Shortpacked! by David Willis

Discussion (14) ¬

1. 
   SamClemensRIGL

   December 15, 2010 at 3:00 am | # | Reply

   BAZINGA!
2. 
   SonicBlueRanger

   August 5, 2011 at 5:05 pm | # | Reply

   I’ve only ever been to one Comic Book Store in my life time (Sadface) but it was fairly nice actually although I did overhear someone who thought Disney owned both Marvel AND DC but still.

   • 
     RedScharron

     October 15, 2012 at 5:54 am | # | Reply

     Eh, to be fair that one’s probably only a matter of time. Eventually everything in the world will be owned by Disney, Google, or Coca-Cola and that’s when we find out just how accurate Orwell was.

     • 
       PetrePan

       October 23, 2012 at 5:45 pm | # | Reply

       This comment bothers me so much. Orwell was talking about the world getting taken over by big government, not big monopolies. IMHO both are bad, but gah, get your literary ideologies right.

       • 
         RedScharron

         January 28, 2013 at 2:46 am | # | Reply

         (And an archive binge allows me to respond to an ancient response that will never be seen. Hooray?)

         … That’s not really where I was going with that. The line of thinking I was following was the companies in question eventually buying countries as well (‘countries’ falling under the umbrella of ‘everything in the world’ last I checked) at which point they’d become the government. But thanks for assuming that I’d missed the point of the novel because I made a joke that twisted the backstory ever so slightly.

         • 
           Narf

           February 11, 2013 at 9:20 am | # | Reply

           Your comment -was- pretty ill-conceived, dude.
         • 
           Fisher

           February 26, 2013 at 12:47 pm | # | Reply

           It’s Buy-n-Large.
         • 
           Valdrax

           April 7, 2013 at 8:33 pm | # | Reply

           Orwell never really spoke of corporate power and corporate nationhood. Other dystopian novelists covered that better, especially cyberpunk authors and those influenced by them.

           It’s good to know Orwell, but it’s better to read more. I recommend:
           * “Neuromancer,” “Count Zero,” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive,” by William Gibson.
           * “The Stars My Destination,” by Alfred Bester. (Also, unrelated, but his book “The Demolished Man” is equally fast-paced and full of awesome.)
           * “Market Forces,” by Richard Morgan.
           * “Brave New World,” by Aldus Huxley, of course. (Though more statist than my other examples, it is a satire of American consumer culture.)
           * “The Space Merchants,” by Frederick Pohl.
           * “The Iron Heel,” by Jack London.
           * “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick (the inspiration for Blade Runner). Really, anything by Philip K. Dick has a marvelously depressing edge.

           All of these deal with corporations and/or consumer society with a terrifying grip on society.
     • 
       Dreadjaws

       November 15, 2012 at 5:03 pm | # | Reply

       Well crap, now they also own Lucasarts. It’s happening!
3. 
   Kelvin

   August 25, 2011 at 12:58 pm | # | Reply

   Somebody finally put Ethan in his place.
4. 
   darcos0

   October 11, 2011 at 5:57 pm | # | Reply

   where is Galasso putting his hands on the last frame?
5. 
   L

   November 8, 2011 at 1:03 am | # | Reply

   As infuriating as it is, and I can’t believe I’m saying this: Galasso’s got a point. At least from the business point of view.
6. 
   chrisleech

   December 28, 2011 at 3:01 am | # | Reply

   if you wish to get paid for being rude to the customers you should go and work at a coffee shop
7. 
   Freejack

   December 22, 2012 at 10:36 am | # | Reply

   Or a game store