5.29.2006
Making copies.
As I have mentioned many times before--most recently, I think, here--there is a slight problem with pirated DVDs here in China. If, that is, by "problem" you mean "easy access to cheap copies of pretty much any movie or TV show you want to watch," which, not working for the MPAA, I don't. Go figure.
Actually, I am continually impressed by the pirates' efficiency. For example, taking into the account the time difference, people here in China could start downloading the last episode of LOST (season 2) from the Internet around 1 or 2 PM last Thursday. Of course, by "people" I mean other people, not me, since downloading TV shows that the networks are giving away for free for your own personal viewing pleasure and then deleting them after you're done watching is completely and totally wrong, despite how much sense it seems to make, since logic and law are two words that very rarely seem to go together.
But back to LOST. As I said, you (if "you" are a terribly evil person with no moral compass) could start downloading the last episode of LOST on Thursday afternoon. And what did I find last night at our local DVD store Monday evening, just four short days later? You guessed it--the complete second season of LOST:
That, my friends, is a quick turnaround--especially for a show with 24 episodes. (In comparison, it took three entire days for The Da Vinci Code to hit the streets. The gall.) I think they had just come in too, because when I was looking around for other things to buy I noticed this box tucked away under the DVD shelves:
I guess they are anticipating quite a demand? Which would be correct, since I know a lot of people who were waiting for Season 2 to hit the streets, as they say. ("They" being I have no idea whom. "The kids" maybe? Is that what "the kids" are saying these days?) And it wasn't just LOST that was rushed to market--I also saw copies of the latest seasons of Grey's Anatomy, My Name is Earl, Gilmore Girls, and the OC, among others. I know, I know--all those just-finished TV shows, and yet no one seems to be able to get a decent copy of Mission Impossible: III. Slackers.
Actually, I am continually impressed by the pirates' efficiency. For example, taking into the account the time difference, people here in China could start downloading the last episode of LOST (season 2) from the Internet around 1 or 2 PM last Thursday. Of course, by "people" I mean other people, not me, since downloading TV shows that the networks are giving away for free for your own personal viewing pleasure and then deleting them after you're done watching is completely and totally wrong, despite how much sense it seems to make, since logic and law are two words that very rarely seem to go together.
But back to LOST. As I said, you (if "you" are a terribly evil person with no moral compass) could start downloading the last episode of LOST on Thursday afternoon. And what did I find last night at our local DVD store Monday evening, just four short days later? You guessed it--the complete second season of LOST:
That, my friends, is a quick turnaround--especially for a show with 24 episodes. (In comparison, it took three entire days for The Da Vinci Code to hit the streets. The gall.) I think they had just come in too, because when I was looking around for other things to buy I noticed this box tucked away under the DVD shelves:
I guess they are anticipating quite a demand? Which would be correct, since I know a lot of people who were waiting for Season 2 to hit the streets, as they say. ("They" being I have no idea whom. "The kids" maybe? Is that what "the kids" are saying these days?) And it wasn't just LOST that was rushed to market--I also saw copies of the latest seasons of Grey's Anatomy, My Name is Earl, Gilmore Girls, and the OC, among others. I know, I know--all those just-finished TV shows, and yet no one seems to be able to get a decent copy of Mission Impossible: III. Slackers.
