MSW

Jeesh why not call it: D & D 2: ditto I still wonder how such an self proclaimed obssesive D&D fan was able to make that first flick...prolly involved hummers, lots and lots of hummers

i agree about solaris. no matter how many times i try to watch the movie I kept falling asleep about near the begining. For me falling asleep during a movie is extremely rare. which one? I've seen both...and the George Clooney version moves at light speed compared to the snails pace of the original (that interminal "road trip" ugh!)

The Simpsons, Batman, hell most "American" TV cell animation is done in Japan and Korea...not to mention that even back when the original Macross TV series was in production is was not rare for Japanese animation studios to farm out parts of a production to other Japanese or Korean companies. The Rakin & Bass produced Roudalph the red nosed Raindeer stopmotion animated Chrismas special shown every year on TV sense it was made back in the 1960's was completely made in Japan...Yet its not considered "anime". Aeon Flux, as seen on MTV, created by Korean-American Peter Chung, was animated in Korea and is often considered "anime"...which ruffles the feathers of some "anime purists"...despite the fact the art nouveau visuals are decidedly French inspired.. To those in the animation industry, this insistance on anime purity is down right silly...Japan didn't develop thier animation style in a vaccume, anime godfather Osamu Tezuka has more then made it apparent whom his influences were. And if you go in looking for the films Mad Max, Mad Max 2 (Road Warrior), Babe, Babe 2: Pig in the City, Run Lola Run, City of Lost children, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, A fist Full of Dollars, 2001, a Clockwork Orange, Lock Stock & two Smokeing Barrels, and Snatch....you likely wont find them in the foriegn film section...despite thier Austrailian, German, French, Chinese, Italian, and English origins...hell, the American release of Mad Max was re-dubbed in English because it was thought we wouldn't be able to understand the Austrailian accents

Escaflowne more popular then Transformers in the states?...I really, seriously doubt that. Doh!...never mind, worded things wrong in the original post...ment to compare the popularity of Escaflowne to Transformers...I screwed up, made it seem like I was compareing something unintended ... consider original post fixed

Depends what you like and value more. MP Prime comes from a hugely popular toy line, and his value is sure to increase in collector circles. But even then a decade from now, it wouldn't be too hard to find one...for a price. Escaflowne comes from a popular show in Japan that wasn't greeted with the same success Transformers series often have when broadcast on TV. As such it is more of a cult favorite then smash success (compared to Transformers). The Escaflowne toy, while likely to not increase much in value over the next decade, will likely become rarer, harder to find...especialy considering how floppy and fragile it seems to be...mint boxed examples may eventualy end up commanding a pretty penny. I've got three Escaflownes...one displayed in bot mode, another in dragon mode, and the third sealed in the box...I picked each up for $20 to $30 bucks, and I think they are worth it. I've also got a short stack Hasbro MP Prime...which I think overall is a much better toy, but I still prefer the Escaflowne as I'm a big fan of the anime...I got the MP Prime basicly for the engineering and design that went into him, same reason I get any Transformer...never was a fan of the TF show, nor cared one bit about the story, characters, etc...I just get certain TFs for an appreciation of the engineering/design. Its up to you really. For me the Escaflowne has sentimental value and I'm willing to overlook many of the toys flaws because of it...If I come home to find my house on fire, and could only save one toy or the other, the Escaflowne would be my choice.

definetely awsome flick...I actualy prefer the go-motion animated dragon in that flick to all the CGI dragons combined from Riegn of Fire But I'm bias...I prefer stopmotion over CGI anyday! And if you like Harryhausen, then check out Q-the winged serpent and other flicks stopmotion wizard David Allen worked on (he assisted with the SFX on Robojox) Big thumbs up, from me...another webboard I've hang around on ( http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/ ) has some of the industry giants of SFX posting on it...well giants of stopmotion...Ray has posted there, Jim Danforth (who animated the Pegasus flying scenes in Clash of the Titans) is a semi regular...Even old stopmotion pros whom have converted to CGI stop by to say high like Randy Cook from WETA workshop (of Gollum, and now King Kong fame), and Phil Tippit (formaly of ILM, and animator on Dragonslayer, SW:Empire Strikes Back, etc... and now owner/founder of Tippit studios whom did the Starship Troopers CGI bugs and lots more)...not to mention the board is run by one of the animators on Nightmare Before Christmas...absolutely fascinateing stuff, if you are into it.

Not worth it to me personnaly...But now that used sets can be found at places such as EB Games for $9.99...well...its still not worth it to me crap is crap, no matter the price

Ah, so that absolutely must mean the other 50+% can't afford a computer? Now, it prolly won't come as a shock to you that most Americans have some form of cable TV service...These same folks also tend to bitch and moan alot about "57+ channels and nothing on"...sad really, they also complain about paying upwards of $50 a month for something they find little value in...I suppose it never occurs to them that they can live without such TV service. I haven't had cable TV in nearly a decade, I don't even want it...And the money I save from that alone allows me to have other luxuries like music CDs that I couldn't afford otherwise. I willingly gave up one luxury to have another...No reason why anyone else can't either. Just because you want a computer, doesn't mean the rest of your countrymen want one too. and sense you dodged it the first time: Yeah, rapeist often give that "woman asked for it" reason for thier crimes...because it happens, does it make it right? Of course not. Ironicly, some consumers say they feel "raped" by record companies whom charge $20 for a CD that costs $1 to make...Are you trying to say you feel the same? and, if so, then do you feel the same when buying a book? a computer game? food? clothing? toy?...nearly every product available through retail is sold to the consumer at a mark up of 10 to 30 times over manufactureing costs...this is a fact, not opinion (again, please prove otherwise).

Of course not! I'm far, far, FAR from rich...but, I could afford all those things with the proper planning, patience, and will power to stick to a budget...There is NO reason ANYONE else can't do the same. So its the producers and bankers fault? they are to blame? even the poor people just can't help themselves, they have no self control? And like animals, they can't possably be expected to control thier impulses? That is one of the most insulting things I've ever heard! Its like saying "its okay for a guy to rape a woman, whom is dressed or acts in such a way as to arouse him. Because, afterall, he can't be expected to control his impulses, and thus the woman is to blame"...Now, is that something you agree with? Cause I certainly don't!

The small guys (indie record labels) can't compete right now with the prices the big guys (EMI, etc) sell thier CDs at...the small guys simply haven't the resources the big guys have for high volume cost efficent CD releases, and thus it costs the small guys more per CD then the big guys...further, the small guys haven't got the market penetration the big guys have, and thier wares are sold through other small guys (mom and pop retail stores)...the big guys lowering thier prices further hurts the small guys, and helps the big guys gain more dominace. this is because the small retail shops wont see as much money per sale of the big guys CDs (which still accounts for about half the smaller retailers sales)...this in turn drives them out of buisness, further reduceing outlets for the small indie record labels...which of course reduces competition, allowing the big guys to have more control over the market. Now with the internet the small guys still can reach new fans...however the price disparity still remains...if the fans, used to paying $10 for a CD from the big guys, arn't willing to pay $25 for the small guys CD and thus would rather rip it...well the small guys get hurt again, further empowering the big guys. But, as video games were brought into this (and tying back into the Ferrari discussion). consumers generaly seem to feel that if it costs more it must be worth more...do some research into shareware game development...most successful developers will tell you to charge at least $15 for a game you develop...Yeah so you develop a great little Pac-Man clone or some such, and decide to sell it for $5...the successful shareware developers will tell you, from thier experience, to charge more...yeah if its too expensive, people won't buy it...but if the price seems too cheap, is it really worth the customers time to dig out thier credit card and wade through the ordering process... Now I don't hate Ferrari...heck if given an oppertunity I would own a 308GTS Quatrovalve (but that is largely because its the only Ferrari I like, that I could now afford...if only the amount and costs of mainance were lower ...timeing belts replaced every 30k at a cost of $3k ) nor do I even think they are ripping people off...but I really don't think thier cars are worth as much as people are buying them for...

But they can afford $120+ Nike shoes and designer clothes, $50 video games, cell phones, SUV car payments, cable, satellite and TIVO TV packages, even Yamato toys...If they don't want a CD... fine...but if they can afford any of that stuff...they sure as hell can afford a CD they want. Its called money management, setting priorities, goals...a skill that seems to be vanishing as evidenced by the growth rate of personnel debt... Simply put, if you haven't the willpower, money management skills, foresight to save enough money to buy a CD you really want. Then you have far bigger problems to deal with then whineing about CD prices.

You got those figures from the Ferrari North American website. Read it AGAIN! That is how many cars Ferrari shipped to and sold ONLY in America...not the whole world Hardly... "higher price != higher quality" means "higher price NOT EQUAL TO higher quality". The "!=" is a conditional operator that comes from the C/C++ computer programing language. Obviously means "NOT EQUAL TO"...sorry for the confusion, I forget sometimes that not everyone is familure with computer programing languages, or the shorthand use of them.

He has sold resin garage kits of those at wonderfestival...HLJ was even selling a kit of the transformable Eajeill a while back ( http://www.hlj.com/product/KYDWSC-011 ) I've been following his stuff for some time now...love to get ahold of some of those kits.

Nothing I stated is hard to find. Much of it comes from Ferrari websites. Google is your friend - use it! But you prolly won't anyway...so check this out: http://www.automobilemag.com/features/0404_ferrarifactory/ a nice little photo tour of the Ferrari factory...not a radical departure from typical Honda, Toyota, even GM factories...the tour even shows the Enzo assembly line...and *gasp!* a robot used for quality insurance! And here is some standard warranty info: http://www.cars.com/carsapp/national/?srv=...y/warranty.tmpl 2 years, unlimited miles...like a typical Ferrari owner would put 5,000 or more miles on the car per year anyway Wanna fix a Ferrari yourself...better get the shop manuals: http://www.ferraritechinfo.com/ from the cost alone, you would expect them to be printed on carbonfiber

GUI - Ferrari builds some 4,000 cars a year...thats about one every half hour per 8 hour work day when you factor out weekends...That rate of production would require at least 16,000 workers if it took 4 years for a single person to hand build each car. That isn't possable with the 2,500 some workers Ferrari employes to build cars. Ferrari's standard warranty even on the Enzo is 24 months, not for life...Otherwise, if it were, there are owners of older 308, 328, Tesarossa, 365 Daytonas, Dinos, even going back to the original tesarossa engined GT cars just itching to take advantage of such a life long warranty. Further, an oil change on the Enzo costs some $730 and must be performed at an authorized Ferrari dealer, with Ferrari certified techs...else the warranty is void...and this with off the shelf mass production Fram filters and Shell engine oil And for under $100,000 you can buy a Z06 Corvette that outperforms many Ferrari models that cost more, even has a better standard warranty to. higer price != higher quality

Gui - Ferrari is a buisness, same as EMI, Unviersal, Chevrolet...they arn't a chearety organization dedicated to giveing away performance cars for the masses. No, that very much is an opinion...a fully hand restored antique car is often worth less then a same condition original...value is subjective, period. I can hop on down to my local Suzuki dealership and buy a brand new $13,000 showroom stock GSXR-1300 that can beat an Enzo in all performance catagories except top speed...a much better value in my opinion...that the bike requires less maintence, won't breakdown as often, is more reliable, gets better gas mileage, and I can let my 4 year old nephew sit up in the seat pretending to ride without fear he will break something...that is better quality in my opinion. Its called a warranty...Everybody else has them too.

Ferraris are faster, more powerful than typical cars. They are meant for racing, not for daily driving. Hundreds of hours go into wind tunnel testing to ensure the best aerodynamics for a body design. The Enzo is made from mostly carbon fiber for the body, which, as I understand it, is a hell of a lot more expensive and difficult to work with material than sheet metal, and the end result is lighter shell. Not to mention the hours went into designing, testing, tuning the engine, suspension, and everything relevant to performance. If I had a Ferrari, I would make sure no four year-old ever gets near it. And supposedly, the machine is handcrafted rather than mass produced. Since more people are involved, the price of production is higher. Even though Ferrari is owned by Fiat, Fiat does nothing more than give them a place to put their factory, so to speak. Fiat has nothing to do with construction of the car. You speak of a Ferrari, a race car, which has always been Enzo Ferrari's vision, not a symbol of wealth, as though it was a Honda Civic. You sure as hell can't compare an F1 racer to a daily car. You can't compare Ferrari (and Lamborghini, for that matter) to daily cars either. Is the performance of a Ferrari worth that much more over the cost of a Corvette, Mustang, Ford Focus? If you know anything about cars, you should damn well know that something as common as a modified Mustang can perform just as well for far less then the price of a Ferrari...Heck, for less then $30,000 (includeing the perchase price) you can make a GSXR-1300 outperform a stock Enzo in ALL catagories...even insurance would be cheaper, not to mention the bike could do it all and still get 35+ miles per gallon. If you want performance, there are far cheaper solutions out there...but one doesn't buy a Ferrari for performance alone...admit it or not, Ferrari's street division makes "status" cars...and no, not a one of them is a race car...even the Enzo and F-40 are modified from showroom stock for track duity. Yeah, it costs Ferrari quite a bit more to make an Enzo then it does Ford to make a Mustang...but there is in the least a sizeable 10 to 20 times production cost mark-up on both, and most likely more in Ferrari's street cars...Which was the point to begin with...Otherwise Ferrari simply could not stay in buisness investing so much into both thier raceing and street car divisions

Or maybe its these points: As I noted before, the retail markup on books is the same as CD/DVDs...the markup on most consumer products is the same (prove otherwise). Those most opposed to reduced CD/DVD prices are retailers, especialy the smaller specialty ones. The end result is that this court decision will help strengthen the big retailers like Wal-Mart because the reduced retail prices will drive the smaller specialty retailers out of buisness...Its a big win for big buisness, the consumer gets hurt in that they will have a vastly reduced range of CD/DVD choices, smaller lesser known artists get hurt in that they will loose the revenue stream the specialty shops provided. And its not like the courts have a history of always makeing correct judgements (Dread-Scott is a prime example)...Yeah its a win for consumer greed, but not exactly a win for the average wage-slave joe. That makes little sense...in order to be competetive Universal still had to deliver content in a way consumers found to be a fair value...you make it sound like they are selling blank DVDs...Or that consumers had no choice in the matter...It's not like the old DivX crap that was sold through retailers like Circut City that George Lucas and company supported failed because the buisness model didn't make money Actually they do count! The CD/DVD producer and distributer already made thier money...its the retailer that bites the bullet on those discount bins

Well Ferrari is owned by Fiat, one of the giants in the industry...anyway... Ferrari has higher quality? In what way? Can the engine go 200,000+ miles before needing a tune up? Is it impossable for a 4 year old kid to rip open the seams in the seats? are the wields holding the frame together that much stronger? The electrical system that much better? is the paint chip proof? Naw, when you buy a hugely expensive Ferrari, you are paying for a name brand. you are paying to own a part of the Ferrari history, the legend...Ferrari engines still break down, the seats can rip, the electrical system catch fire, the paint can chip and peel...and if treated as a typical $15k garden variety mass produced car, you can bet the Ferrari wouldn't last any longer...But owners typicaly pamper them (afterall they cost a lot of money) which in turn fosters the illusion of higher quality. which points? The middleclass is shrinking, and this is due to CD/DVD priceing? That the entertainment industry always fears change? That the RIAA and MPAA are acting rash in trying to protect thier intrests? Because the graphic artist, whom designed the CD cover layout, doesn't make much money...niether should the distributors, and the retailors?

Quite true!...Im amazed at the people who buy a CD cause they repeatedly heard a song on the radio...and maybe, just maybe listen to the entire CD just once before proclaiming all the other tracks are crap...But then again, at 35 I've found I'm more musicaly adverntureus then most 25 year olds I know...most people haven't heard of Tubring, the Pimps, N.I.L.8, even fairly national (and now largely defunct) acts like Screeching Weasle and the Dead Milkmen...Mention Gwar, KMFDM, and even the Butthole Surfers and most folks look completely confused ... but I guess, just like food, some people can be very picky in what they enjoy Now I don't think a Britney Spears CD is worth $20, but I don't have an issue with her selling them for that much...but a CD from a favorite band (say http://www.tubring.com/ <- a very awsome experimental band!), to me can be worth $30 or even more...

Here is my all time fave...a clothing store that sadly no longer exists according to the site. Girlfriend spewed soda out of her nose when she first saw this.

Actually I would think any industry in simular shoes would act the same way... Yeah, there are lots of bootleg Transformers out there...but they are obviously lower quality then legitimate products...Once we get something like a Star Trek replicator - that can make perfect copies of the same quality as cheaply and easily as CD/DVDs...Afterall its not like Kmart Kickers are digital perfect copies of $120 Nike shoes. It's not like the RIAA and MPAA only just started produceing crap exclusively...hell, if they did then even the bootleggers would have a hard time selling thier warez...wether you see thier actions as rash or not, the RIAA, MPAA, and even the videogame industry have legitimate issues...It doesn't take a economic scientist to notice the downword trend began when places like Napster and cheap CD/DVD burners and recordable media hit the market....and lord knows the industry was produceing crap, long... long before then

Is it worth the asking price to you...or is it that you just don't have the money right now? If its not worth the price to you...then why even bother with it...and if you still want it but won't pay the asking price, then watch for it on Ebay (and only bid what you are willing to pay...no need to get caught up in some foolish sniper war with people whom are willing to pay more then you) find it second hand through garage/liquidation sales...there are legitament ways....I've got 3 Yamato Escaflowne toys (huge Escaflowne fan), paid about $60 for all off them because I didn't think they were worth much more then $20 a piece...yeah, I had to wait till after the hubbub of thier initial release, as well as shop around to buy them at that discounted price...but I got what I wanted at the price I was willing to pay (one still in the sealed box, one in dragon mode, the other posed in humanoid mode) wierd...we go from $20 CD/DVDs to $60 model kits containing no more then $3 in plastic ... anyway, If its worth it to you...why not save up to buy it, sell off unwanted crap, donate blood, whatever...where there is a will, there is a way. stuff like this: Cassettes can be cheaper to make then CDs...You can find music cassette manufactureing quotes online in the nieghborhood of $.38 for a run of 3000 (and this for a company that makes money doing this...meaning the actual cost is less)...and back in the cassette heyday, on a typical multimillion piece run, you are talking cassette production prices in the $.09 range...yeah there are more parts in a cassette, but the plastic is MUCH cheaper then that in a CD, not to mention magnetic tape costs less too...but then too, when cassettes were dominate they sold for more like $10 to $12...wasn't until the consumer switch to CDs and retailers dealing with the mass overstocked cassettes that prices began to drop.

Then whats the problem? If its crap, and ain't worth buying...don't buy it. If they can sell a shine up a turd to someone for whatever price...more power to them...it ain't hurting me none...no reason to demand they lower thier prices, cause if I think its crap...I ain't buying, couldn't even get me to take it for free... there is an old saying...Money talks, bullsh*t walks...no matter how much you voice your opinion on the DVD/CD priceing issue...its what you say with your money that gets thier attention. I just hate seeing the same ill formed arguments over and over again...you are on the internet, its a fantastic research tool...use it.

Why not?...People have been buying $100,000+ Ferraris and Lambos for decades now...its not like those cars cost that much to make...hell you could duplicate the performance with a modded Mustang or Camaro, and still spend less then $30k...but no one has been bitching that Ferrari has been inflateing prices...just like no one has been bitching that Tommy clothes or Nike shoes are priced too high either... If I thought the pizza was worth it, and had both the moneyand desire to buy it...yeah, I would buy a $50 or even $150 pizza...just as if I had the money and desire to buy a Ferrari that I thought was worth the asking price...Just as if I had the money and desire to buy a CD/DVD that I thought was worth the asking price....If I don't have the money or the desire, or think the product is worth the price...I won't buy it, end of story. And yeah, I happen to think most DVDs are worth $20...doesn't mean I buy them all...but for the just the ticket price for you and your girlfriend to see the film in theaters, you can watch the film hundreds of times on DVD, pause it, fastforward, rewind, freezeframe, watch the extras, listen to the audio commentary...overall you get a much better value for the money then watching it in theaters. But as I pointed out before with books...even posted a link that spells out printing costs and everything...DVDs and CDs are no more overinflated pricewise as mass printed books are...and they aren't nearly as inflated as fad clothing, cars, even toys...even Radd admits I have some agreeable points...bottom line is always the same...don't like it, don't buy it. Yeah read more about it here: http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/20.../ap1845443.html They are useing a state run printer and distribution system...meaning no "middle-man" distributer and retailer to give a share of the sale too...won't happen here, or in other freemarkets, at least not without a substansial change in commerce laws