ThunderPeel2001

Books, books, books...

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My issue is that I don't know what kind of author Rowling is. My concern is that she'd continue the series for money. She might not be doing that, it may be what she really wants to do. But that's what I'm afraid of, and writing purely for the money. . .passion writes better stories than cash.

(But the epilogue was shit, yes.)

She's not motivated by money, you don't need to worry about that.

Edited by ThunderPeel2001

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She's not motivated by money, you don't need to worry about that.

No, she totally is.

What, is she your sister or something? How could you know?

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It's actually pretty obvious if you know anything about her and her work. She's like the biggest HP geek out there. (She wrote Beedle the Bard just because she wanted to see that part of the HP universe made, and then when it was printed for public consumption, gave all the money from it to charity -- an estimated $17 million. There are other examples, too.) She's not about to do a cheap cash in for some dough, you can be fairly sure of that.

Plus, my housemate's ex works on her legal team, helping protect her properties.

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Another worry might be that she's doing a George Lucas, repeatedly indulging in her successful universe to diminishing returns. (Made more likely by the fact that he's the only major fantasy writer she hasn't copied yet. Zing!)

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I think Lucas is driven by money, though. His "empire" was on the brink when he re-released the movies in their "Special Editions" in 1997. But yeah, she may not be able to move on, and it's possible spin-offs may be of worse quality (although at least she's not messing with the major canon, like Lucas).

Anyways, this is mostly moot: The one thing that has been revealed is... it's not a new book.

Warner Bros described it as "providing multiple-user access to a global computer information network", so it's some kind of online thing. Possibly an enyclopedia, or social network, or game or something.

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Another worry might be that she's doing a George Lucas, repeatedly indulging in her successful universe to diminishing returns. (Made more likely by the fact that he's the only major fantasy writer she hasn't copied yet. Zing!)

Yeh, but in Lucas' defence Star Wars' diminishing returns is prolly more than most IP gets to make at their respective peaks. I don't like it, but hell, realistically I would prolly do the same.

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His "empire" was on the brink when he re-released the movies in their "Special Editions" in 1997.

Wha? Citation needed!

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Holly shit. I just saw George Martin! He signed me three of his books + I got the translator to sign me one of them.

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Holly shit. I just saw George Martin! He signed me three of his books + I got the translator to sign me one of them.

George Martin writes books?

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Possibly George R. R. Martin? But yeah, that's what I thought first too, Patters.

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Oh yeah, the one with RR in his name.

There were around 1000 people there in a small bookstore. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

P.S: I'm not dead yet. I've just been very busy for the last couple of months.

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Possibly George R. R. Martin? But yeah, that's what I thought first too, Patters.

Yeah I was just having a little fun.

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Wha? Citation needed!

It's in here somewhere, but it's not hard to see for yourself: A string of failures since 1986 (when Lucas was forced to sell Pixar). Last Crusade helped, but after Radioland Murders, things were really not looking good... Time to reboot Star Wars!

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Read Facing Unpleasant Facts, a collection of essays by George Orwell last month. Fascinating stuff. It goes from Orwell purposefully getting arrested for public drunkenness in order to investigate the terrible conditions in public prisons, to a 1940s war diary commenting on the distance between what the British media reported on and the actual war conditions and how he was surprised to find himself getting accustomed to the sounds of war during the Blitz, to a puff piece on the perfect pub, to a memoir of boarding school tyranny.

Then I read Kafka on the Shore. Murakami hasn't disappointed me yet. The

incestual undertones and overtones

were a bit much, but the characters and writing style kept me interested until the end.

I also just finished Tom Bissel's Extra Lives, which was rather disappointing. Now, I'm not that poorly-read, but I found his diction unnecessarily overwhelming. Sentences like

[T]he plot provides a stage for the considerable malversation of your erstwhile teammate Wesker

keep popping up, breaking the flow of each piece with the use of words that really aren't necessary to convey his meaning. He also occasionally breaks flow with odd asides like

Final Fantasy VII awoke American gaming to the possibilities of narrative dynamism and the importance of relatively developed characters -- no small inspiration to take from a series whose beautifully androgynous male characters often appear to be some kind of heterosexual stress test

or

While I waited to be fetched by Ubisoft game designer Clint Hocking, I noted the number of attractive young women wandering about the premises and began to wonder if the company had expanded to include an escort service or modeling agency or both.

The book is at its best when he's getting designers like Clint Hocking or Jon Blow to open up about their creative process, and parts of the New Games Journalism-style pieces on playing Resident Evil 1 in historical context, or playing GTA IV while nursing a coke addiction are interesting to read. But I walked away disappointed, having heard better analysis and recollections from Idle Thumbs, RPS, and others that were simultaneously more insightful and not laborious to read.

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I see what he means... Every time I look at Cloud I feel conflicted and confused. He may look awfully blocky, low-res, and without textures but, dammit, that's just how I like my women. Am I gay? ;(

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Edited by ThunderPeel2001

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I've been playing that! The further from the screen he gets, the more he looks like a cactus.

Cloud Strife: self-involved emo cactus. I'm proud I coined that description. :yep::getmecoat

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And Tifa's tits grow two bra sizes for the final scene!

So, um.. I just began reading The Tin Drum. Lots of pages that one.

Edit: I'm glad this ended up on a new page.

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I've been reading Will in the World, which is a lot of speculation about Shakespeare. I'm still waiting for it to earn the Pulitzer nomination it proudly advertises on the front cover.

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I just got the first two volumes of Rasl by Jeff Smith (Bone). Great to see him turning his talent to a contemporary, adult tale. I get the feeling I'll be waiting for ten years to get to the end of it, though...

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I just got the first two volumes of Rasl by Jeff Smith (Bone). Great to see him turning his talent to a contemporary, adult tale. I get the feeling I'll be waiting for ten years to get to the end of it, though...

Ooh. I was tempted to pick this up. I hope it's as good as Bone.

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