There are a different set of issues with luxury fashion items like handbags and watches. In that case, though it is immoral, at least follow the native New York advice of "don't be a fucking sucker" and force the movie purveyor to screen the film on the little DVD player he carries around. Piracy also exposes you to a small amount of risk in the form of a nastygram from your ISP, or, in the case of subway DVDs, getting a really shitty copy. about how your piracy is really helping to popularize creative works: artists are grateful for your word-of-mouth, but like it even more when you pay the $4.99 to rent the movie. Doing that, or buying DVDs on the train, also deprives all of us who work in the media industry of the pennies that add up to form our salaries. Some of you anarchists will say "Nein! There is no circumstance in which I will pay money to the oligarchic media establishment!" But in that case, the only moral thing to do is forsake media consumption entirely (or, you know, get a library card.) Don't pretend you're taking the system down from the inside by bittorrenting Game of Thrones. Similar services exist for music (I prefer Spotify, at $9 a month), and even video games. But today on iTunes you can buy a copy of Fast & Furious 6 for $17.99, and rent it for only $5.99 (no disrespect to the recently deceased, but are you going to watch a movie like that more than once?) And that's to watch a movie instantly: no more having to trek out to Blockbuster to rent or buy it.Īnd if those prices are still too high for you, consider Netflix or Hulu, which cost $8 a month for a wide selection of movies, or asking your parents for their HBO Go login, which is free (to you!). This is back when a new film out on DVD retailed for $30 and only the ten richest kings of Europe could afford to watch DVDs the week they were released. In the old days, you could have tried to make an economic argument for buying counterfeit DVDs. In that case, please read the following discussion, which may help you avoid becoming that gullible rube riding the A Train with a fake Fendi bag full of shaky counterfeit Iron Man disks. In 2013, we don't need to buy a bootleg Hunger Games DVD: we're five years into a real Hunger Games style depression, and people have neither the money nor the inclination for conspicuous consumption any more.īut maybe you are a new arrival from a more prosperous land, where this sort of thing still goes on. (Courtesy Private Jake Dobkin Collection)ĭid your email get sucked through some kind of wormhole in the space-time continuum? Because it sounds like you wrote it ten years ago, when people were still consuming films on physical "DVDs" and purchasing ostentatious luxury items to parade around the city. How much in jail time and fines would I be risking to save a few bucks?Īlso, if I decide to buy a DVD, what should I be looking for in quality and price? Should I make the seller show me the quality before purchase?Ī young Jake Dobkin enjoys an illegal bootleg H.R. This week's question from someone tempted to watch today's blockbuster movies in their own home.Ĭould I get arrested for purchasing The Hunger Games: Catching Fire from the dude on the D train? I am always tempted to buy DVDs or knockoff handbags, but I'm scared that I'm being set up by the NYPD. He is now fielding questions-ask him anything by sending an email here, but be advised that Dobkin is "not sure you guys will be able to handle my realness." We can keep you anonymous if you prefer just let us know what neighborhood you live in. One of these lifers works among us at Gothamist-publisher Jake Dobkin grew up in Park Slope and currently resides in Brooklyn Heights. except, of course, those battle-hardened residents who've lived here their whole lives and Know It All. Are you relatively new to this fine metropolis? Don't be shy about it, everyone was new to New York at one time.
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