Unpopular opinions

[joost]

I really like both Firefly and Serenity.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Recently watched the Matrix movies again, and I stand by my assessment. The first film is brilliant. And although it's not quite as good, I find much to like in Reloaded. Revolutions is crap. I liked the beginning and the end, but the huge section in the middle in which Zion is besieged? Horrible.

['thul]

the latter two movies had several good points, but they did have the feel of something "missing"...

[joost]

What's missing in the second and third Matrix movie? Grant Morrison. The first movie was heavily influenced by The invisibles, the second and third weren't.

[danieladamsmith]

I'm afraid the ZION rave scene ruined the Matrix sequels....

SO...what sacred cows should I slay today?

Fiction


First of all I think Martin's Song of Ice and Fire is actually overrated. I find the narrative a bit tedious. I admire the fact that he'll kill any character and that is truly brave but those books just don't do anything for me. I read the first 4 on a recommendation from a friend and it got very plodding for me.
Having said that. I do think making a show from it might win me over more. It will reduce the plod of the narrative and move it along. I won't be surprised if I like the series. Besides Fantasy is really a desert in the visual arts. I think there are a dozen novels that would make a great series...

I also felt that Williams' Memory, Sorrow & Thorn is a bit overrated as well. There are elements I like but as a whole I felt let down...and bogged down in a lot of fantasy cliches. I like the Native American Metaphors in it but...as a whole...thumbs down.


I think that the term "literature" is totally loaded. Dickens was like a Stephen King of his day but add 100 years and now it's literature. It's a word designed by and used by snobs. Why aren't Tolkein, Rothfuss, Robin Hobb or Frank Herbert considered Literature?

Music

Coldplay must be the most boring band ever. Usually when someone doesn't like a style of music they tend to say it all sounds the same. Now I am musician and a songwriter and I have a wide and diverse taste and I do usually hate the sounds the same moniker. From Beethoven to Bowie, From Patsy Cline to Pere Ubu, From Johnny Rotten to Johnny Mathis I like them all...but Coldplay's music REALLY does all sound the same.

Red Hot Chili Peppers Can't stand them and he can't sing. They have a great bassist and a guitarist but really....horrible!!!

Lady Gaga
Now I'm not sure if this is a popular or unpopular opinion. I think her visual presentation while not unique (See Breaking Glass with Hazel O'Conner) is the only part of her that is significant. Her music is really pedestrian. It's just SCI-FI Britney Spears...and not even the good Spears tunes...She actually should check out HAZEL O'CONNERS music as well....There's nothing dangerous about Gaga's music.

FILM

Well any film with Gweneth Paltrow is by definition overrated.
While I love Jaws and Close Encounters I think everything else Spielberg has done doesn't rate.
I think Clerks by Kevin Smith stinks.

I think Soderbergh's version of Solaris is better than Tarkovsky's...that's film school heresy. (I went to film school)

Things in General

American Football
Well I grew up playing and watching American football but after moving to Austria 8 years ago the NFL is snooze...snooze.....According to a media study there are about 11 minutes of actual action in a game that takes 3 1/2 hours to watch on a good day....It's just an excuse to run advertising. Time outs, TV time outs...We ought to make the NFL or American Football
let the clock run like in soccer. Don't stop it every 30 seconds.
People can say what they want about soccer but the action never stops and there are only a few small chances in an entire game to win and most of the time you don't use those chances or take advantage of them. It's like life...


Breasts are overrated. If you have big ones good for you but most of the women I have fallen in love with didn't and don't...hasn't changed a single thing.

Making a lot of money. I worked jobs as a media/branding consultant for years and made tons of money. I now work as an English teacher for low income and unemployed people in Austria and I sleep a lot better at night and work less.

['thul]

There are indeed many books that would make excellent movies/series. The biggest problem is the risk of adaption decay...

Where books can focus on thoughts, movies/series have to focus more on the action. That is one side of the common decay.

Books can have worlds that are more complex than anything possible in this world, and distances are often vast. Movies/series often fail to convey these properly and the world is shrunken to something that is no longer the world of that book. (example: Eragon Dwarven city that was 16,000m tall mountain became only about 1-2000m tall.)

[FoolishGirl]

There are indeed many books that would make excellent movies/series. The biggest problem is the risk of adaption decay...

Where books can focus on thoughts, movies/series have to focus more on the action. That is one side of the common decay.

I have often thought the RH's books, especially Farseer sextet, would be impossible to adapt to film. How can you depict Skilling? The Wit bond? Conversations that take place mind-to-mind wouldn't translate well.

[Farseer]

SO...what sacred cows should I slay today?

Slay away! I didn't see anything I would disagree with you on. Well said!

I would hate to see a movie adaptation of any RH books...it would be too limiting, like defining the universe in a snapshot of stars.

[danieladamsmith]

There are indeed many books that would make excellent movies/series. The biggest problem is the risk of adaption decay...

Where books can focus on thoughts, movies/series have to focus more on the action. That is one side of the common decay.

Books can have worlds that are more complex than anything possible in this world, and distances are often vast. Movies/series often fail to convey these properly and the world is shrunken to something that is no longer the world of that book. (example: Eragon Dwarven city that was 16,000m tall mountain became only about 1-2000m tall.)

SO...what sacred cows should I slay today?

Slay away! I didn't see anything I would disagree with you on. Well said!

I would hate to see a movie adaptation of any RH books...it would be too limiting, like defining the universe in a snapshot of stars.

Farseer as I wrote on another thread. I think a cable TV series is the only way to go with Fantasy, Speculative Fiction etc...40,50,60 hours to tell a story but the problem is that we aren't a big enough audience to drive the stations to invest in. I am still really shocked that HBO is doing Game of Thrones. I hope the ratings are good and some other channels follow suit.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I think that the term "literature" is totally loaded. Dickens was like a Stephen King of his day but add 100 years and now it's literature. It's a word designed by and used by snobs. Why aren't Tolkein, Rothfuss, Robin Hobb or Frank Herbert considered Literature?

Amen to that. My usual reply when talking about literature is "I don't know what makes a book literary, I just know that some books touch me and others don't." This is why I think most of Dutch literature doesn't appeal to me - it always feels to me like those writers are too self-consciously trying to be literary.

As for film / tv series adaptations: they can be done right, but even so I wish they didn't get made, because they have the tendency to overshadow the books. I, Claudius. Jurassic Park. The Godfather. The Neverending Story. Many, many Disney films. The books are still being read, but the films are vastly better known. In fact, I haven't read most of them, and having seen the adaptations, I am somehow less likely to seek them out. And it is really difficult to explain why the book The Neverending Story has stolen my heart when all most other are aware of is the inferior movie.