Things you like that no-one ever heard of

[heffroncm]

Thing I like that noone I know has heard of...

The author Robert A. Heinlein.  His works are entertaining on the surface, and you can dig about as deep as you like, from social, political, and economic commentary all the way down to an effective philosophy for living life in any time, anywhere.

[Kai]

Thing I like that noone I know has heard of...

The author Robert A. Heinlein.  <snip>

Really?  :confused That sort of boggles my mind. I haven't read a ton of his stuff, but A Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers are far from unknown titles...weird. Good pick though. 

[heffroncm]

It helps that I'm 26 and most of my friends are my age or younger.  Heinlein was before their time, and the aborted awfulness of the film versions of Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers were enough that noone really looked at the author credits.

Thing I like that noone I know has heard of...

The author Robert A. Heinlein.  <snip>

Really?  :confused That sort of boggles my mind. I haven't read a ton of his stuff, but A Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers are far from unknown titles...weird. Good pick though. 

[dman11235]

He wrote Starship Troopers?  Did not know that.  Only book of his I've read was Have Spacesuit-Will Travel.  I liked it.

I guess I should gauge reaction of Isaac Asimov.  How many people here know that name?  He's a fantastic writer, one of the best ever.  And the robot series is phenomenal.  At least, not many people I know have heard of him until I come along.  At least "his" movie was actually good (I, Robot).  Though I liked Starship Troopers.  It was funny, not the best movie ever, but not terrible.

On the topic of authors, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a really good book.

On the same note of things that no one I know has heard of until I got them into it, Firefly (though I'm sure many people here have seen it), and the movies Saved and Lord of War.

[heffroncm]

Except "I, Robot" had almost NOTHING to do with the setting or any of the issues he explored!! 
I was foaming at the mouth after that movie...

I do enjoy much of Aasimov's work, especially the foundation trilquintology.

Starship Troopers, the movie, bears only a passing resemblance to the book.  Please, read the book.  The world will be a brighter place therefor.

[dman11235]

The movie had absolutely nothing from the book besides the names of a few characters.  Doesn't make it a bad movie.  Makes it a different movie.

[heffroncm]

The movie had absolutely nothing from the book besides the names of a few characters.  Doesn't make it a bad movie.  Makes it a different movie.

Yes, that's true.  It's just not what was advertised.  Adaptation Decay is all well and good, I can reduce my expectations to match, just don't try to pass it off as a true to form.

[StruckingFuggle]

Ooh!  I remembered a TV show that no one's heard of!  Paranoia Agent.  It's really weird.  And good.  You should all watch it.

You know, they showed it on Adult Swim.

Which is where I was first and second exposed. And now I own the DVDs. This series is made of win and mindscrew. I cannot second this recommendation enough.

I guess I should gauge reaction of Isaac Asimov.  How many people here know that name?  He's a fantastic writer, one of the best ever.

The Final Question is a damn fine short story.

It's also posted on the internet, fairly freely. I'm not going to do your work for you, but I am going to say everyone who doesn't know it should do their work and go give it a read. It's amazing and too relatively unknown.    

Except "I, Robot" had almost NOTHING to do with the setting or any of the issues he explored!! 

Worse than that, it actually is a complete reversal of what his works STOOD for, what the HELL. Robots, in Asimov's book, are something POSITIVE, that change things for the better, not something to be FEARED...

[dman11235]

The one thing I don't get about Paranoia Agent is the last two episodes when it goes all weird.  And yes, [AS] was the first place I saw it.

[Dragon Snack]

I got a new one: Mutant League Football for the Genesis.  Anyone ever play that?

That and Mutant League Hockey.  Far too much...

[StruckingFuggle]

The one thing I don't get about Paranoia Agent is the last two episodes when it goes all weird.  And yes, [AS] was the first place I saw it.

Really? That's, if I remember correctly, some of my favorite stuff in it... once you stop taking it literally and view the whole thing as a metaphor for growing up and dealing with the world instead of escaping into fantasy.

When he sees the crowd for the wooden cutouts they are and picks up the rock? And then throws it? And the Chief is back? That's probably my favorite moment in the whole show.

[altpersona]

how bout twains short stories, letters to the earth, or some such..

[dman11235]

I meant the giant goop thing in reality afterwards.  I get that the metaphor there is growing up and seeing reality.  Though maybe I need to see it again.  I can't remember if the goop was before or after the fantasy realm.

[StruckingFuggle]

Same here, I could be wrong. I'll have to meld with my dvds when I have them back, next week.

... I wonder what watching the whole of it in a three-day marathon will do to my brain. o.O... anyway!

... Yeah, the giant poop thing was kinda weird (assuming we're talking about the same thing and I'm not just forgetting something), but I think it goes "giant poop that's a metaphor for the world, which is in some way also metaphoric, being consumed by Maromi and Little Slugger, not by the actual ideas but by the 'escape' they represent", then into the fantasy world of a comfortable life, then into the chief 'growing up', and then into Tsukiko ... I think I'll stop here because it's starting to feel like it should be in spoiler tags. [spoiler]Wait, we have spoiler tags! ... so into Tsukiko doing the same; though I seem to remember her being a bit questionable. [/spoiler]

[Fox Lee]

Anyone besides me a fan of the Suikoden series?

Of course! Years ago, I almost bought a copy of Suikden II in my local game store for like $30, and I have regretted not doing so ever since. That game is awesome. I fell in love with it at about the point I realised Tuta was a boy XD I couldn't not love a game that give me Tuta and Hannah in quick succession.

Also, Oulan is one of the sexiest RPG characters ever. There's nothing like watching a woman beat the crap out of dragons with her bare hands <3

Haven't played any of the others yet, but I know I love Chris too.

[Skeeve]

I used to be a really big fan of Magi-Nation Duel,but I haven't gotten a chance to play it with anyone in more than a few years.

[altpersona]

Anyone ever play Seiken Densetsu 3?

im abit slow on the follow up , but

http://xkcd.com/50/

[Shigunaru]

Paranoia Agent Rocks. That's all.

[Irthos Levethix]

Gemfire -  An old SNES fantasy/strategy game.  Played it, sold it, never seen it again and I miss it....

"The Misenchanted Sword", and "The Cyborg and the Sorcerers" by Lawrence Watt-Evans.
Both books are awesome, anyone else read them?

Personally, I loved both versions of Starship Troopers for totally different reasons.  The movie just really reminds me of Starcraft, and I love the Terrans.   

[Callix]

I guess I should gauge reaction of Isaac Asimov.  How many people here know that name?  He's a fantastic writer, one of the best ever.  And the robot series is phenomenal.  At least, not many people I know have heard of him until I come along.  At least "his" movie was actually good (I, Robot).  Though I liked Starship Troopers.  It was funny, not the best movie ever, but not terrible.

Isaac Asimov is, quite possibly, the greatest serious sci-fi writer ever. Douglas Adams may edge him out in the comedy stakes, but The Last Question, "Breeds There a Man?", Little Lost Robot, and Spell My Name with an 'S', along with the early Foundation series, are all masterpieces. The storyline of "I, Robot" the movie draws heavily on Little Lost Robot and the Elijah Bailey books (starting with The Naked Sun). However, the idea of a mass robot revolt is pretty much alien to Asimov; the closest he gets to it is the end of The Robots of Dawn, and that's the actions of an isolated few.

The Last Question, Breeds There A Man and Spell My Name with an S are all minor mindscrews, in ascending order. The great thing is that those three need no real knowledge of Asimov; only that he wrote before the advent of the silicon chip, meaning that Multivac, his enormous computer complex, lacks several faculties that we wouldn't even consider leaving out of a computer. This includes a means of output other than machine-code punchtapes.