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[Pilgrimzero]

Loved the book! This looks awesome! Woo!

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Neither Jaws nor Jurassic Parks are great books, especially in retrospect, but Spielberg made them into excellent movies.

I read RPO and it was all right while I was reading it but I have come to dislike it since I finished. It's very, very esoteric even though its defendants claim it is "accessible".

The movie will be hit or miss for sure.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Why would I make fun of something I like?

so that wasn't a quote from the book

 

[Santiako]

The books was truly awful, but this should at least be fun as a movie.

 

[JDHarbs]

I really enjoyed the book for what it was. I don't get the hate.

Getting hyped for this.

 

[HStallion]

Why would I make fun of something I like?

Well you fooled me as it certainly looked like you were making fun of the writing style and content of the book it in an ironic manner.

 

[Fergie]

Ok guys I see a lot of criticism over this book, so here is my take.

When it came to my research, I never took any shortcuts. Over the past five years, I'd worked my way down the entire recommended gunter reading list. Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny. I read every novel by every single one of Halliday's favorite authors.
And I didn't stop there.
I also watched every single film he referenced in the Almanac. If it was one of Halliday's favorites, like WarGames, Ghostbusters, Real Genius, Better Off Dead, or Revenge of the Nerds, I rewatched it until I knew every scene by heart.
I devoured each of what Halliday referred to as "The Holy Trilogies": Star Wars (original and prequel trilogies, in that order), Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Mad Max, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones. (Halliday once said that he preferred to pretend the other Indiana Jones films, from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull onward, didn't exist. I tended to agree.)
I also absorbed the complete filmographies of each of his favorite directors. Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith.
I spent three months studying every John Hughes teen movie and memorizing all the key lines of dialogue.
Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.
You could say I covered all the bases.
I studied Monty Python. And not just Holy Grail, either. Every single one of their films, albums, and books, and every episode of the original BBC series. (Including those two "lost" episodes they did for German television.)
I wasn't going to cut any corners.
I wasn't going to miss something obvious.
Somewhere along the way, I started to go overboard.
I may, in fact, have started to go a little insane.
I watched every episode of The Greatest American Hero, Airwolf, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Misfits of Science, and The Muppet Show.
What about The Simpsons, you ask?
I knew more about Springfield than I knew about my own city.
Star Trek? Oh, I did my homework. TOS, TNG, DS9. Even Voyager and Enterprise. I watched them all in chronological order. The movies, too. Phasers locked on target.
I gave myself a crash course in '80s Saturday-morning cartoons.
I learned the name of every last goddamn Gobot and Transformer.
Land of the Lost, Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Schoolhouse Rock!, G.I. Joe - I knew them all. Because knowing is half the battle.
Who was my friend, when things got rough? H.R. Pufnstuf.
Japan? Did I cover Japan?
Yes. Yes indeed. Anime and live-action. Godzilla, Gamera, Star Blazers, The Space Giants, and G-Force. Go, Speed Racer, Go.
I wasn't some dilettante.
I wasn't screwing around.
I memorized every last Bill Hicks stand-up routine.
Music? Well, covering all the music wasn't easy.
It took some time.
The '80s was a long decade (ten whole years), and Halliday didn't seem to have had very discerning taste. He listened to everything. So I did too. Pop, rock, new wave, punk, heavy metal. From the Police to Journey to R.E.M. to the Clash. I tackled it all.
I burned through the entire They Might Be Giants discography in under two weeks. Devo took a little longer.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing '80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn't part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.
I memorized lyrics. Silly lyrics, by bands with names like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Pink Floyd.
I kept at it.
I burned the midnight oil.
Did you know that Midnight Oil was an Australian band, with a 1987 hit titled "Beds Are Burning"?
I was obsessed. I wouldn't quit. My grades suffered. I didn't care.
I read every issue of every comic book title Halliday had ever collected.
I wasn't going to have anyone questioning my commitment.
Especially when it came to the videogames.
Videogames were my area of expertise.
My double-weapon specialization.
My dream Jeopardy! category.
I downloaded every game mentioned or referenced in the Almanac, from Akalabeth to Zaxxon. I played each title until I had mastered it, then moved on to the next one.
You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, is a lot of study time.

 

[Lokimaru]

Using the bttf delorean like that was wrong in the book and continues to be wrong in this film. Shame �� Shame ��

Why what kind of Car would you have if you could have Any Car? I'd have K.I.T.T from Knightrider Upgraded with Tron lightwall, detailing and AutoMan Turn function for that 90 degree action.

 

[SteveMeister]

Has it been mentioned that The Iron Gianf was released in 1999? I suppose this means the movie isn't going to focus solely on 80s pop culture. Probably a good thing; broadens the audience.

Personally I enjoyed the book, warts & all, although while I was shocked it sold movie rights and that Spielberg himself chose to direct. I didn't think it warranted a movie. But I'll definitely go see it. The trailer looks fun & I trust Spielberg.

 

[JSoup]

I like the Sixers design.

Has it been mentioned that The Iron Gianf was released in 1999? I suppose this means the movie isn't going to focus solely on 80s pop culture. Probably a good thing; broadens the audience.

Well, the book didn't stick to just the 80s either.

 

[jstripes]

Like 5%? Same can be applied to this.

Roger Rabbit had a very narrow focus on one particular industry, and had an imitation film noir plot straight out of the period it referenced and took place in, which the studio also had roots in. RBO just throws in whatever disparate pop culture references the author had in his mind at the time. Also, the characters had a purpose for being there: They were "employed" by Hollywood studios.

Sure, you could argue they're both chock full of references, but Roger Rabbit was built on a much better foundation.

 

[the anime man]

Movie looks alright. Love the music in the first half of the trailer though.

 

[Lokimaru]

Well you fooled me as it certainly looked like you were making fun of the writing style and content of the book it in an ironic manner.

I like what I like and absolutely do not apologies for it.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Has it been mentioned that The Iron Gianf was released in 1999? I suppose this means the movie isn't going to focus solely on 80s pop culture. Probably a good thing; broadens the audience.

Also, the first Duke Nukem was 1991, Harley Quinn debuted in 1992, and Halo CE was 2001. So yeah, there's already quite a few non-80s references.

 

[JCHandsom]

What would you do and study to win 240 billion dollars? The creator of the contest said you have to get inside his fucking head to even come close to winning. Hell the entire youth culture in the books is based off this very premise. The Kids in this world dress like it's the 1980 in the real world. From Spicky hair to faded Jeans. Hell Man I lived through the 80's, I had the Michel Jackson Thriller Jacket, I started dressing like Leroy from The Last Dragon complete with Kung Fu Slippers after seeing that Movie cause I loved it and it's still my third all time favorite movie. I have Hard drives FULL of Movies, Videogames and Comics that I like not to mention a shit ton of Pron without 240 billion being on the line. Stop acting like this shit doesn't happen and your above it all.

That's what's so sad about RPO: it honestly felt like Ernest Cline wrote an entire novel built around this premise just to justify the time he spent on his hobbies and interests. Like you said, there doesn't need to be $240 billion on the line to justify liking videogames and cartoons and movies, they're entertaining and worthwhile in and of themselves, so for Cline to essentially say "Hey, all that time I spent listening to Rush and memorizing Monty Python wasn't a waste of time! My skills at Pac Man and Joust actually make me the Chosen One! How bout that MOM?" feels like someone with insecurities would say.

And if there is any doubt about the whole "Being a Nerd makes me a hero MOM" thing being an accident, he doubles down on it in his second book, where the main character literally says something to the effect of "All that time spent playing video games wasn't a waste!" to his actual mother.

 

[xam3l]

Roger Rabbit had a very narrow focus on one particular industry, and had an imitation film noir plot straight out of the period it referenced and took place in, which the studio also had roots in. RBO just throws in whatever disparate pop culture references the author had in his mind at the time. Also, the characters had a purpose for being there: They were "employed" by Hollywood studios.

Sure, you could argue they're both chock full of references, but Roger Rabbit was built on a much better foundation.

You are right, but missing the point. This allergy to the brandiness. Also in RP1, despite how its portrait in the book, these references can also have a meaning. They can build a credible world and build character.

For all its worth. I, personaly, like how its shaping up and want to see this movie. I'm happy that its beeing made.

 

[norm9]

I was apprehensive at first. But now,

 

[HStallion]

I like what I like and absolutely do not apologies for it.

Well just saying you kind of reaffirmed why a lot of people don't like the book even if you didn't intend to lol.

 

[NastyBook]

Ok guys I see a lot of criticism over this book, so here is my take.

When it came to my research, I never took any shortcuts. Over the past five years, I'd worked my way down the entire recommended gunter reading list. Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny. I read every novel by every single one of Halliday's favorite authors.
And I didn't stop there.
I also watched every single film he referenced in the Almanac. If it was one of Halliday's favorites, like WarGames, Ghostbusters, Real Genius, Better Off Dead, or Revenge of the Nerds, I rewatched it until I knew every scene by heart.
I devoured each of what Halliday referred to as "The Holy Trilogies": Star Wars (original and prequel trilogies, in that order), Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Mad Max, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones. (Halliday once said that he preferred to pretend the other Indiana Jones films, from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull onward, didn't exist. I tended to agree.)
I also absorbed the complete filmographies of each of his favorite directors. Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith.
I spent three months studying every John Hughes teen movie and memorizing all the key lines of dialogue.
Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.
You could say I covered all the bases.
I studied Monty Python. And not just Holy Grail, either. Every single one of their films, albums, and books, and every episode of the original BBC series. (Including those two "lost" episodes they did for German television.)
I wasn't going to cut any corners.
I wasn't going to miss something obvious.
Somewhere along the way, I started to go overboard.
I may, in fact, have started to go a little insane.
I watched every episode of The Greatest American Hero, Airwolf, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Misfits of Science, and The Muppet Show.
What about The Simpsons, you ask?
I knew more about Springfield than I knew about my own city.
Star Trek? Oh, I did my homework. TOS, TNG, DS9. Even Voyager and Enterprise. I watched them all in chronological order. The movies, too. Phasers locked on target.
I gave myself a crash course in '80s Saturday-morning cartoons.
I learned the name of every last goddamn Gobot and Transformer.
Land of the Lost, Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Schoolhouse Rock!, G.I. Joe - I knew them all. Because knowing is half the battle.
Who was my friend, when things got rough? H.R. Pufnstuf.
Japan? Did I cover Japan?
Yes. Yes indeed. Anime and live-action. Godzilla, Gamera, Star Blazers, The Space Giants, and G-Force. Go, Speed Racer, Go.
I wasn't some dilettante.
I wasn't screwing around.
I memorized every last Bill Hicks stand-up routine.
Music? Well, covering all the music wasn't easy.
It took some time.
The '80s was a long decade (ten whole years), and Halliday didn't seem to have had very discerning taste. He listened to everything. So I did too. Pop, rock, new wave, punk, heavy metal. From the Police to Journey to R.E.M. to the Clash. I tackled it all.
I burned through the entire They Might Be Giants discography in under two weeks. Devo took a little longer.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing '80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn't part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.
I memorized lyrics. Silly lyrics, by bands with names like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Pink Floyd.
I kept at it.
I burned the midnight oil.
Did you know that Midnight Oil was an Australian band, with a 1987 hit titled "Beds Are Burning"?
I was obsessed. I wouldn't quit. My grades suffered. I didn't care.
I read every issue of every comic book title Halliday had ever collected.
I wasn't going to have anyone questioning my commitment.
Especially when it came to the videogames.
Videogames were my area of expertise.
My double-weapon specialization.
My dream Jeopardy! category.
I downloaded every game mentioned or referenced in the Almanac, from Akalabeth to Zaxxon. I played each title until I had mastered it, then moved on to the next one.
You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, is a lot of study time.

*goes insane reading this*

 

[Random Human]

You are right, but missing the point. This allergy to the brandiness. Also in RP1, despite how its portrait in the book, these references can also have a meaning. They can build a credible world and build character.

For all its worth. I, personaly, like how its shaping up and want to see this movie. I'm happy that its beeing made.

In no way is the world of RPO credible.

 

[xam3l]

In no way is the world of RPO credible.

A world where a villian-cartoon-clown would run the United States of America, wasn't credible until last year.

 

[HStallion]

A world where a villian-cartoon-clown would run the United States of America, wasn't credible until last year.

*rolls eyes*

 

[Haly]

That's what's so sad about RPO: it honestly felt like Ernest Cline wrote an entire novel built around a premise just to justify the time he spent on his hobbies and interests. Like you said, there doesn't need to be $240 billion on the line to justify liking videogames and cartoons and movies, they're entertaining and worthwhile in and of themselves, so for Cline to essentially say "Hey, all that time I spent listening to Rush and memorizing Monty Python wasn't a waste of time! My skills at Pac Man and Joust actually make me the Chosen One! How bout that MOM?" feels like someone with insecurities would say.

And if there is any doubt about the whole "Being a Nerd makes me a hero MOM" thing being an accident, he doubles down on it in his second book, where the main character literally says something to the effect of "All that time spent playing video games wasn't a waste!" to his actual mother.

”I'm on the moon," I said, panning the QComm's camera around the room, and then up at the dome above. ”Moon Base Alpha. It's a secret base on the far side. I'm going to help fight off the invasion from up here." I gave her a smile. ”All those years I spent playing videogames weren't wasted after all, eh?"
weren't wasted after all, eh?"

She broke down into tears then, but she still managed to sound incredibly pissed off.

I wrote this in 2015, whew. Still applicable.

I don't think Cline knows how pro-gaming works...

This is, in a strange way, the most insulting part. He writes masturbatory fantasies where the best gamers save the world using their gaming skills but he has no idea what goes into being one of these people or how they're perceived or the culture that surrounds them. Even here, his mind is mired firmly in the arcades of the 80s where having your name on the top of a sorted list was supposed to be impressive.

In between Valve's Free to Play and recent Truesight video, as well as the documentary about Daigo, what I wrote above is truer than ever. It's been shown that you don't need to contrive a convoluted scenario where being the best at video games is the only way to save the world in order to tell a compelling drama about gaming and gamers, but that's the only way he can envision it. His "nerdery" just lacks any kind of depth.

 

[xam3l]

*rolls eyes*

Make sure you dont go blind

 

[Dan]

Ok guys I see a lot of criticism over this book, so here is my take.

When it came to my research, I never took any shortcuts. Over the past five years, I'd worked my way down the entire recommended gunter reading list. Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny. I read every novel by every single one of Halliday's favorite authors.
And I didn't stop there.
I also watched every single film he referenced in the Almanac. If it was one of Halliday's favorites, like WarGames, Ghostbusters, Real Genius, Better Off Dead, or Revenge of the Nerds, I rewatched it until I knew every scene by heart.
I devoured each of what Halliday referred to as "The Holy Trilogies": Star Wars (original and prequel trilogies, in that order), Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Mad Max, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones. (Halliday once said that he preferred to pretend the other Indiana Jones films, from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull onward, didn't exist. I tended to agree.)
I also absorbed the complete filmographies of each of his favorite directors. Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith.
I spent three months studying every John Hughes teen movie and memorizing all the key lines of dialogue.
Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.
You could say I covered all the bases.
I studied Monty Python. And not just Holy Grail, either. Every single one of their films, albums, and books, and every episode of the original BBC series. (Including those two "lost" episodes they did for German television.)
I wasn't going to cut any corners.
I wasn't going to miss something obvious.
Somewhere along the way, I started to go overboard.
I may, in fact, have started to go a little insane.
I watched every episode of The Greatest American Hero, Airwolf, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Misfits of Science, and The Muppet Show.
What about The Simpsons, you ask?
I knew more about Springfield than I knew about my own city.
Star Trek? Oh, I did my homework. TOS, TNG, DS9. Even Voyager and Enterprise. I watched them all in chronological order. The movies, too. Phasers locked on target.
I gave myself a crash course in '80s Saturday-morning cartoons.
I learned the name of every last goddamn Gobot and Transformer.
Land of the Lost, Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Schoolhouse Rock!, G.I. Joe - I knew them all. Because knowing is half the battle.
Who was my friend, when things got rough? H.R. Pufnstuf.
Japan? Did I cover Japan?
Yes. Yes indeed. Anime and live-action. Godzilla, Gamera, Star Blazers, The Space Giants, and G-Force. Go, Speed Racer, Go.
I wasn't some dilettante.
I wasn't screwing around.
I memorized every last Bill Hicks stand-up routine.
Music? Well, covering all the music wasn't easy.
It took some time.
The '80s was a long decade (ten whole years), and Halliday didn't seem to have had very discerning taste. He listened to everything. So I did too. Pop, rock, new wave, punk, heavy metal. From the Police to Journey to R.E.M. to the Clash. I tackled it all.
I burned through the entire They Might Be Giants discography in under two weeks. Devo took a little longer.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing '80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn't part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.
I memorized lyrics. Silly lyrics, by bands with names like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Pink Floyd.
I kept at it.
I burned the midnight oil.
Did you know that Midnight Oil was an Australian band, with a 1987 hit titled "Beds Are Burning"?
I was obsessed. I wouldn't quit. My grades suffered. I didn't care.
I read every issue of every comic book title Halliday had ever collected.
I wasn't going to have anyone questioning my commitment.
Especially when it came to the videogames.
Videogames were my area of expertise.
My double-weapon specialization.
My dream Jeopardy! category.
I downloaded every game mentioned or referenced in the Almanac, from Akalabeth to Zaxxon. I played each title until I had mastered it, then moved on to the next one.
You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, is a lot of study time.

Is this really and truly an excerpt?

I sure as hell hope no one who likes this garbage has ever dared mock the Twilight or Divergent series.

 

[JCHandsom]

I devoured each of what Halliday referred to as "The Holy Trilogies": Star Wars (original and prequel trilogies, in that order)

And this is before he mentions pretending that the other Indiana Jones films Crystal Skull onward didn't exist. Halliday has shit taste confirmed.

 

[HStallion]

Make sure you dont go blind

My same advice to anyone reading Ready Player 1.

 

[ChubbyHuggs]

That shit looks crazy.

 

[Indrid Cold1]

Looks great

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Book is pretty bad, and the trailer wasn't doing anything for me. I think this could work as a movie, I really do, but I also can't be fucked into caring at this point.

Cline and the written word need to get a divorce.

 

[Lombax]

Not willing to make a call yet. Whole lot of garbage CGI going on there.

 

[JCHandsom]

In between Valve's Free to Play and recent Truesight video, as well as the documentary about Daigo, what I wrote above is truer than ever. It's been shown that you don't need to contrive a convoluted scenario where being the best at video games is the only way to save the world in order to tell a compelling drama about gaming and gamers, but that's the only way he can envision it. His "nerdery" just lacks any kind of depth.

It doesn't help that Cline doesn't understand game design in the slightest, so reading about all the awesome and epic game worlds he came up with fall flat if you try and think about what it would be like to actually play them.

 

[xam3l]

My same advice to anyone reading Ready Player 1.

well... judging by what has been said about the book alone.

 

[Slayven]

"Pop Culture Holy Grail"*



*if you were born in the 70s or 80s

 

[TVexperto]

Where was the lord of rings reference?

 

[rec0ded1]

I'm realizing from this thread I should've kept my geocities page from 96 97. I'd be a hit with all my sick jpgs of pop culture.

Didn't notice the holy grail line fucking lol.

 

[Lokimaru]

That's what's so sad about RPO: it honestly felt like Ernest Cline wrote an entire novel built around this premise just to justify the time he spent on his hobbies and interests. Like you said, there doesn't need to be $240 billion on the line to justify liking videogames and cartoons and movies, they're entertaining and worthwhile in and of themselves, so for Cline to essentially say "Hey, all that time I spent listening to Rush and memorizing Monty Python wasn't a waste of time! My skills at Pac Man and Joust actually make me the Chosen One! How bout that MOM?" feels like someone with insecurities would say.

And if there is any doubt about the whole "Being a Nerd makes me a hero MOM" thing being an accident, he doubles down on it in his second book, where the main character literally says something to the effect of "All that time spent playing video games wasn't a waste!" to his actual mother.

Isn't that what we all want? To make all the useless shit in our heads mean something? Guy used his to write a Book.

 

[jyoung188]

Ok guys I see a lot of criticism over this book, so here is my take.

When it came to my research, I never took any shortcuts. Over the past five years, I'd worked my way down the entire recommended gunter reading list. Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny. I read every novel by every single one of Halliday's favorite authors.
And I didn't stop there.
I also watched every single film he referenced in the Almanac. If it was one of Halliday's favorites, like WarGames, Ghostbusters, Real Genius, Better Off Dead, or Revenge of the Nerds, I rewatched it until I knew every scene by heart.
I devoured each of what Halliday referred to as "The Holy Trilogies": Star Wars (original and prequel trilogies, in that order), Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Mad Max, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones. (Halliday once said that he preferred to pretend the other Indiana Jones films, from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull onward, didn't exist. I tended to agree.)
I also absorbed the complete filmographies of each of his favorite directors. Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith.
I spent three months studying every John Hughes teen movie and memorizing all the key lines of dialogue.
Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.
You could say I covered all the bases.
I studied Monty Python. And not just Holy Grail, either. Every single one of their films, albums, and books, and every episode of the original BBC series. (Including those two "lost" episodes they did for German television.)
I wasn't going to cut any corners.
I wasn't going to miss something obvious.
Somewhere along the way, I started to go overboard.
I may, in fact, have started to go a little insane.
I watched every episode of The Greatest American Hero, Airwolf, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Misfits of Science, and The Muppet Show.
What about The Simpsons, you ask?
I knew more about Springfield than I knew about my own city.
Star Trek? Oh, I did my homework. TOS, TNG, DS9. Even Voyager and Enterprise. I watched them all in chronological order. The movies, too. Phasers locked on target.
I gave myself a crash course in '80s Saturday-morning cartoons.
I learned the name of every last goddamn Gobot and Transformer.
Land of the Lost, Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Schoolhouse Rock!, G.I. Joe - I knew them all. Because knowing is half the battle.
Who was my friend, when things got rough? H.R. Pufnstuf.
Japan? Did I cover Japan?
Yes. Yes indeed. Anime and live-action. Godzilla, Gamera, Star Blazers, The Space Giants, and G-Force. Go, Speed Racer, Go.
I wasn't some dilettante.
I wasn't screwing around.
I memorized every last Bill Hicks stand-up routine.
Music? Well, covering all the music wasn't easy.
It took some time.
The '80s was a long decade (ten whole years), and Halliday didn't seem to have had very discerning taste. He listened to everything. So I did too. Pop, rock, new wave, punk, heavy metal. From the Police to Journey to R.E.M. to the Clash. I tackled it all.
I burned through the entire They Might Be Giants discography in under two weeks. Devo took a little longer.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos of cute geeky girls playing '80s cover tunes on ukuleles. Technically, this wasn't part of my research, but I had a serious cute-geeky-girls-playing-ukuleles fetish that I can neither explain nor defend.
I memorized lyrics. Silly lyrics, by bands with names like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Pink Floyd.
I kept at it.
I burned the midnight oil.
Did you know that Midnight Oil was an Australian band, with a 1987 hit titled "Beds Are Burning"?
I was obsessed. I wouldn't quit. My grades suffered. I didn't care.
I read every issue of every comic book title Halliday had ever collected.
I wasn't going to have anyone questioning my commitment.
Especially when it came to the videogames.
Videogames were my area of expertise.
My double-weapon specialization.
My dream Jeopardy! category.
I downloaded every game mentioned or referenced in the Almanac, from Akalabeth to Zaxxon. I played each title until I had mastered it, then moved on to the next one.
You'd be amazed how much research you can get done when you have no life whatsoever. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, is a lot of study time.

What. Is this real? Holy shit.

 

[LiK]

Seeing Kaneda's bike made me all giddy.

 

[Rhaknar]

holy grail of pop culture...

what? :/

 

[JCHandsom]

Isn't that what we all want? To make all the useless shit in our heads mean something? Guy used his to write a Book.

Naw man, I like video games because they're fun and interesting, not because I think they'll make me rich or popular or whatever. If I wanted that I could have gone into game design or something but that's not what interests me career wise.

My hobbies and interests are what they are because I like them, not because of some ulterior motive, and I feel like that is the case with most people. My dad isn't going to stop being a lawyer to become a professional fly fisher.

 

[NekoFever]

Yeah you clearly dissected it a lot more than I do with the books. I guess when I read I'm able to just enjoy more of the stuff you found such a fault with. Do a lot of people really read books and analyze them so closely and get pulled out so easily? That sucks if so.

Dude, are you really criticising people for taking more than a superficial reading of books? Jesus Christ.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

I stopped trying to be creative or produce any art or anything of that ilk years ago, after I realised that anything I was doing was in some way just some copy of another thing from pop culture that I liked. It sounds like this guy who wrote the book never thought that was a bad thing.

I was initially excited by the trailer but having read this thread I will now dislike the film. I'm glad I won't make that mistake in future!

 

[Galactic Specter]

"Pop Culture Holy Grail"*



*if you were born in the 70s or 80s

 

[Chronoja]

This is a live-action remake of The Lego Movie, right?

Felt more like a remake of the old flash animation; The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

 

[HStallion]

There was a VR world in Fall Out 3 that this would have worked for.

 

[JCHandsom]

I stopped trying to be creative or produce any art or anything of that ilk years ago, after I realised that anything I was doing was in some way just some copy of another thing from pop culture that I liked. It sounds like this guy who wrote the book never thought that was a bad thing.

I was initially excited by the trailer but having read this thread I will now dislike the film. I'm glad I won't make that mistake in future!

It could still be a good movie; Spielberg is still a competent director, and if he reigns in the more reference heavy bits and reinvents the story into something more like his other works it could end up being much better than the book.

 

[Lokimaru]

What. Is this real? Holy shit.

What? The Guys just telling you all the shit he studied in the five years the Contest has been going on. Remember this is a Kid from the 2040's, all this is New to him. It's like someone from now really getting into the Beatles. Or the Who like what happened when Rock Band came out. Don't act like you guys don't do this shit too. Guitar Hero alone Got me into a ton of Bands that I never listened to before.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I'm not familiar with the book and I'm dubious as to whether this'll end up as anything more than spectacle, but I won't pretend I'm above watching a dumb movie for the sake of spotting references to things I like.

Can't say I expected to ever see Duke in a movie, especially in 2017.

 

[Moose Biscuits]

It could still be a good movie; Spielberg is still a competent director, and if he reigns in the more reference heavy bits and reinvents the story into something more like his other works it could end up being much better than the book.

I'm not a clever person, but I don't want to embarrass myself by liking a film that a bunch of people are saying will be garbage. If liking references are bad, well I'm probably not going to stop enjoying them but I will feel guilty for doing so and I can stop acting like I do.