I'm aware that Carroll's tale is in the public domain. That wouldn't necessarily stop Disney from throwing some of their lawyers at (what they may view as) a competing production. It's the cynic in me coming out.:)
I still think the Alice game could have made an awesome movie with the right director at the helm, however I fear the crap fest that was the recent Disney Alice in Wonderland ruined any chance of American McGee's movie getting an interest boost on name recognition.
I find myself wondering if Disney would even allow such a thing to be made now, lest it dilute "their" franchise.
Seconded on that one ("Shawshank Redemption") being a poor example. I read the novella years and years before I'd seen the movie, to the point that I'd forgotten all but the basic plot, and then finally saw the movie and was blown away. A few years after that, I picked up the written work again and noticed a huge difference.
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the book, was basically a light pulp fiction novel about a unique prison break, and that was all. A bit rough, a bit coarse, but pretty emotionally unimpactful - it was impossible to really care about the characters, or even relate to them much, so there was only the bare plot element to move things along and keep the reader caring. "The Shawshank Redemption," as a film, was what happens when someone with a gift for writing (Frank Darabont) takes a basic plotline and adds thematic elements that are emotionally gripping and characters for whom we actually care.
Though in relevance to the discussion, assuming a video game has a well-crafted, well-written plot ("Beyond Good & Evil" comes to mind as one example), a bad screenwriter can still destroy it. A good screenwriter can take a game with a potential-filled-plot that's poorly executed in the game and give us a great movie (assuming all other aspects of production line up).
The best thing to do is simply divorce the two in your mind as being equivalent, as they are very different media and should be viewed as separate entities. The "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" offerings come to mind - the films are what they are (and good for what they are, to my mind) but they should be judged as separate and distinct works from the books. They have to be.
Are you sure? I had an ex-GF buy one a few years ago in downtown Austin.
It's an interesting situation, to say the least - the market for sex toys certainly exists in TX, but the shops get a lot of attention from local law enforcement. As I understand it, a lifelike "safe sex demonstrator" (marketed for showing people how to use condoms) is legal, and a vibrating "personal massager" that is only vaguely phallic is also legal. Anything marketed, packaged, or sold that doesn't fall within those bounds is ostensibly illegal and may bring unwanted LE attention. Sorry for the lack of reference links - at work and all that.
It's more likely that the local bureaucrats dislike the store on religious reasons than it is that somebody could get sick from the undies themselves (what may come to be on those undies after packaging is certainly the greater risk).
Agreed - this is Texas, of course, which bans the sale of dildos state-wide, and has had debates about such in very recent years within the state legislature. Molly Ivins (bless her) did a great video piece on some of the legislative acrobatics involved, but I'm unable to find a link to it at the moment.
I can't hear you over the sound of Bale's Batman Voice.
A friend pointed this out a while ago, and while I really enjoyed "The Dark Knight," I still found this pretty funny: spoof of the interrogation scene.
In fact, you have to if you want to use their Netflix or Amazon movie download service.
This actually reminds me of my question - my sole interest in potentially getting a Tivo would be for the movie services. Would I need a Tivo subscription to use these? I'd love to have a box to access these services, but haven't figured out the best route to do this.
One of my problems with regulation is that big business actually welcomes it. Why do you suppose that is? Because they know that it's easier to shut out small businesses that might challenge their business model when you put regulatory hurdles in the marketplace. A large company will have no problem complying with whatever regulations are imposed on it.
My experience, anecdotal as it is, offers a slightly different take. I work in a large specialty chemical company, one of the three largest globally in a relatively niche-but-widespread industry. We frequently encounter products out in the marketplace, put there by competitors who are 1/10th our size, that are flatly illegal - they may contain banned substances, or are sold without proper or warnings labels or documentation or transport containers, etc. Many times, the cost of using allowed substances (or the cost of maintaining compliance with the appropriate regulations) puts us at a competitive disadvantage.
The reasons for this include the lack of education in the marketplace as to the law, lack of enforcement on anything but the largest and most visible participants in the market, and sometimes a complete ignorance of the law and regulatory requirements on the part of the small players. (Often, they're violating the law simply because they may not even employ anyone whose responsibilities and/or knowledge include any purview of the regulations.) If the regulations were to mysteriously vanish, we'd crush all the small players because of our purchasing power for raw materials - but with the detrimental effects to the environment, our customers, etc., that occur in the absence of regulation.
Our world increasingly looks like Fredrick Pohl's story "The Marching Morons"...
Not saying this because I know better, but because your mention of the story intrigued me and I hoped to find it or at least find out more about it. It appears it was written by Cyril M. Kornbluth, a contemporary and good friend of Pohl's.
Interesting - your friend sounds an awful lot like me, though I'm a shade older (mid thirties). I'm 5'6, have a high metabolism, and wake up automatically at the 5.5 hour mark regardless of when I go to sleep. I've been this way since junior high school, possibly earlier. I never sleep more than six hours unless I've been up for at least 24 hours straight, and I've managed to stay awake for up to 74 hours previously. I don't drink anything caffeinated - no coffee, soda, tea, etc. I read about this study and these two women earlier today, and found myself wondering if that explains me.
As an anecdote, I can add that one unpleasant circumstantial side effect is to end up spending way more time alone than I prefer, simply because my friends all have daytime jobs (like mine) but need more sleep and so go to bed hours earlier. It gets old having no one awake for hanging out, talking, etc. It's also annoying that there aren't more 24-hour retail businesses to allow me to get shopping done at times that are convenient for me.:P
I'll echo the sentiments of a few others here with my appreciation for the classic MW games over the console-appropriate MechAssault, but I never hear anyone mention the MechCommander titles. Any speculation (or inside info) on the possibility that we'd see any more in the overhead-strategy vein?
Seconded on the MW2 series games. I really liked those, and was increasingly disappointed with the MW3 and MW4 sequels. They were pretty, but dumbed down to make things easy. I found myself wondering at some point if they were intending console versions, and then we got MechAssault. Ugh.
You do know that Starship Troopers is a deliberate satire on the source material, right?
Wikipedia disagrees. The film writing was well in progress when the novel was option, most of the writing staff were unaware of the book's existence, and while I was under the impression that Verhoeven had not even read the book before making the film, the Wikipedia page says he read a few chapters quitting because he became "bored and depressed."
Given that the working title of the project was "Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine," as well, I think the Heinlein structure was shoe-horned in for marketing purposes, and any resemblance to depth with respect to treatment of the source material is simply coincidence. Then again, I think Verhoeven's a hack, so I'm not inclined to think well of his work. YMMV.
My issue with 3D films is that, no matter the technology used, they all require that the watcher have two working eyes. One of mine is blind, so I'm outta luck. I'm also aware that I'm a very uncommon exception, and that my problem isn't any reason why this stuff shouldn't be developed and presented to/for those who can enjoy it. I just have trouble getting excited about it, and actively avoid going to see 3D flicks because of the net effect of it all for me (the film's frames are unwatchable for me).
It would be more practical to hook up a generator to a bike or rowing machine and use a battery or flywheel to store the energy -- that way you'd at least get some exercise out of it.
There's an easy joke to make about 'mericans sitting right there, but I don't have the heart to reach out and grab it right now.:P
But increasingly major investigative style news is being broken by bloggers and citizen journalists, so there is a hope that online real reporting will live again.
David Brin's Kiln People made use of just such a conceit, as the main character would, in the course of his investigations, select from an array of investigative writers, amateur editorialists, and even private-citizen-owned video and audio feeds of live events to determine. Since there was no assurance of quality or accuracy of the reporting on an individual basis, the character would consult multiple sources and have to employ some judgement and critical thinking to the situation. I have yet to decide how functional I think this could be in reality, but it was definitely intriguing.
Either way, the conversation is started. If they suspect you're gay at least that's disarming, and they'll figure it out eventually.
I've dealt with this the bulk of my life, and I have to say it's really not a problem. I'm not terribly tall. I'm on the slim side. I'm relatively educated, well-read, well-spoken. I dress nicely, I'm confident, and have some sense of aesthetics. I frequently have had newly-made acquaintances assume I'm gay, including women I've met.
It has never stopped me from getting laid.
Be yourself. Be interesting. Be conversant and secure and sociable and fun. You'll get plenty of the desired attention regardless of the car you drive or the laptop you carry.
Americans workers would like to work in America for American wages. However, are they also willing to pay the prices of American made products?
Some of us are, yes. I'm perfectly aware that (when it can be found) the American-made product will cost more than its Chinese-made counterpart. I recognize this as the price I pay for supporting the domestic economy. If I want my job to continue to remain viable here on US soil, I have to make sure my purchasing habits don't undermine that viability. It's just that simple.
The same kind of mindset has led me to try harder to support local and/or small businesses instead of larger (often multinational) corporations. If I keep the money here, it does more for me and my family, in terms of economic sustainability of my hometown. I'm aware that economics is not a zero-sum game, but why funnel any more money out of my locality than needed?
Want American jobs to stay here? Buy American-made. Don't like the cost differential? Buy less stuff. We really do have it good here in the US, but it won't stay that way without some active involvement on our parts.
My first self-built gaming rig inspired my last naming scheme - I called it Godzilla. After that followed Rodin, Mothra, and Ghidorah. Now, all that's left of that network is my first Mac, which, of course, I had to call Jet Jaguar.:P
We worked out that it would be a CHEAPER, AND FASTER, process, if I had come here as a tourist, breach my visa and marry my wife, apply for permission to stay anyway. What fun.
Know what you mean - my ex-wife is an Aussie (Melbourne area), came here on the usual tourist visa waiver for short visits, and stayed most of that time with me. About a week before she was supposed to go home, we decided to marry, so down to the courthouse we went. It was a long while before we got her residency, but that had more to do with being dirt-poor students who moved through a few states before settling down than it was anything else. Comparing notes with those who did it "legally," we had a fairly streamlined process all in all.
For what it's worth, wish you better long-term luck than I had.:)
As for Heinlein, I remember checking out audio tapes of some of his books as an initial act of juvenile choice at the library... and only after they were playing for my whole family to hear did I realize that the dude had some serious issues with waiting till his heroins were menstruating before thinking about their thighs.
My wife and I had this discussion early on; one of her favorite Heinlein novels is Friday, which was just one big soft-core-porn action flick script, as far as I could tell. She found it an incredibly woman-empowering tale. The conversation would then devolve into whether Heinlein, as expressed in his later books, was pro-feminist and liberated, or simply a dirty old man.
Guess what, those working only 40 hours a day won't get anywhere.
Congratulations, you've bought into the oft-exploited notion of "work ethic." You know, that psychological need for value of self and validation of identity that has tied any possible sense of self-worth into how many hours you've toiled?
Anthropologists have typically estimated that prehistoric man worked 20 or fewer hours per week securing food and shelter. I don't know about you, but when work weeks start at 40 hours and go up from there, I often wonder whose life had more emotional value and personal worth - his, or ours.
I wouldn't want to employ someone who wasn't on at least one social networking site. It's about the only real proof you can have that someone isn't the sort of person who has nothing in their life besides work.
There are two minor flaws that I can see with this application of that line of reasoning. One is that there are plenty of socially active people who don't bother with social networking sites, and plenty of avenues to be social that have no reflection in those sites. The second is that a Facebook or Myspace page isn't "proof," in that it wouldn't take much to make a fake page that passes at least cursory inspection.
That said, I can't disagree with your sentiment about wanting social people in general as part of your team.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm aware that Carroll's tale is in the public domain. That wouldn't necessarily stop Disney from throwing some of their lawyers at (what they may view as) a competing production. It's the cynic in me coming out. :)
I still think the Alice game could have made an awesome movie with the right director at the helm, however I fear the crap fest that was the recent Disney Alice in Wonderland ruined any chance of American McGee's movie getting an interest boost on name recognition.
I find myself wondering if Disney would even allow such a thing to be made now, lest it dilute "their" franchise.
Seconded on that one ("Shawshank Redemption") being a poor example. I read the novella years and years before I'd seen the movie, to the point that I'd forgotten all but the basic plot, and then finally saw the movie and was blown away. A few years after that, I picked up the written work again and noticed a huge difference.
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the book, was basically a light pulp fiction novel about a unique prison break, and that was all. A bit rough, a bit coarse, but pretty emotionally unimpactful - it was impossible to really care about the characters, or even relate to them much, so there was only the bare plot element to move things along and keep the reader caring. "The Shawshank Redemption," as a film, was what happens when someone with a gift for writing (Frank Darabont) takes a basic plotline and adds thematic elements that are emotionally gripping and characters for whom we actually care.
Though in relevance to the discussion, assuming a video game has a well-crafted, well-written plot ("Beyond Good & Evil" comes to mind as one example), a bad screenwriter can still destroy it. A good screenwriter can take a game with a potential-filled-plot that's poorly executed in the game and give us a great movie (assuming all other aspects of production line up).
The best thing to do is simply divorce the two in your mind as being equivalent, as they are very different media and should be viewed as separate entities. The "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" offerings come to mind - the films are what they are (and good for what they are, to my mind) but they should be judged as separate and distinct works from the books. They have to be.
Are you sure? I had an ex-GF buy one a few years ago in downtown Austin.
It's an interesting situation, to say the least - the market for sex toys certainly exists in TX, but the shops get a lot of attention from local law enforcement. As I understand it, a lifelike "safe sex demonstrator" (marketed for showing people how to use condoms) is legal, and a vibrating "personal massager" that is only vaguely phallic is also legal. Anything marketed, packaged, or sold that doesn't fall within those bounds is ostensibly illegal and may bring unwanted LE attention. Sorry for the lack of reference links - at work and all that.
Agreed - this is Texas, of course, which bans the sale of dildos state-wide, and has had debates about such in very recent years within the state legislature. Molly Ivins (bless her) did a great video piece on some of the legislative acrobatics involved, but I'm unable to find a link to it at the moment.
I can't hear you over the sound of Bale's Batman Voice.
A friend pointed this out a while ago, and while I really enjoyed "The Dark Knight," I still found this pretty funny: spoof of the interrogation scene.
Thanks for that - it's making me lean toward another option, at the least. :)
In fact, you have to if you want to use their Netflix or Amazon movie download service.
This actually reminds me of my question - my sole interest in potentially getting a Tivo would be for the movie services. Would I need a Tivo subscription to use these? I'd love to have a box to access these services, but haven't figured out the best route to do this.
One of my problems with regulation is that big business actually welcomes it. Why do you suppose that is? Because they know that it's easier to shut out small businesses that might challenge their business model when you put regulatory hurdles in the marketplace. A large company will have no problem complying with whatever regulations are imposed on it.
My experience, anecdotal as it is, offers a slightly different take. I work in a large specialty chemical company, one of the three largest globally in a relatively niche-but-widespread industry. We frequently encounter products out in the marketplace, put there by competitors who are 1/10th our size, that are flatly illegal - they may contain banned substances, or are sold without proper or warnings labels or documentation or transport containers, etc. Many times, the cost of using allowed substances (or the cost of maintaining compliance with the appropriate regulations) puts us at a competitive disadvantage.
The reasons for this include the lack of education in the marketplace as to the law, lack of enforcement on anything but the largest and most visible participants in the market, and sometimes a complete ignorance of the law and regulatory requirements on the part of the small players. (Often, they're violating the law simply because they may not even employ anyone whose responsibilities and/or knowledge include any purview of the regulations.) If the regulations were to mysteriously vanish, we'd crush all the small players because of our purchasing power for raw materials - but with the detrimental effects to the environment, our customers, etc., that occur in the absence of regulation.
Our world increasingly looks like Fredrick Pohl's story "The Marching Morons"...
Not saying this because I know better, but because your mention of the story intrigued me and I hoped to find it or at least find out more about it. It appears it was written by Cyril M. Kornbluth, a contemporary and good friend of Pohl's.
link
I think I must find this story, as the premise of "Idiocracy" was interesting but the execution seemed, to me, quite flawed.
Interesting - your friend sounds an awful lot like me, though I'm a shade older (mid thirties). I'm 5'6, have a high metabolism, and wake up automatically at the 5.5 hour mark regardless of when I go to sleep. I've been this way since junior high school, possibly earlier. I never sleep more than six hours unless I've been up for at least 24 hours straight, and I've managed to stay awake for up to 74 hours previously. I don't drink anything caffeinated - no coffee, soda, tea, etc. I read about this study and these two women earlier today, and found myself wondering if that explains me.
As an anecdote, I can add that one unpleasant circumstantial side effect is to end up spending way more time alone than I prefer, simply because my friends all have daytime jobs (like mine) but need more sleep and so go to bed hours earlier. It gets old having no one awake for hanging out, talking, etc. It's also annoying that there aren't more 24-hour retail businesses to allow me to get shopping done at times that are convenient for me. :P
I'll echo the sentiments of a few others here with my appreciation for the classic MW games over the console-appropriate MechAssault, but I never hear anyone mention the MechCommander titles. Any speculation (or inside info) on the possibility that we'd see any more in the overhead-strategy vein?
Seconded on the MW2 series games. I really liked those, and was increasingly disappointed with the MW3 and MW4 sequels. They were pretty, but dumbed down to make things easy. I found myself wondering at some point if they were intending console versions, and then we got MechAssault. Ugh.
You do know that Starship Troopers is a deliberate satire on the source material, right?
Wikipedia disagrees. The film writing was well in progress when the novel was option, most of the writing staff were unaware of the book's existence, and while I was under the impression that Verhoeven had not even read the book before making the film, the Wikipedia page says he read a few chapters quitting because he became "bored and depressed."
Given that the working title of the project was "Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine," as well, I think the Heinlein structure was shoe-horned in for marketing purposes, and any resemblance to depth with respect to treatment of the source material is simply coincidence. Then again, I think Verhoeven's a hack, so I'm not inclined to think well of his work. YMMV.
My issue with 3D films is that, no matter the technology used, they all require that the watcher have two working eyes. One of mine is blind, so I'm outta luck. I'm also aware that I'm a very uncommon exception, and that my problem isn't any reason why this stuff shouldn't be developed and presented to/for those who can enjoy it. I just have trouble getting excited about it, and actively avoid going to see 3D flicks because of the net effect of it all for me (the film's frames are unwatchable for me).
It would be more practical to hook up a generator to a bike or rowing machine and use a battery or flywheel to store the energy -- that way you'd at least get some exercise out of it.
There's an easy joke to make about 'mericans sitting right there, but I don't have the heart to reach out and grab it right now. :P
But increasingly major investigative style news is being broken by bloggers and citizen journalists, so there is a hope that online real reporting will live again.
David Brin's Kiln People made use of just such a conceit, as the main character would, in the course of his investigations, select from an array of investigative writers, amateur editorialists, and even private-citizen-owned video and audio feeds of live events to determine. Since there was no assurance of quality or accuracy of the reporting on an individual basis, the character would consult multiple sources and have to employ some judgement and critical thinking to the situation. I have yet to decide how functional I think this could be in reality, but it was definitely intriguing.
Either way, the conversation is started. If they suspect you're gay at least that's disarming, and they'll figure it out eventually.
I've dealt with this the bulk of my life, and I have to say it's really not a problem. I'm not terribly tall. I'm on the slim side. I'm relatively educated, well-read, well-spoken. I dress nicely, I'm confident, and have some sense of aesthetics. I frequently have had newly-made acquaintances assume I'm gay, including women I've met.
It has never stopped me from getting laid.
Be yourself. Be interesting. Be conversant and secure and sociable and fun. You'll get plenty of the desired attention regardless of the car you drive or the laptop you carry.
Americans workers would like to work in America for American wages. However, are they also willing to pay the prices of American made products?
Some of us are, yes. I'm perfectly aware that (when it can be found) the American-made product will cost more than its Chinese-made counterpart. I recognize this as the price I pay for supporting the domestic economy. If I want my job to continue to remain viable here on US soil, I have to make sure my purchasing habits don't undermine that viability. It's just that simple.
The same kind of mindset has led me to try harder to support local and/or small businesses instead of larger (often multinational) corporations. If I keep the money here, it does more for me and my family, in terms of economic sustainability of my hometown. I'm aware that economics is not a zero-sum game, but why funnel any more money out of my locality than needed?
Want American jobs to stay here? Buy American-made. Don't like the cost differential? Buy less stuff. We really do have it good here in the US, but it won't stay that way without some active involvement on our parts.
My first self-built gaming rig inspired my last naming scheme - I called it Godzilla. After that followed Rodin, Mothra, and Ghidorah. Now, all that's left of that network is my first Mac, which, of course, I had to call Jet Jaguar. :P
We worked out that it would be a CHEAPER, AND FASTER, process, if I had come here as a tourist, breach my visa and marry my wife, apply for permission to stay anyway. What fun.
Know what you mean - my ex-wife is an Aussie (Melbourne area), came here on the usual tourist visa waiver for short visits, and stayed most of that time with me. About a week before she was supposed to go home, we decided to marry, so down to the courthouse we went. It was a long while before we got her residency, but that had more to do with being dirt-poor students who moved through a few states before settling down than it was anything else. Comparing notes with those who did it "legally," we had a fairly streamlined process all in all.
For what it's worth, wish you better long-term luck than I had. :)
As for Heinlein, I remember checking out audio tapes of some of his books as an initial act of juvenile choice at the library... and only after they were playing for my whole family to hear did I realize that the dude had some serious issues with waiting till his heroins were menstruating before thinking about their thighs.
My wife and I had this discussion early on; one of her favorite Heinlein novels is Friday, which was just one big soft-core-porn action flick script, as far as I could tell. She found it an incredibly woman-empowering tale. The conversation would then devolve into whether Heinlein, as expressed in his later books, was pro-feminist and liberated, or simply a dirty old man.
Frankly, this is one of those posts that merit a "+1, Righteous Vitriol" mod or something along those lines.
Guess what, those working only 40 hours a day won't get anywhere.
Congratulations, you've bought into the oft-exploited notion of "work ethic." You know, that psychological need for value of self and validation of identity that has tied any possible sense of self-worth into how many hours you've toiled?
Anthropologists have typically estimated that prehistoric man worked 20 or fewer hours per week securing food and shelter. I don't know about you, but when work weeks start at 40 hours and go up from there, I often wonder whose life had more emotional value and personal worth - his, or ours.
I wouldn't want to employ someone who wasn't on at least one social networking site. It's about the only real proof you can have that someone isn't the sort of person who has nothing in their life besides work.
There are two minor flaws that I can see with this application of that line of reasoning. One is that there are plenty of socially active people who don't bother with social networking sites, and plenty of avenues to be social that have no reflection in those sites. The second is that a Facebook or Myspace page isn't "proof," in that it wouldn't take much to make a fake page that passes at least cursory inspection.
That said, I can't disagree with your sentiment about wanting social people in general as part of your team.