50 Books. 50 Movies. 1 Year (2014).

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TestMonkey said:
TestMonkey - 50/50 Books | 50/50 Movies​


Challenge complete. I'm gonna get my totals up to 52 each and then reread and rewatch some stuff. Next year is gonna be tough because I'm gonna be out of series to read.
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The annual tradition of you dominating this challenge continue.

Congratulations, TestMonkey!

I've been on a military trip for the past two weeks, so I've knocked out a ton of movies. Now that I'm home, I need to get back to reading Raymond Chandler.
 
It took me 8 months of on-again off-again reading and also a typhoon keeping me in the house with a data cap but I finally finished Moby Dick. From hell's heart, I stab at thee! What wond'rous storytelling and what irritatingly long and boring set-up. I sure know more about whaling though.
 
Some of you guys are crazy fast.

Best case scenario for me is to finish in November. Most likely I will take the entire 12 months though!

I suppose I would be further along on the book count if I counted comics/graphic novels and long books as two entries, but even then movies would be holding me back.
 
lastflowers said:
what do you mean by minors/majors?
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From the OP:

Tragicomedy said:
Majors & Minors:
  • Do you like a particular author? Does a certain director’s work interest you? Big fan of our scientologist in chief, Tom Cruise? Consider embarking on a more thorough journey through their output in the form of a major or minor.
  • Major: All of one person’s body of work or 6+ of their works if they’re more prolific. You can also consume 6+ works on a particular theme.
  • Minor: At least half of one person’s body of work or 3+ of their works. You can also consume 3+ works on a particular theme.
  • Feel free to get creative on this front and share your goals with others. You can declare your majors/minors now. You can wait until you progress further to see what might interest you more. You can skip this step altogether.
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I don't think I've seen anybody declare himself/herself pursuing one in this thread
 

Books​
  • Norwegian Wood (1987), Haruki Murakami - ★★★½ - A story about love from our time. There's the usual Murakami on display with the pop-culture references that anchors the story in a larger context. What's missing is the fantastic and the sacred. It's really good for what it is, I just expected even more.

Also, gz on the 50/50-titles lastflower and TestMonkey!
 
Guamu said:
From the OP:



I don't think I've seen anybody declare himself/herself pursuing one in this thread
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herp derp, wasn't expecting to be in the OT.

My goal was to read Pynchon's novels and PKD's novels.

For Pynchon:
  • V
  • The Crying of Lot 49
  • Gravity's Rainbow
  • Slow Learner
  • Vineland
  • Bleeding Edge
  • (Reread) 1/2 of Inherent Vice (started it alongside Bleeding Edge at the beginning)
  • (Reread) Mason & Dixon
  • (criticism of Pynchon) David Cowart - Thomas Pynchon & the Dark Passages of History

I'm going to finish Pynchon off with reading Against the Day sometime soon.

For PKD:
  • The Man in the High Castle
  • Ubik
  • The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
  • (Reread) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  • A Maze of Death
  • Valis

I"ve got a couple more on the docket for him as well


I'll do a minor of Le Carre. Finished two of his novels this week and have two more, Tinker Tailor... and A Most Wanted Man. His novels are pretty quick to read. They tie in well with the Pynchon theme of paranoia, though his protagonists are on the other side of the equation.

I'll probably also complete a Major of Lethem. I started reading a couple of his novels before Jan 1st, and purchased his bibliography with the intent on finishing it up.

  • Fortress of Solitude
  • Motherless Brooklyn
  • You don't love me yet
  • The Disappointment Artist (small essay book)

I've got three or so more that I'll finish this year as well. His novels are quick.


I've got a couple more delillo I'd like to read, along with a reread of Underworld. Along with Pynchon, he's a writer that most speaks to the American 'spirit'. Ratner's Star, End Zone, and Great Jones Street helped me finish up most of his oeuvre. Some odds and ends left to complete with him.

After the above, I might go on a Dickens spree of the lesser read books. Previously read Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Copperfield....but not the others. Hard Times, Pickwick Papers, Martin Chuzzlewit interest me quite a bit.



Primarily my goal this year was to look at American authors, and to chronicle more the history of the American novel through time. How our history and culture is represented in the 'great' novels, and how it rebels against the current government. Pynchon, P.K.D, and McCarthy are incredibly interesting in the latter, while Delillo its often a side result of chronicling the 'mindset'.
 
Tragicomedy said:
I'm certain Kinoki is rocking H. P. Lovecraft and Oscar Wilde degrees by now.
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That reminds me what I need to get back to. Still have a few stories left to read from both of them. Been doing a Murasaki & GRRM thing now with some other required reading stuff inbetween.

Tragicomedy said:
A Scanner Darkly! You know what you must do.
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I'll add: Time Out of Joint, Counter-Clock World and Confessions of a Crap Artist to the PKD reading.
 
July update:

Another late update. Yay. I've been pretty busy at work lately, so it's a miracle I was even able to read and watch as many items as I did. That said, I think I read a ton of great books this month, probably the best month of reading I've done in a while.

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

I follow my own personal 4 star scale:

★★★★ = Timeless Masterpiece
★★★ = Buy
★★ = Rent/Borrow
★ = Avoid

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

ridley182 - 23/50 Books | 97/50 Movies


Books:

Something Wicked This Way Comes ★★★
Fight Club ★★★
The Stranger &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; < Favorite Book of the Month
Slaughterhouse Five &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;


Movies:

Snowpiercer &#9733;&#9733;
Clue &#9733;&#9733;
To Kill A Mockingbird &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
Grizzly Man &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
V for Vendetta &#9733;&#9733;
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes &#9733;&#9733;
Stalker &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
Wayne's World &#9733;
The Mummy &#9733;&#9733;
Boyhood &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; < Favorte Movie of the Month
Young Frankenstein &#9733;&#9733;
Enemy &#9733;&#9733;
Weekend At Bernie's &#9733;&#9733;
The Purge: Anarchy &#9733;
The Holy Mountain &#9733;&#9733;

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

Favorite Book - July: The Stranger

I really loved this book even though, based on the reviews for the version I read at least, it's one of the worst translations that exist for it. I will definitely hunt down one of these "superior" translations next year and re-read it. I also loved it despite the fact that it was basically *ahem* "preaching to the choir" in my case :P (or maybe that's the reason I loved it :O)


Favorite Movie - July: Boyhood

I think Stalker is arguably the best movie I saw this month, but Boyhood affected me a little bit more on a personal level. Also, I went into Stalker knowing that it's one of the all time greats, while I expected Boyhood to be underwhelming as heck, mostly because I didn't believe the "shot over 12 years" part was more than just a gimmick. Man was I wrong. It turned out to be one of the best coming-of-age movies I've ever seen.
 
lastflowers said:
Already read A Scanner Darkly (when the movie was announced) and The Crack in Space years ago. I'll take these into consideration though :)
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Oh, and if you're reading PKD and want to read what's essential to the mythos and black iron prison you also need to read Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.
 
50 books

- The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
- Lord Arthur Savile's Crime - Oscar Wilde &#9733;&#9733;
-Model Millionaire - Oscar Wilde &#9733;&#9733;1/2
-Slaughterhouse-Five -Kurt Vonnegut &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; I don't know what the fuck I just read but it was entertaining
-Slash - Slash/Anthony Bozza &#9733;&#9733;1/2 (10/09/2014)
 

Movies
Joe &#9733;&#9733;
Kick-Ass 2 &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
Divergent &#9733;&#9733;
Enemy &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;½

For books, I'm in the middle of reading Console Wars by Blake J. Harris. I picked this up the day it came out but am just now getting to it. I am absolutely loving it. Very well written. Reads like fiction, which is how I like my non-fiction. Definitely enjoying this a lot better than I did with Extra Lives, which was pretty disappointing.
 
You guys enjoying PKD, give Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem a shot. It's incredibly influenced by PKD. Lethem's first novel Gun, With Occasional Music is as well (a mix of PKD and hard boiled detective).

Lethem's the editor on the PKD Library of America books, and has written extensively on his influence of PKD/Chandler/Comics. I imagine most of you who like PKD would enjoy his early stuff.
 
lastflowers said:
You guys enjoying PKD, give Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem a shot. It's incredibly influenced by PKD. Lethem's first novel Gun, With Occasional Music is as well (a mix of PKD and hard boiled detective).

Lethem's the editor on the PKD Library of America books, and has written extensively on his influence of PKD/Chandler/Comics. I imagine most of you who like PKD would enjoy his early stuff.
Click to expand...

I just read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, my first ever PKD novel and absolutely loved it. Might go to B&N this weekend and raid the stock of PKD books.

Would Lethem be in Sci Fi or General Fiction?
 
TheWarrior said:
I just read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, my first ever PKD novel and absolutely loved it. Might go to B&N this weekend and raid the stock of PKD books.

Would Lethem be in Sci Fi or General Fiction?
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Lethem is general fiction. He gathered his own voice after the first couple of novels and mostly dropped the sci-fi trappings.
 
Trying my first ever audio book at the moment - American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Listened to about an hour so far. Loving the story, not sure about the audio book concept yet
 
finished the 50 books part about a month ago, currently in the 30s for movies, also listened to about 150 new albums this year, will update my original post later.

2 recent book standouts:
what we talk about when we talk about love (carver, 1981)
if on a winter's night a traveler (calvino, 1979)

2 recent movie standouts:
her (2013)
edge of tomorrow (2015)...though i can also see how this movie would lose about 75 million dollars :/
 
choodi said:
Trying my first ever audio book at the moment - American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Listened to about an hour so far. Loving the story, not sure about the audio book concept yet
Click to expand...

I have found that it can be very easy to get distracted. Also found that I don't like the readings that have huge amounts of "performing"
 

Movies​
  • Napoleon Dynamite (2004, dir. Jared Hess) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - The only other Hess movie I've seen is Gentlemen Broncos, a movie while not good in the tradtional sense, still manages to make me laugh. This is the same. The dance routine (that I've seen countless times in World of Warcraft) still knocks it out of the park. Same with the absurd prom.
  • Robots (2005, dir. Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha) - &#9733;&#9733;½ - Uninspired with some clever design. Robin Williams does a wonderful comedic sidekick that has a lot of fun to do... :(

Games​
  • The Last of Us: Remastered - Left Behind [PS4] (2014, dev. Naughty Dog) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;½ - Left Behind is what I expected from a expansion of the original game. Its heart is in the right place: it's more focused on narrative than action. It's all fine but it's not the No Country for Old Men-style action that the main game delivered.
  • The Last of Us: Remastered - Factions [PS4] (2014, dev. Naughty Dog) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - Controversial that I'm rating this as a seperate game, perhaps. I've spent a dozen or so hours with it. It's a great game in its own right and can be one of the most intense experiences to be had. I never played the PS3-version due to the crummy visuals but this presentation is sublime. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys action multiplayer.
  • Candy Crush Saga [iOS] (2012, dev. King) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - Okay, my girlfriend tricked me into it. It's good and I can see what makes it addicting. I'm glad my keen senses and being forever numbed by Tiny Tower allows me to keep playtime rationed. It'll certainly help lull the time while my PS4 is away being fixed due to a faulty disc drive.
  • Magicka [PC] (2011, dev. Arrowhead Game Studios) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;½ - Some great fun to be had. Being Swedish I'm also in on the dunka-dunka-jokes. Playing with the right people you can create some wonderful intended accidental friendly griefing.
  • P.T. Demo [PS4] (2014, dev. 7780s Studio) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - Best horror game in a long while. Silent Hills can't come soon enough. Last generation one of my favorite games was Linger in Shadows and this "demo" is akin to that game and is in itself such an amazing experience it deserves to be branded its own game.

Reading's been a bit slow this week due to my girlfriend moving back in with me. Haven't had time for anything expect trying to catch up. Clash of Swords is just a weight in my bag. Hohokum and Metal Gear Solid V: Grounds Zeroes are waiting for me once my PS4 gets back to me. Started up Twilight Princess too. This PS4lessness is really getting to me.
 

Books​
  • A Storm of Swords, Part 1: Steel and Snow (2000), George R.R. Martin - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;½ - These do not exist in a context. The context is that there are about 2000 pages standing between me and A Dance with Dragons. It's all great reading but it's a lot of reading. And by gosh, the red wedding is pretty well forshadowed through the entire book. Ok, onwards to part 2.
  • The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye (2004), Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - This marks a first. I've never read a graphic novel before. I wanted to but never really took that final step. I like it. The drawings are kind of rough but I like that it's not coloured. The characters have less visual personality than their teevee counterparts. Rick seems devoid of it in the comics. Let's see where this goes.
  • Sputnik Sweetheart (1999), Haruki Murakami - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - This is a pretty standard Murakami book. The usual mix of the pop culture references, the mundane and the fantastic. It's almost Murakami-light. I hate that I just wrote that too. It's a good book and is filled with wonderful characters and their stories. 1Q84 and Kafka on the Shore are just superiour works.

Movies​
  • The Fisher King (1991, dir. Terry Gilliam) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;½ - Gilliam is always interesting and like everyone else I'm cathing up on my R.W. so this seemed just like the right thing. I'm kind of ashamed that I never really heard of the legend before this, need to do some reading about it. Concerning the movie: Gilliam does what he does best and Williams gives a really good performance. It's hard to un-see The Dude in Bridges' performance but it doesn't detract.

There you have it: 50 & 50. :D

A step up from last years 23 books and 92 movies. Now to see how much I can surpass this. I still have a pile of 14 books on my coffee table that begs to be read plus some books I need to read for my various studies this autumn. Not to mention the plays by Oscar Wilde and I still have a compendium of Lovecraft novellas and short stories.
 
Movies i have easily surpassed my quota but books i'm only up to 10 :/. So much harder to find new books and get the time to read them. Guess i better get onto that!
 
I've updated my post with what I've watched/read, but I don't have anything much to say about them. While trying to get through some long books, I have read first novels that were released free on Kindle, with varying success. :/ Some people should stop writing.
 
A Human Becoming - 8/50 Books | 20/50 Movies

Books

  • Your Life Can Be Better: using strategies for Adult ADD/ADHD - August 26th: &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
I was diagnosed with ADD in 2008, but never focused on it until this book. Unable to keep up with my reading assignments in the spring semester I knew I needed to change. It made me acknowledge how it affects my ability to read, especially regarding the goal of this thread. Now I have some techniques that should make completion more probable next year.
 
Congrats on everyone who has finished already.
I guess I'm going to be - hopefully - finished by the last day of the year.
 
Tragicomedy - 42/50 Books | 47/50 Movies

One day away from the August update, so please get those lists up to date.

The highlights for me this month were:

Book: Terry Pratchett - Guards! Guards! (1989) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - Pretty much a perfect book in every which way. Humorous, charming, and self-aware. I've read nine Discworld books so far and this is by far the best.

Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - A close friend with tons of insider Hollywood information told me that Marvel/Disney is going to release a new franchise with a ton of unproven actors, a wrestler, and a talking raccoon. He says it's going to do gangbusters. Usually pretty reliable on his info, so I guess we'll see.
 
September Update: TestMonkey - 56/50 Books | 56/50 Movies

Books
  • Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
  • Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
  • The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez
  • Inferno by Dan Brown
  • Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut - I put off reading this way too long. Had some really powerful sections. The "if you're so smart, why ain't you rich" section was insightful.
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  • The Silver Spike by Glen Cook
Movies
  • Lewis Black: Old Yeller: Live at the Borgata
  • D.L. Hughley: Reset
  • Lavell Crawford: Can a Brother Get Some Love?
  • Bigger, Stronger, Faster - A balanced look at the societal impact of steroid usage. Really liked it.
  • Cane Toads: The Conquest
  • Smash & Grab
  • Jim Jefferies: BARE
Finished my Reddit challenge too so I'm gonna slow down the pace a little. Starting up The Brothers Karamazov so that should take a few weeks.
 
I'm not sure which movies were in my last update, so I'll just link my main list here:

Beeblebrox - 7/50 Books | 30/50 Movies

And since most of the new movies I saw were meh to ok to kinda good, I'll just single out Se7en, which was more interesting than most of them, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was the most fun movie I saw in the last couple of months.
 
Maklershed - 30/50 books | 29/50 movies | 15 games

Books
28. Hardwired
29. California
30. Galveston

Movies
28. Marked for Death
29. Beverly Hills Cop II

Games
15. Infamous Second Son (Platinum)
 
Update.



Books:


25. The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; -
26. The Silkworm by JK Rowling - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - A good sequel, but certain aspects of it veer a bit too far into pulp for my taste.
27. Authority by Jeff VanderMeer - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - Solid, but I think I'd rather Annihilation had been a stand alone book.
28. The Maze Runner by James Dashner - &#9733;&#9733; -
29. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner - &#9733;&#9733; -
30. The Death Cure by James Dashner - &#9733;&#9733; -
31. Skin Game by Jim Butcher - &#9733;&#9733; - Opens with a bad gag from a 5 year old episode of The Office. Runs it into the ground throughout the book. And I was tired of the Winter Knight crap before it even started.
​


Movies:


60. Maleficent - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;½ - Worth watching just for Jolie's lovely performance.
61. Confessions Of A Window Cleaner - &#9733;&#9733;
62. Confessions Of A Driving Instructor - &#9733;&#9733;
63. Barquero - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; - Machismo squared.
64. Non-Stop - &#9733;&#9733;½ -
65. 2 Guns - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; -
66. The East - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; -
67. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; -
68. Kick-Ass 2 - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; -
69. The World’s End - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733; -
70. 300: Rise of an Empire - &#9733;&#9733;½ - Disappointing.
71. Transformers: Age of Extinction - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
72. Into the Storm - &#9733;&#9733; - Syfy Twister sequel
73. About Time - &#9733;&#9733;½ - Cloying. YOLO
74. Up in the Air - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
75. Trainwreck: My Life as an Idoit - ½
76. Rush - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;
77. Need for Speed - &#9733;&#9733; - Straight to DVD Fast and the Furious
78. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - &#9733; - 40 watts of crap.
79. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - &#9733;½ - Better than the first one. Still awful.
80. Divergent - &#9733;½ - ?? why to everyone involved.
​
 
Somehow I got to the 33 books read marker, I don't know how I accomplished this as I was playing too many games. I'll do a proper update soon, but I'll probably quit books once I read through Wizard's First Rule. Gonna be an Officer Barbrady situation!

I'll do a proper update soon.
 
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