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Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

"According to Wikipedia" there is a black hole that emits zionist hawking radiation where my brain should have been

I really should just shut the fuck up and stop posting forever
College Slice

Mr Phillby posted:

The best bit is when Wade is cornered by the cops(?) In the blade runner building and then the book literally just tells you to imagine a 'cool fight scene like in a John Woo movie' instead of describing the action.

In fairness I could easily see this being a joke. Final Space does like a visual gag version of this. Then you have the anime Katagatari literally troll its audience promising an epic fight scene in the preview but then have it done off screen with the characters talking about how awesome it was.

Could it be the intent was just laziness sure; but its one of those things that could on its face be a clever subversion.

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Farm Frenzy
Jan 3, 2007

Raenir Salazar posted:

In fairness I could easily see this being a joke. Final Space does like a visual gag version of this. Then you have the anime Katagatari literally troll its audience promising an epic fight scene in the preview but then have it done off screen with the characters talking about how awesome it was.

Could it be the intent was just laziness sure; but its one of those things that could on its face be a clever subversion.

please stop with this gimmick i beg you

grittyreboot
Oct 2, 2012

I've read about ten books featured on I Don't Even Own A Television and the RPO and Armada are actually two of the more readable ones. You can finish them in about 2 sit downs each and every page has at least one part that's hilariously stupid.

That being said Cline strikes me as a guy who thinks he's so woke he's allowed to say the N-word. The main character is always surprised when others don't fit certain stereotypes. Like a black man having a British accent or the neckbeard stoner gamer being gay. Anyone who isn't a cishet white dude only exists to show how enlightened the MC is, even though the narration still paints them as unusual.

Also in RPO the MC gives his Japanese friends an Ultraman powerup he won because in Ernest Cline's mind that character is a deeply sacred part of Japanese culture.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

"According to Wikipedia" there is a black hole that emits zionist hawking radiation where my brain should have been

I really should just shut the fuck up and stop posting forever
College Slice

Farm Frenzy posted:

please stop with this gimmick i beg you

Nothing I do is a gimmick, regardless you're not understanding that:

I've never read, had any interest in reading, or even defending RPO; I am merely saying, without any context as to its origins that a book or movie or TV show doing something like "instead of actually having a fight scene just imagine one while making pew pew noises" I could see it working in theory, as a joke, or satire, etc.

This is true regardless as to the merits overall of the work in question that prompted it.

Violen
Jul 25, 2009

ohoho~
come on raenir they even begged

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

"According to Wikipedia" there is a black hole that emits zionist hawking radiation where my brain should have been

I really should just shut the fuck up and stop posting forever
College Slice

Violen posted:

come on raenir they even begged

I didn't see a dogeza.

Jamie Faith
Jan 13, 2020

Raenir Salazar's movie bob avatar, but its Ernest Cline in a "this is what a feminist looks like" shirt.

Also someone please post that poem Cline made about nerd porn. It's the cringiest poo poo.

Jamie Faith
Jan 13, 2020

Never mind. I found it! :barf:

Only registered members can see post attachments!

Flying Zamboni
May 7, 2007

but, uh... well, there it is

Never before has the phrase "click to play or download the MP3" been so threatening.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

grittyreboot posted:

That being said Cline strikes me as a guy who thinks he's so woke he's allowed to say the N-word. The main character is always surprised when others don't fit certain stereotypes. Like a black man having a British accent or the neckbeard stoner gamer being gay. Anyone who isn't a cishet white dude only exists to show how enlightened the MC is, even though the narration still paints them as unusual.

Also in RPO the MC gives his Japanese friends an Ultraman powerup he won because in Ernest Cline's mind that character is a deeply sacred part of Japanese culture.

You forgot the black lesbian friend with the white male avatar, because apparently her mother said that's the safe thing to be online!! :pseudo:

Dawgstar
Jul 15, 2017

It's even more serial killer-esque than I remembered.

Unlucky7
Jul 11, 2006

Fallen Rib
Wasn’t it a thing that the story takes place in 2045, and supposedly pop culture has not advanced in any significant way since the 90s? Part of that is because of the Easter Egg hunt, but that is like if we were still talking about MySpace, NASCAR, or Beanie Babies in 2020.

Bakeneko
Jan 9, 2007

The most irritating thing about the book for me is that, based on its premise alone, I should have enjoyed RPO. I love 80s nostalgia, I love works that reference other works and I still think there’s something fascinating about virtual reality despite how overdone that trope is nowadays.

But I don’t like it. Because regardless of what it promises, the end result is just pure poo poo. Every good idea it had was completely mishandled and every bit of potential squandered. I’m not surprised he wrote a poem about porn because his entire book is nothing but jerking off.

Unlucky7
Jul 11, 2006

Fallen Rib
It is amazing that every excerpt from RPO reads like parody of itself, somehow.

Dapper_Swindler
Feb 14, 2012

Im glad my instant dislike in you has been validated again and again.

nine-gear crow posted:

Ready Player One was written specifically for people like Wil Wheaton, and he has a cameo in the book as the President of the Internet or something, which was Cline specifically sucking up to him in the expressed hope that he would narrate the audio book. Don't hold out hope for that one, my friend.

As for Armada, I also tried to do that read along for 372 Pages back when they were going through the book live and I made it to the end of their recommended first stopping point and was loving done with it. 50 pages, and nothing worth recounting happened, yet there was one five-page double spaced bullet point list of pop culture events from the 1980s to 2003 for basically no reason.

The people who said Armada was a salvaged barely first draft trunk novel that was rushed out the door to capitalize on RP1's success were right. Even bad authors usually don't backslide in basic level skills like Cline seems to from Ready Player One to Armada so it had to have been written before RP1 and shelved because it drowned in rejection letters for literally being Last Starfighter original character fanfiction.

lol. also i kinda figured about wheaton but i had some hope he wasnt as sadly dumb as he acted.

Groovelord Neato
Dec 6, 2014


RPO but with the attitude of Gamer would rule.

Jimbot
Jul 22, 2008

Been catching up on Accented Cinema's videos and found this one, from last month, on fight choreography incredibly insightful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eemLg-9r6xc

The video does a good job of showing you what is wrong with the saber duels in the Star Wars films (specifically the Prequels and the new films) and gave me context as to why they always bothered me but I couldn't quite explain or put my finger on why that was.

Do not even ask
Apr 8, 2008


Groovelord Neato posted:

RPO but with the attitude of Gamer would rule.

The only thing I can remember about Gamer was that after the credits rolled the only thought in my head was "this is either the stupidest loving movie I've ever seen or the smartest"

Arc Hammer
Mar 4, 2013

Got any deathsticks?
Trashing Second Life was the best part of Gamer.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.

Arcsquad12 posted:

Trashing Second Life was the best part of Gamer.

No, this was the best part of Gamer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXqmw6iJCY

Mr Phillby
Apr 8, 2009

~TRAVIS~

Raenir Salazar posted:

In fairness I could easily see this being a joke. Final Space does like a visual gag version of this. Then you have the anime Katagatari literally troll its audience promising an epic fight scene in the preview but then have it done off screen with the characters talking about how awesome it was.

Could it be the intent was just laziness sure; but its one of those things that could on its face be a clever subversion.
Its not a clever subversion its a continuation of every single thing in the book being a thoughtless reference to something else while any tension or conflict is resolved in a single line about how it isn't actually a problem.

See also: pages of description about the house from Zork and build up to having to deal with the monster from the game followed by "and as for the Grue, i simply avoided it".

Jamie Faith
Jan 13, 2020

So Brad Jones continues his pivot to the right with a video mocking "SJWs" and "cancel culture" in a new video series he literally calls "problematic" :barf:
https://twitter.com/LavenderSoSoft/status/1217180561430716416

Twincityhacker
Feb 18, 2011

I have never understood the bitching about the saber fights - good sword fighting is done so loving quickly that all of the cool swords fighting would be done in two minutes tops.

In the Rebels cartoon, they did do A Proper Sword Fight... and it was *anti-climatic* swordfight in the series. Had it been spectcale instead of psychodrama it would have really sucked.

People don't talk like they do in Star Wars, but i's cornball dialouge is part of it's *charm*. The same goes for sword fights.

FoldableHuman
Mar 26, 2017

I'm amazed RPO doesn't have a moment where Wade needs to drop the One Ring into Mount Doom specifically so Wade could HALO drop off a giant eagle.

Groovelord Neato
Dec 6, 2014


Jimbot posted:

The video does a good job of showing you what is wrong with the saber duels in the Star Wars films (specifically the Prequels and the new films) and gave me context as to why they always bothered me but I couldn't quite explain or put my finger on why that was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3atu9ezZuQk

Dapper_Swindler
Feb 14, 2012

Im glad my instant dislike in you has been validated again and again.

FoldableHuman posted:

I'm amazed RPO doesn't have a moment where Wade needs to drop the One Ring into Mount Doom specifically so Wade could HALO drop off a giant eagle.

dude, you know that would be too deep for cline. id say its also before his time too. but this exists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y but i only know about it because of my gf and goons.

Dapper_Swindler fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Jan 15, 2020

SgtSteel91
Oct 21, 2010

Twincityhacker posted:

I have never understood the bitching about the saber fights - good sword fighting is done so loving quickly that all of the cool swords fighting would be done in two minutes tops.

In the Rebels cartoon, they did do A Proper Sword Fight... and it was *anti-climatic* swordfight in the series. Had it been spectcale instead of psychodrama it would have really sucked.

People don't talk like they do in Star Wars, but i's cornball dialouge is part of it's *charm*. The same goes for sword fights.

Are you taking about the Kenobi v Maul duel? Cause that was cool

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth

Twincityhacker posted:

I have never understood the bitching about the saber fights - good sword fighting is done so loving quickly that all of the cool swords fighting would be done in two minutes tops.

In the Rebels cartoon, they did do A Proper Sword Fight... and it was *anti-climatic* swordfight in the series. Had it been spectcale instead of psychodrama it would have really sucked.

People don't talk like they do in Star Wars, but i's cornball dialouge is part of it's *charm*. The same goes for sword fights.

it's literally just taking the fact that the literal first SW movie (and only it) came from Kurosawa inspiration to say that all saber fights must be not just samurai duels, but Kurosawa style duels, a very specific and unique style that Kurosawa used.

Like, Revenge of the Sith's final fight (the Anakin/Obi-Wan one I don't remember poo poo from Yoda/Emperor other than him tossing the senate around) is a legit masterfully crafted sword fight. One of the scenes people mock where they both spin their blades in front of each other and then do this big sweepy move that they both mirror is literally used to show that the two of them know each others' moves so well they both go for the exact kind of feint and can't pull it off because of that. I will agree the fight goes on a few minutes too long but it's up there with Obi-Wan and Vader's 'duel' in New Hope with blending storytelling and visuals.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

"According to Wikipedia" there is a black hole that emits zionist hawking radiation where my brain should have been

I really should just shut the fuck up and stop posting forever
College Slice

Mr Phillby posted:

Its not a clever subversion its a continuation of every single thing in the book being a thoughtless reference to something else while any tension or conflict is resolved in a single line about how it isn't actually a problem.

See also: pages of description about the house from Zork and build up to having to deal with the monster from the game followed by "and as for the Grue, i simply avoided it".

To be clear, I was never talking about RPO, I was discussing the trope.

grittyreboot
Oct 2, 2012

Jamie Faith posted:

So Brad Jones continues his pivot to the right with a video mocking "SJWs" and "cancel culture" in a new video series he literally calls "problematic" :barf:
https://twitter.com/LavenderSoSoft/status/1217180561430716416

The balls on this guy

Mokinokaro
Sep 11, 2001

At the end of everything, hold onto anything



Fun Shoe

grittyreboot posted:

The balls on this guy

He needs to guest star on Shameless.

nine-gear crow
Aug 10, 2013





Jamie Faith posted:

So Brad Jones continues his pivot to the right with a video mocking "SJWs" and "cancel culture" in a new video series he literally calls "problematic" :barf:
https://twitter.com/LavenderSoSoft/status/1217180561430716416

:rolleyes:

Brad is one of those few people who as time progresses I feel ever more embarrassed that I actually liked at one point.

Jamie Faith
Jan 13, 2020

nine-gear crow posted:

:rolleyes:

Brad is one of those few people who as time progresses I feel ever more embarrassed that I actually liked at one point.

Oh yeah. Him and Doug Walker and Projared and Jontron are all filed in the "What the hell was I thinking watching these twerps" category in my mind.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
Jesus Bradican, why.

watho
Aug 2, 2013


The real world will, again tomorrow, function and run without me.

brad loving sucks but seeing someone use dildo as an insult really makes me want to watch murder party again

Grapplejack
Nov 27, 2007

Jamie Faith posted:

Never mind. I found it! :barf:



My favorite thing about this is the time super great friend did a video reading this and the Cline estate hit him with a copyright strike

https://twitter.com/supergreatfrien/status/893286470890516480?s=20

Unlucky7
Jul 11, 2006

Fallen Rib
Has Ernie Cline done anything else other than his two crappy books?

FoldableHuman
Mar 26, 2017

Unlucky7 posted:

Has Ernie Cline done anything else other than his two crappy books?

Fanboys script, as previously mentioned, and he was heavily involved in the Atari documentary that's 50% really interesting anecdotes about game development in the 80s and 50% sloppy handjob as Ernie drives people around in his DeLorean.

Mr Phillby
Apr 8, 2009

~TRAVIS~

Raenir Salazar posted:

To be clear, I was never talking about RPO, I was discussing the trope.

You brought up the trope in a response to my post about RPO, I clarified why I don't think it applies to RPO. Its called a discussion.

You don't need to clarify you don't know anything about RPO, that was clear when you raised the subect of self awareness in relation to its writing style.

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Dapper_Swindler
Feb 14, 2012

Im glad my instant dislike in you has been validated again and again.

nine-gear crow posted:

:rolleyes:

Brad is one of those few people who as time progresses I feel ever more embarrassed that I actually liked at one point.

his old stuff was good but most of his comedy is done better by RLM and a few other smaller people with less gross drama.


FoldableHuman posted:

Fanboys script, as previously mentioned, and he was heavily involved in the Atari documentary that's 50% really interesting anecdotes about game development in the 80s and 50% sloppy handjob as Ernie drives people around in his DeLorean.


thats depressing an atari documentry sounds like it would be great.

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