-
Content count
1327 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Everything posted by Argobot
-
That's fair assessment--the ending of By Blood is definitely not meant to be funny, although it did make me laugh in a very frustrated, "I can't believe this is how it's ending," kind of way. I think it's really brave for an author to just end a story without making anything explicit; it's a big gamble that either pays off or doesn't, and in this case, I think it paid off. If there had been more information given, it would have undermined the entire feel of the story. The voyeur is this literal representation of the male gaze, most noticeably in the quite graphic sex scenes that the patient describes. The voyeur is sexually/psychologically obsessed with this woman, so any information she gives, especially about sex, is amplified by the voyeur, and this amplified/extreme reimaging of events is the only information the reader is provided with. I love the setup of the patient's story being filtered by the voyeur, which is then told to and filtered by the reader; it creates this really perverse game of telephone. (In case it isn't super obvious already, I loved this book.)
-
I don't know--I had no problem buying the obsession because I became as obsessed with the patient's story as the narrator. He's a voyeur to this patient's personal (although admittedly ludicrous) life story, and through him, the reader becomes this second-hand voyeur to the story. I love the symbolism of the patient and the narrator being separated by this wall, and the fact that he becomes such a big influence on her life without ever even learning her name. The open-ended way the book ends has this whole Coen-bros-Burn-After-Reading-"what did we learn for this" feeling of utter futility, and I completely bought it. If the story was just presented as a straight narrative being told completely from the patient's perspective, I probably would have hated it. But the voyeur/narrator addition elevates, for me at least.
-
Oh I disagree, I think it adds to her motivation. Without that background, the movie has this unfortunate implication that the only reason Ripley cares about Newt is because she's the main female character. Ripley's decision to go back and try to rescue Newt makes so much more sense given the context the extended edition provides.
-
I just love that Cameron made Michael Biehn the Sean Bean of the 1980s. (I hope that makes sense.)
-
http://www.eurogamer...n-retrospective It's a good write-up on the 8-bit Alien game. I love the Alien movie; it's easily one of my favorite movie movies, let alone favorite sci-fi movie. But I really, really, really, wish that games would just leave Alien/Aliens alone. We get it! Edit: Have you ever watched both movies back to back? I generally have a positive opinion of Aliens as a movie and also as a sequel, but watching it right after Alien makes it very apparent that it is the lesser movie. Still worthwhile, but it in no matches the the sheer glee of that first movie.
-
Blame Paul WS Anderson for the bro-ification of Aliens and also Resident Evil.
-
I don't know about the ending plot twist, but based on one review I read, it sounds like:
-
I also enjoyed Jacob De Zoet more than Cloud Atlas, mostly because it immensely exceeded my expectations. I generally do not enjoy straight historical fiction, but this book was so amazingly well researched and planned that it managed to win me over despite me prejudices against the genre (I think it helps that Mitchell never falls into that common historical fiction trap, where every possible detail is painstakingly described to the point that it supersedes the actual narrative). De Zoet is a great character, but it speaks to Mitchell's talent as a writer that he's able to completely remove De Zoet for a huge chunk of the book and not have the narrative suffer for it. This book also convinced me to finally read Wolf Hall, which I also avoided because of its historical fiction premise, and it too ended up being amazing.
-
The Idle Book Club 6: The Crying of Lot 49
Argobot replied to Sean's topic in Idle Book Club Episodes
That's a really great article on the process of translation (although the interviewers line about Eco being a writer who is also an intellectual felt a little unfair, I'm sure Calvino would consider himself an intellectual too). Translating is hard enough on its own, I can't imagine having to do it while the author you're translating is still alive. At least Nabokov didn't have to deal with Pushkin after he botched the poet's works in translation. -
The Idle Book Club 6: The Crying of Lot 49
Argobot replied to Sean's topic in Idle Book Club Episodes
Doesn't Calvino do this? I seem to remember a lot of playing around with language in If on a winter's night a traveler, but I read that years ago, so I could be wrong. If you want something that plays around with language just for the fun of it--there's always Nabokov. -
I bought this book a year ago, tried to read the first few pages, and then promptly abandoned it. If not for this podcast, I probably would have never picked it up again, but man, I am so glad I did. I have no idea what changed, but I ended up loving this book the second time around. Ullman creates this perfect main character who is odious and pitiful, but never to the point where it becomes difficult to read. The relationship between the patient, the doctor, and the main character felt like something out of a Kafka story. Based on opinions for previous book selections though, I'm not sure if everyone will look at By Blood favorably-- there were a few moments that even I have to admit were a little eye-roll inducing--but I think it's worth reading, at the very least for its depiction of San Francisco in the late 60s, early 70s. Ellen Ullman herself is immensely fascinating: a computer programmer turned writer. There a few write ups on her that deal with how her science background influenced her writing, but this particular article was my favorite: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/23/meet_the_flannery_oconnor_of_the_internet_age/
-
The Idle Book Club 6: The Crying of Lot 49
Argobot replied to Sean's topic in Idle Book Club Episodes
Yeah, I had heard about the Inherent Vice movie. Speaking of movies--weird that a book podcast engenders so much movie discussion--I watched Rosemary's Baby to see the similarities between it and Lot 49 that Sean mentioned. I can see both being good examples of the systemized obstacles that women face just by being women, but I think it's a lot more subtly applied in Lot 49. The movie kind of hits you over the head with the difficulties of being a woman in society, mostly because it has a much more gendered plot (pregnancy) than Lot 49 does. Still, it's a pretty fair comparison. Also, such a horrifying movie. -
The Idle Book Club 6: The Crying of Lot 49
Argobot replied to Sean's topic in Idle Book Club Episodes
I think this was my favorite book cast so far. It was so great hearing how everyone had their own interpretations and reactions to what they read, and I agree that the feminist view of the novel is the best. Also, Jake is the master of making me dream about the Coen brother's adapting this movie (they did it with Cormac McCarthy, so surely they can do Pynchon). -
Congratulations to the Walking Dead for its DICE wins. I tried watching a live-stream of the awards show, but only made it through five minutes of the opening 'comedy' bit before I had to bail. Still, glad that the Walking Dead continues to rack up the awards.
-
In episode 100 it is revealed that Sean, Jake, Chris, and Steve are all the creations of man named F. Nick Breckon, who has successfully pulled off the most elaborate 'catfish' scam in the history of the Internet. Also, the episode perfectly syncs up with the movie Jurassic Park and when played backwards, the word 'horsebag,' can be heard.
-
Idle Thumbs 93: Babywall the Horse Armor
Argobot replied to Jake's topic in Idle Thumbs Episodes & Streams
I watched the Gabe Newell talk last night right before I went to bed, and I found the whole thing incredibly interesting; it's always refreshing when someone can intelligently explain their business model/philosophy with resorting to canned corporate speak (saying the word 'utilize' a lot). My only complaint is because I watched the video right before I went to sleep, I ended up having a dream about Gabe Newell, where he gave the exact same talk except the audience was just me. So, thanks for that Thumbs. Also, my mind was completely blown by Bo the Dog's name being the same as Barack's initials; I somehow managed to never make that really obvious connection. But in case you were wondering, the dog's name is a reference to the singer Bo Diddley, not Barack Obama. -
Idle Thumbs 93: Babywall the Horse Armor
Argobot replied to Jake's topic in Idle Thumbs Episodes & Streams
I have to know what Timothy Zahn thing Jake is working on. -
All puns aside, looks like EW confirmed a Boba Fett movie (because of course) and a young Han Solo movie: http://www.themarysue.com/star-wars-spinoff-films-confirmed/ Han Solo movie will take place between Revenge of the Sith and a New Hope and Boba Fett movie will probably take place between Empire and Jedi (so presumably it'll just be a whole movie about Boba Fett hanging out at Jabba's Palace? I don't know, I need to stop reading the Star Wars news because it just makes me sadder and sadder.)
-
Aw, I want to Kyp Durron what we're doing
-
Leia's keep 'em coming!
-
I wonder if the lack of literacy in games today is at all related to how much more mainstream video games have become. I always hear discussions about how video games in the 80s and 90s--a time when fewer people in general played games--were much more challenging (I didn't play many games besides Crazy Taxi in the 90s, so I can't really say if games were harder than or not, so if anyone wants to interject here, please do). Today, video games are much more mainstream, and the bigger games at least, are constantly trying to appeal to a wider audience who might have limited video game experience and therefore lack game literacy. If you're trying to appeal to the widest audience possible, it makes sense to put a lot of tutorials in your game and effectively tell the player how to play the game. People can't develop a game literacy, because the game actively won't let them. With the rise of indie games like TFoL, which doesn't need to appeal to as wide an audience as say a Dead Space 3, you can get away with putting more complicated challenges in the game that people need to actually pay attention to in order to figure out. But if you're used to playing a typical 'big' game, you might not have the patience or even ability to correctly read a game like TFoL, because you've never been taught to while playing a game. Maybe this is completely off base or really obvious, but I think this is what's causing the problem of game illiteracy.
-
More updates on the timeline for the new trilogy based on what Bob Iger told CNBC: Apparently, Disney wants to get all three movies done in 6 years (so one movie every two years), with standalone movies based on one established Star Wars character. Yoda is rumored to be one of the possible characters for the standalone movie (a fact that sends my 12 year-old self into such a deep spiral of nerd rage that would be too unseemly to post here). http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/02/disney_confirms_six-year_star_wars_plan_standalone.php
-
I'm more concerned with whether or not I can upgrade Geralt's beard.