Yeah, thanks dad....

[electriclite]

OK everyone, it's the end of Thanksgiving and I am over at my dad's house just coming off all the large doses of trichtophan I've digested in a single sitting. Its late and people are still up and I just happened to wander into my dad's room and playing on his TV is the commercial for the new Alien Quadrilogy. Of course I make it very well known that I am in awe just from watching the commercial.... meaning I get down on my knees and demand complete and utter silence until the commercial is over. Yes, I am a freak, but that's beside the point.

It is after the commerical is over that my dad proceeds to go into his own mini rant about how I "don't live in reality", because of the way I "watch movies". I need to "come back down into the real world" and "get out of this problem" I have with movies. The man has even compared my movie watching style to that of an ALCOHOLIC, meaning I don't know I have a problem, and apparently I need 12 steps.:rolleyes:

It is at that point I have to remind him that I am A FUCKING FILM STUDENT. Me watching movies, is technically me STUDYING. My major is animation, I had a History of Animation class last year that mainly envolved me watching CARTOONS every Thursday from 12pm to 2:50pm! And he's PAYING FOR THIS EDUCATION! What does he think he's paying eight grand for ? For me to sit in a crowded room and learn how to knit?!!


You know its one thing to just not share the same habits as another person, it is a WHOLE OTHER THING to describe what they do as SEPERATING FROM REALITY. I don't care how much I watch a movie or for how long, I will still know how gravity works, how to tell time, and know that green means go and red means stop!

UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

[outsyder]

Ah, yes. The ultimate prize of Alien fans everywhere.


I too am on the quest to find it.

I know how you feel. I too would like to spend my days watching fine films, but apparently, Functions and Trigonometry is much more relevant to what I want to do in life. :rolleyes:


Some people just don't understand us movie nerds.:)

[Cunning Visions]

Ahhh it woudn't be Thanksgiving without a good ol' family argument now would it? :D
Yes yes this is the type of stuff we have to learn to put up with being movie geeks. Just don't worry about what he said because all that matters is that you're happy studying film and getting your edjumacation. *Cue Patriotic Music* So stand up for what you believe in and let your movie geek flag fly...if not for you, then for every other movie geek who's been prosecuted and made fun of!!! :)

[electriclite]

Originally posted by Cunning Visions
Ahhh it woudn't be Thanksgiving without a good ol' family argument now would it? :D


Ever since I left for college it seems that's what they're all about now. "Home for the Holidays" is becoming a more relevant film every year!

Now if only I could hook up with my brother's-supposedly-gay-friend, it'd all be complete.

Originally posted by Cunning Visions

then for every other movie geek who's been prosecuted and made fun of!!! :)


I hope you mean persecuted, otherwise I have to wonder what you're doing with your movies.;)



The funny thing is its only my dad I get this from. The only comment my mother has ever given me was "You and your foreign films!" but that's it, otherwise all she understands my movie watching habits. My dad just goes off the deep end and goes all dramatic about things.

[quoth_the_raven]

humph. i wish my parents were paying for my education. but i guess i dont have the luxury of saying "hey loving parents, fancy throwing £25,000 my way?". put it this way- if my parents were paying my education off, i would worship the ground they walk on.

as to the rest-well i do agree with you. maybe you should try knitting though. you seem to have just a little pent up stress and it might help you relax. ;)

[The Postmaster General]

The phrase that this rant reminds me of most is: "You need help, man." or "You have issues."

Yeah, I have a fucking issue alright. The issue is with you not understanding that me getting excited over the cinematography in a Wes anderson movie IS THE SAME DAMN THING as you almost dropping a brick of shit everytime Quarterback A throws the ball to RECEIVER B



Does your dad like football, Electriclite.

Oh, please, please, please tell me that he does. So that the next time he starts acting like a little girl over some people playing a game, you can remind him of the conversation he initiated during your touching father-daughter moment.

Maybe then the self-righteous fuck would see the more personal reason of why he shouldn't try to side-rail someone else's passion.


Back to the football thing -- I know someone who actually broke their leg reacting to a football game!! AND PEOPLE SAY MOVIE GEEKS ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY!!



Fuck -- electriclites rant picked at mental scabs

[Annie Hall]

Not my folks, but I have had a similar discussion with people, who have gone so far as to say it's "sad and delusional" to be as into movies as I am. Well, y'know what? Fuck you, buddy.

I could don my beret and say movies are an expression of the era that they come out of, or that they have the capability to make political and social statements like no other artform. Perhaps I could discuss the implications of a truly popular movie, or of one that comes out at an inopportune time (Phone Booth, for example). I could venture that movies make or break trends, ideas, concepts and characterizations. A killer we can sympathize with? A good guy who happens to be a heroin addict? A family man who we realize isn't Mr. C after all? All of these things have been explored through film...yeah, I could say all of those things. But, I won't.

Movies are a form of entertainment, like sports, except they are jam-packed with subtlety and nuance. A football game is about getting a little ball from one side of the field to the other...while a movie about football has the ability to add 30 more dimensions to that.

What it comes down to is this, I think; is it any worse to be found wearing a Star Wars helmet than a Green Bay cheese hat?

[TheDeadWalk]

Originally posted by Annie Hall
Not my folks, but I have had a similar discussion with people, who have gone so far as to say it's "sad and delusional" to be as into movies as I am. Well, y'know what? Fuck you, buddy.

I could don my beret and say movies are an expression of the era that they come out of, or that they have the capability to make political and social statements like no other artform. Perhaps I could discuss the implications of a truly popular movie, or of one that comes out at an inopportune time (Phone Booth, for example). I could venture that movies make or break trends, ideas, concepts and characterizations. A killer we can sympathize with? A good guy who happens to be a heroin addict? A family man who we realize isn't Mr. C after all? All of these things have been explored through film...yeah, I could say all of those things. But, I won't.

Movies are a form of entertainment, like sports, except they are jam-packed with subtlety and nuance. A football game is about getting a little ball from one side of the field to the other...while a movie about football has the ability to add 30 more dimensions to that.

What it comes down to is this, I think; is it any worse to be found wearing a Star Wars helmet than a Green Bay cheese hat?

I totally agree.

What I think is a bit obnoxious is the people who become the archtypes from their movies. People who willingly claim themselves a "Jedi Knight" and say things like "Without Star Wars, there just wouldn't be Matt." And of course the oompa loompa who refused to dress in anything but her Star Trek uniform while serving jury duty.

Blah. Enough's enough. You don't have to go into Burger King and order in the Klingon language.

[Quiver]

Originally posted by TheDeadWalk
Blah. Enough's enough. You don't have to go into Burger King and order in the Klingon language.

Ahhh, but would it be OK to go into McDonalds and order a "Royal with Cheeze"?;)

But in all seriousness I can sort of feel where Electrilite is coming from. Even though I'm almost 30, I still have a fondness for movies that baffles my parents. They love movies too, but when they buy a new movie, it usually is something I would not watch, like say, the new Steven Segal film, whereas I would rather watch a good horror flick any day of the week.

Generally, the discussion of movies turns into my mom saying "I dont understand why you love those horror movies so much. You were never like that as a kid." Like what? A homicidal maniac wearing a hockey mask? Another famous phrase around my folks house is "Well, that definitly looks like an Allan (thats me) movie" whenever a horror movie trailer plays on TV. I can laugh it off pretty easily, but sometimes it bugs me that people have to look down at you if you like something that is wierd or different than what they like.

Sorry if this went off topic.

[Carrieattheprom]

Yea I have a problem with people dissing my horror movies too. I can only watch them when my folks aren't home. If I try to watch when they are home, they scream,"TURN IT OFF!" If there's a really funny kill they scream,"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING WHEN THAT PERSON JUST DIED? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?????!!!!"

[ParileseMonster]

I am so happy my parents are cool. It was my mom's fault that I am into horror and Daddy did not help things much when he was supposed to take my sister and I to the circus when at last minute he said fuck it and took us to see "Friday The 13th part 3". We enjoyed it, we were not crying for the clowns or anything. Horror was just a natural element in the family home and it was not force fed, if you did not like the movie playing in the living room, you had the free option of playing outside or in your room with Barbie.
That is not to say that I never recieved any ridicule for my hobby by others so I understand the feeling. Something about the holidays though, it compells people to start a fight sometimes.
Being true to yourself and staying the way you are through the negitivity is the true challenge and unfortunatly these are the things we have to endure until we are old enough to have our own lives and houses. As for the Alien set you better believe I am getting one. I have already made plans. I have a buddy with a Costco card and that is the only place I know of where you can get the set cheaper than peanuts!

[Grim H.]

Originally posted by Annie Hall


What it comes down to is this, I think; is it any worse to be found wearing a Star Wars helmet than a Green Bay cheese hat?

*Applauds*

Too true, though I still won't go around wearing either of those. I hear so many people looking down at me because of my love of movies, when they themselves have an equal obsession. My philosophy is this, "to each his own?" Some people are movie freaks, some are sports freaks, some are car enthusiasts, some enjoy hunting, etc...as long as no one rags on my hobby, I won't say anything...

[jackson13]

I have a similar problem, but not with parents. Its with friends. My 2 friends are mega-huge computer nerds, and are always talking about stuff they wanna buy and do to thier computers. And anytime we go somewhere, like Circuit City, they buy something new, and I never say a word. But if I buy a movie, they are on my ass like white on rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm. "Why are you buying a movie? Dont you know theres more to life than movies? You already own over 400 movies, why are you buying another?......" I never say anything, but over the years I've grown quite tired of it and if it happens one more time I've sworn to myself that I am going to throw a huge fit in the middle of the store and embarrass the hell out of them. Im just gonna start screaming "GET OFF MY FUCKING BACK YOU NERDS! WHY DO YOU BUY SO MUCH COMPUTER SHIT? YOU ALREADY HAVE A TON OF COMPUTER SHIT, WHY ARE YOU BUYING MORE? LEAVE ME ALONE MOTHERFUCKERS!" and then run out just screaming 'AHHHHHHHH'. I figure years of abuse will all be done just by making a scene and embarassing them.

[electriclite]

Originally posted by quoth_the_raven
humph. i wish my parents were paying for my education. but i guess i dont have the luxury of saying "hey loving parents, fancy throwing £25,000 my way?". put it this way- if my parents were paying my education off, i would worship the ground they walk on.



Ah yes he is paying $8K a year, but guess who's going into debt to pay the remaining $12K a year as well? It ain't my mom....


Plus my dad managed to get away for more then five years without paying child support to my mom. He owes me $8K a year, at the VERY least.



And I do know how to knit afghans. I just don't have the time right now since its crunch time at school and I'm busy working on final projects.


Bottom line though, my dad has no business pointing out harmless problems with me, when I could go to town on him for all the problems he's inflicted on others. Love the man, but you know..... pot. kettle. black........

[blankpage]

My parents and I never argue about my love affair with movies. It's my friends I have to deal with.

"You have no life"


Oh thanks, and what do you do? Smoke hash right away after school, and smoke it about 3 other times that evening. You're right, I have no life at all! :mad: :rolleyes:

[BakeTheMooCow]

It goes without saying that movies alter people's perception of reality. There's this skewed world view now where kids are walking into schools and shooting up their classmates. Fourteen year-old girls slitting their wrists because they feel they have experiences so much pain in their short lives, that they cannot go on living. Or maybe that's what they want others to think they feel. It's just a cry for help. The dark depressed apathetic kids are always cool in a mysterious way in those motion pictures. Every action has to be accompanied by a running narrative, no one wants to experience anything in their own minds anymore. Do you think anyone would help another human being out if they didn't have the chance to tell others what they did? No way. It's californication, baby, just like the song says. You don't undertake something if it there's no reward of money or fame. "Born and raised by those who praise; Control of population; Everybody's been there and I don't mean on vacation." The saddest thing is people don't realize it. Turn on the news and there's a guy storming down the highway being chased by squad cars for driving with a broken tail-light. Everybody needs their fifteen minutes of fame. People incorporating pop culture quotes in their everyday language, be it movies or song lyrics or television shows. For that moment, I honestly think they believe their in a movie delivering that line (The most pathetic individuals are those who don't credit the source of the quote, perhaps thinking the other person won't notice and they might get some extra praise for originality). Their own lives are so dull and meaningless and empty, they need to pretend they're someone else for a second to make our wretched existence on this earth a little more bearable. We have no great war. No great depression. Our great war's a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars.. but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact and we're very, very pissed off.

[ParileseMonster]

I guess I get what you are saying but What are you trying to say?

[Jon Lyrik]

Originally posted by ParileseMonster
I guess I get what you are saying but What are you trying to say?

That as kids we are promised the world from adults, and it doesn't happen, and we recover from that, or at least try to, as adults, but imagine ourselves as the lucky few who get rich and famous so our small, worthless existence doesn't feel so bad.

[Dignan]

Originally posted by BakeTheMooCow
It goes without saying that movies alter people's perception of reality. There's this skewed world view now where kids are walking into schools and shooting up their classmates. Fourteen year-old girls slitting their wrists because they feel they have experiences so much pain in their short lives, that they cannot go on living. Or maybe that's what they want others to think they feel. It's just a cry for help. The dark depressed apathetic kids are always cool in a mysterious way in those motion pictures. Every action has to be accompanied by a running narrative, no one wants to experience anything in their own minds anymore. Do you think anyone would help another human being out if they didn't have the chance to tell others what they did? No way. It's californication, baby, just like the song says. You don't undertake something if it there's no reward of money or fame. "Born and raised by those who praise; Control of population; Everybody's been there and I don't mean on vacation." The saddest thing is people don't realize it. Turn on the news and there's a guy storming down the highway being chased by squad cars for driving with a broken tail-light. Everybody needs their fifteen minutes of fame. People incorporating pop culture quotes in their everyday language, be it movies or song lyrics or television shows. For that moment, I honestly think they believe their in a movie delivering that line (The most pathetic individuals are those who don't credit the source of the quote, perhaps thinking the other person won't notice and they might get some extra praise for originality). Their own lives are so dull and meaningless and empty, they need to pretend they're someone else for a second to make our wretched existence on this earth a little more bearable. We have no great war. No great depression. Our great war's a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars.. but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact and we're very, very pissed off.

Brad Pitt? Edward Norton? David Fincher? Meat Loaf? Craig T. Nelson?


:D :D :D