Take Me To Your Lizard

Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar. Indie based on Balkan folk music? Hell yeah!

I got in from a night out and my copy of Jeff Mangum - Live At Jittery Joe's has arrived! Wasn't expecting it for a couple of weeks yet. The one thing I really wanted and couldn't rip off the Internet. And it's extremely beautiful. "The closest music has ever come to poetry", I've said before and I'll say again, because it's true. Ahhh....

Hey, I just bought a DS this week. Mostly 'cause I was round MyLeakyBucket's city pad (what a namedropping whore I am) and he showed me his (and don't start, you know I mean a DS). So I went out and bought one, as did my lady friend, snagging Mario Kart and new Mario Bros in the process. I picked up a cheap copy of the new Castlevania off eBay, and I'm a happy soul. Otherwise, I dip into World of Warcraft quite regularly. Anyone here for the online roleplaying games? I wasn't sure it'd be for me but here I am, one year on, having a blast.

One year of this thread and nobody's yet to say they didn't like Serenity. Allow me. But first, to put things in perspective: I loved Firefly. A hell of a lot. Man, what a series. So don't go all thinking I'm just a hater who doesn't get the genius of this story, these characters. And neither, I think, did I love it just so incredibly much that ANYTHING, short of a full second series, would be a let down. I thought Serenity had a weaker plot, weaker dialogue, weaker characterisation than Firefly. Alone, it was a sub-average sci-fi flick made above average only by the history of the series and the knowledge of story, character etc. that we start the film with (assuming we've seen the series). Alright, so I'm not really saying I didn't like it. It was pretty enjoyable and great stuff to see the Firefly crew back on the screen. It was just less than it could have been. And this Serenity love-in of a thread needed a devil's advocate.

So I wake up feeling like shit, but conscientiously decide to go to my morning lecture anyway. I drag myself out of bed, rush to campus with minutes to spare, and realise that the room has been changed and the lecture is elsewhere. I go find out where, then go to the building, only to wander around a maze of rooms not knowing where the hell they've hidden 'C13'. Finally, I decide that this morning was an omen of sorts, clearly telling me not to go to my lecture. So instead of learning about transcendental philosophical arguments, I'm here in the computer room checking out the forum. Bah.

She Talks to Angels, Black Crowes. I watched the world float to the Dark side of the moon After all I knew it had to be something To do with you I really don’t mind what happens now and then As long as you’ll be my friend at the end

Alright, 1. Blade Runner 2. Lord of the Rings 3. The Silence of the Lambs 4. The Crow 5. American Beauty 6. The Matrix 7. Braveheart 8. Star Wars Trilogy 9. Leon 10. Alien series 11. Shawshank Redemption 12. Terminator 2 13. Amelie 14. The Princess Bride 15. It's a Wonderful Life 16. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 17. Donnie Darko 18. Face/Off 19. Chasing Amy 20. Harold and Maude It's not quite right but I'm such a feckin' perfectionist about some things that this is probably the best it's getting.

I'm pretty sure that's the Bee Gees, 'How Deep is your Love'. Was an honest man Asked me for the phone Tried to take control I don't see it that way We shared some ideas All obsessed with fate Ways we're all the same I don't see it that way

I maxed Secret of Mana on the SNES, getting all 3 characters to level 99, and maximum experience with every weapon, and maximum experience on the spells and shit. I could kill the last boss with one hit from the main character. Heh, I loved that game.

I can recite the alphabet backwards. It's an odd skill, yes, but one that has gained me much respect and stature over the years.

It feels weird including it in a list of all time best films, as most (but not all) of the reason I love it has nothing to do with the filmmaker's but the author's original work. Granted, other films up there (especially in my case The Princess Bride) were based on fantastic books that I loved, but it seems there's been more adaptation for film going on in those cases, as with Hamlet the source was a made-for-performance work. Of course, Brannagh has interpreted and innovated as any Shakespearean director does... oh I dunno ;)

This is hard. I may have rushed this a bit but here's a tentative top list, in order: 1. Blade Runner 2. Lord of the Rings 3. The Silence of the Lambs 4. The Crow 5. American Beauty 6. The Matrix 7. Braveheart 8. Star Wars Trilogy 9. Leon 10. Alien Series 11. Shawshank Redemption 12. Terminator 2 13. Amelie 14. The Princess Bride Others I may want to put in somewhere: Face/Off Donnie Darko Chasing Amy Harold and Maude Die Hard And things I'm considering: Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (Dunno if this counts ) It's a Wonderful Life Indiana Jones Series Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Vanilla Sky Samurai X/Princess Mononoke/Ghost in the Shell (Gotta have an anime somewhere) Mission Impossible 2 (Yeah, I actually really like it) And I know I'm forgetting stuff. Going to watch Spirited Away tonight, seems a few people saw fit to enter that in the top 20. I'll let you know.

No problem with these, I think Arnie really can do a good comedy if pressed. I think probably his funniest film though was True Lies, even though not overtly a comedy it had some great moments.

Go ahead, but if you win you're buying it! I'm not losing my money. I just watched some of the film to check it definitely works ok, and to see if I'd missed something in my first viewing. You know, like maybe I was taking it too seriously and it really is a lot of fun, and guys in rubber suits are actually quite hilarious. But I was right, it's a load of crap. You're right though, anime was big for a while in the early 90s. That's when I started watching; a friend of mine had some tapes and we rented a few (well, got our parents to rent a few, I was about 11 myself). And shite movies rock. I remember hiring Dungeons and Dragons, that film gave me more amusement than most comedies. Likewise, Battlefield Earth is amazingly entertaining.