I know nothing lasts forever. I also know I’m overly attached to things. But a list of movies? Who thought I’d have to back up a list of my 20 favorite movies?!?

1. If del.icio.us goes under? I lose my links. AKA I’m screwed.
2. If gmail goes down? I lose my email backup. (I’ve got it all locally, but I’m perched on the edge of a rusty scimitar, AKA, I’m screwed.)
3. If DreamHost goes down? I lose this whole blog, past the last time I backed it up (note to self: find that plug-in that backs up automagically) (and for good measure, back up when you’re done with this).

Before I go on, please know that I actually do have a keen sense of perspective when it comes to “stuff”, based in no small part to—well, I can’t even bring it up in a post this frivolous. You’ll just have to trust me, my friend: between my travels abroad and my travels, period, I have an acute understanding not only of the fundamental impermanence of life, but of priorities in general.

Still, we cling to what we cling to, idiotic or not. And today, I’m clinging to movies. I had a list of them on a site called YMDB—which I won’t even link to, because it redirects to IMDB, which needs more traffic like I need more holiday fat around my middle—and it Summed Me Up in Movies, and it was a link between me and my beloved Neilochka, and now it’s gone.

Worse, occasionally, when I’d be hard up for a good video rental, I’d hop on YMDB and find a similar list. You know, like how you people who don’t yet know amazon.com is the devil sometimes use it for other recommendations on crap you might be interested in. Who doesn’t want a nice page filled with crap they might be interested in!?! No one, I say!

So to hell with it. I’m putting my new and improved list of fave flickage right here. If anyone has any ideas on other stuff I might want to see, let me know. I gave up TV, remember? I need distraction!

Some disclaimers before I give up the list itself:

• This list was cobbled together from dim, dim memory and a MySpace list, so, you know, it’s likely to change
• Drastic change
• This list is in no particular order (although I really, really love The Third Man)
• My criteria have more to do with desirability of repeat viewing than inherent greatness, which is to don’t even start about Showgirls, people
• That’s it, but bulleted lists look better in odd numbers

Now, without further ado, the list itself:

1. The Third Man
2. The Godfather
3. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
4. Showgirls
5. All About Eve
6. Jackie Brown
7. Brazil
8. Nashville
9. Caddyshack
10. Ed Wood
11. Fat City
12. Le Rayon Vert (aka Summer, in U.S. release)
13. Johnny Guitar
14. Saturday Night Fever
15. The Gay Divorcée
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
18. Play Misty for Me
19. Vertigo
20. Singin’ in the Rain

As I said, list subject to change. Like me…

xxx
c

UPDATE: Thanks to commenter, Scott, I’ve found the relocated YMDB. Here’s my old list (a lot like this one, here; I’m pretty consistent…)

Image by bryanF via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license

TOPICS: best of, communicatrix, links, List-o-rama!, reviews/film, reviews/film, YMDB.

Jon Stewart is God.

Whoever has Lauren Bacall in the death pool is going to cash in soon.

It is just plain cruel to schedule a nominee as a presenter if his nominated category comes before his presentation category.

Especially when there is no alcohol served at the event.

It is just plain stupid to shill for the film industry’s output by saying “you just can’t watch something like this on TV” and then proceed to do just that.

As much as I hated the big, vomity production numbers, I miss them even more.

Oh, wait—”It’s Hard Out There for a Pimp” just came on.

M. Night Shamalamadingdong’s AmEx commercial was more compelling than any of his last three movies. And it still had a shitty ending.

Whoever has Dolly Parton in the death pool might cash in pretty soon, too.

Clooney/Obama in 2008.

All the ladies look very chic and subdued.

Even, amazingly, Meryl Streep, who usually looks like she was styled by a gaggle of five-year-old girls playing dressup out of an old trunk in the attic.

Meryl Streep’s birth name was Mary Louise.**

If I had any doubts that Philip Seymour Hoffman should win the Best Actor award, hearing that he shot the role in 36 days while producing has forever dispelled them.

If the Oscars moved to a points system whereby the most passionate and interesting nominees got to speak the longest, that director of Tsotsti would have been speaking for an hour and a half.

Having just heard (yawn) Reese Witherspoon give her acceptance speech, I don’t think we’re in danger of that happening anytime soon.

xxx
c

*blusings = blog musings

**UPDATE: this is not technically a blusing, I know. My actual blusing after thinking about exciting, trashy days of Oscars past was ‘I miss Cher’, however I was so bowled over about Meryl Streep’s birth name it knocked all real Oscar blusings out of my head. Also, I have had three scotches. At least.

Photo of setting up the 2006 Oscars by Donna Grayson via Flickr

TOPICS: List-o-rama!, Oscars, reviews/film, reviews/film, TV.

Somehow, I wound up with a (free) subscription to Entertainment Weekly, a rag that has slid far, far downhill since the glory days following its launch (when I was a paid subscriber), but still holds some use as short-attention-span reading material.

And so, having burned through the frighteningly well-produced SXSW newsmag whilst brushing my teeth yesterday and the current issue of Jane (which remains mystifyingly, defiantly fab years after its launch) in a long tub soak last night, I was left with one raggedy-ass copy of EW to peruse on the can this morning.

But what ho! Whilst flipping through the US-thin pages, I was struck by the muse: I’ll review what EW reviews…in bathroom lingo! Short, sweet, and much easier to add to your del.icio.us than anything you read while performing ablutions. Erik, this one is for you…

The communicatrix’s bathroom guide to the year’s big events (film edition):

The Da Vinci Code: Poop that looks good coming out but falls apart as soon as it hits the water

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest: Occasionally perfect shower ruined by incessant flushing of neighbor’s toilet

M:I III: The hallelujah poop that accompanies the onset of one’s period

Flight 93, World Trade Center: Tedious issues of The New Yorker that molder away in the bathroom rack because you feel too guilty throwing them out

X3: Outrageously expensive styling product moldering away in your shower caddy because you feel like an asshole throwing it out

Casino Royale: The long-awaited re-release of the contraceptive sponge

The Devil Wears Prada: Toothpaste sample you got from the dentist you use when you run out of your brand which turns out to be halfway decent, although not worth switching to from your regular brand

Miami Vice: Overly expensive set of matching Italianate-moderne bathroom accessories that you receive via regifting

Superman Returns: Mold-infected tile that looks good for a week after you scrub it with bleach but really needs regrouting, if not total replacement

Lady in the Water: (see The DaVinci Code)

The Break-Up: Otherwise satisfying poop marred by painful and unsightly corn kernels

Marie Antoinette: Paris Hilton, the fragrance

xxx
c

TOPICS: List-o-rama!, reviews/film, reviews/film.