Here Come the Swans

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I like balsamic vinegar.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Continuing the list! 39-30

39 Waitress (Adrienne Shelly, 2007)
38 Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman, 2004)
37 Not on the Lips (Alain Resnais, 2003)
36 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbitt (Steve Box, Nick Park, 2005) 35 Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000)
34 Hustle and Flow (Craig Brewer, 2005)
33 WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
32 Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, 2002)
31 Visitor, The (Thomas McCarthy, 2007)
30 Reader, The (Stephen Daldry, 2008)

In hindsight, The Visitor, which has one of my favorite ending scenes, should have been higher.

Here's a clip from Not on the Lips:


I'm in love with my satellite radio.
My favorite channels:
Iceberg--All CanCon all the time, everything from The Hip to Broken Social Scene and a bunch of shit I've never heard of.

World Radio Network--The title is fairly self-explanatory. I was listening to Radio Romania on my drive home today.

CBC Radio One--news from Canadaland

BBC World Service--upcoming: a report on East German doping. I'm all ears.

Sirius XMU--the "college" radio station.

First Wave--new wave and early alternative. They need to lay off Depeche Mode, The Cure, and The Clash. Maybe they can play more oddities like FYC's "Johnny Come Home" and The Monroes' "What Do All the People Know."

Friday, July 17, 2009

Favorites of the aughts, 49-40

49 Rent (Chris Columbus, 2005)
48 Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott, 2001)
47 Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
46 Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer, 2003)
45 When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee, 2006)
44 Master and Commander:The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)
43 Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
42 March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet, 2005)
41 12:08 East of Bucharest (Corneliu Porumboiu, 2006)
40 The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007)


For those of you nostalgic about the fall of the Iron Curtain, I highly recommend the great Romanian comedy, 12:08 East of Bucharest. For those of you interested in Scandinavian sociolinguistics, I recommend Kitchen Stories. And what did my friend call March of the Penguins? "The penguin snuff film"?

So...the Emmy Awards nominations were announced this week. I'm rooting for this to win for "Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics."

Friday, July 10, 2009

Favorites of the aughts, 59-50


Fireworks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Belated 4th.



Ich habe mir ein neues Auto gekauft. Ganz toll.


Oh, yeah, listy...

59 Line of Beauty, The (Saul Dibb, 2006)
58 Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
57 Dear Frankie (Shona Auerbach, 2004)
56 You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan, 2000 )
55 Last King of Scotland, The (Kevin Macdonald, 2006)
54 Capote (Bennett Miller, 2005)
53 Junebug (Phil Morrison, 2005)
52 In the Bedroom (Todd Field, 2001)
51 Closer (Mike Nichols, 2004)
50 Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007)


James McAvoy continues his strong showing on my list.