CP3S

Tyrphanax said:

I figure there's no meaning to life; you just live it.

Human minds are flawed in that they always overthink things or try to ascribe meaning where there is none because it's more comfortable to feel like things are "taken care of" than to acknowledge realities.

We come into the universe, we stay awhile, and then we leave, just like everything else in the universe. It's no more complex than that.

 

You just gotta live and enjoy what you have while you have it. Much more simple that way.

I agree with your general statement about coming into the universe, staying awhile, and leaving. But I couldn't disagree more about your concept of human minds being flawed. It is hardly a flaw! It's brilliant! It is part of what makes us great! We seek, we explore, we reason, we discover. If we didn't do those things, it would be quite sad and futile, why even bother with life? The meaning to your life can be whatever you want to make it. If someone wants to make it a sad existence of eating, sleeping, living, and dying, then more power to them. But we can all set our own goals. We can achieve greatness, we can find our own meaning and make some sort of difference to those on this journey with us or those who come after, we can leave a name for ourselves, or we quietly influence those around us, or we can please ourselves, or at least attempt to do so, and fade away. We have endless possibilities. It's exciting. The only thing that limits us is our own mistaken belief that we are limited, that we have to live the life we were born into and conform to what is expected of us.

The universe and our tiny little world are amazing places, there is so much to see, so much to do, and sadly, so little time to see and do it in. The longing to grasp onto all of this and wonder about it is what drives some to seek out answers in the supernatural, in tea leave, astrology, various religions, quick and easy answers to numb the curiosity; and also what drives others to seek and explore and try to figure out how this works and why it works the way it does and how it may have come to work that way.

Flaw indeed.

Tyrphanax said:

It's 42, guys.

And you call yourselves nerds. For shame.

Silly Tyrphanax, you got that from a science fiction novel. It isn't real.

I do find this whole thing interesting though.

Kickoffs are where the largest number of head injuries occur. The largest percentage of concussions. In several cases, these concussions have lead to permanent loss of cognitive function. Even early onset of Alzheimer's, which is kind of a big deal. You have a lot of irreversible brain trauma happening to these players. 

So, a proposal comes to alter this one aspect of the game, which statistically speaking, ought to dramatically reduce the number of head injuries sustained, and best I can tell, wouldn't really effect the over all experience so much. You'd still have two teams of ridiculously large American guys throwing and carrying a non-ball around while wearing excessive armor, just the way in which they initially get the ball into play would be a little different. Am I right? Or would this truly alter the game to such a degree many fans would no longer find it enjoyable?

A google search on the subject seems to indicate that it is the consensus of the general population of the internets that by removing the kickoff it will ruin the game and castrate a once great and manly sport. So many people seemingly up in arms about this suggestion. Really? Wouldn't it completely be worth this small change in order to prevent the players you love to watch, cheer for, and admire so much from suffering permanent quality of life ruining injuries? The whole cry for blood and fast unwillingness to even consider such a change feels almost gladiatorial in a way.

timdiggerm said:

From the other perspective though, someone who's just met is hoping to make small talk (an important part of any social interaction, especially when you've just met) and picks what, statistically speaking, has been a very dependable small talk topic. Uh....shoot, now what to talk about? Plus, if you don't know many people who aren't into sports, it would seem strange.

I know, didn't I say as much in my post?

You probably exaggerate when you say that they immediately suspect you of being ready to murder, and exaggeration never helped anybody come to a peaceful understanding of one another.

And, if it matters, I'm saying all this as a person who doesn't follow sports.

Of course it is a bit of an exaggeration, but nobody is having any trouble coming to a peaceful understanding. There is almost always a look of minor shock, followed by bewildered questions of "why" and "how".

Warb is a good example of the sort of reactions you get, actually. He seems quite pissed off at me and georgec right now, telling us to leave an all. What other thread in off topic stays on topic? For the most part it is only the sports thread where hissies are thrown in the event someone meanders onto some other subject.

Sean Wookie has the distinction of being the only forum member I've met in real life, and he is pretty cool. I kind of regret not making a point to hang out with him more during the time we lived only half an hour away from each other. He totally introduced me to geocaching, which I've never done again since, but it is cool to be able to say I've done it. The other day some co-workers were talking about it, and I was able to say, "Yep, I've done a bit of that back in my day." (or something slightly less douchey).

I feel like Sean always played the forum younger brother role. Always coming around asking for advice. I've actually learned a lot from him over the years too, believe it or not. Even somethings that I was able to put into practical use in relating to some of my students back in my old teaching days. I'm glad he has been around, my OT.com experience wouldn't have been the same without him. And I like it when he pops back in and posts new stuff, it's always nice seeing the "faces" of members who have been here as long as, or in this case, longer than me.

The majority of us here in off topic have never contributed anything real to this forum. What of it? I made my own non-Star Wars related preservation once, of which a total of four people over the course of two years wanted (all of which registered just so they could pm me their request and were never heard of again, so it wasn't even a contribution to this community), and I've done a few pay-it-forwards, beyond that, which is nothing, I have no reason to be here if the criteria for being here is being productive and "contributing" to the community.

Oh yeah, and I never even realized he misspelled "wookiee" until just now.

43

5 :)

3 :)

Warbler said:

well georgec, you are free to not post in this thread, if you think sports is "so...inconsequential".  

Haha. Didn't see this post before I posted mine. Case in point.

To get back on topic:

Sarcastaball! The future of American televised sports!

georgec said:

...it all just seems so...inconsequential.

When I hear people arguing about sports, what this guy said, what that guy said, etc., it just seems like such a waste of time. I think the culture of sports is extremely bloated. Watching a bit of a game here and there is fun, but anything beyond that doesn't interest me now.

Rant over.

Yay! Guys like me and the Gaffertape are generally made to feel like aliens our entire lives because we don't get into sports. It is kind of refreshing to see someone who was once into sports "get it" and start to see things the way we have always seen them. It just feels like a bunch of inconsequential crap used to sell lots of stuff.

One thing I honestly dread about meeting new people is that I know the sports question is always going to come up.

"What's your name?"

"C3PX"

"Cool. Who's your team?"

"Uhh, never really got much into sports, to be honest"

*Baffled look* *Alert stance* *Cautious tone of voice as if speaking to someone who is clearly a lunatic who could snap and kill you at any moment* "Really?! How come?" (seriously, this question almost always happens. Nobody can hear someone say they are not into sports and just leave it at that, they have to figure out what the hell is wrong with you by pressing the issue and trying to get to the bottom of things. I am not even kidding or exaggerating in the least.)

I've gotten to the point where I almost feel guilty when I say I am not into sports. Like I am being rude or difficult. Especially where I live now where people, sadly, have very little else they want to talk about. I feel like I am pushing people away, or telling them that their go to bridge for arbitrarily relating to strangers is, in my case, nothing more than a sheer drop into a gaping ravine. My dad, who has always for the most part felt the same way about sports as me, fakes it. He'll read the local college team's scores online along with any important highlights from the last big game so he can use it to make small talk with people and built rapport. Feels somewhat disingenuous to me, but I can see why he does it. Commercialized sports have become such a deep, embedded part of our culture, and when you don't embrace that aspect of our culture, it can be very hard to find common ground with those around you.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, nobody is being hard on him. Just giving him friendly and, hopefully, helpful insight. And she didn't say he was a gentleman, she said he was "special", I am assuming in a, "Uh, I really wanted my boobs played with, silly." kind of way. But I might have read that wrong and she might genuinely have been appreciative he didn't react the way most guys his age would have.

TV's Frink said:

Twas his term, not mine.

Oops. Was intending that as a reply to Sean's post, but now just realized I quoted yours.

Tyrphanax said:

In my experience, when breasts are on display, they're on display to be played with.

Displaying them and expecting them not to be played with reeks of a trap to me.

Yup. The time for chivalry has past. Give those puppies a squeeze. If she is the type to trap you with boobage displayage and make you feel like some kind of barbaric monster for cupping a feel after shoving them in your face (unless she is a stripper, then that is normal professional behavior) then she is probably the psycho sort that will tell you she is pregnant to keep you around and all sorts of other manipulative crap once thing get rolling.

AntcuFaalb said:

CP3S: Should we post the petition on Social Media sites (Twitter, Google+, etc.)?

What are those? lol.

TV's Frink said:

sean wookie said:

Tyrphanax said:

sean wookie said:

My girlfriend says I'm special because I didn't feel her up on the first date after she showed me her tits.

That's kind of a weird double standard.

Well I seen her tits through the internet. I didn't feel her up because I was being a gentlemen.

Talking about her on the internet is not being a gentleman.

Not feeling her tits up while staring at them as she bares them to you is not being a gentleman. She most certainly isn't being ladylike, therefore the time for chivalry has past.

Eww! Nah, dude. It isn't like that at all. I imagine she is really rebellious and told him about it as soon as she got home to tick him off. Or she is a goody-goody and asked permission first.

Totally has a mole in one pic and not the other. Does she draw it on?

New season later this year. Yay.

Pat man, how does the number 6,102 make you feel? What are your opinions on it? Would you name a son after it? What about a pet? What would your reaction be if, say, your teenage daughter were to come home with that number tattooed on an intimate part of her body?

There are the sort of comments your audience is after.

There was one particular video game addiction documentary I was looking for, actually, none of the ones I linked to are very interesting with the exception of the Tyra one, which is just amusing.

The one I was looking for was one that was posted in the video games thread, or somewhere else on this site, a few years ago and discussed. I figured the faces around here had changed a lot and it would be interesting to get into again, but I couldn't seem to find it. It was a pretty in depth documentary and it interviewed several different individuals, one being the mother of a WoW addict who eventually killed himself, which she attributed to his obsession. Anyone know the one I am talking about?

Oh man, I feel like I really need to play Dishonored.

Tobar said:

I do find the token black guy situation on the show pretty hilarious. T-Dog made it all the way through three seasons and then was promptly replaced by the new black prisoner dude. Who was then promptly removed to make room for the new black guy with the family. (Who is supposed to be the guy they find on the side of the road with his family in the comics right?) It's as if they're not allowed to have more than one major black male character at a time. =P

Yeah, that is Tyreese, the guy they found on the side of the road early on in the comics along with his daughter and her boyfriend. He was such a strong supporting character in the comics, I was surprised they didn't introduce him earlier on. They're introducing him really close to his exit point in the comics, hope they keep him interesting and have him stick around a while. Daryl has kind of taken his place as Rick's right hand guy, but those two don't really have the relationship Rick and Tyreese had. Ah, that is another example of how good the writing and story telling is in the comics! How Tyreese sees Rick becoming this darker ends justify the means character and totally calls him out on it after watching him murder Dexter. That kind of character depth is totally absent from the tv show. I feel like the tv show is really watered down appeal to a wider audience.

Actually, I've always felt it kind of disappointing that you have this comic series that had a few really strong and useful African American characters, and the tv series sunk to the level of having the useless token black character in the background doing pretty much nothing. It is nice to see Tyreese and Michonne on the show now, I hope they get to play the roles they deserve.

TV's Frink said:

I loved the first few seasons of The Venture Bros.  but I felt it got more weird and less funny as it went on.

It kind of agree, it started to get really bogged down and hard to follow. Many twists. I do kind of miss the older stuff back when they were actually adventuring, but at the same time I kind of like all the depth and twists. It is too easy for shows to get really formulamatic, breaking the mold and introducing constant plot twists and game changers keeps it more interesting. But perhaps it over does it. I've heard a lot of people say they lost interest once it got more involved. Seems like it reached a point that it is kind of alienating to the casual viewer.

Tobar said:

The show is a lot better written than the comics.

LOL. Yeah, no.

Some of my favorite characters in the comics are just downright annoying and unlikable in the TV show. Everyone is really two-dimensional and pointless. In the comic you can actually grow attached to these characters and feel shocked and sad when they die. From all accounts, everyone I hear talk about the show is rooting for the deaths of the characters who end up dying long before they bite it. People couldn't wait for Dale and Shane to die. The major death of season three (vague not to give spoilers) is one people have been begging for since the middle of season two. Oh yeah, and T-Dawg. One of the most pointless characters in a tv show. Obviously just the token black guy who they could finally get rid of thanks to Michonne's arrival. I don't even feel like I need spoiler tags for that one, because no one even cares about that guy.

The comic does a far better job of pulling the story forward, a far better job of growing the characters, a far better job of building their relationships. In the comics there are moments that are downright gut wrenching, because you grow to really care about these characters. In the tv show things just kind of happen. What it tries to pull off as suspense just builds boredom. I really have a hard time caring what happens to these characters, because they just aren't interesting. Michonne is a good example of the tv show ruining interesting characters. Michonne is practically a mute who just glares and tries to look suspicious about everything, instead of the fucked up batshit crazy badass character she was in the books. She goes through some of the actions the comic character may have tried to pull had they been put in the same situations, but she does it as a boring 2D cutout.

I'm not even sure what in the tv show you could possible be considering good writing? Rick's we are the walking dead speech from the comics was absolutely fantastic. Nothing in the tv show comes anywhere near to touching that. It meanders on and hashes over the most mundane and uninteresting things and moves forward at a painful crawl. The whole encounter with the prisoners was much more interesting in the book. The whole Woodbury scenario was much more interesting. The tv show really has nothing on the books. They do start to suck as the issues get somewhere past the fifties, they pick up again every now and then, but the prison/Woodbury stuff was pretty great.

6,101 :)

Note the way this number resonates. Six-one-zero-one. Consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel. It is almost musical. You can almost imagine yourself in a valley, peaking, returning to the valley, and peaking once more.

X-Files will always be one of my all times favorites, even if it did lose itself in a really bad way toward the end (I felt the last few seasons were beyond unwatchable at times). I'd really like to see another movie made. I Want to Believe was extremely disappointing when it came out, I think I was expecting something bit more big budget and significant. Watching it again years later, it felt like I was watching a really good episode of the earlier seasons of the show. I wouldn't mind having that to look forward to every few years. Maybe a made for TV movies would be a safer route for something like this?

Just finished The Venture Brothers last week. Good stuff, it is really dense too, not something I've come to expect from adult oriented cartoons. Had a good friend who constantly tried to get me into it right after it first started, but I had zero interest. For some reason I finally gave it a shot, and I'm glad I did.

Have two episodes left of The Walking Dead. Season three started off a lot better than season two was, but I feel like it has slumped into meandering and going nowhere fast. We aren't working on character growth, and we aren't working on pushing the story forward. Really disappointing. Season one was fantastic, I think the six episode length was perfect. It was short but it felt like stuff happened during the season one arch. The storyline of season two could have easily fit into six episodes and benefited from it. And so far it seems like the same case for season three. More isn't always better, I'm all for longer seasons, but not if it means spending hours watching the dramatic equivalent of watching grass grow.