The first half of the movie, when they were doing more of the tactical stuff involving both guns and martial arts was amazing. However, that sort of dropped away near the end, and one fight in particular was just the martial arts equivalent of a WWE match. I still liked it, but I had people telling me it was the best action movie in 20 years, so perhaps my expectations were too high.
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50 Books. 50 Movies. 1 Year (2014).
- Thread starter Tragicomedy
- Start date
- Status
The first half of the movie, when they were doing more of the tactical stuff involving both guns and martial arts was amazing. However, that sort of dropped away near the end, and one fight in particular was just the martial arts equivalent of a WWE match. I still liked it, but I had people telling me it was the best action movie in 20 years, so perhaps my expectations were too high.
DieUnbekannte
Member
I just noticed that my last update was last month, so it's definitely time for a new one: DieUnbekannte - 16/50 books | 14/50 movies
new books:
I had great experiences with books by Umberto Eco, e.g. the Name of the Rose or Foucault's Pendulum, but I absolutely didn't like The Prague Cemetery. It was challenging for me to not stop reading this book,
- a really disappointing book.
I chose Prince of Thorns because I wanted something different, a book with a not so typical protagonist and that's what I got. Quite an antihero. At the beginning I had problems with the writing style, but after I got used to it, I quite enjoyed the book, especially because it was something different. And yesterday I finished the last book of the Mistborn series. I have no idea why it took me so long to read a book by Brandon Sanderson. I'm definitely going to read more written by him. Maybe I should try The Way Of Kings, since the second part was just published 
The Wolf of Wall Street was a good movie, but for me it was just too long - there were a few scenes that could have been shorter. Ender's Game was okay, but nothing in comparison to the book which I loved. That's a movie that should have been longer, because I thought that some aspects should have gotten more time. Cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 was a nice sequel and entertaining movie for a sunday evening. Well and Veronica Mars was just like a long episode of the tv series - I loved it!
new books:
- Mark Lawrence – Prince of Thorns
- Umberto Eco – The Prague Cemetery
- Kate Atkinson – Life After Life
- Brandon Sanderson – The Hero of Ages
- The Wolf Of Wall Street (2014)
- Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2013)
- Thor - The Dark World (2013)
- Ender's Game (2013)
- Veronica Mars (2014)
that small changes in a life can make such a difference.
it was just one historical event after the other, no real story
the only part I really liked and that kept me going was the written discussion between the protagonist Simonini and Dalla Piccola and their mysterious relationship.
The Wolf of Wall Street was a good movie, but for me it was just too long - there were a few scenes that could have been shorter. Ender's Game was okay, but nothing in comparison to the book which I loved. That's a movie that should have been longer, because I thought that some aspects should have gotten more time. Cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 was a nice sequel and entertaining movie for a sunday evening. Well and Veronica Mars was just like a long episode of the tv series - I loved it!
Finished off a book for my March quota. 14 books, surprised I have done so well thus far. I may even complete this challenge!
I decided to read the weirdest Vonnegut's novel, Cat's Cradle. I did not like it at all. The story was well-written, I won't take that away from it. However I could not care for the characters at all. Plus the story was way too weird for me to handle, and I *adore* Murakami! I'll continue to read through Kurt's works, since I have loved everything else besides this.
★★
P.S. I have spent more time reading this month than playing video games. This has never happened before. What is happening to me?
I decided to read the weirdest Vonnegut's novel, Cat's Cradle. I did not like it at all. The story was well-written, I won't take that away from it. However I could not care for the characters at all. Plus the story was way too weird for me to handle, and I *adore* Murakami! I'll continue to read through Kurt's works, since I have loved everything else besides this.
★★
P.S. I have spent more time reading this month than playing video games. This has never happened before. What is happening to me?
markhimself46
Member
Movies
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ★★★★½
American Reunion ★★★
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues ★★½
Tragicomedy
Member
Tragicomedy - 19/50 Books | 20/50 Movies
Gene Wolfe - The Claw of the Conciliator (1981) - 30 Mar, ★★★★½ - I mean, wow. What a challenging, insane series this is turning out to be. I'm not really sure how to describe everything I'm reading or even how well it will all come together. Strange forces are pulling the characters along a rather twisted journey, but I won't lie and pretend to understand everything that's happening.
Fine, I'll admit to understanding very little.
Gene Wolfe - The Claw of the Conciliator (1981) - 30 Mar, ★★★★½ - I mean, wow. What a challenging, insane series this is turning out to be. I'm not really sure how to describe everything I'm reading or even how well it will all come together. Strange forces are pulling the characters along a rather twisted journey, but I won't lie and pretend to understand everything that's happening.
Fine, I'll admit to understanding very little.
WTF?!? I began this series with the notion that it was a sword-and-board fantasy tale, only to have aliens, alternate dimensions, and FREAKING ROBOTS work their way into the story. WTF is up with the cannibalism of Thecla unlocking her memories within Severian after first consuming the gland of an alien creature?!? WTF is up with the moss man from the future being held captive in a freaking carnival?!? WTF is up with the giant ogre/sea creature lady in the water?!? WTF is up with Baldanders non-stop growth?!? WTF is up with Jolenta's withering appearance?!? WTF is up with the flying black carpet of death?!? WTF?!?
lastflowers
Banned
yeah, this series is insane.
Small update for the end of the month.
Saya - 14/50 books | 115/50 movies
Movies:
Saya - 14/50 books | 115/50 movies
Movies:
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Adam McKay, 2013) - ★½
- Rurouni Kenshin [Rurōni Kenshin] (Keishi Ohtomo, 2012) - ★★★★
- Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) - ★★★★★
- The Raid 2 (Gareth Evans, 2014) - ★★★★
- The East (Zal Batmanglij, 2013) - ★½
- High and Low [Tengoku to Jigoku] (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) - ★★★★½
- R.I.P.D. (Robert Schwentke, 2013) - ★
- M (Fritz Lang, 1931) - ★★★★★
Tragicomedy
Member
We're nearing that new month smell! Please update your master lists in the next eight hours if you'd like your latest numbers to be included. I'm working a strange afternoon shift but I will be crunching some numbers tonight.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Beeblebrox
Member
Final March update:
Beeblebrox - 6/50 Books | 14/50 Movies
Hell yes, managed to finish another book this month, just in time for the final update! And it was latest Haruki Murakami's book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Liked it pretty much, since it's classic Murakami if you ask me. In other words, another melancholic book with characters that seem kinda lost and trying to find a purpose in life. Didn't expect the twist that was there, and ending was unexpectedly open. Aand... I really have no idea how to write anything meaningful about a book that I just read. It's Murakami - if you liked his previous work, you'll probably like this too, I guess. There.
Anyways, April, here I come!
Edit: damn, I'm 6 books behind schedule, gotta step it up soon.
Beeblebrox - 6/50 Books | 14/50 Movies
Hell yes, managed to finish another book this month, just in time for the final update! And it was latest Haruki Murakami's book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Liked it pretty much, since it's classic Murakami if you ask me. In other words, another melancholic book with characters that seem kinda lost and trying to find a purpose in life. Didn't expect the twist that was there, and ending was unexpectedly open. Aand... I really have no idea how to write anything meaningful about a book that I just read. It's Murakami - if you liked his previous work, you'll probably like this too, I guess. There.
Anyways, April, here I come!
Edit: damn, I'm 6 books behind schedule, gotta step it up soon.
Damn, I'm coming up a bit short for the month, stuck on the Mary Shelley's the Last Man. Its pretty interesting at times and I really want to finish it, but its bloated as hell and stalling my progress, been trying to match my book progress to my movie progress before doing any more on that front. I went ahead skipped ahead in my to-read list to the next book to meet LAST week's goal by reading the Great Gatsby, but this has stalled me for so long that I'm still behind.
Henry Swanson
Member
Henry Swanson - 9/50 books | 137/50 movies
Really falling behind with my reading, but I'm still determined to reach 50.
Really falling behind with my reading, but I'm still determined to reach 50.
Maklershed
Member
Maklershed - 14/50 books | 13/50 movies | 8 games
Books
11. Suicide Hill
12. Lady in the Lake
13. Post Office
14. To Live and Drink in L.A.
Books
11. Suicide Hill
12. Lady in the Lake
13. Post Office
14. To Live and Drink in L.A.
Update~
Mumei - 49/50 Books | 19/50 Movies
Books:
Comics and such:
I particularly appreciated Tokyo Godfathers, Microcosmos, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Heathers, Illuminations, Victims as Offenders: The Paradox of Women's Violence in Relationships, The Wind's Twelve Quarters, and The Sorrows of Young Werther. I was not a fan of The New Goddess; it felt poorly edited, the articles seemed shallow and not particularly interesting, and too much of it smacked of weird gender essentialism. I think I was expecting something different from what I got, though. I liked the rest of the books, though not quite as much as the aforementioned.
I enjoyed all of the comics, so I don't see a need to point them out individually. I liked the contrast between The Amazing Spider-Man's very tight, quick pacing and Ultimate Spider-Man's much more decompressed style of storytelling. I started reading American comics after years of reading manga first, so I find that the sort of decompression I read in newer comics tends to click with me a bit better. I would point out Old Boy as the weak link; I like the concept but the plot elements come across as unbelievable (the protagonist should be dead, multiple times over, and only the odd unspecified motivations of the antagonist have saved him) and there was this crass "I have been hypnotized with a clue and I can only remember it if you bring me to orgasm" bit of "Wait, am I reading a bad porn plot put into manga form?" I found it distasteful. I'm going to continue it, but my opinion towards it has been trending downwards.
Mumei - 49/50 Books | 19/50 Movies
- Donnie Darko
- Ultimate Avengers: The Movie
- Marvel's Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United
- Tokyo Godfathers
- Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey
- Microcosmos
- The Invincible Iron Man
- Doctor Strange
- Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- Heathers
Books:
- Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?, by by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert
- Persuasion, by Jane Austen
- Illuminations, by Arthur Rimbaud (trans. John Ashberry)
- House of the Sleeping Beauties, by Yasunari Kawabata
- The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival, by Louise Murphy
- The Skating Rink, by Roberto Bolaño
- A Nation Among Nations: America's Place in World History, by Thomas Bender
- The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss
- Victims as Offenders: The Paradox of Women's Violence in Relationships, by Susan L. Miller
- Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe
- The Sorrows of Young Werther / Novella, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- The New Goddess: Transgender Women in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Gypsey Teague
Comics and such:
- Ultimate Spider-Man (#1 - 21), by Brian Michael Bendis and others
- The Amazing Spider-Man (Amazing Fantasy #15; The Amazing Spider-Man #1 - 10), by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
- Promethea (#19 - 32), by Alan Moore, J. H. Williams III and Mick Gray
- The Mighty Thor (Vol. 1 - 2) (Thor (1966), 337 - 355), by Walter Simonson
- Old Boy (Vol. 1 - 3), by Garon Tsuchiya
- Fantastic Four Ultimate Collection (Vol. 2) (Fantastic Four (1998) #67 - 70, Fantastic Four (1961) #500 - 502), by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, and Casey Jones
I particularly appreciated Tokyo Godfathers, Microcosmos, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Heathers, Illuminations, Victims as Offenders: The Paradox of Women's Violence in Relationships, The Wind's Twelve Quarters, and The Sorrows of Young Werther. I was not a fan of The New Goddess; it felt poorly edited, the articles seemed shallow and not particularly interesting, and too much of it smacked of weird gender essentialism. I think I was expecting something different from what I got, though. I liked the rest of the books, though not quite as much as the aforementioned.
I enjoyed all of the comics, so I don't see a need to point them out individually. I liked the contrast between The Amazing Spider-Man's very tight, quick pacing and Ultimate Spider-Man's much more decompressed style of storytelling. I started reading American comics after years of reading manga first, so I find that the sort of decompression I read in newer comics tends to click with me a bit better. I would point out Old Boy as the weak link; I like the concept but the plot elements come across as unbelievable (the protagonist should be dead, multiple times over, and only the odd unspecified motivations of the antagonist have saved him) and there was this crass "I have been hypnotized with a clue and I can only remember it if you bring me to orgasm" bit of "Wait, am I reading a bad porn plot put into manga form?" I found it distasteful. I'm going to continue it, but my opinion towards it has been trending downwards.
Tragicomedy
Member
If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings. - Welsh Proverb
Current pace needed for completion (as of 1 April):
GAF totals:
Monthly Progress:
Members who have completed the challenge:
Members currently on pace to complete the challenge:
Top 20 book worms:
Top 20 film buffs:
Most balanced with the force:
Least balanced with the force:
Current pace needed for completion (as of 1 April):
- 12/50 books | 12/50 movies
GAF totals:
- 1,360 Books
- 3,029 Movies
Monthly Progress:
Members who have completed the challenge:
- Glaurungr - 50/50 Books | 68/50 Movies (completed 27 March)
Members currently on pace to complete the challenge:
- 33 in total...too many to list!
Top 20 book worms:
- Glaurungr - 50
- Mumei - 49
- Lumiere - 33
- kinoki - 23
- Empty - 21
- Pau - 21
- campfireweekend - 20
- lastflowers - 20
- EverythingShiny - 20
- X-Frame - 20
- bggrthnjsus - 19
- Jintor - 19
- TheWarrior - 19
- Tragicomedy - 19
- TestMonkey - 18
- Saphirax - 18
- markhimself46 - 17
- Nezumi - 17
- Reyne - 17
- avengers23 - 16
- DieUnbekannte - 16
Top 20 film buffs:
- Henry Swanson - 137
- Saya - 115
- Narag - 106
- Glaurungr - 68
- daffy - 50
- white dynamite - 48
- number11 - 47
- Ephidel - 43
- jarofbees - 41
- siyrobbo - 38
- Ashes1396 - 37
- Verdre - 37
- honeymustardn - 34
- markhimself46 - 34
- Kinoki - 33
- DedalusJoyce - 32
- roosters93 - 31
- avengers23 - 28
- Zeitgeister - 28
- Empty - 28
- SaltyDoughtnut - 28
- akaoni - 28
Most balanced with the force:
- EverythingShiny - 20/50 books | 20/50 movies
- TheWarrior - 19/50 books | 19/50 movies
- TestMonkey - 18/50 books | 18/50 movies
Least balanced with the force:
TestMonkey
Member
Congrats to Glaurungr who, after looking at his list, appears to have never had a childhood and chose this year to make up for it.
That graph doesn't look very promising.
That graph doesn't look very promising.
Tragicomedy
Member
About what I expected from a cumulative standpoint. People tend to drop out of the challenge early on, going the route of most new year's resolutions. Having said that, we still have a ton of people on pace to finish this year. That's impressive.
I didn't think I would have enough focus to stay on trek with my books.
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I was one movie shy of meeting the target this month. However, I'm not too concerned, as long as my reading stays on target. It takes 2-20x longer for me to read a novel than it does to watch a film. If I have to, I will just go on a movie watching binge this summer when I don't have to worry about planning lessons/marking tests and assignments.
I am still impressed that some of you managed to squeeze over 100 movies into 90 days.
I am still impressed that some of you managed to squeeze over 100 movies into 90 days.
I'm more impressed someone finished the challenge within 90 days!
Approved!
lastflowers
Banned
Titanfall has eaten my March. I'll pick it up either this month or next month.
Beeblebrox
Member
First April update:
Beeblebrox - 6/50 Books | 15/50 Movies
Just saw The Road, after hearing so much about it (including the ending
). It was pretty good, but I kept thinking that it could've been better if I didn't know the end. At least it's not as bad as that time when I saw Fight Club for the first time, knowing the main twist.
Beeblebrox - 6/50 Books | 15/50 Movies
Just saw The Road, after hearing so much about it (including the ending
as in I knew who's gonna die
markhimself46
Member
Wow that's a pretty big drop-off. Was it that substantial last year? I can't remember--we didn't have this nifty graph though ha.
Books
Rasl (Jeff Smith) ★★★★
Movies
Bad Words ★★★★½
Mr. Nobody ★½
The Five-Year Engagement ★★★
Bad Words was one of the funniest movies I've seen in awhile. So hysterical. Bateman kills it as an asshole. His relationship with the kid is fantastic. Everyone should check this out!
Books
Rasl (Jeff Smith) ★★★★
Movies
Bad Words ★★★★½
Mr. Nobody ★½
The Five-Year Engagement ★★★
Bad Words was one of the funniest movies I've seen in awhile. So hysterical. Bateman kills it as an asshole. His relationship with the kid is fantastic. Everyone should check this out!
Tragicomedy
Member
Probably not, seeing as we had half as many people sign up. It is disappointing to see so many empty update posts, but I suppose it's to be expected. Reading a book takes time.
I wasn't prominently involved in the last thread until halfway through the year, so I don't have the data to confirm how much it slowed down.
Considering my tastes these days, 100 hours of TV shows would be easier to get through than the movies. I have to purposely watch films for this challenge. If two episodes of House of Cards could be substituted for a film, I'd be way ahead.
I like the book challenge though. A) It's more of a challenge, especially if you were not previously a heavy reader. B) I feel like the challenge itself becomes a metagame. After 3 months, it's pretty clear that I get through 300-400 pages a week on average. Some weeks a little less, some weeks a bit more. Which means that I will be able to cover 15 000-20 000 pages over the course of the year. As such, I find myself planning my reading schedule so that everything averages out to 300-350 pages per novel. If I just continued to read through the Malazan Books of the Fallen, I'd finish in July-August with only 10 novels read. I am constantly thinking "OK, I am 4 days behind where I should be for the month. I should pick a novella to tackle next", or "I have a 10 day surplus, I can tackle one of the 800 pages epics in my backlog".
Update:Nezumi - 17/50 books | 22/50 movies
Watched "The Grand Budapest Hotel" last night. Absolutly loved it. Wes Anderson has yet to make a movie that I don't like. This one was more of a straight up comedy than most of his other movies where the humor is normally a bit more subtle but it didn't harm the movie at all. It was just wonderful through and through.
And I want an audiobook narrated by Jude Law. Doesn't matter the content. I could just listen to this man's voice all day long.
Watched "The Grand Budapest Hotel" last night. Absolutly loved it. Wes Anderson has yet to make a movie that I don't like. This one was more of a straight up comedy than most of his other movies where the humor is normally a bit more subtle but it didn't harm the movie at all. It was just wonderful through and through.
And I want an audiobook narrated by Jude Law. Doesn't matter the content. I could just listen to this man's voice all day long.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
So, Saga Vol 3 was amazing. I couldn't believe some of the stuff that happened! :O
Now the long wait begins for Vol 4. :/
Now the long wait begins for Vol 4. :/
Tragicomedy
Member
By far my favorite comic being released right now, although I would say that about anything Vaughan is writing. Fiona Staples kills it on the artwork.
Y: The Last Man is still the best comic I've ever read.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Oh yeah, the art is amazing! It's definitely my favorite currently running comic as well. As for Y: The Last Man, I've been meaning to read that. I need to get to it sooner rather than later.
Love the wiring for Y, but I didn't care for the artwork.
Saga is also the best running comic.
avengers23
Banned
Books
14. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach
I've thought about how I wanted my corpse to be disposed since my early twenties. I don't know if this makes me strange; I just thought that it would be better to have that question answered before got any further. Cremation seemed like the best answer; it seemed simple, and I preferred the idea of my ashes being spread in the Sahara Desert than my body rotting in a hole in a ground. Time has obviously passed, and the only time I've considered changing my mind was when my wife appealed me to reconsider, to be buried alongside one another so we could spend our deaths together. Without getting into the idea that we're fundamentally made of the same stuff as each other already and that our component parts would probably spend our deaths together regardless of how my corpse was disposed, I said I'd think about it.
At the very least, I took from Mary Roach's nearly comprehensive, fresh, and entertaining Stiff that cremation is not particularly environmentally friendly and that I should consider donating my body to science or let my corpse be used as compost. Roach addresses the topic of death from almost every angle, from how the body decays, how corpses have advanced our understanding of ourselves, organ donation, and the unanswerable questions about the soul. Roach's flippant, first-person accounts of her research into these topics enlivened the subject matter, and her colorful descriptions of the senses-shattering nature of decomposing flesh and organs left me nauseated, but in a good way. If a room without books is like a body without a soul, reading this book is like inviting the fabled funny mortician comedian to your home for dinner.
Movies
28. Tangled
I'm going to put aside any feminist readings of Tangled because I don't feel like I'm sufficiently knowledgeable to discuss them. On the surface, Rapunzel seems like a feminist figure because she gets to use violence (she whacked Flynn Rider with the frying pan twice, much to my kid's delight), and the plot is moved because of her desire for agency. She's sweet like the traditional Disney princesses, but she's independent and is able and willing to use violence. But then there's the part about how the goons in the bar were perfectly willing to get rid of Flynn until the young, slim, blonde, and beautiful Rapunzel beseeches them to spare him because she needs him to fulfill her dream (of seeing the lanterns). God knows what would have happened if she had been a little mousier.
So, let's take the text as it is. It's a computer-generated animated film, but it's a more traditional Disney animated film. The highlight of the film, the "Mother Knows Best" sequence in Rapunzel's tower, bounces amongst different moods gracefully, but it simultaneously wants to be taken sincerely while it plays with archness. The central conflict for most of the film, Rapunzel against Gothel's over-bearing presence in her life, doesn't quite fit alongside a horse that think it's both a policeman and a dog, a smirking chameleon, and those aforementioned goons who want to be mimes, interior decorators, and pianists. It wants to be tongue-in-cheek with Flynn's bad boy (but not too bad) who must be tamed and improved by the love of a good girl while also achingly sincere about Flynn Rider's growing love for Rapunzel, but it doesn't quite nail that balance.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
FUBAR McDangles
Member
I haven't done an update post in a long time so I'll just guess what I have read and seen since the last one.
Master Post | 11 Books | 19 Movies
Books:
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King - Good but not great. His teleportation story was sublime and had me thinking about it for days afterwards but otherwise it was a pretty mediocre collection of stories. The Mist was great as well. ★★★
The Apostle by Brad Thor - It's like the middle of the series and is the first book I've read by this author but I really enjoyed it. He didn't drone on about past missions or books or anything so I wasn't ever really lost. I liked the story, characters, and settings and really want to get more of his books. A shame I won't likely find any more of them for a $.25 each again. ★★★★
Walking Dead: Road to Woodbury by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga - Zombie books are my kryptonite. I love to read them and good ones are almost always at the top of my favorite books lists. This one wasn't so great. Having read (some of) the comics I knew how everything was going to end up, even if I did not know how they would get there. It was alright but nothing spectacular. ★★★
Tier One Wild by Dalton Fury - one of my new favorite authors. This one is his second fiction book and third overall and I have loved the two fiction books so far. I recently got his first book, the story of hunting Bin Laden from when Fury was in charge of finding him and I cannot wait. This book was great and I only knock it because the ending was very abrupt and I found it a bit of a disappointing pay off to all the build up. ★★★★
The Affair by Lee Child - My first Jack Reacher book and I really enjoyed it. I loved the movie and cannot wait to get more books in this series. I have another but I might hold off on that one until I read the other books set between this one and that. Great storyline and some non-traditional "twists" that I really didn't see coming. ★★★★
Movies:
Black Swan - Not good at all. ★
Carrie (2013) - It was okay. Nothing special. ★★★
Last Vegas - A bit more disappointing than Carrie but not a bad movie by any means. ★★
300: Rise of an Empire - Really good. I loved it. I cannot wait until I can get the Blu Ray. ★★★★
Mud - I liked it. A fun movie with a slightly disappointing ending. ★★★★
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Nothing great, nothing terrible. I liked RDJ and Kilmer was okay but it was unspectacular. ★★★
Dallas Buyers Club - Some good performances and a good story. It was quite a downer and while I admit I don't like watching movies that make me feel sad or bad, this one was one of the better ones. ★★★★
American Hustle - I don't see what all the hubhub is about for this one. It was okay but really not that good. ★★★
Master Post | 11 Books | 19 Movies
Books:
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King - Good but not great. His teleportation story was sublime and had me thinking about it for days afterwards but otherwise it was a pretty mediocre collection of stories. The Mist was great as well. ★★★
The Apostle by Brad Thor - It's like the middle of the series and is the first book I've read by this author but I really enjoyed it. He didn't drone on about past missions or books or anything so I wasn't ever really lost. I liked the story, characters, and settings and really want to get more of his books. A shame I won't likely find any more of them for a $.25 each again. ★★★★
Walking Dead: Road to Woodbury by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga - Zombie books are my kryptonite. I love to read them and good ones are almost always at the top of my favorite books lists. This one wasn't so great. Having read (some of) the comics I knew how everything was going to end up, even if I did not know how they would get there. It was alright but nothing spectacular. ★★★
Tier One Wild by Dalton Fury - one of my new favorite authors. This one is his second fiction book and third overall and I have loved the two fiction books so far. I recently got his first book, the story of hunting Bin Laden from when Fury was in charge of finding him and I cannot wait. This book was great and I only knock it because the ending was very abrupt and I found it a bit of a disappointing pay off to all the build up. ★★★★
The Affair by Lee Child - My first Jack Reacher book and I really enjoyed it. I loved the movie and cannot wait to get more books in this series. I have another but I might hold off on that one until I read the other books set between this one and that. Great storyline and some non-traditional "twists" that I really didn't see coming. ★★★★
Movies:
Black Swan - Not good at all. ★
Carrie (2013) - It was okay. Nothing special. ★★★
Last Vegas - A bit more disappointing than Carrie but not a bad movie by any means. ★★
300: Rise of an Empire - Really good. I loved it. I cannot wait until I can get the Blu Ray. ★★★★
Mud - I liked it. A fun movie with a slightly disappointing ending. ★★★★
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Nothing great, nothing terrible. I liked RDJ and Kilmer was okay but it was unspectacular. ★★★
Dallas Buyers Club - Some good performances and a good story. It was quite a downer and while I admit I don't like watching movies that make me feel sad or bad, this one was one of the better ones. ★★★★
American Hustle - I don't see what all the hubhub is about for this one. It was okay but really not that good. ★★★
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
I personally wouldn't count them individually. I'm counting all of the Saga volumes as a single entry, for instance.
Tragicomedy
Member
Bingo. Counting individual trade paperbacks is pretty silly, since they take 20-30 minutes to read. I recommend counting an entire finished series (like Sandman or Y: The Last Man) instead.
I recently finished the entire first series of American Vampire which equates to 5 or 6 trades (32 issues plus the mini series) and counted it as one book. It's amazing, but the way, and every comic fan should read it.
That's my plan for graphic novels. I hope to complete Preacher, Gotham Central, American Vampire (I need to start reading these, I lent my friend my first volume before finishing it!), and Fables. By the way, when is the first major arc of Fables completed? I hear that was supposed to be the only major arc before Vertigo extended Fables's life.
Tragicomedy
Member
I've read all of Fables so far and don't remember the exact cutoff. I think we're on the fourth of fifth major arc now. I recommend reading the whole thing, since it really hits its stride about fifty issues in.
i don't know the lingo for comics (like individual trade paperback) but my philosophy so far is that if i can take it out of my library it counts as a book. it's probably cheating a little as the last two took out 'david boring' by daniel clowes and 'shortcomings' by adrian tomine are quite short (compared to like maus or blankets) and i counted them but i'm a slow reader of comics anyway. that might be wrong of me though. i've read a few individual short stories outside of a complete collection but i wouldn't count them, plus i'm probably going to reach the fifty with ease and i don't read that many comics. hmm.
I wouldn't count modern graphic novels (which collect 3-6 issues) because they are the equivalent time commitment of reading a 25-50 page short story. However, there are some exceptions I would make. Alan Moore's Watchmen for instance is only 12 issues, but with its dense text (most pages have 9+ panels) and prose pages, it usually takes me 6-8 hours to read. Easily comparable to a shorter 150-200 page novel which I would count.
I always read that's when Fable starts to decline. You're the first person who said the opposite (though I hear it got better in the later issues).
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