Star Trek: Into Darkness (where are the special features?)

No I haven't seen the movie yet, and I probably won't care to watch all the special features.  But I hate to be missing something that I could in theory watch (someday)...

How much does it cost to acquire the “complete” Star Trek Into Darkness blu-ray and how much effort does it take to enjoy it?  That would normally seem like an odd question, but Paramount’s inexplicable release strategy has left Trekkies and general blu-ray completists scratching their heads in confusion and frustration. You see, unlike most blu-ray releases, where the studio puts the respective bonus features either on the disc that every consumer can buy from every outlet, Paramount has done something… a little silly.  They have spread out the available special features into several different retail outlets. So basically, if you want the “complete” American Star Trek Into Darkness blu-ray, you have to buy it twice. Oh, and you can’t even enjoy some of those features on your television.

Offering an exclusive bonus disc to a consumer if you buy a given film at one specific store is not new.  However frowned upon it might be, it isn’t that much of a headache to, for example, buy Disney’s The Avengers at Target instead of Best Buy or Amazon in order to get a 90-minute documentary that isn’t available anywhere else. It’s annoying, as when Paramount put most the deleted scenes of Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol in the Best Buy bonus disc, but most studios at least have the decency to usually keep their content-related exclusives (as opposed to special packaging) to a single establishment.

What Paramount has done is an enhanced variation of this kind of release pattern. They have offered a near-barren disc for Star Trek Into Darkness and instead offered the various special features as exclusives at two different retailers.

On the standard release, you get 42 minutes of mostly solid documentary featurettes, eight in all, including an amusing seven-minute bit where the filmmakers try to justify their pointless inclusion of a certain major character from the prior canon. And that’s pretty much it, save for a PSA for a group called ‘The Mission Continues‘, which helps returning war veterans re-acclimate to civilian life through service projects. There are no trailers, no deleted, scenes, and no commentaries on the standard release disc.

If you must buy only one version of Star Trek Into Darkness, get the Target disc.  The disc set contains the feature on a separate disc, with the 42 minutes of bonus features from the normal release, as well as thirty minutes of additional featurettes, along with the domestic trailer campaign, which is a nice touch.

Unlike the Canadian Best Buy version, the American Best Buy bonus content isn’t disc-based.  It’s only accessed through their online service CinemaNow. One can’t just go onto CinemaNow and watch the stuff either. You have to actually get an account with them first.

Now if you’ve bought both retail versions for approximately $40 plus shipping or taxes, you’ve got the film itself, the three American trailers, and about 105 minutes of relatively solid bonus material. But the adventure is not over yet, folks. Because here’s the goofiest and most frustrating part of this release pattern.  There actually is a commentary track for Star Trek Into Darkness - a pretty darn good one no less.  But it is only available as an iTunes download. The good news is that the retail version comes with the iTunes download, meaning you don’t have to buy the film a third time to get that commentary track. The bad news is that it’s once again a major bonus feature that isn’t on the disc or even on a bonus disc. Not only is it a commentary track, but it’s a full video-based commentary track, a separate video file that is filled with talking heads and behind-the-scenes footage that runs nearly 30 minutes longer than the actual 132 minute feature. But you can’t watch it on your television and you have to sign up for an iTunes account and then download the hefty file before you can watch it on your computer.

Star Trek is the kind of franchise for which the fans will crave the most complete versions of the newest incarnation and will still devour any and all supplements offered. What Paramount has inexplicably done here is basically punish the fans both for their love of Star Trek and the general consumers who still prefer the physical media that everyone tries to claims is dead.

***

trekmovie.com has more info on the special features

Wait. The CinemaNow features are now free?

And here's commentary on the commentary.

bonus article: 15 things you (probably) didn't know about Star Trek

should you get long-term care insurance?

When it comes to purchasing long-term care (LTC) insurance, there’s no one-size-fits-all plan. Choosing the right LTC policy for you means factoring in a range of information about your life, your goals, your family’s medical history, where you expect to live in retirement, and other factors.

Getting this decision right can make or break your retirement—and your ability to leave a legacy to your family. Consider this: The median length of stay in an assisted living facility was nearly 26 months, according to a 2012 MetLife survey on long-term care costs.¹ The average monthly cost for a standard level of care at these facilities was $3,550, meaning a stay of 26 months would cost more than $90,000. And those costs could rise for a higher level of care to treat issues such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

The key is determining if you need coverage, and if so, what is the right level, type, and cost. Not all individuals need long-term care insurance. At one extreme, the wealthy can self-insure. At the other end, veterans and people with low income and limited resources can get government assistance through the U. S. Department of Veterans Administration and Medicaid, respectively. Most people, however, fall somewhere in the middle.

Let’s consider four very different hypothetical situations

factors which can lead to Alzheimer's

According to the Alzheimer's Association, there are three primary factors that have been identified by researchers which can lead to Alzheimer's.

The first is simply advancing age. Every five years over the age of 65 leads to a rough doubling of your chance of developing the disease. Second is family history. Simply put, if someone directly related to you has Alzheimer's disease, your chances of developing Alzheimer's increases as well. Finally, genetic make-up plays a role as well with select genes, such as apolipoprotein E-e4, being identified as raising the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's.

There are other factors which may play a role, but are still being researched. The key suggestion from the Alzheimer's Association to help lower your own potential risk (since many of these are genetic, and thus beyond your control) would be to address issues which regulate your cardiovascular health, such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, stroke, or heart disease which can lead to poor blood flow to your brain and possibly elevate your risk of developing Alzheimer's.