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It was probably something like this: Were you excited or disappointed when you got your book? Was it good? did it Suck? Why? Was it the writing? The characters? The plot? What specifically was awesome/sucky about it? Had you heard of the writer of the book or the book itself prior to this? If so, had you heard good things? Bad things? How far outside of your reading box was the book you got? Once you finally read it, was the book what you initially expected it to be? Would you read more books by this author or more books like the book you read? Was the book exchange a good experience? Would you do it again? Shit like that. You don't have to use this as a strict guideline, it's just some suggestions if you need inspiration. I'm not expecting a dissertation, you could probably answer all these questions in a couple of paragraphs if you wanted to. Just give enough to facilitate some sort of discussion. However many words you need to do that is however many words you need.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley Picked by: Matt D Read and Reviewed by: Hedges This book was right up my alley. After a year or so of almost exclusively fantasy novels, it was refreshing to be back in our mundane world. Except, mundane is far from what I got in this 480 page funhouse. Right off the bat, we meet Myfanwy Thomas, in a letter to herself after her memories are taken. The woman reading it has no recollection of this, obviously, so two paths lie ahead: 1. Take the money previously set aside and run. New identity, the whole works. And, maybe, most likely, get killed in the process. 2. Take the aforementioned monies and step right into Myfanwy's life, whilst pursuing the party responsible for her amnesia. And, maybe, most likely, get killed in the process. It's not spoiling much to say that the protagonist chooses the latter and is swept up in a world that is cut-throat, fantastic, and very influential. With only the letters she wrote to herself, Myfanwy must piece together the events that led to her life and memories being taken away from her. This is especially difficult when all the people surrounding her are suspects, and some possess powers that are at once, frightening and spectacular. This is the debut novel for O'Malley and I think he hit it out of the park. It kind of reminds me of the first few Anita Blake novels by Laurell K. Hamilton, in the sense of curtains of the normal world being pulled back to reveal a whole cavalcade of crazy shit. I can only hope O'Malley's future dealings in this world don't fall off a cliff like Hamiltons did. And, there is much look forward to in the mythos that is started in The Rook. This was a fun and very quick read. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a bit of sci-fi and fantasy, mixed together with some English diplomacy. Yes, you read that right. Also, as an aside, I thought I had everything figured out fairly early. I was wrong. I can move on now. Thanks to Jae for coming up with this idea and running it. I don't know that I have the patience for that. Also, thanks to whoever (whomever? idk) picked this book. I look forward to the rest of the reviews and future Exchanges.

In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami Picked by: Unholy Dragon Read and Reviewed by: SturmCRF My first thought when I saw I’d been allocated this, on account of I’m an idiot, was that it’d be a nice change of pace to read something gentle and enchanting by the Studio Ghibli guy, along with surprise that he had time to write books. Eventually, via a brief flirtation with getting him confused with Haruki Murakami, the Amazon summary put me on the right track to grasping that Ryu Murakami is actually more of a Japanese Bret Easton Ellis, and that this book is a slim but grisly tale of the Tokyo sex industry and acts of hideous, harrowing violence. Fortunately I’m usually well up for a bit of misanthropic nastiness in my literature, and was eager to add to an extensive knowledge of Japan and its people that is mainly comprised of having read Tokyo Vice, watched Letters From Iwo Jima and enjoyed hours of its wrestlers dropping each other on their heads. Thanks to this book, I’ve now gained a level in knowledge of Japanese smut tourism, and improved my understanding of the fact that they’re only wary of gaijin because of concerns that we’re going to chop them up and set them on fire. The ‘American Psycho on holiday in Japan!’ quoteblurb on the front cover is so close to being spot on that it’s pointless not to acknowledge the similarities, and like American Psycho, there’s some worthwhile insight into the human condition to go along with the senseless murdering. The plot is simplicity itself; Kenji is a translator/guide in the Kabukicho red light district in Tokyo, Frank is an endlessly creepy American who enlists his services for a couple of nights and acts in progressively odder ways as news reports of nearby murder victims start to mount up. If I took anything from American Psycho it was a sense of how the one upmanship and callousness of high powered professional life could dehumanise people and turn them into more commodities to use and disassemble as you see fit. Transpose that to a culture where everything’s possibly even more work-driven, where whatever combination of sex and companionship you feel like you’re lacking is just an item on a menu to sate yourself with when you have a spare evening, and you’ve got a perfect companion piece. The themes are the same, the violence is nearly, if not quite as sickening, and the moral insight behind the splatter is more pronounced. Kenji is Frank’s guide to Kabukicho, but he’s also our guide to the mind of a killer, and it’s one of the most convincing I’ve read. Frank, who *SPOILER ALERT* does fatally stab a person or six, explains himself eloquently at times, and although it’s made clear that he’s a compulsive liar, truth does eventually emerge. He tries out most of the canon of serial killer justifications (It’s the only way to feel alive, I was brain damaged as a child, those people were wasting their existence anyway), but the sense of loneliness and melancholy that comes through it all seems real because Kenji identifies with it. If he didn’t see where Frank was coming from on some level, he probably wouldn’t be leeching off of other people’s desperation and misery in the seedy underbelly of the sex industry, dispassionately observing and taking advantage of sleazy businessmen and life worn escorts alike. His riposte ultimately comes down to ‘Yes, these folk are kind of depressing and our society deeply flawed, but setting fire to people’s faces and leaving them in multiple bin bags is just not on’. It’s not an amoral book, but its protagonist seems just as disgusted at the tawdry news shows sensationalising murders as he does at the guy committing them. It’s about a serial killer, but it’s also about a nation, even a world, where most people are too self involved and isolated to see one who’s right under their nose. The translation’s excellent, the writing’s evocative, and while I’d happily have read more than 180 pages, part of the reason it works so well is that it’s concise. I thoroughly enjoyed this and probably never would have read it if not for the reading exchange idea, which is exactly what the whole thing was about. Nine dead eyed, jowly sex predators out of ten!

That has to be the plan if you're a content producer.The Music Industry fucked themselves by going all in on iTunes. Now people are comitted to that middleman. Now the film/TV industry is trying to avoid the same fate. That's why Netflix hasn't become the all in one service we hoped. They don't want an iTunes2. But by splintering everything off between Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, WB's site(and so on and so on) viewers will eventually just say fuck it and pay for subscriptions AND pay as they go to OnDemand rental services. And of course as the demand becomes greater for first run movies to be on these services the price will go up. Industry will win out either way. We're eventually moving towards everything coming to us via broadband including our cable stations/programs. The Industry is just trying to slow progress down so they can create the infrastructure that yields the most profit. Right now they're training us to know that More Data + Faster Speeds = MONEY. So if you want to cut your Cable, but still watch Netflix Instant all day, you'll eventually be paying the same equivalent to what you're paying now. Probably more. I've never paid for cable, and I never will, and I'm enjoying it now before they catch on.

Are you joking? Are they just asking all the NBA guys because they've got nothing else going on?

I think there is truth in both videos, but both guys go just overboard to the point of being a little foolish. Pastor Manning has some perspectives on blackness that I think are valid, but he goes too far by making it a sin and that you need to repent to absolve it. The munchies bit is pure showmanship and foolish, and it takes away from anything valuable he has to say. The other fellow, who I hadn't heard of before, is actually saying ideas I've said probably in this thread. But mine is more targeted at the general population and isn't nearly as racially charged. Honestly, I'm not sure I could properly use half the words he said, because I don't have that perspective to properly identify a "buck dancer". And really I think those kind of words, and the race baiting in general, mask the larger issue. To me, he's got the right idea but is ruining his point with the slurs. I'd actually like to hear more from Charles Barkley, who seems to get the big picture, and has a more balanced perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfReCoRRIow&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I'M DRAGGING MY WHOLE FAMILY TO THAT.

Pastor Manning weighs in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X--6iRfFDjw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

You poor bastard. I know you're in a dark place right now, and it seems like the whole world is against you, but the following question is important. As a Bobcats fan with all the knowledge that this title entails, do you think it's possible that Charlotte will still be bad enough to get a Top 3 Pick in the 2016 draft?

Right, so I'm moving the due date to the 29th, so I can figure out who from the old board is back on the new board. Also, I ended up picking up an extra book, and I need the extra week to get it and read it. If you sent me a review, even if I published it on the old board, send it back to me AGAIN, because I don't have copies. Hedges, has sent me one on this board that I'll publish soonish. I'll probably re-edit this in the future to include all the book picks so people can pick another book. How is everyone else doing with their book? THE LIST FICTION All the Names by Jose Saramago Another Road Side Attraction by Tom Robbins The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Catch-22 by Joseph Heller A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore East of the West: A Country in Stories by Miroslav Penkov Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr. The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway High Rise by JG Ballard The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson Miracle Monday by Elliott S. Maggin In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami The Kryptonite Kid by Joseph Torchia The Rook by Daniel O'Malley The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty NON-FICTION A Curious Life: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert 'Believe It Or Not' Ripley by Neal Thompson Ghosts of Manila: The Fateful Blood Feud Between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier by Mark Kram Happy: A Memoir by Alex Lemon Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman by Bill Zehme Love Is A Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire by Eric Berkowitz

I just watched the Katy Perry doc while I worked out. THAT'S WHAT I DO THAT'S WHAT I DO.

My son's five and I didn't feel bad about letting him watch Drunken Master, Project A or SuperCop2(Or whichever one is PoliceStory 3, I can't remember how they ported those over) They didn't feel much worse than Looney Tunes. There might be some language in movies like Rumble in the Bronx, I can't remember. I also can't seem to recall a lot of sex in his movies. Maybe some suggestive stuff, but no boobies in the face.

I still do the discs, there's just too much that I want to see that isn't on Instant. Over 20 of the last 28 Best Picture Noms, for example aren't on Instant. Then there's older stuff. There's quite a few classics on here, but if you're trying to fill in holes in your viewing from the 50's like I am(or any decade prior to 2000) then the discs are a must.

I love the whole trilogy. Lady Vengeance is either underrated or under viewed, I can't tell which. It's just as good as Oldboy. If you watch them like a trilogy, Lady Vengeance has this added bonus of finality. You really feel like you've made it out of the black with that one. The story is great, and it was refreshing to see the vengeance theme through the eyes of a female character. Sympathy is usually considered weaker than the other two, but has the oddest collection of characters of all the films. It feels dirtier, covered in sweat and congealed blood, but it's sense of humor is a little more deranged. At least to me anyway. I would say check them out. 15 Other foreign flicks on Instant that I really liked. I Saw The Devil - After you've seen enough revenge flicks this is a good one to come to, because it takes the theme and refreshes it. Great performances from the two leads as well. The Man From Nowhere- The plot should feel pretty familiar, with a guy trying to get back a kidnapped girl, but the set pieces are really well done and the action is well shot that it makes the concept fresh again. 13 Assassins - One of my favorite movies the year it came out, this is what happens when you take 7 Samurai and have Takeshi Miike(Audition) direct it. High blood, high body count, memorable characters, and a very cool ending. Jackie Chan's Project A - One of my favorite Kung Fu movies. Raucous. The Host - One of the best monster movies ever. Incredibly memorable characters, great humor, and some thrilling sequences. A great movie. Holy Motors - Bizarre, but totally accessible. It's about an actor who's job is to play roles in people's lives. Says some great stuff about the bleeding between reality and reality TV. Denis Lavant is tremendous in this. Outrage - Yakuza + Beat Takeshi = Watch it. Beat is like the surliest Yuji Nagata fucking dudes up. Biutiful - One of my favorites in the last few years, Javier Bardem is amazing in this as a black marketer with cancer. This takes some wild turns, and the complexity of Bardem's character remains thoroughly engaging throughout. Dogtooth - About a family that raises it's children completely shut off from the outside world, teaching them bizarre shit(Imagine if you grew up thinking the word for Chair was Sea, and that's just the start). Just totally fascinating and original. Election - A really well shot movie about the Chinese Triad electing a new president. The last scene in particular has some tremendous shots that tell an amazing story. Very fucking cool movie. Nobody Knows - About a group of siblings who try to survive on their own when their crap mom abandons them. Absolutely unforgettable. I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay - Also directed by Park Chan-wook(Oldboy) this is a really nice quirky romance about two people in a psych ward, one of which believes she is a robot. A totally sweet movie. Sonatine - Beat Takeshi + Yakuza x Goofing off on a beach = Watch it. Lust, Caution - I think this is Ang Lee's best movie. Some actors join up with some freedome fighters in WWII Shanghai, and send one of their women in to seduce Mr. Yee. Mr. Yee works for the Japanese, turning in Chinese people to get killed. Great movie. The sex is used incredibly well to tell the story and further character development(something you don't see much of) and Tony Leung is in it as Mr. Yee, so that should be incentive. Mother(2009) - One of my favorite movies of 00's, this is about a mother trying to prove her son's innocence in a homicide. Hye-ja Kim gives the best female performances since Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For a Dream. I can't recommend this movie enough. I love it unconditionally. There are others I left off, but these are all pretty good and it's a good variety of drama and action and awesomeness. Netflix has a pretty awesome selection of foreign right now, I just don't have the time to watch them. There's some really interesting looking flicks up like Alps. The King of Devil's Island, and Detective Dee and The Mystery of the Phantom Flame, which all look like they'll be right up my alley. Then there's some Seijun Suzuki movies I really want to watch.

I love what Mookie's doing but I loathe Meltz as a source of opinion on what's good wrestling. Does Cagematch have a way to vote on individual matches? That'd be an interesting source. Especially if we can spam high votes on Mark Henry matches. To me Born to Be Wired is to Sabu as HIAC is to Foley. People may not think it's the best match but I love it more than just about anything in the company. So the answer would be Funker.Sabu and Taz were great together but Taz/Bigelow may be one of the best wander around and beat the fuck out of each other brawls ever. What is Raven's best match? I don't think it was in ECW. Counting tags it would probably be one of those tags with Saturn against Malenko/Benoit or Rey/Kidman. Those six were doing awesome shit together for a spell.

MattL is the new best Matt. Officially.

I loved those Rhino/Sandy matches. I remeber people would complain because people didn't like Rhino going over, but I loved the guy so I didn't care. Rhino goring Sandman while Sandy is holding Lori, is a perfect finish, to a really good match. It's probably Lance Storm.

....did you like your own post?

Yeah, like Spain.

Other than the Olympics, I can't even imagine how a team of Carmelo and Lebron would even function. I just can't fathom it and that's before you add Kobe to the mix. That sounds like the worst mix of superstar personalities possible.

Just watched the clip of the Cena/DBry segment and I got a little misty. I can't think of another wrestler since Eddie that I've been so happy for making it to the fucking top. Bury him on TV for months, put him with the Bellas, job him to Sheamus in a matter of seconds in his first Wrestlemania match, call him a goatface and put him in comedy segments with Kane. And he can still get a reaction like he did in that segment. Nothing can phase him. Daniel Bryan is unstoppable.

I was under the impression that everyone gets just one amnesty until the next CBA. I don't think anyone knows exactly how that fucking thing works.

Corino's best match was with Tajiri. Guido probably did his best work with Tajiri or Super Crazy. Was CW Anderson vs. Kid Kash, Kash's best singles match? His tag against Mikey and Tajiri is probably his best overall.

My favorite Shawn/Undertaker match is the Casket Match. I probably watched that match a hundred times. I'm a Rock vs. Ken Shamrock, guy myself. The one with knux. I can't tell you how many times I watched that one.I would rather watch it over just about any Rocky Epic. IC ladder match with Trips is good. I think Rock Brock is probably up there. Crowd was crazy, Rock was nuts, Brock was maybe the scariest dude on the planet. Yeah, I could buy that being their best. I really don't care for him vs. Austin.A random fun project would be to pick a guy and have people nominate his best matches, then we watch and compare to create a definitive DVDVR list of each guy's beat matches.

That's crazy that Matt made significant decreases. He was the best TV wrestler for like a year and a half.