C3PX

Warbl

C3PX said:

His English really is not all that bad.

I disagree.

 Better than your French, I presume. ;) At any rate. May not be refined, but he is able to get his points across, even if one does have to take a second to slowly read over his posts. In fact, I find his posts are easier to read and understand than a lot of crap that gets posted on facebook by first English speakers I grew up with. 

have you done it again and again and again and again and again again and again and ...(you get the picture)? 

Hmm, that is a lot of "again"s. Not sure for how far they go on for, but taking into account the seven agains that got depicted in your post (assuming "you get the picture" is an abbreviation of numerous other agains to follow, I cannot take them into accound not nowing their number).

But yeah, seven times fallen on my ass? That sounds about right, but I'd go ahead and toss in three or four more for good measure (and I consider myself lucky I have fallen down such a small number of times). In fact, as I type this and over the last few days I have been feeling like I am dangerously close to falling on my ass once again. Everything feels held up but by a single thread, at this junction it is either going to snap (which my pessimistic side is 100% sure will happen quite soon and has spent the entire day dominating my brain and thinking up various drastic contingency plans, none of which my optimistic side has been too thrilled about), and I will find myself once again on my ass with no place to go, or I am going to be able to weave that thread into a much more sturdy support and carry on dangling from it for a good long while. If it does snap and I end up on my ass, as always, I will pick myself up and start over, because that is what we do in this life. That is how we keep going. Eventually we find a good grip and find a life we can ride for a good long while, and if we are lucky, it will carry us comfortably to the end of the road. 

I agree,  so does my therapist.   Am trying to stop beat myself up so much.  But it is a lifelong habit and hard to break.

Then what I am about to say is nothing new to you. You have no need to beat on yourself, because you are a pretty cool guy. I have always liked you as a fellow forum member, and obviously everyone else seems to enjoy you as well. Not long ago one member commented on how good it was to see you post outside of the politics thread since they never posted in there themselves and we enjoying interacting with you. It is when you start ragging on yourself and beating yourself up that you become a drag to those around you.

perhaps, but I think we're getting into an area that is best left for me and my therapist to discuss.

I wasn't trying to bud in, just giving my assessment, and it sounds like I am right on, which is good news for you! Fears can be dealt with, you just have to whip out your sword and hack their head off. Which is... easier said than done.

I could never skate either. 

The point wasn't that I can't skate, but that it was something I desperately wanted to do when I was a kid. The thought of skating on my own really excited me, and I dreamed about being able to do it. But tragically, I let my fears deprive me of ever getting to experience what so many other kids were able to do simply because they were willing to have a few bruses on their asses and I wasn't.

C3PX said:

*sigh* maybe I was a little childish about it.   I just wanted to make this as close to a forum poll as possible.   If this forum had had the capability, I would have create a real poll, but it doesn't.   

I guess I shall just have to make up my own mind as to whether or not to resume talking politics. 

This is a good example of ABC's comment on you misunderstanding me like you understand him, regardless of the fact that you and I share a common primary language. I was never suggesting that the way in which you organized your election was childish, in fact, it was clever enough and very much on par with, if not above, many of the other gags and games that go on in the off-topic these days.

but you did call it childish.  I will quote you:

C3PX said:

Oddly, while ABC and I speak differently languages, we seem to communicate with each other very well. He didn't have to speak for me on how childish I thought your vote was, I made it clear myself by stating how ridiculous (or childish, if you will) I thought the vote was from the very beginning, added with my coin toss, which was meant to drive my point home, but you took it seriously.

and here you do it again:

 

Even if it had been an actual poll, I would have thought it childish/ridiculous. It was what it was about, rather than how it was done that made me think it childish and refused to take part in it (in a serious capacity).

could you please explain?

I know. I think it was childish. That has been established. You defended it saying you wanted it to be like a poll, but there was no poll option. Had there been a poll option on this board and you had infact made a poll, I would have felt it was childish just the same.

You seemed to feel (or at least I took this to be the case and responded as such) that we thought it was childish because of the way in which you conducted it, i.e. that we were bashing your making it out to be like an official election. BUT that WASN'T the case. I admitted that I thought that part was clever and amusing. ABC and I were calling the very idea of putting your own personal decisions to a vote, whether it be makeshift forum election or via a true poll, to be rather childish. It was what you were doing, not how you were doing it. We both clearly explained why we felt this way in earlier posts.

Does that make sense now?

Just realizing I have never even seen the tiniest bit of Dr. Who. I have wanted to introduce myself to it, but really, the quantity is just down right over whelming.

Seems like we have some old time Dr. Who fans around. Any good suggestions for an entry point? Don't have a whole ton of time on my hands to watch TV, so I won't be takeling anything season by season. Perhaps some of the movies I should check out? Or maybe some really excellent story arc from one of the older seasons that should not be missed?

Gaffer Tape said:

Although the original book does end with Alex being reformed... but Kubrick didn't know that because the American version cut out the last chapter.

I take it you read the book? If so, most impressive, not an easy feat thanks to Burgess' ingenious, yet extremely detrimental, made up slang language Nadsat. But definitely worth the effort.

I do however feel the need to correct you, the second to last chapter in the original novel, last chapter in the earlier American editions ended much on the same note as the movie and delivered the same message, attempts at forcing Alex to reform failed and he goes back to his old ways. The final chapter is a bit of an epiloge and flashes forward many years to a point where Alex has matured and grown out of his old ways. So untilmately the whole theme about not being able to force the nature of something remains, but it was originally followed up with the idea that that very same nature can be changed over time under its own power.

captainsolo said:

Gaffer Tape said:

Although the original book does end with Alex being reformed... but Kubrick didn't know that because the American version cut out the last chapter.

Does anybody agree with that last chapter? I remember reading the book and being very confused why it was suddenly there.

I can see it being really confusing to someone who saw the Kubrick film first, or who had once read the edited American text, and returned to it years later to discover the last chapter. I think the last chapter was a pretty important detail in what the author was trying to say with the book and should have never been removed. However, I think the movie ends absolutely perfectly and am glad that part of the story is absent from Kubrik's film. 

Has anybody seen the other film adaption of Burgess' A Clockwork Orange called Vinyl? It was directed by Andy Warhol, I've always wanted to check it out for curiousity's sake, but never managed to get my hands on a copy.

Warbler said:

all I can say is that half the time, I can't understand what the hell he is trying to get at.   He comes off to me as very confusing. 

I don't see why. Maybe I am just so used to working cross-culturally that he makes more sense to me than he does to others. His English really is not all that bad. I think he may be right when he says you seem to misunderstand me just as often as you do him, but that you just assume you understand what I am saying, even though it might be something completely different than you perceive it to be, simply because my sentences make sense to you.

sorry for annoying you.    I do believe your reasons for posting here,  I do not believe that is ABC's motivation. 

ABC might have gotten a little harsh with the life/wife comment, but I think for the most part he meant well. I think he was just becoming exasperated with your lack of drive and your willingness to allow others to make decisions for you on a whim. In all honesty, that is kind of a hard concept to follow. Before ABC said something about us all being students, well, in the context of this, I suppose ABC and I are the students and you are the teacher, it is an angle I have a hard time wrapping my head around, and apparently so does ABC. Be mad at him or ignore him if you like, but I have never really gotten the impression he is looking down on you, like you seem to think he is.

I do have a desire to do so.   You make it sound as easy as flipping on a light switch.  Its not.   Whenever I have tried to "get a life" I've always failed and fallen flat on my ass.     

I think we have all fallen flat on our asses at at least one point or another while trying to "get a life", you are just trying to do it much later in life and you seem to beat yourself up a lot more than you should, making it even that much harder. In all reality, it isn't really fair for me to try to assess your situation, since I don't actually know anything about your life. You could be a quadruple amputee who types with his chin for all I know.

So, this comment may be kind of unfair, but I get the impression that your biggest problem is your fear of failure, which, incidentally, condemns you to instant failure by default.

I used to love going roller skating when I was a little kid, it always seemed like so much fun, but only when I had railing or someones hand to hold onto. I'd watch the other kids and see them zipping around on their own and think how great it would be to do that. I couldn't wait until I was able to skate on my own! Unfortunately, I was petrified of falling on my ass. I never realized that in order to learn to skate you had to fall on your ass your fair share of times. To this very day, I still have not learned to skate.

*sigh* maybe I was a little childish about it.   I just wanted to make this as close to a forum poll as possible.   If this forum had had the capability, I would have create a real poll, but it doesn't.   

I guess I shall just have to make up my own mind as to whether or not to resume talking politics. 

This is a good example of ABC's comment on you misunderstanding me like you understand him, regardless of the fact that you and I share a common primary language. I was never suggesting that the way in which you organized your election was childish, in fact, it was clever enough and very much on par with, if not above, many of the other gags and games that go on in the off-topic these days.

Even if it had been an actual poll, I would have thought it childish/ridiculous. It was what it was about, rather than how it was done that made me think it childish and refused to take part in it (in a serious capacity).

Reserved

Warbler said:

that's fine,  no one said you had to give a damn.  Please remember that you do not speak for C3PX,  he can decide for himself whether or not he gives a damn about this "childish vote" 

Oddly, while ABC and I speak differently languages, we seem to communicate with each other very well. He didn't have to speak for me on how childish I thought your vote was, I made it clear myself by stating how ridiculous (or childish, if you will) I thought the vote was from the very beginning, added with my coin toss, which was meant to drive my point home, but you took it seriously.

Or, rather than saying all of that, I could simply say ABC is right, I don't give a damn about your childish vote, I think it was silly and that you simply used it as a means to ignore the opinions that should have really mattered while childishly taking pressure off of yourself. Now if you are ever tempted to join in a political discussion, you can simply reason with yourself that you cannot do it because the community doesn't want you to.

twice I listed the vote tally,  twice it said that both C3PX and ABC voted nay.  You two had plenty of time to change your votes, you didn't.  That says to me that you didn't mind too much having your votes go into the books as "nay" votes.

We both made it clear that we thought your election was really stupid and wanted no part of it. And we both reasoned with you that our votes should not really be counted, but I don't think either of us really wanted to reach down to the level of actually playing along and asking you to "invalidate" our votes, especially not when we had already made clear how we felt.

ABC, if you truly don't give a damn about the "childish vote",  why argue over how your vote is counted.   In fact, why are you even posting in this thread.   Of course, you have the right to post in what ever thread you want.  But I can't help but ask why someone whom doesn't give a damn about the vote on which this thread is based would post here.

Because the way you are acting is really weird and at the same time really annoying. I never gave a damn about your election, but I do give a damn about you and our discussions. 

 

A B C said:

I'm not willing to enter your life, but man, this topic should be called:

"SHOULD WARB FIND HIMSELF A REAL LIFE ?"

 

... (edited the bad taste add).

again this and the deleted comment were uncalled for.   You don't think I know I  need to get a life?  trust me, I know.     I don't have any real life friends and never had a girl friend.  I KNOW I need a life.   I don't need you to tell me that.

I think ABC is frustrated because you make it so clear that "you don't have a life" when all you need to do is stand up and pick one up if you want one, but you make it abundantly clear on these forums that you have no desire to do so.

"Real life friends"? What are real life friends? Obviously I know what you mean, and I sympathize with you. But I am a real person, and I consider you my friend. Would that have been any different if I met you in real life? I don't see why not. We may live a long ways away, and never have met face to face, but I still consider you a friend. If I was ever passing through the Philly area, I would PM you and see if we could met up. I'd PM you my phone number and tell you to call me whenever you are bored or need someone to talk to, would that make me more of a real friend?

Sorry if you feel like ABC and I have been judging you. That really wasn't my intention, and I am pretty sure it wasn't ABC's either. To be honest, I am just annoyed that you put so much merit into this whole stupid election thing, and won't be having anymore political discussion just because of it. Hopefully you will still be active in other off-topic forums, I'd miss you if you just disappeared.

Warbler said:

both you and ABC could easily have changed your votes before the deadline.  You guys could have easily told me invalidate your votes or changed them to "abstained".  You guys didn't do either.  You guys knew without doing either of the above, that your votes would go into the books as "Nay" votes.  What does that say?  

It says we thought the whole thing was really stupid.

He is right Warb, you are hearing what you want to hear. Even though you know my vote was determined by something as silly as a coin toss, and even though I very clearly expressed that I would like to continue discussing politics with you, you still put more merit in my superficial "nay" than my expressed feelings. With the ending votes at 4 yeas to 5 nays, without my superficial coin-tossed-determined-nay, you would have been at a tie.

ABC said "Nyeay!", which I took to be a nay+yea hybrid, mocking your silly "election" in much the same way I was doing with my coin toss. Take that into account, and two of your "nays" are superficial, and looking deeper you would see that, as ABC would put it, they are votes that "were not" :)

CompMovieGuy doesn't even talk politics and obviously just plain out doesn't like you, and yet you still put much merit in his opinion on the matter.

However, in conclusion realizing how seriously you took this election and the opinions (or non-opinions) of people that should not even matter now has me convinced your decision not to discuss politics is a wise one. You are obviously not out to earn or gain anything, but simply to remain fixed in your ways. In such an event, keeping them inside your head or discussing them only with people equally fixed on likeminded ideas is probably the best policy to maintain.  

Not only does he have the right, I'd say he has the moral obligation.

Current Score

TV's Fink: Nay

Chaz Solo: Ye

Chewtobacco: Yea

Captian Solo: Nay

Warbler: Abstains

I think I found our solution!

Fink, you get to work on Warb's resume!

Warb, you quit going to the bathroom!

Meanwhile, I will quit posting in the politics thread!

Ady's thread gets a lot of external traffic, goofing off in the off topic is one thing, but I can see Jay and Moth3r wanting to keep serious and productive threads serious and productive. Which I think is fair enough. A lot of tight assed outsiders come here and seem socked at the lack of moderation, since the majority of outsiders appear in threads such as the ESB:R thread, I think they are wise to keep up appearances and avoid loosing traffic by getting rid of unnecessary and pointless spam posts.

In all honesty, we are allowed to get away with a lot on these forums, which is really what makes them worth sticking around for. It is really hard to find the combination of order and freedom that can be had on this forum.

Neigh

If I can't poop, you can't work.

Haha! Yet another awesome post from ABC.

I am sorry, that answer needs to be in the form of either a "yea" (yays will be accepted as well) or a "nay".

Taking the lead from my friend Warbler, I have decided I'm going to put it up for a vote.

All those whom think I should resume the daily process of relieving myself, vote yea. Those whom think I shouldn't, vote nay. I will abide by the majority.  

Voting will end at the end of Friday, exactly at 12 AM 08/07/2010 (Eastern Standard Time).  

Let voting commence. 

Warbler said:

A B C said:

Warbler said:

I'm going to put it up for a vote.

You take the political way here again... I think you care too much about how others look at you / think about you / think about what you think. Why don't just be yourself ?

but who is myself?  Is it wrong to care what others think?  I would think it would be selfish to not care what others think.

Why would that be selfish? Caring too much of what others think is a very dangerous thing. If I worried so much about what others thought, I would be nowhere in life. You have to be your own person. When I was in grade school some of the other kids thought I was pretty pathetic because I didn't own the right kind of tennis shoes. Some kids cared what these other kids thought and ran out and bought those kind of tennis shoes so they could be considered cool. I, on the other hand, didn't care what these kids thought about me and was perfectly happy with my cheapo Shopko tennis shoes. Was I being selfish?

Notice how most of the people voting have expressed that they don't really care and that they think you ought to do whatever you feel like you should do? Notice how CompMovieGuy is dead set against you posting in the politics thread? Does it make sense to you that someone who has never even posted in the politics thread and who is not even much of an off topic frequenter is all gung ho about you not posting in the politics thread anymore? I am not sure why you think you should base your life's decisions on people who don't even give a rat's ass about you. But to each their own.

C3PX said:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannd... it's tails!

My official vote is, "Nay".

very well,  but  I do wish you had put more thought into your than just simply flipping a coin.   But, its your vote.

I put a ton of thought into my answer, Warb. I wrote a rather long and time consuming post expressing how I felt about the subject. I doubt many of those other yeas or nays had anywhere near as much thought put into them than my first post in this thread. But since it wasn't a definitively positive or negative stance being taken, it didn't count towards the vote. 

My coin flip was meant to demostrait how very ridiculous I find this whole election. But even so, I am willing to bet more thought was put into it than some of the other votes that have been taken more seriously, especially CompMovieGuy's, whose vote seems more reactionary to the fact that he doesn't think too highly of you and nothing more.

I, being about the only one posting in this thread who regularly posts with you in the politics thread (Xhonzi pipes up from time to time, he abstained. Fink pops in to make a joke or two, but more because he cannot contain himself. And Bingowings also makes an occasional appearence, but like Xhonzi, he didn't want to vote either), would be very happy to get to continue discussing politics with you. But that doesn't matter. You are going to throw more credit on my coin toss and the opinions of people who don't even take part in the thread you are asking them to make a choice for you about. While you are at it, maybe you ought to go to the General Star Wars thread and the Preservation and fan edit threads, where those people don't even know who you are and ask for their opinions as well.

Nice find, but no. We are looking for an orange ran by clockwork, not a clock ran by an orange.

Spoilt Vote

Darth Solo said:

A clockwork orange. Weird sir. Didnt get the message Kubrick was getting at, but i loved it and hated it at the same time. Alex got reformed, so theres hope for all of us

But... he... didn't... get... reformed... which was kind of the point.

The title is meant to be a bit of an oxymoron. It refers to an orange, which is organic, and clockwork, which is man made and mechanical. Alex was meant to be the clockwork orange, something organic that they try to manipulate like clockwork, but nature doesn't work like that. There is no such thing as a clockwork orange.

CompMovieGuy said:

This whole poll is invalidated

Because he is clearly cherry picking the votes and swaying the results to the direction he wants it to go.

Now anybody here who votes/voted yes should seriously reconsider their position

I am trying to figure out why he didn't count yours (EDIT: Ah, he misread it, that makes sense). Seemingly, all the guys giving him the best advice he is ignoring, because they refuse to give a simple yes or no answer.

Since most of these people don't even post in the politics thread, I am not exactly sure why he is so worried about their opinions.

Anyway, even if he were trying to sway things one way or another, it really shouldn't matter, it really ought to be his choice and not a democratic decision for him to participate in political discussion or not. 

Just for kicks, I am going to flip a coin and cast my vote based on that. Heads yea, tails nay. Whatever my vote ends up being, I seriously hope you won't really use this silly election as the determining factor in your choice.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannd... it's tails!

My official vote is, "Nay".

Whoa! It is getting bigger!

Warbler said:

you have to vote one or the other, not both.  Are you guys from Florida, by any chance?

 Look at his post again more carefully. He didn't vote both.

Warbler said:

huh, he's watching Star Trek:TNG  

No, Star Trek:TNG is watching them!

xhonzi said:

I'm tired of beating my wife.

Bastard!