My Five Favourite Fables of Fiction =)

1. Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954)


Seven Samurai does not have a complex storyline whatsoever, which is what makes it beautiful. A poor farming village under constant attack by bandits hire seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves. Seven Samurai is, in my opinion, the first epic film ever made. With a total runtime of 3 hrs 27 minutes, it is not a film for everyone, but those who watch it shall be greatly rewarded. It has some of the finest characterization ever put on screen, and is virtually the perfect film in every way. Each character is fully developed and unique, and Kurosawa's meticulousness shines in every frame like the swords these men carry. Long live Kyuzo<3 (the most BADASS samurai EVAR.)

2. The CunninLynguists' A Piece of Strange (2006)


A Piece of Strange is by far the most influential album I've ever come across, and what I consider the defining album of my youth. It is a concept album, and through music, tells the journey of a man down on his luck, enshrouded by darkness, that eventually clears his mind and sees "The Light" (track 16). The true beauty of the record is shown through the way each individual song can stand on its own, but it is only when they all come together that the story begins to unravel itself to the listener. There is no absolute. Countless interpretations of this record have sprang up all over the internet and a website has even been spawned @ http://whatisapos.com/

3. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1963)


OFOTCN is considered a classic novel, and with good reason. At the time, writing about inmates of a mental asylum was greeted with great controversy. Ken Kesey made all of his characters likeable (with the exception of antagonist Nurse Ratched), not an easy task when the majority of the novel's personalities are mental patients. He made the protagonist, Randle McMurphy, likeable, even though he was only in the mental institution to avoid prison time. When Randle is strangling Nurse Ratched near the climax of the novel, Kesey's characterization lets the reader actually want Randle to succeed in killing her. Another interesting facet of the novel is its narration. It is narrated in an almost omniscient sense, but the narration is actually coming from Chief, a character that is virtually ignored by everyone else in the novel.

4. Sony's God of War (2005)


God of War. Enough said. Sony's kickass game won numerous awards and deserved every last one of them. It is a personal favourite of mine because of how well it immerses the player into the story. The flawless controls, epic camera angles, vivid gameplay, and pounding score seem like they were created by the Gods themselves. Greek mythology has always been a fascination of mine, as I think it is one of the most fascinating fields of study on earth. The story is compelling. The characters are larger than life. God of War is a must-have.

5. Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)


Last but certainly not least, is Sergio Leone's magnum opus. Like Seven Samurai, the true beauty of TGTBATU lies within the simplicity of its plotline. Three men set out to find a buried treasure. That's it. Also, each character is not exactly who they seem. The Good (Clint Eastwood) can occasionally be caught doing some terrible things. The Bad (Lee Van Cleef) is sometimes a nice guy. And The Ugly (Eli Wallach) is just, well, nevermind. Sergio Leone was the first director to play with the harmonious marriage of the right piece of music to the right clips of video. When Eli Wallach's character is manically running through the graveyard where the treasure is buried, and Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" is playing as the soundtrack, it is truly a sight to behold. All of these reasons and many more is why The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly kicks gratuitious amounts of ass and oozes with awesomeness.