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Post by Shrikeswind on Jan 31, 2010 22:02:39 GMT -5
Your question implied to me otherwise, so I was uncertain.
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Post by mrmolecule on Jan 31, 2010 22:30:18 GMT -5
Shirkeswind: Actually, the one comment before yours (in response to the Acting/Visuals/Story thing) was to Manfrog. Sorry.
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Post by Shrikeswind on Jan 31, 2010 22:35:45 GMT -5
Again? I'm on a roll today!
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Post by Manspeed on Feb 1, 2010 19:59:44 GMT -5
I didn't forget it, it's a necessary component of the Story aspect, which as you and everyone else said is the weakest part of the movie.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2010 13:19:08 GMT -5
Aight. Avatar. Here we go.
Avatar is being touted as THE BEST MOVIE EVAR!!!1111, which I can see to an extent. It's very pretty, yes, and some of the acting is fantastic (Sigourney Weaver = love), but everything else is par. It's not a bad movie by any means, and it's currently the highest grossing film in the US, having passed Titanic last week or the week before, so I understand why people are singing their praises, but it literally is Pocahontas in space. Also Fern Gully. With a pinch of Dances with Wolves. You can say all you want about how nothing can possibly be original anymore (with righteous conviction, all power to you), but there's a difference between taking inspiration from something and copy-pasta-ing.
I watched the movie in theaters, and enjoyed it - it entertained me, so in that aspect the movie is very successful.
The only thing I disliked about the movie is the fact that Jake Sulley had soooo much given to him. He adapts to his Na'vi body in a matter of minutes despite being paralyzed from the waist down for who knows how many years - not to mention his nerdguy partner having logged in over, what, 300 hours in the Avatar body and still being unaccustomed to it? He learns the Na'vi language very fluently within three months whereas - again - the nerdguy partner has been studying for years and struggles with the intricacies. (Of course, Jake's fluency with the Na'vi language comes with an on-and-off switch when convenient, because we certainly don't need to see that huge speech near the climax in subtitles.) He falls in love with and sexes up the chieftain's daughter, and the warrior she was arranged to marry dies in the final battle, which is so very convenient; Jake can be seen wearing the beaded necklace of the chieftain in the final scene, which is severe "WTF"itude. And the Final Shadow thing...don't get me started on that. He does "what only four members of [that] tribe have done in their existence," and takes ownership of a Final Shadow...by flying above it. I mean, seriously? (The way they handled that, too, was a huge cop-out; what should be an epic battle is instead traded up for a cut to black.) And the fact that that's enough to earn the trust and respect of the Na'vi after having led the humans to the Home Tree and providing the information that destroys it...just, ghhh.
...TL;DR: Good movie, hit-and-miss acting, shitty protagonist, heavy-handed message, looks very, very pretty.
I lost my original point somewhere in that tangent.
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Post by Shrikeswind on Feb 2, 2010 15:29:58 GMT -5
WARNING: This post contains religious content. Viewer discretion is advised. Also, please leave my spleen alone, Lord knows I have enough trouble finding it.
You've probably gathered a portion of my religious beliefs in previous posts already, but I think it's time I explained it in full so it's not just "Well, you quoted Jesus here, but bashed Catholicism here, so I guess you're Lutheran." So, bottom line: I'm Christian, more or less, but I don't fall into any of the orthodox categories of Catholic/Protestant/whatever. Everyone who goes about spouting John 3:16 as the core doctrine of Christianity and that it matters moreso than anything else is an idiot, and let me say right now there are WAY too many of these dumb-asses, unless I've missed something. Saying God has forgiven all of your sins, past and future, is bullshit, because it means that you have the full capacity to ignore what he's saying and do whatever, because He's ignoring your sins anyway. The problem with Christianity is ironically the very problem Jesus sought to solve: Bullshit traditions that detract from the message and thereby allow one to do incredibly anti-Christian things. It's ridiculous and that's what I think.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2010 11:40:52 GMT -5
That was unanticipated...but, I can respect that. XD
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Post by Fryguy64 on Feb 19, 2010 7:15:08 GMT -5
hit-and-miss acting, shitty protagonist, heavy-handed message, looks very, very pretty. I would like to point out that you're in the majority on this one. Every review or personal recommendation for it has said pretty much this (only not quite so elegantly). It's also why I haven't watched it yet Hmm... have I actually posted anything personal in here? Probably not. Let's go for... Everyone has issues, everyone has baggage, everyone is screwed up in the head. Everyone is fucking crazy! I am of the opinion that friendships and relationships are borne of finding people who are the right kind of crazy for you. Obviously, shared interests are a good start. In our case, a screwed up obsession with video games has led to a community of people, many of whom are likely to display grades of autism, whose attention can be held for hours talking about a form of escapism that panders to our ego by putting us in control of an external super-powered avatar... We're likely to get along great, so long as we don't step on each others' inflated egos. People only like confidence because so many lack it themselves. Confidence isn't a thing, it's the lack of a thing. If you worry about things then you lack confidence. If you don't worry about things then you appear more confident. When you realise everyone is crazy, everyone needs more help than they'll admit, and everyone is worried about what other people think of them, it becomes a lot easier to ignore your worries and come across as confident. This is how I see the world.
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Post by TV Eye on Feb 19, 2010 9:16:36 GMT -5
Meh, I see some people who try to display a false sense of normalcy. These people are usually douchebags.
I love how you mention avatars as a way of inflating egos, which is what I see on most forums but not here. I see this forum as a gathering place of people who are are sick of people posting "hoa i beat seferoth lol! >*<". The people here seem to be more....normal compared to other forums I've browsed. That being said, this doesn't mean that there aren't any crazies here. Everyone remember Rukifelth? That guy was nuts.
Anyways, I seem to be drifting. Yeah, everyone's a little psycho. Depending on how you handle that realization effects how you're going to act in the real world.
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Post by Shrikeswind on Feb 20, 2010 0:19:59 GMT -5
You know, Fry, that's nothing new or disagreeable. People say it all the time. Hell, I know for a fact I'm autistic through self-diagnosis. It's actually pretty easy to spot. What I don't get is what all the fear's about. Autism's hardly a disease. That's right, I'm riding this here thought train to the next town! Anyways, I'm of the belief that every nitwit psychologist who says their patient has autism or whatever is treating every personality but the cog as a disease. Autism is just the spacy loner personality. I know SO many people this applies to and quite frankly they're more intelligent and closer to my view of normal than any of these cogs who live their lives working for The Man and wanting to be him.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Feb 22, 2010 4:30:16 GMT -5
Nothing new, sure, but people (especially people with a relationship to autism) tend to see it as a "big deal" because it's something that's "diagnosed". See also depression and anxiety.
I haven't been diagnosed with any psychological disorder, but that doesn't mean I don't have any. I can't say "I get frustrated when I'm wrong because I'm clinically stubborn". But I can say "I get worried easily due to a genetic disposition to anxiety attacks".
It just doesn't make sense to say some personality traits are "just who you are" and some are "a psychological illness".
I would suggest that we aren't all beautiful, individual snowflakes, but are a fairly standardised set of physical and psychological traits. The ability to diagnose autism seems to be little more than proof that lots of people share similar personalities and "don't quite fit in" to whatever constitutes a society at the moment. The exact cause of autism may be down to a physiological difference (such as connections in the brain firing differently to those of other people), but then that's true of any personality quirk. A naturally angry person's brain fires differently to that of a naturally calm person.
Throw in words like "misfire", "functions incorrectly", "psychological illness" or "disorder" which are all negatively loaded terms, and you get a stigma surrounding autism that is largely unfounded.
This isn't to say that autistic people don't need support... But they need support to fit in to the norms of their current society. In a theoretical otherworld society they may have the upper hand, and the rest of us will need support to cope in this society.
I'm rambling now. Just to clarify, I am 100% supporting autistic people here, and I recognise all of the difficulties ascribed to it. I don't think it's "not a real thing", but a very real thing that has been demonised to an extent.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 17:43:29 GMT -5
Avatar was only popular because people thought "Wow, James Cameron! He made Titanic, Terminator, Alien and all that good stuff! This MUST be awesome!". That, and the CGI was made with half the entire budget of the movie.
Now, something a bit more controversial that I have in mind is how so many people insist that one's sexuality is a choice. I'm gay, never denied that myself, but I can't honestly remember anything resembling that kind of a choice ANYWHERE in my memory. I started finding interest in men around the early teens, and eventually figured it out. That, in no way, constitutes "choice". IMHO, that idea was just the brainshart of some religious conservative redneck determined to bring us down.
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flamedude
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Post by flamedude on Feb 22, 2010 18:37:25 GMT -5
YOU'RE ALL CUNTS.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Feb 23, 2010 4:16:49 GMT -5
Now, something a bit more controversial that I have in mind is how so many people insist that one's sexuality is a choice. I'm gay, never denied that myself, but I can't honestly remember anything resembling that kind of a choice ANYWHERE in my memory. I started finding interest in men around the early teens, and eventually figured it out. That, in no way, constitutes "choice". IMHO, that idea was just the brainshart of some religious conservative redneck determined to bring us down. You might never have denied it, but I'm not sure I ever saw you mention it anywhere before! Mazel tov! (Wow, we have a thriving gay community round here!) This actually ties to what I said before about autism. Remember when being gay was considered a disease, a mental disorder, something that had to be cured (with medication in some quarters)? Society came to learn to live with it (if not accept it entirely, depending on where you live) and now it's just a thing people are. Could the same thing happen to autism some day? I disagree with the idea that being gay is somehow written into the genes. Not just being gay, but that any concept of who you will find sexually attractive in later life is decided before you are born. I don't know if that kind of determinism is even possible, but it's certainly an uncomfortable thought! Besides, even if it is possible, genetic causes do not establish actual effects. A vegetarian chooses not to eat meat despite our onivorous genes. The topic is things you think that NO ONE seems to agree on. I think we can all agree on this, right?
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Post by Old Man Rupee on Feb 23, 2010 9:29:42 GMT -5
Wow, I'm amazed that all you guys are comfortable with sharing your stuff with "strangers" like us!
I gotta admit though, this little community is definitely one of the most... umm...Trustworthy ones I've seen around! We're all pretty intelligent when debating and arguing, never denying someone else their opinions just because we have a different one. I for one am quite proud to be a part of this place! Sure, we're not perfect, but compared to somewhere like 4Chan or the average news site comments section...
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