#Preserve Physical Media

[anarchic-miscellany]

Conflicted tales from physical media: "Persona 3" got a re-release, and the dubbing job was redone pretty much entirely from the ground up. On the one hand: hooray, no more of the terrible (and honestly kind of always overrated, I never got the hype. Kirk Thornton was where it was at) Vic Mignogna as Junpei, so well done there guys. But no Tara Platt (best actor, playing best girl), no Michelle Ruff, no Karen Strassman, no Liam O'Brien (though honestly, dude must be exhausted by now!), no Grant George, no Dan Woren (great as the villain, damn!), and no more credit to the (rather unusually) unknown actor who played Fuuka. Hell, even the Wikipedia article on the characters doesn't credit a lot of them from the original (for the record I think it was Mona Marshall who played Ken, if memory serves). Kind of sad really. "Hey, here's some great work, some wonderful performances, some from actors who we don't even know, and some from actors before or around the time they were really hitting their stride! Well, gone now!" I appreciate the remaking of these games to update the jank and keep them around, but games are honestly kind of a time capsule and should be preserved as all art should. Kind of sucks man.

[bisexualseraphim]

We as a society started to collapse when we stopped putting PC games onto discs that you had to insert into your computer and it would download the game onto your device even without an internet connection because all the data was on the disc, and if you wanted DLC that would also come on a separate disc in a snazzy unique case so you should show off to everyone that not only did you have the game, you had a whole bookshelf’s worth of DLC too and it didn’t matter where you were in the world or if you had internet, all you had to do was insert that little disc into any desktop or laptop and you could have that game any time anywhere on any computer device you wanted.

And then Windows 7 came along and decided she was too cool to allow you to play those 🤢old🤮 PC insertable hard disc games and suddenly if you wanted to play the game you had to buy it again on a new platform that required an internet connection called Steam or Origin, but God forbid you have the wrong kind of computer that can’t keep up with all these random updates they have to do every single time you open the program because you might just never be able to play the game you purchased and downloaded until you get a new one! But don’t get a computer that’s TOO new because it probably won’t have a disc drive at all and now no matter what kind of workaround you attempt with the software you’ll never be able to play those precious games you bought 20 years ago again. But also, pirating those obsolete games is WRONG because we have it on a new platform we can make money from!

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

Said it a year ago and I’ll say it again.

Pirate all your favorite shows, movies and games while you still have the chance.

Oh, and never stop supporting physical media.

[lynntbw]

It’s kinda funny how a few years back when so many people were constantly saying streaming is the future and physical media would eventually die out I remember thinking that’s a bad idea as we shouldn’t let these greedy ass corporations be able to just pull something from streaming one day and never release again and well I think we all know how that’s going now, yes there’s always pirating but I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the people who made the art should be rewarded for it properly but capitalism is the enemy to all art so I’m not surprised.

[flanaganfilm]

Mr. Flanagan, I’d like to ask a question and I deeply hope that it does not offend or upset you. I am strongly considering canceling my Netflix subscription due to their new password sharing policy. However, Midnight Mass is one of my favorite shows of all time and I know it isn’t available on DVD, and I’m also profoundly anticipating your take on my favorite Edgar Allen Poe story. So I wanted to ask your take on people accessing your work through, uh, other means. If it’s something that’s offensive to you or will harm you or the other people who work so hard on these shows, I’ll happily keep my Netflix just so that I can keep supporting your work. I respect you far too much as an artist to do otherwise.

Again, I really hope I’m not upsetting you by asking this question. Thank you for everything, and I hope you’re having a great day!

(NOTE 6/4/2024: I'm editing this entry because, well over a year since it was posted, some journalists dug this up and used it to create click-bait headlines that are misleading, out of context and artificially combative. While I was of course disappointed over the years that Netflix opted not to release my work on physical media, I never experienced any hostility or aggression in those discussions, and I sincerely regret the manner in which this post was used in the press this week.)

Hi there - no offense taken whatsoever, in fact I think this is a very interesting and important question.

So. If you asked me this a few years ago, I would have said "I hate piracy and it is hurting creators, especially in the independent space." I used to get in Facebook arguments with fans early in my career when people would post about seeing my work on torrent sites, especially when that work was readily available for rent and purchase on VOD.

Back in 2014, my movie Before I Wake was pirated and leaked prior to any domestic release, and that was devastating to the project. It actually made it harder to find distribution for the film. By the time we were able to get distribution in the US, the film had already been so exposed online that the best we could hope for was a Netflix release. Netflix stepped in and saved that movie, and for that I will always be grateful to them.

However...

Working in streaming for the past few years has made me reconsider my position on piracy.

In the years I worked at Netflix, I tried very hard to get them to release my work on blu-ray and DVD.

It became clear very fast that their priority was subscriptions, and that they were not particularly interested in physical media releases of their originals, with a few exceptions.

While companies like Netflix pride themselves on being disruptors, and have proven that they can affect great change in the industry, they sometimes fail to see the difference between disruption and damage. So much that they can find themselves, intentionally or not, doing harm to the concept of film preservation.

The danger comes when a title is only available on one platform, and then - for whatever reason - is removed.

We have already seen this happen. And it is only going to happen more and more. Titles exclusively available on streaming services have essentially been erased from the world. If those titles existed on the marketplace on physical media, like HBO's Westworld, the loss is somewhat mitigated (though only somewhat.) But when titles do not exist elsewhere, they are potentially gone forever.

The list of titles that have been removed from streaming services is growing.

I still believe that where we put our dollars matters. Renting or buying a piece of work that you like is essential. It is casting a vote, encouraging studios - who only speak the language of money - to invest more effort into similar work. If we show up to support distinct, unique, exciting work, it encourages them to make more of it. It's as simple as that. If we don't show up, or if they can't hear our voice because we are casing our vote "silently" through torrent sites or other means - it makes it unlikely that they will take a chance to create that kind of work again.

Which is why I typically suggest that if you like a movie you've seen through - uh - other means, throw a few dollars at that title on a legitimate platform. Rent it. Purchase it. Support it.

But if some studios offer no avenue for that kind of support, and can (and will) remove content from their platform forever... frankly, I think that changes the rules.

Netflix will likely never release the work I created for them on physical media, though I'll always hold out hope.

Some of you may say "wait, aren't The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor available on blu-ray and DVD?" Yes, they are, because they were co-produced with Paramount, and I'm grateful that Paramount was able to release and protect those titles. (I'm also grateful that those releases include extended cuts, deleted scenes, and commentary tracks. There are a number of fantastic benefits to physical media releases.)

But a lot of the other work I did there are Netflix originals, without any other studio involvement. Those titles - like Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and the upcoming Fall of the House of Usher - along with my Netflix exclusive and/or original movies Before I Wake and Gerald's Game - have no such protections. The physical media releases of those titles are entirely at Netflix's discretion, and don't appear to be priority for the studio at this time.

At the moment, Netflix seems content to leave Before I Wake, Gerald's Game, Midnight Mass, and The Midnight Club on the service, where they still draw audiences. I don't think there is a plan to remove any of them anytime soon. But plans change, the industry changes.

The point is things change, and each of those titles - should they be removed from the service for any reason - are not available anywhere else. If that day comes - if Netflix's servers are destroyed, if a meteor hits the building, if they are bought out by a competitor and their library is liquidated - I don't know what the circumstances might be, I just know that if that day comes, some of the work that means the most to me in the world would be entirely erased.

Or, what if we aren't so catastrophic in our thinking? What if it the change isn't so total? What if Netflix simply bumps into an issue with the license they paid for music (like the Neil Diamond songs that play such a crucial role in Midnight Mass), and decide to leave the show up but replace the songs?

This has happened before as well - fans of Northern Exposure can get the show on DVD and blu-ray, but the music they heard when the series aired has been replaced due to the licensing issues. And the replacements - chosen for their low cost, not for creative reasons - are not improvements. What if the shows are just changed, and not by creatives, but by business affairs executives?

All to say that physical media is critically important. Having redundancy in the marketplace is critically important. The more platforms a piece of work is available on, the more likely it is to survive and grow its audience.

As for Netflix, I hope sincerely that their thinking on this issue evolves, and that they value the content they spend so much money creating enough to protect it for posterity. That's up to them, it's their studio, it's their rules. But I like to think they may see that light eventually, and realize that exclusivity in a certain window is very cool... but exclusivity in perpetuity could potentially limit the audience and endanger the work itself.

[preservationofnormalcy]

Just as a reminder, I did up all the new posters in the simplified B&W style, and I'm using them for cheaper "budget option" posters in folded-once 11x17 and 8.5x11. They're lower cost and cheaper to ship, so it's a good option if you like the designs but can't afford the bigger stuff. They also ship well with the stickers and art cards. You can find the listing at this link below!

[theelectricdreamsofddx]

Physical media not only as a means by which to own and back up data but also as pieces of art in their own right that deserve, themselves, to be preserved. The art in booklets, on discs, on covers both front and back, the writing of manuals and guides, all the secrets that can be hidden within...

I don't know, there's just something to be said about how sometimes the most you can find of a physical piece of media online is the actual contents of a disc or cartridge or tape etc. etc. and a front cover

[dapper-nahrwhale]

You guys Im so normal about DVDs and CDs and VHS tapes and everything and tying to make sure things don't become lost media I promise

[byler-alarmist]

It feels actually insane to be alive and also involved in fandom right now. The world we live in is getting infinitely shittier with the looming threat of even more terrible things on the horizon, but you'd never know it in the fandom world because there is SO MUCH to look forward to.

Your favorite shows have begun filming the new season! Your favorite character has a very good chance of being revealed as queer! Your favorite fanon couple actually has a good shot at being canon endgame! Long-standing mysteries may finally get answered! Bonus material has been filmed and may be released!

My one fear is that the real world getting shittier could bleed into the fandom space and prevent our joys, leading to cancellations and rewrites and removal from streaming, effectively undoing all the progress we've seen.

Still, I remain hopeful that we can keep this momentum. There is a window of opportunity right now for stories that couldn't be told in the past, and we must continue to uplift them!

Also, we all need to commit to physical media and bootlegging copjes where they don't exist. We need to preserve our shows when they air, lest they become lost media under future oppressive regimes.

[vladdyissues]

as someone who's been in assorted fandoms a long time... yeah. i've seen discourse, responses to discourse, regular culling of fics and videos that take out entire branches of fandom all at once. it's fuckin' haunting. being in the Phandom since the early days is kinda like being one of the early mammals when the dinosaurs died off

they aren't seeing it because there was an extinction event around the discourse they claim didn't happen. and that thought kinda fucks with me sometimes because fandom. FANDOM

why are you making me wax poetic about extinction events we are here to have fun

It's a frail digital world out here. So much can be lost with the click of a button or the termination of a single account. It's unpleasant to think about in the midst of our joyful little activities, but we should use that unpleasantness to remind ourselves to, inasmuch as we can, preserve the things that matter to us.

[snowsetdeer]

SEGA CLASSICS ARE DELISTING DECEMBER 6TH !

Not art but PLEASE go buy any of the Sega Classics Games you like from the steam Dreamcast collection and more as they're being delisted December 6th, 2024. I know I rant and rave about how terrible sc5 pt 2 and jet set radio are on steam but this is the only easily accessible way to buy some of these games (sc5 pt 2 especially!!!) now that the xbox360 store is down too. You can read more about it here, its not just games being delisted from steam they're being delisted in a ton of places seemingly.

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the whole point of Netflix originals is to give people an incentive to sub to Netflix to watch a particular show or movie that they can’t watch anywhere else?

What is even the point of labeling something a “Netflix original” if it’s just going to get removed from the service regardless?

Yes, I am aware of the fact that Dreamworks owns the rights to Voltron, but it still doesn’t make any sense to remove the series from Netflix when it has been an “original” for eight years now.

If the Netflix exclusivity deal wasn’t a permanent thing, then they should have been upfront about that.

Anyway, keep buying physical media and keep pirating everything that never got released on DVD/Blu Ray.

[markerslinger]

Witch, Please Zine Kickstarter!

Hey y'all! Come help fund this zine kickstarter that I'm a part of!

I kept trying to put the link and stuff here but tumblr kept REFUSING TO POST IT.

It looks like the link itself is too weird for tumblr so I'll try it this way.

SUPPORT THE ZINE KICKSTARTER HERE!

Autumn of 2023, Seth Goodkind found himself in front of the Witches & Warlocks section at Scarecrow Video wondering, "Are any of these movies that I haven't seen any good?" There was only one way to find out - watch them all!

Seth began watching all 226 movies in alphabetical order and writing a synopsis and rating of each on social media. It wasn't long into the project when his partner, in life and their business, Push/Pull, suggested that he create a book collecting all of the work he was doing. Of course, it wouldn't be a Push/Pull project without inviting many of the talented artists that are friends of Push/Pull & Scarecrow to create artwork for the book. 

It's full of art from RAD artists and myself!

You'd be help supporting local artists, a local independent zine and art supply store, and raise awareness for the largest independent physical film collection in the USA!

-M

[nothinggold13]

As I am raving about TTPD, allow me to also reiterate the following:

Offering 4 different versions of the album with a single different bonus track on each was greedy and shady as heck, especially with how they were marketed as limited and exclusive editions. But then to jump out and go, “Surprise! You still don’t have all the songs!” is a whole other level of cruel.

Every song should be equally available on streaming AND physical media. Justice for the banished-to-streaming tracks (If This Was A Movie, Safe And Sound, etc…) as well as the ones that are still only available on one singular version of the physical album, (Sweeter Than Fiction).

Every explicit album should have its clean counterpart sold alongside it from the initial album announcement. The only album Taylor has handled remotely well on this subject is Red TV.

For somebody who said she made the Eras Tour film because she wanted everybody to be able to share the experience even if they couldn’t attend the concert, she has released an awful lot of music that she has made clear she doesn’t want her fans to have equal access to! It’s hypocritical, and it makes it increasingly hard to respect her as an artist when her business practices are so conniving. And I say this because I do appreciate her as an artist, and so it bothers me to see her behave so low when I honestly believe she’s better than this!

So, open letter to the chairman of the Tortured Poets Department, I guess: are you in it for the art, or the money?

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

lupin part 2 box sets sale got me feeling unwise

[preservationofnormalcy]

Okay, so sorry to apologize for a lack of posts again, but wanted to preview something cool I've been working on!

Introducing the Third Eye zine, a nine-page (plus front & back) zine written by me (with a special drawing from my co-writer and including art from MISSI's artist @tigerator), the first true in-universe document. Issue one is on Extranormal Youth Services, and will be available for sale soon! Here's the cover and one of the stories inside.

As a reminder, I will be at Rakku-Con in Calgary tomorrow, and I will be bringing copies with me! If you or a friend is in Calgary, stop by and ask for it - whatever copies I have will be free at that show!

Back to our regular schedule soon!