My Favorite Things - Part 2

Some of my favorite movies:

Gosford Park
I could watch this movie every week and not get tired of it. The inner workings of a shooting party at an English country manor are on display in Robert Altman's film. The murder/mystery plot is an excellent vehicle to deliver fully fleshed-out characters, expertly portraying the roles and relationships of the house's staff and guests.

L.A. Story
Steve Martin is a genius, and one whose talents are not solely relegated to comedy. While L.A. Story is a great, smart, silly comedy, it's also a magical and powerful love story. The love on the screen is equally shared for his co-star and ex-wife Victoria Tennant, and for the city itself. You'll laugh and cry; the latter mostly caused by the former.

Amelie
I was already a fan of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet from his beyond-excellent film, The City of Lost Children. Amelie is his masterwork. This is the Parisian version of L.A. Story; no less magical, powerful or wonderful than its American cousin.

The Fountain
Darren Aronofsky's film was originally set to have a much larger budget and much larger stars, but that would have resulted in a much different film, which I am thankful didn't happen. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz's love spans a millennium as he goes beyond the ends of the earth to save her. History, science and science fiction come together to tell the story of a man determined and devoted to keep his world from falling apart. Aronofsky would go on to direct The Black Swan.

The Fall
A dark motivation drives a visually striking fairy tale. A hospitalized, suicidal stunt man creates a vivid, fantastic story for a young girl as an enticement to garner her assistance in his demise. The juxtaposition of the real world and the main character's motives/manipulation compared to the fantasy world of the story and the girl's innocence makes the film emotionally complex. The child actress is perfect at being a child instead of an actress, which causes extreme emotional empathy at the film's/story's climax.

Blades of Glory
Pure silliness. I laugh hard whenever I watch this movie. Two disgraced male figure skaters with opposite personalities find a loophole that will allow them to compete again as a same-sex pairs team. Aside from his Saturday Night Live work, I'm not really a Will Ferrell fan, but he is outstanding in this film and Stranger than Fiction.

A Nun's Story
Audrey Hepburn as a young woman entering the convent and attempting to adhere to its ways and habits (get it? nyuk, nyuk) while struggling with her own personal desires. A serious movie treated with dignity and respect.

Young Frankenstein
Talk about comic genius! Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman and Cloris Leachman and Teri Garr and Madeline Kahn. Ridiculous and sublime.

Kwaidan
A collection of Japanese ghost stories filmed with minimal dialogue and mostly subtle dread. Released in 1964 and available as a Criterion Collection dvd.

Brazil
Terry Gilliam's masterful futuristic black comedy fantasy of bureaucracy gone wrong. Well, much more wrong than is customary. In addition the film shows the dangerous things that can happen when you start believing in yourself and pursuing your dreams.

Signs
It's a shame what M. Night Shyamalan did to his career after this movie, but oh well. (The Village was mostly decent). Signs is a dark lesson in faith brought on by an alien invasion. The impending dread leading up to the invasion is masterful. With some truly terrifying moments allowing the viewer to actually experience what it would feel like to know, not necessarily to see, but to know that malevolent aliens or monsters were within a stone's throw, watching and waiting.

Contact
On its surface Contact is a film about discovering that we are not alone. Jodie Foster is a SETI (look it up) researcher who discovers a signal, and creepily, instructions, from another galaxy. The quest to decipher the signal and whether or not we should follow those directions inform the rest of the film. At its heart, the movie is about the dichotomy of belief into faith versus science, and explores each with an intelligence not seen before in film.

Ok, I could go on and on, but this was originally only meant to be a top 3 or top 5 list. Instead it's the top 12 of ? I'll have to break this into installments.

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day everyone. If you don't have to work then today's a day to get outdoors and be a part of life. Enjoy the day.

Attack the Block

Here's a pic.

Caffeine Is A Drug

Had caffeinated coffee this morning - now I'm flying. I don't know what drugs are like, but if you do them you should just try switching to decaf coffee for a while then have two large cups of fully leaded. It will put you over the moon.

On a side note, I highly recommend the British alien invasion movie Attack the Block. Watched it last night and it was a lot of fun.

Quick Update

The wind is really picking up this morning. Having dinner with my brother tonight, so that will be nice.

I Had A Dream

I had too much to dream last night. From an art project for economics, to an accidental break in of a grocery store, then trying to buy a birthday cake, driving the sheriff around, driving through a restaurant, going down a special elevator for cars that the restaurant had for some reason where you sit in your car while the machine wraps it in metal, upends it, and takes it down several stories head first, then the process leaves the car frozen but driveable so you have to be really careful with it, then I hit it too hard on the ground and it got out of shape, then I decided it would be my third art project, so I stretched it and inflated it until looked like a floppy orange ball with udders, then I somehow ran into a team of oddballs who did a tv show to evaluate and value oddball stuff, and they convinced me to be on their show, then we were at their compound about to start the taping when I was trying to confess that I don't watch their show and for them not to assume I knew what was supposed to happen next, then I woke up. And those are just the highlights of the dream. I'm tired now.

Not A Morning Person

Ugh....
Stayed up way too late last night/this morning.  This is what I feel like now:

My Favorite Things - Part 1

My favorite foods that are no longer in production:

1. Marathon candy bars - a long, chewy, chocolate-covered caramel braid that you could chew on for hours.  My brother and I would get these at the movies.
2. Stuffers chips/snacks - a small chip-sized snack sold in bags, they were like half of a crisp tube made out of corn with a flavored filling in the little valley.  So good.  I'm sure they were designed to mimic the shape of the clogged arteries they were creating.
3. Last, and definitely not least - Sara Lee Ham and Cheese Croissants.  OMG these things were the best.  Not microwaveable, which probably led to or contributed to their demise, there were two good-sized stuffed croissants that were frozen in a shaped foil tray.  They baked in the oven for 40 minutes and came out hot, flaky, and always just right.  The croissant tasted like it just came from the bakery, and the swiss cheese and ham were tender and just the right flavor.  I like a variety of food, but this is probably the one meal I could have eaten every day and never grown tired of.  They died out not too long after (the horrible) Hot Pockets came on the market.  Convenience won out over taste in the end I guess, more's the pity.

I Dreamed A Dream

When you're dreaming and you dream that that you've dreamed that dream before, is that because you've actually dreamed that dream before, or is the dream you're dreaming just telling you you've dreamed that dream before as part of the dream narrative?

Eclipse - Audrey II

Partial eclipse coming up this Sunday. Remember to use a solar filter if you're going to look at it. Probably want to also think twice before buying any strange and unusual plants that weren't there before the eclipse.

Nothing Butt Complaints

I really need a new desk chair.  Not only is this one bad for my posture, but it's killing my butt.  Shorter stretches of Diablo III are in order.

Go Frogs

Saw a Texas horned frog today for the first time in years. Neat stuff. They're actually lizards, but they'll always be horny toads to me.

A Monday Off

Ah, a Monday off from work. Woke up at the in-laws; laid in bed until 9am catching up on news and the internet. We'll have breakfast then head back home. Going to try to catch The Avengers in IMAX 3D again.

Rainbow Cat

I can haz rainbow face?

Buttons For Brunch

Mother's Day brunch buffet at Buttons restaurant. Cheese grits, french toast, sausage, biscuits, bacon, scrambled eggs, green beans, catfish, potatoes, pineapple and mimosas. So good.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone!  Especially to the Moms.  Especially to my Mom.
Love you.

Dead Retro

The Mexican was wearing a dark blue suit, albeit one from the 70's with lots of big, ugly square pockets on the front - I wonder if that explains the dry-cleaning bag...

I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night

Up at 2:40 this morning. Was having a fun dream about taking forever to go to dinner at a restaurant that was somehow in the neighbor's house on the street where I grew up, and a guy in a suit of electricity was chasing people down the street for a laugh.
Then the dream turned and it ended with me turning a corner in a very creepy bathroom to find a dead Mexican covered in a dry-cleaning bag swinging from the ceiling of a stall. I woke up in a sweat trying to scream.

The Hitchhiker

This little guy crawled/slimed over my car all the way to work this morning. Couldn't tell if it was just a slug or a streaking snail.

Brundlefly

Ok, if you had hairs coming out of your nose, and I don't mean your nostrils - I mean the tip..of..your..nose, don't you think you would a) notice them, and b) pull them out or shave them off or something? Especially if the hairs were black? I was in a meeting today sitting beside someone who had this problem and either was unaware or didn't care. I was trying to cross my eyes or relax them to make my vision blurry enough to not have to look at them and still look like I was paying attention. Very hard to concentrate when in my mind I can only think of witches...and Brundlefly. *shudder*

Dreaming

Up at 4am. Had a very detailed and stressful dream that started with a car wreck, evolved into a case of police corruption at the highest level, and ended happily with justice and public exposure for the corrupt, a visit from the president, and then cut to a year later with a new car and dream job. It was exhausting.

The road home

Returning from Mini in the Mountains in 2007. The sky was gray. :)

Rainy Days

The weather is just this side of rain, but doesn't look like it's going to let go yet. Hope springs eternal though - I love it when it rains. The sound of the dishwasher doesn't quite compare to the sound of a smattering of rain against the windows and roof.  Plus it's harder to hear Judge Judy over the dishwasher.

They all want cake...

The afore-mentioned pear-ginger caramel pecan cake.

Cake Beats Brownies

I've decided I don't like brownies. I've never really been a big fan - not quite fudge, not exactly cake, dense, usually slightly crispy around the edges, the crust-like surface... I've never understood why anyone wouldn't want cake instead if they had a choice. Like this pear-ginger caramel pecan cake I made. Just sayin'.

Mobile photo: Morning at work.

Setting Up

So many things to configure.  I think I've got it the way I want it now.  I'll put up a photo next.

A New Day

Let's see how this goes.