You'd think a guy who could unknowingly lift ten tons might accidentally kill a person or two if he was even a little pissed at them, but I guess these days anyone can survive a punch that physically knocks them thirty feet backwards - I swear it happens in every other action movie these days.

If you look at tomorrow's (today's) OotB, you will note Blue's reference to a character from the comic book, Gwen Stacey. (Comic book story spoiler in secret text) Gwen Stacey was Peter Parker's girlfriend, who fell from the top of a bridge. Spider-Man fired off a webline and arced down and caught her, but the violent decceleration from the fall snapped her neck, which was more fragile than Spider-Man's was... So Spidey learned something about physics and human anatomy at the same time, in a tragic way.

It is interesting that in the comic books a superhero's magnified strength rarely causes a problem in interacting with people and objects - almost as if the greater strength also gave them greater control and sensitivity to dial down that strength so they don't accidentally crush objects or people.

As a side note, I have seen a story where a character's magnified strength causes problems, at least initially. In the Japanese animated TV series Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex, one of the main characters (Kusanagi) is a human who for some reason became an almost total cyborg at a very young age (she's basically a brain and maybe a spinal column for organic components). The opening credits for that program show her accidentally destroying a toy doll while picking it up, in a sequence assumed to occur soon after her forced transfer into a (stronger because of its material composition) cyborg body...

This comment was edited on Jun 30, 11:14.

BRING FORTH THE MULTI-DIP!!!!111111

I am too lazy to hunt down proper URLs, but check out the audio comments for these two reviews:

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/037/037216p1.html

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/316/316887p1.html

Edit: There have been a number of different releases of the movie now (original, updated, and in the multi-packs.)

Liking part one somewhat; thinking it was downhill from there,
Ray


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Yay, look at me! I am a terrorist and I have proven that I can be a total ass. Er...wait...
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&sub=ANF&id=ray_marden
I love you, mom.
This comment was edited on Jun 30, 14:58.

Heh; I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 at 21:30 late yesterday night (now early morning...) and people were already lining up for the 00:00 Spiderman 2 showing.

Thinking I will likely see a matinee showing this week,
Ray

-----
Yay, look at me! I am a terrorist and I have proven that I can be a total ass. Er...wait...
http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&sub=ANF&id=ray_marden
I love you, mom.

For some comparison, I remember in the newer cartoon that spidey was strong enough to just be able to lift a volkswagon beetle.

I'm hoping for venom in Spidey 3 and hopefully a spinoff movie.

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Love,
Mayor Dan:
The mayor of your hearts <3
This comment was edited on Jun 30, 01:38.

- Proportional strength and speed of a spider - I seem to recall that the original comic book mentioned that a spider can lift approximately 52 times its weight and jump approximately three times its length, but maybe that's just my faulty memory talking... However, if we take those numbers, and assume that Spider-Man (who is usually described as wiry and of average height) weighs around 160 - 180 pounds (approximately 80 kilograms for you metric people), then the best case has him able to lift approximately 10 tons (9 metric tonnes) of weight.

Thanks, at least that saves the final big scene for me. I still don't think the movie conveyed any of this but at least the comic book fans knew what he could do. I guess I only saw him beat a guy up at school and win that rasslin' match. You'd think a guy who could unknowingly lift ten tons might accidentally kill a person or two if he was even a little pissed at them, but I guess these days anyone can survive a punch that physically knocks them thirty feet backwards - I swear it happens in every other action movie these days.

Don't get me wrong, I don't go into comic book movies looking for absolute realism, but I do wish that they would follow the rules as set in the story.

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To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. ~ Homer Simpson

The problem I had with the first Spidey may be because I'm not a comic book reader and am not familiar with Spiderman's powers.

Well, let's see...

The original Spider-Man as created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko was supposed to be have been bitten by a radioactive spider, which conferred the following abilities on young science nerd Peter Parker:

- Spider Sense - a tingling sensation that lets Spider-Man know that danger is close by, and which direction to avoid it (and therefore, which direction the danger lay in). This is supposed to represent the spider's ability to quickly detect approaching danger (via its multiple eyes/fine body hairs) and move out of harm's way.

- Wall-crawling ability - spiders perform this feat using very fine leg hairs and van der Waals forces; the original comic book didn't really explain this - Spider-Man could cling/crawl/walk/run up walls/roofs, and that was it. In the 1st movie (spoiler! spoiler!) they did show that Spider-Man had - something - growing out of his palms/feet which presumably penetrates through his costume and lets him cling to walls, but I doubt it would work the way the spiders' van der Waals forces do. Not well explained in either the comic books or the movie.

- Proportional strength and speed of a spider - I seem to recall that the original comic book mentioned that a spider can lift approximately 52 times its weight and jump approximately three times its length, but maybe that's just my faulty memory talking... However, if we take those numbers, and assume that Spider-Man (who is usually described as wiry and of average height) weighs around 160 - 180 pounds (approximately 80 kilograms for you metric people), then the best case has him able to lift approximately 10 tons (9 metric tonnes) of weight. Three times his (average) height means that he should be able to do a standing leap of almost three stories... Rarely mentioned but often assumed is that his body density must have been altered proportionately in order to permit him to support that kind of weight and enable his muscles to release that kind of force without ripping his skeleton and muscles to shreds. Spider-Man is supposed to be amazingly agile and acrobatic, moving with incredible speed, able to leap amazing distances and lift/hit with great strength.

- Web-spinning - this is probably where the comic book and the movie mostly disagree. In the comics webspinning is purely an artificial ability, granted by Spider-Man's web shooters and web fluid both invented by Spider-Man himself. In the movie (spoiler! spoiler!), the fluid has a more... organic origin.

Here's National Geographic's take on the entire Spider-Man thing:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_tvspiders.html

Spider-Man, Spider-Man
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size
Catches thieves, just like flies
Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man!

Is he strong? Listen, Bud,
He's got radioactive blood
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead
Hey there, there goes the Spider-Man!

In the chill of night,
At the scene of the crime
Like a streak of light
He arrives just in time

Spider-Man, Spider-Man
Friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man
Wealth and fame, he's ignored
Action is his reward
To him, life is a great big bang-up
Wherever there's a hang-up
You'll find the Spider-Man!


This comment was edited on Jun 29, 23:27.

I'd second Gladiator as a fine test of home theater equipment. The first battle when they start launching the catapaults full of burning pitch and the arrows start flying always gets me going.

A great example of a scene made 10x better by good audio.

I'd like to, at some point...the first one didn't do too much for me (it totally ruined it for me when they switched to the CGI Spidey, as it was blatantly obvious), but the second movie (story-wise) looks better. Plus, Sam Rami is a cool guy, and I like his movies...

The problem I had with the first Spidey may be because I'm not a comic book reader and am not familiar with Spiderman's powers. This is what bothered me - SPOILER WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SPIDERMAN 1 - from watching the movie I got the impression that while he was very, very strong, like a super gymnast, he wasn't "Superman strong". So during the grand finale I was wondering how he could hold up a multi-ton cable-car without being ripped in half. If the Spiderman character is supposed to be that strong I didn't feel the movie showed that very well until the end. I still enjoyed it though and plan on seeing this one - on DVD.

As a matter of fact, this kind of thing is usually the problem with comic book movies for me. Say when Superman was fast enough to turn back time (!), yet he was still late in saving his crack-ho girlfriend.

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To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. ~ Homer Simpson

Edit: And Sure Shot (off Ill Comm) is, IMO, their finest hour.
Further edit: Though Get It Together (again, Ill Comms) is also great.

Both great tracks, but Body Movin' wins for best video!

Anyone seeing it this week?

I'd like to, at some point...the first one didn't do too much for me (it totally ruined it for me when they switched to the CGI Spidey, as it was blatantly obvious), but the second movie (story-wise) looks better. Plus, Sam Rami is a cool guy, and I like his movies...

also for you americans who are music lovers (nin and co) i highly recommend checking this out if u dont already know:

I'll have to check that out! Thanks!

Wait, is there a DTS version that is good and a DTS version that is bad? If so, how would I know which one I have? Other than hearing an amazingly shitty soundstage that is....

The bad version came out when JP first hit dvd. They offered people who bought it a replacement, if they shipped in their old discs. I'm pretty sure if you buy it now, you'll be getting the fixed version, as that was a few years ago...BTTF was the same way: they hosed the matts (those black bars at the top and bottom, as it was shot full frame and then matted, just like the first JP) and offered a trade in.





There is the theory of the moebius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop time becomes a loop time becomes a loop http://www.loopz.co.uk/
This comment was edited on Jun 29, 22:07.

Unless, of course, you have the dud version that was originally put out on DTS -- the bass on it is about -10 dB from where it should be which makes for an amazingly shitty soundstage.

Wait, is there a DTS version that is good and a DTS version that is bad? If so, how would I know which one I have? Other than hearing an amazingly shitty soundstage that is....

-TPFKAS2S
http://www.braglio.com

Anyone else here using Charter Cable for their internet and email? While I was at work today a friend of mine called and said that he thought someone had hijacked his email account because he had only one or two spam messages instead of the usual 150. He could send and receive to his account though so it seemed to be working. He also called Charter and was told that although spam filtering will be an option in the future, they haven't implemented it yet.

I just checked my email and saw the same thing, instead of the usual 250 or so spam messages I got two. It's weird how a person can get so used to a bad thing that when it stops it raises red flags.

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To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. ~ Homer Simpson

Anyone have any suggestions on movies that are great on surround sound?

Pretty much every film I would list has already been mentioned. I just have to second Blue's recommendation of Master and Commander though, I finally got it a couple weeks ago and the surround effects were really something. So anyway, here are my favorites.

Master and Commander: Far Side of the World
The Fifth Element
Saving Private Ryan
U-571

I've never watched Jurassic Park on DVD, sounds like I'll have to give it a try.


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To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. ~ Homer Simpson
This comment was edited on Jun 29, 20:34.

Anyone seeing [Spiderman 2] this week?

Nah, didn't like the first one and I'm not much of a comic book fan.

As for DVDs to test out a home theatre system with: Heat. The bank job scene by itself is simply amazing, crank your home theatre system up and you've got one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed.

is that beasty boys stuff the thing thats been playing on Radio 1 the whole time?

also for you americans who are music lovers (nin and co) i highly recommend checking this out if u dont already know:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio1.shtml

chris moyles is always good for a laugh.

Witness the quality that is Radio 1 !

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Stop the Politics posts
Say NO to WAR themed comments
DOWN WITH BUSH ... is just an inflammatory remark, designed to provoke a response, ignore the trolls
STOP POLLUTING This message board with dumb political comments

Anyone seeing it this week?

"You've been hoodwinked. You've been had. You've been took. You've been led astray, run amok. You've been bamboozled."
- Malcolm X

And to come full circle, The Beastie Boys dvd set from Criterion is MIND BLOWING.

Ever since the Paul's Boutique comment earlier, I have been re-listening to that, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. My vote has to go for Ill Communication, though all three are great. The first song on Hello Nasty is worth the admission price alone,

Edit: And Sure Shot (off Ill Comm) is, IMO, their finest hour.
Further edit: Though Get It Together (again, Ill Comms) is also great.
_____________________________
Insert funny quote here

This comment was edited on Jun 29, 18:32.

rediscovered the audio genius of Armageddon though there are some aspects of how things are done in that one that make the story a little tough to take (dumb stuff like the two shuttles flying 50 feet from each other the whole way).

There used to be a Criterion edition of that one, but I don't know if it's still in print…they also did one of The Rock, if you're in a Bruckheimer mood.

And to come full circle, The Beastie Boys dvd set from Criterion is MIND BLOWING. You can watch a video, and the alternate audio tracks are all different mixes of the song you're watching.



There is the theory of the moebius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop time becomes a loop time becomes a loop http://www.loopz.co.uk/

Anyone have any suggestions on movies that are great on surround sound?

Funny, I've been playing with the reconstructed home theater here in the BlueTower recently, and have been looking at reference DVDs for the same reason.

I have a new favorite surround sound DVD as of just this week, having picked up Master and Comander: Far Side of the yada yada and getting blown away by some of the audio effects. Prior to that Saving Private Ryan had always been my benchmark. I also recently rediscovered the audio genius of Armageddon though there are some aspects of how things are done in that one that make the story a little tough to take (dumb stuff like the two shuttles flying 50 feet from each other the whole way).

Two that are on the list to enjoy soon are Starship Troopers and, as someone mentioned, Fifth Element.

Wishing more movies were DTS,

Since I know a number of you use Firefox has anyone seen a working version of the AdBlocker extension for 0.9.1 ?

Unless, of course, you have the dud version that was originally put out on DTS -- the bass on it is about -10 dB from where it should be which makes for an amazingly shitty soundstage.

Yeah, they f$%*ed that one up...(That reminds me)I still need to send back my BTTF discs that were matted wrong...


There is the theory of the moebius, a twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop time becomes a loop time becomes a loop http://www.loopz.co.uk/
This comment was edited on Jun 29, 16:37.