A Few of My Favorite Things

Taking a leaf out of my dear friend Jay's book (that is, Jay is my friend, not his book), I've decided to compose a few top-ten lists, just in time for the new year. As is the case with Jay's lists, these are in no particular order. Just a list of favorites. And they may very well change tomorrow.

Movies
The Last Temptation of Christ
Citizen Kane
The Big Chill
Barton Fink/O Brother Where Art Thou (it's a tie!)
Little Big Man
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Gandhi
The Big Lebowski
Pineapple Express (I know, I know...)

Books
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
Everything Is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Last Temptation of Christ, by Nikos Kazantzakis
Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, by Leo Tolstoy
Jesus for President, by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw
The Substance of Faith and Other Cotton Patch Sermons, by Clarence Jordan
The Greek New Testament, 4th Revised Edition, ed. by Barbara Aland et al.

Songs
"Kodachrome," by Paul Simon
"In the Early Morning Rain," by Peter, Paul, and Mary (Gordon Lightfood cover)
"Lost in My Mind," by The Head and the Heart
"Messes of Men," by mewithoutYou
"goodbye, I!," by mewithoutYou
"Grist for the Malady Mill," by mewithoutYou
"Sprawl II—Mountains Beyond Mountains," by Arcade Fire
"Helplessness Blues," by Fleet Foxes
"You Have Never Lived Because You Have Never Died," by Listener
"Rocky Mountain High," by John Denver
BONUS: "Send Me On My Way," by Rusted Root

TV Shows
Lost
M*A*S*H
The West Wing
Sherlock
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
Arrested Development
30 Rock
The Daily Show/Colbert Report (it's a tie!)
Seinfeld

BONUS: Bob's Burgers. For a cartoon, it's such a smart, witty show.

Games
Dominion

     -Prosperity

     -Cornucopia
Puerto Rico
Settlers of Catan
Rook
Taboo
The Game of Things
Chess
Scrabble

Poets

Wendell Berry

William Trowbridge

Bin Ramke

Ron Padgett

Gabriel Gudding

Allen Ginsberg

William Blake

Billy Collins (I'm not ashamed to admit it)

Rainer Maria Rilke

Charles Bukowski

Books of the Bible (ah, what the heck—this one's in order)

1. Mark

2. John

3. Luke 

4. Matthew

5. 1 John

6. Revelation

7. Jonah

8. Amos

9. Hosea

10. Isaiah

Summer Film List

After putting together a sizable summer reading list for myself, I thought I might try expanding my film horizons as well. The following is a list of films (in no particular order) that, given their descriptions on Netflix, Wikipedia, etc., I thought sounded good. If you've seen one or more of them and would like to leave a comment, feel free to do so below. If there's a film that you haven't seen but want to, and if you're in the KC area, stop by the house this summer and we'll watch it together.

PS--There is a running theme with this list; all but one of these ten films has something in common. Can you guess what it is?

SUMMER FILM LIST:

1. Diabolique, 1955. Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot

2. Kicking and Screaming, 1995. Dir. Noah Baumbach

3. L'Avventura, 1960. Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni

4. Man Bites Dog, 1992. Dir. Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel

5. Paths of Glory, 1957. Dir. Stanley Kubrick

6. Ratcatcher, 1999. Dir. Lynne Ramsay

7. The Seventh Seal, 1957. Dir. Ingmar Bergman

8. Through a Glass Darkly, 1961. Dir. Ingmar Bergman

9. Walkabout, 1971. Dir. Nicolas Roeg

10. Network, 1976. Dir. Sidney Lumet