"Bubble"

I posted a comment about movie theaters late in December. It basically said that the movie industry was not happy with box office revenues. Apparently someone in the industry has come to the same realization as I did. Steven Soderbergh is releasing his film, "Bubble," in multiple formats; DVD, On-Line and in the theaters.

This has theater owners angry. In some places they are refusing to show the film. Some say this is a fad and it will fade, others say that this is the future. Still other predict it is the beginning of the end for movie theaters. I say it should be a wake up call. Families will probably prefer this format over the theater. Who can afford to take a family of 2 adults and two children to the movies any more? This isn't so much because of the movie prices, its the extras that theater owner's gouge from its patrons. Down with $5 bags of popcorn and $5.00 fountain drinks!

It could mean the end to the movie theater. It could make them as hard to find as drive-in theaters are today. It doesn't have to be. As I said in my last post, people will pay a fair price to be entertained. Its time that the theater owner's understand, their concession prices are not fair. Steal from your customers and they will abandon you. They should take this new trend not as a threat but as an opportunity to come clean. The question is, do they want their customers or, as some are doing now, do they want to try to force their customers to accept theaters as the only way to see a new film. The times, they are a changing. Will theater owners change also or will they become an extinct part of America's past.

Reality Shows Gone Awry

I saw the saddest reality show today. It was called "Flight Attendant School." It appears to be about the rigors of this school. They have to remember the two minute speech about fastening your seat belt and everything. Kind of sad. Next we'll have one from the Fry Guy Academy for McDonald's. I don't mean to demean the job, just the idea that it should be made into a documentary style show. Oh well, if you are interested or you just want a good laugh you can find info about it on the Travel Channel.

Patriots lost

Broncos 27, Patriots 13
Well, They almost made it. Three straight Super Bowls would have been a great accomplishment. It wasn't meant to be I guess. They are still an impressive team and you can't take away from what they have accomplished. It just wasn't their year and they met a team that wanted it just a little more than them. Hold your head up PATS; you are still a force to be reckoned with. Next season is only 9 months away.

Cell Phones

I hate them... OK so I use one too. What I mean is that I hate driving anywhere near someone who is using one. They are a hazard; a menace even. They get in front of you and then go slow, they change lanes without paying attention. They have statistics that say these things cause accidents. Why, if this is the case, are they legal to use while driving? Can people really not wait until they get where they are going to make a call? I was sitting in traffic today and I watched as six cars drove past me and noticed that four of the drivers were on phones. Makes me want to scream. Sometimes I do...

Why?

132 dead; For what? They killed 132 people yesterday in Iraq, only 7 were US servicemen. They didn't discriminate in age; they killed children and adults. Most were Shiite pilgrims but they also hit a group of police recruits. These animals want to claim to be Muslim. I doubt this. I believe the Muslim religion is more violent than most, but even they have rules for when its OK to hurt the enemy. They are not supposed to kill unarmed people; they are not supposed to attack non-combatants like women and children. They are especially not supposed to kill other Muslims.

The Shiites were cast in a bad limelight for the secret prison that had torturer victims last month. I almost see why they did it though. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating the torture. I'm saying I understand the desire for revenge that motivated it. I feel it and this isn't even happening in my country. A part of me wants to cause the same hurt on these militants that they cause on other people. I see them as less than human somehow. I know this is wrong but it is hard to suppress the desire.

I guess violence does beget violence.

What a year...

I think the weather should win Time's man of the year. OK so its not a person, it was definitely the major player in the news for the past year. You can expand it and say that Nature was the prime player I suppose.

From the Tsunami in Asia, (which technically happened in 2004 but it was close enough to 2005 for me to include it), to the wildfires in Texas/Oklahoma. We mustn't forget the torrential downpours on the West Coast of America. To top the whole thing we have the twin hurricane slams of Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast. It seems that when we weren't talking about Iraq, we were speaking of some other disaster somewhere.

Here's to the end of 2005. Hopefully 2006 will bring something better. World peace would be nice but if that's too big how about world tolerance. That would be a step in the right direction.