Just how bad is this book?

>be me, exceptional 27-29 year old obscure forum user
>always had well above average intelligence and performed as such on tests
>get 99th percentile on ACTs
>go to middle of the road state school
>liked video games as a teen but grew out of them in early 20s
>used to get nostalgic over N64 stuff but the nerve for sentimental feelings burned out a few years ago
>avidly browse small tight-knit community of 5-6 posters on a prophpbb forum instead of studying in college
>get mediocre grades, get an amazing internship but back out at the last minute and drop out of college
>lose school-related job and move back in with mom in a small town and can't get even a minimum wage job
>no biggie, i'm all cool with it
>still browse the prophpbb forum even though no one else has logged in for 2 years
>consider myself dead
>the unusual: linocutting, unironic prayer, suicidal ideation, existential experiments
>upvote fetish art to and console the sexually forsaken

>implying he will have grandkids

You're not worth reproduction faggot.

I thought it was fun, although it would not be out of place in the young adult section. It is a total 80's circlejerk, but this is obvious from the outset.

>meet qt girl at work
>she says she likes reading, asks what I'm reading
>tell her I'm trying to get through all of the divine comedy
>"oh I read that in high school."
>think maybe she's well read
>I mention someone let me borrow RP1 recently
>she tells me it's an amazing book etc. while basically shitting on Dante
I don't even know what to feel.

>Moorcock

Excellent post

>TFW Becoming this is my biggest fear

>"oh I read that in high school."

Her teacher probably had them read an excerpt from Inferno or something. That's hardly reading the Divine Comedy.

It's too late, you already are.

My friend gave me Ready Player One as a gift. I was planning on never touching it because I keep hearing how awful it is, but I don't want to hurt his feelings and I did appreciate the gesture. What do I do?

Friends are not worthy

>Don't have no motha fuckin friends nigga - Tupac Shakur

>doesn't mention Glenn branca, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, etc

this is utter corporate trash

youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vGWwRF_Qc
youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vGWwRF_Qc

A profound statement about late capitalist cultural stagnation, though Cline probably wasn't aware of it. The book came out in 2011, its impact in our decade's culture industry is hard to overplay. The real is fading out of view, movies have become self referential pieces dealing with the consumption of reified pop culture long reduced to empty signifiers. We live in a bleak post apocalyptic wasteland, we have no future of our own and our past has been annihilated. only escape: the fading dream of the 1980s. The Reagan-Thatcher 80s marked the beginning of our current economic and cultural order. Our world keeps trying to return to its infancy.

''It's the way of the New World''

youtube.com/watch?v=kcNkLhPcLJQ

youtube.com/watch?v=-wyrwOJJtNw

>mastered Akalabeth
Every time

Toss it aside and just read Icycalm. He is a much greater spokesperson for the artform than that idiot will ever be.

youtube.com/watch?v=87E6N7ToCxs
youtube.com/watch?v=XAHprLW48no
youtube.com/watch?v=1xv_FeBGzfk
youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I

10s pop culture is one of those 'what if mario was realistic' nerdy quirky relatable nostalgic awkward shareable college humor/cracked webcomics repeated again and again and again. The lego movie is the most sophisticated in the bunch and gets pretty close at times to a direct indictment of capitalism, only to backpedal at the last moment. The question is, how can we break open the black iron prison?

Talk more about US foreign policy, imperialism, new urgency, new sincerity, emphasize that our best hope is slowing down our dehumanization, not stopping it.

yeah that's what drives me nuts. when they think they know an entire piece of fiction because
>lol I did a homework assignment on it and read a summary on the plot, my teacher told me what it's all about
it drives me nuts

Source on that pic? I know it's The Flintstones, but what comic?

>Swap PS1 for Xbox
>reddit for Veeky Forums
>PhD for nothing

This is me.

My friend got me a copy of this, as part of a bundle of assorted joke gifts. I've never opened it, and completely forgot it's existence for years until an user recently said "Hey, this movie has Duke Nukem in it!"
It sure did, along with as many late 20th century references one could humanly cram into a minute video. After seeing I think that the book is nothing but "me like when see thing I see before" covered with some generic plot about kids fighting the big, evil company by going inside of 'The Game World.'

bleedingcool.com/2017/04/05/todays-flintstones-comic-is-the-most-gut-wrenching-yet/
i... i thought it was going to be funny...

I think that is what it is, just slap on a smattering of some weird idpol shit at the end

its what Veeky Forums thinks about reddit over 300+ pages

The prose is extremely mediocre, it's a young adult book and it shows in a bad way.

That said, you can sense the enthusiasm the guy had for his avalanche of 80's pop culture references, which almost makes it endearing. Not enough to save the book though.

Just look up some reddit posts about it and read the comments. You'll find some specific event or reference that you can mention to him.

Or just read it and appreciate your gift. I think it's pretty short and it doesn't require joggin' of the noggin.

imagine reading a Sword Art Online light novel filled to the brim with classic pop culture references

2 or 3 out of 5. you need the right headspace to like it. The plot is generic (as are the characters) all the thematic implications have been used to death and chances are you have seen better written litrpgs

>not using the original Japanese names
into the fire

Fuck off Alex

Reading these posts, and watching these trailers is existentially horrifying when you realize there is absolutely no substance in nerd culture, and any sub culture with a consumerist structure for that matter.

The 80s were fucking horrible, everything after the 50s save for that dark age is better in every conceivable way culturally.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Those comments man. I nearly crushed my coffee in my hand.

>most books are also generally pretty boring

I fucking hate this world and I want it to burn.

Alex doesn't post here. If you've noticed, he's too busy writing, maintaining multiple communities and actually playing games.

It's the same dumbass response every time though. I'd love to hear at least one good reason why any mention of him should be silenced.

the existential horror of absolute trash is the defining aesthetic experience of our age

youtube.com/watch?v=UXVHZfI5CFU

How dare this trash name drop midnight oil

>grandchildren
stop

that newer marvel one. I've heard from people I respect that it's literally one of the best comics out right now

bump

I also find it bizarre that nothing new seemed to ever get produced. They only hint at reality shows. The lists of 80s thing got annoying.

I kind of don't know why they even tried to make a movie out of it. I don't think anything in the setting was original. Everything was from something else.

videodrome and the stallone flick are actually pretty good.

> film trailer released at Comic Con in San Diego
> literally tells nothing of the narrative
> Freddie Krueger gets shot in the face
> literally Mario Kart the movie

b-bravo spielbergo??

I'd still read it even if it's shit, dude. Your friend clearly knows you like reading and literature but probably doesn't quite know exactly which books to go for so he probably went for a popular choice hoping it was popular because people like yourself enjoy that kind of thing.

Read it and I suppose the hard part is saying, rather that you disliked it, say the things you did like about it. It's a good friend who bothers to get you a gift and it's an even better friend who tries to get you something you might not have/might be interested in (yknow, a book). Gotta appreciate it, my dude.

It's like when I thought I actually read Quixote because they made us read some shitty 200 page abbreviation in high school. Only learned about my retardedness later in college.

He's just fucking listing off every nerd writer. I mean, fucking Neil Gaiman? His best work was Sandman and that was carried by the art.

Look at the trailer for the """film""" and stare into the eye of the dragon and despair

some of those authors are legitimately good

and geeky girls playing ukulele is legitimately cute

the sad part is it's good.

I read it for my dissertation.

I'd like to think that it tries to criticize escapism, nostalgiafags, and nerd culture, but ultimately I don't think it does. The protagonist gets glorified all throughout the book, and earns the respect of others *in* Oasis.

There is never that scene that makes things click like in EoE where the movie tells otaku to fuck off.

Also, the prose is shit and the protag is a sperg.

I listened to the audiobook read by Wil Weaton. I did this because I was curious like you, OP, but didn't want to waste actual reading time on it.
It is absolute redditpandering dogshit. It drops lazy pointless references to old games and TV shows but clearly doesn't know what to do with them or how to reference them in a funny or relevant manner.
The MC is also clearly an author insert Mary Sue in the most painful sense of it.

Weaton's reading of it isn't bad, but I guess that's just because it's the kind of bullshit fake "nerd culture" that's right up his alley*

*ass.

>Robotech
>not Macross
What a hack.

I want to die.

>That said, you can sense the enthusiasm the guy had for his avalanche of 80's pop culture references, which almost makes it endearing
This is true, it's the Taylor Swift of pop lit. Its genuine sincerity is almost enough to make it enjoyable

I'd say less Cracked and more X-Entertainment, Retro Crush and so on.

>im 22 now
>im the Veeky Forums version of this
>laugh at displays of autism
make it stop

Thanks to cultural decline this will probably be part of the canon in 30 years.

Exactly. Its just mindless consumption and bootlicking. Everyone seems to think that Star Wars was some indie flick that just happened to get noticed by the mainstream, when really it was a massive production, generated a lot of buzz in the film industry when it was in production and of course the vast commercialization of it. And yet, these morons today prop it up as a means of fighting against the tyrannical power, when in essence it is the product of said power.

Ever been to a comic-con, its just a traveling market with people in funny dress. No original thought, just copy and paste.

>implying Spy Kids 3D isn't classic kino

good lebit post

Depends on what you mean by nerd culture, there are plenty of shows/games/films/books vaguely in that category worthy of respect at least, but lumping anime, superhero comics, video games, speculative fiction, Doctor Who, Star Trek/Wars/Gate, etc. into one big thing is inevitably going to corrode their appeal down to shallow nerd-signalling a la Loot Crate.

I suspect a good bit of said lumping is the product of conventions, which have practical incentive to expand the tent.

A culture of hedonism and consumption will glorify whatever the current hip thing to consume happens to be. Right now, it's "nerd culture."
The same thing is regurgitated over and over without thought to quality or merit because it's been pre-accepted. It is safe. People will buy it.

Of course there are things within these categories worthy of respect. The issue lies within the systemic and cultural acceptance of these things without regard to quality or criticism. It's what's in, so it's automatically good.

I'd like to play the upcoming film in a double bill, with Ready Player One first, followed by pic.

ADAM CURTIS IS mediocre but presents the most beautiful artumentaries

when i had a "going into games" machine - this woulve been early 2006- i used to go into majoras mask A LOT and one of my fav things to do was fondle romani at the ranch

This is why I dislike "nerd culture". I feel as though there are genuine nerds out there, they are buried in a swamp of fakes who reference the most popular things. They've never watched Farscape or anything, but they can quote the most obvious shit from Star Trek, despite the fact most probably didn't see it.

Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day are the greatest examples of this for me. While they are actual nerds, I think the fact that they've wholeheartedly bought into the commodification of the culture is what makes them come off as fakes.

>And, of course, Keving Smith

...

Don't get me wrong, I believe there are some truly valuable literature before there legacy was raped to death by capitalistic greed, like the Golden Age comic books, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ender's Game, Ender's Game, and Dune.
>Loot Crate
It shows how little self-awareness people have, especially when they consciously identify themselves as being a part of a subculture, and not be insulted when that shit is shoved in your face. It's like the company is saying "We know you are going to buy this meaningless junk because, fuck you."
>Ever been to a comic-con, its just a traveling market with people in funny dress.
Thank God I have never experienced the pleasure of going to such a convention. Checked.

I've never watched the show, but I'm beginning to think The Big Bang Theory is a critique on Nerd Culture/Geekdom, especially when there are so many nerds who hate the show.

This girl I know is actually reconsidering her relationship because of how much her boyfriend loves this book.

You've captured the essence of the culture shift from the mid 2000s to now, beginning in about 2007 when the commodification of nerd culture really began in earnest and was shunted into mainstream consciousness.

Then, as each year passed, more and more normalfags were turned onto the culture through modern video game consoles, the endless onslaught of superhero movies, and you saw an emerging clash of culture among "old guard" nerds who found themselves being invaded by people who had a very superficial appreciation of their various hobbies, and eventually found themselves being pushed from their own spaces by these people.

If you look for it, you can still see it on occasion.

i was to a anime convention with my girlfriend and the only good things there were a guy that had a kamishibai stand and the book and manga section where people would sit in a comfy circle and read. everything else was thrash as you said about comic-con.
I hate how commercialized everything is, it's one of the reasons I like literature - it isn't as so. And the aspects that are, are easy to ignore and not read the books that have "best-seller, oprah book-club" shit on them.

>and, of course, Kevin smith

Surely at least this line is intended to be ironic/joking

Jesus, he had the same taste in literature and movies that I did in middle school.

I actually physically cringed while reading that.

he just listed every "nerd" author

honestly I watch this trailer and it does absolutely nothing for me.
I mean its not like I hate action or "dumb monies" or whatever but this just seems like absolutely rubbish and even with the constant explosions has no weight to it.

have any of you ever seen the documentary Atari: game over?
Ernest Cline is in it and he is so painfully autistic and cringe inducing.

>>loved rp1
>>find out Spielberg is making a movie version
>>wow I loved Schindler's List

This made me laugh out loud.

I'm doing this right now. I'm unfamiliar with Wheaton but this is physically painful for me.

This, the only thing to do is just browsing the stalls and seeing if there is anything interesting (there usually isn't)

Alex never stops shitposting his crap here, you can tell because evey post is in holy reverance to his "genius", it's sad

Or maybe that's because his writing resonates with people who are a bit cultish to begin with. Regardless, I find his perspective way more advanced than Cline's. I don't learn anything from Cline's convenient agreeableness and I find it less agreeable as a result.

holy shit this is nothing compared to ernestcline.com/spokenword/npa.htm

>You can have the whole cheerleading squad,
I want the girl in the tweed skirt and the horn-rimmed glasses:
Betty Finnebowski, the valedictorian.
Oh yes.
First I want to copy her Trig homework,
and then I want to make mad, passionate love to her
for hours and hours
until she reluctantly asks if we can stop
because she doesn't want to miss Battlestar Galactica.
Summa cum laude, baby!
That is what I call erotic.

I read it twice, and read Armada as well. It's pretty terrible, but quite fun if you can get into the Gen X nostalgia-fest. (I am Gen X, and addicted to nostalgia.)

Please leave.

Why? My age? My self-professed "addiction"?

dont care abt what u are as long as you leave this board it's for patricians sorry

>dont
>abt
>u
>patrician