Again with the lists

Another day, another 1001 list courtesy of Kottke. This time we’re talking movies. Here’s the list, and here’s a list of the ones I’ve seen off it:

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Fantasia (1940)
Pinocchio (1940)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Jungle Book (1967)
The Producers (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
M*A*S*H (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Rocky (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Star Wars (1977)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Grease (1978)
Alien (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Jerk (1979)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Shining (1980)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
E.T.: The Extra-Terestrial (1982)
Tootsie (1982)
A Christmas Story (1983)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Scarface (1983)
The Terminator (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Natural (1984)
Back to the Future (1985)
Stand By Me (1986)
Aliens (1986)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Platoon (1986)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Bull Durham (1988)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
The Naked Gun (1988)
Big (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Rain Man (1988)
Batman (1989)
Say Anything (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Total Recall (1990)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
JFK (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Clerks (1994)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Casino (1995)
Babe (1995)
Toy Story (1995)
Braveheart (1995)
Clueless (1995)
Heat (1995)
Seven (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Independence Day (1996)
Trainspotting (1996)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Titanic (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Run Lola Run (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Rushmore (1998)
Pi (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Ring (1998)
There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Three Kings (1999)
Fight Club (1999)
American Beauty (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Traffic (2000)
Memento (2000)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Gangs of New York (2002)
City of God (2002)

So for those scoring at home thats 117 out of 1001. Yet again Kottke, with 214, beats me.I did pretty well in 1998 and 1999 but there’s still some egregious holes in my movie watching resume (yes, I’m the only person in the world who hasn’t seen Top Gun). In my defense though this list feels like its missing some classics (no Rounders?) and the movies listed end in 2003. Can’t imagine there are too many 1001 lists floating out there but if there are any good ones send ‘em along.

Published on May 13, 2008 in Movies. 0 Comments

The 21st season of The Real World will take place in…..Brooklyn, NY.

Published on May 13, 2008 in Odds and Ends. 0 Comments

Daniel Gross’ “procrastinator’s portfolio, seven stocks that represent different sectors of the sultans of slackerdom“: Starbucks, eBay, Altria, New York Times Company, Apple, Google, and Akamai.

Published on May 13, 2008 in Odds and Ends. 0 Comments

Almost too good to be true: The House Republicans came up with a new “theme” for their policy agenda: The Change You Deserve. Only problem is, that’s also the slogan of an anti-depressant drug.

Published on May 13, 2008 in Odds and Ends. 0 Comments

So Senator, want to be VP?

The Hill newspaper did a cool little feature and asked all 97 members of the Senate who aren’t currently running for President if they would accept an offer to be Vice President if asked. Here are some of my favorite responses:

Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)
“Of course. Big house, big car, not much to do. Why not?”

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.)
“No, I can already preside over the Senate, and I do not enjoy spending a lot of time at ‘undisclosed locations.’ ”

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)
“Yes. Sign me up. I’ve been kidding people for years: The hours are better, the wages are just as good — whoever heard of a vice president getting shot at? — and it’s a great opportunity to travel. And actually since time has gone by, the job is robust … So sure. Anybody here would, if they’re going to be honest. The chances are slim to none. But I promise you, I would deliver all three of Delaware’s electoral votes.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
“If I were asked I’d probably have to get a divorce, so the answer would probably be no. But I won’t be asked if he [McCain] wants to win.”

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho)
“I would say ‘No, Hillary.’ ”

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)
“Are you kidding? Every senator would accept that offer. My guess is that almost every senator looks at themselves in the mirror in the morning and sees either a future president or vice president.”

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)
“No. I don’t like going to funerals.”

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
“No, I’d have Jon Stewart stand in for me. Jon Stewart. That’s my guy.”

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
“If I were asked, I would say, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ ”

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
“I plan to stick with my current job until I get the hang of it.”

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.)
“I’d say, ‘Please read the Constitution.’ I wasn’t born in America; I can’t be VP.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
“If I were asked, I would ask some mental health professionals to visit Barack Obama. I just think Sen. Obama is way too smart to pick me. I’m not a good pick, and he’s smarter than that. That’s why he’s going to make such a good president.”

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
“Absolutely. Absolutely. I think I would be great. First of all, I know how to behave at weddings and funerals. And I know how to be commander in chief. I’d bring a lot of fun to the job. We would rock the Naval Observatory.”

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
“No. I’ve got too many things that I still want to do as a senator. And I don’t like the idea of a job where you sit around and wait for someone to die.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
“The chances of that are so remote that I’m more likely to be hit by an asteroid.”

For the record, I think Senator Dorgan had the most honest, and accurate, answer. Big ups to Maryland’s own Senator Mikulski too for her answer.

Published on May 13, 2008 in Politics. 0 Comments

Quote of the Day

It’s something of a crisis for our political system that the president has now spent over three years hated and mistrusted by the majority of the country, and yet has never felt the need to take steps to restore his legitimacy. Something is wrong.

–Ezra Klein

Published on May 13, 2008 in Quote of the Day. 1 Comment

Badass Nike soccer ad

via

Published on May 13, 2008 in Sports. 0 Comments

X-Files “I want to believe” Trailer

Via Rex. Little known fact: I love the X-Files, might be one of my favorite shows of all-time. I used to watch every show on my mom’s bed on Friday nights.

Published on May 13, 2008 in Movies. 0 Comments

Look, I know how to read

Ah, via Kottke, comes the kind of list I love: 1001 Books (fiction) That You Must Read Before Your Die. Kottke’s read 30 of them, here’s the one’s from the list I’ve read:

Atonement – Ian McEwan
Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh
The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
On the Road – Jack Kerouac
The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus

I’ve read 27. Kinda pathetic, actually, but I’ve got the same excuse as Kottke in that I most read non-fiction. I should mix in more fiction now that I think about it, maybe start a 2 for 1 system.

Published on May 12, 2008 in Books. 0 Comments

An army of Jakes

For the ninth year in a row “Jacob” was the most popular baby name among boys (Emily was #1 for girls for the 12th year in a row). As my name happens to be Jacob, I welcome all the new additions to our ranks. Having “Jacob” as a name is quite enjoyable, I’ve found, even though I go by Jake. I’ve always been intrigued by those who spelled it “Jakob”, to the point of if I did actually go by Jacob I’d want my name spelled that way.

Incidentally, no one in the whole wide world calls me Jacob, everyone calls me Jake, parents, teachers, friends, etc.. At no point have I ever gone by Jacob. Once, in college, a teacher called me Jacob for a whole semester, using the name off the roll call sheet but thats it. I never corrected her because it was too awkward; I just suffered in silence the whole time. Other then that though, pretty much automatically, people have called me Jake. Jacob just sounds too formal I think.

Anyway, as “Jacob” has become such a popular name of late, it occurred to me that in 15-20 years there’s going to be a lot of us around. And all the younger Jacobs are going to need a leader to organize them. Someone a little older then them. Someone who shares their name but has a little more experience in the world. Someone who could lead an “Army of Jakes” (working title, also under consideration “Jake Army”). Someone like me.

Published on May 12, 2008 in Personal. 0 Comments