ThunderPeel2001

Hurrah!

Ha. We've all had this conversation before, or at least some of us have. http://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4365&page=41#1012 It seems a popular book, but I found it difficult to read (see link for reasons why).

Haha. This conversation is hilarious. I wonder who the UK's current most successful director is? Oh, yeah. Christopher Nolan! (Ha! I didn't actually know the answer to that question when I first started typing it, then I remembered.) I thought as soon as Jeremy Irons appeared I lost all in interest in the story and the characters. He was nowhere near as interesting as Hans Gruber for a start, and the story/other characters just lost me after that. But the first 40 mins is really cool In other news: I saw Cedar Rapids and really enjoyed it. A very sweet little movie (in the literal sense, i.e. "charming") that doesn't rely on gross out humour. Kind of reminded me of the theatrical cut of the 40 Year Old Virgin in that way. Not side-splitting, but still a really enjoyable way to spend the time. Recommended.

I think that was its kind of "beat" stylings (Burroughs, etc.), but I don't remember having those problems, to be honest. Although the book definitely dumps you into the middle of stuff with little or no explanation, I can only assume it was a very stylistic choice. (I remember wondering what the fuck a SimStim was when I read it at 18.) If anything I've always been disappointed by the lack of urgency (and maybe lack of style) in Gibson's other work. Also, I think he was well aware of his failings with characterisation, and so worked hard in other books to make them more "realistic", but I've always felt they just became bland when he tried to do that. For all its flaws, there's a stunning energy running through Neuromancer that I loved, it can be a great world to visit. As for sequels, I've never read any of the direct Sprawl continuations (different characters, same world) but I asked about them here: http://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6413&page=17#410 Which is the most relevant part of a Neuromancer discussion which started here: http://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6413&page=16#387 The Sprawl short story Burning Chrome is fantastic.

No Die Hard 2? Die Hard 1 is superb, though. Way better than any of the sequels (although the first 40 mins of Die Hard With A Vengeance is pretty good -- and Die Hard 2 tries desperately to ape Die Hard 1).

Maybe we could give people a window to delete any tags they don't want repercussions from? Also, I've given this some thought, and I don't necessarily think it would spread ill will? I think this thread has shown that even the hurtful stuff was not intended to hurt, it was just ill-judged.

Didn't see that coming. Would it really spread ill will to see the authors of given tags? Surely no more than there is already... Or maybe it would? I don't know. Can't you delete all existing tags, enable the accountability-o-tron, and then re-enable the tags again?

Excellent. This would be my preference, too.

Lol. Whatever happened about all that, anyway? Was any real damage done?

Moderately amusing. sZ9VevQS3Ak

You don't have that reputation here, AFAIC. But if every thread you posted in started having "internet asshole" added to it, whether you were being an asshole or not, it might wear you down. It doesn't matter if the people posting them think it's funny. [thunderrant on] What we're talking about here is bullying, plain and simple. There's plenty of recent examples of sniping comments aimed at individuals, but let's take the one I used at the beginning of this thread, as it's recent and doesn't involve Tanu. Also I can talk about it without fear of putting words into other people's mouths, because it was aimed at a debate I was involved in. While you're in the middle of a debate in a forum, it can be a very stressful and unpleasant thing. On the one hand you're trying to get your point across in a fair way, on the other you're trying not to upset the rest of the forum as you derail a thread. And all the way through it you have no idea if it's going to escalate into personal insults. Soon enough it becomes the first thing you think of when you visit the forums, and during a particularly heated debate it can play on your mind while you're away from the site. You're both doing your best to remain civil, and you hope it's going to end well, but at the time it's stressful and unpleasant. "What do you see?" "I see a bitch". Ouch! However that comment was intended, it's only likely to rile the participants. It's also possible that it will escalate the argument, turn the atmosphere more sour, and derail the thread further. Not to mention just plain insult members of the community in a very cowardly manner. How is this a good thing? A community's opinion of its members is one of ways that helps keep behaviour in check. This is why YouTube, BBC comments and the IMDb are so notorious for their rude comments and horrible atmosphere. It's also why it's possibly to exert so much pressure on arguably disruptive members like Tanu. (Try doing that on IMDb or YouTube!) When a community starts exerting pressure in an anonymous way, it takes a step backwards towards these notorious sites. There's no accountability, so you can be as rude as you like, and no-one can ever be taken to task. The person's behaviour whom the community seeks to "correct" is likely to become more defensive, and so ultimately damage the community atmosphere further. Conversations with Tanu calmly asking him to change how he behaves are worth a million times more than a "tanu doesn't get it" thread tag. It's a shame because I was a huge fan of thread tags. They allowed for some wonderfully meta comedy (check this thread's tags for some great examples). But as soon as it becomes personal. As soon as it's at the expense of someone else, then it's ultimately a destructive force in the community. I would like to see either of two things happen: 1. Tags become accountable in some way (e.g. hold the mouse over them and the author's name pops up) or 2. They're removed altogether.

I moved all my PC games into a big CD/DVD storage case years ago. http://www.amazon.com/Case-Logic-BKB-128-binder/dp/B000OTIUQS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1304981766&sr=1-4 Some Blurays are processed badly. Just like some DVDs were. It's got nothing to do with the medium, and no medium is immune to it. Thanks to backlashes spearheaded by sites like The Digital Bits, bad mastering tends to get fixed quickly, and stupid trends like Edge Enhancement and DNR get bad publicity. If they were stored on USB sticks, they'd still be over-processed by idiots in Hollywood. Also, Streamed HD picture/audio quality does not equal Bluray HD quality, sadly. If it did, I'd be all for it. Until it does, give me discs, and the mild inconvenience of looking for them.

Well do sites really need beautifully scaled vector graphics? I'd say no, personally. The fact that Flash content isn't SEO-able, is a massive pain in the ass to update/re-design, and doesn't work well on mobile devices are huge reasons why HTML/CSS mixed with libraries like JQuery, Prototype, script.aculo.us, etc., are way more desirable than Flash. Not to mention all the funky AJAX stuff that's become so popular. Add that to the fact that Apple are refusing to support Flash, and there's little or no reason for it to exist online anymore (outside of video players and movie and game advertising sites that are designed to die after a few months anyway). Thank god. Wow, that's news to me. Like Toblix said, I guess it's more about people using it where it's better suited. That video he linked to really shows how far it's come (although they've added a lot to the basic functionality). Flash not horrendous and inefficient? The last time I tried Flash was the MX version. It had the worst and most unintuitive interface I'd ever seen, and I refused to persevere on principle. It was far too painful. The idea that it's gotten better does intrigue me, although I'd never use it for a website that was planning to be around for a while.

While the rest of the world is moving away from Flash... games are starting to use it? Seems weird. Are you sure it's actually Flash? It'd strike me as an odd choice.

Hmm. Well a BD50 Bluray costs about $2 to manufacture. Seems like a colossal waste of time, money and resources to change that to a USB stick for the benefit of...? (I know you're not saying we should, it's just what strikes me when I hear the price.)

That looks sweet. Almost like Uplink in a mini-game!

Did we reach a conclusion? I flagged the mod for some mod feedback, but I think they've forgotten about us.

Where did you get all that text about his profile?

Not for movies, though. Unless they're about to bring out a 50GB memory stick. I don't want a step backwards in terms of picture/audio quality.

I just listened to it instead. He's pretty nutty, I'm quite disappointed.

Lol. Well I was an early adopter of the 360 and I haven't regretted it. Although I will when it RRoDs on me again. So 3D gamers: Is 3D still awesome? Does it add anything to the games? Will it stay with us, or is it just a gimmick that we'll forget about in a few years?

Wow. For some reason I didn't think the 360 could handle multiply disced games. Not sure why I thought that.

Haha. I remember that. So many great quotes.

My goddamn birthday!