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Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

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Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#201

Post by downrightmike »

brundolf wrote: post #184

My fondest Blockbuster memories were around video games. The very best weekends were when my mom would take us there on Friday after school and let us each pick out a game. My sister and I would fight for turns with the TV all weekend. Just getting to explore a new game for a little bit and then try something else next time was so much fun; you never knew what you were gonna get, just going off the box art. Even bett…

Or getting hooked on a game and hoping that you get there quick enough to check it out so that no one else played or erased your save.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#202

Post by xavxav »

cstever wrote: post #197
MomoXenosaga wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just your usual nostalgia. I lived in the age before internet and it was shit. Then Kazaa happened and I could finally download Naruto and Gundam.

For me (my 2 cents), I think it's more than nostalgia. It's about community. It's about face to face interaction. I recently listened to a piece on NPR about lunches and working in France and why it's important. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/07/1103566695/lunching-work-when... The part I took away was how everyone sat together for lunch and you might find yourself at a table with a stranger who is not in your field but…

I can’t overstate the value of the lunch hour in France, it’s by far the best part of my day and has made my PhD bearable, enjoyable even despite the difficult pandemic environment.

It’s allowed me to learn from colleagues, make friends and create a sense of belonging, my lab isn’t just an abstract organization but a group of interesting people.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#203

Post by cstever »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #198
cstever wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me (my 2 cents), I think it's more than nostalgia. It's about community. It's about face to face interaction. I recently listened to a piece on NPR about lunches and working in France and why it's important. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/07/1103566695/lunching-work-when... The part I took away was how everyone sat together for lunch and you might find yourself at a table with a stranger who is not in your field but…

I agree with you, I miss it. And some of this is pandemic-inspired too, really missed human contact then, and in the USA I worry some of it is never coming back. And yet, my city DOES have an independent/artsy local video rental store, that I'm sure has all sorts of things I'd like watching. I don't go to it. I don't even have a DVD player or VCR. I stream.

Don't get me wrong. I stream too. I think technology is great. I'm only a Luddite when my code won't compile. I do a lot of things on line. At least 8 hours of my day is developing software from my home, so my only interaction with my coworkers is through software. And I enjoy forums like Hacker News. And it's really convenient to instantly get a video.

But I also love going to the book store with my kids and thumbing through the books and videos and music. Picking them up, smelling them (helpless romantic I guess), talking about them.

The other day, a random person came up to me and shared a memory of her child because of something she overheard me say to my child and it was a great interaction. I felt connected in a way I maybe didn't realize I missed. And it wouldn't have happened (not the same way at least) online.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#204

Post by Arkadin »

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #178
zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

When Netflix had the star system, I would get amazing recommendations. I would get a good feeling every time I opened Netflix because I was almost guaranteed a quality movie I would like. After Netflix moved onto thumbs up/down it was never the same and when Netflix started promoting their own shows, it got worse. I'm at the point where I hardly even watch it though I can't say the same for my kids.

Compounded by moving away from massive dvd back catalog to limited streaming options. Not only are the recommendations worse but there is significantly less for them to recommend.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#205

Post by Arkadin »

sailfast wrote: post #145
zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

What's the website equivalent of Dave? Surely it has to exist somewhere? Maybe it's not personalized for you but it's close enough for a lot of people? I've visited a TON of taste-making sites and some used to be OK at suggesting what to watch, but it's been tough to find good ones lately, and I'd pay good money for somebody to sort through all of the cruft for me. You've got your "decider" and other sites, but somet…

IMO website equivalent of this is cinephile forums/trackers. You will get tons of high quality recommendations and find interesting non-mainstream content.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#206

Post by Arkadin »

chiph wrote: post #167
jinto36 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most noticeable things about playing laserdiscs on modern displays is the poor black levels and noise in shadows, and of course the difficulty in scaling interlaced material. Even with what should be a decent (but not nearly top of the line) FPGA-based deinterlacer/scaler I still feel like it should look better than it does, given how much better laserdisc resolution can be than VHS. But it's also analog v…

Like you said, Laserdisc was way better than either tape format. But if you watched it on a Trinitron television, you noticed all the same artifacts you have. The best reason for owning a Laserdisc player in 2022 has decreased somewhat with the availability of the de-specialized versions of Star Wars. For decades that format was the only way to see the first 3 films as they were originally shown in the theater. Many…

Non-special edition Star Wars was also available on VHS from same vintage as LD, but the thx remaster vhs version was best analog version imo. Although I fondly remember the taped off tv vhs versions I grew up watching. Fan versions of theatrical versions are amazing!

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#207

Post by Arkadin »

dasil003 wrote: post #48
vlunkr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that when we revisit older movies, all the way up to the 90s, we're watching them at much much higher quality than we did originally. Special effects, costumes and sets are all much more believable when you're viewing them on a little grainy screen. I think some older movies are unfairly judged by how they look on hardware that couldn't have existed at the time.

This is only strictly true if you're talking about television. The analog nature of film and its degradation along with the imperfection of human memory mean we can't really know for sure exactly how, for example, Lawrence of Arabia looked on the big screen in its contemporary transfers. But it was definitely better than anything seen on a television prior to at least 1080p if not 4k.

A big difference is that the prints degrade and viewing conditions varied greatly. If you were watching Lawrence first run on 70mm print at large theater with the projector lamps cranked it was borderline religious experience. But if you weren’t in a big city and caught the end of the second or third run or a 35mm print with lamps at normal levels 4k on a newer tv is almost certainly better.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#208

Post by loonster »

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #178
zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

When Netflix had the star system, I would get amazing recommendations. I would get a good feeling every time I opened Netflix because I was almost guaranteed a quality movie I would like. After Netflix moved onto thumbs up/down it was never the same and when Netflix started promoting their own shows, it got worse. I'm at the point where I hardly even watch it though I can't say the same for my kids.

I miss the comments the most. Seeing why someone rated something a certain way.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#209

Post by totetsu »

zw123456 wrote: post #87

I am old enough to remember when the wife would call me at work on a Friday and say hey, stop by the video store and get a movie for tonight and I'll stop and get wine and take out. What was special was the "Dave" at the video rental place (it wasn't blockbuster but whatever). I don't recall the guy's name, but he always remembered me and what we liked and had great suggestions and sometimes if you said, nah but how…

My friend managed a Video rental shop in the sunset of the the era. I remember him mentioning some trade publication, or magazine from the franchise that told employees ' if you like this movie, you'll probably like this too' kind of information.. Maybe the algorithms were already around back then, just the front end was a bit meatier.

Re: Plano man keeping Blockbuster alive

#210

Post by nocman »

2143 wrote: post #191
s1mon wrote: post #117

I read this title as "Piano man..." several times until my brain finally parsed it correctly. It made for very curious thoughts on an alternate future involving Billy Joel.

I thought I was the only one.

Nope. I earnestly clicked the link wondering how in the world Billy Joel was keeping Blockbuster Video alive. LOL.
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