Mon frere and associates are doing their Top 200 films list, and I've been invited to contribute. But, there's a problem: I don't think I can come with even 50 notable films off the top of my head. I know I can look at something like the New York Times' Top 1000 films for inspiration, but looking at a ranked list would probably influence my own rankings (ie. I'd be tempted to put films that rate high on their list high on my own list), so that's right out. Or, I could browse through the IMBD, looking for things I've seen before, but that could take years.

So, I'll just list as many as I can. Here are my favorite movies:

1. Star Wars - George Lucas
2. Alien - Ridley Scott
3. The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola
4. The Outlaw Josey Wales - Clint Eastwood
5. Blazing Saddles - Mel Brooks
6. The Wizard Of Oz - Victor Fleming
7. The Wall - Pink Floyd, et al
8. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Gilliam, Jones
9. Fight Club - David Fincher
10. Fellowship of the Ring - Peter Jackson
11. The Hudsucker Proxy - Joel Coen
12. Ferris Beullers Day Off - John Hughes
13. A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick
14. Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino
15. Full Metal Jacket - Stanley Kubrick
16. Edward Scissorhands - Tim Burton
17. Blue Velvet - David Lynch
18. Animal House - John Landis
19. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - Steven Spielberg
20. To Kill a Mockingbird - Robert Mulligan
21. Streets of Crocodiles - The Brothers Quay
22. Easy Rider - Dennis Hopper
23. Goodfellas - Martin Scorsese
24. The Matrix - Wachowski Brothers
25. Nightmare Before Christmas - Tim Burton
26. Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarantino
27. Rushmore - Wes Anderson
28. Slingblade - Billy Bob Thornton
29. Heathers - Michael Lehmann
30. The Straight Story - David Lynch
31. The Sixth Sense - M. Night Shyamalan
32. City Of Lost Children - Jean-Pierre Jeunet
33. Fast Times at Ridgemont High - Amy Heckerling
34. Leaving Las Vegas - Mike Figgis
35. Amélie - Jean-Pierre Jeunet

(I reserve the right to modify this list at any time)

Looking at that, I think there are a lot of entries and positions that need justification. But, I'm not going to do it. I'll just say this: I'm into music much much more than I'm into movies.

Via Rox Populi, a new list to make, Ten Things I Haven't Done

1. been to Nice
2. been to the Isles of Greece
3. sipped champagne on a yacht
4. moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo
5. took the hand of a preacher man
6. made love in the sun (to a preacher man)
7. been undressed by a king
8. seen some things that a woman's not supposed to see
9. been to Paradise
10. been to me

And if you're smart, you'll never go here.

Quickie reviews!

• Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine. I agree with the record company that there's no obvious single, but that's not a big deal for me, since I never listen to commercial radio anyway. But, the majority of the songs are solid, and some are damned good. I really wish this was available on an official release (and not just a bootlegged internet leak) - it's definitely worth the $9.99 iTunes would charge and Ms. Apple deserves to eat.
• Spoon - Gimme Fiction. It's taking me a while to get into this one. I'm not too worried, the last one took a while, too. As usual, most of the tracks sound like sketches of what could be great songs - the drummer gets a lot of time playing by himself, and some songs seem like they could use a bridge or a key change to dress them up a bit. There are a couple that are really easy to like (even if it sometimes seems that the band is trying to sabatoge them with unpleasant guitar squawkings). Oddly, my iPod has refused to play even a single track from the record in the week I've had it.
• Allman Bros. - Live At The Fillmore, Monster Super Duper Deluxe Edition. I'm instantly transported back to the mid 70's, hanging out with my uncles at my grandparents' house - big party, swimming in the pond, dogs, lots of food, classic rock blasting out into the woods. The 20 minute+ tracks might need to come off the iPod - I can't seem to get into epic jams while working.

Eugene Mirman: "Operator: Did you press 1 to oppose same sex marriages?

Mr. Mirman: Oh, I pressed it, yes.

Operator: Okay, that's great to hear. And are you against same sex marriages?

Mr. Mirman: Well, I want to destroy it, yes.

Operator: Okay. That's great to hear... -

Mr. Mirman: Like the fist of God we will smash them!

Operator: Exactly."

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

W.B. Yeats, 1920

The reviews of the review are in!

A couple of weeks ago, Something Awful published a hilarious and scathing review of a Mars Volta record. Now they've published the hate mail that review generated. They're almost as funny as the review itself.

The consensus is that anyone who doesn't enjoy an album full of pretentious wanking is probably a pretentious wanker himself. And most of the respondents think it's necessary to play an instrument, be part of a band, and have sold more records than the Mars Volta before you can criticize them - yet it's unnecessary to have those credentials to appreciate them. Fantastic. Even better, as one letter-writer put it, "you cannot possibly be a logical thinker and criticize the Mars Volta as you do."

So many logical fallacies. So little humor.

Defective Yeti invents a new game: type each letter into your browser's address bar and note the first URL that shows up in the auto-complete list.

Here are my URL ABCs:

• A is for a23.com/babesinspace/contents.html - Women in space suits. Found on BoingBoing
• B is for balloon-juice.com/archives/005031.html - A righty blogger who's mad about the rise of religious wingnuttery
• C is for cafepress.com/salonstore.17508017 - A print that I have on a t-shirt
• D is for dailybeacon.utk.edu/showarticle.php?articleid=17019 - A student column lamenting the Iraq war
• E is for electablog.com/oharm.html - A photocollage of Bush and Prince Abdullah sharing tender moments
• F is for www.factbites.com/topics/Late-1980s-recession - An article on the late 80's recession. Cause someone was trying to assert that Republicans only fix recessions. Turns out they also cause recessions of their own (and don't fix them).
• G is for gaconstitutionparty.org/s.nl/sc.12/category.4/it.I/id.43/.f - A Constitution Party interview with Roy "10 Commandments" Moore.
• H is for haloscan.com/comments/digby/111456552158521770 - Haloscan comments.
• I is for images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2003-47,GGLD:en&q=carolina+wildflower - A Google image search for Carolina wildflowers
• J is for jameswolcott.com - Is for James Wolcott's hilarious blog
• K is for k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/DEMO_KHRONOS_COMP.wmv - A demo of the Khronos video system - warp videos through time, interactively.
• L is for laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/2005/01/physician-heal-thyself.html - Someone discussing the phrase "Physician, heal thyself"
• M is for madsci.org/posts/archives/nov2000/974207625.Ch.q.html - A discussion about cyanide in almonds.
• N is for nasa.lunarpages.com/~cleek02/images/ - Is to the main folder where I store my images.
• O is for obsidianwings.blogs.com - Obsidian Wings. A political blog.
• P is for pandagon.net - Another political blog.
• Q is for quicksilverweb.net/sbucks/sbcharts.htm - A list of all of Starbucks' drinks and what's in each of them.
• R is for raleigh-landscape.com - A landscaping company we're thinking about hiring.
• S is for s3xllc.com/success.html - Another link that turned up in my search info on the late 80's recession.
• T is for talkleft.com/new_archives/007065.html - A TalkLeft article on Kansas' "Romeo And Juliet" law
• U is for umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=4&mid=3303 - A link to the United Methodist Church. Found during a search for the phrase "the other faith".
• V is for vagalume.uol.com.br/letra/p/pavement/gold-soundz.html - Lyrics to Pavement's "Gold Soundz"
• W is for wakegov.com/locations/evaperryregionallibrary.htm - Eva Perry Library, Apex, NC. This is where last weekend's 5K started.
• X is for xmfan.com/search.php?search_id=1032760688&start=15 - There's a poster here who was at the same Mudhoney show, New Year's 1991 as I was. Found this while trying to confirm the date of the show.
• Y is for yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh91123_2005-04-19_14-21-03_n1918829_newsml - Yahoo news article about securities fraud... beats me.
• Nothing showed up for Z.

Since I'm too small to be tagged, I'll take the Hi-Fidelity Challenge myself.

Top Five Lyrics that Move Your Heart

• Pavement - Range Life
  So drunk in the august sun
  And you're the kind of girl I like
  Because you're empty and I'm empty
  And you can never quarantine the past
  Did you remember in december
  That I won't eat you when I'm gone
  And if I go there, I won't stay there
  Because I'm sitting here too long
  I've been sitting here too long
  And I've been wasted
• REM - Don't Go Back To Rockville
  At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend
  I don't care if you're not here with me
  'Cause it's so much easier to handle
  All my problems if I'm too far out to sea
• Unrest - June
  As you lay dying
  Morphine and ice cream
  Staining your sheets
  Confusing your mind
  and it reminds me
  They still get paid
  when you die.
• Neil Young - Powderfinger
  Shelter me from the powder and the finger
  Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
  Think of me as one you'd never figured
  Would fade away so young
  With so much left undone
  Remember me to my love,
  I know I'll miss her.
• Spoon - Anything You Want
  If there's anything you want
  Come on back cause it's all still here
  I'll be in the back room drinking my half of the beer
  And if you and me is so right
  Why's it the same thing every night

  It's just a matter of time
  It's almost measurable
  Imagination ain't kind on us tonight

  You're at your best when you got the guns turned a hundred eighty degrees
  And finding out if it adds all up right
  We go through all the same lines and sell out to appease
  But go to sleep in a bed of lies
  I made my own more than once or twice

  And now time is my time
  Time is my own
  And I feel so alive yet feel so alone
  Cause you know you're the one and that that hasn't changed
  Since you were nineteen and still in school waiting on a light
  On the corner by Sound Exchange

Top 5 Instrumentals

• I agree with Amanda, on this: all of Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue
• Dave Brubeck - Take Five
• Stevie Ray Vaughan - Little Wing
• Robyn Hitchcock, Chinese Water Python
• Doc Watson - Black Mountian Rag (live)

Top 5 Live Musical Experiences
This is tough. There are so many, it seems wrong to pick just five.

• Merlefest, 05. Of course.
• 1991, First Lollapalooza. At the time, it was amazing to see so many people so into "alternative" music - back when the label meant something.
• 1991, New Year's Eve. Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ. Mudhoney, The Mummys and The Lyres (?). Hanging out at the bar with the guys from Mudhoney and Thurston and Steve from Sonic Youth. We got them to fill up a postcard which we sent to a guy who couldn't make the show with us.
• Cowboy Junkies, Cat's Cradle ('03?). They somehow managed to make songs that seem distant and melancholy on the records sound warm and personal - and I liked 'em both ways.
• Nearly any Robyn Hitchcock show.

Top Five Artists You Think More People Should Listen To

• Spoon
• Cowboy Junkies
• Elliot Smith
• Yo La Tengo
• Gillian Welch

Top Five Albums You Must Hear From Start to Finish

• Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
• Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue
• Liz Phair, Exlie In Guyville
• My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
• Slint, Spiderland

Top Five Musical Heroes

• Robert Smith
• Robyn Hitchcock
• Ira Kaplan (vocals, guitar - Yo La Tengo)
• Eric Clapton
• Stephen Malkmus (vocals, guitar - Pavement)

(oh, and fuck stupid buggy Blogger for making me retype this thing)

Last 5K I did, I surprised myself by coming in more than a minute faster than I had hoped to, based on my training times up till then. And, my training times since then haven't given me much reason to think I'd gotten too much faster.

Well, I just whacked another 1:54 off that time, on a course where the entire first mile was uphill. I guess I should adjust my expectations.