ewokskick

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Posts posted by ewokskick


  1. 5 hours ago, Ben X said:

     

    'Ret-con' is getting misused in the Blade Runner thread! Revealing something undisclosed in previous films is not a ret-con. The reveal at the end of Empire Strikes Back is not a ret-con. If that were the case, every piece of relayed information within a single film would be a ret-con! A ret-con is when the audience is asked to ignore a previously established fact, with no in-universe justification. So in Red Dwarf, where previously it was stated that Lister and Kochanski only spoke 15 words to each other in their lives, but in season 7 the writers bring her on as a regular character and decide that actually they had a full romantic relationship, that's a ret-con.

    ret-cons are almost always re-interpretations of past events, usually that insert new info that changes the context or interpretation in an intentional way.  For example, Swamp Thing's origin was changed by Moore by revealing the information that the laboratory accident that created him didn't turn the human into a swamp monster, but rather imprinted a shade of his human consciousness on the swamp.  This fundamentally changed the character, but didn't properly contradict anything in the past.  It just added continuity... retroactively.

     

    I haven't seen the new Blade Runner so I can't speak to that, but I am certain your interpretation of a ret-con doesn't confirm to normal usage at all.  This definition from the Google definition is pretty solid:

    Quote
    a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency.

     


  2. I read Car Crash While Hitchiking online after Denis Johnson died earlier this summer because I read in an obit for him by an author I liked that praised the story:

     

    Quote

    I would stand on Anton Chekhov’s table and proclaim that short story is the finest ever written, a perfectly balanced piece of fine sculpture made out of the detritus of a postlapsarian world.

     

    When I went to seek out the story online I also found another piece by Jeffery Eugenides that argues it is "the perfect short story."

     

    I wasn't sure anything could live up to that praise, but Johnson's story did.  I can easily understand why it's a favorite of so many author's I enjoy.  I look forward to reading this collection since it's been on my list for awhile.  I just have to get through A Sight for Sore Eyes first.


  3. 1 hour ago, Argobot said:

    I should make clear that I think Silence is a great book and I'm really happy I read it. I just wish I'd read it before the movie, haha.

     

    I'm trying to think of other literature that deals with religion in such an introspective way that still leaves room for someone to retain their faith. As a lapsed Catholic, this book really speaks to the struggles I faced when I ultimately decided to move away from religion, and honestly makes me feel a little nostalgic for it. The closest literary example I can think of is The Grand Inquisitor from Brothers Karamazov, but I'm sure there are many, many others.

     

    The only other novel I can think of like that is Snow by Orhan Pamuk.  It's about a Turkish poet trying to reconcile his western values with islam.  Probably Pamuk's best book.


  4. I remember reading Silence the summer before college.  I had just read a short story collection by Haruki Murakami from my sister's bookshelf.  I think she'd taken it from my dad's bookshelf.  Books tended to trickle their way from my dad to my sister to me.  I believe Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman was on the trickle down fast path since we all read it within a few weeks of each other.  But I remember having a hunger to read Japanese fiction after reading those stories.  I guess I believed that everyone who is Japanese would write like Murakami?

     

    Anyway, I remember looking through my Dad's bookshelf for the next book to read and settling on Silence.  I was more than a little surprised.  It was about as far from H. Murakami as you could get.  But I still really liked the book.  I remember it being a bit somber and the prose style (which switched from epistolary to third person as I recall) was kind of sparse.  I think it's pretty close to my preferred prose style to this day.  Plus, as a semi-closeted atheist in Oklahoma I remember feeling like the book made me understanding faith a bit more.  It's hard to see someone give up something so important to their identity. 

     

    I later read Deep River by Endo which I liked even more.  I have a suspicion that I liked not because it was better, but because I was a bit more mature when I read it.  I hope people give Endo a chance, though.  I kind of want to return to Silence and may take this as an excuse.  I bet I'll get more out of it now than I did as an 18 year old.


  5. I have very little faith in Wings.  They seem to do worse the longer a tournament is.  I think there is a reason they perform worse in China and worse when teams have time to prepare for them.  I hope I am wrong though because I think they play a fun brand of dota.  Other than my NA bias teams (EG and DC), Wings is the team I most want to win.

    What a dummy.


  6. Liquid avoids the fate of their EU brethren and beat Newbee.  They looked a lot better in that series, even the game they lost.  I think there is hope for them to make a lower bracket run.


  7. Yeah Bo1s are rough.  I like it better than the old format where several teams wouldn't even play on the main stage.  So I guess it's a good compromise.  Between outright group stage elimination and having a reasonable tournament schedule.

     

    Today's game are really interesting from the perspective of TI history.  We have 3 former TI champs playing with EG, Newbee, and Alliance.

     

    Yesterday, western teams lost all their series.  We'll see if that trend keeps up today.


  8. Panelist suit game has really drastically improved, clearly tailored and everything, although Draskyl fucked things up by wearing sneakers.

    Gabe Newell wore flip flops on stage.

     

    edit:

     

    7wARWJa.jpg


  9. I have very little faith in Wings.  They seem to do worse the longer a tournament is.  I think there is a reason they perform worse in China and worse when teams have time to prepare for them.  I hope I am wrong though because I think they play a fun brand of dota.  Other than my NA bias teams (EG and DC), Wings is the team I most want to win.