**It's 2021 now and I hate everything I've said in this thread.**
52 2014-01-03 13:26:11
Re: Is there a God and why? (373 replies, posted in Off Topic)
I like your post, Avatar. Very good arrangement of words.
53 2014-01-03 12:24:49
Re: Is there a God and why? (373 replies, posted in Off Topic)
**It's 2021 now and I hate everything I've said in this thread.**
54 2014-01-03 06:53:59
Re: Is there a God and why? (373 replies, posted in Off Topic)
Doctor Submarine wrote:
iJim wrote:Dave wrote:Coming back to something mentioned earlier, does religion form the basis of ethics?
My first instinct would be to say "no, empathy does", but I say that after growing up with some religious framework imposed by the world around me, if not at home.
I'd say the religious framework was informed by the baseline empathy. Ethics, as iJim defines it, is the logic of making the social contract most equitable for everyone in society. So ethics depends on the social mores. Like, when ascribing good or bad connotations to the gods of the greeks was, essentially, a style choice that suited Greece's elites.
What shapes mores? Religion, art, rhetoric, war, etc... I don't think it's a magic bullet answer. I think the history of ethics and law is very complicated and above my pay grade.
Maybe it's circular. Ethics come from man, man creates religion as an ethics delivery system, religion propagates ethics. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to.
Ethics eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
55 2014-01-03 06:48:31
Re: Is there a God and why? (373 replies, posted in Off Topic)
**It's 2021 now and I hate everything I've said in this thread.**
56 2014-01-03 05:39:36
Re: Is there a God and why? (373 replies, posted in Off Topic)
Doctor Submarine wrote:
(By the way, I know this is going to come up, so I'm going to say this now. People like to say that almost every war in history has been caused by religion. This is untrue. Almost all of those wars were fought over land and/or resources. Religion may have been the surface reason, but it's very rarely the actual reason.)
Yup. It's often the rallying point but almost never the actual reason.
57 2014-01-03 05:33:22
Re: Is there a God and why? (373 replies, posted in Off Topic)
Darth Praxus wrote:
They were also responsible for the destruction of thousands of priceless documents that were deemed counter to church teachings. I'm fully with Dorkman here.
I'm not sure what incident/s you're talking about. The church wasn't big on burning libraries or museums. They were about torturing heretics until they repented for saying the Earth went around the Sun. GET IT RIGHT.
58 2014-01-02 18:13:49
Re: Last movie you watched (2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)
I'm sure an intellectual argument could be made in favor of it. But to my ears it's between monster movie and Gladiator parody. Just a cacophony of tribal-ish sounding noises and an oddly flat horn section.
59 2013-12-21 10:10:46
Re: What were your TOP 5 MOVIES of 2013? (209 replies, posted in Off Topic)
Raising Arizona and Fargo are two of the best films ever made. Almost everything else the Coens made ranges from okay to unwatchable. A Serious Man's reception baffles me in the same way Melancholia's baffled me. That's the double feature at hell's drive-in.
And, aside from Three Kings, I don't dig DOR either.
60 2013-12-19 06:58:21
Re: What were your TOP 5 MOVIES of 2013? (209 replies, posted in Off Topic)
This is the Fast & Furious franchise's Return of the King year, you guys. All the awards.
61 2013-12-18 04:24:14
Re: Too Deep For You (6 replies, posted in Creations)
This was shot on digital. Real does not approve.
62 2013-12-18 03:26:59
Re: WORLD WAR Z review by Dorkman (22 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)
Dorkman wrote:
as an action movie in its own right, QoS is pretty awful. It's one of the worst of the shake-and-cut-a-lot generation of action films we're getting from non-action directors put at the helm of action movies.
I had the same opinion walking out of the theater. It wasn't as bad when I revisited it on Blu Ray, but I suspect that it's a combination a) having grown accustomed to bad Jason Borne impressions, b) a smaller screen.
And +1 to everything Bullet said.
63 2013-12-18 02:11:57
Re: WORLD WAR Z review by Dorkman (22 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)
I'm not going to fight with anyone who puts QoS is in the bottom five. For me, Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough tie for worst. There is craftsmanship in QoS, but there's also craftsmanship in Moonraker and DAD. It equals out when you adjust for the year is was released, imo. Moonraker would have *looked* just like QoS if it was filmed in 2008. QoS is just more forgettable on a script level.
But let's be honest. The bottom 5-7 are really bad.
64 2013-12-11 03:34:42
Re: Jupiter Ascending - Trailer (18 replies, posted in Off Topic)
I watched them film a LOT of this around my place. So I was going to see it regardless (this is why I will see Transformers 4 too), but it actually looks better than the synopsis read. Thumbs up, W siblings.
Also, the helicopter scenes are real. Not CG - the flew a damned attack helicopter past my balcony with people dangling from it. It was insanity. Narrow streets and canyons made of concrete and glass. I don't know how they got approval for it.
65 2013-12-10 22:23:51
Re: Godzilla (2012) (100 replies, posted in Off Topic)
I'm so stoked for this movie and I'm not sure why.
66 2013-12-10 04:17:52
Re: What were your TOP 5 MOVIES of 2013? (209 replies, posted in Off Topic)
From what I've gathered, other than Gravity, I haven't missed anything this year.
67 2013-12-09 23:56:43
Re: The 200th Episode 24-Hour Harry Potter Commentary Marathon (344 replies, posted in Episodes)
Kyle's personal revelation that he might be a racist is an all time highlight for the show. I couldn't stop laughing. Well done, Kyle.
68 2013-12-09 23:42:49
Re: What were your TOP 5 MOVIES of 2013? (209 replies, posted in Off Topic)
1) Fast and the Furious 6
2) Man of Steel
3)The Wolverine
4) White House Down
5) Pain & Gain
This list might seem sarcastic, but I only watched 6 movies this year. The 6th was Delivery Man.
69 2013-11-29 17:11:35
Re: X-Men: Days of Future Past, Questionable Viral Marketing (20 replies, posted in Off Topic)
I don't want to speak for Trey but I think we have a similar objections to the use of real footage: using real images of atrocities and violence to propel your fictional story is inappropriate. If you're going to view those images they should, ideally, be in their proper context. Not your story about water aliens or super mutants. It falls somewhere between exploitative and flat-out wrong.
Using JFK's assassination in stories or marketing is a different conversation. It boils down to whether you're okay appropriating history for fictional ends. A lot of great stories have, so I don't care. Yeah, in this instance it's stupid and appeals to the inner conspiracy theorist. But meh.
Acting like this week somehow makes the use of the material more inappropriate is inconsistent. Either it's okay to use or it's not. I think stuff like Titanic and JFK are safe in 2013. I wasn't alive for either of those events. But it will be a long time (if ever) before I'm comfortable with anything 9-11 related.
70 2013-11-12 03:14:24
Re: The cool photos thread (Bandwidth Warning, Yo!) (956 replies, posted in Off Topic)
71 2013-11-07 22:13:37
Re: The cool photos thread (Bandwidth Warning, Yo!) (956 replies, posted in Off Topic)
Blame the metric system.
72 2013-11-07 21:49:04
Re: The cool photos thread (Bandwidth Warning, Yo!) (956 replies, posted in Off Topic)
fireproof78 wrote:
And some things that just shouldn't be this big...
This has had me puzzled for a while. Barkley was, at his peak in the 90s, a confirmed 6'4. Years of wear and tear have probably cost him an inch. Rock claims 6'4 but this photo throws that into question because 6'4 Barkley towers over him. Maybe it's a weird camera angle.
73 2013-11-07 08:10:02
Re: Let's broaden our minds: the non-film-related cool stuff thread (26 replies, posted in Off Topic)
**It's 2021 now and I hate everything I've said in this thread.**
74 2013-11-07 06:37:12
Re: Defend your most controversial film opinion. (372 replies, posted in Off Topic)
I have liked Sparky's post for the display of courage and respectability-sound arguments.
75 2013-11-04 07:40:28
Re: Defend your most controversial film opinion. (372 replies, posted in Off Topic)
I have two strong opinions on Malick. 1) TTOL's birth of the universe sequence was more fulfilling than 99% of everything I've ever seen, 2) Badlands ftw.
Other than that, le yawn.