Paranormal

A couple weeks ago I felt like going to the bookstore.  I love bookstores but don't go to often because A) I already have a huge pile of books to read, B) end up spending too much money...and books are often cheaper online, C) end up spending a lot of time there, and D) I am trying to read more on my Kindle to keep my home a little less cluttered.  However, the bookstore shopping experience cannot be replicated online.  Browsing the covers, picking up a book and flipping through it, staff recommendations, just seeing the shelves and shelves of books.  It's a much more rich and satisfying experience than shopping for books online.  To me, it is all pretty glorious, I had a wonderful evening checking out books.

I have previously mentioned my like of young adult literature here.  Walking into a bookstore and seeing the huge space for young adult literature makes me really happy on the inside.  I am envious of the kids that get to grow up with such an array of choices...it seemed in my day it was Judy Bloom, the Hardy Boys, a handful of classics like Tom Sawyer or Treasure Island and that was about it.  I know there was more - I got into Lloyd Alexander and the Three Investigators books to name a few...but it was no where near the amount that is available today.  There seemed to be a big jump, you books for young kids and then you had books for high school age, but this middle school years 4th-8th grade level books had pretty slim pickings.  I remember going to a bookstores and them having one, maybe two shelves of young adult lit...and there was nothing over 250 pages, even 200 pages was hard to find.  I am envious that kids now get sweeping seven book sagas where they get thicker each volume, the final volume ending up being nearly 800 pages.  That would have been so awesome to me back then.

Still when I go into a bookstore, I am awed by the immensity of the young adult section...bookcase after bookcase, shelf after shelf.  It is all great...except for this:

Now, I don't hate this in and of itself...I just hate how big of a chunk of the young adult section that it actually takes up. 4 and a half bookcases worth.  I understand why - Twilight was huge and people want to cash in on some of that.  And just like the horrible romance novels for adults, these romance novels exist for teens.  But it disturbs me that it has to be paranormal romance.  A few are fine, but it disturbs me a that there are so many more paranormal versus regular romance tales for young adults.  I know not every girl is going to have unrealistic expectations because of these, but I am sure some will.  How will they every be happy if they don't find their vegetarian vampire, werewolf with a heart of gold, or angel that gives it all up for love?  And what about for guys...some have to feel some pressure to live up to an imaginary standard (similar to how girls feel pressured by society super skinny or super beautiful.  Sure it is all in there minds, but that type of thing could sure mess with you if you had low self-esteem.  I myself had enough problems comparing myself to knights and war heroes...and they were just people.  I know it was all in my mind now, but when I was younger there were times when I just didn't feel good enough for whatever girl I happened to like, because I hadn't done anything special.  At least my goals of being special were humanly possible.

Admittedly, I haven't read these books, so I could be mistaken...and I doubt most kids and teens take them seriously, but still that can sink into your subconscious.  I'm just saying, step out of the paranormal romance section once in a while, try some normal fiction or romance - don't dream of something that doesn't exist.

I also found this hilarious.  The paranormal romance bookcase is right next to the non-fiction bookcase...the only problem is that the romance spills over an covers 3/4 of the non-fiction.  2 measly shelves for non-fiction.

I'm glad the kids and teens of today have this great selection of books.  I found it sad that I couldn't find most of the books that I enjoyed as a kid.  There were a few scattered about and it made me smile to see them, but they seemed almost quaint next to the modern teen books...books that can be amazing and dark.  Darkness didn't much exist in the majority of books for young adults when I was in the age bracket (which is probably why I started reading Stephen King so young).  Hunger Games, with kids killing and dying all over the place?  There is no way that would have existed 20 years ago.  It is nice to see the gritty worlds that authors have now come up with.  I look forward to reading through more of you in the near future.

The Grey

****Spoilers Below****

If you haven't seen the movie The Grey with Liam Neeson and want to, you may want to skip this post as it is bound to have some spoilers

Sidenote: I haven't had an art class since 6th grade...and even then I was not great.  However, I've kind of felt like drawing a little bit, so I figured I would try it out for the blog.  I would like to learn to draw better, so I figure the best way is to just draw a little bit...even if it is stick figures.  So below are some of my (awesome) illustrations.

Nearly every week, my friend Cam and I (and whoever else will join us) go to a movie.  This started with Billy Joes...and although we haven't found a good place to replicate that experience but we still usually have a good time - good movie or bad.

A couple weeks ago we went to see The Grey.  I think we all walked out thinking that it was an OK...nothing spectacular but a decent action flick.  The Grey is just full of horrible and disturbing situations to make the characters and audience feel uncomfortable. For example...

Isolation and loneliness in the middle of nowhere:

 A plane crash:

Possibly freezing to death:

Wolves:

Watching friends die and/or get eaten by wolves:

Lost in huge forest in the middle of nowhere:

But the scariest, most disturbing part of the movie:

Liam Neeson's Toe Thumbs.  I don't think Liam actually has toe thumbs (unless there was some kind of light saber accident on the set of Phantom Menace) but it definitely looks like he does.  Unfortunately, once you see them you can't stop seeing them.  They are forever burned in my brain and I think that will be all that I will now see of Liam.  Hopefully not.  I really enjoy him as an actor...but I don't like close ups of his thumbs.

Awful Advertisements

Am I the only one that does care to see animated
babies with diapers full of shit?

Advertisers usually don't understand me...or at least they do not make ads and commercials that appeal to me. In fact, not only do they not attract me to the product, but they actively turn me against the product.  I don't hate commercials.  Yes, I often skip them as much as possible when watching shows on DVR, but I am also known to rewind and watch a commercial if something catches my eye.  However, instead of making me want to buy a product commercials today often make me avoid it instead (and if I really like a commercial, I will probably support the product - that just doesn't happen often).  A good example would be the Hardees commercials where basically they insinuate you are not a man if you aren't eating their thickburger, mega-four patty burger with a pound of cheese and bacon.  I guess I am not man, because I could never eat that much.  I loved the slider mini-burgers that Hardees offered, but once the new ad campaign started Hardees never entered my mind because I didn't want the thickburger.  I didn't feel like the customer that they wanted (and I believe they discontinued the sliders shortly thereafter because they didn't fit in their new manly approach).

The current* commercial that drives me nuts...LUVS.  Of course not having a child, I am not the audience that they are trying to reach...but I really can't imagine who this ad is supposed to entice.  It is mildly more entertaining than a traditional diaper commercial...the first time...but it filled me with anger once the initial shock was over.

I thought this was a new ad, but I guess it has been around for over a year.

Yes, you heard that right..."Poop, there it is."  And the babies are having a shitting contest.  "What happens in diapers, should stay in diapers."  "Heavy Dooty Blowout Protection." Really Luvs?  Everything about this ad is distasteful to me.  I respect you for trying something new, but this doesn't quite do it.  I'm glad I didn't have to see a diaper having blue liquid poured into it, but listening to a modified Tag Team song is even worse.  I hate this commercial so much.

I am not the only one either...doing a quick search this ad made many "Worst Ad of 2011" lists...I just had not seen it until a few days ago.

*One of many...the AT&T cell phone "So 46 seconds ago" commercials make me want to punch people in the face. Charmin bears piss me off because everyone knows that bears use rabbits. Those ads on facebook that say "Bet you are too dumb to pass this quiz."  Anything with the Carfox. etc...

I Laugh So That I Don't Cry (not really)

I logged onto the interwebicon this morning and up pops Yahoo! (one of the 3 options dictated by work), I was confronted by the following image:

All I could think was "Ughhh."  I am not the biggest Motley Crue fan in the world, but I do enjoy them (except their cover of Anarchy in the U.K. - really Vince, could you say  the end "DESTROY" in a less tough sounding way?).  Escpecially, I enjoy the song Kickstart My Heart.  That song does exactly what it says, it is just like a feel good, make you get going song.  It is energizing.

I knew this commercial was going to have this song...what else could it be.  Now, I don't hate the Kia Optima...it seems like a decent, cheap mid-sized sedan.  However, it is not the car that would ever pop into my mind when I think of Kickstart My Heart.  Full of trepidation, I click the link and watch the video.  It is actually pretty funny and at least there wasn't dancing hamsters.  I'm not gonna say they sold out...because that is just dumb, if I had the chance, I would totally be Wayne's World and be going "Nuprin? Little.  Yellow.  Different." every single chance I got.  Not a sell out, good job making money, I say to the Crue.  It is just a strange fit to my mind, but then I guess people don't really write songs about low end, midsize sedans.  I guess I do have to say thanks to Kia for not using Train's Hey Soul Sister (as that has been in way to many commercials) or Limp Bizkit's Nookie (as that is one of the worst songs of all time).

Snoopy...Drop the Weapon and Put Your Hands Up!

I hate inflatable holiday decorations...OK, that is not completely true.  I don't mind if someone has like one tasteful one (ie...not Santa riding a Harley).  However, one seems to be rare to find.  Once a person puts up one inflatable holiday decoration, it seems that they feel the compulsion to put up 2 or 3 more...or even worse be like my grandma's neighbor who had no less than 11 inflatables on the lawn this Christmas.

But this isn't a story about why I don't care for the inflatables (lazy, unoriginal, gaudy), this is a story about me being completely confused by one.  I was shopping at Sears (damn straight I was seeing the softer side...in the tool aisle) when I saw a shelf of this inflatable Snoopy in the holiday clearance section.

Awww...isn't that cute.  Santa Snoopy.  I walk past, head for the check out and all of a sudden my brain goes "What the fuck was he holding?"  Seriously,  what is it....

I turned around and went back, I looked at it for a few minutes.  I called over Angie to see what she thought about it and she was just as confused as I was.  Here are the things that popped into my head while staring at the box for 20 minutes;

A German Stick Grenade

A Giant Mutant Clove

The Liberty Torch

Marijuana Bud

Some Weird Green Flower

A Sap/Blackjack

Holy Water Sprinkler - I'm sure this has a name but I don't know it.
OK, just looked it up...it is an Aspergillum.

Flashlight

Eventually, I made my purchase and went home without an answer.  This bothered me for days, but suddenly it dawned on me.  A bell.  The answer is so obvious, but yet nothing about that says bell to me.  It's green, it looks like it has petals, etc...  I guess a bell doesn't immediately say Christmas to me...well at least not a handheld bell.  Sure, the Salvation Army uses them, but when I think Christmas and bells it is always like sleigh bells or church steeple bells.  If it was yellow, gold, silver, or grey; I might have thought bell.  I confirmed my suspicions a few days later on a return trip to Sears and then an interwebicon search of the UPC.  Santa Snoopy with Bell.  All, I know is that Snoopy better be darn careful if every confronted by cops.  This sort of confusion is likely to get a beagle shot.

Missing a Stuffed Tiger

Growing up, most newspaper comic strips sucked.  I like Garfield and Peanuts when I was 7-10 years old or so, but I tired of them.  There rest just didn't interest me: B.C., Marmaduke, Rex Morgan MD, Blondie, etc...and then of course The Family Circus is there just waiting to suck.  I would read over all the comics, because I they were comics and I was a kid...I was supposed to like them right?  But I didn't.  Sure some, like Bloom County, were way over my head, but mostly I just didn't think comic strips were funny and was unable to relate to most.  I did not see myself reflected...not even in the all-American Family Circus Keane family.  Thankfully, there was The Far Side to keep me entertained with geek and wiener dog jokes.  But The Far Side wasn't on "the comics" page in our newspaper, so it always seemed separate from the rest.  I read The Far Side and spent about 10 seconds on the rest of the comics page.

That changed when Calvin & Hobbes appeared.  I am not sure when exactly that happened in our local paper, but would guess sometime in 1986.  Calvin made sense...a wild imagination, making huge messes, questioning his parents, often in trouble, and had a best pal stuffed animal (mine was a monkey).  I could easily identify with Calvin and his adventures were a joy to read.  Even more than just relating, Calvin was often times laugh out loud funny.  I read Calvin and Hobbes religiously for years until I went to college.  During college my dorm "house" had a subscription to the paper, but rarely was it actually available...someone always got up early to grab it and check sports scores and it almost never made it back to our lounge for others to read.  I lost touch and only caught a strip here and there.

I was completely shocked when I returned home sometime during my junior year and discovered that Calvin and Hobbes was over.  I didn't know what happened, I thought my paper had canceled it and I was pissed.  It wasn't until I headed back to school that I found out that creator/writer Bill Watterson had retired Calvin and Hobbes before it devolved into an unoriginal, humorless, formulaic strip.  I also recently found out that he lost some interest, too and wanted to try oil painting.  You have to respect and admire someone willing to walk away from a large paycheck in order to keep your art from falling into mediocrity and pursue other interests.  That is a tough thing to do....but it isn't the only time that Bill took a stand.

I can't believe that Charles Schulz
would approve of this shirt that my
friend Dani happened upon (and was
rightly horrified by).

I've always respected Bill for not licensing Calvin and Hobbes (except for a couple calendars in the late 80s).  It made the comic strip special, since it was the only place to see them...you didn't see a stuffed plush Hobbes in the stores, you didn't see the Calvin & Hobbes & Friends cartoon on Saturday morning, you didn't didn't see t-shirts in the mall with Calvin and his G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS) sign, and you didn't see the Calvin and Hobbes McDonalds Happy Meal toys.  Unfortunately, all you see is bootleg decals of Calvin pissing on one thing or another...or even worse Calvin  praying to the cross (hmmm, promoting your Christianity by using a stolen image...especially of a character that didn't pray in the comic...seems like some kind of hypocrisy).  If you didn't read the comic, you didn't see Calvin and Hobbes - which created a special relationship between the reader and the strip...it was more like being friends that would meet for a few minutes each morning instead of a feeling of being bombarded by merchandising.  At the beginning, I really would have loved a stuffed Hobbes but in the long run, I am glad that my memories solely revolve around the comic strip and not a toy.  Calvin and Hobbes was huge.  Bill Watterson could have made a fortune by licensing Calvin and Hobbes...but he didn't want it to seem like the comic was just to sell toys, he didn't want to cheapen dilute his work, or have it transformed into something that he didn't agree with.  Thanks Bill I really appreciate your strength, it really inspires me to do the right thing instead of taking the easy money route.


This is all lead up to me saying that I finally got around to purchasing The Complete Calvin and Hobbesbook(s).  This book had been on my wishlist since it was published in 2005...but it is not a cheap book, MSRP $150, but usually around $100 on Amazon.  I didn't think $100 for 10 years of comics was a bad deal but still it was tough to justify...so I asked for it for Christmas several years in a row.  No one bit...I was sad but it is understandable, most people don't think of books as great presents.  A couple weeks ago, I randomly happened to notice that the book was available through my credit card rewards program AND I had enough points.  I ordered it and eagerly waited for it to arrive.  Dang media mail...something shipping  from Missouri shouldn't take 2 weeks.  It was torture.  I would rush home every night only to see my front porch empty of boxes.  Finally, just when I was ready to contact the company and say that it never arrived, it showed up.

I wasn't sure what to expect...I had avoided looking at this in the store because I knew that would lead to buying it immediately (and at the $150 price tag).  After opening the box, I immediately regretted not getting this set sooner.  First off, it is huge - 3 volumes weighing in at a total of 22.5 pounds, books are large format at 12.5 x 11 inches.  Comics are spaced out and don't feel cramped.  There is enough space between strips that you will not spoil future strips while reading the current strip.  Each books is a little under 500 pages...think about that, nearly 1500 pages of Calvin and Hobbes.  The quality is pretty good, hardbound, and binding seems strong.  I can't tell if it has a complete stitched binding or if it is glued in sections and then stitched but it seems pretty durable.  The pages themselves are heavy stock paper and feel very solid sturdy.  A well made book and a well laid out collection.  Most pages have 3 daily strips with Sunday strips getting their own page, other C&H art work appear randomly throughout...the kind of drawings that would appear on the covers of the previous collections.  My only complaint is that each book has a square picture on the front and back covers...these are mounted on top of the covers, instead of being inlaid so that they are flush with the covers.  I fear that some day the corners of these pictures will start to catch and peel.

I am very impressed with this collection and even though I have only made it through a couple months worth of strips so far, it evokes a strong feeling of nostalgia.  The introduction by Bill gave a little history about how Calvin & Hobbes came about and developed and why it ended.  It was nice to hear the story from the author and some of his thoughts.  Starting to read Calvin and Hobbes was like slipping back into step with my childhood friends.  Welcome back, you guys were missed.  I look forward to reading all about our adventures we enjoyed together and the ones that I missed.

photo by platypus comix

Next stop...I will be heading to The Complete Far Side .

Please Don't Kill the Interwebicon

The US Senate is considering legislation that could/would destroy the internet as we know it - in the name of helping the entertainment industry fight piracy.  I can sympathize with the entertainment industry...piracy is not a good thing and I am sure it sucks to see something you made being pirated.  But I also don't trust the entertainment industry to be the police of the internet and with the accused afforded no protections. After all, Viacom/MTV sued youtube for videos that they uploaded themselves.  With new legislation any site accused of copyright infringement or even linking to a site with copyright infringement could be shut down.  Permanently.

Of course they say that is not the intent.

The language of the legislation (PIPA and SOPA) is overly broad and vague.  It seems to have been written with little input from experts. When experts and dissenters tried to speak out they were not allowed...or were brushed off. 


Once given the power, it will be used and abused to its utmost.  Just look at the PATRIOT ACT...many of those provisions have been used overwhelmingly for everything besides fighting terrorism and now it seems impossible that we will every be rid of it.  These bills have the power to undo everything that is great about the interwebicon...and do this just to protect the interests of a few extremely rich people who paid congress $94 million dollars to write this legislation.


Please contact your Senators and Representatives.

The Fluffness of the Fluff

After Jack's funeral the other week, we went to the traditional repast/luncheon.  It was a potluck style affair where (I believe) food was brought by various funeral attendees and church members.  I really like the idea of a potluck, but unless there is some sort of organization and assignment of types of dishes it always ends up being very light on actually entree type foods and very heavy on pasta salads and desserts.  I understand, they are easy to make and delicious...but a well balanced meal this does not create.  It also leads to some mystery dishes...what is up with that dish of strange looking peas?  Oh, it is some kind of tuna surprise, who would have guessed peas would taste like tuna - thanks to Kelly for trying this so that I didn't have to.  But then again I brought nothing (I didn't know about it) and I was eating free food, so it hard to complain too much.

mmmm fluff
(Photo courtesy of mjecker)

This disproportionality of desserts leads to the dilemma of choosing which fluff to take...because you know there are going to be several.  I wouldn't say that I am an expert on fluff...but I am definitely a connoisseur and this luncheon offered a wide variety.  I decided not to choose one, I would martyr myself by taking a serving of each fluff and declaring a winner of the informal Jack's Fluff Challenge - so that all other diners would be able to make an informed fluff decision.  This is the sacrifice that I make for you, readers and diners.  I counted seven varieties and the ingredients and textures varied widely.

The first contender was the fruit salad fluff - this is the fluff that has a lot of apples, grapes, strawberries, nuts, etc... This is probably the most healthy of all the fluffs due to the high fruit content, but that same content also throws off the texture.  It is way too chunky to be a proper fluff...it was dismissed (although tasty).

Second came a couple of red fluffs...I was hoping the darker one was raspberry but both were strawberry.  Both were OK, but nothing special.  One was not mixed well enough, the ingredients weren't well distributed throughout.  The second's texture was good but the flavor was blah...I am not sure what happened here, but it just didn't have much taste...even slickery jello blobs could not make up for a lack of flavor.

Next came a yellow fluff with caramel sauce.  I wasn't sure exactly what this was, but it ended up having chunks of mini-Snickers and other candy bars in it.  A very good fluff overall...but the fluff didn't really have much taste besides the candy bars (I think a banana cream pudding mix, could have really pumped this one up to another level).

Finally, came the green fluffs.  Pistachio is the Cadillac of fluffs...but every once in a while someone sneaks a lime flavored fluff in there and it is just confusing and not right.  The lime fluff was out - it might have been good in it's own right but when disguising yourself as pistachio my expectations made you taste horrible.  The finally two fluffs...both Pistachio, both with pineapple, one had nuts and mini marshmallows, the other didn't...but the main difference was the consistency.  One was super light and fluffy...the other was more thick and runny, almost looking like straight pistachio pudding instead of fluff.

I figured the light and fluffy one would win hands down because the other just looked like a mess.  It was good, but the runny pistachio fluffy was excellent.  Maybe it wasn't cut with as much marshmallow fluff or cool whip...maybe it was mixed too much and all the whipped in air escaped concentrating the flavor.  I don't know why, but the flavor of the was just so much deeper and with the perfect balance of pineapple.  If it was a little lighter with this taste it would be darn near perfect.

Pistachio Fluff - the most delectable of fluffs.
(Photo courtesy of Secrets of a Southern Kitchen - recipe also available)

Green Pistachio Fluff Wins!

Loss of a Good Man

Last week, my step-grandfather passed away.  Jack Hennessey, was a great person to have known for the past 18 years.  It is strange to think that I have known him longer than my biological grandfather who died when I was 13.  Unfortunately, even though I have known him longer, I did not get to know him as well.  College, career, etc...got in the way and I only was able to see him a few times a year, usually during holidays when it was a busy time for everyone.  It might not have as deep of a relationship as was possible, but I couldn't help but like, respect, and admire Jack.

Jack served in both the Army and Navy when he was young, and then moved to the small town of Manilla, IA to practice medicine in the mid-1940s.  Jack was known as "Doc" to everyone in town.  He was one of the main doctors in town for almost 50 years...and not just a doctor, but a country doctor that would make house calls and such.  He also had his own practice, worked at the local hospital, volunteered for school sports and community events.  Doc delivered over 2000 babies in his practicing years...almost anyone you meet from the Manilla area seems to know and/or was delivered by Doc.  I've had this conversation several times with several different people:

Me: "I headed to my grandparents house in Manilla for the holidays."    

Random Person: "Hey, I'm from that area...who's your grandparents?"   

Me: "Jack & Lu Hennessey." 

Random Person: <look of deep thought, then smiling> "You mean Doc?  I was delivered by him."

Jack pursued everything he like with zest and pride.  His children and grandchildren, Music, reading, Catholicism, Ireland, and the University of Iowa (his Alma Mater) were just a few of the things he enjoyed and you could tell from anywhere in the house that these were some of his passions.  Photographs, records, books, Irish and Hawkeye mementos abounded.

Jack was paralyzed at the waist in 1998 after surgical complications, but that didn't stop Jack from being Jack. He harbored no anger or bitterness and continued to live the best and fullest life that he could.  Jack was the type person that makes a great role model for all others.  Live life to the fullest, be happy, do good, and have no regrets.

Unfortunately, Jack's health had been declining the last few years.  He had been in and out of the hospital a few times over the past year and went in for the last time a couple weeks ago.  It is sad, but with his failing health he was ready.  There was enough warning of the end that most of his children were able to fly in and say goodbye.  Jack was 93.

I know it will be a hard time for my grandmother and I feel sad for her...but I also know that she is the kind of strong person that can handle this grief and continue to live a happy life.  Grams, if you need anything...your entire family is here to help.

Jack, you will be missed.

Why I Haven't Gone Blu

I had a friend tell me a few months ago that "You just have to get a Blu-ray player!"  Said person was shocked when I told him that A) I don't see the point, and B) Have no plans to get one unless it happens to be built into another product that I buy like a PS3 or a new computer.  "But they're awesome..."

Not really.

"You just like watching movies in the theater instead."  This is true, but that is irrelevant and besides my point.  First let me point out the fact that this person didn't get a DVD player until 2006 or 2007.  I'm not saying that is a good or a bad thing, but I find it hard to believe that someone who all of a sudden thinks himself as a home theater after being anything but for the past 30+ years.

My main problem with Blu-ray is that they are marketing same features that they used to market DVD back in 1997.  Nowadays, Blu-ray editions come with all the cool features...extended editions, uncensored versions, delete scenes, making of documentaries, director commentaries, behind the scenes info, special web links, etc... which is all fine but none of which is requires Blu-ray over DVD.  In fact, when it first debuted DVD had all these features...but now the entertainment industry wants you to buy all the movies you already own on DVD in the newer Blu-ray, DVDs are coming with less and less...you are lucky to get the theatrical trailer.  Heck, remember when DVD used to promote the fact that you could switch angles and stuff due to the dynamic branching technology?  When was the last time a DVD actually came with this option?  I haven't seen one in years and years...not because they can't do it, they just don't want to promote DVDs.  I don't really feel like supporting a product because of all these bonus features that the studios won't even support in a couple years...plus all this stuff is just extras anyways.  They are nice to have, but not necessary.  I might watch the extras once but probably never again.  I don't watch most of the stuff on my DVDs, so why would I think that I would actually watch it on Blu-ray?  For me, it was just sad to see an industry drop support for something that my promoted so hard just a short while ago (I know they didn't drop all support, they are obviously still making DVDs)...it just hammered it home that it really is all about money and forcing new formats on customers just to make them buy the same movie again.

But it isn't just that...I don't feel that the upgrade is worth it.  I guess that DVD resolution and graphics seem good enough for me at the moment.  I don't really need a film that was made 25+ years ago to be in 1080p.  It doesn't add that much to 99% of films.  There are some films that better, crisper graphics might add a little bit to the experience...but I think it is unnecessary for most.  Even more than that...I think a lot of movies that weren't originally shot in HD but have been cleaned up for the higher resolution look creepy.  Not just really old movies either.  I saw someone watching an HD version of Pineapple Express a few months ago and it just looked wrong.  For a film like that, I expect the kind of hazy, not totally clear background that the movie had in the theater.  Watching it this time everything was way too crisp.  It left me with a very different experience...and not for the better.  Better graphics just for the sake of (supposedly) better graphics doesn't interest me that much.  If it adds up to a richer, fuller experience I am all for it...but so far, I just don't see that with many movies.  Maybe if some more talented filmmakers were using deep focus techniques for good use more often, I could see more benefit of the highest definition...but usually graphics are just used in place of a story (*cough* Transformers *cough*).

DVD had better graphics than previous formats (although I still think some of my laserdiscs had a lot better graphics than some early release DVDs)...but the jump in the graphics between VHS was much, much larger than the graphics jump from DVD to Blu-ray.  Although better graphics were a top selling point, the convenience factors were a bigger one for me...sturdy, easily portable and easy, quick navigation while watching were bigger factors for me than just graphics.  Maybe not initially as I was young and dumb, but these are the factors that I quickly came to appreciate...Blu-ray does not have any upgraded convenience features.  In fact it is even more inconvenient due to lack of Blu-ray players.  For example, they don't make a Blu-ray car player yet and your friend down the street might not have a Blu-ray player so you can't share as easy.  So really all I see as a benefit is the upgraded graphics...hey Hollywood, how about better stories?

Right now for me the benefits do not outweigh the cost...especially when the end of physical formats is probably not too many years away and everything will soon be streamed on demand.  It seems more effort than it is worth.  Do I need to buy a bunch of movies that I have already bought on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD again just to have slightly better definition?  No I don't think so.  However, if I do end up getting a Blu-ray for some reason, I would probably buy newer movies in Blu-ray...but would probably save a little money on older releases and just get the DVD version (you can only make Evil Dead look so good).