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Blarghagh

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Posts posted by Blarghagh

    Politics Thread: Silicon Valley Edition

    in Way Off-Topic

    Posted

    I don't disagree with registered sex offenders with diagnoses regarding children shouldn't work in schools and such, even if they've been treated since psychiatric treatment is not an exact science. Some database searchable by school administrators? Sure.

     

    I do disagree with the list of sex offenders being made public for every tom, richard and harry with a grudge. If they're registered, they had their state-sanctioned reprecussions and this seems to me the first step to sheer persecution. Next, other mentally ill? Any criminal? Handicapped? Trans? Jews? Blacks? The gays? Dissidents? This looks like the kind of thing the alt-right fears from SJWs.

    • Like 1

    Happy New Year 2018

    in Way Off-Topic

    Posted

    My first lesson this year is that my meds and alcohol empower each other and turn me into a drunk freight train porn star, but then the hangover does not go away no matter how much water, OJ and eggs and bacon you throw at it. Oof, my head's still killing me.

    • Like 5

    Star Wars: The Last SJW

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    Posted

    Phantom Menace was meant to expand on space fantasy. Just as 'A New Hope' was the farmboy joining up with a pirate and learning magic from the old wizard to save the princess from the black knight's castle, Lucas thought it would be good to add more fantasy tropes to the universe to try to evoke the same wonder as the original did.

     

    It didn't work, but it's why we got space chariot races, a knight of the order and his squire, the child queen and the magic prophecy of the chosen one, the evil demon to overcome. The city of Thebes might as well be populated by elves, and the battle droids are practically an army of Harryhausen skeletons matched against the savage gungan hordes on their space horses with their space spears and space shields.

     

    How does Jar Jar fit in this? Good old George made Jar Jar as his version of the Shakespearian Fool, a space jester. He even follows Shakespeare's pattern of having the fool dispense the advice that turns the tide: 'Wesa got grand army!' He just seemed to miss the part where the fool was generally wiser than he appeared, because George is terrible at seeing depth.

     

    Of course none of this worldbuilding and design panned out because it was in service of an awful story, barely more than exposition for the next bits. The original wss a fantasy story (a quest, even) while this was just more and more fantasy stuff added to a half-baked political thriller. If George had spent half as much time learning about character arcs and story structure as he had trying to put every fantasy trope into his universe, Phantom Menace would have been fantastic. But that design and dedication to insane, balls to the wall space fantasy is the one thing why I still like it.

    • Like 2

    Happy New Year 2018

    in Way Off-Topic

    Posted

    Happy new yearS you sonsovabeaches! I hope this time for once all of you guys ****in NAIL this year instead of it nailing you right up that kiester of yours until you like it like always (if you're the one thinking 'oh hes not talking to me, I'm doing fine' WELL YOURE NOT STOP LYING TO YOURSELF YOUR THE BIGGEST LOSER HERE) and as always bow down to your sjw overlords like the white priveleged wussies who have never known true adversity in your lifr that you atre ;)

     

    I guess What I'm really saying is if youve bern a **** on this board then no happy birthday to the calender for you But everyone else I love you in a completely platonic way you are my homeysAnd to you i saY WORD

    • Like 7

    Movies You've Seen (or would like to see) Recently

    in Way Off-Topic

    Posted

    Hah, you're right, I do love that scene where Luke goes berserk. I'm just not sure it outweighs what could have been, and I feel like they'd still be a surrogate family without being blood related - it could have worked without it.

     

    I'd be incredibly interested in the Kasdan draft where Han died, Luke had an other sister and it ended with him walking off cowboy style. Perhaps alternatives would have been worse. I'm also incredibly interested in Lucas' ideas for episodes 7-9 that Disney dropped.

     

    I think you might be right in me overrating Revenge, though. I think I may have been influenced by reading the superior novelisation, since all the crap in it you point out is true. Might revise my list, though I'm surprised that Phantom Menace ends up my fav prequel then.

    • Like 1

    Movies You've Seen (or would like to see) Recently

    in Way Off-Topic

    Posted

     

    I thought Last Jedi was mediocre but I'd still rate it third in the series, after Empire and New Hope. :huh:

     

    But then, I find Star Wars hugely overrated disposable entertainment and nobody ever seems to agree with me. My ranking would be:

     

    Empire > New Hope > Last Jedi > Force Awakens > Revenge > Phantom Menace > Return > Clones > Ewok Battle for Endor > Ewok Adventure > Holiday Special > Rogue One.

    See, I can understand that. Personally I wouldn't rate any of the new movies, Lucas or Disney above Return of the Jedi. Not because I grew up with it or nostalgia but because Return is still the gold standard for space battles and I love those. Games, books, movies, TV - space battles? Yes plx.

     

    But even leaving the Battle of Endor aside Return is still a more entertaining watch for me than Revenge of the Sith ever could be. I mean even as a kid I found the Ewoks more annoying than cute but Vader with his mask on has more screen presence and is more convincing than Hayden Christensen could ever be, and Return didn't have characters like General Evil McBadface Grievous or scenes that pointlessly drag on and on like Obi-Wan's lava lightsaber bonanza or Obi-Wan's car chase.

     

    Revenge was a cringe-ride with a few impressive scenes and Return was a fun romp with a few cringy scenes (oh hi Han stepping on a twig or Ewok twapping himself with a bola or Chewie doing the Tarzan).

     

    Right, so where was I? Oh yeah, most people seem to disagree. :)

    I'd enjoy the space battles more if anyone we cared about was in it, but the visuals and filming are quite cool. I also really like the Luke/Vader/Empire parts. But those are the only things. I find the entire Jabba sequences drag on and don't further the plot much - the whole barge sequence could be cut without losing anything - and there's so much Ewok stuff constantly destroying the pacing and dragging it down. They don't even annoy me that much, they just bore me.

     

    But I also have a lot of issues with the plot. Force Awakens gets crapped on for pulling another Death Star out of its arse but I find this one more irritating - it makes the victory in New Hope seem pointless if they can so easily make another, and since a single shot can blow one up it's not very intimidating.

     

    But I mostly dislike it for ignoring or handwaving things the other films set up. The whole first segment was just undoing Han's fate and restoring status quo. Luke didn't complete his training with Yoda -> Goes back and Yoda says it is. There is another Skywalker -> Oh it's just Leia, conveniently solves the love triangle. Badass bounty hunter? Killed for a joke. It doesn't even follow through on its own buildup when it points out Han's bad feeling about never seeing the Falcon again, both are unscathed. At least in New Hope R2 got hurt. The only heroic moment in Jedi comes from Vader. Many of the things these new flicks get criticised for were done worse in Return IMO.

    Movies You've Seen (or would like to see) Recently

    in Way Off-Topic

    Posted

    I thought Last Jedi was mediocre but I'd still rate it third in the series, after Empire and New Hope. :huh:

     

    But then, I find Star Wars hugely overrated disposable entertainment and nobody ever seems to agree with me. My ranking would be:

     

    Empire > New Hope > Last Jedi > Force Awakens > Revenge > Phantom Menace > Return > Clones > Ewok Battle for Endor > Ewok Adventure > Holiday Special > Rogue One.

    • Like 2
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