Region Codes - The WORST invention ever!

Today I'm going to grip about region codes. Yes those all important numbers which say whether or not you can find your favourite movie in a version that works in your player. Now you'd think that will all the technology we have around today, iPods, mobiles, laptops, netbooks, GPS systems etc, that they'd come up with a way to give all people equal chance of watching their favourite movie.

It wouldn't be that difficult. Instead of torturing everyone who lives outside of the US make EVERY movie ever made region free. Unit currencies would take care of pricing differences but I have yet to see a logical reason for Region codes.

Take two of my favourite movies. A little known romantic comedy starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Flannery called Simply Irresistible and an even lesser known film with Billy Zane called Invincible (and no I'm not talking about the one with Mark Walberg!). Neither of these films were popular. In fact I caught Invincible on TV late one night and stayed up until 1am watching it. I enjoyed it very much and spent 3 months ordering it in from the US to Australia. Simply Irresistible is I think my favourite movie of all time. It is, in my mind, the perfect romantic comedy. Humor, cooking, a great soundtrack, a cute lead actor, a talented cast...it has it all. But can I find it on region 4? NO!

Someone, please explain to me the Region code thing? In my mind all it does is hinder sales. I would have bought Simply Irresistible AGES ago if it were on region 4. In fact I can think of several movies that I haven't bought simply because of that barrier. My DVD player I hacked long ago to be multi region but my laptop is another matter. Laptops have this irritating feature which stop you from playing seasonal discs.

Personally I think it's a scam to force us to purchase software. Laptops are portable. It stands to reason that a portable device should be able to go international without TOO much trouble...but no. They lock computers and you are forced to watch your favourite movie on VHS - which is what I have to do with Simply Irresistible.

I in no way condone pirating. I know it's not a victimless crime. However I know how frustrating it is to try and watch things when they just aren't released. Fringe, the TV series, is a classic example. It hasn't been released here yet. The first 6-10 episodes were shown on ordinary TV before Channel 9 dumped it, as happens with all decent shows, and it was brought back with no notice on digital TV.

Australia, for those who don't know, is in a pointless transition. Some smart-ass decided that TV wasn't annoying enough with dumping shows without warning, moving them and cutting them off halfway through episodes (Channel 7 coped it from me for that I can tell you!), so they decided that we needed to go digital. Digital TV has several problems. Firstly it means that you can't record TV shows anymore with a VCR. Yes I still own a VCR! The digital signal has to go through a set-top-box and you have to get one for every TV, every VCR in the house. And then, even when it is connected you can't record on different channels because no set-top-box comes with a timer. Secondly if you lose a little reception, like during a storm, with the old analogue signal it goes fuzzy but it's still quite watchable, we've all done it with shows we liked. With digital losing just 1% of the signal means the entire picture, the audio...everything...is gone. Finally...a set-top-box costs. Now $100 isn't a lot to some people but it sure is to others. I am a student. $100 is a LOT of money to me and I definitely don't have money to waste it on something I really don't think is necessary.

All this brings me back to pirating. Without a set-top-box and with the DVD's still unreleased in Australia...how can I watch Fringe? And Gossip Girl? Without the correct region of DVD's how can I watch releases of Dr Who on my laptop? How can I see movies like Invincible and Simply Irresistible?? Can you see my point...people, not all but a great many, resort to pirating because they aren't offered decent alternatives. Unless someone gives me a set top box or an unlocked laptop I have no choice and that's what I chose. I bought Invincible as region 1 and then used DVD copying software to strip the region codes and make it playable on my laptop. Now technically even that is illegal but I have no other choice.

I call everyone to put a stop to region codes. Supposedly we are entering a new era of blu-ray - let's get rid of regions for blue-ray! Let's make sure the little know movies are transferred over to blu-ray and not lost and lets, for goodness sake, stop looking at all copying as people trying to beat the system and make money. Some of us just want to sit down and watch a darn decent movie!

Cooking & Moving

Cooking and Moving. Personally I don't think you can get two more opposite things in life. Moving is disorganised, frustrating and I hate it. Cooking is organised, rewarding and I love it.

I'm almost done moving...again. Once again I had to pack up my life and move without choice. I'd like to choose to move one day but I doubt I will. I've been forced so many times to move that I doubt I'll ever move by choice. Tomorrow hopefully I'll finish getting everything in. My kitchen gear will be the last stuff to move. I'm SO over it but I wanted to wait for my kitchen jars, of which I have dozens, so I can move them carefully and safely. Because I like to cook I HATE keeping my kitchen stuff in plastic so all my kitchen jars are glass. I spent almost two years tracking down tall glass spaghetti jars which were tall enough and have almost 30 spice jars now.

I've been thinking about cooking again recently. My mum made me sit down and watch a sweet movie Tortilla Soup. I wasn't that enthusiastic until it began and the opening credits are accompanied by this amazing cooking montage. My mouth was watering before it was 5 minutes in. Then we came down to my place, so she could help me move (yes she is an angel!) and we made Bruschetta with goats cheese, basil, lemon, baked capsicum, watercress and bread. God that was good! Then she made us these cucumber tart things I'd found online the night before whilst looking for recipes. They were equally good. Finally I'd had enough of moving this afternoon so I made homemade pesto with the leftover fresh basil.

I've been wanting to make pesto for ages but don't have enough money for a food processor however recently I got my hands on a cheap imitation of the "magic bullet" machine. It's not the branded original but worked great for pesto just the same (especially when I remembered to add a little water).

Ah food. It almost makes all this crappy moving business worth it...not quite but almost. At least the fabulous food along the way, and the movies I've watched as inspiration, have helped me get through this. Without my kitchen gear I'd be lost and I've only just realised now how much of my life does revolve around food. I watched Julie and Julia just the other day, watched Simply Irresistible whilst eating dinner, and watched Iron Chef whilst unpacking this evening.

Food is an art form it is true but it is so much more than that. Food sustains us, helps us forge memories, gives us personality, rouses the senses and gets us through life. It is incredible that we have turned something so basic and necessary in to something so amazingly beautiful and creative.

I don't understand why people wouldn't like to cook. I used to hate it but I have NO idea why. I am horrified that I lived (almost literally) on Rice Bubbles, potatoes and Nachos for so many years, putting my parents through hell. Now however I've discovered cooking can be done slowly, without the frantic rush required for restaurants, and have such begun to enjoy it, discovering new flavours and textures so rapidly I can hardly keep up. But I can say right now that it's all been worth it and I will definitely be cooking for many years to come.