I have always kept a loose list of my favourite movies. I've never put the list in order or in writing...until yesterday. It was actually a 3 day project but what I came up with is my 100 favourite movies of all time.
I am sure that I am forgetting some, but then if I've forgotten them can they really be in my favourites? It was a fun process for me, listing them out and rating them and moving them around and listing them again. A very satisfying way to spend my time.
I think that a list of 100 items would be way too long to post so I will start with posting my top ten. I have to say that I was surprised about what made it in to the top ranks of my faves. I would have expected Grease to be up there and it isn't. It's hanging around at #13. After finalizing my list I very carefully looked over my top 10 again and am satisfied that they all belong exactly where they are. For now at least. You never know what's around the corner.
Alright, with no further adue. My top 10 movies of all time!
10. Stranger Than Fiction
9. The Legend of Billie Jean
8. The Holiday
7. About A Boy
6. Psycho
5. The Pianist
4. The Lives of Others
3. Once
2. Sex and the City
1. Across the Universe
My criteria for picking my films is pretty basic. There are 4 components.
Overall enjoyment
Emotional reaction
Could I /do I watch it multiple times
Do I want other people to see it
Although, I think I will probably never make another person sit through The Legend of Billie Jean even though I will likely watch it again and again for the rest of my days.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Damn knee!
We went out dancing and drinking this weekend and it was super fun times. It was a UBC baseball alumni weekend and my monkey brother-in-law (married to my monkey sister)....ok wait maybe that requires a bit of an explanation.
At Lisa's and Jason's wedding, the head table was reserved for the siblings of the happy couple. Lisa has Stef and I and Jason has 3 sisters who all have significant others. We were trying to figure out what our relationship is to each other as sisters of the couple. J-Dub became my brother in law but what about his sisters who I like to think of as family now too? Lisa became their sister in law but who are Stefanie and I to them? As we were trying to figure it out, one of them suggested "lucky sisters" which I mistakenly heard as "monkey sisters" and it stuck. The rest of the night was filled with pictures of us together, arms curled in the air above our heads or under our armpits. There may have been a few "ooo ooo ooo's and eee eee eee's" too.
Ok so back to my monkey brother-in-law's alumni weekend. We went dancing on Saturday night and had so much fun. Today is Wednesday and I am still recovering from it. Not in any kind of hangover way mind you, it's my body that is recovering from the dancing. I have always had problems with my left knee. Well since my car accident in 1988 that is. Even when I was in my 20's and going out dancing every week, my knee would bother me the next day. I would have to take advil and elevate my leg and ice my knee. It was a small price to pay for all the fun times I had dancing.
Over the past few years though, it is now my right knee that flares up. I asked my chiropractor about it and she says it's because for 17 years after the accident I was out of alignment and carried my weight differently and now that we are getting me back in alignment, my right knee is acting up.
Anyways, on Sunday my right knee was aching. It felt thick, as though it had been packed with sawdust. It ached no matter what posistion it was in. Sitting, standing, elevated, straight, bent...whatever, it hurt.
Monday, it was worse. I was having trouble with stairs and even walking. It still felt thick and packed and sore. When I got into bed Monday night and stretched my leg, it did this really weird snapping thing. I felt it as a vibration. There was no pain involved but it was as though whatever bone was out of place, snapped back into place. It made a popping noise and then I waited for the pain to come. It never did. I drifted off to sleep and when I got up in the morning it felt 90% better.
Tuesday, it was still sore and I got in to see my Chiropractor who adjusted my knee and then pretty much every vertabrae I have. It was a good appointment and one I desperately needed. I was shocked that I was so completely out of whack and not just my knee. Afterwards my whole body felt much better but my knee is still sore. I guess it will take a couple of days for the swelling to go down and for it to heal.
Hopefully it will be good enough by tomorrow night. Just in time for me to throw it out again while dancing at the Madonna concert!
At Lisa's and Jason's wedding, the head table was reserved for the siblings of the happy couple. Lisa has Stef and I and Jason has 3 sisters who all have significant others. We were trying to figure out what our relationship is to each other as sisters of the couple. J-Dub became my brother in law but what about his sisters who I like to think of as family now too? Lisa became their sister in law but who are Stefanie and I to them? As we were trying to figure it out, one of them suggested "lucky sisters" which I mistakenly heard as "monkey sisters" and it stuck. The rest of the night was filled with pictures of us together, arms curled in the air above our heads or under our armpits. There may have been a few "ooo ooo ooo's and eee eee eee's" too.
Ok so back to my monkey brother-in-law's alumni weekend. We went dancing on Saturday night and had so much fun. Today is Wednesday and I am still recovering from it. Not in any kind of hangover way mind you, it's my body that is recovering from the dancing. I have always had problems with my left knee. Well since my car accident in 1988 that is. Even when I was in my 20's and going out dancing every week, my knee would bother me the next day. I would have to take advil and elevate my leg and ice my knee. It was a small price to pay for all the fun times I had dancing.
Over the past few years though, it is now my right knee that flares up. I asked my chiropractor about it and she says it's because for 17 years after the accident I was out of alignment and carried my weight differently and now that we are getting me back in alignment, my right knee is acting up.
Anyways, on Sunday my right knee was aching. It felt thick, as though it had been packed with sawdust. It ached no matter what posistion it was in. Sitting, standing, elevated, straight, bent...whatever, it hurt.
Monday, it was worse. I was having trouble with stairs and even walking. It still felt thick and packed and sore. When I got into bed Monday night and stretched my leg, it did this really weird snapping thing. I felt it as a vibration. There was no pain involved but it was as though whatever bone was out of place, snapped back into place. It made a popping noise and then I waited for the pain to come. It never did. I drifted off to sleep and when I got up in the morning it felt 90% better.
Tuesday, it was still sore and I got in to see my Chiropractor who adjusted my knee and then pretty much every vertabrae I have. It was a good appointment and one I desperately needed. I was shocked that I was so completely out of whack and not just my knee. Afterwards my whole body felt much better but my knee is still sore. I guess it will take a couple of days for the swelling to go down and for it to heal.
Hopefully it will be good enough by tomorrow night. Just in time for me to throw it out again while dancing at the Madonna concert!
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Close but no cigar
Sheesh. Can I just say that again please? Sheesh!
The thing is that I don't want to write about why I am sheeshing. I just want to publicly sheesh. It's an arms up to the sky, eyes closed, big sigh and then with a slight shake of the head a simple but poignant 'sheesh'.
Ahhhhh
I needed that.
The thing is that I don't want to write about why I am sheeshing. I just want to publicly sheesh. It's an arms up to the sky, eyes closed, big sigh and then with a slight shake of the head a simple but poignant 'sheesh'.
Ahhhhh
I needed that.
Monday, 20 October 2008
Simple pleasures
Someone asked me this weekend what my simplest pleasure is. It took me a while to come up with my answer. I could have given a list of responses. The shade of pink Cooper's nose turns when he is feeling playful, a square of 70% good quality dark chocolate, a perfect cup of tea, a delicious artigiano latte, taking a deep breath of fresh air, standing at the edge of the ocean and looking out at the horizon, the absolute softness of Cooper's paws, crawling into bed between clean, crisp, cool sheets, a hug from someone I love, a good song on the radio while I'm driving, a sunny, cool day, the view from my corner when the ocean is as smooth as glass, reading a good book, the silence of a snowy night. What I take from this is how blessed I am to have so many simple pleasures.
What I ended up picking as my absolute simplest pleasure was watching the rain fall. When there is a downpour, I love nothing more than shutting off my tv or computer, turning out all the lights and just sitting at an open window to take it all in. I love the smell of it, the sound of it and how it looks. I can very easily sit at a window and watch the rain fall for an extended period of time. It makes me feel peaceful and content. It is for this reason that my dream house has window seats. I need to be able to sit right in the window and be surrounded by the rain.
I was also asked if I could have three wishes what would they be. This was a tough one to answer and mostly because I realized that I don't really wish for anything. I have gotten so used to accepting what is and rolling with whatever comes along that I have forgotten to wish for things. Sure I'd like a flat screen tv and a wii and an unlimited bank account....but these are things and I have learned that things don't actually really matter to me. I wanted to be open and honest and that is a little scary for me. The truth is that what I want is true love, fearlessness and harmony in the world. It's a little scary for me to admit that I want true love and fearlessness. It makes me feel vulnerable. After much deliberation those are the three things that I went with, despite my fear of being so real and open.
I guess fearlessness is not as out of my reach as I think it is.
What I ended up picking as my absolute simplest pleasure was watching the rain fall. When there is a downpour, I love nothing more than shutting off my tv or computer, turning out all the lights and just sitting at an open window to take it all in. I love the smell of it, the sound of it and how it looks. I can very easily sit at a window and watch the rain fall for an extended period of time. It makes me feel peaceful and content. It is for this reason that my dream house has window seats. I need to be able to sit right in the window and be surrounded by the rain.
I was also asked if I could have three wishes what would they be. This was a tough one to answer and mostly because I realized that I don't really wish for anything. I have gotten so used to accepting what is and rolling with whatever comes along that I have forgotten to wish for things. Sure I'd like a flat screen tv and a wii and an unlimited bank account....but these are things and I have learned that things don't actually really matter to me. I wanted to be open and honest and that is a little scary for me. The truth is that what I want is true love, fearlessness and harmony in the world. It's a little scary for me to admit that I want true love and fearlessness. It makes me feel vulnerable. After much deliberation those are the three things that I went with, despite my fear of being so real and open.
I guess fearlessness is not as out of my reach as I think it is.
Thursday, 16 October 2008
I'm gonna party like it's 2003.
While cleaning, purging and rearranging, I have updated my lifestyle a little bit. I'd like to claim that I have caught up to the rest of my contemporaries but really all I've done is caught up to where they were 5 years ago. I am still half a decade (if not more) behind everyone else in North America.
I chucked out my corded phone and bought a cordless. I took old vhs movies to the salvation army and am starting to replace them with dvds (Blue ray? What's Blue Ray? - I'll get around to that sometime in the next 10 years). I am realizing that my as-thick-as-it-is-wide television is old, crappy and takes up far too much space so am saving up for a new sleek, streamlined one.
I still don't own an ipod or a laptop. My cellphone's only feature is call display. (I hear that some phones even come with cameras now). PVR, DVR, HiDef, Digital cable - these words mean nothing to me. Is TiVo obsolete? Because I always thought I'd like to own one of these someday! I don't own a Wii or any kind of gaming console for that matter.
I could go on but I don't even know what else is new out there in the world of technology. I guess in keeping with my theme, I really only need to know what was new 10 years ago and jump on that bandwagon.
Ebooks anyone?
I chucked out my corded phone and bought a cordless. I took old vhs movies to the salvation army and am starting to replace them with dvds (Blue ray? What's Blue Ray? - I'll get around to that sometime in the next 10 years). I am realizing that my as-thick-as-it-is-wide television is old, crappy and takes up far too much space so am saving up for a new sleek, streamlined one.
I still don't own an ipod or a laptop. My cellphone's only feature is call display. (I hear that some phones even come with cameras now). PVR, DVR, HiDef, Digital cable - these words mean nothing to me. Is TiVo obsolete? Because I always thought I'd like to own one of these someday! I don't own a Wii or any kind of gaming console for that matter.
I could go on but I don't even know what else is new out there in the world of technology. I guess in keeping with my theme, I really only need to know what was new 10 years ago and jump on that bandwagon.
Ebooks anyone?
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Rearranging and it feels so good.
Last March, I started thinking about Spring cleaning. April came in like a lion and went out like a lamb and still my apartment was cluttered. May flew by and then June and still nothing. Inspiration was always on the tip on my thoughts but never fully rooted in my behaviour.
Yesterday inspiration hit me full force and without really thinking it through or even having the semblance of a plan, I started DOING something. Apartment is an appropriate word for what I live in right now. It has been torn apart. Everything is everywhere. Hallways are blocked, tables are heaped with clutter, pictures are off of walls, books are stacked 10 deep on the floor and chairs are covered with potted plants looking for a home. It is chaotic but it feels good. I am slowly but surely finding a place for the things I love and everything else is going to the salvation army.
This may take a few days but I am excited to have my home feeling fresh and new!
Yesterday inspiration hit me full force and without really thinking it through or even having the semblance of a plan, I started DOING something. Apartment is an appropriate word for what I live in right now. It has been torn apart. Everything is everywhere. Hallways are blocked, tables are heaped with clutter, pictures are off of walls, books are stacked 10 deep on the floor and chairs are covered with potted plants looking for a home. It is chaotic but it feels good. I am slowly but surely finding a place for the things I love and everything else is going to the salvation army.
This may take a few days but I am excited to have my home feeling fresh and new!
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Website sharing
I have just added a new component to my blog. You'll notice over on the right, below the tree, there is a section called My favourite websites. These are websites that I like to check on a regular basis. I'll give you a bit of a lowdown on each of them to let you know what they are.
Delicious hotlist - This is an online bookmarking site. It enables you to create a favourites list online so that you can track down all of your bookmarked sites from any computer. This is a great site for someone like me who is often on different computers and likes to check a wide range of sites but can't remember how to find them. I can sign on to delicious from any computer and there are links to all my favourite and bookmarked websites.
Married to the Sea - This is a fabulous webcomic that entertains me to no end. The basic premise is clip art with captions. They are often a little offside and very possibly offensive but I generally just find them either funny or odd.
WWdN: In Exile - This is Wil Wheaton's blog and probably the site that I check most often. He writes about a wide range of things with the majority of his focus being all things geek-related (gaming, comics, conventions etc) but he also throws in these absolute gems of personal stories that are written so well that I often find my heart smiling from reading them.
Movie Trailers - This is a site where you can watch all of the latest movie trailers on your computer. I check this site once a month and spend an hour watching all the new movie trailers. It's perfect for a rainy Saturday morning while I drink tea and eat peanut butter and honey on toast.
xkcd - This is another webcomic that I love. The author, Randall Munroe has his degree in physics and had a job working on robots at NASA. He doodled and sketched stick figures doing geeky things and it grew and evolved to this fabulous comic that he updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The Movie Spoiler - A friend of mine hooked me onto this website for horror movies. I can't watch horror movies because they scare the bejeezus out of me yet I have this sick fascination about them and want to know exactly what I am missing. It's basically the same thing as having someone who has seen the movie telling you from start to finish exactly what happened.
Here are a list of other sites that I am a fan of...
Zap2it - tv listing guide - I like to check this to see what's on and when and where to find my favourite shows.
Dictionary.com - I write a lot and am a terrible speller. This is actually on the very top of my favourites list because I use it so often.
IMDb - The Internet Movie Database - for the movie lover!
Perez Hilton - for all the latest and meanest celebrity gossip
Pink is the new Blog - to balance out the celebrity gossip with a nicer approach
Movies MyTelus - Local movie listings and reviews
Delicious hotlist - This is an online bookmarking site. It enables you to create a favourites list online so that you can track down all of your bookmarked sites from any computer. This is a great site for someone like me who is often on different computers and likes to check a wide range of sites but can't remember how to find them. I can sign on to delicious from any computer and there are links to all my favourite and bookmarked websites.
Married to the Sea - This is a fabulous webcomic that entertains me to no end. The basic premise is clip art with captions. They are often a little offside and very possibly offensive but I generally just find them either funny or odd.
WWdN: In Exile - This is Wil Wheaton's blog and probably the site that I check most often. He writes about a wide range of things with the majority of his focus being all things geek-related (gaming, comics, conventions etc) but he also throws in these absolute gems of personal stories that are written so well that I often find my heart smiling from reading them.
Movie Trailers - This is a site where you can watch all of the latest movie trailers on your computer. I check this site once a month and spend an hour watching all the new movie trailers. It's perfect for a rainy Saturday morning while I drink tea and eat peanut butter and honey on toast.
xkcd - This is another webcomic that I love. The author, Randall Munroe has his degree in physics and had a job working on robots at NASA. He doodled and sketched stick figures doing geeky things and it grew and evolved to this fabulous comic that he updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The Movie Spoiler - A friend of mine hooked me onto this website for horror movies. I can't watch horror movies because they scare the bejeezus out of me yet I have this sick fascination about them and want to know exactly what I am missing. It's basically the same thing as having someone who has seen the movie telling you from start to finish exactly what happened.
Here are a list of other sites that I am a fan of...
Zap2it - tv listing guide - I like to check this to see what's on and when and where to find my favourite shows.
Dictionary.com - I write a lot and am a terrible speller. This is actually on the very top of my favourites list because I use it so often.
IMDb - The Internet Movie Database - for the movie lover!
Perez Hilton - for all the latest and meanest celebrity gossip
Pink is the new Blog - to balance out the celebrity gossip with a nicer approach
Movies MyTelus - Local movie listings and reviews
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