Messages

I guess I'm just trying to say that it doesn't need to affect your confidence as a person now.

It shouldn't... But it does.

I gained a lot of confidence and approval from two things in my life.

One was here: AGS. As trite as that sounds, I thought I was really a part of something special. We were bringing something nostolgiac back to life. And we did it well. And we had fun. I felt I was a part of that had meaning in my life. And we all liked each other's games. Loved playing them. I think we all took pride in that. I think that as a community, like we were in the olden days, we created something strong, like a family. Sometimes we disagreed on some things (leading to arguments), but in the end we were all together. And I liked that.

It doesn't feel the same anymore, partially cause the community has grown a bit distant, like the disappearence of Phil Reed. I always thought highly of his sense of humour and ability to bring joy to places. And when I co-won his essay competition with Scid, I felt like I gained something.

I guess it was approval.

The other thing in my life that was happening the same time was working as a children's entertainer. I loved the job, but I loved the people even more. We'd have training sessions where we'd have fun painting each others faces and making animals out of balloons. And I was known as the best balloon sculptor ever (my best was making a Fonzie Doll out of balloons, with his thumb up going AYYYYY!). We were all good at our jobs and would help each other as much as we could. It was like returning to something innocent and child-like. It was grand and free-spirited.

We even had great parties. We'd get drunk, try on all the costumes, listen to great music, and celebrate being kids again. I even met my girlfriend there. And the great thing was we all could praise and support each other. Like AGS, we were a big family. I even saw my boss as a mother-figure, even though she was only a few years older than me. But she was a big influence on my life now.

However, people left. Some just disappeared and were never seen again. I eventually left when my car broke down. Ever since then, I've felt lifeless. Six months later, I went to a party at the place. I ended up doing shots with one of the other longtime staff members. In fact, other than the boss, she'd been there the longest. I had been there the second longest. After the shots, we both ended up puking all over the place. Rene was really pissed at me, and rightfully so. Looking back on it, it was a sign of the times. After she graduated, The other staff member finished-up at the job and took a rural job. I think then it was time for us all to become adults again. And since then, life hasn't been as fun.

I think that's why I love Stand By Me. When you're with friends, and I'm talking about being with them to the point that you create an age of enlightenment and everyone develops into better people, you feel like you've gained something special and that you've left something important behind. I guess I'm nostolgiac for the past, but I'm always looking to the future for when I create the next era of my life. Where I'm doing something important, fun, and free-spirited, and am enjoying life with people I love and care deeply about.

I hope I find the next era of my life and I hope I find people to share it -- I just want to make something special with a big group of people.

What that is, I don't know. I'll just have to wait and seize the opportunity by the balls when it comes.

It makes me wonder if, in a decade or two, someone will make a film about Rumsfeld.

There's a little light at the end of the bumhole. Check out this from imdb:

Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, which released the controversial Oscar-winning The Fog of War, told today's (Thursday) San Francisco Chronicle that he expects to see Moore's picture at Cannes and that he might be interested in distributing it "if Miramax pitches it to us and it's anything like The Fog of War." Likewise a Lions Gate spokesman told the Toronto Star that his company would also consider releasing the film, adding: "We tend not to be frightened off the controversial projects." Ironically, the title of Moore's film derives from the 1953 Ray Bradbury sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451 about a society that burns controversial books, forcing a group of dissidents to memorize the classics in order to preserve them. The ads for Fahrenheit 9/11 bear the tagline: "The Temperature Where Freedom Burns."

I'm also very interested in seeing The Fog of War, which opens here shortly.

I must emphasize that there is no danger of death or injury from overdose of LSD

... unless they tried to fly off a building.Ã, 

Actually, C-leks's comments on drugs have a very Bill Hicks-like ring to it -- it's something I like.

I do agree with a lot of the sentiments about anime expressed here. But I do have some points to contribute.

I do like Disney films, particularly the older ones. I find it ironic that Ryukage says, "In my experience, anyone who says they don't like anime has simply been watching the wrong anime." When you look at that staement isolated on it's only (which it is), you wonder if you could also say, "anyone who says they don't like Disney films has simply been watching the wrong Disney films."

I've seen a lot of Disney shorts in my time. I've seen the classic stuff like 'Steamboat Willie'. They're great. A piece of history. In fact, if you want to see a true piece of art check out the Disney version of 'Noah's Ark'. The film was a stop-motion film made entriely out of odds and ends, like pipecleaners, corks, cotton, etc. Or have a gander at 'Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom', which is a film that deals with musical theory. Or even one of my faves, 'Donald in Mathmagic Land'.

And don't forget Disney's documentaries. For example, 'Men Against the Arctic' or 'The Living Desert'.

That why I think it's hypocritical to blast Disney films on the basis of some of the feature films and then become defensive when someone says they don't like anime based on the few shows or movies they've watched.

I hate Disney now, mainly because Eisnerhas fucked it up. But back in the past day, it produced a lot of decent stuff.

However, I'm hanging out to see their latest major short film 'Destino', which was produced by Roy E. Disney and co-written by Salvador Dali. It was a project that was in the making for several decades and they released it last year. Roy Disney, however, has attacked Eisner's handling of Disney and the whole story can be read here: http://www.savedisney.com/

That's why I think it's a little ignorant to quickly condemn Disney and at the same time praise anime.

Sure, I like anime and have seen a lot of titles. Some I like. Some I don't. I prefer the more "touchy-feely" stuff that deals with relationships and people's feelings and so forth. I recently saw a series called Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (The Eternity You Desire), which interested me a lot (Ironically, it was based on a hentai game but they toned it down for TV). I liked Eva. And I like Miyazaki's stuff. The game 'Seasons of Sakura' is one of my fave adventure games for reasons you'll find scattered around this board. But there's some shows I don't like, but I've been a big supporter of the aforementioned Sturgeon's Law.

There's stuff about Disney I like and there's stuff I don't like. Likewise, there's stuff about anime I like and stuff I don't like.

But I think people shouldn't dismiss the whole of either genre on the basis of a few films.

As for Pixar, I love their films. I think their characters are probably the most expressive 3D creations I've seen. I found them more realistic than the blank, emotionless faces of the Final Fantasy movie. But that's just my opinion.

And as for the whole debate on whether anime is a genre or whatever, I tend to think that Western culture has placed it into a genre (which is fine by me cause it helps me find anime quicker in the DVD store). But, I am aware of the cultural differences and the conventions. People have said they hate a lot of the conventions. However, the conventions are based on Japanese culture. And sometimes it's difficult to understand different cultures because we rely so heavily on our own.

NeoPaint was a great proggy. And free too.

DPaint is another good one.

And the Autodesk Animator also has some useful tool for a DOS proggy.

Despite whether it was Disney's money or not, Miramax approved the decision.

All he needed was a distributor for a delicate project, and Miramax have been known to take such projects.

But Disney has power to overule such production decisions.

Is it all a publicity stunt? Who knows?

There's still the Jeb Bush connection.

And remember, the film had a release date of September 2004, which is a couple of months shy of the US elections.

It is a documentary, though with a satirical edge.

It won an Oscar two years ago for Best Doco, where Moore made his famous (or infamous, depending on your view) "fictitious president" speech.

Some also criticised Moore for manipulating statistics for the film's benefit (But then again, a lot of documentaries do anyway).

Fahrenheit 911 is as a satirical documentary (thus the "Comedy" tag that Moore places upon it).

Interestingly, I also found this on today's IMDB:

In what some TV columnists were depicting as a battle that could signal a parting of the ways between Disney and Miramax, Harvey Weinstein is butting heads with Michael Eisner over Eisner's decision not to distribute Michael Moore's controversial Fahrenheit 911. The Moore documentary links President Bush with Arab oil moguls, some of whom, Moore alleges, are supporting Osama bin Laden. The film is scheduled to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in two weeks. In a statement, Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said: "We're discussing the issue with Disney. We're looking at all of our options and look forward to resolving this amicably." However, Moore's agent, Ari Emanuel, told today's (Wednesday) New York Times that Eisner asked him not to try to sell the film to Miramax because "there were tax incentives he was getting for the Disney corporation [in Florida, where the president's brother Jeb is governor] and that's why he didn't want me to sell it to Miramax. He didn't want a Disney company involved."

I hope those tax incentives help, Eisner, cause you're going to be REALLY up shite creek once Miramax and Pixar leave.

Also in related news, Pixar's Steve Job and John Lasseter were placed at #1 of Premiere magazine's top 100 most influential people in Hollywood.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1102246.htm

Not only do they make shitty films but they block projects that look decent.

There are some quality sitcoms with laugh tracks though.

MASH
Family Ties
Happy Days
I Love Lucy
Frasier

Granted, the laugh track isn't what makes the above shows funny, and I'm sure they can do without the laugh track, but it seems a little discriminating in taste if one disregards a show based on a laugh track.

Incidently, Seanbaby's latest article in about the history of the Laugh Track: http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=24803

And the media is what really pisses me off. Have you ever watched Fox News? It's a joke! They are so biased, they'll report on anything on the war or economy and slant it so it somehow benefits John Kerry's campain.. Damn Democrats.

Rupert Murdoch has stated very openly that he supports Bush's campaign.

heh ashen, my friend made up a game where if you're the first one in the line of stopped cars then stop a few feet before you're originally stop and then after a few seconds creep up a foot and then count the cars that follow you, the more cars that follow the more points you get

Jinkies! I play this too!


As for the POWs... well... I've said all I've had to in previous posts so you can kinda guess my opinion.

I'm reading a book about creative writing called 'Sometimes You Just Have to Stand Naked' by David Bartholomy.

There's a simple way to fix this:

US

once in the first game, to Faith

Wasn't it Fawn?

You got me there.

You already did that joke 2 mins ago:

http://www.agsforums.com/yabb/index.php?topic=13484.0

I recently saw one called 'Assassin of Youth', which is a movie made in the 30s about the dangers of marijuana. See it, just because it's a fucked-up movie, even by 30s standards.

Oh shaddup. You know what you are? Your a city of eastern Argentina, an industrial suburb of Buenos Aires! Yeah! Take that! Oh, you just got burned!

Yeah, you burned me. My fragile ego often suffers from comments by people with shitty grammar on an adventure game forum.

* DGMacphee breaks down and cries.

The first episode wasn't as much shock value in my opinion. I'm sure most couples have had problems like that (except for the blowing-the-head-off bit, but that's more of an absurd twist).

Meanwhile, the necrophiliac in the second part was just plain gross -- it didn't really have much of a setup or pay-off like the first episode.