|
loquacius posted:This is actually pretty good in-character writing as Ernest Cline, and I would not be the least bit surprised to learn he's a goon
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 17:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 12:52 |
|
|
Its definitely one of the worst books ever written. This is not hyperbole. It’s racist geekbaiting that attempts to trade nostalgia in exchange for content. Also Ernest Cline is gonna end up like Notch, a mega-rich incel that no one wants to hang with because he’s always talking about his sweet new idea for a Godzilla/Voltron buddy cop flick
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 17:59
|
|
|
I keep hearing it's racist and transphobic and stuff, but there's no way I'm gonna read it. Can someone just tell me how a book about videogames and 80's movies managed to jam racism into it?
Solice Kirsk fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Mar 21, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:06
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:I keep hearing it's racist and transphobic and stuff, but there's no way I'm gonna read it. Can someone just tell me how a game about videogames and 80's movies managed to jam racism into it? I mean, plenty of video games from the 80s were racist, in the 'all the good guys are white, and the only time you see black people you have to beat them up' kind of way. And even the most black positive movies from back then would be considered problematic as hell nowadays.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:10
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:Striking for unskilled positions without an existing Union doesn't work. Yeah, that's why I told anon to unionize first The general strike wouldn't work without a union, this is true, they need a union megabad though blarzgh posted:I tried to read Ready Player One but it was such a Turbo-Nerd Jackoff Fantasy from the first word that I bailed immediately. My biggest problem with it was that the prose was garbage Every chapter read like a bullet-point list of actions. "Wade did A. Wade did B. C happened, so Wade did D. Wade sighed, steeled himself, and did E. Wade did F." It felt like legit culture shock the day I finished it and picked up another book by an actual good author. It was an interesting premise for a book that Cline should have handed off to an actual writer that actually knows how to write, rather than just cramming as many sweet refs as possible into a book and spending the rest of his life counting money but I guess it did work out for him so e: You can rightfully say Ready Player One was bad for many reasons without even having to think about social justice honestly
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:13
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:I keep hearing it's racist and transphobic and stuff, but there's no way I'm gonna read it. Can someone just tell me how a game about videogames and 80's movies managed to jam racism into it?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:14
|
|
|
Bust Rodd posted:Its definitely one of the worst books ever written. I agree entirely with your sentiments however an extremely pedantic part of me must object to your characterization of the transactional exchange of nostalgia/content. Nostalgia is in this case being utilized as a cheap substitute for content, not offered in exchange for it. Content, along with plot and many of the other elements which traditionally comprise a "good" novel, makes no appearance here. And no one else will ever end up *quite* like Notch, who is only so completely pathetic as part of a cia psyop to misdirect our natural hatred of the rich onto his irrelevant candy-stuffed rear end (see also: martin skrillex the aids meds guy). I have an anonymous confession to make: I'm George H. W. Bush, and I did 9/11
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:15
|
|
|
Incoherence posted:I don't remember anything overtly racist/transphobic, but Ernest Cline's idea of "inclusion" is that he casually mentions at the end of the book that a major character is a fat black lesbian (who uses a male avatar). I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing that the author-insert's reaction is "well, okay" and then the novel quickly moves on to listing off more 80s things and never speaks of it again. It's certainly the best reaction Ernest Cline could have handled  Like, if you're expecting the characters to sit down with a cup of coffee and really dig down deep into what it says about our society that she felt pressured to keep her identity a secret and express thoughtful nuanced opinions and incisive critiques, you're reading the wrong book, this one's about Optimus Prime
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:19
|
|
|
Again the base-level premise of Ready Player One is in itself interesting and salvageable. "In a world where reality loving sucks, most people spend most of their time in a huge, vastly-detailed VR universe whose long-dead creator has hidden the key to his vast fortune behind a series of devilishly well-hidden virtual Easter eggs." It's like cyberpunk National Treasure. A good author could do great things with that. The problem is it reads like it was written by a first-year history major and Cline's number one priority was to spend most of the book describing how all your friends from your favorite 80s intellectual properties are right there in virtual world with you
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:30
|
|
|
loquacius posted:Again the base-level premise of Ready Player One is in itself interesting and salvageable. "In a world where reality loving sucks, most people spend most of their time in a huge, vastly-detailed VR universe whose long-dead creator has hidden the key to his vast fortune behind a series of devilishly well-hidden virtual Easter eggs." It's like cyberpunk National Treasure. A good author could do great things with that. The problem is it reads like it was written by a first-year history major and Cline's number one priority was to spend most of the book describing how all your friends from your favorite 80s intellectual properties are right there in virtual world with you I went to wiki to get a plot synopsis, but when I saw the words "cyber-crush" I had a stroke, filled my diaper, and choked to death on the thick poopy musk
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:32
|
|
|
text me a vag pic posted:I went to wiki to get a plot synopsis, but when I saw the words "cyber-crush" I had a stroke, filled my diaper, and choked to death on the thick poopy musk Well, hopefully when your daily routine is finished you can get around to reading the rest of that wiki article 
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:37
|
|
|
loquacius posted:Again the base-level premise of Ready Player One is in itself interesting and salvageable. "In a world where reality loving sucks, most people spend most of their time in a huge, vastly-detailed VR universe whose long-dead creator has hidden the key to his vast fortune behind a series of devilishly well-hidden virtual Easter eggs." It's like cyberpunk National Treasure. A good author could do great things with that. The problem is it reads like it was written by a first-year history major and Cline's number one priority was to spend most of the book describing how all your friends from your favorite 80s intellectual properties are right there in virtual world with you The Gamemaster Anthony hypothesis lookin’ pretty good
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:39
|
|
|
loquacius posted:Again the base-level premise of Ready Player One is in itself interesting and salvageable. "In a world where reality loving sucks, most people spend most of their time in a huge, vastly-detailed VR universe whose long-dead creator has hidden the key to his vast fortune behind a series of devilishly well-hidden virtual Easter eggs." It's like cyberpunk National Treasure. A good author could do great things with that. The problem is it reads like it was written by a first-year history major and Cline's number one priority was to spend most of the book describing how all your friends from your favorite 80s intellectual properties are right there in virtual world with you It actually sort of feels like a NaNo novel: long stretches of obvious padding while the author thinks of the next set piece they want to write, set pieces that take too many words to describe something that's just ripped off another better work, an author-insert main character, and heavy reliance on archetypes like the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and the Comically Evil Corporate CEO.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:43
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure that Thurston guy is some lesser creep demon from that demon book with the powerful chirping bird, and the goon's husband was easily soul trapped because he was a buffoon. Whelp, dump him I guess.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 18:56
|
|
|
VanSandman posted:The Gamemaster Anthony hypothesis lookin’ pretty good After a quick google to remind myself who Gamemaster Anthony is I 100% agree Incoherence posted:Yeah, I can imagine a lot of good books being written with the Oasis as their base premise. Ready Player One is not one of those books. This sums up the plot problems pretty well That along with the bullet-point thing and the Long List Of References thing make up a pretty complete critique if Ernest Cline is actually reading this and wants some feedback
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 19:01
|
|
|
There's a Let's Read in the Book Barn.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 19:06
|
|
|
Incoherence posted:heavy reliance on archetypes like ... the Comically Evil Corporate CEO. This seems realistic, though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 19:14
|
|
|
loquacius posted:It's certainly the best reaction Ernest Cline could have handled ...of course Ernest Cline would hate it because it's not a low-production 80s cartoon entirely put together to market toys.  
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 19:21
|
|
|
loquacius posted:Again the base-level premise of Ready Player One is in itself interesting and salvageable. "In a world where reality loving sucks, most people spend most of their time in a huge, vastly-detailed VR universe whose long-dead creator has hidden the key to his vast fortune behind a series of devilishly well-hidden virtual Easter eggs." It's like cyberpunk National Treasure. A good author could do great things with that. The problem is it reads like it was written by a first-year history major and Cline's number one priority was to spend most of the book describing how all your friends from your favorite 80s intellectual properties are right there in virtual world with you I read RPO and enjoyed it because I'm an eighties nerd and got about 99% of the references. Still, the writing was mediocre, and a lot of details don't stand up to scrutiny. Like, the OASIS is so pervasive that OASIS money is used for everything. I can get that, but at one point the protagonist finds OASIS gold as treasure in a dungeon, which resets every 24 hours. If real money could be farmed it would lead to hyper-inflation.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 19:39
|
|
|
loquacius posted:Yeah, that's why I told anon to unionize first blarzgh posted:Turbo-Nerd Jackoff Fantasy
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 19:56
|
|
|
Everyone on this forum likes to make fun of that book now but it's you people who conned me into reading it in the first place!!loquacius posted:Well, hopefully when your daily routine is finished you can get around to reading the rest of that wiki article 
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 19:58
|
|
|
Waffle! posted:A guy asked me why Walmart workers don't just walk out in protest of their crappy employer and I said, "Because they need to eat." I don't work at Walmart, but I know both them and Target will boot your rear end out the door before you even finish saying "Union." There was a time when factory and construction jobs were the same way The only thing that can stop this kind of treatment, ironically, is a union. Gotta set that precedent somewhere.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:03
|
|
|
If it was that easy then they would have a union already. The RWDS would be all over bringing Walmart into the union.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:11
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:If it was that easy then they would have a union already. The RWDS would be all over bringing Walmart into the union. I fully believe it's not easy, I'm not saying this as some sort of slam on WalMart employees or something It's just a thing that needs to happen by hook or by crook, one of a list of many many improbably things that need to happen in this country to make it livable for people who aren't rich e: wait does RWDS stand for "right wing death squad" because now that's been Googled on my work computer thanks a lot 
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:15
|
|
|
Gynovore posted:I read RPO and enjoyed it because I'm an eighties nerd and got about 99% of the references.[/spoiler] jesus loving god
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:21
|
|
|
loquacius posted:I fully believe it's not easy, I'm not saying this as some sort of slam on WalMart employees or something Huh, nope. Wrong acronym. RWDSU. U.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:29
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure that the confession for Ready Player One was from the puppet Master. Why? Because everytime someone says anything about this the thread goes into a huge derail of goons saying it's poo poo. I mean I agree that it looks like poo poo (haven't read the book, just the extract that people post) but we don't need another thread where the next 5 pages are dedicated to why. So please, can we show the puppet master that we will not dance for him and just shut the gently caress off about RPO?
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:30
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:Huh, nope. Wrong acronym. RWDSU. U. lol that makes more sense New Wave Jose posted:I'm pretty sure that the confession for Ready Player One was from the puppet Master. Why? Because everytime someone says anything about this the thread goes into a huge derail of goons saying it's poo poo. I mean I agree that it looks like poo poo (haven't read the book, just the extract that people post) but we don't need another thread where the next 5 pages are dedicated to why. We've been pretty harmonious in our agreement honestly so if my puppets have been mastered I'm ok with it
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:33
|
|
|
loquacius posted:We've been pretty harmonious in our agreement honestly so if my puppets have been mastered I'm ok with it
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:34
|
|
|
Puppet Master was an OK film, but it was the flagship film of Full Moon studios. Full Moon will always have a place in my heart for the worst horror movie I have ever seen Totem.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2018 20:35
|
|
|
The greatest trick the puppet master ever played was convincing the thread he exists
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 02:18
|
|
|
I honestly thought Ready Player One was supposed to be a sort of satire of nerd culture. One of the reasons was the listing of soooo many 80s pop and nerd culture touchstones as if they were super important - it made me think it was taking its cue from American Psycho in a way. Turns out I was completely wrong in my reading (but I still want to believe).
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 08:53
|
|
|
It’s just a marvel that anyone could get through it to me. Something about the increasing layers of reference that add nothing of value to the narrative just functions as literary kryptonite to me and every page felt like increasingly bad satire. I read Anne Rice novels and Vampire Detective/ Animorphs as a kid, it’s not like I’m not a nerd who grew up in the 90’s and can’t stomach trash, but RP1 is just... it doesn’t even feel like a book. Ok I just got it. Being that referential requires you to bring something to the table. Nothing about RP1 will ever surpass or emotionally engage people in the same ways any of its references did, and so it’s literally asking the beloved characters of older IPs to hang out with this loser new guy, the books hero, so everyone will think he’s cool. It’s like the plot of a teen comedy. RP1 is a book written by a man who has only ever watched movies and played video games and doesn’t understand why books are different than those things.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 14:03
|
|
|
Bust Rodd posted:It’s just a marvel that anyone could get through it to me. Something about the increasing layers of reference that add nothing of value to the narrative just functions as literary kryptonite to me and every page felt like increasingly bad satire. I listened to RP1 on a 14 hour drive to Summer Games Done Quick, narrated by Will Wheaton. It was the most quintessential nerd experience I will ever have, and the excitement of going to SGDQ bled over and I subsequently enjoyed listening to Will Wheaton's dulcet tones referencing a shitload of 80's nerdity and the smugness of referencing himself being elected vice president of the Oasis was palpable. It's me. I'm the guy that enjoyed it for what it was in the setting I experienced it in.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 14:50
|
|
|
one time i drove 65 hours to go watch other people play video games and on the way i listened to a text-to-speech bot read me a list of every film and game released in the 1980s and boy howdy let me tell you it was orgasmic
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 14:59
|
|
|
quote:I have a "vampire" fetish. Ever since I saw the movie Queen of the Damned I got obsessed with the idea of being a vampire. I target goth girls and convince them to let me cut them and drink their blood, and once some trust has been established I bite them until they bleed. Nothing gets me harder than that metallic taste blood has. there was a story in the r/relationships thread where a guy and his girlfriend had a weird sex thing involving her taking blood from him and mixing it into a cocktail, and eventually she tried to kill him by injecting a full syringe of air into his veins while he was tied up, and he only survived by yelling for his roommate to bust in and drive him to the hospital What I'm saying is this isn't a great fetish and even if you don't hurt someone on purpose you probably will by accident sooner or later quote:To the occult goon: haha look at this dumb baby-school magic guy HERE's how REAL grownups do magic
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 15:17
|
|
|
That second one just makes magic sound lame as hell. Almost like it's all entirely fake, even, and that anything that happens has nothing to do with the spells you're casting or whatever.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 15:20
|
|
|
yeah I eat rear end posted:That second one just makes magic sound lame as hell. It makes magic sound a lot like prayer or positive thinking
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 15:20
|
|
|
loquacius posted:It makes magic sound a lot like prayer or positive thinking I wonder if wizards or whatever write facebook comments like "sacrificing a cat under the full moon tonight, stay strong" instead of "sending thoughts and prayers".
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 15:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 12:52 |
|
|
The expectation: Throwing around energy balls like Goku, getting rich & all the ladies Reality: reading books, meditating daily for 20 years, freezing rear end at crossroads at midnight and finally winning $50 in the lottery. edit: Chaos magic approach: Jerking off until your wiener bleeds to empower a sigil, also win $50 in lottery, pay $50 for parking ticket on the same day. SavageGentleman fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Mar 22, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 15:54
|
|
