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Smigg.

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Posts posted by Smigg.

  1. Posted

    Another odd one - that I was just talking about yesterday, as a matter of fact - is that my son has almost zero concept of “death.” We we’re watching a kids movie yesterday, where one of the characters “died,” but of course, by the end, she gets better. It started me thinking about how death in most children’s media is pretty transitory. The effect is, “There’s no reason to be upset by this because I know this character will come back eventually.” It’s pretty disturbing, actually - especially when you extrapolate that idea further. And while I don’t advocate bloodbaths in children’s entertainment, there should be more emphasis on deaths permanence. If there are no consequences than death becomes almost meaningless. Most violence is bloodless against faceless hordes. Their lives mean nothing (not saying that they should necessarily) Even something like Mario can be problematic. He can jump of this cliff a million times and never die. You just start over or walk away or do it again.

     

    And, of course, explaining the realities of death to a kindergartner is not exactly a fun. I don’t want to scare him, but I also don’t want him to trivialize it either.

     

    I was gonna say "Final Fantasy VII would be your best bet with that kind of thing", but then remembered it's a 12-rated game, so probably not best for really young kids.

     

    But holy shit, when Aeris dies, pack your bags kids, you're going on a feels trip.

    • Like 2

  2. Posted

    Yeah I was about to say that not only can kids be stupid they can be intentional dicks. It does chalk up to the parenting a lot of the times but I've also seen kids in great households that take cues from society that they need to act a certain way (there's also the sociological discussion that picking out the "others" is inherent in ANY sense).

     

    I guess I see this new age we're all living in and how important it is to be represented properly in the media we digest. I mean both Whoopi and Oprah can site specific moments from TV where they knew they could actually do something good with their lives (seeing Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek and Sydney Poitier win an Oscar respectively).

     

    So why wouldn't seeing the hero of a movie attempt to murder by food influence a shitty kid to go do that to this kid he hates that has an allergy?

     

    IDK I'm not like advocating for censorship or whatever, but definitely at the very least an honest discussion about what we're putting out there for everyone to see.

     

    I think it's changing society as a whole that "Good" is Lame.

     

    To use a Pro Wrestling as a template for it, because it's what I know. Back in the 80s, Hulk Hogan was the All-American Good Guy, he was telling kids to train hard, take vitamins, say their prayers and drink their milk before bedtime. He was everything good and fair in the world.

     

    It carried on into the Mid 90s with guys like Bret Hart, who was all about playing fair, technical ability, and being a positive role model. People then got tired of the good guy who played fair, they wanted Stone Cold Steve Austin, who drank beer, swore on TV and kicked the shit out of everyone, they liked The Rock, who made fun of everyone, they liked D-Generation X who pointed to their crotch telling people to "Suck It".

     

    So now, the good guys in pretty much every form of media has to be cool and edgy, but the problem arises when there's no one around to say "Hey, you can't actually do this shit in the real world, it's not real". I think that's what the problem is, it's the lack of conversation, which is why it frustrates the fuck out of me when I see people going on chat shows and the news when there's a thing about video games, and they say "My 12 year old son is playing Grand Theft Auto, and the violence, the language is not suitable for children, and I want it banned!" and nobody says "Why's your 12 year old playing an 18 rated game? You bought it for him and you didn't know what was in it?"

     

    There's a measure of responibility that should be taken on both ends, those who produce it to say "Hey, this is fiction, don't be a dick", and those who show it to others to say "Don't act like this". One that was very good at this was the Need for Speed franchise, where they'd have a cut scene at the beginning saying "You're playing a video game, we can't get hurt, drive responsibly in the real world" or something to that effect.

    • Like 4

  3. Posted

    Cameron H (and other parents as well I just know Cameron has two kids), I have a random question

     

    Do you believe that the media your sons take in can have an effect on the way they view the world? I know that the "violence in movies" debate has been going on for decades now, but we see that movies and tv shows and video games can have a positive effect on people so could they then have a negative impact?

     

    I just saw that parents are wanting to boycott Peter Rabbit because they show the rabbits attempting to kill their nemesis by purposefully forcing him to eat something he is allergic to (knowing that he is allergic) and that does seem really fucked up, and by all accounts kids could file that in their brain as a valid thing to do if the cute little bunnies are doing it to a bad man.

     

    It's a weird debate for sure and I'm still not sure what side of the aisle I fall on but lbr kids are fucking idiots and apparently over the summer a British 13 yo was in fact murdered when his bullies put cheese into his food knowing he was allergic (idk if they didn't believe him or thought watching him struggle to breath would be funny but the poor kid did die).

     

    It's a weird debate to have, because their are so many contributing factors to this, but the biggest factor in all of these things seems to be the parenting.

     

    While I don't want to say "Well, I did all that, and I turned out fine", but while I grew up on video games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, etc, copious Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Van Damme, Eastwood etc, movies, and a lifelong wrestling fan. I never found myself behaving in such a way, because my parents were excellent in saying "This is all make believe, this isn't real and you cannot act like this in the real world". They weren't uber-strict parents, they were always talking about this stuff, mainly because our grandmother would take us to the "Tape Shop" as she called it, and just got anything.

     

    However, those who acted out and had behavioural problems, they had shitty parents. There was a kid in my class who would grope other kids, and in retrospect, he was a 10 year old sex pest. After he ran up behind a girl and did something, some parents complained, and as it turned out, the kid's parents basically had porn just laying around the house and had an attitude of "Well, if he sees it, then he sees it."

     

    So, I think there's potential, but it falls upon the parents to keep them on the right track, if they're concerned, don't take them to see it. But, kids are dicks, there was a lad I knew who had epilepsy, so other kids would call him "Eppo Leppo" and flick the lights on and off in an effort to trigger a seizure, and they got that from a chat show.

    • Like 3

  7. Posted

    Denis Leary also stole the premise of his hit song "Asshole" from Louis CK.

     

     

    Leary was the MC at a comedy club that CK was performing, and CK's closing bit was basically "I've decided to just be an asshole, I'll go the grocery store, and I think 'Should I park in the handicap space?! Yeah, I'm an asshole now' and I park right in the handicap space!"

     

    CK left the stage, Leary comes on to introduce the next act, and carried on riffing on Louis's bit.

     

    About a week later, CK walks into a club, Leary's on stage, all of a sudden "I've just decided that I'm gonna be an asshole, should I park in that handicap space? Well, I'm an asshole, so I park in the space", the bit kills, and then he parlay's that into a hit song. All off the back of Louis CK's bit.

     

    A few years later, CK runs into Leary, and they start talking about what they're doing, Louis then says "I'm trying to get this project off the ground, but I'm trying to secure funding", without hesitating, Leary pulls out his checkbook and writes Louis a check, which Louis extrapolated as "Well, he made a shitload of money off my bit, so he's giving me a taste".

    • Like 3

  8. Posted

    I'm sorry, i can't help but notice that it seems that Paul McCartney has an album titled " Kisses On The Bottom "?

     

    ... what?

     

    He does, and he had the piss taken out of him for months after it came out.

     

    It's supposed to mean "Kisses on the bottom of a love note, or a card", but it just makes it sound like he's kissing an arse.

     

    However, the all time best mishap was when Susan Boyle was releasing an album, and they said "Susan Boyle's new album is out today, so we're celebrating that with the hashtag #SusanAlbumParty".

     

    The problems arose when #SusanAlbumParty is written in lower case letters, #susanalbumparty, which can be read as "Su's Anal Bum Party"

    • Like 5

  10. Posted

    In honor of Rockstar, I was just curious, are there any bands out there on your “must buy” list? By which I mean, without hearing a note of music, if so-and-so is releasing new material, you’re buying the album.

     

    I’ll extend this question to include any artists work (i.e. actors/directors/authors etc)

     

    Metallica

    Megadeth

    Slayer

    Anthrax

    Dethklok

    • Like 3

  17. Posted

    In fact, to carry on the trailer talk, I fucking hate it when movie trailers use songs that aren't in the movie itself.

     

    Case in point, the Stallone movie, Bullet to the Head. The trailer has the song "Killers" by Motorhead, fucking incredible song

     

     

    Here's the song in it's entirity, it's just too good.

     

     

    Not one single note of this awesome song was played in the movie, The problem is, sometimes, if they play a song like that in the trailer, I think "Hey, might be some good music in that movie".

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

     

    That's what I remember, that if you accepted the silliness of the premise (a massively popular rock band decides to pluck some guy off the street to be their singer), it was pretty much a normal movie after that.

     

    Early Correction and Omission

     

    That actually happened, it's very loosely based on Judas Priest. Rob Halford left the band, and they replaced him with Tim "Ripper" Owens, who was the lead singer of a Judas Priest tribute band called "British Steel".

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    Movies that struck a chord with me this year:

     

    Wonder Woman/Justice League: Purely because Gal Gadot played the part perfectly, and was written for her brilliantly. One of my biggest gripes with female characters in action movies are that they're just written as dudes who are more aesthetically pleasing.

     

    Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman has something much different, something really special. Instead of this "Bad Ass Chick Who Don't Take No Shit Mmmm-Hmmm", there was this much kinder, caring, loving and somewhat maternalistic feel to the character. She's actually portrayed as a woman, and that theme's fucking awesome too.

     

    The Disaster Artist: I got blocked by my friend, Mark. Because I kept sending him Tommy Wiseau pictures, that just shows you just how hyped I was for this movie.

     

    13 Assassins: I'm making as many people watch this movie as I possibly can.

     

    The Resurrection of Jake The Snake: Watch it, watch it and exclaim, "What?! Fuck off! I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying... don't look at me!" Just an incredible documentary that's both heartbreaking, and inspiring, beautiful.

    • Like 4

  24. Posted

    Oh if you want to go down THAT road then really they fuckin ripped off Hallmark's "My Summer Prince" from last August.

     

     

     

    (Also the prince they hired on Hallmark was a lot cuter imo)

     

    I don;t think my mum's seen that one. That's how I always end up seeing these movies, my mum loves that kind of stuff, so I just end up seeing them all.

  25. Posted

    As soon as I heard the name of the country I yelled "GENOVIA???" and was already mad.

     

    It's like they went to the 'White House Down Rip off a movie, but change it just enough so you don't get sued' symposium of screenwriting.

     

    There's also another one called "Christmas Inheritence" on Netflix that's almost as bad.

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