Movies, Music, TV, Books, Pop Culture

by **Orenthal** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:50 pm

Staying on topic...

by **e0y2e3** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 3:50 am

Orenthal wrote:
JabbaTheMutt wrote:I noticed the improvement as well.

eta -

Possibly even more rational too!

Course not due to OC. He just makes it more entertaining and...

mmmmmh if only the WWR could be fun and I could call people cunts.............

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 4:55 pm

Orenthal wrote:Staying on topic...

You're going to make a fine government stooge.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 5:20 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:
Orenthal wrote:Staying on topic...

You're going to make a fine government stooge.

I think we've all been around here long enough that we can vouch for the stooge part at least.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 5:31 pm

We have too many goddamn stooge law enforcement agency creeps in this country. Give rid of the HSA, DEA, and ATF to start. And I want to personally to tell the scum TSA screeners that they can go fuck themselves. I really don't like those people.

by **FUDU** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 5:37 pm

motherscratcher wrote:

^ Lou Zer

by **Orenthal** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:28 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:We have too many goddamn stooge law enforcement agency creeps in this country. Give rid of the HSA, DEA, and ATF to start. And I want to personally to tell the scum TSA screeners that they can go fuck themselves. I really don't like those people.

You won't find much disagreement from me... Just not CBP, that is where I am trying to get got.

by **FUDU** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 7:02 pm

Actually just got my hands on Car Guys v. Bean Counters by Bob Lutz.

Interesting back story, cant wait to get deep into it, although it might be the last book I ever buy, considering a Kindle.

by **e0y2e3** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 3:56 am

FUDU just bragged about owning a kindle he reads twice a week. We should all not bow down.

by **JabbaTheMutt** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:35 am

FUDU wrote:Actually just got my hands on Car Guys v. Bean Counters by Bob Lutz.

Interesting back story, cant wait to get deep into it, although it might be the last book I ever buy, considering a Kindle.

Last book? Perhaps, but I just bought a bunch of books because they aren't available in Kindle format.

Let me know what you think of the Lutz book. It's on my reading list.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:30 pm

Just ordered these;

by **FUDU** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:23 pm

JabbaTheMutt wrote:
FUDU wrote:Actually just got my hands on Car Guys v. Bean Counters by Bob Lutz.

Interesting back story, cant wait to get deep into it, although it might be the last book I ever buy, considering a Kindle.

Last book? Perhaps, but I just bought a bunch of books because they aren't available in Kindle format.

Let me know what you think of the Lutz book. It's on my reading list.

I'm considering a Kindle, b/c I really do not have a need to have books lying around the house. I'm not one that feels the need to display books as trophies, and b/c the chances are I'm not gong to go back an reread 98.6781% of them. I respect the fact many readers have a deeper appreciation of the aspect of reading from an actual real book, I just don't see the practicality of it anymore.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:13 pm

Right because people buy books to display as trophies...... not to read and then share them with friends.

You see, I have an amazing invention called a "bookshelf", it's a high tech system for storing real books. ;-) ;) :wink:

by **peeker643** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:36 pm

FUDU wrote:
JabbaTheMutt wrote:
FUDU wrote:Actually just got my hands on Car Guys v. Bean Counters by Bob Lutz.

Interesting back story, cant wait to get deep into it, although it might be the last book I ever buy, considering a Kindle.

Last book? Perhaps, but I just bought a bunch of books because they aren't available in Kindle format.

Let me know what you think of the Lutz book. It's on my reading list.

I'm considering a Kindle, b/c I really do not have a need to have books lying around the house. I'm not one that feels the need to display books as trophies, and b/c the chances are I'm not gong to go back an reread 98.6781% of them. I respect the fact many readers have a deeper appreciation of the aspect of reading from an actual real book, I just don't see the practicality of it anymore.

Kindle is excellent from a convenience standpoint. Plenty of books available, thousands more every day. I have one of the first model. Love it but wish I had the fire. Be great to have the wi-fi tablet type capabilities and the backlit screen that original doesn't have.

Speaks of the day and age, but only annoyance traveling with Kindle is having to turn it off when taking off and landing on planes. Fucking ridiculous. And that's never because of frequencies or anything else. It's so assholes are more likely to listen to the safety instructions and don't impale themselves upon landing with a tray table or snap a vertebrae when their reclined seat snaps forward.

The goddamn idiots and morons ruin life for the rest of us.

Oh yeah- nice to see a book, hear about one, whatever and have it downloaded in seconds.

And I never read books twice except for instructional stuff. The deeply educational things like Harrington on Hold Em 1-3 ;-) ;) :wink:

by **Orenthal** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:37 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:Right because people buy books to display as trophies...... not to read and then share them with friends.

You see, I have an amazing invention called a "bookshelf", it's a high tech system for storing real books.

by **swerb** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:53 pm

The Kindle Fire is amazing.

I was always a real book guy. The shelfs, letting people not leave my house without borrowing one, love having em all there to look through by author and reread if I want.

I resisted the Kindle. Peeps in the office went in and got me one for XMas. I still resisted a little. Read some of the online reviews, which were all stellar. Began to embrace it.

I love the god damn thing now.

No better value in tech gadgets than that thing at $200. I mean it. No close second. Its like a mini ipad, with all the books and magazine capabilities. An outstanding reader. Great touch screen, great display. So user friendly. Little and portable. Great Twitter portal. Email. Web. So great for travel.

Just an outstanding device. They couldn't have made it any better.

by **JJN** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:46 am

About a female CIA agent who leaves the Company to follow her husband to Europe and she begins to become suspicious of some things.

A little over 100 pages in. Still no idea what the hell is going on, but that is the point. Well written and interesting thus far.

by **StewieG** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:10 pm

Finally got to 11/22/63 - I really enjoyed reading it.

by **peeker643** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:29 am

JJN wrote:Currently about half-way through:

It is very good.

I take a lot of suggestions I find here and read them when I can. I had a VA trip this week and needed sommething for the flight there and back and for any downtime.

I am NOT a zombie culture guy at all but I saw the book at the library and remembered the recommendation.

This book is not a zombie book. It's a tremendous commentary on politics and media with the zombies as the tie that binds.

Two drugs that were created, one that wiped out common cold and one that wiped out cancer apparently combined to create the zombie virus. Huge Rising, almost apocalyptic, new era starts with crazy groth in disease testing technology, looks at relationships, trust, ratings-driven whores, distrust of mainstream media, "liberal" vs. "religious right" method of dealing with the situation, the whole nine yards.

I can't tell you how well the thing is done. I really enjoyed it when I thought there was no effing way I would. I don't know if the author intended for all of that and to write such an effective allegorical read (at least the first book, anyway) or she wrote a zombie book that turned into this by accident, but I'm already reading the second one on the trilogy, called "Deadline".

Most chapters begin or end (or both) with one of the main characters 'blog post' about what's going on. Those would be worth the read alone.

Very good book.

YMMV

by **FUDU** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:44 am

swerb wrote:The Kindle Fire is amazing.

I was always a real book guy. The shelfs, letting people not leave my house without borrowing one, love having em all there to look through by author and reread if I want.

I resisted the Kindle. Peeps in the office went in and got me one for XMas. I still resisted a little. Read some of the online reviews, which were all stellar. Began to embrace it.

I love the god damn thing now.

No better value in tech gadgets than that thing at $200. I mean it. No close second. Its like a mini ipad, with all the books and magazine capabilities. An outstanding reader. Great touch screen, great display. So user friendly. Little and portable. Great Twitter portal. Email. Web. So great for travel.

Just an outstanding device. They couldn't have made it any better.

Rich = Don Draper.

I'm getting one.

Sorry peeker, you're more like Pete, I trust your word but you make it feel too much like work and make me want to put it off till I'm so bored I go get one just to get out of the house.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:24 pm

I'm going back a reading this again.

If you like great storytelling, you should go buy this series right now. A complex web of revenge, power, sex, corruption. and bullets. Let's say you've been wronged in some seriously fucked up way, how far would go to make it right? Agent Graves provides the chance, in the form of a gun, 100 untraceable rounds, and all the evidence of who is to blame. You get to act above the law. Do you take revenge if offered to you on a silver platter with NO consequences?

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until you meet The Trust and The Minutemen.

The dialogue seems very authentic, the way someone speaks in Chicago looks and sounds different in a word bubble, then someone talking in Dallas. One of the Minutemen is from Cleveland. His story includes dialogue about the Indians, even one character blaming the "cheap ass owner" for their sucking. It's amazing writing, really really good. Better than anything on TV or in the theaters now.

by **justmebd** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:40 am

Been on a nonfiction kick lately.

First -- "Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate" by Angus Konstam

This book will kick you in the teeth, rob you blind, and leave you on a remote island while sailing away with your sister. Great mix of history and narrative. Can't recommend this enough.

Second -- "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pillegi, the book "Goodfellas" was based off of.

Every bit as good as the movie, almost a "director's cut" if you will as it has more stories that Scorsese just couldn't fit into the film. Amazing how much of Henry Hill's narrative is taken word-for-word in the film. I read this book in about four hours.

I also recently finished 11.22.63. It was good . . BUT. The book spent too much time in the second half dealing with an injury to a main character and shorted the reader on the sci-fi aspects at the end of the book dealing with time travel and string theory. I thought the book dragged through the former section and sped too quickly through the latter.

by **JabbaTheMutt** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:22 am

I just finished To Kill the Irishman http://www.amazon.com/To-Kill-Irishman-Crippled-Mafia/dp/0966250893/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333710644&sr=1-2 which chronicles the life of Danny Greene and his fatal feud with the Cleveland Mafia. While the story was interesting, my favorite parts of the book were all of the references to Collinwood, Little Italy and a few other places. I haven't lived in Cleveland for many, many moons now and this brought back a lot of memories I haven't thought about in a very long time. The book also contains a few pieces of Cleveland trivia such as DOn King being a numbers guy there and Sammy Davis owning the Front Row Theatre.

It was a very easy read and it was written with many small chapters. Small as in two or three pages. It would be a very easy book to digest in small pieces.

If your interested in the Mafia I highly recommend The Five Familes. http://www.amazon.com/Five-Families-Resurgence-Americas-Powerful/dp/0312361815/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333711208&sr=1-1

by **mattvan1** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:38 pm

Will never be confused with literature (or even good writing) but laugh out loud funny again and again.

by **StewieG** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:05 pm

mattvan1 wrote:

Will never be confused with literature (or even good writing) but laugh out loud funny again and again.

Is that more stories from the road/college exploits, or his own personal story?

by **mattvan1** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:28 pm

there is a little bit from his high school/AAU days, but mostly Buckeyes hoops.

by **e0y2e3** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 1:34 pm

Titus is a douche.

by **mattvan1** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 4:56 pm

e0y2e3 wrote:Titus is a douche.

Feh. I really don't have an opinion on the guy - I never read his blog and I don't read him on Grantland. As far as the book, it was an enjoyable, if sophomoric, way to spend 2 hours (that's about all the time it takes to read it)

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Fri May 18, 2012 11:19 am

by **peeker643** » Fri May 18, 2012 12:28 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:

Love when he busts out of that cool looking jail by wearing the dead cops's face over his own.

Power move, you guys.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Fri May 18, 2012 12:47 pm

This Hannibal is real.

by **peeker643** » Fri May 18, 2012 2:02 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:This Hannibal is real.

Wearing another man's face after killing him is as real as it gets.

by **Hikohadon** » Fri May 18, 2012 3:15 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:This Hannibal is real.

And he loves it when a plan comes together.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Fri May 18, 2012 3:24 pm

peeker643 wrote:
Cerebral_DownTime wrote:This Hannibal is real.

Wearing another man's face after killing him is as real as it gets.

Ok, Hannibal Lecter Vs John Doe from Seven in a game of Chess, the winner gets to do as they please to the loser. Who wins?

Hikohadon wrote:
Cerebral_DownTime wrote:This Hannibal is real.

And he loves it when a plan comes together.

And his plan came together at Cannae. But you ain't be knowin' nothing about that.

by **Hikohadon** » Fri May 18, 2012 5:26 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:
Hikohadon wrote:
Cerebral_DownTime wrote:This Hannibal is real.

And he loves it when a plan comes together.

And his plan came together at Cannae. But you ain't be knowin' nothing about that.

Actually, I do. I like that historical period and region.

Plus I made Hannibal and his elephants cross the Alps in Age of Empires, so I got it all down.

If you were born in 1981, you might be too young to know the "other" Hannibal I was referring to.

by **British_Pharaoh** » Fri May 18, 2012 5:37 pm

750 years of European history for exams

by **Orenthal** » Sat May 19, 2012 1:14 am

Bunch of Geopolitics crap...

by **jfiling** » Sat May 19, 2012 4:07 pm

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:

I'm going back a reading this again.

If you like great storytelling, you should go buy this series right now. A complex web of revenge, power, sex, corruption. and bullets. Let's say you've been wronged in some seriously fucked up way, how far would go to make it right? Agent Graves provides the chance, in the form of a gun, 100 untraceable rounds, and all the evidence of who is to blame. You get to act above the law. Do you take revenge if offered to you on a silver platter with NO consequences?

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until you meet The Trust and The Minutemen.

The dialogue seems very authentic, the way someone speaks in Chicago looks and sounds different in a word bubble, then someone talking in Dallas. One of the Minutemen is from Cleveland. His story includes dialogue about the Indians, even one character blaming the "cheap ass owner" for their sucking. It's amazing writing, really really good. Better than anything on TV or in the theaters now.

Don't have the energy to go back through the entire thread, but did you read:

Great book, with Cleveland as a character and a setting.

by **Cerebral_DownTime** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:44 pm

No, I've never read that comic. I've heard it was really good though. I read more gritty, noir/pulp, violent comics for the most part.

Huge fan of the author of 100 Bullets and Loveless and Cleveland native, Brain Azzarello. His runs on Batman are my favorites after Frank Miller's. His graphic novel on the Joker is fucking amazing.

He's also doing Before Watchmen prequels for Rorshach and the Comedian, a bunch of one-shots. Not a huge fan of the idea, but anything that pisses off Alan Moore, makes me smile.

by **swerb** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:13 am

Heading to FL w the family for a week. Gonna be a lot of pool/beer/Kindle time.

Any good suggestions separate from some of the ones in here?

I like King, Koontz, Clancy. Not a big fan of Patterson and the other wanna bes. Prefer fiction thrillers. Mystery/suspense.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:34 am

swerb wrote:Heading to FL w the family for a week. Gonna be a lot of pool/beer/Kindle time.

Any good suggestions separate from some of the ones in here?

I like King, Koontz, Clancy. Not a big fan of Patterson and the other wanna bes. Prefer fiction thrillers. Mystery/suspense.

Have you read any of the Lee Child books (Jack Reacher)? Perfect poolside reading IMO.

by **swerb** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:59 am

motherscratcher wrote:
swerb wrote:Heading to FL w the family for a week. Gonna be a lot of pool/beer/Kindle time.

Any good suggestions separate from some of the ones in here?

I like King, Koontz, Clancy. Not a big fan of Patterson and the other wanna bes. Prefer fiction thrillers. Mystery/suspense.

Have you read any of the Lee Child books (Jack Reacher)? Perfect poolside reading IMO.

I haven't ... will look into em tonight. Thanks Moscratch.

by **e0y2e3** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 12:15 pm

At least James Patterson writes about Hopkins.... only one of the worth a damn because he mentions the best school in the world on the regular.

Although the fake King death thing this week was hysterical.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 12:18 pm

I'll get you a few titles in a little while.

by **peeker643** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:24 pm

motherscratcher wrote:I'll get you a few (Reacher) titles in a little while.

http://www.leechild.com/GT1.php

I started with "One Shot" at the recommendation of a friend.

I liked it and then went to the beginning and 'The Killing Floor', 'Die Trying', 'Trip Wire', 'Running Blind', 'Echo Burning', 'Without Fail', 'Persuader', 'The Enemy', (One Shot), 'The Hard Way', 'Bad Luck & Trouble', 'Nothing to Lose', 'Gone Tomorrow', '61 Hours', 'Worth Ding For' and the affair.

That's all of 'em. They are as advertised; an entertaining and quick, mindless, read with some murder, some mystery, some bone breaking, etc.

I really like the series. You can see Child get smoother with each effort. Especially if you look at The Killing Floor to 'Gone Tomorrow'.

'Gone tomorrow is also a really good place to start:

CHAPTER ONE

Suicide bombers are easy to spot. They give out all kinds of tell-tale signs. Mostly because they’re nervous. By definition they’re all first-timers.

Israeli counterintelligence wrote the defensive playbook. They told us what to look for. They used pragmatic observation and psychological insight and came up with a list of behavioral indicators. I learned the list from an Israeli army captain twenty years ago. He swore by it. Therefore I swore by it too, because at the time I was on three weeks’ detached duty mostly about a yard from his shoulder, in Israel itself, in Jerusalem, on the West Bank, in the Lebanon, sometimes in Syria, sometimes in Jordan, on buses, in stores, on crowded sidewalks. I kept my eyes moving and my mind running free down the bullet points.

Twenty years later I still know the list. And my eyes still move. Pure habit. From another bunch of guys I learned another mantra: Look, don’t see, listen, don’t hear. The more you engage, the longer you survive.

The list is twelve points long if you’re looking at a male suspect. Eleven, if you’re looking at a woman. The difference is a fresh shave. Male bombers take off their beards. It helps them blend in. Makes them less suspicious. The result is paler skin on the lower half of the face. No recent exposure to the sun.

But I wasn’t interested in shaves.

I was working on the eleven-point list.

I was looking at a woman.

by **jerryroche** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:32 pm

swerb wrote:Heading to FL w the family for a week. Gonna be a lot of pool/beer/Kindle time.
Any good suggestions separate from some of the ones in here?
I like King, Koontz, Clancy. Not a big fan of Patterson and the other wanna bes. Prefer fiction thrillers. Mystery/suspense.

You might want to try Vince Flynn's "Mitch Rapp" series, Swerb. Bad dude. Very readable. Lots of spy/international intrigue/SEAL team-type stuff. Start with "Transfer of Power" (1999), available as a Kindle download.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:52 pm

jerryroche wrote:
swerb wrote:Heading to FL w the family for a week. Gonna be a lot of pool/beer/Kindle time.
Any good suggestions separate from some of the ones in here?
I like King, Koontz, Clancy. Not a big fan of Patterson and the other wanna bes. Prefer fiction thrillers. Mystery/suspense.

You might want to try Vince Flynn's "Mitch Rapp" series, Swerb. Bad dude. Very readable. Lots of spy/international intrigue/SEAL team-type stuff. Start with "Transfer of Power" (1999), available as a Kindle download.

Yeah, huge thumbs up for this too. Mitch Rapp is like Jack Bower on roids. If you are going to read the Vince Flynn books, I recommend reading them in order.

For the Lee Child books it doesn't matter. And the one Peek rec'd is a great one.

by **peeker643** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:53 pm

jerryroche wrote:
swerb wrote:Heading to FL w the family for a week. Gonna be a lot of pool/beer/Kindle time.
Any good suggestions separate from some of the ones in here?
I like King, Koontz, Clancy. Not a big fan of Patterson and the other wanna bes. Prefer fiction thrillers. Mystery/suspense.

You might want to try Vince Flynn's "Mitch Rapp" series, Swerb. Bad dude. Very readable. Lots of spy/international intrigue/SEAL team-type stuff. Start with "Transfer of Power" (1999), available as a Kindle download.

Liked it a lot. Liked the prequel just fine too (American Assassin).

But I couldn't freaking take the girlfriend and that entire story in the Third Option. It so annoyed me that I stopped after that one. Unless someone tells me they kill her I can't read any more of 'em.

by **peeker643** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 1:59 pm

I like Gone Tomorrow because in part because of the NYC setting. You can envision where he is and where he's going, neighborhoods, etc. if you've been there a time or ten.

by **motherscratcher** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:53 pm

peeker643 wrote:I like Gone Tomorrow because in part because of the NYC setting. You can envision where he is and where he's going, neighborhoods, etc. if you've been there a time or ten.

gone Tomorrow was a very good one. My favorite was probably One Shot. I tend to like the earlier ones like Tripwire, the Killing Floor, Running Blind, and Without Fail the best.

You should read a couple of Reacher books and then google who is going to play him in the movie. You're going to laugh your ass off.

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