OoG during Pirates

for big money makers, Disney seems to relax a little bit. They have this whole thing about not showing smoking or decapitations in their movies.... yet Thanos gets his head cut off right near the beginning of Endgame. Money talks

Map is going up tonight. I dont know what I did, but all the meticulous text boxes with grid numbers and letters didnt match up with the map anymore. I stead of saying "fuck it" and going forward, I just need an hour to relabel the map.

funniest shit I have seen on the internet in a while...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_n8FRILoYE


it's an oldie but I had never seen it before, so may the force be with you muthafuckers

I love that video. Samuel L. makes everything just that much better.

Unless you don't like swearing that is... in which case, what the fuck is wrong with you?

Josh, remember our chat about the success of Marvel movies, specifically MCU, as compared to Star Wars?

well.... I guess someone heard you!



Marvel mastermind Kevin Feige to develop new Star Wars film

Hoping to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney have asked the Marvel president to collaborate with producer Kathleen Kennedy. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige – generally acknowledged as the driving force behind the enormously successful series of blockbusters the studio has released – is to develop a new Star Wars film, it has been announced.

I'm a prophet!

not really of course, unless you like your prophets to be deranged....

yeah, I saw this. It ought to help. Although, except for the hard core fans, I think SW is waning in the public's eyes. Just my perception

Aren’t all prophets considered deranged in their own time?

well, yes. But I wasn't going to get to heavy handed with that comment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FySrgrKJguE


sign me up for CBS too

yeah, saw this. I'm going to have to figure something out for it. I refuse to pay for just one show, no matter how good it is (the rest of CBS's programming is hot-garbage)

you got a couple options there:

any number of pirate movie websites, viewed through a VPN or TOR browser

or

just wait for the entire series to run, then pay for 1 month (often you can get a 1 month free trial the first time) and just binge watch all the episodes in that month, then cancel

for me -

I am definitely buying Disney + and CBS.  for $6 month each, it isn't even worth the hassle of anything else.   $6\mo (let's call it $24 total for CBS) for something like 12-16hrs of content is less expensive than going to 6-8 movies at 2 hours each, plus I get to watch anytime, in my PJs, drink a beer, etc

I have 0 problem with it.  Heck, Disney+ will have 3 separate SW series and access to all the Disney, Marvel, SW movies.  CBS also has Discovery, which I personally really like and think was very well written.

I'm planning on grabbing the disney one because of all the marvel shows, the marvel movies, all the SW content and the classic disney movies. Quite a bit there to enjoy.

CBS - yeah, no. I'll just find a way to binge watch it later or something. I'm dropping Netflix soon as well since it's just it's own movie company now (and most of them are crap).  I've only kept it so that I can catch up on Supernatural since it's ending after one more season.

If CBS actually had some good programming, it might be worth it.

Discovery - I'll take your word for it. The pilot was god-awful and horribly written by people that never saw Star Trek before (and know shit about military procedure or command) - the Klingons were a joke in that show IMHO. Though, to be fair, I was surprised to see that Captain Pike showed up and this has made me reconsider whether or not to sit through the horrid writing at the beginning in hopes of it getting better.

I only see like two or three movies a year so it's not really a loss nor a money thing. It's a "I'm getting fleeced" thing for me

Chris wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FySrgrKJguE


sign me up for CBS too

I am all-in for Picard. That trailer brought tears to my eyes. It is so cool to see Riker, and Data, and 7of9 again too.


We've been paying for CBS for awhile, but mostly Julie watches it. I tried getting into Star Trek Discovery and found it nigh-unwatchable.

I agree Rob. I thought they had some good ideas, but the fleshing out part didn't go very well. But, to be fair, TNG was pretty bad it's first season as well.

Chris could tell us if it got better. It looks like it did, possibly.

All about seeing Picard though

I really enjoyed Discovery and thought it continually improved over time. Season 1 really got good about 2\3 of the way through when it all started to be linked together and you got to know the characters better.

Chris Pike, played by Anson Mount, was the highlight of s2. He was awesome.

but to each their own

I caught a few of the Pike scenes off of Youtube. I really liked him as Pike and it did seem the show got better.

Someday, I'll just try to get through the nonsense of an Star Fleet admiral crashing his ship into an enemy and killing his crew off (yeah, that was the killer for me; no command officer would ever do that.... but there I go thinking of reality again). The mutiny was way too quick and easy as well.

The Klingons only really bothered me because it seemed like they just changed them completely for no real reason. Why not just create a new species as a protagonist? Honestly, the Klingons and Romulans are a little "tired" IMHO. But that's just me

On the other hand, I'm so happy with the trailers for Picard. Really seems like this will be a fun series or whatever it's going to be

SW:RoS is releasing 12-20-19 and apparently they're still filming scenes for it. They testscreened 6 possible endings for the movie. Yes, it's all hands on deck at Disney. After the last couple flops, they really want this movie to succeed.

I admit I'm intrigued that Emperor Palpatine is rumored to appear.


In other news: Zombieland Double Tap is great. It's funnier than the first one.

rumored? Palpatine is definitely in it. Ian McDiarmid showed up at some convention when they rolled out the new trailer. He's in it for sure

clone, perhaps?

I'm betting force ghost that somehow used tech to be alive or some such weirdness... the trailer tonight seemed to show him, possibly in some kind of tech "suit" or something. But I could be completely wrong

Anyone checked out Mandalorian yet? I've been hearing good things. Still too cheap to subscribe to Disney channel though (for just that show).

The Mandalorian is fantastic and well worth the $7 a month. They'll have the new MCU shows in the next year or so as well.

The Mandalorian after 2 episodes is like The Beast Master starring Clint Eastwood with undertones of Fear And Loathing In LasVegas. So far I am happy. I have spoken.

the Beast Master with Clint Eastwood???? That's an odd comparison. lol

I'd say it's a Star Wars 'western-ish' story-line without the annoying jedi (well, mostly).

It's nice to have a good story about the Mandalorians w/o having to deal with the 'expanded universe' stuff that was usually poorly written. Which this is not, it's very well written so far...

The Force seems to be an unknown idea. It’s a proper anti-hero piece that is only a little nerfed in its grit. Bounty hunters are not “good”. But there is a calling in his soul somewhere under the killer exterior. I think this could eventually tie into a greater epic.

I have spoken.

yeah, "speak" all you want

The force has been done to death. And this falls back to the "hokey religions and ancient weapons" comment by Solo. No one takes it seriously or really knows what it is. I love it.

Besides, I like seeing non- "lawful good" characters as the sort of hero. "Lawful good" is so fucking boring and predictable...

Doubt I'll be able to talk Julie into us subscribing to Disney channel for just one show, even though $7/month isn't a terrible price.

On the Western genre tip, Matt turned me onto the Netflix series Godless. I'm 4 episodes in, and it's frickin' awesome. Recommended!

If you have Amazon Prime, check out The Expanse. Great space opera.

navyik wrote:If you have Amazon Prime, check out The Expanse. Great space opera.

Yes it is. Waiting on the new season to start soon.

Luvin it too!

This is the way

https://youtu.be/Plcx5JGxOJE

Baby yoda vs Palps

as cute as he is this is getting a bit silly now... lol

welcome back, Matt!

I am glad to hear that you are settled down enough for gaming access again.

What's new?

Good to be back!

Still looking for work - admin friction slowing down getting my CO license and that seems to be a baseline requirement here. the cabin is coming along, about 2/3 painted inside. limited budget means it will likely be late spring/early summer before it is fully squared away. Meantime I am dry and warm enough to make it through winter. Next step will be finding some land to move it onto. Baby steps, but headed towards the life I want.

Been a lot of VA appointments as I get settled with them. Have hearing aids on the way, they are sending me to acupuncture for my back, and I finally tracked down my paperwork concerning the concussion (and subsequent issues) - so I can make a residual head injury claim. Which is good, because I am unnerved at the quantity and variety of brain injury symptoms I am showing. At the very least I have medical care covered.

Whats new with ya'll?

Good to hear you're getting the help that you need, Matt! I've been thinking of trying some acupuncture.

Agreed, thank goodness you are having success accessing VA benefits. Many of my clients are not so fortunate.

I tried acupuncture, with limited success. Jamie loves it though, sees immediate benefits and goes regularly.

We just had our end-of-semester TKD promotion test last night. 16 adults tested resulting in 6 new brown belts and various lower ranks. We have a HUGE class right now as the South Routt branch closed and 5 middle\high school kids moved up from the kids program. I am ready for a break.

Jamie got promoted at work to a full time college professor in the nursing department. That has been a big change to our schedule as I now have more child transportation responsibilities. But she loves the job and I think she found a long-term home with CNCC. She is back in school to finish her Masters in about 1 year.

Anthony's voice is cracking and his feet stink, so yay for puberty!

Evan continues to destroy me mercilessly at Madden '19.

Work has been really busy, but luckily several long trials (7d, 5d) have resolved out of court and that cleared up my December nicely. I am on a State level committee for mental health and wellness, so that is really interesting and something new.

Other than that, just enjoying the heck out Mandalorian. I have spoken.

you weirdos and your non-western medicine. Don't you know that whisky cures everything???

I have no updates. Just slogging through the complete farce that is the US criminal justice system. I've studied the history of quite a few institutions, nations, etc. in my life and I've never seen anything that's as futile and cluster-fucked as this system.

best thing I have seen on the internet today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd79mpzBnJ4&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2JzID7UDyB81n_0fKhVaGcPvV-nhckLxC8Ropefq0OBMKoCVsrJObNZbU

more star wars, but on a more serious note

This video really frames Luke's story so well. I actually appreciate Last Jedi more after watching this and I wasn't really a fan of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kjEnDj7K30

maybe this guy should have directed ep9

that was really well done!

That Luke video was cool!

Sounds like things are well up your way Chris, glad to hear it. Hope the justice grind is treating you decent, Josh.

Loving the Mandolorian. Its drawing heavily from the masterpiece samurai movie "Shogun Assasin" (later adapted into a graphic novel series called "Wolf and Cub") and doing a great job expanding outr view of the SW universe without forcing it. Excellent!

well, actually, Favreau said his inspiration for this is the "man with no name" Eastwood spaghetti westerns.... which I think is clearly visible

whit10 wrote:well, actually, Favreau said his inspiration for this is the "man with no name" Eastwood spaghetti westerns.... which I think is clearly visible

That is an easily recognizable film/series that makes a solid example of vibe and genre for an interview, and they are surely a heavy influence. Many westerns are direct copies of samurai films, which is why the genres are fundamentally so similar. And yes, the vibe is clearly visible, as is the plot being essentially the same as Shogun Assasin/Wolf and Cub. There is no way Favreau and his team would/could make a samurai/western without being aware of it, or have made THIS story without its influence.

horse-shit. Most westerns pre-date American contact with Samurai stories and what not. I'm not saying there aren't similarities but it's not like Japan invented this sort of story.

If you look back through antiquity, nearly every story has been told once already. The rest just copy or somehow end up with the same material repackaged for their own time and culture. I'm not saying that's a bad thing at all... it's just pretty obvious.

Tolkein is a perfect example: he didn't really invent a damn thing (other than the languages)... he just re-packaged old German/Norse/Anglo-Saxon stories for a modern age and gave a somewhat more modern perspective on his stories. They weren't exactly original...

I think Matt is specifically talking about movies here

Kurosawa's 7 Samuri was made in '54
remade into Magificent Seven in '60

Kurosawa's Yojimbo was made in '61
remade into Fistful of Dollars in '64


etc etc etc

edit: Fistful of Dollars = man with no name trilogy

yes, I stand partially corrected.  There was some inspiration cross-over. I was wrong about that. Matt is right.

My point was that it wasn't exactly original, on anyone's part.  So there's an argument to be made that Favreau didn't really think of that when he wrote this (unless he says he did, then that's different)

And 'westerns' go back to the 20 as far as filming was concerned. Most Americans didn't know anything about the Japanese at that time. Hell, they weren't even truly considered citizens until after WWII.

Yes @ Chris's rational interpretation to my friendly observation about the interface between genres, and another case in point, "A New Hope" is a direct, sometimes scene by scene rip-off of Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress". Templating samurai movies was the original approach to star wars for Lucas. As to the similarity of a samurai movie about a marked warrior wandering with a targeted child (which is widely considered a genre classic and is well known among professional filmmakers) and the plotline of the Mandalorian, well, it speaks for itself. In the Gaming Google Drive, in the "Swap" folder, find a copy of "Shogun Assasin" for your viewing enjoyment. I think you'll really dig it.

@Josh  -  You lost me at "Horseshit" but your observation about stories being repeated is spot on. I think they say that there are only 6 or 7 plotlines when it boils down to it.


Here is a great article on the subject, discusses just about every movie we have all mentioned ijn this discussion.
https://filmschoolrejects.com/mandalorian-influences/

oh, there's no argument about SW (I won't use the title New Hope anymore, it's Star Wars). Lucas definitely ripped off some stuff from Kurasawa and other Japanese influences. No argument there.

MAS wrote:
Here is a great article on the subject, discusses just about every movie we have all mentioned ijn this discussion.
https://filmschoolrejects.com/mandalorian-influences/

yup, that about sums it up

Anyone else checked out Bone Tomahawk? It's a brutal/gory western that incorporates many of the tropes of a proper D&D adventure.