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Sunday, September 16, 2012

Genre Favorites Blogfest

It’s time for another blog hop! Thanks so much to Alex J. Cavanaugh for hosting the Genre Favorites Blogfest, where those of us participating get to discuss our favorite genre of books, movies, music, and as an added bonus, our favorite guilty pleasure genre for one of the three.

Here goes nothing . . .


Music:
I must admit, I have very wide and eclectic taste when it comes to music. I enjoy everything from classical to bluegrass (a love inherited from my Appalachian-grown mother). However, if I had to narrow it down to just one favorite, it would probably be Classic Rock. Rolling Stones, ACDC, Queen, Guns n’ Roses, Dire Straits, The Police, Def Leppard – the best. I listen to it when I force myself to go running, when I’m writing a particularly bad-ass fight scene, when I’m jamming in my car, and anytime in between. FYI, Eye of the Tiger . . . best song ever.

Movies:
When it comes to movies, I have a clear genre favorite – Science Fiction. As the daughter of sci-fi enthusiasts, I was raised on The Terminator, Aliens and Star Wars. If it’s about time travel, clones, aliens or automatons, I’m there.

Books:
As both a former Literature major and novelist, books are pretty much my life. Thus, of the three categories, I found picking a preferred genre of books the most challenging. On the one hand, I love Middle Grade Fantasy. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Chronicles of Narnia . . . all personal favorites. My own manuscripts all happen to fall into this very group. However, if I really have to narrow it down to just ONE category, I’d have to go with classical literature. Ridiculous as this may seem, I love reading novels from the literary cannon. Authors like Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Charlotte Bronte and James Joyce are among my favorites. If a novel would make it onto the dreaded “summer reading list” for high school students, chances are it’s one of the books I love most. That doesn’t mean I don’t like a good mystery novel, and I go through science fiction books like potato chips. But at the heart of it, I’m a classicist.

Guilty Pleasure:
And now for the best genre – guilty pleasures. For this one, I decided to go with the “movie” category. I believe I’ve already mentioned that I’m a sci-fi fan; however, what you may not know is that I not only love well-respected films like Blade Runner and The Matrix, but I also secretly adore the really terrible made-for-TV movies produced by the SyFy channel. And I don’t mean enjoy them in ironic sort of way. I genuinely love them. Anyone seen Hammerhead: Shark Frenzie? A classic. Revenge of the Swamp Thing – phenomenal. And if you’ve never seen Lake Placid 2, you’re seriously missing out. Mock all you want, but it’s cinematic gold.

So, those are all my genre favorites. If you’re interested in sharing your own, hop on over to Alex J. Cavanaugh’s blog and sign up!

26 comments:

  1. Good choice on the classic rock! There's nothing wrong with those bad syfy movies either ... well there is, but in a good way :)

    Jamie @ Mithril Wisdom

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  2. Oh I have the same guilty pleasure. Odd that I can be quite the critic of movies, yet these made-for-tv B movies I enjoy without any resorting to irony.
    Maybe in comparison to food, a complicated dish can not meet expectations, but a good diner bacon burger is perfect for what it is.

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  3. I'm a huge Def Leppard fan. I've seen them three times live and they were awesome!

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  4. I literally laughed out loud at Eye of the Tiger. Thanks for that. :) Luckily no one was nearby, otherwise my co-workers might have wondered what I'm working on that's so funny.

    P.S. Gonna Fly Now

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  5. I haven't seen any of those movies. Hmmmm, what could I be missing?

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  6. You're the second person who's named the SyFy craptastic films as a guilty pleasure. (Just wait until you read my ode to Sharktopus next week.) And science fiction movies was my clear choice.
    Thanks for participating in my blogfest!

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  7. cannot go without the cheezy mega-something vs. giant whatever... great list and guilty pleasures.

    Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
    Howlin' Wolf Records: On-Line Magazine

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  8. You like sci-fi? I wouldn't have guessed that. ;o)

    Love Oscar Wilde. And now I have November Rain in my head.

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  9. Great pics S.L. ACDC and The Police are pretty far from each other. I love SyFy movies too! Giant Squid v Octopus is right up there with Citizen Kane to me.

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  10. Great choices! I lot of people have mentioned Star Wars and the Terminator for sci-fi, and I can see why of course.

    Allison (Geek Banter)

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  11. Love classic rock & lit too. Excellent choices.
    And I saw Lake Placid too but I need to see it again.

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  12. Great choices! I haven't watched any of those cheesy sf movies, but I really, really should!

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  13. I, too, have to admit that I really like sci-fi movies and such. These are great choices.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  14. Oh, good choices! Especially the music mix. Go bluegrass!

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  15. GNR is in my top 5 fave bands! And I love your book choices!

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  16. haha...Love your guilty pleasure. That cracked me up. Great MG book choices although I must admit to not being a big fan of the classics. But classic rock is awesome and Eye of the Tiger can ALWAYS get my blood pumping. haha

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  17. I haven't seen your GP movies but I remember some pretty pathetic attempts at low budget sci fi when I was growing up that I seem to enjoy. Haha. Great list.

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  18. im with u on every one of ur music choices... but id swap eye of the tiger for welcome to the jungle as one of the best songs (and anthem songs) ever!

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  19. Some fun choices, we share the same music taste and I love your guilty pleasure :)

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  20. Fantastic music choices, I agree with every one of them!

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  21. Another SyFy movie fan! Yes! They're so wonderfully awful.

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  22. It's scary when I see bands like Guns and Roses up there with the Rolling Stones. That doesn't seem right to me. The Rolling Stones were considered classic when Guns and Roses first released Welcome to the Jungle... sigh, I hate getting old.

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  23. The Science Fiction choice for movies doesn't surprise me, after reading so many of your other posts. :)

    Great choices!

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  24. Yes! Hi, S.L. I love your list. There's been way too much country music in this blog fest, so I had to give you a shout-out for all of the great bands that you named. Lake Placid 2, huh? Hmm? I saw the first one and liked it. I'm always ready for cinematic gold! ;) Oh, and one more thing... "Eye of the Tiger". *high five* Why does that song get made fun of now? I have no idea. Have a great weekend.

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

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  25. My very favorite guilty pleasure/bad movie of all time...."Hell Comes to Frogtown" with "Rowdy Roddy Piper"!!!!!

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  26. Everybody loves a bit of classic rock, don't they? I'm intrigued that you listen to specific types of music according to what you want to write. I'll have to try it.

    I'm visiting to primarily to shamelessly promote The Nineties Blogfest on the blogs of everybody that took part in the Noughties Blogfest. I'd love it if you'd sign up and join us on the 15th of October to talk about your favourites from the decade.

    Dave
    Dave Wrote This

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