I know this is a joke, but I think one of the big differences between LotR and Star Wars is that Star Wars is the (increasingly neurotic) vision of one man. LotR is one man bringing another's vision to life.
Peter Jackson undoubtedly loves Tolkien's work, and it shows in the quality of his movies. Lucas is primarily in love with himself, and this too shows in the quality of his work.
I would have had no problem paying more for Emusic, or even paying more on a per-track basis, if Emusic had stuck with a model I could actually use. I listen to a lot of music, and 40 tracks / month is completely asinine. What if I run out of quota in the middle of an album? Oh, tough luck for me I guess? No. I take my business elsewhere.
No pricing policy will ever suit everyone's needs, but these folks have chosen one that appears to work for them and their clients.
I see plenty of clients posting here for whom it didn't work. They were subscribers, the model changed, and they jumped ship. That includes me. Emusic could have continued getting my money forever with their model, even if they had raised their rates, but they changed to this asinine limit, and now they get $0 of my money instead of the $20, $30 or $50 a month I would glady have paid. "It's called being in business," my eye.
If you only want one or two tracks a month, this is not the service for you.
Neither is it the service for you -- anymore -- if you want more than a couple albums per month. Or if you mind downloading half an album then waiting a month for the other half.
Well, what I mean is... I'm not debating his skills / talent now, which I think is far diminished and just this side of insanity, but I think the original trilogy, in its unaltered form, was very successful in a lot of ways. What I sometimes wonder is if that success was just accidental, and the result of Lucas not being able to "finish his film the way he wanted to" is the only thing that made it any good, i.e. Lucas' technical limitations saved him from himself in the OT, but couldn't for the prequels / SEs.
I also think he's lost his marbles a bit with age.
It also undermines Han's later line, "We're a bit rushed, so if you'll get on board," which one assumes is because he just blew Greedo away and Jabba will now be after his head. No, apparently Jabba is a very forgiving sort and doesn't mind people just shooting his henchmen.
I'm glad to see someone else feels the same way I do about this scene. It's kind of novel to see the scene restored, but it's gratuitous, and not in a good way. It unravels a lot of the tension and drama present in the original version.
It's stuff like this that makes me wonder if George Lucas's genius isn't some sort of fluke or accident on some levels.
As both the theatrical and altered editions of Lord of the Rings are readily available to the public, and have been from the word go (quite unlike Star Wars), your argument is both nonsensical and irrelevant.
Also, Star Wars was revolutionary at the time it came out, and was and is an enormous influence on popular culture, special effects, and moviemaking. Even if the story of Star Wars itself is not particularly profound to some people, it is a piece of film and pop culture history that ought to be preserved.
Lucas: Ultimately, I'm going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I'm sort of preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again.
So, did anyone else notice that the Time article is mostly just flamebait taking cheap shots at Star Wars fans?
Be warned: this is not your dweeby uncle's or your inner child's Star Wars.
"Your inner child can suck it!"
Not the trilogy that opened in 1977, 1980 and 1983, but the newer improved special editions of 1997, the ones with some new footage and updated computer effects.
They didn't do their homework; hell, it's not even the editions that opened in 1997!
Says Jim Ward, president of LucasArts: "Those are the versions of the film [George] had always envisioned. It's really an artist's prerogative."
...says Jim Ward, Lucasfilm's official middle finger.
In the documentary Lucas speaks of perfecting "things that I had to give up on because I just didn't have the time or money or the power."
So George always intended to have Greedo shoot first, but just couldn't get it together because of budgetary limitations. Sure, I'll buy that. I guess he also made Ewoks because he could only afford half-size Wookiee suits.
This kind of coherence begets controversy among the caretakers of movie tradition.
Wait, I thought we were just everybody's dweeby uncle a paragraph or two ago.
For them, New is never Improved, and Lucas' decision to release the updated films without the cherished originals is sacrilege.
Please. New can be Improved, if it's done for the sake of improvement, not PC cowardice and revisionism. And why are these Capitalized? Why did Time Hire this Guy?
Bail Organa will not be in ANH, for when Alderaan blows up.
I don't know, these re-releases are such low comedy anyway, that I think they should put this in. I might pay good money to see Jimmy Smits looking up and going "What the? Oh no! AIEEE!!!"
Not true. Both my ex-girlfriend and my current girlfriend both loved Trek, Star Wars, LotR, even Babylon 5. My ex was a huge anime freak, too. And my new girlfriend introduced me to Firefly.
No, they're not imaginary, but some days I wonder if they ought to be.
Netscape owned the lion's share in the browser war once upon a time, too, and look what happened to them.
MSIE will likely continue to slip as long as their browser continues to be a gaping security hole with a poor set of features and tons of bugs.
When I was working a helpdesk, and customers call asking how they can stop getting infested with spyware, malware, crazy plugins, and other annoyances, I would tell them straight up "switch to Mozilla / Firefox" and give them the URL. More often than not they would call back to thank me after using it for a while and finding out how much easier and less annoyance-riddled it was.
Why is anyone who likens this to AOL, or mentions that Google (now a publically traded corporation) might use this as a source of profit getting modded down as troll or flamebait?
The same reason cynical, knee-jerk, anti-corporate pessimism regularly gets modded Insightful?
If you haven't seen it (it's available in bootleg form), believe me, you only think you want to.
If it's a childhood memory of yours, do yourself a favor and leave it there. The Star Wars Holiday Special is really one of the worst things ever conceived by man. It's not "so bad it's good" -- it's "so bad it makes the whole world worse just by existing."
I'm thinking they'll probably just fill it out as circumstances require. Once you agree to the license, Microsoft can just download updated versions of the privacy policy invisibly. You don't have to lift a finger!
I'm being humorous, but neither would it entirely shock me to see MS attempt something of the sort.
"It's about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it's time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex," Smith said during an interview at his Hollywood office.
I find this supremely funny. Kevin Smith, God bless him, has done nothing but revisit the same characters, gags, and environments for the past 10 years. So is this movie about "growing up" supposed to be prescient in some fashion? Because I see no evidence of Smith doing anything of the sort in his body of work thus far.
Dissecting pop culture and talking about sex is what's made Kevin Smith his fortune, and now, apparently, he's too good for it? What did I miss?
Don't get me wrong. I love Kevin Smith's movies, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, arguably his worst film, is actually my favorite. I have no quarrel with being preoccupied with sex, drugs, pop culture, and extremely over-tired Star Wars jokes. But at least be honest about your tastes.
It will be interesting to see what he does with this material -- I don't care if he makes a buck off it or not (more power too him), but Smith could come off as something of a hypocritical ass if he's not careful. (Not that he will care what critics have to say about him, of course -- another thing I like about Smith.)
The movie made over 10 times its budget at the box office. Very few movies can say that. Plus, the movie has to do huge bank on video, as where I live I haven't been able to rent it for ten years, as it's always sold out of every rental joint.
Slashdot Mirror
I know this is a joke, but I think one of the big differences between LotR and Star Wars is that Star Wars is the (increasingly neurotic) vision of one man. LotR is one man bringing another's vision to life.
Peter Jackson undoubtedly loves Tolkien's work, and it shows in the quality of his movies. Lucas is primarily in love with himself, and this too shows in the quality of his work.
I would have had no problem paying more for Emusic, or even paying more on a per-track basis, if Emusic had stuck with a model I could actually use. I listen to a lot of music, and 40 tracks / month is completely asinine. What if I run out of quota in the middle of an album? Oh, tough luck for me I guess? No. I take my business elsewhere.
No pricing policy will ever suit everyone's needs, but these folks have chosen one that appears to work for them and their clients.
I see plenty of clients posting here for whom it didn't work. They were subscribers, the model changed, and they jumped ship. That includes me. Emusic could have continued getting my money forever with their model, even if they had raised their rates, but they changed to this asinine limit, and now they get $0 of my money instead of the $20, $30 or $50 a month I would glady have paid. "It's called being in business," my eye.
If you only want one or two tracks a month, this is not the service for you.
Neither is it the service for you -- anymore -- if you want more than a couple albums per month. Or if you mind downloading half an album then waiting a month for the other half.
Well, what I mean is... I'm not debating his skills / talent now, which I think is far diminished and just this side of insanity, but I think the original trilogy, in its unaltered form, was very successful in a lot of ways. What I sometimes wonder is if that success was just accidental, and the result of Lucas not being able to "finish his film the way he wanted to" is the only thing that made it any good, i.e. Lucas' technical limitations saved him from himself in the OT, but couldn't for the prequels / SEs.
I also think he's lost his marbles a bit with age.
It also undermines Han's later line, "We're a bit rushed, so if you'll get on board," which one assumes is because he just blew Greedo away and Jabba will now be after his head. No, apparently Jabba is a very forgiving sort and doesn't mind people just shooting his henchmen.
I'm glad to see someone else feels the same way I do about this scene. It's kind of novel to see the scene restored, but it's gratuitous, and not in a good way. It unravels a lot of the tension and drama present in the original version.
It's stuff like this that makes me wonder if George Lucas's genius isn't some sort of fluke or accident on some levels.
As both the theatrical and altered editions of Lord of the Rings are readily available to the public, and have been from the word go (quite unlike Star Wars), your argument is both nonsensical and irrelevant.
Also, Star Wars was revolutionary at the time it came out, and was and is an enormous influence on popular culture, special effects, and moviemaking. Even if the story of Star Wars itself is not particularly profound to some people, it is a piece of film and pop culture history that ought to be preserved.
But, in my opinion, it lacks the feel of mythology that was an important part of what made Star Wars so special.
Definitely an appropriate use of the past tense there...
By which you mean seven years. The Special Editions release was in 1997. That's last millenium, champ. Thanks for stopping by, though.
I wonder if it's worth mentioning that the same search for "Helena" in Google produces the same result you're complaining about.
:)
So I guess you have to give up on Google now too?
Lucas: Ultimately, I'm going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I'm sort of preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again.
Rate article +5, Funny.
...and that wreaks of conformity.
Man, you're hardcore. Even your spelling doesn't conform!
Be warned: this is not your dweeby uncle's or your inner child's Star Wars.
"Your inner child can suck it!"
Not the trilogy that opened in 1977, 1980 and 1983, but the newer improved special editions of 1997, the ones with some new footage and updated computer effects.
They didn't do their homework; hell, it's not even the editions that opened in 1997!
Says Jim Ward, president of LucasArts: "Those are the versions of the film [George] had always envisioned. It's really an artist's prerogative."
...says Jim Ward, Lucasfilm's official middle finger.
In the documentary Lucas speaks of perfecting "things that I had to give up on because I just didn't have the time or money or the power."
So George always intended to have Greedo shoot first, but just couldn't get it together because of budgetary limitations. Sure, I'll buy that. I guess he also made Ewoks because he could only afford half-size Wookiee suits.
This kind of coherence begets controversy among the caretakers of movie tradition.
Wait, I thought we were just everybody's dweeby uncle a paragraph or two ago.
For them, New is never Improved, and Lucas' decision to release the updated films without the cherished originals is sacrilege.
Please. New can be Improved, if it's done for the sake of improvement, not PC cowardice and revisionism. And why are these Capitalized? Why did Time Hire this Guy?
That's some poorly written material.
Bail Organa will not be in ANH, for when Alderaan blows up.
I don't know, these re-releases are such low comedy anyway, that I think they should put this in. I might pay good money to see Jimmy Smits looking up and going "What the? Oh no! AIEEE!!!"
Not true. Both my ex-girlfriend and my current girlfriend both loved Trek, Star Wars, LotR, even Babylon 5. My ex was a huge anime freak, too. And my new girlfriend introduced me to Firefly.
No, they're not imaginary, but some days I wonder if they ought to be.
Netscape owned the lion's share in the browser war once upon a time, too, and look what happened to them.
MSIE will likely continue to slip as long as their browser continues to be a gaping security hole with a poor set of features and tons of bugs.
When I was working a helpdesk, and customers call asking how they can stop getting infested with spyware, malware, crazy plugins, and other annoyances, I would tell them straight up "switch to Mozilla / Firefox" and give them the URL. More often than not they would call back to thank me after using it for a while and finding out how much easier and less annoyance-riddled it was.
Why is anyone who likens this to AOL, or mentions that Google (now a publically traded corporation) might use this as a source of profit getting modded down as troll or flamebait?
The same reason cynical, knee-jerk, anti-corporate pessimism regularly gets modded Insightful?
When people take shortcuts and use stupid abbreviations, that signifies that the written language is evolving.
OMFG kthxbye LOL >_< kekekeke
You forgot the "net congestion" in front of "buffering..." It's not Real's fault -- the Internet just has a bad cold.
Better yet, don't buy ever! I'm going to hold out for the special Sun Is a Burned Out Husk, The DVD Format Has Been Dead for Decades Edition.
If you haven't seen it (it's available in bootleg form), believe me, you only think you want to.
If it's a childhood memory of yours, do yourself a favor and leave it there. The Star Wars Holiday Special is really one of the worst things ever conceived by man. It's not "so bad it's good" -- it's "so bad it makes the whole world worse just by existing."
I'm thinking they'll probably just fill it out as circumstances require. Once you agree to the license, Microsoft can just download updated versions of the privacy policy invisibly. You don't have to lift a finger!
I'm being humorous, but neither would it entirely shock me to see MS attempt something of the sort.
What is the logic in modding this funny? It's no more than a cheap shot at microsoft
You answered your own question.
"It's about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it's time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex," Smith said during an interview at his Hollywood office.
I find this supremely funny. Kevin Smith, God bless him, has done nothing but revisit the same characters, gags, and environments for the past 10 years. So is this movie about "growing up" supposed to be prescient in some fashion? Because I see no evidence of Smith doing anything of the sort in his body of work thus far.
Dissecting pop culture and talking about sex is what's made Kevin Smith his fortune, and now, apparently, he's too good for it? What did I miss?
Don't get me wrong. I love Kevin Smith's movies, and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, arguably his worst film, is actually my favorite. I have no quarrel with being preoccupied with sex, drugs, pop culture, and extremely over-tired Star Wars jokes. But at least be honest about your tastes.
It will be interesting to see what he does with this material -- I don't care if he makes a buck off it or not (more power too him), but Smith could come off as something of a hypocritical ass if he's not careful. (Not that he will care what critics have to say about him, of course -- another thing I like about Smith.)
I think not.
Box office data for Clerks
The movie made over 10 times its budget at the box office. Very few movies can say that. Plus, the movie has to do huge bank on video, as where I live I haven't been able to rent it for ten years, as it's always sold out of every rental joint.
I feel like my nerd credentials are so insufficient when I look at stuff like this and have no idea why it's supposed to be funny.
What?! Self-respect is just The Man telling you how to feel good about yourself!