5,962 Forum Posts by "Dr-Worm"
Let's get some Whitney motherfucking Houston up in this thread.
Video games in general, these days especially.
The quality of a poster is directly proportional to the amount of time they spend between typing and clicking "Post."
That article you linked to is pretty silly. God of War is precisely the kind of juvenile "mature" bullshit I thought it was trying to avoid, and plenty of the other games listed there aren't much better.
Anyway: from just the past year or so alone Gone Home and Papers, Please are both fantastic games with actual mature themes.
Czech Republic at anything lower than #2 is silly. But to be ranked at #8 below the likes of Italy and Greece is downright absurd. Those countries aren't exactly known for their beer.
At 9/7/14 11:41 AM, SentForMe wrote: Is it really inviting it to happen though, since cranes rarely drop their loads by accident?
Don't you ever drop your loads by accident?
At 9/6/14 11:06 PM, Head-Full-Of-Acid wrote: they get paid in dicks
#NewgroundsGate
At 9/1/14 03:23 PM, WrightOnTarget wrote: Raul Julia in Street Fighter
YES.
At 9/1/14 08:12 PM, Natick wrote: battleship potemkin and the passion of joan of arc are my two favorites that i saw last year in a cinema history class
Word. The Odessa Steps sequence in Potemkin is one of those classic movie scenes that's so iconic and oft-imitated/parodied that you worry its impact will be blunted when you finally watch it for the first time, but nope, totally breathtaking and devastating anyway. Just an absolutely perfect piece of editing and staging.
And Falconetti in Passion is easily my favorite silent film performance.
F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) is glorious and perfect and anyone who's interested in silent films should be sure to check that one out. It's the culminating achievement of silent film as far as I'm concerned.
Yasujiro Ozu's I Was Born, But... (1932) is also fantastic and one of my all-time favorite movies, a really naturalistic, low-key, deceptively unassuming family dramedy. If you think silent movies are all wild gesticulation and outlandish melodrama, watch this and be amazed.
And then there's all the fun avant-garde experimental short stuff like Luis Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou" and Jean Vigo's "A Propos de Nice," and of course all the Keaton and Chaplin silent comedies. All great stuff that holds up wonderfully.
At 9/1/14 07:22 PM, NGPulp wrote: Anything goes: short films, foreign films, cartoons, etc. As long as its from the silent film era, around 1800 - 1930.
I think you meant 1890...
At 8/10/14 01:18 PM, Feoric wrote: I don't think I'll ever understand how you can become an ISIS supporter when you live in a first world country.
Basically I think it's just that there are a lot of marginalized and lonely young Muslim men in Europe (they might technically "live in a first world country" but they're still often kept at a distance from the wider society of that country socially, economically and politically; really second-generation Muslim immigrants growing up in Europe are doubly marginalized because they can't truly feel at home either in Europe or in their family's home countries) and these radical groups prey on them by offering them an identity that makes them feel powerful, that makes them feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves, that gives them an outlet for their frustrations. It's somewhat similar to why an inner city kid in America might join a gang.
There's an interesting book I read a while ago by Ed Husain called The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left that goes into detail about some of this stuff. It's a personal narrative so shouldn't be taken as a comprehensive look at the issue in any way, but it does provide some insight into what might be going on in people's heads when they decide to join these extremist groups.
It's a version of Legos where you can lose.
I don't really like it, but I have friends whose opinions I respect who do, so whatever.
At 8/22/14 01:42 AM, NewShape wrote: Shadow of the Colossus and Ico are excellent examples of minimalism, but don't provoke further thought.
Sure they do, it's just more abstract and elliptical thought. Those games are more like poetry than prose.
My rankings are only based on artistic value, and not game play mechanics.
The two ought to be intimately tied to each other when we're talking about interactive art, though, shouldn't they? Most of my favorite games (SotC and Ico included) achieve their artistic value through gameplay mechanics.
At 8/29/14 05:25 PM, orangebomb wrote: The term "gamer" is not a set-in-stone description beyond the basic definition, and there are many different types of gamers out there who play different genres or styles of games.
The author says this pretty much exactly, in bold type no less. You should really actually read articles before commenting on them.
At 8/30/14 07:50 PM, Auz wrote: Why are the people who are so concerned with the integrity of game journalism pointing all their hatred towards Zoe Quinn and largely blaming her for the whole thing? Shouldn't they be mad at that reporter guy? He's the one who gave up his integrity after all, but it sounds to me like everybody thinks Zoe is some kind of succubus and the men she sleeps with were helpless victims (or something).
This is the first sane response to this whole mess that I've read on this site. How the fuck is this the first sane response to this whole mess that I've read on this site? Has it always been this bad? I mean, holy shit you guys, come on.
Anyway, the obvious answer to your question is that they're not really concerned with "the integrity of game journalism" at all, this is just the newest flashpoint for the same old shit. They're confused by the idea that a game can do anything other than get their adrenaline pumping and indulge their basest fantasies, they're disturbed by the idea of a game industry/culture that doesn't exist solely to cater to their expectations and stroke their fragile egos, they're afraid of girls playing in their clubhouse. It's really that simple.
The "crisis" of "ethics" in game journalism is a total, laughable non-issue. It's built into the very nature of the business (not to mention, like, a natural part of being a human) that artists and the journalists and critics who cover them will interact socially. It's not just unavoidable, it's actually mutually beneficial to everyone involved, and it's hardly exclusive to games journalism. This happens in every other form of media, and nobody whines about it there because it's just an accepted norm.
There's nothing inherently unethical about relationships between developers and journalists. Are there ways in which they can become unethical? Sure, but there's little to no evidence of that here. You guys are jumping to huge conclusions based solely on the testimony of a jilted ex-boyfriend who's clearly emotional and upset and has an axe to grind. And even if his allegations were true, then the consequences of that could be handled internally by his publication. It doesn't justify their dirty laundry being aired all over the Internet, and it certainly doesn't justify all the harassment and abuse to which Quinn and those who support her have been subjected. Not to mention the fact that, like @Auz said, the actual breach of integrity would be on his part, not hers.
And all of this hardly even matters anyway because the simple fact of the matter is that just because these people create and write about your favorite toys doesn't mean their sex lives are any of your goddamn business.
But whatever. These are just the death throes of a once-dominant culture that's been stewing in its own adolescent filth for ~15 years or so and is now finally being dragged kicking and screaming into adulthood. Gaming no longer belongs to the gamers, and good fucking riddance for that if this sort of bile is all they can produce.
And btw if any of you are actually worried about the integrity of games journalism, doesn't it make much more sense to scrutinize things from the top-down rather than from the bottom-up? A relationship between one journalist and one independent developer somehow indicates a massive, industry-wide crisis? What about the relationships between the massive multibillion dollar publishers and the popular gaming publications that essentially act as branches of their marketing departments? Doesn't that have a much more far-reaching effect on the industry and the culture as a whole? Where are all the complaints about "corruption" there?
At 8/27/14 12:40 AM, HeavenDuff wrote: Hahaha! I haven't seen Avatar: The Last Airbender. But what Star Wars movies are you talking about?
The originals. Avatar seems to follow a very similar rough plot arc (each of its three seasons even corresponds to the tonal shifts of its respective Star Wars movie), it just adds in some neat stuff like "actual thematic complexity" and "coherent world-building" and "more than one female character."
Depression Quest for holy shit where do I even start.
I think it's silly that we even make a distinction between anime and Western animation, especially given the modern realities of outsourcing and international coproduction.
Hell, why even separate animation as a whole? It's a subset of film and/or television, but people tend to unfairly treat it as a genre. Beyond the most superficial level animated TV shows have more in common with live-action ones than they do with animated films, and vice versa.
I kinda think Avatar: The Last Airbender is better at being Star Wars than Star Wars.
At 8/24/14 03:22 PM, Splats wrote: 1. most games with female stereotyping or any stereotyping for that matter are pretty much standard issue by now, they don't mean to insult anyone so getting personally offended is not a reason to confront the industry about alleged misogyny/sexism (imo and many others')
It's not about the intentions behind these tropes, whatever they might be, it's about the effects they have regardless of those intentions. Sarkeesian knows that game developers don't mean to insult anyone, she knows that for the most part they're not actively trying to send misogynistic messages.
That's the whole point of the videos: to shed some light on the sexist underpinnings of these tropes so developers/players/critics can be wary of them in the future, because right now misogyny in the gaming industry/culture is so deeply entrenched that people constantly perpetuate it unconsciously.
2. anita sarkeesian, while having done a lot of research regarding the vidya, is not a gamer and therefore many do not care what she has to say and view her opinions as invalid. (this is not my opinion, i think it just explains why so many people got mad at her in the first place
Well those people are morons. First of all, all of Sarkeesian's videos have been primarily focused on narrative and aesthetic tropes that exist in lots of other media and whose effects aren't really ever changed by the context of gameplay (if you can think of some examples where this isn't the case, then that could be a valid argument against some of Sarkeesian's specific assessments of individual games, but not against her broader points or goals as so many mouth-breathing dweebs have claimed).
Second of all, look at the enormous variety of games that get mentioned in her videos. Old games, new games, blockbusters, indies, classics, obscurities, games of every genre and style you can think of. Her work clearly displays a far greater breadth and depth of gaming knowledge than that of your average self-described "gamer," so who cares whether or not she meets his arbitrary standard of expertise?
At the end of the day, I find the "controversy" over Sarkeesian's work to be utterly laughable. Feminist criticism is a thriving branch of the critical writing of virtually every single other artistic medium, feminist film, lit and art critics have been talking about these sorts of tropes for the past half century, yet for whatever reason even the most clear-cut, basic Women & Gender Studies 101 shit like the content of these videos whips the gaming community into a blind panic. And these are the same people who constantly complain that gaming isn't respected enough as an art form. It's just fucking bonkers.
At 8/24/14 11:40 PM, Natick wrote: is the motw project dead or do we just need to kick ourselves to get it going again?
At 8/25/14 09:20 AM, Jackho wrote: I fear her pulse is getting faint, best call the doctor
Unfortunately I've been a busy busy boy these past couple months. Also it doesn't help that this site is a festering cesspool I increasingly want nothing to do with.
But I'd totally be down to watch If... and chat about it this week if y'all are still interested.
I just finished Bryan Lee O'Malley's new graphic novel Seconds and it was pretty cool.
Also I recommend Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay to everyone, so. Yeah.
At 8/12/14 03:48 PM, SithCorduroy wrote: Dianetics: The Modern Science Of Mental Health.
*shudder* Seriously though, I also recently read Lawrence Wright's Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief, and it's fascinating/terrifying, so I'd highly recommend that as well.
At 8/12/14 07:59 PM, Oolaph wrote: Also I'm really excited for Vashti Bunyan's upcoming album. Across the Water is a wonderful song and it seems like recording everything on her own was a good move. I can't wait.
WHAAAAT?? *rushes to Google*
At 8/10/14 07:35 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: I probably would have watched Psycho a long time ago if I didn't already know the ending and hadn't seen several parts. The suspense would be spoiled, I figure.
Movies aren't about what they're about, they're about how they're about it.
At 6/9/14 09:12 PM, Grotty wrote: I Wanna Be Like You from the Jungle Book is waaay up there.
YES, seconded. Though the song's blatant racist undertones are kind of a bummer.
Also, Oogie Boogie's Song. And of course Whistle-Stop from Robin Hood.
Heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.
Oh, also @Piggler, if you like If... I'd strongly encourage you to check out the short-lived French director Jean Vigo's 1933 short Zero for Conduct, which was a huge influence on the movie and has a similar boarding school rebellion story structure (though it's much more innocent), plus it's just one of my all-time favorites.
At 7/23/14 12:45 AM, Piggler wrote: After some careful deliberation, I've decided.
Since the pick was posted on Wednesday, we'll run it through next week. If people are having trouble finding O Lucky Man! this weekend/are generally not enthused about it, we'll just make If... the MotW instead. Sound good?
Great pick, though. I was actually considering choosing If... as my last MotW pick, too!
Also, folks should be forewarned that this movie is three hours long, so you should plan accordingly. Thanks for setting the precedent for long movies, though, because at some point in the future I do plan on picking Edward Yang's 4 hour long A Brighter Summer Day.
