Heh, I just started reading Naked Lunch for school. I always get stuck with the difficult reads - Oliver Twist, A Clockwork Orange, etc.

A Clockwork Orange was pretty smooth for me. Once you get the language under your fingers, it's pretty straight-forward.

Cockney is not unlike Shakespearian language in the way that the meanings have almost no context in modern day.

[quote="UnknownKadath"]

Tommy Wiseau wrote:

I just realized how way off, off, off topic we are. D'oh well.

The fuck are we supposed to be talking about again? Censorship?

[quote="The Dude"]

UnknownKadath wrote:

Tommy Wiseau wrote: I just realized how way off, off, off topic we are. D'oh well. The fuck are we supposed to be talking about again? Censorship?

Censorship, ratings, and personal feelings on what content you personally like or don't like and that sort of thing.

At least I think - it's been so long since we've mentioned it.

I guess for the fuck of it, I should mention a couple controversial movies in recent memory:

AntiChrist - Honestly, didn't enjoy this film; but other than an air of sexism, I didn't find it offensive. Just boring and a waste of talent (Willem DaFoe, and while I am not a Lars Von Trier fan; I do admit he is a fantastic cinematographer.)

The Human Centepede - A lot of people think I'm sick for this, but wasted potential. I actually thought the description of the centipede sounded like it could be disturbing and make for a freaky and fucked up flick. Instead it just ended up being completely retarded. OUtside of the scene where the doctor explained it, didn't care for the film. I honestly don't know why so many people felt it was the most "sick" movie out there, I can think of a million movies from the 70s and 80s that are far sicker. Far, far far sicker than this.

I sat through about 25-30 minutes of AntiChrist...I had to turn it off after that....it just was so....boring to me...

I generally agree with the American rating systems and such. If a parent doesn't see anything wrong with a movie, and thinks that they're child can handle it they should be allowed to show them whatever is in their interest. If someone feels that nudity isn't such a problem they can buy whatever is in question.

As for censorship I think their should be no government involvement on media that falls in the legal category (no animal abuse, murders, violating someones rights, ect). It should be the distributors that chose what can and can't be sold at their stores. So I prefer the American set up which basically follows this format to some degree, I would never want my government to force censorship like Germany or to even actively ban video games and movies like say Australia for the sole purpose of not having a 18+ or older rating system.

I don't mind the rating system so much, except for when the movie makers decide to ammend parts of their movies, or when studios demand they do so, in order to get a lower rating to make it more appealing to a larger audience. It tends to damage the integrity of the original idea, I think anyway. Sometimes it is nice going to an R rated movie knowing there won't be an young kids annoying me, except for stupid giggly teenagers...man I'm a crotchety old man at 28...

My parents never really monitored or censored what I watched. I owned all the Nightmare on Elm Street and Puppet Master movies as soon as they were on VHS. I remember going to this video store, Prefered Video in Sheboygan WI, when I was a kid and I would rent R-rated movies all the time. My parents signed a waiver that allowed me to rent any movie(except porn) without a parent present. The movie theater used to be like that too, if my parents showed up when I bought my ticket, and said it was okay, I could enter an R-rated movie unattended. I remember about a year or two ago I couldn't take my 15 year old nephew to an R-rated movie, and I was going to be right there with him. So weird.

My brother was in the army and in Desert Storm, so when he came home we rented any movie he wanted and we'd all watch them together while he taped them via the two VCR set up, some of you may have done the same thing, some of you may be wondering what a VCR is. Seriously, I showed my 10 year old niece a VHS tape and she had no idea what it was! Ah life before computers and the internet. I don't know how this turned into Memory Lane, but now I really miss those days. Monster Vision with Joe Bob Rigss on TNT(I think) followed by Tales from the Crypt on HBO. I wasn't allowed to watch Tales, for some reason, so I would sneak over to the tv and turn the volume down to watch it. This was when I was 4 or 5. I was awesome.

I don't know how I would feel about my kids, were I to ever have any, watching R rated movies. I watched Silence of the Lambs when I was 7 years old. I'm still normal! Well, if you consider watching the worst movies ever made and getting a kick out of them, normal...