Atlas Shrugged Again

Well, Atlas Shrugged part two is about to come out, despite the colossal flop that it was initially. Why? Probably because October 12th is the perfect time to release the movie and defeat Obama with rational self interest, remind everyone what Romney/Ryan stands for (even if Ryan is slowly trying to distance himself from Rand). Maybe the money goes to Crossroads GPS? Who knows!

The question remains, did anyone even see the first? Who's going to see it now? What the hell is the point of releasing this one theatrically, when the only money it saw was DVD sales to objectivists?

I had a passing interest in seeing the first, but when I heard they were recasting every part for the sequel I lost that interest. While I'm certain that the second one has much stronger/better actors, it irks me enough that I'll probably never see either of them. The first one sits in my Netflix streaming queue, and it's likely to stay there, unwatched, for the foreseeable future.

So did I?

I am a big Atlas Shrugged fan despite its flaws, so I Netflixed part 1 even though I heard it was atrocious. I couldn't get through more than about 20 minutes of it. It's really awful.

I have family members who thought it was a great film and can't wait to see the second. So...yeah.

I just saw a trailer for it on MSNBC. El oh el.

I saw part 1 in a theater. It was pretty terrible, but I saw the whole thing.

So even if I have a passing interest in the book, but not enough to actually read it, the movie isn't worthwhile? Is Bioshock a good enough cliff notes version?

So some kind of anti-spoilers--

In Atlas Shrugged there is no underwater city, no magical substance that lets you shoot bees out of your hands, no little girls who aren't little girls, and no super strong dudes wearing diving bells with big drills on their hands.

So thinking of Bioshock as some kind of version of Atlas Shrugged is pretty way off base. I haven't seen the movie, but if you take out much of the talk and leave just the plot points, you've got a pretty stupid little story. Atlas Shrugged is a polemic masquerading as a novel. So if you have an interest in it, read it. It's like the difference between an apple pie and a picture of an apple pie. They are not the same.

Worst advice ever.

I didn't say, "Take it as your bible," or even, "Buy a copy." There's nothing wrong with reading stuff you disagree with.

Did you go with your League of Libertarians?

You forgot the parts about the magical bees and the little girls and the guys with drills on their hands.

Those things would have made Atlas Shrugged infinitely more enjoyable.

Yeah, now it sounds kinda boring.

Haha. What?