What's your latest hobby/obsession?

[E-Day]

I think everyone goes through phases where they become interested in something and become partially obsessed with that thing for a while.

For me it started last summer. I was perusing the over-the-air channels we get at our house, and came across the Create channel. And on the channel at that moment was America's Test Kitchen. I had never seen it before, but had heard the name from that Nintendo DS "game" that came out a long while ago, "America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking". So I decided to watch the show and see what it was about, partially because I was tired of always making the same thing. At that point I became completely obsessed with it.

I've seen lots of different cooking shows throughout the years, and they were basically all the same: the chef creates a meal, talking to the camera, vaguely explaining what they are doing. Some prepare one meal at a time and do a couple per episode, and others cook four at a time and sing opera while they do it (look up Pasquale's Kitchen Express). But ATK was completely different. There were two people, with one doing the cooking and explaining in great detail what they were doing and why, and another person watching and conversing with them. They mention that they tested the recipe 20 times, or 30 times until they got it perfect, and then they eat what was made and look like they are having an orgasm.

My next step was to make some of what I saw. French Toast, Garlic Bread, both delicious. But what sold it for e was the Baltimore Pit Beef recipe. I was hooked, and had to watch the show every chance I got, got many of their cookbooks since then (I am up to 10 now I believe), subscriptions to both their magazines, constantly watch both of their shows (America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country), and I make something of there at least once a week, sometimes up to six times a week. And just about everything I have made has been fantastic.

This is one of the longest obsessions I have had, with no signs of slowing down. What have you become obsessed with in a similar fashion?

[twiztor]

i don't really have any "new" hobbies, but let me share some of my more obsessive ones:

-comic books.

almost 3 years ago, i decided to try and read every Batman comic. That starts with Detective Comics #27 in 1939 and continues to this very day. to make matters more complicated, i'm also including all (or mostly all) bat-centric titles also. this includes, but is not limited to, Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, and countless miniseries and oneshots. we're talking over a hundred titles per year for every year since the 90s. i'm currently about halfway thru 2002, so i have made some incredible progress and am starting to be worried about what to do when i hit 2011 (the end of the current timeline).

as an aside, i've also started scanning and uploading a few comics here and there. not much different than the purpose of this site, but on a much smaller scale (a 20 page comic vs a 100+ page or more gaming mag). i have new admiration for anyone that does this, as it takes quite a bit of work.

-pro wrestling.

i grew up a fan of wrestling in the '80s. "Macho Man" Randy Savage has always been my favorite. i didn't watch it religiously until the mid '90s, tho. wrestling hit its apex and most popular time. Steve Austin, the nWo, i'm sure you remember. well, i haven't watched it in a long time, as the current stuff doesn't do it for me anymore. so a couple years ago, i decided to rewatch all of that "attitude era" stuff in real time, so i am tracking down every torrent or youtube channel i can find that hosts late 90s wrestling and watch hours of it every week. in an average week, i watch 5 hours on Mondays, 2 on Thursdays, and 4 over the weekend (plus 3 more if there's a pay-per-view). that's broadcast time, obviously when you take out commercials and whatnot it cuts the time down dramatically. ironically enough, this weekend is WrestleMania 14 from 1998.

-and then there's video games.

i've made it a goal to play through and beat both Wii Zelda games (own both, never beat either) before the new game comes out (which, it was announced today, likely is pushed back to 2016). but i also just picked up PokeMon Y and New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3ds. and i'm continuously buying more NES games for my collection.

and amiibo hunting took up a bunch of time the last couple months (luckily i'm at my stopping point for the time being).

so i keep busy.

[Data]

I have started watching BBC documentaries and other television series about science. My hunger for the knowledge of the beggining of space and time as well as who we are and why were here have burned in me for a long time but I have spent alot of time alone and get a great amount of pleasure by learning new theories based off facts.

I have in my science library of media some particular favorites of mine like;

Through the Wormhole

The Ascent of Man

The Universe

Cosmos

Cosmos A Spacetime Odyssey

How the Universe Works

Walking with Dinosaurs

Walking with Monsters

Walking with Prehistoric Beasts

Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham

Besides my lifelong musical obsession I have been watching some videogame shows that I have aquired as well as some other cool stuff that nobody seems to have seen like;

Game related

Starcade

Gamemaster

Bad Influence!

Gamepro TV 1991-1992

Gamepro TV 1996

Non Science or gaming Binge watching

Silicon Valley

True Detective

Fargo 2014

Counting Cars

Lilyhammer

Gangland Uncovered

Lucy

Squidbillies

The Maze Runner

Flintstones and WWE Stonage Smackdown

Dumb and Dumber To

Ethos

Pokemon

[Terry93D]

Video game fanzines tend to pop up among my obsessions every now again. In particular scans - so far I've only found Digital Press 1-53 and 66-69, Project: Ignition No. 9, the last Concept, the 9 issues of The Gameroom Blitz, one of V: The Videogame Experience, Classic Gamer Magazine, Paradox, SCROLL (which is so good I don't know if it counts), an archive of covers for The Laser, some of Game Time with Mister Raroo, The Gamer's Quarter (also so good I'm unsure of the counts-ing thereof), 8/16, Commodore Free, and two or so others. Not much.

Right now on the televisual side of things I have been enjoying House M.D. and as always Doctor Who, though not to the same obsessive extent as formerly.

In truth there's not really much for me to obsess with - and I hesitate to call it that as I make sure to not let it take over my life - seeing as I'm moving.

Though there are webcomics. Well-drawn ones in particular. Unsounded, Digger, Shlock Mercenary, Vattu, Clockwork, Stand Still Stay Silent, A Redtail's Dream, and The Abominable Charles Christopher are my favorites.

[Areala]

Japanese literature.

I've been a middling Japanophile since my teenage years when I discovered anime, and I've periodically read books by Japanese authors (my first truly mainstream Japanese read was "Out" by Natsuo Kirino all the way back in, like, 2002-ish), but it wasn't until the last two or three years when I really started digging in to read more of the older stuff. I was spurred to begin after finishing up 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami in 2012, so I started with a book called "The Lake" by Yasunari Kawabata and was utterly blown away. "The Lake" reminded me of nothing so much as a Japanese take on a Lolita-like theme of an old man completely consumed with an obsession for stalking younger women.

I've since read two other novels by Kawabata ("Snow Country" and "The Master of Go"), and am preparing to dive into a collection of his short works entitled "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories".

I've read the other two books by Kirino that have so far been published in English ("Grotesque" and "Real World"). I devoured "Battle Royale" by Takami. I read Yoko Ogawa's short story collection, "Revenge." Loved the hell out of Edogawa Ranpo's "Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination". Read Koji Suzuki's "The Ring" (which was turned into the film of the same name). Laughed out loud through Natsume Sosuke's "I Am A Cat" trilogy, where the protagonist is a literal house cat who tries to make sense of the comings and goings of the people who think they own his house. I cried my eyes out reading "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. I struggled through "Parasite Eve" by Hideaki Sena, all the while wondering how they managed to craft such an amazing PS1 game based on such a...pedestrian...work of science fiction.

This past year for my birthday, my lovely wife surprised me with a copy of "Tales of Moonlight and Rain" by Ueda Akinari, a collection of Japanese fables and folklore. I also have copies of several of Lafcadio Hearn's works that deal with Japanese ghost stories.

And like every other bibliophile, I have books on my shelf that I have yet to even touch by authors like Ryu Murakami, Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe, Kobo Abe, and Shusaku Endo, as well as several anthologies with work by a variety of authors from a variety of time periods.

Where would I suggest one to begin with Japanese lit? Honestly, either Takami's "Battle Royale" or Kirino's "Out" are both easy to find and inexpensive to purchase, and after reading one of them, you'll know whether or not the Japanese style is to your taste. "Out" especially is one of the most emotionally wrenching suspense stories I've ever read, a murder mystery where you already know who is to blame, but you as the reader are so intimately involved in watching the crime unfold that you feel like an involuntary participant yourself, and even more so as the police and Yakuza (Japanese mafia) both start to tighten the noose around the necks of the women they believe to be responsible. It's only a question of which group is going to crack them first, and what will happen to them depends on whether it's the cops or the criminals who decide to move in first.

*huggles*
Areala

[Softballchic10]

In the past I was an active girl. Playing softball, volleyball and a big time swimmer. But, as I got older, like for most people, life starts to happen. It was so easy to come home at the end of the day and just take it easy. Well, this year I've renewed my intrest in getting fit like I used to be.

I've started a running routine early this year and I have felt an excitement and a burning intensity inside me that I'd lost for a long time. Being on the road, nothing but some good music and as much road as I want to run under my feet. It has been amazing. I am working hard to run my first half-marathon this summer. I'm super excited to do it.

Also, like E-Day I've found a renewed intrest in cooking fresh meals every evening. Not only is it fun but it's played a big part in my goal to run that marathon. Both have combined to make me excited every evening, be it for an awesome meal I've decided to cook or reaching the end of an amazing run.

It may be old come new again, but I'm obsessed all the same!

[E-Day]

I have started watching BBC documentaries and other television series about science. My hunger for the knowledge of the beggining of space and time as well as who we are and why were here have burned in me for a long time but I have spent alot of time alone and get a great amount of pleasure by learning new theories based off facts.

Cosmos A Space Time Odyssey is probably the greatest thing I have ever watched on television.

[jhasson]

I've been reading more comics and playing more guitar lately.

[JoeyBean]

Miniatures. I know this sounds lame for a man to say but tiny things are so cool to me right now. haha I look on eBay and Amazon all the time checking to find some. I like furniture, animals, figures, really anything under an inch tall.