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REPO Man
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Re: Books!

by REPO Man Sat Dec 10, 2022 8:29 pm

Just finished an excellent bit of '90s kid nirvana called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Collecting the five issue miniseries, this crossover brings the teenagers with attitude and the heroes in a half shell together in an explosive romp. When Tommy goes AWOL, he ends up captured by Shredder, who takes his powers and teams up with Rita Repulsa.

Easily a recommend.
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Ziggy587
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Re: Books!

by Ziggy587 Sat Jan 14, 2023 12:03 pm

I just finished my first Star Trek book, Shell Game.

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On the whole, it was rather good. The overall story as well as the plot points along the way very much felt like it could be an episode from the original series (although judging from the character portraits on the cover, I guess this takes place some time after the Motion Picture). All of the action sequences were page turners for me. What takes place between the action was mostly entertaining, although some of it (just a small amount though) felt like fluff. Like sometimes you get a glimpse of a character's inner monologue, which can be interesting since you don't quite get that in the show, but sometimes I'm thinking, "I don't care, let's get back to the plot!"

The characters were mostly spot on, and most of the time it felt like the show. But occasionally it felt forced, in a paint-by-numbers kind of way. For example, there's a landing party consisting of Spock, McCoy and others. So naturally you expect McCoy to get annoyed with Spock, and there to be some bickering to that effect. But in the show, whenever McCoy lashes out at Spock it feels mostly justified, from McCoy's point of view. But in Shell Game, it just felt like it was there because it HAD to be there. If you know what I mean. Also, Spock's lines were really great. It really felt like Spock from TOS. However, after a while I noticed he kept using the same few phrases. For example, Spock says, "I shall endeavor to..." many, many times in this book. The first time he says he'll endeavor to do something, it felt spot on. Definitely something Spock would say in an episode. But by the umpteenth time, I was thinking the author needed a more diverse vocabulary for Spock.

But nitpicking aside, it was definitely enjoyable. I shall endeavor to read more Star Trek novels. The good thing is that there's many of them, so you can always get the used paperbacks for extremely cheap. The bad news is there's MANY of them, so it's kind of daunting. I don't think it's the kind of thing I could possibly consider starting with book 1 and reading every single one in release order. So I'm not quite sure yet how I'm going to read them, but my loose plan is... no plan! Just sort of randomly, I guess. I'll judge books by their covers. If the picture looks cool, and the synopsis sounds interesting, then maybe I'll get that one. I'm really only interested in TOS and TNG books, so at least I don't have to worry about books from all the other spin offs.

For now, I just Googled which are the best books, and there were a few that came up from different sources. The Lost Years tells the stories of Kirk, Spock and McCoy between the end of the TV series and the start of the first movie, explaining how they all ended up where they were at the start of the first movie. There's 3 other books that take place in this time period. Then there's Vendetta, a Next Generation book, which a lot of sources state is a really good story. I found an eBay seller that had many Star Trek books for sale in a pick and choose auction format, and they were really cheap (around $2/ea IIRC) so I was able to nab The Lost Years and Vendetta. I also got Ghost Ship, which is another TNG novel. So I guess I'll start with those three.




I started reading Mel Brook's All About Me! I'm not very far, but so far it's been great. I've only ever read one other autobiography, Don Felder's Heaven and Hell (former member of The Eagles) and I found that really enjoyable. I might consider reading other celebrity autobiographies, ones that sound interesting at least. Anyone read any? I have Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis, a friend really wanted me to read it but I have gotten round to it yet.
I'm parting with some duplicate Blu-Ray and DVD movies. Check out this thread if interested.
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Re: Books!

by Ziggy587 Sun Jan 15, 2023 9:38 pm

I finally continued reading a bit more of For Your Eyes Only (a collection of 5 short stories). I never realized how much of For Your Eyes Only and Risico made it into the movie For Your Eyes Only. Especially Risico, which is the source for what is probably the best screen time in the movie. Pretty neat.

It's been a while since I've read From a View to a Kill, but I remember it being pretty decent as well. I didn't think the short stories would work well, but they actually do. Not every assignment Bond gets is some grand adventure. Sometimes he has an assignment that only takes a day or two. It makes for a short, fun read. Quantum of Solace was good, albeit a little weird since it's not quite a James Bond novel. I've known about the story for some time so I wasn't surprised. It's definitely an entertaining story, it's just not a Jame Bond adventure. Anyway, now I just have The Hildebrand Rarity to read before I can finish this collection of short stories.

Ziggy587 wrote:Does anyone have a good way to get that horrible basement smell out of a book? I could Google it, but I'd like to hear first hand from someone that's tried it.


So I ended up with a book that had a real bad moldy basement smell to it. In late September, I put it in a large freezer zip lock back and dumped in a box of baking soda. I not only zipped it shut, but also taped it to make it air tight. I shook the baking soda around once or twice since then, but I left it sealed until just last week. It still has an old paper smell, but the moldy smell seems to be completely gone. It probably didn't have to stay sealed up that long, I just wasn't in a hurry (and forgot about it).
I'm parting with some duplicate Blu-Ray and DVD movies. Check out this thread if interested.
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Re: Books!

by rainingman Tue Feb 28, 2023 6:38 am

It has been more than a year since I logged in I think. It's also been almost a year since I even lurked. Can't believe I remember my login creds. Nonetheless, just picked up the much-dissed Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel. I really don't understand why the book has had so many negative reviews. The book compares our treatment of animals to aspects of the Holocaust, and it doesn't do this distastefully. But many critics and writers consider this a poor approach, but they only ever invoke political correctness in their reasoning. I certainly enjoyed it; a good friend of mine despised it, though. The novel also forces us to think about what type of climax community we might be heading toward. Of course, the novel doesn't employ the term, but it is difficult not to ask oneself this question while reading the book. One thing environmentalists and some video game creators have in common is their vision of the future, of just how bleak things might get if we go on consuming recklessly. And in these visions, we don't really see animals, or at least we don't see animals living with dignity. Whatever we might be doing to the planet, it is comforting to think that the planet will endure far longer than the human species can. Unless we are to believe Musk, Bezos, and several VCs, (and doesn't Neil deGrasse Tyson actively endorse Musk's views? Which is terribly scary).
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Re: Books!

by REPO Man Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:26 pm

Just finished "Monster", by Christopher Pike. I bought a used copy from Amazon over two years ago, though one can borrow it from the Internet Archive.

In it, a young woman named Mary walks into a party and shoots two of her classmates with a shotgun and aims her site at a third, only to be thwarted by our protagonist Angela, Mary's friend. As it turns out, Mary believes that the two people she killed and the ex-boyfriend she tried to murder in cold blood weren't human.

Soon, Angela realizes that Mary is right, and the truth truly is stranger than fiction. But Mary's almost-murdered ex-boyfriend, the handsome football player Jim, soon reveals that he is what Mary told Angela he was.

A monster! A monster with a taste for blood and humanity is on the menu.

Along with Bury Me Deep and Master of Murder, this would have made an EXCELLENT choice to be adapted into Netflix's The Midnight Club had it not been cancelled due to Mike Flanigan jumping ship to Prime Video.

And if you REALLY want to set the mood, I totally recommend putting on some early '90s alt rock in the background to set the mood.
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Re: Books!

by REPO Man Wed Apr 05, 2023 2:02 pm

Just finished Christopher Pike's "See You Later", which is described as "a story of love and hate beyond time". This was one of the stories adapted into an episode of "The Midnight Club" on Netflix, which obviously changed more than a few things around

Here, a young high-school graduate falls in love with a girl, only to discover that she has a boyfriend. He soon meets a young couple that is obsessed with making sure our protagonist Mark gets together with his crush Becky. But soon things take a turn for the worse and as it turns out the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
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Re: Books!

by Ziggy587 Thu Jul 13, 2023 2:54 pm

I picked up a few more Flexibound books from Barnes and Noble. I have 9 of them now, and there's a few more I'd like to get. I've talked about these in this thread before, but they really have to be seen in person to fully appreciate. They are just so lovely to look at, and so comfortable to hold. If you find yourself in a Barnes and Noble, definitely take a look at them. In my local store, they can be found together on a table. One of those tables they keep more in the middle of the store.

Here's a list of Flexibound B&N exclusives: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/bn-fle ... /N-2vtiZ15

B&N also has other nice exclusives, larger books that are hardcovers. They are nice too, but sometimes too big to read at anything other than a desk. And some get more pricey. The Flexibound are cheap, all $15 I think. I'm too lazy to check, but they might all be public domain.

Anyways, here's one of the ones that I picked up...

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The Picture of Dorian Gray

It's funny that 130 years ago, people had a lot of negative things to say about this book. If someone from that decade could time travel to the middle of Time Square right now, they would probably drop dead from shock. But I don't want to digress into any social commentary.

I'm always a bit nervous to start reading a book that is so old, but then I'm always so surprised to enjoy it. Books that are held in this high regard, there's a reason why. I guess I'm just worried that the language used, the patterns of speech, will be so outdated that I will not be able to relate. Or it will be boring. Or any number of things. But a good story is a good story. Well written characters will always be interesting. And witty dialog will always be witty. If anything, my fears are completely baseless. I should be more afraid of reading something contemporary than something that has held the test of time for over 100 years.

I've only read the first two chapters of Dorian Gray so far, in which you really only meet two characters and then eventually Dorian Gray himself. They are just sitting in a room conversing, for the most part, and you would think that would be boring but it isn't. The characters have a certain level of sophistication and education that is totally lacking in most modern characters. They're just talking about their lives and feelings, but in a way that seems so much more profound than the way I do with my friends. There's a certain philosophical quality to their thoughts. Again, I'm not trying to make any social commentary. Just that my point is, a book that is 130 years old can still be a good read. I find that to be an awesome thing.

I hit the pause button on Dorian Gray for now. I'll pick it back up, but a couple of other things took my interest.

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Long Island Noir

I finally made got the time to stop by my local library. They have these themed sections, half height shelves that have book that meet a theme. Like summer time reads, lots of stuff to do with beaches. There was one I spotted that had something to do with USA history, although I don't quite understand the exact theme they were going for. But I did spot this one book, Long Island Noir. And then I noticed it's a collection of short stories. I've said a few times in this thread, I love short stories for the lack of commitment you need for them. So I decided to check it out.

This kind of took my by surprise... It takes place in the present. When I hear "noir" my mind goes to that classic noir in the 40s or 50s perhaps. That's what I was expecting this to be. But I suppose "noir" simply means some kind of crime story, and not a place in time. So I was a little disappointment, but not deterred. I've read the first two stories so far, and they were both great. I'm looking forward to reading more of this.

So this book is actually part of a series, where each book is a different location that all of the stories take place in. There's many locations in the USA, like Detroit Noir for example. As well as other countries like Rome Noir or Havana Noir. The book has a "also in this series" page and there's dozens of them. Each short story in LI Noir is a different author. I'm not sure if all of the books are like that, or if any authors have short stories in some of the other books. But after I finish LI, if the rest of the stories are as good as the first two I read, I'll definitely want to check out more in the series!

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The Hunter

Payback is one of my favorite movies. During the opening credits, it's stated that the movie was based off of the book The Hunter by Richard Stark. So I always wanted to check out the book. I'm actually surprised how much of the book is in the movie, even the exact dialog. Being that I've seen the movie first, it's almost like reading a novelization of the movie LOL. But the book does have it's difference, of course. For one thing, the movie had the tag line "get ready to root for the bad guy" or something like that. But they definitely made the main character more likeable than in the book. In the book he REALLY is a bad guy, and not just a bad guy in a Hollywood movie. In fact, pretty much everyone in the book is a bad guy and the main characters do things that are just deplorable. That is one complaint I've heard about this character and book, that the main character is just an awful person. Well, people like to read about Al Capone and Mafiosos that have done awful things. At least the characters in The Hunter are fictional.

The Hunter is book 1 in a series of books with the character Parker. I wanted to check out book 2 and 3 from my library, but sadly they don't seem to have them.
I'm parting with some duplicate Blu-Ray and DVD movies. Check out this thread if interested.
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Ack
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Re: Books!

by Ack Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:08 pm

If you enjoyed The Hunter and the film Payback, I would also recommend the movie Point Blank, with Lee Marvin as the lead. It is every bit as nasty as all the rest of them.
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Re: Books!

by Ziggy587 Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:28 pm

Ack wrote:If you enjoyed The Hunter and the film Payback, I would also recommend the movie Point Blank, with Lee Marvin as the lead. It is every bit as nasty as all the rest of them.


Thanks, Ack! I was hesitant to check it out based on the year of the film. I'll have to add it to my list.

Have you seen the director's cut of Payback?
I'm parting with some duplicate Blu-Ray and DVD movies. Check out this thread if interested.
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Re: Books!

by Ack Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:33 am

I have not. In fact, I didn't know there was a director's cut of Payback! I'm gonna have to check that out.
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