What you like sucks. (And here is why!)

[Claude Delacroix]

Since no-one has created this, I figured that I would. Simply put, this is where we get to squabble and bicker about what we consider the greatest things OF ALL TIME.

Yes, I'm aware of the childishness of this. I'm also aware that my inner child does not care.

I highly encourage (good-natured) flaming, up to the point where serious intra-site problems can arise. I'll even go first.

Rules are simple: if you say something is the greatest, you have to also say a yin to that yang, the worst of the same form of entertainment or facet of life.

I'll go first in examples:

The greatest anime OF ALL TIME: Excel Saga.

The worst anime OF ALL TIME: Death Note

That being said, I find nonsensical madness more entertaining than the convoluted anime that spawned a million mall goths.

Now, don't let this fool you into thinking that anime is the limit to the loving hate. This is for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. The best way to get this started is to simple start listing things that we love and hate. The madness will blossom thereafter.

Have fun!

[Allie Johnson]

The best vegetables in the entire world are snow peas.
the absolute worst scum-of-the-earth vegetables that any cursed person ever had the mishap to discover are...
LIMA BEANS DDDDDD:

[Claude Delacroix]

Are you MAD?!

Lima beans are the green gift of God to this wretched ball of dust.

However, red cabbage can burn in 9 levels of Hades.

[Samuel Kircher]

Claude, are you daff? Red cabbage is the solidified lifeblood (hence the color) of Mother Gaia herself, shed for our nourishment. How dare you consign it to Hell! Have you no fear of the gods?!

(since veggies can get rather boring, I'm assuming we can switch topics on what we like, as long as we reply in negative to the last poster's positive)

I hereby declare my undying support of William Shakespeare, the only true playwright.

[Ethan Ramey]

I'm way too critical of other people's opinions to get involved in this thread.

[Mr. Pearse]

The honor our society accords to Shakespeare is grossly overrated and undeserved. He was a shadowy figure (or figures) of the late 16th and early 17th centuries who penned several influential plays, and who established a precedent from which many other English works have followed. That's all fine and dandy, but he has not aged particularly well, and in the span of many centuries, his imitators have arguably become his betters. I don't have to praise the Illiad when I watch Star Wars; similarly, I shouldn't have to grovel before the ghost of a long-dead playwright every time I read a damn book.

Feel free to respond, just be sure that your feelings won't be hurt when you realize you are wrong. Because that will happen.

[Seth Ruggeri]

I'm way too critical of other people's opinions to get involved in this thread.

I should follow your example Mr. Ramey, but what fun would that be?

I agree with Pearse on the Shakespeare issue. While old Willy penned many good plays, as Pearse points out, a good portion of his writing doesn't retain a lot of meaning for a modern audience. There are some universal themes within different plays that still have some application, but much of the context in which they are written and the word choices he used don't hold up today quite as well as other works.

Playwrights such as Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, while not quite as aged as Shakespeare, are considerably easier to relate to and the topics of the works have aged rather well.

[Allie Johnson]

you guys are all idiots. Written plays suck!

The only things worth watching in the entire world are the Die Hard movies!

[Ethan Ramey]

Allie wins.

[Mr. Pearse]

so I wrote my Shakespeare bit trying to get a rise out of somebody...that didn't go quite how I'd have thought. I'll try again.

The Worst RPG (Series) OF ALL TIME: Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy preaches linearity and very little else. Most usually, each game has consisted of a fallen or outcast protagonist navigating fixed set pieces. This exploration element is occasionally interrupted by either a) battles in which three party members and any number of enemies wait politely to hit each other, or b) a cutscene which unfolds the same way regardless of any decision on the player's part. Rinse and repeat a couple thousand times, and you have a Final Fantasy game.

In a Final Fantasy game, the player is not the driver - he is the passenger. He rummages around in the glove compartment, or looks at a map while someone else (the game) makes all the real decisions. I believe a story in an RPG is something that should happen because of - not regardless of - a player's actions. That's why the West has the right idea, and why those gamers who cling to the linear mediocrity of spikey hair and big swords are really missing out.

[Claude Delacroix]

I wouldn't say Final Fantasy is the worst RPG series, but I will say they've become bloated and pretentious. I maintain that Final Fantasy VI is a classic of the genre, and the crown gem in the series. I do prefer other series more, such as Star Ocean (at least the first and second ones). They beat Final Fantasy because the story has multiple branching paths that YOU (the player) choose. There are at least 80 different endings that are decided by the actions of the player in non-action sections, making for massive replay value and nested interest in character interation. And as for the outcast cliche, the main characters in the first two are normal people that are thrown into very extrordinary circumstances.

I hate Halo. The end. I hate a FPS, unless its a rail-shooter that I'm playing with friends.

[Ethan Ramey]

There are a few good FPS games, though not many. Bioshock was amazing, and Bioshock 2 was a decent follow-up. I also appreciate some of the setpieces in Killzone 2 and Resistance 2.

And the key with gaming is to know how to approach a video game from the start. I'll take a Western RPG (especially a BioWare game) over a JRPG any day of the week, but you don't play them for the same experience. In a Western RPG, you're (usually) literally shaping the story, role-playing in the truest sense of the word. In a JRPG, you are a passenger, but that's kind of the point. In the same way that you don't walk into a move theater and complain about not being able to alter a story, you don't play a Final Fantasy game and grief over the lack of choices. It's made for you to experience someone else's story, while allowing you to still feel like part of it. You don't just watch the group of outcasts walk and battle their way through the wilderness to reach the next big destination; you participate.

Although, I'll reiterate: WRPG FTW.

Dammit, I've been roped in.

[Jessamine Blake]

Potatoes are the best vegetable ever, and Yukon potatoes are the best potatoes ever, with russets being the worst. All beans can go die in a fire, and so can most species of pea, but my deepest hatred is reserved for undercooked green beans and the people who undercook them.

Anime pale in comparison to 1990s cartoons adapted from comic books. If you don't believe me, ask yourself: who would win in a fight? Spike Spiegel, or Batman?

Batman, fool. Because Spike dies.

William Shakespeare is still immensely relevant. However, high school (aka the place most people are forced to read his works) is entirely irrelevant and should be abolished post-haste.

Metal Gear Solid is the best game series in the history of the universe. All other games bow and weep at their relative insignificance. And this includes Final Fantasy. Metal Gear Solid games are intense gaming experiences chock full of politics, philosophy, character development, and intricate plot connections. Final Fantasy games are fetishistic eye candy for teenaged American shut-ins.

Bono is the best public speaker in the world. Barack Obama is the worst. Bono would also be the best choice for the next president of the United States...or, you know, the world. Remember this when you vote, kiddies.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is the best book ever written concerning/questioning Christianity's foundations. The Da Vinci Code is the worst.

Ayn Rand had the best ideas about economics ever. Karl Marx had the worst.

Howard Dean is the most enthusiastic Democrat ever. Joe Biden is the least.

[Ethan Ramey]

Jessamine, the question you should be asking is: Who would win in a fight, Batman or Vicious? See how your conclusion falls apart!

After all, Batman didn't kill Spike, so you'd have to compare the strength of their opponents.

[Jessamine Blake]

Batman would still win. I mean seriously. Over the years Batman has defeated everything that's been thrown at him, including Superman. What chance does Vicious have?

[Allie Johnson]

Batman completely owns. End of story.

Shakespeare's works are as colorful and interesting to read today as they ever were! As long as one can get past the nearly prehistoric language, the plays (while most of them are stolen) can be totally hilarious in just as many ways as the movies today are. High-school doesn't adequately prepare students for the reading of Shakespeare, and as a result, many of those who sport a lesser enthusiasm for his works (aka lesser intelligence) walk away from the experience feeling as if Shakespeare himself has, in some way, harmed them physically after their painstaking readings.

However those with the slightest spark of intelligence will be able to look around the language he used (without the use of sparknotes or any other piece of literature that claims to put his plays "in today's language") and find that there are plenty of colorful references and witty puns. His works are well-written and obviously have stayed famous through the ages. Pieces of mediocre work are often lost to time.

[Claude Delacroix]

Actually, Batman is dead. The first Robin (Dick Grayson/Nightwing) is now Batman, while Bruce's son with Talia al Ghul (the daughter of Batman villain Ra's al Ghul), is the new Robin. Anyway, everyone knows that Marvel comics are far superior to DC comics. Give me my 1970's and 1980's X-Men comics over Batman or that overgrown boy scout Superman any day.

[Jessamine Blake]

Anyone who thinks Marvel can possibly compete with DC is smoking some bad crack. Marvel has Spiderman, sure, and X-Men, but what other superheroes do they have that are really good? Meanwhile, DC has Batman (which beats everything, including rock, paper, and scissors), Superman, both the Green Lantern AND the Green Arrow, and The Flash. Among others.

And let's face it, even if DC only had Batman, they would win. Not only is he amazingly superior in every way to every superhero ever created, but the villains in the Batman universe are way cooler than the villains of, say, the Spiderman or X-Men universes.

WARNING: BATMAN SPOILERS AHEAD

Furthermore, whether Batman is dead really depends on the storyline you choose to follow. The vast collection of Batman comics is by no means a continuity, and therefore a concrete canon has not really been established. So just as you can say that Batman is dead and has been replaced by Dick Grayson, I can say that Batman went into retirement, came out of that retirement when he was, to be fair, way too old to still be putting on the suit, and faked his own death at the hands of Superman (right under Superman's self-righteous nose, I might add). Dick Grayson, in the meantime, became the second Joker and Batman had to kill him. That's right. Kill. The one thing Batman doesn't do.

Or, you know. I could just point out that Batman isn't really dead at all in the storyline you're referring to. See Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.

[Seth Ruggeri]

The worst anime OF ALL TIME: Death Note

While not my favorite series, Death Note is by no means the worst anime ever. Over the years, I've had the misfortune of watching my fair share of horrendous anime. Here are a few I'd like to share with the rest of you. I am not responsible for any resulting ailments that watching these might cause, including but not limited to bleeding from both the eyes and ears, loss of faith in humanity, or desire to do horrible things to small animals.

Biohunter
Random sex scenes, demon viruses, tentacles and a really awful mustache. I swear this isn't a porno.

Dracula, Sovereign of The Danmed
Dracula steals Satan's bride, looses his powers, ends up bumming off people on the street just so he can get money for a hamburger. At lease he doesn't sparkle... or does he? No video for this one, but enjoy this picture of Dracula eating that tasty burger.


Odin: Starlight Mutiny
Four words, Hair Metal Ending Theme. In addition, the original Japanese cut of this movie is 139 minutes, which coincidentally, is 139 minutes too long.

Garzey's Wing
WORST DUB EVER. Admittedly, it does have some of the greatest cheesy bits of dialogue ever. How could you not enjoy lines like "I was bruised all over my body because I had to fight naked" and "Take this sword, it is sharp."

Mind you, this is only a small sample of my laundry list of terrible anime. All of these are circa the 80's and 90's. I didn't even touch on any of the more recent schlock I've had the misfortune of watching. That is a special slice of Hell reserved for another day.

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