Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[ganbaru]

Hotels, rec centers try to slow pool access regs

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-18-03-38-36

[Endless Soul]

Safety features in racing have really come a long way over the years. Matt Hagan walks away from his funny car after it explodes on April 13. It could have been a lot worse.

Matt Hagan feeling the sting at zMax

Endless "Fireball" Soul

[AnimeFan188]

"A Taliban commander has been captured after marching up to a checkpoint
brandishing a wanted poster with his own face and demanding the $100 reward
for his own arrest."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...n-capture.html

[Haak]

"Clearly, the man is an imbecile," a US official added.

Roflmao. Priceless...

[Anh_Minh]

I'd give it to him. Possibly in cigarettes, which will help him where he's going. I mean, it might get the others to surrender too.

[MrTerrorist]

10 Ways Self-Hating Fans Make Genre Entertainment Worse

Yup, there' truth in that list.

[Dhomochevsky]

I take great offense in the assumption, that my hate for Transformers movies is somehow fake.
I watched two of them half way through, which would a akin to spitting out the (horrible, awful) candy. Using this as an example of "tasty junk food" invalidates their whole point, therefore they are stupid.
*smashes keyboard*

The actual truth is in the comments:

Transformers is just an inexplicable world to me. During the first one, I felt like I was watching a traffic accident without my glasses on. It was just a blur of metal and explosions. It didn't even look pretty. I just cannot comprehend how these films are making billions other than people like to be confused by explosions.

[ganbaru]

Take the ''tasty junk food'' expression in another way. As well as real junk food might be tasty, not because of the quality of the food used, but because of the quantity of salt or other stuff added, movie might be said ''tasty'' because filled almost of nothing but special effects, hidding most of the shitty stuff.

[Dhomochevsky]

No!


(It's hard to form an argument, while staying in character.)

The article states that "you have to watch the junk, so you can tell the difference between good junk and bad junk". And then goes on to choose Transformers as an example for good junk. Hehe.. the irony.

Anyway... RAAAAAGE

[GDB]

Really? I didn't read that they said Transformers was "good junk", just that it was "successful junk". The paragraph was talking about those "fans" who claim they didn't watch it because it was bad. Well, how do you know it was bad if you didn't watch it? That's what it's getting at, you have to admit that you watched it before you can state your opinion on it, otherwise it's ridiculous.

[Dhomochevsky]

Ah, damn I already admitted watching them!

Too bad.

No wait, it's actually about secretly liking them. He assumes that people secretly like Transformers, but won't admit it!
The rage is back.

[Anh_Minh]

I once read a more concise article about why nerds didn't get what they wanted. It compared the box office numbers of nerd-popular stuff (like Serenity) with more mainstream movies. It's really all about the money. If the tech savvy fans download the stuff before it's even out, who cares if they like it or not? What matters is the opinion of tickets- and DVD-buying people.

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

Ah, damn I already admitted watching them!

Too bad.

No wait, it's actually about secretly liking them. He assumes that people secretly like Transformers, but won't admit it!
The rage is back.

He assumes people pay good money to watch them, and he's right.

I don't know, maybe you downloaded the movies. Maybe you download all your movies, in which case, as I said, your opinion doesn't matter one way or the other. But if you hate Transformers but still pay to watch every movie, you're an idiot and I blame you for all of Hollywood's problems.

[Dhomochevsky]

I actually payed for the first one, but walked out of it midway. It was the first and only movie I ever did this, so it deserves honorable mention.
I sure as hell did not pay for any of the sequels after that (and I never finished watching any of them even though I tried).

Considering there are 3 of these movies and people are coming back to watch them even though they should know better, it's obvious that a lot of people like them. But when I say they are shit, then that's my real honest opinion. No hidden love for junk here. They are pure and utter shit.

So that guy may second guess such statements by 'geeks' and maybe he's right in a lot of cases. But using Transformers as an example out of all things, that one movie series that really is shit, does not help to get this point across.

Did I sufficiently articulate how much I hate Transformers now, or does anyone still believe I secretly love those stupid exploding, breakdancing robots?
Anyone?

[Vexx]

More people need to get up, walk out, and demand a refund. Get a high enough percentage of that going and they'll freak out.

That's why piracy waving is such a nice schtick -- it lets the MPAA members sidestep the problem that their product is mostly shit because they can claim box office death spiral is all because of the "evil downloaders".

I've walked out of 3 movies in my life and demanded a refund. I guess I should attend more movies I know suck and then walk out and make a scene

[Dhomochevsky]

Ah well, I did not demand a refund.

That's not the kind of guy I am. If I walk into a bad movie by my own choice, I live with the consequences instead of harrassing the poor cinema people.

[Anh_Minh]

I think you shouldn't take the article or its example so personally. I'm pretty sure it wasn't titled "the self-destructive habits of Dhomochevsky"

His point: geeks say they hate the Transformers movies, but said movies still make a lot of money. His conclusion is that geeks are liars. He may be wrong - maybe the movies are watched by non geeks. Or by geeks who don't feel the need to voice their opinions on movies. But he may be right, too.

Rather than Transformers (which I didn't like either, so I only watched one), I'll say it about The Phantom Menace and the rest of that trilogy. Every geek knows we're obligated to hate those movies. And I'll acknowledge that most of the criticism leveled at them is deserved. But I don't care. I liked them. They had lightsaber fights. Do I always stand up for them to opinionated, noisy geeks? No.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I've walked out of 3 movies in my life and demanded a refund. I guess I should attend more movies I know suck and then walk out and make a scene

Would that be more likely to get you banned from movie theater ?

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Rather than Transformers (which I didn't like either, so I only watched one), I'll say it about The Phantom Menace and the rest of that trilogy. Every geek knows we're obligated to hate those movies. And I'll acknowledge that most of the criticism leveled at them is deserved. But I don't care. I liked them. They had lightsaber fights. Do I always stand up for them to opinionated, noisy geeks? No.

I'm of the exact same opinion regarding the prequel trilogy. They didn't really bother me that much. Sure, there were a couple things, but nothing that would cause me to spew the amount of vitriol that a lot of people did, and still do.

I nearly walked out of one movie, and that was Bad Girls with Drew Barrymore. Were were actually exchanging WTF looks at each other after some scenes.

Endless "Vitriol" Soul

[Ascaloth]

I don't hate the prequel trilogy myself, either. I mean, as bad as it may be, something good can still come of it.

[SaintessHeart]

I stopped watching movies a long time ago. I used to work in a theatre, yes, but the general demographic watching movies tend to be "catch-ups" and friend/family outings.