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I personally despise reading, even about things I enjoy; but my wife turned me on to a killer book series called 'Monster Hunters'. We're on the third book and it's a mixture of romance, action, horror & comedy. It's a Romaxihorridy. Check it out here: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/mhi-sample/ if you dig fantasy in the Lovecraft vein but with a modern twist you will like what you read!

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Re: Books? Well, as you can probably guess I'm a Harry Potter Fan...the books appeal to me on so many different levels, but the metaphysics are very interesting to consider. I also liked Milton's 'Paradise Lost' (by the same token I dislike Max Lucado's over-dramatized, affected manner when trying to do the same thing), C.S. Lewis' 'Screwtape Letters' and the translation of the 'Iliad' from which I read excerpts for class recently also held my attention. In the less erudite vein I love comic books when they're well-drawn. I especially enjoy the artistic work of Star Wars artists Jan Duursema and Brian Ching. The harsh realism of Northlanders is pretty cool; 'The Cross and the Hammer' was definitely my favorite.

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Re: Books? Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno are great reads without question. I too am a comic book fan though admittedly, I'm not as hardcore into it as I was in my youth. I've thought about getting back into it but I've been out of the loop for so long that it would be very expensive to catch up.

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Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno are great reads without question. I too am a comic book fan though admittedly' date=' I'm not as hardcore into it as I was in my youth. I've thought about getting back into it but I've been out of the loop for so long that it would be very expensive to catch up.[/quote'] I was going to list Dante's Inferno as well but the thing is, I found the short synopses of each Canto by John Ciardi quite meaty while the verse was difficult for me to get through. The Cantos, simply translated and absent of commentary did not offer anywhere near the same meaning that Ciardi's elaboration did. So technically speaking it's not so much the Inferno that stuck out, but Ciardi's exegesis of the same text. But I shouldn't have been surprised - after all, that kind of material is the basis for a lot of doom.
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Re: Books? I plan on getting some De Sade Justine and Juliette after I get some of the rarer albums I desire to purchase out of the way. Other than that I primarily indulge in books about politics, history, and philosophy with my main interests being in thinkers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Stirner, and Foucault. I do eventually want to get the Stand by Stephen King though.

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I plan on getting some De Sade Justine and Juliette after I get some of the rarer albums I desire to purchase out of the way. Other than that I primarily indulge in books about politics' date=' history, and philosophy with my main interests being in thinkers like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Stirner, and Foucault. I do eventually want to get the Stand by Stephen King though.[/quote'] I should get more books on philosophy, it was an interesting subject when I took it college. I should read more political subject matter but I always get so angry when I do, it's a conundrum. The Stand is a bit overrate IMO but then again I don't care much for King. They filmed part of the TV special (a decade ago) at the church by my old middle school however.
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Re: Books? My favourite books are the Harry Potter series, but I also really like The Chronicles of Narnia and other fantasy stuff. I occasionally enjoy Dan Brown's books for fifty pages or so, but they make no sense so I get tired of it. But most of all I enjoy reading album booklets and articles about music.

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Oooh' date=' that's a tough one. I've always liked Lupin, so I might go with him, but there are many other interesting personalities, such as Dumbledore, Luna Lovegood, Mad-Eye Moody and of course Dobby.[/quote'] My mother always very much liked Lupin. Luna is indeed interesting. Admittedly, my favorites are for rather shallow reasons...I like Bill because he has long hair (like I do), is knowledgeable and good in a fight...and Peeves because he is the manifestation of chaos, yet still a good guy. Professor McGonagall is great, she reminds me a lot of M from the new James Bond movies. We should probably discuss this in PM's or something to make sure that we don't turn this into an HP thread.
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Re: Books? LOL. HP was fun for what it was but I was never part of the fandom. I'd probably have read the series by now but the few relatives that have been pushing the series on me forever also think twilight is something to cream over. Nuff said. I gave my aunt (a HUGE J.R Tolkien fan) a copy of 'Homeland' (the first of the Dark Elf Trilogy) but she refused to finish reading it on the grounds that "Elves weren't evil dark beings according to Tolkien" . Suffice to say it was our last discussion about books.

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LOL. HP was fun for what it was but I was never part of the fandom. I'd probably have read the series by now but the few relatives that have been pushing the series on me forever also think twilight is something to cream over. Nuff said.
Nuff said? Oh no no no no no. Many HP fans hate Twilight with a passion. They say it's shallow, lacks character development, makes a caricature of relationships and, most importantly, has an all-out weak protagonist. From what little I've seen of the books, I wholeheartedly concur. As for Tolkien, I also can't quite appreciate his work. I don't care for the fact that he always throws poetry in there somewhere when it just distracts from the story. The diction also seems quite antiquated and difficult to believe, which makes it harder to read when the characters are doing a monologue. That's why I liked Northlanders - you could actually believe what was going on. In terms of diction. The story lines are sometimes a tad unrealistic.
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Nuff said? Oh no no no no no. Many HP fans hate Twilight with a passion. They say it's shallow, lacks character development, makes a caricature of relationships and, most importantly, has an all-out weak protagonist. From what little I've seen of the books, I wholeheartedly concur. As for Tolkien, I also can't quite appreciate his work. I don't care for the fact that he always throws poetry in there somewhere when it just distracts from the story. The diction also seems quite antiquated and difficult to believe, which makes it harder to read when the characters are doing a monologue. That's why I liked Northlanders - you could actually believe what was going on. In terms of diction. The story lines are sometimes a tad unrealistic.
I've never bothered to read Tolkien because he's too stuffy and bands like Blind Guardian exist. ;) There are NO redeeming qualities found in either twilight or its author. I wasn't comparing HP to it either, just I now can't take the opinions of my family seriously due to the aforementioned association. One reason I stopped reading the Forgotten Realms books was they got to predictable. I've got no problem with simple or insanely complicated writing, but too many authors have one style and stick to it. Hence why I like Joss Whedons work, but even still I've yet to find a book or series that can hold my attention for more than a few pages/chapters.
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I've never bothered to read Tolkien because he's too stuffy and bands like Blind Guardian exist. ;) There are NO redeeming qualities found in either twilight or its author. I wasn't comparing HP to it either, just I now can't take the opinions of my family seriously due to the aforementioned association. One reason I stopped reading the Forgotten Realms books was they got to predictable. I've got no problem with simple or insanely complicated writing, but too many authors have one style and stick to it. Hence why I like Joss Whedons work, but even still I've yet to find a book or series that can hold my attention for more than a few pages/chapters.
I don't know, Percy Jackson and the Olympians drew me in. It's a bit convoluted but still interesting. But then again, I'm the one who couldn't put down Elizabeth Peters' 'The Mummy Case' even though I absolutely hated it by the end... Fine, Blind Guardian exists. But so does Battlelore! :D As for your family, that's understandable. I had one friend recommend a song which he said was awesome, right after I showed him Battlelore's 'Green Dragon' (which he liked). Unfortunately the song in question was a Bruno Mars composition. Eghh. Weirdly enough he also likes Drowning Pool.
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I don't know, Percy Jackson and the Olympians drew me in. It's a bit convoluted but still interesting. But then again, I'm the one who couldn't put down Elizabeth Peters' 'The Mummy Case' even though I absolutely hated it by the end... Fine, Blind Guardian exists. But so does Battlelore! :D As for your family, that's understandable. I had one friend recommend a song which he said was awesome, right after I showed him Battlelore's 'Green Dragon' (which he liked). Unfortunately the song in question was a Bruno Mars composition. Eghh. Weirdly enough he also likes Drowning Pool.
I now know what book(s) you're talking about. I was debating on reading those at some point. It'll probably happen. It's funny that you mention Battlore. I got their debut when it first came out and laughed my way through it. It, as well as dozens of other copies soon found their way to the local used shop in my area. I've got a friend I've known since I was two. He has the WORST taste in music EVER! He started out liking rap and then his sister got him into punk (two things I loathe in abundance). I finally got him into (what's considered) Black Metal but before that he was (and sadly still is) all about Nu-Metal. His fav bands are slipknot & disturbed. He's also the kind of kid that if its new he'll buy it or be on it soon. Every week he had whatever mtv was touting as cool in his CD player. Thank god he's addicted to Finntroll and (sadly) Children of Bodom.
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I now know what book(s) you're talking about. I was debating on reading those at some point. It'll probably happen. It's funny that you mention Battlore. I got their debut when it first came out and laughed my way through it. It, as well as dozens of other copies soon found their way to the local used shop in my area. I've got a friend I've known since I was two. He has the WORST taste in music EVER! He started out liking rap and then his sister got him into punk (two things I loathe in abundance). I finally got him into (what's considered) Black Metal but before that he was (and sadly still is) all about Nu-Metal. His fav bands are slipknot & disturbed. He's also the kind of kid that if its new he'll buy it or be on it soon. Every week he had whatever mtv was touting as cool in his CD player. Thank god he's addicted to Finntroll, Marduk and (sadly) Children of Bodom.
Bah humbug. :evil: Battlelore consistently puts out good material, with the exception of Evernight and Third Age of the Sun. Sword's Song, The Last Alliance and Doombound are all great. Their debut is OK but I sure wouldn't say it's laughable. Sigh is laughable. As for your friend...I'll admit, I really don't mind Disturbed that much. I think their vocals are quite good. But I HATE Slipknot. And that's bad, because they are a dime a dozen here. Every single time, I see a guy with what I think is a metal shirt and AAARRGH it's yet another Slipknot tee. Kind of funny, though, because I've got a friend who pretty much loves everything I show him yet never buys it. He, in the meantime, is almost all metalcore. It's somewhat sad because the stuff he shows me is usually music I just don't like at all. He is a big Arch Enemy fan though.
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Bah humbug. :evil: Battlelore consistently puts out good material, with the exception of Evernight and Third Age of the Sun. Sword's Song, The Last Alliance and Doombound are all great. Their debut is OK but I sure wouldn't say it's laughable. Sigh is laughable. As for your friend...I'll admit, I really don't mind Disturbed that much. I think their vocals are quite good. But I HATE Slipknot. And that's bad, because they are a dime a dozen here. Every single time, I see a guy with what I think is a metal shirt and AAARRGH it's yet another Slipknot tee. Kind of funny, though, because I've got a friend who pretty much loves everything I show him yet never buys it. He, in the meantime, is almost all metalcore. It's somewhat sad because the stuff he shows me is usually music I just don't like at all. He is a big Arch Enemy fan though.
Indeed they are amusing. Having never really give Sigh a chance I can't say one way or the other. I do know I like what I've heard however. I was in high school when that shit was popular and I still can't stand it. I was the only Hessian in my school and that's all I ever heard. One of the reasons I gave up listening to the radio in fact. I've known plenty of people like your friend. They tend to pay lip service and nothing more to quality music.
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Indeed they are amusing. Having never really give Sigh a chance I can't say one way or the other. I do know I like what I've heard however. I was in high school when that shit was popular and I still can't stand it. I was the only Hessian in my school and that's all I ever heard. One of the reasons I gave up listening to the radio in fact.
What do you mean by Hessian? Which stuff was popular when you were in high school? Sorry if I'm being a bit blunt but I'm having trouble understanding your statements. But yes, I gave up listening to radio too when I figured out that there were only about ten bands that were ever going to get played. As for books, one genre I forgot to mention is concept/movie art books. I've always liked them because they serve as a great source of inspiration for me to draw. :D
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@Iceni, I saw your post beforehand, but then it just disappeared. :?: Anyway, you should listen to Imaginary Sonicscape in full. It is fantastic. Edit: Apparently my post did as well. I think the forum is a bit buggy.
I did notice this. Perhaps the posts are being transported to a parallel dimension called the Box, where we'll have to fight through different fragments of space-time to... Sorry. I was reading the plot for Clive Barker's Jericho and I think I got mixed up. But seriously, I think they might be getting put onto the new Metal Forum.
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I did notice this. Perhaps the posts are being transported to a parallel dimension called the Box, where we'll have to fight through different fragments of space-time to... Sorry. I was reading the plot for Clive Barker's Jericho and I think I got mixed up. But seriously, I think they might be getting put onto the new Metal Forum.
Twas my fault, for I was the turkey all along!
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