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

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R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Update

Just finished watching The Croods. I thought it was pretty fun. Very colorful with a very fluid animation style and beautiful CGI - easily one of the best looking animated films I've seen despite the fact that the caveman characters all look pretty ugly (the prehistoric hybrid-animals are all really cool though!). The story and characters are nothing to write home about (Though I appreciated that there wasn't a villain or really any sort of central conflict - it's basically just an adventure film) but the pace is so fast that I didn't really care.

I thought it was fun.
 
S

Saya

Member
Saya - 5/50 books | 34/50 movies

Recently watched:


  • Before Midnight - Richard Linklater - ★★★★★
  • One Piece Film: Z - Tatsuya Nagamine - ★★★
  • The Searchers - John Ford - ★★★★★
  • Birth of the Living Dead - Rob Kuhns - ★★★½
  • Battleship - Peter Berg - ★
  • The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy - ★★★★★
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
The first month is drawing to an end tomorrow night, and it looks like people are making some pretty serious progress already towards finishing the challenge.

If everyone can make sure to update their master lists by tomorrow evening, that would be fantastic. I'll include all the latest data into the 1 February update.

I'll be working it tomorrow night, ~2100 hours mountain standard time. That's UTC - 07 for all the non-Amurricans out there.
 
D

DedalusJoyce

Member
Books 4/50 Movies 14/50

Books

Stanley Kubrick: A Biography - John Baxter
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System - Peter Fussell
The Scatter Here is Too Great - Bilal Tanweer
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller

Movies

Wuthering Heights 2013
The Master
Le Passe 2013
There Will Be Blood
Blue Jasmine
Her
Charulata
The Wolf Of Wall Street
12 Years a Slave
Inside Llewyn Davis
Intouchables
Interiors
The Chess Players
O Brother Where Art Thou?
 
T

TheWarrior

Banned
I've got a question about media we've already consumed, maybe this was answered already and if so I apologize.

I'm wondering about something that you may have watched at age 4 or 5 but couldn't really comprehend the movie and just watched it because it appealed to children. The one that comes to mind off my head would be E.T. It's been 30 years now since I have seen it, and when I did watch it, I was probably 5 years old, and I'm pretty sure watching it now would be a completely new experience. If it's frowned on to count those I am cool with it, but more or less just wondering on the general opinion.
 
E

Empty

Member
Empty - 7/50 books | 12/50 movies

books -

7) flashman by george mcdonald fraser - good, very readable comic adventure about a despicable, cowardly but very lucky english soldier in the 19th century british empire. it's narrated from flashman's perspective looking back on his life and his general awfulness in observing things puts a fun satirical spin on the typical heroic adventure story. despite the comic trapping it's also historical fiction and i found the setting of this book in 1840s afghanistan looking at the terrible decisions made by generals and the complex challenge of managing ruling other very different peoples way across the globe made me want to learn more about the history of the british empire in the region.

films -

11) the many adventures of winnie the pooh - very charming and funny animated disney film. it's leaning on the wonderful characters from the classic childrens book but the film realizes them so perfectly and has some great stylistic flourishes. a lot of disney films start with a story book opening and are ostensibly trying to recreate that in animated form, something like sleeping beauty going so far as to even look like a beautifully crafted illustrated medieval book in its art direction. yet winnie the pooh takes this metaphor literally, it'll zoom out and in to the illustrated book as the film progresses, lines of dialogue will be like 'the owl talked all the way till page 76', as it transitions to a flooding scene it'll zoom in to the picture on the page letters on the page will be caught in the flow of water. it's gimmicky but it's pulled off with a lot of whimsy, invention and makes the film feel fresh.

12) dazed and confused - slice of life comedy about a bunch of high school kids on the last day of school in the 70s. this film has a large ensemble which creates a real challenge, but linklater is more looking to capture a certain feeling of what it is to be young than examine specific people and his dialogue is good enough to make it work. the film is pretty balanced i think in showing life for these kids in this moment - it illustrates a bunch of the stupid rituals like hazing younger kids, the dangerous drink driving and matthew mcgounaguey is amazing as a stomach turning older guy lingering around the young girls, but it also shows the sense of freedom and exhilaration of being young and just messing around and trying to define who you are.
 
N

Necrovex

Member
TheWarrior said:
I've got a question about media we've already consumed, maybe this was answered already and if so I apologize.

I'm wondering about something that you may have watched at age 4 or 5 but couldn't really comprehend the movie and just watched it because it appealed to children. The one that comes to mind off my head would be E.T. It's been 30 years now since I have seen it, and when I did watch it, I was probably 5 years old, and I'm pretty sure watching it now would be a completely new experience. If it's frowned on to count those I am cool with it, but more or less just wondering on the general opinion.
Click to expand...

This should be cool. You're essentially watching it the first time if you cannot remember (or didn't understand) anything about it.
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
TheWarrior said:
I just finished my 7th book for the month, master list is updated and I will be 7&7 for January
Click to expand...

Bam! Well ahead of pace.

TheWarrior said:
I'm wondering about something that you may have watched at age 4 or 5 but couldn't really comprehend the movie and just watched it because it appealed to children. The one that comes to mind off my head would be E.T. It's been 30 years now since I have seen it, and when I did watch it, I was probably 5 years old, and I'm pretty sure watching it now would be a completely new experience. If it's frowned on to count those I am cool with it, but more or less just wondering on the general opinion.
Click to expand...

Count it. I vaguely recall reading parts of the first Chronicles of Narnia book when I was a young boy (I don't know if I ever finished it), but if and when I reread the series I would definitely count that. There's no firm statue of limitation on that but you'll be the best judge on whether or not that's a "new" experience for you.
 
R

RedShift

Member
Probably final update for January:
RedShift - 6/50 Books | 5/50 Movies​

Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451 - ★★★½
I know it's cliched to say about dystopian novels but there were a lot of things eerily reminiscent of modern society in this book. The obsession with breaking entertainment down into tiny bite size chunks like pictures on the Internet and reality TV in particular. I didn't really enjoy the writing style that much, but it was a nice short book to read in one sitting this afternoon.

I kind of want to watch a movie now to make it an even 6 each for the month...
 
N

NeoGAF.

Banned
I'm In!
NeoGAF. - 3/50 books | 12/50 movies

Books:
Disaster Artist - Greg Sestero - ★★★★★
Astronauts guide to life on earth - Chris Hadfield - ★★★
Slaughterhouse Five - Jenny Lawson - ★★★★

Films:
Frances Ha ★★★★★
American Hustle ★★★★★
Hobbit an Unexpected Journey ★★★★
Her ★★★★★
In a World ★★★★
Kickass 2 ★★
Kings of Summer ★★★★
Hobbit Desolation of Smaug ★★★★
Hunger Games Catching Fire ★★★★
Bad Grandpa ★★★
Rush ★★★★
Wolf of Wall Street ★★★★★
 
A

Atrophis

Member
Atrophis - 7/50 Books | 1/50 Movies

Books

7. The Warhound and the World's Pain - Michael Moorcock

Being the first story in the first volume of The Tale of the Eternal Champion. 17th Century German commander of infantry Von Bek on his mission to recover the Holy Grail for Lucifer. Of the three Moorcock stories I've read so far this is my favorite. It's incredibly grim but ultimately has quite an uplifting message (if your an atheist).

Quite pleased with my first months progress. I have already read nearly as many books as I managed in 2013! I am not worried about progress on the movie front as I easily managed 62 last year.

Achievement Unlocked!

Minor in Michael Moorcock
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
Tragicomedy - 8/50 Books | 10/50 Movies

Took me much longer than I expected, but I just finished The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell - ★★★★ - Absolutely riveting read about the rise of Arthur in fending off the Saxons and other Britons to unite Britania under the rule of the high king. I haven't read any Arthurian tales since way back in high school, so the material was fresh and captivating. Cornwell's Arthur differs quite a bit from how he's presented in other stories, and the changes are almost exclusively for the better. The real scene stealer is Derfel, one of Arthur's loyal warriors who narrates the story and completely won me over.
 
B

Bonethug

Member
Bonethug - 8/50 Books | 10/50 Movies

Wrapped up the L.A. Quartet by James Ellroy with White Jazz. Screw the editor that chopped this down from an 800 page grand end to series.
The first 60% or so is heavily chopped down into scattered, shotgun-blast thoughts rather than actual dialog. It was also disappointing all being from the same person's perspective; unlike the other books in the series.

Overall the series is a great noir read, and highly recommended.

I think February may be Garrett, P.I. series by Glenn Cook month.
 
M

mfiuza

Member
Tragicomedy said:
Tragicomedy - 8/50 Books | 10/50 Movies

Took me much longer than I expected, but I just finished The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell - ★★★★ - Absolutely riveting read about the rise of Arthur in fending off the Saxons and other Britons to unite Britania under the rule of the high king. I haven't read any Arthurian tales since way back in high school, so the material was fresh and captivating. Cornwell's Arthur differs quite a bit from how he's presented in other stories, and the changes are almost exclusively for the better. The real scene stealer is Derfel, one of Arthur's loyal warriors who narrates the story and completely won me over.
Click to expand...

This trilogy is incredible. I borrowed the books when I was in high school, and after the read I got another trilogy by Cornwell (The Grail Quest), wich is great too.

A couple of days ago I thought to debut my new kindle with The Winter King in english (to practice my english a bit)
 
G

gsrjedi

Member
gsrjedi - 2/50 Books | 4/50 Movies | 0/12 Games

Books:
Black Powder War (Temeraire, book 3) - Naomi Novik | 4 ★★★★ -- Started off slow with lots of travelling, but picked up greatly once the group reached Istanbul
Porsche - Peter Morgan | 3 ★★★ - Had some good info on the brand and cars, but I feel not enough space was given to each car. Also jumps around in the time line a lot and one of the car descriptions near the end felt like it was straight from Porsche PR.

Movies:
42 - 5 ★★★★★ - fantastic film about Jackie Robinson
Pain & Gain - 2 ★★ - for some reason I thought this would be a comedy, so I kept waiting for it to be funny
Fun Size - 3 ★★★ - pretty standard teen film, but Victoria Justice looks good
Wreck-It Ralph - 5 ★★★★★ - How did I never watch this? Tons of video game easter eggs, plus some really incredible sequences.

Games:
 
K

kswiston

Member


I finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane yesterday as expected. I would give the book a solid 4 out of 5 stars. The book sort of read like a cross between his recent children/young adult titles and some of the stuff he has written previously and his comics/adult novels.

If you are looking for a quick read, give it a shot.
 
G

Glaurungr

Member
Glaurungr - 16/50 Books | 23/50 Movies​

New update!

Books:


Films:

 
N

Necrovex

Member
Master List

Charlie Broker: How Video Games Changed the World

A fantastic documentary detailing which video games caused a solid change in the world, for better or for worse. I had no qualms with any of the games listed. Everything went by year, so no games were listed as having a grander effect over the other. The last selection was pure brilliance, and I may jump onto this train now.

Nerds. Watch this great documentary now.

★★★★
 
W

WJD

Member
Update:

WJD - 1/50 Books | 16/50 Movies

It's been a horrendously busy week for me this week but I still managed to add Moonrise Kingdom and Dr Strangelove to my list this week.

Moonrise Kingdom was just lovely. Like, just a really, really nice, innocent, beautiful film. It just made me happy.

I love Dr Strangelove even more though. Think it may even go instantly into my top 10 of all time list.

Still lagging behind on books but that should change now that I've got a lot of work out the way.
 
S

Strobli

Neo Member
WJD said:
Update:

WJD - 1/50 Books | 16/50 Movies

It's been a horrendously busy week for me this week but I still managed to add Moonrise Kingdom and Dr Strangelove to my list this week.

Moonrise Kingdom was just lovely. Like, just a really, really nice, innocent, beautiful film. It just made me happy.

I love Dr Strangelove even more though. Think it may even go instantly into my top 10 of all time list.

Still lagging behind on books but that should change now that I've got a lot of work out the way.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way about Moonrise Kingdom. I really need to watch more Wes Anderson. His style really clicks with me. Hopefully I can watch most of his movies this year. I'll be watching Grand Budapest Hotel for sure!
 
W

WJD

Member
Strobli said:
I feel the same way about Moonrise Kingdom. I really need to watch more Wes Anderson. His style really clicks with me. Hopefully I can watch most of his movies this year. I'll be watching Grand Budapest Hotel for sure!
Click to expand...

Yeah it was the Grand Budapest Hotel trailer that made me want to watch it. Definitely interested in watching more of his work.
 
A

avengers23

Banned

Books
Cosmicomics

It's entirely possible that I read this for the first time at the wrong stage in my life as I don't think I was in a mental state to appreciate something so metaphysical and whimsical. Or maybe the scale of time and distance that Calvino plays with in his short stories is simply too distracting; it's hard to develop an appreciation for a narrator's stories when it operates in terms of epochs and lightyears. The stories that work best ("The Distance of the Moon," "Without Colors," "Games Without End," "The Aquatic Uncle," "The Dinosaurs," and "The Spiral") acknowledge the narrator's grand sense of time and space, but the stories themselves are generally localized to specific periods and places.

A part of might also be disinclined toward the short story collection because I'm still working out the fictional life of the narrator, Qfwfq. He's as old as the universe, and he's taken many forms throughout his existence. But to attempt to putting his life, as he tells it, in order would be a fruitless endeavor.

Finally, there's the issue of localization. The repeated use of "presentiment" made me chuckle, and I wonder how much was lost in the translation. The translator, William Weaver, would certainly say that Calvino's essential essence was lost in translation.
 
R

roosters93

Member
Necrovex said:
Master List

Charlie Broker: How Video Games Changed the World

A fantastic documentary detailing which video games caused a solid change in the world, for better or for worse. I had no qualms with any of the games listed. Everything went by year, so no games were listed as having a grander effect over the other. The last selection was pure brilliance, and I may jump onto this train now.

Nerds. Watch this great documentary now.

★★★★
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have thought of counting a TV show! (But if long Sherlock episodes count according to the OP this certainly does)

The early years of video games stuff was interesting as it was before my time and seeing games like Papers, Please pop up was a nice surprise. In saying that I don't think I would've watched it if it wasn't presented by Charlie Brooker.
 
F

Forsaken82

Member
Updated the master List

Forsaken82 – 1/50 Books | 8/50 Movies

5. Jack Reacher
6. Escape Plan
7. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
8. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
 
CharminUltra

CharminUltra

Member
January update:

As expected, the movie challenge is going pretty smoothly and it looks like I'll beat the 50 movie goal with room to spare. The reading challenge on the other hand....

==============

I follow my own personal 4 star scale:

★★★★ = Timeless Masterpiece
★★★ = Buy
★★ = Rent/Borrow
★ = Avoid

ridley182 - 4/50 Books | 12/50 Movies

Books:

Agatha Christie - The Thirteen Problems ★★★
Graham Greene - The Quiet American ★★
Brian Jacques - Redwall ★★
Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions ★★★

Movies:

The Wrong Man ★★
The Third Man ★★★
Hunger Games ★★
Hunger Games: Catching Fire ★★
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones ★
Minority Report ★★
The Wolf of Wall Street ★★★
The Man Who Knew Too Much ★★
The Presence ★
Scrooged ★★
Inland Empire ★★★
Session 9 ★★

=============

Favorite Book - January: Breakfast of Champions

I have long held Douglas Adams as my favorite writer ever; certainly the writer that has influenced me the most. I think I may have to rethink this, however, because Breakfast of Champions was simply a joy to read. Vonnegut is able to express complex ideas clearly and concisely without resorting to extraneous words or overly elaborate descriptions. This book is entertaining, touching and utterly hilarious.

Favorite Movie - January: The Wolf of Wall Street

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Yes, I knew it was directed by Scorsese, but while I have enjoyed his recent output, I can't say I have been impressed. Wolf is certainly not Goodfellas, but it is a damn entertaining and wild ride. Leonardo DiCaprio is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors.
 
S

Saya

Member
End of January update:

Saya - 5/50 books | 38/50 movies

Books:

  • Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse - ★★★★½
  • The Beach - Alex Garland - ★★★★
  • Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut - ★★★★★
  • Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - ★★★★★
  • The Prophet - Khalid Gibran - ★★★★

Currently reading: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I'm about halfway through the 1300+ pages or so. I'll definitely have to finish it in the coming weeks.

Movies:

  • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 - Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn - ★½
  • Chernobyl Diaries - Bradley Parker - ★½
  • Bad Grandpa - Jeff Tremaine - ★★★
  • Machete Kills - Robert Rodriguez - ★½
  • The Purge - James DeMonaco - ★½
  • Fruitvale Station - Ryan Coogler - ★★★
  • Pieta - Kim Ki-Duk - ★★★★★
  • The Wolf of Wall Street - Martin Scorsese - ★★★★★
  • Her - Spike Jonze - ★★★★½
  • The Beach - Danny Boyle - ★½
  • Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror - F.W. Murnau - ★★★½
  • The Thing - Matthijs van Heijningen - ★
  • Floating Weeds (Ukigusa) - Yasujirō Ozu - ★★★★★
  • Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock - ★★★★★
  • Captain Phillips - Paul Greengrass - ★★★
  • Tokyo Story (Tōkyō Monogatari) - Yasujirō Ozu - ★★★★★
  • The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy - ★★★★★
  • The Eye (Gin Gwai) - Pang Brothers - ★½
  • Jobs - Joshua Michael Stern - ★
  • The Passion of Joan of Arc (La passion de Jeanne d'Arc) - Carl Th. Dreyer - ★★★★★
  • They Live - John Carpenter - ★★★
  • Dragon Wasps - Joe Knee - ★½
  • Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky - ★★★★
  • After Earth - M. Night Shyalaman - ★½
  • Paris, Texas - Wim Wenders - ★★★★
  • The Bayton Outlaws - Barry Battles - ★½
  • American Hustle - David O. Russell - ★★★
  • Inside Llewyn Davis - The Coen brothers - ★★★★
  • Before Midnight - Richard Linklater - ★★★★★
  • One Piece Film: Z - Tatsuya Nagamine - ★★★
  • The Searchers - John Ford - ★★★★★
  • Birth of the Living Dead - Rob Kuhns - ★★★½
  • Battleship - Peter Berg - ★
  • The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy - ★★★★★
  • Eden Lake - James Watkins - ★★★½
  • The Church (La Chiesa) - Michele Soavi - ★★½
  • Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite) - Jose Padilha - ★★½
  • Mr. Nobody - Jaco Van Dormael - ★★★½
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
1 February update in the OP!

Took quite a bit longer than I anticipated, but it should be good to go. A few highlights:

Current pace needed for completion (as of 1 February):
  • 4/50 books | 4/50 movies

Members currently on pace to complete the challenge:
  • 54 in total...too many to list!

Top 20 book worms:
  • Mumei - 17
  • Glaurungr - 16
  • Lumiere - 13
  • X-Frame - 12
  • lastflowers - 10
  • Nezumi - 10
  • melonrabbit- 10
  • campfireweekend - 9
  • SamVimes - 9
  • markhimself46 - 8
  • kinoki - 8
  • asc3nsi0n - 8
  • Bonethug - 8
  • Tragicomedy - 8
  • Saphirax - 8
  • Eight tied at 7

Top 20 film buffs:
  • Henry Swanson - 52
  • Saya - 38
  • siyrobbo - 30
  • number11 - 29
  • white dynamite - 27
  • Ephidel - 24
  • Glaurungr - 23
  • daffy - 22
  • jarofbees - 21
  • Flips360 - 18
  • zoozilla - 18
  • NaotaFakuza - 16
  • Thebrokenleg - 16
  • Narag - 16
  • WJD - 16
  • markhimself46 - 15
  • BrokenEchelon - 15
  • Four tied at 14

Most balanced with the force:

Least balanced with the force:

GAF totals:
  • 583 Books
  • 1,437 Movies
 
M

Maklershed

Member
I really need to step my game up. Montezuma Blitz and Spelunky are eating up too much time.

Update 2 of 24

Maklershed - 3/50 books | 4/50 movies | 5 games

Books
3. The Black Company book 10: Soldiers Live

Movies
4. Lethal Weapon 2

Games
5. Guacamelee (Vita)
 
U

uceenk

Member
interesting thread

i've managed to read only one book in 2014, yep it's very sad :(

1. Remote : Office Not Required - Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

hope this thread is able to motivate me to read more books this year

as for movies, i watched plenty of them

1. Gravity
2. Captain Phillips
3. Oshin
4. The Conjuring
 
N

Necrovex

Member
roosters93 said:
I wouldn't have thought of counting a TV show! (But if long Sherlock episodes count according to the OP this certainly does)

The early years of video games stuff was interesting as it was before my time and seeing games like Papers, Please pop up was a nice surprise. In saying that I don't think I would've watched it if it wasn't presented by Charlie Brooker.
Click to expand...

That's the logic I went with. I really enjoyed how the list was chronological instead of "This game had the *greatest* impact.' It also made me quite interested in Papers, Please.

I didn't know who Charlie Brooker was until I saw this, and he did such a fine ass job being a host.
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
Tragicomedy - 9/50 Books | 11/50 Movies

Read Bleak Seasons by Glen Cook (1997) - ★★½ - The first Black Company book that wasn't an instant winner for me, complete with a new narrator, awkward forwards and backwards time shifts, and tons of repetition from the previous book (from a different perspective, mind you). The last fifty pages are fantastic, but don't negate the mess of the previous 250.

Watched Rush (2013) - ★★★ - Great contrast of main characters and great driving action sequence in what is apparently a faithful adaptation of the real life struggle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The acting was solid and there was plenty of drama, but I wasn't quite captivated by the main vehicle (har har) of the storyline.
 
N

Necrovex

Member
markhimself46 said:

Movies

You're Next ★★½

Semi-disappointed in this. I was expecting more "Cabin in the Woods" type uniqueness to it. It was a pretty generic horror in my opinion. It had some funny lines in it and cool executions but nothing too memorable; nothing that sets it aside from anything else.
Click to expand...

I adored You're Next. I had a blast watching it; the audience and myself were laughing throughout the film.
 
Weapxn

Weapxn

Mikkelsexual
Update

Today is clearly going to be a movie marathon day while I recover from a concussion.

Watched an episode of Doctor Who (which clearly doesn't count) this morning, and I just finished House at the End of the Street. Not sure what's next, maybe that Act of Killing doc. I've also got two award screeners I should get through.

Or I could read.
 
M

markhimself46

Member
Necrovex said:
I adored You're Next. I had a blast watching it; the audience and myself were laughing throughout the film.
Click to expand...

I thought there were a few funny lines:
Fuck me on the bed next to your dead mother.
And I also loved the
blender kill at the end.

I didn't hate the movie by any means, but didn't love it as much as I thought I would.
 
A

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
My once a month update:

Books

  • The Quiet American - January 16th: ★★½
  • Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life - January 21st: ★★★½
  • Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World - January 27: ★★★★

Movies

  • Boy - January 2nd:
  • Kiki's Delivery Service - January 9th: ★★★½
  • Goon - January 26th: ★★½

The beginning of the month started off real shaky due to my computer finally kicking the bucket. I thought I would at least make four movies but it slipped my mind. Right now I'm listening to one book on audio, in the middle of one for a class, starting another for a class and will be reading GAF's February Book Club novel Blindness.

Books averaged about 6.66/10. Hopefully next month I will find something that really draws me in. The Quiet American, which I read for GAF's book club, wasn't a setting I was particularly fond nor deep. It had political commentary but only had two characters of depth. Creating Innovators I read for pleasure as it relates to my field of study. It greatly affected my opinion of education, but suffered from relying too much on anecdotal evidence like Outliers. It was also too flattering of Google and Apple, the latter I think has shown less innovation after the iPad.

My review of Neurodiversity:

This is a very positive book that changed my perspective on children with disabilities. It thinks outside the box, looking for the positive qualities in all students. I feel I will be much better able to teach a diverse classroom after reading this.

My two criticisms are career aspirations and the chapter on children with emotional and behavior disabilities. I don't believe the purpose of schools is to prepare children for the work force, at least not until the end of high school. Instead, schools should expose children to everything (age appropriate) available to allow them to find a child's passion. For my second problem, I felt the strength based section for the emotional & behavior chapter was underdeveloped. The author does admit there isn't enough research, but I was still offended all he could muster was that they're creative. Despite speaking on mental illness being shoved under the rug he makes a weak argument of the benefits. It would have been better to break the group down into specific chapter than lumping them together, surely causing a single broad generalization.
Click to expand...

For movies, Goon was a fun, grotesque sports film. Kiki's Delivery Service didn't have the excitement and emotional impact as other Studio Ghibli movies have had one me. Boy is a foreign film I haven't rate because it's not listed on Flickchart, the method I use to rate films.

Onto February!
 
T

The Outsider

Member
End of the month update:

Finally finished a book today. I'm admittedly terrible at finishing books for whatever reason, so this is a bit of an accomplishment for me. I'm hoping this paves the way for faster progress with my reading.

And as expected, movie watching is well ahead of schedule. Working at a movie theater certainly has its perks.
 
N

Narag

Member

RatskyWatsky said:
Update

Just finished watching The Croods. I thought it was pretty fun. Very colorful with a very fluid animation style and beautiful CGI - easily one of the best looking animated films I've seen despite the fact that the caveman characters all look pretty ugly (the prehistoric hybrid-animals are all really cool though!). The story and characters are nothing to write home about (Though I appreciated that there wasn't a villain or really any sort of central conflict - it's basically just an adventure film) but the pace is so fast that I didn't really care.

I thought it was fun.
Click to expand...

Wish the humor was up to par with the visuals because that movie was beautiful.
 
Weapxn

Weapxn

Mikkelsexual
The Wolf of Wall Street was FANTASTIC. All that was missing was a close-up of Leo's dickhole though. Shit.

Grave of the Fireflies bored me to tears... I'd heard such wonderful things about it, but it could barely hold my attention. :\
 
K

Kunan

Member
Update! 3/50 books - 4/50 movies

Just finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (★★★★★) by Agatha Christie. Wow what a super impressive book. I don't want to give away too much, even though the book is really old, but man I've never read/watched anything that did what that book did. I've always liked Poirot, so it's great to finally go back and give some of the great stories their justice due. I ended up putting down The Disappearing Spoon to try it out, and ended up reading the entire thing straight over this entire afternoon/night. Definitely going to be picking up some more Christie novels!

I'm also currently reading...*inhale*... The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean. Excellent book; will give my full impressions when I finish :)

Going nuts with the reading this weekend to try and re-align myself on target, after taking too long to get going in January.

Weapxn said:
Grave of the Fireflies bored me to tears... I'd heard such wonderful things about it, but it could barely hold my attention. :\
Click to expand...
Going to have to agree with you on this one. Meaning aside, I didn't find anything particularly impressive about the film.
 
M

melonrabbit

Member
Tragicomedy said:
1 February update in the OP!

Top 20 book worms:
  • melonrabbit- 10
Click to expand...

Wow! Didn't expect to make this! Hoping to hit 10 books this month, too. Almost finished with #11 -- Never Fade, the Darkest Minds sequel. Then onto either Steelheart or The Dark Is Rising books (which I received for Xmas).

Really , really need to bring up my movie total though.
 
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