Lists of favorites.
A few lists of my favorites of various categories (books, movies, etc). Not to be confused with the more general list of likes.
Miscellaneous Music/Bands Games Books Movies TV Shows
Miscellaneous
- Colors: Orange and brown
- Animals: Coyotes, moths, snails (particuarly sea snails)
- Programming language: Python
- Season: Autumn
- Biomes: Ocean and desert. (Apparently I like water-related extremes.)
Books
- Lord of the Rings: I still vividly remember first taking the plunge into these books as a kid, after watching the animated films that were available at the time. I was borrowing my brother's special "Red Book" edition so it was all in one huge volume and I started while on vacation at a cabin in the mountains, and that just made it feel more epic. I read it maybe once a year or so after that for many years. You could tell Tolkien loved his world, and it just felt so full of detail and potential which gave the imagination fuel for all sorts of things beyond the books themselves.
- The Belgariad: Deliberately following many common fantasy tropes, as the author tells it, but these were so good. The characters and their dialogue with one another was what made it for me. Durnik is my favorite. You've got all these legendary figures with epic skills in magic, combat, espionage ... and then there's the blacksmith from a farm. I love how his practical nature and common sense have value right along all the rest, and he keeps the party grounded when they needed it. He also reminds me of my grandpa.
- The Prydain Chronicles: This was my first fantasy series/epic, and man did I love it. I read it because my brother had the books, and five books made it feel like a grand adventure while the writing was very digestable for young readers. I enjoyed fantasy shows and films and short stories, but these are what made me accept it was worth the time to read book series. Fflewddur Fflam has always been my favorite, and after reading these I've always had a soft spot for bards in fantasy settings. (Why did Disney make him some old guy with white hair?)
- The Gentleman Bastard series: I only read these within the past few years. Listened on Audible, actually, and the narrator is incredible. It's all the fun of heists and fantasy rolled into one, with fantastic core character and an intriguing world. There is also a lot of very flowery strings of profanity, so if that kind of thing bothers you, stay away. That kind of thing often puts me off, but in these books somehow I just find it hilarious the way the author uses it. I also appreciate that the main characters have flaws and weaknesses and experience significant failures at times. Very refreshing to have fallible main characters.
- Desert Solitaire: I struggle with Abbey's other books, but this one I read cover-to-cover and was sad when it was over. Just a guy talking about his various experiences as a park ranger in Moab. I've always had a soft spot for the deserts of the US Southwest (likely due to my Boy Scout experiences) so this was perfect for me. To me it affirmed that there are experiences worth having out in the middle of nowhere, and that we need to try and retain a lot of that nowhere instead of developing every last square inch of land and filling it with as many people (and business) as possible.
- Coyote America: There's something about the coyote that embodies the feel and the spirit of so much that I love about my US home. To me it represents the spirit of a natural world's tenacity against the constant advances and hostility of modern man. This book tells all sorts of fascinating history of coyotes, from Native American tales to the US Government's neverendindg war against an "enemy" that thrives despite centuries of sanctioned violence and savagery against it. It's insane the amount of effort and resources that have gone toward trying to eradicate the coyote throughout US history, but in the end the coyote just looks back and laughs.
- Elantris: Everyone's all into the Mistborn books, but Sanderson's Elantris is easily my favorite of his works. I loved every minute of reading it, and it wrapped up with a conclusion after one book, which was refreshing. It rejuvenated fantasy reading for me when I had struggled for many years and I'll always appreciate that.
- Chindi: Part of the Priscilla Hutch "Academy" series. Exploring space and signs of alien life with a refreshing lack of military drama. I've heard the genre described as "xenoarchaeology", I think. Of all the books in the series, this is the one that had me most wrapped up in the wonder of exploration and discovery. If you're interested in this kind of thing, read them all, though.
Movies
- K-PAX: Something about this movie hit me just right at the time I saw it. Between the music, the camera work, the astronomy-ish stuff, and the general story it just took me to a unique place and a state of ponderous wonder. (Obligatory acknowledgment that Kevin Spacey has done awful things, but I'm doing my best to separate the art from the artist.)
- Fievel Goes West: The music was so, so good, and I loved the performances of Jimmy Stewart, Dom DeLuise, and John Cleese in particular.
- The Lego Movie: I didn't have any interest in it when it came out, but one night I couldn't sleep and I don't even remmber why I decided to watch the Lego Movie, but man was I glad I did when the credits rolled. It may have helped that I had extremely low expectations, but the movie is just so much fun to watch and it has a great wholesome moment/message at the end.
- Shrek 2: I'm usually not as into the sassy wacky self-aware stuff, but somehow this movie managed to be great throughout the entire showing. I can't think of a single part I get bored or annoyed by, and the "I Need A Hero" sequence at the end is just utter perfection.
- The Count of Monte Cristo: Book people like to say the book is way better and the movie changed too much, but I love this movie so much. I remember my friends and I going in joking about how we were about to watch a movie about a sandwich, not really knowing what it was.
- Disney's Robin Hood: Dee da dee da deow da doh doh ... you know, I really miss when multiple Disney films were done by the same animal "actors". It gave it this charming underlying continuity, like we were watching the same animal kingdom actors put on a variety of shows for us.
- Disney's the Little Mermaid: The music, the art, the oceanic setting - this movie feels like an integral part of my childhood, and a keystone of my sense of childhood magic and wonder. I still remember waiting in the many-blocks-long line with my family and a family friend when it came out in theaters. Also I'm pretty sure Ariel was my first fictional character crush. (I did end up marrying a redhead.)
- Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow: I'm counting it as a movie. It's a movie. And it's amazing. The story, the artwork, the setting of the tone, the buildup, the story/song in the barn then the forest scene and then of course the Headless Horseman himself. And that laugh. If I had a section for "sounds", the Headless Horseman Laugh would be on it, it's just iconic and amazing. I love that the ending is left open, too: Did Ichabod get killed or spirited away by the Headless Horseman, or did he survive? Let your imagination fill it in with what sounds best to you. Beautiful.
- The Care Bears Movie: The first one, with Nicholas and the evil book. It's largely nostalgia at work, but I still get the feels at multiple points during this movie.
- The Last Unicorn: Yes, it's a bizarre movie. It was one of those experiences that really took me to a different place and state of mind while watching, though. There's the melancholy and the hope, the facing of mortality and regret. And I always liked how Schmendrick wanted to be more than what he was, but at the same time he also wasn't wallowing in his failure to live up to his own expectations. I love how when the unicorn tells him she could never give him what he truly wishes for, his response is just "That's all right, don't worry about it," and he continues on helping her out on her journey without any bitterness.
- The Hobbit (Rankin & Bass animated version): This was my first introduction to Tolkien's world, and I loved it. My friends made fun of me for liking it when I showed it to them, particularly the songs. Philistines.
- Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson version): Me and so many others.
- The Muppet Movie (1979): The Rainbow Connection may well be my favorite song of all time, and the other musical numbers are great as well. Jim Henson's Muppets do so well at being genuinely funny while also being wholesome, and I love that they can pull that off. I watched this one a lot as a kid, as well as the other Muppet movies of that time.
- The Burbs: My friends and I watched this one about a zillion times and we never got tired of it. "Walter: I have your dog. -Ray"
- Serenity: It gave us a little more Firefly and some degree of closure.
- The Prince of Egypt: The art, the music, the acting, the telling of an epic Biblical tale - this movie is just so good. It's also a rare case of Dreamworks doing something that isn't trying to be hip and sassy.
TV Shows
- Firefly: It's interesting when it's difficult to convey just how much you love something, and why, but Firefly is that for me. As much as I hate to say it, I think part of the magic is that it did get canceled in the first season. They developed the world and characters beautifully, and because it was canceled the fans now have no limits on what their imagination might tell them it could have become. I'm a proud member of our local Browncoats group.
- Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood: My mom tells me that a lot of other shows were "too busy" for me when I was little, and so Mr. Rogers was my go-to. I'm 100% okay with that: This show and its host were the epitome of wholesome. Encouraging people to acknowledge their feelings, the bad right along with the good, and delivering a message of acceptance. The educational parts were always fascinating as he showed how things were made and stuff like that too. Not being talked down to by an adult is always a plus when you're a kid.
- Carl Sagan's Cosmos: I ended up watching this after seeing and loving the Glorious Dawn youtube video. I wondered where the material for it came from and soon I was sitting down watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos series. It was a bit outdated but it made me want to learn all I could about our world as what Carl was showing me unlocked all sorts of concepts and new questions in my head. Carl's poetic way of speaking and his refraining from mocking or condescending really made the show a joy to watch.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (original animated series): I was swept up in the craze as a kid along with so many others. It was often the setting of our games at recess, and one friend and I were particularly obsessed, grabbing any merchandise or media we could. Good job, TMNT marketing team.
- Supernatural (Seasons 1-5): Yeah, it's hammy, hokey, and overdramatic, but man was it fun to watch. My wife and I started it as the last season was just wrapping up, so we got to binge it from start to finish. Seasons after the main story (1-5) were hit and miss and it got a bit tiring as it went on after that, but there were enough fun episodes to keep us watching the whole way through.
- The Good Place: Hilarious and wholesome; always a winning combination in my book.
- Ted Lasso: My wife had watched it a time or two before and I was never interested in it because I'm not into sports, but she put the show on for another watch when I was going through a particularly rough time in my life and I really fell in love with the show. Ted's optimism and class in the face of adversity was great to watch, and it even touched on some issues with being too optimistic at times.
Games
- Hollow Knight: I was expecting a short little indie game entirely in hues of drab and gloomy grays and blues. I was not prepared for the depth of the world and its story. I've binged every lore video I could find on this game.
- Angband: Dungeon of Doom was my first roguelike, but I didn't really get it at the time and mostly watched my brothers play. I don't remember how I discovered Angband, but I'm sure it had to do with the fact that it's Tolkien-themed. There's no story at all to it, just a dungeon crawling roguelike where you see what the RNG gives you for gear and challenges and whatnot. And it's ridiculously addicting. I am reluctant to admit I still have not beaten the game, but I've had a ton of fun runs.
- Hades: While we're on the subject of roguelikes ... Hades is an amazing modern take on the format, and it has a compelling story and continuity to it (dying is part of the story, not a resetting of it). Something about the art and the atmosphere takes me to a unique place when I play it.
- Portal 1&2: I got Portal 1 way after the hype, and I had no idea why "the cake is a lie" was a meme but I knew it was from Portal. A friend had uploaded the "Still Alive" song to our friend group's FTP share and I was fascinated by what the song might be about, so I ended up getting the game when I learned it was from Portal. The dark humor of the games is just right, and the portal concept/mechanics are just way too much fun.
- Warcraft II: My friends and I were obsessed. We'd go to each others' houses to play or watch each other play, drag our computers over for LAN play, and yell at our families to not pick up the phone and interrupt our modem play.
- World of Warcraft (Vanilla): Yeah, yeah, me and millions of others. I mostly played Vanilla and was all into the lore of the previous Warcraft games, so being able to explore the world so thoroughly (and socially) was incredible. I did come back briefly to defeat Arthas in WoTLK and thankfully got to experience Grizzly Hills along that trip. I logged out and deacticated my account right after defeating Arthas, a life goal achieved.
- Monkey Island 1&2: These games are a huge part of my childhood. The art style, the setting, the witty dialogue, the music, the puzzle-solving - man. My brother and I worked hard to figure out some of the more obtuse puzzle solutions. I'm sure it helps that I grew up going to Disneyland often and Pirates of the Caribbean has always been my favorite ride.
- Final Fantasy Tactics: This might be my all-time top favorite game of all on this list. It's just a masterpiece. Even if I don't love the typical Square last-act story developments, but eh. A flawed masterpiece is still a masterpiece.
- Vagrant Story: While a different type of game than Final Fantasy Tactics, this one ticked a lot of the same boxes with the art style, atmosphere, and mood. This wasn't nearly as popular as Tactics, but I friggin loved it and still replay it every now and then.
- Super Metroid: This game was pure atmosphere and mood. Only a few snippets of dialogue in the intro, and then it's just you alone on a moody hostile alien world. There were so many atmospheric touches and little things that alluded to history there, and it let your imagination run with it rather than overwhelming you with text about everything.
- Chrono Trigger: Everyone loves this game. Everyone should. It's on all the top games lists for many reasons and I won't bother adding my single drop to the ocean of praise the game gets. (Robo, Frog, Crono best team.)
- Bastion: I love this game's art, music, and storytelling device, even if the story itself isn't particularly deep or anything. Having the narrator comment on what you're doing as you do it in the game is really neat.
- Subnautica: The only thing I regret is how desensitized I am to all the threats in this game now after playing it so much. The fear was definitely part of the experience. I still play it quite frequently though - it's fun to just swim around and build neat bases in various places.
- The Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control 2): The writing, the music, the exploration of a vast galaxy with a staggering number of systems and planets to check out, the fascinating overarching storyline. Just a gem in general and one that I find a lot of people don't seem to know about.
- Rimworld: I heard it described once as "Firefly colony sim" and that got me to check it out. It's a dangerous one that'll devour multiple hours of your life without you realizing it. If you want to love Dwarf Fortress but are just overwhelmed by its complexity, try Rimworld.
- Undertale: I got into this one long after the hype train had come and gone, and thankfully I managed to somehow avoid any spoilers. I'll admit it took me a few tries to really get into it, but once the story started picking up I was thoroughly hooked. I've watched every theory and analysis video I could find.
- Grim Dawn: It's that sweet spot between the insanity of Path of Exile and the oversimplification of Diablo III. The story is intriguing and I like the art and aesthetic. Builds are fun to make and play around with.
- Diablo 1&2: I remember playing Diablo 1 with my friends and thinking how scary and hardcore it was. The atmosphere, the art, the moody music and lighting, the tone with all the undead and demons and stuff - it made you feel like you were taking up a desparate hopeless battle. Diablo 2 expanded the world and managed to keep a decent amount of that feeling, and the gameplay improvements were amazing. It still felt like the world was in peril and the quest was dangerous and desperate. Diablo 3 was a disappointment in that you as the main character were pretty much presented as and treated like a god, so there wasn't much in the way of tension. Of course you were going to win. You were ridiculously powerful both gameplay-wise and lore-wise, the villains were cartoonishly inept, and the NPCs all treated you like the infallible savior who they knew would save the world. It just felt like wish fulfilment power fantasy compared to the previous games of epic struggles against a terrifying adversary.
- Halo 1&2: My friend and I would play the original Halo on the demo console set up at our local computer equipment store. They kept having to kick us out at closing and we finally pooled our money to buy an Xbox just for Halo alone. As someone not especially into shooters, I was drawn in by the music, the story, and the incredible fun of playing the co-op missions with a friend. Halo 2 just made everything better. I still don't remember anything in particular about Halo 3. Maybe I had gotten too old by then and my interests had just shifted too much for it to be as memorable as the first two.
- Majesty: This was a fun little fantasy sim and semi-RTS? where you didn't have direct control over the units spawned by the buildings you made. They all had their different things they'd tend to, like rogues wanting to loot enemy sites and graves, paladins wanting to slay evil creatures, rangers wanting to explore, etc. I loved watching the people run around doing their own things, even if it was fairly shallow and pretty much boiled down to the typical "destroy all enemy units and buildings" in the end. The hammy voice acting and lore and the delightful music just made it an overall fun experience.
- Gemstone III/IV: This was my first and only real MUD experience, and I was so into it that after I stopped playing I eventually made my own MUD. I remember as a sophomore in high school, my friend coming up to me and saying: "You like Lord of the Rings, so you'd like this game." He was right. A massively multiplayer experience was such a novel thing back then. Being all text let your imagination do a lot of the heavy lifting for you to make the world "look" and feel optimized to your own tastes. I still feel the occasional urge to reactivate my account and play sometimes, but it's so different now. And absurdly overpriced.
Musicians/Bands
- The Aquabats: A friend introduced me to their music back in high school, and they're just fun to listen to. (Some of them were involved in creating Yo Gabba Gabba, for those of you with kids.)
- "Weird Al" Yankovic: The king of parody music and polka, and seems like a genuinely good guy all-around which is alway a nice surprise when it comes to celebrities.
- Blues Traveler: I have vivid memories of my brother giving me a CD of their album "four" back in high school, and it quickly became one of my favorites.
- Gordon Lightfoot: I feel like every time I ask someone if they know Gordon Lightfoot they say "no" until I name some songs like "Sundown" or "If You Could Read My Mind."
- Jime Croce: His music was plenty popular, but I still feel like his music isn't talked about as much as it should be.
- The Carpenters: That woman had the perfect voice. I like the wistfulness a lot of their songs have.
- Owl City: Mostly the older stuff. I enjoyed the wistfulness and the whimsy.
- Ray Lynch: Primarily the Celestial Soda Pop and No Blue Thing albums. I think the former was the first thing I heard when my parents bought a stereo system that would play those new-fangled CD things.
- Au4: I can't for the life of me recall how I learned of this group, but their music has a way of transporting me to a different place.
- Green Day: They were always on the radio or their CDs being played by friends, and with good reason.
- Collective Soul: My brother had a bunch of their CDs, and I listened to then plenty.
- Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband: I end up singing along to most of their songs whenever they come on. They're described as "American/Bluegrass" and I guess that sounds about right.
- The Band CAMINO: A friend introduced me to their music a few years ago, and they're amazing.
- Darren Korb: The composer behind Supergiant game soundtracks. Bastion and Transistor soundtracks are particularly amazing.
- First Aid Kit: A friend and player of a game I made introduced me to this group, and they've found their way into my regular music rotation.
- FM-84: Some great modern 80sish-retrowave music.
- Ratboy Genius: If you know the "Potato Knishes" video/song/meme (which was my first exposure to RBG), this is what that's from. Look it up and enjoy the jump down the surreal rabbit hole. I've had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with the guy behind RBG in his Minecraft server and he's a super cool and chill guy and makes some amazing music in-game using redstone and music blocks.