numbers 9 thru 12

9. the dark knight watched 26 jan 2010
thoughts: firstly, i saw this in theaters 5 times. once with my dad, another two times with one group of friends and another two times with another friend. the acting in this was amazing and their choice for who to replace katie holmes was brilliant. it took me half the movie to realize that it was maggie gyllenhaal. they do look alike.

10. star wars: episode V - the empire strikes back
thoughts on empire: i think i watch this movie at least once a week. its my favorite out of the series and it's a lot of others' favorite too. i like it because it reminds me that it is darkest before the dawn and this is it. the original star wars is like a crazy night on the town. start off with 'a new hope' peak at 'empire' and roll to a finish with 'jedi.'
now that ive seen this movie a million times i still discover new things i didn't see before or realize just how amazing the acting in the film is. especially by three unknown actors at the time. what was so great about star wars was its refreshing look at the sci-fi genre and its unique depiction of the storyline. you're not seeing the conflict through the viewpoint of the main characters but rather the viewpoint of two by standers.

11. the lord of the rings: the return of the king
thoughts: The ending of this movie really taught me about friendship and the endings of good things. That endings can be good. The special effects, the acting, everything in this movie was top notch.



12. star wars
thoughts: This movie was the only movie in the saga that I thought was made with a real finished feel to it. There was nothing left undone or unfinished unlike Empire and Jedi.

magical adventure via fb

Daniel

alright, well im gonna go play guitar hero and drink 4 beers

i'll bring my computer with though

Me

god i hate that game but wow thanks for bringing me along i almost feel there~

Daniel

haha, get ready for the magical journey

going down the stairs

Me

god i am grinning like a super fag right now

Daniel

turning on the playstation

getting 4 beers

2 for me and 2 for you

and now we're sitting in my basement

movies 5 through 8

IMDB's top 250 movies list:


5. pulp fiction
thoughts on pulp fiction: there arent many words to describe how good this film is. you really just need to watch it. the script is amazing. characters believable. the dialogue is just hilarious.



6. schindler's list
thoughts on schindler's list: this is one of the best world war II/holocaust films ever made. the symbolism, the portrayals. especially all the times the jews said this particular move was the worst that could happen. it broke my heart knowing worse things were to come. a book this movie reminds me of is elie wiesel's "night." what a powerful book that was. the symbolism in both are parallel. while the jews in spielberg's movie did not seem to be losing their faith as elie felt in "night" they were losing just the same. i felt the use of black and white helped viewers to focus more on the atrocities of the event than the numerous amounts of bloodshed.



7. 12 angry men
thoughts: the first time i saw this movie was in my speech class a year or so ago and in that context i found the movie to be powerful. that with persuasive speech and a little care for doing the right thing, you can change people's minds. words can change the world. the characters were well executed for a movie from the 50s. i hope if i have jury service, to not be like these characters and to be more like henry fonda's character. i wouldnt want to make a decision so irrationally and selfishly like the others in that room with henry fonda's character. it makes me want to be a part of a jury no matter how insignificant the case. jury duty is an unique property of living in this country and to toss it around without such a second thought is heartbreaking. serving on a jury is an honor and not to be taken lightly.



8. one flew over the cuckoo's nest
thoughts: this is probably jack nicolson's best movie ever. he was excellent. other than jack nicolson there wasn't much to write home about. the other characters were nothing rememberable.

""Idiots". It's for you." - Blondie.

The fourth movie in IMDB's top 250 movies of all time is Clint Eastwood's The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

thoughts: im biased towards this one because i love clint eastwood westerns and this one is one of his best. the signature western tune in this movie makes it that much more enjoyable. the closeups of just the eyes were distinctive of this genre as well. there were some great laugh out loud moments and a couple of sadder ones. this movie definitely incorporated all the emotions one could feel. the fact that the secret to where the gold was stashed was between the good and the ugly and both had to depend on the other in order to obtain the gold even though they had a strained relationship. however to make matters worse they had the bad after them and the information they held. the two's partnership came full circle when for a last time the good saves the ugly. westerns dont get any better than this.

quotes: "I like big fat men like you. When they fall they make more noise."
Tuco: Hurrah! Hurrah for the Confederacy! HURRAH! Down with General Grant! Hurrah for General... What's his name? Lee! LEE! Ha ha. God is with us because he hates the Yanks too. HURRAH!
Blondie: [spits] God is not on our side because he hates idiots also.
[the commander of the cavalry patrol they've met reveals his blue uniform]
Tuco: [trying to read a note] "See you soon, id... " "id... " "ids... "
Blondie: [taking the note] "Idiots". It's for you.

love is only one word.

i feel as though i am sitting in this man's living room watching the beauty and the things he does. i feel like we have had a love story strange and in sync. one where you know you'll have those moments that every girl has thought of at least once in their lifetime. where you stand on the end of santa monica pier knowing you're the only two people in the world. what an inspiring beautiful handsome man.

i need to hang out with more men. not boys.

dated:
artist
armed forces
silver fox
impeccable dresser

should date:
nice men
men my own age
men like john

want to date:
musicians
soccer players as good looking as the ones on the world cup
rooney
men like alex greenwald
happy men
guys with mustache and cute lookin facial hair
more impeccable dressers so that we may look amazing and perfect together because why should i be the only one dressing up to look cute? he should too.
dancer
my own alex turner

i got a facebook message from this guy i met last summer. he's funny and smart and okay looking but his smile is what really is the best about him. i love it when he smiles. anyway, he messaged me about going to the county fair (which is where i met him last year) and i about melted. i wish i was going to be in town so then we could but alas i wont. it will be so good to be back in california for the next 3 years of my life. 3 years of los angeles. 3 years of another 3 years. i cannot wait for another chapter of my life to begin and to be able to meet more people, hopefully more people with the same aspirations and goals as my own.

when my brother was visiting for the weekend, we drove to the six flags that is near by + he introduced me to this song. i must say i fell in love. my brother is by far one of my favorite people and i love hanging out with him.

i wanna go back to being a well rounded artist. a well rounded artist for a well rounded artist. i fall in love at least 4000 times a day. all i want to do is learn from the people i am around and just generally have a good time. i have found some people like that that i have back home, but have failed to find it here. lesson learned? try harder.

you make your own life. things do not pass you by, you simply overlooked it. things are not handed to you, you must work for it. you are what you make of your life. i have fucked up enough in my life to know how true this all is.

i hope to find you my humphrey bogart. here's to lookin at you kid.

ilsa.

"In 1901 his father was murdered for an insult to the local Mafia chieftain." - beginning words in Godfather Part II

The third movie in IMDB's top 250 movies of all time is Part two to the Godfather Trilogy.
thoughts on part 2: i again had to read a synopsis of the film to completely understand what was going on and who was who. the characters like in the first were not very strong except for the more main ones. i thought maybe again this was done on purpose to get the message across that soldiers and captains were expendable resources to the family. the end of the movie held a lot of ironies toward some events in the first as well as some parallels. this movie too was hard to get into and very hard to follow with its parallel storyline. i felt that the movie simply didnt need the vito storyline involved. i dont feel it added but rather took away from the telling of michael's reign of the family. however, the ending scene portrays just how much and how far michael has come from when we were first introduced to him. he seems to have become a fallen hero. in watching these two movies i saw many similarities between these two movies (part 1 and part 2) that were emulated in the HBO series "The Sopranos." anyway, maybe the book is better?

"Never tell anyone outside the Family what you are thinking again. Go on." - don corleone

The second movie in IMDB's top 250 movies of all time is Coppola's The Godfather starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.thoughts on godfather: ill be honest, this movie took a lot to get into. i had to repeatedly stop the movie and read a synopsis to understand what exactly was going on in the scenes and i dunno how happy i am about that. i really wanted to like this film since it is so widely recognized and referenced. the strongest characters in the film were the three actual family members (the don, michael and sonny) and im sure that's exactly what the director was going for but in doing that they failed to really submerse the audience in the plot and the surroundings. i understood that al pacino's character was the 'odd-one-out' in his family having not engaged in the dealings of "the family" and how adamant he was about not becoming "like them." as in true storyboard form, something happens to draw him into everything and it goes from there. by the third leg in this movie i started caring about the characters and where they were going, what they were doing. especially when you could see the change in the don's demeanor. by the end of the film, my thoughts on it completely changed. once the son took over the family you saw a whole different side to him. you only saw half of his face and that helped portray him and how much he had changed from the start of the film. this last hour made me really excited for part 2. though he pretty much became everything he didnt or thought he wouldnt be. i enjoyed this one more than the second. maybe the godfather series is like pot, you have to watch it a couple of times to start liking/loving it.

"get busy livin or get busy dyin." andy dufresne

The first movie on imdb.com's top 250 movies is The Shawshank Redemption starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins.


1. The Shawshank Redemption

my thoughts on shawshank: I have to say when I saw that this was imdb's #1 movie I didn't think it deserved it; mostly because I've never seen it before until now. Now that I have I have to say I understand exactly why it is number one. The emotions and thoughts that this movie stirred up for me were intense. I cared about the characters even if they were all crooks. At the end, Morgan Freeman's character really got my mind thinking about life sentences and how he wanted to go back in time and just talk to that stupid boy who had committed the crime and to tell him how it is. That was the moment in the movie where everything came together. Brooks was a character that I found to be undeserving of his surroundings. I really felt like he could be the really innocence amongst thieves. It was heartwarming to see that Red had gotten the same room as Brooks once he was out and feeling the same way Brooks did. I never would have thought that people coming out of jail would have it so rough. The movie's ending lines were probably some of the best I've ever heard and when I looked up to see who the writers were well I wasn't very surprised to see Stephen King as one of them.

favorite quotes: "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope." - Red

"Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend." - Red

"Red: You gonna open it, or stand there with your thumb up your butt?
Tommy Williams: Thumb up my butt sounds better."

I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head.

This is my goal for 2010. I am going to watch all 250 movies on IMDB's top 250 movies of all time. I'm actually really excited for this. I have seen some movies on the list but definitely not all 250. I haven't even HEARD of some of these movies. But all the more enriching. All the more to find out about. However there are rules.
Rules:
- must watch in order
- must write down thoughts

1. the shawshank redemption watched 9 April 2010
2. the godfather watched 11 April 2010
3. the godfather part 2 watched 12 April 2010
4. the good, the bad, the ugly watched 13 April 2010
5. pulp fiction watched 20 April 2010
6. schindler's list watched 21 April 2010
7. 12 angry men watched 22 April 2010
8. one flew over the cuckoo's nest watched 24 April 2010
9. the dark knight watched 25 April 2010
10. star wars: episode V - the empire strikes back watched 26 April 2010
11. the lord of the rings: the return of the king watched 28 April 2010
12. star wars watched 30 April 2010
13. casablanca watched 1 May 2010
14. goodfellas watched 2 May 2010
15. shichinin no samurai (seven samurai) watched 3 May 2010
16. city of god watched 20 June 2010
17. fight club watched 20 July 2010
18. raiders of the lost ark watched 1 August 2010
19. rear window watched 3 August 2010
20. the lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring watched 7 August 2010
21. the usual suspects watched 7 August 2010
22. psycho watched 11 August 2010
23. once upon a time in the west watched 11 August 2010
24. the silence of the lambs
25. the matrix
26. memento
27. se7en
28. its a wonderful life
29. the lord of the rings: the two towers
30. dr. strangelove or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
31. sunset blvd
32. citizen kane
33. north by northwest
34. leon
35. apocalypse now
36. american beauty
37. avatar
38. american history x
39. forrest gump
40. taxi driver
41. vertigo
42. lawrence of arabia
43. terminator 2: judgement day
44. wall-e
45. amelie
46. alien
47. saving private ryan
48. a clockwork orange
49. the shining
50. paths of glory
51. the departed
52. to kill a mockingbird
53. the pianist
54. aliens
55. spirited away (sen to chihiro no kamikakushi)
thoughts: i was actually really glad to see this movie on the list. it is definitely in my top ten all time favorite movies.

56. the lives of others
57. m
58. double indemnity
59. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
60. chinatown
61. requiem for a dream
62. the third man
63. l.a confidential
64. reservoir dogs
65. the treasure of the sierra madre
66. das boot
67. monty python and the holy grail
68. inglorious bastards
69. pan's labyrinth
70. city lights
71. the bridge on the river kwai
72. up
thoughts: this movie was one of my top 10 of 2009 if not #1. this movie stirs up emotion in a storyline that is very unique when it comes to a children's movie. pixar really knows how to make 'em.


73. raging bull
74. the prestige
75. singin in the rain
76. 2001: a space odyssey
77. life is beautiful
78. back to the future
79. some like it hot
80. slumdog millionaire
thoughts: im glad this movie made top 100 but i was surprised not to see it above 50. it was a great movie when i saw it in theaters.

81. downfall
82. the maltese falcon
83. modern times
84. gran torino
85. amadeus
86. rashômon
87. full metal jacket
88. cinema paradiso
89. all about eve
90. braveheart
91. once upon a time in america
92. the elephant man
93. sin city
94. metropolis
95. the green mile
96. rebecca
97. the great dictator
98. the apartment
99. the sting
100. indiana jones and the last crusade
101. the great escape
102. district 9
103. gladiator
104. star wars episode vi - the return of the jedi
105. batman begins
106. jaws
107. bicycle thieves
108. unforgiven
109. hotel rwanda
110. blade runner
111. no country for old men
112. mr. smith goes to washington
113. die hard
114. on the waterfront
115. touch of evil
116. oldboy
117. the seventh seal
118. fargo
119. the wizard of oz
120. princess mononoke
121. strangers on a train
122. for a few dollars more
123. heat
124. donnie darko
125. cool hand luke
126. the wrestler
127. high noon
128. there will be blood
129. notorious
130. the manchurian candidate
131. the sixth sense
132. annie hall
133. the deer hunter
134. kill bill vol. 1
135. platoon
136. the general
137. snatch
138. the big sleep
139. ben-hur
140. into the wild
141. million dollar baby
142. the big lebowski
143. yojimbo
144. ran
145. star trek
146. it happened one night
147. the bourne ultimatum
148. life of brian
149. butch cassidy and the sundance kid
150. the lion king
151. finding nemo
152. wild strawberries
153. witness for the prosecution
154. trainspotting
155. the graduate
156. stand by me
157. gone with the wind
158. toy story
159. the terminator
160. ratatouille
161. groundhog day
162. scarface
163. amores perros
164. the thing
165. 8 1/2
166. gandhi
167. dog day afternoon
168. v for vendetta
169. the grapes of wrath
170. the gold rush
171. twelve monkeys
172. lock stock and two smoking barrels
173. diabolique
174. the night of the hunter
175. the wages of fear
176. the princess bride
177. the incredibles
178. casino
179. kind hearts and coronets
180. children of men
181. the killing
182. the wild bunch
183. judgment at nuremberg
184. grave of the fireflies
185. in bruges
186. the exorcist
187. nights of cabiria
188. the best years of our lives
189. the hustler
190. sunrise: a song of two humans
191. harvey
192. the kid
193. ed wood
194. king kong
195. good will hunting
196. letters from iwo jima
197. dial m for murder
198. rosemary's baby
199. big fish
200. the curious case of benjamin button
201. shadow of a doubt
202. let the right one in
203. a streetcar named desire
204. kill bill vol. 2
205. brief encounter
206. stalag 17
207. crash
208. sleuth
209. duck soup
210. magnolia
211. the african queen
212. rocky
213. the diving bell and the butterfly
214. mystic river
215. bonnie and clyde
216. 3 idiots
217. manhattan
218. rope
219. network
220. the pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl
notes: i remember seeing this in theaters with my mom and brother and distinctly thinking of how amazing of a movie it was.

221. crouching tiger hidden dragon
notes: i actually fell asleep in theaters when seeing this movie because of the subtitles my a.d.d just wouldnt let me focus. so hopefully i can pull it together this time around.

222. little miss sunshine
223. la strada
224. changeling
225. (500) days of summer
226. patton
227. the adventures of robin hood
228. the conversation
229. planet of the apes
230. the nightmare before christmas
231. shaun of the dead
232. glory
233. all quiet on the western front
234. the battle of algiers
235. spartacus
236. the philadelphia story
237. the lady vanishes
238. barry lyndon
239. mulholland dr.
240. monsters inc
241. whos afraid of virginia woolf?
242. toy story 2
243. his girl friday
244. my neighbor totoro
245. anatomy of murder
246. brazil
247. arsenic and old lace
248. casino royale
249. infernal affairs
250. the day the earth stood still


In other words, 1 week until Coachella. I am getting those butterflies.

today feels like a sad day. yet today, i got outside. going outside is a big thing with me. i need a goal for this blog; be right back while i find a goal maybe i'll come back next week.

countdown to coachella

my first winter in chicago and it's been a tough one. it was a nice beautiful day with sun and little wind. it's nice to see spring coming along. what's a bummer is the fact that i missed my family the times that i've been away from california. then they came to visit and it reminded me why i could never been around them for more than a couple of hours. family was never really important to me before my mom died and now that she's gone i wish i had one.

coachella is two weeks from thursday. can't wait.

love this.