A new list: My favorite Criterion movies.

These are my favorite (not the best. . .necessarily) movies from The Criterion Collection. Of course, they have hundreds of other great films too; I just haven't seen them (yet).

Grand Illusion - Jean Renoir (one of the great great movies...one notch under [or over] Citizen Kane)
Seven Samurai - Kurosawa (a three hour long epic film)
The 400 Blows - Francois Truffaut
This Is Spinal Tap - Rob Reiner (one of my top five knucklehead movies)
The Long Good Friday - John McKenzie
M - Fritz Lang - an awesome thriller
Nanook of the North - killer early documentary. Sorry, Frank Zappa didn't invent Nanook.
Time Bandits - Terry Gilliam (esp. if you're a Gilliam fan)
Henry V - Laurence Olivier (one of the best Shakespeare movies ever)
Fishing with John - John Lurie (a very funny and strange sort of travelogue, with Jim Jarmusch, Tom Waits, and Willem DaFoe)
Brazil - Terry Gilliam (This movie is one of a kind)
The Harder They Come - Perry Henzell (and dark, and very cool plunge into Shantytown, Reggae, and Rasta, with a great soundtrack)
The Blob - The classic spooky movie
Do the Right Thing - Spike Lee (his best movie, I think)
Playtime - Jacque Tati (I wonder if I would still like Tati movies?)
8 1/2 - Federico Fellini
Monterey Pop Festival (Hendrix, Joplin, Otis Redding and others broke out)
3 Women - Robert Altman
Slacker - Richard Linklater (an Austin movie--people seem to love it or hate it; the second time I saw it, everyone in the room fell asleep)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - Wes Anderson (my favorite Wes movie)
Murmur of the heart - Louis Malle
Dazes and Confused - Richard Linklater
Stranger than paradise - jim jarmusch
Traffic - Jacques Tati
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - Luis Buñuel
Spartacus- Stanley Kubrick
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[see, also, A List of Lists on All This Is That]

Video: Johnny Cash sings Nasty Dan to Oscar The Grouch on Sesame Street

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Teen shoots parents who confiscated his Halo 3 videogame

Prosecutors at the murder trial of 17-year-old Daniel Petric say the teen shot both his parents because they wouldn't let him play Halo 3.

Petric, 16 at the time of the shooting, was forbidden to buy Halo 3 by his parents, Mark and Susan Petric. The teen snuck out to purchase the game anyway. When his parents discovered the game, they locked it up in a gun safe, along with the father's semiautomatic handgun.

According to the dad's testimony, Daniel walked into the room and said "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you."

Petric then shot both parents in the head. The mother died immediately, but the father survived. In court, Daniel said: "Dad, I'm so sorry for what I did to Mom, to you and to the family. I'm so glad you are alive." "You're my son," Mark Petric responded. "You're my boy."

Prosecutors have not said whether or not they would file charges against the surviving parent for child abuse.
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Amazing video and story-->> Iraqi newspaperman hucks his shoes at President Bush's head: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog!"

An Iraqi journalist hucked his shoes and hurled the truth lobbed a dog-bomb told The President what most people were actually thinking and insulted President Bush at a press conference in Baghdad yesterday.



As the two leaders met in Nuri al-Maliki's private office, a journalist sitting in the third row jumped up, shouting: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," and threw his shoes one after the other towards Bush.

Maliki made a protective gesture towards the US president, who ducked and was not hit. We never get to see this in the States--the President ducking as foreign objects hurtle toward his head. [Ed's note: If you can throw two shoes at the President, surrounded by the best security force in the world, we hope Obama limits his public appearances].

Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture. In Moslem countries you do not face your shoe bottoms toward anyone.

The journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi from the Al-Baghdadia channel in Cairo, was taken from the room by security forces.

The President later said "I don't know what the guy's cause is... I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."
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Our Lady of Guadalupe: Stark Naked!--> Playboy gets Mother Mary to pose naked for their cover

A smoldering version of The Virgin of Guadalupe appears on the cover of the Mexican version of Playboy that hit the stands last Thursday. Playboy Mexico’s editor Gabriel Bauducco decided to put a nude Virgin Mary on its cover, and the Mexican newspaper El Diario reported that the magazine has already sold over 80 thousand copies.

The magazine features a model--Maria Florencia Onori--naked except for a white cloth over her head. A banner , “Te adoramos, Maria,” (We adore you, Mary) appears on the cover, as well.

In one of the pictures, the model seems to be posing next to a church. Playboy sources said that photographer David Eisenberg’s intentions were not to make the model look like Virgin Mary. Nyuk, nyuk. On the other hand, the magazine was purposely timed to be released before the Virgin of Guadalupe Day, a Mexican holiday based upon the Virgin's appearance before a Mexican child on December 12, 1951. ---o0o---

Poem: Defense

photo courtesy of freephoto.com
under a creative commons 3.0 license


Defense

You can't stop the rain.
All you can do

Is build a roof
You hope won't leak,

Or, at the very least,
Leak on you, and yours.
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Love Hurts: Never say "no" to sex in the morning

According to a Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office report, early last Saturday morning, Brittany Phillips, a 19-year-old Louisiana woman, was ready for sex. But her BF, Todd Stewart, 35, was not supplying it. He tried to push Phillips off him in the bedroom of their West Monroe, Louisana home.


click to enlarge the complaint

Phillips claims that Stewart became violent after he shut her down (and the physical evidence does not disagree). Stewart told an investigator that he left the bedroom to sleep on a living room couch, but that Phillips "would not leave him alone." At some point, he added, things got physical and he was stabbed in the lower lip with "a long metal object which appeared to be a knife."


Todd Stewart: not ready to go that morning

The sexually frustrated Phillips acknowledged to Deputy Shane Smith that she struck Stewart, but said she did it "to protect herself." Phillips, pictured in the mug shot above, was charged with aggravated battery, and the battered Stewart, was charged with simple battery. Phillips was also booked on a pair of outstanding warrants, for more (!!) simple battery and damage to property.


click to enlarge
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An Incredible Globe

click to enlarge the stereographic projection

This Wikipedia "featured picture" is a 360-degree spherical panorama of a beach in Marigot, Saint Martin, using nine images in a stereographic projection to create a globe. The assemblage shows the "little planet" effect, where the area close to the point opposite to the center of projection becomes significantly enlarged. A detailed explanation of how it is done can be found here.

The original image resides here on Flickr and was created in 2007 by Alexandre Duret-Lutz.
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Another One Bites The Dust: Demo Governor Blagojevich of Illinois arrested for trying to sell Obama's Senate Seat

By Pablo Fanque,
National Affairs Editor, All This Is That

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by fellow Democrat President-elect Barack Obama, federal prosecutors said.

While Obama has long distanced himself from the governor -- who has been under investigation on other issues for months -- many people are hoping he he has ALWAYS kept his distance.

The case reminds us once again of the political sewer from which Barack Obama emerged--Chicago machine politics--without necessarily being a part of those politics, but most likely, a reluctant observer and, at times, expedient friend.

"The corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, said in a statement. And that is an understatement. The amount of money Blagojevich (and his wife whom you hear so clearly giving instructions in audio tapes) were trying to shake down is stunning.

Possibly even spookier is his unmitigated audacity and the quite open demands he unapologetically imposes on supplicants. This makes the $90,000 found in fellow Democrat's Rep. William Jefferson's freezer last summer look like revenue from a Kool-Aid stand.

According to the complaint, Patricia Blagojevich was the voice in the background spewing an ugly suggestion to "just fire" some newspaper editors if the Tribune Co. hoped for state assistance to sell Wrigley Field, the storied home of the Chicago Cubs."

"Hold up that (expletive) Cubs (expletive)," she says as her husband is talking on the telephone. "(Expletive) them."

This shoddy episode has given great hope to right wing bloggers and talk show hosts, who seem convinced the Obama smoking gun tape will surface any day. And the story has struck fear in the hearts of more than a few leftists, all of whom are crossing their fingers.
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Sarah Palin's Christmas Card

Sarah Palin's Christmas Card from our friends at Weekly Wolrld News



click to enlarge
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The English Beat perform Best Friend (with lyrics)

The English Beat--who I am once again enthralled with (after just seeing them live again)--perform Best Friend. It's a great song, and the lyrics are worth checking out. Earlier, I always thought this was a love song; it's something entitely, and wryly different...and altogether roundabout love song. One of the things I've always liked about the tune is the chiming Danelectro guitar line...and it chimes here like the bells of heaven.



Best Friend
By Dave Wakeling


I just found out the name of your best friend,
you been talkin' about yourself again,
and no one seems to share your views.
why doesn't everybody listen to you kid?
how come you never really seem to get through, is it you?
talk about yourself again, you.
talk about yourself,
always you, you, you.
talk about yourself again.
she's on a holiday,
she's got her summer frock on.
suck on an ice cream,
it's meltin' in the hot sun.
first date's made you pray for more.
i wanted you, wanted.
everybody knows the score,
i wanted you, wanted.
what are we pretendin' for?
let's talk about ourselves on the floor.
let's talk about yourselves, nothing more i promise.
talk about ourselves again.
i just found out the name of your best friend.
talk, talk, talk about yourself again.
yes i just found out the name of your best friend.
i just found out the name of your best friend,
you been talkin' about yourself again,
and no one seems to share your views.
why doesn't anybody listen to you kid?
how come you never really seem to get through, is it you?
talk about yourself again, you.
talk about yourself,
always you, you, you.
talk about yourself again.
again, again, again, again.
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend.
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Music That Matters

I have been jotting down notes on bands and singers, partly because I like lists, but also, in reaction to the list on the sidebar of Dean Ericksen's blog: "Music Worth Having Around."
A lot of people and bands I thought would be on this list didn't make it. Some bands I really like like Seattle's Band of Horses, The Raconteurs, or another Seattle band, The Fleet Foxes, haven't been around long enough to make the list. And there are literally hundreds of people and bands like Steely Dan, Yes, General Public, Leon Russell, Joe Jackson, Graham Parker, and others, that just don't hold up. In my booklet, anyhow. And yeah, I know I've missed dozens of people in all categories (let me know), and didn't even create one for classical/serious music...


Rock
The Beatles (all the way)
The Rolling Stones (up to Exile On Main Street)
John Lennon
The Kinks (up to, say, Schoolboys In Disgrace)
The Old 97's
Bob Dylan (up to Desire, and sporadically thereafter)
Rod Stewart (Faces and the early solo albums)
John Sebastian (the first solo record, and of course The Lovin' Spoonful, who had just enough hits to fill up a CD.
Paul Simon (the first couple of solo albums)
Rick Danko
Steve Miller (60's and early 70's SM, not "Fly Like An Eagle" and beyond)
Joni Mitchell
Chicago up through, say, VI
Bruce Springsteen
Elvis Costello
The Byrds
Split Enz/Crowded House/Finn Brothers
The Who
The Clash
The Pretenders
Talking Heads
Queen
Lou Reed
David Bowie
Cream
Velvet Underground
Derek and the Dominoes
Buffalo Springfield
The Grateful Dead
Los Lobos
The Posies (NW heroes)
Traveling Wilburys
Crosby Stills Nash/Crosby Stills Nash & Young
The Beach Boys
Brian Wilson (select, but not most, solo albums)
The Doors
The Sonics (NW heroes)
Nirvana (NW heroes)
Paul Revere and The Raiders (NW heroes)
Big Star (now 1/2 NW heroes)
Weezer
The Band
The English Beat
Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention
The Ramones
Janis Joplin
Sly and the Family Stone
The Youngbloods
Fleetwood Mac
Cream
Jimi Hendrix
The Dukes of Stratosphear
The Carpenters
Simon and Garfunkel
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin (through Houses of the Holy)
Brian Eno
Nick Lowe/Rockpile
Buddy Holly
Chuck Berry
Derek and the Dominoes
The Allman Brothers

Country/Western/Bluegrass/folk (ish)
Woody Guthrie
Hank Williams (The King)
Bob Wills
Roy Orbison
George Jones
Willie Nelson
Chet Atkins
Merle Haggard
Emmylou Harris
Buddy & Julie Miller
Dolly Parton
Patsy Cline
Roy Rogers
Sons of The Pioneers
Gene Autry
Johnny Cash
The Carter Family
Earl Monroe
Old and In The Way
David Grisman
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
John Prine
Dwight Yoakum
Lucinda Williams
Lynette Anderson
Dale Watson
Bela Fleck

Jazz/swing/bebop/cool
Charflie Parker
Thelonius Monk
Art Tatum
Paul Winter
Charles Mingus
Duke Ellington
Lester Young
Benny Goodman
Glen Miller
Dizzy Gillespie
Bill Evans
Gerry Mulligan
Jacquo Pastorius
Miles Davis
Charles Lloyd
Jimmy Smith
Weather Report
Return To Forever
John McLaughlin
Count Basie
Chet Baker
Cab Calloway
Herbie Hancock
Bessie Smith
Nina Simone
Bud Powell
Stéphane Grappelli
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Branford Marsalis
Wayne Shorter
Louis Armstrong (solo, and with The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens)
Billie Holiday
The Beau Hunks
Sun Ra
Bill Frisell
Jimmy Smith
Keith Jarrett

Blues/R & B/Soul/reggae
James Brown
Wlly Dixon
Muddy Waters
Al Green
Sleepy John Estes
Jimmy Reed
The Supremes
Lightnin' Hopkins
Otis Redding
The Blind Boys if Alabama
Rev. Blind Gary Davis
Stevie Wonder
Etta James
Smokey Robinson
The Temptations
The Miracles
The Four Tops
Leadbelly
Furry Lewis
Elmore Johnson
Skip James
Jimmy Cliff
Bob Marley
Billie Holiday
Marvin Gaye
Michael Jackson (first few albums)
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