tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post7955715500714180467..comments2024-03-12T22:45:16.936+01:00Comments on The Disoriented Ranger: The Good End, Part 1Jens D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-37924070234608813282020-03-09T07:25:02.343+01:002020-03-09T07:25:02.343+01:00This comment flew completely under may radar (sorr...This comment flew completely under may radar (sorry). I stand by my recommedation. The Malazan Books are among the best reading I had in the last 20 years. Very dense and deep, very rewarding. That said, you need to like the first book (although he's getting better and better as the series moves on).Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-15992409322113825592020-02-24T15:55:21.209+01:002020-02-24T15:55:21.209+01:00I didn't read Malazan yet! I bought the first ...I didn't read Malazan yet! I bought the first book, but the start is a bit slow for my taste. Will insist a bit more before deciding, I think.Eric Diazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09196219031821755216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-63453372377297494382020-02-24T15:51:51.957+01:002020-02-24T15:51:51.957+01:00So you didn't like the Malazan Books of the Fa...So you didn't like the Malazan Books of the Fallen? Well, as I said, a matter of taste :) I've read a bit more about PSS afterwards and I'm not alone in this one. It was not a bad recommendation. As I said, good for the most part, with the worst ending ever. I know something I didn't know before, so it was not all bad.Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-22630114224664294782020-02-24T15:42:08.447+01:002020-02-24T15:42:08.447+01:00Hahahah I guess the tables have turned! Fair enoug...Hahahah I guess the tables have turned! Fair enough. I like PSS for the world-building more than the story, so I don't entirely disagree with your assessment, even if I recommended the book...<br />Marvel is theme park, yes, but compared to other forms of "low" entertainment (the new Star Wars, for example, or most DC stuff), it is light-years ahead, IMO.Eric Diazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09196219031821755216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-26270551949490823792020-02-24T15:30:49.681+01:002020-02-24T15:30:49.681+01:00I'm with Scorsese on Marvel: it's theme pa...I'm with Scorsese on Marvel: it's theme park entertainment. That needn't be a bad thing, but with the little time I have available to indulge in media, I have to stay away from wasting my time on something I know I shouldn't support to begin with ... Also: I've really lost track of the movies a couple of years ago, I won't start working my way towards Endgame. And just seeing it would lose me a lot of context.<br /><br />I'm afraid, the book I was talking about was Perdido Street Station (I think we talked about that one?). I enjoyed 95% of the book, but the end was so fucked up that it not only ruined the entire book for me, I also vowed to never touch another book written by that author. I'm not the one for writing angry reader mails to an author, but that one made me come as close as I could get ... Luckily enough, there is more than enough good writers out there to keep me busy a lifetime or two. I've read lots of books in my time. Some I lost interest in, some were not that good, but I finished them, but that book had me engaged to the end only to shove a stupid contemporary political message down my throat. What an asshole move ... You won't have that with the Malazan books. They are good writing, getting better from book to book. Still a matter of taste, though. Just not condescending virtue signalling on the reader.Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-42207604281241515252020-02-24T15:02:12.672+01:002020-02-24T15:02:12.672+01:00"A good ending is an axe descending on the ne..."A good ending is an axe descending on the neck of the goose that lays the golden egg. And that is, once again, a reason why you won't get a good ending these days. That stunning moment of finality means that nothing more can be done with the property." - Interesting stuff, makes sense.Eric Diazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09196219031821755216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-67740131637187562342020-02-24T15:01:07.318+01:002020-02-24T15:01:07.318+01:00Okay Jens, I'm curious to know what the 1000-p...Okay Jens, I'm curious to know what the 1000-page book is - specially if it Malazan, that I've tried to read because of your recommendation. ;)<br />But, even it is not, I'm always trying new books and it would be nice to avoid a 1000-page book with a bad ending.<br />I agree with some of your examples, but Marvel has some genuine good movies and Avengers: Endgame is a decent ending to the saga.Eric Diazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09196219031821755216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-50559190212718759742019-09-15T21:27:19.579+02:002019-09-15T21:27:19.579+02:00Well, yes, some of that. I still think that not al...Well, yes, some of that. I still think that not all stories are told. Transhumanism, for instance, the possible leaps humanity will make in the next 10 or so years. The advent of a singularity. Climate change ... There's a lot to talk about. That's where innovation comes into play. And you need to honor the old stories. You need to retell them as well. That's just not all there is.<br /><br />As for stories in role playing games, I have to agree with your assessment, but with the caveat that that's not the only way to tell stories in rpgs. I play it completely random and the tools I use allow for a natural manifestation of epics anyway, archetypes and all, completely out of the game, with beginning, middle and end. So, yes, if you go into the game with preconceptions what has to happen, you will most likely fail. However, if you honor the medium for what it is, the storytelling is on equal level with what authors can do in terms of storytelling. Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-36509971444455467002019-09-15T21:14:50.677+02:002019-09-15T21:14:50.677+02:00Rowling went woke and ruined the franchise with he...Rowling went woke and ruined the franchise with her own politics after the fact. This is a common problem I pop culture. Scott Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067161332003628237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-18179994042578321592019-09-15T21:13:55.590+02:002019-09-15T21:13:55.590+02:00A good story is a myth, which I define as a fictio...A good story is a myth, which I define as a fiction which holds truth. (There is one true myth but that’s another story.) we recognize truth and that story will stand the test of time. <br /><br />An author’s job is to put a new coat of paint on an existing true myth or to add his own truths to that myth. Adding untruths will not do. Cutting the myth short will not do. <br /><br />The stories have been told. The genius of a great author is to retell those stories in new ways. <br /><br />This is a totally different process from running a campaign. The campaign is the story that emerges from the table interaction. Forcing a story into the campaign a priori is almost certainly doomed to failure, or at least doomed to substandard result. Scott Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067161332003628237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-64927174692964163812019-09-15T17:51:32.485+02:002019-09-15T17:51:32.485+02:00While that is true as far as immediate effects go ...While that is true as far as immediate effects go (as in, the most (social) capital can be harvested when shit is fresh), it gets more clear-cut the longer the public had a chance to digest a work. To a point, actually, where you can say "movie A is considered a great artistic achievement because this or that, and if you don't like it, that's just opinion". At some point, is what I'm trying to say, it's the recipients miss to not see the obvious merit of something.<br /><br />And Potter is a tough target, I know, but the stuff Rowling throws around about it (like Dumbledore being gay after the fact) or the new movies they try to sell ... it's harming the franchise big time.Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-89870734699499353512019-09-15T17:44:22.519+02:002019-09-15T17:44:22.519+02:00There is a lot to unpack in this post like usual. ...There is a lot to unpack in this post like usual. <br />I'll start with that 19.3 million people watched the final episode of Game of thrones. I can imagine that as many people who ran to the internet to proclaim that the ending was horrible, there was some one who just nodded and turned the TV off. OR who said "WOW THAT WAS GREAT" and went on with their lives. <br /><br />What I'm saying is between the consumer and the active watcher there is a spectrum of how people consume media. Each person on that spectrum brings their own experiences to form opinions. Where you see Harry potter being "glorifying a superior elite as the better people" I see a kids story about wizards that focuses on the lives / adventures of wizard students.(I pick Potter because it's the only one of the given examples in I have seen.) <br /><br />Perhaps I'm not watching at it as deeply / actively as I could. Perhaps my point of reference doesn't make me dig for sub context. Either way you take 100 people , you get 100 perspectives.<br /><br />I'm not sure all the endings are bad, just no film maker / writer/ musician can please everyone's perspective all of the time. The % of people who run to the internet to scream "I HATE IT!" are the ones that get heard.<br />Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12793781986788315513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-30648116615158394342019-09-15T17:41:59.697+02:002019-09-15T17:41:59.697+02:00Thank you for liking and commenting! See, I more a...Thank you for liking and commenting! See, I more and more come to the conclusion that I'd really miss nothing if I just tuned it all out. Or at least, I wouldn't miss a lot ... Nothing I couldn't buy and own for a couple of bucks if I just take my time. And it's not only DVDs, 90% of what Netflix is offering is just that garbage bin material dressing up as variety.<br /><br />You know, reading books gets more and more appealing now: it is done wen you get it (usually), it has no advertisement and you can take your time and there's still enough out there to read that it'd cover several lifetimes ... it just still is the superior media :)Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-91404505578803972682019-09-15T17:22:39.272+02:002019-09-15T17:22:39.272+02:00But! I do love it when you go off the rails.
Some...But! I do love it when you go off the rails.<br /><br />Sometimes to venture into new territory you do need to go off the rails, and that could be the big problem the world of entertainment has. Its rails are too well set and lead to all the old familiar places for the people who ride them. Writers are no more than subway conductors controlling the speed of the train rather than its direction. When budgets get up into the millions? It only gets harder and harder to leave those rails.<br /><br />One of my favorite parts of this post is that comment you made about Marvel movies: "the Marvel movies (idk ... empty and unproductive entertainment to print money, I guess)" THAT! That encapsulates modern entertainment's biggest current problem in a nutshell. Here in the states the $2 bill was printed because at that time the difference between it and a $1 bill was as big as what currently stands for the difference between a $10 and a $20 bill, but since the difference has shrunk to a mere dollar of difference the $2 has fallen out of circulation in most places.<br /><br />Movies in the 70's were a big deal because all you had access to was whatever was playing in the local cinema. Fast-forward four decades and we have a rampant inflation of entertainment. Every pharmacy has a red box out front and an aisle of dusty media going for bottom of the barrel prices in the back. It all seems unwatchable because there is just so damn much of it. You probably couldn't buy a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow of DVDs. So it's almost like we have been conditioned to be disappointed, and the people who make entertainment? They know it's not worth the risk to do anything new or interesting.<br /><br />A good ending? A good ending is an axe descending on the neck of the goose that lays the golden egg. And that is, once again, a reason why you won't get a good ending these days. That stunning moment of finality means that nothing more can be done with the property. Thanks to the media glut people are more focused on producing an "extended universe" than any single film, so no new film these days ever truly ends. Instead they die with a long keening whimper. Pirates of the Carribean? Anyone? Didn't think so :-)JD McDonnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11733422185181944721noreply@blogger.com