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Cameron H.

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Posts posted by Cameron H.

  1. Posted

    16 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

    As someone who has Discord I will say I don't think it's a great idea, but maybe I'm just old. Admittedly there are some things on it that are appealing and make sense. You can create channels in it, so each mini and episode will have it's own dedicated channel for people to go into and comment. That's good. It's very mobile friendly. That's also good. It's easy to join and use for the most part which is good and bad. So I have a discord and use it with my friends for gaming together along with some texting back and forth with them. After getting on it I noticed that there was a YouTuber who's channel I was a fan of that was promoting his discord so I decided to join it. It was a nightmare that put me off joining others. First, anybody could join which meant just lots and lots of spam and just unwanted replies. This made me feel bad for the moderators because this was not their full time job but they had to spend a lot of time on this stuff. As a mobile user I had to turn notifications off because I was just getting lots of notifications that somebody had said "kk cool." It was hard to actually talk to others. With  a lot of people on at the same time it encourages short replies and not long thought out ones. This has its benefits and disadvantages I suppose. I know if I wanted to type something that was more than three or four sentences it was better to use the desktop version than mobile. Then I would also look mad as it was a block of text in a sea of short sentences. To me one of the advantages of the forums is a lot of the people do serious thinking and research on things. Those post tend to be long of complicated. Discord doesn't seem like a fit for those kind of posts. If you want to point something small out or ask a general question yes. It might be better for a bit more back and forth but I think we'd lose a lot of the researched posts. The other thing is it is a nightmare to find things and navigate. It's just a wall of text. If you want to find something somebody said earlier and everybody is being active it is just lots of scrolling and skimming. Given how even on the forums people sometimes repeat other people (heck, I've been guilty of this) expect that to happen a lot more.

    I think though the end of the forums is more of a when than an if at this point. I know we've lost lots of great regular posters for various reasons. As some who has been around for a long time and made good friends here it will sad to see it go. I just hope whatever the future holds there will be place for us to enjoy the show and still share our insane theories, needless research, and hard worked out math.

    Exactly! I don't want to just read a group text or a Twitter feed. I feel like the forums are a good place for a conversation. 

    • Like 2

  2. Posted

    25 minutes ago, DannytheWall said:

    One of the bad things is that Discord will lend for more off-the-cuff responses, and I appreciate being able to compose or edit my thoughts like on a message board.

    That’s what I like about the boards, too. I’m not against off-the-cuff comments, but one of the things I hate about Twitter is how you hear the same variation of the same joke run into the ground a million times. I like the boards as they allow everyone to have their own “voice.”

     

    14 minutes ago, DannytheWall said:

    I don't know. I'd give the benefit of the doubt on that. Heck, I've read message posts that echoed earlier parts *of the boards,* so more often parellel thinking than not. So I'm either too pessimistic to believe people actually read things, or I'm too naiive about people's theft habits. :)

    To be fair, it hasn’t been done in a while, but there have been times were they would be literally verbatim. I remember one time we came back here and asked someone (I can’t remember who now) if it was actually them calling in their own C&O and they said no.

    Parallel thinking is one thing, but parallel composition is another. 🙂

    Another thing I like the boards, is just this, having a dialogue. I like people fleshing out each other’s ideas and theories. Like, for The Quest there was a whole discussion about navigation or something that was pretty hilarious. You miss out on the that kind of thing when you phone something in. 

  3. Posted

    57 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

    All this. More traffic would be nice but not a huge jump in traffic.

    I think message boards are largely just old fashioned or seen that way to a lot of people. My guess is hosting one is more expensive than a Discord server and I'm not sure how many other earwolf shows get any message board traffic. As soon as Paul started incorporating phone calls into the minis, I thought that was an indicator, intentional or not, that the days are numbered on some level.

    Yeah, I think that was the beginning of the end. Or at least, a beginning of an end -- if that makes sense.  I understand how that makes it more accessible to your average listener, but I feel like the overall effect has been detrimental to the boards as an ecosystem. ("Why create an account when I can just call in?"). It encouraged more participation from listeners, but at the expense of the community that was already established. I feel like something like Discord would be okay, but that's why I asked what it was like. I don't really like the idea of an overcrowded arena where we lose the personal touch. (ETA: I know quite a few people who left the boards soon after phone calls were introduced. It wasn't the only reason, but it was a cited reason.) 

    As far as other shows, honestly, I haven't had the time to listen to more than a couple of podcasts a week. But back in the day, The Hollywood Handbook (~RIP) and CBB threads used to give HDTGM a run for their money in terms of participation. I Was There Too (RIP), The Canon (RIP) Spontaneanation (RIP) and Nerd Poker (~RIP) used to get quite a bit of traffic as well. It helped because the hosts of a lot of those shows would interact with people on the boards -- and not just in a 260 character Tweet or something. Like, you could regularly have a conversation with Dan Telfer or PFT which was fun.

    What also sucks about the boards getting neglected is I used to find new shows through the boards. Suddenly, there would be a new thread created and it would pique my curiosity. There have been a bunch of new Earwolf shows released that I had no idea about. It's like, Earwolf expects people to visit their homepage, and I don't know a single person who does that -- lol.   

  4. Posted

    13 minutes ago, AlmostAGhost said:

    Yea, this. Though I could see it being fun for Musical Mondays or like an unofficial group and using to stay connected a little closer/talk about other things. But if there were an official one with thousands, I wouldn't bother either

    That's kind of my feeling. I've always liked the forums. For me, they're easy to navigate and read the content you're looking for without wading through a sea of disparate threads.

    I also like the fact that it's a bit of a, I don't want to say, challenge to get here. You've kind of have to want to be here to be here. Which is why I think it's always been (relatively) drama free. I think the biggest drama we ever had here was for the Can't Stop the Music episode when a bunch of people created accounts just to bitch. But, other than that, it's always been pretty chill. I wish Earwolf would go back to promoting their forums a little more to get a *little* more traffic in here (It used to be quite robust for all shows), but I guess it's cheaper to outsource that kind of thing. Plus, I don't think a lot of shows are quite as open as HDTGM to listener participation. 

  7. Posted

    Does anyone here use Discord? If so, what do you think of it? I can say with certainty I don't like Geneva at all. I downloaded the app when Unspooled started a group on it, and I haven't used it once. It just felt crowded, like a bunch of people screaming in a tiny room. There didn't really seem to be any rhyme or reason, and it felt impossible to follow a single conversation.

    Personally, I don't like many social media platforms. I've never been on Facebook, and I'm certainly not going to get an account now. I'm on Twitter, but I kind of hate that too. For my money, the only place I really like to hang out online is the forums. I think the UI is pretty good. Maybe not as good as it was before their big face lift a couple of years ago, but not terrible.

  8. Posted

    A baby with no nickname, some Pacifica love, and much more on this week’s minisode! Paul offers up advice on the Help Line, goes through Corrections and Omissions from Love’s Labour’s Lost, and announces next week’s movie.
    Get tix for upcoming live-streamed shows and listen to the Transformers For Charity episode over at https://www.hdtgminfo.com/
    Check out Devon Bryant’s charity Bandcamp box set here: https://painkillerthepigeon.bandcamp.com/
    For more Paul and Rob Huebel go to https://www.twitch.tv/paulscheer
    Subscribe to Unspooled with Paul Scheer and Amy Nicholson here: http://www.earwolf.com/show/unspooled/
    Check out The Jane Club over at www.janeclub.com
    Check out new HDTGM merch over at https://www.teepubli…wdidthisgetmade
    Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:
    @PaulScheer on Instagram & Twitter
    @Junediane on IG and @MsJuneDiane on Twitter
    Jason is Not on Twitter

  10. Posted

    20 minutes ago, GrahamS. said:

    I’ve never seen it, should be interesting! I think it’s a quirky drama. The guy who wrote it—Dennis Potter, I think —was responsible for the 80s  BBC miniseries The Singing Detective with Michael Gannon, which was definitely unique.

    It was before your time, but we watched the RDJ version of The Singing Detective a couple of years ago as one of @tomspanks picks. It was...unique.

    • Like 3

  15. Posted

    49 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

    I woke up one Thursday and realized I forgot to watch the movie for that week. I didn't want to listen without having seen the movie then I just never listened again unless they died a movie I was extremely interested in hearing their opinions on. I'm glad they are expanding the canon of movies but just a (very loosely themed) random collection of movies up for debate doesn't interest me. 

    That’s it for me too. Like @GrahamS.was saying, lists are kind of bullshit, but I liked idea of examining those lists. “Why this? Why that? It’s good technically but does it fail on an a pure entertainment level? Why are these mostly agreed upon as being the best?” I’m not really into “let’s just watch random movies and talk.” It really feels like a re-tread of The Canon, and I lost interest in that show for the same reason.

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    23 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

    Yeah, I think I was talking to Cinco about this once. I think seeing what people pick is interesting and I don't want people to feel limited in what they'll pick.

    I skip weeks sometimes and it's not necessarily a reflection on the choice. I just didn't get around to it for whatever reason.

    I was actually having trouble keeping up with movie watching for a while. What helped me was when Season 2 of Unspooled began, I stopped trying to watch the movies. It was feeling like too much to keep up with (especially when there were other movies I wanted to see), and the new season didn’t feel as essential as the AFI list. So, while I was bummed they didn’t stick with watching great films lists, it freed up a lot of my own time.

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    13 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

    Looks like I've done about 70% already-seen to 30% first-time.  I like the idea of only picking ones I haven't seen and will do that from now on.  Then how about the second question: If a watch party is scheduled do you watch the movie beforehand?

    Some I have and some I haven’t, but I never go out of my way to watch them first. 

    • Like 3

  20. Posted

    33 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

    While we wait I would like to take a mini-poll.  If you haven't seen the movie you're considering do you try to watch it first or just go ahead and pick it?  I have several titles on my list that I want to see but am "nervous" about them being really bad.  Since I still have a couple months I was thinking of trying to start watching my top possibles.

    The only movie I've picked that I've seen before was Rockula - but that was a special circumstance. Like @AlmostAGhost said, I'm mostly interested in watching new things, and I enjoy discovering them all with you. I don't really think you can have a "bad" pick. The only weeks that I find to be disappointing are the ones where there's not much to talk about (See: Pippin or this week's HDTGM). I like to be surprised by what generates conversation (Like The Guest). But again, I'm not so deliberate about choosing a movie for that purpose either. Sometimes we get an amazing movie, sometimes it's a bad movie that's worth discussing, and sometimes there's just not that much to talk about. It's all a part of why I enjoy doing this with you all. 

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1

  22. Posted

    15 minutes ago, Elektra Boogaloo said:

    Ps while we are on the subject of Shakespeare being for common folk, I think maybe one thing that doesn’t work for me about this is that he’s comparing it to great musicals and great movies. Not that Shakespeare isn’t great. But show love to “low brow” popcorn movies instead. I would’ve preferred less Casablanca and more Marx Brothers, I think? 

    Branagh picked brilliant movies. Brilliant songs. And was like together this will all be brilliant! But EHY

    My feeling was that he was trying to showcase the timelessness of Shakespeare with the timelessness of the Great American Songbook. However, as much as I enjoy it, I don’t think the music holds up in quite the same way. So even though he modernized the play, the Busby Berkeley-ness of it all makes it feel oddly retrograde.

  23. Posted

    17 minutes ago, Elektra Boogaloo said:

    Ha this was the thesis of my paper on Shakespearean adaptations from college. But I didn’t use this one. I think the fact that you accept Branagh in this role is why you are forum Paul. You are the trusting one. Your brain made it work. The rest of us are more skeptical.

    Because I find it upsetting. 

    200.gif

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    15 minutes ago, nthurkettle said:

    I have one final theory - Miramax released this film, and they were notorious for forcing directors to drastically cut the running time of films that they were afraid weren't turning out well. Some of the newsreel footage suggests that some of the funniest scenes and subplots in the play were actually filmed, then cut in the frantic effort to get the movie down to 90 minutes. And I am not trying to start a hashtag-release-the-Branagh-cut campaign, but those smaller roles were being played by actors well-versed in Shakespeare, and may have turned out quite enjoyably even within the incredibly flawed overall idea he had for this adaptation. 

    I remember that on the DVD release of this there was a deleted scene explaining the mistaken identity scene, so this is quite possible.

    • Like 2

  25. Posted

    The gang derided this movie, and other Shakespeare adaptations set out of their historical context, but lauded Branagh's Hamlet. I just wanted to point out that Branagh's version of Hamlet also updated the time period of the play from some time in the Middle Ages to the 19th Century -- so it wasn't exactly period appropriate either. And while I didn't have a problem with Branagh's age in this movie, I would point out that my Film Lit Professor hated Branagh's Hamlet specifically because he felt like Branagh was too old for the role -- which I don't necessarily disagree with.

    Also, Kevin Kline has done two Shakespeare film adaptations: A Midsummer's Night Dream and As You Like It. I'm not sure which movie Jason was thinking of as both are comedies. A Midsummer's Night Dream came out around the time as Much Ado, but As You Like It was directed by Branagh.   

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