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Happy Landfill posted:Chitoryu why I blame his selfless valor in experiments with torpedo juice fake edit after "preview reply": oh god, the first installment has happened. Once more into the breach, gentlefolk.
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Mar 13, 2018 01:56
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 11:08 |
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Transmogrifier posted:Because I asked nicely. Thank you chitoryu. Chitoryu is the hero SA deserves. Just in case you're not cool enough to know, that's a paraphrasing from the hit film Batman Begins, which I saw when I happened to be alive at the time and blah blah blah needless explanation we get it already (seriously these excerpts are even worse than I imagined) edit: just to clarify, love this thread and your commentary, chitoryu. It's Cline's prose I find horrible. Keep up the good work! JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Mar 13, 2018 |
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Mar 13, 2018 02:41
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So, 15 people in a double wide that's 22 stories up, and there's a laundry room. Uh-huh. I did the math to see what year Halliday wouldve been born, to compare with my own age. 1971 or 72 (so pretty close to my 1974). Then I looked up Cline, and whaddya know, of course he was born in 1972. March 29th, actually. March 29th. The day the movie comes out. He is literally game master anthony, celebrating his birthday with all of his favorite tv, comics, video games references. BRING IT IN, GUYS!!! Chi, pass the torpedo juice.
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Mar 13, 2018 15:11
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I just find this interesting because of that review claiming that this book is this generation's Neuromancer. Here we got a book written by a guy 2 years older than me --- and I'm an old fart by Internet standards --- that does nothing but fan wank about 80s poo poo. Stuff that happened well before "this" generation, if that reviewer is talking millennial so or whatever. Long story short: I'm his prime age bracket demographic, and this poo poo is abysmal.
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Mar 13, 2018 15:49
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Party Plane Jones posted:
Sperglord Actual posted:This is making me want to write more Shark Puncher. PPJ's post is making me want to commit more Cline Puncher I got halfway thru that, and started silently fuming that he was assuming all techs, geeks, scientists, etc had dicks. Ah, but he finishes by throwing women a bone by name checking probably the only woman scientist who he's heard of. It's all good!  My eyes just rolled so hard, I created a localized coriolis effect.
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Mar 16, 2018 00:41
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Maybe I missed it, because --- like probably a lot of folks here --- I'm paying way more attention to chitoryu's commentary than the eye-glazing contents of the book itself, but why are the IOI guys called Sixers? Gods, this poo poo is terrible. Really? You had to tell me that your Firefly-class ship was based on the one used in the show FIrefly? drat, never would've figured that oh so obscure reference out! That hammered home what's really been driving me nuts: the whole point is the Easter egg hunt. And Cline could've been dropping eggs all through this book that only old farts like me would get. That would've made for a fun read that would ping my nostalgia meter. Have a guy show up and say "Trust me, I know what I'm doing", and I'd chuckle and think, "nice, a Sledgehammer! reference". No, it's all Deloreans and x-wings and pop music that even my 20-something coworkers know, with our narrator explaining where these common cultural touchstones come from. Fun fact: the word "nostalgia" at its roots means roughly "a painful return home". This poo poo is painful, all right.
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Mar 23, 2018 20:06
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chitoryu12 posted:They all have six-number employee ID numbers that start with a 6.
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Mar 23, 2018 20:14
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nerdz posted:I also love how the book spends a huge section describing all the security features he has in his apartment and fails to mention how utterly useless they would be if the ioi just decided to demolish the apartment just like they did at the stacks I was fond of the earlier bit where he's fleeing the IOI and buys a first class bus ticket before scrambling his identity. Because no way could they trace that and figure out he's "hiding" in Columbus now.
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Mar 25, 2018 04:36
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nerdz posted:Hey, sending this message just to warn you that some pervs have hacked your laptop and were taking snapshots of you through your camera. You should format your computer Hey, I know you've blocked me from contacting you after you said you weren't interested in me romantically, and I responded with being a creepy faux Lloyd Dobler. So when I got some info on some bad people out to kill you at any second, naturally I studied every part of your dossier and drooled over your pics before reaching out to you again. PS: u r pretty, do you like me y[ ] n[ ]
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Mar 26, 2018 21:30
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So thing #429 bugging me: There's a throwaway line (like 98% of this book) about Artemis using her newfound endorsement money to start her clothing line for "full figured women". Aha! Here's a clue to why she tells Wade he would find her repulsive: she must be mega fat. Right? Then we finally get info on her IRL appearance, and she's 5' 7", and 168 pounds. She's got a few extra pounds, but is by no means in land whale territory. If you have any familiarity with women's sizes, that's about a size 10. If not, consider the usual internet barometer of Marilyn Monroe, who was 5' 5" and 140-ish. She's probably curvy, and not in the "healthy at any size" eating mayo on your mobility scooter tumblr category. I'm having a hard time articulating my confusion on this, but I guess it boils down to: If Artemis thinks she's super fat at her height/weight, and she really isn't, it'd be nice if the author focused on that rather than a port wine stain. Instead we get a toss away line about her making clothes for fat chicks, and then a reveal that she's (gasp!) about 20 lbs overweight. Why add those two details if the point of artemis's self consciousness is about the port wine? All I can imagine is that Cline thought that that weight was fatty fat Ms. Fat, and threw the bit in about her starting a post apocalypse Lane Bryant. Conclusion (and a real shocker): Cline has never known the touch of a woman, let alone her dress size, and just made poo poo up. And not thought about the impact on young women readers would be, writing what would become a wildly popular YA novel wherein being 5' 7" and 168 makes you a "repulsive" ham beast. Again, I feel like I'm not conveying my feelings on this properly. As a former librarian who was horrified by the potential impact the Twilight series had on female YA readers, though, that poo poo was just making me bristle. Chi, I have no idea how you're powering through this, because just the synopses are giving me headaches. Godspeed.
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Mar 27, 2018 01:07
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Yeah, in total fairness, women's clothing sizes are stupid arbitrary and even I don't get them. Wasn't my point really, it was just that he had no idea that that height weight combo isn't exactly the "eating a block of cheese on a Rascal" jpg I was imagining. And that putting stats out like that hurts young impressionable women who are already struggling with self image. Full disclosure: I'm 5' 6" and rocking about 130 to 140. I got no horse in this race, except being sensitive to how young women might read that poo poo, after working for a library and cringing at all the copies of twilight being checked out. Pretty much comes back to Memento's mantra of putting more thought in than the author did. Edit while thinking about this and Smashing Pumpkins came on the radio as I was taking the garbage out: Wade probably looks less like Pinhead and more like Billy Corgan, in his hairless, white, whiny state. Yeah, you're one to make judgement calls on appearances, protagonist. JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Mar 27, 2018 |
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Mar 27, 2018 01:31
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chitoryu12 posted:Also notice how the two main mechs in this final battle (Mechagodzilla and Leopardon) are from the 70s and Ultraman is from the 60s, so the most prominent artifacts we've seen aren't even from the 80s in a book that's exclusively about 80s nostalgia! Oh, but it gets even stupider, my friend! First thing I noticed was him having recognized MG from "turn of the century" flicks. WTF? I was born the same year as MG, 1974, and I'm pretty sure no one has ever described that period as "turn of the century". He goes on to mention the shoulder mounted cannons, and then Sorrento activates MG by yelling "Kiryu". That's when I realized: he's basing this off the 2002 revival of Mechagodzilla . MG was only called Kiryu from that point on, ditto for the shoulder cannons. So it's not even nostalgia for watching bad dubs of the originals on tv, as one poster suggested. He really does mean the turn of the century one. He's not 6 years too early, he's 22 years too late. My guess is he thought of using MG as the final boss, did a cursory search for the meanest looking one and/or one with a Japanese name, and patted himself on the back for being able to name-check Kiryu. "Heh, only real nerds will get this reference!" But he shot himself in the foot, because real kaiju nerds like me actually know these useless details. Itt, JD getting angry about mechagodzilla facts
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Apr 2, 2018 20:37
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burial posted:When someone rewrites this, how is the SA gunter clan going to be portrayed? Having now read the big battle scene, the obvious answer is... Legions of goons swarm on the castle. They are daunted by the sudden appearance of Mechagodzilla. Then one brave goon pulls a toy from his pocket, and invokes the magic words: "SuperMechaGodzilla." Suddenly a 600 ft tall goon appears, and with a piercing metal cry screams a criticism of the entire work. "THE OPPOSITE READING IS TRUUUUUEEEESHROOONNK!" Everybody's head explodes in a rush to defend, deny, or express disgust over his posting (or Weaponu Postu, if you're a cool nerd like me) JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Apr 2, 2018 |
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Apr 2, 2018 22:52
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StonecutterJoe posted:
Scrambling to make the connection between this thing called "fun" and anything pertinent to the 80s, I consulted the Almanac. The first hit I got was a mention of the fictional band Big Fun, featured in the 1988 movie Heathers. I used my limitless bitcoins and went to the nearest virtual shop selling only the finest neon fabrics and ordered a bespoke Martha Dumptruck-sized shirt with the band's name on it. Then I walked into traffic, just like everyone wearing VR sets while ambling through the crowded streets of Columbus. Unlike Martha, however, I actually died when JacquelineDempsey's 1986 Volvo came careening around the corner and turned me into Nickelodeon Gak. THE END
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Apr 5, 2018 21:21
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  And once again, goons put more effort into one post than Cline did for an entire novel. I don't know poo poo about gundams and other big rear end robots, but you made it interesting to someone new to the subject, and your write ups on both Godzilla v Megalon and G v Mechagodzilla get an A+ from this kaiju sperglord. Nicely done, Lord Walrus.
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Apr 6, 2018 00:02
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Just out of curiosity, and since someone else mentioned how tacky as gently caress it is: Can any book barn folks who know more about this discuss the legitimacy of referencing people who are alive? There was some James Cameron chat there for a bit, and it got me thinking. During the editing process, does anyone check in with people and get their okay on being mentioned? Like no doubt Cory Doctorow was jerking himself off silly being name checked in this pile of fan wanking, but what about the other people? I guess my question is: do living people have any say in being name checked in a book?
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Apr 6, 2018 01:28
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Samizdata posted:Actually, I would have survived had the Volvo not spent more than 10 minutes doing donuts on me, while managing to get no blood at all on the driver's immaculate white wifebeater or battered snapback cap showing a patch for Speed Rumbler, a 1986 Capcom title called, more correctly, Rush and Crash in Japan. I tried to blurt that out, but the driver decided to rev up the wheels and enjoy a quick run of drifting, invented in Japan in the mid 80's, laying rubber across my battered face. The last thing I heard as the pain went away and the blackness came was a soundless cry of victory, like that of Michelle Pfeiffer when she is a hawk in Ladyhawke, one of my favorite films of 1985. Then I died. I know it's a lame, potentially probatable thing to say "you owe me a keyboard" or "I woke up my spouse laughing" but I was for real clamping my hand over my mouth reading this while enjoying my morning coffee and trying to let my husband sleep in. For the record, I'm a 44 year old woman, not the dude in my avatar. A random goon got it for me thanks to chitoryu's last valiant effort in reading terrible books, Handbook for Mortals. If y'all enjoyed this thread, by all means check that poo poo out, it's absolute gold. And yes, you should totally ask Tyson about it, if you can. I'm dying to know how IRL people react to this sort of thing. Me, if he wrote "and I got JaqcD to write the score because she loving rocks on soundtracks"... I dunno. One the one hand, free publicity is great. On the other, do I want to be associated with this hot mess?
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Apr 6, 2018 12:10
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Sperglord Actual posted:Seriously, how hard would it have been to get that right?   (three is a magic number)Please don't even tell me how bad they hosed up the sound design on Mechagodzilla, I'm not sure I could take it
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Apr 9, 2018 01:17
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Choco1980 posted:Seriously, what is even going on with its arms? That right arm of his looks like it was designed by the same chucklehead that did Wade's loooooong leeeeg in the movie poster
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Apr 10, 2018 15:10
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 11:08 |
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Today at work, the loudest, most opinionated, and stubborn co-worker in my kitchen was proclaiming that RPO was the BEST MOVIE EVER, GUYS. A couple times I started to open my mouth to call bullshit. I quickly realized the folly in this, and then just shook my head and decided that it would be a good time to pound out a case of chicken breasts so I could drown him out. Thing is, also, he's only in his early 20s, but a big ol' geeky gamer type who's just seen a lot of the films referenced. It's not even 80s nostalgia porn if you only saw a movie on DVD in the 21st century, in my book. Come at me if you remember seeing Empire Strikes Back during its original theater release, bro.
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Jun 3, 2018 19:30
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