The Return of An Obsession...

Awhile back, I signed up for this service called Loot Crate. For a monthly fee, Loot Crate sends you a bunch of stuff related to geek culture for a specific topic. Two years ago, I received (for the first time since I signed up) a novel. I have to admit, I looked at the cover and then just put it aside for a couple months. Then one day, I was bored and decided to give the book a shot. What followed was one of the most enjoyable reads of my life.

The novel is called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It takes place in a near future where everyone has gotten into this virtual world called OASIS. The story follows Wade watts, a teenager who has devoted his life to winning a digital contest with puzzles based in the pop culture of the 1980s. Winning this contest would mean a massive fortune and a level of power unprecedented in Wade's life. But when he finds the first clue, he starts to realize just how dangerous this contest really is.

To say I loved this book is to say the Pacific ocean is big. For a long time after reading this book, I was OBSESSED with it. I tried charting all the 80s references in the book, but never got them all. I recommended it to all my friends. Even those who aren't sci-fi fans. After awhile, I calmed down about it, and Ready Player One became a new entry in my Most Treasured Books of All Time list.

A couple months later, I found out that Ernest Cline was in talks to turn the book into a movie. And for a moment, I thought that would be AMAZING! But then I realized that it would be prohibitively expensive. It would most likely cost tens of millions of dollars just to LICENSE all the properties referenced in the book. Add to the licensing budget, the cost of actually FILMING the movie, and marketing the movie, and I quickly convinced myself that there was NO WAY a studio would ever cover the cost to make this movie. Ready Player one was destined to just be a novel.

Then Hollywood announced that Steven Spielberg signed on as director.

My jaw hit the floor! They literally got the ONLY man alive with the near God-like clout that would be needed to make this movie. Hell, Spielberg either was a creator of, or best friends with the creator of probably 80% of the content referenced in the book! If he couldn't get deals on the licensing fees, NO ONE could.

As for whether or not he could make the film, please. Spielberg is a God among directors. His smart phone videos of his kids falling over would receive Oscars. Just look at this list of films: The BFG, Bridge of Spies, Munich, The Terminal, Minority Report, Amistad, Jurassic Park 1 and 2, Hook, Schindler's List, The Indiana Jones movies, The Color Purple, Empire of The Sun, E. mutha-effin' T., man!! And those are just the ones I can remember while writing this, and that just what he directed. As a producer? Real Steel, The Lovely Bones, Memoirs of a Geisha, Band of Brothers, etc...  So, yes, he can make the film.

Spielberg has Ernest Cline working on the script, so I had no doubt this movie was going to be amazing. And now they released the first trailer! See if you can find all the references:



I just finished re-reading the book because of that trailer. When this movie comes out, I will be in theaters watching it. Opening Weekend, my hand to Spielberg or may the Sixers take my OASIS rig! In the mean time, let me just pop in my quarter and start the game...