Hello,

I’ve been asked to email this address regarding my official response for the blog post – http://www.thehodge.co.uk/random-musings/rants/vue-cinemas-have-banned-laptops.php

The reasoning I have been given is that ‘It is in our ts & cs that sound & video recording equipment..is not permitted in the screens.’

(http://twitter.com/vuecinemas/status/22625273565 and http://twitter.com/vuecinemas/status/22625145333 )

It is such that I ask why

• This policy of taking laptops has only just begun recently (with no visible signage to say so
• This policy does NOT extend to all items that can record sound / video, mobile phones for instance, banning mobile phones would also stop people turning them on during a film to check for messages.

As I mentioned in the blog post, I feel this decision is utterly stupid and its yet another reason for me to stay at home and not support the film industry, I really don’t trust your staff with my laptop and if I have to go home to drop it off then come back out again… I’m not going to come back..

Most modern laptops do have a camera in them correct, but the resolution of the camera would make a video terrible (unlike say, an iPhone with HD recording which can record a few hours worth of HD video and is a lot less visible than my 13inch macbook,

), I could record the film’s sound with my laptop in my bag but I could just as easily buy a £20 dictaphone from Argos and stick that in my pocket.

I had a digital camera and an iPad in my bag, both can record audio at much higher quality and both were looked at and given the all clear by the attendant? Does the policy to take away video and audio recording devices not count these?

Having paid £13+ to see a film (which is more expensive than buying the DVD on release day) I’d rather not have to sit through a patronising advertthanking me for not downloading the film -after- having my bag searched and possessions taken away because they could possibily be used to record some portion of the film.

iTunes for instance is cheaper than both buying the dvd and going to the cinema plus it means I can stay at home

If this is the new policy (or an old policy that Vue are suddenly enforcing) I would ask that it actually be enforced fully and ALL devices that can record sound / video be removed from persons rather than ‘the ones which are easy to spot’ I would also ask that some signage was displayed in the cinema announcing this policy as when asked I was told it was all over the building but we certainly couldn’t spot any.

Thanks for reading and I await your response.

Dear Dominic

Thank you for your email and giving us the opportunity to respond directly to your concerns.

It is indeed within our terms and conditions that sound and video recording equipment will not be permitted within the auditoriums; we also reserve the right to search customers.  Laptops increasing have recording functionality and therefore this is not uncommon to ask our customers not to take them into the auditoriums and this is certainly not a new policy.  There is obviously no excuse why the staff did not address the issue of your camera/iPad and please be advised that I have addressed this with the General Manager at our venue in Leeds Light where I believe you attended.

Ultimately we adhere to this policy to protect our business from the real risk which film piracy threatens to the cinema industry; we try to lessen the impact to our customers by only applying the policy when the risk is high – for example, opening weekends, the bigger the film the greater the risk and if the UK have a release in advance of the rest of the world.  I am sorry that this approach causes more confusion in the inconsistency which obviously results, I hope you can appreciate this is not our intention.

I do fully recognise your comments regarding the recording capability of mobile phones and the apparent disparity in our current policy; please be advised that this matter is currently under review and I have forwarded your comments to those concerned.  I expect the policy to change in early October and I will email you again at this time to let you know the outcome of our review.

Once again, sincere thanks for taking the time to email us directly with your comments and should you wish to discuss this matter further please do not hesitate to contact me again directly.

I have to thank Vue for being so quick to respond to the email and in full, I’m still not happy about the policy and still think its utterly stupid but at least they are discussing it and have allowed me to post the response.

Related posts:

1. Vue Cinemas Have Banned Laptops Today Heather and I went to go and see Scott...
2. Toy Story 3D Review Now lets prepare the blogpost with a statement that I’m...
3. Four Lions Review It’s not often I’m positive about the film industry on...

I’m used to getting bag checked at the cinema, it’s been policy for a while and thats fair enough, don’t want people bringing in video cameras or food/drink from outside the place but a recently policy shift means that anyone bringing a laptop into the cinema (if it has a camera or not) will be told to leave it in a ‘cloakroom’ during the film..

If there was a logical reason for this, it wouldn’t annoy me so much but are you HONESTLY telling me that a shitty laptop camera on a Macbook Pro is the next big thing for piracy? I mean its not like there is a new phone that can film in HD or anything right, but the excuse that was the excuse given..

You know what, I’d spent a long day at the office, I went to the cinema to enjoy myself and paid over thirteen pound for the privilege, I even sat through the patronising piracy is killing our industry advert that thanked me for not downloading the film and enjoying the ‘cinema experience’ but let me keep my baby in my bag!

To add to the story, the guy checking my bag looked at my digital camera (clearly visible in the bag) and my iPad and asked if the iPad was a laptop, I said no it was an iPad.. he then shrugged… LETTING ME TAKE MY CAMERA INTO THE SCREEN.

I know its only a little thing but if we were to add this to the multitude of issues I have with the cinema and my reasons for not going as regularly then that list gets pretty long, that pretty long list is one of the things killing the movie industry, it’s not all down to piracy.

It really put a dampner on the film (which we paid £13+ (One Adult + One Student) )

Related posts:

1. A Response from Vue Cinemas Regarding Laptop Policy I’ve been given permission to post the response in full,...
2. Toy Story 3D Review Now lets prepare the blogpost with a statement that I’m...
3. Four Lions Review It’s not often I’m positive about the film industry on...

Good afternoon,

Hope you are well?

I work at [removed], the agency who is responsible for looking after [removed]. I work in the affiliate team and am in the process of looking for new partners to add value to this channel.

I came across your site and was wondering if you would consider working with us? You have a lot of content and I thought that including [removed] could be a really good fit?

[removed desscription of merchant]

You can find details on [removed]

In terms of payments, we would be able to pay you [removed]. The AOV currently stands at[removed] so you have the potential to earn [removed] on each booking. The fantastic thing about the affiliate channel is that there is no limit to what you could earn rather than just getting a one off payment.

We currently run this programme through Affiliate Window, are you signed up to this network? If not, the sign up process is free and simple. Just follow the link below.

Affiliate Window - http://www.affiliatewindow.com/affiliates.php

I would be really keen to get you on board the affiliate scheme. There is a lot of content that would be made available to you through [removed]. We also regularly communicate lead offers, offer an XML feed and run incentives enabling you to earn on top of your normal commission rate.

[removed]currently have a few offers that are really worth pushing, so if you are  interested, please get in touch.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks

[removed]

When I first received this email, I was quite happy, I do have a few sites in that sector and it was nice that someone had noted them for inclusion but then something hit me, the prasing was a bit strange… they didn’t mention my name for a start which always screams MAIL MERGE.

then there was the phrase I came across your site and was wondering if you would consider working with us, which site? there are no URLS listed.

The email then explains to me what an Affiliate program is and how to sign up to Affiliate Window so they obviously haven’t come through the affiliate window panel otherwise so how did they get my email address (the one they emailed isn’t the one listed on the websites) .

I mentioned it to a friend of mine that it was probably a template email sent out to loads of email addresses’s (probably from a bought email database or something) and left it at that.

This morning however I received an email from the same email address, about a different merchant.

Good morning,

Hope you are well?

I work at [removed], the agency who is responsible for looking after [removed]. I work in the affiliate team and am in the process of looking for new partners to add value to this channel.

I came across your site and was wondering if you would consider working with us? You have a lot of content and I thought that including [removed], could be a really good fit?

[removed desscription of merchant]

You can find details on [removed]

In terms of payments, we would be able to pay you [removed]. The fantastic thing about the affiliate channel is that there is no limit to what you could earn rather than just getting a one off payment.

We currently run this programme through Affilinet. Are you signed up to this network? If not, the sign up process is free and simple. Just follow the link below:

http://www.affili.net/en/Startpage.aspx

I am very keen to get you on board the affiliate scheme.

[removed].

[removed]

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks

[removed]

Now your just taking the piss.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind mail merge, I don’t mind one bit I realise that Affiliate Managers have to get new affiliates and get them on mass (I used to be one and still advise one or two) but here’s some pointers;

• Try and put the persons first name in
• Don’t ask how they are, you clearly don’t give a crap
• Don’t lie

Saying came across your website is all well and good, but when I asked you what website you saw, it was thehodge.co.uk, a website which has nothing to do with travel AND which applied last year for your program and was declined..

Why not just write something like

Hi There, We notice your on [affilaitenetworkhere], We’ve got a great program that we’ve developed a good conversion (and commission rate on) and are looking for more partners to work with, although we don’t have a relationship at the moment, we’d love to work with you.

Then put the program details, it doesn’t assume anything about your ability or try to make guesses, I’d have responded to that a LOT better than pretending that you care how I’m feeling or you’ve been researching my site and you think we’d be a fit together.

I’ve said it before, Affiliate Marketing is all about communication and that wasn’t the best way to begin communication.

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Window Buys Buy.at On Friday I heard a rumour that there was to...

First announced that the greenzone would be extended last month so I think we were all expecting the price to go up for a greenrider but not this quickly, from the 1st of August the price of a greenzone weekly ticket will rise from £10 to £12 (a 20% increase?).

Not everyone is on the mailing list so here is what I received 10 minutes ago

Changes to ticket prices from 1st August 2010

Travel around West Yorkshire?

FirstDay £4.30 – Unlimited travel all day

FirstDayOUT £2.00 – Just like a FirstDay for Young People (over 11? You will need a valid Metro Young Persons Permit)

FirstDay Family & Friends still only £7.00 – Unlimited travel after 09:30 Monday – Friday, all day weekends and Bank Holidays for up to 5 people!

FirstWeek £18.50 – Unlimited travel for 7 days

Travel in Leeds?

FirstDay Leeds Off-Peak £3.40 – Unlimited travel after 09:30 in Leeds

FirstWeek Green £12.00 – Unlimited travel for 7 days within the Green boundary

FirstWeek Leeds – This ticket will no longer be available

GREAT NEWS… From Sunday 15th August you can buy your FirstWeek tickets from an PayPoint outlet in West Yorkshire.

Related posts:

1. The Top 8 Twitter Accounts You Should Follow In 2010 Everyone seems to be doing twitter lists this week so...
2. Get Web Prices Instore at PCWorld I thought everyone knew this but I talk to people...
3. Leeds Gamer Night This weekend will see the first ‘Leeds Gamer Night’, a...

I’ve since learned that if you ask for a triple… this is usually because you have kids.. and so ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our AWESOME room!

Yep, Winnie the pooh wallpaper, curtains, bedspread, border, pillowcase, lampshade, mugs and saucers and finished with a lovley themed bin.

(Thanks for taking the photos Alistair)

Related posts:

1. Barcamp Blackpool Barcamp Blackpool is on in a couple of weeks and...
2. Its Shit Like This Giving SEO A Bad Name Dear Webmaster, I have visited your site http://www.hodgetastic.com and found...

It was due to coincide with the release of TF2 for the Mac but Valve being Valve, it looks like we will have to play other things as well.

Best of all, its now completely free, places are limited to 30 so there is a £10 deposit but we will refund that on the day.

You don’t have to be a massive gamer (we’d prefer you not to be really) and you don’t have to have the latest graphics card, we’ve got a tonne of games which can play nicely on mac, windows and linux on everything from a MacPro with 8gigs of RAM to a netbook that you’ve had for a few years.

The venue is in the city center, from Saturday Noon to Sunday Noon.

We have space for people to bring there main machines, laptops, NAS boxes…

Related posts:

1. Leeds Windows 7 Launch Party Just a reminder that on Thursday we are having our windows 7...
2. Farewell iPhone, Farewell Android I’ve always loved smartphones, Windows mobile, iPhone, S60, Sambian, linux,...

For the past 2+ years Tom and I have been doing a quiz at barcamps, a couple of months ago the folks at TeamLebowski invited us to do a quiz for them and the wonderful folks at eBay / Gumtree gave us somewhere to host it (bearing in mind the last time Tom and I were there someone got a little excited on the spinny chairs and a cabinet was broken..)

But anyway…

LIVE from eBay/PayPal/Gumtree HQ, it’s the Big Geek Quiz!

Pub quiz and game show rolled into one, this is not just your typical eyes-down scribble-your-answers challenge. Expect special bonus rounds from Dom, and questions you can’t answer on Google from Tom.

Have a seat, watch the show, and get your fingers on your buzzer. The ticket you choose decides which team you’re on!

Bring laptops and smartphones if you want… they won’t help.

=====

A geeky quiz evening by geeks for geeks. Nothing more, nothing less brought to you by TeamLebowski. True to tradition fancy dress is encouraged.

Date: 03 June 2010 (Thursday)
Time: 6pm for 7pm start
Venue: eBay/PayPal/Gumtree HQ, Whittaker Avenue, TW9 1EH London
Getting there: Richmond (National Rail/Tube)
Cost: £5 (keeps your belly full and body hydrated) payable via PayPal

Twitter: Follow @GeekQuiz for up to the minute news and hashtag any activity #GeekQuiz

http://geekquiz.eventbrite.com/ <- Book Now!

Related posts:

1. Farewell To The Nation Of Shopkeepers So we are just heading to bed, tomorrow we begin...
2. ThinkVisibility3 Information So It’s been a ThinkVisibility day today and I wanted...
3. Off To San Francisco You know how I mentioned that I never won anything...

1. Never go in a busy time period
2. Never ever ever go on opening day (unless its a midnight showing)
3. Had high expectations

I saw the trailer for Four Lions at around christmas and it was really funny (a little too revealing having seen the film) and I’ve shown many friends the trailer.

The film itself switches from historically funny to deadpan serious within seconds, you can still be laughing at the previous item when suddenly you look like a git.

Half way through the film I started wondering how this was going to end…. how can you end a comedy about suicide bombers? I wasn’t expecting the ending but I was happy with it.

I will say this honestly, I watch a LOT of films with the exception of Mel and Cristiano, more than anyone I know and I haven’t found a film that is as consistently funny thoughout the film.

I started spending time looking at the audience to see how everyone else in the audience reacted and it wasn’t just me, the film was genuinely funny to everyone in the audience.

This film wasn’t about massive CGI budgets, 3d technology or top name actors, the film had to survive on its own, with a good story, fantastic dialog, great acting and not using the same old cliche’d plots that seem to be reused so often in films. It’s the first time in a long time I haven’t sat in the chair and 20 minutes into the film being able to work out exactly what happens for the rest of it by the not so subtle hints left by the writers.

The film is really only spoiled by the fact that so many good items from the film are in the trailer and you know whats coming.

I urge you to go and see it, I really do, though the subject may be controversial, we have to support decent cinema.

I really am shit at reviews but usually I’m a miserable bastard on this blog so I wanted to tell people when I really am impressed and passionate about something.. and fuck mini baby bells.

Related posts:

1. Toy Story 3D Review Now lets prepare the blogpost with a statement that I’m...
2. Vue Cinemas Have Banned Laptops Today Heather and I went to go and see Scott...

What is interesting this morning as I read the feedback and backlash isn’t about the bill, sure a lot of people are annoyed at the contents but its more the process that has shocked people, I don’t know how many people tuned into the debate last night via the BBC feed but I bet it was a lot more than usual, I’d probably go as far as to estimate that it was the most watched stream that BBC Parliament have ever had (but I’ll bug one of my friends at the BBC to confirm that )

I won’t repeat again how much money had been raised to put up a newspaper ad, the calls weren’t  just even stop the bill but rather carry on the debate, there just wasn’t enough time publicly to get a proper sense of what the bill would actually do.

Many of the MP’s last night used terminology which they obviously weren’t comfortable with, with one MP spouting off names of some recent bands then looking chuffed at himself for looking seeminly ‘with it’.

With all the letters, emails and phone calls, less than 40 MPs stayed for the whole debate, many of the MP’s just waited in the halls to vote nay (I learned yesterday what a 3 line whip was)

So what do we do now?

I’ve joked on twitter about running as an MP and whilst yes I could raise £500 and run, would that make the best difference? with my local area already so wrapped up in labour (and no if that’s what your asking)  that I have to wonder if my time would be better spend somewhere else?

Do we start a group that has the objective ‘to work with the government on technology and digital issues’, if we started this, would they even listen or would they just pass us off as a group of nerds?

Do we start our own party? Digital Democrates

Do we just shout and moan a lot on twitter?

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I know everything and have all the solutions, like many people in the UK I know naff all about the day to day work of an MP (I have been reading a lot), but we’ve had so much scandal, back and forth and lack of anything that I’ve got to at least give something a go.

I support both the pirate party and the open rights group (although in honesty I’ve given money to neither) but I feel that they both come with strong opinions (and in one case – a stupid name).

I firmly understand the need to cut piracy and have a few ideas myself but its give and take, it took an hour and 20 minutes yesterday for someone to mention the fact that the creative companies haven’t exactly made it easy to get media online without piracy (and for a reasonable price), Mike Butcher mentioned rightly that the record companies own a good stake in Spotify and yet, I didn’t hear it mentioned once yesterday as a viable alternative to piracy and to be honest, its a damn good one, I haven’t downloaded any music since I got my invite, the system works well and is multiplatform, I know there is a problem with the artists and record companies not getting enough money but we can work these things out, lets look at product rather than prison.

Like many others, I want to give a special thank you to Tom Watson who seemed to be the voice of the 20,000 ‘nerds’ who emailed, wrote and phoned. If I do become an MP, will you be my Obi-Wan?

Related posts:

1. The #debill thoughts I watched BBC parliament for over 5 hours yesterday with the...
2. Freegle Vs Freecycle I’m a bit fan of the concept of freecycle, the...
3. Hodge On The Run Jan 2010 Hodge on the run is going to be a series...

I’ll be honest, the cutting people off the internet part of the bill isn’t what I’m against, we already cut hackers and paedophiles off of the internet and the bill allows for a lot of warning, letters won’t work and we all know it, it may be harsh but so is a £50,000 fine per file.

What I am against is the fact that the MP’s are taking the BPI and other organisation’s statistics of job and money losses (but wait a minute) as gospel, they are denying any other data – such as the people who download buy more. We are just leaving the worst economic crisis in recent memory, thousands of jobs were lost not just in the creative industry.

While we are on the subject, at what point does an industry become creative? would a website or a piece of software be considered creative?

My biggest annoyance is, its a bill that will leave the status quo and mean that the movie and record industry won’t evolve, as they have to. They must realise that the old profit models won’t work online and change the way they charge.

Yesterday one of the MP’s mentioned that a legal download solution would not work unless there was the legal backing behind it and thats complete crap, iTunes, Spotify, Lovefilm streaming, Hulu, iPlayer, 4od, Voddler are all ways of getting music and film online, legally and have been proven to work, Hulu is an advertising based system and has just made a profit, okay not as much as the industry would like to make but these models need to be given time and testing.

I don’t download music, I use Spotify (premium) and iTunes, I don’t download films, I do go to the cinema and have a lot of DVD’s (but that experience really needs to sort it’s self out for the price it charges) but I do download TV Shows, My reasoning for this is that a) I will generally buy the DVD’s when they are available.

In the connected world we live in, with twitter, blogs, news aggregation and the rest, it’s just not possible to keep a storyline or buzz secret when shows are not simulacast across the world, when half of my friends have seen the latest episode of Castle and are tweeting about how amazing the story is and legally I’m only supposed to have seen the first two episodes, something’s gotta give. The current choices are, get a VPN to the states and view hulu via a proxy, download the full high def show less than an hour after it has aired in the USA or wait OVER A YEAR before a UK network picks it up and then we may finally get the DVD’s.

We carn’t even import DVD’s because the film industry wanted regional locking, so to import the disk’s I’d have to break that and even THAT lends me in fuzzy water.

DVD’s are another issue, especially in the UK, where shows have a habit of splitting up dvd’s into 3 episode chunks and selling them for £15, (doctor who  and lost come to mind) if a series is 12 episodes that means you’ve paid £60 for the set AND then they release the full set with special features.

The release cycle seems to be, DVD Release (2 months) Special edition DVD (2 months) 2 Disk DVD with video extras and cast interviews (a year) super ultra edition dvd with a free limited edition mug….then the sequel.

The problem with online distribution is it makes it very hard to do that.

I just want to leave with a final note, 20,000 people called there MP’s over the past week or so and about 40 MP’s turned up to debate last night, the phone calls were dismissed as ‘ by nerds ‘ and ‘outnumbered by the creatives’ I don’t care if your for the Digital Economy Bill or not as an MP if you received phone calls saying that your constituents have an opinion, at least turn up to the debate, I was quite angry last night, heck so angry I was considering running for an MP myself  and noone wants that.

Related posts:

1. Vote for Hodge? The word is out, the Digital Economy Bill has passed...
2. Thoughts on the new Affiliates4u Over the weekend I was invited to take a look...
3. Farewell Dollhouse So Dollhouse has been cancelled, its not as if we...