A list of the films preserved in
A list of the films preserved in the United States National Film Registry. (thx, robert)
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New Yorker music critic Alex Ross has
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross has compiled a chronolocial 100-song playlist/tour of mostly classical/instrumental music for the 20th century. Starts with Stravinsky & Gershwin and ends with Bjork.
Watch these movies, then we can talk
Film critic Jim Emerson recently compiled a list of 102 movies that you should see before you can consider yourself movie literate:
…they [are] the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They’re the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat “movie-literate.”
I’ve reproduced Emerson’s list here and marked with an asterisk those that I’ve seen.
* 2001: A Space Odyssey
* The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
All About Eve
* Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Red One
The Bicycle Thief
The Big Sleep
* Blade Runner
Blowup
* Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
Carrie
* Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
* Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
* The Crying Game
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
* Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
* Do the Right Thing
La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
* Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial
Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
Frankenstein
The General
* The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
* Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
Halloween
* A Hard Day’s Night
Intolerance
It’s a Gift
* It’s a Wonderful Life
Jaws
The Lady Eve
Lawrence of Arabia
M
Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
* The Manchurian Candidate
Metropolis
Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
* Nosferatu
* On the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
Pink Flamingos
Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
Rashomon
* Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
* Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
* Schindler’s List
The Searchers
* The Seven Samurai
Singin’ in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
* Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
* Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
Vertigo
* West Side Story
The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz
That’s 40 out of 102. My pre-1970 movie knowledge is just plain pathetic, but I’ve seen all six movies on the list made since 1990 (and 5 out of 7 of the 80s movies). And I think I’ve seen Bambi (when I was a kid), but I marked it as seen even though I’m not completely sure. As for what’s missing from the list, I’m not even going to go there given my poor showing. There are some hardcore movie fans reading this…anyone seen them all?
It’s easier to watch movies than to read books
This list of the 50 best book to film adaptions that I posted yesterday inspired Michael Hanscom to mark which of the movies he’s seen and which of the books he’s read. Here’s my list:
1. [BM] 1984
2. [BM] Alice in Wonderland
3. [M] American Psycho
4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
5. Brighton Rock
6. Catch 22
7. [BM] Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
8. [M] A Clockwork Orange
9. [BM] Close Range (inc Brokeback Mountain)
10. The Day of the Triffids
11. Devil in a Blue Dress
12. [M] Different Seasons (inc The Shawshank Redemption)
13. [M] Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (aka Bladerunner)
14. [M] Doctor Zhivago
15. [M] Empire of the Sun
16. [M] The English Patient
17. [M] Fight Club
18. The French Lieutenant’s Woman
19. [M] Get Shorty
20. [M] The Godfather
21. [M] Goldfinger
22. [M] Goodfellas
23. [M] Heart of Darkness (aka Apocalypse Now)
24. [B] The Hound of the Baskervilles
25. Jaws
26. The Jungle Book
27. A Kestrel for a Knave (aka Kes)
28. [M] LA Confidential
29. [M] Les Liaisons Dangereuses
30. [BM] Lolita
31. [M] Lord of the Flies
32. The Maltese Falcon
33. Oliver Twist
34. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
35. Orlando
36. [BM] The Outsiders
37. [BM] Pride and Prejudice
38. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
39. The Railway Children
40. Rebecca
41. [M] The Remains of the Day
42. [M] Schindler’s Ark (aka Schindler’s List)
43. [M] Sin City
44. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
45. [M] The Talented Mr Ripley
46. Tess of the D’Urbervilles
47. Through a Glass Darkly
48. To Kill a Mockingbird
49. [M] Trainspotting
50. The Vanishing
51. Watership Down
Note: In the cases of more than one movie adaptation (e.g. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), I marked it as viewed if I’d seen any version of the movie. Also, like Michael, I have no idea why the “top 50” list has 51 items.
A list of the 50 greatest film adaptations
A list of the 50 greatest film adaptations of all time. No Lord of the Rings? Anything else missing?
View the finalists of the Smithsonian’s 3rd
View the finalists of the Smithsonian’s 3rd annual photo contest. Here’s last year’s winners.
2006 World Monuments Watch 100 Most Endangered Sites, including
2006 World Monuments Watch 100 Most Endangered Sites, including the entire country of Iraq.
The World Heritage List consists of natural
The World Heritage List consists of natural and man-made wonders from around the globe. Thirty-four of the sites are currently on the “in danger” list, in some cases because of a site’s inclusion on the master list (and subsequent dramatic increase in tourism).
A list of the world’s 50 best restaurants
A list of the world’s 50 best restaurants for 2006, compiled by Restaurant magazine. Here are the winners from previous years.
Photos of the top 15 city skylines in
Photos of the top 15 city skylines in the world. Hong Kong is #1 and I can’t disagree.
A list of the best Steve Jobs
A list of the best Steve Jobs quotes ever. A contradictory fellow, this Jobs.
A list of the most-linked blogs from
A list of the most-linked blogs from September 2000 (scroll for the notes at the end). Metalog and Metalog Ratings comprised the first weblog tracking/ranking system, predating most of the current crop by at least a year or two.
PDF of the 2006 James Beard Award Nominees.
PDF of the 2006 James Beard Award Nominees. Dan Barber is up for best NYC chef.
Top 1000 publications owned by US libraries. The
Top 1000 publications owned by US libraries. The Holy Bible, the 2000 US Census, and Mother Goose top the list. (via o’r)
A list of the best license-free quality
A list of the best license-free quality fonts. From a few months ago, but still useful.
Gallery of the winners of the World
Gallery of the winners of the World Press Photos of the Year for 2005.
Now that Oscar season is in full-on
Now that Oscar season is in full-on in-your-face mode, check out this list of the critics’ favorite films for 2005. Love the info design on the summary at the bottom.
Some of the worst selling DVDs on
Some of the worst selling DVDs on Amazon. Looks like the Hammy the Hamster DVD series isn’t doing so well. See also books and music. (thx, josh)
I feel like I’ve pointed to this
I feel like I’ve pointed to this before, but in case I haven’t, here’s a list of the 100 best first lines from novels. I’m partial to those of Pride and Prejudice, Lolita, and Anna Karenina.
The 50 most loathsome people in America, 2005. On
The 50 most loathsome people in America, 2005. On Paris Hilton: “Somehow, everybody in America knew that this completely pointless person had lost her dog, and we are all diminished by the experience.”
A list of the top 100 most valuable
A list of the top 100 most valuable books. Signed first editions numbered 1-100 of Ulysses go for 100,000 pounds apiece. More about the list.
The world’s best short inspirational quotes including “
The world’s best short inspirational quotes including “no great thing is created suddenly” and “well done is better than well said”.
Biography of Martin Luther King from Time
Biography of Martin Luther King from Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.
A list of a favorite movie moments
A list of a favorite movie moments from 2005. I need to get out to way more movies this year.
Slate’s The Year in Culture for 2005. “As
Slate’s The Year in Culture for 2005. “As infuriating and crippling as the [NYC transit] strike was for so many, I selfishly appreciated having a city that was uninviting and briefly in turmoil.”
The top 10 weirdest USB drives, including drives
The top 10 weirdest USB drives, including drives that look like fried shrimp, a human thumb, and Barbie (her head pops off to reveal the plug).
How’s this for meta: my list of 2005
How’s this for meta: my list of 2005’s best links made it onto a list of the best links to lists from a list of “best of” lists. I might have to put this link on my list of best links of 2006.
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