Oh, right...
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Giant Bomb #8 | It's a Hit!
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Oh, right...
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Actually, yeah, it is an extremely common social activity. There are bowling alleys everywhere. Even some of the smallest of towns in the middle of nowhere have a bowling alley. Gamespot was even forcing them to go wig bowling as a team building exercise or something.
Not that it's bad for anyone to not know something like that, but I would say it's fairly surprising if somebody doesn't.
I would have thought bowling is (like in the UK where a lot of alleys have closed) more of an outdated pastime mostly resigned to movies set a couple decades ago. It's weird, for work I have to visit NY a lot, but the more time I spend there the more I realise it seems completely unrepresentative of the average American life and I shouldn't make assumptions based on it.
That said, wig bowling sounds like one of those corporate mandated activities that would make me want to kill everyone. Why the wigs? Ugh.
Gonna go on record as saying The Big Lebowski is the worst Coen brothers film.
shadyspace
Banned
You mean New York City, right? 'Because bowling alleys are goddamn everywhere up-state.
Yeah well thats like, your opinion, man
America is a big nation. And different areas even have their own variants on bowling.
Maryland has a ton of Duckpin bowling lanes for example.
also
bigwinnerx
Member
Bowling is a proper yuppie thing here around DC. Craft beer, $10 games, projection TVs, wait service, etc.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Then again, Brad never forgot to take off his bowling shoes and flew across the country in them.
The Ladykillers.
But Big Lebowski is probably pretty far down my personal list of their films.
Agreed from a UK perspective.
Bowling was a fun pastime big in the 90s, but now who goes bowling?
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Yeah. It'd make sense to put Danny on the podcast, but I almost wonder if they're not going to just kill the whole thing entirely and have Kevin mostly pump out written content.
Do you guys still have world dart championships? I remember that being on TV and thought it was basically the British equivalent of world bowling championships.
ThreePiMatt
Member
My dad runs bowling tournament sf for a living, he can easily draw a 100-200 people in a weekend. A lot of them reentering the tournament multiple times.
That's my experience from Norway too. We went bowling all the time when I was growing up in the 90s, now the only bowling venue left in my city is a place where people my age and older go to drink. It's a bar with a bowling alley. It's pretty great and dangerous.
Yeah, it would make sense since Kevin is now one of just two staff editors who's on the written part of the site. Still, I'd start listening to a Danny podcast in a second. Not sure if the market is big enough for it to make sense for them though, Jeff has talked about how much he has had to justify still having a podcast to suits who just look at how much time it takes to record and how little direct ad revenue it generates.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Just started the GS show, where they deftly ignore the massive layoffs and give you corporate speak because that's all they can do... but is the plan to basically fill the gaps with GB people now?
I'm sure they'll fill some of those positions with a some fresh faces.
GS helped out GB on liveshows when the SF office was understaffed.
Probably just for a bit, especially while Danny is out. Hey, it's only fair - GB gets GS people occasionally.
So we're all in agreement that Kingpin is the best bowling film ever made? Good.
Yeah, west village/soho to be exact. Rarely have time to stray far which sucks.
Oh god, you're right. I stand corrected, they're joint last.
I kinda doubt that? It's not like they are going to hire a bunch of new people after laying off so many.
I guess it's possible that they were hacking out high salaried people to replace with cheap new labor, but if it happens quickly...well, isn't that illegal?
I suppose it's also possible to fill gaps with freelancers, but I feel like they'd want to be paid for the appearances. Also, how many of the freelancers live in the SF region?
YuriLowell
Member
Dan's stupid WoW thing has caused me to want to go back and play again.
I'm sure they'll fill the written part of the site with freelancers, and those don't have to live near SF either. I doubt they'll fill on screen positions with freelancers because that would obviously not work.
It's a ritual that can never be broken - feel nostalgic/see new expansion, re-install, realise it was your guild and in-game friends you missed, uninstall, rinse repeat.
It's still a fantastic movie imo. One of the Coen brothers' best.
I also still hear songs from the soundtrack on the radio from time to time. They have to have made a fortune on that stuff.
I think most people rate it as that. Big Lebowski is one of my all time favourite comedies, so it's up there with the best movies they've made for me. God damn those guys have a great filmography.
Dan's dad was probably listening to one of his son's stories on the bombcast at the time... https://twitter.com/PaulRyckert/status/496800497488392193
O Brother is still great, I just rewatched it a few months ago. One of my favorites of their zanier titles.
Hey! I love the Hudsucker Proxy; one of their best. Not as good as Big Lebowski, but definitely top 5.
Holy shit. Glad he's okay.
What's the rumpus?
That would be Inside Llewin Davis
The bulk of the written material is/was already written by freelancers (Gamespot is still one of the few sites that reviews basically every game that gets a commercial release), it'll just continue that way going forward.
The onscreen stuff was what the regulars were for and that's where they are going to be lacking people.
Bringing on freelancers for video content is not unheard of or an insane idea. In the halcyon days of 1Up, they would regularly have freelancers on the 1Up show. Sterling McGarvery, Justin Haywald, and GB's very own Patrick Klepek (among others) started out as 1Up/EGM freelancers who were featured on the 1Up Show.
ThreePiMatt
Member
I'd watch a Coen Brothers anime.
Fantastic film. I saw it again recently at a Secret Cinema where they even staged the fixed boxing match prior to the film.
What's always struck me the most about that movie is how fucking fantastic it looks. It's almost flawlessly directed.
Well, wasn't the people we know of who got fired mainly writers? It looked that way to me.
Yes, absolutely. That's the "realignment strategy" that the suits talked about. They were folk who were less suitable for video (by suit standards) and were likely the highest paid content staff. Use freelancers for written content and you don't have to pay for benefits (50% on top of salary or more), office space, AND because they often don't live in SF, they are more willing to work for lower wages. Additionally, it's non-tenured people, so the wage demands are doubly low.
None of the people that were laid off had the cult of personality of the GB guys, and in the case of McShea and Petit, had active detractors. That + high cost + non-standard "look"= layoff when only beans are being counted.
Such is the death of written games stuff.
It really does look great. Barry Sonnenfeld did a tremendous job on the cinematography. I generally prefer the Coens' more regular collaborator, Roger Deakins, but it's impossible to be disappointed with the way Miller's Crossing was shot.
Writers, editorial directors and event producers by the looks of it.
Little bit concerning that a bigger deal wasn't made of firing the EiC (has a new one even been announced?). I hope there is still good editorial/sales separation there and our Danny isn't going to be roped into Call of Duty advertorial. I've noticed that once sites start downplaying who's in charge (like they did after Greg Kasavin left) and avoid bylines in favour of 'Staff', ethics get messy...
Gorgeous and creative film
Jimmyfenix
Member
What about wrestling?
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