I’ve been a very bad blogger lately. The most I’ve written is a little blurb about some of the things I did in 2011, and even then that barely equated out to a page. In fact, I think that post was mostly a list-post and involved very little of what anyone would call “writing.” Truth be told, I’ve been quite the busy bee. In late December my then girlfriend and I decided to get married, something we had been discussing for a little while. To make things interesting, we scheduled our wedding for January, giving us relatively little time to plan. Surprisingly, everyone was gung-ho about the idea.

The wedding day came upon us pretty fast and before I knew it I was standing in front of a crowd of friends and family, watching my bride-to-be walk toward me down the aisle. It’s kinda crazy how everyone else seemed to fade out of the picture when Jandy took my hand; I’m sure the pictures of me can attest to that.

Speaking of pictures…

A friend of ours has her own photography business and documented the entire wedding. And when i say “she documented” I mean she captured life, love and the promise of a wonderful future and converted it to a format that could be uploaded to the web. I’m pretty sure I’m not at the level of writing where I can properly convey how amazing the photos from the wedding turned out, so instead I’m going to embed a sideshow of the whole wedding. If you weren’t there, don’t worry. Watching this will make you feel like you were in attendance!

Oh yeah, the crepes also deserve a major shout-out as they were most excellent.

And then the honeymoon happened. Jandy and I went down to San Diego to have some quality married time together as well as check out the ocean. It was quite lovely, despite all the rain. I found the patter of the rain combined with the warmth of the indoors to be quite soothing, almost akin to cozying up to a fireplace while it snows outside. Didn’t hurt that I was with such a lovely person.

When we got back from the honeymoon it was back to work for the both of us. The first thing I discovered when I sat down at my desk was that I was being offered official employment through TOMS. Holy good news, Batman! Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled. It’s not like being a temp was bad or anything, but I was sure anxious to become an official member of the TOMS Family. Not only that, but I’ve never really had official, full-time employment before, the type of employment that comes with benefits and all that mystical adult-type-stuff.

I suppose I’ve never really talked about working at TOMS yet. I know I’ve mentioned it fairly casually in all my online discussions, but never really gone much farther than that because of the slippery-slope nature about talking about your workplace online. I figure that in this particular instance I should be fine. My experience with TOMS has been nothing short of awesome. I can’t think of a place I’ve worked where there was this strong of a sense of community. Not only that, but I’ve never seen such passion and such dedication to a single idea as the whole One for One movement. I’m a cynical bastard by nature, but the people here at TOMS have really changed my tune. And frankly, directly seeing what our work means to those in need is a humbling and awesome experience. Be warned, there will probably be more posts and social network musings as I fully buy into this thing.

Yay tangents!

Believe it or not, I’m writing this post on a plane en route to Fargo for my mom’s wedding (but uploading this now, while I’m actually in Fargo). Yep, you read that correctly. She had broken the news to me awhile back when our family took a vacation it in Oregon. Her fiancé – with the assistance of my sister – took a tour through Montana and found a beautiful spot to propose. In fact, my marriage to Jandy was a bit of a thunder-steal, something my mother jokingly pointed out. That’s how I roll, folks.

So, yeah. A lot has happened as of late, which is why I’ve been bad at keeping up with the blog. Well, that and Skyrim, but I digress. I promise to start posting more stuff this year, both here and over at the Flickchart Blog. Might be a gradual thing as I also need to get this screenwriting career off the ground. That and I have a novel that I’ve been meaning to write. Also, there’s an idea that a friend and I are working on that’s got me super excited.

Stay tuned.

Jandy, I love you. That is all!

I don’t really remember when I began challenging myself to watch more films each year. It may have started when I was going to school in Chicago, or it might have been during my earlier days back in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Each year I would keep a general idea of the films I had seen and try to best it, whether by a few or by a wide margin. One year I decided to see all the Oscar contenders alongside of the films I was currently watching, something that took my movie-watching goals to the next level. The next year I added films that weren’t in my genres of interest. The year after that films during a certain decade….

I think you kind of get the idea.

Fast forward to 2011, the year I decided to keep a running tally of all the films I had seen. I had been watching my wife populate her movie list for quite some time and had wanted to do something similar, if a little less strict. What I came up with was my 2011 in Film page, where I put the posters up for all the films I had seen in 2011, dividing them by New Releases or New to Me. I also divided them up by Loves, Likes and Dislikes to give anyone who perused the page a basic idea of where I stood on the film.

Fast forward even further to the present and we’ve got this post: My 2011 in Film. I saw A LOT of movies last year and there were a few that REALLY stood out to me.

10. SOURCE CODE

I saw Duncan Jone’s film Moon not too along ago and loved it. Had all of the sci-fi trappings that I love and was able to bring out some good character moments for m Sam Rockwell, arguably one of my favorite actors. So when I heard that Jones was going to do another film, I was stoked. And while Source Code didn’t quite have the impact on me that Moon did, it certainly entertained. The premise was solid and the acting never distracted. When I left the theater, I remember turning to Jandy and lamenting that we didn’t have more adult thrillers like this in the theaters.

RANKED #222 ON MY FLICKCHART

9. JANE EYRE

I had heard of Jane Eyre before but had never really been all that interested in reading it or seeing any of the adapted films until I saw the trailer for this iteration, which promised something darker and more foreboding. I definitely like darker and more foreboding so I decided to give this one a change, and I’m glad that I did. This film is really well-done and the story took some quite unexpected turns. The acting on display from Fassbender and Wasikowska fit the period really well and I even enjoyed the brief interlude with Jamie Bell.

RANKED #221 ON MY FLICKCHART

8. HANNA

Oh god. Where do I even begin with this one? I’ve been sitting here for a good forty minutes, trying to put into words what I love about this film and all I can come up with is that I love EVERYTHING. That long-take action sequence where Erica Bana kicks everyone’s asses? LOVE. Saoirse Ronan’s escape from the military bunker with the Chemical Brothers’ pulse-pounding score? LOVE. Cate Blanchett as the villain? LOVE. Tom Hollander? LOVE. This film is an action-thriller dressed up as an art-house film, something which I never really thought was possible and something that I think I quite like. I really need to see this one again.

RANKED #213 ON MY FLICKCHART

7. KILL LIST

Kill List was the biggest surprise of the year for me. I was not prepared for this one AT ALL, and the ending pretty much knocked me on my ass. To review this one is to spoil it, so all I’ll really say is that this needs to be seen and it needs to be seen as soon as possible. If you are in the L.A. area, Cinefamily is playing the film from February 3rd through the 9th. Otherwise, there’s VOD or *ahem*download*ahem*.

RANKED #210 ON MY FLICKCHART

6. DRIVE

Drive is my first experience with Nicolas Winding Refn, and it was such that I plan on seeing the rest of his films in 2012. I wrote up a review for this film over on the Flickchart blog, which I’ve pasted a snippet of below.

I meant to write up my review for Drive last week when I had the film fresh on my mind, but I needed some time to mull it over and decide how I felt about it. You see, I’m a little fickle when it comes to car chase movies or movies in which automotive mastery is an integral part of the story. Films like The Fast and The Furious and its sequels don’t really do much for me, nor do films like Gone in 60 Seconds or Torque. They rely primarily on “high octane” action, which is not much more than fast, chaotic editing coupled with loud music to generate excitement. Drive, the latest film from Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher, Valhala Rising), eschews that and in turn ranks as my number two film for 2011 on Flickchart.

Read the rest of my review over on the Flickchart Blog!

RANKED #204 ON MY FLICKCHART

5. RANGO

Rango is Gore Verbinski’s love-letter to Spaghetti Westerns, and I consider it to be the best animated film of the year. The character designs are grotesque, which is something I absolutely love in animation (See: Rugrats, Rocko’s Modern Life) and the voice-work is stellar. And while the plot isn’t anything new or ground-breaking, the way it’s presented feels fresh. I’ll be bummed if this doesn’t win Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards.

RANKED #173 ON MY FLICKCHART

4. CAFE DE FLORE

It’s unfortunate that this film isn’t getting distribution here in the States because it is amazing. Got to see this at AFI Fest and absolutely loved it. Pasted a snippet of my review below, which you can also find on the Flickchart Blog.

I tend to go into a lot of films at the AFI Fest 2011 Presented by Audi blind, doing little to no research beforehand. What ends up happening is that there’s a fairly even mix of films that impress and films that just don’t do anything for me. Then there are a few that just outright surprise me and end up ranking ridiculously high on my Flickchart. This would be that film.

Café De Flore has two stories happening in parallel, the first about Antoine, a popular Montreal DJ struggling with a recent divorce. Despite ruining the lives of his family with the separation he’s the happiest he’s ever been in his life. Happening in tandem to this is the story of Jacqueline, a single mother in 1960s Paris taking care of her special-needs son. Both stories are connected by the song Café De Flore and perhaps much more.

Read the rest of my review over on the Flickchart Blog!

RANKED #145 ON MY FLICKCHART

3. THE TREE OF LIFE

This film is quite divisive amongst my friends. In one camp you have the friends who think this is the dumbest film of the year, and in the other camp you have the friends who were deeply moved by the experience. Naturally the people in the second group are right. The Tree of Life is an amazing film that deserves all the praise it gets. It’s thoughtful and poetic on a universal scale and manages to weave the Brad Pitt storyline quite effectively. Similar to my experience with Drive and Nicolas Winding Refn, this is my first time with director Terrence Malick. I really need to go back and check out this guy’s other stuff. It doesn’t look like I have a huge filmography to go through either so that will make things easier.

RANKED #96 ON MY FLICKCHART

2. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

I don’t like preachy films. Naturally, films about school shootings tend to get this way or they try to cram some kind of moral down my throat that I’m not interested in consuming. With We Need to Talk About Kevin it’s different. Instead we’re given a nightmare about a mother who was never really ready for parenthood and who blames herself for birthing something that could do so much damage. Essentially this plays out like a horror film, which is why it’s so damned effective. I was shaking as I left the theater, more disturbed than I have been in awhile.

RANKED #66 ON MY FLICKCHART

1. MELANCHOLIA

And we come to my favorite film of the year, not to mention my first experience with Von Trier. Wonderfully gloomy and full of amazing performances. It’s the less-hopeful Tree of Life, which is what drew me in immediately. The performances are great and I left the theater saying “wow” repeatedly. Wrote a review for this one over on the Flickchart blog, which you can read an excerpt of below!

My first foray into the filmography of Lars von Trier happened the other night at AFI Fest 2011 Presented by Audi with the film Melancholia. Admittedly it was tough going into this screening without some degree of expectation given all the buzz surrounding the film. Pretty much everything I read up until the screening itself called this film the best of the year. As the the first few moments rolled by, I was mentally prepared to be disappointed. All you need to do is look at my ranking of the film above to see that that wasn’t the case.

Melancholia is the story of Justine, a depressed young woman who has found herself married to Michael (played effectively by Alexander Skarsgård). Try as she might, she can’t bring herself to celebrate with her family and makes multiple attempts to escape the festivities, each time angering a different member of the family. As she traipses around the lovely estate of her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg, 21 Grams), she notices an odd star up in the sky. As the film progresses we find out that the star is actually a planet and that it’s on a collision-course with Earth. Naturally, this leads to a lot of drama.

Read the rest of my review over on the Flickchart Blog!

RANKED #65 ON MY FLICKCHART

Oh boy.

A lot happened in 2011. I’m still in contemplation mode, which is why I haven’t really done anything akin to last year’s Top Ten in ’10 post series. Not only that but it’s insanely difficult to come up with a clever blog series name that fits with The Year 2011. Also, a list of 11 things is kind of stupid. But I digress. I think for now I’ll just write up a list of some of the things I did this year and call it good.

THE STUFF I DID IN 2011

-Started writing for Flickchart Blog.
-Read two books (World War Z & A Game of Thrones)
-Started doing bar trivia with a bunch of my former Columbia College alums.
-Met my girlfriend’s parents.
-Left my work-from-home job to go work for a little company called TOMS Shoes.
-Saw Broken Social Scene in concert.
-Took a road trip with my girlfriend to Oregon to meet the family for the first time.
-Got into AFI Fest 2011 with a press pass.
-Moved into a new apartment with this fella and this lady.
-Cut cable out of the budget (good riddance)
-First Christmas away from my family, stayed with my girlfriend’s family.
-Joined the dark side and got an iPad 2.
-Saw a total of 103 films, 57 of which were in theaters.
-Got engaged to my girlfriend.

What did YOU do this year? Sound off in the comments. I’d like to share in the tears and the triumph and stuff…

I’d like to take full credit for this idea, but I can’t. All the credit goes to my girlfriend Jandy, who thought this up quite some time ago. The premise is simple: we make each other watch films that have impacted us in some way and then post our thoughts on them in a joint blog series. Since we’ve been making each other watch films already, adding the blogging element was an easy next step. We’re still working out the format some in terms of who posts when or who goes first, but the general idea will be to have these posts on both of our sites.

The Movie

Movie: Wayne’s World
Info: 1992 USA. Director: Penelope Sheeris. Starring: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, Rob Lowe.
Chooser: Jonathan
Date and Method Watched: December 3rd, at home via Zune rental on Xbox Live

He Says…

There are a few films out there that have shaped my sense of humor into what it is today. I’ll quote them without hesitation and many of their gags will make way into conversation without me even thinking about it. In college, if one of us started talking about any of these movies, the rest of us would begin barking quote after quote to try and get the other laughing. I can’t count how many times we would mimic John Cleese talking about the terrors of that evil rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail or how many times we’d try and out-quote each other from Mystery Men. But it was one film that stood out among the others in terms of defining my sense of humor, rising above the rest in quotability and being able to match my silly outlook on life; and after the fourth or fifth time I quoted Wayne’s World to Jandy without her having any idea what I was talking about, I decided it was time to share.

It’s difficult to pick one thing to like about this film; there’s so much fun to be had. The humor here is self-aware, something that I immediately take a shine to. There’s a scene in particular where Wayne and Garth tell Rob Lowe’s character that they won’t bow to corporate sponsorship, all the while being advertisements themselves. The humor is also kind of abstract, making references that not everyone my age might necessarily get. For example, there’s a scene where our heroes re-create the opening to Laverne and Shirley which gets me laughing every single time I see the film. Garth interrupts it fairly quickly to get us back to the plot at hand, which goes back to that whole “self-aware” thing. Absolute gold.

And furthermore, Wayne and Garth keep from falling into the “idiot” stereotype that plagues other buddy films (Dumb and Dumber being perhaps the most prevalent example). I tend to like my buffoonery laced with a bit of smarts and this film does it plenty. There’s a scene fairly early on where Wayne tries to woo chick-rocker Cassandra with his rather quick adoption of Cantonese. The interchange is hilarious and I usually “lose my shit” when he stops talking and lets the subtitles continue for him.

I could go on and on with this film, citing moment after brilliant moment, but I think you get the idea. What made it fun this time around was watching Jandy’s reaction to the film. None of the jokes or references were lost on her and it was kind of awesome to realize that we share much in the way of humor. It was also nice to be able to give Jandy some context to my overall silliness.

Jonathan’s Flickchart ranking: 82 out of 1174

She Says…

There are a lot of early ’90s films I missed because I was too busy watching classic films – I say that neither as an excuse nor out of elitism, but purely as a fact. Thus there are a lot of films like Wayne’s World that all my peers just assume I’ve seen, and Jon is slowly but surely helping me make sure I get around to them. I actually had written Wayne’s World off as a stupid comedy of the sort that I don’t really like – along with Dumb and Dumber, which we watched a few months ago and I enjoyed decently enough, but isn’t really my style. In fact, I had those two so closely associated in my head that my first thought when Jon suggested we check out Wayne’s World next was “will I like it more or less than Dumb and Dumber?” He assured me I would like it a lot more, and he apparently knows me well, because I really liked, borderline loved this movie.

I’d seen a couple of the skits on SNL, so I had a little bit of an idea of the cable-access show premise, though the film does quite a nice job of fleshing that out with a corporate buy-out plot with a smarmy Rob Lowe trying to cash in on Wayne and Garth’s youth demographic appeal. That’s all pretty predictable. But what makes the film so much fun is the devil-may-care attitudes of Wayne and Garth themselves, more intent on partying on and enjoying their lives (even when that consists of nothing more than hearing a band at the local club or playing street hockey in between passing cars) than anything else, and the extreme level of self-awareness the film displays. Wayne and Garth are constantly talking and mugging directly to the camera, even to the point that when another character starts giving his life story, Wayne pulls him aside, warning him that only he and Garth are allowed to talk to the camera. Other times, the pair tell Lowe in no uncertain terms that they’ll never sell out for sponsorship, while eating Pizza Hut, drinking Pepsi, and wearing Reebok apparel. It’s quite obvious there, but it’s still funny, simply because it’s so shameless about the jokes it’s going for.

I also loved how these apparently dumb and aimless characters would suddenly start saying incredibly smart and learned things. Like when Wayne learned enough Cantonese to speak to Cassandra using big words and advanced concepts, and Garth knew how to reroute the satellites to get Cassandra’s band a big audition. Of course there’s nothing truly believable here, but the film takes that and runs with it, even giving three different endings with Wayne and Garth choosing which one to show next. This is my type of fun – very meta, very knowing, playing on expectations in really unusual and interesting ways, while never really being false to the characters of Wayne and Garth as initially set up. Several of the scenes or lines were familiar to me, through cultural osmosis, I guess. It was great to see where they came from and enjoy them in context – as much context as anything in Wayne’s World has. And yeah, I see what Jon means when he cites this film as being really influential on his sense of humor. Lots of the jokes he makes are obviously in this vein. :)

Jandy’s Flickchart ranking: 527 out of 2839

I complain about Android a lot. You really only have to find the nearest social network and check the first page on my profile to see some new issue I have with the mobile OS. I’ve pretty much lamented everything from fragmentation to the lack of screencapping (without root) as well as everything in between. Lest this outspokenness be construed as simple dislike or at worst Apple Fanboyism, I’d like to offer you a nice and tidy list of the things I love and hate about Android. It’s not a comprehensive list by any means, but I feel like it should give you some perspective the next time you see me flailing my arms and ranting about the next big thing that “super sucks” about Android.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT ANDROID

The Notification Tray

I like that there’s a notification tray at the top of my phone and that everything I need to know that’s urgent goes there. I’ve seen the popup notifcations in iOS and I can’t say that’s something that appeals to me. Granted, I have an SMS popup app, but that’s because I like being able to quickly respond to texts from friends. I also like that I can quickly see the progress of my apps that are updating while I browse the web or do something else. What’s even cooler is that I can expand the notification tray and remove all the notifications from the tray if I so choose.

The Third-Party Apps That Get It Right

iOS apps are known for how elegant and glossy they look while retaining functionality. There are some Android apps out there that have taken this to heart recently and have made their Android counterparts comparable in design and functionality. It’s apps like these that make excited for what the OS can do. Foursquare and GoWalla are two shining examples on that front as well as Evernote, Angry Birds, Facebook and Twitter. And then there are the apps that don’t have iOS equivalents that manage to stand out or add functionality to Android. Stuff like Launcher Pro or Folder Organizer Lite or even Widgetsoid.

Access To The File System

I love being able see all the files on my phone and being able to do whatever I want with them. I love that I can throw a resume/script/story/song onto my phone to have with me at a whim. If it’s there I can access it like I would on my PC or Mac. It’s one of the big things I would miss if I were to pack up and move over to iOS tomorrow.

WHAT I (OPPOSITE OF) LOVE ABOUT ANDROID

The “Results May Vary By Phone” Factor

Android has come a long way and this gripe of mine has become less and less of a problem. But still, I read story after story of one phone having a set of problems while another phone has a completely different set of problems. I’ve been told on numerous occasions that if I want the most consistent Android experience I should go with the Nexus line of phones from Google itself. Why does it take an inquisition into the tech pool to find out what I’m getting when I go into a multi-year contract for an Android phone? Shouldn’t “it just work?”

The Ugly Third-Party Apps

While there are some great Android counterparts to some iOS apps, by and large a lot of the apps are underdeveloped and lacking in many modern/key features. Stuff like GetGlue or Miso are fairly easy examples of this as they have significant lag between the Android and iOS versions. It’s tough to want to use my version of the app when a much better version is being used next to me. I fully understand and respect that it takes time and resources to develop for two different OS’s, but I’d rather have no app than a crippled one.

The Rooting/Jailbreak Disease

Rooting/Jailbreaking your phone has become insanely easy these days. All you need to do is plug in the USB cord to your computer and run some software. It’s also become much easier to undo said Rooting/Jailbreaking in case you need to return your phone to the store or [insert random reason here]. Frankly, I think Rooting/Jailbreaking is bullshit and the time spent doing this could be spent making better apps or fighting to get Android/iOS to improve. I’d rather that both Android and iOS “just work” and I’d rather these platforms compete on aesthetic and not functionality.

Travis McClain, Nathan Chase and my girlfriend Jandy Stone did this neat thing where they posted their 100 favorite things about the movies

The rules–set down by the original prompt by Beau Kaelin–are quite simple and are as follows:

Rather than posting your 100 favorite films (which has been done and overdone), you simply post your favorite things about movies. I dig the concept, because instead of obsessing over whether the films you put on a list are “objectively good enough” to put on said list, you simply jot down 100 moments/lines/visuals that have made a lasting impression on you or sneak their way into running gags between you and your friends.

Below are such 100 such moments/lines/visuals that have made quite the impression on me over the years. They’re not in any particular order, nor are they really all that definitive. I’ve more than likely left some stuff out, which I’ll of course realize after this goes to post.

Be warned: there are a shit-ton of youtube embeds in this post, so if you have a slow connection you might want to go run some errands as everything loads. Where I couldn’t embed clips I put images linking to the youtube clips. If I had my way I’d have every moment on here be youtube embeds, but alas!

Anyway, here’s 100 Things I Love About My Favorite Movies

[EDIT 12/4/11: Added pagination to split up the post some. You should see the links to go to the other pages underneath the share links and the "similar posts" widget-thingy.]

The Opening Credits to Run Lola Run

What better way to start off this list than with the opening credits to my first foreign film. If it were legal to embed every minute of this gem, I would.

Doug from Ghost World

Really, the whole film is fantastic, but I kind of love every moment that this character is onscreen.

The 5.6.7.8′s Long Take From Kill Bill: Vol. 1

I like long takes, and this one from does a great job of setting up the scene before shit hits the fan. My absolute favorite part from this sequence is the glimpse of the kitchen you get as the camera swoops up. SO FUCKING GREEN.

Kim Pine & Stephen Stills in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

I suppose I identify most with Scott Pilgrim, but my favorite characters in the film are most definitely Kim and Stephen. Case in point: the cutaways to Kim’s scowling face and Stephen’s freak-out during the Crash and the Boys show.

The Opening to Once Upon A Time In The West

The opening to Once Upon A Time in the West is amazing. There’s no dialog or music for roughly ten minutes and yet it’s perhaps the most thrilling scene I’ve ever encountered in a western. Sergio Leone is, as Knives Chau might say, “Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaziiinnggggg!”

The Balcony Scene in Annie Hall

It’s a great scene from my second favorite Woody Allen film. Or is it actually my favorite? I dunno. This and Manhattan kind of switch places every now and then.

The Lovers Meet in William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is perhaps my least favorite Shakespeare story out of the bunch; or at least it was my least favorite until I watched Baz Luhrmann’s exciting adaptation. Claire Daines and Leonardo DiCaprio pretty much own their respective characters and the scene where they meet for the first time is romantic. Like REALLY romantic.

Klaus Daimler in The Life Aquatic

Every moment that this character is on screen is a brilliant moment. Willem Dafoe pretty much steals the show here.

Ben Stiller in Mystery Men

Not a huge Ben Stiller fan, but he’s absolutely delightful in this film as Mr. Furious. His usual shtick plays out best amongst the obscenely wacky cast. Best deconstruction of a super hero film? MOST DEFINITELY.

The Opening Credits of Casino Royale

The opening credits for Casino Royale are perhaps my favorite for the series. If that’s blasphemy to the other Bond openers, then so be it.

Whammy Burger Scene in Falling Down

“I think we have a critic! I don’t think she likes the special sauce, Rick!” While Falling Down kind of falls apart in the third act, it still remains one of my favorite films of a white-collar worker finally losing it on perhaps the hottest day of the summer. And this scene is perhaps my favorite out of the entire film.

Your Song in Moulin Rouge

I seriously had trouble picking out my favorite moment from this film, since there are so many. What eventually made me pick this one was the sheer charisma of Ewan McGreggor in this cover of the Elton John song.

The Bride Reunited in Kill Bill: Vol. 2

Ennio Morricone is a musical genius, and his opener to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly fits perfectly in this scene. Kudos to Quentin for being able to evoke such a strong emotion from an already strong musical piece. Both this scene and the original play in my head when I hear this.

The Naked Chainsaw Scene in American Psycho

My first experience with Christian Bale is this film, and what sold me on him was this very scene. Now go from this to The Machinist and you’ll understand why he’s a favorite actor of mine.

Private Pyle’s Demise in Full Metal Jacket

If all you’ve experienced of Vincent D’Onofrio is his stint on Law and Order: Criminal Intent you need to go watch this film ASAP. More specifically, you need to watch this scene that ends the first (and best) half of the film. It’s quite an unforgettable moment.

The Impregnation Scene In Slither

What a delightfully disgusting film. The scene in which Michael Rooker impregnates the woman he was having an affair with is perhaps my favorite thing about this film. Doesn’t hurt that it’s juxtaposed with Nathan Fillion putting the moves on Elizabeth Banks while some lame-ass country song is playing. The effect is a bit unnerving.

If you follow me on any of the social networks in current existence, you’ll know that my favorite band of all time is The Magnetic Fields, putting Stephin Merritt as perhaps my favorite musician of all time. I came across this band while listening to a particularly sad and mopey episode of This American Life. The episode was called Break-Up and it featured contributor Starlee Kine as she dealt with a particularly bad break-up. She talked about how sad songs somehow were able to express how she felt when she could not, citing “I Don’t Want To Get Over You” as an example.

That was when I fell in love with The Magnetic Fields. Immediately I got ahold of every album I could of theirs and listened to them on repeat for days, finding little bits here and there that I could relate to with each new listen. And now I’m sharing this love with you. I’ve made what I consider to be an essential mix of Magnetic Fields songs that encapsulate what I love about the band and what make them worth the listen.

You can listen to the songs here, but I URGE you to go buy the albums, which I’ve linked below.

Enjoy.

Song – Album

1. Three Way Three-Way – Distortion
2. You Must Be Out Of Your Mind You Must Be Out Of Your Mind – i
3. You Love To Fail You Love To Fail – The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees
4. Desert Island Desert Island – Holiday
5. A Chicken With It’s Head Cut Off A Chicken With It’s Head Cut Off – 69 Love Songs
6. The Night You Can’t Remember The Night You Can’t Remember – 69 Love Songs
7. Tokyo A Go-Go Tokyo A Go-Go – The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees
8. California Girls California Girls – Distortion
9. I Don’t Want To Get Over You I Don’t Want To Get Over You – 69 Love Songs
10. How To Say Goodbye How To Say Goodbye – 69 Love Songs
11. I Don’t Believe You I Don’t Believe You – i
12. All My Little Words All My Little Words – 69 Love Songs
13. Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Yeah! Oh, Yeah! – 69 Love Songs
14. If You Don’t Cry If You Don’t Cry – 69 Love Songs
15. Strange Powers Strange Powers – Holiday
16. Underwear Underwear – 69 Love Songs
17. When My Boy Walks Down The Street When My Boy Walks Down The Street – 69 Love Songs
18. I Don’t Believe In The Sun I Don’t Believe In The Sun – 69 Love Songs
19. Epitaph For My Heart Epitaph For My Heart – 69 Love Songs
20. Not That Crazy Not That Crazy – 69 Love Songs
21. Walk A Lonely Road Walk A Lonely Road – Realism
22. If There’s Such A Thing As Love If There’s Such A Thing As Love – i
23. The Dada Polka The Dada Polka – Realism

Postscript:

I recently had a chance to stand about 5 feet away from Stephin Merritt while waiting in line at the concession stand at a local theater. Given my superb acting training, I was able to restrain myself and not go completely apeshit-fanboy. But manic Daffy Duck was alive in the back of my mind, bouncing around and screaming “WAAOOOO! WAAOOOO! IT’S HIM!!!!!!!!”

I would take a couple of hours out of my day to practice the ukulele, making up for all the time I wasted in study hall trying to kill all the hookers in Grand Theft Auto when I could have been learning how to read sheet music. I’d hone my technique in such a way that I could play almost any song by ear, which I’m sure would make me the life of any party. See, when a guy brings out a guitar at a party, he’s widely considered to be a douche. Bringing out a ukulele is considered “quirky” and people like “quirky.” Yes, if I had all the time in the world, I’d master that midget string-twanger like the badass mofo I was meant to be.

If I had all the time in the world, I would take up exercise in an attempt to better myself physically. My current state of being is a little on the embarrassing side, to put it lightly. If put to the test, I probably couldn’t run much farther than to my car before collapsing in an asthmatic heap. Now imagine if I were being chased by a giant bear. How could I expect to survive if I just fall over every hundred feet or so? The last thing I want is to be eaten by a giant bear in North Hollywood because I was out of shape.

If I had all the time in the world, I would attempt to learn German. Of course, I would learn a bunch of other languages too, but my primary focus would be mastering German. Just think, with that language under my belt I could order a beer in Germany…or find the local supermarket so I could buy a few bratwurst to have for dinner with all my German friends. Because I would have German friends. And they would like me.

Learning how to program for Android would next on my list of things to do if I had all the time in the world. I’ve always wanted to be able to come up with that killer app that everyone just creams their pants over, earning accolades from blogs I couldn’t really give two poopies about. One result of this would be an app that allows you to take screencaps of whatever you’re doing on your phone, and it wouldn’t require that you root (see:void warranty) your phone. To make things unbearably awesome, I’d offer the app for free, pretty much monopolizing the entire customer base of the current screencap app makers out there. Although, if I did all that, there’s a good chance I would have to hire a ninja bodyguard because those app makers would be out for blood. And it’s not like I’m hard to find either, thanks to my overly liberal use of Foursquare.

Oh. Yeah. I’d probably write too, but only if there was enough time left over from doing all these awesome things.

Writing and Projects

-Complete the two scripts I have in early draft stage.

-Write at least 3 more scripts this year.

-Get all current web series ideas through the writing stage.

-Write 3 short films and shop them to Columbia College friends.

-Write Sci-Fi novel I had intended for NaNo.

-Keep track of every day that I write in a cool excel spreadsheet, and try to work my way up to writing something every day.

-Start Hilarious Henry back up, streamline that whole ish.

-Write a footnote into my blog for no other reason than amusement and self-deprecation.

-Regularly comment on writer/screenwriter blogs.

Personal Stuff

-Get a better job, one that I can stand as well as one that pays more than my current place of employment.

-Go on at least one road trip.

-Be able to pay off at least 1 of my loans.

-Pay off my credit card completely.

-See roughly double the films I saw in 2010 and use flickchart to keep track of them.

-Play through at least 5 more video games this year.

-Expand my social circle some and find someone else who writes.*

—-

*This is actually a tougher one than it sounds because I haven’t met a writer in person whose company I’ve enjoyed. This could be why I don’t have many friends.

Last year I wrote up a list of what I thought were reasonable resolutions for 2010. They were to be the type of goals I could actually accomplish as opposed to the type of resolutions I had made (and failed) before. The only rule I had set for myself was that these resolutions had to be specific and that they had to be something I could feasibly do within 12 months. The thought was that I could check on my progress each month to see how far I had come.

I pulled up last year’s resolutions today for the first time since I wrote them.

Heh. Oops.

From said post:

-Finish a final draft of Year of the Con, my nerdy road-trip comedy. Acquire an Agent and a Manager to help sell my script and future ones I write.
-Complete writing of two web series I want to produce.
-Get at least one of the web series produced.
-Write a third screenplay.
-Get Photoshop CS2 and Flash 8 back on my compruter. Srsly, the newer ones blow.
-Write every day.
-Find either a better-paying job or a second job.
-Start up my old webcomic.
-Go to more shows.
-Go to a rave.
-Go to 2 nerdy conventions. Dress up for both of them. – C2E2 Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3
-Go to comic con.
-Write a sci fi novel.
-Complete Script-Frenzy this year and do NaNoWriMo again!
-Write a spec script for a sitcom, hour-long drama, procedural, and whatever you call the ooey gooey goodness that’s on HBO and SHOWTIME these days.
-More dates. Some blind dates perhaps.
-Do one of those speed dating things and have at least as awkward a time as Steve Carrell did in The 40 Year Old Virgin.
-Drink more cranberry juice. So delicious.
-Get a suit. I’ve got the pants. Just need to get the rest.
-Co-write a film script with someone.
-Hang out more with friends and be less of an anti-social bitch. God, srsly.
-Do two things I would never otherwise do.
-Get my toon to level 80. God, srsly. I’m such a terrible nerd.
-Visit at least 2 Friendfeed people. ROAD TRIP!
-Take Killer (my cat) to the groomer. Be able to afford that.

I suppose I could complain that I didn’t complete nearly the amount of resolutions that I had set out to do last year or that none of my resolutions really did much in the way of bettering myself, but the truth of the matter is that I actually did things on this list and was able to have new experiences I hadn’t even thought of when I composed said list.

Extra things I did this past year:

-Blogged more.
-Took swing classes, did alright at them.
-Moved to LA.
-Went to AFI Film Fest, saw a ridiculous amount of films. Friday – Saturday – Sunday – Monday – Tuesday – Wednesday
-Ate at In-n-Out.
-Was in the same room as Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein.
-Started dating my girlfriend.
-Made an idea excel sheet and ported it over to Evernote.
-Kept up with way more television this year, starting a series of blog posts to capsule review the episodes.
-Went to more music shows than I’ve been to in awhile.
-Met Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice, shook his hand.

New Years Resolutions are very hit or miss with people. A lot of people aren’t really all that enthused about seeing where they’ve failed in the year, and that’s understandable. However, I’ve started to think of these lists as a way to document a little bit of myself each year, almost like a photo album, in list format. Last year I was kind of in a rough place, as you can see by some of the self-deprecating notes in each item on my list. And yet I still had some hope for the year, as evidenced by all the things I thought I could do. I had SOME inkling that I would be moving to LA, but I didn’t really think I could pull off another large move.

I think I will make resolutions a bigger part of my New Year’s traditions from here on out. I would love to be able to look back on these posts ten to twenty years down the road and simply remember.

Okay, I’m done with this sentimental crap. WELCOME TO 2011, you sluts.