The Matrix has my Money

Or, at least it will.

Since I’ve paid a grand total of $50 (plus tax) to own all four of the movies so far (and an equivalent amount in the theaters), I guess this won’t be so bad. But I would have liked to have had the audio commentaries for the second and third live action films with the regular releases.

I like crunchy bits as much as the next guy, but I also know how much storage space is on each of these little plastic discs. And how much nifty interactive menus use.

And how much stuff was crammed onto the original Matrix disc. I’m still not sure I’ve found all of it. but I’ve found all of the commentary tracks.

Save the quarter spent on the second disc. Give me commentary tracks.

In December, like you, I’ll be scanning online for the best price. I like the box, you see. But the discs inside will be the same size, with the same capacity for storing data, as the ones I already have.

This box has nothing of interest for me. I like neither what’s on the discs, nor the price, nor the way it’s put together.

Less is more, Big Business. Remember why you made the cases the size they are now? So they would fit on exisiting shelving?

Guess not. But then again, all sorts of stuff is patterned after products that don’t exist anymore.

DVD cases are the same height as VHS tapes, and two of them side by side match the width (or depth, depending on your orientation.

VHS tapes are roughly the same height and width of paperback books. (Betamax tapes were exactly that size.)

Paperback books used to be called “pocket novels”, since they were designed to fit in the back pocket of a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans

Which were designed so that rugged out doors types, like Cowboys and Miners, could have a set of clothes that would last for a long, long time without wearing out.

Today’s paper-thin jeans can be purchased both without pockets, and with pre-created holes, to simulate a long, long time of wear. Just like the crappy clothes everybody in the Matrix wears, because there are no animals or plants around.

But that’s the outside. The disc inside is designed to work like a “compact disc”. Compact discs went through a number of design stages, but the final one was chosen because music stores (had to stop myself from saying record stores) could use the existing racks they had in place to sell Phonograph Albums.

Also known as records. You might have heard of them.

What, born in the last 15 years? Sorry. My bad.

BTW, all of your home electronics probably have the same footprint. That used to be the functional limit for making a phonograph album turntable. Us dinosaurs used to play records on them. And for 100 years or so, the flat record player has had a standard size. But not always.

Laserdisc Players used both the same footprint but the same disc size as the record player. And that footprint is the space allotted to your expensive plastic and wires by the cabinet makers of the world. God bless them, every one.

Your television has (or had, if you are lucky) a 4X3 aspect ratio, because that was the film size for motion picture cameras in the early days of that industry. Odds are high that the computer monitor you are reading this on has the same ratio.

This ratio was set by a man working in Thomas Edison’s lab, who chose it because it not only gave a roughly square picture (like the theaters it was going to be shown in), but also because it allowed for perforations on boths sides of the film. this made the projecter run better, and quieter.

The square format of the theater stage was chosen to accomodate both the public’s need to see “everything”, and the production’s need to change sets. That’s also why your television set is deep and wide.

Or, at least it was.

I still want my commentary tracks. I consider it a part of the DVD package, and I frequently won’t buy a disc without them. As mentioned previously, I paid not a lot of money for the last two movies. I bought them used at the rental place, where they are prominently displayed at the front of the store, and generate free profit for the stores themselves.

But hey, I don’t want to go off on a rant….