skygiants | (no subject)

So I went over to

aberration's to watch the new episode of Korra tonight with her and her friend S, and while I was there we somehow ended up staying up way too late watching The Great Gatsby, which I have been SUPER WANTING TO SEE ever since I found out that a.) Baz Luhrmann was directing it and b.) the soundtrack was going to feature Jay-Z.

Surprising no one, The Great Gatsby rapidly proved itself to be somewhat disappointing to each of us, albeit for different reasons.

BECCA: I feel like Baz Luhrmann is not really committing here. This film is NOT FABULOUS ENOUGH. Like, let's be honest: for the full Baz Luhrmann experience, this should be a musical. THEY SHOULD ALL BE SINGING SAD HIP-HOP.
S: I think that if they were going to use all modern songs, they might as well have just done a modern Gatsby anyway.
BECCA: No, impossible, then how would Baz Lurhmann get to have all the sparkly flapper dresses and cloche hats?

aberration: It could be a retro-future Gatsby where they all dress like it's the twenties!
BECCA: . . . only if it then turns out Gatsby's big secret about his past is that he's SECRETLY A ROBOT pretending to be human!

aberration: Programmed to say "old sport" at the end of every sentence!
BECCA: PARTYBOT 3000!

Spoiler: movie turns out to be a lot better when you just make the assumption that Gatsby is secretly a robot. (Although it is still not . . . at all good. For the record.)

Anyway, now the most important question is, who is going to either a.) write me retro-future Great Gatsby fic featuring Partybot Gatsby, or b.) nominate The Great Gatsby for Yuletide so

aberration can request the world to write her retro-future Great Gatsby fic featuring Partybot Gatsby???

Crossposts: http://bookelfe.livejournal.com/349045.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

applegnat

Oh my god -- a partybot that self-consciously makes itself resemble millenial film star Leonardo di Caprio, who squints a lot and has obnoxious hair! Like the Fassbender-bot in Prometheus and his Peter O'Toole obsession. /lolsalot

From:

skygiants

YES!!! He gets overwhelmed with robot frustration every time someone walks up to him at a party and tells him cheerfully that he looks a lot like millenial film star Matt Damon.

From:

shati

"YOU HAVE THE SAME HAIR," future Shati wails

From:

vivien

...It DOES work better when you imagine Gatsby's a robot!!!

Yeah, it really and truly wasn't fabulous enough. Like, there were moments! And it was very beautiful! But yeeeeeah...

Hahahaha write it AND nominate it. I want the best of both worlds, old sport.

From:

skygiants

The green light is a PROGRAMMATIC TRIGGER.

Too much depressed faux-literary voiceover and hamhanded symbolism, not enough BURSTING INTO SONG. >:( >:(

NO LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE NEED TO WRITE IT FOR ME. because I am lazy.

From:

intothespin

Let's get real. All these desires could be even more happily satisfied with a feature-length Cindi Mayweather film by Janelle Monae.

From:

skygiants

I mean a full-length Cindi Mayweather film would be AMAZING BEYOND ALL THINGS, but there is a crucial difference between her and Partybot Gatsby! which is to say, Cindi Mayweather I can take seriously, whereas for Partybot Gatsby this impossible.

From:

ladysingsthe

"If we run out of gas we'll stop at a drugstore," Tom said, "you can get anything at a drugstore these days. Mechanical things, especially."

He punctuated this seemingly pointless remark with a sharp look a Gatsby, who blinked and seemed to turn a few shades paler underneath his copper hair burnished by the unforgiving and inappropriate sun.

"Oh, let's go!" Daisy clutched at Gatsby's arm, which adjusted to her presence with a faint whirring sound. "I'm going to positively melt if we don't get into town."

Gatsby turned, with a pneumatic precision that was almost marionettelike, and followed her away. As he went, I thought I heard a murmur in reply: "I love you, old sport."

"Did you see that?" Tom demanded of me and Jordan.

"See what?" Jordan replied innocently.

Tom's eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps," he said, in what he probably imagined was a shrewd and ominous tone, "Mr. Gatsby might be more comfortable if we stopped at a garage. He could find his own level there, if you know what I mean."

Jordan and I exchanged a look.

"Well there's no call to be rude," Jordan drawled.

"You both think I'm pretty stupid, don't you," Tom accused. "Well, I happen to know a thing or two about this 'Mr. Gatsby.' Nowadays, people begin by sneering at the sacredness of human life, but there are experiments being conducted out there that pervert the very laws of nature!"

Now Jordan and I were openly staring at him.

"... My," Jordan said lightly. "Well, when we get to town, you can tell us all some more about the latest science fiction novel. I'm sure Daisy will be very interested."

From:

carmarthen

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS PERFECT AND MADE MY MORNING.

From:

ladysingsthe

it is probably sad how nearly i have this book memorized s;adlda;

:DDDDD

From:

skygiants

OMG MERC!!!! I LITERALLY JUST SHRIEKED OUT LOUD

THIS IS EVERYTHING I HOPED AND DREAMED IT WOULD BE

"he could find his own level there" omg I'm dying

please post it to AO3 PLEASE SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD

From:

ladysingsthe

hahahahahahahahaha

thus making my total amount of fic about books updated to feature robot protagonists: 2

From:

adiva_calandia

THIS IS A GOOD TREND

From:

aberration

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS PERFECT.

Though now the only Jordan I will accept is one played Han Go Eun.

From:

skygiants

. . . . that would be the GREATEST Gatsby *____*

From:

adiva_calandia

I liked Gatsby well enough! But, uh, I have never read the book, and I'm always pretty charitably inclined towards movies I watch on transatlantic flights. >.> See also: me being the only person in the world who liked Prometheus.

From:

skygiants

I just could not deal with a.) Tobey Maguire's awful narration and b.) the CONSTANT SHOTS OF THE GREEN LIGHT AND THE SPECTACLES. It's symbolic! WE GET IT.

. . . but let's be fair, I would have completely forgiven it all of these things if it had actually been a musical, so it's not like I'm one to talk.

From:

adiva_calandia

It did seem at times like someone had decided to write a movie based on someone's high school paper on symbolism in the book rather than the book itself.

Dude though it SO should have been a musical. Featuring Nick's heartfelt ballad "Better Than The Whole Lot" and the castwide number "The American Dream (Is A Fucking Joke)."

From:

skygiants

Also Daisy and Tom's jazz-inspired cover of "Material Girl!"

From:

qian

My very unbookish sister was profoundly perplexed by the movie. At first she couldn't make out what it was about, but then she gradually worked it out! Clearly Gatsby was a SECRET KILLER who had murdered the guy he'd inherited all his money from! And he was on the run from the CIA, who showed up at his parties in disguise as fabulously dressed rich people!

She was very disappointed to find out that it wasn't a cleverly disguised thriller. :(

From:

skygiants

That would definitely have been a FAR, FAR BETTER film than the one we actually saw!

From:

rachelmanija

I feel that this is an appropriate time to share the fact that the author of Hooks for Hands has self-published a novel, Z (A Novel), with a relevant premise. I quote it in entire to give you the full effect:

After years living of living in Los Angeles, novelist Nix Carter returns home to Connecticut to care for her ailing father. As she reconnects with childhood friends, she encounters a window washer who also happens to live in a mansion, throw lavish parties and go by the name of Zorro. Yes, Zorro. But is he really the caped man of legend? Or just an eccentric who drives a horse-drawn cart and wears a cape while washing windows? And what will happen when the townspeople who once flocked to his parties and drank his champagne become suspicious of him?

A contemporary re-visioning of The Great Gatsby, Z is a smart, quirky novel that has it all: comedy, drama, romance, adventure, even swordplay. Lauren Baratz-Logsted at her best.