Random Factoid #420

21 09 2010

Is this the end for DVDs?  I know I’ve been predicting their demise for quite some time now, but 2010 seems a little soon.  It’s been a hot topic in factoids recently, appearing in #404, #414, and #416.

Listen to this disturbing report from Best Buy via Cinematical:

Even as the popularity of digital media continues to rise and the Blockbusters of the world struggle to hang on, the demise of the DVD always seemed to be in the distant future. Well, it looks like the format may pass away sooner rather than later because a major DVD retailer is opting to axe the amount of space allocated to DVDs this holiday season. According to Daily Finance, Best Buy is shifting things around to make more room for video games and consumer electronics, namely netbooks and tablet PCs.

Best Buy Chief Executive Brian Dunn explained, “We’ll have another store reset before the holidays, which will include an increase in the space for higher-growth and, in the aggregate, higher-margin categories, like Best Buy Mobile, e-readers and gaming, with a heavy emphasis on new gaming platforms and pre-owned game titles.” He added, “This will be enabled by our reorganization of the DVD and CD sections.”

All I can say is that I’m not ready to go entirely digital for movies yet.  Transferring doesn’t work as easily, and there’s nothing simpler than bringing a disc over to someone’s house and plopping it in a player.  So has Best Buy jumped the gun on mourning DVDs?  Or is this the beginning of the end?


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #416

17 09 2010

What happened to bonus features?  Seriously.

They used to be my favorite part of buying DVDs when I was eight or nine.  I would shell out $20 for Disney classics I didn’t really want to see that much just so I could watch the special features.  Mini-documentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes – I loved it all.  It was only about four or five years ago when I realized that all I actually wanted to see was the movie itself.

That transition in thought apparently came just in time because most studios don’t even include them on the discs anymore.  Anybody notice how even “Avatar,” the biggest movie of our time, didn’t even have a trailer?

Why is it that no one wants bonus features anymore?  I miss having them as an option when I want something more than a movie.  I don’t need a documentary as long as the movie itself like the Criterion Collection of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but something would be nice!

Is anybody else up in arms about this new development?  Anybody with any insights on why they are gradually disappearing?


Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #301

25 05 2010

IT’S SUMMER VACATION!

That means that all the movies I have on loan from the library and my collection of personal favorites can come out from under the TV cabinet!

That’s right, I literally hid them so I wouldn’t be distracted by them while studying.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #268

22 04 2010

After committing 2,000 words to the impact and legacy of “Avatar,” I’m sure everyone is wondering if I already have my copy.

The answer is no, and I don’t plan to buy it.  At least not this edition.  I’m not the kind of person who will buy a DVD and then wait a while to buy a more loaded version.

James Cameron has said that the version being released today is literally just the movie.  Deleted scenes and more extras are coming later, along with 3D.  I’m expecting something to trump the three hour making-of documentary on the Criterion Collection DVD of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

By the way, he also mentioned in the article that I linked above that he is planning a re-release sometime later this year.  I might actually go back and see it again; it will be worth the money where so many movies I see this summer won’t.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #246

31 03 2010

I actually feel legitimate disappointment when good movies have bad DVD covers.

Case in point: “Up in the Air.”  Come on, Paramount, is that really the best you can do?  A picture of George Clooney laughing surrounded by a whole bunch of empty blue space?

There’s nothing happening on the cover, and if I knew nothing about the movie, I would see it and walk away.  I fear that in the future, people will see this DVD and not even think twice about it.  Which is such a shame.

What about you?  Any DVD cover (or poster, for that matter) really disappoint you?


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #197

10 02 2010

When I wrote Random Factoid #141, I hadn’t done this in over half a decade. Now, I have done it twice in less than three months.

I have read the source material of a movie after I saw the movie.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I read “Up in the Air,” the novel by Walter Kirn. I brought it with me to Argentina and began it there when I found out that I would be interviewing Kevin Renick. I was under the mistaken impression that he wrote the song after reading the book, so I pile-drove through the first half in order to be prepared. After more research, I discovered that he hadn’t read the book, and my pace slowed quite a bit.

Overall, I liked the book. I much prefer Jason Reitman’s take on it though, which is very distinctly different from Kirn’s novel.

(And for those of you who read Random Factoid #195, yes, it was the movie tie-in edition.)


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #172

16 01 2010

Because I am so enamored by movies, my house obviously has a lot of them.  This also means that we are constantly lending them out to friends.  I have already written a memorial to all of the lost DVDs that have resulted from this sharing, but I have never shared how I combated this senseless loss.

I created a monster Word document called “Our DVD Library.”  I catalogued all of our DVD inventory, and I wrote the name of the movie and the number of disks on the document.  I even threw in the release date just for kicks.  Next to all of this was a place where we could write where the movie went.

Did it work?  I don’t know.  If we have lost a DVD recently, I stopped doing inventory about 5 years ago, so the Word document wouldn’t help.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #171

15 01 2010

I swear to you that I do not have OCD, but you will probably think that I do after I reveal this pet peeve to you.

You know how sometimes when you peel the plastic off the case of a DVD and it clings to the spine a little bit?  It really bothers me when the plastic sticks to the case and you have to scratch to get it off.  I found myself quite preoccupied doing it with both “Food, Inc.” and “(500) Days of Summer” the other day.

I don’t know why it gets to me.  The only logical cause I can come up with is that perhaps I think that unless all the plastic is off, the DVD hasn’t fully been opened.  But that sounds a little silly even to me.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #80

16 10 2009

I have never listened to an audio commentary on a DVD.  I have no idea how much the director and the stars talk over the movie, but I feel like it would take something away from the experience of watching a movie.  Like I have stated before, there is something about having the full moviewatching experience that I hold sacred.  That is why I often refuse to watch a movie unless I can watch it from studio logo to finish.


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #74

10 10 2009

The first DVD I ever owned was a Pokémon episode given to me in late 1999.  The new computer my family had just purchased was pretty cutting-edge and included a DVD player.  We were still a VHS family then, but someone gave me a Pokémon DVD to give the new technology a whirl.  The first actual movie on DVD I ever owned was “Fantasia 2000,” my first grade obsession.  It was given to me as a Christmas present in 2000.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids

Random Factoid #40

6 09 2009

I go through huge spurts of buying movies.  If you were to come take a look at my film library, you will see lots of movies from certain years and hardly any from others.

Starting a blog has spurred a new one.

My first big one was in 2001, when I started getting receiving money for birthday presents.  For my 9th birthday that year, I had also gotten a DVD player.  Naturally, I used all the money to buy DVDs.  If anyone likes kids movies from 2001 (other than “Shrek” and “Monsters, Inc,” which are classics), come on over.

I had another one in 2003, and I unfortunately report that I do not know the cause.  My AP U.S. History analysis skills are failing me when looking at my own life!

Then there was a lull where I didn’t buy many DVDs for a long time, only buying the movies that were really special.  But now I’m filling in the gaps and picking up where I left off.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Random Factoids