He seemed to disappear for 2 months from Oct-Dec, posted a few times 2 weeks ago, then nothing.

Weird as it is, I'd feel it'd be my duty to have a friend to let the 2+2 crowd know I bit the big one if that happened unexpectedly (knock on wood that doesn't happen)

I’ve been contemplating jumping in on The Dark Tower, but at the last minute I bought ASOIAF, but haven’t had time to read it. I’m not sure what to do at this point

Dark Tower is a really good series.

I initially bought the first 3 books back in the 90s but then King took forever to bring out the rest and the 4th was a bit of a side-step so I decided I'd just forget about them and leave it until he'd hopefully finish.

Picked them all up on audiobooks last year and they definitely deliver now.

Read ASOIAF 1st since every book in the series is great.

The Dark Tower has 1 book that is horrible and would be worth skipping if it wasn't for the fact there's a book after it so you need to read it to continue the story. Make sure you read The Wind Through The Keyhole after Wizard and Glass since that's where it takes place even though it was the last book written in the series.

Get through the first book. It can be a slog, but the second kicks into high gear within 100 pages and is often considered the favorite of those who have read the series

A couple things. 1) the bold is laughable. Dance is a book with almost zero purpose. I am not the only one to think so.

2) SoS in the Dark Tower series isn't as bad as everyone rags on it for, especially on re-read. I understand the hate for it on the first pass, but I think it grows on you the second time around.

3) do NOT read The Wind Through the Keyhole after WaG. First time through, it is much preferred to read the books in production order. Taking time away from the main quest to read not one, but two side stories is a tough ask. A lot of people find WaG to be a tough read on the first read through because it leaves the main storyline for the majority of the book. Read 1-7 and then 8 imo.

4) If you've already seen Game of Thrones season 1, set aside ASOIAF and read through the Dark Tower first. Then never see the movie.

Holy crap, never see the movie. Wait for HBO or Starz or Showtime to pick up the rights because **** Sony.

Proud to say I was that guy at work yesterday screaming at everyone "SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!"

So you've pretty actively regressed then.

Opinions vary.

Happy Rusev Day!

With all due respect to Schindler's List, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and of course The Godfather, I still lean toward Jurassic Park as my favorite film score.

Saving Private Ryan is the most subdued, subtle, and mystic film score I've ever heard. Nothing fits their respective movie better.

However, having said that, interesting that of the 5 film scores mentioned between the three of us, John Williams is the composer of 3 of them. I'm a pretty big soundtrack nerd, and JW is the undisputed GOAT in my mind.

Elmer Bernstein is right up there, though. James Horner has his moments, too.

Hans Zimmer can suck a fat one. He ruined music.

I very much enjoy Hans Zimmer's work on Inception, Gladiator, and to a lesser extent The Rock.

It seems you have greater awareness of the big composers' bodies of work than I do, but Thomas Newman and John Williams are the two who show up frequently when thinking of my favorite scores.

Scanning the respective discographies of Newman and Williams, I do quickly come to the conclusion that Williams's body of work is the more impressive of the two by a significant margin, which is saying something since I really love a lot of Newman's stuff (Shawshank Redemption, Meet Joe Black, Green Mile, Road to Perdition). Williams's catalog is insane.

Amazing soundtrack for an amazing movie:

I mark the hell out for the theme to The Natural, which is Randy Newman, not Thomas.

Newman's scores sound like a cheap ripoff of Hans Zimmer's scores to me. It makes sense, because Newman came out of Zimmer's masterclass (along with guys like Harry Gregson-Williams).

Jan A.P. Kacszmarek's score for Finding Neverland is one of my all-time favourites as well. Very piano heavy, but I tend to like that. Probably why I'm a fan of Horner as well, as so much of his work was piano heavy.

Danny Elfman's Batman is my favourite film score but I'm not very knowledgable about artists in that area.

If you want to talk about game scores though then no one comes close to Kenji Kondo.

You mean Koji Kondo?

I'm not particularly expecting them to win today, but it's refreshing to see an underdog story like the Bills that is actually likable, as opposed to this nonsensical notion of every underdog or long-term loser being auto-likable.

Having had season tickets for a few years in Seattle, I experienced many opposing fanbases, but my experience tailgating and bantering with Bills fans in 2004 has long stood out to me as the most positive one, and I've always been a Bills well-wisher since then. (Note: they thrashed us that day, which I think amplifies the compliment to the fans in question.)

Did they break tables then too?

^ I don't get it.

As an aside, I had conveniently forgotten that Richie Incognito was on the Bills. I hated that son of a ***** long before he became a household name for his Miami shenanigans, since he was the dirtiest Ram of many, many dirty Rams. So that's one unlikable aspect of this team. Thankfully Tyrod and Shady are easy to root for.

Man, those ones where the table doesn't break look brutal.

This was today. Trigger warning for female hard bump.