Posts made by Ghost

@ZombieGenesis said in Good or New Movies Review:

I also think there are a lot of people who focus on the extreme minorities in these situations. I think most people fall into a moderate middle. I've never actually met someone who said "Director X ruined Star Wars. I've thrown all my Star Wars stuff away." I've spoken to people who have said, "I don't care for Director X's movies and I tend not to watch them" or something similar.

Also, let's be clear; Star Wars fans didn't drive anyone off of social media. A vocal minority raised a ruckus(including certain YouTube channels who thrive off of controversy and discontent). Again, I think most people fall into a moderate middle where they may have said "I don't get the character but that's not the actresses fault".

I think the novels are a great example of this on a larger scale. Some novels I've read and love. Others I have not(including the entire Young Jedi Knights series). The novels I did not care for did not impact my enjoyment of the other novels or my enjoyment of potential future novels by other authors. There are enough novels(and movies and comics) that the things I like and dislike just create a palette of things I watch or read. With the new trilogy, for instance, I don't care for TLJ but I'll probably watch TFA and ROS on a fairly regular basis.

Like Egg Shen. It's like a salad bar; you take what you want and leave the rest.

But it's also kind of interesting how it parallels how some people approach politics in that the minority are vocal when the actual majority is pretty quiet and content

@GreenFlashlight said in Good or New Movies Review:

@Ghost said in Good or New Movies Review:

Which, yanno, sucks.

I don't fully get that. Like, if you enjoy the books, they're still on your shelf, right? If you like the comics, they're still in your longbox. George Lucas can't take them from you, or make you stop liking them, or make you think they didn't happen if you want to think they happened. The only thing anyone can do is not make movies about them, which they could still choose not to do even if the books and comics and whatever are canon; so how does it hurt anyone?

By "sucks" I mean this:

No, it doesn't remove their existence or anything. I didn't mean "sucks because my view on the Star Wars universe has become secular".

I meant more: Sucks that these writers, game makers, content creators, etc worked so hard to keep it going, made so many awesome things that people loved, all on the assumption that Mr. Star Wars was on board with it...and then in the end he comes out and says "Yeaaaaaaah I dont know any of those guys and didn't read any of that. They dont count."

Ouch. Right?

To be a Star Wars fan getting paid to write and design Star Wars stuff, to help flesh out the universe, and then in the end the ICONIC MOSES FIGURE OF STAR WARS says: "Didnt read it. Dont care. It doesn't count."

In a way, the true validation that you created something RAD is whether or not Disney keeps it. Like Thrawn or KOTOR.

@Ghost said in Good or New Movies Review:

but to many, many, many people this stuff is Star Wars.

By this, I mean:

There are people who love the novels, the video games, the comic books, the RPGs, and any given person may have only been exposed to one or more elements of the EU. There aren't a lot of nerds out there who ONLY watched the Original Trilogy between 1984 and 2000. These people weren't really aware that KOTOR or the Thrawn Trilogy weren't canon, only to later find out that Lucas was just signing checks and later didn't consider any of it to be HIS universe.

Which, yanno, sucks.

@Auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

So none of the books written pre-Disney are truly the author's own creation. They're just putting someone else's story (Lucafilm) into their own words.

This surprises me, because (Lucas Quote here...)

"There's my world, which is the movies, and there's this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe—the licensing world of the books, games and comic books."

"I don't read that stuff. I haven't read any of the novels. I don't know anything about that world. That's a different world than my world."

Which has always been weird to me because Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura, the term "Coruscant", swoop racing, dual-bladed lightsabers, the planet Dac and the tension between the Quarren and Mon Calamari, Thrawn, etc all showed up BEFORE the prequel trilogy and they were all either in the prequels or the animated series.

So which is it, George? Either way he's quoted as not knowing anything about that world and doesn't give it respect, but to many, many, many people this stuff is Star Wars.

The Thrawn Trilogy were three books in what was 20+ years worth of fleshing out the Star Wars universe (and keeping it alive) through books, comics, video games, and RPGs...

...and Lucas didn't do anything but "okay" it.

Years later he picked Star Wars up again to make the Prequel Trilogy claiming that all of it was his vision, that it's his universe, and has never given warm fuzzies or respect to all of those content creators.

Fuck George Lucas. Star Wars is better off where it is now.

Those content creators, the actors chased off of social media, and the people who play wanted to be a part of Star Wars to keep it going even though the prequels were horrible? I respect them. They're keeping the candle lit. We are all on the same team, and Disney is working to keep it going, too.

George Lucas threw Star Wars away. Be on THESE PEOPLE'S sides, not Lucas'.

@Auspice Right.

Unless I'm travelling I try not to take days off like "Day Before Holiday" because if you think about it: If I requested the day off I'd use 8 hours of vacation, but if I went to work it would be 4 hours of doing Jack Shit and then getting 4 hours of free time off.

I was considering showing up late and turning a 4 hour day into a 3 hour day, but I'm glad I didn't. Our Director (boss's boss) is hanging out with us, looking at his cell while we fuck around on our cell phones too, and the guy that just came in an hour and a half late is getting the whole: "Well hey hey did your car get stuck in the rain?" (translation: You're late. I have made a note of this) treatment.

TMW the boss's boss is hanging out by your cubicles (on a day he intends to send everyone home early) and he's asking why your team lead is late and another guy called out sick.

And you're there because you were wise enough to predict this AND wise enough to go into the office on a day that was gonna be a free half-day.

Word.

@Groth Agreed. Friend and I were talking a few days ago and we were talking about whether or not the Scorsese argument applies to directors. You have FRANCHISE directors and CINEMA directors.

Abrams is a franchise guy.

Whedon, Bay, Gunn, etc franchise directors.

Del Toro, Scorsese, Cosmatos (Mandy), Rian Johnson, etc are cinema directors.

Gotta grab the right tool off of the shelf.

Edit: Sometimes it works, though. I consider Nolan a cinema guy and his Batman trilogy was great. BUT. He controlled all 3 films in the franchise.

@TheOnceler said in Good or New Movies Review:

People should go see Knives Out. It's Rian Johnson finally recovering from the stumble of making a critically acclaimed billion dollar movie.

Looper?

@Pandora said in The Dark Side of online Role-Playing:

@Ghost I feel where you're coming from, but let's allow the heroes to focus on actual children being harmed rather than a wild goose chase for consenting adults writing distasteful smut that does not harm actual children. Priorities are important.

Oh I'm sure they prioritize.

I remember when my boss's son died unexpectedly none of us knew how to really approach it. My boss is very "college football, hiking, etc" and has that old school man dude energy to him. Like the kind of guy that wouldn't shed a tear over Good Will Hunting, but Rudy? Hed probably cry.

I remember when he first came down the aisle on his first day back. I didn't know what to say, but it ended up pretty well.

I put my hand out, we had one of those clapping shakes, and I said "Anything. We got you." He nodded. I nodded.

On some sort of "men who dont talk about their feelings" level I kinda hope he thought it was good as I think it seemed to resonate.

@GreenFlashlight said in Good or New Movies Review:

feel like a lot of the backlash to the new trilogy is based on the audience resenting that they now have enough critical thinking skills to recognize the things they weren't savvy enough to notice as kids.

Interesting thought. I'm gonna ponder it.

Personally, I think moviegoers put too much importance on these franchise films, at least enough that the concept of just hanging out, eating some popcorn, and enjoying a movie has become some kind of armchair avant-garde analysis as to whether or not it met their approval, why, and whether or not they would have done what the characters did. Enjoying a movie isnt about whether or not you'd vote for it on The Voice and ride an entire season of esteem on it. It's about being in the moment, being absorbed by the screen, and letting the story get you out of your skin.

And maybe that's part of the problem; people are so focused on their opinions, their standards, their desires, all stuff inside of their own skin that they can't just let things be. "Omg this $10 matinee ticket was a waste of my time and money." and "I waited a whole year since the last time I was disappointed and a year the time before that and the 7 years since Revenge of the Sith that disappointed me and so did Attack of the Clones and Phantom Menace and OMGFUCK JJ Abrams Star Trek arrrrr".

Man, I thought about this new trilogy and asked myself if I would have LOVED IT if I was a kid and it all happened a year or two after Return of the Jedi. More Luke and Chewbacca, Rey, Poe, Finn, more R2D2...I'd have loved it.

And I think it's kinda sad that for some people that magic is gone for them. I hope they can find it again, but here's a secret: No one's ever going to recapture what they loved as a child if they approach it like an adult.

@Auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

@Ganymede said in Good or New Movies Review:

@Auspice

Look I sometimes have trouble processing what is or isn't a joke okay

This should help clarify what is or isnt a joke

Clear as day. You're welcome.

@ZombieGenesis Hey, I disagree. It's a discussion. I promise you'll survive this. I promise.

@ZombieGenesis Exactly. You should just go out to the car and wait until everyone else is done and never see a movie ever ever again.

Come on, let's keep this a "passive-aggressive stuff upset moms say when you critique their potato salad" free zone. It's my opinion dont agree? Let's discuss

@Arkandel God damn. That's bleak as fuck. Here's why it's bullshit, though.

The viewer's perspectives about the qualities of the efforts and actions of the Original Trilogy war against the empire are god-level perspective. They know the writers, sometimes the script, the actors, the backend drama, and can draw a line of consequence between a movie made in 1978 to a movie made in 2019 and go "SEE? ALL FOR NOTHING, THIS IS BULLSHIT. IF THEY DEFEATED THE EMPIRE ONLY FOR THE FIRST ORDER TO ARRIVE 35 YEARS LATER THEN THIS RUINS THE POINT OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY."

Which is kinda ridiculous. Characters dont know the downstream results of their actions 35 years in the future and think "wow, these actions are not going to be relevant 35 years from now, so I guess I should rethink what I'm doing". Imagine the angry Greeks when it was written that Odysseus was a villain figure in the Iliad, but was the hero of the Odyssey. Surely Odysseus never should have been involved in the attack on Troy knowing he was a hero, right?

Some people that the point of these stories isnt to validate the perspective of the viewer at every single point where any 2 viewers may disagree on a design decision. What you want doesn't mean it's what the character wants, and in most cases theres 450 different wants across the next 450 facebook comments.

This is called fanbase entitlement. It's toxic and robs viewers of that which they claim to love.

If people want to tag their childhood as something that JJ Abrams can "rob" them of in 2019, then maybe they should revisit what defined their childhood and/or the level of importance this stuff has on their perspective of it.

Man, that would be bad if 4chan and/or that Canadian hotline were aware of MUs that allow depicted/simulated molestation of children.

Totally bad.

Got a friend in the hospital in isolation. Looks like he will be there through xmas. If people have any extra prayers or incense or good chi to throw onto the dish feel free to point them towards Arizona.

@Sockmonkey said in Good or New Movies Review:

Everyone who doesn't put The Last Jedi at the top/near top of their ranking lists is wrong.

You can't fight universal truth so don't bother trying.

The second half of that movie is some of the best Star Wars on screen to date.

My order (Best to Last):
Rogue One
Empire
New Hope
RISE OF SKYWALKER
ReturnJedi
Solo
Force Awakens
The Last Jedi
Sith
AttackClones
Phantom

New Hope bumped over Rise before posting because the music and imagery are burned into my heart. I always feel great when I hear that throne room finale number.

Edited because I thought you said Rise near the top. I think TLJ was decent, but failed to recognize what made the original trilogy cast work. I liked that it set up the Rey/Ben stuff, but largely TLJ broke the family up into 3-4 separate side stories rather than keep the family together. In fact (not a spoiler) but I didn't really feel like the new family (Poe, finn, Rey, etc) felt like much of a family until this most recent movie.