Those of you who have been around Irreal for a while know that one of my favorite comics from The Oatmeal deals with what happens when an otherwise honest person tries to buy a video of Game of Thrones. It perfectly captures what a typical session of dealing with Hollywood and other big media conglomerates is like.
Of course, it’s just a cartoon so maybe this was The Oatmeal taking a little creative license and exaggerating a bit. Actually, it turns out it wasn’t. In a case of life imitating art, Martin Belam recounts what happened when he tried to redeem a certificate for a digital download that he got when he purchased a Doctor Who DVD. It’s an almost perfect recapitulation of the Oatmeal cartoon right down to the ending where Belam gives up and Googles the torrent. Be sure to take a look at the comments too. One commenter reports that he did make it through the ordeal only to discover that the video was of exceptionally poor quality.
I don’t understand all this user hostility on the part of big media. Hanlon’s Razor councils that this is probably just stupidity but, really, it’s not as if these people don’t understand technology—they have, after all, helped invent some of it. Here, by way of a caution for them, is some more Oatmeal that can serve as a prophetic warning.