Randomness thread, part two.

[KoRnholio]

These guys have lots more awesome skits.

[aubreymcfate]

i'm going to take the liberty of speaking for wufwugy and say that this is one of our personal favorite key and peeles: http://www.comedycentral.com/video-c...s---uncensored

[OngBonga]

Is the universe a perpetual motion machine?

Duh, yeah. Unless you believe that it had a beginning, which implies it has an end.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Duh, yeah. Unless you believe that it had a beginning, which implies it has an end.

So... you're saying that there is no objective reality, and whatever is believed serves as the structure of the universe?

So that if I believe that there was a beginning, then there was a beginning; if you believe there was no beginning, then there was no beginning - and therefore, all evidence to the contrary, you and I don't live in the same universe? Because we believe different things? ... and belief is reality?

Would any 2 people share any experience if all experiences are based on belief, and not some underlying something?

Does that actually make sense to anyone?

[Lukie]

No.

[Lukie]

Actually yes, but the way you worded it was kind of confusing, and I couldn't resist such a simple punch line (there I had to go and ruin it.)

[Lukie]

I originally posted this in the poker quotes thread a couple minutes ago, then deleted it since it didn't really fit there. But since it's on my clipboard now, it needs to go somewhere.

---

I really wish I had some of my old chat transcripts. I'm not sure which I derived more satisfaction from:

a) Making a donk/overly aggressive play, sucking out on some reg who played solidly and in response to getting called out, proceed to talk like a fish would talking about wanting to gamble, bad but reasonably believable poker strategies, law of averages/gambler's fallacy (making it sound like I believed in it, etc.)

or

b) Getting into it with fish lol. There is a certain art to doing it. You don't want to berate them such that they leave or play better. It's more about pissing them off, making them WANT to fight back against you. Saying "you should fold K5s out of position to a 3-bet, you fish" is an example of something not to say. "wow you are the worst player in the history of poker" is a bit more constructive and effective (for our purposes.)

[Chelle]

so for valentines day i made homemade pasta, stuffed it with sauteed mushrooms, ricotta cheese, and some herbs. topped it with homemade sauce. it was god damn fucking tasty.

also constructed a cake pan out of tin-foil in the shape of a heart to make a cake in. it worked. it was also tasty. boyfran has taken some leftovers with him to work, and is bragging about my cooking. he took some homemade chicken noodle soup i made and one of the guys was like oh that's that homemade soup, and boyfran was like, yeah i dont eat that canned shit.

i feel proud. god damn i'm domestic as shit.

[wufwugy]

i'm going to take the liberty of speaking for wufwugy and say that this is one of our personal favorite key and peeles: http://www.comedycentral.com/video-c...s---uncensored

NOBODY SPEAKS FOR ME!

but yes, goat sketch is goat

[a500lbgorilla]

So... you're saying that there is no objective reality, and whatever is believed serves as the structure of the universe?

So that if I believe that there was a beginning, then there was a beginning; if you believe there was no beginning, then there was no beginning - and therefore, all evidence to the contrary, you and I don't live in the same universe? Because we believe different things? ... and belief is reality?

Would any 2 people share any experience if all experiences are based on belief, and not some underlyingsomething?

Does that actually make sense to anyone?

A little. Everyone has their own reality. Most realities are pretty close to one another thanks to the immutable reality we all share. We can build a systematic way to describe reality that gives us all an even greater opportunity to calibrate our realities. And that shit is science, praise it.

Edit: For questions outside of the 'scale' of human life, it really doesn't matter how far our realities stray, imo. So if ong wants to believe in the perpetual motion of the universe, let the little fucker.

[a500lbgorilla]

I need to get out more. Apparently the world got awesome sometime recently.

[rong]

The Liam Neesons thing isn't really funny. American humour I guess. The goats though...

[BennyLaRue]

I was waiting for the big one to fuck them up. I am disappoint.

[aubreymcfate]

The Liam Neesons thing isn't really funny. American humour I guess. The goats though...

We just like the absurd silliness of it, especially with the physical comedy... not sure if it's particularly American or not, I dunno.

I tend to prefer British comedy over American.

(oh and yeah, the goats video Rilla posted is amazing. I dutifully posted it to my facebook moments after like the pod person I am.)

[wufwugy]

brits don't like exaggeration. it's more about extreme dryness and deprecation

[aubreymcfate]

yep, i like my comedy dry n' droll

[Savy]

brits don't like exaggeration. it's more about extreme dryness and deprecation

Not really.

[rong]

This is silly and funny

[aubreymcfate]

also silly and funny. i love "good neighbor stuff." (this has a louis ck-esque silliness to it)

[rong]

This is kinda cool

[wufwugy]

Not really.

big really. ur avatar in point

im partially joking. there's all sorts of exaggeration in brit humor. it tends to be laced more with subtlety and dryness though, and usually some sort of deprecation (or at least that's what steve fry says. you have to listen to him, he's basically ur emissary, unless you want that to be piers morgan, which im sure you dont). we 'muricans like 'in your face things' more

[wufwugy]

This is kinda cool

explains your heresy in not liking firefly

[rong]

I hate firefly!

[aubreymcfate]

that was a super interesting video rong, thanks. kinda supports my taste for british humor and my undying love for larry david.

my best friend hates firefly too. my impressionable mind doesn't know what to do with the contradictory sentiments - it might explode if i try to watch it.

[rong]

Exploding would be preferable to watching.

[rong]

I just spent half an hour watching youtube vids of random American teens trying British chocolate bars/crisps/biscuits/sweets and rating them. I have no idea why but once I started I couldn't stop. Results were mixed.

[rong]

Even our hiphop is infused with our humour.

[rong]

According to wikipedia that's a UK rap anthem. I saw him perform this live at a festival, crown went mental.

[wufwugy]

Firefly's appeal is to the American heartland. Sentiments like "the only code that matters is the code of honor" and "the only person you can rely on is yourself" are deeply embedded in westward expansion. It doesn't surprise me that people from Europe or major east coast cities may not find appeal in Firefly. It's gunslinging in space, where the only people that matter are the people under your protection. In Montana, everybody owns a gun; in Britain, nobody does. Firefly appeals to the former, not necessarily the latter

[aubreymcfate]

I think engaging dialogue and character interactions will usually win people over, regardless of underlying sentiments and moral codes.

[Savy]

big really. ur avatar in point

im partially joking. there's all sorts of exaggeration in brit humor. it tends to be laced more with subtlety and dryness though, and usually some sort of deprecation (or at least that's what steve fry says.

Yeah that's much more spot on.

Although clearly my sense of humour is even too dry for British people because my last post was a hilarious joke.

I've also clearly spent too much time watching Lee & Herring.

[rong]

I think engaging dialogue and character interactions will usually win people over, regardless of underlying sentiments and moral codes.

lol the dialogue is beyond awful and the characters are ridiculous. You need to see it. I didn't get past the first episode, maybe it gets better.

[rong]

But never mind this firefly rubbish. What do you yanks make of witness the fitness? Tis awesome, no?

[wufwugy]

I think engaging dialogue and character interactions will usually win people over, regardless of underlying sentiments and moral codes.

Well, Firefly has more of that than just about any show. Pound for pound, it's char dev and dialogue are possibly the best

Also, dialogue is overrated. It's the easiest thing to write. The only shows with bad dialogue are truly bad shows. The hard stuff is a streamlined and engaging plot in a unique setting with empathic and dynamic characters. Good dialogue is mainly about avoiding over-thinking it

[rong]

also silly and funny. i love "good neighbor stuff." (this has a louis ck-esque silliness to it)

Holy fuck! At 1 minute 26 seconds the guy on the tv screen on the left looks like my doppelgänger. That's kinda freaking me out a little bit because that could actually be me from 5 years ago when I had longer hair. In fact I think it is me!

[wufwugy]

lol the dialogue is beyond awful and the characters are ridiculous. You need to see it. I didn't get past the first episode, maybe it gets better.

It's supposed to be primitivistic, somewhat campy, and not up its own ass.

As much as we love dialogue in shows like Wire and True Detective, that shit isn't realistic at all. Firefly isn't devoid of its lack of realism with the dialogue, but it does purposely spend more time being less than perfect

[rong]

Holy fuck! At 1 minute 26 seconds the guy on the tv screen on the left looks like my doppelgänger. That's kinda freaking me out a little bit because that could actually be me from 5 years ago when I had longer hair. In fact I think it is me!

Example:

[rong]

Not the best example, but still....

[MadMojoMonkey]

Firefly is American cowboys in space. It pays constant homage to classic American Cowboy films and TV shows. If you are not more than slightly familiar with that era and style of story, then you will simply miss most of what the show is about. Maybe not what it's about, but what it's referring to, and what it's re-creating in the modern context.

I'm sure you can appreciate the corny, sci-fi-ness of the show as it's own genre.

I never got into it. If it went on for longer, I'd be interested in watching it, though. I just don't feel like single season shows are generally worth watching. It'd be like reading the first third of a book, only to find that the rest was never written.

[wufwugy]

you need a mullet

[wufwugy]

I never got into it. If it went on for longer, I'd be interested in watching it, though. I just don't feel like single season shows are generally worth watching. It'd be like reading the first third of a book, only to find that the rest was never written.

I understand the feeling. Firefly is a little bittersweet here, but because the staff knew every episode could be its last, they ended up getting way more done than other shows do in one season

It's my personal favorite and I've watched it three times

[BennyLaRue]

I never got into it. If it went on for longer, I'd be interested in watching it, though. I just don't feel like single season shows are generally worth watching. It'd be like reading the first third of a book, only to find that the rest was never written.

Are you the kind of guy who needs those text descriptions about the futures of the characters at the end of a movie?

[BennyLaRue]

Also, Serenity.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Are you the kind of guy who needs those text descriptions about the futures of the characters at the end of a movie?

No. But... it was probably an old John Cusack movie, so I'd read them for nostalgia's sake.

[givememyleg]

this will be the best video you see today.

[a500lbgorilla]

Firefly is unconditionally awesome.

[Renton]

I thought Firefly was a good, strong show. I can't put it in GOAT tier and I thought the movie was not all that great. I'd watch the series again though.

[aubreymcfate]

according to my friend there is a smugness to his writing, like "it already knows it's witty," and he writes in tropes and his characters are all the same. maybe that's an element of what's rubbing you guys the wrong way about firefly, i dunno.

i really liked cabin in the woods and i've enjoyed the random buffy episodes i've seen here and there, so my opinion of him isn't as strong, but that's pretty much how i feel about diablo cody. even though i enjoyed juno and it was legitimately funny at times, it was also really insufferable because of that smugness in the writing. when i can hear the writer prioritizing their own snark above all else it drives me crazy.

also rong holy shit lol, no kidding.. you really do look like him in that picture.

[rong]

.... when i can hear the writer prioritizing their own snark above all else .....

Genius!

[MadMojoMonkey]

when i can hear the writer prioritizing their own snark above all else it drives me crazy.

Agree with rong, that's an excellent turn of phrase.

I immediately thought of Kevin Smith when I read that... I bet you hate his movies... or am I reading it wrong?

[aubreymcfate]

I generally find Kevin Smith's writing to be more sincere.. I don't get the sense that his characters exist solely to serve his wit. He definitely has a really strong voice, and yeah, sometimes a character will launch into something that's so undeniably Kevin Smith that it's a bit heavy handed, but overall I like him. I find him to be more controlled in that aspect than Diablo Cody, who just.. I mean really, watching her shit is like watching a one woman show sometimes.

Then you have someone like Charlie Kaufman, who wrote 3 of my favorite movies of all time (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). All three movies are brilliant and undeniably Kaufman-esque. And yet the characters feel true to themselves.. I feel like I'm actually hearing different people with differing perspectives and levels of insight speak. I know if I see a Charlie Kaufman movie, I'm not going to see recycled characters that are all vehicles for his cool person opinions.

[Renton]

Then you have someone like Charlie Kaufman, who wrote 3 of my favorite movies of all time

Hi five, how did you like Her? (Not a Kaufman screenplay but obviously is Spike Jonze channeling Kaufman quite a bit.)

[aubreymcfate]

I actually didn't watch that yet, I so rarely go to the theater... Maybe I should make a point of seeing that one on the big screen though. What did you think of it?

[Renton]

Well Adaptation is like my 2nd favorite movie of all time and I don't think it surpassed that, but it was probably the best movie I've seen this year.

[aubreymcfate]

Yeah, Adaptation is somewhere in my top 5 too, for sure.. I feel more confident that I'm going to enjoy Her after this exchange.

[wufwugy]

according to my friend there is a smugness to his writing, like "it already knows it's witty," and he writes in tropes and his characters are all the same. maybe that's an element of what's rubbing you guys the wrong way about firefly, i dunno.

Most fun material is in tropes and "knows it's witty". Mal is the Byronic hero in every way, everything Jayne says is supposed to be comical in some way. Kaylee is supposed to be optimistic and lackadaisical, Wash is supposed to be goofy, Mal and Inara are supposed to be the worst match ever unless they realized they'd be the best match ever. Firefly excels at making its tropes meaningful in both a serious and unserious way

Besides, tropes are fine. Everything is derivative, and real talent is in telling the same story everybody knows and loves, yet doing so in an intriguing way

Serenity was a bit less good because it lost the show's uniquely adventurous, fun, and tight-nit milieu

[aubreymcfate]

She definitely wasn't saying tropes or self-aware comedic writing are inherently bad things. Tropes make the world go round.

[rong]

According to my 4 yr old my bow and arrow skills are the fucking nuts (my words, not hers). I imagine this is both the first and last time my bow and arrow skills will be respected.

[Hawk]

According to my 4 yr old my bow and arrow skills are the fucking nuts (my words, not hers). I imagine this is both the first and last time my bow and arrow skills will be respected.

I'm drunk, but that's fucking hilarious.

[spoonitnow]

Who here would smash Madonna in 2014?

[Renton]

I'm all for vintage beav but 55 is a shade past my cutoff.

[Luco]

Who here would smash Madonna in 2014?

With a bat maybe. She has not aged well.

[MadMojoMonkey]

I feel confident that if she put her mind to it, she could easily seduce any man on this forum.

Not to mention that her skillz in the bedroom (or wherever) are almost definitely more refined than any woman you've even been with.

I'm all for vintage beav but 55 is a shade past my cutoff.

Who're you kidding? You'd let Dr. Ruth go 2 knuckles in.

[aubreymcfate]

^^ truth, if she takes out those gold grills first (seriously wtf)

[bikes]

i really like icona pop and as such my taste is questionable music continues.

[BennyLaRue]

I'm all for vintage beav but 55 is a shade past my cutoff.

Christie Brinkley, muhfucka.

[boost]

[givememyleg]

[givememyleg]

Well Adaptation is like my 2nd favorite movie of all time and I don't think it surpassed that, but it was probably the best movie I've seen this year.

after all the talk about this in the thread i was massively let down when i watched this today. it was alright but no where near any top lists for me.

[Luco]

Remi Gaillard is like the french version of Dom Joly (british prankster). Kangaroo, Mario kart and snail all made me laugh back in the day

[Renton]

gmml, adaptation or her?

[givememyleg]

adaptation

[aubreymcfate]

i give you pardon for your shit opinion because your signature has lulled me into an amused trance many a time.. like right now..

[wufwugy]

Adaptation is great. It might not be in my top fifty, but top lists are always unique for everybody, and I could understand how it's in top ten for some people. Its non-mainstream properties give it strong appeal to some because it's on the edge without going over. Anybody looking for a standard-esque story in Adaptation isn't going to get one. You could say it's closer to Jarmusch or Aronofsky than Spielberg or Cameron.

Plus it has Chris Cooper. He's kinda amazepeens

[givememyleg]

ya, it wasn't bad, i enjoyed it, and can see how others would rate it really high. we should start a top 10 movie list thread or something, would be interested in expanding my netflix queue.