Posts by BenWilson

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  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    I don't understand what you're not getting about this point.

    And I don't understand why you think I'm not getting it. So you can suspend disbelief, and you didn't like Avatar, but did like a singing dancing movie from 1952. And yet at the same time, people who say that enjoying Avatar comes down to suspending disbelief are somehow insisting that you do the same. It's a straw man. They're insisting that they did, and they are not defective because of it . They are certainly not people who generally enjoy the irrational, stupid, offensive, and manipulative (as Gio put it), any more than everyone who watches any fiction at all is .

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    How old were you when you first saw Star Wars (A New Hope, if you must)?

    Too young to remember how old I was.

    And how old were you when you figured out that George Lucas was trying to make a statement about Vietnam?

    38 years, 158 days, 12 hours, and 17 seconds. At 2:46 on March 12, 2010 the revelation hit me like a thunderclap. I feel the world shifting beneath me even now... My God! How blind I've been.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    So Ben, now we're talking about how you wouldn't discuss something you've never seen and have no intention of seeing? Well, I should hope not.

    You're talking it up anyway. I'm happy you enjoyed it, and I'm not going to torture myself with it. Or anyone else.

    So, how is that a zero-sum game? And sorry for being all pointy-headed here, but saying "ooh, shiny! Shit go boom-ba, kewl" is an aesthetic judgement arrived at after a certain degree of analysis.

    It can also be arrived at without that analysis. In much the way I see a girl and think "wow, she's hot". I don't have to go "hmmm, well her breasts are smallish, but she is rather small so it's in proportion, her face lacks classical proportion, but makes up for it with striking eyes, her legs could be a little on the chubby side, one can't tell with that skirt, will have to look into it more first. Can't really tell about her skin, she's wearing foundation, and does that look a bit like a push-up bra?". You can do it that way. I notice that people who tend to do that are extremely critical about appearance and seem to find no woman I like hot at all, because it turns out that their fundamental framework, however carefully rationalized, is just totally different.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    Gah. You miss my point

    I'm pretty sure I was supposed to miss it. I have never seen Singin' in the Rain, because I know I would hate it from start to end. But I'm not going to spend hours telling you about why, other than the simple fact that I don't like the genre. I can't get into romantic comedies, and especially not musical ones. None of which is to say it's a bad film, just not to my taste.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    The problem is, when Russell Crowe shouted 'are we not entertained' in my ear, the answer was 'No, not so much'.

    IIRC, that was his point - that the Romans should not have been entertained. If you were not entertained, then he was appealing to you to say so. Did you then walk out? If not, why not? Why would you even go to see a film called Gladiator, if you didn't want to see gladiatorial combat? And at that point, the crowd was not cheering, because what he had just finished doing was actually not entertaining - he had killed everyone the way a soldier would, fast and efficiently, and with some measure of empathy, no torturing the last helpless victim, asking the crowd if they should be spared, etc.

    You had, at that point, been primed to feel sorry for the gladiators, seeing them pissing their pants before the fight, the endless mistreatment beforehand, the big speech by the Lanista that they might think they wouldn't fight, but they would. etc.

    Personally, I did actually feel entertained, because I was immersed in the feeling of horror and disgust, and the elation of survival I was supposed to feel. Something about seeing it went a lot further than all the descriptions I read when studying the history of ancient Rome. Always then, the thought had come to my mind "If I were there, then, would I have gone to watch gladiatorial combat?". In going to watch that movie, I think the answer is pretty clear. So it was a very appropriate question.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    Dude, it's not 'desperate bitching'. It's because we really, honestly didn't like it. We didn't think it was any good.

    You don't say. Really? Tell me again why not...you know you want to.

    And if anyone starts going on about suspension of disbelief and 'just enjoying it' again, well, watch out.

    Yes, that is indeed a lost cause. A personal choice.

    How could it not make you furious?

    I save my fury up for useful things. I've only got a limited supply, and, actually, it's all too easy to squander, and I've already squandered enough of it on such things. I leave Homer Simpson to get bitter on "Who rigs every Oscar night?".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Hard News: Still crazy after all these years,

    I thoroughly enjoy the banter with Aussies at sporting events here in Sydney.

    It seems like the main reason to actually go to the event, to be part of the crowd and to be heard vocally supporting your team. The quality of the cricket viewing experience is less than watching it on TV, with a nice armchair, nice snacks and drinks. Since the cricket viewing experience is not much of a priority for me, I'm starting to understand why people go to the games.

    Yuck beer though. We did not regret quickly bailing after the first innings to a pub in Kingsland, particularly when rain delayed the restart. I wonder if that's deliberate, so the crowd doesn't get too pissed, that they serve beer that is downright horrible by the 3rd bottle?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Cracker: Wallywood,

    If that's trivialising the language, then it's trivialising any western language because it's fairly generally accepted that you'll achieve conversational fluency in something like Spanish or German within two months if you're immersed.

    You'll be able to get around anyway. I doubt that after the 6 years I studied German, 3 odd months of immersion, etc, that I'd be willing to deliver a speech to a potentially hostile crowd urging them emphatically to go to a hopeless war. It's not the time to call yourself a donut, best leave it to someone more able.

    I liked Avatar, and have had to yawn my way through the desperate bitching at it that has now dominated about 10 threads here I can think of.

    Wellywood sign? Whatever. It's a joke that only NZers will get, basically harmless. I think the conversation with the German was actually a German joke (as in the kind of jokes Germans make). The explanation of the joke is part of it, and even partially immersed foreigners will seldom get it, that the interplay after the joke is quite important to Germans, and they feel that English speakers ejaculate their humour prematurely. Which is part of the reason I disliked the latest Tarantino. It was incredibly unsubtle with it's bilingualism themes (not to mention being stupid and offensive).

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Hard News: Still crazy after all these years,

    First live cricket game I've gone to in about 30 years. Was fun. Pleasantly surprised about the facilities. Unpleasantly unsurprised about the result. Good to hear that NZers heckle properly now, and that crowd preference is given to witty comments rather than abusive ones. My favourite exchange, both pitched loud enough for the entire stand to hear:

    Ozzie: I don't know what the fuck you're on about, mate
    Kiwi: Language, please, there's children here
    Ozzie: They should have gone to bed hours ago
    Kiwi: At least it's not a stolen bed

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Hard News: Still crazy after all these years,

    Ironically, Nissan had factories in Oz, up until about 1994

    Not all Ozzies are total boofheads. Those who like quality vehicles will drive them. They just pay through the nose. But they always have new, which I guess is worth something.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

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