A Friendly Correction for those Man-Haters who Delve to be Single

[ferrets_bueller]

Prostrate? Really? My prostate gland, which is the size and approximate consistency of a bowling ball, is usually examined while I'm standing, but with my elbows on the examining table.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

My goodness, you young punks have abysmal taste in music. Creep? Possibly the single most overrated song to be recorded since Free Bird.

"Creep" has ten seconds of brilliance in it. They are the collected moments of heavy distortion just before each chorus begins. These little, really heavy crunch sounds, perhaps a second or two long each. The rest of the song is scaffolding for their placement.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

The Godfather movies are about sin and its wages. Michael dies alone, having fucked up everything that mattered to him, including his plans to legitimize his family. Mary lies dead on the steps, even though the family have become opera-goers and church bigwigs. Vito failed to keep Michael straight because Michael thought that there were duties higher than being straight, and he was proved wrong.

It's a controversial opinion, but I think Jar Jar Binks as a hit man worked in Godfather III.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

by "old" I assumed he didn't want to hear about Sugarhill Gang, but only em will know....

The Last Poets were putting out rhymes when "Whole Lotta Love" was still climbing the charts.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Under Obamacare Wonk has been self-administrating his prostrate exams. Wttw.

But all those broken thumbs are now covered. This is progress.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

I don’t have much to say about rap, but I find this observation interesting. Personally I think the Godfather movies made the Mafia look more glamorous and genteel than it really was, but I wouldn’t say that it glorified it. The consequences of the criminal life are shown on-screen.

The Godfather movies are about sin and its wages. Michael dies alone, having fucked up everything that mattered to him, including his plans to legitimize his family. Mary lies dead on the steps, even though the family have become opera-goers and church bigwigs. Vito failed to keep Michael straight because Michael thought that there were duties higher than being straight, and he was proved wrong.

Not sure what you mean by "straight" in this context. Vito died peacefully in a garden, playing with his grandkids, after a long and successful life during which he murdered and terrorized any number of people.

I'd call that a glorification of criminality, even without considering that he got to be played by both Brando and DeNiro.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by ferrets_bueller

Prostrate? Really? My prostate gland, which is the size and approximate consistency of a bowling ball, is usually examined while I'm standing, but with my elbows on the examining table.

If it's done with a strap-on, it's not really an "examination."

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by ferrets_bueller

1. I will wager a fair sum that I am the senior citizen posting here.

2. I am far, far less informed about the contemporary music scene than the rest of you.

3. I like a good deal of both mass market and the "have you heard about the new group of garage band monsters." stuff that I hear now.

4. There is an exception. In the spirit of Socrates, another old guy, (“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”) I have to say that the overwhelming majority of rap I hear is without social merit, musical merit, and just plain awful. I do not accept that sexist drivel and the glorification or criminality is even remotely justifiable under the tired refrain of "keeping it real."

5. The names of current rap artists that could alter my views on this subject are solicited.

Yours in gin and juice,

Ferrets

I don't know squat about current rap artists. But anyone who dismisses rap as a whole is ignoring some of the best music ever made. If I had to pick 3 musicians/bands to listen to for the rest of my life, it'd be Led Zeppelin, Tupac, and John Coltrane. If I had to narrow it down to two, it would stress me the fuck out.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by ferrets_bueller

I have to say that the overwhelming majority of rap I hear is without social merit, musical merit, and just plain awful. I do not accept that sexist drivel and the glorification or criminality is even remotely justifiable under the tired refrain of "keeping it real."

By the way, what rap do you hear?

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Not sure what you mean by "straight" in this context. Vito died peacefully in a garden, playing with his grandkids, after a long and successful life during which he murdered and terrorized any number of people.

I'd call that a glorification of criminality, even without considering that he got to be played by both Brando and DeNiro.

Well, this is true, but from the opening scene the series sets up that Michael is the protagonist. And if being a thug was really all that, why did Vito feel so strongly about keeping Michael out of the family business? Vito knew Sonny was a lost cause, but Michael coulda been somebody (i.e., not a Don). That’s the central conflict.

But yeah, we would all trade with Vito in a heartbeat. If we could assure ourselves we wouldn't sleep with the fishes and/or be stabbed through the throat with a pair of eyeglasses.

ETA Maybe I’m just less inclined to believe it was the film's intent to glorify murder etc. when the consequences of evil are actually portrayed, making this movie so much more moral than, say, a Schwarzeneggar vehicle, where somebody else picks up the bodies left in his wake.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

Well, this is true, but from the opening scene the series sets up that Michael is the protagonist. And if being a thug was really all that, why did Vito feel so strongly about keeping Michael out of the family business? Vito knew Sonny was a lost cause, but Michael coulda been somebody (i.e., not a Don). That’s the central conflict.

But yeah, we would all trade with Vito in a heartbeat. If we could assure ourselves we wouldn't sleep with the fishes and/or be stabbed through the throat with a pair of eyeglasses.

I don't disagree with you -- maybe a little, certainly not entirely, and probably less than usual. The movies make being a gangster look like fun, but you have to leave out all the death and stuff. The same is true of a lot (not all) of rap music -- people may think rappers are glorifying the drugs and violence, but either they are listening to a lot of crap music or they are not listening at all.


Vito's dream (and, if I ever read the books, I expect this will be confirmed) was for the family to go legit. He viewed Michael as the path to legitimacy, guided by Tom Hagen. But then Vito went comatose, Michael got his jaw broken and got pissed off, he spent too much time talking to Sonny, he realized that he could solve problems by killing them, and badda-bing, badda-boom, it was all over.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Not sure what you mean by "straight" in this context. Vito died peacefully in a garden, playing with his grandkids, after a long and successful life during which he murdered and terrorized any number of people.

I'd call that a glorification of criminality, even without considering that he got to be played by both Brando and DeNiro.

Si. Io sonno Calabrese. La Sicilianos can sucka my dicka.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

I don't disagree with you -- maybe a little, certainly not entirely, and probably less than usual. The movies make being a gangster look like fun, but you have to leave out all the death and stuff. The same is true of a lot (not all) of rap music -- people may think rappers are glorifying the drugs and violence, but either they are listening to a lot of crap music or they are not listening at all.


Vito's dream (and, if I ever read the books, I expect this will be confirmed) was for the family to go legit. He viewed Michael as the path to legitimacy, guided by Tom Hagen. But then Vito went comatose, Michael got his jaw broken and got pissed off, he spent too much time talking to Sonny, he realized that he could solve problems by killing them, and badda-bing, badda-boom, it was all over.

not to disagree, but Michael's greatest loss were Apollonia's sweet sweet titties.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Coach K. going into the Mercer locker room strikes me as pompous, not noble. Like, "you shouldn't have been anywhere near us, congrats!"

Coach K has gone out in two of the last three tourneys in the first round to a fifteen seed and a fourteen seed with blue chip talent second only to Kentucky. Yes, they won in 2010 (in the easiest walk to a championship game maybe in the history or basketball), but I think him going into Mercer's locker room was a way for him to flip a huge, glaring negative into a positive for him. He changed the story from losing to fucking Mercer to how humble and what a gentleman he is. It's bullshit.

(I assume I do not need to disclose the fact that I fucking despise Coach K and revel in his first round losses.)

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

I don’t have much to say about rap, but I find this observation interesting. Personally I think the Godfather movies made the Mafia look more glamorous and genteel than it really was, but I wouldn’t say that it glorified it. The consequences of the criminal life are shown on-screen.

The Godfather movies are about sin and its wages. Michael dies alone, having fucked up everything that mattered to him, including his plans to legitimize his family. Mary lies dead on the steps, even though the family have become opera-goers and church bigwigs. Vito failed to keep Michael straight because Michael thought that there were duties higher than being straight, and he was proved wrong.

I am having trouble believing that you believe what you're saying. Are you intentionally trying to avoid saying that the effect The Godfather had was to glorify the mafia and criminal behavior? Because I'm fairly certain that you know that it did, as did Scarface, Goodfellas, The King of New York, etc. All of these movies show the deleterious effects of criminal activity. All of these movies glorify gangsters and crime.

TM