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50 Books. 50 Movies. 1 Year (2014).

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Pau

Member
Finished Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. Definitely one of the top books I've read so far for this challenge. Learning about China's history along with the personal history of the author helped contextualize everything. Hard to read about all the terrible shit that went down, but the author's optimism keeps it from being a chore.

I didn't realize until now how much I adore memoirs.
 

n0b

Member
n0b - 10/50 Books | 12/50 Movies


I haven't really posted much on my progress, but this challenge has helped me rediscover my love of the novel. (Especially that of science fiction novels.) Been trying to even out my books to movies ratio over the last month.

Since my last post in early February I have loved 4 out of the 6 novels I have read: Dracula, Stranger in a Strange Land, Solaris, and The Postman. All of these would rank as the best books I've read in years after Roadside Picnic last year.

I have let movies sit by for the most part while I try to get a bit of a push in reading going, but I saw Lego Movie and the Wind Rises; which were both pretty good, though I admired them more for animation technique than just content.

On my goal-less progress in other mediums:
-As usual for me, music is pretty much my medium of choice, I have listened to 135 albums so far this year and that's with a break of 10 days with no new music that I took to catch up on reading last month.
-In TV I finished Nichijou (which is amazing, a wonderful combination of whimsy and comedy which I always love) and the first Game of Thrones season.
-In games, I DON'T BEAT GAMES
 

Ashes

Banned
Ashes1396 - Books 7/50 | Films 35/50 | Seasons 6/12 |

Books

7. Dracula.

Read it. Surprisingly good Adventure.

Seasons

6. True Detective

Real Good in parts. Real Real Good in others.
 

Mumei

Member
Thanks to having spent the last week mostly watching Hunter x Hunter's 2011 reboot (120 episodes as of yesterday @_@), I am behind for the month. Time to catch up!
 

Atrophis

Member
Finished Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. Definitely one of the top books I've read so far for this challenge. Learning about China's history along with the personal history of the author helped contextualize everything. Hard to read about all the terrible shit that went down, but the author's optimism keeps it from being a chore.

I didn't realize until now how much I adore memoirs.

Its a great book. I've been meaning to read her biography of Mao for a while but not had time to fit it in.
 
Words of Radiance is basically killing my reading pace this month, but I expected that. I'm nearing the 50% mark and loving every minute of it. I can't motivate myself to rush through the thing since it will be another couple of years until we get part three.

Once I finish it up, I'll hit two or three shorter books this month.
 

Necrovex

Member
Thanks to having spent the last week mostly watching Hunter x Hunter's 2011 reboot (120 episodes as of yesterday @_@), I am behind for the month. Time to catch up!

Nerrrrrrrrd! How will you accomplish reading 200 books with that work effort. Slacker.

Words of Radiance is basically killing my reading pace this month, but I expected that. I'm nearing the 50% mark and loving every minute of it. I can't motivate myself to rush through the thing since it will be another couple of years until we get part three.

Once I finish it up, I'll hit two or three shorter books this month.

Sanderson will get those other books out much faster without Wheel of Time slogging him down.
 
Thanks to having spent the last week mostly watching Hunter x Hunter's 2011 reboot (120 episodes as of yesterday @_@), I am behind for the month. Time to catch up!

I put it off for so long, but I'm so glad I got to it. Its the only well paced and character driven shonen on the air which automatically makes it something special.

Still, I pretty much hated myself after marathoning all the episodes
 

Mumei

Member
...says the person whose read 35 books...

Behind on movies! Clearly what I was talking about~

I put it off for so long, but I'm so glad I got to it. Its the only well paced and character driven shonen on the air which automatically makes it something special.

Still, I pretty much hated myself after marathoning all the episodes

You may have to amend "well-paced" to "relatively well-paced" if things hold up! It is still the best shounen around, though.
 
Behind on movies! Clearly what I was talking about~



You may have to amend "well-paced" to "relatively well-paced" if things hold up! It is still the best shounen around, though.

Seriously, these past few episodes, despite some awesome moments have been flowing at a snails pace.

That little narrator in joke a few episodes ago where the narrator stated that only 5 or so minutes have passed since the beginning of the invasion broke my brain.
 

cicero

Member
My first post here, better late than never though.

cicero - 5/50 Books | 11/50 Movies

Books:
  • Robert E. Howard - Almuric - 157 pages/ebook/★★★½
  • The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1: Crimson Shadows - 528 pages/pb/★★★★
  • Robert E. Howard - The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane - 432 pages/pb/★★★★
  • Robert E. Howard - Kull: Exile of Atlantis - 352 pages/pb/★★★★
  • The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard - 560 pages/pb/★★★½

Movies:
  • Random Harvest (1942) - Romance/Drama - ★★★★★
  • Hangmen Also Die! (1943) - Crime/War - ★★★
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) - Action/Adventure/Scifi - ★★★
  • The Wolverine (2013) - Action/Adventure - ★★½
  • Ender's Game (2013) - Action/Adventure/Scifi - ★★½
  • Elysium (2013) - Action/Adventure/Scifi - ½
  • Rush (2013) - Biopic/Drama - ★★★½
  • Zanjeer (1973) - Crime/Drama - ★★★
  • When Harry Met Sally... (1989) - Romance/Comedy - ★★★
  • Thor: The Dark World (2013) - Action/Adventure - ★★
  • The Counselor (2013) - Crime/Drama - ★

I am going to probably list everything I read, for movies I will probably keep it down to a more selective list of notable titles, either due to their quality, lack thereof, or widespread visibility in pop culture.
 

Saya

Member
Update:

Saya - 9/50 books | 94/50 movies

Books:

  • The Stormlight Archive: Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson - ★★★★★

Movies:

  • Renoir (Gilles Bourdos, 2012) - ★★
  • Grey Gardens (Albert and David Maysles, 1975) - ★★★
  • Texas Chainsaw 3D (John Luessenhop, 2013) - ★
  • Phantasm (Don Coscarelli, 1979) - ★½
  • Black Sabbath (Mario Bava, 1963) - ★★★½
  • 2 Guns (Baltasar Kormákur, 2013) - ★★★
  • 300: Rise of an Empire (Noam Murro, 2014) - ★★
  • Nebraska (Alexander Payne, 2013) - ★★★½
 
I read the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. I was impatient waiting for my next batch of Star Wars books to arrive so I started on an old copy of A Clockwork Orange that I bought one summer when I fell in love with the movie, but since I was a dumb 19 year old kid I never bothered to read the book.
 

kswiston

Member
Last page, I was talking about being surprised at how much magic was in the past few "gritty" fantasy series I have tried out. I think I found a series that is a little lighter on the magic, similar to what I was asking about.

I started Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, which as far as I can tell is set on an alternate earth or something. Some allusion to dream witches, but no gods or demon summoning yet. Also a nice short read at just over 300 pages. I see that the trilogy is already finished, so hopefully the entire thing is a good read.


Also, how are the Stormlight Archive books so far? The 1000+ page lengths and the fact that the series has only released 2 out of a proposed 10 novels sort of has me undecided on jumping in, but I am noticing a fair bit of buzz on GAF and other boards.
 
I started Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, which as far as I can tell is set on an alternate earth or something. Some allusion to dream witches, but no gods or demon summoning yet. Also a nice short read at just over 300 pages. I see that the trilogy is already finished, so hopefully the entire thing is a good read.


Also, how are the Stormlight Archive books so far? The 1000+ page lengths and the fact that the series has only released 2 out of a proposed 10 novels sort of has me undecided on jumping in, but I am noticing a fair bit of buzz on GAF and other boards.

Broken Empire trilogy is really good, I love Mark Lawrence's writing style, there is this very dark inner reflection on life that his character will have insights on. The story moves along at a great pace and has a nice mix of action and dark humor throughout. If you like the first one, the trilogy will not disappoint.

I've been sitting on my Stormlight book 2 for a week now, 3 years ago I would have jumped on reading 1000 page book, especially a Sanderson book, and maybe it's the 50/50 challenge, but I am holding off on this one until I am ready to dedicate 14-20 days to 1 book. But with that said, the first book is very slow to start, it doesn't drag, but Sanderson takes his time doing some worldbuilding, the last 300 pages or so will breeze by as the ending is fantastic.
 

Necrovex

Member
I've been sitting on my Stormlight book 2 for a week now, 3 years ago I would have jumped on reading 1000 page book, especially a Sanderson book, and maybe it's the 50/50 challenge, but I am holding off on this one until I am ready to dedicate 14-20 days to 1 book. But with that said, the first book is very slow to start, it doesn't drag, but Sanderson takes his time doing some worldbuilding, the last 300 pages or so will breeze by as the ending is fantastic.

The second book flows a lot quicker than the first, but I account that due to the world building being already in place. I am only hundred pages in, but I am loving it more than WoK. Also, the final 200 pages is some of the finest literature I have read. I never felt so connected to a story than I did during that final act.
 

Empty

Member
Empty - 17/50 books | 23/50 movies

books

17. the moon and sixpence by w. somerset maughan - pretty fun and readable look at how the romantic ideal of the artist clashes with the expectations of society. the book follows a middle aged married man called charles strickland, based off of the artist paul gaugin, who suddenly decides to leave his family and life in britain to pursue a career in painting in paris as he no longer cares for anything but realizing the creative passion inside of him. it's narrated from the perspective of an acquitance of strickland who met him at a few points in his life and is writing a biography of strickland after his death, very reminiscent of another book i really like, nabokov's 'the real life of sebastian knight'. this perspective allows maughan to emphasize the unknowability of what really makes people tick, muse on the relationship between the artist and art and get a lot of laughs as we see strickland's blunt and rude refusal to care about literally anything except his art clash with a range of people from outraged members of prim english middle class society in the early 20th century to an overly generous and big-hearted dutch painter.

despite being a lot of fun there's some really interesting stuff in here about what it means to live life on your own terms and though the book emphasizes the havoc strickland causes on people around him, the final act has strickland find complete harmony in life in remote and beautiful part of tahiti and was surprisingly beautiful. i really liked so much in this book so it's a shame it's dragged down by being really misogynist. being narrated from the first person you can excuse some of the monologues about the weakness and volatility of women (such as: “When a woman loves you she's not satisfied until she possesses your soul. Because she's weak, she has a rage for domination, and nothing less will satisfy her.”) as being shadings on the character narrating it (who we never see have a positive relationship with women), but combined with all the female characters being written as completely laughable and stupid people who will follow a man regardless of what he does it's very annoying.

films

22. the grand budapest hotel - very funny, fast paced and visually inventive story about the adventures of the concierge and the bellboy at a grand european hotel in the turn of the 20th century. wes anderson's films have a brilliant and meticulously crafted artificial style and this is the peak of his approach with every frame crammed with visual creativity and detail to bring the grandeur of old europe to life. ralph fiennes camps it up brilliantly as the concierge of the hotel and anderson seems to have an endless supply of stories in this film (grand plots, vignettes, stories within stories, a big ensemble cast of amazing actors) that he rattles through effortlessly and elegantly. my favourite wes anderson films however have lots of pathos within the fun and artifice, and while there's a sense of melancholy at the passing of eras and how we tell stories to keep them thinly alive and a touching relationship between the two leads, i don't find it quite as moving as something like the royal tennebaums. still, as a pure comedy this is wonderful and a real joy to watch for the visual flair/

23. ernest and celestine - charming and beautiful animated film about a mouse and a bear's unlikely friendship. i was very happy this film got nominated for best animated film at the oscars as otherwise i would have never realized it existed, which would suck as its a real treat. the most striking thing is the sheer beauty of the watercolour visuals that charmed and delighted me throughout. with the white backgrounds it really feels like a great childrens book come to life and the simplistic moral of the story fits in perfectly with that mood. within that simple moral story about not judging by appearances however is really strong characterization, with the innocent and lovely yet determined celestine and the gruff and grumpy yet artistic ernest both portrayed with personality and a light touch, and their relationship is a joy to watch develop over the film.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Read through Saga Volume 2 last night and I absolutely loved it. Better than the first volume for sure and I can't wait for volume 3 (already pre ordered! :D). The scene immediately following
Barr's death - the one where Marko remembers his father teaching him how to ride the grasshopper - was extremely touching and I don't think I've ever seen something like that in a comic before (not that I'm the most well versed in the medium, mind).

What a great series.
 
Also, how are the Stormlight Archive books so far? The 1000+ page lengths and the fact that the series has only released 2 out of a proposed 10 novels sort of has me undecided on jumping in, but I am noticing a fair bit of buzz on GAF and other boards.

Top tier fantasy. I'm halfway through book two, and it's even better than the first (which was already a five-star book in my mind).

He'll probably release one every year or two. I can't think of a single reason not to jump on board.
 

Necrovex

Member
Top tier fantasy. I'm halfway through book two, and it's even better than the first (which was already a five-star book in my mind).

He'll probably release one every year or two. I can't think of a single reason not to jump on board.

Watch The Stormlight Archive finishing its run before A Song of Ice and Fire. XD
 

Books
12. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

Last Saturday, I took my son to the schoolyard near our house. I watched him play, and I was surprised that a) he was playing with other children, taking turns on the slide, running alongside each other when they weren't chasing one another and b) he didn't need my prompting to do so. When I recounted this to my wife, she teased that he probably picked up the idea of making these single-serving playground friends from me since I'm the outgoing one in our family unit.

I saw an ad for After Earth this morning, and I thought back to Will Smith's line of dialogue that was turned into the film's tag line: "Danger is very real. But fear is a choice." As the film crashed and burned in cinemas across the country (After Earth's domestic gross is $60.5 million as of this writing, on a production budget of $130 million), the tag line became a punchline. "The movie is real. But bombing with a flat, dull-witted science fiction film marketed on Will Smith's starpower but actually stars his son is a choice" and so on.

Our son is still young, so he is fearless about jumping from heights from which we, as his parents, don't think he should jump because he might hurt himself. He's fearless about taking falls; I have to remind him about taking pratfalls because he thinks they're funny. He's fearless about, as Andrew Dice Clay lamented during an interview on The Arsenio Hall Show's original run, putting himself out there for scrutiny, mockery, or rejection. The danger of rejection that our son faces in the schoolyard or playground is real. But he doesn't choose to accept the fear of rejection because he basically doesn't know any better (or worse).

The pressure from the fear of rejection drives Gone Girl, a mercurial, ridiculous tale of abhorrent, toxic people. Nick and Amy were made for each other (which makes sense, since Gone Girl is a work of fiction), to torment each other for as long as they can stand each other to exist in each other's narrative. Flynn builds the book in a dual narrative structure, which signals to the reader from the start that a twist is coming, spoiling its own surprise. It's like the cuckoo clock in Nick and Amy's home; we see a cuckoo clock, so we anticipate the moment when the spring launches the cuckoo from its case to cluck at us. Nick explains his marital troubles and says, "It had been an awful fairy-tale of reverse transformation." Amy counters, "Can you imagine, finally showing your true self to your spouse, your soul mate, and having him not like you?"

The twist between the first and the second halves of the book might seem clever or dark, and on its own, it might be enough. But the level of planning and commitment that the twist and its aftermath require can only be met by fictional characters like Batman or the perpetrator in Gone Girl, which strains credulity. We admire the perpetrator's meticulous planning, laugh at the perpetrator's internal monologue, and cringe in fear at the idea that the personae that we use to navigate our social world shields us from the internal lives of others, lives that resemble the odious, pathetic, psychopathic lives we see in Nick's and Amy's stories.

The strongest parts of the book have nothing to do with the plot, but the apocalyptic reflections of dying small towns in Missouri. The description of the decaying destination shopping mall in North Carthage, the failing attempts to rebrand Hannibal as a Tom Sawyer and Mark Twain fantasy town, the brief passages about the homeless in North Carthage driven to squat in the abandoned shopping mall because the local paper plant closed down. These are the most striking passages, and they have little to do with the games that Nick and Amy play.

Since the book is defined by its twist, I'll give a spoiler warning here and hid the rest in spoiler tags.

The book invites us to hate Nick from the start. In his own words, he presents himself to be pathetically weak-willed, whining, lying. He
cheats on Amy because he, as he admits, is unwilling to deal with the "hard" parts of a relationship.
He realizes that he fell in love with his perception of Amy or the persona that Amy projects, but he
also realizes that he cheated on Amy with Andi because she is uncomplicated. He goes back to Amy half because he doesn't feel like he has a choice (because Amy's plots put his life in her hands) and because she challenges him to be a better husband (and inevitably, father). We can feel sorry for him because he doesn't deserve to be framed for murder, imprisoned, and likely executed for cheating on his wife. As Amy's traps are sprung, our dislike of Nick is reinforced, and we're allowed to admire Amy for going to such elaborate lengths to punish her unfaithful husband.

On the other hand, the book invites us to love Amy and turns our love for Amy on us. We accept the versions of Amy that were created for us:
the "Cool Girl," the eager to please and patient wife, the battered woman seeking control. It makes the revelation that Amy is a psychopath hurt that little bit more. She ruins friends who dare to cross her or make her unhappy. She is efficient in her cruelty.

I've read criticism of
Amy's decision to return to Nick and exonerate him of the murder charges that she created. The path to her return starts when she is robbed while she is in hiding, which makes her desperate. She is convinced of Nick's return to potential as her optimal husband and mate when she sees Nick apologize on television and plead for her return.
Others have said that this makes
Amy seem gullible, but she would be gullible only if she didn't set more traps to ensure Nick's compliance in the role she designated for him in her narrative. She wins the contest for control in her marriage to Nick, and now she can mold him to fit what she sees his role to be. She crafts the life she wants through blackmail.
The question is whether Flynn promotes Amy's scheme and the book as a feminist revenge fantasy to counter the story of the "good wife," the woman whom we see standing stoically at her husband's side as he confesses his infidelities and other betrayals born of personal weakness. Is it hard to call a book a feminist work when it panders to female anger and fear and when almost every female character we meet is insane, delusional, or one-dimensional? Flynn's defended her work by claiming that "there's still a big pushback against the idea that women can be just pragmatically evil, bad, and selfish."
Amy is a psychopath who intentionally uses fictitious accusations of rape and stalking to damage those who dared to cross her. She traps her husband in their marriage first through the faked murder, then by impregnating herself with his frozen sperm from days before he saw the depths of her sociopathy.
Through our unreliable narrators, we also meet
a woman who is a domestic violence victim (who then robs Amy), a character who has a suspiciously close relationship to her son, Nick's mistress, who is characterized as simple yet clingy, an older woman is a groupie for men facing tragedy, and a Nancy Grace-like shrew
. The only women who are defined by their grace are
a police officer who doesn't wholly believe that Nick is responsible for Amy's murder, Nick's twin sister, a journalist who interviews Nick and enjoys Nick's digs at the Nancy Grace-like shrew, and Nick's dying mother and her friends, who can afford to exhibit grace because they're living on the edge of poverty and starvation, relying on donating plasma to earn money.
It's not the author's fault that some readers will reinforce their views of women as "crazy bitches who will cry rape, lie about stalking, and trap a man with pregnancy" unless Amy is something to be admired.

Lots of horrible things happen to horrible people in Gone Girl, but the most horrifying development
concludes the book, where Amy reveals to Nick that she is pregnant with his child. It's fine for Nick and Amy to trap themselves in a toxic relationship; it turned my stomach when I thought about them using their child to extend their games for control in their marriage.

I devoured Gone Girl, but I felt ill at the end after spending hours in the narrators' nauseating headspaces. Flynn's stated goal was "to make spouses look askance at each other," but I don't look at my wife any differently now that I've read Gone Girl. Nick and Amy operate on absolutes (you will love no one as much as you love me, you will become the vision of a spouse I had had created or I will destroy you, only I can keep my spouse from warping our child), and no sustainable marriage is based on these kinds of absolute values. Flynn failed in her goal, but she crafted an easily read and repugnant tale of absolutely horrible people and a competent mystery that spoils its own twist in Gone Girl.

13. The Architecture of Happiness, by Alain de Botton

What do we mean when we call a building beautiful? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so it's easiest to distill beauty down to functionality, which seems to miss the whole point of beauty. A man soaked to the bone and whipped by cutting winds would find a bare, ramshackle shanty with intact walls and roof beautiful because it protects him from the elements. A comfortable man driving past the same shanty in a car with its own interior climate control system wouldn't think twice about it.

Since function is dependent on context, it's not a suitable marker of beauty either. We're back to the ideas that beauty is subjective and that we try to mold the spaces inhabit reflect who we want other people to picture when they think of us.

That summarizes de Botton's precious explorations of what architecture means to us as an art form. De Botton attempts to walk with the reader through the history of architecture without explaining much of what is appealing about each period. The Classical school is marked by its symmetries, but why does that appeal? The Gothic school is marked by its grandeur, but why did it appeal to Horace Walpole when he built Strawberry Hill? Surely, religiosity played a role in the Gothic school's return to prominence, yet it is not mentioned by de Botton.

Actual factors that would affect the development of architecture, such as new industrial techniques for creating building materials, finance, planning laws, politics, economic fluctuations, are all left out in de Botton's whimsically literary explorations of architecture. I'm not sure who would find this book worthwhile.

Movies
24. Veronica Mars

Once the bloom faded from seeing Veronica Mars and friends return, this felt like little more than the set-up for a fourth television season that we'll never see. The characters fell into familiar and comfortable rhythms, but any sense of character growth or progression in the ten years we've seen them seems to be gone.

25. Trance

Watching a film that tries to do pulpy noir on a PG-13, stretched from a 42 minute television episode into a 1 hour 48 minutes movie level like Veronica Mars before a frantic, indisputably R-rated level like Trance is a hell of a transition. It's unmistakably a Danny Boyle film, full of terrific music used at the right moments to accentuate the on-screen action, deep colors, and the interplay of steel and glass with human flesh before our eyes. It tries its hardest to play with memories and senses of self, but it doesn't make up the contemplation on those ideas that a movie like Memento has with its flash or its attempts to twist audience empathy or points of view. The viewer is left wondering "whose story is this" and "what is going on," which engages the viewer, but I'm not sure that the film's answers to those questions are that fulfilling. The movie tries to manically speed past all of the elements that would trip up a viewer on a second viewing or even a post-watch reflection, particularly the central idea of hypnotism's power or the major plot point that requires a small world to work.

For a while, Trance's sense of nihilism captured the despair and darkness that's central to effective noir. No one gets out of the story cleanly, if they get out of it alive. But the way the last scene tries to play wry seems in conflict with the rest of the film, and there's a lingering question about "what's real" that's left hanging.

Finally, a scene involving Rosario Dawson, an electric razor, and Francisco Goya's The Nude Maja left me legit shook.

26. Pitch Perfect

I want to eviscerate this film, from the underdeveloped minority supporting characters (really, we're going with the inscrutable because she's so quiet, meek, submissive, and so weird she's practically alien character type for Lilly, played by Hana Mae Lee, or the Dragon Lady mean girl played by Jinhee Joung) to side stories that get dropped (what happened to the tension between Becca and her father about her parents' divorce) to romantic tension that's just undercooked (Jesse and the radio DJ with the abs) to taking shots at Glee while simultaneously taking elements directly from Glee (the linchpin of the team is recruited while the character - Cory Monteith's Finn in Glee, Anna Kendrick's Becca in Pitch Perfect - is singing in the shower) to the commentators taken almost directly from Dodgeball or Best in Show to the bog standard Bring It On-like plot to insipid choreography for the Bellas to its post-Bridesmaids reliance on gross-out humor.

Yet I can't, I suppose, because I'm still a sucker for well-produced arrangements of familiar songs presented to me by pretty people. I was introduced to Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air, which imbues her with a credibility that inspired me to give Pitch Perfect some rope. I knew Anna Camp from her guest appearances on The Good Wife and Skylar Astin from his lead performance on Ground Floor, which I think only Astin's agent, parents, and I watched. To that end, I was somewhat invested in seeing these actors try their best to elevate this movie, or at least keep it together, in between the parts with the singing. The highlight of the film is, surprisingly, not the closing number, but the moment when Camp and Kendrick's ragtag group of sirens begin to realize their potential together in an informal a cappella competition held under bridge, lit by trash can fires, edgy but not too dangerous. Kendrick's Becca breaks the group's reliance on songs sung by women with her cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity," but they're dragged back into the world of Ace of Base covers after that until the finale, when again they break the mold by using some more hiphop with Utkarsh Ambudkar's beatboxing.

The film tries to speed through as quickly as it can so no one notices its deficiencies, and it certainly tries its best to be energetically entertaining to carry the viewer through its surprisingly long running time. But it doesn't hold up even five minutes after viewing, and not even Anna Kendrick can sing her way out of this messy film.
 
Just got back from a viewing of the Veronica Mars movie. Loved it completely. Had the right amount of fan service and new content -- and it helped that the audience loved it. Definitely wanting to check out some noir/crimey type of films now. Suggestions?
 

Saya

Member
Whenever I feel bad about my imbalances, I just look at Saya's list for comfort. ;)

:)

Haha, I am way behind on my books. I realized most books that I would love to read are quite long (over 500 pages, maybe seems short for some but it's quite long for me haha). So right now I try to select some books that are a bit shorter. I'm currently reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. It's a short story collection so I hope I can digest it a bit faster. I made an exception for Words of Radiance, I had to know what would happen in that universe.

I'm a huge movie fan and I've already seen 111 this year, but for the challenge I only count the ones that are new to me.

I do have to say I am loving this challenge. Especially for stimulating my reading habit, because last year I read an embarrassing few books. (I think I did not even finish one...)
 
Just got back from a viewing of the Veronica Mars movie. Loved it completely. Had the right amount of fan service and new content -- and it helped that the audience loved it. Definitely wanting to check out some noir/crimey type of films now. Suggestions?

Does it matter how old it is? If not ...

Chinatown
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
Murder, My Sweet
Gun Crazy
The Asphalt Jungle
The Glass Key
Double Indemnity
The Big Heat
Out of the Past
 

Mumei

Member
:)

Haha, I am way behind on my books. I realized most books that I would love to read are quite long (over 500 pages, maybe seems short for some but it's quite long for me haha). So right now I try to select some books that are a bit shorter. I'm currently reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. It's a short story collection so I hope I can digest it a bit faster. I made an exception for Words of Radiance, I had to know what would happen in that universe.

I'm a huge movie fan and I've already seen 111 this year, but for the challenge I only count the ones that are new to me.

I do have to say I am loving this challenge. Especially for stimulating my reading habit, because last year I read an embarrassing few books. (I think I did not even finish one...)

I just have trouble making a commitment for movies. I can read for a couple hours, but movies just seem beyond me much of the time. No idea why!

Update:

Mumei - 36/50 Books | 8/50 Movies

Since my last update, I have read four books and watched one movie. I read Making the American Body: The Remarkable Saga of the Men and Women Whose Feats, Feuds, and Passions Shaped Fitness History by Jonathan Black, How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev, Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer, The Second Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny. Making the American Body is pretty good as an overview of the personalities who shaped the fitness industry in the United States, but it wasn't really what I was looking for. How the Irish Became White was fascinating and a must-read. Annihilation was fantastic, but if you're reading your first VanderMeer I would suggest City of Saints and Madmen as your first choice. The Second Chronicles of Amber was quite good, but I didn't feel like it had the same narrative drive as the first, and the ending felt rushed and a bit too pat. The first was much better.

Veronica Mars was quite good, though I have to question Veronica's life choices. <_______<

I'm currently reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. I have fallen behind pace thanks to that damnable (<3) Hunter x Hunter series.
 

Glaurungr

Member
Glaurungr - 40/50 Books | 55/50 Movies

New update:

Books:


Films:

 
Update - roosters93 - 11/50 books | 31/50 movies​

Books:

Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
Something Missing - Matthew Dicks &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;

Infinite Jest slowed me down for aaaaages. But it was worth it. Weirdest book I've read and took me a while to work my head around but it's glorious. Praise be.

Something Missing is from the author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend.

Movies:

Lone Survivor &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
American Hustle &#9733;½
The Dirties &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;

I'm glad American Hustle didn't win any Oscars. I definitely am not a David O. Russell fan.

The Dirties is a independent Canadian film following two victims of bullying in high school. If you want to see a movie about school shootings that is hilarious (who doesn't?) this is it.
 
2 updates from the weekend

Books 16/50
Movies 15/50


Must have been in a British mood this weekend


Books
A Clockwork Orange

Once I got the language down, the book really started to click. The film adaptation is pretty true to the novel, with the exception of the ending, but the original American version of the book had only 20 chapters. I had a copy of the British version which had 21 chapters and a different ending. Amazing book.

Movies
Centurion

Centurion was just a Netflix throwaway movie, Michael Fassbender was in it so I figured to give it a shot. Was pleasantly surprised, good cast, acting, landscapes and action/ battle scenes. All around a solid film.
 

kswiston

Member
How do people have 80+ movies?

Do you guys watch a movie every day? How do you find the time?

I would imagine that some of us are single and/or unemployed. EDIT: Or just watch a lot of movies with their SOs.

I finished Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. The book started leaning more heavily on Supernatural stuff by the end, but it was still a good read. I will be picking up the second book in the near future. I suppose my only complaint is that the main character doesn't make for a very believable 14 year old. I teach high school kids, and Jorg would have to be the oldest, strongest 14 year old in history. Maybe that gets addressed in future books though.

I am currently on the Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson. It's a quick read. so I should finish tomorrow or Thursday. That puts me on pace for the month with 12 books, so I think I am going to use those extra 10 days to read a longer novel.

I am way behind on movies though. I don't think I have watched a single film this month. Hard to set aside the time with a new baby girl to take care of. Going to the theatre is out of the question unless I want my wife to murder me when I get home :p
 

arkon

Member
Last page, I was talking about being surprised at how much magic was in the past few "gritty" fantasy series I have tried out. I think I found a series that is a little lighter on the magic, similar to what I was asking about.

I started Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, which as far as I can tell is set on an alternate earth or something. Some allusion to dream witches, but no gods or demon summoning yet. Also a nice short read at just over 300 pages. I see that the trilogy is already finished, so hopefully the entire thing is a good read.


Also, how are the Stormlight Archive books so far? The 1000+ page lengths and the fact that the series has only released 2 out of a proposed 10 novels sort of has me undecided on jumping in, but I am noticing a fair bit of buzz on GAF and other boards.

It's a series that's going to be quite heavy on the magic so I'm not sure if it'll be your thnig. Plus, as you say, the series is only just beginning and it's likely to be at least 10 years (probably more) before it comes to a conclusion. If you're a fan of his previous work then I probably wouldn't hesitate, because it's more of what you expect with some improvements in his writing. If you haven't tried his stuff out before I'd say there are better entry points. Something like Mistborn: The Final Empire (the first book in the trilogy) to get a taste for his work and see if you like it. It's not as big a commitment as WoK or WoR, and if you don't like it that much it works well as a standalone.
 

kswiston

Member
It's a series that's going to be quite heavy on the magic so I'm not sure if it'll be your thnig. Plus, as you say, the series is only just beginning and it's likely to be at least 10 years (probably more) before it comes to a conclusion. If you're a fan of his previous work then I probably wouldn't hesitate, because it's more of what you expect with some improvements in his writing. If you haven't tried his stuff out before I'd say there are better entry points. Something like Mistborn: The Final Empire (the first book in the trilogy) to get a taste for his work and see if you like it. It's not as big a commitment as WoK or WoR, and if you don't like it that much it works well as a standalone.

I am not completely against books that are heavy on Magic. I liked Gardens of the Moon quite a bit. I do prefer series that are lighter on magic, or where magic has serious restrictions though.

I suppose I like the settings of fantasy novels more than the supernatural stuff. The High/Late Middle Ages and the Roman Empire are my two favourite eras of history. Especially military history.
 

arkon

Member
I am not completely against books that are heavy on Magic. I liked Gardens of the Moon quite a bit. I do prefer series that are lighter on magic, or where magic has serious restrictions though.

I suppose I like the settings of fantasy novels more than the supernatural stuff. The High/Late Middle Ages and the Roman Empire are my two favourite eras of history. Especially military history.

In that case you might like Sanderson's flavour of magic. His systems are built around rules and limitations, I guess what he likes to call Hard Magic.

Might be of some interest:

http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/
http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-second-law/
http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-third-law-of-magic/
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Update

I finally finished reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

I really wanted to branch out into new genres this year, so I thought I'd give romance a whirl (I might also check out horror if I can muster up the courage - any recommendations?) and I wasn't about to pick up something with Fabio on the cover, so I thought I'd choose Outlander because Starz is turning it into a series later this year with Battlestar Galactica head Ronald D. Moore at the helm.

It was an interesting experience. Again, I'd never read a romance novel before, so I can't say for certainty that "This was definitely a romance novel!", but it fits in very closely with what I had always imagined a romance novel would be like. I'd say it's about 75% romance, 10% political intrigue, 10% action, and 5% miscellaneous. There are some elements of sci-fi/fantasy (two, to be exact!), but they exist only on the fringes and don't really contribute much to the whole.

The story follows Claire (the book's sole point of view character), a war time nurse from 1940s England, who is transported back in time to the 1740s Scottish Highlands. Once there, she is immediately captured by a group of highlanders and is taken to their castle for questioning as a suspected English spy. As their hostage, she must learn to navigate this strange Scottish society, all the while secretly making plans to escape and return to her own time...until she falls in love with a man named Jamie. Torn between the love for her husband Frank in the 1940s and Jamie in the 1740s, Claire must make the hardest decision of her life...

It's a pretty standard fish out of water adventure/romance story, but with lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of sex. Like, a lot of sex. Now, I'm probably one of the more sex crazed people I know of - the type of person to select a film on Netflix, fast forwarding through the entire thing and only stopping to watch the sex/nude scenes.
I don't do this for films that I actually have an interest in, mind. :p
So when someone like me thinks there's too much sex, you know there's a problem. And there is too much sex. Far too much sex. Like, a significant chunk of the book is nothing but descriptions of sex scenes. And they're all the same "oh my god this is the best sex I've ever had oh my world is being rocked and shattered and my mind is being blown (among other things) and I love this man so much I love how he makes me feel and I love how he feels inside me and I love sex so much this sex is so good!!!!" over and over and over again. It is, quite frankly, a slog to read through.

One of the other main problems that I had is that, of the two main characters, Jamie, the main male character, is total wish fulfillment for straight female/gay male readers. He's the embodiment of all the best qualities a man could possible have: tall, broad shoulders, luxurious hair, big dick, sensitive, strong, loyal, funny, caring, brave, understanding; he can withstand incredible amounts of pain, catch fish with his bare hands, fend off hordes of bad guys with his claymore, teach children to ride horses, speak more than five different languages, is highly educated, and has a fabulous family manor, to name but a few of his (all positive) qualities. Unlike most of the cast, he doesn't actually feel like a real person. He's too perfect, too flawless. He's basically a God of Manly Awesomeness, and though he's likable enough, he's not a compelling character in the least. He's a total Mary Sue.

And that's a big problem when there's only one other main character. Who is fine, by the way. Claire isn't super interesting, but she is a pretty good female lead - headstrong, competent, capable, smart, kind, clever, etc. She's more than I'd expect from the heroine of a romance novel at any rate.

It does what it sets out to do well enough, and I suppose I can't exactly fault the book for having so much sex if that's what the point of a romance novel is, but I still think it could have been better. A romance novel has to have sex, sure, but the sex doesn't have to be repetitive and unrealistic, and it's okay to give all of your main characters flaws and make them human. That's how you craft a compelling story, romance or not.
 

Cyan

Banned
A romance novel has to have sex, sure...

Well, that depends! I love the hell out of Georgette Heyer (her narrative voice can be delightfully witty and snide), and her romances are far too staid for sex scenes. Regency England and all that.

If you want to read an actually good and entertaining romance novel, I recommend Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Takes a couple of chapters to get going, but it's absolutely delightful. Frothy fun. And yes, I am entirely serious about this recommendation.
 

voodew

Neo Member
First post, here goes. Hopefully this will motivate me to read more!

voodew - 4/50 Books | 5/50 Movies
Books
&#8226; Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
&#8226; Daniel Keyes - Fahrenheit 451 &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
&#8226; George Orwell - Animal Farm &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
&#8226; Cormac McCarthy - The Road &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
&#8226; F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
Movies
&#8226; 12 Years a Slave &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
&#8226; Frozen &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
&#8226; Mouments Men &#9733;&#9733;
&#8226; Full Metal Jacket &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;½
&#8226; 2001: A Space Odyssey &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Thanks for the Outlander review. It basically confirms all my suspicions. My wife thinks it's the best series ever, but nope.gif.

I mean, I've only read the first book, so it's possible that the other books are significantly better.

Well, that depends!

That's true. I could definitely see, like, a platonic romance novel or something like that. You don't have to have sex to have romance. I'm sure there are plenty of, like, asexual or sexless couples that are super romantic with each other. :3

I love the hell out of Georgette Heyer (her narrative voice can be delightfully witty and snide), and her romances are far too staid for sex scenes. Regency England and all that.

If you want to read an actually good and entertaining romance novel, I recommend Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Takes a couple of chapters to get going, but it's absolutely delightful. Frothy fun. And yes, I am entirely serious about this recommendation.

Oh, that sounds interesting! I'll definitely check it out if I can find a copy. Thanks!
 
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