Geek Confessions & Blasphemies

You people are nuts. Nolan is a fantastic filmmaker and The Dark Knight trilogy rocks.

Gremlin wrote:
Zudz wrote:

[I know a number of people who find Inception impossible to follow. Not even just confusing, but absolutely impenetrable. So... yeah. There's that.

If I squint, I can kind of see it, since I keep having to explain TV shows to my mother. I wonder if it has something to do with the suspension of disbelief? Like, they're not familiar with the basic idea, so instead of paying attention to the plot, they have to first untangle the dream-sequence thing, despite all the signposting.

Inception is pretty straightforward, so much so that I wouldn't really let it into the category of mindscrew weirdness occupied by the likes of Paprika, Stalker, Serial Experiments Lain, Primer, etc.

There's an episode of Justice League Unlimited where the core team is blown up. After they survive they're somewhere else. The team rattles off their options. Time travel, alternate reality, group hallucination... They live in a very strange world where those things are obvious options.

This is kind of why things in movies are easy for people like us. We see a strange plot element and we have the ability to go "Aliens? Psychics? Mutants? Time travelers? Magic?" and then fill in the fine details based on what we see until we arrive at the obvious conclusion of an alien time traveler from an alternate dimension. (I think I just described at least one episode of Dr Who.) We have absorbed enough weird sh*t from our hobbies that it takes major league freakiness to slow us down. What if you hadn't already been exposed to the idea of people invading your dreams? Or even sharing them? That's a pretty major hurdle.

Basically? Yeah, I agree. I think you've really understated the magnitude of the issue, but you've got the right idea.

As an aside, my step-father took me and my step-brother to see The Matrix shortly after it came out. Despite the fact that the plot is explained in plain english in the middle of the movie he just can't make heads or tails of it. He's fuzzy on the robot apocalypse. He barely understands the Matrix itself (It's like the Internet, but with human minds.). Also, he can't figure out why the Oracle would tell Neo that he's not The One if he is. The concept of a self-fulfilling prophesy doesn't exist to him, so he can't begin to understand the subversion into a self-nullifying prophesy. We tried to explain it to him a couple times, but eventually all parties gave up.

The Matrix. Too confusing. He never stood a chance with Inception. Though he liked the special effects, as I recall.

I can relate. My mother didn't understand Fellowship of the Ring.

Demyx wrote:

I can relate. My mother didn't understand Fellowship of the Ring.

You mean the part about how they didn't finish the ultimate goal that was only really sought out from the mid-point of the nearly 4 hour long movie? Yeah, my mom was super upset about that part.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
Demyx wrote:

I can relate. My mother didn't understand Fellowship of the Ring.

You mean the part about how they didn't finish the ultimate goal that was only really sought out from the mid-point of the nearly 4 hour long movie? Yeah, my mom was super upset about that part.

No, that would have been more understandable. She didn't understand what the goal was or what all this stuff about dwarves and wizards was supposed to be about.

She's not used to anything fantasy.

I have a theory that a lot of people watch TV and movies on a really superficial level. My Dad had the TV on as background noise, almost all the time. It's there to stimulate conversation and to be talked over. My old flatmates got uppity when I refused to talk to them whilst Star Trek: TNG was on. If I'm watching a TV programme, I'm not doing anything else.

Sometimes I'm in the cinema near similar people, chatting away or messing with their phones. The films you've been talking about aren't complicated or arcane, but you have to actually bother to watch them, and pay attention, because they weren't just another rehash of a formula. Inception and LotR are both scrupulous about explaining their rules and the plot.

You're right, and my parents do that too. They'll talk over the movie, or get up in the middle of it (without pausing) to take care of something in another room, and then say that the movie was weird or didn't make sense. Well, of course it didn't if you don't listen to half the scenes!

cheeba wrote:

You people are nuts. Nolan is a fantastic filmmaker and The Dark Knight trilogy rocks.

Nope. Sorry. But we're not nuts for finding flaws in something that is highly flawed.

The first one is not nearly as good as people give it credit for. The muppet batman voice. The campy storyline. It did nothing for me. The second one was supposed to be Two-Face's movie, setting the Joker up for the third installment. That would have made more sense. Instead the tragedy caused the movie to feel imbalanced, as they had to leave in a lot of Ledger's work (which, great as it was, diluted the plot and made for a somewhat schizophrenic movie.) I didn't see the third one, but anytime someone has magical self repairing back and can outrun a nuclear explosion, I'm skeptical.

The Wrestler was good. I liked the Wrestler. But, generally speaking, I'm with Clocky here. He's way overrated. And so are the Batman movies! And that's my nerd confession!

TheHarpoMarxist wrote:

The Wrestler was good. I liked the Wrestler. But, generally speaking, I'm with Clocky here. He's way overrated. And so are the Batman movies! And that's my nerd confession!

Except that The Wrestler was Darren Aranofsky, not Christopher Nolan. Although I thought Black Swan was way over-rated and bore a striking resemblance to the much better Perfect Blue.

Haha, I must have confused my directors who I everyone who isn't a film person seems to like. This is why not sleeping and posting are a bad combo!

I absolutely agree on Aranofsky as well. Requiem was terrible (save for Ellen Burstyn) and Black Swan was totally overrated. I also watched it with a ballet dancer, who winced throughout any scene with ballet in it.

oilypenguin wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

Comparing Nolan to Bay is akin to comparing Dave Matthews to Justin Bieber.

So totally apt if you're not a fan of either?

Because I'll have that Matthews/Bieber conversation.

You have my sword.

DudleySmith wrote:

I have a theory that a lot of people watch TV and movies on a really superficial level.

You can broaden that to pretty much any creative medium.

I don't follow the movie industry much so I looked up Michael Bay to see what all the complaining was about. This is the guy that made Pearl Harbor. I get it now. What I don't get is how the hell he got to make more movies after Pearl Harbor.

mrwynd wrote:

This is the guy that made Pearl Harbor. I get it now. What I don't get is how the hell he got to make more movies after Pearl Harbor.

Production budget: $140 million
Worldwide theatrical gross: $449.2 million

Christopher Nolan's films don't work for me either. I want to love 'em but I don't.

I may have just overshadowed the reason I came here to post which was this:

I leave my Sat Nav on even when I know the rest of the way home just so she (I have it set on a very English woman's voice) gets the satisfaction of completing the journey.

Higgledy wrote:

I leave my Sat Nav on even when I know the rest of the way home just so she (I have it set on a very English woman's voice) gets the satisfaction of completing the journey.

Switch to using Waze for navigation. Then at least you get points for leaving it on!

Confession: I do not have any sort of GPS / sat nav, nor do I want one. My wife is the same. We get directions before I go / learn our own routes. We've gotten lost a couple times, but that makes for great stories. Then again, my friends sat nav sent us down a narrow dead end street next to train tracks while trailering something once. That was a chore to get out of.

Another confession: I have the same non-smart phone I've had for the last 5 or 6 years, and do not want to get rid of it. It is still in good shape (thanks to being slightly ruggedized) and still holds a charge for over a week when used minimally. I use an old iphone 4 for music (mostly podcasts since I don't like how it forces music organization) and random time filler games, but do not want a smart phone around all the time. Sadly, the charger connection is going, so I will likely be moving on and getting a smart phone.

I've had a non-smart phone for years also. I've no plans to upgrade either :).

I get very nervous driving to new places and I just don't absorb road networks. People ask, "Did you go via the A590 onto the M6?" and I'll have no idea whether I did or didn't. I also find navigating new areas on your own to be, at best, alarming and, at worst, frustrating and irritating (mainly for other drivers) as I have to find places to pull in to look at a map quite often or I'm changing lanes on a multi-lane roundabout while apologising to other drivers and craning my neck to see if the signs agree that my intended exit point is the right one.

My sat-nav (The latest generation of sat-navs seem more refined than older generations) is a god send. As my Dad said, when I took my parents to visit relatives recently, "She knows what she's doing."

Higgledy wrote:

I get very nervous driving to new places and I just don't absorb road networks. People ask, "Did you go via the A590 onto the M6?" and I'll have no idea whether I did or didn't. I also find navigating new areas on your own to be, at best, alarming and, at worst, frustrating and irritating (mainly for other drivers) as I have to find places to pull in to look at a map quite often or I'm changing lanes on a multi-lane roundabout while apologising to other drivers and craning my neck to see if the signs agree that my intended exit point is the right one.

Same here. I know how to go to work and maybe a few local places where I run errands and everything else is a giant mystery.

My wife frequently asks "Did you go by X or by Y street?"

"I dunno, I went whichever way the GPS told me."

"Oh, you should've gone X, because it's faster. You should try that next time."

"I don't know which one X is, and won't remember next time. It'll probably take me longer anyway, because I'll miss a turn while I ignore the GPS. I'll just follow the little purple line on the screen, and I'll get there fine."

Long before I could drive I used to look at our Road Atlas and just look at all the optional ways to get from A to B. I'd look at the mileages and add them up.

Mostly, I just kind of learned how routes work. I definitely prefer to get my path before I leave. But I will also take odd routes home or to other places just to see what is where.

I found a way from KC to Lawrence that required me to try different dirt roads for part of the way. I took that route a lot just for a more relaxed drive home.

I still look at Google Maps just to see how roads are laid out wherever I am. My guess is that people that have a knack for directions have probably just spent more time looking at maps as they grew up.

I've had a non-smart phone for years also. I've no plans to upgrade either

You know every person I know that has said these types of things and then eventually upgraded has been awed that they waited so long. Think of it less as a phone and more as a pocket computer

karmajay wrote:
I've had a non-smart phone for years also. I've no plans to upgrade either

You know every person I know that has said these types of things and then eventually upgraded has been awed that they waited so long. Think of it less as a phone and more as a pocket computer

It was definitely like that for me when I finally got a cell phone. What's keeping me from getting a smart phone is the cost of a data plan vs. the time away from wifi in my day (about 1 hour total).

concentric wrote:
karmajay wrote:
I've had a non-smart phone for years also. I've no plans to upgrade either

You know every person I know that has said these types of things and then eventually upgraded has been awed that they waited so long. Think of it less as a phone and more as a pocket computer

It was definitely like that for me when I finally got a cell phone. What's keeping me from getting a smart phone is the cost of a data plan vs. the time away from wifi in my day (about 1 hour total).

The data costs are definitely high, but once you're out and about and using it (especially on LTE) it's magical. I tried to keep an old grandfathered plan that didn't require data. Now I can't imagine how I went without.

PaladinTom wrote:
concentric wrote:
karmajay wrote:
I've had a non-smart phone for years also. I've no plans to upgrade either

You know every person I know that has said these types of things and then eventually upgraded has been awed that they waited so long. Think of it less as a phone and more as a pocket computer

It was definitely like that for me when I finally got a cell phone. What's keeping me from getting a smart phone is the cost of a data plan vs. the time away from wifi in my day (about 1 hour total).

The data costs are definitely high, but once you're out and about and using it (especially on LTE) it's magical. I tried to keep an old grandfathered plan that didn't require data. Now I can't imagine how I went without.

And family plans that let you share data costs across multiple devices make things a lot easier. As well as not having a landline to also pay for.

My impression of smart phones after a few years with different ones is that they're pocket computers that are bad to mediocre at everything instead of good at a couple things.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

My impression of smart phones after a few years with different ones is that they're pocket computers that are bad to mediocre at everything instead of good at a couple things.

Much of that is because phones are so heavily locked down; their problems mostly can't be properly fixed, because Apple in particular refuses to allow programmers to make any substantial changes to the OS, or even to write apps that compete too closely with Apple's.

This is part of why Android has been moving faster, although more and more of it is going under closed-source lock and key, and innovation is slowing over there now, too.

I'll say that being able to quickly access IMDB or Fandango from my phone are convenient, but otherwise it's really not a necessary step up from what I used before. Most of what I use my phone for is as an alarm and to contact other people. It's just now I can check my e-mail, which is only sometimes useful, and use it as a GPS in case my current one isn't working.

Even as a web browser for emergencies it's an inconvenient pain in the ass, though.

Count me among those who didn't like the third Nolan Dark Knight movie. But for different reasons.

I just don't buy that getting rid of Bane and his magical nuke truck fixes anything when everybody in Gotham has been going full Jacobin for months. The prisons aren't big enough to hold everybody who needs to be jailed or hanged for the crimes committed after Bane showed up, but I'm supposed to buy that everything is just hunky dory now that the bomb didn't kill everyone.

On the GPS/smartphone question, I can say this: living near Boston without a GPS was hell, and not just the "oh this is so much better now" hell of someone who just upgraded his phone and found the new features super convenient. The number of times I got lost with a map in my freaking hand, or found that google maps AND mapquest were both wrong about some side street or other, or pulled into the third gas station in a row where nobody speaks enough English to answer the question "where is the 95?" made having a modern GPS a necessity.

Maybe I'd feel different if I lived someplace where the roads were laid out on purpose, or where the locals actually knew where anything is. But I love in New England.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/x0FKul2.png)