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[Syberia]

I second Incredible Machine as a source of inspiration.   


I agree that Syberia is at times frustrating but I feel that its a great source of inspiration.   Much better than Myst in my opinion.    To do machinery right its not important that every part of the machine is accounted for.  The trick is just to make it believable enough.

So look at Syberia and how the pieces of all the machines lead to the end result of the machine working.   The Voralberg contraptions in the game all had wonderful animations.   There were robot horses where you have to reroute steam to get them working.    Some of the puzzles in Syberia & Syberia 2 are frustrating, and if you analyze why they were frustrating you can avoid making the same mistakes.    Trial & error puzzles, where you endlessly try combinations get to be tedious.    There were a lot in Syberia.  But overall the machines were very fantastic and believable.    So try it out.

Might I also suggest renting some seasons of MacGyver?   (wink)

Thanks for all the links and the suggestions!   


ghost & miez:  I use imdb's search feature rather religiously!    I was more curious if someone had come across a striking Iranian film in their own personal experience.    A personal recommendation from an AGS'er would be highly valued.   I'll write down Lost Luck and see if I can come up with anything.

Becky:  thanks for the wikipedia link!   It appears there are too many to choose from!   I tried to print the page & it was more like 22 pages!   good lord, that's promising.

Neil:  I will thoroughly research these filmmakers' collections and see if I can pick a couple movies from each of them to order on DVD.  Thanks for the tip.

Snarky:  Persepolis is the first film I was able to google.   The film is in french but I do believe it was made by someone who grew up in Iran.  It looks like sony pictures is releasing it too.   on Chomksy:   he's certainly leftist & protest does sound extreme I admit.   But as americans protest is the most peaceful, most powerful thing one can do.    I would be careful not to stereotype protestors as troublemakers.  I highly value my right to protest.

Lately many bad Iranians have been highlighted in the U.S. national news.   It's time that other Iranians such as filmmakers get some airtime too.    I want to host a film series where I live.  Tennessee is a "red state" which is to say that Christianity and conservatism are the only lifestyles not frowned upon.   Hosting an Iranian film series may be dangerous for me personally, but will be advantageous for my country.

So my question is:   Does anyone know of any really good Iranian films?

Read further if you want to know why.   But do not confuse the political message with the subject of Iranian films.    OK.   A new york times article was published which suggested that the white house is considering air strikes or a possible nuclear attack on Iran.  Joe Lieberman is advocating this attack.    Lieberman proposes that bombing Iran will humble them in a way that will be advantageous to the current war in Iraq.   This worries me.  I do not personally know anything about Iran.   But I know launching another "preemptive strike" will paint the United States as the definitive enemy of the world.  I do have a friend who is "persian" that was born in Iran and I like her very much.   I would not like to see her family or anyone she ever knew to be blown up.

My mom emailed her college professor from MIT, Noam Chomsky, and asked him for advice.   Chomsky advises that only wide public protest will do the trick.    The kind of protest we saw in Viet Nam.   Chomsky is a genious, the #1 linguist in the world & a follower of politics, as well as critic.    I trust what he says.

Doing my part:   I want to raise awareness.   I want U.S. citizens to think of the families and lifestyles they will be ignoring if the government bombs Iran.    So I decided with my background that an Iranian film series would be best.   I only thought of it last night, it is still just a possibility.   But obviously the better the programming, the more likely I can find sponsorship.    So, ask around.   What are the best Iranian films?

Tonight I murdered about a thousand and a half Giant Ants, Spiders, and Robots in this game:



It's quite innocent!   My motives are to stop an alien invasion by using everything from assault rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers to blow up their armies.   I can play with a second person & follow a team of NPC soldiers around the city.

The goal is to kill giant ants.   Now if I wanted to, I could turn to the guy on my left and blow his head off.   The video game is about giant ants but the soldiers still die when hit by friendly fire.    It's more realistic and causes the player to plan his attack.    If you shoot a rocket & a guy is standing right in front of your barrel, it does not safely pass through him & hit your target.    Everything inculding you explodes.

That's realistic too!   We're not just talking about having more detailed bullet holes and screams of horror when you kill innocent bystanders.   We're talking about gameplay that makes sense & also challenges you.    These kind of games are the true victim when it comes to censorship.     The wording gets all hazy & the fact that you CAN kill a human means that any law forbidding murder of humans will emcompass this game.   WHICH IS ABOUT KILLING BUGS & ROBOTS.       

It relieved a lot of stress for me.    And might I remind most of you that the word relief rarely ever is interpreted as "cure."    Relief itself is temporary.   If a boy has violent behavior and a doctor prescribes a violent videogame to cure him, I would advise we murder the doctor with a bayonet.

Mowing down pedestrians in GTA does NOT relieve stress for me.   Saints Row has ragdoll physics and therefore DOES relieve me of stress!!!!!!

The "Freedom of Speech has no line to cross!" argument is as naive as it is redundant, as society will always draw a line regarding what we find "acceptable" and what we don't. We do it ourselves everyday.

You just made a double standard.    We AS INDIVIDUALS draw a line about what's appropriate.   Society cannot censor the word "banana" if 60% of Iowians are offended by the word.     

On broadcast television ten years ago Dave Letterman whined & groaned when Madonna said "fuck" on the air.   He personally apoligized to an elderly couple in the audience.     Today, there's a reocurring segment where a cursing man yells "fuck you Dave!" & leaves the theater.   For years, the FCC was trying to babysit kids ( like me ) from hearing the word.   I heard it anyways... as a taboo.   Censorship fails & actually makes taboo subjects even more desired and popular.   What's the point of censorship?   

You say society agrees that Manhunt is bad... when in fact, 13 - 40 year olds will form a line around the mall on the day that it's released.   There's a market for it, and the market will grow the more restrictions you put on it.    There's no bureaucratic entity that can properly assess "appropriate."  AND THEN GOVERN all innapproprotiate things away.  It's simply unrealistic, and might I say "naive"????

Simulations may continue to get more realistice but they will never get more "realer".

I agree that violent video games should be scoffed at.    Manhunt didnt even have a story save for "you're on TV and you have to kill people!!!!!'   


But I think Limping Fish does a poor job of donning the Frank Zappa icon.   Frankly, I'm ashamed.   I'm against censorship because once you place the line of what's excessive, it doesn't stay there.    The example only serves to confuse and frustrate, when it really does come down to the child's parents enforcing their own rules.

do you have to reformat all your songs to add new firmware?

Sunset capital of the world!  The rays of the sun make the food taster better!

I doubt there will ever be another thread where this conversation is even slightly appropriate but MAAAAAANG I miss the Salt Lick.

I'm not going to propose I have the best bands or the "top ten"  such ballyhoo.    I'm just going to tell you which artists of the hundred or so that I play over and over again.   Dont know why, just crave these bands more than the others:

Sting
Tom Waits
Elvis Costello
Paul Simon
Cat Stevens
Talking Heads
The Clash / Joe Strummer
Queen
Frank Zappa
David Bowie
Leonard Cohen
Johnny Cash
Joe Cocker
Sam Cooke

and of course

.....


.....


.....

Bob Dylan





These are the bands on my ipod that I can listen to 20 - 40 songs in a row and need nothing else.  Depends on the mood I'm feeling of course. 

goddamn you!!!!!!


Yes, I was mostly referring to Trudy's. 

I'll add Hula Hut. Guerro's, Polvo's, and even the Oasis.  Altho the Oasis is a bit bland.

Tex mex is my favorite.   Im missing it now that Im back in tennessee and there isnt a tex mex restaurant every two blocks.

uh if Lionel Ritchie actually died  what would your subject line read?

Heres my contribution.  Oddly enough this isnt a photoshop.  I keep photos of various games of Scrabble & Tangoes that I played throughout the 80's and 90s'.   Seems Tangoes is a bit of a logo nostradamus!

Something about a band named after a John Milton book just seems... bologna.

That's where I'm heading with Scientology.  It's difficult to separate it from the herd because it takes money from its members.  Or because the mythology is ridiculous.   Or because its members behave aggressively.

The same could be said of any religion.   But the most astounding thing about Scientology "new recruits" is that they are OK with being led along step by step, not knowing what their doctrine will be next.

Who knows, at the end of the Bridge it could be revealed that the whole thing was a joke after all.   "Thanks for spending 400,000 dollars on the latest Hubbard sci-fi experience!"

Your father looks to be crushing you for the sake of the photograph.

This must be some sort of puzzle!

emos = "some" backwards.   WHAT COULD IT MEAN?!?!?!

Everyone put a recipe up but so far has anybody shopped and tried it out?