The "whatever's on your mind" thread

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  • edited November 2010
    The community happened.
  • edited November 2010
    @RatherDashing
    I didn't say that there don't exist good movies and games but they are definately in a more than noticeable minority. When thinking of movies it sometimes really makes you wonder how they were able to get the funding at all. As for games, especially games which try to tell a story, the best many can offer are stereotypes plus maybe two own mostly weak ideas. This can make you kind of sad, thinking of some of the untouched treasures. I don't believe into the a good book can't be a good movie thesis, same aplies for games. You just have to make it right.
  • edited November 2010
    taumel wrote: »
    @RatherDashing
    I didn't say that there don't exist good movies and games but they are definately in a more than noticeable minority. When thinking of movies it sometimes really makes you wonder how they were able to get the funding at all.
    This is how. Or this.

    As for games, especially games which try to tell a story, the best many can offer are stereotypes plus maybe two own mostly weak ideas. This can make you kind of sad, thinking of some of the untouched treasures. I don't believe into the a good book can't be a good movie thesis, same aplies for games. You just have to make it right.
    "Making it right" entails entirely redoing the way the story is told. As a very minor example, this is why Sherlock Holmes is known for a deerstalker hat and smoking a curved pipe, despite having nothing even remotely similar to these things in the actual Arther Conan Doyle stories. These elements were best for the stage, providing a strong silhouette and not blocking the actor's face. Though these things did not actually matter as much for film, these characteristics carried over to most film adaptations before Robert Downey Jr's portrayal of the titular character in 2009's "Sherlock Holmes". It is also why, when Superman leapt from comics and radio to animated Fleischer serials, he...stopped leaping. Superman used to travel by "leap[ing] tall buildings in a single bound!", but the power of flight worked far better in terms of producing something to be shown as a single, flowing action as opposed to being described or shown in sequential art.

    These are, perhaps, a weak couple of examples, but an example of how even minor elements must be dramatically altered to change the way stories are even shown, let alone narrative impossibilities in film(or things that come off to be at least somewhat cheap if dropped directly into film). Considering the massive amount of creative work that needs to go into changing another work to properly adapt it into a good film, there is very little benefit(if any at all, and if it's not a DETRIMENT) to adapting a story as opposed to creating a new one.
  • edited November 2010
    Oh i'm quite aware why such movies sell, i was more thinking in terms of movies like *googling* this one for instance: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405412/ or if it would hurt Emmerich's movies if they would offer interesting characters or a story for instance as well.

    I think doing it right depends on the specific case. I wouldn't say that a 1:1 copy is always needed, but you need to succeed to get the what the book is all about properly transported from one media to another one.

    As you named Superman, i think Watchmen - the long version - did a pretty good job in this respect.

    When looking at quite some movies i think it definately would be worth the effort, definately.
  • edited November 2010
    I'm dining on a huge Thanksgiving dinner! WOO! I've got more food on my plate than my stomach can possibly handle! Ahahaha! Woohoohoo! Ehehe! I'd like to take this time to thank everyone btw. Thank you, you wonderful people. For not having a meal as good as mine. Ahahahahaha.

    o88h95.gif

    19 pound turkey for three people. Beat that.
  • edited November 2010
    I am happy. I love my family, I seriously do.
  • edited November 2010
    Awww man, nowhere in the UK seems to sell sarsaparilla, not even the American soda importers. Boooooo.

    Also, I just spent an hour making a somewhat disturbing Fallout: New Vegas storybook. I'm easily amused. And I don't like Caesar's Legion.
  • edited November 2010
    taumel wrote: »
    I think doing it right depends on the specific case. I wouldn't say that a 1:1 copy is always needed, but you need to succeed to get the what the book is all about properly transported from one media to another one.
    You don't understand, a 1:1 copy is detrimental to any adaptation. If something is 1:1 exactly the same, it is almost always terrible(for a counter-argument against this, see The Maxx animated series, which is lifted damn near directly from the Image Comic and does so simply amazingly).

    I'm saying that doing adaptations WON'T HELP. It can't. It just poses enough challenges that the chances of making something good can literally be worsened by attempting to adapt a classic story in a new medium. If you can make a great adaptation, it's because you're so good at deconstructing and adapting elements of a story that you might as well be making something great, because you understand how to excellently tell a narrative in your own medium and are even able to at the very least analyze the great elements in another. The last thing any creative industry right now needs is old creative skeletons dragged out subjected to the rigors of adaptation.

    You brought up Watchmen, and I must say that it's a great example of what I'm talking about.

    Watchmen is unadaptable.

    Seriously. See that? The DVD on your shelf of a long-form film featuring Watchmen characters? What you have there is a completely different product, from a narrative standpoint. Not a bad product, not a bad supplement to the original comic, but it's not the original comic in film form. That's impossible. Watchmen the comic did things that only sequential art can do. It told a story in a way that only sequential art can pull off. The film is dramatically different, not bad, but not the same, and it's not bad BECAUSE it's not the same. Because the comic, as it was, ported directly to screen, would not work as a film. You had to fundamentally alter the way it was told before it could be shown on the big screen.
  • edited November 2010
    Roy Williams what a punk!
  • edited November 2010
    Watchmen is unadaptable.

    I could adapt it into an airplane.
  • edited November 2010
    GaryCXJk wrote: »
    I could adapt it into an airplane.

    A paper airplane?

    *Thinks* Hmmmmmm...
  • edited November 2010
    Have a very happy Thanksgiving, everyone! :)
  • edited November 2010
    19 pound turkey for three people. Beat that.

    Can't. Mine was only 13 pound. It was still a pretty good turkey though.
  • edited November 2010
    Apparently my sister and her boyfriend's family topped it. They had a 20-something pound turkey. God, we have so damn much turkey left...
  • edited November 2010
    Apparently my sister and her boyfriend's family topped it. They had a 20-something pound turkey. God, we have so damn much turkey left...

    Turkey sandwiches, turkey cassarole, turkey soup, turkey pasta, turkey gelato.... Ah yes, all the joys of meals after Thanksgiving. :D
  • edited November 2010
    Jen Kollic wrote: »
    Awww man, nowhere in the UK seems to sell sarsaparilla, not even the American soda importers. Boooooo.

    You should try asian supermarkets! Growing up and goin to Taiwan, we used to have this all the time. It's slightly different than western sarsaparilla, but it's generally the same.

    On another note, this was fantastic too :0.
  • edited November 2010
    @Rather Dashing
    As i wrote already, i don't see this in such a strict way and would decide it on a case by case basis how it's done best. I'm to 100% sure that you could come up with some great never seen movies which at least have the potential to convince on the aspects the books were good about, if done right.

    Reinventing new wheels which are worse than the older ones doesn't make a lot of sense beside of practicing which obviously is very important but there are times for practicing and times for doing something right.

    I read the Watchmen comics many years ago, i reread them before the film started and watched the movie twice (the short and the long version). In my opinion the long version did a very good job and i didn't miss something major from the comics, so very well done and they made an interesting film from a very good comic. Most probably a lot better than what you could have expected from a normal film which tries to come up with its own stuff.
  • edited November 2010
    Alert geek rant!

    Wow just came out with the Shattering 4.0.3 patch, the entire world is completely changed, and I can't wait till I get home to continue taming some beasts on my hunter. :)
    Or should I carry on levelling my new Troll Druid?
    The choices. :)
  • edited November 2010
    I regret buying Sam & Max season 3 two days ago when it's half off now :D

    Just found out about that sale so yeah... that's what I have on my mind at the moment :p
  • edited November 2010
    Yep...today is black friday...and I'm looking forward to work but not really.....
  • edited November 2010
    I bought Rush's 'Vapor Trails' today, and am currently listening through it now. What a great album! I'm getting that same unique, awesome sensation that I felt when I listened to 'Snakes and Arrows' for the very first time. Despite the distinct differences between the styles of each album, I'm still getting that same feeling that comes from Rush's music. I love this band :)!
  • edited November 2010
    I survived Black Friday! At Walmart! Twice! I picked up eight movies for $28 at midnight and an external hard drive at 5 am. I also went with a friend to get some stuff at Target. Now I'm waiting an hour for Office Max to open and I'm going to go back out to there (for a keyboard for a gift) and to Michael's (for poster frames for my Devil's Playhouse set).

    Edit: That was easy. Finished all my shopping before 8 am. I'ma go have a nap...or a coma...
  • edited November 2010
    Just found out I have a presentation Wednesday after next.....what.

    Hayden wrote: »
    I bought Rush's 'Vapor Trails' today, and am currently listening through it now. What a great album! I'm getting that same unique, awesome sensation that I felt when I listened to 'Snakes and Arrows' for the very first time. Despite the distinct differences between the styles of each album, I'm still getting that same feeling that comes from Rush's music. I love this band :)!

    Vapor Trails is probably my favorite Rush album. enjoy. XD
  • edited November 2010
    Man, I really want to buy Take That's The Flood, but my brother thinks it's a waste of money, since I'll be getting the album Progress on Christmas anyway.
  • edited November 2010
    It was snowing earlier! Woo! Unfortunately, it was only barely doing so: the end result was like someone had been very very stingy with some flour, but, if it wasn't for the huge amount we had in January, that would still have been noteworthy!

    I hope it doesn't snow at the weekend though. I'm a new driver, and I start my job on sunday, so I'm more likely to crash, and if i get snowed in, it doesn't look good...
  • edited November 2010
    You know, I've been wondering something about Poker Night. At some point SB is talking about Poker Night at Homestar, and how Marzipan is always walking around "au-natural" trying to get-yeah whatever.

    Au-natural? As in, au naturel? As in, you know, in the nude?

    If so, do want.
  • edited November 2010
    GaryCXJk wrote: »
    Au-natural? As in, au naturel? As in, you know, in the nude?

    If so, do want.

    O_O What's wrong wit choo?
  • edited November 2010
    I was creeped out. Ugh, what DOES she look like under that thing? It must be pretty disgusting whatever it is.
  • edited November 2010
    This is the first time I've ever heard of it....

    What is Black Friday?

    EDIT: OK I know now. Ringmaster told me what it is.
  • edited November 2010
    I was creeped out. Ugh, what DOES she look like under that thing? It must be pretty disgusting whatever it is.

    Tentacles as far as the eye can see. Good luck sleeping!
  • edited November 2010
    Rule 34: where is your god now?
  • edited November 2010
    Weird, I always pictured the King of Town as being the series' eldritch abomination under his robe. It's the only logical explanation for why he hasn't died from everything he's eaten.
  • edited November 2010
    Lol It turns out tbc and the penny arcade men must have been rivals in the past since strong bad and tycho had an argument about who had the better website.
  • edited November 2010
    Well, whatever it is that Marzipan hides under her dress, it's good enough to make SB puke in his pants.
  • edited November 2010
    Woot, got my license to maim :D

    ...that gave me an idea for some fanart.
  • edited November 2010
    So, I literally just finished Assassin's Creed II.
    What. The. Fuck?

    Definitely buying Brotherhood. Probably next month.
  • edited November 2010
    Gettin' ready for a belated turkey day. I'm cookin' the birds.
  • edited November 2010
    I got all of the buy-ins on Poker Night.

    I now have a license to maim, a luger, a pair of cool glasses, a minigun, and a Pac-Man watch!

    So far, Gabe has only tried to kill me once today.
  • edited November 2010
    Found the portrait pack of pastels and carbon of my sister. Working with those things in the morning.
  • VainamoinenVainamoinen Moderator
    edited November 2010
    I envy GinnyN's incredible art output and motivation. If only I had that.
This discussion has been closed.