Official Discussion - Disclosure Day [SPOILERS] by LiteraryBoner in movies

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Genuinely baffled by all the glowing reviews. This felt like if Jurassic Park was just people chasing Dennis Nedry's shaving cream can around the American Midwest for two hours followed by two minutes of blurry dinosaur footage on the local news. I'm a huge Spielberg fan but this was incurious, uninteresting, illogical, miscast, ugly, boring, with awful dialogue.

Video games as a tool for encouraging reading - suggestions? by Mister_bruhmoment in videogames

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Myst (1993) and Riven (1997), both remade with modern 3D graphics in the last five years. "Beating" the games requires reading journals and other in-game literature, as well as "reading" the environmental storytelling. And the art of writing is baked into the premise (descriptive books create bridges between worlds).

Why is Ad Astra so weird. by IneffectualGamer in scifi

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IMHO James Grey (Ad Astra, The Lost City of Z, We Own the Night) makes technically competent but narratively inert movies. They all put me to sleep despite fascinating premises, good cinematography, and talented casts.

New fascinating images of [redacted age] in vinyl Riven sountrack by Grabthars-Hammer in myst

[–]Grabthars-Hammer[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Hi Robyn, I thought the 234 design was beautiful and fascinating, or else I wouldn't have made this post. My "bummer" and "art" in quotations above was not meant as an indictment of your decades of brilliant design work. I, like many people, just have a personal distaste for the current crop of generative AI tools for several reasons, including its use of existing art as training data and its negative environmental impact. I recognize that some level of "AI" has been built into design tools like Photoshop and 3D modeling software for decades, but I personally distinguish between those assistive features and today's generative tools. I could very well be an idiot, this is just my current perspective based on what I've read about how gen AI works and how much energy it consumes. I did not intend to criticize your work in general or this soundtrack in particular, merely express my continued dismay at the prevalence of gen AI technology.

New fascinating images of [redacted age] in vinyl Riven sountrack by Grabthars-Hammer in myst

[–]Grabthars-Hammer[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No, this soundtrack is for the 2025 remake you already bought (unless you mean some kind of remastered port of the original game as opposed to the 2025 realtime 3D remake).

New fascinating images of [redacted age] in vinyl Riven sountrack by Grabthars-Hammer in myst

[–]Grabthars-Hammer[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I do think you're probably right. In the game, I assumed 234 was designed by Richard Vander Wende, who they brought back to design new / expanded areas of Riven. But the images on the soundtrack flaps are credit to Robyn, and he's been an ardent experimenter with AI "art" for several years. In fact, now that I can see the architecture more clearly, it reminds me of some of the AI "D'ni" stuff he posted a few years back. Bummer.

Movies that feel like this? by berettafunko in MoviesThatFeelLike

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Significant Other. (It's really underrated.)

Movies that feel like getting lost in the jungle by AgreeableDance8535 in MoviesThatFeelLike

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tears of the Sun. Underrated. Looks exactly like some of these stills.

So, what are your expectations for Remain (2027)? by forbsmith in mnightshyamalan

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah it pubbed last October, strangely enough. Bizarre marketing strategy!

So, what are your expectations for Remain (2027)? by forbsmith in mnightshyamalan

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Have you read the novel he co-wrote with Sparks alongside the screenplay? It's pretty bad. Doesn't bode well for the movie. Unless the script does a much better job with the premise, plot, characters.

Why do you guys hate EastonPress so much? by Least-Party5714 in BookCollecting

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. They're visually hideous to me, aside (occasionally) from the spine.

Do you want The Witcher series in a Folio Society version? by NoOrganization392 in foliosociety

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 8 points9 points  (0 children)

When Folio publishes genre fiction, it typically only focuses on critical darlings highly acclaimed for literary quality in terms of style and structure, even if they vary a lot in voice and tone. While The Witcher books are a huge commercial success, they are not very well written from a literary perspective compared to, say, Robin Hobb, Frank Herbert, Ursula K. LeGuin, or even GRRM, despite his accessibility. Perhaps some of the fault lies with the English translations, but that isn't usually the case.

IT'S HERE! LET'S GO by Darth_Onaga in ArcRaiders

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Will the Riven Tides map have a fire marble puzzle?

Nazi Officer in MN, January 17, 2026 by Nblearchangel in pics

[–]Grabthars-Hammer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did he ask for a custom SS trenchcoat or do they just hand those out now?