- So apparently people think Douglas Adams did dark humor? What? Seriously, maybe it's just that I'm Czech and Irish (and a little New England Acadian), and like to read French books, but Douglas Adams isn't dark. His humor is about as dark as Chesterton's, sorry. If that's what you Saxon dogs mistake for dark humor, just thank your blind idiot gods you can't understand French and have forgotten Belloc ever wrote anything but children's poetry, because I've read comedy the darkness of which would, all by itself, unmake you.
- Being "gangsta" has no bearing on how hardcore a musician is. Mainly because most of the people who style themselves "gangsta" are at worst street hoods, in real life, with the exception of a few (largely unindicted) serial killer-types.
But also, the most legitimately gangsta musician of all time? Frank Sinatra. The man had actual mob ties. "You're gonna 'bust a cap in my ass'? That's cute, kid. I'll have your entire family murdered, and if it ever goes to trial, guess what, I own the judge."
Accept it, your grandma's the one who listens to the OG, son. - Warhammer 40K is basically "Dune and Starship Troopers (the book) had a child out of wedlock." Only it's not as cool as it sounds (to be fair, though, it's also not as talky).
2012/02/25
Three Other Things
Just little thoughts I had.
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4 comments:
Re: Point #3 -- as you know from my blog, I actually like Warhammer 40K quite a bit, although recognize that it can't be taken all that seriously. But as a background for a game system it does a good job and I (who thought Dune was rather lame and totally overrated, but liked Starship Troopers the novel) think that 40K IS at least as cool as the bastard-child analogy sounds.
Yeah, I don't dislike it myself, even if the Eldar and Dark Eldar are too close to the Vulcans/Romulans for my taste (the 2009 Star Trek returned the favor—how is that Romulan time-rift not the Eye of Terror?). My only real problem with it (other than my reflexive dislike of Darker And Edgier, though 40K's is at least tongue-in-cheek) is the number of people who take it seriously. The various factions are no more meant to be serious worldbuilding than the Irken Armada in Invader ZIM is, but a lot of people on the internet don't seem to get that.
I must part ways with you RE: Dune, which taken on its own is a good piece of world-building—though then again I'm a sucker for any highly-detailed setting with psychically-navigated ships. It's only when you remember that Herbert thought he was saying something about both the modern and medieval Middle East (basically the story is about Byzantium going to war over oil) that it loses a bit of its luster.
Never really saw the Vulcan/Romulan connexion myself until you pointed it out. Now I guess I can sort of see it, but the Romulans at least have some semblance of civilization and sophistication whereas the Dark Eldar are basically a bunch of psychopaths.
I think the 40K worldbuilding can be taken a bit more seriously than Invader Zim, but yeah, lots of people take it too seriously. Although it strikes me that there's at least an equal number of 40K players who think those guys are rather ridiculous.
I agree that the world-building in Dune is good, I just thought the execution was very lacklustre. The choice of scenes was bizarre and the reader didn't actually get to "see" a lot of the important events. Maybe my expectations were too high given its reputation as an all-time classic, but I found the novel itself (ignoring the world-building) very sub-par.
Concessions about 40Ks lack of seriousness aside, I am trying to think of a good plot for a Black Library submission. Dan Abnett's stuff is pretty good, as are a few others, but there's also a lot of sub-standard stuff there that I know I can do better than. So it seems like a potential way to get my foot in the door and be able to say I've been published.
Can't think of what to write though. They already have so many bloody books, that a lot of the ideas I thought of have already been done. And the Imperial faction storylines are heavily overrepresented (but the Imperial factions are the ones I play and am most interested in).
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