Al's Inspiration Shelf for Film

I've recently taken it upon myself to parse out some of my favorite things from my collections and put them on their own dedicated shelf. These will be my "inspiration shelves," containing media and things that will directly inspire and influence my own imagination and creativity. There's a shelf for books, one for music, but the one I organized first and foremost was for film.

My History With Film

Of all media, I seem to ingest films more than anything else. Music might be the next biggest thing I indulge in, but films seem to have the greatest lasting power. Like any kid born in the 80s, I grew up on a steady diet of new and exciting blockbusters: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Police Academy, E.T., Crocodile Dundee, Big Trouble in Little China, Beetlejuice, Beverly Hills Cop--even if I didn't grasp their stories, I knew them by their cover art, by select scenes, the performers, and the overall aesthetic. As a kid (and probably starting when I was youngest), I would have also been exposed to healthy amounts of Disney animated classics (especially Dumbo, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) and a variety of other pre-1980s classics (such as the Wizard of Oz, The Music Man, Willy Wonka, It's A Wonderful Life, and more. My parents tell me that my first-ever movie was Gremlins--they took me to the cinema when I was just an infant. Even though I don't remember it, the movie is one of the essentials in my collection.

For a while, my mom worked at a video rental store, so I remember gazing at shelves and shelves of box art. Some looked exciting, some looked scary. I was always well-aware of ratings, and growing up I always felt that R-rated movies were strictly for adults. I always feared and respected those restrictions. While some kids sought to push the envelope early and see all the gangster and horror films, I avoided them like the plague. My parents were careful about their selections too. Some videos we watched may have pushed the edge a little--we didn't shy away from horror movies like Poltergeist, the various Stephen King adaptations, different versions of Dracula and Frankenstein--but we rarely divulged into slashers, zombie movies, exploitation, or anything extreme.

My parents had a respectable collection--about 300 VHS tapes and 150 LaserDiscs. They all caught my eye at some point or another, and they got a lot of plays. Growing up, I remember having days where we'd explore select movies and entire series for the first time: Star Trek II - V was a blast (and VI came out later on LD, it blew me away), the original five Planet of the Apes movies (I still consider it a classic), the first three Lethal Weapons (when I was older and more mature--I was quite smitten by the characters), and the first two Terminator movies (which remain all-time favorites to this day--the storytelling and character development are sublime). There were times when dad would borrow an LD from someone, so we got to experience some truly challenging films like Apocalypse Now and Runaway Train that way (both were reprehensible on the first viewing, but I'd learn to appreciate them deeper as an adult).

In 1998, we all marveled at the advent of DVD. Clean and sharp picture, menu selections, subtitles, alternate languages, chapter selection--it blew VHS out of the water and looked on-par with LDs. I got to admit that sound on LD might still be superior (I still remember how bombastic the LDs for Terminator 2, the Indiana Jones movies, certain Star Trek movies were--some collectors actually prefer LD over Blu-Ray because of the lossless sound). When Circuit City was still a thing, I remember browsing rows and rows of movies, new and old, in these thin plastic cases. We picked up a lot of good oldies like Logan's Run, Dune, The Stepford Wives, in addition to then-new films like The Shadow, Waterworld, The Sixth Sense.

Around this time, I saw the movie GoldenEye for the first time. It was my first exposure to James Bond, and after a huge six-year hiatus it couldn't be a better experience. Already familiar with action movies like Under Siege and Air Force One, I had a blast with GoldenEye's epic setpieces, raw fighting, and special effects. Above all, I was smitten by the characters and the underlying conflict between Bond and Trevelyan (a kind of conflict that would inspire me in other stories I'd attempt to write). The movie was a gateway drug--I would soak in all of Tomorrow Never Dies shortly thereafter, and then I saw The World Is Not Enough on the big screen (at the time, I called it the best one because of how it handled the characters). On TV, I'd catch all the other Bond adventures, thanks to a TBS special (the 15 Days of 007, it was great).

Another movie that had a big impression at the time: Braveheart. It aired on Sky TV when we lived in England. Naturally, the brutal battle scenes were the big draw, but it was the characters and potent filming style that really made it stand out. This might have been the first time I found myself deeply moved by a film, beyond mere aesthetics, action, or entertainment. I was able to resonate with the characters, and it made the experience a powerful and beautiful one.

Even though Braveheart set the bar for me, I became a movie fiend from high-school onwards. No film could do me wrong. Literally. I paid attention to movies in all genres, and I watched them regardless of whether they were good or bad. I was even able to watch Battlefield Earth on the big screen--I didn't care about the horrid acting, plotting, writing, or anything back then, I was smitten by the special effects. And special effects did interest me a lot back then--they blew me away in Independence Day, the Star Wars Special Editions, and countless others. I was intrigued by how they brought new characters and creatures to life, how they could make things happen that couldn't be shown otherwise. At one point, I wondered if a career in special effects would be possible.

What I did do often and obsessively was use a Hauppauge video capture card to record favorite clips, dialogue, and take screenshots. And I did it for just about every movie in my parents' library, filling up CD-Rs with media. I used an old desktop program (came with Star Wars source clips and sound effects, but there's also one for Terminator 2) to play movie lines and sounds at everything Windows did (open a program, maybe Han Solo would say "How you feeling kid?" Close a program, maybe Schwarzenegger would say "Goodbye." Empty the recycle bin, Hansel from Zoolander might say "Where did all the files go?" (and I think I still use that clip). Move a window, maybe some theme song would play. Shut down the computer, an epic movie scene would play. You get the idea). I think this thing might have annoyed my parents. My hobby especially sucked up a lot of time as I would go back and forth in movies, edit sound and video, and find the best balance between preserving the files and saving space through compression.

I think this hobby helped me appreciate films on a more technical level. I find myself enjoying films that have different camera angles and editing techniques.

After high school, I continued to gravitate towards the usual mindless action flicks, blockbusters, sci-fi, and everything. I started my own movie collection--my humble beginnings would have included The Matrix, Total Recall, Charlie's Angels, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and a few others. Money was tight and I couldn't splurge on much. But Lord of the Rings was a big hitter at the time, and Return of the King in particular stirred a sense of awe I haven't experienced since Braveheart. Once I learned that extended editions were coming, I held out and bought each part of the trilogy in their separate, four-disc editions. For another three bucks, I was able to get a box to house them all later.

Star Wars prequels and Matrix sequels were other big events that kept me hyped and psyched throughout the early 00s. They may not have held up for many people, but I appreciated them as experiences in their own right.

By the late 00s, I had a bigger movie collection going, and I started exploring new territory. Anime was a big thing for a time--I think I started on that once I saw the Animatrix shorts and learned the Matrix was inspired by Ghost in the Shell. Inevitably, I'd seek out Akira. Then Ninja Scroll. I was impressed that these movies existed--animation for adults, with no limit on violence or sex. I had ceased watching kid's films by then, so I was curious to keep digging into anime. This would lead me to discover things like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hellsing, Berserk, and more.

For college courses, I took a few good classes on film. One was a class on comparing novels to films--this curriculum would have included Apocalypse Now, compared to the book Heart of Darkness. Once I understood where the movie came from, it clicked with me and I appreciated the film on a deeper, more academic level. We also would have studied two different versions of Romeo and Juliet (the 1968 version and the jazzed-up 1996 version), another adaptation of Heart of Darkness (the Nicholas Roeg film, found it kinda dry), and I think two different adaptations of I'm A Fool (one with James Dean, the other I think was Ron Howard). Later on, I'd take Film 101, and we studied films from an array of genres. Through this, I got to see Shane, The Gold Rush, Gone With the Wind, and The Exorcist for the first time. I did my report comparing and contrasting Spirited Away with Disney's Alice in Wonderland. It was the first time I saw a Disney film in years--I was floored by how well it held up, watching it as an adult. I was proud of my report--the professor liked it and went on to use it as an example in other classes.

Around that time, I also discovered the Criterion Collection for the first time. Biggest draw was the foreign films I heard about or saw clips from on TV. First and foremost, I dived into a collection of Akira Kurosawa films: Seven Samurai, Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro. The whole lot of those impressed me immensely. I would have also picked up the Sergei Eisenstein Sound Years box set--I was intrigued by Ivan the Terrible. Through these, I'd learn that there's still a whole world of film worth exploring. In time, I'd embrace a ton more Asian films--martial arts, historic epics, wuxia, horror, revenge thrillers, mostly from Japan, China, and South Korea. I'd also embrace a lot more experimental films (including more works by David Lynch and a whole range of oddities).

I've dabbled in writing movie reviews on and off again all this time. I used to put up many reviews on Amazon. Then I drifted some over to imdb. Inevitably, I'd start posting on Blu-Ray.com (and I started a mighty Blu-Ray collection from 2008 onwards--high-def picture and sound made it the perfect medium for my eyes and ears). I stopped reviewing things after a while--I found it difficult keeping up with it, and it's especially hard trying to write a review people will actually read and appreciate. However, I did become more heavily involved in the forum side of Blu-Ray.com, talking with members from all over about movies. I'd discover a plethora of films this way. Lots of insightful conversations came and went, and still go on there.

At this point, I have seen over 3,700 films. It's no longer the case where "no film can do me no wrong" like when I was younger--I've become more critical of late, for various reasons. I simply can't like every film that's out there--I certainly can't own every one. I've also come to realize that once you've seen the best films it's hard to be continuously impressed. 2016 was an especially disappointing year for me with new releases--it made me realize that there are many ways to regard a film. For years, I always thought my favorites were a sublime combination of experience, storytelling, and craftsmanship. But maybe the best possible way is to examine the whole as a collective package of storytelling, showmanship, performances, script, and overall craft. Lots of movies fail in one thing or another, but it takes a very special combination to make it all align in a way that truly moves me beyond mere entertainment value. It's practically impossible to quantify the parts of a movie to try and grade it, especially on the scale of emotional resonance.

Movies, good or bad, have shaped my imagination. Every story I conceive of is a movie playing in my head, where I actively build a character and push them through some incredible story just like in my favorite films.

What's On The Inspiration Shelf:

Regardless of what score I give a movie, I will put movies on this shelf that have moved me personally or stirred my imagination in some way. This isn't the same as merely enjoying a film--it has to be something that's lingered in my conscious long after the credits roll. Most of these films are about character more than plot or action. Most of these have nuances in the script, production, or performances that I can appreciate as top-notch experiences or stories. These days, I've also been focusing a lot on movies that show more and tell less--scripts with less dialogue and exposition, but maybe performances or visual cues do all the storytelling instead. These are movies that not only stick with me longer, but could be good influences on my imagination and the way I craft a story in my head. There are also some movies here that have important messages or insights that could be inspiring for life in general.

I've also included certain documentaries that stir my mind on deeper levels. There's also some videos, especially music-related ones, that I feel I can watch while I write to help in the creative process. Hopefully, you might find something that catches your interest among this sliver of my library, and maybe you'll be inspired too. I definitely encourage seeing most of these at least once in a lifetime.

Films

• Akira [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• American History X [Blu-Ray]
• Apocalypse Now! [Full Disclosure Edition Blu-Ray]
• Apocalypto [DVD and Blu-Ray in Steelbook]
• Back to the Future Trilogy [Blu-Ray]
• Bitter Films Volumes 1 - 2 [DVD]
• A Bittersweet Life (Dalkomhan Insaeng) [Nova Media Blu-Ray]
• Blade Runner [DVD and Blu-Ray in Briefcase]
• Braveheart [Blu-Ray]
• Brazil [Universal and Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-Ray] 
• Breaking the Waves [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• The Butterfly Effect [DVD and Blu-Ray] 
• The Cell [American DVD and Canadian Blu-Ray]
• Children of Men [Blu-Ray]
• City of God [Blu-Ray]
• City of Life and Death (Nanjing! Nanjing!) [Blu-Ray]
• A Clockwork Orange [40th Anniversary Digibook Blu-Ray]
• Cloud Atlas [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Conan the Barbarian (1982) [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Dancer in the Dark [American DVD and German Blu-Ray]
• The Dark Knight Trilogy [Blu-Ray]
• Donnie Darko [Arrow Blu-Ray]
• Dune [DVD in Steelbook, French Blu-Ray, German Collector's Edition Blu-Ray, German 3D Blu-Ray] 
• Eraserhead [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray and British Blu-Ray]
• Ex Machina [Blu-Ray]
• The Fan (Der Fan) [Mondo Macabro Blu-Ray]
• La Femme Nikita [Blu-Ray] 
• The Fifth Element [DVD and Remastered Blu-Ray in Steelbook]
• Fight Club [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• The Fountain [Blu-Ray]
• Ghost in the Shell [2.0 and 25th Anniversary Blu-Rays]
• Gravity [3D Blu-Ray and Diamond Luxe Blu-Ray] 
• Hero (Ying Xiong) [Blu-Ray]
• Indiana Jones Collection [Blu-Ray]
• Inglourious Basterds [British Blu-Ray]
• It's Such a Beautiful Day [Kickstarter Blu-Ray]
• James Bond Collection [Ultimate Edition DVDs and Bond 50 Collection Blu-Ray] 
• John Wick [Blu-Ray]
• The Kid [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2 [DVD and Blu-Ray] 
• La La Land [Target Exclusive Blu-Ray]
• Lawrence of Arabia [DVD and Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-Ray]
• Leon: The Professional [Remastered Blu-Ray]
• Life of Pi [DVD and 3D Blu-Ray]
• The Lion King [DVD and 3D Blu-Ray]
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy [DVD and Blu-Ray, Theatrical and Extended Editions]
• Lord of War [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Love Exposure [Blu-Ray]
• Mad Max: Fury Road [3D and the Black White and Chrome Edition Blu-Rays]
• The Matrix Collection [DVD and Blu-Ray] 
• Memento [DVD and 10th Anniversary Blu-Ray]
• The Mist [Blu-Ray]
• Mother (Madeo) [Blu-Ray]
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion [DVD]
• The Neon Demon [German Mediabook Blu-Ray]
• The New World [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray] 
• OldBoy (2002) [Plain Archive Steelbook Blu-Ray] 
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest [Digibook Blu-Ray]
• One Hour Photo [Blu-Ray]
• 127 Hours [Blu-Ray] 
• Only God Forgives [Blu-Ray]
• The Passion of the Christ [Blu-Ray]
• Requiem for a Dream [Blu-Ray] 
• The Revenant [4K UHD and Blu-Ray] 
• RoboCop Trilogy [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Schindler's List [Blu-Ray]
• Sicario [Blu-Ray]
• Silence of the Lambs [Blu-Ray]
• Skyfall [DVD and Blu-Ray in British Steelbook]
• Star Trek (2009) [Blu-Ray]
• Star Wars Collection [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens [3D Collector's Edition DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Sucker Punch [DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Taxi Driver [Blu-Ray]
• The Terminator [Remastered British Blu-Ray]
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day [American DVD and Blu-Rays and Japanese Blu-Ray]
• Tomorrowland [Blu-Ray]
• Tree of Life [Blu-Ray] 
• Under the Skin [Blu-Ray]
• Wall*E [Blu-Ray]
• Whiplash [Blu-Ray]

Documentaries

• Atmospheres: Earth Air & Water [Blu-Ray]
• Baraka [Blu-Ray]
• Cronos [Blu-Ray]
• Home [Blu-Ray] 
• The Man With a Movie Camera (Chelovek s Kino-Apparatom) [Blu-Ray]
• Microcosmos [Canadian Blu-Ray]
• Mysteries of the Unseen World [3D Blu-Ray]
• The Qatsi Trilogy [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray]
• Koyaanisqatsi
• Samsara [Blu-Ray] 
• 3D Rarities [Blu-Ray]
• Visitors [DVD and Blu-Ray]

TV

• Battlestar Galactica (2003 - 2007) [Blu-Ray]
• Berserk [DVDs in Steelbook and British Blu-Ray] 
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Seasons 1 - 9 [Mixed DVD and Blu-Ray]
• Fullmetal Alchemist [Blu-Ray]
• House MD [British Complete Collection Blu-Ray]
• Neon Genesis Evangelion [Platinum Edition DVDs]
• Star Trek: The Next Generation [Blu-Ray]

Music

• Animusic [Blu-Ray] 
• The Beastie Boys - Video Anthology [Criterion Collection DVD] 
• Blue Man Group - How To Be A Megastar Live! [Blu-Ray]
• BT - This Binary Universe [DVD]
• Celldweller - Live Upon A Blackstar [Blu-Ray]
• Led Zeppelin - Mothership [DVD]
• Lichtmond [German 3D Blu-Ray]
• Moby - 18 [DVD]
• Moby - Play [DVD]
• Therion - Celebrators of Becoming [DVD] 
• Therion - Live Gothic [DVD]

Al's Inspiration Shelf for Music

I've recently taken it upon myself to parse out some of my favorite things from my collections and put them on their own dedicated shelf. These will be my "inspiration shelves," containing media and things that will directly inspire and influence my own imagination and creativity. There's a shelf for books, one for film, but the biggest one may be for music.

My History With Music:

Music is everywhere. When I was a kid, I took an instant liking to some select rock and pop songs of the 80s that I heard around. I especially remember hearing and enjoying songs by Journey, Queen, Def Leppard blasting from my parents' stereo. For some odd reason, Journey's "Wheel in the Sky" was a song that appealed to me the most and lingered in my mind and soul. It always found a way on my future mix tapes, CD-Rs, and MP3 playlists.

Around grade school, I listened exclusively to oldies and novelty songs that my dad had recorded on tape. This ultimately led me to collect and listen to Weird Al Yankovic ad nauseam. Around that time, I was aware that harder forms of music existed--some schoolmates embraced bands like Metallica and Korn, and others were into rap, but I consciously avoided all mainstream music. The harder and heavier bands, I always perceived as music for mature adults, and some seemed too dark and mean to embrace. Everything else, I just didn't think would interest me.

But it was the late 90s, and I was living in England at the time--with great British acts like the All-Saints and Spice Girls all the rage, pop music was unavoidable. Most of it was catchy. Most of it had beat. And most of it was pretty modern for the time, thanks to the ever-evolving influence of electronica and dance music. But I never really realized how wonderful mainstream music could be until I turned on the radio one night, and heard it all for the first time. Even if I heard songs before, it's a different experience to stop and listen on a more critical level, to soak in the beats, lyrics, instrumentation, the ambience, and everything. The first song I heard, and ultimately recorded on a cassette tape, was "Never Ever" by the All-Saints--it was a hit song in England at its time, and it even won some kind of best-of award. From that point onward, I started a new hobby--collecting real music on my own, capturing hits I liked off the radio on cassettes and assembling my own mix tapes (called "Al's Favorite Music", and it went up to volume 10 or so between 1998 and 2000). Other bands I had on those tapes included Oasis, Bobby Brown, Chumbawamba, Will Smith, and Natalie Imbruglia.Of course, some Weird Al songs made their way on the tapes too.

Around the time I started with the tapes, I had a few CDs in my possession as well. Some were gifts from my parents, and some of those are still favorites to this day. The first is probably still the best one: the various artists soundtrack to the 1997 film The Saint. This included a fair amount of techno and electronica--I may have known of the music style from the film, but to hear it on its own was new and fresh to my ears. That was when I first discovered a whole new breadth of sound, from throbbing high-tempo dance tracks by Underworld, Moby, Fluke, and the Chemical Brothers to much more relaxing and soothing serenades by Dreadzone and Everything But the Girl. In the middle, there was the Sneaker Pimps' "Six Underground," probably the first trip-hop song I heard, although I never identified that as a genre until after hearing everything from Massive Attack and Portishead years later. I suppose that one track was the gateway drug for my obsession with downtempo music in general. Other tracks by Duran Duran, Luscious Jackson, and David Bowie were decent. Another really big various artists mix I had back then was the Box Hits of 1998: it included a crap ton of pop, dance, R&B tunes from the radio. And, of course I had Weird Al Yankovic albums.

With my own money, I inevitably purchased my own pop music: the Backstreet Boys, Chumbawamba, Aqua, B*Witched, the Corrs were among the first albums I purchased. Once I went into high school, I continued to fill my ears with pop and dance music, but I did rediscover some of the classic 80s rock and pop, and I took greater pains to hunt down music I heard in movies. I had CD soundtracks in my hands for Toys, Tomorrow Never Dies, Red Planet, Armageddon, and more. After moving to the States again, I seemed to lose interest in radio, finding only a few good hits to hold onto. I did discover appealing new music through movie soundtracks, the school loudspeaker (certain classes played stuff), MTV (yes, they still played music videos back then!), and live performances aired on Saturday Night Live. MP3s were all-new at that time, and the legal controversies around them just barely begun to stir. I took the chance to download songs that interested me, including old and new music by David Bowie, more pop songs, as many older Chumbawamba songs as I could find, and as many movie scores as I could find (especially James Bond soundtracks). I started to hunt down video game music (going so far as recording it while the games played).

A science project in physics class called for a music mix--it had to be bassy and loud enough to make the speakers thump. Small mirrors on springs were attached to the speakers, with lasers pointing at them. So when the music played, a squiggly light show appeared on the ceiling. I thought it was cool--not sure if anybody else really cared. But I volunteered to find and burn music on a CD-R, and I took requests. Though that, I discovered some harder music that was big back then--The Prodigy (with songs like "Firestarter" and "Breathe"), Outkast ("BOB" was the requested song for that project, and I took quite a liking to it), Crazytown ("Darkside" might be the first ever metal song I truly embraced--if for no other reason than the beat). For that project, I also created one track that kinda mashed together a bunch of other songs together--an amateur effort on my part to be a DJ of sorts, but I did enjoy experimenting around with audio tools and cutting my favorite parts of songs out to try and make something new.

In high school, names like Kid Rock, Korn, Masta P, Rob Zombie, Rage Against the Machine, and Eminem were commonplace. I might have even heard some here and there, but I was still resistant to diving into what seemed like dangerous music. It was as if I had a fear of their PA labels and their sordid cover art. Then again, maybe I was just afraid my parents would yell at me for listening to noise. It wasn't until 2002 or so that I took a chance on some new band I never heard before--Linkin Park. First song I sampled was "In the End." The first few bars, and I thought it was a cool-sounding electronica song. Then the rap kicked in, and it sounded decent. Then there was the chorus with the guitars and Chester Bennington's wailing voice. It truly was a hybrid of genres--I suppose that's inherent to the nu-metal scene back then, but to me this was all new and fresh territory, and it opened my ears up to a profound truth. Lyrically, Linkin Park's music wasn't as evil or mean as the lyrics from Marilyn Manson would seem: their words were strictly about emotions. Best of all, the loudest and screamiest parts of their songs were still in melody. Once I realized that metal was not just a bunch of noise and vulgarity for the hell of it, I appreciated the structure and power of metal.

From 2002 onwards, I branched off to countless directions in music. Living in Germany, I picked up more rock and metal: Nirvana, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the 5, 6, 7, 8s, the White Stripes. By this time, I would have heard and fully embraced those bands I once thought were so dangerous: Korn, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, and more. Additionally, I discovered interesting German groups like Die Fantastischen Vier, Die Toten Hosen, Tokio Hotel, Seeed, and Jeanette Bierdermann (I already knew about Die Prinzen, Rammstein, and Eisbrecher beforehand, and it wouldn't be until later I discovered KMFDM). Once I started exploring anime for the first time, I also sought out anime soundtracks like a fiend (collecting some J-pop and clinging to composers like Yoko Kanno and Yuki Kajiura in the process).

In 2007, I swore I found the most perfect combination possible. The power of metal, united with the eloquence of opera and the fine structure of full symphony scores. To me, symphonic metal represented the sublime unity of two haves of music in general: raw power and refined beauty. I first discovered this genre with Tristania's "Beyond the Veil," and would later follow this up with Sirenia, Nightwish (and later Tarja's solo projects), After Forever, Epica, and Therion. For years, I considered Therion to be my all-time favorite band--their melodies were consistent and catchy, Christofer Johnsson's guitar work was magnificent, and their songs covered a huge breadth of cultural and mythological styles. What may have attracted me the most was marrying the music with a novel project that I held dearest to my heart: a four-book fantasy series that would cover the four corners of my own world and follow four different characters across four apocalyptic sagas. Therion's music was a perfect fit for the whole series. Alas, after drafting the first two-and-a-half stories (and redrafting the second one at least once), I listened to the band so many times I must have burned myself out on them.

I'm not sure if I'd call Therion my favorite anymore, but I still love and appreciate the majority of their albums. In time though, I found that Lacuna Coil stood the test of time--I know some may loathe their more recent, commercialized work, but to me all their albums have been sublime, and I found myself looking to Christina Scabbia more and more as a singer with serious talent and power. I might look up to Tarja Turunen a little more fondly, although not every song of hers appeals to me. I've known about industrial metal bands since 2003 or so, when Celldweller's earliest work came out and I heard some of Nine Inch Nails through soundtracks and other sources. I wouldn't embrace them in full until much later--in time, NIN and Trent Reznor's other works would become essentials in my collection. Since 2012, Celldweller and other projects by Klayton just keep coming one after another, and they've all been consistently stunning. I came across Arjen Lucassen's projects around 2012 or so--Ayreon, Star One, and Arjen's solo album found permanent places on my shelves.

Rock and metal dominated most of my listening times over the years, thanks to the incredible cathartic power of the guitars, drums, vocals, and everything. But I never fully gave up on pop music. Radio rarely interests me anymore, but around 2008 and 2009 I soaked in a ton of excellent pop and dance tunes--it was the time when I first discovered Lady GaGa and other, more modern artists. I always had an interest in downtempo, ambient, and chillout music--I took a chance on some various artists mixes in 2002, and I keep doing it on occasion to discover great and relaxing bands like Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation, Tosca, Bonobo, Groove Armada, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Enigma, and so many more. Listening to these bands also crossed over into listening to jazz on occasion, thanks to groups like Cinematic Orchestra and St. Germain. I would dabble with jazz even more to help with another novel project (one that I'm currently editing and actually looks promising so far). Through that, I could appreciate a few select songs by Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Dave Brubeck, although it's still not a genre I ever fully embraced--I tend to swing more towards the nu-jazz and acid-jazz scene, with bands like Xploding Plastix. Of course, jazz doesn't get much cooler than the Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno's project for the Cowboy Bebop anime).

Electronica in general has always appealed to me, and I'm always drawn towards the futuristic sounds of dance, trance, techno, breakbeat, dubstep, and whatever else there is. Breakbeat might be so late 90s or early 00s now, but to my ears it's hardly aged--I love hearing the heavy beats and noise from the Crystal Method, Kosheen, the Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Overseer, and such. Electronica has evolved a lot over the years--older dance and trance tunes don't hold up quite as well compared to the onslaught of noise bands like Skrillex and Noisia produce. However, I still gravitate towards Juno Reactor for their unique ambience and exotic flavor. Orbital has always been a hit or a miss with me, but I've always dug Daft Punk. For a more exquisite blend of symphony and techno, I often turn to soundtrack music, but Rob Dougan's album also fits the bill perfectly.

I was never into classical music as much. Personally, I find much of it has been overplayed in pop culture that it's become cliched. All those notes and melodies that may be cathartic and powerful to some, just don't cut it for me. However, I do find Carl Orff's entire Carmina Burana appealing. Maybe those compositions have been overplayed for some, but to me it's always been a powerful piece of work. I would come to appreciate some of Gustav Holst's work in time (especially after hearing some of it with my uncle playing the tuba as part of the orchestra). But for most orchestral work, I usually turn to movie scores. I've always loved hearing the symphonies blended with more modern instrumentation--I'm always looking out for tracks that are essentially instrumental rock or electronica tracks. If you strip away the modern stuff, I can enjoy certain other soundtracks as well, it all depends. John Williams is a no-brainer. But I also love the works of James Newton Howard, Thomas Newman, Hans Zimmer, Graeme Revell, Brian Tyler, Tyler Bates, and others. Of all film scores, Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings takes the cake for me.

I think that touches almost every corner of my music tastes and collection (save for rap, which I can dig on occasion--favorites nowadays seem to be the Beastie Boys and Insane Clown Posse). Winamp tells me I have 138 days worth of music collected. I'm pretty sure there are undiscovered gems waiting to be uncovered among the hours of songs I have. And I'm always looking for them because different songs have elicited different feelings over the years. Everything from bubbly pop to raging metal and soothing downtemp or smooth jazz--it's all stirred my mind and directed my imagination to exciting directions. Every story I conceive and attempt to write has to have a soundtrack, and I love assembling playlists and trying to figure out a soundscape that will help place me in the story. Hopefully, doing so will help place readers in the story with me, so feel all the same feelings and experience the same ambience.

What's On the Inspiration Shelf:

My goal in separating out the physical CDs in my collection is primarily to make it easier to grab them when I need them. I could always just play these digitally, but I will always prefer a physical disc so I can bring them to the office if I want to, and to own quality recordings that are a grade higher in bitrate than an MP3 download (I know vinyls are supposed to sound better yet and probably hold more information or have a greater dynamic range--they never interested me though because of the inherent noise (the scratches, pops, clicks) you get from them, and because I was never married to the analogue sound the way other music connoisseurs seem to be). I also realized it would look nice to have all my favorites put back in real CD cases (as opposed to thinner jewel sleeves) and have their spines visible on a shelf, especially next to all the digipak ones I have.

The requisite I have for these specific CDs is that they have to be ones I can listen to beginning-to-end without feeling the need to skip tracks. They shouldn't have songs I dislike. If they have filler, it might be filler I can enjoy or listen to all the same. Most importantly though, these should be albums that represent a whole sound or feeling I can't get from any other band or act. As much as I like music that's catchy, hooks and melodies alone might not always cut it--these are albums that need to linger in my mind through their atmospheres, lyrical qualities, structure, or any number of other aspects that make them stand out.

In some cases, I've sought out special editions with bonus tracks, more songs, demos, and other goodies. For the most part, these offer more of a good thing. Instrumental variations on whole albums are especially desirable--for writing, it's perfect to have the music without words.

So, to inspire my writing and help stir the mind and soul, these are the music albums I've put on the shelf. Maybe you'll find something here worth checking out as well--these all get my recommendation.

Classical Music:

• Carl Orff - Carmina Burana

Downtempo / Trip-Hop:

• Baxter
• DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
• DJ Shadow - The Private Press
• Massive Attack - Blue Lines
• Massive Attack - Collected (Greatest Hits)
• Massive Attack - Mezzanine
• Massive Attack - 100th Window
• Massive Attack - Protection
• Massive Attack - Unleashed (Film Score)
• Massive Attack vs Mad Professor - No Protection 
• Pale 3 and Michael Brook - The Princess and the Warrior (Film Soundtrack)
• Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game
• Thievery Corporation - Culture of Fear
• Thievery Corporation - The Mirror Conspiracy
• Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation
• Thievery Corporation - Richest Man in Babylon
• Thievery Corporation - Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi
• Thievery Corporation - Temple of I & I
• Various Artists - Pure Chill Out Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4

Electronica:

• Afro-Celt Sound System - Capture 1995 - 2010 (Greatest Hits) 
• BT - This Binary Universe
• The Crystal Method - London (Film Soundtrack)
• The Crystal Method - Vegas [Deluxe Edition] 
• Daft Punk - Musique Volume 1 1993 - 2005 (Greatest Hits)
• Deadmau5 - 5 Years Of Mau5 (Greatest Hits)
• Deadmau5 - While(1<2)
• Death In Vegas - Dead Elvis
• The Glitch Mob - Drink the Sea
• The Glitch Mob - Love Death Immortality
• Groove Armada - Goodbye Country, Hello Nightclub
• Groove Armada - The Remixes
• Groove Armada - Vertigo
• Kosheen - Damage
• Kosheen - Independence
• Kosheen - Kokopelli
• Kosheen - Resist
• Kosheen - Solitude
• Leftfield - Leftism
• Leftfield - Rhythm and Stealth
• Lindsey Stirling [With Bonus Tracks] 
• Moby - Play
• Moby - Play: The B Sides
• Orbital - Work 1989 - 2002 (Greatest Hits) 
• Overseer - Wreckage
• The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land
• Röyksopp - Melody AM [Deluxe Edition]
• Röyksopp - The Understanding
• Various Artists - The Animatrix (Film Soundtrack)
• Various Artists - Requiem for a Dream: Remixed (Film Soundtrack)

Jazz:

• The Cinematic Orchestra - Every Day 
• The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur 
• The Cinematic Orchestra - The Man With a Movie Camera
• The Cinematic Orchestra - Motion
• St. Germain - Tourist

Metal (Classic / Hair):

• Black Sabbath [Deluxe Edition]
• Black Sabbath - Master of Reality [Deluxe Edition]
• Black Sabbath - Paranoid [Deluxe Edition]
• Budgie - The Best Of
• Def Leppard - Hysteria [Deluxe Edition] 
• Def Leppard - Rock of Ages (Greatest Hits)
• Diamond Head - Greatest Hits

Metal (Nu / Gothic):

• Drowning Pool - Desensitized
• Drowning Pool - Sinner 
• Evanescence [Deluxe Edition]
• KoRn - Greatest Hits Volume 1 
• Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown Halo
• Lacuna Coil - Comalies [Deluxe Edition]
• Lacuna Coil - Dark Adrenaline
• Lacuna Coil - Delirium [Deluxe Edition]
• Lacuna Coil - The EPs (Lacuna Coil and Halflife) 
• Lacuna Coil - In a Reverie
• Lacuna Coil - Karmacode
• Lacuna Coil - Shallow Life [Italian Import with Bonus Tracks]
• Lacuna Coil - Unleashed Memories
• Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra 
• Limp Bizkit - Greatest Hitz
• Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns
• Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory [Japanese Import with Bonus Tracks]
• Linkin Park - Meteora
• Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight [Tour Edition]
• Linkin Park - Reanimation
• Linkin Park - Underground X: Demos
• Linkin Park - Underground Eleven
• Linkin Park - Underground XIII
• Tiamat - Skeleton Skeletron
  
• Various Artists - Heavy Metal 2000 (Film Soundtrack)
• Various Artists - Queen of the Damned (Film Soundtrack)

Metal (Industrial):

• Argyle Park - Misguided [Deluxe Edition] 
• Celldweller [10th Anniversary Edition]
• Celldweller - The Beta Cessions
• Celldweller - Blackstar (Original Score)
• Celldweller - The Complete Cellout Volume 1
• Celldweller - End of an Empire [Deluxe Edition]
• Celldweller - Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Volumes 1, 2, 3
• Celldweller - Wish Upon a Blackstar
• Circle of Dust [Deluxe Edition]
• Circle of Dust - Brainchild [Deluxe Edition]
• Circle of Dust - Disengage [Deluxe Edition]
• Circle of Dust - Machines of Our Disgrace
• Circle of Dust - Metamorphosis [Deluxe Edition]
• Collide - Chasing the Ghost
• Collide - Some Kind of Strange
• Collide - Two Headed Monster
• Emigrate - Silent So Long
• How to Destroy Angels [EP]
• How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
• Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral [Deluxe Edition]
• Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
• Nine Inch Nails - Further Down the Spiral
• Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I - IV
• Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks [Deluxe Edition] 
• Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
• Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
• Nine Inch Nails - Things Falling Apart
• Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth [UK Import with Bonus Tracks]
• Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
• Rammstein - Stripped [Single]
• Various Artists - Spawn (Film Soundtrack)

Metal (Progressive):

• Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Lost in the New Real 
• Star One - Space Metal [Limited Edition]
• Star One - Victims of the Modern Age [Limited Edition] 
• Tool - 10,000 Days

Metal (Symphonic):

• After Forever - Mea Culpa (Greatest Hits) 
• Apocalyptica - Worlds Collide 
• Luciferian Light Orchestra
• Nightwish - Imaginaerum [Deluxe Edition]
• Nightwish - Dark Passion Play [Deluxe Edition]
• Nightwish - Once
• Sirenia - An Elixir for Existence
• Sirenia - At Sixes and Sevens
• Tarja - Colours in the Dark
• Therion - A'Arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming
• Therion - The Crowning of Atlantis
• Therion - Deggial
• Therion - Lemuria
• Therion - Lepaca Kliffoth
• Therion - Secret of the Runes
• Therion - Sirius B
• Therion - Theli [Deluxe Edition]
• Therion - Vovin
• Tristania - Ashes
• Tristania - Beyond the Veil
• Tristania - Illumination
• Tristania - Widow's Weeds
• Tristania - World of Glass

Musicals:

• Jeff Wayne - War of the Worlds
• Jeff Wayne - War of the Worlds: The New Generation
• Justin Hurwitz - La La Land (Film Soundtrack)

Pop:

• Chumbawamba - Tubthumper [Japanese Import with Bonus Tracks]
• The Corrs - Forgiven Not Forgotten
• The Eurythmics - For Love of Big Brother (1984 Film Soundtrack)
• The Gorillaz - Demon Days
• Madonna - Ray of Light
• Sting - Brand New Day
• Various Artists - Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (Film Soundtrack) [Deluxe Edition]

Rap:

• Beastie Boys - Solid Gold Hits
• Die Fantastichen Vier - Ernten Was Wir Säen [Single]

Rock:

• Anti-M - Damage
• Blue Man Group - Audio
• Blue Man Group - The Complex 
• David Bowie - All Saints (The Instrumentals)
• David Bowie - Nothing Has Changed (Greatest Hits)
• Ian Brown - Golden Greats 
• Journey - Essential Journey (Greatest Hits)
• Led Zeppelin - Mothership (Greatest Hits)
• Scandroid
• Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Best Of [Deluxe Edition] 
• Sunhouse - Monkey Dead [Single]
• The White Stripes - Elephant
• The White Stripes - Icky Thump
• The Who - Quadrophenia [Deluxe Edition]

Rock (Grunge):

• Nirvana
• Nirvana - Nevermind [Deluxe Edition]
• Nirvana - Unplugged in New York [Live]
• Pearl Jam - Ten [Deluxe Edition]

Rock (Hard):

• Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
• Morningwood 
• Rage Against the Machine
• Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles 
• Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
• Rage Against the Machine - Renegade
• Shinedown - Us and Them
• Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny
• Van Halen - Best of Both Worlds (Greatest Hits)
• Wolfmother 
• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Isis
• Various Artists - Snakes on a Plane: The Album (Film Soundtrack)

Score Music:

• Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill Sounds Box (Video Game Scores) [Japanese Import]
• Basil Poledoris - Conan the Barbarian (Film Score) [Deluxe Edition]
• Bear McCreary - Battlestar Galactica Seasons 1 - 4 (TV Score)
• Bear McCreary - Battlestar Galactica: The Plan / Razor (Film Score)
• Brain, Marc Canham, and Nathan Johnson - Infamous: Second Son (Video Game Score)
• Clint Mansell - Doom (Film Score)
• Clint Mansell - The Fountain (Film Score) 
• Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet - Requiem for a Dream (Film Score)
• The Dust Brothers - Fight Club (Film Score) 
• Graeme Revell - Red Planet (Film Soundtrack)
• Hans Zimmer - Interstellar (Film Score)
• Hans Zimmer - Man of Steel (Film Score) [Deluxe Edition]
• Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Film Score)
• Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Film Score) [Complete Recordings]
• Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Film Score) 
• Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Film Score) [Complete Recordings]
• Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Film Score)
• Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Film Score) [Complete Recordings]
• Jeremy Soule - Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Video Game Score)
• John Williams - Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Film Score)
• John Williams - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Film Score) [Special Edition]
• Masara Nishida - Burst Angel (TV Score) [Perfect Edition] 
• Steve Jablonsky - Pain & Gain (Film Score)
• Tomandandy - Resident Evil: Afterlife (Film Score)
• Toto - Dune (Film Score)
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Film Score)
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Gone Girl (Film Score)
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network (Film Score)
• Tyler Bates and Joel R. Richard - John Wick (Film Soundtrack)
• Vangelis - Blade Runner (Film Score) [25th Anniversary Edition]
• Yasushi Ishii - Hellsing: Raid (TV Score)
• Yasushi Ishii - Hellsing: Ruins (TV Score)
• Yuki Kajiura - Blanc Dans Noir (TV Score) 
• Yuki Kajiura - Madlax Volumes 1 and 2 (TV Score)
• Yuki Kajiura - Noir Volumes 1 and 2 (TV Score)

Mixed Genre Albums:

• Various Artists - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV Soundtrack)
• Various Artists - The Saint (Film Soundtrack)
• Various Artists - Tomb Raider (Film Soundtrack)
• Various Artists - Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (Film Soundtrack)

Digital Albums That Would Be On The Shelf:

• Blue Stahli - Antisleep Volumes 1 - 4
• Celldweller - The Terraform Drums Volume 1
• Celldweller - Time and Space [Expanded Edition]
• Celldweller - Transmissions Volumes 1 - 4
• Celldweller - Zombie Killer (Video Game Score)
• Cliff Martinez - The Neon Demon (Film Score)
• Cliff Martinez - Solaris (Film Score)
• Darren Korb - Transistor (Video Game Score)
• DJ Shadow - Pre-Emptive Strike
• The Glitch Mob - Piece of the Indestructible [EP]
• The Glitch Mob - We Can Make The World Stop [EP]
• John Carpenter - Lost Themes 
• Juno Reactor - Beyond the Infinite
• Juno Reactor - Bible of Dreams
• Juno Reactor - The Golden Sun of the Great East
• Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory [EP]
• Linkin Park - Underground 2 - 16
• Massive Attack - Ritual Spirit [EP]
• Paul Leonard-Morgan - Dredd (Film Score)
• Phutureprimitive - Kinetik

Film Review: John Wick: Chapter 2

"You stabbed the devil in the back. To him this isn't vengeance, this is justice."--Ian McShane
----------------------------------------
First, they took his car and killed his puppy. He made them pay. Now, John Wick comes back to reclaim his car and his life. But as another chapter unfolds in his tragic, blood-soaked saga, Wick is inevitably sucked back into the criminal underworld for another episode of vengeance.

As any good sequel should do, John Wick: Chapter 2 plays off of previous events and escalates the tension to overload. Even though Wick got his revenge in the last movie, his past returns again, this time in the form of an unfulfilled oath he's forced to honor. For the first half of the movie, he goes through the motions of fulfilling his debt--a job that takes him to Rome to assassinate a high-profile target. Things don't go as planned. The hunter becomes the hunted. More people have to pay, but this time it may really cost Wick everything.

Action is what sells this series, and it's just as good as the the first film, if not better. The opening scene alone is loud, fast, and relentless. The respite is short before John Wick takes on a whole army of henchmen. He does so with such skill, speed, and efficiency, it becomes a ballet of mayhem.

What makes it so engrossing is that the story is still quite strong. Even though the personal stakes aren't quite as profound this time, the theme of a man contending with his past and his own violent nature remains. The film finds other strong elements to keep the story glued together--compelling external forces of honor and rules, all of which tie back to the unique universe that Wick works in. The literal criminal underworld is livelier than ever--not only does it have its own currency and authority, but also its own accounting office, switchboard, and council. And it all conspires to kill Wick at every turn, leading up to an incredible finale where there are no safe havens anymore. The cliffhanger ending promises that a third chapter will be a total chaos.

Through all this, the film's greatest strengths are in the way it builds tension through threat. Wick was empowered in the first film, but this time he suffers more. Every fight is a struggle. Every twist could kill him. Every friend becomes an enemy, and possibly vice-versa. It's made all the punchier with the film's diligent attention to realistic gunplay (although other absurdities exist).

On top of that, there's a mythic quality to these films, and it becomes more evident among the streets and catacombs of Rome. Wick, much like Kratos in the God of War video games, defies and fights authorities controlling his fate, in the midst of personal loss. Married with the rules, settings, and world-building, the entire John Wick saga becomes a modern-day epic that echoes Greek tragedy. Also, this is probably the closest thing we have to a live-action version of the Noir anime series (which not only had some crazy action and worldbuilding of its own, but also dealt with similar themes of fate).

Keanu Reeves returns with the same stoic, grizzled demeanor, and his dedication to the stuntwork shines amidst the film's neon colors--all of which is captured with skillful photography. In a few amusing scenes, Laurence Fishburne tries his best to chew the scenery, clearly drawing attention to the fact that he and Reeves shared the spotlight in a certain other action film before. Ian McShane fills the shoes of "management" perfectly. Ruby Rose plays a deaf henchman--easily one of the most interesting villains of the lot. Common plays another one, and I was okay with it. Riccardo Scamarcio--a guy I loved to hate. Claudia Gerini--nice. Few other players from the first movie reprise their roles and help maintain the continuity seamlessly. The script is as solid as before. This production boasts fantastic-looking sets, props, costumes, and locales. Music score by Tyler Bates and Joel R. Richard reprises the same soundscapes as the first movie, and it's still one of the most awesome soundtracks I know of. New songs sound fairly cool.

A far better continuation than I initially expected--John Wick's continuing struggles are harder, grittier, more intense. Not only because of the sheer body count (which is through the roof), but also because of the nature of the story and the way it pushes Wick deeper and deeper into his own personal Hell. It's a must-see for action-fans.

Even if you missed out on the first movie, don't sweat it. These films have a fantastic way of showing you all you need to know, and the minute you see Wick in the opening scene, you'll know he's not a man to mess with.

4.5/5

Al's Inspiration Shelf for Books

Over the past several months, I've decided to parse out a lot of my favorite things among my collections to identify what it is I can draw inspiration from. In the past week, I finally moved all these things to their own dedicated shelves. I refer to these as my personal "inspiration shelves."

My History With Books

When it comes to books, I find I'm quite the picky reader (and if you've seen my book reviews here, that might be obvious).

In my youngest years, the earliest books I would have laid eyes on would have been a plethora of Dr. Seuss books (in particular, Wacky Wednesday, Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish), A Fly Went By, The Hungy Hungry Caterpillar, and maybe some Shel Silversteen (The Giving Tree is still in a box in my closet). I don't know if I was really mindful enough to appreciate these in a deeper level, but they were fun.

First books I ever read as a kid on my own: the My Teacher is an Alien series. Pretty fun concept, but at that time I don't think I really enjoyed the stories as much as I wanted to. Reading it felt like a chore. Lots of other books I've run across seem to come off the same way for some reason or another.

I did find books I enjoyed though. In school, we studied the classics, obviously. Select works of Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet always was pretty entertaining, but studying Hamlet in-depth was a real eye-opener for me personally). John Steinbeck's The Pearl and Of Mice and Men appealed to me a lot--the latter in particular might be one of the first and most original examples of how character dynamics really blew me away. I'd take it on my own initiative to read The Grapes of Wrath--can't say I found it an easy read, but I understood it fundamentally. I remember reading and enjoying Wilson Rawls' Where the Red Fern Grows, J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, and of course countless short stories. In college classes, I'd read up on gothic novels (with Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, William Beckford's Vahtek, some H.P. Lovecraft) and science fiction (more on that soon). We probably had some Mark Twain, Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe, and other such classics on the curriculum at some point or another.

In a classroom environment, reading is usually a chore. Homework and essays may have helped me examine the literature critically, but it rarely felt like an enjoyable activity. Aside from some select classics, I'd find more solidarity exploring science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries on my own. As a kid, I would have read Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, some Hardy Boys, and some Encyclopedia Brown.

A couple of interesting standouts as an older kid would have been the works of Stephen Baxter (Anti-Ice was neat and The Time Ships blew me away), some Star Trek books, some Star Wars books (Kevin J. Anderson's work in particular floored me at the time). I tried some heavier sci-fi works, like Ian McDonald's Evolution's Shore and Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, but those I couldn't really comprehend or enjoy. Maybe I wasn't ready for them at the time.

By high school, I would have started digging into Stephen King more (The Shining, The Stand, Christine, short stories from Different Seasons--all would be cemented as personal favorites). I think I started reading Michael Crichton around that time too (to this day his work hasn't done me wrong yet). I started a trend of reading books that were turned into movies--L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth was a big one at the time (although the less that's said about the film adaptation, the better). I also read the novelization for Event Horizon (not realizing the book came after the movie). That trend continues to this day though--by now, I've read the novels for most of the movies I always treasured (such as A Clockwork Orange, Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes, Lord of the Rings, Psycho, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Silence of the Lambs, various James Bond novels, and more).

In college, I took courses on gothic novels, science fiction, and a class that studied the differences between films and novels. The latter would help me appreciate the film Apocalypse Now (thanks to its connection to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness--wasn't an easy read for me, but I absolutely loved its thematic material). The other classes gave me exposure to the classics of horror and a good selection of sci-fi works. In the sci-fi class, I read such books as Arthur C. Clark's Childhood's End, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Frederick Pohl's Gateway, William Gibson's Neuromancer, and more. This lot was an extremely fun curriculum for me, even if I couldn't fully enjoy all the books.

Around that same time, I delved into anime for the first time, so I also started reading some of the manga that derived it. For the longest time, I would have put Kentaro Miura's Berserk on the pedestal as the best story ever crafted. Not sure if I'd make that claim today, but the 1997 anime and the original manga truly did stagger my imagination and I was smitten with its characterizations and the way they drove the plot. I found mangas extremely breezy and fun to read, so I'd go on to read some Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach, Gantz, Black Lagoon, Akira, Hellsing, and more. In time, I'd also turn my attention to western graphic novels--I never liked the idea of comic books, since they were serialized and reading one meant it had to bleed into other issues. But omnibuses, compendiums, and complete graphic novels appealed to me. I got Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Kick-Ass, and some others under my belt. As a kid, I would have read the Death of Superman, World Without Superman, and Return of Superman (or Reign of the Supermen) collections, and I would buy and re-read them as an adult with just as much joy. Batman: Knightfall was another big series that enthralled me as a kid--I don't even remember if I read the comics for it on its release (might have read its novelization instead), but I bought and read them some years ago as a grown-up, and was mighty impressed.

Now that I've taken writing more seriously in a way, I keep telling myself I need to read more. I have read approximately 240 books in my lifetime. I have learned from a lot of them and they've helped shape the way I imagine things. Lately, they have also helped me see what works and what doesn't in writing.

Books I enjoy tend to be shorter in length. I find it tedious to read though page-after-page of description or dense prose (as it is with Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, Frank Herbert's Dune, and nothing is more daunting than to crack open Hubert Selby's Jr.'s Requiem for a Dream and see nothing but wall-to-wall text with no paragraph breaks). I like books that have forward momentum--whether that's action or not depends, but it's always the conflict that captivates me. Without conflict, there is no story. But when there is conflict, where character motivations clash and there are stakes involved and tension and taut pacing--then I find myself relishing the text. Characterization is important too, but I might find it frustrating if a plot stalls in favor of character beats.

I find myself gravitating towards science fiction often, both classic and modern. I think I've always liked reading about space exploration, extraterrestrials, robots, dystopian governments. I'm also okay with reading horror (especially Stephen King), thrillers and mysteries, certain fantasies, and whatever else seems cool. I've come to realize that I prefer shorter books--tomes that are huge and wordy are daunting, but most of my favorites are short and breezy.

 

What's On The Inspiration Shelf?

Most books I've read and enjoyed, I would have sold or donated over the years. I rarely held onto books, until I realized I ought to keep the ones that truly moved me. I wound up rebuying some used. A couple I have only on the Kindle. For all intents and purposes, I plan to list all the books here that are and aren't on the shelf physically. I'll update this post as new works are discovered.

On top of fiction, manga, and graphic novels, I've also got travel books, art books, and non-fiction. Whatever I felt I could open up on a whim and find something valuable--either something to reflect on, something informative, or something funny. I found I picked up a lot of books on folklore and myth, usually from my travels. I've also ran across interesting-looking speculative books. I may want to start finding books that study some of my favorite characters (so far I only have one).

You might think this selection is weird, but hopefully you'll find something that catches you eye and might inspire you too.

Fiction

• All You Need Is Kill (Hiroshi Sakurazaka)
• Animal Farm (George Orwell)
• The Best of H.P. Lovecraft
• Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
• Childhood's End (Arthur C. Clark)
• Christine (Stephen King) 
• A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
• Different Seasons (Stephen King)
• The Dig (Alan Dean Foster) 
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick)
• Dr. No (Ian Fleming)
• The Dream in the Witch House (H.P. Lovecraft)
• Dune (Frank Herbert)
• Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
• Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
• Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuck)
• Gateway (Frederick Pohl)
• The Harry Potter collection (J.K. Rowling)
• The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkein)
• The Illiad (Homer) 
• The Inferno (Dante Alighieri)
• The Jedi Academy Trilogy (Kevin J. Anderson, first book autographed)
• Nineteen-Eighty-Four (George Orwell) 
• The Odyssey (Homer)
• The Purgatorio (Dante Alighieri)
• A Scanner Darkly (Philip K. Dick)
• The Shining (Stephen King)
• The Short Novels of John Steinbeck (Tortilla Flat, The Moon Is Down, The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, The Pearl)
• The Silence of the Lambs (Thomas Harris)
• The Time Machine (H.G. Wells) 
• The Time Ships (Stephen Baxter)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne) 
• War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)
• A Wrinkle In Time (Madeleine L'Engle)

Manga

• Akira volumes 1 - 6 (Katsuhiro Otomo)
• Berserk volumes 1 - 37 (Kentaro Miura)
• Full Metal Alchemist volumes 1 - 14 (Hiromu Arakawa)
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind collection (Hayao Miyazaki)

Graphic Novels

• Batman: Knightfall omnibuses
• Death of Superman / World Without a Superman / Return of Superman omnibuses
• Eagle Annual: The Best of the 1950s Comic
• The End of the World (Don Hertzfeldt, autographed)

Non-Fiction

• Book of Secrets 
• The Case of the Killer Robot (Richard G. Epstein)
• Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears (Matthew P. Mayo)
• Don't Swallow Your Gum and Other Medical Myths Debunked (Dr. Aaron Carroll and Dr. Rachel Vreeman)
• The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena (J. Gordon Melton)
• Exploring the Unexplained: The World's Greatest Marvels, Mysteries, and Myths
• The Future of the Mind (Michio Kaku)
• Geek Wisdom: Embracing the Sacred Teachings of Pop Culture
• Gothic Whitby (Colin Waters)
• How To Build a Time Machine (Paul Davies)
• How To Defeat Your Own Clone and Other Tips for Surviving the Biotech Revolution (Kyle Kurpinski and Terry D. Johnson)
• How To Survive the Zombie Apocalypse (Max Brooks) 
• I Used To Know That (Caroline Taggart)
• The Myths and Legends of Ireland: Tales of a Magical and Mysterious Past (Ronald Pearsall) 
• Outlaw Women: America's Most Notorious Daughters, Wives, and Mothers (Robert Barr Smith)
• Scottish Myths and Legends (Judy Hamilton) 
• Scottish Myths and Legends (a different one)
• Scottish Witches and Wizards (Lily Seafield) 
• Wanted Posters of the Old West and Stories Behind the Crimes (Barbara Fifer and Martin Kidston)
• The Wonderful Future That Never Was

Art

• Art Deco
• Art of the Surrealists (Edmund Swinglehurst)
• The Life and Works of Escher (Miranda Fellows)
• Michelangelo and Raphael in the Vatican

Travel

• Bath tour guide
• Beautiful Bayern
• England: The Mini-Book of Aerial Views (Adrian Warren and Dae Sasitorn)
• 59 Illustrated National Parks
• Germany photo book
  
• Mainz Kastel tour book
• Mazes and Follies (Adrian Fisher)
• Mesa Verde: The Story Behind the Scenery
• Moab Rock Art tour guide
• Mysterious Northumberland (Rupert Matthews)
• Pompeii 2,000 Years Ago and Today
• Rock Art of the Southwest (Liz and Peter Welsh)
• Scotland: Myths and Legends (Beryl Beare)
• Utah travel guide
• Versailles tour guide

Character

• 20 Years of Tomb Raider (Meagan Marie)

Humor

• The Complete Far Side (Gary Larson)
• The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: A Definitive Encyclopaedia Of Existing Information

Books on Kindle That Would Be on the Shelf

• DNA Wars (formerly Masque, F. Paul Wilson and Matthew J. Costello)
  

Books Not Currently Owned That Would Be on the Shelf

• A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
• Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (Stephen King)
• The Great Train Robbery (Michael Crichton)
• The Green Mile (Stephen King)
• The Hunger Games Trilogy (Suzanne Collins) 
• The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)
• Misery (Stephen King)
• Sphere (Michael Crichton)
• The Stand (Stephen King) 
• Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein)
• Timeline (Michael Crichton)
• Ubik (Philip K. Dick)
• Vathek (William Beckford)

Book Review: Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)

“See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places."--Neal Stephenson
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When early Macintosh computers broke down, they puked up a bitmap of gibberish that vaguely resembled static on a broken TV. This is a "snow crash," at least according to Stephenson in his essays. In his cyberpunk novel, he spins an incredible, twisty, epic yarn suggesting that some day, the entire human race could become scrambled by a massive "snow crash."

From page one onwards, this book is crammed with detail. It is an insane future unlike any other--the world Stephenson depicts is fractured into tiny little pieces, each occupied by cultural, corporate, and racial niches that seem to always be at war with each other. The best, craziest, and most entertaining slice of this bizarre life is evident in the first chapter--pizza delivery, run by the Cosa Nostra (that's right, the Italian mafia). This first chapter caught my attention precisely because a simple, innocuous profession is blown out of proportion, and it's a hoot. The pizza guy is now the "Deliverator." He wields samurai swords and delivers pizza within 30 minutes or else he faces the mafia's wrath. Then he's "pooned" by a kourier--a chick on a skateboard. One thing leads to another, and this is how our two protagonists meet (and of all things, the main hero is named Hiro Protagonist--I can't make this stuff up). Something about this opening was charming. It was awesome. It was hilarious and hyperbolic.

Problem is, there's another 450 pages to this book, and somehow it looses all its charm as it drags on and on. I believe most of the issue revolves around the sheer amount of prose the author indulges in--page after page is spent describing how things work in this world. It is interesting in bursts, and it's at its best when it's extreme, strange, and brimming with personality. And it often is. But it is exposition in the end, and it's delivered relentlessly in the author's voice. Reading huge chunks of this became quite a chore. Big pieces of expository dialogue in the middle--where a librarian explains the whole history of Sumerian culture and a neuro-linguistic virus latent in mankind--is especially tedious.

But it's not all a bore, necessarily. The characters are quite well-drawn, especially the two mains. Hiro and Y.T. (short for "Yours Truly") definitely put the "punk" in cyberpunk. Their attitudes and spunk consistently pushes their zany adventures in the real world and the Metaverse. In some parts, the character voice comes through and delivers the book's punchiest scenes.

The story as a whole--I couldn't even tell what was happening. Snow Crash is presented as the thing that kicks off the story--it turns out to be a drug. And it works by interfacing with something latent in human genes--ancient Sumerian language was able to program the human brain like a computer, and language was a virus that could take control or damage it. Thus, a major power wanted to use the Snow Crash drug to seize control of mankind in a way that was both virtual and biological.

Fascinating concepts, but I could only grasp them by reading the synopsis after the fact. Scene-by-scene, the book is laid out in vignettes that's interesting in parts, but hard to connect as a whole. Part of the problem is that the characters acted without much indication of what they wanted or what direction they were heading. I never really understood their motivations. A few personal stakes keep the characters glued to the action, but it's very easy to forget about them.

Biggest issues may be the aforementioned exposition, which comes off as objective most of the time. In a few spots, the book assumes the POV of "rat things," which is awesome. Other times, it's more interested in describing the world rather than immersing the reader in it or the character thoughts. Then there's action--tons of it. When you have bullets and rockets flying and people on skateboards all over the place and sword-swinging and countless crazy inventions and everything else, the book becomes exhausting, especially when it consistently remains detached from the characters.

It all could have been trimmer in the end. Fewer words to describe the world and how it worked. Fewer words to describe the action. A more to-the-point exploration of the Sumerian stuff. Some scenes could have been removed entirely--they seemed to have no bearing on the main plot at all.

It's a shame, because the book has some moments of brilliance, hilarity, insanity, and intelligence. There's a lot of cool stuff in there and chances are sci-fi readers will soak it all in regardless of the issues I've griped about. Much like the Neuromancer, this is one of those books that's worthwhile reading, but I can't say I necessarily liked the experience of it much.

2.5/5 

Video Game Review: Crysis 2

Around 2009, I first heard about Crysis. It was described to me as a game so detailed and complex that you can measure a computer's capabilities based on whether it could even run the game. So when the sequel came out in 2011, I had to see for myself just how gorgeous it actually is.

Crysis 2 offered its fair share of spectacle. It puts the player in the boots of a special kind of supersoldier. With the simple press of a button, your nanosuit could either become a hardened shell, or invisible. Those two options alone could empower you to either sneak across the battlefield, or take opponents head-on. With this kind of power, your goal is to play through the story--this time, guided through the streets of New York City while it is besieged by the Ceph. You get to be in the middle of it all when ships careen through the air, buildings come crashing down, and hoards of aliens raise mysterious structures in the rubble.

By 2011 standards, the game looks okay. Cut scenes look sharp and clean, while each level is ordained in heavy amounts of detail, gritty-looking textures, and very solid light and shadow effects. Particles are everywhere. However, in six years the game has long been surpassed in quality--today, it looks pixilated, to the point of becoming gaudy. What makes it worse is that movement, especially when aliens cut in front of you, tend to look blurred (and I suspect it's on purpose for some reason). It's far from smooth and clean, although on a good PC maybe it would be clearer. On the plus side, sound, music, and voices are all well-done, and controls are fine for what they are.

The game overall is fine for what it is: pretty typical shooter that only offers the added benefit of the nanosuit. It is a really cool thing to be able to survey a battlefield and plot your course before engaging, thanks to tactical vision. Supplies, guns, flanking positions, sneaking positions, and usable objects become highlighted for you. You have the freedom to progress through areas the way you want to: by sneaking or by fighting. However, the game itself is still very linear--it would be spectacular if the city was an open-world map (and as I understand it the first Crysis was all open). But as it is, the game forces you through episode after episode of straightforward levels and objectives. They aren't bad levels by any means--the first few are very effective in teaching you how the game works, and then there are some impressive battles to be fought. But like any shooter, it becomes exhausting and frustrating to get pinned down or swarmed by countless enemies.

The story for this game is okay. We've all seen alien invasions before, in and out of games. We've all seen the same ol' Call of Duty style combat. in and out of games. We've all seen these cliched characters before--you play the heroic soldier, of course, but there's also megalomaniac commanders, crazy scientists, and self-righteous civilians to guide you to the finale. While not a terrible campaign, I felt it was very typical and broke no new ground.

So, this is Crysis 2. If you play shooters, it'll be familiar territory for you. Only this time, you get a cool new suit and a strikingly vivid urban environment to play around in. But it's not an open environment, you're tunneled through a narrow, familiar, and cliched story. Worth a playthrough if you can handle it (and you probably can, this isn't as hard or frustrating as Call of Duty or anything). Nowadays though, we can probably do better.

3.5/5

Film Series Review: Battles Without Honor or Humanity (The Yakuza Papers) (Jingi Naki Tatakai)

World War II ended with a bang that changed the modern world in more ways than anybody could have predicted. After the atom bombs fell, all classic sense of chivalry and honor evaporated from Japan's heart. In its place, a ruthless and terrifying force rose out of the shadow of Hiroshima and swept across the country. To this day, the fingers of it continue to stretch across oceans, instilling terror on the streets and in business boardrooms alike. We see them on TV, in video games, in anime--to the point of becoming their own stereotype. They are the Yakuza.

Between 1973 and 1974, five films came out to chronicle the epic story of how the Yakuza took power and became an untouchable powerhouse on the same level as the Cosa Nostra. The Sicilian Mafia was explored in a different corner of cinema just a couple of years earlier--The Godfather. It shares something in common with Battles Without Honor or Humanity, but while the Godfather exudes class and uses its story to dig into themes of family, Kinji Fukasaku's saga is purposefully rough around the edges and turns the camera away from family to focus on business.

All five films in Battles Without Honor or Humanity are rooted in real-life newspaper articles and manuscripts of genuine Yakuza activity. The first film tracks gang activity arising out of Kure and evolving into full-blown organized groups. Power struggles and clashing interests push the series' main character, Shozo Hirano, in and out of trouble. The second film (Deadly Fight in Hiroshima) becomes more of a stand-alone affair that follows a secondary character's ascension into the Yakuza, before he's betrayed and suffers a tragic downfall. The third film (Proxy War) is often cited as the best of the lot--it sees a little less street violence and more intercharacter drama and political maneuvering. The fourth film (Police Tactics) finally brings the law into the picture with cops struggling to enforce a big crackdown on the Yakuza. By Final Episode, the body count and collateral damage becomes exhausting.

By nature, the film retains a documentary-like style, with very rough photography and editing techniques. Colors are gaudy by nature, and the films overall are painted with a fair amount of blood and grit (and there may be a few shots of vomit or urine at certain moments). All the violent scenes stand out pretty strongly--even without the stylistic flourishes, the characters are often so wild and manic that their murderous tendencies ooze off the screen.

In between the swells of action, the films can become very droll. The biggest issue is that, because of the documentary style, the drama pushing all the stories are very dry and stuffy. There are a ton of scenes where characters sit around in a council or at a restaurant and spout exposition on who's doing what--with as many names and characters as the films juggle, it's impossible to keep track of every single political maneuver, so most of these scenes become tiresome.

However, the films are at their best when they focus on individuals. I could dig the first film strictly because of Hirano's journey from the slums of Kure to the big city--most of the scenes in the first act are pretty intense and gripping, in much the same way as watching how Tony Montanna rose to power among the rabble of immigrants in 1983's Scarface. And as long as Hirano remained the focus, the film remained fairly interesting up to its intense finale, when everybody holds each other at gunpoint and questions of loyalty arise. Similar strengths exist in the second film, and I wound up loving the cat-and-mouse chase at the end because it adhered so closely to one character. The other films have a smattering of good, individual scenes that help define whose these gangsters are. As a whole though, the stories are so complex and told with such a dry voice that it's easy to become burned out.

With a wide range of quality performances, all so full of energy and grit, there are flashes of personality and color at times. It's worth sticking with the series for those specific moments. To me, the first and second films had my attention and I appreciated them. Third, forth, fifth, started to lose me, but still had scenes worth seeing. I wouldn't call this whole thing an easy watch, but if you love crime and gangster films (especially from Asia), it is something that should be experienced once.

3.5/5 for each movie and the series overall.