Boy Wonder Wins Again

Outlaws and Cowboys

I am so jazzed about the remake of True Grit that I needed a top 10 Westerns list.  Please take note... original True Grit is absent.  I fully expect the Coen Brothers' remake to bump someone.  Now that I think about it... there is a theme of avenge in my choices... but you decide.  Post your choice by clicking the numbered blurb.

By Request, Best Holiday Films

I had a special request to do a list of top holiday films.  Now, there was not specification on which holiday, but since I am sitting next to my Festivus Pole, I am inspired by...wait, nothing in general.  So the question is, what are your top holiday movies of all time?

Dear Goalies, You are Amazing. Socially maladjusted, but amazing.

Today's list is inspired by this amazing save, courtesy of the Boston Bruin's Tim Thomas.  I tried to play goalie once in a scrimmage in high school.  It was hard, lonely, and frustrating.  So here is to you goalies, even if you say annoying things like, "It's always the goalie's fault last."!

Tim Thomas:



Classic Patrick Roy and Chris Osgood


Martin Brodeur



Eddie Belfour



Tony Esposito


And of course, the greatest goalie of all time: Deni Lemieux

Things I Am Really Good At Without Really Trying

What comes natureally to you... put your modesty aside.

Snow Scence

I'm getting pretty homesick seeing all the snow that going around MT and NM, and since all we have here is RAIN, TORNADOS, AND FLOODS, this list hit me.  The Telegraph recently released this list of the greatest snow scenes in movies.  Check 'em out and leave your snowy-wintery movie favorites in the comments section.

Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

When we see a snow-globe fall from Kane’s dying fingers to shatter on the stairs, it sets up cinema’s greatest metaphor for the life unlived. Childhood days of sledding are a dreamy, white-shrouded vision, but one sealed off behind glass, an idyll the tycoon can no longer access.

It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)

The sheer quantity of snow in Capra’s holiday classic required a pioneering special effect. The traditional white-painted cornflakes made too much noise, so 6000 gallons of the fire-fighting chemical foamite, mixed with soap and pumped through a wind machine, were used instead.

The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

They were warned, the Torrance family, that winters in the Overlook Hotel would be fierce: the snowdrift comes right up to second floor windows, enabling Danny to be pushed out and run into the maze to hide. It’s here that his dad gets lost for good, following tiny footsteps into a frozen void.

Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)

Lucky for Phil Connors that there’s always snow on Groundhog Day, or how else would he perfect the art of ice sculpture? Ramis’s immortal time-loop comedy is partly about being stuck in one climate and learning to make the most of it – constant slush is no one’s idea of fun.

White Christmas (Michael Curtiz, 1954)

“May all your Christmases be white” is a long-abandoned dream here – but less so in Vermont. Irving Berlin’s song has become more famous than the film it belongs in, though he came up with the melody on the set of Top Hat (1935), and used it first in the Crosby-Astaire vehicle Holiday Inn (1942).

The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)

From its famous opening, with a helicopter inexplicably chasing a dog across Antarctic wastes, John Carpenter’s shape-shifter shocker is the coldest, bleakest, least cuddly of monster movies. If you made a snowman out of this stuff, chances are it would mutate and try to eat your head.

Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996)

Anyone who’s never been to North Dakota, and knows it only from the Coen Brothers’ indelible fable of criminal bungling, would be led to expect an entire population saying “Yah, you betcha”, and a flat white horizon as far as the eye can see. Pack a parka: there’s no escape.

The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)

Not too hospitable, the planet of Hoth – when you’re not being gored by the Abominable Snowman-like Wampas or besieged by AT-AT walkers, you’re falling to your knees in an appalling blizzard, and being forced to spend the whole night curled inside the guts of a ripped-open tauntaun.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Peter Hunt, 1969)

James Bond does like a ski chase – there are more in The Spy Who Loved Me and The World is Not Enough, and that one on a cello in The Living Daylights – but all pale next to the scale and momentum of his escape from Blofeld’s Alpine hideout. Those Arctic shenanigans in Inception owe it a lot.

Home Alone (Chris Columbus, 1990)

John Hughes, who wrote this merrily slapsticky Yuletide home-invasion romp, has been called the Frank Capra of his age, and had a similar thing for the white stuff (see also: Planes, Trains and Automobiles). Here it lends blanket assurance that nothing too awful will befall Macaulay Culkin.

McCabe and Mrs Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)

You don’t get much more anti-heroic, not to mention slower, than the climactic gunfight in Altman’s downtrodden frontier western. It’s all furtive trudging, hiding behind rocks, and bullets in the back. The elements lent a hand: heavy snow fell for nine days while they shot it.

Touching the Void (Kevin MacDonald, 2003)

Ascending the near-vertical west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes wasn’t the problem for Joe Simpson and Simon Yates: it was coming back down. Crawling over a glacier with a shattered knee, Boney M playing in your head, and only melted snow keeping you alive, is the very definition of delirium.

Time Out (L’emploi du temps) (Laurent Cantet, 2001)

Laurent Cantet’s Golden Lion-winner, a searing study of mid-life crisis, swathes the screen in white, suggesting the blank page that downsized consultant Vincent (superb Aurélien Recoing) finds himself looking at, as he keeps pretending to occupy himself in the Franco-Swiss Alpine hinterland.

Meet Me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)

It’s not all trolley songs, jollity and tinsel. Minnelli’s evergreen musical plumbs the depths of despair when the distraught Tootie (Margaret O’Brien) savagely lops the heads off her snow people. “Nobody’s going to have them! I’d rather kill them if we can’t take them with us!”

The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997)

A school bus, a frozen lake, a slippery bend: snow-fond novelist Russell Banks (Affliction) wrote the source for Egoyan’s haunted drama about a terrible accident in British Columbia. Ian Holm’s hearse-chasing lawyer proposes a suit, but the town’s emotional deep-freeze takes some thawing.

Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990)

Burton’s gentlest film — yes, the one where Johnny Depp has blades for fingers — reaches its peaks of pathos when toytown suburbia turns wintry, and Edward bends his talents to fashioning the exquisite sculpture of an angel from a block of ice, while his sweetheart Winona Ryder gawps on in astonishment.

Dr Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)

Has there even been a better excuse to put Julie Christie in sable hats? Costumier Phyllis Dalton inspired a fashion revolution here, but Lean and cinematographer Freddie Young don’t stint on the chill, doing for a trek through the glacial Urals what they did for the desert in Lawrence of Arabia.

Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, 2001)

It’s impossible to forget the scene in this one-of-a-kind Inuit epic where the hero runs for his life, completely naked and seemingly for days, across the frozen wastes of the Canadian Arctic. It also wins the prize for snowiest interiors, given that most of the dramatic intrigue centers in and around igloos.

The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)

Chaplin’s Tramp turns Klondike prospector in this classic silent comedy, full of helter-skelter snow chases and marauding bears. Inside his shonky cabin, which ends up tipping off a cliff, he performs several of his most famous routines, including the dance of the dinner rolls and the serving of boots for supper.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson, 2005)

It’s been winter for some hundred years in Narnia, thanks to the curse Tilda Swinton’s White Witch called upon the land. This does allow her to rock the glam-villain stylings of a frosty warrior-sorceress, and to have a chariot drawn by polar bears, so you can understand why she was tempted.

Got To Find My Way Onto This List By The Next Alumni Summit

Teach for America’s Most Influential Alumni

BY: JENINNE LEE ST. JOHNNovember 29, 2010

Ahead of Teach for America's 20th-anniversary alumni summit in February, a look at the influentials who have emerged from the ranks of TFA vets.

By now, the story is familiar: Wendy Kopp dreamed up Teach for America for her Princeton senior thesis and then raised $2.5 million to launch the program in 1990. The first class of 500 rookies teaching in low income areas seeded an alumni network that's now more than 20,000 strong. While critics argue that two-year stints aren't long enough for idealistic young adults to have a real effect before heading off to, say, law school, nearly two-thirds of TFA alums remain in education, half of those as classroom teachers. In this, the 20th year of a program that has taught more than 3 million kids, we look at the careers of 19 Teach for America veterans. Some are now recognized education rock stars; others support the cause in more subtle ways.

Check out Fast Company's List to See Who's Who.

Things I Wish I Were This Radical At...

So This kid is.... get it, 6.  Watch and then remember what I just said... 6 years-old...For realz.



So what are the things you would love to be this good at 6 or 60, that just haven't happened yet?  Click on the comment blurb to leave your list in the comments.

Great Characters From TV History

I really thought my list here would end up with more childhood characters, but oddly, these are all fairly recent.  So question:  What are the five best TV characters of all time.  While you are here, click on the blurb to leave your comment, and feel free to make a donation to Donor's Choose to help Alan out!

Gross (5)

Public Toilets are fairly gross, but maybe not the worst.  What grosses you out?   Leave your five in the comments section.

Zack Snyder Set to Direct the New Superman!

I am so excited to see what Zack Snyder is going to do with the new Superman movie.  Say what you will about 300 (loved it) or Watchmen (meh), but he a perfect choice to direct Superman. Form his style to understanding of action and, obviously, great special effects a story that is going to need a fresh perspective will definitely benefit from his ability to tell a story visually. Casting has not yet happened, so the question here is, who are the 5 actors you would consider for the role of Superman?  Click the comment blurb to add your choices.

Great Duos Across Time

Be it a partnership, a team, a hero and sidekick.... who are the top five duos of all time?

Top 5 Most Under-rated TV shows

This just has me so excited!  And got me thinking about all the shows I wish would come back in one form or another.

Five Beverages I Would Like To Consume From a Giant Tank

From The Consumerist.com

Self-Serve Wine Tanks Coming To Supermarkets

By Ben Popken on September 15, 2010 12:00 PM

Self-serve wine tanks could be hitting American supermarkets within a year. These 500 and 1,000 liter mechanical kegs dispense wine into whatever container the shopper brings with them.

By getting rid of the packaging, the wine can be shipped much cheaper. The savings get passed on to you with lower prices, and supposedly the wine tastes pretty good too.

Fill 'er up!

Fill 'er up: self-serve tanks bring wine to French supermarkets [Dr. Vino]
La Cuve, Réserves Précieuses [Official Site (in french)]

More About:

• INNOVATIONS,
 
• SUPERMARKETS,
 
• SHOPPING,
 
• BLOGS,
 
• WINE,
 
• FOOD,
 
• DRINK

So What 5 beverages would you put in a super-sized tank?

Remakes

Old JG-L puts some fun into Lady Gaga and it got me thinkin' about my favorite remakes.  Not only do I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but I also love someone that can show us that art is perception.  So what are the top 5 remakes of all time?


Re

Google: The Movie

Now that plans are out to replicate the Facebook movie, The Social Network, is set for release October 1st (A highly fantastic story if you ask me), Google is now in the talks for their own movie.  This post from  from  blogoscopped.com postulates who might play the Google players.  So who might play you?  Well, to find out, just visit http://celebrity.myheritage.com .  Scroll to the bottom to see my matches.

Who’d Play Who in "Google: The Movie"?

Favorite things about my matches:  1. there are more men then women.  2.  I've done this several times, and while the people always change, Frankie Muniz is always my closest match. 3.  I actually get Lindsay Lohan most frequently, but I usually assume it is just the only famous person beside Marissa Miller (bt-dub so much hotter) that has freckles.  4.  Ashton Kutcher is way prettier than me.  5.  Calvin Coolidge, I just don't know what to say.  5.  Amy Lee... so emo.

So if you dare, post the link to your celeb-a-likes.

Really Greeks, Really?

I'm astounded by this article from Gizmodo that shows us what famous, classical, Greek sculptures likely were in their original state.  It kind of flipped my thoughts on the beauty of ancient sculpture in white marble and grey slate.  It's fascinating how they discovered this (Click here to check out the full article), but it got me thinking about the sculptures I love and if I would still love them if I saw them in this condition.  So this list is 5 sculptures that you love (no art history degree required, no rules, just ones you love.)


5.  Range Rider of the Yellowstone, by William S. Hart

I first love this sculpture, because it is home, a cowboy with his horse, perched on the Rimrocks above the city of Billings.  Second because, if you are a visitor at dusk,  you might actually think this range-rider and his steed are taking a break while rustling cattle.  Third because sculpture is often more inspiring by location.  The different views in this location take you from Eastern, desert prairie to sandstone bluffs in the north, the sharp Beartooth Mountains to the West, rolling pine-covered hills to the east, the bright city lights and fast and wide Yellowstone River below.  It is like the cowboy might be looking at all corners of the earth, from this one, lonesome spot.

4.  It's a little bit surreal, a little bit graphic novel, and a perfect burst of color in the midst of an adobe-walled campus.  Luis Jimenez's Fiesta Dancers is flow and movement and passion.  The man and woman each give a fierce concentration in each other's eyes and movement and their bodies are near perfection, with each area accentuated with soft curves and the shadowing of their costumes.
It reminds me of the old McDonalds playgrounds that used to have the Hamburgler and Grimace statues, but, of course in a more sophisticated manner.










3.  Controller of the Universe by by Damián Ortega,takes hundreds of man's common tools and places them in suspension, mid-explosion, in front of a brightly lit, white room that lets you see time stopping in so many ways.  There are thousands of themes that could be derived from this, but it is also stunningly beautiful, strikingly scary, and visually mind-blowing.

2.  Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonio Canova
If you've ever felt that true love and passion that exudes from this work, you know what it is and what it means.  It is based on the Roman story, (from wikipedia): where, envious and jealous of the beauty of a mortal girl named Psyche, Venus asks her son Cupid to use his golden arrows while Psyche sleeps, so that when she awakes, Venus would have already placed a vile creature for her to fall in love with. Cupid finally agrees to her commands after a long (and losing) debate. As he flies to Psyche's room at night, he turns himself invisible so no one can see him fly in through her window. He takes pity on her, for she was born too beautiful for her own safety. As he slowly approaches, careful not to make a sound, he readies one of his golden arrows. He leans over Psyche while she is asleep and before he can scratch her shoulder with the arrow, she awakens, startling him, for she looks right into his eyes, despite his invisibility. This causes him to scratch himself with his arrow, falling deeply in love with her. He cannot continue his mission, for every passing second he finds her more appealing. He reports back to Venus shortly after and the news enrages her. Venus places a curse on Psyche that keeps her from meeting a suitable husband, or any husband at that. As she does this, it upsets Cupid greatly, and he decides as long as the curse stays on Psyche, he will no longer shoot arrows, which will cause Venus' temple to fall.
Beyond the story, there is just something here that I can't help but look at and, feel exactly what each are feeling, connect to the story, full of love, longing, softness, and heartache, and develop all those emotions myself.

1.  Michelangelo's David

I'm not one to exclude something for popularity, and there is a reason why this sculpture costs $30 to see.  It is perfection.  This picture is worthless, as are the replicas around Florence.  All I can say is you can't imagine what this artwork is, it must be seen.  Only then can you appreciate the form of each part of the body, the strength, confidence, and pride of David.  He is my vision of perfection.  When I think of beauty I hear David repeated in my head.  When I saw him, I was lost, transfixed in his facets for hours without even knowing.

When I was 12

Here is the list of people that you wanted so bad that you hung their posters in your bedroom, locker, maybe even slept next to (the poster or the actual people if you were the aggressive 12-year old type).

Top Fame Enigmas

Ever wonder how some people get famous.  I do.  In fact, here is a list of 5 people that I can't figure out how they got their star in life.

5.  Jennifer Lopez... I just struggle to see her as successful as she seems to be
4.  People from the Bachelor.  I see them covering magazines at the grocery store and I just don't really understand why you would care about them.
3.  People who suck up the auditions on American Idol
2. Anyone on The Hills.  I mean, it's kind or perverted that we celebrate trust-fund babies
1. Tila Tequila

I know an obvious choice is also the Kardashians, but I can't put Kim on this list because I also think she is one of the most stunningly beautiful people ever, which leads me to understand why people think she is interesting.

Five Place on My Bucket List

Yeah, I know it has been a while. Cut me some slack. So the next list is.........


Five places you need to make it to before you die. And maybe a little explanation of each choice.

The Core of My Core

So this video got me thinking about core values, not like the kind that you have when at work, but the personal sort.  So the question here is, what 5 things do you value above all else, in yourself, and in those around you?

Transformational TV and Movies from My Youth (90's Version)

So, before anyone got hysterical about limiting this to 5 (Lindsey), this is the 90's version.  This list is about the the movies and TV shows that had some part in shaping your life.  If you were raised by hippies, sorry, there is no room here for you.  This is for those of us that had a third parent, and his name is Bill Cosby.

The Road Less Traveled (By Me)

There a lot that I could have been... a lot of paths I thought about, or walked down, only to veer in another direction.  So what could I have been doing, occupationally, that I am not today.


Rules:
Any number of entries
Rank from most likely occupations to not as likely
There are jobs you wanted to were actively pursuing

The Four Food Groups of the Apocalypse

So I hear that there might be some crazy stuff going down in 2012.  That got me thinking, should I be a lonely survivor of the end times, what would I want as my only staples.  Don't worry about nutrition, you can just raid the vitamin isles at Walgreens.  Aside from that, if you could only eat 4 things for the rest of your life, what would it be?


Rules:
4 Foods
Can be a dish or a single food

Love 'Em and Leave 'Em

Ever fantasize about a celebrity only to realize they would likely annoy the piss out of you?  Yeah, me too... all the time.  This list assumes the worst in people we don't even know, but don't let your conscience get in the way, just let us know the people you would hook-up with, only to sneak out at 3 AM.


Rules:
Celebrities only
5 total
Rank 5-1

A Musical Education

This list is about songs every person should know/be familiar with.  There is no limit.  Just throw up any songs that should go into a person's musical education.  Feel free to add justifications too.  This will be put to good use, I promise.

The Time Travel List

Imagine you step into the Hadron Collider (LHC) and find yourself traveling via space/time continuum.  Your sole purpose is to deliver yourself to a time where you can find a person that may not be on your "Free Pass" list today, but they would have back when, you know assuming that you were alive and of age and all that stuff.


Rules:
5 celebrities
Rank 5-1
Include the approximate time you are set to travel

Quoted Quotables - MOVIES

Well here I am, in all my administrative glory. JK. The power won't go to my head, I promise.

This brand spanking new category is devoted to what I love most: quoting movies. Have you ever heard of "a cupa cupa cupa"? Well, that's what we are all about in this category. So please, think about the movies you find yourself reciting most often...to your friends, loved ones, or to yourself in the shower or in your car. Those are the kinds of movies we're looking for here, people.

With that, I wish you the best with this final line:
"You just missed the chance of a lifetime, M'lynn. Halfa Chinquapin Parish'd give their high teeth to takc a whack Ouiser!" I think you will get my drift.

Transformational TV and Movies from My Youth (80's Version)

So, before anyone gets hysterical about limiting this to 5 (Lindsey), there will be an 90's version coming soon.  This list is about the the movies and TV shows that had some part in shaping your life.  If you were raised by hippies, sorry, there is no room here for you.  This is for those of us that had a third parent, and his name is Bill Cosby.


Rules
5 TV shows or movies
Rank 5-1
Must have aired at some point in the 80's, but do not need to be limited to the 80's

Top 5 Songs for Seduction

All right all you potential creepers, listen up.  Here it is, putting ammunition right in your hands.  Here are the songs that will woo, melt, and drive someone crazy.  There are no rules to this.


5 Songs
List 5-1

All Time Favorite Things

So I am going to switch it up here a bit.  This list is a non-people list.  It is about the things that make you happiest in life that are not people-related.  So you can't say "your mom", even though it is one of the all-time best answers to any question.  You'd just end up with a list of people, and that is precisely what this list is not about.  I suppose you could say something like "sex" too, but I try to think a little further outside the box (giggle).


Rules 
Limited to 5
Rank 5-1
No people or people-related items (i.e., seeing my best friend after a long time apart)

The Airport/Ski Lodge List

So, when I brought up the idea of the "Free Pass" list, my friend Barry got all heady on it and started delivering these qualifiers to me.  The spawn of which was a bunch of other lists.  At first I was thinking that this was wrong and maybe a little inappropriate.  Then I realized it was inappropriate because it gave me more chances to actually get a free pass to hook up with a celeb and I decided this was actually a fantastic idea.  That lead me to think, "Hey! Why not throw in a same-sex list, you know, just in case?"  So I did that too.
This list is a kind of a relationship list.  I think of it as someone you would meet at the airport bar, strike up a conversation, maybe hit the mile-high club (or hopefully a red carpet club), and then maybe make plans to find each other in airports at a set frequency and/or elope and have babies.  Barry doesn't drink, so said scenario doesn't work for him.  He has chosen a ski lodge, because of his affinity for sweaters (hence the shit-talking in the last entry).  So this one is pretty serious, laying it on the line.  Someone might end up with a broken heart.


Rules:
5 choices
List Rank 5-1
Must be celebrities
Should be only celebrities that you think you would have more than just physical attraction to

The Original Free Pass List

So this is a pretty standard list.  It is the 5 people that you are allowed a free pass for, meaning no sig-oth can claim cheating should you have the opportunity to have a hook-up.  It helps if you both have a list, but if one bows out, I say that is their problem.  I fully anticipate the opportunity to use mine some day.  Also, you should come to your own agreement about change notifications.


Rules for the list:
Can be anyone with no restrictions or qualifiers, other than they are a celebrity.
No more than five
List should be ranked (5-1)