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

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Z

zoozilla

Member
Empty said:
heh. just as a heads up pretty much all ishiguro's books are written like that - an artist of a floating world in particular which is basically remains of the day in japan (though i like it quite a lot), but also never let me go and to a lesser extent pale view of hills (i haven't read the unconsoled yet). they all have similar voices and approach to first person narration and an emphasis on the unreliability of our subjective interpretation and filters on memories, while tackling different ideas within that voice and having some unique nuances, like you identified.

i liked orphans a fair bit less than you though. i felt like his obsession with his parents was tackled with much less subtlety than the issues in remains of the day and the more plot focus in the second half lost me, as i didn't feel it was his strength.
especially when he actually meets his old friend in the warzone, which felt too coincidental and the twist with uncle philip too ridiculous.
. i liked being taken to shanghai in that era however, very interesting setting and i had fun looking at pictures of 30s shanghai online afterwards.
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Good to know. I guess that's his style - which is kind of funny, because it seems like such a deliberately constructed way of writing. When reading Remains of the Day, I thought the elusive style fit perfectly with the character. I just assumed that he had put on that mode for that specific character, so it was weird to see a similar thing with this book.

And I do have problems with Orphans - especially the latter half, and the plot points you noted. He's pretty effective, I thought, when actually describing what it was like walking through rubble, hearing machine-gun fire in the distance. But all those twists packed into that section kind of felt like they came out of a completely different book. I was going to give it 3 stars, but I do think Ishiguro manages to elicit some kind emotional response because he's good at describing small, meaningful details, so I upped it to 4.
 
W

weemadarthur

Member
2 new movies for me

The Legend of Zorro
Sequel to Mask of Zorro. No Anthony Hopkins. Thumb down.

Igor (animated)
Watched this due to the voice talent involved. I didn't even know it existed. In a fairly kid friendly movie it managed to comment on: political corruption, peer pressure, judgment based on attractiveness, bullying, and a few other things. Probably wouldn't bother watching again, though.
 
B

Bonethug

Member
Finished The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy.

Now to decide if I want to continue the quartet or move onto a Parker or The Big Sleep.
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
Just finished watching Take Shelter. ★★★★ - A very moving, challenging movie, dealing with one man's premonitions/mental illness as he envisions a massive storm coming to kill his family. Two phenomenal lead actors and an amazing ending.
 
P

Pau

Member
I saw two really bad movies with my boyfriend and his friends tonight (Deadly Prey and Deadliest Prey) but I feel dirty counting them.
 
S

Saya

Member
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn) - ★½

This was a disappointment seeing as how much I enjoyed the first film. It didn't click with me at all, although I thought some food creature designs were charming in their ways.
 
W

WJD

Member
Update: WJD - 1/50 Books | 11/50 Movies

Slowed down from a very quick start due to University kicking back in again but still had time to watch American Hustle (★★★★) and Perks of Being a Wallflower (★★★) this week.

AH was really enjoyable once it got going - Amy Adams was brilliant and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her at least get an Academy nomination this year.

Perks was pretty much a standard coming-of-age movie, but still moderately charming in places.

Should be adding Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years a Slave and Inside Llewyn Davis to the list very soon.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Pau said:
I saw two really bad movies with my boyfriend and his friends tonight (Deadly Prey and Deadliest Prey) but I feel dirty counting them.
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Tragicomedy said:
I counted a Twilight movie last year. Those may be Oscar worthy by comparison.
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Yeah and look at some of what I watched last year ...

In the Name of the King
Gigli
Season of the Witch
Trespass
Drive Angry
Streetfighter
Godzilla (1998)
Green Lantern
Over the Top
Halloween 3
Daredevil
Fair Game
Hudson Hawk

(I watched them all for How Did This Get Made but I still saw them)
 
M

markhimself46

Member

Books

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (Bill Bryson) ★★★★

This was an awesome book. Anyone unfamiliar with Bill Bryson should really check out his work. He is, in my opinion, one of the best writers out there. He writes a variety of different non-fiction."Thunderbolt Kid" is a memoir about his childhood, growing up in the 1950s. It's incredibly well-written--Bill Bryson has such a knack for both storytelling and sentence craft. Though I didn't grow up in the 1950s, I could still relate to this; it's filled with childhood mishaps and hijinks that everyone remembers growing up. I especially love it because it reminds me of when my parents tell me stories from when they were growing up (which was in the 50s). This was such a hysterical, laugh-out-loud read, right up there with "A Walk in the Woods," another one of his books. I can see myself coming back to this one later this year.
 
A

avengers23

Banned
I finished The Kid Stays in the Picture: A Notorious Life by Robert Evans last night.

Baby, this was a fucking enjoyable read. You think the cinematic version captured the essence of Robert Evans? That movie got nothing on the audiobok version of The Kid Stays in the Picture read by Robert Evans himself. Controversial figure? You bet. Fascinating story? Oh, God, yes.

I remember wondering how I would burn one of those Audible.com trial memberships that have been floating around. So what does Kim do? He adds Robert Evans's The Kid Stays in the Picture to his cart and signs up. Pain in the ass to manage Audible's proprietary software so I could load it to my iPod? Haha. Well worth it? Absolutely. Did I cancel my Audible.com membership right after? You bet. That's the magic of abusing free trial memberships!
 
S

Spectromixer

Member
Do books of poetry count? I am about to start a 250ish page book of Charles Bukowski poems after I finish up what I'm reading right now.
 
X

X-Frame

Member
January 11 - Weekly Update

I figure that instead of sharing my thoughts after each movie and/or book that I would do it somewhat weekly so that I am not spamming too often.

BOOKS
1. "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson
Amazing. Amazing. AMAZING. I am fully invested in this world for the Stormlight Archive. I really am fortunate that I only first read through this book now, and not in 2010 because I don't know how I would have been able to go 3-4 years before the next book. The characters are great and I very much enjoyed all the PoV's, and I can see how the world would offer enough opportunity for 10 books to fill it!

2. "The Emperor's Soul" by Brandon Sanderson
Another great, short work that I enjoyed from beginning to end! I read it in 1 day, it's that short, and I thought the story was very well told and the Forger abilities were unique. I also thought it was interesting to discover that SPOILER:
The "Imperial Fool" was indeed Hoid! I suspected as much, since I knew going into this book that it is part of the Cosmere, and I know he appears in each book that deals with the Cosmere.

3. "Elantris" by Brandon Sanderson
Out of the Brandon Sanderson books that I've read so far, this one seemed to be the weakest. I suppose going from Mistborn, to The Way of Kings, and then back in time to his first published novel would probably wasn't the best order to do it in, but I wanted to read this anyway. I thought the story was pretty interesting, but I guess I wasn't the most interesting in a city filled with dirty, gross, half-dead people. There were some good moments, but I felt like the end was quite rushed and that it prompted even more questions that I suppose will be explored in the sequel.

4. "Legion" by Brandon Sanderson
Oh, I was surprised by this novella! A lot of laughs, each "aspect" of the main character was interesting and I could easily read an entire, full novel about the character and his adventures. 40+ aspects to himself and we only met a half dozen of them, I would be very curious to know what all the other ones are like and what they can do?!

5. "The Rithmatist" by Brandon Sanderson
Another fun, easy read, very YA'ish though definitely. I found myself rolling my eyes quite a few times with the protagonists dialogue, and thought the abilities of a rithmatist were quite unique. I wasn't aware that he intends to write more books from this world (not part of the Cosmere), but the end certainly confirmed that he is.

6. "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman
With all the hoopla about this book, I figured I would give it a read, especially because it was so short. I was not sure what this book was about going into it, I didn't even read a summary, so I went in blind and wow .. I was completely caught off guard. It started ordinarily enough, then went down a completely different road (or lane!) that I would have imagined. Though, with dialogue intended to be vague and keep the reader guessing, or imagination churning, I found it somewhat frustrating at times but I suppose that it couldn't be helped because how would Neil Gaiman be able to explain everything so .. galactic?

MOVIES
1. Elysium
When I first saw the trailer for this I thought it would be awesome, especially since it had the same director as District 9 which I really enjoyed, but it really fell flat for me. First off, Jodie Foster's character was HORRIBLE. They couldn't get anyone else who could actually speak with the correct accent? That was so distracting. Plus, nothing really happened. I just didn't really feel anything. Even Matt Damon's character's suit didn't really do much, I don't know, it just wasn't that good in my opinion.

2. Riddick
I love the Riddick movies, and Vin Diesel is amazing in this one! I couldn't get enough of the planet and the animals and just all the scenery. The story was simple enough, but I thought they executed it well and I liked the characters too, especially Katee Sackhoff! She needs to be in more movies, especially Space Opera's.

3. Oblivion
This was a so-so movie for me. I thought the special effects were very good and all the scenes of the landscapes, their home way high up the clouds, but overall it just seemed like it was missing something, and I'm not smart or experienced enough as a critic to explain why.

4. Despicable Me 2
Such a funny movie!! It has been very long since I saw the first one, but one day when I just wanted to watch something silly I knew to watch this one and I was not disappointed. I cracked up several times and would definitely watch it again.


Currently Reading...
"Warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson
I'm only about 140 pages into this one, but I am already very much enjoying this! Especially recently coming off of Elantris -- the two worlds are almost exact opposites! And that is very refreshing to me. I couldn't imagine reading them in the reverse order.
 
M

Mumei

Member
Update: 5/50 Books; 3/50 Movies

I finished reading Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities, by Craig Steven Wilder today. It wasn't particularly surprising, at least not anymore, though it really does make you newly aware of just how intertwined the development of the United States was with the slave trade.

I'm also working on The Quiet American; I should finish that by tomorrow.

athevolunteer said:
Do books of poetry count? I am about to start a 250ish page book of Charles Bukowski poems after I finish up what I'm reading right now.
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I count them, generally. I think you should use your own best judgment for whether you think a particular collection should count.
 
P

Professor Chaos

Member
I just watched Drive and I loved it. I could of done without the hyper levels of violence, I thought they clashed with a lot of the subtlety on show elsewhere in the film. Beautiful cinematography and a faultless score by Cliff Martinez.
 
I

ImpassionateGods

Member
How do really short books count? I'm reading through the Animorphs series and I can read each book in about two hours. Feels like cheating to count them, but they're still books so idk.
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
avengers23 said:
Controversial figure? You bet. Fascinating story? Oh, God, yes.

Well worth it? Absolutely. Did I cancel my Audible.com membership right after? You bet. That's the magic of abusing free trial memberships!
Click to expand...

I read that in a Robert Evans voice. Good job!

athevolunteer said:
Do books of poetry count? I am about to start a 250ish page book of Charles Bukowski poems after I finish up what I'm reading right now.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Just stick with the rough page count guide and it's all good.

X-Frame said:
1. "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson[/b]
Amazing. Amazing. AMAZING. I am fully invested in this world for the Stormlight Archive.
Click to expand...

How good is that book, huh? March 4th can't get here soon enough. No matter what I'm reading at the time goes immediately on the back burner. Pre-ordered (a digital book, LOL!) and counting down the days.

Professor Chaos said:
I just watched Drive and I loved it. I could of done without the hyper levels of violence, I thought they clashed with a lot of the subtlety on show elsewhere in the film. Beautiful cinematography and a faultless score by Cliff Martinez.
Click to expand...

I think the juxtaposition of the sweet, quiet tenderness of the driver with his acts of extreme violence in protecting those he loves is part of what made the movie so good. It's very shocking and dark, and caught my wife and I off-guard. For the record, that was top three for me in terms of movies I watched last year.

ImpassionateGods said:
How do really short books count? I'm reading through the Animorphs series and I can read each book in about two hours. Feels like cheating to count them, but they're still books so idk.
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What is the page count? Most people are sticking to a minimum of 100+ pages to count something as a book. Obviously, if you read 50 books at 100 pages a pop you'll probably finish that part of the challenge in April. A lot of us will hit 20% of that page count with the next Stormlight Archive book in March. Don't forget to challenge yourself.

:EDIT: Just checked and they all seem to be under 200 pages and designed for a 9-12 year old audience (their words, not mine). Yeah, you'll rip through those in a day a pop. ;p
 
M

Mumei

Member
ImpassionateGods said:
How do really short books count? I'm reading through the Animorphs series and I can read each book in about two hours. Feels like cheating to count them, but they're still books so idk.
Click to expand...

Personally I wouldn't count the Animorph series. I loved it as a kid, and I still think it's one of the best children's book series even with the whole ghostwriting thing, but even then they hardly took any time to read. You're an adult, after all, and I think the point of a challenge like this is to, well, challenge yourself a bit. You can easily read through ten of the books in a day without much effort, and that's not what the challenge is about.
 
K

KingHenrik30

Member
Can I still get in on this?

KingHenrik30 - 0/50 books | 10/50 movies

Books:
1. "Crash and Burn" by Artie Lange

Films:
1. Lone Survivor
2. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
4. Runner Runner
5. Room 237
6. American Hustle
7. Never Back Down
8. The Monuments Men
9. Nebraska
10. The Knights of Badassdom
11. Shogun Assassin
 
C

Cyan

Banned
Mumei said:
Personally I wouldn't count the Animorph series. I loved it as a kid, and I still think it's one of the best children's book series even with the whole ghostwriting thing, but even then they hardly took any time to read. You're an adult, after all, and I think the point of a challenge like this is to, well, challenge yourself a bit. You can easily read through ten of the books in a day without much effort, and that's not what the challenge is about.
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Sure, though that will vary person by person. If you're someone who doesn't typically read a huge number of books, getting to 50 might be challenging even if they're short and simple!
 
B

Beeblebrox

Member
Update no. 2: Beeblebrox - 2/50 books | 0/50 movies

Finally finished Terry Pratchett - Soul Music. I struggled with this one. It had its funny moments with Death and that main band, but wizards and those guys from all the guilds were kinda boring. I guess I just don't like Pratchett's style that much (tried reading one of the first Discworld books some time ago, and I think I didn't finish it... or maybe I did but I don't remember liking it that much either...).

Oh well, onto something more interesting now.
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
Beeblebrox said:
I guess I just don't like Pratchett's style that much (tried reading one of the first Discworld books some time ago, and I think I didn't finish it... or maybe I did but I don't remember liking it that much either...).
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I read the first seven in the series last year and wasn't crazy about any of them. Pyramids is particularly awful. I think it comes down to whether or not you find his stuff funny. I'll give a few more books of his a try, but that has been a firm negative for me so far.
 
I

ImpassionateGods

Member
Mumei said:
Personally I wouldn't count the Animorph series. I loved it as a kid, and I still think it's one of the best children's book series even with the whole ghostwriting thing, but even then they hardly took any time to read. You're an adult, after all, and I think the point of a challenge like this is to, well, challenge yourself a bit. You can easily read through ten of the books in a day without much effort, and that's not what the challenge is about.
Click to expand...

I think I'll do it in groupings of five and count that as one book(though I won't have the money to get very far). I'm not really looking to read outside my comfort zone, but to prioritize reading over other activities. I prefer children's/YA books to anything else out there.
 
F

FallbackPants

Member
I finished the Yiddish Policemen's Union last night. An amazing book, one of the best I've read in a long time. So well written, I don't know if I've never read something that jumps from sarcastically hilarious to heartbreaking so well in the turn of a page. Recommended in a heart beat
 
W

weemadarthur

Member
Beeblebrox said:
Update no. 2: Beeblebrox - 2/50 books | 0/50 movies

Finally finished Terry Pratchett - Soul Music. I struggled with this one. It had its funny moments with Death and that main band, but wizards and those guys from all the guilds were kinda boring. I guess I just don't like Pratchett's style that much (tried reading one of the first Discworld books some time ago, and I think I didn't finish it... or maybe I did but I don't remember liking it that much either...).

Oh well, onto something more interesting now.
Click to expand...

If you like Death, it might be that you'd like Reaper Man better. Although there are still lots of wizards in it.
 
S

Saya

Member
Finished The Beach last night and watched a bunch of bad movies. Currently reading Slaughterhouse Five.

Saya - 2/50 books | 4/50 movies

Books:

  • Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse - ★★★★½
  • The Beach - Alex Garland - ★★★★

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
 
J

jarofbees

Neo Member
jarofbees - 1/50 books | 7/50 movies

Four more films this week:

Three Colours Blue - ★★★★
Secret Sunshine - ★★★
Threads - ★★★★1/2
Three Colours White - ★★★★

Finally watching the Three Colours trilogy after years of putting it off expecting to be 'too indie', really really enjoying it. It's not clear after the first two whether they will all tie together somehow aside from a few recurring themes.
Secret Sunshine - first South Korean film of the year. Incredibly dark in places but too long to support the slim plot.
Threads - Best film i've seen so far this year. Made for TV film from the 80's about a worldwide nuclear war and how a specific city in the UK (Sheffield) would have been affected. Extremely harrowing at times, engrossing throughout.

220px-Threadsmoviecover.jpg


Currently reading - Spooner by Pete Dexter and The Hot Kid - Elmore Leonard
 
B

Beeblebrox

Member
Tragicomedy said:
I read the first seven in the series last year and wasn't crazy about any of them. Pyramids is particularly awful. I think it comes down to whether or not you find his stuff funny. I'll give a few more books of his a try, but that has been a firm negative for me so far.
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No way I would read that many Discworld books, not after these two that I did read and didn't like that much (or at least one and a half I remember reading).
weemadarthur said:
If you like Death, it might be that you'd like Reaper Man better. Although there are still lots of wizards in it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the recommendation, but thing is, it was funny here and there, but I can't see myself trying to find couple of interesting parts in the book(s) that I doubt I will enjoy very much. But, I'll try reading Good Omens by him and Gaiman. Maybe he's better when Gaiman's there (although, I never finished anything by Gaiman, tried reading Neverwhere, but stopped midway through it, not sure why, since I more or less liked it).
 
B

Beeblebrox

Member
I adore Adams! (<-- hint hint :D)

Dunno, could be that Pratchett's translation that I read wasn't up to the task, but I'm not sure. Or, could it be that I don't know the characters well, so I didn't care for them? Do any of them from Souls Music even appear anywhere else in Discworld saga? Except Death, that is.

Edit: To explain myself a bit more - there were too many characters that I didn't care about (or didn't like), and then all those jumps between them and their own stories annoyed me from time to time. Especially when they moved from one of the more interesting characters or groups to some that I didn't like.
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Nezumi - 5/50 books | 2/50 movies​

Book:

5.)Shards of Honor - Lois McMaster Bujold

Liked it quite a lot. Though I thought that Cordelia was a bit to impeccable for my taste and the whole love story aspect was slightly rushed, but those things didn't have an impact of my overall enjoyment of the book.

Movie:

2.) Jagten/ The Hunt 2012

I wouldn't say that I enjoyed the film, because the topic it dealt with is nothing to be enjoyed. It did however manage to portray a situation like this quite accuratly I would say which makes it an incredibly good movie, not alone thanks to the cast.

Beeblebrox said:
I adore Adams! (<-- hint hint :D)

Dunno, could be that Pratchett's translation that I read wasn't up to the task, but I'm not sure. Or, could it be that I don't know the characters well, so I didn't care for them? Do any of them from Souls Music even appear anywhere else in Discworld saga? Except Death, that is.
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Well personally I would say that Soul Music is among the weakest books from Pratchett. And no, besides death and Susan most of the characters don't appear in the rest of his work. If you want characters to care about read the City Watch books, starting with Guards, Gards.
 
B

Beeblebrox

Member
Nezumi said:
Well personally I would say that Soul Music is among the weakest books from Pratchett. And no, besides death and Susan most of the characters don't appear in the rest of his work. If you want characters to care about read the City Watch books, starting with Guards, Gards.
Click to expand...
That could maybe explain why I didn't enjoy it. And if I ever come across those City Watch books, I could give them a shot I guess.
 
A

Atrophis

Member
I saw The Way of Kings going for £1.99 on kindle last night so I read the preview (its a very generous preview too) but it just left me cold. Can I be the only one who finds Brandon Sandersons prose like...really bad? I'm sure he creates an interesting world and magic system but the writing isn't strong enough for me.
 
S

Saphirax

Member
Atrophis said:
I saw The Way of Kings going for £1.99 on kindle last night so I read the preview (its a very generous preview too) but it just left me cold. Can I be the only one who finds Brandon Sandersons prose like...really bad? I'm sure he creates an interesting world and magic system but the writing isn't strong enough for me.
Click to expand...

I started with The Way of Kings a couple of days ago. I find his prose to be 'ok', and I'm fine with it. It's nothing exceptional, but, honestly, his prose isn't bad either. I'd rather read something with 'ok' writing and interesting characters/story than a novel with amazing prose and bland characters and worldbuilding. His average prose does not impede with the novel as well - at least from what I can tell so far.

Haven't read much, but what I've read so far I like.
 
N

Necrovex

Member
Saphirax said:
I started with The Way of Kings a couple of days ago. I find his prose to be 'ok', and I'm fine with it. It's nothing exceptional, but, honestly, his prose isn't bad either. I'd rather read something with 'ok' writing and interesting characters/story than a novel with amazing prose and bland characters and worldbuilding. His average prose does not impede with the novel as well - at least from what I can tell so far.

Haven't read much, but what I've read so far I like.
Click to expand...

That's my thought as well. As long as the writer communicates well enough on his world-building and characters, then I am a happy camper. But I have never been one to put much emphasis on prose.
 
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