Skip to main content

miskatonic jack 2's definitions

Gun Fu

Gun fu is the style of sophisticated close-quarters gunplay seen in Hong Kong action cinema and in Western films influenced by it. It often resembles a martial arts battle played out with firearms instead of traditional weapons.

The focus of gun fu is style, and the usage of firearms in ways that they were not designed to be used. Shooting a gun from each hand, shots from behind the back, as well as the use of guns as melee weapons are all common. Other moves can involve shotguns, Uzis, rocket launchers, and just about anything else that can be worked into a cinematic shot. It is often mixed with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers.

"Gun fu" has become a staple factor in modern action films due to its visually appealing nature (regardless of its actual practicality in a real-life combat situation). This is a contrast to American action movies of the 1980s which focused more on heavy weaponry and outright brute-force in firearm-based combat.
Before 1986, Hong Kong cinema was firmly rooted in two genres: the martial arts film and the comedy. Gunplay was not terribly popular because audiences had considered it boring, compared to fancy kung-fu moves or graceful swordplay of the wu shu epics. What moviegoers needed was a new way to present gunplay-- to show it as a skill that could be honed, integrating the acrobatics and grace of the traditional martial arts. And that's exactly what John Woo did. Using all of the visual techniques available to him (tracking shots, dolly-ins, slo-mo), Woo created beautifully surrealistic action sequences that were a 'guilty pleasure' to watch. There is also intimacy found in the gunplay-- typically, his protagonists and antagonists will have a profound understanding of one another and will meet face-to-face, in a tense Mexican standoff where they each point their weapons at one another and trade words.

The popularity of John Woo's films, and the heroic bloodshed genre in general, in the West helped give the gun fu style greater visibility. Film-makers like Robert Rodriguez were inspired to create action sequences modelled on the Hong Kong style. One of the first to demonstrate this was Rodriguez's Desperado (1995). The Matrix (1999) played a part in making "gun fu" the most popular form of firearm-based combat in cinema worldwide; since then, the style has become a staple of modern Western action films.
by Miskatonic Jack 2 September 2, 2010
mugGet the Gun Fu mug.

LowerTown

A neighborhood of Paducah Kentucky that serves as it's Art's district. It borders downtown to the southwest. Thanks to the Artist Relocation Program, artists from places as far as Hawaii, San Fransisco and Paris France have settled there givinig the city of Paducah hope of having a rennaisance.
I'd move to Lowertown, but it's too close to the New Madrid Faultline.
by Miskatonic Jack 2 December 12, 2008
mugGet the LowerTown mug.

urban

1) A word used to describe an area that has a much higher density than the surrounding area; clustered. This could either be the downtown of the central city in a larger metropolitan area (the skyscraper distict) or a clustered villiage/hamlet surrounded by forest\cropland\open desert.

2) Traditionally, areas where employment came from non-primary sources (secondary and tertiary). However, modern industry tends to take place over an area that has little of the density needed to truly be considered urbanized.

3)Associated with African-American or Hip-Hop culture.

4) Not suburban.
1) Believe it or not, a dense clustered villiage or hamlet surrounded by open countryside is very much in fact, urban.
An estate, set back from the road on 5 or more acres, a house space or more away from their neighbors near the metropolitan centre, now that's just not urban.

2)While the economy of our metropolitan area is considered urban, the density of the industrial parks is low enough to render that term laughable.

3)There is a store in Paducah near Lowertown that sells urbanwear and other aspects of urban or hip-hop culture.

4)Theres nothing sadder than a bunch of people living in low density suburbia calling themselves "urban".
by Miskatonic Jack 2 December 9, 2008
mugGet the urban mug.

white trash

Stupid white people who may love guns, explosives (particularly when applied to a pond or lake so they can kill all the fish instantly), beer (and lots of it), cigarettes, methanphetamines, ATVs, Country Western music, Classic Rock, 80's\90's Heavy Metal for the younger set, and bands like Nickleback, Limp Bizkit, and Insane Clown Posse for the even younger set.
They tend to be the biggest conformists, particularly in the USA, and will buy the largest vehicles they can afford (anything extended cab, and if possible, a hummer).
They may live in the Country (including suburbia and exurbia), in a tiny hamlet, in a village, in a town, in a city, a metropolis, or a suburb.
Most live in metropolitan areas, where the jobs are located (although many are on welfare or earn a living through the illegal narcotics trade.
White trash have a tendency to breed like rabbits.
White trash aren't always poor, and make unwise decisions for the sake of instant gratification (see below).
White trash aren't always poor, and this becomes a huge problem when they get into alot of money. Examples of this are when they build a new ranch house (often a log "home" <see log home>) every 2 years on another 4+ acre lot, where they have cleared away all the trees. And many have 2 or more large dogs running around their house and property, and therefore get a wood floor installed all over their house for the dogs to piss on, shit on, and otherwise tear up (not an endless resource). Needless to say, they could care less about the environment. They aren't much for historic preservation either.
with over 300 million people living in the USA now 400 million not far away, Gaia help us.
by Miskatonic Jack 2 December 9, 2008
mugGet the white trash mug.

MSA

Metropolitan Statistical Area

In the USA this refers to an urban cluster (continuously built up area,) or clusters of 50K people of more each, the county it (or they) sit in, as well as the counties (or townships in New England) where significant numbers of people commute to and from that county. It includes urban (high density,) suburban (lower density,) and exurban (rural nonfarm) areas, as well as farmland.
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

Definition: Geographical divisions, determined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, for the purposes of census data and other urban population calculations. The divisions are primarily based on urban areas, and tend to follow town or county borders. The MSAs can also be broken down into smaller “Metropolitan Divisions.” Previously called Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA).

-BusinessDictionary.com
by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 17, 2010
mugGet the MSA mug.

geographic diversity

A variety of place and geographic identity within a relatively small area.
When a "neighborhood" is thought of to have a much smaller area and than is designated by most newspapers, other publications, travel websites, as well as philistines, that is geographic diversity.
While metropolitan areas are usually the antithesis of geographic diversity, such metropolitan areas as the San Fransisco Bay area, Hampton Roads VA, the Tampa Bay Area FLA, Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton PA/NJ, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/etcetera PA, the North Carolina Research triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill/Wake Forest), as well as any "tri-cities," "quad-cities or any other metropolitan area domminated by multiple cities are good examples of metropolitan areas which contain geographic diversity. Any smaller or average sized county which contains multiple towns with their own identities contains geographic diversity (on the other end, merged city/county governments such as Louisville KY are geograpically homogenous). Any state, provence or small country which is domminated by multiple cities, or at least may lack one single primate city (and the identityless sprawl surrounding it) are also geographically Diverse.
Geographic diversity means being able to go from one town or city to another and then another while travelling just a short distance.

In a large border city, one will often find geographic diversity on the other side of the said boudary.
Thanks to suburban sprawl, the accompanying horizontal expansion of metropolitan areas (as well as the increased identification within one), the consolidation of post offices, far-flung airports containing the name of a major city 2 miles away, and all the job growth moving to the boondocks right outside major cities, we're going to see less and less geographic diversity in the time yet to come.

People simply don't start towns anymore, just suburbs.

There are no suburbs, only sprawl, edge cities, and towns that have been imperialized.
by Miskatonic Jack 2 December 12, 2008
mugGet the geographic diversity mug.

2000s

See Two-Thousands AKA the 2XXXs
A thousand year period.
Not to be confused with the Third Millenium, which begins and ends exactly a year later.
The 2000s begin on January 1st of the year 2000 and end on December 31st of the year 2999 @ 11:59 P.M.
Source: Miskatonic Jack 2, The Ohio River Valley
by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 10, 2008
mugGet the 2000s mug.

Share this definition

Sign in to vote

We'll email you a link to sign in instantly.

Or

Check your email

We sent a link to

Open your email