marpado

Stoney, I completely agree on everything, you know. However, in my opinion, it was the very same pacifists who "threw it back at themselves" in the case of the pacifist movement of 2003. Reducing the noblest and most important ideal of humanity, peace, to a mere commercial fashion object, to a simple display of faux-anti-conformist trendiness just to feel better and cooler, I’m sorry, but it has "ruined" the entire movement in my eyes. Pre-Iraq war pacifism became a mass phenomenon, a mass culture, and as such, it significantly lowered its level. This happens with anything that becomes the focus of the mindless masses. Standards drop. That there were and still are convinced and genuine pacifists, people who perhaps do their activism not safely at home but where people die under bombs, I certainly don’t doubt. But those people were there even before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are still here now. The "noise" back then, in the case of Bush's wars, was made by the mindless masses, the army of "good on command," the faceless crowd of those who never gave a damn about Iraq or Afghanistan even when their populations were under bombs. People for whom war is merely a news segment to feel outraged about for five minutes and that’s it, people who march to feel superior to those who don’t march, and who perhaps wouldn’t donate a euro to charity even under torture... yet they hang the flag. Idiotic mob, a detail not to forget, conveniently fed by certain media and certain intelligentsia (see the XL review I mentioned in my comment on the 7th) which in turn rode the emotional-commercial wave and which today, by coincidence, couldn’t care less about child soldiers in Northern Uganda, for example. I’m sorry, but all this filth has ruined, I repeat, the entire movement in my eyes, the moment I hear or read the easy critique of films like 300, I automatically attribute it to that faceless mass of hypocritical indifferentists, even if among them there are many genuine pacifists who speak from the heart. Surely I am the one who is wrong to generalize, but when that mindless mass holds oceanic demonstrations or "marches for peace," as they call them, even for civil wars in Central America or in Guinea Africa, then I will change my mind.

Well of course, it's about the representation of the myth, among other things the myth seen from the perspective of the Greeks: good noble and muscular men against the rough and violent barbarians, the free people against the horde of slaves come to invade and destroy, etc.

@STONEY, you won’t believe it, but I only just read your comment 137… after almost two years. And I have to respond, if only out of the respect I have for you. You've gone beyond what I wanted to say in my post; I didn’t talk about the uselessness of asking questions, the uselessness of thinking—far from it, I just wanted to express my disgust (yes, that’s the right word) for that ridiculous farce that is still the current globalized pacifism. In fact, more than a farce, your term is better suited: fashion. Yes, the fashion of the average man who feels, cyclically, the need to acquire a social consciousness to delude himself that his life is not just the same old flat story but something more, that he has an active role in the great global issues, that he feels the need to break free and shout "I'm here too" to give a sense to his existence, and to do so he picks from the deck one of the "problems of the World" that are fed to him by the media and society at that moment: yesterday it was the Amazon rainforest, then hunger in Africa, "cancel the debt," today it’s global warming and the convenient route of parlour pacifism, the one against the coolest war of the moment, the one decked out in stars and stripes, of course: in 2003, suddenly millions of people woke up and realized that there’s still war in the World, can you believe it? Before there was nothing, everything was calm, and now there’s still just the war of the evil Americans, sure. Millions of protesters marched against Bush and the U.S., showing how good and committed they are, they bought, sold, and hung up their peace flags (do you remember the rainbow printed on everything? On every imaginable sellable gadget?), and then, once the wave of do-gooder hypocrisy passed, they went back to their homes, took down the flags from their balconies, and now, every so often, they complain about movies like 300 to show that they’re awake and immune to war propaganda, oh no. No one gives a damn about the dozens and dozens of brutal conflicts that bleed Africa, Central America, and every corner of the World, neither before nor now, no one protests, no one gets indignant, no one hangs colorful flags. That’s why I wrote "acquire a social consciousness" before, because the modern Western man who is well-off doesn’t have a genuine conscience, he doesn’t care about what happens outside his little patch made of decoders, mortgages, plasma TVs, and SUVs, but now and then he needs to mock himself by buying one at the supermarket, to show his neighbor, the other consumerist sheep, how deep and involved he is. If you ask me, all this makes me want to vomit, and not a little. And these people think they should moralize at me? 300 is steeped in pro-American propaganda? Who cares, I say. Since your pacifism (your, in quotes) is (was) just a fashion created for the purpose of selling rainbow flags, while every single day people are dying around the world in total indifference, I am absolutely free to watch and enjoy the only cinematic representation of my absolute favorite historical episode without overthinking it but actually laughing about it. Not to mention spitting on it. I hope I’ve been clear.

Well, I didn't know about this forum story, having registered on the site I suppose already at a later time after its suppression/suspension. However, I want to make an appeal, and I know that many here will agree, even if no one has had the courage to say it: bring back anonymous comments, come on. They made me laugh out loud.

Seminal, like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, PES and a few others. Emotionally more attached to the latter, even though I was terrible at it (I couldn't get past the second level, the one in Venice), while my brother went straight as an arrow to the conclusion.

One might think that this element has hit rock bottom, but there’s still so much more to dig...

An unjudgeable record due to the usual fucking sentimental value that unfortunately accompanies a good part of the commercial stuff from the 90s; a clear judgment is impossible for me, especially "2030" and "Domani" listened to today give me the feeling of a hand tearing my heart out, passing through my ass. As for the review, I deem it: a pile of crap in perfect Demian style.

I found this site by clicking on Google the words "Ligabue merda"... how can I not love it to madness? Proudly, I’m also not signed up for that huge bullshit called Facebook, even though sometimes I’d like to be just to go into the group "what's the point of asking for my friendship if then you don’t say hi to me on the street?" just to tell all the members "See how stupid you are?"

@PUNTINICAZ, I must insist: I’ve been playing the Konami series since '98 and I know it inside and out, and with manual tactics, I also wipe the floor with the newbies who don’t use them (and they might pick the big teams while I tear them apart with whoever is the Malaga of the moment)...but, I repeat, the skill "long shot" is used by shooting normally with the square button, and then, at the right moment, let’s say just before the foot hits the ball, you press L2...and the incredible shot takes off. If I'm not mistaken, it's mentioned in the instruction manual, too. As for strengthening the defenders, I still play on Ps2 (for now, it’s not worth switching to next-gen) and with the PesFanEditor, I go for overslow and have a blast: attackers weakened, defenders strengthened, and the game becomes much more simulation-like.

And here one could write an encyclopedia... in fact, if I'm feeling up for it, I'll just do a review. @PUNTINICAZ, you take a shot from outside the box by pressing L2 at the right moment while charging with the square. Regarding the eternal PES-FIFA battle, until the late 90s, FIFA was king; whether it was because it was released first (93 or 94, I can't remember) or because the Konami saga, which started with ISS Pro, was too arcade and fake. Then, in 98-99, there was a turnaround with that legendary installment called Winning Eleven 4, while FIFA released that abomination called FIFA 99 and suddenly lost millions of users. The rest is history... up to the more recent next-gen editions: Konami's series has lost its simulation character in favor of a more arcade approach, perhaps good for teenage players, but certainly not appealing to the long-time fans of the series. Defenders are brain-dead, attackers are overpowered (especially the truly unstoppable stars), excessive speed, and tennis-like results are simply not football. Period. On the other hand, FIFA has drastically closed the gap from the early 2000s, thanks in part to many programmers who defected from Konami, and on the eve of the 2010 editions, we can finally say that we are faced with two equivalent games, at the same level, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Anyone who claims that FIFA is superior is mistaken because that helium ball that starts floating as soon as it leaves the ground is simply unbearable... and the ball, in a football game, you’ll agree with me, is quite important.