A Reuters article in this morning’s Boston Globe says this about the movie industry’s recent slump:
“Overall sales continued their downward trajectory for a 14th consecutive weekend, compared with the same period a year ago. Industry obervers blame the drought on such factors as a paucity of durable adult-targeted fare, rising ticket prices and competition from DVD’s.”
I can trump those reasons with just a couple of words: if they made more good movies and less shitty ones, people would go.
These are probably the same industry observers who think the music business is in grave danger due to downloading and piracy. The RIAA just keeps on contending that downloading is ruining the music business and sales are way down. The numbers don’t really lie, either – sales are down, indeed. What the RIAA keeps failing to display, though, is the other set of numbers which indicate a drop in the amount of records being released, too. Oops. You see, if you release less records, than there’s a chance that less will be sold. Oh, and let’s not forget: if they made more good albums and less shitty ones, people would listen.
All that said, Revenge of the Sith was pretty damn great. It was certainly better and far more captivating than the previous two efforts – combined. Sure, there were moments of semi-ridiculous dialogue, but you’ll find that in every one of the Star Wars movies.
I’ve actually received some emails regarding my interview with Paul Roberts last week – more on that in a day or two. In reading my post, I find myself more and more disappointed in how I wrote it and how it turned out. The fact that I wrote it at like 1 a.m. on Friday morning probably didn’t help matters. Anyway, expect to see more commentary on the energy economy soon – you’ll be surprised at how prevalent it is in our lives. UPDATE: Wired Magazine just posted this article, titled “Petroleum Joyride Almost Over?” For a brief glimpse into what could happen over the next ten years if we maintain status quo on energy usage, read it.