We're always thinking of you, the listener. Always. We started up this thing last night and totally meandered through the podcast for the first half hour, just talking about old TV, taking 5 minutes to look up stuff on IMDB, really opposite-of-compelling audio. Luckily, we hit our stride right after that and got to like an hour-15 minutes or so. But, again, because we think of you first, we cut out all that rambling meandering podcast stuff, and cut right to the listenable section. You're welcome. In this one we talk about the new Kindle Fire, e-books versus paper books: what is lost and what is gained, the nature of change (?), certain listeners' DVD shelves and the window into the soul they offer, Stephen King's new 'Shining' sequel, and also Monolith's obsession with the movie 'Thor', who's now seen it four times. We talk about this and more, so, you know, click on the linky thing.
Also here is the Sartalics website that we should all support!
Wow - I think that's an especially bad idea on the part of King. A Shining sequel? Haven't we lived long enough to learn that sequels don't work? What was the last great sequel? And I don't mean the last good sequel. I mean take something that has been soaked in to the public consciousness for decades, something revered as a classic, that was given a sequel that was worth anything. Jeezo. And with vampires. Yeesh. For me, there's nothing interesting about that story outside of that hotel. Danny's powers and that hotel and his dad's alcoholism and abuse, etc., etc. That's the story. It's not about a kid (or a man now, I guess) who has powers that goes around, solving people's problems. I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAs for The Shining movie - I always felt way about Nicholson - that he starts off crazy and has nowhere to go. But I watched it recently and the movie hit me a completely different way. This is a seriously screwed up family, probably more screwed up than the hotel itself. This is a family that is just barely hanging on to sanity. Nicholson is a drunk who beat Danny real bad at least once and has since been fighting to stay on the wagon. Danny has developed a persona that helps him deal with messed up things like his dad beating the shit out of him. And his wife is struggling to hold on to a sort of la-di-da everything will be fine attitude. And now, once-abusive, alcoholic dad wants to move the family into a hotel all by themselves for a few months. What. The. Crap.
So yeah, at the top of this movie, you've got a family who knows exactly how much scary stuff is percolating just under the surface and they're doing everything they can to keep it down, but it just keeps popping out at the weirdest times. Danny and OIive Oyl are kind of terrified already. And dad is ready to crack. If it wasn't for Halloran, I'd wonder if the whole haunted hotel thing wasn't a shared hallucination.
But ANYWAY. Some very interesting thoughts on the subject of ereaders and not owning traditional media anymore. For my part, I love all new gadgets in general, but I don't trust having all my data on drives. I loves the Netflix streaming (really, the quality is generally a step or two above DVDs, at least) but I loves even more buying me some discs. And I guess that explanation of having a shelf of stuff that represents me in some way is as good as any I could come up with. Interesting stuff.
Please let me know when the next taping is being held. I'd love to be in the audience and maybe bring the family.
We're taping in front of a live studio audience on Oct 25th in St. Paul, so come out and see us, Craig! And bring the fam! We're the opening act for 'Wait, Wait, Don't tell Me!" We're hoping we don't get booed off the stage this time.
ReplyDeleteI could talk about the Shining all day, so ... I think I will.
I think your analysis is pretty spot-on. "If it wasn't for Halloran, I'd wonder if the whole haunted hotel thing wasn't a shared hallucination." That is so true. Almost makes you wonder if it would have been a more interesting movie if that was left as an open question at the end. Because these are some desperately fucked up people. On the surface, it is a movie about the most haunted hotel in the 48 contiguous, but more than that it's about a family that's just barely holding it together with an insane man as the husband and father. I know that's not how King saw it, and I like his novel a lot, but I heard an interesting literary take on the Shining recently -- something to the effect that, in that book, King was working through the horror of his alcoholism and the damage it was doing to his family before he realized he was an alcoholic. Read that way, this guy said, the book takes on a whole 'nuther dimension.
I definitely understand your point about the risks involved with writing a sequel to something that's become such a cultural staple, but I'm actually pretty stoked about the sequel. I have no illusions it will be on par with the original by any stretch, and given King's propensity for producing unedited logorrhea these days, I'd say a new classic's even less likely, but simply put, I'm just very interested in finding out what King thinks has happened with these characters. Was Wendy ever able to recover from what happened at the Overlook? If not, what happened to her? If so, how'd she do it? And to what extent did those events shape Danny, young as he was? Thinking ahead to the book, I'm anticipating that inevitable scene where Danny's talking to someone near the beginning of the book and obliquely references something that happened in the 'Shining', but isn't so explicit that the person he's talking to has any idea what he's talking about. But we do. One of those moments in a novel or film that feels like an inside joke. Like when Indiana Jones sees the Ark of the Covenant painted in the catacombs he's exploring in 'Last Crusade' and the lines go, Indy: "It's the Ark of the Covenant." Elsa: "Are you sure?" Indy: "Pretty sure." I love those moments. Reason enough to welcome a sequel? Maybe not, but I will say I'm more interested in that book than I am the time-travel thriller King's putting out next month about a teacher who goes back to before JFK was shot to thwart the assassination. And of course I'll pick it up and devour it right away. And yes, I mean devour literally.
The dude. Can't. Stop. Writing.
Anyway, glad you liked it. And I don't trust having my data on drives either.
Craig, see how Brian. Stole. Your. Thing. There?
ReplyDeleteIt's called homage, man. Totally not stealing.
ReplyDeleteCan. You. Dig. It?
No, no, Peter. I \sartalics\LOVE IT\sartalics\ when people do that.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff this week. Maybe best yet?? I don't have much in the way to offer on the subject of The Shining sequel other than I hope it's better than Under the Dome (which is going to be a TV series right? And actually might be better TV than novel). I think Danny is an interesting character for King to revisit, so if he pulls it off great. But he'll have some lofty expectations to compete against (kind of like Apple & the iPhone, apparently).
ReplyDeleteI wanted to point out one thing about seeing people with books, or seeing their cd/dvd shelves as being a way to gauge the tastes of the culture and how that's lost due to the Kindle, iPad, etc. - well, i would argue that the device IS the reflection of the culture. That iPad or the Kindle is the trophy itself now. It's not the content on those devices. Sure, that's still a large part of the culture, but when we look back on the 2000s the iPod will be remembered more than what people were playing on it. I don't think that's either good or bad, it's just that there seems to be more popular innovation and creativity in most technology these days than in art. I'd wager that this will plateau at a certain point and the cultural attention span will shift to something else. Instead of people on airplanes asking me how I like my iPad, in three years the question will probably change to "What do you have on your iPad?" Same with the Kindle.
And I think Peter's absolutely right about the social aspect of reading/listening to music/watching movies for the Facebook generation. People SHOULD have a much more detailed and accessible account of other people's tastes because of social media than without. I've already had many comments on the music I'm listening to now that what I stream on Spotify shows up on the Facebook news feed. It's actually opening up conversations about music/etc. to way more people than I would ever encounter on a daily basis when I just so happened to have a cd or book in my hand, or invite into my home to see my collections. The Kindle allows you to share what books you're reading on Facebook as well, I believe, but it hasn't really taken off. It will though. The Kindle Fire has already sold something like 250,000 units in pre-orders!!
And speaking of, I felt I should also mention that you can share ebooks on both the Kindle and the Nook. It's up to the publisher though to make this option available for their ebooks. If they do, you can lend a book to another Kindle user for about 14 days. And there's no fear they won't return it, will smudge up the pages, or damage the jacket. Of course, the elephant in the room is the PUBLIC LIBRARY! Why even buy books in any format when you can get them for free??
I love my Kindle and iPad but I don't think physical books are going anywhere. In fact, I think we could see some really cool things happen in publishing akin to what is being done in the music industry in terms of creative packaging, limited special editions, bonus content, etc. I bought two CDs last week (despite both being available on Spotify), because I wanted to have the physical copy and both were 2 disc special editions with bonus content. I could have got the cheaper single disc versions, but as a fan I like that this industry is giving me something more than I can get on iTunes. There's no real reason why the publishing industry can't do the same with books. It's a way to appeal to different types of consumers and actually gives them a chance to charge more and possibly increase revenue. Why not, you know?
Anyway, good show. And thanks for making my dvd collection sound smarter than it is.
Looks like a big dudefest in here. By the way, when you read Bear Trap's comments do you also imagine the voice cracking like I do? And thanks for the shoutout. ;)
ReplyDelete@Pepperoni, I also hope 'Dr. Sleep' turns out better than 'Under the Dome'. I liked 'Dome' okay, but there wasn't a lot going on in it. Though the sequence when the meth lab goes up was one of the best 20 or so pages he's written.
ReplyDeleteI think your point about where the cultural attention span will shift is a good one. Eventually, people will get over the fact that everyone's got a reader and will start to wonder again about WHAT's being read on the e-reader, as opposed to HOW something is being read.
And yes, the public library. Lost in all of our discussions is that all this stuff is available, for free, at any public library. And even they are adapting with the times and finding ways to lend e-books for free. But I do worry that if libraries become even less relevant than they are now, and we depend on the various e-reader and e-book providers to allow us ways to lend books to one another, then the practice will also fade. If there's a buck to be made, and Amazon, etc. will miss out on that buck if they enable lending, then my guess is their impulse will be to do away with the practice altogether. But that's way down the line so I'll worry about other things.
And to risk making this into an Agree Party, I also agree that this could make physical publishing into a niche market that offers more in the way of high-end bindings, illustrations, and just higher quality products for book-nerds, and that may satisfy those of us still stuck on the sweet sweet paper.
And thanks for the props.
@Unknown/Harrasshole -- It is an amazing thing. My voice also cracks as I type! You don't even have to imagine it.