Movie Review: Gigantic

"Its like being the world's tallest midget" is how Flansburgh describes They Might Be Giants fame at one point during the bands documentary, Gigantic. I was lucky enough to score tickets to the opening screening here in Seattle of the movie and was delighted with what I received for the price of admission. Of course having one of the John's, Flansburgh that is, plus the director AJ Schnack show up to the screening only added to the value. I am a fan of They Might Be Giants. The fact that I will have seen 26 films by the time that the Seattle Internal Film Festival is over also means that I am a fan of film too. Despite being a fan of film, this documentary could have been two hours worth of the TMBG's videos, or even two hours worth of staring at a black screen, and as long as they played some music I would have loved it.

The documentary is a solid mix of band history and irrelevant pieces (would you expect anything different?). While I can not say that I got a good history on how the two Jon's actually started playing together from the documentary, I did learn a lot about their early successes and the director did a wonderful job of putting together scenes from different periods to give the audience an idea about how the band's early years were. The documentary does reveal how "Dial A Song" got started after a biking messenger accident left Linnell unable to play. We even get to see some photos, complete with price tag, of the actual machine. Flansburgh talks for a bit about how personal "Dial A Song" is and the entire experience of getting to be one with the machine.

The documentary was shot in video and in places comes out a little grainy. Some of the concert scenes definitely show off some of the short comings of the medium (this is not Lucus style digital filming). Despite this the film had a fully packed house during its opening in Seattle and the theater had to turn away 150 people at the door.

The director mentioned that their last showing of the film at SXSW had similar sized crowds. Hopefully this will mean that some distributor will pick up the film so the more people will get a chance to see it. If you are lucky enough to live in one of the cities that it will be playing in, and you love the band's music I can easily recommend going to see it.

Comments

Dull

[kidyomo]

I can't think of anything more boring than a film like this!

Re:Dull

[kidyomo]

You got me there! 10 points to you.

Re:Dull

[Anonymous Coward]

How about a discussion of said review?

Disapointing

[Anonymous Coward]

I went to see it, but I thought it was going to be a porno.

They might be giants

[Anonymous Coward]

They might be GAY.

I have to poop

[Anonymous Coward]

in other news, I have to take a shit

Does it count as first post...

[EvilFrog]

...if all of the previous posts are trolling?

Anyway, does anyone know how this is being distributed? I'm a big TMBG fan, but I don't know how I'll ever actually get to see this movie...

Re:LNUX DEATH WATCH

[Anonymous Coward]

We need to start making plans, waiting until LNUX is dead is too late. What's to become the projects hosted on sourceforge? We need to start migrating off right now. I'm wondering who is going to handle the slashdot auction. After they shutdown, I'm planning on bidding on some of their servers. I hope I can get one that comdr Taco used, as a remembrance.

you suck!

[lo_fye]

all you people who post about linux instead of the topic are just silly billies. I love the johns. During the Sunshine Tour I got to see them in Michigan and happened to find out that afterwards they'd be doing an intimate show at the local Tower Records... price of admission: canned food for the needy. Off we went to the supermarket :) I got to sit on the floor of tower records, front row... and watch the Johns & band play. It was awesome. My friend Ben adn I even reached out pre-show and touched the coveted accordion. Whooooa. Been lovin their stuff for years now. John Henry made me scared that they may turn mainstream... but that fear passed as their lyrics stayed insane. Phew! Here's to all the johns. Checkout this website too... they did the soundtrack for it: www.ChoppingBlock.com Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Re:you suck!

[Anonymous Coward]

"silly billies"?

Dude, you're a fucking fag. LOL.

Re:oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

What have you been eating?

three words

[Anonymous Coward]

More Trolling Content.

/)))))))))
//) __ __\ DEAR "COMMANDER TACO"
C==/_o|^|o_\
| _\ )
\ '---'/ HEY GUESS WHAT ??????
_/`-. __.'_
/` \`'-,._./|\ THE REST OF US LOST OUR GAY
/ \ /`\_/\/ \ FUCKING CHILDHOOD HANDLES
/ , ||| |\ , \ WHEN WE GREW THE FUCK UP
| |:===: / | | |
| /|:~~~: | / | | LOVE, THE ENTIRE WEST COAST
\ \ '-' \/ / /
`\ \==I==[]=/ /
\o_\ |o/ P.S. NICE FUCKING POCKET
/ ) |\ PROTECTOR DIPSHIT
| /\| 8=D|/
|/| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
\ > >
| | |
|_____|__|
[_____]__]
|==|==|
/~~&\~~&\
ass ( , `~~)`~~)
"""`~~~`~~~`

Allowed HTML: <B> <I> <P> <A> <LI> <OL> <UL> <EM> <BR> <TT> <STRONG> <BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>

Important Stuff:

• Please try to keep posts on topic.
• Try to reply to other people comments instead of starting new threads.
• Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.
• Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about.
• Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)

Re:three words

[Anonymous Coward]

A Conversation with Human Resources

Human Resources Representative: Good afternoon, Stuart.

Stuart: Hi.

HR: As you may have heard, we have been conducting interviews with certain personnel lately. In the current economic climate, our company is looking to reduce costs wherever possible. This may also, unfortunately, include "right-sizing" in certain departments head counts. In order to be absolutely fair, we are giving the persons whose positions are being considered for right-sizing the opportunity to justify their current positions worth. Do you understand?

Stuart: You're going to fire me?

HR:No, Stuart. "Right-sizing" is not about firing people. Based on your answers to a few questions, your departments head count will be evaluated. This may include shifting of positions and responsibilities, adjustments to salaries, and in some cases individuals may be released from employment. Does this help you understand?

Stuart: I guess so...

HR: Alright, lets begin. According to our files, your present position is Unix Systems Administrator, is that correct?

Stuart: Uhh, yeah.

HR: And what responsibilities, in your view, does your position entail?

Stuart: I administer to the Unix systems, which includes 4 GNU/Linux Samba servers, 8 load-balanced GNU/Linux Apache web servers, and a FreeBSD firewall... Hey, if you're looking to fi.. err, "right-size" somebody, why don't you look at the two NT admin guys? After all, they have much less experience than me; they're just a bunch of paper MCSEs, which just means you memorized a bunch of stuff and passed a test. They don't have any real admin experience, like with a GNU/Linux system.

HR: We'll get to that in just a moment. In what ways would you say your expertise is vital to the continued operation of these servers?

Stuart: Well, I know just about everything there is to know about GNU/Linux and the associated operating system utilities.

HR: Mmmhmmm. In this email from the director of IS, he tells me that the company is considering the elimination of Linux from the environment in order to lower our TCO -- total cost of operation, I think? No, total cost of ownership. He says we are considering replacing these servers with Windows 2000 Advanced Server, running IIS 5. What do you think about this?

Stuart: That's a stupid idea. Winbl... err, Windows is extremely difficult to administer. You have to keep up with new security patches coming out every 2 hours, and on top of all that you have to deal with the Blue Screen of Death every day, and Microsoft charges you like 500 bucks every time you call them.

HR: So Windows is much harder to administer than Linux?

Stuart: That's right. As a matter of fact, if you just got rid of the Microsl... err, Microsoft boxen, you could replace them with GNU/Linux and save some money on the licenses right there.

HR: Explain this to me. If Windows is so difficult to administer, why are the NT administrators able to support twice as many servers, given their limited "real world" experience, and the fact that they are only "paper MCSEs"?

Stuart: Err, they're probably just not doing their job. After all, my FreeBSD box has a 279 day uptime. Their Microsh... err, Microsoft boxen are up and down every week because of security patches.

HR: Yes, the FreeBSD firewall is an interesting topic. We had an outside security consultant come in, and he found that the FreeBSD firewall had not been patched for a vulnerability in a program called "Open SSH". The NT servers were up-to-date on patches, and properly secured. In addition, a large proportion of helpdesk tickets are called in because of issues with the Samba file servers. How do you respond to this?

Stuart: What? Gaah, the OpenSSH exploit was only a local root exploit!! There's no reason to take down a server with almost 300 days uptime to patch it!! And those people just have problems because they are running Windows 2000 on their PCs!! Microsoft deliberately changed the SMB standard to cripple open source competitors!! If the users weren't so obsessed with using their Outlook calendars and their Powerpoint presentations, they could just use Mandrake or something with StarOffice, and everything would be fine!!

HR: There's no reason to get excited, Stuart. These are just questions we have to ask. Now, given that you say Linux is far easier to administer than Windows, is there any reason to believe that if we bring on another NT administrator, he or she would be unable to support the Linux and BSD systems until they get migrated to Windows 2000?

Stuart: No... err, YES. It is easier, but... they just wouldn't understand!! There is a lot you have to know!! It's not just all point and click and all that kiddie stuff!!! It's really hard, you have to be able to compile kernels and edit conf files!! They couldn't do what I do!!!

HR: OK, Stuart, I can understand your anxiety. We'll move away from that subject. Now, is there any possibility that you see for us to use your skills in another position? For instance, would you be interested in earning your MCSE to become a junior administrator when we roll out the new Windows 2000 servers?

Stuart: NO!! I DON'T USE THAT MICROTRASH!! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M INTERESTED IN GETTING A BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH EVERY 2 SECONDS AND SPENDING THE REST OF THE TIME LISTENING TO STUPID USERS ASKING IDIOT QUESTIONS. OPEN SOURCE DOES EVERYTHING I NEED IT TO.

HR: Well, that tells us just about everything we need to know. Stuart, your input is of course appreciated, and we will be taking all your comments under advisement. Your department head will be contacting you soon to let you know about any change in your employment status. Thank you for your time.

Stuart: BYE. <slams door>

Weird slash error

[Anonymous Coward]

I was viewing slash normally and then I saw THIS it was very weird

You think blocking my IP will stop me?

[Anonymous Coward]

i am a pirate

Hoist the mainsail, then swab the poopdeck. That's the life of a slashdot-pirate, matey.

Re:oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I might know what the problem is. Email me privately.