Your Own Personal Entertainment Folder: Five Things

The Entertainment Folder may be dead,
But it lives on - in this thread!

I want to know five Entertainment things that you'd say defined you - or, if not defined, then at least paint a pretty good picture of what you're into.

Tell us:

One Album, or Artist
One TV Show
One Book, or Author
One Film, or Director
And finally, because we're GRcade, One Game or Games Studio

Pick things that give a good all-round impression of who you are. Imagine you're on a first date and it's a gorgeous woman / man asking you this question. What Five Things would you pick?

Defined me is a bit strong! I am always changing my mind on things like this, what I think is the best thing ever today is probably not the same as I will think tomorrow. As you have used the word "defined" though, I guess you are looking for something a bit more meaningful than the last thing I shoved on Spotify?

One Album, or Artist

I would go with Guns n Roses. While they are no longer my favourite band (although I still listen to their albums sometimes) they were the first band that I gave a gooseberry fool about. I liked music before I listened to them, but I wasn't "into" music.

One TV Show

Quantum Leap or Red Dwarf. Still adore these two shows and still cry every night when I realise that Sam never made it home (spoiler alert).

One Book, or Author

Tolkien would be the obvious choice for me. I am going to go with Julian May though as that's somebody I doubt many people have heard of, I loved (and still love) the Saga of the Exiles and the Galatic Milieu trilogy. :wub:

One Film, or Director

As a kid it would have been Spielberg without question. Now I would probably go with Tarantino.

One Game or Games Studio

This one is impossible. Commodore/Nintendo/Sega were my childhood and since then I have no strong preference towards any console or studios. My favourite game series over the last few years has been Trials, so I guess I would answer Red Lynx, but that's not a proper answer.

As Moggy says dunno about defining as i like a mix of things and it changes so much so i'll go with a quick response answer with what first pops in my head for whetever i think was or is my most loved thing in each area.

One Album, or Artist
Smashing Pumpkins
One TV Show
X Files
One Book, or Author
Bryan Lee O'Malley - He wrote Scott Pilgrim, lost at sea and Seconds
One Film, or Director
Kevin Smith

And finally, because we're GRcade, One Game or Games Studio
If it's best game ever then it's Super Mario World.

Last edited by Skippy on Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

One Album, or Artist
Radiohead
One TV Show
The Simpsons
One Book, or Author
Captain Underpants
One Film, or Director
Steven Spielberg
One Game or Games Studio
Nintendo

One Album, or Artist
Ten, Pearl Jam.
One TV Show
Probably The Mighty Boosh.
One Book, or Author
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Phillip K Dick.
One Film, or Director
The Fast and the Furious. Director wise I could watch classic Tim Burton forever.
One Game or Games Studio
Dont really have one, flip a coin between Counter Strike and KotOR.

I'll start with the easy pick. Arrested Development is the greatest TV show of all time. It's hilarious, but it's also absolutely genius. Not only does it still make me laugh every time I watch an episode, it also makes me marvel at just how witty and self-referential it is. Almost every line is funny. It's almost depressing - a younger me would have loved to write for TV shows, but I know I could never reach these kinds of heights. What a show.
China Mieville's books are just superb. The Scar is my favourite, although it can only really be read after reading Perdido Street Station, which is also incredible. I'd also recommend The City & The City, Embassytown and if you're younger or not against reading 'YA' fiction, Un Lun Dun. No other author has provided so many jaw-dropping moments - and I hate to use cliche, but it's true. I don't want to spoil them though... It's almost depressing - a younger me would have loved to become a fiction author, but I know I could never reach these kinds of heights.
Chris Nolan's movies usually tick all the boxes for me (although Interstellar fell short). Inception is probably my favourite film ever. I loved Memento, The Prestige and all three DK movies. It's almost depressing etc
It simply must be Nintendo. Rare would have been a candidate once (B-K, DKC2, Goldeneye) but no-one can touch The Big N when it comes to classic gaming moments. Pure wub. :wub:

And so to album or artist. This one is the absolute hardest. My favourite band is the Manics, but I'm going to go with a different choice, because all my picks so far have a kind-of theme: producers of entertainment of such a high standard and quality, that it's almost unbelievable. Meticulously planned and thought-through, with layers upon layers of brilliance that reward repeated interactions. So I'm going to go for the magnificent Sufjan Stevens and the album Michigan, in particular.

Last edited by Tafdolphin on Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.

One Album Arcade Fire: Funeral
One TV Show The Wire
One Book Confederacy of Dunces/Slaughterhouse 5
One Film Before Sunset
One Game Oooh, tough one. Right now it'd be Life is Strange as it's one of the most genuinely interesting games of recent years.

One Album, or Artist
Can't pick just one, my musical tastes are too varied and awesome.

One TV Show
Curb Your Enthusiasm - because I really relate to Larry David (although he has more hair than me).

One Book, or Author
Watchmen - because I like deep stories but I'm also a kid at heart so I love a good graphic novel, and this one is the best (strawberry float you yes it is!)

One Film, or Director
Heat - because it's my favourite.
Honourable mentions to Predator, Aliens and Die Hard.

One Game or Games Studio
Football Manager....because I love boring spreadsheets and fancy myself a bit of a Fergie.

PunBuck McSquintil Christmas wrote: I loved Memento, The Prestige and all three DK movies.

My brain read that as "all three Donkey Kong movies" and I was quite confused. :lol:

One Album, or Artist
Ryan Adams definitely as an artist, difficult to pick an album
One TV Show
Lost was the show I've adored more than any other, even if it did finish in an unsatisfying manner
One Book, or Author
The Revelation Space series by Alistair Reynolds
One Film, or Director
Jurassic Park and Tarantino
One Game or Games Studio
Zelda Ocarina of Time and Nintendo, although I'm not sure I'd bring this up on a first date with a beautiful woman....

One Album, or Artist
Dream Theater
One TV Show
Survivor
One Book, or Author
Agatha Christie
One Film, or Director
Alfred Hitchcock
One Game or Games Studio
Nintendo

Tafdolphin wrote:One Album Arcade Fire: Funeral

Skippy wrote:One TV Show
The Simpsons

You mean seasons three through eight of The Simpsons, right?

Tomous wrote:One Film, or Director
Jurassic Park and Tarantino

I want to see this reboot

Last edited by Ironhide on Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

One Album, or Artist
Queens of the Stone Age - Had a bit of trouble deciding which band/artist to choose here but eventually opted for Mr. Homme and friends, not entirely sure what it is I like about this band the most, the ever shifting line up, the raw, sleazy sound of Josh's guitar/lyrics, the amazing variety of musical styles that still have the unmistakable QOTSA sound or something less tangible than that.

One TV Show
Futurama - As much as I love(d) the Simpsons, I can't help but like this more, no other show has ever quite managed to combine such brilliant and often subtle humour with genuinely emotional scenes, Jurassic Bark is possibly the only episode of a TV show that has ever made me cry during my adulthood.

One Book, or Author
Philip K. Dick - The guy was completely off his head with most of his ideas but he was also an utter genius, Science fiction wouldn't be the same without his contribution to the genre and for that I salute him.

One Film, or Director
Quentin Tarantino - I know there's better directors out there but very few can make films with such style and coolness as this guy, his ability to pick such awesome soundtracks from obscure 50's, 60's and 70's artists is second to none.

One Game or Games Studio
Sega (in their console making days) - nearly everything up until the untimely end of the Dreamcast was great, sure, they made a few mis-steps over the years but they were never afraid of innovation.

One Album, or Artist
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm. Shaped some of my teenage years. And I'm a romantic at heart.

One TV Show
Has to be the Simpsons. Although The Wire runs it a close second, I genuinely contemplated moving to America and becoming a cop for a while as i watched it. God knows why.

One Book, or Author
Alice in Wonderland. Perfectly covered my druggy years. Got trapped in the book once as my friends turned into talking rabbits. It was great.

One Film, or Director
LoTR I guess. Never loved a film series more.

And finally, because we're GRcade, One Game or Games Studio
FIFA. It's pretty much the only game I've played in about 5 years.

One Album, or Artist
Locust Abortion Technician by the Butthole Surfers

One TV Show
Peep Show

One Book, or Author
Kurt Vonnegut Jr (it was between him and Philip K Dick)

One Film, or Director
My life as a dog

One Game or Games Studio
Half Life 2

One Album, or Artist
The Barenaked Ladies as an artist. If I were to pick one album it'd probably be Stunt. It's folksy and whimsical but uses both styles to disguise pretty heavy emotion.

One TV Show
X Files. Rewatching earlier seasons it's actually pretty scary how much my taste in most things (humour, horror, strong confident women who are slightly angry at me) was shaped by watching The X Files.

One Book, or Author
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk maybe? Or A Certain Chemistry by Mil Millington. Or Rats in the Walls by Lovecraft. Or The Long Walk by Stephen King.

One Film, or Director
Lost in Translation.

One Game or Games Studio

Pokemon; Instalment.

Skarjo wrote:One Album, or Artist
The Barenaked Ladies as an artist. If I were to pick one album it'd probably be Stunt. It's folksy and whimsical but uses both styles to disguise pretty heavy emotion.

One TV Show
X Files. Rewatching earlier seasons it's actually pretty scary how much my taste in most things (humour, horror, strong confident women who are slightly angry at me) was shaped by watching The X Files.

One Book, or Author
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk maybe? Or A Certain Chemistry by Mil Millington. Or Rats in the Walls by Lovecraft. Or The Long Walk by Stephen King.

One Film, or Director
Lost in Translation.

One Game or Games Studio

Pokemon; Instalment.

Respect for 'Lost in Translation'. Great choice!

One Album, or Artist
Closer by Joy Division

One TV Show
Really struggled with this. In the end I go with MASH 4077 which I watched as a 14 year old at my mate's house, (my father didn't allow anything American at our own :fp:

or stuff that was black and white once he'd bought a colour telly - twat!!). I'm now watching this on 'True Entertainment' channel and it is still as human and funny as it was all those years ago.

One Book, or Author
I'm going to go for poetry because I can :datass:

Any translated collection of poems by the Japanese poet Ryokan such as 'One Robe, One Bowl' translated by John Stevens. I go back to these again and again and again.

One Film, or Director
This is an odd one as I am a devout atheist but my choice is 'Into Great Silence' by Philip Groning. A film that follows the monks inside the Grande Chartreuse, largely in silence. However, I find there to be a dignity in the monk's lives of silence and restraint which is deeply affecting.

One Game or Games Studio
Journey by That Game Company. (It was either that or Ico which is odd seeing as I am a Nintendo boy at heart and yet I feel that both of those games out-Nintendoed Nintendo and credit where it is due and all that.....)

(So ends the marks of the Swedish jury...)

PunBuck McSquintil Christmas wrote:
Tomous wrote:One Film, or Director
Jurassic Park and Tarantino

I want to see this reboot

Samuel L Jackson can reprise his role at least.

One Album, or Artist
Queen. No band has ever captured me like Queen do, and no band has ever had such an impact on my life. I was raised on Queen from before I was born.

One TV Show
Do you even need to ask? Star Trek. Deep Space Nine if you make me choose just one.

One Book, or Author
Again, do you need to ask? Douglas Adams, by a country mile.

One Film, or Director
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Everything a Trek movie should be, IMO.

One Game or Games Studio
Rockstar Games. I think my love for their output is pretty well documented.

Your Own Personal Entertainment Folder: Five Things

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