i don't think i've ever seen such an exhaustive study of someone's works go so horribly awry. especially for someone who's site claims it was recently updated in July.
hell, see how much of his site is pathetically off-key for yourself.
I'm having a hard time just dealing with his poor command of the English language. He's in Australia where last I checked they spoke English. His poor grammar and writing skills keep pissing me off and I forget what it is he's actually saying, which doesn't seem all that insightful to me.
So are you talking about David Rawsthorne (the web site owner) or Rocky Wood the primary author and researcher to the books on the site? I have never met Rawsthorne and can't say one thing or another about him, but I have met Rocky not once, but twice. He is genuine, articulate, and quite brilliant to say the least. You'd understand if you ever sat down and spoke with him. The last time we met was at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico,Virginia. While our conversation often slipped to Sai King, he was well versed in American Politics and has a ravenous appetite for all things about the Civil War. Interesting to say the least considering where he hails from.
He has done exhaustive research on King and I for one enjoy what he has provided - as a collector his material is invaluable. He must be smart enough to be able to quit his day job and take a month to travel to Bangor (from Australia) and sift through volumes of material in the Fogler Library Special Collections Unit at the Univ. of Maine. And he did this all with Sai King's blessing. I know because I have been to the Fogler Library and without King's permission I was limited in what I could read through.
If you don't like him or David or Norma Blackburn the third writer of the original books hyped on that site then don't read the books, don't support his writing with your cash dollar. I am sure a few less sales won't hurt him!
It's great that we all have opinions and often differing ones - that is what makes democracy so great - but I personally think that the rude sophmoric comments made in the posts above are an unnecessary part of the conversation and just point out the immaturity of the person making the comments.
My defense if of the Man not the web site. If I want news I'll come here or to bev Vincent's web page. If it's information on the books, the stories I'll go there or to Charnel House, another web site maintained by a King Fan who lives in New England.
DT Spoiler - Enter at your own risk!
Spoiler:
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about Eddie’s widowed bride,
And something touched me deep inside
The day the bumbler died.”
Click CAN' Ka No Rey for the entire poem, published in Lighthouse VI!
It's great that we all have opinions and often differing ones - that is what makes democracy so great - but I personally think that the rude sophmoric comments made in the posts above are an unnecessary part of the conversation and just point out the immaturity of the person making the comments.
Thank you CRinVA, that is exactly what I was about to say.
I would be greatly obliged if everyone endeavored to keep the discussion here on the level this site deserves and which has been our distinguishing feature from the start.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dang, i tend to use that site frequently. For a list of characters, events, or connections that's the place to go. i come here for discussion, i go to lilja's, here, charnel house, or sk main site for news, and i may go to charnel for book reviews that are very insightful. horrorking is a wonderful resource and it is always fun to read a bookm boot up horrorking, and check out connections that you may have missed.
So it goes.
"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. "
- Oscar Wilde
So are you talking about David Rawsthorne (the web site owner) or Rocky Wood the primary author and researcher to the books on the site? I have never met Rawsthorne and can't say one thing or another about him, but I have met Rocky not once, but twice. He is genuine, articulate, and quite brilliant to say the least. You'd understand if you ever sat down and spoke with him. The last time we met was at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico,Virginia. While our conversation often slipped to Sai King, he was well versed in American Politics and has a ravenous appetite for all things about the Civil War. Interesting to say the least considering where he hails from.
He has done exhaustive research on King and I for one enjoy what he has provided - as a collector his material is invaluable. He must be smart enough to be able to quit his day job and take a month to travel to Bangor (from Australia) and sift through volumes of material in the Fogler Library Special Collections Unit at the Univ. of Maine. And he did this all with Sai King's blessing. I know because I have been to the Fogler Library and without King's permission I was limited in what I could read through.
If you don't like him or David or Norma Blackburn the third writer of the original books hyped on that site then don't read the books, don't support his writing with your cash dollar. I am sure a few less sales won't hurt him!
It's great that we all have opinions and often differing ones - that is what makes democracy so great - but I personally think that the rude sophmoric comments made in the posts above are an unnecessary part of the conversation and just point out the immaturity of the person making the comments.
My defense if of the Man not the web site. If I want news I'll come here or to bev Vincent's web page. If it's information on the books, the stories I'll go there or to Charnel House, another web site maintained by a King Fan who lives in New England.
i know nothing about the reserch guy you spoke of; but if he's as good as you say he is, than that makes the site operator all the more pathetic, because a very large portion of his site is glaringly incorrect, meaning he decided to ignore the research.
And as for someone "running away with his opinions"... well, this coming from somebody who ignored the fact that we made quite clear we were talking about the AUTHOR of the site, i.e.
I'm having a hard time just dealing with his poor command of the English language. He's in Australia where last I checked they spoke English. His poor grammar and writing skills keep pissing me off and I forget what it is he's actually saying, which doesn't seem all that insightful to me.
yet you go off on tangents talking some bullshit about blackburns and wood and blah blah blah that had NOTHING WHATSOFUCKINGEVER to do with the topic. follow your own advice.
as for the comment about not wanting to see someone get sandblasted by opinions, first of all, everybody has an opinion (and is entitled to one), secondly, the title of this thread should have made it blatant that we were not here to talk about roasting marshmallows with the guy and singing "Kumbyah".
dang, i tend to use that site frequently. For a list of characters, events, or connections that's the place to go. i come here for discussion, i go to lilja's, here, charnel house, or sk main site for news, and i may go to charnel for book reviews that are very insightful. horrorking is a wonderful resource and it is always fun to read a bookm boot up horrorking, and check out connections that you may have missed.
no one said he was completely off-key, but the site itself overall is a comedy of inane errors.
So are you talking about David Rawsthorne (the web site owner) or Rocky Wood the primary author and researcher to the books on the site?
In mentioning poor linguistic skills, I am talking about whoever wrote sentences like the following....
(Spoiler tags added in the event someone is reading this thread who has yet to read DT-7)
Spoiler:
Close to the tower Oy is killed, but saves Roland's life in the process, and causing the death of Mordred.
When he exits into the top room, only to find himself back in the Mohaine Desert, ready to to resume his quest to the dark tower, but this time he has Arthur Eld's ancient brass horn on his belt.
Grammatically, this is poor writing. My criticism was about sentences like those which abound on the site. I don't know which of the two people you mention wrote them.
And as for someone "running away with his opinions"... well, this coming from somebody who ignored the fact that we made quite clear we were talking about the AUTHOR of the site, i.e.
I'm having a hard time just dealing with his poor command of the English language. He's in Australia where last I checked they spoke English. His poor grammar and writing skills keep pissing me off and I forget what it is he's actually saying, which doesn't seem all that insightful to me.
yet you go off on tangents talking some bullshit about blackburns and wood and blah blah blah that had NOTHING WHATSOFUCKINGEVER to do with the topic. follow your own advice.
as for the comment about not wanting to see someone get sandblasted by opinions, first of all, everybody has an opinion (and is entitled to one), secondly, the title of this thread should have made it blatant that we were not here to talk about roasting marshmallows with the guy and singing "Kumbyah".
Dude, is it really necessary to be confrontational and antagonistic like that?
While I don't doubt there are errors on that site; the guy who runs it is a rather nice guy and knowledgeable of his subject matter. If you found errors and politely pointed them out to him, I'm sure he'd change it to reflect them.
The Awesomest fled across the desert and The Awesomer followed.
If you rescue me
I’ll be your friend forever
I wish that I could write fiction, but that seems almost an impossibility. -howard phillips lovecraft (1915)
in this case, yes. it's not as if i just openly assaulted the author of that post. he stepped out of bounds in an attempt to make a point that reflected nothing to do with the thread.
i have to disagree that the site owner is knowledgeable. The research guy mentioned may be, but the site operator obviously is not. there is so much wrong with the site itself that if...ah, fuck it.
Jayson: you agree, of course, that saying "this structure is incorrect" and just venting one's emotions in an immature way are quite different things? While all in the favor of criticism, I will, as far as it depends on me, prevent any attempts of dragging this site down to where mud-slinging and name-calling are part of usual order of things... the site which you, among others, helped to make intelligent, tolerant, and articulate.
i think the biggest error of all was his momma not swallowing him while she had the chance
that old dick hair in the jar of formaldehyde i have sittin on my desk has more talent than this dude does.
yet you go off on tangents talking some bullshit about blackburns and wood and blah blah blah that had NOTHING WHATSOFUCKINGEVER to do with the topic.
ah, fuck it.
I am afraid the total ratio of insults to overall amount of text in this thread is close to exceeding a critical figure after which I might begin thinking of closing this thread for posting. The fact that they all belong to one and the same person doesn't speak in his favor, either.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jayson: you agree, of course, that saying "this structure is incorrect" and just venting one's emotions in an immature way are quite different things? While all in the favor of criticism, I will, as far as it depends on me, prevent any attempts of dragging this site down to where mud-slinging and name-calling are part of usual order of things... the site which you, among others, helped to make intelligent, tolerant, and articulate.
Absolutely agree. The intention of my posts was simply to point out that my first reaction to that site was to be irritated by poor writing skills, not to insult the writer personally.
i can see his point...grudgingly. there were one or two posts made by us each that were more like something a teenager would say in joshing to his friends.
Wow, I have never read a thread like this. I know that I have not been around for long, but I don't think that the person who created that site meant to upset anyone. I think the site could use some work, but come on. Let's not criticize someone we don't even know for some grammatical errors and research shortfalls. He is another Stephen King fan and has dedicated a lot of time into a l labor of love for him. Just my two cents.
the criticism is more for the fact that many of the King references themselves are blatant errors. the grammar, i could really care less. granted, it lowers my opinion of his intelligence some, but then again, there could be several reasons for it. maybe someone hacked his site, or maybe he made so many initial errors he's trying to correct as many as possible each time he updates, or maybe he doesn't know he made the errors, what-have-you. and it's not like the guy asked me to edit his work for publication or something. so that part i couldn't care less about, really.
what's buggin me is the comedy of King-related errors. and even more than that, according to the source above, the guy actually has a professional King researcher as a reference, making his site errors all the more disturbing.
for instance: on the common ties link, he says that Bag of Bones has Ralph Roberts in common with the Dark Tower. First of all, Ralph Roberts did not appear in Bag of Bones if memory serves. Secondly, even if I'm wrong on that point, the only characters from Insomnia who appeared in any of the Dark Tower books were Patrick Danville and the Crimson King.
He also lists Jack Torrance from The Shining as being connected with TDT. Unless this is in reference to an as-yet-unpublished work of which I am unaware, this is totally bogus; The Shining was one of the very few SK stories which had no direct connection whatsoever to TDT.
He lists Blaze as unpublished. Which was published last year. And his last site update was this year. 2 months ago, in fact.
He also claims the unpublished works The Cannibals and Under the Dome as being the same work. If you read the footnotes in the foreword to Blaze, you know that this is not the case.
He claims The Lawnmower Man as a Stephen King-based movie, when we all know how much King himself balked at that notion when it was first released and forced its producers to take his name off the bill because it had nothing to do with his version of TLM save for title.
He also has Cell listedas still-to-be-released, on a site last updated July 20, 2008.
i don't care about his grammar.
no one's bitching about anybody named wood or blackburn, whether they did their work correctly or not.
the gripe is about the ineptitude of someone who claims he is the ultimate King fan. And, assuming that CRinVA is correct about the research guy for the site (which i have no reason at present time to doubt), that makes the site operator's ineptitude all the more negligible.