Rest In Peace, [Insert Name Here]

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Finn said:
Given how many people die every day, I'm sure you'll find one if you look hard enough. Actually, you don't even have to wait 'til tomorrow. Just look here if you want three in a row.

And this was not meant as a slight towards the recently deceased, may they rest in peace, but just a notion that one sure can see patterns here and there using a selective eye.

Indeed. I don't get the ghoulish fixation on waiting around for a third person (who's deemed famous enough to count for the parlor game) to die, once there have been two in succession.

Is it something you see much of in Europe, or is it primarily a North American fascination?
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Attila the Professor said:
Is it something you see much of in Europe, or is it primarily a North American fascination?
Can't speak for all of Europe, given how it is a continent full of nation-states with some noticeable cultural differences. I know how people in Finland generally react to death, but can't really say how for example a Frenchman or Greek would.


And yeah, said reaction? Death happens. The still living move on.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Finn said:
Can't speak for all of Europe, given how it is a continent full of nation-states with some noticeable cultural differences. I know how people in Finland generally react to death, but can't really say how for example a Frenchman or Greek would.

Fair enough. You've always seemed so plugged into American fascinations, that I ventured to assume that might extend to the rest of the continent.
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Attila the Professor said:
Fair enough. You've always seemed so plugged into American fascinations, that I ventured to assume that might extend to the rest of the continent.
Feel free to correct me if I took this wrong, but did you just say that you assumed that because I appear well versed in the way Americans think and act, I must be equally aware of the ongoings in Europe? Because of even greater proximity?

If so, might I point out that to understand a culture's conventions requires a crucial ability that enables one to study said culture first-hand. And I don't speak French or Greek.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Finn said:
Feel free to correct me if I took this wrong, but did you just say that you assumed that because I appear well versed in the way Americans think and act, I must be equally aware of the ongoings in Europe? Because of even greater proximity?

If so, might I point out that to understand a culture's conventions requires a crucial ability that enables one to study said culture first-hand. And I don't speak French or Greek.

Point taken, and you're right to object.

I'm afraid I've succumb here to a trap common enough to Americans, in thinking that Europeans must be better informed than us. Which, perhaps, has been shown to be true here, but not in the way I'd think. :hat:
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Attila the Professor said:
Point taken, and you're right to object.

I'm afraid I've succumb here to a trap common enough to Americans, in thinking that Europeans must be better informed than us. Which, perhaps, has been shown to be true here, but not in the way I'd think. :hat:

:p
'Murica! 'Murica!
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Attila the Professor said:
I'm afraid I've succumb here to a trap common enough to Americans, in thinking that Europeans must be better informed than us. Which, perhaps, has been shown to be true here, but not in the way I'd think.
As a whole, Europeans perhaps are. But we are also culturally far more diverse than Americans. Over there, one could perhaps find a person who quite accurately represents a theoretical concept called an "average American". Now, over here, you may find an average Finn, German or Spaniard, but you will NOT find something called an "average European". Such a thing does not exist.

Now, like I pointed out, knowing the language is a crucial, perhaps the most critical part of understanding a culture. There are far too many languages in Europe for a single person to take it all as a whole. However, given the status of English as the modern-day lingua franca, most Europeans have at least rudimentary command of it. Which enables us to study the most-dominant English-speaking culture of this Earth. And that in turn leads to a rather ironic situation where we as a whole may just understand the Americans better than we do our own neighbors.

I can see how that could create some curious pitfalls from an American POV. There's a whole foreign continent of people who seem to know them well, but they in turn are lucky if they know even a small part of it. But in reality, the situation is exactly the same on our side. Sure, perhaps the proximity does demand us to be slightly more knowledgeable than your average American, but said knowledge is still a far cry from something you wouldn't call superficial.

Now, what it would take to create an average European? You'd have to take away ones language, local culture and customs - and place them in an environment that is English-speaking and still noticeably western. Thinking about that... perhaps an average European does exist. They are called an "average American".
 

kongisking

Active member
Goonie said:
Darn it. John Hammond is gone. Would be nice if he had a cameo in Jurassic World.

They better dedicate it to his memory, at the absolute least.

In a sad way, its actually really fitting. He goes, just as his character's greatest creation is about to make a comeback and ensure it lives on beyond him again.
 

Mickiana

Well-known member
kongisking said:
Oh, for the luvva mike...

RIP Mr. Hammond. Damn. :(

Mike here! Or Mick(iana). Don't get too torn up, Kong. We all have to go sometime. Let's celebrate their lives with a bit of optimism. Look at what Richard Attenborough achieved as well as living to the ripe old age of 90! I'm happy for him. Don't worry about ol' Death. He's always standing just behind us, with a bony hand on our shoulder. Lord Richard refused him for that long.
 

kongisking

Active member
Mickiana said:
Mike here! Or Mick(iana). Don't get too torn up, Kong. We all have to go sometime. Let's celebrate their lives with a bit of optimism. Look at what Richard Attenborough achieved as well as living to the ripe old age of 90! I'm happy for him. Don't worry about ol' Death. He's always standing just behind us, with a bony hand on our shoulder. Lord Richard refused him for that long.

Hi Mickiana! What've you been doing in the shadows lately? :p

Jurassic Park is a movie that means so much to me, as I'm pretty certain it was the first movie that made me, as a kid, take notice of a little director called Steven Spielberg. But much of the heart and soul of that movie came from John Hammond, who is one of the things in which the movie actually improves on Crichton's novel. Its still a very poignant moment when he's baring his soul and dreams to Ellie Sattler in the dining room. Man, did Attenborough make it work.
 

Mickiana

Well-known member
I've been lurking, just sitting quietly in a corner of the bar, watching the clientele come and go. It's getting quieter and I might speculate closing time nears, but as this bar never closes....

Have you seen RA in any of his earlier pics?
 

AndyLGR

Active member
I remember him mostly from featuring in plenty of WWII films, like Danger Within, Dunkirk, great escape...... League of gentleman is another typical British crime film that is a big favourite of mine.
 

kongisking

Active member
Mickiana said:
I've been lurking, just sitting quietly in a corner of the bar, watching the clientele come and go. It's getting quieter and I might speculate closing time nears, but as this bar never closes....

Have you seen RA in any of his earlier pics?

I honestly haven't, which is probably unforgivable. I know him entirely from Jurassic Park. It was enough to make me feel a gut-punch when I read he passed.

And this is from Jurassic World's set:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>In Memoriam. <a href="http://t.co/5jL7Sh9Hpr">pic.twitter.com/5jL7Sh9Hpr</a></p>— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) <a href="https://twitter.com/colintrevorrow/statuses/504007845587980288">August 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

AndyLGR

Active member
kongisking said:
I honestly haven't, which is probably unforgivable. I know him entirely from Jurassic Park. It was enough to make me feel a gut-punch when I read he passed.
Everyone has to be introcuded to an actor at some point in their career, nothing wrong with that. But his older movies are well worth checking out too if you get chance.
 
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