You're overstating your case, Cicero. No need to freak out. It doesn't take a film snob to know when a movie is lousy. You obviously have no idea what I think and you jumped to a conclusion well beyond the scope of my original message, which I'll admit wasn't exactly the kind of thing that gets published in a serious venue. If we all "minded our own affairs" Slashdot would be a lot less fun.
I don't think you can take the high ground if, when I say "x sucks" you tell me that I suck. I mean, it's equally stupid, right? No better, no worse.
All I can say for certain is that I have seen lots and lots of bad movies, and I consider Episode II to be among the very worst movies I have ever seen. Empire was good, though. I liked Robocop. Can you honestly say you felt the faintest sense of romantic spark between the lovers in this flick? It was like watching a ping pong paddle fall in love with a vacuum cleaner. Now that I would pay to see.
Oh, and, word of advice (just to see if I can best you at the challenge of being a dick), if you want to impress the film snobs, Citizen Kane is completely passe. Try Satyricon, Gotterdammerung, Alphaville... Next time you need to critique somebody's snobbish attitude, don't flash something so trite:) Although Citizen Kane is a good enough movie, it's no Robocop.
There is only one word for Episode II, and that is "incompetent". It applies to the writing, the acting, the editing, the sound, even the score. Don't line George Lucas' pockets with money swindled by his amazing force. You're only proving that the force *does* work wonders on the weak minded. This movie made Ishtar look like Casablanca, if anyone has any idea what I'm talking about. It made Snow Dogs look like the Empire Strikes Back.
There are many better films--and you can find better stills of Natalie Portman on the internet.
Everyone who was involved in this movie should be fired, and then shot. I finally saw it last night at a theater that was showing it for free--and with pitchers of beer--and I *still* regret it.
These books have been available in English print for quite a long time (I accidentally bought two separate editions of Wild Sheep Chase, so I'd know). The date of 1989 is inaccurate, I believe; I think WSC came out in 1982 (at least in Japan, it did). I cannot fathom why Slashdot has a review of these old Haruki Murakami books at the same time... What about Sputnik Sweetheart which just came out recently, or the non-fiction Underground, about the gas attacks in the Tokyo subway?
Musicians should get paid for providing a service just like everybody else. If you work hard, you can make good money as a live performer.... To anybody who insists that they should keep getting paid after they stop working, I say "Screw you. Get a real job."
As a writer (and programmer), I have to argue here... extending the analogy to the [semi-defunct (or should I just say semi-funct)] book world, I guess the logical parallel for us 'wordsmiths' is that we should be on book tours (giving readings and signing autographs) all the time? Considering the phenomenal amount of effort required to write a decent novel--or for that matter, record an album, I believe--what you're saying is one of the most absurd rants I've seen on Slashdot in a long time. No offense.:) In fact I would have assumed it was satire, a smidgen more subtle than Swift.
In the future I'm getting the Parker Brothers to personally MC every game of Monopoly I play--lazy bastards.
Considering all spam is advertising (even the "save so-and-so" chain letters, in a way), spam is NOT entirely protected by the First Amendment. Yes, IANAL, but the traditional 4 zones carved out by the Supreme Court where protection is subject to debate are 1. Advertising (see 44 Liquormart v. Rhode Island 1995 et al.), 2. potentially libellous material (US v. New York Times c. 1972 I belive), 3. indecent/obscene speech & content (now using the Miller v. CA standard from 1973) and 4. hate speech (more or less meaningless after Brandenburg v. Ohio). The First Amendment is not total, and theoretically, if it were we'd be subject to much worse from advertisers.
I'm a US citizen doing tech support and teaching classes for an American college in Switzerland. They're paying me 50,000 CHF/yr (Swiss Francs) which is about $32,000 or thereabouts (conversion off the top of my head). I think minimum wage here--for Swiss folk--is something like $12/hr (i.e. roughly 18 CHF/hr or 36,000 CHF/yr), and your average Swiss secretary makes about 90,000 CHF/yr. Switzerland is maybe the most expensive country on Earth (next stop: Japan?).
When you factor in surprise costs like having to change your wardrobe because Euros only wear black, strange service charges for things you didn't want to buy (entry visa for work permit) etc. suddenly the margin of savings becomes even slimmer. In fact, I'm actually deep in debt because of this lousy job. It is possible to be severely screwed by one's desire to live outside the U-S-S-A... So, on the one hand, I'm essentially PAYING to have this job. On the other hand, the USA blows (and by the way you're all a bunch of idiots for electing Bush, as any European will quickly remind you).
I don't think it's so bad to be underpaid for the opportunity to live and work in a foreign country, which isn't that easy to come by... but, before taking any overseas job you might want to set a minimum rate for how low you will go. In a place like Switzerland, poor pay can make for some very uncomfortable circumstances (don't get me started).
In fact, someone would have to be crazy to take this job. What the hell was I thinking!...Arrividerci.
But what about the tougher cases, like "The Hit Man" -- it went all the way to the Supreme Court
Actually, it didn't. It was appealed to the Supreme Court and then the Justices chose not to grant certiorari, keeping the Federal Court decision intact. (I believe it was a pro-freedom-of-speech decision based primarily on Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969).)
It is interesting that he's working (if tentatively) the title "Empire" into this one, when he also used it in the second of the old set (Episode V). Since most of the anti-Phantom crowd are also pro-Empire, and most people worth their moviegoing salt acknowledge Empire as the only one with any real depth (of character, plot, and even meaning as it explores the issues of man becoming machine), perhaps this is a subtle ploy to regain some of his fans who were so irritated at Jar Jar.
Granted I don't really think that. I think this one should be called "Episode 2: Buy More Yoda Dolls".
Well the coming of age thing is a big problem in my opinion. After all, kids pay sales taxes but--while they derive some benefits of taxation, i.e. school--they have no governmental representation... Which I (as one of the precocious) always thought was a serious violation of civil rights. But who's gonna stick up for a 15 year old? I mean, they can't even vote!
Yeah, but it should have been Bush...:) I'm guessing he can't spell potato either. Then again he grew up vacationing in Kennebunkport, and if he can spell that, maybe he can even spell pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconiosis.
Technically it would be better for the people if companies *could* buy their votes directly from the people. As it is now, lobbying only helps the politicans themselves. This way the people could get something out of it too, even as it pushes them ever closer into a totalitarian oligarchy that long ago subverted any realistic use of the term "democracy"!
The IOC claims that the Internet harms the spirit of the games. Just as it seemed that TV did. I'm sure that same beautiful spirit will suddenly embrace the Internet as soon as someone actually figures out how to use the Internet to make money.
Ah well, the Olympics is built on a contradiction anyway: that the success of individuals in a country reflects the strength of that country as a whole. But tying geographic politics into athletics is about as arbitrary as you can get.
I don't know about you but, even as a Jewish man disguised by a WASPy last name, I wouldn't want to walk around the country seeing swastikas on everything even if they were designed to destroy neo-Nazi solidarity!
(Actually it kind of reminds me of the "fake song" problem which could bring down Gnutella and Freenet. False swastikas would certainly be a huge hassle for the Nazis, judging by my extensive experience as a music pirate!)
I wish Europe would get over this awful era. I've got some nifty items which bear swastikas, which were made at least 100 years before WWII. Would I have to accompany these with some french certificate before selling on Yahoo?
I agree that the outright rejection of a symbol is a form of fascism, including the Confederate flag dispute in South Carolina... The pre-Nazi swastikas had a different connotation; the swastika (backwards from the Nazi one) is a Buddhist symbol, among other things. Certainly, measures against fascism that employ its very means (book burning, and other limits to free thought, etc.) are foolish and short-sighted; it would definitely be missing the forest for the trees, to use the cliche.
But it is naive to say that Europe should "get over it" in reference (even by symbolic proxy) to the holocaust. Nobody should "get over it"; it should be a part of our collective human conscious for all eternity as a reminder of the barbarism that we are capable of. Particularly when we let others decide our thoughts and morals and ethics.
Everyone should keep in mind that the RIAA changing it's position on the law is NOT the same thing as the law being changed! Changes in the law have to be enacted by Congress. Don't go on a CD buying spree, boycotters, until there is actually legislative action. And furthermore, it remains to be seen whether the RIAA will actually take action on its "change of heart."
Now that we know, thanks to Jon Katz, that our universities are just bribed by corporations, how do we know whether we can trust their choice? Or maybe it will be a university whose football team coincidentally happens to play in the Louis Freeh Stadium...
Or maybe it'll just be a crummy university with no CS department...
Screaming headline: Reed College professors clear controversial FBI program, declaring: "Carnivore Code Looks Like Cuneiform"
Slashdot Mirror
I only meant trite in terms of the choice, not in terms of the movie itself... Citizen Kane is too easy is all I meant. Cheers to the other stuff.
You're overstating your case, Cicero. No need to freak out. It doesn't take a film snob to know when a movie is lousy. You obviously have no idea what I think and you jumped to a conclusion well beyond the scope of my original message, which I'll admit wasn't exactly the kind of thing that gets published in a serious venue. If we all "minded our own affairs" Slashdot would be a lot less fun.
:) Although Citizen Kane is a good enough movie, it's no Robocop.
I don't think you can take the high ground if, when I say "x sucks" you tell me that I suck. I mean, it's equally stupid, right? No better, no worse.
All I can say for certain is that I have seen lots and lots of bad movies, and I consider Episode II to be among the very worst movies I have ever seen. Empire was good, though. I liked Robocop. Can you honestly say you felt the faintest sense of romantic spark between the lovers in this flick? It was like watching a ping pong paddle fall in love with a vacuum cleaner. Now that I would pay to see.
Oh, and, word of advice (just to see if I can best you at the challenge of being a dick), if you want to impress the film snobs, Citizen Kane is completely passe. Try Satyricon, Gotterdammerung, Alphaville... Next time you need to critique somebody's snobbish attitude, don't flash something so trite
There is only one word for Episode II, and that is "incompetent". It applies to the writing, the acting, the editing, the sound, even the score. Don't line George Lucas' pockets with money swindled by his amazing force. You're only proving that the force *does* work wonders on the weak minded. This movie made Ishtar look like Casablanca, if anyone has any idea what I'm talking about. It made Snow Dogs look like the Empire Strikes Back.
There are many better films--and you can find better stills of Natalie Portman on the internet.
Everyone who was involved in this movie should be fired, and then shot. I finally saw it last night at a theater that was showing it for free--and with pitchers of beer--and I *still* regret it.
Oh well. Wasted words, as always.
Not to be picky, but that's a Commodore 128!
Just how much did Costco pay you to write this?
Katoktok only asking.
Musicians should get paid for providing a service just like everybody else. If you work hard, you can make good money as a live performer. ... To anybody who insists that they should keep getting paid after they stop working, I say "Screw you. Get a real job."
:) In fact I would have assumed it was satire, a smidgen more subtle than Swift.
As a writer (and programmer), I have to argue here... extending the analogy to the [semi-defunct (or should I just say semi-funct)] book world, I guess the logical parallel for us 'wordsmiths' is that we should be on book tours (giving readings and signing autographs) all the time? Considering the phenomenal amount of effort required to write a decent novel--or for that matter, record an album, I believe--what you're saying is one of the most absurd rants I've seen on Slashdot in a long time. No offense.
In the future I'm getting the Parker Brothers to personally MC every game of Monopoly I play--lazy bastards.
Now maybe we can finally figure out what OS they were using on the Enterprise.
Incidentally, literature fans, Thomas Pynchon mentions this idea in passing in the "Byron the Bulb" section of Gravity's Rainbow.
...might I add #include . oops.
I disagree! Please compile and execute the following program to hear my comments on the matter.
#include
void main()
{
int i=0;
while (i != 1)
printf("Blog blog blog, blog blog blog.\n");
}
If it was something we needed, we'd be out jitterbugging at speakeasies, but obviously it ain't. Resistence is futile...
Considering all spam is advertising (even the "save so-and-so" chain letters, in a way), spam is NOT entirely protected by the First Amendment. Yes, IANAL, but the traditional 4 zones carved out by the Supreme Court where protection is subject to debate are 1. Advertising (see 44 Liquormart v. Rhode Island 1995 et al.), 2. potentially libellous material (US v. New York Times c. 1972 I belive), 3. indecent/obscene speech & content (now using the Miller v. CA standard from 1973) and 4. hate speech (more or less meaningless after Brandenburg v. Ohio). The First Amendment is not total, and theoretically, if it were we'd be subject to much worse from advertisers.
When you factor in surprise costs like having to change your wardrobe because Euros only wear black, strange service charges for things you didn't want to buy (entry visa for work permit) etc. suddenly the margin of savings becomes even slimmer. In fact, I'm actually deep in debt because of this lousy job. It is possible to be severely screwed by one's desire to live outside the U-S-S-A... So, on the one hand, I'm essentially PAYING to have this job. On the other hand, the USA blows (and by the way you're all a bunch of idiots for electing Bush, as any European will quickly remind you).
I don't think it's so bad to be underpaid for the opportunity to live and work in a foreign country, which isn't that easy to come by... but, before taking any overseas job you might want to set a minimum rate for how low you will go. In a place like Switzerland, poor pay can make for some very uncomfortable circumstances (don't get me started).
In fact, someone would have to be crazy to take this job. What the hell was I thinking! ...Arrividerci.
Actually, it didn't. It was appealed to the Supreme Court and then the Justices chose not to grant certiorari, keeping the Federal Court decision intact. (I believe it was a pro-freedom-of-speech decision based primarily on Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969).)
Granted I don't really think that. I think this one should be called "Episode 2: Buy More Yoda Dolls".
Well the coming of age thing is a big problem in my opinion. After all, kids pay sales taxes but--while they derive some benefits of taxation, i.e. school--they have no governmental representation... Which I (as one of the precocious) always thought was a serious violation of civil rights. But who's gonna stick up for a 15 year old? I mean, they can't even vote!
Anyway, it should be spelled "poughtaightteaux".
Technically it would be better for the people if companies *could* buy their votes directly from the people. As it is now, lobbying only helps the politicans themselves. This way the people could get something out of it too, even as it pushes them ever closer into a totalitarian oligarchy that long ago subverted any realistic use of the term "democracy"!
Ah well, the Olympics is built on a contradiction anyway: that the success of individuals in a country reflects the strength of that country as a whole. But tying geographic politics into athletics is about as arbitrary as you can get.
Yeah, it is nice. What great band are you referring to, though? Metallica music sounds like four chimpanzees leaping up and down in a junkyard.
I don't know about you but, even as a Jewish man disguised by a WASPy last name, I wouldn't want to walk around the country seeing swastikas on everything even if they were designed to destroy neo-Nazi solidarity!
(Actually it kind of reminds me of the "fake song" problem which could bring down Gnutella and Freenet. False swastikas would certainly be a huge hassle for the Nazis, judging by my extensive experience as a music pirate!)
But fascism by court decree...
I wish Europe would get over this awful era. I've got some nifty items which bear swastikas, which were made at least 100 years before WWII. Would I have to accompany these with some french certificate before selling on Yahoo?
I agree that the outright rejection of a symbol is a form of fascism, including the Confederate flag dispute in South Carolina... The pre-Nazi swastikas had a different connotation; the swastika (backwards from the Nazi one) is a Buddhist symbol, among other things. Certainly, measures against fascism that employ its very means (book burning, and other limits to free thought, etc.) are foolish and short-sighted; it would definitely be missing the forest for the trees, to use the cliche.
But it is naive to say that Europe should "get over it" in reference (even by symbolic proxy) to the holocaust. Nobody should "get over it"; it should be a part of our collective human conscious for all eternity as a reminder of the barbarism that we are capable of. Particularly when we let others decide our thoughts and morals and ethics.
Everyone should keep in mind that the RIAA changing it's position on the law is NOT the same thing as the law being changed! Changes in the law have to be enacted by Congress. Don't go on a CD buying spree, boycotters, until there is actually legislative action. And furthermore, it remains to be seen whether the RIAA will actually take action on its "change of heart."
Now that we know, thanks to Jon Katz, that our universities are just bribed by corporations, how do we know whether we can trust their choice? Or maybe it will be a university whose football team coincidentally happens to play in the Louis Freeh Stadium...
Or maybe it'll just be a crummy university with no CS department...
Screaming headline:
Reed College professors clear controversial FBI program,
declaring: "Carnivore Code Looks Like Cuneiform"
Good call, you Caligulous collection of clogged cogs and camshafts! :)
(Wasn't it Dr. Smith?)