Hard News: Holiday Musings
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Well seriously BenWilson, I dont think it *is* unhealthy!
It's just not I want to do with my strictly-limited time of being alive (none of my whanau - that we know of- has ever got to 90 and we have a depressing tendency to die off in the 40s & 50s & 60s..)Have never used an edged weapon yet - but I keep my human-shishkebaber* hanging behind me on the books shelves. O just waiting for the moment!
*An Irish dress rapier dated 1793 -
Mortensen to deliver the awful "us people of the West" speech
There was me hating it because it wasn't in the book. I even remember the line "Men of the West", thinking "Eh? What about the hobbits, the dwarf and the elf, then?". But it wasn't Jackson's fault about the Arabs...that was all Tolkien.
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The full Jackson quote -- from the Slate discussion with James Cameron -- is:
There's no doubt that the industry is in a weird position. It's not just Hollywood—it's international. The loss of the independent distribution companies and the finance companies, and the lack of ability to get medium-budget films these days. The studios have found comfort in these enormous movies. The big-budget blockbuster is becoming one of the most dependable forms of filmmaking. It was only three or four years ago when there was a significant risk with that kind of film. Now, especially last summer, we saw blockbuster after blockbuster be released, and they all had significant budgets and they're all doing fine. It almost doesn't matter if the film is a good film or a bad film, they're all doing OK. They've lost the ability to have that happen with a low-budget movie and with midrange-budget movies.
It's not so much that they can get away with any old shit than that a big-budget CGI movie, probably based on a Marvel character or some existing property and marketed like crazy, is as close as it gets to a sure thing. But he goes on to say:
... One of the things that has happened [is that] people focus on technology. Probably the film industry has been guilty; there's more attention spent on the technical aspects than the story. That's led to a self-fulfilling prophecy. People regard CGI as a gimmick, they almost blame CGI for a bad story or a bad script. They talk about CGI as if it's responsible for a drop in standards. We've gotten to a point now where there isn't nothing else we haven't seen. We've seen dinosaurs, we've seen aliens; with Avatar we've seen realistic creatures. I think we're going to enter a phase where there's less interest in the CGI and there's a demand for story again. I think we've dropped the ball a little bit on stories for the sake of the amazing toys that we've played with.
True dat, as they say.
The discussion at: http://www.slate.com/id/2239171/pagenum/all
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The 'bonding' scene is something people are determined to ick about (actually to quite an icky level I think). As I saw it, it was a betrothal, not a fuck. News Flash!: Even Humans Do This.
Thanks for that, Ben -- all of us in the convent are picking our chastity belts as we speak so we can sample this mysterious form of "ultimate intimacy" known as batter bombing your brains out.
The sex scene didn't make the cut, so hard to say what it is, no?, but every indication is that it's indeed based on the braids.
Please track down the toe-curlingly cheesy script pages that have hit the web. (And, yes, they're real.) I like fucking -- a lot. Reading prose sex scenes that are a danger to the lactose-intolerant and should be avoided by Jews, Muslims and vegans due to the lashings of ham? Not so much.
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O just waiting for the moment!
I'm a blunt instrument guy myself. I like to kid myself that death is not a necessary outcome from violence.
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I like fucking -- a lot. Reading prose sex scenes that are a danger to the lactose-intolerant and should be avoided by Jews, Muslims and vegans due to the lashings of ham? Not so much.
Stick to R rated then man.
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"Probably the film industry has been guilty" has to be the most disingenous line in the history of film commentary! :-)
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Stick to R rated then man.
I'll stick to 'Star Trek', thanks. Zoe Saldana walking into a bar -- supernova hot, fierce as a Klingon with a migraine and not giving a damn who's watching her working her supermodel strut -- then proceeds to give space stud James Kirk a PG-13 brush off? Infinitely preferable to watching her "spent" swooning across Sam Worthington's chest -- and probably more fun to act, considering she didn't have to wear a motion capture suit with a camera clamped to her head while shooting 'Trek'.
You can actually do non-porno sexuality in science fiction without drowning it in cheese sauce. Not that James Cameron is ever going to have to make the effort.
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DOUBLE POST (DON'T ASK ME HOW) DELETED
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A rapier is a very slender very sharp precision edged-weapon: if invaded (I cant think of a reason why either!) I can guarentee to disable someone very exactly - whereas, using a mere-poenemu or the family trade-tomahawk (c. 1820s) - both more or less to hand - I could only guarentee to stop someone. Unless - sigh - they were using a shotgun or a flamethrower or - well, like any sensible little animal, I'd be out of there so fast-
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Is Jackson finally waking up to the fact that his success has been dire for many ANZ fim-makers?
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Well seriously BenWilson, I dont think it *is* unhealthy!
It's just not I want to do with my strictly-limited time of being aliveActually, most of your reasons are the same as my reasons for not playing games so much any more.
"Probably the film industry has been guilty" has to be the most disingenous line in the history of film commentary! :-)
Yes, he's entering George Soros levels there. Although, TBH, I think film audiences are the truly guilty party. A film isn't a blockbuster until it's busted the box office.
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You can actually do non-porno sexuality in science fiction without drowning it in cheese sauce.
If you're not careful, I will criticize that movie. For a non-porno, I felt like I had cheese sauce on my face when I walked out.
Do I get a tally-whack for that? Only 3872 to claw back from Ranapia.
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Islander, my favorite blunt instrument would be the fear of the long arm of the law.
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From the Jackson/Cameron IV;
but I think the heart of the cinematic experience is the group experience. It's the psychology of sitting in a dark room with a bunch of people and reacting to something, and feeling like your reaction is the same as the rest of the group, a way of proof-checking your emotions are normal.
Jackson: Or not.
Cameron: If you're the one guy laughing out of 400 people, you're obviously out of step.So there folks groupthink please. I'll just wait till I can get my USB port surgery for downloads from my local doctor.
Ben your posts make hilarious reading. -
I'm sorry for your loss.
Dude, thanks for your concern, but my childlike sense of wonder is still intact for use during those pop-cultural experiences I deem worthy of it. Avatar was not one of them.
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Depends where you live BenWilson - in my case it's nearly an hour for the local PC to get to us, and the kind of people intent on dastardly deeds only fear immediate proximity of the long arm of the Law.
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Cheer andin. I'm really feeling like I'm a big part of groupthink here on this thread today. My usual part, the Other.
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I can guarentee to disable someone very exactly
we call it recruiting
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Sacha - HEH!
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Can I be your brother from another other?
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My usual part, the Other.
Just wait till the bio-ports are operational.
I used to like a very sedate form of game, don't know if there is an equivalent nowadays. I think it was called "Myst" or something.
Im not a shoot 'em up person, but I liked those arcade games skiing, bike riding.
Must get out more. -
I think it was called "Myst" or something.
Funny story about Myst, I swear it is true. During my dissertation I wanted to look at it but I was having a hard time sourcing it, being already an ancient game at the time. At one point during the search I happened to run out of blank CDs, went to buy a 10-disc packet and for some bizarre reason it came with a free copy of Myst. Spooky.
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There's plenty of sedate games. Puzzles and such. Strategy games, turn based, human or computer opponents.
Can I be your brother from another other?
A Band of Others?
Depends where you live BenWilson
True. I do find remote places a little freaky. People could go missing and no one would even know.
but my childlike sense of wonder is still intact
Mine's indestructible.
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Really? I thought the Really Big Fight At The End was brilliantly realised -- or, as our in-house action movie expert put it, "exhilarating". I'm really not sure what recent action spectacle you'd be unfavourably comparing it to.
Giovanni pretty much covered it, although he was a bit harsher than I would be. I thought the big fight was reasonable, it just wasn't as impressive as I was hoping for. It certainly didn't have a wow factor. Cameron has directed better action set pieces in earlier films.
But I suspect even having a Really Big Fight At The End is part of the criticism.
Not at all. Take out the action spectacle and we really would be left with dreck.
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