Movies
Click here to see what's on my radar for the future.
I saw somebody put up a list of what they said were the best Western movies and I didn't want to forget it... but they also left out a bunch of favorites so I figured I'd best make a page before I forgot them.
At one point the favorite theater - Twin Creek Marcus Theater -
was the only theater in the area with reclining seats. Well, now the local AMC's have finally caught up and also have reclining seats so now there's once
again a choice of where to go.
I made up a list of Omaha area theaters in order to keep track of the pros and cons of each place. Just to be anal I'm thinking of adding comments for the concession stand & food selection. No, I don't get out much.
Back in ye olden times one of the good places to go for movies was AMC Oak View but due to Covid that location closed. There are
other AMC theaters around town and I some day hope to see a movie as it should be seen. Will have to try them to see which is preferred.
Another local theater chain that is worth mentioning is Alamo Drafthouse. There's a few things that sets Alamo
apart from other movie houses. There's no concession stands - each theater has a wait staff to bring food & drinks right to you. The popcorn is
served hot in metal bowls using *real* butter... and the bowls are bottomless. And most important is that they actually enforce the movie watching
experience. This means no talking and no cellphones. You get one warning and then after that it's the boot without a refund. Here's an example of
one dissatisfied customer that's entertaining to be sure (note: there's some salty language
in this clip). I wish the seating was as comfortable as AMC or Marcus but thems the breaks.
Here's the movies that we're looking forward to or have in queue ( means "Seen"):
Television
Here's a list of currently playing favorites. Note that they may be current or waiting to restart a new season or second half of the season:
Books
My preferred books tend to lean towards Science Fiction and Action type books. It's rare that I read a physical book any more but if I'm going anywhere you're likely to see me with my ereader. My favored Sony ereaders finally bit the dust so Mary talked me in to buying a (*gasp*) new reader. After a few iterations over the years I'm currently using a Pocketbook Touch Lux 5 because it fits better in to my flow of reading. Amazon has their Kindle paperwhite that would do just as good a job as well. I don't like reading on my iPad because it doesn't work out for reading everywhere I read... such as a hammock in the backyard on a bright day.
Here's a few starters for your reading pleasure:
- Star Trek - They're an easy read with familiar characters so these books make for quick reads without involving much brain power.
- David Weber's Honorverse - These are a series of books that started out featuring Honor Harrington but have morphed in to covering the whole life and times of Star Kingdoms far and wide. The thing that I like is that there's actual thought to how the physics would work. There's no instant communication across the galaxy and things takes actual time to happen. It makes for a more realistic story.
- Ryk Brown's - The Frontier Saga - I always thought that an Honor Harrington movie would be the coolest adaptation from a book. No more - now I want the Frontiers Saga made in to a movie series. It's that good.
- Scott Jucha's Earthers' Saga - So much goodness and good overcoming evil
- James S. A. Corey - The Expanse - First books, then a TV series... both excellent
- Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire - before the excellent TV show were the books
- Clive Cussler - All action, easy to plow through in a day or two
- W.E.B. Griffin - Military Fiction with an eye for detail
- Neal Stephenson - I don't remember if I read "Snow Crash" or "Cryptonomicon" first but between these two books I got hooked. His next works I plowed through were the three books in "The Baroque Cycle" and while I highly recommend it be forewarned that you'll be spending some time finishing all three to the end.
- Peter F. Hamilton - he's written alot of books but I'm plowing through the Commonwealth Saga and enjoying them... but man - they aren't quick reads
Music
I tend to stick with a pretty standard rotation of groups that I listen to. Must be me getting on in years.
- Rush - Currently I've been doing alot of listening to Rush with "Clockwork Angels" taking the lead.
- Spock's Beard - I just got the latest Spock's Beard "The First Twenty Years"; it's a re-issue of earlier work plus a DVD retrospective of SB in the 90's. Their latest all new release is "The Oblivion Particle". If I had to pick a favored example I'd have to go with their "Snow" release as one to get a good start with.
- Dream Theater - As of this writing Dream Theater has a new album coming out on 29-Jan-2016 called "The Astonishing" that looks to be more good stuff from those boys. It's already pre-ordered so no need to buy it for me. Again, as a favored example I'd go with their "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory".
I remember having this CD with me (this was pre-MP3 players, kids) and stopping over at Studio B to meet with an old buddy from the Commodore Amiga days. He let me listen to the CD in his professionally configured listening booth and even though I'd heard the CD many times I heard all new things that I'd never heard in it before. Thanks again, Clete - it was truly an experience.
- Kansas - They used to be pretty much all I listened but after a while even I had to branch out a bit. They've got a new studio album coming out in 2016 that will hopefully have the same strength of the stuff in the 70's & 80's. I'll be there for it when it's available. My personal favorites are "Masque" and "Monolith"
Nerdcasts
When I'm working out or driving anywhere more than ten minutes away and need something to occupy my mind I like to listen to podcasts that are of a technical nature. Mostly computer stuff but there's a few other things in there as well. I've grown to calling them "Nerdcasts" because they're nerdy podcasts. Here's a few of the favs:
- Security Now - it's probably the most deeply involved of the nerdcasts I listen to but there's always something on the show that I'm going to check out later.
- HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - Anything to do with home theater these two guys know and are able to explain in an easy going fashion.
- Darknet Diaries - True stories from the dark side of the Internet.
- Command Line Heroes - History of computing and general nerd-dom.
- Antic - the Atari 8-bit podcast - There's always good discussions about ye olden days of Atari found here.
- The Retro Hour - Wide ranging podcast of all things to do with retro computing.