you were knocking me down with the palm of your eye

My friend Rivka got me a ticket for the upcoming Joanna Newsom show in DC.

Clearly, I am pumped.

Nate

Oh art museums.

Nate

good lookin cake, no?

Nate

Master of the Macabre

My family and I recently attended the Tim Burton exhibit at NY's Museum of Modern Art, and it was pretty durned impressive.

Seeing the breadth of his vision (which included sketches, models, obscure short films, props, illustrations and installations, among other things) really gave me a newfound respect for his obssessive, distinct style.

Then I began to wonder: Has any single American director in recent decades been as influential as Burton, regarding visual culture outside the world of film? His films themselves are influential, but his art and style are more pervasive than his specific projects.

Would Hot Topic have anything to sell without Burton? What would all the happy goth kids have done? [Probably just watched anime, but you get the point.]

Whether or not he is a great filmmaker (I think he's a damned good one at least) he is definitely one of the single most influential creative minds of our time, in my estimation.

Nate

PS:

Top Five Burton Movies

01. Pee Wee's Big Adventure
02. Batman Returns
03. Beetle Juice
04. Edward Scissorhands
05. Sweeney Todd

What are yours?

a thought on today

My grandfather actually knew MLK. They worked together on a project about Ghandi when they were both in graduate school (I think, or college?). Both were men of the cloth, and both believed in a truly progressive notion:

People, all people, are worth the effort of kindness and goodness.

I'm gonna take some time to remember both of these guys today. They were amazing.

Nate

My Top 50 Movies of the 00s

050. Once (John Carney)
049. Dave Chapelle’s Block Party (Michel Gondry)
048. Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
047. Inside Man (Spike Lee)
046. The Class (Laurent Cantet)
045. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
044. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
043. Birth (Jonathan Glazer)
042. Primer (Shane Carruth)
041. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)

040. Baran (Majid Majidi)
039. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
038. Junebug (Phil Morrisson)
037. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
036. Ratatouille (Brad Bird)
035. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppolla)
034. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
033. Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant)
032. In the Mood for Love (Kar Wai Wong)
031. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)

030. Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi)
029. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)
028. Coraline (Henry Selick)
027. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann)
026. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)
025. The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson)
024. The New World (Terrence Malick)
023. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel Coen)
022. Peter Pan (P.J. Hogan)
021. The 40-Year Old Virgin (Judd Apatow)

020. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
019. 25th Hour (Spike Lee)
018. What Time Is It There? (Ming-liang Tsai)
017. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (Werner Herzog)
016. Dancer in the Dark (Lars Von Trier)
015. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
014. Let the Right One In (Thomas Alfredson)
013. Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair)
012. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell)
011. No Country for Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)


010. Dogville (Lars Von Trier)

009. The Gleaners and I (Agnes Varde)

008. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar)

007. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Ki-duk Kim)

006. Elegy (Isabel Coixet)

005. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)

004. Wet Hot American Summer (David Wain)

003. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)

002. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)

001. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)

It's takes me a while to become George

My friend Rory and I saw A Single Man together, and she has a veddy funny, veddy accurate review up over at Wish We Were Famous. Read away, please.

Nate

You're tearing me apart Lisa!

Don't worry, I'm not dead...both of you, breathe a sigh of relief.

+++

Bout time I wrapped up last year, so I'm gonna do that bit by bit. First?

My Top Ten(ish) Films of 2009

(it physically hurts to rank these against each other, so lots of ties!...such a great year for [American] film[...for some reason, I haven't seen a single import this year...weird, right?])

Thank god that it's in vogue this year to ignore the rule of ten! Ebert can do it, and so can I; pairing apples w/ oranges for the purposes of this list. I think that each duo is sort of a cinematic yin-yang, masculine/feminine, world-weary/childlike, etc.


...Or something less pretentious.


01. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans / Where the Wild Things Are
02. A Single Man / Inglourious Basterds
03. Coraline / Avatar
04. The Hurt Locker / Precious
05. Drag Me to Hell / The Fantastic Mr. Fox
06. Julie and Julia / Funny People
07. Up / The Road
08. Star Trek / District 9
09. The Hangover / (500) Days of Summer
10. The Informant! / Paranormal Activity

Nate "Never Updates" Tyson