Man, the interwebs is going to destroy anyone in the entertainment industry who decides they’re going to hide under a pile of coats like the music companies did. I just got back from my ill-fated trip to Phoenix to watch my Eagles rip my heart out, stomp on it, poop on it, and then insert it back in my chest to make sure the poop infected the rest of my innards. I hate you Andy Reid.
Anyways, was tired when we got back but I wanted to go see “Notorious” which just got released. I had a real dilemma: I wanted to watch the movie, but I also didn’t want to have to sit up because I didn’t have enough energy to fight gravity. But Notorious featured Notorious BIG and I NEEDED to understand how that obese motherfucker managed to pull so much ass – including the crazy Lil’ Kim. (Total Side Note: Is it just me or is the era of “lil’“ making a fantastic comeback? The golden days of Lil’ Penny, Lil’ Kim and Lil’ Romeo are now being brought back to life with sweet acts like Lil’ Mama (funniest judge on America's best dance crew!) and Lil' Wayne, I could not be more excited!)
Given my hesitancy to sit upright and my burning desire to watch content now, I of course had to resort to using the magiks of the internets to solve my problem. It took about 3 minutes, but I eventually found a place where I could stream a decent quality version of Notorious through a mac mini to an HDTV and you know what – it was fantastic! I was able to hit up a couple mid movie naps, lay on the couch like a beached whale, and thank my lucky stars that I had not paid for a full price ticket to see that poorly put together, abortion of a movie.
Here’s the thing – I probably would have paid some amount to see a higher quality version of it with some better streaming/buffering. And I am cheap! But as long as these knucklehead studios cling to their “windowed” release approach, they are going to slowly screw themselves and end up in the same place as the music guys. I can already see them thinking about VOD of newer releases that are MORE expensive than going to the theater! Of course this is how they think – totally foolish. Given that you don’t need to share any revenues with the theater chain (who is an independent entity) or pay for the distribution of the film to said theater chain or the print itself – here’s a wild and crazy idea: figure out how to get me my content at a cheaper price than going to the theater!
Comments