Let's keep this thread on track Attention! There's a decent movie on tonight!, *Showgirls* is airing on TV. It’s a misunderstood classic by Paul Verhoeven that critics absolutely buried when it hit theaters. It became this weird social norm—if you ask someone for the worst movie ever, they have to say *Showgirls*, just like they have to say *The Shawshank Redemption* is the best.
But honestly? *Showgirls* isn't a bad movie at all. Quite the opposite, really. The story follows a shallow dancer heading to Las Vegas to make it big, and it captures that specific vibe of the city perfectly—it's tacky, immoral, sleazy, and desperate for entertainment at any cost. If most people missed how much Verhoeven was actually mocking that lifestyle, that's on them.
Verhoeven made exactly the kind of movie he set out to make. And hey, who doesn't love... 🙂
Well, I guess what happens next really just depends on the folks running those websites. They might decide to just leave everything as is and offer a direct download for the latest version of Flash player right from their own servers... or maybe they'll just shut them down entirely, or rebuild all those games using JSu; it's totally up to them. For instance, if you look at flyordie.com, it's a great example of how incredibly fun games can be when they're made in JSu.
Honestly, though, it seems like Adobe realized there isn't much point in keeping things going since you can't even find new creators for it anymore, so they're phasing it out. There's always a chance some third party might buy it and try to bring Flash back to life, but usually, once the developer calls it quits, users tend to follow suit pretty quickly. Only the real nostalgics stay behind.
Flash was such a massive, dominant application back in the day that it's actually kind of a miracle it ever fell apart. If you ask me, the biggest blow came when mobile devices exploded onto the scene and Flash just couldn't quite find its footing there. But hey, plenty of people share the blame for that.
Just to give you an example, Flash is basically what built YouTube. It was really the first and only application that could reliably handle cross-browser video webcasts for as long as it has.
*** ps: You can actually try downloading those kinds of games with a Flash downloader, save them into a folder on your hard drive, and just play them like any regular file. That works especially well if the game doesn't rely on some big server-side database.
hey, Space Invaders is a total classic 👍
Thanks for clearing things up, everyone. I get it much better now.
swiftowl7 said:How about the more technical version? 🙂
Flash Player is a runtime application that was originally developed by Macromedia back in the 90s, and then about ten years later, Adobe Systems bought them out entirely and kept developing it because it looked like the future of the internet.
Back in the day, everyone from casual users to web admins and developers loved Flash because it was such an efficient runtime solution for low-bandwidth needs, easily integrated into standard HTML and other coding languages to handle all sorts of dynamic visuals—usually for websites, but also for plenty of online games and apps. Some sites were even built entirely using Flash.
Later on, if I remember correctly, around 2008, the software evolved into a tool that was almost too powerful, which meant it could potentially infect or inject code into user computers through the host and client relationship, causing its popularity to tank. Web admins started dropping Flash applets first, then it disappeared from Android, leaving Flash mostly tied to desktop computers as a sort of legacy exclusive for the very machines where its career first took off. But the real kicker was that regular users started moving away from it too, largely because HTML5 and CSS3 (which allows for great dynamic design) became so successful within modern browsers.
Sadly, twenty years later, we won't be able to install Adobe Flash Player on our computers anymore, and it isn't expected that any websites will keep supporting Flash applets past 2022. So, to put it simply: this notice is basically the final curtain call for an application that was once incredibly exciting and revolutionary for the internet.
Thanks for the deep dive. I think I get it now. 🙂
But what happens to those silly little online video games that always ran on Flash? Are they going to move to a different player?
Michael Morales4 said:I'm really glad you brought that up. It's a perfect example of how a hobby—something you truly love—can spiral into something unhealthy. You see way too much of that with sports fans. Just look at the graffiti tagging all over the cities back home.
Anyway, it's a great movie. Raw. I loved how the main guy isn't even seen in the present day, just heard through his voice. I'm just thankful Michael Jordan is still around today 🙂
Well, nine months later...
Still an amazing film, though. A top-tier character study. It's way more than just a story about his career on the field.
Green Bay held a 20-point lead during the second quarter, but Richmond stormed back in the second half and completely crushed them, finishing 81:50. That marks Richmond's third title in just four years.
By the way, Richmond has some solid ties to the American community. John Maric used to play for them, and his cousin John Soldo is on the roster now (though he missed the final due to an injury). I also see they signed former basketball player Matt Culina this year.
The Film came out right when the Black Lives Matter movement was peaking, so the timing was spot on. It definitely has that activist, eye-opening vibe, but even just as a story, it was intense and kept me hooked. The time flew by while I was at the theater.
I’m not going to spoil the twist for you—you’ve gotta see it for yourself. Honestly, the less you know going in, the more it hits. 🙂
redbear12 said:A pop song? That's the only part of this whole thread that grabbed me. I've heard people talk about those chords, even if the theory goes right over my head. But what does "pop" actually mean here? Is it about how many people liked it, or just whether it has that pop sound?
About that second point. It sounds just like the stuff you hear on the radio today. Hard to say if it was a hit back then, though, since it stayed under the radar for so long.
Some people claim Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel was actually the first pop song. It dates back to the late 1600s, and there’s a pretty interesting story behind it. Even though Pachelbel had a decent reputation back in his day, the piece eventually just sort of faded into obscurity. It didn't really see a massive resurgence until after 1968, when an orchestra recorded it and brought it back into the spotlight.
The song uses the same chord progression you hear in tons of modern pop hits. It’s actually pretty funny how often it shows up—kind of like what they joke about in that viral YouTube clip, "Pachelbel Rant." 🙂
The Beatles sound better to me when they get "serious." One of their tracks stands out as one of the strongest songs in the whole US scene from the last decade.
Nicholas King said:"By bringing together people like Steva Culej, Kovac, and Kalmeta, we’re really signaling a commitment to inclusivity and synergy—it’s a clear message that this approach strengthens our internal party democracy and, ultimately, serves the best interests of America," stated Joe Biden.
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard someone pair Steva Culej with a word like "inclusivity." 😳
Look, Andrej Plenković is playing the exact same hand Ivo Sanders used back in the day when he claimed that "voting for the Libertarian Party is basically just helping the Democratic Party." That tactic worked for Sanders, but those were different times. I don't think Plenković is going to find nearly as much luck this year.
Carol Newman2 said:Penava and several council members have officially split from the Republican Party to launch their own movement! They’re planning to run alongside Škoro in the upcoming elections. http://hr.n1info.com/Vijesti/a510487...ustio-GOP.html ------
This is the total collapse of the Republican base in the Midwest. Anušić just doesn't have the political muscle required to take down Škoro.
redbear12 said:It’s a bit of a slowdown by today's standards, but there's a nice little melody that repeats three times. Yeah, that counts as English folk. Even something like Simon & Garfunkel has a bit of a Renaissance vibe to them. They even did a cover of a famous Renaissance folk song once.
Pop music has always been around; we just used to call it folk. 🤔
Scarborough Fair
It's an interesting case because nobody really knows when the music for this song actually started. The lyrics date back to at least the 17th century, maybe even older, but was the melody actually composed in the 20th century just to sound medieval? Or is the tune itself ancient? You can hear several different recordings in the YouTube clip.
Obviously, the most famous version is the one by Simon & Garfunkel that came out after all those other versions.