Guess What I Watched This Weekend?

I got sick Saturday and had to stay in bed watching all kinds of crap. Except at night Peter and I settled in to see The Hangover. It was funny, but not as funny as I thought it would be. I still enjoyed it a whole lot. That song makes me smile.

My Top Movies of the Aughts

I used to be an avid movie watcher. Even movies I couldn't see, or didn't have the time/money to catch I would read about. Somewhere during college when I was a film major something snapped and I lost my intense interest. I still loved movies, still liked going to the theater, and reading about films - but the intensity with which I sought movies out was lost. So when looking at Dawn's list and the Wikepedia list she linked I realized I can't really say which movies are the best, since I haven't seen 90 percent of them. But I know these movies have proved a special place in my heart and they are great entertainment. The first film is actually an all time favorite of mine. (I wanted to include more films but realized they are heavily from 2000 & 2001 time - when I actually watched films.)

1. In the Mood for Love
Nostalgia, regret, love, integrity, gorgeous acting, gorgeous sound track, gorgeous film. Can't be beat.
2. 2046
Sequal to In the Mood for Love. Trippy but great. Just as poetic as the first film.
3. Amélie
Loved it when I first saw it. Audrey Tautou is adorable. Still like it but I don't love it. Lost it's luster as I grew more cynical.
4. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy/Old School
Hilarious and highly quotable.
5. Brick
Reinventing the film noir genre. More people need to see this film. Smart. Suspenseful. Funny. Well acted as well. Made me fall in love with Joseph Gordon Levitt.
6. Coffee and Cigarettes
Pure Jim Jarmusch. Sometimes boring and extraneous. But the scenes that work, like Bill Murray with RZA & GZA, are pure surreal fun.
7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Imaginative. Captured my interest in Chinese action flicks, made me excited to go see Hero. Made fighting sexy.
8. The Darjeeling Limited/ Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Loved the dynamic between the brothers. Thought it was a good Anderson effort.
- Anderson exploring the son-father relationship again - but in a much more fantastically way. Loved it.
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
One of those "generation" films. Love is the new religion and this film is a sort of a Bible for the Xers and Ys.
10 Y Tu Mama Tambien
Sexy. Vulgar. A film about the limits of friendship. Makes you want to get into a car and head south of the border.
11. Gone Baby Gone
I hate Ben Affleck but his directorial debut was impressive. A nuanced piece of film making. Captured Boston very well.
12. Gosford Park
A well crafted film I could watch over and over again. It's a mystery with so many layers. Well acted and put together meticulously.
13. Grindhouse
The whole Terrantino-Rodriguez experience was pure awesome fun. I saw it opening night at midnight and it was like going to the movies for the first time.
14. Little Miss Sunshine
The first time I saw it I was crying laughing. On subsequent viewings it has proved less funny but more poignant. Greg Kinnear continues to blow my mind as an actor.
15. Mamma Mia!
This movie is cheesy and there's definitely many flaws (horrible acting/dialogue by most), but it's pure fun. I especially commend it for reaching out to the middle aged women like my mother. Meryl Streep is great fantastic. Don't touch Meryl.
16. Reprise
Imaginative. Nuanced.
17. Monsoon Wedding
Funny and sweet. A bit melodramatic at times, but captures the big family dynamic beautifully.
18. Superbad
Funny. Poignant. True. Can watch over and over. Seriously in my top ten of all time.
19. The Pianist
A Holocaust movie that didn't feel like a Holocaust movie. Amazing.
20. Punch-Drunk Love
I relate to Adam Sandler's character more than I want to admit. Such a beautiful portrait of rage and redeeming qualities of love.
21. Shaun of the Dead
Made me want to watch horror movies. It's funny and sweet. Adore it.
22. Sin City
Imaginative. A well told story. Completely kicked ass.
23. Spirited Away
Hayao Miyazaki blows me away. Although he has a predictable formula to all his films I can't wait to see each new one. There is a little bit of magic in each film.
24. There Will Be Blood
As perfect as a movie can be. I've written before that if it wasn't for the anti-religious/anti-capitalist message I would love it even more. It's a perfect movie. Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing.
25. Wonder Boys
Loved Michael Douglas, Tobey McGuire, and Robert Downey Jr. A good story of a man finally becoming an adult. I didn't even hate Katie Holmes in this.
26. Melvin Goes to Dinner
Although you might have not seen this little indie movie, it's great. It's a bit of a mystery, but mostly just a great story of four friends talking over dinner. Ghosts, G-d, and social awkwardness make an appearance. (Plus the girl from Progressive.com is one of the leads and David Cross makes a cameo as a crazy cult leader.)
27. Heaven
Unfinished script by Krystof Kieslowski (it was supposed to be a trilogy), directed by Tom Tykwer, and starring Cate Blanchett. It's an imperfect film which I loved. Made me fall in love with Blanchett, she is an amazing force.
28. Adaptation
Meta, clever, fucks with your mind in a good way.
29. Batman Begins
Really loved the Christian Bale & Michael Cane dynamic. Hated Katie Holmes. Also the ending blew but I still loved it.
30. The Prestige
Michael Cane & Christian Bale dynamic. It works for me. Loved the twist. Bale's acting is impressive. High Jackman also impressed me. Scarlet Johansen was watchable but can go fuck herself anyway (hate her).

Song of the Day

I love this "Red Light" by Jonny Lang, even though it's bit corny. I really like the way he sings the song.

I Would Be Asleep....

but stuff like this is keeping me awake.

Upon examination of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment to the health care legislation, Senators discovered section 3403. That section changes the rules of the United States Senate.

To change the rules of the United States Senate, there must be sixty-seven votes.

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medical Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Section 3403 of Senator Reid’s legislation also states, “Notwithstanding rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph (A) may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection (c)(3).” In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule.

Senator Jim DeMint confronted the Democrats over Reid’s language. In the past, the Senate Parliamentarian has repeatedly determined that any legislation that also changes the internal standing rules of the Senate must have a two-thirds vote to pass because to change Senate rules, a two-thirds vote is required. Today, the Senate President, acting on the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian, ruled that these rules changes are actually just procedural changes and, despite what the actual words of the legislation say, are not rules changes. Therefore, a two-thirds vote is not needed in contravention to longs

tanding Senate precedent.

I Should Be Asleep...

but there is too many things floating in my head. Things I expect in the following year:
1. My hair will get long enough for a pony tail.
2. I will quit my stinky, unappreciative, shit paying job.
3. I will learn at least 3 new skills!
4. I will see at least 5 movies in the theater.
5. I will live in 10-15 mile radius of my boyfriend.
6. I will buy a sled and go sledding in Central Park again.
7. I will lose weight and look better than I did before I got sick.
8. I will go on a vacation with Peter. A real, honest to goodness, just the two of us vacation.
9. I will take lots of fancy photos with my expensive camera I have yet to purchase.
10. I will have strength to find a meaningful way to spend my time here on earth.

A modest list I think.

A Twist

I love this blog, which re-interprets missed connections into whimsical drawings. This was especially interesting, since you think it's going to be a nice thank you but instead inverts the message and makes the missed connection sinister. (Did she steal the coat? She's going to steal books/incur fines!) The drawin itself is great, as most of the others.

Forcing People To Eat

More here.

I Kind Adore All Of These

via This Fish

Not To Be Annoying

Every time I read how wonderful NHS is because someone had a small medical problem, like a broken arm or asthma attack, I want the same people to go through NHS again as a cancer patient or any other debilitating, chronic condition and see if their outlook is as rosy about a nationalized health system as it is after a fracture.

A Chink Indeed

The CRU’s supporters have protested bitterly about the attention paid to this message. In the course of an extraordinary BBC interview in which he called an American critic an ‘****hole’ live on air, Jones’s colleague Professor Andrew Watson insisted that the fuss was completely unjustified, because all Jones had been talking about was ‘tweaking a diagram’.

Davies told me that the email had been ‘taken out of context’ adding: ‘One definition of the word “trick” is “the best way of doing something”. What Phil did was standard practice and the facts are out there in the peer-reviewed literature.’

However, the full context of that ‘trick’ email, as shown by a new and until now unreported analysis by the Canadian climate statistician Steve McIntyre, is extremely troubling.

Derived from close examination of some of the thousands of other leaked emails, he says it suggests the ‘trick’ undermines not only the CRU but the IPCC.

There is a widespread misconception that the ‘decline’ Jones was referring to is the fall in global temperatures from their peak in 1998, which probably was the hottest year for a long time. In fact, its subject was more technical - and much more significant.

It is true that, in Watson’s phrase, in the autumn of 1999 Jones and his colleagues were trying to ‘tweak’ a diagram. But it wasn’t just any old diagram.

It was the chart displayed on the first page of the ‘Summary for Policymakers’ of the 2001 IPCC report - the famous ‘hockey stick’ graph that has been endlessly reproduced in everything from newspapers to primary-school textbooks ever since, showing centuries of level or declining temperatures until a dizzying, almost vertical rise in the late 20th Century.

There could be no simpler or more dramatic representation of global warming, and if the origin of worldwide concern over climate change could be traced to a single image, it would be the hockey stick.

Drawing a diagram such as this is far from straightforward.

Gabriel Fahrenheit did not invent the mercury thermometer until 1724, so scientists who want to reconstruct earlier climate history have to use ‘proxy data’ - measurements derived from records such as ice cores, tree-rings and growing season dates.

However, different proxies give very different results.

For example, some suggest that the ‘medieval warm period’, the 350-year era that started around 1000, when red wine grapes flourished in southern England and the Vikings tilled now-frozen farms in Greenland, was considerably warmer than even 1998.

Of course, this is inconvenient to climate change believers because there were no cars or factories pumping out greenhouse gases in 1000AD - yet the Earth still warmed.

Some tree-ring data eliminates the medieval warmth altogether, while others reflect it. In September 1999, Jones’s IPCC colleague Michael Mann of Penn State University in America - who is now also the subject of an official investigation --was working with Jones on the hockey stick. As they debated which data to use, they discussed a long tree-ring analysis carried out by Keith Briffa.

Briffa knew exactly why they wanted it, writing in an email on September 22: ‘I know there is pressure to present a nice tidy story as regards “apparent unprecedented warming in a thousand years or more”.’ But his conscience was troubled. ‘In reality the situation is not quite so simple - I believe that the recent warmth was probably matched about 1,000 years ago.’

This is a must read on the matter.

Perception Is (almost) Everything

Taking a man’s name opened up a new world. It helped me earn double and triple the income of my true name, with the same work and service.

"James Chartrand" has come clean about who "he" is and reading about how and why a perfectly good writer decided to take on a male pseudonym is utterly depressing. I'm not one to cry "sexism" often and blame but I wasn't too surprised when reading this story (this is the first time I heard of the writer). I believe that women now have unparalleled rights and opportunities than any other time in history and yet here's a perfect example of the limits of this new gained equality. A woman needing to take on the identity of a man in order to be respected both professionally and financially (which if one looks at it is one and the same). I don't think this is just typical "sexism" aka men perceiving woman in lesser role, this is also other woman perceiving woman to be worse than their male counterparts and woman themselves not being assertive enough. Women tend to accommodate and back down far more easier than men. Why pay someone more when they are willing to settle for less?

Since then, we’ve had feminism. We have the right to vote, to own property, to be members of Parliament and Congress, to get a job, and to be the main breadwinner of the family. And yet apparently we haven’t gotten past those 19th century stigmas.

The evidence was right there in front of me.

I never wanted to be an activist, or to fight the world. I’m not interested in clawing my way up a ladder to a glass ceiling. Life’s too short for that.

I just want to earn a living and be respected for my skills. I want my kids to be happy and have access to what they need. I want them to go to university and have good opportunities in life.

More personally, I have experienced similar kind of sexism at my job. Part of my work includes customer service, now while my company is headed by two men, my office consists of ninety percent of women, specifically a manager who treats her employees as children and customers as babies that must constantly pacified and indulged. So once in a while we get a very irate (typically a man, but a woman gets caught in the cross hairs too) who won't listen to any reason or policy of the company, in fact even my manager (who is horrible with us, but tends to be good on the phone with jerks when she has to) cannot pacify some of the crazy, yet on more than one occasion our CFO get on the phone and says the exact same information that has been repeated to these ass clown and it's magic. They hear a man's voice and bam! instant respect and attention. To say it's frustrating is an understatement and yet I think it has something to do with the delivery. Woman want to please, men want to solve the problem, there is a lot more wiggle room with women unfortunately. And until woman realize, on mass, that it's better for them to be more demanding, assertive, and stern (at least when it comes to self interest) - sexism will always exist.

via Ken Wheaton's twitter.

Orson Welles Interview

Guess he found the Rosebud device to be rudimentary and is ashamed of it.

via Clusterflock

Update: I want this: "Work as an expression of life."

Proving I'm A Real American Russian

I do love me some Tom Waits.

Happy (early) Chanukkahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Wishful Thinking Doesn't Lead To Actual Results

Narrow intellectual gatekeeping is omnipresent in academia. Want to know why the government wastes hundreds of millions of dollars on math and science programs that never seem to improve the test scores of American students?[3] Part of the reason for this is that today’s K-12 educators—unlike educators in other high-scoring countries of the world—refuse to acknowledge evidence that memorization plays an important role in mastering mathematics. Any proposed program that supports memorization is deemed to be against “creativity” by today’s intellectual gatekeepers in K-12 education, including those behind the Math and Science Partnerships. As one NSF program director told me: “We hear about success stories with practice and repetition-based programs like Kumon Mathematics. But I’ll be frank with you—you’ll never get anything like that funded. We don’t believe in it.” Instead the intellectual leadership in education encourages enormously expensive pimping programs that put America even further behind the international learning curve.

Read the whole thing.

via Instapundit

Soft Focus

I won't like, this is kind of my radio song of the moment. It pains me very much to admit it, but it is. I find the video really weird, like if they just make everything in soft focus it will look better and yet doesn't.

How Big Is The Internet?

Big. Huge. (Just one day analysis!)

A Personal Question

I've been seeing a therapist in the Boston area, but since I'm moving to New York City soonish I need recommendations for a good therapist. I find the best kind of therapist are the ones who are reffed by friends, so that's why I'm turning to the internet. If you anyone knows of a good therapist in the NYC area live a comment (anonymous would be fine!).

Drinking Beer Makes Me Creative

Um, still a Democrat

Since I never switched from being a Democrat to Independent. I will be voting in the Democrat primary, but my final vote will go to my State Representative Scott Brown. I really wish I could help more in the campaign.

My Favorite Wine!

Montepulciano, originally uploaded by MissIllustrator.

Although when I drink it my mood is the opposite.

Pot Meet Kettle

Wow. I almost have no words. NPR pressures its reporter, Mara Liasson, to stop appearing on the "biased" Fox network. Way to be all independent of government rhetoric NPR and hey it's not like you aren't lefty biased news organization, oh wait you are. Why does it matter to NPR what other networks their reporters report? Completely inappropriate:

NPR’s focus on Liasson’s work as a commentator on Fox’s “Special Report” and “Fox News Sunday” came at about the same time as a White House campaign launched in September to delegitimize the network by painting it as an extension of the Republican Party.

One source said the White House’s criticism of Fox was raised during the discussions with Liasson. However, an NPR spokeswoman told POLITICO that the Obama administration’s attempts to discourage other news outlets from treating Fox as a peer had no impact on any internal discussions at NPR.

I love the timing, had absolutely nothing to do with the White House. Pure coincidence. /sarcasm

Why Is Jay-Z Dressing Like An Old Russian Dude?

[Bumped]


I must have answers.

Update: Gib is funny:
"It's so nice that Beyonce is willing to be photographed giving her grandmother an affectionate hug."

The Headline Says One Thing....

the actual article says the exact opposite.

Headline: Romney defends Huckabee's clemency decision.

Romney's actual stance:

As Governor, Romney said he put strict pardoning guidelines in place to avoid letting personal impressions fog his judgment.

"My conclusion was if somebody has been convicted by a jury of their peers and they have been prosecuted and the police were able to get the evidence necessary to put them behind bars, why in the world would I step in and reverse that sentence," He said.

via BenPolitico

"One of the most life affirming songs.” - Peter

I adore this song so much. A friend gave me In the Aeroplane over the Sea (the album) a few years ago and it took me years to realize how gorgeous the songs are. The imagery and the music perfectly co-exist.
The lyric I keep coming back to over and over to is “Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all”." It perfectly expresses my existential crisis, or if not crisis than wonderment at being alive. I often say/think this line to myself.

Twins

I'm not big into following the Olson twins, but I love this photo. It seems to perfectly encapsulate each girl's personality, the mischievous free spirit and the exasperated serious one.

Quote of the Day

"I knew who I was this morning but I've changed a few times since then." - Alice from Alice in Wonderland

I Can Only Afford to Like It

IMG_4795, originally uploaded by jakedobkin.

<3

Destruction of a Good Idea

Show Off 16 (english), originally uploaded by scottlava.

I saw this originally on kottke.org when it was in Portuguese. The artist went and translated into English! Love it.

Talking About Butts All Day*

Can make me post this. For Angela.

Title referring to this.

Going Through Old Untitled CDs Leads To This

You know you want to listen. I promise no Destiny's Child at the link, just pouty, breakup music.

A Moment of Actor Hate

I really dislike Anne Hathaway - the mannerisms, the mousy do-gooder she plays in every frickin movie. And no I haven't seen Rachel Getting Married, but I might have got stuck watching Bride Wars the other night (seriously, weak plot development). The girl has the the depth of a thimble.

True Dat

Dear everyone who has used the phrase "this is why they hate us":

It’s YOU I hate. A) Who is “they”? Not America? Just the poor countries? Laos? B) Like you give a shit. I don’t see you selling off your 52” 1080p television and Xbox for money to send to Darfur or packing up your condo to go rough it some remote slum. Complaining about America’s screwed up priorities on a blog? from your Macbook Pro?

Girl.

BYE.

Sick of the Swiss

Just because Switzerland has been in the news for banning new minarets, I thought I would post one of my favorite KITH skits. So catchy!



(While I think the response to the real problem is completely wrong (just like the Europeans to stick their neck in the sand and then overact), it shows that non-assimilation of the Muslim population has finally reached a critical mass.)

Dear Hair,

I hate you. So very, very much. At one point we were in love. Especially that awkward chubby phase I went through as a teenager. You were there for me when all other physical aspects had let me down. Strong, silky, and smooth you were my pride and joy. I know we had to part for sometime during the "chemo" episode but I always thought you would comeback to me, like an old friend. Instead you have come back as the ugly stepchild, you are neither curly or straight, instead you make my hair look like a chimney sweep brush. Like this one:

So yeah if you can straighten that out (litterally), this will a better stronger union. Otherwise I will cut you. No seriously, scissors in hand.
formerly in love,
Petitedov

Never Going To Pass, But Still Awesome

GOP has introduced the Geithner Penalty Waiver Act. Which is just pure awesome. Forgot to pay your taxes because of Turbo Tax? No problem (well kind of):

Carter says the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandates equal penalties for similar offenses, and that the failure of the IRS to assess any penalties against Geithner demands similar penalties for all taxpayers with substantially equivalent cases. “This bill seeks to codify what is now established by the law of precedent,” says Carter. “The Geithner case has established a legal precedent for the determination of penalties by the IRS, and that precedent can be cited in all federal tax courts. The penalty is now set at zero.” “Taxpayers who willfully attempt to evade paying their fair taxes should pay a penalty, or our tax code becomes unenforceable,” says Carter. “This bill is not to reward tax evaders, but to defend the Rule of Law itself. If we as a nation choose not to enforce the law against the politically privileged, then we cannot enforce the law against others without undermining respect for the law itself.”

One of the things that troubles me about over-regulation and more government is that the people who usually make the laws don't feel the need to follow it. Case in point Ted Kennedy, who was all for greener energy but only if it didn't take place in his backyard (I'm not even going to mention Chappaquiddick - although come on!). Or how about that wonderful national Health Care Plan that Barack Obama will not enroll his own children in. Penalties and laws are for the little people, don't you know! In the Soviet Union the Party members lived the good life - there was no food, housing, or medicine shortages when you were a higher up in the Soviet political machine - who got stuck with the nasty effects of their backwards laws? Why the little people! So yeah, I'm happy when there are attempts to show the government they are not above the law.