Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 in Review!

Favorite Films Released in 2013
10. Fill the Void (Burshtein)
9. Inside Llewyn Davis (Coens)
8. This is Not a Film (Panahi)
7. Leviathan (Castaing-Taylor & Paravel)
6. Side Effects (Soderbergh)
5. Computer Chess (Bujalski)
4. Spring Breakers (Korine)
3. Before Midnight (Linklater)
2. Her (Jonze)
1. Stories We Tell (Polley)

HMs: Short Term 12, Beyond the Hills, Amour, Blancanieves

Favorite Films 1st Seen in 2013
And the Pursuit of Happiness (Malle) 1986
I Killed My Mother (Dolan) 2009
the Lovers on the Bridge (Carax) 1991
Sherman's March(McElwee) 1985

5-Star Books Read in 2013
the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Chabon
Americanah - Adichie
Black Power - Carmichael
the Changeling - Williams
City of Thieves - Benioff
Concrete - Bernhard
Homesick: New and Selected Stories - Berlin
the Last Samurai - DeWitt
Leaving the Atocha Station - Lerner
Purple Hibiscus - Adichie
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 - Reynolds
Speedboat - Adler

Misc. Top 10 2013
10. Having all students that have been at my school longer than me graduate
9. High School Girl Reunion
8. Tomato Jam
7. Impromptu Santa Cruz trip complete with surprise Gin Blossoms concert
6. Twin Peaks Party
5. Camping, specifically John reading the interpretative descriptions for hiking
4. Tule Elk in the Fog
3. the Clock by Christian Marclay
2. Barcelona and floating around in the Mediterranean Sea
1. Spirit Quest a.) Death Valley b.) Travertine Hot Springs c.) Solo pool time in Ridgecrest

Art Garfunkel Memorial Reading List (July - December 2013)

1.) Gemini - Tournier (7/1)
2.) This is Where I Leave You - Tropper (7/1)
3.) the Book of My Lives - Hemon (7/2)
4.) Pastoralia - Saunders (7/5)
5.) Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts On Violence, Freedom, and Urgent Means - Vollmann (7/19)
6.) the Changeling - Williams (7/23)
7.) the Emigrants - Sebald (7/28)
8.) Motherless Brooklyn - Lethem (8/4)
9.) Black Power - Carmichael (8/8)
10.) A Clockwork Orange - Burgess (8/11)
11.) Concrete - Bernhard (8/13)
12.) They Don't Dance Much - Ross (8/18)
13.) 253 - Ryman (8/22)
14.) Homesick - Berlin (8/28)
15.) the History of Luminous Motion - Bradfield (9/1)
16.) Middle C - Gass (9/11)
17.) Purple Hibiscus - Adichie (9/22)
18.) Life After Life - Atkinson (9/28)
19.) the City in History: Its Origins, Transformations, and Prospects - Mumford (9/29)
20.) Man in the Holocene - Frisch (9/30)
21.) Story of the Eye - Bataille (9/30)
22.) Down By the River Where the Dead Men Go - Pelecanos (10/4)
23.) Long, Last, Happy - Hannah (10/23)
24.) Americanah - Adichie (10/31)
25.) Suttree - McCarthy (11/8)
26.) the Ocean at the End of the Lane - Gaiman (11/10)
27.) Where'd You Go Bernadette - Semple (11/13)
28.) Dear Mr President - Hudson (11/17)
29.) the Son - Meyer (11/24)
30.) Mysterious Skin - Heim (11/26)
31.) World Within the Word - Gass (12/3)
32.) Speedboat - Adler (12/6)
33.) the Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (12/6)
34.) the Book Thief - Zusak (12/11)
35.) Going After Cacciato - O'Brien (12/17)
36.) the Burglar - Goodis (12/19)
37.) My Dark Places - Ellroy (12/27)
38.) A Thousand Years of Good Prayers - Li (12/31)

Monday, July 1, 2013

Art Garfunkel Memorial Reading List (January - June 2013)

1.) What Is Cinema? - Bazin (1/3)
2.) For A New Novel - Robbe-Grillet (1/12)
3.) Life: A User's Manual - Perec (1/16)
4.) A Million Heavens - Brandon (1/19)
5.) the Art of Fielding - Harbach (1/24)
6.) Give Us a Kiss - Woodrell (1/27)
7.) Consider the Lobster - Wallace (1/31)
8.) Seven Gothic Tales - Blixen (2/12)
9.) Altmann's Tongue - Evenson (2/18)
10.) Flying Leap - Budnitz (2/20)
11.) Hunts in Dreams - Drury (2/25)
12.) Black Skin, White Masks - Fanon (3/5)
13.) Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt - Hedges & Sacco (3/11)
14.) the Palm-Wine Drinkard - Tutuola (3/12)
15.) See Under: Love - Grossman (3/20)
16.) American Salvage - Campbell (3/22)
17.) Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Chabon (3/30)
18.) the Sisters Brothers - DeWitt, P. (4/2)
19.) At the Mouth of the River of Bees - Johnson (4/9)
20.) Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York - Sante (4/16)
21.) City of Thieves - Benioff (4/19)
22.) Black Swan Green - Mitchell (4/25)
23.) the Magic Barrel - Malamud (4/28)
24.) Paris Trout - Dexter (5/2)
25.) the Third Policeman - O'Brien (5/8)
26.) Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84 - Reynolds
27.) the Wavering Knife - Evenson (5/21)
28.) Leaving the Atocha Station - Lerner (5/23)
29.) Zazen - Veselka (5/28)
30.) the Last Samurai - DeWitt, H. (6/5)
31.) Gender Trouble - Butler (6/11)
32.) V. - Pynchon (6/22)

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Celluloid #163

Titles seen in January, ranked in the order I liked them:

the Collector (1965) Wyler
This is Not a Film (2013) Panahi
Amour (2013) Haneke
Enter the Dragon (1973) Clouse
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) Chaffey
Bloody Birthday (1981) Hunt
Rust and Bone (2013) Audiard
Night of the Demon (1957) Tourneur
Primer (2004) Carruth
the Children (2008) Shankland
Forbidden Planet (1956) Wilcox
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) Bigelow
the Year My Voice Broke (1987) Duigan
Hell Drivers (1957) Endfield
the Fire Within (1963) Malle
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Russell