ThunderPeel2001

Looks pretty useful! In a similar vein: A lot of famous writers swear they're only productive because of this: http://macfreedom.com/ Still, can't anyone bring to mind the little things that enhance their life?

Your input was the best.

Stir up an argument and get all pissy when people call you on it. Hmm. What would your caricature look like, I wonder?

Goddamn tropical islands with their idyllic weather!

:-/ This thread was intended for things you actually use, and improve your life, not just random links on self-help

I'm confused. So because you didn't read it as combative, I was wrong to? I'm not saying it was the rudest thing in the world. It wasn't. Not even slightly. But it was a teeny bit rude. So I made a half-jokey reply instead of answering the question. It was nothing. What's the problem here, exactly?

I hope you don't include me in that. Talk about putting words into people's mouths: "You think The Hobbit is an extremely childish book, so you understand why they added more plot and characters to the movie, therefore you hate all books aimed at children." What?

So none of the people here who dislike the boxart are going to buy the game then? :-/

Yes, it's not like it'd be a dickish thing to stir up an argument which had just peacefully resolved itself ¬¬ PS - Just because I said something confusing doesn't mean I deserve a response like "WTF does that even mean?". There's no harm in politely asking for clarification. (As an aside: I love this weird idea that if you make a mistake you deserve to be verbally abused. Care to explain that to me?)

Wow, you really want this! Ok, you can tell me on Thursday. I've just entered the competition myself. I went with one of my contributions above... but I won't tell you which one! Can you enter as many times as you like?

Butler: Good advice, sir! Perhaps a little too "change your life" from what I meant this thread to be, but appreciated non-the-less. (I've been thinking about meditation for a while -- it's tricky as my brain doesn't want to be shut off.) YES! The wake-up lights work wonders. Or at least they did for me. I haven't had SAD since I bought it five years ago. Woot! Same goes for the Sleep Alarm app. I never wake up feeling groggy any more. Very nice indeed.

But... you've already submitted it?

Not going to share it?

Restoration of "William S. Burroughs: The Movie" By: Aaron Brookner Type: Movie about: The first ever, long lost, and possibly most revealing documentary about Burroughs Why You Should Care: This "restoration" will make the movie about Burroughs, made by one of his friends, and featuring people like Allen Ginsberg and other contemporaries, available to the public for the first time in decades. If you're a fan, this could be great. Link: http://kck.st/QMTJqj

"I'm Marty McFly, time-traveller, and when I'm in 2015, I like to get about town on a little girl's hover board."

Hooray for pencils! (Also for subbes and her interview. Good luck!)

I know what you meant, you were just pretty rude :-p I just meant that there's hardly any story. It really is a kids book. Some of the content is almost one step above Spot the Dog (e.g. the Dwarves in the beginning). Ok, that's a bit harsh, but it's close. No, I wasn't very clear.

Interesting! FYI: Every sitcom does a read-through (aka table-read) with all the cast present, but that's very different from recording it. That's just when the cast goes through the script together. It's largely so the the writers can gauge what's working and what's not, and so the Network can give notes. Here's a Community read-through:

Ah, the traditional Charles Dickens Giant Christmas Squid...

This doesn't quite work, because I actually DO like where this thread is going, but what the hell...

Yep, actors record their lines separately. It's very unusual for VO actors to work together on the same day. I guess, as Mike points out, scheduling is part of it, but even for TV shows -- like The Simpsons -- where the actors are available all the time, I'm pretty sure they still do it separately. Anyone know for sure?

That's the thing in movie poster land: There are no "small" clients! There's no "Ma and Pa's Movie Distribution". It's not like a local business wants to release a movie to theaters, but they've never done it before, and this is the only one they'll release for years. Even the small companies are big. And, of course, that's what they do all day every day. (I know of one example, in my ten years, of a completely independently made and distributed movie (no, not Red State) and it was made by this rich girl... and it was horrible. I didn't work on it, but my friend told me it was the worst film he'd ever seen. Really the worst. I think he even tried to tell the client not to release at the cinema -- but they did any way. It was their money, after all. Doubt they saw a profit!) You're judging it as ART. It's not art. It's advertising. It doesn't have to be original, and (as it turns out) it's better if it's not: It's important that the viewer gets an idea of what genre a film is just by looking at it. Is it a drama? Is it a horror movie? Is it a comedy? If you took a posters from a given genre, and put them together by adjacent years, you'd see the evolution of commonly used trends. The further you went back, the more dated it would look (obviously). This is language that the audience understands, and if you want an audience to give you money, it's important you speak their language. I'm not arguing that I wouldn't like to see more creative movie posters (I dearly would, and that's one of the reasons why I decided to move away from them into web development -- it's not going to change any time soon, and I found it very frustrating), but I do understand why clients do what they do. And no, it's not because anyone involved is "retarded" (seriously?). It's a business decision, plain and simple: Spend longer developing something the audience has never seen before -- at a huge risk that Joe Punter and his girlfriend will go, "WTF is that? Let's go see Transformers instead." Or use language you know the audience will understand. Except in very rare circumstances, you'd be very reckless to even try doing something different. Look at it this way: Only an idiot wouldn't see a movie because the poster had flaming debris on it. But it's very possible that an average person wouldn't see a movie that had a confusing advertising, even if it was artistic. It's a shame, but it's true. For example: Which of these is more artistic, more original, less derivative? And which of these is more likely to help the film make money? I wish posters were more interesting and different, but I understand the realities of the movie (and gaming) business.

I've worked in movie poster land for 10 years. I've also worked in web land. They're quite different. In movie poster land, everyone has an opinion -- just like everyone in this thread. In web land, clients can be more forgiving because it's more complicated. No movie distribution company would spend tens of thousands of (insert your currency here) plastering a poster in every city in the country (in addition to the cost of designing it) just because the designer said "This is rad and totally now". They promote movies all day, every day, and know just as much about trends as designers do. Trying to break the mould and say something that is not only understood by the audience (e.g. "action movie!"), and is current (e.g. "that looks cool!"), but at the same time is completely different is very difficult -- and therefore very risky. So why should they do it? As annoying as client's decisions are sometimes, I do understand them. A movie poster is advertising. It's not there for some designer to self-indulgently wank over and call "art". Just like, as I'm sure you know, only bad web designers try to reinvent the wheel instead of using established design patterns that the user will intuitively understand. That doesn't mean clients don't make stupid decisions, of course. The number of times I've been frustrated by one, but believe me: They sign off on things to the tiniest detail. It's the client. It's ALWAYS the client. (Sorry to go off on one, but this just happens to be my field.)

"I'm Marty McFly, and I hope the fact that I've a got a big pink thing in my hands doesn't make you think gay thoughts or anything."