Sunday 12 June 2005

Pic of the day: There is something magical about the first time... (Screenshot from Pita Ten.) I didn't take any screenshot from today's movie. I don't even think it was possible.

Renting a Net movie

Another first! Today I rented a movie over the Internet. This is the new Cool Thing, right? Well, it may not be new to everyone, especially in the USA, and especially on the West Coast there. But here in Norway it is fairly new. It is in fact so new that there are very few movies available.

The irony is that I could have downloaded the movie for free over BitTorrent. Except it would be illegal and immoral, so I don't do it. I have downloaded Japanese anime (cartoons) for a couple years already, but those are not for sale in English or any other language I understand. Not all have such scruples, though. I read a couple months ago that BitTorrent is now the single largest application on the Net, using more of the bandwidth than e-mail and good old web surfing. No wonder the movie makers are upset.

As a subscriber to Telenor ADSL, it was easy for me to click my way to sfanytime, a movie rental site that offers movies either subbed or dubbed in Norwegian. The selection is small and the price is rather high when you consider the quality, not to mention the fact that it can't possibly cost them more than a few cent per streaming. Still, it is pretty convenient, and it is certainly cheaper than buying. And you can play it over again (not that I would need that) or spool forward or backward. The nifty thing was that I did not even need to pick up my credit card (I almost but not quite remember it by heart now), I could instead choose to get the cost on my next DSL bill. Then I just gave my user name and password. And then my DSL lost connection.

Yes, that's what happened. The movie didn't come, instead my Skype icon went gray and my connection icon went black. I restarted the DSL and the movie still did not play. I was totally ready to write Telenor and make pointed remarks about swindling and police investigation. However, instead I exited the web browser and went in again. Now instead of just getting a list of films, the one I had picked was waiting for me with 23 hours left. From then on it worked like a charm. But I'm pretty sure it was the logging on that killed my DSL connection. They should probably take a second look at it.

I chose the movie The Day after Tomorrow. I had heard good things about its special effects, and also seen it ridiculed for its pseudoscience. They were right about the pseudoscience. As for the effects ... I guess it takes a lot to impress you after watching Lord of the Rings. Well, this movie didn't have what it takes to impress me. I'm sure it would have passed as awesome in the 1990es. I guess I should have taken the Harry Potter movie instead. Perhaps another day. Or perhaps not. I'll probably do it if I ever feel tempted to buy it. But since I haven't even bought the latest Harry Potter book yet (the thick one), I'm not sure.

But at least I did a new thing! I have lived this day as if it was not my last. And it wasn't ... I'm uploading this on Wednesday. ^^