xhonzi

The Tree of Life is Beautiful

The Lion King and I

How to Train Your Dragonslayer

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince of Tides

Date Night of the Living Dead

Apollo 13 Ghosts

T2: Judgment Days of Our Lives

When in Roman Holiday

The Daredevil Wears Prada

So... Lion King 3D was the top grossing film in theatres last week with $22.1 M and a total of $61.7M (almost as much money as all 6 Star Wars movies on BD)... not too shabby, especially considering it's on 3D BD in about a week.

Maybe 3D in theatres isn't dead after all...

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm buying an Optoma HD3300 in a couple of weeks.  I'm pretty excited.  My home theatre's needed a PJ upgrade for a while and this might be the one I was saving for.

Mrebo (Reason: *I'm not actually into musicals that much, not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Music Man on Fire?

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Magic

EDIT: (Wow, the IKWYDLS thing was a total coincidence!)

Mrebo said:

WhatsMyName said:

I dunno. I guess its not different then believing in Santa all your child hood and then one day you realized that Santa was never there in the first place and move on with life.

And the main topic thing, this is just weird. Restricting kids from the PT because it wasn't anything like the OT? Awkward...

That makes sense.

As far as the topic goes, I have great sympathy for xhonzi's point of view. I certainly won't feel motivated to subject my future younglings children to the PT. It's not about being merely different from the OT...it's about undermining the glory of the OT, to put it slightly melodramatically. I certainly don't want a world for my kids in which the PT is considered Star Wars gospel. Whether I could be as diligent and steadfast in keeping the influence of PT out of my home...I don't know. But they will know the truth!

It's not really that hard.  There's always a bit of exaggeration for entertainment value in my posts, but here's what we really do:

1. I never put the PT on to watch.  Just like the appx 1 billion other movies I don't put on.  I tend to put movies on for my kids that we all have an interest in watching.  The PT doesn't make the cut.

2. I dremeled lightsabres off of 2 Galactic Heroes figures: a Yoda and an Emperor .  It took maybe 2 minutes to plug it in, and remove the weapon.

That's about it.  As I've said, my kids' imaginations are far better than the PT. 

I like Mrebo's word "undermined."  It's not that I think my kids will like the PT better than the OT... it's that I think the PT lessens one's ability to enjoy the OT.

That is all.

Hotel for Dog Day Afternoon

Am I doing this right?

TV's Frink said:

First off, I'm confused why you starred out [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] but left in "[REDACTED]."  Aren't they both [REDACTED]?  Seems to me that calling someone an [REDACTED] is much [REDACTED] than saying "for [REDACTED] [REDACTED]" but maybe I'm splitting [REDACTED].

Second, yes, it is "For Frink's Sake."  That's exactly what I meant.  Exactly.

You're right.  I was just lazy.  There was another [REDACTED] in there too.

And third, my mom used LOL inappropriately for the exact same reason.  LOL.

 Maybe you're the friend in the story...?  But I was pretty sure it was [REDACTED] [REDACTED] who is not you.

Marty.McFly said:

<snip>

 This is as good a place as any... but Marty... I mean, Mr. McFly-  I think of this shirt pretty much everytime you post:

http://shirtoid.com/30864/vader-from-vulcan/

TV's Frink said:

bkev said:

for f***'s sake. It makes him look polite when he's being an a**hole. Also Warb, you'd have to be pretty thick to not get that he was talking about the band... he even asks the cabbie to change the station because - and I quote - he "f***ing hates the Eagles, man."

Wait...if I'm being an a**hole, then so are you, considering you just called Warb thick. But yes, as I've said multiple times, the info was in the video. No explanation needed.

 Oh, I always thought it was "For Frink's Sake".

Sort of like a friend of mine- his GMA died.  When his mom wrote about it, she closed her e-mail

her e-mail said:

Sorry, everyone.  But Grandma died,

LOL,

Mom

My friend found it highly inappropriate and chastized his mom.  She said she thought it stood for "Lots of Love".

Again?

This is the inspirational quote on my calendar this week:

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."

-Bill Gates

Harmy said:

Actually, I think that the comparison of BD to LD is quite accurate in the sense that BD is to DVD what LD was to VHS (here's hoping that BD will become somewhat more mainstream though).

Just look at it - 

Please tell me more about the Lover Resolution.  Sounds HAWT.

I think several critical differences are missing:

VHS vs Laserdisc
Fairly Portable vs Cumbersome
Big player vs Even Bigger Player
One kind of storage solution vs A separate kind of storage solution

DVD vs BR BD
More Portable vs Just as Portable
Relatively small player vs You can actually have this be your one and only player
One kind of storage solution vs Can be stored in the same solution, but they're usually even thinner so it's even a little more efficient.

Really the bottom line was this: There were a lot of Pros vs Cons for Laserdisc that weren't just about price.  Really, the only con of BD is the price, and it's not nearly as big a gulf as VHS vs LD was.

Jaskoen said:

xhonzi said:I haven't seen any totals yet, but I bet Gears of War 3 totally walks all over this sales figure.

The first week it will sell a million units or so in NA and make probably around $200M+ in sales.  And they're selling only to people that have xbox 360s, so the potential market is much smaller to boot.

SW BD seems like a fairly modest succes in comparison. 

EDIT: Spoke too soon.  Looks like GoW3 sold 1.3 M copies in the past 3 days.

 Based on the sample size of my household, Gears 3 is outselling the Star Wars blu-rays 1-0.

Wow, that's like 10000000% percent!

If you use chrome- you could look into this plugin called StayFocusd:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji

It limits the number of daily visits you can have to your time waster sites.

Marty.McFly said:

So sorry,  I did look it up! Found Frink's OT meme thread.

Hey.....

That's my thread.  :(

Anywho- not a Milla fan, but a big 5th Element fan.... does that count?

Johnny Ringo said:

CP3S said:

I just want to say everybody here sucks for not liking and playing the games I like and play and leaving nobody for me to talk to about them.

That is all.

 

P.S. The next game I will be purchasing is Rage. In the interest of not sucking, buy it.

I too will be purchasing RAGE.

I wouldn't expect xhonzi to be joining us in the 'not sucking' - he's far too much of a bargain hunter. [although I'm certain he could trade in a stack fo terrible games for it...]

Actually really looking forward to RAGE now, after watching a whole bunch of videos. Looks like a lot of fun with a sense of adventure. - unlike the dark corridor shooters of past.

Considering possibly getting it on PC [now that i have a decent one] but might just cave and get it for 360.

 It's only part bargain- though it is part.

It's more that I just don't have the time to keep up.  If I paid $60 for something, it would probably be $30 by the time I got around to playing it anyways.  :(

Sounds like fun.

SilverWook said:

I'd wager most consumers aren't even aware of any controversy. Not everyone is as plugged into things as we are. The situation would be the same no matter what movie was involved.

Whether or not most viewers of the Blu Rays notice things have been changed again, only time will tell.

I'm going to hazzard a guess that 50% of the people that bought them won't even watch them.  They will put them on the shelf, and feel good that they've "archived" some of the most enjoyable, well made and popular movies ever made.

Then they'll go see Transformers 4.

corellian77 said:

xhonzi said:

Yoda must be some kind of galactic match maker... 

Actual lol :)  Made me visualize Yoda hosting the Dating Game:

Love the suit, somehow very fitting.

Maybe the PT should have featured a pre-80s Yoda this way?

Adium said:

Looks like that boycott called by hardcore fans didn’t amount to much. Nor were buyers perturbed by some very controversial changes in the 9-disc Blu-ray release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga with 40 hours of extras. Instead, the Complete Saga on Blu-ray release broke global sales records with 1 million units sold and $84 million filling cash registers. It quickly becomes the #1 pre-order and #1 catalog title since the launch of the high-definition format. Needless to say, Lucasfilm Ltd and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment are high-fiving today’s announcement that Star Wars is the bestselling catalog Blu-ray Disc of all time, including 515,000 units sold in North America in its first week alone. This worldwide consumer spend included $38 million in North America – unprecedented for a 9-disc Blu-ray collection at a premium price:

 

http://www.deadline.com/2011/09/star-wars-complete-saga-on-blu-ray-breaks-global-sales-records/

 

I, for one, am SHOCKED.

I haven't seen any totals yet, but I bet Gears of War 3 totally walks all over this sales figure.

The first week it will sell a million units or so in NA and make probably around $200M+ in sales.  And they're selling only to people that have xbox 360s, so the potential market is much smaller to boot.

SW BD seems like a fairly modest succes in comparison. 

EDIT: Spoke too soon.  Looks like GoW3 sold 1.3 M copies in the past 3 days.

Yes.

I think the term entered usage with the intent of being sensational.

To say that it's not sensational sort of defeats the point of using it in the first place.

Sluggo said:

LA-LA-LA-LA LAMPPOST

So, Jonsey, what's the verdict of this informal survey of yours?

Dude, I'm ingoring you- AT YOUR REQUEST.  I can't very well respond to this.  What would the other kids think?

Sluggo said:

Can I be in the category of being unignored by xhonzi?  I fixed my old post.  Please?

Ah, good.  unIGNORED!

georgec said:

I'm genuinely confused. Is the OP saying secondhand purchases do or don't create profit for Lucas? I guess the other posts suggest that xhonzi advocates not buying the BR at all if one does not agree with its quality/content.

Not buying from amazon or similar retailers means they might order fewer copies in the future to match lowered demand. Buying from ebay might work differently, though. I'm not sure what the "end result" is but each item ultimately was purchased from LFL and 20th Century Fox.

My point was that buying it used still participates in the market forces for the item.  So buying it used isn't some magic bullet that keeps the sale from making LFL some money.  (I think I used the magic bullet analogy incorrectly)

Even clearer: Buying it used will still give LFL some money.

Sure, buying it used will probably result in  less effect... so if you have to buy them... I guess buy them used.  But time and purchase cost are probably more critical factors than new/used.  i.e. it's probably better to buy them new on sale later than buying them used at full price now.

theprequelsrule said:

Zero said:

Star Wars is a tribute to the cheesy sci-fi serials.

Not so much a tribute, as taking some of the good core ideas (capes and swords with ray-guns), but executing them well.

The prequels are actually far, far closer in tone to the old serials that the OT was.

xhonzi said:

theprequelsrule said:

xhonzi said:

Tone.

Can you elaborate?

Gosh, I thought I wouldn't have to.

Um... the tone sucks?

I stand vindicated!