Cecil the Lion killed by US dentist

@wittmann:

I do not believe anything I hear or read.
Unless you said it Garg.

HA!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/chinese-hackers-breach-key-u-weapons-designs-133849940.html

@Jennifer:

Interesting.  That’s in order on the list under the map, I presume?

I’d have expected New York to be in the top 5.  Illinois I figured would have been much lower.

Yea I also thought New York would be at a much higher position too.  I wasn’t surprised to see my home state California to be at the top.  Stuff there is pretty expensive.  :-(

Definitely one movie, not two.  Chalk that one up to: greed? overambition? trying to do too much at once?  The style/feeling of the movies are different as well; not necessarily a bad thing, but the second segment felt rushed or unpolished and a major letdown.

Enough with the cheese as far as dialogue goes.  This is one of my Tarantino peeves - his dialogue is nauseating, or at least has been developing that way.

I think the major flaw was that it was a parody of low-budget kung-fu flicks on a high-budget.  Maybe not that reason exactly, but something about it just didn’t “feel” right.  A wolf in sheep’s clothing, so to speak.  It’s so hard to pinpoint this, but his emulation of those bad-but-good films just doesn’t amount to a good movie, and I can’t explain why.  A bastardization of some sort…

The story and premise was laughable - even for a parody - and the ending was disappointing.  I apparently went to the bathroom at the exact time she used the Five Point Exploding Heart technique (or whatever it was called) and felt like I missed nothing.

Now, knowing Tarantino, there was probably lots of little things that I missed.  I’m sure they’re fun and interesting, but I don’t think it would change my opinion about the movie.

So, there’s more I’d add to my critique, but let me note some things I did like.  Music is always a good selection from QT.  I liked the animé sequence - from the first movie, I think.  I enjoyed the choreography of the fights from the first movie, but the second was all dirt & grit (more realistic?) and was a harsh contrast to the first - more on it’s lack of continuity.

Plenty to get this thread rolling.  On a side note, I recommend Lady Snowblood, the main inspiration for this movie.  There’s comedic value, but it’s not intended, and everything else is pure story and action.  A true kung fu flick.  :-D
It’s also pretty crazy if you are under the right conditions…  :wink:

HHhmmm, was there the same hue and cry over Rush and Hannity constantly reporting about that former pro-football player who was KIA a couple of years ago?

You know, the one who was lauded as a hero, gave up his career and died in Afghanistan, etc., etc….

The one that we found out (very quietly) a few months later was killed by our own troops?

@Mary:

@Candyman67:

His early material was excellent. Sean Penn was great in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Bad Boys, and At Close Range, but other than that, crap.

Dead Man Walking, The Translator, The Assassination of Richard Nixon and The Thin Red Line.

Thin Red Line was crap, Mary. But you’re right about the rest.

since the population has little fear of war compared to Europe, the people would undoubtedly support such a war by a majority or at least 50/50.

i didnt read every post but this comment just makes me laugh.
Japan doesnt want to go to war. The state in their constitution that they will never attack only out of selve defense. The 100 Japanese military are there just to do reconstruction and are portected by the dutch in the region. Only This has caused an criticism. I dont know why you think Japan would gladly go into a war and double their army? Yes some politicians want to lose that law. but i dont see this happening any time soon. They may alter it to assist in peacekeepers, but joining a war i dont think so.

They can withdraw men from S-Korea, Germany, Japan but i think this is already done.
oh and if the US doesnt attack unilateral all the time it wont need this much troops.

@El:

Another form of World Charity…
What happens to the world’s economy if all countries buy their own products where available, but elsewhere when necessary…

I think i didn’t totally understand that. You mean “buy their own even if moer expensive”, and only if that is not enough go and import?
I suppose so, so let’s look…

Canada buys its own lumber. The US buys Canadian lumber. Who is helped? Canadian limber industries. Who is hurt? US lumber industries.

Not right. Canada is the biggest exporter of lumber products (21.2%). They would be hurt if people did not buy from them. The US only has 11.1% of that market, they mainly sell their lumber in their country anyway. In contrast the 31 millions Canadians don’t use as much wood as the 275 million USies (per capita they are comparable). The US lumber industry would lose not as much as the Canadians. So…. you are wrong :)

Source: http://www.cofi.org/reports/factbook2000/Chapters from FACTBOOK 2000-Part I.pdf

The US buys its own Christmas decorations. China buys its own Christmas decorations. Who is helped? The US foofaraw industries. Who is hurt? Chinese prison wardens and sweatshops.

Well, does it hurt the chinese (who probably don’t have that big market for christmas deco)? They would put that work into something else. It would help the US industry though, taken that you USies import a cheap lot from China.

Japan buys its own computer chips. The US buys Japanese computer chips. Who is helped? Japanese tech industries. Who is hurt? US tech industries.

Why are they hurt? By what you say in the beginning the above means that there are no US chips available. How does that hurt the US, when there are none anyway?

The US buys its own wines and beer. France and Germany buy their own wines and beers. Who is helped? The US alcohol industries. Who is hurt? The French and Germany brewmeisters.

Do not forget the US customers here, who are hurt, and the german and french drinking people, who can be sure to get good beer and wine only and not fall into this mean “Budweiser”/“Budvar” trap….

Russia cannot afford to buy its own diamonds. The EU and US buy Russian diamonds. Who is helped? Russia, the EU and US. Who is hurt? Nobody.

“Can’t afford” kind of contradicts the term “available”. The EU and US, having no large diamond mines would buy russian/south african diamonds anyway. So, i don’t see why the real world and your model would differ here at all.

The US watches its own Whorelywood movies and TurpitudeVision. The EU watches Cannes movies and ?. Who is helped? France is better off because the youth of France no longer have American negative behavioural influence and the French language is saved from Anglicization. The US is better off because Whorelywood only has 30% of its original budget. This causes fewer movies to be made, but they are of better quality(otherwise, the good and great directors, producers, actors keep working, but Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Madonna and Julia Roberts are working as telephone solicitors in East LA.) Both the US and Europe find a strange thing happening… families are spending personal time together. Who is hurt? Canada has an influx of unemployed actors and Peter Jennings.

Don’t forget Australia who would suffer from that with unemployed actors… and i don’t think the quality for Hollywood movies would go up:
(1) Sean Penn is a great actor
(2) you would lose/have lost the services of Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Elle Macpherson, Stephen Hopkins (dir), Errol Flynn (all Australia); Klaus Kinski, Johnny Weissmüller (!), Franka Potente, Marlene Dietrich, Fritz Lang (dir), F.W. Murnau (dir), R. Fassbinder (dir), W. Wenders (dir), Billy Wilder (dir), Roland Emmerich (dir); Wolfgang Petersen (dir), E. Lubitsch (dir), Peter Lorre (all Germany, Austria)…

Now look at the movies never made or seen by you…
Casblanca (Lorre), Tarzan (Weissmüller), for Flynn see:
http://www.imdb.com/Name?Flynn,+Errol
No “Independance day”, no Godzilla (Emmerich), no “Patriot” and “Lethal Weapons” (Gibson), No “beautiful mind”, “Gladiator” (Crowe), no Nosferatu (Kinski, Fassbinder; Murnau), no Metropolis (Lang), no “M” (Lorre, Lang), no “Run, Lola, run” (Potente),
etc. etc. etc. etc.
and these are only two countries …

So, i guess the quality would be even worse :)