There are a lot of things I don't know much about... clothing, NASCAR, reality television. Add art to that list.
But unlike the other three, I wouldn't mind knowing a little more. Its interesting to me, even though I don't understand a lot of it.
So I pass on this link just because there's really cool stuff in this gallery run by a girl who had a small cup of coffee with our Zog softball team last year. I can't vauch for its value, style, snob appeal or cultural significance, but nonetheless, here's Raandesk.
All in Random Stuff
Douglas Warshaw sent me this list some time ago... I was just cleaning my inbox and couldn't figure out what to do with it, and I think its really best suited out in the open, b/c its such a well thought out list.
From Doug:
Charlie ... was reading your blog ... and thought I'd send you the below. It's a list I made up last year for a friend's son who was going off to college (hence, some of the notes specific regarding on what date a film should be ideally be seen :)
WINTER KILLS.
By the author of The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor, a dark satire
on the Kennedy assassination ...probably the best movie you've never heard of.
PRIMAL FEAR
Ed Norton's breakout role -- and he's surrounded by a great cast, including
the incomparable Laura Linney, Frances McDormand, John Mahoney, Adre
Braugher, Alfre Woodard and Richard Gere -- a terrific, underrated movie
(probably because its dumb-ass title has zero to do with the plot!).
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
Sean Connery and Michael Caine...about as good as a Kipling tale -- or a movie
for that matter -- can get.
*THE LAST DETAIL
One of a line of truly great, cynical American movies of the late 60s and 70s. The kind of flick that makes you realize how far from great today's
films are. Jack Nicholson in one of his greatest roles.
BONNIE & CLYDE
Changed American filmmaking, our sense of violence, our sense of celebrity -- and even effected American fashion. Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and young Gene Hackman (in his breakout role).
NETWORK
Paddy Chayefsky's amazing black satire of the TV business -- that today seems less a satire than an on-the-mark prediction. Another of the great, cynical American movies of the late 60s and 70s.
THE HOSPITAL
The single blackest film I've ever seen. Another gem by Chayefsky.
*CHINATOWN
Regarded by many as one of the very best scripts in the history of film. Roman Polanski at is best, and Jack Nicholson, again, at the top of his game.
*THE MALTESE FALCON
"A man can have many sons, but there's only one Maltese Falcon."
The most perfectly cast film ever. (From a great Hammett novel.) Another John Huston gem.
THE BIG SLEEP
What the Falcon is to Hammett, the Big Sleep is to Chandler. Bogart and Bacall, 'nuff said.
LA CONFIDENTIAL
Another great script. And, of course, Rolo Tomasi.
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
Billy Wilder meets Agatha Christie. This one gets lost in the shuffle of great old films, but a true gem.
*THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Best script of the past 10 years.
*THE GODFATHER (I & II)
*GOODFELLAS
"Funny how?"
Forget Paul Hamm... The IOC should make Kevin Costner walk over to Scorsese's house and hand him the two Oscars Costner stole in 1990 (for Best Director & Best Picture, for that abomination, "Dances with Wolves").
*RAGING BULL
Regarded by many as the best film of the 80s.
*TAXI DRIVER
*CUCKOOS NEST
Jack at his best, yet again. (The World Series scene is one of the greatest ever -- hell, the whole movie is one of the greatest ever.) And to think it only took a decade for Kirk Douglas to find a producer (his son) willing to make it.
SERPICO
Based on a true story of the one honest cop in all of New York in the 1970s.
Another of the truly great, cynical American movies of the late 60s and 70s.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
I cry just thinking about it. (See it with a date, and show her your sensitive side.)
*DINER
Tough to find a smarter, funnier, more enjoyable film. The sort of film you quote from once a week. The sort of film that has about a dozen GREAT scenes (including the greatest quiz ever.)
The first of Levinson's Baltimore films.
TIN MEN
The second of Levinson's Baltimore films.
Not Diner, but pretty terrific.
BREAKING AWAY
Another great script. And another great ensemble acting job (featuring Paul Dooley, one of my very favorite character actors: "Refund! Refund!") Another gem.
*ANIMAL HOUSE
Simply the finest American film ever made. To be quoted from at least once a day.
I dare you to find a funnier picture.
*SPINAL TAP
Another film you'll quote from for the rest of your life.
LOST IN AMERICA
Albert Brooks' best film. Funny and mean.
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
Ben Stiller, Tea Leone, George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore in a another cruely funny (David O'Russell) film.
MY COUSIN VINNY
Another comic gem.
*PULP FICTION
Right up there with The Usual Suspects, in terms of script, and great direction to boot.
*TRAINSPOTTING
I LOVE this film -- its energy, its wit, its grit, its script, its
filmmaking, its humor.
DRUGSTORE COWBOY
Another great drug film. Starring Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch (with one of the all-time laments: "You won't fuck me and I always have to drive.")
*48-HOURS
Eddie Murphy's breakout film. And still his best.
*3 KINGS
David O. Russell's brutally funny, smart, quirky film about US Soldiers in post-war Iraq on a quest to find a chunk of Sadam's hidden treasure.
George Clooney & Ice Cube have never been better together!
*PATTON
Huge.
APOCOLYPSE NOW
My guess is you've seen it. And best not seen on a small screen. But I couldn't stop myself from typing it on this list. (Falls apart at the end,
but well worth the trip up the river.)
BREAKER MORANT
Brilliant courtroom drama that takes place during the Boar War. Small picture, big issues.
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
One of the all-time great films. But best seen on a BIG screen.
THE RIGHT STUFF
Perhaps APOLLO 13 is better ... but this is bigger ... and translates the remarkable reportage of Tom Wolfe to the big screen perfectly.
ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN
Just a great movie. And every frame of it is true.
NORTH DALLAS FORTY
One of the all-time sports films. Dark as hell. But funny as hell. And on the mark: This really is what pro sports was like in the 70s/80s. (From a
terrific novel by former Dallas Cowboy, Pete Gent.)
*SLAP SHOT
THE FUNNIEST sports film ever made.
*BULL DURHAM
Probably the most entertaining sports film ever made. And probably the best baseball film ever made. (And Costas agrees :)
*CHARIOTS OF FIRE
The Olympics before NBC, Bob Costas, or even Roone Arlidge.
"True story* of two Brits competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics: One a devout Scottish missionary who runs for God, the other a Jewish student at Cambridge who runs for fame and to escape prejudice."
*(Actually, some of the facts are conveniently moved around :)
Won the Gold medal for Best Picture in 1981 ...and unlike Paul Hamm's, no one argued about it.
*COOL HAND LUKE
How many hard-boiled eggs can you eat? George Kennedy (later of Naked Gun side-kick "fame") gets the Oscar, but Paul Newman owns the film.
THE HUSTLER
Man, Jackie Gleason was just a great film actor. And Paul Newman is just... Paul Newman.
*THE COLOR OF MONEY
How many Scorsese films (and Paul Newman film) can I put on this list--and the guy's never one the Oscar!!!--dunno', but no way this sequel to "The Hustler" gets left off.
GOING PLACES ("Les Valseuses")
A great date film -- but has to be the right girl -- and its subtitled, so see it on a big screen if you can. But you probably can't, which is why I'm putting it on this list (whereas I've left off a lot of other great films like "The 400 Blows," which you'll be able to catch on campus).
Aimless criminals, and aimless sex. But blisteringly funny. Starring a very young Gerard Depardieu -- and featuring the legendary Jeanne Moreau, of "Jules and Jim" fame -- and a very young Isabelle Huppert.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI
George Lucas's breakout film about his home town. No special effects -- just a great young cast: Harrison Ford, Richard Dryfuss, Ron Howard! ...and a brief but memorable appearance by the then unknown Suzanne Summers.
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
Lost all the hoopla over John Travolta, and disco fever, and the Bee Gees, is the fact that this is a great (small) authentic film.
* THE GRADUATE
My guess is they'll show it Freshman week. If they don't, save it for a date. (Just don't make it a date with one of your friend's mothers.)
MORGAN: A Suitable Case for Treatment
One to watch on a date...or with a group in the mood to see a very offbeat film...that's one of the best of the British comedies of the mid-60s.
I love this film.
And Vanessa Redgrave, despite her politics, just may be the most beautiful woman ever to walk the earth. And in this film, she certainly makes you understand why, "Morgan is sad today."
* CASABLANCA
You must remember this... Maybe the ultimate date film. (Ideally the third date.) Hell, maybe the ultimate film.
*THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
For a long time this remarkable film of war veterans coming home after WWII held the record for most Oscars, and deservedly so.
I cry just thinking about it. (Another one to see with a date, to show her your sensitive side.)
* IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
One of Capra's classics. And another great date film.
(Don't get fooled into thinking this is some “Miracle on 34th Street” Christmas Holiday see-it-on-TV film. This is one remarkable movie. And Jimmy Stewart gives one of the great performances ever caught on celluloid. It's why Tom Hanks--only at his
best---gets compared to Jimmy Stewart.)
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
Maybe the greatest (and. smartest) "screw-ball" comedy ever made: Katherine
Hepburn, jimmy Stewart and cary grant. And, yes, she is "yar."
Another date flick.
* DESIGN FOR LIVING
Gary Cooper and Fredric March both living -- and sleeping with! -- Miriam
Hopkins. (With the magical Edward Everett Horton--the voice of Bullwinkle's
"Fractured Fairy Tales"--as the cuckolded husband.)
This film almost single-handedly brought about the Hayes/Hollywood
Production Code, which took the sex out of American movies for about three
decades!
(My favorite shot is when Hopkins falls back on the couch, and the sex--in
the form of dust--just rises all around her.)
You won't believe someone made this film 70 years ago. It's brilliant, and maybe Lubitch's best -- and that's saying something.
Another great date film.
OKAY... i can't help myself... here are the films that you MUST see when they play on campus... all but the last four are great date films :)
* GRANDE ILLUSION (anybody who really knows film has this in their top 10 -- Renoir's greatest)
RULES OF THE GAME (another gem by Renoir)
400 BLOWS (possibly Truffaut's greatest)
CITY LIGHTS (Chaplin's greatest)
* MY LIFE AS A DOG
NINOTCHKA (another Lubitch masterpiece -- it'll make you realize what all the fuss about Garbo was about)
* CITIZEN KANE (basically the mount Olympus of films)
KIND HEARTS & CORONETS
ANNIE HALL
BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID
HEAVEN CAN WAIT
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (one of the 20 most influential films of all times)
HAROLD & MAUDE ("offbeat" doesn't do it justice)
FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH
RISKY BUSINESS
* Clockwork Orange
* Dr. Strangelove
M*A*S*H
Henry V (both Olivier's and Branagh's versions)
----also
The Blue Angel
Destry Rides Again
Goodbye Mr. Chips
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brassed Off
The Commitments
Notorious
(Gary Grant, Ingred Bergman and Claude Raines in my favorite Hitchcock film)
From Russia with Love
Five Easy Pieces
Easy Rider
Flashing victims with cameraphones, take two.
Perhaps it was just a wardrobe malfunction.
From an article about how routine cell phone pings helped put a murder at the scene of a crime:
"Most people don't realize this. And criminals don't think to turn their phone off when they're about to commit a crime." - Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University
Thanks Peter. Now everytime I hear someone turn off their cellphone, I need to start running.
Great.
This post is going to serve as my guestbook. Feel free to say hello and sign. Please don't advertise anything behind just linking to your site in the field. I don't appreciate my blog being used as your marketing tool.
Of course, you can feel free to say nice things about me, too.
I just unsubscribed from the Manhattan User's Guide today, which is a shame, because, until today, I found it to be a useful service. Everyday, I'd get a cool looking e-mail about cool things going on in the city. Its subject matter, as described on the site, was pretty diverse:
"What kinds of topics do you cover?
Here are just a few of the topics we've covered in the past: The first word on the best new restaurants, shows, and shops. How to get just about anything fixed: lamps, air conditioners, jewelry anything but parking tickets...The city's clockmaster (who knew we had one?)...Where to find baseball memorabilia, Cindy Sherman-designed Limoges porcelain, the best chopped liver, a reliable contractor, or get custom ties made. The best gifts to give new parents, older pets, or your bad old self. If it's interesting, entertaining or useful and it's in New York, we may write about it."
So today, in my e-mail I get a post that implicated that God was displeased with the Pope and sent him to the hospital because the Pope compared abortionists to the Nazis.
Huh?
Well, regardless of whatever side of this issue you stand on, clearly this don't not fit into the "it's in New York" catagory. I don't find it entertaining either. I mean, you might disagree with the Pope, which is fine, but to e-mail me a "Manhattan User Guide" message saying "We Know What God Wants" and to say that God sends people to the hospital when he disagree with him? That's just plan inappropriate. Plus, I don't personally believe that God is vindictive in that way. If I wanted MUG's policitical and relgious commentary, they should set up a blog and I'd happily subscribe to it. I only welcomed them into my inbox because they told me about new restaurants and where to get my jewlery repaired.
So, I sent them a note, believing that some constructive user feedback might be welcome. I mean, surely I can't be the only MUG user that felt like maybe, rightly or wrongly, this isn't what they expected when I signed up.
I wrote....
I like this service, but I could do without the political commentary… I won’t unsubscribe, because I do find the service useful, and its not as if I even disagree with today’s e-mail… (he did write something against Jerry Falwell, too, so I wasn't completely in disagreement with what he wrote) but I just think its inappropriate for the kind of service that you’re offering. If you want to write about your personal beliefs, you should start a blog, but please don’t e-mail them to me intermixed with the mostly useful information that you do provide.
And what do I get back? I was thinking I'd get back "I'll take this under consideration" or "thanks for your feedback, let's see how the other users feel about this."
No, I get...
"nope, sorry, you don’t get to decide what;s appropriate for mug. feel free to unsubscribe.
charlie suisman"
Fine then. I will. Perhaps he'll change his mind if three quarters of his users walk out the door. I'll support services that care about what I think as a consumer, not people that tell me to essentially take it or leave it. Its not about the politics. Its about being transparent about what you're offering, which MUG clearly was not (religious/political commentary is not listed as a catagory on the site, just Arts&Ent, Food & Wine, Info, Lesuire & Sports, Services, and Shopping) and also about listening to your customers. So, if you feel like you shouldn't get Charlie Suisman's personal political commentary intermixed with info on the latest art exhibit, please let him know. And, if you support him and want to keep getting messages like that, let him know that as well. Either way, this guy should be in touch with his customers and care about what they think so he can get a sense of how to serve them best.
Seth writes:
Link: Seth's Blog: Amazon's Time Machine.
The question here is: why don't online stores do stuff like this on purpose? Why don't they slip in ridiculous items or funny descriptions? It's not like they're going to run out of shelf space or have a problem with inventory.
They do, Seth. Its called woot!
Woot! sells one item (many of that item, but just one type) a day and does a hilarious job with the descriptions, often throwing in stuff like "turns into a mind controlling robot" for blenders. I don't think I've actually bought anything yet, but it keeps me subscribing for the humor.
You can't make this stuff up... I snapped this pic with my phone yesterday:
- One of your coworkers bet someone. "Hey, I bet you $100 I can jab a huge safety pin in Bob's collar without him noticing."
- One of your coworkers tried to jab a safety pin in your neck, but missed. "Hey Bob, your tie is crooked. Lemme fix it... DAMMIT."
- The guys from Myth Busters were debunking the theory that you could kill someone with a homemade giant safety pin launcher.
- He's one of those old guys that wears his pants too high, and there's another safety pin on his belt that also broke.
- For all you Matrix fans: "There is no safety pin."
- Its a Delicious/AARP joint venture to tag all the old guys. His tag fell off, though.
- He's The Fly's dad, and he accidently got into that big teleportation pod with a big safety pin.
- He's trying to start a trend. All the cool people are wearing big safety pins in their collar.
- He's so cool that his collar naturally goes up, and he needs the safety pin to keep it down until after hours.
- He's always forgetting his briefcase around, so he usually keeps it safety pinned to his collar.