Hey Hiro, you want to try some [Snow Crash]?

Viscount Islands

Honestly the most intense part of the climax was

Uncle Enzo fighting Raven. The part with them both listening for the other was pretty cool.

TheStig

Man I read this book a long time ago but I remember like... 2% of it.

chiasaur11

Shorty wrote: »

chiasaur11 wrote: »

Shorty wrote: »

chiasaur11 wrote: »

Weaver wrote: »

I am a huge William Gibson fan.

This ain't Gibson.

I mean, I like Stephenson too, and Snow Crash is a fun read, but they're different.

yeah, one of them actually knows a thing or two about computers

I'm guessing that one's a reference to Gibson writing Neuromancer on an electric typewriter without having seen a computer in his entire life? Present tense is a little unfair there, considering the Bigend trilogy.

it's a reference to that and the fact that the x-files episode he wrote is

stupid

as

hell

but yeah, it's unfair of me to assume he hasn't learned anything since the mid 90's

Now that's really unfair.

He did TWO stupid-as-hell X-Files episodes.

But his last three novels, Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, and Zero History? Ace stuff. They get the feeling of the 21st century across like nothing else I've read.

Mortal Sky

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang

So Neal Stephenson has a pretty awesome idea for game design. Western martial arts? Sign me right up.

JayKaos

Mortal Sky wrote: »

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang

So Neal Stephenson has a pretty awesome idea for game design. Western martial arts? Sign me right up.

Crap, they're not getting money as fast as I thought, I was hoping it would get made without me having to do anything. Guess I'll have to actually donate. Grumble grumble.

darleysam

I'm reading this at the moment, did not know a film was anywhere near ever being made. Sadly, it struck me the other day that Ed Wright would probably be really great to direct this, but I'll give Cornish the benefit of the doubt.

Grey Ghost

I still need to see Attack the Block

JayKaos

Grey Ghost wrote: »

I still need to see Attack the Block

Ditto. Wish it would go on Netflix or HBO GO or something so I could watch it without having to do anything.

LTM

Attack the Block wasn't what I thought it was going to be. But I still enjoyed it, once I realized that and resized my expectations.

DouglasDanger

I read Snow Crash several years ago. It was a fun book. The setting was neat, and the present tense thing was fun. The lecture about language and the Sumer was really boring though, especially compared to the awesome opening. I didn't really pay much attention to it, but Hiro, YT and Raven are much younger than the plot suggests. I don't understand what Stephenson was trying to prove with having YT be so young. Her story works better if you figure she is 17 or 18 and that also takes Chris Hanson out of the equation.

I'm surprised you guys aren't suggesting Donglover for Hiro.

Spectre-x

YT is like fifteen but Hiro and Raven are both in their thirties. Mid-thirties, even. That's not super young.

Quetzi

Shit Don Glover could totally work as Hiro

Mysst

hiro and raven are like, 30 something at least, I think

DouglasDanger

I thought Hiro and Raven were in their early 20s for some reason. It has been a long time since I read the book. I think I was still living at my parent's place, which means I was either in college or high school, so I guess it was probably at least six years ago. Damn.

Viscount Islands

Ugh no I like Don Glover but I do not want him as Hiro.

DouglasDanger

I don't know if Don Glover would be a good fit.

Jerkbot

Actually just finished this a couple days ago
The bits where Hiro is trying to figure out the Sumerian virus macguffin are pretty mediocre, but the rest is pretty damn good.
Like I said in the book thread, it might be advisable in the movie for them to push some of the tech a bit forward and move the setting up by a few years, but since Hiro and Raven have the whole thing with their dads meeting in WW2 that might ruin it.

POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN

LTM wrote: »

This thread is the first place I've heard people disparage Reamde. I haven't read it, but heard nothing but good things.

in terms of plot and pacing it's a very by-the-numbers thriller

a lot of what he's written is like that, but reamde takes place in the present and so i wasn't nearly as gripped by the setting

also the prose and dialogue were with only a few exceptions much less lively than almost everything else i've read from him

i still read the whole thing but it was a big letdown compared to anathem

DouglasDanger

The dads meeting in World War Two thing barely worked in the book.

Mortal Sky

Oh yeah also I did the math once, and Snow Crash takes place by 2015 at the very latest.

POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN

regarding snow crash being over-the-top: wasn't that the point? cyberpunk had been a thing for a few years, i thought stephenson was specifically trying to be ridiculous and poke fun at a lot of the typical imagery

Centipede Damascus

Rufio for Hiro

JayKaos

I think Snow Crash is technically "post-cyberpunk". I wrote a three page essay on this in high school so clearly that makes me an expert.

Mortal Sky

MOVE IT WITH BUNMASTER!!! wrote: »

regarding snow crash being over-the-top: wasn't that the point? cyberpunk had been a thing for a few years, i thought stephenson was specifically trying to be ridiculous and poke fun at a lot of the typical imagery

Yeah it is a genre parody and a bit smartass of a deconstruction.
Still stands on its own really well though.

Jerkbot

Mortal Sky wrote: »

MOVE IT WITH BUNMASTER!!! wrote: »

regarding snow crash being over-the-top: wasn't that the point? cyberpunk had been a thing for a few years, i thought stephenson was specifically trying to be ridiculous and poke fun at a lot of the typical imagery

Yeah it is a genre parody and a bit smartass of a deconstruction.
Still stands on its own really well though.

I was thinking about this
it's a parody/deconstruction of the genre
but also an homage ('an homage' feels weird to type)
but it also ended up being one of the best works in the genre.
The only other thing (that i can think of) that is like this is Watchmen.

Shorty

Jerkbot wrote: »

Mortal Sky wrote: »

MOVE IT WITH BUNMASTER!!! wrote: »

regarding snow crash being over-the-top: wasn't that the point? cyberpunk had been a thing for a few years, i thought stephenson was specifically trying to be ridiculous and poke fun at a lot of the typical imagery

Yeah it is a genre parody and a bit smartass of a deconstruction.
Still stands on its own really well though.

I was thinking about this
it's a parody/deconstruction of the genre
but also an homage ('an homage' feels weird to type)
but it also ended up being one of the best works in the genre.
The only other thing (that i can think of) that is like this is Watchmen.

Earthbound is like this with JRPGs

Cilla Black

Well, deconstructions are almost by their nature homages. The people who make deconstructions have to know them well enough to do so, and that usually goes hand in hand with a great fondness for the source material.

Mortal Sky

JayKaos wrote: »

I think Snow Crash is technically "post-cyberpunk". I wrote a three page essay on this in high school so clearly that makes me an expert.

Yeah Snow Crash kinda ushered in the post-cyberpunk era. Whether or not Snow Crash itself counts is a bit of a coin toss, but The Diamond Age and so forth are most certainly so.

Mortal Sky

JayKaos wrote: »

I think Snow Crash is technically "post-cyberpunk". I wrote a three page essay on this in high school so clearly that makes me an expert.

Yeah Snow Crash kinda ushered in the post-cyberpunk era. Whether or not Snow Crash itself counts is a bit of a coin toss, but The Diamond Age and so forth are most certainly so.

GSM

While reading Snow Crash for the first time last year, I couldn't shake the reality of Second Life from the descriptions of the Metaverse. It made the proceedings feel incredibly absurd/hilarious, especially when you realize that the nam-shub of Enki is basically a shock image.

I got about this close to making an account to see if somebody had made an accurate rendition of the black sun, but wisely decided against it.

JayKaos

GSM wrote: »

While reading Snow Crash for the first time last year, I couldn't shake the reality of Second Life from the descriptions of the Metaverse. It made the proceedings feel incredibly absurd/hilarious, especially when you realize that the nam-shub of Enki is basically a shock image.

I got about this close to making an account to see if somebody had made an accurate rendition of the black sun, but wisely decided against it.

Yeah I always think of second life when I see old (or sometimes new) sci-fi with fancy futuristic people-walking-around internet, because it's probably the closest we've come to having something that's used on such a large scale.

zimfan

I want Edgar Wright to direct Good Omens film

and then Good Omens and Snow Crash should be in the box office at the same time. Best Cornish/Wright/Adaptation double feature

Viscount Islands

Wes Anderson is directing a Good Omens adaption actually.

zimfan

That would be silly. :P

Apparently it's going to be a TV Showwwwww

neville

Just started reading this. The intro is great, especially the line that is something like

glossy black missile of pepperoni fire


hahaha.

PiptheFair

Viscount Islands wrote: »

Wes Anderson is directing a Good Omens adaption actually.

that sounds...


awful

zimfan

PiptheFair wrote: »

Viscount Islands wrote: »

Wes Anderson is directing a Good Omens adaption actually.

that sounds...


awful

He's not! The internet is RIGHT THERE!

Centipede Damascus

The last news update on a Good Omens adaptation was last year, on Terry Pratchett's blog.

http://pjsmprints.com/news/mar2011.html

There has been one hell of a lot of rumours regarding a Good Omens adaptation over the past few weeks, mostly started by me at the SFX Weekender. So, ladies and gentleman, I can hereby exclusively reveal that - YES - Neil and myself have shaken hands and received groats from Rod Brown sealing a TV deal. An official announcement from Prime Focus will follow in a couple of weeks time. However, I can reveal right now that Terry Jones (yes, the Python) and Gavin Scott (not a Python, but he gets it) are already on the job. It's been a long time coming, but it's looking good.

I'm not sure Prime Focus ever made that official announcement he's talking about though.