Jump to content

Velox

Premier Retired Staff
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,319

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Velox

  1. Velox

    Top Ten Books of 2014

    By Velox,

    And now for my favorite top ten list—books! So this was a really great year for me, reading-wise, as I (somehow) managed to more than double the amount of books I read in 2013 for a total of 121 books. Granted, a lot of those were graphic novels or other short books, but still. And so picking a top ten was hard as I had about 40 books that I rated 5 stars. So I’ve grouped some together and also made separate lists for novels and graphic novels.
     
    Note: These lists are for books I’ve read in 2014, and has nothing to do with release dates. Unfortunately I only read a couple 2014 releases or so (though I am currently reading The Martian, by Andy Weir, which came out in 2014 and is great so far)
     

    Top Ten Novels of 2014


    Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. This book is long and dense, but definitely worth it.
    The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I was expecting to not like this as much, as it’s always been described as basically “a history book of the elves” and, well, I always hated reading history books for school (history is fascinating, but the textbooks on it less so). =P And yes, it is a history of the elves, but written exceedingly well (I mean, it is Tolkien) and not text-book-y. This book was just so interesting, and I really look forward to re-reading it someday.
    Stardust, Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book, Coraline, and Fortunately, the Milk, all by Neil Gaiman. So sort of cheating here, but every single one of his books is absolutely fantastic, and I read all of these this year. My favorite is probably The Graveyard Book, but as I said, each was amazing. Gaiman is definitely one of my all-time favorite authors.
    The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker. I’d heard so much about this, and it really lived up to all the hype. To put simply, it was really beautifully written, and simply reading each word was just as enjoyable as the plot and characters.
    Skin Game, by Jim Butcher. Butcher is another favorite author of mine, and the Dresden Files is one of my all-time favorite series. They seem to just keep getting better and better, and Skin Game was no different.
    The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud. Can’t wait to read the prequel book, The Ring of Solomon, as this was one of the best series/trilogies I’ve read. The footnotes by Bartimaeus were hilarious.
    A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin. Well, of course. This series is fantastic, and I finally got around to reading the latest novel early last year. Can’t wait for Winds of Winter.
    Einstein’s Dreams, by Alan Lightman. This was just an incredibly interesting read, focusing on the dreams of Einstein as he’s forming his theory of relativity. Really brilliant, not only being fascinating in itself, but also making you think and ponder about it.
    The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. Hilarious and exceedingly fun. Highly recommended to any fan of the film.
    The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My favorite Sherlock Holmes “book” (counting each collection of short stories as well as the four novels as individual books), as it contains the most of my favorite stories: “A Scandal in Bohemia”, “The Red-Headed League”, and “The Speckled Band”, plus I enjoyed all the others.

    Honorable Mentions: A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle; Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card; and The Fault in our Stars, by John Green.
     

    ~ :: ~


     
    I’m really saddened it’s taken me so long to read a lot of these, but I really only got into graphic novels and comics fairly recently (basically at the beginning of 2014 when I read Hush and fell in love with them—I’d only read a few here and there before), unfortunately. Better late than never, I suppose.
     

    Top Ten Graphic Novels of 2014


    Watchmen, by Alan Moore. Without a doubt the best graphic novel I’ve read, and one of the best books I’ve read period.
    The Sandman series, by Neil Gaiman. There’s a reason this series is so highly praised, and that’s because it’s fantastic. Tied for my two favorite books would be Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes, and Vol. 4: Season of Mists, followed closely by Vol. 7: Brief Lives because of how hilarious and fun-to-read Delirium is. I've been buying the single issues of Overture (with the Dave McKean covers ^^), but haven't read them yet as I was hoping they'd get on a more regular release schedule first, but it looks like that may not happen...so I'll probably just start reading them soon.
    The New 52 Batman, by Scott Snyder (this being The Court of Owls, The City of Owls, Death of the Family, Zero Year – Secret City, and Zero Year – Dark City, all of which I read this year). I’ve rated every one 5 stars, as Snyder really is an amazing writer and is doing such a great job with Batman. Can’t wait to see how Endgame plays out.
    Batman: Hush, by Jeph Loeb. Just such a great stand-alone Batman story, and it's the one that got me really interested in comics in general. Can't wait to read The Long Halloween, also by Loeb.
    Batman: Arkham Asylum – A Serious House on Serious Earth, by Grant Morrison. First off, the art for this, by Dave McKean, is absolutely amazing, and fits the story perfectly. The story itself is fantastically dark and creepy.
    Deadpool: The Complete Collection – Volume 1, by Daniel Way. Just a blast. I recently picked up the other three volumes of Daniel Way’s run, and can’t wait to read them. Deadpool really is a hilarious character (can’t wait for the film, especially if it’s anything like that leaked clip, as that’s very close to the Deadpool in Way’s comics).
    Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon, by Matt Fraction. It's really fun to see Hawkeye in a non-Avengers setting, and just what his day-to-day life is like--great character.
    Captain America: Winter Soldier, by Ed Brubaker. Captain America is my second favorite superhero (after Batman), and this run was a great read.
    Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid. What was fascinating about this was how all the Justice League members were old, and it was great seeing them have to come back.
    V for Vendetta and Batman: The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore. Moore really is the master of comics, and while not as good as Watchmen in my opinion, still two fantastic books.

    Honorable Mentions: Batman: The Black Mirror, by Scott Snyder; Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller; and Green Arrow—Year One, by Andy Diggle.
     
    Also shout-out to Wytches, by Scott Snyder, and Rocket Raccoon, by Scottie Young, both of which are currently in-progress but absolutely fantastic and would’ve made it on the top ten list otherwise.
  2. Velox
    So after writing up my favorite films of 2014, I thought I'd make a list of the films I'm most excited for this year.
     

    Top Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2015


    Star Wars: The Force Awakens. By far, the film I’m most excited for, no question. The trailer was fantastic, and I love how JJ Abrams captured the look of the original trilogy, while it’s still recognizably Abrams. Cannot wait.
    Avengers: Age of Ultron. Not much needs to be said. I loved the first Avengers (and most of Marvel’s films overall), it’s Joss Whedon again, and the trailer was one of the best trailers I’ve seen.
    American Sniper. This just looks very emotionally powerful. I’ve loved the trailers I’ve seen, and it’s Clint Eastwood. I'm hoping it becomes the next Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down.
    The Hateful Eight. Quentin Tarantino. Another Western. What more needs to be said?
    The Martian. I can only be (cautiously) hopeful for this film. It’s got Ridley Scott (who, while maybe not directing as great of things recently, has directed masterpieces like Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Alien, etc.); Jessica Chastain, Sebastian Stan, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matt Damon, and others as the cast; and Drew Goddard writing. Plus, the novel sounds amazing, and is the #1 most anticipated book for me to read in 2015—I ordered it from B&N a little while ago, and just can't wait (which will of course also affect my anticipation of the film, depending on how much I like it).
    Untitled Cold War Thriller by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg and Hanks team up again for a Cold War spy thriller? Count me in.
    Jurassic World. This could be amazing. Or it could be less so. But I'm hoping it's amazing, and I enjoyed the trailer (though I wish there was less CGI).
    Crimson Peak. I mean, it’s Guillermo del Toro. And Tom Hiddleston/Jessica Chastain. Not a huge horror person, but this looks really good.
    Ant-Man. It’s Marvel. They’ve proven themselves, and while this had a few missteps (losing Edgar Wright, etc.), I’m still excited for it.
    Mad Max: Fury Road. Before the trailer, this wouldn’t’ve been on my list at all, even as an honorable mention. But that trailer blew me away, and this just looks epic. Plus, I love Tom Hardy.

     
    Honorable Mentions (no particular order):
    Silence, by Martin Scorsese (this would probably be much higher on the list if there were a trailer or anything, but since it’s Scorsese, it should be good);
    Spectre, by Sam Mendes (honestly the thing that I'm most excited about for this is that it has Andrew Scott);
    Tomorrowland, by Brad Bird (trailer was great, and I'm a fan of Bird);
    Inside Out, by Pete Doctor (hey, it's Pixar, and the trailers look good--I'm also a little excited for their dinosaur film);
    Kingsman: Secret Service, by Matthew Vaughn (the trailers have me sold on this, plus Vaughn is a good director);
    The Walk, by Robert Zemeckis (trailer was pretty good, Zemeckis+Gordon-Levitt...);
    Chappie, by Neill Blomkamp;
    Pan, by Joe Wright (besides Hugh Jackman, probably the reason I want to see this most is apparently the screenwriter is also going to write the upcoming Wonder Woman film, and I haven't seen anything he's written yet);
    Midnight Special, by Jeff Nichols (loved Mud);
    Fantastic Four, by Josh Trank (kind of? I'm just hoping it's good);
    Mission: Impossible 5, by Christopher McQuarrie;
    Peanuts, by Steve Martino (just out of a small hope it'll live up to some of the original strips/films);
    Mockingjay Part 2, by Francis Lawrence (I suppose. I need to see Part 1 first though);
    Jupiter Ascending, by The Wachowskis (tbh I'm not that excited for it, but there's always the chance it could be just as good as the original Matrix);
    Terminator: Genisys, by Alan Taylor.

    And there's my top 25 picks. Anyone else excited for some of these?
     
    (I think I'm actually more excited for 2016 haha…Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, Civil War, Dr. Strange, Deadpool, probably a new Nolan film [as he’s been doing one every other year], a Star Wars standalone film, X-Men Apocalypse, A Monster Calls, Jungle Book: Origins, maybe the upcoming Sandman film…)
  3. Velox

    Top Ten Films of 2014

    By Velox,

    *blows dust off blog* This might be the first year I've seen over 10 films that came out this year... So here's my favorite picks.
     
     

    Top Ten Films of 2014


    Interstellar. This is by far my favorite film of 2014, and IMO the best-made this year, too (that I've seen). This was an incredibly long film that didn’t feel long to me, and that’s really the best thing. Matthew McConaughey was great, Jessica Chastain was great, Mackenzie Foy was amazing...actually I really enjoyed pretty much all of the actors/actresses. I loved the score. Loved all the practical effects/real locations/lack of CGI (obviously there was some, and the black hole/worm hole looked amazing, but yeah--glad it was only used when necessary, and no green screen). Seeing this in 70mm IMAX at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood was amazing (I had seen it in just a regular theater before, and so glad I saw it again in IMAX). And for the first time it made me incredibly interested in reading a science book (The Science of Interstellar, by Kip Thorne), which I got for Christmas. It also just vitalized my interest in Science Fiction and astrophysics in general.
    Captain America: the Winter Soldier. This is by far the most re-watchable film for me this year. It just never gets old or any less enjoyable, which is just really to the credit of the writers/directors—it holds up under multiple watches. And not only is it an absolutely fantastic comic book film, I just think it’s an amazing film in general (also Sebastian Stan is awesome).
    Gone Girl. I mean, it’s David Fincher—I knew that at the very least, it couldn’t be too bad. =P But the end result was something that I thought was great, harkening back to some of his older films like Se7en or Zodiac. I was not the biggest fan of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and never saw Social Network or Benjamin Button (though House of Cards has been pretty great), but I really enjoyed this. I also really enjoyed Ben Affleck (for the first time as an actor, honestly--I really liked The Town, but I wans't a huge fan of Affleck in that film [never saw Argo]--makes me excited to see him as Batman). Great book, too.
    Fury. This made me actually like Shia LeBeouf, which I never thought I would. And for that reason alone this was a great film. =P But overall I just really enjoyed it, and it makes me even more excited for Suicide Squad, since David Ayer is directing that too.
    The Imitation Game. I was very pleasantly surprised with this. I mean, it had Benedict Cumberbatch, so I was expecting it to be pretty great, but I didn't think it would be quite as enjoyable as it was. Really well-done.
    The LEGO Movie. The film itself says it the best: everything is awesome. Especially LEGO Batman.
    Snowpiercer. This was awesome. I really had no idea what to expect, but with Chris Evans at the lead role I was interested, and certainly not disappointed. Wouldn't have watched it if it wasn't on Netflix, so I'm really glad it was.
    Guardians of the Galaxy. Yeah, this was just a really, really fun film. I don’t at all think this is the “modern Star Wars” as some people are calling it, but it is a great film and very enjoyable.
    Days of Future Past. This might be above GotG, but I haven’t seen it since it came out so I can’t quite remember. But that Quicksilver scene was amazing.
    Maleficent. Another film I was pleasantly surprised about. I liked it. Not amazing, but it was enjoyable.

    Runner-Up: Big Hero 6 (actually probably tied with Maleficent...I guess I'm thinking "which film do I want to see a second time more?" and that's Maleficent right now. But Big Hero 6 is probably the better film)
     
    Other films I’ve seen: Battle of the Five Armies (sigh. Best part of the film was Billy Boyd's "The Last Goodbye" at the end =P), The Amazing Spider-man 2 (sigh), Desolation of Smaug: Extended Edition.
     
    Films I really want to see: Edge of Tomorrow, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Nightcrawler, Birdman, In Your Eyes (it’s on Netflix so I’ll be watching it really soon, and written by Joss Whedon so that's exciting), The Babadook, Locke, John Wick, Into the Woods, Exodus: Gods and Kings (sort of? I mean, it is Ridley Scott and Christian Bale but…I haven’t heard great things about it), The Giver, The Equalizer, The Theory of Everything, and Mockingjay Part 1.
     
    And because I don't think it warrants a separate blog entry... Favorite TV Shows this year:
    Person of Interest
    Sherlock
    Arrow
    True Detective
    Justified
    The Flash
    24: Live Another Day
    House of Cards
    Game of Thrones
    Constantine

    Shows I want to see: Fargo, The Walking Dead (only watched the first episode of season 4), The Strain, probably some others...
  4. Velox
    There’s been a lot of great things in just this first week of August. First, of course, starting with August 1st: Guardians of the Galaxy. Oh man was it amazing.
     
    Though, as much fun and as beautifully made as Guardians is, I do think The Winter Soldier is still the better film, overall. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’d consider TWS to be the best-made film so far, above even The Avengers (I’d have to watch them again, but from what I can remember, at least, it really is amazingly written). That being said, Avengers is still my favorite film, as I think it was simultaneously the most fun and most well-made of the lot, but TWS is an amazing film, as is Guardians. And Guardians is certainly the most fun film so far of the franchise (the only other film coming close would be Avengers, which while I think is still the better film overall, is not quite as fun. Close, but not quite).
     
    So basically, other than saying that Avengers is currently my favorite film, and the best-made film overall is TWS, and the most fun film is Guardians, it’s hard for me to rank the three besides to say that those three films are definitely the best films of the franchise so far, IMO (and my favorites—then again, if we’re talking favorites, I’d be remiss if I did not mention the first Iron Man, or The First Avenger. But I’d still put Avengers, Guardians, and TWS above those two, I think).
     
    What that all boils down to is that Marvel Studios is amazing (particularly this year—two of the three best films so far in the same year), and I simply cannot wait for Age of Ultron. I’m less excited for Ant-Man, but I am still eager to see that too. Especially because I heard Kevin Feige say how it was “their heist movie” which sounds great, depending on how it’s done.
     
    (and seriously, I need dancing Groot. Best part of the film. =P)
     
     
    But again in the topic of Space, this week I had a Superman film marathon:
     
    I recently picked up the Superman: 5-film Collection from Amazon, because . . . heck, it was only $10, and I had never seen any of the Christopher Reeve films, nor Superman Returns, and I’ve been meaning and wanting to for a long time. Plus, the included versions were the extended edition of the first film and the Richard Donner cut of the second, which are the versions I wanted to see first anyway (eventually I hope to go back and watch the theatrical versions of both, though).
     
    Anyway, as expected, the first two Reeve films were good, while the second two were . . . not so good. =P And I really enjoyed Superman Returns, personally, but it really must be viewed as a sequel of sorts to the first two Reeve films, as many of its faults would be that it does not stand alone and tries so much to be like the Reeve films (and the first half is certainly better than the second, but still—overall, I really enjoyed it, probably as much as the first two Reeve films, and more at times). But it was simply great finally seeing these films, and the best-made films or not, they were still great superhero fun.
     
    I finished the marathon out with re-watching Man of Steel, because I couldn’t resist since I had already watched so much Superman, I figured I may as well watch all the Superman films I had. It’s my personal favorite of the six films, but there are certainly places where the Reeve films (and Returns) are better. Plus, I don’t have any nostalgia toward the Reeve films, and I’m excited for the prospect of a DC Cinematic Universe, so those two things definitely weigh the balance in favor of MoS for. Still, overall some great films in all, and the marathon was quite fun.
     
     
    On the subject of Wheels (though actually just one wheel, that being the Wheel of Time), I finally read The Eye of the World, the first book in the incredibly long series, by Robert Jordan. It took a little while, but overall was fairly enjoyable.
     
    Comparing to LotR or ASoIaF, it’s certainly not nearly as good (not to say those two are equals either, though—IMO LotR is high above ASoIaF, but to each his own—I do absolutely love them both and oh my gosh I cannot wait for The Winds of Winter. I'm literally checking Google all the time to see if a release date has been announced, even though I know it probably hasn't), but I know it’s not completely fair to compare them. Then again, it did have a lot of similarities to LotR, which ended up hurting it rather than helping it.
     
    But it still wasn’t bad by any means. In fact, it was pretty good overall, and I do look forward to reading the next book and, eventually, the whole series (assuming it keeps being at least fairly good).
     
    The main thing for me was that none of the characters were really interesting enough to stand on their own, which I didn’t realize until they got split up at one point. Lan and Moiraine are the two most interesting of the group (and Elyas, though he has a lot more potential that wasn't used, and he wasn’t in there enough), but they don’t really get all that much page-time, especially when the group is separated. Rand should be interesting, as he’s the main character, but . . . he’s not, really, or at least not until he’s with a large group.
     
    But again, it was interesting enough and enjoyable enough to still be a good book, and I will be looking to pick up the next in the series (probably whenever I can find it at a used bookstore). And I'm extremely glad I finally read it, as I've had this book sitting around for so long while always saying "I'm definitely going to get to it soon!" . . . and then never doing so. But I promised myself I'd read it this summer, and while I was planning to read it in June, at least I still got to it. =P
     
     
    And lastly, Watches. As with TEotW, I finally got around to reading Watchmen, by Alan Moore. I saw the movie for the first time a couple years ago or so, and a couple more times since then, but I hadn’t read the graphic novel until now, though I've really been meaning to. (I then re-watched the film last night after finishing the book as I wanted to compare/contrast/etc. As often with adaptations . . . the book is definitely better =P But I do enjoy the film)
     
    It’s really one of the most thought-provoking novels I’ve ever read, graphic novel or prose. For example, even just a (seemingly) simple question such as Who is the most "good" character? arouses many questions and thoughts. There are just so many questions and considerations for each character—is what they do right, or necessary, or both, or neither? Or is any character all that good?
     
    Of course there’s many answers and points of view on all those questions, and I’m not really sure about my opinion on the answers, either. But that really is, to me, one of the greatest and most enjoyable aspects about this graphic novel—how much it really makes you think and question the characters and their actions. It’s incredibly dark, grim, and depressing, but it allows for a lot of reflection. I can’t say who’s the most moral character or even if there is one, and I don’t know the answer to a myriad other questions the graphic novel brought up either, but I do know one thing: I’ll certainly be thinking about this book for a long, long time. =P Which is really the greatest thing ever and something I love so much when books do that to you.
     
    Favorite Quote: Ever since I first saw the film (heck, even the trailer), I’ve always loved this line:
     
    “[. . .] will look up and shout, ‘save us!’ . . . And I’ll look down and whisper, ‘no’.”
     
    But upon reading the graphic novel, one quote that particularly stood out to me that hadn’t in the several times I had seen the movie was:
     
    “No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise.”
     
    It's weird saying it since it's just on paper, but really the "delivery" of that line (the surrounding events, the character, when/how it's said, etc.) is what made it stand out. But speaking of, can I just say how much I love Jackie Earle Haley in the film? He really does a fantastic job with Rorschach—another of my favorite performed-lines being “None of you understand. I’m not locked up in here with you. You’re locked up in here with me!” But honestly every single line of his is just delivered so well.
     
    But there's really just so many thought-provoking lines throughout the whole novel, it's awesome. I have to say, definitely the best graphic novel I've read so far.
     
     
    Anyway, that basically does it for my first week of August so far. =P I’ve read so many great books (a bunch of great graphic novels, a bunch of great childrens books, bunch of Neil Gaiman and Conan Doyle and others. . .) and seen so many great films this year so far (CA:TWS, GotG, LEGO movie, Frozen [didn’t see it until this past February or so], Maleficent, Days of Future Past, etc. . . .). Will maybe do another blog entry on those later, but it's been a great year so far.
     
    Currently reading: The Princess Bride (again, as seems to be a trend with books I’m reading recently . . . finally!). My sister bought me the new beautifully-illustrated hardcover edition for my birthday recently, so this seemed as perfect time as any to finally get around to reading it. Great and hilarious so far, as expected (just finished chapter 4). And I just have to say: thank God shrieking tarantulas aren’t real. Spiders are scary enough as they are. =P
  5. Velox

    Last Forever

    By Velox,

    BZP! Been a while; I've missed you. Been a busy month, but just had to pop in after last night's HIMYM episode. Hope everyone's doing well.
     
    This entry is about How I Met Your Mother’s series finale, “Last Forever.” Yes, spoilers follow (hence spoiler tag =P).
     
     
    What about you guys: thoughts? Please remember to use spoiler tags if discussing any specifics.
  6. Velox

    So, Pacific Rim

    By Velox,

    It’s the movie everyone’s talking about. Or was, at least, closer to when it was released...which was a long time ago now. But still, it was a very widely-discussed film, procuring lots of hype and attention.
     
    And of course me, not going to the theater very often, only just saw it recently. And then a little more recently after buying the DVD (and by "recently" I mean nearly a month ago...and about two months since the first viewing).
     
    So, about Pacific Rim. Spoilers to follow!
     
    I’ve heard this movie be called so amazing because of the great character depth and its intelligence.
     
    Well, both were lacking, sadly, in my opinion.
     
    Honest Trailers’ version of it is actually basically my opinion, but to expand on it:
     
    Not bad. Though to be honest, it didn’t really live up to the hype. Maybe it’s because of the hype that made it not live up to it, who knows.
     
    But it was awesome—yes, yes it was. But let’s get into the non-awesome things first:
     
    A lot of movies have a lot of plot holes. A lot of them can be ignored while you’re watching the film because of the film itself. Olympus Has Fallen, for example, has a lot of plot holes, yet the film was still very intense, and they were able to be ignored during the film. Same could be said with other films, like TDKR, etc.
     
    But this is not one of those. There were a lot of times in the movie when I was like “oh, this is definitely a ‘10’!” Then a few minutes later I’d be “wow, this is like a 4 at best.” And back and forth. That’s never really happened before—I’ve noticed various things wrong with movies while I watch them, yes, but none disrupted the movie as much as they did here. (Addendum: after watching the film a second time, the flaws were still obvious, but they didn’t disrupt the movie nearly as much.)
     
    The prologue was mostly unneeded. And too long. It really almost felt like a “previously, on X TV show” except running half the length of the TV episode. And a lot of it could be done throughout the film in a better way. And along with that…only tens of thousands of people died? Not to sound harsh but… that’s incredibly lucky if it really destroyed so much of large cities.
     
    Next, there was not enough about the loss of the pilot with Marshal Pentecost (I don’t even remember his name…but the son). Now Pentecost giving his life wasn’t that bad—it’s a cliché, and they didn’t do anything new with it, but it’s understandable he would have done that vs., say, going out the way Walter White did and becoming a drug lord).
     
    But then you have the son to think about. He’s just dead. It wasn’t so bad they had the “I’m dying so I’ll sacrifice my life” cliché, but the bad part was that it wasn’t fulfilling at all (plus, again, the other guy that died). Pentecost sacrifices himself, but forces the young man to sacrifice with him, and there was never any time to care about him. He was mean until he immediately became a nice guy before he died.
     
    Which brings me to the next completely unneeded cliché: The bully character. We already have the Kaiju—we really don’t need a bully character, especially one that suddenly becomes a good guy at the end and sacrifices himself (and especially one who just...wasn't a good bully--he was just annoying, and not in a good way). It just provided a lot of unneeded and awkward tension.
     
    Next: who thought of building a wall? That just sounds like a stupid idea. Waste of time and money. And people were completely not upset enough when the first one was destroyed so quickly. Yeah, some builders were shouting, but that’s not enough.
     
    Lastly, I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character, Raleigh. I wish Mako had been, especially since she’s really the only female character (I don’t think the female Russian is even named, but even if so, she’s only there in passing. Kinda sad).
     
    There’s a lot of other various nitpicky things, but those are the main things that bugged me. Actually, one more: the walking in the ocean thing always bugged me. Because at one point one of them rises from under the ocean, but then when he’s out of the water, when he’s “standing”, the water is to his knees/waist. So how are they walking in water, without touching the sea floor?
     
    But one thing cannot be ignored: Pacific Rim is just so awesomely cool. It was. It was freaking giant robots fighting giant monsters, for crying out loud. But it was also disappointing. Best or deepest movie ever? Haha, right. But it was decent. More than decent, really, as it was really enjoyable.
     
    Great things about Pacific Rim:
    Mako characterization. Man, this was awesome. She really should have been the main character, because her backstory was so much better (and actually terrifying/moving)
    Idris Elba. Basically everything about him—having him in the film was perhaps the best decision made. His speech was great, and his presence on the film was great.
    Bo Staff fighting. That scene was awesome.
    Using a ship as a baseball bat. One of the greatest scenes of the film.

    And of course:
    Giant robots punching giant monsters. Seriously, that’s just awesome.

     
    So no, this isn’t the greatest movie of all time, unfortunately—at least not in my opinion. But it was still pretty great, and incredibly enjoyable, and I’d watch it again in a heartbeat. I don’t buy many new DVDs, but this one I did because despite all the problems I had with it, and how bad I thought it was at times…I really, really want to watch more. Like I said, it’s really enjoyable. It’s robots fighting monsters. I just wish it had more, since there were so many opportunities to make it an amazing film, rather than just a really fun to watch one.
  7. Velox
    This year is definitely the best year book-wise for me. I don’t rate many novels five stars on Goodreads—I try to save that rating for only books that are the best of the best, and as such, I end up rating most books only 4 stars, even if they may be more of 9/10 or 9.5/10, instead of 5. But this year, every single book on this list was a 5-star book, more than I’ve ever had before. But I can still rank them fairly easily (much more easily than the top ten film list), so here it goes.
     

    Top Ten Books I Read in 2013



    The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m ashamed and saddened that I hadn’t read this until this past summer. Though, I’m not entirely sure that’s accurate. I definitely started reading Fellowship a couple times, and I feel like I may have gotten farther than that once, but I simply can’t remember. I do know that I was read the trilogy as a young kid, but I don’t count that as reading either (nor do I remember it). So either way, since I don’t remember how much I read, I consider this my first read. And it was amazing—definitely a book I’ll be reading many times. The last two pages of “A Siege of Gondor” are honestly my two favorite pages I have ever read—so beautifully and chillingly written. Not that I expected any different from Tolkien, but still. I loved this book, and it’s definitely my favorite book I read this year.
    The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. I really wish I could say this was my favorite book this year, because this book was so amazing to read, but then I read LotR over the summer. =P This book is so fascinating, though. If I had to describe it in one word, I’d probably say “magical”—because that’s really what it is. This book, more than any I have ever read, really takes me away from the real world to become immersed in the world she creates with the circus. This novel isn’t fast-paced by any means. It does have a lot of descriptions, but the descriptions are such a joy to read that, to me, it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t compare the writing style to Tolkien, but they are similar in that they both have a lot of description, and do so incredibly well (though differently). This book, more than most, made me want to ignore so many things in order to just stay absorbed in the world of the circus. Highly recommended.
    The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. I read this book in a single day. It’s not long, so that’s not surprising, but still—I don’t think I even took a break, because of how engrossing this story was. To put it simply, this book is amazing. Gaiman has shown his brilliance time and again (and unfortunately I have not read nearly as much of him as I need to), but this book was particularly striking. From living in books (something I can definitely relate to), to nostalgia and reflection, all wrapped around an underlying fantasy setting, Gaiman portrays the hardship of life, remembering, relationships, discovery, vulnerability, and more in a truly wonderful short novel. Definitely recommended.
    The Prestige, by Christopher Priest. After seeing the amazing film by Christopher Nolan, I knew I had to read the book. Sure, Nolan is my favorite director, but still—this film was simply amazing. And after reading The Night Circus, which also has magicians, I really knew I had to read this book, and began frantically looking for it at used bookstores. It’s definitely a lot different from the film, but that’s one of the things I loved—both were amazing, and neither spoiled the other, either. I honestly can’t decide which I like better, but the book was great, and one of my favorite books this year.
    A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin. This whole series is fantastic, and each book is 5-star worthy. But this book in particular stands out, and for anyone who read it can probably relate. There were several different times where I practically ran to the computer to talk to GSR and/or Tolkien to talk to them over Skype about things that I had just read (in fact at one point Tolkien was just like “I’ll see you in 10 minutes” aaaand yeah. Intense stuff). There’s some content I don’t like, but overall Martin does an incredible job, and I cannot wait to read A Dance with Dragons.
    The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. Children’s books really can be the best sometimes. Harry Potter, Narnia, this, A Monster Calls, Holes, etc. There were so many clever phrases throughout, and a fun adventure with enjoyable characters. I may have read this a long time ago, too, but if so I don’t remember it, unfortunately. At least I finally read it this year, and it was fantastic.
    Holes, by Louis Sachar. Yet another book I’m surprised I hadn’t read until this year (I must be one of the only people who didn’t read it in middle school, as my brother and sister did), but a very enjoyable one. I couldn't put it down, starting it one night and finishing it the next morning. Every character was round and unique, a hard thing to accomplish when you're dealing with so many, and the plot was fun and exciting. Overall, it was simply a very enjoyable, easy-to-read, and fun book. Highly recommended in case there's anyone else out there that hasn't read it. I'll definitely have to look into more of Sachar's work. Not a bad film, either.
    S., by J.J. Abrams & Doug Dorst. This is quite possibly the most fun I’ve had reading a book. Reading the conversation between the two young people (like a play), reading each of the inserts, feeling like a part of the discovery—it really was just simply fun. Unfortunately, though, the book itself (“The Ship of Theseus”) was not as good as I had hoped. Not that it was bad, but it wasn’t completely amazing, either. Perhaps I built it up too much, but in the end, I was left feeling slightly disappointed. That said, it was still a 5-star book for me, because of how fun it was to read, even if the novel itself may not have been 5-stars alone.
    The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. This was heartbreaking. Perhaps the best words for it would be from the New York Times Book Review: Powerful & haunting. Because it was definitely both of those. The Kite Runner made the reader care—left an impression in the reader. Haunted the reader with the reality depicted within. Horrible, heart-wrenching things happened, but they happened to characters you cared about. Characters you cared about did despicable things—but they realized they had done wrong. The Kite Runner opens your eyes to the world, the harshness of life, yet the beauty that remains even through that harshness. The good that still exists through the bad. The Kite Runner is a beautiful but haunting book. Not for the faint of heart, but an amazing book, worth reading, I think, at least once.
    A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The first Sherlock Holmes novel I’ve read (I’ve read a lot of the short stories before), and it didn’t disappoint. I’m still planning to make my way through every single SH story, as I have a leather-bound Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection, so I’m going to read them all in order, too. I had hoped to read the first set of short stories by now, but haven’t yet. Still, though, I look forward to doing so, as I loved this (and The Sign of Four so much).

     
    Runner-Up: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Perhaps I liked this better than one of the last couple books (hard to decide…), but I already had a Gaiman book on here so I’ll just leave this as the runner-up. Still, it was really an amazing book, and even though I liked Ocean a lot more, I still loved this one, and would definitely read it again. I really look forward to reading more of Gaiman’s work.
     
     

    Books I’m looking forward most to reading next year:



    More Than This, by Patrick Ness (currently reading, actually—I started it and read over half of it yesterday).
    A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin. Been waiting for when I have some free time to read this—I’m hoping that’s this week.
    11 Doctors, 11 Stories, by various authors (including Patrick Ness, Neil Gaiman, and Eoin Colfer). It’s Doctor Who and all these awesome authors. I’m hoping it lives up to all the hype I’m giving it.
    Skin Game, by Jim Butcher. One of my favorite authors, and Harry Dresden is one of my all-time favorite characters.
    Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card. My sister keeps saying how I have to read it, but more than that I just really want to, because of how much praise it’s gotten (and it sounds interesting). Plus, I need to read more great Sci-Fi. I’m also excited to read Hart’s Hope, because I love stand-alone fantasy books and I’ve heard this one is amazing.
    The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. Just ordered this from Amazon, so I’ll probably be reading it soon.
    Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon, by Matt Fraction. Thanks to the recommendation of Chocolate Frogs, I recently bought this from Amazon, too. I also hope to get Sandman, Vol. 1 soon, but I decided to get Hawkeye first because I really want to read a superhero graphic novel.
    Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn. I’m really excited to finally read some of her work, and I promised myself I’d read her first two before I read Gone Girl, which is the book I’m particularly excited to read, especially because David Fincher is directing the film based off of it.
    The Gods of Guilt, by Michael Connelly. I love Connelly’s work, and I haven’t read a thriller in a while. Plus, my hardback copy is signed, and somehow that makes me more excited to read the book.
    The Cuckoo’s Calling, by J.K. Rowling. I’m really excited to finally read this, as I love Rowling’s writing. And while I wasn’t a huge fan of The Casual Vacancy, I still really enjoyed the writing style, and I’m looking forward to seeing how she does with a mystery novel. Speaking of mystery novels, I’m also really looking forward to reading The Second Death, by Caleb Peiffer; and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Conan Doyle (the first set of short stories).

     
  8. Velox
    So, this list includes both 2013 releases and films that I saw for the first time in 2013, since I don’t think I’ve even seen 10 2013 films. Still, I saw a lot of new films that came out earlier, and I was really impressed with the films I did see that came out this year, so I decided to make just one list.
     
     

    Top Ten Films I Saw for the First Time in 2013



    Saving Mr. Banks, by John Lee Hancock. I’m really surprised this is #1 on my list, but I saw this right as 2013 closed and was very pleasantly surprised. It’s really one of the greater movies I’ve seen, and both hilarious and heartbreaking.
    Following, by Christopher Nolan. Never saw this film until this year, unfortunately, but it really is an amazing movie. Especially considering the incredibly low budget. Will be talking more about why I loved it when I rank Nolan’s films soon.
    The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, by Peter Jackson. I had some issues with this movie—more than An Unexpected Journey—but at the same time, the movie as a whole was fantastic, and I enjoyed it more than AUJ. I’ve had a review half-written for a while, so I’ll hopefully post that soon.
    The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey—Extended Edition, by Peter Jackson. So I’m a sucker for Middle-Earth. But I did really enjoy this film.
    Star Trek Into Darkness, by J.J. Abrams. I really enjoyed this, particularly Benedict Cumberbatch.
    Serenity, by Joss Whedon. I love this film, and it’s a great end to a great series that really shouldn’t’ve ended. If I were to rate the series as a whole, including this as a “final episode”, if you will, it’d be higher, but as a film on its own it was still pretty amazing. In fact, if I were to rate it completely separately from the series, it might be between 8-10 on this list, but because of the series and the characters that I had grown to love, it's hard for me to rate this film objectively and alone from the series. I do have to wonder how much less I would have enjoyed it if I had not seen the series first.
    The Raven, by James McTeigue. This hasn’t gotten very high ratings, but I personally really, really enjoyed it. It’s a little hard for me to rank, so I’m just gonna leave it here before I change my mind again and put it under Catching Fire or Man of Steel (though it definitely wouldn’t be lower than Pacific Rim).
    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, by Francis Lawrence. Quite impressed with this—makes me look forward to Mockingjay: Part 1. Not quite sure I agree with their decision to split it into two movies, though, but with the quality that Catching Fire gave, I’m hopeful.
    Man of Steel, by Zack Snyder. So there’s definitely some issues with this film, but overall I really enjoyed it, and I’m not entirely sure it should be this low but eh. I am concerned about Batman vs. Superman, and I hope it can be better than MoS.
    Pacific Rim, by Guillermo del Toro. Not a bad film, though not as good as I expected either. Still, it was definitely visually stunning, and giant robots fighting giant monsters? Count me in. I’ve had a half-written review of this done for a while now, too, so I’ll hopefully post that soon too. I may be forgetting some pre-2013 film I saw for the first time this year that was better than this, but I did enjoy this and it came out this year so eh.

    Runner-Up: Olympus has Fallen. The only film that came out this year that’s not on this list, but it was close—this isn’t an amazing film by any means, but it gave me exactly what I expected and wanted from a film like this.
     
    Worst film I saw this year: Transformers: Dark of the Moon
     
    Films I haven’t seen that came out this year, but want to and would definitely have competed for a spot on this list: Iron Man 3, Thor 2, The Wolverine, The Great Gatsby, Frozen, Lone Survivor, Gravity, Ender’s Game, Escape Plan, The Book Thief…Yeah, I haven’t seen as many 2013 films as I would’ve liked, unfortunately (though then again, the only films I saw in theaters this year were Saving Mr. Banks, The Hobbit, Catching Fire, and Man of Steel, so I’ll see the rest of these eventually). I wonder how different this list would be if I just ranked the top ten 2013 films, including those. Anyway:
     
     

    Top films I’m looking forward to next year (inspired by iBrow’s blog entry):


    Interstellar, by Christopher Nolan. Nolan’s my favorite director, and as usual for his work, this film sounds amazing.
    Captain America: Winter Soldier, by Anthony & Joe Russo. Captain America is probably my favorite superhero (tied with Batman), so I’m really looking forward to this.
    The Hobbit: There and Back Again, by Peter Jackson. Cannot wait to see the end of the trilogy.
    Gone Girl, by David Fincher. Fincher is one of my favorite directors, and while I haven’t read the book yet (hopefully will soon), it sounds really good.
    Mockingjay: Part 1, by Francis Lawrence. Catching Fire left me with high hopes.
    X-Men: Days of Future Past, by Bryan Singer.
    Guardians of the Galaxy, by James Gunn.
    The Amazing Spiderman 2, by Marc Webb. Wasn’t a huge fan of the first one, but the trailer for this one looks good.
    Noah, by Darren Aronofsky. Looks like it may be really good, and it has some great actors in it (Watson, Crowe, Hopkins…).
    Godzilla, by Gareth Edwards. Looks promising.

    Next up: Books.
  9. Velox

    2013: In Review

    By Velox,

    2013 in Review


     
    So, I’m late on this, but I was out of town on/around New Year’s. Pretty great year overall. Read some great books, saw some great films, started watching some great TV shows, watched the 50th anniversary of Dr. Who, wrote a fair amount, met some awesome people, strengthened important friendships…in the end I’d say the good outweighs the bad overall. The first half of the year wasn’t all that great (one reason of which is because I struggled with my faith for a bit), but in the second half (like, August and later) I’ve had some of the greatest months yet.
     
    One of the biggest highlights for me was participating in (and finally completing/winning!) NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), in which I wrote over 50k words during November.
     
    I didn’t do nearly as much writing as I had hoped before this, and so being able to complete NaNo was definitely a great surprise. It’s truly some of the most fun I’ve ever had, and in addition, I have most of a novel finished. December turned out to be a crazy month for me (hence not updating this blog), but I hope mid-January (and later), once things slow down, I can finish the first draft and start working on some other projects I’ve been meaning to.
     
    Anyway, I’ve already ranted about NaNo a lot before, but it was really a great experience, and I’m hoping that it helps my writing (or frequency thereof) in 2014.
     
    I’ll be making a Top Ten list of books and films I read/saw in 2013 that were new to me, so I won’t rant about those here either. Instead, I’ll just end with what I got for Christmas:
    Some new clothes; most importantly, an awesome peacoat. I just really wish I could wear it more often, since it’s been around 80 for the past few weeks in southern California. -.- (though luckily it cools down at night, so I can wear it then at least)
    A really cool laptop messenger bag
    A “chocolate passport”. It’s a little box from Trader Joe’s that includes 8 bars of natural dark chocolate, each from a different country. They were all delicious
    New earbuds
    We saw Saving Mr. Banks as a family
    Man of Steel and Pacific Rim DVDs (2-disk special editions for each)
    Letters from Father Christmas, by J.R.R. Tolkien (from a friend). Even more proof (as if there wasn’t enough) of how completely awesome and amazing Tolkien was.
    Invisible Ink, by Brian McDonald (from a friend).
    A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Classics, by Charles Dickens. I had no idea he had written so many short novels/short stories/co-written short stories about Christmas
    The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov (B&N Leatherbound Collectible Edition; from my sister)
    Money. After which I went to a used bookstore and promptly used like a fourth of it. =P

    Here’s to a new year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas/New Year’s!
  10. Velox

    Merry Christmas!

    By Velox,

    Oops, guess I kinda forgot about posting here, plus I had finals and stuff...
     
    Well anyway, just got home from Midnight Mass, and considering it's nearly 5AM, I just wanted to quickly wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. ^^
     
    Hope everyone has an amazing day! Christmas is most likely my favorite holiday--I just love this time of year!
  11. Velox

    NaNoWriMo: Completed!

    By Velox,

    ~ ::
    :: ~





    So I finished NaNoWriMo today. I got a little behind earlier this week, but then yesterday I wrote 5k, catching up and then some. And today, somehow, I managed to crank out over 9k (cue "it's over 9000!"), ending with 50,075 words a couple hours ago.
     
    I'm still in a little bit of disbelief that I wrote that much today, and the fact that I finished NaNo at all. Last year I only got 22k, and this year I finished seven days before the end, so I'm definitely super excited about that. The story itself isn't quite finished, but almost. It's got about 72k words total now, and will probably be another 10k or so, which hopefully I can finish quickly--maybe even during November, continuing the spirit of NaNo.
     
    Anyway, now it's time to watch Day of the Doctor! I've been ignoring it all day in lieu of writing. Somehow I've managed to stay away from spoilers so far.
  12. Velox

    Platonish

    By Velox,

    “Platonish”



    And Why It Was Such a Great Episode



    (some spoilers to follow)


     
    “Platonish,” season nine, episode nine of How I Met Your Mother, is my favorite episode in HIMYM’s recent history. Without a doubt it’s my favorite episode so far this season (and apparently I’m not alone in thinking that, either, as it’s the highest rated episode so far this season on IMDb), and it’s one of my favorites from the past couple seasons.
     
    There’s been a few disappointing episodes the last couple seasons of HIMYM. Not that they were horrible by any means, but they weren’t—in my opinion—quite up to the quality that so many episodes have been in the past (and I definitely am not as disappointed with recent seasons as I know some people are—I’ve always enjoyed every single episode, even if occasionally not as much as others).
     
    That changed last Monday. “Platonish” is really the epitome of why HIMYM is the great show that it is. It brought me back to past HIMYM episodes and seasons, and the reason why HIMYM is so amazing.
     
    It brought many laughs, and it also brought me close to tears. Which is the thing I have always loved about HIMYM—it’s not always just about the comedy, but it’s about the story—their story. The comedy isn’t the most important part, it’s the characters. Which leads me to the next thing that was so great about this episode: the characterization.
     
    HIMYM does such a great job of characterization—especially in past episodes/seasons—and I was so relieved and overjoyed to see that again in this episode (not that it was completely absent in recent episodes, but I felt at times it wasn’t as good as it’s been in the past). For the first time, we really get a great look into the character of The Mother. We know some of her awesome interests, we know how she gets along with Ted, we know some of the things she likes and hobbies she has…but we’ve never really known her—not until now. This episode shows us what an amazing person she is.
     
    She does an amazing thing for Barney, and you can just see the level of her care for other human beings—he’s a complete stranger, and she could just go “get away from me, creep” or something to that effect (which would be totally justified, especially since she heard him call her a “target”), but she doesn’t. She decided to help him.
     
    Which really just speaks volumes about her character. It’s easy to push people away who you think are weird or acting wrongly. It’s easy to just ignore someone and later talk behind their back about how troubling their actions may be or something like that. And that’s exactly what she could have done. She could have gone home to her boyfriend, tell him how she met someone that troubled her today (or even not mention him at all), and just go on with her life.
     
    But she doesn’t. She doesn’t judge him or condemn him—she helps him. She sees that he’s having troubles, that he’s hurting, and she tells him what he desperately needed to hear, and you can see where he is now, in a large way due to her.
     
    This is really where HIMYM differs from other sit-coms. It’s not just about crude jokes and bringing in laughs from the audience. It’s about the characters and their stories. And, on top of that, it’s (overall) a lighthearted show (it is, after all, a comedy), which makes it just simply fun to watch like a comedy should be. But it’s so much more than that, too.
     
    And if that wasn’t enough this episode, we got Hammond Druthers back again. It’s no secret that Brian Cranston is an amazing actor—if you’ve seen just a single episode of Breaking Bad you know this—and he definitely doesn’t disappoint here. His character is always a great addition to the story, and in this episode particularly.
     
    Now, at the end, Ted’s character is still basically where we left off, but I didn’t have an issue with that—it was mostly one big flashback, and this time it was mostly about Barney and The Mother, and it gave us so much of them.
     
    Overall, I thought this episode was amazing. It wasn’t perfect—not at all—but it had some great moments, and it had, essentially, everything that makes HIMYM such a great show: funny moments, heartbreaking moments, serious moments, amazing characterization, and great guest stars.
  13. Velox

    RIP

    By Velox,

    So last night we had to put our family dog to sleep. =/ He's been kinda sick for a while, but in the past week or two he got exponentially worse. If ever was the idiom "skin and bones" appropriate, it would be for him, from a combination of problems--particularly in the past week. He started eating more than he ever had, but still kept losing a lot of weight. Yesterday he was unable to keep anything down at all, so that was when we decided it was time.
     
    The weirdest thing is that I honestly have no memory of a time when he wasn't here (we've had him since I was ~8), and now to have him just gone... Such a familiarity and feeling of normalcy is now simply gone.
     
    At least it's good to know he didn't ever have to suffer much. It was really only the last day when he seemed like he was in any pain, even though we knew for a while that it was getting near the end (slower, thinner, less energetic, etc. but never really seemingly in pain). I also just feel really bad for my sister, because she's in Chicago and wasn't able to say goodbye in person or anything, and he was kinda her dog more than anyone's until she left for college/PhD.
     
    Anyway, yeah, just kinda a sucky day. Will take a while to get used to/accept. =/
  14. Velox
    Gallery of images here.


     
    So Friday evening the extended edition of An Unexpected Journey came. That night I skipped NaNoWriMo and watched the film. Saturday and Sunday I watched the Appendices, and Sunday night I re-watched the film again. (Also quick note: this is the DVD version, so number of disks may differ between this and Blu-Ray/3D/etc.)
     
    Man, I love this movie (original review here--my opinion hasn't changed all that much, though overall I think I actually like the film better than I did when I first saw it). Unfortunately I haven't seen it in about a year, because I didn't want to purchase the DVD until the extended edition came out. But it was definitely worth the wait!
     
    The extended/new scenes are great bonuses, just as they were in LOTR (I actually hadn't seen the theatrical versions of LOTR until after I had seen the extended editions about a billion times, and I always felt like so much was missing). It's perfectly understandable why these were not included in the theatrical version, but I'm so glad they were put in for the extended editions.
     
    Of course, similar to the movie, if one is expecting the book of The Hobbit exactly, you'll be disappointed. But what I love about Peter Jackson's Hobbit is that he explores many details of Tolkien's world and tries to bridge the gap between The Hobbit and LOTR. Is it necessary? Not at all, or else Tolkien would have done it that way. But I do think it's incredibly fun and interesting to see things fleshed out more. I know the story of the book well, so it's just great to be able to see Jackson's adaptation, including the addition of things created by Tolkien and things Jackson and his team created--again, it is, after all, an adaptation, and in my mind, a great one.
     
    A brief breakdown of the extended scenes:
    More of Erebor. You get to see a little more of Erebor and its wealth, as well as more tension between the Dwarves and the Elves--an offering of gems is made to King Thranduil, but taken away once he tries to take it.
    Slightly more of Smaug. Not much at all, and I didn't even notice this edition until I read it on another site, but you do see an extremely quick flash of his silhouetted body. Which, on that note, this is one thing that I never minded when seeing the movie--a lot of people wanted to see more of Smaug, but I actually liked this choice better. I definitely wanted to see more of Smaug because of how excited I was to see him, but in this scene, the unseen Smaug works better, in my opinion. But to each his own.
    More of Hobbiton. This was one of my favorite additions--we get to see quite a bit more of Hobbiton (which is now permanently built into the hills in New Zealand--I definitely need to visit that before I die). We see a party much like Bilbo's birthday party in Fellowship but this time Bilbo is a child, and at one point hits Gandalf with a wooden sword, which is completely adorable. Later, you see Biblo walking through the marketplace in Hobbiton as he's shopping and trying to avoid Gandalf. I love Hobbiton, and having these scenes was great.
    Probably more of the Dwarves in Bilbo's house. I couldn't tell you what they were, but the scene did feel slightly longer--perhaps just my imagination.
    A lot more of Rivendell. All very short scenes, but there's quite a few of them. There's more of the Dwarves eating, including one of my now-favorite scenes where Bofur stands up on the table (quite rudely) and starts singing a pub song (which is actually a song from The Fellowship of the Ring that Frodo sings, who says he learned it from Bilbo. I believe it's Jackson who explains in the Appendices that it's up to the viewer to decide if Bilbo learned it after Bofur sung it, or if Bilbo had taught it to Bofur before--I like both ideas, really). I just love songs like this, and hope to see more in the next two movies. You also see more of Bilbo exploring Rivendell (including looking at the image of Sauron fighting Isuldur behind the shards of Narsil that you see in Fellowship). You also hear Elrond and Gandalf discuss the quest, and the White Council scene is extended as well.
    The Goblin King. This is quite possibly my favorite new scene, because the Great Goblin sings a song based on the text in the book. It really adds a bit to his (and the goblins as a whole) character, and on top of that it's just a really fun song. It's out of tune and very goblin-y and torture-filled, but I still loved it. "Down in the Deep of Goblin Town." There's various other small bits added to the goblin scenes, too.
    There may have been a little more of the pale orc, but I can't remember anything specifically. Probably a few other small scenes I missed.

    I'm really only disappointed with two things:
     
    1. That the "Riddles in the Dark" were not extended. There's more in the book, and I completely understand only having the ones they did in the theatrical version, but I just wish more had been added in the extended edition. This was my single favorite scene of the whole movie (I mean seriously, Andy Serkis just did such a supurbly amazing and fantastic job--Martin Freeman, too), and I would love to have seen a longer version. Ah, well; and
     
    2. I wish that the "Misty Mountains" song was extended. The song in the book is much longer, and I just absolutely love the melody in the movie. I wish they could have made it longer.
     
     
    One thing that I thought was a little funny was how the extended edition is kind of similar to the Fellowship extended editions. Both mark their half-way points (Disk 2) in Rivendell, both have the cast running from goblins in the second half of the film, both start with Hobbiton. . . . Not a bad thing at all, IMO, but yeah.
     
    Overall, I love the extended scenes in An Unexpected Journey, and I still love the movie as a whole. I still couldn't help to feel that some of the time the digital effects were a little much. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but LOTR just felt so real to me, and in The Hobbit, some things seem more obviously digital. Maybe it's just nostalgia or something, but yeah.
     
    The movie also seems to have a constant struggle between being a kid's movie and not. The movie is by far much darker than the book, which I didn't mind, but there's also moments that it seems so close to the feel of the book that it feels much more kid-ish. LOTR seemed to have a much more consistent tone throughout the movie. It had light-hearted (Hobbiton, for example) and comedic moments, yet those scenes didn't seem to change the overall tone at all as it sometimes did in The Hobbit.
     
    I also would have loved to have more focus on the dwarves individually. Viewing the Appendices, you can see just how much detail and depth they went into creating individual personalities for every dwarf, but I didn't feel like enough of that went into the film. Yeah, they're still more fleshed out than they were in the book overall, but just knowing how much work they put in to making each dwarf a singular character, it made me want even more for them to be more individualized. However, considering the sheer numbers, I do have to commend them for the job that they did, because that's an extremely hard thing to do. Doesn't mean I don't wish they could've been fleshed out slightly more, though, especially in the extended edition (which they were, but I wanted even more =P).
     
    I still wish the dwarves could've had their colored hoods and instruments, I still wish the troll scene could have been a little closer to the book (though I do like some of the changes they made), I still wish the stone giants were just in the distance (though this doesn't bother me too much at all), I still wish the tree scene at the end would've been different . . . but overall I do love the film, especially the extended edition.
     
    I have yet to watch the film commentaries, but I suspect I will soon enough--the Appendices, as I've said, were really great to watch, though.
     
    Part 7 (which is actually two disks, instead of the usual one--parts 1-6 were covered in LOTR) is titled "A Long-Expected Journey" and covers a lot of pre-production; includes a great introduction where Jackson explains how the film came to be and how he came to be director once again; the actors' boot camp and various other training; the shooting of the film and the various sets; pick-up shooting; and more.
     
    Part 8, "Return to Middle-Earth" further details the development, design, and production of The Hobbit, and explores in-depth the background of the main characters and the casting for said characters. There's a section on creating the dwarves as a whole, and how Jackson wanted to do for the dwarves what Tolkien did for the elves, and really go in-depth to their past and history and life. It also shows the concepts, creation, and design of the various sets (both physical and digital), and lastly, there's a look at the songs of The Hobbit.
     
    The first disk of the movie also has "New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth" which is a cool look into the various places in NZ that were used for the film.
     
    I always loved watching the Appendices to LOTR, and The Hobbit was no different. I would definitely recommend this five-disk set--the extended edition of the film is amazing, and all the special features/appendices are just really great and interesting, too.
     
    And now, back to NaNo. . . .
     
    ~ Velox
  15. Velox
    So I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year. I wasn’t sure I was going to because 1. I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to a large project this semester; and 2. I wanted to start working on a new novel idea, but that idea was far from ready to be worked on during NaNo (I didn’t even have character names yet, much less any sort of character profiles at all, or a lot of information on the world [as it’d be fantasy], plot, etc.).
     
    But then one of my friends from school convinced me to, and I’m so glad she did, because these past few days have been awesome. I've been writing a lot more than I have in a long time and it feels great to just be writing again. Even if I cringe every few minutes at what I just wrote, it's great to be making progress.
     
    I just passed eleven thousand words, which is basically half of my total word count last year (yeah, only got a little over 22k last year, unfortunately). Which makes me really excited—only the third day, and already I’m half of where I finished last year, so I’m actually really hopeful to “win” this year and get the full 50k. Both Friday and Saturday I was able to get 5k words each day (I’m really lucky NaNo started on my day off—Friday—and I didn’t have much going on Saturday), which is definitely more than I have ever written before. I’m not sure I’ve even ever written 5k words in a single day, but I definitely haven't done 5k two days in a row.
     
    And better yet, I've just been really excited about writing again. Yeah, getting all 5k was hard, especially the last couple hundred words, but even so this has really just made me excited and happy to be writing again. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I can't wait to keep going.
     
    So we’ll see, but I’m feeling really good about this year, and even if I don’t finish I hope to make a significant dent in my novel—if not actually finally finish it. I’m continuing the one I started last year, since I haven’t worked on it much since. Of course, even if I do finish it, it will need a lot of revisions, but still. I’ve had this idea lying around for over four years now, so it’ll be good just finally get it completed so I can move on to more projects. It will need much, much (much x1000) revising, but . . . still, the hardest part (for me, at least) is just writing that much on a single project.
     
    That always seems to be my problem, really. I often start a project but never end up finishing it because I either lose interest or gain more interest in another project. Even if this novel isn’t my favorite story idea any more, at least I’ll have actually finished a novel.
     
     
    How's everyone else doing so far? I hope NaNo is going well for those that are participating—whether you’re doing everything by the book, being a “rebel” (hey, they have an official forum on the NaNo forums specifically for “rebels” and technically I fall into that category since I'm continuing my novel from last year), or doing your own thing instead of NaNo but using NaNo as the backbone—the important thing is just writing.
     
    ---
     
    As for Halloween stories, The Ambage recently released a small collection of Halloween-themed stories: Crooked Ways
     
     
     
     









    (image links to larger size)



    (amazing artwork by 55555)



    The paperback version is less than four bucks, and you can get a free Kindle version if you buy the paperback from Amazon. It includes stories from myself, Nuile, GSR, Zox, Zarayna, and 55555.
     
    If you're interested in purchasing it, you can buy the paperback here or here, and the Kindle version here. Please consider supporting your fellow BZPers. ^^ Thanks in advance to anyone who does!
     
    ---
     
    Otherwise, life is going pretty well, just been busy with school and stuff but trying to be more active here. Notable things that've happened since Summerish (though none of this was lost in the data loss, since I just wasn't very active and never updated my blog =P):
    Re-fell in love with Firefly (about a month ago I had a Firefly/Serenity marathon [after purchasing the Collector's Edition of Serenity], followed by a commentary/bonus features marathon, going back and watching the episode commentaries, film commentary, and various bonus features. Yeah, I kinda love this show/movie).
    Watched the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a couple weeks ago and also fell in love (I'm restraining myself from watching any more until after NaNo).
    Had an Avengers marathon (watching it and all the films leading up to it) back in late August before classes started after completing my DVD collection of the Avenger films. Fell more in love than I already was with them. Will be writing an entry that ranks them from best to worst (in my opinion, obviously) soon (hint: Avengers is #1).
    In general just fell in love with Joss Whedon's work.
    Started work on a collaborative writing project (four intertwined novellas) with some friends from school; super excited about that.
    Best book I've read since summer: The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman.
    Started re-reading some of The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher, which are amazing books and re-fell in love with them, too.
    Pre-ordered the paperback of A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin, which came this past Tuesday; I'm really excited to read it come Christmas-ish over winter break.
    Watched the second half of the final season of Breaking Bad as the episodes aired. Man, "Felina" and "Ozymandias" were such amazing episodes. That show in general is just pretty incredible.
    Glad to see the forums are back. Yay.

    ~ Velox
  16. Velox
    Top ten celebrity character crushes (which has basically just become "favorite characters" because I'm not sure I'd say I have crushes for all of them)--both for male and female.
     
    Female:

    Fantine (Anne Hathaway)--Les Misérables
     

     
    Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic)--Castle
     

     
    Parker (Beth Riesgraf)--Leverage (honorable mention to her brief appearance in Criminal Minds as Dr. Maeve Donovan as that side story was adorable [edit: er, not the end of it, but the character in general], as well as Maxine from NCIS, because her character was adorable there, too)
     

     
    Young Cosette (Isabelle Allen)--Les Misérables (the exception to this list, as she's obviously not a crush. But her character is still adorable and deserves to be listed)
     

     
    Hermione Granger (Emma Watson [<3])--Harry Potter
     

     
    Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders)--How I Met Your Mother (honorable mention to Maria Hill, from The Avengers)
     

     
    Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke)--Game of Thrones
     

     
    Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly)--Pirates of the Caribbean
     

     
    Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), and Amy Pond (Karen Gillan)--Doctor Who (I can't really decide which is my favorite, and I love them all, so).
     

     
    Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), Lois Lane (Erica Durance), and Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk)--Smallville (I seem to go through phases with them, and depending on the episode/season, I'll like one more than the other. I'm also almost positive that my mind is just blanking on more female crushes, and so these probably wouldn't be on the list at all if I could remember who I'm forgetting)
     

     
     
    EDIT:
     
    Buttercup (Robin Wright)--The Princess Bride (cannot believe I forgot her D: )
     



     
    Male (doing top 15 because there's no way I could choose just 10 D: ):

    Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion)--Castle (honorable mention to Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, and basically any other character Fillion has played)
     

     
    Hoot (Eric Bana)--Black Hawk Down
     

     
    The Doctor (David Tennant)--Doctor Who
     

     
    Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale)--The Dark Knight Trilogy
     

     
    William Forrester (Sean Connery)--Finding Forrester (honorable mention to Marko Ramius from The Hunt for Red October)
     

     
    Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman)--Les Misérables (honorable mention to Wolverine)
     

     
    Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg)--The Avengers, Agents of SHIELD, etc.
     

     
    Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt)--Se7en (honorable mention to Tyler Durden from Fight Club)
     

     
    John Reese (Jim Caviezel)--Person of Interest (also just Caviezel in anything)
     

     
    Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg)--Shooter (honorable mention to Dignam from The Departed)
     

     
    John Watson/Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman)--Sherlock/The Hobbit
     

     
    George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart)--It's a Wonderful Life
     

     
    Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson)--Taken (also anything Liam Neeson is in, because of his voice; honorable mention specifically to Ra's al Ghul)
     

     
    Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris)--How I Met Your Mother
     

     
    Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln)--The Walking Dead
     

     

    And many more, I'm sure (I'm also positive my mind is blanking on some obvious ones, but oh well).
     
    ~ Velox
  17. Velox
    ~ ::
    :: ~


    August 6: Top Ten Books I Wish Could Have Had Sequels



    The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. The Night Circus is one of my favorite books. Actually, this pretty much goes for the next three, too. These four books are, in my opinion, great examples of the “perfect” stand-alone novel. I love the “Circus of Dreams”, experiencing it, reading the underlying plot, everything. This book was amazing, and as much as I’d love for there to be a 20-book-series, it’s ending was incredibly well-done, and I have to agree with the author that a sequel probably wouldn’t be the best idea (though I am hoping for a book of short stories, which the author has mentioned as a possibilities, simply because I did really love the setting/characters so much).
    A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. This is quite possibly the book that has struck me the most. It’s a truly amazing book, and I haven’t met a single person so far that hasn’t loved the book. It’s amazing, and it’s great as a stand-alone. But since I love it so much, a part of me does wish there could be sequels somehow.
    The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. This follows almost exactly with the book above—AMC and the Book Thief both moved me more than other books have. I’d love to just keep reading and reading and reading this story, yet it too is great as a standalone, and I’m not sure I would actually want a sequel, even if I wish there could be.
    The Prestige, by Christopher Priest. I love magicians (another reason The Night Circus was so awesome), and I love the characters here. Not to mention the awesome structure of this novel. This is a great stand-alone book, but I wouldn’t mind reading more about these characters.
    Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I mean this could really just be replaced with “anything by Tolkien.” Tolkien is without a doubt one of the greatest writers ever. And his characters/settings are fantastic. I’d love for there to be more, though LOTR is definitely a “perfect trilogy” with a great beginning, climax (or eucatastrophe, as Tolkien puts it), and ending.
    The Last Man, by Vince Flynn. Or you could say the Mitch Rapp series. I loved these books. Vince Flynn is actually one of the authors that got me into reading. It was a huge tragedy that he passed away so young a few weeks ago, and I will definitely miss his Mitch Rapp books.
    And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie. Another example of a “perfect standalone.” I mean, to be expected—Agatha Christie is truly a master, and this is one of my favorite books. The experience reading this story was truly haunting, and I’d love for there to be some sort of sequel somehow, though of course that’s not exactly possible. =P
    The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. Come on, who didn’t love this book? I’d love to follow Milo around on more adventures.
    Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling. Among other books, I guess. But I did really enjoy this series, and a small part of me wishes there could be more (but, as is the case with all of these, it’s perfectly understandable [and even a good thing] that there aren’t).
    Various Classics, such as The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. Obvious choice is pretty obvious—these books are so renowned for a reason: they’re great books. It’d be awesome to stay with the characters forever, yet the books by themselves are great.

  18. Velox

    But the Cat Came Back

    By Velox,

    So recently the most adorable cat ever has been hanging around my house. It'll go away for a while sometimes but keeps coming back. Can't help but think of this (one of the greatest cartoons, and far too catchy for its own good):
     

     
    (though, I'm not trying to get rid of it, and I actually give it food/water [unfortunately we can't keep it as my dog is unfriendly and my dad's allergic to cats :C], but still)
     
     
    But the cat came back
    The very next day~
  19. Velox

    New Computer

    By Velox,

    So my old laptop died, and it looked like trying to fix it would cost a fairly good amount, plus I needed a new laptop anyway, so my dad decided he'd get me a new one. Ended up being able to get this:
     

     
    Acer Aspire Ultrabook M5-581T-6405
     
    Really, really happy with it. Ended up costing ~$100 less too because it was a display model. I was originally planning on actually waiting 7-10 days for them to ship one to a nearby store (as no one had it in stock), but when visiting my local BestBuy they found out that a store ~45 minutes from my house had this last one, so me and my dad drove up and got it.
     
    Windows 8 is taking a little getting used to, but I'm still loving the computer so far--so much better than my old laptop, fairly thin and lightweight, fast, backlit keyboard, etc. (and it has a DVD player ^^) I wanted this one specifically because a friend from school has an older version and completely loves it, plus I had seen her laptop before and used it. And for just the basic stuff that I'm using it for, it's definitely nice.
     
    Hopefully going to be able to recover all of my files...if not, at the very least I had a few of my main things (mostly large writing projects) saved onto Dropbox, so I still have those, plus I backed up my computer a few months ago, which means I'll only lose some recent things if I'm not able to recover them.
  21. Velox
    ~ ::
    :: ~






    July 9: Top Ten Best/Worst Movie Adaptations


     
     
    These will all be in the “best” category, as I actually can’t think of any horrible movies/books that I have read (thankfully I never did see/read Twilight, etc.). There are also various other movies that I’ve loved (Hunt for Red October, Les Miserables, Princess Bride) but have unfortunately not read the books yet, and therefore did not include them in this list (or the opposite, like Jurassic Park because I read the book recently but haven’t seen the movie in a long time, and hardly remember it at all).
    The Prestige–Both one of my favorite books and movies, this movie was definitely a fantastic adaptation. In fact, this is one of the only cases where I can honestly not choose if I like the book or movie better, as they are both fairly different, yet amazing at the same time.
    The Lord of the Rings–I’m currently making my way through The Return of the King (book), but I definitely love Peter Jackson’s adaptations.
    The Hobbit–Same as above. I’ve read the book several times before, and while the movie is obviously quite different, it’s still amazing and a great adaptation, IMO.
    The Passion of the Christ–This is one of my favorite movies, and is definitely the best adaptation of any part of the Bible that I’ve seen (though The Nativity Story was also well-done, but didn’t have the emotional effect that this one did).
    The Lincoln Lawyer–I love both the book (by Michael Connelly) and the movie, and I think this is a very good adaptation. Better also because Connelly himself likes it, and I’m always glad when an author likes a movie based off one of their books (same thing with The Prestige–Christopher Priest was quite impressed with the movie).
    Shooter–Based off the book Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter, I thought this was a great adaptation. Also very different from the book, but I love Mark Wahlberg in this movie and the movie itself overall.
    The Town–Based off the book Prince of Thieves, by Chuck Hogan, I really enjoyed it. Wasn’t a huge fan of Ben Affleck, but I thought the movie itself was a pretty good adaptation, and Jeremy Renner was absolutely fantastic.
    Sherlock–So not a movie, but considering each episode is 90 minutes, they may as well be considered movies. Obviously vastly different, considering how it’s based in modern-day London. Be that as it may, this is a fantastic show, and an amazing adaptation of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
    Harry Potter–Loved these books, and I thought the movies were fairly good overall.
    The Hunger Games–Not a bad book or movie, and while a lot was missing in the movie, I still thought it was a good adaptation.

  22. Velox
    ~ ::
    :: ~






    July 2: Top Ten Most Intimidating Books


    Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. Mostly just because of its size. I absolutely love the story, and really want to read this book, but it is a little daunting.
    The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. Basically the same as above. And, really, also The Three Musketeers.
    Jack Ryan series, by Tom Clancy. Simply because they're so many, and mostly large books. They're fast reads, though, so not all that intimidating.
    Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. So many people love it and praise it, and as such I feel like I'll be required to love it when I read it. Not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it does turn out great, but I'm not a huge fan of reading things and feeling like I'll have to love it.
    Many books by Charles Dickens. The writing style, the often large pagecount, etc.
    The Dark Tower series, by Stephen King. While they're not all that long, it's still a big series with several long books.
    Moby Dick, by Herman Melville.
    87th Precinct series, by Ed Mcbain. This is simply because there's so many of them.
    Various other Classics, such as Gone With the Wind, War and Peace, and many more that I'm blanking on right now. This also includes things like the 12-volume History of Middle-earth, which would be amazing to read some time, but is a little daunting.
    Various Non-Fiction Books. Simply because I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction, so any huge non-fiction book is slightly daunting to me (with exceptions).

  23. Velox
    ~ ::
    :: ~

     
     
    Unfortunately I haven't been keeping up with these, but school and a couple other projects are done so I have a little more time now--plus, I really like this theme. It's been an amazing bookish year so far for me, with a lot of really great books read--38 read so far total. It's actually fairly surprising to me that all of the books below (with the exception of The Walking Dead) I rated 5 stars--something that I don't do very often, so to have 11 books (because of ASoIaF) already this year with 5 stars is pretty awesome.
     


    June 25: Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2013



    The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. Definitely my favorite book this year. This book is truly amazing--everything about it is fantastic, and I hope to be reading it again soon, even though I'm trying to re-read less books since I have so many unread books I want to read.
    A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin. Specifically, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. I'm waiting to read DwD until it comes out in paperback because I'm slightly OCD in wanting the whole series to be the same type of book. Anyway, these books are amazing, with the exception of the adult content, and are definitely all 5-star books.
    The Prestige, by Christopher Priest. I watched the movie before reading the book (unfortunately--I always like reading the book first), but both were still amazing. It’s very rare when it’s hard to choose which is better: the book or the movie. Most of the time, it’s the book, but either way it’s always fairly easy to decide which was better—even if both were enjoyable. For The Prestige, it truly is hard to decide which is better (the book is one of my favorite books, and the movie is one of my favorite movies). I absolutely loved the book and everything Priest did, particularly with the structure of the novel. But the film was just as amazing (as expected, coming from Nolan), and is shown in another great way. So this is perhaps one of the few times that I'm not even going to try to say which I liked better--they were both amazing works of art.
    Holes, by Louis Sachar. I've blogged about this book before, so I won't say much here, but it was definitely one of the most enjoyable books I've read so far this year.
    The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. Basically tied with Holes. Another amazing book that I've blogged about before, and definitely one of my favorites.
    The Floating Admiral, by members of the Detection Club (including Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, & G.K. Chesterton). Really an enjoyable book. I love classic detective mysteries (Agatha Christie, etc.), and this one worked really well. Sure, there were a few jarring transitions--to be expected with each chapter written by a new author--but overall it was definitely really well-done.
    The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Full review here. Quite the amazing and heart-wrenching book. Highly recommended.
    Human Chain, by Seamus Heaney. Quite possibly the greatest poet alive, Heaney is fantastic, and this book of poems of his was quite enjoyable. My favorite poem by him, however, was not in this collection: "From the Frontier of Writing". Still a great collection, though.
    A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This one I actually hesitated slightly to give 5 stars. It's an amazing book, but the second half does drag on quite a bit, and doesn't seem completely necessary. However, not only is it the first Sherlock Holmes, but it's really quite commendable how much thought Doyle put into the character of the killer, to be able to go that in-depth with him (again, even if it did drag on). Plus, I also enjoyed it slightly more than The Sign of Four, possibly just because I had already seen the Jeremy Brett TV movie version several times, and knew the story.
    The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman. And also the first graphic novel I have read. Definitely entertaining and well-done. Having already watched the TV show, it was cool to see the similarities and differences. I hope to read more of these in the future.


    What about you guys? Any amazing books you've read so far this year?
     
    ~ Velox
  24. Velox
    Go enter!
     
    People loved it last year, so we brought it back. Please enter and help make it the success it was last year.
     
    Edit: And the OTC topic is up, as well as the first OTC them! Still one more day to enter the Bionicle theme!
  25. Velox
    ~ ::
    :: ~

     

    April 16: Top Ten Tuesday REWIND -- pick a past topic you missed or one you want to revisit!







    As such, I've chosen: "Top Ten Books I Want to Reread"



    A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. This is probably my favorite book. I've read it twice, and I'm definitely eager to do so again.
    The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. An amazing book that I've only read once--would definitely look forward to reading it again.
    A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin. Because this series was/is amazing. I still need to read A Dance with Dragons (I've been waiting for the paperback, because I'm slightly OCD in wanting the same edition for the whole series, but I might give in and buy the hardback--especially since the paperback release date has been pushed back once again <_<), but I'll look forward to reading them all again.
    Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling. These books were really fun to read, and I only read them for the first time last August.
    Holes, by Louis Sachar. Just read this book last Friday for the first time. I know, I'm probably the only person who hasn't. Needless to say, it was amazing.
    The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. And I just read this book on Saturday--same thing. Amazing book that I'd love to re-read.
    American Assassin, by Vince Flynn. Another of my favorite books. I've already read this two or three times--wouldn't mind doing it again.
    The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. A fantastic urban fantasy series, with one of the greatest narrators of any book or series I've read.
    The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis. Because it's amazing.
    The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Because I don't remember the books at all, except small glimpses of The Magician's Nephew, because I read them so long ago.

    ~ Velox
×
×
  • Create New...