20 (25 really) Films that Impacted Me in Chronological not Meaningful Order (mostly) of Impact.

For me, a fool for films, my journey is winding with many different paths often intersecting and overlapping, difficult to trace or explain. And it's challenging to think of films that impacted me without relying on favorites. Often films that have an impact on me ARE favorites. But not always. As I create this list I am forced to think about what it means to "impact" a viewer. To learn something new? To challenge one's firmly held prejudices and ideas? To fill one's heart with beauty or joy or sorrow? To introduce a new genre of film, essentially a new world? To remind someone they are not alone in this world--that there exists a kindred spirit in a character--and that if someone can write that, that spirit does exist?

1. I first watched Neptune's Daughter on a Sunday afternoon on TCM. It was beautiful. Colorful. Romantic. Old. I think this film was one of the first "old movies" I watched. It opened my eyes to films from a different era. Suddenly I was interested in movies with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe. The clothing, the mannerisms, the sets, the lives of these men and women were like candy to me and I just couldn't get enough. Of course, growing up without cable TV and having limited movie rental options (VHS was just making an appearance in my life and we rented our films at the grocery store).

2. Somewhere in Time is a movie cited in an diary entry dated Monday June 18, 1984:
Dear Diary,
... I'm feeling kind of sick at heart. Because of the most wonderful show on television was just on. It was called "Somewhere in Time." I must see that show again. I must. It had the saddest ending. The main character was played by Christopher Reeve, "Superman."
Love, C

I am guessing this one was one of the first films to really make me cry.

3. On that note, though I am not sure which I'd have seen first Terms of Endearment was a film that sent me over the edge in empathy and floods of tears. While Somewhere in Time was perfect for my 6th grade imagination and sensibilities. Terms of Endearment endures and it can elicit the same reaction time and again.

4. I have never really liked scary movies. I remember Children of the Corn as my first terror inspired movie moment. We watched it at Heather Kramer's at a sleepover and then for what ridiculous reason, I am not sure we had set up TENTS in the pasture behind their house. Following the film, we traipsed out across the wooded area behind the house, under barbed-wire fences heavy laden with snacks and blankets and so forth, only to discover that something or someone had collapsed our tents and slashed them to ribbons. Truly a moment to remember. It turns out that their horses had trampled the tents and actually peed on everything too. Nice. This is a vivid memory inspired by a frightening movie.

But the scariest damn movie of my life was The Shining. I've actually seen this one more than once. One of the first times was in Brian Tupa's basement with a group of kids in 8th grade. Later, in 1997 I watched it on TV while babysitting. I lived alone at the time and when I got home I was so frightened I called my mom and she had to calm me down. I was considering driving over to her apartment to spend the night. I do NOT do scary movies. Children of the Corn was a silly sleepover thing and I dismissed it as much. The Shining is a film I actually WATCHED and allowed in.

5. Sophie's Choice is often mentioned in sociology 101 classes for its great and difficult choice Meryl Streep's character is forced to make. This is a film that appealed to my young melodramatic self. I read the book too. When I was young I think sometimes I had the greatest satisfaction out of tragedy and in a way THAT was a form of "self-mutilation." I hope I've outgrown that. But this film definitely was a big one for me.

6. I am so over this film now, but at one point I probably could have recited the lines to The Princess Bride.

"Stop rhyming, I mean it."
"Anybody got a peanut?"

The delightfulness of the film remains, I don't dispute that. I've just managed to see it a few too many times. A bit like eating ramen noodles repeatedly in college. This film is filled with surprising moments and memorable scenes. The book is fantastic as well.

7. Home for the Holidays is a film for me and Lori, my sister. It's a film that celebrates the way people's families can be completely fucked up and still be a family. I think that explains it well enough, actually.

8. At some point in the 1990s I watched Out of Africa for the first time and from it I took away ideas about love and relationship and daring and stories and women's role in the world. Here's a quote I have not forgotten:"It's an odd feeling, farewell...there is some envy in it. Men go off to war, to be tested for courage. And if we're tested at all it's for patience, for doing without...for how well we can endure loneliness. But I'd always known that. It didn't require a war."

9. While Neptune's Daughter made the introduction, it wasn't until I watched Pillow Talk for the first time in the late 1990s that I truly plunged headfirst into the romantic comedies and more of Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant among others. I adore this film and it was so relevant to me in the midst of my Meg Ryan love fest that I was tickled to discover the same sorts of stories have been written for years. God Bless you Nora Ephron, for reminding me to look back and for writing movies that resonated so well with the good stuff from the 40s, 50s and 60s.

10. The Life of David Gale isn't a favorite film. But until I saw it I never really knew WHY I was opposed to capital punishment. I felt like it was wrong. That God couldn't be pleased with the concept. This film helped me understand what I already knew in my heart.

11. I'm now a fan of the documentary. Yet, only ten years ago I might not have been able to cite a single one I'd seen. I have the Academy Awards to thank for much of my initial exposure. One that impacted me was Born into Brothels, about children of the red light district in Calcutta. It's about photography and art and education and hope. It opened my eyes to a different world and inspired me. It also pushed me to seek out other documentaries. I am fairly certain some of the first documentaries I rented were Michael Moore ones and they had their own impact,sure, but Born into Brothels may well be the first to REALLY get me thinking.

12. Amelie was the first foreign film I watched that really made me love it. It also was a film that I could identify with on the quirky level. It's just the sort of thing I might have written if I were a bit more clever. Completely and utterly my style of film. Run Lola Run was freakin' brilliant in its chronology and plot device, but Amelie is the stuff of adoration.

13. The Thin Man is the first in a series of films featuring Myrna Loy and William Powell. This film ushered in a new phase of film and literature for me... that of the hard-boiled detective. The wit and wisdom of these films is what I love most. The dialogue is brilliant. Loy's fashion, divine. Powell's drinking, incessant. And this film managed to draw me into more movies of the 1930s.

14. Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is a film that showed me how much I love a good heist film... comedy of errors in the action genre. There are dozens of fantastic films that followed for me, but this was the gateway. Special thanks to my brother who knows what I'll like sometimes more than I do.

15. On a similar note, Jackie Brown -- full of swearing and violence and sex was, for me, like the film that inspired me to watch it (Get Shorty) a twisty, turny, unpredictable look at criminal activity. But what Jackie Brown had in spades was STYLE. Man, oh man. I love the look of this film. The opening credits is a favorite. Music by the Delfonics. Max Cherry. What a great name.

16-17. Two films, though there may be others, that really challenged my thinking are The Secretary and Kinsey. I liked them both. I was really impressed with the efforts and contribution of Kinsey to the American Public's understanding of human sexuality. The Secretary just opened my eyes to something I'd never really encountered or pondered.

18. Little Children did a couple things to me. One it made me terrified of cheating on my husband. I could relate so much to Winslet's character that I suddenly realized that for all my self-righteousness in denouncing cheaters and homewreckers, but for the grace of God, go I. And perhaps the grace of God is simply keeping me from marriage in the first place so as to avoid the heartbreak altogether. I felt a self-doubt creep in as I watched this film. Next it revealed the complexity of things that people like to keep simple even to a fault. The film is also about a pedophile. When he is released from prison and moves home with his mother, the world is determined that he never have a chance. It all makes me sad and sorry and fearful of what folks are capable of in the name of "justice" or what they believe is right. Films that look at the other side, the underdog, what everyone perceives as "wrong" tend to challenge me. They force me to slow down and think about things that rarely cross my mind. Paradise Now, an Oscar nominated Palestinian film, is another one of those.

19. Grey Gardens is a documentary from 1976 but I only discovered it recently. It's absolutely brilliant, but as I learned after loaning it out, it's not everyone's cup of tea. This is a different sort of documentary and it allows Big Edie and Little Edie to tell their own stories by simply living on screen for a few weeks. And the honesty and the glimpses into their eccentric world are truly wonderful. How did this impact me? It made me want to see other documentaries like this. It is a film that has that spark. The Amelie spark. The bit of electricity that says... if you like this and I like this, perhaps we are connected in some spiritual way. Belonging to some elusive club that GETS it.

20. The Royal Tenenbaums is another film like that. The day I went to it, I was at Walmart in line buying some snacks to smuggle in, when I overheard a couple saying they'd just seen it and HATED it. Thought it was the STUPIDEST film ever. Just what you want to hear moments before shelling out the big bucks to see the film. Even after watching the film as I sat, stunned, watching the credits, I could hear folks behind me say... "What the heck? That was terrible." I, on the other hand, count that as one of my favorite films of all time. Wes Anderson has an eye for wonderful details, which means when one adds it all up, it's stunning. I loved the story, the sets, the costumes, the music, the gritty old feel, the dalmatian mice, the cab company, the game closet, Margot's plays. My pulse races as I talk about this one. I get why others don't like it. But it's like Wes Anderson looked into my heart and spilled the contents out on the page and this screenplay is the result. Recently I had a similar response to the film Me and You and Everyone We Know. It wasn't quite as profound as The Royal Tenenbaums, but it was similar with its quirk and wonder.


P.S. I just realized I forgot Mary Poppins. Darn.

--Kate

Happy Birthday, George!

I have a higher and greater standard of principle [than George Washington]. Washington could not lie. I can lie but I won't. --Mark Twain


Some presidential fun. Enjoy.

--Kate

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Kate Spade e-card image. Check out the rest here.

--Kate

I Love You Bigger Than Jupiter.

I found this site rather entertaining... Paperwhite studios is trying to ditch cliches and find a proper measuring stick for love. People can submit their own sentiments.

-Kate

SO MUCH FOR OBAMA BEING "LIBERAL"

Justice Dept. Uses 'State Secrets' Defense
Obama Backs Bush Decision on Rendition Lawsuit

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 10, 2009; Page A04

The Obama administration invoked the same "state secrets" privilege as its predecessor in federal court in San Francisco yesterday in opposing the reinstatement of a lawsuit that alleges that a Boeing Co. unit flew people to countries where they were tortured as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program.

The Justice Department's stance on the case came despite a pledge by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., first at his confirmation hearing and again yesterday in a statement, to review all assertions of the state secrets privilege.

The American Civil Liberties Union brought the case on behalf of five foreigners who were allegedly transferred to countries where they were tortured under interrogation. One of the five, Binyam Mohammed, a British resident, claims in court papers in the United States and in Britain that he was flown to Morocco and held there for nearly two years after his capture in Pakistan. He is now in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mohammed and the others are seeking unspecified damages.

Leon E. Panetta, Obama's nominee to head the CIA, told Congress that he would end the practice of transferring suspects to countries where they are at risk of being tortured.

The Bush administration argued that the lawsuit against Jeppesen DataPlan, a Boeing unit based in Colorado, threatened the country's national security interests. In court yesterday, the panel of three judges asked the government if there was any change in its position because of the new administration.

A Justice Department attorney said the government stands by its brief, which was filed by the Bush administration.

A Justice official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, said the new administration decided the lawsuit involves state secrets that need to be protected.

Ben Wizner, an ACLU staff lawyer who argued the case for the plaintiffs, condemned the decision as Obama's ratification of the Bush administration's "extreme policies," which he said prevent torture victims from seeking redress.

"This administration is going to have to face the issue of accountability, and the administration cannot pretend the last seven years didn't happen," Wizner said in a phone interview.

The suit was filed by the ACLU in May 2007 and was dismissed last February. The organization told the federal appeals court yesterday that the suit ought to be reinstated.

The government has invoked the state secrets privilege in a number of cases in recent years, including various suits concerning the National Security Agency's wiretapping program.

Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller declined to discuss the ACLU's suit in San Francisco, citing ongoing litigation. A decision in the case may take several months.

But he said the department will scrutinize all cases involving claims of state secrets.

"The attorney general has directed that senior Justice Department officials review all assertions of state secret privilege to ensure that it is being invoked only in legally appropriate situations," Miller said. "It is vital that we protect information that if released could jeopardize national security, but the department will ensure the privilege is not invoked to hide from the American people information about their government's actions that they have a right to know."

Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

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EBERT AND FANS DISCUSS GETTING HIGH ON ELEVATION!

A few days ago I read a January 14th blog post by Roger Ebert, "I feel good! I knew that I would" that described a phenomenon that many of us experience but find difficult to describe. He calls it "elevation" or "uplift." Here's how the article starts:

"I've been saying for years that I never cry during sad moments in the movies, only during moments about goodness. At the end of "Terms of Endearment," I didn't cry because of Debra Winger's death, but because of how she said goodbye to her sons. Now I've have discovered a scientific explanation for why I feel the way that I do, and there is even a name for my specific emotion.

I wasn't seeking an explanation, and I'm not sure I really wanted one. And, for that matter, I don't really cry, at least not in the wiping-my-eyes and blowing-my-nose fashion. What I experience is the welling up of a few tears in my eyes, a certain tightness in my throat, and a feeling of uplift: Yes, there is a good person, doing a good thing. And when the movie is over, I don't want to talk with anyone. After such movies I notice that many audience members remain in a kind of reverie. Those who break the spell by feeling compelled to say something don't have an emotional clue.

It doesn't require a tearjerker to create this aura. "Fargo" is far from a tearjerker, but at the end, when Marge Gunderson snuggles up to her husband Norm and tells him how proud she is about his design for the wildlife stamp, it made me feel so warm. And it was at the very end of "Do the Right Thing," when the quotations from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X appeared on the screen, that I felt: Yes, that is the choice. And I hope we make the right one."

Please read the rest of the article here.

The comments following the article are wonderful, too, and full of profundity. I felt "uplift" as I READ this article and saw how much it means to so many people. On that note, I thought I'd share some of my moment of "elevation" today:



















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NOT EXACTLY OFF TO THE MOST BRILLIANT OF STARTS, SO FAR, ARE WE, MR. SAVIOR OF THE WORLD?

From The Miami Herald:

Analysis: Obama is tarnished by nominees' tax problems

Instead of 'change you can believe in,' Americans could see business as usual when it comes to the problems of some of President Barack Obama's personnel choices.

By STEVEN THOMMA

WASHINGTON -- These first days aren't going the way that President Barack Obama hoped when he promised to change the way Washington operates. He remains popular, with broad support from the American people, but the taint of politics as usual is challenging the aura of something new.

Three of his top nominees have been caught with tax problems, two of them departing abruptly Tuesday. Two more were former lobbyists named to high positions despite Obama's ban on lobbyists in his administration. Yet another, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, had to withdraw weeks earlier because of an investigation into alleged ''pay-to-play'' politics at home.

JUDGEMENT ISSUES

''This tax issue was starting to reach critical mass,'' pollster John Zogby said. ``One is a mistake. Two is a problem. When you start getting a third, it possibly becomes a question of judgment. How do you ask Americans to sacrifice while Cabinet members don't sacrifice until they get caught?''

First came reports that Timothy Geithner belatedly paid $34,000 in back income taxes, and $8,000 in interest. He was eventually confirmed as treasury secretary.

Then came Tuesday morning's departure of Nancy Killefer, who was nominated to a top budget post but had failed to pay unemployment compensation taxes for domestic help and had a lien placed on her home as a result. She asked Obama to withdraw her nomination.

Finally on Tuesday, Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination to be secretary of health and human services. Daschle, a former senator, last month paid more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest, most of it owed for his chauffeured luxury car, which he enjoyed as a loan from a private-equity firm he advised. He also reported that he had earned $5 million in two years, largely from industry groups.

Suddenly, too many of Obama's picks struck many people as business as usual rather than ``change you can believe in.''

When it was reported that Daschle had worked for a lobbying firm, for example, the Obama White House said that Daschle himself wasn't a registered lobbyist and thus was exempt from Obama's much-ballyhooed ban on lobbyists.

`DISINGENUOUS'

''I don't know how you get paid $2 million by a lobbying firm and not call yourself a lobbyist,'' Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Tuesday. ``That just seems disingenuous to me and I don't think passes the smell test.''

Obama exempted another high-profile pick from the lobbyist ban, naming William Lynn as the number two man at the Pentagon. Lynn was a lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon. The president also named William Corr, a former anti-tobacco lobbyist, as the deputy secretary of health and human services. Corr said he wouldn't deal with tobacco issues.

''Even the toughest rules require reasonable exceptions,'' White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said recently at the White House.

When the reports of appointees not paying taxes piled up, Obama and his party invited ridicule as out-of-touch elitists at a time when Americans are suffering.

''Only the little people pay taxes,'' said a Rex Babin cartoon, showing Daschle and Geithner climbing into a limousine, in The Sacramento Bee.

''There's a huge scientific breakthrough today. Researchers say they're very close to finding someone from Obama's Cabinet who's actually paid their taxes,'' Jay Leno said on NBC's Tonight Show.

Obama conceded in a series of television interviews Tuesday that his appointments suggested a double standard in which the rich and powerful get away with not paying taxes.

''I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics. And I don't want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards,'' Obama said on CNN. ``This was a mistake. I screwed up.''

DONNYBROOK

At the same time, the man who wanted to lead the way to a new, less partisan politics finds himself caught in a partisan donnybrook between Congressional Democrats and Republicans over a landmark proposal to stimulate the economy. The partisan fight is feeding dissent over the proposal and eroding public support.

Obama got the proposal through the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. A new Gallup Poll on Tuesday found that just 38 percent of those polled want the proposal passed as written, while 37 percent want ''major changes'' and another 17 percent want it defeated.

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TWO QUESTIONS: (1) THESE GUYS MISSED THE LAST 50 YEARS! ...ISN'T THAT SAD? ...(2) ARE PEOPLE IN "BISMARK" REALLY THIS DUMB?

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From KFYR--TV New Stories
The News Leader Bismarck, ND
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The Day the Music Died

Chris Gallegos
2/3/2009




On this date in 1959, three young rock stars died in an Iowa plane crash.

Rockers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, along with the pilot, died in the crash.

Fifty years later, fans still remember the day the music died.

He`s a familiar voice in South Central North Dakota, waking people up and getting them started for the day.

"Coming up on 49 years on Valentine`s Day that I`ve been working full-time in this business," says Bob Beck, a DJ at Cool 98.7.

Beck has seen it all, and has met his fair share of big-name stars throughout the years, including the Beetles.

"I was fortunate enough to be in Kansas City when they came through on their first American tour," Beck says. "We had a press conference and I got to meet each one individually."

But there are a few stars Beck never had the chance to see.

Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper were performing one cold, snowy night at the famed Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.

"We got down to the end of the road and you couldn`t see the front of the car," Beck says. "So we decided to turn around."

That ended up being their last performance.

After the show, the three boarded their plane for a stop in Fargo.

Minutes later, all three, including the pilot, were dead.

"You have to wonder what would have been different had they not died," says Beck.

Beck says all three of them made major in-roads for rock and roll.

The Beetles, for example, named themselves after Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

"These guys were so early in their careers and people have always wondered had they lived longer, what would the outcome have been," he says.

And even though their careers were cut short, their impact still lives on today.

Holly is considered one of the founding fathers of rock and roll.

The tragedy is immortalized in Don McLean`s song "American Pie" as "the day the music died."


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