𓅇 Chase J 𓅊 - lv 33 🍜🐲

So my company acquired another company the other year, and I'm doing stuff for it. And that includes getting into a bunch of accounts. But I have access to the email addresses, that means I can change the passwords if I don't have it.

So today, just now, I go to make an account on a site. It says there's already an account under that email. Okay, whatever, I'll just throw in something random and be told no then hit forgot password. Hey, let's put in "password" as the password. Because who would do that!

Chat, you will not believe what happened. Even I didn't believe it, until I opened up another browser and logged in, again, with "password." And, of course, Chrome tells me "hey buddy that uhhhhh password you just used was found in a data breach. You should pick another one." Yeah no shit.

I got the Sidekick internet browser/platform thing, and it's like, oh shit I'm way more efficient now. Oh no I'm running out of things to do!!!! I'm TOO efficient now!!!

What is MoviePass?

MoviePass is a subscription service, which you pay a flat fee for it and then you can go and see a bunch of movies, regardless of the ticket price.

So how does MoviePass make money?

Good question! During MoviePass1.0 (we're currently in beta for 2.0), the founders said the app would use location data it collects on you for what you do before/after seeing the movie, and then they'd sell that to people, and that's how they'd make money. Of course, that didn't happen, they ran out of money pretty quick, then got a couple cash infusions, while further limiting how many/which movies users could watch.

It so did not make any money that [the SEC is suing the execs for lying to users and investors]. So the fact that we have MoviePass 2.0 is....brave, I shall say.

How does MoviePass work?

They mail you a physical-ass card in the mail, which you use to buy the ticket at the movie theater. You need to "check in" to the theater on the MoviePass app, and ???? idk some amount of money is allowed to be charged to the card. So when I swipe it at the POS, it sees the charge from AMC and approves it. But if I go to Target, it knows that isn't a movie thater, and also I didn't check in, so that would be blocked. Also I have a modern mobile operating system, so the location tracking is only allowed when I'm using the app, and also this is California, so their ability to sell data is...not a lot lol

But Chase, why are you doing this?

Because they didn't learn their lesson the first time lol. Sometimes the most important lessons are expensive ones, and something something a fool and his money. I like seeing bad movies, and I do want to see more artsy ones, so supporting these films with not my money seems like a good thing to do.

So with that out of the way, time to tabulate!

Burning MoviePass's money check in #1

I saw fucking Cocaine Bear. The kiosks at the theater were broken so I had to say "one ticket to Cocaine Bear, please," with my mouth, to another human being. There were a lot of people there, actually, and the crowd enjoyed it. It's a stupid movie, the concept is stupid, but everyone knows that, including the movie. It's not a bad movie, but there's no creative plot twists, as soon as you see the main cast (there's a lot of people, but a number of them have to die, that's the kind of movie this is) you'll know how it'll unfold. If you like Final Destination, you'd probably like this. Also it's only 90 minutes, but there's, like, 30 minutes of pre-movie trailers and shit, which is a lot for such a short movie.

Time for math 😔

• MP's cost to acquire me as a customer: ~$5 (printing/mailing me the bank card, keeping the mailing list after all these years, re-activating those programs, etc)
• Ticket (amount charged to card): $11.79
• MP's transaction cost: ~$1 (2.9%+30c credit card charge, just that is 64c, but I'm including everyone's salary and server costs or whatever in this)(yes I'm aware I am massively underestimating these costs, but y'know)
• Amount I spent at the candy store at the mall: $8.31
• Subscription cost: $10/mo for 34 credits (so 29c/credit)
• Credit cost for movie: 10 (so $2.94 worth)

So, MoviePass starts with my $10, but this one transaction (including the start up cost) is -$5-$1-$11.79 = -$7.79 total for them.

And for me, I spent $10 but got $11.79 in value (or $2.94 of that $10), but I'm still +$1.79. But I bought candy so that means I'm actually -$6.52.

Running Total

MoviePass: -$7.79

Me: -$6.52, but I have leftover candy plus I got to see a movie, and can you really put a price on an experience?

The cool thing about the furry fandom, at least from where I'm standing, is that it isn't even really a fandom, at least not in the traditional sense. Rather than fans bonding over a shared interest in some piece of media (though that can be part of it for some), furries are in effect fans of each other, bonding over a shared experience of naked and gratuitous self-expression. And by the very nature of what the fandom is, its members present themselves with faces and names entirely of their own choosing. In no other community like this is crafting your own identity such a fundamental part of the experience. When I think about all the furries I know, their fursonas, their chosen names and identities, crafted entirely from their own imagination, feel more to me like a true representation of who they are than any "real" face or legal name. Add to that how furry is such an unapologetically queer subculture and one of the few remaining queer spaces that hasn't been infiltrated by corporate interests and sanitized to all hell (though they do still try). I won't say it doesn't have problems and drama (every social space does), but ultimately this leaves furry as a community defined by radical queerness, immense creativity, and the encouragement of profound self-exploration.