Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda

RicOlie_2 said:

What are your reasons for believing that their are no gods? I'll take lack of evidence as an answer, but I'd prefer something more specific.

My beliefs are actually rather complex, and relate to the hierarchy of animals.  Our abilities of comprehension, and our ability to explore the world around us, far exceeds that of, say, chimps.  So it is safe to say that the next species up from us would also far exceed us in such things.  To imagine that we could relate to God - who, if he/she/it exists would be SO far above us - is highly unlikely.  Furthermore, just as the chimp can't even ask the sorts of questions that we can, were we to pose such questions about "God", or the "meaning of life" to a species higher than us, they would probably respond by saying we aren't even asking the right questions, and that our minds are too limited to make it even worth discussing.

In summary, my belief is that our minds are too limited to even comprehend the questions, let alone recognize the answers.  Religion, by contrast, so dramatically simplifies this whole thing that I can't help but believe that it is purely of human construction.

Secondly, I believe that most religions were build as a reasonable attempt to explain the world around us, and to think on a higher level.  But it was limited by the tools available at the time, which didn't include science and technology.  Given what we have learned about the world and universe around us, I think it would be reasonable to form new religions to try and explain what science cannot, and theorize what might be out there beyond our reach of scientific observation.  Instead, most religions just reject science when it contradicts the old books. Since religions respond to scientific observation and inquiry in this manner, which seems contrary to loving and respecting God and His creations, I just can't take it seriously.

How much historical credit do you give the (canonical) gospels? Do you think Jesus was crucified and buried, but didn't rise from the dead, or do you not think he was crucified at all, or do you think he didn't exist or was only based on someone historical (historical in this case meaning real)? Do you think he was a healer of some sort, or just a preacher, or none of the above?

I am not even sure he existed.  There is essentially no physical evidence, and no contemporary written record of such.  He could just be a mythical figure.  It is hard to believe that someone so influential and considered so dangerous (at the time) wouldn't have something written about him during his life.

If he did exist, he sounds like a very, very cool dude. Maybe one of the coolest ever.  However, he might also have been a bit whacko insisting that he is the son of God and the savior of mankind.  He also must have had some serious charisma.  If I had a time machine, he'd certainly be one of my first stops, even though I'm an atheist.

As to the "canon", I can't say I believe any of it.  Well, if he really was alive, I would believe that he was crucified, but that's about it.  A lot of people were crucified, so that would be reasonable for a martyr of the time.

I considered starting a similar thread, but then decided it probably wouldn't be very popular.  Plus, there is a wide variety of atheism, and my beliefs are unlikely to match very closely with that of other atheists.

I like the dank, dusty look of the original Mos Eisley.  It looked like a real dive. After the changes, it now looks like a circus just rolled into town.

If all great movies were "improved" the way that George did to Star Wars, imagine what that would do to our great cinematic heritage.  NNNOOOO!!!!!!

Easterhay said:

I agree with Danny Boy; the Blu-ray transfers are the best way to enjoy the films at the moment.

Just out of curiosity - for ep.IV, do you prefer the blu-ray or Harmy's, and if the former, why?

They can easily bring the Master back, because his/her brain has presumably been stored in the nethersphere.

Whatever became of the "don't cremate me" arc?  It just stopped.  Was it true, or was it an unfortunate side effect of preserving the minds, or was it just part of the Master's distraction?

For someone who has never seen SW (or for someone who has, for that matter), I can't imagine a 6-movie marathon.  That would be exhauting to the point of torture.  I remember back in about 1985 when a local theater did the 3 movie marathon (4,5,6), and that alone is 9 hours and by partway through the 3rd movie I was mentally done and so was just about everyone else in the theater.  You're talking 18 straight hours which is borderline unhealthy.

If you mean a 2 or 3 night "marathon", I still think 456123 is the most logical sequence, because it is the order they came out in theaters.  No reveals are spoiled, and the progression of movie-making techniques and styles would be less jarring.

4,5,6,1,2,3 - it's the order the movies came out in the theater, so by definition it won't spoil any surprises.  It's why they call them "prequels".

Third vote here for Boris Karloff.  A bit of a shame he became so typecast - he could have done anything.  Although I think he enjoyed his horror niche a lot.

fullmetal777 said:

I'm a rich fu-k, don't hate me because I feed sirloins to my dog and wipe my ass with hundred dollar bills. Don't worry Fink, I'll save you a couple...and make sure to leave some Milk Duds on there so you don't get hungry

If your posting style is any indication, I can't wait to see your avatar!

Except that there are reveals in Jedi too.  Jabba is one... you hear about him in SW and ESB, as this rough gangster.  You don't expect him to actually be a giant slug (unless of course you made the mistake of watching the SE or the blu-ray of SW).  Another reveal is the emperor's force lightning.  You know he's this evil scary looking dude, but you're never sure exactly why.  Then when he starts zapping Luke with those lightning bolts you think "whoa, that's intense".  If you already saw the prequels, you'd be thinking, ok, he's going to force-lightning him now, yeah there it is.

"Star Wars" is such a true classic, it's ranked by the AFI as the 13th best motion picture of all time.  Watching the prequels first is like watching Casablanca, but first watching a parody of the movie that  gives away everything that is going to happen in the original, sapping a lot of the drama from it.  It's the same reason that people who record a football game don't want to know the final score before they go home to watch it.

It's pretty irrelevent when and if you see the prequels - as long as you don't see them before Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back.

fullmetal777 said:

My budget is infinite. Which Ld player is the best?

 Frink, I hope you have immortalized this post in your OT highlights thread?!

That's very clever!

Been tied up with another commercial 2-disc product (more EIAJ restorations).  It is virtually done, and HAS to be finished by November 14th because that's when it goes on sale.  ROTP is next in the queue.  Next step is sound sync which I'm not relishing - but the good thing about it is that it forces me to scrutinize each frame.

Color correction by Harmy looks great.  I've had some alleged glitches with JDownloader getting it cleanly from uloz, but I haven't seen anything wrong yet.  Sound sync will verify (or not) whether everything is ok.

I think my ability to suspend disbelief (in myself) must be high, because I still think that the effects throughout Jurassic Park are fantastic.

As a 9ers fan, I think it's safe to say that was our first bona-fide drubbing in the Kaepernick era.  Gotta hand it to Denver and Peyton - very impressive.

I suspect many members of the forum will be interested in your edit, myself included.

To clarify, I consider TPM to be an awful movie (RLM's video review is the best explanation therein that I know of).  With the exception of a few very good special effects, it is just horrid by objective movie-making standards. However, I enjoy it more than the other two PT episodes - because (1) it contains some so-bad-its-good moments of unintentional humor (such as CPY), (2) it looks like a movie instead of a videogame, (3) older Anakin is just so, so irritating I can't watch him for more than about 15 minutes, (4) I actually like Watto, (5) the music during the duel is cool, and (6) TPM at least reminds me of Star Wars when they're on Tatooine.

As I've said before - just because I may enjoy watching a movie doesn't necessarily mean that I think it is a good movie.  I also enjoy watching "Plan 9 from Outer Space".

I prefer the 456123 order because it doesn't spoil all the best surprises in the PT.  Even the SE spoils some surprises, such as seeing Jabba before we meet him in the palace.  Also, the PT is so bad that you get the wrong idea about the personalities involved, so it is harder to enjoy them when you get to the OT.

And I also prefer ep1 to either 2 or 3, because the latter two are just too non-stop frenetic and have too much crap in them.  Ep3 is like watching a 2-hour videogame.  Ep1 at least has the pacing of a SW movie.  Jar Jar doesn't bother me that much.  And I'll take creepy puppet yoda any day over fighting-like-he-stuck-his-tail-in-the-light-socket Yoda.

I'd watch them in the order, and form, that they were released... as close as possible.

Was that a pair of Langoliers?

Honestly, I think the prequels are a lot more enjoyable to watch if you don't set your expectations too high, and just take in the spectacle.  And whatever you do, don't try to figure out what's going on.

TV's Frink said:

 How could you possibly write that much without a single CPY reference?

Ah, CPY is the poorly-done Yoda clone. I thought that was obvious.  And btw, I corrected an obvious typo.

I can help.  Nute Gunray is actually secretly a Sith lord, running a smuggling ring with Jar Jar and is in cohoots with Palpatine.  Nute has a high midichlorian count but doesn't know it, and is conflicted about which side of the force he wants to align with.  Palpatine senses this and is considering replacing Darth Maul with a clone of Nute Gunray, which is why he is trying to take over the Senate.  Qui-Gon is confused about who the chosen one is - it's actually Padme, which is why she eventually dies.  Count Dooku believes that Mace Windu is trying to become a Jedi Consular, and is mad at Yoda for not taking this to the Council of Reconcilliation. When he failed the Trial of the Spirit, he cloned Yoda, which caused an unstable expansion of the force. Obi-Wan tried to re-balance the force by recovering the Dark Holocron, irradiating the supernova.  I hope this clarifies things.