City. There was a starbucks across the street from (and inside of, but that doesn't count) the Barnes & Noble where I used to work. The coffee was ridiculously expensive and uniformly bad. There was a deli half a block from B&N's back door which served fresher, cheaper and (IMO) better coffee.
I grant you, I'm biased. As much as I dislike their coffee I detest their clientel even more. It sours the coffee a bit. It's like...yuppie heaven. I mean, there's a coffeehouse half a block from the starbucks that's better than their's. It's the sheep-mentality. Shudder.
Odd...I feel very young and very old at the same time. Counter-culture and crochety.
Triv
CD's (and their cases) take up a LOT of room - I just packed up two double-stacked crates of CDs to get 'em out of the way (they're all ripped anyway and the iPod takes care of the portability). I'd love a cd that can be played on a standard CD player (well, a tray or spindle one anyway) that's half the size of a normal disc and holds the same amount of audio. I don't think there's anything wrong with the FORMAT, just the BULK of it. The last thing I need is more big shiny disks. I buy 'em, rip 'em and store 'em. Smaller is ideal. :)
Triv
I'm still waiting for people to realise that Starbucks has nothing to do with selling coffee and McDonald's has nothing to do with burgers. Both businesses are in the real-estate / branding game. Starbucks sells awful coffee and yet it's a hit. Why? Because it's everywhere - starbucks buys up property left and right, sticks their store-fronts in 'em, and smothers local coffee houses with sheer marketing pressure. There was a great figure in harper's index a few months ago...(looking)...(can't find it. Damnit) well, it basically said that a huge number of Manhattan's hundreds of Starbucks' are within three blocks of another one. I don't think many places can coexist with that kind of marketing pressure.
Triv
I actually LIKE having my calendars on my iPod - it reminds me where my classes are, what my girlfriend's work/class schedule is if I'm meeting her somewhere and what homework I have due without the extra weight of a PDA. YMMV, of course, but I think it's a cute little addition that makes my life a little bit easier. Now if it could only record our conversations so I'd have the same stunningly accurate "But you said..." memory that she has I'd be set. :)
Triv
Now only ProTools and Digital Performer are left on the Mac OS 9 side
[rant] Am I the only composer on the face of the planet who wants Finale to be ported to OS X? It's an industry standard for producing professional-quality scores. Their website says "Runs under classic mode," which I translate into "too much hassle to port." But there's a 2003 version. ARGH. [/rant]
Triv
I have a NEW ten gig iPod with a touchwheel and "don't steal music" isn't anywhere on it. Not that I think it would be a bad move per se, it's just not there.
Triv
OS 10.1.x's midi interface was practically nonexistant - maybe I was missing something, but I couldn't get it to talk to my Roland JV-1080 at all. It works perfectly under 10.2
:)
Now all I need are apps. Finale'd be nice.
Triv
A friend of mine does exactly that at CompUSA. He uses a palm with a barcode reader to scan item barcodes and send them to a networked printer to print new price labels. Don't know exactly how it works tho.
Triv
It's from the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, "Mostly Harmless," by Douglas Adams (who died suddenly of a massive coronary last May.) One of the plot points revolves around how the discovery of a tenth planet (offically called Persephone, though usually known as Rupert after one of the planet's discoverers parrot) would effect astrology and horoscopes.
Hope that helps.
Triv
For the sake of geekdom everywhere -- If there's a tenth planet out there, it's gotta be called Persephone (I don't think Rupert would go over too well).
(We miss you, Douglas)
Triv
There's a haxie over at unsanity that will enable menubar hacking regardless of WHAT apple does to their API's. Just in case. :)
Triv
This sort of thing, reusing a soundtrack, happens all the time. Usually, when a trailer needs to be released to promote a new flick, the soundtrack for the movie hasn't been finalized yet. Whatever music you hear in a trailer is just filler (there's gotta be something there) - I just saw a preview (I can't remember what for - the trailer was before "Secretary")that used the "American Beauty Theme". It's a solid bet that "Lux Aeterna" won't appear anywhere in the finished movie.
Triv
Seeing how there's so much interesting information to be found on the net ('interesting' being good or bad, depending), what do you think about mandatory filtering on public (library, etc) computers? Whose responsability is it to decide what we can and can't see?
Triv
probably has something to do with the fact that they own a rather large record label?
(rant)
:)
It's human nature, but it's a fallacy for young people to think that whatever music you listen to is in the majority. Even Britney's not the majority. It might be in 30 years, but it's not now. In a way, the record and radio companies are planning way in advance to clean up when the teenie-boppers come of age.
The majority right now is easy listening, classical and lite jazz. Elevator music. Billy Joel, Elton John, Kenny G, yada yada yada. Music people put on while doing dishes because it's comfortably ignored as background music. As time goes on the chaff will separate from the wheat and the 'best' stuff will stick around. That's how music works - we look at Beethoven as a singular event, but he wasn't: There were hundreds of other romantic composers, but the ones we have around now have stood the test of time, as cheezy as that sounds. He was part of a timeline and everything else gradually faded away because it really wasn't anywhere near as good.
A friend of mine has a sticker on his locker in the music department in college which said "It is a great tragedy that we don't have all the music ever written, but it is a greater victory that we don't have all of the music ever written."
In thirty years the musical landscape will be quite different than it is now. Britney will be easy listening. Billy Joel will be popular music like Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter are now. Duke Ellington, Cole porter et al will be considered classical (parts of Gershwin already are, it's just a matter of time).
Classical music doesn't just stop at 19?0. It will swell to engulf everything that lasts in the public conciousness for more than, say, 75 years. Hang onto your pants, kiddo.
Triv
here goes - I have an audible account and an iPod. Audible doesn't ship their files as mp3's - they're a propriatory format (.aa - AudibleAudio) that only work with computers you have an account set up on, up to three and you can't edit the files (like, to take out the "THIS...is AUDIBLE" intro to each track). BUT. You can copy the files to an iPod. You can burn them to a CD as audio (and technically rip it back, but it's a hassle, a waste of media and greatly increases the file size). You can do this an unlimited number of times. And if you cancel your audible account, you still keep the files.
Here's the question: is this GOOD DRM? Is there such a thing? (going on-topic) with the exception of emusic, I haven't seen a p2p alternative that isn't DRMed to the point of unuseability. I'll pay for MP3's on a per track basis (that's essentially what I do at audible) that I can load up on my portable or rip.
Triv
ok, call me crazy, but doesn't the Zire look an awful lot like an iPod? Hell, it looks like it was designed to match my flatpanel iMac and my iPod. AND...it's dirt cheap.
:)
For sub-100 bucks, i'd prolly buy one in a heartbeat. It broke the pricepoint for me.
Triv
AWSOME. You just made my night. :)
Triv