Your Favorite Stories

Hopefully I haven't made a thread which has been used up and tired. I want to see what some of your favorite stories are. We all love berserk and some of us (myself included) hold it as our absolute favorite story ever. What has moved you? This can be any form of media at any time of life. Movies, books, manga, television, videogames, etc. For myself the list is long, but I'll keep it in categories. I'll combine comics/manga and film as a whole. Lets keep it polite.

MOVIES & TV
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Sopranos, Breaking bad, Game of thrones, and Deadwood stand out for myself more than anything in the last 10-15 years. Always enjoyed southpark as my sense of humor falls right in line.

My favorite movies constantly change, but a few favs are american history X, Warrior, and Lotr trilogy. I do appreciate artsy movies but I'll leave most of those to you guys. Enjoy so many and thats best in another thread.

Videogames
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Legacy of Kain was the first series that stood out. I love the theme, the characters, and the voice actors made a huge impact on me. I felt like I was in a real world, like reading a book, I was completely immersed. From blood omen to defiance I relished the complexity the series gave me at the time.

Silent hill 2 gave me not only chills, but by the end I felt disturbed by the entire messed up scenario that played out.

Books
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East of Eden. I read this book at a time I could really relate to the characters and is one of the few non fantasy themed stories that grabbed my attention

Riftwar series let me into a world I couldn't get enough of. Pug and the many characters of midkemia were always a treat. The many dimensions of space remind me a bit of berserk as well.

Dark tower series. King bores me, I won't lie, however I loved the gunslinger and his ka-tet. I would love to see it done justice in film.

Forgotten realms. Drizzt. That's all I have to say. I could read that dark elf all day.

Marvels infinity gauntlet: Thanos is god, X-cutioners song: Cable vs Stryfe vs Apocalypse vs Xmen, fatal attractions: Magneto kills it, phoenix saga: Arguably the best X storyline

Dc Kingdom come is my favorite title they have. Love it.

Well, there is the short end of everything. Chime in and if you think I might like something by what I listed I hope it has escaped me. Always looking for new time killers.

The older I get, the harder it is to choose my "favorite." I don't think I have very definitive feelings for a lot of creative works anymore, at least, not the kind that I can rank. When I was younger I believed in qualitatively selecting works based on their overall merits, often with pretty pretentious notions of what was important. But now? I just like to enjoy things, be entertained, expand my mind and knowledge. I don't care as much for, say, most entries on AFI's Top 100 list.

Anyway, that's a long-winded way of saying that I like what I like.

MOVIES
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God, it's been a long time since I saw something I'd count among my favorites. So, some older favorites: Dersu Uzala, Memento, Seven Samurai, Pulp Fiction, Empire Strikes Back, the Big Lebowski

TV
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Honestly I don't watch a ton of TV: The Wire, Seinfeld, Breaking Bad

VIDEOGAMES
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Much easier! Final Fantasy 6, Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Infinite Space, Mass Effect, Gone Home, Zelda 3

BOOKS
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Dune, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Neverwhere, Neuromancer, 1984, Conquistador

COMICS/MANGA
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Berserk, Vagabond, Akira, Slam Dunk, Sandman, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Books 1-2 are great), all of Scott McCloud and Chris Ware's work, The Walking Dead

bandofthehawk (Salem) said:

Forgotten realms. Drizzt. That's all I have to say. I could read that dark elf all day.

Click to expand...

Then you're in luck! Hear the likes of Ice-T and Felicia Day read the adventures of Drizzt in audiobook format! http://www.nerdist.com/2014/08/dungeons-dragons-audiobook-featuring-ice-t-felicia-day-and-more-available-for-free/

Edit: Made some adjustments after I realized I should be focusing on story.

Omg ice t....I might have to check that out but I'm a little bit afraid. I agree completely about just enjoying things these days. All of those video games I have enjoyed, some many times over the years. Dune has been mentioned so many times to me. That'll be next on my list of books. Maybe its just getting older, but I definitely find it harder to enjoy a lot. If I've seen it, read it, or played it in some better form it usually leaves me very meh.

bandofthehawk (Salem) said:

Dune has been mentioned so many times to me. That'll be next on my list of books.

Click to expand...

It's easily one of my favorite Scifi, and I really like Scifi.

I use to own watchmen but it was stolen from me (the comic) I literally just added the dark knight returns, both comic and cartoon, to my amazon cart. One of the only highly regarded arcs in the dc and marvel universe I never checked out. How is it and are the animation adaptions in any way up to par?

bandofthehawk (Salem) said:

I literally just added the dark knight returns, both comic and cartoon, to my amazon cart. One of the only highly regarded arcs in the dc and marvel universe I never checked out. How is it and are the animation adaptions in any way up to par?

Click to expand...

Well, I think it's remained one of the best American comics ever made. Transcendent for the genre, and helped to establish a whole new tone for comics (though it was done to death eventually...). I peeked through a bit of the animation a few months ago, and wasn't very impressed by it. It does adhere very closely to the source, though. It just doesn't adequately convey the atmosphere or intensity of the comic, I didn't think.

Ok, thanks for the info. I'll go in low expectations if I watch the film.

The film(s) are relatively good, but Michael Emerson was fucking awful as Joker. It's so bad. Whoever cast him made a bad choice. Weller did a good Bruce. He was flat at first, but then I got to the point where I wanted to hear more of him.

As for my list:

Movies

Transformers the Movie (1986) - It's my biggest nostalgia trip. I've watched it countless times. Easily my fave movie of all time.
Sunshine - Great Sci-Fi with a great score. The science in it isn't that great, but I think the message is more important anyways.
Inglorious Basterds - This is my favorite Tarantino film. Pulp Fiction is up there, but I just enjoyed this movie more.

Music

Tool - Any of their albums, really. They changed my life when I was in a deep depression in my late teens. They also made me think more about things.
Incubus - Up to Light Grenades, I had all of their albums memorized on the guitar. They were the definition of my high school music love.

Books

The Wastelands, by Stephen King - Easily his best book. Horror, action, you name it. I loved it.
Gunslinger, by Stephen King - Second only to The Wastelands

Comics

This is going to be broad, but I'll try my best to narrow it down:

Invincible by Robert Kirkman - It's easily the best comic series I've ever read. Just an all-out fantastic series.
Animal Man by Grant Morrison - Awesome, awesome series.
Silver Surfer Requiem by J. Michael Staczynski - Beautiful series, and regarded as one of the best Silver Surfer stories
Cosmic Odyssey, by Jim Starlin - Easily the best DC crossover ever. Spans the entire universe. So awesome.
All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison - The best Superman Story. Hands down.
Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid - The second best Superman Story, ever.
Batman: The Black Mirror, by Scott Snyder - So awesome.

Ok, stopping there for comics because I'll be typing all day.

TV

Babylon 5 - My favorite Sci-Fi show ever.
Venture Bros - Such a good show. Just a shame the seasons take 2-3 years to come out.
Rick and Morty - Fantastic show. I fell in love with it the moment I started watching it.
The entire DCAU - What needs to be said about it. It's just awesome.

Video Games

The Arkham games.

Great list. It's safe to say everything listed so far I have enjoyed at one time or another and will definitely check out the things I haven't.

Sunshine! I love this movie. Flew way under the radar and it's one of a few movies I bring out and ask people if they've seen or not.

Music
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I didn't even think about that. NIN, Rammstein, Tool, Nightwish, Die Antwoord, and White Zombie would be the main bands that I would go to. Like so much music, but those seem to be my constant. Most times I read berserk I have either something playing like ghost love score by nightwish or the anime ost behelit. I usually play the murder track when shit "gets real."