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#1
Entertainment / Re: Books you shouldn't have r...
Last post by zombie no.one - Today at 12:04:55 PMQuote from: M.10rda on Today at 09:26:59 AMThe teacher confiscated it, ripped it up, and then called in the school custodian to ritually burn it (yes) in front of the class.
drastic
Not a book but I used to buy a rather not-for-kids comic called BRAIN DAMAGE, and made the mistake of taking it into school once to show some mates... got confiscated by my English teacher and never returned to me!
#2
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 11:20:08 AMTEA AND SYMPATHY (1956):
Committing myself (somewhat masochistically) to only watching movies from before 1960 this year has really developed my perspective for What I'm inclined to consider a "Good" or "Bad" Movie as well as about Why. This one is technically competent, formally pleasant (if rather austere and listless), and professionally acted and directed (the latter by a giant of mid-20th century Hollywood, Vincente Minelli). It's screenplay is essentially literate and thoughtful (based on a formerly popular chestnut of community theaters). It's by all measures a Good Movie... but as w/ a bunch of other things I've watched lately, it's such a product of its time that it kinda' doesn't function anymore, or at least not as was intended.
Deborah Kerr plays the wife of a "housemaster" at an American boys prep school. She takes a shine to and begins to mentor one quiet, intelligent, athletically disinclined senior played by John Kerr - who bizarrely is no relation to Deborah, though in light of their characters' relationship, it would've been more bizarre if the actors were related.
Anyway, the kid likes poetry and flowers, which earns him the ire of his father, the sportscoach housemaster, and all the other jocks at school. However, he also likes Deborah....... and eventually it's clear that Deborah likes him!
TEA AND SYMPATHY is ultimately chaste, but its subtext remains clear. A smart Letterboxd user just leaves their review at this: "Masculinity is a prison, and all men are cops." I got that resonant moral from this movie, but the Letterboxd user says it in one sentence whereas the movie takes 2+ hours. Also, the rough, insensitive way John K. is treated at his 1950s private boys school remains plausible in some part, though from a contemporary perspective, he'd be tolerated or embraced by a large percentage of the school population even if he was openly homosexual today... but also also, realistically he'd get it a lot worse from the school's most reactionary bigots in 1956 or in 2026. (Speaking from experience here as a former "John K".) Of course, all of the gay hysteria seems ultimately besides the point in TEA AND SYMPATHY, as the kid isn't gay... he's in love with the nice-looking Coach's wife... who's inclined to reciprocate. And in no world I know would a 17-year old boy bagging a 40ish MILF be targeted for ritualistic community abuse....... guy'd be lionized!
Thus TEA AND SYMPATHY doesn't track strongly on any of its designed levels. Minelli and the screenplay don't help by ultimately focusing more on the May/September romance than on the prejudice angle. The ending falls flat for me.
3/5? The famous line "Years from now, when you speak of this - and you will - be kind" originate from this text. Ironically it's also kind of the text's own epitaph.
Committing myself (somewhat masochistically) to only watching movies from before 1960 this year has really developed my perspective for What I'm inclined to consider a "Good" or "Bad" Movie as well as about Why. This one is technically competent, formally pleasant (if rather austere and listless), and professionally acted and directed (the latter by a giant of mid-20th century Hollywood, Vincente Minelli). It's screenplay is essentially literate and thoughtful (based on a formerly popular chestnut of community theaters). It's by all measures a Good Movie... but as w/ a bunch of other things I've watched lately, it's such a product of its time that it kinda' doesn't function anymore, or at least not as was intended.
Deborah Kerr plays the wife of a "housemaster" at an American boys prep school. She takes a shine to and begins to mentor one quiet, intelligent, athletically disinclined senior played by John Kerr - who bizarrely is no relation to Deborah, though in light of their characters' relationship, it would've been more bizarre if the actors were related.
Anyway, the kid likes poetry and flowers, which earns him the ire of his father, the sportscoach housemaster, and all the other jocks at school. However, he also likes Deborah....... and eventually it's clear that Deborah likes him! TEA AND SYMPATHY is ultimately chaste, but its subtext remains clear. A smart Letterboxd user just leaves their review at this: "Masculinity is a prison, and all men are cops." I got that resonant moral from this movie, but the Letterboxd user says it in one sentence whereas the movie takes 2+ hours. Also, the rough, insensitive way John K. is treated at his 1950s private boys school remains plausible in some part, though from a contemporary perspective, he'd be tolerated or embraced by a large percentage of the school population even if he was openly homosexual today... but also also, realistically he'd get it a lot worse from the school's most reactionary bigots in 1956 or in 2026. (Speaking from experience here as a former "John K".) Of course, all of the gay hysteria seems ultimately besides the point in TEA AND SYMPATHY, as the kid isn't gay... he's in love with the nice-looking Coach's wife... who's inclined to reciprocate. And in no world I know would a 17-year old boy bagging a 40ish MILF be targeted for ritualistic community abuse....... guy'd be lionized!
Thus TEA AND SYMPATHY doesn't track strongly on any of its designed levels. Minelli and the screenplay don't help by ultimately focusing more on the May/September romance than on the prejudice angle. The ending falls flat for me.
3/5? The famous line "Years from now, when you speak of this - and you will - be kind" originate from this text. Ironically it's also kind of the text's own epitaph.
#3
Entertainment / Re: Books you shouldn't have r...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 09:45:01 AM
Rape scene. I was about 12?
Also one of the Gor novels, don't remember which one but probably the first one, at about the same age. If you don't know, it was a fantasy series with heavy S&M/B&D themes.
#4
Games / Re: Answer the question with a...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 09:33:46 AM
What noise did you make when they attacked you?
#5
Entertainment / Re: Books you shouldn't have r...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:26:59 AMMost of them! During independent reading time in 4th grade, a very smart classmate who later was Class President etc was reading Sidney Sheldon's The Other Side Of Midnight. The teacher confiscated it, ripped it up, and then called in the school custodian to ritually burn it (yes) in front of the class. 
After he toted away the ashes, we were to return to our IR books. I was reading Cujo and had been on the page where a character is talking about his wife's pubic hair. The teacher (who liked me) walked by and nodded taciturnly for me to continue. This was maybe the first and just about the last time in my life that I slipped past the Long Arm of the Law. I've gotten pulled over countless times for driving within the speed limit, for instance. I've passed three or four breathalyzers/field sobriety tests! (I mean I've never failed one. Cops just like pulling me over and sometimes they like pulling me out of the car and giving me the business.) 
I'm a white guy, btw!
Also Cujo is one of the weakest Stephen King novels I've read. It would've been a bummer to get in trouble for that one. A lot of the Peter Straub and Dean Koontz novels I read as a kid were even a lot more sexually graphic...
After he toted away the ashes, we were to return to our IR books. I was reading Cujo and had been on the page where a character is talking about his wife's pubic hair. The teacher (who liked me) walked by and nodded taciturnly for me to continue. This was maybe the first and just about the last time in my life that I slipped past the Long Arm of the Law. I've gotten pulled over countless times for driving within the speed limit, for instance. I've passed three or four breathalyzers/field sobriety tests! (I mean I've never failed one. Cops just like pulling me over and sometimes they like pulling me out of the car and giving me the business.) I'm a white guy, btw!Also Cujo is one of the weakest Stephen King novels I've read. It would've been a bummer to get in trouble for that one. A lot of the Peter Straub and Dean Koontz novels I read as a kid were even a lot more sexually graphic...
#6
Games / Re: Movie Title Chains
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 09:23:59 AMThe Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
#7
Television / Re: What TV Shows Are you Watc...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:08:37 AMI've been interested in checking that out eventually - I really like Annie Murphy.
#8
Television / Re: TV characters you hated?
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:06:00 AMQuote from: Rev. Powell on March 09, 2026, 09:20:52 AMEveryone on "Married with Children"
Everyone on "Friends" (except Lisa Kudrow, for some reason)
I'm with you on these.
#9
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 08:55:42 AM
"Late Night Tales" is a series where electronic musicians curate chillout trax from lesser known acts and add a composition or two of their own. It's in 2 separate versions, the complete cuts and a seamless mix, each running over an hour.
