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jwhouk wrote:Can we agree that Dune is rubbish?

Is there any argument? It IS rubbish

jwhouk wrote:Can we agree that Dune is rubbish?

Which one?

Aw hell... they were all rubbish of varying degrees. Comes of trying to turn a book that thick into a movie. About the only point I can reference with honor is the phrase 'My Brother Comes!' in that sing-song sociopathic tone of voice from a little girl. It's a shame, some of my favorite quotes were from that book. Also, some of my favorite parodies.

"I will not brew decaf. Decaf is the mind-killer. Decaf is the little-sleep that leads to total oblivion. I will brew my beverages, and allow them to flow through me. And in the end, I shall remain... alert."

jwhouk wrote:Can we agree that Dune is rubbish?

I liked the first couple books (not the movie). Unfortunately, after that Herbert rose into that realm where nobody dared edit him...

... I swear, if I ever get to that point I'll invent a new pen name, just so I can get a friggin' competent editor.

Because I've seen at least a half-dozen of my favorite authors reach that realm, and EVERY ONE OF THEM SUCKED AFTERWARD.

Warrl wrote:

jwhouk wrote:Can we agree that Dune is rubbish?

I liked the first couple books (not the movie). Unfortunately, after that Herbert rose into that realm where nobody dared edit him...

... I swear, if I ever get to that point I'll invent a new pen name, just so I can get a friggin' competent editor.

Because I've seen at least a half-dozen of my favorite authors reach that realm, and EVERY ONE OF THEM SUCKED AFTERWARD.

Why don't the authors tell the editors to not be afraid and just go ahead and edit them? Being edited can occasionally be annoying, but in the end it tends to work out rather well.

Or is it a situation where editors will flat-out refuse? Why would they do that? The money's good, especially if they're editing some great author whose books sell like hotcakes.

People are kinda stupid sometimes, ya know?

Warrl wrote: Because I've seen at least a half-dozen of my favorite authors reach that realm, and EVERY ONE OF THEM SUCKED AFTERWARD.

Heinlein. When he had good editors he was GREAT.

I used to spend weekends with my "sis" in a huge pillow fort, drinking lightly boozy ice cream oreo milkshakes, eating pizza, and watching terrible old movies.

Some stand the test of time better than others, which is why they are classics. The rest are still to show them kids what we grew up on.

My son has seen Labyrinth, Legend, The Dark Crystal The Princess Bride. He has seen all seven Star Wars flicks, the original three free of hackjobs(thank you Daddy!). He loves Star Trek, old and new, and Doctor Who. The Hobbit and LotR movies(and has read the books yearly just because).

Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Marple. He has seen Hollywood butcher it, and get it right. He's presently stuck on morality with Twain. After reading the Diary of Adam and Eve, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn was...tough. Makes him wonder about kids these days...

Pick a bad or good old movie. Get pals together, pizza, Vanilla Coke.

MST3K the heck out of them. Figure out what you do and don't like about them. Have fun.

I think the most irritating thing about old movies and tv shows is how horrible the acting is. People didn't actually act like that in real life, right? I just can't see people talking or behaving like that. Sure, I know back in the day people just didn't talk about unpleasant things like racist uncles and alcoholic mothers and violent fathers and whatnot. Fine.
But was everyone so horrendously bad at hiding it?

I guess it boils down to the suspension of disbelief. I can't... get into those movies and tv shows because of the way people are acting.

It's all so unnatural and... Stilted... And... Well... I can tell they're acting. Like they're all such terrible liars they can't bring themselves to act.

Nowadays, actors are better at lying outrageously. They turn into different people, and those people seem real. Now, all of a sudden, Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and Harrison Ford all seem just as real as one another. I can easily suspend my disbelief regarding Wookees and Klingons.

As an aside... would taking advantage of a previous teleport for your gain be considered ex-poit-ation?

*Deposits a copy of Weird Al's 'Word Crimes' single CD in the pun vault*

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:As an aside... would taking advantage of a previous teleport for your gain be considered ex-poit-ation?

*Deposits a copy of Weird Al's 'Word Crimes' single CD in the pun vault*

*dual wielding frozen mackerel*

Down! Down I say! Anyway, that pun was worth at least a Danny Kaye movie collection.

GlytchMeister wrote:Why don't the authors tell the editors to not be afraid and just go ahead and edit them? Being edited can occasionally be annoying, but in the end it tends to work out rather well.

Or is it a situation where editors will flat-out refuse? Why would they do that? The money's good, especially if they're editing some great author whose books sell like hotcakes.

It isn't actually that the editors are afraid. (Usually.)

In mainstream publishing the editors (copy-editors and continuity-editors are the ones under discussion, not the editors whose job it is to select books they think the publishing house should publish) don't work for the writers, they work for the publishing houses - which are controlled by beancounters. If the beancounters say the author is a big enough name that editing won't improve sales, the editing process is skipped to save a few dollars.

Occasionally you get an egotistical author who throws away the editors' notes and says his writing is perfect, it should be published the way he wrote it. (He's wrong.) But that's much less common in authors who've gone through the process enough times that their word carries weight, than it is in never-published authors... and the latter, when they take this attitude, tend to remain never-published.

FreeFlier wrote:Technical point: decent glass requires more than sand and heat.

--FreeFlier

It's not decent glass, it's probably not even halfway decent. Trust me, I've got a plan. Besides, John is literally just trying to waste time.

GlytchMeister wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Technical point: decent glass requires more than sand and heat.

It's not decent glass, it's probably not even halfway decent. Trust me, I've got a plan. Besides, John is literally just trying to waste time.

So I see . . .

And I apologize: I forgot that Purpose has a separate comments thread.

--FreeFlier

GlytchMeister wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Technical point: decent glass requires more than sand and heat.

--FreeFlier

It's not decent glass, it's probably not even halfway decent. Trust me, I've got a plan. Besides, John is literally just trying to waste time.

Counterpoint: some people pay ridiculous sums of money for 'lightning glass' caused by sand being fused by the plasmatic discharge which follows the electron trail commonly known as lightning. Plasma, being the fourth state, is a highly energetic state only attainable under stupidly high temperatures and/or pressures (combined gas laws being what they are). Hence why it is normally found only in stars and, very briefly, lightning strikes. I'd wager our little salamander can duplicate the effect rather easily. Be a way to pay the bills, at least...

FreeFlier wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Technical point: decent glass requires more than sand and heat.

It's not decent glass, it's probably not even halfway decent. Trust me, I've got a plan. Besides, John is literally just trying to waste time.

So I see . . .

And I apologize: I forgot that Purpose has a separate comments thread.

--FreeFlier

No problem! I made this to try to drum up commentary, not to keep people's comments away. It seems to be working, considering there are almost two times as many pages here than in the actual story thread.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote: Counterpoint: some people pay ridiculous sums of money for 'lightning glass' caused by sand being fused by the plasmatic discharge which follows the electron trail commonly known as lightning. Plasma, being the fourth state, is a highly energetic state only attainable under stupidly high temperatures and/or pressures (combined gas laws being what they are). Hence why it is normally found only in stars and, very briefly, lightning strikes. I'd wager our little salamander can duplicate the effect rather easily. Be a way to pay the bills, at least...

He can produce lightning, but he can't really control it. It's more a by-product of the heat, ash, and smoke he can make. He can control those three to make lots and lots of lightning, but he can't really be any more precise than within sixty meters of where he's targeting.

As for plasma, he could make it with sheer heat... But it wouldn't really create the same patterns of fused sand that lightning would make.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Technical point: decent glass requires more than sand and heat.

It's not decent glass, it's probably not even halfway decent. Trust me, I've got a plan. Besides, John is literally just trying to waste time.

Counterpoint: some people pay ridiculous sums of money for 'lightning glass' caused by sand being fused by the plasmatic discharge which follows the electron trail commonly known as lightning. Plasma, being the fourth state, is a highly energetic state only attainable under stupidly high temperatures and/or pressures (combined gas laws being what they are). Hence why it is normally found only in stars and, very briefly, lightning strikes. I'd wager our little salamander can duplicate the effect rather easily. Be a way to pay the bills, at least...

They're called fulgarites, IIRC.

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote:They're called fulgarites, IIRC.

--FreeFlier

True, but unless you are a science nerd, and a real hardcore one(I've encountered a lot of fake ones lately, since it is apparently cool to be a gamer or nerd/geek lately), "lightning glass" is easier to understand.

GlytchMeister wrote:He can produce lightning, but he can't really control it. It's more a by-product of the heat, ash, and smoke he can make. He can control those three to make lots and lots of lightning, but he can't really be any more precise than within sixty meters of where he's targeting.

As for plasma, he could make it with sheer heat... But it wouldn't really create the same patterns of fused sand that lightning would make.

I followed the xkcd link, and it was an interesting read. I also followed his link, partway through the discussion, back to another one of his comics, which was rather amusing...

jwhouk wrote:"Once I had a love, and it was a gas,
soon turned out, had a heart of glass..."

Indeed.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:

jwhouk wrote:Can we agree that Dune is rubbish?

Which one?

Aw hell... they were all rubbish of varying degrees. Comes of trying to turn a book that thick into a movie. About the only point I can reference with honor is the phrase 'My Brother Comes!' in that sing-song sociopathic tone of voice from a little girl. It's a shame, some of my favorite quotes were from that book. Also, some of my favorite parodies.

"I will not brew decaf. Decaf is the mind-killer. Decaf is the little-sleep that leads to total oblivion. I will brew my beverages, and allow them to flow through me. And in the end, I shall remain... alert."

I thought the two miniseries on Syfy were pretty good. They stuck much closer to the first two books and the acting was much more believable.