Atary77 (Level 13)

Before I begin let me point out that I'm only stating my opinions here about various things and they are to be taken with a grain of salt.

The other day (at the time of this posting) I got into a discussion with a co-worker of mine over a song he had linked me to. After listening to it I didn't really have much interest in it. I told him this and his reaction I would say would be something akin to telling Roger Ebert that you think The Godfather just isn't as good as he thinks it is. He argued that the song in question had a really good message to which I agreed. The long short of the song was about how greedy people suck and how the poor and poverty stricken are living in hell because of them. The message of the song seemed quite positive and a good reflection on society today, but I just wasn't that into the music as a whole. The way it sounded in particular.

He then goes on to point out how I have such high standards of movies and that I think every movie should be based on it's story and content and that I have a double standard because I don't happen to like the song in question because I don't particularly like it despite it's story and message. My response was to tell him that I don't believe you can honestly compare Music to Movies. My argument being that, a movie needs to have a good story, characters you care about, good writing, etc. But to me a song just simply has to have a good sound and that's it. That's just how I feel.

A lot of the music I listen to, I don't know what the artist intended ,what message they're trying to give, or even what the lyrics are even saying! But I listen to them because they just sound really good and they cater to my particular taste in music. His argument to my statement was "What if a movie just looks good and it doesn't have a good story or characters?" my response was that it would be in my opinion a bad movie because it takes far more than looks to make a good movie.

To sum this all up though, my argument is that you CAN'T compare movies to music because there are far more qualities that need to work right in order for a movie to be good and that music simply needs to sound good and that it doesn't always have to have meaning or a story of any kind. Also I don't mean to put down music in any way because I do realize that it still takes talent to make a song worth listening to.

Also as a small FYI, said Co-Worker likes to hassle me because of my strong opinions of movies but I just can't take the dude seriously when he just flat out dosen't belive in ANY critics opinion and will defend movies like Grown Ups and Jack and Jill... I'm not kidding the guy tried to tell me these movies weren't as bad as most people think... I strongly disagree.

But what are your arguments people?

@FinalDasa: Yeah but when there's really big trouble during the day which is bound to happen, you don't think he'd make some excuse to get out of class to go stop it?

So having seen about three different trailers for this I've noticed that any of the action involving Spider-Man in full costume all take place at night. True this may not be a reflection of the finished movie when it's released but I'm wondering if there are going to be any scenes of Spidey fighting or web slinging in broad day light. Normally when I see this in movies today it seems like an easy excuse to use shadow or dark environments to keep the audience from seeing any problems with the visual effects.

My argument though in any of the previous Spider-Man movies there was plenty of action and fighting that took place in day light and it looked perfectly fine. Sure you could easily tell CGI Spidey from the actor in costume but it still looked good in my opinion. I don't know maybe it's too soon to tell and maybe I'm completely wrong about this, but I have a really strong hunch that they're trying to use night scenes an awful lot to cover up any poor visuals.

Any thoughts?

The United Kingdom has given the world a lot of awesome things. Doctor Who, The Beatles, Def Leppard, The Office, just to name a few. Today though I wanted to simply acknowledge a man whom I'm very grateful Ricky Gervais has shared with the world, that is mister Karl Pilkington. For those of you who don't know who I'm talking about and this is just off the top of my head, Karl Pilkington has worked with actor and producer Ricky Gervais on several projects. They first met when Ricky started doing stuff for XFM. As Ricky got to know more about Mr. Pilkington ,he simply became astounded by Karl's logic and way of looking at the world (and most importantly how round his noggin is) that Ricky decided to share him with the world in his podcast with Steven Merchant (You may know him as Wheatly from Portal 2) and they all sat down simply to have pointless conversations drilling Karl's wonderful fountain of knowlege. Or lack there of in Ricky's opinion. Later HBO decided to bring the podcast to life in animated form simply called The Ricky Gervais show. For those of you who have never heard any thing from this pod cast or the HBO series, I'd like to present to you one of my favorite clips in where Ricky and Steven read from Karl's own Diary giving us a look into this strange yet wonderful man's mind.

Fascinating no? Now I didn't want to simply talk about the Ricky Gervais show (otherwise I'd have started this on that board) but I wanted to take a look at Karl himself. Karl has almost been chosen to go basically wherever Ricky and Steven send him in a show called "Idiot Abroad". This vid is a clip taken from the show after Karl returns from a trip from China, and hearing what Karl has learned, is just fascinating.

I swear the conversations they have with Karl are just priceless. And thanks to Ricky Gervais all us folks outside of the UK can experience Karl Pilkington for ourselves. Honestly I don't think there's anyone else like Karl Pilkington in the world and I'm very glad there isn't. He's one of a kind and I hope we get to continue to see more of his view on the world.

How about you folks?

I hate you Pitbull I mean I don't know anyone who's said anything positive about his crumby music, lack luster rymes, and just over all douch-bagyness.

@TheFreeMan: Yeah, teenaged angst alone is what makes me want to stay away from it. But at the same time I realize, these really aren't meant for me so as long as they offer something intelligent for it's intended audience then I'm cool with it.

@Mr_skeleton: Might I ask, terrible how?

@litrock: You poor poor man. Yeah even I couldn't bring myself to read any one of those Twilight books. Hell I made a whole blog as to why I can't stand that whole series (though it was more directed at the movies).

But I'll be very glad if Hunger Games is NOT another Twilight and based on a little research I've done it's certainly not. My impression of it has been Mortal Kombat with kids and teenagers which can sound pretty awesome depending on who you are.

@litrock: Thanks much for the input.

Being a man of 30 my interest in these didn't seem too high but for the audience it's intended for it certainly seems to have a lot more substance than most things kids today would have interest in or what the media would have us believe they have interest in.

As the title suggest I'm curious if anyone here has read these books and if so what did you think of them? Are they any good?

Also based on what you know about the upcoming movie so far do you think the films are following the source material well enough? This one might be difficult to answer since the movie isn't out yet (at the time of this post).

I'm a sci-fi lover myself and I hadn't really heard much about these books nor do I know anyone personally that has read any of them. I'm curious if I should seek these books out for myself and if any of you folks would reccommend them.

Appreciate any input.

I'll admit I didn't want to watch Heart Break Kid either since it looked down right terrible. Three Stooges, I'd be ok with if not for the whole Jersey Shore thing. I'm totally cool with Slap-Stick comedy but I fear that 3 Stooges will be nothing but one pop culture reference after another.

I think the only thing the "haters" out there don't like is the show's own popularity. There's all kinds of examples of this in any form of media where despite how good the quality of something is there's always gonna be folks who despise it simply for the fact that it's popular. Not sure how else to explain it. I love the show myself but I'm not gonna act like it's got the best writing since Shakespeare or anything, it's just a harmless show that's cute and it's funny and ever since Powerpuff Girls (which I freaking loved!) the whole term "just for girls" dosen't really have to apply at all. Why can't it be a show for both genders? That's like if you said Transformers was only for boys cause it has mostly male characters but there are girls who love it too.

But anyway it's a decent show and even I can admit it's not for everybody. Now if you'll excuse me I have to check my DVR for the most recent episode before I re-watch "Lesson Zero". Damn Twilight is hilarious!

@PatVB said:

I used to collect Pokemon cards back when those were first a thing, but I never actually played the game.

Hehe, I have to wonder if you still held onto them my friend.

If people wanna smoke, let'em smoke. Yeah it's unhealthy, I don't smoke myself, and there is a good chance you'll get a life threatening illness. However there's a surgeon general's warning on each and every pack no matter what brand you buy so people have been given fair warning.

Would I encourage a non-smoker to start smoking? Absolutely not. Am I going to encourage a smoker to stop? No I will not. It's a life choice, people are responsible for their own actions and that's all I'm gonna say.

At one time ,when I was in my early 20's I was wanting to spend time with my niece and nephew who were both into Yu-gi-oh cards. They had both been through a lot and I wanted to show them a good time so I had gotten some cards for them as well as a pack of my own so we could play against each other. I understood enough of the rules to get by but still had fun mostly cause I was letting them have fun.

After they grew out of it I hadn't really touched the cars again and gave them to other friends who wanted them. Before this however in my mid teens I was really into Pokemon and bought a lot of the cards most of which I still have to this day. These were the Gen 1 cards too and the only person I ever played against was my older sister who was into the show for the most part.

Now a days though I don't play the card games anymore but I still have my old Pokemon decks and I still play the GBA and DS games.

Magic the Gathering I only have experience with the recent Xbox Live Arcade games.

Hey Matt and Alex,

Sorry if this has been asked before but is there any one movie (or multiple movies) that have made you cry?

I myself can't help but shed a tear for Carl Fredrickson in UP after he sadly looses his wife. Although a more tear inducing moment that gets me every time is in Toy Story 3 near the end where Woody and the other toys are confronting Lotso and Big Baby outside. Woody having the locket from Lotso and Big Baby's previous owner, tosses it to them with Big Baby looking at it and in the most tear jerking baby voice ever says "Momma". That scene simply rips me to shreds and gets me everytime.

Thanks

Atary77

@AlwaysBeClothing said:

My Giant Bomb profile image. Then my other Whiskey profile images. Then stuff I've uploaded to whiskey media. I'm a little surprised since there's a website that sells clothing as the first web result.

In any case, a picture of a Corgi sitting at a WOW log in is still my Screened profile image.

I got this too.

So should I ask my question that upcoming podcast here or make a separate post for it?

I firmly belive it's pretty damn bad for you... yet I can't keep myself away

So much for that statute of limitations eh? lol

Anyway thanks Rorie