Support NeoGAF

[lastflowers]

Just saw The New World today. What a beautiful, beautiful film. I wish I could see it on the big screen.

 

[Jintor]

Watched Dredd. A lot better than I was expecting. Even made Dredd kinda imposing and scary even though he's a dude in a stupid helmet.

 

[kinoki]

kinoki - 37/50 Books | 66/50 Movies | 40/50 Games​

Books​

• Great Expectations (1860), Charles Dickens - ★★★½ - A really interesting novel. The views on society and the cut-through of the classes are both well-portrayed aswell as thoughtful. The gentleman ideal of the 19th century that Pip holds as his main dream somehow closely resembles that of reality-TV stars of today. It's nice to have Dickens actually highlight how empty that life is. My second Dickens' book and I'm looking forward to more.

Movies​

• Europa Report (2013, dir. Sebastián Cordero) - ★★½ - Found footage movie with solid actors. The story doesn't really go anywhere. It sets up a Cthulhu-like premise but never really delivers. Would have worked wonders if they were willing to take this one step further. Right now it's just okay but boring.
• Frankenweenie (2012, dir. Tim Burton) - ★★★ - Burton is becoming very boring of late. I don't know what I expected when I came in but after watching 15 minutes I knew exactly how this would turn out. I even predicted the windmill finale. It's good but Burton really needs to do something like Mars Attacks! or Big Fish again.
• Prometheus (2012, dir. Ridley Scott) - ★★★½ - I really liked it. It felt very engineered and stupid at times but the sheer production values and overall aesthetics are awesome.
• Looper (2012, dir. Rian Johnson) - ★★½ - Short review: 12 Monkeys was better. Some fun concepts are never explored and some less fun concepts are explored too much. The basic concept is entertaining. Bruce Willis is wasted.
• Ender's Game (2013, dir. Gavin Hood) - ★★ - This is such a powerful concept that can be made into a great movie (or two) and the director who made X-men Origins: Wolverine tries to bring it to life. Yup. It fails at a conceptual level. This needs to be re-made and properly.
• Oblivion (2013, dir. Joseph Kosinski) - ★★★ - Aesthetics seem to be Kosinki's strong suit and this movie does it with excellence. The movie is a bit on the mindless but has some interesting ideas but this makes me think of the coming Destiny so it gets a far better pass than some of the other sci-fi movies I've binged this weekend.
• The Lone Ranger (2013, dir. Gore Verbinski) - ★★★ - Not as bad as I've been led to believe. Some critics have really taken a crap over the production and not the actual movie here. Sure, it's overly long and the framing story is really something that needed to be cut and not to mention that some of the side stories aren't contributing anything. But, I liked it. It's not a new Pirates but it's enjoyable and well-made.
• Ted (2012, dir. Seth MacFarlane) - ★★★ - The core concept of juxtaposing a sweet Christmas story with a coming-of-age-Bro-movie really works. The jokes kind of writes themselves since there's so many stupid things to do with it. Stupid jokes that are fun because how stupid they are are the best types of jokes since no matter how many times you hear the joke the stupidity remains just as potent. That's why Peter Sellers work, that's why The Big Lebowski works and it's why this movie as a core concept will always work--though not as timeless as the latter two.

Games​

• The Banner Saga [PC] (2014, dev. Stoic) - ★★★★ - I expected a fun strategy game with interesting visuals but what I got was one of the best games in the genre that I've played since Final Fantasy Tactics. It's not perfect but it's damned good. This shows some incredible promise for future titles by the studio. The art style is so damned good.
• Peggle [PS3] (2009, dev. Popcap) - ★★★ - I've owned it for a very long time but have never really commited to playing it. So I sat down and played some old fashioned pass-the-controller while clearing out the campaign. Some nice fun to be had. It's great fun for what it is. After a while it feels shallow and some of the power-ups border on complete uselessness.

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Finally got around to finishing Starship Troopers.

I read it after having seen the movie like a dozen times over the last decade. I love the movie, absolutely adore it.

I was pleasantly surprised that the book actually threw some philosophy at you every so often, most of which I thought rather reasonable, if a bit on the "freedom isn't free" 101 side.

The only problem I think the book had was that the entire thing felt like exposition and the start of rising action. There wasn't any climax. Maybe it's his writing style, but the battles, deaths, etc. happened so abruptly and without any fanfare that they didn't excite at all. Maybe it's because I was waiting for most of them to happen, or knew that they would, but either way it wasn't a very exciting book.

Still an enjoyable read, and would have been quick had I not kept putting it off to do other shit.

 

[killertofu]

killertofu 3/50 books 50/50 movies

Made it to 50/50 movies! I've kinda given up on books but maybe now I'll be able to force myself to read more... probably not though

High Noon - ★★​

Some interesting concepts but I really can't get into older black and white films

22 Jump Street - ★★​

Kinda dragged on a little too much...not as funny as the first

Edge of Tomorrow - ★★★​

Very surprised that I liked this so much. Sad it's not doing as well

The Descent - ★​

God I hated this movie so much. I remember so much hype about it when it came out but what? The acting was terrible, the scares weren't scary at all and the main character was so weird. She pretty much turned into the Bride 2/3rds into the movie

Pitch Perfect - ★★½​

Not terrible. Not great. Just average

Only Lovers Left Alive - ★★★​

Loki does well.

Do the Right Thing - ★★★★​

I can't tell if Spike Lee is a moron or a genius...but I'm leaning toward genius

The Breakfast Club - ★★★½​

A movie I missed out on and didn't really want to watch because it was so engrained into pop culture to the point of parody...but...I really really enjoyed it.

Reservoir Dogs - ★★★½​

Liked it much more than Pulp Fiction

 

[kswiston]

I blew through The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie in 4 days, despite it being over 600 pages. Probably my favourite of his First Law universe books. I am a little disappointed that I will have to wait some years for a new book after Red Country, since he will be playing around in the young adult genre for awhile.

I am debating what to read next. Considering I still have 23 days in the month, and only have 1 more novel to read before I hit the 29 required to keep pace, I could probably afford to read something longer again.

I have also finished up my July movie quota for the month. My wife took the baby to visit her parents for a couple days (I had to work), so I had some nights free to myself. I watched The Fantastic Mr Fox, Ghost World, 12 Years a Slave, Inside Lleywn Davis and The World's End. I enjoyed the Fantastic Mr Fox the most out of those, but all of them were pretty good.

 

[kinoki]

kinoki - 39/50 Books | 70/50 Movies | 42/50 Games​

Books​

• 1Q84: Book 2 (2009), Haruki Murakami - ★★★★ - The fantasy slowly creeps into reality and the mystery deepens. Murakami is turing into one of the greater reads in modern times.
• Goodbye to Berlin (1939), Christopher Isherwood - ★★★★ - A very personal retelling of Berlin in the 30's. Stars Isherwood himself in the leading role. It's a great combination of memorable characters, like Sally Bowles, and some horrific foreshadowing for what would happen in Germany in just a few years.

Movies​

• Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013, dir. Sam Raimi) - ★★½ - Wonderful to look at, at first, but turns out kind of hollow and shallow. It feels more stupid than anything else. There's nothing great and powerful in this movie.
• The Descendants (2011, dir. Alexander Payne) - ★★★½ - I think I love Hawaii after seeing this movie. It seems like such a nice place. Could be my unhealthy love of hawaii shirts that has influenced me. The drama really works.
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012, dir. Timur Bekmambetov) - ★★ - I have to give the movie credit for playing it straight but it comes off as a cheap knock off. Benjamin Walker never sells Lincoln. The vampires never feels like vampires. There's never any tension and there's little to nothing actually happening in the movie.
• Zero Dark Thirty (2012, dir. Kathryn Bigelow) - ★★★ - We live in scary times. It's impossible to watch these movies without taking some sort of stand. My personal stand is that I don't want any part in this conflict and I don't condone either side. The movie itself is good. It shows the ugly of this modern war. I can't help but feel that there's very little to learn from it. It might have happened like it did. But why tell the story? What did we learn? The bleak answers are: because we could and nothing.

Games​

• Knack [PS4] (2013, dev. SCE Japan Studio) - ★★½ - Wow! So much wrong and yet I couldn't put it down. It was like watching a train wreck. Some parts are decent, others are boring, and some are just bad. You can write an essay on game design about this. The game that it reminds me the most of is Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers for the NES.
• TowerFall Ascension [PS4] (2014, dev. Matt Makes Games) - ★★★★ - If this had had online multiplayer it would have been a perfect score. The fast pace at which things turn out. The excitement, the build up and the pay off are so wonderfully random and yet skill based. The only game that comes to close to delivering the experience is Super Mario Bros. 3's multiplayer mode.

 

[roosters93]

Oh, I've been putting off reading IQ84 because it's so damn long but it's 3 volumes isn't it! That I could count it as 3 books has lessened my apprehension some.

I've been busy reading n watching

roosters93 - 40/50 books | 61/50 movies​

Books
The Family Law - Benjamin Law ★★★★
The Australian Moment - George Megalogenis ★★★★★
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Chemo - Luke Ryan ★★★★
Mortality - Christopher Hitchens ★★
Power Trip: The Political Journey of Kevin Rudd - David Marr ★★★★
What's Right? The Future of Conservatism in Australia - Waleed Aly ★★★

My total is inflated somewhat as those last 3 are all just over 100 pages lul
I bought a bunch of essays (like the last 2) so more of them to come
I've also been reading exclusively Australian material (besides Hitchens) which is new

Movies
The Man Who Sued God ★★
Cuban Fury ★½
Rio 2 ★★★
The Lunchbox ★★★½
My Sassy Girl ★★★★
Christmas In August ★★★★½
Serpico ★★★★

Foreign and old films ruling the roost.

 

[Ashes]

Goodness! It's been a while.

Never give in. Never. Never. Never. Okay maybe once in a while. But not this day. Not on our watch.

40 novels here I come.

 

[avengers23]

avengers23 - 30/50 books | 45/50 movies​

Books
29. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

I've been reticent in reviewing this book (and a couple of sports documentaries I've seen) because I was afraid that I was running out of things to say. It's possible the process of reviewing every single movie and book I consume this year has taken some of the spark from the exercise of writing. Part of it might also come from the fear that I have nothing new to say; who wants to hear or read any opinion that's already been shared?

However, someone retweeted this post on Twitter this morning about Israel, and I thought back to the former diplomat who was a point of modest ridicule in Old Man's War. The former diplomat, now in the same enhanced clone body as his fellow Colonial Marines, complained that the Colonial Marines were deployed too frequently because they represented the path of least resistance for the CDF. It's easier to use a hammer (though a more appropriate comparison would be a rifle, I suppose) to solve a problem by brute force than to try to negotiate with literally alien cultures. And in that way, I thought about how history and culture have created this apparatus for supporting a facade of negotiation in the Middle East, and how it's easier to build a wall or to attack neighbors who have been systematically characterized as a dangerous Other even when the government should by all rights know the difference between a crime committed by citizens of another polity and act of war committed by a sovereign state. If we can't even begin to negotiate with other human beings, it should be no surprise that the humans of John Scalzi's work would choose to deploy the hammer or the rifle so casually in dealing with aliens.

30. Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, by Joan Druett

Druett skillfully weaves a tale of the minutiae of castaway life from the survivors' memoirs; it helped that the survivors were eloquent writers. However, this isn't an account of courage and despair, though the survivors all feel courage and despair. History provides Druett with two two nearly simultaneous shipwrecks in the Auckland Islands, and Druett was able to create a narrative to compare the organized and unified party of the survivors of the Grafton shipwreck and the disorganized and fractured party of the survivors of the Invercauld. I could see companies using this book as a treatise on the importance of leadership, dedication to each, and collective strategic planning on survival; the compassion that the survivors of the Grafton showed to Francois Raynal would be rewarded tenfold by Raynal's skills and talents. Captain Thomas Musgrave, Raynal, and others supported each other, which allowed them to survive. The remainders of the Invercauld's crew were fractured by issues of rank and class, and they could not put them or the ethos of every man for himself aside to help each other survive.

Movies
43. ESPN's 30 for 30: Bad Boys

It feels like the 30 for 30 series is falling into a bit of a rut. I don't expect ESPN to tap filmmakers to experiment with form, like Adam Kurland and Lucas Jansen did with Silly Little Game or Brett Morgen with June 17, 1994, but it seems like the recent 30 for 30 documentaries are getting trapped into the standard sports documentary format. This feeling was especially acute in Bad Boys, which feels like the normal sports documentary that follows a championship team's beginning from misery through its struggles to accomplishment. In this case, it helped that the featured players - Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, John Salley - are comfortable with the press and charismatic, so the story could be told in an entertaining, if familiar, way.

Nonetheless, it felt like a missed opportunity to explore some key questions about what those Detroit Piston championship teams represented. How does it impact you emotionally and psychologically to embrace the black hat and become the villains everyone thought you were? It was accepted as given that all the players were comfortable with it because the key players, the team leaders were. How did those Piston teams pave the way for the ugly way the Knicks and Heat of the early to mid 1990s played, and how did the Pistons' legacy affect the league as a whole? How did it feel for Laimbeer and Mahorn to hear Patrick Ewing, himself responsible for some of the dirtiest plays in college basketball history under John Thompson's tutelage at Georgetown, call them dirty? And most importantly, how did race play into how the Pistons were seen and the NBA's awkward position of marketing young black men to an increasingly international consumer base? Thomas, Mahorn, Rodman, Salley, Dantley, Dumars, and Aguirre are all black, but the biggest instigator was Laimbeer more often than not.

44. ESPN's 30 for 30: No Mas

I watched No Mas a couple of weeks ago, and the part that stays with me was how condescending the film was to Roberto Duran because of its focus on Sugar Ray Leonard. The film is structured around Sugar Ray Leonard chasing down Roberto Duran to get an answer to why Duran quite their 1980 rematch, the infamous "No Mas" fight that gives the documentary its title, as if Duran owes Leonard an explanation. The filmmakers succeed in providing context for their first fight, the "Brawl in Montreal," where Duran beat Leonard by decision to win the WBC Welterweight championship, but its set-up of the rematch shows how far in the bag it was for Leonard. Leonard retired and then unretired to force Duran into a rematch only five months after their championship bout. Duran had to drastically cut weight in order to qualify for the fight, and the filmmakers portray as this a fair act of gamesmanship on Leonard's part because he's the American fighting against the Panamanian who disrespected him and beat him for the title. By the time the film finally gets around to focusing on Duran, it's too late; the film is definitively in Leonard's camp, from Leonard's perspective by that point, enough so that it gives Leonard a chance to provide a voiceover to tell Duran and the audience that Duran can let go of the No Mas fight. The filmmaker, likely hampered by Duran's hesitance to revisit the No Mas fight, focused on Leonard, who's undeniably more accessible, but it missed the more interesting part of the story: what Roberto Duran represented to Panama in 1980, and how the No Mas fight was an aberration. If only the film had explored the Duran side of the conversation with more time and energy, this could have been a standout 30 for 30 documentary.

45. Lenny Cooke

For the past couple of years, I've taken part in horror movie marathons in October. I'm still wrapping my head around why I enjoy horror movies; there's something about how they attack primal parts of us like fear and bloodlust directly. Maybe they're best able to evoke superficial sympathy from us; it might be hard to connect to characters emotionally, but I think that most of us can appreciate the threat of violence and the fear of death that characters in a horror movie would face.

There's a line to be drawn between horror movies and wince and cringe-inducing comedies like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Da Ali G Show, or the BBC's The Office. Horror movies and cringe comedies both dare the viewer to avert his or her eyes from the physical or emotional carnage on screen, and subsequent horror movies and cringe comedies have to raise the stakes in order to break through to the audience. It's not enough to have awkward inventive kills/conversations about awkward subjects; now, you have to top the fantastic kill in the most recent commercially successful or critically acclaimed film/two naked hairy men fighting through a hotel, including its auditorium where a real estate convention is taking place. Or maybe the zombie outbreak that was localized to an isolated town or a small group of people spreads to become a regional or even global threat. The name of the game is escalation.

Escalation isn't just the name of the game in fiction, obviously. Throughout last week, the anticipation about where LeBron James would sign on to play basketball for the 2014-15 NBA season and beyond grew. Everyone wondered how James would follow up The Decision, his pre-packaged press conference in 2010 to announce that he was signing with the Miami Heat, and his four successful seasons with the Heat. On Friday, James one-upped himself and crafted a new narrative about a wayward son going home to improve his community's future.

Thinking about LeBron James, wincing and cringing, and escalation brought me to Lenny Cooke, a documentary about the titular high school basketball player who was expected to be drafted into the NBA alongside other straight out of high school basketball stars like James, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant. In 2001, Cooke was ranked above NBA superstars like Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, and even LeBron James. The documentary, crafted from footage following Cooke shot in 2001 by Adam Shopkorn by Josh and Benny Safdie and supplemented with footage shot in 2012 by the Safdies with an older Cooke, attempts to lay Cooke's downfall at two pivotal adidas ABCD basketball camp games. In one, Cooke matched Anthony basket for basket to Cooke's delight. In the other, Cooke was outplayed by James, whose buzzer-beating, game-winning three point shot, the documentary argues, destroyed Cooke's chances at becoming an NBA star. Once Cooke aged out of playing high school basketball in New Jersey, he declared himself eligible for the NBA draft; he went undrafted. And that was that for Cooke's dreams of playing in the NBA and his dreams of returning to and uplifting the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The 2014 Emmy award nominations were announced last week as well, and Joe Morton was nominated for outstanding guest actor in a drama series for his portrayal of Rowan Pope on Scandal. One of Rowan Pope's lines of dialogue has stuck with me; while upbraiding Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, Rowan tells Olivia, "You have to be twice as good as them to get half of what they have." It's funny; this saying gets wrapped up with the disparity between team owners, who are billionaires, and the players, who at their peak can become multi-millionaires. Combined with the physical labor the players have to put in to earn their wages, you could literally say that the players have to work twice as hard to get a fraction of what the owners get. Part of the blame for Cooke's downfall comes from his reluctance to put in the effort; Cooke balked at a 6:30 am training session at basketball camp. Part of the blame probably comes from Cooke's feeling of entitlement, a sentiment fueled agents and would-be hangers-on who sensed that Cooke could make them money. Part of it came from the fact that Cooke was a teenager, a reality that's so easily forgotten, and so he was entitled to make some mistakes, like moving out of Debbie Bortner's home, that would cost him dearly because it made him seem erratic and increased his risk profile to teams that would draft him.

By the end of the documentary, the viewer is left with questions about what happens when someone doesn't realize his vision or perceived destiny. Cooke, older, heavier, and unable to pursue a career as a basketball player because of various injuries, seems adrift. There's a powerful moment when the older Cooke sees footage of his younger, more assured self. That reflective moment raises Lenny Cooke to stand shoulder to shoulder with the seminal Hoop Dreams, which is as high an air a documentary about basketball can reach.

 

[fuzzylogic]

fuzzylogic 12/50 Books, 20/50 Movies​

I have not done an update yet. I've decided to select a few items from my list at random and say something prosaic about each.

Books​

• The Story of Mathematics by Anne Rooney - My job doesn't require maths. I was never bad at math in school, but I was certainly within one standard deviation of the mean . I never truly understood math, I didn't understand its roots and the beautiful logic behind it. Recently, I've been much more appreciative of math and wanted to cultivate that, so I checked out this book.
  
  I wanted to know: what the hell is trigonometry? I did it in high school but never understood which part was geometry, algebra or trig. What is calculus anyways? I took a couple calculus classes, but they were the easy versions for humanities majors. I did differential equations but had no idea what they were... calculating. I also wanted to know more about what math does and how it works exactly. This book seemed like a good starting point.
  
  And I met answers to all my questions. Yay! Trigonometry is basically just a branch of geometry, specifically the calculation of planar and spherical angles. Calculating triangles. I remember using sin, cosine and tangent all the time in high school so that must have been trigonometry. Geometry was an attempt to understand the world around us, a very idealized version of reality though (perfect, straight lines). Fractals are awesome! It's like geometry that's a lot closer to real life! And somehow they have an unlimited perimeter, but a measurable area, what the hell? Awesome!
  
  Calculus is basically approximating the area under a curve to calculate the value of a piece of data at any particular interval of time (very, very short intervals). Integral calculus is putting an infinite series of oblong rectangles with infinitesimal areas underneath the curve to approximate its slope, by adding up the areas of all the infinite rectangles (what?) so closely at any given point in time that it's accurate enough to apply to problems in the real world, even if it's not an exact match. Then Integral Calc got better when someone decided we should flip the rectangles horizontal and measure that way, and I really don't understand that. Differential calculus is calculating the slope of secants in infinitesimally small intervals to extrapolate an accurate (but still an approximation) measurement of a curve's slope at any point in time. Which can be further extrapolated to predict the future of the curve, so you can predict the future of real data! Probability curves and weather and stuff! Calculus is really smart guessing and approximating! It's like intuition in a form that's not nonsense! What am I talking about?!
  
  It's also nuts how irrational numbers never end and it's like, I guess math is just a human construction, because irrational numbers and infinities are approximations, or they'd end at some point, wouldn't they? It's like math is really accurate, but not quite sufficient enough to truly measure everything to its exact dimensions at any given point in time. I don't know what I'm talking about!
  
  I remember being baffled by the limits of geometry in school. How do you tell a computer how to sculpt the curves of a car's chassis? Those shapes are so random, how do you break them down into simple shapes to use geometry (me trying to square the circle!). How do you calculate an irregular sphere? It just wouldn't work, you can't break that into pieces of geometry to figure out. It was like I was taking baby steps towards what calculus was before I knew about calculus. If I was raised rich in the 1600s, with ample free time and a good education, I might have been one of those hobbyist mathematicians, lol.
  
  The guy who figured out that conic sections can be represented algebraically is really smart, because, wut?
  
  I hope reading through the mathematical mental "breakthroughs" of a neophyte, such as myself, didn't hurt your brain too much, engineers and mathematicians et al reading this.
  
  Apparently I'm now a math nerd, that barely understands and cannot actually do math. "That's pretty odd," is all I can really say about that.
  

That one entry ended up being so long... I'll spare you all and stop here.

P.S. Currently reading a book by Stephen Colbert, which is amusing (and in 3D!!!).

 

[TheWarrior]

Books 33 & 34

Fahrenheit 451 - I love dystopian futures and this book really doesn't disappoint. If you've never read it, please do. Bradbury is a little flowery, which may bother some people, it usually bothers me, but his writing has a poet power to it, with lines like this: "We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against"


Fight Club - Was really surprised how much I enjoyed this, I'd seen the movie a long time ago and about 4 or 5 times. But the book brings a lot of new perspective. The writing is crisp and smooth and I breezed through this in almost a day.


I've got to get going on some movies, my balance is coming undone with 31 movies and 34 books. But I can catch up in a weekend with movies.

 

[Beeblebrox]

Feels nice to be back here after couple of months without updates (damn you Metro 2033, you killed my renewed will to read... or I'm just being lazy again).

And I'm starting slow (haha...ha) - watched Need for Speed, and man was it dumb. Haven't laughed this hard at a movie in a long time. Mindless car action, Jesse from Breaking Bad and a cute British girl make for a dumb fun for 2 hours.

 

[TestMonkey]

Fight Club - Was really surprised how much I enjoyed this, I'd seen the movie a long time ago and about 4 or 5 times. But the book brings a lot of new perspective. The writing is crisp and smooth and I breezed through this in almost a day.

Yeah Tyler Durden wasn't supposed to be that pretty and I found the ending of the book much more satisfying.

 

[Atrophis]

Atrophis - 13/50 Books | 27/50 Movies

13. Dune - Frank Herbert ★★★★

Finished another book at last. After a decent start to the year with six books completed in January my reading has fallen off a cliff. I have only managed a book this month due to a change of circumstances at work which gives me time to listen to audiobooks during the day. So with my new found "reading" time, I got through a book I should have probably read a long time ago - Dune!

I love the Lynch film rather a lot. I watched Jodorowskys Dune the other week and rekindled my desire to read the series. I randomly read Children of Dune when I was a teen but have had no other contact with the books. The most impressive thing for me is how well the book has aged. I love the Islamic and Arabic influences on the setting. The book also does a good job of keeping Pauls power in check. Athough he wins in the end his powers cannot stop his son from being kiled or a jihad from being unleashed on the universe. Some sections do drag though and Herberts prose isn't as strong as I was expecting.

Now onto Dune Messiah.

 

[kinoki]

kinoki - 40/50 Books | 80/50 Movies | 42/50 Games​

Books​

• 1Q84: Book 3 (2009), Haruki Murakami - ★★★★ - It's interesting how Murakami places both characters in a state of inactivity and introduces a third character in order to activate them. It's wonderful writing and an interesting conclusion.

Movies​

• The Intouchables (2011, dir. Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano) - ★★★★½ - Just wonderful. One of those great movies about the emotional bonds we create to our fellow people. The core concept explored is a bond out of friendship rather than one out of sympathy. Some really amazing scenes.
• Popeye (1980, dir. Robert Altman) - ★★★½ - A dream-like vaudeville show in the form of a comic book adaption. Really interesting take on Popeye, to be honest. Some strange and yet good film making.
• The Long Goodbye (1973, dir Robert Altman) - ★★★ - If you like The Big Lebowski this is essential viewing. You can really see how the Coens really loved this movie and deconstructed it for their magnum opus. As for the movie itself: it exists in a dream landscape. The dialogue is bizarre and dreamlike. The Arnold "cameo" is really funny.
• Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox (2013, dir. Jay Oliva) - ★★ - A ton of huge plot holes aside it's decent enough. Still not convinced about these TV-animation thingies though they help pass the time.
• Superman: Unbound (2013, dir. James Tucker) - ★★ - What's up with plot holes? Are comics always this stupid when writing or is it just DC? The whole plot is advanced through sheer stupidity most of the time. I should perhaps stop watching these.
• The Lovely Bones (2009, dir. Peter Jackson) - ★★★ - I don't think Jackson is the right director for this kind of movie. From what I've understood of the book and it's meaning: to contrast grim and cruel reality with the fantasy of a young woman, is lost to Jackson's simple and clichéed views of the world.
• Upstream Color (2013, dir. Shane Carruth) - ★★★ - The core plot is there. My first line of thinking was that perhaps this would be better as a novel but then I realised that the use of colour and sound is way to filmic for the medium. It's supposed to be visual science fiction poetry, I think. It's good but a bit impenetrable.
• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006, dir. Tom Tykwer) - ★★★★ - If Willy Wonka decided that candy was beneath him and perfume was the greatest thing ever and murder is stylish too: this is what you get. I really liked it. Marvelous fun with great acting from Ben Winshaw, Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman.
• Wreck-It Ralph (2012, dir. Rich Moore) - ★★★ - It's fun to see gaming making it into mainstream and it's real fun that Candy King... I mean, King Candy turns out to be the bad guy. But, the first 30 minutes or so are about video games, after that it more or less settles into Candy Land and that has nothing to do with gaming. If you make a movie about video games have it be about video games too.
• ParaNorman (2012, dir. Chris Butler, Sam Fell) - ★★★½ - This is not a movie primarily made for children. It's made for 20-something people who are mature enough to get all the jokes. I think this both makes the movie work better since it gets to deal with some interesting questions and also so that children appreciate it more. Some real clever plays with familiar tropes.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Tragicomedy - 34/50 Books | 33/50 Movies

Two updates worth mentioning.

I finished Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey - ★★★★½ - These guys continue to bring the goods with each novel in the Expanse series, and this was no exception. I loved that it was scaled back from the previous books, which allowed for the introduction of new characters, continued growth of the main cast, and all sorts of new challenges that are only possible on an alien planet. Exceptional series.

I watched The Raid 2 a couple of nights ago - ★★★★★ - Bro, this is the best action movie since Die Hard. It equals or surpasses the prequel in every imaginable category. What fascinates me the most with these films isn't the insanely good fight choreography, the superb acting, or the great pace of the stories. It's the damn cinematography! Every single freaking scene in this movie is jaw-dropping gorgeous. The framing, the color palette, the sense of immersion...just perfect. I've never seen an action film that looked this good. /mindblown.gif

Also, Baseball Bat Guy and Deaf Hammer Girl. Yes, please!

 

[Forsaken82]

Another tiny Update

Forsaken82 – 6/50 Books | 46/50 Movies

Books:

6. Abaddon's Gate

Movies:

41. Snowpiercer
42. Would You Rather
43. Transcendence
44. Under the Skin
45. Need For Speed
46. The Internship

 

[kswiston]

I watched The Raid 2 a couple of nights ago - ★★★★★ - Bro, this is the best action movie since Die Hard. It equals or surpasses the prequel in every imaginable category. What fascinates me the most with these films isn't the insanely good fight choreography, the superb acting, or the great pace of the stories. It's the damn cinematography! Every single freaking scene in this movie is jaw-dropping gorgeous. The framing, the color palette, the sense of immersion...just perfect. I've never seen an action film that looked this good.

Is there another 5 minute long WWE style fight like there was in the climax of the first film?



I finished King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence today. The Lead character still isn't very likable, but I like the twist on the broken empire world

Spoiler

that it's a technology stripped Earth over 1000 years into the future presumably after a full out nuclear war

, and some of the plot twists were fun. It's also nice to read fantasy novels that aren't 500-1000 pages on occasion.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Is there another 5 minute long WWE style fight like there was in the climax of the first film?

Naturally!

 

[lastflowers]

Pro Tip for those that want to finish this:

Don't play CS:GO.

l;akh;flkjnd;lknfa;l

 

[Tragicomedy]

Pro Tip for those that want to finish this:

Don't play CS:GO.

l;akh;flkjnd;lknfa;l

I cashed out of the game a few nights ago. I sold a my golden Desert Eagle for $75 (SEVENTY FIVE US AMERICAN DOLLARS!). That's right, a fake in-game item went for a chunk of real money. Fun times.

 

[lastflowers]

Sold my karambit night for like 150$ last year.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Sold my karambit night for like 150$ last year.

Dang, now you can afford a bunch of books for this challenge!

 

[lastflowers]

I have literally purchased at least double the amount of books that I've read so far. It might be three times as many

 

[kinoki]

I have literally purchased at least double the amount of books that I've read so far. It might be three times as many

Welcome to the club. Buying books is so incredibly fun, though.

 

[lastflowers]

Welcome to the club. Buying books is so incredibly fun, though.

moving is going to be even more of a PITA than it was before. I see now why my family hasn't moved in 25 years. Getting my dad's collection out of his closet is going to be utter hell.

 

[kswiston]

A crazy spell came over me and I decided to go with The Way of Kings as my next book. I am one book ahead of the quota for the month with 10 days to go, so hopefully it doesn't put me too behind

Actually, I have been getting through books at record speed now that I am no longer teaching for the summer. I had already read about 1750 pages this month before starting A Way of Kings, so I might be able to finish it up in about 2 weeks.

moving is going to be even more of a PITA than it was before. I see now why my family hasn't moved in 25 years. Getting my dad's collection out of his closet is going to be utter hell.

I know your pain. From 1982-2001, I moved once in my life. From 2001 until present I have moved 10 times. Moving is the worst. Every time I move, I get the urge to throw everything I own into the trash.

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Long road trips and plane rides are in store for me over the next few weeks.

Time to correct that book count.

 

[Necrovex]

1Q84 Book One:

This is certainly a Murakami book. All the sure signs make an appearance, though I'm surprise a cat hasn't randomly made popped into the story yet. A very strong introduction to this trilogy, the two main characters, Aomame and Tengo, are both strong leads. The writing style is padded somewhat, but it was tolerable. I am excited to see where this mystery leads.

★★★★

Oyasumi PunPun

My heart was taken on a rollercoaster, but the operation crew forgot to buckle it in. Good Night PunPun destroyed me as I was reminded a lot of my past self, and even my current self. I had so many tears during certain chapters in this tale. The themes of existentialism and nihilistic are strong. Even after finishing it, I still have tears coming from my eyes. Non-manga readers, read this manga. It's on the level of a Monster or a Berserk.

★★★★★

 

[kinoki]

moving is going to be even more of a PITA than it was before. I see now why my family hasn't moved in 25 years. Getting my dad's collection out of his closet is going to be utter hell.

I know the feeling. My personal collection is sporting something like 500+ books. It grows at a pace of like 5 per month, of which I try to read as much as possible. Currently I have two and a half books left from last months haul and a new batch coming in any day now.

I plan to move later this year or early next year depending on a few things but I'm not looking forward to carrying my books.

 

[Cindres]

I watche UHF yesterday, quite enjoyed it actually, my kind of stupid comedy. Only problem is we're at July and that was only my 14th new movie of the year. I need to speed up.

 

[Mumei]

Oyasumi PunPun

My heart was taken on a rollercoaster, but the operation crew forgot to buckle it in. Good Night PunPun destroyed me as I was reminded a lot of my past self, and even my current self. I had so many tears during certain chapters in this tale. The themes of existentialism and nihilistic are strong. Even after finishing it, I still have tears coming from my eyes. Non-manga readers, read this manga. It's on the level of a Monster or a Berserk.

★★★★★

Oh, wow. I think I should read this.

Edit: Is this likely to become available for purchase in the U.S.?

 

[Necrovex]

Oh, wow. I think I should read this.

Edit: Is this likely to become available for purchase in the U.S.?

This manga is even Amir0x approved!

And the last manga localized for this mangaka was in 2009. So I am not confident in seeing an official translation anytime soon, which is a crying shame; I would buy all of these volumes too.

 

[lastflowers]

aw man, tomorrow I may go see:

boyhood at 7:20
A Most Wanted Man at 10pm
Lucy at Midnight



hell yeeaahhhh

 

[Tragicomedy]

I look forward to hearing your impressions on Boyhood. Linklater is on my must-see list with the Before trilogy and A Scanner Darkly.

 

[Mumei]

This manga is even Amir0x approved!

And the last manga localized for this mangaka was in 2009. So I am not confident in seeing an official translation anytime soon, which is a crying shame; I would buy all of these volumes too.

Nijigahara Photograph was first released in 2014, and in the product description it says "Fantagraphics is proud to welcome the great Inio Asano (Solanin, What a Wonderful World!) to its acclaimed literary manga line." Perhaps there's a chance of it coming to the U.S. through them rather than Viz.

 

[Necrovex]

Nijigahara Photograph was first released in 2014, and in the product description it says "Fantagraphics is proud to welcome the great Inio Asano (Solanin, What a Wonderful World!) to its acclaimed literary manga line." Perhaps there's a chance of it coming to the U.S. through them rather than Viz.

Hot damn! I didn't know another publisher picked up Asano's work. This is also the ideal time to start releasing PunPun as it completed its run last November.

 

[LuffyZoro]

Update: LuffyZoro - 25/50 Books | 24/50 Movies

It's been a while since my last update so I might have missed a few, but I think that's mostly right. I was initially not planning on counting any comics or graphic novels, but since each of the Sandman volumes is ~600 pages I think I'll let them slide.

 

[kinoki]

kinoki - 42/50 Books | 80/50 Movies | 42/50 Games​

Haven't really had time to watch movies or play games this week. The sun's been blasting warmth and the best place to be is on the beach with a book in my hands. I have however finished both Penny Dreadful and Hemlock Grove (S2) during late-night hours. Gaming-wise I've been spending time with Destiny-beta and some old Nintendo classics. Neither amounting to anything update worthy.

Books​

• A Clash of Kings (1998), George R.R. Martin - ★★★★ - I'm hooked. It's the same story as the second season of the show but told very differently. It's nice to get more insight into the world of Westeros and really looking foward to the third book. This is really helping me cope with the absence of the show.
• Viga-Glums saga (ca. 1220) - ★★★½ - The narrative is much the same as with most of these stories: contrasting the unruly old days of æsir-worship with the new days of civilized Christianity. It doesn't come in to its own until about two thirds into the story but after that there's some really interesting stuff. Unlike saga like Egil Skallagrimsson this doesn't have a strong narrative but rather follows Glum's life and the twists it takes.

 

[CharminUltra]

June update:

Welp, my June update is obscenely late. It's almost August... yeah. Also, at this point I realize that I'm waaaaay behind in my book challenge; I'm not even halfway there. I thought having completed my movie challenge would give me more time to focus on reading, but it turns out that I just keep watching movies at about the same pace. Sigh.

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

I follow my own personal 4 star scale:

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

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

ridley182 - 19/50 Books | 82/50 Movies

Books:

Heart of Darkness ★★★
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ★★★
The House on Mango Street ★★★

Movies:

Solaris (1972) ★★★
Threads ★★
When The Wind Blows ★★
Paths of Glory ★★★
A Million Ways To Die in the West ★
In the Mouth of Madness ★★
How To Train Your Dragon 2 ★★
Notorious ★★
The Campaign ★
The Horse Soldiers ★★
Three Colors: Blue ★★
Plan 9 From Outer Space ★
The Searchers ★★★★
Manos: The Hands of Fate ★

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

Favorite Book - June: Heart of Dakness

The book that inspired one of my favorite movies of all time (I think I'll still take Apocalypse Now over Heart of Darkness). The book is superb, of course. Probably some of the best prose ever written. It's dark and atmospheric. Somewhat tragic. Just an excellent read.

Favorite Movie - June: The Searchers

I have long held The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly as my favorite western of all time, but I feel like it has now been dethroned (it does have better music, though. Dat Ennio Morricone). I'm saying this as someone who thinks John Wayne is grossly overrated as an actor (man, how I hate his smug face and his same-ish performances). There is no denying it though: The Searchers is a magnificent film, and easily one of my top 10 films of all time now. I loved everything about it, from the cinematography to the dialog, it's all you can ask for in a western. Oh and that ending... and that final, beautifully framed shot! Love it.

 

[kswiston]

So, I blew through The Way of Kings in a week's time, despite the extreme length. I'm really glad I decided to read the book despite the length because it was one of the best fantasy novels I have read to date. Excellent word building, interesting characters, and a final 15-20% that makes the book really hard to put down.

I'm seriously considering starting Words of Radiance right now, even though it's another 1000 page tome. I am already disappointed that we have a 2 year wait before book 3 is out...

 

[Tragicomedy]

I'm seriously considering starting Words of Radiance right now, even though it's another 1000 page tome.

What if I told you it's better than the first?

 

[kswiston]

What if I told you it's better than the first?

Ya, I didn't hold out long. I'm already 200 pages into Words of Radiance. I'm going to be so bummed when I get through this book and have to wait 2 years with the rest of you.

 

[Mumei]

You don't have to worry about the wait; just read other things and you won't even notice it!

 

[Necrovex]

Ya, I didn't hold out long. I'm already 200 pages into Words of Radiance. I'm going to be so bummed when I get through this book and have to wait 2 years with the rest of you.

Better to wait for two years since six years for the next installment of a novel. Poor Song of Ice and Fire fans.

 

[metalslimer]

Better to wait for two years since six years for the next installment of a novel. Poor Song of Ice and Fire fans.

The amount of work sanderson has put out in the time martin has gotten 1 book out is amazing. And honestly both WoK and WoR are better than post Storm of Swords ASoIaF

 

[kswiston]

Better to wait for two years since six years for the next installment of a novel. Poor Song of Ice and Fire fans.

I'm in that boat too. Luckily I didn't start the ASOIAF books until 2010 though, so I didn't have that decade long wait to find out what was happening to half the cast.

Originally I was going to wait to start the Stormlight Archive books since it's going to take Sanderson at least until 2020 to get through the initial 5 book arc, but it kept getting mentioned by book GAF and I caved

How are the Mistborn books in comparison to the Stormlight Archive? I get the general impression that they are not as good, but are they worth the read?

You don't have to worry about the wait; just read other things and you won't even notice it!

I will no doubt get over it quick, but I will still be bummed out for a day or two.

 

[Tragicomedy]

The amount of work sanderson has put out in the time martin has gotten 1 book out is amazing. And honestly both WoK and WoR are better than post Storm of Swords ASoIaF

Counting his novellas, dude is pushing out something like three books a year.

 

[Pau]

Sanderson's Stormlight Archive sounds like the the kind of thing where I'd forget too much stuff in between the releases so I'll just wait until it's all done.

Don't know how it compares, but I enjoyed the Mistborn series. I like the world, the powers, the characters (even if they're not terribly complex, they are likable), and how the plot falls into place.