Ben X

No excuse, they should have thought it through better.

How do you guys create these? Just make a load of image files and stick them in an editing program for however many frames each?

Until now I had only ever heard "fan service" used to mean "content that's in your work just to please existing hardcore fans," as Jake puts it. That actually works better with the term, so I can see how it gained that meaning. "Service cut" (apparently a synonymous term) works better for the original meaning, I think.

I can't see how they fit any generally accepted definition of the word "hack". If you think they're bad writers/directors, fine, but hacks?

Why?

The guy who played Town Hall Door Guard and Arresting Badger Guard in Kings Quest VII: The Princeless Bride?!

LOST wins by

That was most enjoyable! The only thing that annoyed me was cutting back to [sean? The poem-reading Thumb] too often, and then the minute or so in the middle where it was just cutting between them in the studio for a good minute or so before the Waluigi balloon shows up. I think the most important thing for these vids is not visual fidelity but variety.

In your example, this is still the parents' choice, and I wouldn't call it especially insidious. I wish I could have back all the money of my parents that I spent as a child on sweets and comics and toys and other bullshit that I thought I wanted but didn't, from waaaay before even the internet existed, never mind Steam.

Worst. Nomenclature. Ever.

While I am an Abrams (and Edwards and Trank) fan, this is really the name that made me excited for their Mission Impossible-style plan of commercial-auteur driven franchise. Brick > Looper > Brothers Bloom imo, though Johnson's appearance on Kevin Smith's podcast made me want to re-watch and re-evaluate BB.

The obvious answer to that argument is that if everyone thinks that way, The Man will never notice that the percentage of the general population who is bothered by this stuff is rising. Ideally, everyone would convey their reaction, positive or negative, to public statements (artistic, political or otherwise) as directly as possible to those making them, in a civilised (I'm trying not to preclude emotion) and cogent manner. I'm as guilty of this as anyone, partly through being English and not wanting to make a fuss, partly through not being confident that my opinions and awareness are strong enough to carry an argument through, and partly laziness. Also, you know, the internet. Brrr.

Agreed, although James Cameron probably would have come up with a more inventive/satisfying finale.

If they give her a name, I'll be as disappointed as I was when they gave one to Comic Book Guy.

I'm happy to report that things are going pretty well with Lightworks. The 10-part official tutorial videos are very helpful, and it's easy to grasp the basics. I had an issue with it not accepting my weird mp4s, but I sorted that by converting them to constant framerate with Handbrake. This is definitely a good freeware option for amateur editing (it apparently is used professionally as well, but I won't vouch for it in that arena). EDIT: having said that, the freeware version is nerfed in two big ways - you can't choose the location of your project, and you can only export to YouTube format.

Should we use this thread if there's already a thread for the game? I just spotted Singularity in a charity shop for £2, and the concept is close enough to being Time Gentlemen, Please!: The FPS that I'm intrigued, but not enough to play an utterly mediocre game... Any thoughts?

Aaagh! I hate that smiley! io9 made some good points defending Dinklage's performance - he's going for a HAL style delivery, and they hadn't put any robotic filters on his voice yet in the infamous Moon Wizard clip. I'd further point out that he's lumbered with a huge amount of terribly written info-dumps, which would be bad anyway but are exacerbated by giving them to an impassive AI character.

Yayyyy!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-18-editors-blog-i-am-sexist

I think actually I might be mixing them up a little in my head with Artificial Eye and Tartan, so it's not as wide a label over here as I thought. But I still knew of it and am pretty sure I've seen their editions regularly in places like Fopp and The Cinema Store. I won't have access to a lot of these films, but I recommend Man Bites Dog!

Well now you've finally linked clearly to your own Twitter account, I have followed you! You too, Spenny.

Well, Criterion release over here too. I know of them just from recognising their label on VHS and DVD shelves for the past couple of decades.

iirc in the next few sentences Chris adjusts to "wearing future suits" or something a little broader. Cruise does seem to be in the mood for more Minority Report-esque movies at the moment, anyway.

The topic of whether Dan Savage is transphobic came up elsewhere a while back, so when he did a twenty minute section on that subject in his latest podcast, I thought I may as well link to it here: http://www.savagelovecast.com/episodes/398#.U58iKPldXoc