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Post by sarapen on Apr 23, 2015 9:46:12 GMT -5
--In its own way, the modern "indie" game industry is every single bit as formulaic and boring as the mainstream game industry, it's just not hit the same point of cultural oversaturation. Yet. If I see one more 8-bit platformer released by an indie studio with an aggressively twee name I will cut a bitch. "Indie" is practically synonymous with nostalgia in modern times. Yeah, there are lots of studios actually doing something new but the mass of that portion of the industry seems to be hellbent on recreating their childhoods.
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Ice Cream Planet
AV Clubber
I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy.
Posts: 3,833
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Post by Ice Cream Planet on Apr 23, 2015 9:54:58 GMT -5
I'm the weirdo (according to some of my friends) who really loves depressing TV shows, but there are rules of engagement when it comes to them. It's a wallow in the miserable lives of a bunch of psychopaths, I have less tolerance than if it were just about characters who were likable but their storylines ventured into sadder territory. Hence, why I ultimately gave up on The Sopranos after two seasons (even though it does deserve all the acclaim for being a game-changer in television), but stuck around with Skins (the first two seasons I'll still argue were legitimately great television). Oh, and this is a good a place as any: I'm really sick of how the vast majority of 'prestige TV' is synonymous with 'dark' and 'cynical.' I like a lot of those shows, but God forbid any 'lighter' programming get similar acclaim. I watch Game of Thrones and Hannibal and ... that might be it for the "prestige drama"? But I love Orange is the New Black, and that, while it can be dark, can also be really funny. I agree with others, I don't want to watch nothing but bad things happen to bad people. Or good people. Hannibal is pretty twisted, but there's some great dark humor, too. And I can only handle a few at a time and then I go back to watching Grey's Anatomy or reruns of Parks & Recreation. I love shows like The Wire, Hannibal, and Utopia, because for all the darkness, there are interesting, sympathetic, complex individuals and good undercurrents of humor to balance out some of the more twisted/painful themes. It's not just a dour, boring wallow in misery. Some unrelenting misery is okay (the British miniseries, Run, comes to mind), but in small doses. I really like Orange is the New Black too! I think it, along with shows like Masters of Sex, are challenging some of the stereotypes of 'prestige' television. I'm curious to see where that trend goes.
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Post by ganews on Apr 23, 2015 10:52:42 GMT -5
shows like Masters of Sex, are challenging some of the stereotypes of 'prestige' television Proving that you don't have to have characters killing people to be unlikeable.
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Apr 23, 2015 11:35:44 GMT -5
Never seen Mad Men, Breaking Bad, um, basically any other show everyone constantly talks about there, or really any current TV show in general.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Apr 23, 2015 11:45:43 GMT -5
I'm the weirdo (according to some of my friends) who really loves depressing TV shows, but there are rules of engagement when it comes to them. It's a wallow in the miserable lives of a bunch of psychopaths, I have less tolerance than if it were just about characters who were likable but their storylines ventured into sadder territory. Hence, why I ultimately gave up on The Sopranos after two seasons (even though it does deserve all the acclaim for being a game-changer in television), but stuck around with Skins (the first two seasons I'll still argue were legitimately great television). Oh, and this is a good a place as any: I'm really sick of how the vast majority of 'prestige TV' is synonymous with 'dark' and 'cynical.' I like a lot of those shows, but God forbid any 'lighter' programming get similar acclaim. I watch Game of Thrones and Hannibal and ... that might be it for the "prestige drama"? But I love Orange is the New Black, and that, while it can be dark, can also be really funny. I agree with others, I don't want to watch nothing but bad things happen to bad people. Or good people. Hannibal is pretty twisted, but there's some great dark humor, too. And I can only handle a few at a time and then I go back to watching Grey's Anatomy or reruns of Parks & Recreation. OITNB is a good point of discussion. I have a much higher tolerance for what I'd call "light drama" (and I'll call it that because "dramedy" is such a stupid term). Better Call Saul, unlike it's parent series, also falls into that category. Yea it's a drama and it's serialized, but there's a lightness to it that doesn't make it feel like a slog at times.
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LazBro
Prolific Poster
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Post by LazBro on Apr 23, 2015 13:25:23 GMT -5
Gameological heresies, anyone? --I think Resident Evil 5 and 6 were perfectly fine games. No, they weren't as good as 4, but they were a fuckload more fun than most of the "classic" games were. --The fact that Nathan Drake is narratively portrayed as a normal guy, while being ludologically an unstoppable killing machine, is not ironic. It's the opposite of ironic. He's the protagonist in a fucking video game about shooting people, of course he's good at shooting people. We can stop talking about it, now, please, yes? --In its own way, the modern "indie" game industry is every single bit as formulaic and boring as the mainstream game industry, it's just not hit the same point of cultural oversaturation. Yet. --I'm not sure I'll ever understand the short shrift given RE5. It's not as groundbreaking as RE4, but it's every bit as fun to play, offers an adventure through much more compelling environments than 4 ever did, has enough of those marquee sequences that defined the previous game, and even today it looks fucking gorgeous. I have trouble believing that many people didn't find it fun to play, but I also have trouble believing that many people really cared (enough) about the alleged cultural insensitivity via the game's setting and monster designs to ultimate sour their experience. I haven't played RE6 so I can't speak to it, but I think 5 should be considered among the better games from last generation. --I think ludonarrative dissonance is a worthwhile concept for developers to consider and explore when designing their games. It's worth talking about. I also think developers are fully justified saying "Fuck it" and making their "everyman" hero an unstoppable killer. I get why Uncharted inspired the conversation, but I don't think there's anything wrong with Uncharted. -- I know! (referring there to the 2nd big paragraph). The worst part is that the inevitable backlash (starting already if we're any indication) will eventually devalue some truly great games. Wrong place, wrong time.
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MissEli
AV Clubber
My mind is in a wee Victorian salon in the gutter, with tea, crumpets & innuendo.
Posts: 500
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Post by MissEli on Apr 23, 2015 14:58:51 GMT -5
Also, the best thing about The Smiths is Johnny Marr's guitar. That's heresy? Then, I guess I'm a heretic.
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Pickle
Newbie
ticklish
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Post by Pickle on Apr 23, 2015 15:58:38 GMT -5
Game Of Thrones is a big pile of shit! Although sometimes I watch it when I'm bored.
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Ice Cream Planet
AV Clubber
I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy.
Posts: 3,833
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Post by Ice Cream Planet on Apr 23, 2015 16:03:30 GMT -5
Game Of Thrones is a big pile of shit! Although sometimes I watch it when I'm bored. Pickle! You're finally here!
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MissEli
AV Clubber
My mind is in a wee Victorian salon in the gutter, with tea, crumpets & innuendo.
Posts: 500
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Post by MissEli on Apr 23, 2015 16:15:08 GMT -5
Eh. There's content I love, content I like & enjoy, content I am neutral on, and content I hate. Now. Some AV Heresy. - I don't miss Rabin.
- I've recovered from missing Todd.
- I though Sonia took some things way too seriously (when she was paying attention), but generally, I thought she was pretty funny.
- I don't like Oliver Sawa's reviews of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think him being a huge comic books geek hurts the reviews because he focuses so much on what he anticipates the show to focus on because of how things work in the Marvel Universe, and his excitement over seeing familiar elements being added to the show drown out whether episodes actually work, whether the characters actually connect, whether the production is all that it should be. Yes, the fight choreography can get on his nerves, as well as the lighting and the set design, and he was appropriately hard on Ward in Season 1. But I rarely see him ask, post-Winter Soldier whether or not the show works in crafting a good-to-decent narrative for people who don't know, and previously did not care about Kree or InHumans or how often Sif and Fury can show up.
- I tire of writers who have talent and their heads screwed on right, but can't cut any slack to shows that step out of the majority-ethnic paradigm (for instance, blackish and Empire). Yes, they're trying to do something different, yes there are messages beneath entertainment, but in the end, blackish is a family sitcom, that follows family sitcom beats, from Father Knows Best to Modern Family, and Empire is a soap opera. Sure, call out lazy writing, poor character arcs, erratic plotting, but just let these genre shows be what they are. It feels like these shows are being held to a standard to be accurate, message-oriented, topical and realistic that wouldn't apply if the cast was all or mostly white. And it makes it less fun to read and comment on those reviews.
- I grow increasingly frustrated with commenters taking time out to kick SJWs while arguing over casting decisions. I know how the name came about, I know how it's used, and I am fully aware of the hothouse-flower/circular firing circle tactics of debate and activism on the left. Can so-called SJWs get annoying, twee and overly sensitive? Yes. But the fight to make mainstream entertainment more diverse, more inclusive and more realistic predates Tumblr, the Web and the Internet itself. Seeing people bemoan over and over that SJWs are ruining the Internet/games/TV makes me curious if it's not just the boneheaded, unsubtle, overcompensating tactics that people are really objecting to.
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LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,049
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Post by LazBro on Apr 23, 2015 16:19:01 GMT -5
Eh. There's content I love, content I like & enjoy, content I am neutral on, and content I hate. Now. Some AV Heresy. - I don't miss Rabin.
- I've recovered from missing Todd.
- I though Sonia took some things way too seriously (when she was paying attention), but generally, I thought she was pretty funny.
- I don't like Oliver Sawa's reviews of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think him being a huge comic books geek hurts the reviews because he focuses so much on what he anticipates the show to focus on because of how things work in the Marvel Universe, and his excitement over seeing familiar elements being added to the show drown out whether episodes actually work, whether the characters actually connect, whether the production is all that it should be. Yes, the fight choreography can get on his nerves, as well as the lighting and the set design, and he was appropriately hard on Ward in Season 1. But I rarely see him ask, post-Winter Soldier whether or not the show works in crafting a good-to-decent narrative for people who don't know, and previously did not care about Kree or InHumans or how often Sif and Fury can show up.
- I tire of writers who have talent and their heads screwed on right, but can't cut any slack to shows that step out of the majority-ethnic paradigm (for instance, blackish and Empire). Yes, they're trying to do something different, yes there are messages beneath entertainment, but in the end, blackish is a family sitcom, that follows family sitcom beats, from Father Knows Best to Modern Family, and Empire is a soap opera. Sure, call out lazy writing, poor character arcs, erratic plotting, but just let these genre shows be what they are. It feels like these shows are being held to a standard to be accurate, message-oriented, topical and realistic that wouldn't apply if the cast was all or mostly white. And it makes it less fun to read and comment on those reviews.
- I grow increasingly frustrated with commenters taking time out to kick SJWs while arguing over casting decisions. I know how the name came about, I know how it's used, and I am fully aware of the hothouse-flower/circular firing circle tactics of debate and activism on the left. Can so-called SJWs get annoying, twee and overly sensitive? Yes. But the fight to make mainstream entertainment more diverse, more inclusive and more realistic predates Tumblr, the Web and the Internet itself. Seeing people bemoan over and over that SJWs are ruining the Internet/games/TV makes me curious if it's not just the boneheaded, unsubtle, overcompensating tactics that people are really objecting to.
We all await the reveal of your 4th bullet. Too heretical to even print!
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Ice Cream Planet
AV Clubber
I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy.
Posts: 3,833
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Post by Ice Cream Planet on Apr 23, 2015 16:30:47 GMT -5
Eh. There's content I love, content I like & enjoy, content I am neutral on, and content I hate. Now. Some AV Heresy. - I don't miss Rabin.
- I've recovered from missing Todd.
- I though Sonia took some things way too seriously (when she was paying attention), but generally, I thought she was pretty funny.
- I don't like Oliver Sawa's reviews of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think him being a huge comic books geek hurts the reviews because he focuses so much on what he anticipates the show to focus on because of how things work in the Marvel Universe, and his excitement over seeing familiar elements being added to the show drown out whether episodes actually work, whether the characters actually connect, whether the production is all that it should be. Yes, the fight choreography can get on his nerves, as well as the lighting and the set design, and he was appropriately hard on Ward in Season 1. But I rarely see him ask, post-Winter Soldier whether or not the show works in crafting a good-to-decent narrative for people who don't know, and previously did not care about Kree or InHumans or how often Sif and Fury can show up.
- I tire of writers who have talent and their heads screwed on right, but can't cut any slack to shows that step out of the majority-ethnic paradigm (for instance, blackish and Empire). Yes, they're trying to do something different, yes there are messages beneath entertainment, but in the end, blackish is a family sitcom, that follows family sitcom beats, from Father Knows Best to Modern Family, and Empire is a soap opera. Sure, call out lazy writing, poor character arcs, erratic plotting, but just let these genre shows be what they are. It feels like these shows are being held to a standard to be accurate, message-oriented, topical and realistic that wouldn't apply if the cast was all or mostly white. And it makes it less fun to read and comment on those reviews.
- I grow increasingly frustrated with commenters taking time out to kick SJWs while arguing over casting decisions. I know how the name came about, I know how it's used, and I am fully aware of the hothouse-flower/circular firing circle tactics of debate and activism on the left. Can so-called SJWs get annoying, twee and overly sensitive? Yes. But the fight to make mainstream entertainment more diverse, more inclusive and more realistic predates Tumblr, the Web and the Internet itself. Seeing people bemoan over and over that SJWs are ruining the Internet/games/TV makes me curious if it's not just the boneheaded, unsubtle, overcompensating tactics that people are really objecting to.
Agree with all of your points, particularly about the often needless complaints about straw SJWs and how some people automatically expect shows like Empire and Black-ish to carry the same seriousness and gravity as something like The Wire. Diversity is great behind and in front of the camera, and an invaluable facet of diversity is the diversity of stories. Something like Empire is a primetime sudser, and while issues of race/class/orientation/etc should be discussed in recaps with the show, give it the same benefit of the doubt one would give something like Revenge.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Apr 23, 2015 16:34:45 GMT -5
Eh. There's content I love, content I like & enjoy, content I am neutral on, and content I hate. Now. Some AV Heresy. - I don't miss Rabin.
- I've recovered from missing Todd.
- I though Sonia took some things way too seriously (when she was paying attention), but generally, I thought she was pretty funny.
- I don't like Oliver Sawa's reviews of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think him being a huge comic books geek hurts the reviews because he focuses so much on what he anticipates the show to focus on because of how things work in the Marvel Universe, and his excitement over seeing familiar elements being added to the show drown out whether episodes actually work, whether the characters actually connect, whether the production is all that it should be. Yes, the fight choreography can get on his nerves, as well as the lighting and the set design, and he was appropriately hard on Ward in Season 1. But I rarely see him ask, post-Winter Soldier whether or not the show works in crafting a good-to-decent narrative for people who don't know, and previously did not care about Kree or InHumans or how often Sif and Fury can show up.
- I tire of writers who have talent and their heads screwed on right, but can't cut any slack to shows that step out of the majority-ethnic paradigm (for instance, blackish and Empire). Yes, they're trying to do something different, yes there are messages beneath entertainment, but in the end, blackish is a family sitcom, that follows family sitcom beats, from Father Knows Best to Modern Family, and Empire is a soap opera. Sure, call out lazy writing, poor character arcs, erratic plotting, but just let these genre shows be what they are. It feels like these shows are being held to a standard to be accurate, message-oriented, topical and realistic that wouldn't apply if the cast was all or mostly white. And it makes it less fun to read and comment on those reviews.
- I grow increasingly frustrated with commenters taking time out to kick SJWs while arguing over casting decisions. I know how the name came about, I know how it's used, and I am fully aware of the hothouse-flower/circular firing circle tactics of debate and activism on the left. Can so-called SJWs get annoying, twee and overly sensitive? Yes. But the fight to make mainstream entertainment more diverse, more inclusive and more realistic predates Tumblr, the Web and the Internet itself. Seeing people bemoan over and over that SJWs are ruining the Internet/games/TV makes me curious if it's not just the boneheaded, unsubtle, overcompensating tactics that people are really objecting to.
If ever there was a show where that reviewing style would be appropriate though, it's Agents of SHIELD. The show's 2 main purposes are producing brand synergy and attempting to save the movies some expositional legwork. Focusing on how well they introduce new concepts from the comics and take advantage of appearances by the movie characters makes a ton of sense in that context.
That being said, I rarely read the reviews so I have no idea if they actually are just garbage.
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MissEli
AV Clubber
My mind is in a wee Victorian salon in the gutter, with tea, crumpets & innuendo.
Posts: 500
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Post by MissEli on Apr 23, 2015 17:34:17 GMT -5
Eh. There's content I love, content I like & enjoy, content I am neutral on, and content I hate. Now. Some AV Heresy. - I don't like Oliver Sawa's reviews of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think him being a huge comic books geek hurts the reviews because he focuses so much on what he anticipates the show to focus on because of how things work in the Marvel Universe, and his excitement over seeing familiar elements being added to the show drown out whether episodes actually work, whether the characters actually connect, whether the production is all that it should be. Yes, the fight choreography can get on his nerves, as well as the lighting and the set design, and he was appropriately hard on Ward in Season 1. But I rarely see him ask, post-Winter Soldier whether or not the show works in crafting a good-to-decent narrative for people who don't know, and previously did not care about Kree or InHumans or how often Sif and Fury can show up.
If ever there was a show where that reviewing style would be appropriate though, it's Agents of SHIELD. The show's 2 main purposes are producing brand synergy and attempting to save the movies some expositional legwork. Focusing on how well they introduce new concepts from the comics and take advantage of appearances by the movie characters makes a ton of sense in that context.
That being said, I rarely read the reviews so I have no idea if they actually are just garbage.
It's not that it's inappropriate, but it's not well-balanced with a perspective that someone unfamiliar/less familiar with Marvel canon may have or look for in trying to figure out this show. I'm probably a minority in this, as the hundreds of comments that generate following an ep is full of people very well versed in the 'lore'. And yet, I also get a better perspective from the commentariat, both from relative casual fans and the hardcore followers. But from the reviews themselves - it's what I would imagine the Game of Thrones reviews and reactions would be if there were only the Expert/bookreaders version and no Newbie version.
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MissEli
AV Clubber
My mind is in a wee Victorian salon in the gutter, with tea, crumpets & innuendo.
Posts: 500
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Post by MissEli on Apr 23, 2015 17:42:30 GMT -5
Eh. There's content I love, content I like & enjoy, content I am neutral on, and content I hate. Now. Some AV Heresy. We all await the reveal of your 4th bullet. Too heretical to even print! I will tell you a true thing and a false thing, and you must choose which goes in the 4th bullet: 1) I think it's cute that Mohd often posts first on a lot of articles, and even when he's off-point, he's pretty funny. 2) The site is too stingy about F material. Hate-watching is a thing, and while there may be issues of elitism in going after a show with large audiences but little critical love, that sort of writing is a great way to develop humour and satirize lazy, thoughtless, trope-filled shows ... like CSI: Cyber!
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Post by Powerthirteen on Apr 23, 2015 17:56:43 GMT -5
We all await the reveal of your 4th bullet. Too heretical to even print! I will tell you a true thing and a false thing, and you must choose which goes in the 4th bullet: 1) I think it's cute that Mohd often posts first on a lot of articles, and even when he's off-point, he's pretty funny. 2) The site is too stingy about F material. Hate-watching is a thing, and while there may be issues of elitism in going after a show with large audiences but little critical love, that sort of writing is a great way to develop humour and satirize lazy, thoughtless, trope-filled shows ... like CSI: Cyber! I always assumed that the Mohd-bashing was ironic, because how can you hate the dude?
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Post by Judkins Moaner on Apr 23, 2015 22:46:33 GMT -5
Eh. There's content I love, content I like & enjoy, content I am neutral on, and content I hate. Now. Some AV Heresy. - I grow increasingly frustrated with commenters taking time out to kick SJWs while arguing over casting decisions. I know how the name came about, I know how it's used, and I am fully aware of the hothouse-flower/circular firing circle tactics of debate and activism on the left. Can so-called SJWs get annoying, twee and overly sensitive? Yes. But the fight to make mainstream entertainment more diverse, more inclusive and more realistic predates Tumblr, the Web and the Internet itself. Seeing people bemoan over and over that SJWs are ruining the Internet/games/TV makes me curious if it's not just the boneheaded, unsubtle, overcompensating tactics that people are really objecting to.
*Nods a lot*I actually know some IRL SJWs (ah! those abbreviations!), and while their armchair "trailblazing" can be annoying, I've always recognized and acknowledged that it comes from a good place. The frequent explanation (from the critics) that hostility to alleged SJWs comes from some kind of progressive purity cagematch never rang true to me; I always pretty much assumed that the critics were just using it as an excuse. Maybe I'm wrong on some of these folks, but that's definitely the whiff that comes across. As to your "missing point," I always thought the Mohd-hate was incredibly overblown, often from commenters who were just as offensive, annoying, or off-topic. It's been called out on a few recent threads, and apparently the reason given is that he'll edit super-offensive shit out of posts once he's made his "firstie." Could be. The nastiest thing I ever saw was fat-shaming, which certainly isn't cool, but which doesn't really explain the AVC hate for me (especially as that's hardly foreign to some of the commentariat and its culture). I also still need to see Blackish. The Vikings season ended tonight; sounds like the perfect opportunity!
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Post by King Charles’s Butterfly on Apr 24, 2015 2:04:22 GMT -5
While I’m generally in agreement with the SJW side of thing in terms of actual issues, I think in the context of AVC comments its resulted in a sort of rhetorical escalation and uniformity across the site, which has made the sort of Reasonable Discussions that drew me to the comments rarer and narrowed the number of things people want to talk about. I wish AVC commenters would just not engage with the disqus walk-ins, just flagging (if necessary) and moving on. In most of the cases it’s obviously not going to result in good-faith discussion or pun-swapping, and the fact that so much digital commenter ink is spent anticipating their arrival makes me think that there’s an element of just wanting a fight. As to your "missing point," I always thought the Mohd-hate was incredibly overblown, often from commenters who were just as offensive, annoying, or off-topic. It's been called out on a few recent threads, and apparently the reason given is that he'll edit super-offensive shit out of posts once he's made his "firstie." Could be. The nastiest thing I ever saw was fat-shaming, which certainly isn't cool, but which doesn't really explain the AVC hate for me (especially as that's hardly foreign to some of the commentariat and its culture). This has literally been going on for years—I recall Teadoust chewing out Mohd for posting so much and Preparation Heche mentioning that Mohd (at that time) had only made a fraction of the comments Teadoust had. In the late pre-registration/early old disqus years Mohd did post some horse porn (whatever that is) and I think he used to be a bit more, um, openly enthusiastic about his favorite actresses, though who wasn’t back then?
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Post by Great Unwashed on Apr 24, 2015 3:17:38 GMT -5
I don't think that other posters also don't read the articles and try and shoehorn in the same comment again and again (oh so you like Fleetwood and The Room. Die already, fucking hell) makes Mohd any better for it, especially as it would already be bad enough to be guy who won't shut up about anime and guy who won't stop sounding talking about electronic music like a rock magazine from the late 90's (wave of the future, DJs are the new rockstars!) especially when you're going to copy/paste born in the wrong generation stuff as a put down. It kind of makes me more annoyed, like when forum or internet comment or even just social group assholes get accepted as "our asshole" because they "keep it interesting" and "they're funny/make a good point sometimes" (they're not and they don't), and to me it's just like "this person sucks, why are cutting them a break? They're not going to fucking learn, they're just gonna get worse!".
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Post by Nudeviking on Apr 24, 2015 3:33:00 GMT -5
Roy Batty's Pet Dove Nope. If you don’t live in America you’re a Kraut in Dissolve world (which was the gist of my non-trolly replies, too). What if you have a US passport but don't actually live in America anymore?
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Post by usernametoolong on Apr 24, 2015 3:44:56 GMT -5
Roy Batty's Pet Dove Nope. If you don’t live in America you’re a Kraut in Dissolve world (which was the gist of my non-trolly replies, too). To be fair, that guy is very unrepresentative of the Dissolve commentariat as a whole, the first comment I remember from him was when I stated that Aliens is my least favourite of the series (exact phrasing, I didn't even say it was a bad movie), it apparently made me a troll. A couple of days later, when someone said they didn't like Lifeforce, his reaction was:"Oh sorry, I didn't know you were gay, that makes sense then", given that this comment was to the one commenter who spends a lot more time going on about social issues than movies (obnoxiously so in my mind), he had plenty of opportunities to clarify that he wasn't joking it was really the only rational explanation he could find for someone not liking Lifeforce. And he is in general (as you've found out) the living embodiment of the cliché of the ugly American.
That's not to say commenters (and writers) are not rather insular, but they tend not to be proud of it. Which incidentally is the prevailing hypothesis regarding the disappearance of Washington, he had less and less interest in the editorial line.
That's not to say the remarks made here aren't generally accurate, I feel in a minority there not working or studying anywhere near film, the social tone of some conversations of commenters can get really tiring (but the commenter I find most annoying in that respect more and more gets called out for his inability to recognise humour). But I find it overall welcoming and interesting.
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Post by usernametoolong on Apr 24, 2015 3:45:43 GMT -5
Roy Batty's Pet Dove Nope. If you don’t live in America you’re a Kraut in Dissolve world (which was the gist of my non-trolly replies, too). What if you have a US passport but don't actually live in America anymore? Doesn't that count as treason?
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Post by Nudeviking on Apr 24, 2015 3:58:37 GMT -5
What if you have a US passport but don't actually live in America anymore? Doesn't that count as treason? Someone on Fox News told me if I didn't like George Bush I should leave so I did. They never said how long I had to stay away though and I'm really starting to wonder about it. It's been 12 years already.
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Post by usernametoolong on Apr 24, 2015 4:19:51 GMT -5
Someone on Fox News told me if I didn't like George Bush I should leave so I did. They never said how long I had to stay away though and I'm really starting to wonder about it. It's been 12 years already. I know the feeling, I was in the Eurostar the day after Sarkozy was elected president.
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Post by King Charles’s Butterfly on Apr 24, 2015 4:53:37 GMT -5
usernametoolong I was pissed and being unfair to the Dissolve, and I’ll probably be back as soon as I get around to Manon des Sources. Outside the big “morning” threads it’s an incredibly variable community, probably because it’s so small—who shows up has a big effect and for good and ill there isn’t the solid mass of commenters underneath. In general I’m pretty much in the same boat as you—I generally like the place but always really feel like I fit (and still read it even if I don’t always feel the need to scroll down to comments). I guess my big AVC/Dissolve heresy would be that I’m generally more interested in when they look at old stuff than new—that deep well of TV/film/music knowledge is something I don’t have and I like getting a nice, accessible window onto it, which is why I’ve always been drawn to TV Club Classic (why I started commenting)/Primer/MOTW. I feel like both sites have become more present-oriented, and the Dissolve seems to have drifted into being just another movie news site with some nice features and more under-the-radar film reviews on the side—I could easily see someone like Washington losing interest (as I kind of have). Has he really gone the whole way and deleted his account? I got year-delayed upvotes in what I thought was a discussion with him and I felt like his posts were listed as “Guest,” but can’t be sure. Anyway, everyone was asking me questions after the 2014 midterms, but I feel kind of bad for not being in the country during O’s second-term foreign policy butt-kicking. De Volkskrant did use the most lurching-Frankenstein’s-monster-esque picture of John Kerry to illustrate the Iran deal, so at least I have that.
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Ice Cream Planet
AV Clubber
I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy.
Posts: 3,833
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Post by Ice Cream Planet on Apr 24, 2015 10:11:51 GMT -5
I actually know some IRL SJWs (ah! those abbreviations!), and while their armchair "trailblazing" can be annoying, I've always recognized and acknowledged that it comes from a good place. The frequent explanation (from the critics) that hostility to alleged SJWs comes from some kind of progressive purity cagematch never rang true to me; I always pretty much assumed that the critics were just using it as an excuse. Maybe I'm wrong on some of these folks, but that's definitely the whiff that comes across. As to your "missing point," I always thought the Mohd-hate was incredibly overblown, often from commenters who were just as offensive, annoying, or off-topic. It's been called out on a few recent threads, and apparently the reason given is that he'll edit super-offensive shit out of posts once he's made his "firstie." Could be. The nastiest thing I ever saw was fat-shaming, which certainly isn't cool, but which doesn't really explain the AVC hate for me (especially as that's hardly foreign to some of the commentariat and its culture). I also still need to see Blackish. The Vikings season ended tonight; sounds like the perfect opportunity! When it comes to SJWs (I probably fit a lot of the criteria), it mostly boils down to there being a time and a place for discussion. Quite a few understand that, some don't. Not too different from other commenters, and like Vonnegut said, 'so it goes.' I never understood the Mohd-hate either. Sure, the dude could be off-topic or post some stupid things (I know there were a few times when he posted links to Redtube and Youporn, and now I'm mad I can't remember why exactly), but he's always struck me as a relatively agreeable, relaxed fellow. My favorite Mohd story is when he posted something on an article relating to The Americans, saying he has trouble watching it because 'there are too many acting and dialogue parts,' and Scrawler replied, 'I don't understand any of this comment.'
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Post by Nudeviking on Apr 24, 2015 10:19:55 GMT -5
I actually know some IRL SJWs (ah! those abbreviations!), and while their armchair "trailblazing" can be annoying, I've always recognized and acknowledged that it comes from a good place. The frequent explanation (from the critics) that hostility to alleged SJWs comes from some kind of progressive purity cagematch never rang true to me; I always pretty much assumed that the critics were just using it as an excuse. Maybe I'm wrong on some of these folks, but that's definitely the whiff that comes across. As to your "missing point," I always thought the Mohd-hate was incredibly overblown, often from commenters who were just as offensive, annoying, or off-topic. It's been called out on a few recent threads, and apparently the reason given is that he'll edit super-offensive shit out of posts once he's made his "firstie." Could be. The nastiest thing I ever saw was fat-shaming, which certainly isn't cool, but which doesn't really explain the AVC hate for me (especially as that's hardly foreign to some of the commentariat and its culture). I also still need to see Blackish. The Vikings season ended tonight; sounds like the perfect opportunity! When it comes to SJWs (I probably fit a lot of the criteria), it mostly boils down to there being a time and a place for discussion. Quite a few understand that, some don't. Not too different from other commenters, and like Vonnegut said, 'so it goes.' I never understood the Mohd-hate either. Sure, the dude could be off-topic or post some stupid things (I know there were a few times when he posted links to Redtube and Youporn, and now I'm mad I can't remember why exactly), but he's always struck me as a relatively agreeable, relaxed fellow. My favorite Mohd story is when he posted something on an article relating to The Americans, saying he has trouble watching it because 'there are too many acting and dialogue parts,' and Scrawler replied, 'I don't understand any of this comment.' He's gotten somewhat better about it but he used to be pretty rude to people. He also is kind of racist...and sexist...and really incorrect with a lot of the things he spouts as fact...and edits his comments long after dozens of people have replied to him thus making those people all look like idiots.
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Post by Lord Lucan on Apr 24, 2015 10:20:33 GMT -5
Roy Batty's Pet Dove Nope. If you don’t live in America you’re a Kraut in Dissolve world (which was the gist of my non-trolly replies, too). I don't visit that site, but I vaguely imagined the commentators all being unbearable film students (not all film students are unbearable) trading jargon-laden insults about inferior tastes and shallow analyses and so on. Didn't imagine it was a den of American chauvinism.
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Ice Cream Planet
AV Clubber
I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy.
Posts: 3,833
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Post by Ice Cream Planet on Apr 24, 2015 10:30:02 GMT -5
When it comes to SJWs (I probably fit a lot of the criteria), it mostly boils down to there being a time and a place for discussion. Quite a few understand that, some don't. Not too different from other commenters, and like Vonnegut said, 'so it goes.' I never understood the Mohd-hate either. Sure, the dude could be off-topic or post some stupid things (I know there were a few times when he posted links to Redtube and Youporn, and now I'm mad I can't remember why exactly), but he's always struck me as a relatively agreeable, relaxed fellow. My favorite Mohd story is when he posted something on an article relating to The Americans, saying he has trouble watching it because 'there are too many acting and dialogue parts,' and Scrawler replied, 'I don't understand any of this comment.' He's gotten somewhat better about it but he used to be pretty rude to people. He also is kind of racist...and sexist...and really incorrect with a lot of the things he spouts as fact...and edits his comments long after dozens of people have replied to him thus making those people all look like idiots. Full disclosure: I almost never talk to him and I joined AVC relatively late (after being a lurker for many years), so I remember some of his more thoughtless stuff, but not all. Still, point well made.
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Post by Powerthirteen on Apr 24, 2015 10:39:31 GMT -5
This may accidentally step on some toes (sorry) but The Dissolve also gets complicated because its comments often include a fairly complex gender dynamic; the commenters get really personal and conversational and talk a lot about their lives, including a lot of stuff about their various sexual identities. Which is fine, but it seems like it often lends an undertone of "he/she gets to be a little ornery but that's okay, we accept them anyway because they're queer and they've had a hard time" that you can't argue with without being accused of being uncomfortable with their sexual identity. I'm comfortable with your sex change, I'm just not sure why that's relevant to every conversation and why it means that disagreeing with you about Aliens makes your hurt feelings the result of my transphobia.
ETA: This hasn't happened to me personally, I'm just saying what I've seen scrolling through comments. The only person I ever got into an argument with there was Washington, which isn't exactly special.
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