Actually, I was thinking of Eastern Europe. Poland, the Czech and Slovakian Republics, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, etc. I'd suggest East Germany as well, but the reunified Germany has also slid into statism. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it wasn't brought down in a year. It takes time to build a tyranny, most of the groundwork is laid behind the scenes, and it takes time to tear one down as well. Hell, it took 70 years to bring down the Soviet Union.
I have been looking, and I've seen many of the films you've mentioned. However, the exceptions you cite do not invalidate Sturgeon's Law: 90% of the MPAA member studios' output is crap.
So, the MPAA knows that most of their output is shit. I know it, and you know it. Chances are, everybody knows it. What I'm asking is this: if you know it's shit, why encourage them to squeeze out more of it by downloading it? Even if you download a bootleg copy, the MPAA can point to the downloaders and say, "See! There's a demand for our material; the little bastards just refuse to pay for it!"
If it's trash, why not boycott the MPAA outright?
You're not downloading anything; you're just ripping the contents of the discs you bought and paid for. I have no argument with what you're doing, since I myself rip CDs that I've bought in order to put the music on my iPod, and also rip the DVDs I buy. Sure, it violates the law. I refuse to give a shit. I bought it, it's mine, and the MPAA can discuss their objections with the Devil down in Hell.
I was asking about the w4r3z kiddies who insist on wasting disc and bandwidth downloading bootleg media that they didn't pay for. If you're not willing to pay cash for it, then why waste disc space and bandwidth downloading it via P2P, considering that both cost money?
OK, you got me. It's number 2, but I didn't see those two. I saw Cloverfield instead. You're right: I want to see the MPAA contribute to the United States' march towards tyranny. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get over it and go back to being the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Don't look at the grosses alone. 40 million for Evil Dead II is a huge profit. 40 million for The Golden Compass would be a humiliating loss for the studio, prompting firings and fervent prayers to the dark lord Shabranigdo that the film makes more money on DVD/merchandise sales and foreign releases.
If there's one thing I'd like to know about the P2P controversy, it's this: why would people bother to waste bandwidth and disk space downloading bootleg copies of most of the garbage that the MPAA (not to mention RIAA member labels) attempts to foist upon the public? If anything, the MPAA should be paying people to watch garbage like Meet the Spartans and Untraceable.
How hard can it be to understand that one's iPhone is part of one's personal effects? Very. Please remember that modern politicians either don't grok individual rights, or refuse to acknowledge that they exist. If you assert your rights, you're helping the terrorists. You might be a terrorist yourself, for even thinking in terms of individual rights rather than concerning yourself with the "good of society" or "national security".
As a matter of fact, I am. I took a wrong turn at Proxima Centuari and crash-landed here last week. I'm just killing time on Slashdot until I can mine enough blumpkinite to refuel my ship and head back to Planet Transsexual.
You're right. In Final Fantasy II, you didn't even get experience points or levels. Instead, character growth was handled with a primitive version of the skill system used in The Elder Scrolls. If you wanted a character to get better with swords, give him a sword and let him keep hacking away. Sometimes you even had to have your characters beat each other up in order to get a higher HP limit.:)
Try playing some of the Shin Megami Tensei games for the PlayStation 2. For example, SMT: Nocturne places you in the shoes of one of the few survivors of the death of the world, and allows you to determine through your in-game choices the manner in which a new world shall be created. You are shown three sets of ideals, you can try to steer a neutral course, you can choose to abort the creation of the new world, or you can rebel against the cycle of world death and rebirth.
Check out Digital Devil Saga and Persona 3 as well, but keep 'em away from the kids unless they can read Clive Barker without having nightmares.
Games like the traditional JRPG or most MMORPGs probably shouldn't be played by children, as they teach that the way to succeed is not to improve your own skills, but to put in a lot of time leveling up. This perspective will be useless in the real world unless they get one of the few seniority-based union jobs.
I think it depends on which JRPG you're playing. If you try to get through a Shin Megami Tensei game by just grinding, and not taking into account the weaknesses and strengths of both the enemy demons and the demons you've recruited (where a 'demon' is any mythological entity, even gods and angels), you are going to get smacked around. Exploit the Press Turn System or die.
Even games like Final Fantasy often have optional bosses that will tear a party of max-level characters to shreds in seconds. When was the last time you played a JRPG, anyway?
Also, try playing Tactical RPGS (or SRPGs) like Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, or Jeanne D'Arc. Grinding in such games is harder to do, and there are still ways to keep the game challenging even if your troops are stronger than the enemy's. Try playing a map with just one or two characters, instead of putting as many on the board as the game will allow, for example.:)
Guys like you are why anarchism remains a utopian system: you hear "no leaders" and think I mean "no laws". If I want to talk about lawlessness, I will speak of either lawlessness or anomie. When I talk about anarchy, I mean "no leaders", not "no laws". Please get a clue; it's time we humans evolved. Playing "follow the leader" worked when we were little better than apes that could stand erect, but being willing to obey now is likely to get us all killed.
They are of no consequence in this world or the next, like a whole generation of mentally retarded puppies. The souls of Christian fundamentalists belong to Arioch in the next world, but they still cause a lot of unnecessary trouble in this world. As evidence, I offer the Mike Schmuckabee campaign. Frankly, this could have been avoided if the British Navy, or a British privateer, had sunk the Mayflower before it got across the Atlantic.
The reason that capitalism hasn't worked as well in places like this is because they were F'd over for so long by imperial states. And their own warring states. So what's really needed is a dramatic cut in militarism/statism.
Damned right. If Bill Gates really gives a shit about the poor, he should be using his own money, not telling everybody else what to do or how to do it. And if he is serious about revising "capitalism", then he should first work on getting some capitalism in place. What we've got now isn't capitalism. It's just welfare/warfare statism that allows just enough private enterprise to keep the tax base from collapsing.
If you want to help the poor, get rid of the priests and the politicians. The politicians keep people poor, and the priests sucker the poor into accepting their poverty.
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Actually, I was thinking of Eastern Europe. Poland, the Czech and Slovakian Republics, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, etc. I'd suggest East Germany as well, but the reunified Germany has also slid into statism. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it wasn't brought down in a year. It takes time to build a tyranny, most of the groundwork is laid behind the scenes, and it takes time to tear one down as well. Hell, it took 70 years to bring down the Soviet Union.
I have been looking, and I've seen many of the films you've mentioned. However, the exceptions you cite do not invalidate Sturgeon's Law: 90% of the MPAA member studios' output is crap.
Sure, and Benito Mussolini got the trains to run on time. One doesn't earn forgiveness for a mountain of fuckups by doing a few things right.
So, the MPAA knows that most of their output is shit. I know it, and you know it. Chances are, everybody knows it. What I'm asking is this: if you know it's shit, why encourage them to squeeze out more of it by downloading it? Even if you download a bootleg copy, the MPAA can point to the downloaders and say, "See! There's a demand for our material; the little bastards just refuse to pay for it!" If it's trash, why not boycott the MPAA outright?
You're not downloading anything; you're just ripping the contents of the discs you bought and paid for. I have no argument with what you're doing, since I myself rip CDs that I've bought in order to put the music on my iPod, and also rip the DVDs I buy. Sure, it violates the law. I refuse to give a shit. I bought it, it's mine, and the MPAA can discuss their objections with the Devil down in Hell.
I was asking about the w4r3z kiddies who insist on wasting disc and bandwidth downloading bootleg media that they didn't pay for. If you're not willing to pay cash for it, then why waste disc space and bandwidth downloading it via P2P, considering that both cost money?
The w4r3z kiddies aren't worth my attention, since I am not one of them.
OK, you got me. It's number 2, but I didn't see those two. I saw Cloverfield instead. You're right: I want to see the MPAA contribute to the United States' march towards tyranny. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get over it and go back to being the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Don't look at the grosses alone. 40 million for Evil Dead II is a huge profit. 40 million for The Golden Compass would be a humiliating loss for the studio, prompting firings and fervent prayers to the dark lord Shabranigdo that the film makes more money on DVD/merchandise sales and foreign releases.
There's nothing wrong with it. And if you want racism, read the post to which I replied.
I bet your mother was black, you worthless little collectivist.
If there's one thing I'd like to know about the P2P controversy, it's this: why would people bother to waste bandwidth and disk space downloading bootleg copies of most of the garbage that the MPAA (not to mention RIAA member labels) attempts to foist upon the public? If anything, the MPAA should be paying people to watch garbage like Meet the Spartans and Untraceable.
How hard can it be to understand that one's iPhone is part of one's personal effects? Very. Please remember that modern politicians either don't grok individual rights, or refuse to acknowledge that they exist. If you assert your rights, you're helping the terrorists. You might be a terrorist yourself, for even thinking in terms of individual rights rather than concerning yourself with the "good of society" or "national security".
As a matter of fact, I am. I took a wrong turn at Proxima Centuari and crash-landed here last week. I'm just killing time on Slashdot until I can mine enough blumpkinite to refuel my ship and head back to Planet Transsexual.
My fifty-year-old mother doesn't play video games, and she still hasn't learned that 'alot' isn't a legitimate English word.
You're right. In Final Fantasy II, you didn't even get experience points or levels. Instead, character growth was handled with a primitive version of the skill system used in The Elder Scrolls. If you wanted a character to get better with swords, give him a sword and let him keep hacking away. Sometimes you even had to have your characters beat each other up in order to get a higher HP limit. :)
Try playing some of the Shin Megami Tensei games for the PlayStation 2. For example, SMT: Nocturne places you in the shoes of one of the few survivors of the death of the world, and allows you to determine through your in-game choices the manner in which a new world shall be created. You are shown three sets of ideals, you can try to steer a neutral course, you can choose to abort the creation of the new world, or you can rebel against the cycle of world death and rebirth.
Check out Digital Devil Saga and Persona 3 as well, but keep 'em away from the kids unless they can read Clive Barker without having nightmares.If my kids play a GTA game, it'll have to be at a friend's house or a copy they bought themselves. I don't buy Rockstar games.
I think it depends on which JRPG you're playing. If you try to get through a Shin Megami Tensei game by just grinding, and not taking into account the weaknesses and strengths of both the enemy demons and the demons you've recruited (where a 'demon' is any mythological entity, even gods and angels), you are going to get smacked around. Exploit the Press Turn System or die.
Even games like Final Fantasy often have optional bosses that will tear a party of max-level characters to shreds in seconds. When was the last time you played a JRPG, anyway?
Also, try playing Tactical RPGS (or SRPGs) like Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, or Jeanne D'Arc. Grinding in such games is harder to do, and there are still ways to keep the game challenging even if your troops are stronger than the enemy's. Try playing a map with just one or two characters, instead of putting as many on the board as the game will allow, for example. :)
Not really. If you want good cheesecake, I suggest the Dead or Alive franchise instead.
If Fox News has true reporting, they haven't been using it with this particular tempest in a teapot. Instead, they're practicing yellow journalism.
Don't forget banging hookers and then killing them to get your money back. That was always GTA's most charming feature.
Guys like you are why anarchism remains a utopian system: you hear "no leaders" and think I mean "no laws". If I want to talk about lawlessness, I will speak of either lawlessness or anomie. When I talk about anarchy, I mean "no leaders", not "no laws". Please get a clue; it's time we humans evolved. Playing "follow the leader" worked when we were little better than apes that could stand erect, but being willing to obey now is likely to get us all killed.
Damned right. If Bill Gates really gives a shit about the poor, he should be using his own money, not telling everybody else what to do or how to do it. And if he is serious about revising "capitalism", then he should first work on getting some capitalism in place. What we've got now isn't capitalism. It's just welfare/warfare statism that allows just enough private enterprise to keep the tax base from collapsing.
If you want to help the poor, get rid of the priests and the politicians. The politicians keep people poor, and the priests sucker the poor into accepting their poverty.
Meh. Then why should I give a rip? Sure, I can run KDE4 under X11, but why should I?