movie, music, book, etc suggestions...

[deadrats]

here's an idea i have been toying with for a while: creating a thread where forum members can share viewing/reading/listening suggestions with other forum members, perhaps posting a list of things that you think others may enjoy but perhaps normally wouldn't consider.

to begin:

movies:

jakob the liar (stars mork, set in nazi germany, it's about a guy with a radio, compelling story)

4 rooms (incredible movie, stars madonna among others, must see comedy)

phone booth (this movie is awesome, it takes place almost entirely at a phone booth and even though it may sound lame, it grabs you and doesn't let go)

reading:

here's a few graphic novels that have excellent stories:

superman: the red son (a what if type of story where superman lands in russia instead of smallville, won numerous awards)

batman vs dracula (the title says it all, must read)

the killing joke (another batman graphic novel featuring the joker at his very best/worst)

music:

Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (awesome song, think of it as a better billy joel's downeaster alexa)

bruce springsteen, Girls in their Summer Clothes (may just be springsteen's best song, with only badlands coming close)

that's it for now, just to get the ball rolling.

[yoda313]

Not bad......

I'm finally getting to the Sentinels series in the Robotech collection. Yes I know I started that last summer but I only read about ten or twenty minutes a night and almost never read on the weekend. And I don't read every night on top of that so it takes a long time to go through a series that way.

I really like the background that isn't covered in the main cartoons. Even though the main book versions of the cartoons offer a great deal extra insight this is giving more. It should be interesting to get more out of the Cabel and Rem characters.

I'm going to want to watch the Sentinels series that came with my Robotech Protoculture dvd collection I own. I avoided that while I watched it the first time through. Since it wasn't "official" stuff now I just focused on the main stories.

Now however going through all the side stories like the Zentradi Rebellion and the others it definitely adds more to it.

------------------------

Oh and I just watched Hancock on DVD today. I've actually owned the used dvd that I bought from Blockbuster last winter. I just never got around to watching it. It wasn't that bad. The start was kinda weird. But the ending worked out more satisfying that I expected.

I also finally finished IRON MAN. I had watched the first half earlier this year (bought it used about the same time I bought Hancock - might have been the same shopping spree can't remember). I liked that. Definitely a decent story and the whole good bad thing was done pretty well.

Question - how far in the future is IRON MAN supposesd to take place? I noticed one of the bussess that blew up said "hydrogen powered". PLus they had a bunch of holographic stuff and a sentient computer that responded to voice commands. Not to mention the robotic arms that were semi-intelligent. But his father supposedly worked on the abomb. That seems a little out of whack. Granted I know its a comic book movie so maybe i"m putting too much logic restraints on it but.....

One other thing:

I am finally finishing my Transformers season 1 25th anniversary dvd set and have a nagging inconsistency to post:

Why don't the Autobots always fly? They can fly they just don't always fly.... It was bugging me watch them be in situations that wouldn't matter if they just flew. Like falling and being stuck in water going down a river - just fly damn it!

Ok again its based on toys and comics so I'm applying real world logic to cartoons - but you know...... it should make a little more sense..... Granted I was about 7 when they first aired so I wasn't analyzing them anywhere this detailed back then - they were just COOL!

[deadrats]

Why don't the Autobots always fly? They can fly they just don't always fly.... It was bugging me watch them be in situations that wouldn't matter if they just flew. Like falling and being stuck in water going down a river - just fly damn it!

lol, i was just wondering the same thing today after nearly running over a group of geese crossing the road, these things can fly and fly quite well, hell they are capable of flying to another country if need be and flying high enough that they can crash into a 747, why the hell do they walk across the road, why not just fly? for that matter why do they always walk single file? i used to do animal control for years and i still haven't seen a decent explanation of this behavior, then as i nearly pancaked the lot of them i realized they are just birds, they're imbeciles, morons, dumb asses, bird brains (<--pardon the pun), we're not talking albert einstein here.

as for the autobots, like you, i know it's make believe but the plot holes annoy the piss out of me, those glaring logical inconsistencies make me want to strangle the writers.

Ok again its based on toys and comics so I'm applying real world logic to cartoons - but you know...... it should make a little more sense..... Granted I was about 7 when they first aired so I wasn't analyzing them anywhere this detailed back then - they were just COOL!

i feel the same way about the thundercats and he-man, loved the cartoons as a kid but going back and watching them now i find myself asking how is it that skeletor never learns his lesson, he keeps sending his henchman and robots to fight he-man in episode after episode only to watch them lose in 3 seconds and yet he doesn't say to himself "hmm, this doesn't seem to work".

Question - how far in the future is IRON MAN supposesd to take place? I noticed one of the bussess that blew up said "hydrogen powered". PLus they had a bunch of holographic stuff and a sentient computer that responded to voice commands. Not to mention the robotic arms that were semi-intelligent. But his father supposedly worked on the abomb. That seems a little out of whack. Granted I know its a comic book movie so maybe i"m putting too much logic restraints on it but.....

the marvel universe continuity is tied to ours, they are in the same year we're in.

if you really think about it iron man's technology isn't so much more advanced than ours: we already have 3d holograms with the japanese even having a prototype holographic image that you can actually touch (now that's wild, i'll see if i can find the link), we have computers with advanced artificial intelligence (granted they aren't sentient) that respond to voice commands (hell, you can even get your home pc to respond to voice commands with the right software) and as for hydrogen powered we already have buses and cars that are hydrogen powered (bmw sells a hydrogen powered sedan), so nothing in iron man is that out of the realm of plausibility.

[yoda313]

@deadrats - I know a lot of what was in the iron man movie was based on stuff we can do - theoretically at least. But its "polished" and "feasible" in that realm.

Thanks for the timeline.

And for agreeing about the cartoon stuff

[tgpo]

This music is good: http://www.last.fm/user/tgpo
These movies are good: http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=tgpo

[Tearren]

movies / tv: Trueblood (please DO NOT watch 9/13/09 to check it out, that is the season finale and the build up to it this season has been really good so far). Season 1 was good and Season 2 has been even better.

Monk - Last season

Pysch - I really enjoy this

Reading:
Vampire Hunter D novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and published by DHPress. I'm on Volume 6 atm.

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe. Its about Generaltional cycles' influences on American history. Excessively pedantic and dry but interesting.

As far as graphic novels, I recommend anything Sandman by Neil Gaiman.

Music:
The Killers - Dustland Fairytale

[freebird73717]

Okay for any of you comics fans out there I would suggest looking for issues of any Valiant Comics. They had a short run but produced some great comics like Magnus Robot Fighter, Solar Man of the Atom, XO Man o War, Harbiner and many more. The company was started by Jim Shooter and put out good books with great story lines and good art to go with it.

Also checkout valiantfans.com

[Tearren]

Okay for any of you comics fans out there I would suggest looking for issues of any Valiant Comics. They had a short run but produced some great comics like Magnus Robot Fighter, Solar Man of the Atom, XO Man o War, Harbiner and many more. The company was started by Jim Shooter and put out good books with great story lines and good art to go with it.

Also checkout valiantfans.com

I enjoyed these as well, but would only recommend the Valiant Universe during 1991 to 1996 which is considered VH1.

New reprint trades are now available on some, more info at http://www.valiantentertainment.com/features

Also, around these same time period Malibu published the Ultraverse. The early ones are pretty good too.

[freebird73717]

I agree. I didn't much care for the few acclaim books put out with the valiant characters.

91 to 96 was definitely the best run for valiant.