Why don't we just move onto another topic before stuff gets more tense?

For the required reading one:
I think we should have it, but maybe not in the format it's in now, i.e. the 'read chapters and answer obscure questions' route.
As for books, I think there should be a good mix of classics/Shakespeare and more modern books, I know my school did this pretty well. We had things like The Giver, The Outsiders, and A Christmas Carol, but also Ella Enchanted and The False Prince.
I feel like the way we do RR right now is almost harmful, it's forcing kids into a book they maybe don't want to read and has that weird memory recall so you're encouraged to remember anything and everything you read for later. While I have found some of my all-time favorite books through RR, it's turned some of my friends off of reading entirely, some because they weren't into the books chosen and some who are just slow readers who couldn't enjoy reading several chapters every night.
As for graphic novels, I think there should be limits. You shouldn't be able to do Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Big Nate for all of them, but maybe for one a year, ending after middle school. But more teen/adult graphic novels (especially adaptations of classics in a more visual medium for people who have difficulty reading the more flowery words) should be fine. It reminds me of the whole 'Ebooks/audiobooks aren't real reading!!' debate…
Dom, you should pick up one I read last year called The House Of The Scorpion, it's a really good book with some neat themes/ideas, like the morals and ethics of cloning, what makes a person a person, etc. It's also just a good book overall, so yeah.

Because backing off of a subject when it gets hard is annoying and boring.

WELL YOU'RE THE ONE WHO TOLD ME TO BACK OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE, SO…..

What I said was that for my mental health, I don't have to value a person's opinion. And talk about the pot calling the kettle black, look at your Pro-Life arguments from earlier to see an example of plugging your ears and not caring. And yes, in an argument involving gay rights, straight people's opinions don't matter because they don't experience what gay people do. They can have input, but at the end of the day, it's not nearly as important as the gay people's opinions on the subject. And I didn't say that your problems are invalid, everyone's issues are valid, but making it into 'SWM have it bad' is a dick move when we should be focusing on others who have it worse first.
Maybe you should let me have a philosophy without bitching about it.

No you don't.
Well Pro-lifers care quite a bit. That is not debatable. (Well I guess it is but…) It's whether or not they are wrong.
Only if it has to do with gay people only. It's about the relation of lgbt and Christianity.
I have repeatedly stated that that is not what I was saying.
We do. And will. But you entered into an argument. So you made the move to let us "question your philosophy".

It was for your sake only. If you are okay I want to continue. I just didn't want to do something that would hurt you.

Dom, you should pick up one I read last year called The House Of The Scorpion, it's a really good book with some neat themes/ideas, like the morals and ethics of cloning, what makes a person a person, etc. It's also just a good book overall, so yeah.

Ooooh! Wait. Was this a book you talked about in another chat?

Dom, you should pick up one I read last year called The House Of The Scorpion, it's a really good book with some neat themes/ideas, like the morals and ethics of cloning, what makes a person a person, etc. It's also just a good book overall, so yeah.

Ooooh! Wait. Was this a book you talked about in another chat?

I think so? It's about the clone of a drug dealer and there's a sequel called The Lord of Opium, which I haven't read bc honestly it worked fine as a standalone.

Personally I usually use it as an example of 'standalone that didn't need a sequel' because it really doesn't, and events at the end of the book make it hard for me to believe that a sequel could work….

Movie sequels though am I right?

True….
I feel like Divergent also would've worked as a standalone with a semi-open ending (Tris, Four, Christina, and Caleb alive and the Dauntless/Erudite stuff uncovered) because honestly I was bored out of my mind by Alligent.
Also…just look at all of the sequels coming out that don't need to for books this year, so many completed stories are just being dragged on and on, book deals are being extended, etc.
I mean, Sarah J. Maas published what was essentially a Christmas special in May, no less for her characters that was nothing but smut and fluff, E.L. James rewriting 50 Shades Of Emotional Abuse from Christian Titledrop's POV (sadly I can't take credit for that joke), Legend and The Darkest Minds getting more books….
Some I get, like how Three Dark Crowns was gonna be a duology but there ended up being too much, but others are clearly moneygrabs.
Also, sorry for going off earlier. Sometimes I just can't shut the fuck up

Movie sequels though am I right?

Especially when really good movies don't get sequels so that we can have Wreck It Ralph 2.
Frozen 2 actually looks okay, I probably won't see it though.
And if any movie is relevant/amazing enough to warrant a remake, it's A League Of Their Own.

True….
I feel like Divergent also would've worked as a standalone with a semi-open ending (Tris, Four, Christina, and Caleb alive and the Dauntless/Erudite stuff uncovered) because honestly I was bored out of my mind by Alligent.
Also…just look at all of the sequels coming out that don't need to for books this year, so many completed stories are just being dragged on and on, book deals are being extended, etc.
I mean, Sarah J. Maas published what was essentially a Christmas special in May, no less for her characters that was nothing but smut and fluff, E.L. James rewriting 50 Shades Of Emotional Abuse from Christian Titledrop's POV (sadly I can't take credit for that joke), Legend and The Darkest Minds getting more books….
Some I get, like how Three Dark Crowns was gonna be a duology but there ended up being too much, but others are clearly moneygrabs.
Also, sorry for going off earlier. Sometimes I just can't shut the fuck up

It's true. Divergent was good. Not Hunger Games good. But up there. The other two were just hard to get through Insurgent felt like it was just wandering around and Alligent was just meh. (Plus the ending. And the double POV thing.) Maybe it would have made a good duology. Idk.
I am no fan of Maas after what I have heard of her work. And fluff is great, I don't do smut because I am a good boy. but you can't build a solid body with it.
Oh jeez 50 Shades. When will it leave.
But it's totally about money. Instead of the art. You see it all the time with movies. Movies take more money and takes less emotional work to build them. Not to slight the industry (I plan on working there) but it takes a lot of money so it needs a lot of money. A series isn't affordable. And a book takes a lot more. Sure you can type anything without having to worry about set pieces or stunt doubles but it takes giving a soul to write a book. Movies don't need that. So they just hope it becomes a success and film a sequel hoping to cash in on all the hard work and get a good bonus.

Hey it's cool. We all get there sometimes. And what would we be without our passionate moralities?

Movie sequels though am I right?

Especially when really good movies don't get sequels so that we can have Wreck It Ralph 2.
Frozen 2 actually looks okay, I probably won't see it though.
And if any movie is relevant/amazing enough to warrant a remake, it's A League Of Their Own.

Do tell more. What is this movie?

True….
I feel like Divergent also would've worked as a standalone with a semi-open ending (Tris, Four, Christina, and Caleb alive and the Dauntless/Erudite stuff uncovered) because honestly I was bored out of my mind by Alligent.
Also…just look at all of the sequels coming out that don't need to for books this year, so many completed stories are just being dragged on and on, book deals are being extended, etc.
I mean, Sarah J. Maas published what was essentially a Christmas special in May, no less for her characters that was nothing but smut and fluff, E.L. James rewriting 50 Shades Of Emotional Abuse from Christian Titledrop's POV (sadly I can't take credit for that joke), Legend and The Darkest Minds getting more books….
Some I get, like how Three Dark Crowns was gonna be a duology but there ended up being too much, but others are clearly moneygrabs.
Also, sorry for going off earlier. Sometimes I just can't shut the fuck up

It's true. Divergent was good. Not Hunger Games good. But up there. The other two were just hard to get through Insurgent felt like it was just wandering around and Alligent was just meh. (Plus the ending. And the double POV thing.) Maybe it would have made a good duology. Idk.
I am no fan of Maas after what I have heard of her work. And fluff is great, I don't do smut because I am a good boy. but you can't build a solid body with it.
Oh jeez 50 Shades. When will it leave.
But it's totally about money. Instead of the art. You see it all the time with movies. Movies take more money and takes less emotional work to build them. Not to slight the industry (I plan on working there) but it takes a lot of money so it needs a lot of money. A series isn't affordable. And a book takes a lot more. Sure you can type anything without having to worry about set pieces or stunt doubles but it takes giving a soul to write a book. Movies don't need that. So they just hope it becomes a success and film a sequel hoping to cash in on all the hard work and get a good bonus.

Hey it's cool. We all get there sometimes. And what would we be without our passionate moralities?

The booktuber InsanseReader just did a really good video on the failure of the Divergent franchise (especially the films) that I recommend checking out. Divergent wasn't great by any means, but it was fun and if you just turn your brain off and read it, it's good, but doesn't have the nuance of the Hunger Games. Insurgent I skimmed most of (I liked the scene where Tris was high on the Kindness Serum in Amity) and I lost all hope for Alligent when they killed off Janine. And then I knew exactly what would happen when I saw the split perspectives. Speaking of which, they weren't even well-written split perspectives like Children of Blood and Bone, Four and Tris sounded the same.
I've read all of the ACOTAR books and the first TOG book (plus the novella bindup) and yeah….I don't like her books…
Not soon enough lol. On the plus side, it looks like she's not rewriting 50SF?
It's really weird how many books get picked up for movies with the time constraint, there really should be more book-to-tv adaptations instead.

Movie sequels though am I right?

Especially when really good movies don't get sequels so that we can have Wreck It Ralph 2.
Frozen 2 actually looks okay, I probably won't see it though.
And if any movie is relevant/amazing enough to warrant a remake, it's A League Of Their Own.

Do tell more. What is this movie?

It's a movie about the All-American Girl's Baseball League, it's a sports comedy but with some genuinely touching moments. Since everyone is clamoring for more female leads, it'd be a great one to revamp since all but 1 of the major characters are female.
If you haven't seen it I recommend it, it has an all-star cast (well, 90s era all-star)

waffles

Pancakes

"There's no crying in baseball."?

Wtf is going on I've been gone for 30 pages

Let's not bash SJM or her books because they're actually pretty amazing but written for an older YA crowd. Not to mention I have met her and she helped me through one of the worst years of my life, so…

"There's no crying in baseball."?

Yep, that's the one.

Let's not bash SJM or her books because they're actually pretty amazing but written for an older YA crowd. Not to mention I have met her and she helped me through one of the worst years of my life, so…

That's cool, I just personally dislike them. Also that's super cool that you met her, I've only ever met Angie Stanton (?? She writes teen romance I think but I haven't picked up any of them) and Kathleen Ernst.

It's all good! You got your own opinions. I will just defend her to the death because I stan. LOL

I've actually met a few of my favorite authors. They're all pretty amazing people.

I wanna met Leigh Bardugo and Marissa Meyer, that would be fun!
Legit the only reason I picked up one of Stanton's books is because it took place in Wisconsin and I want more books set in the Midwest. Then I returned it because I picked up another book.