|
RC and Moon Pie posted:
I figured she went to Rolling Stone because it seems unlikely The Shop would have had people in it since it's not a real newspaper.
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 12:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 20:45 |
|
|
Local Group Bus posted:whereas now teens are either hackers or skater grrls or withdrawn and sullen. He sits on a park bench in Bangor, watching sullenly as the teens parade past, smiling and laughing. What the gently caress do they have to be happy about, he thinks as he scatters a handful of seed on the pavement for the birds not present. There's no wonder in the world anymore, no magic. It's all dead. Everything. Dead. A girl with perky breasts beneath a fitted tank top steps on a few inches of well-manicured grass, her nipples visible through the material momentarily distracting him. What? When I was that young, girls would never have been so casual about that. Is she coming on to me? She is. She knows who I am, and she wants to ruin me. Girls are such sluts now. What happened to poodle skirts and malt shoppes, God? A horn blasts. Stephen King rises from the park bench, and staggers across the park towards the minivan where his son, a novelist just like his daddy, waits. "Hey, Dad." "Joseph." "Ready to head back to the home now?" His eyebrows rise in a friendly manner. The old writer gives his head a sharp, jagged nod. He's not ready, but knows better than to fight it. "Cool. You writing anything?" He asks as he holds the door open for his father. Stephen snaps his suspenders as he settles into the seat. "Yeah. It's about iPads turning teenagers into Egyptian mummies." His son smiles blandly and nods. "Oh yeah? Well, it'll be a best-seller. They always are." Joe shuts the door and climbs in his own side. Stephen stares out the window as the van rolls away, the world passing by with uncanny speed. "Ayuh. I reckon so."
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 13:50
|
|
|
A Terrible Person posted:Good point about Buick 8 You're right that King doesn't like stories that have to explain everything.* I personally don't mind those kind of stories, short or long--plot, after all, isn't everything, and King is usually so drat good at characterization that plot resolution is secondary to catharsis. My problem with From a Buick 8 is that the characters just aren't very interesting. (It might be because it's written in first person, and with the exception of The Body, I've never liked his first-person narrators. Most of them come off a little smarmy.) I'm always more than happy to give an ambiguous ending a pass so long as the characters or theme make up for it, but Buick 8 really didn't pull any of that off. And worse, it teases people who had read the Dark Tower** up to that point; there's a low man, maybe todash monsters, so the audience maybe kinda has an idea what this thing's all about, but he does nothing with the connection other than use it as a catalyst. Compare that to Hearts in Atlantis, where we're given just enough information about the low men and Brautigan's part in their schemes to piece together his role as a Breaker (but never quite told what it is). It's ambiguous as gently caress, but King manages to make that work by virtue of the tear-jerker final scene with Carol and Bobby. What's the universe compared to something as personal as "Peace + Love = Information"?*** There's nothing comparable in From a Buick 8 except for the car accident, and when it's revealed that it wasn't Ned who died, my first thought was of Rick Moranis going "FOOLED YOU" in Spaceballs. A cheap ploy at the end, no plot explanation, and characters I didn't care for drag down the ending, which is why I put it as one of his lesser ones. YMMV. But like you said, though: the book's well written. I especially liked the chapter from Arky's point of view. *From the author's note to The Moving Finger: "My favorite sort of short story has always been the kind where things happen just because they happen...I hate explaining why things happen and my efforts in that direction....aren't very good." (The ellipses are where I removed a couple of parenthetical examples.) **And Hearts in Atlantis ***I bawled like a baby at that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 16:52
|
|
|
spixxor posted:I'm just curious, have you read Under the Dome? Aren't most teens insufferable?
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 16:59
|
|
|
I like From a Buick 8 because it strikes me as an earnest attempt by King to get back to writing the weirder stuff from his earlier career. It is easily my favorite post-crash, non-Dark Tower book he's written (3Romeo, you make valid points, I just choose to look at the book as stand-alone), and probably rivals the last three Dark Tower books in how much I enjoyed it. It's just a short, weird little novel that tells a story I find interesting. It's not a top-ten King book by any means, but it's also not Cell.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2012 20:10
|
|
|
Ornamented Death posted:I like From a Buick 8 because it strikes me as an earnest attempt by King to get back to writing the weirder stuff from his earlier career. It is easily my favorite post-crash, non-Dark Tower book he's written (3Romeo, you make valid points, I just choose to look at the book as stand-alone), and probably rivals the last three Dark Tower books in how much I enjoyed it. I'm not crapping on anyone who liked it, I hope you understand. Just sayin' it wasn't my cup of tea. I'm a huge King fan, and I honestly think that he'll be read in the future the way Dickens is today--sometimes as a relic, sometimes as a portal into a past time, sometimes because his stories transcend the period in which they're written. But every prolific author's had their stinkers, like you say with Cell. I admire that book because it's the only one I've ever read where literally every page is worse than the one that precedes it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2012 02:08
|
|
|
Has anyone read The Wind Through the Keyhole yet? The limited edition has been out for a few days now, but I'm all about ebooks now and didn't want to pay $50+ for a book, anyway.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2012 02:59
|
|
|
Blade_of_tyshalle posted:My favourite style of vampire, however, has got to be the ones in the Necroscope series. Body horror galore e: if a telepathic teleporting vampire who can talk to the dead sounds like a laugh to you then its fun, its just a shame he is such a poor writer because you find yourself loosing the 'immersion' factor cos you occasionally find yourself thinking this was written by a loving 10 year old. Seaside Loafer fucked around with this message at 08:21 on Mar 2, 2012 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2012 08:11
|
|
|
I've never met another person who enjoyed it, and sometimes I think I'm the only person who liked From a Buick 8. I like King's ambiguous endings and unexplained phenomena, because it perks my imagination into what it might be or what could happen, instead of outright giving me an answer I'm forced to swallow whether I like it or not. That was one of the reasons I loved the ending to The Mist and hated the movie version. Buick 8 wasn't perfect (he is way to proud of setting a book in Pennsylvania, he mentions it like every other page). And a few elements really are sort of glossed over too quickly but I felt it was a nice little weird side book about a bunch of very rational people dealing with something they don't understand the only way they know how, and relating the story to the one person whose father wasn't able to do so.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2012 23:07
|
|
|
I enjoyed From a Buick 8, as I do most of King's books. The thing I like most about his books though aren't the fact that the stories are that good, or even interesting. He just has a way of "fleshing out" a character and making them truly human. It's not all melodrama. That's why Stephen King is a good writer in my opinion.
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 07:32
|
|
|
Whosurbuddy posted:I enjoyed From a Buick 8, as I do most of King's books. The thing I like most about his books though aren't the fact that the stories are that good, or even interesting. He just has a way of "fleshing out" a character and making them truly human. It's not all melodrama. That's why Stephen King is a good writer in my opinion. This. This! A million times, this! King just writes really good characters. Even if they're lovely characters, they're still really well-written (while simultaneously reprehensible).
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 10:12
|
|
|
Blade_of_tyshalle posted:He sits on a park bench in Bangor, watching sullenly as the teens parade past, smiling and laughing. What the gently caress do they have to be happy about, he thinks as he scatters a handful of seed on the pavement for the birds not present. There's no wonder in the world anymore, no magic. It's all dead. Everything. Dead. That's beautiful, man. I laughed so loudly it scared my guinea pigs into hiding (but then again, what doesn't?)
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 19:00
|
|
|
A Terrible Person posted:This. This! A million times, this! Agreed 110%! I was reading some godwaful shitheap a while ago (Daemon by Daniel Suarez), and realized that after an entire book you felt like you knew nothing whatsoever about any of the characters. Meanwhile, King can introduce a whole cast in a page or two and make them all seem "real". Just a sentence or two, a particular attribute, and you have a "feel" for the character right away. He truly is a master at that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2012 22:04
|
|
|
I got my Netflix DVD of Desperation today. It was cracked nearly in half. Should I take that as a sign?
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2012 01:55
|
|
|
Just Youtube Ron Perlman's parts and you can safely forego the rest in my opinion.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2012 05:36
|
|
|
Did any body watch and enjoy the mini-series of Bag Of Bones? It's one of my favorite books by King, and it's on Netflix, but I'd hate to see it ruined.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2012 05:46
|
|
|
Quesselin posted:That's beautiful, man. I laughed so loudly it scared my guinea pigs into hiding (but then again, what doesn't?) I wrote a la King; the ending surprised me. I didn't know what it would say until I said it. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2012 06:02
|
|
|
Inyourbase posted:Did any body watch and enjoy the mini-series of Bag Of Bones? It's one of my favorite books by King, and it's on Netflix, but I'd hate to see it ruined. Do not watch it. Do not watch it. DO NOT WATCH IT. Not even kidding, it's not worth it and it will ruin your good memories. I finished Dreamcatcher, it was actually almost decent this time around though I get really tired of the way he treats Duddits. Also, I'd totally forgotten that Henry lives. So that was a nice surprise I guess.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2012 06:06
|
|
|
I want to thank this thread for inspiring me into going back for a re-read of all the King stuff that I haven't read for a long time. I've kept up with most of his post-accident novels, and I enjoyed them well enough (except Lisey's Story, count me in with the folks who HATED that babytalk smuck stuff) but this thread did me a huge service. I worked my way through all 70 pages of thread in a couple of weeks, finally finished. I have been picking up his old stuff at thrift stores over the past couple of weeks and today was really lucky to find a whole bunch of his paperbacks for a dollar each, with no food stains or anything gross like that. I had to hunt around town for them (gently caress you, Value Village, you overpriced heap of fleas) but the last thrift store I tried had a fantastic selection. It was surprising to me that there didn't seem to be many, as I remember the secondhand market being oversaturated with King, I mean there's millions of copies in print. He's the kind of writer that most people will read then move on to the next one, and pass the paperback around. I don't know of many people who keep an actual collection of them. Maybe it's just my very religious town. I know one thrift store used to have a sign saying if you saw a horror or otherwise 'questionable' book, give it to the clerk so that they could 'remove' it from the sales floor. Presumably to burn. In the past week or so I've read the Dead Zone, Salem's Lot, Cujo (which I never read when it came out, I was probably about 12, and completely uninterested in a book about a mad dog) and a couple of others I can't remember at the moment. I really enjoyed Cujo, it was a fun read and was a bit surprising with the ending (I deliberately avoided spoilers, which made it better). I started Night Shift but when I found the thrift motherlode I dropped it for the Stand, as that was my favorite one all these years, and I just watched the miniseries the day before. The ten or so that I found today, including pristine hardcover copies of Christine and Needful Things (both of which I remember loving back in the day) kind of shuffled my reading priority list around a bit. It's been really cool refreshing my mind as I've forgotten a lot of the details of these books, and I'm reminded of how good he is at unadulterated storytelling. I am definitely noticing a vast difference in the voice between his earlier works, and the more recent ones. I don't blame the guy, he's a few decades older and quite a few million richer. I can still enjoy them and don't expect him to write with that hunger pang that he used to have, that's unrealistic. You can't expect him to retain that old cast of interesting characters. Writers are supposed to write what they know, and he knows a whole different stratosphere now as opposed to when he was fresh. poo poo, for that matter, he and I are not even on the same planet. But I accept 'Constant Writer' and his new agenda, and can still enjoy his stuff. That really hit home for me with Duma Key. All the supporting characters in that novel are so... civilized, especially in comparison with the travelling redneck sideshow of his early work. It's also kind of neat as his older books are like little museum snapshots of the time period and it's really bringing me back to those days where cell phones and computers weren't yet a concept in some unknown visionary's mind, and life seemed a lot simpler, more down to earth. Uncomplicated. I am still going through a massive midlife crisis, which is why this is remarkable and inherently valuable to me. I found The Stand miniseries hilarious in that way that only tv from the 80s and 90s can be. Can't wait to watch IT and the others. I do still have vague memories of watching them when they aired, but it's mostly tiny bits and pieces. I am looking for Rose Red based on what you've all said here, I love old houses and I think Ozma mentioned something about that, so that sold it for me. I'll watch it just to see a bunch of shots of an old house, same reason why this has a place in my dvd collection. Love those old house shows. I doubt I'd have been able to enjoy American Horror Story without it, it seemed pretty cheesy but I just focussed on the pretty housie. Aatrek posted:Oh, why the hell not. This is my SK bookshelf: And, I'm really envious of your collection. They look really great in the bookshelf. Eventually I'd like to get pristine hard covers of all of them. Ozmaugh posted:Do not watch it. Do not watch it. DO NOT WATCH IT. I actually don't mind the Dreamcatcher movie, it's just kind of fun. They didn't do too bad a job with it, certainly there's been other King movies that were a lot worse. I've had a copy for few years and I break it out every 6 months or so, background tv but enjoyable nonetheless. *I've been working on this response for a few days, I've been busy. But I did finally get Rose Red, and it's cheesy as hell but enjoyable enough. I'd put it on the level with Dreamcatcher. Fun to watch, but after the first time there's no need to divert your entire attention span to it. Pretty old house visuals redeem it a lot, and the acting of Joyce character is not bad, I was actually mildly surprised when she'd turn around and say something bitchy. She was so nice and... rational for the first 3/4s of the film. The other actors weren't bad either, but I'm remarkably tolerant for over-the-top acting. It was fromage in some bits, especially with the nerd guy and his mother. I have a feeling the Dead Zone is going to disappoint me, even with Chris Walken involved. It's one of my favorite books. And finally, if Bag of Bones wasn't my favorite King book, is it safe to watch the miniseries? I doubt it would ruin it that much for me. I liked BoB but it wasn't remarkable enough to stand out as one of my top 5 favorites or anything. I'm curious as to how bad it is, as one of my best friends spewed bile about it when it aired (BoB was his favorite King by far), and I wanna see why he and the rest of you were so disgusted by it. *edit- I find it funny that he kind of stole from the Winchester Mystery House for Rose Red. when worlds collide fucked around with this message at 13:46 on Mar 4, 2012 |
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2012 07:02
|
|
|
Mister Kingdom posted:I got my Netflix DVD of Desperation today. It was cracked nearly in half. Should I take that as a sign? I rented the movie on a whim and thought it was a pretty decent adaptation. Then again, I'm always biased towards Ron Perlman.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2012 02:47
|
|
|
Vertigus posted:I rented the movie on a whim and thought it was a pretty decent adaptation. I have a replacement on the way. E: Just finished watching the movie. For a TV movie adaptation of a King book, it wasn't bad. Like the book, however, I have no desire to see it again. Perlman was hilarious. Mister Kingdom fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Mar 7, 2012 |
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2012 04:21
|
|
|
I just got back into Stephen King books with 11/22/63. I have a question about it, though: are the time portal and the guardian of the time portal related to any of his other books, like The Dark Tower series? I ask because I'm aware that so many of King's books are interconnected, and the guardian in particular seems to be a facet of the book that could have a massive story behind it in and of itself. Also, I feel I should give my input on the book. I loved it - I was up until 1AM last night finishing it since I couldn't put it down. I found the ending both chilling with regard to the Kennedy-Lives timeline and bittersweet with regard to how much Jake loved Sadie, and how at the end he has that one last dance with her, knowing he'll never get to be with her - they've been separated by fate. Renzian fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Mar 7, 2012 |
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2012 23:03
|
|
|
Renzian posted:I just got back into Stephen King books with 11/22/63. I have a question about it, though: are the time portal and the guardian of the time portal related to any of his other books, like The Dark Tower series? I ask because I'm aware that so many of King's books are interconnected, and the guardian in particular seems to be a facet of the book that could have a massive story behind it in and of itself. I couldn't find any definite connection, but you could always loosely assume there is one because of "different time frames/dimensions" is very much a DT theme. Hell, you could even make the assumption that when Jake saves JFK, he hurts the tower, and the world is rocked with beamquakes from then on as it crumbles
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2012 19:24
|
|
|
The Dark Tower film/TV show project might be getting a second chance. With Warner Bros picking it up this would mean that the TV show would be on HBO.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2012 22:34
|
|
|
There's a new Stephen King anthology film coming out. http://www.firstshowing.net/2012/stories-and-title-revealed-for-stephen-king-anthology-horror-film/ firstshowing.net posted:For whatever reason, we didn't report on a new anthology horror film directed by Mark Pavia with stories from master of horror Stephen King. At the time, there was no word on what stories might be utilized for the project, so that might be why we held off. Now we have a full slate of information thanks to Dread Central (via The Film Stage) who has learned that the film itself will be titled The Reaper's Image, and it also stands as one of the short stories being adapted into a vignette as well. The others include Mile 81, The Monkey and N. with all four being handpicked by King and Pavia themselves. More details below!
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2012 13:50
|
|
|
Murphys Law posted:There's a new Stephen King anthology film coming out. Am I the only one who thinks all those stories except maybe "N." Ase horrible.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2012 19:09
|
|
|
I hope he stars in one of the stories. The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill is comedy gold.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2012 21:16
|
|
|
Inyourbase posted:Am I the only one who thinks all those stories except maybe "N." Ase horrible. Nope, I dislike them as well. I have no idea how to make N come across well, but we'll see. Why can't they make a short film about the guy who gets nailed into a port-a-potty and has to escape? Why, that's be so much fun!
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2012 21:46
|
|
|
Y Kant Ozma Post posted:
They did, it was called Shawshank Redemption.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2012 22:06
|
|
|
UltimoDragonQuest posted:I hope he stars in one of the stories. METEORSHIT! I'm happy about N. getting the film treatment, but not really sold on the others. Hey, how about a film adaptation of The Jaunt? LONGER THAN YOU THINK!
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2012 22:21
|
|
|
I still want to see the Frank Darabont version of The Long Walk. The one he's been talking up as a black and white homage to Hammer films shot in a similar fashion to Sin City. Where's the stuff I want Dammit.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2012 22:30
|
|
|
"The Jaunt" is a really cool short story, but a film adaptation would be incredibly boring.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2012 03:12
|
|
|
Y Kant Ozma Post posted:Nope, I dislike them as well. I have no idea how to make N come across well, but we'll see. watch Buried.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2012 07:52
|
|
|
Ornamented Death posted:"The Jaunt" is a really cool short story, but a film adaptation would be incredibly boring. Here's a trailer for the movie that was never made. It's one of King's $1 deals. The only thing that could be interesting would be what the kid sees, but I doubt that they could pull it off.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2012 13:16
|
|
|
Murphys Law posted:There's a new Stephen King anthology film coming out. Are they just going to recycle the toy monkey segment from "Merlin's Mystic Shop of Wonders" for "The Monkey"?
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2012 15:34
|
|
|
Mister Kingdom posted:Here's a trailer for the movie that was never made. It's one of King's $1 deals. Terrible trailer. That goofy girl on the treadmill.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2012 17:18
|
|
|
oldpainless posted:Just Youtube Ron Perlman's parts and you can safely forego the rest in my opinion. So true. I watched the movie before I read the book, so I was not expecting his character to disappear so fast and I was absolutely devastated when I finally figured out he wasn't coming back. Now, The Dead Zone movie with Chris Walken is, while not nearly as good as the book, pretty great. Walken gives a legitimate performance, Cronenberg directs the hell out of the serial killer stuff, Stephen King standby Tom Skerrit has a supporting part and Martin Sheen gets to play a completely insane S.O.B. and, if you want, you can pretend that this is actually his character from The West Wing at the beginning of his political career. Surprisingly, The Dead Zone TV series is pretty great too. Anthony Michael Hall is nobody's obvious cast as Johnny, but he's pretty great. David Ogden Stiers is on hand as an ambiguous minister, Sean Patrick Flannery is a frigging perfect cast as Greg Stillson and Chris Bruno is an awesome Walt Bannerman. There are a lot of episodes that go into formula, but when the show really hits, like in Shaman from the first season or Ascent from the second season, which has a magnificent performance from Bruno in it, or basically anytime Flannery shows up as Stillson (he is just perfectly slimy and brilliant) or the amazing two part season three opener, the show just reignites your faith in what episodic television can do. Unfortunately, the show got cancelled after its sixth season, so the writers didn't get to wrap up the story of the novel (which they had said they were going to do in season seven). And I've only watched the first three seasons. And when the show is bad, it is really, really awful. But for the most part it's surprisingly solid and some of the episodes are just really, really great character based dramas, which is amazing to see. Plus, it's cable channel stuff, so, for instance, Season One is just thirteen episodes, not twenty-four. So, it's a pretty fast watch on DVD. I'd recommend it, on the whole. The Dead Zone is still probably King's best novel though; and none of the adaptations come anywhere close to the perfection of the book. So read the book first.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2012 03:57
|
|
|
Rogue1-and-a-half posted:Now, The Dead Zone movie with Chris Walken is, while not nearly as good as the book, pretty great. Walken gives a legitimate performance, Cronenberg directs the hell out of the serial killer stuff, Stephen King standby Tom Skerrit has a supporting part and Martin Sheen gets to play a completely insane S.O.B. and, if you want, you can pretend that this is actually his character from The West Wing at the beginning of his political career. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLhFIwkbtJI Walken owned that role.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2012 04:53
|
|
|
Rogue1-and-a-half posted:The Dead Zone is still probably King's best novel though; and none of the adaptations come anywhere close to the perfection of the book. So read the book first. Thanks for that info, I'm going to find a copy of the series to watch. I love the Walken/Cronenberg joint, I mean it's Walken, even when he's bad he's good. Dead Zone is at least one of my top 5 King's and I'm looking forward to watching the series. I have fond memories of Anthony Michael Hall from my teenage years, haha. As for The Jaunt, I never liked his sci-fi as much as his horror. Probably like most others, otherwise I figure we'd know him as a sci-fi author not the King of horror. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2012 12:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 20:45 |
|
|
when worlds collide posted:As for The Jaunt, I never liked his sci-fi as much as his horror. Probably like most others, otherwise I figure we'd know him as a sci-fi author not the King of horror. The Jaunt is still totally horror. Just a different sort. Plus the only sci-fi he ever gets up to in his other books amounts to "Aliens did it, their motivations and everything about them is unknowable. There's your ending."
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2012 22:08
|
|