The Forge reads, watches, and listens

[Asrogoth]

Book you read?

Transforming Mission by David J. Bosch (actually in the process of reading)

If you want finished, then it's The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

Movie you watched?

(rental)  The Order:  I thought it was an interesting concept and take on religion, and in some ways I feel it's a justified look at the seeming "inadequacies" of the misunderstandings attributed to traditional Christian orthodoxy, especially to the Roman Catholic Church.

(theater) The Passion of the Christ  Brutal.  Powerful.  Intense.  Best for personal devotion.  Not a movie for casual perusal.



Song you listened to?

One Man Gets Around by Charlie Peacock  (iTunes right now)
Goldeneye by Tina Turner (cd in car)

(editted to add "theater" and "in car" categories)

[Jonathan Walton]

Book:  Into the American Woods: Negotiations on the Pennsylvania Frontier by James H. Merrell (for my Native American History class, which rocks).

Movie: Starsky & Hutch, which also rocks

Music: Last night me and some friends sat around listening to the new Flecktones album, Little Worlds (rocks), some old-school Chinese rock compilations (Rock 'N Roll Classics: China, The 20th Century), and the 14-minute final track on the new Dream Theater album (Train of Thought) called Killing in the Name of God.

[Anonymous]

Book: Mm, lesse. Fiction: Alexander Irvine's A Scattering of Jades. Ending could've been written better, but a good read, especially if you like Tim Powers. Whoops, nope, I read Blaylock's collection of shorts after that, In For A Penny. Liked the Irvine better.

Graphic Novel: The 9 volume manga, Sanctuary, a bit out of order.

Non-fiction: Page proofs for the latest issue of the New York Review of Science Fiction, which actually has a theme, writers about writing. I am disagreeing with what Morrow says, and trying to figure out why. No typos there, so nothing to change.

Movie: Probably Return of the King. Josh is slowly working his way through 2nd season Buffy, and we saw School Hard recently, which is a good, strong episode.

Song: Whichever of Kathy Mar's was playing as I left -- it's Josh's wake up music. Which means either Spoon or Ship of Stone.

-Lisa

[Gordon C. Landis]

Book: The Briar King, Greg Keyes

Movie:  Hidalgo

Song:  "Brain Upside Down (Bonzo goes to Bitburg)", The Ramones

Gordon

[talysman]

Book:
(finished) Al Franken's last book (Lies and the Lying Liars ...)
(midway) Dead Inside RPG
(started) Thomas Jefferson's collected writings, James Branch Cabell's Cream of the Jest... not sure which I will focus on.

movie: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (again)

music: either "Yoshimi Versus the Pink Robots" by the Flaming Lips or "Beauty Queen" by Roxy Music. I had a bunch of songs on random, so I'm not sure which was the last that played.

it's moot now, because I just started "Yoshimi" again because thinking about it made me want to.

[Anonymous]

Evein'

Book Well, I actually re-read Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey to be prepared for the paper back printing of Kushiel's Avatar which I finished...Friday.  Sunday I got to the end of Box Office Poison which I was reading at Paul's- fanTAStic!

Movie It was a few weeks ago now, but a few of us watched Sonatine (I think that's how it's spelled) that seeks to prove that even Japanese gangsters can be jovial and carefree...with guns. In the theater it would have to be [/i]21 Grams which was pretty darn good.

Song Well, the Yahoo Launch cast is playing "Girl, You've Got No Faith in Medicine" by the White Stripes. In the car coming over here I heard "867-5309 (Jenny)" by whoever that band is..  

[Paul's Girl]

Oops! sorry about the terrible formating on that one...

[Andy Kitkowski]

Book: The Coming of Conan (I'm on the last story). First time ever reading Conan material.  Powerful, powerful stuff and deeply immersive. The only unsettling thing was the racism in Vale of the Lost Women, and even that was /placed/ enough for me to be able to take a step to the left of it and continue reading.

Movie: Hellboy.  I was a little disappointed. I wasn't looking for power so much from the material, than from the director.  I've been following Guillome Del Toro for a while now, and am a big fan of his works.  Blade 2 is one of my favorite action movies of all time because of the action scenes (save for the "rubbery" CG one against the two ninjas). I think that there was just plain Too Much to Include that he didn't have time for that "Del Toro Style".

Music I worship my iPod.  Right now I'm listening to William Ackerman (I love Real, Solid new age music). Before that was some Japanese Soul and Hip-Hop. I don't know why people can dig J-Pop: It's the same shit we have here. But man, some Japanese bands have picked up the ball in the fields of Soul, Hip Hop, Ska and Techno and have really run with it, helped it evolve.

[greyorm]

What is the most recent:

Book you read?
If I recall correctly, it was "Sea of Swords" by RA Salvatore.
Sue me. I like Drizzt.

Movie you watched?
I watched something on tv the other night, but don't recall what it was. Last movie I saw at the theaters was "Dawn of the Dead."...oh wait, just remembered, tv movie: "Black Sheep."

Song you listened to?
Whatever was playing on the radio last time I was in my car. Dunno. Something "Pop" no doubt. Though if "American Idol" counts, I heard George Huff singing an Elton John song I don't recall the title of, before I put my oldest daugther to bed.

[Ben Lehman]

Book:  Intermediate Colloquial Chinese.  Okay, not for class?  The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.

Movie:  Raise the Red Lantern.  Made me cry, nearly, which is hard to do.

Song.  *pulls up iTunes...*  Uhm... I don't have the name for this one.  I think it's by Goo Goo Dolls *hits back button*  "Crazy as F*ck" by Stephen Hawking...  :-)

yrs--
--Ben

edit:  P.S. on book -- forgot about my online writer's critiques.  In that case, it's "Metropolis" by Marsha Morman (halfway read) or "Vale of Fire" by Izzy Kunkle.  Sorry to forget you, guys! :-(

[contracycle]

Last book: The Plantagenet Chronicles, a collection of cleaned-up medieval accounts.  And a couple of the War against the Chtorr novels, if only to satisfy some old curiosity.

Last song: 'Cut Your Ribbons' by Sparta which I cam across on Radiostorm.  Stuck in my head.

Movie: I watch very few movies; the last one I sat through was ROTK.  I tried watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon the other night but it was dull as ditchwater so I went and did something more interesting.

[Emily Care]

Book: currently reading--Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich, and Glimpses of Abidharma by Chogyam Trungpa.

Movie: Last seen: The Ladykillers, which though fun was disappointing after the Cohen Bros. previous film offering--Intolerable Cruelty was the funniest thing I've seen in years.

Song: I don't remember who the crooner was on the radio last night singing "I'm putting all my eggs in one basket" and other romantic jazz standards, but it was fine to listen to.

--EC

[Keith Senkowski]

Book: I just finished "The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, And Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It" by John J. Miller, Chris Mitchell, and Michael Stone.  A long title, but a very informative read about the events, starting in the late 80s, that led up to 9/11.  I've also nearly finished "hadow" by K.J. Parker.

Movie: Hellboy, which I was a little disappointed in.  I thought it should have been more pulpish.  

Song: Rotten Apple by Alice in chains is what I am listening to as I type.

Keith

[Christopher Kubasik]

Books

Just finished: God Against the Gods by Jonathan Kirsch (a history of monotheism through ancient Egypt and Classical Greece and Rome)

Reading: "Imagining the Soul: A History" and Matthew Fox's, "Creativity" and dipping into time and time again, W.H. Auden's "The Dyer's Hand."

Movie: Hellboy.  (Never read the comic book; thought it was fine; spent the whole movie thinking, "Wow, we can really watch a guy jump from building to building in movies now, just they do in comic books... Cool!")  But I'll add, since I see movies like some folks eat M&Ms, here's what I've seen in the past few weeks: "The Ladykillers," "Spartan," "Girl With a Pearl Earing," "Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind" "City of God"  I don't own a TV or DVD players, but I just love going to the movies, being surrounded by people who chose to leave their homes and see *this* movie all together.  I hit something new every week or two.

Song:  Whatever was playing off Moby "18" when I walked out the door to hit Starbucks.

[Bob McNamee]

Books
Charles de Lint's Forests of the Heart and Onion Girl. Wonderful! (as are all I've read of his)
What a godsend after plowing through Robert Jordan's latest paperback bloatbook.

Movies
Return of the King was the last one I saw at the movies. Great Loved it...can't wait for the special edition DVD.
At home...let's see... If I remember right it was Shanghai Knights... which I laughed my way through.

Music
Lately the latest Seal album...and the pair of Rod Stewart American songbook albums (in a mix with Nat Cole and Brian Setzer)