Why I Think Movie Theaters Will Go The Way Of The Dodo

My wife and I went on a date night last night.  We don't get many since those two crazy Carpet Trolls invaded our lives.  Before the kids came alone, my wife and I were regulars at the local drive-in and movie theaters.  We love movies.  Love to discuss and critique them.  Love to watch them over and over while reading the trivia and goofs on IMDb.  Love to share the good ones with those poor unfortunate souls that have yet to experience their grandeur.

Needless to say, there was hardly a flikr-show that escaped me.  Now, not so much.

So, as an early anniversary gift to each other, we went to see the movie Alex Cross.  This post isn't about the movie (which was good) nor about Tyler Perry's successful transition from comedy to action.  It's about the highway robbery that is the modern movie theater experience.

Now, I know the movie theater industry has been gouging us all for years.  And it's not like I haven't been to ANY movies since my kids were born.  But I was shocked and a bit put off by how much hard earned dough I forked over.

For two tickets, one medium popcorn, one medium soda and one medium icy the bill came to just a bit under $40.  Prices vary around the country, so to some this sounds high and to others it's way low, but regardless it's ridiculous.

Maybe it's these trying economic times.  Maybe it's that I'm getting older and find it harder to stomach spending money on non-necessities.  Probably a bit of A and B.  But for $40 dollars I can buy a Blu-Ray, watch it as many times as I want and still afford a trash bag full of popcorn.

The movie industry needs to take a good hard look at themselves and consider what has happened to their cousins the music industry and the book industry.  Digital, like the unstoppable Huns of old, is coming their way.  If they aren't careful they will price themselves right out of a job (at least the theater component, anyway).

Here is what I see on the horizon.

As technology advances and our TVs and entertainment systems continue to get better, there will come a day when movies--and I'm talking premiere Hollywood Blockbusters--will be available to stream directly to your home.  No waiting three months.  I mean opening night.

Oh, sure the price will be high.  Say $100 or so.  It will be similar to Pay-Per-View events.  But it will be oh so much better.

Imagine this.  Instead of trudging out into the night, wading through a river of traffic, elbowing through the crowd to see a movie, you instead invite your friends over to your house to stream the movie onto your 70 inch high def screen with surround sound.  Everyone splits the bill which will be cheaper than the ticket price (depending on how many show up), you sit in comfort with people you like and eat snacks that don't cost you your children's college funds.

It will never happen, you say?

Yeah, and how are the music and book stores doing these days?

The New Website

I've started a new author website.  It has taken me a couple of weeks to get it up and running due to some problems with the domain name and hosting site.  Okay, it was mostly user error, but that's what I get for doing it all myself.

It's a simple website.  Nothing fancy.  It's just a spot for people to find me and my books.  I was using this blog, but I thought an actual website would be better.

The website is just in its infancy.  I plan on adding on later.

One piece of advice for you DIYers.  Never go look at a multimillion dollar author's webpage for inspiration.  It'll only serve to depress you . . . unless you're a pretty good web designer, which I am not.  Once I'm pulling down seven figures on a regular basis I'll fork over the cash for a highfalutin website.

Until then, this website will have to do. 

Changes On The Way

Forgive me Blogger, for I have sinned.  It has been twenty days since my last post.

I am going to be making some changes to this blog and other aspects of my writing life.  One of the reasons I've had so much trouble with this blog is that I find it hard to come up with topics to blog about.  I started it as a way to chronicle my writing life in hopes of attracting an agent.  But, I only have so much writing advice to give.

Besides, my goals have changed.

I'm no longer interested in attracting an agent.  It's readers that I'm concerned with.

Your average reader isn't concerned with the Indie v Trad wars, or story structure, or any of the other countless topics that interest writers.  But, I do think readers like to get to know writers on a personal level.

So, my plan is to lay back on posting about writing or my books, and to just blog about my life and the things that interest me.  Hopefully readers of this blog will like me as a person and that will drive them to want to read my books.

Maybe it'll work and maybe it won't.  Either way it should be therapeutic.

I'm also in the process of setting up a static website where I can have links to all of my books, this blog and the mob of social media sites to which I belong.

So keep your eyes peeled.  The winds of change are blowing.

Four Years Ago Today

It happened four years ago today in the wee hours of the morning.

My wife woke me with a gentle nudge.  I wiped the sleep from my eyes and looked dreamily over at her.  Something was wrong, but I couldn't quite process what I was seeing.  She was bent over, hands on knees, huffing and puffing as if she just ran a long distance.

"I think it's time to go to the hospital," she said with a pained grin.

I jumped up with a start and just like every cliched movie, I stumbled around the room like an idiot.

We loaded our son (only 18 months old at the time) into the car to take him to my wife's grandmother's house.  I called my wife's physician on the way, left a message and did my best not to speed or run stop lights.  When the call came back, I flinched so hard that had my window not been rolled up, I would have thrown my cell phone into the street.

We dropped our son off then sped to the hospital.

The contractions were coming fast now.  We had to stop a couple of times during the short trip from the parking lot to the hospital doors so that my wife could breathe through the pain.

You see, this was our second child, but it was night and day different from the first.  Our son was overdue and labor had been induced.  It was calm and organized.  Show up at this time and have a baby.  I won't say it was easy, cause my wife will tell you different (and likely pull my bottom lip over my forehead), but it wasn't quite as chaotic as the second time.

I'll skip the gross parts, but let's just say that 45 minutes after we walked in the hospital doors, we had a beautiful baby girl.  She came into the world on her own terms, and still seems to live that way.  She is smart, strong and radiant with a good helping of mischievousness blended right in.

She is one of the best things in my life.  If you ever need to find me, just check this girl's little finger.  I'm usually wrapped around it.

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Comfort Zone

Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Do one thing every day that scares you."

I think it is a good thing to step our of your comfort zone.  Without the courage to press into the unknown, the human race would be in a sad shape.

Today I did something I've never done before.  I gave an interview.

Doesn't sound like much, does it?  I've done a lot of blog interviews, but this was a live radio broadcast.

LIVE!

I was a nervous wreck.  I don't have a problem speaking in front of people, but I'm not the best self-promoter.  I tend to blabber on, get lost on what I was talking about and end up on a totally different subject.

I don't know if that's good or not.

Luckily I had the wonderful Sherri Rabinowitz to keep me focused.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and had a lot of fun in the process.

Just in case you missed the live broadcast of Chatting With Sherri, here it is again.