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Ein cooler Typ posted:I read Under The Dome. I liked it It's kind of like The Running Man, in that the book and show share a title and that's about it.
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Jul 31, 2014 12:46
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davestones posted:It's kind of like The Running Man, in that the book and show share a title and that's about it. And also there's a Dome.
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Jul 31, 2014 15:15
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That they're underneath!
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Jul 31, 2014 17:34
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If you can constantly remind yourself it's almost nothing like the book it's not a bad show, well maybe that's a bit much but at least it's better than Maximum Overdrive.
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Jul 31, 2014 17:58
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I still can't believe that Marvel let the hero of maximum overdrive be the image of one of Spider-man's main villains, and then let the villainous humans win.
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Aug 1, 2014 08:25
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kizudarake posted:I still can't believe that Marvel let the hero of maximum overdrive be the image of one of Spider-man's main villains, and then let the villainous humans win. CURTIS! It's no wonder no one likes Lisa, Yeardley Smith was annoying as hell.
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Aug 1, 2014 10:28
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juliuspringle posted:If you can constantly remind yourself it's almost nothing like the book it's not a bad show, well maybe that's a bit much but at least it's better than Maximum Overdrive. Not a bad show? I'm assuming you're not watching it. Never before have I seen something on network TV with such amateur acting, boring direction, and ABYSMAL writing. It is THE worst show I have ever seen in my life. That said, I love watching it because it is so godawful that it's funny.
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Aug 2, 2014 00:40
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blue squares posted:Not a bad show? I'm assuming you're not watching it. Never before have I seen something on network TV with such amateur acting, boring direction, and ABYSMAL writing. It is THE worst show I have ever seen in my life. I actually AM watching it. I can't really pin down why I like it just that I do.
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Aug 2, 2014 10:06
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Interesting to read about Pet Semetary. I agree that it is great but harrowing book. While I think The Shining is King’s best novel, I think Pet Semetary is the most disturbing. Currently listening to the audiobook of Thinner, having read it a few times many years ago. I think this is a strong novel, briskly written, not too long and it has a really good ending. The plot is simple but very effective with some memorable images. Actually, I think that is true for the six Bachman books: Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man, Thinner and Misery. (Misery was planned as a Bachman book but published as a King.) Excluding The Regulators because it’s a piece of poo poo and it doesn’t fit the pattern. Oh, and did I mention it’s a piece of poo poo? So, I really recommend Thinner for fans of the early King style.
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Aug 5, 2014 08:18
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juliuspringle posted:I actually AM watching it. I can't really pin down why I like it just that I do. I feel bad for you
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Aug 5, 2014 09:05
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:Interesting to read about Pet Semetary. I agree that it is great but harrowing book. While I think The Shining is King’s best novel, I think Pet Semetary is the most disturbing. I finished a re-read of Pet Sematary earlier this year. It was my 3rd time reading the book, and my first since the 90's. Surprisingly it didn't hold up as well as I thought it would. I am not sure why or what, but it just wasn't as good an experience as I had with other King re-reads (like the Shining, salem's Lot, the Stand, etc.). The overall story lost something to me, but still I found individual parts of the story creepy (like Gage channeling Norma, and telling Jud he was a cuckold). I think part of the problem was I found many of characters' actions to be unrealistic, forced, and annoying. I know they was under the influence of the burial ground, but it just didn't work as well for me on this re-read (don't get me wrong, still a pretty good book). nate fisher fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Aug 5, 2014 |
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Aug 5, 2014 14:15
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Maybe spoiler some of this stuff? I'm reading it at the moment. Cheers. Edit: poo poo, post deleted as requested, I'm such a doofus 
WattsvilleBlues fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Aug 5, 2014 |
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Aug 5, 2014 14:17
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WattsvilleBlues posted:Maybe spoiler some of this stuff? I'm reading it at the moment. Cheers. I was unsure what was spoiler, but now I see. Can you delete my post in your post please? WattsvilleBlues posted:Edit: poo poo, post deleted as requested, I'm such a doofus I'm the real doofus. nate fisher fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Aug 5, 2014 |
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Aug 5, 2014 15:04
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What are everyone's thoughts on this short film adaptation of Pet Semetary? It seems to take some real liberties with the book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7f2LZK3zsY
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Aug 10, 2014 21:42
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Are any of King's newer short story collections worth checking out? I think the last one I picked up was Everything's Eventual, which felt a bit uneven. Not expecting anything to be as good as Night Shift, but I've always liked King's short fiction more than his novels so I'm curious if he's done anything good lately.
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Aug 11, 2014 21:59
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Are any of King's newer short story collections worth checking out? I think the last one I picked up was Everything's Eventual, which felt a bit uneven. Not expecting anything to be as good as Night Shift, but I've always liked King's short fiction more than his novels so I'm curious if he's done anything good lately. Everything's Eventual was pretty bad and the worst of the lot as far as his short story collections go. I've enjoyed all of the rest of them except I always get them mixed up.
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Aug 12, 2014 17:46
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Are any of King's newer short story collections worth checking out? I think the last one I picked up was Everything's Eventual, which felt a bit uneven. Not expecting anything to be as good as Night Shift, but I've always liked King's short fiction more than his novels so I'm curious if he's done anything good lately. You've only missed two. Just After Sunset is almost entirely a collection of past stuff that hasn't already been collected, so it's kind of forgettable. The best story in it is easily N., which is the only original piece and is novella-sized. I'd say it's worth picking up for that alone if you can get it cheap. Full Dark, No Stars is novella collection (four of them) and is definitely worth getting. The second story was kind of weak, but I thought all of the others were really good.
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Aug 13, 2014 21:03
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BiggerBoat posted:
Everything's Eventual feels odd when you read it. A lot of the stories aren't clearly explained and seem slightly unfinished. There's some rinky dink stories like In the Deathroom, Autopsy Room Four, Riding the Bullet, and L.T's Theory of Pets. But That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French and The Road Virus Heads North is really disturbing. 1408 also gets me because I have a weird fear of hotels. I'm also midway through Nightmares and Dreamscapes and it's not that good. I just got done with Chattery Teeth which was the best story so far even though the premise seemed stupid.
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Aug 14, 2014 04:36
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N. is awesome. I would read it every week if I hadn't put the book away in storage.
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Aug 14, 2014 22:50
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Good to know, I'll keep an eye out for both of those then! Kind of sad that he seems to shy away from "short" fiction nowadays though. His novellas and novels are good, but I always thought his absolute best stuff was a lot shorter. He can write really punchy, quick stories that don't get bogged down in the exposition dumps and filler that quickly overtake some of his longer stuff. Just After Sunset might have some things I've never read though, and I'm sure I'd still enjoy his novellas if they're up to par with some of his older writing.
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Aug 15, 2014 01:13
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:Good to know, I'll keep an eye out for both of those then! Kind of sad that he seems to shy away from "short" fiction nowadays though. His novellas and novels are good, but I always thought his absolute best stuff was a lot shorter. He can write really punchy, quick stories that don't get bogged down in the exposition dumps and filler that quickly overtake some of his longer stuff. I don't know the recent novellas/stories but I would say that on the whole King's best work is short. As you say, it cuts out the filler. The main thing is that - as we know - he doesn't really plot novels, which is one of the reasons why so many novels with promising beginnings end up with daft/boring climaxes. I know he has an editor but not one with the balls to say "ditch the last 200 pages and come up with something better". BTW, did any of you notice how abruptly Dr Sleep was edited? Felt like there were at least two parts of the book that had sections cut out. Apparently King had to rewrite, which was the reason why publication date was postponed. Even so, in the finished version it still feels weirdly cut. Actually, I think Dr Sleep is a bit of mess anyway and having to read 50-100 fewer pages is a blessing. I don't think the book could have been improved because it was a dumb idea to start with. Did anyone else notice the cuts? I think there were proofs of the longer version floating around but I've not seen any. Any thoughts of editing in general relating to King?
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Aug 15, 2014 08:32
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It's hard to not just get into critfic when it comes to editing, since we can't see the drafts. But I always felt Bag of Bones was better edited than most, and Tomnyknockers or Dreamcatcher the worst.
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Aug 15, 2014 12:52
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Tough to imagine any amount of editing would have saved Dreamcatcher.
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Aug 15, 2014 19:16
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Braking Gnus posted:Tough to imagine any amount of editing would have saved Dreamcatcher. The ensemble cast of the movie almost did. Almost. I liked every single actor who worked on that film. It was a crying shame the plot was not so bueno.
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Aug 15, 2014 19:30
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:Dr Sleep... I liked Dr. Sleep well enough but you're right about the editing and lack of planning. Maybe King should try a book where he works out the ending first and then writes backwards towards it. No one's going to edit King too heavily because they know that no matter what he write, it'll sell a million copies so "why gently caress with the cash cow"? It does bug me how good of a writer he really is but, especially as he gets older, he's become a horrible plotter of stories. In Under the Dome, suddenly out of no where there are aliens . I just finished Black House and, again, it was fine and well and good and all but drat if it didn't just...I don't know...spiral? When he collaborates with Straub, how do they do it? Take turns? There were parts ofBlack House where I could tell "King wrote this" and "Straub wrote that" but I'm still curious about the process. I think I'm going to take a break from King for a while. Unless anyone can convince me to read The Talisman or the Dark Tower books.
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Aug 15, 2014 19:42
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BiggerBoat posted:I liked Dr. Sleep well enough but you're right about the editing and lack of planning. Maybe King should try a book where he works out the ending first and then writes backwards towards it. No one's going to edit King too heavily because they know that no matter what he write, it'll sell a million copies so "why gently caress with the cash cow"? Please read The Talisman. It is the opposite of what you are worried about, it is an a to b journey across a fantastic alternate America with a really sweet plot about a little boy and his mother she has cancer, this probably shouldn't be spoilered but here it is, the boy's mother has cancer and it is in her lungs, surprise.
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Aug 15, 2014 19:50
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syscall girl posted:The ensemble cast of the movie almost did. The actors themselves did well, that's true. But Jesus Christ, I had a new found respect for the book ending after seeing how the movie ended.
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Aug 15, 2014 20:11
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syscall girl posted:Please read The Talisman. also, protecting the herd  
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Aug 17, 2014 07:19
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:also, protecting the herd Talisman Spoilers  wolf:(Is there any specific reason why the Stand is the only of King's books to get an uncut version? Was he particularily dissatisfied with original edit, or did he just want to add in some extra details?
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Aug 17, 2014 07:28
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Your Gay Uncle posted:Talisman Spoilers my understanding is that the STAND was really the only book that was majorly cut. Looking at when it was published, there was a major reluctance to publish books that were 800, 1000 pages long, for fear that people would get intimidated and not even bother. When it originally came out (there are still paperbacks floating around) The Stand was somewhere around 300 or 400 pages. It was a tiny book compared the sorts of books he put out later, and now especially. I've seen a copy of the original, but I've not read it, so I cannot say for sure what all was cut. But yeah, publishing the "Uncut" stand - put hundreds and hundreds of pages back into play. I don't think that any other book he wrote faced that kind of edit, at least he has never admitted it. Most of the things he wrote in the 70s until the mid/late 80s was on the smaller side. The edits they would have gotten were pretty standard. It wasn't until Tommyknockers (around 800 pages) and IT (1,000) that he was putting out the big boys. King was selling really well, so publishers were willing to experiment a bit... once King saw that big books with his name on them would sell- he went back and republished The Stand. Even now, very few authors can get away with publishing books that size. Aside from King, maybe 4 or 5 come to mind. Roydrowsy fucked around with this message at 14:29 on Aug 17, 2014 |
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Aug 17, 2014 14:18
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Your Gay Uncle posted:Talisman Spoilers The Stand was the only book cut for length, not for content. King has never regretted the edits his editors made to any of his books. The edits to The Stand were made by King. Overall, there are three basic types of scenes in books. Those directly involved in the plot, those related to the plot which add flavor and depth, and those unrelated to the plot. King, and his editors, are pretty good at eliminating the third type. But King's vomit of the word processor is of the second type. Some of us like that about him, but it can make his stories run on a little. The cut Stand removes a lot of scenes of that second type. He also got rid of one of his dumbest endings. It's about 840 pages, not 300-400. That's about how many pages were cut off. He also edited the book to put it 1990 not 1980. Though he doesn't always succeed at that. I literally read the original Stand the month before the uncut version came out.
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Aug 17, 2014 19:02
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rypakal posted:The Stand was the only book cut for length, not for content. King has never regretted the edits his editors made to any of his books. The edits to The Stand were made by King. I've only ever read the uncut version, what were the things he cut out?
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Aug 18, 2014 00:19
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I don't know if there's a bullet point list anywhere (I hope there is and someone posts it though) but it's some of the extra characterization, etc. I know that the stuff with Trashcan Man and "The Kid" wasn't in the original, for example. FWIW I prefer the original because I think it has better pacing. I should do a re-read soon...
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Aug 18, 2014 04:37
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The Berzerker posted:I don't know if there's a bullet point list anywhere (I hope there is and someone posts it though) but it's some of the extra characterization, etc. I know that the stuff with Trashcan Man and "The Kid" wasn't in the original, for example. FWIW I prefer the original because I think it has better pacing. I should do a re-read soon... Weird because I thought The Kid and Trashcan Man adventures were really good chapters that were decently scary. I do remember him saying a lot of the scenes with Franny and her mom were cut in the original.
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Aug 18, 2014 17:59
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The more Franny scenes that got cut, the better I always say.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:02
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Are there any psychic kids without mental disorders in King's works?
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Aug 18, 2014 18:29
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Danny Torrence doesn't have a mental disorder. They think he does, but it's really just his Shine scaring the poo poo out of everyone around him.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:42
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Mixed feelings about the fuller version of The Stand. There are some great scenes, including those with Franny (the scene with her mother, also diary entries) also from Stu and Tom's return, which is actually my favourite part but I can see why they were cut. I don't think it was a purely economic decision, as King suggests in his intro. The cuts really did make the book tighter and pacier and I think the editors could see how the cuts would improve the book. The worst restoration is the ending: yes, Flagg died but here he is emerging again in Africa to start it all up again. Great honking theological symbolism here tidying up all the loose threads for the dummies in the audience.  And doing a cut-and-paste job to update it to 1990 (from 1978, when it was published) was a stupid mistake. It's a seventies novel, full of language, references and attitudes of the time. Copy pasting Bush for Carter was dumb. Lila babysits for $1? Oh yeah? Larry wants the hottest hotrod a kool kat can buy so in 1990 he buys..... a Datsun Z. "No, Mr King, we've decided your updated 'Salem's Lot with mobile phones and internet isn't as good an idea as you think it might be..." 
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Aug 18, 2014 18:44
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The problem I had with the Stand was the same problem I had when I read The Perfect Storm. There was a good book in there and everything was written well, but you feel kind of let down as a reader when you realize a good hunk of the chapters have nothing to do with the plot besides adding a little extra to history and character development. Like some chapters felt like they could have been summed up in a couple of sentences instead of 10-30 pages.
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Aug 18, 2014 19:45
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I wonder if the original cuts out Frannie's worse moment, where she throws the autonomy of women under the bus. Probably not because that was definitely something King believed at the time (loving SUSAN NORTON)
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Aug 18, 2014 22:26
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