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Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?

by: DavidNYC

Fri Nov 21, 2008 at 2:00 PM EST


SSP's Official Approved Movie List™:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Airplane!
Aliens
Back to the Future
Batman Begins
Dark Knight
Empire Strikes Back
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ghostbusters
Goldfinger
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Dem
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Office Space
Pulp Fiction
Return of the Jedi
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Rahm
Star Wars
This Is Spinal Tap
Wayne's World

What's on your list?
DavidNYC :: Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In?
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Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In? | 55 comments
Looking at the Temple of Dem link
James was awfully prescient...

Tyler Oakley:

James, if you had to pick 2 Dem incumbents most in danger of losing their seats this fall (not including Lampson who is all but gone), who would they be?

James L.:

Putting me in the hotseat, eh?
Hm, well... I guess I would go with Cazayoux and... oh, let's say Tim Mahoney today, just because he's a bit of a weirdo.


28, Unenrolled, MA-08
The was on August 9th, btw


28, Unenrolled, MA-08
[ Parent ]
For once, a prediction that paid off.
I never like doing predictions -- there's no upside in doing them (no one likes a braggart) and a lot of credibility to lose. But in this case, I always figured that Mahoney's personality would cause him problems... but I didn't realize just how ugly of a soul the man really has.


[ Parent ]
James you are well on your way to becoming the next Larry Sabato.

[ Parent ]
I dunno...
James hasn't developed his ego enough yet... And he needs kewl maps. ;-)

Yes, Virginia, there ARE progressives in Nevada!
24, gay male, Democrat, NV-03 (or 04?)
[ Parent ]
Your list
is my list. Maybe throw in some Lord of the Rings and Jurassic Park.

Aw, what the heck, some Miyazaki films too: Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

What about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind?
I've been meaning to check it out, but I still haven't gotten around to it, several years after first finding out about it.

Well, as for animé movies, I have seen End of Evangelion, but that was a huge disappointment for a person like me who actually quite liked the TV-show version of the ending (Episodes 25-26).

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

[ Parent ]
Never saw Naussica or Valley of the Wind
as for End of Evangelion . . .

:'( It made my head explode and freaked both me and my room mate out like nothing else. We sat through and watched the series over the course of a month or so (borrowing the DVDs) then did the movie. I'm sorry, but ghost Rai's touching you and you explode, something about how they love you, BOOM! No, not cool. Only other time we had issues with a film was after watching Elephant at 2 am in a dark room by ourselves (great movie, but wrong setting, depressing as all get out).

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

[ Parent ]
Other good anime movie
Cowboy Bebop Movie, heck, just watch the whole series, movie falls in somewhere between episodes 22 and 23 I think.

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26
[ Parent ]
My List
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars (original trilogy)
Godfather (1 & 2 only)
Silence of the Lambs
Master and Commander
Mystic River
The Departed
The Aviator
Atonement
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Sweeney Todd
All the President's Men
Three Kings
Syriana
The Dark Knight
WALL-E (and any other Pixar film)
Children of Men
Shawshank Redemption
LA Confidential
Platoon
Born on the Fourth of July
JFK
Salvador
In the Name of the Father
Into the Wild

One upcoming movie I thought you all would be interested in: http://www.apple.com/trailers/...

Sweeney Todd
That was the first movie I've EVER walked out of the theatre early in disgust.  That's saying something considering I've seen several hundred movies at the theatre in my lifetime, maybe even a thousand.  It stunk THAT bad.  If someone gave me the DVD of Sweeney Todd for free I'd burn it rather than give it to someone and subject them to the horrors I had to endure.
[ Parent ]
yeah
everyone walked out of the theatre pretty pissed at the end. I didnt mind it too much, except I kept falling asleep.  I woke up to Sasha get his head gutted, it was disgusting.  It was a bit too much really.....  And kind of disgusting, euh, people meat pies.  Gag.

That shit should be left to the stage, where a certain type of person could enjoy it.  I possibly could, it wouldnt be so disgusting then...

I got the cd thinking, hmmm, the songs were kind of good at least.  Ugh, no.  Waste of a best buy gift card, well at least my loser dead beat ex boyfriend gave him his so I wasted his money.  Ha.

[ Parent ]
Fair enough :-)
Normally, I'm neither a fan of musicals or excessively bloody movies, and yet I loved this. I am a firm believer that if a director helms a film like this, they shouldn't soft-pedal it. Plus, I feel soft-pedaling it would have angered far more people, namely fans of the musical and fans of Burton--both of whom were the main target. That said, this kind of movie is not for everyone, nor are many of the other films on my list (a sizable number of which are rather violent and lean toward arthouse-sensiblity).

BTW, what did you think of the trailer I posted? No one's commented on it yet.

[ Parent ]
It wasn't that it was bloody and dark for me
It was that the movie flatout SUCKED.  I like bloody and dark movies and musicals are ok by me as well, but in Sweeney Todd there was no rhyme or or rythem to the musicals.  They just overloaded the movie with incredibly stupid songs that made little sense and just annoyed the hell out of me.  The entire script of the movie was a joke.  The only rare moments of the film that I thought were watchable were the parts with Sasha Baron Cohen (better known as Borat).
[ Parent ]
Fair enough
Different strokes and all that...

What did you think of the other films on my list? What is your list?

[ Parent ]
All the others are good
I enjoyed all the other movies on your list, with the exception of Atonement which I have yet to see.

Overall if I had to list my my very favorite films of all-time I'd go with:

V For Vendetta - this film has SO MUCH relevance to the world today
The Lives of Others - Extremely underrated foreign film based on the East German police state
Star Wars (Original Trilogy, Empire Strikes Back being the best of the three)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2
Saw (The original, not the stupid sequals)
The George Romero Dead Series (Night, Dawn, Day, Land)
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight - Another film of great significance to the world today.  If it doesn't win Best Picture I'm never watching the Academy Awards again.
Spider-Man 1 and 2
Reds - I love the scenes with some of my favorite political icons such as Lenin, Zinoviev and Emma Goldman.
The Motorcycle Diaries - The iconic Che as a young man, molding his future political philosophy.  IT doesn't get much better.
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
The Shawshank Redemption
Pulp Fiction
The Usual Suspects
Platoon
Bull Durham
The Natural
Amadeus
Jaws
Kung Fu Hustle
Gandhi
Children of Men
Scarface
The Lion King
Glory
Rocky - The original

Miniseries
North and South - Easily my favorite.  Epic in every respect
Roots
John Adams
The Winds of War
Tin Man


[ Parent ]
How could I forget this one...
Easily my favorite foreign language film ever - Downfall.  A movie that chronicles the final days of the Nazi Third Reich.  It's based around Hitler and the few politicians and generals still loyal to him in the final days where the Nazi government is based in Hitler's underground Berlin bunker with the Soviets closing in on it's capture.
[ Parent ]
A few others
Baghdad Cafe
Mumford
Shane
Rocky (the original)
Thirteen Days
High Noon
Young Abe Lincoln
Warm Springs
Fort Apache
It's A Wonderful Life
Dr. Strangelove
[ Parent ]
Thirteen Days
Yeah, that was surprisingly good. Costner's "accent" was anything but.
[ Parent ]
Mumford
That's a great movie.  I used to work at a video store in the late 90's and we used to get screeners for movies like a month after they'd been released in theatres and Mumford and A Walk on the Moon are 2 great movies I wouldn't have seen otherwise.
[ Parent ]
Have to agree on JFK
And I would add Rain Man, The Shining, As Good As It Gets, Chinatown, Pulp Fiction, The Manchurian Candidate (original), Terminator 2, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The Usual Suspects, V For Vendetta, Toy Story 2, Apocolypse Now, American Beauty, Forrest Gump, Some Like It Hot and Casino Royale (2006).
[ Parent ]
Life Of Brian
Almost forgot. Very naughty boy! :)
[ Parent ]
boo
Boo @ ST:II... Its all about ST:IV A Voyage Home... 'Well, Double Dumbass on you!" haha
here goes
1. I am going to miss Tom Cole. 2 more years from him would have cut the Republican portion of the congress to its proper size.

2. If Janet Napolitano goes to DC, how deep is our bench in AZ? What will the political landscape look like in AZ?

3. I have a sinking feeling that we will lose GA, MN, CA-04 and OH (Kilroy). The CA-04 really hurts.

I feel good about OH-15
I think Kilroy has a better than even chance of taking that one. MN is more doable than the other two, as well.
[ Parent ]
Political documentaries
Street Fight - Easily my favorite of the category.  A crash course in how ugly big city politics can be.  Documentary is based on Corey Booker's first run for Newark, NJ Mayor against the incredibly corrupt establishment Mayor Sharpe James.
The War Room
The fog of War - Always hated McNamara, but this is a heck of a documentary.
Kingfish
The Ken Burns film on Huey Long was good, but that may just be due to my very-odd fascination with Louisiana politics.

I love both the All The King's Men movies, too, and don't get me started on the greatest book of all time...

[ Parent ]
The old one is great
The new one with Sean Penn was HORRIBLE, even though Penn was great in the movie.
[ Parent ]
It was decent
It didn't follow the plot as well, but it really captured the tone of the book.  It was a dark, depressing movie, just like the book.

Still, compared to the book, both movies were atrocious.  That's what happens when you try to compete with the pen of Robert Penn Warren.

[ Parent ]
Err..let's see
Pulp Fiction (most quotable movie ever; "aww man I shot Marvin in the face"), Ghostbusters yes, Slap Shot, Chopper, first 2/3s of Full Metal Jacket, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Dazed and Confused, Election, Spinal Tap yes (but also Best In Show is great), Holy Grail and Life of Brian, Rushmore, Trainspotting, Blade Runner, Clerks, High Fidelity (just as good as the book), Better Off Dead, Amelie, Lost Boys, Yojimbo, El Mariachi, too many man.
Almost anything Tarantino is great
I like all of his stuff except for Death Proof which sucked bigtime.  Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2, and Reservoir Dogs are all amazing films.
[ Parent ]
You're forgetting
Jackie Brown.  I think I'm the only one on the planet that loves that movie.  Another quotable as hell movie.  Everyone I know think it's worse than Death Proof (which pissed me off after watching the perfect Planet Terror).
[ Parent ]
Classic SLJ
"When you absolutely, positively have to kill every mf in the room, accept no substitutes".  
[ Parent ]
I almost walked out on Death Proof it was so bad
Planet Terror was amazing and I was expecting the second film, Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, to be even better.  I was wrong bigtime.    
[ Parent ]
yep Tarantino is awesome
My favorite movie of all time is Reservoir Dogs.
[ Parent ]
Great choices there
High Fidelity in particular is a movie that I've gotten more from every time I revisit it. Great stuff.

And I can assure you that the back-channel conversations of SSP editors have often been dominated by Pulp Fiction quotes.

"And sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I wouldn't know, because I won't eat the filthy motherfucker!"

[ Parent ]
Lets hear it for the cult classics
Office Space
Return of the Latest Dead
The Evil Dead
Evil Dead II
Army of Darkness
The Warriors
Fight Club
Pulp Fiction
Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2
The Big Lebowski
George Romero's Living Dead series (Night, Dawn, Day, Land)
Ed Wood Films (Plan 9 From Outer Space!)
Ed Wood (the movie about the director)
Monty Python Films
The Breakfast Club
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (I know James L. likes this one)

TV Series:
Jericho - My second favotire series of all-time after Lost.  Why this amazing show never caught on I'll never know.
Firefly - Another series that died far too early

I never cared much for
Jericho but Firefly was the shit.  I always thought Freaks and Geeks was the ultimate show that died too soon.
[ Parent ]
Hell yeah on Firefly
Random trivia: Nathan Fillion's (older?) brother was my music teacher in elementary school.

Freaks & Geeks died a tragic death, but at least we got a good full-ish season out of it with some good character arcs.

[ Parent ]
Just picked up Firefly on Blu-Ray
It's as awesome as I'd remembered it from TV years ago.  The movie adaptation Serenity comes out on Blu in late December.  I'll be buying that too.
[ Parent ]
Well, I don't have a movies-to-watch list, but I do have other lists.
Sorry, I'm not really a movie fan.  On the other hand...

Games to play:
Der Langrisser (SNES)
Breath of Fire 2 (SNES)
Zillion (SMS)
Gradius (any Gradius)
Wild ARMs (Wild ARMs 4 (PS2), in particular)
Fire Emblem (any FE)
Chantelise (Windows?)
E.V.O. (SNES)
Metroid Prime (NGC) (I'm halfway done with this, but I need to find myself a system to play on now that I've left college)
Energy Breaker (SNES) (once it becomes translated)
Rockman Battle & Chase (Saturn)

Also, the folks over at TV Tropes recently caused me to put up a list of animé to watch (or that I've watched), which is this list:

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (LOL @ title) (a.k.a. Eagle Riders) (seen 1 episode)
Voltron (GoLion) (seen most episodes of The New Adventures of Voltron)
Pokémon (seen most of the Kanto subseries, and parts of the Orange Islands and Johto subseries; not interested anymore)
Naruto (seen a bunch of episodes when my dorm neighbor watched them, and am not interested in seeing any more)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (still haven't seen this)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (seen all of the main series, which I did like, and the movie End of Evangelion, which I didn't like)
Magic Knight Rayearth (seen episodes 1, 20, and 26)
Noir (seen episode 1, interested in seeing more)
Detective Conan (recommended by a friend)
Nadia: the Secret of Blue Water (maybe just passing interest)
Mai-HiME (recommended by TV Tropers)

Additionally, some crazy people there think that I'd like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  I disagree.  I think I'm more of a fan of subtlety and depth of meaning, and from what I've heard of Haruhi, the characters will likely rub me the wrong way.

I really need to make myself a list of books to read.  Fiction AND non-ficiton.  I'm currently starting to become interested in behavioral economics, for some reason, so I might stop by my local bookstore/library and check out some books on it.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

Where Should I Start?
Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Transamerica
Truman (sorry, but 2005 was a REALLY AWESOME year for movies!)
Ray
Kill Bill I & II
Matchpoint
Vicky Christina Barcelona (I still haven't forgiven Woody Allen for eloping with his adopted daughter, but at least he's making good movies again.)
Monster
Million Dollar Baby

Sound good?

Yes, Virginia, there ARE progressives in Nevada!
24, gay male, Democrat, NV-03 (or 04?)

Oops...
I think I meant to say "Capote". Oh yeah, and I forgot "Syriana".


Yes, Virginia, there ARE progressives in Nevada!
24, gay male, Democrat, NV-03 (or 04?)
[ Parent ]
LOL
That's a movie list that would make right-wing evangelicals blow gasket.  Good movies though im my opinion.
[ Parent ]
If you like those...
then I think you'll like a movie coming out later this month (or early next, depending on where you live): MILK, which chronicles the rise and assassination of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the US. The trailer, posted above, has to be one of this year's best.

BTW, great list (2005 was a pretty good year, but it never gets the credit it deserves).

[ Parent ]
And now for the other stuff...
AZ-Gov: Sorry, but President-Elect Obama let me down here. Why allow wacko fundie wingnut Jan Brewer to become Governor??!! Will this hurt Terry Goddard's chances of winning?

AZ-Sen: See above. Do we have anyone else to run against Johnny Mac?

CA-Supreme Court: OK, it's official now. The wacko fundie wingnuts are threatening recall against the judges should they do their job as independent interpreters of the law & overturn Prop H8 as unconstitutional. Get ready for a bloodmatch!

CA-Gov: OK, so when will DiFi announce? Anyone want to bet on when she'll finally say it?

CA-Sen: I'm still waiting to see which GOPers will run against my favorite fundie wingnut State Ass., "Attention Whore" Chuck DeVore, in their primary. I can hardly wait to see which one will lose to Barbara Boxer!

NV-Gov: Oscar Goodman's a sleazebag. Rory Reid's not that exciting. I seriously hope Barbara Buckley rides in to save the day. Otherwise, I don't know what to do.

NV-Sen: So what's Krolicki doing? Is he running against Papa Reid or is he staying put as Lt. Gov.? So who else wants to lose to our dear Majority Leader? ;-)

Yes, Virginia, there ARE progressives in Nevada!
24, gay male, Democrat, NV-03 (or 04?)

Asians.
Nuff Said.
[ Parent ]
NV-Gov
Any word as to whether Gibbons is running for re-election?  He has to be facing a real primary threat if he is running given his countless ethical and legal issues.
[ Parent ]
Yes...
All indications I've seen are that Gibbons WILL run for reelection. I think that's why he's trying to look more "moderate" in actually considering some much needed tax reform. He may be sleazy, but apparently he's not stupid enough to forget that Nevada's gone from a red-tilting swing state to a more Dem-leaning blue state just under his watch.

HOWEVER, word also has it that hardcore wingnut Rep. Dean Heller is considering a primary run against Gibbons. If that happens, expect the sh*t to fly all over the place! I'm sure whoever wins that bloodmatch will be bloodied and bruised enough for us to take him out in November 2010... As long as we have a decent candidate who wasn't completely destroyed in our primary.

Yes, Virginia, there ARE progressives in Nevada!
24, gay male, Democrat, NV-03 (or 04?)

[ Parent ]
Dean Heller?
Calling NV-02 Democrats!

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
NV Lt. Gov.
How strong a candidate is NV's Lt Gov., Brian Krolicki? I recall reading that he won his post 52-39. Would he be a contender against Reid/primary opponent for Gibby?
[ Parent ]
AZ-Gov
I don't think it will hurt Goddard's chances as 1) he's more popular than Brewer and 2) Brewer will then have to deal with AZ's economic mess and will likely be blamed for any further declines.

However, I'm not even certain Napolitano will accept. Other than Politico, no other outlet has said that she has accepted, only that she is the top choice.

[ Parent ]
Well, Politico isn't perfect...
So I guess there's at least a chance Napolitano can stay to give a leg up to Goddard in 2010 & run against Johnny Mac for Senate. Stay, Janet, stay! I know some of my hardcore Obama friends will be mad if this happens, but I'd rather see President Obama have more allies in the Senate.

Besides, what's the point of the Department of Homeland Security... Other than a cheap 2002 political stunt & a way for military contractors to get government "work" without facing any Congressional oversight?

Yes, Virginia, there ARE progressives in Nevada!
24, gay male, Democrat, NV-03 (or 04?)

[ Parent ]
Great points
Personally, I think Obama (or some future prez) should close that department and simply managed the agencies under as separate entities. Combining them has not worked.

Having said that, one person Obama should consider is Clinton's FEMA chief, James Lee Witt. I recall reading about the high marks he got for fixing up the agency, and heaven knows things have gotten worse since he left.

[ Parent ]
Restore FEMA to a cabinet position
That should be a no-brainer.
[ Parent ]
Weekly Open Thread: What Races Are You Interested In? | 55 comments

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