Books:
I’ve always wanted to read more, and despite bringing home a lot of books from work, I rarely ever finish reading any (other than Batman graphic novels). I have five books that I’ve checked out and need reading along with 5 books I’ve purchased that need reading as well. Yeah, good luck to me. At the very least, I want to get through four of these books:
A Briefer History of Time: Ah, time travel. Star Trek, Lost, Land of the Lost, Terminator, Heroes. A lot of time travel is being shoved down our throats this year, and I’ve always been intrigued by the concept despite how overdone or incorrectly portrayed it is. I also have a love for astronomy, so this book is right up my alley. Sure, I could read A Brief History of Time, but frankly, I don’t have the time.
Hell and Back by Frank Miller: Yes, graphic novels do count as reading. I unfortunately haven’t read nearly as much Sin City as I would’ve liked. The dialogue, the art, it’s all extremely awesome. Huge fan of noir, so anything by Frank Miller is a must read, yet… I have read the one graphic novel I have of his that came with the Sin City movie, and now I want to read Hell and Back because the next movie is coming out in 2010. Best be prepared.
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk: I loved Fight Club, so when I started this new found urge to read, I turned to someone who I wanted more of. Normally I would go to Stephen King, master storyteller, but Palahniuk gets a lot of praise for his twisted stories. Survivor is an instant appeal for it’s method of storytelling, going backwards in time to tell it. And it’s twisted.
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks: I’m such a zombie nut, yet I’m surprised how much I don’t know about zombie. Shoot ‘em in the head, don’t get bit. That’s all I know. This book has opened up my eyes to a whole new world of zombies. One that brings realism to the table and from what I’ve read so far, I can’t help but want to be prepared for the coming apocalypse. This is one I really want to finish so I can get to–
World War Z by Max Brooks: Recommended on the TRS forums, I wanted to check out this highly rated book on zombies. But first, I want to learn about the zombies before jumping into this book. Though this looks like a read for another day since I doubt I’ll get to this book this summer, but hopefully I can start it.
Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder: I recently bought a few film related books that I figured I might as well read if I’m going into the business. This one is a highly rated screenwriting book on Amazon and from what I’ve read, it’s a fun read. It doesn’t feel sterile like a book informing you about screenwriting, but a book that tells you about screen writing. It feels more personal and understandable. Hopefully I can get useful information.
Rebel Without a Crew: This is basically a biography for Robert Rodriguez and how he managed to go from a $7000 film to major hit in Hollywood. Now, other than Sin City, I haven’t watched his films, but he is an inspiration, a lot like Quintin Tarantino, who never went to film school and made it big. It’s always a nice insight to see just how they did it, how they got into the business.
Cinematic Storytelling: This book is a long book in terms of actual measurable length. It talks about different camera shots, why they’re used and how they can improve a scene. Definitely an important and fairly easy read.
Movies:
Pfft, there are so many movies to watch this summer. I want to get through at least one movie a day, but that’s not going to happen. At least two or three a week would be preferred. I don’t know how I’m going to track it, but I want to get through at least 15 movies from my Netflix queue, both Instant Watch and mail. So far I’ve gone through 4-5. So it’s looking plausible. Instead of listing basically my queue movies, I’ll list movies that I want to see this summer that I haven’t seen already:
Up (May 29th): Odds are, I won’t see this in theater. My friends might think of it as strictly a kids movie, but me, being a huge Pixar fan, can’t ignore their latest movie, even if it’s a while before I see it. So far the ratings are as expected from a Pixar movie. I don’t think I’ll like it as much as last year’s Wall-E, but it’ll be an entertaining watch.
Year One (June 19th): I’m not a huge fan of Jack Black, but Michael Cera always entertains me. How can George Michael go wrong? It just looks like a fun movie that I hope will bring the funnies.
Transformers 2 (June 24th): Just for the action and that lovely Megan Fox. I’ve given up on Transformers actually being about Transformers because well, this is Hollywood. They want human actors to have the center role, not CGI robots. I’ll accept that and just enjoy the eye candy.
Public Enemies (July 1st): After seeing footage, I’m slightly iffy, but a team like Johnny Depp and Christian Bale? I can’t not go see it.
(500) Days of Summer (July 17th): Another movie I probably won’t see in theaters. It looks great and has that great indie feel that I love, but it won’t appeal to my friends so this is one movie I’ll be waiting for some more.
District 9 (Aug. 14th): The guy who was going to make Halo before it got canned is coming out with a very interesting movie. I’m loving his directing style and the realism he’s bringing to this sci-fi alien movie makes me all the more excited for this film.
Inglorious Bastards (Aug. 21th): Wow, this is coming out late. I think school will have started by then. Nonetheless, it’s on my to see list. New movie by Quintin Tarintino? How can I say no?
Video Games:
There aren’t a LOT of video games coming out this summer, but it’s starting off with a nice little bang. InFAMOUS, Prototype, and Red Faction 3 are all games that have grabbed hold of my interest and won’t let go. InFAMOUS especially. But there are games that, like every year, I say I’ll finish but never do. Hopefully I can manage to finish some of these games:
Killzone 2: I am actively playing it so I don’t doubt that I’ll finish this one. It’s a good game so far, but no where near a 9+. It feels much too generic to be anything special.
Persona 3 FES: Playing it constantly these days. RPGs have a tendency to suck me in and not let me go. Of course, wanting to finish it quicker, I cheated. I know, I am a filthy cheater. But hell, the game feels like it’s artificially lengthing the gameplay. It’s not fun when all I want to do is grind but the game makes the characters in the game feel tired so I have to stop. It’s not fun when I feel limited because they give me what is essentially a timer towards the end of the game. But as of right now, I’m all for the game and can’t stop playing.
Dead Space: Been meaning to finish this. I’m not that far, and high tension games tend to turn me off. Yet I still buy them and this is an amazing game despite me wanting to put down the controller 30 minutes in.
Dead Rising: As much as I love zombies, this game shares my frustration with Persona 3. I hate games that give you a time limit. In Dead Rising, you have basically two in-game days to complete the game, and it’s just frustrating to know that. I doubt I’ll finish this game this summer, or ever. I might wait for Dead Rising 2 and hope I can get my zombie killing on without worrying when I can’t play anymore.
And that’s it for this list, I think. Now onto the list where accomplishment isn’t just about finishing up a backlog of entertainment.
