this is all g.r.r.m.'s fault, anyway

[rone]

Let's be clear: i don't like The Oatmeal.  I found Matthew Inman's humor juvenile but inoffensive at first; even in the cartoons that had material that i liked, his delivery seemed off in the way that the dorkiest of nerds have when they overtell or overexplain a joke.  He finally lost me with his issues-revealing Utilikilts cartoon, and that's colored everything else that i've had the misfortune to witness (and you'd call me an idiot for continuing to follow links there, and you'd be right).  His approach to things in his life is relentlessly adolescent, and his current comic about how HBO has forced him to torrent the "Game of Thrones" series, which has been pounded across my social network with much delight by my so-called friends, is a prime example of this: entitlement and rationalization in the face of unenlightened self-harm (and, yes, the fact that it's about the much overrated "Game of Thrones", which book many of my friends inexplicably love and consequently turned them into morbidly obsessed fans of the HBO series, doesn't help).

Here's the thing: HBO doesn't owe anyone the "Game of Thrones" series outside of the terms in which they make it available (i.e., pay a shitload of money a month to the local cable monopoly and be glad that they deign to convey their munificence to your hovel).  Is Inman truly advocating that we should we bend or break the rules every time an incompetent business doesn't offer us their product in a timely fashion after we've declined to adhere to their idiotic terms and conditions, simply because we really, really want it?

If you're going to torrent it, torrent it, but don't waste time rationalizing it.  Just because the MPAA is acting like Javert doesn't mean that you're Valjean, and "Game of Thrones" isn't a piece of bread.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

So find an HBO stockholder and a lawyer with a class-action hard-on and get `em to sue HBO.

Could be worse; HBO is owned by TimeWarner, which also owned Time Warner Cable until three years ago. Now TWC is fully independent. For reals!

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd argue that they also owe it to their writers, actors, etc. to sell the content to people who want it. I think they would be making more in royalties if HBO would pull its head out of its ass.

However, as someone else said, The Oatmeal has a certain style that just doesn't work for you. I certainly see your point, but I also really see the stupidity of the situation that he's writing about.

[tskirvin.livejournal.com]

The disks will be out in a few days. HBO does live and breathe based in large part on a) their shows, b) the *exclusivity* of their shows, and c) the contracts with cable companies based around a) and b).

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lj_sucks_/]

I think it could be argued successfully that that is not a viable business model in an Internet-connected world.

Disney's business model used to be to only make home video releases available for a short period of time every 7 or 8 years. That business model too has proved non-viable.

[tskirvin.livejournal.com]

Their business model seems to be working well enough for them to continue to expand their stable of shows, and to not compromise on their quality. Poor ratings don't even seem to affect them as badly now as they used to; in general, the biggest danger to an HBO show is the production costs.

As for Disney's model, it's still in operation, they've just changed the numbers. DVDs do "leave print". WB is about to do the same thing with Harry Potter. Artificial scarcity is still viable now, it's just harder.