2019 50/50 Challenge - 50 Books and/or 50 Movies in One Year

[epilogue]

1/50 Movies:
1. The Avengers: Infinity War

2/50 Books:
1. The End of the End of the World - Jonathan Franzen
2. Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi

4/50 Albums:
1. Around the Sun - R.E.M.
2. Accelerate - R.E.M.
3. Here We Rest - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
4. Lifers - Cody Jinks

[wease]

11/50 Books

The Green Eagle Score- Richard Stark
The Sour Lemon Score- Richard Stark
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 1
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 2
Essential Captain Marvel Vol 2
Steely Dan: The Complete Guide to Their Music
Deadly Edge - Richard Stark
Slayground - Richard Stark
Plunder Squad - Richard Stark
The Damsel - Richard Stark
The Blackbird - Richard Stark

1/50 Movies

Raiders of the Lost Ark

[Simple Torture]

did the sixth sense hold up for you?

It was a weird experience. I haven't seen it in 15+ years, and back then I probably only saw it like 2-3 times. But, still, I remembered nearly every beat of the story, every scare, most of the important dialogue. I think that speaks to how impactful it was the first time I saw it; at the same time, though, it wasn't a thrilling experience by any means this time. HJO is great, for sure, and there are lots of moments that are beautifully shot or gripping emotionally, but it does lose a lot of its revelatory power when you know what's coming.

And even back in 1999, the first time I saw it, I wasn't all that surprised: a friend of mine ruined it for me by talking about the ending. He later introduced me to my wife, though, so he's 1 for 2.

[bune]

It's probably the first time my wife has been excited to show me a movie. We'd only been married about a year or so when it came out on video and she had seen it while visiting her mom. She came back and said you have to see this! He gets shot and I ask her, "So he's a ghost now, yeah?" and she didn't talk to me for the rest of the movie. Every time there was a scene where it was obvious he was a ghost - like at the dinner with his wife or talking to the mom - I'd ask "is this where he finds out he's a ghost?"

Some of it just doesn't play at all with that knowledge. I get that she'd ignore him for showing up late for dinner but ostensibly he was in the room with HJO's mom and what, he didn't notice that he wasn't invited in? That she didn't talk to him at all? How was that scene framing OK for the twist that was coming up?

Signs is still his best movie. I still get legit creeped out every time the alien walks from behind the bush or stands up on the barn roof.

[LoathedVermin72]

Spoiler: show

After Earth is his best movie

[lennytheweedwhacker]

did the sixth sense hold up for you?

It was a weird experience. I haven't seen it in 15+ years, and back then I probably only saw it like 2-3 times. But, still, I remembered nearly every beat of the story, every scare, most of the important dialogue. I think that speaks to how impactful it was the first time I saw it; at the same time, though, it wasn't a thrilling experience by any means this time. HJO is great, for sure, and there are lots of moments that are beautifully shot or gripping emotionally, but it does lose a lot of its revelatory power when you know what's coming.

And even back in 1999, the first time I saw it, I wasn't all that surprised: a friend of mine ruined it for me by talking about the ending. He later introduced me to my wife, though, so he's 1 for 2.

i kinda feel like this would be my experience too were i to watch it again...it wasn't ruined for me at least when it first came out

[lennytheweedwhacker]

i agree with bune on signs

[Simple Torture]

8/50 Movies:
1. Blue Velvet (1986) [re-watch]
2. Trolls (2016) [re-watch]
3. Sing (2016) [re-watch]
4. Frozen (2013) [re-watch]
5. Lady and the Tramp (1955) [re-watch]
6. Get Out (2017)
7. Cinderella (1950) [re-watch]
8. The Sixth Sense (1999) [re-watch]

4/50 Books:
1. The Musical Brain - Cesar Aira
2. Hannah Versus the Tree - Leland de la Durantaye
3. An Episode In The Life Of A Landscape Painter - Cesar Aira [re-read, last read 2009]
4. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

12/75 Albums:
1. Laura Gibson - Goners (2018)
2. The 1975 - The 1975 (2013)
3. The Decemberists - Traveling On (2018) & Courtney Barnett - How To Carve A Carrot Into A Rose (2013) (2 EPs, so counting them as just one album)
4. Beck - Colors (2017)
5. Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle (2013)
6. Feist - The Reminder (2007)
7. Haley Bonar - The Size of Planets (2003)
8. Cat Power - Wanderer (2018)
9. Two EPs: Stella Donnelly - Thrush Metal EP (2017) and The Casket Girls - The Casket Girls EP (2013)
10. Cherry Glazerr - Stuffed & Ready (2019)
11. William Tyler - Goes West (2019)
12. Sarah Jaffe - Bad Baby (2017)

3/30 Etc.
1. Game of Thrones Season 1 [re-watch]
2. Making a Murderer Season 2
3. No One Loves You - Roy Wood Jr.

[Stardog Champion]

8/50 Movies

Fruitvale Station
Beautiful Boy
Mission Impossible Fallout
Venom
Ant-man and the Wasp
Sorry To Bother You
Incredibles 2
The Dark Tower

Jesus, did they fuck up The Dark Tower. Terrible movie. I went in with low expectations, and it didn't even meet those. Idris Elba did a great job with Roland though.

5/50 Books

The Gunslinger (Dark Tower 1) - Stephen King
The Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower 2) - Stephen King
New Orleans Stories - edited by John Miller
Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth
The Waste Lands (Dark Tower 3) - Stephen King

[bune]

You are not wrong, good sir. There is apparently a different cut out there because they realized that they were losing the thread so just made it a standalone flick instead of their grand "movie / tv / movie" thing.

[LoathedVermin72]

Looks amazing in 4K HDR though

[wease]

13/50 Books

The Green Eagle Score- Richard Stark
The Sour Lemon Score- Richard Stark
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 1
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 2
Essential Captain Marvel Vol 2
Steely Dan: The Complete Guide to Their Music
Deadly Edge - Richard Stark
Slayground - Richard Stark
Plunder Squad - Richard Stark
The Damsel - Richard Stark
The Blackbird - Richard Stark
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 3 (over 500 pages)

1/50 Movies

Raiders of the Lost Ark

[wease]

14/50 Books

The Green Eagle Score- Richard Stark
The Sour Lemon Score- Richard Stark
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 1
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 2
Essential Captain Marvel Vol 2
Steely Dan: The Complete Guide to Their Music
Deadly Edge - Richard Stark
Slayground - Richard Stark
Plunder Squad - Richard Stark
The Damsel - Richard Stark
The Blackbird - Richard Stark
Hellboy: Omnibus Vol 3 (over 500 pages)
Butcher’s Moon - Richard Stark


1/50 Movies

Raiders of the Lost Ark

[Simple Torture]

So, one month in, how ya doing with your goals? Me:

Movies: 8/50, on pace for 72

Books: 4/50, on pace for 48

Albums: 12/75, on pace for 144

Etc.: 3/30, on pace for 36

[wease]

I’m on pace for 168 books. After I get thru my Christmas and birthday hauls, that’ll slow down.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

I’m on pace for 168 books. After I get thru my Christmas and birthday hauls, that’ll slow down.

were any of these over 20 pages?

[wease]

I’m on pace for 168 books. After I get thru my Christmas and birthday hauls, that’ll slow down.

were any of these over 20 pages?

They all were. There’s a LOT of down time at work and we work 12 hour shifts. Until this last one, the average length of this Stark books is 180-200 pages. It’s nothing to knock one of those out on a slow day.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

I’m on pace for 168 books. After I get thru my Christmas and birthday hauls, that’ll slow down.

were any of these over 20 pages?

They all were. There’s a LOT of down time at work and we work 12 hour shifts. Until this last one, the average length of this Stark books is 180-200 pages. It’s nothing to knock one of those out on a slow day.

i wish i could read at work...i'd probably just post instead, actually

[wease]

I’m on pace for 168 books. After I get thru my Christmas and birthday hauls, that’ll slow down.

were any of these over 20 pages?

They all were. There’s a LOT of down time at work and we work 12 hour shifts. Until this last one, the average length of this Stark books is 180-200 pages. It’s nothing to knock one of those out on a slow day.

i wish i could read at work...i'd probably just post instead, actually

I do that too.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

I’m on pace for 168 books. After I get thru my Christmas and birthday hauls, that’ll slow down.

were any of these over 20 pages?

They all were. There’s a LOT of down time at work and we work 12 hour shifts. Until this last one, the average length of this Stark books is 180-200 pages. It’s nothing to knock one of those out on a slow day.

i wish i could read at work...i'd probably just post instead, actually

I do that too.

how much do you make?