So I think we have enough negativity on the board, let's try for something positive.
Pick some work, a movie, TV show, book, game, whatever that is genuinely purely good stuff. Not kinda good, not so bad it's good, but good good.
And of course why.
For example...
It shouldn't have worked. It really shouldn't.
By the early 80s Marvel Comics had a small empire of successful licensed books like Conan, Micronauts and most successfully Star Wars. Then one fine day Hasbro came to them, they were reviving their old GI Joe line but this time as 3 1/2" figures with a line of high tech modern vehicles. And they wanted a comic to go with.
Everyone turned it down. War comics don't sell after all.
Then they asked a Japanese-American writer and Vietnam vet named Larry Hama. As it happened he had just proposed a book involving a special forces anti-terrorism team called Fury Force. So he met with the toy folks and his first question was who do they fight? To which the toy people kind of said huh? So he quickly doodled a logo and said, they'll fight a terrorist army called Cobra.
Over the next 12 years GI Joe was a top selling comic and, despite the demands of supporting a toy line and working in dozens of new vehicles and characters each year. It had its ups and downs but Hama managed to wed Tom Clancy-like military jargon and details with fun stories and layers of story to turn GI Joe into an evergreen franchise that's still spawning TV shows and movies now.
And best of all, 15 years after the Marvel run ended Hama was invited to write a new GI Joe comic picking up the numbering and continuity of the original book.
So if you've never read it, Larry Hama's GI Joe run is today's five star pick!
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And that's the idea. If you see something you don't like, don't trash it, suggest something better.
This thread is all about celebrating some of the great stuff out there.
Batman: Under the Red Hood. Great casting, fun one liners: "Lasers! He's got lasers!" (read by NPH, of course) and a helluva good storyline. John DiMaggio does a great job as Joker, on par with Heath and Hamill. And the opening scene where he beats Robin almost to death with a crowbar, right before blowing him up and killing him? Holy. Crap. Yeah, UtRH is my favorite cartoon Batman movie, and the only reason I don't consider it superior to TDK is because it's a cartoon. I've watched it 5-6 times in the past year and a half, and I still haven't found a single instant of it that I don't like. I recommend it to anyone who likes Batman, even the slightest amount. It's twisted and really nails what Batman comics and the characters should be all about. I'm a Marvel fan over DC, but no Marvel cartoon movie has ever come close to this one.
I have a lot of stuff that jumps to mind right away, but I am going to start slowly.
Charles Stross is, IMHO, the best fiction writer today. His genre is Science Fiction, But I am going to nominate him for best overall. I started with The Atrocity Archive, the first book in a series about a simple civil servant named Bob Howard.
Bob works for The Laundry, the only surviving department of the wartime SOE. So imagine a less misogynistic Ian Fleming, crossed with the technical acumen of Tom Clancy. Where the SF comes in is The Elder Gods are real. At the bottom of the Mandlebrot Set is a doorway into other dimensions populated almost entirely by beings from H.P. Lovecraft. Since math can be used to open doorways into the dungeon dimensions, being an IT professional for the government agency tasked with preventing a visit from Cthulu can be interesting. There is humor, sarcasm, esoteric stuff about computers, but best of all the entire series is tautly plotted, full of interesting and exciting charchters, and truly a joy to read.
The other two books in the series are:
and:
The fourth book will be out shortly.
Liver by Will Self.
Great collection of four short stories. The first is set in a Soho club and seems a study in absolute debauchery. The second follows a woman diagnosed with liver cancer who decides to attend a Dignitas euthanasia clinic and then has a change of heart. The third merges the story of Prometheus and Pandora with a bloke who works in advertising. And the forth is told from the point of view of the Hepatitis C virus. It's all quite dark and bleak, but its so well written and tells such good stories.
Butchery by a cool old man with an axe. Can be read inside two days, awesome violent man porn of the highest order!
The man was responsible for getting me started on fantasy aged 10 after my Dad gave me it along with Lord Fouls Bane by Stephen Donaldson, and I was left shaking my head in bewilderment at the latter.
I went back and read them a decade later, and they weren't too bad, but the easy reading and primary colours of Gemmells somewhat one dimensional novels have always stirred my blood, and I recommend literally everything he ever wrote.
I will throw this book (series) into the ring as my five-star pick of the day:
A very well written book that takes the fun of fantasy dungeon quests and gives it a wonderful little twist. You might imagine Ciaphas Cain in a fantasy setting, and just imagine he is a goblin as well. It is written very well, doesn't take itself too seriously, will make you at the very least grin if not laugh, and flows very well.
Scott Lynch's the Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Easily the best fantasy novels I've ever read, and probably two of the best novels. His writing is truly a joy to read, and his characters are probably the most fleshed out and believable I've seen in any fantasy. The setting is wonderfully realised, and the narrative is compelling and well structured.
htj wrote:Scott Lynch's the Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Easily the best fantasy novels I've ever read, and probably two of the best novels. His writing is truly a joy to read, and his characters are probably the most fleshed out and believable I've seen in any fantasy. The setting is wonderfully realised, and the narrative is compelling and well structured.
The single most original fantasy setting I have ever read. The world of Bas-Lag is totally fascinating and the characters and races unique and intriguing.
It is followed by two other books set in the same world.
A pretty good story, not going to win any oscars but good nonetheless, immature humour in vast quantities, but easily the best multiplayer experience I've had... Virus and mapmaker made the best scenarios.
I'll add the Red vs Blue series here too as that has had me in stitches at the beginning, and had a great storyline towards the end. The fight scenes are pretty damn epic too.
My five star pick of the day is not a book or movie, it is a place; the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington D.C. You don't have to actually be into bonsai yourself to appreciate the beauty of these living works of art. The link i've included goes to a page with a large catalog of images from the museum, but I'll post a few teaser pictures as well.
A pretty good story, not going to win any oscars but good nonetheless, immature humour in vast quantities, but easily the best multiplayer experience I've had... Virus and mapmaker made the best scenarios.
I'll add the Red vs Blue series here too as that has had me in stitches at the beginning, and had a great storyline towards the end. The fight scenes are pretty damn epic too.
There's that feeling when you find 10 dollars or so on the ground.
There's that feeling when you have a great day.
Hell, there's that feeling when you get married.
Then, there's the feeling you get when you play this game.
I don't know, I've been a huge fan of the silly nature of the Starship Troopers movies, and I personally think that this ruleset is one of the most solidly written out there, the balance and innovation is stunning. Just seeing all of the cool bug models and the concept of humanity fighting against something so utterly alien from itself is cool.
People seem to be putting books in, so I'll chime in with a trilogy I really enjoyed.
The Mars trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Green Mars & Blue Mars)
Very good series of books, very interesting. The story and characters are interesting and engaging, and there is a very big focus on the science. He put alot of research into the three books and it shows, he goes into some incredible detail on some very diverse subjects, from engineering, to politics and social dynamics, economics, all the way to atomic string theory and psychology, geology, meterology; in fact, pretty much anything that ends with "ology" is quite well covered at some point in the series
The amount of research that was put into the books is incredible, and he writes a very believable description of Mars' colonisation.
Play the Lonesome Road DLC, but DLC I ever spent the money on.
Yeah, it was pretty awesome, especially one of the ending slides if you have the Wild Wasteland trait. But my favorite DLC was Honest Hearts, mostly because of Joshua Graham and A Light Shining in the Darkness.
Looking back at NES games, designers had managed to wring a lot of beauty in terms of both graphics and sound from that technology. In that context, the SNES launch of 1991 (in the States at least) was nothing short of 16-bit divine revelation. Bright, colorful games like Super Mario World and F-Zero were the perfect launch titles but two months later Super Castlevania IV proved this new palette had dark depth. Many people criticize SCIV as a regression from the complex, multi-character brilliance of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, which itself seemed to prefigure Rondo of Blood and the rightly famous Symphony of the Night. But SCIV was not really a "next step" so much as a reaffirmation of roots.
Super Castlevania IV is a remake of the original game and it's linearity is an homage to that game's, and by extension the series', central themes. Among other things, CSIV cemented the driven personality of its protagonist. Simon is implacable to the point of barbaric compared to his sophisticated "metroidvania" compatriots. He steamrolls through Dracula's minions with a frightening clarity of purpose that eludes more conflicted or burdened heroes like Trevor, Richter, and Alucard. The comparison with Richter is particularly apt. Richter is surely pure of heart but he's fighting to save his beloved. Simon, by contrast, fights Dracula because fighting Dracula is his purpose. SCIV is a sumptuous reminder of this starkly gothic opposition of good and evil.
As Simon, you irresistibly assail Dracula's castle like the stake being hammered into the vampire lord's own black heart. And what a ride! The level design is mechanically ingenious and visually beautiful. Simon's iconic whip Vampire Killer could swing around and attack in eight directions for the first time -- and let's not forget this was the beginning of swinging the whip as an element of platforming. Alucard may be the coolest but Simon is definitely the badass of this franchise -- thanks to SCIV innovative reaffirmation of the series's origins. The most impressive thing about SCIV, however, is undoubtedly the sound design. Catchy if slightly creepy tunes tittering out of the NES suddenly became grandly dark pieces of epic macabre. One might think it'd be hard to explain to people used to hearing fully orchestrated "background music" how shockingly good SCIV's soundtrack was, but the music simply speaks for itself:
If you have a Wii, you can download Super Castlevania IV for 800 points. You will need a classic controller to play.
Play the Lonesome Road DLC, but DLC I ever spent the money on.
Yeah, it was pretty awesome, especially one of the ending slides if you have the Wild Wasteland trait. But my favorite DLC was Honest Hearts, mostly because of Joshua Graham and A Light Shining in the Darkness.
I have Remnants Power armor and I use A Light Shining in the Darkness a TON. It's such a great weapon, plus it's fun to be a massive guy in power armor killing Death Claws with a tiny pistol.
Game of Thrones obviously, but Joffrey is such a contemptible little that you have to admire the actor's performance for moving me to such loathing. If I ever met him, I wouldn't know whether to throttle him or shake his hand. Possibly both...
What's it about? Tokyo citizens driven to the edge of their endurance (which in a high-pressure city like Tokyo is just about everyone) Lil Slugger appears, a punk on roller blades who deals out brain-crushing blows with his metal bat.
No.
That's not what it's about. I mean that's what it says on the wrapper but that story gets taken care of in like 3 episodes.
What's it really about is a psychological thriller and a message about what it feels like to be in over your head, those days when you wish you'd get hit by a car because at least then you'd be free.
It's also about innovative story telling techniques that keep you sucked in.
And, like all great anime going back to Akira, the ending makes no damn sense. I mean seriously, I've been living in Japan off and on since '94 and I can say with some certainty it's not a cultural issue, it's not a translation issue, the ending makes NO DAMN SENSE.
But despite that, and for the theme song alone, Paranoia Agent is your 5*PD.
Come back tomorrow for Part II of SATOSHI KON WEEK!!!!1!!!one!!!
I would like to post this. I am no big fan of King, but I really enjoyed the feth out of this series.
I read mostly Scifi and some fantasy, so I found this completely different then anything I have read to date. I will admit the first book is kinda tough to get through but Im really glad I did, the rest is great.
The single most original fantasy setting I have ever read. The world of Bas-Lag is totally fascinating and the characters and races unique and intriguing.
It is followed by two other books set in the same world.
I love Mieville's Bas Lag novels, I hope he'll revisit that setting before too long. I must admit that I struggled through Embassytown, though it was a fascinating book.
Another entry from me would be this: It's great, and I don't know why. But 5/5, heck, 7/5 for it.
Agree with this x100,000,000. I first heard this album several years ago and it instantly catapulted Karnivool to my favourite band. A position they have maintained ever since. It sucks I missed the chance to see them live in 2010 :(
Can't wait for their new album, hopefully out this year
A little company in Seattle called Wizards of the Coast made it big thanks to a card game you've probably heard of. They made it so big, in fact, that they were able to purchase another little company in 1997. That other little company was called TSR and it had made it big years before on a roleplaying game you've probably heard of. In 2000, WotC released its own take on that RPG as Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition. Third Edition, and later its "3.5" revision, was a huge success for a variety of reasons -- not least of all the solid "core mechanic" of rolling a d20 and comparing the modified result against a target number. As you might expect, not everyone was totally sold on the complexity of the new rules despite the line's slick production values. Some D&D fans never abandoned their preference for the Basic/Expert version of D&D from 1977. By 2006, an "Old School Renaissance" (OSR) had been declared and indie publishers began to release "retroclones" of the B/X edition.
A year later, WotC announced the end of Third Edition and released Fourth Edition in 2008. WotC informed another little company, this one called Paizo, which had been printing the official D&D magazines, that its services would no longer be required. Paizo bristled and announced that it would continue to support the Third Edition rules, even going so far as to publish their own "retroclone" called Pathfinder. Across the internet, furious debates raged between fans of D&D 4E and fans of Pathfinder. This destructive period has been called the Edition Wars. In the meantime, the OSR continued to flourish. Perhaps the OSR reminded gamers of a simpler time when RPGs were about wonder and excitement rather than intense partisan debate. The trouble with the OSR games, however, is that none of them made comprehensive use of contemporary developments in RPG design. In short, they were characterized more by nostalgia than innovation.
Into the fray stepped Goodman Games, an indie publisher founded back in 2001. Goodman Games had made a name for itself by publishing "old school" style D&D modules that worked with Third Edition rules under the name "Dungeon Crawl Classics." Joseph Goodman sized up the Edition Wars and OSR not only with business acumen but also with what can only be described as passion. He realized that the market was missing a game that spoke authentically to the weird wonders of Gary Gygax's vision and at the same time transcended the clunkiness of Gygax's (and other's) rules. To little fanfare (at least outside of the cognoscenti), Goodman Games announced the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (DCC RPG) in 2011. This past spring, the DCC RPG finally saw print.
The reaction so far has been telling: a few folks have picked up the massive nearly-500-page tome with no great expectations. After all, we've seen an army of "old school" games since 2006. But after cracking the thing open, jaws dropped. Astoundingly, this is a OGL game (i.e., the rules were based on Third Edition) that genuinely captures the experience of discovering Advanced Dungeons & Dragons -- or hell, RPGs generally -- for the first time. The DCC RPG even insists on using "funky dice," strange things like d3s and d24s. In a world where a 20-sided polyhedron is taken for granted, rolling a d7 is a reminder of just how, well, weird, these dice really are. And the art reminds us just how, again, weird and wonderous the world of roleplaying is. Most importantly, the rules are exciting: every spell has multiple outcomes depending on the skill and luck of the caster; every player can begin with four 0-level characters fully expecting at least three of them to meet a gruesome end before making first level; warriors that are actually better at fighting than wizards (no kidding, that's not how things were in Third Edition) ... and much more ...
Earlier this year, WotC announced the end of Fourth Edition and the imminent release of Fifth, or as they insist on calling it, "D&D Next." WotC has very loudly declared that their intent with Fifth Edition is to unify D&D fans of all tastes and styles under one ruleset, something that has not happened since the earliest period of D&D's history (1974-77) and only then because there was only one ruleset. That's an ambitious claim and, unfortunately for WotC, not one that I think they can achieve -- something that their playtest rules release nearly a month ago only confirms. Whatever other problems WotC might face, the real trouble is that the DCC RPG has already been released.
And the DCC RPG is the best D&D-inspired RPG that has ever been written.
@Manchu. Please explain the arcanes mysteries of a 'd7.' I have never heard of such a wonder, and am intrigued as to whether it's just a damaged d8.
Also. COMRADES! Do not fall for this man's lies! The wicked enemy seeks to confound and deceive you at every turn! The Edition Wars can be won! You must fight for (insert edition) until the perfidious foe are wiped from God's green Earth!
Seriously though, DCC RPG looks very interesting to me.
Is the "Arc the Lad Collection". The packaging lies to you a bit. It really contains 3 games, not 4. The 4th "game" really isn't much but a little side addition to the 2nd game. It also says these games are a amazing, this is also not true. Two of the games are rather mediocre, at best. In fact that could be said for pretty much the entire Arc the Lad series. It's just filled with dull, derivative uninspired "Blah". So you're saying "Why are you talking about it here, this is the thread for good stuff". Well the thing is, that here in America at least the collection was the only way to get at the good stuff:
Arc the Lad 2. It's more than just best game in a rather below average series, it's an awesome game in it's own right. It plays something like a TRPG in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics or Shining Force, but at a faster clip with less reliance on menu-driven commands and smaller maps. It also has fully fleshed out towns and an over world map in the same vein as Chrono Trigger. The end result something that feels very simliar to both TRPG fans and those who like more traditional JRPGs, while playing more smoothly than most examples of either.
As is standard for games of this type it's moved forward by an almost wholly linear storyline and a fixed cast of characters. Which is fine by me as I like these conventions, however it's not going to make any believers out of people who want more control & freedom. While it doesn't break new ground, what is there is well presented.
It has a setting feels very much like the modern world, with cars & telephones but that doesn't seem discourage much of the main cast from going around with more traditional RPG fare like swords, axes & magic. They're not afraid to mash things up and there something gratifying about going up against a the leader of a bunch of prohibition-style Tommy-gun toting gangsters, in his high tech secret lab facility with a bunch of swords and spellcasters. Just don't over think things too much.
Finally the story is well presented and the characters are interesting. Like most games the writing is far, far, far from a masterpiece for the ages but it is very engaging.
If we are going with video games, then this is one of the best games ever:
Good characters, great story that really sucked me in, graphics were awesome at the time.
And don't even get me started about Knights of the Round.
I remember having the repeat spell/skill that lets you cast three of them in a row. You would set the first one off, go to the bathroom to take a #2, go to the kitchen to make a sandwich, and still get back before all three of them finished .
I also have it on good authority that it was Knights of the Round that inspired Mat Wards Grey Knights.
You mean like lesbian school girls, or tentacles right?
No.
As usual the trailer sucks. Yeah, the plot is a young girl meets a mysterious man during World War II and falls in love. She becomes and actress and starts looking for him.
Some great recommendations, I've made sure to make a note of some of the books mentioned.
Casey Stoner on his MotoGP Honda at the Laguna Seca (US) round, captured on a fancy new 1000fps camera. I absolutely love this..
Fast forward to about 20 seconds.
Ensis Ferrae wrote:Sorry mate, I'll take this any day, over footy:
[rugby picture]
Agreed. Though I find that watching it makes me want to play more than it makes me want to watch.
Actually, come to think of it, soccer is one of the few sports I can actually sit and watch because I never played it competitively. Most everything else makes me want to dig out the cleats/skates.
The most insanely loud, and greatest sounding guitar amp of all time. No gak, this thing will kill small animals at over 100 paces.
Edit: I should probably add that I nominated this not just because I own one, but among guitarists they are widely regarded as the greatest Marshall ever made, and are THE sound of rawk.
Things are gonna get a bit serious now cause it's NORTH KOREA WEEK here at D5*PD!
North Korea is one of the most isolated, impoverished, oppressive and heavily armed states in the world.
I mean people flee to China so they can enjoy lives of freedom. That's how bad it is.
The border between North and South Korea is closed and heavily armed on both sides. Even a minor incident could spark a war, a war that may involve nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. A war that would certainly draw in the United States and the People's Republic of China.
Solid information on North Korea is hard to come by, usually it comes from refugees who managed to flee and survive the difficult journey to freedom, or from a handful of North Koreans who risk their lives by sending out quick reports using smuggled Chinese cell phones.
So this week I'll feature some of the better books and films I've seen on North Korea.
Good Friends is a Buddhist NGO that brings food to North Korea. They also bring out what information they can and regularly translate and publish it. It's chilling reading sometimes... the current headlines are:
Defectors Facing Forced Repatriation Attempt Suicide
China’s Intensified Investigation on Brokers Trafficking North Koreans
Defectors’ Families Frustrated At Losing Contact
“Form a Group of Two or Three When Getting Around in China”
Repercussions of Monitoring Defector Groups on Their Family Members in North Korea
Scary stuff, and the people who got those stories out risked their lives and freedom, and the lives and freedom of their families. North Korea after all believes in the Confucian idea of punishing people unto the 3rd generation.
If we're recommending mind-bending movies, I have to rave about Being John Malkovich. Or I would, but I'm being lazy. Just do yourself a favor and see it, if you haven't. Describing it would be almost pointless, and you wouldn't believe half the things I would write; either the subjective ones or the straight plot points.
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For music, I'm going to recommend Cake's Prolonging the Magic. The biggest single was Never There, probably followed by Sheep Go to Heaven (Goats Go to Hell) but this sucker is a rich and varied feast of different styles, all executed with real skill and love, not just hipster irony (though that's there too, of course). Favorite tracks include You Turn the Screws, Let Me Go, and Where Would I Be, which is probably one of the best love songs I've ever heard.
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Beer recommendation. Goose Island's Summertime. I have loved their 312 wheat ale since I discovered in Chicago two years ago, where it is brewed, and recently was extremely happy to discover that a place in my town sells it. Sadly, the 312 here is brewed and bottled in New York, and does not seem to be as good. However, I also discovered their Summertime varietal in the same store, and this one IS actually from Chicago, and is delicious.
RossDas wrote: I must admit that I struggled through Embassytown, though it was a fascinating book.
Just finished EmbassyTown. I enjoyed it for the depth and breadth the Author took you on. Well worth the initial struggle to get your feet under you when you start.
One of the great classic movies of our time would be this:
Spoiler:
Shut the feth up Donny.
I read an interesting article ones with the theory that Donny is not real. Nobody ever talks to him except for Walter, so the theory is that Walter has a bad case of PTSD and Walter is an old war buddy that he imagines is still around.
If it wasn't for the funeral scene i would say it makes sense, but the dude does make eye contact quite a bit with him when Walter and Donny go back and forth. @ d usa can you post the link to the article?
Deathshead420 wrote:If it wasn't for the funeral scene i would say it makes sense, but the dude does make eye contact quite a bit with him when Walter and Donny go back and forth. @ d usa can you post the link to the article?
I will have to hunt it down. Not sure if it was a Mental Floss article, or Cracked, or something like that.
I've been meaning to rewatch it since I read that too.
htj wrote:Scott Lynch's the Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Easily the best fantasy novels I've ever read, and probably two of the best novels. His writing is truly a joy to read, and his characters are probably the most fleshed out and believable I've seen in any fantasy. The setting is wonderfully realised, and the narrative is compelling and well structured.
Now if only he'd release the third book.
Now I see why we'll never get on. This was such a disappointing book, as I'd read hundreds of reviews like yours, and while the world was nicely imagined, the 'characters' were laughable, their motivations hopelessly muddled and the plot quite ludicrously simple. I kept reading, thinking, "Wow, I can see twenty possible twists here, each one cooler/more believable than the last", and none of them happened. Bitterly disappointed.
This on the other hand, keeps me warm at nights! Best fantasy I've read in years and years, and that's a lot!
North Korea week continues here at D5*PD, with Nothing to Envy, true stories of live in North Korea after the famines and economic collapse.
Whether you've been studying North Korea for years or only know it from MASH reruns this is a book that will entertain, enlighten and break your heart.
Barbara Demick interviewed dozens of North Korean defectors from the same northern city to build a complete picture of a place that is more like a prison than a country, where millions starve while the government builds nuclear weapons and where everything is slowly falling apart.
One woman recalls going to the clothing factory each day until they stopped getting cloth, then she would still go to clean and do make work, then to raise food on the factory grounds until finally the factory told her to stop coming.
A doctor remembers how her medical bag started full and year by year grew emptier until she was foraging in the hills for herbs and using beer bottles for IVs, then foraging in the hills for food to survive. When she fled to China she saw a dish of white rice and meat sitting on a stoop and realized that in China the dogs eat better than the doctors in North Korea.
A kindergarten class starts with 50 students and finishes with 15, the missing children are either too weak to come to school, or have starved to death.
Through it all the city of Chongjin itself dies. One by one the factories close for lack of supplies or fuel. The theaters and restaurants go dark from lack of electricity. Then the wires and machines are looted for scrap metal. Finally the food disappears.
But it's not all doom and gloom. Demick weaves in family dramas and a love story to remind us that behind the fearsome military and the insane government are real people with hopes, dreams and feelings.
There are other miserable places in Earth but reading this book reminds me that no where else is the misery so deliberate. The prosperity of South Korea and China show that there is no reason North Korea has to starve, there is no unrest, no famine. The government has chosen this policy to maintain its insane vision of socialist and racial purity.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Read it. You'll be moved.
Automatically Appended Next Post: OK, this is weird, that review was originally my Amazon review and it's cited in... or all things... a dog care site.
Don't forget weird, in the sense of otherworldly and mysterious. Otus was (is, but I haven't really loved a lot of his recent work) one of the very best at conveying a sense of the macabre and unusual; and sometimes situations both humorous and dangerous.
Kid_Kyoto wrote:So I think we have enough negativity on the board, let's try for something positive.
Pick some work, a movie, TV show, book, game, whatever that is genuinely purely good stuff. Not kinda good, not so bad it's good, but good good.
And of course why.
For example...
It shouldn't have worked. It really shouldn't.
By the early 80s Marvel Comics had a small empire of successful licensed books like Conan, Micronauts and most successfully Star Wars. Then one fine day Hasbro came to them, they were reviving their old GI Joe line but this time as 3 1/2" figures with a line of high tech modern vehicles. And they wanted a comic to go with.
Everyone turned it down. War comics don't sell after all.
Then they asked a Japanese-American writer and Vietnam vet named Larry Hama. As it happened he had just proposed a book involving a special forces anti-terrorism team called Fury Force. So he met with the toy folks and his first question was who do they fight? To which the toy people kind of said huh? So he quickly doodled a logo and said, they'll fight a terrorist army called Cobra.
Over the next 12 years GI Joe was a top selling comic and, despite the demands of supporting a toy line and working in dozens of new vehicles and characters each year. It had its ups and downs but Hama managed to wed Tom Clancy-like military jargon and details with fun stories and layers of story to turn GI Joe into an evergreen franchise that's still spawning TV shows and movies now.
And best of all, 15 years after the Marvel run ended Hama was invited to write a new GI Joe comic picking up the numbering and continuity of the original book.
So if you've never read it, Larry Hama's GI Joe run is today's five star pick!
Is it true that Larry Hama wrote everyone who wrote in to the G. I. JOE letters page a personal postcard response (unless they sent hate mail or a no-prize request)?
I asked Larry Hama about it and here is what he had to say:
No, not EVERYONE. I got hundreds of letters a week. And I read them all. I answered something like 20 or 30 letters a week with a short personalized sentence or two on postcards that Marvel had printed up for that purpose. I also sent out no=prizes when they were deserved. I answered the letters that actually posed questions or pointed out something interesting. At least 50% of letters are “print trollers” or people who have a form complimentary letter that they send to every title to try to get their name into a letters page. “I really liked issue #______ of ________! It was excellent! I liked it when _________ fought ___________! That was so cool!” Those, and the nasty hate letters got thrown out. If somebody had legitimate criticism and wasn’t being a jerk about it, I sent them a reply.
I'm really enjoying the 'previous version restore' (the very opposite of a reboot) he's doing now. Well once the Joes stopped shooting policemen in the face that is.
Written by Russian/Soviet scholar Andrei Lankov, who studied North Korea before the collapse of the Soviet Union, North of the DMZ is a collection of essays on aspects of daily life in the closed and secretive society. Since most of his scholarship is from the 80s parts are dated but it makes a great set with Nothing to Envy to really capture the world behind the parades and military bluster.
It's about as alien a society as you can find on Earth, and Lankov manages to bring us hard information and explain it well. That's why this is your 5 Star pick of the day.
'Make me a happy monkey' A documentary by the Ventriloquist/Comedian Nina Conti. Its really interesting and incredibly personal, she is very revealing about herself. Its funny and very moving. Definitely worth checking out.
Second best was the new Adaptation of 'Coriolanus' by Ralph Fiennes. It's not necessarily the best shakespeare play as the principle character is in too many scenes but when it is performed with the gravitas of Mr Fiennes its pretty explosive stuff. Oh and the modernisation of the play is superbly done.
Paraphrasing, but they have at least this one interaction, just off the top of my head.
Not to mention the scene in which Donny dies, The Dude and Walter have an exchange wether Donny has been shot, and no shots were fired, must be a heart attack.
Not to mention the scene in which Donny dies, The Dude and Walter have an exchange wether Donny has been shot, and no shots were fired, must be a heart attack.
First let me just say that I don't believe the theory, but in all fairness in that scene where Donny dies Walter first says " we got a man down dude" and the dude says " was he shot" almost like he was playing along with crazy Walter.
While Benny Goodman's version is fantastic, the fifth star IMO belongs to the man who wrote the song, Louis Prima. Best known for voicing King Louie in Disney's Jungle Book, Louis was a Sicilian trumpet player from New Orleans. The David Lee Roth version of Just a Giggilo/I Ain't got no Body? Note for note from Louis Prima's version.
Louis also did the first version of this song:
covered by Brian Setzer and his orchestra...
As an aside in the movie Cobb, when Ty Cobb goes to Reno, it is Louis Prima that he goes to see...
Not even just Johnny Bravo, CN back in the 90's period.
Was channel surfing and found it on Boomerang. Watched it for an hour and started to remember how great cartoons were back when I was a kid, and how well they've aged. Most of the jokes are still pretty good.
Iur_tae_mont wrote:My first 5 star pick would have to be....
Not even just Johnny Bravo, CN back in the 90's period.
Was channel surfing and found it on Boomerang. Watched it for an hour and started to remember how great cartoons were back when I was a kid, and how well they've aged. Most of the jokes are still pretty good.
It is. Finally saw it for the first time last year, which is a downright sin for s cinaphile. I kept hoping I'd catch it on a big screen, but I got out of the habit of going into the city to the art theaters. So worth it; even on a smaller screen.
that you have to admire the actor's performance for moving me to such loathing. If I ever met him, I wouldn't know whether to throttle him or shake his hand. Possibly both...
