wow, the entire constellation around this novel is just pathetic con pander bullshit. Hey guys, did you know Wil Wheaton narrated the audiobook?
Cline used the personalities of Howard Hughes and Richard Garriott, and placed Halliday's birth year around the same as his own so that his pop culture interests would coincide with Cline's "and the other middle-aged uber geeks I know"
oh my god this fucking clown
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 22 July 2017 21:09 (seven years ago) link
There's a reason I said what I did!
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 22 July 2017 21:11 (seven years ago) link
Fanboy the Movie. This is going to be another one of those movies saturated with pop culture references, but only the pop culture references they can license. Like the second Lego movie, where the much-touted evilest villains of all time just all happen to be Warner Brothers properties.Rush, though, I want to say makes a few appearances in the book. I haven't read the book, and none of you make me want to read the book.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 22 July 2017 21:15 (seven years ago) link
tbf Lego Batman is a pretty fun film that knows what it is
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 22 July 2017 21:16 (seven years ago) link
ugh i read this book based on rave reviews elsewhere and hated it so much. it's world of warcraft: the novelization.
― new noise, Saturday, 22 July 2017 21:46 (seven years ago) link
m'lady: th'movie
― he tasted like mouth (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 22 July 2017 21:49 (seven years ago) link
quite apart from all the 80s-kid jerkin every time i read about this book it seems to be like, what if the matrix was good, and instead of destroying its creators and freeing yrself you just competed for money in an obstacle course installed by its designer? okay
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 22 July 2017 23:09 (seven years ago) link
i can do that anyway, is the thing
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 22 July 2017 23:11 (seven years ago) link
Willy Wonka and the Content Farm
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 22 July 2017 23:15 (seven years ago) link
Oh cool, the ultimate apex of our pathetic arrested development manchild nostalgia barf culture.
Like if you're a grown adult who is thrilled by the idea of Freddy Krueger getting blown away by a Halo gun...
― circa1916, Sunday, 23 July 2017 00:14 (seven years ago) link
I don't get why this gets shit on but guardians etc get fellated but whatevs yr call homies
― sleepingbag, Sunday, 23 July 2017 00:24 (seven years ago) link
Yeah idk I didn't like that either. Also do you have a minute to talk about Stranger Things?
― circa1916, Sunday, 23 July 2017 00:28 (seven years ago) link
― sleepingbag, Sunday, July 23, 2017 12:24 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Whatever one thinks of Guardians of the Galaxy it isn't really comparable to this.
I would say read the book to get a taste of just how bad it is but that would be inhumane. Trust me, it's worse than any other nerd baity thing out there
― The Marmadook (latebloomer), Sunday, 23 July 2017 00:54 (seven years ago) link
I am not sure where to start explaining the salient differences between Guardians of the Galaxy and this desaturated pablum
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 July 2017 00:55 (seven years ago) link
one has the name of the best American filmmaker of the last 40 years on it?
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 23 July 2017 02:19 (seven years ago) link
Haha yes good job
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 July 2017 02:24 (seven years ago) link
tbh i do have to withhold judgment on this movie seeing as this is a guy whose most profoundly felt masterpiece is a michael crichton adaptation
but this particular book rly does feel like the concrete wall at the end of the world
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 23 July 2017 02:34 (seven years ago) link
So I guess most of you will go see this anyway?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 23 July 2017 02:42 (seven years ago) link
What would make you think that
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 July 2017 02:51 (seven years ago) link
I hope it flops like Ishtar
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 July 2017 02:55 (seven years ago) link
I hope it gets beaten at the box office by the Lego Ninjago movie
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 July 2017 03:28 (seven years ago) link
I hope it crashes and burns like Pan Am Flight 103
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 23 July 2017 03:39 (seven years ago) link
I hope it dies peacefully in bed, surrounded by loved ones and family. At the funeral they play a Rush song. After hovering in a bardo state for a few seconds the soul enters a young baby.
― The Marmadook (latebloomer), Sunday, 23 July 2017 05:04 (seven years ago) link
JK I hope it tanks
― The Marmadook (latebloomer), Sunday, 23 July 2017 05:05 (seven years ago) link
a guy whose most profoundly felt masterpiece is a michael crichton adaptation
yeah right
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 23 July 2017 05:07 (seven years ago) link
if you were 12 perrrrhaps
:)
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 23 July 2017 05:18 (seven years ago) link
I think all of us were 12 at some point
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 23 July 2017 05:29 (seven years ago) link
comes after 11 iirc
Representative excerpt from the book
When it came to my research, I never took any shortcuts. Over the past five years, I'd worked my way down the entire recommended gunter reading list. Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny. I read every novel by every single one of Halliday's favorite authors.And I didn't stop there.I also watched every single film he referenced in the Almanac. If it was one of Halliday's favorites, like WarGames, Ghostbusters, Real Genius, Better Off Dead, or Revenge of the Nerds, I rewatched it until I knew every scene by heart.I devoured each of what Halliday referred to as "The Holy Trilogies": Star Wars (original and prequel trilogies, in that order), Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Mad Max, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones. (Halliday once said that he preferred to pretend the other Indiana Jones films, from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull onward, didn't exist. I tended to agree.)I also absorbed the complete filmographies of each of his favorite directors. Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith.I spent three months studying every John Hughes teen movie and memorizing all the key lines of dialogue.Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.You could say I covered all the bases.I studied Monty Python. And not just Holy Grail, either. Every single one of their films, albums, and books, and every episode of the original BBC series. (Including those two "lost" episodes they did for German television.)I wasn't going to cut any corners.I wasn't going to miss something obvious.Somewhere along the way, I started to go overboard.I may, in fact, have started to go a little insane.I watched every episode of The Greatest American Hero, Airwolf, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Misfits of Science, and The Muppet Show.What about The Simpsons, you ask?I knew more about Springfield than I knew about my own city.Star Trek? Oh, I did my homework. TOS, TNG, DS9. Even Voyager and Enterprise. I watched them all in chronological order. The movies, too. Phasers locked on target.I gave myself a crash course in '80s Saturday-morning cartoons.I learned the name of every last goddamn Gobot and Transformer.Land of the Lost, Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Schoolhouse Rock!, G.I. Joe - I knew them all. Because knowing is half the battle.Who was my friend, when things got rough? H.R. Pufnstuf.Japan? Did I cover Japan?Yes. Yes indeed. Anime and live-action. Godzilla, Gamera, Star Blazers, The Space Giants, and G-Force. Go, Speed Racer, Go.I wasn't some dilettante.I wasn't screwing around.I memorized every last Bill Hicks stand-up routine.Music? Well, covering all the music wasn't easy.It took some time.The '80s was a long decade (ten whole years), and Halliday didn't seem to have had very discerning taste. He listened to everything. So I did too. Pop, rock, new wave, punk, heavy metal. From the Police to Journey to R.E.M. to the Clash. I tackled it all.I burned through the entire They Might Be Giants discography in under two weeks. Devo took a little longer.I watched a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing '80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn't part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.I memorized lyrics. Silly lyrics, by bands with names like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Pink Floyd.I kept at it.I burned the midnight oil.Did you know that Midnight Oil was an Australian band, with a 1987 hit titled "Beds Are Burning"?I was obsessed. I wouldn't quit. My grades suffered. I didn't care.I read every issue of every comic book title Halliday had ever collected.I wasn't going to have anyone questioning my commitment.Especially when it came to the videogames.Videogames were my area of expertise.My double-weapon specialization.My dream Jeopardy! category.I downloaded every game mentioned or referenced in the Almanac, from Akalabeth to Zaxxon. I played each title until I had mastered it, then moved on to the next one.You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, is a lot of study time.
― Number None, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:13 (seven years ago) link
look, tl;dr, but jfc
obv it's a life choice, peace be with you and all that, but maybe y'all could get your own island or something
― put your hands on the car and get ready to die (Noodle Vague), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:16 (seven years ago) link
He listened to everything ... Pop, rock, new wave, punk, heavy metal.
― put your hands on the car and get ready to die (Noodle Vague), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:18 (seven years ago) link
that excerpt makes him seem like an evil neil cicierega haha
― imago, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:18 (seven years ago) link
And, of course, Kevin Smith.
― lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:24 (seven years ago) link
It's pretty impressive how nothing in that entire list is actually obscure or weird
― El Tomboto, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:27 (seven years ago) link
"I memorized every last Bill Hicks stand-up routine."
― circa1916, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:28 (seven years ago) link
That one I didn't see coming, true.
― El Tomboto, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:29 (seven years ago) link
I couldn't get to the end of that passage but I'm sure the punchline was hilarious
― blog haus aka the scene raver (wins), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:30 (seven years ago) link
is it possible this book is a satire of the cultural death of the west?
― put your hands on the car and get ready to die (Noodle Vague), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:30 (seven years ago) link
no one interested in the Spielberg film who hasn't heard of the book (eg, me) gives a damn about it.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:36 (seven years ago) link
Is it too late for them to pull a Disney, fire Spielberg and get Verhoeven on the job?
― El Tomboto, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:40 (seven years ago) link
i mean yeah, but it'd have to be an entirely accidental satire, which i guess would make it even more successful
― crazed with patience (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:45 (seven years ago) link
tombot massively otm, verhoeven would have been perfect for giving this the evisceration it deserves
― crazed with patience (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:47 (seven years ago) link
The most surprising response, from apparently intelligent people, was that this film was in fact very good. I find it hard to accept that anyone intelligent can think this. Indeed, if an intelligent person does think it, it suggests to me that civilisation is further down the slimy slope of post-literacy than even I had suspected.
Hitchens take on RP1, nah not really he is actually talking about Dunkirk here!
― calzino, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:48 (seven years ago) link
lol that excerpt above explains why one of my besties loves this so much. he's obsessed w/ pop culture references
― Neanderthal, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:49 (seven years ago) link
t/s: hitchens vs frederik b xp
― crazed with patience (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:50 (seven years ago) link
So this book is about an amazing future where culture has not advanced beyond the geek obsessions of the 80s and 90s?
― jmm, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:53 (seven years ago) link
i'd say since the film is in post (and Verhoeven can't make a good film w/out Isabelle Huppert) yes it's too late
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:55 (seven years ago) link
Verhoeven can't make a good film w/out Isabelle Huppert
lies
― crazed with patience (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:56 (seven years ago) link
checks to see if Huppert was in Flesh and Blood
yep, nonsense
― put your hands on the car and get ready to die (Noodle Vague), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:58 (seven years ago) link
so i hear that this book mentions Sword Art Online a bunch of times because its plot is ripped off of that series.
― wasdnuos (abanana), Monday, 30 November 2020 07:55 (three years ago) link
every time this gets bumped I have to watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMBylNJQEbg
― frogbs, Saturday, 12 December 2020 03:06 (three years ago) link
As stated upthread I watched this with the kids and didn't hate it. I also saw the new Space Jam with the kids and yeah, it wasn't great but they really liked it, so no regrets.not planning on watching Free Guy, with or without kids.
without question one of the worst things ive ever seen a theater crowd cheer for in my life pic.twitter.com/NYPsaHpKO1— josh lewis (@thejoshl) September 25, 2021
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:25 (two years ago) link
lol I saw that but I guess I’d already walked out by that scene, Jesus Christ
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:32 (two years ago) link
it has 80% on rotten tomatoes
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:36 (two years ago) link
love content and properties
― ✖, Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:37 (two years ago) link
The thing I remember most about that film is that Taika Waititi is fucking terrible in it
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:39 (two years ago) link
Ryan Reynolds is such an unlikable and shite actor and he reminds me of Michael Owen
― calzino, Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:42 (two years ago) link
after about a million cue drops w/ "whoa do you remember star wars? EPIC" things in the past decade i think even the theme music is rotten for me, the second the notes hit i was like "oh BROTHER, do you gotta"
― "liking" (Clay), Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:50 (two years ago) link
xp Yeah he’s always awful should note that I did not deliberately see this, I bought a ticket to a “surprise film” and it turned out to be this non-movie, definitely got that losing scratchcard feeling when it sunk in
― siffleur’s mom (wins), Saturday, 25 September 2021 20:51 (two years ago) link
i honestly think there's a case that the worst movies of the modern era are the stupidest most banal empty insults of any period of anything
― look on my guacs, ye mighty, and dis pear (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 25 September 2021 21:05 (two years ago) link
the laziest most ineptly shot custard pie fight is funnier than this void
― look on my guacs, ye mighty, and dis pear (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 25 September 2021 21:06 (two years ago) link
For sure sign me up for a plague-era theater-of-literally-throwing-shit over this
― i carry the torch for disco inauthenticity (Eric H.), Saturday, 25 September 2021 21:07 (two years ago) link
I descended into the replies and saw this.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAJ5K69WEAUN_Jp.jpg
"genuine assets"
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 25 September 2021 21:17 (two years ago) link
loud neurotypical extroverts that cheer and whoop in cinemas is bad enough in any context and that people do it at Tarantino/Marvel Shitverse/Joker/Stuff Like This screenings is even bloody more criminal!
― calzino, Saturday, 25 September 2021 21:21 (two years ago) link
some comments saying that this is a kids film, but they clearly say "shit" twice, just in this clip.
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 September 2021 21:26 (two years ago) link
"it has 80% on rotten tomatoes"
at least it was a 5% better movie than The Many Saints of Newark on RT shall be its epitaph
― calzino, Saturday, 25 September 2021 21:51 (two years ago) link
Free Guy was MUCH more entertaining than RP1
― Nhex, Saturday, 25 September 2021 22:09 (two years ago) link
oh man, I'd forgotten about this little portion of lockdown entertainment (re the sequel book)
― Sorry, but that is how I feel (Ste), Saturday, 25 September 2021 22:21 (two years ago) link
that "he was on a nearby production so they just winged it" thing is just hollywood kayfabe bullshit right? they say that about literally every surprise cameo in every shitty movie
― ✖, Saturday, 25 September 2021 22:51 (two years ago) link
that "he was on a nearby production so they just winged it" thing is just hollywood kayfabe bullshit right?
Of course. That two seconds of footage likely took six months of lawyers going back and forth.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 25 September 2021 22:59 (two years ago) link
so the guy from parks and recreation is captain America now?
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 September 2021 23:05 (two years ago) link
sorry, must sound like either an idiot or a prick saying that, I honestly didn't know though
yeah, paul schneider is captain america
― ✖, Saturday, 25 September 2021 23:09 (two years ago) link
he's starlord fwiw
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 25 September 2021 23:10 (two years ago) link
huh never heard of starlord before
― edited to reflect developments which occurred (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 September 2021 23:21 (two years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVJwYzHU4As-HXX?format=jpg&name=medium
I remember reading Doomlord when I was recovering from measles but this starlord sounds like a bit of a wanker
― calzino, Saturday, 25 September 2021 23:28 (two years ago) link
This board is full of annoying ppl
― Gardyloominati (Neanderthal), Saturday, 25 September 2021 23:42 (two years ago) link
yeah but at least there are plenty of consistently hilarious people as well
― calzino, Saturday, 25 September 2021 23:49 (two years ago) link
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 28 September 2021 19:34 (two years ago) link
when the movie trailer was released, the guy who created "the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny" did this
Here's the official trailer for READY PLAYER ONE: pic.twitter.com/0rQnUE5LdK— Neil Cicierega (@neilcic) July 22, 2017
― adam t. (abanana), Tuesday, 28 September 2021 21:29 (two years ago) link
I feel torn here, because I hate this kind of nerd-pandering stuff but I was also delighted by 'Big Daddy meets Dan Dare' on that Eagle cover above and I don't know if I could say hand on heart that it's all that different
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55d9a2ebe4b090d1642480e9/1464364474580-GMSRHQNMRFXGFCOJNDJ6/image-asset.jpeg?format=2500w
― soref, Tuesday, 28 September 2021 22:27 (two years ago) link
The weird thing about this movie is that I watched this with my son some time last year and while I had the same kind of reaction as most people in this thread, my son enjoyed it quite a bit despite hardly getting any of the references, which has made me wonder if this movie is actually better if you don't know the references. Was my constant eye rolling distracting me from a decent action movie that was hidden underneath the pop references? Could this have been good if it referred to completely made up pop references? Maybe that would make it weird and interesting?
― silverfish, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 14:29 (two years ago) link
Oh dear at the Free Guy clip. I actually encouraged my 16yo to go and see this because, like any out of touch parent, I thought it might be her kind of thing. She gave it 1.5 stars on Letterboxd :) "It was random stuff crammed in for no reason". B-but I thought that's what you liked?
― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 16:21 (two years ago) link
I mean if we're going to be comparing the two, Free Guy was much, much worse than Ready Player One and I regret suggesting that my son and I watch this while his younger sisters and mother watch the Paw Patrol movie, which was also probably better than Free Guy.
― silverfish, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 16:39 (two years ago) link
Ugh, my son really really wants to see Free Guy and my wife loves Ryan Reynolds so I better brace myself for having to sit through it.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 16:45 (two years ago) link
Could this have been good if it referred to completely made up pop references? Maybe that would make it weird and interesting?― silverfish, Wednesday, September 29, 2021 10:29 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
― silverfish, Wednesday, September 29, 2021 10:29 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
Imagine the level of creativity this would require!
― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 16:56 (two years ago) link
I guess alternatively, you could make it all pop culture references from another culture, like make it all Eastern European pop references or something
― silverfish, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 17:32 (two years ago) link
Is Ryan Reynolds meant to look like a fucking waxwork?
― Peter Greenaway's Fleetwood Mac (S-), Thursday, 14 October 2021 09:49 (two years ago) link
quite possibly?
― Nhex, Thursday, 14 October 2021 13:50 (two years ago) link
He acts as well as one, after all.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Thursday, 14 October 2021 22:44 (two years ago) link