asterisk8

Had my first dim sum with some friends this morning in Chicago's Chinatown. I had to take pictures, it was such an amazing spread. One of the girls in the group knows the restaurant's owner, so we got to try pretty much everything on the menu. The glass in the center is a giant lazy susan that you can spin to get food on the opposite side. For those that aren't familiar, dim sum is basically Chinese appetizers like bbq pork in sweet buns, shrimp dumplings, bone marrow, chicken feet, fried tofu, tarrow filled with beef, pastries filled with chicken and mushroom, on and on, served in little containers for a few dollars a piece. It's eaten traditionally as brunch in China. Large groups are the best because you can get to try a lot of different things. I skipped the chicken feet.

It was probably one of the most incredible food experiences of my life. I haven't eaten in 12 hours I was so full when we left.

Modest Mouse - "Dark Center of the Universe"

My buddy has a Western Digital WDTV and he's got mixed feelings about it. It worked alright for a long time, but will not play MKVs muxed with the new mkvmerge, which has lately become a hassle, as such a file crashes the whole player. It won't play DTS with his Panasonic surround system (there's some sort of known conflict between the two), but apparently it's supposed to do bitstream passthrough of DTS to a capable receiver. It works pretty good for a $100 player though. His main beef is that Western Digital stops supporting their older models once they come out with a new one, which is a problem with a lot of mainstream products.

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

Johnny Ringo said:

Suckerpunch.

It sucked.

er... punch?

Thanks Harmy. :) That's the Dutch TV edit. I did find that, haven't watched it yet though. Almost don't want to, so I don't know what I'm missing. From what I understand, Darth Neo has a copy of the complete documentary that he's been sworn not to release.

doubleofive said:

 

Anchorhead said:

captainsolo said:

Just another example of the prequels trying way too hard

This

Do you even know who "Yoda" is? ;-)

 

Boom. Roasted.

spicedriver's Legion fanedit of Exorcist III.

An awesome fanedit. I read The Exorcist in 8th grade and I didn't sleep right for a week, and consequently the screen adaptation is one of my favorite horror movies of all time. Legion is a worthy sequel, if not in style, at least in spirit. And an unholy spirit at that!

zombie84 said:

the lost Michael Parbot doc seems so amazing because the clips from it outshine anything ever officially released at any time for any SW film. Its like the equivalent of TPM's "The Beginning", except for a film worth (re)watching.

You just had to go and make me aware of this documentary, only to find out that Darth Neo refuses to release his copy of it. I've always had trouble letting go of things I want which are unattainable, and now I have something else to covet. Thanks. ;-)

Childish Gambino* - "Freaks and Geeks"

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

*better known as "Troy" from NBC's Community

I never said they should care. I'm only saying I already pay to get online, and get plenty of great content for that price, so I personally can't justify paying extra unless it's significantly higher quality.

WhatsMyName said:

asterisk8 said:

TV's Frink said:

generalfrevious said:

Hyperspace. Charging 40 bucks a month to see content that should be free. Now that is low. If it's gone by now, I'm glad it is.

I don't necessarily disagree, but I'd like to play Devil's Advocate for a moment.

Why should any content be free?

It isn't. I give Comcast $40 a month.

 i See his point though. Why should you be charged to visit a forum?

That was my point. I already pay Comcast to get online, why should I pay to visit a web forum to get content that is no better than the free stuff you can find all over the internet.

youtube said:

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Warner Music Group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daMuNH1lcQE

Smith Westerns - Dye The World

dark_jedi said:

asterisk8 said:

zombie84 said:

Personally, I think 2001 should have won.

 

booooorrring. needs more splosions, less cello.

 

I couldn't agree more, that was one boring and strange movie.

I am glad that Serenity\firefly won though, I love ESB but this show is bad ass to, Star Wars don't have to win everything LOL.

I should've added an /s tag to make it more obvious I was being sarcastic. 2001 is the greatest hard sci-fi film of all time. Well, to be honest, it's one of the only truly hard sci-fi films, along with Gattaca, Primer, Moon, and to a lesser extent Contact.

zombie84 said:

Personally, I think 2001 should have won.

booooorrring. needs more splosions, less cello.

TK-949 said:

 

Click.

 

That's the greatest!!!

EDIT: Found another one. And another. And another!

It's a sad story, how Fox screwed the Firefly pooch. Airing it out of order, forcing Whedon to change the tone after previewing the pilot, commissioning a new pilot, and then repeatedly preempting it for sports and holiday programming. They had no idea what they were doing.

I've had the discussion with other fans: would Firefly be as beloved if it had lasted for more than 13 episodes? Is its legacy due in part to its length? It was spared the opportunity to jump the shark and disappoint its fanbase, as many other series have done. I say that situation has had an influence on its perceived "perfection", but that many series have been canceled after one season without gaining such a loyal following afterward. There has to be something more to it than just that. The way I see it, Firefly is a rare series that felt lived-in and fully-realized from its very first episode, and in the short 14 hours of its run it established great and diverse characters who you wanted to know and befriend. I dare anyone to watch Firefly and not want to sail the stars on Serenity, stealing Alliance gold and flirting with gorgeous companions. :-)

Tyrphanax said:

I have a really hard time believing that Serenity comes up to the level of brilliant, subtle storytelling that is Empire.

I have a feeling that Serenity is winning because it's newer and a bunch of kids who can't appreciate or understand Empire for the masterpiece it is are voting here. Either that, or Serenity is the unsung Citizen Kane of sci-fi. Which I doubt. I hear Browncoats are a pretty rabid bunch of nuts, though...

Damn show wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Star Wars... ~600 votes now...

I think you shouldn't make any of the above assumptions without having seen Firefly and Serenity. Actually the tone of your post makes you sound dangerously like a rabid nut yourself. (I keed, I keed) ;-)

I saw Serenity first, years before I watched Firefly, and I thought it was okay, but lacked context. I would compare it to watching Return of the Jedi without having seen Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. But once I'd seend Firefly, and re-watched Serenity in context, I enjoyed it immensely more.

When I finally sat down and watched Firefly, I was blown away by the sheer brilliance and quality of the writing, acting, plotting, and visual effects. It is a funny, poignant series about the struggle of a group of rebels against a monolithic empire. Familiar? Yes. Was it familiar when Lucas first did it in 1977? Yes. That story wasn't new when Lucas wrote it. Would Firefly exist without Star Wars? Probably not. But neither story would exist without the vast collective storehouse of myths that underpin all stories of good vs. evil. They both tell a timeless story in a uniquely timeless way. I can safely say that Firefly belongs in the top 5 science fiction series ever produced for television, right alongside Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.

I do not think that Serenity is a better film than The Empire Strikes Back. But I love Firefly/Serenity, and I'm glad to see its legacy grow.

I was always under the impression that Yoda's speech pattern was a result of his age, that he came from a different era. I seem to remember Frank Oz saying something about how and why it makes sense that not every sentence of his should be "backwards". I forget the specifics, or where I heard it, but I seem to remember his point being that variation in syntax is one of the hallmarks of natural speech, that we all do it, and it would be unnatural for Yoda to arrange every sentence backwards like we hear in the PT. When Yoda does reverse the order of a sentence, it's sort of a regression to an "old world" form of speaking.

Just my two credits.

TV's Frink said:

generalfrevious said:

Hyperspace. Charging 40 bucks a month to see content that should be free. Now that is low. If it's gone by now, I'm glad it is.

I don't necessarily disagree, but I'd like to play Devil's Advocate for a moment.

Why should any content be free?

It isn't. I give Comcast $40 a month.

Harmy said:

I agree with the classic docs + I also really like watching the films with the audio commentary (Ady's AVCHDs are great for that, because they at least have good colours and some of the worst SE changes are removed).

Do Ady's AVCHDs have audio commentary? I didn't realize.

Grilled cheddar and swiss on oatmeal bread with the souls of your ancestors.

Bingowings said:

"I refuse to inhale this film!", should become an eternal meme.

Now that you announced it, it can't be.

The Event

Why do I watch this show, again?

TV's Frink said:

Awesome.

My daughter doesn't quite have the attention span for the whole movie yet, but she's a big fan of the music from both that one and Caper.

I'd genuinely forgotten what a great movie it is. I was a huge Muppet fan as a kid growing up in the 80s. I was 9 when Jim Henson died and I remember bawling my eyes out sitting on the carpet watching the news (on the kind of TV you had to turn a clickity-clackity dial to change channels). They might as well have said Kermit The Frog died.

Seeing The Muppet Movie now as an adult, I can safely say it is an absolute classic.