Bootlegs - more than just a funny word ...
It's awards season in Los Angeles and though I used to live 60 miles north of it, I am proud to say that this year, I've seen more Golden Globe nominated films than I ever did when lived an hour away or for three years in Los Angeles.
How? Piracy.
Almost every DVD and pesky little creatures called VCD's in Turkey are copies.
The quality is good and the price is cheap (4 lira or $2.79 for a DVD.) What really amazed me when I moved here was the way its done. When you visit a "DVD" store, it's all copies of DVDs. Even on the streets, vendors sell copies of VCDs and DVDs all over.
VCDs are more popular and are movies burned onto a regular compact disc rather than a DVD. They are also cheaper (2 Lira or $1.39 for a VCD) but most of them are dubbed in Turkish so I just avoid asking for them and stick with DVDs.
I'm also amazed at the speed they are available. When films are still in the United States theatres they are available here on bootleg DVDs.
The more amazing part for me was that piracy is illegal here in Turkey. I have a three students who are lawyers and I've asked them all if it is illegal for people to sell DVDs on the street. All of them said "No" and some had entertaining answers.
One of them said the police, who routinely walk by the DVD vendors, don't care about this - they're worried about bigger crimes and problems.
Another one said no one in Turkey cares because "The United States is a rich country and the people here are poor."
Either way, I've seen four of the five films up for best drama in the Golden Globes and I've seen three of the comedies.
(My picks to win are Babel and Little Miss Sunshine, but if I could pick the winners they would be the Departed and Borat, although I loved Thank you for Smoking and Little Miss Sunshine also.)
When I purchased Babel, though, there was a downside. The film relies heavily on subtitles and I was downright lost in some of the scenes. Even without dialogue I still don't think it's that good and is over-hyped much like the Aviator was two years ago.
Watch, it may take plenty of Globes, but Oscar will straighten it out.
But back to the subject at hand. watching the DVDs directly at home is so much better than the theatre. Rather than going to the movies, where I would spend at least 7 lira for entrance and have to see or talk to other people - I can just spend 4 lira and tune out the world around me.
It's a beautiful thing.
How? Piracy.
Almost every DVD and pesky little creatures called VCD's in Turkey are copies.
The quality is good and the price is cheap (4 lira or $2.79 for a DVD.) What really amazed me when I moved here was the way its done. When you visit a "DVD" store, it's all copies of DVDs. Even on the streets, vendors sell copies of VCDs and DVDs all over.
VCDs are more popular and are movies burned onto a regular compact disc rather than a DVD. They are also cheaper (2 Lira or $1.39 for a VCD) but most of them are dubbed in Turkish so I just avoid asking for them and stick with DVDs.
I'm also amazed at the speed they are available. When films are still in the United States theatres they are available here on bootleg DVDs.
The more amazing part for me was that piracy is illegal here in Turkey. I have a three students who are lawyers and I've asked them all if it is illegal for people to sell DVDs on the street. All of them said "No" and some had entertaining answers.
One of them said the police, who routinely walk by the DVD vendors, don't care about this - they're worried about bigger crimes and problems.
Another one said no one in Turkey cares because "The United States is a rich country and the people here are poor."
Either way, I've seen four of the five films up for best drama in the Golden Globes and I've seen three of the comedies.
(My picks to win are Babel and Little Miss Sunshine, but if I could pick the winners they would be the Departed and Borat, although I loved Thank you for Smoking and Little Miss Sunshine also.)
When I purchased Babel, though, there was a downside. The film relies heavily on subtitles and I was downright lost in some of the scenes. Even without dialogue I still don't think it's that good and is over-hyped much like the Aviator was two years ago.
Watch, it may take plenty of Globes, but Oscar will straighten it out.
But back to the subject at hand. watching the DVDs directly at home is so much better than the theatre. Rather than going to the movies, where I would spend at least 7 lira for entrance and have to see or talk to other people - I can just spend 4 lira and tune out the world around me.
It's a beautiful thing.
posted by James at 1:36 AM
3 Comments:
I finally saw Thank You for Smoking and Little Miss Sunshine. They both need an award (or several) of some kind. Korea is full of piracy, too, and this is in no way a poor country. Most of my friends here are buying four discs, good quality, for 10,000 won, about $11.
By the way, TYfS kicked off a lively discussion about Scientology, thanks to Katie Holmes. I filled in what details I knew from South Park, but couldn't remember much. Any good websites?
I liked Little Miss Sunshine more than Darcey did. We rented it out of this dvd vending machine at our grocery store. Tell me that isn't cool. Swipe your card and choose a dvd. Return it the next day. Price: $1.
As for the other movies, since I'm an almost-lifelong southerner, I've seen probably 10% of the nominated movies on any given year. This is not because I chose not to or didn't have time. It's because great movies don't make it here. I don't think Little Miss Sunshine was in either of the theaters here in Anderson. I'd be willing to bet the most popular movie to hit the big screen here in the last 10 years was Passion of the Christ. Whoopee!
Also, Darcey's brother Jake is currently serving in Iraq. He sent us a box set of 200 movies on 23 dvd's for Christmas. The cover says Disney movies, but I'm not sure Street Fighter Episodes 1-8 are Disney movies. Sometimes the language switches in mid-movie and the sound and video quality are sometimes crap. Glad to hear that Turkey pirating technology is superior to that in Iraq. I guess it's because it's such a young democracy.
Sefton
http://radaronline.com/features/2007/01/the_ethnicist.php
BLACK PEOPLE!!
Post a Comment
<< Home