ThunderPeel2001

Now I can't help but think that Double Fine's latest video is a little friendly jibe towards Pinkerton Road's videos.

Dude, you're totally reading into this what you want to read into this. You claimed that this example was especially "glaring", but it's something you've decided upon. You can't get fussy and then say, "who has their phone connected for anyone to use", either. The whole idea is patently ludicrous. 99% of the those cameras would be showing close-ups of pocket lint or ceilings. I mean, how often on a daily basis do you hold your phone up to face level when you're not taking a photo? Nevermind the fact that mobile phone video quality is pretty turd, generally speaking. But that's all nothing to the biggest absurdity of all: The idea that everyone's phone could be streaming video over 3G(!). Considering that this was your "one problem" with the film, I'd have thought you'd be happy to have it explained away. They're relevant because you explicitly stated that the film used the threat as an excuse for the government to expand its power. Why would a writer who totally agrees with you, put something like that in his film and not have any negative repercussions? It doesn't make sense. Finally, it's unarguably unclear. If you've decided that everyone in that universe has "government mandated backdoors" in their phones, it's something you've decided upon. It wasn't the filmmakers saying, "this is totally cool because the threat justifies it".

How do you sleep at night with space invaders attacking you?

Me too. I tend to be able to give things a pass if I've enjoyed it enough.

That Mario one is GENIUS. One of my favourite YouTube videos.

Lol. I knew someone would come back with that, but you can't complain about SHIELD using people's devices if you're the one who's construing that they're hacking them(!). Given Whedon's politics, I sincerely doubt we're supposed to think that nobody cared about the government hacking into people's private lives.

I know one thing: The I Ching is Chinese, and not really part of the Japanese culture. Besides that I found the book to be quite dull, and I eventually gave up. I should really give it another go. Interesting trivia: Dick used the I Ching to decide what was going to happen next to each of the characters.

I think you missed an important word: SHIELD makes use of every AVAILABLE webcam, camera, eagle cam, whatever, on the planet. It doesn't hack into anything. It just uses what's already free and accessible. In The Dark Knight, it was everyone's cell phone, whether they like it or not. A subtle, but important, difference. Especially if that's your central complaint!

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I don't know how deep to go into this, but I would be cautious of a part of you that feels your inability to appreciate things is "maturity". That may just be me, but it's not like Firefly was aimed at teenagers. The theme of Serenity is something only an adult can appreciate. Also, I don't think there's a human being on the planet who would argue that Whedon has never been involved with anything that's not perfect. Hell, even HE dislikes some of the things he's been involved in (just listen to the commentary on the first Dollhouse episode!). Whedon fans, even fervent ones, aren't without taste.

Sorry, I do accept and appreciate your apology. I was just referring to your explanation. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "levelled an unfair and untrue accusation". When did I do that, exactly? I would say that you did that to me when you claimed I'd assumed the worst of you, but I can't see when I did that you? Anyways, enough of this nonsense. Next time go back and look for the post you've missed :-P BTW, You wouldn't know this, but there's actually nothing really left to spoil at where you are in the series, I don't think. I'd suggest watching Fire Walk With Me once the Laura Palmer case is tied up, as it has nothing to do with what comes after, but I'm not entirely sure as to when would be the best time.

Yeah, Whedon made it work, I enjoyed the "new" Mal, too, and it didn't totally preclude the old Mal. It's just quite a difference when you watch the pilot and movie, and compare him to the rest of the series.

Uh... Objection? As I say, it wasn't that you ignored me, it was that even when I indicated I'd answered your question you still ignored me. I understand that these things happen by accident, but when someone has alerted you to that, it's a different story. You claim that I assumed the worst, but that wasn't the case. I assumed the best, but then witnessed the worst.

Well, I was replying directly to you. Taking the time to respond to someone's questions, only to have it ignored, is an annoying thing (as I'm sure you can relate to), but that's not why I was offended. I was offended because instead of saying, "Oops! Sorry I must have missed that, I'll take a look back at what you wrote to me.", you said, "I don't think I caught that". Which has the subtext: [i've taken the time to response, but I didn't take the time to go back one page and read what you wrote... because that's far too much effort].

You're probably right. I'm currently sleep deprived, which can make me "spiky". That said, I still read Miffy's statement as: "I don't think it should be revived because other people might be disappointed." The way he wrote it sounds like he speaks for other people (re-read it again, it's pretty clear). Considering I'm a member of "other people", I take a little offence at that -- I don't care if Whedon ultimately fails to meet my expectations, I want him to have the opportunity to try. It's especially annoying because Miffy says he's not a big Whedon fan. It's like me saying, "Mario was pretty fun, but I don't think Miyamoto should ever make another Mario game because other people who love Mario might be disappointed."

I've already said this in another thread, but I completed and LOVED Metal Gear Solid 3 HD. Highly recommended

It's not just nudity and swearing that you can't do on Network TV (violence is fine), it's certain stories. Fox's interference in Firefly and Dollhouse led to the following changes: Dollhouse was changed into a procedural (aka "mission of the week"). It was "sexed up" (all the female characters clothes were changed so they showed cleavage, shower scenes we added, etc.). The lighter stories were nixed, and more bombastic and dark stories were pushed forward. And any stories involving the prostitution were also nixed. (Again, not because of nudity concerns -- big because they didn't want stories about sex. Crazily hypocritical, really.) Firefly had Mal changed into more of a witty/fun guy. Originally he was a broken man from what had happened during the war (as seen in the pilot episode and the movie). Whedon wanted death to be taken seriously, and not used lightly, but the network nixed that -- so you have moments were Mal throws a henchman into the ship's engine for the sake of a comedy beat. The network wanted Zoe and Wash to have a "will they/won't they" relationship instead of being married (like every other TV show ever), but Whedon won that one. Probably a ton of other stuff I don't know about. When I met Anthony Head, one of the few things he told me was that Fox wouldn't let him make the show that he wanted to with Firefly. The final product wasn't a million miles away, thankfully, but with that show and with Dollhouse it was the same story: Whedon: "We're going to do X!". Fox: "Great! X is exactly what we want. We love it! Go for it." (cut to later) Whedon: "Here's X!". Fox: "Oh, wow. We were actually thinking you'd be making Y". Whedon: "What? We discussed this. We agreed to make X." Fox: "Yeah, but we really want Y. Change it or we don't make the show and fire everybody." Whedon: "I really hate you guys."

Jesus, man. That's pretty rude. I'm kind of surprised to hear that coming from you. Quote: "Additional problems hit the second season when the Cooper/Audrey storyline was nixed by Kyle MacLachlan, meaning that a ton of lacklustre B and C stories suddenly got promoted to major A stories." That was the only reason he was given so much screen time.

I'm not sure if you read Miffy's statement correctly? He that other people might be disappointed if Firefly returned, and used that as a reason for it not to (stating that he's not a big fan of Whedon himself). That's speaking for a lot of people. Certainly more than my statement was, which you've claimed is your problem with mine.

I don't care. I just know that that's what he WANTS to do, and quite frankly, that's a good place for an artist to start from. He's said many times he would return to it in a heartbeat, and that the losing of that show broke his heart more than anything he's ever done. The idea of not taking the opportunity to finish what he started, just on the off chance that it wasn't as good as people hoped, is a pretty silly reason not to try, if you ask me. Bring back Firefly. If you don't want to watch it incase you don't like it, that's your prerogative. And if you're not that big of a Joss Whedon fan, why do you care what he works on next?

Yeah... but the cases where the rich psychopath hires a beautiful woman so he can pretend to love her and then hunt her like an animal is not what the Dollhouse was set up for. It does make sense that those are the rare cases and, in theory, the "dolls" are to never be put in any danger, but the show paints a world of near unending grimness in this respect... and those darker cases have nothing to do with the overall story (a woman losing and regaining her self). We never even see hints of "average" engagements. And, according to the showrunners, that's only because Fox freaked out at the idea of it being a serialized show that featured sex. (As one of the writers put it, apparently Fox didn't make the connection that these people might be used for sex... to the writers' astonishment.)

You mean... aside from the explanation I gave?

Hush now.

Sounds like the general consensus is that I should battle through the miserable (and not to mention, absurdly dark -- doesn't anyone just want to pay to have sex with Eliza Dushku?? Every story in the early episodes involved something like child torture, twisted murder, suicide/murder pacts, etc. etc. Where were the normal people??) early episodes to get to the good stuff. Thanks, everyone.

That almost makes it sound like Murphy was having an affair with Lewis!