Last night a few co-workers and I hopped over to the Pleasanton Regal theater to catch a flick. We saw “The Illusionist“, which fortunately, turned out to be pretty good. Good, but not great. I say “fortunately” because I managed to confuse the film with “The Prestige“, which though I’m sure vaguely similar in content, is in fact, an entirely different film. I realized this as, during the movie trailers, a promo for the real “Prestige” was shown. So for the next five minutes, I sat in flickering darkness, furiously scanning my brain to try and remember what movie we were indeed seeing. It wasn’t until Edward Nortan’s name came up in the opening credits that I figured it out. It’s a pretty funny experience sitting in the theater thinking “um, what movie am I about to see?”

And hopefully “The Prestige” will be better.

Or, Movie Game Sunday 1.

Show up at my place around 6-6:30. We’ll order pizza and start the movie between 6:30-7. Games after.

See you there. Bring some bucks for pizza or bring some beer. Email me if you need directions.

Crista and I have decided to try and put together movie & game night for Friday Thursday or Sunday nights. I love hanging out with friends, but have been spending so much on restaurants and movies lately, I thought it would be nice to lower the costs. Here’s the plan as it stands.

We’ll be watching old movies, either classics or b-movie horror stuff. The idea is to keep it light and silly. First up is the 7th Voyage of Sinbad. The special creature fx were done by Ray Harryhausen, who was one of a kind. He was really a pioneer of stop-motion model effects. Most of you have probably seen his work in Clash of the Titans. It’s not great by any modern standards, but he was the forerunner to the modern greats. I think some of the original Lucas model work wouldn’t have come about were it not for him.

Games after. We can split up for board and/or gamecube games. Mario Strikers is a current 4-player favorite. Trust me, even if you don’t like video games that much, you’ll love this.

I’m thinking we can order pizza for the first one. Chip in, and bring some beer if you like. Comment if you’re interested in coming this Friday Thursday or Sunday.

Update: Though I’m planning for Fridays, I can probably be compelled for any night Thursday through Sunday. I know lots of my friends play music on the weekend.

Update: Since Daryl is somebody I’d like there, this will occur either Sunday or Thursday nights. Place votes.

Update: Looks like Sundays it is! Thanks for the feedback. I will post a time and details for this Sunday. I expect we can start around 6 or 7.

I got invited to the Netflix Friends system [hackingnetflix.com]. If you want an invite, check my contact page and let me know. Also, if you’re paranoid, you can remove the person who invited you as a friend. I was initially a bit worried about that.

Hacking NetFlix : Netflix Launches “Friends List” Feature

…you suck.

That’s right.

This rant has been in me forever. Others have already shared the sentiment. But you know what the most offensive “PSA” style campaign in recent memory is? Try the “don’t pirate” ads we get to enjoy before sucking down your $10 a head flicks. Is this only me? I doubt it. I just paid to watch your movie, and you are exploiting my captivity to remind me to keep behaving like a good boy. So here is some advice. The last thing you should be doing is reminding your paying customers that they may be engaging in criminal activity elsewhere. Well guess what, we paid for our tickets, so cut us some slack, mmm k?

Wouldn’t it be fun for other media industries to follow suit? We can then watch the hilarity ensue. Have the newspapers get a crack at it first. Here is my suggested warning: “Attention subscribers, sharing this paper with your neighbor hurts paperboys”. The warning should replace page one. Also, it would be good for the newspaper to somehow be sealed shut to force the consumer to consume the message longer.

If you want to bombard the public with your heavy handed tactics (”oh look, the best grip is crying because he can’t buy a thanksgiving turkey! I really should have paid for The Fast and The Furious 16“) then fork up the cash and pay from some more ads. But how about you leave them out of the places you know people have paid.

Then again, I could be wrong. Perhaps college students across America are walking away from your lessons filled with doubt and conviction. Uh-oh, wakey-wakey time.

So here’s a novel (not actually) thought. Perhaps you should focus on developing incentives for people to buy your products. Let’s see, get it for free or pay for it. Why should we pay again? Oh that’s it, because it’s the right thing to do and it supports the industry. You know what, that’s fine with me. But guess what, most people don’t care. See your bed, Hollywood? That’s right, you’ve helped create an amoral vacuum of relativism in American society, and now you want people to do the right thing.

So here’s a suggestion. Go out and do some research on the rate of “piracy” of the Criterion Collection discs versus say, the best of Bruckheimer/Bay. I bet you’ll see a difference. Now why do you think that could be? Could it be you shape your audience? Could it be, people are less willing to buy cat food for dinner than say, a nice fresh albacore steak?

I’m out of sarcasm…