What's Your Favorite?

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Another, "Let's get to know each other" topic. (Some of you asked for non-political stuff, now you got it).

 

"I love music, any kind of music", I listen to damn near everything. So it's difficult for me to say who my favorite is.

 

Growing up I liked The Doors and Jethro Tull, most album rock. I still love Jethro Tull, but hardly ever listen to The Doors.

 

When it comes to country, I like the oldies, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn. Some of the new stuff is good, but it's not the pure country of the oldies, with the exception of Alan Jackson, Geoge Strait and Randy Travis. They aren't "oldies", but they aren't newbies either. I do like some of the new guys, but they don't have the cheatin' and drinkin' and cryin' down like the old guys.

 

While Rap, hip-hop and RnB are different categories, they do fit into a general heading. I like the rawness and sleaze of rap and hip-hop. Snoop, DMX, Ludacris, Outkast have some pretty good stuff. It's hard for me to morally support their brand of trash, but I still like it.

 

As for RnB, I love a tight funk groove, I can be flipping through stations on the radio and hit that certain beat and I'm mesmerized. Anything from the old school of James Brown to new stuff, if it has that beat, I gots to move my feet.

 

Sam Getz to the Gipsy Kings to Buckwheat Zydeco to Motzart to Lincoln Park to Bob Wills, I love it all. And since we're on CFL - listen to Coco Lee, beautiful with a voice that puts most American divas to shame.

 

Movies, easy. My all-time favorites are True Grit, Unforgiven and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I like a lot of movies, but I'm more selective about what I watch.

 

TV - the Spranos, the various Star Treks, VH1 stuff, Fox News, the History Channel

 

How's that for a non-political topic?

[tonado]

I like to watch Iron Chef, Animal Planet, and Red Sox baseball. I have a big collection of HK movies. I like Twins, Aaron Kwok, Jackie Cheung, and other HK pop stars.

[hypoclear]

Great topic Mark!

 

Like you I'm pretty eclectic in my music and have been listening to alot of the sounds of alternative, rap, hip hop and R and B. hmm cold play, 3 doors down, green day, Better than Ezra, Blurr, Alicia keys, Beyonce, 50 cent, Ashanti, to Astruid Gilberto, Frank Sinatra, Supremes and all of Motown, B.B. King, Steivie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Nina Simon, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, K.D. Lange (Best female voice) and Rickie Lee Jones! (Best Crazy, Funky, Gal ) and jumping into country how about Hank Williams SR. ? Arlo and Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, early Dylan for folk, radical liberal, nonconformists, peaceniks..

 

The internet is just so great for sampling, research etc. As of late I’ve been looking at clips of old TV for Bea. She didn’t have TV until the mid 70’s that was in her home town and her family had a TV by the end of the 70’s. The larger cities didn’t have it much before 1970 so you have in us a generation or two of tv and the shared national experience of this. Not so in China.

 

So I have been checking out the honeymooners, Dick Van Dyke, Rocky and Bullwinkle and all the other characters there, as well as the Looney tunes. We just picked up a couple Disney and daffy duck vice’s for her nieces and nephews who will be coming by next weekend. It is kind of nice to introduce the to some of these old favorites, an easy silly humor. Oh yes and Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver!, and most of that 50’s 60’s stuff.

 

It’s a whole word view she hasn’t seen and may get a better idea of what shaped me in some ways and our generation as well.

 

For TV we have been getting hooked on the reality series and are now watching Trump, I liked survivor but she didn’t and we both enjoyed the amazing race. That one really was cool, looking forward to the next one. CSI is a big hit over here for us as well as Law and Order, which for me are reruns.. and as Bea now says the Gay guys..heheh The Fab 5 has really taken off I see and I loved their cutting sarcasism which I miss, although the second season? Hard to say as they will run a series for odd amount of weeks like may 5 or 13 and than maybe 4 hmm?? It wasn’t as much fun or cutting. It will be starting again this week.

 

For movies I’d say Avalon, Cinema Paridisimo, Which we have and will get around to seeing some night. Pretty much anything Al Pichino, Jack Nicholson, Robert Deniro, Jackie Chan is in, other ones I want Bea to see are the grapes of wrath, in the still of the night, cat on a hot tin roof, to sir with love, on the waterfront which we did see, Rebel without a cause, citizen cane, and other classics which I can’t think of now. I do want to check out that netflex service… anyone have experience with it?

 

I'm also interested as is she in showing her the musuems, gallerys, broadway plays, which I have never seen, the music, botanical gardens and road trips from the NYC area, etc.

 

Getting kind of dull over here with dinner out and a trip to the shopping areas as entertainment... it is in that respect like a 19 50's or before America with it's simple pleasures and family values, which is nice but unfortunately there are too many people so always crowded, noit much clean water or air and no private cars to speak of so limited.

 

Mark and Bea

(Week 22 of the great baby delivery... we are hoping and praying there will be no clearence delays! )

[Scott & Lai]

I have pretty eclectic musical tastes too, stretching back to the earliest written Greek music I like Gregorian Chant, Medieval sacred and secular, Renaissance, Baroque (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Praetorius....), Classical, Celtic (a sizable portion of my huge collection), Folk (though not the 60's American protest stuff), 16th-18th century hymnody, American music from the Colonial and Civil War eras, Southern Harmony, Bluegrass (love the O' Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack), WWII era, classic rock, jazz.......

 

Movies....many; here's a few: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, O' Brother, Where Art Thou (in fact, anything the Coen Bros are involved in), the Star Wars movies, the Star Trek movies, Galaxy Quest, The Princess Bride, the Indiana Jones Triolgy, Groundhog Day, Tombstone, Saving Priate Ryan, The Patriot, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, Apollo 13, Men in Black, Titanic, The Sixth Sense.....

 

T.V. includes the Star Trek series, SG-1, CSI, Law and Order, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, 24, The X-Files, Monk, and Babylon 5, the History Channel, The Simpsons...

 

I also like museums, historical sites, and the like. Lai was amazed that I could spend two hours at the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong

[oregonknl]

Man !

 

I see over lap with the musical taste (also movies) with all of the above posts! Growing up, Motown and soul were big for me...

 

Sorry --- no hip hop ---ever. R&B yes!

 

My "top ten" movies change with the seasons, but I, like "William Jefferson Clinton", always have "High Noon" on the list --- the perfect "push comes to shove" morality play ~!

 

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Music is the universal language. Regardless of other differences, most people can find commonality in music.

[Jeikun]

Music - well, I like most music. The exceptions would probably be country and rap - both of which I can find a few exceptions in, and can tolerate in small doses. My favorites growing up were "Heavy Metal" - Iron Maiden, Metallica, AC/DC... I'm also a big fan of the older Pink Floyd (before Waters left), Jethro Tull, Steppenwolf. I mainly listen to "alternative" music now - a multi-genere... bands like Better than Ezra, the Offspring, Nickelback... I used to listen to a few Japanese rock bands like Glay and B'z. WE can throw Sarah Brightman in there too just to make it weird. Really I could make a list so long it would only ensure no one would finish my post.

 

Movies - I always forget them too quickly to list them. My favorite genre would be horror if 95% of horror movies didn't stink. But ooh, that 5%

After that, sci-fi and comedy are my favorites. Recently I really enjoyed Spider Man 2. I loved the LOTR movies, after I broke myself of the urge to read the book just before each movie - it really lowered my enjoyment of the 1st one the first time I watched it. I'm looking forward to Star Wars 3, and I'm going to see Alien vs Predator although I'm terribly afraid it's going to suck and destroy my enjoyment of Predator, much as the last 2 Alien movies did for Alien.

 

Books - I haven't read much outside of textbooks and internet poop for quite some time, but Fantasy and Horror have always been my favorites. Steven King's "The Dark Tower" books were great. Lord of the Rings is still my favorite - and unlike many I really enjoyed the Simarillion - read it twice in a row.

 

TV - well, I don't follow much. I think reality shows are just a sick sad freak show. I think when we just go all the way - make it legal for someone to sign a contract saying it's ok by him if he dies during the filming and start televising gladiatorial combat and death sports then I might tune in. I used to watch Cartoon Network and Animal Planet quite a bit.

 

There's a little sample.

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Sarah Brightman, who knew the fat lady singing opera could be a stone fox in reality? Ave Maria never looked better.

 

Hmmm, maybe I'll re-watch that video and eat some Cheetos.

[MarkLuvsShuPing]

Oh yeah, I love the King's Dark Tower series, I just finished "Song of Susannah". Praise God and the man Jesus, there's only one more book to go for the ending. When he's done, I think I'll start all over and re-read the whole set.