In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs.

No, no, no — you did not make a “serious error in judgment.”  You did something deliberately unethical in the hopes you wouldn’t get caught.

“Poor judgment” implies that, at the time, you thought what you were doing was acceptable.  It implies that you exercised some judgment, deemed that your actions were okay, but later realized this was not so.  In these cases, you can say you exercised “poor judgment.”

But, at no time did John Edwards ever think what he was doing with Rielle Hunter was okay.  He can’t look back on this and legitimately say, “Yeah, I just judged that one wrong.”  That’s akin to trying to blow this off as a misunderstanding, or trying to imply that his perceptions were different back then, and he shouldn’t be judged in the current light.

No — John Edwards f*cked around on his wife.  He did it willfully, and he knew damn well at the time that what he was doing was wrong.  His only judgment was whether or not he thought he was going to get caught.

Rant over.

They may even make the trek to another country to partake of a foreign organizing concept of a festival. I’ve pondered this recently because last year I badly wanted to go to a three-day festival near my home town but due to fiscal issues I couldn’t go, but this year I definitely am. I should clarify that I am not an experienced festival-goer, having only been to one in my entire life so I’m not a weary traveller of the urine-and beer soaked fields of the world and have not mastered the art of comfortably moving around the semi-conscious bodies of punks, crusties and metalheads. But I have been longing to go to a festival for years.

This is where my recent introspection comes from. I really don’t know why I have wanted this for so long. Surely it can’t just be due to the good bands. Maybe it’s because it will necessitate several days away from the office, but surely there are more comfortable ways of spending your holiday then being hung over and covered in dust.

Let’s think about this; the weather is always diabolical and that is something I want an explanation about. I’d like to know whose idea it was to place all the worlds’ biggest music festivals in countries where it constantly rains, especially during the three days that the festival takes part. Even if there has been tropical heat every day prior to that, you must still under no circumstances neglect to prepare for rain, because it will rain.

The other major problem is that you have to pretty much disregard personal hygiene whilst there due to a number of reasons. My first and so far only experience with this was proof enough. Me and my friends smelled so bad that a friends father, who drove us home had to keep quiet for the entire trip, from fear of gagging. When this attack on his olfactory senses had subsided, he revealed that in his entire career as a doctor he had never encountered a smell so putrid. What a nice thing to hear about yourself, we were thrilled as you may imagine.

That may be the reason that I stayed away from it for so long. The fact that the smell our feet radiated is still deeply rooted in my mind.
But there is still something that makes me want to go again; I just can’t put my finger on it. It may be the feeling of being under the stars, camping and drinking and relaxing and all whilst some great tunes are washing across the field.
It’s a sense of freedom and it’s a completely different experience which is something I need after a very non-eventful year. Rest assured, it will be much cleaner this time around.

And did I mention that Kiss are headlining?

I feel that is the case with these films.  They require further discussion afterwards and perhaps some time to take it all in.  Many of them are staples of Foreign Film buffs, as they should be.  These would be the 10 films I would start watching. 

#1)  The Bicycle Thief (Italy) 

This is Vittorio DeSica’s great contribution to world cinema.  For me this is Foreign Film 101.  It is post-WWII Italy, shot in post-WWII Italy.  The wreckage is real and the actors are real people.  That is one of the staples of the neo-realism that was going on at that time - minimal additional lighting, no trained actors and real environments.  This film has a simple naive message that still holds up to this day. 

#2)  All About My Mother (Spain) 

Pedro Almodovar is easily my favorite living director.  He also ranks in my Top 4 All-time along with Chaplin, Truffaut (we’ll get to him in a bit) and Hitchcock.  Almodovar in some circles is written off as an avant-garde film maker who makes gay/lesbian cinema which is partially true but hardly gives him the credit he deserves.  This film won the Oscar in 1999 for Best Foreign Language Film.  All About My Mother is a very tragic yet heartwarming movie that has strong ties to Streetcar Named Desire and All About Eve.  You don’t need to have seen them to appreciate this movie, but it wouldn’t hurt.  

#3)  Jules and Jim (France) 

This may not be the only Francois Truffaut film on this list but it is arguably his best work and most well known (aside of maybe a very good adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 which he made within the Hollywood Studio System in the 80s.)  This story follows two friends (I’ll let you guess their names) through their lives together.  They meet this woman Catherine who comes between them but not in the way you’d think.  Truffaut weaves together metaphors in what has got to be one of the greatest film accomplishments of all time. 

#4)  The Color of Paradise (Iran) 

What?!  Someone alert the Homeland Security.  A film from the Middle East?!  Director Majid Majidi is a well respected auteur.  His films are touching and reach out to you as a viewer and invite you into their world.  I am not as cultured as many people.  I saw this film and it was a complete culture shock.  Iran isn’t the dustbowl I imagined it was.  The place is lush.  They don’t all share the same beliefs even if they supposedly do.  This film is subversive in all the right ways.  It deals with a young boy named Mohammed who is blind.  The family doesn’t really know what to do with him when he isn’t off at school so they send him to learn a trade.  They find a blind carpenter (very Jesus-like) that helps him bridge the gap between his world and the world around him.  Interesting Facts:  The original name of the movie was “The Color of God” but the Iranian Education Department wouldn’t allow that, so it was changed.  Also because the Department of Education puts up funding for all Iranian made films they all must feature children as the main characters. 

#5)  Seven Samurai (Japan) 

It could be argued that Ran or Yojimbo or Rashoman are superior films but when it all is said and done there is just something I really like about Akira Kurosawa’s flagship movie Seven Samurai.  This film was released a few years later in the States as The Magnificent Seven which was also written by Akira Kurosawa.  The two are similar in the way that a small village needs protection from bandits and that seven people come to help but beyond that they have stark cultural differences.  This makes it a great piece to use to study.  Seven Samurai is a bit long but it is worth the watch. 

#6)  The 400 Blows (France) 

No.  It is not what you are thinking.  The term “400 Blows” is a French expression that means “to raise hell.”  It is obviously lost in translation but this film is what put Francois Truffaut on the map.  Jean-Pierre Leaud, hand picked by Truffaut to play Truffaut as a young boy, reprises his role as Antoine Doinel in five other Truffaut films all about his life growing up.  Leaud would also pop up in other Truffaut films and in films by many other directors who saw him as the living representation of Francois (who died at the age of 52.)  This film is most famous for its ending where Antoine runs for what seems to be 2-3 miles to the ocean and stares at the camera.  It is telling about Truffaut’s own life experience as a man who had only a mother, who eventually cast him out for some guy, and his decision to turn to film as a way out. 

#7)  The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (France) 

Jacque Demy is a founding member of “The French New Wave” a group of French filmmakers (led by Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnes Varda, Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol and others) who were inspired by Italian Neo-realism and changed world cinema for ever.  Demy was the only member of the New Wave to be fascinated by Musicals.  In turn almost all of his films are musicals.  I considered adding The Young Girls of Rochefort to this list but left it off in favor of this film.  The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is the only movie to be 100% sung.  Yeah, it sounds kind of gimmicky but really the story is all there and it is well deserving of a spot on this list.  

#8)  The Vanishing (Netherlands) 

I have been promoting this film since the first day I saw it.  It is a thriller that was (poorly) remade with Keifer Sutherland in the 90s and they tacked on another 30 minutes to it.  No thanks.  The original ends perfectly.  A man and a woman are on a road trip.  They stop for gas or a map or something and all of a sudden she has vanished.  No clues.  The man spends the next five years obsessed with finding her.  He gets contacted by the person who abducted her and that is when it begins to get eerie.  This isn’t like Ringu or some kind of Japanese slasher/thriller, this is a cerebral thriller if there ever was one. 

#9)  In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong) 

Wong Kar-Wai is still a relative unknown director in the States but he is known by all “cinephiles” (I know it sounds dirty.)  In the Mood for Love is a story about two neighbors (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, monster of International Cinema, in fact they were both nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for the same film this year - Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution.  Although I haven’t seen it sounds a lot like this film) who find out that their husband and wife are cheating on them.  Instead of giving into their urges and becoming what they hate in their spouses they create a strong work relationship (graphic novelists) that both of them want to take further.  The great thing about this film is you are never told exactly what happens in the room they share as a business office (Room 2046) but for many it is clear what happened.  What I love about Wong Kar-Wai is that he then took it to a new level and created a film called 2046 starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung that takes place in the year 2046 and is very futuristic like the Manga they were creating.  

#10)  La Strada (Italy) 

This was a tough call.  I had many other films that could have gone here, maybe in the future I will break it down by geographical regions for Top 10, but I cannot see how you have a Top 10 and not include at least one film by Frederico Fellini.  Anyone who has seen a Fellini film has probably seen 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vida which are both great films but what gets me about La Strada (translated means “The Road”) is his most coherent and it also is a tribute to Charlie Chaplin.  It is a film about abuse, laughter, love and life.  Yeah, those are general statements, but it really is one of the best films I have ever seen.  

This list is meant to show that there are certainly great films outside our normal realms of entertainment.  Of course this list could have featured other notable films; Spirited Away (Japan), Run Lola Run (Germany), Germany Year Zero (Germany), Stromboli (Italy), Underground (Yugoslavia), Rome Open City (France), Children of Heaven (Iran) or perhaps the least well known but a personal favorite from 2006 Ten Canoes (Australia).  Ten Canoes is the only film ever shot completely in the Aboriginal language of the people of the Outback.  

I would love to talk about any one of these films if any of you have seen one or can recommend one that should be on the list.  There are probably countless I forgot when compiling this list.  I will certainly revisit this in the future.

Here are my move picks, in no particular order, along with a brief justification.

Batman (1998)
Rebirth of a classic. Great story, acting, and cast. Best of all, its still fun to watch.

Silence of the Lambs
5 Oscars and the creation of perhaps one of the best villains ever. “Hello Clarice.”

Dr. Strangelove
Funny and scary because of the plausibility.

Forest Gump
A great story and cultural phenomenon. You just have to get past the over-exposure.

The Usual Suspects
The best movie you’ve never seen. Clever and engaging.

Pulp Fiction
I’m not much of a Quentin Tarantino fun. But this movie had too many great tag lines.
“Which wallet is yours?”
“The one that says bad Motherf@#$.”

Raiders of the Lost Art
Just fun to watch. The type of movie you catch flipping through channels on a Saturday afternoon and end up watching until the end.

Rocky - 1979
If after watching this 1976 Best Picture winner and inspiration piece you don’t feel like hitting a heavy bag, check your pulse. But feel free to skip the six sequels.

Goodfellas
Classic gangster. Note I picked this one over the Godfather.

The Shawshank Redemption
If you can get past Tim Robin’s personal politics, its a good watch.

Terminator 2 - Judgment Day
Budget busting smash hit. Granted, the acting isn’t great. But liquid metal and a follow up on the status of Sara Conner makes for a hit in 1991. If only they hadn’t decided to do a television series.

Well that’s it. I look forward to everyone’s input, insight, and insults.

Those were my initial thoughts when I heard of a website which called itself Free Rice. Later, I found out that Free Rice is a website that can help the poor and enhance your vocabulary at the same time — as odd of a combination as that is.

This website is www.freerice.com

When the website loads, you see a savannah-esque format that drags your attention to the center. In the center is one word, followed by four potential synonyms. The ‘player’ has to pick the correct synonym. If the player gets a word correct, the website donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. Gradually, the words get harder. Free Rice is a non-profit organization — the money is generated from the advertisements you see at the bottom of the screen while you are playing.

25,000 people each day are dying from hunger or hunger-related problems. Free Rice is one of the many solutions that can help limit this number — and it’s free! Each grain (or 20 grains) of rice that you donate can make a huge difference in someone’s life.

As a writer, I love this site. It’s the only vocabulary enhancer (that I know of) that helps people other than yourself. I donated over 10,000 grains about 2 months ago. Can you beat my record?

First of all, this is a selfish act.

This is really something I do because it makes me feel better about the world and this little tirade is just an attempt at justification for me thinking that I’m the smartest guy around and “why the fuck don’t the rest of you assholes get it?”.

But beyond that; there really is more than me thinking that I’m the smartest or coolest or whatever. The real deal is that I really just give a shit. And honestly the great injustice to me is that more people don’t.

I think sometimes that I get mad for other people. I have to compensate in some cosmic, karmic way for all the dumbasses that are sitting around watching “American Idol” (is that still what the kids are into?) And put out enough energy to get noticed through that Iron Curtain of (yeah I’m gonna use the most cliche word in the punker dictionary) apathy.

So you understand that the very little progress that might get made by me can’t really compare with the fact that everyone else wants to sit on their ass and not fix things.

Yeah, yeah, trust me I know; you work two jobs, you got two kids and a wife, or maybe and ex, a mortgage and interest on college loans that’s a burden to your unborn children. But quite frankly I don’t give a shit; because: I don’t know what the threshold is… and neither do you.

Tell me: what would be enough? What life situation absolves you of responsibility? Tell me how many hours do you have to work in your shit ass job with people you fucking hate for what reason you don’t even know to justify not thinking about anything greater?

Why is it that everyone just can’t wait until they’re off the hook?

What I mean is that most people just can’t wait to start talking about American Idol or the football game or whatever other stupid inconsequential bullshit happens to be occurring at the time.

Now you might be thinking “Hey! Football is not inconsequential!” or “You just can’t play football so you’re talkin’ shit” but I’m not talking shit about football, or baseball or sports or American Idol anything really. (Ok, I really am talkin’ shit about American Idol).

I happen to like watching sports.

I’m simply making the point that most people will quickly devolve into a pathetic panicky frenzy whenever anything substantive or rather of social consequence is brought up.

The point isn’t what people can’t wait to talk about, it’s that they can’t wait to talk about something that doesn’t fucking matter.

People just can’t wait to agree on something. Jesus, is that what everyone is really longing for? A world without disagreement?

This is what really bothers me: I just hate social chickenshits.

Now I don’t hate you if you’re shy.

I don’t hate you if you have panic attacks and shit; that’s not what I’m talking about.

What I’m talking about are people that don’t seem to suffer from either of these ailments when we’re talking about sports or fucking chicks/dudes, or car insurance or getting drunk or anything else that couldn’t matter a bit. But the second something of importance that is generally disagreed upon, is brought up they run for the fucking conversational exits and start claiming that “they don’t talk about politics at their house,” or “we’re just tryin’ to have a good time” or blah blah fucking blah.

The point is; don’t casually talk endless amounts of racist, sexist, classist, narrow minded, ill-informed shit until somebody calls you on your bullshit and then cry foul. You know what I’m sayin’?

Tell me how much shit you have to put up with before you can finally not care. Because the truth is you don’t really care anyway…

A record I have came out in 2004 and instantly made a huge impression on me. It was a band I already loved and the music is almost instrumental which somebody like me loves most of the time. That means that I get to put it on and just disappear for a while and let the emotions just take me away. My mind can drift away and be absorbed by the wonderfully emotional songs emanating from my speakers.

This time I had a rough time due to a death in the family and this meant that we would all go back to our homeland for the funeral. I hadn’t been there for a long time and would now get to walk the same steps as I had over decade prior to that.

I was really nervous because I had no idea of how I was going to react when I got there. A large number of my family members would be there and we would spend time together in our home town for the first time in 13 years but it would be under difficult circumstances. I wanted to experience it but at the same time I was dreading it because it would probably be the last time we would do that together in the place where we were born.

Whilst listening to this special record I just closed my eyes every time and imagined my self walking along the streets of my childhood and to be honest it fit perfectly.
If I was going to make a documentary then that is how it would look.

Being there in the end was really strange but quite satisfying. Not ultimately satisfying because I still didn’t get to see certain places that I wanted to and wasn’t able to revisit all my childhood tales, but I left with refreshed memories of my birth place. I had seen it as a grown man and now carry those memories with me all the time. Along with a soundtrack.

(The album is Panopticon by Isis. If you’re into heavier music the definitely check these guys out.)

I recently returned home from a much needed vacation and noticed a rather disturbing trend. I’m not really sure when it happened. But apparently big, gaudy, bug-eyed style sunglasses are back in vogue. My response is WTF! For some reason, women feel the need to resemble The Fly and guys are nostalgic for Top Gun and CHiPs. I understand the trends change and fashion is often very transitional. But come on. What’s next? Bell bottoms and platform shoes? The madness needs to stop. Put down the glasses and get to therapy. The 80s are over. Let’s never, ever, bring them back.

Juno McGuff (played by soon-to-be-nominated Ellen Page) plays a sixteen year old with her own unique blend of self confidence, smart-mouthed arrogance, cynicism, feigned independence, and aloof self-determination that is so right in so many ways. Page nails it. Writer Diablo Cody nails it. And Michael Cera has built an entire career upon it. Anyone who doesn’t like Cera has deep seeded issues which they need to resolve on their own terms. From Arrested Development to Superbad to Juno, Cera has shown an interesting arc as an actor. Every line of dialogue (while occasionally hokey) rings true for that age group and every action is utterly convincing; Cera may play variations upon the same character, but he invests that character with everything he’s got and plays it like his life depends upon it.

Juno has an interesting sneak attack, a way of skittering into your heart through the back door and falling asleep on the couch before you’re even aware of its/her presence. And it’s well aware of this. There’s an effortless charm, an intrinsic enticement that stems from being so awkward and so at ease that there is no alternative other than to fully embrace that which is uniquely you.

And that’s the charm of Juno: these characters know who they are and where their boundaries lie. They are not ones to be bogged down by relativism or morbidity. Instead, they celebrate their quirks, their limitations and their passions, without regard for what others may think. The film’s most poignant moment is when Juno tells Paulie Bleeker (Cera) that he’s the coolest person she’s ever met without even trying to be, and he confides “I try really hard, actually.” It’s a moment of honesty that few films — hell, few people — would dare.

These are people who understand they are not mass-marketable. They will appeal to their small coterie of friends, and they will cherish them for all their flaws and failings as much as for their virtues. But if they’re going to be disliked by the world at large, they’re going to be disliked on their own terms.

Characters like these could travel one of three roads: they could try to fit in with the so called “cool kids” and feel the sting of rejection, they could actively alienate people to prove a point, or they could become irrepressibly themselves in spite of the social acceptance they may forfeit. To many, the last two options may seem like the same thing in different words, but anyone who appreciates this film with their heart in addition to their brain will know that one will leave you empty whereas one will leave you edified. And those are the people who will champion these characters and smile uncontrollably during the film’s indefectible finale.

It would have been so easy for a film like this to degrade into silliness or ugliness, and yet somehow, Reitman, Page and Cody have colluded to create one of the greatest cinematic outcasts and one of the most unique, interesting, beguiling, and utterly irresistible coming of age films I’ve ever seen. It’s a winner, and it’s a classic.

**** (4/4)

A fun thing that happened was that I decided to kill some time by compiling a list of my favourite big screen adaptations of great novels and since I mentioned lists, I think it’s suitable to start with High Fidelity. Never has a book resonated with me like this one because I’m a music geek and a complete curmudgeon way before I should be. The film is awesome as well. I watch it all the time and the casting is absolutely perfect. Nick Hornby’s books usually make for a very enjoyable transition to the big screen and ‘About a boy’ along with the original version of ‘Fever Pitch’ are comedies I can generally watch any time.

I’m writing this while watching ‘Wonder Boys’ for about the 27th time which should give an indication that I really love that adaptation as well. The book is one of my favourites of all time; I just love the utter weirdness and comic genius in it and I can’t find many faults with Curtis Hanson’s take on it.

The dialogue is unforgettable and I crack up every time Michael Douglas utters the following: “Ok James, I’m sorry you shot my wife’s dog. Just because me and Poe weren’t what you would call simpatico doesn’t mean he had to take two in the chest”.
Deadpan delivery at its best.

‘Fight Club’ along with ‘Fear and loathing in Las Vegas also need to be mentioned in this context. Classic novels and awesome films that will always top my list.
You’ll notice that I have neglected to mention several obvious choices but that is because I simply don’t find them as interesting as the above mentioned. These are my choices and a good portal to my tastes in popular culture. There are many more that can be mentioned here but if I continue then this is in grave danger of turning into an anthology, so we’ll cut it here.

Of course, none of the movies are as good as the books but that almost doesn’t need to be mentioned and it’s not the point either. This is just about mentioning the occasions when a director came close to capturing an author’s vision.

What’s the next list to have some fun with? I’m thinking favourite soundtracks for a possible next one…