frannyan | EVERYONE ELSE IS DOIN' IT

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EVERYONE ELSE IS DOIN' IT

So. Yeah. There's that 30 questions meme thing. Optimistic considering my posting derpitide, but here we go. :D

Day 01 - Introduce yourself

Hi! I'm Fran!

...

oh wait I have to actually do more than that don't I? Erm..

See, I always have trouble with this sort of thing. I am, in my opinion, a boring person. I never quite know what to say when there's introductions because I'm just a homebody dork. I'm not even a spectacular dork. I don't really have any major fandoms [anymore. I used to be a big Depeche Mode fangirl and be very embarrassing, and then there's the Yuugiou thing with Kokoro no Naka and people insisting I was a big name in fandom and phht, yeah right. I just had a popular page. Not the same. And I tend to like Anime and Japanese language and culture but I'm not really much of an otaku either cause I just watch random things] or too many things I really think I'm passionate about. I'm kinda... low key. Jack of all trades, master of none. There's really nothing about me that sticks out. Except my hat, but you all can't see that. And I'm serious about that, I am a freaking ninja without that hat. Got to hear my boss leaving me a voice mail to come up to her room WHILE I WAS IN IT *siiiigh* I'm that person who's always kinda hanging back, observing things. I video tape and take photos but don't really take part.

Gary put it pretty well today when we were doing intros at the theater thingi. I'm the glue of things. I hold them together and if I'm doing it well, noone even notices. And I'm pretty cool with that, I think (as long as someone thanks me. Not getting any sort of appreciation just... I get bitter and exhausted.) I like organizing and statistics and managing things.

I am socially awkward and sometimes prone to massive social anxiety. Most of the time it's minimal of the "oh god I said that wrong. Fuck, they're going to think I'm an idiot. Fuuuuck what do I do?!" and of the "... noone's talking to me/replying to what I said. Oh god, what did I do? FML!" variety. I second guess myself a lot and will often feel irrationally like people are ignoring me when they probably aren't. I was one of those kids who eeeeveryone picked on in elementary school (even the teacher in 4th grade. Mom still tells stories of that teacher @_@) so, yeah. I think most everyone knows how that goes.

I'm an inch away from being ADHD. To where I was tested and the doctor was all "You sure as heck have an attention problem all right! But you just baaaaarely past that test there so you aren't ADHD. You just want to respond to all stimulus." I have a pretty bad reading disorder. You may have noticed my wonderful spelling -_- This is why. My brain does not connect words to their meanings or their spellings or pronunciations. I also have a 10th grade reading level and have since middle school. Go figure how that works :D I do far better in Japanese than English.

So. Yeah. I probably would do this far better in question and answer format, only I suck at that too. I'm just not especially good at talking about myself unless I'm just rambling on about nothing like a ninny. I can do the vital stats thing [I'm 30, born April 29th, 1980 not long after midnight] but that's just a day and a tally of years and I still feel like a freaking teenager in that awkward stage of still trying to figure themselves out and teetering on that cusp of being a responsible adult thing,

I also have managed it so almost no one knows my last name. Or my full name even. Even at work it's just "Fran." This kinda amuses me.

So, TL;DR, I'm Fran and I am a derp. Yep.

Day 01 - Introduce yourself
Day 02 – Your first love
Day 03 – Your parents
Day 04 – What you ate today
Day 05 – Your definition of love
Day 06 – Your day
Day 07 – Your best friend
Day 08 – A moment
Day 09 – Your beliefs
Day 10 – What you wore today
Day 11 – Your siblings
Day 12 – What’s in your bag
Day 13 – This week
Day 14 – What you wore today
Day 15 – Your dreams
Day 16 – Your first kiss
Day 17 – Your favorite memory
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday
Day 19 – Something you regret
Day 20 – This month
Day 21 – Another moment
Day 22 – Something that upsets you
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry
Day 25 – A first
Day 26 – Your fears
Day 27 – Your favorite place
Day 28 – Something that you miss
Day 29 – Your aspirations
Day 30 – One last moment

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's really interesting reading intros like these; I didn't know most of this stuff (or only like sort of knew half of and wasn't sure). I guess, while I'm actually also an introvert that tends to keep to herself a lot especially when I'm in unfamiliar territory, I'm also quite outgoing and passionate about several important things in my life.

I got picked on as a kid too, even in middle school, but I 'fought' back. (Like, somehow got it straightened out or at least made it known.) I remember once, when I was particularly bullied after school before my sister picked me up, I was in tears; yet I remember that all that I really said about what I wanted done about it was, "I just want it to stop". And interestingly, I think from that point on it really had, in that school and elsewhere since. =|a

I'm...more of a habitual ninja? Like people do notice me when I mean to be noticed, but I can hella sneak up on people sometimes when I don't make a particular effort at being noticeable. =P Plus, I just ninja around on communities sometimes, as you might remember, lol.

I know that for me I have had a major anxiety problem, and of course worrywart is a natural extension of that 8D;; (Seriously though you spell better than a lot of people I've seen; I always feel like people who have a disorder that makes it hard to do something often do it better than some people who don't have the disorder 9_9 ) I...*might* have some ADHD tendencies, but only in that my brain can go a million places at once; I can really focus on something so much that I forget other things at times XD;;

And I keep marveling at my tendency to make friends with people who are several years my senior. Those people especially always seem to be kinda surprised when they learn how young I am XD;; Ironic thing, in person, people often think I'm in high school, despite being taller than most girls my age. Must be the baby fat on the cheeks. XP

Also, a final observe. If you take the differences between Mage and Supes (god that seems like eternity ago XP ), their contrasts are similar to ours: impassive vs. fretful, overseer vs. warrior, even sorta with the ages that Mage and Supes hold themselves as, if not necessarily their actual ages. XP And I suspect their similarities are to a fair extent our similarities too. The whole thing about a muse being a chip off the ole mun I guess, huh? =P

Apparently in middleschool I slammed some kid's head into a locker. Don't remember that. I DO remember using a metal pole to knock someone off my bike when she wouldn't get off it. And that when the kid's mom called mine, mine bitched out the other mom something wicked :D That was when the teasing stopped for me.

Using spell check honestly is most the reason it seems like I spell pretty well. :) That and working my ass off to fix it. I worked with someone for two years in college to help too. this is also kinda why I get annoyed with lazy spellers and people who just don't give two bits. Seriously, it's like, if you do not have a disorder, just freaking learn to spell already! No excuse! If I can do it, you sure as heck can. Drives me craaazy ><

Re: Muses: Yeah. :D There's a reason I play the characters I do. :)

and I don't think I act my age, so.. :)

(Since I saw the other comment, I realize that I know your last name too -- er, I think -- but that's only cause you hunted me down on Facebook XD;; )

I'm not physically robust enough to fight back in that way I think, or at least I know that I wouldn't be able to do it without 1) getting myself in trouble (I had a rep at school to protect =x and also that would've pissed off my parents...) and 2) I suspected I'd lose if it came to a physical confrontation. Though to be honest if you were that rough with people, how did you not get their friends ganging up on you and offing you? ._. Maybe it was the fact that I told the authorities (school admins teachers etc.)? I just remember that when I walked past one of them on campus sometime later, I said "Hi!" in a very innocuous way as if I had forgotten all about it, and they couldn't even look me in the eye. =P ...Yeah, I guess I really am a person that fights with her words. XD;; (I was in kung fu class once, but what I was known for was how loud I said my "HIYA!"'s; award for "Best Energy" indeed. And again WORDS XDXD;;) I've never done stuff like that, so in fact I think that's why in person quite a few people think I'm quiet and passive. People who've seen me talk though know otherwise XDXD;; I fight with WORDS DAMMIT and woe to the people who do not take heed of this in time 8P

This is why I don't feel guilty when I think less of people who write like that; when it gets that bad, you know they're not even trying. =/

RE muses, I think there's a reason everyone plays the characters they do, isn't there? And for that matter, a reason that people write the stories and focus on the sets of characters that they do (to generalize in a non-interactive medium as well). If it's true though, I should have already played a bunch of "geek" characters by now. =/ Prob is I think though, most of those in anime especially are either timid and quiet (okay, so Supes can be described in both those ways, but that's really only a surface, 'not-fully-realized' layer of him) or arrogant and stiff *cough*Autor*cough*. It's cause there are no Science Heros anymore! D= (Look in there. There are NO anime examples. None!)

Several times after people have talked with me at length they ask me some variation of how old I am. So it's not only that I don't act my age, I don't act like any particular age at all! XD;; Though supposedly past elementary school with my discussion topics and syntax, lol.

(Curse you, facebook, you gave away my secrets! :DDD)

See, I wasn't physically fit at all. I just kinda... lost my head. So I doubt anyone teacher wise believed I did it. I honestly don't remember it at all so... who knows! :D

And I'm sure there are anime science heroes. TV tropes is not an exhaustive list! :)

Facebook is notorious for doing that to everybody XD;;;

Obviously you didn't remember it because you don't remember people coming over to get revenge afterward! D= (I think this was the case for me in a smaller form that I forget the specifics of so that's why I'm wary of stuff like that...)

Oh, I'm sure there are SOME out there, if you look really close with a magnifying glass -- the fact remains that it's no more than a handful out of all the stuff out there! On the other hand, anyone can think of anime, old-school and modern, where Science is Bad, or that "it's well-intentioned but it always screws up". And in fact, most modern movies have that trope too, Star Trek not withstanding because it's a throwback to the era of America when science actually was worth something in popular culture. ...Methinks I would like to put in efforts to change this trend. =P

Eh, I don't see so many "Science is BAD" as there are "oh for the love of-- WHO LET THE MAD SCIENTIST IN HERE?" and inappropriate use of technology/science instead of the science itself.

And besides. Science and tech are common place at this point. Older plots you'd have to pull the SCIENCE! card to do more simple things that can be done with just a cell phone now. The balance between science and nature is tipped pretty strongly in the science court, so the nature aspect is getting a trope resurgence since connection with nature is about as mystical today as science was when it was new.

As a treehugger, it totally support nature getting more of a spotlight in popculture. :D

But that's the thing -- most often I do not see science being portrayed in a positive manner, and the negative manner is emphasized in the plot; it's always, "be careful, be careful, you're gonna mess up" instead of also, "hey, what if we could really fix this?"...not without making the effort mess up ultimately. =/ Again, I point to the fact that much media nowadays, if they address the matter, extol nature's positives and frown at technology's negatives. Sure you SEE more technology in anime nowadays -- that doesn't mean it's portrayed in a positive sense. I rarely see stories where nature is seen as something backwater or inferior to science; it's usually the other way around, especially in any story that isn't specifically sci-fi.

Well, as a scientist, I'm frankly getting sick of being told that my studies and investigations are ultimately useless to society and a possible method of its destruction, without also spotlighting all the disasters and tragedies that have been averted as a result of the fruits of the pursuit of knowledge. (Nobody ever looks at the disasters that didn't happen XD;; ) I've never seen nature being accused of being the harbinger of the apocalypse. (Arguably, you could say that stories where it's shown to be what keeps a society from advancing and eventually to its demise is this; seeing this occur is an exception rather than the rule though) I don't need to be warned for the thousandth time that people might get hurt because of carelessness. If it weren't for the many scientific advances (e.g. medical) that laypeople of the day said were unethical and dangerous, I wouldn't be here right now, really, and neither would some of my family members. =(

The thing is though, society already is well entrenched in science. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find 2 sane people in a room of 100 who would say science is bad. Especially considering Anime, where in Japan, science and technology is basically a cultural god. When every aspect of life is entrenched in it, you need media to be all "GUYS! BACK TOWARDS THE MIDDLE! SERIOUSLY!"

Because you do have mega corporations that are misusing scientific advances for their own ends at the detriment of the world [Monsanto is probably the best example of this. GMOs, in responsible hands, could result in some amazing advances. But for profit GMO biotech results in things done the business way, "As long as it benefits me, fuck everyone else".] It's never that science as a whole is bad. Hell, its not even very often a scientist that's bad minus mad science which is on the same level as a man gunman in terms of plot use. Less than, even.

Maybe I'm seeing different media than you are, since most anime that deals with nature vs science tends to either fall in the "we need a balance" category and I more see humans as a whole fucking up nature with expansion and greed. Not so much science. Hell, I can't think of anything media wise that says science is useless. I've seen some hamfisted "HUMANS NEED TO GO BACK TO BEING FARMERS GODDAMNIT" but again, that had little to do with science and more to do with "Humans ruin everything."

And there are plenty disaster movies where nature brings on near apocalyptic ends :) And almost ever space exploration anime has a plant that eats someone.

I guess it comes down to that, then -- people. Actually, it's anime where I find most of the nature > science sentiment; just because a society in RL is focused on it, doesn't mean its media is as well. It might have something to do with the fact that a modern technology of the day obliterated two of their cities in a very epically horrible fashion; I think I heard that mentioned when I was discussing films somewhere with somebody. x_x There are very, very recent examples otherwise that actually do have explicitly good words to say for technological progress alongside valuing the natural world, of which I'm grateful for.

That's true, there are corporations without consciences (ENRON oh god don't get me started on that one). And then yeah, it really comes down to the people, or the group of people, with that kind of antisocial mindset.

Well, maybe not as a whole theme, with the useless science message -- it's more of a leaning, that the pursuit of knowledge is not that valuable if it's not to avert an immediate disaster -- as in, pursuit of knowledge for the sake of discovery (in hopes of on eday averting tragedies we may not even know we can avert, perhaps). The Geek stereotype sitting in their labs and books oblivious to anything but mundane technical things is ubiquitous.

True -- by its nature (grrr, pun NOT intended really >_< ), natural disasters can't be blamed on people per se. Disasters that were a result of something we did certainly can be; it doesn't make sense to say, "the natural world did this so it's the natural world's fault and we should get rid of it!" -- or if is possible to say that, I don't think I've seen it as a justification for destructive technological progress. But I have seen "our technological progress caused all this trouble so we should get rid of it!" And yes, I bring up what you said again -- dude, it's not technology, it's you misusing it and being stupid. That doesn't mean stopping progress is preferable to avoiding disaster! Just like it's not preferable to try to destroy the natural world just because it's dangerous. I guess what that boils down to -- pay attention, learn from your mistakes and then, pick yourself up and continue on again.

...Maybe that's why I feel kinda strongly about this suddenly. It's like people are saying the right thing to do is to give on your pursuit of making the world a better place to live because it's too risky, it could cause considerable damage, so it's not worth the risk. That averting the 'inevitable tragedies' by using loopholes we created (by studying nature itself!), we're somehow illicitly "playing God". That trying to divert from the 'natural way of things' is somehow inherently bad. I don't think it is (nor do I believe you think so either, but I have personally met people who think otherwise).

But you're forgetting: This is entertainment we're talking about. Contrast shows conflict better and this makes for a better story. It's far more dramatic to destroy the machine at the center of the Earth than to reach a compromise and reprogram it to be in harmony.

I think what's more is that Japan comes form a back ground where it has a strong nature based religion that is still practiced. Nature is, or was, sacred. And at the same time, a lot of Japanese current culture, both professional and youth, is all about the technology. So you're far more likely to get the "back to our routes" there, in the land of extremes.

There's also the fact that anime is an artist medium and traditionally, artists tend to favour the nature end of the scale.

And learning for the sake of learning hasn't been a cultural value in a long time. Knowledge is Power is Money is the mantra.

Also, I'm really curious what you're watching that you're seeing those trends.

There's ways to make the balance even more moving and dramatic than the black-and-white; problem is, the people who might be able to think of such things usually aren't in the entertainment industry. -_- There have been though recently, and those are some movies that have done really well actually: How to Train Your Dragon does this, and it's all the more moving for seeing dragons in a new light, creating a new society order that's even better than the original.

But then you get my point! *I* am an artist per se, and I can see the wonders of both. That means I really could help balance it out by helping people see the side that's not favored in my works, right?

During the Cold War, while there was some power & money going on, there was also a lot of hope for discoveries what with the moon landing and things like that; those were the heydays of Star Trek, Star Wars. I haven't seen a show like Star Trek: The Next Generation, which seems to be the prime opposite of Science Is Bad, since then.

Specific examples? Okay, let me think -- Avatar definitely shows the beauty of nature and makes it its theme, and while it doesn't portray the pure scientists as bad and instead the corporation who wants to knock down a great tree for money, the scientists aren't the ones who save the day per se; they sorta get absorbed by that world's nature XP

Nausicaa, while I haven't seen it personally, apparently is about how the natural order needs to be upheld and the technology that brought both good and bad things (it does specify both) should be abandoned.

Princess Mononoke (I'm not trying to focus on Miyazaki films but it's easier to do all of them in a row), Iron Town is made a better village by becoming simpler, closer to nature.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky, the moment they find out that the floating fortress can be used as a weapon and there are some bad people in it about to take advantage of it, they decide in less than a minute that it needs to be destroyed; it's not an unreasonable conclusion, but it's a bit strange that they come to this conclusion as quickly as they did.

Kingdom Hearts is another one, where feelings prevail over scientific inquiry (I think this is emphasized in the sequel but I haven't played through all of it so I'm going off what spoilers I've heard of the series), and in fact the scientists are seen to be looking into something that shouldn't be looked into, as opposed to finding a better, less destructive way to do so, as in the inquiry itself was immoral.

Fullmetal Alchemist, doing alchemy on living things is immoral and it always messes up; they make a point of it being a sin because humans can't create life, and they have to repent for it by this journey they take. The alchemy researchers (as opposed to just users) in the story either end up regretting their actions or turn into villains.

Persona 3, scientists were doing experiments on Shadows to learn what they were; granted, they probably made some stupid mistakes, but the 'good guy' in the situation says, "We never should have researched the Shadows" or the like.

Tales of the Abyss, fomicry is kind of analogous to alchemy in how it's viewed in the story; I hear though that while the 'good guy' researcher regretted doing it and the 'bad guy' keeps going with it, the 'good guy' actually does continue researching it at the end; I haven't played to the end of that game so I have to verify that. But certainly that's the solid view in the game for a good amount of time. (What goes against this is that the examination of a prophesy, actually partially scientifically obtained, is that the protagonists eventually try to use it as a tool to prevent the collapse of the system, instead of stopping using the system altogether; maybe that's one reason I like this game, it actually has that complexity XP )

(whoa this is too long for one comment ^^;; )

I have seen ONE Of those on this list so I'll go with that:

Mononke-hime ends with a compromise. Nature and man agree to co exists where as before the village had been destroying the forest and the forest (occupants) was trying to destroy the village. They reached a truce. That one is totally about balance.

True -- but the movie is clearly more sympathetic towards the nature side; there is never a nature entity that does something 'wrong', whereas the other side has the characters who have caused the trouble. The ones with the wisdom are the ones on the side of nature.

The movie showed that both sides had their motivations. More camera time is given to natures motivations because humans are the ones watching and know the human motivations. The struggle was initiated by humans occupying a territory that nature already had, yes, but it's not like nature can invade.

And as Juchan points out, the curse gods wer courpt and rabid. that's a pretty clear wrong right there.

Then we agree, more time is spent on the nature side rather than the technological side. To consider that an evening out of sorts (it can still be about balance but not be evenly spread), is to assume that we relate to the motivations of the humans that are causing the trouble; that's not necessarily the case, because like you said, a lot of people don't relate to things science-related like technology. We don't see a 'pretty' industrialized town like we do the really gorgeous scenes of nature abundant through the film.

Nature can kinda 'invade' with attacks (willful or otherwise; like you said, natural disasters) to regain territory that the humans are living in; if you're saying that isn't invading, then that means that the only way to keep from encroaching on their territory is to not live anywhere at all, because everywhere we're living was all-natural land initially. =( If you're saying it's done in excess, then yes that's in extreme; but both sides have extremes, like you two said, there were curse gods that were causing undue harm on the other side of nature.

...Hmm, wait, there's also a guy that's sorta close to a scientist; I mean the one who causes the trouble by trying to steal the head at the end. Ths the one who wants to delve into the unknown for reasons other than restoring of the status quo is the one who causes the problems.

Also: alchemy is magic, not science. Especially in modern works and from what i have seen of FMA, it's very much magic

Doesn't matter if it's not nominally 'science'; it's knowledge about how to manipulate the world around you, which is the essence of what I mean when I say 'science'. They even have labs and research, etc. on it; Shou Tucker is exactly that, a mad scientist on the research of alchemy.

So then basically, science in this context is anything that isn't nature, which would include the whole of society? That's a bit wide of a filter... And in that case, then every fantasy epic with magic is showing that type of science used positively.

I don't know that I'd say that'd include the whole of society...society doesn't necessarily care about knowing new things, discovering new methods; often it's to maintain the status quo, to keep what's there, progress optional.

As far as I can recall at the moment, the stories I know that show magic in a primarily beneficial light usually do not have any visual imagery, terminology, or 'rules of how it works' that would make it seem like science (is steampunk an exception?), as opposed to stuff like alchemy which has several trappings like the lab and research stuff, etc. The way it looks and is presented is important, because when things occur in other worlds, the design elements that evoke certain concepts that do exist in our world place the non-existent thing into terms we can relate to, and I'm saying that usually the ones that evoke real life science have a strong tendency to have that cautionary and pessimistic leaning.

Tales of the Abyss is a notable exception to this, as it actually tries to salvage the system causing harm by 'fixing' it per se -- with research! XD

Heroman, which I've only watched one episode of, had a scientist who was giddy about the fact that he contacted an alien race and proceeded to brag about it to anyone who'd listen -- turns out he contacted a race that was looking for a planet to invade. Oops. The scientist isn't evil, but he's definitely portrayed as ignorant and a bit silly. (Arguably the fact that a giant robot is what saves the day in the episode is a point FOR technology, but I think maybe it has to do with the fact that it's a mecha show anyway, so they wouldn't be dissing their own genre. XP )

Shugo Chara, the bad guys are scientists (as well as corporate greedypeople, like you mentioned) looking into exploiting the Shugo Eggs for their personal gain. There are no 'good' people researching the Eggs, just 'reformed' ones that aren't doing bad things anymore.

Interesting telling thing, I searched for the phrase "scientists in anime" and about half the results had the word "mad" before it. Seems that mad scientists are the norm when it comes to having a scientist in an anime. They're not all that way, and they're not all bad, but again that's the exception rather than the norm. (E.g., Icchan from Angelic Layer is a mentor for the protagonist, and in fact the story behind the whole game itself is as funding for research on how to create artificial limbs that responded directly to people's brains. Again, Angelic Layer is another favorite of mine. =P )

Alright, lemee see if I can think of Western stuff fitting this bill...

The classic dystopian novels are a no brainer; they're always a technologically advanced society rather than the other way around.
Frankenstein is not just a classic, it's a trope.
The Terminator movies are very much on this.
Most zombie movies have the scenario of science gone wrong, and it's usually not science that makes it right (I Am Legend the movie I think does this though? The main character actually WAS a scientist, which stuck out to me because I usually didn't see an action hero that was one). The Swan Princess, the villain of the second movie's secret lair was a laboratory, and indeed he was a scientist of sorts, and the movie's whole message was that dark magic should never be looked into to be able to harness for good, because nothing good can come of it; it's kind of hard to relate it here because white/dark magic doesn't exist, but it's not just the power of destruction; it can also create and change, and that's lumped in with the forbidden arts. Spiderman (or did I get the hero wrong? =/ ) had Dr. Octopus; he meant well, but of course it messes up and he goes crazy and turns into a villain, and it's only after he destroys his technology that everything's OK again. The Golden Compass, the antagonists include researchers into nature of the connection between daemons and their owners; and of COURSE they're doing it for selfish gain and are oblivious to other people's suffering. No good scientists to contrast this either.

...Basically, I can see it in a good number of the stuff that's fairly popular, even stuff that I really like XD;;

See... most of this doesn't come off as "science is bad" as it does "society is bad" and it's individuals misusing science. It's kinda hard for an individual to misuse nature cause Nature it hard to control.

The Dystopia comes when man totally discards nature and allows itself to be run by machine. Most of them are more about conformity and human nature being suppressed. And it's not always a tech. advanced society in a dystopic, but most of them are set in the future because it hasn't happened yet. It's not the tech level that causes it, it's that the tech level shows that it's the future or is abused to create the situation.

That's still my point though -- we see so much misuse of the scientific pursuit of knowledge and so little proper, 'heroic' usage. =(

because heroic usage is background. Healing people and fixing things rarely gets on screen attention unless it's done uniquely. Science is a way of life. Day to day things don't sell many movies.

And there are plenty of movies/media that do use science in a positive way, just not often in a blockbuster way since the guy working the computer is in the background as someone else is blasting aliens or something.

That's not true that a science person cannot be the action hero, and in fact that's what the trope of the Science Hero is. I indicate How to Train Your Dragon as a counterpoint -- the scientist IS the action hero, and it certainly was more than just a day-to-day thing. Though there was a montage in there, lol -- but that set up dramatic, epic scenes that certainly were attention grabbing. Sweeping discoveries like that he uncovered can really be dramatic and definitely worth watching a movie of. Unfortunately, by that statement it demonstrates that the general public isn't really used to seeing movies like that, and thus think they can't exist. XP

[and a friend points out that almost all crime dramas use science to catch criminals so there's at least one proexample in an action type setting. There's actually quite a lot of that in that genre of TV I think.]

80% of all movies are cookie cutter stuff based on what made the most money last season and repeating previous successes. Children's films are a slight deviation but...

Actually, now that I think of it, kids films have far more science = hijinks and result in James Bond/Batman type scenarios. But adult perception of science as hard [due to schooling] probably dulls that interest, as does the fact that most movies are designed for decompression rather than thinking. Science movies require more active thinking or techobable, and most writers are not very science versed, but an audience going to see a science based movie would be so they can't just bullshit it like they used to be unless it's SciFi and thus a gazillion years in the future so they can make stuff up again.

[it's true, I am nigh unfamiliar with crime and detective stories; I hear from people sometimes that people like me might find them very interesting, though somehow I never caught on to it -- maybe it's just the stereotypical 20's setting it's associated with or something like that? =P Detective stories are a niche genre like sci-fi, come to think of it; so yep you're right, it's a positive for the concept, but it also further outlines the mainstream view outside that]

LOL, and I end up more often than not liking films targeted for kids: some are intended for kids but really actually valuable for older, more mature audiences too; and then there are some that parents & babysitters have to reaaaaally suffer during. XD Though I think when I was a kid I tended not to like stuff that was unbearably kiddy anyway.

That leads into -- what you're hitting on, about entertainment as decompression vs. thinking, definitely it's also about taste, and I'm not going to pretend that my tastes are at all identical to the mainstream. Movies that I go, "OMG that was soooo amazing and cool!! Don't you think so??" while everyone else like my parents go, "...That made my brain hurt o_o;;" Harhar. =P

Though, this doesn't mean I like most movies that seem 'intellectual' or 'meaningful'; if anything those often piss me off more than a mainstream movie because they're so pretentious, without real substance behind the airs it throws around. I mean, I ADORE movies like PotC and Speed Racer and Transformers (the first one) -- they have good, satisfying, fun entertainment value. However, they don't insult your intelligence either like most hardcore comedy movies that I normally really don't like.

And also (lol and those three movies I mentioned are also targeted to specifically include younger audiences, but definitely adults as well), there's a sincerity and idealism in them that I think somehow is kin to the path of curiosity. In fact, maybe that's why 'kids' films more often have that sort of stuff like you noticed -- curiosity is something we associate with children, their desire to learn more about the world around them. People who are drawn to that way of perceiving the world retain that curiosity, and others who had it once lose it when they grow up to focus on more 'practical' things.

I don't deny that intellectual curiosity is not something that's going to be a trait of the general public anytime soon, in fact a very knowledgeable mentor of mine noted to me how rare it is to find someone with it. But, I guess then it comes back to my goal, especially since it's in short supply right now, to bring more of it out into the world, in hopes that I could create something uplifting for the others like me out there.

And an addendum to the previous paragraph, that if I can, it would not only be uplifting to the curious intellectuals out there, but also can be enjoyed on a different level by even the mainstream -- and in fact, it can even let the mainstream understand and feel that way of seeing the world on their terms, and perhaps enable them to value that way of thinking more. If I could do that in some stories of mine...*starry eyes*

I'll guess I'll add, as for how I see the matter, nature + science =/= dichotomies. For me, I'd like to observe and learn with non-destructive (or minimally at least) methods how it works, and to appreciate its diverse wonders -- and then, with what ingenuity I might possess, see what I can create derived from knowing it, being able to make what we have better for us without destroying the things we already have. So really, in the best sense it's mutual. =D ...This kind of idealism seems to be lost on most people nowadays though. =(

Yes, but popculture deals in black and whites. :) Things that are logical don't often make the best entertainment. :D

I think it's bio-mimicry that works with that sort of thing. Seeing how nature does things and applying it to technology. They've gotten some fascinating neat stuff with that.

Good intro. I see more than a bit of myself in you. (you'll have to tell me if that's a good thing or not! :-P)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVERYONE ELSE IS DOIN' IT

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1/? too long for 1 comment XD;; Sorry, tried to find as many examples as I could

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Re: 1/? too long for 1 comment XD;; Sorry, tried to find as many examples as I could

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I know your full name...but then I'm weird