Gaffer Tape

bkev said:

Like the ending!  Also, surprised you didn't plug your rant on the Blus here too... also, what are your thoughts on the loss of the Wonder Woman movie - and then the TV series?  She's gotten the shaft the most out of any superhero the past few years.

Dunno.  Compared to efforts on OT.com, it seemed paltry.  As for WW, I am disappointed, but I did not really follow it at all, other than to see new promo pics.  Cannot say I am surprised.  And ditto what Frink said about shafts. =P

Geez, I feel like I missed everything.  But it's been over a week, and twooffour still looks wonderfully, wonderfully banned.  So did someone "accidentally" forget to open the door back for him, or did he get permabanned immediately after?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Well, you've had a few months.  Did you see what else I have here?  ^_~

Even if you didn't, here's something new!

Karate Koopa Review!

As a kid, I had an unnatural obsession with The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.  As an adult... I own the entire series on DVD.  I guess things haven't changed all that much.  But good heavens does this show not make any sense!

Good.  Hopefully he stays dead.  It was bad enough when they brought him back the first time.

This thread is now about WHAT THE HELL I DIDN'T DECLARE THIS THREAD OPEN!

Whoah.  I really thought this was about Star Wars on Blu as well.  I think I nearly had a heart attack!

Ugh. Just had my "Boycott the Star Wars Blu-rays" video attacked by someone who, believe it or not, told me that because I don't personally own a Blu-ray player that I basically was not allowed to share my opinion on the Star Wars Blu-rays.  This was not a review, mind you, but a vlog I posted a week before the damn things came out encouraging like minded people to pass on this.  The lengths Lucas apologists will go to.  And of course the quotes I provided from Lucas's speech to Congress were dismissed as not applying to him or his films.  Because, you know... reasons.  I just find it so amusing how threatened apologists are just because we don't share their opinion, and how they feel compelled to try to shut anyone down who doesn't toe the line.  It's just so... creepy.

I am totally buying it.  Granted, you can't publicly present yourself as more of an asshole than George Lucas in present times, but, and my familiarity with Joel Schumacher is limited to his Batman films, Schumacher seems like a stand up guy.  His commentary tracks had quite a bit of stating the obvious in them, but he seemed genuinely excited and happy to be sharing his memories with you.  He never threw anybody under the bus for any of the shortcomings of his films, not even the studio, but took full responsibility for everything.  He just seems like a really nice, amazing guy, someone you could just hang out with and whose company you'd really enjoy.  George Lucas just seems like an egomaniacal control freak who I probably couldn't bear to be alone with for more than five seconds.  So, yeah, I totally get the comparison.  But then again, I generally agree with Confused Matthew.

Well, if you want to get into that, that's a complaint I've always had with ROTJ.  Luke does directly introduce his lightsaber blade to many people on the skiff.  But rather than being the "slice through anything wonder blade" of the previous movies, all it does is just sorta bump into them like one of those foam noodles you fight with in the swimming pool.

He's just a simple fanboy from Connecticut.

Yay!  I was mentioned by name!  Glad to see you back, Shimmy!  Er... again.  Isn't this your third user name?

xhonzi said:

TV's Frink said:

Warbler said:

ShimyReturns! said:

is gaffer still around

She is still around.

Fixed.

Yeah, not everything will probably be the way you remember it.

Um, yeah... about that...

Looks like someone missed the joke...

And speaking of jokes, I'm glad TheBoost made the 1776 one.  If he hadn't, I would have.

They were (I own season 1, hence my assertion that I could never COMPLETE my collection), but they were recalled when the newer DVDs were released.

Well, that worries me in terms of the future.  Presumably this version will end up supplanting the original for all future home video releases...

Just to contribute something to this conversation, is the title thread correct?  As far as the article says, it sounds like Lucas attempted to contribute the SEs for preservation, but the NFR said no.  Or is that just for ESB?  I remember that zombie's source said they had the '97 version, but everything else in the article suggests they wouldn't have taken it anyway.

Wait, they're recomping all the visual effects?  I'm with TheBoost.  Aren't we against that?  I know I'm against that.  I certainly hope they do branching because this just sounds extremely worrisome to me.  I've never managed to complete my TOS DVD collection because the only ones that are available are those stupid CG versions.

Ugh.  Just watched that.  Does Lucas even hear the words that come out of his mouth?  Oh, wait, I forgot.  Film preservation only matters when it comes to films that aren't his.

Sigh.  Lucas has done more in my book for showing what a terrible idea the concept of "artist's rights" is than anything else.  If anything, Lucas is a sad but extremely compelling reason to smack an artist's hands away and never let him near anything he's alredy created.  I'm not one to trust huge corporations, but I have a hard time believing anyone could treat these films worse than Lucas himself.  If Fox owned all three of them, we'd certainly have properly preserved versions of these films.

And for those who are confused, this is my take.  The Library of Congress did get copies of the films when they were first released.  But the National Film Registry, the branch of the LOC responsible for archiving and preserving culturally signficant films, has not been able to secure prints, thanks to Lucas's shortsighted idiocy.  Granted, I'm not entirely sure why they don't just put the prints they already have into the vaults, unless they're just in too poor condition, but the article doesn't seem to suggest that.  In fact, at least for Star Wars, they seem to be in surprisingly good condition.

Good grief!  How can ANYONE read something like this and defend the man?  It's unreal!  It's not terribly surprising.  But, geez, things like this make me think the world of filmmaking would benefit greatly without George Lucas in it.  And considering what a proponent of film preservation he was/claimed to be, that's a sad thing for me to say indeed.

That's not the joke.  The joke is that he supposedly perfected them in 1997, yet he's altered them twice since then.  Hard to call that perfect, isn't it?

Well, I certainly advocate not buying it at all...

Anyway, to refer to xhonzi again, if there was another person looking to buy from the same seller of used goods, and person A got it, then person B would just find someone else to get it from.  Like I said, the ratio of people who will ONLY buy it used versus the number of people willing to sell it can't be that disproportionate, and the number will only grow in the buyer's favor as time goes on... up until a certain point, when those numbers will eventually reverse, but by that point, it will most likely be very small numbers on both ends.

The problem would lie in how dedicated a potential buyer would be in getting it used.  You'd be right if a person wants it used, someone else gets the product, and the person goes, "Well, fuck it.  I'll just go to the store."

Is that in the instruction book? Forgive me, I don't have a Blu-ray player, but is there a line in the instruction book that states, "In the event the disc takes longer to load than the preparation time of a standard sandwich, please re-insert disc and try again.  If problem persists, please call customer service"?

xhonzi said:

Gaffer Tape said:

Xhonzi's logic is sound...

Thanks!

Welcome!

However, if you're genuinely buying it used, as in buying it from someone who originally bought it and then decided to no longer have it, then that's a different story.  You're not creating any more demand the product.   You're simply creating a situation wherein one unique copy is being effectively shared between two or more people, when it would previously have only been meant for one.

Except you ARE still lowering supply.  If you buy it, someone else can't.  It doesn't have the same effect that buying it new would, but it will still have some effect.  You're increasing the "final destinations" for the BD by 1.

But wouldn't that even out?  The person you're buying it from lowered the supply by one.  You repurchasing the same set gives it an added value of one.  Two people "benefitted" (and I use that term loosely here) from one set.  The only way in the instance I posited that that would generate more demand is if the demand for used copies of the sets exceeded the number of established owners willing to sell the set, leading to someone buying it new or from a reseller instead.  It's certainly possible, but I have a hard time believing that a niche demand (people insisting on buying it legitimately used) outpaces those who are interested in selling it, especially since the latter number is going to continue to grow over the next couple of months/years.

You're not creating a new middleman. 

And I'm not sure what you mean by saying that there isn't a new middleman.  In my post, I meant that the eBay seller is yet another middle man.  Maybe a new one, maybe not.  I don't think it matters.

Yes, I know what you meant.  I was referring to a situation where you actually are buying a "legtimately used" copy as opposed to just going to a reseller.  Technically, I guess that's still a new middleman.  Ostensibly, though, if you were buying a real used copy, it would cost substantially less than buying it for retail.  I suppose I was referring to the price markup of having an added middleman since that was the impression I thought you were making with that statement.

Xhonzi's logic is sound, at least as far as resellers actively attempting to get a "piece of the action" is concerned.  You're just adding one more middleman and effectively spreading your money to more sources.  However, if you're genuinely buying it used, as in buying it from someone who originally bought it and then decided to no longer have it, then that's a different story.  You're not creating any more demand the product.  You're not creating a new middleman.  You're simply creating a situation wherein one unique copy is being effectively shared between two or more people, when it would previously have only been meant for one.

So for those people who feel compelled to hold out and buy it used, it would be more beneficial to wait, like Bingowings suggested, until the reseller market begins to dry up, prices drop, and chances improve that you're actually getting a "legitimate" used copy.

Doesn't effect me either way, since I have no intention of ever buying it, new or used, but it's good food for thought, xhonzi, especially since I have somewhat begrudgingly advocated that method without really thinking through all of its implications.

Pretty much agree with Bingowings on the cover art.  Opinions of artistic competency aside, it would have made a lot more sense for Luke to be facing the audience with a spectral Anakin walking away.  And that has nothing to do with my preference of the OT over the PT.  That's looking at it from a "saga" point of view.  Luke is walking in his father's footsteps (it's like poetry... they rhyme or whatever that "mission" was) or opposite past... symmetry... rhyming... blah, blah, blah.  He's in his father's shadow.  He could make the same bad choices, but instead he takes the opposite path.  It's like poetry.  They rhyme.  Whatever.