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Such a decline in Film/Television these days
#1
Flipping through the channels to watch something while I settle down to eat some delicious KFC ( :-*)

There's NOTHING on. I remember where I could flip to any channel and be entertained. Now..even with cable...bupkis.

I can't watch Two and A Half Men anymore, for the love of God that show is causing a decline in Western Civilization, that and MTV.

But after MTV got stale and filled with gay lil reality shows I could coast the USS Awesome to VH1 and relive the turmoils of bands I have only heard one song by because most 80's metal sucked shit.
But now even VH1 is following suit. Please bring back MTV Animation or SOMETHING, christ.

Also, would it kill someone to come up with an original idea for a movie anymore? It's remake this and make a sequel to that now.
And I guess I'm not welcome in the artsyfag circles and watch really shitty indie films, that are just as boring as the public access that funded them.

:o
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#2
You are right, I only watch 3 shows total, the office, heros, and entourage.
"What you are about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother."
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#3
What is entourage? I have only heard about it.

Also, I have never watched the office.

Do you like Always Sunny in Philly?
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#4
No way man, this is one of the best television seasons in quite some time. (Though to be fair, last year was a touch better.)

The Office is hilarious. As are Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock and Worst Week. Lost is fantastic this year. It's the final season of ER. Flashpoint is good, if you're into cliche' cop shows. Also of note is The Mentalist.

Movie scripts are all recycled rewrites of Homer's Iliad and/or Odyssey, anyway (we had a discussion on it in another thread), so good luck finding an original film. There has never been an original story in the history of film, I doubt they'll start this year.
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#5
I have never seen always sunny in philly, but have heard good things, I just never remember to turn it on.

Entourage is about a fake movie star that has 3 of his friends from back home basically living off his money with him. I saw a couple episodes when I had free hbo at an apartment and have enjoyed it ever since, it is one of those shows that hasn't really droped off yet.
"What you are about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother."
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#6
Quote:Movie scripts are all recycled rewrites of Homer's Iliad and/or Odyssey, anyway (we had a discussion on it in another thread), so good luck finding an original film. There has never been an original story in the history of film, I doubt they'll start this year.

Toy Story? Indian in the Cupboard? effin' RObocop?

No. no. no. You're wrong.
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#7
If I'm wrong, then so is every writer, aspiring writer, screenwriting instructor and working Hollywood writer. It's not MY hypothesis. It's the rule that all screenwriters live by.
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#8
Tell me where Toy Story = Homer's Odyssey.
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#9
Allow me to paraphrase the Movie "Kickin it Old Skool"

"MTV is nothing but girls talking and crying"
Wowie Groovie !
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#10
It isn't really something that can be articulated in the matter of 5 lines on a message board. This is partially because of the sheer length of these two pieces. You'd be looking for a Reader's Digest version of over a thousand pages. But it's also because even in my passion for screenwriting, something I've done for personal gain for 20 years and attempted to get paid to do off and on for five, I haven't read either in their entirety.

Also, I didn't specifically say The Odyssey. I said Odyssey and/or Iliad. Here are two independent examples of each.

From The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting:


Quote:How do such classics apply to writing movies? Well, The Iliad, set in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of the city of Troy, has been described as one of the greatest war stories of all time. What if a clever screenwriter changed the setting to a city in space, being attacked by an invader force, and now young men who were barely of school age when the siege began have to take over the battle from their dying fathers?

From Larry Brody's book, Television Writing from the Inside Out:


Quote:Do you suppose Homer's classic has been read for thousands of years because of its style and magnificent poetry? Hardly. Most of us don't even know Homer's language. We read The Odyssey in translation. And we read it for its story: man against hte gods who falls out of one trap and into another while lovers, partners in life, struggle to be reunited. Even those who haven't read The Odyssey know the plot because it's been retold endlessly, in a variety of ways by a variety of writers.
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#11
HA..that said ambulance driver....forgot about that.

It should say "The Complete Idi0t's Guide to Screenwriting".
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#12
Ok storming Normandy is now part of the Odyssey. LOL THANKS SPIELBERG DOUCHEBAG.

That's some really wet tissue excuse, zester.


A stronghold being stormed by invading force has only happened in that story.

It has happened in every war since the beginning of time.


Still it is the most B.S. thing ever.
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#13
How many scripts have you analyzed, and how long have you studied film, specifically screenwriting, as an art?

We've been down this road before. If you want to be taken seriously in a debate, you need to do more than "call BS" on a topic.
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#14
Ok..back up your claim that EVERY MOVIE EVER MADE IS RIPPED OFF ONE OR TWO STORIES.

So far all you've done is talk about you being in screenwriting, which is cool, I'd like to get into that myself. But I simply do not believe this.
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#15
Actually, here's the quote:


Quote:If I'm wrong, then so is every writer, aspiring writer, screenwriting instructor and working Hollywood writer. It's not MY hypothesis. It's the rule that all screenwriters live by.
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#16
I actually agree with Doktor on this one, Toy Story fits in with neither of those books anywhere that I can see and I have read both of them.

Although, I would say at least 90% of the movies that are made do fit one of those two pretty well.
"What you are about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother."
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#17
zdunklee Wrote:I have never seen always sunny in philly, but have heard good things, I just never remember to turn it on.

that show is hilarious, check it out on Hulu.
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#18
Then yes, every screenwriter is a hack then if they just recycle shit from Greek stories.

But you've also only had an example of someone invading a stronghold. Because y'know, Homer invented dat shit...that never actually took place in real life or anything.

Also, yeah Always Sunny can be streamed rather well on either Hulu or the FX site.
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#19
Doktor, my only advice to you is to read a screenwriting book or take a screenwriting class. As I said, a full analysis and comparison of any script isn't something that can be done in five minutes on an internet message board. You've got to have an underlying knowledge of the craft of screenwriting to understand all of the various symbolistic and metaphoric references, character dynamics, etc...

No, they're not IDENTICAL. The underlying principles are the same. Just like the underlying principle of any song is a relationship. Heartache, romance, passion, lust, addiction, friendship....they're all relationships.
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#20
Ok, but the only reason there would be any remote comparison to those stories is because how simple and old they are.

See, now that you've explained it a bit more, I can see where you are coming from, at first you thought everything was the same except different characters or settings.
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#21
Nope, that isn't what I meant...sorry if I wasn't clear. (See? You CAN be normal!)
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#22
Cool,

Well Anyways... Uhm.

Did you Underworld: Rise of the Lycans?

I want to see it, I have the first two.
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#23
I thought Testees (first run of the first season's done already) on FX was pretty amusing. Not exactly Emmy-winning stuff, but it made me laugh a lot harder than I probably should've. I really liked Sons of Anarchy, too.. had one of the best season finales of any TV series I've seen in quite some time. I also dig Burn Notice on USA. I'm not really much for scripted TV anymore, though.. much prefer stuff on The History Channel, Discovery, etc.. at least, after football season's done, anyway.
Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?
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#24
Imray_Pinasheep Wrote:I really liked Sons of Anarchy, too.. had one of the best season finales of any TV series I've seen in quite some time.

SoA was the best show on television during it's run.

I'm getting antsy waiting for the DVD.
Wowie Groovie !
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