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The Wicked ZOGA posted:Both of Garth Nix's series are goated, Edge Chronicles is also goated. I read them out of order because it didn't say on the book copies I got which order you were actually supposed to read them in, but I really enjoyed the feeling of isolation you get in a lot of them, where they're making their way through the old kingdom and it has this sort of postapocalyptic feeling to it, gives a profound sense of quiet and tension to a lot of the action scenes, and the encounters with the dead are always written very viscerally, like you get the real impression of how terrifying it is to face literal reanimated corpses, and the way the fighting and magic is describes is similarly full of sensation, how casting free magic burns people's mouths and tastes of hot metal and stuff. It gives a real sense of immersion in the experience of the characters that I enjoyed. And also translates basically seamlessly when they go south of the wall and it's WW1 except fighting armies of magical zombies, which you would not think a fairly high fantasy setting would translate to but the character experience focus handles it well.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:17
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History Comes Inside! posted:Yeah it’s definitely something, but that’s more of an “ah well, the majority of people just have poo poo taste” thing more than anything. But also that they are seemingly very uncritical of their consumption. I can buy that someone could be just utterly ignorant of the author's views on things, (although perhaps not now) but a lot of them seem actively unwilling to think about the things they consume recreationally. Which is just strange to me. I like HP lovecraft's work a lot, but I think it is improved if you know how much his own hosed up racism informed his work, because you can still appreciate the terror that he's communicating to you, but you can also understand that he genuinely felt that way towards just, normal loving people in his life. You might have engaged with it because you picked up on his fear of what scientific developments meant for humanity's place in the world, a loss of meaning and alienation from a world that is increasingly complex and impossible to understand, but he also extended that into "I saw an italian and had visions of the end of days" The work is enhanced if you can read it both as a thing that contains elements you enjoy, but also understanding the limitations of the author and where they're clearly just writing their own hosed up poo poo into the work, and through that understanding you can understand more about why you like something that clearly contains things you disagree with, and even move on to transcending the author's failures and reconstructing the work in ways that highlight the things you do like and addressing the things you don't, as I think most people who enjoy lovecraft's or derivative works today would do. If you don't do that you're left in this sort of... consumption prison where you are left with either this vague, cringing feeling that other people will judge you for the thing you like and you can't defend it, or some people just outright deny the existence of lovely themes or refuse to engage with them. Which I guess is a way to deal with it but I think that does have implications for how they handle other things in life.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:28
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Harry Potter and the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:32
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OwlFancier posted:But also that they are seemingly very uncritical of their consumption. I can buy that someone could be just utterly ignorant of the author's views on things, (although perhaps not now) but a lot of them seem actively unwilling to think about the things they consume recreationally. Which is just strange to me. I like HP lovecraft's work a lot, but I think it is improved if you know how much his own hosed up racism informed his work, because you can still appreciate the terror that he's communicating to you, but you can also understand that he genuinely felt that way towards just, normal loving people in his life. You might have engaged with it because you picked up on his fear of what scientific developments meant for humanity's place in the world, a loss of meaning and alienation from a world that is increasingly complex and impossible to understand, but he also extended that into "I saw an italian and had visions of the end of days" Honestly I think the problem is most of them never engaged with it beyond “I wish I went to a wizard boarding school it sounds tits” because they were children reading children’s books and that’s how it stuck. Not everybody who engages with a creative work is looking for anything beyond the absolute surface level “this is literally what it says in black and white”, for good or for ill.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:33
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I wish the Internet hadn't ruined my brain so I could still read. 
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Feb 18, 2023 20:42
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Gonzo McFee posted:I wish the Internet hadn't ruined my brain so I could still read. I go through phases where all I wanna do is read so I’ll tear through books like nobody’s business and then suddenly I have absolutely no attention span and won’t pick up another book for 6 months or so. I’m in the middle of a very stop-start re-read of the Discworld novels right now, which hasn’t had a “start” moment since like November. I blame the kindle for making it so easy to put a book down without having the physical book there to prompt you to get back to it. Still love it though.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:47
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I started listening to audiobooks which are fun, there's people on youtube who do some nice readings.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:48
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The Wicked ZOGA posted:Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is the weirdest poo poo ever and I'm not sure why it exists Dahl’s Hollywood cocaine period. I always liked the story that he and Ian Fleming swapped genres for a drunken bet
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Feb 18, 2023 20:51
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frytechnician posted:The absolute seismic tilt into insane stuff compared to the already quite weird Charlie & The Chocolate Factory took me for a spin too when I read it as a kid. I read Elevator first. That was an experience as a young lad alright.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:52
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Vermicious Knids
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Feb 18, 2023 20:54
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Is Elevator Dahl's Gremlins 2? Discuss.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:55
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Z the IVth posted:Harry Potter and the Academy of Raya Lucaria. I liked the bit where he turned his brain into a magical space rock so he could shoot magical space rocks at oppressed minorities better.
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Feb 18, 2023 20:56
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i had to go out and get my glintstone key and this freeloader thops just expects me to give him one??? i hope the sorting mask puts me in the same conspectus as sellen
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Feb 18, 2023 20:59
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smellmycheese posted:Vermicious Knids I mean shapeshifting aliens isn't even that bad, it's just when it does a complete 180 and Charlie's grandparents get sent to Purgatory for de-aging themselves into negative numbers, despite that having nothing to do with the previous poo poo in space. It feels like Dahl had two ideas and didn't know how to put them together, and eventually said 'gently caress it, I won't bother'
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Feb 18, 2023 21:01
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OwlFancier posted:But also that they are seemingly very uncritical of their consumption. I can buy that someone could be just utterly ignorant of the author's views on things, (although perhaps not now) but a lot of them seem actively unwilling to think about the things they consume recreationally. Which is just strange to me. I like HP lovecraft's work a lot, but I think it is improved if you know how much his own hosed up racism informed his work, because you can still appreciate the terror that he's communicating to you, but you can also understand that he genuinely felt that way towards just, normal loving people in his life. You might have engaged with it because you picked up on his fear of what scientific developments meant for humanity's place in the world, a loss of meaning and alienation from a world that is increasingly complex and impossible to understand, but he also extended that into "I saw an italian and had visions of the end of days" I mean I'd agree with you that might make sense with Lovecraft but can you really see someone being like "coming to terms with rowling as a howling bigoted turd of hate really made me appreciate those novels that helped me endure growing up" because I can't see that ending happily
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Feb 18, 2023 21:03
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Is there a father Ted video game?
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Feb 18, 2023 21:03
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History Comes Inside! posted:I go through phases where all I wanna do is read so I’ll tear through books like nobody’s business and then suddenly I have absolutely no attention span and won’t pick up another book for 6 months or so. I’m in the middle of a very stop-start re-read of the Discworld novels right now, which hasn’t had a “start” moment since like November. Same. I can usually keep the reading streak going as long as I have a steady supply of readable series of novels, or until I step on my e-reader, but it always gets interrupted and that always saddens me
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Feb 18, 2023 21:07
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NotJustANumber99 posted:Is there a father Ted video game? No idea but I’d be shocked if Glinner hasn’t made it into Duke Smoochem yet.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:08
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Tijuana Bibliophile posted:I mean I'd agree with you that might make sense with Lovecraft but can you really see someone being like "coming to terms with rowling as a howling bigoted turd of hate really made me appreciate those novels that helped me endure growing up" because I can't see that ending happily You could look at the HP books critically and figure out what exactly it is that you like, and which bits you don't. And then understanding which is which you can better articulate and internalize liking things that is is very easy to level deserved criticism of, and have a better understanding of what you might like in future. It is freeing because you don't have to go to bat for the whole thing and you might be able to find other things that have far less tension between things you like and things you don't. Lovecraft's novels are virtually indistinguishable from his writing about seeing an immigrant one time. Horror at red hook is literally just "oh god I went to new york and there were too many ethnicities and I had a dissociative episode as a result" so there's an even bigger need to figure out why you enjoy reading his work, I think.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:11
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OwlFancier posted:You could look at the HP books critically and figure out what exactly it is that you like, and which bits you don't. And then understanding which is which you can better articulate and internalize liking things that is is very easy to level deserved criticism of, and have a better understanding of what you might like in future. It is freeing because you don't have to go to bat for the whole thing and you might be able to find other things that have far less tension between things you like and things you don't. I liked hearing that Justin Sledge, doctor of esotericism, went on a Lovecraft convention and delivered an address on how Lovecraft knew gently caress all about the occult, and the attendants were all like "figures, in lots of ways he kinda sucked" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQt5DQP_UqQ Ol' Howard never did make much to enable uncritical reading. It's one of his better qualities as a writer I think
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Feb 18, 2023 21:17
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NotJustANumber99 posted:Is there a father Ted video game? what do you picture one involving
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Feb 18, 2023 21:19
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Would you believe when I first read him as a kid I actually did not at all pick up on the racism and thought he was remarkably unracist for the time? Clearly he is just writing about aliens and that's why the people are scary, because they worship the cosmic gods! But yeah rattling off encyclopedia brittanica entries to build your occult cred is very "copying the wikipedia article" levels of effort and I approve.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:19
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Dabir posted:what do you picture one involving I dunno. But probably like that old Indiana Jones point and click type game?
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Feb 18, 2023 21:23
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OwlFancier posted:Would you believe when I first read him as a kid I actually did not at all pick up on the racism and thought he was remarkably unracist for the time? Clearly he is just writing about aliens and that's why the people are scary, because they worship the cosmic gods! Nineteen-thirties racism was a lot more subtle. You couldn't just write "piccaninnies with watermelon smiles" and get million-pound speech deals back then
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Feb 18, 2023 21:29
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My favourite ever HPL is the Randolph Carter trilogy. I've no idea if he finished it around the time he was thought to have had some insight and changed his perspectives, but it certainly reads like it. (Carter, not evil as such but full of New England old money hubris, gets owned on a cyclopian, cosmic scale) Mods please rename me Hoary Nodens
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Feb 18, 2023 21:29
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Dabir posted:what do you picture one involving Four Classes (Fifth being DLC) - Young Priest, Priest, Old Priest, Bishop (DLC being Nun)
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Feb 18, 2023 21:30
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Also ^^ pro youtube channel tip. It's all about the serious study of the arcane, none of the woo. His episode on the Voynich codex is pretty amazing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67YzIOZTZXk And if he refers to a particular occult tome or practice you haven't heard of, there's probably an episode on it
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Feb 18, 2023 21:32
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Chubby Henparty posted:My favourite ever HPL is the Randolph Carter trilogy. I've no idea if he finished it around the time he was thought to have had some insight and changed his perspectives, but it certainly reads like it. (Carter, not evil as such but full of New England old money hubris, gets owned on a cyclopian, cosmic scale) I really need to finish that one, it's very long so I never got through it all. I really like mountains of madness and dexter ward though, very atmospheric the first one and a pretty drat good mystery the second.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:32
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OwlFancier posted:I really need to finish that one, it's very long so I never got through it all. In some other thread we were discussing Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and the guy who coded the PC version (I think) was in the thread. I told him the escape from the hotel was the last time I was genuinely frightened by a video game which he took as a compliment I never did finish that game, but that scene stuck with me. It's from the shadow over innsmouth iirc
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Feb 18, 2023 21:38
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Tijuana Bibliophile posted:In some other thread we were discussing Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and the guy who coded the PC version (I think) was in the thread. I told him the escape from the hotel was the last time I was genuinely frightened by a video game which he took as a compliment That game was amazing. The bit with the daughter talking about her mother upstairs, that poo poo ramped up the fear in me. Haven't tried out the newer Call of Cthulhu game that came out last year or year before though, looks good.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:48
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Tijuana Bibliophile posted:In some other thread we were discussing Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and the guy who coded the PC version (I think) was in the thread. I told him the escape from the hotel was the last time I was genuinely frightened by a video game which he took as a compliment I've watched an LP of that and yeah it looks very cool, a neat pastiche of a bunch of his stories and has that great grimy, dark atmosphere.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:51
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Did JKR rip Hogwarts off Labyrinth (Hogwart is what Sarah calls Hoggle) or does it predate that?
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Feb 18, 2023 21:53
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The Terrible Old Man is a good lovecraft game. As per the descriptioon its a bite sized (like half an hour tops) point and click with just enough puzzles to propel the retelling of a short story, and its free.
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Feb 18, 2023 21:58
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Lungboy posted:Did JKR rip Hogwarts off Labyrinth (Hogwart is what Sarah calls Hoggle) or does it predate that? Labyrinth came first by about a decade. I heard there's a sequel planned which at one point was slated to have the David Bowie role played by Lady Gaga. We're just finishing up marathoning the BBC's Dark Materials adaptation which is about as well done as it's possible to do those books, which are themselves better than Potter in every way. Much as I hate to give the BBC credit, when you compare it with the aborted film trilogy (which somehow tried to cut out the religious bits from a series about killing God) it's great closure.
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Feb 18, 2023 22:04
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Yeah I saw the first movie they did and it was very... weird how they treat the very explicit text of the book which is that the church is interdimensional and god is real and they are all bastards. Removes all the references to religion and I have no idea how they were thinking of adapting the later stages of the plot.
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Feb 18, 2023 22:08
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The number one issue for working class people in the north of England is a handful of boats in the channel  
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Feb 18, 2023 22:13
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Hooray for my idiot MP
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Feb 18, 2023 22:16
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British People Remain Wrong About Everything.
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Feb 18, 2023 22:18
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Isomermaid posted:Labyrinth came first by about a decade. I heard there's a sequel planned which at one point was slated to have the David Bowie role played by Lady Gaga. Sorry I meant was Hogwart original to Labyrinth or did it come from something that predated the movie?
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Feb 18, 2023 22:23
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"Ey up Doc, ma knee is killing me! Its been 1 year now since it started, no word on when I can get the operation. BUT LETS TALK ABOUT IMMIGRANTS AND BOATS HANGINGS TOO GOOD FOR THEM!"
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Feb 18, 2023 22:32
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