True Fortress Ameritrash Confessions

It's threads like these that concinved me that this is really a small community, and the dedication to a particular hobby is merely coincidental.

So I guess it doesn't matter that the only fantasy product I consume nowdays is playing Pathfinder once a month.

craniac wrote:

jeb wrote: Will died?

Spoiler guidelines: popwatch.ew.com/2014/02/20/spoiler-rules-entertainment-geekly/

I have low self-esteem, I desperately crave validation, and secretly yearn for Thank Yous. (The site does handle them crappily, in my opinion. I always use CTRL-clicks to "open them in a new tab" to not disturb my current reading.)

That ctrl-click suggestion is a great idea. Of course, you just revealed yourself as an armchair socialist mac user.

Apple really has nothing to do with socialism.

The less sophisticated computer user could use the middle-mouse button for the same effect, i.e. pushing the mouse wheel downwards.

SebastianBludd wrote: The only thing I censored was muting the dirty jokes in Predator. I didn't feel like trying to explain to my son the concept of vaginal acoustics as it pertains to joke-telling. FWIW, we watched the first half hour and got interrupted and had to start it up again, and he specifically requested to rewatch the scene where Billy finds Hopper & company's skinned bodies.

Kids watching excessive violence in movies is allowed but telling them about vaginas is not? American culture in a nutshell.

I don't think in a developing brain the ability to discern fictional and real horror is yet fully developed.

The image in my avatar was not created by me and that bugs me. I need to replace it.

Speaking of avatars, it really bugs me when someone has an avatar with a head facing away from the text in their post. [How embarrassing. I tried flipping it but it looks weird, so I'm leaving it.]

Also when it's a random image and not something that could be a reasonable representation of the poster (i.e. when it's not a humanoid image).

Disgustipater wrote: Speaking of avatars, it really bugs me when someone has an avatar with a head facing away from the text in their post.

I win!

A little late to the Alien party, but I want to share my story too. When I was a kid, I was totally into everything sci-fi, and for some reason when Alien came out I became obsessed with it. Star Wars was awesome and all, but for some reason the idea of a gritty, dark, scary sci-fi movie really did it for me. But of course, being 10 meant I couldn't actually see it.

I read the comic adaptation, studied the "Making of" books, searched Starlog and other magazines for any pictures I could find. I knew the story inside out, so much so that I actually drew it out in a sort of comic book form. I drooled over that awesome giant Alien toy every time we went to Sears, but my parents would never get it for me.

Anyway, finally we got cable and finally Alien was going to be shown. My parents were going to let me watch it! I was soo excited! But here's the funny thing: they popped me some popcorn, got me a Coke, then left me! Alone in the house on a Friday night to watch a scary movie! What were they thinking? Fortunately, I was fine. No nightmares or anything. And believe it or not, the movie lived up to my extremely high expectations. I still love it.

dysjunct wrote: ... have never really felt like I have anything to say that the cool kids would care about. Including this post, of course.

You would be wrong.

Schweig! wrote: Kids watching excessive violence in movies is allowed but telling them about vaginas is not? American culture in a nutshell.

For the record, my son is aware of the existence of vaginas and their proper name. I also don't think him seeing the occasional naked breast will scar him for life. I was raised catholic and I'm going to do my best to see that my children don't inherit the sexual hang-ups that I was given.

Besides, if I'm going to choose a movie scene to initiate "The Talk," it's not going to be the stupid dirty joke from Predator. It will instead be the love scene from The Terminator.

Schweig! wrote: I don't think in a developing brain the ability to discern fictional and real horror is yet fully developed.

This BBC study from 2003 says otherwise (skip to page 23). I'm not saying there aren't effects from watching violent movies, but it's far from the consensus that the anti-violent media crowd would like to portray it as being and both sides of the issue need to be wary of their own confirmation biases.

SebastianBludd wrote:

Schweig! wrote: Kids watching excessive violence in movies is allowed but telling them about vaginas is not? American culture in a nutshell.

For the record, my son is aware of the existence of vaginas and their proper name. I also don't think him seeing the occasional naked breast will scar him for life. I was raised catholic and I'm going to do my best to see that my children don't inherit the sexual hang-ups that I was given.

I was raised Catholic too (as well as Lutheran in the early years) and when I was 8, Dad sat me down with a Playboy, pointed to a clitoris, and said, "If you want to know how to make your wife more pleasant, learn to eat pussy well. A happy wife will most assuredly contribute to a happy life".

Turns out he was right.