BellGab.com Archive

Quote from: Frys Girl on December 04, 2011, 06:41:14 AM
To me, your questions prove that you don't get it. Nationalism is a response to foreign entanglements. It is a solution. I want someone who doesn't care about Iran or 9-11. A degree down from obsessed would be a start. I want leaders who are concerned about AMERICA and her alone. There are so many problems here that are not dealt with because of our obsession with foreign affairs, and even at that our leaders suck. I'm tired of seeing which leaders in America can lick the boots of other countries, namely Israel, or discuss bombing to bits other countries to prove to Americans how tough they are.

I see.  Yeah I wasn't really looking at it the right way.  So is Nationalistic foreign relations an oxymoron?

If Putin were the U.S. President how would he have handled 9/11 do you think?  How would he consider Iran?  I'm just trying to guage what is meant by Nationalist and Alpha-Male.  The former I think I understand and can relate to, the later not so much.  Is an alpha-male personality a pre-requisite to being a nationalist?  I wouldn't think so but I'd like opinions on this.  If they're not synonyms then why would adding that trait be desired?

Lots of questions, I know.  I've been thinking about this thread for a while here though and wondering if my defintions of the two terms might be wrong.

Thanks for the update on this, I didn't get to hear the show to find out first hand.  That's really disappointing to find out.  I don't get how he would describe this announcement as 'fun' unless he was just meaning doing the show itself will be fun.

I've always felt one of Ian's greatest strengths relied on his part time schedule.  Being he only did one show per week allowed him to be very prepared by reading the guest's book and researching the topic.  Maybe this somehow will allow Ian to refine that further and make his sporatic appearances even better.

I've printed out the pictures and am heading to the bathroom to consult my cojones.  brb

Quote from: Peto of Verum on December 02, 2011, 01:17:02 PM
Almost everyone on this site has something bad to say about C2C. (Not everyone. Most everyone.)

But despite that, it seems everyone keeps listening to the program.  Your days seem to be filled with how much you dislike the radio show and everything about it. You all pat yourselves on the back regarding how witty and insulting you can be.  Sorry, that side of the website I can live without.  I do not think it adds anything to my life.

Quote from: Peto of Verum on December 02, 2011, 01:17:02 PM
One of the only reasons I listen to C2C, is because I find it fascinating that people will "buy" into just about anything they are told.  The entire program, from its commercials to many of it's guests,  are nothing but Money loving, Money grubbing twisters of the truth.

WTF?  At least spread this across several posts to make it more challenging to connect the dots.

Quote from: alejandro on November 29, 2011, 01:55:36 PM
if you trust your guts or your balls - based on gathered evidence, you may come up with more truth than if you trust your government.

Over the years I've found the most reliable organ for considering evidence to be the brain.  Unless we're talking Taco Bell.  Sometimes my brain wants Taco Bell and I dive right in without consulting my bowels.  Trusting your balls is like going to a casino.  Usually you'll wish you hadn't but once in a great while it's awesome.

I really loved the old Simpsons episodes that I grew up with in the early and mid 90's.  Then after 7 or 8 years they changed it from a family, story oriented, funny show that was animated into a full fledged cartoon with completely implausable plots and celebrity tie ins.  I just stopped watching and have the DVDs of old seasons to watch now when I get the urge.  It had a pretty good run while it lasted.

Just like CTC, the Simpsons now have more sub-standard years under their belt than classic good years.  At some point you just have to let go.  And I don't buy the mentally i'll reason.  If we all need to be careful of what we say because it could set off someone who is completely disconnected from reality....well we're pretty fucked.

I listened to this past Saturday's show two nights ago and I don't think this announcement has anything to do with Ian leaving.  Somewhere either at the end or beginning of an hour he brought up this announcement and used the words fun and big.  Unless he's having a big going away party maybe.

I try to stay off the conspiracy wagon BUT the last several times Art came out of retirement Ian was the one to make the announcement, something he was particularly proud of.  I don't think that's what is going on here but I'll admit that was my first thought when he started touting this announcement.  Mainly because of the history involved.

Quote from: The General on November 30, 2011, 10:43:14 AM
that's where the double standard lies.  Democrats can get away with murder when it comes to scandals.  Republicans have to be clean as a whistle because the media will hunt down and pay ANYBODY with any dirt on them to come out and chirp like a canary.

Anthony Weiner would disagree.

Anyone seen the movie Hesher?  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403177/

I just finished watching this and thought it was pretty good but I'm not sure how to describe it.  It's a very dark comedy drama I guess.  There's some serious topics it takes on in unbelievable ways but if you can suspend disbelief with a few key plot elements it's worth the time.  During the first half of the movie I wasn't sure what to make of it since I'm not used to dramas being so unrealistic.  For those who might care, its R rating is well deserved.

Fade to Black - Igor Presnyakov

If I could choose one superpower this would be on my short list.

There was one I tried out a few months ago and it was horrible.  I don't remember what it was called but it was supposed to be more of a science related podcast with some paranormal thrown in I think.  The website looked nice and promising, but what shit...  It was a couple dudes messing around playing sound effects from TV shows like Family Guy repeatedly and listening to them laugh at it every time.  I managed to make it through 15 minutes or so hoping it would get better but it didn't.  Just horrible.

Quote from: guildnavigator on October 29, 2011, 11:22:35 PM

I am working on a project and need to know who the top ranking and the heaviest metal bands are that are putting out records and touring.

Top ranking and heaviest are pretty subjective terms but I don't think one can do a project on active metal bands without mentioning Iron Maiden.  They're probably the most popular metal band in the world.  Some may not even consider them metal though, so again it can be subjective.

Other current bands off the top of my head with big followings to look into:

Children of Bodom (Sweden I think)
Iced Earth (US)
Manilla Road (US)
Megadeth (US)
Motorhead (UK)
Mastodon (US)
Dragonforce

There really are very few bands which would be considered great by a majority of fans.  Part of the metal culture is to buck trends and find new and obscure bands, so any band which begins gaining a moderate following almost always feels a backlash among fans.  As counterproductive as that seems it's just the way things are in that music.  I could name a hundred bands with moderate followings but the only ones I can think of (active bands at least) which most fans will agree on are Iron Maiden and Motorhead, who are hardly the heaviest by most definitions.

I followed a lot of metal community sites for a while but don't anymore.  In some ways metal fans represent exactly what they claim to hate about popular music.  Many care more about their image than the music itself which becomes obvious after a while.  That's a generalization of course but surfing around a few message boards will prove that the most vocal metal fans usually care more about fitting in and appearing 'metal' than they care about the music itself.  Ironically, because of this, bands have a flavor of the month shelf life that is often seen in pop music which is supposedly the antithesis of metal.

To keep my sanity I had to distance myself from internet metal communities and just listen to the music.

A good place to find band info is http://www.metal-archives.com/  They'll have a bio and info on almost any metal band that has ever existed.  There's also forums there to maybe gauge what bands are currently popular.  Just look for threads like 'DRAGONFORCE IS THE WORST BAND EVER!!!!' to figure out which bands sell the most records.

The only thing I can agree with that I've seen come from OWS is stopping private businesses from having influence on government, which seems to be a minority opinion.  It's at least not at the top of the list of things I get from their message.  Private business should have no influence over government and there certainly should be no money going back and forth between the two.  The sad part is I think these motivated people could actually accomplish something if they rallied around this and directed their protests at the government itself.  Protests can threaten politicians jobs unlike CEO's.

Other than that I mostly hear the "99% vs. 1%" argument which I don't really get maybe.  I get the impression there's an underlying belief that businesses should care about people, and used to in the past, which is laughable.  Any CEO or business owner, big or small, from any period in history, will tell you flat out they exist to make money, period.  The more the better.  To get upset at these people for being sucessful seems silly.  Demanding  a redistribution of wealth is worse than silly.  They won't redistribute, and shouldn't, for the same reason the 99% don't take their disposable income (of which there's much more than they admit) and give it all away to homeless people.  There's people all over the country hurting much worse than your average person at OWS is.  Why don't they redistribute some of their wealth and help a stranger out?  Oh that's something someone else should do instead??  Riiight.

Actually a second thing I agree with is being against the bailouts that happened.  The banks and car companies should've been allowed to fail and go under.  Regardless of economic consequences.  Fuck em, that's not how this country should work.  But that's far in the past at this point and protesting it won't do anything.  They missed their chance on that one.  And again this seems to be a minority priority.

They won't be taken seriously without some self immolation.



Americans put on some weak ass demonstrations compared to the rest of the world.

Quote from: Eddie Coyle on October 17, 2011, 06:32:59 PM
     Most off putting aspects...(1) Those clowns wearing V for Vendetta masks.

I'll have to look for that one, I havn't seen it.  One of my favorite movies but not sure it applies here.  Now that I think of it November 5th is coming up which is the date that movie revolves around.  Better watch out.   

I'm surprised there isn't a thread here about this already so I figured I'd start one.  The whole thing reminds me of this South Park episode.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s09e02-die-hippie-die

I get a little chuckle when I see them on the news and then imagine them as cardboard cutout South Park characters.

Not that I necessarily disagree with some of their message, but overall I think they're wasting their time.  Discuss!

2036 Called.  They want their lame 90's internet hoax back.

Dumb joke but I couldn't resist!

The current top headline on CNN's website reminded me of this thread.  The story is about the Indy car driver killed today in Vegas and of course they have the photo of his car erupting into flames as it tumbles and breaks apart down the track.  Fuck, is that really necessary?

I've been watching quite a few movies lately and wanted to mention one more.  I had Netflix send me Winged Migration because I read something about it online and it sounded interesting.  I've never seen anything quite like this film.  I wouldn't call it a documentary, there's very little dialogue, and it's not a traditional scripted movie.  It's pretty much just a camera that flys around with birds from all over the world.  From the opening scene all I kept wondering is how the hell are they doing that??  I'll admit the movie drags out a bit.  You can only watch flying birds for so long before feeling like there's nothing else to see.  But there's momements all the way through to the end that make it worth it.

If you saw this and you're like me you immediately hit the extra features and even the internet to find out how they filmed this.  To my eventual dismay the extra features shows exactly how they do it and in extreme detail.  I say dismay because it took away part of what I really loved about the movie.  So I urge anyone who might see this, don't investigate and skip the extras!  The film is real, nothing is faked at all, and I would just leave it at that.

It's definately worth a rental for anyone who likes nature films or birds.  You'll get a front row seat right with them flying in formation all over the world.  The surround sound really adds to the fun.

I recently bought Dances with Wolves on Blu-Ray and watched it.  It had been quite a number of years since my last viewing and I don't think I had ever seen the extended version that is now available.  I forgot how great this movie is.  Most memorable movies will put you through a bunch of emotions, that's why we love them, but I don't think any movie gets me as mad as this one when those guys start shooting at Two Socks.  It's one of those scenes where I almost forget I'm even watching a movie and want to run and help him.

Also, the Blu-Ray transfer is simply awesome for anyone who might care.

Quote from: Morgus on October 05, 2011, 01:24:36 PM
i think that show aired again on the Saturday somewhere in time replays recently too.

Yes, I found it listed on their site.  I shouldn't have a problem getting this from demonoid.  Thanks for pointing me toward that.

Now if anyone knows where to find the porch fall incident also please let me know.  I know I heard it a long time ago from a download but I have no idea from where.

Does anyone have the show where Art superglued his lips together?  Or the show where he fell off his porch during a break?  I've looked around but without luck.  I have no idea on the air dates or guests either, which is making things difficult.

I'm am listening to an older Art Bell somewhere in time replay right now from 21 July, 1997.  Sometime during the final hour of the show Art reads a transcript from a radio show done on WGST in Georgia done by Ian Ponnet (Art spelled the last name out).  I'm guessing the transcript got the spelling wrong as Ian Punnett worked at this station during those years.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Punnett

The radio spot was something about UFO sightings in Georgia.  This must have been enough to get Art to ask Ian about hosting CTC since Ian started in 1998.  Interesting!

During the same show Art talked about using some computer phone software called Iphone, or maybe Eyephone.  He was always ahead of the times.

Quote from: CoastCanuck on September 18, 2011, 04:53:41 PM
Yes, the 'you know' is annoying.

I really wanted to listen to this show tonight but I just had to turn it off because of this.  Lots of people have their little fall back words they use when thinking of what they really want to say but this dude is horrible.  He's fitting 'you know' 4 or 5 times in a sentence along with umm, err, like, and the long drawn out 'soooo' and 'annnnnd'  He's filling entire minutes of airtime with what amounts to 15 or 20 seconds of actual thoughts.  Ugh.  I'll try the LSD show instead.

I got this email from them today.

Dear .......,

I messed up.  I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes.  That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology.   Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming.   Most companies that are great at something â€" like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores â€" do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us).  So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices.  It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD.  DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want.  The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail.  We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary:  In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”.  We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery.  We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to.  It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies.  One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games.    Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done.  Other improvements will follow.  A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!).  If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix.  The total will be the same as your current charges.  We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo.   I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard.  I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust.  We know it will not be overnight.  Actions speak louder than words.  But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

Thanks for the kind response guys.  That kind of thing really isn't something I do but it seemed like a good idea at the time.  I wrote that right after it happened just to see if I could translate it into words.  Should the mood ever strike again I'll try to fit in a fart joke or two for TW. 

I walked outside to get a bit of fresh air since the house is a little warm and stuffy tonight.  The full moon is unusually bright this evening and the air is a perfect temperature.  There's just a small bite of coldness hinting at the coming season along with a slight breeze carrying the sounds of crickets.  The brightness of the moon is working it's way into places not usually seen at night.  I light a cigarette and take a few sips of wine creating that perfect balance of chemicals in my brain to stimulate my thoughts.

Looking across the glowing landscape in front of me I imagine what it may have looked like one hundred years ago, or even one thousand years, and wish I could've been there to see it.  The relative darkness and silence of night deprive my senses making them more acute.  A feeling of calm creeps, takes me over, as I reach a peaceful state where reality is gone.  Everything in my world doesn't matter now.  The problems and responsibilities I have are miles away.  I've experienced this feeling before.  However it cannot be planned for or willfully created.  My eyes wander from the landscape to the moon itself and the stars surrounding it.  How many other people are staring at the exact same thing right now, feeling what I'm feeling?  Another taste of wine and flare of tobacco.  Thoughts seems to slowly fade out as I just stare into the sky and absorb the night.

Everything makes sense.  Everything is worth these moments of solitary reflections on existance.

Suddenly my state of mind is broken to my dismay.  Reality comes rushing back to me with a disturbing force.  After a moment of reorientation I realize my cell phone is ringing in my pocket.  I walk back into the house poorly feigning a desire to talk about football with my friend as I feel a sadness settle in.  Untill next time, strange feeling.

http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_AM_Archive_Project_-_Index_of_Shows#January_3

I've used that link when searching for particular older shows.  It's not complete but the best I've been able to find.