some happenings in the mall
I was at this really big DVD outlet with Emily on Saturday evening - selecting a few favorite titles to kill off our boring Sunday - when suddenly, all the lights went out. It was pitch dark at the corner we’re standing and I could hear some paranoid middle aged housewives screaming and squealing…. as if they’ve seen something really freaky…. like Freddy Krueger head banging with a wig on GreenDay’s Basket Case trash guitars. Emily took a grasp of my hand and squeezed really hard - which indirectly hinted me that she’s very freaked out.
I initially thought it was just a blackout… but apparently, it wasn’t. There were still lights from outside the outlet. It couldn’t have been a blackout - I thought. There were approximately over 50 patrons inside that outlet, and everyone was confused on what’s happening (except a few of the afore mentioned housewives, who’s still screaming like some 5 year old sissy kids).
Like the rest, I was also clueless until I saw a few of the DVD shop operators skedaddled towards the entrance and started to pull down the sliding vertical door frantically. There were approximately 8 to 10 doors (it’s a big ass outlet, almost like a warehouse) and they were shutting their outlet down real quick.
At that moment, I began to realize what’s going on. Without further procrastination, I quickly dumped the DVD’s I’m holding and dragged Emily out from the shop - along with the rest of the fleeing patrons. When we reached outside the outlet onto the mall walkway, a thunderous noise of doors being slide down simultaneously can be heard … and all of them were DVD outlets. And if you’ve already guessed what it was, yes, that’s right - it’s a DVD raid.
Needless to say, that was an exhilarating sight. From my candid observation, I reckoned that there must have at least been 4 world records straight that night …
1) The most pirated DVD outlet closing down for business simultaneously at the same time.
2) The most people throng out from pirated DVD outlets onto a mall walkway, all simultaneously, at the same time.
3) The fastest evacuation from pirated DVD outlets inside a mall, all simultaneously, at the same time.
4) The most housewives screaming in terror inside pirated DVD outlets like real pirates inside a mall, all simultaneously, at the same time.
Apart from witnessing the multiple world records, I also happened to saw a white guy holding a big stack of pirated DVDs, insisting to buy them up before leaving. From what I observed, the white guy must have selected those DVDs for hours, and couldn’t dig the fact that he’ll have to bail the place with an empty hand. The DVD guy shoo-ed him away and the white dude kept pleading the DVD guy to let him have the movies. Goddamn, I thought only Singaporeans does that.
So, what’s with these pirated DVDs ? Well, in Penang, it’s still a very common thing. Not much raid around, and pirated DVDs can be basically found almost everywhere. With the exceptionally cheap price, it’s no surprise that they have become a daily necessity. And with the wonder of cellular phones, these pirates are almost impossible to eradicate - just like what happened in that mall on Saturday.
And also, I’m not ashamed to admit - that I support pirated DVDs. Why ? Like I’ve previously blogged before, actually pirated DVDs in Malaysia are more ‘original’ from the authentic ones.
“How come ?” one may ask. Well, in Malaysia, we have this censorship board that are paranoid to almost everything. They have this conservative perception that Malaysian youths are very docile, and are easily influenced by foreign ideologies. For eg. they believed that watching a kiss scene in movie could cause a person turn into sadistic sex motivated serial killer…
Hence, films in our cinemas and authentic DVDs are all censored. We don’t get to see tits, fucks and kisses. Ass creaming scenes will be censored off and if there’s anything pertaining religious topics, the movie will be banned from entering Malaysia. That left us Malaysians with no choice but to resort to pirated movies. Simple reasons that some people fail to understand.
Long live pirated DVDs.
P/S: I only support pirated DVD movies and games, but I always buy original music. This is due to my respect for the work of wonderful music that has sculptured the world culture. I would have supported original movie DVDs if it’s not for the censors.