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Wednesday, June 7th, 2006Wednesday, June 7th, 2006

I’m Destroying The Movie Industry

by Shawn @ 12:25 am · filed under Movies, MPAA

One of the allegations of the whole MPAA lawsuit is that I'm more or less destroying the movie industry because I allegedly downloaded a movie that I own.

So here's two pictures of some DVDs I own in my living room. I don't even feel like counting how many movies I have (maybe someone reading this will do it for me and post a comment letting me know how many), but I'm guessing well over 200. The dumbest thing is that of the movies I own, I've probably watched (in its entirety) 40 of them. And I'm guessing that 50+ of them, I've never even put in a DVD player to TRY to watch (I just don't have the time to watch TV/movies anymore... but it's nice to have them in case you ever have nothing else to do... like on a plane).

When it really comes down to it, I've probably spent $5,000+ on DVDs that I never watch more than once (and in most cases, never at all) because I'm too lazy to make two trips to Blockbuster (one to rent and then again to return it). And since I buy movies (but don't immediately watch them), sometimes I forget which movies I already own, so I end up with 2 copies (see 2nd picture).

So uhm... if I'm damaging the movie industry, who in the heck is supporting it? Hell, I support the movie industry so much that I be willing to feed (okay, buy dinner) some movie stars (see this post).


BTW... when shopping for furniture, I realized that entertainment center/media storage units was the hardest stuff to find when looking for something that is quality. So if you are ever looking for good stuff, check out Salamander Designs (Synergy line for me). Good stuff.

21 Responses to “I’m Destroying The Movie Industry”

  1. Johan Says:
    June 7th, 2006 at 3:07 am

    Snatch is well worth owning multiples of. Same with Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. Layer Cake was a bit different but similar style and actors, get two of that one too.

  2. Jeffw Says:
    June 7th, 2006 at 10:43 am

    By my count not counting the copies you have 220 DVDs.

  3. Bulbboy Says:
    June 10th, 2006 at 12:49 pm

    There’s a little site you can sell your doubles on, it’s called eBay . :D

    You could also give em out as prizes on DP for ‘most informative post of the month award’™ (or least wacko).

  4. OMFG! Says:
    June 13th, 2006 at 10:54 am

    YOU GOT SO MUCH MONEY SHAWN! IM SO IMPRESSED!

  5. David Says:
    July 9th, 2006 at 10:55 am

    I can appreciate your situation with the movie industry. I am also a party in a lawsuit with the MPAA and Paramount for copyright infringement. Like you, I am amazed with the tactics they take, the extortion methods in that if you don’t settle we will sue you.
    I have never stored any movies on my hard drive and have not used any “share” software.
    The movies I own have all been purchased and enjoy watching them in comfort on a big screen. My collection is although a bit more extensive. At this time I have 2389.
    Check the link, http://www.intervocative.com/dvdcollection.aspx/dvddavid.
    This does not include the “double feature” or other sets. That would make the collection 2658 titles and continuing to add. I don’t have a need to download and definitely not into sharing what I paid for. Good luck in your case and keep us updated.

  6. Don Says:
    July 25th, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    Good luck in your battle against those MPAA bastards. Someone needs to put those pieces of garbage in their place. The world would be a better place without the MPAA.

  7. matt Says:
    July 25th, 2006 at 12:36 pm

    incidentally, leaving a copy of Lebowski rolling loose around your case is totally unacceptable, even if its a dupe. find a good home for it and pass the love on.

  8. Frank Earl Says:
    July 25th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

    The Movie Industry’s destroying the Movie Industry. Anyone caught how much Ed Wood style crap’s been fielded to the theaters lately- along with the insane price-hikes for the movies? There’s been very few movies worth spending $8 or more on these days. Pirates of the Carribean 2… Uh… That’s pretty much about it so far this year and we’re almost into _AUGUST_.

  9. Nick Says:
    July 25th, 2006 at 11:16 pm

    I notice that you have Meet the Parents twice…

    No prizes for guessing how I found your blog, but it’s an interesting read all the same :) Best of luck to you.

  10. Jesse Roberge Says:
    July 26th, 2006 at 11:41 am

    They Don’t give a shit. They are using automated systems and assume that everybody is criminals. It is best to just be one. If you used an IP blocker and managed your server list (liek favorite servers high, small servers low, rest normal, and set servers you trust to static and tell emule to connect only to servers on static list), you would of never ended up in their lawsuit lottery. Odds of getting a lawsuit are about the same as winning top prize on a scratcher…. You owning the DVDs already doesn’t matter to them. It is worse with the RIAA. They want you to buy the DVD again if you scratch it, lose it, or get it stolen (like getting your DVD case snatched from your checked luggage by airline baggage people or TSA baggage screeners). They actually prefer everybody socially engineered into pay-per-view.

  11. greatinca.com Blog » Blog Archive » Paranoia / Politics News Comments 2006-07-26 Says:
    July 26th, 2006 at 2:01 pm

    […] Shawn Hogan Fan Club - I’m Destroying The Movie Industry […]

  12. greatinca.com Blog » Blog Archive » Shawn Hogan the Hero! Standing up to the MPAA and has the money to put up a fight! LET THE NUKES FLY!!!!! Enemy pushes button first :) Says:
    July 26th, 2006 at 2:10 pm

    […] Shawn Hogan Fan Club - I’m Destroying The Movie Industry […]

  13. Tony Boyd Says:
    July 27th, 2006 at 12:06 am

    I just wanted to respond to OMFG. I think you missed the point, OMFG. Shawn didn’t put up the photos to flaunt his riches. His point is that he is a long-term supporter of the movie industry, and the behavior that they accuse him of is antithetical to his lifestyle. Do you see? Juries are going to have a much more difficult time considering him a pirate who is damaging the industry if he successfully paints himself as an honest person who has always been willing and able to purchase DVDs legally.

  14. Christopher Says:
    July 27th, 2006 at 11:09 pm

    I’m poor, but I own over 400 DVDs. Maybe that’s why I’m poor? I feel like I should be able to watch any movie I want after spending all that money. I don’t download movies, but I would like to be able to pay a few dollars to do so, so long as it does not have DRM. I’ll never buy anything with DRM again, the last song I tried to buy had DRM and I couldn’t play it on any of my 7 PCs because of it.

  15. Lyndon Says:
    July 29th, 2006 at 5:45 am

    Surely you had a public wireless access port running on your internet connection though???

    http://www.almostheadline.com/site/AlmostHeadline/E310F373-4681-48CC-8358-41350312D306.html

  16. DrKenneth Says:
    July 31st, 2006 at 3:48 pm

    “I’m poor…I couldn’t play it on any of my 7 PCs because of it.”

    Just thought I’d point that out…

    But ya, the MPAA + RIAA both deserve to go bankrupt. If you don’t want people to pirate movies, randomly suing people–including 13 year old girls–is not the answer. Maybe if they were not such idiots and tried to tap into the online-movie market things would be going a lot smoother?

  17. John Says:
    August 1st, 2006 at 8:07 pm

    You know what’s incredible? A man could go to M.I.T. and study 23 hours/day for 12 years to get his Ph.D. and then work 9 hours/day trying to solve world scientific problems and he wouldn’t get paid 1/100th of what some movie stars and music gods will.

    And that’s bullshit.

    Why is this the case? Because DVDs go for 20-25 bucks a pop, and that’s just too much for movies. A movie should be 3 to 4 dollars. Same thing goes for music. I don’t believe movies and music should be FREE, becuase they have to get paid, but they don’t have to be outlandishly rich either. I think movies and music should cost about 1/5th of what they do.

  18. jason hendry Says:
    October 4th, 2006 at 5:18 pm

    like yourself my mates and me have alot of dvds, in fact id go as far as to say that if the internet and download world of movies didnt exist, none of us would own so many origional shop bought cds and dvds. I dont remember any of us that had quite as many tapes and videos

  19. Steve Says:
    October 6th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    Shawn, you seem like you were one of the mpaa’s good, paying customers. My household was also once a large purchaser of media entertainment before all this lawsuit & customer hatred nonsense… I don’t think suing welfare mothers & children is in good taste but does serve as a high indicator of greed…

    Therefore, I’m boycotting all riaa/mpaa member products (ei: no Sony products (TV’s, Stereos, CD’s etc…). I only buy used DVD and cd’s from Amazon & eBay. I still purchase from the independent labels, but as far as the greed mongers: they get zero from my household… The kids don’t fully understand why they can’t have certain things, but there are more important things in life then getting the latest flick or CD.

    Also, another alternative is a swapping site. You can listen to or watch a product, then get rid of the cd’s/DVD’s you’ll never use again. I have about 350 cd’s & 35 DVD’s I plan to post online for swap. I haven’t tried these sites yet, but I just signed up…

    Swap CD’s http://www.lala.com/
    Swap DVD’s http://www.peerflix.com/

  20. Chaespot on Movies » Blog Archives » Life Of A Movie Maker - Techdirt: Movie Industry Problems: Not My Fault Says:
    October 22nd, 2006 at 4:45 am

    […] I m Destroying The Movie IndustryOne of the allegations of the whole MPAA lawsuit is that I’m more or less destroying the movie industry because I allegedly downloaded a movie that I own. […]

  21. Jason Fitz Says:
    March 16th, 2008 at 4:23 am

    Shawn:

    Good luck in your lawsuit.

    You are doing the right thing in standing upto the corporate bullys that now dominate the American system.

    However, it is rather sad that so many people own DVDs that they will rarely watch twice. Buying doubles is even more insane. If you have money to waste, give it to a good charity like sightsavers in India who prevent kids from going blind with simple but badly needed operations.

    Americans have way too much ’stuff’. It’s time to clean out the house, sell it on Ebay and give some of your earnings to a good cause.

    Oh and by the way, the way to get movies is through rental in the mail. iLoveFilm.com send me 2 DVDs every couple of days, I don’t have to get in the car at all to return them (better for the environment). And if I don’t have time to watch them I pop them on my Archos PVR to view next time I am on a plane.

    I hope you win the case.

    Jason

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