Wanted: Your Media Recommendations

[Recidiva]

Literoticans!

I've gotten some great recommendations in the past from folks here, books, movies, websites, podcasts...

Let me know what your favorite stuff is and hopefully I can check it out and agree.

Stuff I love:

Joss Whedon - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity
House
Supernatural
The Tick
Kids in the Hall

Stuff I hate:

Joss Whedon - Dollhouse
Crash
The Help
Breaking Bad
Mad Men
Ulysses
Catcher in the Rye

Obviously there's lots of stuff to like and lots of stuff to hate. I gave examples of stuff that did well critically. Lots of stuff I hate is massively critically acclaimed and I'd rather slit my throat than be in the same room with it. Avoid the soul crushing if at all possible. I don't need art to show me how life sucks. I know life sucks. I prefer the inspirational. House would appear to be the exception, but it's really not. That's a knowledge and wit based show and having a horrible lead character doesn't matter because Hugh Laurie rocks.

Some recommendations of my own:

Podcast - Caustic Soda
Book - Barry Hughart - "The Chronicles of Master Li and Number 10 Ox" (blessings be to Tortoise for giving me this absolute gem)
TV - Cowboy Bebop
Movie - Strictly Ballroom

My choice for the one book I would have on a desert island for entertainment: "The Windflower" by Sharon and Tom Curtis - a romance novel. Now c'mon folks and get that on Kindle guys. I don't want to have to type it out myself, but I'm about to do so.

 

[JohnnySavage]

I'm a fan of historical fiction and just read "An Odor of Sanctity" by Frank Yerby.


Born a Christian nobleman, Alaric Teudisson was raised amid the raging violence of ninth-century Spain. Swordsman, lover, his enemies thirsted for his blood the way women coveted his heart. But to love a man like Alaric was to court destruction. Jimena, the fabulously wealthy Moorish heiress, agreed to a devil's bargain for a night with him, and lovely, high-born Clothilde who became his wife was driven to a life of base harlotry in Spain. As worshiped as he was feared, he blazed his way to infamy and glory in a life of impossible dreams and magnificent obsessions!

Amazon


I found it in a box of books I inherited 20 years ago, and it was the best read of the year so far.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

Stuff I love:

The Tick

You rock.

Stuff I hate:

Breaking Bad

Blasphemy.

Do you like anime or is Cowboy Bebop a one shot?

 

[Recidiva]

I'm a fan of historical fiction and just read "An Odor of Sanctity" by Frank Yerby.


Born a Christian nobleman, Alaric Teudisson was raised amid the raging violence of ninth-century Spain. Swordsman, lover, his enemies thirsted for his blood the way women coveted his heart. But to love a man like Alaric was to court destruction. Jimena, the fabulously wealthy Moorish heiress, agreed to a devil's bargain for a night with him, and lovely, high-born Clothilde who became his wife was driven to a life of base harlotry in Spain. As worshiped as he was feared, he blazed his way to infamy and glory in a life of impossible dreams and magnificent obsessions!

Amazon


I found it in a box of books I inherited 20 years ago, and it was the best read of the year so far.

Done. Amazon has it.

Have I mentioned that I love Amazon?

Diana Gabaldon does good historical fiction. I love her "Outlander" series. A surprising amount of romances end up being pretty good with the research.

I just donated an embarrassing amount of romance novels and kept an even more embarrassing amount I couldn't do without.

 

[JohnnySavage]

Done. Amazon has it.

Have I mentioned that I love Amazon?

Diana Gabaldon does good historical fiction. I love her "Outlander" series. A surprising amount of romances end up being pretty good with the research.

I just donated an embarrassing amount of romance novels and kept an even more embarrassing amount I couldn't do without.

I'll look forward to your opinion. I had never heard of Yerby before, but found several of his books in my grandmother's stuff. I was a bit surprised she was reading such saucy material!

 

[Recidiva]

You rock.




Blasphemy.

Do you like anime or is Cowboy Bebop a one shot?

We just bought The Tick on Amazon Prime (and I highly recommend the Roku) and giggled our way through it. I was surprised to see that the guy who originally wrote The Tick is a producer on "Supernatural" - no wonder I love his stuff. My husband and I tend to use the catchphrase of "Wanty! Definitely wanty!" to indicate neediness. More giggles ensue.

I know I'm blasphemous. I'm admitting it up front so it won't come as a surprise. There are a lot of particular reasons why I might love some piece of fluffy crap but despise something more critically acclaimed and I'll at least say so up front. Some of my favorite people in the world have suggested stuff I can't stand.

Cowboy Bebop is not necessarily one shot. I'm a gamer nerd and I'm certainly open to Anime, but I haven't found anything else as good. Bobobo Bobobobo has got to be up there on the list of awesome. But it's got to be funny and witty. I did try stuff like "Ghost in the Machine" and I think you just have to really be terribly serious but fascinated by boobs. I am neither.

 

[Recidiva]

I'll look forward to your opinion. I had never heard of Yerby before, but found several of his books in my grandmother's stuff. I was a bit surprised she was reading such saucy material!

There seems to be a lot of his stuff on Amazon, so I'll happily browse my way through. Looks like the paperbacks involve more expense in shipping than otherwise.

Saucy is good!

I'm a fan of fairly cheap romance and equally cheap horror. Both seem to be willing to have fun and not take themselves too damned seriously.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

We just bought The Tick on Amazon Prime (and I highly recommend the Roku) and giggled our way through it. I was surprised to see that the guy who originally wrote The Tick is a producer on "Supernatural" - no wonder I love his stuff. My husband and I tend to use the catchphrase of "Wanty! Definitely wanty!" to indicate neediness. More giggles ensue.

I know I'm blasphemous. I'm admitting it up front so it won't come as a surprise. There are a lot of particular reasons why I might love some piece of fluffy crap but despise something more critically acclaimed and I'll at least say so up front. Some of my favorite people in the world have suggested stuff I can't stand.

Cowboy Bebop is not necessarily one shot. I'm a gamer nerd and I'm certainly open to Anime, but I haven't found anything else as good. Bobobo Bobobobo has got to be up there on the list of awesome. But it's got to be funny and witty. I did try stuff like "Ghost in the Machine" and I think you just have to really be terribly serious but fascinated by boobs. I am neither.

Gotcha. I have Netflix and there is a 6 part anime (for the mature audience) called Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne which I thought was excellent but YMMV. There be boobies but I considered it icing on the cake.

Not anime but I also enjoyed Archer.

Movie - 2009 The Smell of Success. Funny (I thought) with a considerable amount of poo humor. And one or two interesting pieces of info at the end.

 

[Soulen]

the walking dead

the boy in the striped pajamas
grave of the fireflies
old yeller
the lovely bones
vanilla sky

planes trains and automobiles
there's something about mary
national lampoons christmas vacation
mallrats

 

[Recidiva]

Gotcha. I have Netflix and there is a 6 part anime (for the mature audience) called Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne which I thought was excellent but YMMV. There be boobies but I considered it icing on the cake.

Not anime but I also enjoyed Archer.

Movie - 2009 The Smell of Success. Funny (I thought) with a considerable amount of poo humor. And one or two interesting pieces of info at the end.

I had Netflix. The weirdness with their prices and then the creepy emo letter from their CEO made me cancel.

Amazon has Rin, first season for $8 so I'll give it a try. I don't mind boobs at all. I just don't like them to be the main story.

I might try Archer, but every commercial for the show just made me sad for brain cells. I have trouble laughing AT things. I like to laugh WITH things. Makes it hard.

I watch "The Morning After" on Hulu and I love them, and they love Archer, but still...I'm afraid.

 

[Recidiva]

the walking dead

the boy in the striped pajamas
grave of the fireflies
old yeller
the lovely bones
vanilla sky

planes trains and automobiles
there's something about mary
national lampoons christmas vacation
mallrats

I adored the first season of "The Walking Dead" and mocked my way through the second. That's what happens when you fire the writers. Now they're doing the first season in black and white and tagging them on my DVR as "new" and I think that's just obnoxious.

I've seen all of those except pajamas and grave. I'll check them out, thanks!

 

[Recidiva]

Random Musing:

I do not understand anything with Jonah Hill. He has no talent and I get the idea I'm supposed to be amused at his presence, which makes me unhappy. Example: Moneyball. How can you take something fascinating like comparative economic theory (See Freakonomics) and make it so lifeless and boring. Fail.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Michael Lewis wrote MONEYBALL.

 

[Recidiva]

Michael Lewis wrote MONEYBALL.

Get Stephen Dubner instead, please.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I liked Lewis' THE BIG SHORT.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Literoticans!

I've gotten some great recommendations in the past from folks here, books, movies, websites, podcasts...

Let me know what your favorite stuff is and hopefully I can check it out and agree.

Stuff I love:

Joss Whedon - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity

Great taste. Fantastic, really.

House

Up to the end of season 4.

Stuff I hate:

Joss Whedon - Dollhouse

Had potential...

Breaking Bad

omg!! What's wrong with you? Best thing on TV!

Mad Men

Yeah, it's been talked up by people whose opinions I value, but I just can't see why it's interesting to them.

Obviously there's lots of stuff to like and lots of stuff to hate. I gave examples of stuff that did well critically. Lots of stuff I hate is massively critically acclaimed and I'd rather slit my throat than be in the same room with it. Avoid the soul crushing if at all possible. I don't need art to show me how life sucks. I know life sucks. I prefer the inspirational. House would appear to be the exception, but it's really not. That's a knowledge and wit based show and having a horrible lead character doesn't matter because Hugh Laurie rocks.

You just contradicted yourself.

House is exactly the show that you would rather slit your throat than be in a room with.

If you find that inspirational, then you have no idea what you'll like until you get involved with it. I think you just admire intelligence, so I'll base my recommendations on that.

Some recommendations of my own:

Podcast - Caustic Soda
Book - Barry Hughart - "The Chronicles of Master Li and Number 10 Ox" (blessings be to Tortoise for giving me this absolute gem)
TV - Cowboy Bebop
Movie - Strictly Ballroom

Strange brew, but thanks...

My choice for the one book I would have on a desert island for entertainment: "The Windflower" by Sharon and Tom Curtis - a romance novel. Now c'mon folks and get that on Kindle guys. I don't want to have to type it out myself, but I'm about to do so.

The one book I would take is Allen & Greenough's New Latin Grammar. I'm rusty as an old gate. But, clearly, that's not for everyone.

For anyone else, probably the Bhagavad Gita, but only the Radhakrishnan translation. The rest, but for one, suck.

 

[Recidiva]

I liked Lewis' THE BIG SHORT.

Cool. I see that and I can get it on Kindle.

Did you read Boomerang? I got the audio version and it was awesome. Good book with a great narrator.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Get Stephen Dubner instead, please.

I like FREAKONOMICS.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Cool. I see that and I can get it on Kindle.

Did you read Boomerang? I got the audio version and it was awesome. Good book with a great narrator.

No. I have a large stack of books I'm wading through. But I made a note to get a copy of BOMERANG.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Blasphemy.

I know, right?

I would not have expected that.

 

[MonaLittle]

Really? You don't like Mad Men? It's 1950's Americana at it's finest.
I love that show. I am just catching up on it and have just finished season 2.

 

[Recidiva]

Great taste. Fantastic, really.

Up to the end of season 4.

Had potential...

omg!! What's wrong with you? Best thing on TV!

Yeah, it's been talked up by people whose opinions I value, but I just can't see why it's interesting to them.

You just contradicted yourself.

House is exactly the show that you would rather slit your throat than be in a room with.

If you find that inspirational, then you have no idea what you'll like until you get involved with it. I think you just admire intelligence, so I'll base my recommendations on that.

Strange brew, but thanks...

The one book I would take is Allen & Greenough's New Latin Grammar. I'm rusty as an old gate. But, clearly, that's not for everyone.

For anyone else, probably the Bhagavad Gita, but only the Radhakrishnan translation. The rest, but for one, suck.

But at the end of every House episode, except for or two...the patient is saved, at least physically. The medical information, although spotty, is always fun for me. I'm a documentary addict and it's the same as "Mystery Diagnosis" for me - facts in story form. And again...Hugh Laurie is incredible. It does have humor and viewpoints and contrast, unlike other series that are just one unending streak of gray or black with no contradiction. Ever.

I've tried Breaking Bad twice. Once on my own and now Ulaven is watching it, and about five minutes into the episode, I block the TV and turn on an audio book. I do adore Bryan Cranston and his performance, but I have zero sympathy or interest in any of the characters because they're so unbelievably unsympathetic. I've tried Mad Men twice also. Same thing. Excellent performances, but it's just not entertaining or interesting for me. It's one note pounded over and over without pacing or story. Just soul death.

I have the Bhaghavad Gita on my Kindle and I re-read it every year or so as well. It's nice to carry around that, the Bible, the Book of Mormon and The Koran and have it be weightless.

An excellent author of the spiritual is Charlotte Joko Beck, an American Zen author. I reread her all the time. Favorites are "Nothing Special" and "Everyday Zen." She's extraordinary.

I'll check out the Grammar. Sounds like the stuff I read, rusty gate notwithstanding.

 

[Recidiva]

I like FREAKONOMICS.

I love their books and I subscribe to their podcast. It's nice to live in a world with folks that think like that.

 

[Recidiva]

No. I have a large stack of books I'm wading through. But I made a note to get a copy of BOMERANG.

Oh, cool. I hope you like it. It looks like the same subject as the book you recommended, but in a global viewpoint. It's a tour of the world's worst financial policies in the past years.

 

[Byron In Exile]

I adored the first season of "The Walking Dead"

Something else my friends like that I don't get.

I loved Rodriguez' Planet Terror, though.