Ben X

Getting tipsy on JD and Coke while re-watch binging Impractical Jokers. Can't tell if I misjudged the humour of my reply to Rodi on the Marvel thread :S

Roderick, I'm going to be your tough-to-the-point-of-cruelty-but-gets-results mentor archetype here and push you to your full potential by demanding that you give me more than 'I didn't like it then I liked it'. How did it overcome those initial problems for you? TELL ME HOW. AND DON'T SAY IT HELD UP "BETTER" WHEN IT BY DEFINITION WASN'T HOLDING UP THE FIRST TIME YOU SAW IT. OH MY DEAR GOD, ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE SINGLE TEAR PEOPLE?

Geddit?! Anyway, for David Lynch fans, here's David Lynch Teaches Typing.

How so?

So yeah, I filmed it, then finally ended up hurriedly editing it years later and cursing young me for not even getting usable takes for all the dialogue. I haven't put it up online anywhere, mainly because it's horrendous and also because it features me doing full frontal nudity, but I could probably put it up as a private video on YouTube or something like that if you're interested in seeing it!

Have PMed you (feel free to copy paste my message on here if you like, though).

"...for some reason which isn't explained and doesn't make sense."

Though of course, everybody wants some.

I have this with "aye": I find it very irritating when someone uses it instead of "yes" when writing online even though they almost definitely never say it in real life.

Those spoilers are for the 12 Monkeys tv series, everyone! I thought Cloverfield Paradox was pretty terrible, a big nonsensical derivative mess. Guess that makes me fucking crazy, right, hungover Mington?

If your immediate aim is to make a short narrative film, I'd say find something smaller immediately. You can always work on the larger script at the same time or at some point later, even if it's just a writing exercise and you never intend to make it. But for your first narrative film start very, very small. Start with what you've already got access to. Robert Rodriguez did the same for El Mariachi - he had a pet turtle, so he wrote a scene into the movie about a turtle crawling down the road. I did the same with Body Swap - I had access to a flat, all the things in it, two actors and one camera, so I wrote (and produced, but it's horrendously amateurish) a short about two guys in a flat who body-swap and decide to stay in the flat instead of risking any hi-jinx. You don't want to be getting into crowds and vehicles and shit when you haven't got even a little narrative film-making under your belt. You'll need to be very confident in what you're doing to make sure you're covering health and safety as well as just not wasting people's time. You need to learn about basic coverage, continuity, dealing with actors, dealing with crew, scheduling, narrative editing etc. I'd suggest making, say, four extremely basic short films, one a week (or a fortnight or a month depending on your life schedule), and then think about making something bigger. Maybe by the fourth one you'll already be feeling confident enough to involve some visual effects, a small crowd, stuff like that. Speaking of Robert Rodriguez, some extra-curricular reading you might find inspiring is his Rebel Without A Crew film-making diary, which is where I remember that turtle anecdote from. There are probably a ton of books like that, maybe others can recommend some. Another one would be the early chapters of If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell, where he talks about all the silly short films he and the Raimis made to screen for family, friends, then the entire school, which became more and more elaborate until they made Evil Dead.

Yeah, it does this to various degrees. I agree with you on the neighbour characters, and while the problems with them haven't really been fixed yet, they do become a little more sympathetic. I'd say give it to the end of the season and see how you feel.

Woo hoo!

I just noticed all the signatures are gone! Is this intentional, @tabacco?

Oh, it's pretty short, I'll paste it here: (Seriously, though, if it would help, I can knock something out that takes into consideration your available locations, actors, etc. Or feel free to use one of the scripts on my portfolio site which I've linked to in my sig- Body Swap would probably be the sensible choice, as I wrote it to be filmed in a flat with two actors and mostly natural lighting etc.)

But I told you not to! I've written a short script if you'd like to film it, it's about someone who doesn't listen to the advice of his incredibly intelligent friend and ends up not getting something done as quickly as he might have otherwise.

I had the feeling that might be soon, if it's what I'm thinking of. My vague recollection is that all the black people turn out to actually be arseholes and their subjugation is therefore portrayed as justified, or something... I will definitely push through for a while longer!

A couple of boring endorsements: 1) If you don't have room for a proper toilet roll dispenser on your wall, getting a toilet roll holder that hinges at the top to double up as a dispenser is so much nicer than keeping your current roll on the cistern, or trying to balance it on the bath edge. 2) The Air Ram vacuum cleaner is hella expensive, but if you can afford it (or have a generous family member who can), it's a really slick, lightweight, cordless vacuum. It's got a light at the front, it's super-easy to empty and it's really maneuverable. This has made cleaning our flat ten times easier, especially the rugs that collect their own weight in long hairs and cling onto them for dear life. (Other lightweight, cordless, well-designed vacuum cleaners may be available.)

If I remember correctly, the Fringe score was never credited solely to Michael Giacchino, it was always him and another guy (could have been Tilton from the start, can't remember). I do know that JJ Abrams wrote the theme music, as he did with Alias and Lost, such as it was (he also whipped up Lost's minimal title sequence on his laptop) Speaking of theme tunes, I can't believe you almost forget to name Magnum P.I.'s, @Jake! Once they got rid of that duff initial one and repurposed some incidental score into an all-time classic, that is. And speaking of that show, I hope you keep watching it. It gets ever better as it goes on, and has a great cumulative effect where running jokes and references back to old episodes start to layer on top of each other. Dan and Ben's love for Magnum P.I. in BTDT and TGP is very much based on real life! I even have the Magnum theme tune on my gym playlist, and I'm pretty sure I burn double the calories every time it comes on. Regarding Chris and Nick's reason for their aversion to Black Mirror - overload of hot-takes on the internet - this is a recent phenomenon I find bewildering and frustrating. Bewildering because I never seem to get exposed to stuff like this - I've only ever seen one brony going on about MLP:FIM, and that was within the last month; I'm only vaguely aware that steamed hams is a thing; I've never come into contact with awful Rick And Morty fans. I guess I don't go on the right parts of the internet for that stuff. And frustrating because when I like something, I want more people to talk with about how good it is, so for them to be avoiding because of an annoying small subsection of the fan community (I'm right here not screaming at McDonalds employees or spouting hot-takes!) sucks. So I hope @Chris and @Nick Breckon both watch at least a little Black Mirror (I'd recommend The Entire History Of You as a good starting point, as a few people here bounced off the first episode though I loved it, and the second isn't as representative of the series' tone). And now, Han Solo P.I.: And a comparison vid to show off the full ingenuity:

Well, after 3 seasons with nearly no duff episodes (in my opinion!), the fourth one has been a bit of a letdown. They put the big action-y 90 minute one up front this time, and it is so much better than the previous one ( the one with the bees, not that it's a high bar to clear). It re-used some ideas from previous episodes and it got a little cheesy in places, but overall very fun and full of fantastic performances, attention to detail etc. Basically, as long as you're happy with Black Mirror going for different styles of episode, it's a good one. 2, 3 and 4 are all okaaay. They also feel like repeats of previous episodes, but don't have the fun charm of the first episode to get away with it. The fifth episode was awesome. A straight-up thriller, really lean and terrifying. It would fit in well as part of the Terminator franchise (and easily be the second best thing in it). I haven't watched the final episode yet; it's another long one and I hear good things... EDIT: Last episode was really good! Very fun and some cool ideas. They really need to retire the concept, but at least they did some fun stuff with it here. And the idea of doing an along with all the gave it a really cheeky vibe.

Yeah, I think the creative director was/is pro-gator (which I'm guessing is the embarrassing bit you're referring to). I don't think you should feel too ashamed of forgetting to research the creative team behind one purchase, though. You can't be 100% on the ball at all times with this stuff. I don't know what one can do after the fact in this situation once refunding is no longer an option, though. Donate to a charity that would piss gators off and tweet about it with the game hashtagged? (Incidentally, most of the I Had A Random thought About Movies thread is talking about the same issues when watching movies, starting here. Interesting that both industries have had a cataclysmic event in the last few years which have outed a lot of members as being arseholes in one way or another.)

I played a little more of this today, and I am getting really bored of it. Once you get used to the level of production values, you're left with the gameplay and storytelling, both of which are pretty damn sluggish. I just played through a fight where I'm supposed to be using the ziplines and Elizabeth's tears, but the layout was a mess and combined with how difficult it is to locate enemies and the imprecise shooting, it really fell flat. I'm starting to wonder if I need to increase the FOV, because it feels pretty boxed in at times. That might help with locating stuff. I've never bothered touching it in other games. [EDIT: I've now put the slider up to full.] I've just got to Finkton Docks and apparently I'm only a third of the way through the game. I'm not sure how much more of this I can be bothered with. I might try to just run through it as quickly as possible without taking detours or looking for coins and the like, and see if I can enjoy it that way.

It's a commentary on how their lives are stuck in destructive circles. This is the thesis of the movie, John Wayne even says it at the end.

Heh, fair enough. Thanks for the response, everyone!

Ha ha, I was about to ask, "Who?!"