The Big Picture: Mailbag

PunkRex

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Feb 19, 2010
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Warforger said:
CrazyBlue said:
French and British relations are doing pretty ok right now. Whilst Cameron may be stupidly cautious about the UK's place in the EU, he does at times seem to be BFFs with Sarkozy.
I'm pretty sure Bob is really off on his assumptions. All those immigrations he listed were hated and discriminated against by the natives especially the Chinese and often times they were assimilated anyway keeping their culture out. The thing about France is more about the hostility its people have towards America i.e. keeping Americans out of hotels to protest their government. Of all countries why France that would seem like a joke considering they don't have much of a good foreign policy track record either and probably mostly are biased since they're not the ones leading the world this time. Thus when America does they feel a sort of competition to prove their nationalism right. This could be said about Britain though.

It's not like there are no reasons to hate America, there definitely are, but if you're Britain or France I don't see why there would be any logical ones.
I think its got something to do with the long history we have together. When you think about it, in terms of mordern recorded history, the UK and France have one of longest running relationships. It may be a sort of sibling rivalry but I don't really know enough on the subject, im just thinking out loud.
 

Revolutionary

Pub Club Am Broken
May 30, 2009
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Yeah I don't know what high-school is like in the U.S but over here it's probably as good as university (Better in my case). No I'm not a bully Bob.
 

CrazyBlue

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May 23, 2009
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Sibling rivalry is a good way of putting it.

Besides France and the UK have one of the longest formal alliances in place today, plus our armed forces are to an extent interconnected. Also in response to the French surrender monkey's, I think it is overstated to suggest that they willing wanted German occupation. Also that they surrendered to the allies that's a new and "interesting" way of putting it. France surrendered because they saw it as the rational thing to do at the time, that doesn't make it right, but it might have saved a lot of lives.
 

longboardfan

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Jul 27, 2011
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And if you can get through High School without getting or getting someone else pregnant, your mid twenties will be much MUCH easier.
 

acosn

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Sep 11, 2008
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The US has always had a love / hate relationship with France. We loved them after the revolutionary war, they loved us after WW2. Ironically after the Iraq war, which sent the US on a PR nose dive that is quite literally so bad that there is no comparison in modern history, it was actually France that stayed good friends with us through it. Not Germany, not GB (though, we did kind of lie to get them into Iraq. Woops.) no, France.

The major reason France has always remained relatively distinct is because, in really simple terms, they're as arrogant about their culture as the US is of it's own. The reason why its not hard to fine German, Italian, Greek, Russian, and tens of hundreds of other ethnic sub-cultures in the US is because they integrated. French not so much. For whatever reason the French take such a great pride in their culture, right down to the language (seriously, compare the folks that regulate what's "French" in terms of language compared to those who decide what's "English.") that it never really merged with US culture beyond snorts, escargot and baguette.

The way to beat WoW is to not be WoW. The fundamental problem with the MMO market in terms of competition is that because of the time sinks almost mandated by the genre (because time spent means more months involved, which means more subscriptions) most people will only have one pet MMO they play. Beyond that? Nah-ah. What's more, the video game industry is something that thrives on similarities. Today we have generic brown n' bloom n' gray n' gunmetal first person shooter Z. 15 years ago? Everyone wanted to be Mario and Sonic. So for the seven years WoW's been out (and roughly a decade it's been in development) it's been building up it's content, and refining it's method of operation. In the old world of MMO's where success was measured in hundreds of thousands of subscribers, the model of ripping off other's work was viable because budgets were small, and teams smaller. Today? Well, WoW's settled comfortably at between 8 and 12 million active subscribers. They have the team and the budget to crush anyone trying to emulate them, which is how you can make sense of their prolonged market dominance.
 
Feb 11, 2009
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As per topic of high-school. You should probably underline that it is the model of a high-school created by the US education system and not "high-school" in general. I know it sounds simple but... countries differ from one another. The experience is much more bearable in European schools (at least central Europe - my experience), and usually simply fantastic in International Schools far removed from western countries (again, my experience).
 

Yeager942

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Oct 31, 2008
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I have to admit, I'm really fortunate I go to the high school I go to. Armenians tend to leave each other alone and are generally friendly even to those outside their clique. The jocks leave the nerds alone, and vice versa. Thankfully, there is a pretty healthy amount of nerds in my tiny school so there is never any shortage of conversation. Thankfully, the "High School of Hell" trope is forum to me.

Personally, I'm an Earl Grey man myself.


Triaed said:
Highschool was awesome for me, I partied like a monkey on speed and drank like a fish... then again I was not constrained by that silly rule in the States that says that you are mature enough at 18 to put a bullet in an enemy soldier's head, but you cannot drink a beer in a hot-summer day
Hey, let's start a flame war everybody!
 

Avistew

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Jun 2, 2011
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The most recent backlash about France comes in big part from the fact Rupert Murdoch tried to purchase (I believe) Canal+ (a French channel) and was rejected. Right afterward, since it coincided with France not joining the war in Iraq, a lot of anti-French sentiment appeared on Fox News, and was later spread out, which is why there seems to have been so much more ager against the French than any other nation that decided not to go to Iraq.

There are older issues though, and a lot of them have to do with big difference in culture, which cause American people to seem rude to French people and French people to seem rude to Americans.

Anecdotal evidence, when in a pizzeria in France my boyfriend noted that they brought his pizza uncut, and that it would never be done in the US. Me and my friend, both French, commented at the same time that pre-cutting it would be extremely insulting: it would insinuate we can't cut our own food.
Delivery is different because it doesn't assume you have access to cutlery, though.

Other example, it took me years of living in the US before I stopped finding it extremely rude that waiters in restaurants keep showing up uncalled, asking if everything is going well and refilling your drink. For years my only thought was "how rude, why won't they leave me alone, I'm trying to enjoy a meal here", but now I've realised that's just how things work in the US. I still don't like it, but it doesn't grate my nerves as much.

And a lot of the anti-French jokes and stereotypes come from WWII or post WWII, and you can see they haven't changed much since the handbook 112 gripes about the French [http://www.112gripes.com/]
 

croc3629

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Mar 20, 2011
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Is public high school really that terrible, people? Because I was slightly disappointed by how ordinary my high school years were. There was no bullying, no malicious pranks, no stereotyped cliques that were exclusive to their own groups with no interaction, the nerds were praised for their intellect just as often as the jocks were for their physical ability, and nobody acted like a jerk any more than you would find in the real world.

Frankly, high school was a boring melting pot of harmony and fellowship. Damn it, our 'jocks' were even among the nicest guys in the entire school. I've gotta say that I'm just happy it's an experience I seem to have missed out on.

Oh, and nice video. I'm especially looking forward to your Intermission.
 

zelda2fanboy

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Oct 6, 2009
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I didn't think high school was that bad. I didn't really talk to anyone for four years and I considered that a minor win. Compared to junior high school and a lot of college, high school was a cakewalk. By virtue of just showing up, I was in a much better position than most of my classmates and I never had to bring home "homework" because of all the free time before classes, free time in classes, and numerous study halls. Junior high school was a nightmare of being bogged down in pointless busy work I could never catch up on, very bitter and angry teachers who threatened us daily, bullies, puberty, and the utter impossibility of romantic relationships or sex (being an "early bloomer" sucks). I still didn't get any in high school or college, but at least the potential was there without feeling like a pedophile. And college sucks because the classes are often a lot longer, there are irritating online classes with their "discussion questions," night classes, finals, smug professors with their heads up their asses, monopolizing of your time, and the simple fact that you have to pay for all that bullshit.

So yay, for high school. I almost got through a whole post without mentioning my godawful post college minimum wage job from which I haven't a raise for four years. It doesn't get better kids. It really doesn't. I regret not killing myself in fourth grade back when I had the nerve.
 

yman15

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Jul 11, 2011
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I'm having a good time in high school... I'm not sure if it's being from a different generation than you moviebob or if its because you put yourself in the position of the victim but I'm pretty sure that me having a good time in high school hasn't made anybody's lives miserable. Actually I see hardly any bullying general at my school, If you don't like someone there you just don't talk to them and they'll leave you alone as opposed to dunking their head in a toilet.
Your little comments about high school have given me an image of you being like a nerd in a 90's sitcom and It's kind of interesting so, could you perhaps do an episode of your high school experience sometime?
 

Falseprophet

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Jan 13, 2009
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CrazyBlue said:
Sibling rivalry is a good way of putting it.
Heck of a rivalry, though. I remember when I visited England a few years ago, it seemed like the more French ass you kicked in life, the better the monument you got in death.

CrazyBlue said:
Besides France and the UK have one of the longest formal alliances in place today, plus our armed forces are to an extent interconnected. Also in response to the French surrender monkey's, I think it is overstated to suggest that they willing wanted German occupation. Also that they surrendered to the allies that's a new and "interesting" way of putting it. France surrendered because they saw it as the rational thing to do at the time, that doesn't make it right, but it might have saved a lot of lives.
That's just it. British pop culture has always taken jabs at the French. In American pop culture between WWII and 9/11, there is no major anti-French sentiment. There are plenty of comedic French stereotypes, but no wholesale vilification. I think people understood that France shared a land border with Germany, and had the UK or US not had deep water and strong navies standing between them and the Wehrmact, they probably wouldn't have fared very well either in 1940. You don't see widespread vilification of the French in American media until the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.
 

Gatx

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Jul 7, 2011
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Casual Shinji said:
No shit!

I actually preffered Ang Lee's Hulk to the new one.

Sure it was still bad, but it had more artistic merit in one single scene than The Incredible Hulk had in its entire running time.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the mention of Hulk. Honestly I never watched ALL of it but it seemed alright. It seemed most of the complaints were that it wasn't a mindless action movie (which seems completely at odds with the whole great superhero movies getting recognition as great movies in general thing).
 

Endocrom

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Apr 6, 2009
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There's a paint called "Santa's Flesh" in craft stores right this very minute.

Now that's creepy.
 

aceman67

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Jan 14, 2010
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As a Canadian, I do have to say that some of us (myself included in some case), tend to view French Canadians in a poor light.

Take the recent protests in Quebec for example. They're up in arms over tuition increases. Why I don't like this: before the increases, Quebecois university students paid less then the national average, way less, with the increases, they're paying what the rest of the nation pays on average. They just want a free ride off the government coffers.

Then there's the whole Quebec Sovereignty movement. While the issue has pretty much all but died out (The Bloc party was all but decimated in the last federal election, and a recent poll shows that over 70% of Quebecois are against separating) As a patriot who's had family defend this country in two world wars (My great great uncle is buried in Flanders), Korea, and several peacekeeping missions, just sours my opinion on the whole issue.

Although, should they separate anyways, the First Nations who hold treaty rights to 90% of the Province (and most of its natural resources) wouldn't, and my Father, who's retired military, says we'd just invade and take the land back anyways.

While, yes, Canada is a Bi-Lingual country, and I've lived in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and I've been pretty much every where else, I can say this, there are only three places where French influence is prevalent: Quebec, New Brunswick (Canada's only Bi-Lingual province), and any government building. Outside of there, you'd be hard pressed to find anything where the french has any influence.
 

Mr_Jellyfish

New member
Jan 11, 2011
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Another great video, love these bite-sized nuggets!

I hope there is never a faithful portrayal of Batman in movies, Robin sucks! And Batman is actually kind of a dick, the more I hear about him the closer he seems to Rorschach. Maybe I just don't get super heroes.
 

Triaed

Not Gone Gonzo
Jan 16, 2009
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Therumancer said:
Triaed said:
Wow, it was a real mixed bag. I enjoyed it.

France, let's not forget that with a big help from France the US obtained their independence. Yeah, France was acting in self interest to put a dent in the British Empire crown, but still... I don't get the bad rap they get in the US

Highschool was awesome for me, I partied like a monkey on speed and drank like a fish... then again I was not constrained by that silly rule in the States that says that you are mature enough at 18 to put a bullet in an enemy soldier's head, but you cannot drink a beer in a hot-summer day

Also "mumorpuger" :)
France is viewed as a group of backstabbers and with good reason.
---snip--- sorry for the scissors.
The French, the guys who helped us, arguably did that entirely out of self interest and that helps mitigate a lot of the gratitude.
That is the way you were taught history wherever you are from. You are very entitled to your opinion.