As a part of my quest to see 100 of the 250 top movies of all time I’m first going through all the ones I own on the list, but somehow haven’t seen. Tonight brought a viewing of Hotel Rwanda with Brian and Brien.
I have to say - I’m stunned. Hotel Rwanda is a fantastic movie - a beautiful portrait of humanity in the worst of circumstances. It’s the rare kind of movie that can be depressing and uplifting to the soul at the same time. Seeing Paul Rusesabagina’s courage and compassion in the face of such an brutal genocide reminds the viewer that the human race just might have a chance of making it after all.
As part of my 101 in 1001 project I set myself a goal to see at least 100 of the top 250 movies of all time as voted by the seething masses at IMDB. In taking stock it would seem that I’ve already seen 73 of them meaning I have 27 left to watch in roughly 27 months leaving me with an entirely manageable cadence of one a month.
A quick glance through the collection shows I have 8 of these movies unopened in my collection so those will be first up on the viewing list:
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Juno (2007)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Magnolia (1999)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The Shining (1980)
Which leaves 168 remaining movies to select from, listed in the full post. If you have a suggestion of a favorite movie from below that you particularly like and think I should prioritize onto the list leave a comment and let me know!
(Continued)
That day has finally come - my Lutron smart dimmers arrived, have been installed, and are now hooked into my Logitech Harmony home theater automation remote with great results. With a little help from Brien the dimmers are installed, and the wiring is now again safely hidden away behind nice looking wall plates.
The Lutron Maestro IR smart dimmer intelligently fades the lights up and down to preset levels at the touch of a button on my Harmony remote. With the track lights dimmed properly and pointed away from the TV screen it bathes my movie goers in soft warm light while avoiding distracting reflections on the TV.
Next up: painting the living room a darker color to help reduce light bounce around the room. The question has become deep midnight blue, or rich royal red?
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Time to get my ass to the video store - I’ve heard enough about the following three movies to be bugged that I have yet to see them:
- There will be blood
- Michael Clayton
- Juno
In particular I need to see Juno - I’ve heard a majority of it was shot with the new motion version of my favorite camera lens, the Lensbaby.
Michael Clayton is already available for hi-def rental on my AppleTV so that should be an easy one. The other two have yet to be released so it may be a short while before I get the chance to see them. There will be blood is still technically in theaters so if I manage to get the motivation and energy up to leave the house this weekend I might still be able to catch it in the theaters.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Yesterday Apple released the AppleTV Take2 software update. Of course upon getting home I immediately installed it and started playing with some of the shiny gooey goodness and I have to say I’m impressed. I really liked the first version of the AppleTV and they really have knocked it out of the park this time.
The entire user experience is re-envisioned to be more flashy - much more fun to use. The fact that the AppleTV can now independently sync podcasts, buy music and TV shows on the iTunes media store, and rent movies makes for a most delectable icing on an already moist and delicious media cake.
For some strange reason I decided upon Hairspray as test of the new HD rental service. The rental experience was a breeze - two clicks of the remote (plus a one-time password entry) and the HD movie was playing with surprisingly good quality within two minutes.
I went into Hairspray with low expectations and came away impressed. The movie is fun, engaging, and oddly thought provoking. Don’t get me wrong - it’s completely campy and over the top, but really well executed. The music and choreography is well thought out and the cinematographer did a great job of showcasing some of the dance moves without distracting the viewer with too much camera movement.
Featuring fantastic performances by John Travolta, Christopher Walken (it had been so long since I’d seen the Weapon of Choice music video I’d almost forgot how good a dancer he is), and new to film actress Nikki Blonsky who leads the film with confidence and flair.
For the record: John Travola in drag is just plain wrong, but wrong in the kind of way that I can get behind. Travolta in drag for President 08!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
…you spend more than $1k on lighting equipment for your home. I’ve made a few big home improvement purchases and yesterday added lighting to the fray. I’m replacing all of the lighting in the living room with theater style lighting as another step towards my eventual home theater living room. All this home improvement is very adult, very unlike me.
The new lighting will arrive in 2-3 weeks and consists of track lighting over the couch, decorative accent lighting for near the screen, and Lutron Maestro home automation switches to let my Logitech Harmony programmable uber-remote control the lighting for home theater macro’s.
Best part of it is this light, the Lightstik. The base is electrified (very weak current - you can’t feel it with your fingers) and the LED sticks just sit in there. The moment they make contact with the base unit they light up.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Funny how getting my car detailed can kick my auto-passion into high gear. Tuesday evening I picked up my A6 from Mirrorworks from having a full detail and some paint work done. It’s shiny and like-new again - I’m swooning all over my precious car again!
Aside from the car life has been good. Traskpro has his a solid and stable 0.9 (and graduated from alpha to beta) and is rocking my task list right and left. I even have acquired a few other heavy users which is oddly gratifying. I’ve still got 31 remaining features/tweaks to make, but those can happen gradually over the next few weeks as I continue to ramp up on JavaScript.
Also in the world of good things Scott came over last night. He hadn’t experienced a proper viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End so we did dinner and a showing of that. As silly and overly-Disney as the film is I really do enjoy watching it. I really do hope that big budget swashbucklers never die - they are just so much fun to experience.
Right - back to work now. I have to finish up a ton of stuff today and tomorrow to be ready to take off a few days to be home for Christmas!
