Movies that shook the world

Several years ago, AMC ran a show titled 'Movies That Shook the World'. They looked at movies that are know deemed 'important' by those who make these decisions. It ran for one year and looked at thirteen different movies. Here's a list of the movies.

I just finished watching the episode about The Blair Witch Project. They focused more on how the film was marketed and made as opposed to the plot, actors, where it stands in the cinematic history, etc. This is one of my favorite horror movies of all time just because of the story and the ending. The end makes the movie. My wife hates the movie, some of our close friends hate the movie, my brother loved it. IMdB fans rate it at a 6.8 (I gave it a 10), but they all suck because they also think that The Dark Knight is one of the greatest movies EVER!

For me, the reason Blair Witch was such a great movie was the ending. They showed a clip of the two running through the house and the final scene in the basement and it sent chills up my spine. And that was without being engrossed in the film for over an hour. That, my friends, is power of the cinema and the power of a great movie. If you are shown one scene from a movie you have seen once and you have that kind of reaction to it, that movie made it's point. The horror movie genre should have taken many many notes from this film because this was really the pinnacle. The slasher films are fun to watch and they have their scary moments, but it is more about blood and guts than scaring the audience. I have no problem admitting that after we went and watched this movie in high school, I could not sleep that night.

I also watched last week the episode on 2001: A Space Odyssey. I have watched that movie half a dozen times and I still don't understand it, but it's important because of the whole space race thing....

A day of mind numbing sports.

My one and only goal that I set yesterday was to enjoy my day off. Not just enjoy, but relax and do absolutely nothing. Mission complete. And what helped me get through the day? Sports. Watching sports for practically the entire day eats away the hours but leaves one feeling numb.

My first objective was getting up early. There are two things very strange about that. One....my day off. Who wants to get up early on their day off? and two...I was up until one in the morning sharing some drinks with some friends. But, I needed to get up before eight thirty in order to watch the US soccer team play. It was an intense game and they were robbed, once again, of a goal by a bogus call. Such is life, there was plenty of time left in the game after the off sides call. Then the minutes ticked away and still no score until additional play. It was the most excited I ever really get about a sport I don't follow all that much.

By the time the soccer game was over, there were stories all around about this insanely long tennis match that was happening at Wimbledon. This match, being played by two almost anonymous men has lasted three days (or will once they resume play tomorrow). They are tied at fifty nine in the fifth set. Normally, the sets go to seven or eight depending on how well the opponents are, but fifty nine a piece! That is crazy. It is the longest match in the modern era, the American that is playing in it set a new record for most aces in one match, and it has been suspended twice because of darkness. The play time is a little over ten hours. TEN HOURS!

The final sport was the Tigers v. Mets. The Tigers lost. Moving on.......

I feel as though I should get some shares in ESPN stock. All three sporting events I watched today were on either ESPN or ESPN2. In between the tennis match and the baseball game, I squeezed in the Germany/Ghana game (or bits and pieces of it) and lunch and dinner.

My brain is mush, I work in the morning, but before I go to bed, I have decided to solidify my mind for a little bit and pick up a book. You know, so my intellectual self doesn't die.

Musical pickle

Am I a bad music lover if I like In Utero more than Nevermind?

Is there something wrong with my inner grunging teen?

For my consideration

After very little thought as to what to do with my weekend of in July while Andrea is out of town, I determined to go camping. I gave serious thought about heading up to Kansas City and going to a couple of Royals games, but that costs way more money than I want to spend. I also considered going to Fort Scott and visit the historical site, but couldn't find much else to do in the area that would really warrant a long weekend trip.

With camping, getting there is the hard part and after it is all about relaxing. The one thing that camping trumps over the other options is money. Buying food and fuel for the fire to cook the food I believe cancels out the cost of eating out at restaurants were I to go to KC or Fort Scott. Outside of the amount of money it costs to get there (gasoline, mostly) it will cost around twenty to thirty dollars for the weekend. Not bad for staying in a state park. Speaking of which, I have two in mind and it is really up in the air as to which one I am going to go to. Either Elk City or Fall River. Both are quite close to Wichita, within two hours drive. Both offer some decent looking day hiking trails which I am really looking forward to investigating. The trails are anywhere from one to three miles so nothing too strenuous. After finding a few reviews on the camp sites and the trails, I am excited to go. The reviews were great, and they should be. They are for state parks. It's not like they are privately owned and unkempt.

Is it July yet?

Should be sleeping

Apparently all I need is three hours of sleep today....so that's fun. This is just a catch up type post.

-We had a friend give birth to her first child last week! The new parents are doing great.

-I have been planning a few things to do while Andrea goes to Michigan for a few weeks this summer (mostly movie watching line up[that takes time and planning!], but also looking at a possible mini road trip for a weekend. Even thought about camping/hiking)

-It took very little time to recover from the overnight sleep schedule (today notwithstanding)

-It's been raining and overcast and just overall crappy weather wise the past week or so. It is spring time for sure. And it's humid as hell.

-Still about three months away, we are looking forward to our trip out to Seattle.

-Despite writing earlier this week about how America doesn't care about soccer, I find myself watching the games when they are on. I'm still not the biggest fan of the sport, but I appreciate the athleticism they have.

-Tom Izzo needs to stay at Michigan State. Why leave such a good thing?

-The Tigers are hanging in there as the long part of the season approaches, but need to put together a few five and six game win streaks to get past Minnesota.

Weekend sloth

My two week overnight stint working on a project at work came to an end Friday morning leaving me with a three day weekend. My first thoughts were about lying by the pool for a day, but that was canceled because of rain for the weekend. Not just one day, but both days (although the clouds may break in the afternoon today). So that plan was out. My second plan was to just hang out and do nothing. SUCCESS!

Friday all day I was a zombie. I only slept for a couple of hours after coming home because I wanted (needed) to get back on a normal sleep pattern before Monday. I did grab a nap in the early evening, but that didn't really affect my sleep that night.

I woke up at six thirty Saturday morning. Why? I don't know. I kept in the back of my mind the whole sleep pattern thing. So I got up, made some coffee, and watched a movie. And then another one. I even watched a World Cup match which led to the previous entry. Once again, took another early evening nap which lasted about two and a half hours. Quite a nap! Andrea was on the verge of waking me up so I could sleep through the night.

I woke up today around seven o'clock. And here I sit. Made another pot of coffee and am currently watching another World Cup match (or Copa Mundial because it's on Telemundo!) If I have no real interest in what the commentators are saying, why not watch it in Spanish?

I was worried about not being able to sleep at night after this, but it hasn't been much of a problem. I felt nothing but tired the entire two weeks of this project. I would get eight or nine hours of sleep during the day and wake up at three in the afternoon only to want to move to the couch and continue to sleep. Naps were essential every single day. It felt wrong to be napping until seven or eight at night, but if the day begins at ten thirty in the evening, why not sleep the day away? I just hated only being awake for a couple of hours during the day. I did nothing, and normally that feels wonderful, but not this time.

Good try ESPN.

As the world gathers in houses (both public and private) for the greatest event that happens every four years, ESPN is trying to get the United States into it. The World Cup has started in South Africa and the world rejoices. Well, the world minus America.

The United Sates has never really loved soccer. As much as they try to get into it, even developing the MLS in the early nineties. The easiest way to get people to watch soccer is to slap it on the largest sports network, ESPN. But why? Why can't the populous enjoy watching ninety minutes of ball movement? Is it the lack of scoring, the lack of physical contact (along the lines of American football or rugby), or is it the fact that nothing really seems to happen. It has yet to catch on in America for that reason. People want to be entertained and they have been entertained by the physicality of American football. That is why they find soccer dull. And no, two guys running into each other and one of them flopping onto the ground does not count as physicality of the game.

ESPN is trying to spark an interest by flooding their channels with coverage of the games, but what happens when the American team loses. Yes when, not if. Soccer is a second tier sport in this country. Talent-wise they cannot compete with teams from around the world. What happens when the team loses and the people of this country just stop caring? ESPN will go back to covering LeBron James's free agency (which has less to do with sport than it does with money) and the up coming NFL season which is still far off. They'll show clips of the games still being played in South Africa, but they won't have thirty minutes of soccer coverage. They won't care anymore, and neither will their viewers. Most people probably don't even know who won in 2006 without looking it up (it was Italy, you're welcome).

I am trying to watch and get engrossed into the game and it is impressive how well these men can control their passes and how quickly they can breakout into a dead sprint when they find a little opening in the defense. These players are extremely talented, there is no argument there. Most athletes do not have the endurance soccer players do. Well, maybe lacrosse players.

I won't watch it for very long, I'll keep it on as background noise. It has been rendered as such and is on the same level as basketball for me. Mere background, wouldn't it just be easier to shut off the television and read a book?

Sixth beer and hipsters

I went out and bought a two four of PBR for my sixth beer for the year. I have been on the PBR bandwagon for about six years now. I cannot claim to have loved it since I turned twenty one, but have enjoyed it ever since I bought it on Mackinac Island in 2004. Why is this important? It's because I don't want to be a hipster. I try not to include myself in this group for the main reason is that I am not smug enough. Hipsters love PBR, thinking that it's the cool beer to drink. I have since moved on from needing PBR to be cool. It was convenient for the time and Schlitz wasn't available in cans.

Schlitz is my favorite cheap beer now and if the hipster movement tries to claim Schlitz as their own, there will be less smugness in the world.