ReX

@PsychoGoatee & @Biodegradable: Pick up anything by Ed Brubaker and you won't be disappointed, particularly his noir series, such as Criminal, Incognito, Fatale, The Fade Out, and Kill or Be Killed.

Years and years ago I tried reading Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, but a lot of the writing was just too academic for me and I gave up. (Chris Tolkien did an admirable job of curating and editing his father's work, but the underlying material was just too arcane to be enjoyable.) Speaking of arcane, it takes a person with patience and perseverance to get past the first 50 pages or so of The Silmarillion, an otherwise-brilliant work of story-telling.

The Legend of Tarzan (Christoph Waltz steals the show. As usual.)

The Rubberband Man

Also check out B.P.R.D. The artwork is consistent with Mignola's (as a lot of the art is by other artists) and many of the stories are by Mignola.

Star Wars: Darth Vader I must say that Disney/Marvel know how to make money. Each volume is just 20, count 'em, 20 pages long. The entire 6 volume "series" could have been published as a single f*ckin' book.

Pink Floyd: Echoes

Porco Rosso An offbeat and strange (but enjoyable) movie by (who else) Hayao Miyazaki.

Off Topic: For the old timers in this group, Canyon de Chelly is where a significant portion of the iconic Western, Mackenna's Gold, was filmed. It featured Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, and Telly Savalas, three titans of action movies of that era.

IPA beer and ahi tuna poke bowl at a brewery. (Expensive sh*t, so I'm glad I don't do this all the time.)

Although I have some familiarity with firearms, I am not a weapons purist. Therefore, I don't even pay attention to discrepancies. Moreover, so many games have futuristic, sci-fi weapons that "realism" is not even a thing. But I understand what you're asking. Another reason for game developers to deviate from "realism" is that without that deviation it might make the use of a weapon unwieldy, or downright frustrating to use.

Although I have some familiarity with firearms, I am not a weapons purist. Therefore, I don't even pay attention to discrepancies. Moreover, so many games have futuristic, sci-fi weapons that "realism" is not even a thing. But I understand what you're asking. (Sorry, double-post; couldn't truly delete original post.)

@ducon: You certainly have a scholastic bent. Kudos.

Arthur Morgan of Red Dead Redemption 2 John Marson of Red Dead Redemption is another good character.

Yes! Hell, yes! Such an iconic character I will say that Duke Nukem is also terrific. I guess that giving the character a voice makes a huge difference in shaping the character's personality. And let's not forget Lo Wang, the irreverent shuriken- and katana-wielding protagonist of Shadow Warrior. The Build Engine developers understood that killer one-liners brought their characters to life.

The two (old) games whose music I vividly remember are Heretic 2 and Unreal. Both are moody and atmospheric.

@tsocheff said: "King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King" @ReX says: "Hell Yeah!" (Magnificent album cover art to boot!) For another mind-bender, listen to the Emerson, Lake, and Palmer cover of Epitaph (which sound eerily familiar, not least because Greg Lake sings in both versions).

This will sound like a downer, but the lyrics of Pink Floyd's "Time" are apt: "And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun But it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way But you're older Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death"

The first time I read that it sounded like you're now nearly 58 years old. Heh.

Late last year I discovered a game that's almost 6 years old: Red Dead Redemption 2. On top of which, it's for XBox, which is a huge departure for me, who cut his eye teeth on PC FPS games. Then, recently, I got into Red Dead Online, another huge departure for me, who has lived in the single-player world for more than 2 decades. I really enjoy the co-op aspect, but the deathmatch side ..... not so much. Mainly because I am so used to fighting the computer-controlled/AI enemies of single player that when I'm up against a human enemy I utterly collapse. One time, I was chased across the countryside by a posse of 4 people and I was blasted to smithereens multiple times. I did manage to down some/all of them a handful of times, but "retreat" is a humbling word nonetheless.

Kindred An unusual combination of the following: A female Black protagonist, set in two timelines (aka a central sci-fi theme), that deals with a dark past of US history. Speaking of female Black protagonists in a sci-fi theme, here's something I wrote a couple of decades ago: Tower of Babel

Frank Zappa at his finest. Heh.