I thought I'd just quickly give a small overview of a few of things I just want to be able to tell everyone I know, who insults me or makes jibes at me purely because I'm interested in astrology.
Firstly: astrology does not work out people's personalities.
The personality is a combination of genes, circumstance and astrological sign. Different for each person, but I'd say about 25%, 50%, 25% spread respectively.
Secondly: the 'tests' that have been done to 'disprove' astrology thought that astrology was about predicting someone's entire personality. They also were chock full of questions that gave both the upside and the downside of a trait (surreptitiously).
Thirdly: astrology often has sources of hocus pocus and sources of fact. I don't believe you can tell the future for anyone or anything with astrology. Some things I'll accept because I have enough evidence for them, some things I won't- there are charlatans everywhere, but that doesn't make the whole thing hocus pocus
Fourthly: astrology is not anything like religious belief. It means barely ANYTHING to most people who are interested in it, like me. It's not some special subscription service for lame ass cosplay mystics and pseudo druids. It's not useful for much other than understanding SOME personality issues with yourself and with your friends.
I only believe in any astrological concept if I have 100% evidence for it.
Fifthly: carrying on, astrology is often useful for working out where your true leanings are, when they have been covered up by circumstance (or nurture). For example, a middle of the month cancer should be quite naturally loving and caring towards his closest friends and family. However if he is guarded with everyone, and refuses to cry in front of people, and barely ever connects, it's because he will have been either forced to do it or because he has grown to do it. It will be an unhealthy and dissatisfying issue for him all his life until he accepts that he is someone who really wants to open up to his nearest and dearest.
It's therefore useful for helping understand your family members, and most importantly for helping to understand your own problems.
Sixthly: On this forum people might bring up a heated argument between Jibba and I in which I made a fool of myself in several ways, not least because I gloated about how he was obviously one star sign, when he turned out not to. The simple fact of that matter is that you can't know much about someone's star sign from a few interactions with them, and peoples' internet (guarded and often bravado-laden) personalities are a damn sight different from their true ones. That's just to cover anyone using that as a pathetic excuse to disengage with what I've put.
Seventhly: sun signs (the 12 signs of the zodiac) are not clear cut. There aren't just 12 different astrological leanings. It's like colours...they bleed into each other. There's an infinite number...but general themes will stay and that's what's important.
Eighthly: Something I find really irritating is that people aren't willing to accept the murkiness of astrology. Because it does not give a person's full personality (as it's different because of genes and circumstance) it can never really give a clean cut, on-demand, perfect analysis of someone. People are very unwilling to be open-minded about things like this. They think that because it cannot be put into one sentence, it is an automatically invalid concept. You get a lot of hostility when explaining like this to most pig-headed people.
Ninthly: astrology is always an easier concept to grasp for people who analyse...as well as people who like to put everything into a logical box. If you are one of those sorts of people, you will probably have already made assessments on everyone around you, and astrology will either fit or conflict...and you can test the waters so to speak. If you are completely unaware of peoples' personalities around you, and you don't pick up on any patterns of behaviour, you will find it almost impossible to understand how it works.
And finally...tenthly...astrology is a LOT easier to work out with kids than with adults. Especially men between 16-25. They take such control of their outward personality towards people, and they repress so much of their nature, often they will strike a complete discord with their sun sign in several key areas. That doesn't disprove astrology though, it just shows they are repressed as fuck. You see it all the time really, especially in teenagers. Repression is a really big and obvious thing if you just keep your eyes out for it.
I just felt like putting that out there. Now comes the shitstorm indubitably...
[PS im not trolling here or anything. I genuinely need some help because my colleague got this for me and I need to say I liked it and why. He loves it and I don't want to disappoint him]
Just finished watching it. Boy was I disappointed.
Pros: atmosphere acting
Cons: paper thin characters unimpressive, whimsical plot unbelievable- weak on the details
Ok so here are my problems. I didn't watch the movie that scrupulously though, so I might have missed shit. IN MINE HUMBLE OPINION:
Chigurh wasn't a good bad guy imo. After having just seen the dark knight...THAT's a bad guy and a half. This guy was just death incarnate with an irritating cattle killing weapon. He didn't show any motivations...just a psychopath...what's interesting in seeing a psychopath kill people? They never showed how the fuck he managed to keep track of the running guy so closely- that really annoyed me. If it's all to make some lame point about how we make our own luck or death is inevitable or you can't run from your daemons it could have been made a lot more interestingly.
The penultimate scene was pointless. Why would you be drawn into any thought about Chigurh? What is there to think about? Once the main character is dead, (and btw his character didn't show us anything, just fucked around and died)what is the point in carrying on the film?
Tommy Lee Jones' character...wtf is the point of him. We didn't see enough of his 'struggle' to find the killer.
My overall problem with the film was that they didn't show the important parts. They showed the pointless ones. What the hell was the point of the car crash scene? Some sort of point about luck? What possible use did that have? The agency was almost a deus ex machina. So much about that film screamed deus ex machina tbh. Well...should I say the plot. My main problem is with the plot and I guess that means with the book but one never knows.
A review said the film is close to the book, in which case I probably dislike the book.
The atmosphere was tense...for a time...but more tense with the question of 'is there a point to this film? Am I wasting my time?' than with the question of what happens next.
I guess the film is supposed to be a thriller with a sort of enigmatic twist to it. But the plot just seems thrown together and coincidental.
So how the hell does this film get such high ratings? I mean if you compare this film in tension, acting, timing and story levels to for example any of Sergio Lione's dollar trilogy films; I think you'll always find this wanting.
95% on Rotten Tomatoes I just don't understand. The dark knight smothered this film imo. Ps dont bother bashing my opinion, just give me reasons why it's good. I'll rewatch the film if I get some good reasons.
Took me blooming ages but finally seen it. For me, a top 10 film no doubt about it. Probably the best and deepest, and darkest and most intelligent action film ever made. Heath Ledger's performance is one of THE performances, comparable to your marlon brandos, jack nicholsons, al pacinos.
I've got no complaints about the film. Any issues I have are so minor, it would be impossible for them to tarnish my opinion of it. A 10/10 for me.
The story was perfect, very clever and one step ahead the whole time. The joker is SUCH an amazing character, both from the inimitable acting and also from his script and his plot. His general concept and appearance is so different from any other incarnation, and it's definitely my favourite.
All of the other actors were fantastic imo. Aaron Eckhart was fantastic. Michael Caine and Martin Lawrence played really well. Amazing delivery of the important lines from everyone.
The whole FEELING one gets of Joker's impressive and dark genius and audacity is intoxicating. My head was swimming with bewilderment at his plans...and infuriated trying to think of ways to beat him! This is SUCH a clever action film...SO cerebral. The philosophy is SO tasty.
The film is really well paced in my opinion. Not a second too long, not a second too short. Anyone who thinks it was long is probably a different kind to me. I get so absorbed in films I just want them to go on and on. I was perfectly happy with the length of gladiator/ crouching tiger hidden dragon/ gone with the wind so this film didn't faze me at all.
To just wax a little more amorous lyrical about Heath Ledger, trying to imagine all the lines he delivered being done in ANY other way left me exasperated. He seemed to achieve perfection in the delivery of that script. He brought more than, to my mind, any other actor could. Which is SO weird because in A Knight's Tale he made Pinocchio look fleshy. Looks can be deceiving eh.
My only stinging pain about the film is the horrifying prospect of a sequel without ledger.
For me, the fact that joker is in control makes it so thrilling. Well, he precisely ISN'T in control but he definitely has a sort of control. He makes plans and at least has a lot of knowledge about criminal activity. It doesn't seem Two-face could be as cunning or enthralling as him. He's just an angry and probably will end up twisted bastard. Joker really is a different class of criminal.
And by the way I LOVED that whole justification of his crimes. It's fucking amazing. The bit where he burnt the money. Just brilliant. SO FUCKING DIFFERENT from mweh mweh mweh penguin chugging along in his submarine looking for a bank vault to rob mweh mweh mweh.
And about the boat scene. BAAAAH. I don't care about your finnickety questioning of the writing. I really find it hard to imagine that there wouldn't be one frantic guy with little foresight who would be perfectly happy to blow the others up...but I found the WHOLE point of that scene is to make US as surprised as the joker and batman are. I think the whole FILM puts us in that position. We never get to see the Joker's plans until they are revealed to a good guy. That's totally the point of the film. GENIUS strokes all round
This film really puts my faith back in Hollywood, in what has actually been a very strong year anyway. Brilliant to see films of this calibre coming out and achieving success. So fucking brilliant! I rave about it to everyone!
Oh yes and I think, technically, this film has an AMAZING balance in the timing. By which I mean, the pans and shots and amounts of time the camera waits after some fact has been revealed are JUST slow enough for you to catch what's going on first time through, but fast enough so that when you watch again it's not irritating. GREAT work!
And also, FINALLY, someone has shot action scenes in the dark WELL...WITH a moving camera! Who would have thought it could be done. See the latest bond film's TERRIBLE camera work for an example. You get a sense of motion and tension, but you can actually see what the hell's going on!
The Joker's 'theme tune' was irritating at first but has grown on me. It's almost as if his ethos of throwing the rules out the window has inspired his own theme tune. Lovely!
Everyone always ums and ahs about Watergate when you bring up the concept of Richard Nixon but what ELSE was bad about him as a leader? Was it that he lacked charisma? Were his policies askew?
It has more of an arcade-y feel to it, yes. It is not a deep, gripping rpg, yes. It isn't very long, yes. But christ it's the best jedi experience EVER. And the best there ever will be. (Unless force unleashed is released for pc and turns out to be like jedi academy but a step further in graphics).
I JUST FUCKING LOVE walking ominously around raised platforms, spying a couple of unaware sentry guards; creeping up to them- hey! You there! You're under arrest!
A quick force grip, a flick to the side and release: off they go! Screaming all their way down the chasm. My favourite jedi power definitely!
You can choose all light-side powers, and play the game with good sword play and regenerative/ protective powers. Go all dark side powers to go heavy on the damage dealing but to leave yourself open to death quite regularly.
You can choose a composite mix like kyle katarn, which is always fun if you set yourself challenges to beat the levels without saving. This game is actually hard! To beat the cpu without any cheap tricks, at jedi master difficulty, with only a lightsaber and no powers; is something I have never managed to do (through the entire game without saving). It's great. It's the best!
Kotor didn't have many problems, except that it felt like a shallow rpg...i didnt like the final fantasy style restriction of only being able to use the characters they want you to use...i found the game unbalanced and actually short too. But it was a fun and gripping game.
Ultimately, I think you can invest more time into jedi academy over a long period; because it's very hard to get truly bored of the game. Play the whole thing through as a dual lightsaber wielder who turns to the dark side...then the next game as a nice good guy with a single lightsaber and plenty of gusto. You can even try and beat the enemies with guns.
At the end of this excellent movie, in the new edition, at the party there stands good ol obi-wan, yoda and the new guy! The guy who played anakin in 2/3. Why the hell is he young, whereas obi wan is still old? Either, when you disappear into the force, you become back at your prime age or you don't; it's one or the other :O. Surely!
If people are banned from tl do they get to come back with a different username? I don't understand because I remember seeing some mods being like 'try harder with your next account' in the closed thread. Is micronesia gone from the site forever? TL doesn't mind banning 4000+ posters much does it!
Anyone heard the song 'you raise me up?'. It is the same fucking song as 'Danny boy', except the chorus of the former lacks the satisfying high note in the latter. There is nothing significantly different between the songs. There are fucking tiny changes...superficial differences in a few places but nothing big. It's just a fucking joke that someone can seriously say they 'wrote' that song.
The chords, feel, and cadences; and even the melody line are basically identical.
That was a joke right? Cos I thought it owned . It WAS a joke though, right? Right??? Cos it's funny like 'get a brain morans' if it's not a joke, but I think the guy's funny if it was a joke. Does someone know like if he said it was a joke or something? Maybe I'm just being ignant.
Regardless, that's two blogs in like 10 minutes so I will not waste up any more time and space.
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