Unruly Behavior

Here is yet another story where the Movie Industry is whining about not making as much money as the used to make each year.

They blame it on piracy, and other things, but never seem to figure out what their problem is these days, so here is a little help for them.

1. Movies cost too much at the theater. A new theater just opened near my house. Two tickets are $17.00, a giant tub of popcorn, 2 sodas and a box of candy is $20.00 - If I wait for the movie to come out on DVD, I pay about $19 for the movie, and $4 for the snacks. $37 versus $24, and I can watch the movie over and over if I wish.

2. No rules enforced in theaters. The last movie I went to see was "Star Wars: Episode III". There were only 20 people in the theater on a Sunday morning in Las Vegas. However, at least two had their cell phones on during the movie. They were in silent mode, and I think they were text messaging, but the lights when they came on were very annoying. Further, I live in the Houston, TX area, and when I go to the theater, not ony are there people talking, but they may be speaking six different languages.

3. Home Theaters. A lot has been said about movies going to DVDs really quickly. Even if it took a while, I generally perfer to see a movie on my TV than in the theater. (See #2 & #1) The sound is genrally better, the picture is smaller, but I can live with that. I can also pause the movie if need be to go to the john.

4. Movies Suck. Have you noticed that nearly every hyped movie this year is a remake or a sequel? King Kong, War Of The Worlds, Revenge Of The Sith, Herbie Fully Loaded, Batman Begins, Assualt On Precinct 13, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Son Of The Mask, Beauty Shop, Miss Congenialty 2, The Amityville Horror, XXX: State Of The Union, Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist, The Longest Yard, Bewitched, Land Of The Dead, The Honeymooners, Duce Bigelow: European Gigilo, Rush Hour 3, The Transporter 2, The Legend Of Zorro, Saw 2, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. Even the "original" movies are not, Fantastic Four - Comic Book, Doom - Video Game, Aeon Flux - MTV Cartoon, Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galazy - Novel. Now, I know not all these movies suck, but you get my point, the bulk of what is being produced is "safe", but does not make much money.

5. Crazy actors. I was looking forward to going to see War Of The Worlds, but after High School drop-out Tom Cruise started running all over the country spewing medical advice and acting crazy, I'm not so sure I want to provide him with any of my hard earned cash. And he is just the head lunatic right now, so many folks out there are so out of touch with reality, that I don't mind if they are not making money. Hmmm... Aren't many of them getting $20 Million or more per film? And they are not making money? Go figure.

Want to fix films?

Ok, day and date release of DVD and Movie. Make the price of going to the movies competitive with buying the DVD. Even better, just offer me an opportunity to download the HD version of the movie on the day it opens for a price similar to seeing it in the theater. But my visits to the theater will become fewer and fewer as this problem gets worse.

'War' Unlikely to Halt Box-Office Slide

It is hard to read, but 'Michael Loves Stefani' is on the roof of this Cadillac, something special for my wife.

Jerry & Sonya got married. I was the best man and saw the whole thing.

Had a rough week, but now I'm in Amarillo, TX for the wedding of my best friend from college. We are staying at the lovely Galbraith House here, and having a great time. Went to one of my favorite places in Amarillo after I got hree yesterday, here is a photo below.


Cadillac Ranch

Maybe, with any luck, we will get to tell him "Sayonara" in November.

Gov. Perry caught in embarrassing faux pas with open microphone

Imagine - We elected an actor to do a job for which he was not qualified, now people think he might be doing a bad job. This was so hard to predict.

Schwarzenegger Ratings Slip

Hope everyone else is having a good day, I got a card from my wife and boy, and a Watch from them. Think we are going out to our favorite Mexican resturant for dinner tonight. And I'm not doing squat today.

Ok, Mobile Magazine did a tech support test on ten notebook computer suppliers.

Guess what they found out - Tech Support sucks.

Yeah, I could have saved their time and told them this would be the result.

Death by Tech Support

Man, Muffy, Buffy, this pizza tastes like shit.

Cheerleaders disciplined after allegedly putting human feces on pizza

Ok, I've been working at the same sight for about a week on a major migration project, so the employees are treating me like I work here now.

So one of them says to me, "I don't get to watch much TV anymore, my kids got Cable, and now they won't let me watch anything. I have to beg to watch the news."

Here is what I wanted to say, but couldn't, because I like being employeed.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I've seen your kids, they are too young for you to be letting them run your life like that. Why don't you slap some discipline into them? Shit, disconnect the cable and solve the problem, you'll get back your $50-60 per month and control of your TV set. Any kid of mine ever tells me what I can or can't watch on my TV with my programming for which I have paid will be one kid that looses TV privelages for a long, long time. Grow a spine."

Hmmm... And you thought things were tough in China.

ash was here: walmart china stocks porn?

Dren is a Giant Lizard that leaves a Trail of Goo, has a Terrible Roar, fears the Military, and is Covered with a Thick Slime and Highly Flammable. Strength: 9 Agility: 4 Intelligence: 3 To see if your Giant Battle Monster can defeat Dren, enter your name and choose an attack: fights Dren using StrengthAgilityIntelligence

Darth Vader made me cry.

Boo, hoo. Suck it up you little baby. That's what my father would have told me in this situation.

Don't be such a puss.

Ok, my customer is using some time tracking software from this vendor, IAMBIC. We upgraded from an older to a newer version because he got a new PC and had lost the install media for the older version he was running.

The new version will not open the database. So, I figured, I'll call the vendor and get this solved right away. Nope, you can't call this vendor. Sales - no phone number, a web form. For support - no phone number, a web form. Got questions - a web form.

How worthless. Won't be recommending their products to any of my other customers for sure.

Productivity software for Microsoft Outlook, Palm and Symbian handhelds, and smartphones

Update:

Ok, after two posts to thier Support Forum, IAMBIC finally replied, saying that in all fairness, this was a user forum, and that their developers were too busy writing new code to help their old code run.

Funny thing, I spent about 3 hours making their code run. So I posted something back to them about fairness.

Here is how the cutomer bill will look for this product:

IAMBIC Software $149.00
IAMBIC Upgrade $ 29.00
My 3 Hours Support $270.00
Total: $448.00

The customer said he thought their product was going to be cheaper than an alternative, but when he factors in the labor to make it work, the competitor will be cheaper next time.

So here is a warning to other folks out there.

Before you buy some oddball software that is very specialized, check out the support that will be offered you after the sale. It may cost less to spend more in the beginning.