Rock and Reel

American Film Institute's Top 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)

The AFI’s 1998 top 100 movies list played a formative role in my love for movies. Early on, I made it my obsessive mission to watch all of the movies on the list and reorder them according to my preferences. Unfortunately, right after watching Platoon and finishing the task, the AFI went and published a 10th anniversary list in 2007. Finally, I have seen all the films on the updated list, and below I have ranked all the movies on the list. The 10th anniversary list was definitely an improvement over the 1998 original with additions like Do the Right Thing, The General and Blade Runner. However, it excluded masterpieces like Red River, Rosemary’s Baby, Days of Heaven, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and the BEST MOVIE EVER, Blue Velvet.

The General (Buster Keaton, 1927)
Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
Swing Time (George Stevens, 1936)
Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, 1916)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976)
The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)
All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
MASH (Robert Altman, 1970)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)
High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952)
Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood, 1935)
Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Strurges, 1941)
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951)
It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969)
Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)
Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001)
The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
Sophie’s Choice (Alan J. Pakula, 1982)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
The African Queen (John Huston, 1951)
The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973)
West Side Story (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961)
Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)
The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
Shane (George Stevens, 1953)
Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982)
Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)
The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998)
The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937)
King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)
Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison, 1967)
Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969)
Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)

For a list of more films that should have been included, click here.

20 hours ago

Away We Go (Sam Mendes, 2009)

Here we go—another misanthropic independent movie, contrived and molded to be quirky without being any good. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play a young unmarried couple about to have a child. In search of a different city in which to raise their coming child, they go from city to city with each location conveniently represented by a different couple. Director Sam Mendes has always taken on projects with despicable characters. Consider American Beauty with its annoyingly exaggerated caricatures that fail to resemble anything remotely human. Similarly with Mendes’ latest, the actors are wasted because, even though the central characters are decent and lovable, we are usually focused on the screwed-up couples they interact with on their travels. The movie is a passive freak show, stringing together different sequences which showcase bizarre characters.

I have yet to understand why independent filmmakers insist so strongly on making the central couples in their films the only remotely likable characters. Zach Braff might have been worse than Mendes with his disaster Garden State because one of the only characters we’re supposed to like is played by himself, but Away We Go is similarly angry with its hostile depictions of all characters except its protagonists for no good reason. As a result, some great actors and actresses are made out to be fools on the screen. Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels play the parents who are more interested in profiting from renting out their home than allowing their son to stay before getting established. Allison Janney has no problem telling her daughter she looks like a “dyke” or attempting to make a pass at Krasinski with his pregnant girlfriend a few steps ahead. Maggie Gyllenhaal is the crazed hippie mother who breastfeeds her nearly-grown child and refuses to use a stroller because it pushes the child away. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with using only ludicrous characters for the purpose of satire, but such harshness has to serve some sort of purpose or, better yet, be funny. Away We Go is rarely funny and certainly has no purpose.

What drew me to this film in the first place was that fact that is was co-written by Dave Eggers. However, what makes this movie so sour and unenjoyable is the writing. The movie relies so heavily on the quirks of those who come into contact with Krasinski and Rudolph and the ridiculous things they do and say, but it ultimately does not develop any of the characters. The movie is rushed because none of the characters in the different cities are worth spending time with. The characters are a hollow means to unsuccessfully squeeze out cheap laughs from the audience. Consider a scene in which Gyllenhaal comments on the oppression of Rudolph’s people throughout history. It is offensive and out of place in the context of the movie, only used to establish how the character is so full of pseudo-intellectual crap. Away We Go never comes together as a cohesive movie, and its parts are never good enough to make this worth the money. 1 day ago

Pink Flamingos (John Waters, 1972)

Disclaimer: Includes descriptions of vulgar happenings in this movie. Although I reveal some of what happens in the film, I guarantee the movie will not be any less shocking if you ever decide to watch it.

Coming home from my second viewing of Up, I was on a movie high, exhilarated by the emotional power of its images and sound. I needed to watch something else that night to satisfy my cinematic thirst, but I wanted to watch something different. After having wanted to do so for quite some time, I finally sat down and watched John Waters’ Pink Flamingos. Never have I experienced such a jarring shift in my movie-watching life.

I never really took all the critics and film buffs seriously when they said this is the filthiest movie ever made. Never have I been an offended and disgusted by a movie yet so strangely entertained. Waters lives up to his reputation as a maverick, the king of bad taste. The premise of the film is simple. The large female impersonator Divine plays Babs Johnson, renowned by everyone as the filthiest person alive, but this does not sit well with Connie and Raymond Marble. The filthy couple makes a living taking women off the street, holding them in a basement, either raping or artificially inseminating them and then selling the babies to lesbian couples. Connie and Raymond want to disrupt the peace of Babs’s family, which includes a retarded mother who lives in a crib and loves her eggs. Ultimately, total war breaks out between the two families as they seek out who is truly the filthiest family alive.

A plot synopsis does not make this movie sound so bad, but I cannot stress enough that the film is not for those who are easily offended. This work of art truly defies all convention, apparently having no purpose but to shock the audience. There is a sex scene involving the death of a chicken, a singing butthole and, perhaps more disgusting than anything else in the movie, the actual consumption of dog feces. With the animal cruelty and obscenity laws of today, Pink Flamingos probably could not have been made. Waters truly made a work that was ahead of its time. While Up had played with my emotions a few hours earlier as a reminder of human goodness, Pink Flamingos defecated on all notions of decency I have ever been taught to the point of almost making me physically sick at times. It is a rough trip, shot in an amateur fashion, made by great entertainers and not by great filmmakers. Does that make this movie that makes Borat look like The Sound of Music any less brilliant? Of course not. This movie is an unforgettable experience even if I cannot recommend it to anyone without a clear conscience. 2 days ago

Up (Pete Doctor, 2009)

Note: There are some spoilers in here, but I would be surprised if anyone reading this has not seen this movie.

I had my suspicions about Up the first time I saw the film, and they were confirmed upon my second viewing—Pixar has made a movie worthy of the great American films. In an age were the most highly-praised films are characterized by artistic pretension and/or thematic didacticism, Pixar’s latest production is an absolute thrill and a breath of fresh air. It is a film full of surprises that, most importantly, develops its characters to such a degree most of us never expected possible with animation.

Walking into the theatre, I did not expect this to be perhaps the most tear-jerking movie I have seen in years. This is not to say Pixar hasn’t made us pull out our handkerchiefs in the past. Sure, watching Jessie grow irrelevant in the eyes of her maturing owner was pretty tragic in Toy Story 2, and shredding Boo’s door in Monsters Inc. was heartbreaking. None of this, however, prepared us for the silent montage depicting the shared lives of Carl and Ellie Fredrickson, two lovers bound together by their passion for adventure and each other. This scene reminds us of the power of the image that is so lost with most movies today. It communicates such joy and also sorrow with the meticulously animated frames. The way the images seamlessly flow into one another makes this perhaps the most poetic statement about love in any recent film. Recall the human emotion that can be seen on Carl’s face when he comforts Ellie after her miscarriage; Pixar has never made anything as moving, and they will never be able to top themselves.

As far as character development goes, Russell is about as sweet yet as realistic as a child character can get. Nine-year-old Jordan Nagai gives a truly brilliant voice performance as the young Wilderness Explorer in pursuit of his “assisting the elderly” badge. So often with animated films, the children are merely cute, empty caricatures for the kids in the audience to be able to identify with. However, with Russell, we have a character so full of depth. He is so full of joy playing with the “snipe” Kevin and attempting to convince Carl to take the bird along for the trip. (Want to mention the playfulness in the scene and creativity of the way Russell and Kevin play in the trees.) Then, there is the sadness in his voice when he talks about his absent father, knowing something is missing in his life but searching for exactly what it is.

This film is not just about a relationship between a man and the son he could never have, or a boy and the father he barely has. This is a film about four outsiders who come together and are able to change each other’s lives: Carl struggles to adapt to the modern world, still wishing to fulfill his promises of the past; Russell obviously has no stable parental situation; the lovable “talking” dog Dug is a joke amongst the other canines; and Kevin is being hunted down by a pack of vicious dogs. Each of these characters alone is vulnerable, but together they have a wild, unforgettable adventure, surviving in the face of the greatest dangers.

This movie is full of the sense of adventure Carl and Ellie were always searching for, and by the end of the film, the characters find their places in life, even if it is not where they originally expected. With a flying house, “talking” dogs, a cane-wielding senior and impossible-to-catch snipes, the movie is hardly conventional, but these traits have exactly the sort of originality and color that is so fun to experience. The film opens with a young Carl watching an old newsreel of Charles Muntz, reminiscent of the “short” that opens Orson Welle’s Citizen Kane. Like Kane, Up has a great sense of ambition and never misses a note. I apologize for the multiple times I have used phrases like “greatest of all time” and “best in years.” Ultimately, words fall short of describing the joy of watching this movie and knowing such beauty is still possible in mainstream cinema. 3 days ago

Tetro (Francis Ford Coppola, 2009)

Francis Ford Coppola’s supposed “return to form” is best described as a waste. It is a shame to know that the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now is capable of making a film this bad (not to mention The Godfather Part III). In the film, cruise ship employee Bennie (the young Alden Ehrenreich) is reunited with his brother Tetro (Vincent Gallo) at the latter’s home in Argentina. Tetro has tried his best to distance himself from the past and his family, and Bennie investigates to determine what exactly his older brother was running from. Behind Tetro’s back and with the encouragement of the unconditionally-loving girlfriend (Maribel Verdu), Bennie decodes his brother’s autobiographical play to learn about their father, the death of Tetro’s mother and the troubles that tore their family apart.

First and foremost, this film is a waste of the talent of its actors. In many scenes, Gallo communicates the complexity and depth of the enigma that is Tetro. In a scene in which he visits Bennie in a hospital, he naturally goes from excitedly surprising his kid brother to yelling and physically abusing him in his crippled state. The comparisons of Ehrenreich to Leonardo DiCaprio are inevitable because of the slight resemblance and also because of the great talent we see at such a young age. As was the case with DiCaprio earlier in his career, Ehrenreich exudes maturity beyond his years, and he allows the audience to emphasize with the anxiety bubbling below the surface. These two central actors are capable of masterful performances, yet Coppola has given them a script that meanders without any destination. Coppola is trying to say something about family and brotherhood, but he is not quite sure what. As a result, Gallo and Ehrenreich often look like fools.

Coppola also wasted beautiful photography and production design. The film was shot mostly in gorgeous black and white, lending this drama to the sort of bleak honesty one would expect from a Martin Scorsese picture. In contrast, the flashbacks in the film are presented in color and in a 4:3 ratio aspect. These flashbacks depict Tetro’s rocky relationship with his father Carlo Tetrocini (Klaus Maria Brandauer), a world-renowned composer and conductor, and a car accident in which Tetro’s mother is brutally killed. The latter scene is shot and edited so viscerally, I almost physically felt the impact. However, this craft is lost amidst Coppola’s writing, which does not always reconcile the unique formal components of the film with the narrative. Coppola instead insists on using absurd plot points to engage the audience in his story.

More than anything else, this film is a waste of the audience’s time. It feels as if the rollercoaster of a relationship between Bennie and Tetro is going to go somewhere, yet a plot twist during the final act of the film reduces what could have been a complex study of familial relationships to material barely worthy of an afternoon soap. He abandons the basics of a good story with rising action and presents us with a climax which into question the relevance of the previous two hours. Add pretentious tributes to Powell-Pressburger films, painfully obvious metaphors regarding bright lights, and laughably melodramatic scenes, and you have evidence that Coppola is finished. Coppola has always lacked focus as a filmmaker, and Tetro disappointingly shows it is only going to get worse. 5 days ago

The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)

Terrence Malick is perhaps the most visionary American director, who with Badlands and Days of Heaven set romantic tragedies against natural landscapes with mind-blowing beauty. It is difficult to talk about his work without describing him and his work using superlative as I already have done. Unfortunately, The New World fell short of these expectations for me. Perhaps I was merely too tired, and I will one day understand the rapturous cinematic experience some felt. Maybe it is necessary to see this film at least once on the big screen to avoid restlessness. Until then, I am not a fan. This film tells the story of the romance between John Smith and Pocahontas, and while Malick so brilliantly succeeded using nature as an essential component of the story in his previous work, the surroundings are a distraction in this film as the camera cuts to birds in the sky and leaves in the trees. Malick is so caught up in the film’s imagery and Mozart concertos; what was once formalistic bravery becomes artistic pretension.

Then there is the ending of the film. There was a sense of poetry to the film that I felt I had missed out on for two hours. Was it the absence of Colin Farrell, who plays Smith, that changed my mind? He seemed out of place in this dream-like fantasy of a movie while Christian Bale, who only comes into play as Pocahontas’ husband in the final act of the film, gives an understated performance that is perhaps his absolute best. I don’t think, however, that one misplaced performance by Farrell explains my distaste for this movie. For David Lynch, Inland Empire overindulged his style and experimentation in form that makes his other works so great. The New World is the same for me when it comes to Malick. All of his films require a sort of patience, and I feel his first two are among the most rewarding American film experiences, but his 2005 effort does not balance the experimentation and narrative without remembering to engage an audience. Film critic Dave Thomson once said, “Days of Heaven remains one of the great visual experiences in American film, and a warning that film is more than visual.” I disagree with his implication that the imagery of Malick’s 1978 film is potentially empty, but I do feel that Malick is so in love with form and aesthetic with The New World that he forgot to give us more. 6 days ago

The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)

At first glance, this movie appears to be plagued by a naïve sense of nostalgia, the way it longs for youth and the days of Spencer Tracy and Howard Hawks. Instead, this masterpiece has great depth and acknowledges the difficulty of coming to terms with the past. Director Peter Bogdanovich accurately and movingly depicts sexual awakening and loss of innocence in this film, guiding a brilliant cast through heartache, jealousy and sexual frustration. A simple plot synopsis would not do this film justice is not about the several intertwining relationships but rather the confusion and emotions experienced by the characters. This movie is more concerned with getting to know its characters than develop a straightforward story, making it a complex character study despite its apparent simplicity.

There is a very young Jeff Bridges, an amateur in the sack struggling to find his place in life. Cybill Shepherd is gorgeous but dangerous as the spoiled bitch of the town, tempting boys and breaking hearts. Ben Johnson won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor as Sam the Lion, the emotional backbone of the city who owns the town’s movie theatre and pool house. His monologue about an affair with a younger woman years ago is a great moment in American movie history, summing up the film as a quite sigh of recognition of days past. However, the best performance comes from (Northwestern alumna) Cloris Leachman, who also won a supporting acting Oscar for her work as a middle-aged wife longing for love but ignored by her husband. She is heart-wrenching in particular in one scene, crying as she as an affair in an attempt to fill the emptiness in her life. In The Last Picture Show, lovers betray lovers, and friends betray friends. All the relationships, affairs and cruel jokes culminate in a tragic accident that signals the true death of blissful ignorance in the Texas town.

The black-and-white photography of the film is simple, but the film could not have been shot any other way. The composition appears to pay homage to Westerns like Howard Hawks’s Red River, chosen in the movie to be the last picture shown in Sam the Lion’s theatre before shutting down. For Bogdanovich, film, youth and love are part of a past that has dissolved into a sort of myth. Just like the cowboys in the films of Howard Hawks, the teenagers and adults in this town experience or have once experience true adventure, but it is over when the theatre lights turn on, signaling the end of the last picture show. They must face the painful truth that all good things must come to an end. 6 days ago

Artists I've Seen Live Ranked (Updated)

Wilco (June 25, 2009 at the Wiltern)
U2 (April 1, 2005 at the Arrowhead Pond)
The Hold Steady (July 30, 2008 at the Avalon)
Wilco (February 15, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (August 24, 2002 at the Forum)
Sonic Youth (July 20, 2007 at the Greek Theatre)
The Hives (September 30, 2007 at the Metro)
Radiohead (August 24, 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl)
Metallica (January 27, 2009 at Allstate Arena)
The Police (May 10, 2008 at Allstate Arena)
Bob Dylan (September 6, 2008 at Qualcomm)
Bob Dylan (September 3, 2008 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium)
Neil Young and Crazy Horse (July 23, 2003 at the Greek Theatre)
Belle and Sebastian with the L.A. Philharmonic (July 6, 2006 at the Hollywood Bowl)
Morrissey (April 4, 2009 at the Aragon Ballroom)
Paul Westerberg (February 26, 2005 at the House of Blues in Anaheim)
Elvis Costello & the Imposters* (May 10, 2008 at Allstate Arena)
Bob Dylan (October 19, 2001 at the Staples Center)
Death Cab for Cutie (June 23, 2008 at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live)
Gang of Four (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
The Decemberists (May 30, 2009 at Northwestern University)
Broken Social Scene (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
The Jesus and Mary Chain (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
Andrew Bird (April 9, 2009 at the Civil Opera House)
Andrew Bird* (July 7, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists* (October 17, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
The Shins (January 26, 2007 at Amoeba Music in Hollywood)
Cold War Kids (March 27, 2009 at the Orpheum Theatre)
John Mayer (July 27, 2008 at the Verizon Amphitheater)
Blitzen Trapper (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
Okkervil River* (June 26, 2009 at the Wiltern)
Train* (July 18, 2008 at the Pacific Amphitheatre)
Death Cab for Cutie (October 11, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
Common# (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
Modest Mouse (December 2, 2007 at the Congress Theatre)
The Shins*# (July 6, 2006 at the Hollywood Bowl)
Man Man* (December 2, 2007 at the Congress Theatre)
Keane (May 11, 2007 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
The Decemberists with the L.A. Philharmonic (July 7, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl)
Lucinda Williams* (July 23, 2003 at the Greek Theatre)
Haley Bonar* (April 9, 2009 at the Civil Opera House)
Britney Spears (April 28, 2009 at Allstate Arena
Broken Social Scene (November 3, 2007 at the Metro)
Against Me! (October 17, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
Redd Kross* (July 20, 2007 at the Greek Theatre)
Rogue Wave* (June 23, 2008 at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live)
The Courteeners* (April 4, 2009 at the Aragon Ballroom)
Mute Math (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
The Loved Ones* (July 30, 3008 at the Avalon)
M83# (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
Colbie Caillat*# (July 27, 2008 at the Verizon Amphitheater)
The Pussycat Dolls* (April 28, 2009 at Allstate Arena)
The Wallflowers (July 18, 2008 at the Pacific Amphitheatre)
Liars* (August 24, 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl)
Crystal Antlers* (March 27, 2009 at the Orpheum Theatre)
Kings of Leon* (April 1, 2005 at the Arrowhead Pond)
De Novo Dahl# (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
Band of Horses* (July 7, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl)
Arthur & Yu* (November 4, 2007 at the Metro)
So Many Dynamos* (October 11, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
Third Eye Blind (May 31, 2008 at Northwestern University)
Brand New# (July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)
Machine Head* (January 27, 2009 at Allstate Arena)
Future of the Left* (October 17, 2008 at the Riviera Theatre)
Rocco DeLuca and the Burden* (May 11, 2007 at the Gibson Amphitheatre)

* = Opening Act
# = Missed Part of Set 1 week ago

In Honor of Pixar's Up...

Favorite Animated Movies Of All Time

Up (2009)
Pinocchio (1940)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Bambi (1942)
Wall-E (2009) - Presto is, by far, my favorite Pixar short.
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)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
The Simpsons Movie (2007)
Spirited Away (2001)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Aladdin (1992)
Robin Hood (1973)
The Jungle Book (1967)
Peter Pan (1953)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Exclusions:

Snow White and Fantasia are irrelevant relics of the past
The Lion King is massively overrated - Hamlet for dummies
The Incredibles is fascist
Need to see Yellow Submarine again - didn’t quite get it first time around
Haven’t seen Dumbo, The Iron Giant, Howl’s Moving Castle, Waking Life, and the list goes on

1 month ago

Top 10 Reasons Why I Will Never Do 100% of the Reading I’m Supposed to Do in College

10. Lack of Motivation Amongst My Friends: My friends are some of the least motivated people I’ve ever met, spending much of their time playing video games. As a result, I often feel justified taking a break or two…or three…

9. Amount of Reading I Have to Do: So many of my teachers assign absurd amounts of reading. Do they really expect us to do all of it?

8. Food Coma: I eat. I eat a lot. This is because I like food. I like food a lot. I eat too much and end up having to take…

7. Naps: Ever wanted to take a 15 minute nap that turned into a 3 hour nap? Happens all the time.

6. Music: Much of my time is just sitting on my ass listening to music. Of course, you also have to take into consideration the time I spend at record stores and bookstores for music.

5. Sporcle: I would like to make a special shout-out to Kayleigh Roberts for introducing me to Sporcle. I have wasted countless hours on this ridiculously addictive game site.

4. After Hours Movies: The video store a few blocks down where I can get just about any movie I want. I take pride in the fact that the person who works there knows my name now. They have one section where the movies are cutely organized by director. That makes me happy.

3. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: I must watch his show every day because there are few things funnier than a man with a Scottish accent. Then after that, might as well watch The Daily Show, right? I mean that’s only…1.5 hours total out of my day.

2. Stupid Lists: ‘Nuff Said

1. Lack of Motivation: I have a tendency to blame the other factors on this list as if they were animate things, actively trying to bring me down. However, when it comes down to it, the blame is all on me.

Now back to watching Craig Ferguson…

2 months ago