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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Aug 19, 2013 2:21:41 GMT -8
I think that supernatural/Paranormal/Whatever Activity films are way worse than Woman in Black. Those are not even pretty aesthetically and the characters are uninteresting. At least Radcliffe's character in Woman in Black had an explanation for crazy decisions: depression killed the man's ability to work, and when that caught up to him the haunted house was all he had between him, his baby, and the cold, cold streets. In the Ghosty Activity films there is no reason why somebody should just bug the ghosts for funsies.
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Aug 19, 2013 3:27:25 GMT -8
Hahaha sorry but the whole reuniting the child and mother ghost ruined the whole movie for me. It was too 'Free Willy'. At least Paranormal activity was so bad it was pretty amusing. I found Harry Potter just boring rather than someone with clinical depression. Saying that, it's just my opinion. ;D
Let me know what you think of Carnivale if you see it.
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Aug 21, 2013 18:35:50 GMT -8
I've read a few of the Lovecraft stories, I really liked 'The call of Cthulu' and 'The statement of Randolph Carter'. I love the perspective of it, being outside the horror is worse than him describing it. It lets your imagination do the work. That certainly seems to be one of Lovecraft's skills, forcing you to imagine the horror. The impossible geometry, that is awesome. The quote 'even death may die' too, I feel like you'd need to really study the text rather than just read it. Although Dagon was slightly disappointing, I loved the bit where he crawls from the boat but the ending was a slight let down, there needed to be more but maybe I missed something. That is one thing, I prefer long tales, short ones always leave me a little disappointed. Being an Cthulu aficionado Dk, What are your thoughts?
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DKender
Only One Skeleton has the Power to Control both Life and Death, Light and Dark, Words and Blank Space, Our Humble Lives Continue Only by the Grace and Magnanimity of This Skeleton
Nay, let us walk from fire unto firey skeleton ...
Posts: 9,204
Gender: Unknown Skeleton
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Post by DKender on Aug 21, 2013 19:05:16 GMT -8
Brett is probably more knowledgeable than I am. But I really do enjoy Lovecraft's work (cough ... ignoring the racist stuff ... ahem) and the type of horror it inspired.
I definitely liked Shadow over Innsmouth more than Dagon (by the way, the movie "Dagon" is based on Shadow over Innsmouth, which I always thought was funny). With the short story Dagon, our protagonist finds the stone with the hieroglyphs ... but then what?! Don't end there! Come onnn, man, give us something more! However, the concept of Dagon tickles my fancy! It's fun to ponder what would happen if a portion of the abyssal plain was thrust above sea level (tsunamis, I think! but more importantly - what kind of stuff would we find in the sediments? what unfathomable horrors await???)
There's something comforting about Lovecraft's brand of horror. It's difficult to explain, but it helps me sleep at night.
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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Aug 30, 2013 20:38:01 GMT -8
Lovecraft makes me go :-p. I feel the whole "we're insignificant so who cares" message in the Cthulhu stuff is childish. Not that I have anything against the other giant, squid faced, bat winged men out there.
I'm on the second season of Dexter and enjoying it so far. Any thoughts? :-)
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Aug 30, 2013 20:49:41 GMT -8
I love Dexter but he isn't by any means an actual psychopath.Childhood trauma yes, psychopath no. He cares too darn much and despite saying he doesn't, has big feels. The second season is by far the best but it's worth continuing on at least until the 6th. The third is a bit of a let down from the second but it does pick up again.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Aug 31, 2013 5:54:04 GMT -8
I feel the whole "we're insignificant so who cares" message in the Cthulhu stuff is childish. Interesting. I've always thought the happy ending and heroes saving the day was unrealistic in a childish sort of way. In that way, I've always felt Lovecraft's stuff that wasn't rewritten to meet someone else's standards (like the heroic lynching of the monster tagged onto the end of the Dunwich Horror) to be more mature in general.
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DKender
Only One Skeleton has the Power to Control both Life and Death, Light and Dark, Words and Blank Space, Our Humble Lives Continue Only by the Grace and Magnanimity of This Skeleton
Nay, let us walk from fire unto firey skeleton ...
Posts: 9,204
Gender: Unknown Skeleton
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Post by DKender on Aug 31, 2013 14:43:59 GMT -8
Some of my favorite stories allow bad things to happen, but then concede that it's not all bad. Silver lining! I could give lots of examples, but that would be spoiler city. At least I don't read many nonfiction nature books. Those are too sad. I'd rather not learn that the brave little turtle, who made a journey across the ocean to lay her eggs, was killed by a fishing vessel just one month later. Give me Cthulhu any day. Or this, because it makes everything better:
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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Aug 31, 2013 18:56:06 GMT -8
@brett: Bittersweet is how I like it. I think the film Harvie Krumpet is a terrific example of the balance between real world harshness and love that living creatures experience. ∆§Indea§∆: Thanks for the info. :-) Out of curiosity does it go south after season six? Dexter has ASPD. People with ASPD characteristically have stunted emotions, but they're generally not vegetables.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Sept 4, 2013 0:14:58 GMT -8
One could say the exact reverse. To imagine oneself significant or care could seem childish. Ia! Ia! Cth-aw, nevermind. I see Brett got to that. DeeK- With the wrong still from that gif, it would seem someone left an adorable severed head on a box. First part reminds me of a book about birds that took care to mention, "Birds are incapable of love." To my thinking, that's probably not true. But amoebas certainly aren't.... And don't get this dude started about ASPD... Sister has it. I ain't answering her friend request on FB...
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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Sept 4, 2013 13:07:47 GMT -8
Don't get me wrong. One of the things that makes me angry about my species is it's humanism and taught false superiority. However, the irresponsible people who say, "we're all going to die someday" that are willfully ignorant/uncaring about how a country's wasteful abundance effects others are on the same side of the same coin. tl;dr Unnecessary indulgent rant about coins or something. ... (coughs uncomfortably) A friend request? www.youtube.com/watch?v=piVnArp9ZE0Boy, that must have been fun for your family to handle. I wasn't there for it, but my boss/mentor throws a party every year, and this year they had a kiddo over with some dangerously aggressive ASPD. Or is your sister the less deadly variety? www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/sociopath-family-member You don't have to answer if you don't want to talk about it! (I'm tired and thus somewhat uninhibited. Hopefully I didn't aspie too hard and insult anybody with this post.)
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Sept 5, 2013 4:26:35 GMT -8
She almost killed one of her babies with "Failure to Thrive." Aside from one aspect of the article ("fascinating... draws you in... isn’t easy to figure out what she wants" - actually easy to understand the programming but not the why, and emotionally repellent to me), it sounds a bit like her. She got us into shoplifting as pre-teens, for one small example.
As for the family, she certainly got it from the mom, though was a worse case. Our family disintegrated, which is fine because it was a horrible integration in the first place. No regrets and fewer xmas presents to buy.
Think we'll have to agree to disagree about nihilism. I am personally not a total nihilist, but I have a lot of sympathy for the emotional difficulties of that position. Saying it's selfish is like xtians saying atheists have it easy not believing in the afterlife and judgment. (Off-topic now, what I'd say to those peeps: I know I'm gonna die and my life is cosmically insignificant. Think that's easier than believing I could live forever? It ain't.)
All that said, I can see ur point and have no beefs. What were we talkin about before that?
Hannibal Lecter seems to be a recurring character in the Horror Rec section of the forum. I just saw a bit o' Hannibal Rising on cable while cookin' some noodles yesterday. I thought it was silly to try to give an emotional motive to the cannibalism. Just bizarre. The love interest also seemed unbelievable. Just an ill-advised idea for the whole movie, I guess.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 5, 2013 9:18:27 GMT -8
I really enjoyed the first season of Bates Motel. Vera Farmiga as Norman's mom is so incredibly inappropriate that it makes my skin crawl.
I'd recommend at least checking out the first three episodes.
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DKender
Only One Skeleton has the Power to Control both Life and Death, Light and Dark, Words and Blank Space, Our Humble Lives Continue Only by the Grace and Magnanimity of This Skeleton
Nay, let us walk from fire unto firey skeleton ...
Posts: 9,204
Gender: Unknown Skeleton
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Post by DKender on Sept 5, 2013 17:58:07 GMT -8
Years ago, I learned that Hannibal and Clarice hook up in the book Hannibal. Y u do dis, Harris? Anyway, yeeeeah. I don't like how the later books/movies attempt to portray Hannibal in a more sympathetic light. My old roommate loved it, though. Maybe she's part of the fanbase that inspired that choice.
Imma check out Bates Motel.
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Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Sept 7, 2013 16:51:34 GMT -8
One of the draws to the horror genre for me is that it oft deals with characters that have psychological issues that parallel my own (I like it best when said characters are protagonists tbh.). Asperger's Syndrome shares a small quality with ASPD in that aspies produce little serotonin from human social interactions and have to fake a LOT of stuff (I obtain satisfaction from social interactions mostly by getting people to think I'm positively adorable/making people laugh and don't really understand just *being* with people.). So, I love, love, love Dexter's various monologues about not understanding various human things, even if I'm not "hollow" as he is.
On the other hand we have characters like Will Graham. While not a straight up aspie he is so very much on the spectrum. His easy bond with animals and struggling to connect with humans definitely resonates with me. Come to think of it my love for mad, cursed, or monstrous characters that are good deep down but scare everyone around them probably comes from personal experiences.
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