Stop Giving Entertainers Money

There is this new trend where people (usually musicians) need money for something and they go straight to Kickstarter or some other crowd funding site to ask for donations. Since when is that not called begging? First off, you don’t need money, you want money. In the rules of business, you either can’t handle your expenses, or there is no demand for your supply. Second, you’re not offering anything to anyone. You want me to give you money because you can’t afford to do whatever it is you want to do. This wouldn’t even work in communist countries and I can spend that money on something I want instead. Third, you want me to enable your future financial woes by using me as your contingency plan. You are the problem, not anyone else, or the world, or a supreme being, or luck, fate, karma, etc. Not going to happen.

People dying from diseases or starving in foreign countries need charity. Whatever happened to the days where you produced something someone wanted to buy and this money went into furthering future ventures? I don’t have a problem with someone jacking up the price on something they’re selling; it’s my own personal decision on what I think is a good deal or not. But these people aren’t selling anything. I’m not your girlfriend, your parents, or even a friend, and certainly not an idiot who welcomes solicitations from a glorified pan-handler pretending to be someone in need. They’re literally begging fans to give them money for nothing in return. No ticket to a show, painting, mention in their book, sexual favor, or anything besides a transaction from a bank account. Instead, go to your local cheap store and buy them a calculator. Teach them the basics about finance and how to save for their future. Ultimately, let them know it’s only a job if they get paid for it and no one is paying them to merely exist. 

I just spent 44% of my income fund-raising for the new Nickelback CD!

The Lines Are Always Pure

Repost: This was put up a few days ago, but was obviously removed by the NSA, a draconian organization that suppresses my freedom of speech. I can think of no reason this would have been removed, other than they are afraid I will reveal the reptilian origins of one of the subjects. 

Mulvaney sounds like an evil sorcerer from a Dungeons and Dragons game, but I assure you John's also quite capable of putting out interesting short bios about artists you should be decorating your home with. Watch this six minute video and tell me Daire Lynch won't be going on a drunken rampage in the near future (increasing the value of your purchased artwork.) He also paints occasionally. 

Daire Lynch's Website

Best Way To Contact John Mulvaney

Katzenklavier

It takes someone deeply disturbed, or equally comedic, to come up with a Katzenklavier. Essentially, it's a piano or organ that instead of using catgut, used the entire cat. Yes, I've read enough on the internet to know cat intestines were never used for string. Still, cats were placed in order of their natural pitch, their tails stretched and perhaps nailed to the keys. While it is said that this concept never actually manifested in real life, I find it hard to believe no one ever tried it, ever. It spawned a film narrated by Nick Cave. 

Cat Organ Wiki

Robert Liston

I, like many people, get stuck on Wikipedia on a regular basis whenever I start reading about anything interesting. Until now, I've never felt the need to share, but I have a service to the anti-social community in entertaining them, so here goes my first attempt at sharing something you could just as easily find yourself. 

Robert Liston was a Scottish surgeon who was apparently a badass at amputation and able to do it faster than anyone else. Unfortunately, he sometimes amputated more than was necessary. Unfortunately, malpractice was a long way off. 

His most famous case apparently involved amputating a leg in record time, accidentally amputating his assistant's fingers, too, and then amputating the coat tails of a spectator, all of which died, two from infection, and one from fright. Triple-kill achievement unlocked. 

Robert Liston's Wiki

Answer: Robert Liston

Man of Steel Sucked (and Other Plagiarisms)

I’m pretty sure that when you review a film, it should not only be your own opinion, but you should have actually seen the film you are reviewing, too. I’ve been trying to understand why so many people hate the new Superman by reading the various reviews around the web. Sadly, most of them appear to be reviews of reviews, or at least stolen bits and pieces passed off as the work of a new author. I get that you didn’t like the film. I didn’t think it was great, but I certainly didn’t think it was horrible. I certainly don’t see all of the flaws people keep pointing out. Let’s tackle some of them. 

The special effects were weak and overused and this film had too much science-fiction. 
Not really. If  you’re complaining that the 3D sucked, then I agree; it did. But the special effects go pretty far beyond that and they were obviously better than past efforts, but also more realistic, taking some physics into play. And how exactly do you overuse special effects on a character who can fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, and get run over by trains without a mark? Also, how do you include an alien and not get categorized into science-fiction? 

The A-List cast was poorly used and not given enough screen time.
I agree. The original film title was Friends, Family and Acquaintances of the Man of Steel and it focused on them instead of the titular character. Who wants to watch a Superman film that focuses on him? Wait for the director’s cut. Many of these same people criticized the length of the film, too. 

There is a lack of character development and this isn’t Superman.
I’m pretty sure the entire film works on the eponymous star’s character development. Also, he was Superman for only a small portion of the film, because it’s an origins story. Had you actually seen the film, you would know he doesn’t step out of a phone booth to save the world in the first five minutes. Also, I knew everything I needed to know about the majority of supporting characters, and again, this isn’t their film. 

There is no humor, happiness, joy, compassion, etc. 
There has to be? Are we seriously bashing reboots when they’re not the same, identical film you didn’t want to see remade in the first place? Had it been a funny, happy, and joyous Vince Vaughn remake, you’d be crying about that, too. Anti-heroes are what sell and they still lifted him above that and kept him true to his roots. Christopher Reeves called and said he died years ago; move along. 

I’m already bored with hearing people passing someone else’s opinion off as their own, so I’ll stop there. Man of Steel is certainly not the best take on Superman. The action scenes escalate instantly and stay at the same exact pace throughout, ruining any chance of legitimate excitement most of the time, and the 3D was a rip-off. The story was nothing stellar, not even attempting the impossible by avoiding what we already know, but instead stayed away from full rewrites that make fanboys foam at the mouth. Most of the supporting cast stayed briefly. Lois Lane was severely under-used and seemed almost pointless in the entire thing (but that was fine, since once again, this is an origins story.) But the new General Zod was better than previous villains in every respect and the story of hope everyone wanted didn’t come until the very end, when hope ultimately matters. There is an after credits scene of Christopher Reeves CGIed interviewing Henry Cavill for the Daily Planet, if this makes any of you happy. 

You almost got this.

Review: Marianne (2011)

There is no horror greater than losing your penis, except sleep paralysis. Marianne is a horror film that, according to Wikipedia, “focuses on the mental state of Krister, a man who is left to raise a newborn baby whilst coping with a teenage daughter who blames him for the recent death of his wife. In the midst of his psychological turmoil, Krister suffers from terrible nightmares and becomes convinced that his troubles may be the work of a Mare that is haunting him.” The story is about coping with loss while trying to reconcile with those that remain. 

What I didn’t like:

Eva’s boyfriend, Stiff, the only one with a solution to Krister’s supernatural problem, was dismissed too easily and conveniently. Eva transforms into a more mature woman, dumping him to care for her father. I get that maybe Kirster’s only real problem was the overwhelming guilt with the situation he was in, but the ending suggested that not only does the father still take his ritual advice before going to bed, but that Marianne is indeed more than just a byproduct from a guilty conscience. I also thought the film was a bit light on horror. But compared to the similar 2009 film, The Eclipse, which had the same tone, yet brief and heavy horror elements, the lack of them may have been what helped this one. 

What I did like:

The setting was perfect and I could see the supernatural playing out in the sleepy northern parts of Sweden. The cast formed a very realistic friends and family network. The story plays out like a typical family drama where women die and daughters hate their fathers and date losers they don’t approve of, all against a waning supernatural backdrop. While slow paced, the film makes great use of each scene. In the first, we learn that Kirster is cheating on his wife, and in the next, she’s dead, foreshadowing the gratuitous flashbacks throughout. The best part about the film is figuring out what exactly Marianne is. Is she just a psycho, a witch, ghost, hallucination, or Kirster’s guilty conscious? The story is one of choices and the tragedy of the film is that had he not gotten back with his wife, she’d still be alive. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. 

If you like tortured protagonists, folklore, nocturnal spirits, common, yet obscure medical 

conditions, or Sweden in general, you'll dig this film.

Marianne was written and directed by Filip Tegstedt and stars Thomas Hedengran, Peter Stormare,  Tintin Anderzon, Sandra Larrson, Dylan M. Johansson, and Viktoria Sätter, as Marianne.

Wiki

IMDB

Official

All Dogs Go To Heaven

          It's really easy to determine if someone is a leader, follower, or anti-social loner online. Currently there are large and vocal groups of people who think they are philosophers, scientists, or comedians, three things they are not and usually have a poor understanding of, who want to join in and ruin every conversation had on the webs so they can win some illusory battle of wits going on in their heads. Before I go further, I am aware that anti-social is a misused term for people who are asocial, but the asocial club doesn't have a nice ring to it and you can't even put it on buttons or stickers, let alone shirts, without people reminding you of that fact. Also, I am aware that loners normally do not completely avoid other people. The only reason I am explaining all of that is because one of the aforementioned jackasses will think they are smart by pointing that out; they’re not.

          I wanted to discuss a phenomena related to the false dilemma and one I see everyone engaging in (and I have already pointed it out before, I think). Black-and-white thinking is when you essentially believe something is all or nothing, like how all of the Jews in Israel are killing Palestinians, but everyone in the media is covering it up, because no one can handle the truth, and would rather listen to Nickelback, whose songs all suck. Okay, that last one is an irrefutable fact. Bad example. But everyone needs to stop the black-and-white thinking, not so you look like less of an idiot, but so that you start being less of one. My regular readers do not care if they are guilty of it, because they all rule. But you one-timers who drop by and ask for directions without even buying a map should take heed, because you’re doing the exact opposite of what you think you are doing, and you look stupid doing it. Real stupid.

The above picture is white.