October 19th, 2012Top Story "Unfilmable" Science Fiction and Fantasy Books That Somehow Got Filmed By Charlie Jane Anders Next week sees the release of Cloud Atlas, the movie version of one of the most famously unfilmable books of all time. But Cloud Atlas isn't the first supposedly unfilmable book to make it to the screen. There have been several classic novels that everybody thought couldn't be captured on film — until somebody did it. With mixed results. Here are 11 unfilmable books that have been filmed... including two that are coming next year. What makes a book unfilmable? We ponder the question at greater length here, but it seems like usually it's about a couple things: 1) Complexity and length. 2) Visuals. 3) Challenging ideas. The challenge of creating huge visuals is becoming less of a problem as CG effects get more successful and versatile, but the other two problems might actually become more acute as movies become more expensive and thus need to appeal to the biggest possible audiences. Dune Why it was unfilmable: Mostly complexity, but also challenging ideas. The AV Club argues that Dune really is unfilmable: "Dune is simply one of those books packed with far too much abstract philosophy and internal action and dialogue, which can't be excised from the story or portrayed effectively in a visual medium." Adds John Scalzi: "Frank Herbert's book jammed together religion, politics, ecology, revolution and big honkin' spice-excreting annelids into a text so dense it threatens to implode into itself." How they filmed it: David Lynch condensed the story considerably, but as Scalzi puts it, he also "added his own layer of weirdness to it." The Sci Fi Channel did a more straight-up adaptation in a miniseries, with mixed results. Watchmen Why it was unfilmable: Mostly length and complexity — there are a ton of characters and insane amounts of backstory, and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' seminal work relies on the comics format to pack in a ton of drama. And it's a huge 12-issue miniseries. But also challenging ideas: the story takes place in an alternate history where Richard Nixon is president for life, and superheroes are part of our political fabric. As director Terry Gilliam said in 2000, "The problem with Watchmen is that it requires about five hours to tell the story properly, and by reducing it to a two or two-and-a-half hour film, it seemed to me to take away the essence of what Watchmen is about." How they filmed it: Director Zack Snyder made a fairly lengthy movie, in which a lot of backstory is packed into a beautiful opening title sequence, and some subplots are drastically curtailed. As Watchmen goes on, it turns into more of a traditional action movie, until it ends with a Matrix-esque fight scene among the heroes while people talk about tachyons. I'm not sure what someone who hadn't already read the source material would make of Snyder's film. V for Vendetta Why it was unfilmable: Another Alan Moore graphic novel, another huge miniseries with a ton of digressions, and another tough political subtext. Alan Moore categorically seems to believe that all of his works are unsuitable to be turned into films, but V for Vendetta is another one that Moore seems to believe couldn't be filmed. The comic depicts a post-apocalyptic Britain descending into fascism under the leadership of a man who's in love with a computer, while a mysterious terrorist in a Guy Fawkes mask fights back against the state and tortures a young girl to try and turn her into his successor. How they filmed it: The movie version features a more upbeat ending, and less of a focus on pure anarchism, among other things. The Neverending Story Why it was unfilmable: Michael Ende's actual novel is a complicated meditation on how stories change us and how we change them — in the first half, young Bastian reads a book about a hero named Atreyu, only to find the story changing in response to his reactions. In the second half, Bastian actually goes inside the story and explores the fantasy world himself. It's full of weird ideas, like Bastian gets a medallion that grants wishes — but every wish makes Bastian lose another piece of himself. How they filmed it: Michael Ende was so upset with the 1984 film version, he famously sued to have the title changed or his name taken off it. The movie only covers the first half of the book, and leaves out a lot of the ideas that Ende explores. A Scanner Darkly Why it was unfilmable: This Philip K. Dick novel is one of his weirder stories — and the notion of an undercover cop who's forgotten that he's the guy he's investigating is really kind of jarring and something that would be difficult to convey on the screen. The novel plays a lot with the notion of reality and identity being consensual illusions, covering up a reality that's both darker and impossible to know. And so on. This novel was included, along with Watchmen, in a recent class on unfilmable books that were adapted to film anyway. How they filmed it: Richard Linklater uses rotoscoping to turn Robert Downey Jr. and Keanu Reeves into trippier, more cartoony versions of themselves, and creates a kind of "slacker" version of Dick's narrative. And, as Tasha Robinson explains in the AV Club, the result is "an astonishingly accurate adaptation, though it streamlines the book to the point where the story is much easier to follow if you have the book in mind and can fill in the gaps yourself." The Host Why it was unfilmable: This novel by Stephenie (Twilight) Meyer is a bit challenging because it takes place in a world that's been conquered by aliens. But mostly, it's because a lot of the action involves Melanie arguing with the alien parasite inside her head. She's literally having long conversations with a voice in her head, and it's hard to see how this can be made dynamic on screen, even with the great Saoirse Ronan playing Melanie and her alien parasite. And they're both in love with the same guy. How they filmed it: The footage we saw at San Diego Comic Con featured Saoirse Ronan getting yelled at by a voice in her head, and it was kind of weird to watch. To be fair, this probably isn't unfilmable, just hard to translate to screen in a non-clunky way. Maybe over the course of a full-length movie, it'll seem normal. We'll find out in March! The Lathe of Heaven Why it was unfilmable: Complexity as well as weird ideas. Ursula K. Le Guin's novel about a man whose dreams reshape reality is a challenging, weird story that deals with some of the same questions as Dick's novel, about reality and identity. It's steeped in complicated philosophical notions and features a lot of weird trippy stuff, as the fabric of reality gets more and more warped by George's weird dreams. How they filmed it: PBS made a TV movie version in 1980 that was shockingly faithful to the novel, and remains the only adaptation of her works that Le Guin endorses. The special effects are bargain basement, but the ideas are intact and the overall effect is actually super chilling and intense. There was a 2002 remake that basically tosses a lot of Le Guin's story out the window. Lord of the Rings Why it was unfilmable: Length, complexity, and completely insane visuals. J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece is a huge sweeping story with massive set pieces and tons of characters — this is the greatest fantasy epic of all time, and the "epic" part is really serious. How they filmed it: Peter Jackson's three films do a pretty incredible job of bringing a lot of the visuals to life, thanks to some huge advances in computer effects as well as some insane dedication on the part of workers at Weta Workshop (who created so much chain mail armor they rubbed the fingerprints off their thumbs and forefingers.) At the same time, Jackson takes some liberties with Tolkien's story, and also reserves huge chunks of the story for the extended DVD cuts of the films. Johnny Mnemonic Why it was unfilmable: Complexity and ideas, basically. This William Gibson short story is unfilmable in the sense that a lot of Gibson's ideas are hard to capture on the big screen — it's very cerebral, and there's a lot of stuff happening at once. A lot of the ideas are very hard to visualize, in general. How they filmed it: In a nutshell, the film version is widely regarded as a mess, which substitutes over-the-top performances from its supporting cast for any real exploration of Gibson's ideas. It has a 14 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Ender's Game Why it was unfilmable: This Orson Scott Card novel has often appeared at the top of people's lists of unfilmable novels, for a few reasons. It's a particularly brutal, cynical story about a boy who's coopted by the military establishment in a dystopian future, when the world is at war with "Formic" aliens. And there are several other challenges. As Pajiba says, "I don't just mean that CGI can't make twenty pre-teens competent enough actors that we become convinced they are geniuses. I mean that the action of the novel all happens in Ender's head. The empathy, the struggle, the quiet watching and learning. That invisible internal struggle cannot be directly filmed, and I don't see this story retaining its greatness without it. How they filmed it: They've already filmed this story, but we won't get to see the result until November 2013 — thus far, it's obvious that a ton of attention to detail went into every aspect of the sets, and the cast includes Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. So fingers crossed!

"Unfilmable" Science Fiction and Fantasy Books That Somehow Got Filmed Everything you need to know to catch this weekend's Orionid meteor shower 5 Tricks to Convince People Your Fake Horror Story Really Happened 8 Alleged Resting Places of the Ark of the Covenant Why getting physically stronger will help you live longer Bruce Campbell tells us why the Evil Dead remake won't make you want to saw off your hand Just what is the latest plan for Justice League? Plus awesome Game of Thrones set photos! More Stories on io9 »

dwyld.kwu.11muchado2011@blogger.com: Change your e-mail address | Unsubscribe

Gawker Media, 210 Elizabeth Street, Floor 4, New York, NY 10012
Terms of use | Mailing List Policy

October 19th, 2012Top Story Three of The Easiest Ways to Manipulate People into Doing What You Want By Melanie Pinola You can do a lot of things to be more persuasive, from learning better ways to communicate to more shady manipulation techniques. Here are some of the easiest (and possibly evil) ways to get someone to say "yes." Scaring The Hell Out of You: The Fear-Then-Relief Procedure What it is: Arguably the most evil manipulative technique is what psychologists call the "fear-then-relief technique." The technique preys on a person's emotions. Here, the manipulator causes someone a great deal of stress or anxiety and then abruptly relieves that stress. After this sudden mood swing, the person is disarmed, less likely to make mindful or rational decisions, and more likely to respond positively to various requests. Examples: The book The Science of Social Influence details a few experiments that showed this in action. In one, shoppers in a mall were scared by a stranger touching their shoulder from behind. When they turned around, the shoppers found that their assailant was a (supposed) blind man who just wanted to ask the time. After that deflection and relief, someone else—the fake blind man's confederate—asked the targets if they would buy and sign postcards for a political charitable cause. Those who had met the blind man and experienced the fear-then-relief rollercoaster were more likely to do so than the control group which wasn't manipulated. This fear-then-relief manipulation technique is most popularly portrayed in the classic bad cop/good cop routine: one person scares the hell out of you, another saves you, and then you're more willing to talk. You see this in everyday life, too—from the fear tactics of insurance agents to bad managers who suggest your job is on the line, backtrack, and then ask you to work overtime. Photo by jabneyhastings Making You Feel Guilty: Social Exchange What it is: One strategy con artists and unethical marketers use is simply called "social exchange." The book The Dynamics of Persuasion describes it as: an interpersonal persuasion strategy in which Person A provides Person B with a tangible or psychological reward; in exchange, when Person A approaches B with a request for compliance, B feels pressure to comply. Exchanging favors and doing things for others is a basic part of human society, but this can be manipulated by aggressive people. Examples: A co-worker could remind you about that time they bailed you out big time in the past, then use that as leverage every time he/she needs something. Or someone who loaned you money or knows a secret of yours could continually blackmail you into doing what they want (a subject we've covered extensively). Photo by Jhayne Priming You With a Small Request: The Foot-in-the-Door Technique What it is: This manipulation technique is evil because it's so tricky, subtle, and simple. With the foot-in-the-door method, someone asks you to do a very small and easy request and then follows up with the real request. Examples: NPR gives an example of a panhandler who asks you for the time, then asks you to spare a buck. By getting you to say yes to one request, you're more likely to say yes to a second one. Photo by clarity Avoiding These Manipulations Just knowing about manipulative techniques can help you avoid falling victim to them. For the fear-then-relief technique, for example, be on the lookout whenever you feel a surge in negative and then positive emotions. You're more vulnerable at that time to do things mindlessly and at the suggestion of others. Watch out for statements that follow this general formula: [Something terrible] could have happened to you, but it [didn't/won't]. [Now do this]. These aren't the only ways someone could trick you into saying yes, of course, but they are some of the more common—just keep an eye out, stay on your toes, and you should be able to spot when someone's trying to pull a fast one. This post is part of our Evil Week series at Lifehacker, where we look at the dark side of getting things done. Knowing evil means knowing how to beat it, so you can use your sinister powers for good. Want more? Check out our evil week tag page. Click to view

This Week's Most Popular Posts: October 13th to 19th How to Cheat at Online Video Games Is It Possible to Be Truly Anonymous in an Online Community? Three of The Easiest Ways to Manipulate People into Doing What You Want How the Food You Eat Makes You More (or Less) Productive Reorganize Files to Get Yourself Back on Track for Big Projects Start Small and Take Small Steps to Work Past Your Fears and to Your Goals More Stories on Lifehacker »

dwyld.kwu.11muchado2011@blogger.com: Change your e-mail address | Unsubscribe

Gawker Media, 210 Elizabeth Street, Floor 4, New York, NY 10012
Terms of use | Mailing List Policy

October 19th, 2012Top Story This Is What Happens When You Try To Randomly Join A Classic Car Race By Benjamin Preston Palermo, Sicily — My grandfather grew up in Sicily, and I've been listening to his stories about watching the Targa Florio and Mille Miglia for years. I thought those legendary Gran Tourismo races had long ago gone the way of the dodo, but I thought wrong. The Targa Florio, it turns out, has been resurrected. As with any corpse that's been disinterred after three decades underground, it's seen better days. But the new version celebrates the historic race with restored versions of the cars that made history at a time when the people in those grainy black and white race photos were still in their prime. I knew that by hook or by crook, I had to go check it out. So with no real plan other than "go watch the race," I traveled to Sicily, hoping to link up with one of the teams (or anyone with a car, really). Here's what I found. Like the Olympics, automotive endurance races have always been a proving ground for human advancement. They cover every level of competition from an engineer's careful planning of a cylinder head or track layout to split second decisions made by drivers in those many win-or-lose moments. The first Targa Florio was held in Sicily in 1906 and by the '20s, had become Europe's most important Gran Tourismo race. The 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Mille Miglia were still brand new, and Grand Prix had yet to enter the limelight. The Targa Florio was a grueling test bed for automotive technology, and varied in length over the years (with the exception of the two world wars, when it wasn't run at all). But it was always a challenging slog through labyrinthine tangles of treacherous mountain roadway in Sicily's stark, stunning interior and along its lush Mediterranean coastline. By the late '70s, the GT cars running the race had attained horsepower levels unimaginable when Sicily's mule cart roads were designed by Bourbon-era engineers. Safety became a major concern and the race was more or less shut down after a fatal crash in 1977, surviving in name only as part of a rally circuit. But the 2012 Targa Florio, the second held since authorities pulled the plug on it in the '70s, turns back the clock. The old cars in the race are fast, but they're not 2012 fast. They even make different noises than today's cars. You know the sounds: the clatter of mechanical lifters; the raspy snarl of a pair of pipes sucking in cold air. The smell of unburned hydrocarbons lingering in the air as they buzz by. Naturally, I showed up at the race on press registration day. It was held at the University of Palermo, on Sicily's north coast. As soon as I arrived, I knew I'd made the right decision in coming. Right at the front gate were a 1954 Maserati A6GCS and a 1957 Alfa Romeo 1900 C Super Sprint. All sexy curves and red-painted sheetmetal, these were cars which had etched their names into history decades before I was born. The din (and the fumes) of all 200 or so of the old cars starting up and revving their engines in preparation for the start is something only a true gearhead can appreciate, but that will make all others take notice. I had no idea what I was doing, and since the press office lady didn't really seem to have anything to do with anything related to actual journalists, I was left to wander around and chat with wealthy car owners. Not much luck on that first go. The Italian guy who had his mother as co-pilot declined. Even 160 pounds of extra weight would make a difference in his 1100 cc Fiat. The Dutch couple driving the '57 Peugeot 403 were picking up friends along the course and didn't have extra space. I would have been more than willing to slide between the sisters van de Velde in their 1950 Healey Silvestone, but they weren't into it. Several people looked at me as if I'd just crawled out from behind a dumpster and asked them for spare change when I sauntered up to offer salutations. Luckily, I met Benno Heer, a Kaiser Partner HR guy who was driving Fritz Kaiser's support car. Not only was Fritz Kaiser's company one of the major sponsors of the race (their name was plastered on the side of every car), but it just so happened that he had one of the most beautiful, and rarest cars known to man: a 1955 Lancia Aurelia Spyder America. According to Kaiser, it's one of only about 150 left on the planet. Lancia didn't make too many to begin with, then, allegedly, a shipment of them sank with the Andrea Doria, the Genovese liner that went down off the coast of Nantucket in 1956. But there it was, in all its curvy red, supercharged glory; a real Aurelia Spyder. Heer and I followed it in a new Volvo V60 turbo diesel which, in all honesty is probably a much faster (and safer) car. But the sound that thing made was incredible. Whichever Italian genius was in charge of designing the exhaust system (the tubo di scapamento, if you will) must have been a fan of opera, because those two pipes sounded like a pair of sopranos singing an aria at Palermo's Teatro Massimo. There's something about these vintage car races to which I've already alluded. The people who do them are, for the most part, fabulously wealthy. That's not much of a departure from the days when Vincenzo Florio and his cohort of princes and noblemen tried out the first race cars on the original course. From a journalist's perspective what that means is that if the rich guys don't offer to foot your bill, finding an affordable hotel at the blingy stage stops can be a problem. Sorry, but this reporter cannot afford to lay his weary bones in a five-star in resort towns that have been playing host to Italian nobility since before Italy was Italy (it used to be called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies). Hell, even the cheaper hotels are out of reach. The last time I stayed in Toarmina, I booked a room at the Jolly Hotel in Catania, an hour's drive to the south. So I did what any resourceful lad would do. I put my computer in a plastic bag and slept under the stars like a hobo. Skillfully avoiding the probing questions of people who wanted to know which hotel I was staying in, I deployed the "over there" tactic enough times to escape, then found suitable places to sleep. Taormina's fabulous seaside/mountainside opulence coughed up the best option: a rooftop that was easily accessible because the building it covered was on a steep hillside. Not only did that mean that the sun would great me at 6:30 a.m. — precluding the need for an alarm — but I could take solace in the fact that Joseph, Mary, and little baby Jesus slept on the roof, too (I'm pretty sure that's what they told us in Sunday school, anyway). But during the day, there was too much driving on the docket to worry about anything but driving. Meals, when they could be had, were provided by the man. They were lush, and served in vineyards and ancient stone castles and the like, so even if they'd given me horsemeat, I would have been too dazzled by the romantic setting to have been the wiser. I even got to dine with a wheelchair-bound Frenchman who was kicking ass in a hand control-operated 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster. The scenery was fantastic; something like what Southern California would be like if it wasn't choked with smog-belching freeways and its hilltops were dotted with medieval hamlets. Dry valleys made way to green mountains as we made our way to the aquamarine Mediterranean, and almost every town we passed through seemed to have a bronzed old man leaning on a fence by the road, most often with a cigarette dangling from his lips, staring blankly as the cars (and everything else) passed by. Oh, there were lots of really excited, screaming Sicilian children, too. The horse I'd hitched my wagon to (rather, the one that allowed me to hop on his cart), didn't fare too badly. Pretty solid middle-of-the-pack performance, really, and not bad considering the Aurelia Spyder had some steering issues along the way. He and his wife/co-driver Birgit came in 73rd. It sounds like the organizers are going to run this race again, and I for one would love to be there for it. But seeing as how being a hobo camp follower is getting a little old, I see a couple of options. I can a) enter a life of crime so that I can make enough money to buy a '54 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT (fantastic cars, those, and I've always wanted to be one of those Pink Panther-esque cat burglars), or b) offer to drive a support car for one of the teams. I wonder if my uncle Enzo will let me borrow his Peugeot 208 for a weekend? Photo credit: Benjamin Preston

This Is What Happens When You Try To Randomly Join A Classic Car Race Are These The Pizza Trucks Of The Future? 50 Years Ago We All Almost Died: The Images That Define The Cuban Missile Crisis 1981 Toyota FJ40: The Jalopnik Classic Review BMW Goes Limited Edition, Mercedes Hunts For Cost Cuts, And Iacocca Picks His Man Why Nissan Built Realistic Inflatable Versions Of Its Most Popular Cars How To Use Your Car As A Hotel More Stories on Jalopnik »

dwyld.kwu.11muchado2011@blogger.com: Change your e-mail address | Unsubscribe

Gawker Media, 210 Elizabeth Street, Floor 4, New York, NY 10012
Terms of use | Mailing List Policy