The Personal Top 50

For no reason, except that it's something Shyam and I discussed during our ride up to Bristol the other night.  It's been a while since I've made an actual list, which is odd considering how much I love making lists.  Here's a list of my Top 50 Go-To flicks, at present.  Call it my favorites, I guess.   Listed alphabetically, it's just movies that work for me on any number of levels:

12 Angry Men    (1957)

13th Warrior  (1999)

Animal House    (1978)

Apollo 13   (1995)

Arsenic and Old Lace    (1944)

the Big Lebowski   (1998)

Blazing Saddles   (1974)

Captain America: Winter Soldier   (2014)

Cedar Rapids    (2011)

Chinatown    (1974)

a Christmas Story    (1983)

Clerks    (1994)

Cloud Atlas    (2012)

Dark Knight   (2008)

the Day the Earth Stood Still   (1951)

the Departed   (2006)

the Devil's Backbone   (2001)

Dr. Strangelove    (1964)

the Empire Strikes Back    (1980)

Field of Dreams    (1989)

Ghostbusters    (1984)

the Godfather, part II    (1974)

Harvey    (1950)

the Incredibles    (2004)

the Iron Giant    (1999)

Iron Man    (2008)

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World   (1963)

Jurassic Park   (1993)

Kill Bill, volume 1    (2003)

a League of Their Own    (1992)

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring   (2001)

Mad Max:  Fury Road   (2015)

the Man who Shot Liberty Valance     (1962)

the Meaning of Life    (1983)

No Country for Old Men    (2007)

O Brother Where Art Thou?   (2000)

Princess Bride   (1987)

Raiders of the Lost Ark    (1981)

Rashomon    (1950)

Robin Hood   (1973)

the Shawshank Redemption   (1994)

Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan    (1982)

Star Wars   (1977)

This is Spinal Tap     (1984)

Time Bandits     (1981)

To Kill a Mockingbird    (1962)

UHF    (1989)

the Usual Suspects    (1995)

Yojimbo   (1961)

Young Frankenstein   (1975)

Completely subjective to the morning of March 25, 2016.  I've left something out, of course.  I'm sure I'll look at my list this afternoon, and say "what the hell was I thinking with that Disney Robin Hood flick?"  This is the list I came up with just looking up and down my movie shelves....

New Computer

Had to buy a new computer today.  Just trying it out.  Taking it out for a test toast, as it were.

This is the fourth computer I've written this blog with.  I guess that averages about 4.1 years per computer, in blog years.

I ordered this one from Amazon...an upgrade of the Lenovo I bought about five years ago.  It came from the Charleston, TN, warehouse, some 11 miles down the road from Casa de Big Stupid Tommy.  Got it in a day, though there was part of me that wanted to go and beat on the door of the Amazon warehouse.

It's a good one.  Its fan works.  Its mousepad works.  It's screen is bright and clear!

So.  New computer.  Yay!

California

Only sat down to look at the NCAA brackets a few minutes ago.  Was happy to see California with a 4-seed.

Cuonzo Martin got a bum deal in Tennessee.  He started slow, but was just starting to build some success when Bruce Pearl's reinstatement of eligibility was about to come up.  A few of Tennessee's dipshit fans decide to circulate a petition to rehire Pearl.  It came as little surprise when, days after taking Tennessee to the Sweet 16, Martin signed a contract with California.

Tennessee ended another bullshit season against LSU this past weekend at the SEC tournament.

Being a Tennessee basketball fan is tough.  Its program is overshadowed by football.  They play in a league that rarely shows life outside of Kentucky.  It's a program that seems to trip on its own feet the minute it finds some success.  I root for them as an underdog.

I can see myself rooting for Cal, through this thing.  Martin is a class act, and he got run out of Tennessee for having the temerity to not be Bruce Pearl.  He deserves success, and I have a feeling he'll find some, at Cal.

10 Cloverfield Lane

I took Dad to see 10 Cloverfield Lane today.  Not a bad flick, though not real original.  It does what it does well, and has a pretty decent ending.  I just had to wonder if they threw the Cloverfield thing in there to get a few extra ticket sales.  Seems extraneous.

I mean, I'd have seen it eventually just because I like John Goodman.  I might not have rushed to the theater.

Not a bad flick.  I gave it a thumbs up, though not a strong one.  Liked, not loved.

One thing I noticed:  Howard's (Howard is John Goodman's character) survival bunker is stocked with at least 1 case of JJ's Fried Pies, as part of its provisions.  We sell those, from time to time, and when we get them, they usually have about a month's worth of shelf time.  Sometimes six weeks, if we get them really fresh.  They're not going to last long after the apocalypse.

But by all means, enjoy them in that first month or two.

I identified very much with Howard in that moment.  They are tasty.  They are cheaper than Krispy Kreme's fried pies, and in my opinion, they taste better.

I did not identify with Howard in his needing to kidnap people and hide them in his bunker.

Not much, anyway.

Well, some.

I don't have a bunker, though.  Stocked with fried pies.

Not yet.

But tomorrow is another day.

Thoughts from the Ass End of the Night, volume IX, chapter 1843

Haven't done an insomnia post in a while.

Haven't had a bout this bad in a while.

I keep it fairly cool in my apartment at night.  60 degrees.

I woke up burning up about an hour ago.  Kicked off the quilt, and eventually the blanket.  Still hot, sleeping under a sheet.  I don't feel feverish or bad, but those just don't seem like good signs.

I have to get up in about an hour and a half.  Maybe if I type some bullshit into the blogamathing, I can grab a few more minutes of shuteye.

Weird dream right before I woke up.  Don't remember of it, except that there had been an earthquake, and it was so intense that people's words were jumbled up.

A few things going on over in this neck of the woods:

Wandered out to lunch with Eric the other day.  He's studying.  I'm working.  We both are frightened of the state of this election, looking at the option of voting for Hillary or Trump in the November election.  It's notable because he and I aren't normally on the same page in terms of politics.  The number of people that feel this way is notable.  Notable because it feels inevitable, even 8 months out.

You want a viable third party candidate.  This year, more than any other.  The last couple of elections, I've voted third party.  It's nothing new to me, feeling like I'm part of a demographic ignored by the major parties (because political parties just love to ignore white males age 18-45, of course).  Maybe I just get off feeling disenfranchised.

This year, man, it just feels wrong doing that.  Especially if you've got a demagogue like Trump gunning for the Presidency.

Eight months is still a ways off.

----

I'm up to the S's in my alphabetical romp through my movie shelf.  I just finished Strange Brew, which holds up magnificently.  Did not realize until wandering through Mental Floss's listicle about Strange Brew that Angus MacInnes, who plays Jean LaRose, he of the hockey fame, also played Gold Leader in Star Wars.  Of course, after they'd pointed out, I can't NOT see it.  I thought that was neat.

Finished Stranger than Fiction right after that.  I'd forgotten how much I dig that movie.  Will Ferrell has a Robin Williams sadness about himself, when he's not mugging for the camera.  I rarely push for a comedic actor to try drama a little more, but I think the right role would suit Ferrell.  I forgot how good Emma Thompson is.  I also forgot that it hits right at the heartstrings there at the end.

----

Well, I've yawned four times in the past couple of minutes.  Let's see if I can grab 75 minutes of sleep, yeah?

Stop being weird, Tennessee

There's good weird, and then there's just bad, uncomfortable, averting your eyes weird, Tennessee.

Cartoon porn?  You go looking for porno, and you want to see cartoons?  Damn, guys.  That's embarrassing.

On a related note, it was asked today:  Which Presidential Candidate from the two major parties has the largest amount of weirdo porn on their hard drive?  Not illegal, necessarily, but definitely enough to give you pause at both the subject matter and the sheer volume of it held within?

I think Cruz is the easy answer, and I don't think that's wrong.  That's my first instinct, too.  It could go the complete other way with Cruz, though, and he could be the self-flagellating type, pressing red hot coals into his palms just for looking at some sideboob pictures from the Oscars this past weekend.

My thought leans more toward Rubio.  His hair concerns me.  He has a very high forehead, perhaps.  Seems to me that he's hiding baldness, though.  I'd like this question answered before I lay my money down.  I mean, if he's got a killer combover, or he's wearing a rug?  I think it cinches it.  He's got a hard drive full of really embarrassing shit.