Alaska's Last Two Blockbusters Are Closing, Leaving Just One In the US (adn.com) 100
According to Anchorage Daily News, the two remaining Blockbuster stores in Alaska are set to close, leaving just one location left in the United States. The last one standing in the U.S. is in Bend, Oregon. From the report: The stores, one on DeBarr Road in Anchorage and the other in Fairbanks, will close Monday for rental business, a post on the Facebook page for Blockbuster in Alaska said Thursday afternoon. They will reopen at noon Tuesday for an inventory sales that will run through July and August. Thursday's news follows a smattering of other recent Blockbuster closures across the state, which had 13 Blockbusters in 2013 and was down to nine stores by 2016. As Blockbuster stores disappeared from most of the Lower 48 in recent years, the brand long managed to persist in Alaska. Some have said expensive internet here is one reason why. The stores have also been a destination for some who visit just for the nostalgia.
Re:What is it (Score:4, Informative)
It's a film that is so popular that the line for movie tickets busts out into neighboring city blocks from the block where the theater is located.
Also, it's a store that was revolutionary in 1995 for its use of video rental fees that were 30 years ahead of their time. I mean, seriously, I can rent a movie tonight for less than my family did at Blockbuster in the early '90s.
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Re:What is it (Score:4, Informative)
I don't understand the concept of "renting" movies. Information wants to be free.
It's pretty straightforward. You hook your VCR up to your buddy's VCR and copy the VHS tape you've rented from Blockbuster onto a blank tape. Free information.
Note that you may also need an RX2 Video Stabilizer.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i... [ebayimg.com]
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That sounds dirty.
It often was. I mean, think about who your friends are, and how they keep their hovels.
But the store Blockbuster also sold (and rented; YMMV) special VHS and Betamax cassettes where instead of a magnetic data tape, they had an absorbent textile tape and a solvent reservoir; this could used to clean your tape heads.
The cleaning solvent is the same as used with magnetic server backup tape drives.
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On a universal time scale, all information will be destroyed.
Information (probably) can't be destroyed (Score:2)
If you're referring to the Big Rip, that's not currently believed likely. If you're referring to the black hole information paradox [wikipedia.org], there's probably not a lot of reason to believe that information can be destroyed. It's not really proven, but it's highly likely that information is a conserved property.
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No. Just because it can be described does not mean it is a description. So things that exist are not automatically information, but the words you use to describe them are. All meta-data is information, but only data that intentionally instructs is information. Even interesting and instructive data only becomes information when you realize that it is interesting and respond by forming ideas about it in your mind; information is literally the something that forms the mind.
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Information wants to be free.
Really? Then please start with your banking information, medical history, and preferences in pornography.
Information doesn't want anything. It's inanimate. People might want certain information to be free, but there's some information that they'd only prefer see the light of day after the heat death of the universe renders such a thing impossible.
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Information wants to be free.
Information doesn't want anything. It's inanimate. People might want certain information to be free, but there's some information that they'd only prefer see the light of day after the heat death of the universe renders such a thing impossible.
It's all related to the second law of thermodynamics. You can keep information from spreading, but that requires work.
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Re:What is it (Score:4, Funny)
I still don't get it. Can you rephrase it in the form of a car analogy?
It's like renting a car.
Re: What is it (Score:2)
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Which is why I should receive a payment for every advertisement served to me based on my location (my information) or my other preferences (again my information).
Re: What is it (Score:2)
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Well, this site values my content enough that I am not subject to advertising.
Tho they probably sell my information.
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Information hates to be anthropomorphised.
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You really are a cunt.
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Still cheaper than online renting.
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I’ll disagree. Even the most expensive iTunes rentals today are simply on par with what Blockbuster was charging decades ago.
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Don't use itunes, but all the stuff I see for streaming is $5 and up, I've even seen $9.99 for just renting.
$5 for rental plus 2 GB of Internet at $10/GB (Score:2)
Even the most expensive iTunes rentals today are simply on par with what Blockbuster was charging decades ago.
That may be true of urban wired Internet, not so much of satellite or cellular Internet where many plans still have data transfer overage fees on the order of 5 to 10 USD per gigabyte.
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Why would you drive to a store when Amazon will deliver for free?
Latency, especially when a weekend is involved. It takes two business days for a Prime order to arrive or even longer for a nonsubscriber's Super Saver Shipping order to arrive. It also takes years for a movie to show up on flat-fee streaming services.
Re:What is it (Score:5, Interesting)
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It still makes sense. Not everywhere has reasonable and affordable broadband service, so if they want to watch a movie it's either a very expensive theater visit, or a physical rental. And the rental is generally at a reasonable price compared to an online streaming pay-per-view. You can also check out physical media at many libraries but they generall have a smaller supply.
Redbox does it without being staffed, but they have a small selection.
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A "Blockbuster" was sneakernet netflix, sonny
I wonder if there would be any value in something the size of say a chromecast dongle or similar that you push into a kiosk and store a few movies.
Basically you could get temporary copies of movies and not need to take them back. Charge say $100 for the device so its not a useful way to store movies forever, and of course there is no reasonable way to export them. When you finally do go back it deletes old movies. The device should just be hdmi and usb power maybe with smartphone app control.
Maybe for 4k
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Yes, technology has made them somewhat obsolete when you can just rent & stream a lot of
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Some of these are still around, and possibly going strong, at least in places with a lot of students. They carry obscure movies and DVDs, and you can find weird people willing to argue about movies.
The Video Paradiso/Rhino Records combo is still doing fine in Claremont, CA, with its numerous colleges, and all the nice restaurants nearby. I know similar places in Cambridge, MA.
But the Blockbuster stores were all about efficiency and had no personality. So when someone with better efficiency and less perso
Who is going to get Russell Crows jockstrap? (Score:5, Funny)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.... [hollywoodreporter.com]
Franchises (Score:3)
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Many of those locations might be closed.
For example, for the one in Redmond OR, there's this:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/block... [yelp.com]
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The closed the last video store in my home town. Then they set a redbox out on the sidewalk in front of it. Talk about adding insult to injury.
One left, and it's highly rated (Score:2)
Gotta wonder how much of the ratings are nostalgia:
https://www.google.com/maps/pl... [google.com]
Their own fault (Score:2)
Russell Crowe's Jockstrap (Score:3, Interesting)
Blockbuster card (Score:2)
If you want a picture... (Score:2)
With a Blockbuster sign in the background, you have to go to Oregon, or Brazil, or Australia...
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With a Blockbuster sign in the background, you have to go to Oregon, or Brazil, or Australia...
I was in Iowa a couple months ago and was shocked to see a Blockbuster there. I was going to stop at it on my way back to my hotel, but found out it was closed. I'm guessing that there are many locations that closed but still have the sign and storefront intact.
It's apparently not due to lack of interest (Score:4, Interesting)
If its a similar story to a recent one i heard about, they cant get product anymore. I am not sure why they couldnt get dvds, as i assume that they dont rent VHS anymore ( you can still buy dvds right?). Buy anyways sounds like the parent distributor is closing up shop.
Comox Valley's last video store to close, but not due to lack of demand [www.cbc.ca]
Redundant, but I miss video stores (Score:2)
Nothing compares to that experience. Plus, I loved buying old DVDs after some new movie hit the shelves and they had to shed the 100 copies of it they had in stock. I got "scammed" by a redbox that wouldn't accept my movie back (then I got hit with late fees) so I won't touch those damned things.