The Gamer's Quarter

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dhex, don't forget Galactic Pot Healer!
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dhex · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:42 am Post subject:

i would consider adding the invisibles to my required texts lists but a) it might throw off the lovely balance of my two manichean classics and b) it has far too much backstory reading required. i am deeply impressed how one guy could mix so much into so little.
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dessgeega · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:46 am Post subject:

the invisibles is agonizing. at least trying to do it all in one go is. i want to be done with it, but i know the only way out is through the middle and out the other side. i'm nearly done with volume two.

flex mentallo is pretty great.

i bought a used copy of the complete hothead paisan. it is winging its way toward me.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

House of Leaves is a huge book! Um, yes.

I started reading it last night. About 2/3 through the forward my dog made a low and long howl. I have never heard my dog make this sound before and I still am not sure why he did it.

Needless to say, it scared the crap out of me. I couldn't fall asleep at this point so I just kept reading. The book is good so far in that it has managed to creep me out even before the dog howl. I don't really see the connection between this and silent hill... but I could see a connection between blair witch project.

Either way, it's good. I didn't sleep well at all because of it.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

I finally picked up King Dork.

If he can write books as well as lyrics. . .
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

dhex · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:09 pm Post subject:

hey it's free text tuesday:

http://dhex.org/cuny/persuasion/The%20Pope's%20speech.doc

the comments at the front are from my professor. i disagree with him on the quotation selection, but i do agree the context at least gives reason behind what otherwise seems an ungainly error/complete assholery.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

House Of Leaves is pretty excellent. I was rocking 2 bookmarks at once lastnight!
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

GSL · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:24 am Post subject:

2 bookmarks? Am I correct in assuming you reached the part where the editor suggests you peruse the Whalestoe letters in the appendix before continuing?

But yeah, the book is pretty awesome (I picked it up about a week ago). I can't say I've really read anything that has required that much effort out of me that wasn't a textbook; at this point it feels less like I'm just passively reading a book and more like unravelling a mystery or something. Although I really do have to disagree with the assertions that House of Leaves is anything like Silent Hill; I'll go even further and be a complete dick and suggest that anyone who would make that assertion has either not finished reading the book, or just didn't quite understand it. I do wholeheartedly agree with Shaper, however, in that it's like a much larger and far more expansive Blair Witch Project.

And maybe one of the reasons I'm enjoying it so much is because of what I consider to be a complete nose-thumbing mockery of the institution of literary criticism as a whole, which keeps me turning pages with absolute glee.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

I'm getting very interested in this book. Has anyone read the Dictionary of the Khazars? From what you're saying it sounds like a similar approach to reader involvement.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:36 pm Post subject:

the little prince is a beautiful little book.
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TheRumblefish · . Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 258 Location: Florida

Alright! I can't decide which to read first, The Great Gatsby, or A Prayer for Owen Meany. So help me out guys.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

John Irving is a hack. I wouldn't prayer at all. You should stick to Fitzgerald between those two.[/i]
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

dhex · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:53 pm Post subject:

can you pick none of the above?
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dessgeega · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:02 pm Post subject:

oh shit
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dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

tell me more about that book next to it

dessgeega · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:15 pm Post subject:

this one?

it's amazing and reading it makes me want to cry because i wish someone'd given it to me when i was in high school.
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Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

I thought you meant the "essentials for creating vegetarian bean dishes" book.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

dessgeega · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:00 pm Post subject:

that one's pretty good too!
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GSL · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 5:22 pm Post subject:

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

I maintain that Thompson's best work is Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.

A good companion piece to which is Up Simba, David Foster Wallace's essay about John McCain. It's included in Consider the Lobster, which I picked up recently and have been reading before bed. He also had a Dictionary-and-Language-Use article in the same collection that I have a bunch of problems with; even though in the end it's pretty good.

I need to finish House of Leaves. I'm pretty close (finished with the actual narrative bit, going through the appendices).

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:31 pm Post subject:

oh shit!!
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a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

I never did comb though the House of lEaves appendices like i did the main text, though I always keep an eye out for the companion book. The.. something letters? I guess it's an expanded version of all Johnny Truant's mother's letters, or something.

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

The Pelican Letters? They're all in the appendices in most editions of HoL, I think.

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

Yeah, that. For some reason I thought the Pelican Letters expanded on what's in HoL.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dhex · Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:39 pm Post subject:

i just stumbled across this (not that firefox plugin thing)

GSL · Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:08 pm Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:

i'd forgotten that the symposium is kinda strange...
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Just plowed through the first volume of The Invisibles.

I can see what you guys have been saying about it. It's fun, it's also a bit alterna-twee and to use a dhex word, manichean for me to be falling head over hells for it. Good enough that I'm going to pick up the rest of it though.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I picked up the Halo Graphic Novel yesterday. I'm hardly a Halo fan, but the comic does boast an impressive amount of artistic talent, and I really just wanted to get it for Tsutomu Nihei's artwork.

Nihei's tale in question is short and helps explain how Sergeant Johnson escaped from the first Halo ring. There's no speech whatsoever throughout the entire thing, which does help add a layer of depth to Johnson, complemented with the sheer shocked amazement he expresses on his face as he's swamped by Flood. This is Johnson without having to posture as a big-balled drill sergeant, kind of like how she showed real mellow, focused attention at the very beginning of Halo 2. The Flood in question are very impressively, and gruesomely, drawn, and Nihei's knack for architecture is appropriately put to use. However, it's pure survivalist action, yet another of Nihei's fortes, and doesn't really offer much answers at all.

The other stories are alright, especially the last one, drawn by Moebius. There's a gallery following the four shorts, including talents like Geoff Darrow. Overall, it's a well designed art book, the stories are fine, but not very insightful and is a satisfactory eye-candy treat for comic fans.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:57 am Post subject:

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Not entirely off. It does get very confusing towards the end, but the point is made.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dessgeega · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:13 pm Post subject:

i am reading rent girl by michelle tea and laurenn mccubbin. michelle writes these introspective narratives about being a dyke prostitute and laurenn illustrates each page in her iconographic outlines and flat colors style. i like it a lot.
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a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

that looks really nice from the little thumbnails, dess. I love hand-drawn seriffed text.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dessgeega · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:59 pm Post subject:

have you even finished house of leaves?

a_plus, you should totally pick up rent girl. it's a gorgeous little book.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

oh, god, is his new book out? I loved house of leave and will probably have to get the new one as soon as i can.

GSL · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:10 am Post subject:

Reading the synopsis on the dust jacket, I'm not quite sure the new one interests me as much as House of Leaves did. That novel just had an amazing mystique to it that Only Revolutions doesn't quite seem to have, not at first glance.

I know, something about judging books and their covers, but still...

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I think that I figured out House of Leaves last night. I mean, I am only on page 150-ish (chapter X) but I have a feeling I will be done soon. This book is pretty amazingly put together.
_________________
“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

House of leaves was incredibly fun to read, but not really scary at all. After looking through Only Revolutions at the bookstore yesterday, I'm even more intrigued, but it looks like difficult/slow reading, just from the language used.

Was there ever a full-color HoL released? The new one has the color info on the publishing data page and it looks like it's printed in full color. I'd love a fancy hardcover release of HoL like that.

TheRumblefish · . Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 258 Location: Florida

GSL · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:33 am Post subject:

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Yeah, this full color one is a reprint. Originally there was a full color limited edition, and the regular editions were either blue or red. I had the blue one.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

The Desolation Jones trade was released recently, and it is a thing of beauty. For those out of the loop, its a noir-styled detective story, referential, but with a clear conceptual imagination all of its own. Michael Jones is an ex-MI6 secret agent, who after undergoing the Desolation Test that lasted an entire sleepless year and consisted of subjugating him to an endless barrage of hyper-violent footage (Clockwork Orange pushed further) is relocated in Los Angeles, which unbeknownst to the public at large, including its own citizens, serves as a prison for other intelligence community freaks and geeks. Michael decides to operate as an exclusively spooks-oriented private investigator, and in this story, must find the Dark (Black?) Grail of smut: Footage of Adolf Hitler's last, yet degenerate, days in his bunker. Of course, this being a Raymond Chandler sort of deal, things get more complicated than that, manipulation and secrecy is abundant, and Michael seems himself tested to his narrow limits. It's dark in tone to be sure, though in image, and is perhaps some of Ellis' best constructed fiction to date, with a degree of sinister empathy which is worth investigating. The artwork by J.H. Williams III is detailed and expressive, experimental at times even, and impeccably succeeds in dividing every day reality with moments of brutality and Jones' own hallucinatory trips, holding the story and its pacing together alongside the masterful writing, yet helps push the unreal concept further while contributing a sense of surreal inevitability and custody. Also, anything inspired by Howard Chaykin's fuck you letter to comics, Black Kiss, deserves the attention.

Author's commentary on the first issue.

The new arc supposedly follows Jones in the sexual underworld of Hollywood if I'm understanding correctly, and his hallucinations are supposed to be heavily thematically reliant on Philip K. Dick's own writing, and I'm looking forward to it.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"