simonster

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    15
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About simonster

  • Rank
    Member
  • Birthday 12/02/1989

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Sweden (08-området)
  • Interests
    You know... stuff.

Converted

  • Biography
    Born and still kickin'
  • Location
    Sweden (08-området)
  • Interests
    You know... stuff.
  • Occupation
    Work
  • Favorite Games
    Ticket to Ride, Half-life 2, Tetris, Dota 2
  1. Diamond Mine by King Creosote & Jon Hopkins is my favorite album of the last ten years. Also the Twin Peaks theme song.
  2. So you didn't really seem all too interested in discussing the term "lynchian" and what the term means and I get why and I generally agree with you. But I watched the David Lynch: The Art Life documentary and in it David Lynch tells a story that I thought felt very "lynchian". I didn't find a video for this exact story. David Lynch grew up in a very small place. His entire view of the world stretched from his friend's house up the road to another friend's house on the other end. It was a very small and cozy suburb environment. One evening David and his older brother were out playing. Their father would usually come out and yell for them to get home and get ready for bed. But on this day for some reason he hadn't done so yet and night was setting in. From out of the darkness came a naked lady. A very pretty figure stripped of all clothes to hide her body. She was bleeding from her face as she walked towards David and his brother, down this small road in middle-class america. The two brother's, too young to know what to do started to scream. David Lynch said he often thinks about this strange woman and cannot remember what happened afterwards. But this is what "lynchian" means to me. When something strange or absurd crosses paths with our predictable and safe mundane life. The more well-known example for "lynchian" which I got taught in film class is the ear on the lawn from blue velvet. But as I think about "lynchian" I'm also reminded of how David Lynch's first feature film Eraserhead is the reverse of this. Eraserhead is one of the most uncomfortable films I've ever seen because of the inept parenting skills and general fear that the lead character has for his own baby. Here absurd doesn't cross paths with the mundane it's the absurd that has the spotlight and as we spend time in it we get used to it and can see the mundanity beneath. Fears of adult life and fatherhood takes a strange form but at it's core it's a very relate-able story. I'm sorry if I'm rambling on the topic of a overused term but I wanted to share the story of the young David Lynch and the naked lady with a bloodied face.
  3. Blade Runner 2049

    I've hated this movie since it was announced, it might be a bit premature and childish but I'm just not confident enough in the director or Hollywood to make a new blade runner movie worthy of it's predecessor. I've seen some of Villeneuve's films (Arrival, Prisoners and Sicario) and I haven't liked any of them. There has always been something in each of them that turned me off. In Arrival it was the pessimistic view on how people would react as aliens came to visit our world. In Prisoners it was the way that characters were justified for acting like shit as long as they showed results. In Sicario it was the headshots. Now I might be overreacting in my dislike of his movies because I didn't like the idea of a new Blade Runner movie or because all the love and hype around him on Twitter and Reddit just made me raise an eyebrow and think - "Is this guy really the one we should be cheer this loudly for?". I watched a side by side comparison someone put together where they matched the trailer with photos from the original film. And what I saw was the difference in what I would call dirty lived in sets. The first movie seemed to have a lot more dust and soot everywhere and you could see the thick smoke-filled air. It's a suffocating atmosphere. In this new movie the sets seem to be a lot more spare and minimalist. Something that's a lot more common in contemporary science fiction movies. Besides that I don't really feel I have anything else to go to at the moment. How someone acts in a trailer doesn't really tell me much as it's taken out of context and "plot is highly overrated anyways".
  4. Idle Thumbs Streams

    This also feels like something Sean Vanaman would play. And as they spoke (I'm sorry if I'm going onto the Idle Thumbs forums to referense a Giant Bomb podcast conversation) about a two-player Firewatch Battle Royale game I was reminded of that Day-Z stream with Sean and Olly Moss.
  5. The films of Ingmar Bergman

    I feel bad because of how few Bergman movies I've seen. Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries might be the only ones I've seen, and Seventh Seal I saw only because it was shown to me in film class. Maybe this is the time for me to dive into his katalog. Also, I started following you on Letterboxd. Hope you won't mind.
  6. Believer with Reza Aslan

    So I tried to watch the first episode of Reza Aslan's new series Believer. It is a documentary series with Reza Aslan as the presenter investigating different religions and religious practicing. For example in the first episode he went to India to look into the Hindu cast system and see how the lowest cast (the untouchables) are treated. My feelings towards Reza Aslan are positive and I find him interesting. He will appear from time to time in YouTube clips (maybe his most viewed youtube appearance?). He will also show up on things I watch like Real Time with Bill Maher on occasion. He also did a great interview with Marc Maron recently. I'm not an american so I don't know if he's a well known figure in american media or not, he seems to be the go to guy for religion. So I like Reza Aslan as a guest, but - my god - he's super serious in the show's voice over segments. To the point that I had to turn off the program and switch to something else to watch. I get that it's a serious topic and he might not be in the happiest emotional state as he's boating down a river polluted by corpses and talking to people who's been cast out from society because of what cast system they were born into (and this might be my answer right here). But I get the feeling that he's trying a little to hard to make his voice over match the serious and dire situation of these people, and when he can't pull that off it comes out as forced and a little fake. If anyone else has watched the show I want to know if it gets better. I might actually just have to push on through to see for myself because I like the subject matter and I like Reza Aslan's take on religion.
  7. I'm sorry, but I think the ability to remember things from our own life came before books introduced non-linear storytelling. ...actually.
  8. Movie/TV recommendations

    The plot of Passengers - from what I've heard - reminds me of the "because of the implication"-joke from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
  9. The Dancing Thumb (aka: music recommendations)

    There are four new Gorillaz tracks out for people to listen to. I liked Gorillaz around the demon days release and would listen to that album on repeat while playing some WC3-mods. Since those days I have listened to some of the tracks and I liked Melancholy Hill but I didn't really go any deeper into any of the other songs. But now I've got a taste for some new Gorillaz music! I listened to the four new tracks and I didn't like them all that much. The song featuring rapper(? I don't know if he calls himself a rapper and I'm to lazy to google it. I've heard some of his music and they don't seem to be very hip hop, rapper-ey) D.R.A.M. called Andromeda was the one I liked the best, but maybe not enough to recommended it to anyone. I should also add that I don't really know what the deal is with these songs, maybe no-one does. They seem short and maybe they are missing some parts or something. Maybe they aren't even songs from the album. But on the other hand maybe these are the singles in the old "these are the best songs off of the album to sell you on how awesome it is going to be"-sense of the term music singles. If the latter is the case then I'm not very impressed.
  10. Books, books, books...

    Him learning stuff instead of having already learned everything with his parents traveling theater group seems like a positive though.
  11. Movie/TV recommendations

    I want to recommend the 2005 (drama, mystery, thriller [source: IMDB]) french film Caché by Michael Haneke. If you don't know it the basic plot is a family starts getting video tapes showing their front door sent to them. With the tapes are child drawings of a person bleeding from the mouth. As they get sent more tapes the tension gets higher and paranoia sets in. It's one of those films you've probably seen on some "must see" movie lists, if you are the type of person who likes looking at those. Also it's on of those films that keeps growing on me. I liked it as I was watching it but afterwards the themes of the film has stuck in my head and I haven't been able to shake it yet. It's not a feel good film but I think it's an interesting, topical and necessary (maybe I don't know) film and I really can't recommend it highly enough. This might also bring me to go though Haneke's other stuff and see what else he has done. PS: It stars Juliette Binoche maybe that will win you over =)
  12. I haven't written in to any [email protected] but I might as well say my piece here and then go to sleep. One criteria for whether or not I would remove a subscription to a podcast was if they would diverge from the subject in a measured (I'm Swedish) way - and usually if they would use this time to mention books that would be a huge star in the corner of the homework assignment. This made me stick with Idle Thumbs and so when you decide to - after (for me) 125 [.math 300-125=175] episodes enjoyed - switch over to another format, one of more of other than #subject, ... nah just kidding. This is something I embrace continue casting pods*. I will listen when times comes around and I will probably enjoy them because you are a group of people who often share the same views as I on things surrounding us and I like you. *not to hard, they are heavy.
  13. The Dancing Thumb (aka: music recommendations)

    I liked the Neil Cicierega album(?[suddenly I felt out of touch]) and I listened to it this past weekend as I was dancing around cleaning up the place and washing the dishes. But it also made me go back to another mashup project from Girl Talk, all day which I really liked. Don't think I have anything else to contribute except a link to a free download of All Day on Girl Talk's website and to embed the first chapter from the film based on Girl Talk's mashup album named Girl Walk // All Day. Link: http://illegal-art.net/allday/ Video:
  14. Idle Thumbs Streams

    Hi, when will the episode 300 podcast go live on twitch?