Where have all the mix CDs gone?

I realize I'm a bit of a sucker for nostalgia, but can we reminisce for a moment about where all of the CDs have gone?

I was digging through a few old purses last week in a desperate search for my expired passport when I uncovered this relic of the past. It shared a snazzy envelope with a mix of Muse songs and was tucked in next to a "best of" Foreigner set. [I know I'm not the only one to want nothing more than to be able to belt out I Want to Know What Love Is while driving down the highway.]

Anyway, I digress. Is anyone still making mix CDs these days, or are the kids just trading Spotify playlists? If so, where's the magic in that? Can you accidentally stumble upon a playlist someone made for you five years later and become instantly overwhelmed with the rush of emotion you used to feel when you listened to those songs?

Serendipity is such a charmer. It was awesome to rediscover this mix CD and pop it in, having totally forgotten who gave it to me or what was on it. I didn't even mind that a couple of the songs made me tear up as, in the popular vernacular of our times, I had all the feels ;-)

Do you still make mix CDs? When was the last time you made one?

P.S. I consider finding an eight-year old fossilized chocolate bar a sign that every now and then I can muster great restraint.

Role of audience in documentary filmmaking

Glines Canyon Dam, Elwha River, Washington. Photo: Mikal Jakubal

There is a low-stakes battle being waged inside this head of mine. The head versus the heart. The personal versus the professional. The pragmatic versus the radical. When stepping back and really thinking through what I take away from a documentary (and what others will take from that experience), which of those matter most and should come out on top?

Let me back up. A few weeks ago I attended a screening of DamNation at the D.C. Environmental Film Festival. The film explores the shift in attitude from a country built on dams (from the mill dam's role in the industrial revolution to the great dam-building era of the New Deal) to one in which the detrimental effect of many of these structures has given rise to an effort to remove certain dams and restore rivers. Filled with sweeping vistas and many charismatic rivers of the west, the film is gorgeous, visually spectacular. My inner aesthetician totally wants to fist-bump the cinematographer.

Back to the future? A century old I.W. Taber photograph shows the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Valley and Toulumne River before the dam and reservoir buried this national treasure in a scene from DAMNATION. Photo: Matt Stoecker

From the cultural and religious significance of salmon for many tribes of the Pacific Northwest to the evocative landforms now buried by Glen Canyon Dam, it makes a play for our heartstrings by blending the historic and spiritual. It also attempts to appeal to our inner wild thing with dam-scaling graffiti artists and a bit of a "fight the man" vibe running throughout the film's narration. The inner activist in me now wants in on the fist-bumping action.

However, as I sat in the theater, I looked around at all of the fleece and the shiny, white faces ready to take action and couldn't help wondering what my people would get out of this film. What would the ranchers in San Angelo, Texas make of this message? Would my grandfather--a helps with local elections, writes letters to the city council kind of dude--be moved to write a letter to editor next time an article appeared about a new dam being built? Texans appreciate the land and the water they have dominion over. In fact, more often than not, they'll work it like a bitch to extract every possible tiny bit of appreciation out of it that they can. And these aren't just Texas communities. They exist in every state. I work with them. I reckon (because that's how we do) this isn't their film.

Who was this film meant to appeal to? In my estimation, it's a documentary meant to appeal to and mobilize your base. Something to excite them to send their Congressional rep an email or drop a check in the mail to (hopefully) an effective environmental group. Maybe they'll be amped enough (until they realize it's not as sexy as the movies make it) to want to take on a dam removal in their neck of the woods. What it likely won't do is win that city council battle over removal of the municipally owned dam. The implicit bucking of authority and rules combined with gratuitous (even if artistic) female nudity would cause my grandfather and others like him to immediately discount the more salient arguments made for restoration.

I have DamNation to thank for my continuing mental thumb war--the pumped up girl who dashes off 'getting radical' posts versus the pragmatist who knows what it takes to make real change happen. What I do know is that documentaries can be powerful tools for change when wielded appropriately, and part of that power lies in identifying your audience--critical in developing your message, film and corresponding call to action.

Who do you strive to appeal to when you create?

Keep your eye on this space because I will be announcing a couple of exciting documentary-related projects inspired by all the questions of audience and social change brought about by this film. Sign up for my newsletter below to be the first to hear about it!

Subscribe here to receive my newsletter!

Exploration, Science and Chasing Ice

Chasing Ice starts off like a modern day disaster flick, splicing news clips of catastrophic flooding amidst footage of a spate of climate deniers. However, do not be fooled into mistaking this remarkable documentary for an environmentalist's attempt to incite panic and preach to his own congregation. The film chronicles award-winning nature photographer James Balog's (who also has an advanced degree in geomorphology) effort to collect evidence of the Earth's changing climate by documenting melting icebergs in Iceland, Greenland, Alaska and other countries.



Pulling together a group of young scientists, Balog forms what he calls Extreme Ice Survey and, using time-lapse photography, documents conditions at 18 glaciers beginning in 2007. Chasing Ice uses tangible science, visual evidence and stunning glacial backdrops to highlight the fact that we are witnessing the disappearance of these gargantuan glaciers at a breathtaking rate.



The film also explores the challenges involved in mounting an effort this ambitious, including Balog's battle with his body's own fragility as he is forced to undergo yet another knee surgery during the project.

I'm sure the cynics among us will question how interesting watching ice melt could be, but to open your heart and mind to Chasing Ice is to have your life changed. As for its "interestingness", I fell asleep in the theater during Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Chasing Ice had me leaning forward, pretty much on the edge of my seat, and jotting down ideas once it was over for how to get this into the hands of everyone I know.

If you watch and/or are interested in learning more and taking action, the Chasing Ice site has some additional information, including what you can do about climate change. Also check out the Extreme Ice Survey site for a discussion of why glaciers matter and the different types of glaciers. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't direct you to American Rivers website for information on federal and state policy changes that can help our communities better adapt to a changing climate.

Chasing Ice is currently streaming on Netflix (among other places), so for many of you, watching it is just a couple of clicks away. Hell, I'll even stream it via a Google Hangout if there's enough interest ;-)

All photos above are screen captures I took from the film.

My watching year, 2013

Is it just me, or did 2013 fly by? Cliche, but it feels like such an incredibly real sentiment. The year, itself, has been fantastic. There have been so many movies in my life this year, ranging from gut-wrenching to entirely forgettable. Most of these films will be touchstones for different moments in my year, and while the films themselves may not stay with me, perhaps the circumstances surrounding them will. I think I will always remember this Christmas as the year we watched 10 movies in 48 hours because the local video store in my hometown offered free rentals in appreciation to their members. A challenge we accepted and met.

My entire 2013 watch list is below. My 10 favorites of the past year include: Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, This Is The End, Pacific Rim, Stories We Tell, Les émotifs anonymes,Catching Fire, The Way, Way Back, and Star Trek: Into Darkness.

Comic-Con Episode IV

Lincoln

Zero Dark Thirty

Silver Linings Playbook

Argo

Side Effects

A Good Day to Die Hard

Sign Painters

Warm Bodies

Iron Man 3

Expendables

Premium Rush

G.I. Joe Retaliation

This Is The End

Now You See Me

White House Down

World War Z

The Heat

Pacific Rim

Red 2

The World's End

Olympus Has Fallen

Stories We Tell

Thor

Les émotifs anonymes

Catching Fire

Street Dance

Miss Fisher's Murder Mystery (series, but I've been mainlining them like a movie)

Rango

Snowmaggedon
Man of Steel

2 Guns

The Lone Ranger

The Purge

Fast and the Furious 6

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Violet & Daisy

The Way, Way Back

2012, 2011 lists


Inspired by, and borrowed from, Austin Kleon.

End of the world movie club

Photo from Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

You may have noticed that I have a (*cough*) minor interest in dystopian, apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic stories. When it comes to books, I try to stick to the more literate* of the bunch--Jim Crace's The Pesthouse, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Margaret Atwood, Justin Cronin, etc. However, all bets are off when it comes to movies. I tend to take the broad view and consume pretty voraciously. This runs the gamut from the '83 cult classic The Day After to Armageddon (love) to made-for-TV originals like the 12 Disasters of Christmas (a real low point...even for me). The only movie genre I may get more excited for is a good dance movie!

You can imagine the giddy thumping of my little doom and gloom heart when the summer previews started hitting the streets. I began preparing my mental list of all that I'd try to see. I have to say that I didn't do too badly given how busy the summer was. As of this week, I've managed to see the following (in order of viewing):

This Is The End

White House Down

World War Z

Pacific Rim

The World's End

Olympus Has Fallen

 

Hands down, for me, the surprise of the summer was This Is The End. I went into this star-filled movie (headed by James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson) with massive amounts of skepticism, pretty much assuming I'd find it boring and stupid. I didn't expect to be laughing, loudly, throughout the entire thing. Yes, it was silly, but I enjoyed the premise of the stars playing themselves as portrayed by the media. I also didn't mind the heavy-handed nod to Revelations.

World War Z and Pacific Rim were kind of no-brainers for me. I'm a big fan of the book by Max Brooks (World War Z) and love robots and Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim)...sold. The World's End was also one of the movies that I eagerly anticipated. It's the third in a very loose trilogy, known as the Cornetto Trilogy, by Edgar Wright, which includes Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. While I think Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead are better, funnier films, The World's End was the perfect cap to Wright's loose of thread of the man-boy who finally pulls it together and accomplishes life-saving feats. 

I always feel like I have to justify why I'm into these kind of movies. I feel like most critics focus on the disaster porn angle and assume the public pays to see bigger explosions, cooler effects. These people don't speak for me. I find a bit of beauty in the fight for survival. I need to believe that there is a good to humanity and that, no matter how depraved things may get, there are those who will risk themselves to help the weaker among us. The struggle to survive, to persevere, is why I keep watching. 

The last film on my summer list was Olympus Has Fallen. I'd heard from a couple of friends that it was pretty awesome, but after the folks (my people) on Pop Culture Happy Hour derided it with such vim and vigor, I began to question myself. Luckily, I moved past the doubt pretty quickly and tracked down the movie. Believe it or not, it was a bit of a hunt. Basically, Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down are the same movie. Hot guy saves the president, a child, and America from bad guys of foreign origin while the White House is destroyed around them. Were they the BEST THING EVER? No, but I enjoyed them. They were pretty effective, brainless entertainment at the end of a long week.

Linda Holmes, I think you're awesome (and am pretty sure we'd be fast friends), but you can keep your Deadly Spa and Hallmark Channel romance movies. I'll take triumph of the human spirit any day.

*This isn't always 100%.

Thom Yorke Zumba and Flea Thrashercize

Let's just get this out of the way now. The Atoms for Peace show last night at the Patriot Center was awesome. And, while I appreciated the room to move and breathe, it's a bit of a travesty that there were so many empty seats.

It's the mark of a good show that my internal dialogue of earlier in the evening (too tired, too old for a weeknight show) evaporated as soon as they hit the stage. I was on my feet and dancing my ass off, afraid to sit down lest Yorke or Flea catch my eye. These guys are 40+ years old and leaving it all on the floor. It's my job as a concert goer to give it back, to feed the beast, and I was not about to let them down.

Yorke's moves are all over the map, each one weird, inspiring and so very, very perfect. He's the nerd's dancing hero. As I looked out across the stadium, I saw them (us) channeling his energy, dancing with a reckless freedom and confidence (maybe less with the confidence on my part). Thom Yorke is life affirming.

Flea radiated energy. He dominated the stage, his bass and the skirt he wore. This man is 50, and he.did.not.stop.

The music, itself, was other worldly. Layers and sounds and beats...I can't write about music without sounding like a tool. It got me moving, got me thinking and made me happy...all of my favorite things.

I'm writing this at 1AM on my phone while trying to go to sleep. If it doesn't make sense, let's blame it on that.

Top 5 Kevin Costner-Ugly Cry Marathon Picks

Over the past couple of weekends, I've been a bit indulgent with my time, spending more than a few hours* beating the heat at local movie theaters. Toward the end of White House Down (don't judge), I sat in the dark theater, tears sliding down my face as Channing Tatum's onscreen daughter stands on the lawn of the White House whipping an American flag back and forth (uh...spoiler alert?). The idea for this post came as I realized I'd been silently composing an email to my friend Allie to put that morning's tears in perspective.

You see, I am a crier. My tear ducts betray me when I'm angry, happy or sad; during shows, commercials or especially moving So You Think You Can Dance routines; while reading books or listening to storytelling podcasts; or (*drumroll*) while at the movies. It's a familial trait**, so I tended not to think too much of it until the afternoon I found myself watching Swing Vote with Allie. Instead of silent drops that can be discreetly brushed away, my fist was practically shoved in my mouth to quiet the moaning, ugly sobs emanating from my body. I was aware of exactly how embarrassing and ridiculous I was being, and yet, I could do nothing to stem the flow. I'm pretty sure Allie thought I'd finally had a nervous breakdown.

Later, I realized the link between many of my more extreme movie-crying experiences is Kevin Costner. So, without further adieu, I bring you my top five Kevin Costner-Ugly Cry marathon picks.


1. Swing Vote


2. For Love of the Game



3. Dances with Wolves



4. The Guardian



5. The Bodyguard

Yes, I'm the sap that is to blame for the fact that the hard-hearted masses must suffer through scene after cheesy scene pandering to the most base emotions.

*White House Down, World War Z, The Heat and Pacific Rim
**Lord help those of you sharing a couch with my family during holiday movie season.

Sign Painters

A tiny portion of my pictures of signs. Some of my favorites are held hostage on Flickr, awaiting me to renew my pro account.

When I found out Sign Painters, a documentary on the art of the hand-painted sign by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon, was premiering at the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, I was over the moon. I've been stalking, er, following along since I saw Faythe first mention the project on Twitter. I can't say that I'm obsessed with good signage, but an interesting sign has always been able to lure me in. Judging from all the photos of hand-painted beauties littering my phone and Flickr account, it is safe to say I've had a thing for them for quite a while.

The film, itself, paid homage to the craft and passion of sign painting. After an intro chock full of sign porn, we traveled the country with the filmmakers and listened to stories from some of the greats. I was humbled by the stories of apprenticeship and years of dedication to learning their craft. Sometimes I find myself frustrated with not automatically knowing how to do certain things or not being considered an expert (shoots a wary look at the ukulele sitting unplayed in my corner). What a cocky bastard I am to think I should be good at something after giving it an hour or a week!

Another thing that really spoke to me was something mentioned during the q&a when Levine made reference to how important it was as a filmmaker and a researcher to be able to add quality content in a field where information is scarce. As a collector of information and stories, this really spoke to me. Like graffiti long abandoned under an overpass, Levine and Macon extend the legacy of some of these artists beyond faded traces left on that brick building you always pass walking home from work.

Seeing the film surrounded by portraits in the Renwick's Grand Salon was just the cherry on top.

On why I'm excited for the Oscars...

I can't help but be a little excited for the Oscars tomorrow. I'm not sure how much I'll actually watch. However, I made a concerted effort to see several of the noms in January, and they each impacted me in such a positive way that I can't help but be excited for them.

Of the films that made the cut, I've seen Argo, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty. I really enjoyed Silver Linings and found Somebody That I Used to Know streaming in my subconscious as I watched Bradley Cooper portray someone with bipolar disorder. Still, it's been the other three movies that have stuck with me, leading to the most introspection.

I know others who have been bored by parts, but I sat riveted through each of these movies. I left with THOUGHTS and FEELINGS and plans to write nuanced pieces about each one. Well, life gets in the way, so I'm going to follow last week's rapid-fire book review format and tell you a bit about why I love each.

Argo - This movie really showcases Ben Affleck's talent in the director's chair. We all know how the story ends. They make it out, and yet, I was still a bundle of nerves waiting to see what could go wrong. He masters creating tension. Also notable are the outfits and two of my '90s obsessions, Victor Garber and Clea Duvall.

Zero Dark Thirty - I was skeptical of this movie going in. I was not someone who cheered in the streets when Osama was killed or yelled 'fuck yeah, America'. I understand why it had to happen, but I found/find the whole state of affairs we're in incredibly sad. This movie didn't change that. I don't even know where to begin. So much has been written about this movie, and I've tried to avoid most of it. Kathryn Bigelow does a phenomenal job at manipulating audience emotion and playing both arguments regarding torture against each other. I went through several stages of grief while I sat, glued to the chair. If this weren't a quickie review, I'd cram pages of thought in your face. In the end, I don't know if so many women or children were present when he died, but that also really got me. I couldn't help but leave thinking that the cycle will certainly continue.

Lincoln - This movie played to my love of history and rekindled some of my passion for politics (all three of these movies did). It's fun to watch political drama play out in hindsight rather than listen to the painful bloviations of today, wondering what dark road they'll take us down. Excellent acting, plenty of opportunities to laugh, and much respect for Lincoln's rhetoric.

Aren't you glad I didn't give you the long version? ;-)

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope

My friend, Duncan, drawing comics at the Barnes & Noble cafe.

I'm attracted to passionate people. I've said it before, but it bears repeating. These are the type of people I like to fill with my life with. If you get bored often or don't dream*, I'm going to struggle with how to fit you into my life.

Comic-Con Episode IV is FILLED with people with a dream. This documentary follows the lives of six uber-fans as they prepare for their big moment at San Diego Comic-Con.

• Holly is the mega-talented costume designer who can recreate video game and comic worlds from scratch. She's preparing to compete in the Masquerade costume contest. 
• Chuck is a dealer who owns Mile High Comics in Denver and is struggling to keep his business afloat in the face of a changing comics market and Comic-Con's growing focus on the broader entertainment market. 
• James and Se Young are young fans who met and found love at Comic-Con. 
• Skip and Eric are aspiring illustrators that hail from different parts of the country and have radically different origin stories. Both make their way to Comic-Con to show off their drawings and hope to be discovered.

Interspersed with each fan's journey are clips of fanboy (and girl) heroes like Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Josh Whedon, and Harry Knowles talking to the camera about the comic book scene, evolution of Comic-Con, and pretty much whatever floats their boat. Kevin Smith, always funny as hell, was a particular favorite.

I really dug this documentary. I found it equally endearing, inspiring, and at times, laugh out loud funny. It's a largely hopeful look at normal people trying to live the dream and little bit of an oral history of San Diego Comic-Con rolled into one. While scenes of the massive crowds and multi-day lines did nothing to quell the notion that this crowd-fearing introvert would wind up huddled in a corner, it did make me want to pick those Avengers comics back up and continue the comic book project I started last year.

*I'm not picky. Your dream could be to find the best tater tots in the state of Illinois or your passion could be memorizing your favorite lines from BSG. 

My watching year*, 2012

What movies did I spend my money and time consuming in 2012**? See my full of titles below.

Favorites
Argo, Looper and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter are battling it out for my top pick.

Secret loves I know you'll judge
Battleship, 21 Jump Street and Breaking Dawn Part II

You probably shouldn't waste your money
I love Johnny Depp, but I really regretted Dark Shadows.

Want to see last year's list?

Chronicle
This Means War
21 Jump Street
Hunger Games
Cabin in the Woods
Bernie
Avengers
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Dark Shadows
Battleship
MIB 3
Brave

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter 

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Magic Mike
Dark Knight Rises
Step Up 4
Paranorman
Looper
Pitch Perfect
Argo
Wreck-it Ralph
Breaking Dawn, Part II
Red Dawn
The Hobbit

*Inspired by, and borrowed from, Austin Kleon (one of my favorite, most enlightening people to follow).
**Only includes the movies I watched that debuted in 2012.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter...convenient liberal fantasy or fun romp?

I really, really liked Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. So fun and everything a good liberal like me could ask for. Lincoln wielding an axe with more finesse than a member your band's color guard totally did it for me, and the nods to history (and revisionist history...hello? vampires?) culled from Lincoln biographies and other texts kept me sated.

Should I point out that I couldn't help but think of the disservice we do ourselves by conveniently creating monsters to blame for the brutalities of the south and the Civil War? Or discuss how vampires are indeed an affective allegory* for the south? What about how blatant the character of Will Johnson fulfilled the role of Spike Lee's 'magical negro'?

I'd be lying if I said that all of the above didn't cross my mind while watching the movie. Sometimes I don't want to analyze a movie though. I don't want to think critically, picking it apart and thinking about why it might not be a shining example of cinema or messaging. Often, I just want to enjoy it, and you know what? I did. All I needed was some good ass-kicking fun with the bad guy getting his comeuppance, and this movie delivered.


*Alright, grammarians, did I use this one correctly?

Deliverance: An ode to the Chattooga

 
The Kennebec River...not the Chattooga

Until this weekend, I had never seen Deliverance. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this (whatever), but I kept getting it confused with The River Wild with Kevin Bacon. This past week Deliverance came up at work during a coworker's going away celebration. It was shot on the Chattooga, and it turns out a few staff have some interesting stories (funny, colorful tales that I'm probably not allowed to tell for legal reasons :-)) of their own time on the river. I considered it serendipitous that I saw the DVD on sale for $5 this weekend. After I got over the shock of it starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight instead of Kevin Bacon, I tossed it in the cart.

Dudes! Why have I never seen this movie? Burt Reynolds opens the movie with an environmentally charged rant against dam building and the killing of this wild river that is pretty indicative of the time in which it debuted. If you know anything about what I do, you know this is my bailiwick (well, a more radical version of my supposed pragmatic bailiwick). I also didn't realize how much this movie has infiltrated pop culture. Dueling banjos and so many other lines were surprisingly familiar.

Let's talk a little bit about the hillbillies (mountain people, rednecks, whatever). They were made creepier because they reminded me of my own run-in with the locals on a project several years ago. I wish I were exaggerating when I say this, but two guys with just as few teeth as those in Deliverance did their best to convince us to get in their pickup. This, of course, was shortly after another local fishing near the river called me a bitch with a southern slur when asking me to move my car. Thinking back, it's probably best I hadn't seen this movie earlier in life.

P.S. That river...gorgeous! The Chattooga clearly stole the show.

P.P.S. Has anyone seen Cabin in the Woods? Was the seen where they stop at the gas station on the way up the mountain satirizing a eerily similar scene in Deliverance?

#31DDD: What song encapsulates how you feel today?

DMX - Ya'll Gonna Make Me Lose My Mind

Such a great song for so many different occasions. This is definitely one of my go-to songs when I'm feeling frustrated. Guess what. The new slate of passengers surrounding me on the train from Chicago to Texas are inspiring me to pull this out today.

Let me give you an idea of mentally what I'm up against. Sitting across the aisle is a gentleman smacker. If you know me at all, you know noises made while eating will break me into a thousand pieces. Even my own noises drive me crazy. To add insult to injury, he was eating a combination of Funions, tuna, and chili cheese dip.

I soon discovered that food noises were the least of my worries. I'm surrounded by a group of late teens/early twenty-somethings who are simply obnoxious. I curse. I've confessed here that I curse. However, it isn't every word out of my mouth in a public setting. Add to that drinking and the fact that I swear I heard one of them ask another if they were still high, and I was ready to pull my hair out.

The straw that broke this camel's back was the playing of music, loudly and with no headphones. When I politely asked if he had headphones, I was informed that he didn't. How am I going to survive 30 hours of this? Seriously? If you don't believe in Jesus, you should because he's certainly my only hope.

Lest you think I'm typing this from a prison cell, my prayers were answered in the form of available seats in the observation car. I'm camped out here for the time being and couldn't be happier. I think people forget that, when traveling, you have to tone down the extreme versions of yourself. I'm 100% for authenticity and self-expression, but many situations put us in close quarters with a wide variety of people. Sometimes, in order to all get along, we have to place common courtesy higher than our own wants.

My watching year, 2011

Saving seats back in 2008 for our 48 Film Fest premiere! 

Inspired by this post from Austin Kleon, I decided to post my own list of movies watched in 2011. To be honest, I didn't expect the list to be quite this long. I originally intended to just list out my favorite movies viewed this year, but when I saw the list, I couldn't help but post everything. All the fame, all the shame right here before you.

Caveat: I've said it before, but it bears repeating. I have been known to readily embrace crappy flicks. Judge all you want. If you want to see me get snooty, we'll have to talk books.

Movies that I loved (i.e., own or would like to own)
 Midnight in Paris
Bill Cunningham New York
Beautiful Losers
Helvetica
Herb and Dorothy
Contagion
Black Swan
Real Steel

Movies I enjoyed a heckuva lot
Fast five
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Super 8
Bridesmaids
Fright Night
Hanna

Pretty entertaining
The Hangover 2
Columbiana
Tower Heist
Captain America
X-Men: First Class

Meh
Tree of Life
Horrible Bosses
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon
I am number 4
Bride Wars
Gnomeo and Juliet
Hoodwinked

Save your money, save your brain
Sucker Punch

Movies were listed in no particular order. Thanks to all my cohorts who ventured out or shared a couch with me to watch these. Of course, quite a few of my favorites I happened to see alone.

What have you been watching this year?

Small Demons

Piece by Shaunna Peterson snapped by me at Art Whino last year

I think I just had a pop culture orgasm. I snagged a beta invite today to Small Demons, and I'm already in love. Imagine a site that takes the books we love and maps out their broader links to people, movies, music, and places referenced within its pages. As someone who has been known to fall down many a rabbit hole following the little eggs left throughout shows like Gilmore Girls or visit music clubs referenced in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, this site has potential to be such a fun tool in broadening the way we experience books and the universe the characters we read about inhabit. 

Do you read The Other Boleyn Girl and find yourself googling Anne Boleyn or the Tudors? Visit the site and snag yourself an invite.

Let's get nostalgic: first cassette

Why, yes, that is me busting a move. I bet you're wishing So You Think You Can Dance had been around when I was young. 

I've been catching up on older episodes of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour during my recent car trips and happened upon an older episode where the cast talks about some of their pop culture firsts. I thought it would be fun to take their lists and blog about my own firsts. I love looking back and thinking about how much my taste has changed (or not). I was also a little motivated by the fact that I actually had a hard time digging that far back. I can't promise these are my true firsts, but they are the ones that managed to stand out.

Let's get one thing clear. We're talking cassette purchases here, no 8-tracks or vinyl. Don't even talk to me about CDs because I'm pretty sure they weren't around. I have to confess that I kind of miss cassettes. How many of us spent many hours perched over our boom boxes with a blank cassette at the ready, waiting to capture our favorite songs as they played on the radio? Why didn't I think to keep some of those mixtapes?

One of my first music purchases was Def Leppard's Hysteria, largely because of Pour Some Sugar on Me. I was more than a little into hair bands. Also, let us not forget Love Bites.

August List #10

Some of my favorite So You Think You Can Dance routines:













Okay, I have to stop. This could go on forever. Tell me. Which ones are your favorites?

Heart of gold

Would you date the kindhearted criminal? The benevolent bad guy with a bit of a Robin Hood streak?



I saw Fast Five this weekend because who I am to resist muscular men driving fast cars. I think there's something attractive* about the archetype that Vin Diesel and some of his crew portray. While these characters clearly don't operate within the bounds of the law, their targets are often considered even more evil, and the results of their action often benefit the greater good in some way.

So, how do you feel about the kindhearted criminal?



*Judging by the popularity of this archetype, I'm guessing I'm not the only person these characters appeal to.

Herb & Dorothy and the Case for Collectors

After allowing it to linger on my "must watch" list, I finally managed to see Herb and Dorothy.



I had seen bits and pieces about it floating around the internet and but was completely oblivious to the Herb & Dorothy phenomenon prior to that. The documentary did not disappoint. I loved watching this doddering couple age. In addition to the passion they bring to art collecting, they also demonstrated some wicked savvy when acquiring pieces. I'm not talking about their forward thinking and ability to get in at the forefront of several major art movements. These folks are people savvy. I believe the film, at one point, talks about how they didn't just collect art but also collected artists. They took time to form relationships and that, in the end, benefited them greatly. To me, that just seemed so sharp.

About halfway through the movie, I started to get a little worried about Herb and Dorothy. They were so obsessive about collecting that I began to wonder if they might be well suited for an episode of Hoarders. Stored art filled so much of their living space that there wasn't room to live. I changed my mind knowing that they were prepared to donate their collection so that future generations could enjoy and learn from it.

That was actually my favorite part...the fact that they so selflessly gave most of their collection away to the National Gallery of Art and museums around the country (50X50).

Such an interesting film that, of course, got me thinking about collections. I think most everyone has experience collecting something at some point in your life. I started out with stamps...and Elvis memorabilia. My collections now include metal robots and the letter 's' in movable type. Some of my favorite collections belong to other folks...

• Andrea's brush bottle tree collection.
• This plate collection.
• Pretty paint-by-numbers collected by Elsie.
• Oh deer! I love this grouping of deer.
• Cori Kindred's bits and pieces of nature.

Are there collections that find their way into your life?