Thyroid

Alex is a bit of a liar. I didn't buy his last words.

It's called Nadsat. The novel has more of it than the movie, but it's really easy to pick up. Great book and film.

Caddyshack is a funny movie. Tonally, it's all over the place and never really jives, but there are some funny lines in there. It's not Spinal Tap, but I enjoyed it. Ghost in the Shell is also a good movie. An anime movie - my fourth non-Miyazaki - without all the trappings that make anime so unwatchable to me. Cyberpunk story, fairly interesting. The art was great, in its old school way. The philosophy didn't interest me as much as it seems to have interested others, but the movie's still worth a watch. The Hound of the Baskervilles with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Hunt is fun. It essentially just sort of ends, but it's well-cast, well-acted and fairly well-written. It's unbelievably British at times; there's a scene where the cast walks out of a dining room and are mumbling amongst themselves in a way that immediately made me think they'd be wearing top hats. I don't mean that as a slight or as a racist idea, but seriously: those three seconds were more British than Patrick Moore's monocle. Good movie.

Awesome kid and awesome parenting. eaIvk1cSyG8

I've always wanted to try it, but the huge pit of despair in the middle of the series has been a turn-off for me. I bought the first book a million years ago, though, so maybe I'll try the series at some point in the future. I'm reading A Clash of Kings. I have to hand it to GRRM: the man knows how to spin a good yarn. You turn a page wanting - needing - to know what happens to those guys, only to discover the chapter's end and it's time to switch to another POV. I end-up thinking that no-one cares about this character until the same thing happens again. Each sub-plot is more interesting than the next. I'm around halfway in. Sshhh. No spoilers.

The last three books are being completed from Robert Jordan's notes by Brandon Sanderson. There's one more book to go.

Yet another series I have an interest in. I keep hearing it's depressing, so I've never bothered. The kinda-depressing trailers and the ridiculous choir that's the music for them hasn't encouraged me to watch it either. Is it that depressing?

So, anyone here been watching Game of Thrones? How is it? Does it live up to the book? I'm especially interested in knowing how well Harry Lloyd's been playing Viserys.

"Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines." It gets better on second and third viewing; one of my favorites. Some interviewee on this documentary claims later research showed that the movie was a lot closer to reality than the film crew knew. It's a notion that makes the situation even more ridiculous, so the movie ends-up funnier for it. Oddly, I never figured out it was Peter Sellers playing three parts until the "hamstring" scene. Anyways, great one, this.

So at some point in the last few weeks I fell in love with old, pre-VII Final Fantasy game covers. This one for XIV harkens back to that style. Not as pretty, but: I'm a sucker for this kind of art.

Eurogamer's review is an appetite-whetter.

"The dinosaur was still a mouse."

One more besides this one to go (that we know of). I like two-parters. They make for richer storytelling when they're earned, so I'm happy this series has had so many goes at them. Want to see this. I love Chris Eccleston. He's one of the best, most underrated actors I've had the pleasure of seeing. Seriously, everything from Flesh and Blood to Elizabeth has had outstanding performances from him.

This cover is pretty great. Jcrjjqd_xbM

Sounds 8-bit and edgy. .

Is Mad Men still good? I'm usually averse to TV because I want a guarantee that everything ends before investing a million hours of my life into a show - hence why I skipped Lost, for example. However, I was a fan of the first three episodes and would like to continue watching it, but...yeah. Also, is Boardwalk Empire good? What about Eastbound & Down? I ask because this stuff has finally made its way to Arabic television. (I guess the world really is ending later today.)

Eh, the second and third movies were awful. Chest starts out fine but goes totally nuts and three is a convoluted, insane mess. I'm not surprised the fourth one is wank, but mark my words: there's a fifth one in the works, but all they'll do is change the director and - if things get loud enough - the writers. Jack Sparrow will sail again. Actually, if you think about it, the first movie was about Will Turner, but the character is so *bland*, in particular compared to Sparrow, that he's thought of as a supporting character. So really, those movies have mostly had shitty writing all round. Except the part about acquiescing requests. That was funny.

I think he is the best of the entire set. It's the single best bit of casting I've seen since The Godfather.

Neil Gaiman's episode of Doctor Who is incredible. :tup: Total "wow".

If you finish the book and still find yourself unsure about things, feel free to ask me. I was raised in the Islamic faith, and while I can't answer *all* of your questions, I could probably shed some light on a lot of things. Finished Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy today. Brilliantly funny book. Started on the tenth year anniversary of Douglas Adams's death, finished on my birthday at 2 am. That makes me all ticklish for some reason.

The Eidos and Deus Ex websites have been hacked, with customer information and 9000 resumes compromised. Huh. Why do this? Just for the fun of hacking?

It is a stylistic choice, and used well in some places. I appreciate that he doesn't explain every little thing and just kind of works up enough context throughout the book in the hopes you'll understand it, but there's large sections where you just don't know what's going on even in terms of plot. The major one is when Case meets Molly. You have no idea if Linda's there, not there, doing what and why. It's just happening and confusing and I can't help but think it's supposed to be mysterious but ends-up clumsy. It's definitely a book that benefits from a re-read, but I've got too many others to pick up right now. Maybe at some point in the future. Still, it's a good book.

The book kind of chucks you into this sci-fi setting without bothering to explain who did what to whom and why. There's topics ranging from programming and Asian geography to Rastafarianism, Alan Turing and drug-related street rips. The book also occasionally jumps ahead in time mid-paragraph - sometimes to emphasize the surprise characters are experiencing (like when ), but in others just to seem hip or edgy in a way that comes off as hokey and reads as confusing (like when ). Also, he's a crap dialogue writer. A lot of exposition is delivered by dialogue, but the stuff is so awkward it needs a couple of re-reads to start making sense. It's desperately wanting to be cool, but unfailingly coming short. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty good book. It may have needed some work in the editing department, though.

Ed Fries is the guy who got Psychonauts to Microsoft, so hooray Ed Fries. (Incidentally, pronounced like "freeze", not as in fried potatoes.)

I finished Neuromancer. I liked it, and I am able to see how important it was for its time, but honestly it was a bit hard to get through. Someone, anyone, should've told William Gibson about exposition, and maybe cut out a few dozen of the prevalent, unnecessary, annoying adjectives that riddle the prose so much. Overall, it's a pretty good book. Are the sequels any good? (Thunderpeel, I believe you're a fan! ) Heh, why fight? It's 1. the internet, and 2. a perfectly valid question. I suggested Frank Norris for the fact that he wrote, made people angry and didn't care - he broke the rules and that was that. His stories are also compelling in the same way that Jonathan Franzen's books are: examining characters in an interesting way, providing insight, but with a feeling of plot. If it'll help you decide, the excellent 1924 film Greed was an adaptation of McTeague. The books are out of copyright and for free on Gutenberg, so why not try reading a bit and seeing what you like? As for Charles Willeford, he was a man whose misgivings about humans were put into his work. His early stuff is a lot more brooding and brutal, his later books - especially the Hoke Moseley stuff - more humourous, but interesting characters and rich, complex plots. Miami Blues is one of the greatgreatgreat crime novels, and hardly anyone's ever read it. I have the sequels on my bookshelf, and will get around to reading them soon.