Topic: Coming Soon (Read 89928 times)

Thad · « **Reply #1100 on:** January 27, 2013, 10:50:01 AM »

...I cut out the line "(I've never read Journey of the West and have only seen a few episodes of Dragon Ball, but I imagine I STILL wouldn't know what was going on in this trailer even if I knew the story better)" because I thought my post would be funnier as written. Yes, I know that's Journey to the West. And I'm aware of its significance.

Actually realized I didn't have the Four Great Classical Novels in my ebook library after watching that trailer, and tried to dig them up. Found a CC-licensed translation of JttW but, surprisingly, haven't been able to locate a public-domain translation of Water Margin (under that title, Outlaws of the Marsh, or Shuihu Zhuan). Kobo's got the Shapiro translation for $3.50, which is a great price (especially compared to the print edition going for $30 in paperback), but it's DRM'ed and I've got a plenty-long To-Read list without downloading any Chinese epics and having to strip the DRM off them.

Looks like Project Gutenberg's got Dream of the Red Chamber in English (I, II) but only has the others in their original Chinese. Presumably that's because the English translations are still under copyright (though I must admit I'm surprised by the possibility that there were no English translations until the 1920's or later).

(Also if anyone signs up for Kobo to buy a thing, if you sign up with this link my local independent bookseller gets a kickback.)

TA · « **Reply #1101 on:** January 27, 2013, 10:55:16 AM »

Quote from: Lottel on January 27, 2013, 12:38:57 AM

I learned all I know about from Journey to the West from Dragon Ball.
That's good enough, right?

I read a Let's Play of the Playstation game Saiyuki: Journey West. I think I'm pretty much an expert, here.

Classic · « **Reply #1102 on:** January 27, 2013, 11:01:54 AM »

That version has the monkey king solving very few problems with his urine, which is, in my mind, a weakness of the adaptation.

EDIT:
Sun Wu'Kung has this habit of peeing on things to solve/create problems. I am 100% sincere in this little nothing comment.

Brentai · « **Reply #1103 on:** January 27, 2013, 01:29:22 PM »

http://threekingdoms.com/ is pretty much the only way to read Three Kingdoms because of the online commentary. There's a fair bit of internet cluelessness (the part about people drinking untreated well-water as punishment leads a lot of people to conclude that the Chinese never drank anything besides wine) and it's obvious most of the people reading it got their ideas from Dynasty Warriors, bit it still provides infinitely more context than the text itself does. Also make sure to read all the prefaces carefully, since they explain how the fuck third-century Chinese battles actually worked, which the novel otherwise assumes you know.

François · « **Reply #1104 on:** January 27, 2013, 03:21:36 PM »

Quote from: Brentai on January 27, 2013, 01:29:22 PM

Also make sure to read all the prefaces carefully, since they explain how the fuck third-century Chinese battles actually worked, which the novel otherwise assumes you know.

It's still pretty amusing to me how much closer the battles in Dynasty Warriors games are to reality than one might initially suspect. When hordes of untrained and poorly-equipped peasants come up against one another in conflicts that they barely have a stake in or even understand, victory does often come to whichever side has the best handful of stone-cold badass motherfuckers leading the charge.

Or, as amusing as anything with the body count of a century of civil war can be, anyway.

Brentai · « **Reply #1105 on:** January 27, 2013, 03:58:49 PM »

I think the "army of shitty peasants" trope gets overplayed a bit when talking about early warfare. Soldiers, especially Chinese ones, had the sort of training, discipline, and actual warfare equipment you'd expect a soldier of an army to have... they just tend to look like fodder when put up against armored lords on horseback, or a goddam curtain of arrow fire. Consider those two things to be the tanks and napalm of antiquity.

François · « **Reply #1106 on:** January 27, 2013, 11:48:51 PM »

I don't doubt that professional soldiers of the time were a force to be reckoned with, but I was left with the impression that, during the three kingdoms era at least, the various lords ran out of professional soldiers pretty fast. Steamrolling the Yellow Scarves can't have been much of a challenge for armies that had been raised essentially before the Han fell, but the moment people got sick of Dong Zhuo's crap and the battles started involving troops with essentially the same technology, resources and traditions as one another, the turn-over ratio must have skyrocketed.

Mongrel · « **Reply #1107 on:** March 06, 2013, 08:26:59 PM »

The Place Beyond the Pines Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Ryan Gosling Movie HD

Potentially good?

Büge · « **Reply #1108 on:** March 25, 2013, 09:38:29 AM »

Riddick Teaser Trailer

Ziiro · « **Reply #1109 on:** April 09, 2013, 12:27:20 PM »

ELYSIUM - Official Trailer - In Theaters August 9th

Royal☭ · « **Reply #1110 on:** April 09, 2013, 05:39:02 PM »

Didn't Peter Jackson want him to direct the Halo film, but the studio bigwigs said he wasn't ready? Looks like he's doing it anyway.

Snark aside, that movie has a solid, sci-fi look to it. District 9 was a good, if a bit goofy from time to time, film that was miles away from most of what Hollywood was putting out, so I'm looking forward to this.

Büge · « **Reply #1111 on:** April 11, 2013, 12:24:01 AM »

Great. Now we'll never get a Battle Angel Alita film.

Beat Bandit · « **Reply #1112 on:** April 21, 2013, 01:25:17 PM »

This Is The End - Red Band Trailer #2 (2013) [HD]

I could get pumped for this.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #1113 on:** May 06, 2013, 12:54:23 AM »

Dreamworks Face: The Movie

Büge · « **Reply #1114 on:** May 06, 2013, 01:59:49 AM »

I see they've distilled it down into its most basic elements.

Büge · « **Reply #1115 on:** May 13, 2013, 06:44:17 AM »

Equestria Girls Trailer

this is a thing that is happening for real

Mothra · « **Reply #1116 on:** May 13, 2013, 10:32:44 AM »

And the Prom's Tomorrow!

Brentai · « **Reply #1117 on:** May 13, 2013, 12:52:28 PM »

CONGRATULATIONS ON REACHING DEMIGODDESS STATUS TWILIGHT

POOF NOW YOU'RE A SHITTY LITTLE TEENAGE HUMAN GIRL

The "Celestia is really just a huge troll" interpretation of this show is by far my favorite.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #1118 on:** May 13, 2013, 12:59:45 PM »

I would hate to be the guy cleaning up the theater after that movie.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #1119 on:** May 16, 2013, 02:21:55 AM »

Benito Cereno has an interesting little tidbit about Man of Steel. It's not really a plot related spoiler or anything, but maybe people want to be surprise, so I'll hide it in a spoiler tag.

[spoiler]Jimmy Olsen has been switched to Jenny Olsen[/spoiler]

While I think it's pretty cool, it leaves me with that same dissonance I get every time I think about how this is still directed by Zack Synder.

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Author Topic: Coming Soon (Read 89928 times)