July Update

20. Watch Roger Ebert’s 102 Films to See Before You Die
This month I saw two films on Ebert's list, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Third Man. I have to step up the pace a little on this one--I have 19 months left and 63 left to see. I should be watching more than three a month, but not as many as four. Of course, I should also be reading two and a half Pulitzer winners a month, and right now I am in the middle of two (Gilead and March); which means I've still only read one.

2. Try 12 new-to-me restaurants
On Thursday, I met a friend for lunch in the city and we went to Bobby Flay's new restaurant, Bobby's Burger Palace. I had the Santa Fe burger with queso sauce, jalapenos, and corn chips. My friend had the Burger of the Month--arugula, basil ketchup, parmesan, and mozzarella. We split the sweet potato fries, which were outstanding. Next time, though, I am getting a plain cheeseburger because they make their own ketchup and other sauces, and I'd like to try some of those on an unadulterated burger. That brings me to seven. She and I also talked about going to the Han Dynasty special banquet, but they only do it once a month and the next time we can make it is October...

63. Make a piece of jewelry with the beads I bought two years ago in Oklahoma
I bought some beads to string with them, and I am working on the design.

77. Write a note to my grandmothers each month

I made little cards to send to my grandmothers--cute with flip flops and life preservers.

102 63 To See

Last night the dude and I went on a date to see The Third Man. Carol Reed's film was another on Roger Ebert's list that I had never seen...even though we own it, and it is one of the dude's favorites. (And yes, we paid $20 to see a movie we own. Big screen, people, makes so much difference.)

I think I could whiz my way through Ebert's list if all the movies were shown on the big screen, but even more if they were all this good. I can't believe I've never seen this, labeled a noir classic, without some of the elements that make noir noir. Though there's long shadows and hopelessness a plenty. And let's face it, there weren't many meaner streets than Austria after the war.

I can't believe that the dude told me how important the zither music was--Ebert asks, "Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed's The Third Man?" And not only did I forget that, I have to admit, I found the jangle of the zither annoying. Does that mean I don't get into film school?

20

I've rearranged--or arranged--my days in order to get more stuff on this list done. In the afternoons, for a while anyway, I'll be spending time watching Roger Ebert's 102 Movies You Must See Before You Die*.

Today I watched Robert Wise's (1951) The Day the Earth Stood Still. About an hour into the movie, I thought to myself, "why is this on the list?" So I revisited the list, and here's what Ebert had to say about creating it, "These are the movies I just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies." That makes sense. These aren't great movies, but the kind of iconic movies that give us the sort of scenes that show up in genre films or don't, depending on what the director is aiming for. They're the kind of movies my students always hated because instead of seeing them as pioneering, they thought they were derivative. I love how backwards the young can see things.

I'm not much of a sci/fi person. But still I took away two things. Peace is good. (Give up the arms race!) (It was the Cold War.) And self-promotion at the expense of the entire world is bad. (No communism, but unfettered capitalism isn't all that great either, I guess.)

Helen: What about the rest of the world?
Tom, her fiance: I don't care about the rest of the world!
[Seeing her shocked expression]
Tom: You'll feel different when you read about me in the papers.
Helen: I feel different now.

* Or go to film school, either one.