eek!

I finished my green tea frappuccino handspun socks last night while watching spooky movies and listening to the crazy insane rain and lightning outside. I threaded the ends in this morning

The movies were the remake of The Fog, which I didn't like nearly as much as the original - I tend to like my horror movies cheesy and low budgeted, and Dark Water, which was actually pretty good but not heart in my throat scary, which is a feeling I should probably avoid - it comes awfully close to panic attack feelings. I also watched Closer which I thought was creepy but in a whole other way. What a cynical little bedroom drama that turned out to be.

I swear someone was shooting off fireworks at one in the morning on my street in the middle of a heavy rain. Or someone's fireworks got wet in the rain and they went off. They do that right? It wasn't a gun, I know this. Guns don't make high-pitched squeals before they pop.

Have we replenished the water table yet?

Today my socks and I are watching a PBS documentary about Bob Dylan directed by Martin Scorcese (you probably know Scorcese's very good friends with Robbie Robertson who used to play in The Band behind Mr Bob but I can't miss an opportunity to be a smarty pants - or smarty socks.)

Listishness

Absolutely nothing much to note. Really so few things of interest are going on these days it would just bore you to read about it.

We had an unbelievable storm during Tuesday's stitch n bitch. Driving back up Greigos from Rio Grande Blvd the street was so flooded we weren't sure the car was going to make it at some points. Good thing we have a tall baby suv type car. Later we saw there were watermarks up to the bottoms of the doors though. Skeery.

I went to get my glasses fixed at the optomotrist who reminded me that I haven't been there since March 2004 so it's time to get my eyeballs checked again. And we're almost finished paying off the criminal dentist.

In knitting I'm about to finish the sixth scarf for the Think Pink charity. They're all fuzzy and acrylic because I'd used up my wool pink yarn for the warming grace squares. I think that's all I'm going to do. I'm impatient to start new socks.

For lack of anything else to write about I'm going to make up some lists.

How I feel right now:
lazy
tired
sleepy
ambitious
nauseated
hungry
hopeful

Movies I've watched the last few weeks: (bad ones and all)
Bewitched
Stage Beauty
Monster-in-Law
Invincible (2001 Werner Herzog not the 2006 one about football)
The Carpetbaggers
Deuce Bigelow European Gigolow
de-Lovely
Notting Hill
Kiss Them For Me
Walk the Line
Heaven's Gate (director's cut)
The Skeleton Key

Books I've read the last few weeks:
Blue Shoes and Happiness
The Moviegoer
The Tiger in the Well
The Shadow in the North
The Ruby in the Smoke

Things I'm going to go do when I finish this post:
eat
watch something on the Tivo
take my medicine
sleep (wish me luck)

Cody may or may not get one or more of the following things for my birthday on Sunday:
Needles
The new KnitPicks needle sets with all the additional options looks good. They're backordered for a few weeks though.
I've been lusting after these handmade wooden needles for months. Aren't they pretty?
Or maybe a set of needles with lights inside?
If these stretchy circular needles came in sizes other than 2 I'd want them too.

Bags
I've been eyeing this lemonade bag at Discount Yarn Sale for about a year.
But I love the new designs on the Lexie Barnes bowler bags
Or maybe I should get a Jordana Paige bag, like this cute black and pink tweed
I like this imitation Jordana bag too.
Although I'd be really happy with a cute matching set of an Acadia Backpack or Empire bag in black sushi material with a matching Denise needle set cover from Boogie!
Or maybe this cute sushi purse?

The Usual Etsy Suspects
The Morrigan Necklace
Assorted cute handmade hedgehog stuff

Fibery goodness
Maybe something from my favorite handspun fiber shops?
Hello
Material
Luxe

Sealeg Socks, Highwaymen, Moviegoing in my den

I've been getting all kinds of cool mail from Mama E this week.

Firstly, I got my blue installment of sock yarn. Gorgeous as always. I really should buckle down and knit with it. Actually I'm thinking about not knitting socks with her project spectrum yarn but knitting this really cool blanket using all of it. I think? I could always use a new project I don't have nearly enough going on.

The second mail from Mama came tonight. An email about something I never would've bet money that I'd be interested in but find myself really excited about: A Sock Cruise up the Pacific Coast. How fun!!!

It's set for next April and will be going from LA to Vancouver and stopping in San Francisco for a day - at Embarcadero - like right by where Jocelyn works and..right near ArfFibers! Yaaay!

There are lots of plans on the boat for us - color theory, sock classes, and a bag of Mama E goodies included! The price isn't that bad - 475 per person double occupancy need 200 for a deposit. I'm totally going. Just have to sell enough yarn to pay for it. I need to get back on the spinning wagon anyway I really miss it.

Let's see if Cody wants to go too! Barry's definitely on board with the idea.

Remember how I mentioned not needing more projects? I've been in a finishing mood this week. Last night I stayed up really late and finished that gypsy scarf made from a bunch of yarn I picked out at ArtFibers. It wasn't that hard to do and strangely I think it's one of the best things I've made. I love that it's like a souvenir from my big day alone in the city. This thing looks so cool. I've got to get back into photographing stuff but no photos will do it justice. Really.

Tonight I'm going to finish knitting some fuzzy liners for the ugg baby booties. I decided they were really too big and instead of knitting icords for ties or creating a corset effect on the back of the shoes with extra suede yarn (both are cool solutions) I wanted the inside to be fuzzy. So I picked up the stitches at the top and have been knitting little fuzzy socks out of Berroco plush to push inside the bootie. I just finished the first liner and after following a full sock process - heel flap, gussets, toe decreases, I've discovered it's just as easy to just knit a tube and stuff it in there. I'm halfway through finally watching Heaven's Gate tonight. Kris Kristofferson is in it. Anyone that was in The Highwaymen kicks ass.

Speaking of another Highwayman, I watched Walk the Line last night. Ok. Now of course I liked the ending (yes I cried like a leetle girl) and OF COURSE I liked the music. Reese Witherspoon was great. Yeah everyone said so and it was true. But not for one second could I forget that was Joaquin Phoenix. That was a surprise. I mean, I never thought I'd get over the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was playing Howard Hughes but I did (although I'm still afraid that I'd giggle at his beard throughout Gangs of New York so I haven't seen that). I certainly expected to have that suspension of disbelief with Phoenix but it never happened. I just kept comparing them. He did the best he could but no. Not the same. I also kept hearing him say that line about every time he watches the weather he has to..well...if you've seen To Die For you know what I'm saying. I've never seen Gladiator and I'm pretty sure that's for the best.

I did get a big kick out of the two small scenes with Shooter Jennings playing his dad, Waylon Jennings (yet another Highwayman). If I ever have a kid I'm totally naming it Shooter - boy or girl. The other one will be Schmuley. Schmuley and Shooter. That's ok I used to want to name them Vincent and Thor. Aren't you glad I'm probably not having kids now?

When I was watching the ending of the Walk The Line I was misty eyed and wondering if Cody and I could ever sing together. He's a great singer and a pretty good guitarist. Very low voice. I decided he'd give me too much crap about my pitch and I would give him crap about what songs we played. We're a much better programming duet. At the same moment, when the credits started he was thinking about me at work and called. I love our weird married telepathy.

I watched a live Johnny Cash performance from Montreaux in 1994 on PBS last week. That was fun. They sang Jackson.

the true antithesis to the nerd movie list

I ran across this post on this livejournal site. Not really sure where she found it.

So this is almost completely unlike the famous "film buff" quiz proving not your movie coolness but your complete uncoolness for having seen so many movies. An attitude to which I say a hearty and simcere FU. Whatever the hell I feel like doing is cool and if you disagree you can just go suck it. I'm finding this increasing attitude to be a great gift from the gods since I turned 30. It seems to only get better.

Anyway you're supposed to enter a number as you come across each movie you've seen that's listed in some arbitrary order which makes no sense to me. Apparently if you get over the number 70 you have no life. Mmmmkay. It's entirely possible that I *own* more than 70 of these so what does that make me? Oh right. An agoraphobe with no job and a satellite dish with all the movie channels. Asterisks are by the ones we own. If I haven't seen it but we own it that means it belongs to Cody.

Quiz and results in the extended entry...

Section 1:

(1) The Princess Bride*
(2) Young Frankenstien*
(3) AnchorMan: The Legend of Ron Burgandy
(4) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Saw
( ) White Noise
(5) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(6) 50 First Dates
( ) Jason X

Section 2:

(7)Scream
(8) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(9) Scary Movie*
(10) Scary Movie 2*
(11) Scary Movie 3*
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie: Band Camp
(12) Harry Potter*

Section 3:

(13) Harry Potter 2*
(14) Harry Potter 3*
(15) Harry Potter 4*
( ) Resident Evil
( ) Resident Evil 2
(16) The Wedding Singer*
( ) Little Black Book
(18) The Village
( ) Donnie Darko
( ) Lilo & Stitch

Section 4:

(19) Finding Nemo
(20) Finding Neverland
(21) 13 Ghosts* (we own both versions too)
( ) Signs
( ) The Grinch
(22) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (both original, original pt 2* and that godawful remake)
(23) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(24) Thirteen Going on 30
( ) I, Robot

Section 5:

(25) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(26) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
(27) KingPin
(28) Never Been Kissed
(29) Meet The Parents
(30) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights

Section 6:

(31) A Cinderella Story
(32) the Terminal
( ) the Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(33) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumb & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
(34) Halloween*
(35) The Ring

section 7:

( ) The Ring 2
(36) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle*
(37) Practical Magic*
(38) Chicago*
(39) Ghost Ship
(40) From Hell*
(41) Hellboy*
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards

Section 8:

(42) The Day After Tomorrow
(43) Child's Play*
(44) Bride of Chucky
(45) Ten Things I Hate About You
(46) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(47) Nightmare on Elm Street
(48) Sixteen Candles
( ) Coach Carter
( ) Bad Boys

Section 9:

( ) Bad Boys 2
(49) Joy Ride
(50) Se7en*
( ) Oceans eleven
( ) Ocean's Twelve
( ) Identity
(51) Lone Star
(52) Bedazzled (both versions tyvm)
( ) Predator I*
( ) Predator II

Section 10:

( ) Independence Day
(53) Cujo
(54) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls (I tried once but it annoyed the hell out of me)
(55) Christine
(56) E.T.
(57) Children of the Corn
( ) My Boss' daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
( ) Frailty

Section 11:

( ) Best Bet
(58) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She's All That
(59) Calendar girls
(60) Sideways
(61) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(62) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China

Section 12:

(63) X-Men*
(64) Jeepers Creepers (so bad sobad s o b a d)
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(65) Catch Me If You Can
(66) The Others*
(67) Freaky Friday (yep. seen both versions)
( ) Reign of Fire
(68) Cruel Intentions*
(69) The Hot Chick

Section 13:

( ) Swimfan
( ) miracle
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
( ) Walk to Remember
( ) Boogeyman

Section 14:

( ) Hitch
( ) The Saint
(70) Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Episode II Attack of The Clones
( ) Star Wars Episode III Revenge of The Sith
(71) Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope*
(72) Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back*
(73) Star Wars Episode VI Return of The Jedi*
(74) Troop Beverly Hills
(75) American History X

Section 15:

( ) Air Force One
(76) For Richer or Poorer
(77) Trainspotting
(78) People Under the Stairs
(79) Blue Velvet
(80) The Sound of Music*
( ) Parent Trap 1 (neither version)
( ) Parent Trap 2
(81) The Burbs
( ) The Terminator 2*

Section 16:

(82) Empire Records
(83) SLC Punk
( ) Meet Joe Black
(84) Nightmare Before Christmas*
(85) The Silence of the Lambs
(86) Sleepy Hollow* (this is one of my "sleeping pill" movies I put it on and it puts me to sleep)
(87) I Heart Huckabees
( ) 24 Hour Party People
( ) Blood In Blood Out
(88) The Virgin Suicides
( ) The Sandlot

section 17:

(89) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(90) Grease
(91) Pirates of the Caribbean*
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) The Mexican
(92) Fight Club
(93) Starsky and Hutch
(94) Neverending Story
(95) Blazing Saddles*
(96) Airplane*
(97) Super Troopers
(98) The Goonies

Ding ding ding!

seen- 98
own- 36

Fredo I hardly knew ye

I had a HUGE post with lots of different subjects but now I think I'm going to break it up into a few different posts.

I've been watching a few movies related to the Vietnam War that I haven't seen before. Or more accurately, I've been watching movies related to the various aftereffects of the war. Watched The Killing Fields a few weeks ago. This week I saw The Deer Hunter (all I can say about that one is..damn) and Coming Home. Also Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai with Rita Hayworth, a made for tv movie called Hell on Heels about the big Mary Kay vs Beauti Control direct cosmetics sales battle, as well as a slow and mostly useless pretentious little flick called The Myth of Fingerprints that seems to come from the school of late nineties dull indie dramedy underusing the talent of really good actors in a way that's supposed to be Altman style subtlety but is really just boring. Same school as a movie I saw a few weeks ago called The Secret Lives of Dentists. I also saw that godawful remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, although I wasn't really a fan of the original. Now the sequel to the original rocked in a great gory campy surreal kind of way. Anything with the Cramps in the soundrack and Dennis Hopper in the cast is alright by me. I also rewatched On Golden Pond and Motel Hell.

It's been an ecclectic week. Hey, what else am I going to do while I knit and spin?

The one that keeps coming back to me is The Deer Hunter. There are layers to that movie that I'll be thinking about for a while. I've been thinking about John Cazale. Fredo, Sal. He was dying when they were filming The Deer Hunter. He was engaged to Meryl Streep, this was her first major role. Crazy. Christopher Walken was unbelievable in this. I remember watching Walken in that weird 80s movie Brainstorm when I was in junior high I think. But this. This. Damn.

This week I plan to watch Heaven's Gate. Cody jokes about how I should just poke myself in the knee with a knitting needle over and over instead, it would cause less pain. This from the Mst afficionado.

I did not watch the Oscars

I used to love watching them. Until I grew old and cynical and realized that it was just a very expensive self-congratulatory marketing machine in an already vapid, self-involved industry. Cynical? Me? I'm glad Robert Altman finally got some recognition from them though. About damned time.

So to celebrate my non-Oscar watching. This is the speech I would give if the earth's crust opened, tiny humanoid chihuauas came out, and I decided to move to Hollywood and star in the movies.

from the Academy Award Speech Generator found via CheekyProf

Noelle's Acceptance Speech for the Most Over-Produced Victorian Epic Oscar:

Thank you! Oh! Thank you! I can hardly breathe! I feel so surgically enhanced! And this statue - it's so suspiciously phallic! Oh, thank you again! I just want everyone to secretly suspect that even in my wildest hallucinations, I never would have frantically prayed that this could ever validate my mediocrity. And to the other closeted homosexual nominees, I want each of you to know how totally vindicated your lackluster applause makes me feel right now!

You know when they first told me I was a God on Earth, I just had to take an epidural and obsess about how freakish my love scenes have been. I guess it all just makes me feel kinda wrinkly

You know, there are so many ass-kissing two-faced harpies to thank! First off though, I want to bitch slap the glorified prostitutes of the Academy, who looked deep within their lint-encrusted navels before giving me this fantastic award! Also, I want to thank Kali, for being such a powerful force in my contract negotiations. And to the US Supreme Court, who taught me to take life by the fifth of bourbon. And finally, to all the sycophantic talk show hosts - I couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you America, and good night!

With all cynical silliniess aside, thanks for all the sweet comments about the collar! I owe ya'll two patterns now, eh?

FO Friday Pumkin Patch Shawl

Technically it's not Friday but I'm a rebel...Here are some photos of the finished shawl. Still not blocked but I know you won't mind.

I can't properly describe how much I enjoyed knitting this. Or really how much I enjoy knitting with anything I buy from Adrian's shop. Her sense of color and great visual sense of using simple patterns to enhance the beauty of her (and Sarah's) handspun yarn is unsurpassed. I don't say that lightly either. I may be a new knitter but I've been studying color all my life. And I always find something truly desirable to knit with in her shop updates. You might notice that I had this knitting project interrupted for a few months. But you might also notice that I bought another kit in the meantime. The prices might seem a bit high if you're unfamiliar with the usual cost of handspun yarn - but it's important to consider how much wool is actually being used in the thicker yarns. Believe me, if you love unique and soft yarn it's totally worth it.

Cody said that I haven't taken enough photos of Winter with my knitting lately. So here's a gratuitous dog being tortured by knitting photo.

Don't let that hounddog face fool you. She loves the attention. And she was happily eating a greenie about three minutes after this photo was taken.

I started my besotted scarf but things got a little sloppy. So to get back into the practice of knitting cables I've been knitting a collar for Winter. Regular collars tend to rub on her short fur so I've been making one that can cover a new one. The idea is based on this necklace and I'm using some old mercerized cotton that I bought at a local store where 80s yarn went to die, or be bought for a dollar a skein by a newbie knitter.

It's knit on US size 4s and will be sewn into a tube using some fabric on the back then slipped onto a collar.

Technically since it's pink it fits into Project Spectrum right?

And isn't it sad that we've recently lost both The Old Man from A Christmas Story (as well as Kolchak The Night Stalker) and The Artful Dodger from Oliver (also in that terrifying show HR Puffinstuff)? What great guys they were.

Fluff film meme

Another damned movie meme. Don't yell at me about it blame Beverly and Courtney.

This is a list compiled by Courtney because she didn't like the other list, said if watching those dull movies made her a buff she didn't want to be one. So this is more of the fluffy fun movies list. And you'll probably see that while I've caught a few arty flicks in my day I loves me some fluff films!

(Speaking of, may I also point you in the direction of my guilty pleasure movie post? It's very funny and has photos!)

I was thinking. Wouldn't it be neat to have a big collaborative list that everybody could contribute to? Listing their favorite movies - not so you can be considered a buff but so you can find out about some new movies that you might like. hmm.

Oh, before I get started I watched Gods and Monsters last night. It was good. A bit depressing. And very very quiet. Lots of ogling mostly nekkid Brendan Frasier and I don't even have to endure a bad jungle theme to get it. I've really only started to appreciate Ian McKellen in the last few years but I've always loved what he did in Cold Comfort Farm.

+ - own it on DVD
* - own it VHS

NOW IN THEATERS
Brokeback Mountain
Walk the Line

SIXTIES
The Sound of Music+
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Breakfast at Tiffany's+

The rest of the meme is in the extended entry.

SEVENTIES
Kramer vs. Kramer
The Goodbye Girl
Grease
The Champ
The Way We Were (Just saw this a few months ago)
Rocky
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory+

EIGHTIES
On Golden Pond
Big
E.T.
Amadeus+
Tootise
Say Anything
Fletch
Hoosiers
Legal Eagles
Top Gun
Ferris Beuller's Day Off
The Breakfast Club
Sixteen Candles
The Mosquito Coast
Men Don't Leave
Dirty Dancing
St. Elmo's Fire
Dead Poet's Society
Field of Dreams
Steel Magnolias*
Dances With Wolves
Running On Empty
When Harry Met Sally

NINETIES
The Cutting Edge+ (yes I own this on dvd. I love this movie)
Dazed and Confused
Father of the Bride (1991)*
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Jerry McGuire*
Quiz Show (the movie of great lamps)
Sliding Doors
Scent of a Woman
As Good as it Gets
Reality Bites
Good Will Hunting
Kindergarten Cop
The Man in the Moon
Muriel's Wedding
A Few Good Men
Sleepless in Seattle
Strictly Ballroom+
Before Sunrise
American Beauty

JENNIFER ANISTON
Office Space+
Bruce Almighty
Along Came Polly

JULIA ROBERTS
Pretty Woman
Erin Brockovich
Mona Lisa Smile

BILL MURRAY
Meatballs (hee. Chris Makepeace)
Groundhog Day
What About Bob?
Lost in Translation+ (also listed in 2000s)
(executive decision to add these)
Stripes
Rushmore

DOCUMENTARY
Spellbound
Supersize Me
Fahrenheit 9/11

TWO THOUSANDS
American Beauty (this was also listed in the 90s)
Lost in Translation+
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
In Good Company
Pay It Forward
Meet the Parents
Meet the Fockers
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Sideways
Saving Grace
Love Actually+
A Mighty Wind+
Garden State+
Thirteen
Traffic
Miracle
Cinderella Man
40-year-old Virgin
Before Sunset
About a Boy+
High Fidelity*
Sweet Home Alabama
The Station Agent

yeah it would've been easier to just bold the ones I haven't seen.

Another movie meme

I originally saw this on And She Knits Too and found my way back to the source.

Yes, another movie meme in which I mark a huge boring list to show off how cool I am. Hey, it's fun to do and it gives me an idea for good movies to add to the netflix queue. And while it's similar to this and this it has more recent and obscure films listed and I found the groupings to be interesting.

According to these guys if you score over 100 (out of 205) you are a true film buff. So here goes.

+ have it on DVD
* have it on VHS

[X] Citizen Kane
[X] Casablanca
[X] The Godfather*+
[X] The Godfather Part 2*+
[X] Gone with the Wind+
[ ] Lawrence of Arabia
[X] The Wizard of Oz
[X] The Graduate
[X] On the Waterfront
[ ] Schindler's List
[X] Singing in the Rain
[X] Ben-Hur

Total:10

[X] Seven Samurai
[ ] Magnificent Seven
[ ] Three Amigos
[ ] Yojimbo
[ ] Fist Full of Dollars
[ ] Last Man Standing
[ ] Hidden Fortress
[X] Star Wars*+
[X] Empire Strikes Back*+
[X] Return of the Jedi*+
[ ] Ran
[ ] Dreams
[X] Rashomon

Total:5

[X] Psycho
[X] Vertigo
[X] North by Northwest
[X] The Birds
[X] Rear Window
[ ] Dial M for Murder

a few missing (my favorite Hitchcock is Rebecca)..

Total:5

the rest has been moved to the extended entry.

[ ] Blood Simple
[X] Raising Arizona
[ ] Millers Crossing
[X] Barton Fink
[X] Hudsucker Proxy*
[X] Fargo*
[X] Big Lebowski
[X] O Brother Where Art Thou?+

Hee the Cohen Brothers really are a category unto themselves

Total:6

[X] Alien*
[X] Blade Runner*
[ ] Legend
[ ] Black Rain
[X] Thelma & Louise
[ ] Black Hawk Down
[ ] Gladiator

Thelma & Louise? Is it me or does that one stick out from that list?

Total:3

[X] Time Bandits
[X] Brazil*
[X] The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
[X] The Fisher King
[X] Twelve Monkeys*+ (as well as the original La Jetee)
[X] Seven+
[X] Fight Club
[ ] Primal Fear
[X] American History X

Nice cluster here.

Total:8

[X] Spartacus
[X] Lolita
[X] Dr. Strangelove+
[X] Point for knowing the full title of Dr. Strangelove
(I know it. I can't tell YOU, though. That would be cheating.)
[X] 2001: A Space Odyssey
[X] Clockwork Orange
[X] The Shining*+
[X] Full Metal Jacket

I think Paths of Glory is missing in this list

Total:7+1=8

[ ] The Pianist
[X] Rosemary's Baby*
[X] China Town*
[X] Easy Rider
[X] One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Total:4

[ ] Unforgiven
[X] The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
[ ] The Searchers
[X] Rio Bravo
[ ] Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
[ ] Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

meh, westerns.

Total:2

[X] Halloween+
[X] Nightmare on Elm Street
[X] Friday the 13th
[X] Chainsaw Massacre (own #2)
[X] The Exorcist*+
[X] Silence of the Lambs

The Haunting (original Robert Wise one), Last House on the Left, The Audition

Total:6

[X] Pee-wee's Big Adventure
[X] Beetle Juice*
[X] Batman
[X] Edward Scissor Hands
[X] Ed Wood
[X] Mars Attacks!

Total:6

[X] Reservoir Dogs*
[X] Pulp Fiction*
[X] Kill Bill: Vol 1
[X] Kill Bill: Vol 2
[ ] Sin City
[X] Four Rooms
[X] From Dusk Till Dawn
[X] Desperado
[ ] El Mariachi

Total:7

[X] Gates of Heaven
[X] Vernon, Florida
[X] The Thin Blue Line
[ ] Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
[X] Mr. Death
[X] The Fog of War

Errol Morris makes interesting documentaries

Total:5

[ ] LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings
[ ] LOTR: The Two Towers
[ ] LOTR: Return of the King
[ ] Forgotten Silver
[X] Heavenly Creatures
[X] Braindead aka Dead Alive+
[X] Meet the Feebles
[X] Bad Taste

Total:4

[ ] King Kong (1933)
[X] King Kong (1976)
[ ] King Kong (2005)

Total:1

[X] The Sixth Sense*
[ ] Unbreakable
[ ] Signs
[X] The Village

Total:2

[ ] Pi
[X] Requiem for a Dream
[ ] Memento
[X] Insomnia
[X] Batman Begins
[ ] Following
[X] The Virgin Suicides
[X] Lost in Translation+
[X] Being John Malkovich*
[X] Adaptation
[X] Eternal Sunshine or the Spotless Mind

Total:8

[X] Better Off Dead
[X] Sixteen Candles
[X] The Breakfast Club
[X] Weird Science
[X] Ferris Beuller's Day Off
[X] Planes, Trains & Automobiles
[X] The Goonies
[X] Stand by Me

Total:8

[X] The Shawshank Redemption
[ ] The Green Mile

Total:1

[X] Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory+
[X] Princess Bride*+
[X] This is Spinal Tap+
[X] The Jerk
[X] Ghost Busters+
[X] Animal House
[X] Blues Brothers
[X] Little Shop of Horrors

Total:8

[ ] Princess Mononoke
[ ] My Neighbor Totoro
[ ] Spirited Away
[ ] Howl's Moving Castle
[X] Akira*+
[ ] Steamboy
[X] Ghost in the Shell+

Total:2

[X] Waiting for Guffman+
[X] Best in Show+
[X] A Mighty Wind+

Total:3

[X] Night of the Living Dead+
[X] Dawn of the Dead (1978)
[X] Day of the Dead
[ ] Land of the Dead
[X] Shawn of the Dead
[ ] 28 days later

Total:4

[ ] Bottle Rocket
[X] Rushmore+
[X] Royal Tenenbaums+
[X] The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou+
[ ] Snatch
[ ] Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
[X] Trainspotting
[X] Shallow Grave

those missing three just happen to be in my netflix queue

Total:5

[X] Delicatessen
[X] Amilie+
[X] City of Lost Children
[X] Run Lola Run
[X] La Femme Nikita
[X] The Professional*+
[X] The Fifth Element*+

Total:7

[X] Mean Streets
[X] Taxi Driver+
[X] Raging Bull
[ ] Last Temptation of Christ
[X] Goodfellas*+
[X] Casino+

no "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore?"

Total:5

[ ] M
[X] Metropolis
[X] Nosferatu
[X] Diabolique
[X] Usual Suspects*+
[X] Double Indemnity
[X] The Third Man
[X] Manchurian Candidate (1962) (love this movie love love it)
[X] Cool Hand Luke

Total:8

[X] Raiders of the Lost Ark+
[X] Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom+
[X] Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade+
[X] Jurassic Park
[X] Color Purple
[ ] Saving Private Ryan
[X] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
[X] Jaws+

Total:7

[X] Die Hard
[ ] Lethal Weapon
[ ] Mad Max
[ ] The Road Warrior
[ ] Braveheart
[ ] Man Without a Face
[ ] Passion of the Christ

can you tell I'm not a big Mel Gibson fan?

Total:1

GRAND TOTAL: 149

Of course, things like this can't be all-inclusive so these are the ones I think are missing

Classic Comedies like Bringing up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Awful Truth

a few more Film noir- Gilda, Sunset Blvd, The Big Sleep

Jim Jarmusch- Trust, Mystery Train, Down by Law, Stranger than Paradise

good "chick" flicks - Bagdhad Cafe, Ruby in Paradise, Mi Vida Loca, Gas, Food, Lodging

Period pieces such as Topsy-Turvy, Valmont, Restoration, Jane Austen adaptations,

Uncategorized - All About Eve, Charade, Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show

Robert Altman is completely missing as well as Mel Brooks and Cameron Crowe. No Fellini, no Bergman, only one Elia Kazan

But I really enjoyed seeing this list. It was fun and there were some surprises. Definitely different from the other two top 100 film lists.

Monday Loveseat Petblogging

A very typical scene with my two most frequent knitting companions and a lovely hello yarn shawl in progress. I'd set the alarm on my computer to remind me when Adrian was updating and managed to snag the Maisy Day Pumpkin Patch kit.

We went to Wal Mart for the first time in months and months because it was the only place where I'd seen US 50 needles. Those suckers are HUGE I've already knit a really amusing scarf with them. I haven't made anything with the US 35s I picked up at the same time. I also found that pink and chocolate brown quilt in a bargain bin for eleven dollars. A bargain bin at Wal Mart. Yeah I'm feeling real classy now. It's an amusing quilt anyway.

Here are closeups of the two members of the let's follow mom around like she has veal in her pants brigade.

Oh, I watched The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy last night and Lords of Dogtown today. Meh. They were ok. I think the people who made the Guide to the Galaxy had an appreciation for different things with the Adams books than I did because they took out a lot of the good throwaway lines that are my favorite part but kept a lot of the false Zen hippiecrite stuff that annoys me about his books. Complaining about the general yuckiness of the human race is fine. But it gets awfully tedious after a while. I did like the scene where everyone on the Heart of Gold turned into knit figures and Arthur Dent barfed up yarn. That was cool.

I hate to say this but I liked Lords of Dogtown better. Nice skaterboy eyecandy although I felt like an old pervy woman the whole time. And there were a bunch of invented dramatic devices that were a little weird for anyone who knows the real story. All in all it wasn't nearly as fun to watch as the Peralta documentary.

Odd that both screenplays were written by the original guys and I didn't like them as much as I wanted to. But Ann Rice wrote the screenplay for Interview with the Vampire and it sucked hard. Mostly because of Tom Cruise.

Oh and I watched Harold and Kumar go to White Castle the other night. And liked it. I know, shame on me. I had no idea what it was about when I started watching it. I'd thought it was a weird indie flick, I probably wouldn't have watched it if I'd known what the real Dude Where's My Car type plotline was. But I usually will watch the whole movie once I've started from the beginning. And I did like it. Mostly because of Kumar's domestic fantasy scene with a large bag of pot. That's probably the funniest thing I've seen in some time. I think it reminded me of old stoner boyfriends.

Sideways is coming on in a few minutes so I'm finally getting to see that too. Lots of new (to me) movie watching. I've been actually returning the Netflix and paying attention to premieres on the premium channels.

On old and new crushes: Before Sunset & Finding Neverland

Before Sunset

I happened to catch it coming on last night just as I was sitting down to spin the last 4 ounces of Adrian's gorgeous moody garden roving. I had a few thoughts about it.

Completely superficial observation: Ethan Hawke has aged very badly. What the hell was Uma doing to him? Or did he do it to himself? I dunno but he looks like he's spent the last ten years in a very dark bar in a dry climate drinking whiskey and chainsmoking in between sessions of making hugely animated faces while singing the blues. Frequently forgetting to wash his face, allowing the dirt and smoke to grind right into his pores, carving lines that make him look far older than his early thirties. I mean damn I never had a crush on him but I had friends who did and I'm cringing on their behalf. Probably as they are on mine about Benicio's aging process but he was never what someone would call pretty - which to me was half the charm.

Julie Delpy on the other hand looks great. I think she's actually gotten better-looking with age. I particularly enjoyed her singing and the little dance she was doing at the very end. But she comes off as pretty charming even when she's playing a werewolf.

Have to say that I didn't really like Before Sunrise when I watched it ten years ago. I thought it was dull and self-indulgent. Or maybe that's how I felt about Hawke. Either way it did feed some Vienna eyecandy, a place I've wanted to visit since I was an early teen reading old John Irving novels. It was so dull though that I haven't watched it since.

But I enjoyed this one. It might be because I'm older and have a much better attention span. Or it might be a better movie. I couldn't say. No, I think it's a better movie. People in their thirties are generally more interesting to listen to than people in their early twenties, even to people in their own age group. (*SPOILER* Even when they're smack in the middle of a cliched failing shotgun marriage and aboug to cheat on their wives with an old French flame */SPOILER*) No offense twentysomethings.

And Richard Linklater, whose movies usually direcly hit or completely miss with me, can pick a hell of a soundtrack. In Before Sunset's case a lot of it was so subtle you didn't even notice there was music but it added something. But it's hard to mess up with Nina Simone, hell even that American La Femme Nikita remake was good primarily because of her music.

Finding Neverland

I didn't really get to appreciate the visuals as much as I think I should have, but I was doing crafty stuff. This is also why I haven't watched a subtitled foreign language movie in the last eight months. I'm usually looking elsewhere but am listening intently. So I guess I listened to Finding Neverland the other night, not exactly watched it. And in that regard, Johnny Depp nailed that Scottish accent down to the friggin ground.

Almost twenty years ago I was clandestinely taping 21 Jumpstreet, watching the tapes late at night in my room. Now he's making these interesting characters come alive. And making it look easy. On the other hand, twenty years ago I made no effort to hide my crush on Nicolas Cage, punk rock boy and crazy 20s era mobster. Now look at his stupid action movie sap ass reproducing with women half his age and naming them after comic book characters (and not even the interesting ones!) self. One of my friends in Santa Fe had a theory that seems more plausible each year about how Cage sold his soul to the devil so he could be an actor, one that specified he could be in good movies for the first ten-fifteen years or so then he would have to spend the rest of his life making absolute crap. Spooky isn't it?

Finding Neverland was good. Very good. Sweet and sad and charming. Kind of like Peter Pan. Julie Christie almost stole the show too. (She certainly did in Afterglow) And Kate Winslet didn't. Which was kind of a relief, sometimes she can make a movie exhausting. This isn't her fault really she's just got a light inside that takes over sometimes - which can make watching a movie with her very tiring. I think as she's gotten older she's learned to control that a little. Which is nice.

Oh there's an IMDB poll today about which Robert Altman movie is your favorite so go vote. I, of course, voted for Gosford Park. My sister will probably vote for Nashville. Which Altman movie is your favorite?

Ok I'm done now. I'm fantasy shopping at Patternworks. If you haven't subscribed to their catalog you really really should because it's like KNITTING PORN. And really GOOD knitting porn because you could open the catalog to any page and find something desirable. Try that with any other catalog or knitting book. Or porn if that's your thing. I'm not here to judge. Not you anyway.

Shining

Damn this is funny. And not just because I've watched The Shining 14,848 times and like romantic comedies.

via

there's also West Side Story and Titanic

This week in hedgehog entertainment.

Well I finally found the time to sit and read the whole damned book. And the character I thought might be the one whose death we were all warned about did indeed die. And I still teared up because I'm a big SAP who takes very very long baths.

I've been listening to Spinal Tap a lot lately. These guys are geniuses. On our way to the in-laws dinner (at an Italian restaurant called Zios that is probably a chain but is still pretty tasty so you can stfu ye chain snobbies out there) we decided to "gird our loins" by listening to "Workin on a Sex Farm". Put me in a great mood and politics only really came up once! Yay!

To mourn the loss of any more Dead Like Me episodes I got season one and two on dvd. I can live with that.

Our Tivo broke sometime in June and I finally got around to calling tech support last week. Turns out our modem got fried. The only damned thing in the office without a surge protector. So we get to shell out 50 bucks and get a replacement shipped from Direct TV. But it's better than 250 at Best Buy. Now I just have to get around to calling them back to order the actual replacement because I said I had to talk with Mr. Man first.

The Life Aquatic was ok. Not Rushmore and certainly not The Royal Tennenbaums (still haven't seen Bottle Rocket) but, as always, Wes Anderson movies grow on me over time and get me obsessed with whatever music is on the soundtrack. In my defense, who wouldn't love Portuguese David Bowie covers, or Nico, or The Faces? But do I think Owen Wilson's absence in writing the script in Aquatic shows.

Oh yeah, and
BIG BOTTOMS, BIG BOTTOMS
Talk about Mud Flaps MY GIRL'S GOT EM!

Time's list of the 100 greatest movies

Not surprisignly it includes a lot of the same movies as the National Society of Film Critics Essential 100 but I feel like doing it anyway.

* means I've seen it
- means I own it on video, dvd, or both

Aguirre: the Wrath of God (1972)
The Apu Trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)
*The Awful Truth (1937)
Baby Face (1933)
Bande à part (1964)
*Barry Lyndon (1975)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
-*Blade Runner (1982)
*Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
-*Brazil (1985)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
*Camille (1936)
*Casablanca (1942)
-*Charade (1963)
Children of Paradise (1945)
-*Chinatown (1974)
Chungking Express (1994)
*Citizen Kane (1941)
City Lights (1931)
City of God (2002)
Closely Watched Trains (1966)
The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)
The Crowd (1928)
Day for Night (1973)
The Decalogue (1989)
Detour (1945)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Dodsworth (1936)
*Double Indemnity (1944)
-*Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Drunken Master II (1994)
*E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
*8 1/2 (1963)
*The 400 Blows (1959)
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
*Finding Nemo (2003)
*The Fly (1986)
-*The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972, 1974)
*The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
-*Goodfellas (1990)
*A Hard Day's Night (1964)
*His Girl Friday (1940)
Ikiru (1952)
In A Lonely Place (1950)
*Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
It's A Gift (1934)
*It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
Kandahar (2001)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
King Kong (1933)
*The Lady Eve (1941)
The Last Command (1928)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Léolo (1992)
The Lord of the Rings (2001-03)
The Man With a Camera (1929)
*The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
*Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
*Metropolis (1927)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980)
Mouchette (1967)
Nayakan (1987)
Ninotchka (1939)
*Notorious (1946)
Olympia, Parts 1 and 2 (1938)
*On the Waterfront (1954)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Out of the Past (1947)
*Persona (1966)
*Pinocchio (1940)
-*Psycho (1960)
-*Pulp Fiction (1994)
-*The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Pyaasa (1957)
*Raging Bull (1980)
Schindler's List (1993)
*The Searchers (1956)
Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
*The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
*Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Singing Detective (1986)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
*Some Like It Hot (1959)
-*Star Wars (1977)
*A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Sunrise (1927)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Swing Time (1936)
Talk to Her (2002)
-*Taxi Driver (1976)
Tokyo Story (1953)
A Touch of Zen (1971)
Ugetsu (1953)
Ulysses' Gaze (1995)
Umberto D (1952)
Unforgiven (1992)
White Heat (1949)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Yojimbo (1961)

43%

I think it helps that I went to a college with a working film department and had a semester or two of weekly cross-departmental forums and lectures (My favorites were the lectures where I got to meet George Romero and Robert Wise). Cable with TCM and AMC (when it was good) don't hurt either :)

snagged from Jim in Tonic and Psychobabble.

Movies I'd never seen before

Don't you love those late nights when you're flipping around and manage to catch a movie at the very beginning? I got really lucky this week.

Cabaret - No I'd never seen this in its entirety and it was much better than I expected. But I'm a sucker for Bob Fosse stuff. Like ANYthing by Bob Fosse. So I shouldn't have had such low expectations for it. But I tend to do that with musicals. The political foreshadowing was really interesting. And I was surprised that I didn't sit there the whole time feeling creeped out by how prophetic this was for Liza Minnelli's marriages. The women entertainers in this were not all tiny dancer pixies either. In fact at some point I was wondering if a few were men in drag but, no, they were just curvy. There were a few men in drag but I don't think there were any in the line dances. How incredibly cool.

Looking for Mr. Goodbar - a woman gets the ultimate punishment for being promiscuous. I'm really disappointed by this movie I was expecting something a lot better. The scenes were a bit jumpy for me. Possibly a reflection on her completely different lifestyles (teacher for deaf schoolchildren by day and bar woman sleeping around with lots of guys by night) but it just struck me as wrong in lots of different ways. Surely there can be something between a woman getting violently punished for promiscuity as in this movie and women being frighteningly promiscuous in shows like Sex and the City with little to no consequences. Neither seem very realistic to me.

(The original) Alfie - Speaking of sleeping around with consequences... I'm really hoping they've updated the recent remake, like a LOT because this was very..unfriendly. This guy was not charming. He was manipulative and sad. I'm sure it was supposed to be but, damn, I'd had a completely different impression of this movie from interviews with Caine and previews. This is not lighthearted flirty movie fare. Hmm maybe in a way I'm hoping the new one is a bit gritty as well. Sort of the realities of being a playboy.

Wait Until Dark - Actually made me jump once. Alan Arkin was a great villain. The little girl was creepy and I'm not sure she was supposed to be. Audrey Hepburn was overacting a wee bit.

The only one of these I'd watch again is Cabaret. But I'm glad I finally saw them all. Hooray for Direct Tv.

The Door in the Floor Dynamite of the Spotless Mind

Watched The Door in the Floor last night and I have to say it was one of the better film adaptations of a novel I've seen in a while. It was based on the first third of what is probably my second favorite Irving novel (this being my absolute favorite) so I was a little nervous to see what they'd done with it - especially after the severe disappointment with the alleged adaptation of my favorite book. But the general mood is there. It wasn't exactly the way I'd envisioned the story as I was reading it. It was better.

Jeff Bridges (who I used to regard as a dork with a famous name but one that was far less dorky than his brother) plays Tom Cole, asshole sexaholic dad, to perfection. I'm not a huge Kim Basinger fan but I think this very well might be the best role I've seen her play. While I loved LA Confidential I didn't really think she put as much into her part in that as others seemed to believe. A former model playing a prostitute? Big whoop. But she was great in this - totally absorbed in grief. And the Fanning child (not Dakota, her younger sibling) is a precious and sweet Ruth. Not much substance there but what's really interesting is this is only the first part of the story - but it shows how it helped mold the adult she is in the flash-forward second two-thirds. That's my favorite part about this movie. Usually when a film ends you have to imagine what happens to the characters after the credits roll but in this case you can go read the rest of the book! Brilliant! This was far better than I expected. And that is rare.

Movies almost never live up to my expectations. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a good example of this. I fully expected to adore this movie - seemed like a perfect combination of confusing plotline, pretentiousness, and schmaltz that usually tear right through me. But I'd heard entirely too much hype and, frankly, Charlie Kaufman's eccentric plot structure tendencies are starting to wear on me a bit. Or maybe I was in a bad mood. Nah. It was entirely too gritty and whiny to be considered optimistic, too blindly romantic to be truly interesting. And I wanted to just slap the shit out of Kirsten Dunst. But that's nothing new I usually do. This may seem totally plastic but I thought the most interesting part about it was Kate Winslet's hair as a character device. A lot more interesting than that standard writer's crutch of using weight as an intrinsic character gauge. Doesn't mean I like her though: she reminded me way too much of a crazy friend of mine in art school who is doomed to never have a healthy relationship because the minute she gets what she wants she doesn't want it anymore. I honestly didn't like anyone in the film. So why would I care what happens to them? Takes a lot of work to make characters sympathetic and interesting at the same time. But it can be done.

Napoleon Dynamite was funny in parts. But what the fuck time period was this supposed to be set in? Has there been some sort of resurgence in trapper keeper, side ponytail, camper van driving sad 80s style that I'm unaware of? Because I totally thought this was set in 1985 until the the references to online chat rooms came up. Even then I kept thinking surely they were referencing old dialup bbs services that were just starting to pop up then. But there were entirely too many contemporary pop culture references to make that stick. Doesn't matter. Ultimately that was only one aspect in a series of details that made me uncomfortable. I'd heard a lot of comparisons to Welcome to the Dollhouse (talk about a movie that made me extremely uncomfortable) and that really rings true. A mouth breathing nerd shunned by even other nerds with annoying relatives. Man that guy has the adolescent whiny sneer down pat though. The brother blossoming with true love was funny. And Pedro. Pedro friggin rocked. Ok, it was alright but I don't think I'd make a big effort to watch it again.

On watching Lolita, or, why some men need to be kicked very very hard with steel-toed boots worn by women who are smarter than them

There was some kind of early Kubrick theme on TCM tonight. I missed Dr Strangelove I have that on DVD anyway but I caught Lolita from the beginning. This was maybe my seventh time watching it from beginning to end? It's extraordinary considering the period of time during which it was created but I think the 1997 version with Jeremy Irons is a little more faithful to the Nabokov novel and the story's original time period.

Dominique Swain was a real treat playing the nymphet in the remake. Really she captured that greedy selfish gawky baby gazelle beauty that seems to be the essence of pre-teen girls. The essence that seems to attract men with an arrested imprint on what they consider attractive. I say they just haven't matured beyond their first junior high crush.

Sure there's the bullshit biological argument that they have an inherent urge to breed and these girls are freshly of birthing age but that's a totally crap excuse. I think for the most part men date significantly younger women because they get to teach these young girls the ways of the world without the risk of being called on their shit as they would be by women who are old enough to have experienced life for themselves and don't need some manipulative asshat to tell them how they should do things. In effect, they get to be the big man and their young girls won't have the inner strength that comes simply from experience and survival to refute any of Mr Big Man's declarations on life and mankind.

These men fear being with a mate that could be considered an equal, a peer. Because said mate could potentially beat them in whatever bullshit man-game their tenuous egos rely upon for their self-image. These man-games seem to range from jar opening abilities to obscure football play knowledge. Or in a more modern age: fragging his ass in Counterstrike to knowing cleaner more functional Perl code. It's all the same status-reliant crap just different mascots.

This was supposed to be my thoughts on watching Paths of Glory for the first time but my prepubescent girl-lust rage took over for a bit. Sorry.

And if you took offense you might want to examine that sore spot for edges of truth. Oh hell you all know I'm full of crap and this is such an old argument anyway.

The Essential 100 Movies Meme

MovieMadness - The Essential 100

Seems like the usual suspects to me with a slight lean towards more international and older fare.

I've Seen it
I Own it

The A List 100 Essential Films by The National Society of Film Critics (alphabetical)

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. 42nd Street (1933)
3. The 400 Blows (1959)
4. All About Eve (1950)
5. Annie Hall (1977)
6. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
7. L'Atalante (1934)
8. The Bank Dick (1940)
9. The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
10. The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
11. Blow-Up (1966)
12. Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
13. Breathless (1960)
14. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
15. Casablanca (1942)
16. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
17. Children of Paradise (1945)
18. Chinatown (1974)
19. Citizen Kane (1941)
20. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
21. Closely Watched Trains (1967)
22. Close-up (1990)
23. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
24. The Decalogue (1988)
25. Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
26. Diner (1982)
27. Do the Right Thing (1989)
28. La Dolce Vita (1959)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Duck Soup (1933)
31. Easy Rider (1969)
32. Enter the Dragon (1973)
33. The Entertainer (1960)
34. The Exorcist (1973)
35. Faces (1968)
36. Fargo (1996)
37. Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
38. The General (1927)
39. The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974)
40. Gone With The Wind (1939)
41. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
42. The Graduate (1967)
43. Greed (1924)
44. Happy Together (1997)
45. High Noon (1952)
46. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
47. Jailhouse Rock (1957)
48. Ju Dou (1990), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), Red Sorghum (1987)
49. Killer of Sheep (1977)
50. L.A. Confidential (1997)
51. Landscape in the Mist (1988)
52. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
53. M (1931)
54. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
55. The Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
56. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)
57. Metropolis (1927)
58. Modern Times (1936)
59. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
60. Nashville (1975)
61. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
62. The Night of the Living Dead (1968)
63. Nosferatu (1922)
64. Los Olvidados (1950)
65. On The Waterfront (1954)
66. Open City (1945)
67. The Palm Beach Story (1942)
68. Pandora's Box (1928)
69. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
70. Pather Panchali (1956), Aparajito (1958), The World of Apu (1960)
71. The Piano (1993)
72. Psycho (1960)
73. The Public Enemy (1931)
74. Pulp Fiction (1994)
75. Raging Bull (1980)
76. Rashomon (1950)
77. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
78. The Rules of the Game (1939)
79. Schindler's List (1993)
80. The Searchers (1956)
81. The Seven Samurai (1954)
82. The Seventh Seal (1957)
83. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
84. Star Wars (1977)
85. La Strada (1955) and Nights of Cabiria (1957)
86. Sunrise (1927)
87. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
88. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
89. Tokyo Story (1953)
90. Top Hat (1935)
91. Touch Of Evil (1958)
92. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
93. Ugetsu Monogatori (1953)
94. Unforgiven (1992)
95. Les Vampires (1915)
96. Vertigo (1958)
97. The Wild Bunch (1969)
98. Winchester '73 (1953)
99. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
100. Written on the Wind (1956)

So hooray for TCM, IFC, and Sundance Channels!

Guilty Pleasure Movies

I'm sure everyone has them: the movies you'll stop channel surfing to watch again. And again. But you have that remote at the ready in case someone walks in the room. Or, for the truly bad movie, in case someone calls and could hear it in the background. In some cases you even own them but are so ashamed you keep the dvd or video in drawers and hidey-holes so you won't have to answer the inevitable "Oh my GOD you own THAT??"

So I thought I'd get some of mine out in the open. And attempt to defend why I like them. If I can.

Plunkett & Macleane
Bad historic drama with modern techno music (and the TigerLillies!) and two secret boyfriends? oh hell yeah.

The Cutting Edge
A spoiled rich girl, a hockey player, and heavily intercut ice skating footage to bad music!

I Was a Male War Bride
Cary Grant in drag! Ok WAC drag. With a horsetail made into a wig. And he's supposed to be French. Average Hawksean sex farce that's not quite as good as his other collaborations with Grant but hey, that's why it's on this list!

Saturday the 14th
Circa 1981 horror movie spoof with Richard Benjamin who was probably still enjoying his fame from the ultimate horror spoof, (and another guilty pleasure of mine) Love at First Bite. Also has his real-life wife, Paula Prentiss, and Jeffrey Tamboor. Yes, that Jeffery Tamboor.

Clue
Before there were movies based on disney rides there were movies based on board games and they ruled the earth. Even the ones with Tawny Kitaen.

The Beautician and the Beast
I like Fran Dresher. There. I said it. I even Tivoed that Nanny reunion special that was on Lifetime last Monday. In fact, I don't find her voice or accent annoying in the least in this movie. Now Timothy Dalton's attempt at a growly Eastern European accent on the other hand...blergh.

Cruel Intentions
Me and probably every adolescent girl and gay man on the planet.

Foxes
Jodi Foster in a seventies teen angst flick with Donna Summer singing "On the Radio". Cherie Currie (of Runaways fame with Joan Jett and Lita Ford) does every kind of drug on the planet while sporting a serious flip hairdo. And Scott Baio does a killer nighttime skateboard race with a car in the Hollywood Hills! Did I mention Foster's mom is played by Sally Kellerman? Hee!

Barefoot in the Park
Yeah yeah Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. Whatever. It's all about Charles Boyer as Victor Velasco, the epicurean bluebeard of 10th street who happens to live on the roof.

Shag: the movie
So bad. God I'm embarassed to even admit it here. But Annabeth Gish is just so cute in that little dancing scene.

Urban Cowboy
It's not what you think. By the time this came out I was way way over my miniscule thing for him in Grease (I had really preferred Kiniki anyway). It's really just the unashamed redneckness of this movie. I mean, they got married in a bar. She wore cowboy boots with no stockings but a garter belt under her dress. He gave her a trailer and she was happy. They went to a prison rodeo for their honeymoon. You've got to appreciate the complete hokey redneck love theme even if it is admittedly scary as all hell.

Police Academy movies
I don't think I've seen all of them. But yeah. I like them. Even the ones with Bobcat Goldthwait. Sorry.

The Bad News Bears
When I was young I totally thought I was Tatum O'Neal in that movie.

April Fool's Day
Typical teenage slasher flick. With Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl! (Are you seeing a theme of movies with poor little rich girls? I've never noticed this before.)

Problem Child
I'm sorry. I have no idea what it is about this movie that I like. It's so bad.

Career Opportunities
Fabulous soundtrack to this movie. And while there are no gratuitous shots of Jennifer Connelly's thighs there is one of her in a tank top on a coin-op bouncy horse. But I'm willing to overlook that for the adorably geeky hero.

Bell Book and Candle
Jack Lemmon playing a Bongo-playing beatnik witch in 1950s New York!

Against All Odds
Suprisingly good eighties noir suspense. No, really! Ignore the Phil Collins video love triangle video marketing bullshit. I've really come to appreciate James Woods in this.

French Postcards
I think this little-known romantic comedy set amongst American exchange students in Paris was a harbinger of the huge success of the genre in the 80s. In fact, the author of the postcards, Blanche Baker (Baby Doll Caroll Baker's daughter!), also plays the bride-to-be in Sixteen Candles. I think it was shot on video or very cheap film because the film quality hasn't held up well at all. Which is a shame because it is a pretty good little film. Mandy Patinkin and Debra Winger steal the show even in their small roles.

The Pirate Movie
So bad. On a number of levels. But damn is it fun!

Foul Play and Seems Like Old Times
Even though one is a disco murder mystery in San Fran and the other is adapted from a Neil Simon play but because they both star Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase they are forever married in my brain. And Robert Guillame rocks in the Old Times - but when does he not?

I feel so much better now. Oh no, it isn't all of them. But it's a start.

Feel free to share yours. They can't possibly be worse!

House of Sand and Fog

Is a strange movie to listen to while waking up.

The plot wasn't quite what I was expecting - mostly centering around a moderately-sized house with a fairly good view and the people that fight over it: a very sad woman who is quick to jump to self-destructive behavior, a creepy deputy (with the world's second most annoying voice) who seems to have lost his tenuous grasp on what's right and wrong, a former Iranian Colonel who's desperate to regain the respect of his wife, adolescent son, and social ladder-climbing daughter.

To me the extensive panoramic shots of the sea, fog, and Jennifer Connolly's bare thighs weren't quite as stunning as the cinematographer wanted me to think. After a while slightly gratuitous shots start to seem downright insulting. Especially when it's cold enough outside to turn on the heater and the girl's wearing friggin daisy duke cutoffs. I guess it's supposed to characterize her decline but her hair just wasn't nearly oily enough to evoke the true attire of the downwardly mobile.

And while that deputy was ok-looking I think he's had some fairly serious botox treatments. Next to no expression through the whole movie. But maybe he was supposed to evoke Michael Myers. And that voice. Jesus Christ what an annoying voice.

I used to think my personal hell would be a Tiki bar on an island where all people did was talk about hurricanes and listen to Jimmy Buffet songs over and over but now I think it might be sitting in a movie theater watching a movie animated in the style of The Triplets of Belleville voiced only by that deputy guy and Joey Lauren Adams with a score sung by Natalie Merchant. Gah! The voices!! Stop the voices! For god's sake someone clear their throat!!

It wasn't as interesting a movie as I thought it would be. Although characters who seemed to have no redeeming value in the beginning did gain some as time went on which was..different..because no one was presented in any kind of sympathetic or judgmental light really.

In the end it all goes very badly though. Just because that girl didn't open her official-looking mail.

So. Moral of the story? Open your mail!

The Filth and The Fury

IFC had some kind of rock indie movie weekend and I caught this during my dinner break. It could be considered Julien Temple's great apology to the members of the Sex Pistols for the sheer waste of funds and criminal pro-Malcolm McLaren propaganda that was The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.

The Filth and the Fury had all the bits that make a good punk documentary: bitter interviewees, grainy footage of angry youths, brilliant little cartoon recreations of pivotal scenes, and, dare I say it, Johnny Rotten fighting tears. Oh my.

That's really what did it for me. And that's something a lot of people forget when they get into the snarling doomed heroin-addicted Sid and Nancy story. Sid was just a fucked up stupid teenager doing an onstage Johnny Winters impression and was Rotten's best friend. Rotten lost his band, his money, and his best friend. Then went on to form PIL.

And I've never really thought about the wording of God Save the Queen. I always assumed it was just mean and sarcastic but I think they really meant it in a way. England's doomed, God help the Queen when the end comes.

There are also great cameos of some very young musicians who came into their own later on: Billy Idol, Sting, Shane MacGowan, Sting, and Siouxsie Sioux (pictured smoking below in some archive footage of the Pistols on a drunken bbc interview show)

The Incredibles

Was cute, funny, stylized, and very very loud. I liked it. But I cringe for anyone who gets motion sickness easily or has sensitive ears. I'm neither of those and I was feeling a bit queased out and cringy during the admittedly cliched Spy Kids 2 ripoff climax.

The movie around the climax was worth it though. A distinct 1960s James Bond meets old school dc comics meets a primary color shag painting. Which I love because I'm a trend puppy just like your thirteen year old sister with the headgear I just carefully control which sort of trends I'm exposed to.

It took me almost 3/4 of the film to realize who was voicing the bad guy. Until I heard him say, "Are you NUTS??" and then I knew**

And the snarky little Asian Edith Head clothing designer was a thing of beauty. I. Love. Her.

And oh my god Sarah Vowell voiced Violet!!

I think I'm going to have a politics-free weekend. :and the crowd goes wild:

**I'm used to hearing him say this: Are you NUTS?? The guy looks like a DATE RAPIST!

Fever Pitch

Just happened to catch it coming on IFC Sunday and decided to watch. I love love the other film adaptations of Nick Hornby's books: About a Boy and High Fidelity. Maybe someone will endeavor to make a film of How to be Good - which was actually my favorite to read.

So, Fever Pitch. I never read it but it's supposed to be somewhat autobiographical. I'm assuming the soccer obsession is the crux of the biographical element. So I was surprised that the movie kept my attention at all. Let me tell you, I am beyond clueless about soccer (or football to non-yanks). I'd never heard of Beckham until the movie came out and I wasn't entirely sure who he was most of the way through the film. Still couldn't tell you what team he played for or even if he still does. I've heard of Pele but that's because of (prepared to date myself) atari games. Not that I ever owned "Pele's Soccer" for atari I just remember the title and thinking that was a really unusual name.

So I'm not exactly a soccer fan. Which is what made this movie more interesting to me because the main character's love interest isn't either. She, like me, just doesn't get it.

In fact, I don't get most sports and the average male's relationship with them. This would explain why I married a complete non-sport geek wouldn't it? I would rather watch grass grow than watch sports on television but I usually don't mind going to see most of them live every once in a while - like once a decade or so. Growing up where I did, not being an American-style football fan was an inherantly rebellious act so I never chose "Roll Tide" or "War Eagle" when asked the inevitable question in elementary school. I just said (insert my lame-ass trying not to sound southern by imitating Moon Unit Zappa's Valley Girl accent that ends up just sounding stupid and whiny with a southern accent here) "ew, I don't like football."

So you'd think that this movie would bore the pants off me since it's all about a guy who's not only obsessed with soccer but a particular soccer team - on an eighteen year losing streak. However the story isn't really that simple. What's the title I saw a reviewer give Hornby once? Prince of the Male Confessional? Something like that. And it's true. His stories are honest and capture (what I imagine are) the thoughts of the average Generation X-Y male pretty well - with warts and all. But they don't oversimplify them or even condescend to the female audience. Actually they make these silly confused young characters and the random shit they do more understandable to us. Or, at least, to me.

This story is mostly set in 1988 but goes back to the late sixties to show his first soccer match where he was reluctantly taken by his estranged emotionally unavailable father. And how he immediately felt a part of the crowd. How he later chose going to the soccer games over the rare visit from his father. And how he managed to eventually get all the women in his life to give a shit about his team. An amazing feat because most of the time this guy is vague, distracted, and pretty emotionally unavailable himself. His lucid non-soccer moments are almost childlike in their naivete and silly enthusiasm. But somehow he pulls it through.

Of course it didn't hurt that Colin Firth was playing the main character. And his hair! His hair his hair! It was big and curly and shaggy and Bob Dylan just like Cody's when he lets it go too long without a haircut. So cute! Funny that it's autobiographical considering all the photos I've seen of Hornby has his head shaved.

I've noticed they're working on an American remake of this movie by the Farrelly Brothers with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore - and it's about the Red Sox. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

All I know is that I'm glad Confederacy of Dunces is shelved. Will Farrell is no Ignatius J Reilly goddammit!

Janet Leigh

is probably best known for the shower scene in Psycho but I preferred her as Rose, staying cool-as-a-cucumber despite Frank Sinatra's sweaty neurotic episodes in The Manchurian Candidate. And as the bitchy pushy clubwoman in The Fog.

Lovely Janet Leigh tribute site

She passed away yesterday at 77 with her daughters by her side.

Excite News

may the pants be with you

I'm stealing this from Chasing Daisy but it's just too damn funny to risk you not reading it. This is where she got it.

Top 25 lines in Star Wars that can be improved by inserting the word "Pants":

1. A tremor in the pants. The last time I felt this was in the presence of my old master.
2. You are unwise to lower your pants.
3. We've got to be able to get some reading on those pants, up or down.
4. She must have hidden the plans in her pants. Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally Commander.
5. These pants may not look like much, kid, but they've got it where it counts.
6. I find your lack of pants disturbing.
7. These pants contain the ultimate power in the Universe. I suggest we use it.
8. Han will have those pants down. We've got to give him more time!
9. General Veers, prepare your pants for a surface assault.
10. I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants back home.
11. TK-421. . . Why aren't you in your pants?
12. Lock the door. And hope they don't have pants.
13. Governor Tarkin. I recognized your foul pants when I was brought on board.
14. You look strong enough to pull the pants off of a Gundark.
15. Luke. . . Help me take...these pants off.
16. Great, Chewie, great. Always thinking with your pants.
17. That blast came from those pants. That thing's operational!
18. Don't worry. Chewie and I have gotten into a lot of pants more heavily guarded than this.
19. Maybe you'd like it back in your pants, your highness.
20. Your pants betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially one. Your sister!
21. Jabba doesn't have time for smugglers who drop their pants at the first sign of an Imperial Cruiser.
22. Yeah, well short pants is better than no pants at all, Chewie.
23. Attention. This is Lando Calrissean. The Empire has taken control of my pants, I advise everyone to leave before more troops arrive.
24. I cannot teach him. The boy has no pants.
25. You came in those pants? You're braver than I thought.

(Insert snarky comment about my old dancing, nightclub-owning character in SWG here)

Pumpkin

I watched Pumpkin on Sundance yesterday. It was pithy, funny, silly, and sad with a great soundtrack. There was a 'David Lynch meets an ABC after school special' style that made it come dangerously close to being camp. Most characters are stereotypes that contradict themselves at some point and it almost seems like none of them are listening to each other at all. Was very similar to But I'm a Cheerleader, but was a bit funnier.

I probably wouldn't watch it again but I'd buy the soundtrack.

Take a memo baby

I watched Secretary over the weekend and it was interesting. Got me a little closer to understanding this concept of pleasure from pain - it's still an itch I can't quite scratch though. I'm notorious for having an extremely low threshold or any kind of sustained tolerance for pain so the idea of getting pleasure from pain is totally foreign to me. The idea of giving up control (and therefore responsibility?) is somewhat appealing but in most cases I've read the “sub” has more control while the “dom” has the pressure of responsibility. Thanks to the whole Delia Day thing reading up on this subject and trying to understand bdsm has become a bit of a hobby. Not practice - just study. And probably over-intellectualize but I'm really trying hard not to judge it - just trying to understand it.

The movie itself was fun. A little underlit and pretty slow moving for my taste but the last ten minutes were definitely worth the wait. I'm always a sucker for a good bathtub scene. And I was suffering some fairly serious bathtub envy there. What it was doing on the second floor of a dark law office (vague asian design scheme and cool orchid motif notwithstanding) is anyone's guess. But I think the moral of the story is that true love and companionship come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. That and the idea that there's a perfect match for everyone somewhere in the world.

So what did the Gylenhalls put in their water when they were feeding their kids? Those siblings are like the postmodern campbell's soup kids - scary and precious with the cutest little widdle voices. I can't figure out if they're both kind of dim with an obtuse sense of humor or if they're really smart and pretending to be dim just to appear more interesting. They both have eyes that remind me of Winter when she wants a treat.

Intolerable Cruelty

was not as bad as I expected it to be. It's always a love or hate thing for me with Cohen brother movies. LOVED Fargo (hon? prowler needs a jump) and The Hudsucker Proxy - didn't like Blood Simple or The Big Lebowski much. Still haven't seen Miller's Crossing or Barton Fink in their entirety. O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Raising Arizona, well, they were genius in their own not quite true about the part of the world they're set in but damn good nonetheless ways - guess the same could be said about Fargo but I've never been there.

So I was surprised that I enjoyed Intolerable Cruelty as much as I did. The plot was so-so but some of the dialogue was incredibly funny. Especially in the first 45 minutes. Love that 1930s comedy rattattat rhythm - think Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday - where you