Manic Webb

James lives across the Pacific ocean and over the equator, yet he knows about California's recall election. What's this saying about the kind of publicity this state is getting? Anyway, I'm not voting in this recall election. I know that I'm a resident of California and it's my duty and people died so that I could get the chance to vote ect. However, this entire election is a big flying joke. You [i]know[/i] there's something wrong when the list of candidates consists of mediocre action film stars, former child stars who can't get a job outside of television cameos, porn stars, owners of nudy magazines, and that Annonymous Joe from down the street. I was debating with myself on whether or not I should vote, but time passed and I didn't register (didn't the deadline pass?). It's a shame, too. My grandparents just got a bunch of flyers in the mail, and this Lt. Gov. Bustamante seems to have a good grasp of what he's doing. When the recall is over, I guess I can't really complain about the outcome, though.

I looked for The Ultimates, but couldn't find it. Spidey and those X-kids were the only Ultimate comics I saw. I saw New X-Men, but I'm not even sure what this is. So I didn't pick it up. I'm into cartoony art, so I'll try to see what's up with Losers. Too many titles to check out. I'm just glad I can read these comics for free.

I remember winning a costume contest in 7th grade for "most original." I was Alvin Seville. You know, the chipmunk. "Alvin and the Chipm--" ah, nevermind. Kids today. This year, I'm thinking of being Goofy. I recently found the Goofy Hat I bought at Disneyland a few years back. All I need is a pair of white gloves, brown pants, a brown vest, and a mustard-yellow turtleneck sweater. Ok, maybe the turtleneck is gonna be tough to find. I'll just get a yellow t-shirt. If that doesn't work, maybe I'll be an old man. I think I still have my old stage make-up from last year's musical around here somewhere. Buy some grey hair-spray from the Halloween Superstore, and I'm set.

Oy, what a hiatus! I stopped reading comic books around 8 years ago. I kept hearing all this stuff about the Ultimate Marvel universe, and how the stories are different from the original. I was in Borders the other day, passed by the Graphic Novel section, and decided to browse through an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man for just a few short minutes. So after reading through the first 2 full-volumes of the series (I had to stop because I couldn't find volumes 3, 4, or 5 and didn't want to skip all the way to 6), I have to say that I'm impressed. Given, the last time I read a Spider-Man comic book was 8 years ago and I'd be impressed by anything. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by some of the twists from the original story. I saw Peter go into the Bugle for a photography job, and saw him walk out a web designer. And there was this entire scene taken directly from the movie [i]Ferris Bueller's Day Off[/i] that I just couldn't stop laughing at. "Anyone? Anyone? D-O-O? Voodoo Economics" My major gripe is that the action is... is... well, it isn't. There's no real action. If Spidey's fight with the Goblin were animated or acted out, it would've lasted 2 minutes tops. I also picked up the first volume of Ultimate X-Men. I didn't finish it, though. I only read as far as Beast rescuing Bobby. The beginning was put together a little too quickly, though. Marvel Girl pops up out of nowhere and starts grabbing a few random mutants. They're taken to the mansion, given new names, put on new clothing, and [i]then[/i] they're told why they're there? Then they're thrust into battle not five minutes later? I know U. Spider-Man didn't spend enough time getting to the action, but U. X-Men hurled the readers into it just a little [i]too[/i] quickly.

Would you like to elaborate on that post? Maybe a little detail, perhaps?

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by RicoTranzrig [/i] [B][COLOR=darkblue]I go to this university on a big hill called California State University, Hayward. The campus is real quiet, overlooking the bay.[/COLOR] [/B][/QUOTE] I'm trying to transfer there in the near future. In the meantime, I go to Chabot Community College, which is at the bottom of that hill. I enrolled just this spring, so I'm still in my freshman year. And I'm experiencing something closer to Freshman 30. My current major is undeclared, although I'm thinking of choosing either Broadcasting or Mass Communications. Broadcasting is a part of Mass Comm, so it's really a choice of whether or not to concentrate on it. The school is exactly like my old high school, only the people are older and everybody smokes [i]outside[/i] of the bathrooms. In fact, the bathrooms smell better here.

So it all comes down to my judgement, huh? Well, I gave this thread a chance, but it just turned into a copy-paste fest. Most of you are just pasting your favorite lyrics and not really discussing them that much. Plus some of you have the lyrics just plain wrong. [color=darkblue]Thread Closed[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by OlgaTheDwarf [/i] [B][B]N'SYNC!!![/B] GO OL' SCHOOL METAL!!!! [/B][/QUOTE] Okay, now you're just being silly. I'm for a quick joke every now and then, but don't do this too often.

"Faint." Now there's a song about inner pain and emotion, with a rapid chorus. I know you have your own way to make AMVs, but this is what I would do if I were capable of making a Trigun AMV... I suggest that you use clips that concentrate on Vash's emotional pain and past. Something that makes you feel sorry for him. Stuff like Vash's reaction to Rem's death, the various times he's cried over someone's death. Stuff like that. Those would be good for the verses, in my opinion. Then, (if I were making the video) I'd use the chorus as an opportunity for some action sequences. Guns pointing, shots being fired, ect. Then, just for the heck of it, the bridge could focus on Vash's conflict with Knives. Clips of them arguing as kids, mostly. Maybe Knives' name written on the wall from that one episode. Then, to finish the song off (see also: final choruses), show Vash fighting Knives; ending the video with Knives' death. Of course, you don't have to follow my suggestion. I don't download many AMVs, and as far as I know, it's probably been done before. It's just that as soon as I thought about what the song "Faint" sounds like, this whole idea poped into my head. Gah, I wish I had the equipment to make AMVs.

Details, Yakko! Details! Exactly what type of AMV are you trying to make? A comedy? Action? One of those depressing ones filled with death scenes? Is there a specific subject to your AMV, or are you going to make one of those random AMVs that aren't about anything and contain some randomly chosen song from a hat? I don't know about everyone else, but I tend to enjoy themed AMVs more than random ones. And when you have a theme, that tends to narrow down the list of potential songs to use.

Favorite threads aren't allowed. Normally, I might let one slide by if it looks like it has potential, but you [i]really[/i] didn't try when you made this one. [color=darkblue]Thread Closed[/color]

90%, 60% [i]what?[/i] The majority of hip-hop/rap fans are white. A lot of rappers bring this up. The best example would be at old MC Hammer concerts, where, for the first time, there was an overwhelming majority of white people at his concerts than there were black people or any other race. And like Semjaza said, there are other races to take into account, here. I think I read somewhere that 83% of all statistics are made-up. For as long as hip-hop has been popular, there have been those who fuse it with rock. The two are similar in so many ways, and a lot of people don't seem to realize that. Both get a bad rep (especially when it comes to influencing teens). Both have prominent drums and strong bass lines. [i]All[/i] good music is driven by strong emotion. Both have been banned from radio for trying to push the envelope. MTV over-plays both. And they have one very important thing in common. Pop. Listen to an old NSync song and tell me that the synthesized beats don't sound like hip-hop with rock-esque synth-guitar rifts. Listen to Pink's last album and say that "Don't Let Me Get Me" borders too closely to both genre. You can't. The "Pop" music that so many rock and rap fans claim to hate is nothing but an oddly jumbled combination of the two. When you blend rock and rap in different ways, you may get Linkin Park, Britney Spears, or NERD/Neptunes. Combining the two is how we get some of the most popular music today. The way I see it, these two genre will continue to fuse until there's no pure, untainted form left of either. I don't know about you guys, but I'm just gonna sit back and listen to what comes up, and like it. Well, some of it.

Magdalena, please put more effort into your posts. Try explaining the reasons behind your opinions.

It seems to me that a majority of OB members seem to be into the Ataris, Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, Eminem, 50 Cent, Dashboard Confessional, and a couple of other bands I can't really think of right now. Now, I have nothing against any of the people I mentioned... (ok, so maybe I'm not that fond of 50 Cent and Good Charlotte), but I'm getting a little tired of the same threads coming up over and over on them all. I want to introduce you all to the wonderful world of Neo-Soul. So in the words of the Monty Python cast... And now for something completely different. Neo-Soul (neo meaning "new") is a mix of modern R&B and the classic Soul of the 1970s. The main differences between most popular R&B and Neo-Soul are that Neo-Soul uses actual live instruments, and music is a lot less centered in what's normally heard in mainstream hip-hop. These are some of my favorite Neo-Soul artists... [b]The Roots[/b] - Because the lead singer in this band is actually a rapper, people see them as more of a hip-hop band. While that may be true, they're also very Neo-Soul. Their lyrics are nothing like what you normally find in mainstream hip-hop, they're actually a band (instruments and all), and their music sounds a lot like what you'd find in Neo-Soul. [i]Suggested Songs:[/i] "The Seed 2.0" and "Break You Off" and "You Got Me" [b]Jill Scott[/b] - She wrote a song about walking in the park and holding a conversation. Her songs seem to sound more like she's in deep thought than anything else. Listening to a Jill Scott song is like daydreaming and thinking about what you're gonna do tomorrow. [i]Suggested Songs:[/i] "A Long Walk" and "The Way" [b]D'Angelo[/b] - One of the first Neo-Soul singers to come out in the 90s. He took everybody by surprise with the song "Brown Sugar," where he presented himself with a tough-guy image and sang with an incredible range. [i]Suggested Songs:[/i] "Lady" and "Untitled" [b]Raphael Saadiq[/b] - You might remember him from Tony Toni Tone, then later as part of Lucy Pearl. He's finally gone solo with an album my brother likes to describe as "grown folks' music." He seems to drift into several different directions in his songs. On top of that, half of his songs are only halves of songs, it feels like. Still, his songs are nice and relaxing, and he usually writes his own music, as well as his own lyrics. [i]Suggested Songs:[/b] "Be Here" and "Blind Man" [b]Musiq Soulchild[/b] - He popped up out of nowhere, and he's been one of my favorites since I heard his first song on the "Nutty Professor 2" soundtrack. Musiq sings in a soulful style that was obviously influenced by his listening to Stevie Wonder. His songs aren't just about love. They're about different types of love. Different levels. [i]Suggested Songs:[/i] "Just Friends" and "Half-Crazy" and "Love" Neo-Soul isn't the most intense genre of music, mind you. It's usually very laid-back; kick-back music. It's not something you'd usually party to, but it's great for hanging out. Give some of the above songs a listen. If you don't like 'em, whatever.Can't force it on you. I just have this feeling that not many OBers are aware of this type of music. Just spreading the word.

I just thought about that Nelly Furtado song "***** On the Radio." The first verse says something like "You liked me til you heard my **** on the radio / But now I'm just too mainstream for you, oh no" Anyway, when a lot of groups go mainstream, the executives at the record label usually want them to change something about them to appeal to a certain target audience. When Pink first came out, they wanted to glamourize her and make her image/music more hip-hop. She had little control over her first album. However, when Pink worked on her second album, her songs and image were entirely different, because Pink was doing what she wanted to do. Sad to admit, I liked her better when she was an industry whore. But at least she has her integrity now. My point was that half the time, when a band changes its sound once they go mainstream, it's probably because they were forced to. I find it so amazing that these record execs hire a band that has one image, and ask them to take on a whole new one. They could've just saved time and looked for a band like that in the first place, not change another band into that. I only listen to mainstream stuff. Mostly because I don't like to go out of my way to listen to music. If it's on the radio/TV and I like it, I'll listen to it. Otherwise, I'll probably just ignore it.

wrist cutter's obvious mockery aside... casar906, please improve your post quality. You might want to try using punctuation (periods, commas, ect.) and not capitalizing every other letter.

When you think about it, nearly every CGI animated TV series is made by Mainframe. ReBoot, Star Ship Troopers TV Series, Beast Wars/Machines, Action Man, ect. In fact, I can't think of a North American CGI TV series made by anyone else. Mainframe was the first, and if anyone was going to make this Spider-Man show, I'm glad it was them. You know, I hear a lot of people say that they like Spiderman above other superheroes because Peter Parker is a normal, angsty teen, just like themself. However, some of these same people watch MTV's Spider-Man and find themselves complaining about how it focuses too much on Peter and not enough of Spiderman. I think it's a good show. Fox's animated series let us know how stressful Spiderman's life can be from dealing with all of these super villains, but MTV's series let's us know that Peter Parker is stressed out enough just trying to keep up his social life, let alone stop the occasional villain. I really liked the character Indy. She put a little focus on Peter's and MJ's relationship. On one hand, Peter is having trouble figuring out if he should commit to Mary-Jane (the girl he's loved for as long as he can remember), mostly because of his own double-life and his uncertainty of her feelings. On the other hand, he's got casual sex coming from Indy, as well as a lot more passion. If Mary-Jane weren't such a staple in the Spiderman mythos, I'd want Peter to stick with Indy. Oh, and it doesn't help that Indy's in a coma right now.

How is it threads about rap (a type of music more based in poetry than any other) always have the most spammy replies? Almost nothing intelligent has come from this thread. I tried to give a "verses" thread a chance. Oh well. [color=green]Thread Closed[/color]

Ownership... The members of the RIAA are made up of the majority of record companies and labels in the US. While technically the RIAA doesn't own the songs, the members of the RIAA do. When an artist records a song, their contract gives part of the ownership of that song to the record company. ex: When Weird Al Yankovich made the parody song "Amish Paradise," the record company gave him permission to parody Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise," even though Coolio said "no." The company owns the song. So the RIAA itself doesn't own the songs, but the members of the RIAA own the songs.

Watch it, Shinobi1827. Even if it's technically not profane, we don't allow the name-calling of other members. Do [i]not[/i] call anyone an idiot.

People talk about the weather all the time, but nobody ever does anything about it... When I download mp3s, it's usually because I only want 1 or 2 songs from an album, rather than the whole boring thing. I usually accumulate several songs from different albums, and make one mixed CD of different artists. So here's my idea. Given, I never said this would be easy... How about setting up record stores so that you can mix your own CDs? You walk in the store, listen to samples of songs (you can already do that), purchase a blank CD for like $0.25, and burn the songs you want onto that CD with the store's CD burners. Meanwhile, you're paying somewhere around $0.50-$1.00 per song. This way, the RIAA gets its money, and you don't have to worry about buying an entire piece-of-crap CD for only 3 good songs. Now, how does that grab you?

I don't sing in the shower. I usually think up new plot lines for this action series I'm writing. Also jokes. I don't sing in the shower because I'm sure somebody else in the house would think I was dieing. I do all my singing in the car. Loud singing, too. Yes, I'm that annoying idiot you pull up next to, and he's playing the radio loud and singing along. Sue me. There's nothing in the DMV guidebook against singing badly. A few weeks ago, I hurt myself pretty badly when I tried to sing "Lately" by Stevie Wonder. I was doing fine (see also: badly) until that final chorus, when Stevie decides to jump up a few octaves out of my range. I nearly choked on my own voice. I had to pull over and stop. Now, if I had choked on my own voice in the shower, I'd have been screwed, because I probably would've drowned as well.

She's actually close in age to her character on the show. Lizzie is supposed to be around 13, and Hilary Duff was 14 or 15 when the show ended. For some reason, everybody thinks she's a lot older than that. She was probably 13 when the show started, though. Disney doesn't like to age the characters on their TV shows in real-time (ie. characters get a year older when the actors get a year older). That's probably why Shia LeBeouf is 17 and played a 12 year old for [i]a couple of years[/i] on Even Stevens. I think Lizzie McGuire is a nice show and all. I've seen a few episodes, and I'm sure I'd like it too, if I were still 12. There aren't that many shows in Lizzie McGuire's genre (live-action pre-teen comedy) these days, and this show beats some of the alternatives. I'm not really a fan of Hilary Duff, but I can respect her for what she's doing. I mean, she's just a kid trying to get hers. She's a decent actress (singing needs work), but she can only get better with experience.

Personally, I enjoyed both versions. What you seem to be forgetting here is that when a dub re-writes a joke, they're doing it for the American viewers who know next to squat about Japanese culture. I watched the series subbed, and had to turn on the ADV Notes to understand what half of the jokes meant. Even then, I wasn't laughing at them. I just went "oh. So that's what it means, huh?" You may be well versed in Japanese customs and humor, but not every anime fan from America is going to go out of his/her way to understand the jokes found in an anime. Watching television is supposed to be a right-brain escapism activity which involves as little critical thinking as possible. If it takes lengthy studying of Japanese culture and language for an American like me (who doesn't get Japanese word-play jokes) to watch an anime as wacky as Excel Saga, then I don't see the point in watching it at all. That's why ADV re-wrote some of the jokes that we wouldn't get for the dub. The subtitled version remains true to the original in nearly every aspect (jokes and all), but the dub was made specifically for those who: 1. Don't want to read the show while watching it. 2. Don't want to learn to speak Japanese. 3. Don't understand Japanese humor/culture. Honestly, I [i]do not[/i] see the point in why purists complain about dubs so much. It's not like the DVDs come in the English dub only. You're given a choice. If you want to hear it in the original recording, switch on the Japanese. If you want subtitles, switch on the subs. Nobody is forcing you to watch the dub. Get over it. Ignore it, even. Why do you find it so necessary to tell people who [i]couldn't possibly[/i] find the original Japanese jokes that funny, that the dub is bad? So I'm supposed to watch Excel Saga in Japanese, pull out a Japanese Cultural Encyclopedia, and hope that I actually find the jokes funny? It's not gonna happen. ADV knew this. That's why both versions are included on the DVD. You have a choice, and you can choose to completely ignore the dub.

If I were a girl, I'd be a sexy thang, and know it!! Ow! :D I know I would've been rasied differently, because my mom (who never had any daughters) talks about how she'd treat a daughter if she had one, and how she can't wait for me to have kids. Like I need that kind of stress. I'd probably be a little the same. I'd probably be hanging out with my "just friends" gal friends a lot more. I know I'd party a lot more. I'd still be a level-1 novice gold digger, like I am right now. I just couldn't handle all of the drama girls go through. Girls hold grudges longer than guys, especially when it comes to losing friends. Two girls could get in a fight and refuse to talk for the rest of their lives. Two guys could get in a fight and order a pizza 5 minutes later. And let's not forget the horror of my genitalia bleeding every month. Pre-menstrual syndrome, Post-menstrual syndrome, and Presently-menstrual syndrome. Getting hit on by wolves. Putting on pants so tight, I'd need the jaws of life to get out of them. :D Ah, I kid. I'm sure being a girl has its ups and downs. I'm just happy being a guy.