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You've made me want to read Apt Pupil again. I thought it was excellent, even the ending. It was certainly better than the movie. My favorite from that collection was The Body, even with the writer wankery in there (hey, I'm a writer writing this, check out this old thing I wrote once as a young man, isn't that funny?  )I acquired the Bachman Books from Amazon and read Rage and Running Man, and re-read The Long Walk. The 3rd was just as good as the first time I read it. I loved Rage, even though I could see how some would think it was corny. The climax with Ted was pretty corny, but overall I liked it. I liked the story that the narrator tells about visiting the hippie party and failing to get it up when he tries to get with the hot hippie girl, the memories/confrontations of his father were excellent, etc. I liked the ending, too, with the diary of Nathan or whatever-his-face's-name was. He was truly an anti-hero, I found myself gawking at the students who were participating in his shenanegans, I found his behavior disgusting, but I didn't want the police to shoot him. Running Man was good. I searched this topic to remind myself of the opinions floating around of it. The most mine aligns with Dickeye's, I loved that ending image, brilliant way to finish the novel. I thought the main character took too much abuse to be able to perform his last actions but still. Loved the confrontations with the head Free-Vee Games guy, loved the black president of the Games corporation, and even if the main character was smug, he was bitter and downtrodden in a way that made me root for him. LOVE the picture he paints with the lower class, air polution, people going on TV for money in games that abuse the players. Really amazing and chilling stuff. It's a novella you can read where you can clearly see that King doesn't plan out his stories. The air pollution stuff isn't addressed, but it's used as a poker chip that the narrator might need, but doesn't use. Still a good element to the story, though. Major kudos to King in killing off the guy's family, I think him losing it all was vital. I'm reading through Road Work, on the second section. I love everything King has done here, a man hitting the "chaos" button on his entire life and throwing everything away. I was really engrossed, then it got to the part with the jaded 19 year old that was sleeping with hitchhikers. Come on, it's so cheesy, do we need the main character to nail a really hot young girl? It was irritating, I was really hoping King wouldn't go through with it, or at least make it interesting. He's got the mescaline pill, so maybe something comes with that, but knowing King, that isn't necessarily the case. I hope the Chekhov's gun principle really kicks in here or I'll be angry. Considering the synopsis of the first story and the reader's impression, I'm definitely getting a copy of Full Dark, No Stars. Perhaps hardback, if the stories here get enough hype (I trust your opinions  ). I won't read it immediately, I don't like to read too much of any one author, but I look forward to it and the comments here about it.
Lurk Ethic fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Nov 15, 2010 |
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Nov 15, 2010 06:38
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jfjnpxmy posted:
 I just wanted to thank you for your incisive criticism of the latter three books. I read the entire series throughout college. 5 years later, I've reread 1-3 and am getting through 4 and 5 simultaneously, but I have less enthusiasm to go much further.I liked most of 4 when I first read through it, then at the end, when they come upon the enchanted Wizard of Oz green glass and oh hay look, there's ruby slippers for every one of us, even tiny ones for billy bumbler buddy!!  Hey wait, I forget how they handled Susannah. Did she get little nub-warmers or something?But man, what a nose-dive. That's when the loving pop-culture references got to be too much for me. I can accept some intersect between Roland's world and ours, a few familiar objects appearing, but it was a huge slam to the 4th wall to throw in that god drat enchanted emerald glass kingdom and the hokey ruby slipper scene that followed. I should have counted my blessings considering SNEECHES! HEY LOOK WE BETTER MEET STEPHEN KING HE IS WRITING THIS BOOK WHOA ROLAND JUST CRASHED HIS HOUSE AND GAVE HIM A RIGHT SPOOK SO HE COULD KEEP WRITING WHEW THAT WAS CLOSE! And another thing, I never outright hated that loving billy-bumbler until I started re-reading. God drat, I wish his sacrifice could have just come up when Jake had to face off with the Tick-Tock man so we could be done with him after that so we wouldn't have to put up with 4 more books of Roland: "This is a very dire situation." Oy: "Ire Ichoo shun! " They'll likely never make it far enough to produce a mini-series or movie, but if they do, please god leave out Oy.
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Jun 3, 2011 03:04
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quote:The problem I had with the book was that Trashie was supposed to be one of the bad guys because his mind was warped by years of bullying about being a pyromaniac so he ended up going west through no real fault of his own, but Frannie who engages in a similar manner toward Harold, although he was an insufferable prick but that doesn't count, was one of mother Ab's disciples and basically started the republic of boulder because everyone was eager to have some sort of ruling body once more. You felt that Frannie was bullying Harold? How so? He came across to me as a self-entitled goony rear end in a top hat, and I thought she handled his ego and insecurity pretty well. She wrote some mean things about him in her personal diary, but that seems the extent of the so-called mistreatment. I've read this thread since its inception and have seen other people mention that they think Frannie is insufferable, but to me, the only time she scraped my nerves was towards the end, when she insisted that Stu and her move all the way back to the abandoned Ogunquit, and convinced him by giving him a bratty "I want!" look. Aside from that, I found her fully sympathetic, much moreso than Harold (though I love Harold and his arc as well).
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Jan 28, 2012 01:54
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He'll write "barked his shin" a lot. Someone will be walking around in the dark and they'll bark their shin on a coffee table or something. Then they'll ball up fists so tightly that half crescent moon marks will appear on their palms. I'm sure there's plenty more I'm forgetting but I've seen those pretty regularly. But let's face it, the man is so prolific, of course you'll find a rehashed phrase here or there. I'm surprised I haven't noticed more.
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Feb 3, 2012 06:41
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Characters also have a tendency to laugh so hard that tears squirt down their cheeks. I've seen that 4 or 5 times I think.
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Feb 3, 2012 12:53
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He swallowed and heard an audible click in the back of his throat.
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Feb 4, 2012 11:39
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So Dean Norris (the guy who plays the brother-in-law on Breaking Bad) is going to play Big Jim Rennie in the ABC miniseries adaptation of Under the Dome. I'm completely thrilled by this news and am interested in the project for the first time. I hope they don't gently caress this up... or if they do, we still at least get some good Rennie scenes out of it. I hope that the chap they hired to play Junior (Alexander Koch) also does his character justice. Apparently this Mike Vogel feller was hired to play Dale Barbara. For my money, I couldn't see anyone else but Adrian Brody for the role, sorta reprising his character Jack Stark from The Jacket.
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Feb 16, 2013 03:58
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Damo posted:Also, if you are a comic book person, the Dark Tower comics are actually pretty good. After the first 7 issues it tells stories that aren't just repeats of poo poo you already read. And, probably the coolest part, the extras at the end of the single issue versions have some really great world building encyclopedia type articles and also short stories and in world myths written by King's DT continuity assistant/expert Robin Furth. Robin Furth, you say? 
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Oct 26, 2013 14:21
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Creepshow owns, and is one of my all-time favorite standby movies. When my buddy and I were college stoners, we watched it no less than 500 times. Still to this day, it NEVER gets boring. I dressed up as Jordy Verrill this Halloween. 
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Nov 1, 2013 08:54
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:Found a friend, Harry! This is probably the best line in the movie. That vignette is a rare gem between Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson that not many people know about. Both are probably the best / most recognizable actors in the movie, and the exchanges between them are priceless. This story is probably the strongest, its premise being one of those classic creepy King ideas. What if you were buried up to your neck at the beach, completely submerged in sand and unable to move, while an ocean tide comes in to slowly drown you? It's a shame the ending is so campy. This story comes after two completely goofy vignettes, so it delivers a sucker punch of a legitimately scary idea. Go see Creepshow, it's worth your time. Where else will you see Ed Harris awkwardly dance to disco music? quote:I hope you walked around yelling "METEOR poo poo!" all night. Haha I would have, but very few people got it. Most thought I was a run-of-the-mill zombie with moss on my face. I'll tell you, though, King's segment is fun enough to quote even when you're alone.
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Nov 2, 2013 06:30
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 There are times when I want to Like posts on messageboards. This is one of those times. So much do I have to express my approval of this post, I will force myself to write something on-topic. I wanted to read It along with all of you. I'm knee-deep in Dostoyevski and don't want my attention to waver from him. It, on the other hand, is my favorite King novel, and has been since I was old enough to understand it. The Losers are my favorite characters of King's, and whoever said he captures boyhood well, really nailed it. One of my favorites scenes/characterizations is for Stanley Uris. He has a very logical, rational mind, and seeing something that doesn't fit into his worldview literally breaks it. I liked how he dealt with It in a way that none of the other losers did. Perhaps he lacked the imagination. Anyway, the scene itself takes place in the Standpipe, with Stan as a boy. It was common knowledge around the town that two boys died in the water there. Something compels Stan to go inside to take a look, and he sees a pair of bloated corpses rise up and come after him. They have sickenly cheerful smiles on their pale faces, and their feet make a "plop" sound every time they step. They walk in rhythm while they sing "Camptown Ladies". *shiver* Something else interesting, is that in one of the POV passages for It, he talks about how scaring the bejesus out of kids makes them more flavorful. It could harness this "imagination" energy from kids much better than adults, who, like Stanley, only thought of things in rational, worldly terms. It's an unpopular opinion, but I also re-read Dreamcatcher pretty regularly. I like the characters in that too, and although the premise and climax are a little shaky, I enjoy it every time. It helps to picture the "shitweasels" as reptilian, more like snakes than mammals. Seeing the movie first helped in this regard; those cabin scenes (and the bullying scene with Dudditz) really terrified and resonated with me. Lurk Ethic fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Dec 26, 2013 |
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Dec 25, 2013 18:01
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I've thought of something else. Does anyone find it strange that in the book, Beverly and Bill have to spontaneously interrupt what they were doing and get it on, as adults? Do you think Bill was a self-insert for King and he was thinking, "Gotta have my man mack it with this girl", before he could neatly write in that she ended up with Ben, the one who loved her as a child? Seems kind of weird. It's a small issue, but I never thought about it in that light. It seemed "right" the last times I read it, actually, but it stands out now. edit: vvvv sorry guy, spoilers didn't even occur to me 
Lurk Ethic fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Dec 26, 2013 |
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Dec 25, 2013 19:32
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bobkatt013 posted:What if its all three? They can co-exist in some sort of lodge. This looks delightfully creepy. Where's it from?
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Feb 7, 2014 21:57
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DrVenkman posted:Rightio, well this is a pointless diversion. And Ace Merrill's grandfather (I think?) was the antagonist in The Sun Dog. Great story, but goddamn, talk about a lot of fat that needed to be trimmed. It's far too much, even by King standards.
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Apr 16, 2017 05:16
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I'm reading Home Delivery in Nightmares and Dreamscapes again. The main character, Maddie Pace, is painted as a neurotic, indecisive woman who needs a man in her life to show her the way. Very much like her mother. Her father was fond of saying to his drinking buddies, "If those women didn't have me to tell them where to squat and lean against the wheel, I don't know what they'd do!" What... what does it mean?? Is that just some nonsensical, old-timer saying that Stephen made up? Or an actual regional thing? So many questions. 
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Sep 24, 2020 18:05
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:It's a down-homey way of saying someone is so helpless they "need to have someone tell them where to squat and poo poo". That's the regional version I grew up with anyway
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Sep 25, 2020 03:50
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