Orlion Blight

I would argue (quite controversially) that Brandon's writing has never been bold! (le gasp!)

I'll also follow that up with saying what is most bold about Brandon is the idea of a series of interconnected series, and pretty much starting out from that idea instead of stumbling into it. 

But to your point: Mistborn, being a trilogy for its first completed arch, is denser in impactful moments, and you see the results of those moments sooner. 

Stormlight is going to be 5 books for its first completed arch (not to mention the books are longer). Add to this other aspects of its structure, and instead of the straightforward storytelling of Mistborn, you get a more meandering one with Stormlight that involves art, notes, letters, side prose narratives along with the main storyline. 

There's also the complaint I've heard from others IRL that it seems you have to be Cosmere aware to enjoy Stormlight the further we get into it. Think of how bold that is: to appreciate Stormlight, you HAVE to understand the Cosmere wide frame of reference and its place in it.

For Mistborn, you just read the three books and you will be content with the resolution even if you never pick up another Sanderson book again. 

And lest we forget, Elantris is also an early Brandon work and would not really be considered bold by your or mine definition of the word. 

12 hours ago, Invocation said:

Especially once things go truly off the rails

My grandmother famously advised me to read the first book and pretend the others never happened. 

No, you shouldn't read Dune. You should let the old people talk amongst themselves of how good it is and surely THIS time there will be a good movie adaptation. 

The thing with most sci-fi fantasy classics, it's really not essential reading and more modern books are waaaay better. If you are enjoying it so far continue with it. Otherwise, pop culture references are easy to understand and deploy without reading it.

On 9/20/2021 at 6:27 PM, Briar King said:

Has anyone read Ayn Rand? I’m getting her name brought up a lot on YouTube the last 2 days.

Ayn Rand is good if you like getting lectured for hundreds of pages on how being selfless is wrong and selfish is actually good (see her book,  The Virtue of Selfishness, which a huge chunk of is her quoting another of her books Atlas Shrugged).

So it's kinda like Robert Heinlein with less imagination. And like Heinlein, if you haven't read her before you left college, you've likely missed your window. 

22 minutes ago, Nameless said:

Well, I got my wisdom teeth out, and it hasn't been too bad so far. The numbing is finally wearing off, and my face hasn't turned too many different colors yet. Of course, I'll probably be eating my words once the numbing finishes wearing off and my jaw starts hurting worse.

It's a crap shoot, but for me I was able to get away with just some advil the night of my operation and soft foods for a couple days. 

Hope your experience is similar! 

@Hoiditthroughthegrapevine Procol Harum has one of my favorite live performances! 

15 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Yeah, I started getting that impression as my mind cooled off (my original post were just raw unprocessed thoughts like two minutes after watching it). Like, the message is too positive and well conveyed. And you're right, it feels like a power-charged version of EoE's message.

And I can definitely see the memes coming. Still recently, half the comments I found about the Rebuilds online were people being condescending and completely convinced that the entire saga was Anno pointing and laughing at weebs and that a happy ending was factually impossible. 

I did also read a little comment from Anno about the movie and he seems to genuinely hope that people enjoy it. He's probably happy with the result. 

I get that, and your comments certainly were not out of line. They were actually much better than what we get from the meme culture surrounding Evangelion! 

As you mentioned, there's this persistent idea that Anno makes the characters in Evangelion in order to own the weeaboo nerds that could not accept his happy first ending to the series. And though that makes for fun jokes and memes, it also distorted his intentions to many and kinda assassinates his character. He seems like an anxiety-riddled sweetheart to me! 

And of course, the fandom is bizarre. It is both welcoming in the "shared trauma" kinda way but can be somewhat exclusionary over the silliest things. 

On 8/27/2021 at 1:25 AM, Eluvianii said:

I finally got to watch Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0. It's, extremely difficult to describe how this feels. 

The first movie was actually what triggered my becoming an anime fan, after it made me watch the series, fittingly back in 2015.

That story had several endings. The show, the original movie, the manga. All were great and they definitely worked but they had a thing in common. There were always things you expected to see, or things you thought would have been necessary to move the plot, that never actually happened. Then the Rebuilds came promising yet one more. 

3.0 + 1.0 did just about all the things I ever expected to see in this story. The level of closure it has is unreal. Plot threads that were always left hanging were finished. Characters that previously would have died with unresolved issues now get a worthy ending or a chance for a new beginning. 

Some of the biggest and more ambitious theories were confirmed, and I bet a lot more were completely squashed. The only thing I predicted

  Hide contents

That the hope Shinji would find, as announced in the preview back in the third movie, would involve finding his previous classmates alive and well, and Toji and Hikari having a kid. 

was confirmed, which I'm childishly happy about. 

The movie surely has problems, a continuity issue or two no doubt, but at the moment I can't see them. To me, this movie was impossibly good, and I don't think a wait has ever been more worth it than this one. 

It was hopeful, uplifting, happy, which are words I never thought I would describe Evangelion as. 

A thing I like in fiction is when an ending is extremely happy, but the characters have been through so much, you know it's well deserved. Well, for me, this movie is exactly that. After the show, after the manga, after the last movies even, this is the kind of ending this characters deserve. I've heard Anno was tired of this franchise. Maybe he just gave us this movie so that we would be satisfied and he could leave it in the past. If that's the case, I'm grateful. I don't really know how he feels about this after so much, but this was the perfect way to send this story off and I feel more satisfied than I'll feel again in a long time. 

Wooo! Finally had time to watch it! My main comment will be that rumors of Anno's hatred or contempt for the series and/or anime and its fans are and were overblown. You do not spend that much time and energy to craft such a good movie to say, "grow up, nerds".

I feel what's closer to the truth is that Anno was frustrated that his message didn't come across clearly in previous iterations, due to budget constraints with the original TV series, people focusing on that one scene that got some choked up in End of Evangelion, or just its immense iconic and bankable status. Throughout the movies, you could see choices being made that made his message clearer than it ever has been, even though it hasn't changed much. 

I hope he's proud of what he did. And I look forward to the future meme wars of which ending is better 

On 8/22/2021 at 6:08 AM, Hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

It's bad form, I know, to double post, unless you are doing a great public service.

This is, without equivocation, the best song ever made.

You're welcome.

I send this challenge out to the Shardesphere, prove me wrong and post a better song.

I accept your challenge!

2 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Totally not going to play this at birthday parties to people who know nothing about it . 

Sounds to me like a popping party! 

And a popping party deserves a popping drink! 

21 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Finished my Neon Genesis Evangelion rewatch, along with the movie. I let this thing simmer in my head for 6 years and I still don't think I was ready to do it again. It actually was a difficult watch at times.

It's also kind of funny. The first time I watched the last two episodes they quickly became white noise in my head, while EoE played the part of the memorable ending. This time though, while I love the movie, I feel like it was a skeleton where the actual content was in those two episodes. The movie has a lot to tell, yes, but without the psychological trip beforehand it would feel a lot more confusing and rushed. Just like those episodes feel if you haven't watched the movie so I guess they go perfect together.

Another thing I'm surprised about is how positive it all is in the end, considering I convinced myself at the time that it was the most depressing thing I'd ever watched, and therefore the greatest. Oh sweet edge. Episode 25 and most of episode 26 feel hopeless but they're part of the journey to reach an actually very satisfying conclusion, makes you hopeful for the future. The movie is exactly the same except then there's the last scene. I still have a hard time understanding the last scene.

Also, can't believe I didn't like the vocal version of Thanatos and Komm, Süser Tod enough to look them up back then, they're both amazing songs.

On to the rebuilds now.

Honestly, the ideal situation would be to have the final tv episodes and End of Evangelion combined. I understand they probably couldn't do it at the time, but that's not going to stop me from wishing for it!

Also, I feel the Third Impact was best made with a movie budget/screen in mind. 

Also, you can't have a party without Komm Süser Tod!

14 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Well, I feel safer now. 

Though, what do you mean it insists on itself? 

It's a reference to this scene from Family Guy 

7 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Watched Blade Runner 2049. Holy storms that was something. Is it sacrilege if I say I liked this much, much more than the first one? 

I mean, I love the first one, but this was on a league of its own. It also manages to be both more tragic and more hopeful.

I won't be getting over this movie anytime soon. 

I think it's more sacrilegious to say the first one sucked. 

Like I do. I don't much care for it, it insists on itself. 

36 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

. THAT BEING SAID, Marvel runs a tight ship with their releases, and they've probably timed this to run right into Ms. Marvel or The Mandalorian or whatever comes out next, so it make sense why they didn't go with that format.

 

Unfortunately (for me, anyway! ) it looks like Hawkeye will be the next TV show and my favorite Jersey hero won't get her premiere until next year! *sob!*

I feel that if they were just going to do a condensed version of the first Captain America movie but with Peggy Carter as the super soldier...maybe the shouldn't have bothered? 

I mean, I get it. The spirit of the What If...? comics were essentially a weird combination of fan service and fan fiction. The thing is, if you aren't attached to the character/ events, it's not that interesting.

I'll certainly watch the others, it's quite possible those will interest me! This first episode though was just something of a "meh" to me. 

4 minutes ago, Spren of Kindness said:

Finished the last episode of Season One of Star Wars: The Bad Batch.  All in all, I enjoyed it.  I'm not as invested as some people I've seen, but I think it was good, and I'm excited to watch the next season with my family.

It's a fun show. Like you, I'm not sure how "invested" I am, but it's been a highlight of Fridays for me. 

1 hour ago, Eluvianii said:

Currently crying because Evangelion 3.0+1.0 comes out today, but I started my rewatch late so while everyone is happy watching the movie I'll be watching episode 7 of the show. 

Boy, I feel ya. 

But you're doing the right thing! 

4 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Yeah the one ported from 3ds. 

Ah, I see! I was thinking Monster Hunter Rise! 

If they ported Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, I would get a Switch! Generations was fun as well. 

8 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

It is? I kind of remember hearing it was one of the bigger ones. Anniversary game and all that. 

It's the Switch game, right? 

3 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Unlocked high-rank village quests in MHGU. Considering the meat of the game is supposed to be high-rank and g-rank I guess I just finished the tutorial? And it took 70 hours. And I haven't even started guild low-rank.... 

This game is big. 

And that's one of the smaller entries! 

6 hours ago, Spren of Kindness said:

Finished Crossroads of Twilight!  Overall, positive feelings.  Next up, a stack of sci-fi and natural disaster/survival fiction, and I expect Knife of Dreams pretty soon.  At this rate, I just might be able to finish the series by mid-September.

That's good to hear. I always suspected fans are harder on a series as it's going on then it may deserve. 

I know! I'll finish Amphibia Season 2 in this public place! That's a great idea to pass the time! 

12 hours ago, Jaywalk said:

How about that Bad Batch though?

Aside from that one episode that barely featured the Bad Batch, it's been very enjoyable! 

I don't know if they'll survive, though! 

1 hour ago, Spren of Kindness said:

About to start Crossroads of Twilight!  I've hit the double digits of WOT, which for some reason feels like an accomplishment.

Good luck! That's where I stopped due to life happening. 

From what I heard, it is the weakest, buuuut important stuff still happens in it.