Written 25 August, 2007
Flicks at Home
Lately, Sweetie and I have been taking advantage of Second Life's ability to play steaming video.
We watched Torley Linden's great vidtuits, and then we took the plunge. We rented a movie.
We got it from a sleazy place where a two-day rental is $250L and there's a curtain behind which are the really dirty films. You take your purchase home and rez the box(being sure to put a bag of virtual popcorn in the virtual microwave first), settle in with your Sweetie, hit Play, and settle in.
We watched Torley Linden's great vidtuits, and then we took the plunge. We rented a movie.
We got it from a sleazy place where a two-day rental is $250L and there's a curtain behind which are the really dirty films. You take your purchase home and rez the box(being sure to put a bag of virtual popcorn in the virtual microwave first), settle in with your Sweetie, hit Play, and settle in.
I disremembered the very first movie we watched, but I engaged the full powers of my amazing memory
(although first I looked at my transaction history, which I periodically save to hard drive twice a month;
alas, I didn't find it), and eventually, by thinking and thinking, I remembered it was Shrek the Third.
Over the past months we've watched perhaps 20 movies, including new releases like The Simpsons movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, Next, and Rattatouille (spp?), as well as older films like Dogma.
We figured out early on all wasn't on the up and up with our $250L rentals. Maybe it was the laugh track.
No, that's not a laugh track, that's the sound of the audience in the movie theater where the film was videotaped on a half held camcorder.
Or maybe it was the subtitles in Cryllic.
Or maybe it was the backs of the heads of the people sitting in front of our inveterate camcordist.
Or maybe it was the fact that the movies had no opening or ending credits.
Or maybe it was the shop owner's protest: "I'm not hurting anyone."
But razor-sharp as our minds are, we soon enough figured out we were watching pirated copies of the films in question.
Sweetie had a knock-down drag-out with her conscience (I watched in fascination), and we took ourselves to another video store.
(although first I looked at my transaction history, which I periodically save to hard drive twice a month;
alas, I didn't find it), and eventually, by thinking and thinking, I remembered it was Shrek the Third.
Over the past months we've watched perhaps 20 movies, including new releases like The Simpsons movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, Next, and Rattatouille (spp?), as well as older films like Dogma.
We figured out early on all wasn't on the up and up with our $250L rentals. Maybe it was the laugh track.
No, that's not a laugh track, that's the sound of the audience in the movie theater where the film was videotaped on a half held camcorder.
Or maybe it was the subtitles in Cryllic.
Or maybe it was the backs of the heads of the people sitting in front of our inveterate camcordist.
Or maybe it was the fact that the movies had no opening or ending credits.
Or maybe it was the shop owner's protest: "I'm not hurting anyone."
But razor-sharp as our minds are, we soon enough figured out we were watching pirated copies of the films in question.
Sweetie had a knock-down drag-out with her conscience (I watched in fascination), and we took ourselves to another video store.
Sweetie was impressed that this one charged $1000 for films-- but we realized they, too, were pirated.
And they didn't even play correctly! The seller had some tricked-up way of streaming that disappointed us twice when we were planning to watch a movie.
And he didn't reply either to e-mails or to the two notecards I sent him, so I would like to take this opportunity to send him a hearty f*** you, so f*** you, Shaft, you bastard. Just f*** you.
Perhaps one day the video companies will make legitimate films available on Second Life. And perhaps not. Until then, I hope to occasionally see a nice pirated film with my Sweetie.
And they didn't even play correctly! The seller had some tricked-up way of streaming that disappointed us twice when we were planning to watch a movie.
And he didn't reply either to e-mails or to the two notecards I sent him, so I would like to take this opportunity to send him a hearty f*** you, so f*** you, Shaft, you bastard. Just f*** you.
Perhaps one day the video companies will make legitimate films available on Second Life. And perhaps not. Until then, I hope to occasionally see a nice pirated film with my Sweetie.
2 comments:
I wonder if we could stream from our client computers to a screen in-world? Probably need some type of server software loaded, but hey; that's what VMWare is for!
I know you can purchase a stream for audio; that's what people with clubs use for DJs and live acts. I don't see why you couldn't do the same for video. I do know you can speak live into the mic. I think you can stream music from either your hard drive or from a website.
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