BAND OF PIRATES

Bought an all region version of the HBO war mini series BAND OF BROTHERS. The damn thing is exactly like the original,right down to the 6th disc that contains all the special features including one of the actor's documentary.The viderates are amazing in the way they copy and package the disc. I was tempted to get the r-3 release that has that sexy tin case packaging but when this was offered to me by ABDULAH with the glaring prize difference how can I refuse? There is some minor pixilation and the subtitles disappear from time to time but hey who am I to complain?

I texted one of my freinds who is a hard core world war 2 dvd collector and told him about the existence of this beauty.

WAR TIME DVD COLLECTOR: " Oh yeah...well you dont have the awesome tin case packaging."

FLIM: " Yes that's true. But im not willing to pay a king's ransom so I can have a nice tin case that will eventually gather dust in my shelf."

And that is true. Look at MY AKIRA tin case edition. yeah sure its cool when you're a visitor in my room and ...

VISITOR: " Wow Its a tin case edition? Where did you get this? "

Then I feel good for the duration of the visit. But the following day it assumes its normalcy.

JOE: " Hey I have the EPISODE 2 two disc collection. Aren't you going to get one? "

FLIM: " NAH! I have the pirated collector's edition . The one they swiped off the Malaysian processing plant. Its incredible and has a running commentary by G. LUCAS at track 2."

JOE: " You dont have the second disc that contains all the deleted scenes."

FLIM: " Yes that's true! What are the deleted scenes? "

JOE: " Well its more romantic scenes between PADME and ANAKIN"

FLIM: " Does it have a longer light saber duel that involves YODA and COUNT DOOKU? "

JOE: " No."

FLIM: " Well Im glad I didnt get that 2 disc edition. WHY ON EARTH would I PAY 1,500 for more shitty romance sthick between those two TWATHS? I have to virtualy edit the already existing scenes in the dvd when I watch it. In fact I skip the entire anakin padme sequences and jump right thru the OBI WAN / JANGO DUEL AND THE ASTERIOD BATTLE SCENE AND THE ARENA AND THE BATTLE OF THE CLONES!"

Then there's this other friend with an interesting view about pirated dvds.

CHEAPSKATE: " I WONT BUY THE PIRATED DVD OF EPISODE2 despite it being identical to the original. I WANT TO GIVE GEORGE LUCAS MY HARD EARNED CASH BECAUSE I want to pay him for all the years that he gave me enjoyment."

Admirable sensibilities working here.

FLIM: " Well you can afford it with the mega bucks that you earn but what about the rest of us living in the poverty line? "

CHEAPSKATE: " You're not even skimming the poverty line."

FLIM: " Well the way I see it. LUCAS has billions and billions of dollars up his ass and he woudnt notice the few fans who buy the pirated discs."

CHEAPSKATE: ' No mAtter WHAT YOU SAY , YOU PEOPLE ARE STEALING FROM GEORGE LUCAS! PLAIN AND SIMPLE! YOU'RE ROBBING HIM AND THERE IS NO MEANS IN JUSTIFYING THAT! "

FLIM: " True! true! true!

CHEAPSKATE: " POOR PEOPLE HAVE NO RIGHT TO COLLECT OR BUY DVDS IF THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO GET THE REAL THING!ITS NOT A CHEAP HOBBY! ONLY THOSE WITH MONEY SHOULD BE COLLECTING IN THE FIRST PLACE! "

FLIM: " So can I put your real name on the BLOG and not this nom de plume? "

CHEAP SKATE: "...uhg....no!Dont do that! "

FLIM: " And I find it ironic that you spend big amounts of money on your dvd collection but you're too fucking cheap to even
hire a ....."

CHEAPSKATE: " DONT EVEN SAY IT! EVERYBODY WILL KNOW IT'S ME! "

FLIM: " JACKASS COWARD! NOT ONLY ARE YOU CHEAP...YOU DONT EVEN HAVE THE BALLS TO STAND UP TO WHAT YOU BITCH ABOUT IT... I OUGHT TO CHANGE YOUR NAME TO....

COWARDLY JACKASS CHEAPSKATE: " DONT SAY IT! DONT EVEN SAY IT!This is what you should write in your blog.DVD COLLECTING is an expensive hobby that should be for those who can only afford it.Poor people should spend first on the basic nessecities in life like food and shelter before they indulge in any ....

FLIM: " THAT IS A LOT OF HORSE SHIT! WHAT A WATERED DOWN VERSION OF WHAT YOU ACTUALLY MEANT! YOU SOUND LIKE A FUCKING POLITICIAN! I SHOULD VOTE FOR YOU IN THE NEXT ELECTION!YOU SCUMBAG!"

COWARDLY JACKASS CHEAPSKATE: "You think so? "

FLIM: " Just because they're poor and cannot afford to buy original dvds and yet have the means to buy pirated ones, THEY SHOULDN'T! BECAUSE THEY CAN'T AFFORD IT? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING? "

COWARDLY JACKASS CHEAPSKATE: " Yes! "

FLIM: " WELL SPOKEN for someone who can afford it! But I'd find it more authentic if it actually came from someone who can't!.Because from where I'm standing YOU CAN SAY ALL MANNERS OF PRONOUNCEMENTS WHEN YOU'RE STOMACH IS FULL!

With the way the country is sinking because of the level of corruption our own public officials and the police force and even the army in mindanao wantonly display I find it hilarious that people actually have time to condemn video piracy!

THIS IS THE LAND OF MORDOR. WHERE THE SHADOWS LIE


I had dinner last night with Cess and her friend REGINA in this restaurant called KITCHEN.Reg's family owns this large restaurant franchise that had its meager beginnings when her grandmother cooked in the sidewalk or something.So there we where ordering these " I WANT RICE " spreads. Our topic of conversation was Regina's imminent exodus to the fairy like realm of NEW ZEALAND.

REGINA: " I wonder how would it be like to live there."

FLIM: " IT'S LIKE BEING in MIDDLE EARTH."

REGINA: " Why so? "

FLIM: " Because that's where they shot the movie."

REGINA: " Wow! Really. Thats great! I tought they shot it in ENGLAND."

FILM: " Nah! It doesnt look like ENGLAND.The colour temperature is too hot for it to be in ENGLAND. Personally I would have prefered that they'd shot it in SCOTLAND instead.That's the way I envisioned MIDDLE EARTH to be. Lots of fog and gloomy wheather. And the rocks embraced by emerald moss.NEW ZEALAND in most of the shots look too much like ACTON CALIFORNIA."
CESS: " REG why do you want to leave MANILA? You're not hard up in fact you live in a great and large house. "

Regina's face changed! The euphoria she felt when she discoverd that she was going to migrate to Middle Earth transformed into a haunted like countenance.

REGINA: " IT'S not about money. I just dont like to raise my children in country steeped in corruption and evil."

FLIM: " Corruption isnt just the sole provinceof the phillipines you know. Everywhere you go there's always corruption."

REGINA : " yes but not as much as it is here.

FLIM: " What brought about this all of a sudden?"

REGINA: " My husband was trying to renew his driver's license. They asked him to pay 350 for the drug test. Then in a few minutes they came back and told him that it ws ok. How can they conduct that kind of a test in a few minutes.He talked to a few doctors who confirmed that it was impossible to go thru a thorough urine test in amtter of minutes. It would at least take a day or two. That really sinched it for my Husband."

Personally I think there's more to this than Regina really lets up.My assumption is that she is darn scared to continue living here because she's earning a lot and it's pretty obvious with the fleet of cars she has and that it is only a matter of time before kidnappers start plotting a way to get to her and her own.

FLIM: " Well things dont really look bright over the horizon.LACSON poised to run and the millions of idiots who are dumb enough to vote for him."

REGINA: " That's one of the reasons why I think this country is hopeless.LACSON for President? MY GOD! This country's literacy level is below subhuman standards.At least in other countries they have the mentality to vote people who are good for the job. "

FLIM: " Its not the literacy problem here. It's the mental level.EVERYONE'S AN IDIOT.PLAIN AND SIMPLE! "

REGINA: " The Americans have political maturity.They have gone thru civil wars to protect their constitution and now look, they can vote intelligently."

FLIM: " I said it time and time again. What's wrong with this country is that our bloodless people power should never have been bloodless! There should have been blood on the street! PEOPLE KILLED! HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION! WIDESPREAD! FULL BODY CARNAGE! AND THEN !ONLY THEN ...WOULD WE HAVE HAD A GOOD GOVERNMENT RISING FROM THE ASHES OF THE OLD.We would treasure our independence because we paid for it in blood. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WE HAD IT THE EASY WAY. IT was handed down to us. With minimal bloodshed and all praying in the streets and everyone singing songs.So what happens? We treat the running of the government like the way we treat coups. FIESTAS!" Oh we're electing a SCUMBAG in office. OH DONT WORRY ABOUT IT. WE CAN PEOPLE POWER HIM ANYTIME WE FEEL LIKE IT.IT'S A BIG JOKE! "

REGINA: " Yes...that's true."

FLIM: " It was a big mistake to allow the Marcos family and Imelda to come back here alive!"

CESS:" YOU KNOW the reason why Imelda and the Marcoses came back was because everyone in the states or in Europe would spit on them. They are looked down upoun by the free world."

FLIM: " Don't you think that it's ironic that the only place that would welcome them back is the country they screwd up in the first place ? You know how stupid that makes the country look like? But think about it. If they were executed in public acess tv and shown all over the phillipines . Then a lesson would have been taught. That no scum stealing public official can escape the wrath of the filipino people. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! It wasnt done. They were allowed back. They are the living testimony that public officials who commit crime are not made to pay here in the phillipines. That's why when a new Presidents come in, the first thing in their agenda is " OK HOW MUCH CAN I STEAL BEFORE MY TERM EXPIRES! "REGINA: " Look at what RAMOS did to us with that independent power supplier fiasco."

FLIM: " It's not their fault. ITS THEIR JOB TO FUCK US OVER! NOW IT'S OUR JOB TO NOT LET THEM FUCK US.BUT THE FILIPINOS HAVE SIGN IN THE FOREHEAD THAT SAYS, " FUCK ME IN THE ASS AND COME ON MY FACE CAUSE WE'RE IDIOTS! "

REGINA: "THAT'S WHY WE WANT TO MOVE OUT OF HERE. AT FIRST I WAS ASHAMED BECAUSE IT FELT LIKE I WAS ABANDONING MY FAMILY AND OUR BUSSINESS AND MY HERITAGE."

FLIM: " WHAT HERITAGE? THE HERITAGE OF BEING A CITIZEN OF THE OLD SICK AND DYING MAN IN ASIA? THE HERITAGE OF A COUNTRY WHO WELCOMES BACK THOSE WHO PLUNDERED ITS ECONOMY TO DEATH! LEAVE THE COUNTRY!Take your children with you. Raise them in MIDDLE EARTH and never look back to this land of MORDOR. And when you leave.When you climbed the last step before boarding the plane.Turn back and spit at the tarmac.Call this land ACCURSED!!!! "

THIS IS THE LAND OF MORDOR. WHERE THE SHADOWS LIE

REGINA: " Yes I will do that."

FLIM: " Now what are we ordering? "