[Weekly Updates] December 20th, 2020

New year new me!

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• You may have noticed all the images on our YouTube channel and social media have changed. Stepping into 2021, we'll have a new, slightly more cohesive visual design.
• This includes newly made motion-graphics, too. As sad as to say, we'll be ditching the VHS intro and transitions since they no longer fit the style. But we'll bring them back when we get back to some old school, nostalgia-filled Hong Kong movies.
• Patreon posts images are also redesigned and will come with an appropriate image each week. This week we'll chat about cinema food, so: popcorns!
• For upcoming videos, nothing really changed yet. Since The Autobots and The Eight Hundred are so close in votes, I'll be doing both. Autobots in January, The Eight Hundred in February.
• That leaves us with one slot for our Valentine's Day video. We'll hold a vote for that, too!
• Going into March, I think we should go back to more old Hong Kong movies. It has been a while, and I believe many of you are here specifically for them. I have a couple of them in mind already, but feel free to suggest.
• That said, we'll be returning to Hong Kong sooner than you'd expect. Try January. More info to come.

ABOUT MEDIA

• Are you the type that buys food at the cinema? I usually don't, at least not bring them into the actual seatings.
• I mean, it's overpriced. Theatres don't get a lot of money for movie ticket sales, so food (especially popcorns) is how they make most of their money. The more I think about it, the more outdated this business model sounds. More on that in a bit.
• But also, why are so many cinema foods so difficult to eat? A sandwich, maybe. But eating a hot dog while sitting in the theatre just means all the sauce gets splashed onto your pants.
• In Canada, we have Cineplex, which has VIP cinema. The seats are better, and the food is actually diner foods (sort of). But they are all plate dishes, making it even harder to eat while watching a movie.
• Not to mention, they all taste about as good as airplane food.
• Yet, even for someone like me, I still feel like food and movie are linked. Even at home, when I pick a random movie on Netflix, I still want to grab some cookies.
• What it comes down to, for me anyway, is that watching movies is a restrictive experience. In today's incredibly fast-paced society, a lot of people probably don't find it appealing anymore.
• Think about it, you are sitting in a dark room, with many other people. You can't move. You can't talk. You can't contact the outside world. Eating is one of the few things you can do. It keeps you busy while you enjoy the movie.
• We are accustomed to choices these days. At any moment, we have many different entertainment options, none of them we have to commit to.
• Early video games, like Dragon Quest, have safe points. You have to head into specific locations before you can save your game.
• Eventually, games just allow you to save anywhere.
• Nowadays, most games just save it for you. You don't even have to do it manually.
• And finally, the recently released PS5 and Xbox have a resumed function, allowing you to pick up the game exactly where you left off. The amount of commitment just gets lower and lower.
• Going to the movies is an event, something that you have to plan. Even watching movies at home is a small commitment.
• This is one thing that I'm afraid may affect the popularity of cinema in the future. Will movies be perceived as boring, the same way many people today think stage shows are? What other shenanigans will cinema pull to keep people in the seat for 2 hours?
• Heck, will movies be 1 hour long? Should it be 1 hour long?

Well, that was a train of thought, wasn't it? Editing for our next video is on the way. We'll see you in the next few days! In the meantime, I hope you have a great holiday.