The Missiletoe Command Arcade & Slushy Bar

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jallenecs

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For me it depends on what kind of Time Travel story it is.

The kind of "let's go to a different time period and pootle about for a bit" story I'm less fond of, but I have a fondness for TT stories that really get into the, if you'll forgive the phrase-stealing, "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey" stuff a lot more.

Define, please? I know where the phrase comes from (one of my favorite eps, BTW). But what would qualify as a "WWTW stuff" story for you?
 

crunchyblanket

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I don't know if the story is all that special (mostly because I only just thought of it; that's why I've been stalled). But what makes the idea keep bugging me are the characters. The characters are a treat, at least to me, and I adore them, so much so that echoes of them keep popping up in my other work.

Sounds like a good enough reason to me :)
 

lilyWhite

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On the topic of 3D movies: I have no interest in them due solely to the fact that I have no interest in movies.

Morning, all. :e2yawn:
 

Reservoir Angel

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Define, please? I know where the phrase comes from (one of my favorite eps, BTW). But what would qualify as a "WWTW stuff" story for you?
What would qualify as a WWTW story would be one where the actual mechanics of time travel and how the different time periods can overlap and influence each other in weird ways is explored.

I can't really phrase it properly, but just look at the DW episode the WWTW phrase came from: Something obtained in the future is used by someone in the past to talk to someone in the present.

That's... that's just brilliant. That's the kind of stuff I constantly want to see more of.

I really can't put it better than that, it's a hard thing for me to completely define. :(
 

jallenecs

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What would qualify as a WWTW story would be one where the actual mechanics of time travel and how the different time periods can overlap and influence each other in weird ways is explored.

I can't really phrase it properly, but just look at the DW episode the WWTW phrase came from: Something obtained in the future is used by someone in the past to talk to someone in the present.

That's... that's just brilliant. That's the kind of stuff I constantly want to see more of.

I really can't put it better than that, it's a hard thing for me to completely define. :(

No, that's a good definition, and now I understand what you're talking about. It's not something I had considered, but it can certainly go into the idea notebook.

In other news, they put Mom on new meds yesterday. If she responds well, then she can come home today! Whoo hoo!
 

Andelana

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In other news, they put Mom on new meds yesterday. If she responds well, then she can come home today! Whoo hoo!

That's great news! Yay! I was just fixin to post and ask how she was. :)

ETA: wow... I haven't said 'fixin' for about 20 years. Isn't odd how stuff just comes out sometimes when you're not really thinking. I mean, I read over what I typed before I hit submit and it didn't seem odd. I guess I've been thinking of *my* mom a lot lately and she's where I learned that. :)
 
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jallenecs

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I have a nominee for the next Cantina name: Chocoholics Anonymous

Or is that not PC enough?
 

BigWords

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However, movies like (and this one was a bit sick-making anyway, just from the camera work, so I almost hesitate to mention it) Cloverfield where immersive 3D could have made a huge difference to the scariness (because space and spatial awareness was such a big deal in the film) and potentially the nausea from having a handheld camera (especially if it was like some of the films in the late 50s in the US where the chairs moved slightly with the film or, in modern times, like Star Tours at Disneyland), I could see it.

I only bought into the conceit after half an hour when I realized that the film wasn't going to chicken out and move to traditional camera angles. If it was 3D, then that immersive quality would have been lost - it was only because it maintained the integrity of the handheld camera wielded by an observer that it worked.

It was unfortunate that the stigma of the 50s and 80s 3D lingered onto the current system, as it *does* have benefits over either of those methods (which actually aren't all that far apart), but the use of the 3D by the directors who have opted for it hasn't pushed it much beyond those initial experiments in the form. Hell, some of the recent films have been worse in storytelling and film-making than the 50s films. The big leap forward won't come until someone can develop a system which isn't limited by angle of viewing or the set-up of individual screens (you still have to tweak contrast, brightness, and other filters to get the very best image.

I mentioned this way back when the gimmick started, but bad films are bad films, irrespective of whether they are 3D or not. The cream of the crop will always rise to the top - in the case of 3D films, we have yet to see a film so exceptional that it makes the process mandatory in the viewing of the film. There are films which look good on a standard def television, so even the claims for HD are a bit much for me to take - I like the television, sure, but am I blown away? Nope.

Although I will say watching films designed to be shown in 3D in 2D is annoying if only because then you have to put up with that stupid trick of characters purposely putting stuff really close to the camera or throwing stuff directly at the camera, only without the gimmick attachment. And without the 3D effect, that just looks goofy as all hell.

As I sad about the 50s films? Yeah - the lessons haven't been learned. I have sat through spears, arrows, sticks, stones and mountains being thrown at the screen, and not for one moment did I feel like the director was paying any attention to the 2D. There is a lot of "oooh, I can do this" when people first get the cameras, but it wears off fast.

Not sure if this is widely known, but the reason Blu-Ray won out over HD-DVD because of porn (big surprise there), but the uptake in 3D has been a lot less involved. Every massive development in home entertainment has been spurred by those folks, and by staying back in this fight, the leaps haven't been made. Remember that the leaps in home video (smaller, better quality, cheaper recorders) was due to that market, so we can thank porn for 3D being so expensive and useless.

:popcorn:

I'm told we own 109 films.

I claim that compared with some people this is virtually nothing. Go on then astound me cantina.

How many films do you own?

The last time I counted (and this is a fair while ago) I notched up about 9k before I gave up and did something more productive with my time - and I deliberately didn't count all of the season box-sets of television, of which I probably have somewhere in the region of two or three hundred. Those are all mixed in, and I really don't want to go count again for fear of discovering that I have hit the 10k mark unwittingly. Probably have, but ignorance is bliss.

At least you didn't as about computer games...

What are your all's thoughts on Time Travel stories? Done to death?

Time travel will never be done to death, because most people head straight for WWII or the big events - go ahead and try to name everything that has used either Titanic (Time Tunnel, TimeCop...), the wild west (Doctor Who at least twice, the second TimeCop film...) or some other moment everyone knows.

I like a good time travel story. There's so much you can do with them!

And so few people take them to the limit...

Romance (The Time Traveller's Wife and Lightning), War (Rebel in Time), Apocalyptic (or similar, Stirling books), funny (Technicolor Time Machine, Hitchhiker's Guide), morality tale (The Time Machine)...

And the always popular mind-screw - Donnie Darko gets bonus points for being completely incomprehensible in the original cut. :D

No, that's a good definition, and now I understand what you're talking about. It's not something I had considered, but it can certainly go into the idea notebook.

There's a really famous story about a character going back in time and becoming his own father, then having a sex change and becoming his own mother, and... it gets very complex very quickly. That, to me, is the definition of timey wimey. :)
 

aliwood

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I have a nominee for the next Cantina name: Chocoholics Anonymous

Or is that not PC enough?

Is confused about why it needs to be PC, or am I missing something (Yes, yes, I know I'm missing a lot of things...;) )

ETA: we can always claim for yet more irony given that we always declare what we're eating.
 

Reservoir Angel

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And the always popular mind-screw - Donnie Darko gets bonus points for being completely incomprehensible in the original cut. :D
Donnie Darko is still pretty difficult to comprehend in the Director's Cut. Seen that film many times and I still wouldn't trust myself to accurately say I fully understand exactly what's going on.
 

10trackers

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3D doesn't work for me, as I'm really prone to migraines. And since I don't often see the added value either, that means I usually skip the movies that are only in 3D, or wait for the DVD.
 

BigWords

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3D would die in a heartbeat if someone came up with a holodeck which worked. Of course, a technology like that would probably mean the end of humanity as we know it...
 

10trackers

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Ugh, why am I not editing? COME ON.

Can someone whip me into editing shape?
 

eyeblink

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I got a form reject for my novellette. A form reject. Nary one comment.

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

Right. Back out the door Warriors Dead must go. I think someone suggested a print Fantasy mag (mag of fantasy and sf?!?). Any others that take nearly 9k stories? I so wanted my story published and available online for free...

:Hug2: but send it out again. I was the one who suggested F & SF - they will take unsolicited stories up to 25k, last time I looked.

Have a look at ralan.com for other places you could send it to.

I've been counting down the end of the 3D fad almost since it began. Meh. If someone made something truly revolutionary with integral use of the system, then I might (possibly) change my mind, but everything I have seen has been tired, predictable and utterly lacking the need for 3D.

When a director goes in to a meeting to talk about implementing 3D into the shooting of their film, they should be sat down and told that it isn't a right, but a responsibility.

In many cases it's the head office insisting on 3D rather than the director.

I will go and see a film in 3D, though I'm not bothered by anything not shot in the process but retrofitted afterwards. However, the ones I've seen recently where it did make a difference I could count on one hand: Avatar (while I didn't like the film, I will give it that), Pina, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Life of Pi. The middle two are arthouse documentaries - in Pina, 3D really does make a difference with dance sequences.

The directors I'd like to see having a go at 3D are the ones who go for long sequence shots - but Theo Angelopoulos is dead and Béla Tarr has retired, and no one would have given them the money to shoot in 3D anyway. But from the sound of it, the forthcoming Gravity (directed by Alfonso Cuarón) may be an example of what I just suggested.

The last time I counted (and this is a fair while ago) I notched up about 9k before I gave up and did something more productive with my time - and I deliberately didn't count all of the season box-sets of television, of which I probably have somewhere in the region of two or three hundred. Those are all mixed in, and I really don't want to go count again for fear of discovering that I have hit the 10k mark unwittingly. Probably have, but ignorance is bliss.

I keep a spreadsheet, and I recently passed 1700 DVDs/Blu-rays. About a quarter of those were review copies and other ones I didn't actually pay for (e.g. review copy swaps).

There's a really famous story about a character going back in time and becoming his own father, then having a sex change and becoming his own mother, and... it gets very complex very quickly. That, to me, is the definition of timey wimey. :)

The Man Who Folded Himself, by David Gerrold?
 
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jallenecs

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Back from church. Now waiting to hear from Baby Sister as to whether and when we can bring Mom home.
 

bettielee

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I'm almost done reading over my little fantasy forest unicorn story. There are parts that don't suck. That is always invigorating.

I got up nice and early today, had a hot shower, made coffee... I'm defrosting a bagel. That's how we're rollin' this Sunday.
 

Andelana

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3D would die in a heartbeat if someone came up with a holodeck which worked. Of course, a technology like that would probably mean the end of humanity as we know it...

Actually, that's kind of where I was going with 'fully immersive' :) (and I meant, re: cloverfield, that they could have done away with the handheld if they'd been able to do holodeck-style 3D; or effectively that, in that the audience member would be in the middle of the action instead of in front of it... Hm. I can picture in my head what I mean, but I'm not sure I can explain it. :) )
 

LadyV

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Good afternoon Cantina.

My back is killing me again and I think I'm finally going to make a doctor's appointment. I need to find out once and for all what causing it.


How many films do you own?

I may be off, but I estimate around 100, which is more than I expected.

On 3D movies - I can take them or leave them. The only movie I've seen that I feel benefited from 3D was, like eye said, Avatar. The others I've seen were either too dark, too blurry, or had too many gimmicks.

ION: I will write today. When exactly, I don't know. This chapter is proving to be a real PITA.
 

jallenecs

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Just got the phone call. Mom's coming home!!!!!
 
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