1

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Just Watched

« on: March 07, 2018, 04:48:28 PM »

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Season 2

As a fan of the books, and the BBC Miniseries, I found it tough to get into the first season of DG. The character is completely different and I really don't like the Government Conspiracy layer they've added, or Elijah Woods' character.

Season 2 is even more bizarre than the first season and features more of the 'holistic' people, including a holistic actor who can shape-shift into anything ("Why would I change into a bear, silly? If I wanted to kill you all, I'd turn into an aircraft carrier and crush this facility." "Please... don't?") and a kid who can create things with his mind.

All my criticisms of Season 1 still stand, Elijah Woods' character is annoyingly out of place, the government conspiracy seems tacked on and superfluous, even as it becomes pretty much a central part of the plot. As before, the tone whiplashes between zany humour and deadpan seriousness (and sometimes zany seriousness) without any attempt at consistency, and the whole thing feels like it could have done with another pass to cut out some of the sheer amount of stuff happening.

That said, the chemistry between some of the characters is a joy to watch, it keeps up a fun, quick pace, and there's still a sense of achievement when you finally 'get' some of the connections.

Good series, but if it gets picked up by another network, it really needs to iron out some of the longstanding bugs.

7/10

2

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Illuminati?

« on: February 28, 2018, 09:37:30 AM »

No.

3

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Another big Mass Shooting

« on: February 23, 2018, 01:53:34 PM »

1) Fair enough, but given the legislative power, I'd require them all to be registered, reasonably secured and subject to periodic checks.

2) Old baseball cards don't typically have the ability to kill scores of people in minutes.

3) Like point 1. I think that they should be heavily monitored if you're storing hundreds of guns in your house/ business

4) As I said, your country is very strange.

5) I assumed the 'well regulated' part of the 2nd would mean that it has to have some sort of registered headquarters, keep the weapons secured and registered, etc. The idea that Bob from down the street can just decide to start an armed militia in his garage is baffling and terrifying to me.

4

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Another big Mass Shooting

« on: February 23, 2018, 01:28:22 PM »

1) Collector - Surely a collector would have them deactivated - otherwise I go back to my previous point that someone who collects hundreds of active guns is someone I would doubt the sanity of.

2)  Historian - Possibly. Though I'd hope that most would be deactivated unless they take part in displays of the weapons, in which case, surely they should be stored in the museum or institution, rather than some guy's house?

3) Gunsmith - Most of those gun will be parts, I would imagine?

4) Home business - Are you really allowed to sell guns as a home business in the USA?  Your country is very strange.

5) Militia - He isn't really gathering hundreds of guns for himself then. Still, surely a Militia wouldn't normally just be based out of someone's house?

5

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Another big Mass Shooting

« on: February 23, 2018, 10:41:21 AM »

I do wonder how one could be considered to be sane and well-adjusted whilst owning 100,000 guns...

Surely a sane, well-adjusted person needs only the guns that they require. Let's say that they're an enthusiastic hunter and range shooter who lives in an area beset by home invasions and muggings, he'll need a couple of rifles or shotguns for hunting his prey (Preferably locked away without ammo) and a range of guns which can be safely stored at the range. Say a handgun for personal defence and a shotgun for home defence.

Does anyone realistically need any more weapons than that? If you're hoarding guns in your house I'd question just how well-adjusted you are anyway.

6

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Another big Mass Shooting

« on: February 23, 2018, 09:08:03 AM »

If a sane, well adjusted person wants 100,000 guns, hey, why not? 

Because keeping track of 100,000 death machines is difficult and if the sane, well adjusted person has their absurd armoury robbed then that's 100,000 more guns on the streets of potentially less sane, well adjusted people.

7

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Another big Mass Shooting

« on: February 15, 2018, 09:00:40 AM »

I was shocked when I read this was the sixth this year. School shootings are almost becoming a 'dog bites man' story.

8

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Sexual Scandals

« on: February 14, 2018, 10:42:27 AM »

In many of these cases, though, it isn't just one woman's word against a poor defenceless man, there are often multiple accusations and circumstantial evidence. Look at the investigation that was held into that fake accusation that was made against Roy Moore in order to discredit the rest of his accusers - a journalist looked into the woman's story and realised it didn't add up, so they didn't report on it as an accusation.

It doesn't help these men that their defence is often so transparently weak. "Err, ahh, I certainly don't remember doing that..."

Do they deserve to lose their careers - well that really depends on their employers, doesn't it?

From what I've been able to find he never forced himself on anyone, he just made some women feel uncomfortable. I'm sorry but it's a far cry from rape, and at least some of his accusers should have expected it, seeing as they were accompanying him to his hotel room. It's just silly to say he really did anything wrong.

Jesus Christ... do we really need to go into why somebody - especially someone who has the dominant position in a power imbalance - making sexual advances towards someone without their consent is wrong? And 'they should have expected it'? Even if that were the case when it clearly isn't, how does that mitigate what he did?

9

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Sexual Scandals

« on: February 12, 2018, 01:40:25 PM »

Or, Weinstein et al should be facing far greater sanctions than the likes of LCK

10

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Sexual Scandals

« on: February 12, 2018, 09:36:18 AM »

Louis CK admitted he was a creep from memory?

11

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Appeal to a lack of contrary evidence

« on: February 08, 2018, 03:26:17 PM »

Hard solipsism isn't useful. We might not have any evidence that we're not brains-in-a-jar, but assuming that we are does not have any useful benefit in terms of helping us navigate the world.

12

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)

« on: February 05, 2018, 12:37:31 PM »

I role-played a distraught mother who returns to her house, mind mangled by grief and places a fire extinguisher in the crib because it's at least as animate as her potato-baby she lost.

There she sits, mad and alone with her fire extinguisher baby.

13

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: February 02, 2018, 03:47:53 PM »

Basically, I'd strip it back to the bare bones as much as possible, and let the characters and their different perspectives be the main focus of the story. Throw in a couple of easter eggs with the disasters and baddies from the comics, and save the franchise-building for after the main story is over.

14

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: February 02, 2018, 03:32:23 PM »

I don't understand why they went so convoluted in this, apart from trying to shoehorn The Dark Knight Returns in.

Given the chance to write the BvS script, I'd have doubled down on the Superman as an Act of God vs Bruce as Humanity metaphor. After the destruction of Metropolis, Bruce would have already resented Supes enough anyway, but in my version I would have had him reacting to a couple of big disasters (probably some big supervillain stuff masterminded by Lex Luthor) but in a way that, despite his best efforts, leaves lots of collateral damage and innocents dead.

Bruce decides Supes is a menace and sets out to find ways of stopping him. Lex let it slip that he's recovered some kryptonite from Zod's ship but oh-no, it's been stolen by a B or C-List Batman baddy. Batman stops the baddy, recovers the kryptonite, and then there's one last big super-fight and Bruce resolves to stop Supes, as Lex knew he would.

They get into a fight, Supes tries to explain that he didn't mean for people to die, there's a big argument (intercut with kryptonite punches) where Bruce flat out tells Supes that he's too dangerous to let live. At this point, both of them are on their knees, bleeding and weak, but they begin to understand each other. Bruce begins to see that Supes never meant for anyone to die and Supes realises that in his titanic battles, he hasn't been paying enough attention on the little people caught in the crossfire. (Hey! Character development)
 Lex suspected this would happen, so he decides to finish off the weak superheroes himself. Neither is strong enough to  beat Lex alone, so they have to learn quickly to work each other's strengths and cover each other's weaknesses to beat Lex.

Blah blah blah, they realise that they could each learn from each other and make a bigger difference to the world together and form the Justice League.

Post Credits sequence: There's a baddy tearing up Metropolis/ Gotham, Supes and Bats arrive together to stop him, but then the smoke and dust clears and the baddy lies beaten on the ground, cut to Wonder Woman all sweaty and battle-scarred. "What took you boys so long?" Or words to that effect.

15

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: February 02, 2018, 09:20:11 AM »

My thoughts when watching it the first time:

-Why is Supes evil?
-Who are the flying mothmen?
-Is the world becoming a desert because of Supes or is it the other way around?
-Wait, is this a prophecy or a paranoid dream sequence?
-What is the flash doing appearing out of Bruce's computer? Isn't his thing that he runs fast?
-Wait that's a dream? Is it a dream within a dream, or are they two separate dreams?
-Why is everything so murky and hard to see?
-If this is Bruce's dream then why can he see the world around him before the blindfold is taken off?
-Why did they clearly spend a lot of money on something that expands an already bloated film for no reason?

16

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General

« on: February 02, 2018, 09:03:29 AM »

Yeah, this is the kind of out-of-context ridiculous franchise-building that Marvel sensibly leaves until after the credits have rolled. As someone who isn't a massive comic reader, I had (and still have, even after reading a bit of Wikipedia around it) no idea what the hell was going on.

17

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 02, 2018, 09:00:03 AM »

Good God, he is such a narcissist

18

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: January 24, 2018, 11:58:49 AM »

So there is the problem.  Why should you want Democrats to win elections?  Why don't you want the candidate with the best ideas to win?

Because any senator/ congressman is going to be subject to the whips of their party. They might be someone with brilliant ideas, but if they're a part of the Republican Party then they're going to have to go along with the whips if they want any support from their party, not to mention the fundraising efforts to get re-elected, which means that the platform matters hugely.

19

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Just Watched

« on: January 23, 2018, 05:14:42 PM »

I've just caught up with ST:Did

Overall, I'm torn. As an original series with no consideration of previous Treks, I really like it, especially as the cast has been fleshed out as it has gone on.

That said, there is definitely something missing in this iteration of Trek. I think it might be the optimism. TOS had the technicolour sense of discovery, TNG had the warm belief in diplomacy and kindness. DS9 built up the bond between the characters before they threw them into a war, Voyager had the constant hope that they would find a way home, and Enterprise (at its best) had the wide-eyed naiveté of exploration. Discovery has definitely started to show glimpses of that - especially when Lorca shows Stanet the map he's been building of different dimensions and realities, but it isn't there yet.

I really hope they decide to go with dimension-hopping as a central theme in Discovery, it would let them be inventive without treading on the feet of established canon, it would give them a wider scope of episodes than Trek has previously allowed itself.

20

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)

« on: January 22, 2018, 10:59:28 AM »

I've recently been playing Sonic Mania

In many respects, it's a great game; the physics and action feel as tight as they ever have in a Sonic game, the new zones are inventive and maintain the feel of exploring an environment - as opposed to the linear roller-coaster rides more recent Sonic titles have adoped - and the reimagined old zones shake up the formula to offer something new to old players.
Some of the new features and the clever boss designs (Studiopolis' weather-report boss and the Mean Bean Machine-inspired boss to Chemical Plant are particular standouts)

That said, I do have problems with it:
-The blue spheres Special Zones are too big to come up every time you hit a checkpoint. They massively interrupt the pace of the game and are far too easy to access - maybe if you needed 50 rings to enter instead of 25 it would have been an improvement.
-The visual styles from the old games sometimes feel wildly at odds with each other - especially Lava Reef with its more subdued colour palette and the messy graphics of the Sonic CD zones (I always thought that S:CD was overrated and felt more like a good Sonic 1 ROM hack than an actual sequel like S2 or S3)
-The 10 minute timer on levels is a frustration, especially when you can sometimes get complicated bosses which have multiple stages.