Joe The Blogger

Finished "Under The Dome" Yesterday, Spoiler-free thoughts below:

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:58:00 -0400

First off, yes, it is a beast although I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten through 1088 pages that quickly before. Took me about 2 weeks, maybe 12ish hours of devoted reading. It’s structured into what effectively episodes so you’re always working towards a major plot development/event, I think this will lend itself to some quality TV.

It’s a big cast of characters, they don’t really get a whole lot of growth except for maybe the 2-3 main Main characters. That isn’t to say the characters aren’t interesting, they are, just most of them are most or less in the same place at the end of the book as they are when The Dome first comes down.

The main bad guy is pretty spectacular, he’s not particularly nuanced but man will you hate that motherfucker. Every pageturn I was hoping for his comeuppance, he’s basically yucky christian Joffrey.

So I intentionally avoided learning about the cast of the show before reading it to preserve my mental images. Now that it’s done and I’m looking at them I do chuckle at how pretty everyone is, not exactly how I imagined Smalltown, Maine. In my head it was more like a very dark episode of King of the Hill, especially plucky local reporter Julia Shumway/Peggy Hill.

That King of the Hill connection does bring me to one thing in that book that cracked me up. After The Dome separates the town of Chester’s Mill from the world they are constantly confronted with an extreme need of what is apparently this internal universe’s most valuable and necessary resource:

Not. even. kidding. For at least half the book every character’s primary motivation is either “Get Power” or “Get Propane”.

Ultimately it was a fun read and I’m excited for the show, hopefully it gets a sizeable enough fandom that I’ll have people to talk to about it.

messrjamesprongspotter: don’t trust people who don’t get harry potter references

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:38:02 -0400

messrjamesprongspotter:

don’t trust people who don’t get harry potter references

This is one of my weirder experiences

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:19:17 -0400

Was taking a cab to pick up my car from the shop. The cab got into an accident with an old lady, not sure who’s fault, I was dicking around on my phone. Hearing that unmistakable crunch my first thought was “oh shit my premiums going to go up, I hope my car is ok” but then came the realization that no, this is not my car and I am not driving it. This is the most consequence-free accident I’ve ever been involved with.

inothernews: Now that’s how to sell a TV show. Also filed under...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:47:30 -0400

inothernews:

Now that’s how to sell a TV show.

Also filed under “things you never thought you’d see being used to sell a TV show. Thank you, JJ Abrams and crew, for making Star Trek cool again.”

Of course they always forget to include that they’re also the writers & producers of the Transformers movies… also The Proposal.

"Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American."

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:45:27 -0400

“Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American.”

- Snowden: U.S. gov’t destroyed my chance for fair trial (via wilwheaton)

Photo

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:36:10 -0400

Alright so I tried Aliens Colonial Marines

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 02:35:47 -0400

“It can’t be that bad” I thought. How wrong I was.

I don’t think I’ve ever complained about a game being too hard, even
Dark Souls offers some progress when you get murdered. This was just merciless by the point you’re shooting the second Xeno. It’s hard to shoot, it’s hard to tell when you’ve hit something, enemies hit too hard. Checkpoints are too infrequent so getting ambushed puts you back 10+ minutes of progression. I just kept thinking “There’s no way I’m THIS bad at a video game” but no, seriously, colonial marines, it’s not me it’s you.
I only got an hour or so in before I simply couldn’t take it anymore.

Tonight's Jeopardy Categories:

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:25:35 -0400

I Have A Particular Set of Skills
A Nightmare For People Like You
Liam Neeson

The worst part of the advent of 3D movies...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 23:36:12 -0400

is having to watch those 3D payoff shots in 2D. It’s so blatant too, like something gets thrown directly at the camera or the focus changes awkwardly. It’s really going to date any movie made from 2010-2015 (I imagine/hope we’ll be done with this in a couple years).

it’s like no place I’ve ever seen The Nvidia 9000 is the most...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:32:29 -0400

_{it’s like no place I’ve ever seen}

The Nvidia 9000 is the most advanced video card ever produced, each of these butterflies is rendered independently. And it can run Crysis 3 on Ultra and maintain a clean 60 frames per second.

*CES audience ooos and aaahs*

Finally got around to seeing Oz: The Great & Powerful...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:29:55 -0400

It’s like a two-hour tech demo for CG you could use to make a better movie…

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Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:12:35 -0400

lolsofunny: (lol here!) Serious question: Did Red ever...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:19:53 -0400

lolsofunny:

(lol here!)

Serious question: Did Red ever actually put a foot in someone’s ass (obviously metaphorically) because it seems like he was all talk.

dialectic: schala: dialectic: schala: dialectic: frequentfem...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:59:57 -0400

dialectic:

schala:

dialectic:

schala:

dialectic:

frequentfeministidiots:

schala:

Misogynist bullshit people post on Facebook, part 139082490

OHHH GOODD i need feminism bc the facebook group “Fart is a four letter word”

said something i didn’t like waaah waah wahh

Oh no, every woman everywhere has now been stereotyped and insulted and sent back to the dark ages. Look how much we hate women! /sarcasm

ahh, i love it when the anti-feminist crowd finds my posts. they’re so clever and they’ve sure convinced me that i was wrong about this being misogynistic!

Clearly it’s enough to irritate you into responding. Dance puppet.
But I think what you’re missing is the post is supposed to be a joke, not misogyny. You’re not oppressed. You’re an attention whore. In fact, there’s no such thing as female oppression in the western world.

nah, i just like showing my followers when people say ignorant shit. it’s funny.

just like this.

Yeah, because sarcasm and humor is “ignorant shit”. And hey, I already said it was funny. Thank you for validating it. You know, if you wear your feelings on your shoulders, you’re going to have one miserable life. You probably already do, though I wouldn’t expect you to admit to it in an argument where you look like a hyperventilating feminist who’s upset because someone said women like chocolate. Oh, no. Woe is me. The world is coming to an end. A western woman, one of the most privileged women in the entire world, is claiming she’s oppressed. Someone help this poor woman.

You’re fucking ridiculous. I’m glad people like you are feminists, though. You give feminism an accurate image, and I thank you.

An accurate image of a misogynist.

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Thu, 13 Jun 2013 03:11:56 -0400

World War Z zombies are the scariest because:

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:41:51 -0400

A: They’re fast

B: They are not afraid to build a human pyramid

Also I’m on a boat!

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:25:56 -0400

Also I’m on a boat!

Had a lot of fun at E3 today. Will probably go back tomorrow to...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:21:11 -0400

Had a lot of fun at E3 today. Will probably go back tomorrow to catch a couple more things.

itswalky: masterofafros: Reunion of the century. You mean the...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 02:29:58 -0400

itswalky:

masterofafros:

Reunion of the century.

You mean the mega mega mega reunion of the century.

You mean the mega mega mega reunion of the century-icus.

benjaminbonbon: goddamnit

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 02:25:18 -0400

benjaminbonbon:

goddamnit