The Bitching Thread

[Animeniax]

I think it just comes down to allowing yourself to appreciate the aspects of a film in the context of their own eras. While acting is probably one of the few things you can compare to its modern-day counterparts.... I think a strong argument could be made for directing and editing as well. Sure there have been tons of advancements in the technology that has clearly made these jobs easier, but if you can't recognize good directing and editing from years ago then chances are you can't recognize it in this age either.

Well yeah, I wouldn't even be watching the old movies if I didn't think there were something worthwhile in them. Some of the classics are worth a watch regardless, but many more are unwatchable for the reasons I mentioned. Some examples I can recall are Serpico and Bad Lieutenant. I also recently watched some Charlie's Angels episodes from the late 70s and they were terribly acted and edited.

But the point I guess I'm trying to make is that just because its easier these days, doesn't mean films are better. Hell I'd say its the opposite. It takes less skill to produce something of great quality.

So instead of there being a lot of great directors making okay films and occasionally making an outstanding movie.... we have a lot of okay directors making decent films and sometimes not even achieving that. Then there's the few geniuses in both eras of film who produce consistently great cinema and occasionally reach perfection. If you want to try to compare those to each other, good luck with that, but thats not what I'm saying.

Hence my original bitch about modern Hollywood movies, films have improved aspects like direction and editing, but they reuse storylines and concepts and aren't much better for it, usually ruining the concepts they are trying to improve upon or update. So while the films aren't better intrinsically, they are still easier to watch than the old time movies because of production values.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Yeah, back then it took a real singular vision to make something worth being called film. Nowadays everything is "easy to watch" like you said, but it completely lacks in that vision which is what gives it a soul.

For me, I'd rather watch something that I can sense the director's intent in... than something that is technically smoother and easier on the eyes.

[Animeniax]

Definitely "easier to watch" doesn't equate to worth watching. It's like the first Gundam series, which I haven't been able to watch because of the terrible animation style. I'd love to see how the franchise started and its roots, but I can't sit through such shoddy animation in an animated series.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

The original series is by far the best one and my personal favorite. Have you tried watching the movie versions? I think they might look a little better. They split the series into 3 films in case you didn't know. Bout to go watch them again haven't seen it in years, thanks for reminding me.

You're a schmuck if you can't get past the animation style. If that came out today as the new hip style you'd beat off to it. Just because you know its old you deem it as inferior. Okay prolly not but still.... the plot and characters prevail all things my friend.


Edit: Not on piratebay. Whats a good anime site for that shit?

[Ryllharu]

Watch 12 Angry Men (1957) or M (1931, directed by Fritz Lang), and tell me that editing and cinematography has, on the average, improved in the last 50 years.

It's not the technology, it's the director and cinematographer. Always has been, always will be.

[Animeniax]

The original series is by far the best one and my personal favorite. Have you tried watching the movie versions? I think they might look a little better. They split the series into 3 films in case you didn't know. Bout to go watch them again haven't seen it in years, thanks for reminding me.

You're a schmuck if you can't get past the animation style. If that came out today as the new hip style you'd beat off to it. Just because you know its old you deem it as inferior. Okay prolly not but still.... the plot and characters prevail all things my friend.


Edit: Not on piratebay. Whats a good anime site for that shit?

The original may have the best story and interesting characters, but the animation is awful:
4594 - amuro_ray char_aznable char_custom dynamic_entry gundam kick mobile_suit_gundam quality z.jpg

My favorite Gundam series is 0080 and to a lesser degree 0083. War in the Pocket had it all and told a great story without the requisite fluff of later series. They also had the best Zeon mech ever, the Kampfer:
ms-18e.jpg

It also has one of the best generic mobile suit fight scenes:



I haven't seen the movie versions but I'll check them out if I can find them. And no, I don't like the new hip animation style, thanks for the baseless assumptions.

Watch 12 Angry Men (1957) or M (1931, directed by Fritz Lang), and tell me that editing and cinematography has, on the average, improved in the last 50 years.

It's not the technology, it's the director and cinematographer. Always has been, always will be.

No, technology is just one facet of improvement for some movies. Of course, in character and story driven movies like 12 Angry Men, the technological advances don't matter at all. But the biggest difference, and this gets back to Parker/Walker/Porter/etc, is the lack of originality and the recycling of ideas in movies and TV.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

After you watch the 3 Mobile Suit Gundam films I'd recommend the movie Char's Counter Attack. Its supposed to come after Zeta Gundam but I never watched much of it so that doesn't really matter cause I still used to watch the movie all the time in my younger days. Its all in the same universe tho, I forget what its called they have some name for that Gundam universe.

[Animeniax]

Saw Amazon's deal of the day for Pyrex storage containers, so headed over and saw some negative reviews for their product that I've used for years without issue. Turns out folks are upset that Pyrex no longer makes their products with the same glass they used to, switching from borosilicate to soda lime glass. I think I'm equally upset that companies go cheap to increase profit margins as I am upset that people are lamenting "the good old days" when glassware would survive any amount of misuse and lack of care. People are upset that the new glass doesn't stand up to temperature changes, such as when you take it out of the fridge and pop it in the microwave, and are concerned about the possibility of their glassware randomly exploding even with careful use.

I can't say which is more frustrating to me. We're talking about glass here people. The stuff breaks. Take care of how you handle it, instead of blaming it on the manufacturer when you drop your glassware and it doesn't survive.

[Buffalobiian]

I would be pissed about the glass. Heat-resistance in glass was what made it a viable piece of kitchenware alongside ceramics for me. It's like if smartphones suddenly decided that they'd stop developing tougher screens and just say "it's glass, shit breaks".

[Ryllharu]

People are upset that the new glass doesn't stand up to temperature changes, such as when you take it out of the fridge and pop it in the microwave, and are concerned about the possibility of their glassware randomly exploding even with careful use.

I have the "new" stuff. These people are idiots.

I take it out of the fridge and toss it into the microwave all the time.

What you don't do, is take it out of the freezer and toss it into a 500°F oven. Or much worse, the other way around. Don't serve the food out of it after microwaving it and then dunk it into a sink of cold water.

[hot -> suddenly cool] makes all ceramics shatter. Makes a lot of other things break too, like nalgene bottles, etc.

edit: Turns out the "new" glass has been used by Pyrex for 60 years. What changed was the lack of common sense among the general populace, and increased litigation, meaning the company had to increase liability protection with adequate warnings that used to be common sense.

[Animeniax]

I would be pissed about the glass. Heat-resistance in glass was what made it a viable piece of kitchenware alongside ceramics for me. It's like if smartphones suddenly decided that they'd stop developing tougher screens and just say "it's glass, shit breaks".

Like Ryllharu said, there are tolerances with what you can do with glass, as with anything. The amount of abuse you can subject it to shouldn't be unlimited or even from "the good old days", and it still performs well with normal use. And we're talking about food storage products here. A cell phone that goes in your pocket/purse, gets handled leisurely and often used, should require higher tolerances than something you simply store and heat food in.

[Kraco]

Or much worse, the other way around. Don't serve the food out of it after microwaving it and then dunk it into a sink of cold water.

I have regularly put my Pyrex casserole pan into cold water in the sink to cool. Though maybe it made all the difference it had a chance to lose some of the edge in room temperature while I was eating. I certainly thought the whole point of Pyrex as opposed to some random cheap glass was very high resistance to temperature changes.

[Animeniax]

I think it's fair that there are limits to the resistance offered in a $2-3 piece of glassware and that basic safeguards like not subjecting them to drastic temperature changes isn't asking too much from customers.

[Ryllharu]

@Kraco
Per the instructions (on my desk as I typed the previous post and this one), that's totally fine, and what they recommend.

What it warns against is, 'putting cold liquid in hot glassware (usually from oven), putting hot glassware on wet/cold surfaces without a dry potholder or thick towel, or placing hot glassware directly on a countertop or on a metal sink. Allow hot glassware to cool before washing, refrigerating, or freezing.'

The people who are breaking these are taking them out of a hot oven and putting them directly on their fancy (and generally cool to the touch) granite countertops, shattering the dish. Or "rinsing it out" with a quick splash of water so the food doesn't stick to it while they eat dinner.

[Buffalobiian]

Like Ryllharu said, there are tolerances with what you can do with glass, as with anything. The amount of abuse you can subject it to shouldn't be unlimited or even from "the good old days", and it still performs well with normal use. And we're talking about food storage products here. A cell phone that goes in your pocket/purse, gets handled leisurely and often used, should require higher tolerances than something you simply store and heat food in.

I thought you were saying that they're making glass now that'd shatter if you microwaved it from the fridge. I would have been sorely disappointed at that. Further comments seem to say that's fine though, so I'm cool with that.

I expect nothing out of $2-3 wares. I've got a 300ml French Press that I bought for $3. I didn't complain when the store assistant said that it could not stand 100C boiling water unless it was pre-heated. The filter has shitty gaps anyway.

I also have a 1L Bodem press that I bought for something closer to $70. I'd cry if they said it wouldn't stand a bit of hot water.

As for the cold-liquid in hot glassware thing, I haven't been paying much attention to it. I suppose whenever I put cold water into glassware and throw it into the sink, the glass must have cooled down sufficiently already.

[Animeniax]

I thought you were saying that they're making glass now that'd shatter if you microwaved it from the fridge. I would have been sorely disappointed at that. Further comments seem to say that's fine though, so I'm cool with that.

I expect nothing out of $2-3 wares. I've got a 300ml French Press that I bought for $3. I didn't complain when the store assistant said that it could not stand 100C boiling water unless it was pre-heated. The filter has shitty gaps anyway.

I also have a 1L Bodem press that I bought for something closer to $70. I'd cry if they said it wouldn't stand a bit of hot water.

As for the cold-liquid in hot glassware thing, I haven't been paying much attention to it. I suppose whenever I put cold water into glassware and throw it into the sink, the glass must have cooled down sufficiently already.

Nah, it's more drastic temp changes than that. The thing is, I think a lot of reviewer complaints aren't about actual problems experienced with the product, but mainly potential problems based on the new material used in their construction.

I agree I want what I pay for, and almost always pay extra for quality. But I also think you have to take care of equipment or it will fail, no matter how well made.

[IFHTT]

I downloaded a shitty movie title parody porn (Pulp Friction) last weekend via a torrent and received a copyright infringement notice tonight.

What's worse is that the only parody was the name and the porn had absolutely nothing to do with the title they ripped off... I didn't even get to enjoy the forbidden fruit of my labor.

[Animeniax]

I downloaded a shitty movie title parody porn (Pulp Friction) last weekend via a torrent and received a copyright infringement notice tonight.

What's worse is that the only parody was the name and the porn had absolutely nothing to do with the title they ripped off... I didn't even get to enjoy the forbidden fruit of my labor.

Was it a cease and desist order or something more serious? Was it a public or private tracker? Do you plan to stop dl'ing torrents because of this? And lastly, if you care to divulge it, who is your ISP?

[IFHTT]

Yeah, just a C&D. Public Tracker. I don't use them much as it is, but unlikely. Cablelynx.

[Buffalobiian]

So where you actually after the porn, or the movie? xD

I heard some weird noises late last night. When I checked up on it, I found my printer going spastic. Machinery was moving around inside, but no pages were coming out. The machine was off to begin with, but when I pressed the ON button, it reports "Busy, try again later".

A little research showed that the printer, if left plugged in, will clean its heads periodically.. generally at around 3am in the morning.

I never got the whole 3am thing (that's when microsoft products are set to updates themselves as well if you leave it to default settings). Sure, it makes sense for office machines, but what about everybody else? :S

Anyway, now I have to choose between leaving the printer plugged in (late-night cleaning sometimes, not sure of the frequency), or to leave the printer unplugged until I use it. With the latter, it means whenever I plug it in, it will automatically do a 1 minute head-clean by default, making me wait and using my ink unproductively.

In the end, I think I'll choose the latter since I print fairly infrequently (and screw late-night mechanical noise).