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124-464: An unrated version was released on DVD on March 5, 2004, and on Blu-ray on November 20, 2007, as Bad(der) Santa . A director's cut DVD was released in November 2006; it features Zwigoff's cut of the film (including an audio commentary with him and the film's editor), which is three minutes shorter than the theatrical cut and ten minutes shorter than the unrated version. A sequel, Bad Santa 2 ,

248-581: A sex-addicted cursing alcoholic, is steadily unable to perform with children. When they are hired at the Saguaro Square Mall in Phoenix , Willie's vulgarity shocks the prudish mall manager Bob Chipeska, who brings them to the attention of security chief Gin Slagel. At the mall, Willie is visited by Thurman Merman, a friendly but exceedingly gullible, dimwitted young boy who believes he really

372-585: A "B" grade on an A+ to F scale. An editorial in The Washington Times likened the movie to an "evil twin" of Miracle on 34th Street and chided The Walt Disney Company for allowing such a beloved figure as Santa Claus to be trashed by Miramax Films (Dimension Films' then-parent company), then a Disney subsidiary. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 stars out of four, writing how Bad Santa

496-576: A 1972 Monday Night Football game describing the finger of a dejected Houston Oilers fan: "He thinks they're number one in the nation." Ira Robbins , a law professor, believes the finger is no longer an obscene gesture. Psychologist David Walsh , founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family , sees the growing acceptance of the middle finger as a sign of the growth of a "culture of disrespect". Google Street View 's picture of

620-402: A 78% rating, based on 221 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A gloriously rude and gleefully offensive comedy, Bad Santa isn't for everyone, but grinches will find it uproariously funny." On Metacritic , the film has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film

744-682: A BD player. Japanese optical disc manufacturer Infinity announced the first "hybrid" Blu-ray Disc/(standard) DVD combo, to be released on February 18, 2009. This disc set of the TV series Code Blue featured four hybrid discs containing a single Blu-ray Disc layer (25 GB) and two DVD layers (9 GB) on the same side of the disc. In January 2007, Hitachi showcased a 100 GB Blu-ray Disc, consisting of four layers containing 25 GB each. It claimed that, unlike TDK's and Panasonic 's 100 GB discs, this disc would be readable on standard Blu-ray Disc drives that were currently in circulation, and it

868-652: A Blu-ray player. The information density of the DVD format was limited by the wavelength of the laser diodes used. Following protracted development, blue laser diodes operating at 405 nanometers became available on a production basis, allowing for the development of a denser storage format that could hold higher-definition media, with prototype discs made with diodes at a slightly longer wavelength of 407 nanometers in October 1998. Sony commenced two projects in collaboration with Panasonic , Philips , and TDK , applying

992-425: A cable) typically have a SATA interface. More recent half-height Blu-Ray writers have reached writing speeds of up to 16× ( constant angular velocity ) on single-layer BD-R media, while the highest reading speeds are 12×, presumably to prevent repeated physical stress on the disc. Slim type drives are limited to 6× speeds (constant angular velocity) due to spacial and power limitations. The Blu-ray format has

1116-521: A chain reaction in the industry, with major American retailers such as Best Buy , Walmart , and Circuit City and Canadian chains such as Future Shop dropping HD DVD in their stores. Woolworths , then a major European retailer, dropped HD DVD from its inventory. Major DVD rental companies Netflix and Blockbuster said they would no longer carry HD DVD. Following these new developments, on February 19, 2008, Toshiba announced it would end production of HD DVD devices, allowing Blu-ray Disc to become

1240-463: A character in good health extend "the indecent one" toward three doctors. In another epigram , Martial wrote: "Laugh loud, Sextillus, at whoever calls you a cinaedus and extend your middle finger." Juvenal , through synecdoche , has the "middle nail " cocked at threatening Fortuna . The indecent finger features again in a mocking context in the Priapeia , a collection of poems relating to

1364-461: A childish name of the middle finger, o-nii-san-yubi ("big-brother finger"), as opposed to o-tō-san-yubi ("dad finger", the thumb), o-kā-san-yubi ("mom finger", the index), o-nee-san-yubi ("big-sister finger", the ring finger) and aka-chan-yubi ("baby finger", the pinky). The equivalent words for sisters are expressed with the pinky. In the Japanese manual syllabary , the middle finger (with

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1488-510: A consortium founded in 2004, had been developing the DRM platform that could be used to distribute movies to consumers while preventing copying. However, the final AACS standard was delayed, and then delayed again when an important member of the Blu-ray Disc group voiced concerns. At the request of the initial hardware manufacturers, including Toshiba, Pioneer, and Samsung, an interim standard

1612-683: A day before CES 2008, Warner Bros. , the only major studio still releasing movies in both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc format, announced that it would release only in Blu-ray after May 2008. This effectively included other studios that came under the Warner umbrella, such as New Line Cinema and HBO —though in Europe, HBO's distribution partner, the BBC , announced it would continue to release product on both formats while keeping an eye on market forces. This led to

1736-603: A dual-layer disc. It is similar in concept to the MiniDVD and Mini CD . Recordable (BD-R) and rewritable (BD-RE) versions of Mini Blu-ray Disc have been developed specifically for compact camcorders and other compact recording devices. " Blu-ray Disc recordable " (BD-R) refers to two optical disc formats that can be recorded with an optical disc recorder . BD-Rs can be written to once, whereas Blu-ray Disc Recordable Erasable (BD-REs) can be erased and re-recorded multiple times. The current practical maximum speed for Blu-ray Discs

1860-458: A female. In Aristophanes 's comedy The Clouds (423 BC), when the character Socrates is quizzing his student on poetic meters , Strepsiades declares that he knows quite well what a dactyl is, and gives the finger. The gesture is a visual pun on the two meanings of the Greek word daktylos , both " finger " and the rhythmic measure composed of a long syllable and two short, like the joints of

1984-606: A finger ( , which also appears as a visual pun on the penis and testicles in a medieval Latin text ). Socrates called one who made the gesture "boorish and stupid." The gesture recurs as a form of mockery in Peace , alongside farting in someone's face. The usage is later explained in the Suda and included in the Adagia of Erasmus . The verb "to play the Siphnian " appears in

2108-408: A firmware upgrade. This technology was later used on BDXL discs. On July 20, 2010, the research team of Sony and Japanese Tohoku University announced the joint development of a blue-violet laser, to help create Blu-ray Discs with a capacity of 1 TB using only two layers (and potentially more than 1 TB with additional layering). By comparison, the first blue laser was invented in 1996, with

2232-581: A fragment of Aristophanes and has a similar meaning. The usage is once again explained in the Suda , where it is said to mean "to touch the anus with a finger." Diogenes Laërtius records how the Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope directed the gesture at the orator Demosthenes in 4th-century BC Athens . In the Discourses of Epictetus , Diogenes's target is instead one of the sophists . In Latin ,

2356-618: A great job with these parts. But Tony and Brett are just funny. They are these characters," explained Zwigoff. The movie was filmed in various parts of California. Filming began on July 8, 2002, and ended in September 2002. The "Miami Beach" sequence at the beginning of the movie was filmed in Long Beach , while all of the scenes at Thurman's house were filmed in West Hills . All of the Saguaro Square Mall scenes were filmed entirely in

2480-516: A group representing makers of consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion pictures. Sony unveiled the first Blu-ray Disc prototypes in October 2000, and the first prototype player was released in Japan in April 2003. Afterward, it continued to be developed until its official worldwide release on June 20, 2006, beginning the high-definition optical disc format war , where Blu-ray Disc competed with

2604-428: A laser can be focused is limited by diffraction and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, increasing the numerical aperture from 0.60 to 0.85, and making the cover layer thinner to avoid unwanted optical effects, designers can cause the laser beam to focus on a smaller spot, which effectively allows more information to be stored in

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2728-513: A middle finger on a pink former Soviet tank from the Monument to Soviet Tank Crews in 1991. In 2011–2012, the pink tank with the finger was displayed again on a barge on the Vltava. In 2017 Juli Briskman gave the finger to the motorcade of Donald Trump as it drove past her while bicycling, and a photograph that went viral forced her to resign from her job as a marketing executive. However,

2852-479: A red positioning/addressing laser (650 nm). It was to offer MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265), and VC-1 encoding, supporting a maximum storage capacity of 6 TB. No systems conforming to the Ecma International HVD standard have been released. The company responsible for HVD went bankrupt in 2010, making any releases unlikely. A boutique Blu-ray label or specialty Blu-ray label

2976-476: A resolution supported by the Blu-ray specification. Besides these hardware specifications, Blu-ray is associated with a set of multimedia formats. Given that Blu-ray discs can contain ordinary computer files , there is no fixed limit as to which resolution of video can be stored when not conforming to the official specifications. The BD format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association ,

3100-561: A smaller area, thus enabling it to read information recorded in pits that are less than half the size of those on a DVD, and can consequently be spaced more closely, resulting in a shorter track pitch, enabling a Blu-ray Disc to hold about five times the amount of information that can be stored on a DVD. The lasers are GaN ( gallium nitride ) laser diodes that produce 405 nm light directly, that is, without frequency doubling or other nonlinear optical mechanisms. CDs use 780 nm near-infrared lasers. The minimum " spot size " on which

3224-519: A standard DVD keep case , generally with the format prominently displayed in a horizontal stripe across the top of the case (translucent blue for Blu-ray video discs, clear for Blu-ray 3D video releases, red for PlayStation 3 Greatest Hits Games, transparent for regular PlayStation 3 games, transparent dark blue for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games, transparent green for Xbox One and Xbox Series X games and black for Ultra HD Blu-ray video releases). Warren Osborn and The Seastone Media Group, LLC created

3348-524: A task force was created three months prior to conduct a study concerning an extension to the Blu-ray Disc specification that would add the ability to contain 4K UHD video. On August 5, 2015, the BDA announced it would commence licensing the Ultra HD Blu-ray video format starting on August 24, 2015. The Ultra HD Blu-ray format delivered support for high dynamic range video that significantly expanded

3472-399: A vital part in keeping the technology affordable while allowing it to move forward. In an effort to increase sales, studios began releasing films in combo packs with Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, as well as digital copies that can be played on computers and mobile devices. Some are released on "flipper" discs with Blu-ray on one side and DVD on the other. Other strategies are to release movies with

3596-412: A working experimental Blu-ray Disc capable of holding 200 GB of data on a single side, using six 33 GB data layers. In 2007, Hitachi was reported to have plans to produce 200 GB discs by 2009. Behind closed doors at CES 2007, Ritek revealed that it had successfully developed a high-definition optical disc process that extended the disc capacity to ten layers, increasing the capacity of

3720-407: A write verification feature, similar to that of DVD-RAM , but brings this feature to a write-once disc for the first time. If activated, the correctness of the written data is verified immediately after being written so unreadable data can be written again. In this case, the writing speed is halved because half of the disc rotations are for writing only. "Write verification" is not an official term for

3844-490: Is Santa and is constantly bullied by a teenage gang of skateboarders. At a bar, Willie meets Sue, a bartender with a fetish for Santa Claus, and they begin a sexual relationship. After having casual sex with Sue in his beaten-up Impala , Willie is harassed and attacked by a man he had encountered earlier at the bar, but Thurman intervenes. Willie gives the boy a ride home, where he lives with his senile grandmother. Thurman reveals that his mother died and claims his father, Roger,

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3968-682: Is a home video distributor that releases films on Blu-ray or 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format, characterized by a specific or niche target market and collectable features like " limited edition " or "special edition" releases, deluxe slipcases or packaging, and other materials. Examples of boutique Blu-ray labels include the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), Arrow Films , Canadian International Pictures, The Criterion Collection , Kino Lorber , Severin Films , Shout! Factory , Twilight Time , Vinegar Syndrome , and

4092-409: Is about 12× (54 MB/s). Higher speeds of rotation (5,000+ rpm ) cause too much wobble for the discs to be written properly, as with the 24× (33.2 MB/s) and 56× (8.2 MB/s, 11,200 rpm) maximum speeds, respectively, of standard DVDs and CDs . Since September 2007, BD-RE is also available in the smaller 8 cm Mini Blu-ray Disc size. The finger In Western culture , "

4216-406: Is neither a crime, nor even probable cause to stop a person, and a police officer who does so violates "a clearly established constitutional right," and does not have qualified immunity if they do so, which means they can be sued for monetary damages for the unlawful stop and/or arrest. Cruise-Gulyas v. Minard 918 F.3d 494 (2019). In 2023, in a ruling issued February 24 regarding a Canadian man who

4340-512: Is out "exploring the mountains" (though he is actually in jail for embezzlement ). Willie tricks him into letting him rob their safe and steals Roger's BMW 740iL . Bob overhears Willie having sex in a dressing room and sends Gin, who starts to investigate. After Willie sees his motel room being raided, he moves into Thurman's house, much to his delight. Marcus is angry at Willie for taking advantage of Thurman and disapproves of his sex addiction. Gin visits Roger, who inadvertently reveals that Willie

4464-461: Is staying with Thurman illegally. Confronting Willie and Marcus, he tells them he has uncovered their plan, blackmailing them for half the score to keep silent. Willie and Marcus’ partnership begins to falter, further exacerbated when Willie shows up to work drunk, destroying the Santa attraction. Willie, about to commit suicide by inhaling vehicle exhaust fumes, gives Thurman a letter of confession for

4588-514: Is typically made with the hand and fingers curled and the thumb thrust between the middle and index fingers. This gesture is also used similarly in Indonesia , Turkey and China . In Japanese Sign Language , this same gesture (with all fingers curled inward except the middle one) means the following: elder brother (hand moving up), younger brother (hand moving down), and siblings in general (one hand moving up, one moving down). This comes from

4712-635: The Buffalo Bills during a game. Professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin is also famous for flashing one or both middle fingers as part of his gimmick. Hockey star Jaromír Jágr made the gesture several times following goals in the early 1990s. The NME Awards , an annual music awards show in the UK, uses an extended middle finger design in the trophy handed out to the winners. Many musical artists, including Madonna , Lady Gaga , Eminem , Ariana Grande , Katy Perry , and Adele have publicly made

4836-496: The DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-definition video ( HDTV 720p and 1080p ). The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for the physical distribution of video games for the PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X . The name refers to

4960-591: The HD DVD format. Toshiba , the main company supporting HD DVD, conceded in February 2008, and later released its own Blu-ray Disc player in late 2009. According to Media Research, high-definition software sales in the United States were slower in the first two years than DVD software sales. Blu-ray's competition includes video on demand (VOD) and DVD. In January 2016, 44% of U.S. broadband households had

5084-498: The Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block. The media sometimes refers to the gesture as being mistaken for an indication of "we're number one", typically indicated with a raised index finger . Sometimes, though, the "mistake" is actually an intentional euphemism meant to indirectly convey the gesture in a medium where a direct description would be inappropriate. For example, Don Meredith famously noted in

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5208-526: The USS ; Pueblo incident, in which an American ship was captured by North Korea, the captured American crewmembers often discreetly gave the finger in staged photo ops, undermining the North Koreans ' use of the images in their propaganda. The North Koreans, ignorant of what the gesture meant, were at first told by the prisoners that it was a "Hawaiian good luck sign", similar to the shaka . When

5332-490: The Warner Archive Collection . Boutique Blu-ray labels, which are popular among collectors and enthusiasts of film and physical media , have been credited as a factor in a "Blu-ray renaissance" dating back to at least 2018, with some consumers choosing to purchase films on physical formats in an age of digital streaming. Reasons some consumers prefer Blu-rays to streaming include higher video quality,

5456-522: The blue laser (actually a violet laser) used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs, resulting in an increased capacity. The polycarbonate disc is 12 centimetres ( 4 + 3 ⁄ 4 inches) in diameter and 1.2 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 16 inch) thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs . Conventional (or "pre-BD-XL") Blu-ray discs contain 25  GB per layer, with dual-layer discs (50 GB) being

5580-441: The finger was one of many methods used to divert the ever-present threat of the evil eye . In Greek , the gesture was known as the katapygon ( κατάπυγον , from kata  – κατά, "downwards" and pugē  – πυγή, "rump, buttocks" ). In ancient Greek comedy , the finger was a gesture of insult toward another person, with the term katapugon also referring to "a male who submits to anal penetration" or katapygaina to

5704-535: The middle finger extended upwards, though in some locales, the thumb is extended. Extending the finger is considered a symbol of contempt in several cultures, especially in the Western world . Many cultures use similar gestures to display their disrespect, although others use it to express pointing without intentional disrespect. The gesture is usually used to express contempt but can also be used humorously or playfully. The gesture dates back to ancient Greece and it

5828-433: The testes . The middle finger gesture was used in ancient times as a symbol of sexual intercourse, in a manner meant to degrade, intimidate and threaten the individual receiving the gesture. It also represented the phallus , with the fingers next to the middle finger representing testicles ; from its close association, the gesture may have assumed apotropaic potency. In the 1st-century Mediterranean world, extending

5952-485: The "format war" ended, Blu-ray Disc sales began to increase. A study by the NPD Group found that awareness of Blu-ray Disc had reached 60% of households in the United States. Nielsen VideoScan sales numbers showed that for some titles, such as 20th Century Fox's Hitman , up to 14% of total disc sales were from Blu-ray, although the average Blu-ray sales for the first half of the year were only around 5%. In December 2008,

6076-565: The Advanced Optical Disc. It was finally adopted by the DVD Forum and renamed HD DVD the next year, after being voted down twice by DVD Forum members who were also Blu-ray Disc Association members—a situation that drew preliminary investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice . HD DVD had a head start in the high-definition video market, as Blu-ray Disc sales were slow to gain market share. The first Blu-ray Disc player

6200-562: The Blu-ray Disc specification has been finalized, engineers continue to work on advancing the technology. By 2005, quad-layer (100 GB) discs had been demonstrated on a drive with modified optics and standard unaltered optics. Hitachi stated that such a disc could be used to store 7 hours of 32 Mbit/s video (HDTV) or 3 hours and 30 minutes of 64 Mbit/s video ( ultra-high-definition television ). In April 2006, TDK canceled plans to produce 8-layer 200 GB Blu-ray Discs. In August 2006, TDK announced that it had created

6324-472: The Blu-ray Disc version of Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight sold 600,000 copies on the first day of its launch in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. A week after the launch, The Dark Knight BD had sold over 1.7 million copies worldwide, making it the first Blu-ray Disc title to sell over a million copies in the first week of release. According to Singulus Technologies AG, Blu-ray

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6448-531: The Digital Entertainment Group, the number of Blu-ray Disc playback devices (both set-top box and game console) sold in the United States had reached 28.5 million by the end of 2010. Blu-ray faces competition from video on demand and from new technologies that allow access to movies on any format or device, such as Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem or Disney's Keychest . Some commentators suggested that renting Blu-ray would play

6572-725: The Russian embassy regarding their support of Slobodan Milošević . Artist Ai Weiwei has used the finger in photographs and sculptures as a political statement. As a political message to the Czech President Miloš Zeman , Czech artist David Černý floated an outsize, purple statue of a hand on the River Vltava in Prague; its middle finger extended towards Prague Castle, the Presidential seat. Černý had also mounted

6696-525: The U.S. for fear of unauthorized copying. However, personal computers with Blu-ray recorder drives were available. In October 2009, TDK demonstrated a 10-layer 320 GB Blu-ray Disc. On January 1, 2010, Sony, in association with Panasonic, announced plans to increase the storage capacity on their Blu-ray Discs from 25 GB to 33.4 GB via a technology called i-MLSE ( maximum likelihood sequence estimation ). The higher-capacity discs, according to Sony, would be readable on existing Blu-ray Disc players with

6820-469: The aforementioned game consoles can play back regular Blu-ray Discs. In the mid-2010s, the Ultra HD Blu-ray format was released which is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray compatible with the 4K resolution . Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and players became available in the first quarter of 2016, having a storage capacity of up to 100 GB. By December 2017, the specification for an 8K Blu-ray format

6944-444: The amount of content that can be stored. Given that the Blu-ray Disc data layer is closer to the surface of the disc compared to the DVD standard, it was found in early designs to be more vulnerable to scratches. The first discs were therefore housed in cartridges for protection, resembling Professional Discs introduced by Sony in 2003. Using a cartridge would increase the price of an already expensive medium, and would increase

7068-515: The approaching holiday with help from Sue. On Christmas Eve, Willie, Marcus, and Lois raid the mall; although some technical difficulties arise, Willie successfully cracks the safe. He also gets a pink stuffed elephant that Thurman wants for Christmas. However, Marcus reveals to Willie that he intends to kill him, fed up with his increasing carelessness. As he is about to execute Willie, the police unexpectedly swarm in, tipped off by Willie's letter that he gave Thurman. A firefight ensues between Marcus and

7192-560: The area around the Wisconsin Governor's Mansion , taken in 2011 during the tenure of Scott Walker , shows a jogger giving the finger in the direction of the mansion. In the United Kingdom , Ireland , Australia and New Zealand , the V sign , "two-fingered salute" or "the fingers", when given with back of the hand towards the recipient, serves a similar purpose. According to a Royal Shakespeare Company synopsis of

7316-748: The centerpiece of an ad in Billboard criticizing country radio for not giving airplay to Cash's Grammy-winning album Unchained . Cameron Diaz made the gesture during a photo shoot for Esquire . Harold Lloyd shot the finger to his own reflection in a Coney Island funhouse after getting paint on his suit in Speedy , his final silent feature, from 1928. Athletes, including Stefan Effenberg , Ron Artest , Luis Suárez , Virat Kohli , Juan Pablo Montoya , Iván Rodríguez , Danny Graves , Jack McDowell , Natasha Zvereva , Josh Smith , Bryan Cox , and Johnny Manziel have been suspended or fined for making

7440-419: The cops while Willie flees. Determined to give Thurman his present, he leads the police on a chase to his house, ignoring their orders to freeze. He is shot repeatedly on Thurman's porch but survives. An epilogue is told through a letter from a recovering Willie in the hospital. He expresses his gratitude to Thurman and reveals that he was cleared of the robbery—as the shooting of an unarmed Santa had embarrassed

7564-558: The cover of Moby Grape 's first album, Moby Grape , band member Don Stevenson was caught flipping the bird at the camera. The finger was airbrushed out of subsequent releases of the album. In automobile driving culture, giving the finger to a fellow motorist communicates displeasure at another person's reckless driving habits and/or their disregard for common courtesy. The finger is included in Unicode as U+1F595 🖕 REVERSED HAND WITH MIDDLE FINGER EXTENDED , part of

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7688-490: The crotch and riding away on his bike, giving the downed bully the finger . In January 2002, Variety announced that Terry Zwigoff would be directing Bad Santa (his fourth picture and follow-up to Ghost World ) under Dimension Films , with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa writing the screenplay and the Coen brothers serving as executive producers. The Coens had developed the concept for Bad Santa , before eventually hiring

7812-462: The data is stored lies under a 0.1  mm protective layer and on top of a 1.1 mm substrate made of polycarbonate plastic, compared to 0.6 mm on either side on DVDs. Sony also announced in April 2004 a version using paper as the substrate developed with Toppan Printing, with up to 25 GB storage. In January 2005, TDK announced that it had developed an ultra-hard yet very thin polymer coating (" Durabis ") for Blu-ray Discs; this

7936-419: The discs to 250 GB. However, it noted the major obstacle was that current read/write technology did not allow additional layers. JVC developed a three-layer technology that allows putting both standard-definition DVD data and HD data on a BD/(standard) DVD combination. This would have enabled the consumer to purchase a disc that can be played on DVD players and can also reveal its HD version when played on

8060-405: The feature, only a description for what it does. The feature may be activated by default, as is the case in the disc writing utility growisofs . Deactivating write verification may be desirable to save time when mass-producing physical copies of data, since errors are unlikely to occur on physically undamaged media. The quality and data integrity of optical media can be determined by measuring

8184-408: The finger ", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the ( middle ) finger , flipping the bird or flipping someone off ) is an obscene hand gesture . The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent in meaning to "fuck you", "fuck me" , "shove it up your ass/arse", "up yours", or "go fuck yourself". It is performed by showing the back of a hand that has only

8308-539: The finger in a photo interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung 's Magazin supplement. During World War II , the 91st Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces referred to the gesture as the "rigid digit" salute. It was used in a more jocular manner, to suggest an airman had committed an error or infraction; the term was a reference to British slang terms for inattentiveness (i.e. "pull your finger out (of your bum)"). The "order of

8432-700: The finger in the United States was in 1886, when Old Hoss Radbourn , a baseball pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters , was photographed giving it to a member of their rival the New York Giants . Use of this gesture in public, while vulgar, is not unlawful, as it is considered expressive communication protected by the First Amendment. In some cases, offended police officers who have had the insulting gesture displayed to them have stopped, ticketed, or arrested people for doing so. However, it

8556-550: The finger to the camera at an Austin production facility during his term as governor of Texas, saying it was "just a one-finger victory salute." Anthony Weiner gave the finger to reporters after leaving his election headquarters the night he lost the 2013 primary election for Mayor of New York City . During the campaign for the 2013 German federal election , the leading candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , Peer Steinbrück controversially gave

8680-586: The finger. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan installed a marble statue of a middle finger measuring 11 metres (36 ft), located directly in front of the Milan Stock Exchange . A now-famous photograph of Johnny Cash shows him giving the middle finger to a photographer during a 1969 concert at San Quentin State Prison , released as At San Quentin . However, the photo remained fairly obscure until 1998, when producer Rick Rubin made it

8804-399: The first prototype discs coming four years later. On January 7, 2013, Sony announced that it would release "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Disc titles sourced at 4K and encoded at 1080p. "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Disc titles can be played on existing Blu-ray Disc players and have a larger color space using xvYCC . On January 14, 2013, Blu-ray Disc Association president Andy Parsons stated that

8928-448: The first three quarters of 2007, BD outsold HD DVD by about two to one. At CES 2007 , Warner proposed Total Hi Def —a hybrid disc containing Blu-ray on one side and HD DVD on the other, but it was never released. On June 28, 2007, 20th Century Fox cited Blu-ray Discs' adoption of the BD+ anticopying system as key to their decision to support the Blu-ray Disc format. On January 4, 2008,

9052-579: The first two years (1997–1998) compared to 8.3 million high-definition software units (2006–2007). One reason given for this difference was the smaller marketplace (26.5 million HDTVs in 2007 compared to 100 million SDTVs in 1998). Former HD DVD supporter Microsoft did not make a Blu-ray Disc drive for the Xbox 360 . The 360's successor Xbox One features a Blu-ray drive, as does the PS4, with both supporting 3D Blu-ray after later firmware updates . Shortly after

9176-518: The gesture involving raising a fist and slapping the biceps on the same arm as the fist used, sometimes called the bras d'honneur (French), corte de mangas (Spanish), manguito (Portugal), dar uma banana (Brazil), or Iberian slap, is equivalent to the finger. More commonly in Turkish or Slavic regions, the fig sign (also known as nah or shish ) serves as the equivalent to the finger, meaning "you won't get it" or "in your dreams". The gesture

9300-544: The gesture to hecklers at a 1976 campaign stop near Binghamton, New York , leading it to be called the "Rockefeller gesture". In 1982, Pierre Trudeau , then the Prime Minister of Canada , gave the finger to protesters in Salmon Arm, British Columbia , earning the incident the nickname the "Salmon Arm salute". The gesture itself has also been nicknamed the "Trudeau salute". Former president George W. Bush gave

9424-553: The gesture. José Paniagua was released by the Chicago White Sox after giving the middle finger to an umpire ; he never played in the majors again. Baseball executive Chub Feeney once resigned after giving the finger to fans on Fan Appreciation Night. Bud Adams , owner of the National Football League 's Tennessee Titans , was fined US$ 250,000 for giving both middle fingers to the fans of

9548-514: The gesture. Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea have given the gesture towards members of the paparazzi , but had to apologize when fans interpreted the gesture as directed at them. M.I.A. gave the gesture during the Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show . The National Football League , NBC , and M.I.A. apologized. The CD itself for Kid Rock 's album Devil Without a Cause is a picture of his raised middle finger. On

9672-578: The guards finally figured things out, the crewmembers were subjected to extremely severe beatings. Abbie Hoffman used the gesture at the 1968 Democratic National Convention . Ronald Reagan , while serving as the Governor of California , gave the middle finger to counterculture protesters in Berkeley, California . Nelson Rockefeller , then the Vice President of the United States , directed

9796-581: The hard coating, given that, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association, they offer the best tradeoff between scratch resistance, optical properties, and productivity. The Blu-ray Disc specification requires the testing of resistance to scratches by mechanical abrasion . In contrast, DVD media are not required to be scratch-resistant, but since development of the technology, some companies, such as Verbatim, implemented hard-coating for more expensive lines of recordable DVDs. The table shows

9920-576: The industry standard for feature-length video discs. Triple-layer discs (100 GB) and quadruple-layer discs (128 GB) are available for BD-XL re-writer drives. While the DVD-Video specification has a maximum resolution of 480p ( NTSC , 720 × 480 pixels) or 576p ( PAL , 720 × 576 pixels), the initial specification for storing movies on Blu-ray discs defined a maximum resolution of 1080p ( 1920 × 1080 pixels) at up to 24 progressive or 29.97 interlaced frames per second . Revisions to

10044-711: The industry standard for high-density optical discs. Universal Studios , the sole major studio to back HD DVD since its inception, said shortly after Toshiba's announcement: "While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray Disc." Paramount Pictures , which started releasing movies only in HD DVD format during late 2007, also said it would start releasing on Blu-ray Disc. Both studios announced initial Blu-ray lineups in May 2008. With this, all major Hollywood studios supported Blu-ray. Although

10168-415: The maximum exploitable drive speed is 288  Mbit/s or 36  MB/s (also called 8× speed). A USB 3.0 interface (with proper cabling) does not have this limitation, nor do even the oldest version of Serial ATA (SATA, 150 MB/s) nor the latest Parallel ATA (133 MB/s) standards. Internal Blu-ray drives that are integrated into a computer (as opposed to physically separate and connected via

10292-496: The middle finger was offensive, but not obscene, after a police officer charged a 16-year-old with making an obscene gesture when the student gave the officer the middle finger. The case was appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court , which upheld the decision. In March 2006, a federal lawsuit was filed regarding the free speech issue. Giving the finger has resulted in negative consequences. A Malaysian man

10416-463: The middle finger was the digitus impudicus , meaning the "shameless, indecent or offensive finger". In the 1st century AD, Persius had superstitious female relatives concoct a charm with the "infamous finger" ( digitus infamis ) and "purifying spit" while in the Satyricon , an old woman uses dust, spit and her middle finger to mark the forehead before casting a spell. The poet Martial has

10540-477: The new diodes: UDO (Ultra Density Optical), and DVR Blue (together with Pioneer ), a format of rewritable discs that would eventually become Blu-ray Disc (more specifically, BD-RE). The core technologies of the formats are similar. The first DVR Blue prototypes were unveiled by Sony at the CEATEC exhibition in October 2000. A trademark for the "Blue Disc" logo was filed on February 9, 2001. On February 19, 2002,

10664-435: The new format, and they wanted a new DRM system that would protect more against unauthorized copying than the failed Content Scramble System (CSS) used on DVDs. On October 4, 2004, the name Blu-ray Disc Founders was officially changed to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), and 20th Century Fox joined the BDA's Board of Directors. The Blu-ray Disc physical specifications were completed in 2004. The recording layer on which

10788-423: The new format. New Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs hold up to 66 GB and 100 GB of data on dual- and triple-layer discs, respectively. Blu-ray's physical and file system specifications are publicly available on the BDA's website. According to Media Research, high-definition software sales in the United States were slower in the first two years than DVD software sales. 16.3 million DVD software units were sold in

10912-603: The northeastern wing of Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance , particularly in the former Montgomery Ward building, which was used for the mall's fictional anchor store, "Chamberlain's." The store and the entire wing were both vacant at the time of the movie's filming. The wing and building where the movie was filmed have since been demolished and replaced with the mall's new open-air lifestyle center . The film grossed over $ 60 million domestically and more than $ 76 million in total worldwide. On Rotten Tomatoes , Bad Santa has

11036-491: The notoriety may have been favorable in her 2019 election to the board of supervisors for Loudoun County, Virginia . On February 24, 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine , the Russian missile cruiser Moskva attacked Snake Island as part of the 2022 Snake Island campaign . The Ukrainian border guard Roman Hrybov's last communication with the warship was " Russian warship, go fuck yourself ". This

11160-424: The package that was adopted worldwide following the Blu-ray versus HD DVD market adoption choice. Because Blu-ray cases are smaller than DVD cases, more Blu-rays than DVDs can fit on a shelf . The "Mini Blu-ray Disc" (also, "Mini-BD" and "Mini Blu-ray") is a compact 8-centimetre-diameter (3.1 in) variant of the Blu-ray Disc that can store 7.8 GB of data in its single-layer configuration, or 15.6 GB on

11284-592: The phallic god Priapus . In Late Antiquity , the term "shameless finger" is explained in the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville with reference to its frequent use when accusing someone of a "shameful action." Linguist Jesse Sheidlower traces the gesture's development in the United States to the 1890s. According to anthropologist Desmond Morris , the gesture probably came to the United States via Italian immigrants . The first documented appearance of

11408-649: The play Henry V , a "two-fingered salute" appeared in the Macclesfield Psalter of c.  1330 (in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), "being made by a glove in the psalter's marginalia". George H. W. Bush , former President of the United States , accidentally made the gesture while on a diplomatic trip to Australia. In countries where Spanish, Portuguese or French are spoken, and especially in Spain , Portugal , Brazil and France ,

11532-452: The police, including his misdeeds and the heist planned for Christmas Eve. However, he sees Thurman's black eye and abandons the suicide attempt to confront the skateboarders; he assaults their leader, intimidating them to leave Thurman alone. Furious at Gin's blackmail, Marcus and Lois set a trap for him. Feigning the need for a jump-start, Lois hits Gin with the car and kills him by crushing him between vehicles. Willie and Thurman prepare for

11656-448: The police—and will be working for them as a sensitivity counselor. Sue is granted guardianship over Thurman and his house until his father's release. Marcus and Lois are in prison; Willie ends the letter by hoping that Roger will avoid them and telling Thurman that he should be out of the hospital soon and to be ready for his return. When the skateboard gang leader harasses Thurman again, Thurman finally stands up to him by kicking him hard in

11780-554: The project was officially announced as Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray Disc Founders was founded by the nine initial members. The first consumer device arrived in stores on April 10, 2003: the Sony BDZ-S77, a US$ 3,800 BD-RE recorder that was made available only in Japan. However, there was no standard for pre-recorded video, and no movies were released for this player. Hollywood studios insisted that players be equipped with digital rights management before they would release movies for

11904-437: The range between the brightest and darkest elements, an expanded color range, a high frame rate of up to 60 frames per second for a smoother motion appearance, an increase of the supported resolution to 3840 × 2160 for a more detailed picture, object-based sound formats, and an optional "digital bridge" feature. New players were required to play this format, and they became able to play all three of DVDs, traditional Blu-rays, and

12028-725: The rate of errors , of which higher rates may be an indication for deteriorating media , low-quality media, physical damage such as scratches, dust, and/or media written using a defective optical drive . Errors on Blu-Ray media are measured using the so-called LDC ( Long Distance Code s) and BIS ( Burst Indication Subcode s) error parameters, of which rates below 13 and 15 respectively can be considered healthy. Not all vendors and models of optical drives have error scanning functionality implemented. Pre-recorded Blu-ray Disc titles usually ship in packages similar to, but slightly smaller (18.5 mm shorter and 2 mm thinner: 135 mm × 171.5 mm × 13 mm ) and more rounded than,

12152-784: The rigid digit" continued after the war as a series of awards presented by the veteran's association of the 91st, marked by wooden statuettes of a hand giving the single finger gesture. In 2005 during the war in Iraq , Gunnery Sergeant Michael Burghardt gained prominence when the Omaha World-Herald published a photo of Burghardt making the gesture towards Iraqi insurgents he believed to be watching after an improvised explosive device failed to kill him. The middle finger has been involved in judicial hearings. An appellate court in Hartford, Connecticut ruled in 1976 that gesturing with

12276-532: The role of Willie, but it eventually went to Billy Bob Thornton. Mickey Rooney auditioned for the role of Marcus. Zwigoff cast Tony Cox for the role of Marcus and Brett Kelly for Thurman, which led to disagreements between himself and the producers. Upon learning of Cox's casting, the Coens told Weinstein that they "hate" him, and according to Zwigoff, Dimension was pining for "a more Disney-like generic cute kid" to play Thurman. "Maybe there are other actors who could do

12400-411: The same area. For a Blu-ray Disc, the spot size is 580 nm. This allows a reduction of the pit size from 400 nm for DVD to 150 nm for Blu-ray Disc, and of the track pitch from 740 nm to 320 nm. See compact disc for information on optical discs' physical structure. In addition to the optical improvements, Blu-ray Discs feature improvements in data encoding that further increase

12524-582: The same method used on standard DVDs. The first releases using the newer VC-1 and AVC formats were introduced in September 2006. The first movies using 50 GB dual-layer discs were introduced in October 2006. The first audio-only albums were released in May 2008. By June 2008, over 2,500 Blu-ray Disc titles were available in Australia and the United Kingdom, with 3,500 in the United States and Canada. In Japan, over 3,300 titles had been released as of July 2010. The DVD Forum , chaired by Toshiba ,

12648-578: The script's final draft was sent to Universal Pictures , the studio rejected it because "[I]t was the foulest, disgusting, misogynistic, anti-Christmas, anti-children thing we could imagine," all of which influenced Bob Weinstein of Miramax to give it the green-light . The Coens initially tailored roles for specific actors, such as James Gandolfini as Willie (since they had worked with him on The Man Who Wasn't There ), Danny Woodburn as Marcus, and Angus T. Jones as Thurman. Bill Murray , Jack Nicholson , and Robert De Niro were also considered for

12772-582: The size of Blu-ray Disc drives, so designers chose hard-coating of the pickup surface instead. TDK was the first company to develop a working scratch-protection coating for Blu-ray Discs, naming it Durabis . In addition, both Sony's and Panasonic's replication methods include proprietary hard-coat technologies. Sony's rewritable media are spin-coated, using a scratch-resistant acrylic and antistatic coating. Verbatim 's recordable and rewritable Blu-ray Discs use their own proprietary technology, called Hard Coat. Colloidal silica-dispersed UV-curable resins are used for

12896-478: The special features only on Blu-ray Discs and none on DVDs. Blu-ray Discs cost no more to produce than DVD discs. However, reading and writing mechanisms are more complicated, making Blu-ray recorders, drives and players more expensive than their DVD counterparts. Adoption is also limited due to the widespread use of streaming media . Blu-ray Discs are used to distribute PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One and Xbox Series X games, and

13020-426: The specification allowed newer Blu-ray players to support videos with a resolution of 1440 × 1080 pixels, with Ultra HD Blu-ray players extending the maximum resolution to 4K ( 3840 × 2160 pixels) and progressive frame rates up to 60 frames per second. Aside from an 8K resolution ( 7680 × 4320 pixels) Blu-ray format exclusive to Japan , videos with non-standard resolutions must use letterboxing to conform to

13144-414: The speeds available. Even the lowest speed (1×) is sufficient to play and record real-time 1080p video; the higher speeds are relevant for general data storage and more sophisticated handling of video. BD discs are designed to cope with at least 5,000 rpm of rotational speed. The usable data rate of a Blu-ray Disc drive can be limited by the capacity of the drive's data interface. With a USB 2.0 interface,

13268-404: The tactile nature of owning a film physically, elaborate packaging, bonus features, and the desire to own or watch films that are not available in streaming services' libraries. While a DVD uses a 650 nm red laser, Blu-ray Disc uses a 405 nm " blue " laser diode . Although the laser is called "blue", its color is actually in the violet range. The shorter wavelength can be focused to

13392-403: The writing team of Ficarra and Requa to bring the story to life. The Coens told Ficarra and Requa that the story would center on an alcoholic "bad Santa " who seeks redemption very later on; additionally, they wanted it to be as funny as The Bad News Bears . Afterward, Ficarra and Requa completed what they described as a "really crass script", with the Coens adding "a bunch of crass jokes". When

13516-517: Was a "demented, twisted [and] unreasonably funny work of comic kamikaze style". On October 29, 2015, it was announced that Billy Bob Thornton would return for Bad Santa 2 , and that filming would begin in Montreal in January 2016 for a scheduled release of Christmas 2016. On November 3, 2015, it was announced that Mean Girls director Mark Waters would direct the film. On November 19, 2015, it

13640-509: Was a significant technical advance because a far tougher protection was desired in the consumer market to protect bare discs against scratching and damage compared to DVD, given that Blu-ray Discs technically required a much thinner layer for the denser and higher-frequency blue laser. Cartridges, originally used for scratch protection, were no longer necessary and were scrapped. The BD-ROM specifications were finalized in early 2006. Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS LA),

13764-453: Was accused of criminal harassment and uttering threats, Quebec court Judge Dennis Galiatsatos wrote, "To be abundantly clear, it is not a crime to give someone the finger," and, "Flipping the proverbial bird is a God-given, Charter-enshrined right that belongs to every red-blooded Canadian. It may not be civil, it may not be polite, it may not be gentlemanly. Nevertheless, it does not trigger criminal liability." The accused man, Neall Epstein,

13888-449: Was acquitted. During a wedding sequence in one of Alfred Hitchcock 's silent films, The Ring (1927), a misunderstanding results in the ringbearer giving the finger to another member of the wedding party, to comedic effect. In the film Speedy (1928), Harold Lloyd 's character gives himself the finger into a distorting mirror at Luna Park , about 25 minutes into the film. The gesture has been involved in political events. During

14012-530: Was adopted faster than the DVD format was at a similar period in its development. This conclusion was based on the fact that Singulus Technologies received orders for 21 Blu-ray dual-layer replication machines during the first quarter of 2008, while 17 DVD replication machines of this type were made in the same period in 1997. According to GfK Retail and Technology, in the first week of November 2008, sales of Blu-ray recorders surpassed DVD recorders in Japan. According to

14136-605: Was also completed. However, this specification was for Japan only so that it could be used by Japanese public broadcasters like NHK to broadcast in 8K resolution for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. The Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD), described in the ECMA-377 standard, was in development by the Holography System Development (HSD) Forum using a green writing/reading laser (532 nm) and

14260-427: Was also used in ancient Rome . Historically, it represented a phallus . In the early 1800s, it gained increasing recognition as a sign of disrespect and was used by music artists (notably more common among actors, celebrities, athletes and politicians; most still view the gesture as obscene). In more contemporary periods, the bent index and ring fingers on each side of the middle finger have been likened to represent

14384-442: Was announced that Kathy Bates would join the cast as Willie's mother, and that Brett Kelly and Tony Cox would reprise their roles from the first film. On December 21, 2015, it was announced that Bad Santa 2 would be released on November 23, 2016. On January 6, 2016, Christina Hendricks joined the cast. Blu-ray Blu-ray ( Blu-ray Disc or BD ) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede

14508-472: Was believed that a firmware update was the only requirement to make it readable by then-current players and drives. In October 2007, they revealed a 100 GB Blu-ray Disc drive. In December 2008, Pioneer Corporation unveiled a 400 GB Blu-ray Disc (containing 16 data layers, 25 GB each) compatible with current players after a firmware update. Its planned launch was in the 2009–10 time frame for ROM and 2010–13 for rewritable discs. Ongoing development

14632-522: Was bludgeoned to death after giving the finger to a motorist following a car chase. A Pakistani man was deported by the United Arab Emirates for the gesture, which violates indecency codes. People have given the finger as a method of political protest . At a concert, Ricky Martin gave a picture of George W. Bush the finger to protest the War in Iraq. Serbian protesters gave the finger to

14756-412: Was memorialized on a set of Ukrainian commemorative postage stamps on April 12 with the text "Russian warship, fuck you!" and a drawing of a Ukrainian soldier presenting the middle finger to the Russian cruiser. The use of the middle finger has become pervasive in popular culture. The band Cobra Starship released a song called " Middle Finger ", and released a music video that showed people giving

14880-511: Was perceived as expensive and buggy, and there were few titles available. The Sony PlayStation 3 , which contained a Blu-ray Disc player for primary storage, helped support Blu-ray. Sony also ran a more thorough and influential marketing campaign for the format. AVCHD camcorders were also introduced in 2006. These recordings can be played back on many Blu-ray Disc players without re-encoding but are not compatible with HD DVD players. By January 2007, Blu-ray Discs had outsold HD DVDs, and during

15004-567: Was published that did not include some features, such as managed copy, which would have let end users create copies limited to personal use. The first BD-ROM players (Samsung BD-P1000) were shipped in mid-June 2006, though HD DVD players beat them to market by a few months. The first Blu-ray Disc titles were released on June 20, 2006: 50 First Dates , The Fifth Element , Hitch , House of Flying Daggers , Underworld: Evolution , xXx (all from Sony), and MGM 's The Terminator . The earliest releases used MPEG-2 video compression,

15128-424: Was released on November 23, 2016, and failed to match the critical and commercial success of the original. Willie T. Soke and his dwarf assistant Marcus Skidmore are professional thieves. Every year, Willie gets a job as a department store Santa Claus and Marcus as an elf to rob shopping malls on the night of Christmas Eve, with Marcus' wife Lois as their getaway driver. Marcus takes his job seriously, but Willie,

15252-520: Was split over whether to develop the more expensive blue laser technology. In March 2002 the forum approved a proposal, which was endorsed by Warner Bros. and other motion picture studios . The proposal involved compressing high-definition video onto dual-layer standard DVD-9 discs. In spite of this decision, however, the DVD Forum's Steering Committee announced in April that it was pursuing its own blue-laser high-definition video solution. In August, Toshiba and NEC announced their competing standard,

15376-535: Was underway to create a 1  TB Blu-ray Disc. At CES 2009, Panasonic unveiled the DMP-B15, the first portable Blu-ray Disc player, and Sharp introduced the LC-BD60U and LC-BD80U series, the first LCD HDTVs with integrated Blu-ray Disc players. Sharp also announced that it would sell HDTVs with integrated Blu-ray Disc recorders in the United States by the end of 2009. Set-top box recorders were not being sold in

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