An extended chase; 

template for Bourne-like movies;

great camera angles.

neo-noir movie:

deliberately paced, smoky

and ambiguous. 

17 syllables

I have not seen many classic movies. My wife, a veritable movie-connoisseur, laughs at my lack of basic movie knowledge. "Who is Carey Grant?" I may ask. 

So I have decided, on the advice of a friend, to start watching AFI's (self-admittedly imperfect) top 100 movies of all time voted on by 1500 directors and critics. Josie loves movies, so she is game. 

I am starting at the bottom of the list in order to see why the top ten is the top ten. Also, I am paying attention to directors on the advice of the same friend, because they are the true shot-callers and visionaries of the films. 

And then I am going to pretend that you care about my opinion on each film by posting a brief review on this blog. I am calling this new series "17 syllables" because each review will be comprised of 17 syllables (of Haiku fame). 

Below is my first review: Blade Runner

First review of U2's new album

Looking good...

Turns out my recent interest in comic books is not idiosyncratic either. Just came across this article in USA Today, stating that comic book sales were up 5% this year. This does not surprise me, and it has something to do with the resurgence in vinyl: people crave the tactile. That is my thesis. In this digital age, where everything is intangible and reduced to 1's and 0's, people grow weary and feel less human. Because no matter how hard to try to suppress it, we are not digital people. We are analog. We are not either/or. We are not neat and clean. We are not non-physical. 

So back to comics, and why they are popular: To start, they tell a story. They reflect society's deepest longings for a "hero." And also reflect the characteristics of this cultural hero (in the corpulent 80's we were cynically applauding the anti-hero; Now we see a recovery of the classic "just" hero as we face hardship). 

And comics are tactile: you hold the art-work in your hand, you flip the page, you smell the new print. Comics are selling because in this digital age, people crave the tactile. 

quiet is loud

Joao Gilberto is brilliant. If you doubt it, try it for yourself.

Bono is now an op-ed columnist for NY Times

Here is his first piece. 

I am not as cool as I think I am

Turns out my recent interest in vinyl records is not idiosyncratic and unique: records sales are up 89 percent in 2008 from 2007. Rolling Stone has this great piece on the surge of vinyl in this digital age. It reads what I have been saying for the past few years: People who are downloading digital 1's & 0's with no album artwork and less audio quality that the compact disc are finally asking why. Vinyl offers beautiful album art, increased audio quality, and a digger's (those bad smelling, greasy haired fellas that spend 4 hours in a used record store "digging" through piles of records to find that one gem) dream because the Boomer's are all dumping their pristine vinyl collections at used book stores because they finally figured out how to use their iPod. 

Back to me feeling less unique. One of my Christmas gifts was a gift card to this fantastic record shop in Cincinnati. I walked away with some terrific stuff, but it turns out that Neutral Milk Hotel's absolutely seminal album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and Radiohead's OK Computer were the top selling records of 2008. I am not alone. Oh well. 

Here are my newest additions: