John

[quote name='Avenged666fold']Yea I was joking. And hate mongering against Gwen Stefani...[/quote] Joking, yeah.

[quote name='Avenged666fold']Japanese culture stealing whore...I never did like her.[/quote] Yeah, when an average person obsesses over Japan it's an interest, but when a celebrity does it, it's cultural thievery. Doyyy, Gwen.

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]It seems that way. :animesigh I kinda hate to say this, but [COLOR=DarkRed]haku[/COLOR] has some of the worst ideas about characters I've heard. Naruto is in no way a Nintendo star. In the first place, he's not even specific to Nintendo?he's a money-maker tied to a popular anime; in the second place, the only reason he's even popular is because of the rabid Narutards, and if they ever get a say in the roster list....; in the third place, do you really want to hear "Believe It!" every time some twit hits the taunt button?; and finally, no. Just no. Same with One Piece.[/FONT][/quote] Agreed. This game generally looks like it's going to be a ton of fun, but if any anime/manga characters were ever confirmed, I would immediately forget about everything else and disown Nintendo forever.

In no particular order, here are the ones I've seen: -Over the Top -300 -Star Wars Episode I -Star Wars Episode II -Star Wars Episode III -LotR: FotR -Reign of Fire -The Matrix -Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory My older sister and I just bought the Over the Top Rifftrax last night, but it got too late and I haven't had time to watch it yet. 300 was a magnificent spectacle of riffing, made all the better by the fact that that was my first time seeing the movie. Of course, any movie with characters that intense and macho is instant riff-bait ("BIG MCLARGEHUGE!" "PUNT SPEEDCHUNK!"), so it's to be expected. I watched all the Star Wars ones consecutively in a few days, and I'm not sure which one I like best. To me, they all had some pretty decent riffing. And as a bonus, the running "I hate sand" gag was the first time I've seen an inter-movie callback since MST, so that was a nice thing to behold. (I do, however, agree that Chad Vader was a crappy guest riffer.) I understand that your loathing for the FotR movie would dismay you from buying the Rifftrax, Shin, but I promise you it's well worth it whether you love the movie or hate it. 300 runs a decent second, but this is still my favorite one so far. That might be because it was the first Rifftrax I ever saw, but man, it's quality. I think I've rewatched this one about half a dozen times--at 3 hours, that's not too shabby--and every time it just gets more classic. Plus, with the sheer volume of movie there, you probably won't be able to soak in all the riffs in one viewing (it's amazing how many jokes you miss after one good one has you clenching your stomach for a full few minutes). Reign of Fire kinda sucked. :/ I found the Matrix Rifftrax pretty satisfactory, and I'd say it probably comes in right after 300 for me. Maybe tied there with Willy Wonka. I still like the movie itself quite a bit, and when I watched the Rifftrax to it, it had been a long time since I had seen it. So in addition to the decent jokes, it just brought back a warm, semi-nostalgic feeling to me like I might get when I watch MST; that might be why I think highly of this one. Ahhh, Willy Wonka. Let it be known that Neil Patrick Harris is a damn fine guest riffer, and he and Mike had some good discourse going throughout. I keep finding that the best movies for Rifftrax are actually the ones that are good rather than bad, though why that is, I don't know.

I like it just because it's different. Whether you like the rules here, the general posting style, the people, and how they interact with each other, it's at least a huge change from other forums. It's really just too peculiar for me to ignore.

What NAMBLA's doing is completely withing the limits of the first amendment. It's wrong, but it's not hurting anybody (I'm [I]only[/I] talking about the promotion of the organization there, not the actual activities it endorses or participates in, so don't try to nail me on that). Anyone who thinks they should be stopped from voicing their opinions just doesn't get how justice works. [quote=Kam]I can't understand how they're protected when the varying "anarchist cookbooks" out there are banned. Backwards damn politics. -Justin[/quote] Well, those are banned because they encourage (usually violent, if I'm not incorrect) overthrow of the government. So maybe they should be banned and maybe they shouldn't, but the fact that they are doesn't have too much to do with conventional free speech. On that note, it's important to keep in mind that even by written law, American free speech isn't absolute. Hate speech, incitations to violence, and the release of information that is essential to national security (such as a newspaper printing the coordinates of an impending American air strike, or details of holes in a government computer system, or something) are all illegal.

[quote name='haku877']No its a human, they have names and messages, if a person disconnects, they forfeit ( I'm really not all the way sure,but I'm pretty positive), or if its a team the person might be screwed. Also they are not ruining it, and I think a lot of us would agree stop flaming a forum page if you don't like something, just a quick comment and be on, please.[/quote] [URL]http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/wi-fi/wi-fi04.html[/URL] [IMG]http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/994/monitorslapbqw0es6.gif[/IMG]

I've just got one quick thing to say about GHIII: I thought they were going the wrong direction with Judy Nails in GH2, but man, this game really completed the process of turning her into just another abrasive slut. They pretty much ruined most of the characters this time around, but I think this is the biggest tragedy.

Man, I thought they were done messing up the online play, but then they pull this NPC crap on us, lol. NPCs replacing a human player when they leave [I]would[/I] have been a great idea, but their conscious decision to make it so that nobody knows when a player is replaced with a computer was stupid as hell. Now you'll never really know whether you're playing against another human or not, unless you know the AI pretty well. I wish I knew why Nintendo wants to suck any potential community aspect out of this game.

[quote name='Charles']OtakuBoards Tetris. There would be two teams--the "shapes" and the "blockers." The shapes would be the offensive team, and the blockers would be defensive. Here's how the game would work: The "shapes" team would use conventional Tetris shapes as their avatars. Within the game thread, a list of questions will be posted based off of Otakupedia entries, forum trivia, and other assorted OtakuBoards subjects (sort of like Jeopordy). Both sides would be responsible for answering these same questions. However, it wouldn't necessarily be how [I]fast[/I] each team could find the answers. Each team would live or die based on communication and coordination. You see, the goal of the "shapes" team would be for each player to post in an order that allows them to make one or more straight lines, just like in Tetris. The correct players would have to do answer the questions successively without interruption. The job of the blockers would be to interrupt the posting string by answering the questions in-between the posts of the "shape" players. Each side would altnerate between offense and defense--that is, once the "shape" side either makes a line or is blocked, they would become the "blockers' and the "blockers" would become the "shapes." What do you think, Justin?[/quote] Anything that gives me an excuse to say, "C-C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!" on OB is fine with me.

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE=1]I have already said in this thread that I support prohibition and a full ban on tobacco products for the reasons you?ve outlined above, they?re dangerous and serve no purpose.[/SIZE][/quote] Oh, so you agree with me that we should ban all things that have no purpose? See my earlier post on silly walks and join the cause, brother!

[quote name='Aceburner']Alright, I'm going to make one final point and leave it at that. All who say it should be legal because we shouldn't need to protect people from themselves: Suicide. Why is that illegal? I'll leave you to mull over that.[/quote] Who cares why suicide's illegal, because it shouldn't be. Just like marijuana shouldn't be. Sheesh, was that so hard?

You know what else they have no reason to legalize? Silly walks. They're ridiculous! They make you look silly, you run the risk of bumping into people, they're extremely inefficient, and all those contortions can't be good for your joints. Silly walks are so silly that we have no reason to make them legal; that's why they're not. OH WAIT.

This would do: [IMG]http://www.vaticanotours.com/g/sistine_chapel.jpg[/IMG] Honestly, though, I was once at someone's house who had an airplane design as the base of their ceiling fan, making the fan the propeller, and if you sat right under it you got to feel like your death was upon you the whole time. It was neat.

[quote name='AzureWolf']The Japanese? Try "Every Country with a Videogame." Yes, there are a ton of Japanese porn games, just like how there are a bunch of American porn games. Almost all of the games are for the PC.[/quote] Yeah, you could look at it as "pretty much every country has sex videogames, including Japan," but I think it'd be more accurate to say, "Japan has pretty much everything relating to sex, including videogames."

[quote name='Gunslinger'][COLOR=#776560]So what are you thoughts about the syle's and lifestyle's of people? It's mostly at school hwere you can notice these things. The emos, the goths, the punks, the preps, the skateboarders, the rappers are some of the kinds of people at shchools. All the others fit some other catagory I haven't listed. So, are you in any of those groups? Do you shun others for how they dress/act?[/COLOR][/quote] [IMG]http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2738/awjeeznotagainvi7.jpg[/IMG] [quote name='The13thMan][COLOR=DarkOrange][FONT=Century Gothic] Rap today is complete trash. I was listening to a rap artist the other day talking about how the rap of today is complete trash and how the rap of yesterday was real stuff. It had a message, it wasn't just derogatory bullshet about women, sex, and drugs. His basic theory was that the old school rappers didn't hold the new ones accountable for what their messages. So, to sum up (or rap up), rap is crap. [/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] [IMG]http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2738/awjeeznotagainvi7.jpg[/IMG] Come on guys, you're [I]killing[/I] me!

I'm straight and abstinent, with the only possible exception to either being if '70s-era David Bowie time-traveled to present times and paid a visit to my bedroom. But I think that's a given, isn't it?

Do it, but for the right reason--because your friend deserves to know, not because you want to carry out karma on your little brother. It'll end up being good for him anyway.

Oh, come on guys. I'm certain that this type of thing could entertain more than just Panda and I, so get off yer ***** and post! If you think you've got nothing to say, at least visit the sites I listed, as all of them at least have short clips of what they're all about. But back on topic, I just got around to watching the first episode of the new animated series, and I'm sad to say it sucks even more than I had anticipated. The voice acting, the characterizations, the animation, the jokes (or lack thereof)... all of it is just about as bad as you could possibly get, especially from professionals who're already selling t-shirts. Oh, that's another thing, I had an awesome MST3K shirt on the top of my Christmas list that was being sold at the fansite, when my sister told me that the link was broken. I check it, and sure enough, they've taken down their store. I guess Jim Mallon is only allowing merch to go through the official site now, which wouldn't be so bad save that they're only selling new merch from the ****ty new series, not the classic stuff. But, to end the update on a good note, [URL="http://starwars.com/community/news/rocks/f20071109/index.html"][COLOR=Gray]this[/COLOR][/URL] StarWars.com interview with Joel went up recently, and it's packed with great info about his personal history and the history of MST. Also, the first movie for Cinematic Titanic has been confirmed as the Sean Connery film [U]Zardoz[/U], to be released on or around December 10 (this following their live premier on Dec. 7). After seeing that costume he wears, I can't wait to hear what the riffers have in store for the movie.

I once tried it out for a little while, and it bored me quickly. I think they may really be onto something by having an MMO in a sidescrolling environment, but that doesn't save them from the ho-hum, grindfest gameplay that every MMO I've ever played has in common. And even other MMOs seem to have more complex gameplay than MapleStory. Not to mention the community, which is infamously bad. Both of these things are problems in most MMOs anyway, and certainly most free ones, so if you like the standard MMO gameplay (as many do) and you don't mind a lame community, then I think you'll find this a satisfying experience.

The last Mystery Science Theater 3000 thread died a long time ago, largely because of an absence of new stuff to talk about. But no more! Starting a year or two ago and slowly but surely increasing from there, almost the entire cast of MST3K from every point in its syndicated run have now started various new projects, and it seems the world of MST is about to reach a fever pitch it hasn't seen since the show itself was last on air. Let's break it down for ya: [B]Rifftrax (Rifftrax.com):[/B] Presumably the start of this new riffing revival, Rifftrax is the project created by former MST host Mike Nelson, and involves him once again riffing along with movies. Only this time, several things are different. One of the main reasons MST3K was eventually forced off the air despite its rabid fanbase was the cost of buying the TV rights to every movie they wanted to put on the show, even if they were old and long-forgotten. Mike remedies this situation in this project by actually recording the riff track (hence, Rifftrax) on an mp3 file and making that available for sale. Then, using your mp3 playing method of choice, you sync the Rifftrax up with the movie manually (not as hard as it sounds), which you rent or own by yourself (fortunately, Rifftrax are cheap, so it's not a big drain on your wallet to pay for both that and the movie). Of course, it was quickly discovered that one man riffing on a movie by himself isn't nearly as fun as multiple people interacting with each other and playing off each others' riffs. So special guest riffers, mostly from the MST cast, were eventually appearing in pretty much every Rifftrax; the most prevalent guest riffer is no doubt Kevin Murphy, the genius behind Tom Servo. And as it turns out, these riffing sessions are at least as good as the original MST, if not better. While MST still holds a lot of nostalgia, along with characters that just won't ever be beaten, Riffrax's clever mocking of movies that are actually recent and popular and fresh pop-culture riffs that are delightfully more current than the MST fare, put both series about neck and neck. (Oh, also, Neil Patrick Harris guest-riffed on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. :) ) [B]The Film Crew (filmcrewonline.com):[/B] Although The Film Crew have apparently been around since at least mid-2005, I don't credit them as the source of the riffing revival because they didn't actually start doing any riffing until mid-2007. Before that, the crew, comprised of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett (voice of Crow), had apparently been a less tightly-organized group that would host or introduce various TV and DVD movies (such as stuff from the Three Stooges) on channels like AMC, Sundance, and Starz. This time around, though, they're back to riffing the almost-classic way: they've come back with a new fictional setting, host segments, and more old movies. I haven't yet seen any Film Crew movies, but you can buy their DVDs from the website. I may just ask for some for Christmas. :) [B]Unnamed animated series:[/B] You heard me right. Within the past week, a brand-new MST3K animated show, which will be hosted online, was announced. The show will feature only the bots this time around, however, and I got the impression it wouldn't be based around riffing movies. Needless to say, my interest in this is piqued, but I'm also pretty doubtful: the show is being created by longtime MST producer and writer Jim Mallon and Paul Chaplin, but none of the actual cast will be coming back to do voices (although Jim did do the voice of Gypsy, whenever she happened to appear onscreen). Nothing has yet been said of the voices of any of the characters except Crow, who will be voiced by Chaplin. This will all go down on November 5th, when the domain name mst3k.com will be bestowed upon Jim and Paul by the Satellite News, the long-standing hub of all MST-related fanaticism on the internet. They in turn will fall back on the domain mst3kinfo.com, and will go from being called the official site of MST3K to the official fansite. The series is, for the record, being published under the resurrected name of Best Brains, Inc. [B]Cinematic Titanic (cinematictitanic.com):[/B] If the animated series does indeed turn out to be a dud, then we will soon have yet a third riff-fest coming at us to make up for it: Cinematic Titanic. This one is [I]really[/I] going to fill in all the gaps that MSTies everywhere have been longing for even in the midst of Rifftrax and the Film Crew, in terms of two things: the cast, and the silhouettes. First and foremost, the cast. Finally answering his instinctive call to record himself making fun of terrible movies for the first time since he left MST is series creator and original host [I][B]Joel Hodgson[/B][/I]. I personally have no preference between Joel and Mike, but this is huge. Even better, this time he's got not two but [I]four[/I] previous MST stars helping him on what appears to be a regular basis: Mary Jo Pehl (writer and later actress for Pearl Forrester), Trace Beaulieu, Frank Coniff (actor for TV's Frank), and--returning for the first time since the primordial, legendary local-access days of MST--J. Elvis Weinstein (actor for Dr. Laurence Ernhardt). That's right, five classic riffers on one movie at one time. It's going to be a freaking cluster**** of hilarious. Secondly, the beloved method of silhouetting the stars onto the film will once again be reinstated, though this time they'll apparently be on some sort of bizarre scaffolding-like setup on either side of the screen, as you can see in the series logo on the website. I hope they don't have to stay standing for the whole movie! According to the site, Cinematic Titanic's first movie will be released in time for Christmas, and before that they'll have their premier live in San Francisco in December. The showing itself will be open only to ILM/Lucasfilm employees, but the performance will be offered to the public "remotely and slightly after the fact". So if you've read all that and you aren't pumped about the future of riffing yet, then I feel sorry for you. Now, discuss.

The issue is whether artificial intelligence can come to establish thought processes so complex that they can be said to have life--after all, the human brain is just a bunch of nerves firing off electrical signals to each other. And I think as long as souls don't come into the issue, it's true that robots can eventually become what we would call "alive" (anyone who doesn't think so hasn't seen Short Circuit). I, however, do believe in souls, so I think robots can never become more than objects. Thus, for sex they'd just be toys and for marriage they'd be sources of delusion.

I really don't have any definite favorite musicians/bands, so my list is probably pretty subject to change, even between tiers. As it is, I'll avoid even trying to order them within their tiers by how much I like them. [U][B]Top Tier[/B][/U] [B]David Bowie [/B]- I'm most familiar with his '70s work, but that alone was consistently good enough to guarantee him a spot very close (probably dead-on at) the top of my list. [B]Pavement[/B] - They were my gateway drug into the world of good music, and they represent everything that's right and good about indie rock. None of that "So I'm in a band and, like, we have an accordion player" bull**** here. [B]Guided By Voices[/B] - Somewhat experimental, and yet always stupidly, ridiculously catchy. [B]King Crimson[/B] - The godfather band of progressive rock. They're always changing, yet always staying the same, much like Bowie in that regard. [B]Morphine[/B] - Morphine was fantastic at making smooth, jazzy, and very hard to describe music that might qualify as rock and might not. They're not hard to get into at all, and I think many more people from my generation could get into them if they just heard their stuff. [U][B]Higher Tier[/B][/U] [B]The Mighty Mighty Bosstones[/B] - Their catchy, ballsy ska-core would be good enough to give them a lot of listens from me, but I think it's the lyrics that give this band the real staying power for me. Because franky, they aren't anything amazing--they're just ok. But you can tell that they know that, and that they're not really writing them for you, nor do they care how simple they sound. If Dicky (the singer) wants to get a point across in a song, he just says it without trying to make a big deal of how he says it. It's just a small thing, but I admire them for that. [B]Pixies[/B] - Maybe these guys should be in the top tier, but I haven't listened to them in a while. Anyway, the Pixies are awesome because they're awesome. [B]Kyuss[/B] - Straddling the line between stoner rock and stoner metal, Kyuss were the undisputed masters of their genre. And however arrogant Josh Homme may actually be, it never came across in the music, which was a major draw for me. Like the Bosstones, they didn't try to put themselves up on a pedestal their music with pomp and pretention like so many heavy bands around them. Unlike the Bosstones, they succeed in getting on that pedestal anyway because they rule your freaking world. [B]Fugazi[/B] - Post-hardcore with a strong emphasis on the "post". They were the masters of their craft, but then again so is everyone else on my list lol. I'm kind of incapable of finding fantastic bands by myself. :X [B]Hum[/B] - Hum has a very definite sound that puts them as one of my favorite bands (maybe they should be top tier as well), and it's fairly straightforward, but I just can't find the words to describe it. It's got nuances, see. Can't describe nuances. [B]My Bloody Valentine[/B] - The only shoegazer band that I'm really into (wish that would change). [U]Loveless[/U] is praised endlessly by everyone, and for good reason, but I've been going through their earlier stuff lately and I'm finding that it's pretty great too, though much different. [U][B]Low Tier [/B][/U][B]Andrew W.K.[/B] - Usually, when rock gets harder and harder it eventually becomes metal. Andew W.K. is what happens when rock keeps getting harder, but somehow manages to avoid turning into metal. I speak mostly of the album [U]I Get Wet[/U] here, which I find more fulfilling than his later two (though I do respect the change of direction he started to take). [B]The Velvet Underground[/B] - Their noise experimentation was top-notch, and when you're not in the mood for something like that, Lou Reed can still hook you up with some solid pop ditties. [B]Husker Du[/B] - Husker Du's just... a damn solid band. lol [B]Mission of Burma[/B] - Because I really love [U]Signals, Calls, and Marches[/U]. Their other stuff is good, but in a different and more experimental way that I'm not in the mood for as often. [U][B]Almost Made It[/B][/U] [B]Pearls and Brass Local H Weezer The Aquabats Gravediggaz Edan Slint [/B](and I mean [I]almost) [/I] In conclusion, old music > current music.

[quote name='Inuyasha7271']This is a refer to the both of you I said I like not I love I do hate angsty music with whiny bitchy guys but Evanescence has a female lead singer. I don't mind emotional whiny bitchy lyrics from a chick, but a dude is another thing I don't need another guy whining to me.[/quote] It's ok for women because they're weaker, hooray!

[quote name='Inuyasha7271']Not every evanescence song is angsty duh they have some angsty songs every band has 1 or 2 whiny bitchy songs on their cds.[/quote] One or two? lol. I wasn't being picky-choosy about the songs I quoted. I really did pick the first three I saw. But to drive the point home, I was going to start this post by snipping lyrics from every whiny track on all of their albums and compare that to the number of ones that aren't, but I don't want to waste the page space. You can read them yourself. I don't care if you like the band or not, because that's subjective. But don't call out other bands for being whiny and angsty when these guys' lyrics are beyond defense in that respect. :)