Warner Chose the Blu Pill

Yesterday was a pretty big deal. As the techies out there read this, we all knew something had to give. And yesterday it happened. There were rumblings from industry insiders, early adopters, and just about anybody. But those who took the red pill still wanted to believe that their camp had a chance. They urged one another to continue purchasing Warner Brothers HD DVD titles to show Warner that HD DVD was the way to go.

But that didn't happen.

How could Warner have possibly continued supporting both formats when it was clear that Blu-ray was emerging as the preferred choice by consumers? They couldn't. And they didn't. As of May 2008, Warner Brothers will be Blu-ray exclusive.

That's right, Warner will be Blu-ray exclusive.

But what does that mean for the industry? For you regular people out there with your DVD's, and your downloaded torrents, it means absolutely nothing for you. You can continue to watch movies with complete disregard to video quality and sound fidelity.

I, on the other hand, am a bit remorseful about purchasing an onslaught of HD DVD's over the past few months. But that is the price we pay. And when I say "we", I mean early adopters. I've had my HD DVD add-on for my Xbox 360 since about October of 2006. I needed to see high definition. I wanted to experience it. My own hype for the PlayStation 3 caused me to buy the competing brand just to have a taste.

But shortly after the PS3 was released, I was all about Blu-ray. I looked at my HD DVD add-on, and was almost disgusted by it. It seemed inferior to me. Just because the connection to my LCD HDTV from the Xbox 360 was "only" component, and not HDMI like the one used to connect my PS3 to my HDTV. It was pure prejudice. I was a Blu-ray fanboy for utterly no reason.

That happened about a year ago.

Then, something crazy happened. I gave HD DVD a chance. I bought rock solid titles such as "Batman Begins" and "The Matrix Ultimate Collection", both of which were Warner Brothers. I never really wondered why they hadn't come out on Blu-ray as well, but I guess it never phased me. Both titles were AAA titles, amazing video and thundering audio.

Then I stopped caring about HDM (high definition movies) altogether. This happened during the summer of 2007. It was as all a blur, much like a DVD or downloaded torrent video file.

But in the fall, I took advantages of HD DVD sales that Best Buy had. In fact, I guess you could say I hustled Best Buy. I snaked 'em. I got 'em! In one day, I managed to get 6 FREE HD DVD's ... in Best Buy. And I'm still set to get 10 FREE HD DVD's in the mail.

My HD DVD collection skyrocketed. My Blu-ray and HD DVD collections were even at one point, but as of now, HD DVD is clearly the format I have "invested" in the most. I quote invested because I didn't really pay for all my HD DVD's. So it isn't that big of a deal.


But in the grand scheme of things, none of this really matters. Only a small portion of the public even knows about the high definition disc format war. Everyone's still going to Best Buy and Walmart and picking up their favorite DVD's. People go into Best Buy and Circuit City, and they wonder why the hell they'd ever need to upgrade. They think that DVD's on their HDTV look "just fine."

Listen, playing a DVD at 480p on your $5000 1080p plasma is not "just fine."

Neither is hooking up basic cable to said TV set.

Like the old saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out."

Your picture quality is only as good as its source. Yes, BD and HD DVD players can upscale. It's not the same, and don't you dare try to even imagine that it's close to being the same.

720 x 480 DOES NOT EQUAL 1920 x 1080

Is that clear? It better be. Because we'll soon move out of this DVD phase. Yes, we all know that the next big thing could just be downloadable video (a la On Demand), but what about the quality? Do I really want to stream something that is inferior to what Blu-ray offers me? I don't think so.

But where does this leave me? I have a boatload of HD DVD's, and I haven't opened some of them. Do I really want to sell the first two Bourne titles just because they're still sealed? Does it really make sense to purchase the same titles later on if/when Universal decides to get their heads out of their asses and stop being HD DVD exclusive?

I don't know what I'll do. I won't be making any immediate moves. My HD DVD collection isn't going up on eBay soon. I'm not going to panic and run to half.com to dump my babies. Yes, they're still my babies. Blue or red, these discs have been my babies for over a year.

So, it is clear that there will finally be a winner in this "war." It's not a war because it's pennies compared to the juggernaut known as DVD. The next war will probably be Blu-ray trying to take over DVD, which I don't see happening for another decade or so.

However, we must congratulate Sony for this mini victory. All those years of failed attempts to make their own format (Betamax, MiniDisc, Memory Stick, UMD), this could be the one. This will be sweeter than anything else. Analysts thought that putting a BD player inside the PS3 was a mistake. I guess not.

And I feel sorry for anyone who recently jumped onto the HD DVD bandwagon. Today, two of the wheels came off your ride.

Okay, let's not get carried away.

Today is the beginning of a new era. Not the HDM (high definition movie) era. This is the Blu-ray era.

1080p video, up to 7.1 channels of uncompressed audio, discs ranging from 25GB-50GB with 200GB on the horizon, and backed a majority of CE companies and major movie studios.

This is a big day for early adopters. I just wanted to share with you my thoughts on this matter. Because not everyone has a clear picture on what it's like being an early adopter. It can be a big gamble. It can be a complete waste of time and money. But obviously, well to me, this shit is fucking exciting.

Blu-ray for the win!

Target Practice

I don't normally take photos of stores. But today, I happened to stumble upon what my parents described as "a new big Target. Huge!" So I HAD to check it out. And I had to take pictures. And this particular Target did not disappoint.

Pictures courtesy of my iPhone (click for larger version):

Let's start with the outside. I think it looked fantastic. It was architecturally (architectually?) different from any Target I had been to before. I guess not all Targets are made equal. But if you look closely, you'll notice that even the stop sign looks awesome.



Sorry for the blurry shot. But check out the entrance/exit doors! I used to work at Target many years ago, and all the doors were smothered in red. Here, enter is green, and exit is red. Genius! BRILLIANT! And that massive target on the ground is a nice touch.



As soon as you enter, there's a Starbucks! I mean, I'm trying to cut down on my Starbucks intake (miss you, caramel frap and macchiato!), but this was just a pleasant surprise. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but I plan on ordering a drink from there before I head back to Jersey. Doesn't the sign look cool? I like it. C'mon! Fine, I'm reaching.



I know that a few Targets have a grocery section, but look at this one. The people look like they're ENJOYING the act of grocery shopping. They make it look so fun in here. I wanna grocery shop now.



Nature called. And good thing! The bathroom was an exhilerating experience. The urinals have an inviting quality about them. They make you WANT to pee on them. These urinals scream "Hello there. Come over my way, big boy. Pee on me, baby!" They were totally fighting to have my penis pee on them. Guess which one I peed on.



I, unlike some people, wash my hands after I go pee pee. And it sure was a treat on these guys. Obviously, they were of the motion sensor type. Loved it! However, I wish the soap dispenser had been motion sensor as well. Too bad. It would have made this restroom PERFECT.



So besides admiring this beautiful Target, I also managed to do a little shopping. The nerd in me went straight to the Blu-ray section. For those not in the know, Blu-ray is a high definition disc format that is attempting to be the successor to DVD, and it has exactly one competitor called HD DVD (I have the luxury of having both). Why did I go to the Blu-ray section? Because I wanted to get Lost Season 3 after I gave up on it last year. People have been telling me that the second half is pretty dope. But I also wanted to get Superbad even though I had seen it three times in the theater and rented the Blu-ray when it came out. I just wanted to own it. And I ended up getting Superbad instead of Lost (I'll just Netflix it). F'sho. Imma Netflix it f'sho.



Need glasses? This Target's got you covered. I've been to big Targets before with Starbucks, grocery sections, massage parlors (sike), but this was my first encounter with an Optical department. Speaking of glasses, I've been on a mission to find thick-framed glasses that fit my head. My head is massive. Mother tells me "You have to lose weight!" She's crazy. Like losing weight will somehow decrease the size of my skull. Will it? I doubt it. I gotta find a place that does custom-fit glasses. Or look into skull reduction surgery.



Check out this collection. This store had twice as many as the store I used to worked at and it's only slightly larger. Probably for all the old people here. There are so many old people. Oh, and these things were so fun to ride on when I was an employee. I mean they probably only had a topseed of 2 mph, but it feels pretty badass. Next time you go to a Target, just do your limp-walk. Take a ride on one of these puppies, and you'll know what I'm talkin' about.


And that's it. This Target was probably the best Target I've ever been to. Even the customer service was great. One of the T-shirts I bought didn't have a price tag, and I told the cashier "It was like 5 bucks or something." She totally fell for it! Haha, score! I must've saved like 10 bucks. Sweet. But I should've said it was a dollar. Dammit.

My ratings for this store (out of 10):

Design: 10.0
Department Diversity: 10.0
Restroom: 9.0 (Men's only)
Customer Service: 10.0
Disabilty Accomodations: 10.0
Blu-ray/HD DVD Selection: 8.0
Awesomeness: 9.5

Overall: 9.6 (not an average)

Best Target Ever.