Mental Travels

Family Party

2005-07-24T09:50:00.000-04:00

The family party turned out fine. I got to spend time talking to all the people I really like, and the people that I worry are going to drop guilt-bombs on me ("why don't you call your dad? What's the matter with you ungrateful kids?") didn't drop them. In fact, who even knows if those people are thinking that? It could all be my own projection.

This party was much bigger than previous years; I bet there were 50-60 people there. The party is for my paternal grandfather and his siblings' families. My grandfather has 4 kids and 6 grandchildren. His brother has an even smaller brood: 2 children and 2 grandchildren. His sister, however, had a bigger number of kids....and this is the part of the family I'm most distant from, so I can't give you numbers. Let's say 6 kids, although her family didn't have a lot of kids from that point on. Her number of grandchildren is small, although they seem to want to give her a gigantic number of great-grandchildren.

It's a not small but not big group. Two interesting dynamic I was observing with my aunts:

1.) On my grandfather's sister's side, the grandchildren (i.e., my generation) have already become prolific in their childbearing, but we've got nothing going on on our side. Of course, in observing this, one has to look directly at me, as I'm the 35-year-old oldest grandchild, and the next one in line is only 27, and I should have started shooting out the kiddies a long time ago. The 27 year old and I both wrinkled up our noses at the thought that we should be childbearing to please our families.

I have to wonder if something cultural is going on. Are people in their 20s and 30s dividing strongly into two camps--those who really want to have kids and those who really don't care so much about it? And if that divide is happening (and I do see it among my friends; people are either feeling rah-rah-rah I really want to have babies or they are feeling "oh well, I don't feel the need much"), why?

2.) At the same time, there are a lot of couples in the family--particularly in the child generation (i.e., my parents/aunts/uncle's generation)--who did not have children. I'm even more curious about this dynamic: is it cultural or is it evidence of increased biological difficulty in pregnancy? Can I look to my family for evidence of other people who have had the same problems I'm having? Or a trend of problems, at least? Or did a lot of people in my family just decide not to have kids? If it was just a decision, does our family makeup reflect other average (urban) family makeups right now?

My aunt, such a smarty-pants, made great observations. On the comparing our family to other families (in order, especially, to answer the cultural vs. environmental/biological issue), she suggested the real test would be looking at a similar rural family. Traditional farming families are big, and cultural change might come more slowly there. If there are a lot of childless couples in those families, it might be a biological change. If there aren't, then perhaps we are seeing a cultural shift.

My aunt, a lawyer now but previously a science teacher and a veterinarian wannabe, also suggested that as populations of animals get larger, they naturally shut down childbearing. We may be seeing the results of a large population. Same-sex pairings increase when a population of animals is high (what an interesting fact!), as do biological issues that make reproduction impossible. Our family may just be an example of nature doing her work in a crowded environment of humans.

Best Films of 2004

2005-01-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

Here's a list of the people I care about's opinions on the best films of 2004--and whether I have seen them.

If I've seen them, they are in BOLD.
If I plan to see them, they have a star (*) after them.
If I don't want to see them, they have NWDY ("No way, no day") after them.

[Updated August 2005]

Martin Bandyke's Top 10 Films 2004 (WDET – Detroit)

Million Dollar Baby
Sideways

Kinsey

Before Sunset*

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Finding Neverland

Strayed

I Heart Huckabees

Beyond the Sea

Terry Lawson's Top 10 films of 2004 (Detroit Free Press)
Closer
Infernal Affairs
Kinsey
Million Dollar Baby
The Motorcycle Diaries (NWND)
The Sea Inside
Sideways
Spartan
Spider-Man 2
Vera Drake

Roger Ebert’s Top 10 films of 2004
1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Kill Bill, Volume 2
3. Vera Drake
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Moolaade
6. The Aviator
7. Baadasssss!
8. Sideways
9. Hotel Rwanda*
10. Undertow

Roger Ebert’s Special Jury Awards
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Closer
The Dreamers*
House of Flying Daggers
Kinsey
The Merchant of Venice
The Passion of the Christ
The Polar Express
Ray
The Saddest Music in the World
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The Terminal (NWND)
Touching the Void*
Twilight Samurai
When Will I Be Loved

Roger Ebert’s Best Documentaries
--The Agronomist by Jonathan Demme is about the life and death of Jean Dominique, a courageous Haitian reformer who continued to broadcast attacks on corruption over his radio station, despite death threats that eventually came true.
--Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer by Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill
--Fahrenheit 9/11
--My Architect by Nathaniel Kahn is about his relationship (or lack of one) with his father, the architect Louis I. Kahn, who built wonderful buildings while leading an untidy and deceptive private life; he secretly supported three families at the same time.
--Riding Giants is Stacy Peralta's extraordinary doc about the world of obsessive championship surfing, with archival footage showing each generation of surfers out-daring the last in their quest for near-suicidal challenges. Unlike the inane surf's up docs of the past, this one suggests the sport's dark and deadly undertow.
--Tarnation* is Jonathan Caouette's autobiographical memory of a boy growing up gay and dealing with a mother whose mental health was destroyed by shock treatments. The film was excellent on any terms, and all the more remarkable since it was made for $218 on a borrowed Macintosh and won an invitation to Cannes.

EBERT'S WORST FILMS OF 2004
1. (tie) Troy
1. (tie) Alexander
2. Christmas With the Kranks
3. The Girl Next Door
4. Dogville
5. New York Minute
6. The Grudge
7. White Chicks
8. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
9. The Whole Ten Yards
10. The Village

David Sterritt Top Ten – 2004 (Christian Science Monitor)
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Dogville
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fahrenheit 9/11
In the Realms of the Unreal
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Million Dollar Baby
Notre Musique
The Saddest Music in the World
Sideways

SUMMARY

I need to see the following films:

Million Dollar Baby*
Sideways*
Kinsey*
Before Sunset*
Finding Neverland*
I Heart Huckabees*
Closer*
Vera Drake*
The Aviator*
Hotel Rwanda*
The Dreamers*
The Merchant of Venice*
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow*
Touching the Void*
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou*
Tarnation*

And what the heck are these movies? I haven't heard of them:
Strayed
Beyond the Sea
Infernal Affairs
The Sea Inside
Spartan
Moolaade
Undertow
Twilight Samurai
When Will I Be Loved
In the Realms of the Unreal

Books

2004-11-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

Wow, I didn't think my 20th century lit reading was so terrible. This is embarrassing. I need to find "everyone's faves from the past 20 years"--then I might do okay.

Things I read in bold.

Thanks, Jen. We've got some synergy going here!

Modern Library's Board's Choice of 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

Reader's Choice of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century (What's up with "Uncle Fred in the Springtime"--I think it's on the list three times. Note I read it NONE of those times.)

1. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
2. DUNE by Frank Herbert
3. UNCLE FRED IN THE SPRINGTIME by P.G. Wodehouse
4. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
5. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
6. A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole
7. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
8. THE PRINCE OF TIDES by Pat Conroy
9. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
10. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
11. ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
12. THE STAND by Stephen King
13. ULYSSES by James Joyce
14. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
15. HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
16. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
17. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
18. DOG OF THE SOUTH by Charles Portis
19. AND TRAIL MIX RAINED FROM THE SKY by Philip Travisano
20. A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine LEngle
21. THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
22. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
23. BEACH MUSIC by Pat Conroy
24. TRADER by Charles de Lint
25. BELOVED by Toni Morrison
26. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
27. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
28. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
29. WISE BLOOD by Flannery OConnor
30. THE ROAD AND THE HILLS by Alison Spedding
31. 1984 by George Orwell
32. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
33. LOLITA by Vladimir Nobokov
34. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
35. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
36. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
37. YARROW by Charles de Lint
38. VALIS by Philip K. Dick
39. THE SOURCE by James Michener
40. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
41. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
42. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
43. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
44. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
45. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
46. FLETCH by Gregory MacDonald
47. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
48. NORWOOD by Charles Portis
49. LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry
50. UNCLE FRED IN THE SPRINGTIME by P. G. Wodehouse
51. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
52. GAUDY NIGHT by Dorothy L. Sayers
53. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
54. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
55. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
56. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
57. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
58. UNCLE FRED IN THE SPRINGTIME by P G Wodehouse
59. THE KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara
60. NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
61. WHITE NOISE by Don Delillo
62. I HEARD THE OWL CALL MY NAME by Margaret Craven
63. TEK LORDS by William Shatner
64. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
65. FLASHMAN by George MacDonald Fraser
66. BRIDGE OF BIRDS by Barry Hughart
67. THE GATES by Chuck Wachtel
68. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
69. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
70. THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neal Hurston
71. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
72. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maughm
73. SONG OF SOLOMON by Toni
74. CAT'S CRADLE by Kurt Vonnegut
75. ALL THE PRETTY HORSES by Cormac McCarthy
76. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
77. OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck
78. NINETY-THREE by Victor Hugo
79. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
80. THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
81. THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula K. LeGuinn
82. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
83. THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker
84. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
85. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
86. GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn
87. MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf
88. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
89. UNDERWORLD by Don Delillo
90. THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler
91. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
92. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY by Ray Bradbury
93. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
94. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
95. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Kazuo Ishiguru
96. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
97. BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES by Tom Wolfe
98. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
99. THE SHINING by Stephen King
100. MISERY by Stephen King

AFI Top 100

2004-10-25T09:57:00.000-04:00

Here's the AFI Top 100 Films.

If I haven't seen it, it has a strike-through.
If it is a particular favorite and/or I think it's brilliant, it is in bold.

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (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. ~~THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI~~ (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ~~ALL ABOUT EVE~~ (1950)
17. ~~THE AFRICAN QUEEN~~ (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. ~~2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY~~ (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. ~~DR. STRANGELOVE~~ (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. ~~THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE~~ (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. ~~HIGH NOON~~ (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. ~~IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT~~ (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. ~~THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES~~ (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. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. ~~FROM HERE TO ETERNITY~~ (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ~~ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT~~ (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. ~~M*A*S*H~~ (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (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. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. ~~NETWORK~~ (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. ~~AN AMERICAN IN PARIS~~ (1951)
69. ~~SHANE~~ (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. ~~BEN-HUR~~ (1959)
73. ~~WUTHERING HEIGHTS~~ (1939)
74. ~~THE GOLD RUSH~~ (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. ~~CITY LIGHTS~~ (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. ~~THE DEER HUNTER~~ (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (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. ~~THE JAZZ SINGER~~ (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. ~~A PLACE IN THE SUN~~ (1951)
93. ~~THE APARTMENT~~ (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. ~~BRINGING UP BABY~~ (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. ~~GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER~~ (1967)
100. ~~YANKEE DOODLE DANDY~~ (1942)

Mental Travels

2004-10-25T09:46:00.000-04:00

I decided I wanted to list all the films and books I've consumed--mainly so I can see them in one place, rather than because I want to comment on them. I might comment on them, but the main goal is to see them. I'll have to find something that provides list functionality.