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Obi Jeewhyen

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Join date
1-Aug-2006
Last activity
1-Feb-2007
Posts
440

Post History

Post
#259449
Topic
Has technology accelerated that much?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/259449/action/topic#259449
Time
Um, not that Vigo can't defend himself ... but if we are going to communicate over the internet with people all over the world, we'd better get used to the fact that Americans have developed a very, very bad repuation over the past couple of centuries. Recent history isn't helping.

While it's dumb to make vast generalizations, it's also absurd to expect that Americans be held in high regard as a nationality.
Post
#259364
Topic
Has technology accelerated that much?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/259364/action/topic#259364
Time
Heheh, I think the topic of nationalistic stereotypes and how to combat them is far more interesting.

Forget some countries having a dark past hard to live down, mine (the U.S.) has a dark present we'll be lucky enough to live down in a century!


Maybe we could merge the topics by discussing whether the rapid expansion of technology is serving to connect the world in ways that might eliminate nationalism and its stupid conflicts? This here internet thing is a good start.






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Post
#259338
Topic
Has technology accelerated that much?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/259338/action/topic#259338
Time
Whoa, I didn't mean to touch off a firestorm.

Vigo, your command of the English language is so proficient, I assumed you were merely making a spelling error ... and not posting in a second (or in your case, third) language. Furthermore, if it's the proper spelling in Germany, a simple statement to that effect (as I requested) would have been sufficient.

In any case, as a German, you are likely to be upset a bit by common internet terms such as "spelling nazi" and "grammer nazi." I think you will just have to develop a thicker skin about it. The term has been co-opted for any kind of extreme, since it is the epitome of extremism. (Similarly, in the States, every politcal scandal is the something-gate, referring (in perpetuity it seems) to an ultimate example of political scandal). No one meant offense by using the term "spelling nazi" ... and I meant no offense by being one.


Likewise, I took no offense at your comment about my countrymen. Many are fat and lazy and stupid and I guess a majority of them elected George Bush. Nuff said. But I don't fit the description of the ugly American, and so I looked past your generalization. Please do the same about the 'nazi' phrase, and please accept my apologies about your spelling in a non-native tongue.



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Post
#258968
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258968/action/topic#258968
Time
Absolutely right, CO.


I dig Darth Vader alot ... but in much smaller doses. Not only do I not like his entire childhood-to-death story arc, I don't even like him as a stand-alone villain, or as the main bad guy. Perhaps it's because it's so hard to convey a performance with no face ... but I think Vader worked much better as the henchman than as the main baddy. In Star Wars and Jedi, he had great actors to play off - he was subordinate to Peter Cushing and Ian McDiarmid, the badass asskicker to the powerful badguys ... and I think Vader had far greater effect in those cinematic circumstances.

He often seems silly to me in Empire, when he's leading the bad guy show. There's only so much faceless performance I can take. There's likely no better voice than James Earl Jones, but I need a face to convey evil. Playing off Grand Moff Tarkin and Emperor Palpatine, Vader was terrific. Sometimes less is more.





(And yeah, I loved "I am your father." But it all went downhill from there, didn't it?)





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Post
#258919
Topic
Bond, James Bond
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258919/action/topic#258919
Time
Originally posted by: Mr Bungle
I still dont think Lazenby was a great Bond but he was an OK one but would have liked to have seen him have another go at being Bond just to see what he would have been like in a second film..

Hmmmm, interesting.


I thought Timothy Dalton improved greatly as Bond for his second go. Perhaps Lazenby would have, too. (But something still would have to be done about those ears.)


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Post
#258913
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258913/action/topic#258913
Time
Guess I'll have to watch Empire again and pin down why I think she's too different. (Are those DVD's still ten dollars anywhere?)

I get what CO says about couples who like each other and try so hard not to show it that it comes off oppositely. But those couples are usually in junior high school. I've seen plenty of movies where adults are acting out the same way, but don't behave like teenagers.

In fact, I think a whole lot of the dialogue in Empire was aimed at kids particularly, instead of the "whole family" approach that Star Wars took.


To each his own. I will certainly grant that The Empire Strikes Back delved deeper into the personalities of the lead characters. But with the exception of Han Solo, I didn't like what I saw in the depths.
Post
#258864
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258864/action/topic#258864
Time
But her Star Wars lines were all comedy, and her Empire lines were not. She may have been ungrateful for the rescue, but the complaining lines were jokes ... and they got laughs.

That's what I meant by the tonedeafness of the writers. 40's wiseguy banter may be nasty, but it's very funny. The same nastiness without the talent of comedic writing is just ... well, just nasty.



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Post
#258854
Topic
Bond, James Bond
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258854/action/topic#258854
Time
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Even though I haven't seen it, I'd like to know people's opinions on On Her Majesty's Secret Service, or George Lazenby in particular.

I hated Lazenby as Bond. He was too doofy.

That said, it's a fine 60's Bond film, with one of the better scores by John Barry (so good, it was used for the main credits ... the last Bond film not to feature an actual song over the credits). Terry Savalis is the best Blofeld of the series, and - of course - OHMSS is the one where Bond falls so in love that he actually gets married!


George Lazenby was the shortfall in this film (imo). Too bad. With Connery in the role, it might have been one of the very best. That Connery came back for the one after this is a lamentable irony.


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Post
#258847
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258847/action/topic#258847
Time
I'll grant that the three leads exhibited maturing as actors in Empire. I frankly preferred the chemisty between Leia and Han in Star Wars as the classic antagonists who are quite attracted to one another. The same routine did not work in Empire for me because Leia was no longer smart-alecky, but merely angry and downright mean.

Yes, when she warmed up to Han, the love chemistry between them was great. Perhaps the screenwriters had her be so nasty just so that her warming up would register more strongly. Bah. I think they blew it. Till the kiss, she was a complete bitch. Again, I think the screenwriters mistook wiseguy banter for nasty childishness. I forget the name of the couple whom George brought in to do the 40's-era dialogue between Han and Leia for Star Wars, but he should have brought them on board again for the sequel.


Still, I will not deny the chemistry between Han and Leia in Empire, and I think it was there in
Star Wars, too. But what happened to them in Jedi? I felt zip between them (eh, Harrison Ford was phoning it in for the final installment).



The dialogue was, at best, uneven in The Empire Strikes Back. Lando got some great lines, Yoda had good dialogue, Han Solo's lines were fine. But Luke, Leia and C3PO got shafted in the dialogue department, in my opinion ... and (sigh) it's one of the many drawbacks I find with that most popular of Star Wars films.






edited to add :
Padme loves Anakin vs. Leia loves Han is but one of the many obvious ways in which the prequels fall tragically short of the originals. Far more effort for far less result. Feh.


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Post
#258839
Topic
See, George, This is how it's done ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258839/action/topic#258839
Time
Originally posted by: Mike O
They did. I own them. Again, at least Universal admitted to the mistake and listen to criticism. No, it houldn't have happened. But the did go out of their way to fix it.

I'm glad to hear of it. From the sources I have at Universal, they were going to wait until all stocks of version 1 were depleted from retailers before issuing new sets. That was going to take a long time, and I periodically check sets in stores for the telling v2 mark (or whatever it is), but have not seen it.

I wouldn't call making customers call and wait for a replacement going "out of their way." Perhaps this was fine for the first batch of discs erroneously issued, but a recall should have been made soon afterwards. Yes, that would cost lots and lots of money. So?

Leaving the defective discs on shelves for years is not a proper solution in my book. But thanks for the info ... I'll keep an eye out for the revised discs in stores.




I hate to make assumptions, so what are the odds that Warner Brothers will simply leave the defective Superman discs on the shelves and leave it up to only the most saavy of consumers to request what is theirs by right of purchase?





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Post
#258817
Topic
Hey guys, Remember when Star wars had writing like this?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258817/action/topic#258817
Time
We'll have to agree to disagree.

C3PO was a fussy pessimist in Star Wars, and a whining, complaining, annoying pest in Empire.

Leia (prounounded Lee-ah) was a feisty firebrand in Star Wars - while Leia (pronounded Lay-eh) was, well, a whining, complaining, PMSing shrew through most of Empire.


The changes were primarily in the dialogue, and were - I believe - due to the tonedeafness of the screenwriters who mistook feistyness for obnoxiousness and fussiness for annoyingness.


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Post
#258816
Topic
See, George, This is how it's done ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258816/action/topic#258816
Time
Before we fall all over ourselves in congratulating Warner Bros, let's not get too gushy because they pulled the amazing feat of being better than Lucasfilm.

So's my cat.


An organization like this should have caught these errors before they were sold, and there's simply no excuse for such shoddy quality management. I'm very releived they're taking a step to rectify the mistake, but it's not the "right thing" in my book.

As far as I'm concerned, the right thing would be to recall the discs and issue corrected ones to retailers. They are selling faulty product, and most people will not know to call some 800 number listed in some magazine or on some website. In fact, most people won't even realize the errors. For the (my estimates) 30% of people who notice an error, maybe 10% will find the means to have it corrected. The onus to correct such an error should not be on the consumer.


To this day, I have never purchased the Back to the Future set because I don't think it's my responsiblity to purchase a DVD, then call to have a replacement sent, and then wait for that replacement to arrive. Universal has, as far as I know, never issued corrected sets to retailers.


I agree that admitting the error puts Warners head and shoulders above Lucasfilm on the integrity scale, but their means of mitigating the damage falls far short of full integrity.



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Post
#258710
Topic
Bond, James Bond
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258710/action/topic#258710
Time
Originally posted by: SW
Has anyone brought the new bond dvds ???

Are they available separately, or only in the box sets? I don't want to buy an expensive set that contains several films I don't care for ... but I'd sure like to have the Bonds I like on DVD. I currently have only 2 on DVD. I'd certainly like to upgrade all the laserdiscs I have, and maybe add a couple more for the first time.

But the truth is, even as a Bond fan, I think a good many of the movies are pure crap.

Post
#258701
Topic
Has technology accelerated that much?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258701/action/topic#258701
Time
Originally posted by: vbangle
Originally posted by: canofhumdingers
Originally posted by: Vigo
...restaurated...


wow...


wow, what a worthless comment on such a nice post by Vigo....


Although I find Vigo to be one of the most eloquent posters here, and a person whom I agree with and admire very much .... his erroneous spelling of one of his most constantly used words kinda bugs me. Ordinarily, it's bad form to correct someone's spelling on the internet, so I haven't mentioned it. And the quote above seems to be mocking his made-up word ... which I love, but hate the incorporation of the misspelled "real" word into it.

It's RESTORATION.

Eatieries are called "restaurants."

"Restauration" is not, as far as I'm aware, a Brit spelling of the word. It's simply and universally "restoration." I'm open to be corrected on this, but I really think Vigo's getting it wrong.



On every other count of everything Vigo writes, he's pretty much getting it right!



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Post
#258146
Topic
R.I.P. Robert Altman
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258146/action/topic#258146
Time
The insurance requirements and conditions placed upon directors or stars with a serious medical conditions are outrageous. I suspect he concealed it simply because he did not want to deal with all that bullshit when making films.


Sigh, I just received a screener of Prairie Home Companion and it will be a very bittersweet viewing, knowing that it was his last film.