I don't think a single Dune thread would do, you really need half a dozen of them, at least, to get the feeling right.
vbangle said:
Unfortunately, Detroit is a filthy piss hole dump of a city, so yes they needed this badly...good for them.
You mean a fucking awesome filthy piss hole dump of a city!
I really miss that place. So many good times there. If you've never experienced Detroit's night life and culture, you have no idea what you're missing. Filled with lot of artistic talent too. Detroit may be, in part, ruins surrounding a once booming corporate empire, but damn, does that place have character!
imperialscum said:
CP3S said:
This can be true, I suppose. But a bad director could turn a great script into a disaster, and a great director could technically take a lousy script and turn it into something enjoyable to watch. There are movies with awful writing that are still visually and stylistically engaging to the point of being a decent films. I feel the director is still the maker or the breaker.
I kinda disagree with this. If the screenplay/idea is great and the director is bad the film will probably turn out good. If the screenplay is bad then there is no director who can make a good film out of it.
The great Akira Kurosawa would agree with you:
http://m.imdb.com/name/nm0000041/quotes
fourth quote down from the top.
I just feel like there are too many other variables that the director has control over for this to be true. Bad acting alone could butcher and destroy the greatest words ever written.
Heheh, can't decide if I like Jar Jar Abrams or J. J. Binks better. Maybe we have stumbled upon the real reason Abrams initially turned down the offer to do the next Star Wars. ;)
SilverWook said:
Have you tried out the holodeck yet? ;)
I need to reinstall EF one of these days. I want to play the Captain Proton mod in glorious black and white again.
Haha, I forgot about the Captain Proton campaign in the expansion. That was a really fun bonus.
Did you ever play Elite Force II, SilverWook? It came out during a period where I had lost interest in/didn't have time for games, I did eventually play a few levels in, but never any further.
I liked that it took place on the Enterprise E in a post Nemesis storyline and featured Patrick Stewart. Maybe I need to get my hands on a copy... I still have my original Elite Force and expansion somewhere too.
Still, the direction plays a huge role in Alien. For example, the pacing of that film and the framing of the shots are a very major part of what makes it so fantastic.
I think Jurassic Park is another good example of an absolutely awful script behind a very enjoyable and engaging film.
imperialscum said:
Film director (if not also a writer) is basically more or less an operational director. In general, I think writers should get more credit than the director since they are the real creative force.
This can be true, I suppose. But a bad director could turn a great script into a disaster, and a great director could technically take a lousy script and turn it into something enjoyable to watch. There are movies with awful writing that are still visually and stylistically engaging to the point of being a decent films. I feel the director is still the maker or the breaker.
I feel like film as an art form really shines when it is conceived, written, and directed by the same person. Not to say you can't have amazing films with different writers and directors (Blade Runner comes to mind, and I think that film's triumph is far more the direction that the script, the writing really isn't anything special, though it has its moments), but it seem the majority of films I feel are truly special are written and directed by a single creative force.
With Star Trek '09, I feel like Orci and Kurtzman have their stamp on it as much as Abrams does (which is a bad thing, IMHO). As much shit as I give Abrams, I do think the guy has some cool ideas, and I feel his directing style is far above most standard throw-away blockbuster directors. In other words, for what he is, he is better than average.
Rushmore (1998)
As someone who really enjoys Wes Anderson films, I finished this one wondering how it was that I've managed to go this long without seeing it. Several aspects of it reminded me a whole lot of Moonrise Kingdom. Though regrettably for my part, some aspects of Moonrise Kingdom really should have reminded me of this film rather than the other way around.
4 out of 4 run over bicycles.
I'm not a Harry Potter fan at all. I haven't even seen all the movies, and don't care much about any of it. But LEGO Harry Potter was my first LEGO game and I enjoyed ever second of playing it (probably had a lot to do with my co-op partner, but the game was really enjoyable). They make for a great two player experience, they are casual enough that someone who doesn't play video games can get into them, and fun enough that someone who plays a lot of games can enjoy them.
Plenty of parents play these games with their kids. References to films kids wouldn't/shouldn't get seems perfectly reasonable, these games may have originally been made as fun and easy kids games, but since then it has been well established adults play and love them too. Several years ago, before LEGO Star Wars and the following the series of themed LEGO games, I couldn't imagine too many adults having much interest in playing a game called LEGO: City Undercover, but I'm sure they anticipated it would ride on the reputation of the other LEGO games as fun for all ages.
The Cage is one of my all time favorite things Star Trek, and definitely my favorite episode of TOS.
What film did it rip off, Tobar?
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
CP3S said:
When you're abroad, you find that people from the United States have an almost universal reputation of being very fat, very loud, and very ignorant.
and you complain about my thinking on the French. You are just as bad as that, if not worse, when it comes to your own country.
The "very fat, very loud, and very ignorant" thing isn't from me. That is seriously the stigma attached to us that I heard from people again and again, much like the French being snobs, and the British having atrocious teeth. It is our stereotype.
yet instead of fighting against this stereotype, you cooperated with it. You could have been an example to them of an American who was not "very fat, very loud, and very ignorant" instead, you made them think you were Canadian. Think about that.
My friends and people I worked with knew I was an American. Everyone in the city I lived in who knew me, knew I was an American. The people I heard the fat, loud, and ignorant comments from, knew I was an American. It was when I traveled that I'd often feel compelled to lie, not always. You can't say you wouldn't do the same when you've never been in that situation.
I've had my life threatened on multiple occasions for being an American. I've had knifes pulled on me, guns pointed at me, and been psychologically fucked with in violent ways for being an American. I've had friends traveling with me threatened, for me being an American. I had to beat the shit out of a guy in self defense, for being an American.
Sorry, but I am not one bit ashamed of pretending to be something people hate a little less. This is diving WAY too far into personal areas that I do not want to talk about at all!
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
CP3S said:
When I was out of the country, I used to tell strangers that I was Canadian.
honestly, I have to say, you should be ashamed of yourself for doing so. No American should be embarrassed to admit he's/she's an American.
I'm not ashamed of it.
well you should be.
And you should fuck yourself.
Sorry, overreaction.
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
CP3S said:
Tell me, just how many French people have you known, Warb?
not many. ABC for one. how about you?
I've been there to visit a few times, knew a number of French students in college, dated an American girl who lived in France for several years and met a few of her French friends. My freshmen year of college, specifically, I knocked around with this pretty French girl named Anna for a little while.
ok you know the French better than I do. tell me what they think of America.
Tell you what which one of them thought of America? Like I said, I've known several different people from France, and like all individuals, their feelings differ from one another.
Anna was kind of a snob, but she was hot enough to get away with it. ;) Actually, I think a lot of that was her trying to hid her vulnerability of being in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, and struggling with understanding everyone around her with their weird accents and talking too quickly for her. We tend to like to hid behind things we know and understand, and that manifested itself in comments like, "Ugh, we'd never do something like this in France!". I've heard Americans in other countries do it all the time. She could be extremely sweet, too.
I am proud to be an American.
I am proud to be a highly evolved monkey man with opposable thumbs. And I feel very fortunate to have been born in a country where I have had the life's opportunities I have had, such as education, my opportunities to work abroad, traveling, access to ideas, as well as all the benefits secured for us by the founders through the Constitution. It is a good place to live.
CP3S said:
When I was out of the country, I used to tell strangers that I was Canadian.
honestly, I have to say, you should be ashamed of yourself for doing so. No American should be embarrassed to admit he's/she's an American.
I'm not ashamed of it. Being an American carries a lot of negative stigma with it throughout the world, I wasn't prepared to deal with it that back then. Now I am more secure. It is extremely easy for you to tell me I should be ashamed, when you've never stepped outside of our front door, so to speak.
CP3S said:
When you're abroad, you find that people from the United States have an almost universal reputation of being very fat, very loud, and very ignorant.
and you complain about my thinking on the French. You are just as bad as that, if not worse, when it comes to your own country.
The "very fat, very loud, and very ignorant" thing isn't from me. That is seriously the stigma attached to us that I heard from people again and again, much like the French being snobs, and the British having atrocious teeth. It is our stereotype. When I'd hear them make these comments about the country I was from, it really hurt.
CP3S said:
Yes, I am an American. I was born here. I was half raised here. I am very much a product of American culture and American thinking.
could have fooled me.
Ouch.
CP3S said:
9/11 was a lose/lose situation, and we lost and and we lost. It took us many years to get Bin Laden, and by the time we did he was an old useless has been who couldn't even leave the house in hiding. Bin Laden cost way more lives than he was worth.
so we should have just let him get away with it?!?! Sorry no, when someone murders 3000 people, I want him to pay for it. We needed to get him to show that, you attack America, we take you out. Why wouldn't you want a murderer brought to justice? Next you'll be saying we should have never tried to find the people that did the Boston bombing. You are turning into a pacifist.
It seems the United Nations didn't start collecting data on the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan until 2006, since then, over 14,000 (pushing 15,000) civilians were killed thanks to our war. If you ask me, there is absolutely no way to justify that. His actions set into motion the deaths of 3,000 Americans, ours well over 14,000 Afghans. That is noncombatants, people as innocent as those 3,000 that died on 9/11, and that number is just since 2006, half the extent of the conflict.
If you include the American lives, the lives of other military personnel from around the world, and the lives of those fighting against us along with the full number of collateral fatalities for the entire extent of Americans war in Afghanistan... That is a lot of dead humans.
I highly doubt the elusive terrorists could have killed a decent fraction of as many people in as many years. If this doesn't stop and cause you to rethink it, nothing will. But hey, we got Bin Laden out of it! Justice is a beautiful thing, right?
Nope.
Racist!
TV's Frink said:
Hell was enjoyable until the end...
I find hell tends to be like for most people.
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
I didn't live in America at the time of 9/11, or the few years preceding and following it, and I've always had a really hard time relating to Americans on it.
this I do not understand. Although you weren't in the country at the time, you were an American at the time, correct? How would where you physically were at the time, effect how you feel about 911?
I've witnessed a lot of violence in my lifetime, and there are massive events that leave far more than 3,000 dead that happen all the time. Many of these events are caused by bad people inflicting harm on innocent people, much like 9/11, others are naturally occurring. I feel mournful every time I hear of one of these events, even more so when it is an act of evil men. This is exactly how I feel about 9/11. If I became enraged/depressed/pissed off/unable to move on/etc. every time one of these events took place, or every time I remembered one of these events, I'd have to be enraged/depressed/pissed off/unable to move on/etc. pretty much most of the time.
still not sure, how, as an American, 911 isn't a bigger deal to you.
I guess I identify more as a person than an American. Not sure, how, as a human, more world catastrophes aren't bigger deals to you.
CP3S said:
It happened, it sucked, nothing can be done about it. So it goes.
I disagree with the underlined. You can do two things:
1. bring the people that did it to justice, just like you would do in the case of any other murder.
2. take reasonable steps to prevent it from happening again. Of course everyone is going to disagree with each other on what those steps should be.
We did those things. Right? So, is it better? Did we fix it?
CP3S said:
CP3S said:
and it was really dumb sounding and annoying. Lots of ragging on the French too.
well, the French do look down their noses at us.
Do they?
seems like it. Seems like they have a low opinion of America and Americans.
Well, you clearly have a low opinion of the French. So if they do, I can't fault them for it.
CP3S said:
Tell me, just how many French people have you known, Warb?
not many. ABC for one. how about you?
I've been there to visit a few times, knew a number of French students in college, dated an American girl who lived in France for several years and met a few of her French friends. My freshmen year of college, specifically, I knocked around with this pretty French girl named Anna for a little while.
CP3S said:
Every culture has its quirks that we stereotype them by, maybe there is a general French sentiment of pride and xenophobia. America has worse traits than that.
such as? CP3S, you sure you're an American?
I used to spend a lot of time wishing I wasn't, but I grew out of that phase. Or at least most of the time I think I have. When I was out of the country, I used to tell strangers that I was Canadian. When you're abroad, you find that people from the United States have an almost universal reputation of being very fat, very loud, and very ignorant.
Yes, I am an American. I was born here. I was half raised here. I am very much a product of American culture and American thinking.
CP3S said:
At what cost? I don't think either of them was worth it, I feel sure one wasn't.
with Saddam, maybe you are right. But Bin Laden? No, he had to be stopped. He had to pay for 911. You can't do something like that to us and get away with it. Would you suggest letting 911 go unpunished? When someone is murdered, do you object to finding out who the murder is and going after him/her?
Bin Laden is the one I feel sure wasn't worth it, he had no power. With Saddam, maybe we did some good removing him from power, bottom line on that one is, we had absolutely no reason to be in that country. 9/11 was a lose/lose situation, and we lost and and we lost. It took us many years to get Bin Laden, and by the time we did he was an old useless has been who couldn't even leave the house in hiding. Bin Laden cost way more lives than he was worth. And his death is still questionable. His death came at a time of political convenience, and no evidence of his death has ever been given. Not sure I am really doubting it, just saying that there is reason too.
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
I work with kids in these age ranges. None of them talk about Al Qaeda or 9/11. A lot don't even really remember much of the events. When the Boston Marathon bombing happened, the first thing they thought of wasn't "OMG! Islamic terrorists!" It was, "Crap, another psycho!"
but I bet they still consider Al Qaeda a threat.
And I bet most of the ones I work with have no idea what Al Qaeda is.
if so, the people you work with are incredibly ignorant and must live under huge boulders.
I'm talking about the kids that I work with, not my coworkers. I'm just making the point that to this younger generation it is a piece of history, rather than a current event that greatly impacted their lives.
The Gulf War happened when I was a kid, and I have to admit that I really knew nothing of what it was about at the time. Is it really so unusual for kids 12 and under to be ignorant of this stuff?
CP3S said:
I actually had an eleven year old say to me once, "I forget, which one was it that attacked us on 9/11, Iran or Iraq?" When I told him neither of them, he looked very confused and asked for more details about the wars. Turns out, it is much more confusing trying to explain this stuff to a person who wasn't there for it than I would have guessed it would be.
that 11 year old needs an education, real bad.
Well, actually I need education real bad, or to get more sleep, or to read what I post before I post it. He asked about Afghanistan and Iraq, not Iran and Iraq. From there, same point as above.
CP3S said:
No, Warb, kids that age don't know much about Al Qaeda. And as time passes, they'll know and care even less about them.
I don't believe you. May I remind you, some of today's kids lost their mothers and/or fathers on 911.
You don't need to remind me of that, and of course those ones would be well informed on the subject. But taking the entire percentage of the US population, a very, very small number of kids lost parents from 9/11. I feel like you are skirting around the point being made, like you so often do.
CP3S said:
The nation has moved on. We haven't forgotten, but we are over it.
you sure you know your own nation all that well?
Do you? I don't watch the news (though I do keep up with what is going on), so I am out of touch as far as the words of pundits and anchors, but I do get out a lot and converse with a lot of people. Maybe I don't know my nation that well, it is hard to say.
CP3S said:
Ten year olds living in Iran and Iraq on the other hand... It is going to be a while before all they were exposed to and suffered fades away.
1. what does Iran have do with this. We have done nothing yet in Iran, and certainly did nothing in Iran in response to 911.
2. you speak of the stuff 10 year olds wre exposed to in Iraq, just what kind of stuff would they be exposed to in their lifetimes had we left Saddam in power?
Dammit. I meant Iraq and Afghanistan. I was exhausted and under the influence while writing that last post.
I don't know what they would have experienced under Saddam, but they wouldn't have experienced foreign forces invading their country or have been exposed to war and carnage in their own backyards. I'm not convinced it is all that much better now that Saddam is gone, and it certainly cost a lot of lives to take him down, far more than 3,000, plenty of which were as innocent at the 3,000 that died from the attacks on NY in 2001.
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
I work with kids in these age ranges. None of them talk about Al Qaeda or 9/11. A lot don't even really remember much of the events. When the Boston Marathon bombing happened, the first thing they thought of wasn't "OMG! Islamic terrorists!" It was, "Crap, another psycho!"
but I bet they still consider Al Qaeda a threat.
And I bet most of the ones I work with have no idea what Al Qaeda is. I actually had an eleven year old say to me once, "I forget, which one was it that attacked us on 9/11, Iran or Iraq?" When I told him neither of them, he looked very confused and asked for more details about the wars. Turns out, it is much more confusing trying to explain this stuff to a person who wasn't there for it than I would have guessed it would be.
No, Warb, kids that age don't know much about Al Qaeda. And as time passes, they'll know and care even less about them. The ones who have dads in the military, or who have really right wing parents and are exposed to a lot of Fox News type stuff are probably about the only ones. The nation has moved on. We haven't forgotten, but we are over it.
We've done enough terrible shameful things in response to 9/11, it is one of those parts of history a lot of Americans are happy to sheepishly let fade into the obscurity of the history books. Ten year olds living in Iran and Iraq on the other hand... It is going to be a while before all they were exposed to and suffered fades away.
Warbler said:
CP3S said:
I didn't live in America at the time of 9/11, or the few years preceding and following it, and I've always had a really hard time relating to Americans on it.
this I do not understand. Although you weren't in the country at the time, you were an American at the time, correct? How would where you physically were at the time, effect how you feel about 911?
I've witnessed a lot of violence in my lifetime, and there are massive events that leave far more than 3,000 dead that happen all the time. Many of these events are caused by bad people inflicting harm on innocent people, much like 9/11, others are naturally occurring. I feel mournful every time I hear of one of these events, even more so when it is an act of evil men. This is exactly how I feel about 9/11. If I became enraged/depressed/pissed off/unable to move on/etc. every time one of these events took place, or every time I remembered one of these events, I'd have to be enraged/depressed/pissed off/unable to move on/etc. pretty much most of the time. It happened, it sucked, nothing can be done about it. So it goes.
CP3S said:
, right after this happened every email I got was so filled with hatred and rage, I just stopped emailing them back.
what is wrong with hatred and rage at the people who did 911?
I prefer communicating with cool heads. Hatred is something I am against in general, even geared toward the worse of people. And rage is a useless emotion that benefits nobody.
Their rage was very broad, and extended toward most things brown or foreign. I didn't care to hear it.
CP3S said:
and it was really dumb sounding and annoying. Lots of ragging on the French too.
well, the French do look down their noses at us.
Do they? Tell me, just how many French people have you known, Warb? Every culture has its quirks that we stereotype them by, maybe there is a general French sentiment of pride and xenophobia. America has worse traits than that.
CP3S said:
It was horrific, but so few people died,
ok, CP3S, you need to explain this. so few people????????????????????
Explained in the first part of this post.
CP3S said:
so many violent acts have happened before and since that have claimed so many more innocent lives (including our stupid wars)
could have sworn there was time when you didn't feel the wars were stupid. I hate war, but the people that did 911 needed to be brought to justice. At least the wars rid us of these guys:
I mean you have to admit it is good thing these guys are no longer alive.
At what cost? I don't think either of them was worth it, I feel sure one wasn't. Yeah, I was for them before I was against them. I guess I've matured since then. Watching the cost, in resources and in lives, rack up over the last decade has gone a long ways in making me feel foolish for ever thinking that those wars were the lesser of multiple evils.
Warbler said:
as for rage, I am sorry but telling me 911 was just a fart or telling me to just get over it, comes off to me a ignorant and offensive.
I do not think that words means what you think it means.
burka burka
Lindelof is reading the bit about the revelation planet and turtles talking to space and wondering how the hell Hal 9000 got a hold of his notes for ST09 parts 3 and 4.
TV's Frink said:
georgec said:
I like their fries.
Anyone remember "freedom fries"?
Yeah, that was dumb.
How big was the freedom fries thing? Back in 2001 I was lucky if I got to check my email once a week or so, and didn't have much access to the internet, and when I did it was really, really slow. I heard about it from another American in a conversation I remember being very frustrating (I hate when people tell you something vague, and have no details to offer about it).
"You know, they call them freedom fries now."
"What?
"Freedom fries. They call french fries freedom fries now."
"Who does?"
"They do."
"Who is 'they'?"
"In America, they are freedom fries now, and not french fries."
"I get that we're talking about in America, but who calls them that?"
"Americans do."
I was imagining anything from a small minority of people demanding that they be called "freedom fries" and getting a lot of press buzz over it, to restaurant menus being changed and McDonald's tellers asking, "Would you like freedom fries with that?" I'm now under the impression it was something very minor that caused most people to roll their eyes when they heard it. To what extent did this "freedom fry" thing actually go?
Kind of late to the party, but I beat it! And I really, really liked it! I have to agree the combat was bland in comparison to the last two Bioshocks, and even compared to System Shock 2 perhaps. I really missed the Big Daddy fights, those were one of my favorite aspects of the first two games. This one felt very lacking in the big battle department, there were only, what, two boss fights? This game relied more on throwing hoards at you. Instead of the combat being the main reason for playing the game, I felt like it was more of an obstacle I had to work through to continue exploring and learning more of the story.
Vigors seemed much less potent and fun than plasmids, I used to have a ton of fun killing splicers with plasmids, in this one it seemed you could only do very little damage with the vigors, even when they were fully upgraded. While this game gave us more guns, it only let us carry two at once, and the guns were bland enough that there was very little incentive to bother even messing with most of them.
There was also a lot less extra stuff to do in this one. No hunting down every last Little Sister in an area before leaving, or taking pictures to do research, or hacking mini games. I'm not sure that is so bad though, it makes this one more of its own game, but those things weren't really replaced with anything else. Made the experience feel like a stripped down and simplified version of what I am used to getting from Bioshock.
As for the story line, I have zero complaints. I think I had low expectations for this game, the departure from Rapture and the silliness of a floating city just didn't have me enthused. I was really looking forward to playing it, but I was kind of imagining a fun game that would ultimately be a cheap attempt at rehashing the first game in a different way. And it kind of was, but by the end, I found myself very invested in the mysteries of this new city and where the story would go. I am really pleased with the end result. I almost peed myself with elation when I suddenly and unexpectedly found myself standing in Rapture again. I liked how they tied the games together, I had no clue that was going to happen. I liked the Elizabeth/Anna reveal, but I am still not sure how I feel about the Booker/Comstock thing. I think I kind of like it, but I am not sure if I like how it ended. I really wanted to see Elizabeth make it to Paris, though perhaps that would have been sappy.