Unpopular Opinions

[sugarbaker design]

On 7/17/2022 at 2:09 PM, Blergh said:

the same re becoming Twilight, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter,etc. stans AND the number of vloggers on that site rhyming with Shmoo Nuub who pretend to have charmed lives via travelling, stunts, pranks, etc. . .

 

6 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

I can only quote sporadically since the update so wasn’t able to quote @Blergh who posted the rhymes with shmoo nuub. I honestly can’t figure it out.

I've copied the original post above.  Since 'vloggers' is mentioned, and it's a website we're looking for, and it's supposed to rhyme with Shmoo Nuub, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's Youtube.

[stewedsquash]

Yes! Another poster graciously pm'd me with that suggestion also (I was confused lol) and I think you are both right. I knew it would be a duh! answer but I was not getting it at all. Thanks all!

[Blergh]

7 hours ago, stewedsquash said:

Yes! Another poster graciously pm'd me with that suggestion also (I was confused lol) and I think you are both right. I knew it would be a duh! answer but I was not getting it at all. Thanks all!

I apologize for my having been coy in my original post instead of just saying YouTube.

[stewedsquash]

@Blergh It is I who should apologize for being dense. The schmoo was throwing me so I was never able to approached the nuub.

[sugarbaker design]

On 1/7/2023 at 3:32 PM, stewedsquash said:

The schmoo was throwing me so I was never able to approached the nuub.

A sentence one doesn't often see!  😉

[stewedsquash]

18 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

A sentence one doesn't often see!  😉

Never a dull moment when @Blergh posts. You never know what obscure information you will get or where it will lead you. I have said on another thread that Blerg would do well with a book/blog/podcast type of outlet. 

[Anduin]

I'm not saying that Brandon Sanderson is terrible. He isn't. But I finally read Way of Kings, and it didn't live up to the hype. Not bad. I see where he's going. But I wanted to like it more than I did.

Interesting worldbuilding, novel magic system. Engages with both of these way less than I wanted. Instead, oh great. More political scheming. There's not enough of that in the real world. Let's make sure fantasy is chock full of it. By the way, Dalinar should have killed Sadeas on the spot. He's absolutely going to betray him again as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

I never finished Elantris or the first Mistborn book. I only finished WOK because I was on holiday away from a bookshop with nothing else to read. Maybe Sanderson should stick at what he's good at and write for TTRPGs. Worldbuilding? Magic? Ripper. Characters? Story? Not so much.

[SophiaD]

I just tried reading the latest J.D. Robb and I have gone from originally liking and rooting for Eve Dallas, then becoming  unenthused to outright disliking her.  I knew who the villain was in the first paragraph and it went downhill from there.  I will put my comments in spoilers, because it contains a few comments about the latest book.  

Spoiler

It seems that, whenever she writes a woman is who more beautiful, more talented, has a more storied reputation than Eve (or her heroines when she is writing under her real name), that woman turns out to be an utter psychopath.  There are "good women," who are either less than the main character (i.e. Peabody), or aren't competition (Mavis), or exist as plot devices to help her (Nadine, or Charlotte Mira), but any woman who doesn't meet that criteria is automatically an evil witch, and the universe needs super-Eve to take her down.  Plus, Eve's life is secure and safe now - and good for her - but there's literally no growth.  

Sadly, now that I see this, I can't unsee it, and it's spoiling her writing for me.  A shame, because I used to really enjoy them.  

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by SophiaD

[Grrarrggh]

On 1/26/2023 at 8:17 PM, Anduin said:

I'm not saying that Brandon Sanderson is terrible. He isn't. But I finally read Way of Kings, and it didn't live up to the hype. Not bad. I see where he's going. But I wanted to like it more than I did.

Interesting worldbuilding, novel magic system. Engages with both of these way less than I wanted. Instead, oh great. More political scheming. There's not enough of that in the real world. Let's make sure fantasy is chock full of it. By the way, Dalinar should have killed Sadeas on the spot. He's absolutely going to betray him again as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

I never finished Elantris or the first Mistborn book. I only finished WOK because I was on holiday away from a bookshop with nothing else to read. Maybe Sanderson should stick at what he's good at and write for TTRPGs. Worldbuilding? Magic? Ripper. Characters? Story? Not so much.

After reading the Wheel of Time series, and Sanderson's additions, I've always been incredibly wary of reading anything else he's done. Seems I'm not missing anything. 

[Anduin]

2 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

After reading the Wheel of Time series, and Sanderson's additions, I've always been incredibly wary of reading anything else he's done. Seems I'm not missing anything. 

I don't think he's terrible, just that I don't enjoy him as much as a lot of people seem to.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:30 PM, SophiaD said:

I just tried reading the latest J.D. Robb and I have gone from originally liking and rooting for Eve Dallas, then becoming  unenthused to outright disliking her.  I knew who the villain was in the first paragraph and it went downhill from there.  I will put my comments in spoilers, because it contains a few comments about the latest book.  

  Hide contents

It seems that, whenever she writes a woman is who more beautiful, more talented, has a more storied reputation than Eve (or her heroines when she is writing under her real name), that woman turns out to be an utter psychopath.  There are "good women," who are either less than the main character (i.e. Peabody), or aren't competition (Mavis), or exist as plot devices to help her (Nadine, or Charlotte Mira), but any woman who doesn't meet that criteria is automatically an evil witch, and the universe needs super-Eve to take her down.  Plus, Eve's life is secure and safe now - and good for her - but there's literally no growth.  

Sadly, now that I see this, I can't unsee it, and it's spoiling her writing for me.  A shame, because I used to really enjoy them.  

 

Are you talking about Encore in Death? Because I didn't see any of what you put under the spoiler tag.

I was surprised at how Eve reached who the killer was and it had nothing to do with

how beautiful, talented or whatever she was.

I read this while I was on vacation and was looking for signs. Usually I can spot them, but Nora really had me stumped and then reading the reasons for why the victim was murdered. Jeebus Cripes.🙄

For me? My unpopular opinion about this is: NOT.ENOUGH.ROARKE.

Oh, and this has been the case for me with very few exceptions going back to when the series first came out: Peabody continues to annoy.

Yeah, I said it. @DearEvette can chime in any time now!🤪

[DearEvette]

5 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Yeah, I said it. @DearEvette can chime in any time now!🤪

It is so funny this pinged me, because I reviewed Encore in Death a few weeks ago and -- you know I love Nora and I especially love the In Death books -- but I said in that review that I think I am going to have to press pause on reading them for awhile.

For me it is a case of familiarity with the her writing tics that is starting to get with me.  I have to kinda agree with @SophiaD that some of my dissatisfaction stems from a lack of growth.

In each book she is hitting some of the same beats over and over with some elements feelings like she is checking off familiar check boxes more than anything: We get a Mira profile, an op run by Eve, Eve wondering about why an idiomatic phrase is the way it is, a visit to Dickie and Harvo where Eve makes threats, Nadine gets a scoop, Peabody clomps, McNabb Prances etc..

When the central mystery/case is good or engrossing I don't notice it as much. But I have to admit that Encore was ... not great.  I feel like we were supposed to feel shocked at the reveal and instead I was more 'well that's stupid.' And tbh, there wasn't a lot of decisive action more Eve going with her 'gut' and talking stuff to death. 

I feel like the series is in a holding pattern and something needs to happen -- I don;t want a major character to die or anything, but everyone is all smug and coupled up and standing still.  I think we need a major paradigm shift to inject something different into the series.

And, just to say, I think  Nora needs to back away from HGTV.  House decor/landscaping  has infected every single book she's written in the past five years.

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

It is so funny this pinged me, because I reviewed Encore in Death a few weeks ago and -- you know I love Nora and I especially love the In Death books -- but I said in that review that I think I am going to have to press pause on reading them for awhile.

Hah! I have mentioned this many times to my other friends who I met through our love for Nora--not the writing tics, or maybe it is, but the abbreviations or acronyms she started using; and yes, the idioms that she's unfamiliar with and I said, what? Is Eve some alien life force hatched on Earth?

I don't like that she coupled up practically every single body, but hey, these are her characters and she can do whatever the hell she wants. I will take a bad Nora/JD Robb over any good "current" book, she set the bar so high, so I hold her to that standard.

I've said it's way past time for Eve and Roarke to have another mongo fight. Yeah, I SAID it. Maybe on the level from Judgment. Yeah, I said it. And I know I'm repeating myself.🤪

Was Encore better than the last few? No. But I've felt the first 20 or is it 30 were the BEST-the ones whose stories, villains I can recollect and know what the story was about. There have been clunkers, but I'm sticking because it's Nora--whose characters, be they in 2023 or 2061, act and talk like real people do. So I can relate to them, if that makes sense.

I've been on a historical kick, so I read this after three? months of reading historicals, and of course re-reading Whiskey Beach (scene with Eli telling Mike Barbie's name and Mike's pained "Dude" never fails to crack me up); The Witness, The Liar (not really a favorite, but eh, you knew who the Liar was from the getgo); and a whole bunch of Anne Stuart's historicals (Rohan series).

[stewedsquash]

@DearEvette I liked your post, not because I read Nora but because your observations could be about some of my favorite authors and how they started having the same issues. I also agree about the HGTV comment. I understand setting a scene, even being on trend for setting a place in time for future readers. I love reading books from other eras and getting a feel for what things were by the author's descriptions. A couple years ago I ditched a book during the first chapter because I swear that there was no story, just Michael Kors purse, Starbucks coffee, Target, etc, etc, etc, with name brand labels throughout the paragraphs. Every item was labeled with the brand in the first chapter. I skimmed a little and it was an ongoing thing so I ditched it. 

And I am right there with you for the Well that's stupid. Sometimes I feel like I read a whole book only to find that the author cut and pasted the wrong ending to the story and it got passed the editors. 

eta Also, I hope you find this funny. I have misread your name forever and always pictured you as Rupert Everette until now when I realized it was Evette.  In my defense, I have had a crush on him ever since he seduced Minnie Driver in An Ideal Husband. Sigh, I am going to go see if it is available to stream anywhere. Best movie ever.

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by stewedsquash

[Anduin]

Maybe this should be in the internet peeves thread, but it's relevant here too. Every time GRRM posts on twitter, there will be a large contingent of people telling him to finish Winds of Winter. I don't think he's being petty and holding back just out of spite, though considering how entitled some people act I wouldn't blame him. My bet, he can't.

Maybe there's a piece missing. He's written around the hole a dozen times, hoping that this time he's able to finish it. I've done that. Never found that missing piece. In this scenario, he should talk to his writer friends. See if they can figure it out.

Maybe he knows what comes next, but it's just no longer enjoyable. That's happened to me too, and I never found the cure.

Either way, he's still putting out books of history, there's still House of the Dragon. People should go back to those, instead of complaining. It won't help. Everyone involved will just feel more resentful and annoyed.

[Spartan Girl]

My UO is that I honestly don’t care if GRRM finishes it any more. If it’s anything like how the show ended, I want no part of it. And even if it’s different…I just don’t care.

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

My UO is that I honestly don’t care if GRRM finishes it any more. If it’s anything like how the show ended, I want no part of it. And even if it’s different…I just don’t care.

In broad strokes, I think it'll be similar. However, it certainly won't be identical. There are more characters in the books, Dany is currently stuck in the middle of nowhere with no resources, and so on. I'm still interested, if the next book ever comes out.

[sugarbaker design]

6 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

And even if it’s different…I just don’t care.

Oh I care.  I need that different ending, and GRRM can take his sweet time to do it. I'm 60 now, so if he could be done in the next 15 years I'd appreciate it.

[Haleth]

I'm sort of "I don't care" too but I'm sure if miracles happen and he ever finishes (yeah, sure) I'll be the first in line to buy the book.  There was a lot of good stuff in the excerpts I've read, especially about characters that never made it into the show.

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

I'm sort of "I don't care" too but I'm sure if miracles happen and he ever finishes (yeah, sure) I'll be the first in line to buy the book.  There was a lot of good stuff in the excerpts I've read, especially about characters that never made it into the show.

Yeah. If he does finish, I'll certainly be interested. However, as I said, I'm not sure he actually can. And I wish the idiots on twitter would realise they're only generating bad feelings all around and shut the hell up.

[Caoimhe]

I didn’t watch the last season on television, by the time I was able to access it I’d read all the spoilers and knew I would hate the ending.  If he ever writes the last book with a different ending I would consider buying it but it’s been so many years since I read the others that I no longer care if he finishes it or not.

[Hanahope]

I’d like to read it, but I’m don’t think he will finish it before one of us dies.  So I don’t know if I’d read the next book unless the final is also available 

[proserpina65]

On 6/22/2023 at 3:06 PM, sugarbaker design said:

Oh I care.  I need that different ending, and GRRM can take his sweet time to do it. I'm 60 now, so if he could be done in the next 15 years I'd appreciate it.

Whereas I'm fine with it being basically the same ending because I had no major problems with the ending of the show, only a few minor ones.  (Dany was clearly devolving into a female version of her father from very early on, in the books as well as the show, imo.)

But I've given up on ever knowing because I don't think GRRM will finish the damned books.  So if he does, I'll be pleasantly surprised.  My thought on the problem is that he enjoys world-building and creating characters and just can't stop doing it even though he absolutely needs to stop.

Edited June 26, 2023 by proserpina65

[Spartan Girl]

I’m kind of over all the “evil children/bad seed” novels. Or more specifically, I’m over all the ones where the mothers are the ones that know something is wrong with their child and the father is the oblivious one in denial. As if there aren’t mothers with blind spots a mile wide.

While I did like The Push by Ashley Audrain, I can’t help thinking that it might have been more interesting if

Spoiler

it turned out that Violet wasn’t responsible for her brothers death and Blythe really had been just projecting everything on Violet out of her own grief and paranoia. That would have felt more refreshing.

 

[voiceover]

On 7/7/2022 at 7:11 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

Another interesting thing about academic writing as I see it is that it is designed to exclude outsiders and self-congratulate the insiders. 

Girl, I ❤️ that you found a polite way to say “circle-jerk” 🤣

[Spartan Girl]

I need to get this off my chest once and for all: the Percy Jackson series is just fine. I wasn’t overly impressed, but I was entertained.

Furthermore, I find it annoying that the fandom constantly going on and on about how superior it supposedly is to Harry Potter is dumb. It’s just another way of virtue signaling because Rowling turned out to be a be a transphobe while Rick Riordan (as far as we know) is a decent person. 

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

I need to get this off my chest once and for all: the Percy Jackson series is just fine. I wasn’t overly impressed, but I was entertained.

Furthermore, I find it annoying that the fandom constantly going on and on about how superior it supposedly is to Harry Potter is dumb. It’s just another way of virtue signaling because Rowling turned out to be a be a transphobe while Rick Riordan (as far as we know) is a decent person. 

I found HP pretty readable way back when, even though I was too old to be the target audience. With the new TV series coming out, I thought I'd try Percy Jackson. No thanks. Maybe it's because I'm even older, or perhaps it was written for an even younger audience. Both?

Anyway, I agree that JKR is a terrible person and that PJ is just all right.

[Spartan Girl]

12 minutes ago, Anduin said:

I found HP pretty readable way back when, even though I was too old to be the target audience. With the new TV series coming out, I thought I'd try Percy Jackson. No thanks. Maybe it's because I'm even older, or perhaps it was written for an even younger audience. Both?

 

I agree, I think it’s targeted for a younger audience. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like it. I haven’t read the “older books” yet, but that was my impression. I just didn’t find it as readable as Harry Potter, and I freaking LOVE Greek mythology.

The new TV show is fun though.

[andromeda331]

I couldn't get into Percy Jackson. I wanted to because I love myths especially Greek myths. I thought it was the movie since I started with it. I laughed so hard when they talked about how rare and special Percy was he was the son of one of the big three. Zeus is pretty much only known for sleeping around. I tried the books and TV show but nope. The camp never made any sense to me. Why are they all there? What are they preparing for?  Also poor Medusa gets her head cut off again. 

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I couldn't get into Percy Jackson. I wanted to because I love myths especially Greek myths. I thought it was the movie since I started with it. I laughed so hard when they talked about how rare and special Percy was he was the son of one of the big three. Zeus is pretty much only known for sleeping around. I tried the books and TV show but nope. The camp never made any sense to me. Why are they all there? What are they preparing for?  Also poor Medusa gets her head cut off again. 

Which leads me into another UO: I’m fine with the new onslaught of Medusa myth retellings, but not if they turn Perseus into an asshole. He was one of the few Greek heroes that WASN’T an asshole and if that’s the only way you can write Medusa sympathetically, well, that’s not good writing. Stone Blind and The Shadow of Perseus were the worst offenders.

It possible to give depth to Medusa without turning Perseus evil: Medusa’s Sisters by Lauren J A Bear and Medusa by Rosie Hewlett pulled it off quite well.

Edited February 16 by Spartan Girl

[JustHereForFood]

Is it wrong that I think that The Catcher in the Rye, Love Story and Jonathan Livingston Seagull are waaay too overrated?

[Wiendish Fitch]

8 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

Is it wrong that I think that The Catcher in the Rye, Love Story and Jonathan Livingston Seagull are waaay too overrated?

I have never read The Catcher in the Rye, and I've never regretted it.

I have read Love Story. I thought it was nauseatingly bad.

Never read Jonathan Livingston Seagull, because I know I'll never be able to take it seriously (it makes me think of Mr. Dickey from Beavis and Butthead).

[BlackberryJam]

On 2/16/2024 at 11:26 AM, JustHereForFood said:

Is it wrong that I think that The Catcher in the Rye, Love Story and Jonathan Livingston Seagull are waaay too overrated?

My hatred of TCitR knows few boundaries. What a piece of crap. I loved Love Story but never thought it was great writing.

[Katy M]

On 2/16/2024 at 11:26 AM, JustHereForFood said:

Is it wrong that I think that The Catcher in the Rye, Love Story and Jonathan Livingston Seagull are waaay too overrated?

I read the Catcher in the Rye for school.  sure that makes a boring/bad book worse and makes a passable book bad because you have to dissect it to death, but that was one of my 3 least fave books that I had to read for school.  yeah, OK, you're lamenting the loss of innocence.   it is sad. But, Holden Caultfield, you also just seem to be a crappy person in general.

[sugarbaker design]

On 2/16/2024 at 11:26 AM, JustHereForFood said:

Is it wrong that I think that The Catcher in the Rye, Love Story and Jonathan Livingston Seagull are waaay too overrated?

I don't know any person, place or thing that holds Love Story or Jonathan Livingston Seagull in high regard, so they can't be overrated.

The Catcher in The Rye is definitely overrated.  I feel bad for any student that has to read this stuff.