Neglect

I've been neglecting this little endeavor. I think it's because my time draws near, and I have no motivation.

Here's another wreath I made from silk forsythia, or, as I would have it fauxythia:


I watched Yankee Doodle Dandy which is on the AFI top 100 list that I am trying to complete. It was long, tedious, and predictable, but Cagney, godblesshim, was doing quite a job. Sometimes you could almost see his eyes pleading with the other actors to show a little more life. Unfortunately, he played a song and dance man but he could neither sing nor dance. I also started watching The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Sometimes I felt like I was out in the desert digging for treasure with them: bored, hot, tired. I'm not one who needs a snappy film. I love Chinatown. Do you know how slowly that movie goes? I enjoyed The Conversation. I don't need all kinds of action. But boy howdy, I've been disappointed in the AFI's 100 best that I've watched so far. (There were about 50 that I had seen before and quite enjoyed. Maybe I didn't see the others for a Very.Good.Reason.)

I still haven't finished The Great Influenza. I don't know what is wrong with that book. I really enjoy medical history; I work at a frickin' medical school. I think it's the organization. Anyway, I wish I could count it among my non-fiction finishes, but no such. I finally went and got something different to read: Bonk by Mary Roach. If sex doesn't interest me...oh yeah.

#13 Watch AFI 100 Top Movies

I'm watching Modern Times. I am so used to stitching while I watch a movie, but I can't with this, because it's mostly silent. I feel like I'm wasting so much time! Fortunately, they are walking off into the sunset right now. "Buck up"--that's the best they can do? At any rate, I learned where Dick Van Dyke got the idea for tripping over the ottoman and where quarterbacks got the idea for writing plays on their wrist guards. Nevertheless, this felt more like penance than anything else. But then it only came in at #81.

AFI's Greatest Movies

I have said that I want to watch all the AFI's 100 Greatest Movies. Here's the list. I've struck the ones I've already seen. You can see from this list, I'm not one for war movies. I do like Westerns, though I guess I've just seen all the "wrong" ones.

They've been added to the Netflix list. Bring 'em on (at the rate of 1.5 per month).

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. Casablanca (1942)
3. Godfather, The (1972)
4. Gone with the Wind (1939)
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
6. Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
7. Graduate, The (1967)
8. On the Waterfront (1954)
9. Schindler's List (1993)
10. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
11. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
12. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
13. Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
14. Some Like It Hot (1959)
15. Star Wars (1977)
16. All About Eve (1950)
17. African Queen, The (1951)
18. Psycho (1960)
19. Chinatown (1974)
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
21. Grapes of Wrath, The (1940)
22. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
23. Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
24. Raging Bull (1980)
25. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
26. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
27. Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
28. Apocalypse Now (1979)
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
30. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
31. Annie Hall (1977)
32. Godfather Part II, The (1974)
33. High Noon (1952)
34. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
35. It Happened One Night (1934)
36. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
37. Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946)
38. Double Indemnity (1944)
39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
40. North by Northwest (1959)
41. West Side Story (1961)
42. Rear Window (1954)
43. King Kong (1933)
44. Birth of a Nation, The (1915)
45. Streetcar Named Desire, A (1951)
46. Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
47. Taxi Driver (1976)
48. Jaws (1975)
49. Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
50. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969)
51. Philadelphia Story, The(1940)
52. From Here to Eternity (1953)
53. Amadeus (1984)
54. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
55. Sound of Music, The (1965)
56. M*A*S*H(1970)
57. Third Man, The (1949)
58. Fantasia (1940)
59. Rebel without a Cause (1955)
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
61. Vertigo (1958)
62. Tootsie (1982)
63. Stagecoach (1939)
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
65. Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
66. Network (1976)
67. Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
68. American in Paris, An (1951)
69. Shane (1953)
70. French Connection, The (1971)
71. Forrest Gump (1994)
72. Ben-Hur (1959)
73. Wuthering Heights (1939)
74. Gold Rush, The (1925)
75. Dances with Wolves (1990)
76. City Lights (1931)
77. American Graffiti (1973)
78. Rocky (1976)
79. Deer Hunter, The (1978)
80. Wild Bunch, The (1969)
81. Modern Times (1936)
82. Giant (1956)
83. Platoon (1986)
84. Fargo (1996)
85. Duck Soup (1933)
86. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
87. Frankenstein (1931)
88. Easy Rider (1969)
89. Patton (1970)
90. Jazz Singer, The (1927)
91. My Fair Lady (1964)
92. Place in the Sun, A(1951)
93. Apartment, The (1960)
94. Goodfellas (1990)
95. Pulp Fiction (1994)
96. Searchers, The (1956)
97. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
98. Unforgiven (1992)
99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)