Space Dandy is awesomely weird and funny. I'd recommend that to anyone in this thread if they haven't watched it. :D

Not that it would change your opinion, but did you read the book first then see the anime, or did you see the anime and then read the book?

I very rarely see a movie before I read the book, and almost every time the book is far superior to the movie. Not just because of time limitations on a movie, but because they often change the story and characters from the book too much. I wonder if people who see the film first tend to prefer the film more than the book?

He left out almost all of the book's characters, made Howl's apprentice about eight years too young, changed the setting to a completely war-torn world, and deviated so far from the plot that it was unrecognizable. It just really irritates me when filmmakers gut a book to that extent and then have the nerve to call it the same title. I feel the same when it's the other way around, with a bad novelization of a movie. :)

Thanks to and [url=http://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_girls_of_gog_giveaway_no_boys_allowed/post437]FoxySage for joining my conversation. Thanks also to and [url=http://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_girls_of_gog_giveaway_no_boys_allowed/post456]HypersomniacLive for continuing to do so.

@Sage103082: Thanks for sharing the picture! I was certainly in the same shoes as that timid kid back at that age. In the pre-internet days, it was definitely much easier to just keep your head down. The dawn of the web was a very eye-opening and world-changing experience for many introverted people, myself included. As a side note, I was not much of a PC gamer during the "DOS Era", but I did enjoy Hugo's House of Horrors. ^_^

@FoxySage: I was extremely bashful as a young boy, but I did have my close circle of friends that ensured my childhood was not a wholly unpleasant one. The internet coupled with time has brought me out of my shell a lot. As for D&D, I was never allowed to play as a kid because my mom thought it was a devil-worshiping game. Once I was older, I just bought the books myself and started forcing my friends to play. Alas, I don't have a group anymore, so I can't play now. :(

@Piranjade: Sure, I can appreciate that. Perhaps this is what was happening in my area? I never really noticed many girls in my "geeky" circles until around 1999. That was certainly the beginning of the "nerdy stuff is cool" movement that I continue to enjoy being a part of to this day. P.S. - Bomberman is my jam; I used to be addicted to Diablo 1; never got into MtG...although, I did play Pokémon TCG and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

@HypersomniacLive: This was something that certainly happened in my home. My younger sisters and I would often combine our "boy toys" and "girl toys" together during our silly play sessions. This was never something I observed in the outside world though. Everything at school or at friends' houses was always much more separated. It makes me curious how that is with young kids nowadays. Is there much more blending of interests these days? I hope so.

Thanks again to every who has chimed in. Your responses have been very informative and appreciated. Feel free to keep the discussion going once you've gotten the popcorn vacuumed up. :D

I often prefer the abridged movie version. LotR the book is way too slow for my taste. Harry Potter 2 the book was boring (I stopped in the middle and haven't read further into the series, but later enjoyed the movies). Jean De Florette I don't remember if I read the book first or saw the movie, I enjoyed both even though they had a completely different tone (book was humorous, movie was a tragedy). Starship Troopers I hated the book, enjoyed the movie and enjoyed most the animated series (which wasn't as silly as the movie and not as naive as the book). These are just examples off the top of my head.

Girl gamer checking in (as if my username didn't already give me away!).

I'm not an anime watcher, so sorry to derail that conversation, but I will list my top three genres.

1. Point-and-click adventures
My first PC game was Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and it remains one of my favourites to this day. I've played most of the LucasArts and Sierra classics and have many good memories of playing Indy and Police Quest while my little sister watched. P&C Adventures appeal to me because of the story, exploration, and problem solving.

2. Simulation/Strategy/Managerial
I've wasted many, many hours of my life playing games like The SIms, Theme Hospital, and Roller Coaster Tycoon. I'm a bit of a micro-manager in real life, so games like this appeal to me.

3. RPGs and platformers (it's a tie)
I'm more partial to RPGs on console or handheld - I've racked up a lot of hours on Earthbound and Dragon Warrior (the old NES versions). I'm currently playing Bravely Default on 3DS and really enjoying it.

And while I'm not always so good at platformers, I still enjoy them. Nostalgia is a heavy influence though - you're more likely find me playing an Apogee classic than anything else. As a matter of fact, nostalgia is a heavy influence in all my gaming, which is what brought me to GOG! :)

Not in for the giveaway, since I'm more of a lurker than anything, but I still wanted to contribute to the conversation.

wait, worse than Hitchhiker's Guide?

Because why not? :D

Worst movie adaptation of all time:
"Do androids dream of electric sheep?" (aka Blade Runner).

To the Galaxy? You didn't like it? I found it pretty much OK. You have to take into account that THHGTTG has gone through several different forms (BBC radio shows, the books, the slightly expanded books, the TV series, the game, the film etc) and they all have different stuff in them. The film was just another transformation!
Bad adaptation, maybe.
Great film. Amazing film. One of my favorite films. :P

Society stereotypes lesbians? What are you talking about, that never happens.

But yeah, attitudes about gay or bisexual men (at least here in the states) are ridiculous. When my cousin came out as gay, my mom said that it made sense since he "always was kind of a sissy", because everyone knows that men who are at all into other men cannot be traditionally masculine; after all there has to be at least one effeminate one in the relationship, don'tcha know, because gay men are just looking for an analogue to the gender that they are, you know, not attracted to.

The killer is that my family thought at one point that I might be gay. I had just recently realized that I was bisexual, so I technically didn't lie when I told them no; thing is, when they pull shit like saying that they wish that my cousin would refrain from holding hands or otherwise showing any kind of affection toward his spouse around them lest they be reminded of his sexuality (you might recognize this as something that noone in the history of ever has said about married couples with differing genders, at least by virtue of the couple's sexual orientation), I don't feel bad about not being more open.

Exactly. As Douglas Adams had a hand in every version of the story, it's hard to bash one over the other as being "not as good". While I certainly enjoy the books and the TV series a lot, I also really dig the movie. "Zaphod; he's just this guy, you know?" is a throw-away line from the movie that I still quote to this day. Plus, Alan Rickman as Marvin!

I haven't watched the movie version of THHGTTG, so I don't have an opinion on its quality.