The TV you like thread
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For the record it turns out I've managed to start at Episode 4.
Didn't bat an eye.
Gorillavid -
Brooks wrote:For the record it turns out I've managed to start at Episode 4.
Reputation restored. -
Hahaha. Brilliant! Wait till you see what you've missed. Ep4 is positively mainstream in comparison.Brooks wrote:For the record it turns out I've managed to start at Episode 4. Didn't bat an eye. GorillavidCome with g if you want to live... -
I'm scrabbling back now, though to some extent I kind of don't want to muck my own narrative around.
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Just finished the first two episodes, me alone in the dark with headphones on. Loved every second. The atmosphere is Lynch and Badalementi at their most intriguing and ominous.
This is exactly what I wanted out of a Twin Peaks sequel in a post-Inland Empire world.It's a world of truck drivers. -
Been thinking about The Handmaid’s Tale and, by extension, dystopian and other ‘realist’ sci-fi in general.
Stupid names really spoil the suspension of disbelief, don’t they? It’s something that so much sci-fi gets wrong, and it stands out more in near-future and dystopian storytelling precisely because everything else aims for near-realism.
The power of The Handmaid’s Tale is its plausibility. It brings horrors that we know do happen in some nations far away and it brings them home, exaggerates them, and makes us face them. Everything about the TV adaptation is focused on making this horror feel real. It’s shot like a documentary but with a faded colour palette that is as oppressive as the regime we’re watching.
But then the names. Their silliness and child-like ‘cleverness’ are jarring. Gilead doesn’t sound like the name of a real place. Offred, Ofglen, etc all have a logical reason behind them but fuck me, they sound awkward and ridiculous. The attempt at solemnity and cleverness in those names falls flat and feels ridiculous.
I get that naming is hard. It really is. And writers of fiction aren’t always going to have the skills to invent realistic names. If anything, this stuff really reminds me how impressive it is when sci-fi names do feel natural. Deckard, for example. That’s a good name. Nostromo felt like a perfectly natural name for a starship.
I guess I could maybe have put this in the Things That Annoy You thread, eh? -
That Hunger Games shitfest is probably the worst offender for that I've come across in recent times.Come with g if you want to live...
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YES. Panem is a fucking shit name for a place. And the character names are woeful. Katpiss Evergreen, for fuck’s sake.
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poprock wrote:Katpiss Evergreen, for fuck’s sake.
She's called Katniss because that the name of a plant also called arrowhead, and it has associations with Sagittarius, another archer. The surname Everdene is after Bathsheba Everdene, one of literature's strong, independent women.
I'm not saying it's genius-level, but anything that could encourage teenage readers to engage with classics and literature is fair play, as far as I'm concerned. -
Nah, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
poprock wrote:Their silliness and child-like ‘cleverness’ are jarring … all have a logical reason behind them but fuck me, they sound awkward and ridiculous. The attempt at solemnity and cleverness in those names falls flat and feels ridiculous.
It’s this sort of thing that puts a lot of people off genre fiction of any kind. Change all the names to Kate, Bob, Natalie and Dave, and you’d remove a huge barrier to being taken seriously by mainstream readers/viewers. -
Final Fantasy games are a shining beacon of absurd possibility here.
If you're going to go for it, might as well go all the way. -
The Leftovers S3 Ep 4 or so is mental
The100 is getting worse and worse. I'm finding myself spending alot of time forwarding through sections to see how it pans out. Some episodes are decent but some are diabolical and the wholes in the plot just get more and more ridiculous.
Better Call Saul is possibly the best thing on atm.
Billions was great. Line of Duty is pretty good. Onto third series now.
Did I mention transparency a while back? That was good - netflix original.
Oh and Sense8 S2 is good too so far. Upto Ep4.He could've just said they came from another planet but seems keen to convince people with his bullshit pseudoscience that he knows stuff. I wouldn't trust him with my lunch. - SG -
Alsopoprock wrote:Nah, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
poprock wrote:Their silliness and child-like ‘cleverness’ are jarring … all have a logical reason behind them but fuck me, they sound awkward and ridiculous. The attempt at solemnity and cleverness in those names falls flat and feels ridiculous.
It’s this sort of thing that puts a lot of people off genre fiction of any kind. Change all the names to Kate, Bob, Natalie and Dave, and you’d remove a huge barrier to being taken seriously by mainstream readers/viewers.
I'm not sure Atwood is struggling for viewers really. It's not much worse than Skywalker or Han Solo or Obi Wan Kenobi or Jabba the Hutt (y'know, in my opinion) and Star Wars hasn't struggled.
Random fact: The Nostromo was named after a Conrad novel, and the Narcissus and Sulaco follow that trend cos Ridders loves old Conrad.
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Tempy wrote:It's not much worse than Skywalker or Han Solo or Obi Wan Kenobi or Jabba the Hutt (y'know, in my opinion) and Star Wars hasn't struggled.
Daft names are easier to stomach in a galaxy far far away. It’s the mix of realism and high camp that often jars, for me. The naming feels juvenile and that’s heightened when the world built aims to be taken seriously.
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Have mentioned 30 degrees in February a few times.
Swedish drama. About expats in Thailand.
Started well, and continues to get better. Sort of.
Its low key dark as all hell, and is getting bleaker. There's a couple of main characters who have become awful and annoying, but in that way that makes you respect the actor and writing.
Its well worth a go, but jesus, have something mellow lined up as well.I'm still great and you still love it. -
poprock wrote:Tempy wrote:It's not much worse than Skywalker or Han Solo or Obi Wan Kenobi or Jabba the Hutt (y'know, in my opinion) and Star Wars hasn't struggled.
Daft names are easier to stomach in a galaxy far far away. It’s the mix of realism and high camp that often jars, for me. The naming feels juvenile and that’s heightened when the world built aims to be taken seriously.
It rarely bothers me but then I am a fan of Pynchon so used to names like Pig Bodine, Mike Fallopian and Frenesi Gates -
Doesn't bother me at all, tbh. Maybe been used to it from Star Wars.
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The idle thumbs podcast made a nice observation. If you take any standard Indian curry name (e.g. Rogan Josh or aloo Gobi) it basically makes a plausible Star Wars name.
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mistercrayon wrote:The idle thumbs podcast made a nice observation. If you take any standard Indian curry name (e.g. Rogan Josh or aloo Gobi) it basically makes a plausible Star Wars name.
Rogan Gosh actually was a comic book character for a brief period in the 90s. -
I enjoyed Neal Stephenson taking the piss out of the trend with Hiro Protagonist in Snow Crash.
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HELLOOOOOOOOOO
Being somewhat intoxicated is the best way to be when watching the third episode of Twin Peaks season 3. Once again, loved every second.
Also, Franz Kafka in opposition to the atomic bomb/mushroom cloud. Brilliant.It's a world of truck drivers. -
BCS needs to get a fucking move on. Absolutely nothing has happened so far in episode 7.
Edit: nothing whatsoever happened. Although I now know how to texture concrete. -
C3Pilau.
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Admiral Akbhaji
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Managed to watch Twin Peaks Return part 1&2.
Lots of new stuff setting up, which is good. They're going really hard on the
Spoiler:
stuff though, that glass box sequence was inspired and creepy
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