The comprehensive list of must-watch media

I've been told to watch this and that waaay too many times. So not only will this be a comprehensive list, this will be my 'to do' list of things to do when I work from home and when I have nothing better to do in a couple of months when I move out.

Since the format of media is too varied for me to want to deal with, let's limit it to Films, TV and Books/comics. If you have another genre that is sufficient in popularity, bring it up and we'll see what the body politic says. For example Dungeons and Dragons the pen and paper RPG is not on this list.

I'll check on this every so often and try to compile the lists into a main post. Yippie.


Movies
Alien
Aliens
Predator
The Terminator
Terminator 2
John Carpenter's The Thing
Superbad
300
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Little Shop of Horrors
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Matrix Trilogy
Star Wars (Episode 4-6 only)
City of God
Trainspotting
Amelie
Run Lola Run
The Lookout
The King of Kong
Babel
Crash
Blood Diamond
Se7en
The Departed
The Shawshank Redemption
Zodiac (NOT The Zodiac. Only Zodiac)
A Clockwork Orange
Donnie Darko
Bad Timing

Books
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarilion
The Hobbit
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Red Seas Under Red Skies
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
Fevre Dream
American Gods
The Dresden Files
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Life of Pi
A Clockwork Orange
Survivor: A Novel
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Most of the work of David Sedaris
Hello, Lied the Agent, and Other BS You Hear As a Hollywood TV Writer
Heart of Darkness
The Idiot
The Brothers Karamavoz
Ender's Game
Cat's Cradle
Invisible Monsters
Choke
Dune
1984
Brave New World
The Jungle
Lord of the Flies
In Cold Blood
The Metamorphasis
Dr Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
Dracula
Frankenstein
Farenheit 451
Naked Lunch
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

TV
Battlestar Galatical
Babylon 5
Scrubs
Magus XLR
King of Queens
Drew Carry Show
Whose line is it anyway? (American Version)
Fawlty Towers

Comics
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
Watchmen
Invincible
Scott Pilgrim
Runaways
Y: The Last Man (especially now that it's complete)

Anime
Coyboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Hellsing
Evangelion
Princess Mononoke
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Exile
Full Metal Alchemist (only up to episode 24 or so - anything after this sucks ass)
Berserk
Serial Experiments Lain

Scrubs. First and foremost.

I'll add stuff later. Scrubs must come first. If you've already seen it, then bonus points for you.

Superbad, first and foremost.

Movies
Superbad
300
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Little Shop of Horrors

Series:
Magus XLR
King of Queens
Drew Carry Show
Whose line is it anyway? (American Version)

Why would you want to watch the abomination that is Whose Line is it Anyway? US?

Ruddy nutjob, you. :pinkelephant:

Perhaps because the British version sucks horribly?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoCracker

Perhaps because the British version sucks horribly?

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The British version usually has 2-3 American contestants, anyway. I think it's pretty good, have you ever actually seen it?

Yeah, it came on Comedy central from time to time.

Ryan and Collin are still on it most of the time, though it seems the host makes a huge difference in how the show goes. :P

Battlestar Galactica
Babylon 5

That's pretty much it. When I'm Emperor, these will be required viewing for all children.

Who would ever call the second and (especially) third Matrix movies "must-see"?

Since I'm sure you've already heard a lot about more mainstream stuff, I'll suggest stuff more off the beaten path.

Movies

City of God
Trainspotting
Amelie
Run Lola Run
The Lookout
The King of Kong

Books

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Life of Pi
A Clockwork Orange
Survivor: A Novel
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Most of the work of David Sedaris
Hello, Lied the Agent, and Other Bull:skull::skull::skull::skull: You Hear As a Hollywood TV Writer

Comics

Watchmen
Invincible
Scott Pilgrim
Runaways
Y: The Last Man (especially now that it's complete)


My TV Show suggestions are the same as everyone else would recommend: Scrubs, House, Weeds, Entourage, etc.

For music, there's way too much to recommend without looking for something in particular. I will say the most recent artist to blow my mind is DJ Mike Relm.

Books
The Dresden Files.

I urge everyone to read them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by El Bandito

Comics

Watchmen

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Quoted for more truth than can actually be enumerated.

The only must read comic out there is "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roto13

Who would ever call the second and (especially) third Matrix movies "must-see"?

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seconded

Also, good british comedies:

Fawlty Towers.

I'll say that again for good measure.

FAWWWWLTY TOWWWERRRRRS.

It really is excellent: many painful funnies saturated into a few episodes full of WONDROUS JOY.

Not sure if this is really quite "must see" material so I wouldn't add it to the list, but any one thing by Mitchell & Webb I think should be seen and/or heard by every human being at least once, be it the radio show, peep show, that mitchell and webb look...

edit: Also, I think at least one of the Harry Potters should go in must read, if for no other reason than for it's significance as a piece of modern childrens literature. Mebbe there should be another list for stuff like that? I dunno.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by El Bandito

Movies

City of God
Amelie

Books

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Life of Pi
A Clockwork Orange


My TV Show suggestions are the same as everyone else would recommend: House.

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I second all of these.

My own suggestions:

Movies

Babel
Crash
Blood Diamond
Se7en
The Departed
The Shawshank Redemption
Zodiac (NOT The Zodiac. Only Zodiac)
A Clockwork Orange
Donnie Darko
Bad Timing


Books

Heart of Darkness
The Idiot
The Brothers Karamavoz
Ender's Game
Cat's Cradle
Invisible Monsters
Choke
Dune
1984
Brave New World
The Jungle
Lord of the Flies
In Cold Blood
The Metamorphasis
Dr Jekyl and Mr. Hyde
Dracula
Frankenstein
Farenheit 451
Naked Lunch
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas


Anime

Coyboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Hellsing
Evangelion
Princess Mononoke
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Exile
Full Metal Alchemist (only up to episode 24 or so - anything after this sucks ass)
Berserk
Serial Experiments Laine

Music

:wumpscut:
KMFDM
Bauhaus
Norther
Moonsorrow
Arch Enemy
Isis
65 days of Static
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
VNV Nation
Skinny Puppy (pre The Process albums)
In Flames
Android Lust (The Dividing and Dragonfly are amazing)
Amon Tobin
Fields of the Nephilum
Ensiferium
The Birthday Massacre
Dimmu Borgir
Satyricon
Mors Principium Est
Massive Attack
Mastodon
Dresden Dolls
Juno Reactor (Shango is likely their best)
Ministry
Morphine
Mr. Bungle
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
Opeth
Orphaned Land
Pigface
Pig
Portishead
Primus
Project Pitchfork
Rasputina
Wilco
A Silver Mount Zion
Unearth
Velvet Acid Christ
Mindless Self Indulgence
Lux Occulta
Laeather Strip
Icon of Coil
Das Ich
Gogol Bordello
The Future Sound of London
Fluke
Flogging Molly (prior Within a Mile of Home releases)
Do Make Say Think
Mono
Children of Bodom
Candlemass
Cake
Bjork
Assemblage 23
Apocalyptica
Aphex Twin

I'm not putting all that music on the list lol..only cuz I see music as a niche social group rather than a 'must watch' media.

Movies:
Alien
Aliens
Predator
The Terminator
Terminator 2
John Carpenter's The Thing

Books:
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarilion
The Hobbit
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Red Seas Under Red Skies
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
Fevre Dream
American Gods

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pureghetto

I'm not putting all that music on the list lol..only cuz I see music as a niche social group rather than a 'must watch' media.

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Fair enough.

Hope you find everything else suggested to be quite nice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nominus Experse

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pureghetto

I'm not putting all that music on the list lol..only cuz I see music as a niche social group rather than a 'must watch' media.

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Fair enough.

Hope you find everything else suggested to be quite nice.

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I do. Keep it up.

1) Babel? WTF?

2) Books
The Shannara Trilogy (Sword, Elfstones, and Wishsong)
The Heritage of Shannara (Scoins, Elf Queen, Druid, and Talismans)
The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara (Isle Witch, Antrax, and The Morgwar)

3) As far as hellsing Goes, it should be known there are 2 versions, the regular and the Ultimate Series (Which are the Remakes). The Ultimate is a must see for any anime fan.

4) For Movies, lets tag on "Lucky Number Sleven."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gilghamut

Books:
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows

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Any fan of these books must must MUST read Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings books. They consist of:

The Farseer Trilogy
The Liveship Traders Trilogy
and The Tawny Man Trilogy

They are every bit as good as George RR Martin's books as far as character development and "realistic" fantasy goes. So yeah, that's my two-cents on must read literature.

Books: Lolita

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoCracker

1) Babel? WTF?

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Give me a reason to not term Babel as a must-see other than the vague, inane WTF acronym.

Books
The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Night Time
Perks of Being a Wallflower
House of Leaves
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors
It
The Tommyknockers
Long Hard Road Out of Hell

Movies
Winter Passing
Suicide Club
Happiness
Little Miss Sunshine
Exte: Hair Extensions
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
Cloverfield
The Host

TV
LOST and Dexter.

Anime
Shakugan no Shana
Rozen Maiden
Sailor Moon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nominus Experse

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoCracker

1) Babel? WTF?

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Give me a reason to not term Babel as a must-see other than the vague, inane WTF acronym.

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Because I saw that movie.

And the only thing I got out of the whole thing is (SPOILER)If a little girls sees her mom shoot herself, said little girl is smurfed up for life.

By the end of that movie I finally think I know what it feels like to have your mind completely shut down. This is something 2 months of sleep deprivation was unable to do.

Books:
Catch-22
American Psycho
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Winnie-the-Pooh/ The House on Pooh Corner
Walden
The Virgin Suicides
Spring Snow
Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis

Films:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Das Boot
Magnolia
Zodiac
You Can Count On Me
The Fountain
2046
The Life Aquatic
Die Hard
This is Spinal Tap
The Descent
Mean Creek

TV:
The Wire (absolutely awesome)
Shooting the Past (mini-series by Stephen Poliakoff. I love it)
The Shield
Battlestar Galactica
Star Trek: TNG

I've never watched an anime programme or read a comic, although I'm sure some comics might be worth getting into (maybe not anime, though!).