Ghost of a flea

One thing Dave forgets is that you don't actually have to watch it on your iPhone. You can stick the media file on your iPhone, then bring it (and a component cable) home (or to a buddy's house) and watch the thing on your 52" HDTV. Same thing with the newer iPod Touch, and of course, the AppleTV.

I thank God for the AppleTV because it has dramatically lessened filmgoing buyer's regret (i.e. seeing shite that you thought you might have liked—if it was anything like the trailer or reviews—but now sincerely regret ponying up 13 bucks for as you leave the theatre). And the smaller-scale stuff that never made it to theatres here—like Renaissance or Immortal ad vitam—you get to watch on your big screen at home.

Dave can rail against it, but it's the industry's only hope of survival. People are getting tired of paying premium prices to sit in sticky-floored theatres (full of people taking calls on mobile phones) to see a flick that was ultimately disappointing.

I watch all my film and television on the same 17" laptop I am using to write this comment. My desktop is too old to be ethernet cable enabled and I cannot be bothered transferring video files across to the old machine even for the 22" monitor and comfy chair.

I agree your argument re. buyer's remorse too. I walked in and out of a BMV* the other day, spending exactly as much time as it took for the thought "Remember when I used to buy CDs?" to cross my mind. My first independent vinyl purchase was back in 1981 or 1982; it was a year's best compilation including Flying Lizard's "Money". That was a great track but I shudder to think what the whole album was like (though now I wonder if it was brilliant...). Basically, whole industries - entertainment, yes, but also political parties, news, and so much else - are being toppled from their monopolist positions despite laws they have bought and paid for criminalizing a public that no longer has to endure it.

* Wait, HMV. It has been so long I had to stop and remember what that chain is called. I am in BMV all the time.

John Willie's "Bizarre"?

Cheers