Star Wars Premier: The Line People 379
proudtobeageek writes "A friend of mine, an attendee of a midnight opening of Star Wars Episode III, took the opportunity to conduct a short documentary/interview of the costumed movie goers. He has his short movie available here on his blog."
Whoop-de-doo. (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm already tired of all this starwars crap.
Re:Bottom of the Barrel (Score:2, Insightful)
Coralized version of the URL (Score:2, Insightful)
http://redirect.nyud.net:8090/?url=http://www.rya
Just a thought. I'm surprised you guys don't just do this automatically by now.
Re:It's sad, in a way (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Another format please? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Whoop-de-doo. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Whoop-de-doo. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's sad, in a way (Score:5, Insightful)
Come on, isn't that a *tad* too much? Their behaviour is strange to you; they are happy, they have fun and they don't hurt anybody. Why bother? You said it yourself, you have better things to do with your spare time than critizing movies. They don't, they like it. Tastes vary.
Oh, and it's not a disease; these people are not sick. They just engage in activities most people find odd.
Re:It's sad, in a way (Score:3, Insightful)
How dare you judge these people. Who are YOU to judge them. You're the one posting on here about them despite claiming to have "better" things to do.
If you ask me, the world could use some more "losers" like those fans waiting in line, and the sooner we get rid of judgemental people like yourself, the sooner people won't feel like they're "losers" because they have interests that differ from the norm.
Re:It's sad, in a way (Score:5, Insightful)
Come on guys (Score:4, Insightful)
For the record, the story about Star Wars Episode 3 being downloaded a lot? Same category. Dunno if any of the admins have been paying attention, but movies get downloaded once in a while and at least one or two of them have nothing to do with Star Wars.
I'm all for posting a story about the release of the film. It's a geek film. But half a dozen of the stupid things in a week is just plain rubbish. Slashdot is rapidly working it's way off my list of daily reads simply because I'm sick of reading the same articles over and over again. Seeing the same three articles every week is kinda boring: "Check out this Star Wars [blah]", "Google are about to take over the world", and "Microsoft sucks because Penguins are cute".
BORING!
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
So, the title should have been "The Revenge of the Movie Industry" or "The Cash Sucking Machine Strikes Back"?
Re:Only on Slashdot... (Score:3, Insightful)
Funny? No.
Witty? Hardly.
Informative? Not Quite.
Worthy of
A pathetic attempt to plug an otherwise unremarkable blog? Bingo.
I.e., enforcing conformity (Score:3, Insightful)
It all boils down to enforcing conformity. If you don't act and dress like your prescribed role, you're an evil monster and a "loser". If you have a different passtime than the category you're pegged into, you're an evil monster and a "loser".
If you play Risk (or god forbid Warhammer 40k or Battletech) instead of Chess, or MTG instead of Bridge or Poker, you're a "loser" and an evil monster. If you spend 4 hours a day in front of the TV with a console game and a controller in hand, instead of 4 hours a day on the same TV but on sports channel with a beer can in hand, you're a "loser" and an evil monster. If you spend all weekend working on your computer, instead of working all week on your car like a Real Man (TM), you're a "loser" and an evil monster. And god forbid that you dare wear anything other than the approved uniform for your category, because that _really_ makes you an unholy monster.
If you don't want to be an evil monster, then, see, you have to dress like this, hold the beer can and remote like this while watching sports on TV, go to the same pub all the neighbours go to, etc.
Even if you want to be a rebel teenager, see, you can't just go ahead and do it your way. Nosiree, bob. Only "losers" do things their own way. To properly be a "rebel" you have to mindlessly conform to the "teenage rebel" role. Here's the approved list of rebel clothes, music, passtime and conversation topics.
Welcome to being sheep.
And it seems to me like WTH is the problem with these self-appointed guardians of conformity? Do their property values go down because someone two streets away spends too much time with a computer or watches the "wrong" movies, or what? Seems to me that whether I wanted to wear a business suit, or a spandex super-hero suit and cape, or a Jedi robe with "I went to the dark side and all I got was this stupid robe" on the back (never wore any of the three, but just saying), it ought to be noone else's business.
*sigh* Guess I might as well become a misanthrope now and avoid the christmas rush.
Slashdot readers see own reflection: Cringe (Score:1, Insightful)
To the posters who feel the need to deride the people in the video: Look in the fucking mirror!
What's really sad is that this video has more personality and livelier people than the movie they're on line to see.
WHY is it a problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I don't live with my parents, in fact I live half a country away. Even visiting each other occasionally is a bit inconvenient. But I'm still left scratching my head "and the problem with being a family is...?"
See, virtually all cultures and societies used to be centred around the family until recently. Whether it was a farm or a medieval blacksmith's shop or whatever, it was _normal_ for a house to be the home for a whole extended family, and it was _normal_ at least for the firstborn to stay with the parents until they die.
E.g., when you read about the Vikings who sacked England or ended up elite bodyguards as far as Byzantium or Baghdad, those weren't really the cool ones. Those were the disinherited ones who had to fight or starve to death. The "cool" ones were those who inherited their father's farm and didn't have to fight. The ones who, in fact, lived with their parents not only into the 20's, but all the way until the parents died.
The craze about being on your own, and thinking you're so cool because you have no support, and your starving or not depends on a PHB's whims is an industrial age invention. I.e., a very recent one.
Is it really that much better. Yes, you're so cool, you live on your own, you have a big house and a car of your own. And it'll be so cool until you're old and sick. Then your choice will be to die lonely and abandoned in your home, or half-starved and still abandoned in the cheapest asylum your kids could find. Because now it would be sooo _uncool_ for your kids to have a parent in _their_ house.
We churn generation after generation who _will_ spend the last decade of their life abbandoned among strangers, and die among strangers.
Not saying that I have a better solution or anything, but it makes me sorta idly wonder... is it really that much of an improvement?
Re:I.e., enforcing conformity (Score:5, Insightful)
You bring up a lot of good points... people are often cruel and the pressure to conform can be overwhelming. But this isn't about being sheep; my board-game/Magic/role-playing buddies and I all thought the Triumph [amazon.com] Star Wars video was hilarious. Hell, many of the Star Wars fans were cracking up while they were being mocked. Triumph has the same effect when he makes fun of Bon Jovi and their fans, Hollywood Squares, American Idol, and Hawaii. He could target jocks and prom queens and it'd be just as funny.
We're all absurd in our own ways, so lighten up and enjoy the ride.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
I just don't find outright insults funny (Score:3, Insightful)
E.g., Jay Leno, back in the 90s when I still bothered watching TV at all, was funny. He could bring up all sorts of mean stuff, but... without coming and spewing insults as such. He let you fill in the dots yourself.
E.g., Dilbert [dilbert.com] manages to _occasionally_ be funny, even in all its sheer anti-management bitterness. Whereas the average "my boss sucks donkey balls and should die" blog isn't.
Just outright insulting people to their face isn't the same thing. It lacks any kind of finesse.
There is no insinuation or irony in telling a pregnant woman that her unborn son will be a nerd and never even see female genitals. It's just a very very nasty thing to say to a mother. It ranks almost up there with saying "I foresee that your son will die of cancer."
And dunno, maybe I'm just deffective or not judgmental enough to find that kind of thing funny.
And again, it's not even about SW and its fans, seein' as I'm not one. You know, I'm the guy who posted on
I'd still find it not funny against anyone, though. Jocks, prom queens, rappers, bad managers, you name it. E.g., God knows I've posted a lot against bad management, but if anyone went to a management convention and started outright insulting random managers... dunno, I don't think I'd find that funny either.
Re:Only on Slashdot... (Score:1, Insightful)
Ahh but to truly know recursion you must of first known know.
You see there are known knowns, These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.
Re:It's sad, in a way (Score:2, Insightful)
and you have a socially accepted soccer fan
Re:I.e., enforcing conformity (Score:5, Insightful)
Fantasy worlds come in all sizes and shapes (Score:3, Insightful)
Chess is no more and no less a wargame than Battletech or Warhammer: it was in fact designed to be a wargame from the start, modelled after the real armies of that era. (The "bishop" was a war elephant, pawns were footsoldiers, etc.) When two people meet to play chess, it's no more and no less playing a battle than in Battletech. Except one makes you some intellectual elite, the other makes you a loser.
I'm not even talking about playing the online versions of either. (Although I can vouch for at least MegaMek as an excellent online implementation of Battletech. Open Source too. Check it out on Sourceforge.) In both cases the people are face to face, but in one of the cases that makes them nerds without a life or something.
So why is it that spending the weekend playing Poker is OK, but spending the weekend playing MTG past an age would get half the people looking down on you? Heck, if anyone heard that a co-worker lost $2000 at poker, they'd probably pat them on the shoulder and show some compassion. (Even if the kind of compassion to an addict.) But if anyone heard that an adult co-worker spent $200 (i.e., a tenth of that) on MTG cards, chances are good they'd think "gee, what a loser nerd".
Why?
Or how about football? Don't tell me that's not escaping reality, even though it doesn't involve stormtroopers or dwarves. (Although it does involve equally silly outfits.)
Now if I gathered myself and three friends on the couch and watched some good ol' american football, it would be ok and socially acceptable. But if the exact same 4 people, on the same couch, and in front of the same TV, played a 4-player game of, say, Gauntlet Legends, it would be a case of "gee, such nerdy losers. Grow up, get out more."
Why? What's so different between the two. What makes one an ok and socially acceptable way to spend your life, and the other some pathologic refuse for losers? It still involves the same people, they still meet in person, etc. Why is one of them somehow so unsocial, and why does meeting people count as "hiding from people"?
Or ok, you've met with your friends in a park, or at a cigarette break at work, and you're talking. Social enough, right? Yes, well, if you talk about yesterday's football game, it's social. But if the same people talk about yesterday's RPG or video game session, you're a bunch of nerds and losers.
Maybe it's the costumes that make it be bad? Well, no. Going in a stupid costume and with a flag painted on your face to a football match, now that counts as socially acceptable. Not the kind of "acceptable" you'd do at the office, mind you, but the kind where everyone understands "eh, people need to vent steam and act like fans now and then" or "eh, it's just a football game, it's normal". But if you go in a Jedi robe to a movie, or in a chain maille to LOTR, eeew, now that makes you such a loser.
Why? Both are wearing a costume to an event.
That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Things that are basically not that different, one counts as OK, one makes you a "loser". Things that _are_ social make you "a lonely nerd" just because they're not _the_ prescribed social passtimes for the age and social group you're pegged in.
And I'd be damned if I find any other good explanation than mindless prejudice and conformism.
Re:Amazing (Score:3, Insightful)
-WS
Re:Fantasy worlds come in all sizes and shapes (Score:3, Insightful)
Some humans find comfort in the familiar. Things that are different, or apart from the herd, are disturbing and to be avoided.
Your comment reminds me of a sci-fi story I read where the basic premise was that most humans in the future rode around on all-terrain wheelchair-type vehicles. They depended on them so much that their legs atrophied and they couldn't walk anymore. When these people saw someone walking (they had an insulting name for them I cannot recall) they would actually try to run them over out of disdain. Do some technologically adept folk look at the Amish in a similar, if less severe, light?
Expansion of the mind beyond the normal and mundane and variety are beautiful things. I pity those who in striving so hard to be accepted by the herd lose their own sense of self and become simply another clone.
Re:This is a good thing(tm) (Score:3, Insightful)
C'mon! We're the ones reading slashdot!
Just a comment real fast on this (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, you might have seen her on TV. She was dressed as Bousch(spelling?) the bounty hunter Leia was disguised as in Return of the Jedi. She was on MSNBC, G4(yeah I shuddered too), and multiple other networks. She even had a number of Lucasfilm and ILM VIPs come up to her and ask for pictures/compliment her on the authenticity of her outfit. She also happens to be about the exact same height and build as Leia in RotJ so, to say the least, she was pretty spot on.
Anyway, why does she do it? She does it because it is a fun hobby, and because she likes to see the kids smile. She's a school teacher too, again in large part because of the kids. That's why a lot of the professionals(like the 501st) are doing this. To these people it is a hobby just like radio controlled airplanes, model boat building, etc. Only they end up wearing the final product. And they do it for the reactions and to see the kids smile and the adults remember a bit of their childhood.
Now, that said, there certainly are a few nuts out there. A lot of the time these people will show up in these lines and such. These are the people who just threw something together in a day or less. These are kind of like the big fat guys with painted beer bellies you see at sports events. The professionals are more like your cheerleaders, and they take their job pretty seriously. They get some nice perks too, the professionals that is. My friend has had private sit down dinners with the likes of Peter Mayhew, Jeremy Bulloch, Ian McDermand, Ben Burtt etc. You get to meet some neat people apparantly
Anyway, it isn't something I would choose to do as a hobby, but I gained a lot of respect towards the professionals who do this in their spare time after my trip to Celebration 3. So yeah, laugh, smile, joke, or have fun with them all, thats part of why they are there. But, hopefully this will let you see the people who do this sort of stuff as a serious hobby in a bit different light. I know I did.
Triumph the INSULT comic dog (Score:1, Insightful)
If he weren't insulting people, he wouldn't really be living up to his name.
He's Triumph the Insult comic dog, and that's what he does. He insults people for comedic effect. If you don't find it funny, that's fine. I don't find Gallagher's brand of melon-squashing humor funny. But some people do. And to those people I say "Don't forget your raincoat!", not "You shouldn't enjoy his humor because it's not funny."
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Insightful)
Not only is it insanely expensive ($15 / ticket now at the movie palace in my city! I can buy a DVD and own it for unlimited viewings for that) and you have to sit through 1/2 hour of commercials for coke, msn and countless cars plus the movies themselves are commericals now with all the blatant product placement
Why on earth anyone actually pays for that kind of experience these days is just beyond me.
I love movies but I'd rather rent or buy a DVD and kick back at home in my underwear where I can watch the whole movie through and not have to worry about other people killing it for me.
Re:I just don't find outright insults funny (Score:3, Insightful)
you messed up some golden punch lines
There is no insinuation or irony in telling a pregnant woman that her unborn son will be a nerd and never even see female genitals. It's just a very very nasty thing to say to a mother. It ranks almost up there with saying "I foresee that your son will die of cancer."
First of all, jokes don't all have to rely on irony or subtilty, they can rely on TIMING.
He asked when she was due... she told him and he said that she would remember it forever... becuase that is the last time he would see female genitals.
as for comparing that to dying of cancer, I feel very sad that you consider yours, mine, and everyone's geekhood to be some sort of fatal curse. I consider it to be a welcome part of my personality.
It takes a fragile person to crumble under an insult especially a funny one. That type of fragile person is also the type that would not go out into public in an insult magnet of a costume.
Triumph is welcome at any of my Mtg tournaments and is welcome to insult my pregnant wife.
Re:Amazing (Score:4, Insightful)
I still get weirded out by Leia kissing Luke in the first one, now that we know the real relation.
And my favorite all-time classic movie moment comes from 'Jaws'. The police chief (Roy Scheider) is chumming, while Quint and Hooper are arguing inside the boat. The shark surfaces, and then Scheider's character backs into the room, cigarette dangling from the bottom lip, he says, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
God, I love that scene. Quintessentially perfect. The cigarette. The delivery. The expression. They should have given him an oscar just for that one scene.
Re:I don't get it.. (Score:3, Insightful)