Highest, Lowest Price of Movie Tickets in 2012

A movie ticket in Tokyo Japan is $21.5, but the cheapest in the world is just $4.95.

Photo from mconnors’ morgueFile

The number one movie in the world, as predicted, is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part Two. The last stretch of the popular vampire series snagged $340.9 million in its worldwide debut. Depending on one’s location, the price for seeing the movie in the big screen could be heavy or light.

While a small continent in Asia sits atop the 10 most expensive cities to watch a movie, five cities are in Australia. The other four cities are in Europe.

Watching Bollywood movies is a bargain basement recreation. In the top 10 cheapest movie tickets, five are found in India. The cheapest is in Hyderabad. Seven are in Asia, two are in Europe and one in North America.

Top 10 most expensive movie tickets in the world

1. Tokyo, Japan: $21.5
2. Zurich, Switzerland: $18.5
3. Geneva, Switzerland: $18.5
4. Perth, Australia: $17.5
5. Sydney, Australia: $17.5
6. Adelaide, Australia: $17.5
7. Melbourne, Australia: $17.5
8. Oslo, Norway: $16.5
9. London, United Kingdom: $15.5
10. Brisbane, Australia: $15.5

Top 10 cheapest movie tickets in the world

1. Hyderabad, India: $4.95
2. Tehran, Iran: $6.23
3. Belgrade, Serbia: $6.76
4. Pune, India: $7.16
5. San Salvador, El Salvador: $7.43
6. Mumbai, India: $7.45
7. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: $7.61
8. Bangalore, India: $7.62
9. Delhi, India: $7.78
10. Cluj-Napoca, Romania: $8.15

Data from Expatistan.com; cost of living index

Any of the US cities did not fit on both lists; but since 1995, the ticket prices have risen steadily. The movie ticket price hit the all-time high in the second quarter of 2012, averaging at $8.12. The average price in 1995 was lower than the cheapest of today, $4.35.

Premium 3D theaters, higher cost of movie production and general inflation affected these prices. Do you think the price of movie tickets is justified?

Sources:
Top 10 most expensive movie tickets; Expatistan
Top 10 cheapest movie tickets; Expatistan
Movie Ticket Prices Reach All-Time High in Q2 of 2012; The Hollywood Reporter
Box Office Report: ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 2’ Bites Off $340.9 Million Global Opening; The Hollywood Reporter

Chinese is the New World’s Language

Now could be a good time to learn Chinese in preparation for the on-going shift of the world’s language.

Photo from Philip Jägenstedt’s flickr

The ability to speak, read and understand English is vital to communicate to a diversified range of people. It is the language of the world’s scientific academe and political reference. It is even predicted during the 19^th century that English will be the world’s language.

But English is declining. Chinese is rising. And the world’s tongue is adjusting.

Chinese is now the most widely spoken language in the world. This is mainly due to the multitude of Chinese population. In China alone, there are more than 1.3 billion Chinese and those who are scattered around the world speak their own language as well.

In the business world, Chinese is sitting comfortably along English as the most useful language. Transacting business matters using a common language is essential for rapport building but also for the “speed and effectiveness of your negotiations”, says Leigh Hafrey, a senior lecturer in communications and ethics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.

The Chinese people better use their voice because it takes years to fully master the language. Learners should find the best memorization technique that works since Zhongwen Da Cidian (Great Dictionary of the Chinese Language) lists 50,000 Chinese characters, whereas English only has 26 alphabets. Being a tonal language, different tones of the same word have different meanings. And there are variations in form of dialects – Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Min, and more.  Each has internal diversity.

Despite the barrier of difficulty, westerners demand to learn it. Michael Roemer, an attorney who lives in California, brought his family to live in China. His purpose was to teach his two children the Chinese language because according to his own words, “speaking Mandarin is important”.

While Europe and USA remain the key players in the world’s economy, they recognize the gaining power of Asia, especially of the Chinese economy. Companies worldwide manufacture in China. The Chinese people are the biggest consumers of goods. Learning the world’s newest language would maintain the west’s competitiveness.

Language is power. Those who don’t speak it will be secluded. But China seemed to pass on this opportunity. It showed no interest to influence the world to make their language native. China casted English classes throughout the colossal country so the population could speak English when they hosted the 2008 Olympics.

Even without the slightest of effort from China, Chinese is still emerging. Right now, 9% of the population spoke English at birth. By 2050, it’ll be down to 5%. This gives room of expansion for the next major language.

Are you ready to learn the Chinese language?

Sources:
English in Decline as a First Language, Study Says; National Geographic
Mandarin Chinese Most Useful Business Language After English; Bloomberg
Can Chinese Replace English as the Global Language?; Chilli breeze
Chinese learn English for Olympics; Chine Daily
Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard; pinyin.info

Best Prisons to Live

Some prisons are as good as your holiday vacation.

Prisons are punishment for misconduct. They are built to maintain order in the society, believing in the premise that getting into prison sucks your privilege to live freely so you wouldn’t want to be there.

These five prisons are still prisons in a way that it locks you out of the “real world”, but there are privileges that would make you rethink which would you prefer to be in.

Five star prison in Austria

Photo from grazt.at

What the hell right? People save up for 3 day brief stays in a five star hotel, when these inmates in Justizzentrum Leoben get to stay in a five star facility for years, if not lifetime. The prison is secured, luxurious and modern.

Cebu inmates dance

Photo from knowyourmeme.com

They are the inmates in the viral hit “Thriller“, which has 51.5 million views (so far). Instead of burning time inside the cells, they learn a routine, dance in synchrony, and post it to YouTube. Their latest vid? Gangnam style.

Family unit cells

Photo from gulfnews.com

Somewhere in Spain, the Aranjuez prison is nice enough to build family unit cells where the prisoners could bond with his/her children. The walls are painted with jolly Disney characters. Playground and nursery are accessible.

Community-based the prison

Photo from palmer365.com

San Pedro Prison in Bolivia is close to normal. No guards, no gates, no bars. Instead, you’ll see children playing around with “market stalls, restaurants, hairdressers and even a hotel” (Murano, 2009).  On top of it all, prisoners have to work and buy their own cells. Like the outside world, the more money you have, the more advantaged your situation will be.

The summer camp prison

Photo from CNN.com

Inmates in Bastoy Prison will feel like in a holiday, whole year round. They have horses to ride around the island of pine trees and rocky coasts. Craving a baked salmon? They have chefs to cook for them. They even have the beach to dip in summer; and the ocean’s view will always be there if they want to relax. Aaah, imagine the sound of that. Ironically, they have a more free lifestyle inside the prison distant from what they can afford. No surprise that 20% of prisoners who are released reoffend to come back.

Would you approve of these prisons?

Sources:
10 of the World’s Most Unusual Prisons; Oddee
Welcome to the world’s nicest prison; CNN

Made in China

Why is it we so distrust products made in China, or Japan?

Photo from Martin Abegglen’s flickr

For example cars. It isn’t cool to drive a Japanese car. Why? A Japanese car costs less, is more reliable, more innovative. Yet we don’t want those cars. A German car costs more, is less reliable, and looks like the German cars 20 years ago.

There are multiple explanations I can think of. A car is no more just a means of transportation; it is a symbol of status. The bigger your Mercedes, the richer you are. This is logical, we (yes, ‘we’, the cool guys from the western world) produce cars for the wealthy, they produce cars for transport. It is a different market, in which Japan conquers, who can afford a 50, 000 dollar Mercedes and who just needs a means of transport, a car that fits a parking spot.

The other explanation is that we are afraid for change. Which is logical too, we like the old-fashioned expensive cars. They worked 20 years ago, we can’t say that of a Japanese car. And a car produced in Germany or the US sounds safe. The world that we know. China is too far away.

But what if Mercedes suddenly lets its cars be produced in China, because of the low wages? It won’t keep us from buying them and this seems strange. As long as the brand is western, it doesn’t matter where it really comes from. An iPhone is made in China, yet we buy it. The Meizu, a mobile bigger, faster and better than an iPhone, doesn’t sell in the US. We like the Chinese wages, not the Chinese brand.

What is your honest opinion about products made in China?

Olympic Sports to Try

Don’t you get curious to try the Olympic sports you don’t know?

Photo from markow76’s flickr

The London Olympics 2012 opening ceremony was relatable. We’ve seen our favorite writers and characters in literature and their colossal contribution as well as the authentic music that resonates classic. They enacted the story of how Britain became Great that it is today. Not only was it visually appearing, but the extravagance was in the familiarity of their ceremony.

Sports can bring the world closer. In the biggest sporting event, the world was tuned in for the sports we love, for the athletes that represent us and for the parade of countries with fancy names. People from different background and budget have the same four years of preparation for this competition. It was a thrill to see how they would amount against each other.

Not all the sports in the Olympics are known to us but we still watch it. After watching these sports and seeing the schedule of the rest of the 2012 Olympics, there is a certain spirit in me that was enflamed too. Suddenly, these sports looked incentive and I’d want to learn the skills in playing it.

Equestrian. The art of horse riding. I’ve tried horse riding before and it was easy; but maybe it was an overestimation because the horse just walked around, I never get to make him run no matter how hard I imitate a horse’s sound in effort to talk to him. And yeah, I want a photo of myself in costume while riding a horse too.

Sailing. I thought sailing was just for relaxation and getaway off the city. I don’t live near the coast and I would like to check this out as I expand my skills to the sea – surfing and diving as well.

Beach Volleyball. Whenever I go to the beach, I do nothing. Those are great moments but I can nest some excitement in it too. It’ll be fun to hit and smash something.

What Olympic sports you’d like to try out? (List of Summer 2012 Olympic Sports)