Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever

[Anonymous]

I see where your coming from Muse, and I respect that because you explained your viewpoint well. My comment was more directed towards Orasu, who just said that his writing was horrible, but gave no reason for it and didn't back up his statement in any way.

[Anonymous]

you know, my favorite books of all time are the Stainless Steel Rat series. A sci-fi story about an ex-con....amazingly well written, and actually kept me suprised.

-Im gonna use this post to say Van Helsing was a letdown. Just had to say it somewhere.

[Anonymous]

You couldn't have actually suspected Van Helsing would be a good movie, right?   I was actually looking forward to it too, but knew it would be so full of cheese I'd want to watch it on video at home, without the snickering of the surrounding crowd.  In a MST3k sorta way, I dig movies like that.

Even with the cheese factor, I might have to see the Chronicles of Riddick in the movie theatre.  Pitch Black was the best surprise kick-ass sci-fi thriller I've seen in some time: and I went to the theatre convinced it would suck.

And...the reviews so far on Troy aren't that bad.  It's being compared to Gladiator (one of my favorites), although critics say it lacks the ufmph that whatsisface brought to that movie.  I'm way looking forward to this. Peter O'Toole?  What movie can fail with a classically trained giant like him?  Plus, Brad Pitt is hawt.  

[Anonymous]

I found Van Helsing worth the money..

I had a few good laughs . New movies are rarely so stuffed with cliches and bad lines..

After i had seened it I saw 'The Sword And The Sorcerer' from 1982...

It was strange

[Anonymous]

Lol, Soma, that post was harsh ..


Might have said it a bit hard with 'horrible', but what I think is that the writing in the lotr books become to dry (more emotions . I cant manage to really get 'into' the story, like with the covenant series. The lotr books isnt that bad, only i think the covenant series are the best books written ever . It was like, when i started reading the second chronicles I was really missing the land, but when covenant entered Andelain...just wow!


Btw Catalyst, The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is to be written. There will be four books, and i think the first one was to be finished this summer..

[Anonymous]

Really?  Coolness, I'll have to pick that one up.

[Anonymous]

But it really was all in the way Frank Herbert wrote it, because I've read House Atreides and House Harkonnen (both by Brian Herbert) and they're just not the same.

And Frank is turning in his grave for it.  I can't find a single person who's read the Dune series and appreciated Brian's work.  The characters in Dune, beyond God Emperor were so creepy and broke the mold as far as sci-fi goes.  Miles Teg was someone you could look up to, and inside of two books, it made his loss almost as great as that of Leto.

In retrospective, I prefered Leto and Miles to Paul.  By the time I finished Chapterhouse, I had completely forgotten about the original plotline.  I was left guessing as to whether or not the Honored Matres were going to succeed in their path of destruction, and what part the Tleilaxians were playing in all of this.  Need to say, I was as confused as the next person at the epilogue, I had/have no idea what was happening.

[Anonymous]

In retrospective, I prefered Leto and Miles to Paul.  By the time I finished Chapterhouse, I had completely forgotten about the original plotline.  I was left guessing as to whether or not the Honored Matres were going to succeed in their path of destruction, and what part the Tleilaxians were playing in all of this.  Need to say, I was as confused as the next person at the epilogue, I had/have no idea what was happening.

I too prefered Leto and Miles to Paul, and I was also definitely confused post-Chapterhouse. I kind of didn't know what to think because everything was left to be so entirely subjective.

Lol...And I did see Van Helsing. The special effects were engaging, but I never seem to be able to get into movies where that aspect of the film dominates all other elements. I mean, yes it's fun to watch, but you don't get much out of it. But if you're really not in the mood to think very hard, and just want to be dazzled by explosions, cliche catch phrases and the like, then Van Helsing's worth a view.

I've heard good things about Troy so far, and if it's being compared to Gladiator, then I'll definitely see it. I heard it was extremely historically inaccurate, but I don't think that will end up being the focus of the movie anyway, so that wouldn't be too big of a problem.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I couldnt be bothered to read the last few posts (sorry to the writers) but at the beginning there are lots of mentions of Tolkien, some liking his ideas and writing, some not.  I have to say that whole heartedly I think that Tolkeins books were really aimed at the younger audience, even though every seen in his book is carefully described to each minutes detail that is my opinion.  I'm not saying that he is a bad writer or anything that is just what I think his best audience is, he created a mythology for England that didn't exist before like other countries.  For example Beowulf Dragonslayer, a very good book, that is all part of Norse mythology along with the Gods, Thor and so on. I LOVE Greek mythology, the Oddeysy (not sure how to spell it) was fantastic, I read it when I was about 11.  
Anyway I'm trailing off.  I loved the Phillip Pullmen books and highly recommend them to anyone who questions God and I am eager to read through some of the trilogies that you guys have recommened.  
  Presently I am reading a fantastic book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It isn't fantasy at all, it's all about a boy called Christopher who has Aspergers, a high functioning form of Autism.  One night he finds a dead dog in a garden that has been stabbed with a garden fork and decides to investigate. I have to say that it is my favourite book of all time at the moment, even though it is quite short it is fantastic.

[Anonymous]

I have to say that whole heartedly I think that Tolkeins books were really aimed at the younger audience, even though every seen in his book is carefully described

That is true actually. Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings because he wanted to have something to read to his children, so in essence, they are actually children's books. But the fact that those books turned out to be so description-based and multi-faceted proves how dedicated he was to his craft.

[Anonymous]

So what you want to say Orasu is that you do not like them, not that they are horrible. Say it with me. I choose not to like The Lord of the Rings because it is not my taste. lol

I didn't really wanna see Van Helsing because they completed distorted who Van Helsing was in order to make a Hollywood film. I've read Dracula many times, and Van Helsing is not as they portray him in the movie. In the book, he is a fat old man who is famous for his wide knowledge on all topics (he had a shitload of degrees). If they had called it anything else, i wud have at least considered seeing it. I boycott movies a lot because they pull stuff like this.

Best movies of the year so far: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Kill Bill: Volume 2.

I'm gonna see Troy this weekend, it should be awesome.

P.S. Orasu, sorry if i sounded harsh, I just really get annoyed by people who tell people talk shit about something and give no reason for it. If they say, "I hate it and this is why" or "In my opinion its not good." It's just i used to post on this other forum and the people on there were so stupid and would pull stuff like that all the time, so I really get pissed about it now.

[Anonymous]

FYI, Troy was pretty good.  Worth the price of admission and all that.

I did think Brad Pitt was a little flat (which is to say, he did really well but I thought that had his role been cast to someone else I might have left thinking it was a FABULOUS character).  Bana was really good.

[Anonymous]

I choose not to like The Lord of the Rings because it is not my taste.





I saw Troy yesterday. My dad thought it was too long. I liked it. Especially when ******* killed ******* and ***** him ****** ****** ******... , go see it.

[Anonymous]

Thats a fair comment.  There are many people who don't like LOTR becaues of Tolkiens long winded descriptive sentances.  But then that why so many people love his writings, because he is so visual, I guess this kind of backs up the idea that the books were originally for children, because they find it harder to visualise things.
Also this is a pretty cool piece of info, J.R.R Tolkien used to be an English teacher at my school and that is apperently where he started to first write his books, the story goes that he was marking some essays and he came across an essay he really liked so he continued to write it.  Also The Hobbit was actually written for his children.  But if you do happen to know otherwise to what I just said feel free to share, there are mayn stories on where Tolkien first started writing.

[Anonymous]

Excellent, it appears that my dad has all of them except the 2nd one of the 1st trilogy.  I shall start reading straight away :D