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Author Topic: American Gods (2017)  (Read 45301 times)
Rendakor
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Reply #70 on: May 17, 2017, 08:37:10 AM

A book book.

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Reply #71 on: May 17, 2017, 09:07:48 AM

Is it a book book or a comic book?

Book book.  Neil Gaiman, not one of his best IMO but still worth the read.

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Reply #72 on: May 17, 2017, 08:06:55 PM

Weird and funny.  I just saw in the downstairs WC a very old looking copy of this book.  I guess my bro in law was inspired by the TV series to read the book again.  I would read his copy but it's in the bathroom and he's probably touched it with bathroom hands.   swamp poop  I'll get a Kindle copy, I think.

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Reply #73 on: May 17, 2017, 08:25:43 PM

I distinctly remember buying the book, but apparently I never read it.

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Reply #74 on: May 17, 2017, 08:33:14 PM

I read it ages ago, but don't remember it well. Never got the Gaiman hype, honestly; only thing of his I really like is Good Omens and that was half Pratchett.

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Reply #75 on: May 18, 2017, 12:15:00 AM

I thought the book is well done, but if you can get the audio book, there's a great ensemble cast reading of the anniversary edition.  The narration is top notch.

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Reply #76 on: May 18, 2017, 01:51:10 AM

There was always a mystery around Shadow in the book, I don't think he was intended to only be purely the bland every-man character.  You were immediately wondering why he was chosen for all this, and he has the tendency to instinctively know the right thing to do that hints at bigger things.

We're verging into book-spoiler territory here, so I'll desist, but one thing I do think is that we're truly missing the internal dialogue of the character of Shadow.  We're not seeing enough of HIS strangeness, since that becomes crucial later.

I'll also say that I think you're wrong here.

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Reply #77 on: May 18, 2017, 06:33:55 AM

I'm about 15% through with the book and for all intent and purposes he is the character insert with enough inherent inertia to push the plot forward.
MahrinSkel
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When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was bullshit!


Reply #78 on: May 21, 2017, 10:58:54 PM

There was always a mystery around Shadow in the book, I don't think he was intended to only be purely the bland every-man character.  You were immediately wondering why he was chosen for all this, and he has the tendency to instinctively know the right thing to do that hints at bigger things.

We're verging into book-spoiler territory here, so I'll desist, but one thing I do think is that we're truly missing the internal dialogue of the character of Shadow.  We're not seeing enough of HIS strangeness, since that becomes crucial later.

I'll also say that I think you're wrong here.
I think they fixed that a bit with this last episode, as well as give us a clue how they will make this into 4 seasons. If all of their "something like this had to have happened, but it wasn't in the book" padding is this good, I will have no complaints.

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Reply #79 on: May 22, 2017, 12:34:33 PM

Last episode was pretty good. An explanation of his wife's life and death.

My favorite part:


The only part I had an issue with:

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Reply #80 on: May 23, 2017, 05:40:57 AM

You know, I just realised that one of the fun things about watching this is that the wife doesn't know what's going on.  She literally has no idea who Wednesday is.

I find it gigglesome.

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Reply #81 on: May 23, 2017, 05:54:22 AM

My wife doesn't either, but she worked out Wednesday. She's always been into mythology a bit though.

My only gripe with this episode is that I don't think Emily Browning is a very good actress.

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Reply #82 on: May 23, 2017, 06:39:46 AM

I didn't think she was a good actress until watching this episode, she knocked it out of the park.

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Reply #83 on: May 23, 2017, 08:28:17 AM

The last epi. was a pretty brilliant piece of interpretive TV (the fly trope especially, which alleviates some concerns in this thread on what being 'dead inside' actually is).  Obviously not an epi. that is in the book, but fills in the blank spaces pretty damned well.

My biggest issue was Browning clearly not trying to be naked, even though her character is an utter phreakshow in the bed.  It was off-putting, especially knowing much of Browning's work has been in the buff.  I don't understand why they went that route.  I'm not big into nudity in film except when it would clearly push the theme/art; and in this case it would have...  especially in the funeral parlor.

Maybe they just didn't want to overdo it given the prior epis.

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Reply #84 on: May 23, 2017, 09:21:13 AM

They either needed to show up or do a better job of making the attempts to avoid nakedness feel more natural.  It was distracting how far they went out of their way to avoid the naughty bits.

However, after 4 episodes - 3 focused on Shadow and one on her - I find her the more compelling character.  That is a problem.  Ricky Whittle just doesn't have the presence I feel this character should have.  The guy was a con man - a man that lived off his confidence game.  Yeah, he may be a bit broken by recent events, but I still expect something to pull me in to the character.  I wonder what someone like Richard Brooks (yeah - too old - but he lept to my mind as the perfect guy to be sitting at that blackjack table) or Coleman Domingo might have done with the character.  Whittle feels more like The Rock than a con man.

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Reply #85 on: May 23, 2017, 09:27:39 AM

Frankly I think Shadow is being played perfectly.  :shrug  He's a hollow character, more just the point of narration (in the book) than anything else.  And he was always more brawn than con; with an uncanny mental capacity (that they've so far only glossed over on the show).  Wednesday is supposed to over-shadow him (pun intended) most definitely... but, as we know that changes towards the end.


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Reply #86 on: May 24, 2017, 01:22:22 AM

Um, what ?

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Reply #87 on: May 28, 2017, 11:37:00 PM

Can't say I remember much from the book, I read it ages ago.

But I would be surprised if I had forgotten such copious amounts of dick.

I was not prepared.

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Reply #88 on: May 29, 2017, 01:05:08 AM

There was a lot of dick in the book actually.  Yeah.  I wasn't really prepared then either.  And then Morgan started doing it in his books and I wasn't prepared for that too.

But I respect the right to put it in.  Phrasing.


"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Reply #89 on: May 29, 2017, 01:24:22 AM

So if American Gods came out in 2001, I would have been way in my twenties and I can't believe I would have forgotten lines like these ...

Quote
“It is an hour or more before the ifrit comes, thrusting and grinding into Salim’s mouth. Salim has already come twice in this time. The jinn’s semen tastes strange, fiery, and it burns Salim’s throat.”

Now I doubt if I read the book at all. Or were there abridged versions of it omitting these scenes and I got my hand on one of those ? I am thoroughly confused.

Also, that scene in the show was just ...  swamp poop ACK! DRILLING AND MANLINESS awesome, for real I don't even.  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

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MahrinSkel
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Reply #90 on: May 29, 2017, 10:57:18 AM

There was a censored US version, which Gaiman has had resigned to the shredder, then an Anniversary Edition that is the "official" version. So I think it's likely that the sex scenes may have been tamer or missing in the version you read originally.

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Reply #91 on: May 29, 2017, 11:28:27 AM

Ha.  What a shock.

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Reply #92 on: May 29, 2017, 12:36:33 PM

Is the show being show uncut in the US? Erect penises and all? Because that's still unusual to see on TV in the UK even.

I liked Emily Browning better in this episode, felt like she had more to get her teeth into. Her nudity in this episode does make the concerted effort to avoid it in the previous one seem odder. One problem I'm finding that I don't remember having when I read it is that there's no explanation of who the new gods are. Even just giving them a name would help. Media, for instance.

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MahrinSkel
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When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was bullshit!


Reply #93 on: May 29, 2017, 01:56:46 PM

Is the show being show uncut in the US? Erect penises and all? Because that's still unusual to see on TV in the UK even.

I liked Emily Browning better in this episode, felt like she had more to get her teeth into. Her nudity in this episode does make the concerted effort to avoid it in the previous one seem odder. One problem I'm finding that I don't remember having when I read it is that there's no explanation of who the new gods are. Even just giving them a name would help. Media, for instance.
Media is never addressed as such explicitly in the book (mentioned in passing by one of the Old Gods). The only New God ever referenced by name is Technical Boy, which they reproduced almost exactly in the book. Old Gods referenced explicitly by name tend to be the more obscure ones (Anansi and Ibis are probably the best known, and even those won't ring a bell with the typical reader/viewer). Except Horus, I guess.

Wednesday is never named by his best known spelling/pronunciation until  NDA.

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« Last Edit: May 29, 2017, 01:59:04 PM by MahrinSkel »

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Reply #94 on: June 06, 2017, 09:12:47 AM

Caught up on the last two episodes. This show is so good at hooking me in. The mixing of the surreal and the mundane is outstanding.

My favorite scene in the last episode:

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Reply #95 on: June 06, 2017, 10:01:42 AM

They are deviating quite a bit from the book, so far in a good way.  As long as they get to right ending it doesn't really matter.  I would have liked to see Laura working the graveyard shift at a quickie mart and getting fired for stinking, but that doesn't look like the plan atm.

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Reply #96 on: June 06, 2017, 10:59:38 AM

Media is never addressed as such explicitly in the book (mentioned in passing by one of the Old Gods). The only New God ever referenced by name is Technical Boy, which they reproduced almost exactly in the book. Old Gods referenced explicitly by name tend to be the more obscure ones (Anansi and Ibis are probably the best known, and even those won't ring a bell with the typical reader/viewer). Except Horus, I guess.

Wednesday is never named by his best known spelling/pronunciation until  NDA.

--Dave

Ahh, OK fair enough then. Been far too long since I read the book so I've forgotten all of that kind of thing.

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Reply #97 on: June 06, 2017, 11:43:21 AM

Caught up on the last two episodes. This show is so good at hooking me in. The mixing of the surreal and the mundane is outstanding.

My favorite scene in the last episode:


That last line was an ad lib per Fuller's Twitter.

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Reply #98 on: June 06, 2017, 03:06:13 PM

The show is good but if they decided to go off book and just make it the Mad Sweeney Show I would be happy with that.
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Reply #99 on: June 06, 2017, 03:22:46 PM

Mad Sweeney and Deaf Wife are....the New Odd Couple.  Badewbadewbadew dewpadew eupadewwoo.

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Reply #100 on: June 06, 2017, 03:55:28 PM

Mad SweeneyGinger Minge and Deaf Wife are....the New Odd Couple.  Badewbadewbadew dewpadew eupadewwoo.

Better now.

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Reply #101 on: June 06, 2017, 11:03:09 PM

While the Road Movie with is undoubtly the best part of the series right now (additionally enhanced by Salim, the gay straight man), I also liked the additon of Vulcan to the lore. That was one creepy town, and it even fits well as foreshadowing
« Last Edit: June 06, 2017, 11:05:24 PM by Tebonas »
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Reply #102 on: June 09, 2017, 06:00:32 AM

The Saxophone.  It needs to stop.

Stop with the fucking 'moody' saxophone.  Or Trumpet.  Or whatever the fuck it is.  At the current level of annoying it may as well be a vuvuzela.

Fucking knock it off.

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Reply #103 on: June 18, 2017, 08:52:30 AM

I watched eps 1-2 originally then 3-4 and yesterday 5-7. This last batch was by far there best. You could say a lot of snarky not nice things about why that might be and how it shows a failure of some characters versus others to be interesting/entertaining. But overall I think its a very different show that is up to something pretty cool and its enjoyable. The radio songs they pick are always great, the visuals are nutty in a way you don't get elsewhere and the story was a fun idea when I read the book and still is now. The season finale airs tonight which means there is a marathon of past eps leading up to it on starz(?) and I'm looking forward to it.

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Reply #104 on: June 19, 2017, 10:19:24 AM

The finale was great.


I like that Dead Wife is figuring everything out and that Shadow is still so clueless. Outstanding show.
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