SADDO: THE MOVIE (aka READY PLAYER ONE)

the virtual world which is... full of corporate creations

ok so I read this book and it wasn't nearly as terrible as I was expecting. obv that guy's poem is dumb but I think there is something to the book re: the endless recapitulation of references, etc; it doesn't make as big a deal about it as maybe it should, but the implication by the end is definitely that there's something hollow, and sad about this world where new culture has stopped and all we have is an obsessive compulsive relationship with the past. I think the movie could shed an interesting light on this aspect, if it wants.

― akm, Saturday, November 18, 2017

nope nope nope

just bc you're smart doesn't mean this book is

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--HcFzXgEX--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/ob7pz9ekwo0djwo14ggz.png

I think there is something to the book re: the endless recapitulation of references, etc; it doesn't make as big a deal about it as maybe it should, but the implication by the end is definitely that there's something hollow, and sad about this world where new culture has stopped and all we have is an obsessive compulsive relationship with the past. I think the movie could shed an interesting light on this aspect, if it wants.

wouldn't have subjected myself to the book but glad for this report and yeah what was a technical possibility upthread on grounds of the holy jurassic park is now what i'm actually hoping the movie is about. chapo guys were loling about patton oswalt having said "it's like jaws but the shark is nostalgia" like it was the perfect burn, but like wouldn't that be... good

plus the mere presence of spielberg totally changes the thing's scope (b/c personally responsible for the originals of so many of the reprocessed images), automatically on a metatextual level but i hope on a textual one too (as in JP when spielberg's POV hijacks the hammond char)

on the other hand, that the book was presumably all fair-use yet could not legally be adapted without further enriching "ernie cline" is enough to make u wish for direct corporate rule

READY PLAYER ONE (2018)

DP: Janusz Kaminski
Director: Steven Spielberg pic.twitter.com/CXXTTxoGY2

— Christmas Duckman (@bobservo) December 10, 2017

What....what the fuck?!

https://i.imgur.com/gQQlUfD.png

this appears to be some blurry CGI, hth

That’s not helping!

Also, it’s the inclusion of a particular character or two I’m questioning

Is Overwatch timeless enough for the prominence of that character's inclusion to not be hilariously dated in 5 years? I honestly don't know.

Venerable IPs worth protecting were probably beyond the budget. IIRC, there really isn't much in the book extending into the 1990s, much less our present decade.

Alas, 40somethings aren't a great target demographic (cf Blade Runner 2049's box office). Compromises were made.

Venerable IPs worth protecting were probably beyond the budget.

― Sanpaku, Thursday, December 14, 2017

if only

How much post 80s shit shows up in the original book? There are Firefly refs in there, for example

https://nerdist.com/ready-player-one-trailer-25-easter-eggs-nerdist-news/

Four (!) "Street Fighter" characters, Joker and Harley Quinn, Overwatch (why didn't they use lol Roadhog), Akira, tons more.

https://i.redd.it/59ktxnd5vkbz.jpg

good luck to Speilberg working w this genius

I for one am excited that Stephen Spielberg is adapting Kingdom Hearts for the silver screen.

Sorry, 'Stephen Spielberb'

this seems to resemble the Keillor/Altman divide of years ago

btw i don't know who any of these 'characters' you guys mentioned are, so i will be able to watch this OBJECTIVELY (if at all)

lol

sorry AB I gotta FP you for that

This is a pretty thorough tear-down of the book, from the point of view of "reference-heavy culture can be good": https://www.heypoorplayer.com/2017/07/28/second-opinion-ready-player-one-worst-thing-nerd-culture-ever-produced/

The thread of excerpts is enough to give me hives though:

Thankfully goodreads kept all my choice RPO notes handy so anything that annoyed the fuck out of me is right here. pic.twitter.com/E6G9uEigVJ

— N. Cat (@naricat) July 24, 2017

man that is brutal. kinda thought "this could not possibly be as bad as everyone's saying it is" and holy shit it's actually a lot worse

You guys should check out my upcoming novel which is literally just a list of pop cultural ephemera accented with occasional punctuation and indentations to make it look like a story rather than something I c+p-ed from Wikipedia. You should also check out all of the zeroes in the dollar figure on my advance check.

Just wanted to post that I’ve really been enjoying Mike Nelson & his Rifftrax producer’s podcast on this book. They have like 8 eps as a book club where they just excoriate this shit. It’s fun.

We’ve probly mentioned this before but it’s called “372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back”.

372pages.com

Also, they just started a second where they tear into “Armada,” the follow up

CLINE'S A SHITTY PROSE WRITER
AND HE RIPPED "LAST STARFIGHTER"
ARMADA

I almost hate you for that but

Anyway somehow this news story seems appropriate for the revive

https://kotaku.com/infamous-atari-player-gets-world-record-removed-after-3-1822511777

lmao neanderthal!!!!

372pages.com

pretty fun so far. thanks for the rec

yeah this is gold! mst3k riffing on this? sign me up...

still hopeful

Ned yr article sent me down a rabbit hole. fascinating videos made about the dude who claims to have gotten 15 million on donkey kong (lol)

i'm starting this mst3k-guys' podcast and will prolly enjoy it for the reasons it was created to be enjoyed but i find it neverendingly amusing how threatened sub-culture obsessed ppl seem to be by this pop-culture obsessed guy.

actually lol why would i listen to this, good god these dudes are boring

probably not the first time "neverendingly amusing" turned out to be 20 minutes for you

i dunno, you think that podcast is good? it reminds me of middle schoolers trying to target and ostracize someone and rally a group against them.

Gotta say it is really funny to sic the dudes who peaked in like 1995 after the nostalgia movie

i like episode 0 where they are reading all the press reviews at the front of the book. one of them uses the word "geek" 3 times in as many sentences. Mike says "Imagine being in the 60's when the word 'groovy' had just gotten old. Have a groovy time on a groovalicious adventure." something like that. he is correct, the commodification of nerd culture has reached a Flower Child-like zenith, "geek" and "nerd" are the "groovy" and "far out" of today, used to shill the same old mindless crap as something new and hip.

in one of the press reviews the word "Nerdgasm" is used by the New York Times. Mike bemoans the Old Gray Lady

So I listened to the first two episodes of this, but was put off a bit by it being yet another "two bros talking about a thing" podcast, and turned against it basically when they started showing off about how little literature they had read at the end of episode 0, I have never seen MST3K so maybe that's why I don't get it, but still, I don't get it.

i enjoyed the part where they took 30 seconds to come up with ideas for 80's club costume descriptors. the book had gone with "People were dressed like they were at an 80's club". it was they ended up with 6 or so unique looks like "Madonna-style fishnets and gloves" "Multiple leotards aerobics style w headbands" "punked up 50's pompadour", etc. the writer of this book seems incredibly lazy.

Yeah, after listening to the intro episode I have my doubts: like mfktz, their total lack of knowledge and interest in books in general, and pathetically unfuuny jokes about same, makes me think these might be the least qualified guys to comment on anything in this sphere.

I'll try at least once more, because I loathe Cline that much, but it better improve.

why are you trying again? just don't listen to it sheesh

Unlike most Rifftrax, listening to this would take longer than reading RP1.

If there's interesting discussion to be had about RP1, I think it would be less on its obvious flaws, than on why it attracted a readership by word-of-mouth. There can't be that many nostalgic Gen Xers or cyberpunk fans with low standards. There's no shortage of other post-collapse, anti-corporatist screeds. Does the teen/YA market care about Devo and *Wargames*?

It's been a while since I've followed cyberpunk, but I seem to recall other, better written, Willie Wonka in The Sprawl novels. Maybe Vurt could have sold millions had it been grounded in familiar IPs.

There can't be that many nostalgic Gen Xers or cyberpunk fans with low standards.

Pixels grossed $245m, just saying.

Also yeah, a lot of people don't really apply any critical thinking - I've had a lot of pretty 'normy' people say that this is an entertaining book that they really enjoyed.

why it attracted a readership by word-of-mouth

shd've been word-of-mouthbreather, surely?