Question for you guys... I really wanna pick up X2 upon release... But will there be a 2.5 version? I don't wanna buy it if it'll be upgraded in a couple of months.

Well, if they ever do release an upgraded version, it wouldn't be until just before the third movie comes out, anyway--however long that's gonna be, I have no idea.

But that's beside the point--this is a two-disc set, and is supposed to have much more content than the initial X-Men release had to it.  I wouldn't expect a new version anytime soon, if ever. . .

DVD File review

Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 4.5/5
ROM: 0.5/5
Value: 4.5/5

Thanks, Jadesfire!  Saves me a little bit of work.    As for some other prices:

Best Buy Gift Set: $59.99

Circuit City Extended: $24.99

Circuit City Gift Set: $59.99

Target Extended: $24.99

Target Gift Set: $69.99

Twenty-five bucks for what's probably 2003's best DVD for a single film is a no-brainer. . .

Here's a review or two:

DVD File

Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
ROM: 2/5
Value: 5/5

The Digital Bits

Film Rating: A

Disc Ratings (Video/Extras): A/A+

Audio Ratings (DD/DTS): A-/A

I just want to say that, regarding Josh's original reply, in no way did I see it as a "Rebelscum vs. Jedi Defender" thing.  I did see it as a "Rebelscum is big, and Jedi Defender is small" thing, but, you know, that shouldn't automatically be considered an insult or whatever to JD in any way.  It's the truth--Rebelscum is big, and Jedi Defender is small.  

In many ways, you could sum it up as "quantity vs. quality".  Over there in Wuher's, the oldest post on the first page, out of 35 threads, was posted about 27 hours ago.  Here, out of 30 threads on the first page, the last one on the first page was from November 9, six days ago.

So yeah, it's a lot slower over here, but is that necessarily a bad thing?  I don't think so.  Would it be nicer if this place was a little busier?  Sure.  But at what price?  Would something like the blow-out that Master Chief had over there tonight be worth it?  I don't think so.

The way I kind of look at it, is that this place is school--it might be a little slow and boring at times, but ultimately I'll "learn" more and be better off for being here.  Rebelscum is more like recess for me--a playground, a place to hang out and goof off--but, when you get down to it, really doesn't mean too much in the grand scheme of things.

As always, that's just me. . .

Oh, and if Scott would have been picking the cities for Scarface, like he did for LOTR, he would have done a lot better than I did, at nine-for-ten, the one city he missed being Miami, which, like I mentioned above, you'd have to include in a Scarface re-release. . .

I would modify that list by saying the biggest metro areas...which are

1. New York, NY
2. Los Angeles, CA
3. Chicago, IL
4. Philadelphia, PA
5. Detroit, MI
6. San Francisco, CA
7. Washington, DC
8. Dallas, TX
9. Houston, TX
10. Boston, MA

One board that I visit (that some of you might have seen me mention before) is the Home Theater Forum.  It's membership numbers are huge--somewhere around 45,000 members, I believe.  Literally, there will be more members just online there at three in the morning than there are total at this site.  And, just due to the inherent nature of the subject matter, the crowd there is roughly the same age as it is here--a few teenagers, and some members in their forties and fifties.  But mostly, everybody there are in their twenties and thirties, just like here.

What's interesting, is that there's absolutely no language filter.  None.  If I want to go over there and call George Lucas a mofo for not putting "the films" out on DVD, I can, and nobody would blink an eye.  Now, they do have one rule, which is not to use any profanity in a title of a new thread, but other than that, you can pretty much say what you want (as long as it's not a blatant attack toward another member).

Even more interesting, though, is that really, never does anyone abuse it.  In nearly four years of being a member over there, I can't remember a single incident of anyone really freaking out, and cussing up a storm about someone or something.  I think one of the reasons for that, is that the staff there is really vigilant about potential "trouble situations", and I think everybody there realizes that if they freak out on somebody, they're gone.  And I think that's one thing that this site has in common with places like the HTF--that the mods take a pro-active stance, and aren't passive like they are over at R-------m.

And I can understand the concern that some people may have--you let one thing go, what's next?  But I really think that with the right combination of mature members and good moderation, you're not going to see people take advantage of the small freedoms they're allowed to have.

Actually, it came from the YakFace forum years ago, long before Rebelscum even had a message board. I know because I'm the one who brought the idea to Philip when it became clear he needed a set of rules.

Whoops!  My apologies, then.  

Yakface had boards. . .  Who knew?  

Personally, I think it's a great guideline, especially if you're running an all-ages board populated by fans of a PG-rated franchise and feel the need to cover your ass.

Yeah, well, not me.  There's gotta be about a dozen or two other Star Wars-themed boards out there, all with the exact same mindset, that "hey, we might have a nine-year-old participating, don't want to corrupt his fragile little mind!" or "we don't want to be responsible for him getting in trouble", whatever.

Well, that's great for them.  But personally, I'm in my late twenties and I appreciate, for one, the small, little freedom of being able to say "ass" if I want to say "ass, or "bastard" when I want to say "bastard".

This is a tiny, tiny board, and we're all mostly in our mid-20's and 30's, and I think most of us should be able to handle the occasional PG-13-rated words just fine.  And, like I said, if not, there's a plethora of other boards out there which will be happy to turn ass into ***, dick into ****, and bastard into ******* for you. . .

Yeah, I think that's pretty much P----- W---'s credo, and his alone.

I like the idea that here, I'm allowed to use a naughty word or two every once in a while, that I've learned in the twenty-three years since I saw Empire in the theatre, at four and a half. . .

On second thought, you know, I think they should ban all of these PG-13 words, and we can just start talking like Fluke Starbucker:

Gosh!  Wow-ee!  Jeepers!  Golly-willikers!

By the way, here's another site that's got some of these things, in case the above link is just too slow:

http://www.ibrecords.com/media/

They don't have as many, but that site seems to be much faster. . .