Of Jimmy Stewart, George Clooney, and Natalie Portman June 15, 2006
Posted by hallelujahhatrack in Lists, Movies, Uncategorized.add a comment
Dateline/
Los Angeles:
In today’s newspaper David Germain, AP Movie Writer, wrote the following:
George Bailey's brother proclaimed him the richest man in
Bedford
Falls. Now the story of the despondent businessman, who got a chance to see how ugly the world would be without him, has been proclaimed the most inspiring American movie.
Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," starring James Stewart as the disillusioned George, led the American Film Institute's list of inspirational films revealed Wednesday in the group's annual top-100 TV special that aired on CBS.
"We all connect to that story.”
Dateline/Hartford, CT:
In his head today Steve, of Hotwire Reality, said the following:
“Well, duh…”
Seriously, this is the quintessential inspirational American film. Yes, it can be considered hokey. Yes, the acting of some of the characters is not Oscar-worthy. But Jimmy Stewart absolutely nailed the part of George Bailey – an everyman playing the everyman.
In other news, I also read in the paper that a survey had been done asking people what famous folks they would most like to invite to a dinner party.
The top men listed were Jay Leno (Huh? He seems like a good guy, but out of everyone in the world, that’s the top pick…?), George Clooney (you’ve gotta be kidding me), and President Bush (OK, leader of the free world, I can see where they’re going with that).
The women were Condoleezza Rice (I suppose this is a good top pick), Angelina Jolie (as long as she’s not making out with her brother during the party, this could be OK with her humanitarian efforts she’s kind of interesting), and Jennifer Aniston (come on, you all are reading too much ‘People’ magazine).
After a very brief brainstorm (so I reserve the right to change the list when and if I come to my senses), here are mine:
Men
-I think that I would have to start with musician James Taylor. Just seems to be a cool and laid back dude that could provide some insightful conversation. (runner’s up in the musician category would be my favorite lyricist Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen)
-Next I’d go to literature and select John Irving. Why, because Truman Capote is dead and because I’d love to get into his head to see where all of his oddball characters and scenarios come from. (runner’s up in literature would be Jonathan Safran Foer and Stewart O’Nan)
-The final male dinner party guest would be the Dalai Lama. Why, because he’s led quite an interesting life and he could probably help chill me out a bit.
Women
-I would also have a musician, and my selection would be Patty Griffin. Best female lyricist out there today – if you haven’t heard her stuff you are really missing out. (runner up by a very close margin is Kate Rusby)
-Also a literature selection from the ladies, and it would be Sarah Vowell. I love her style, she’s a fellow Cherokee, and although I don’t agree with her on all points I always feel that I’m smarter after I’ve read one of her pieces than I was beforehand. Also, believe it or not, I love her voice (if you’ve never heard her, she was the voice of Violet in “The Incredibles”)
-The final selection would be actress Natalie Portman. Reason? I could say that she’s played some great roles (“
Garden
State” and “V for Vendetta”) and she has an interesting background – born in
Israel, but in reality, this pick is made for one reason: blatant selfishness on my part… (runner up would be Scarlett Johansson)
Five for Friday: works of fiction April 14, 2006
Posted by hallelujahhatrack in Books, Lists, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
This week’s Five for Friday has to do with one of my favorite topics: books. Fiction in particular. Now, I have to preface this by stating that I am a book snob. There, I said it. Life is too short to read crappy books (you know, the ones that usually show up on the bestseller lists and have to do with some type of lame mystery or contrived love story and are found in the shallow end of the library).
I’m talking about beautifully written, thought provoking works that will make you want to read and reread excellently written passages and that can bring tears to your eyes. Chances are that you can’t buy these in a grocery store and you won’t see someone reading them on the beach during the summer.
See what I mean about literary snobbery?!
Anyway, here’s the list, in no particular order, other than saving my all time favorite for last:
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee – Many people think she got a little help from Truman Capote, but regardless, this should be required reading for everyone.
“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – Brilliantly disguised as a children’s book, this is actually the best book dealing with human interaction that I’ve ever read. If you’ve never read this, read it soon, and then read it again.
“The Catcher in the
Rye” by J.D. Slinger – A wonderfully poignant coming of age story. Holden Caulfield is a true hero in a wise-ass disguise.
“The Night Country” by Stuart O’Nan – This story follows a group ofhigh school kids one year after they were in a horrible car crash. The deal is, however, some of them died and some of them lived and we get to follow all of them around. Heartbreaking.
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer – Foer has hit it out of the park twice, first with “Everything Is Illuminated” and then with this one. Although billed as a boy dealing with the loss of his father post-9/11, that description doesn’t come close to describing this book. I cried when I was done, first due to the story, and second because it was over and I would miss it.
“Jesus Christ's Half-Brother is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation” is a short story from the book “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie. Although only about 15 pages long, I can never get through this without having to take a break and contemplate the story as I’m reading it. This could be the most beautiful thing I have ever read.
“A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving – This is the granddaddy of them all. Irving, perhaps
America’s greatest living writer, gave us a classic with this one. If I were a literature teacher I would begin every semester with this book.
Again, I’ve exceeded five, but as I’ve said before, it’s my list and I can do what I want.
Five for Friday: favorite albums March 10, 2006
Posted by hallelujahhatrack in Lists, Music, Uncategorized.add a comment
I’m pretty sure that you can rank favorite music right up there with religion and politics as a hot button discussion topic – at least if you are like my friends and me.
This morning I was having another ‘heated’ music discussion – that began with a debate over my favorite American Idol contestant, Taylor Hicks – and the topic of individual taste came up which led to favorite artists and then favorite albums.
For those of you who don’t know what an album is, allow me to rephrase that: favorite CD’s. Aw, hell with it, when I bought all of the albums on the following list they were on vinyl, so we’ll stick with ‘album’.
Anyhow, the following are my favorites, not what I consider the best – perhaps that’s a list for another day. All of these have great songs by great artists and, for the most part, bring back a lot of fond memories for me.
In no particular order (’cause heck, the mood I’m in on a given day has a lot to do with it…):
“Minute by Minute” – Doobie Brothers
“Duke” – Genesis
“The Long Run” – The Eagles
“Born to Run” – Bruce Springsteen
“Late for the Sky” – Jackson Browne
Five for Friday: Recent Movies February 24, 2006
Posted by hallelujahhatrack in Lists, Movies, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Ok, so my buddy Tim and I were having coffee at the local Cosi this morning and the conversation turned to movies. Now, having been a film major in college this is a topic that I don’t mind discussing at all. Specifically we were talking about our favorite movies over the past year or so. I decided to turn this into a Five for Friday:
-“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” Emotional pain is not necessarily something that you want to rid yourself of – it is part of who we are. This one stayed in my mind for months afterward.
-“Lost in Translation” From what I can tell this is a love-it-or-hate-it film and the ‘love-its’ are in the minority – heartbreaking and uplifting all at the same time and Bill Murray is brilliant. When it was over I immediately watched it again.
-“Garden State” Natalie Portman is oddly spectacular and the oddball story is beautiful – great soundtrack, too! Another immediate repeat.
-“Crash” Almost painful to watch, as there is some of all of the characters in each one of us. Wonderful acting by the entire ensemble.
-“Capote” Being a fan of Truman Capote (if you haven’t read “Other Voices Other Rooms” do yourself a favor) I might be a bit biased, but for Philip Seymour Hoffman to nail this as he did is definitely Oscar-worthy (and as an aside, after I saw him in “Magnolia” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” I predicted he’s one day win a little gold bald guy…he owned those films!!)
There, now you have something to do this weekend.
Five for Friday – All time best slow songs February 10, 2006
Posted by hallelujahhatrack in Lists, Music, Uncategorized.6 comments
Best all time slow dancing songs (at least from what I can remember…)
-“Still” by the Commodores
-“Truly” by Lionel Richie
(You could actually fill out this five and 3 others with just Commodores and Lionel Ritchie songs)
-“Always and Forever” by Heatwave
-“Waiting for a Girl Like You” by Foreigner
-“I Can’t Tell You Why” by the Eagles
Bonus Track:
-“Lady” by Kenny Rogers
Five for Friday – Groups who I don’t get February 3, 2006
Posted by hallelujahhatrack in Lists, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Five groups of people who I don’t get:
- Radical Islam – no explanation necessary
- Democratic National Committee – their anger drove me to switch Party affiliation
- Boy Scouts of America – too exclusionary
- Alleged Christians who twist the scripture into a shape that accomodates their beliefs althought the true message has nothing to do with their beliefs.
- People who home school their kids – creates antisocial and maladjusted kids with a skewed world view
Five for Friday – All time favorite atheletes January 27, 2006
Posted by hallelujahhatrack in Lists, Sports, Uncategorized.add a comment
Five all-time favorite athletes:
- Reggie Jackson
- Roberto Clemente
- Walter Payton
- Cal Ripken, Jr.
- Michael Jordan
Five runners-up:
- Doctor J
- Brooks Robinson
- Len Bias
- Rick McLeish
- Magic Johnson
