I've just finished watching a wonderful movie, Brick Lane. It's a must movie for those that enjoy alternative cinema.

Those that know me know my passion for foreign, alternative and art-house cinema. They also know my particular disdain for bollywood and most hollywood movies.  Whereas most people would occasionally watch and alternative movie, it is quite the opposite for me. I avoid most hollywood crap and haven't seen a bollywood movie since 2004.

With such taste in cinema it is really difficult to find anything from these genres in Fiji. Most movies in these genres aren't very popular and tend to mostly travel the film festival circuits around the world.

So how do I satisfy my desire for these movies? Simple! Either torrent or download using Rapidshare. These downloads are DVD rips essentialy making them illegal.

But it isn't just about the movies. It's about PC games as well. Earlier this year, I really wanted to play the latest version of Sid Meiers Civilisation. So I decided to visit Amazon.com and buy meself a copy. Nope, couldn't do it. Amazon tells me that it can't send the game to Fiji due to publisher restriction. Bugger! I wasn't going to be detered though and after a few minutes of googling, I located a version for download via Rapidshare. I bought a EUR16 account from Rapidshare and within a day of downloading, I had the game. Where as it would have cost me in excess of USD50 for the game from Amazon, I had the Rapidshare account for much less. With this account valid for about 3 months, I got busy and downloaded a whole bunch of other goodies difficult to find in Fiji.

I take the view that piracy in my case is justified because most what is easily available in a developed country is simply not even on offer here. Even if it is, it costs way too much anyway.

What do you think? Show me the error of my ways...