xhonzi

Bingowings said:

I meant the donations should be tallied each with a target number.

When the target is reached the prize should be unlocked to the general public.

So when enough donations of $500 are reached there should be a limited cinema release for all.

If enough donations of $1000 are reached there should be a general cinema release for all.

A single donation of $1 Million should trigger a general apology from Lucas.

A single donation of $10 Million should trigger a specific apology from Lucas in person to the individual donor.

The lower scale donations should be entered into tombolas and the winner of the lower drawer should be entered into the drawer two grades up.

This would allow for a small but probable chance that donating $1 could result in a personal apology from George Lucas.

Now I understand.  I don't think Kickstarter works that way, but I could be wrong.

Bingowingo said:

A donation of 1 trillion would win the donor the whole Star Wars until the end of time and there too their troth shalt be plighted.

Hmmm... I think you have a point there.  How much to win the internets?

negative1 said:

well 2/4 ain't bad..

 Remember the pledge.

Bingowings said:

I'd say the $500 level should be a limited cinema release for the OOT or OUT and the  $1,000 level should be for a full cinema release.

Meaning that if you donated $500 you would be invited to a limited cinema release?  I'm not sure if I take your meaning.

005 said:

xhonzi said:

Donate $10,000 and get a signed apology from George Lucas.

I think I would take out another loan for this. Would they be personalized?

Of course!

-1 said:

$0 - OOT trilogy

I hear what you're saying.  I don't disagree, but you've got to speak the same language as the man who holds all of the keys.

I was over looking at the tiers of pledges for Double Fine's new Adventure Game... and it got me thinking...

What would the pledge rewards be for the OOT on BD?

(Each tier contains all rewards from previous tiers.)

Donate $100 and receive the OOT on BD

Donate $500 and ???

Donate $1,000 and ???

Donate $10,000 and get a signed apology from George Lucas.

Donate $100,000 and come to the Skywalker Ranch re-premier.

Donate $500,000 and sleep over at Skywalker Ranch after the re-premier.

Donate $1m and get a special thank you on the BD menu.

Donate $50 billion and inherit the copyright to the Star Wars franchise (inspired by Bingo).

evan1975 said:

I think the kids that grew up with the PT will have an easier time dealing with it than those of us that were adults during The Great Disappointment of '99.

I was 7 when Jedi came out, so the Ewoks never really bothered me. 

<snip>

Well said.

LexX said:

xhonzi said:

LexX said:

In Finland TPM 3D has pretty much flopped. In 1999 it was the most watched movie with 439 496 viewers. Now in two weeks it has been seen by 6 936 viewers. In its first week it finished at 7th place and on second week it isn't even in the top 10. For example the latest Mission: Impossible movie had 13 928 viewers last week (from the total of 106 601, it was released 3 weeks ago) to give you some perspective.

Edit: maybe a better example would be Lion King 3D which has now been seen by over 15 000 people here. I guess 3D releases of old movies aren't that popular here, but to be fair, both were just released on BD just last year.

Lion King and Beauty and the Beast were both released on 3DBD either just after or a couple months before the theatrical release as well.

Actually Lion King 3D will be released here in April on 3DBD and Beuaty and the Beast 3D wasn't shown theatrically here, but it was released on 3DBD in December.

Fair enough.  I was speaking of the US 3DBD and US 3D theatrical release of those movies.  Of course, that makes my comment not a direct reply to yours, but to a post like yours but had the totals from the US 3D theatrical release of those films.

;)

LexX said:

In Finland TPM 3D has pretty much flopped. In 1999 it was the most watched movie with 439 496 viewers. Now in two weeks it has been seen by 6 936 viewers. In its first week it finished at 7th place and on second week it isn't even in the top 10. For example the latest Mission: Impossible movie had 13 928 viewers last week (from the total of 106 601, it was released 3 weeks ago) to give you some perspective.

Edit: maybe a better example would be Lion King 3D which has now been seen by over 15 000 people here. I guess 3D releases of old movies aren't that popular here, but to be fair, both were just released on BD just last year.

Lion King and Beauty and the Beast were both released on 3DBD either just after or a couple months before the theatrical release as well.

Panaka say:

Many thanks to you, Greenpenguino for bumpinged this threaded.  Panaka just taked a tripped down menory laned and re-read-ed most of his posteds.  A single tear roll downed Panaka's cheek.  Panaka think of the gooded times, that Panaka had hadded then (before).  But now no time for thinkinged of times long goned.  It time to find the Handsome Throne, and where Solo hideded it. 

Just then (in the past), the single tear rolled onto Panaka's lips.  It didn't tasted like victory.  It taste liked saline.  "OLIE!"  Panaka shout,  "NO ONE MAKES PANAKA CRY PANAKA TEARS!  THEY A CRITICAL INGREDIENT IN PANAKCAKEStm, AVAILABLE IN YOUR GROCER'S FREEZER!" 

Just then (in the past) Panaka start to feel hungry (like when Karl Malone think 'bout Hardees).  "Justice will come for you, Olie.  Justice will come.  But not until after Lunch."

TO BE CONTINUED

Some of my best work is still up on that site.  Good times.

Lucas Ran Over my Wookie | 1 day ago 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

My six-year-old wanted to see it because his friends told him about it. I told him that he needs to make new friends and in this case cyberbullying is acceptable because Star Wars doesn't need fans who aren't productive to society. Then I told him that he'd better change his mind because mommy could always make another one who hates the prequels and desires to kill anyone who likes them like he's supposed to and we could just give him your name. Then I locked him in the closet with a bucket.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/02/21/star-wars-phantom-menace-rerelease-3d-box-office/

Gaffer Tape said:

I really just have to divorce myself ...

Gaffer Tape- BACK ON THE MARKET!

Gentlemen, What am I bid?

TV's Frink said:

xhonzi said:

TV's Frink said:

Ziz said:

Side note - only the single DVD edition includes an isolated music track.  What's a simple freeware program that can rip the audio track so I can make myself a soundtrack CD?

DVDFab to rip the disc to your PC.

pgcdemux to isolate the audio to an ac3 file.

From there, take your pick of various converter programs to convert the ac3 to the format of your choice.

I thought DVDFab could rip directly to MP3?

Dunno, never heard that before. I always get vob files.

I usually get .wmv's or .avi's.  I'm usually ripping TV shows (that I own on DVD) to my media server for my kids.  The other thing I rip is audio commentaries from DVDs.  I usually still rip these to wmv and put them on my Zune... but I'm pretty sure MP3 is an option as well.

danaan said:

No, it didn't nearly make him fall....unless you accept my conceptualization. ;P

I don't think that's really your "conceptualiztion."  I think it's pretty much the default understanding.  It's what I used to assume before I spent any time thinking about it.

darth_ender said:

I do.  I side with you rather than xhonzi (sorry buddy).  

That's it!  You're off the Christmas Card list!  And you can just forget about getting your tupperwareTM back!

danaan said:

Let's assume that the Emperor is lying - killing Vader does not make Luke a Darksider. He can kill Vader and still be the good guy....

I think you're still looking at it too much in terms of Black and White.  I don't think anyone here is saying that Luke could have killed Vader and walked away unaffected.  I don't think anyone's saying Luke's killing Vader wouldn't have put him on an unreversible path to the Dark Side.  The question is whether Luke would simply shrug his shoulder and say "Sure.  I'll join you.  I've already killed my father in anger, I guess I'll just kill ALL of the rebels now.  Even my sister.  BWHAHAHAHAHAH!"

danaan said:

And Luke kills Vader....

And...then what? Is he just going to ask Luke nicely to join the Sith club?

Then what, indeed!  Luke either

Flees, having failed his mission to defeat the emperor and his own immortal soul.  And the Empire wins the day.  Luke has taken that unreversible step to the Dark Side.  In a matter of time, he will be further down the Dark Side path and Luke will seek out the Emperor again.  Only this time he will be prepared to call him Master.

Emperor wins.

~or maybe it goes like this~

Luke attacks the Emperor in his anger.  The emperor is strong enough to rebuff him.  The Emperor doesn't want to kill him, so he doesn't.  The battle pushes Luke to use more and more of the Dark Side.  Still, he's probably not quite ready to join up.  This goes on until Luke has had enough and leaves, - or the Emperor has had enough and sends him packing.  Either way, Luke leaves swearing to gain the power he'll need to return and defeat the Emperor.  On his path to power, Luke believes the ends justify the means and he throws away a lot of the high moral standards he'd developed up to that time.  Somewhere along the way, the good seed of the quest- rid the Galaxy of the Evil Emperor, gives way to the quest for power for power's own sake.  Maybe he seeks out the Emperor, wanting to defeat him and claim revenge, yes... but seeking the knowledge he has first.  The Emperor has forseen this.  Luke becomes his apprentice. 

Emperor wins.

~or it could go like this~

Luke realizes he doesn't have the power to defeat the Emperor (yet) and he also realizes that he won't be able to defeat him in open combat.  To keep his enemy close, Luke swears fealty to the Emperor, but to him it's only a charade.  At least at first.  The Emperor, of course, understands this, so he doesn't send him out to do anything too compromising at first (kill Jedi children) but sends him to do the things he'd like to do anyways.  Quell a dispute between warring factions, etc.  Slowly by slowly, Luke becomes what he pretends to be.   The line between reality and perception blurs.  Luke forgets what he was fighting for in the first place.

Emperor wins.

~probably not like this, but it's possible~

The Emperor really does have some ideal that he's beholden to.  He's so dedicated to this cause (whatever it is) that he's willing to die so that his more powerful apprentice can take over.  So, after Luke kills Vader in a Dark Side rage, he fights Luke, knowing that Luke will tap into enough of the Dark Side to win.  Emperor is dead.  Luke is more tainted with Dark Side power than ever.  Luke eventually continues down that path to become an even more powerful Emperor than Palpatine.  Whatever Dark Side cause they're all dedicated to (?) is furthered.

Dark Side (therefore its servant the Emperor) wins.

~or another posibility, one I mentioned before~

The Emperor Approaches Luke and says: "Kneel before me, my new apprentice!"  And Luke says, "You think you have won, but you have failed, Your Highness.  I'm still a Jedi."  And he holds his sabre at the ready.   The Emperor tries to stun Luke with force lightning, but Luke is able to resist it.  He force pushes the old man down.  The room shakes as the rebel attack takes its toll.  Luke decides it's time to get out of there.  The rebels destroy the Death Star, Vader and (presumably) the Emperor are dead.  Sure, Luke used the Dark Side to do it.  The Emperor said it would cause him to become it's slave, well that sure wasn't the case.  He's fine.  In fact, he's never felt better.  Etc, etc...

The Emperor wins.

My point is that it doesn't matter exactly what the Emperor's exit strategy was.  I'm sure there are many, many more possible situations that I haven't thought of, but it's always the same- Luke always loses.  Ther Emperor always wins.

 

danaan said:
Why is the Emperor doing this whole "let's turn Luke to the Dark side" exercise if it doesn't work that way? Wouldn't that expose the Emperor as an incompetent buffon when it comes to Dark side meta-physics? The Emperor, the guy who is patently the strongest Dark side user of the Saga...doesn't even understand how you recruit people to the Dark side?

I'm sorry, but that sounds...not so plausible...and it makes the Emperor come across as much less intimidating, cuz incompetent folks aren't.

Whether you'll appreciate anything I wrote above, I have no idea.  But as I said before, having Luke simply cease as a character only to be replaced by "Evil Luke" is pretty powerless.  That doesn't interest me at all and I see it as cheap storytelling in lieu of actually exploring the way that power (or feelings of power) ruin otherwise good people.  It also removes the potential for redemption from the Dark Side.  If you have no good part of you left... how can that good part overthrow the bad part?  And if there can be mostly bad parts with a little good left, then there has to be the possibility for mostly good with a little bad as well.

I don't like very much about the prequels, if anything.  But the idea that Anakin's killing a bunch of sand people that he thinks deserved it was the start of his path down the dark side, and not his arrival at end, I can totally get behind.  He went home.  Was slightly disturbed by his own actions.  Rationalized that they were the correct actions.  And then proceded to be more reckless with his future actions.  It's the sudden turn in Revenge of the Sith that makes no sense to me.

TV's Frink said:

Ziz said:

Side note - only the single DVD edition includes an isolated music track.  What's a simple freeware program that can rip the audio track so I can make myself a soundtrack CD?

DVDFab to rip the disc to your PC.

pgcdemux to isolate the audio to an ac3 file.

From there, take your pick of various converter programs to convert the ac3 to the format of your choice.

I thought DVDFab could rip directly to MP3?

CWBorne said:

The difference between my concept and Lucas is that his POV characters seemingly served no purpose. Indeed Episode One didn't seem to have a real protagonist at all, and if Jin was, it was a terrible decision because he couldn't be utilized by the audience as an introduction to the audience like Luke was. 

And I'm not clear at all as to who the main character was in either AOTC or ROTS. Again, its a matter of being clear as opposed to just throwing it out there. 

 Could be.  Still sounds like a trap to me.  I think it bifurcates (trifurcates?) the drive of the narrative to keep changing it like that.

TheBoost said:

If Luke only forgives him because it's his dad, that seems selfish. But (it seems to me) he forgives Dad-Vader because he senses there is still good in him, regardless that it's his dad.

Mayhap, but then it wouldn't be the human experience, would it?

Oh come on, man.  Don't send me to twitter like that.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/mattel-goes-back-to-the-future-with-hoverboard-line-but-theres-a-catch/story-e6frfro0-1226270712406

Halfway there!  Keep it up, people!

Bingowings said:

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2.

I finally got the dvd and like two before it the literally dark scenes were practically black.

At times this film became a noisy audio adventure.

I just saw this for the first time last night.  We watched 7 and 8 basically as one long movie starting Monday and finishing Tuesday night.

We watched it home and I never found any of it to be too dark (and this was in 3D, which is often assumed to be darker than 2D).  Perhaps your display isn't cable or properly calibrated?  I thought there was a great overall tone to the picture.  The thought- "too dark" never occured to me.  It's also possible the DVD is too dark compared to either the regular BD or the 3D BD, but I don't suppose so.

Bingowings said:

There was very little tension in the big confrontation and very little sense of actual peril despite the number of people lying around on the floor apparently dead.

 

Maybe it's because you already knew who lived and who died at the end.  ;)

You can hardly blame the movie for that.

I, on the other hand, have a terrible memory for the book so watching the movie was like wading through very dull memories and a lot of the ending was a surprise to me.  I found to be tense and emotional.  The visual destruction of Hogwarts gave a great sense of melancholy that I don't think is quite possible from the written word.

I found the extra time (about 4.5 hours total) acquired in delivering the movie in 2 parts to be well used and to allow the many events to be shown without crushing the scope of the piece.  I've heard people say that they thought it was drawn out and really should have been confined to one 2.5 - 3 hour film, and I just can't disagree strongly enough.

A solid ending to a great series (how often does that really happen? practically never). 

3/3 Deathly Hallows

7/7 Polyjuice Potters

Words with 4 consecutive consonants:

Twelfth.

Edit: Looks like I assumed a more general purpose to this thread.  Many apologies.  I shall cease, but I shall'n't remove my errant posts.

Someone once told me there were no multisylabic words in the english language that had a single pronounced 'E' following a consonant at their end.

Adobe.

CWBorne said:

I think you could do something interesting from a narrative standpoint of initially making Skywalker the central protagonist with the first film told from his POV, as he is the one (to quote Kenobi) "making his first step into a larger world". Thus you can have someone to ask the questions the audience would and have the exposition in somewhat natural fashion. 

Then in the second you have both Ben and Anakin serving as dual protagonists, fitting their status as brothers in arms in the Clone Wars, and providing perhaps a fascinating contrast in their tones and points of view for when they are split apart for a portion of the movie. 

Then in the third, its Kenobi who takes over as the lead. This not only subtly foreshadows that Skywalker will act as the antagonist in the conclusion and in a sense creating narrative distance between the teacher/student but also really emotionally connecting with the audience as Ben sees the transformation of his best friend, the destruction of his fellow Jedi, and the final decay of the beloved Republic. 

If done well it would make for a proper introduction to the universe, allow an audience to sense the difference/division between the two most important characters, and creates for a genuinely sad finale with a character who has lost so much. Hence, in the grand scheme, the true tragedy of Star Wars is really one of Ben and Anakin, with the triumph of Luke is that he redeems the sins of the two and avoids the unfortunate fate of either. 

TPM: Neeson
AotC: MacGregor
RotS: Christenson

I think you're falling into a Lucas trap.  To be fair, a lot of the decisions the bearded one made during the development of the prequels were real head scratchers to me.  Things that already seemed to be set up by the back story of the OT were directly contradicted and I had no idea why.  Or other just bizarre decisions that just made you say, "Huh?"  It just didn't make sense.  Then I started to craft my own outlines for the prequels, based on the OT backstory.  And I found myself coming into some of the same problems.

Just as examples: Where did Quigonn come from (storywise)?  Wasn't Obi-Wan as instructor enough?  Why was Anakin 8-9 years old in the first movie?  Trade federations and tax disputes?  The Sith rule of two?

I think these are all terrible decisions. On the surface, they make no sense.  But you can discover their engineering if you attempt the task yourself.

But they're still the wrong decision.

In my humblest of opinions.

(Which is also correct, in this case.)

((From time to time.))

(((Never tell me the odds.)))

thecolorsblend said:

If you can find a 2D screening of the movie, that would be my recommendation.

My recommendation:

Stay home.

~Or~

I don't always watch Star Wars Episode 1, but when I do- I prefer The Ridiculous Menace.

danaan said:

Oh, ok. Sorry, my bad. I read it very quickly. Yes, he might indeed have thought himself to be the good guy. The way the scene is set up, though, the movie is pretty much telling us that if Luke kills the bad guys, the end result will be that he'll either become the Emperor's new apprentice, or the new Emperor (if he has the power to kill the Emperor, which the movie tells us is very unlikely). Either way, the good guys lose.

I'm not sure the movie is telling us that.  Palpatine is telling Luke that.  Palpatine also says it's Luke's destiny, he says that his place is at his side, he says that the Rebels won't win, he says that Luke has misplaced his faith in his friends.  All of these things are proven untrue, why should the nature of Dark Side conversion be any different.

Yoda says there's a path to the Dark Side.  Not a switch.

Besides, Luke used the Dark Side to beat Vader down and he didn't instantly become a Dark Side junkie.  Yes, going all the way and murdering Vader would have been a more serious offense/commitment to the Dark Side.  But I think Palpatine was really just playing head games with Luke.

xhonzi said:

Edit: Also,- whaddaya mean "short"? Working himself up to the level of rage so that he KILLS HIS OWN FATHER! How is that short?

I mean one action taken in a 10 minute fit of rage would not immediately overthrow his sense of right and wrong once he calmed down.  How many people do you know completely change their personalities in a single day? 

I'm saying Luke would have taken his first step down the path of the Dark Side.  And that there would have been many more.  But he wouldn't have already arrived.

But that's not what the movie says. 10 minutes of rage might not be consequential to you or me....even if those 10 minutes end with us killing someone, though I would think that such a situation would still be profoundly traumatic for someone who started those 10 minutes as someone with a great deal of ethical integrity.

Agreed.

But then, this is SW, and Luke isn't anyone. He's a Force user, and a Force user of great power, and when *he* lets loose he invites the Dark side. Indeed, he "gives himself" to the Dark side. The Dark side has agency, and a power of its own. Note how everyone is talking about how the Dark side is "seductive", and how Vader is an emotional slave of the Emperor. The Dark side is, clearly, kinda like crack for a Jedi. Once you get that powerful first rush - when you kill someone in rage, fuelling yourself with the Dark side...you're stuck and you're a junkie. And Luke, in that moment, is but a saberthrust away from crossing that point of no return and becoming a servant of evil.

I understand that that is one interpretation of how the Dark Side could work.  But it's a very "I was possessed by the devil- I'm not responsible for my actions" kind of thing.  Which greatly disinterests me.  That's not seductive at all.

I think you'll find that fiction is full of a lot of that.  Not an actual fall from grace, more like a snap of the fingers and somebody is evil.  Or they're possessed, or they're controlled, or they're replaced by an evil twin.  That's fine and it has its place... but I would rather see an evil actually corrupt a guy, not just control him.

I just can't buy that Luke would swear fealty to the Emperor after striking down Vader.  If anything, his Dark Side rage would lead him to attack the Emperor.  Maybe that battle would go on for a long time, The Emperor toying with Luke, and maybe Luke would continue to tap into more and more of the Dark Side and maybe then he would be ready to commit to it.  But I think Luke's first reaction after the revenge/anger killing of his father would be strong amounts of both relief and regret.  That's not the kind of emotion that would lead to immediately siding with your enemy.

Tobar said:

 

Great Weekend at the Box Office for The Phantom Menace

The Phantom Menace has matched expectations and brought in a very healthy $23 million dollars at the North American box office, taking fourth spot for the weekend.

It was a very bouyant weekend, 30% up on last years matching frame with four movies grossing north of $20 million, a first for February. Impressively The Phantom Menacebrought in enough to become the 29th biggest opening for a February. Not bad for a 13 year old film that was only released on Blu-ray a few short months ago.

Beyond that, the $23 million elevates The Phantom Menace domestic box office total to $454,088,301, taking it above E.T and Shrek 2 into the all-time 5th position, just behind A New Hope. While it only requires another $6 million to pass A New Hope it's unlikely to catch the 3rd place film The Dark Knight which is currently $79 million ahead.

On the worldwide front The Phantom Menace has risen from 18th to 15th positon, passing two Harry Potter entries Half-Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix. With $947,317,558 worldwide and international figures yet to arrive it's a formality as to whether or not The Phantom Menace joins the billion dollar club. To put our prediction hats on, an admittedly optimistic $200 million worldwide haul would pull the film into the all-time 3rd position, just ahead of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

So, now we wait for the official announcement of Attack of the Clones 3D for February 2013...

Source

 

 Yikes.

danaan said:

So, in your interpretation of the OT, regardless of the PT, Luke could have killed his father and still walked away the good guy?

What?  No!  Did you read the links I posted?  You seem to have grossly misunderstood what I was trying to say. 

Maybe I wasn't clear.

What I'm saying is that Luke could have killed Vader and the Emperor and walked away thinking he was still the good guy.  But that would have put him on the path that Yoda said would FOREVER dominate him.

Edit: Also,- whaddaya mean "short"? Working himself up to the level of rage so that he KILLS HIS OWN FATHER! How is that short?

I mean one action taken in a 10 minute fit of rage would not immediately overthrow his sense of right and wrong once he calmed down.  How many people do you know completely change their personalities in a single day? 

I'm saying Luke would have taken his first step down the path of the Dark Side.  And that there would have been many more.  But he wouldn't have already arrived.