Million Dollar Depressant

I've been stuck at work a fair amount lately, but I decided to make plans tonight to go watch a movie on cheap night at the Rainbow Cinema in Fairview Mall. Based on what I make, I figure I can afford the $4.25 ticket (that's about 5 cents USD for those of you south of the border ;)). I find that although the Rainbow Cinema is not quite as good as the big name theatres that charge an arm and a leg, the enjoyment I got there is at least 75% of what I'd get at the big theatres... though truth be told, it was probably closer to 90%. The thing is, the price of seeing a movie other places ranges from $8.50-$13.50. So I got 90% enjoyment for somewhere between 30%-50% of the cost. How's that for price-performance!

Seriously, I am generally not a supporter of the movie and music industries. In fact, I usually go out of my way to not support them. However, if the cost of watching movies and listening to music were to drop drastically, I would probably watch and listen. I'm one of the few people who gain very little enjoyment from seeing a movie on a huge screen over a large screen. The atmosphere of the cinema just doesn't satisfy me much more than the movie already does. So in short, if I have to pay more than say 20% more to go to a theatre than to just rent the movie and watch it on my home computer or tv, I usually don't go to the theatre. Although, peer pressure makes me shell out the cash for about one theatre movie a year on average.

Similarly, I cannot justify buying CDs at all. I'd seriously consider it if the cost of a cd was $1 per song on the CD that I actually like. Usually a CD has about 12-18 songs on it. I end up liking around 20% or less of them. In my opinion, a poor cd for me would be one where I don't like any of the songs. Average would be about 1-2 songs, good would be 2-3 songs, great would be 4+. So far, I might have listened to a handful of great CDs in my whole lifetime. What a disappointment. It really makes me wonder how there are people who can pay $20 for a CD.

With costs so high, companies should be able to quickly put two and two together and figure out why piracy is as rampant as it is. I'm almost tempted to move to Sweden or some other European country without anti-piracy laws. Plus, the work policy in Europe is definitely a lot more to my liking. Not only that, but I hear great things about European and European-born actresses as well: Sophie Marceau, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Natalie Portman, Rosemund Pike... the list goes on.

Anyways, the movie I went to see was Million Dollar Baby. I heard great reviews, so I figured I had to see it. Afterwards, I would have to say I enjoyed everything up to the last 30 minutes of it. However, those last 30 minutes left me feeling very depressed. Not only that, but I felt that part of the movie just dragged on and on. I can't even say I liked the ending.

Spoilers ahead (read at your own risk!):
If someone very dear to you asked you to help them commit suicide because they couldn't, would you be able to do it? I think the closest I could get is that I could ask a doctor to do it, but I don't think I'd be able to do it with my own two hands. Alternatively, if you had to live the rest of your life bed-ridden, would you? Or would you ask someone to help you commit suicide? Again, this is a tough one. I guess it would depend on my level of immobility. If I could still play video games, watch tv, etc., I'd think I'd have no problem living. If I was completely disabled and just lying there day after day, I really don't know what I'd do. And that's the part of Million Dollar Baby that made me so depressed.