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Should Gaj make his own thread This poll is closed. |
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| Yes, make a new thread |
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6 | 54.55% |
| No, keep things just how they are |
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5 | 45.45% |
| Total: | 11 votes | ||
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Cough Drop The Beat posted:While I haven't read Seveneves or any of Neal Stephenson's more recent novels, his older novels like Cryptonomicon, Quicksilver, and The Diamond Age have similar issues where he has some unique ideas and a decent grasp on world building around weird characters, but man, he needed an editor badly forever ago. His books are far too long and never get to the point with pages upon pages upon pages of conversations on bizarre math and philosophy. Dude is obsessed with nonsense conspiracy theory type stuff and secret societies taking over the world too. His novels tend to have very poorly written, laughably unrealistic sex out of nowhere, sometimes between one or both awkward, nerdy characters too, which is often really gross and weird. Why are so many sci-fi author dudes obsessed with sex? It's so embarrassing when they can't write a vaguely believable sex scene. He comes across as the sort of dude who loves to do research on all sorts of topics and loves to tell other people about it, which was cool with Snow Crash since it existed before everyone had internet access all the time but in his later books I've tried to read it feels like he just decided to pad out the page count by reciting a Wikipedia article and it's dull as hell.
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May 7, 2020 23:20
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Cough Drop The Beat posted:While I haven't read Seveneves or any of Neal Stephenson's more recent novels, his older novels like Cryptonomicon, Quicksilver, and The Diamond Age have similar issues where he has some unique ideas and a decent grasp on world building around weird characters, but man, he needed an editor badly forever ago. His books are far too long and never get to the point with pages upon pages upon pages of conversations on bizarre math and philosophy. Dude is obsessed with nonsense conspiracy theory type stuff and secret societies taking over the world too. His novels tend to have very poorly written, laughably unrealistic sex out of nowhere, sometimes between one or both awkward, nerdy characters too, which is often really gross and weird. Why are so many sci-fi author dudes obsessed with sex? It's so embarrassing when they can't write a vaguely believable sex scene. I disagree, you have to go into his books in particular knowing that it is the sci-fi version of trashy enjoyable romance novels. In his case there is enough intellectual thought provoking stuff going on to stimulate your nerves clusters just right and the fact the books are thousand of pages long makes sense when it’s meant as a long drawn out time killer for a rarified halfway intelligent reader base eager to escape reality and stimulate their imagination enough to dull the pain of living for a brief while. They scratch a very specific itch and they scratch the hell out of it, drawn out looooooooong and hard over way too many pages. I’ve read Anathem multiple times and gotten something new out of it every time, it has entered my imagination space in a real way. Finished Fall today, also very good. There is usually just enough mystery in the plot and setting to really keep you guessing (although every character is like something out of a nerdy 1990’s tech startup who gets wrapped up in the same kind of wacky adventures). Even the nerd sex scenes are a pretty accurate description of “some guy who made a lot of money suddenly from some tech company and met a girl possibly for the first time ever and doesn’t quite know what he is doing” which is probably autobiographical.
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May 7, 2020 23:46
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i like charlie stross the man needs to do less research tho. somehow...
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May 8, 2020 00:13
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Robo Reagan posted:most older comedies are about rape Hell, recent-ish comedies too (there is some blatantly bad poo poo in at least the first American Pie movie, for instance).
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May 8, 2020 00:15
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univbee posted:Hell, recent-ish comedies too (there is some blatantly bad poo poo in at least the first American Pie movie, for instance). that's over two decades old
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May 8, 2020 00:22
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Volcott posted:
Pretty sure the Might and Magic games are that too. As for movies, check out Pandorum for the hey we're not where we think we are genre.
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May 8, 2020 00:34
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TotalLossBrain posted:that's over two decades old Do they even make comedies anymore?
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May 8, 2020 02:01
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They do but none of them really gain cultural traction like they used to.
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May 8, 2020 02:14
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Right, it feels like the only comedies people talk favorably of are from the early 2000s or earlier now.
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May 8, 2020 02:35
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Comedies and romcoms got relegated to small budget and niche in the states.
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May 8, 2020 02:37
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Cock Blockers was actually pretty good and showed a bunch of Gen-X parents getting over their hangups about their kids loving, and the kids were portrayed as pretty well-adjusted and nice. It was good. Which is probably why no one gave a gently caress.
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May 8, 2020 02:47
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mind the walrus posted:Cock Blockers was actually pretty good and showed a bunch of Gen-X parents getting over their hangups about their kids loving, and the kids were portrayed as pretty well-adjusted and nice. It was good. Which is probably why no one gave a gently caress. Y'know why nobody gave a gently caress? 'Cuz it was called "Cock Blockers," but with a silhouette of a chicken in place of the word "Cock."
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May 8, 2020 04:32
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Heath posted:Do they even make comedies anymore? Both Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart are in at least one movie per year.
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May 8, 2020 05:02
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LabyaMynora posted:Y'know why nobody gave a gently caress?
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May 8, 2020 05:07
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twistedmentat posted:Pretty sure the Might and Magic games are that too. Yeah, might and magic is what I meant. Haven't played them in a gorillion years so I forgot what the franchise was actually called. I was thinking of 4 and 5, clouds and darkside of xeen, respectively. Speaking of comedies I saw a trailer for one that looked interesting when I saw either sonic or knives out. It was a couple who had their car commandeered by Some Guy who proceeded to commit a murder and they were set up to take the blame, and theoretically comedy then ensued. Anyone know what that was called? Volcott fucked around with this message at 05:14 on May 8, 2020 |
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May 8, 2020 05:11
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Boomers love to squint and sigh and tilt their heads back 45 degrees while they clutch their phones at arm's length with their dominant hand and use their index finger to tap out replies to facebook scammers.
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May 8, 2020 05:15
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well why not posted:Both Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart are in at least one movie per year. So, no?
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May 8, 2020 05:19
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well why not posted:Both Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart are in at least one movie per year. But the question was about comedies.
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May 8, 2020 05:34
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There might not be many comedies, but there sure are a lot of farces.
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May 8, 2020 05:40
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Heath posted:Do they even make comedies anymore? Let me tell you about a man named Tyler Perry ...
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May 8, 2020 06:17
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PostNouveau posted:Let me tell you about a man named Tyler Perry ... My racist stepmom loves the Madea movies. I've only seen bits and pieces during holiday visits, but as far as I can tell they are all basically Christian dramas with the Madea character acting as the comedic relief.
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May 8, 2020 06:59
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bartok posted:My racist stepmom loves the Madea movies. I've only seen bits and pieces during holiday visits, but as far as I can tell they are all basically Christian dramas with the Madea character acting as the comedic relief. I dunno the one I saw was more like a very loose collection of skits mainly about how old age makeup and fat suits are funny.
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May 8, 2020 07:02
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Volcott posted:Speaking of comedies I saw a trailer for one that looked interesting when I saw either sonic or knives out. It was a couple who had their car commandeered by Some Guy who proceeded to commit a murder and they were set up to take the blame, and theoretically comedy then ensued. Anyone know what that was called? The Lovebirds with Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae?
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May 8, 2020 07:57
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Cough Drop The Beat posted:Why are so many sci-fi author dudes obsessed with sex? It's so embarrassing when they can't write a vaguely believable sex scene. Because the right cocktail needed to make a sci-fi writer is 1 part fascination with space travel, 1 part intelligence, and 200 parts crippling autism. It's hard to make a convincing sex scene when you've never actually gotten your willy wiggled. Not to say that all sci-fi writers are this bad, just the vast majority and the majorly influential ones.
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May 8, 2020 07:58
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Even the foundational creators are bad about it. Asimov was a massive sex pest, Roddenberry was ridiculously horny and put his girlfriend into every incarnation of the franchise he could (but to be fair, Majel Barret was awesome) and while I don't know much about Frank Herbert's personal life he had some weird ideas about sex even by sci-fi author standards.
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May 8, 2020 08:05
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIWDmmqZzY "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyd Didn't want to post this in the classic rock thread as I already ate a 12er for making GBS threads on this music yesterday. I'm posting this for the dumpster fire of a comment section. Lots of people self-identifying as boomers and PROUD OF IT! Its not enough for them to have enjoyed themselves at the show they need to turn around and tell all younger generations that this was the best it ever was, and they missed out, current music is garbage, current everything is garbage, they had the best music etc. Just so bad. edit: Also just wow 
Poohs Packin fucked around with this message at 08:34 on May 8, 2020 |
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May 8, 2020 08:25
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I’ve never heard an American say whinge. Also yeah I hope your rear end gets kicked for waving the traitorous flag. Even though LS semi-disowned the flag I still hate them for yet again giving another unneeded life to that rag.
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May 8, 2020 08:43
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Cough Drop The Beat posted:His novels tend to have very poorly written, laughably unrealistic sex out of nowhere, sometimes between one or both awkward, nerdy characters too, which is often really gross and weird.
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May 8, 2020 08:46
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a good story about a generation ship is "paradises lost" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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May 8, 2020 08:53
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Boomers love saying "I need you to" instead of "could you please"
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May 8, 2020 10:09
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Seveneves was Stephenson jerking himself off even more than he usually does. It entertained me for a couple days but lmao drat what a mess, that book shat the bed hard like every couple hundred pages. At least the last third had some cool worldbuilding. Read a good book instead (Anathem) imo, that one didn't have any fuckin in it Pretty good fucked around with this message at 09:17 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 8, 2020 10:15
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Bonzo posted:*has voted against increases in taxes and municipal spending since 1983* FTFY
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May 8, 2020 10:15
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bartok posted:My racist stepmom loves the Madea movies. I've only seen bits and pieces during holiday visits, but as far as I can tell they are all basically Christian dramas with the Madea character acting as the comedic relief. I've only seen Boo, it was ok. Basically the teen daughter is going to a Halloween party, and Madea's crew is determined to prevent her from having sex while an incompetent slasher villian skulks about. At around the final 15 minute mark there was a tonal shift where the teen daughter has a Christian monolog about not being ready for sex, and then they make up and prank the boy who was trying to get in her pants. I would have liked it better if the monologuing hadn't been so hamfisted and tonally out of place, it was just so jarring, that it ruined everything.
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May 8, 2020 10:33
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Pretty good posted:Seveneves was Stephenson jerking himself off even more than he usually does. It entertained me for a couple days but lmao drat what a mess, that book shat the bed hard like every couple hundred pages. At least the last third had some cool worldbuilding. I'm a huge fan of his earlier stuff but I haven't been wowed by anything since Anathem, which is pretty terrific. I had to read it twice to kind of figure out what was happening (and I enjoyed that.) I think DODO was okay but kind of forgettable, REAMDE and Fall both had interesting parts but kind of fall flat (Fall especially could have been a lot more.)
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May 8, 2020 11:09
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A White Guy posted:Because the right cocktail needed to make a sci-fi writer is 1 part fascination with space travel, 1 part intelligence, and 200 parts crippling autism. It's hard to make a convincing sex scene when you've never actually gotten your willy wiggled. Or be Stephen King and also include homosexual rape or an older man having sex with a woman much younger than him who is usually a virgin.
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May 8, 2020 13:15
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The_Continental posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxIWDmmqZzY “They try to destroy your family name”. Where in the gently caress are they living where anyone gives a single poo poo about your “family name”? Who keeps track of this poo poo?
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May 8, 2020 13:54
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Solkanar512 posted:Where in the gently caress are they living where anyone gives a single poo poo about your “family name”? Savannah, GA.
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May 8, 2020 14:01
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Bonzo posted:Or be Stephen King and also include homosexual rape or an older man having sex with a woman much younger than him who is usually a virgin. I reread The Stand and Jesus Christ the sex stuff is nearly as bad as the infamous child gangbang from IT.
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May 8, 2020 14:06
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A White Guy posted:Because the right cocktail needed to make a sci-fi writer is 1 part fascination with space travel, 1 part intelligence, and 200 parts crippling autism. It's hard to make a convincing sex scene when you've never actually gotten your willy wiggled. When I was doing a big read through of everything that ever won a Hugo or Nebula award, I hit this point where suddenly half of all SF was about how sexual liberation would mean that hot teenage girls would be throwing themselves at dumpy middle-aged guys. There's also one SF author, Jon Varley, who ever single thing he wrote that won an award had something in it about how awesome pedophilia was.
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May 8, 2020 14:10
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Randler posted:Few years back there were a lot of articles about teenagers using ringtones in frequencies that cannot be heard by teachers and tests of using high frequency nosies to selectively scare off "loitering" teenagers. Do you guys remember being young enough to simply hear when a CRT television or computer monitor was turned on by the high pitched whine it made? The sound was like that. Anybody claiming it would scare off teenagers was a snake oil salesman cranking that poo poo to illegal volume levels, which is probably why we very suddenly stopped seeing excited news coverage about it.
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May 8, 2020 15:16
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