Recommend a book, movie, TV show or other media

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amdfangirl

amdfangirl

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Apr 7, 2008
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I'm pretty bored. Not much to do with all this free time.

If you feel the same way, perhaps you'd like to compare notes on what to watch and read.

Just post something you'd recommend to other members of the forum.

Here are mine...

Title: Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

Type: Book

Why would you read it?: Political intrigue, backstabbing, unpredictable plots, nitty gritty and more realistic than most fantasy medieval fiction

Title: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood (remake)

Type: TV Show

Why would you watch it?: Inventive storyline, arguably the best anime I have ever watched, characters are easy to warm up to, much better anime than Full Metal Alchemist (original series)

Title: Big Ideas Radio National

Type: Podcast

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/

Why would you listen to it?: It goes deeper than the news to investigate key issues of our time

Title: Extra Credits

Type: Youtube Channel

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/ExtraCreditz

Why would you watch it?: Talks about issues of game design in an approachable manner to gamers and nondesigners, covers issues about video games in a thoughtful way

What would you recommend?
 
Title: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (completed by Brandon Sanderson)

Type: Book

Why would you read it?: One of the best high fantasy (pretty specific sub-genre) series of all time, imo. Gets a bit convoluted in the middle, too many intersecting plot lines and all, but ultimately a very good series--albeit a bit naive insofar as the 'good vs evil' theme goes.



Title: Doctor Who

Type: TV Show

Why should you watch it?: Clever humor (with a British twist) and a storied history, dating back to the 60's when special effects consisted of cardboard boxes. Watch the reboot if you're just starting out. Just be sure to stop after Russel T. Davies, the showrunner, gets replaced by Steven Moffat after the end of Series 4. BUT, do check out one of the Steven Moffat episodes written by Neil Gaiman. The episode is titled "The Doctor's Wife", Series 6 episode 4. Fantastic episode and Suranne Jones is amazing as The Tardis.


Title: The Sandman

Type: Comic book

Why should you read it?: Because Neil Gaiman. Seriously, that should be the only reason you need. Neil Gaiman is a master. The artwork tends to look like crap, but you're reading it for the Gaiman story, not the various misc. artists drawing it for him.



Title: American Gods

Type: Book

Why should you read it?: Neil Gaiman.
 
Yarrgh! I lost my posted text. So I will list titles with little commentary. Mostly I read science fiction and fantasy to relax. My serious reading list has included philosophy, British law, and molecular biology, but I'm darned if I understood any of it.

Title: The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
Type: Book
Why: One of the most involving science fiction books ever. Even my daughter, who generally eschews science fiction for Neil Gaiman or Jane Austen, is hopping up and down with excitement that this is being made into a movie.

Almost anything written by Spider Robinson.
Type: Books
Why: This hippie / punster / humorist / scifi writer is outrageously silly, with long involved shaggy dog stories and endless surprises. The Callahan's books are in the tradition of "Tales from the White Hart," only with pun competitions thrown in.

Title: Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner
Type: Book
Why: Anything by Brunner is worth reading, but this one keeps calling back to me.

Title: The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
Type: Book
Why: The most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Title: Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse.
Type: Book
Why: Don't know why. This book has always had a hold on my mind. I read it every ten years or so.

Title: Always Coming Home, by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Type: Book
Why: It's not possible to pick a best book by UKL. She's just too good. But this one was my favorite read. It felt like sitting down with the characters to dinner. The asides bothered me at first by breaking the flow of the story, but by the end I was missing them for their effect of immersing me further in her world. In that immersion, it reminds me of my favorite bits of Ernest Hemingway.

My favorites / hall of honor shelf has a lot of books; I may complete the list someday. Gotta do something useful now.

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

EDIT: Bored? Free time? How I envy you!
 


Siddhartha is a magical book. I interpreted as telling us to simply accept life - the beauty of ups and downs.
 
Mine will mostly be music, TV Show, and movie related so here's a few that I would recommend at the moment:

Title: Kingsmen: The Secret Service

Type: Movie

Why: If you like spy movies of the old school James Bond type complete with killer one liners and have a strong stomach for violence then this is your movie. Samuel L. Jackson makes a great villian and Colin Firth makes a great gentlemen spy.

What We Do In The Shadows

Type: Movie, Comedy

Why: Jemaine Clement (Flight Of The Concords, Men In Black III) directs this oddball Spinal-Tap esque mockumentary about a trio of 400 year old vampires adjusting to life in modern society and the free communication era. Very original and well done.

Edumacation

Type: Podcast

Why: Kevin Smith and his cohost Andy McElfrish get really stoned and try to educate (while occasionally coming up with some really dark revivals of classic TV shows) the audience in four areas - the SCI, FI, WHY, and Bye.

The Aristocrats: Tres Caballeros

Type: Music Album, Instrumental

Why: Take old school Frank Zappa guitar instrumentals and add a modern twist while keeping Zappa's odd ball sense of humor, the live albums are even better than the studio ones.

Steven Wilson: Hand Cannot Erase

Type: Music Album, British Progressive

Why: It's a new Steven Wilson album. If you've heard any metal or progressive music made in the last 10 years, chances are he's been involved in some way. This is probably his best album since Porcupine Tree's In Absentia.

Soundgarden: Echo Of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across The Path

Type: Music, American Hard Rock

Why: Any die hard Chris Cornell or Soundgarden fan will love this. You get a full disc of every B-Side and soundtrack cut Soundgarden has done to date (including Live To Rise from the Avengers), another disc of live cuts, and another disc of some of the more curious entries in the band's 25 year career. Well worth the price of admission.

Faith No More - Sol Invictus

Type: Music, American Heavy Metal

Why: It's Mike Patton. Enough said.

Muse - Drones

Type: Music, British Hard Rock

Why: New Muse is always a good thing (especially with the awesome track Psycho), which will in turn yield new live Muse, one of the most amazing live bands on the planet currently.
 


Yeah true that is a glaring omission. :lol:

Here's a couple more recommendations I would make:

Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor

Type: Music, Hard Rock

Why: Brian Warner may have eliminated Marilyn Manson, the character, from the public eye, but the band still remains and they're putting out some of their best material since their 90's Mechanical Animals heyday.

Phoenix - Bankrupt!

Type: Music, Alternative Rock

Why: Take your favorite 80's new wave and electronic dance music and add some new technology to it while keeping the fun of the original genre.

Blur - The Magic Whip

Type: Music, Alternative Rock

Why: It's Blur. It's Damon Alburn. They're back after a long hiatus. And this is one of the best albums of the year if not one of the best that Blur has put out after quite some time.

Tears For Fears - Songs From The Big Chair

Type: Music, Alternative Rock

Why: The classic 1988 album gets a 2014 remix courtesy of Steven Wilson, as well as an ultra deluxe 6 disc reissue that includes 6 bonus tracks, two different stereo mixes, a disc of b-sides and rarities from the era, another disc of unreleased music, a DVD audio disc of the album, and a making-of documentary.

John Wick

Type: Movie, Thriller

Why: Keanu Revees stars in this slick thriller about a hit man getting revenge on his loved ones. It's dark and gritty while maintaining a killer (pun intended) soundtrack and a sense of humor. One of the best in the genre of recent memory, and perhaps Keanu's best work since The Matrix.

Gotham

Type: TV Show

Why: It centers around a young Bruce Wayne taking matters into his own hands investigating the death of his billionaire industrialist parents, while Detective James Gordon investigates Gotham's seedy underbelly. It's a very different take on both Batman's, and Commissioner Gordon's origins and the origins of some of Gotham's most ruthless criminals including the Penguin who, thanks to this show, has become one of the more intriguing characters in the Batman universe. Season 1 has been an amazing debut.
 
See Captain Phillips a great and true movie with Tom Hanks.Book is The Red Badge of Courage by Crane.
 
I've discovered a love of informative podcasts...

Been gouging myself on podcasts.

BBC documentaries and ABC (Australian) Radio National (The good series are Big Ideas, Late Night Live, Breakfast, All in the Mind

Thus far, these podcasts look interesting but I haven't gotten into them: NPR's Invisibilia, Freaknomics Radio, Dan Carlin's Hardcore Histories, Serial and other various programs in Radio National such as Future Tense, Science Show, Rear Vision, Background Briefing etc.

I'll make a detailed posting later on about how I find all these podcasts.

I must sound so boring... 😛

Informative podcast, informative podcast... Also stuck ~120 audiobooks onto my phone... hopefully that makes me less boring?
 
Very hard to find but the original book Alien by Alan Dean Foster, I've often wondered why the movie had not followed the book closer as just reading the book was scary stuff, as it contained so much more than the movie did, of course movie wise they were limited by the technology of the day.

I still remember going to the theater to see Alien, for it's day it was a legendary movie that took Science Fiction to a whole new level, it would be nice today to see the movie redone with the special effects we have today staying close to the actual writings.
 


Yes. It's an amazing piece of investigative journalism.
 
I have seen the Game of thrones. It is an extra ordinary TV show. If anyone loves to see thriller then you should watch "Prison Break". I just love this TV series.
 
Title: Blunt Talk

Genre: TV Show, Comedy

Why: It's written by Jonathan Ames (Bored To Death), produced by Seth McFarlane, and stars Sir Patrick Stewart, who could not love that? It's about Walter Blunt - who's a successful journalist with a semi-successful prime time news show, but his personal life is one disaster after another, and it begins to affect his TV show.

Review

Genre: TV Show, Comedy

Why: The premise sounds completely absurd - Forrest McNeil is a man who is a professional reviewer. But he doesn't just review books, TV shows, or movies. He reviews life itself. Starting a cult? 3 stars. Joining the mile high club? 2 and a half stars. What's it like to give a six star review? 3 stars. :lol:

Title: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Genre: Movie, Action

Why: Sure, it may be a remake of a TV show, but it's better than about 95% of the flare that falls into this category. Guy Ritchie directs and it's a very fun movie to watch. Henry Cavill is great as Napoleon Solo. Watch, you will not be disappointed.

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers: Angels & Ghosts

Genre: Music, Electronic

Why: It may be Dave's best work outside of Depeche Mode. It's dark and moody, and his backup band can easily mirror Depeche Mode's trademark sound. Definitely way better than Depeche Mode's previous album Delta Machine.

Gazpacho - Molok

Genre: Music, Progressive

Norway's pioneers of dark, melodic progressive rock are back. While it may be one of their shortest albums, it's one of their best.

Eagles Of Death Metal - Zipper Down

Genre: Music, Rock

Why: Josh Homme's other band besides Queens Of The Stone Age, has their fourth album and first since 2008. It's equal parts serious and silly with tracks like "Silverlake (K.S.O.F.M.)" and "The Deuce". The initiated - you know what to do. For the uninitiated, this is EODM's most polished album to date, and is definitely a good place to start.

Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth

Type: Music, Hip Hop

Why: Lupe Fiasco has made a name for himself making unconventional hip hop that definitely should not be considered radio friendly. Like Kendrick Lamar, Lupe is part of the new school of hip hop that's making beats with full bands as opposed to DJ'ing, and the results are pretty spectacular. This isn't just one of the best hip hop albums to come in a long time, it's one of the best albums of the year, in any genre. Tracks like "No Scratches" and "Chopper" really stand out.
 
Title: Malazan book of the fallen, by Steven Erikson

Type: Book

Why would you read it: An anthropologist/archeologist sets up a universe for his private D&D game and later converts it in a 10 piece epic. None of the tropes of tolkien,a very nice style, unique magic system and the story and setting told by different characters. And it's already done, so no hand-wringing for the last parts to be done before the author kicks the bucket.

Serial

Type: podcast

Why should you listen to it: Follow an investative journalist as she attempts to figure out a murder case 15 years after the fact. You will hear all the sides, including the guy they jailed for the crime. But while there are reasons for doubting the conviction . . . .

The Martian by Andy Weir

Type: Book/Film

Why should you read it: It's a mechanical engineer/botanist with a sharp sense of humour stuck on Mars trying not to die. Opening line: "So, I'm pretty much <mod edit>"
It's great! And if you don't have the time for the book, the movie has to leave some things out, as you would expect, but is definitely not bad.

And I echo things said about Neil Gaiman so far.

Watch the language, even if you are quoting. - G
 
Some more:

Ash Vs. Evil Dead

Type: TV Show, Horror comedy

If you are a fan of the original Evil Dead, you will love this. If you're a fan of horror or comedy, with laughs as much as the gallons of blood and gratuitous zombie and monster killings, you will also love this. Bruce Campbell is awesome as Ash, and has a great supporting cast as well.

Marvel Presents: AKA Jessica Jones

Genre: TV Show, Action

The next line in Marvel's Defenders series, which takes place in Hell's Kitchen, New York, and in the same world as the Avengers Universe, is Jessica Jones. This series takes on a PI feel to it, and is every bit as dark as Daredevil. If you're a fan of Daredevil or anything in the Marvel universe, you owe it to yourself to watch this.

Being Eval

Genre: Documentary

Johnny Knoxville (Jackass) takes a look at the life and times of one of his biggest idols - Evel Kineval. It's an interesting documentary that centers around one of America's most notorious stuntmen and the empire he built.

A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm (25th Anniversary Reissue)

Genre: Music, Hip Hop/Rap

This is one of those albums that found its' true calling more with alternative rock fans than with hardcore rap / hip hop fans. And 25 years later it's still as listenable from beginning to end, not to mention has held up surprisingly well over the years, with some bonus tracks featuring collaborators like Cee Lo Green and Pharell Williams.
 


I'm 4 episodes in. So far I heartily concur.
 


I've only watched the first episode and it was great, I will be delving in over the long weekend next weekend. Plus I'm also too busy playing Fallout 4. :lol:
 
I will second Maarch's recommendation of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
Not only are their ten books in the series by Steven Erickson, but his buddy whom he played/based the world on is writing a "companion" novels focusing on other characters/areas. It is fantasy without elves and orcs. The authors made up all their own races and they are interesting in their description. The fact that he is/was an anthropologist/archaeologist makes his races feel very real with their own unique way of life not gleaned heavily from other fantasy races. His "barbaric-esque" races are so interesting to learn about making one ponder about the tribes/clans/people in our own history who practiced similar ways of life.

I highly recommend ANY book by Isaac Asimov. I really like his Foundation series. More along the lines of a series of short stories throughout the history of a galactic civilization on the decline. His Elijah Bailey detective books are amazing sci-fi detective series. He wrote the first one just to prove to someone that sci-fi could be of the mystery genre. All his book take place in the same universe at different points in time and makes reading them ever so smooth and without a rough transition. I plan on reading his books again and I can't wait.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Cyberpunk in with a very satirical style of writing. Made me laugh pretty hard at times. Has a lot of everything in it, action, comedy, science, technology, history, cool characters...not really any drama. I also liked his Cryptonomicon which is his take on cryptography during WWII and during the rise of the internet era, also very satirical.

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Cyberpunk at its roots. I believe he coined the term cyberspace. Very cool book, can be a little heavy though in the sense that it isn't ever really a lighthearted read, serious tones all the time.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. Hilarious and thought provoking in a fun way. A very silly ride through the galaxy with an interesting cast and no real heavy plots of themes, just a fun read.

Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. An amazing piece of work. His first book is very similar to the Canterbury Tales in structure. His other three follow a different style, but are amazing none the less. Hard sci-fi, lots of cool ideas, has some of the most baddest characters ever.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Considered his masterpiece, but does get a little self serving when he writes himself into the story. Each book is classic Stephen King, easy to read, intriguing and suspenseful. He states it is like his Lord of the Rings. The characters are on a quest/journey the entire series with many adventures along the way.
 
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