These are a few of our fav-o-rite things

edited July 2009 in General
Hey guys, I like new things; and I've recently realized that in my life I've run out of new things. So I made this thread for everyone to suggest their favorite things for me to try. So tell me your favorite things and tell me why you like them, books, bands, movies, TV, poets, booze, comics, foods, physical activities, anything. I'm open to trying most things and I'll let ya know how it goes when I get around to them.

Comments

  • edited June 2009
    Let's see, a few suggestions I can pull off the top of my head:

    Books:
    -1984 by George Orwell, Excellent, especially If you (like I) enjoyed V for Vendetta
    -Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott, I haven't gotten the chance to read it yet, But I've heard several people say it's well written. Apparently It's about what the world may be like if I was 2 Dimensional (?)

    Movies:
    -Pulp Fiction If you haven't seen it yet, that is. Great movie, great direction, and one of my favorite Samuel Jackson films.
    -The Green Mile, (Also the book it was based on) Amazing film based of of Stephen King's novel about inmates on death row. Long movie but worth the watch, although it's a bit of a tear jerker. Oh and it has Tom Hanks....may be a pro or a con.

    Booze:
    -Southern Comfort Just great, smooth, spice liquer.
    -Jägermeister One of those "you best have your friends around" kinda alcohol, just don't over do it. No really, don't.

    As far as music goes, try something you haven't heard before. read up on what the best artists of that genre are, and see if you enjoy it.

    Hope I helped ;)
  • edited June 2009
    I dunno if they have it in America, but Pimm's. It's a brandy with spices in it. A proper pimm's is served with ice, lemon, lime, orange and mint leaf and lemonade. If you can get it, buy it.
  • edited June 2009
    Haven't heard of it but it sounds awesome. Probably have to import it and I don't know what customs does about alcohol
  • edited June 2009
    Not much, but American customs have been known to confiscate and not give back things on suspicion. So there's a low chance that they'll take it because they think the spices in it are drugs and that you'll SOMEHOW extract, dry, and then sell.
  • edited June 2009
    I like to put myself in other people's shoes and try to understand their point of view when they argue something instead of bull-headedly running into a conversation, sword drawn, convinced that my one, mostly uninformed point of view is best.
  • edited June 2009
    Panda wrote: »
    Let's see, a few suggestions I can pull off the top of my head:

    Books:
    -1985

    Huh, they got the sequel out already? Cool.
  • edited June 2009
    Basically, you take 1980 then add the result of 2 + 2. The answer you get depends on how much you love Big Brother.
  • edited June 2009
    kukopanki wrote: »
    Huh, they got the sequel out already? Cool.

    hahaah my bad, i typed it up then decided...ehh they need links and did it over really fast. Thanks for catching it :]
  • edited June 2009
    There is a book called 1985, I believe, an unofficial sequel.
  • edited June 2009
    I like money. It's fun to have.
  • edited June 2009
    Try Australia. It's new and exciting.

    Also: Marsupials.
  • edited June 2009
    Thanks for the suggestions so far, looks like I have a lot of drinking ahead of me.

    I've already read 1984 and seen both those movies, but I enjoyed them all immensely. I thought Pulp Fiction was really imaginative, unpredictable, and well done. And I was completely blown away by The Green Mile, one of the best movies I've ever seen. Flatland sounds interesting, and I'll give V for Vendetta a try, I saw the movie but have never read the comic.

    I'll come to Australia when you get rid of at least 6 of your most poisonous animals.
  • edited June 2009
    Flatland is three things:

    1. Satirical. As a book written in 1880 by an English pastor and mathematician, it serves as a scathing social satire. Abbott points out many injustices rampant throughout his merry own England through the use of two dimensional characters.

    2. Pre-Einstein Einstein thought experiment. Abbott paints a world that exists in only two dimensions, totally void of up or down. The protagonist, a square, has a difficult time explaining his two dimensions to the inhabitants of 1-dimensional Lineland, and in turn has difficulty understanding the possible physics of Spaceland which exists in three dimensions. From this you can understand just how difficult it would be for us to imagine a fourth, fifth, sixth, etc. spacial dimension.

    3. Religious Allegory. When the Square is first visited by the Sphere from Spaceland, he can only interpret him as a perfect circle - since that is the two dimensional intersection of a sphere. Get it? He has neither the eyes to see nor the ears to hear what this being can look like in three dimensions. So too is Jesus the three-dimensional intersection of the multi-dimensional God. As mere 3D mortals are unable to understand God, we can only see his perfect intersection - Jesus.

    It's a good book.
  • edited June 2009
    I may have to read this book. It sounds mathtastic!
  • edited June 2009
    Ditto'd. In fact, let's turn this into a book club!
  • edited June 2009
    That book sounds awesome.

    Speaking of books, I just finished rereading Freakonomics. I highly recommend this book, even if you aren't an economics buff. It asks very odd, yet sometimes relevant questions and answers them using statistical data. Questions include:

    -Why do most drug dealers live with their parents?
    -What do sumo wrestlers and school teachers have in common?
    -What do the Ku Klux Klan and Real Estate Agents have in common?

    It also proposes an extremely controversial, yet very well founded, suggestion as to why crime rates suddenly dropped in the 90s. Politicians and religious leaders exploded in anger when this idea was proposed, but the authors' evidence is very solid.

    Definitely worth a read.
  • edited June 2009
    I'll go ahead and say read Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), and are you a John Steinbeck fan? I know a lot of people who think he's too wordy and his books are torturous to read, but I really really enjoyed East of Eden. Good story, nice and depressing.

    One of my favorite movies: Pans Labyrinth. From the director of Hellboy, and it's in Spanish. Cool little adult fairy tale, filled with violence and all.

    Things I often like to do in my spare time: talk to my boyfriend. If you do not have a potential life partner, they're pretty nice. I just spent the weekend with mine, and now I feel great, ready to start off the next week of not-so-fun time. I'd look into finding one if I were you!

    Also: kittens. Are adorable.
  • edited June 2009
    As far as books go I tend to jump from one thing to another relatively quickly and never finish anything. Lately I've had my nose buried in this one. Was never a big fan of nonfiction literature but it's INCREDIBLY entertaining, although dry on occasion.

    This kinda turned into a book discussion thread, which we dont yet have? Or I just never saw it
  • edited June 2009
    I think we may have a long time ago, but I don't know where it is, and I'm too lazy to look.
  • edited June 2009
    I have too many favorite books, but right now I'm in sci-fi mode so I'm reading the Ender series (Orson Scott Card) and some of Frank Herbert's non-Dune stuff.

    Also, milk chocolate. No cherries. No marshmallow, unless it's s'mores.

    Tool, except for the part where it takes em five years to put out an album. Sigh.

    Cuddles from my sleepy girls. I still don't like other people's kids, though.

    Edit: SEX. Thank you for the reminder, Mish. Um, dry spells suck.
  • edited June 2009
    Sex is pretty fun, if you have the option.
  • edited July 2009
    Mish42 wrote: »
    Sex is pretty fun, if you have the option.

    SIG'D
  • edited July 2009
    I've heard of Freakonomics before, I'm a fan of random statistics but it always sounded just like a bunch of examples of false causality. If you say it's more than that I'll take a look. Every time I hear about Atlas Shrugged, I hear a different opinion on it. Sounds like a polarizing book, I look forward to making my own judgment.

    I really enjoyed Pan's Labrynth, there was great design in every set, creature, and scene, and I thought the comparison of fairy tale monsters to human monsters was very clever.

    I've never looked too much into Tool beyond their singles, but my brother likes them too. And don't worry, I enjoy both sex and the company of my girlfriend on a regular basis, there's no need to convince me of either of their merits.
  • edited July 2009
    Freakonomics is so much more than a bunch of random statistics hinting at causality. Their theses are very well written and leave very little room for error. They don't pick two random statistics and compare them, rather they pull mountains of data from every possible angle to make their arguments as close to airtight as possible. I highly recommend the book, it really is a great read.