Below are the 8 most recent journal entries recorded in The Rec Room's LiveJournal:

Sunday, October 14th, 2007
6:39 pm [winterfox]	New Weird recs? I'm in desperate need for the new weird. It's a hard sub-genre to define, but if you've read The Etched City and China Mieville's Bas-Lag novels (Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council), you'll know what I mean. It has an element of horror, of fantasy, of steampunk, and tends toward the gritty. Currently, I've got VanderMeer's Veniss Underground and Campbell's Scar Night in my Amazon shopping basket. I'd love it if anyone could tell me what they think of either novel, and I'd love you personally if you can recommend other titles that are along the same vein. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 12th, 2007
10:43 pm [jetamors]	Anime series recs? I'm looking for recs of some short-ish anime series', let's say 52 eps max. My taste is all over the map, but some stuff I've watched and enjoyed: Honey and Clover, Lovely Complex, Escaflowne, Planetes, Rose of Versailles, Utena, DNAngel, Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Mai-Hime, Card Captor Sakura, and parts of a lot of 300-episode shounen. I'd prefer good animation quality, and I tend to be disinterested in mecha and anything involving pantyshots, but apart from that (and the length thing), it's all good. Current Mood: tired (33 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007
6:41 am [eleutheria]	Two very different things: looking for cyberpunk recs and dragon recs Welcome to the_rec_room! RL has pwned me lately, but I'm here now to give this comm the attention and pimpage it deserves. JFers have great taste in books, movies, and other media, and hopefully more people will join so that we all have an even greater chance to be exposed to the Great Stuff Out There(tm) that we're missing! I'm trying to piece together some really disparate threads for a NaNo idea, and it needs some research. I'm looking for any advice about what's good (and what to avoid!) in these areas... -Books, RPG guides, or Anime (not manga, though, please) with a Cyberpunk theme, especially if it also has Fantasy elements. Prefer a focus on how all of this tech interacts with human elements like identity and connection with each other and with the greater whole/the earth/nature (such as it still exists). Especially looking for what people do for a living in worlds like these, and how the government is run. -Fantasy novels with prominent dragons. Don't wish to get into the whole Pern universe, so right now I'd prefer to avoid those, as I don't have the time to read them all. I'm looking for books where there's a lot of material on the growing bond/friendship between a human and a dragon, and anything where the dragon starts out either still in egg form or a baby is really good! I've read (and loved) the Temeraire series, but that's about the only one I know of. Thank you!! Current Mood: Interested (36 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 14th, 2007
1:16 am [aruru]	MUSIC REVIEW: Persona 3 Fes Original Soundtrack (Note: Originally posted at my LJ, here. Hope you enjoy!) Finally, for our last review, we have the Persona 3 Fes Original Soundtrack. (buy it here - track listing and lyrics in English here) As you can tell from the title, this CD is the soundtrack for the Persona 3 Fes game/expansion. There are seventeen tracks total - of these, one track is a remix, one is a "mashup" of sorts (combining some old lyrics with new ones, as well as a new beat), while the rest are - I THINK - all brand-new material (I'm not entirely sure, as I'm new to Persona and the SMT series in general.). okay, I was talking out of my ass, sorry. Apparently most(?) of the rest are remixes from the previous Persona games. Anyway, while this soundtrack starts out a little average, it does carry over P3's original style and general "feel," and it gets fairly good in the later tracks. Below are my thoughts on the individual tracks, plus some samples. ( Tracklisting, samples, and thoughts. ) Well, I'm done. Honestly, this review was probably the hardest to write, considering I don't have P3: Fes, so I'm not familiar with anything regarding it. The Final Verdict: This is a decent "expansion" of the original game's soundtrack, as it manages to preserve its feel while still being distinctive making shout-outs to the previous games in the series. A bit short, given it's only an expansion, but not bad at all. The only "warning" I can think of in getting this is that, if Atlus were to decide to bring Fes over to this side of the world, there's a chance they might add a bonus CD again, which - given how small this soundtrack is - would make purchasing this redundant. But, since we don't know about that for sure, you might still want to consider buying the OST. So, that's it for the reviews! It was fun to do them, but MAN, am I beat. WHEW! Current Mood: *thud* (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
7:25 pm [aruru]	MUSIC REVIEW: Burn My Dread -Reincarnation: Persona 3- (Note: Originally posted at my LJ. Expect the last review in a couple of days, as I haven't finished writing it and uploading the tracks yet.) Second review, this time for the Burn My Dread -Reincarnation: Persona 3- soundtrack. (buy it here - track listing and lyrics in English here) Basically, this is a remix CD. However, this isn't your average "change a few things in the melody and call it a remix" album - a couple of the tracks here are honest-to-goodness reworkings of the songs from the original soundtrack, some with new lyrics and everything. There are twelve songs total in this CD. Below I will list the tracks and give my thoughts on each of them, as well as include samples of a couple of them. I'm also including the original version of the selected tracks, for comparison's sake. ( Tracklisting, samples, and thoughts here. ) And... that's it. Let me say, it was kinda hard picking out just a few of the tracks, as I enjoy most of them, even with my nitpicks here and there. The Final Verdict: If you're a fan of remixes and don't mind the little bit of WTF in one of the choices, I recommend getting this. It's overall a very solid album - the songs they picked to remix were already good in their original versions, so - for the most part - the remixes do them justice. Current Mood: Pimping (Comment on this)
7:13 pm [aruru]	MUSIC REVIEW: Persona 3 Original Soundtrack (Note: This was originally posted at my LJ here. Oh, and before anyone complains that I didn't include any of the really "good" tracks for those uninititated to/don't own Persona 3 and thus don't have the bonus CD, do not worry - I posted a couple of those tracks in the second review to compare them with their remix versions, so it's all good. Anyway, please lemme know what y'all think of these! I'm new to this reviewing gig, and I'm actually not very musically inclined, so I know they're not very polished. Still, I hope you enjoy!) As promised, I am back with a review of each of the Persona 3 soundtracks available, including sample tracks for you guys to download. Since these may be a little lengthy, I've divided the reviews into 3 parts - one per album. Also, because it takes me a lot of time to upload all the samples, I'll be doing only one review every couple of days/each week - depends on how long it takes me to get all the files up. So please be patient. Anyway, this is the first review, for the Persona 3 Original Soundtrack. (buy it here - track listing and lyrics in English here) Now, this one will be a little different from the other two album reviews (which will be a little more ruaki-styled), because Atlus USA did something that is both completely amazing and a teensy bit frustrating when they made the bonus CD that came with the game: They included almost every one of the really "good" tracks! This is completely amazing because I've never seen a company that was so generous with their fans. So why is it a tiny bit frustrating? Because it means that, if you buy the full soundtrack, you'll find that you're not missing out on that much. I guess they didn't consider that some folks would be interested in getting the whole thing. Anyway, I'm going to assume that the people who're checking this review already own Persona 3 and have the bonus CD, so the sample tracks that are going to be featured here are things that were NOT in that disc. Frankly, while none of these - shall we say, "second tier" tracks - are quite as amazing as the tracks that were selected for the bonus CD, I still think they're pretty nice, and if they motivate people who haven't played this game/heard the soundtrack into buying any of the merchandise, then all the better. ( On to the tracks! ) And... I think I'll leave it at this. There are a few other "second tier" tracks that I liked enough and didn't include, but since I have an unbearingly slow connection, I had to narrow it down to just a couple. Plus, I don't want to give the whole thing away - I AM trying to get you to support Atlus by getting their merchandise, yanno. The Final Verdict: Due to the fact that the bonus CD Atlus USA bundled with P3 already has most of the best tracks, I can in all honesty only recommend getting this if you're either a diehard completist (Guilty as charged.), or if you bought this game used and thus didn't get the bonus soundtrack. It's still a nice piece of merchandise to own, though. EXTRA NOTE: The soundtrack I got was NOT a first printing, so I didn't get the two bonus tracks (they're listed in that GameFAQs file I linked with the tracklist) that were on the second disc. If anyone could find them for me and hook me up with a download, that'd be awesome. Current Mood: Fan-Tabulous (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 9th, 2007
2:23 pm [altoidsaddict]	On the writing of Guides Now that I've written a rec guide, let me write a quick note on the production of the more detailed guides. Share your opinions on what sucks as well as what doesn't. Mention the work's influences and what effect the work has had on other works and genres. Yes, include basics! Just because everyone knows about Harry Potter and Judy Blume doesn't mean they're not worth a link. Everyone knows about them because they're influential, they've had an impact on how people read as well as what they write, and you never know - someone reading your guide might not know about Then Again, Maybe I Won't or that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was written to benefit charity. Someone may have lived in a cave and not known about Pokemon. If you intend to write a guide for someone who already knows the basics and wants to get deeper into a video game mythology or genre, make sure to note you're not writing a basic guide. Don't worry if you miss something - you will, but chances are your guide will prompt someone to take up the slack in the comments. This does not have to be a definitive guide, nor should it be, so relax! Mention why you're recommending certain things, and why you feel people will enjoy it. There's nothing wrong with having a bias as long as you mention it. Spellcheck! You're presenting yourself as an authority. Along those lines, what is your background? If we know your background in the subject, not only do we know you're an authority, we're likely to know your perspective. Nobody is expecting that you will be all things to all people on any subject, so don't attempt to come off as the ultimate arbiter - just tell us how you got into your subject, if you're published or if you've written on it, and what you like about it. Something along those lines. If you want to relieve the "link-heavy" feel of many online guides, your opinions, background, even trivia will make your guide an easier read. Comment here with anything you'd like to see out of guides in general, or questions you have about writing a guide. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
2:13 pm [altoidsaddict]	Guide: The Works of Dante I have been lecturing on Dante, in particular The Inferno, for two years to scholars and casual readers alike. My undergraduate thesis was called Intellectual Journeys: A Pilgrim's Progress in Dante's Divine Comedy, and it focuses on Dante's subtle differentiations between intellect and wisdom. I also like to write Dr. Seuss versions of the cantos in my spare time. Dante scholars never agree with each other and at best achieve a polite wankery masquerading as scholarly discussion. It would be impossible to write a competent guide that includes everything about Dante and his influence, so I've picked out the best bits. YMMV. ( Recommendations herein. ) If you have any questions about getting into Dante or want a Dante-centric recommendation, drop me a comment and I'll try to answer it. (Comment on this)