Hidden or obscured content in movies improves interest. I didn’t see any of the Star Wars III easter eggs in the first viewing but I’ll be looking for them in future viewings (on DVD, no plans to revisit in the theater). StellarBay.com News confirms the presences of a couple easter eggs hidden in Star Wars III.

After the crash landing, as the transporting ship arrives, Millennium Falcon docks at the bottom of the screen.

My friend FranciscoIV first mentioned to me: “Did you see the Millennium Falcon?” and I was like: “er, no.” Apparently the appearance is somewhat brief. Would have loved to see a little more story behind the Falcon. Also, what about Chewy and Han Solo … when did they hook up as a team? I realize this is about 20 years before Episode IV, but there is a potentially interesting side story concerning Han Solo and Chewbacca, the bounty hunters, etc.

Maybe someday we’ll get Star Wars 3.5 to fill in this storyline.

Star Wars didn’t waste any time getting out of the gates. Via ABC News:

Moviegoers have turned out in full force for the final chapter of the “Star Wars” saga, which took in $158.5 million since its opening to shatter three-day and four-day box office records.

After seeing it last week I suspected it would have a record setting opening week. My specific quote:

I did make a prediction on Webtalk Radio that I guest co-hosted on the opening Star Wars day: that if they do over 150-200 million the first day, that they will be going after Titanic for the biggest movie ever and we will then see parts 7, 8 and 9.

Overseas Star Wars III added another $144.7 million for a total of $303 million. Yowsa. It’s still too early to predict the billion dollar mark, but I’d say 500 million is the next plateau. If it’s still drawing strong (30 million plus) after a couple more weeks, it could very well be the best theater draw of all time. Titanic shouldn’t worry too much … yet.

Say no more to Shrek 2 as having the best first day box office day ever, because Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith cleared over 50 million. The Star Wars franchise had already made billions before Sith opened in one theater. In 1977, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) was paid $650,000 for his lead role in the original Star Wars movie.

“Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” grossed $50,013,859 from showings at 3,661 theaters and more than 9,000 screens around the country on Thursday, including special midnight shows, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations

I wasn’t all that impressed with the first Shrek, waiting for it on DVD, but then I’m not overly ecstatic about Star Wars III (I liked it, but didn’t love it like New Hope), but I did make a prediction on Webtalk Radio that I guest co-hosted on the opening Star Wars day: that if they do over 150-200 million the first day, that they will be going after Titanic for the biggest movie ever and we will then see parts 7, 8 and 9. There’s no way Lucas will turn away that money, and many signs are already pointing to the true final trilogy being on the table. There is little doubt in this writer’s mind that we will see three more Star Wars flicks.

Next comes the question of when? There was a 10 year or so delay between Return of the Jedi and Episode I. My guess would be that it won’t be that long. Frankly, I’m more interested in hearing a story that goes forward rather than a story that goes back as did I, II and III. Backstory is usually the worst part of any story. Look at Enterprise and Star Trek if you need further proof.

The opening weekend record was set by one of my personal favorite movies of all time: Spider-Man, which grossed 114.8 million over the weekend. I’d say Star Wars has the Force with them to seriously threaten the 200 million mark and will likely push past 150 million. That’s smoking.

And Star Wars part 7, 8 and 9 is the worst kept secret on the planet anyway. Comingsoon.net reported clear back in September 2004 that Mark Hamil told a crowd at the launch of the original Star Wars trilogy:

Mark told those in attendance what Lucas told him the third trilogy would be about. Hamill also went into detail about Lucas’ original plans for those films, when they would be made, and more

So yes, we will see more Star Wars movies. The original nine-part opera will be completed. If you think about it, the original actors have all aged about right to be primed for a sequel. No phony makeup or physical changes would be necessary. The bigger question might be: can Harrison Ford be lured back into part 7, 8 and/or 9? Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill would be crazy not to sign onto that project, but Ford doesn’t need Star Wars to reactivate his movie career, he’s done very well without The Force by his side.

Still, I look forward to seeing Han Solo and Chewy riding in the Falcon someday again. I think Lucas does too. Now that’s the Star Wars sequel that would break the billion dollar mark, guaranteed.

Update: In this article, Lucas continues to deny that there will ever be a third trilogy.

As a developer of software and selling programs on the web, I understand how much it sucks to be ripped off. One of the hotbeds for this illegal activity is the Asia-Pacific region accroding to News from The Associated Press:

Software piracy in the Asia-Pacific region cost manufacturers an estimated $8 billion in 2004, with China, Vietnam and Indonesia among the top five nations flouting intellectual property laws, a global anti-piracy watchdog said Wednesday

With that said, let me add that the actual raw cost of distributing software once it is produced is very small. Most people realize this and some seem to feel (usually those not in the business) that they are being ripped off paying hundreds of dollars for something where it costs a very small amount of money to distribute the actual bits and bytes. The packaging and shipping costs are more expensive than the media.

What isn’t as readily apparent to these people is the time, expense and resources involved in creating and maintaining and upgrading the software. Some projects take months and even years to develop only to produce an end product that retails for $100 or less. The investment and time/resources is then anticipated to be returned when the developers can finally start selling the product. Some people mortgage their future (financially) in the hope that the product they spend time developing will return the investment and allow them to continue work innovating new things or making the existing product even better. Some people spend free time away from their families working on projects which may never even make back the expenses, much less a profit.

In a nutshell, this is how it works for development houses of all sizes. The difference between big and small is, generally speaking, the size of the bank account and talent. A company like Microsoft can afford to dump millions into a project that doesn’t bring back profit, but a small development house may go under if they make something that doesn’t sell back to profit. Even Microsoft, with all it’s money, can’t invest in too many money-losing propositions though or the shareholders will be upset.

For small shops like mine with less than five developers, we have to distribute online. And even when we give away more than 75% of the code we produce, we still have people who steal the code and/or violate the licensing agreements. It’s a cost of doing business.

I buy commercial software, pay for shareware that I use and if I like something that is donationware then I donate. I do believe that most people on this earth are good, honest people and behave similarly.

There are situations where people might have a laptop and desktop machine and share the software between the two computers and most licensing agreements forbid this. I wonder if that type of piracy is as egregious as buying a black market CD (or DVD) in some village in Asia, snagging a bittorrent of the file, checking an fserv in IRC, etc? Then again, theft is theft, so maybe it’s all just different shades of black.

I also strongly believe that the music industry has been raping fans for years. I bought a lot of tapes and then albums and now CDs of the same music. It seems like I just keep buying and rebuying the same media, which is frustrating as a consumer. The same thing is happening with VHS to DVD and … well to the next format whatever it will be.

They want to take away my right to make archival copies and that is wrong. If I buy something, whether it be software, music or movie I should be able to use it for the life of the product or my life. I shouldn’t have to buy the exact same thing again on a different format. Note that buying a paperback book is different than buying an audiobook, I’m not talking about different types of content from the same body of work. I’m talking about the same content on diferent formats.

I believe this consumer abuse, for lack of a better word, has driven more people — some of which would never walk into any store and just steal something off the shelf — to push the gray lines with music piracy, license and copyright infringement. Perhaps it is sort of a vigilante type justice for being taken advantage of in the marketplace.

The problem with this type of vigilante consumer behavior in the software realm is that software is rarely repackaged and resold, videogames being the big exception (how many times has Namco sold and resold PacMan?), simply because it is being improved, retooled and recoded for bigger, better platforms. The little guys out here though like me sure need people to pay for each license or donate if it’s donationware or shareware if it is something they use or the model of sharing on the web starts to break down.

Again, I do believe that most people do the right thing.

It’s too bad that a certain region of the world has a higher concentration of people doing the wrong thing. But it’s equally wrong to characterize everybody from this region as bad people. I have to catch myself sometimes when I get frustrated with certain parts of the world where this type of activity is more widespread. Do you?

Solutions:

For people who make products
Let your customers make an archival copy and be able to use the product for the life of the product or our life, if applicable. Allow us to transfer ownership of that product permanently to someone else (and thus give up our right to use the product any longer). Price your products/services fairly and commiserate to the value and give customers long enough shelf life so that they will not be more compelled or tempted to violate your licensing.

For software consumers
Buy what you use. If you use multiple computers and the license forbids that usage, then buy the extra licenses. If money is tight, and it’s tight for a lot of people, then consider switching to an open source alternative and/or try places like eBay if you need to pick up a legitimate copy at a discount from someone else (watch out for pirated copies even selling on eBay though). Another thought is to talk to the vendor of the program about some sort of discount for multiple computers. If you are using a software or services that have donation boxes, then donate. If you use shareware, then pay the shareware price.

Unlike Episode II, I had been looking forward to seeing Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith. I was looking forward to Episode I but after seeing that, I no longer was as excited about the series.

But the fall of Vader promised in Episode III was definitely enough to renew my interest!

I took our middle teen son with us who goes by the nickname online of Spawn. Before the movie, Spawn writes:

I think that Anakin will get his revenge on all the people that he hated in Episode 2.

I rarely will read reviews of movies I’m about to see because I don’t want it to taint my opinion. It’s human nature that if enough people like or dislike something to want to fall into step, so I kept an open mind and have stayed away from reviews of the film before seeing it. If you feel like I do and haven’t seen the movie then bookmark this post and come back after you’ve seen the film.

Here is the spot where people who don’t want to know much about the movie before seeing it should stop. I’m going to try and not spoil anything significant, but if you don’t want even a few spoilers stop.

I’m just making.

Lines.

So.

That.

People.

Who don’t want spoilers.

Will stop. Stop. Stop.

Ok, enough warnings let me start with the plot which the basics of is Anakin Skywalker in his continued path as a Jedi to help flush out a mole. Meanwhile the princess tells him she is pregnant (she says “baby” but we know it eventually will be twins) and Skywalker has dreams of impending doom for his wife during childbirth. It is through this fear that he is lured into and coerced over to the Dark Side. A series of political deceptions help shake Skywalker’s faith in the democracy and the Jedi council of which he is allowed to sit but not be named a Master Jedi. The Chancellor that Skywalker is asked to spy on turns him onto the concept that his wife can be saved through the childbirth by employing the one power that no Jedi can possess: the Dark Side of the Force.

We saw the first show at 9am and one of the things which I noticed once the show actually started (9:15am) is that the theater was about 70% — maybe — full. Throughout the film I got the feeling that most of the audience felt the same way as me. There were no cheers, no clapping, no boos either, but not a lot of excitement, even when Darth Vader came to be … which we all were waiting for to see the birth of this badass.

But it was not like that fanciful day in the seventies when I first saw Star Wars IV: A New Hope. People were cheering there for Luke Skywalker, Obi Won Kenobi, the rebel alliance and laughing at the droids and other banter.

There wasn’t much laughter in the theater for Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith. Ok, maybe a few chuckles here and there but otherwise it was very quiet. Not morgue quiet, not disinterest quiet, just … quiet.

Revenge of the Sith is definitely a dark film, which has already been widely reported. There are decapitations of unarmed opponents and plenty of other violence againt bots (mainly). No blood or gore really except for the final sequences (not blood, but something unpleasant).

We get to see Chewbacca and his home planet. Yoda gets it on with the saber. Those that want to see Yoda kick some ass will not be disappointed. These are both high points.

The cinemaphotography is fantastic and well beyond anything in the original series. The opening scenes especially have some really cool spaceship scenes. This is the area where George Lucas has always excelled.

As I left the theater I was thinking about ranking the films. Here’s how I’d rank the Star Wars films:

#1 (best): Star Wars IV: New Hope
#2: Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
#3: Star Wars VI and Star Wars III — a tie
#4: Star Wars II
#5 (worst): Star Wars I

I’m calling a tie on Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. Sith is definitely better than II or the godawful Episode I. Would give Sith the nod over VI if they had brought Jar Jar Binks back to be carved up by either Jedi or the empire.

Sith didn’t really wow me, but it wasn’t boring either. It just reminded me alot in terms of pacing as Return of the Jedi, but without the cuteness of the ewoks (which arguably were annoying). I remember my stepmother crying when that one ewok died in Star Wars VI.

Sith doesn’t answer every question or bridge every gap from III to IV but it comes darn close. In particular I’m curious about how Chewbacca meets up with Han Solo. I’d have to go back and rewatch the original three films to see if that is explained, but it definitely isn’t explained in Sith.

Finally, the finances and future of the series. My prediction is that if this film doesn’t make over 200 million the first week, it has no shot at taking down Titanic. It’s going to make tons of money and be a hit financially, but will it be the best-selling film of all time in the theaters? I have my doubts. Will this bring in tons of money? Absolutely. Will it spawn the rumored final three pictures in the saga? It could. My personal opinion is that George should quit why he still can, but he seems to have been bitten by sequelitis and if the original story was a nine-part space opera, then if he doesn’t do the films somebody else might do it posthumously — and probably not as well. So if it’s a choice betwen Lucasfilms doing 7, 8 and 9 or some stranger? There is no choice there.

Also what about Harrison Ford? Would he come back for part 7-9? Luke? Where does he fit in. Mark Hamil has definitely aged so I’m not sure if he’d be pulled out of obscurity. Carrie Fisher? She doesn’t look anything like Princess Leia any more, but then depending on how far into the future 7-9 would be set, it might just work.

In summary on Revenge of the Sith, this film does do some of what the original three films did, but doesn’t capture the magic of the first two original films (IV and V). Is it fun? You bet! It’s the best Star Wars film in a long, long time and at least some of what Star Wars fans craved with Episode I. It is much better than Episode I and II. If you want to find out how arguably the most evil villain in sci-fi history was born, then there is probably no better fix, but if you are hoping for and expecting the magic of the first show the framework is there at least, if not the execution. Grade: B.

Now, I can go out and read what others have to say and think about the film and see if my feelings are validated or disputed by others. I’m particularly interested in what the critics at Rotten Tomatoes are saying (83% Fresh as of this writing, which is pretty good). I may link up some of the other reviews here as well, so might want to check back.

Last night, our middle son and I bought advance tickets for Star Wars 3. We’re going to hit the first show on Thursday morning at 9AM, so I’ll be posting a review with our detailed thoughts in the early afternoon of Thursday (most likely). I’m totally stoked for this movie, unlike Episode II. I don’t know if I’m as excited as I was for Episode I nor Episode IV, where I really had no idea what type of movie I was seeing. I was like 10 years old when Episode IV came out and saw that at one of those older theaters where movies come after everybody else has already seen them.

BTW, at 6pm on Tuesday night they still had tickets for the midnight showing. They had tickets for all the showings on opening day as well and only six had sold for the very first showing (besides midnight) at 9am (that’s the one he and I are hitting). The woman at the counter said that they were filling up though for the 9:30 am showing. I wonder if people are just assuming that the first show is going to be totally swamped and are going for the second showing?

So he’s getting to take a day a half day off school for some father-son time. We’re going to make it a Star Wars day. Maybe we’ll hit the store and pick up the Star Wars 3 Xbox game as well. You only are young once!

Based on the marketing alone, I wanted to see the new movie with Paris Hiton and Elisha Cuthbert. Besides, until Star Wars III next week, it’s really the only game in town. It’s the remake of the Vincent Price movie: House of Wax (HOW).

The basic plot is a group of young adults are heading to a football game and take a detour and camp out near a creepy town. During this campout one of the campers has his fan belt break (or be cut?), so he has to make the trip into town with his girlfriend, played by Elisha Cuthbert, who has the lead role, not Paris Hilton. This is where they see this House of Wax which is quite literally a house made of wax.

These two siamese twin brothers, separated at birth, have a thing going where they cover real people with wax. From the previews I thought wax people came alive and walked the earth, sort of zombie style, but that’s not how it goes. Also, in the end, there is a slight twist — which I won’t ruin — which almost guarantees there will be a sequel. Or two. Or three. That’s the way it goes in the horror movie franchise.

Paris Hilton really has only a small part in this movie and most the time you see her locking lips with her African American boyfriend who seems more interested in getting to the football game, getting laid and playing his tunes than being involved in the movie. Though I didn’t count, it sure seems like Paris Hilton has more lip-locking and close-ups of scantily-clad dress scenes than actual acting scenes. When she does act, it’s horribly wooden and unpolished. Get into pron officially already, Paris!

Elisha Cuthbert, perhaps most notable for her role as Kim Bauer in the Fox TV show 24, has a different look and does OK as the lead in the flick. It can’t be a step up for her career moving into remakes of old horror flicks though.

So the real question is: does Paris Hilton get waxed? I won’t tell you if she gets wacked, that would ruin the fun, but she definitely does not get waxed. I was hoping they’d put some wax in her and put her on display at the end of the movie. They could have tied in some clever Simple Life asides.

Comparing this movie to other B-grade horror flicks and it’s not bad, but it takes a good hour — which is too long — to get the story and characterization drawn. Some of the characters are sterotypically cheesy: football jock looking for redemption, brother and sister feuding, etc. Still, no boobs! No nudity aleft! What is a lame horror movie without bare breasts? This movie could have been so much more with some headlights on, but you don’t even see those through any shirts. You get some pictures of chests, even closeups, but no knobs. Downgrade there.

Sound wasn’t anything special. There were a few jump out of your seat spook moments, but not enough to make HOW truly scary. HOW may make for a good rental, but forget about it in the theater. We paid Matinee prices which, after popcorn, soda and candy, worked out to be like $30, not counting the $5 gas to get to the theater. Wait for it. Grade: C+

This reminds me somewhat of the character Johnny from The Dead Zone. Played originally by the hauntingly gifted Christopher Walken and based upon the story by Stephen King.

“How long have I been away?” Herbert asked.
“We told him almost 10 years,” the uncle said. “He thought it was only three months.”
Herbert, who will turn 44 Saturday, was fighting a house fire Dec. 29, 1995, when the roof collapsed, burying him under debris. After going without air for several minutes, Herbert was comatose for 2 1/2 months and has undergone therapy ever since.

Further proof that we still have a long way to go with science in figuring out how the human brain truly functions. File this away in the Twilight Zone.

Hopefully, Herbert continues to get better.

I’ve been sitting on this one for a bit in draft mode because I wanted to see how many people would actually buy and use this and also if some of the early issues had been worked out. Branded iPodder clients can be created at the ipodder lemon store. Sure enough today I came across the first mainstream usage I’ve seen: and it’s for the upcoming Paris Hilton horror flick: House of Wax.

They have their own custom iPodder client and House of Wax podcast page (warning: sound!) with short updates from Paris Hilton. House of Wax (HOW) comes out this Friday, May 6, 2005. In fact, HOW didn’t stop with podcasts, they have wallpaper, buddy icons, screensavers via their download page, even a fan art page. Strangely, the fan art page is full red on Risk Rating according to my Netcraft toolbar, so might want to move carefully on the fan page.

As for Paris podcasting? Is it any good? Well, it seems to be an authenic podcast and not some over-engineered ad for the movie, which is a bright spot. You can catch two of her podcast ’shows’ where with the first one she’s whines a bit about having to do publicity for the movie. Huh? LOL, now that’s a new one … a podcast to promote the movie where the star whines about promoting the movie. Then later you can hear the freaks, er fans, in the crowd crying her name: Paris! Paris! We love you! In the second one she says: “Can we turn down the TV. It’s annoying.” She then wonders if it’s called Good Morning America, but she loves Diane Sawyer. Oh and she’s sooo tired again. She loves iPods, they are “hot.” Oh, and she was a little annoyed with David Letterman for asking about a “white-hot spat with Nicole Ritchie.” Then she gets prepped for an upcoming meeting and has a bagel with cream cheese (one of the few things I like about her).

I am soooo glad I don’t pay too much attention to Paris Hilton. Don’t see why some people go into dog in heat mode over her, really. She’s way too skinny, IMO. I never watched The Simple Life; and don’t think I’ll be doing so any time soon. With that said, I’m somewhat curious in this House of Wax movie if/when some bad guy will wack her character. You haven’t really arrived as a B grade actor until you’ve been wacked onscreen in a horror flick. Oh and nudity. Got to have some gratuitous nudity.

Seriously, it would be cool to see iPodder offer a customizable version like Effective Brand does with toolbars that could be dynamically updated by the person/company buying the branded client. I saw at the iPodder site that somebody else already made this comment. One time only packing of URLs sort of makes this not as useful.

Getting back to the beginning where I talked about issues. Check out the screenshot at the top where it shows DNS failure for the technology OPML category. This has been this way for a long time. If your podcast is listed in the technology category, good luck being seen reliably. Hopefully somebody else with a reliable server will take over that node.

The online DVD rental market is growing. However, despite Netflix increasing subscribers from 1.9 million a year ago to over 3 million subscribers, the company says it will lose money for the year.

[from Motley Fool] Netflix CEO Reed Hastings talks about the DVD delivery business.

Mr. Hastings says that they are in it for the long haul. I wonder what will become of this market when Video On Demand is more widespread?