How do we appreciate favorite books/music/movies?

[VCRClock]

I was thinking about how most people have favorite books, movies and music that in some way contribute to their personality, or who they are. From there, I got to thinking about the differences between things like having a "favorite book" and having a "favorite album," so I thought I'd ask about it here.

Most of the books I've read are books I've only read once. Even books that I consider as having greatly influenced me are generally books I've only read once. When I find an album I really like, though, I'll keep coming back to it. According to iTunes, I've listened to one of my favorite albums more than 70 times already. I don't watch movies or TV shows often, and some of those that have had a significant influence on me (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) are not things I want to add to my prestigious DVD collection (Good Burger). Said DVD collection is actually quite small.

How does the personal significance of a piece of media tie in with whether or not you own a physical copy? How many times have you listened to your favorite album? Read your favorite book? Watched your favorite movie?

[Topcatyo]

Back when I was younger I used to listen to my favorite albums nonstop on repeat all day and every day.  I hate all those albums now with a passion and can't stand to hear a single song off of them.  It's why I can't stand listening to Linkin Park or The Offspring anymore.

Nowadays I've learned to savor my favorite albums and only listen to them every once in a while.  It takes some self-control but it's worth it

As for favorite movies, my favorite movie is Fight Club.  I watched it about 50 times and listened to all the commentary (there were four on the DVD).  I listened to two of them the day I got the DVD, which means I watched the movie twice back-to-back.

It's still an amazing movie that I love, which I think is a testament to how good the movie is.  However, I haven't watched Fight Club in quite a few years and I'm just sorta waiting to be in the right mood to watch it again.  Maybe when I can stop recounting the movie scene-by-scene in my head.

[F U Clock]

Back when I was younger I used to listen to my favorite albums nonstop on repeat all day and every day.  I hate all those albums now with a passion and can't stand to hear a single song off of them.  It's why I can't stand listening to Linkin Park or The Offspring anymore.

Nowadays I've learned to savor my favorite albums and only listen to them every once in a while.  It takes some self-control but it's worth it

As for favorite movies, my favorite movie is Fight Club.  I watched it about 50 times and listened to all the commentary (there were four on the DVD).  I listened to two of them the day I got the DVD, which means I watched the movie twice back-to-back.

It's still an amazing movie that I love, which I think is a testament to how good the movie is.  However, I haven't watched Fight Club in quite a few years and I'm just sorta waiting to be in the right mood to watch it again.  Maybe when I can stop recounting the movie scene-by-scene in my head.

You seem a lot like me. In that I used to listen to Linkin Park and love Fight Club.

I've also watched Fight Club enough times to kill a horse, and I get a strange joy out of watching it with someone for the first time. In fact, I feel like that's part of "how I appreciate" my favorite things - I like to show them to as many people as possible.

My favorite video game is Silent Hill 2, which I've replayed probably 7 or 8 times, and will continue to replay it I'm sure. I love showing it to people, give them breakdowns of the plot, and encourage them to play it themselves.

My favorite albums I find I usually play over and over for a few months, then sporadically go back and listen to them later. A lot of the time my fav. albums are particularly emotional and I can only experience a sort of catharsis with them for so long. The Antlers' Hospice made me weep like a baby for an oddly long amount of time. Same with Neutral Milk Hotel's Aeroplane Over the Sea. I often give out my favorite albums to let people rip them. I've given Aeroplane out to teachers, coworkers... Lotsa peeps.

[SpongeClock SquarePants]

exactly the "spread the joy so that others may experience what you experienced" as FU stated it.

[BluezombieClock]

It's really all about passion. If you're passionate about film and music, you're going to look at it from a creator's point of view more than just a 'watcher's' way of seeing/hearing it. In movies, especially, when I watch one with my friends, I tend to point out some stuff that nobody else seems to really care about. ''Shit, that camera angle was a sick transition for the fight scene!'' *no response from friends*. Same goes for music, too. As a musician, you tend to divert your attention to the different tracks that make up a song instead of only listening to it as a whole entity. Of course you still listen to the song as an actual SONG, but musicians tend to listen into more details.

[GreyClock]

I think it's also a question of duration. A single song can have as profound an impact as an entire movie or book, yet on average they are what, only 4'33" long? (Fart.) It's a lot easier and faster to relive that rush. I've been listening to Alice in Chains for about three years now I think, I just mix up songs from their catalog and my preferences change all the time. I don't really listen to full albums anymore. A couple of months ago I found a couple of new songs that blew me away, in the discography I owned since day one. That said, I would also like to apply for membership of the watched Fight Club more times than I dare remember club. In fact I'm living proof my argument is flawed at best, because I've watched the first six seasons of Always Sunny at least half a dozen times, probably more.

[Topcatyo]

exactly the "spread the joy so that others may experience what you experienced" as FU stated it.

This too.  I let tons of friends borrow my favorite games, and it pisses me off because it turns out they never play them.  I remember I let my one friend borrow Silent Hill 2 over the summer so that they could play it.  They never did play it and they lent it to somebody else and I almost lost the damn game but eventually they found it.  One person we lent Shadow of the Colossus to stole it.

One time I lent somebody a book and they took it to the beach and the book cover got all fucked up, and the book cover was one of my favorite parts about the book.  At least they read the damn thing.

I should stop letting people borrow my shit.  Goddamn.

[RobClock]

My favorite book is The Hitchhiker's Guide, which I've read about five times since I got it last year. I consider going and reading through it every once in a while, but generally don't unless I think it's been so long as I won't remember it fully. It's a funny book and a good story, and I don't want it to get tired. It's basically the centerpiece of my book collection.

Ghostbusters, my absolute favorite movie, I don't even own. I'd like to have it, but the opportunity hasn't arisen where I've seen it on a store shelf while I had money in hand. To me, It's not worth going out and looking to buy. However, I've seen it countless times and quotes from the movie are used as jokes between myself and my friends. It's supposedly getting a theatrical re-release this month, and if it comes to my theatre I am all over that shit. Seeing it on the big-screen would be a dream come true.

Favorite album is a weird one for me, because I don't really have a favorite album. I have a favorite band, and I listen to their entire collective works quite frequently, wear T-shirts with their logo, ect. ect. If I listen to one specific album too much It gets very tired with me, no matter how much I enjoy it. Gotta keep things somewhat varied.

[HeinekenClock]

I've always read a lot of english language books, at least compared to how many dutch books I've read, and most of these I've gotten as a gift from people who actually live in the states. I think the book that has had the most impact on me is Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood, even though some of the concepts in the book are a little silly. It's about the last living man who's slowly losing his mind, having conversations with people he knew long before everything went to shit and through flashbacks he has by revisiting places he's been before you learn more about what happened to mankind.

There's also a followup book that revolves around different characters but you don't really get to sympathize with them as much as with the guy in the first book because we don't get to peek in their heads as long. I've tried sharing this book with everyone I know but my dad hated it, my mom only reads books she buys herself and my friends either don't read at all or just never read in English.

Maybe I could share it this way though because it's a really great book.

[SpongeClock SquarePants]

Also its funny how ones taste seems to evolve up a gradual almost natural slope.

Added note for music : although I have been listening to queens of the stone age a lot in the past and would, back then, have called myself a fan its different now.
Nowadays I more a fan of individual songs (regardless of band, DJ, type, genre, etcetera)  for a few weeks or so which I tend to play over and over till something else starts appealing more.

[AlbinoClock]

There are a few books I've read multiple times, particularly the Illuminatus Trilogy and the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. The later I've probably read 10 or so times, not counting the occasional random opening of the book to read some section or another in order to facilitate the later stages of digestion. Music I repeat quite a lot. At any given time there will probably be 10 or so musicians/bands/whatever that I listen to habitually, along with a more diversified selection from Pandora.

TV shows and movies I almost never watch twice unless I wasn't really paying attention the first time. When I was  younger there were a few movies I'd watch over and over again, but now that I have access to basically everything there's no reason to do that.

[TequilaClock]

I believe I might have the lamest musical taste ever, I just listen to stuff I like to hear.

As for movies I am a tad more picky, but I don't get too much into checking The Criterion Collection for example. I think my favorite movie is Pulp Fiction.

[miracle fruit]

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[AmberArachnidClock]

My favorite book is Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, it's over 700 pages and starts off extremely slow but I've read it 3 times and I plan on reading it again soon because it is freaking amazing. As for music I generally cycle through it so it doesn't get stale.

I think one of the best ways to know someone is to know their favorite things and why they like them. It's also really awesome when you meet someone who has built up the same appreciation for the things you have, giving you an instant connection.

EDIT:

the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

I read through that a couple times too, what a great series, I need to read those again

[DiscoBallClock]

Well first of all there's a difference between media. (I'll leave out video games in this post because they're more of an interactive experience and that would require me to write more, I'm lazy shut up)

I have a few favorite books/writers (Franz Kafka, Fernando Pessoa, Alexandre O'Neill for writers, "Os Maias", "Metamorphosis", "1984", "The Boy In Striped Pajamas" (hey i liked it ok)). I choose those because of the way their words and their message touch me. I may be fond of the writing style or of the plot itself, but usually it's something I think about when I'm done reading it. The same goes for movies actually ("Pulp Fiction", "Cast Away", "Forrest Gump", "Being John Malkovich", "Mullholland Drive", and of course "Fight Club" to name a few), if they manage to stay in my thoughts for a while after I watch them, then it's because I usually like them.

As for music, things work differently. First I listen to the song. Then it gets stuck to my head, if I like it, then I like the song. Yes it may be rather primitive or asinine, but that's how it works for me. My favorite music however, is different. You all know that Queen is my favorite band ever, it's because everything in their songs amazes me to hell. When I listen to it, every little detail appeals to me not only by itself, but I also find it fits amazingly well with the other elements of the song. All of this together causes a feeling of unfathomable well-being not many other songs are able to replicate.

I feel as if I had written erotic fanfiction about Queen's music. I feel dirty.

I feel like that's part of "how I appreciate" my favorite things - I like to show them to as many people as possible.

Definitely, yes.

[AlbinoClock]

You can leave out video games, but I'm not gonna.

With games that aren't ever really completed because they're multiplayer or non-linear, you can't really talk about re-playing them because it doesn't make sense. Some of those I've quit and come back to multiple times, like Starcraft, World of Warcraft, or Counterstrike, but usually I just play them until I'm bored with them and move onto something else.

Linear games I rarely play twice, unless they're really good. I have no idea how many times I've beaten Shadowrun, Torment, Super Mario RPG, Silent Hill, or Final Fantasy 6, or how many times I've attempted to beat Baldur's Gate, Act Raiser, or Chrono Trigger, just to give up at the end. If you look at those list, you'll notice that most of the games I'm talking about are old RPGs. Most of the games I've played again and again are ones that I either played or wanted to play but didn't have when I was a kid, particularly those that were story-oriented.

The game I've logged the most hours in at this point is probably World of Warcraft, because it's dense as shit and it never ends.

[Munglai]

a lot of you niggas like fight club huh

[MonsterMunch]

I don't quite get what this thread is about.

I wear a Cypress Hill t-shirt sometimes.

[DigitalLemonClock]

buy books, destroy all cds

tapes, records and vhs all rule

dvds are cool but only if it's super dooper special rare + rlly good/horrible

download everything