Kopekemaster

-snip I find all others look different mentally That's actually one major - albeit subjective and personal and pretty minor overall - reason I disliked the movies. I had a specific mental image about how every character looked and acted and spoke and all, and the movies ruined that for me. Especially for Aragorn, the actor for that did a great job with it in the movie but it was completely different from how I imagined him in the books and it kind of ruined his character for me. Anyway, I just finished (as in, five minutes ago) Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. It was a very good book, not really my kind of book, but a good book regardless. It's about emigration, basically. There's this weird scifi element to it that didn't really seem to fit into it (admittedly, it's debatable whether or not it's literal or just metaphor, but it seems like it's literal), but I think I understand why he used it. edit: Oh yeah, about the music of LotR: if you haven't seen them before, you might want to check out the animated movies. The Hobbit is amazing visually (except for the character designs for hobbits and dwarves), and it has a lot of music. It was long ago that I read the books, so I can't remember if they're the same songs or not, but they're pretty fun. The second and third animated movies aren't very good (made by a different company and the visuals are way worse), but they still feature a lot of music.

Have you seen the movies yet? I'd be curious to hear what you think of the movie version of Fellowship compared with the book. I'm not a huge fan of the movies, but especially dislike the Fellowship of the Ring movie because it left out almost all of the best parts of the book. Fellowship is almost entirely just travel, and that's what makes it so good. The Mines of Moria was by far my favorite part of the book (and probably the series as a whole) for how it showed just how long they were in there, how bleak and terrifying and mazelike it was, with the threat of enemies always in the back of their minds. In the movie it was pretty much just reduced to an action sequence, which was a huge letdown. And it didn't include Tom Bombadil!

Re-re-releases it, actually, since there are now three versions of the song. Anyway, this is awesome. Especially awesome for me, since Budapest is my favorite city.

That's a great series. I'm not really into fantasy as much nowadays, but I read a couple of those (and owned all of them) back when I was. I mean, those books are good enough to have a dictionary at the back of each of them.

Finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I have a lot of criticisms of Harry Potter as a whole, including this book, but I'd say this is my second-favorite book, after Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone. A lot of exposition, but I think the exposition was pretty well done. "Sectumsempra" was by far my favorite chapter, and my favorite chapter in all of Harry Potter. Served to excellently flesh out Snape, Draco, and even Harry without much exposition. Wrapped that up just in time to start my World Literature class. A lot of good books to read there, but we're starting with Exit West. Started that today and it seems pretty good so far, actually reminds me a bit of my writing style. A lot of run-on sentences, though.

Tying in with the origin of Christmas, maybe something like when the first Toa (of whatever island) first arrived. I'm not sure of the exact time each "part" of the Bionicle story took up (as in, Mata Nui from 2001-2003, etc), but I could see something like the anniversary of the Toa Mata arriving being celebrated each year.

I need to reread the LotR books. I read them all once a long time ago, but don't remember them (particularly The Return of the King) very well. I have read The Hobbit at least once, though, and really enjoy that one. It's definitely targeted more at kids than the later books, but that gives it a somewhat more lighthearted, fun feel. Have you read The Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R. Tolkien? If you haven't, I'd highly recommend reading it, especially given the season we're in right now. It's a quite short book consisting of letters that Tolkien wrote (acting as Father Christmas) to his children each year, and the illustrations they contained (lots of illustrations). It starts out simply enough, but by the end it has created this whole world, caves with ancient drawings that Father Christmas discovers and, if I remember correctly, even some sort of runic language. It's a very fun read.

I'm sure to get an Amazon gift card for Christmas, and I'll probably use that to get this. Can't wait to hear a clean, official version of the soundtrack.

The Yellow Wallpaper is probably my favorite short story of all time. Fantastically written and horrifically accurate. I hated him because of The Scarlet Letter, but I recently read Young Goodman Brown and that improved my opinion of Nathaniel Hawthorne. A great pre-gothic American horror story. I read The Dead by James Joyce. I'd recommend it (especially around this time of year, it's a Christmas story), not much "happens" for a lot of the story (most of it just takes place at a Christmas party) but the ending is really dense.

I wouldn't have expected that in a million years; if he hadn't published them before Bionicle ended, I wouldn't have though he'd publish them after. But, regardless, this is super exciting and I hope to get them.

That's a great series. It's been many years since I read it, but I remember loving them, especially The High King. If you haven't read it before, I'd highly recommend the Dark is Rising series. I'm not really sure why, but I sort of link that series and the Prydain series. The Dark is Rising is a bit darker/more serious in tone, and it has a really cool kind of "contemporary fantasy" setting.

Read a bunch of stories by Anton Chekhov, from A Doctor's Visit (which is edited and with an introduction by Tobias Wolff, who wrote Bullet in the Brain, another great short story). I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Chekhov's stories, my favorite of which is A Doctor's Visit (which the collection is named after). Fantastic story, I'd highly recommend it to anyone (it's also quite short).

This is amazing and very convenient. I've downloaded them all and hope to start reading them soon. It's been a while since I've really read much Bionicle-related stuff, and this will be an easy way to get back into it.

Read a bunch of short stories (some from the aforementioned anthology, some not), most recently The Metamorphosis by Kafka. Fantastic story, with a good level of ambiguity that lends itself to multiple different (yet equally interesting) interpretations. edit: Read a bunch of "genre fiction" short stories, my favorites being Red Wind by Raymond Chandler and Under the Pitons by Robert Stone. Then I read Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville and I'm starting to read a collection of Anton Chekhov's stories.

I like them, at least from a story aspect. The original Bohrok were just a horde, every Bohrok was just a generic clone, but the Bohrok-Kal are singular, and quite a bit more powerful. I still like their sets, I love the Bohrok build in general and the protodermis-colored "headpieces" and weapons (which also had cool designs) were pretty sweet.

Krika, maybe? Idk how a costume for that would work due to his unusual body structure, but I think he's one of the creepier (and cooler) looking ones.

Read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, along with a bunch of other short stories in the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction (8th ed.). I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't anything super spectacular in my opinion. Victory Lap, Young Goodman Brown, and A Wall of Fire Rising were some of the highlights of the other stories I've read so far.

I pronounced "Vahki" as "vuh-hawk-ee" for the longest time. Not sure why. There are some where I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly or not. I pronounce "Kopeke" as "koh-peek", which I think is correct but I'm pretty sure I've heard someone pronounce it as "koh-peck".

Those are great, I think it's an underappreciated kid's fantasy series that deserves a lot more credit. (By the way, if you didn't know, that series is based somewhat on Welsh mythology.)

Always wanted to read it myself rather than having to use the hearsay of others. ...I am like that with a lot of things. Don't know how you're finding it - I think it's one of the most overrated books of all time along with Lord of the Flies. I found it both boring as-well as simplistic and poorly written. Really? I'm surprised to find someone who dislikes both 1984 and Lord of the Flies. I'm not one to immediately accept a "classic" as an amazing book (I absolutely abhor The Scarlet Letter, for example), but I thought both of those were absolutely fantastic and poignant. Sure, characters are a bit lacking (seriously can't think of a character from either book except for the fat kid in Lord of the Flies), but the characters aren't really the point of those stories. With the former, they're just a means to demonstrate the world they're living in, and in the latter they're just a means to show the innate and unavoidable animalistic nature of humans. Have you read Animal Farm (also by Orwell)? I'd be curious to hear whether you like that one or not, especially because there really aren't any "characters" in that story to speak of, it's much more focused on its purpose.

Ehlek, just for his cool electric stylization. (I can't remember if he actually had any electricity-related powers in the story, but he does in the little Barraki trailer with Creeps from the Deep.)

Hmm, I think I'd leave out... Romance in Bionicle.

Phew, it's been a while. Been pretty stressed and busy with college stuff so I haven't gotten a whole lot of time (or motivation, given the time) to read. But I just went on a (admittedly non-vacation) trip to Hungary and Romania and got a good bit of reading done during that time, at least by my standards. Finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Found it rather trialsome to read just because I hated Harry so much in that book. He's so obnoxious, I was almost rooting for Umbridge at a certain point. Finished Durarara!! Volume 1. Fantastic book. Fantastic anime. I saw the anime first so I know the story, but reading the books does add to the show. Starting the next book in the series now.