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| Marc |
 Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:41 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| deleted. Marc rant. |
Last edited by Marc on Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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The discussions are fine and, as you've said yourself, intelligent. The low membership has to do with not being attached to a reader-generating site like the Times. We've lost some people mostly because we banned them. And when they go, you usually say we're better off without them.
At any rate, there's no way to demonstrate that if this place were more "exciting"—a subjective term if there ever was one—we'd generate more new readers or retain old ones better. It's a hypothesis. I'd argue a site that devotes itself to calm intelligent discussion is likely to be a haven to a lot of people wearied of internet "excitement" and could generate an equally large contributing group.
We aren't connected anymore with a major publishing entitiy that regularly attracts people from around the world. That's about it. Our discussions are not less exciting now than they were when you used to go back to the Times and tell them what losers they were and how exciting this place is. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:25 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Joe,
this belongs behind the curtain. So, I took it there. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:29 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:13 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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| Forgot about A Matter of Loaf And Death: Wallace and Gromit one of my 2009 faves. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:16 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: my computer
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Quote: Wallace and Gromit one of my 2009 faves.
Hmmmmm...I wonder why....  |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:40 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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gromit wrote: Forgot about A Matter of Loaf And Death: Wallace and Gromit one of my 2009 faves.
There was a new one? Where???? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:43 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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lady wakasa wrote: gromit wrote: Forgot about A Matter of Loaf And Death: Wallace and Gromit one of my 2009 faves.
There was a new one? Where????
We had this dance already.
http://www.thirdeyefilm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=191272#191272 |
Last edited by gromit on Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:37 am; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:25 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Picked up:
Public Enemies
Up
Fears of the Dark (6 animation shorts)
Last week, I grabbed Coco avant Chanel, the Audrey Tautou Chanel film, but it has lousy English subs, so I need to return it.
I'll try to give it a a quick skim to get a feel of the look and quality.
Will probably give PE a go tonight.
I might have skipped this, but I like the cast. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:04 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: my computer
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You'll enjoy the cast, gromit - it's top notch. However, the story doesn't go as deeply into characters as I'd hoped; I left the theater entertained, but it left me wanting for more detail. Still a good watch.
Up is a masterpiece, in my mind...of course, I saw it in 3-D and that in itself is an experience. But the story, the "acting" and the graphics will have you spellbound. My favorite part is a 5-minute montage, wordless, set to music, that had my son groaning, "oh no, she's crying already." |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:21 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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It's been a long year. And it's not getting any shorter.
I'm not even sure I saw your answer. %^< |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:23 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Where the Wild Things Are is good without being great. Doing it live action with costumes turns out to be a wise decision, and the computer animation on the faces isn't noticeable. The kid playing Max does a good job, as do Catherine Keener as the mother and the costumed actors. The story probably works for 6-10 year-olds better than toddlers, but it's by no means painful for adults to watch. I didn't have the problem with infants that Marc did. They must have gone to the earlier shows.
Before that, I saw Paranormal Activity, which does its job very effectively. It's done in the home-video style of The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, this time with a wife who has had paranormal experiences and a husband who is obsessed with catching them on film. I won't say anything further than that because you want to see it as close to cold as possible. This is one you want to see in the movie theatre. A very dark and quiet one. We had a fairly good and very quiet crowd. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:31 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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I don't understand the good words on this forum for Paranormal Activity, which I saw with Earl tonight. He kindly called it "a bunch of silliness," but I thought it was a pile of stupidity.
What's wrong with it? Well actual home video footage usually doesn't come loaded with exposition, and at some point if this stuff was happening, they'd put the camera down. The attempts to make the audience think this stuff is happening "for real" really do more to kill the mood than create it. I think it would work better as a low budget movie filmed in a traditional, if low-key, fashion, then preteding to be an actual event. The latter choice just makes the artificiality of the whole thing more obvious.
And the movie wants to have it both ways, so despite the "found footage" concept, there is comic relief, shock cuts, and special effects. In fact, it makes me retroactively appreciate The Blair Witch Project a tiny bit more because at least it played by the rules.
The movie is riddled with cliches. A heroine so helpless she's willing to reliquish control to the men in her life. And a boyfriend who's just too darned much of a modern guy to buy this supernatural nonsense or let some other man be the top dog in his house, you betcha. Guess how well that helps the situation? The excuses why they don't leave, or at least stay out of the house as frequently as possible, are lame. The ending is particularly bad.
Some decent sound effects early on, but logic makes most of what happens in the house ridiculous (and I don't mean "logic" as a buzzword for "these things don't happen in real life," I mean the logic of what's supposedly going on).
A real time waster, in my opinion. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:53 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Next you're going to tell me you don't believe in a male character because he doesn't ask for directions. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:00 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Urban legend! (Why did Pope Urban invent all these legends?) |
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