My Dinner with Andre

I just watched ‘My Dinner with Andre’. This is a film that is an experience. An hour and forty minutes almost entirely of two men, eating dinner, having a conversation: “A unique work in cinema history” doesn’t adequately convey the gravitas of experiencing these men’s conversation.

It feels as freeform as the real conversations I have. That alone is masterful.

Four months ago I cut and paste the words of “Bob Dylan’s Dream” into a writing I was working on:

“While riding on a train goin' west/ I fell asleep for to take my rest/ I dreamed a dream that made me sad/ Concerning myself and the first few friends I had
With half damp eyes I stared to the room/ Where my friends and I spent many an afternoon/ Where we together weathered many a storm/ Laughin' and singin' till the early hours of the morn
By the old wooden stove where our hats was hung/ Our words were told, our songs were sung/ Where we longed for nothin' and were satisfied/ Jokin' and talkin' about the world outside
With hungry hearts through the heat and cold/ We never much thought we could get very old/ We thought we could sit forever in fun/ And our chances really was a million to one
As easy it was to tell black from white/ It was all that easy to tell wrong from right/ And our choices there was few so the thought never hit/ At the one road we traveled, we ever shattered or split
How many a year has passed and gone/ Many a gamble has been lost and won/ And many a road taken by many a first friend/ And each one I've never seen again
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain/ That we could sit simply in that room again/ Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat/ I'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.”

Or take a different example, from Simon and Garfunkel, in their track “The Dangling Conversation”:

And we sit and drink our coffee/ Couched in our indifference,/ Like shells upon the shore/ You can hear the ocean roar 
In the dangling conversation/ And the superficial sighs,/ The borders of our lives. 

…

Yes, we speak of things that matter, / With words that must be said, / "Can analysis be worthwhile?"/ "Is the theater really dead?" 
And how the room is softly faded / And I only kiss your shadow, / I cannot feel your hand, / You're a stranger now unto me 

Lost in the dangling conversation. / And the superficial sighs, /In the borders of our lives.

Back in 2010 I recorded the following day in September:

“Mitchell and I met up Sunday night. Meeting at Civic Center we then moseyed up to Coit Tower, where Mitchell had never been. He wanted to go to the Stinking Rose, so we did. I was stiffed in terms of portions, and mine came out much later than his. Still it was good: gnocchetti in garlic gorgonzola fontina with asparagus. I suggested hitting up A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, and so we went, but it was closed….

“We went back to Powell and hung out in the square, on a balmy night, shooting the breeze and shooing away the homeless. I spoke to him not about my romances, as we'd shared at dinner, but of my concern that that which was around us was destined to collapse, and our lifestyle irrevocably alter when we were older. The collapse of the cities will, in one sense, be magnificent. In another, from a survival point of view, it will be merely horrid.

“We parted around 11, nearly eight hours after we met.”

These conversations are how I live my life. Just last night a group, eight of my peers, got together and discussed things over beer, wine and cheese. But this was shoptalk, commentary on the company, anecdotes of amusing things. It wasn’t conversation – it was talking. Pleasant talking, funny stories; but talking nonetheless. The moments (or should I borrow from Simon above and say ‘words’?) that matter are those that partake of some depth.

This time, roughly, last year I was labeled through no action on my own part, as a ‘traveler’. The implication is that I either distribute my wealth, my knowledge, wherever I go, or that I was seeking out such knowledge – on a quest of experience. Most probably a bit of both.

In the past I’ve ruminated on a particularly edifying conversation – that of the backpacker’s hostel. It captures precisely the traveler’s mix of search and sharing of wisdom and experience.

Yet, on the other side of the life spectrum, I lived for a period in a Zen monastery. This was the opposite, the insular confrontation of self that, in Buddhist fashion, is not a confrontation at all. So too, in my existentialist studies of Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche, and especially Heidegger, the moments of the self confronting self were examined.

So to encounter, to experience, ‘My Dinner with Andre’ was a revelation, from the nauseous feeling akin to Sartre’s regarding the modern world, which paralleled Mitchell’s and mine, to the direct referencing of Heidegger, to Andre’s search from Poland to Tibet, from spiritual experience to communal living – I thought, “My God – this isn’t just me.”

I’ve known for a very long time that people are looking for answers. Look at the right section of the bookstore. But I thought most everyone, most of the time, was talking shop. I thought my conversations were more special – for in these conversations I share my experience of life and reality, which, naturally, I thought was somehow unique.

Meanwhile Wallace Shawn felt the same thing 32 years ago. And it was insular Wallace, not travelling Andre, whom I connected with at the end, during his cab ride back to his girlfriend, mulling the differences between his and Andre’s worldview. In 2011 I recorded the following, forever etched into my mind:

“Raining heavily outside. Just put on Pet Sounds.

“Last night I read two emails from Jen. The first, in response to how things were going, said she was now dating John. The second, sent a few hours later, said her father was in a coma.

“I got them after a very tiring Thanksgiving celebration that seems very unimportant now. The cab ride back from Ella’s was very odd – totally Nausea by Sartre. I kept looking at my leg, illuminated by the stripes of the back window and street lamps and not feeling as though it was me. As I said this morning to Jack when chatting on Facebook, it was as though the world was different – sharper. Colder, a bit.”

Whether or not we’ve read Sartre, we’ve experienced the veneer of all of this peeled away. Some find it on Mt. Everest, others at the cigar store next door. It can be empty, like Simon and Garfunkel, or nostalgic, like Dylan, or just plain terrifying: Nietzsche’s abyss staring back into you.

Conversation – the way we see if others get what we’re saying. See the world through eyes like our own. Understand us. Fundamentally we want to understand the world, that’s true, but even more so we wish to be understood ourselves. Conversation affirms this, or denies it. That’s why Dylan felt nostalgic for the group of friends that understood him. That’s why Mitchell and I had such a powerful reflection in San Francisco on the fate of Western Civilization – we both got it. That’s why my girlfriend of four years leaving me left the world colder, and sharper: all that understanding lost. That’s why Wallace Shawn’s cab ride mirrors my own after his dinner with Andre. The connection is there, in glimpses of shared fervor, but they are talking in parallel conversations for the rest of the night. That disconnect is unnerving – to experience someone who almost gets it, but not quite. Who just, can’t quite see your point of view. It makes us pause and ask that most difficult question: Am I experiencing the world correctly? Do I see it the way it really is, or does this guy really get, and I’m missing something? To ask these questions is to directly confront us with ourselves. That is why a good conversation is so affirming and powerful, but why one such as ‘My Dinner with Andre’ is even more so. For, in that experience, we regard anew our foundations, and cannot but reflect on what we find.

Learn Popular Music

Starting in March, if you listen to one song a day, you can teach yourself popular music in nine months. This is slightly adapted from what I used to teach back in Reno in 2009/10 (and since I've not posted in a while, was a quick and easy way to make a post). Or you can take a look and see how many you know out of 275.

Or you can disregard this list. It's your life.

MARCH (31)

1902 – The Entertainer, Scott Joplin

1906 – Grand Old Rag, Billy Murray

1908 – Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Edward Meeker

1909 – Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Fisk Jubilee Singers

1910 – Auld Lang Syne, Frank C. Stanley

1910 – Cloud Chief, Vess Ossman

1911 – Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Irving Berlin

1911 – Some of These Days, Sophie Tucker

1912 – Memphis Blues, W.C. Handy

1913 – When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Chauncey Olcott

1916 – I Ain’t Got Nobody, Marion Harris

1917 – Livery Stable Blues, Original Dixieland Jass Band

1922 – Sallie Gooden, Eck Robertson

1924 – Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin

1925 – St. Louis Blues, Bessie Smith

1925 – Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister, Charlie Poole

1925 – Black Bottom Stomp, Jelly Roll Morton

1926 – Sail Away Lady, Uncle Bunt Stephens

1926 – Bye Bye Blackbird, Gene Austin

1927 – Stardust, Hoagy Carmichael

1927 – Blue Skies, Ben Selvin

1927 – Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed, Blind Willie Johnson

1928 – Statesboro Blues, Blind Willie McTell

1928 – Keep on the Sunny Side, Carter Family

1928 – The Butcher’s Boy, Buell Kazee

1928 – Frankie, Mississippi John Hurt

1928 – Big Rock Candy Mountain, Harry McClintock

1928 – West End Blues, Louis Armstrong

1929 – Pinetop Boogie-Woogie, Pinetop Perkins

1929 – Ain’t Misbehavin’, Fats Waller

1929 – Saut Crapaud, Columbus Fruge

APRIL (30)

1930 – The House Carpenter, Clarence Ashley

1930 – I Got Rhythm, Sam Lanin

1930 – Puttin’ on the Ritz, Harry Richman

1931 – Mule Skinner Blues, Jimmie Rodgers

1931 – Minnie the Moocher, Cab Calloway

1931 – Mood Indigo, Duke Ellington

1931 – Tiger Rag, Mills Brothers

1933 – It’s Only a Paper Moon, Paul Whiteman

1933 – Tea for Two, Art Tatum

1933 – Heartaches, Ted Weems

1934 – Anything Goes, Cole Porter

1934 – Stompin’ at the Savoy, Chick Webb

1935 – The Stuff is Here, Cleo Brown

1935 – Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Gene Autrey

1936 – Goodnight Irene, Lead Belly

1936 – Wabash Cannonball, Roy Acuff

1936 – Ol’ Man River, Paul Robeson

1936 – I Can’t Get Started, Bunny Berigan

1936 – The Way You Look Tonight, Fred Astaire

1937 – Minor Swing, Django Reinhardt

1937 – Hellhound on My Trail, Robert Johnson

1937 – One O’Clock Jump, Count Basie

1938 – Sing, Sing, Sing, Benny Goodman

1938 – Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, Guy Lombardo

1939 – Cotton Eye Joe, Elmo Newcomer

1939 – Body and Soul, Coleman Hawkins

1939 – In The Mood, Glenn Miller

1939 – Over the Rainbow, Judy Garland

1939 – If I Didn’t Care, Ink Spots

1939 – We’ll Meet Again, Vera Lynn

MAY (31)

1940 – You Are My Sunshine, Jimmie Davis

1940 – Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar, Will Bradley

1940 – Frenesi, Artie Shaw

1941 – Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Andrews Sisters

1941 – God Bless the Child, Billie Holiday

1941 – Which Side Are You On, Almanac Singers

1942 – White Christmas, Bing Crosby

1942 – White Cliffs of Dover, Jimmy Dorsey

1943 – Brazil, Xavier Cugat

1943 – Stormy Weather, Lena Horne

1943 – Der Fuehrer’s Face – Spike Jones

1944 – This Land is Your Land, Woody Guthrie

1944 – Straighten Up and Fly Right, Nat King Cole Trio

1945 – Groovin’ High, Dizzy Gillespie

1945 – Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, Johnny Mercer

1945 – Blue Moon of Kentucky, Bill Monroe

1945 – Sentimental Journey, Les Brown and Doris Day

1946 – Amazing Grace, Dixie Hummingbirds

1947 – Every Day I Have the Blues, Memphis Slim

1948 – How Far I Am From Canaan, Ward Singers feat. Marion Williams

1948 – Move On Up a Little Higher, Mahalia Jackson

1948 – Round About Midnight, Thelonious Monk

1948 – I Can’t Be Satisfied, Muddy Waters

1948 – Boogie Chillen, John Lee Hooker

1948 – Lover, Les Paul

1948 – Guitar Boogie, Arthur Smith

1948 – Buttons and Bows, Dinah Shore

1949 – Just Friends, Charlie Parker

1949 – Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Professor Longhair

1949 – I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hank Williams

1949 – Saturday Night Fish Fry, Louis Jordan

JUNE (30)

1950 – Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

1952 – Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes, Perry Como

1954 – Sh-Boom, The Crew Cuts

1954 – Mr. Sandman, Chordettes

1954 – Rock Around the Clock, Bill Haley

1954 – That’s All Right, Elvis Presley

1955 – Tutti Frutti, Little Richard

1955 – Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley

1955 – Maybellene, Chuck Berry

1955 – Great Pretender, Platters

1955 – What Is This Thing Called Love, Frank Sinatra

1956 – I Get a Kick Out of You, Ella Fitzgerald

1956 – Blueberry Hill, Fats Domino

1956 – I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash

1956 – Smokestack Lightning, Howlin’ Wolf

1956 – In the Still of the Night, Five Satins

1957 – Great Balls of Fire, Jerry Lee Lewis

1957 – That’ll Be the Day, Buddy Holly

1957 – Wake Up Little Susie, Everly Brothers

1957 – Walkin’ After Midnight, Patsy Cline

1957 – Blue Train, John Coltrane

1958 – Moanin’, Art Blakey

1958 – Lonesome Town, Ricky Nelson

1958 – Tom Dooley, Kingston Trio

1959 – Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin

1959 – Big Iron, Marty Robbins

1959 – Afro Blue, Mongo Santamaria

1959 – Take Five, Dave Brubeck

1959 – Lonely Woman, Ornette Coleman

1959 – What’d I Say, Ray Charles

JULY (31)

1960 – The Twist, Chubby Checker

1961 – Mama Said, Shirelles

1962 – Green Onions, Booker T and the MGs

1962 – Up on the Roof, Drifters

1962 – Autumn to May, Peter Paul and Mary

1963 – The Girl from Ipanema, Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto

1963 – Be My Baby, Ronettes

1963 – Louie Louie, Kingsmen

1964 – Mississippi Goddam, Nina Simone

1964 – My Girl, Temptations

1965 – A Change is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke

1965 – Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, James Brown

1965 – Going to a Go-Go, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

1965 – I Ain’t Marching Anymore, Phil Ochs

1965 – Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan

1965 – My Generation, Who

1966 – Good Vibrations, Beach Boys

1966 – Monday, Monday, The Mamas and the Papas

1967 – Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix Experience

1967 – Black Angel’s Death Song, Velvet Underground

1967 – Respect, Aretha Franklin

1967 – Light My Fire, Doors

1968 – Walk on Gilded Splinters, Dr. John

1968 – Everyday People, Sly and the Family Stone

1968 – Troubadour, Tim Buckley

1968 – Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding

1969 – Whole Lotta Love, Led Zeppelin

1969 – Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish, Captain Beefheart

1969 – Christine’s Tune, Flying Burrito Brothers

1969 – Pharaoh’s Dance, Miles Davis

1969 – Come Together, Beatles

AUGUST (31)

1970 – Carry On, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

1970 – Friend of the Devil, Grateful Dead

1970 – California, Joni Mitchell

1970 – Fire and Rain, James Taylor

1971 – Changes, David Bowie

1971 – Proud Mary, Ike and Tina Turner

1971 – What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye

1971 – Me and Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin

1971 – Paranoid, Black Sabbath

1971 – Layla, Derek and the Dominos

1971 – Hot ’Lanta, Allman Brothers

1972 – Superstition, Stevie Wonder

1972 – Superfly, Curtis Mayfield

1972 – Tumbling Dice, Rolling Stones

1973 – Penetration, Stooges

1973 – Turn the Page, Bob Seger

1975 – Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain, Willie Nelson

1975 – Birdland, Patti Smith

1975 – Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen

1976 – Hotel California, Eagles

1976 – Corn Fish Dub, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

1976 – Blitzkrieg Bop, Ramones

1977 – Anarchy in the UK, Sex Pistols

1977 – I Feel Love, Donna Summer

1977 – Birdland, Weather Report

1977 – Europe Endless, Kraftwerk

1978 – One Nation Under a Groove, Funkadelic

1978 – 1/1, Brian Eno

1979 – Rapper’s Delight, Sugarhill Gang

1979 – Life During Wartime, Talking Heads

1979 – London Calling, Clash

SEPTEMBER (30)

1980 – Redemption Song, Bob Marley

1980 – Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd

1980 – Back in Black, AC/DC

1981 – Secret Journey, Police

1982 – Beyond Belief, Elvis Costello

1982 – The Message, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

1982 – Avalon, Roxy Music

1982 – Billie Jean, Michael Jackson

1984 – When Doves Cry, Prince

1984 – Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper

1984 – Radio Ga Ga, Queen

1984 – Rock You Like a Hurricane, Scorpions

1984 – Turn on the News, Husker Du

1984 – Unsatisfied, Replacements

1985 – Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Tears for Fears

1985 – The Sweetest Taboo, Sade

1986 – Livin’ on a Prayer, Bon Jovi

1986 – Battery, Metallica

1986 – Walk This Way, Run DMC ft. Aerosmith

1987 – I Ain’t No Joke, Eric B. and Rakim

1987 – Sweet Child O Mine, Guns n Roses

1987 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, U2

1987 – The One I Love, R.E.M.

1988 – Teenage Riot, Sonic Youth

1988 – Bring the Noise, Public Enemy

1988 – Fuck Tha Police, N.W.A.

1989 – High Plains Drifter, Beastie Boys

1989 – Like a Prayer, Madonna

1989 – Monkey Gone to Heaven, Pixies

1989 – I Wanna Be Adored, Stone Roses

OCTOBER (31)

1991 – Only Shallow, My Bloody Valentine

1991 – Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana

1991 – Verses from the Abstract, A Tribe Called Quest

1991 – Daydreaming, Massive Attack

1992 – I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston

1992 – Actium, Aphex Twin

1992 – No Rain, Blind Melon

1994 – Mysterons, Portishead

1994 – Piggy, Nine Inch Nails

1994 – Violet, Hole

1994 – Buddy Holly, Weezer

1994 – Last Goodbye, Jeff Buckley

1994 – Waterfalls, TLC

1994 – N.Y. State of Mind, Nas

1995 – Wonderwall, Oasis

1995 – All I Really Want, Alanis Morissette

1995 – Just a Girl, No Doubt

1995 – Gangsta’s Paradise, Coolio

1996 – What I Got, Sublime

1996 – California Love, 2Pac

1996 – Midnight in a Perfect World, DJ Shadow

1997 – Bittersweet Symphony, Verve

1997 – Paranoid Android, Radiohead

1997 – Hunter, Bjork

1998 – Doo Wop, Lauryn Hill

1999 – Sweet Lovin’ Man, Magnetic Fields

1999 – Sandstorm, Darude

1999 – Run On, Moby

1999 – One More Time, Britney Spears

1999 – Fast As You Can, Fiona Apple

1999 – Smooth, Carlos Santana

NOVEMBER (30)

2000 – Stan, Eminem ft. Dido

2000 – Big Exit, PJ Harvey

2000 – Tanto Tempo, Bebel Gilberto

2000 – Killing Floor Blues, R.L. Burnside

2000 – B.O.B., Outkast

2001 – Last Nite, Strokes

2001 – Too Long – Daft Punk

2001 – Me Gustas Tu, Manu Chao

2002 – Has It Come to This?, Streets

2002 – None of Us Are Free, Solomon Burke

2002 – Guess I’m Doing Fine, Beck

2003 – Ringing My Phone (Straight Outta Istanbul), Jason Moran

2003 – Come Away With Me, Norah Jones

2003 – Seven Nation Army, White Stripes

2004 – American Idiot, Green Day

2004 – Jesus Walks, Kanye West

2004 – Confessions Part II, Usher

2005 – Chicago, Sufjan Stevens

2006 – Knights of Cydonia, Muse

2006 – Dani California, Red Hot Chili Peppers

2006 – Crazy, Gnarls Barkley

2006 – Fidelity, Regina Spektor

2006 – John Saw That Number, Neko Case

2006 – Summersong, Decemberists

2007 – No Cars Go, Arcade Fire

2007 – Paper Planes, M.I.A.

2008 – Disturbia, Rihanna

2008 – Single Ladies, Beyonce

2008 – Viva La Vida, Coldplay

2008 – Poker Face, Lady Gaga

Presidents Birth States

So here's a map of where the Presidents were born:

But if each election had gone to the main contender, the map would look like this (with Washington and Monroe uncontested):

Note the increased Western placement, and how NY now dominates even Virginia, and Ohio drops out. Also: Who knew McCain was born in Panama??

Two Time Losers (Never had the major candidate): Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island - 19 states.

Living Former Presidents:

Carter, H.W. Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama

Living Failed Presidents:

Mondale, Dukakis, H.W. Bush, Dole, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Romney

25 Sound Recordings for the National Recording Registry

Two years ago I made comment on the National Film Registry. Only one of those has been inducted since, The Times of Harvey Milk, this past year. (My post: http://tinyurl.com/bcksyu5)

So I thought I’d instead turn my attentions towards the National Recording Registry, which since 2002 has been compiling important recordings. Examples are the early Edison reels, FDR’s fireside broadcasts, Born to Run, and “A Change is Gonna Come”. The most recent recording added was 1995’s “Dear Mama” by 2Pac, added in 2009, 14 years after it was released. As such, my list didn’t consider anything past 1999.

For a list of what’s already inducted check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recording_Registry

1885 (?): Volta Lab Experimental Recordings.

1893 (?): Benjamin Harrison Recording – A wax cylinder of Harrison, the first recording of a President.

1911: “Aloha Oe” recorded by Madame Alapi.

1912: Teddy Roosevelt campaign speech.

1937: First recording of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the radio.

1939: “Canto XLV – With Usura” read by poet Ezra Pound.

1944: Julius Howell Interview – Recording of a Confederate soldier interviewed on the Civil War.

1948: H.L. Mencken Speaks – The only recording of Mencken’s voice that’s preserved.

1950: William Faulkner Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech.

1956: Saxophone Colossus by Sonny Rollins.

1957: “That’ll Be the Day” by Buddy Holly.

1961: The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion – Seminal comedy album.

1961: Freedom 7 recordings – first recordings of manned American space exploration.

1964: “Mississippi Goddam” by Nina Simone.

1967: “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procul Harum.

1968: There and Now: Live in Vancouver by Phil Ochs.

1969: Complete Woodstock recordings.

1971-73: Nixon White House Tapes.

1971: “Birdland” by Weather Report.

1972: Superfly by Curtis Mayfield.

1975: A Chorus Line, original Broadway cast recording.

1976: Concert of the Century – Celebrating Carnegie Hall’s centennial: Menhuin, Horowitz, and Stern.

1978: Einstein at the Beach, first recording of the Philip Glass opera.

1978: Recording of Harvey Milk’s last words, in case of assassination.

1996: Endtroducing….. by DJ Shadow.

Top 'Decade' Movies

Here are five movies for each decade that just ‘grok’ the decade they represent. They may not be the ‘best’ films of the decade – but if you want to understand the decade they represent, there’s no better.* So, for example, Lawrence of Arabia is one of the best films made in the 1960s, but isn’t a great film about the 1960s, and so is not on the list. I also made sure it was made during the decade it represents – so while American Psycho is a great film about the 1980s, it was filmed in a different decade, and thus not counted. Make sense?

Starting with the most recent:

00s

The Hurt Locker (2009)

Garden State (2004)

Lost in Translation (2003)

Talk to Her (2002)

25^th Hour (2002)

90s

Office Space (1999)

Go (1999)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Empire Records (1995)

Terminator 2 (1991)

80s

When Harry Met Sally…(1989)

Wall Street (1987)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

The Big Chill (1983)

Scarface (1983)

70s

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Annie Hall (1977)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Nashville (1975)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

60s

Alice’s Restaurant (1969)

The Graduate (1967)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

La Dolce Vita (1960)

50s

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Vertigo (1958)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

40s

The Third Man (1949)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Casablanca (1942)

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

30s

The Rules of the Game (1939)

Ninotchka (1939)

Modern Times (1936)

My Man Godfrey (1936)

Grand Hotel (1932)

20s

A Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

The Last Command (1928)

The Crowd (1928)

Sunrise (1927)

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

* I must admit I’ve cheated a little and have added two films based on reputation alone, and not my viewing of them. These are 2009’s The Hurt Locker and 1987’s Wall Street. Should I find this to be in error I will amend the list.

NaNoReMo

February first marks the beginning of National Novel Reading Month, or NaNoReMo. November (National Novel Writing Month) gets all the credit. But your novel won't be any good if you're not fluent int he language of literature. So this month is a chance to read that book you've always meant to read, but not gotten around to. The original NaNoReMo post can be found here:

http://johnwiswell.blogspot.com/2013/01/nanoremo-megapost.html

As for myself I'll be reading Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man' which has been on my shelf for years now, unread. If you want to make your pledge public you can do so on the site above, or on here in the comments section.