Flickering pictures or home alone?

Many people try to argue that with the growth of home entertainment systems, the cinema will eventually die. What with DVDs, do-it-yourself surround sound and television quality you could kill for, the magic of cinema is disappearing, they say.

I disagree. And it disturbs me I had to wait two seconds before remembering how to spell "disappearing".

I don't think the cinema will ever die. Sure, piracy will continue to grow, concession stand prices will probably stay high, Hollywood will continue to spurt forth crapola and ticket prices will still cost a mill worker's weekly wage. But no, it will never die. Because the cinema offers an experience a home-entertainment system can only replicate at a lower level of intensity.

There is nothing like sitting in a dark room with strangers who are all paying to feel emotions they would give anything to avoid in reality. Sure, you can watch the same film at home, but do you notice how the jokes are less funny, the kisses are less intimate, the explosions are less dramatic and the conspiracies less thrilling?

Anakin can fight Obi-Wan at home, but you'll only hear the collective gasp at the cinema. It raises the level of intensity to a new height.

And that, my friends, is all I have to say about that.