Interactive Poll XLVI

And loving the new quote, Micky.  No disrespect to Pedro.  

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micky wrote: I think he knows that.. Pedro might be from the 4th Dimension..  I've met a lot of them over the years but by far he is the most intelligent and interesting of them.  He knows what this forum is about.. being picked on is like being awarded CMOH of PA's forum endearment. He is a constant topic of behind the scenes discussion... and that is a badge of honor here in my book. You stimulate and provoke. He is interesting.. and forums survive and thrive because of them.

  I totally get that.  He IS extremely knowledgeable about film and music and has enjoyed some of my music items that I've posted about, and I, his (great taste!   ).  

Pedro has a very distinct voice -- manner of expression and way of thinking. I do like it when people's individuality and passion shines through. I am as interested in the people, their unique qualities, idiosyncrasies/ eccentricities, and how they express themselves as just their ideas. I am an eccentric individual, even if I express myself an a generally dull and measured manner and so I tend to identify/ empathise with other eccentrics. I think one should be careful when being judgmental and patronising, even when others seem judgmental and patronising. I'm too much of a literalist sometimes and can be overly pedantic by nature. I do like dialectic, that requires really listening to each other and trying to understand where we are both coming from in conversation. The sweet spot for me is when we can get to a synthesis of ideas, and both discover new perspectives and when there is a sense of mutual appreciation and respect. I can get frustrated with anyone when I feel like we can't get into the same universe, let alone the same page sometimes as I most hope for a sort of meeting of minds, and find it uncomfortable when I feel we are talking past one another or at cross-purposes, and if intent seems to be misunderstood. I can appreciate lost of manners of expression and ways of thinking. This site would be diminished for me without Pedro's presence, and I would like to think it goes both ways, but it doesn't have to for me to enjoy another's musings. I try to keep an open mind (but not so open that my brains fall out), be open to hearing and trying to understand different perspectives (some attitudes I cannot respect) and not easily invalidate or dismiss them (a "progressive" mindset) and I hope others are willing to do the same. "Whatever LIFE Pedro is on" would work better for me.

While I have listened to pretty much everything that has been posted in the thread, and covered lots of those fairly early on, I will go through the youtube playlist now for ones I am not very familiar with. While I love the Land of the Lost theme,I know it by heart (heck, I have watched the whole series as a child and as an adult, and watched a couple of episodes of it but a day or two before Micky mentioned his choice) -- this show may be so bad it's good, but a s child it really appealed to my imagination and it had a sense of mystery. The power pylons really interested me and Enik I loved (the golden one). And as soon as Micky mentioned doing this as his poll, my first thought was Twin Peaks (though for me it would be Laura's Theme). I love Twin Peaks, and I have been absolutely infatuated by it (as evidenced by my recent topic on it). I can't believe it took me so long to really get into. I have a streaming subscription service that has the latest (2017) as well as the first two seasons from the early 90s. I went to the beginning. It was only after that when I re-subscribed to Netflix that I saw the movie Fire Walk With Me. I binged it as much as I could. And wow, what a terrific return 25 years later was the 2017 one. Amazing. I can't bring myself to get into any other series since that, although I have been watching season two of Kingdom on and off (a Korean zombie historical -- loved the first season). The other series I recently watched and really liked was Watchmen (which was mentioned, loved the film, and what a topical series).

I would love to have more and more conversations about TV shows here. Be fun to discover some obscurities from around the world. I do find myself watching plenty of French series and various Scandinavian ones, as well as British and US ones. There's not a lot from Canada I seem to get into.

Sorry, I rambled, that's my style.

Edited by Logan - July 19 2020 at 11:03

^ And I'm with you on all of that. And I am a great believer in tolerance (though that must have its limits) but am not very tolerant of intolerant people. I try to be open-minded, but it's hard when dealing with close-minded people who are so entrenched in their own dogma and attitudes that you can't get anywhere in conversation with them. I think we shoudl all try to be respectful of each other, but when ones is being disrespectful of course one should not expect respect in return. I would love for this to be community where we can have our disagreements, but still do it with kindness and empathy. Empathy is so important to me, but some people do lack empathy, and it's harder to empathise with one who is harder to identify with. I'm not down with all eccentricities, far from it. And I don't respect all opinions as a side-note. My dad liked to say, "Respect is earned", and I tend to agree with that, but I think trying to be respectful should be the default position. I fail at that, and it makes me sad when I do. I don;t like to hurt people's feelings and far too often I do due to lack of consideration and thoughtfulness. I am a great believer in the principle of charity and have a humanist sort of belief system.

Meltdowner wrote: ...It's been a while since I saw Death Note, I completely forgot about the Post Rockular Bells...

Good description. I've watched through that animated show a couple of times --one of my daughter's favourites (I introduced her to it). She also has the manga. If you haven't seen the Netflix film, maybe don't. I felt they totally lost what made the animated series special, the mood, general feel, the sense of melancholy and ethical issues, the characterisation (so different) and interesting cat and mouse game between L and Light, and it felt really dumbed down. It made it seem so superficial.   I rarely get angry with an adaptation (seen plenty of poor ones), but that one upset me. Most I prefer the oringal versions, and certainly from the country of origin to the adaptations. From France I loved Les Revenants, but couldn't get though the US remake The Returned. Another of my favourite modern shows called Real Humans (Swedish) was remade as Humans (a British series), in that case the emphasis was different to make both interesting, but I still preferred the original.

I have wondered if I had that Death Note notebook if I would use it. In many cases I would be very tempted (not with anyone I personally know, but with some very dangerous people I have known of).

Edited by Logan - July 19 2020 at 11:51

TCat wrote: Lucidity Gone - Once again, Greg picked out a track that pulls me in right away.  This is the kind of thing that I really like and now I will have to check out the series....

Sorry snipping, but a word of caution, the British series Utopia can be violent, dark, quite shocking and disturbing (one episode was delayed because of its theme from airing due to a tragic incident that made world news). It has a fascinating to me premise, and I thought it was great, but it could be hard to take at times (at least for me). It does have black comedy qualities, and I do love black comedy. It's quite quirky, and has some brilliant characterisation, I think, and an interesting concept. It's very stylish, and I like the cinematography very much (I've always been very attracted to certain kinds of composition when it comes to the cinematography).

Here is the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyPJxgwVpWY Also see dailymotion. It was on TV in Canada before -- on Space as I recall (late night).

That first scene is dark. Showed the whole thing to my brother and he loved it (we have many similar tastes), showed it to another friend and he asked to stop a few minutes in. My choice is from the second season/series of Utopia. To me it is one of the greatest series of the last decade. A lot of people didn't like the second series/season as much. I was disappointed that the show didn't continue for longer. I got into several British shows at about the same time: Utopia, Black Mirror, Misfits, Psychoville and Inside No. 9 and one French show, Les Revenants. I have noticed that not much of that seems to be liked or as known as I would have expected my many at Prog Archives. I would think most people here would know, or know of, Black Mirror at least. The Fargo series and Westworld season one are a couple of my other modern faves (as well as the continuation of Twin Peaks in 2017).

I do hope you can watch and appreciate it. For those not into certain kinds of fare (and the more sensitive of viewers -- it could "trigger" some) it would take some perseverance, but for me it drew me in immediately. I do love the serial form in drama, as well as anthology series.

Maybe I shouldn't say so much, I like to go into shows without much expectation, but in this case a word of warning to general audiences is in order.

Edited by Logan - July 19 2020 at 13:07

I thought you’d appreciate it.

Sorry that was in response to Micky. Trying to respond on my tablet because the power is out and I’m not as adept on it as my desktop.

Edited by TCat - July 19 2020 at 14:35

Logan wrote: While I love the Land of the Lost theme,I know it by heart (heck, I have watched the whole series as a child and as an adult, and watched a couple of episodes of it but a day or two before Micky mentioned his choice) -- this show may be so bad it's good, but a s child it really appealed to my imagination and it had a sense of mystery. The power pylons really interested me and Enik I loved (the golden one).

The Twin Peaks theme was one of the first things I learned on a piano when I was 7-8 years old in 1990-91. My dad and my sister used to watch it, and I think I saw a few clips when it was on, but I have no memory of what it was like; I only remember the music. I'm glad I didn't get to follow it for real; it would probably have been too gruesome for little me.


Edited by The Anders - July 19 2020 at 16:01

Meltdowner wrote: Logan wrote: Good description. I've watched through that animated show a couple of times --one of my daughter's favourites (I introduced her to it). She also has the manga. If you haven't seen the Netflix film, maybe don't. I felt they totally lost what made the animated series special, the mood, general feel, the sense of melancholy and ethical issues, the characterisation (so different) and interesting cat and mouse game between L and Light, and it felt really dumbed down. It made it seem so superficial.   I rarely get angry with an adaptation (seen plenty of poor ones), but that one upset me. Most I prefer the oringal versions, and certainly from the country of origin to the adaptations. From France I loved Les Revenants, but couldn't get though the US remake The Returned. Another of my favourite modern shows called Real Humans (Swedish) was remade as Humans (a British series), in that case the emphasis was different to make both interesting, but I still preferred the original. I have wondered if I had that Death Note notebook if I would use it. In many cases I would be very tempted (not with anyone I personally know, but with some very dangerous people I have known of). I'd be more willing to read the manga than watch the anime again, although I can still remember the story very well.  I wouldn't even consider wasting my time with a live action adaptation though I never watched Les Revenant nor the remake but if it's anything like the US remakes of French comedies... Speaking of remakes, I looked into Spaceship Yamato that you mentioned and it has a recent remake that was strangely very well received. Logan wrote: Here is the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyPJxgwVpWY Also see dailymotion. It was on TV in Canada before -- on Space as I recall (late night). «Think of the least interesting thing you can think of.» «IT» That was very disturbing for a Sunday evening I really like the intrigue. I'll keep watching but maybe skip the scenes with senseless violence.

I will have to look out for that Yamato remake. Thanks. The Japanese had already done a live action version, but I haven't seen it. I watched it first by myself, and then later I wanted to share it with my teenage daughter (who I knew would like it). her favourite thing is Danga Ronpa, which is a video game series with something of a Battle Royale feel to it.

As to Utopia, the violence I feel can be a bit much, and if you continue, keep an eye out for a spoon. One episode was delayed because of a tragic incident at a school. That said, I don't really find the violence senseless or gratuitous. Questionable, certainly. I;m reminded of A Clockwork Orange where the violence is off-putting, but then I think violence should be disturbing. I;m not one who tends to be titillated by violence even if some of my favourite films and TV shows (say Kill Bill, various horror films, or Westworld season one) use it fairly copiously(it's not that copious in Utopia, which makes the violent scenes more powerful and shaking). I tend not to go in for a lot of action, but like it when things are handled intelligently (one could find potential plot holes in various stories).

The violence in Utopia is horrific and disturbing and it is important to the story and atmosphere. It could be more subtle at times. As a father, if kids are involved it's very hard to take, and I am now more sensitised to violence than I was then. I found the story very intriguing and the themes it deals with, and the ethical issues it raises have been issues of particular interest to me for much of my life. I won't go into details as that would be spoilerific. These days I do find many scenes of violence much harder to bear. I loved season one of Korean show called Kingdom (A zombie historical drama) but am having problems with the violence (munching mayhem) in season two. I like horror films, but haven't gone that much for the gory ones -- I prefer, say, folk horror to splatter horror.

For real nightmares, nothing gave me more nightmares than reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy (great novel).

Edited by Logan - July 19 2020 at 16:30