When you need to rant...

[mr3urious]

Better yet, what is with the increasing trend of NOT being able to skip previews, except by fast forwarding through them? I actually am one of the rare breeds of people who do watch the previews. Once. Then I just want to watch the movie.

What's funny is that crap like that makes pirated copies all the more desirable because they're less likely to have it on there.

 

[Drtooth]

Better yet, what is with the increasing trend of NOT being able to skip previews, except by fast forwarding through them? I actually am one of the rare breeds of people who do watch the previews. Once. Then I just want to watch the movie.

I'm the kind of guy who would relish watching the previews IF I can do it on my own accord. I think the entire rest of the freaking world is like that as well.

The magic OF DVD is being able to skip through things in a way VHS wasn't able to. And having a LOT of episodes of cartoon VHS, I want to skip to the GOOD episodes without having to fast forward for 10 minutes, over shoot, have to rewind, and fast forward 20 times to get to a single episode.

I bought a Nickelodeon VHS specifically for a Doug cartoon that's after a Rugrats and a full half hour of "Hey Dude, This Show is Boring." I'm SOOO lucky that Road Trip had Rugrats at the end, so I could watch the overly censored Rocko episode and Ren and Stimpy without ruining the tape with fast forwards and rewinds.

But the genius who came up with unskippable DVD previews (that's what the FREAKING Menu button is for... it's bad enough we have to sit through logos every time) did the entire industry a disservice. And he's probably the same stock as the DB that invented the infomercial.

I used to be able to override this by pressing stop twice and hitting play, but DVD's won't even let me do that anymore.

 

[The Count]

Okay, so here's a rant I have...

Over at ign.filmforce.com they've been doing these A-Z articles for various film franchises, they did one for Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and they just posted one for Pixar Films. I appreciate that they took the time to find an entry that applies for each and every letter of the alphabet. But what drives me up the wall is their lack of cohesive alphabetization.
First they list some characters or important people first name first last name last, like for example:
R is for Randy Newman (Pixar).
And then they list characters or important people first name first last name last, counting that personage for their last name:
P is for Alfred Pennyworth (Batman).
W is for Bruce Wayne (Batman).
And even worse, they then mix in listing characters or important people last name first first name last:
J is for Jobbs, Steve (Pixar).
K is for Kyle, Selena (Batman).
L is for Lazitor, John (Pixar).

Come on... Pick a method of alphabetization and stick with it for consistency's sake! Is it that hard or too much to ask for you schmucks?

It's the same misalphabetization scheme that plagues specialized franchise-based Wikapedias. Like at the Muppet Wiki...
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in the B's and then Dr. Teeth in the D's of the category listing for Muppet Characters.
Gah!

There, I feel better for getting that off of my chest. *Pixy dust, pixy dust.

 

[Drtooth]

Okay... so I was bored and the TV was on and I caught the View's special Parental Outrage day.... nothing really special. More media exaggeration about how the VERY same media that's reporting it is full of sex, therefore every kid on Earth is watching American Pie and having sex as a direct result of that lame movie from almost 20 years ago (we're old, deal with it), they put a face on a just barely underage drinker who got behind the wheel (because there are never any reported instances of people old enough to know better that do the same thing... even though there are). Same nickel and dime "It can be happening to your kid RIGHT NOW!" that inspires halfbutt parenting based on media outrage.

Nothing special (so don't comment on that) but...

They had this amazing dad who's a self made millionaire (those still exist?) that wants to teach his 7 kids the value of a dollar by making them supposed self starter business men at a young age. And then he basically lectures everyone on how giving your kids what they want serves no purpose and leads to poverty.

Now, that doesn't sound to unreasonable, and I commend this guy for not looking to the future and letting his kids inherit his company and just run it into the ground and run off with the rest of the money. However, there are 4 things that really bug me.

1. The guy's a self made millionaire, which means somehow he knows enough business sense to give to his kids. So, first off, he's STILL giving his kids hand outs, but of business experience and advice. And secondly, that's taking advice from someone who HAS a business sense. Someone who just works a low level job is going to take this advice at face value and screw it up. It's like taking weight loss advice from a celebrity. You go on a really stupid diet that doesn't work, and no one tells you that said celebrities have enough money to have personal trainers and lypo. This advice isn't going to work unless your kid knows something about business.
2. This guy wants kids to start young. Like 5 years old young. Kids NEED to be kids. The older you get, the more you long for your childhood. And who wants to spend it in between working at school and working in your free time? This isn't even chores around the house stuff. This is going out, setting together a business, the laws of capitalism aren't really working for you because businesses all the time fail... you're probably going to have to have a side business to pay for the materials for the other business... on the plus side, it basically says "you need to spend money to make money" something woefully missing from our current entitlement business model. But this is too much for a child to bear at a young age. I'm all for working teenagers... I'm sure these kids have a strongly written schedule. But the point still points to it works for them.
3. The youngest kid sells cookies and apparently got a WHOLE whopping 85 bucks. He didn't say how long he worked to get that, nor did he mention if it was net or gross but he's going to have to sell a crapload of cookies at an inflated price to have an actual business model. And he uses his parents' oven, just saying. The second oldest buys big things of candy bars and resells them for more. And that's what drug addicts, children of drug addicts do. Unless he's selling them like Hustler kid from recess at the "no no" schools, he's not going to make that much money. Plus, the lesson of buying something cheap and reselling it for more... that is retail, sure... but it's also Baine capital or at least those slimeballs on amazon that buy up DVD's cheap and wait for them to go out of print. There oldest does wedding videos, but I bet he had to buy all the equipment via other jobs, and that's an actual business that has COMPETITION. He can't use his cute face to sell cookies outside the house. And on the other hand, lets say he works cheap... he's taking clients away from actual wedding photographers that stand to lose their businesses. And the other 4 kids haven't been mentioned. What do they do? Are they as successful?
4. The worst one... another dipstick that said "I found the solution to parenting!" No one has a solution. What works for one kid DOESN'T work for all of them. Each kid is different. And to basically make money off of gullible parents. HEY! I think I know why he's a self made millionaire. He probably writes "I have solutions" books for gullible morons.

 

[charlietheowl]

Okay... so I was bored and the TV was on and I caught the View's special Parental Outrage day.... nothing really special. More media exaggeration about how the VERY same media that's reporting it is full of sex, therefore every kid on Earth is watching American Pie and having sex as a direct result of that lame movie from almost 20 years ago (we're old, deal with it), they put a face on a just barely underage drinker who got behind the wheel (because there are never any reported instances of people old enough to know better that do the same thing... even though there are). Same nickel and dime "It can be happening to your kid RIGHT NOW!" that inspires halfbutt parenting based on media outrage.

I hate stuff like that, shameless fear-mongering for the sake of scaring the audience into doing something. People have always done bad things, teenagers have always made bad decisions, and adults have always made just as many if not more bad decisions. No more than the past and no less. Teenagers get absolutely dumped on by scared adults who don't really remember what it was like to be dumped on when they were kids.

 

[Drtooth]

I hate stuff like that, shameless fear-mongering for the sake of scaring the audience into doing something. People have always done bad things, teenagers have always made bad decisions, and adults have always made just as many if not more bad decisions. No more than the past and no less. Teenagers get absolutely dumped on by scared adults who don't really remember what it was like to be dumped on when they were kids.

Well, I wasn't going to refer to that part... but the whole thing was media panic for dumb parents. The "Every kid has the sex" bit drove me nuts, but not so much as nuts as that rich snot and his book about how HE was able to get something to work for HIM that probably won't work for anyone else. I'm sick of people with the solution to parenting.

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

Okay, so here's a rant I have...


It's the same misalphabetization scheme that plagues specialized franchise-based Wikapedias. Like at the Muppet Wiki...
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in the B's and then Dr. Teeth in the D's of the category listing for Muppet Characters.
Gah!

There, I feel better for getting that off of my chest. *Pixy dust, pixy dust.

I think the reason Bunsen is in the B's is because that is his first name. Dr. Teeth really doesn't have a first name other than "Dr." so that is why he is in the "D's."

 

[Sgt Floyd]

I think the reason Bunsen is in the B's is because that is his first name. Dr. Teeth really doesn't have a first name other than "Dr." so that is why he is in the "D's."

Regardless, the proper way to alphabetize names is by the last name. So Bunson should be in the Hs and Dr. Teeth should be in the Ts. First name should only be used for characters without a last name...

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

That's true...

 

[D'Snowth]

How a lot of microwavable/frozen dinners don't even include sides anymore, it's just the entree... way to "keep the price down" by depriving us of other items that make up a complete meal.