Sometimes, technology still keeps the process slow.
Presenting the last of the October scares series, the final episode of October - “Thrills and Chills for the Whole Family!”
Glen’s Popcorn: Thrills and Chills for the Whole Family! from Glen Williams on Vimeo.
Tell me. Is there any geek who grew up in the 80’s who did not wish they could have the Ecto 1?
Well, sparky, here’s your chance now. Provided, of course, you’ve got over $40,000 you can drop on it. The Ecto 1 is on sale at eBay.
Last night, after successfully pulling a clip (not the entire movie, mind you - a clip) from a movie to use in my weekly cable show, the software I have been using without incident for the past 12 episodes broke.
It was broken while trying to read Ultraviolet - a disc that, in addition to holding an absolute mess of a movie, is notorious for having some of the most pervasive and destructive copy protection around. And when I say the software broke, I mean that it can no longer read any disc in my collection without crashing, including unprotected discs of my own work.
There are plenty of solutions to my problem, of course - all of which I’ll be exploring. In the meantime, however, I’m using a much slower and clunky process to get my clips. One which necessitates copying the entire movie to my hard drive instead of a 3-10 minute clip like I usually do.
And it occurs to me that this situation is exactly the sort of thing that represents why I got into the debate over intellectual property early on. DRM is invasive. It is destructive. And it is a violation of our rights.
As an independent reviewer, I have a legal right to use materials from the movies in my review. This is not a debate, and I will not argue about it with anybody. It’s explicitly stated in copyright law, and it has precedent in the Supreme Court. Duplication of copyrighted material - including excerpting at length - is permissible so long as the purpose of the finished product is review of the media in question. At length hardly matters in my situation, however, as no clip has ever gone longer than two minutes.
This kind of DRM represents the movement of the industry in recent years to destroy the rights of its consumers. Make no mistake about it - it does not hurt the pirates, it only hurts the everyday consumer and the independent media. If you go to any pirate movie server online, the chances are that you will find a pristine copy of Ultraviolet available for download because somebody felt that it was worth working at it to crack it. But the end user who wants to move the film from their DVD onto their iPod, or the independent reviewer (me) who just wants to sample a clip from it to go into their program - these people are shut out of the equation altogether.
Oh. And did I mention who released Ultraviolet? Sony. Yeah. The people who put a destructive rootkit (read: virus) onto their music CD’s as “copy protection.” Class act all around, they are.
Yet another reason I may never be tapped to direct an action blockbuster.
Every time I see the preview for Death Race, I can’t help but think that Guns ‘n’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” is too obvious a choice.
I would have used Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
Think about it. You know it would work.
SONG: “Happy Torso Bloody Torso” by We Wrote The Book On Connectors.
Elske McCain unfortunately was not able to join us today as scheduled. We’re working with her to reschedule her for later.
I discussed new releases until I started to feel like an old curmudgeon complaining about sequels, prequels, and remakes.
SONG: “Superstition (Stevie Wonder cover)” by Ball In The House
I discussed movie news. Jaman signs a deal to distribute Asian films. Jaman’s among the good guys, folks - if only they didn’t use DRM…. And I discussed the idea that there’s no good reason for a movie to be out of print or unavailable these days.
Tropic Thunder is controversial over Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of a white actor playing a black man. Star Wars: Clone Wars wishes it had Tropic Thunder’s controversy, because then at least people would be talking about it. As it is, fan excitement is at an all-time low. How will the box office shake out?
The Bond franchise is laden with product placement! This is news? It’s not worth getting upset over, people. It’s actually kinda funny when you think about it….
Harry Potter is pushed back to July. You know who should be scared? Will Ferrell. Because that’s the same month Land of the Lost releases.
And calling for a few minutes to say “Hi!” was Wayne Clingman of Indy Film Wisconsin. Wayne’s the host of a most excellent blogtalkradio show. Stop by to show him the love, and tell him Popcorn Theater sent you!
SONG: “Scott Bakula,” by Sunspot
On tomorrow’s Popcorn Theater, Elske McCain will join us for our inaugural episode! The fun starts at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cglenwilliams at Noon (EST) when we go on the air and Elske joins us to discuss her career in such films as Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead,You’re Next 3: Pajama Party Massacre, Gimme Skelter, and Jessicka Rabid. Tune in and join the fun! In the meantime, enjoy some clips of Elske in action.
