A few new books are out

[Christopher]

I didn't say that Hollywood invented the remake or anything of the kind. I said it was a Hollywood remake in that Hollywood tends to have a certain reputation for poorly thought out retellings. Everyone knows what you mean when you say it's a Hollywood style remake. It's a derogatory statement in most cases.

I didn't know that's what you meant. And if it is seen as derogatory, that's erroneous and ignorant, because there are plenty of great remakes in Hollywood history. The Wizard of Oz was remade something like half a dozen times before the Judy Garland version was made. Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much was far superior to his original version. That post I linked to before talks about how the remake of Gaslight was much better than the original film made just four years earlier (contrary to myth, remakes were much more frequent in Hollywood's past than its present).

So the notion that "Hollywood remake" equals "bad remake" is misinformed and unfair, and should not be perpetuated. A "reputation" is worthless when it's a lie or an ignorant stereotype. Anyone who really pays attention to Hollywood should know that remakes can be great.

 

[sojourner]

^Are you done?

 

[Mistral]

While you guys were arguing I went and began Redshirts. Its very amusing-but not as Star Trek oriented as Night of the Living Trekkies....at least, not at first. Still, a good read.

 

[The Wormhole]

While you guys were arguing I went and began Redshirts. Its very amusing-but not as Star Trek oriented as Night of the Living Trekkies....at least, not at first. Still, a good read.

Just how far are you? Because it becomes very Star Trek oriented about half way through. And I mean very.

 

[Mistral]

While you guys were arguing I went and began Redshirts. Its very amusing-but not as Star Trek oriented as Night of the Living Trekkies....at least, not at first. Still, a good read.

Just how far are you? Because it becomes very Star Trek oriented about half way through. And I mean very.

Finished it-and I see what you meant.
A good read. Now, on to Carnifex and Fuzzy Nation!
Got both for under $10 total on Ebay! Yay!

 

[Caliburn24]

I assume you're read A Desert Called Peace already? Carnifex is the second book in the series.

I feel that Tom Kratman is something like if General Patton wrote science fiction. Very, very militaristic, very right-wing, with some fascistic elements that make the charges against Heinlein look positively weak.

Being ex-Army, and right-wing myself I like his books, even if he is far more extreme than I am. There are a large number of in-jokes that you will only get if you have an insider's knowledge of the US Army, and specific operations conducted since 9/11.

 

[Mistral]

I assume you're read A Desert Called Peace already? Carnifex is the second book in the series.

I feel that Tom Kratman is something like if General Patton wrote science fiction. Very, very militaristic, very right-wing, with some fascistic elements that make the charges against Heinlein look positively weak.

Being ex-Army, and right-wing myself I like his books, even if he is far more extreme than I am. There are a large number of in-jokes that you will only get if you have an insider's knowledge of the US Army, and specific operations conducted since 9/11.

Yes, I own the first book. Yes, he's a right-wing extremist. No, I'm not ex-mil and I seem to have left-leaning ideas on a lot of things(not all-I do advocate the death penalty via a bullet to the brain pan rather vocally and believe in a strong military as a means of deterrence.) so his books are grain of salt reading for me. I enjoyed the first one a lot, though and am looking forward to Carnifex. How many books are out in that storyline?

 

[Caliburn24]

Four I think, three in the main series, then the side story told in The Amazon Legion which is a thinly veiled way for Kratman to talk about how gay men and women should be incorporated into an effective army.

I recall some mention of the series eventually being six(or was it more?) books long, but Kratman seems to have lost his muse now that the series is moving away from a straight-forward analogy of how he would fight the War on Terror.

Which is a shame, the cliffhanger at the end of The Lotus Eaters really gets things rolling storywise.

 

[beamMe]

I didn't say that Hollywood invented the remake or anything of the kind. I said it was a Hollywood remake in that Hollywood tends to have a certain reputation for poorly thought out retellings. Everyone knows what you mean when you say it's a Hollywood style remake. It's a derogatory statement in most cases.

I didn't know that's what you meant. And if it is seen as derogatory, that's erroneous and ignorant, because there are plenty of great remakes in Hollywood history. The Wizard of Oz was remade something like half a dozen times before the Judy Garland version was made. Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much was far superior to his original version. That post I linked to before talks about how the remake of Gaslight was much better than the original film made just four years earlier (contrary to myth, remakes were much more frequent in Hollywood's past than its present).

So the notion that "Hollywood remake" equals "bad remake" is misinformed and unfair, and should not be perpetuated. A "reputation" is worthless when it's a lie or an ignorant stereotype. Anyone who really pays attention to Hollywood should know that remakes can be great.

Yes, and they can also be horrible.
Hence the term Hollywood remake: Randering to the lowest possible denominator or To grab for even more money.