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Right.
I read a lot. I watch a lot of movies. I listen to a lot of music. People tend to put these three hobbies together in the same category - they're all inexpensive, can be participated in without training, and vary a lot.
I want to share some of these things with all you good people. Just a few of them. That isn't a lot, really, considering how much I want to put on to this list.
What would make me really happy is if everyone that reads this looks into one of these thing. Just one - it isn't a lot. Download an MP3, get the book from a library, rent one of the movies. Chances are that you might know some of them anyway - you might even have introduced me to it yourself.
It isn't a massive investment in time or money. And you might, just might, love it as much as I do. All the things I'm about to tell you about have changed me and how I think.
I understand that taste is a very personal thing, so it's not like I'm going to berate you if you hate something that I recommend. Just try it, because you never know.
Anyway.
Feel free to add your own.
No Logo - Naomi Klein.
It's a book. It's a detailed, passionate account of the globalization that is currently gobbling up the world. It's about Nike using kids to make shoes, and just how they get away with it. It's about how Starbucks managed to take over the world. It's about the subtleties of how all this stuff is marketed to you - and it's fascinating.
The fantastic thing about it is that it isn't hard to read at any point - everything is explained in easy, everyday English. The failing of so many fact-based books is that they use the longest words possible to look clever.
The only hard bit about reading it is when you realize that, in order to stop Nike making shoes with little kids, you're going to be spending a helluva lot more on clothes, food, everything.
It's a bit like the section of Orwells '1984' when Winston is given the books that describes just how the 'party' rule so effectively. But it's real-life -which is scarier than anything Steven King can throw at you.
August and Everything After - Counting Crows
If you've been within earshot of me in the last month, you'll know that I'm going to see Counting Crows on the 26th of January. And then on the 27th of January as well. I won't shut up about it - and there is a reason for that.
I don't get obsessive-fan over just any band, but Counting Crows are different. I funning love this band, and this is the album which started that love affair.
It's not the heaviest of albums, and it's not the happiest either. Actually, it's crushingly depressing at times - not all the time mind, but a significant proportion of the album is the singer meditating on various things he's been through.
And that's what I like about it. It's like it's this guys lifetime summed up into words, all the things that have been important to him turned into poetry and sang to music. Because that's what art is - it's liquid thoughts turned into words.
There's a track about lost friends. There's two about the singers hometown. There's one about LSD addiction, one about a women being abused, and one about the bleak hopelessness of love. There's one about how unwanted love can tear you apart. And then there is Raining In Baltimore, the most depressing song of all time.
I'm not sure how well I've sold this, actually. But it's beautiful, that's the only word for it. It's the anti-thesis of modern pop - it's a guy singing about himself, bareing all. It's not macho posturing, it's nothing to do with image at all. It's amazing and beautiful.
Nirvana - Unplugged In New York
Simply the best hour of music ever performed, at least that I've heard. Cobain was not a genius, and he's not someone to be held up as a role model - as a rule, junkies aren't. 'I hate myself and want to die' is not the best attitude to take into life.
But that makes what he and his band did even more chilling. Again, I'm going to have to use the word beautiful, because that’s what this is, albeit in a twisted way.
It's like a suicide note. I reckon that this is one album that has got better in time, simply because Cobain is now dead. This was one of his last performances.
And 80% of the songs make reference to death.
It's an insight into the twisted mind of a junkie who has been funned around by everyone and everything since birth. It's the voice of the imperfect rising up against the Neighbors styled world that we have been led to believe is real.
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk (or however you spell it).
A book, again.
It's oil black. It's like a rollercoaster taking you through a nightmare, and you can't help but watch with a morbid curiosity. It will make you feel awful…but it makes you feel good. That doesn't make any sense. I think it works on the principle that what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. It warns you off becoming like any of the characters in the book - it tells you to keep your soul.
It's a modern fiction book, and, as is to be expected, it paints a pretty bleak picture of modern society. The star is a model who has half of her face shot off, rendering her mute. She then goes on a drug fueled trip around America, filled with sex and stuff. Lots of sex.
It's one of those books that, despite having a gripping plot, actually sets out to make a point. Oh, and it's written by the bloke that wrote Fight Club. So if you liked Fight Club, read this. It's better.
I read a lot. I watch a lot of movies. I listen to a lot of music. People tend to put these three hobbies together in the same category - they're all inexpensive, can be participated in without training, and vary a lot.
I want to share some of these things with all you good people. Just a few of them. That isn't a lot, really, considering how much I want to put on to this list.
What would make me really happy is if everyone that reads this looks into one of these thing. Just one - it isn't a lot. Download an MP3, get the book from a library, rent one of the movies. Chances are that you might know some of them anyway - you might even have introduced me to it yourself.
It isn't a massive investment in time or money. And you might, just might, love it as much as I do. All the things I'm about to tell you about have changed me and how I think.
I understand that taste is a very personal thing, so it's not like I'm going to berate you if you hate something that I recommend. Just try it, because you never know.
Anyway.
Feel free to add your own.
No Logo - Naomi Klein.
It's a book. It's a detailed, passionate account of the globalization that is currently gobbling up the world. It's about Nike using kids to make shoes, and just how they get away with it. It's about how Starbucks managed to take over the world. It's about the subtleties of how all this stuff is marketed to you - and it's fascinating.
The fantastic thing about it is that it isn't hard to read at any point - everything is explained in easy, everyday English. The failing of so many fact-based books is that they use the longest words possible to look clever.
The only hard bit about reading it is when you realize that, in order to stop Nike making shoes with little kids, you're going to be spending a helluva lot more on clothes, food, everything.
It's a bit like the section of Orwells '1984' when Winston is given the books that describes just how the 'party' rule so effectively. But it's real-life -which is scarier than anything Steven King can throw at you.
August and Everything After - Counting Crows
If you've been within earshot of me in the last month, you'll know that I'm going to see Counting Crows on the 26th of January. And then on the 27th of January as well. I won't shut up about it - and there is a reason for that.
I don't get obsessive-fan over just any band, but Counting Crows are different. I funning love this band, and this is the album which started that love affair.
It's not the heaviest of albums, and it's not the happiest either. Actually, it's crushingly depressing at times - not all the time mind, but a significant proportion of the album is the singer meditating on various things he's been through.
And that's what I like about it. It's like it's this guys lifetime summed up into words, all the things that have been important to him turned into poetry and sang to music. Because that's what art is - it's liquid thoughts turned into words.
There's a track about lost friends. There's two about the singers hometown. There's one about LSD addiction, one about a women being abused, and one about the bleak hopelessness of love. There's one about how unwanted love can tear you apart. And then there is Raining In Baltimore, the most depressing song of all time.
I'm not sure how well I've sold this, actually. But it's beautiful, that's the only word for it. It's the anti-thesis of modern pop - it's a guy singing about himself, bareing all. It's not macho posturing, it's nothing to do with image at all. It's amazing and beautiful.
Nirvana - Unplugged In New York
Simply the best hour of music ever performed, at least that I've heard. Cobain was not a genius, and he's not someone to be held up as a role model - as a rule, junkies aren't. 'I hate myself and want to die' is not the best attitude to take into life.
But that makes what he and his band did even more chilling. Again, I'm going to have to use the word beautiful, because that’s what this is, albeit in a twisted way.
It's like a suicide note. I reckon that this is one album that has got better in time, simply because Cobain is now dead. This was one of his last performances.
And 80% of the songs make reference to death.
It's an insight into the twisted mind of a junkie who has been funned around by everyone and everything since birth. It's the voice of the imperfect rising up against the Neighbors styled world that we have been led to believe is real.
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk (or however you spell it).
A book, again.
It's oil black. It's like a rollercoaster taking you through a nightmare, and you can't help but watch with a morbid curiosity. It will make you feel awful…but it makes you feel good. That doesn't make any sense. I think it works on the principle that what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. It warns you off becoming like any of the characters in the book - it tells you to keep your soul.
It's a modern fiction book, and, as is to be expected, it paints a pretty bleak picture of modern society. The star is a model who has half of her face shot off, rendering her mute. She then goes on a drug fueled trip around America, filled with sex and stuff. Lots of sex.
It's one of those books that, despite having a gripping plot, actually sets out to make a point. Oh, and it's written by the bloke that wrote Fight Club. So if you liked Fight Club, read this. It's better.
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Whitestripes wrote:
> Hullabaloo (both discs) - Muse
>
> Best album ever
No chance, Origin Of Symmetry was far better..
> Hullabaloo (both discs) - Muse
>
> Best album ever
No chance, Origin Of Symmetry was far better..
Thermopyle sweats too much though, couldn't possibly be him.
Succurso is great, I was stunned when he just go killed moments before getting his revenge.
Succurso is great, I was stunned when he just go killed moments before getting his revenge.
I had a feeling you'd say that! I'd be Milos Taverner - eat my cigarette butts!
Nah, I'd probably be Nick Succorso - a treacherous betrayer who only looks after himself. The idea of piloting my own ship wins it for me. (I wouldn't be Thermopyle - he's too evil even though he's the best character on the series)
Nah, I'd probably be Nick Succorso - a treacherous betrayer who only looks after himself. The idea of piloting my own ship wins it for me. (I wouldn't be Thermopyle - he's too evil even though he's the best character on the series)
Probably Hashi Lebwohl, wierdo genius.
Heh heh! Rape is bad enough but selling out humanity for personal gain must rank up there with the worst crimes EVER. It would probably be on a par with assasinating EVERY world leader at the same time.
I'm shocked at how Donaldson managed to protray such a convincing picture of everything - the information on Gap drives is startling and his grasp of scientific concepts excellent.
If you were character in the Gap series, who would you be?
I'm shocked at how Donaldson managed to protray such a convincing picture of everything - the information on Gap drives is startling and his grasp of scientific concepts excellent.
If you were character in the Gap series, who would you be?
I'll tie him to the slats like his mother used to! Filthy repugnant rapist!
Heh heh! True...very true. However badly he was portrayed, Angus "Therm-o-pile" is one of the darkest characters I've ever encountered. This guy would sell you to the Amnion for a couple of quid, IB!
Unbeliever wrote:
> I've read all of Donaldson now. I was a bit let down by the ending of
> the Gap series but it was still excellent reading and proves that
> Donaldson is not just confined to Fantasy.
I'm just hoping he writes something new sometime. Another epic. I loved reading the GAP series, though I admit the ending wasn't spectacular, it was a superb adventure, and Covenant, which you can tell was written earlier (you can see how Donaldson's writing style, as well as his vocabulary, have matured between the two), was a great adventure, and you really find yourself thinking that Covenant is a bit of a tool.
> I've read all of Donaldson now. I was a bit let down by the ending of
> the Gap series but it was still excellent reading and proves that
> Donaldson is not just confined to Fantasy.
I'm just hoping he writes something new sometime. Another epic. I loved reading the GAP series, though I admit the ending wasn't spectacular, it was a superb adventure, and Covenant, which you can tell was written earlier (you can see how Donaldson's writing style, as well as his vocabulary, have matured between the two), was a great adventure, and you really find yourself thinking that Covenant is a bit of a tool.
Matchbox 20 are cool too.
Got their storytellers DVD a few weeks back and it gives you that extra view on their music.
Still not as good as the crows but that is all personal opinions.
Or Onions. I'm not sure.
Got their storytellers DVD a few weeks back and it gives you that extra view on their music.
Still not as good as the crows but that is all personal opinions.
Or Onions. I'm not sure.
The Crows don't appeal to me the same way as they do to you guys. Sure, I like them. Omaha in particualar. But in no way are Crows comparable to a group like Matchbox 20 or Lifehouse. That's brilliant music :)
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