Monday, March 31, 2008
Quality Matters?
Here's my question of the week:
Why do porn rental stores still exist?
I mean, I understand why record stores and regular DVD rental places still exist in the digital high-speed age. Arguments can be made one way or the other about quality of formats. Some like the sense of physical ownership. Others like all the extras - the liner notes, the special features and what not - that you get with the physical copy.
But for the life of me I can't see how any of that would translate into porn. I mean, is there some porn connoisseur out there sniffing "Oh yes I tried some of those Internet downloads, but the quality was so poor that it just ruined the whole experience for me. And those pay-per-views - well, all I can say is that they're fine if you're happy with boring cookie-cutter mainstream offerings, but some of us have higher standards."
Special features? The director's commentary, perhaps? Correct me if I'm wrong but, if a person is in the mood for such business, patience and critical assessment are probably going to be in pretty short supply.
Maybe it's the French/Spanish translation features: "Ah! Ah! Bueno! Con mas fuerza!" Yeah, I can see where those subtleties would be lost if you didn't hear them in your own language.
If anyone else has any theories, I'd love to hear them.
posted by Mentok @ 9:40 a.m.,
7 Comments:
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At 1:32 p.m.,
Rachel said...
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LOL People are freaks!!! They get all into the shit. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if someone didn't like the quality of downloaded porn.
Some people even get off on actually going to a porn store to pick it out...It is all quite strange if you ask me but when it comes to human beings sex is a strange, strange thing.
I mean there are people who get off on women having sex with animals...So the fact that people still like to get their porn from an actual store isn't that strange to me...A little slimy maybe but hey whatever floats your boat I guess just as long as it is not hurting anyone else I say go for it. ;-) -
At 5:13 p.m.,
adam said...
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A site I used to use had a swear filter which always substituted 'cookie' for some other word beginning with 'c' and ever since any use of the word cookie makes me grin, but when it turns up 'in context' - well...
Porn is just shite, nasty 'orrible strange foisted on us bollocks about power and distance and humiliation and has nothing to do with sex which is about mutuality and respect and the complete collapsing of any idea of distance. And porn hurts people every step of the way, from those stuck in the sex trade who have to meet its expectations to the men and women who's world views and expectations are so warped by it that any ideas of quality and normality go out of the window and relationships turn into power games and distance and humiliation. It's all shit, shut'em down. -
At 9:33 a.m.,
said...
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well, my theory is that some folks like the idea of portable porn. if your porn is all on your tivo or computer or whatever and you want to take some porn to a friend's house, then i think being able to tuck that dvd under your arm is a requirement.
i mean, don't we all like to watch porn with our friends? ;-) -
At 11:19 a.m.,
Mentok said...
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rachel - you've hit the nail on the head about the seemingly endless strangeness of human sexuality in all its forms
adam - well that's going to turn me off chocolate chip cookies forever... not to mention ginger, apple-cinnamon and sugar. Thanks! ;-)
No argument that "porn is just shite", but how do you propose to "shut 'em all down"?
mjrc - no, no one else likes to watch porn with their friends but you. Weirdo! ;-) -
At 2:31 p.m.,
cchang said...
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Hey now. I watch porn with my friends.
My theory is that a lot of porno connoisseurs are grumpy dirty old men who do not know how to use the internet let alone own a computer.
I will attest to knowing someone who not only categorizes his porn alphabetically but also by sub genre. In addition, he's got various torrent sites ranked by quality.
Don't a lot of these rental places have booths or something so that people check out the vids and watch them in, um, private? -
At 5:32 p.m.,
Mentok said...
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cc - hah! By category, no less. Killer! He's not an engineer by any chance, is he? ;-)
I don't know what amazes me more - that my fellow males are so unabashedly pathetic or that women (at least the ones who stop in here) are so tolerant. It's a bizarre place to find it, but there's hope for this kooky ol' world yet. -
At 5:07 p.m.,
Scotsman said...
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I have many theories of the happenings of this strange world in which we find ourself living but I have to admit not giving this question much thought - until now. Thanks for that. I think I have to agree with Rachel people are indeed (lets be kind) strange beasts. Some people are quite vanilla and will enjoy sex in a bed and never stray from having sex in a bed, others may when the opportunity arises may have sex in a toilet, others may deliberately seek out sex in a toilet, a public toilet at that. Such behaviour isn't restricted to LA policeman and George Michael. Personally I like sex in a place with a nicer aroma - but each to their own and all that.
Anyway some people are exhibitionists by nature and like to get dressed up to suit a situation. I wouldn't be surprised if some people got their kicks out of the routine of putting on dark glasses and a dirty brown raincoat before stepping outside of their middle class lives for a few minutes while they seek out their porn for a few minutes gratification.
And then there are others who have a more simple reason of not always keen on the new way of doing things. Music is my porn. I have to admit I was never that keen on CDs compared to vinyl. CDs were out for 10 years before I bought one for myself. For some strange reason I preferred the imperfections of vinyl, those little crackles and the like to the perfect sound of a digitally enhanced cd, but for a long time it was almost impossible to get a new album on vinyl and then mp3 came out and cds slowly died too, ironically at a time when more stuff was being sold on vinyl. I guess some people are more stubborn than others and like to hang on to the old ways.
Can I go back to contemplating answers to my own strange questions now, I have enough of those to last a lifetime?
