Monday, September 17, 2012

Genre Favorites: the Blogfest

Today I'm participating in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Genre Favorites Blogfest. The goal: list your favorite genre of movie, music and books, as well as a guilty pleasure genre.

Now, I love a lot of genres in literature, and I love a lot of stories that cross genres, or can't be classified in a genre, so it was a little hard picking just one. The most important things in a story for me are the message and the characters, so I can enjoy a story in almost any genre if these two elements are in place. But there are a few genres I enjoy more than others. Here are some of my favorites:

via IMDb
Movie - Science fiction

One thing I love about science fiction is that, unlike fantasy, it's something that might, just possibly, someday be true (look at Jules Verne's stories). This combination of reality and semi-plausable fiction makes sci-fi movies a lot of fun to watch. On the flip side, I also enjoy the sci-fi movies that pose a question that challenges your perception of reality. I think those are some of the most powerful movies. Some of my favorites in this genre are Star Wars, The Matrix, and Iron Man.

via IMDb
Music - Soundtrack

No contest here. This is the genre in which I most consistently find songs (and even whole albums) that I like. One of the things I love most about soundtrack music is that it's written to evoke specific emotions that tell a story. I tend to favor the composers (like John Williams) that have sweeping orchestral accompaniments. Some of my favorite soundtrack composers are Steve Jablonsky (Transformers), Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Carribean, Kung Fu Panda, the Batman trilogy, among lots of other things), and John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon and the Bourne movies). I've also been listening to Alan Silvestri's Avengers soundtrack alot. Good stuff there.
via Goodreads

Books - Mystery

Mystery will always have a special place in my heart. I spent maybe two or three months when I was 14 reading through the rest of the Sherlock Holmes stories, all the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, and a lot of the Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries. But I started reading Sherlock Holmes when I was 7 or 8, and he'll always be my favorite detective.

via Goodreads

And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories:

Comic books. Especially the ones from the "golden age" of comics in the 60's. I love them for the same reason I love reading fairytales - its about good and evil in a simple, uncomplicated form. The first comic book I ever read was the very first Spider-man comic, and I'll always love those. I also enjoyed the original Fantastic Four comics, and some of the early Avengers comics. The newer ones can't really compare.

What are some of your favorite genres?

20 comments:

  1. That's exactly why I like science fiction movies - it could happen!
    Thanks for participating in my blogfest.

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  2. Sherlock Holmes is my favorite detective, too. I first read then when I was about that old. :)

    Zimmer and Powell are two of my favorite composers!

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  3. What about Howard Shore!!!?????(Lord of the Rings)

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  4. Great movie picks! I also love soundtracks. John Williams is fantastic. Lots of video games have fabulous soundtracks as well as movies.

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  5. Love sf movies!! I never think to buy soundtracks but I should because I tend to love them. Have to fix that! Great choices :)

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  6. Didn't actually think of Soundtracks as a genre, but I do love some of em. Such emotion and 'note painting'.

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  7. I liked all of your choices but when I got to vintages 60's comic books, I slid over and added myself as a Follower.

    And if I may - if you've not heard the soundtrack from Rudy, check it out.

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  8. I never thought of soundtrack :)I have a huge collection of them in my vinyl LP's. Since I love musicals that should be no surprise :)Nice to met you!

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  9. I like your music pick - I too am a soundtrack junkie. ;)

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  10. Hi, Lauren,

    Dropping over for the blogfest. New follower here. Nice to meet you...

    Great choice in sound tracks. I enjoy all types of music, but I do like "emotional" music.

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  11. I'm still running through the Genre Faves list, too. We have tastes in common. I love scifi, mystery and comic book heroes too. Hubs collects various comic books and we try to see the superhero movies (most of them).

    My choice of movie is always scifi if one is playing. Can't get enough. Read my selections at:
    http://dghudson-rainwriting.blogspot.ca/2012/09/genre-faves-blogfest-books-movies-music.html

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  12. I've not seen 'soundtrack' at all for the music genre. Great choice though - some of the scores are so beautiful. I have a thing for musicals - Evita and Joseph are great, music-wise.

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  13. I love comic books! Batman got me started, and then X-Men. I still read them when I can.

    I'm a new follower. Nice to meet you!

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  14. Yay for Iron Man! Robert Downey Jr was the perfect choice (IMHO).

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  15. I love your faves! I'm with you on science fiction and - mostly - on soundtracks, though I think I'd have to put 1940's-50's music above it. Fantasy would be my fave reading.

    Great list!


    Jessica
    Vision of Other Worlds

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  16. yay sci fi & mystery! thrills keep the interest! and soundtracks are great for variety =)
    comic books was a pleasant surprise pick!

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  17. I agree about Science Fiction. I think those authors are half the reason we are on the moon and such. Sure, Scientists had to get us there, but someone had to put the idea into everyone's heads.

    Soundtrack music is great, I love John Williams. He's been my favourite for years.

    And Sherlock Holmes. 8-D That's all I can say.

    Jude Law is great in Sky Captain. I have a feeling he's probably great in everything he's in.

    Allons-y!

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  18. Hi, Lauren. Thanks for sharing. Comic book fan, huh? Very cool. I still have all of mine. It's great having my teenaged sons drag me to the film adaptations of the characters that I grew up with: Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man. I wasn't much of a DC Comics fan, but I have enjoyed these Batman films, too.

    -Jimmy
    http://jamesgarciajr.blogspot.com/

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  19. You nicely put into words why soundtracks are great. I never really thought about why I enjoyed them, but I do.

    My Genre Favorites & Guilty Pleasures

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  20. Ooh I love soundtracks. Such beautiful music and they really help my writing. :-)

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Thoughts?

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