BrainHurtBoy...2

Definitely down.

Hopefully you would coalesce a system made of the best parts of other peoples' arguments. Some people, however, follow directly in the footsteps of other critics. But, yes. This doesn't mean you're conforming to popular opinion. You don't agree with those people because of their celebrity, or whatever. You agree with them because their arguments are ostensibly well-reasoned. It's a dialogue.

That's an argument that rages. I don't think good art necessitates enjoyment, at all!!! I think it's correlation, not causation. Good art often promotes enjoyment, but good art needn't cause enjoyment, and enjoying something greatly doesn't make it good. In my opinion. But there's a ton, ton, ton of material in the realm of aesthetic theory.

Nah, not talking about a single movie snob's opinion, nor am I talking about the fallacious argumentum ad populum. I'm talking about Form and Structure. But there's too much material in this realm for me to digest in any sort of rigorous way.

"Movies are subjective" The enjoyment of a film is subjective, I think, but I feel there's a way to measure a film's objective *quality* outside of someone's experience of it. But let's not get into this, here. No, let's really not. Seriously, no.

Okay. I just don't understand why people like Ben Affleck's movies. They say nothing. They're just fucking stories. They're just fucking stories!!! It doesn't have incredibly compelling, iconic characters, locales, lines, gags and pacing like Back to the Future has, either. It fails structuralistically and formalistically! Why, why, why do you like Argo? Hrrrrngh.

Seven Psychopaths. Fantastic. Going to see Argo, tomorrow. Not the biggest fan of Affleck's work, so let's see how it goes.

This one, I will do. Get excited.

FLEX YOUR MUSCLESSSSSS EDIT: Also this. "I think I fucked your girlfriend once. Maybe twice, I don't remember.

Hrm. I hope Walt doesn't die, though that seems to be the way things are headed. I still sympathize with Walt. I'm just too attached to him.

Walt at the end... So disgusting.

Wait, what? Do you remember your reasons for hating it? Also, I despise Baz Luhrmann and think this movie will be horrible.

Are any of you at art school, or are you just self-taught?

Oh, god, please. Anyway, Shaner won Round 1, Six Round 2, Six Round 3.

**Wipes Tears Away** Fuck. I never want to see this movie.

This made me laugh. Anyway, pssshhhhhh. It was a good movie.

Yeah, I read REAMDE recently. Pretty good. A fun read. Right now, though, I'm going through Tagore's Gitanjali, again. The man is a genius. And I'm almost halfway through 2666. It's, uhh.... really good! Ummm, what else? Right, The Serpent and The Rope by Raja Rao. Just started that, will really get into it after I'm done with 2666.

YHVH in Shin Megami Tensei 2 was fucking crazy! I love that shit! Also, Thor in SMT 1. When I first fought that battle, I was like "I am in for some shit with this game!" Kefka in FFVI. No explanation necessary. Psycho Mantis, obviously. Dracula in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Liquid in MGS4. Ganon from Wind Waker. Holy fucking shit. Giygas in Earthbound. Fuck yeah. Yiazmat. That about covers it.

I bought for Harri. He's on vacation, though, and hasn't yet redeemed his gift. I got him Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Thanks a bunch to Chewie, who got me Dungeons of Dredmor, E.Y.E., Terraria, Sins of a Solar Empire, Magicka and all its DLC! P4, thanks a ton for organizing this whole thing! Yay! Holiday cheer!

N and H don't play too nice together in English. It ends up sounding like I'm saying "An Astorian", but, you know.... context! It's a pronunciation thing, you know? "An" and "a" both work with different pronunciations. If you don't pronounce the 'h', use 'an', if you do, use 'a'.

Dragon Tattoo. It was decent. Better than average. The intro was really something. As for acting, I think Mara>Rapace as Lisbeth, but Craig<Nyqvist as Blomkvist. Cinematography wasn't obtrusive. It provided a good framework. Serviceable. The score was fantastic. FANTASTIC. Like, really good. All in all? A bit worse than the Swedish version, though not by that much. It's a Hollywood movie, you know? There's some baggage that comes with that, and even though the result CAN be fantastic, in many ways it damages adaptations. I quite honestly expected a bit more from Fincher. This was better than The Game, Ben Button and Zodiac, but none of his others. I'd recommend you go see it. Also saw Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. It was good, too, but know what to expect going in. There are plenty of fights and explosions. Strange homosexual overtones, as well. It didn't really bother me, though. Dunno if I'd recommend it, but it's good. The Muppets was fantastic, though I don't need to talk about that. The Descendants was GREAT. Third favorite of the year after Tree of Life and Drive. Excellent movie in almost every way. Great setting, beautiful shots, fantastic script, multifaceted characters. If you were to watch five movies from this year, I'd say Tree of Life Drive The Descendants The Trip X-Men: First Class In that order. The Trip is on Netflix Instant, by the by.