Just how bad is this book?

Fifty Shades of Grey tier

>>9794780
It's like reading Sword Art Online and Kid Spies 3D only it's worse than both of those if that's possible

very

>>9795065

All those words jut to say

>I'm a pleb

>be me, average 27-29 year old redditor
>always had average intelligence and performed as such on tests, but still considered myself an underachiever in school
>get 45-65 percentile on SATs
>get into middle of the road uni
>study mediocre degree like sociology or computer science
>always been big into video games
>get nostalgic over old PS1 games and N64 stuff or whatever
>avidly browse reddit instead of studying in college
>get mediocre grades, do a mediocre internship and graduate college
>apply for a PhD thinking I might make it
>dont get in, instead gain employment that pays 35-40k a year
>no biggie, im all cool with it
>still browse reddit all the time
>consider myself a part of the communities I frequent
>the usual: gaming, books (i love reading), todayilearned, starwars
>upvote fanart, quirky fan creations and randum xD pics

>loved rp1 because i could relate to the characters and loved the references
>"I recognize that!" , "hey! star trek!"
>find out spielburg is making a movie version of rp1
>wow I loved schindlers list and et!
>upvote the trailer to top of r/all
>go to sleep happy

>I contribute nothing to society
>I will live and die without ever appreciating art
>I will have spent most of my life playing hedonistic games
>I will never work hard
>I will never have character
>My grandchildren wont bother remembering my name after I die
>Nobody will care to remember me
>I am a redditor who loved ready player one

i fucking hate reddit

>>9795132

>be me, exceptional 27-29 year old obscure forum user
>always had well above average intelligence and performed as such on tests
>get 99th percentile on ACTs
>go to middle of the road state school
>liked video games as a teen but grew out of them in early 20s
>used to get nostalgic over N64 stuff but the nerve for sentimental feelings burned out a few years ago
>avidly browse small tight-knit community of 5-6 posters on a prophpbb forum instead of studying in college
>get mediocre grades, get an amazing internship but back out at the last minute and drop out of college
>lose school-related job and move back in with mom in a small town and can't get even a minimum wage job
>no biggie, i'm all cool with it
>still browse the prophpbb forum even though no one else has logged in for 2 years
>consider myself dead
>the unusual: linocutting, unironic prayer, suicidal ideation, existential experiments
>upvote fetish art to and console the sexually forsaken

>>9795142
>implying he will have grandkids

You're not worth reproduction faggot.

>>9794780
I thought it was fun, although it would not be out of place in the young adult section. It is a total 80's circlejerk, but this is obvious from the outset.

>>9794780
>meet qt girl at work
>she says she likes reading, asks what I'm reading
>tell her I'm trying to get through all of the divine comedy
>"oh I read that in high school."
>think maybe she's well read
>I mention someone let me borrow RP1 recently
>she tells me it's an amazing book etc. while basically shitting on Dante
I don't even know what to feel.

>>9795065
>Moorcock

>>9795151
Excellent post

>>9795132
>>9795140
>>9795151
>TFW Becoming this is my biggest fear

>>9795196
>"oh I read that in high school."

Her teacher probably had them read an excerpt from Inferno or something. That's hardly reading the Divine Comedy.

>>9795587
It's too late, you already are.

My friend gave me Ready Player One as a gift. I was planning on never touching it because I keep hearing how awful it is, but I don't want to hurt his feelings and I did appreciate the gesture. What do I do?

>>9795611
Friends are not worthy

>>9795611

>Don't have no motha fuckin friends nigga - Tupac Shakur

>>9795065
>doesn't mention Glenn branca, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, etc

this is utter corporate trash

>>9795065
>>9795071
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vGWwRF_Qc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vGWwRF_Qc

A profound statement about late capitalist cultural stagnation, though Cline probably wasn't aware of it. The book came out in 2011, its impact in our decade's culture industry is hard to overplay. The real is fading out of view, movies have become self referential pieces dealing with the consumption of reified pop culture long reduced to empty signifiers. We live in a bleak post apocalyptic wasteland, we have no future of our own and our past has been annihilated. only escape: the fading dream of the 1980s. The Reagan-Thatcher 80s marked the beginning of our current economic and cultural order. Our world keeps trying to return to its infancy.

''It's the way of the New World''

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcNkLhPcLJQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wyrwOJJtNw

>>9795065
>mastered Akalabeth
Every time

>>9794780
Toss it aside and just read Icycalm. He is a much greater spokesperson for the artform than that idiot will ever be.

>>9795766
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87E6N7ToCxs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAHprLW48no
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xv_FeBGzfk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I

10s pop culture is one of those 'what if mario was realistic' nerdy quirky relatable nostalgic awkward shareable college humor/cracked webcomics repeated again and again and again. The lego movie is the most sophisticated in the bunch and gets pretty close at times to a direct indictment of capitalism, only to backpedal at the last moment. The question is, how can we break open the black iron prison?

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>>9795853
Talk more about US foreign policy, imperialism, new urgency, new sincerity, emphasize that our best hope is slowing down our dehumanization, not stopping it.

>>9795590
yeah that's what drives me nuts. when they think they know an entire piece of fiction because
>lol I did a homework assignment on it and read a summary on the plot, my teacher told me what it's all about
it drives me nuts

>>9795874
Source on that pic? I know it's The Flintstones, but what comic?

>>9795132

>Swap PS1 for Xbox
>reddit for 4chan
>PhD for nothing

This is me.

My friend got me a copy of this, as part of a bundle of assorted joke gifts. I've never opened it, and completely forgot it's existence for years until an anon recently said "Hey, this movie has Duke Nukem in it!"
It sure did, along with as many late 20th century references one could humanly cram into a minute video. After seeing >>9795065 I think that the book is nothing but "me like when see thing I see before" covered with some generic plot about kids fighting the big, evil company by going inside of 'The Game World.'

>>9796004
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/04/05/todays-flintstones-comic-is-the-most-gut-wrenching-yet/
i... i thought it was going to be funny...

>>9796062
I think that is what it is, just slap on a smattering of some weird idpol shit at the end

>>9794780
its what 4chan thinks about reddit over 300+ pages

>>9794780

The prose is extremely mediocre, it's a young adult book and it shows in a bad way.

That said, you can sense the enthusiasm the guy had for his avalanche of 80's pop culture references, which almost makes it endearing. Not enough to save the book though.

>>9795611
Just look up some reddit posts about it and read the comments. You'll find some specific event or reference that you can mention to him.

Or just read it and appreciate your gift. I think it's pretty short and it doesn't require joggin' of the noggin.

>>9794780
imagine reading a Sword Art Online light novel filled to the brim with classic pop culture references

>>9794780
2 or 3 out of 5. you need the right headspace to like it. The plot is generic (as are the characters) all the thematic implications have been used to death and chances are you have seen better written litrpgs

>>9795071
>not using the original Japanese names
into the fire

>>9795849
Fuck off Alex

>>9795766
>>9795853
Reading these posts, and watching these trailers is existentially horrifying when you realize there is absolutely no substance in nerd culture, and any sub culture with a consumerist structure for that matter.

The 80s were fucking horrible, everything after the 50s save for that dark age is better in every conceivable way culturally.

>>9795766
Holy. Fucking. Shit. Those comments man. I nearly crushed my coffee in my hand.

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>>9795766
>most books are also generally pretty boring

I fucking hate this world and I want it to burn.

>>9797050
Alex doesn't post here. If you've noticed, he's too busy writing, maintaining multiple communities and actually playing games.

It's the same dumbass response every time though. I'd love to hear at least one good reason why any mention of him should be silenced.

>>9797186
>>9797120
the existential horror of absolute trash is the defining aesthetic experience of our age

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXVHZfI5CFU

>>9795065

How dare this trash name drop midnight oil

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>>9795142
>grandchildren
stop

>>9796004

that newer marvel one. I've heard from people I respect that it's literally one of the best comics out right now

>>9794780

I also find it bizarre that nothing new seemed to ever get produced. They only hint at reality shows. The lists of 80s thing got annoying.

I kind of don't know why they even tried to make a movie out of it. I don't think anything in the setting was original. Everything was from something else.

>>9797120
videodrome and the stallone flick are actually pretty good.

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>>9794780
> film trailer released at Comic Con in San Diego
> literally tells nothing of the narrative
> Freddie Krueger gets shot in the face
> literally Mario Kart the movie

b-bravo spielbergo??

>>9795611
I'd still read it even if it's shit, dude. Your friend clearly knows you like reading and literature but probably doesn't quite know exactly which books to go for so he probably went for a popular choice hoping it was popular because people like yourself enjoy that kind of thing.

Read it and I suppose the hard part is saying, rather that you disliked it, say the things you did like about it. It's a good friend who bothers to get you a gift and it's an even better friend who tries to get you something you might not have/might be interested in (yknow, a book). Gotta appreciate it, my dude.

>>9795590
It's like when I thought I actually read Quixote because they made us read some shitty 200 page abbreviation in high school. Only learned about my retardedness later in college.

>>9795065
He's just fucking listing off every nerd writer. I mean, fucking Neil Gaiman? His best work was Sandman and that was carried by the art.

Look at the trailer for the """film""" and stare into the eye of the dragon and despair

>>9795065
some of those authors are legitimately good

and geeky girls playing ukulele is legitimately cute

>>9795065
the sad part is it's good.

>>9794780
I read it for my dissertation.

I'd like to think that it tries to criticize escapism, nostalgiafags, and nerd culture, but ultimately I don't think it does. The protagonist gets glorified all throughout the book, and earns the respect of others *in* Oasis.

There is never that scene that makes things click like in EoE where the movie tells otaku to fuck off.

Also, the prose is shit and the protag is a sperg.

I listened to the audiobook read by Wil Weaton. I did this because I was curious like you, OP, but didn't want to waste actual reading time on it.
It is absolute redditpandering dogshit. It drops lazy pointless references to old games and TV shows but clearly doesn't know what to do with them or how to reference them in a funny or relevant manner.
The MC is also clearly an author insert Mary Sue in the most painful sense of it.

Weaton's reading of it isn't bad, but I guess that's just because it's the kind of bullshit fake "nerd culture" that's right up his alley*

*ass.

>>9795071
>Robotech
>not Macross
What a hack.

>>9797190
I want to die.

>>9796498
>That said, you can sense the enthusiasm the guy had for his avalanche of 80's pop culture references, which almost makes it endearing
This is true, it's the Taylor Swift of pop lit. Its genuine sincerity is almost enough to make it enjoyable

>>9795853
I'd say less Cracked and more X-Entertainment, Retro Crush and so on.

>>9795132
>im 22 now
>im the 4chan version of this
>laugh at displays of autism
make it stop

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Thanks to cultural decline this will probably be part of the canon in 30 years.

>>9797120
Exactly. Its just mindless consumption and bootlicking. Everyone seems to think that Star Wars was some indie flick that just happened to get noticed by the mainstream, when really it was a massive production, generated a lot of buzz in the film industry when it was in production and of course the vast commercialization of it. And yet, these morons today prop it up as a means of fighting against the tyrannical power, when in essence it is the product of said power.

Ever been to a comic-con, its just a traveling market with people in funny dress. No original thought, just copy and paste.

>>9795075
>implying Spy Kids 3D isn't classic kino

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good lebit post

>>9797120
Depends on what you mean by nerd culture, there are plenty of shows/games/films/books vaguely in that category worthy of respect at least, but lumping anime, superhero comics, video games, speculative fiction, Doctor Who, Star Trek/Wars/Gate, etc. into one big thing is inevitably going to corrode their appeal down to shallow nerd-signalling a la Loot Crate.

I suspect a good bit of said lumping is the product of conventions, which have practical incentive to expand the tent.

>>9802111
A culture of hedonism and consumption will glorify whatever the current hip thing to consume happens to be. Right now, it's "nerd culture."
The same thing is regurgitated over and over without thought to quality or merit because it's been pre-accepted. It is safe. People will buy it.

>>9802216
Of course there are things within these categories worthy of respect. The issue lies within the systemic and cultural acceptance of these things without regard to quality or criticism. It's what's in, so it's automatically good.

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I'd like to play the upcoming film in a double bill, with Ready Player One first, followed by pic.

>>9802351
ADAM CURTIS IS mediocre but presents the most beautiful artumentaries

when i had a "going into games" machine - this woulve been early 2006- i used to go into majoras mask A LOT and one of my fav things to do was fondle romani at the ranch

>>9802111
This is why I dislike "nerd culture". I feel as though there are genuine nerds out there, they are buried in a swamp of fakes who reference the most popular things. They've never watched Farscape or anything, but they can quote the most obvious shit from Star Trek, despite the fact most probably didn't see it.

Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day are the greatest examples of this for me. While they are actual nerds, I think the fact that they've wholeheartedly bought into the commodification of the culture is what makes them come off as fakes.

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>>9795065
>And, of course, Keving Smith

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>>9802351

>>9802216
Don't get me wrong, I believe there are some truly valuable literature before there legacy was raped to death by capitalistic greed, like the Golden Age comic books, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ender's Game, Ender's Game, and Dune.
>Loot Crate
It shows how little self-awareness people have, especially when they consciously identify themselves as being a part of a subculture, and not be insulted when that shit is shoved in your face. It's like the company is saying "We know you are going to buy this meaningless junk because, fuck you."
>>9802111
>Ever been to a comic-con, its just a traveling market with people in funny dress.
Thank God I have never experienced the pleasure of going to such a convention. Checked.

I've never watched the show, but I'm beginning to think The Big Bang Theory is a critique on Nerd Culture/Geekdom, especially when there are so many nerds who hate the show.

This girl I know is actually reconsidering her relationship because of how much her boyfriend loves this book.

>>9802469
You've captured the essence of the culture shift from the mid 2000s to now, beginning in about 2007 when the commodification of nerd culture really began in earnest and was shunted into mainstream consciousness.

Then, as each year passed, more and more normalfags were turned onto the culture through modern video game consoles, the endless onslaught of superhero movies, and you saw an emerging clash of culture among "old guard" nerds who found themselves being invaded by people who had a very superficial appreciation of their various hobbies, and eventually found themselves being pushed from their own spaces by these people.

If you look for it, you can still see it on occasion.

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>>9802111
i was to a anime convention with my girlfriend and the only good things there were a guy that had a kamishibai stand and the book and manga section where people would sit in a comfy circle and read. everything else was thrash as you said about comic-con.
I hate how commercialized everything is, it's one of the reasons I like literature - it isn't as so. And the aspects that are, are easy to ignore and not read the books that have "best-seller, oprah book-club" shit on them.

>>9795065
>and, of course, Kevin smith

Surely at least this line is intended to be ironic/joking

>>9795065
Jesus, he had the same taste in literature and movies that I did in middle school.

I actually physically cringed while reading that.

>>9799236
he just listed every "nerd" author

>>9795766
honestly I watch this trailer and it does absolutely nothing for me.
I mean its not like I hate action or "dumb monies" or whatever but this just seems like absolutely rubbish and even with the constant explosions has no weight to it.

have any of you ever seen the documentary Atari: game over?
Ernest Cline is in it and he is so painfully autistic and cringe inducing.

>>9795140
>>loved rp1
>>find out Spielberg is making a movie version
>>wow I loved Schindler's List

This made me laugh out loud.

>>9799636
I'm doing this right now. I'm unfamiliar with Wheaton but this is physically painful for me.

>>9802111
This, the only thing to do is just browsing the stalls and seeing if there is anything interesting (there usually isn't)

>>9797319
Alex never stops shitposting his crap here, you can tell because evey post is in holy reverance to his "genius", it's sad

>>9803600
Or maybe that's because his writing resonates with people who are a bit cultish to begin with. Regardless, I find his perspective way more advanced than Cline's. I don't learn anything from Cline's convenient agreeableness and I find it less agreeable as a result.

holy shit this >>9795065
is nothing compared to http://www.ernestcline.com/spokenword/npa.htm

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>>9803804
>You can have the whole cheerleading squad,
I want the girl in the tweed skirt and the horn-rimmed glasses:
Betty Finnebowski, the valedictorian.
Oh yes.
First I want to copy her Trig homework,
and then I want to make mad, passionate love to her
for hours and hours
until she reluctantly asks if we can stop
because she doesn't want to miss Battlestar Galactica.
Summa cum laude, baby!
That is what I call erotic.

>>9794780
I read it twice, and read Armada as well. It's pretty terrible, but quite fun if you can get into the Gen X nostalgia-fest. (I am Gen X, and addicted to nostalgia.)

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>>9804024
Please leave.

>>9804044
Why? My age? My self-professed "addiction"?

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>>9804074
dont care abt what u are as long as you leave this board it's for patricians sorry

>>9804082
>dont
>abt
>u
>patrician

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>>9804089
>not realizing the basic grammar is only 2 stress my apathy towards u

JUST GO

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Has anyone else had the joy of reading Cline's poetry?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF67Mm0l4Pw

>>9803188
To me, the worst part is seeing members of the old guard also buy into the commodification. I remember this one comic talking about not being "toxic" and it was some Tumblr bullshit, but what stuck out to me was the guy saying that they're nerds and should be held to a higher standard or something.

I can't describe why, but part of that right there is why I hate "nerd culture".

Cline's book shows a lot of things to me that say he doesn't want to have an independent opinion on certain aspects of nerd culture and that he only uses it superficially.

He throws in so many references that you're guaranteed to know at least one thing he's talking about and he just says how great they are. He doesn't touch upon the actual works, just that they happened and that they were awesome because he knows that someone else reading it will think it's great. But how many of the people reading RPO will have read Gibson, Vance or Moorcock?

In a way, they're not even references. He's just throwing shit into the void, knowing something will inevitably stick and the few references he does make are extraordinarily easy and basic.

This has been a Hell of a rambling mess.

>>9802216
loot crate is proof of the religious nature of commodity fetishism. unboxing is a pagan commodity worship ritual. holy shit they aren't even trying to hide it anymore.

>>9795065
>having enough time and patience to read that many books
>spend it all reading literal plebbit tier bullshit

>>9794780
It's basically this song

https://youtu.be/4WgT9gy4zQA

>>9795196
Women have no conception of quality

>>9799228
>I mean, fucking Neil Gaiman? His best work was Sandman and that was carried by the art.

You know anon, you don't HAVE to post, it's ok if you haven't read what those people made.

>>9804155
His porn poem has been blowing up, honestly I wonder if the whole blonde bimbo thing was ever an accurate portrayal of porn. It's definitely a nonsensical characterization in the age of doujin's and VN's for story-driven porn and just looking up clips otherwise.

>>9804190
>In a way, they're not even references. He's just throwing shit into the void, knowing something will inevitably stick and the few references he does make are extraordinarily easy and basic.

This, he's not even any good at the nostalgia-wanking, threads about old vidya ads or Scholastic book fair material genuinely do a much better job of exploring and evoking the ways in which bygone eras and their ephemera become mental temples of sorts. Or vaporwave, it may be a meme but the occasional longing for Crystal Pepsi it induces is well ahead of RPO.

>>9795065
>>9795071
>western literature

I read it.

It was references all the way down.

I do have to say though, I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like the book. Especially people who are under the age of 30 and didn't grow up with the material.

Although, to be completely fair, it actually had a story and wasn't just reference after reference after reference. The virtual world was expanded upon, the real world was painted as falling apart garbage, and there were other positive elements.

I still don't recommend it though because it did a major sin to me and put romance into the story and it pisses me off to no end when people cram that bullshit into a story that completely doesn't need it.

Cline is a modern joyce

>>9804931
The problem is that it's that it's a fucking list of shit from the 80's and 90's. The real references, like when he says "Set Phasers to stun", or something along those lines, they're the most easy to get.

He mentions Evangelion, but he only says that someone used one of the "mechs" from it (IIRC no one even called them that in the show) but doesn't bother saying which Eva Unit it was. While you can argue he's letting the reader decide, it's still very vague.

A better reference would be something along the lines of wishing that the Eva user doesn't crush him in his hands, or wonder how he feels about orange tang. Something more specific than just fucking listing off movies, TV, video games and authors.

>finish Shogun
>tell bro "man what if someone had Clavell's knowledge of a specific culture and ability to keep the reader engaged but totally sucked shit at plotting and character development"
>bro looks at me with a smile already holding Ready Player One

I mean the book wasn't that bad, it did feel like a c-tier version of a Clavell book though.

>>9797383
>marvel
"no"

>>9795065
> you could say I covered all the bases

Is this actually just an ingenius critique of the modern numale condition?

>>9795151
>be me, 23-27 year old chronically depressed /lit/ and /mu/ user
>get 99th percentile on reading and writing of ACTs and SATs but 54th percentile for math and science
>get into tiny liberal arts school then transfer around different state schools
>study useless degrees, starting with music, then linguistics, then settle on Spanish because I tested out of half the classes and transferring three times slowed me down
>get nostalgic over music and spend all my money buying records
>start smoking too much weed and avidly watching Venture Bros and listening to Oneohtrix Point Never instead of studying in college
>get mediocre grades the first two years of college, but GPA reset after each college transfer, ending with an almost perfect GPA
>apply for grad school to study English thinking I might like to read more Zizek and Derrida
>get in, letting me not have to look for a real job for another two years
>im pretty cool with it.
>still smoke weed and watch cartoons
>start to make friends and feel like a member of academic community
>finish program, realize I don't want to apply for any PhD programs and have to look for a real job for the first time in my life
>stop smoking weed
>realize I don't know how to talk to people who aren't argumentative grad students
>hardly any marketable skills with an MA
>start playing pickup sports to try being a normal person and making regular friends
>get some soccer buddies but only really hang out while playing soccer
>no clue what I'm doing in the real world, but don't want to do a PhD
>bored with stoner cartoons and don't want to start smoking weed again
>not sure how to entertain myself while I wait to find jobs
>just really bored all the time, but not depressed like during college at least

>>9802111
When I was a little kid, I pretty much just watched Star Wars movies, played Mega Man video games, and played pretend Star Wars and Mega Man with my neighborhood friends. It was great. We had elaborate (to an eight-year old) imagined universes where all of these universes crossed over, and it was great.

Then I moved away, and I missed my old friends. I assumed the best way to make new friends was to find other kids that liked Star Wars and Mega Man, but most of the other kids didn't, or not as much as me, and the one family of kids that did like Mega Man in my new neighborhood were assholes.

I spent a lot of time not having friends after my family moved but also not knowing how to make friends. I assumed that I liked my friends because we liked the same things, the same "nerd culture" artifacts, but we all liked the same things because we were always hanging out and sharing our interests. After spending enough time feeling lonely as a kid because I couldn't find other friends with the same interests, I finally realized that I could just make friends with people with other interests and learn to like other things too, that the most important thing to do was to make friends with supportive, good people.

I suspect that "nerd culture" has become so popular now, because I suspect a lot of kids fell into the same trap that I did, where they mistake their interests for the reason why they liked their childhood friends. The internet facilitates the possibility of meeting other people that like the things you like, so whether you associate the nerdy things from your childhood with your friends, or if your consumption of these nerdy things filled the gap you had because you never had friends, you can go to events and talk online to other people and feel like you have some sort of shorthand that should make you like the other people around.

I think this gets vapid, but it can also be exciting sometimes. It's easy to assume that you and another person shared some sort of personal childhood experience even if you never met before. I remember getting really excited in college when I found out a friend of a friend was also anticipating the release of Mega Man Legends 3. We gushed about how we couldn't wait for it to come out. I remember I ascribed a lot of sentimental value to this game, and I got pretty bummed out when it was canceled, but looking back, it's pretty silly that I did. The Mega Man Legends series wasn't even that good of a series of games. I just happened to play it during some formative years as a little kid with some of my best friends.

I'm not trying to defend "nerd culture." Despite the convenient shorthand it serves for folks that might feel above average levels of social anxiety, it can become super vapid. I don't remember exactly when it was, but at some point in college I got really tired of meeting people that liked the same things that I liked when I was a little kid.

Someone link him this thread on twitter so he realizes how big of a pseud he is.

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>>9803804
>http://www.ernestcline.com/spokenword/npa.htm
>Guys who know that the sexiest thing in the world
is a woman who is smarter than you are.

>>9807002
Why do you think he thinks he's some kind of intellectual? Not everyone is as deluded as /lit/

>>9806945

holy fuck just do your phd faggot what the fuck

I have the audiobook of this,and watched the movie trailer in wonder...it reminded me what Peter Jackson did with the Ents storming Isengard:took a literal dinner conversation from the book and made it an extravaganza out of it. But in this case it took an army of visionaries to give this shoddy masturbatory fluff of a book any weight or resonance. A few million dollars wasted in CGI to render a Lich playing Joust? A recreation of a mediocre movie from the 80s having to be played through as a puzzle? Grown adults having to earn gold and experience points just to move around the severs of the "only game in town"? Was there no other more i teresting work of fiction to toss such money,attention and effort to realize as a blockbuster?

>>9795065
>of course, Kevin Smith
>Phasers locked on target.
Someone please kill this faggot before he writes anything else.

>>9807256
This. I've seen him speak a couple of times. Whatever his flaws, he's a pretty humble guy.

>>9807614
Too late, he already wrote another garbage "muh nostalgia"-laden Last Starfighter ripoff that's been optioned for a film

>>9799174
This happened to me with moby dick!!! I just couldnt understand how anyone would be impressed by that lame book... Until I realized that the real versión has 400pages more than the one I read.

I cant believe those summary books dont start with a huge dsclaimer explaining that you are going to read a mutilated versión of the original.

>>9803160
>I'm beginning to think The Big Bang Theory is a critique on Nerd Culture/Geekdom
It isn't, it's mindless entertainment that doesn't have any sort of message. It pokes fun at nerd culture but it also celebrates it.

>>9803160
>I've never watched the show, but I'm beginning to think The Big Bang Theory is a critique on Nerd Culture/Geekdom, especially when there are so many nerds who hate the show.
You couldn't be farther from the truth. Those nerds who hate the show are actually sufficiently enlightened to see it for what it is. I know some people who unironically like it.

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>>9795590
lol I read parts of Inferno in high school, thought it was pretty brutal but I didn't get why it was important (tips fedora). Every new day I'll realize how much of a pleb I was the previous day, here's hoping it never ends.

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>>9799623
What part of EoE tells otaku to fuck off? The scene with the IRL fans? Genuine question

>>9794780
as soon as a gay hispanic recommended this to me i knew it was cancer

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>>9795065
This is pure cancer manifested through text

>>9795071
The word "anime" is printed in a best selling novel that was adapted by Steven Spielberg.

What a time to be alive.

>>9807001
+1 desu

>>9809085
>doesn't even call it japanimation

Absolutely disgusting

I just read it.

It mistakes naming things for actualy refernces.
The plot exists mainly to drop a lot of names and then immediately explain everything about them

after the first 80 pages the book turns into a shittier hunger games.

In the ending the stalker boy protagonist gets the girl.

It is utter garbage

BUT

It at least showed me how I never want to be.
I never want to be someone who namedrops things to feel cool, I never want to be someone who likes this book, I never want to be someone who fetishes a timeperiod.

AND

The book states that Tolkien invented Elvish for Lotr, which is of course, obviously, not ture *snicker*

>>9808854
That and the end

http://www.somethingawful.com/news/porn-poem-nerd/

Le LOL?

>>9809221
I thought the proverbial middle finger was Shinji masturbating over Asuka's comatose body.

>>9797341
agreed

>>9808854

Eva is a basic coming of age story ending in maturation. No one liked that because "muh robots" so EoE is an ending where everyone wallows in the the most childish parts of themselves but with LOTS of sweet robots and punching and pointlessly complex plot and religious symbols so you know it is SUPER deep. In the end Shinji is the otaku, alone forever with nothing but a lifeless doll and an endless expanse of time because they refuse to grow up.

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>>9805697
ah, yes. Ulysses reads just like Ready Player One:

When it came to my research, I never took any shortcuts. Over the past forty years, I'd worked my way down the entire western canon. Plato. Aristotle. Cicero. Livy. Herodotus. Augustine. Aquinas. Dante. Did I mention the Sumerians? I read every novel in order to be on Shakespeare's plateau, though I'm fully self-aware insofar as Shakespeare's genius being a shade of mystery.

And but so I didn't stop there.

I also read ever single book throughout every archaic library I could find. If it might have made me the greatest writer since Shakespeare, something like Yeats's Collected Poems, Goethe's ouvre, Plutarch, re-reading Aristotle for the fiftieth time because of my Jesuit education, then I re-read it until I knew every line by heart.

I devoured each of what is genuinely referred to as a canonical book: Gilgamesh (in the original Sumerian), The New Testament, Hesiod, the Greek tragedians, and Aristophanes (in The Frogs he preferred to pretend that Euripides wasn't a good a playwright as Aeschylus or Sophocles. I tended to agree [by the way: kekekek!])

I also absorbed the complete collections of every great author before my time. Ovid, Homer, Virgil, Martial, Seneca, Marlowe, Petrarch, Kyd, Hobbes. And, of course, Kevin Smith.

I spent three months studying every book of the Old Testament and memorizing all the times a female character might have shit her pants.

"Genesis 25:1 - Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah."

You could say I covered all the bases.

>>9795065
Why is this allowed to exist

>>9795132
>tfw you have successfully steered away from this path

The main reason it is liked is because of all those silly references. It makes people think they're in on the joke and super cool and nerdy. It's also typical wish fulfillment.
It's very badly written. The plot is shit, the characters are shit, the references get annoying. There is a scene were mainguy says something to mean bully and the whole hallway claps.

>>9810128
that's not correct

>>9807793
No one can write Ready Player One and send it off to an editor and not be arrogant. Think of the trees killed for this shit.

>>9809085
how fucking out of touch are you to not have noticed anime becoming completely mainstream in the last five years

It seems no one under 35 can see the beauty of this book. OP, don't ask anons what to read, watch or listen to. Art is subjective, anyone who judges other artists so harshly, has never done or created anything of any worth in this life.

>>9796810
Kek

>>9807292
If I do it now I'll have a shitty dissertation because I don't have a plan yet plus I don't know maybe I want to have a stable income and maybe a family some day and not get stuck in adjunct hell forever.

>>9797250
She's not wrong. Most books are pretty boring, including, as she implies, Ready Player One.

>>9794780
I've read greentext stories on /mlp/ that are of higher quality.

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>>9809294
>I can't get off to that because I respect women too much, even when they're FUCKING VAPID BITCHES WHO HAVE SEX WITH JOCKS.

>>9810948
>Art is subjective, anyone who judges other artists so harshly, has never done or created anything of any worth in this life.
Sorites paradox, Gen x retard. You have to draw the line between what is and isn't art somewhere.

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>>9797120 here. Fuck you guys! I was at Old Navy the other day buying clothes. When I looked at the t-shirts, all I saw was disgust. It was all Star Wars, capeshit, and meme slogans. I am literally this close to selling all of my vidya, and nerd memorabilia, and buy a Bible and some of Plato's works.

>>9795611
374 pages of YA trash can be read really fast

>>9795766
LMAO is just Tron reimagined

>>9808854
The end of the series affirms human relationships rather than engaging in some perpetual escape

>>9808843

I also read Dante in HS (the entire thing, not just parts) but I thought it was boring.

I think my professor had a great taste, but my HS just wasn't ready to truly absorb such a work without understanding all of its themes.

And now I sweat everytime I think about rereading Inferno because of the pain it was to read it with 14 years old.

(I do remember the demons playing trumpets with their asses though, we used to draw that all the time heh.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5vmHjJ7LYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CknjDqOeRnU

>>9813167
>he's even a slam poet

Damn, this guy is talented