Gaming World Forums
General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: xanque on March 18, 2009, 04:02:02 pm
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This is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows. It's like a combination of House and private detective shows.
IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235099/
Tim Roth plays Dr. Cal Lightman, a guy who really understands nonverbal gestures. He doesn't really care what people are saying, only how they are saying it and what they're doing as they're saying it. Because of this, he can detect when people are lying. He gets hired by organizations that need to determine whether an employee, inmate, etc. is telling the truth about something. Whenever a character makes a particularly important gesture, it shows pictures of famous people who made the same gesture in similar circumstances (they like to show Bill Clinton a lot).
So far, most episodes are Tim Roth's character investigating one thing while his lackeys investigate something else.
Maybe I'm biased because I've taken several courses on nonverbal communication, and the subject fascinates me, but this show has been awesome so far. It has about the same amount of plot arc as House does, but it makes sense that way.
Has anyone else been watching this show? If you're not watching it, I highly recommend seeing at least the first episode.
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Whenever a character makes a particularly important gesture, it shows pictures of famous people who made the same gesture in similar circumstances (they like to show Bill Clinton a lot).
I don't know why but this sounds like this would be really stupid to me! I've not seen the show so maybe it's not as bad as it sounds but it sounds like they're throwing in a dumb montage to try make themselves more relevant.
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it's a dumb show and not really worth watching but what's cool is I've read Ekman's book, which is the system these guys use, and it's a way cool book. now at the next gw meet i'll know...everything. for real though I dedicated shame in my friend's face and realized "he's about to go do something he knows iw on't approve of" a second before he said "i'm going to see mc chris".
you can even download the FACS, there are bootleg versions online.
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Yeah I've been watching this show just so I have something to watch on thursdays, its ok but its too easy.. They make it look just way to easy when trying to tell if someone is lieing or not, they always make it seem like people have to try so hard to lie but most of us do it everyday without even thinking about it.
Our expressions are universal which I suppose is true but not everyone shows emotion in such obvious ways.
Anyway im going to continue to watch this to see where they go with it, will it get more than 1-2 seasons? probably not but we will see.
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I just watched the first ep based on this recommendation xanqui and I'm not happy. I saw a documentary about the cia dudes who use these techniques once (he was also using bill clinton as a powerpoint for explaining microexpressions yawn). The format of this show was pretty boring. Also why did they set up their watch-people's-faces headquarters inside a macbook
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seriously though pick up paul ekman's book, it actually works and freaked me the fuck out...
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which book? it'd be neat to have a trick at parties when people ask me to analyse them
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i could only get emotions revealed. you can also download the computer system he uses, like i said.
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I just watched the first ep based on this recommendation xanqui and I'm not happy.
gee, sorry
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id be way more interested in using these things to train myself to be completely unpredictable.
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id be way more interested in using these things to train myself to be completely unpredictable.
for that one in a bajillion chance you meet someone who cares enough to watch out for your micro expressions :shady:
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One of the worst series on TV. It just happens to have a budget. It's really pretty terrible.
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One of the worst series on TV. It just happens to have a budget. It's really pretty terrible.
What makes it so terrible?
I'm not arguing it's the best series ever, but so far I've found the episodes enjoyable and interesting.
It can't be even close to the worst series on TV because Prison Break is still running.
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it's a dumb show and not really worth watching but what's cool is I've read Ekman's book, which is the system these guys use, and it's a way cool book. now at the next gw meet i'll know...everything. for real though I dedicated shame in my friend's face and realized "he's about to go do something he knows iw on't approve of" a second before he said "i'm going to see mc chris".
you can even download the FACS, there are bootleg versions online.
mc chris rules, heh dont you have some chemo to be doing cancer boy?
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oh wow this is crazy: in one of th emost recent eps, lightman is watching some woman who is his mom and he fails to see a microexpression. that entire thing, other than it being his mom, was based on ekman's real experience! like the interview and the microexpression, all that shit happened. they really based a lot of this on his stuff.
edit: ekman's research is really fascinating and i wish one of you dorks was more interested in this stuff than HEROES: WHO WILL BLOW UP THE SUN.
seriously ekman teaches people to do this in 35 MINUTES, you can be a superguy in 35 minutes. his mentor, this guy named sylvan, is basically a legend who used to go on that gameshow called to tell the truth and he would figure it out in seconds before they said anything. all those cheesy cuts in the show, they actually can do it in their heads. like he called bill clinton's infidelity before the guy was president. they didn't listen though because it would look bad if someone found out a lying expert was talking to a candidate.
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oh wow this is crazy: in one of th emost recent eps, lightman is watching some woman who is his mom and he fails to see a microexpression. that entire thing, other than it being his mom, was based on ekman's real experience! like the interview and the microexpression, all that shit happened. they really based a lot of this on his stuff.
edit: ekman's research is really fascinating and i wish one of you dorks was more interested in this stuff than HEROES: WHO WILL BLOW UP THE SUN.
Yeah that wasnt a bad episode.. I doubt anyone would have known it was based on ekmans real life, but it did make for a good story for the show.
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Sounds good. Reminds me of that show, The Mentalist. I think I'll torrent the shit outta this later. One question though: Does Tim Roth put on an American accent? That shit bugs the SHIT outta me! Okay, Hugh Laurie's accent is brilliant, but I don't get the IDEA behind it. WHY does everyone in these shows/films have to be American?
But aye, I'll give it a shot. I like this psychological stuff. you should give Law & Order Criminal Intent a shot. The mind games Detective Goren gets up to with those dastardly criminals are excellent to watch.
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Sounds good. Reminds me of that show, The Mentalist. I think I'll torrent the shit outta this later. One question though: Does Tim Roth put on an American accent? That shit bugs the SHIT outta me! Okay, Hugh Laurie's accent is brilliant, but I don't get the IDEA behind it. WHY does everyone in these shows/films have to be American?
while a niche audience would have probably prefered hugh laurie to be british or something, it's a show quite obviously aiming for the american mainstream audience and i bet quite a bit of house's audience doesnt even know hugh laurie is english. aka they get more viewers.
why do you think world cinema does so shitty, for a start?
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WHY does everyone in these shows/films have to be American?
because the show is set in america and if your main character is british you have to rewrite the plot to accomodate that. so rather than mess with that detail, House speaks American accented English.
did you really not figure that out? anyways this guy speaks with a british accent so moot point.
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television is getting pretty awful
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because the show is set in america and if your main character is british you have to rewrite the plot to accomodate that. so rather than mess with that detail, House speaks American accented English.
Let's take House for example. What would you have to rewrite in that if House was British?
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Let's take House for example. What would you have to rewrite in that if House was British?
why he's in america. why a british doctor wouldn't practice in england. where's his british friends and family. do we bring up britain at all, being american writers with purely american viewers.
i'm not saying its a difficult rewrite but i mean that's your reason right there. if he can pass as american why not?
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well this might also explain why they didn't bother to change it to being british: not sure how accuracte this is as its just from wikipedia but it seems pretty plausable
Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light.[11] His US accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is English, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for
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oh wow this is crazy: in one of th emost recent eps, lightman is watching some woman who is his mom and he fails to see a microexpression. that entire thing, other than it being his mom, was based on ekman's real experience! like the interview and the microexpression, all that shit happened. they really based a lot of this on his stuff.
edit: ekman's research is really fascinating and i wish one of you dorks was more interested in this stuff than HEROES: WHO WILL BLOW UP THE SUN.
seriously ekman teaches people to do this in 35 MINUTES, you can be a superguy in 35 minutes. his mentor, this guy named sylvan, is basically a legend who used to go on that gameshow called to tell the truth and he would figure it out in seconds before they said anything. all those cheesy cuts in the show, they actually can do it in their heads. like he called bill clinton's infidelity before the guy was president. they didn't listen though because it would look bad if someone found out a lying expert was talking to a candidate.
"FACS can be learned in about 100 hours, taking five weeks if 3-4 hours is spent per day."
i don't spend 3-4 hours a day studying what i'm meant to be. i'll look into it when i next have a break or a lot of free time!
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thats facs, which is intense as fuck and takes forever and you will never use it probabaly. i mean just recognizing microexpressions and lies for your day to day life which is what he teaches cops.
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so you rape you daughter???
I didn't say that..!
yes.. you did *smug* I noticed your dick twitch when I said the word "daughter"
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why he's in america. why a british doctor wouldn't practice in england. where's his british friends and family. do we bring up britain at all, being american writers with purely american viewers.
i'm not saying its a difficult rewrite but i mean that's your reason right there. if he can pass as american why not?
But none of that's essential to the story. British guys live in America sometimes.
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But none of that's essential to the story. British guys live in America sometimes.
The character was created before they cast him. They wanted an American guy, and Hugh Laurie auditioned as an American guy.
Really, it's not that big of a deal.
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But none of that's essential to the story. British guys live in America sometimes.
dealing with pain has a lot of cultural variation. house's character doesn't fit in with english cultural norms at all! there's still a strong class structure
story differences include his father's rank in the american military and him growing up on military bases and it would be fairly weird for him to have been in america for so long without losing his accent
you would have to rewrite most of his character. the stories could be similar, just his reactions and the way he deals with it would be a lot different. oops that's the show.
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yeah this is really not an example of AMERICANS CANT APPRECIATE BRITISH ACCENTS THE PIGS. if anything we overcast intellectuals with british accents! THIS show is a good example of this (ekman isn't british!)
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Even better than just saying that, how about just saying the character is American and Hugh Laurie is ACTING PROPERLY? Hugh Laurie is playing an American because he can do a good job of it and he was a good actor for the role, why should a character be rewritten for a specific actor if the actor can act the character? That would be a pretty dumb thing to do I think!
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Grindie is just a hugely stupid asshole, there's no point in responding to him.
yeah this is really not an example of AMERICANS CANT APPRECIATE BRITISH ACCENTS THE PIGS. if anything we overcast intellectuals with british accents! THIS show is a good example of this (ekman isn't british!)
Yeah there are loads of scientists, doctors, etc on american tv who have english accents. I don't think there was ever really an argument outside of this topic that americans can't appreciate english accents or whatever, cos they are all over the place.
The actual argument is that they get stereotyped as being emblematic of a refined culture full of posh folk when England and the whole of Britain mostly just read gossip magazines and fart out their £1 bottle of cider all day.
*fart*
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I know that Hugh Laurie is playing an American. I'm fine with that. His accent is perfect. I'm not talking about that. It's the reasoning I'm getting from some people in here that makes no sense. Like every single word of Climbtree's last reply. What a load of bullshit.
But aye, whatever.
Saw the first episode of Lie to Me. Rather enjoyed it. Kicked the shit outta The Mentalist (I just hate that bitch from Prison Break!).
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I know that Hugh Laurie is playing an American. I'm fine with that. His accent is perfect. I'm not talking about that. It's the reasoning I'm getting from some people in here that makes no sense. Like every single word of Climbtree's last reply. What a load of bullshit.
But you started this discussion before ANYONE replied, so how can you go back and say you think it should have been that way because of what climbtree said?
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But you started this discussion before ANYONE replied, so how can you go back and say you think it should have been that way because of what climbtree said?
Because I'm a filthy liar.
And because I've had this discussion before and it always pans out the same way.
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I know that Hugh Laurie is playing an American. I'm fine with that. His accent is perfect. I'm not talking about that. It's the reasoning I'm getting from some people in here that makes no sense. Like every single word of Climbtree's last reply. What a load of bullshit.
But aye, whatever.
Saw the first episode of Lie to Me. Rather enjoyed it. Kicked the shit outta The Mentalist (I just hate that bitch from Prison Break!).
the reasoning for why house needs to have an american accent is that he needs to be an american. you would have to rewrite the show completely to make him british because a lot of stuff he does wouldn't make sense.
you couldn't have a british doctor that wore burburry caps and lacoste that was still likeable. or plausible. but this is a large part of house's character! the monster truck rallys, listening to loud music, motorcycles, flaming canes, band t-shirts etc.
rewriting his backstory would be easy but a lot of his characteristics wouldn't make sense. chase is australian so it's not even a matter of EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE AMERICAN but just based on statistics there's a lot of things that wouldn't work if house was british.
like if house was from dubai or was an indian doctor, you really couldn't keep his personality the same imo and still have it believable.
furthermore the character you're talking about in the show is based on an american guy! are you just talking about the quality of the accent or what?
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Naw. What I'm saying is that you don't have to be American to like monster trucks, loud music, motorcycles, bands and be a complete asshole who knows everything. What I'm saying is that a British guy could act the same way as House does and like the things House likes. I'm not saying House has to be British, I'm saying they wouldn't have to alter the show in any way if he was.
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you don't have to be a man either. house doesn't have to be a woman, they wouldn't have to alter the show in any way if he was.
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climbtree women can't like monster trucks what are you talking about
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or vidya games...
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And because I've had this discussion before and it always pans out the same way.
Gee I wonder why...
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grindie is the worst troll because he's proven himself to support the dumbest shit in the past so you never know what he's actually got an opinion about.
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You have to admit though, it's funny seeing people take everything I say personally and have to fall back on personal insults.
But whatever. I'm not gonna start some spam fest. I'll shut up now.
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i was unaware being a repetitive stupid anglophile for years despite long breaks with a penchant for engaging in the stupidest most meritless discussions ever in an attempt to somehow appear even slightly interesting in a topic where you've abandoned even the pretext of discussing the show was a personal insult rather an accurate statement of what's going on.
but w/e im too cool for this topic *spergs about hugh laurie and the mentalist*
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I think he's English, so he's an unfocused nationalist more than an anglophile. Grindie you are horrible!
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nah i think anglophile can apply to british people too. i mean i dont see why it couldn't and we've certainly got enough "twats" (heh juss a joke for u) around here who freak out over the word THEATRE. unfocused nationalism sounds meaner though, i'll use that. the unfocused part sells it well because you picture some chav guy wandering around going CHIPS KNACKERED THE LOO!!!
i can't remember if anyone's said this but i seriously think you could destroy all american perceptions of british english sounding intelligent by playing any episode of doctor who season 2 the reboot.
WOTS ALL THIS THEN OIM THE DOCTOR.
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I've only seen a scene or two from this show (had to chance channel) but I liked it. Tim Roth was about to park his car when some git came and "stole" it right infront of him. So he decided to park and block that guys car instead... A little House-ish in terms of character there. Fun :)
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honestly though on topic with the show it's actually not very good yet. like it has the whole CSI/House thing everyone's talking about, but there's almost no narrative movement forward other than a vague husband cheating plot and the sense that Lightman isn't telling everything he REALLY knows. another annoyance is they introduce a "street tough" obvious minority who is a "natural" and it's implied she got this way through a terrible crucible of domestic abuse and it's all vaguely insulting (as the idea that being beaten up makes you stronger always is), especially since apparently even Lightman, the head of the institute, isn't even a natural but this girl...heh she can beat him.
there are themes the show could go towards, and as a law buff I'd be more than a little interested in a narrative dealing with just how none of this can be accepted in court, but it's usually given the runaround in some Law and Order esque pressuring that makes me roll my eyes. he won't talk...bring the victim's father in here, he'll slip up.
there's also the aforementioned science stuff which I really think is why anyone keeps watching the show; we all want to pretend at least we're catching this stuff and can apply it. but too much is LAW AND ORDER garbage. I dunno I watch it on Hulu but it's not really something I could recommend and it's something I wake up on Thursday, think "what do I have to do today? nothing? oh there's that show" and I watch it to clear some mental cobwebs.
TV AS MORNING SUDOKU, basically.
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I've got some shows like that. That's why I have been watching the likes of Dollhouse. When you're an unemployed student you've got a lot of free time on your hands.
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I half-watched all the eps while I was working the other day. Pretty dull considering how interesting the science is on its own. A lot of the things they do aren't even microexpressions, they made them more explicit so the audience can think they're doing a good job. so welcome to lightman institute - we can see your happy cause your smilling.
:-) :-( :-/ >:| B)
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haha yeah they CSI it all up. a microexpression is really like fucking subtle usually. but it's tv, you're not going to notice it unless it's all shiny and zoomed in and exaggerated. real FACs involves individual muscle analysis, less HMM THEY PUSHED FINGERS TOGETHER.
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haha yeah they CSI it all up. a microexpression is really like fucking subtle usually. but it's tv, you're not going to notice it unless it's all shiny and zoomed in and exaggerated. real FACs involves individual muscle analysis, less HMM THEY PUSHED FINGERS TOGETHER.
So basically this is Apollo Justice: The Show?