welcome to 2010

It's 01/02/2010

I should have some goals. They swirl, formless, as teasing whispers in my conscious. I have had a few breakthroughs of joy and happiness, discoveries of health and pleasure. I may be recovering from my stress-induced malaise.

First goal I can think of is to expose my son this year to at least ten films from British Film Institute's Top 50 Films for Children. I've deleted the ones he's seen:

* Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987, France/W.Germany)
* Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA)
* Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise, 1991, USA)
* Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948, Italy)
* Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000, UK/France)
* E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982, USA)
* Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990, USA)
* Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert, 2002, France)
* Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton/Lee Unkrich, 2003, USA)
* It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946, USA)
* Kes (Ken Loach, 1969, UK)
* The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921, USA)
* King Kong (Merian C.Cooper/Ernest B.Schoedsack, 1933, USA)
* Kirikou et la sorcière (Michel Ocelot, 1998, France/Belgium/Luxembourg)
* La Belle et la bête (Jean Cocteau, 1946, France / Luxembourg)
* Le Voyage dans la lune (Georges Melies, 1902, France)
* Les Quatre cents coups (Francois Truffaut, 1959, France)
* Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953, France)
* My Life as a Dog (Lasse Halstrom, 1985, Sweden)
* My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988, Japan/USA)
* The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955, USA)
* Oliver Twist (David Lean, 1948, UK)
* The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983, USA)
* Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955, India)
* Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967, France/Italy)
* The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987, USA)
* Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002, Australia)
* Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981, USA)
* The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970, UK)
* The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956, France)
* Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman, 1996, USA)
* The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland, 1993, UK/USA)
* Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson, 1998, Sweden/Denmark)
* Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952, USA)
* Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, 1937, USA)
* Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959, USA)
* The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973, Spain)
* Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001, Japan)
* To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962, USA)
* Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995, USA)
* Walkabout (Nicholas Roeg, 1971, UK)
* Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2002, New Zealand)
* Where is the Friend's House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987, Iran)
* Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961, UK)
* The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi, 1995, Iran)
* The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939, USA)

I wanted to get "Les Quatre cents coups" but my kid has some DVD already picked out while I watch "My Dinner with André". I don't want any talkback about the kid not having seen "The Kid." I can't remember if he's seen it. I like how there are two versions of "The Beauty and The Beast". Weird, too, that there are more Jacques Tati films than Chaplin's. The Boy can't get enough Chaplin. I started him out on Max Linder...
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What did I learn? That the heavy stress I endured in my early life and pregnancy has left me with a degenerative disease, and some of my pain can be lessened through exercise and diet. I've learned Less is More, that angels and demons do exist, my relations are at fault for being closed-minded, reactionary and limited for not accepting my olive branches. I learned what sugar does to the body, how much sugar the average American ingests, and how to avoid high fructose corn syrup. I've learned the power of prayer, read some good books, discovered some people are overrated. I've learned it's possible to give too much if one isn't a receptacle for storing energy: that's where I am. I have learned not to have coffee after 11:30 a.m.
I have learned Donna Eden's Daily Five Minute Energy Routine, and how powerful and effective Energy Medicine is. I was initially skeptical. I have learned how rewarding and bonding it is to share honest spiritual experiences with my oldest friends. I've learned how to stop my premenstrual cramping and the foot cramping (this had dogged me for eight years!!) through vitamin supplementation. Also: my cat enjoys eating duck, almost as much as she enjoys halibut and tuna.

Humour

I'm watching "Bananas" and am surprised I haven't seen this before. So cute the references to City Lights and Battleship Potemkin are. Slapstick, four-star film.

I have a list of very funny novels to read while the fall/winter season approaches. I have tried to get a list of funniest films but the ones easiest to find assume that humour is exclusively American, there were no funny films prior to "Caddyshack", and the final arbiter of what is funny is a white American male between the ages of 15 to 24.

Reader's Digest's list probably has a broader perspective, at least chronologically and there is at least one French film and a few Italian films:
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/the-top-100-funniest-movies-of-all-time/article13866.html
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Links to discussions of what may be funniest novels:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15374_wit-lit-101-five-classic-novels-that-bring-funny.html

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/whats-the-funniest-novel-ever/

http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110008077&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage
(read three of these, saw the movie adaptation of one. Lucky Jim is certainly ranked highly for humour. That must be why I can't ever find a copy in three library systems.)

1962 Critics' Poll, Sight and Sound Magazine

Yet another "Films I need to watch" list, this from the top twenty. I have not included the films I've already seen:

Ugetsu monogatari (Tales after the Rain) -- Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953.
Greed -- Erich von Stroheim
Ivan the Terrible (Ivan Groznyi) (parts I and II) -- Sergei Eisenstein
The Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin) -- Sergei Eisenstein
La Terra trema (The Earth Trembles) -- Luchino Visconti
Zero for Conduct (Zéro de conduite) -- Jean Vigo
Hiroshima mon Amour -- Alain Resnais
Pather Panchali (The Song of the Road) -- Satyajit Ray
The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (Detstvo Gorkogo) -- Mark Donskoi
Ikiru -- Akira Kurosawa (this is playing next week locally)
Nazarín -- Luis Buñuel
Oktober -- Sergei Eisenstein

Here's the 2002 Top Ten List from the Directors -- excusing the films I've seen already.
Godfather II
Rashomon
Seven Samurai


Lots of Chaplin in the top twenty! My sister-in-law is not a Japanese cinema buff, so I am learning the films by myself. I did see "Floating Weeds" which was beautifully choreographed and acted. I must see "Tokyo Story" soon.

More 'Best American Films Lists'

I recently watched two highly esteemed classic films, both directed by Martin Scorsese, and both featuring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Frank Vincent: Goodfellas and Raging Bull. It's taken me a long, long time to see these films. Eventually I do want to see all the 'excellent/very good' films.

For this list, I have yet to see:

Broken Blossoms
Greed
The Strong Man
The Crowd
The Wind
Scarface
HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT
STAGECOACH
YOUNG MR. LINCOLN
THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS
DETOUR
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
FORT APACHE
GUN CRAZY
ON THE WATERFRONT
THE SEARCHERS
A FACE IN THE CROWD
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
MEAN STREETS
THE CONVERSATION
THE GODFATHER PART II
TAXI DRIVER
DAYS OF HEAVEN
ALL THAT JAZZ
DINER
RUMBLE FISH
STRANGER THAN PARADISE
AVALON
JFK

Safe for work and sharing with young relatives -- Robert De Niro shares his craft with Elmo on Sesame Street: