'I'm trying to watch this in Italian, and it sounds like he said IMPOSSIBLE HAMSTER!' by Kara
Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 11:08 AM

So Empire has put out their list of the 100 greatest movies of all time. Here is their list. There are a few on here that are obvious, and a few oddities No reason to look at the obvious ones and/or the ones I have no qualms with ...

The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters: I'm going to use these as my only examples of these types of films on here -- you know which the rest are. It's nice to see that this sort of thing, while people already consider them good old-style fun, is being looked at as being classic and not being written off as silly.

The Dark Knight: I liked it, too. I liked it a lot. I liked it a damn bloody lot. But I still get the feeling that this made it here as fast as they did so they could have one brand new thing on one of their covers. My cynicism tells me so ... it would be nice if I could be entirely sure they really did value it this highly.

Akira: Requisite animu. I still think Macross: Do You Remember Love was an infinitely better anime film and deserves this spot, but it's not mainstream enough or something. Akira feels like your requisite go-to 'look look anime can be artsy deep film' title.

Withnail & I: One of two 'cult classics' to make the list. Both are excellent choices and examples of the opposite ends of the spectrum, and now I hafta go watch it again.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off: I hate this movie with a passion. I think it's just personal bitterness as opposed to its overall quality, though.

Titanic: Guys, how long is it gonna take people to realise this movie was shit? Cuz a lot of us already have that figured out.

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Very very good. I think Last Crusade was better (and still best) of the Indies, but I don't mind this making the list so long as one of those two did.

Lost in Translation: My weird uncle will be thrilled. I like it, too, but I would've liked it more on my first go-round with it if I'd been told to watch it for the right reasons. He said watch it because it will change everything I thought I knew about Japan ... I watched it, and it reinforced everything I already knew about Japan. Nonetheless, glad it's here.

Shaun of the Dead: I was about to bitch about this one not making the list -- the cinematography is brilliant, it's an excellent allegory alongside being an excellent parody, and it has possibly the most rock-solid screenplay of any film I've ever seen. Then I saw that it made the list and was relieved.

Evil Dead 2: The other end of the cult classic spectrum. Good Lord, I'm glad. Also, is anyone else amused that this is the only Sam Raimi film to make the cut? I am.

Very few instances of what I consider to be utter stupidity of choice, a good wodge of respected (and deservedly so) classics, and a bit of reassurance that maybe my preference in and opinion of films ain't so weird after all.

If you have been, why've you drugged their onions?

"I propose we take off our pants" by Mich
Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 4:33 AM

No, it wasn't a sleepless night for me, though I did have a bit of trouble falling asleep. Rather, I just woke up because I'm happily on vacation in London.

Been pretty fun, I've lost my laptop to showings of Primeval as I get my friend Meg interested in it. And she definitely likes it, as she's only got two episodes of season 2 left. Unfortunately something is broken somewhere between outlet and laptop (including possibly the laptop itself) for it won't take a charge, so time on the laptop will be very short till I can see about getting it fixed possibly on Tues when I'm back in the States and exchange rates aren't killing me.

Man, the travelling Doctor Who exhibit is a lot more extensive than the semi-permanent one in Cardiff (I do assume eventually it'll go away). Either that or it's a lot more spread out. Unfortunately, gift shop prices are not as cheap or discounted as they were in Cardiff. No paying cover price of £1.50 for the run of Target books, but rather £3.00. The other paperbacks I think were cover price, but as I was able to get them at £4 at Cardiff (instead of the average £5.99 on the cover) I opted to not get them.

Now we're hitting things that Meg hasn't had a chance to do - Palace of Westminster yesterday. That was fun, even if I had already done the tour before. While standing in line for the tour, these two guys behind us were very rudely and loudly discussing how stupid Americans were. Kind of annoying when most the Americans I know are actually very intelligent, and I like to consider myself to be intelligent as well.

Well in the hallway leading to the House of Commons, there's this absolutely lovely picture (ok, the artwork is terrible, but the picture amuses me) of Queen Mary and King William (I forget what event the is of, something about bestowing upon the Lords), where Queen Mary looks bored to tears. Seriously, she looks like she's about to cry.

Now of course I point this out to my fellow William and Mary Alumn, who then made it a point to ask why she always looks so bored in all the artwork done of her (there's a statue in the Lobby where she again looks bored and is holding a book in one hand.) Tour guide had no clue, but it did lead to lots of history bits and mentioning we were from the College. Man, those guys didn't talk the entire rest of the tour and wouldn't even look at us ^_^

Anyways, some park time, a Pimm's flight on the London Eye promises to be interesting, and possiblya pub.

The Mich is off!

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