Lurker > jcgamer107

'MMMMURICA! Happy 4th, y'all. More listening today.

Back from camping. Thanks for the bumps. Lets do this.

- Very important, my whole life revolves around them (OK, most extreme positive choice, makes sense)
- Fairly important, they take up a lot of my time (Well, drops off quite a bit from the first choice, but we're still in order)
- Kind of important, it's my favorite hobby (Favorite hobby? Huh? How is this the 'neutral' choice?? If something is your favorite hobby I would say it's more than 'kind of' important. Plus I'd say that makes it more important than the 2nd choice)
- Not very important, I could do without them (So...we go from 'favorite hobby' to 'could do without them'. wut)
- Not important at all, I don't even like them that much (the other extreme makes sense as well)

I swear half these poll questions are broke'd. Hopefully they just meant to have choices 2 & 3 flipped. If not they should take a research/survey course.

Happened to drive through Canada during Canaday. Fireworks were neat. Mostly though, just followed the only road, back to Michigan.

Doubtful - there's a good chance it will be up the week after that though.

I've got 30/105 songs sorted into the initial list - I haven't been able to work on it as much lately because my summer job started AND I've been busy most nights & weekends. I am going camping in New York from Wednesday-Sunday, and after THAT I should finally be able to make some major progress - I have a 4 day work week next week, and nothing really going on in the evenings. I'm also [finally] getting a new iPod so I can listen to them while driving & make revisions for the final list. Sorry it's taking so long but I am still committed to this!

Yar, thar be minor spoilers ahead.

Prometheus - 9/10

Great film - really felt like I was watching the original 'Alien', though this was even more entertaining. More gruesome than any other film in the series, but that made it all the more interesting. Do the crew members make dumb decisions? Yes - it is in part a horror movie. As long as that sort of thing doesn't bother you too much, it shouldn't deter you from enjoying the film. And yes, as most people have said, visually it is fantastic. Perhaps best movie of the year so far.

Aliens - 6.5/10 (rewatch)

Thank the Lord James Cameron didn't write/direct Prometheus. It didn't bother me watching this as a teen, but now I can't stand some of the characters and dialogue - mainly involving the marines in the first half of the film. The story is fine and it's scary in parts, but I'll be darned if Cameron - with much assistance from Bill Paxton - didn't do his best to campify the whole thing. The action is a bit better, which helps the rating, but overall it just made me appreciate how good Prometheus is.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - 2.5/10

Wow. A wise man once told me that you shouldn't try to fit a square peg into a round hole. You'd think that when making a movie with such a ridiculous premise, you should try to execute it in a way that's fun, silly, and over-the-top. Well, these filmmakers decided it'd be better to try to work in an absolutely godawful love story, add stiff, uninteresting characters, and turn the whole movie into basically a bad biopic-drama with occasional vampire fights. This film takes itself VERY SERIOUSLY from start to finish. There was a point during dialogue between Abe & Mary Todd where I was simultaneously cringing and facepalming in the theater. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's stock as an actress just plummeted with me - I liked her in Scott Pilgrim and The Thing, but her performance as Mary Todd is borderline unbearable. A lot of it is the fault of the script, but she certainly didn't help any. Also, be ready to hear "A wise man once told me" or some variation of it about 15 times.

Am I being too harsh? Maybe. The visuals are cool at times, most of the vampire fights are decent - but the story and dialogue are nowhere near good enough for this movie to take itself as seriously as it does. I also probably dislike it more because everyone I went to see it with LIKED it and I could not understand how, but I didn't wanna be the one 'hater' so I kept my mouth shut for the most part. I DO NOT RECOMMEND.

Bbumpz

ups

Finally started my list, over halfway done but I'll just post all 100 at once, once I'm done.

up

bump in case I forget to tomorrow

Bump & I hope he makes a full recovery.

It really will. I swear to God. I SWEAR TO GOD IT WILL BE. I SWEAR TO GOD. IT WILL.

Still goin'

CherryCokes posted...

Yeah, I was there. It was great. I went from the Beach Boys to Ben Folds Five and had a lovely Sunday as a result

Wow that is an awesome day of music right there.

CherryCokes posted...

From: jcgamer107 | #059

Ben Folds Five - Underground

I saw them play this on Sunday. I think they closed with it, in fact. It was great to finally see it live.

Yeah they ended with it, then One Angry Dwarf for the encore. That's awesome - you were @ Bonnaroo? I was watching the live stream. Really great to see them playing together live again - and with a new album coming out! I'm hoping they place a show near me on their fall tour.

Ben Folds Five - Underground


Sexy Synthesizer - Final Fantasy Gaiden: Seiken Densetsu ~ Final Battle - Mana Palace (remix)


Tally Hall - Fate of the Stars

up

tag for later

Still working on it - slowly but surely :)

Ace_Killjoy posted...

Just out of curiosity, jc, have I posted anything in one of your ranking topics before?
I only remember stuff from the past 6 or so months.

I'm almost positive you nom'd 5 songs for last year's topic, which is the only other one I've done, though I don't have a copy of the list that includes which user nominated what. I did have an Iridion II song nominated last year, but a different one than the one you nom'd.

I try to post a diverse selection of songs for other people's rating topics, but yeah, I care more about the quality. I don't mind familiar songs either - they can be refreshing when going through a long list, as long as there aren't too many of them.

The Game of Their Lives AKA The Miracle Match: 4.5/10

I love US soccer, but this film is more about (poorly executed) Hollywood cheese than it is about the actual 1-0 upset of England in the 1950 World Cup. Angelo Pizzo, who did a fine job writing Rudy, and wrote Hoosiers as well, (which I haven't seen but I've heard good things) comes off as either having a very limited knowledge of soccer, or is gearing the film towards children. For some reason, many facts about the team and the world cup had to be omitted or altered for the movie, which was completely unnecessary as the raw, real life story itself is remarkable. For example, the Haitian-American player, Joe Gaetjens, is depicted practicing Voodoo, but in real life was raised Catholic. (but I guess EVERYONE from Haiti automatically practices Voodoo >_> ) They also changed the captain for the game, from Ed McIvenny to Walter Bahr, for no apparent reason.

Apart from the US team being thrown together just weeks before the World Cup, another huge reason why the upset was so shocking was the US team's performances leading up to the tournament. England was of course regarded as the best team in the world, but the US had lost their last seven international matches by a combined score of 45-2. The filmmakers also completely ignored the other matches of that World Cup: just before the US/England game, the USA were beaten by Spain 3-1 and England had beaten Chile 2-0, so there was even more reason to think England wouldn't have a problem winning. Then, once they finally got to the game itself - which is supposed to be the climax and most interesting part of the movie - it was completely rushed. Should have been about twice as long, and they could have cut back on the cheesy and uninteresting "back story". A factual documentary about the game would probably be much more enthralling. This movie deserves a lower score, but I had a prior interest in the real-life game, most others would (and did) rate it lower. Disappointing.

Insomnia: 6.5/10

Decent thriller by Christopher Nolan starring Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams - in his 'dark phase' that was 2002 (Death to Smoochy and One Hour Photo came out the same year). I missed a few minutes here and there in the first half but I think I saw all the crucial scenes and got enough of it to have a full understanding. The movie takes place in Alaska during the summertime when there's daylight 24/7 for about 3 months straight, and Pacino, playing a cop investigating a murder, has trouble maintaining his sleep schedule - or getting any sleep at all. The film's narrative takes a fairly sharp turn early on which was interesting, and the subtle visual effects make you feel just as sleep-deprived as Pacino. The premise may not pull you in immediately, and the writing isn't top notch, but it's worth seeing once if you're a fan of Nolan, any member of the cast, or detective thrillers.

The Dictator: 7/10

Just about as stupid as it is funny, Sacha Baron Cohen this time delivers a mostly-scripted political & social satire with his new character, the supreme ruler of "Waadeya", General Haffaz Aladeen. Some fun cameos along the way as well.

OK, Wave 1 complete - now to begin the second round of listenings with a full head of steam and put the initial rankings together. It was funny coming across songs that I ranked last year that I think were submitted by the same people - which is partially on me because I didn't have a digital copy of last year's list handy.

I am pretty uncertain about most of the rankings at this stage, but there are 2 songs that have pretty clearly separated themselves on the lower end of the spectrum (still better than being boring......maybe) and 1 song that is the early favorite to top the list - one of the few nominees that I immediately had to listen to again, and in fact ended up listening to four times in a row. Of course, nothing is set in stone yet as I'll still be listening to each song twice more before finalizing the rankings, so a lot can happen!

OK that's the update for now & thank you for your bumping :D

Azp2k32 posted...

I've abstained from voting, but I have to imagine a large amount of those votes come from people who just kinda don't care. Like, their music is great but I have no preference for any of them in particular.

I hope so.... that seems like way too high of a percentage that dislikes the band.....I'm pretty sure a lot of people dislike them just because they're "mainstream" and popular, and aren't actually basing their opinion of the band on their music. I don't know a lot of people who subjectively think their music isn't good.

Ooo, rapid-fire update. I like that your write-ups have substance, too.

so many songs

zarniwoop

bump in the night

Haste_2 posted...

I can't wait to see the World Cup track ranked at #105!

I can already guarantee that 2 songs will finish below it

ups

hideto posted...


Haven't played that one, but I had Civ 2 and MGS2 for 1 point each.

azuarc posted...


Even for FPS' though, even within id Wolfenstein 3D came out before Doom, and Hovertank 3D before Wolfenstein.

up, more listening tonight

Weird

Giggsalot posted...

I agree. This doesn't mean that quality isn't important, but I am typically drawn to art/movies/tv shows that are different.

Captain America is the best Avenger

---Ben Folds Five
--
As much as I want to have you listen all the way through 'Whatever and Ever, Amen', there are some really great songs on their other 2 albums. For this reason and since you prefer it, I'll just give ya the three song sampler.

"One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" from Whatever and Ever, Amen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrWSkQMWlAY

"The Last Polka" from Ben Folds Five [self-titled]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUT_CP6WoK4

"Narcolepsy" from The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYkfdl5Wm5o

These are some of their more intense songs, so I think they'll be good for a first impression. Their body of work covers a lot of ground, genre-wise, so I can give you a better variety of recommendations if you like what you hear so far.

The Avengers: 8.7/10

Yeah, it was pretty awesome...and quite funny too - though at times the humor felt a little forced. Still, it's pretty hard to screw up an Avengers movie, and seeing them all together after watching their individual movies was great fun. Looking forward to the sequel already.

Melancholia: 8/10

OK, this movie was a bit different. Well, unless you're used to Lars von Trier films - then it's pretty much what you'd expect, plus some extra sci-fi & surrealism. I loved the visuals in the latter half of the film - there's just something cool about another planet hanging in the sky right above Earth. I'll admit that at times I was wondering when something interesting was going to happen, but I have a soft spot for films that are A) Exceptionally unique - even if it (sometimes) means being strange and B) Take place all in one setting. When a unique film like this becomes overly praised it can become annoying, though - and Melancholia nearly falls into that category. Just because something is interesting and different, doesn't mean it's genius. Irregardless* (without lack of regard), this movie may speak to you if you're feeling down, and the fantastic visuals and vibrant colors are pleasant for the eyeballs.

*May not actually be a word.

Ace_Killjoy posted...


Yeah, if it was made for the original, that's fine, I'll keep it.

Okaaayyy nominations are CLOSED. Thanks to everyone for bumping/posting over the weekend - I was out of town for the weekend and was relieved to see that the topic hadn't purged. By my count, I have 105 songs posted (including the 'Impossible Game' song, which I think I'll just rank anyway) - so you get 5 bonus rankings - wahoo! I'm about 1/3 of the way through with my first round of listening, so it's going to be a little while before we get to the rankings topic. In the meantime, any bumping is appreciated, and I'll try to post occasional status updates.

Kirbydamasta posted...
Kings Quest V: Town Theme


I will finish it.

79/100

Mega Mana posted...
Melonade Splash Powerade ~ It's got electrolytes! They're what plants crave.

What are electrolytes, do ya even know??

Captain America: The First Avenger: 8/10

I really enjoyed it, and I've now successfully seen all the Avengers' movies before seeing the 'Avengers' movie. They were trying to fit a lot of story into one movie, and the ending especially felt rushed. I think this may have worked better as two films, like with Iron Man, had they the time. Still, it was well done and the cast was good - Chris Evans shows that he can do a much better job in the superhero role when given quality material, and Tommy Lee Jones and Hugo Weaving were pleasant surprises. Kudos also to Stanley Tucci, Dominic Cooper as papa Stark, and Sebastian Stan as Captain America's 'Orson Welles'-looking best friend.

Besides the aforementioned RCT, this list is sups solid.

Ytterbium_70 posted...
azuarc posted...
The Impossible Game - Fire Aura


If I'm not mistaken, that's the exact same thing as the Impossible Game Theme I nominated earlier, which doesn't count.

Yahp, go 'head and replace that one, azuarc (since it's not originally a VGM).

With that we have 73/100 spots filled.

That's 45/100, almost half-way there.

azuarc posted...
Four, JC? If it got four then I seriously lost some votes. I have *one* for it, from Tsunami.

I gave it 1 point, I just thought I remembered seeing it multiple times in the voting thread.

Roller Coaster Tycoon didn't get enough votes? Huh, I could've have sworn it got at least 4, if not more.

Kenri posted...
Let's make this happen (I apologize in advance for the likely scenario of you hating literally everything I nominate).

We shall seeeee....

Bump before bed.