Sacred Cows

[mickill]

I can't understand the enduring widespread appeal of certain things. I don't mean stuff like the Jonas Brothers and Fast And The Furious movies, but shit that's generally considered "good". Not saying these all suck, but some of them definitely need to be stabbed repeatedly in the heart:

Forrest Gump
Steven Speilberg (the one responsible for Saving Private Ryan, A.I., Minority Report, Jurassic Park, E.T., and the two bad Indiana Jones movies - not the one who made Jaws, Munich, and Catch Me If You Can)
The Grateful Dead
Curb Your Enthusiasm (I don't get the allure)
The Matrix trilogy
Spider-Man
Scarface
J Dilla (I like his music, but his fans/followers need to slow down)
Wheel Of Fortune (You hardly ever get to see the puzzle. Also, Jeopardy >>>)
Pet Sounds
The Wizard Of Oz
John Wayne

Also:

Cats (the musical as well as the actual domestic mammal)
Post-1978 Ford Mustangs
Smoking weed on a routine basis (especially once it bleeds into your lifestyle/fashion choices/philosophical and political views)

[nodanaonlyzuul]

The Grateful Dead
The Matrix trilogy
Scarface
Pet Sounds
John Wayne


Yes. I can only add that for the first Matrix, at the time, WAS pretty ground breaking in effects and was super fun to watch. Then the rest blew huge balls. But now it's been so over referenced in pop culture that I can no longer watch it seriously.

Pet Sounds I notice are people from the "good old days" that want to reminiscence about the "good old days" (which frankly, were only good for a group of privileged people but that's another topic all together *cough*). Doesn't mean it's anything that amazing...

And John Wayne is boring.

[jabumbo]

jerry's coming back, man....



/stoned

[roosta]

Scarface


This is one I definitely agree with. Amazingly over-rated.

[mickill]

Yes. I can only add that for the first Matrix, at the time, WAS pretty ground breaking in effects and was super fun to watch. Then the rest blew huge balls. But now it's been so over referenced in pop culture that I can no longer watch it seriously.

Yes. Exactly.

[Freebasser]

Ahhh, the annual Scarface disapproval thread.

Is it that time of year already?

[Dorothy Wood]

Scarface is a cool movie, but there's no reason why anyone should base their lives on it.

I saw a guy recently wearing an intricately embroidered leather jacket with a huge portrait of Al Pacino as scarface on the back. Why, god, why?


also, Pet Sounds is kinda boring.


I guess I agree with the list and your point. but I'm not so angry about it that I would make a list in the first place. :p

[DIGI]

Curb Your Enthusiasm? You're fucking crazy.

[mickill]

^ Yes. It's called an opinion. I don't think it's absolute trash, I just don't care for it. Kinda like M*A*S*H, going camping, and having incense lit all over my house.


I guess I agree with the list and your point. but I'm not so angry about it that I would make a list in the first place. :p

I don't think that there's a very good reason for creating 97% of the threads that do get started on this message board, but yeah.... I wasn't really starting a list for the sake of venting, I just thought people would add some of their own, which never seems to happen.

And yeah, I like Scarface, it's just not the most awesome thing that ever awesomed awesomeness all over the world that it's made out to be.

[Myu-to]

Sacred cows taste like chicken.

[yeahwho]

Curb Your Enthusiasm (I don't get the allure)


what sort of mopey dick (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs5w02NvSyI&feature=related) misses the allure?

[Documad]

Forrest Gump is a piece of shit and it always was. Oh, how I hate that movie. The thing that made me CRAZY was that everyone loved it but me!

I agree with the list, I even agree with Curb. It was fresh for a couple of seasons but it should have been shut down years ago. As for the Dead, most of the time I don't care for them, but I have to admit that I've listened to American Beauty several times lately and it lifts my mood.

[Myu-to]

The Godfather Triology. Never seen it, and I don't feel a void.
Star Wars III. See above.
Indie bands.(Stop pretending you're so cool and special because suck so hard that no one wants to sign you.)
People that like indie bands.(You're not cool because you like shitty bands.)
Apple Bottom Jeans. I mean really.
Peanut brittle.

[jabumbo]

i think you started this thread to hide the fact that you have a deep hatred toward the hindu people of india.

that, and the fact that you dislike camping because you are a pussy.

[Echewta]

I agree, Curb Your Whatever kinda blows.

[Best John Wayne scene ever. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5BjMTVnNuE)

[mickill]

The part when Forrest rubs his face on the shirt and makes a happy face is the best. I think that's when I really started to hate Tom Hanks.

Also, I don't think there's ever been any overwhelming widespread pandemonium over Apple Bottoms, peanut brittle, or indie bands. But seriously, the first two Godfather movies are worth investing 7 or 8 hours of your time to watch.

And yes, there's nothing that bothers me more than when I see Hindu people camping.

[mickill]

The Only John Wayne scene I like (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBKPAZlo-OQ)

[Echewta]

And yes, there's nothing that bothers me more than when I see Hindu people camping.

haha

[abcdefz]

Mickill, that's a pretty good list but I think pet sounds and ET are both great and AI is fascinating, however flawed

you're also missing The Sound of Music, Gone with the Wind, and LA Confidential (movie).

I'm glad opinion is changing on American Beauty, cause that movie is lame.

And yes the depalma scarface is really bad

[yeahwho]

Some of these items are more like sacred goldfish than sacred cows.

Curb your enthusiasm is a TV show which usually involves things like getting a pubic hair stuck in your throat after cunnilingus.

That does not tip the Sacred Cows scale.

I'll go with a retard movie that makes hundreds of millions ripping off Woody Allens Zelig... but a TV sitcom watched by a few hundred thousand which generates very little money for HBO... hardly worth Sacred Cow level discussion.

[cosmo105]

I hate American Beauty. Actively.

[Dorothy Wood]

I saw American Beauty in the theater and liked it very much. That's the only time I ever saw it though, and one of my best friends who saw it with me hated it. And ever since, I've heard a lot of people say they hate it.

So why is it hated?



also, Apple Bottoms are pretty funny. I've only seen fat ladies with not-so-hot bottoms wearing them. They're made to highlight the rear, but these are rears that weren't meant to be highlighted. I tried some on for fun once, they were super stretchy and I had to try on a size 4 sizes smaller than my normal jeans size to get them to fit. I think that's why people like them, they trick women into thinking they're 4 sizes smaller than they actually are.

[mickill]

Mickill, that's a pretty good list but I think pet sounds and ET are both great and AI is fascinating, however flawed

you're also missing The Sound of Music, Gone with the Wind, and LA Confidential (movie).

I'm glad opinion is changing on American Beauty, cause that movie is lame.

And yes the depalma scarface is really bad

The thing that bugs me about Pet Sounds is that it's so thoroughly whiny and effeminate. There's no edge whatsoever. There's not even a trace of anger or attitude. Not even a touch. It's very one dimensional. I mean, even Slayer balances out their albums with some gentle flourishes here and there.

But yes, Sound Of Music and Gone With The Wind are two of the most overrated movies ever. And I remember going to see La Confidential after it was nominated. I think that was when I first realized that the members of the Academy were complete morons. I mean, after Forrest Gump won, I had a feeling. But that just confirmed it.

And when American Beauty won it just became a fact. That movie is dog shit.

[mickill]

I saw American Beauty in the theater and liked it very much. That's the only time I ever saw it though, and one of my best friends who saw it with me hated it. And ever since, I've heard a lot of people say they hate it.

So why is it hated?

Because it is the most contrived, boring, pointless, and annoying pile of dog shit ever committed to film.

It should have won some kind of special Oscar for the way the filmmakers were able to transfer dog shit onto celluloid, though.

[mickill]

Some of these items are more like sacred goldfish than sacred cows.

Curb your enthusiasm is a TV show which usually involves things like getting a pubic hair stuck in your throat after cunnilingus.

That does not tip the Sacred Cows scale.

I'll go with a retard movie that makes hundreds of millions ripping off Woody Allens Zelig... but a TV sitcom watched by a few hundred thousand which generates very little money for HBO... hardly worth Sacred Cow level discussion.

It just seems that to a lot of Curb fans, the show can do no wrong. It's sort of that way with Seinfeld fans, too, but that show sort of changed the rules for tv shows. And it occupied such a huge place in American pop culture, same as The Simpsons. So in a way, it's excusable. With Curb, the continued Emmy nods and the nut-suckling by critics just seem routine. As if they feel they need to praise it. In actuality, the show lost steam after the second season.

Good call on the Zelig-biting.

[cosmo105]

Because it is the most contrived, boring, pointless, and annoying pile of dog shit ever committed to film.

It should have won some kind of special Oscar for the way the filmmakers were able to transfer dog shit onto celluloid, though.

I was screaming at the screen about halfway through at the ridiculous way they use lighting TO TOTALLY SET THE MOOD OMG. All of it is so goddamned forced and unoriginal. And the way people lapped it up just made me hate it more.

DW, I bet a million twinkies that if you went back and watched it again you'd hate it.

[Documad]

ET and American Beauty are movies that I liked in the theater, and then saw a few years later and they bored me.

American Beauty was for me like most Scorcese movies. The style gets in the way of the story and you're paying attention to the director rather than to characters. But for some reason -- probably the terrific cast -- I realized that about American Beauty at the time but it didn't both me a bit. However, on later viewing I couldn't get past there being nothing under the style.

ET is still a terrific movie and I'm sure new generations could enjoy it, but I just can't watch it.

I won't hear anything against the Sound of Music. Yes, it's overlong and has many bad bits, but back off, it was my favorite movie when I was a kid. And when I was a kid, you couldn't put a movie in your DVD or VHS player. You had to hope they would bring it back to theaters. They re-released Sound of Music several times when I was a kid and my poor parents were forced to drag me to it several times every time it came out. I even saw it at a drive in. I had Sound of Music dolls. I wore out THREE copies of that soundtrack. So back off.

[hpdrifter]

The Doors.

Also,I didn't bother to check but I'm going to guess your John Wayne moment is from The Searchers.

[cosmo105]

Yeah, not into the Doors either. Never understood the appeal. It just sounds like a drunk guy doing karaoke.

[mickill]

I never could understand what people see in The Doors. And I wanted to. A couple of years ago I actually went as far as buying fresh copies of every Doors album, just so I could say I actually gave these guys a fair chance for once. Prior to this little experiment, all I'd heard were compilations.

It went okay at first. I thought the first album was decent. The second one (Strange Days) definitely wasn't my thing, but with the third album(Waiting For The Sun), things picked up again. The fourth one (The Soft Parade) turned me right off, though, and I never bothered opening the last two (Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman). I never listened to any of those CDs again. But maybe I should.

Just out of curiosity, Documad, was the part in the Sound Of Music where Julie Andrews dresses the kids in curtains one of the bad or good bits?

[Documad]

Just out of curiosity, Documad, was the part in the Sound Of Music where Julie Andrews dresses the kids in curtains one of the bad or good bits?

Back off, buster.

[Bob]

Yeah, not into the Doors either. Never understood the appeal. It just sounds like a drunk guy doing karaoke.

i liked them when i was a teenager but i listened to them again kind of recently and i wasn't sure why i did. i think they were popular because girls wanted to lick james morrison. that doesn't explain why i liked them though.....

i seem to remember LA woman being one of the better albums though

[abcdefz]

I like "Break on Through" and bits and pieces of Morrison Hotel.

Generally I think the problem is the art doesn't meet the pretentions, and Morrison is so outsized that it makes him really look like an idiot.



Interesting note: Gone with the Wind and The Sound of Music both have scenes in which people get dressed in curtains. Coincidence?


What else have we got?

Um, I really really don't like Some Like it Hot. It's one of those movies I watch again every few years because it's supposed to be one of
the funniest movies so far and I don't even crack a smile. I like Curtis and Lemmon, too, but that movie does nothing for me.

[mickill]

That's funny, cause I remember watching this countdown to the funniest movie of all time, according to the American Film Institute, a few years ago on tv, and guess what (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years%E2%80%A6100_Laughs) topped the list?

I was pretty surprised, especially considering that there were tons of funnier movies in the bottom half of the list. Must have seemed funnier in the 50s.

[cj hood]

The Who...ya got the Stones & the Beatles.....why bother?!?

[Turchinator]

As for the Dead, most of the time I don't care for them, but I have to admit that I've listened to American Beauty several times lately and it lifts my mood.
.

[RobMoney$]

I absolutely hated the dead for years until one day while driving wherever I was going, and reflecting on a recent death of a close friend who we had just buried that week, I heard this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcvng9u7REE) on the local college station and the dead lightswitch went on for me.
I remember the feeling that I just didn't want the song to end.


I think, like a lot of music or art, you either get it or you don't.
The simple fact that, seemingly everyone either really loves them or really hates them, should lead you to lean towards the fact that it must be really great art.

[RobMoney$]

The thing that bugs me about Pet Sounds is that it's so thoroughly whiny and effeminate. There's no edge whatsoever. There's not even a trace of anger or attitude. Not even a touch. It's very one dimensional. I mean, even Slayer balances out their albums with some gentle flourishes here and there.


You haven't done a lot of drugs, have you Mike?
People who smoke a lot of weed, or do a lot of LSD usually aren't very aggressive. Brian Wilson was heavily into LSD while recording Pet Sounds (as I'm sure you are aware).
The lack of aggression, as you put it, is actually one of the reasons people adore it so much. It's nostalgic.

I guess you can apply this same theory to to your Grateful Dead hatred too.

[abcdefz]

That's funny, cause I remember watching this countdown to the funniest movie of all time, according to the American Film Institute, a few years ago on tv, and guess what (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years%E2%80%A6100_Laughs) topped the list?

I was pretty surprised, especially considering that there were tons of funnier movies in the bottom half of the list. Must have seemed funnier in the 50s.

Yeah. SLIH topping that list drove me back to it. I still don't thnk it's funny.

[Documad]

I absolutely hated the dead for years until one day while driving wherever I was going, and reflecting on a recent death of a close friend who we had just buried that week, I heard this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcvng9u7REE) on the local college station and the dead lightswitch went on for me.
I remember the feeling that I just didn't want the song to end.


It was the final episode of Freaks and Geeks that made me give the Dead another chance.

I liked Some Like it Hot when I was a kid, but it does seem really dated now. It's painful now to see Marilyn -- not amusing. Time ruins a lot of old comedies. But man, how I love Jack Lemmon in just about anything.

I always hated the Doors with a passion. Frankly, I never even gave the music a chance because the Jim Morrison worship was too intense among the overly dramatic kids at my high school.

[yeahwho]

The audio quality, simplicity and lyrical quality of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty make those two albums Sacred Cows.

I know that many bands, fans and punks have ripped the dead for decades. But songs like Candyman and Box of Rain are unapproachable in execution without actually being there, in the moment, higher than a motherfuckin' kite. Both American Beauty and Workingman's Dead came out in 1970 less than a half a year from each other.

The dead also set the gold standard for live concert sound and security. The Deadheads in turn set the gold standard in LSD quality.

I could never listen to the Grateful Dead on a daily basis, but I do think they've gotten the short end of the stick from those who bath daily and have new cars. And from some of the stories I've heard at AA meetings from old deadheads, the burnout just may have been worth it.

Lookout, Lookout, the Candyman... here he comes and he's gone again.