"In the beginning . . . we were ordinary street rats. Stealing our daily 
bread and living off the efforts of Man's work.

We were captured. Put in cages and sent to a place called NIMH.

Where were many animals there . . . in cages . . .

We were put through the most unspeakable tortures . . . To satisfy some 
scientific curiosity. Often at night, I would hear them crying out in 
anguish.

20 rats and 11 mice were given injections.

Our world began *changing* . . . "



And with that, the sinister undertones of the orchestra begin to 
gradually build into a terrifying crescendo. The discordant brasses 
restlessly climb the scale through a succession of bizare key 
modulations. A torrent of strings rain down. And all the while, the 
relentless hammering of the xylophone ticks away in the background.

In front of me, the TV screen is covered by rats and mice, writhing in 
agony, raining down into an infinite black pit in the center of the 
view. Abstract patterns and elaborate kaleidoscopic geometry spiral 
outwards hypnotically. And now we see a rat in closeup, and the 
cacophony of orchestral wrath is joined by a thunderous heartbeat. Now 
sound and vision go completely crazy; spinning rainbow-coloured patterns 
and frenetic chromatic scales, crashes of thunder and arcs of lightning, 
and still that cavernous heartbeat. The visuals cut rapidly from shot to 
shot, and the orchestra builts to a final histerical pinnacle...


And then . . . a b s o l u t e   s i l e n c e . . . . .


At this point, I'm five-and-a-half years old, my little sister is four, 
and we're both sitting on the sofa absolutely rigid. Astounded, 
terrified, and yet... mesmerised. What the HELL is going to happen next?

To answer that... you must watch the film. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> To answer that... you must watch the film. ;-)


Ooooooo!  Spaaaaarrkly!

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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>> To answer that... you must watch the film. ;-)
> 
> 
> Ooooooo!  Spaaaaarrkly!

Heh. OK, you may think it's silly and childish. But it's hard-wired into 
my memory. When I was a child, I used to watch it three or four times 
PER WEEK. (Remember, to a child, 5 minutes is like 17 lifetimes.) I've 
memorised every scene, every sentence of dialogue, every inflection in 
the character's voices, every note and neaunce of the score... This film 
is part of what makes Andrew... well, Andrew.

(Or, arguably, part of what makes Andrew... suck.)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> To answer that... you must watch the film. ;-)
>>
>>
>> Ooooooo!  Spaaaaarrkly!
> 
> Heh. OK, you may think it's silly and childish. 

Not at all. It's a great movie, and a great book as well.


-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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>> Heh. OK, you may think it's silly and childish. 
> 
> Not at all. It's a great movie, and a great book as well.

A great movie, even if it does diverge drastically from the book, and 
even fail to completely make sense in places...

It's not you're typical cartoon though. Intricate orchestral scoring, 
lavish background painting, visual effects such as blurred reflection, 
glitter, light blooms, detailed animation... it's an audio-visual feast!

In other news... I now have the DVD. I can't help noticing that the 
picture seems to constantly "shake" slightly... WTF?

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> It's not you're typical cartoon though.

I'll have to hunt this up and watch it again. :-)

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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On 22-6-2009 21:16, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> "In the beginning . . . we were ordinary street rats. Stealing our daily 
> bread and living off the efforts of Man's work.
> 
> We were captured. Put in cages and sent to a place called NIMH.
> 
> Where were many animals there . . . in cages . . .
> 
> We were put through the most unspeakable tortures . . . To satisfy some 
> scientific curiosity. Often at night, I would hear them crying out in 
> anguish.
> 
> 20 rats and 11 mice were given injections.
> 
> Our world began *changing* . . . "
> 
> 
> 
> And with that, the sinister undertones of the orchestra begin to 
> gradually build into a terrifying crescendo. The discordant brasses 
> restlessly climb the scale through a succession of bizare key 
> modulations. A torrent of strings rain down. And all the while, the 
> relentless hammering of the xylophone ticks away in the background.
> 
> In front of me, the TV screen is covered by rats and mice, writhing in 
> agony, raining down into an infinite black pit in the center of the 
> view. Abstract patterns and elaborate kaleidoscopic geometry spiral 
> outwards hypnotically. And now we see a rat in closeup, and the 
> cacophony of orchestral wrath is joined by a thunderous heartbeat. Now 
> sound and vision go completely crazy; spinning rainbow-coloured patterns 
> and frenetic chromatic scales, crashes of thunder and arcs of lightning, 
> and still that cavernous heartbeat. The visuals cut rapidly from shot to 
> shot, and the orchestra builts to a final histerical pinnacle...
> 
> 
> And then . . . a b s o l u t e   s i l e n c e . . . . .
> 
> 
> At this point, I'm five-and-a-half years old, my little sister is four, 
> and we're both sitting on the sofa absolutely rigid. Astounded, 
> terrified, and yet... mesmerised. What the HELL is going to happen next?
> 
> To answer that... you must watch the film. ;-)
> 
What film? I have not a clue what this is about. Darren seems to know, 
so it is not only a UK thing. After that: blank.

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> What film? I have not a clue what this is about. Darren seems to know, 
> so it is not only a UK thing. After that: blank.

Indeed, it's an American film even... Critically acclaimed, but 
commercially less successful.

There's one key word in that quotation that should be Googlable. (And, 
weirdly, it apparently exists in the real world as well as in this 
fictional one...)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On 22-6-2009 22:29, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> What film? I have not a clue what this is about. Darren seems to know, 
>> so it is not only a UK thing. After that: blank.
> 
> Indeed, it's an American film even... Critically acclaimed, but 
> commercially less successful.
> 
> There's one key word in that quotation that should be Googlable. (And, 
> weirdly, it apparently exists in the real world as well as in this 
> fictional one...)
> 
Googling leads me to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISNz7lWAzd8
but the quote does not seem to crop up, al least not in the first few 
minutes.

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andrel wrote:
> On 22-6-2009 22:29, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> What film? I have not a clue what this is about. Darren seems to 
>>> know, so it is not only a UK thing. After that: blank.
>>
>> Indeed, it's an American film even... Critically acclaimed, but 
>> commercially less successful.
>>
>> There's one key word in that quotation that should be Googlable. (And, 
>> weirdly, it apparently exists in the real world as well as in this 
>> fictional one...)
>>
> Googling leads me to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISNz7lWAzd8
> but the quote does not seem to crop up, al least not in the first few 
> minutes.

Oh Jesus... It's, like, 45 minutes in or something! It's in the middle 
of the film!

But yay, that's the film.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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