It could have been funny if it were intended as some kind of joke or parody. Maybe it can be unintentionally funny. But as it was written, it didn't seem like the author was doing it for laughs.
I agree that Snow Crash wasn't that good and Hiro Protagonist isn't that clever but it's also pretty fucking clear he meant it as a joke.
y'know i think maybe i don't like neal stephenson as much as i thought i did
cryptonomicon is interesting as hell, but there are so goddamned many things about it that piss me off
you are not tom clancy, nor are you douglas adams
I'm coming around to that point of view myself
these past few weeks I've been listening to snow crash audiobook as I'm driving back and forth moving shit, and yeah the first quarter of the book is fun but god damn, some of the shit is so bad.
the whole "librarian" program was so poorly written. Like every thirty seconds he has the guy say "Sorry, but you dumbshit I'm a program so I can't understand what hyperbole is even though I'm using it constantly when I'm not piping up like a gayer C3PO"
I mean, there's good ideas in there, and Cryptonomicon is a lot of really fascinating stuff too, but it is also about two-thirds filler and crap that doesn't need to be there
I thought it was really good for a while until I kind of just stopped and went "wait this is just like reading a sermon dressed as a mediocre pioneering fable. No thanks."
It could have been funny if it were intended as some kind of joke or parody. Maybe it can be unintentionally funny. But as it was written, it didn't seem like the author was doing it for laughs.
I agree that Snow Crash wasn't that good and Hiro Protagonist isn't that clever but it's also pretty fucking clear he meant it as a joke.
I'll take your word for it. I guess the thing is that I haven't read anything else that he's written, plus he has a character named "Yours Truly" and another character named "Raven" who is described almost verbatim as "the ultimate badass" somewhere in the book. So it's like he presented me with escalating layers of retarded names, such that it wasn't clear that he was joking. Also the bad writing in general makes it look like he's not joking.
I would seriously like to make a video game that is basically a rewrite of Snow Crash with all the retarded shit and boring-ass filler material taken out. I think that if the story were just pared down to the essentials and cleaned up a bit, you'd have something that's great for interactive media. The main reason, I suppose, aside from the whole thing sounding like a video game, is that I feel like a lot of action-hero-oriented material really lends itself to longer, user-controlled sequences with shorter plots and to-the-point stories. Action movies can't really get away with that, because it's very easy to overload the viewer and bore or numb them, but video games can have a much higher action-to-story ratio, and actually often benefit from it.
I would seriously like to make a video game that is basically a rewrite of Snow Crash with all the retarded shit and boring-ass filler material taken out. I think that if the story were just pared down to the essentials and cleaned up a bit, you'd have something that's great for interactive media. The main reason, I suppose, aside from the whole thing sounding like a video game, is that I feel like a lot of action-hero-oriented material really lends itself to longer, user-controlled sequences with shorter plots and to-the-point stories. Action movies can't really get away with that, because it's very easy to overload the viewer and bore or numb them, but video games can have a much higher action-to-story ratio, and actually often benefit from it.
cryptonomicon is a serious book with really sporadic and inappropriately placed bits of douglas adamsesque humor
the guy is damn near notorious for putting humor where it doesn't belong
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FalloutGIRL'S DAYWAS PRETTY GOOD WHILE THEY LASTEDRegistered Userregular
edited August 2008
I would seriously watch an entire movie like the FPS scene in Doom
You're a good guy Defender but I'm surprised even you didn't immediately get that he was being intentionally over the top with those names.
It was presented to me by other guys at college as this awesome book with no mention of humor. It was the only book I'd ever read by this author. Some of the stuff was just below the "obvious parody" line, so that made the stuff that was above the line look like heavy-handed writing, not heavy-handed parody. Plus, when I got through the book, all the other bad parts of it made me question the writer's overall skill.
I would seriously like to make a video game that is basically a rewrite of Snow Crash with all the retarded shit and boring-ass filler material taken out. I think that if the story were just pared down to the essentials and cleaned up a bit, you'd have something that's great for interactive media. The main reason, I suppose, aside from the whole thing sounding like a video game, is that I feel like a lot of action-hero-oriented material really lends itself to longer, user-controlled sequences with shorter plots and to-the-point stories. Action movies can't really get away with that, because it's very easy to overload the viewer and bore or numb them, but video games can have a much higher action-to-story ratio, and actually often benefit from it.
cryptonomicon is a serious book with really sporadic and inappropriately placed bits of douglas adamsesque humor
the guy is damn near notorious for putting humor where it doesn't belong
OK, see, this is information that would've helped me had I known it when I read the book.
Also, talk to me more about putting it where it doesn't belong.
I would seriously like to make a video game that is basically a rewrite of Snow Crash with all the retarded shit and boring-ass filler material taken out. I think that if the story were just pared down to the essentials and cleaned up a bit, you'd have something that's great for interactive media. The main reason, I suppose, aside from the whole thing sounding like a video game, is that I feel like a lot of action-hero-oriented material really lends itself to longer, user-controlled sequences with shorter plots and to-the-point stories. Action movies can't really get away with that, because it's very easy to overload the viewer and bore or numb them, but video games can have a much higher action-to-story ratio, and actually often benefit from it.
i don't know what's worse B:L, that you might have actually made that image to reply to Defender, or that that image was already in existence on the internet.
Naming a character Hiro Protagonist sounds like one of those jokes the author would put in as they were writing for their own amusement and then just forgot to take out.
also Neuromancer, which may be tangent to this conversation but Stephenson's and Gibson's cyberpunk novels are pretty similar you guys
yeah except gibson actually knows how to write, he doesn't have nearly as much trouble with endings and pacing as stephenson does (although pattern recognition springs to mind as a counter-example)
yeah, Gibson's definitely a better writer but even though Stephenson's not as skilled I do like his quirky take on things and he's not as awkward with the pacing in his later books (namely the Baroque Cycle)
at least in my opinion
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
edited August 2008
Regarding Snow Crash:
Hiro Protagonist is a joke name, it's not supposed to be taken seriously, he even says in the book that it's not his real name. It's his trade name, and he knows it's dumb. The point is that it's silly but memorable.
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Burden of ProofYou three boys picked a beautiful hill to die on.Registered Userregular
yeah, Gibson's definitely a better writer but even though Stephenson's not as skilled I do like his quirky take on things and he's not as awkward with the pacing in his later books (namely the Baroque Cycle)
at least in my opinion
uh the first one was nigh incomprehensible
i stopped reading because none of the characters meant anything and jack shaftoe was dead but maybe not
I borrowed the DVD from a friend, took me about 3 tries to get all the way thru it. It's definitely nothing special, but it's ok. The blonde girl is easy on the eyes, even though her character and dialog are terrible. That Mr. The Rock guy is .... interesting.
he just says lots of swears poorly and mugs at the camera
There are many cases where his criticisms are valid. Maybe it's my perspective based on my job, but sometimes I see game mechanics that people set up and I'm just like "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT???"
AVGN has the advantage of picking from a treasure trove of games that are 10 or 20 years old, sometimes more, so there are so many hilariously bad, unrefined game concepts in there that I find it entertaining.
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I really like the Alvin Maker books.
Was the Crystal City supposed to be an ending, or is there supposed to be another book coming? I was a little unclear on that whole thing.
I'm pretty sure it was the last book, yeah. He didn't really make it feel like an ending story, though.
I really loved Turings castle.
these past few weeks I've been listening to snow crash audiobook as I'm driving back and forth moving shit, and yeah the first quarter of the book is fun but god damn, some of the shit is so bad.
the whole "librarian" program was so poorly written. Like every thirty seconds he has the guy say "Sorry, but you dumbshit I'm a program so I can't understand what hyperbole is even though I'm using it constantly when I'm not piping up like a gayer C3PO"
I mean, there's good ideas in there, and Cryptonomicon is a lot of really fascinating stuff too, but it is also about two-thirds filler and crap that doesn't need to be there
the alvin maker stuff?
I thought it was really good for a while until I kind of just stopped and went "wait this is just like reading a sermon dressed as a mediocre pioneering fable. No thanks."
I'll take your word for it. I guess the thing is that I haven't read anything else that he's written, plus he has a character named "Yours Truly" and another character named "Raven" who is described almost verbatim as "the ultimate badass" somewhere in the book. So it's like he presented me with escalating layers of retarded names, such that it wasn't clear that he was joking. Also the bad writing in general makes it look like he's not joking.
or most movies in fact
cryptonomicon is a serious book with really sporadic and inappropriately placed bits of douglas adamsesque humor
the guy is damn near notorious for putting humor where it doesn't belong
It was presented to me by other guys at college as this awesome book with no mention of humor. It was the only book I'd ever read by this author. Some of the stuff was just below the "obvious parody" line, so that made the stuff that was above the line look like heavy-handed writing, not heavy-handed parody. Plus, when I got through the book, all the other bad parts of it made me question the writer's overall skill.
OK, see, this is information that would've helped me had I known it when I read the book.
Also, talk to me more about putting it where it doesn't belong.
I call dibs on Snow Crash: The Game: The Movie.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
should I
yeah except gibson actually knows how to write, he doesn't have nearly as much trouble with endings and pacing as stephenson does (although pattern recognition springs to mind as a counter-example)
at least in my opinion
Hiro Protagonist is a joke name, it's not supposed to be taken seriously, he even says in the book that it's not his real name. It's his trade name, and he knows it's dumb. The point is that it's silly but memorable.
it was okay
in a pretty gay way
"I gotta take a dump."
No, do not see it. You will not gain anything out of it more than what this clip gives you.
uh the first one was nigh incomprehensible
i stopped reading because none of the characters meant anything and jack shaftoe was dead but maybe not
I cannot help but love The Rock with such a ferocity as to make pale the zealotry of religious extremists.
hey satan...: thinkgeek amazon My post |
he just says lots of swears poorly and mugs at the camera
i am prejudiced though
the person who showed it to me is probably the worst person i've ever met
There are many cases where his criticisms are valid. Maybe it's my perspective based on my job, but sometimes I see game mechanics that people set up and I'm just like "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT???"
AVGN has the advantage of picking from a treasure trove of games that are 10 or 20 years old, sometimes more, so there are so many hilariously bad, unrefined game concepts in there that I find it entertaining.
but he's annoying as fuck
it's like if you had to be stung by a swarm of bees and then punched in the balls before you were allowed to look at metacritic scores
Love Shmorky.
its a monster face
I'd say that the situation is reversed.
I think they did that because he kept using copyrighted material without permission and they got worried about being sued or something.