The Sword and Laser discussion

After losing my internet for a period of time, I guess it sort of freshened my perspective of things. It hit me just how negative and just what a bunch of haters the majority of the web tends to be.

So, I am asking, what this past month or two, have you watched or read or whatever that completely made you happy? What hit all your fanboy/fangirl buttons all in a row?

What did you love or looking forward to and don't care who knows it?

I finally got around to watching Captian America: Winter Soldier and I loved it!

I also watched The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2 over the weekend and was pretty impressed with both of them. Although, I don't really get the Redemption subtitle of the first film --- I'm not sure who/what was being redeemed.

What am I looking forward to? September 16 Meshell Ndegeocello at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. She is one of my favorite musicians and this will be the 3rd time I've seen her perform. Her latest cd, "Comet, Come to Me" is very good.

awesome! I have only seen The Raid 2 for some reason, brutal but great flick. I so wish there was a good jazz club close to me

I'm loving the new Outlander series, really looking forward to watching it every Saturday.

I recently watches both Austenland (movie) and Lost in Austen (miniseries) ~ they both are about a girl who geeks out on Jane Austen and falls in love with a Darcy type guy - very fluffy silly and fun.

io9 had two articles, one for cats and one for dogs in WW1 - very adorable and touching pics of soldiers and their animal companions that made me smile.

I started a re read (re listen?) of Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters - I love this book, makes me smile and laugh out loud.

see? this is wonderful, now I want to reach in the internet and slap a bunch of haters. My ex will turn her phone off when Outlander is on (or maybe she does cuz Im calling)

Old school? Some comics. Simonson Thor (Surtur Saga,) Jim Starlin in both Dreadstar and the original run of Warlock. The Doctor Strange graphic novel Shambala.

These days, Doctor Who. I don't even timeshift watching it. When the show starts, we're there.

you know what I don't like? the fact that I love the show Hell on Wheels and Dr Who is the SAME DAMN time, and I love the new Dr, love love love

I watched Snowpiercer the other day and it was really good in a weird Terry Gilliam sort of way.
I also been having lots of fun with board games the last couple of months. Smash Up, Ticket to Ride, Lords of Waterdeep, and Tsuro to name a few. I credit and recommend Wil Wheaton's Tabletop web series for that.

I'm really digging the Lightbringer books from Brent Weeks: The Black Prism, The Blinding Knife, and now The Broken Eye.

I finally started watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which given my usual pace means I started a few weeks ago and I'm a grand total of 5 episodes into season one.

And I'm actually right now at the start of a Harry Potter read, it's just a joy to read those books all over again, pick apart all the tiny threads Rowling weaves into it from the outset.

I recently purchased the DVDs for the new 2012 Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons for cheap at a local grocery store. After hearing so many good reviews I finally get to see what this new series is all about. I'm happy to say that it does not disappoint, despite the animation being 3D. When I'm texting my best friends about the play by play of the first episode, that's a REALLY good sign that it's good! I was completely blown away and watched the rest of the five disks I had in record time. Bonus points that the voice actor for Raphael in the old 1986 cartoon is playing in this series (who is consequentially my favorite character) and that the series shows remarkable respect for the history of TMNT and I've gone from overly impressed to blown away! I'm still on a high. I love TMNT so much! <3

I've had some nice, deep conversations here on the internet.

Media-wise, I can't say anything has caught my eye, and I don't give a damn about TV.

I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series with some friends in NABCC. It's only been two days but it's already been such a joy. Being back in that world is so comforting and having awesome people to gush over it with makes it even better.

I introduced my boyfriend to Chuck. He likes it and I've been enjoying the re-watch.

On my own, I just wrapped up a replay of Mass Effect 2 and 3 which was awesome but also left me sad because Shepard's story is over.

Started re-watching The O.C. on my own as well. I openly love the series (except season 3) and it's been a lot of fun so far.

I have never read Harry Potter, I feel bad bout that, kinda

Kdawg91 wrote: "I have never read Harry Potter, I feel bad bout that, kinda"

No need to feel bad. Read what you want. There are too many books out there to waste your time on things you aren't interested in.

Kdawg91 wrote: "After losing my internet for a period of time, I guess it sort of freshened my perspective of things. It hit me just how negative and just what a bunch of haters the majority of the web tends to be..."

I was able to read a lot on my recent business trip and that made me very happy. Particularly A Midsummer Night's Steampunk

my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Doctor who!!!! It's the only television show we watch but for that one hour of the week my whole family is glued to the set, totally absorbed (also the only time we eat dinner in front of the television)

I've been rewatching Firefly - (mainly because its on TV during that dead time before bed when its not worth starting something new) and that show is about as perfect as it can get.

Pat wrote: "I've been rewatching Firefly - (mainly because its on TV during that dead time before bed when its not worth starting something new) and that show is about as perfect as it can get."

Is this a time-traveling message? Or is Firefly on the air somehwere?

I've been catching up on back episodes of "The Daily Show."

I've been trying to catch up on Sons Of Anarchy for the new season starting in a few weeks. I've also been watching The 100 and I'm pretty impressed by it for a older teen scifi show.

Eric wrote: "Is this a time-traveling message? Or is Firefly on the air somehwere? "

Its on one of the UK cable channels

Pat wrote: "I've been rewatching Firefly - (mainly because its on TV during that dead time before bed when its not worth starting something new) and that show is about as perfect as it can get."

For my money, "Objects in Space" is probably the single greatest episode of TV I've watched.

Dharmakirti wrote: "
For my money, "Objects in Space" is probably the single greatest episode of TV I've watched. "

I would agree with that if Out Of Gas didn't just come out that little bit stronger for me. Such an excellent episode, the more so because the big bad in the episode is a mechanical problem, and how many times do you see that? But ALL of Firefly is so perfect that picking a favourite is like choosing between segments of a chocolate bar. All so good! Every time I re-watch the show, I am astonished to find that it is even more amazing than I remembered it being.

Hitting the same nostalgia train, I recently re-watched Wonderfalls, which at the time when I saw it was filling the great Buffy void in my life when that show ended. I remember liking Wonderfalls at the time, but re-watching it reminded me how much potential it had, and I was sad it hadn't got more seasons. And it got plus marks for having Jewel State in it. Did anyone else love that show?

I was reminded of Wonderfalls when I realised that Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy was played by the guy who formerly played the main character in Wonderfalls' brother. And I just loved Guardians of the Galaxy. I left the cinema with a huge smile on my face.

On an entirely different note, I was reading a book called Kitchen by Yoshimoto Banana for uni, and the main tale was a little on the dull side, one of those stories that is perfectly nice, but didn't grab me, and then at the end of the book was this short story with a similar theme to the main text, which was about dealing with loss, but this one was told in an utterly beautiful way that really took my breath away, and it was such a surprise because I hadn't even known I would find it there, and there was just a touch of magic in it that enchanted me, and so I whole-heartedly recommend it to everyone. It moved me.

Is that enough gushing for this thread? ;p

Ive read a bunch of good books, the best of which was Blood Song

@Ruth: I LOVED Wonderfalls! I actually started to watch it when it came on DVD after watching Lee Pace in The Fall. I was so impressed with his performance that I started looking for more stuff he was in. I adored all of the characters in Wonderfalls so much and I was so sad that its life was cut so short. You're right! It had SO much potential. The characters were likable, the story was unique and I enjoyed it so much even though I knew it was all going to end. That show should have gone on longer. So freakin' good <3

I just started watching The Intruders on BBC America. I've read the book, so I know where it is going, but it looks to be a fun ride nonetheless.

I also just read World of Trouble and it was WONDERFUL. (Although sad. But good sad.)

Gush all you want Ruth, the whole purpose of this thread is pure happiness.

What has made me happy lately was the new Sandman Slim novel, and a friend and I started a musical radio station type experiment on twitter, so go follow us, you twitter types! @radiofreemizzip

I took my wife out for dinner and a movie on our 5th anniversary, and we ended up seeing Guardians Of The Galaxy. Wasn't expecting too much from it, as I used to read the comic (the old school one) and dropped it because it wasn't that good, but the movie had us laughing our asses off!

Keidy wrote: "@Ruth: I LOVED Wonderfalls! I actually started to watch it when it came on DVD after watching Lee Pace in The Fall. I was so impressed with his performance that I started looking for more stuff he ..."

The Fall is such a great movie and was the film that made me start paying attention to Lee Pace.

Dharmakirti wrote: "The Fall is such a great movie and was the film that made me start paying attention to Lee Pace."

Me too! From there his film and TV performances were all extraordinary. It still baffles me how versatile he can be. From his stellar performance in The Fall to his goofy and sweet character in Pushing Daisies to his regal character in The Hobbit to his villainous character in Guardians of the Galaxy and finally to his serious, egotistical and ambitious character in Halt and Catch Fire... Okay, I'll say it. Lee Pace makes me happy. ^_^

Ruth wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "
For my money, "Objects in Space" is probably the single greatest episode of TV I've watched. "

I would agree with that if Out Of Gas didn't just come out that little bit stron..."
Out of Gass would be a close second for me. It's the combination of existential themes and Richard Brooks' performance as Jubal Early ("Am I a lion? ...I don't think of myself as a lion. You might as well though, I have a mighty roar.") and Joss' direction that put Objects in the number 1 spot, for me. It also features one of the best commentary tracks I've ever heard.

Edit: after some thought (and a glance at my movie rack), I think Roger Ebert's commentary on Dark City might be my favorite commentary. If you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend it.

I'm just about to start Cibola Burn and I love, love, LOVE the Expanse books!

And on September 18th I get to go see The Rose Ensemble's free season-opening concert.

This thread sucks!

I love how much this thread sucks?

(It doesn't.)

this thread does not suck, it reeks of the awesome. I spread happiness so there :P

Check out the Comics Squee podcast for more enthusiasm. Or old episodes of Sfsqueecast podcast, before they changed their format.

Speaking of the Squeecast (which is awesome), that's also what turned me on to Night Vale (which is awesome, and I even saw their live show earlier this summer).

I spent ten days in London and Dublin at WorldCon and EuroCon in august, was nervous about traveling alone at first but ended up having a total blast. I want to go to ALL THE CONS now. Yes I do.
Now I'm looking forward to the Welcome to Night Vale live show in Stockholm in october. :)

It's very nice to not have the feeling that everything awesome happens someplace else (mostly in the US) for once. ;)

In books, my Pratchett re-read reached Feet of Clay, which isn't perfect but is delightful, and Hobb's Fool's Assassin came out, which has some problems but may, once i've re-read it, be fast on the track to be both my favourite book and the best mainstream epic fantasy since Tolkien.
In non-genre news, I finally got around to reading The Rider, which is also spectacularly good (and, unlike Fool's Assassin, very short). My brief GR review of that is over here, and links to a much longer review on my blog if you're interested.

On TV, I finally got around to watching S3-4+miniseries of Farscape. It all has the wobbly elements now and then that you'd associate with network SF shows from 15 years ago (low budget, melodramatic acting by the extras, occasional terrible episodes, etc), but I think the third season is genuinely one of the best seasons of anything that I've seen on TV, delivering both character development and big explody plot goodness.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was... not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Continues to show the death-spiral of mass-market cinema (in that every respect other than budget (acting, plotting, dialogue, character, etc), a modern cable TV version of the same story would have been far better), but after a ropey and cliché beginning it became generally quite entertaining.

And I'm starting to watch Deep Space 9. Promising early on, but have rapidly become bogged down in nothing-wrong-with-them-but-nothing-right formulaic episodes. Will keep on, though, since there's enough there to suggest I may like it (and people generally say it gets better).

[Honestly, I like the idea of the episodic network TV season - in theory. But I do wish people would put out rescensions of them that cut out the episodes that are neither plot-relevant nor worth watching in their own right, because almost inevitably in a 22-episode year there's going to be a whole lot of filler somewhere]

one of my favorite guitar players has a record label, they are now following my twitter station/experiment. that is my awesome for the day

Kdawg91 wrote: "one of my favorite guitar players has a record label, they are now following my twitter station/experiment. that is my awesome for the day"

Who's that?

Warren Haynes from Govt Mule and The Allman Brothers, his label is evil teen records, founded it with his wife.

I'm sure they followed cuz we played his stuff, but made my day anyway

I don't listen to much pop music but I recently discovered Sam Smith and I think he's one of the best pop male vocalists I've heard in awhile. His solo album has its flaws but wow, his voice....

Guardians of the Galaxy made me happy in a way I haven't been since I was a teen and watched the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I've seen it 3 times already and plan on more.

Last weekend, I introduced my boyfriend to Firefly. We've watched 5 episodes together so far, and I am LOVING it. It's been amazing to be able to share a thing I love so much with the person I love most. And he's getting a big kick out of watching my unabashed fan-girling, haha.

And to echo Michele, I am also very much enjoying the Outlander series. I lemmed the book about halfway through (it's HUGE), but I'm loving the show.

Molly wrote: "Last weekend, I introduced my boyfriend to Firefly. We've watched 5 episodes together so far, and I am LOVING it. It's been amazing to be able to share a thing I love so much with the person I lo..."

Great story! Now I may have to dig out the DVD....

Burning through season 2 of Orphan Black. It's...incredible, some of the best TV I've seen in years.

does anybody besides me think the new Thor might be Carol Danvers? just how many people even in comics are just walking around on the moon?

(yes that was off topic)

Love all the Firefly love on this thread.

Michal wrote: "Burning through season 2 of Orphan Black. It's...incredible, some of the best TV I've seen in years."

Yes, I'm really enjoying this too - a third through season 2 currently. Not that I've seen all the other new shows that are out as competition, but I join the InterWebs in general incredulity that Tatiana Maslany hasn't at least received a Emmy *nomination* for her work in that.

Snowpiercer seemed a little too ragtag-rebels-vs-gritty-dystopia-future familiar at first, but with its turns (I recommend avoiding any reviews of it if you haven't seen it, many hold majors spoilers) it did some amazing things and I ended up loving it.

Terry Gilliam's Zero Theorem was incredible too, in a completely different dystopian way - kind of a cocktail remix of the wacked-out dark future and themes of his Brazil, but with a heavy existential bent instead of Brazil's dreaming-everyman-vs-bureaucracy. Very bizarre, but if you're going to drink an esoteric existential cocktail, why not one flavored with Gilliam brilliance?

And Randall Munroe's What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions has been making me very happy.