Audio Movie Reviews: League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen - October 25, 2009

November 03, 2009 at 8:02AM, Anne Adamson said ...

I'm in Georgia! I'm on this site constantly, I just don't actually participate all that much. >.> But I have gotten tons of my friends hooked on you guys.

October 31, 2009 at 5:38PM, Dr. Detfink said ...

I think Grant (correct me if I was wrong) did a nice job of demystifying Unwritten. To me, its similar to Never Ending Story in that, as the main character is reading the story he's thinking am I someone's imagination come to life or is the reality I am in a part of someone's imagination. The endless and clever literary references are the part that remind you of Fables. It's still very very early in the game to really say more than that but it's worth picking up in trade. Air is also very excellent if you like time paradoxes.

October 31, 2009 at 1:34PM, Dr. Detfink said ...

Thus far, this podcast was my favorite podcast of volume 3. A few comments: 1. I knew something was a tad suspicious that someone named "Raider" (what a shitty team to pick) would conveniently come into the lounge and try to provoke Jose and I with little sports jabs "Angels should wrap this up..." bullshit. Fleshbaiter needs better material to warrant a response. 2. Vertigo was the first line of comics that introduced me to novel-esque sized story arcs. At the time, comic book arcs were seldom longer than 4 issues. While I was lucky enough to collect Sandman, Preacher, and Hellblazer as single issues, it didn't long before I adopted the route of collecting trades. It wasn't necessarily about saving money but digesting rich literature as the entire story flowed uninterrupted. 3. When one of my close coworkers committed suicide, I took time off from nursing to pursue my hobby of art. I got a partial scholarship at Parsons School of Design in NYC. I was 5 years older than my oldest classmate. It was beyond painful being a comic book fan in the late 90s @ Parsons. Imagine Robert DeNiro's character from Mad Dog and Glory trying to communicate to kids who thought some obscure foreign film that they discovered was genius. I used to nick name them the "Trustafarians" in that they were trust fund babies, too cool for school, and living in the East Village smoking pot. 4. I never stole er, borrowed er, was inspired by a story or piece of art from comic books but Anita Kuntz's one painting inspired me to do a series of etchings based on Shakespeare's Tragedies that I have uploaded on this site. 5. I am right with Cyrus: Season of the Mists was my favorite Sandman story. I loved it because for the first time Dream is put in a position where he must appease all parties after Lucifer dropped in his lap the burden of what to do with Hell. And you want to talk literary genius, here is my favorite quote: "To lost loves, old friends and to the season of the mists...and may every man give the devil his due!" The resolution was awesome as hell is redefined from a place of suffering to a place of redemption. Vertigo is so amazing because it was due to DC's balls that allowed this brand to continue to inspire so many comic book writers.

October 29, 2009 at 3:28AM, Joby said ...

i just picked up the first trade of preacher and it was fantastic it was just as the league said its dark, bloody, and has a great sense of humor. one of my favorite moments in it is where cassidy is about to run over the saint of all killers screaming "your ma's a whore!!!" only to have his truck hit and wrap around the saint crushing the truck and sending cassidy flying and all i can think of when i see that panel is "fail" HAHAHA

October 28, 2009 at 12:22AM, Daredevil said ...

I like the sound of that, Jason.

October 27, 2009 at 7:46PM, Eventyraren said ...

I don't thnk that Sandman, Vertigo or that fabel is here in sweden. to bad it sounds good.

October 27, 2009 at 2:40PM, Murphy said ...

I think we may have to do another video game episode. (apologies to Beau)

October 27, 2009 at 1:31AM, Daredevil said ...

And Jim Smith is mentioned. Finally someone calls one of these guys out. (No offense dude, it happens a lot on this site.)

October 26, 2009 at 11:27PM, Kristin Hogan said ...

When I first started gaming on the Atari system, the entire point of a game was to get as many points as possible, or to get to the next level. Then they became loosely held together with a story: You are a plumber and you have to squash evil mushrooms and throw this dragon-thing into a lava pool and save the princess. Now however, with the advances we've made in the last 10 years, video games are becoming interactive storytelling mediums. The further you advance into the game, you get another animated chapter in the storyline. In Mario Galaxy, there is actually a storybook that you unlock chapters of as you complete levels. The storybook tells the whole history of the world and characters you are interacting with. So, at the end of the game you get this payoff for knowing the whole story. Games have begun to become more like movies. I think we haven't even scratched the surface of the kind of stories we can tell with this new media. By no means should video games REPLACE any other storytelling media. It's just a new way. And SHEGAW: I totally agree with you. You can't write a report on a book you haven't read. So, no you can't report on a game you haven't played all the way through. A book might take you less time to read. I'm glad it takes longer to get though games because then you feel like you're getting your monies' worth. I think I can sit down and play the original Contra start to finish in half an hour. That would be quite the rip off these days!

October 26, 2009 at 9:58PM, Shegaw said ...

Well >-n8, technically I started it, or Leon if you want to be intrinsic about it but, I'd gladly pass the buck to you if you'd like. escort , the same rules of story development apply to video games as they do literature or film. A kid can be handed and report on its storyline no more than they can for a novel they never read. One wouldn't report on either without having completed the story in its entirety (or the cliff notes anyway). When it comes down to it, it all comes down to the person following the story. No one truly hates to read in my opinion. They just haven't been presented with a story that arouses their interest. I think this can equate to video games as well. Alan Wake, Heavy Rain and Final Fantasy are very story heavy and will likely appeal to very diverse audiences. Then, as the good Dr. Deftlink mentioned, there's the added element of a player involvement dynamic (makes for an added dimension of pathological involvement). Frankly, playing Eternal Darkness scared me more than pretty much any horror film has in quite some time.

October 26, 2009 at 9:34PM, escort said ...

Do you have to finish a video game or at least get pretty deep into it to know the story? Do you think you can hand a student a video game they havn't played before and have them do a report on the storyline? Would they get most of the story no matter what there gaming level was? I'm just asking because i'm not a gamer and I havn't been blown away by any video game stories.

October 26, 2009 at 9:25PM, -n8 said ...

I wasn't trying to start a shitstorm, honest.