#223

Hello all.

This should mark a long stretch of posts to come seeing that I am now officially done with school. The last two weeks were rough, but in hindsight, not nearly as bad as I expected and well worth it. I spent the weekend mostly working and taking it easy today. The Falcons lost a tough game today, but they hung in there with an undefeated team and gave a great showing. The sad news is that the Falcons now have to win out in order to have their first EVER back-to-back winning seasons. Thankfully those last three game are against the decent Jets followed by the terrible Bills and Bucs. Here’s hoping they make it happen.

It’s Sunday so here is my last.fm wrap up of the week (no picture, my laptop is in the other room and I honestly do not feel like getting up).

1 Murder by Death 65
2 The Good Life 44
2  The Dead Weather 44
4 The Who 43
5 Andrew Bird 38
6 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 36
7 The Mercury Program 34
8 Manchester Orchestra 18
9 Deerhunter 5
10 The Gaslight Anthem 4

Strange week music-wise but this week’s playlist will be even stranger because I am attempting to have a End of the Year List for music done by the time I leave for PA on Saturday. So this week’s playlist has a bunch of music that I have either a) been meaning to give a listen or b) albums from earlier in the year that are contending for one of the Top Five spots. I could not be more excited about the vacation and then I come home to my brother and sister being home and then Christmas. This will be a great month and I intend to close out the year in the best possible way.

I saw Up in the Air on Saturday and it was hands down the best movie I have seen this year. I would be exceptionally shocked if it does not ultimately end up as my favorite film of 2009. I am excited for the weeks to come film-wise with Avatar coming out this weekend and then coming home to a bounty of Christmas releases. Alright, enough rambling. Everyone have a good start to the week and thank you for reading!

#222

Hello all.

I have been sitting here for the last two hours slowly working my way back through my Computer Science book and I need a damn break. The other site was without an update today unfortunately. In my defense, it is not only finals week but it is also my final finals week. I will be working diligently throughout tonight and tomorrow night and I hope to catch a couple of breaks in-between to write a couple of solid posts. The year is gone. Today is 8th (damn near the 9th), before we know it, Christmas will be here and the New Year will soon follow. It is absolutely bizarre to think that this year is even close to being over.

I have been making some headway on my end of the year lists for music. I won’t even start thinking about my lists for movies until the first of the new year, if not later. I think I have a good rough list for top ten and I am thinking about expanding it to a top fifteen to take away honorable mentions. Last year, I only made a top five, which only means that a) this has been a much better year for music or b) I have been actively expanding my listening habits. I would most likely conclude that it’s a combination of the two.

After I get through Thursday, assuming I get through Thursday, I intend to sit down and write out some goals. I would like to set out where exactly I want to be in the near future. I have to start considering switching jobs/adding another job. There’s no way I can have that much idle time each week. I will miss school for reasons beyond learning about things that I care about (philosophy/film), I will also miss it because it has been a great use of time over the last few years. I have to find something to fill that void. We’ll see. For now, I am back to studying. I hope everyone is having a great week.

Thank you for reading.

#221

Hello all.

It’s Sunday, which means time for a good day full of football and hopefully some studying later on as to the fact that my finals start on Tuesday. I have had sort of an interesting week, probably the toughest I had throughout undergrad. I got through it, and have had a couple good days at work followed by yesterday’s decently entertaining day of football. I would have loved to see Nebraska pull it through, that Suh is one hell of a football player and he will be a great goddamn player at the pro level. Not to mention that both the Hawks and Thrashers won, and I am hoping that the Falcons can pull it through today. I will quit rambling.

I have been on such a huge Nick Cave kick after seeing The Road, absolutely wonderful stuff. This week’s playlist include his Let Love in, The Who’s Tommy, The Good Life’s Black Out, and The Dead Weather’s Horehound. That’s it for now, time to go take a shower and get ready for the game.

Thank you for reading!

#220

Hello all.

November

311. Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982)
312. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
313. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
314. Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999)
315. Year One (Harold Ramis, 2009)
316. The American Nightmare (Adam Simon, 2000)
317. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
318. Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, 2009)
319. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (Neal Brennan, 2009)
320. Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
321.The Tenant (Roman Polanski, 1976)
322. Alice in Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, & Hamilton Luske, 1951)
323. Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)
324. The Men Who Stare at Goats (Grant Heslov, 2009)
325. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
326. Cache (Michael Haneke, 2005)
327. Underground (Emir Kusturica, 1995)
328. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
329. Funny People (Judd Apatow, 2009)
330. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)
331. In the Mood for Love (Kar Wai Wong, 2000)
332. Up (Pete Docter, 2009)
333. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
334. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
335. My Name is Nobody (Tonino Valerii, 1973)
336. Roger Dodger (Dylan Kidd, 2002)
337. Up (Pete Docter, 2009)
338. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
339. Gamer (Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor, 2009)
340. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963)
341. The General (John Boorman, 1998)
342. Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
343. The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)
344. The Brothers Solomon (Bob Odenkirk, 2007)

Thirty-four films this month, which means I am only twenty-one shy of my goal for the year. I could go crazy and make a serious push at hitting four hundred but I highly doubt it, especially now that I am starting in on a few new TV shows (Curb Your Enthusiasm and Breaking Bad). I have been writing numerous lists lately, ones on TV shows I’d like to watch, directors I’d like to explore (for the other site, Cherished Cinema), and upcoming playlists.

Just took a brutal exam and have a really rough two nights ahead of me. I am going to go eat lunch and write the final entry into the “Films That Made Me Love Film” project. I hope everyone is having a nice day. Thank you for reading!

p.s. I am running on no sleep so hopefully this makes sense.

#219

Hello all.

Thanksgiving break is officially over as I am sitting here watching the last two episodes of the recent remake of The Prisoner absolutely dreading the next two weeks. I have very little room to complain due to the fact that I am completely finished on the 10th, which is less than two weeks away. It’ll be a brutal couple weeks, but assuredly worth it in the end. Here are my last.fm top artists of the last week…

I am trying to get back into the habit of making playlists on Sunday and sticking to it. This week’s: all of Colour Revolt, The Who – The Who Sell Out, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – The Good Son, and The Good Life – Novena on a Nocturn. I am really trying to refocus and figure things out over the course of the next month, as it is the last month of the year and a substantially pivotal point of my life. I hope you all have a nice start to the week, it’ll be a rough one but I am sure it will fly by. Thank you for reading.

#218

Hello all.

Forgive me for the lack of updates lately, the schoolwork of last week just about took me out for the weekend. I am officially on Thanksgiving break so I should be posting quite regularly on both sites. Lots of stuff coming out, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Road open here on Wednesday and An Education and A Serious Man are still out there to be seen. I have to work the next couple of nights but I am going to try and take it as easy as possible so that I will be ready for my last two weeks of undergrad.

Here’s a wrap-up of the latest posts on Cherished Cinema.

Sunday, November 15th — Punch-Drunk Love

Monday, November 16th — Vertigo

Tuesday, November 17th — Chinatown

Wednesday, November 18th — Mulholland Dr.

Thursday, November 19th — Random Thursday Thought

Monday, November 23rd — Otto e Mezzo

And my weekly last.fm Top Artists:

That’s it for now, I hope everyone has a nice start to the week. Thank you for reading.

 

#217

Hello all.

I thought I would post some pictures of yesterday’s purchase, the Steelbook edition of Star Trek. The pictures are crummy, but hopefully they’ll do.

Taking it easy today, went to a screening this morning and will be most likely watch movies for the rest of the day. Thank you for reading!

#216

Hello all.

I had a rough night last night, I had to complete maybe my last major project of my undergrad. The project itself was not  too bad but finding a topic to do it could not have been worse. Needless to say, I am exhausted today. I had sort of strange nostalgic moment last night in that I realized that last night may be the last Sunday night that I stress out over school work. It was a very weird moment.

This January, I had to buy not a single DVD (at least according to my Google Calendar) where this upcoming January there is one to buy about every week. Here’s the schedule…

January 12th – Moon/ The Hurt Locker

January 19th – Che (Criterion BD)

January 26th – Rossellini’s War Trilogy (Criterion)

February 2nd – Zombieland

The Hawks are number one in the East! Given it’s only ten or so games into the season but that is still really exciting. That’s about it for today, I am skipping class and taking it easy before work. Everyone have a good start to the week. Thank you for reading!

 

#215

Hello all.

It’s a little past midnight and I am trying to motivate myself to knock some stuff off of my list for tomorrow before I head to bed and updating this blog was on there. I had a solid day, nothing atypical, a morning full of work and a day full of relaxation. It’s been incredibly nice here lately and I am thinking about going out in the morning and taking advantage of it while it lasts.

Two full weeks of school left: that’s it. I have to go all next week, not go the week of Thanksgiving, go the week following, and then take a couple exams and I am done. It is sort of a scary thought the closer and closer it gets. I have to start applying to law school soon and I also have to decide what it is I want to do next year in between undergrad and law. We’ll see I suppose, I really will not make any firm decisions until I find out if I get in anywhere and as the start of the new year approaches.

I am keeping up with the other site, an ability I personally doubted. I am going to keep with the Sunday – Thursday schedule because my Fridays really are too hectic for me to worry about that and I normally do next to nothing but watch football on Sundays as it is. Unfortunately that isn’t the case tomorrow, I have an entire project to do by Monday at noon and I do not think I am up for even starting it tonight. Well enough complaining, on to the weekly wrap-ups. Here’s my top ten last.fm artists of the week…

1. St. Vincent 88
2. Say Anything 39
3. Beirut 33
4. Manchester Orchestra 26
4. Jens Lekman 26
6. Los Campesinos! 22
6. Dear and the Headlights 22
8. Thrice 21
9. Bon Iver 18
10. Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) 12

And for the week’s posts for Cherished Cinema…

Sunday, November 8th — Rosemary’s Baby

Monday, November 9th — The Tenant

Monday, November 9th — Conclusion to the Horror Project

Tuesday, November 10th — Intro to Films That Made Me Love Film

Wednesday, November 11th — Taxi Driver

Thursday, November 12th — Dead Man

Tomorrow’s post- the third entry into the new project -will most likely be posted around 5:00 PM (unless I wake up super early, which is a possibility). I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. Thank you for reading!

#214

Hello all.

I am wrapping up Donnie Darko and have a bit of work before bed but I have had a great day. Went to a screening of Cache earlier today and then came home and watched Underground. I was absolutely blown away by Underground and would definitely recommend to those who have never seen it.

My dog has officially taken over the chair so this post will be a short one (not enough space for both him and the laptop). The first post of the new project (Films That Made Me Love Film) is up, and another one should be up in the morning. Here is the post. I went out yesterday to pick up Modern Warfare 2, and the game is an absolute blast. Other than that not much else going on. I picked up a shift tomorrow night and will most likely see 2012 (haha, I know) at midnight. Thank you for reading!

#213

Hello all.

It’s almost two o’clock in the morning and I am roughly halfway through The Tenant, with a free moment to post so I thought I would. Fairly decent weekend, I worked all day Friday and yesterday morning. My cousin and I went to the Hawks game (in which we not only won but also destroyed a solid Nuggets team) and today I spent the day watching movies and football. God I love Sundays.

I have become obsessed with www.twitter.com/nietzschesays lately. It’s going through a particularly important (and EXTREMELY interesting) part of Human All-Too-Human and I love getting home and catching up on the day’s posts. Tomorrow marks the last post for Cherished Cinema’s Horror Project, with the next project being announced on Tuesday. That’s it for now, it’s late and I will finish this film then head to bed. Thank you for reading!

#212

Hello all.

I am sitting at home and finally giving the new Say Anything a listen, genuinely surprised by how much I am enjoying it. I suppose this has to do with all the negative reviews I have read so far. I really need to stop listening to other people until I give it a listen for myself. I have NOTHING going on today, I went to a screening of a film called Beau Travail this morning, a bizarre but shockingly interesting film. For those who follow me on Twitter, this post may seem a bit redundant due to the fact that I am currently going through TimeOut’s 1000 Films to Change Your Life and it’s a great read. I tweeted a bit of what I found interesting this morning so here are those tweets and some other general thoughts. I am only about halfway through it so I might have more to add later.

Amazon link.

From my Twitter:

Michael Mann on DR. STRANGELOVE – “shit, this thing is going to end soon.” For those who have ever felt that way understand how imp. that is

Jonathan Romney describing MEMENTO as “gimmicky but satisfying” is brilliant

From my personal notes:

“At this point, it should be noted that while some contemporary comedies are considered acceptable, these are normally made by Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson, or Alexander Payne, so aren’t actually funny at all. They might make you chuckle (inwardly), stroke your beard and say ‘how clever’, but they’re not exactly Airplane!.) – Peter Watts in “Have a sense of humour!”

“I don’t think that the fear of cinema being obsolete has any reason to exist, because it’s not the big screen that makes a cinema superior to your home theatre – it’s the fact that you’re watching it with an audience, and particularly that you’re watching with people who you don’t know. ” – Roman Polanski on “Safety in numbers”

The first quote made me laugh out loud in the library. The article itself was brilliant and extremely pertinent to a good deal of my thoughts as of late. I have been discussing with numerous people how much flack comedies get that they shouldn’t. Sure, there are some real duds out there but there are at least a few good comedies that come out a year (hell, I put Forgetting Sarah Marshall on my top ten of 2008). This article points out that AFI selected The 40 Year Old Virgin for one of the best movies of 2005 which says a lot. The second quote, from one of my favorite directors, is a great explanation of the “theater experience,” one of the biggest joys in my life.

I hope you all enjoyed those, the book itself is fantastic. The site has a new post, here it is, and there are only three more entries into the Horror Project. Thank you for reading!

#211

Hello all.

I am sitting in the library after taking a brutal exam and just finished my latest update for Cherished Cinema, here it is. I hope everyone’s week as started off the best that it could. I spent most of yesterday studying for the exam I had today and spent four hours watching the game last night. Although we lost, I have to say we looked damn good and Falcons fan have to consider that we played well in probably the roughest environment we’ll play in all year.

There is nothing else too exciting going on, I am going to try and work tonight but if I don’t it will just be a night full of  movies. What else can I say? This weekend is crazy movie-wise here. I am hoping to see A Serious Man before then (all rests on how much extra money I have this week) but An Education, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and Precious all open this weekend.

That’s it, I am going to run and grab some food. I hope everyone has a great day. Thank you for reading.

#210

Hello all.

Late update today, had a rough time getting started this morning but I am home and ready to go as of right now. My roommate and I are watching 25th Hour (only my third time this year…) and I have a few more things to do before I start studying. I have to be done with studying so that I can watch the Falcons play tonight and hopefully be able to watch a bit of Game 5 of the World Series.

Today’s post is up, here it is, and I thought this was only fitting.

There isn’t much else to say, I was ten and two on my picks yesterday — the Jets and the Cardinals ruined my perfect day. I am leading but I sacrilegiously picked the Saints tonight and Michael picked the Falcons so hopefully this week we end in a tie. That’s all for now, hope everyone has had a nice start to the week. Thank you for reading!

 

#209

Hello all.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Happy for the new month, this is my last full month of undergrad so I have reason to be excited for this one. Also, because it is the first of the month, it’s time for a monthly wrap-up. Here goes…

October

274. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (Ray Müller, 1993)
275. Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, 2009)
276. The New Guy (Ed Decter, 2002)
277. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (Gisaburo Sugii, 1994)
278. The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993)
279. Homicide (David Mamet, 1991)
280. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (Errol Morris, 1999)
281. Toy Story 3-D (John Lasseter, 1995)
282. Toy Story 2 3-D (John Lasseter, 1999)
283. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
284. In the Mood for Love (Kar Wai Wong, 2000)
285. Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
286. The Brothers Bloom (Rian Johnson, 2009)
287. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
288. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
289. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
290. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
291. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards, 1961)
292. She Done Him Wrong (Lowell Sherman, 1933)
293. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, 2009)
294. Whatever Works (Woody Allen, 2009)
295. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
296. Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, 2008)
297. Suture (Scott McGehee & David Siegel, 1993)
298. Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)
299. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (Michael Bay, 2009)
300. Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)
301. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Jake Kasdan, 2007)
302. Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009)
303. Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997)
304. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
305. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (Neal Brennan, 2009)
306. Session 9 (Brad Anderson, 2001)
307. Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997)
308. What About Bob? (Frank Oz, 1991)
309. Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, 2009)
310. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

I watched forty-one movies this month, which means I will easily be able to hit my goal of three hundred and sixty on the year (only need to watch about 28 movies/month for the last two months of the year). I am thinking about putting my top weekly artists (via last.fm) here on Sundays as well, we’ll see how it works out.

1  Cursive 103
2  Manchester Orchestra 35
3  Murder by Death 28
4  Brand New 21
5  Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) 20
6  Los Campesinos! 17
7  Minus the Bear 12
7  Thrice 12
9  …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead 11
10 Thursday 10

That’s it for now, I have some work to do today for Computer Science and the other site, but other than that, I’ll just be watching football. Everyone enjoy their Sunday, thank you for reading!