Knights & Knaves Alehouse

First of all, I guess some of these things were meant to happen. For example, in the book Wade just stayed in his apartment and would rub that Nair hair removal cream on himself so he was bald and didn't have to worry about haircuts and such. He was also overweight and pale. He lost weight later on...but was still pale from lack of sun light.

So no one probably wants to watch a movie about a pale, bald kid playing an MMORPG the whole time.

Second, because he stayed in his apartment for most of the book, the producers thought this was boring like watching Tom Hanks talk to a volley ball. So they wrote the movie where the characters meet in person quicker. One scene has Wade and Artemis sitting together where Artemis says something like "welcome to the revolution". There wasn't anything about this in the book at all.



Third, the characters have been changed a bit. There is this Hannah John-Kamen actress playing someone called "F'Nale Zandor". I have no clue who that is. IMDB also lacks Daito and Shoto, so I don't know if they are being omitted from the movie or not.

Lastly, this was an enjoyable story for someone like me since I am filled with (what my wife calls a fountain of useless knowledge) 80's pop culture references and played many of the computers and game systems mentioned. The character of James Halliday was born about the same year as me so the timeline matches easier for sure. Except for the "lesson learned" in the end...or basically what Halliday warns Wade "not to do", the book kinda makes it sound like the author was writing a story saying how "never going outside and playing video games while absorbing television, music, and movies from the 70's and 80's isn't so bad since these are the people that won the contest". It is like an alcoholic writing a book about how the sober people died from a virus and the drunk people avoided catching it. So it pays to be an alcoholic...right?

I liked the part of the book where Wade was noticing weight gain and turned on his health settings on his OASIS console. He couldn't play on it unless his calorie intake was the appropriate amount. I wish some tech had this built in. Did you ever take away an iPhone from a kid for punishment. They act like you took their crack pipes away.

Not in the book. Had a different robot and he had to pilot it. He mentions seeing the Iron Giant in the choices, but no one ever chose it.


I have no clue what this is supposed to be since the story focused on Wade and he stayed in an apartment for months.


Not in the book. No racing anything. Just a mention of arena battles.


At least THIS was in the book. If this is the club he was invited to for finding the first key.


Sorento didn't walk the streets with a pistol. In fact, you never see this person either except on news feeds or his avatar in the OASIS.


Not in the book. Wade didn't do a Braveheart speech. He sent an email and posted on his blog.


Not in the book. Again...Wade never really left his apartment. He doesn't meet Artemis until the very end of the book.


Sorry...again...no racing and hence no Delorean.


I still plan to see the movie. I just hope they try to send the message that staying in a basement for most of your life...trying to get some artifact on World of Warcraft...may not be the best way to live your life. Play games for a bit...sure...but fucking go outside!