July 07, 2013
— Open Blogger
Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to the the award-winning AoSHQ's Sunday Morning Book Thread.
Jack Reacher Questions
OK, so Mrs. Muse and I watched the movie adaptation last night. I had low expectations for it, but I have to admit, all things considered, it was competently done. But I have no idea how much it does or doesn't line up with the books, since I've never read any of them. So, my questions are:
1) Is Tom Cruise a believable Jack Reacher? I know he's a lot smaller than the Jack Reacher of the novels, but did he manage make it work? Cruise does not have a physically intimidating screen presence. Sandy's "brothers" all thought, yeah, I can take this guy, and were then unpleasantly surprised. I can't imagine any bad guy in the novels thinking this.
2) The movie bad guy ultimately turned out to be (wait for it) a large corporation. Really? I see this so often in movies, it's just so boring. But is that true to the book? I remember what they did to Clancy's novel Sum of All Fears where the Arab terrorists were, for no reason I can discern, turned into the left's other favorite bad guys, American Neo-Nazis. Much to the detriment of the movie, I might add. So I'm wondering if something like that happened here.
[Update]: Apparently, the appropriate moron question is not whether Tom cruise is a credible Jack Reacher. Commenter perdogg gets to the heart of the matter:
45 I actually thought the movie was good. The question I have is does Rosamund Pike ever wear a bra in the movie.
Posted by: perdogg at July 07, 2013 11:26 AM (ziD3M)
A fair point. Mrs. Muse and I both noticed some parts of the movie where the scene was dominated not by Jack Reacher's menacing presence, but by Ms. Pike's ginormous hooters. (please note that I resisted the obvious "Pike's peaks" joke)
"Honey, I think I Left My Curling Iron Plugged In!"*
*Mrs. Muse does this to me every time we go someplace, and it drives me nuts.
Books By Morons
The sixth chapter of the book of Genesis contains the following curious verse:
Gen 6:4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
"Giants" is a translation of the word "", and some versions don't even bother translating it in that verse, like the ESV, whch reads "The were on the earth in those days, and also afterward..." So who were these guys and what were they doing? Depending, of course, on how you interpret "sons of God", it could be that they're some sort of angelic/human hybrid, but how is that even possible? As you might guess, there's plenty of opportunity for speculation here, which gives storytellers like infrequent moron commenter and author 'Doctor Cynic' lots of room to work. He has just released the Kindle version of his book-of-Genesis-meets-epic-fantasy novel Antediluvian with dead-tree edition to follow. The storyline is that a huge, dinosaur-like beast, called a leviathan, has crawled out of a sea inlet and made its way upriver and is threatening livestock and people in the surrounding villages. It seems that nobody can beat this fearsome creature, yet something has to be done, so it falls on a young farmer named Noah (yeah, that Noah) to find a way to either kill it or drive it back into the sea. He enlists the aid of the , and then things get complicated, both for him and also for the entire human race. The Amazon blurb contains a surprisingly large number of plot points and outright spoilers, so I need to stop here.
I greatly enjoyed screenwriter Brian Godawa's movie To End All Wars of a few years back, and while poking around on this '' topic, I discovered that has a series of 'antediluvian' novels of his own, whch he calls The Chronicles of the :
Noah Primeval
Enoch Primordial
Gilgamesh Immortal
Abraham Allegiant
Pedants who point out that the last two books take place after the Flood, and therefore should more properly be called 'postdiluvian', are obviously racists.
I'm guessing there's probably a metric boatload of novels by other authors in this genre. Like vampire or zombie novels, the ideas and characters and storylines that could be mined from the available material is potentially inexhaustible.
___________
Moron commenter 'J.D. Nock' has just released More Than Mischief (The Hurley Vance Series: Book One) on Smashwords, and as the title says, it's the first of a series (Nock is nearing completion of the first draft of the second book). He describes it as
...a dystopian novel written from the libertarian/conservative perspective, and it is intended for a “new adult” audience. My hope is that this story will serve as an unapologetic and entertaining way to carry a message. And to bring this message to an audience otherwise indifferent to issues concerning the State.
And for the next week, it will be available for FREE at Smashwords. All you need need to do is input the coupon code "SW100" at rhe checkout. There are a number of formats available, pdf, epub, mobi, etc.
___________
So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, rumors, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'g'-mail, dot you-know-what.
What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as we all know, life is too short to read lousy books.
Posted by: Open Blogger at
06:50 AM
| Comments (263)
Post contains 961 words, total size 6 kb.
That was the worst butchering of a good book I have ever seen.
Posted by: Vic at July 07, 2013 06:52 AM (lZvxr)
Two things: I picked up a copy of Alonzo Rachel's book "Weapon of ASS Destrruction." Definitely a good bit of reading and as entertaining as his monologues on YouTube.
And from a link I followed on this site, I grabbed a sample of "Worthless: The Young Person's Indispensable Guide to Choosing the Right Major." Might have to get a copy of it to some children of a friend of mine before they graduate high school.
Posted by: NR Pax at July 07, 2013 06:53 AM (U+O64)
Posted by: NCwoof at July 07, 2013 06:55 AM (aUQgu)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:00 AM (Pspqd)
Posted by: Vic at July 07, 2013 10:52 AM (lZvxr)
Sounds like they turned it into a Law and Order episode.
Progress in readings this week: In Gibbon he's concentrating on the Mooooooslim gains in Syria, Egypt (shockingly concurrent) and Africa after the death of Mo the Pederast (Golden Showers be Unto Him). Gibbon would be comfortable in the MFM as he blames Christians for everything that fucks up and has a major hardon for the religion of pieces (to the point where the updated footnotes ridicule him for being so clueless). Speaking of clueless, the landings in "An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943" were so poorly executed that it was a good thing that it was the Vichy French they were going up against otherwise it would've been a major clusterfuck. That's not to impugn the poor men who made the best of a very shitty situation.
Posted by: Captain Hate at July 07, 2013 07:02 AM (2wlrf)
Let's see if NBCSN can manage to not fuck up the coverage this week.
Posted by: Methos at July 07, 2013 07:02 AM (hO9ad)
Oh book thread.
I've been trying to read more before I go to bed, to calm the nerves as it were.
I've picked back up "The House of God" by Samuel Shem which I had stopped half way through due to time constraints.
Posted by: tsrblke at July 07, 2013 07:03 AM (GaqMa)
Posted by: Farpost at July 07, 2013 07:04 AM (c+HuI)
The Author/Director commentary still makes me chuckle. The Director introduces himself, then:
Clancy: I'm the guy that wrote the book they ignored when making this movie.
Posted by: Methos at July 07, 2013 07:05 AM (hO9ad)
Posted by: eman at July 07, 2013 07:05 AM (AO9UG)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:06 AM (Pspqd)
Posted by: Totally not Mike Rowe at July 07, 2013 07:07 AM (HAmad)
Speaking of book adaptations, I saw the movie version with Brad Pitt. One thing I wanted to point out. The zombies overrun Jerusalem, and thus Israel, in the movie. This DID NOT happen in the book! Just as they set it up in the movie, they were ready because they watched the signs. And managed to close off the country, and kept it that way for the duration of the war.
And yet they changed it in the movie. Funny, that.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 07, 2013 07:07 AM (BeSEI)
I think Cruise's most menacing role was as "Vincent" in the film "Collateral."
Posted by: sven10077@sven10077 at July 07, 2013 07:08 AM (LRFds)
Now that the Lee Child books are hitting the transfer station's book barn (thus: free) I've read a few. Good books and, at least to me, largely free of politicizing, sermonizing and other "izings" that kill recreational books.
I wouldn't expect a movie version in this day and age to happen without changing the villains into politically-correct types. It's too easy for the studios to throw in a semi-recognizable nasty to score points with their liberal buddyroos, especially when most of Child's baddies are not much more than twisted thugs.
Tom Cruise? Jeebus. "Reacher" is the kind of guy you might knock back a brewski or two with, but not ever want to cross. Tom Cruise is the kind of guy you want to beat the shit out of on sight, mainly worrying that he might bite you on the knee.
Posted by: MrScribbler at July 07, 2013 07:08 AM (/RIVS)
Posted by: Methos at July 07, 2013 11:05 AM (hO9ad)
Guys like Clancy should be big enough in the biz that they could exercise some sort of presence on the set to keep the fucking movie from going off the rails. I swear if I wrote a book that was destroyed by some hack scriptwriter, I'd choke at least one bitch before being hauled off.
Posted by: Captain Hate at July 07, 2013 07:10 AM (2wlrf)
Posted by: Ray Van Dune at July 07, 2013 07:10 AM (qIFL7)
Except here, of course.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 07, 2013 07:10 AM (BeSEI)
Posted by: My Sharia Moor at July 07, 2013 07:11 AM (0duDc)
Posted by: eman at July 07, 2013 07:11 AM (AO9UG)
I sat in a 100-degree car to hear the end of the radio interview about how this guy escaped from a Messican prison with the help of a woman he met on visiting day (and she was there to visit someone else). This guy is said to be only the second prisoner to escape. The first was Pancho Villa in 1912.
Has anybody else read it?
Posted by: RushBabe at July 07, 2013 07:12 AM (oknl8)
Terry Pratchett back in 2007 was diagnosed with some sort of degenerative neural thing, akin to Alzheimers. He is no longer able to write a full book himself. Here he's winding down the books he was going to write but didn't get a chance to. This one was something he was working on at the same time as "The Colour of Magic", but abandoned when TCoM turned out to be such a success.
Stephen Baxter meanwhile had written "The Pacific Mystery", a short-story in 2006, which is in the 26th Dozois collection for that year's best SF. That book featured a Nazi zeppelin from alt-1950, which went through parallel Earths.
This book is Baxter's book, not Pratchett's. The same damn zeppelin is in it going across the same alternate universes. Yo Baxter, did you think no-one would notice?
Also I read through 80% of the book and didn't see anything resembling a plot crop up; it's just a bunch of stuff that happens.
Oh yeah, and the good-guys are nuns who hate "Republicans" (it's that unsubtle), the bad guys are failed commercial interests who are playing to a heartland American crowd, hippie = ethical, . . . .
Stephen Baxter has pissed me off with this lazy and clumsy attempt to grab Pratchett's fan-base. What a ghoul.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 07:12 AM (nt30N)
Reacher was cartoonish: 6'-4" and afraid of nobody on earth.
The ignorance of all things military was unbearable. Did you know Fort Dix was a Marine Corps facility? Or that an officer in the US Army never has do to his own laundry?
Posted by: another fapping moron what got shot down by an 'ette at July 07, 2013 07:12 AM (EV3Uf)
Posted by: Evil Blogger Lady at July 07, 2013 07:13 AM (UYjru)
Posted by: getonwithit at July 07, 2013 07:13 AM (MbeEN)
I agree with the predominant opinion that Cruise was miscast as Jack Reacher, but would genuinely love to see him someday cast as Bolitar's wonderfully satisfying billionaire post-yuppie sidekick(?), Windsor Horne-Lockwood.
Oh, I always pictured Owen Wilson as the daffy/martial-arts master/pretty boy.
Posted by: RushBabe at July 07, 2013 07:14 AM (oknl8)
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at July 07, 2013 07:16 AM (MBqvE)
I guess you could see it that way. I didn't.
One could generously assume they wanted the visual spectacle of it, but it is telling that the one city we see overrun, other than Philly at the beginning, was Jerusalem. You could have had zombies climbing the Eiffel Tower, or pulling down the leaning tower of Pisa, or any number of other things, but they didn't do that.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 07, 2013 07:16 AM (BeSEI)
Posted by: tmitsss at July 07, 2013 07:16 AM (aVsJj)
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars[/i][/b][/s] at July 07, 2013 07:16 AM (wXcOC)
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 07:18 AM (nt30N)
Posted by: Running Hobo at July 07, 2013 07:18 AM (l1oyw)
Posted by: Jack at July 07, 2013 07:19 AM (gWHwW)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:19 AM (Pspqd)
Posted by: kalel666 at July 07, 2013 07:21 AM (DgQHz)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at July 07, 2013 07:21 AM (5YUSx)
Yup, and his knowledge of the US military is as encyclopedic as as Barack "Corpseman" Obama's...
Childs' use of villains belies his bent, but if one is willing to look past his boneheadedness you can still find an enjoyable read.
I far prefer the Parker series though, rest Stark's soul.
Posted by: sven10077@sven10077 at July 07, 2013 07:23 AM (LRFds)
Posted by: tomc at July 07, 2013 07:24 AM (avEuh)
Yes, but which angels? I think it's unlikely the obedient ones came down to earth to party and literally fuck up Creation.
I've seen one interpretation that it was the wickedness of these children of fallen angels that necessitated the Flood, and that demons are not fallen angels but the earthbound spirits of the nephilim (combining the worst the fallen angels or humans are capable of). Their part humanness is thought to be what allows them to possess people (to the best of my knowledge, there are no instances of obedient angels possessing people). The discussion came up in context of a line in Revelation about the resurgence of wickedness not seen since the time of Noah, which this thinking suggests may indicate a rash of demonic possession.
I don't know, I'm just throwing it out there.
Posted by: Methos at July 07, 2013 07:24 AM (hO9ad)
And I do blame the Beeb. British newspapers are in a competitive market and they know they can't get away with the bigoted shit on the telly. That's why we often read decent coverage in the (left) Grauniad (outside the editorials).
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 07:24 AM (nt30N)
Posted by: MTF at July 07, 2013 07:25 AM (+GpbP)
Posted by: perdogg at July 07, 2013 07:26 AM (ziD3M)
Conservatism in the UK is only allowed to go so far and no further. That line is zealously defined and guarded form both the left and the "acceptable right." It's the magic trick Frum tries here along with Krugman.
Sort of sad because you're either "socialist light" or drift quickly towards the hyper-nationalist party.
Libertarian bent such as we take for granted here is not a serious force there.
Posted by: sven10077@sven10077 at July 07, 2013 07:27 AM (LRFds)
Posted by: Ed Anger at July 07, 2013 07:27 AM (tOkJB)
Posted by: tomc at July 07, 2013 07:27 AM (avEuh)
Posted by: Ragamuffin at July 07, 2013 07:27 AM (fzFF6)
Posted by: BignJames at July 07, 2013 07:27 AM (Sg0G/)
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 07:27 AM (nt30N)
Posted by: another fapping moron at July 07, 2013 07:27 AM (EV3Uf)
Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectal at July 07, 2013 07:28 AM (wR+pz)
What a coincidence. I also wouldn't mind if half the people in this town were prey to a mountain lion
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 07:29 AM (nt30N)
Posted by: Killerdog at July 07, 2013 07:29 AM (Oi60j)
Posted by: Largely Irrelevant Assault Undocumented Foreigner Anachronda at July 07, 2013 07:30 AM (U82Km)
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars[/i][/b][/s] at July 07, 2013 07:30 AM (fCw1i)
Youse guys are much more tolerant of Clancy than I am. I read damn near everything he wrote until the "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" series of ghostwritten books started showing up, and found the early books fun reads, with descriptions of all kinds of Sooper-Sekret Shit to keep the would-be military geeks happy.
But I realized early on that "Jack Ryan" was simply too damned smart and sensitive (like "Spenser") to be real, and all of Clancy's windups were feel-good RINO situations. Russia declares war on us, and the war ends with a buddy-buddy handshake? I know that's how Choom Boy would handle it -- assuming we didn't surrender first -- but the notion that we lose a whole bunch of people and then Do The Honorable Thing and Live Happily Ever After with the Russkies, the Wily Japanese, Bomb-Tossing Ay-Rabs and God knows who else finally wore me out.
I won't deny I wish I had the skillz to do Clancy's act. Doesn't mean I like it, though, and I don't.
P.S. The only thing wrong with Coben's Myron Bolitar books is that there aren't enough of them. Myron and Win could teach Clancy's "heroes" a thing or two.
Posted by: MrScribbler at July 07, 2013 07:31 AM (/RIVS)
You know what role he'd be perfect for? All kidding aside he's almost the exact physical dimensions of the average ww2 commando. I could see him doing well at that type of role as well given his arrogance.
Posted by: sven10077@sven10077 at July 07, 2013 07:32 AM (LRFds)
Posted by: RushBabe at July 07, 2013 11:14 AM (oknl
You don't think Owen would be just a tad too goofy? I always thought Win was a tad too misanthropic for the guy whose best line, INMHO, was, "CHEWY?!?!? Have you even SEEN Star Wars?"
Again, FWIW.
Posted by: My Sharia Moor at July 07, 2013 07:32 AM (0duDc)
Posted by: MrScribbler at July 07, 2013 11:31 AM (/RIVS)
Amen.
Posted by: My Sharia Moor at July 07, 2013 07:34 AM (0duDc)
I'm short myself; never quite made 5'8", and in my old age I've shrunk down to 5'7". I've gone out with some tall women in my life and my reaction is: put on the spike heels, pile your hair up on top, and stand up straight; if you've got it - flaunt it.
Posted by: [/i] [/b] [/u] [/s] An Observation at July 07, 2013 07:34 AM (ylhEn)
Posted by: shredded chi at July 07, 2013 07:35 AM (CbiPs)
TBH,
Yeah, The Long Earth was pretty crappy. I'm amazed that they wrote a sequel.
Still working on Napoleon's Wars and Paradise Lost. I'm hoping to finish the former in the next couple of weeks and then I'll try to find something easier. Maybe some Dresden novels.
Posted by: Colorado Alex at July 07, 2013 07:35 AM (lr3d7)
Posted by: Socrateae at July 07, 2013 07:35 AM (AgrAs)
Posted by: waldo at July 07, 2013 07:36 AM (vDjkK)
It seems that this character, however compelling, simply wasn't Jack Reacher, and so should have used a different name.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 07:36 AM (nt30N)
To answer the OP's second question, the villainous corporation was added to the movie. In the book, the Zek was moving in on his own (and the final battle took place in the middle of farm country, not a quarry or whatever that was in the movie).
Overall, I think Cruise did a pretty fair job in the movie once you forget the glaring height issue. While Reacher is supposed to be able to handle anyone in the military, he doesn't intimidate many people on sight in the books.
Running Hobo--try Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books if you're into SF. Three or four decent books there.
Posted by: notthatGreg at July 07, 2013 07:37 AM (norkA)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:37 AM (Pspqd)
Posted by: shredded chi at July 07, 2013 11:35 AM
Funny thing is, my GF brought home a Coben book that was not from the "Bolitar" series, and I hated it.
Dude really struck gold when he dreamed up Myron and Win.
Posted by: MrScribbler at July 07, 2013 07:37 AM (/RIVS)
Posted by: J.D. Nock at July 07, 2013 07:37 AM (i3AME)
Posted by: Lincolntf at July 07, 2013 07:38 AM (qbVkk)
Posted by: Sabrina Chase at July 07, 2013 07:39 AM (wfSF5)
They are indeed a series, but I just fell into them, and found there's no particular starting point needed to enjoy them.
Posted by: MrScribbler at July 07, 2013 07:40 AM (/RIVS)
I am currently reading the first of Gregory of Yardsdale's Worlds Apart series. Good fun, but it could use a good proofreading. Among other things, the wingdings for the footnotes don't work right on the Kindle; you see the markup instead of the wingding.
Posted by: Anachronda at July 07, 2013 07:41 AM (U82Km)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:41 AM (Pspqd)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:42 AM (Pspqd)
As a snotty high-school student and confirmed Lutheran (in the days when you had to go to catechism classes once a week for three years!) I regularly used that verse from Genesis to confound fellow high-school students who (being from rather less theologically-grounded denominations) were completely convinced that every single word in the Bible was the absolute truth. Fun times, although now and again one of them would be deeply shaken.
I'm about 7/8th done with Charles Todd's latest Bess Crawford mystery - I'm enjoying it more than I did the previous one.
And my own next book, the Quivera Trail is done, and gone for the final editing - this is the one that I call 'Mrs. Gaskell meets Zane Grey' - English lady meets and marries Texas cattle rancher in 1875. It'll be out in November, 2013.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 07, 2013 07:43 AM (Asjr7)
Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectal at July 07, 2013 07:43 AM (wR+pz)
On the Nephalim thing; it's pulp fantasy, but the heroes in the Diablo books are 'Nephalem', descendents of rebel angels and demons interbreeding and creating humanity. Sin War Trilogy covers that.
Posted by: Ranba Ral at July 07, 2013 07:43 AM (G99e4)
Posted by: Ranba Ral at July 07, 2013 07:45 AM (G99e4)
http://tinyurl.com/n4vw9qjPosted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:45 AM (Pspqd)
Posted by: BignJames at July 07, 2013 07:46 AM (Sg0G/)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:50 AM (Pspqd)
Posted by: Methos at July 07, 2013 07:51 AM (hO9ad)
My question is: Why the hell would any Moron want her to?
She reminds me of an old Benny Hill line: "A girl like that could really hurt a guy...if he was lucky!"
Posted by: MrScribbler at July 07, 2013 07:51 AM (/RIVS)
Posted by: RNB at July 07, 2013 07:52 AM (1/fQ0)
Posted by: Ragamuffin at July 07, 2013 07:54 AM (fzFF6)
Posted by: RWC at July 07, 2013 07:54 AM (8FeS+)
One of my favs is "One Door Away form Heaven". -Dean Koontz- great book for dog lovers and morons/ ettes. Two great chick sisters who know their way around martial arts and guns. Fun read you guys.
Just finished "The Husband" Ending was wham bam thank you maam, but I always find some great thoughts in the few books I've read. He seems to have and expresses some great conservative values and he mocks (in this academia) the mockers. Strong women in the books I've read. I dig that.
Posted by: Guido - 'now with 75+% more hate!' at July 07, 2013 07:54 AM (/7gW+)
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Sir Robert of Cheshire available on Amazon Kindle at July 07, 2013 07:56 AM (0SmH0)
Nailed it, MrScribbler!! I've read all the Reacher books, and enjoy them, although they are kind of the same book written over and over again. I am a HUGE fan of the Myron Bolitar series.
Somewhat OT, but has anyone read the "new" Spenser books written by someone else since Robert B. Parker's sad demise?
Posted by: Peaches at July 07, 2013 07:58 AM (8lmkt)
Posted by: JPS at July 07, 2013 07:58 AM (9ziuC)
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Sir Robert of Cheshire available on Amazon Kindle at July 07, 2013 07:58 AM (0SmH0)
Posted by: Judge_Roy_Bean at July 07, 2013 07:58 AM (6Nzi2)
Posted by: shredded chi at July 07, 2013 07:59 AM (CbiPs)
I can't remember if the Emerald Witch was related; if so, whether she was a descendent of Jadis or if she somehow got out of Charn and snuck into Narnia on her own.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 08:00 AM (nt30N)
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Sir Robert of Cheshire available on Amazon Kindle at July 07, 2013 08:01 AM (0SmH0)
I'm about halfway through Orwell's 1984. I saw the movie with Richard Burton and John Hurt and was somewhat familiar with the themes of an all-intrusive government that suppressed the people. The book is depressing as hell.
Anyway, this edition is the first, with the 1949 copyright date, the pages aren't uniformly cut and I suspect they may be made out of rag. Is there any way to tell? The texture of the pages are unique, like nothing I've seen before.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at July 07, 2013 08:05 AM (0HooB)
Posted by: scrood at July 07, 2013 08:06 AM (wvPFe)
Recently finished Lawrence Wright's newish book on Scientology which was excellent. http://tinyurl.com/mylhq3m This is why you should not see Tom Cruise movies: any benefit to Cruise is a benefit to Scientology.
Finished re-reading "Prayers for the Assassin" so I could finally get around to reading the sequels.
Then I think I will go back to 1491 which was shaping up nicely before I got distracted.
Clearly I'm never going to finish The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich.
Posted by: Tonestaple at July 07, 2013 08:07 AM (3yidV)
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Sir Robert of Cheshire available on Amazon Kindle at July 07, 2013 08:07 AM (0SmH0)
Posted by: Ragamuffin at July 07, 2013 08:07 AM (fzFF6)
1) No, no, no Tom Cruise is not a believable Jack Reacher. He might make a believable loner ex-military policeman who is wily and resourceful and afraid of commitment, but this is a woeful piece of casting. Reacher is 6'4", 200+ lbs, extremely physically imposing, and astoundingly prone to violence. Other than, say, Paul Reubens, Miranda Cosgrove or ALF, I can't think of a less suitable actor. As for who would be suitable to play him, I always pictured someone like Kevin Sorbo, but he's too old now. Maybe Vincent d'Onofrio would have been able to pull it off. Probably the best choice right now would have been Adam Baldwin. He's the right size and age range and he's not a former WWE wrestler.
2) The bad guy in the book is a Russian GULag survivor, called The Zec. He is a ruthless and appallingly amoral mobster, and his motive for killing the people in the initial sniper incident is to cover up that one of them was a woman whose husband's contracting company had been muscled out of a road construction project and subsequently killed. She was getting close to proving this so she was eliminated, along with four others to cover the tracks. The patsy is a sniper that Reacher ran across just after Gulf 91 who killed some fellow soldiers for the hell of it but fell through the cracks. If the police are fed the mad sniper story then they will write off the victims as random happenstance. But Reacher knows the skill of the guy in question and knows the likelihood he would have missed one of the shots at the very close range they were supposed to have been fired from is nil. So something is fishy...
I don't know why the movie changed it. They do this seemingly at will. In The Runaway Jury, the bad guys mutated from tobacco companies to gun manufacturers. It's stupid, and it alienates half your audience, and it's one facet of Hollywood's decline. Maybe it's the same reason films are re-titled for foreign audiences: it gives parasitical studio drones a claim to have had creative input.
Posted by: David Gillies at July 07, 2013 08:09 AM (wscOM)
I think I've written here before about a sibling of an acquaintance who had to be de-programmed after falling into that cult. There are some truly vile entities associated with that, including bottom feeding trash ambulance chasers. It's like a world wide Westboro bunch.
Posted by: Captain Hate at July 07, 2013 08:10 AM (2wlrf)
Posted by: Ragamuffin at July 07, 2013 12:07 PM (fzFF6)
She's breathing and she's running against Graham.
That's all I need to know.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 07, 2013 08:10 AM (eSrLn)
Posted by: awkward davies at July 07, 2013 08:13 AM (WK8VM)
Tom Cruise was O.K., but he played a different character than Child's Reacher. Two actors who could have convincingly portrayed the Reacher of my dreams are: Ray Stevenson and Jason Statham.
Posted by: Starlj at July 07, 2013 08:14 AM (HUoKY)
Great idea. The hair color is wrong, but he'd still be perfect because he has that vain, self-satisfied Win smile that people want to punch right off his face (only to find out that they can't).
Regarding where to start in the Myron Bolitar series, do them in chronological order. There are only a few back references, but why not get them right? I believe the first one is Deal Breaker, a title which takes on new significance when you finish the book.
Posted by: Splunge at July 07, 2013 08:15 AM (bKA83)
Posted by: bour3 at July 07, 2013 08:16 AM (5x3+2)
Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at July 07, 2013 08:19 AM (yh0zB)
Apologies for the OT.
Sven J Olafson's "Budget AR-15 Builds"
Because I love you horde I dug extra hard this week and discovered the following buys.
If you can stand a polymer low and the M-4 telescoping buttstock I found a complete lower for 150 dollars.
http://tinyurl.com/n6qebn9
Ship that via gunbroker to your favorite FFL and ideally your favorite gunsmith/ffl.... as always follow all applicable laws...
so you've got your lower what to do about an upper?
R Guns has a 16" Carbine upper as low as 445...
http://tinyurl.com/m4tvqhf
so total cost 595 plus shipping
Posted by: sven10077@sven10077 at July 07, 2013 08:20 AM (LRFds)
Posted by: Splunge at July 07, 2013 08:22 AM (bKA83)
Posted by: Sabrina Chase at July 07, 2013 11:39 AM (wfSF5)
DAMMIT!!! (belay my last)...
off to Amazon...
Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at July 07, 2013 08:23 AM (yh0zB)
Child took Reacher completely out of his character's background, and took a lot of heat from his readers, a good chunk of which were military/former military. He took off his mask (which wasn't on that tight- he IS British) and revealed that he is a screaming liberal, but quite content to take the $ from his political rivals by writing his drivel.
Posted by: elliot at July 07, 2013 08:24 AM (8zGOf)
It does make it almost seem that it'd be nice for a conservative to take cash from the moonbats for writing an against type hero for them eh?
Posted by: sven10077@sven10077 at July 07, 2013 08:27 AM (LRFds)
Posted by: An Observation at July 07, 2013 11:34 AM (ylhEn)
and besides...it puts teh bewbs up closer to eye level... 
Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at July 07, 2013 08:27 AM (yh0zB)
Posted by: Somewhat Sorry To Offend You at July 07, 2013 08:30 AM (ZR4Xh)
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Sir Robert of Cheshire available on Amazon Kindle at July 07, 2013 08:31 AM (0SmH0)
Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at July 07, 2013 08:31 AM (yh0zB)
Posted by: Dr. Varno at July 07, 2013 08:32 AM (W8j82)
Posted by: eman at July 07, 2013 08:32 AM (AO9UG)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at July 07, 2013 08:33 AM (5YUSx)
Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/i][/b][/u] at July 07, 2013 08:34 AM (CA2NO)
Humans will learn that at death of their worldly spirit they will be reborn in Unity as a stronger community unending
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 08:39 AM (QTHTd)
. This turns Reacher (formerly the toughest soldier/cop in the Army) into an anti-war activist/ass kicker.
So basically another Billy Jack?
Posted by: [/i] [/s] [/u] [/b] An Observatio at July 07, 2013 08:39 AM (ylhEn)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at July 07, 2013 08:39 AM (5YUSx)
Posted by: blaster at July 07, 2013 08:40 AM (c28BI)
Posted by: rickl at July 07, 2013 08:41 AM (sdi6R)
Posted by: Jean at July 07, 2013 08:42 AM (CMlD4)
Posted by: The Third Horseman Of The Apocalypse at July 07, 2013 08:45 AM (uLzrM)
Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectal at July 07, 2013 08:45 AM (wR+pz)
Posted by: huerfano at July 07, 2013 08:47 AM (bAGA/)
Posted by: Mr. Dave at July 07, 2013 08:47 AM (7R/UO)
Posted by: huerfano at July 07, 2013 12:47 PM (bAGA/)
He and that series have been mentioned here numerous times.
Posted by: Vic at July 07, 2013 08:50 AM (lZvxr)
DAMMIT!!! (belay my last)...
off to Amazon...
GGE, have I mentioned lately how intelligent and good-looking you are? ;-)
Posted by: Sabrina Chase at July 07, 2013 08:51 AM (wfSF5)
As far as height goes, the best compliment an ex ever gave me was, "I don't think of you as short, because you have a tall personality."
Posted by: Oschisms at July 07, 2013 08:51 AM (pfVS8)
Since leftists are almost all the kind of people who've never done anything athletic in their lives - since athletics forces you to deal with physical reality. They see themselves as Jack Reacher in their minds; "cause that's how I'd be if I could do that sort of thing." That explains their fascination with shoot-em-up video games.
No dude, you'd be the guy who quit the first day of football practice because its too haaaard and it huuurts - because that's who you are.
Posted by: [/i] [/s] [/u] [/b] An Observatio at July 07, 2013 08:53 AM (ylhEn)
Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at July 07, 2013 08:54 AM (kXoT0)
Posted by: waelse1 at July 07, 2013 08:54 AM (giKYe)
Posted by: Mr. Dave at July 07, 2013 08:55 AM (7R/UO)
Posted by: .87c at July 07, 2013 08:55 AM (hKAKT)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 09:00 AM (2/T/u)
In related book news, the increasingly strident and unpleasant author John Scalzi has declared a fatwa against conventions that lack a feminist approved anti-harassment policy. Other beta-males and leg-beard wymym are band-wagoning and backslapping each other for bring the patriarchy to its knees:
http://tinyurl.com/lqet2kx
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at July 07, 2013 09:00 AM (kdS6q)
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at July 07, 2013 09:01 AM (GX3Y1)
Posted by: Peaches at July 07, 2013 11:58 AM
No, but the "style" is easy enough to copy. I wrote a "Spenser" novel (which, fortunately, died when my $99 computer gave up the ghost some years ago) and found it quite simple to catch all of Parker's obvious and heavy-handed nuances.
At the end, Hawk beat the ever-lovin' bejeebers out of Spenser and took off with the whiny Susan in tow.
Oh, yeah. They dropped the dog off at the pound on the way to Haiti, where Hawk became head of a revitalized Tonton Macoute.
Posted by: MrScribbler at July 07, 2013 09:02 AM (/RIVS)
Posted by: Running Hobo
Try the Hit Man series by Lawrence Block. There are 5 out I think, so a short series, but it's about a killer for hire who's a philatelist in his spare time.
Posted by: John Pomeroy at July 07, 2013 09:04 AM (6J9ZY)
Recently finished Lawrence Wright's newish book on Scientology which was excellent. http://tinyurl.com/mylhq3m This is why you should not see Tom Cruise movies: any benefit to Cruise is a benefit to Scientology.
---------------
The Scientologists moved their center near where I work a few years ago into a much bigger building. They've been sending people out at around lunchtime to advertise themselves. The people doing the advertising don't even have the decency to identify themselves; they just shove a small piece of paper with their advertising spiel in front of anyone and everyone that they walk by while out patrolling the streets, knowing that people rarely decline something that's given to them for free even if they don't know what it is. I've been finding them to be extremely irritating.
---------------
Clearly I'm never going to finish The Rise Fall of the Third Reich.
--------------
Finish it. It's a good book, and well worth the time that it takes to read it.
Posted by: junior at July 07, 2013 09:05 AM (Quo7C)
Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectal at July 07, 2013 09:10 AM (wR+pz)
Posted by: Secundus at July 07, 2013 09:11 AM (iYwPt)
Posted by: Tattoo De Plane at July 07, 2013 09:11 AM (AVaK2)
Daughter's pod is locked.
Posted by: rip van winkin at the 80s at July 07, 2013 12:58 PM (WVMUQ)
Couldn't you login to iTunes on your computer change her password or whatever there and then hook up the ipod and try it from there?
Posted by: buzzion at July 07, 2013 09:12 AM (LI48c)
My first Mitch Rapp novel, I enjoyed it. I liked the idea Mitch has in it, of basically conducting offensive assassinations and "terror" against the terrorist groups and force them to in-fighting. Is that developed in any of the other books?
Read them all, .87c. They never go squish and they are absolutely wonderful. Still so sad that Vince is gone from us so soon.
Posted by: Peaches at July 07, 2013 09:13 AM (8lmkt)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 09:13 AM (2/T/u)
Posted by: John Scalzi at July 07, 2013 09:14 AM (QTHTd)
I think Andre the Giant could have made a good Jack Reacher.
"Sorry, Inigo. Didn't mean to jog him so hard."
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at July 07, 2013 09:15 AM (pxDth)
Posted by: NCwoof at July 07, 2013 09:15 AM (aUQgu)
Anything by John Ringo is good.
Reading Jay Allan's crimson wars. Not bad. Not great.
Posted by: MAJ O at July 07, 2013 09:15 AM (TwbSE)
Jack Reacher is just a dumb name. You can't help but wonder, what's he reaching for? It implies out of the gate that the movie falls short of the mark.
Posted by: Tattoo De Plane at July 07, 2013 01:11 PM (AVaK2)
It also doesn't help when the role is a character that is 6'4 and you have chosen to cast the guy that seems to have a short man complex.
Posted by: buzzion at July 07, 2013 09:15 AM (LI48c)
Scalzi can blow me, and he's welcome to accuse me of sexual-harassment for that comment.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 09:15 AM (QTHTd)
Posted by: Tattoo De Plane at July 07, 2013 09:17 AM (AVaK2)
This series is topical because it supposes that the Norse gods who survived Ragnarok still exist. Vidar (one of Odin's sons, the slayer of the Fenris wolf) is the protagonist, but he's not a very likable fellow. Not along the lines of _Lord Foul's Bane_, but he's a recalcitrant hero nonetheless.
Thirty-plus years removed from my initial reading, I've found it a more deep examination of human nature than I was able to understand when I was still awaiting my first sally into a woman's embrace. Growing older sucks now, but the rewards of experience do enhance enjoyment of life as we age.
Posted by: Brennan at July 07, 2013 09:19 AM (4JGSO)
Posted by: NCwoof at July 07, 2013 09:19 AM (aUQgu)
Posted by: eman at July 07, 2013 09:20 AM (AO9UG)
It's easier than you might think.
A stupid game that used to turn up among teenagers back when I was one, was to exhale and let someone squeeze you until you passed out. The squeezer was then supposed to let go and lower the person to the ground or some furniture while they started breathing again. Supposedly it created a brief period of euphoria but every year there is an incident somewhere of kids going overboard and not knowing what to do when the victim doesn't start breathing again on his own.
I never let anyone do it to me, as I was bigger than most of my peers at the time and didn't trust them not to drop me hard but I did agree to do it to a few people before realizing how dangerous it was.
Posted by: epobirs at July 07, 2013 09:20 AM (kcfmt)
It's also getting harder to think of Spenser and Hawk as badasses since Spenser fought in Korea. That makes him, what, 80? It's almost getting to that point with Elvis Cole, who's written as a Vietnam vet.
Posted by: notthatGreg at July 07, 2013 09:21 AM (norkA)
You forgot to say you're concerned.
Also you forgot "OT"
Posted by: Methos at July 07, 2013 09:21 AM (hO9ad)
But still way better than the commies who put "D" after their name.
Posted by: Vic at July 07, 2013 09:21 AM (lZvxr)
Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectal at July 07, 2013 09:21 AM (wR+pz)
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at July 07, 2013 09:21 AM (GX3Y1)
Posted by: Tuna at July 07, 2013 09:23 AM (M/TDA)
Posted by: SFGoth at July 07, 2013 09:23 AM (Xts5s)
Posted by: SFGoth at July 07, 2013 09:25 AM (Xts5s)
Posted by: eman at July 07, 2013 09:25 AM (AO9UG)
Posted by: notthatGreg at July 07, 2013 01:21 PM (norkA)
lol, so true. i have this annoying mental twitch of doing the math on the ages of characters, not a great thing to be plagued with in these situations. i do love both series, though, some of my very favorites. also a big fan of the Travis McGee series, which are really dated but still fun.
Posted by: Peaches at July 07, 2013 09:27 AM (8lmkt)
Re the Bible quote about Giants and the Nephilim...The Urantia Book has a full explanation.
The Nephilim were the purple race, if memory serves. But that was so many years ago....
The book made for a fine doorstop after I got tired of reading it.
Posted by: Meremortal at July 07, 2013 09:28 AM (1Y+hH)
Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectal at July 07, 2013 09:30 AM (wR+pz)
Posted by: John Scalzi at July 07, 2013 01:14 PM (QTHTd)
A rather good description....of Democrats.
Posted by: Meremortal at July 07, 2013 09:31 AM (1Y+hH)
If nephilim is Hebrew at base, which it probably is, then it has to do with "falling" (n-p-l).
Niflheim is Darkhome; the root of Nifl is shared in Anglo-Saxon and German.
That Niflheim and Nephilim sound alike is a coincidence; this *isn't* an IndoEuropean / Semitic crossover. (There are actually quite a lot of these because of trade contacts: the Phoenicians especially.)
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 09:32 AM (QTHTd)
Posted by: another fapping moron at July 07, 2013 09:34 AM (EV3Uf)
Posted by: Frank Underwood (D-SC) at July 07, 2013 09:35 AM (fscec)
Posted by: epobirs at July 07, 2013 09:38 AM (kcfmt)
Posted by: Peaches at July 07, 2013 09:38 AM (8lmkt)
Posted by: Somewhat Sorry To Offend You at July 07, 2013 09:38 AM (ZR4Xh)
This should not be interpreted as a put-down of real life 6'+ bruisers, so no need for the snark.
Posted by: another fapping moron at July 07, 2013 09:40 AM (EV3Uf)
Posted by: shredded chi at July 07, 2013 09:41 AM (CbiPs)
Posted by: Y-not at July 07, 2013 09:42 AM (5H6zj)
Look into the C.J. Box books about Joe Pickett. Pickett is a game warden in Wyoming. Pickett does mainly detective work along with his ex-military friend Nate. A series of fun reads.
And by now people should realize that there are no enemies on the left
Posted by: Harold at July 07, 2013 09:43 AM (xTVTq)
Posted by: HoboJerky, Hash Hunter at July 07, 2013 09:43 AM (X4HxX)
Posted by: Y-not at July 07, 2013 09:45 AM (5H6zj)
If today we had to muster the same level of national will to stand in the face of evil while aiding a defeated enemy, I fear we'd fail to meet the challenge.
Read 'I, Fatty' by Jerry Stahl on the Kindle. A fictional autobiography of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, a talented man beloved by millions until it was decided that a human sacrifice was needed to sell newspapers and give busybodies and hand wringers a target.
Posted by: epobirs at July 07, 2013 09:45 AM (kcfmt)
Posted by: Y-not at July 07, 2013 09:47 AM (5H6zj)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 09:48 AM (2/T/u)
Posted by: Y-not at July 07, 2013 09:50 AM (5H6zj)
Posted by: shredded chi at July 07, 2013 09:51 AM (CbiPs)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 09:54 AM (2/T/u)
Have an above average day.
Regards.
Posted by: another fapping moron at July 07, 2013 09:54 AM (EV3Uf)
Posted by: motionview at July 07, 2013 09:55 AM (dTPC4)
Posted by: Thrawn at July 07, 2013 09:55 AM (KiyII)
Posted by: another fapping moron at July 07, 2013 09:57 AM (EV3Uf)
Tammy, please tell me that you got the email this time. 
Posted by: Colorado Alex at July 07, 2013 09:57 AM (lr3d7)
Posted by: Y-not on the phone at July 07, 2013 09:58 AM (aZXYg)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 09:59 AM (2/T/u)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 10:01 AM (2/T/u)
I remember when Clancy's Sum of all Fears movie came out and people were out shilling to the press. Clancy said he didn't have a problem with the change from Arab bad guys to Nazi bad guys and that it improved the movie. Guess he changed his mind after the big cheques stopped coming in.
The Jack Reacher books are a fun read once you get past the authors kind of sloppy research as well as the fact that they are pretty well the same book over and over. He's kind of the Stephen King of the rough justice and revenge set. Haven't seen the movie so can't comment on Tom Cruise but he's a pretty good actor so I wouldn't be surprised if he did a competent job with what he had.
Posted by: scr_north at July 07, 2013 10:03 AM (Y3Avb)
Posted by: toby928© at July 07, 2013 10:05 AM (QupBk)
One of the best books dealing with the antediluvian world is called "Earth's Earliest Ages" By G.H. Pember. I think it is available in Kindle format on Amazon. Pember was a Biblical and Hebrew scholar. Others have written similar books that match Pember's worldview, including my own Kindle book: Armageddon Now: The End of Once and Future War.
Hierarchy of evil:
Highest Level is Satan and angels that fell with him in a war in heaven in some distant past. Satan and his angels are imprisoned here on earth, something like probation or in holding for final judgement. These fallen angels are called principalities and powers in Ephesians in the Bible. It is interesting that one of the names for cities is "Municipality." Cites and nations are essentially ruled by their own set of fallen angels.
Below this are Nephelim, a hybrid of humans and angels. They are usually famous, and rule over nations, industries, finances etc...think of George Soros, or the Kennedy Brothers. They always drive evil to new heights and are implacable foes to the righteous, who are usually ignorant of the depth of Satanic control of these men...think of Hitler or Stalin, or Mao...all Nephilim all disasters to humanity. Think of our current political leadership.
Below Nephilim are demons. These are the "unbodied" spirits of past unrepentant humans, and other races that fell into evil before humanity. Neither fallen angels nor Nephilim seek to possess bodies...they already have their own bodies, but demons lust to possess a body. The fear of death is the fear of being "out of the body." We were made to have physical bodies, we fear being untethered from these bodies.
Most of the activity of evil is pushed and promulgated by Nephilim, demons are a low level and most only become demon possessed because they opened themselves up to that possession by continuing in evil activity, or drugs, or alcohol, or sometimes disease etc. Think of Ted Bundy, who admitted he started having his problems after his addiction to porn.
The Bible was not about restricting our "fun." It is a book written for our instruction that there is a deadly and hostile spirit dimension that seeks our destruction. The Bible is written in code to instruct the willing on how to recognize and fight these shits that seek the destruction of all the human race.
Posted by: Jehu at July 07, 2013 10:07 AM (4CmWU)
Posted by: toby928© at July 07, 2013 10:08 AM (QupBk)
Posted by: another fapping moron at July 07, 2013 10:08 AM (EV3Uf)
Tammy,
Good to hear. Did it come from the Yahoo addy or the gmail one? Just for my future reference.
Posted by: Colorado Alex at July 07, 2013 10:09 AM (lr3d7)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 10:17 AM (2/T/u)
_Freedom's Forge_, by Arthur Herman. About how eeeeeeeeeevil and greeeeeeeeeedy American big business basically saved the world during WWII by tooling up overnight against impossible odds to crank out the arsenal of democracy.
The numbers are startling. Not the production figures from during the war, but the numbers from just *before* the war, which were minuscule. At that point in the Roosevelt New Deal economic "recovery", American industry was still basically at idle power. Factories were open but not producing much. What had to happen in order to scale them up from microproduction to megaproduction, in only a few months' time, is a huge and unappreciated American triumph.
What's frightening is that as I read the book, I said to myself over and over again, "There is NO POSSIBLE WAY that these feats of our forebears could be duplicated by the America of 2013. We'd be conquered and doomed in a comparable scenario. Absolutely guaran-fucking-teed."
Oh, and U.S. labor unions are correctly displayed as the contemptuously disloyal fuckers they are, and were. What? American fighting men are dying in combat because of not enough ammo? Well, then, that's tailor-made for us. We'll run up a strike at the ammo plant till we get what we want!
Posted by: torquewrench at July 07, 2013 10:17 AM (gqT4g)
Posted by: Tammy sans Thor at July 07, 2013 10:18 AM (2/T/u)
Posted by: Empire1 at July 07, 2013 10:21 AM (WNn0B)
Posted by: elliot at July 07, 2013 10:24 AM (8zGOf)
Posted by: Colorado Alex at July 07, 2013 10:27 AM (lr3d7)
36Lee Child is pretty much a lefty. If his bad guys aren't corporations then they are racist, right wing Americans or they are evil Republican politicians.
Yup.
Posted by: rrpjr at July 07, 2013 10:31 AM (EO6dv)
It's high space opera, and it's unswervingly utopian due to it all being in a post-scarcity universe (which initially kept me away) but his writing style and interesting characters, aliens and technology drew me in. Probably the best treatment of AI characters I've seen, involving the Culture's 'Minds' which run their ships, the ships' embodied avatars and various drones.
Posted by: Damasca at July 07, 2013 10:48 AM (zf5Ur)
Posted by: Empire1 at July 07, 2013 10:50 AM (WNn0B)
Posted by: Biff Stone at July 07, 2013 10:52 AM (itnf8)
Posted by: Vic at July 07, 2013 10:55 AM (lZvxr)
Posted by: Frank Underwood (D-SC) at July 07, 2013 11:12 AM (fscec)
Posted by: Skip Tracer at July 07, 2013 11:13 AM (2+bRt)
Posted by: Doctor Cynic at July 07, 2013 11:15 AM (xCDQi)
Mr. Scalzi, I figure this probably is you, and since you once reached so exalted a state as to produce Old Man's War, I figure you deserve an answer.
Look: The modern national Republican party is a hot mess,
If you have read this site with moderate frequency, you know that there are many here who agree with you. However, we believe that however much of a mess the Republican Party may be, the Democratic party appears to be on a willful path to put this country to ruin. I'd love an alternative to the Republican Party. The Democrats, whom you did not mention, aren't it.
a simmering pot of angry reactionaries
This is silly. "Reactionary" is a generic insult, and angry -- well, compare your average Tea Party gathering with your average leftist march for anger. I have to say, for a writer, you appear to be remarkably un-attuned to the emotional emanations of people where politics are involved.
That is not to say that there is no anger on the right, just that there is less than on the left. Politics does get people angry, because it's about using force on people.
driven by selfishness and willful ignorance,
All politicians are driven by selfishness to some extent. Consider Jesse Jackson, who professes high ideals while running a shakedown for his own benefit. Consider Al Gore, who lectures about carbon usage while consuming more himself than any dozen or so blue collar citizens. Willful ignorance? Lot of that going around. Perhaps the largest issue of our day is that the government is borrowing so much money that decline is inevitable, and collapse is possible. Can you name anyone in the Democratic Party who is taking this seriously, and acting on that conviction? I can certainly name some on the right who are.
whose guiding star is not governance but power
Say, by postponing ACA mandates for a year because there's an election on?
whose policies and practices are tuned to build an oligarchy, not nurture a democracy
Say, by handing billions in subsidies to favored donors who start up a "green" business? By handing out "waivers" from oppressive regulation to the well-connected? Politicians and bureaucrats of whatever stripe are not your friend. They are in it for themselves. The only reasonable hope to nurture a democracy is to minimize their numbers and their powers, not to delude ourselves into thinking that the Leviathan state is a good thing if only the right politicians are running it.
Its economic policies are charitably described as nonsense and its social
policies are vicious;
This is boilerplate not worthy of comment, except this one: an author should think everything through, not toss off cliched crap like this.
for a party which parades its association with
Jesus around like a fetish,
You misunderstand; I guess you just don't like Christians.
it is notably lacking in the simple
compassion of the Christ.
Find me this political party with Christlike compassion, and we'll talk. You've been conned by politicians who make noises you like.
There is so little I find good or useful in
the current national GOP, intellectually, philosophically or politically, that I genuinely look on it with despair and wonder when or if the grown-ups are ever going to come back to it.
When the Democratic Party starts showing signs of engaging with our debt crisis, or understanding what creeping government regulatory growth has done to our economy, or understanding how jobs are created, then we can talk about grown-ups.
Posted by: Splunge at July 07, 2013 11:22 AM (bKA83)
Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at July 07, 2013 11:22 AM (K2Y5N)
Posted by: Burkee at July 07, 2013 11:31 AM (PRTRA)
Sorry, but Niflheim was not the realm of the Norse giants. Niflheim was the realm ruled by Hel, goddess of the dead, where souls that did not die a valorous death went for eternity.
Legendary Norse giants hailed from Jotunheim. Loose shit.
Posted by: Brennan at July 07, 2013 11:47 AM (4JGSO)
Posted by: herr morgenholz at July 07, 2013 11:50 AM (4h2Q4)
Posted by: herr morgenholz at July 07, 2013 11:58 AM (4h2Q4)
Posted by: MarkhamShawPyle at July 07, 2013 12:02 PM (WlkUc)
Posted by: Captain Hate at July 07, 2013 12:26 PM (gKVL5)
Decided to read the first Reacher novel shortly before movie came out (found out later the movie is adapting a later novel in the series).
The author lost me early for clearly being ignorant of the things he was writing about, but I plowed through to the end. The two glaring standouts were both firearm related - i) Reacher puts a pistol & ammo into an oven to "heat" them dry after the pistol gets dunked in water (I forget how); ii) in a scene near the end Reacher is excessively concerned about a foe armed with a shotgun taking out the obligatory 'love interest' character if he fires it toward Reacher's best angle of approach, because apparently in Child's universe, a shotgun obliterates anything within about a 60 degree angle of fire.
When your character is supposed to be an ex-military guy who is both an expert sniper and also a jack of all trades with all other personal firearms, you should maybe do just a TINY bit of research, or have an editor or advisor who can do it, to tell you that you're making laughable errors.
Frankly I liked the Tom Cruise movie more than the unrelated novel, and would just as soon the change the character name and call it "Tom Cruise, Tough Little Badass" and have a field day with some popcorn-worthy action movies than worry about the Child novels.
Posted by: moronhorde minion at July 07, 2013 12:52 PM (Gt7C4)
The Jesse Stone novels are being written by the producer of the TV movies.
They. Suck.
He has no grasp of Parker's prose style; every single sentence is exactly one prepositional phrase too long, providing explanatory information Parker would never have been so insecure or contemptuous of his readers' intelligence to offer. Jesse is frankly a whiner now. I won't even touch on the idiocy of blowing off the Sunny Randall relationship before the book even starts
I think about Chapter 32 of the current (in PB) novel is where Parker passed away. This "Ace Adkins" fellow does a better job of replicating Parker's style but he's not quite there.
I don't want to see what happens with Sunny Randall or Virgil Cole, but I suspect it will be ugly.
Posted by: richard mcenroe at July 07, 2013 01:13 PM (qvify)
I thought the link and the hash and the Pixy-fied over-justification-of-the-text would make it obvious. Sorry for those misled into thinking that this status-whoring pipsqueak would dare come in here.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 01:18 PM (QTHTd)
Posted by: richard mcenroe at July 07, 2013 01:22 PM (qvify)
Posted by: Y-not at July 07, 2013 01:26 PM (5H6zj)
Oh. Got me. You do a good moonbat impression. Very authentic.
Posted by: Splunge at July 07, 2013 01:34 PM (bKA83)
Posted by: Joan at July 07, 2013 01:39 PM (31aIq)
I couldn't even picture Reacher in a scene with Tom Cruise. Or with "a" Tom Cruise.
So, no, as my own individual (and arbitrary) judgment, Cruise wasn't the best choice for Reacher. I would have picked Bea Arthur before Tom Cruise.
Posted by: bobby b at July 07, 2013 02:08 PM (raEg6)
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at July 07, 2013 05:18 PM (QTHTd)
No problem; I'm pissed as hell right now at those fuckheads at Asiana airlines and the dicknoses at SFO that let them do fucking cartwheels all over the place cancelling flights left and right; and needed a deserving outlet.
Posted by: Captain Hate at July 07, 2013 03:43 PM (gKVL5)
Posted by: Former SSG at July 07, 2013 04:58 PM (J/5jG)
Posted by: Picky at July 07, 2013 07:48 PM (RVAIQ)
Posted by: Andrew at July 08, 2013 08:51 AM (HS3dy)
Posted by: MickfromVic at July 09, 2013 02:52 AM (pHrWd)
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Still reading the series by John Ringo “Legacy of the Aldenata”. Next up will be 1491 which was recommended here by one of the Morons. .
Posted by: Vic at July 07, 2013 06:50 AM (lZvxr)