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Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Master_Keralys, Jan 1, 2009.

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  1. krtmd

    krtmd Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 5, 2012
  2. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Don't. I. Know. It. :(

    It's absurd.
     
  3. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
  4. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Just got back from Ender's Game. Nothing to say about the movie itself since I'm sure everybody here has read the books, but I do have to relate how I was chatting with a JCer about CK2 and somebody else perked up and asked us for a review of the game. I convinced him to get it. Count off one more convert to the Cult of CK2!
     
  5. Gamiel

    Gamiel Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2012
    There is a book?
     
  6. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    Talk about the movie! How faithful is it to the book?
     
  7. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Nov 28, 2000
    Oh, well ok. Bear in mind that I haven't read the book since like high school, but here goes.

    Seems like a fairly faithful but super compressed take to me. The movie's fairly rushed, but I suppose it had to be. I don't remember how much detail the book got into all the battle school stuff, and I strongly suspect most of what I recall is from Ender's Shadow, but you basically spent more time with Ender getting used to the battle room than you do with him developing his team and all that. You see his first real game, and then a montage sequence until his last game.

    Not much time is spent on his big brother at all. I don't remember if the development of the elder brother as a political figure was something that happened in the Bean books -- since they got into that stuff more -- or if they cut stuff from the original, but you kinda see him in the beginning and that's it. Kinda disappointing, because it makes him into a huuuugely one-note character.

    The person I saw it with -- you know him, PG, he's a triple trumping monkey -- remarked that he thought it was more faithful to the books than he expected. I agree that compression is the only real issue, and that is expected I guess. I don't think there were any major divergences from the book, and if there were some divergences they were too minute for my foggy memory to have registered. I know there was some controversy about Ben Kingsley playing Rackham, but aside from him the cast seems properly ethnically diverse (though again, don't remember enough to know if people are mapping up correctly to their book analogs).

    edit: Guess I should do a bit of a review too. Honestly, the main thing about the movie is that it made me want to read the books again, because there's a lot more there. Like, I don't know how somebody who goes into it blind would appreciate it because it's rather super compressed and they only focus on Ender's development as a tool rather than the larger world. But even though the focus is on Ender, it's so incredibly sterile: there are very few actual human moments. I guess it's a good fit for the super techy, iBattleRoom feel they were going for. Too shiny. I also always imagined the battle room as more of a VR room, like the thing from the X-men cartoons or some other late 80s early 90s sci-fi type thing. The reimagining didn't work well for me.

    So yeah -- basically they didn't add anything, which is good, but they cut way too much. Harrison Ford's awesome, but if you didn't read the books I'm not sure you'd like it. And if you have read the books, I'm not sure it holds up to them at all either. I can't blame them for compression (although they had more time to work with, it's just shy of two hours), but I do blame them for myopic focus.

    edit2: Also the ending strongly hints that they want to do the Ender books as a sequel, which I don't know how they could pull off. Those books were pretty damn weird.
     
  8. Point Given

    Point Given Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2006
    The Loyal Imperial Havac

    According to ingame emails in ACIV, Watch Dogs and Assassins Creed share the same universe.
     
  9. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
  10. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    I'm going to go see Ender's Game tomorrow. Already know what changes to scorn. Though, I do want to know something... an important thing...

    Is it a good popcorn movie?
     
  11. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Nov 28, 2000
    I don't 'know? Like, the Avengers was a very good popcorn movie -- it knew what it was and played it to the hilt. This film was designed like a superficial popcorn film, but it kept reaching to be more (trying to reach the themes of Card's book but failing). I think if you approach it already knowing what's off, and look at it at the chance to see a book translated to the screen, it can be a good popcorn film?
     
  12. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    Yes, from what I've read (and we all know everything you read on the internet is reliable), it's set in the same universe, but is a new IP so that they could get around the "no modern Assassin's Creed" rule that Ubisoft set for whatever reason. If so, that makes it Watch Dogs one big, hilarious loop hole to get around the executives.
     
  13. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

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    Nov 28, 2000
    It certainly ups my interest in the game, that's for sure.
     
  14. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Apr 4, 2011
    Speaking of games, interested in a Pokemon with Pokerus, GrandAdmiralJello ? I've been cultivating a nice plague with the Patient Zero I got through Wonder Trade.
     
  15. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Sure! I don't know how best to use Pokerus since I suck at EV training, but it could be helpful.
     
  16. Todd the Jedi

    Todd the Jedi Mod and Loving Tyrant of SWTV, Lit, & Collecting star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2008
    Heh, I remember freaking out with Gold version when one of my mons got Pokerus. I was like "WTF IS THIS? MAH POKEMON IS SICK!? NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Glad to see that particular feature is still around, as I recall (after freaking out) realizing how useful it was.
     
  17. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2013
    Not me. I didn't even know they existed until people started talking about the movie. Considering that I've rolled in Sci-fi literature circles for almost ten years now, it's a fascinating oversight.
     
  18. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

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    Mar 4, 2011
    It's been around for 25 years or so. I read it just before I went to college.
     
  19. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    That's interesting. After Dune it's probably the most name dropped science fiction book out there (on the internet, at least). Of course, these days it's just as likely to spark rage about how much of an ass its author is.
     
  20. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

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    Mar 4, 2011
    I'm not interested enough in the film to put money in the ***hole author's pocket.
     
  21. Mia Mesharad

    Mia Mesharad Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Sep 2, 2012
    My thoughts exactly. Honestly, yeah, the movie looks cool. But Card's not getting one dollar from me. I'm not in the habit of financially supporting bigoted jerkasses who'll only use that money to harm others. I'll wait 'till a copy hits the internet and, y'know...yo ho, yo ho.
     
  22. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

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    Mar 4, 2011
    He lives in North Carolina, not that that means anything, bigoted jerkasses are everywhere here. He spoke at my sister's high school graduation and the speech was pretty good; it's sad that he turned out to be what he is.
     
  23. CaptainPeabody

    CaptainPeabody Jedi Grand Master star 3

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    Jul 15, 2008
    I'm not quite sure when opposing gay marriage became the unforgivable sin; nor did I realize that this so tainted people that I was no longer permitted to participate in any economic or social exchange with them. I disagree with most authors I read on a lot of things I think a heck of a lot more important than that, and yet I still read their books and give them money. Is there something I'm missing here?
     
    tjace and Zeta1127 like this.
  24. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    I suck at EV training, too. My training consists of grinding. That's good enough for me.

    Tomorrow evening or some time I'll be back home and ready to trade some infected Pokemon. I've been infecting some trade fodder, but I could infect a Klefki for you. Got a male and a female, the female with a Careful nature and the male with a Serious nature. Which would you be interested in?
     
  25. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    CaptainPeabody : You're not missing anything. You can give your money to any author you choose. So can I, and so can anyone else who has posted here.
     
    TrakNar likes this.
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