Velox

I forgot about this topic...but assigned to myself as I'm not sure who/if anyone is still active besides Nuile. I'll have your review for you within a week. =]

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.

Well, it's definitely about time. Congrats, Ryan!! With everything you do for this site, it's great to see you in teal finally!

Happy birthday!

Finally watched The Wolverine. Kinda have mixed feelings on it, but I wouldn't say it was bad--maybe not good either, though. =P But it was entertaining.

Glad we could help! =] Question answered; topic closed.

Ah, yes, that's left over from the old New Member Policy (and since you joined before it was abolished, unfortunately the restrictions still apply to your account). If I remember correctly, you'll need to make 5 posts (you're currently at 4) before you can use your personal messenger. There's also the option of emailing Black Six directly (andrew@bzpower.com). =]

Happy birthday, man!

Just curious, how'd you decided to read it? I started by going page-by-page, but after I finished the introduction I decided to follow the advice of someone's review on Amazon, and read a chapter at a time, then went back and read the notes in the margins (the black/blue ones, anyway); once I finished the whole book, I went back and read the green/orange and red/purple ones. But that's really one of the things I love about this book, 'cause it's completely up to you how you read it, and there's no real "right" way. Nice! I'm pretty sure I'd have to call King my favorite of the trilogy, as there's a couple pages specifically that just really stood out to me. Haha, same here @ making your way through his bibliography. I'm really looking forward to reading Fortunately, The Milk; and Sandman vol. 1 (as you know) soon, as I recently acquired them...and of course all his others at some point, too. =P Yes! I always fear overselling things, but...that series is really amazing haha. Hope you enjoy it! Planning to do the same! My sister had two of them and I found the third a few weeks ago, so I should really get around to reading them. Hoping it lives up to all the hype, haha. I want to do this too...I was going to re-read them last semester, but my sister stole the third book and took it to Chicago with her. =P Then again, it's probably good that I didn't, since there's so many other books I need to read...hope to reread them at some point soonish though. As for me...I'm mostly just hoping to make a good dent in my to-read pile without adding too many more to it. =P Specifically, there are a few I'm definitely looking forward to, though...Skin Game, by Jim Butcher, when it comes out is by far the book I'm most excited for. I also hope to finally start the Wheel of Time series, as I've had the first book since Summerish. Also hoping to make a significant dent in the complete Sherlock Holmes stories.

Closed per request of topic starter.

Closed per request of topic starter.

"How Your Mother Met Me" episode of How I Met Your Mother. Really, really great episode. Every time we learn something new about The Mother, I'm starting to like her more and more.

Only when I'm on break and don't have school. =P And I end up ignoring other things in lieu of reading haha. Otherwise, usually I try to read ~a book a week, but I'll have low times and high times. But on that note, since the last post I finished: Gods of Guilt, by Michael Connelly; The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman; Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn; Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman; The Second Death, by Caleb Peiffer; and Time to Hunt, by Stephen Hunter. The Graveyard Book is officially one of my favorite books I've ever read now. Gaiman truly is a brilliant writer, and I loved the way he portrayed a child. Plus, the accompanying drawings were great. Einstein's Dreams is another incredibly brilliant book (short story? novella? the version I have is an actual book, but it's really short so I don't think it could be considered a novel). It makes you think, and was really interesting and fun to read.

Best Actor: Martin Freeman (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) Best Actress: Amy Acker (Much Ado About Nothing) Best Supporting Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) Best Supporting Actress: Jena Malone (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) Best Director: Peter Jackson (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) Best Soundtrack/Score: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Best Writing: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Here's an article about how there may be a Christmas Special...sounds like that means there'll be a 3-episode season shortly after that, too? That'd be sweet. Even if it just means the new season starts on Christmas, I'd take that. =P I'm just hoping this ends up being true.

@ Brickeens ~ Yeah, to each his own. I'm just not really a fan of that type of prologue in general. I'm much more interested if the world can be built by using the plot (and I'd consider this a form of world building, since a lot is different and needs to be told--I mean, it did take like 17 minutes after all), and so when it just throws in everything at the beginning, it's just not my favorite form of storytelling. Though there are exceptions. And I also absolutely love prologues that don't set up the world, but are just awesome sequences on their own (the bank robbery at the beginning of The Dark Knight, for example, or the plane crashing for TDKR). So I don't think that much (or anything) needs to be taken out necessarily, but just spread out and told differently. But maybe that's just me.

(unless I'm blind there is not yet a topic for this, which is a tragedy) Today is the birthday of the incredibly awesome reporter ChocolateFrogs! Time to party! : D Already told you this on FB, but hope you have a great one, Ben! ^^

I dunno, but I remember seeing a lot of reviews praising its intelligence for being such an action-packed robots vs. monsters film. Which I mean, compared to something like Transformers, sure (I mean, the Mako characterization was pretty cool, though ultimately disappointing that there wasn't more to it, as it had such potential), but that still wouldn't be something I'd praise. Maybe we just read different reviews. =P I haven't read many recently, but I was browsing a few when it first came out like on IMDb and various blogs and such. But yeah, definitely the most praised thing is for the visuals/sense of fun, which is a valid praise. =P

Since my last post, I read S. by JJ Abrams & Doug Dorst in the last few weeks of December. The whole book was incredibly fun to read, but it also took a while as I seemed to never have much time to read. So far in January I've read: Survivor, by Chuck Palahniuk. First book I've read by Palahniuk, and it didn't disappoint. He has a really enjoyable writing style, and I look forward to reading more of his soon.More Than This, by Patrick Ness. Not nearly as good as A Monster Calls, but it was still amazing (I just love Ness's writing style), and I still look forward to reading his next book, as well as the Chaos Walking trilogy, which I have unfortunately not read yet. A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin. I basically did nothing else but read for ~5 days, but it was worth it, as this book was awesome. =P Cannot wait for Winds of Winter.Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon, by Matt Fraction. The first superhero graphic novel I've read, as per the recommendation of ChocolateFrogs--really an awesome book, and I can't wait to read vol.2 as well as more superhero GNs, and Sandman, which I need to get my hands on. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Really enjoyable; very easy to see why so many people love it. And now I can finally see the film, too. I may just have to read more in this series, but if I do, it won't be for a while most likely, since I have so many things I need to read.

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.

Definitely--that episode was amazing. And actually we may not have to wait that long. I've heard they're planning to get the next season out sooner, which would be really nice if so.

Sherlock: "His Last Vow" I just cannot even. Greatest episode yet, I think.

This is correct. Post count reductions were sometimes given as a form of punishment (with the exception of Cajun who was pranked), though don't seem to be given any more. Edit: If I remember right, the reductions may have been given when the advertising rule was broken, though I'm not entirely sure. Does this answer your question, Oryx? =]

Yeah, definitely a great film--and TV show. Really one of my favorites, as it has amazing characterization, acting, writing... Anyway, yeah, valid critique. I wished that had been done better, but oh well.

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).