Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 13, 2010 20:39:29 GMT -5
So, seeing as how my plans for earlier tonight were cancelled due to typhoon season in Washington, DC, I am home and bored. It occurred to me that there are quite a high number of geeks (and I mean that term with the utmost affection) on Hoyatalk, and we don't really have a thread for geek stuff, though there is the occasional tech-geek thread. (Also, I'm pretty sure a lot of the stuff in the Friday Fun thread can be identified as geeky.) Still in all, I thought there was room for a dedicated line, so to speak. Sci-fi, graphic novels, video games, pretty much anything you want. If you're a geek, you'll know if your post belongs in this thread. (I was thinking of calling it the BuffaloHoya Memorial Thread, but I'm holding out hope that he is alive somewhere, playing Bioshock 2 and watching Warehouse 13.) Anyway, I'll get it started. If others are interested, fine. If not, well, I'm only using one of the tubes for this. Here goes: I know there are at least a few big Joss Whedon fans here. I am loving that Logo is showing all of the Buffys all over again. It really was one of my favorite shows ever and yes, I'm even willing to sit through ads for The Big Gay Sketch Show and RuPaul's Drag Race in order to watch it. (I'm not sure why Logo wanted this show....does Buffy have a big following in the gay community? I never knew that if so.) Anyway, re-watching all of the Buffys made me look into the Joss Whedon "Buffy - Season 8" graphic novels (OK, technically, I don't know if they should be called graphic novels or comics; probably comics, but I don't care all that much). I haven't bought any of them yet but was planning on it. Has anyone else picked these up and, if so, are they worth it? If anyone wants to respond, I promise not to tell anyone you're a geek like me. PS - Joss Whedon Bonus: io9.com/5582997/joss-whedon-and-the-boys-firefly-together-again-let-the-reunion-rumors-flyPPS - R.I.P Captain Phil. You will be missed. |
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hoyatables
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Post by hoyatables on Jul 14, 2010 8:24:31 GMT -5
Not a Buffy fan myself but my wife is, and I picked up the first few few issues for her. She enjoyed them. If you'd like them, I would be happy to send them to you -- just PM me your contact info. I know that more recent issues featured an arc by Brad Meltzer, who is one of my favorite comics writers, and I imagine that is pretty good as well.
As for me, in addition to a love for comics, also a big video game fan - in particular RPGs and the Dragon Quest series. Just picked up DQ IX and looking forward to it. Anyone else?
Oh, and if you do like comics, and aren't reading Grant Morrison's Batman + Robin book -- go out and pick it up. It is amazing stuff. (For the neophytes, it features Dick Grayson as Batman and Bruce Wayne's son Damian -- a true brat who was raised by is mother, Talia Al Ghul -- as Robin. )
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Jul 14, 2010 8:40:59 GMT -5
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Jul 14, 2010 11:00:42 GMT -5
Anyone for monopoly?
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 14, 2010 12:43:01 GMT -5
Thanks for the offer, tables. I think I'll probably just order them. If they're good, I'll want to own them and if they're not...well its not much of an expense.
As for the Logo thing, I don't really care, I was just curious and am just happy that some network has picked the syndication up. Obviously, there is a main lesbian character and there were a lot of episodes that dealt with those issues. Anyway, good for Logo.
One bonus of tuning into Logo so often now is that I've been introduced to NewNowNext, which shows a lot of great new music. I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to discover new bands.
I'm afraid I'm not much of an RPG-er. I'm pretty sure it's because I simply lack any level of patience, at least when it comes to the video game genre. Whenever I turn on my XBox, I tend to want to just start shooting, punching, kicking or racing bad guys right away. Either that or use a game to pretend that, for instance, I didn't actually suck at hockey and that I made it all the way to the NHL to play for the Bruins.
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hoyainspirit
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Post by hoyainspirit on Jul 15, 2010 9:43:26 GMT -5
I used to cheat in monopoly.
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rosslynhoya
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Post by rosslynhoya on Jul 16, 2010 7:49:31 GMT -5
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Jul 16, 2010 8:00:49 GMT -5
I thought I was a Whedon/Buffy fan, but I've met a few people who are part of the cult, and I'm nothing on them. I haven't read the comic (mostly because I'm lazy and I thought the series ended well) but the cultists I talk to say it is pretty good.
I'm also a big fan of Neil Gaiman, though I'd say that if you like Gaiman, I'd strongly recommend China Mieville - especially The Scar, Perdido Street Station and Iron Council.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Jul 16, 2010 8:05:06 GMT -5
Good Omens is my favorite book of all time. It's one of the few books I've re-read and probably the book I've read the most. |
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 19, 2010 10:04:18 GMT -5
Has anyone here read the full "A Song of Ice And Fire" series by George R.R. Martin? I mean, at least the ones that are out to date. I had never really heard of these until a couple of years ago, but everything I heard was that they were a must read. But I'm not sure what to think after the first book. I got the first two in the series as a package on Kindle, so I'll probably read the second one soon, but I have mixed feelings about it so far. The first book simply took forever and the pace was ridiculously slow. Plus, there seems to be a strange interest in what everyone is wearing all the time, which I don't get at all. Though I will grant that clothing and adornments were certainly very significant in medieval times, which this series is certainly based on, at least in part. Now, once it did get going, I really did begin to enjoy it, and the ending certainly did make me want to keep reading. But I am not sure I want to wade through more plodding prose, which I thought there was quite a bit of in the first book. Interested to hear any opinions on this. (spolier-free if you don't mind  ). It is a pretty critically acclaimed series, but I'm not sure I get why yet. |
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 19, 2010 10:37:44 GMT -5
I remember my roommate was literally unable to put down his Kindle while he was reading it. I don't know any of the details of why it was so great, but it looked pretty addictive.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Jul 19, 2010 11:27:02 GMT -5
I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire way back when. I am a huge fan, but I will say I'm somewhat of a speed reader -- I tend to read extremely fast through description, so a lot of that doesn't tend to bog me down.
The characters are fantastic -- as you read on, you will start to read point of views from characters you currently think of as "bad guys" and everyone is in a shade of grey.
Most importantly, as you know, anything can happen. Most books in the genre are decidedly safe; you feel no fear for the main characters, because, let's face it, they are going to live. Not so true here.
Anyway, I liked the second book better than the first, and the third one is pretty incredible. The fourth is lacking the same level of action but I think it will pick up again. I wouldn't put them down at least until the end of the third book.
HBO has picked up the first book as a 10-episode series starting next Spring. Sean Bean is Ned, Lena Headey is Cersei, Peter Dinklage is Tyrion, and Aiden Gillen (Tommy Carcetti from the Wire) is Littlefinger.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 19, 2010 12:10:30 GMT -5
I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire way back when. I am a huge fan, but I will say I'm somewhat of a speed reader -- I tend to read extremely fast through description, so a lot of that doesn't tend to bog me down. The characters are fantastic -- as you read on, you will start to read point of views from characters you currently think of as "bad guys" and everyone is in a shade of grey. Most importantly, as you know, anything can happen. Most books in the genre are decidedly safe; you feel no fear for the main characters, because, let's face it, they are going to live. Not so true here. Anyway, I liked the second book better than the first, and the third one is pretty incredible. The fourth is lacking the same level of action but I think it will pick up again. I wouldn't put them down at least until the end of the third book. HBO has picked up the first book as a 10-episode series starting next Spring. Sean Bean is Ned, Lena Headey is Cersei, Peter Dinklage is Tyrion, and Aiden Gillen (Tommy Carcetti from the Wire) is Littlefinger. Wow. Thanks SF. Looks like a great cast for HBO. Peter Dinklage is the obvious choice for Tyrion, who is easily the best character in the first book. It seems there are no other dwarves in all of Hollywood with his acting caliber...or at least that's what every casting director seems to believe. And yes, I did like that anything can happen in the first book. Particularly things you'd never expect from anything in the fantasy genre. I always wondered why there weren't any prostitutes in Middle Earth or in Thomas Malory's Briton. I guess they all moved to Westeros. |
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Bando
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Post by Bando on Jul 19, 2010 14:28:10 GMT -5
I'm a big Whedon fan, but I've never seen Buffy or Angel. I'm really into Firefly, Dollhouse, and Dr. Horrible however. I'll have to get the Buffy DVDs at some point, I suppose.
SyFy (ugh, what a stupid name change) is basically setting Stargate Universe as the heir to Battlestar Galactica. Unfortunately, SGU is nowhere near as good a show as BSG, but I'm surprised by how much I like it, actually. I really liked that they decided to get serious and ditch the ridiculous campiness of all the other Stargate shows.
Caprica is truly excellent and everyone should watch it. Warehouse 13 is fun if silly, and V is the most godawful piece of e I've ever seen.
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TC
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Post by TC on Jul 19, 2010 14:39:32 GMT -5
I'm a big Whedon fan, but I've never seen Buffy or Angel. I'm really into Firefly, Dollhouse, and Dr. Horrible however. I'll have to get the Buffy DVDs at some point, I suppose. That's like being a big Tolkien fan but never reading LOTR or The Hobbit. |
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 19, 2010 14:41:14 GMT -5
It took me a long time to come around to the "V is horrible" camp, but once I got there, I set up permanent residence.
I think I just really wanted to give it a chance and wanted it to succeed (and Juliet is still kinda' hot in a not-at-all-hot sort of way), and was living in denial.
But, to paraphrase another poster in another thread on another board: "The current version of V is like slapping Faye Grant across the face."
;D
You're not missing a whole lot with Angel. It had its moments, particularly after Amy Acker (and eventually James Marsters) joined the cast, but overall it was just sorta OK.
Kind of hard to believe you've never watched Buffy though. Logo just started over at Season 1 last week, so if you get that channel in DC, might be a good setting for your DVR. (Actually Buffy didn't start getting real good until Season 2 anyway*).
* Buffy's kind of like The Simpsons that way. At the time, season 1 of the Simpsons seemed unbelievable, but in retrospect, it wasn't nearly as good as the subsequent 7-10 seasons and is nigh unwatchable anymore.
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rosslynhoya
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Post by rosslynhoya on Jul 20, 2010 11:23:44 GMT -5
The fourth is lacking the same level of action but I think it will pick up again. I wouldn't put them down at least until the end of the third book. The fourth book doesn't plod so much as cry out for an editor. Martin was executing pretty well through the first three books but seemed to hit a wall at that point, not knowing how he planned to continue any of the myriad threads (at one point, he updated his personal home page to indicate that the fourth book would be released in "2099, GFY" or something like that ... and Amazon.com picked that up as its actual release date. Then, very abruptly, he allegedly trimmed half of the subplots that were active at the end of Book 3, pulling about 1,000 pages out of the book and in late 2005 released the 750-page Feast for Crows as Part I of the fourth book, with the remaining subplots to come out separately as Dance with Dragons. We're now nearing 5 years since that projection. With all that negativity aside, I've found the books to be relentlessly un-put-downable. SFHoya hits the high-notes regarding character development and character endangerment, but I also really loved the dynastic struggle and intrigue to be beyond the ability of even most other very good epic fantasy writers. Most importantly, even 3,000 some pages later, Martin doesn't rely on repititious restatement of his earlier themes over and over again. Terry Goodkind might be the worst offender in that vein, but you also see it in Robert Jordan and the Harry Potter novels. It's hard/impossible to top Tolkien in terms of originality and epic-ness, but I think Song of Ice & Fire stands a head taller than any of the competition by those measures -- and would fully commit to that claim if Martin could just finish out the remaining three novels he's allegedly storyboarded. |
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 20, 2010 12:51:57 GMT -5
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JB5
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Post by JB5 on Jul 20, 2010 14:11:15 GMT -5
Saw the Song of Ice and Fire teaser on HBO the other night. Looks like they're doing it right. The big question will be (assuming HBO doesn't kill it after two seasons like Rome) if Martin can get his act together and write the next books before the series catches up. Loved the books, but some of the more intense scenes could be tough to watch.
There needs to be a Good Omens film.
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Jul 20, 2010 14:25:42 GMT -5
Saw the Song of Ice and Fire teaser on HBO the other night. Looks like they're doing it right. The big question will be (assuming HBO doesn't kill it after two seasons like Rome) if Martin can get his act together and write the next books before the series catches up. Loved the books, but some of the more intense scenes could be tough to watch. There needs to be a Good Omens film. All the really good stuff for Good Omens comes from what's written, not the action. It might be good, but not great. And, anyway. There needs to be a Grim Fandango film. |
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). It is a pretty critically acclaimed series, but I'm not sure I get why yet. 
