asterisk8

greenpenguino said:

Well, don't beat yourself up about it. I'm sure your review wasn't THAT bad.

xhonzi said:

*Ahem* Policitical correctness for SW female-attention-challeneged, please.

Haha, maybe I should write a pamphlet on finding cool girls who like Star Wars. They do exist. The biggest argument I got into with my last girlfriend about anything was whether midichlorians were a good idea or not. It lasted for days. LOL

For the record, I loved the ending of Lost. It was a series about the mystery of life and how we each come to terms with our own "answer" to that mystery, and the finale honored that theme well. The mysteries of the series were about more than just what looked cool or got people hooked, although that was certainly a part. Lost's mysteries were representative of life's mysteries, and the myths we tell ourselves to make sense of the confusing and oftentimes overwhelming world we find ourselves in. I'd go more deeply into that here, but I don't want to lecture, or spoil things for Frink and anyone who's still watching the series. Part of life is accepting that not everything has an answer. I get it: some people don't want to watch a TV show like that. If a gun is brought out in Act 1, they want to see it used by Act 3. I understand that, and for those people, Lost must've been disappointing. But for me, I found the analogues to real life --  to the struggle of searching for answers and accepting or rejecting what we find -- to be extremely poignant and well-executed most of the time. I'd say 90% of the mysteries introduced in the series have either explicit or implicit answers, and of the other 10%, I'd say less than half can really boil down to writer/producer incompetence or negligence. Lost was modern mythology, and like all universal mythology, its answers were not as easy to come by or as immediately obvious as they would be on a simple TV show.

Lost was not a perfect series by any means, but I think it succeeded quite well at what it set out to do, which was tell an extremely interesting myth about the human condition that repeatedly challenges and thwarts its viewers' expectations.

Just a random sampling from Google

http://techland.time.com/2010/05/24/poll-are-you-happy-with-the-lost-finale/

http://blastr.com/2010/05/poll-did-losts-series-fin.php

http://www.newsarama.com/tv/Lost-Poll-100524.html

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/05/24/lost-finale-did-the-ending-leave-you-satisfied/

http://www.ivillage.com/lost-finale-what-you-thought/1-a-188882

Murry Sparkles said:

asterisk8 said:

I have the original Popcorn Hour A-100 and it still has firmware updates that keep it supporting every new codec I throw at it. You could probably find one of those online for cheap. They have newer models that are a little pricier, but they really are a great, small company owned and operated by true geeks who know their stuff.

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php

 Asterisk8 would you recommend the Popcorn Hour ?, i have been offered a Popcorn Hour A110 and im seriously thinking about buying it. Is there ever any problems with playback does it ever suffer from lag, is it easy to load the movies onto the onboard hdd?.

I would definitely recommend the Popcorn Hour, but I can only speak from personal experience which has been entirely without issue. I've read people who've had problems, but most if not all were resolved with firmware updates. I have the A100, which was their first model, got on pre-order right when they launched the website, so I was an early adopter and can't really comment on later models. Firmware updates have kept my A100 playing every codec I throw at it, which impresses me a lot considering I've had it since 2007. Depending on the file, I might get a second or two of a loading screen before the movie starts, and then perfect playback. I installed a drive, but opted to remove it and use external usb drives because they offered me more flexibility, and I felt the internal hdd heated up the box too much for my cabinet. I've never tried the streaming features, so I can't really comment on that aspect.

Popcorn Hours aren't the cheapest option, because they're a small operation and manufacture their devices on site instead of a third world country (at least they did a couple years ago, I guess I can't say that for certain now). If the WDTV can really be significantly improved by modding as ibleedspeed says, I wouldn't hesitate to try one should my A100 ever crap out on me, because they are much more affordable.

Sorry for the long windedness. :-)

RedFive said:

The opposite for me, I've heard of the new pornographers but never listened to them.  All of her solo work is amazing, particularly her most recent album Middle Cyclone.  Her voice is just haunting.

My ex-gf is a huge Neko Case fan and got me into her in a big way. (My expanded music collection is probably the best thing I got out of that relationship! lol) "Look for Me (I'll Be Around)" off Blacklisted has got to be one of the most haunting songs I've ever heard.

Lee Moses - "She's a Bad Girl"

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

asterisk8 said:

asterisk8.... who is that in your avatar?  I look forward to your posts just to gaze; she's probably 90 by now but I don't care. :)

I have no idea! I found the pic doing a google image search for "vintage pornography" to play along with the avatar game in Off-Topic. I decided to keep it because she's really easy on the eyes. :-)

I'm going to have to tell my friend about the wdtv modding, ibleedspeed. I didn't know there was such a possibility, and he's just about had it with the stock firmware on his first gen box. I'm checking it out too because I'm about ready to upgrade myself. Thanks!

CP3S said:

Some of its biggest stumbles along the way seems to have been from trying to cater to fans (Jack's tattoo episode, etc.)

Jack's tattoo episode had nothing to do with catering to fans. They wrote that episode because they were spinning their wheels waiting for ABC to allow them a definitive end date. In season 3, you can tell they were dragging their feet because they didn't know if they had 3 more seasons or 6 to tell their story.

Lindelof called up the powers that be at ABC and said, basically, "Look, if you don't let us have an end date to the series, you're going to get more episodes about Jack's tattoo. This show can't go on forever."

xhonzi said:

Heck, you might even like the ending.  Some people did.

Actually, if you look at any viewer poll, most people liked or loved the ending. It's just the vocal minority that hated it and continue to complain about it to this day.

Here's a random thought. I saw Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff (so hot) on Attack Of The Show last year, and during the interview she said the phrase "Could you imagine?" at least 6 times. As in:

Kevin: "What if you and asterisk8 had marathon sex for 10 straight hours?"
Katee: "Oh my god, could you imagine?"

For some reason, she made me hate that phrase. Since then, I hear it ev-ery-where. I never realized how overused it is in casual conversation. I just heard Anthony Bourdain use it on tonight's No Reservations. It's a stupid saying*. "Could you imagine?" Yes. You are using that phrase in response to something I just dreamed up and said out loud, so yes, I can imagine. And I've met girls like Katee that follow up practically everything they hear with, "Oh my god, could you imagine?" As if every single thing you say is borderline impossible.

So that's my random thought.

*Almost as idiotic as "every now and again".

Ziggy Stardust said:

 

You've become a terrible movie?? NOOOOOOO!!!!!

TV's Frink said:

The Bowie episode was one of my least favorite, which is more a comment on

1) my "meh" feelings about Bowie and
2) the greatness of the show

Obligatory "I saw Flight of the Conchords live and it was one of the greatest shows of my life" post

Ziggy Stardust said:

What if my answer is no?

One of the guys in the group does an awesome Bowie impression. Throughout the episode, he appears to the other guy in dreams as various versions of David Bowie. Here's the end, with their song "Bowie's In Space":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJqYRffUTNA

Ziggy Stardust said:

Ripplin said:

Do you even know who David Bowie is? :p

David who?

Do I even have to ask if you've seen Flight of the Conchords' Bowie episode?

My buddy just finished reading it. He said, "i didn't like it a whole lot. i felt like it was a cool idea, but not very well executed. could be because it was his first book, but i felt like he didn't develop the characters well enough. i found myself not really pulling for any of the characters. it kinda felt like a vonnegut novel at first, but then it kinda just became mundane and tedious." That launched a big conversation about Vonnegut.

Ziggy Stardust said:

Reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

How is it? PKD is the one author I'm always meaning to read, but never do.

Johnny Ringo said:

Right now I'm reading a graphic novel called: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I like it so far.

That reminds me, I also started reading the graphic novel Duncan The Wonder Dog.

It's definitely one of the most unique things I've ever read, from a story and art standpoint. It popped up on just about every best comics of 2010 list, and the first and second printings sold out instantly. The publisher, AdHouse,  isn't planning to print any more, so I was lucky to snag a copy directly from them. Secondhand copies are going for upwards of $100 on Amazon Marketplace. Kind of insane.

I was pretty impressed, the box included a free comic anthology, some stickers, bookmarks, and a little print hand-signed by Adam Hines, the author of Duncan.

EDIT: looks like AdHouse has put 13 copies up on Amazon for $17 a pop. I highly recommend grabbing one while you can.

Adam Hines put the whole thing online for free while it's out of print. You can read it here.

adywan said:

I once tried to explain the merits of digital effects to a kid on line at a comic book store. He slashed my neck with a Magic: The Gathering card protected within a thick mylar sleeve. I still bare the scare to remind me to keep my mouth shut. I learned a valuable lesson that day—people take the Star Wars universe very, very seriously. Why, just minutes before the incident I was having a civil discussion with my attacker about abortion rights. We disagreed by the guy didn't raise a finger, I mention the fact that I like digital Yoda and BAM, I wake up in the hospital.

So he was having a discussion about "abortion rights" with which his "attacker" disagreed with his views and starts on about how he likes digital Yoda and then the guy attacks him . More like he was being a prick and this guy just had enough. sounds to me like he was just after an argument. he doesn't give any proper details about what happened and what lead up to this

I stopped reading his article after this:

Empire Strikes Back is more or less universally accepted as the best of the Star Wars series. I agree that it is the best film with the word Star Wars in the title. I would, however, argue (against my better judgment) that it is actually the worst Star Wars film. It’s too realistic, too emotionally centred, too well acted, too well structured, and too empathetic. It's a real movie, with real characters that an audience really cares for.

And there we have it. The type of person who thinks the prequels are a brilliant trilogy of films.

ESB- Everything about it is good= worse movie:
PT - Everything about them is crap = best movies.

jeez

I was about to post the same response to the same two choice excerpts! :-)

Nobody gets slashed in the neck for liking something different. You get slashed in the neck for being a jackass and pushing someone's buttons until they snap. Doesn't make it okay to cause injury, but there is clearly more to this story than he's letting on.

As for his "analysis" of Empire, I don't even... there are no words.

EyeShotFirst said:

I read a few other Indy novels, but have started picking up the ones I missed.

Which is your favorite? I never considered reading an Indy novel, but now I'm intrigued.

RedFive said:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I love that book. First read it when I was 12 and it really stuck with me. I've read it a few times since, and yes, it's not the best novel, but it is a great tale and has the feeling of timelessness that draws you back to it like a good story should.

Ziggy Stardust said:

It only got past a couple pages...

Well, I'm not trying to win any contests. ;-)

Just curious what others are reading.

I looked through the board - okay, the first six pages - and didn't find a thread like this, so here it is. What are you reading right now?

I'm reading:

It's three novels in one book, I think it's fantasy although I don't know much about it. I only started a couple nights ago. I picked it up used, and I liked the first couple pages so I bought it.

I don't find jokes like that very funny, as I actually was killed with a fire.

Nope. I took the pictures. This is me: