I go to quite a few concerts. Rock, Metal, broadway shows, the occasional symphony, local groups and huge acts.
Anything that sounds appealing.
As often as possible I get tickets in a way that will give me an actual ticket, not a printed piece of paper with a scan image on it.
I save the tickets…and use them as bookmarks.
My concert going history is scattered across a bookshelf.
I just picked up “Shadow Moon” by George Lucas and Chris Claremont and was reminded that I went to Warped Tour in 2004.
Physical books look better on my bookshelf, but I’m sorry….
my virtual bookshelf through Kindle is just as impressive.
As much as I love real books, I can’t randomly pick up a real book and start reading anywhere, considering I don’t carry books with me. My phone is just too convenient sometimes.
My apologies for helping to kill the book industry =(
Reblog if you will always prefer
TO THIS
forever.
AND EVER!
I HATE THOSE STUPID E-READERS WITH A FIERY PASSION.
Congratulations to all of you who have the money to afford a nice hard copy of every book you ever want.
I have an iPad through school (not by my own choice, unfortunately. We all were forced to buy one) but books on it are much cheaper.
Considering I don’t love every book I read, I’m glad I have it. I buy books on it to read them. If I like it, I’ll buy a nice copy of it. If it wasn’t good enough… then why the hell would I waste my money on it?
In the end I prefer having an actual book, but as far as being more practical and cost effective….
Sorry books. No wonder Borders went out of business.
(Source: kennygoesrawr)
Via take it easyDr. JT: On Harry Potter, and my lazy observations from watching the movies again.
Know what Jeff. I feel like over-thinking and getting way too annoyed about works of fiction too.
Ok. Simple back story so you can all get the gist of where I’m coming from.
I started reading Harry Potter when the first two books were out and was completely head-over-heels in love with them.
Thanks to my school system, we had to read books that were on the “Accelerated Reader” list and then…
Ok, so I was never obsessed with Harry Potter. By the time I started reading the first book, the first movie was out, and I think the third book was out. In fact, I saw the first film, and that convinced me to try the books. I read all 7 books, even well after it was considered lame to read Harry Potter at my school, which was after book 4 apparently. But by then I said, not, I’ve read four of these books, fuck that, I’m not going to just not know the ending. But I stopped watching at the 4th movie. And I’m in the process of reading them now.
So, as far as your first two points go, I would say it’s mostly for the sake of imagery. And copyrights… Theres something about Albus Dumbledore roaming the halls of Hogwarts with an iPod that takes out out of a mystical fantasy world Jeff. But from a more realistic front, maybe dedication to tradition. Maybe wizards are essentially magical Amish. I mean, think out the outrioght hatrid some purebloods HAD for mudbloods. Even the term itself… Mudblood. Their blood is considered impure. Tainted. Maybe the keep themselves purposely ignorant to the normal humans ways.
James was kind of a prick. But really.. deserved to die is kind of harsh. He never came off to me as so much a bully as kind of a dick. So what. He was a teenager. Thats not uncommon, he’d grown up and started a family by the time he was murdered. Not to say he was a complete jerkoff as a teenager, on several occasions stories about how his did saved certain people or helped people in various ways. Think less Malfoy, more Weasley Twins. Kind of a dick, but not really an all out bully.
I never dug the tri-wizard tournament book. It was the one thatm ost felt like filler, even though the ending was important. The story for the tournament was that it was held every year until 1792, when it was discontinued due to deaths, and due to Cedric dying the year it was revived, I’d assume it was halted again. I think it was more upsetting to me that they were just like “Oh, herp-a-derp, lets just throw these 17 year old kids into dragons dens and shit.”
A few more notes on things you brought up while we were discussing this at your house.
“It bothers me that Harry is actually kind of a terrible wizard.”
While, granted, he was actually pretty awful at the beginning, he ended up pretty average by the middle of the series, and that could be explained from the fact he was thrown into a world he didn’t even know existed, and was much was expected from him just by his reputation. But the series probably wouldn’t have been as good if it was about a more Hermione-like character who probably would have had a better idea of what to do in any situation, and was so good she was almost pompous about it. I was fine with the fact it was about a wizard fighting around-average ability, and a little bit of cleverness. I was annoyed that he often got away on just pure fucking blind luck, and that at times he could be SO damn dumb.
Know what else annoyed me? Who he ended up with…
Well I fully understand tradition… but I have to say I rarely respect it.
Even for the pure sake of safety there are better means of communication and transporting information than an owl.
Even if it is all about tradition, I can not respect the idea. Wizards and Witches, you’re a bunch of crocks.
Typical fantasy, though.
Ignoring modernism and using things that are “Not as clumsy or random as a blaster…” and more elegant. #StarWars
So I’ll forgive it for the sake of fantasy.
Saying that James had to die is a pretty typical response from me. Would you really expect anything less than that?
Of all people I know that he may have just been a dick in High School considering that fits my own story pretty well. (Has much really changed?)
But I find the shock factor of the phrase really appealing.
Does not change the fact that I think he’s a dick.
You and another friend of mine who previously reblogged this answered the Tri-Wizard tournament question. Which could have easily been explained in the movies, they just completely neglected to.
Poor movie making, I think. Kind of like how they didn’t explain how everyone else rode Thestrals when only Harry and Luna could see them (in that group, that is).
So not really the stories’ fault. Just the movie makers.
As far as being a fan of the movies goes, well… not really helping the case.
For the final point, nothing will change the fact that Harry is nothing special as a Wizard. He learns fast because he is given absolutely no choice.
Hermione came from a Muggle family and yet she pretty much owns at life as far as being a Witch goes.
Harry? He can pull off some impressive stunts, but when he is compared to other wizards (Cedric, anyone? Moody made a comment saying something along the lines of “When he was your age he was so much better than you are. Pretty much, you suck compared to him.”) he’s very, as you said, average.
I’m all for the underdog, but I was hoping for a little bit more from him.
That being said. I finished watching Deathly Hallows part 1.
I’ll give this whole series credit.
It’s quite a story.
It’s got nothing on The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, though. (actually, yes it does. The Wheel of Time bored me by the 5th book. Not much better.)
On Harry Potter, and my lazy observations from watching the movies again.
Ok. Simple back story so you can all get the gist of where I’m coming from.
I started reading Harry Potter when the first two books were out and was completely head-over-heels in love with them.
Thanks to my school system, we had to read books that were on the “Accelerated Reader” list and then take simple multiple choice tests based on the books.
I’m picky when it comes to reading (and at the time I didn’t know that I would like Fantasy so much. I didn’t know what I wanted to read.) and the list of books with tests is short and very limited.
By the 3rd book, I still had to take 1 more AR test for the year. I didn’t have time to read it all. I skimmed through it and asked a friend* (who made the test, actually) for the answers.
Book 4 came out.
There is no way I had time to read that monstrosity of a book. I’m a slow reader. I have a short attention span. (This has changed greatly through adolescents. Maybe a story for another time, but not really important.)
I stopped caring.
The movies,to me, did a decent job by the first 2 so I figured I’d just leave it at that.
Harry Potter never did become an obsession with me, like it was for the first two books. Otherwise I just kind of let it stay.
I see the movies when they come out (eventually. It’s been a couple weeks and I haven’t seen the final movie yet) and I watch some of them if again if they happen to be on TV and I’m doing homework.
So all of these observations of mine are based strictly on the movies. WHICH IS FINE.
(I will be the first person not so full of themselves to say that there are many movies better than the books they were based on. Not saying Harry Potter definitely is, obviously I wouldn’t know.)
So a couple things I picked out as I watch all the movies again in preparation of seeing the final movie. (Just finished watching Order of the Phoenix)
1. Why the hell is the Wizarding world stuck in the 1850’s?
Sure, it’s beautiful. It has a great image.
but flying paper planes to carry memo’s? This is supposed to be the 90’s and thats the best they could come up with?! What about email? Surely the wizarding world could set up an Internet connection.
Why does no one have a Gameboy?! Sure, they’re playing Chess. I love chess, too (though I’m actually a bigger fan of Checkers, or draughts for you British folk I suppose?)
But I want to play a little bit of Pokemon in between classes, maybe.
Or maybe I’m tired of straining my eyes from reading by candlelight. Light bulbs? ANYONE?!
2. Why are the Wizards so stupid when it comes to anything about the Muggle world?
Mr. Weasley asks “what is the purpose of a rubber duck?”
Then he can’t get into a subway terminal.
Meanwhile the Wizarding world has direct connections to Muggles through, oh I don’t know, all the damn Mudbloods?!
3. Harry’s dad deserved to die.
Maybe someone clears this up for me in the final story, because as of now I haven’t even bothered watching Deathly Hallows: Part 1, yet.
But every flashback you see, every time something is said. James just seems like a prick.
He was a bully.
4. How often does the TriWizard tournament happen?
Why do we only hear about it once? It seems like it only happens every 7 years and that’s seems quite unfair that only the last year students are able to get in, anyway.
I’ll stop here until I finish watching. There most likely will be another post on this.
Now I can fully accept that the stories are not perfect. A simple google search led me to lists of “Harry Potter inconsistencies”.
I’m a Star Wars fan, I’m able to deal with things that don’t match up perfectly (because we all know that episodes 1-3 left about a million unanswered questions and concepts that just don’t work with 4-6).
*The first real Harry Potter fan I ever knew. In 6th grade he even insisted that we call him “Tom” instead of his real name. Lame, I know. But this was 6th grade, leave the poor kid alone.
On Childhood, Harry Potter, and hype
Yes, Harry Potter is over. No, your childhood is not. Mine did not end when I stopped watching Power Rangers, or when Pokemon started to suck, or when Luigi became the main character and not Mario, or when Optimus Prime was no longer a cartoon, or when Mr. Rogers died, or when I realized that Rugrats was a terrible show, or when I first saw that monstrosity called “Spongebob Squarepants”, or when I wasn’t in desperate “need” of the newest Nintendo system (the wii, that is).
The series ended in 2007 when the last book came out. For that matter, doesn’t the story take place in the late 90’s anyway?
I understand you’re a fan of the series, but the amount of squabbling about it is annoying to no end.
It honestly makes me hate the series because the fans are such an annoying and overwhelming lot.
Quite frankly, it reminds me of John Mayer fans from about 3 years ago.
I hated John Mayer, and I later discovered that it was 90% thanks to how much I can’t tolerate his fan base.
I can’t stand hype.
I’m all for fair-weather fans, as they say, for sports teams. Sure, if your team sucks of course you don’t want to root for them! You want to root for the guys who are actually good.
I’m from Pittsburgh, and mind you I’m not a sports fan at all, but there are not many Pirates fans around here. Why? Because they’re a terrible team (and from my understand, it’s not the fault of the players but more so of management).
But hype? Hype I can’t stand.
Batman: The Dark Knight.
I almost walked out of the theatre. I absolutely hated it.
God forbid. People wanted to hang me for such treason!
…. does anyone actually give a damn any more?
Every one. Every single one of the tools who said it was their “favorite movie of all time” has not said a word of it since.
Sure, I’m a huge critic. I hate most movies I ever see. No one is surprised I hate it.
But to say it’s the best movie you’ve ever seen…and then forget about it?
That’s what I’m talking about.
Those of you who will still be talking about Harry Potter years to come. Those of you who will share it with your children and say “this is what I grew up on” the same why my mom sat me down to watch the original Batman TV (with Adam West)…
I respect that.
I applaud you for being absolutely amazing and devoted fans of what is, I will admit, a very impressive series.
Unfortunately.
Most of you will be out of the Harry Potter thing in a couple years.
When it’s over, you’ll move on.
You might throw the DVDs in the player every once in a while, maybe when you clean your apartment up before a get together to watch the next episode of the Big Bang Theory.
All those collectibles? Probably hiding in the attic with your Pokemon cards.
Enjoy it while it lasts. I have no problem with people loving a book or movie while it’s still fresh.
I’m not nearly the Lord of the Rings fan that I was when the movies were newer.
I’ve come to realize that I’m not really that into the series. I love the movies. but no more than most movies sitting on my shelf (you know, the few that I own).
So I am certainly not claiming that Lord Of The Rings was a defining concept in my life.
The same goes with Harry Potter and most of you.
You love it when it’s there. Then you move on.
Then another book/movie came out, and you were a total freak again.
Now it’s over. Pick where you stand. Either you love it and breathe it, or you need to admit that you’re a fair-weather fan.
Jekyll and Hyde (Books, and a date with The Midget)
I read the book of Dr. Jekyll nad Mr. Hyde my freshman year in college.
Whoever loaned me the book to read (I honestly can’t remember who did. The person I thought it was… said they never even read it, let alone own it. So I don’t remember) loaned me a non-original.
I thought I knew the story. I certainly know the version that all the movies and plays are based on, but it’s… just not quite the “original”.
That being said.
I went to go see a performance of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde through the Pittsburgh CLO.
The musical was created by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn, with music and lyrics by Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse.
It. Was. Incredible.
Kevin Gray, who played the part of Jekyll and Hyde was so passionate…and of course, a phenomenal singer.
But I could go on and on about how amazing my night with The Midget was. That’s not my point.
(Just to throw it out there. It was.)
The book I read, I found out later that night (as I was doing random research) was not the original.
It was a rewrite from years later, I suppose (I don’t recall who the author was).
I’m now reading the original…and so far I’m in love with it even more.
Not that it’s drastically different…but it has it’s uniqueness to it.
I hope to finish it within the next day or two and then I’ll give more details.
and then I’ll probably keep telling you how awesome the musical was.
Sidenote: Yes, I am taking a break from Paradise Lost… I just couldn’t stay interested for more than 5 pages at a time.
On reading “difficult” books?
It’s rant time.
I’m currently reading Paradise Lost by John Milton.
For those who are not familiar with it, I’ll give you the general gist.
Remember reading excerpts from The Iliad and the Odyssey in High School? Those ridiculously long “epic poems” from those old people many years ago, maybe the 1930’s*, who wrote poems that were not enjoyable at all to read and had nothing “epic” about them?
Then your teacher retells you the entire story and you go “wow, that would have made an awesome movie! Too bad this Homer dude sucked at writing.”Those books?
Yeah. It’s one of those. Except this was actually written in “English” originally.
And by English I mean really freaking old English. I am yet to see anyone referred to as “sweet” or “a gangster” in this book.
So I’m reading it and as interesting as I have to say it is, I can’t say it’s the most enjoyable read of all time.
In fact I don’t really enjoy reading it much at all.
There is nothing captivating about it. Nothing reaches out and grabs me and says “DON’T YOU DARE PUT ME DOWN, I AM THE BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ IN MONTHS AND YOU LOVE ME. NOW TAKE YOUR CLOTHES OFF WHILE YOU KEEP READING.”
Does anyone actually enjoy reading books like this?
For a cliche list of examples of “those” books. (You know, those old books from like the 1930’s* or something)
William Shakespear
Geoffery Chaucer
H.P. Lovecraft
Homer
Dante Alighieri
I’ve read my share of each, and I’ve enjoyed my share of each.
Have I enjoyed the actual reading process? Rarely. With these at least.
Now I’m not saying that “old” literature is useless, really I’m not.
But I’m pretty convinced that anyone who says they love reading these books is lying.
The stories are great. The writing simply does not appeal to me.
Don’t get started on “what, is it too difficult for you?”
No, it’s not. However I’m also not so pretentious to say “Yeah well my favorite piece of literature is ‘The Call of Cthulhu’.” like way too many people would.
Because it’s not.
You just want to sound intelligent and mysterious because you read something that’s generally considered difficult.
Go sip your coffee, write on your laptop at Starbucks, and read your digital copy of Canterbury Tales.
Spoiler alert
They never make it to Canterbury.
I’ll cut this short.
My point is simple.
You can love the literature. You should, as far as I’m concerned, respect it.
To actually enjoy reading it is another story. (worst joke ever)
A story can be great while the author’s style is not appealing.
Tolkien could not be a more perfect example…
*By 1930’s I obviously mean anything older than, well, let’s say the 1930’s. Sure, reading a translation of The Odyssey is quite different than reading Lovecraft (who actually has some literature from the 30’s…go figure) but it is most certainly different than reading John Greene or JK Rowling.
