Duncan

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Posts posted by Duncan

  2. Posted

    Haven't watched this yet. The final courtroom scene of A Few Good Men, with the G-Man in place of Jack Nicholson. Is it as win as it sounds?

    http://www.nailbiter.net/gman/fewgoodgmen.mov

    Oh yeah, I saw this! It's kind of impressive at first... and then not really. The characters aren't that expressive - lip synching is good, but their bodies move very stiffly and awkwardly and the faces are just blank.

    It is interesting to watch, and it's a nice concept, but it doesn't especially work.

    I love that scene though.

  3. Posted

    Twilo brings up a good point: the matter of taste. I'm betting that the big money market just doesn't play games like Psychonauts at the moment.

    Yeah, taste is definitely a big reason. Taste doesn't necessarily imply that the 'big money market' thinks that Psychonauts is necessarily a bad game, though, just something they're uninterested in. Twilo seemed to be saying in his earlier posts that people weren't buying Psychonauts because it wasn't that good, which I disagree with. (er, both parts of that sentence, but most importantly that its alleged not-good-ness is a reason why people aren't buying it.)

    it's a fairly middle-of-the-road platformer otherwise.

    Ah, okay, I get what you mean now.

  5. Posted

    Well, psychonauts wasn't a game that I enjoyed terribly much. I'm probably in a minority here, but I'm sure it's not a minority of one, whether any of the rest of you care to admit it or not.

    I'm not sure why you're bringing this up other than to get it in that you didn't like Psychonauts. There's really nothing to suggest to prospective buyers that Psychonauts is a bad game, pretty much all the reviews suggest the exact opposite. There are plenty of reasons why it's not selling, but that it's a piece of shit I don't think is one of them.

  6. Posted

    I don't think that's actually anything to do with their appreciation of art or a concern for its progression, rather they just like to define themselves by something little-known in an effort to construct a personality. I think that explains why someone might wear the T-shirt of their favourite little-known band until the band break through on their third album, get on MTV and everyone else loves them. Even if the music's still great, the fan's T-shirt doesn't mean so much anymore because other people like them, and it doesn't define the fan alone. He has to find another little-known band and tell people that other band aren't as good as they used to be. Of course, sometimes that's true, but making an omelette and all that.

    Yeah, this is interesting. With the the fan who wears the t-shirt of the talented-yet-fortunately-obscure band, I think a major motivation is superiority. Someone sees the t-shirt and has no idea what that's about, and the fan gets to act a little smug because he's one of the select few who knows about this great band, like an "oh, if only you knew" type of thing. He gets the feeling that everyone's looking at this t-shirt and thinking he must know something that they don't. I don't think I'm explaining myself very well, but whatever. But then when this band gets super popular and this guy is still wearing the t-shirt, everyone knows what it means now. The whole thrill of being in some isolated pop culture bubble is gone, and now people don't know that this guy was one of the first people into this band back when they were edgy and undiscovered. Now they just think he's on the bandwagon and he only likes them now that they're popular. So I think that in some cases the fan hangs up the shirt not because he can't like what's popular, which is the usual stereotype, but instead because he doesn't want people to think that he's shallow and only likes what's popular.

  7. Posted

    I feel like I can't properly respond to this thread (possibly because you cover many topics). I don't know. Even though this is a thread about comedy and I guess then the appropriate response would be something sort of quietly funny which cuts to the heart of the issue, it does demand a certain sincerity and that's not something I'm good at. Not that I can't be honest, because I pretty much always am, but I don't think I've ever been able to write or say something which is really meaningful or thought-provoking. And considering I am an almost-writer, I feel like that really ought to be something I should do.

    Except it's much easier to be funny, even if it's not working. I don't know why, well, I mean, if you get past the men can't express emotions blah blah blah thing, I don't know. I feel like most sentiments that one would typically express in any given social situation are much better when they're funny. Does that make sense? I don't know. Even if it's that kind of quiet funny which doesn't actually make you laugh the sentiment still means something even though it's a joke. I think when I complement someone or ask someone out or anything along those lines it goes over much better when it's funny than if it was earnest. Actually I always do that by self-deprecating myself to the max. I guess you have to laugh at yourself?

    I realise now that I've never really been in any deadly serious situations in which humour is really inappropriate and when sincerity is called for. I hope I would still be effective and helpful but I don't really know.

    I also don't know how this relates to your post (essay?) to be honest. The parts about comedy (and human condition maybe?) stuck with me the most and of course I started thinking about that in relation to myself, because I am thoroughly neurotic.

    Should this really be in Site Feedback? :benstein:

    Also, despite all the shit I was proclaiming earlier in this post, this turned out remarkably unfunny.

  11. Posted

    I just found out that my stepbrother was four minutes away from being on one of those trains. Man. It is insane how close you can come to shit like this. Really glad everyone here's okay.

  13. Posted

    Hmm. GP Store has it for 12 July, not 12 June. Have you actually purchased it in NZ?

    Looks like PC version only (to be) released in NZ at this stage. And I've never seen it at retail (Electronic Boutique, Central Park, Noel Leeminds, Dick Smith...) making me thing either Gamesman is lying or they imported it.

    How very odd.

    Yeah, I'm not denying it's incredibly odd, but I actually did buy my copy from Gamesman about a month ago. I guess they must have imported it, though I have no idea if that's true.

  15. Posted

    Anyway, I wants pictures of our (duncan's) two candidates in question, so we at the thumb can have a nice vote on which one he should pursue!

    I don't believe that will happen ever.

  16. Posted

    All I can do is wish you the best in college, Duncan.

    Thanks, buddy! :tup:

    And your potential girlfriend. Good luck with that, by the way.

    What depresses me about this is that no one is wishing me luck or talking about the OTHER girl that I said I actually WAS interested in. Why is this a spoiler? Oh yeah, college relationships. Scandalous! Clandestine! Actually on that note I found out today that there's ANOTHER girl from my past who might be in one of my classes, I'm not sure. When I knew her she was the manipulative girl who kept some mental checklist (though there may well have been a physical checklist) or scorecard documenting the tangled web of primary/grade school relationships and crushes. SHE USED IT FOR EVIL. Everyone knew that girl, right? She TERRIFIED me. I haven't had any contact with her for years but when I found out that there's a possibility she's in my philosophy class I discovered that I was terrified still. Oh no.

    Such an abuse of spoiler space.

  17. Posted

    Honestly, I've never seen it played out to the ultimate conclusion, but I've known of instances when such behavior was characteristic of a crush. :grin:

    Well, yeah, that is fairly plausible.

    I kind of know what you mean. Back when I was in India, everything concerning grades and rank was a public thing. Teachers would actually read out your grade to the class while handing back your paper so that everyone knew how everyone else did. This, of course, led to competition, but we tried not to take it as far such that it would make us enemies or rivals in the end. It was a friendly competition of sorts. :yep:

    Although, I have known of good friends who were torn apart by this competition because one felt he deserved a better grade for his work than what the other did and received for it.

    The public reading-out-grades bit seems a little shitty. I think that happened to me a few times at high school, but the teachers generally gave you the option of not having your grade read out. Of course, no one actually asked, but still.

    I don't think I'd ever compete with an actual good friend, because that's pretty lame. With this current situation I kind of hated her a little at first, but grew to like her over time. That'd probably be reversed if I started it with a good friend.

    I often feel that, "Hey, that person is so much dumber than me, how come s/he got a better grade than I did?" And this motivates me. But I also try to find other motivation, like I said. You'll grow out of it. :) And I hope I do too. :) So, you're a sophomore now, right? What're you majoring in? English?

    I don't think she's dumb so much... I think the motivation might have been spite, actually. :shifty: She worked incredibly hard, you see. And she gets pissed when people do less work than her and yet yield better results. :tup:

    I'm actually not a sophomore, still first year. And actually I'm not American either, so I'm probably never going to be called a sophomore or a freshman ever. (What's third year? I don't think I know this one.) Haven't decided on a major yet, I'm kind of trying to put that off as long as I can. It definitely won't be English, though.

  19. Posted

    ...No, that's just television.

    Yeah, I was gonna say...

    Have you ever known a person who, when told this, said, "You know, what? I think you're right!" :yep:

    Well, that's true. However, have you ever known the situation that Rodi's describing to actually play out in real life rather than in serialised television?

    But honestly, before I saw all the future-girlfriend related posts, I thought I'd post asking why you feel like you need to compete with her.

    I don't think need to, I hope I'm not that obsessed about this. I kind of like to, which is a different thing. The whole 'competition' thing actually started in high school, where she was in my English and Journalism classes. She was, I'm pretty sure, at the top of every class she was in and got ridiculously good grades. For a number of reasons, this was difficult to take. For one thing, her work often wasn't actually that good. For another, she kind of had an attitude about it. And mostly because this was my last year of high school and up to this point I really didn't have anything to show for it, I figured I'd try and take her down. (It didn't work completely.)

    Admittedly, that whole motivation is gone now. And I'm not working nearly as hard in this rivalry as I used to. I'm only interested at all because she's still in my classes and doing really well.

    Sure it is motivating when one has competition in the strict sense that you feel it, but perhaps it is better for your own sanity if the motivation came from within. :)

    Well, yeah, maybe that's true. However, this is kind of the only motivation I have. :shifty:

  21. Posted

    This is a follow-up thread. The second semester started today, and already I am pretty beat, because this is a harder, stronger, faster semester. I now have 15 hours in class as opposed to 10 last time. So this is a series of disjointed observations, which will be jarring, I know, because usually I am so goddamn eloquent.

    WARNING: I just read over this and this post contains absolutely nothing of value UNLESS you are for some nonsense reason interested in me personally or want a nostalgic kickback to college.

    Well, fuck it, the forums need more posts anyway.

    The last time I did this I mentioned that my former high school rival is now my college rival. This either pleases or infuriates me, quite obviously depending on whether or not I am winning. Last semester we only had English Lit together, this time we have two classes. So clearly I will have to step it up a little bit, mostly because I am much better at English than these other two subjects. (I ditched English this time around, like way to go ditching your best subject. Way to plan for the future.)

    I kept a close eye on that English Lit scorecard. There were two essays and an exam. First essay we drew with a B+ each. Second essay, I was pretty elated that I got an A, she got a fucking A+. Mother of god. I have no idea how she did in that exam. I apparently did pretty well, my overall mark for the course was an A-. I asked her how she did but she was evasive. I have to find out. I am clearly obsessed with this.

    I find it interesting that I am friends with her. Our entire relationship is built on competetive one-upsmanship. And yet, we are friends and actually kind of like each other despite the fact that when I am around her I usually get a huge ego surge and a furious desire to win.

    On that same topic, I also know a guy who I really dislike, and he knows that and tries to piss me off in retaliation. However, while neither of us like the other, we somehow have an amicable friendship that is predicated on hate.

    DORM UPDATE: Still sucks.

    I am vaguely disappointed that philosophy turned out to be How To Be An Argumentative, Pedantic Asshole 101.

    Really glad that I have a different History lecturer this time around; the last one was a smug bastard who admitted that he designed assignments to piss us off and teach us that History is hard.

    Also really glad that I have settled into the overachieving slacker position, where I don't actually pay tons of attention in classes, don't take the subject totally seriously, generally put in much less time than I am supposed to AND YET rally at the last minute and get actually pretty good grades.

    Anyway, screw all that. The only requirement for my happiness this semester was that this girl I have a crush on be in at least one of my classes. Fortunately, that is the case. :tup:

  24. Posted

    I seriously hate the 'Best Voice Performance' category. Because it's not that, it's 'Best Voice Performance by a Celebrity'. I know it's G4, but as an overview of the past year's highlights in voice acting, this is a fucking joke. (Carmen Electra? What?) Nominating celebrities doesn't even make a ton of sense, anyway, because celebrities don't get hired to be a voice actor, they get hired to sound like themselves.

    It angers me so much how the Game Industry and things like G4 are obsessed with Celebrities in Games, like that's the only thing that can give video games any sense of legitimacy. And especially with the recent SAG/AFTRA thing, it ultimately works against them, because despite having no fucking clue how the game industry works, the various actor's guilds can see how much publishers and developers rely upon having stars on board. And they can really easily exploit that.

    So, yeah, it really pisses me off to see games slowly morph into Hollywood's Little Brother, through crap like the Spike TV Video Game Whatever Awards and 'Best Voice Performance - Male: Def Jam Fight for NY – Snoop Dogg (Electronic Arts)'. It's just so retarded. Thanks a lot, you guys.

  25. Posted

    ...is, as it turns out, seriously insane, but also hilarious. This article is like a week old, but, oh man.

    The good parts:

    Saddam was friendly toward his young guards and sometimes offered fatherly advice. When O'Shea told him he was not married, Saddam "started telling me what to do," recalled the soldier. "He was like, `You gotta find a good woman. Not too smart, not too dumb. Not too old, not too young. One that can cook and clean.'"

    Then he smiled, made what O'Shea interpreted as a "spanking" gesture, laughed and went back to doing his laundry in the sink.

    For a time his favorite snack was Cheetos, and when that ran out, Saddam would "get grumpy," the story said. One day, guards substituted Doritos corn chips, and Saddam forgot about Cheetos. "He'd eat a family size bag of Doritos in 10 minutes," Dawson said.

    Just the very image of Saddam Hussein grinning, making a 'spanking gesture', quite possibly winking, then going back to DOING THE DISHES is the most insane experience I've had all week.