
Well, because Pitchfork’s doing it…
- Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
- The Hold Steady- Boys and Girls In America (2006)
- Arcade Fire- Funeral (2004)
- Radiohead- Kid A (2000)
- OutKast- Stankonia (2000)
- Jay-Z- The Blueprint (2001)
- Eminem- The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
- Ryan Adams- Heartbreaker (2000)
- The Streets- Original Pirate Material (2002)
- The Avalanches- Since I Left You (2000)
- Bob Dylan- Love and Theft (2001)
- The Hold Steady- Separation Sunday (2005)
- The Strokes- Is This It (2001)
- Jay-Z- The Black Album (2003)
- Eminem- The Eminem Show (2002)
- Ghostface Killah- Fishscale (2006)
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Fever to Tell (2003)
- The White Stripes- White Blood Cells (2001)
- Trashcan Sinatras- Weightlifting (2004)
- Radiohead- Hail to the Thief (2003)
- The Hold Steady- Stay Positive (2008)
- U2- All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)
- Dinosaur Jr.- Beyond (2007)
- Spoon- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)
- The Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
- Pedro the Lion- Control (2002)
- Death Cab for Cutie- Transatlanticism (2003)
- Paul Westerberg- Stereo (2002)
- Tom Waits- Blood Money (2002)
- Kanye West- Late Registration (2005)
- The White Stripes- Elephant (2003)
- Beck- Sea Change (2002)
- Kanye West- The College Dropout (2004)
- Bruce Springsteen- The Rising (2001)
- Sonic Youth- Rather Ripped (2006)
- The Hives- Veni Vidi Vicious (2000)
- Lil Wayne- Tha Carter III (2008)
- Belle and Sebastian- Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003)
- Iron and Wine- Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)
- Broken Social Scene- You Forgot It In People (2002)
- Franz Ferdinand- You Could Have It So Much Better (2005)
- Sufjan Stevens- Illinois (2005)
- Brian Wilson- Smile (2004)
- System of a Down- Toxicity (2001)
- Nelly Furtado- Whoa, Nelly! (2000)
- The Shins- Chutes Too Narrow (2003)
- Interpol- Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
- Ted Leo and the Pharmacists- The Tyranny of Distance (2001)
- Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
- Sonic Youth- Murray Street (2002)

- The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938)
- Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)
- Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
- Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949)
- The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, 1998)
- Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel, 1967)
- Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
- The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
- Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956)
- Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
- Blood Simple (Joel Coen, 1984)
- Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2009)
- Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1959)
- Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
- Up (Pete Doctor, 2009)
- Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)
- Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
- The Exterminating Angel (Luis Bunuel, 1962)
- Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
- MASH (Robert Altman, 1970)
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel, 1972)
- The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1943)
- My Life to Live (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)
- The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)
- Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch, 1986)
- The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 1988)
- Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi, 1987)
- The Earrings of Madame De… (Max Ophuls, 1953)
- Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994)
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)
- The River (Jean Renoir, 1951)
- Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982)
- Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978)
- Salesman (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin, 1968)
- Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
- Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
- The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
- WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2009)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004)
- Planes, Trains and Automobiles (John Hughes, 1987)
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
- Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972)
- The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985)
- The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)
- The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1982)
- A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Chrichton, 1988)
- Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
- Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, 1982)
- Roger & Me (Michael Moore, 1989)
- Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
- After the Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1936)
- Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006)
- Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967)
- Sophie’s Choice (Alan J. Pakula, 1982)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes, 1986)
- Stardust Memories (Woody Allen, 1980)
- Pink Flamingos (John Waters, 1972)
- Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
- Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, 1941)
- The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934)
- Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009)
- Army of Darkness (Sam Raimi, 1992)
- Drag Me To Hell (Sam Raimi, 2009)
- Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996)
- (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)
- Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
- It Might Get Loud (Davis Guggenheim, 2009)
- Election (Alexander Payne, 1999)
- No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Martin Scorsese, 2005)
- District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)
- Bruno (Larry Charles, 2009)
- Whatever Works (Woody Allen, 2009)
- Public Enemies (Michael Mann, 2009)
- Cars (John Lasseter, 2006)
- Sixteen Candles (John Hughes, 1984)
- Caddyshack (Harold Ramis, 1980)
- The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
- Gojira (Ishiro Honda, 1954)
- Batman (Tim Burton, 1989)
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Kevin Reynolds, 2002)
- Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates, 2009)
- Tetro (Francis Ford Coppola, 2009)
- Away We Go (Sam Mendes, 2009)
- Stomp the Yard (Sylvain White, 2007)
- Paper Heart (Nicholas Jasenovec, 2009)

Here is a list of the movies I’ve seen that are considered “Walt Disney Animated Classics,” ranked by personal preference. The most popular ones I still need to see are Lady and the Tramp and The Aristocats.
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Bambi (1942)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- The Fox and the Hound (1981)
- Dumbo (1941)
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
- Aladdin (1992)
- Robin Hood (1973)
- The Jungle Book (1967)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Fantasia (1940)
- The Lion King (1994)
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- Mulan (1998)
- Tarzan (1999)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
- The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
- Hercules (1990)
- The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
- Pocahontas (1995)
- Oliver & Company (1988)
- Lilo & Stitch (2002)
- The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

Because I felt like it? Did this kind of quickly, so it’s not exact, but you get the picture.
- Pulp- Common People
- Bruce Springsteen- Thunder Road
- The Who- Baba O’Riley
- Sam Cooke- A Change Is Gonna Come
- Ella Fitzgerald- Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
- The Replacements- Left of the Dial
- Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells a Story
- The Clash- Train in Vain (Stand By Me)
- Jackson Browne- Late for the Sky
- Bob Dylan- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Ray Charles- You Don’t Know Me
- Neil Young- Like a Hurricane
- The Beatles- Tomorrow Never Knows
- Public Enemy- Fight the Power
- The Rolling Stones- Tumbling Dice
- R.E.M.- At My Most Beautiful
- The Byrds- You’re Still On My Mind
- Elvis Costello- I Want You
- Beastie Boys- So What’cha Want
- The Hold Steady- Constructive Summer
- Wilco- Via Chicago
- Radiohead- There There
- U2- Wake Up Dead Man
- Elton John- Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
- OutKast- B.O.B.
- Roy Orbison- Crying
- The Velvet Underground- Sister Ray
- Aretha Franklin- A Change is Gonna Come
- Derek and the Dominos- Bell Bottom Blues
- The Animals- Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
- Faces- Ooh La La
- The Temptations- I Wish It Would Rain
- Elvis Presley- Suspicious Minds
- Rage Against the Machine- Sleep Now In the Fire
- Tom Waits- Martha
- The Ronettes- Be My Baby
- Led Zeppelin- Stairway to Heaven
- The Zombies- This Will Be Our Year
- Teenage Fanclub- The Concept
- The Four Tops- Without the One You Love (Life’s Not Worthwhile)
- Death Cab for Cutie- Title and Registration
- Ben Folds- Fred Jones Part 2
- Simon and Garfunkel- So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
- Stevie Wonder- Living for the City
- The Jesus and Mary Chain- Just Like Honey
- Beck- Lost Cause
- Ryan Adams- Oh My Sweet Carolina
- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five- The Message
- The Police- Born in the 50’s
- Talking Heads- Once in a Lifetime
- David Bowie- Young Americans
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience- Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
- Michael Jackson- Beat It
- The Stooges- Search and Destroy
- New Order- Blue Monday
- My Blood Valentine- Sometimes
- Paul Westerberg- Only Lie Worth Telling
- Chuck Berry- Maybellene
- Buffalo Springfield- On the Way Home
- Sex Pistols- Anarchy in the U.K.
- Pavement- Gold Soundz
- The Beach Boys- You Still Believe In Me
- Broken Social Scene- 7/4 (Shoreline)
- Van Morrison- Caravan
- Funkadelic- Maggot Brain
- Curtis Mayfield- So In Love
- Al Green- Call Me (Come Back Home)
- Black Sabbath- War Pigs
- The Band- Stage Fright
- Metallica- One
- AC/DC- Hells Bells
- Arcade Fire- Rebellion (Lies)
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Rich
- Rufus Wainwright- One Man Guy
- XTC- Dear God
- Nas featuring 2Pac- Thugz Mansion (N.Y.)
- MC5- Kick Out the Jams
- Jay-Z featuring Eminem- Renegade
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- From Her To Eternity
- Cream- White Room
- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young- Our House
- N.W.A.- Straight Outta Compton
- Kanye West featuring Jay-Z- Diamonds from the Sierra Leon (Remix)
- John Lennon- Oh Yoko!
- The Kinks- Waterloo Sunset
- Etta James- Trust In Me
- Gordon Lightfoot- If You Could Read My Mind
- Johnny Cash- A Boy Named Sue
- Belle and Sebastian- I’m a Cuckoo
- Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band- Moonlight on Vermont
- ABBA- Waterloo
- The Flaming Lips- Fight Test
- Smokey Robinson and the Miracles- The Tears of a Clown
- Fugees- Ready or Not
- Marvin Gaye- Let’s Get It On
- Weezer- Tired of Sex
- Blondie- Dreaming
- Judas Priest- Breaking the Law
- Lil’ Wayne featuring T-Pain- Got Money
- Motorhead- Ace of Spades

Originally written August 17, 2009
Rock critics and fans proclaim that Bob Dylan is the greatest rock songwriter of all time as if it were undisputable fact. As much as I love his work, I’m not sure if I agree. Songwriting is more than just the words, and Costello, Springsteen and Waits have always been more musically dynamic. Even still, I’m apprehensive to call Dylan rock’s greatest poet because of the genius that is Leonard Cohen.
Dylan is, however, our most influential songwriter, and his body of work exhibits an impeccable understanding of the interplay between lyrics and music. He has written about salvation, heartache and revolution, stirring our emotions with his words the same way the Beatles or Miles Davis did with their music.
For a while, Dylan was my absolute favorite rock and roll artist, so I embarked on a mission to collect all of Dylan’s albums on vinyl and/or CD, avoiding duplicates of the albums my brother owns. Below, I have ranked all of his studio albums.
Now, few will argue with my top four choices. They are Dylan’s classic albums. After that, however, it gets a bit controversial. Street Legal above the first three Dylan albums? I believe the folk albums have some of his best songs, but their power has faded with time. On the other hand, Street Legal is an overlooked gem with playful music and songs with brilliant imagery (e.g. “Changing of the Guards”).
To be honest, I don’t think any Dylan album is truly awful. Now don’t get me wrong, Knocked Out Loaded is one of the least imaginative albums by a truly great artist ever released, but it features the 11-minute epic “Brownsville Girl,” one of the best songs of his career. Even the universally-hated Self Portrait and Dylan have a sort of rustic beauty to them. Many theorize those albums were meant as attacks on the record industry and adoring fans. Well, in that case, I find them to be two of the most underrated and enjoyable jokes in rock music.
- Blood on the Tracks (1975)
- Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
- Blonde on Blonde (1966)
- Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
- Love and Theft (2001)
- The Basement Tapes (1975)
- Nashville Skyline (1969)
- The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)
- Street Legal (1978)
- Oh Mercy (1989)
- The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
- Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
- Modern Times (1996)
- Time Out of Mind (1997)
- Desire (1976)
- John Wesley Harding (1967)
- New Morning (1970)
- Infidels (1983)
- Shot of Love (1981)
- Empire Burlesque (1985)
- Dylan (1973)
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
- Bob Dylan (1962)
- World Gone Wrong (1993)
- Down in the Groove (1988)
- Under the Red Sky (1990)
- Saved (1980)
- Planet Waves (1974)
- Slow Training Coming (1979)
- Together Through Life (2009)
- Self Portrait (1970)
- Knocked Out Loaded (1986)
- Good As I Been To You (1992)

I have never really been able to make up my mind about Quentin Tarantino. When I first saw Pulp Fiction, it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I had ever had up until that point. It was always safe to assume it would land a place on a list of my top 20 favorites. From Reservoir Dogs to Death Proof, his films were all very enjoyable for me the first time I saw them.
However, at a certain point, I grew disinterested and branded him overrated. His films lacked good characters and an understanding of the world outside of movies. The cultural allusions were fun, but they were often cheap or out of place. Yes, the extended conversation among the female protagonists in Death Proof was fascinating the first time around, but most of us would not willingly sit through it again.
Thankfully, Inglourious Basterds is the breath of fresh air I needed from Quentin Tarantino. The elements that made Tarantino’s movies unique are all here but without the setback that made his films cute and contrived. The characters are talking like real people, but we’re no longer wasting time on McDonalds or Pretty in Pink. The conversational pacing feels like it has a genuine sense of purpose for the first time, perhaps best on display in the opening scene in which a Nazi officer questions a family patriarch suspected of hiding a Jewish family. The meticulous attention to detail heightens the great tension in this scene and many like it.
There is also the music. The soundtracks of past Tarantino’s films have received much acclaim, but the music was often a distraction rather than a true complement to what was going on. “Let’s Stay Together”? Chuck Berry? That was all fun, but he really could have just given us all mixtapes. The music in his latest, mostly borrowed from Spaghetti Westerns, contributes to the epic nature of the film, particularly the violent scenes featuring the Inglourious Basterds themselves.
Perhaps most notably, the film features the two best performances ever in a Tarantino film, largely because Tarantino gave the two talented actors fascinating characters to work with. Christoph Waltz plays Hans Landa, an infamous Nazi officer nicknamed the Jew Hunter. Waltz, who won the award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, impeccably balances the terror of his character and the joy with which he carries out his duties for the Third Reich. Waltz delivers Tarantino’s witty dialogue with such grace and elegance that we are pulled in by the attractiveness of his evilness. His role necessitated his being able to speak English, French, German and, mostly hilariously, Italian, and he speaks all of them with the same confidence that characterizes his performance.
And then there is Melanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus, a French-Jewish woman whose family was slaughtered by German soldiers. Laurent’s performance is characterized by true depth with a sense of pain bubbling under the graceful surface. Uma Thurman’s Bride in Kill Bill was impressive but not the great female role it was often considered to be. The women in Tarantino’s movies have until now mostly been caricatures, either strong (the Bride) or weak (Butch’s girlfriend in Pulp Fiction) without any sort of complexity. Laurent’s Shosanna is a powerful character not because Tarantino has given a woman physical strength or prowess but because she embraces her convictions with grace in the midst of soldiers who would shoot her if they knew her true identity.
Inglourious Basterds is an epic that truly pushes the envelope. Violence was often unseen or too fake to be taken seriously in Tarantino’s previous films, but here the camera does not shy away. There are some pretty graphic scenes in which Tarantino’s teenage male sensibilities come into play, but seem to work for some reason. Yes, they’re still comical, and they’re still supposed to satisfy a lust for blood in audiences. After all, it is pretty damn cool to see Eli Roth as the Bear Jew, bashing in the head of a Nazi officer with a baseball bat. However, there is a greater sense of honesty in the way violence is handled in this film compared to the past films of Tarantino.
In the film, Shosanna plans to use her cinema to massacre a great number of Nazi. Tarantino is relaying to us the power of the cinema with this metaphor, but he has also reminded us the power of the movies with this beautiful epic of a movie. This is one of those movies that must be seen in a movie theater to be fully appreciated because of great filmmaking: the editing, directing and cinematography. The images manipulate our emotions, going from making us laugh or cringe to stirring within us a sense of sorrow. The film has one of the greatest closing lines since Joe E. Brown uttered “Nobody’s Perfect,” and Tarantino reassures us that he is, in fact, capable of making a masterpiece.

- Up (2009)
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
- Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
- Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Bambi (1942)
- Wall-E (2009)
- Monster’s Inc. (2001)
- Princess Mononoke (1997)
- Toy Story 2 (1999)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- The Fox and the Hound (1981)
- Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
- Ratatouille (2007)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- Finding Nemo (2003)
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
- The Simpsons Movie (2007)
Exclusions:
- Snow White and Fantasia are relics of the past.
- The Lion King is massively overrated - Hamlet for Dummies.
- The Incredibles is fascist.
- Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Dumbo, The Iron Giant, Waking Life, and the list goes on.

It’s no secret that I love the Beatles’ music to an unhealthy degree. I cannot wait to buy the remastered mono CDs, even if the box set is going to cost me a large chunk of change for music I already have. The 21st century has left many of us jaded, unable to find the overlap between popular music and great music. The Beatles, however, were the most popular band of their time, and they are undoubtedly the best band of all time. Their appeal is universal, transcending age and the other factors that lead music to create tension and debate. Just about all of us agree that there music was revolutionary and, quite simply, fun to listen to.
In honor of the upcoming release of the remastered albums and the Beatles edition of the video game Rock Band, I have compiled a revised list of my 100 Beatles songs. Now, I have taken on the same task in the past, but their music is so diverse and vibrant that there is always room for rediscovery and shifts in taste. In a deleted scene from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Uma Thurman proclaims that there are two types of people: Beatles people and Elvis people. These days, I think just about everyone is a Beatles person. It simply depends on what era of their music appeals to a person most. Are you a “Yesterday” person, or do you prefer overlooked experimental gems like “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey”? The answer probably depends on your mood. With this list, #100 is almost as essential as #1.
For those of you reading this on Facebook, please post your favorite Beatles song. I’m curious what y’all have to say.
- Tomorrow Never Knows
- She Loves You
- A Day in the Life
- This Boy
- Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
- I’m So Tired
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- Something
- Let It Be
- Happiness is a Warm Gun
- In My Life
- Nowhere Man
- You Won’t See Me
- Please Mister Postman
- Girl
- Your Mother Should Know
- And Your Bird Can Sing
- Rocky Raccoon
- Golden Slumbers
- Here Comes the Sun
- She’s Leaving Home
- Helter Skelter
- Oh! Darling
- Don’t Let Me Down
- I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
- Revolution
- Hey Jude
- Yesterday
- Help!
- A Hard Day’s Night
- It Won’t Be Long
- If I Fell
- Rain
- Two of Us
- Eleanor Rigby
- Octopus’s Garden
- Penny Lane
- Because
- Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
- Across the Universe
- Strawberry Fields Forever
- Twist and Shout
- Misery
- I Want to Hold Your Hand
- Yes It Is
- Julia
- For No One
- Good Day Sunshine
- Dear Prudence
- Michelle
- You Really Got a Hold On Me
- Hold Me Tight
- I’m Only Sleeping
- I Will
- Yer Blues
- Getting Better
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
- I Am the Walrus
- Blackbird
- The Fool on the Hill
- She Said She Said
- Taxman
- All My Loving
- Tell Me Why
- All I’ve Got to Do
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Run For Your Life
- Magical Mystery Tour
- All You Need Is Love
- Here, There and Everywhere
- I Should Have Known Better
- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
- Birthday
- Back in the U.S.S.R.
- Anna (Go to Him)
- I’ll Follow the Sun
- I Feel Fine
- What Goes On
- Act Naturally
- No Reply
- I’m a Loser
- When I’m Sixty-Four
- And I Love Her
- I’m Looking Through You
- Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
- Come Together
- Ticket to Ride
- Paperback Writer
- Drive My Car
- I’ve Just Seen a Face
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- Hello, Goodbye
- Day Tripper
- You Like Me Too Much
- You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
- Got to Get You Into My Life
- Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
- Mother Nature’s Son
- The Ballad of John and Yoko
- Think For Yourself