Wisconsin residents are still obsessing with the minutia of everything Brett Favre related. I gave up regularly listening to sports radio two years ago, just to avoid hearing the never ending discussion of when Favre would retire.
These jackasses have been leading rallies to get Favre reinstated, which considering there’s an election looming and a war going still raging only make this fiasco even more ridiculous.
Having been a long time complusive music, movie, and book consumer, my new job at a used book store continues to educate on the ways of the buying public. While some of my co-workers and I enjoy the hunt, most of our customers want their copy of Eat, Pray, Love, that moment and more shockingly most don’t understand the how to go about looking for a book themselves if left to it.
We don’t order things. We don’t have to, and it helps business, because everybody always thinks they’ll be able to find a better deal somewhere. Who, though really wants to order from a store? It’s unnecessary. It’s a pain in the ass to order from a store. The internet allows for much more immediate gratification. Piracy is just the obvious byproduct of a generation with a short attention and enough technological knowhow to get what they want.
Hearing studios and record labels whine about losing money due to piracy only gets funnier when taken into consideration the number of critics who sell their promo swag to our store. We greet, with open arm the critics who come, loaded to the brim with advanced proofs, unopened cds, dvds, and boxed sets—some weeks before their street date.
There are no fools in these transactions.
The critics only have so much time and their periodicals or television or radio station gigs only give them so much space to discuss their views on this stuff. It’s not like they’re renting the products. We on the other hand are more than happy to buy the unopened Family Ties Third Season, that for whatever fucking reason Paramount thought this needed a critic’s attention2. Any attention it might receive is probably cheaper than creating an advertising campaign, but money is money and they’re they’re giving their product away. Should it make a difference if it’s Family Ties or an Arcade Fire album?Studios and labels exchange the chance at free publicity for the risk that their cherished product might get passed along to many people’s hands for free.
If someone was really that concerned about policing piracy and leakage why would screeners of There Will Be Blood be floating around and it would take nothing more than entering a few words into a Google to access it?
Also consider, as a critic, you’ve already sat through a press screening of say, Gone Baby Gone. You liked it enough. You wrote the review. Job done. Three months later it’s scheduled to be released on dvd. Padded envelope arrives, unsolicited, in your mail from the studio. Your media outlet doesn’t care to spare the space to revisit it or review the dvd. What do you do with it? Might as well make some money or gift it.
”The albums and videos and movies come quickly; they’re thoroughly checked by the community, they’re well organized, they have standards of quality, and they’re free. To beat that, you need to offer content that’s just as fast, just as good, just as organized, and then give something extra to compensate for the “free” part: higher quality bitrates, extra digital content, extra physical content (shirts, concert tickets, coupons). You can’t miss out any of these elements because your content will ultimately be worse than the stuff on Mininova or The Pirate Bay.
The industry stabs itself in the foot. They add those annoying “piracy is a crime” trailers to DVDs which you can’t skip and which just make you go and download the XviD version. They add DRM and rootkits to their media which makes pirated content, well, a 100 times better than theirs simply because it’s annoyance-free. They often have crappy online shops and support some weird media formats instead of using what most people use. Their content, simply put, sucks compared to pirated content.”
If studios and label wanted to put a dent into piracy they would be more accountable with their marketing and they’d take more attempts to secure their product.
This is more of an optimistic assertion than a gut feeling.[back]
and, without any bonus features beyond a gag reel and episodic promos who among us, who isn’t a M.J.F Fan or a Family Ties completist doesn’t feel cheated?[back]
as many of you can tell it is light on the extras as compared to my previous dvd releases.
everything at the studio was a struggle.
for instance: they didn’t want to do a commentary track cause they felt that it wouldn’t help sales.
i didn’t have it in me to fight anymore.
whatever.
so:
niko, my friend who did the doc on the dvd came up with a novel idea.
we recorded a commentary track ourselves.
we’re gonna post it on a site soon, http coming soon.
you can play it and watch the flick and hopefully you’ll enjoy it.
i do hope to do a big special edition at some point. but for that to happen the dvd is gonna have to sell.
i got a lot of extras in my bag so who know maybe if you all write to criterion they’ll get interested (suggest the fountain as a title: mulvaney@criterion.com).
they’ve been into pi and requiem but because the first run of dvd’s had so many extras they didn’t know what else they could add. but the fountain…
i hope you are all well. i’ve been writing. stuff is coming. gonna know what we are doing next soon enough.”
Warner Brothers seems to be skimping on DVD extras with movies like The Fountain and The Good German which both have very little to nothing beyond the movie.
In an age where piracy is supposedly hurting studios, where is the logic in fucking with the niche fan base that would fork out the money for these titles as opposed to burning copies?
Sure Warner Brothers may think they’re cutting their losses because neither film did well in theaters, but their box office couldn’t have been helped when neither movie played on many screens and didn’t stay around for more than two weeks.
Bad theatrical runs are one thing.
Hampering the earning potential from DVD sales by two bankable directors that make movies far and beyond the next Van Wilder installment is another.
Aronofsky mentions that he hopes to get a better version released sometime which is great if you’re a fan of the movie who wants to know more. However, therein lies the popular consumer problem.
A movie gets turned around quick and is on the DVD market within three months after it’s initial release. The studio does a rush job and plans to pull out the stops a few months to a year or two after the initial DVD release.
Testing the waters, maybe.
Doubling up and profiting again off movie hounds who have embraced the DVD industry because of the added features the format has brought sounds like the reality. If this wasn’t an actual marketing ploy, then how else does one explain the multitude of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness rereleases?
Raimi & Co release new “editions” with such a shameless frequency it’s almost a slap contest fans line up for as they’re handing over their dough for the newest limited edition Ash tin cover with a super newer Directors Cut with five inconsequential minutes of footage Sam Rami found at the bottom of a bin his people cleaned out.
The Evil Dead made $2,400,000 when it was release in 1981.
It’s cult following brought Raimi & Co a tidy profit of $2,025,000 back then.
Back then.
In a DVD-less 1981 VHS rental and cable TV driven secondary markets. And neither the rental or the cable markets were anything in 1981 what they are today.
It’s not like multiple releases of the same movie helped them crawl their way to profitability, they were already there. It was just an easy way to make money off of hungry fans.
That’s one way to do it. Another is to make more and better movies.
So far in his career Aronofsky has been a diligent filmmaker who’s struggled to get his movies out as much for the uniqueness of his vision as the varied dilemmas that’ve arisen in the development process. The DVD format has proven to be a great ground for unprecedented information and insight into filmmaking when the creative forces and studios embrace the format.
Maybe as we’ll just have to wait for a suitable release for The Fountain or The Good German or whatever worthwhile flick the studio churned out onto DVD barebones instead of putting something on it to motivate consumers. Maybe Soderbergh or Aronofsky will steal a move out of the Raimi playbook and release Requiem for a Dream or Oceans’ 14 the musical to fatten their bankroll instead of stretching any new creative muscles.
WNOV-AM (860) Milwaukee has barred talk show host Michael McGee for comments about the death of Katherine Sykes. Sykes, the mother of conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes, WTMJ 620 AM, died earlier this week in a fire at her Mequon home.
...”Mother Sykes, she dead. To me it’s the vengeance of God. I ain’t got no tears. Matter of fact a woman that would have a fool like that deserve whatever is coming her. She raised a sure enough idiot,” McGee said on his radio show. “My instincts say Charlie Sykes killed his momma, cuz she live out in this big palace in Mequon all isolated. He got tired of waiting for her money.”
Today, WNOV suspended McGee1 indefinitely, and replacing him on the air will be his son, the equally bigoted alderman Michael McGee Jr.2
While Charlie Sykes mourns the untimely loss of his mother, Sykes is no stranger to the having his hand slapped over racist comments. He’s not big on Hispanics, immigrants of perceived illegal nature, and of-course the McGee’s who Sykes’ swung his share of verbal haymakers in their direction.
While talk radio seems to thrive these days on bickering over where the line on hate speech is these days, what do these talking heads manage to create beyond the further polarization of the community in which them spew their views?
Guess that doesn’t matter, just so long as they get paid.
Why does the city of Milwaukee and it’s community tolerate these assclowns? They can run their mouths, and but we don’t need to listen. This city has enough noise.
for some fun filled reading check out McGee’s glee at forming a Black Panther Militia back in the 90s. He was intent on bring organized violence to Milwaukee because this was going to help the inner city be heard [back]
If you start dating someone, and that someone might be a pet lover who has a three legged (or God forbid less limbed animal) consider all your options.
That somone has chosen to continue that pet’s life despite after an incident that usually involves significant injury or illness. That somone is more than an animal lover.
That someone’s connection to their pet is closer, and you may be moving in on that pet’s territory. My experience in that kind of a love triangle had it’s share of mess. And, while one of you may find it amusing that the animal has three legs, the pet owner, your special someone, probably will find their pet’s handicap an endearing neediness that they feel endebeted to fixing with lots of T.L.C. that will not be shared.
This is just a warning to take in to consideration from someone who’s been in the trenches against a three legged cat. He sure knew how to eek out every last to those nine lives…
At any rate, if you like tripods, support these folks, hopefully you’ll see more action than I did. They have t-shirts too.
Our favorite meathead Marky “the Academy Award nominee” Mark Wahlberg is starring in the same movie Keenan Ivory Wayans did, that another marble mouthed lunk-head Dolph Lundgren did , that you guess it, Wesley Snipes is going to be making too.
Hopefully he savored those precious moments before they said: “...And the Oscar goes to—Alan Arkin!”, because that’s as close as Mark Wahlberg will be getting to an Oscar.
The Shooter(1995)
Dolph Lundgren stars as a CIA who agent gets caught up in political intrigue after he gets brought in to solve the murder of a Cuban ambassador.
Tag Line: “Seduction is a deadly weapon!”
What the critics said: “While Jean-Claude Van Damme, his erstwhile rival in the Euro Action Hero stakes, ploughs on in A-picture productions, Dolph Lundgren, who showed greater acting range when they were paired in Universal Soldier, gets stuck in dreck like this.”—from Time Out London
Most Wanted (1997)
When the first lady is assassinated, an honored soldier becomes a hunted fugitive.
Tag line: “Sometimes the most patriotic thing a Marine can do… is disobey orders. From most honored to Most Wanted.”
What the critics said: “Most Wanted, opening today at Bay Area movie theaters, is idiotic entertainment done with skill. The action thriller packs a lot of fun into 99 minutes, with star Keenen Ivory Wayans cutting an impressive path as a sharpshooting hero.”—-Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
“Most Wanted is an overly familiar B-grade action flick, written by and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans.”—- Jack Garner Democrat and Chronicle.
Shooter (March 23,2007)
A marksman (Mark Wahlberg) living in exile is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he goes on the run to track the real killer and find out who exactly set him up, and why.
Tag line: “Yesterday was about honor. Today is about justice.
“What the critics say: Manohla Dargis, The New York Times: “A natural screen presence, Mr. Wahlberg is charmingly sincere (he’s like a cruder, more street Matt Damon), though when he sheds his clothes, the glint in his eyes is as knowing as that of an old Vegas stripper.”
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: “Oscar-nominated for The Departed, Wahlberg is a brooding, convincing actor who seems to gain confidence and improve with every role. With Shooter, he is called on to carry the picture while adding enough conviction to make its numerous Mission: Impossible implausibilities seem reasonable. He does it and makes it look easy.”
Coming to a theater later this year: The Shooter.
A marksman (Wesley Snipes) living on his ranch in Montana is coaxed back into action to kill a terrorist who he missed killing while on duty. After succeeding in killing Jahar he is ultimately double-crossed and framed for killing a high ranking policeman (Charles Dance). He then goes into hiding and befriends a young 12 year (Bennet) old girls helps him.
The Milwaukee Bucks finally got around to firing head coach Terry Stotts only to turn around and make an equally poor choice in promoting assistant coach and former Buck Larry “Who?”Krystkowiak to the big chair.
“In making the change, the Bucks most likely became the first team in league history to fire its coach and make no one from the organization available to explain to the media and fans where the franchise was headed.
Of course, this was the same organization that called a news conference to announce that Porter would be retained, only to fire him a couple of months later.” (jsonline.com)
In Stotts’s first season the Bucks lucked their way into a playoff spot while clawing their way to slightly above the .500 mark. This season the Bucks have clinched last place in the Central Division with a 23-41 record and with 18 more games left will only tighten their grasp of the Central Division’s cellar.
The Bucks this season have been plagued by injury, an apparent dedication to blowing large leads, and forgetting to show up in the fourth quarter.
Blaming Stotts is easy. Laughing at the easy fix of placing Krystkowiakin the big shoes doesn’t begin to address the issues with the Bucks personnel. Bogut, Redd, Williams, and well, let’s face it everyone on the team fail to step up in clutch situations. When in three out of any four games a team blows the lead and rolls over in the fourth quarter most head offices would start reconsidering what they have out on the court.
In the last off-season the franchise decieded along with a few trades to change the teams color. How about this off season we just forgo the incidentals and overhaul the roster instead, not just hoping to add another role-player or hopeful lottery pick?
