Aikido/Bullshido in Dresden Files

[FLMikeATT]

This 'Hendricks' thug is a fa66ot, i see.

Why don't you guys read good books instead of that kind of shit?

I do read good books. Perhaps you missed the part where I called it a guilty pleasure?

I've read dostoevsky, doyle, dumas, dickins, milton, longfellow, dante, etc. Classical literature is great, but occasionally I like to read stupid sci-fi/fantasy/suspense novels.

[vinhthekid]

yeah, all your good books i read for school. fuck that. i'm not spending my leisure time dealing with shit i have to do work on.

i know hella film students who will occasionally watch a popcorn action flick out of nothing but a desire for a moment of escapism.

[DCS]

Then if it is 'stupid', who really cares about how aikido is portrayed. Is like if i ranted about the Ginaz swordmasters school.... or silicone boobs in pr0n mags.

[poidog]

At my hand reach at this moment: Boris Vian, Garcia Marquez, Moliere, Kafka, Hawking, Steinbeck, Joyce, H. Eco and, of course, Shakespeare.

Different tastes, i suppose.

I need to stand to reach Weber.

I've read Kafka, Hawking, Steinbeck, Joyce, Eco and Shakespeare. I've also read Homer, J.F. Cooper, Pearl Buck, R.H. Heinlein, P. Coelho, Maxwell Maltz, Napoleon Hill, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Carl Hiaasen and Stephen King. I've read Frank Herbert's Dune series, Terry Brooks' Shannara series, J.R.R. Tolkien's works, and most recently the J.K. Rowling series. I've read Nietzsche, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. I've read Whitman, Plato, David McCullough and Ayn Rand. The most recent book I finished is Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto by Chuck Klosterman (which, incidentally, I heartily recommend).

So don't come at me about reading good books instead of shit, you pretentious twat. I read 9 books a month, on average. Hundreds of authors. Some good, some not. I agree that we have different tastes, but my tastes are apparently far more diversified than yours. So STFU with your passive-aggressive attempt at intellectual condescension regarding the Dresden Files as literature.

Poi

[JingMerchant!]

If you think about it, it's just the same as ranting about almost every MA film, ever made....

[poidog]

Then if it is 'stupid', who really cares about how aikido is portrayed. Is like if i ranted about the Ginaz swordmasters school.... or silicone boobs in pr0n mags.

No. To make an effective comparison, it would be if you started a thread about the Ginaz swordmasters, and then we criticized your choice in reading Dune behind thinly veiled insults.

Poi

[FLMikeATT]

If you think about it, it's just the same as ranting about almost every MA film, ever made....

heh. This is somewhat true. Sometimes is so humourous it's awesome.

For example, this one Jet Li move (I think it was called Fist of Legend or something like that) he uses tons of standing joint locks and breaks tons of bones. It's so hilarious it's good.

There was also a Tony Jaa move (I think) where he busts out a bajillion bone breaking locks on like 50 guys. It's unrealistic as hell for sure, but it's freaking awesome anyways.

[vigilus]

I guess it's like army dinks watching a hollywood war movie and spending the whole time pointing out the inaccuracies and what's fake.
'OMG m203 grenades don't blow up like that LOL' and patting themselves on the back.

At one point you gotta say hey it's a movie. It's fake. Even when it's based off something real, it's still fake. You're not a genius when you point out the black dude in predator fires thousands of rounds with a mini gun and isn't carrying enough ammo for it.

[DCS]

So don't come at me about reading good books instead of shit, you pretentious twat. I read 9 books a month, on average. Hundreds of authors. Some good, some not. I agree that we have different tastes, but my tastes are apparently far more diversified than yours. So STFU with your passive-aggressive attempt at intellectual condescension regarding the Dresden Files as literature.

You asked about good literature. If you had asked about bad/escapist (and I'm an avid reader of that shit) my answer could have been different. Of course without that 'I read 9 books a month' JFS'ish chestbumping parking lot reading gongsau.

Are we going to make a list of shitty books we own/have read/in Santa's list for the winner to earn a tag in the line of 'i read shitty books'?. That would be hilarious, Poi. If you want the tag for you, no problem, ask Phrost for one. I'm not going to complaint.

No. To make an effective comparison, it would be if you started a thread about the Ginaz swordmasters, and then we criticized your choice in reading Dune behind thinly veiled insults.

As if reading that shitty prequels didn't deserve something more than thinly veiled insults. These 'novels' are horrid as literature and those who read and enjoy them (myself included) should be tarred, feathered and anklelocked to death.

Like FLMikeATT said, guilty pleasures. Taking them with all seriousness about content or style doesn't make sense.

However, if you want another 'Aikido sucks and it's for fa66ots' megthread, go for it. They are fun too.

[mike321]

You're not a genius when you point out the black dude in predator fires thousands of rounds with a mini gun and isn't carrying enough ammo for it.

With no military experience I was blissfully unaware of that point. And my ignorance helped me enjoy the film's premise (alien hunting expedition meets mercenary commandoes). These type of movies require as much realism as possible. The attention to details differentiates the good from the bad in this genre. Research is critical for the movie maker. Of course, as a movie watcher I try not to be too critical in areas that I have expertise, but I do want to see some effort.

[DerAuslander]

This thread requires assrapery.

[DCS]

This thread requires assrapery.

[Squerlli]

You guys should real good Sci-fi like Simon R. Green and Tad Williams.

Both of those guys are fucking spectacular authors.

[Cy Q. Faunce]

I know why a lack of plausibility would bother me in books like Butcher's. He's trying for a dark-fantasy mix of magic and detective noir, and detective noir requires gritty plausibility. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett may not have been experts in private investigation, but they filled their worlds with details that made sense to their readers.

Dark fantasy deals with the contradiction between magic and plausibility by filling in a few details of how magic works and making it obey known rules. It's also good if magic occasionally runs head-on into the physical limitations of a noir world, clearly establishing that there ain't no Silmarillion elves coming to save anybody's ass.

A five-foot, 100-pound badass who whips on much larger and stronger opponents without any magic is a jarring break from noir realism. That's especlally true for anyone who knows how unlikely it is. Really, shouldn't it be apparent to any sensible person? How often does it happen?

Fairy tales don't work in dark fantasy unless they're turned on their head and turned nasty. It sounds like Butcher isn't doing that with the Murphy character.

[DerAuslander]

Grab my wrist & find out. Vag-hat.