[Abyss]

amphibian, on 04 April 2011 - 05:46 PM, said:

Tapper, on 04 April 2011 - 02:22 PM, said:

FastBen, on 03 April 2011 - 07:28 PM, said:

I'm about halfway through Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union and the guy is a fantastic writer. Excellent alternative history noir/hard boiled detective story - I've also heard some talk about an adaptation by the Coen brothers - It definitely has their name all over it.

It is an awesome book. The movie plans are on wiki, they were supposed to go and shoot it after A Serious Man. Most of the news surrounding it is from early 2008, though.

It's a great book. It may be one of the more difficult books to capture on-screen though. So much of it depends on a slow-developing mood. ....

I cannot see this being a workable film without ejecting more or less the entire book and boiling it down to a by the numbers murder mystery. The entire brilliance of the book lies in the setting and the subtlety of how the setting affects the characters. Something that complex just cannot be effectively transferred and stay whole.

Puck, on 04 April 2011 - 05:55 PM, said:

...And yes, Jae Lee and Richard Isanove did an amazing job with the art in the DT graphic novels. ... But I love the art.

I hear you. Jae Lee could illustrate 100 pages of Roland taking a dump and it would be visually glorious. Boring, but glorious. And kind of gross. But still glorious. ....Ew... does he shoot with that hand...

Quote

Anyway, just powered through Butcher's Storm Front. I hear it gets better [not that SF is bad, it's good, just not amazing so far, but good enough to let me want more]? If so, consider me hooked. Now, how to get my hands on further Dresden stuff fast..

Listen to me carefully:

Go out and acquire books 2-4.

You will like 2. You will enjoy 3 more.

By the end of 4 THE DRESDENCRACK WILL OWN YOU.

And then you get to go out and buy another seven books of it.

- Abyss, ...is yoah pushah...

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

Listen to Abyss carefully:

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

Listen to Abyss carefully:

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

Listen to Abyss carefully:

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

Listen to Abyss carefully:

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

Listen to Abyss carefully:

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

Listen to Abyss carefully:

He sella me tha Dresdencrack. I losta my home, my family and solda my soul for a pizza and an exacto knife...I ama tha happay!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 04 April 2011 - 07:01 PM

[Chance]

Finished up Tiassa another odd book that delivered in a series of odd books.

/Chance

[Puck]

@Abyss&QT: Haha, I get it, gonna get my hands on more Dresden asap

[acesn8s]

Chance, on 04 April 2011 - 07:03 PM, said:

Finished up Tiassa another odd book that delivered in a series of odd books.

/Chance

Cha' did I understand you in that you found the book odd?

For a 200 page book, he sure spent a lot of time on the verbal masterbation. With the Khaavren books I can enjoy the rambling dialog. I was getting frustrated with the drawn out discussions as I crept closer and closer to the end of the book.

[FastBen]

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

amphibian, on 04 April 2011 - 05:46 PM, said:

Tapper, on 04 April 2011 - 02:22 PM, said:

FastBen, on 03 April 2011 - 07:28 PM, said:

I'm about halfway through Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union and the guy is a fantastic writer. Excellent alternative history noir/hard boiled detective story - I've also heard some talk about an adaptation by the Coen brothers - It definitely has their name all over it.

It is an awesome book. The movie plans are on wiki, they were supposed to go and shoot it after A Serious Man. Most of the news surrounding it is from early 2008, though.

It's a great book. It may be one of the more difficult books to capture on-screen though. So much of it depends on a slow-developing mood. ....

I cannot see this being a workable film without ejecting more or less the entire book and boiling it down to a by the numbers murder mystery. The entire brilliance of the book lies in the setting and the subtlety of how the setting affects the characters. Something that complex just cannot be effectively transferred and stay whole.

Really? I can practically see this coming to life as a Coen brothers film. When he runs through his underwear through the snow after breaking the window and dragging the table with him I could actually picture the cinematography of this on film. Sure, some of the subtlety of the characterization would be lost - but that could be remedied with some hard boiled detective voice over - cliche but with some Jewish slang to make it interesting. I'm thinking Blood Simple (Coen brothers best detective story) meets a Serious Man (jewish elements) meets Fargo (cold, snowy and dreary landscape) - with the a bit of the dark comedy side - and I feel almost like it was written to be a Coen brothers film.

But yeah it would be sad if the project has fallen been scrapped - I love me some neo-noir and no one does it like Coens

[amphibian]

FastBen, on 04 April 2011 - 08:31 PM, said:

Really? I can practically see this coming to life as a Coen brothers film. When he runs through his underwear through the snow after breaking the window and dragging the table with him I could actually picture the cinematography of this on film. Sure, some of the subtlety of the characterization would be lost - but that could be remedied with some hard boiled detective voice over - cliche but with some Jewish slang to make it interesting. I'm thinking Blood Simple (Coen brothers best detective story) meets a Serious Man (jewish elements) meets Fargo (cold, snowy and dreary landscape) - with the a bit of the dark comedy side - and I feel almost like it was written to be a Coen brothers film.

But yeah it would be sad if the project has fallen been scrapped - I love me some neo-noir and no one does it like Coens

The Coen brothers consistently turn in movies between 105 and 120 minutes long. Quite frequently, they have gone under the 100 minute mark. Conversely, No Country For Old Men is the longest of their most popular movies at 122 minutes. I'm not confident that 120 minutes is enough time to do justice to the majority of YPU.

It's entirely possible to stay true to the spirit of YPU, while cutting things down considerably and still hitting some of the best cinematic moments in it, but that's a tough, tough job. It was massively easier for No Country For Old Men, because that book is ~300 pages and kind of one long chase scene, while YPU is ~450 and much more comedic and wandering than Fargo was.

They would be the perfect guys to do it though. If it does pan out, I bet you that it'll be ~130 minutes long and the side-plot of the temple will be kind of plopped on-screen like the Nihilists' kidnapping in The Big Lebowski.

[FastBen]

amphibian, on 04 April 2011 - 10:36 PM, said:

FastBen, on 04 April 2011 - 08:31 PM, said:

Really? I can practically see this coming to life as a Coen brothers film. When he runs through his underwear through the snow after breaking the window and dragging the table with him I could actually picture the cinematography of this on film. Sure, some of the subtlety of the characterization would be lost - but that could be remedied with some hard boiled detective voice over - cliche but with some Jewish slang to make it interesting. I'm thinking Blood Simple (Coen brothers best detective story) meets a Serious Man (jewish elements) meets Fargo (cold, snowy and dreary landscape) - with the a bit of the dark comedy side - and I feel almost like it was written to be a Coen brothers film.

But yeah it would be sad if the project has fallen been scrapped - I love me some neo-noir and no one does it like Coens

The Coen brothers consistently turn in movies between 105 and 120 minutes long. Quite frequently, they have gone under the 100 minute mark. Conversely, No Country For Old Men is the longest of their most popular movies at 122 minutes. I'm not confident that 120 minutes is enough time to do justice to the majority of YPU.

It's entirely possible to stay true to the spirit of YPU, while cutting things down considerably and still hitting some of the best cinematic moments in it, but that's a tough, tough job. It was massively easier for No Country For Old Men, because that book is ~300 pages and kind of one long chase scene, while YPU is ~450 and much more comedic and wandering than Fargo was.

They would be the perfect guys to do it though. If it does pan out, I bet you that it'll be ~130 minutes long and the side-plot of the temple will be kind of plopped on-screen like the Nihilists' kidnapping in The Big Lebowski.

Yeah - I see where you are coming from - I still have to finish the book to know exactly what could or couldn't be cut. lI think with the right director and film editors you can pack a lot of plot into the film - think The Dark Knight and how quick the scenes move - but you are right - The Coen brothers usually go at a more steady pace and don't make their films so long either.

[Chance]

acesn8s, on 04 April 2011 - 08:13 PM, said:

Chance, on 04 April 2011 - 07:03 PM, said:

Finished up Tiassa another odd book that delivered in a series of odd books.

/Chance

Cha' did I understand you in that you found the book odd?

For a 200 page book, he sure spent a lot of time on the verbal masterbation. With the Khaavren books I can enjoy the rambling dialog. I was getting frustrated with the drawn out discussions as I crept closer and closer to the end of the book.

Yepp it is an odd book with is it four diffrent narrative voices and so on.

I can't get through the Khaavren books because of the style, the dialogue is good but the rest just remind me of why I ain't re-reading my Dumas.

Still it was a good book and the language certainly played it's part and it gave a few interesting nuggets of information Deverra, Aliera/Keiron, The hint that Parafi finds Taltos worth of history, the empress intrest in Taltos and several other things that hint of things to come.

This post has been edited by Chance: 05 April 2011 - 09:18 AM

[King Bear]

QuickTidal, on 04 April 2011 - 01:52 PM, said:

I hated it. But that's just me. Lot's of people like Barclay.

Abyss, on 04 April 2011 - 02:08 PM, said:

Opinions vary on Barclay's RAVEN series. I liked it. You have to dial the SE-level expectations way way down and take it for what it is, a by-the-numbers sword and sorcery anti-evil widgit quest series with some fun characters and generally good action scenes.

Yeah it's fun but nothing special. Just a bit of light reading. Though after 6 covenant books that's kinda what I needed. Still I'd rather have started one of them warhammer 40K omnibuses, if I had one.

This post has been edited by Bombur: 05 April 2011 - 01:09 PM

[Abyss]

re The Yiddish Policeman's Union

The Coen Bros vibe in there because of the writing, and Chabon totally does a similar flavour of fiction, to stretch a metaphor, and he does it brilliantly.

I just see Big Hollywood recoiling from the notion of a story based around that setting - chunk of Alaska given to Jews as temporary homeland after the Holocaust - and it's so central and 'academic' and even complex, that even the Coens would have to dumb it down radically, or conversely spend too much time explaining it, for middle-america to be able to grasp the point. People have a hard enough time wrapping brains around the concept of Israel... good luck with this.

[amphibian]

Abyss, on 05 April 2011 - 02:14 PM, said:

I just see Big Hollywood recoiling from the notion of a story based around that setting - chunk of Alaska given to Jews as temporary homeland after the Holocaust - and it's so central and 'academic' and even complex, that even the Coens would have to dumb it down radically, or conversely spend too much time explaining it, for middle-america to be able to grasp the point. People have a hard enough time wrapping brains around the concept of Israel... good luck with this.

Tarantino got that half-good/half-terrible revisionist WWII Jewish revenge flick made (Inglorious Basterds). Since this one is mostly a murder mystery, it's probably an easier sell as a mid-range movie that could win awards. I don't think the Coens have had a true in-theater smash hit though. Their stuff does well on DVD runs. That might make funding a bit more complex and drop the ideal budget some.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 05 April 2011 - 04:22 PM, said:

...Tarantino got that half-good/half-terrible revisionist WWII Jewish revenge flick made (Inglorious Basterds). ...

'Jews flee Holocaust, settle in Alaska, have internal conflicts over future of the Jewish people tieing into Holocaust, middle-east politics, revisionist history, inter-sect rivalry and/or biblical history related to the Holy Temple' is slightly more complex than
'Jews kill Nazis'. Heck, the fact that the soldiers in BASTARDS were Jews was practically an afterthought.

[T77]

Just finished Night of Knives by Ian C Esslemont and liked it much more than I thought I would. For some reason I had low expectations going in and considered skipping the ICE books until after SE's, but i'm glad I didn't as I think it added to the whole Malazan experience. Already started The Bonehunters.

[End of Disc One]

T77, on 05 April 2011 - 06:12 PM, said:

Just finished Night of Knives by Ian C Esslemont and liked it much more than I thought I would. For some reason I had low expectations going in and considered skipping the ICE books until after SE's, but i'm glad I didn't as I think it added to the whole Malazan experience. Already started The Bonehunters.

Congrats on reading in our recommended order.

[FastBen]

Okay finishing up Chabon's Policeman's Union - what should I read next? Here are the choices from my shelf:

Mievelle's The Iron Council
GRRM's Fevre Dream
Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl
KM Peters' Whitechapel Gods
Kay's Tigana
Perotta's The Wishbones
Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep
Robinson's Red Mars


also could go with some non-fiction:

The Tudors by G.J. Meyer
Stalin and His Hangman by Donal Rayfield
The Devil in the White City by Larson

or a Lovecraft Anthology


also reading the Harry Potter series for the first time right now - after I'm going to start either the Dresden Books or King's The Dark Tower - which do you guys think?

This post has been edited by FastBen: 06 April 2011 - 03:06 AM

[caladanbrood]

FastBen, on 06 April 2011 - 01:30 AM, said:

Okay finishing up Chabon's Policeman's Union - what should I read next?
GRRM's Fevre Dream

Brilliant book. Martin's best, IMHO. If this was the gold standard for Vampires rather than Twilight, the world would be a much better place.

This post has been edited by caladanbrood: 06 April 2011 - 09:33 AM

[Puck]

caladanbrood, on 06 April 2011 - 09:33 AM, said:

FastBen, on 06 April 2011 - 01:30 AM, said:

Okay finishing up Chabon's Policeman's Union - what should I read next?
GRRM's Fevre Dream

Brilliant book. Martin's best, IMHO. If this was the gold standard for Vampires rather than Twilight, the world would be a much better place.

Yes. This.

[Use Of Weapons]

Must get Fevre Dream in that case, it's in the Fantasy Masterworks series too so is really easy to find.

But of the above that I've read, I'd go with the Vinge.

[End of Disc One]

Briar King, on 06 April 2011 - 03:10 AM, said:

Dark Tower but Ive never read a Dresden book, However I have read his Codex Alera which was the shit if your interested in a Roman with Magic setting.

I've read both Dark Tower and Dresden books and vastly prefer Dresden.