What are you watching/reading?

[sinehawk]

Just like the music thread, post whatever you like and want to share/recommend or to the opposite spare people's time/money. reviews are welcome, memory lane as well.

As for me, I wanted to start a netflix on the PS3 but haven't gotten around to it. Can't say I've even been to the theaters in a year or ever redboxed anything. I have however become a big fan of The Walking Dead on AMC. zombies, survival, artfully scripted...yes. Before that The Colony on Discovery was another series I kept up with, about survival skills in a lawless America.

[SugaBearShake]

Recently finished up Season 1 of Spartacus http://www.starz.com/originals/spartacus - not as gay as it looks. really. well, maybe. But then, right when I'm all, sweet, glad I didn't watch this live sonowicangostraightintoseasontwo - I watch first season two epi and am like THIS kinda sucks WTF is Spartacus? Off to the internet I go and find out fuckin Spartacus has cancer now in real life and they made the kinda notascool season 2 to keep people interested in the series while Spartacus recovers from fucking cancer. I hear he's in remission now but has to get his Spartacusness back. So, here's wishing him well.

[SeahawkSal]

I've been on a old Western kick the last few months, so I've been watching everything I can find via Netflix streaming on my PS3. I bought one of those Harmony remotes, so my wife just has to press one button, and all my components turn on and switch to the correct inputs. Very good investment.

Here's my recommendation....I just finished up the Deadwood series which was shown on HBO a few years ago. All I have to say is WOW. It is 100% kick-ass compelling. Great acting...dialog...everything. The Al Swearengen character is one of the greatest characters you will ever watch.

Do yourself a favor...rent it...download it...whatever. Just watch it. It aired for 3 seasons...and there are 12 episodes per season. I finished the entire series in a month.

[sinehawk]

I don't have premium channels so I'll def have to netflix these. Heard great things about both, among other HBO/Showtime series. I've seen an episode or two of Deadwood and the guy that plays Al Swearengen played the President on a short lived NBC series called Kings which I thought was great until it got sacked.

Awesome write up SugaB...hopefully he recovers enough to come back.

[SugaBearShake]

Yeah, I was rollin with the Netflix and now with 2 kids I rarely get time to watch my movies/shows. I have Nteflix via PS3 in the upstairs play area and then bought an AppleTV when the price dropped to $99. It's pretty cool. I down graded our Netflix to the d/l only plan for 7.99/month albeit no new releases or Bluray on the d/l plan but there are a massive amount of cartoons both ridiculous and educational. really impressed.

As for books, I used to read quite a bit but now with the little vipers in my life it's Dr. Suess et al. so i don't get many pleasure books. er, any.

I keep The Speedliter's Handbook on my bedstand by Syl Arena to keep my photography hobby going... http://sylarena.com/

But I will read and have read anything/everything by J.M. Coetzee.

[NYSeahawker]

watching?...

just watched Shutter Island (Leonardo DeCaprio) another great Martin Scorsese movie that messes with your head
The Book Of Eli (Denzel Washington) .. big thumbs up as well

last movies I saw in the theater were Tron Legacy & True Grit (Jeff Bridges rules!!)

and catching up with an old TV classic... anyone here remember the 1970's show "Emergency!"
I happened to be in my local library a few weeks back and they've got a great DVD collection, and I saw one of the season sets on the shelf (I don't think I'd seen an episode since it's syndication days in the early 80's) I grabbed the first season which dates back to 1972... what a trip!! It was certainly groundbreaking for it's time, and still holds up well in many regards... a lot of impressive stunt work (no CGI or blue-screen effects) still a fun watch!!

I wound up buying the first three seasons so far .. (all seven seasons are available on DVD)

last book I read .. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon.. about an off-beat private detective in early 70's Los Angeles... colorful stuff!!

[Taowulf]

I've been watching a lot of Asian movies lately, Korean films like Thirst and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, I don't know if I would recommend them, but what the hell. Thirst is an interesting Vampire movie, Sympathy is just....strange.

Oh yeah. Japanese films like Ichi the Killer are too bizarre for words. Very gory, crazy effects and characters that will make you go "WTF?".

Right now I am watching Red Cliff by John Woo. Woo is a legendary Hong Kong action director, and as far as the story goes, thing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon meets the Civil War. Historical epic about Chinese guys killing each other. Awesome!

[sinehawk]

looked up Coetzee and he sounds interesting, not to be a slouch but my pleasure reading is usually done in .pdf format. books too heavy! the last pleasure book i read was The Story of the Eye by George Battiles *sp, really odd book/author someone suggested to me. did see Book of Eli which was good and want to see True Grit though I heard it doesn't hold a candle to the original. Asian movies, Tao? I really can't think of any atm...my mom used to have Korean satellite and most of the stuff on there made my head melt without subtitles. in the same vein i like watching Bollywood flicks, mainly for the wackiness...and the foreign selection on Netflix is pretty cool. buddy got me into It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, though a few of the characters really piss me off. hoping the Arrested Development movie comes to fruition.

as for netflix, a little confused. signed up, but notice that the selection is somewhat limited. is this a studio thing where only some movies are available, or alternating selection? lots of the movies i want to watch, recent to classics are dvd only. or are they just adding to the line up and i'm early? am watching Weeds seasons, funny show actually, Kevin Nealon is a riot. may look into the dvd rentals in the future but waiting for stuff seems so old fashioned.

also checked out vudu on psn, pretty cool rental/purchase feature in the spirit of netflix but price wise/availability doesn't seem to beat the ps store or comcast's on demand rentals.

[Taowulf]

Netflix streaming has some good stuff, most of the Starz lineup is there as far as whatever movies they currently have as well as series like Spartacus : Blood and Sand and S: Gods of the Arena. Interesting series. Tons of sex, violence and old fashioned ass whuppin. As far as the rest goes, there are some good BBC and English series on there, I highly recommend MI:5. Cable and network shows, lots of foreign films, so on.

BTW, watch Red Cliff. Great war movie. So what if you have to read it.

[SeahawkSal]

Re-reading "Who Moved My Cheese". Although I read it years ago, its a classic and only takes an hour or so to knock out.

Highly Recommended.

I just started watching a documentary series on Netflix called The Civil War by Ken Burns. I watched his documentary on WW2 and it was amazing. Expecting no different here.

[NYSeahawker]

been sick for the last week, caught up on a bunch of movies...

The American.. George Clooney as a mysterious hitman hiding out in Italy...kinda been done before, but still pretty good

The Ghost Writer... Ewan McGregor/Pierce Brosnan... a small time writer is hired to "ghost-write" an autobiography of a recently retired Great Britain Prime Minister... and some hidden secrets come to the surface ... and are not to disturbed at all cost.

Zombieland ... the title speaks for itself

The Informant!... one of the most funniest movies I've seen in the last few years.... It's not an outwardly funny movie, but its really funny in a subtle and absurd fashion... It's a "true" story about a executive at a giant food additive company (brilliantly played by Matt Damon) who decides to become a secret informant to the FBI because of a price fixing scheme at his company...except that he's failed to tell his FBI pals some very important things that's relevant to the investigation...and he's got some other "issues" that could be a problem for him as well.

[SugaBearShake]

Ugh. been so bored I bought a Kindle. They're pretty sweet.

Read Dave Mustaine's autobiography - better written than I anticipated but didn't contain any info most people don't already know. Did you know that he still resents Metallica??

Working on Collapse: How Societies choose to Fail or Succeed. - Jared Diamond. Interesting read. pretty thick and like all "studies" they have to spend an exorbitant amount of time/pages explaining how they evaluated data and arguing how unbiased they are. gets annoying.

[Taowulf]

Let see, finished the series Legend of the Seeker and first two season of Son of Anarchy, just started season 7 of MI:5 aka Spooks to Deano, and finally saw Inception. I was VERY pleased. And maybe slightly erect, the movie was amazing with a solid sci-fi story and stellar performances all around.

Christopher Nolan is amazing. I love his movies. I will have his children.

[Godshawks]

Watched the Christmas Snow the other day and it was a good family type of movie ...

also I'm watching this too ..

[SeahawkSal]

I love westerns and just watched one of my all time favs again....The Searchers.

John Wayne is amazing in this movie, and the scenery is top-notch.

5 out of 5 stars. A classic!

[seahawkjohnny]

I have gotten into Brad Meltzers Decoded on The History Channel, they tackle some controversial topics.

http://www.bradmeltzer.com/decoded.aspx

[Zombie Hawk]

I'm watching the Walking Dead right now it's really good.

If anyone hasn't seen the HBO series Six Feet Under, do yourself a favor and watch the whole series. It's highly addictive and the best series I've ever seen.

[soulfishhawk]

Been listening to Stephen King's IT on Audiobook, good stuff.

[SugaBearShake]

I'm watching the Walking Dead right now it's really good.

If anyone hasn't seen the HBO series Six Feet Under, do yourself a favor and watch the whole series. It's highly addictive and the best series I've ever seen.

Saw SFU - Addicted to Walking Dead. Carl's turning out to be quite the little monster. :)

[SeahawkSal]

Carl = Dexter JR

He really is an annoying little shit. You would think his parents would be watching him better during a zombie apocalypse.

[PhotoHawk]

Right now watching Sesame Street (more specifically ELMO!). I just learned that ants never sleep! The number of the day is 20 <ah ah ah> (my best Count Von Count laugh)

[420hawk]

I agree with Sal about Deadwood, greatest serries ever! to bad David Milch got sent to jail for shrooms, they had to cancel it a season or two to early.

right now, basicly anything by HBO is legit, Boardwalk Empire, Luck, Eastbound and Down, Game of Thrones....

Comedy Central has a funny Cartoon called Archer I like and "The Increasingly Poor Desisions of Todd Margarett" on IFC a funny as well.

[SeahawkSal]

Al Swearengen is the greatest character in the history of TV.



Sucks the series got cut short with so much more of the story to tell. Was hoping to see a movie, but with each passing year it looks like that wont happen.

[420hawk]

swearengen is awesome (n farnham always made me laugh as well) the end of the serries always left me hangin, it def needed at least one more year to wrap up the different subplots.

[SeahawkSal]

I recently found a show out of Canada on Netflix, and its friggan HILLARIOUS!

Go do a search for Trailer Park Boys. There are like 4-5 seasons worth of episodes. Every time I watch one, I find myself cracking up outloud...especially anytime I see the character "Bubbles"!

Check it out and let me know what you think. Never heard of it before finding it on instant-Netflix.