The Spectacular Professor

[quote name='Heaven's Cloud' date='12 September 2010 - 07:22 PM' timestamp='1284344546' post='700461'] [color=indigo]Burning a holy book can be a form of non-violent protest to towards the actions carried out by people that value that book. There are a lot of legitimate reasons to protest the actions of religious groups. There isn't a single logical reason to protest Harry Potter.[/color] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"]Except for the most part, you'll find that the religious groups committing these atrocities (keeping with the Qu'ran example here) are radical extremists who are looked down upon by their more moderate contemporaries. They're not representing Islam as a whole, they're representing an insane faction who grossly misinterprets the Qu'ran's teachings and uses it as an excuse to kill anyone they don't agree with in the name of a God who never asked them to. Burning the Qu'ran isn't a nonviolent protest against Al-Quaeda, it's religious intolerance of the entire nation of Islam. Not every Muslim crashes planes into buildings. Every Muslim does, however, believe in the Qu'ran. Burning the Qu'ran is equivalent to insulting the entire religion in retaliation to a tiny little fringe group that the rest thinks is crazy. Does that seem right to you? Basically, I see it this way. A bunch of idiots are trying really dang hard to give their group a bad name, and another bunch of idiots is taking the bait hook, line and sinker, which reflects badly on their group in turn. It's a bad deal all around and it makes everyone within three degrees of separation of either of these groups look bad.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]I can't really agree with the idea that burning the Quran is no more wrong than burning a Harry Potter book. I agree with the basic logic behind this idea; that it's essentially a giant wad of paper and cardboard and the contents aren't all that relevant so much as the intent behind the act. This is why I disagree, though. It's the intent itself that holds more weight in this instance. Burning any average work of fiction is just protesting the content of the story. It tells the world that you disagree with the themes presented in the book and don't consider it worth reading. Essentially, you are telling the book that it doesn't have a right to be there. Now take a religious text and apply the same motivation, but now you're not only protesting a novel. You're more or less telling everyone who believes in what is written in that book (and this being the Quran, that's a pretty substantial community) that they are stupid and wrong. Burning [i]Twilight[/i] is intolerance of a story. Burning the Quran is intolerance of the entire Islamic nation. You may argue that people who are fans of a burned novel may take offense, but for the most part that book doesn't represent the way in which they have chosen to live out their entire life. As such, the intent behind burning a religious text is far more malicious than burning a work of fiction. Burning a work of fiction attacks someone's interests. Burning a religious text attacks their beliefs.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Maybe he was planning to steal Danzo's body. Except that wouldn't make sense even at base level, considering Danzo has apparently been old and frail since Nagato was a kid. Oh wait, Masashi Kishimoto. Yeah, this is entirely plausible now.[/font]

[quote name='Delta' date='10 September 2010 - 08:20 PM' timestamp='1284175240' post='700396'][COLOR=#35425e]Like that Lambchops song.[/COLOR] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"]It doesn't end. It just goes on and on my friend. SOMEBODY STAAARTED SINGIN' IT NOT KNOWIN' WHAT IT WAS AND THEY WILL KEEP ON SINGIN' IT FOREVER JUST BECAUSE THIS IS THE SONG THAT DOESN'T END IT JUST GOES ON AND ON MY FRIEND....[/font]

[quote name='Sangome' date='10 September 2010 - 12:06 PM' timestamp='1284145613' post='700387'] [color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]Your name change wouldn't happen to have something to do with the fine lady in your avatar, would it? [/font][/color] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"]Naw, more to do with the woman in my current avatar, which was custom-made by myself directly from a screenshot and not badly resized by the board's own software.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Christians who attack all of Islam on the baseless assumption that everyone who practices it is a radical are hardly any different from the Islams who crash planes into buildings believing that anyone who believes differently from them is a heathen who must be destroyed. It's the same mindset and the same motives, the only difference is the cost in human lives, and who's to say Westboro Baptist is above bombing a convention center? I know sometimes it's hard to practice what you preach, but this one seems pretty damned coherent.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Good news, everyone! I've become ever so slightly more egotistical![/font]

[quote name='Gavin' date='09 September 2010 - 03:19 AM' timestamp='1284027598' post='700354'] [font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Probably just an empty threat from me, but the level of omniscience we're seeing from two of WSJ's Big Three's villains is just starting to get on my nerves. Madara is starting to become exceptionally boring to me now if he did genuinely arrange/engineer for Nagato to inherit the Rinnegan. Given Kishi loves his Uchiha there's also little likelihood that we're going to see the same kind of turnabout as we did with Ichigo/Aizen in Bleach. [/size][/font] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"]The other member of the Popularity Triforce is getting to have its moments with its (probably) main villain, too. The only thing that saves it is the fact that it's pretty clear that the moment **** goes south for Blackbeard, he has next to no backup plan at the moment. If one more Uchiha is responsible for one more major plot point I will go to Sakura-Con next year and gouge out the eyes of anyone I see wearing Sharingan contacts.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]I sense that this could go south very quickly. [center][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkaD6fG8mk[/media][/center][/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Whoa, hold on guys. We're missing the headline news here. It looks almost as if a woman is about to do something interesting in [b]Naruto[/b].[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Famous people need to stop taping their sex. No one else wants to see Glenn Beck do the nasty anyway, and if the purpose was really to watch it by yourselves later, you could always just, y'know, have sex again. Seems like a simple solution to a really dumb problem. Except those airheaded heiress types, I guess. Heaven knows we need several more of those making several tens of millions of dollars every time they mention Oreos in a Tweet.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]For the most part, Phineas and Ferb don't really feel the need to hide any of their creations. They're completely unaware that they might get in trouble for any of it, and sometimes they even encourage Candace to show their mom. On top of that, they even seem to invite the other neighborhood kids and even a few adults to enjoy their latest project. On the few occasions their mom does see what they did that day, she usually only gets to see the low-key parts, like the completely normal-looking top floor of their clubhouse, or the project was for her anyway, like the time they set up an entire birthday celebration for her. There are a few instances where she actually does see the entire project and grounds them, but those all get retconned by the end of the episode somehow. There is one episode where they have to knowingly hide their project, though. It's called [b]The Beak[/b], and it's basically a parody of common superhero cliches. Phineas and Ferb accidentally become superheroes for the day (long story) and Phineas ends up having to keep Isabella out of the loop so the bad guy doesn't target her. It's a pretty fun episode, so if you manage to catch it while it's on, be sure to check it out. And Petie's right, the series is still ongoing, it's just that the premieres of new episodes has slowed to a trickle over the past couple of months. They had a new one called [b]Nerds of a Feather[/b] air a few days ago (they go to a comics and movies convention, a bunch of nerdy shenanigans take place, all great fun). I think they've also announced a third season for next year, once they finally run out of episodes they can bill as being from the second season.[/font]

[quote name='Delta' date='30 August 2010 - 05:02 PM' timestamp='1283212920' post='700046'] [COLOR=#35425e]\ Film yourself as film student with a pad in hand, looking for inspiration. And everytime you look down to your pad to write, something really exciting happens behind you (marching band passes by, marriage proposal, [b]a Trojan invasion[/b]).[/COLOR] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"]Preferably, actual citizens of Troy, but there's an alternate interpretation of this part that would also be very distracting. Anyway, my suggestion is to come up with your characters first. Every good plot revolves around the needs of the characters. So let's say you decide to go with [b]Zanate[/b]'s suggestion (not that you have to, just the easiest example I can think of). The first thing you'd need to do is decide who these two characters trying to communicate are and why they can't just speak to each other. Maybe they're monks? Maybe they're just shy? Maybe they don't speak the same language? Whatever the reason, what they're trying to tell each other is probably connected to it. For example, perhaps they don't speak the same language because they are the generals of two warring countries trying to come up with a treaty. The problem with that is it might be a bit too extravagant for you to squeeze into three minutes of filming, though, so you might want to go with something a little more simple. For example, maybe one of the two is a foreign exchange student staying with the other one's family, and let's just say they're trying to decide what to have for lunch. This is a simple concept that can probably last about three minutes without getting stale. After that, plot out the progression of events. This shouldn't be too hard, since there would be little to no dialogue. Just find a setting and come up with a way to communicate to the audience what the premise of your story is. Allow the story to progress, and then resolve it when it's gone on long enough. After that, you'd just have to film it. Is it just the script that's due or the whole film? Either way, it shouldn't take too long to do one or both. Anyway, that's just my suggestion. Good luck with your project, whatever you decide to go with. Remember; Characters first, plot second.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]So like, I finally got my official certificate recognizing me as a first degree black belt. [center][img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/Yashouzoid/zoidberg.png[/img][/center][/font]

[quote name='CaNz' date='27 August 2010 - 04:59 PM' timestamp='1282953561' post='699941'] [size="1"]*escapes the urge to make a horrible 300 reference.*[/size] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"][size="1"]*Does not.*[/size] TONIGHT. WE DINE. IN CHAT! Had to do it. Had half a page to do it in.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Actually, it's been confirmed that [b]FMA: Brotherhood[/b] will be back. They're just going on hiatus until FUNimation can get a head start on dubbing the next season. No idea why the slot had to get filled with [b]American Dad[/b], but I find it preferable to the newer [b]Family Guy[/b] episodes, so I'll live with it. I just wish they'd do away with [b]Kekkaishi[/b] already. The show started out funny in an ironic, completely unintentional way, but now it's not even so bad it's good anymore. It's just boring. And yeah, loss of [b]Boondocks[/b] kinda sucks. That's a good show. On the other hand, though, NEW [b]VENTURE BROS.[/b] IN SEPTEMBER! And I think they promised we'd get less of Sgt. Hatred and more of Brock Samson this season, so looking forward to that.[/font]

[quote name='Selene Shri' date='27 August 2010 - 06:39 AM' timestamp='1282916364' post='699930'] [font="Century Gothic"]I never tried it. oO Oh and Ace, Crystia says I should maim you. So consider yourself maimed by a panda bear! Don't ask how, just accept it. XD I'm not sure why though. Oo [/font] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"]It's possible that there's no actual reason at all. I get that a lot. Although usually she maims me herself when there's no cause for it....[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]I'm more interested in the results of Sanji's training, personally. "Alright, you want to get these recipes and keep your butch image? Here's what we're going to do. There's 99 of these things all over the island, each jealously guarded by a flamboyant crossdresser. You have to steal each one from them while simultaneously avoiding the several thousand other residents who are waiting to spring out of the bushes and turn you into a transvestite. You have two years." There's no way anything that comes from this will not be amazing.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]You people are looking at it from the wrong angle. Being smart makes you a lesbian.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Playing catch-up, forgive me if it's already been brought up. So a host's seal is weakest immediately after childbirth. This has been established as the case, and everyone clearly knew about it beforehand. SO WHY DID THEY SEAL KYUUBI IN A WOMAN? Wake up, Konoha. Turns out there's about half the world's population out there who happen not to have that pesky uterus thing. I'm sure you can find someone out of 1 billion human males who has enough chakra to contain this guy without that stupid side-effect where babies sometimes pop out of 'em. The entire series could have been prevented with just the slightest bit of forethought on the Third's part. Oh, and I suppose I should give an almighty HELL YEAH over the whole Gai kicking all 8 gates' worth of ass and whatnot.[/font]

[quote name='Lilt' date='25 August 2010 - 08:35 PM' timestamp='1282793705' post='699853'][b]Also, is Perry kind of like Monkey on Dexter's Lab? (He was a superhero and Dexter had no idea.) Or do Phineas and Ferb realize he's a secret agent?[/b] [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"][i]Perry[/i]? A secret agent? That's absurd! He's a platypus. They don't do much.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Yeah, Disney has a weird airing schedule for P&F. It's practically the network's favorite show, since it brings in big ratings from outside its demographic as well as its target audience, but you wouldn't know it from the way they air it. New episodes come out about once a month these days, and at least three of the last ten were specials of some kind, so those end up getting aired repeatedly after the premiere. It's really weird, though, because despite that, they have a marathon about once every four months and Phineas and Ferb are kind of the unofficial mascots of Disney XD at the moment.[/font]

[quote name='Beretta' date='23 August 2010 - 12:50 PM' timestamp='1282593005' post='699772'] I definately need to start learning these lingo's... I just came across "td:lr" or something like that and it got me all twisted in the head. [/quote] [font="Comic Sans MS"]Too Long; Didn't Read Recently it seems to be getting applied to anything more than three rows of text long, so the meaning is getting diluted. Used to apply to walls of text.[/font]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Most of my favorites from the 90's and early 2000's have been covered, so I'll just list a few of my current favorites. [b]Phineas and Ferb[/b]: its extremely safe premise does well to disguise its clever dialogue, catchy music and hilarious visual gags. Just check the thread I made for the show if you need more reasons to watch it. [b]Chowder[/b]: Tends to delve into toilet humor a little more than I wish it would, but it's got some clever writing and a nice art style, as well as being extremely aware of the fourth wall. [b]The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack[/b]: This show holds my attention less for its overall premise and more because it scares the living hell out of me. The art style lends itself to some extremely creepy images and some of the title character's seemingly innocent antics can be downright terrifying if you think too hard about them. [b]Adventure Time[/b]: Second only to Phineas and Ferb, this show is basically the answer to the question "what would happen if someone took an episode of Futurama, turned Bender into a talking rubber dog and somehow convinced Cartoon Network that it's a kids' show?" The result is hilarious, clever, extremely bizarre and full of humor that would be completely inappropriate for children if it weren't for the fact that they totally don't get it anyway. The lessons make no sense, the characters are clinically insane, and the entire show is just a ton of fun from beginning to end. This show is totally math.[/font]