BoM/TWS Message Forum

ThePrussian suggested an off-topic thread for general conversation, and now I'm kicking myself for not having had the idea first. It's a really obvious one.

I'll start. What do I do for entertainment when not scribbling out chapters for BoM?

Movies/TV: I don't watch anything current, either movies or TV. I lost my taste for it. Movies look bloated and stupid and dumb, and TV shows are full of reality TV and shaky cam. I stick to the classics, the only channel I regularly watch is Turner Classic Movies. Last movie watched: an unbelievable piece of hokum from 1932 called "The Wet Parade" about the effects of alcohol and Prohibition on a New York family. It was not good, but the scene where Walter Huston beat Auntie Em from "Wizard of Oz" to death with a 2x4 made it almost worthwhile.

Books: Broad range of stuff, mostly concentrated on history, the movies, and general fiction. I have just finished Peter Brown's "The World of Late Antiquity" (about the post-Constantinian Roman Empire); am finishing up "The Lion's Share" (a history of MGM); have just started "The Long Goodbye" (a Philip Marlowe crime thriller); and am noodling my way through "Oil!" (a soap opera novel about turn-of-the-century wildcatters).

Games: I switch back and forth, according to my mood, between Minecraft and Sid Meier's Civilization VI. Right now I'm up to my eyeballs in the latter, playing King Ludwig of Bavaria/Germany on a randomized map.

Music: Classical, I'm afraid. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven ... then a gap and a shift westward before picking up again with Saint-Saen, Debussy, Ravel. Last piece listened to happens to be on YouTube: "I'm a Barbie Girl" played in the style six different classical composers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRfsibwR5x4