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Empedocles
2012-06-28, 09:33 PM
Basically, what're your all time favorite stories? Doesn't matter what type of media it's in, I'm just curious.

For purposes of this thread, please bold the title of the book/movie/show/whatever, and follow it with a description and a clear outline of the general genre.

I'll post my own eventually, but I'd like to think about it first. :smalltongue:

An Enemy Spy
2012-06-29, 03:22 AM
Halo, a little known series about a guy and a really big hula hoop.

I think what really makes this series great is that it really has a sense of scope. And the thing is, the sheer scope of this universe isn't immediately apparent. We start off in a fairly generic war of Humanity against the evil aliens bent on wiping us out. Then we find a ringworld created by some unknown race. And then we find space zombies on the ring. And then the ring turns out to be a weapon designed to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. And then we find out there's more of them. And now the rings are only a part of a larger system of shield worlds and Halos with the center of it beyond the galaxy. And then we learn that the Forerunners are preceded by ban even more mysterious species.

And it gets to the point where instead of a battle between humans and Covenant with the Flood thrown into the mix, we have a conflict spanning literally millions of years between the unbelievably ancient Precursors and the Forerunners, the children they created and then deemed unworthy of survival and are ultimately destroyed by, and the Flood, who transcend their seemingly simple "space zombie" appearance and truly become horrifying. And of course, the Humans, possibly the creations the Precursors loved more, who are the only species in the universe to stop the Flood, a feat the Forerunners in all their glory couldn't match, and even threatened Forerunner dominance of the galaxy before the efforts of fighting a two front war sandwiched in between an immovable object and an irresistable force.
The Covenant, once seemingly the most terrifying power in the galaxy, now seem tiny in the grand scheme of things; a wrench thrown into the great conflict that has shaped the galaxy for eons.

And the villain is truly terrifying. Gravemind is not just the leader of the Flood. He is the Flood. Every single consciousness to ever be consumed is his. In essence, Gravemind is almost every sentient being who has ever lived, and experiences every part of that conciousness from the greater sum of galactic knowledge all the way down to the individual and personal memories and emotions of each and every being he has ever consumed. And he can never die. There may be periods where the Gravemind does not actually exist, but as long as there is even a single Flood spore left in the universe, then he hasn't been stopped.

What makes Gravemind a level beyond most sci-fi villains is the fact that he exists on a level of morality far outside you're typical good and evil. His motivations are not conquest, but unity between every soul in the universe. The Flood are not a plague but the final and perfect culmination of all life in his eyes. The Forerunners are an enemy because they try to keep the status quo. They are not simply the enemies of the The Flood, they are the enemies of progress, and for life to reach the next stage of higher existance, they are an obstacle that must be removed.
Individuality is a curse, one that will inevitably lead to conflict and death. The Gravemind offers unity, immortality, and the infinite wisdom that comes from all minds at once.
Or at least, that's how he makes it out to be.

Another reason Halo succeeds is because underneath the grand scope, there is room for the personal story. My favorite character in Halo is Cortana. She was created as a glorified piece of field equipment to aid the Master Chief in his mission to capture a Covenant prophet: a mission that was very quickly abandoned when Reach was invaded.

As a "smart" AI, Cortana is among the most powerful characters in the entire series, second only to Gravemind and some Forerunner AIs. However, she is cursed with the incredibly short lifespan of roughly seven years. By the time of Halo 3 she is about four years old. When she is in the clutches of the Gravemind, he tortures her and she begins a spiral into depression and madness. Why should she be brought into the world with so much brilliance and power only to be doomed to an existance shorter than a decade? She realizes with horror that the Chief, the man she has grown to respect and very possibly love, will outlive her, and maybe replace her with another AI, and then another one after that AI died. Maybe he would forget her altogether; just another AI in a long line of them. The Gravemind's honeyed words offer her a respite from her pain. She can live on free of pain or mortality in the loving embrace of the Flood, and all she has to do is surrender her knowledge to him.
But that isn't going to happen. Because Cortana isn't just another AI. She's his comrade and his friend, and he made a promise to come for her.The Chief braves the center of the Flood itself to get her back, because when John-117 makes a promise, he keeps it. Because of the Chief's and Cortana's loyalty to each other, she is able to pull herself away from the brink of the abyss, but the damage has been done.
In Halo 4, it's been four years and Cortana is eight now, and she was already showing signs of degradation well before the point where she would be reaching the end of her lifespan. I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

So that's why I like Halo.

Oh, and it also has cool shooting and explosions and stuff.

AkaiNeko
2012-06-29, 11:30 AM
Neon Genesis Evangelion, or "What Happens When a Depressed, Unstable Genius Decides to Make a Humongous Mecha Anime While Studying Psychology (and Philosophy, and Religion, and Transhumanism, and....), on Pretty Much Zero Budget".

It'll take me a while to properly collate my thoughts and arrange them into a coherent form, if I even decide to try right now, but trust me: it's teh best thing ever.

Also, An Enemy Spy, great job on that Halo explanation. I think I like it even more now.

Yora
2012-06-29, 11:56 AM
Halo, a little known series about a guy and a really big hula hoop.

I think what really makes this series great is that it really has a sense of scope.
Thank you!
All everyone always complains about is kids on multiplayer and how the gameplay is simplefied compared to PC shoters that existed before it.
But it does have a story and a setting, and actually quite decent one. However it's the subtext that has the real beauty and not the script itself, so it's easy to miss when you havn't actually played it or only rushed trough killing everything as fast as possible.
The story itself: Nothing special. The way it's presented: That's really nicely done.
What I personally really like is the setting in which the past and the present are already lost. There won't be "tides turning" and there obviously isn't any chance to successfully defend what little is still left. But with the Rings and the Flood appearing on the scene, there might be some chance that there could be a future.

Personally, I would go with Ghost in the Shell, both the manga and the very good condensed movie adaptation. The story is really quite simple and there's not really much to say about it. It's about a woman who has become almost all machine who encounters a sentient machine. And that actually happens rather late in the story. It's more about observing a world that is clearly very different, but actually nothing has changed, and contemplating about a world that does not have goals or purpose or even visions and ideas. It just exists, going nowhere, and isn't even fun.

And in the end, it culminates with a leap into the unknown. Just because it might result in something new and interesting.

Das Platyvark
2012-07-02, 09:05 PM
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind The Manga, not the movie. The comic manages to tell a truly interesting story in a captivating setting, and to have the main character be quite literally the Messiah without be boring or annoying, or even a Sue. (I guess she might be a Sue, but it sure doesn't feel like it) Despite the nature of the character, you are left with the feeling that in the end she might well have been very very wrong.

Embassytown For me, this one's all about the setting. As what this world exactly is slowly reveals itself, you get to see just how incredible it is. I might be biased by somewhat limited exposure to science fiction, but I think it's still quite unique.

Battlestar Galactica, remakeI like grimdark and mind-screw, and as much realism as possible. Were it not for Firefly, this would be the peak of sf, for me.

FireflyFIREFLY!

thompur
2012-07-02, 09:49 PM
Favorite TV series: Buffy, The Vampire Slayer - Comedy, Horror, Action, Drama, and Soap Opera, all rolled into one.
Favorite Mini-Series: I, Claudius - The greatest dramatic presentation ever created for television.
Favorite current TV series: Castle
Favorite Comedy Series: The **** Van Dyke Show The quintessential sitcom. Perfect cast, brilliant writing.
Favorite Stage Musical: 1776 Hey, I played Ben Franklin.
Favorite Movies: Casablanca, Field of Dreams, The Princess Bride, The Avengers, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The African Queen, The Shawshank Redemption, Ocean's Eleven. Not neccessarily the best of cinema, but these are the films I can watch any time, no matter what mood I'm in, and always enjoy.

DrK
2012-07-03, 12:23 PM
Favourite TV series: Remake BSG as its awesome, Babylon 5 (Series 1-4), Space Above above and Beyond (What can I say I like space drama).
All 3 are slightly grim dark and have interesting space battles in a world that isn't the happy clappy star-trek verse.
Also really enjoyed Jericho (and was gutted that it didn't get a full second season. Its just great) and the first season of Falling Skies - the second season excitingly starting tonight! And the old BBC drama Ultraviolet (A scientific approach to vampires in the UK)

Favourite Books: Steven Erikson's amazing Malazan Book of the Fallen. Its phenomonal in scope and richness and his writing style is fabulous. With a huge cast of characters from the lowly human soldier to ascended half dragon half god legends its just breathtaking. The "like an old friend" Wheel of Time. WoT is classic fantasy and I've been reading since I was ~10. Its a real realx with a cup of tea and biscuit and gently reminesce book series for me. It may not the best quality but I love the series none the less. And a wide selection of Tom Clancy/Matthew Reilly military/drama (switch brain off action film in a book fromat type).

Dienekes
2012-07-03, 01:32 PM
Favorite Show: Oh man this is tough, I have a huge list of shows that I thought were amazing; Monty Python, the Sopranos, I, Claudius, and the Twilight Zone to name a few. But I have to give it to Rome. Watching the development of Lucius Vorenus and Titus ******* Pullo, **** as they watch the downfall of the Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire is just amazing. The only downside of the entire show is that it was too expensive even for HBO so what was supposed to be 3 seasons got condensed to 2, meaning the 2nd season feels a bit off and rushed. Still amazing though, and has some great acting all around. Sure the authors took a few dramatic liberties with the actual events (like condensing timelines, and making the non-Romans depicted like the Romans thought of them instead of what they actually were like), but the whole show is filled with examples of the writers doing their homework to make Rome feel real. The characters and actors are top notch, and everyone should find some favorite that they just think is awesome. Gaius Julius Caesar, Atia of the Julii, and of course the two mains being my personal favorites of the lot, with a hilarious Mark Antony coming close behind them.

Favorite Book Series: A Song of Ice and Fire, currently anyway. Read a fantasy story that was originally based on the War of the Roses, but quickly got into it's own. The characters feel real, the danger feels real, the author has said that when his characters are in trouble he wants you afraid to turn the page, and it works. This isn't some slasher where all the characters are killed off and you're just in it to see them go. This is a series where you want to watch these guys succeed often several characters whose success would be mutually exclusive to some other characters success. This is all wrapped in a very well thought out world with it's own history, and doubts of that history. The only downside I can think of is length between books. The author is slow, incredibly slow. Horrendously, incredibly, abysmally slow. It's hard to keep the excitement running when you're waiting 6 years from one book to another.

Favorite Movies: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and Duck Soup. The first two first. The Godfather is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time. I agree. These movies are about the Corleone crime family and their struggles to gain power in the criminal underworld. Now, honestly these movies are slow and would probably be boring if it wasn't for the excellent cinematography and the acting. Marlon Brando as the aging Don replaced by his son portrayed by Al Pacino (you know, before he started hilariously overacting each role he was given). The deal in murder, prostitution, and drugs and do it in a style that makes you root for them despite this. Of the two I think I like the Godfather Part II better than the original as I think the both running stories are very well put together and there isn't the boring bit where Michael is lying low in Italy. It's curious to me that I like the second one more, because the amount of things that happen in it and the huge time it takes means it should feel rushed but it really doesn't. It's just scenes from the Godfather's life as he ruthlessly runs his criminal empire. Then there was the third movie. We do not talk about the third movie.
Now to Duck Soup. I love black and white comedy. Nowadays the pure comedy genre seems to be awash with movies that seem to think swears and sex jokes are the funniest topics of all time, and that's fine from time to time, but the old black and white zaniness is what I love. The Marx Brothers are at their all time funniest with this film. The amazing Groucho Marx winds up becoming President of someplace called Freedonia and from there the brothers lampoon everything about politics, diplomacy, and war. The entire film is filled with energy, perfect timing, and the brothers doing their lightning style of humor throughout. There's no random romantic subplot as happens in most of their movies, and even the musical interludes are comedic in nature. To me this movie is the Marx brothers at their purest, just laughs throughout.

Favorite Musical: Les Miserables. Reasoning? It's Les Mis. The score is amazing, the characters are fantastic. The themes are humongous and at the same time very small and individual. It's a story of one man's attempts at redemption in Post-Napoleonic France. A former criminal is treated unfairly because of his past crimes and guilty over trying to screw over the only person that was nice to him he decides to break his parole and make a new life for himself. In his story of redemption he helps the child of a prostitute and even takes part in the Paris Uprising of 1832, all why the threat of the cop Javert looms over him. The reason it's so good is the music, each song seems to capture the character that sings it perfectly and has widely different tones. They can be absolutely hilarious, to dramatic, to sorrowful.

Favorite Play: Othello, I love a good villain. I really do. The Joker is my favorite character of all time, and each of the stories I have above either have a fantastic villain, or are dark and morally confused enough that you could pin the role of villain on anyone (except Duck Soup, which I love just for the humor). Othello is made by it's villain, Iago. Now I already wrote about how much I love Iago in the villain thread this week, so not gonna do that again. I will say that I have never seen a bad performance of Othello and as always Shakespeare's lines are beautiful.

Favorite Video Games: The Mass Effect series. Yes, yes, ending sucked. Fan rage, fan rage arggghhh. Ok got that out of the way. Mass Effect is a trilogy of games made by Bioware where you play as Commander Shepard the ultimate bad ass of the galaxy as you try to stop an invasion of synthetics. Anything further than that would be spoilers. To be honest, the story is not what makes these games great, in fact in a lot of ways each games story is pretty generic. What makes it great is Biowares ability to write characters and subplots. Now in this regard the first game is the weakest, the writers were just starting to see how their galaxy worked and a lot of the alien characters personality was just there to dump exposition on their specific race. A lot of the characters seemed flat, but you're Commander Shepard still could make big decisions and felt like you were really shaping the galaxy. Of the companions, the only ones I felt really did have a truly distinct and interesting personality was Wrex and Ashley. But this all changed in the second game. Now you had less big, galaxy altering decisions this time around, but they more than made up for it with the characters. Bioware managed to make most of the characters from the last game amazingly interesting along with making a bunch more, in what I think is the biggest companion list in any Bioware game, and they all seem very fleshed out, and all but one is interesting. Then comes the third game, the big conclusion. Every character shows up, everyone goes the full extent of their character the big decisions are back and the fate of the galaxy is in the balance. Each of those characters you grew to love is also present and ready to be awesome and the gameplay has never been more polished. It's just about the greatest game I have ever played. I laughed, I saluted fallen friends, and sneered at my enemies. Then the last 10 minutes happens. It didn't ruin the game for me, because I thought just about everything leading up to it was fantastic, but it did for a lot of people. The end is bad, no two ways about it, but the series as a whole is still my personal favorite games.

cleric_of_BANJO
2012-07-03, 06:55 PM
Movies:
Fight Club. Incredible acting and cinematography, perfect foreshadowing to a perfect twist. No, I haven't read the book, although I've heard it's also amazing

Reservoir Dogs. Quentin Tarantino. Need I say more? Yes, I do. There is no Tarantino film as good as RD. With a smaller budget, he manages to create an intricate story, with interesting characters, and some of the most realistic (yet entertaining) dialogue I've ever seen. Excellent on all counts, and great acting from Tim Roth and Harvey Keitel especially.

Currently, I've been on a Mel Brooks binge, so I'm gonna have to say Spaceballs. I know, it's not widely considered to be his best movie, but it's the first Brooks film I've ever seen, and every joke has me laughing out loud to this day.


Books:

1984. It's better than Animal Farm, and Orwell's best work. Just an incredible (albeit misguided) prediction of a totalitarian future. As an observer of modern politics, I find some of the more relatable parts of the story especially poignant.

The Life of Pi. Awesome, and very deep novel from Yann Martel. It's very hard to explain why the book is so good without giving away some key elements of the story, but it's not your usual shipwreck-survival story.

Not Wanted on the Voyage. A very inventive and well written retelling of the classic story of Noah's ark, with a LOT of cool twists. BE WARNED - this book is not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for children.


TV

Anything by Joss Whedon, especially Firefly and Buffy, but really anything he's done.

Freaks and Geeks. For a long time I thought Mean Girls was a hilarious and original movie. Turns out it's just hilarious, because pretty much everything Tina Fey did in Mean Girls had already been explored in the show that started everyone's careers. I'm a big fan of Jason Segel and Seth Rogen, and who doesn't love James Franco (who is by far the best actor on the show, by the way). Speaking of Jason Segel...

How I Met Your Mother. Well, the first four seasons anyway. It's been going downhill recently (especially this last season, where it's gone from 'downhill' to 'free-fall'), but the show used to be legen - wait for it - dary. The actors already make it awesome, with the brilliant comedic timing of Jason Segel and NPH, as well as Alyson Hannigan, who may not be as good a Lily as she was a Willow, but is still one of my favorite redheads. The show had a good script, and really original episode structures and concepts, but what really made me a fan was the joke-density. You just don't laugh as much and as often with most sitcoms as you do with HIMYM. Except for one, which is probably my favorite show ever...

Seinfeld. It's just hilarious. And it never let up, even though it ran for so long. Great show.

Feytalist
2012-07-04, 04:11 AM
I've got a couple of favourite stories.

The Baldur's Gate series. It helps that it was D&D Forgotten Realms based, and that I really enjoyed playing the game itself, but the overall story is what drew me. One of the very few great epic stories I've ever read. Experienced. Whatever. Little nobody orphan gets kicked out of his home and gets chased around by all manner of bad guys. Eventually realises he's the child of the god of murder (spoiler warning I suppose), and ends up killing all his siblings and ascending as the new god of murder (or not, depending on your in-game choices). What made it so great was the characterisation of the supporting characters, especially in the second game.

Similarly, Planescape: Torment. One of the very few truly character-driven games I've played. And the Planescape setting itself is awesome. But the story itself is so damn intreguing. Guy wakes up in the morgue, no memory, and only a cryptic (hah!) talking skull for company (hey, it's fantasy, just roll with it). Eventually he finds out he's unable to really die; one of the very few truly immortal beings in the multiverse. But everytime he "dies", he loses his memories. Eventually he discovers who and why he is with the help of clues left by his former lives. Very introspective narrative. About 95% of the game is driven by dialogue. The secondary characters are fun as well.

I'd say Firefly as well, but the story never really got a chance to go anywhere. But the premise was intreguing and the execution was great.

Ghost in the Shell too, similar to what Yora mentioned. The series is much given to introspection, the meaning of what it is to be human and so on. I actually liked the stand-alone series as well, especially the Laughing Man arc.

Movies are generally too short to leave a lasting impression, story-wise. But I'll mention Dark City briefly because of the oppressive atmosphere and more introspection on human nature. The Fountain for the great visuals and really weird mind screw. And Sunshine for just about everything; atmosphere, visuals, concept, execution.

LordRahl6
2012-07-05, 02:26 PM
As far as books go its between Song of Ice and Fire, Sword of Truth, and the Saga of Recluce The first everyone should know why by now, the second's Wizard's Rules intrigue me as an anthropology major, and the third's way of magic works is so real world its almost believable.

As far as TV goes its between Star Trek and Babylon 5 don't ask me with Trek which series just so long as its not Abrams, True ST has moral plays. As far as B5 is concerned the entire five year story was planned out in advance, and despite the lamentations of some individuals the final year was required to close out that story.(Also don't believe anything Dr. Sheldon Cooper has to say about it, its actually quite the opposite.:smallbiggrin:)

Xondoure
2012-07-06, 04:16 AM
There are so many different stories I could list here, but I think I'll start with one that never ceased to amaze in any of it's incarnations. Fullmetal Alchemist. And for me, very little compares with the original Anime series up until they caught up with the manga.

And in honor of my avatar, Mass Effect had a very good run. And while the ending could have used some improvement it remains one of my favorite sci fi settings, and plays with the old tropes to great effect.

Childhood memories compel me to place Redwall on the list, if only because those books taught me to read, and will probably forever top my most read list. There's just something about woodland creatures with swords that creates a dynamic and fresh fantasy setting. Though the formula got repeated with every new book.

The Princess Bride remains the classic in my opinion. It nails down everything a romantic (in the romance era sense) story should be, and tops it all of with comedy to match.

Finally, Hayao Miyazaki is a brilliant man. And Studio Ghibli should be in charge of all entertainment. Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky... My soul. They have shaped it.

SFactor123
2012-07-19, 01:58 AM
The Vampire Diaries

Its a TV Show which started airing on The CW back in 2009. It tells the story of a 17 year old high school girl who becomes the love interest of two Vampire Brothers, but there is a lot more in the story, there are Werewolves, Witches, Hybrids and Warlocks also.This show is a massive hit now, probably the most popular and biggest hit show of present time. It stars Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder in lead roles. I love this show like I have never loved anything before...........

Omergideon
2012-07-19, 10:45 AM
TV Series:
Supernatural: In short it is a show that produced a combination of humour, mythic arcs, drama, character development, action and more besides. It started with 2 brothers driving around and simply dealing with Ghosts and ended up with them dealing with the Civil War in heaven since the apocalypse didn't work. And it all made sense step by step. Overall my favourite series.

Book Series:
Jon Shannow Books: By David Gemmel they are the result of a writer wanting to write a western, and ending the world first to do it. Combines the character drama of a Man who tries to be good against his nature with the epic of fighting against the end of the world. The plot begins with Jon riding into town and being the brigand killer. From there he ends up as a key person caught in a power struggle between a nation who think the Devil won during Armageddon, and a group using magic to recreate the lost science from before the fall. And that is just the start.

Film:
Bambi: Do I actually need to describe it here? I admit this is largely nostalgia based as Bambi was the first film I EVER watched. But tis still a fantastic and beautiful movie. So to add a second.....
1986 Transformers: Again nostalgia helps. But it is the best advert for new toys ever produced in the history of mankind. It had tight storytelling for the show and is a film I enjoy every scene of. Megatron vs Optimus in their final showdown, the Autobots on the run and the introduction of Unicron. This is an epic film.

There are lots of films I like, some I consider better than the 2 listed there. But these are the 2 I enjoy watching the most. Just as while I admit ESB is the best Star Wars film I enjoy watching RoTJ more.

Nameless
2012-07-19, 11:24 AM
Fifty Shades of Gray.

It has amazing character development and a fantastic plot. I really enjoyed how the high level of detail in the book was written in such a poetic kind of way. The characters were very realistic and unique. The author is defiantly the new Terry Pratchett in my eyes. Can't wait for the film.



http://psycho_k.webs.com/img/trollface_emote.png

Dr.Epic
2012-07-19, 11:56 AM
Book: 1984

Dystopian future (at the time)

LordRahl6
2012-07-19, 01:11 PM
As far as 1984 goes the movie version was probably the best I've ever seen of any book so far.:smallcool:

Feytalist
2012-07-23, 02:07 AM
And it all made sense step by step.

Right up until the end of the fifth series. And then it all went to hell.

Pun extremely intended.


But seriously, the first two seasons of Supernatural were extremely good, and then the next three built up to a nice apocalyptic finish. And then they just... carried on. Really, now.

JetThomasBoat
2012-07-23, 12:43 PM
Favorite Book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I only read it the one time, but it's a great sort of coming of age story about a kid that just kind of wants to be loved.

Favorite Show: ...that's hard to say. A few years ago, I would have said Doctor Who, but then Moffat happened...

Favorite Cartoon would be Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I just really love what they do with the characters and how some episodes are a veritable who's who of the villains. Oh, for a description, it's about the Avengers, the super hero team. If you haven't heard of them these days, you probably aren't reading this anyway, as I doubt you have a good internet connection under your rock :P

A close second would be Venture Bros. It's....really weird to describe.

Favorite Book Series: Either the Erevis Cale novels by Paul S. Kemp or Christopher Moore's novels. The Erevis Cale novels are Forgotten Realms novels (D&D books) about a reluctant Chosen of Mask, the God of Shadows. Christopher Moore's books are mostly contemporary stories with some weird magical or science fiction element that ends up causing whacky shenanigans. Anything from vampires adapting to their life as such to a giant shapeshifting iguana thingy from prehistoric times being attracted to a tourist trap town in California because everyone in the town is on anti-depressants they don't need and the creature can sense the chemicals their bodies are creating.

Favorite Movies: It's a tie between Watchmen and Lars and the Real Girl. Watchmen is a dark superhero movie based on a DC graphic novel of the same name, a lot of the characters arguably analogs of the darker aspects of some of the more well known DC characters.

And Lars and the Real Girl, while making mention of a sex doll in the title, is actually a very touching story that makes me sad every time I watch it. It's about a lonely man who lives in a furnished shed behind his brother and his brother's wife's house. Over the course of the story, you see why he's lonely. When the brothers' mother died, the older brother left and Lars was left with his widower father, who was grieving too much to take care of his youngest son. This really left Lards messed up. He ends up ordering a Real Doll and just acting like it's a friend of his he met on the internet, which probably sounds weird, but everyone in the town ends up playing along with it for his sake.

Dumbledore lives
2012-07-23, 08:15 PM
Despite everything that is wrong with it, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is still my favorite TV series. Despite a few rough patches I will watch the first 5 seasons over and over never growing bored because of the quality of the characters. The plots and writing are great, but what really kept me watching was the characters that Joss had created, so much so that I can watch even some of the worst episodes and still be satisfied because I care about the people involved. As for the other 2 seasons, well 6 had redeeming moments.

My favorite book series is and always will be Harry Potter. Others may be better written, have more complex characters, or more emotional depth but there has been no series I have connected with so much, and cared so much. There are few series which attract such attention and such devoted fans that even though the final book came out 5 years ago and the final film last year the fervor has not died down. I can't explain what I love so much, but I know that the books will always be there for me, even when others have faded into the depths of time.

My favorite films is Pulp Fiction, something about the dialogue and story just transcends itself for me such that I can watch the film and be ready to re-watch it immediately afterwards. In my opinion Tarantino's best work, though not by too far, with Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs coming close, but never quite reaching the heights of Pulp Fiction for me. I'm pretty sure I could quote Pulp Fiction more than any other film, and I've listened to the soundtrack on more occasions than I care to admit.

Finally I'll say The Sandman series is the best written and plotted comic series of all time.

Sorahica
2012-07-28, 04:00 PM
My favorite book series would have to be Artemis Fowl. It's a bit aimed towards the younger, but that's kind of my type. It's a story about teenage criminal mastermind searching for power and fortune that ends up stumbling into something far beyond his power- magic.
My favorite TV show is actually an anime. Sorry, Japan-hater, I'm a manga geek. Anyway, the anime's name is Code Geass. It's the story of futuristic Japan that has been taken over by Britain (in the show, Brittainia) and renamed Area 11. The plot is focused around one Brittanian prince who tries to save Japan. Code Geass is the anime for anyone- there's everything in it. Romance, comedy, action, terrorism, powers, and fighting.

Kd7sov
2012-07-29, 01:49 PM
"Favorite" is not really a word that is well-applicable to me and media things, but lately I've been enjoying:

Brandon Sanderson's books, especially the Mistborn Trilogy and Elantris. The former is, in a very real sense, medieval-oid fantasy in a postapocalyptic setting. Which is to say, they've got a bunch of the standard medievalish-fantasy tropes (plus pocket watches), but the sun is red and there's volcanoes spitting a layer of ash all over the land most days. And then at the end the world gets briefly set on fire. The latter is basically about zombies, and is amusingly much lighter in tone. It was Sanderson's first published novel, but mostly you can't tell. Oh, and the zombies in question? They used to be/should have been basically gods.

The Steerswoman books, by Rosemary Kirstein, in which a simple Steerswoman (roving knowledge-gatherers who tend to hate wizards because wizards like to keep their secrets) suddenly finds herself being attacked by various wizards' minions once she starts investigating mysterious gemstones. There are intriguing hints of backstory and the nature of the local magic; I suspect the moon that's rumored to have existed is relevant.

Star Trek: The Rings of Time by Greg Cox, who has a talent for integrating Star Trek history with real history; in this due to a mysterious artifact, Captain Kirk and Shaun Christopher, the leader of the first expedition to Saturn, swap bodies across two hundred fifty years. Meanwhile some mysteriously-destabilizing orbits threaten our understanding of physics and incidentally the most productive dilithium facility in the quadrant.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the only entry on this list that isn't a book. Feel free to discard all you think you know about My Little Pony; this one's still cute, yes, but it's also intelligent and relatable and legitimately funny. Lauren Faust - whom you may have heard of from such things as The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and the new Super Best Friends Forever - set out to do two things with the franchise: demonstrate that there are several different ways to be a girl, and create something that parents could enjoy along with their daughters. She was aided and abetted in this latter by the animation studio, which occasionally throws in stuff like Yakety Sax chase scenes and songs based on Sondheim's.

Empedocles
2012-08-21, 08:02 PM
well...I'm the OP. About time I posted mine.

Favorite TV Show: Heroes (Season 1). I haven't gathered the courage to watch season 2 yet, since I don't want to spoil it. However, season 1 really was the pinnacle of the modern superhero genre for me.

Favorite Book: Stephen King's Dark Tower series, particularly the second one: The Drawing of the Three. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Isaac Mendez and Eddie Dean, from Heroes and the Dark Tower respectively...both have heroin problems...just noticed that :smalleek:

Favorite Movie: Ahhhhhhhhhhh I'm really not sure here. Maybe Pulp Fiction, maybe Fight Club. The Dark Knight Rises has the greatest single performance ever but it's all a little too silly for the number one spot. Honorable mention to The Fifth Element because I can watch it over and over again.

Favorite Comic: Hands down Bone. Second would be Creature Tech, but it'd work better as an animated movie.

Ninjadeadbeard
2012-08-21, 10:53 PM
Favorite Stage Musical: 1776 Hey, I played Ben Franklin.

:smallcool: My brother! Best role in the play. Did you wear a wig or shave your head? My head was too big for the former.

Besides that...um...everyone else mentioned Firefly, Rome and Halo, so I'll leave it at that.

oblivion6
2012-08-22, 01:57 AM
favorite TV series: legend of the seeker, game of thrones and once upon a time. all fairly popular fantasy type shows

favorite video games: elderscrolls, final fantasy and suikoden V. all some of the most popular RPGs out there

not even going to go into my favorite books or movies since i would very quickly reach the forums post limit and still not be finished:smalltongue:

Omergideon
2012-08-22, 06:40 AM
Right up until the end of the fifth series. And then it all went to hell.

Pun extremely intended.


But seriously, the first two seasons of Supernatural were extremely good, and then the next three built up to a nice apocalyptic finish. And then they just... carried on. Really, now.

Went to Hell? A lot harsh in my mind. The end of S5 was fantastic and perfectly placed. And S6 meandered aqbout without the tight focus of narrative the earlier show had. But I still think the rest of the show was good at least. Not as good as a rule, but individual episodes are fantastic still.

Of course it is hard to follow up on The Apocalypse (c) as a storyline. But it seemed to work out for me.

thompur
2012-08-22, 10:30 AM
:smallcool: My brother! Best role in the play. Did you wear a wig or shave your head? My head was too big for the former.

Besides that...um...everyone else mentioned Firefly, Rome and Halo, so I'll leave it at that.

Yeah, I wore a wig. Coincidentally, my older brother played BF in the same theatre group seven years earlier, with a different director, so I pretty much knew the role before I was cast.:smallbiggrin: