JunkerSeed

It makes sense that fantasy/sci-fi would be the new home for the idealistic heroes you're talking about, because when stuff is put in a realistic setting, people expect it to be realistic. Especially if it's supposedly based on real people. It was only a matter of time before word of mouth got around that the real cowboys weren't exactly saints. So, instead of just accepting that the characters are seperate entities from their real life counterparts, they see those movies as silly and false, as if the filmmakers either were ignorant of the past, or were trying to trick the audience. I think there's a problem with everyone expecting movies to be hyper-realistic. How many times during an action movie have you heard someone say "aw come on, he woulda hit him a hundred times! They always miss in these movies. These guys never run out of bullets! How dumb." etc etc ad nauseum. For some odd reason lots of people have trouble accepting the fact that even though they take place in a realistic setting, MOVIES AREN'T REAL. I understand being opposed to Hollywood cookie cutter stuff, but I swear some people would want Tequila to get shot in the first scene of Hard Boiled, and have John Mclane run out of bullets in the middle of a great action scene in Die Hard. I think this is why people took to the gangster movies so quickly. Movies basically went to two different extremes I think. From the perfect hero that is a great example of morals and values but is hard to relate to, to the absolute anti-hero, who mercilessly kills the enemy and half of the time is fighting "bad guys" simply out of coincidence in that they were the ones who hurt him. I think people are jaded enough nowadays to beleive that a totally evil person is more realistic than a totally good person. So, yeah, if you take these stories out of the realm of realism, then people won't have as many problems with it. Nobody criticized Harry Potter's portrayal of a perfect witch school system or anything like that, cause people would tell them "movies aren't real."

Heh, don't get me started on how cool the Pumpkins were... I can't really decide between Siamese dream and Mellon Collie, if I had to pick I'd say mellon collie because of sheer quanity of songs ??? And as for D'arcy and arf de meur, I think arf de meur is a better bassist, but I think D'arcy just goes better with the pumpkins. Hmm, breakup songs... Stabbing westward's cd "darkest days" is basically one big breakup cd, so I'll pick some from there for the sad breakup, "Waking up beside you" "I've been so alone for so long Forgotten by the world Forgotten to myself Your effervescent eyes have awakened me And brushed the dust away But I knew you'd never stay So I memorized the color of your eyes as I lost myself inside you And I memorized the way our legs entwined as I drifted off beside you I miss God I miss Waking up beside you" and for the ANGRY breakup "On your way down" "i hope I see you on your way down, I hope you break, every bone I hope it kills you on your way down, and I hope you die alone! When all your worst fears materialze, will it be worth it? there's nobody left who cares you're alive, was it worth it? I'll see you on your way down (repeat)" as for the "our song" thing, I'm usually kidding around when I do that, example "Aw... Big man with a gun... honey that's our song!" :Starts slow dancing:

Yeah, pixar is great. Since Disney's regular animation stuff isn't nearly as good as it used to be, it's nice to know that pixar took over the job of bringing out the classics. And Dreamworks is great too, I always like Antz better than a bugs life (I guess it's because I'ma woody Allen fan) and Shrek rocks. hell, if it weren't for them I bet Pixar's stuff wouldn't be half as good. Now that Disney has some competition, they're obligated to put out something good. The way things were going before Toy story, I was afraid that this generation of kids was getting shafted, but I'm glad that ain't the case. Oh, and am I the onyl one that thinks some of this stuff shouldn't have speech in it? I remember I saw dinosaur, and for the first 10 minutes or so, there was no talking, and it was awesome, then they spoke, and I was dissapointed. Now I watch the trailer for Ice Age, which looks awesome, and it's a great hilarious cartoon, and then at the very end, a goddamned Mammoth talks. It almost looks like animators have been wanting to do a movie with animals that don't talk (as evidenced by Pixar's shorts and parts of ice age, and disney's parts of Dinosaur), but they're not allowed to. Now I know this stuff is for kids, but it doesn't seem to be too farfetched for them to enjoy a 90 minute cartoon where the animals don't talk. hell, the point would really be that the movie would finish, and the kids wouldnt even realize that not one word was said. While even if the animals talk the movie will be cool ('specially with dennis leary doin' one of teh voices) that's just the idealist in me wishing they'd do somehting like that.

I just got back from seeing that with some people, and I agree, while nothing extremely special, it was pretty funny. Directed by the same guy who did "Heathers," a very damned fine movie. Glad it didn't go the route of most comedies and try for a PG-13 cause then it woulda sucked. I think this one and super troopers are the only comedies out now, I saw that one a little while back, it was pretty funny too, but again, nothing special. Only movies I really like out now are either depressing (monster's ball, in the bedroom) or violent as all hell (we were soldiers, black hawk down) Amelie and Royal tenebaums are out of theaters for the most part now (hyped em up and nobody saw em... there's always video ??? ) so if you want the funny, these new ones are alright to tide you over.

Haven't had a chance to post on this one yet. If I had to pick a song right now I'd say "Lateralus" by Tool, a band that never ceases to amaze me, though Galapagos was a damned fine pick if I say so myself. Lateralus is basically about the connection between the body and the mind, which is what most of the album is about, and this particular song is more about not over analyzing and brooding over things... "going with the flow" so to speak. In a sense it's also about listening to music like Tools, you don't have to interpret every word and put each note under a microscope to enjoy it, same goes for life and most art I'd say. Of course, if I was really paying attention, I'd realize that it does me no good writing a goddamned big paragraph trying to interpret a song that begs not to be interpreted, so here are some lyrics.... "I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow to feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human. With my feet upon the ground I lose myself between the sounds and open wide to suck it in, I feel it move across my skin. I'm reaching up and reaching out, I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me. And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been. We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been. Spiral out. Keep going, going..."

System of a Down is incredible. The Metro is from the Dracula 2000 soundtrack, is prolly why you haven't heard it. Great song. And I like their self titled one, but I agree, Toxicity is better cause it has the feel of being an album, not just a collection of songs. 'Nuther good band I've been listening to a lot is Finger 11. Their second cd, Greyest of Blue skies is just badass. They haven't done anything for a couple of years, but everything I've heard from them I've loved.

bah! you go to hell! :scared:

Sure, Saturday sounds fine, again, anyone who wants to see it should jump on board, it's win-win for this one, if it sucks, at least you get to see shit blow up for two hours. I'll see if I bring someone who speaks this time.

Had to see this movie for Sociology class so I figured I'd review it. I wouldn't really bother watching this one. You've seen it all before, done better. It's a very average hostage flick, the only thing separating it from others being that it's also a big advertisement for free healthcare. Before you walk in you'll already know everything that happens and how it'll turn out. If you want a good hostage movie, watch dog day afternoon, and if you want to know about national healthcare, watch politically incorrect or something. Movie has a cool cast that's just completely wasted on a script that was pulled off a bookshelf full of cliches at hollywood. "Hostage movie script? That would be under H... ok, hey Bob, photocopy this and write a coupla lines about healthcare in it will ya? Then send it over to those guys pronto, they've got a movie to shoot!" Oh, and for those who would like to know, next one I'm plannin on seeing is "When we were soldiers." Irish, you should be drooling over this one. Directed and adapted by the guy who wrote Braveheart. Even though it's a Vietnam movie, I hear it's not all about fatalism and the futility of war, like damned near every other war movie recently. It supposedly has the John Wayne sensibility of "we've got something to fight for" so I wouldn't mind seeing a patriotic VN movie for once.

Umm, technically NIN and the smashing pumpkins started in the 80's... and I find a way to mention them in every music thread, so there you go. Unfortunately tool started in the 90's... but ha! There! I mentioned them! Punk was literally invented in the 80's by the Ramones and sex pistols, I just didn't include them because I don't listen to their stuff as much as thsoe I listed. There was also all of that Sugar kill gang run dmc stuff that started off rap. damn, there's a genre that's fallen pretty far... And the best crappy techno-pop song of teh 80's is obviously the safetly dance.

There was a whole bunch of good 80's music contrary to what some would beleive, so I've gotta give a couple of lists. All of these are in no particular order: 80's bands 1. U2 - God damn, and they're still going strong today 2. Metallica - uh, not going so strong today... 3. Depeche Mode - Can't say enough about them 4. Cure - I don't see how they started the whole "goth"thing, but hey, they kick ass 5. Beastie Boys - Come on, they just kick ass. Best 80's cds 1. Joshua Tree - U2 2. Master of puppets - Metallica 3. Violator - Depeche mode 4. Megadeth - Rust in Peace 5. ...And Justice for all - Metallica That's about all I can put in, there's a lot more good stuff, but that's what comes to mind now.

While I didn't completely despise the second VAST album as much, it was a dissapointment, had a coupla good songs, but then shit like "Gates of Rock and Roll" killed it. And Nickelback used to be a damned good band, I swear! They have a cd called "The State" that's really good, and then I burn their second cd and it's just repetative crap. Oh, and Stroke 9 is a very cool band. "Nasty Little Thoughts" is a great cd, it'll be stuck in your head forever after you hear it. I kind of liken them to the Counting Crows if they were more energetic, and less depressed. Supposedly they have a second cd coming out (which "Kick Some Ass" was supposed to be from) but I haven't seen it anywhere. And on a differant issue, I bet 90% of those bands that whine and bitch about everything and hate the world have perfectly fine families and had very happy childhoods... It just seems like nowadays that's the default topic you write songs about. Thank god for bands like Weezer that stray away from the gloom and doom every now and then

Yeah, I have to say I agree, I don't even like the singles that these one-hit-wonder bands do anymore. The radio has become utterly useless to me recently. It's either this new wave of wannabe "punk" bands that are more commercial than the gap, or a bunch of tattoed guys jumping around and screaming about how much they hate stuff. The only new debut cd that i've bought recently that I can think of is the Gorillaz, and they're not even really new since it's all masterminded by the lead singer of blur. There is some good new stuff out, but it's all by old artists... Tool, NIN, Radiohead, and a few others have just put out some great stuff, and supposedly the counting crows have something coming out soon. As for Jimmy eats world, most of what I've heard out of them I've liked, they're a good catchy band, tho they kinda contribute to the commercial punk thing, hell at least they sound good... I liked most off of "Bleed American" but I haven't heard anything new from them. I heard that they started as emo as dashboard confessional and got a lot harder as time went on, but I think they're pretty good now. And I always though Hoobastank was a big Incubus ripoff.... they even look like Incubus! I'll finish this rant with a quote from someone who still manages to put out good music today, Trent Reznor. "I hate the nature of the business right now. I think that it's a very stifling, uncreative, non-artistic, non-musical climate right now. Where the lines between art and commerce dissolved into, “I'm just giving product to a label that will make all the money and discard me when I'm not viable anymore. That's it!” Yeah, I know I'm selling a record to people, but it's not laundry detergent. This is art, this is something that is precious and it should be respected as such. "

Yeah, it was an incredible weekend. I only expected to spend a little bit of money on like 2 trades and maybe a poster, I left spending over a hundred on like a billion half-off trades and the entire run of that H.A.R.D. corps series. Costumes were outta hand, I still say the killer condom was one of the best. The panel was certainly the highlight, Smith is way too cool. Whoever didn't go really needs to consider going to one eventually. Well, I've gotta read about a billion pages worth of comics, so that's all I have to day about that.

Damned fine movie picks... I second all o' those. I've already posted a bunch of reccomendations, but just for the sake of being redundant and annoying I might add some to this thread.

I had to go with Mr. Satan due to the lack of a choice that says "The fight lasts 8 seasons and everyone loses interest in it before it's over, but it's later re-edited into a really cool Stabbing Westward video."

Speakin about who directed the SW movies... here's a DYN for you: Did you know that David Lynch (director of the TV series Twin Peaks, movies Mulhullond drive, the Elephant man, Dune, eraserhead, Blue Velvet, other cool stuff you haven't seen) was the first one to be offered the job to direct Return of the Jedi? He turned it down to do Dune. If any of you have seen anything Lynch has done (ignore lost highway) you know that Return of the Jedi would have been a very different movie... Yoda probably would have talked backwards, the whole series would have ended up being a dream, and Princess Leia probably would have been a lesbian. Though it would have been every odd, a small part of me wishes he woulda done it....

Well, maybe you should pay for the software you use, you evil, evil person. Don't you think those hard working programmers deserve their money? (Says the guy who just downloaded Adobe Premier and After Effects... a $1000 value!)

I've been plannin on getting a new computer pretty soon, and I was wondering what woudl suit my needs best. I know what I need for games and stuff, but I just recently aquired adobe premier (video editing program) and on my current pentium 500 with 128 megs of ram and a voodoo3, it takes an hour to preview a 30 second clip. Heaven forbid I want to change the way something dissolves or speed up or add or take out an effect and see if it works, cause I'd have to wait that hour again... So, anyways, I was wondering what I could get on my new one that would make it quick for this kind of stuff. Lots of ram? Better video card? Quicker processor? Already plannin on getting a HUGE (120 gb) harddrive. Any advice would be appreciated. With my luck, I'd buy a PC with a 120gb HD and 1.8ghz processor, only to see that Tera shit come out the next day....

I just right clicked and picked save target as... it's right here in my harddrive, ahlamour.asf.

Um, created by Jim Henson's creature shop, not Jim henson himself, my bad.

Hmm, coulda sworn I posted about this movie already, but Mike saw it, and said he didn't he a post about it, so here it is. This is the other cool French movie that came out this year. It's a martial arts-werewolf-period peice that's insanely stylish, and basically has everything and the kitchen sink thrown into it. This movie uses every visual trick in the book, and has some of the coolest fight scenes I've seen in a while. The werewolf is made by Jim henson and has this cool old school kind of computer animation thing going on. Works pretty well. Really can't express how utterly cool this movie was. The audience goes in thinking they're gonna see some snobby, philosophical foreign film, and then they see two hours worth of badass fighting, cool slo motion, visual trickery, etc. And Mike has seen this one too, so it exists! I'm not just making shit up citing movies nobody has heard of. I think it's playing at dolphin 'round these parts.

You could, ummm, click on it, then click on "download".... ???

Yeah, good call on all of those movies, those are just about the only romantic comedies I can stomach. Problem with most romantic comedies is that they are mostly formulaic. 90% of the time in those movies there's about two or three words the characters could say that would clear up the entire situacion and end all of their problems, but they don't say them untill the end, because they are being dragged kicking and screaming through a script. Almost feels like they wrote the plot first and the characters later. So, instead of the characters doing what they would actually do, Idiot Plot devices predictably keep them away from each other for a good hour and a half till the filmmakers feel we've had enough. And it's not that I don't like stuff without guns, In the Bedroom and Monster's Ball were two o' my favorite movies this year, and while not comedies by any stretch of the imagination, still examples of damned fine writing that them romantic comedy/tragedy people should learn from.

Oh, yeah, I loved Beautiful mind. Sure, Crowe might deserve the Oscar this year, but I say he shouldn't get it, just 'cause he sure as hell didn't deserve one for gladiator! This should even things out. :sneaky: Oh, also Jennifer Connelly (chick who play's Nash's wife) is up for best supporting actress, it'd be nice if she won that, cause she's just a really cool actress. She's up against two british people from gosford park, kate winslet and marissa tomei, so she's got a shot. And like I said, they do always give really good movies the most nominations, but I didn't think those were the absolute best this year. But this year was actually pretty good for movies (especially in the last month or two) so if they gave Beautiful mind best pic I wouldn't argue.