Retirement planning, it's always good to start early. Yeah, and I will start mine by finding some alternative sources of entertainment with the impending reorganization of Yangtze Cinema.

For the linguistically challenged, the headline screams: "Yangtze Cinema will no longer be solely screening R (A) movies”. As part of the restructuring effort, the Pearl Centre management hopes that by screening mainstream movies in the two of the four halls, it will attract more young shoppers to the shopping centre. The article also mention that the ticket sales for the R (A) screenings have been lackluster, with cinema halls only 30% filled on average days. 30% to me seems a pretty reasonable figure as with the waning stamina of the Ah Pek demographic, it’s a tall order to expect them to watch so many sexually explicit shows in a week.

Gone is the old adage of sex sells. The management of yesteryear thought that by being an exclusively R (A) cinema, people of all ages will flock to it for a taste of the forbidden fruit and money will pour in like gushing water. That was until the Internet showed up as the party pooper and the cinema relegated to become the favourite haunt of the Tiko Peks.

So what will happen to the sexually charged Ah Peks? Surely we can’t expect them to turn IT savvy overnight and start downloading porn from the internet, can we? Or ask them to fork out a minimum of $30 for the few short lived minutes with the back alley hookers? If the government wishes to back up their claims of being an elderly friendly country, surely they should step in and get the management to change their mind. Make it a national heritage site if they must, for the legion of Ah Peks (and me in 40 years time) can’t live without Yangtze Cinema.