ELLIOTTCABLE changed the topic of #elliottcable to: thx
<ELLIOTTCABLE> what is jaal
<ELLIOTTCABLE> oh ja lol
<purr> lol
<ELLIOTTCABLE> jaal: switch themes.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> Left-sidebar, monospace typeface, ‘Ash’ colours.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> 10x better.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> fffffuuuucccck
<Rurik> I really need to get a Mac
<Rurik> but they keep getting expensive everyday
<Rurik> with the falling rupee to USD
<alexgordon> buy one
<alexgordon> alternatively, hackintosh
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<thealphanerd> so much scrollback
<thealphanerd> ya’ll talk alot
<thealphanerd> yay
<thealphanerd> DimsumJS SF tomorrow if any of you pretty people wanna come
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<ELLIOTTCABLE> thealphanerd: I think very few people here are SF
<gkatsev> yes
<jfhbrook> I like science fiction
<gkatsev> who doesn't?
<jfhbrook> my mom, I think?
<ja> heh
<jfhbrook> She was always about those girl detective books
<jfhbrook> I should fuckin' read those, I bet they're good
<gkatsev> some are, some aren't
<gkatsev> there are also "girl detective" books in SF
<jfhbrook> well I'm specifically referring to the Stephanie Plum novels
<jfhbrook> they seemed like they had a "if nancy drew drank scotch" kinda vibe to them
<jfhbrook> but hey, seriously, detective sci-fi?
<gkatsev> yeah, it exists
<gkatsev> SF is a huge field
<jfhbrook> I read the Tek War books when I was a kid
<jfhbrook> they were awful but I loved them anyway
<jfhbrook> there was another one I read in college that was kinda cool, despite a ridiculous sex scene
<jfhbrook> yeah so https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon is kinda cool
<jfhbrook> again, despite a ridiculous sex scene
<gkatsev> haha, yes, super weird sex scene
<jfhbrook> maybe a few ridiculous sex scenes, I don't quite remember
<jfhbrook> I tried a sequel and couldn't get into it though
<gkatsev> yeah, I don't think the sequels are quite as good
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<alexgordon> Rurik! calm your irc client
<alexgordon> oops he's not here
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<Rurik> ec\, ELLIOTTCABLE : alive?
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<ELLIOTTCABLE> Rurik: actually, I am now. you still here?
<ELLIOTTCABLE> God DAMN Star Wars was good
<ELLIOTTCABLE> like, it outstripped my expectations by leagues
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<Rurik> ELLIOTTCABLE, yes
* Rurik is back from german class and gym
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<thealphanerd> ljharb: PHILOSOPHY
<thealphanerd> :D
<thealphanerd> I’ll budd out if you find me derailing
<ljharb> lol not at all
<purr> lol
<ljharb> it's totes philosophy
<thealphanerd> :D
pikajude- is now known as pikajude
<ELLIOTTCABLE> fuck
<pikajude> you got it
<jfhbrook> you liked star wars ELLIOTTCABLE ? I know people that hated it, but I don't want to like, spoil it for everyone
<jfhbrook> imo it's fun and worth watching
<ELLIOTTCABLE> whaaaaaaaaaaaat
<ELLIOTTCABLE> it was so fucking good
<ELLIOTTCABLE> Like, it blew all my expectations.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> Then again, my expectations weren't high.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> but like, I'd give it an easy 10/10 points.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> It's not, like, one of the five best cinematic masterpieces created by humankind, or anything, but it's definitely made it into *my* top five in one watching.
<gkatsev> that's some high praise
<ELLIOTTCABLE> and that was a really uplifting (for me, I guess) theme throughout it: the writers kept playing with your expectations of heroism, and then flicking their nose at you
<ELLIOTTCABLE> that precise gambit with him jumping to do the traditional thing, and then being too late because she'd already done it herself, was repeated like five times throughout the course of the movie
<gkatsev> yeah, but the main plot is super silly, especially since it's taken from the original trilogy (partly, tongue-in-cheek but still)
<ELLIOTTCABLE> I mean, to me it just nailed the cyclic-storytelling thing that the Star Wars movies have *always* rode on
<ELLIOTTCABLE> oh the THAT'S NO MOON ('CUZ IT'S EVEN BIGGER) was, like, ridiculous
<ELLIOTTCABLE> but they *also* intentionally thumbed their nose at *that*
<gkatsev> it was so close to catering too much for fans
<ELLIOTTCABLE> like, they lampshaded the fuck out of that, and I think it succeeded very well
<ELLIOTTCABLE> idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
<ELLIOTTCABLE> Like, the grand ‘arc’ of the plot … almost … wasn't?
<ELLIOTTCABLE> like, it was there, but the entire time they were sort of ignoring it, in a way that's hard for me to explain?
<ELLIOTTCABLE> like the movie never seemed to be about the plot, for the entire watching.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> At no moment in the entire thing did I give a *shit* what happened to the NO-MOON. like, and the movie didn't even seem to be trying to make me care. At all. And I was fine with that.
<gkatsev> I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it immensely and would recommend the movie to everyone. I just think it rode a bit too much on fan service rather than really making a truly great movie.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> it was … a highly-characterized mini-drama in a *setting* that mirrored the original star-wars;
<ELLIOTTCABLE> but other than that, it's just that: a setting.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> they turned major-arc into merely-setting.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> see, I'm not a star-wars nerd
<ELLIOTTCABLE> I *did* successfully and correctly quote the kettel-run thing to Chelsea in the middle of the movie, right before they did so themselves
<ELLIOTTCABLE> but like, I had to think for a bit, and was super nervous that I'd mis-quoted and would look like an idiot.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> I didn't see the original movies as a kid; I *did* see the prequels, but didn't really like them.
<ELLIOTTCABLE> I don't love this because it was Star Wars (that was the ‘low expectations’ I mentioned); I loved this for narrative structure and characterization and score
<gkatsev> kessel, fwiw
<ELLIOTTCABLE> sure that
<ELLIOTTCABLE> I like the band so idk
<gkatsev> the prequels are terrible
<gkatsev> but basically, the rehashing of the plot plus some other weirdnesses makes it just a really good movie instead of great
<gkatsev> rey was a bit of a mary sue but I don't really care.
<gkatsev> and as the verge pointed out, if rey was ray, no one would have complained, probably
<jfhbrook> yeah, I saw the special editions when I was a kid, then the prequels
<jfhbrook> and I never properly re-watched the original trilogy, partially because they've been mad adulterated so it's technically impossible to watch the true originals, and party cause the prequels ruined it for me
<jfhbrook> actually I never saw #3
<gkatsev> the despecialized edition is great
<jfhbrook> anyways, so I can't actually properly argue that A New Hope, for instance, was a good or bad movie
<gkatsev> that's the one to get
<jfhbrook> I feel ike #7 was good on its own, but was mildly ineffective at extending the existing canon, was too heavily a repeat of #4 and had a lot of fanservice-y stuff
<jfhbrook> and a few plot holes
<jfhbrook> but like, compared to the shitshow that was the prequels? pretty good
<jfhbrook> I did like that the prequels had shitloads of jedi, that was neat
<jfhbrook> I also think the future sequels will be pretty good, they set themselves up reasonably well for more stuff
<jfhbrook> lots of shit left over to explore
<jfhbrook> and really fun new characters, like I really like Finn and Rey
<jfhbrook> and the new bad guy, well, I thought he was chill too
<ELLIOTTCABLE> gkatsev: Mary Sue?
<jfhbrook> which character is the mary sue
<jfhbrook> when I think Mary Sue I think Eragon
<gkatsev> a lot of people are complaining that rey is a mary sue
<jfhbrook> remember those books?
<jfhbrook> rey doesn't seem like a mary sue to me
<jfhbrook> being a mary sue isn't the same thing as being OP
<gkatsev> she does have an almost magical ability to come out on top
<jfhbrook> but to me, a mary sue is a character that's basically the author of the work
<jfhbrook> like, eragon is a good example because a 15 year old kid wrote the book basically about fantasy version of himself being a badass
<gkatsev> never read eragon
<jfhbrook> the first one's a lot of fun
<jfhbrook> the 2nd one's not great
<jfhbrook> never bothered with the 3rd
<jfhbrook> ah, wikipedia suggests that mary sue doesn't have to involve an author-insert
<jfhbrook> I'm not sure I totally agree
<jfhbrook> either way, I thought Rey was OP but I don't think Mary Sue is accurate
<gkatsev> it's the "wish-fulfillment" aspect
<jfhbrook> yeah see I don't pick that up either
<jfhbrook> idk, I could be wrong but that's not the vibe I get
<gkatsev> given that the whole movie is basically catered at fans?
<ELLIOTTCABLE> yeah I don't get this "mary sue" thing. She's just a Hero character.
<gkatsev> but as I said, yeah, I get some of that but I don't think it really matters
<jfhbrook> I think to be an effective mary sue you have to be in a situation where you're basically pretending you're the character
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<gkatsev> another perspective on the mary sue thing with rey: http://io9.gizmodo.com/please-stop-spreading-this-nonsense-that-rey-from-star-1749134275
<jfhbrook> I pretty much fully agree with this article so far gkatsev
<pikajude> eragon degrades steeply in quality with time
<jfhbrook> as in the series (I guess I shoulda said "brisingr?") or as in the first book?
<pikajude> the series
<pikajude> i thought the second book was better honestly
<jfhbrook> yeah, I got that feeling with the series, like I said I didn't even bother with book 3
<pikajude> than the first one
<jfhbrook> well like
<jfhbrook> in some ways it really was
<pikajude> books 3 and 4 are very difficult
<jfhbrook> wait there's a 4th?
<pikajude> yes
<jfhbrook> I thought it was supposed to be a trilogy
<pikajude> yes
<jfhbrook> huh!
<jfhbrook> well like, book 2 was less derivative, the micro-level writing was clearly done by an older more experienced author
<pikajude> less derivative. heh
<jfhbrook> but it also dealt with a few things really clumsily
<pikajude> it was a 9.8 on the scale, rather than a 10
<jfhbrook> yeah I mean obviously it's still formulaic
<jfhbrook> but like, there was the signposting about murtagh and then he tried to make you think murtagh was dead in the first five minutes and you're like, "no he's gonna show up at the end of the book with a dragon and an attitude"
<jfhbrook> at least I saw that coming from a mile away
<jfhbrook> but I also thought the training scenes were really tedious
<jfhbrook> and that's where I really felt like the mary sue aspects of eragon were really obvious
<pikajude> i forgot this series existed
<pikajude> a critic once wrote about paolini that him and the english language were like a dog with a chainsaw
<pikajude> "he worries it, and worries it, and devastation spreads around him"
<jfhbrook> I don't remember that sentence but that's pretty, uhh
<jfhbrook> special?
<pikajude> i'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the series reached its peak at book 2
<pikajude> he had enough material for 3.3 books
<pikajude> so he wrote 4
<jfhbrook> he shoulda just pulled a Harry Potter and have written a 3rd book that was twice as long as the first
<pikajude> yeah
<pikajude> and come up with a less shit ending
<pikajude> if you're going to write 600 extra pages in your saga, at least tie up the plot threads
<pikajude> pls
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