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Review: Orange County
Shaun is a brainless Orange County surfing dude until he stumbles across a novel and decides he was to use his brain and become a writer. He obsesses on Stanford, doesn't get in because of a paperwork screw-up by his moonie guidance counselor (Lily Tomlin) and, with the help of his perpetually-stoned brother (Black) and girlfriend (Fisk), sets out to gain admission to Stanford. Part of his obsession comes from a desire to get away from his hilariously and spectacularly dysfunctional family (drunken drama queen mother is played by Catherine O'Hara, remote divorced money-obsessed dad by John Lithgow).
Black is by now wonderful at playing the stoned loony, but he needs to be careful, as it's already nearly impossible to imagine him in any other role. And he's great at it. He nearly steals the movie, especially playing against the steady-as-she-goes nice guy Colin Hanks who, like his Dad, has a Jimmy Stewart quality that makes you root for him, even when he's behaving badly.
The plotting and conceit of the movie are both strange. Orange County, a wealthy suburb of LA, is held to be insipid and valueless. Although we get a peek at the dummies who Shaun befriends and who go to his high school, there is little feel at all for the actual place, one of America's early, mythic suburbs. At least at first, all Shaun wants to do is get away, though the writers eventually suggest that wanting to leave arid suburbs and go to colleges like Stanford is a mistake. Creative and interesting people should stay at home where their roots are, all the better to be inspired and keep their needy parents and girlfriends happy.
Shaun's paperwork snafu could probably have been corrected with a phone call, so all the slapstick racing around -- there's an improbably mad dash up to Stanford -- and hysteria seems a bit silly. And the ending -- well, it's original, but also goofy. It lost me.
I think for a total of 15 to 20 minutes this is one of the most inventive and original movies I've seen in awhile. In toto, it's disjointed. It seems as if Kasdan wanted to make a semi-serious, biting movie but either chickened out or was held back. Still, there are more than a few great laughs in Orange County and the parts of the film that portray a complex kid trying to figure out where he belongs while coming to terms with his insane family really work -- at moments.
I really don't want this to sound like a troll, and I really love Slashdot, and I read it every day, and Linux is a great operating system, and open source is The Way, and I've really enjoyed all of Jack Black's movies, BUT...
/., much less expect it to be posted, and I don't think I personally know anyone who would.
Is this really a Slashdot news story? I mean, I'd never submit a non-tech movie review to
Perhaps the editors could do the same thing we lowly grunts do—post stories like this in your journal.
I just wanna know why Jon Katz always watches the teen movies.
I also want to know if anyone else here gives a shit about those movies?
I guess slashdot probably does have a fairly strong base teenager viewers but still, man.
I also saw the movie. It looked incredibly stupid in the previews but I was surprised by its quality. It's not a Lord of the Rings or A Beautiful Mind, but it is a decent flick. And you get to see Tom Hanks's clone.
Nerds don't watch movies?
I think, unfortunately, some people around here are probably wrongly assuming that all of us "losers" who read Slashdot have little or no social life, and, henceforth, the only entertainment we get is watching sci-fi and hot chick movies. Therefore, they probably think the movie reviews are pertinent information.
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
He hasn't seen it yet.
He's preparing for the next Linux Developers Conference being held in Kandahar
Count me out from any more Tom Hanks movies. Too phony (out for the awards).
Ah yes, I remember the trailer for this movie. Specifically, I remember it delaying my viewing of LoTR for another 60 seconds. I will never forgive them. Bastards.
--My purpose set, my will defined. Caress the air, embrace the skies.
there looked to be all these great scenes in the movie. Like when Shaun is making his tape for stanford and his brother comes behind with twizzlers stuffed in his nose, or when the brother is playing drums on the cereal bowl singing "you don't need collage to rock". I saw tons of movie previews like these. None of these parts are in the movie. I saw probably ten different scenes on MTV and in previews that weren't actually in the movie. I truly enjoyed the movie, but the best parts were the ones in the previews that weren't even in the movie. I found this to be very misleading. Those were the scenes that made me want to see the movie in the first place.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It's a comedy. Just leave it at that. Sheesh.
I remember a little piece from Dennis Miller's Washington D.C. standup special, regarding in-room hotel pay-per-view, and how when you check out the movies you ordered are itemized on your bill.
:)
"Teenage Tit Freaks -- 9 times."
I note that if the movie requires a mind and/or a non-teen viewer Katz almost always hates it. On the other hand, if it is plotless but has buxom, lithe young starlets then it usually passes his muster. To put it another way, I would trust Katz' taste in porn movies.
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
Wait, you:
/. wants some of my baseball articles.
a) claim to have a social life but;
b) use Slashdot for movie reviews?
I wonder if ESPN will cover movies soon, too. Or if
Did this cat watch the same movie I did? The movie was funny at moments but poorly written. Its a sophomoric attempt at a "coming of age" style flick, albeit with some good elements.
"Now, I have to come here and see another ad for it on the front page?"
You certainly don't have to.
We have, as of late, defined geek as being a person who's knowledge is strictly technical. This, in my estimation, is a mistake. There are all kinds of knowledge, putting one down while praising another seems hypocritical.
Just because a high school student, working on his/her second novel, doesn't know how to write a php script doesn't mean he or she is not a geek, nerd, intellectual, whathaveyou. I think we should stop the elitism, and allow for a wider variety of posts, ones encompassing more genres of knowledge.
-americanfatcat
I guess it may surprise some, but in most cases nerd != 1 dimensional tech person. I sort of like the fact that slashdot runs stories on a range of topics that typically appeal to people that also tend to like "geeky" things.
I still think it's interesting that many types people interested in a given topic, also typically share an interest in another seemingly unrelated topic.
For example, slashdot typically runs significant stories on space exploration / physics topics. What does linux and open source have to do with NASA? Nothing really, but for whatever reason, it seems like the majority of linux enthusiasts are also interested in physics / science stuff.
I guess I'm way, way off topic on the movie review, but I guess my point is something like, "if you don't like a story headline, don't read it." It's most likely posted here because it will appeal to a number of other slashdotters.
I bet you'd like to read reviews that basically say: good/bad or comedy/thriller. I like to how other people liked the movie and if they understood the plot the same way I did. Hearing other interpretations makes a good movie even better.
I'd imagine it would be hard to watch it in a dog, even if it was toto.
So what if they fancy young boys? It's their culture.
Should intelligent reviews really get a redundant nod? I'm always eager to hear what intelligent people have to say (even if it is about something trite, like what looks like a forgettable road comedy).
It seems several people are complaining about this post being redundant and "not 'News for Nerds.'" Then don't read it. I, for one, lament the fact that there aren't more posts on Slashdot. I tend to read even the ones that discuss things I know nothing about, because I learn, and because there's always somebody out there who will make me laugh.
As an aside: does it seem to anyone else like Jon Katz just sends these things in and doesn't ever read the responses he gets? Every time the guy makes a post, there are hundreds of people flaming his very existence. That would make me feel kind of unwelcome...
Hm.
My guess is that Slashdot get's paid to post these 'reviews'.
Well, duh.
Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
At least N'Sync didn't get a cameo in this movie.
Why is this "Redundant"? I am seriously beginning to doubt whether the Slashdot moderation system works.
Ebert doesn't do technology stories, so why does Katz continue to write crappy movie reviews. Stick to your crappy technology stories instead. By the way, good job ripping off Ebert's review. Anybody notice that Jon's reviews always come out a day or two after Ebert's.
Where next though? Has "Ocean's 11" any relevance to Slashdotters? SFX and CGI are interesting as well as techie topics, but there are other places to go to talk about movies just for their own sake.
Kuro5hin has a voting system open to all registered users for the front page. Maybe this is needed here on Slashdot.
See my journal, I write things there
Is it possible that Katz is just a construct, sent back from the future by MS to distract the /. crowd from attacking Windows with all possible strength?
Orange County is a ... county, NOT a suburb.
There is the City of Los Angeles, and there is the County of Los Angeles.
Orange County is next to the County of Los Angeles, but it is NOT a suburb of the City of Los Angeles.
I live in Orange County and it takes me an hour and a half to get to LA...
Oh, did I mention that Orange County is NOT a suburb of the City of Los Angeles.
Christopher McCrory "The guy that keeps the servers running" chrismcc@gmail.com http://www.pricegrabber.com
most geeks and nerds are around their teenage years
That is absolutely untrue -- not that I don't otherwise agree with you.
Geeks are techies
Novelists are litterati
Lets keep it simple
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
The part I had a hard time with is how the husband divorced his other wife so quickly, it was amusing but rather disturbing. I found the ending very hilarious, when they decide to commemorate Lonnie. I'd give this at least 4 and half stars.
Was LoTR a tech movie? That got tons of coverage on here, and nobody had a problem with it. I've seen the movie. It's OK. Besides Jack Black (who is excellent), there is nothing really special about the rest of the movie. Y'all should just wait for it on video.
I don't really know where Katz pulls American Beauty into this at all. I don't think Orange County is a very dignificant movie. Not very original, but it is entertaining.
Its one of those thats worth the price of admission, but nothing more. Jack Black is really good. The rest of the acting is is also decent, but nothing special. Not good enough to be compared in anyway to American Beauty.
That and Shaun was never brainless. He had straight A's and was very intelligent. He was merely directionless. I think by calling him brainless really shows that Katz missed one of the major themes: The vast and quick change a person goes through as he's about to enter college, where he gains a since of responsibility and respect for things that he never would have understood before. Specifically in this movie family and friends.
Blake
Sorry dude, I probably should have gone back and checked my spelling. I type too fast sometimes, and I didn't realize the spelling police were out.
This will be my determining factor whether to download the movie in DivX or go pay to see it. Is there any Tenacious D music in the movie? For those of you who don't know who Tenacious D is, Tenacious D is Jack Black's band (well two guys with guitars). I would recommend you go download some Tenacious D music right now!
Visit BobtheKing.com it's perhaps the best thing I've ever made to waste your time with.
Remember the tractor tire smashing into Bill Paxton's pickup's windshield in the Twister trailer? Not in the movie. This fact was even lampooned on (IIRC) SNL around the time Twister was released: "Right!.... Left!... Cow!... The tire that was in the trailer but not the movie!"
And then there was the funny exchange from the Major League trailer: "That ball wouldn't have been out of a lot of parks." "Name one." "Yellowstone." That little gem actually made it into Major League II.
These are only the first two instances I can think of... but there are plenty more.
What really chaps my ass, though, is when they put a song that catches my ear in the commercials for a movie, and then the song is not in the movie or on the soundtrack, and doesn't get any/enough radio play so I can ever find out what song it is. Thanks to CDNow's samples, and Napster/Morpheus nowadays, though, I no longer have to waste $20 on the soundtrack CD, only to find out that the song I bought it for, isn't even on there.
~Philly
Seems like these days Hollywood is run by a Monarchy of family actors. Hanks and his son. Spacek and her daughter. The director's son, etc. Think of the Sheen family or the Douglas family. It's surprisingly like the old English families where estates were passed down from father to son ... only these modern estates come with fame and enormous power.
I have no time for frivoulous movies. Hollywood can go jerk itself off (while I jerk myself off toying with computers...)
I think the karma police are after me
There is this cool little feature that allows you to customize what stories you view. If you don't like movie reviews, turn them off.
/. is not Jon's personal weblog. Are these stories likely to make the
- Let me tell you how much having your wisdom teeth pulled sucks.
- So I went on a date last night.
- I have this great idea for a perpetual motion machine
- I just discovered this really great author. His name is Assimov or something.
Really, it's not that we all don't like you, Jon, it's just that you obviously have a lot of subjective things to say, and you should start your own weblog. Personally, I don't thikn it's stuff that matters.....and it's certainly not 'news for nerds.'
Kevin Fox
The review of Orange County is a strange review, hard to categorize and, in a way, a joke. At times, (and sparked by the horrible grammar of JonKatz) it's hilarious and challenging. Then it tries to be a derivative of the much better Orange County review done by Roger Ebert, and then a facsimile of every other review JonKatz has even done. As a result, it's a bunch of different rip-offs and clones thrown together. The movie review also has zero significance, at least for SlashDot. JonKatz wrote this mess, and it stars his opinions on Tom Hanks' son Colin, Jack Black, and Sissy Spaceks' daughter Schuyler Fisk. JonKatz looks and acts so much like a retarded monkey sitting in front of a keyboard it's distracting. But don't be fooled by the horrible review -- Orange County is a really funny movie, drawing nearly as much from American Beauty as American Pie. . Spoilage warning: JonKatz discussed, not ending.
l ogical-news nice guy CmdrTaco, who like Jimmy Stewart, has a Jimmy Stewart quality that makes you root for him, even when he's behaving badly.
JonKatz is a brainless hack writer until he stumbles across the Internet, and decides he was to use his brain and become a hack movie-reviewer and soapbox-monkey for a technological Website. He obsesses on SlashDot, doesn't get in because no one there really likes him and, with the help of his perpetually-stoned buddy CmdrTaco and his girlfriend Cowboy Neil, sets out to gain acceptance with SlashDot. Part of his obsession comes from a desire to get away from his hilariously and spectacularly dysfunctional writing career.
JonKatz is now wonderful at writing god awful movie reviews, but he needs to be careful, as it's already nearly impossible to imagine him in any other role. And he's great at it. He nearly steals the Website, especially playing against the I-actually-post-information-about-relevant-techno
The point and conceit of a movie review on a technological Website are both strange. SlashDot, a premier source of tech news the world over, is held to be insipid and valueless when it posts rubbish like this. Although we get a peek at the dummies that gave JonKatz a job, there is little feel at all for the point of a badly written movie review {and subsequent badly written parody review}. At least at first, all JonKatz wants to do is make an ass of himself, though I'm sure he's been told on numerous occasions that he would probably fit in better with the people at Ain't It Cool instead of the tech crowd. Hack writers and poor movie reviewers should stay at home where their roots are, all the better to spare the rest of us from this sort of garbage.
JonKatz should probably be fired with a phone call, so all the insults and bad-sort-of-laughter - there's an improbable amount of this - can be redirected. And the ending - well, he'll probably die from old age.
I think for a total of 15 to 20 yoctoseconds this is the most inventive and original review I've seen in a while. It's still pretty disjointed though. It seems as if JonKatz wanted to make a semi-serious, biting review but either chickened out or was held back. Still, there are more than a few great laughs in the review of Orange County and parts of the review that portray a complex look into the mind of a monkey with a keyboard trying to figure out what he should do with it.
(Not the moderator, posting as AC because this reply is not on topic.)
I sort of prefer reading the comments on the movie reviews over the actual review because the /. community tends to feel the same way I do about things. So when a majority of /.'ers think a movie is good, it usually turns out to be good.
/. isn't getting enough M$ bashing in so I think its cool. It would help if Jon Katz wasn't such a prick but oh well.
It's not like
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
Well, science is geeky. Sci-fi movie and book reviews are geeky. Giving Jon Katz a forum to post whatever the hell he wants is just lame. I'm not saying the site shouldn't be open to items of peripheral geekiness, but at the same time, there have to be limits. We don't need an Ask Slashdot discussion on cat litter, even though most of us have cats. From what I've seen, the movies Jon Katz reviews aren't particularly geeky movies, nor does he write said reviews from a perspective different than you'd find in any newspaper (Joe Queenan you're not, Mr. Katz). In fact, you probably can find reviews of these same movies in just about any newspaper. What's nice about Slashdot is that it concentrates worthwhile geek/nerd news into a single place--news that I'd have to dig through a thousand hardware sites, mainstream news sources, press releases, etc to find otherwise. On the other hand, I can get movie reviews anywhere, and without hardly any trouble at all.
For at least as long as I've been reading Slashdot, Jon Katz has posted op/eds and stories investigating many of the social implications of emerging technology and current political trends, that have an impact on both our freedom to use technology and the industry itself. He's gone beyond speculating about the technical limits of supercooled processors, or the Quake 3 engine, to look at some of the things that actually make a dent in our lives.
And for at least as long as I've been reading Slashdot, readers have posted their opinions of Jon Katz, and why he can go to hell, or why his opinion sucks, or some other complaint. Almost all of them request that he take his writing elsewhere, that he is not welcome with their morning news and cup of coffee.
I'm not writing this to support the presence of goofy teen flick movie review on Slashdot. But judging from the way he's received, what did you expect? He's clearly come to the conclusion that, at least about important things, geeks must not like to think very much.
And I don't blame him.
"First you gotta do the truffle shuffle."
Business and economy-wise, LA is more like a suburb of OC! A good comparion is Silicon Valley vs. San Francisco. OC is more like Silicon Valley, except most of the silicon has nothing to do with electronics!
OC is indeed a vapid, boring, rotten place. It has all the disadvantages of a city, but none of the advantages. I just moved out of OC and headed for LA, becuase there's less traffic, housing is way cheaper, and there's so much more to do. OC can just burn in its own Republican Bible bashing hell for all I care.
This movie was horrible...
I cannot believe the comparison to American Beauty.
MTV films put out election, so I figured this might be ok, but it's really just a bunch
of absurdly rich kids complaining their
Dad won't buy their way into Stanford (which he does anyway). The rest is bunch of shameless product placements and a really lame attempts to connect to a generation (the professor took Ecstasy!). If you've watched MTV for 10 minutes within the last 2 months, you've seen every single funny part of this movie.
If you want a better high school movie,
rent election (which somehow MTV films put out)
This is exactly the very last thing I would have ever expected to see posted on Slashdot. Come on...
...as far as I see is that the movie was lousy with Macs. The main character had what looked like an LC II. For all the cash that family seemed to have, you'd think he'd have a better computer. The principle had an Apple Studio Display behind him. I saw one of the old clamshell iBooks as well as an old bondi iMac that the college counselor used.
Also, as a Jack Black fan, that was the only reason I went to see the movie and, after the preview made it seem like Jack Black was a major co-star and had a major role in the film, I was extremely disappointed with how minor his role in the film was.
So, what I want to see, is the sequal that takes place in a year after his girlfriend has dumped him (it took her about 10 minutes to find a frat party and start chatting up some preppie frat guy who obviously has a thing for jailbait 17/18 year old girls) and he feels like complete shit for turning down admission to one of the most prestigious schools in the country for his girlfriend who obviously didn't love him enough to even consider a long distance relationship and so he can keep hanging out with his stoner friends and live at home well into his twenties like his waster brother? Give me a break.
Also, what about Bob? His mom was still married. His dad is going back to his ex-wife who is obviously just as unfaithful as his new ex-wife. I mean, she slept with a guy while her husband was in the house and flaunted him all over the place the next day.
Disappointed overall. But still okay.
This movie was *BAAAAAD*
Blatanly plagurized material straight from the FAQ just because yall haven't seemed to have read it, or are ignoring it entirely.
Why did you post story X?
Slashdot is many things to many people. Some people think it's a Linux site. To others, it's a geek hangout. I've always worked very hard to make sure that Slashdot matches up with my interests and the interests of my authors. We think we're pretty typical Slashdot readers... but that does mean that occasionally one of us might post something that you think is inappropriate. You might be interested in my Omelette rant.
Personally, I have a pet peeve when people post comments saying things like "That's not News For Nerds!" and "That's not Stuff that Matters!" Slashdot has been running for almost 3 years, and over that time, I have always been the final decision maker on what ends up on the homepage. It turns out that a lot of people agree with me: Linux, Legos, Penguins, Sci (both real and fiction). If you've been reading Slashdot, you know what the subjects commonly are, but we might deviate occasionally. It's just more fun that way. Variety Is The Spice Of Life and all that, right? We've been running Slashdot for a long time, and if we occasionally want to post something that someone doesn't think is right for Slashdot, well, we're the ones who get to make the call. It's the mix of stories that makes Slashdot the fun place that it is.
Answered by: CmdrTaco
Last Modified: 6/26/00
"The Omelette"
Let me try to give you an analogy for Slashdot's homepage. It's like an omelette: it's a combination of sausage and ham and tomatoes and eggs and more. Over the years, we've figured out what ingredients are best on Slashdot. The ultimate goal is, of course, to create an omelette that I enjoy eating: by 8pm, I want to see a dozen interesting stories on Slashdot. I hope you enjoy them too. I believe that we've grown in size because we share a lot of common interests with our readers. But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna mix an omelette with all sausages, or someday throw away the tomatoes because the green peppers are really fresh.
There are many components to the Slashdot Omelette. Stories about Linux. Tech stories. Science. Legos. Book Reviews. Yes, even Jon Katz. By mixing and matching these things each and every day, we bring you what I call Slashdot. On some days it definitely is better than others, but overall we think it's a tasty little treat and we hope you enjoy eating as much as we enjoy cooking it.
Answered by: CmdrTaco
Last Modified: 6/14/00
Yes, but why can't Katz at least post reviews on movies that aren't so damn mainstream and overhyped already?
I mean, come on! If I wanted a review of orange county I could get it in my local paper.
LOTR I can definitly see being reviewed on slashdot. But this?
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
This is not directed specifically at the parent post.
I am sick and tired of all of the whining about Jon Katz that appears (and gets modded up) every time Katz posts a story. It's obvious that all of the posters who hate him and complain about everything he posts derive some perverse pleasure from their moaning, otherwise they would exclude Katz's stories in their preferences and shut up about it. So, i have a feature request: I would like two new toggles in the preferences. One should be labeled "I hate Katz" and the other "Ignore Katz haters." That alone should double the amount of constructive, thoughtful posts that I read.
Sorry, everyone's welcome to their own opinions, but this anti-Katz rhetoric is beyond old.
What do you mean by boring? My sister manages to find things to do just about every night. Oh, that's right, you're posting to Slashdot. You must be a geek. You're right then, it is boring here. Nothing better to do than play RTCW online all the time :p
I'm on vacation!
Why is it that every movie review posted on /. receieves a flood of 'why the hell is this on /.?!??' posts?
If the article doesn't interest you, skip it. I'm sure a good amount of daily slashdot readers are interested in knowing whether or not they should spend the zillion bucks to go see a movie. And believe it or not, nerds don't go see only tech movies.
End mini-rant.
Its tech related. Look here:
He nearly steals the movie, especially playing against the steady-as-she-goes nice guy Colin Hanks who, like his Dad, has a Jimmy Stewart quality that makes you root for him, even when he's behaving badly.
Creative and interesting people should stay at home where their roots are, all the better to be inspired and keep their needy parents and girlfriends happy.
Root is a *nix term, therefore its tech related...and he says it twice!
I think we should stop the elitism, and allow for a wider variety of posts, ones encompassing more genres of knowledge.
I agree that /. is elitist but I believe our mileage varies.
If postings from the "great unwashed" (you and me) were permitted the range that is permitted to the "elite" (in this case Katz), /. would soon lose all focus, and no longer serve the various purposes it is now well-suited for. This is the literary equivalent of "littering." The only way to stop the elitism (in this case) is to have Katz follow the same strictures expected of any /. user.
There's a guy somewhere who frequently decries the practice of showing moderation by a /. editor as "moderated by user." The response to his complaints is invariably that "editors are users." This is pretty clearly "lip-service to egalitarianism."
In my opinion, a lot of the kinks that remain in the system come from a natural reluctance to own up to the truism, that "/. is elitist and needs to be." Hopefully some people who can make a difference will eventually own up to this, and we can transform /. into the earthly paradise it was meant to be. Of course, that will also require strait-jacketing Katz.
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
Obviously you have a low tolerance for things that lie outside of your interests. My suggestion to you, since you went through the trouble to obtain a slashdot login, is to take hold of the mouse and click on the "preferences" link in the upper left of any slashdot served page. Next, navigate to the page that has all the little check boxes. Then configure them to only show the things you can tolerate. Finally, quit bitching about having a choice!
In the previews JB mentions Keith Moon, and that you do not need college to rock. "College is LAME!"
...Being on 'hiatus' from college pursueing smithing training, *and* being a Who fan, that is reason enough for me to want to see it.
Not to mention I should see it for the D
Hail Satan
--- Do you believe in the day?
Orange County on a site for geeks?! I was fooled into seing that movie last night, and it was more suited for the intellectually disabled. Second worst movie I've seen in a long time. I pity the fools who enjoy it.
You stupid ponce. This is slashdot, and that is Kuro5hin.
Both slash and scoop sucks. With slash, you have to put up with the idiocy of the authors on the front page. But with scoop, you have to put up with the idiocy of the entire site. You get hundreds of retarded authors, instead of ten.
It's a hell of a lot easier to filter the authors you don't like, than to sift through endless trolls and pointless links and regurgitation on k5. Picking the lesser of two evils, you get slash.
You don't like it? There are plenty of other quality websites out there.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
I wasn't making fun of you. It was more the line that you mispelled. You've got to admit that it is kind of funny.
If you just want to check them out for free, see this hilarious video made by the creators of Ren and Stimpy.
Warning: Mature Humor. Don't watch this in front of the kids.
Just from the advertising I'm sick of this obviously lame piece of crap. I can't believe somebody here went to see it, let alone REVIEWED it!
My god, I just realized something:
I find myself ONLY reading Katz stuff for the comments. I don't read anything he writes but I love reading all the colorful commentary that is provided down here by fellow slashdot users.
What is this world coming to...
-
aphex
I Steal Music!
It's funny to read the Katz review and it was like, "Orange County was really challenging!"
And you go over to the NYTimes review and they're like, "It sucked."
I don't like it when people put limits on themselves (as opposed to reconizing they have limits). The kid will have done far better to choose the most challanging environment he could grow in.
I really love Slashdot, and I read it every day
Then also read the comments before you post.
Someone actually saw that movie? And these are the same people whose comments I read on /. to get useful information about tech stuff? Dear gods...
Is there a way to get a -5 score on all comments by people who've seen this movie? I think that would be a lot more useful than any meta-meta-meta-meta-moderation scheme you can come up with.
sic transit gloria mundi
Because he's a part of this site. If all you jokers want to start up your own geek site and keep your stories all 100% Linux based/MS Bashing go for it.. Start your own damn site. I come to read everything that revolves around my "geek" life, and this INCLUDES almost 99.9% of the movies Katz has reviewed on here. I dont agree with him a whole hell of a lot, but at least he's consistant to my "nerd" life, and probably (gee, look how many people come here!) more lives. So piss off you tossers. Go start your own nerd site and leave this one alone..
That's really scary ... I just realised I do the same!
...
You've got to wonder where the value is when the replies are more fun to read than the actual article
This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.
I agree. There is an entire spectrum of nerds and geeks out there. It doesn't conform to just one small aspect of technical knowledge. We need to be a little more understanding of other peoples' wants and needs.
After all, we're not all the same. Right?
To put it another way, I would trust Katz' taste in porn movies. :)
I'd be careful about saying that. The FBI is probably already on the way to your house.
The goatse guy for president. Win one for the gaper!
In fact, Orange County is not a suburb of anything, it's a whole county. It sits on the hinterlands of Southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego, and features a north/south mountain range (the San Joaquins? I forget right now) and some really nice coastline.
Anaheim, home to the first Disneyland, is in Orange County.
The population consists mainly of middle-class Caucasians. There are more Republicans than Democrats and the school system is reputed to be better than in LA, no doubt due to the richer populace and accompanying higher property taxes. (You did know that's where Californian public schools get most of their funding, right?)
they suck shit and it's not even funny. no wonder girls don't like you. you don't have any taste.
Obscure trivia time:
The band Toto was (is?) comprised of stand-in (backup) musicians for other popular bands. It could be said that their jobs were to play in toto the original guitarist, drummer, keyboardist, bassist, etc., anyway, they thought it would be cool to start jamming together when they weren't busy filling in for other musicians on tour, and thought it'd be clever and rather apropos to actually name their little band Toto. So they did. And they rock(ed).
I can listen to Africa all day and all night, non-stop. I don't know why. I also don't understand what the hell African rain has to do with anything they're singing about, but who the fsck cares, they're Toto!
"Sweet creeping zombie Jesus!"
-The Professor, Futurama
Counties sorted by (Gore+Bush)*log(Bush/Gore)
Gore, Bush, County, State
338047, 466232, Orange, CA
173705, 286843, Tarrant, TX
415514, 525679, Harris, TX
445196, 89377, Brooklyn, NY
1291805, 541208, Cook, IL
1598375, 812154, LosAngeles, CA
Seastead this.
There are options to block out specific types of stories, or specific authors- set it to block out JonKatz or Movies, and you'll never see a movie review again. Now stop trolling and get a better hobby.
Go see a movie or something.
Username taken, please choose another one.
is like saying that San Jose is a sububrb of San Francisco, New Jersey City to New York City. Get it?
Clueless people.
Tenacious D allows taping of their shows so spreading their live music, in any medium, as long as no money changes hands, is legal.
A list of some of Tenacious D shows in ciruclation is here.
Don't assume that just becuase a band exists means they don't allow their music to be traded. In addition, trading legally recorded shows IS supporting the band as it helps spread the tunes to listeners that may have never heard the band before.
True, only Orange Countians (and Valley girls and boys) will notice this, but would it have cost so much more to shoot it on location?
Terrorist pretzels vs Our Salty Leader
He looks and acts sooo much like his dad that it's scary!
"sweet dreams are made of this..."
bing! You just figured out why we still have katz posts!
Wow, Jon. What a wonderfully botched sentence. Were you also a brainless Orange County surfing dude, by any chance?
...if this land is YOUR land, then why do they call this place San Diego?
Wait, that's nowhere near Orange County...
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Things to do at night? Yeah, if you like chain restaurants, sports bars, and giant, overpriced meat market discos that play top 40 music. You can't get anything to eat after 9pm. Orange County is a cultural black hole. Everyone knows this. Look, they ever made a movie about it, because they know everyone will get the joke!
Housing in OC is indeed about 20-30% more expensive than LA. That $350K that buys a teardown in Eastside Costa Mesa will get you a showpiece house with a view in the hills of Silverlake or Echo Park. Great restaurants, art galleries, indy movie houses, and groovy shops within walking distance too.
The "stories" are usually trivial. The comments are what makes it worthwhile. Often some of the comments if from people who know the subject better than the journalist who wrote the story. This is not just Katz. It's all of Slashdot.
Then there are the trolls.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.
I kinda halfway been waiting for a /. review of A Beautiful Mind, which has been out for three weeks now, but Orange County just came out this weekend and gets reviewed right away? Is everyone at /. smoking crack?
I live in Orange County, and despite what this movie makes it out to be...it sucks. Just wanted you guys to know :)
They allow trading of their live performances.
Goto Furthur and download all the 100% legal music you could ever want!!!
It's not so much that this isn't a geeky topic. It's more to the effect that most of the movies I've seen JonKatz review have been the sort of movies that Beavis and Butthead would just love. Don't get me wrong, as I love *good* comedies, but this doesn't qualify, I'm sorry. Plus I would find them incredibly irritating, and I would much rather gouge my eyes out than pay $8 to see it.
So to say the least, this geek would really rather not see these reviews, thank you very much.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I don't mean to be a Katz basher like the majority of Katz commenters. In fact, I often enjoy and appreciate Jon's thoughts.
That said, I was quite amazed at that whole Message from Kabul debacle and for some time was looking for a response from the author. Was one ever posted here or anywhere else?
Agreed. There's a perfectly good place for non-geeky (e.g. not sci-fi / fantasy / AntiTrust) already. And they have a far superior command of the english language.
Do I want to know what people think of Orange County? Yes! But is it News for Nerds, or Stuff That Matters? No.
... or he's been listening only to the "we hate Katz" roar and not discovering where that roar comes from.
I'm going to go out on a limb and speak not just for myself, but for everyone who has the same visceral reaction against most of Katz's "social commentary" articles. I say "visceral" specifically because my first reaction is an uncomfortable feeling in my gut that is similar to the feeling I get when in the presence salesman who's overpromising.
In short, the stories of Katz's that irk me say nothing.
It's much more than that though that gets to me - certainly the "yet another Outlook-enabled virus found" story adds very little useful information - it's the style in which Katz says his nothing. It screams of the overpolished language of an excited journalist trying to "capture the feeling of the movement". This style ends up completely obscuring any other message, substance, or information that the article might have once contained. The end result is that I get the story of the intrepid reporter, out reporting his bold new story that the establishment doesn't understand. Lost is the underlying reality, lost (or never present) are serious sociological considerations. What I'm left with is a bunch of speculative drivel and the overriding story of the reporter.
And I get that story every damn time. Once was really much more than enough.
It's nice to see that Katz has backed off in his writing style. If he can return to social commentary without riding the intrepid reporter horse, it might go better for him. I'd hate to think that the slashdot editors would assume that the anto-Katz reaction reflects a fundamental unwillingness to discuss those issues among the slashdot audience. (Though I would also contend that the slashdot medium does not lend itself easily to considered discourse, but that discussion is for another post)
In short, when we rail against Katz, we're not shooting the messenger because he carries an unpopular message. We're shooting the messenger because he arrives empty-handed.
I actually lived in Orange County in the 1970's, when of all things, it still had orange groves including the one across from my junior high school. At that time it was well understood Orange County was not a suburb. You only went to LA for the airport, everything else was at hand.
This was just as all the remaining open space was being sold and turned into never ending housing tracks. All my friends and I left in the 80's, never to return.
Well, it does have its purposes, other than seeing who likes whom, and so on. You can use it like a Usenet killfile; automatically apply a 6 rating to anyone in your foes list and their comments will not be visible to you unless you browse at 1. Unfortunately there is a hard threshold of 1 i.e., a +2 comment with a 6 weight applied becomes 1, not 4. Welcome to Slashdot math. I suppose this is intentional so comments dont drop off the map completely (since you cannot browse below 1), but I actually want comments to do that. Occasionally Ill browse at 1 to see the troll posts but would very much like idiots like this to not show up at all, there or anywhere.
Liberty in your lifetime
Yeppers. %) They'd be disappointed, but in rereading that comment, well ... Thanks for the laugh. :)
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
One search on google yielded plenty of restaurants that are open after 9pm. And only one was a chain.
Admit it, things aren't any better in LA. The only difference is that LA has more racial differences (call it cultures if you want) than OC.
However for a band to exist you need to buy their music. I've listened to Phish for years and traded their concerts however I've also bought their music to support their band. A band cannot live off of tours/concerts alone. Don't assume that since a band allows for their music to be traded you can't go out and buy their album.
-1 offtopic. Beware of criticizing the critics? :)
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
for a new feature on /.
How about not displaying comments from stories by posters I have wish to exclude from my homepage on the metamoderation page?
No, seriously, I just come here for the articles.