So welcome back for the second part of last week. Or something. Tony talks a lot about movies, in particular a lot of documentaries about comedy. Then there’s math. And economics. Separately. So… Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
How many digits of Pi can you remember? –Anonymous
With the ubiquity of streaming is buying music now obsolete? –Anonymous
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I’m not sure if this will give anything away about “Gone Girl” but I’ll just warn people that it might, so don’t go on reading if you want to be sure to remain spoiler free.
When it first came out, I had heard that it was loosely based on the Charles Stuart case and I thought, how are they going to create suspense for those who remember any details of that case? And then I thought, oh no…they could go for that cliched sexist twist. I read some reviews that seemed to confirm that that is in fact what they did, and that really put me off seeing it.
Yay! Jas is commenting again! I was getting worried… 🙂
My Mom was up visiting for a couple weeks 🙂
You might have missed the Shia LeBeouf video I posted last week. I think you’d like it.
Did either of you see start watching The Simpsons on The Tracey Ullman show?
I didn’t watch it at the time. Didn’t have cable.
But I have since seen a few of the old Simpson cartoons from that show. When I first saw them, they were… disconcerting to me. But nowadays, I see the seeds, the glimpses of what The Simpsons would be. It’s kind of cool.
My first memories of the Simpsons are from when they were on The Tracey Ullman show.
I know lots of 20-30 year olds who like to buy records. They like the cover art, the experience of playing them on turntables, the sound…
I don’t think I’m ever giving up physical books. I just don’t like reading on screens as much. And then so many of my notes about a book are written in the book–so it has a record of my various readings. Some of my books had started falling apart, so now I’ve learned to rebind them! And then I get to make new covers and draw new cover art!
That also seems to be a trend–kind of going back to artisan skills to maintain physical products at the same time that others are doing away with the physical product entirely.
Oh, think you mentioned Jim Jefferies. Have you seen his stand-up on US gun laws?
I haven’t, but I’ve heard a lot about it! Now I can check it out! 🙂
I should probably add NSFW.
Absolute gold! I want that playing in a loop at my funeral.
There was an interesting interview in “Nerdist” with Grant Morrison and toward the end he was talking about the Earth One Wonder Woman that’s he’s writing. He critiques the portrayal in the recent BvS trailer, not so much because of how little we see Wonder Woman, but because the version of Wonder Woman is so antithetical to William Marston’s concept, and so much just your cookie cutter action hero–just another blood n guts warrior/soldier type. The Nerdist interviewer mentions in passing what a horrendous revision was recently done with the Amazons in the new 52.
http://nerdist.com/grant-morrison-heavy-metal-wonder-woman-earth-one-comic-con-2015/
http://geekandsundry.com/grant-morrison-tells-us-whats-wrong-with-superheroes/
Tony – our household had a similar impression of Gone Girl. I think it was somewhat of a horror film (probably marketed as “thriller”), the problem is, usually you can rationalize to yourself that the movie content would never happen in real life, or that you’d see the signs before things got out of hand. In the movie though, that doesn’t happen. The couple goes from relatively normal marriage with a few ups and downs to the girl being gone. I didn’t particularly like it either, but found it intriguing. I’m planning to read the book and probably watch the movie again.
On a completely separate topic – I think my mother in law has a master’s in storytelling from somewhere in northeastern Tennessee. Small world!
“Not as long as I’ve known Jesus Christ”: Well played Producer, well played. ^_^
Gone Girl: Haven’t read it or watched it.
Batman vs. Superman: Just don’t care, but… Batman wins. Because he’s Batman.
3 Hostel films? Really? *ugh* I recall hearing about the first one but assumed/hoped it died with that first one.
Mosquitoes: Fewer would be good. Dumping genetically modified creatures into the wild strikes me as a bad idea.
Pi: Yeah, I only get out to 3.14 before I stop recalling so Tony getting as far out as he did was impressive.
the Simpsons: Eh, I’ve watched some over the years but I’ve never considered myself a fan. Sure I’ve enjoyed episodes here and there, but sitting down specifically to watch the Simpsons is something that’s never appealed to me.
Streaming/Buying music: No, I actually buy more music these days than I did before streaming. Streaming lets me test out new artists/genres with minimal risk and if I find something I really like then I can buy it. Though admittedly I’m still buying digital copies (MP3s), not a CD/cassette/record. Owning a copy of the music means I can listen to it even when my internet connection isn’t working. While I don’t necessarily buy a physical copy; I don’t buy the digital copy unless it’s DRM free. That way I can backup my copy and if the service I bought it from ever goes away; I still have my copy.
I like physical books and that’s still my preferred format for books I read for pleasure. Books I buy as a resource (e.g. programming books, role-playing games, etc.) I prefer GOOD eBooks where searching is enabled.