General Bitching

[RetroVortex]

Originally Posted by supmandude85

They like the original versions of it, not the prequels or special editions.

Also people might quite like the extended universe.

I for one, particularily like The Old Republic lore, and my best friend LOVES most of the Star Wars books that were set after the original trilogy.

[DAISHI]

Almost all of the Star Wars EU is garbage. The post trilogy books were good for a while. The Thrawn trilogy was very good, the Jedi Academy trilogy was good, the books stayed interesting all the way up through Centerpoint Station.

But here's the problem: They ran out of stories. The only thing the writers could figure out to do was how to make the books more military and more serious, forgetting all of the spaghetti western elements that made the movies light hearted while also dealing with serious topics. The only way they knew how to deal with Luke's character was to perpetually torture him by making him lose people he loved. Meanwhile, reuse of imperial super weapons and the killing off of beloved characters were cheap ways to make the stories seems like there was threat, but almost all of the authors forgot that just adding bigger and badder doesn't equate to a bigger stake for the reader.

The post trilogy is almost all garbage but then again so is the stuff they put into games like Force Unleashed.

Although I'll concede that Shadows of the Empire was an interesting concept.

[Darth Marsden]

Originally Posted by dumpling321

LOL!! I was just coming on here to post a rant, cuz you guys always give great advice!

-SNIPPED TO SAVE SPACE, SEE ORIGINAL POST FOR SITUATION-

best yet, it's 2 days before christmas, and I'll be hanging out with him and his family christmas eve...

has anyone else had a problem like this?

If you're seeing him tomorrow, it might be worth just having a quiet word with him if you can. Just say you miss hanging out with him and, if you can, you'd like to do it again sometime. Try not to put too much pressure on him, just say it'd be nice to catch up and stuff.

Also, it's definitely worth offering to help out with the baby. I'm sure he'll happily take any help he can get there, and it could be a good way to help the two of you reconnect, so to speak.

Hope that helps!

[Lurdiak]

I tried to post in the jurassic park forums but my (enormous) post didn't show up and the forums won't let me repost the same text, that makes me mad.

[supmandude85]

I hate people who get offended by "Merry Christmas", but I equally hate people like Bill O'Reilly who try to force people to celebrate one holiday and act like they're being discriminated against. "Happy Holidays" is made to wish people a happy whatever they celebrate, it wasn't made to push secularism the war on Christmas doesn't fucking exist. However people can say "Merry Christmas" as much as they damn well please. How does that offend you? They're not forcing you to celebrate it. The point of this is to be nice and wish good for someone, not to piss people off for no reason. I'm not Jewish, but if someone wished me a "Happy Hanukkah", not only would I not get angry, I would thank them.

Happy Whatever the Fuck You Celebrate to one and all of dang y'all!

[coolsome]

Its annoying that cos I like wrestling people seem to think I think its real.

[dumpling321]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

If you're seeing him tomorrow, it might be worth just having a quiet word with him if you can. Just say you miss hanging out with him and, if you can, you'd like to do it again sometime. Try not to put too much pressure on him, just say it'd be nice to catch up and stuff.

Also, it's definitely worth offering to help out with the baby. I'm sure he'll happily take any help he can get there, and it could be a good way to help the two of you reconnect, so to speak.

Hope that helps!

I've had this talk a gazillion times with him... every time he promises to do better, and every time he fails... the problem is, my scedule is pretty flexable, his is not, so I need him to check his scedule and he never does, even though I keep reminding him...

also the helping with the baby thing won't work because they both have LARGE families, so the families get priority time with the babies while me and my mom (who is like a 2nd mother to my friend) get left in the dust...

[WarpSpeed]

Well, when you get married and have a kid, that does kind of limit spending hours at a time with other friends. I think you're just going to have to downgrade him to occasional buddy and find someone else. Or get married and have a kid to see what it's like.

[dumpling321]

Originally Posted by WarpSpeed

Well, when you get married and have a kid, that does kind of limit spending hours at a time with other friends. I think you're just going to have to downgrade him to occasional buddy and find someone else. Or get married and have a kid to see what it's like.

I know that it's a time sink... but I know a lot of people who manage to have families and also balance their friends into the mix... his wife manages to hang out with her friends, and she works part time AND takes care of the kid, all I ask is, say, doing lunch with him once a month, or maybe getting invited over to play video games with him some evening... I know we'll never hang like we used to, but I definately don't like being ignored...

Heck, I'm a full time college student, studying in a medical field... and I would manage to find the time to hang out with him if he would only be receptive to it...

[DAISHI]

Dumpling, quick statistic. Men, more than women, tend to isolate and focus on their partner after marriage. Men's psychological makeup is geared toward individual tasks versus multitasking. Look at any men's magazine versus women's magazine to realize that. This is also why men deal worse with spouse death, since they lose social supports (friends) that women maintain.

You're asking for something that is beyond most men, speaking strictly from the perspective of psychology and statistics.

[Alcoremortis]

I don't know about that. My dad is pretty damn social, far more so than me. Though then again, whenever he meets up with friends, it's generally to do something specific, not just "hang out".

Dumpling, I'd suggest that maybe you should get in touch with your friend's wife and schedule an activity with the whole family. That way, he can't ignore you and you can hang out within the activity. Like invite them all out to lunch or something.

[Giant Tope]

I dunno, from what I've read that's more of a societal pressure more than a psychological occurrence. There really needs to be a proper men's rights movement so we can have proper equality.

[DAISHI]

Societal pressure is a part of psychology, you can't separate the two.

[GaryCXJk]

I have the feeling I am the only one who can relate to other people when it comes to entertainment, because, apparently, as we grow up we have to think the same way as other adults. It's not cool to like Justin Bieber (sidenote, I do have to say, he's not THAT good, but he's also not the annoying little cunt people make him out to be), arrow in the knee jokes are not funny anymore, the High School Musical series is gay and you're gay for liking it, Hanna Montana is for five year old girls, cartoons today SUCK BALLS, all that other bullshit.

Seriously, I had enough of it all. I don't give a shit about the fact that you think Transformers is a shit movie. I like the series. It's not near my personal top ten list, but I enjoy the films for what they are. They're not meant to intellectually stimulate you, they're only there for the explosions and the CGI robots beating each others to pulp. So what if they're making potty jokes or that the movie is all about Megan Fox' ass. I don't give a shit if you don't like it. Stop trying to convince ME it's a shit movie.

It's like nobody in this world wants to be entertained, it's like people forgot that we as little shits loved the stuff that are actually pretty fucking stupid. I mean, MC Hammer? What the fuck is that? And seriously, we all still nostalgia on MC Hammer yet we tell modern pop music to suck it because the lyrics are too simple? Let me give you some examples.

Earth angel, earth angel
Will you be mine
My darling dear
Love you all the time
I'm just a fool
A fool in love with you

That comes from the song Earth Angel, by the Penguins.

Imagine me and you, I do
I think about you day and night, it's only right
To think about the girl you love and hold her tight
So happy together

If I should call you up, invest a dime
And you say you belong to me and ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be, so very fine
So happy together

The Turtles, Happy Together.

Oh yeah, I’ll tell you something,
I think you’ll understand
When I’ll say that something
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand

The fucking Beatles, I Want To Hold Your Hand.

Seriously, get this. Back in the old days, songs were THIS SIMPLE. Especially the fucking Beatles are taken as example of what is good music. Bitch, the lyrics are simple as fuck most of the time. Don't believe me?

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

Help!

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

All You Need Is Love.

How does it differ from:

You know you love me, I know you care
Just shout whenever and I'll be there
You want my love, you want my heart
And we will never ever ever be apart

Are we an item?
Girl quit playing
We're just friends, what are you saying
Said there's another and look right in my eyes
My first love broke my heart for the first time,
and I was like

Baby baby baby oooh
Like baby baby baby nooo
Like baby baby baby oooh
thought you'd always be mine mine

Justin Bieber, Baby.

And don't give me that "but it's Justin Bieber", because fuck that shit, it's not Justin Bieber people apparently have beef with, it's his music, ergo, his songs, ergo, the lyrics, because I sure as hell don't want to start about the music.

Seriously, I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

Also, don't get me wrong, I love the abovementioned songs, or at least like them. I just took them as examples.

[Chyron8472]

tl;dr

[Hayden]

The difference between Bieber and pop artists of the past is that artists from decades ago were being relatively original. They were building a style of music, and were writing these sorts of lyrics for the first time. What Justin Bieber is doing is riding off the back of something already established. In "Baby", he's doing nothing but borrowing. The lines in the verses have all been written before in other songs; what he's doing is effortlessly paraphrasing old, cliched lyrics. And as for the chorus, well, it's perhaps the most lazy, dumbed-down piece of lyrical work ever. He elects to repeat the most over-used word in pop music ad nauseam, and accompany it with nothing 'ooh's and 'oh's. What a genius wordsman this Bieber fellow is.

This sort of songwriting might have been tolerable about 20 years ago, but in this day and age, it just comes off as unoriginal, lazy, and tailor-made for the ears of the hopelessly stupid.

And what's worst of all is that we're meant to take this 'artist' seriously. The thing that made the music of MC Hammer and such somewhat likeable was the fact that there was some semblance of humour and tongue-in-cheek attitude. They weren't MEANT to be entirely credible, but that's precisely how Bieber is portrayed, despite his music being of an equal or lower level of intelligence. In fact, yes, it's of a lower level of intelligence, because not only is it garbage, it's unoriginal garbage. It's garbage that has been rehashed, because penning his own garbage would have been too difficult.

See, this is why people hate Justin Bieber, because he is the very definition of unoriginal. He is a pop star simply going through the motions, doing everything effortlessly and thoughtlessly, yet he's apparently meant to be some sort of pop genius prodigy. He's portrayed through mass music media to be the new big thing; to be infinitely talented, when all he is is a figurehead and a product, perfectly designed to make money for Island and Universal. His music features all of the classic traits cliche elements of pop music which have proven popular over the years, all rolled into one and then served off to the to the idiotic masses, and more accurately, insecure adolescent dimwits. His music is so unbearably trite that you'd think he was trying to be ironic. But no, he's being perfectly serious, since triteness, simplicity and predictability is exactly what the average person wants these days.

The creation of Justin Bieber, the pop star sensation, is an unmitigated exploitation of the music industry in its current pitiful form. Justin Bieber is the baby-faced figurehead of the leach that is Universal Music. Anyone with half a brain or a critical eye on the music industry knows exactly what a frustrating joke Justin Bieber is, and that's precisely why most people hate him.

[Chyron8472]

I feel like ranting about all the stupid people on the net who have no idea that proper grammar is a useful skill to learn. All of those people have no idea just how stupid they sound, nor do they care, and it's ticking me off.

-.-

What kind of idiot could possibly think that "it's the internet, grammar doesn't matter" should ever be a valid argument to make?!

[Darth Marsden]

Originally Posted by Chyron8472

I feel like ranting about all the stupid people on the net who have no idea that proper grammar is a useful skill to learn. All of those people have no idea just how stupid they sound, nor do they care, and it's ticking me off.

-.-

What kind of idiot could possibly think that "it's the internet, grammar doesn't matter" should ever be a valid argument to make?!

The internet brings out the very worst in people. It's the anonymity. They can get away with shit like not spelling stuff properly because there's no consequences. It's not like school where they'll get an F if they misspell everything.

It should though, because it bugs the hell out of me as well. It's like people not pronouncing letters when they speak. 'fing' instead of 'thing', for example. It's mangling the English language and you should be slapped across the face if you do it. Sadly, you can't do that over the internet - all you can do is correct them, and that gets you labelled as a Grammar Nazi. Bleh.

Also, thanks for resurrecting my thread. Forgot I made it!

[Johro]

The now muddied waters of till and 'til bother me. I suppose that now "till" has been accepted, I'll just have to live with it.

[Darth Marsden]

A till is something that you put money in and out of.

'til is an abbreviated form of the word Until.

I've never really heard of people getting the two mixed up, but I guess the internet makes fools of us all.