2011 was an interesting year for me. It was my first year in full-time employment working as a journalist at a newspaper. It had its ups, and it had its downs. And although I spent a hell of a lot less time listening to music (used to be able to do it while working, but can’t anymore now I spend half my life on the phone), a few great things happened. Right at the tail end of 2010 I went to Stereosonic and saw one of my idols, Ricardo Villalobos. But that was overshadowed by Optimo giving friends and I a bottle of vodka poured into a water bottle because we were the ONLY PEOPLE watching the gig. Once they knew I knew who they were, it was awesome. Amanda Palmer, of the Dresdon Dolls, performed at the Fringe and I spent a week pleading for a Radiohead song on Twitter. She complied at the free Ninja gig she did afterwards, but i missed the beginning when she was asking if the guy who had been harassing her was there. I was outside smoking… So I learnt my lesson and quit smoking. Seeing the Flaming Lips at the end of the year was also a brilliant experience, and them playing two Pink Floyd songs made it even more memorable.

Anyhow, onto the recordings I loved during 2011. In no real order, mind you, but the last one really does stand apart from the others, so I guess I’ll call it my number one.

Sandwell District – Feed-Forward.

Pure, deep, dark techno of the purest sense. The guys behind this have developed an anonymous, collective aesthetic to their releases that was capped by the vinyl version of Feed-Forward and the slightly different CD version, that pulled together different mixes of the same tracks.

What is known as techno in Australia is far removed from the actuality that is played in clubs around the world. This gave me a taste of what it is like. As a result? I’m planning to go to Berlin, somehow, and experience this for real.

BNJMN – Plastic Word

If Sandwell District is deep, dark techno, BNJMN produces light, airy techno. Its like an entire range of sound frequencies have been unused for years, and BNJMN nails it in the opening seconds of the opening track. How different does this sound to stereotypical techno? There’s a midrange there that is just irresistible. And the whole album continues in the same vein.

Andy Stott – Passed Me By / We Stay Together

And this couldn’t be more different to the sound pushed by BNJMN. Until this pair of EPs, Andy Stott was a very good dub techno artist. But this blew it all out of the water. It’s techno, but after years of the degrading to a point that everything is covered in static, and the record player is only able to play it at 33rpm rather than 45rpm. And it’s playing in the room next to you, so you can’t QUITE hear what is going on, but you know it’s good. It’s slow, dark, and captivating.

Zomby – Dedication

Think you know what dubstep is? If you do, you’ve heard of Zomby, and this brilliant album doesn’t need an introduction. One of the best releasing one of the greatest albums the scene has produced. If you haven’t heard of Zomby, you know nothing, and you Skrillex and that other shit you call “dubstep” need to listen to this and just STOP RELEASING THAT CRAP /rant over.

Zomby, from what on first appears to be short fragments of ideas, has constructed an emotional, web of sounds that pull you in further until any memory of a ridiculous bass drop is all but forgotten.

The Field – Looping State of Mind

As long as there’s a new The Field album, it will appear in my best-of list. Apparently. Axel Willner’s first, From Here We Go Sublime is one of my favorite albums of all time. The second, Yesterday and Today, was in my Top 10 of 2009. And this is better than the last one, so it has to be here. Short loops of unknown songs are taken and instruments added on top to create the most beautiful, hypnotic music you have ever heard.

Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact

Not as “tracky” as the last, Saint Dymphna, which remains one of my favourite recordings ever released. Eye Contact is a little different, and could be seen as a step backwards to their earlier jammy records, but have kept the clean recordings. Which makes it possibly better if you have an interest in longer jams rather than a 3-minutes pop song. Is this BETTER than Dymphna? No, simply because it’s different. Eye Contact is just as good as it though.

Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972

“Noise” music has been around for quite a while. Some friends have told me the music I listen to is”just noise”, which is a crap, misinformed opinion, like saying a Picasso “is just paint on a canvas”. This recording, by prolific noise artist Tim Hecker, may appear to be at times nothing but a wall of static…until you actually LISTEN, and it becomes sublime, emotional, cathartic, and simply stunning.

The Weeknd – House of Balloons

An indie hip-hop mix tape, released for free by a complete unknown…that exploded into one of the most known and most important releases of the year. Two free followups have been released since, creating a brilliant trilogy that defined much of the music of 2011. At times dark and bleak, other times filthy, showing the seedy underbelly of sexuality, and at other times beautiful. It’s amazing to think this was put together by someone in their bedroom on a laptop. Who also happens to have one of the best voices you have ever heard. Get it free here.

Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne

Yes, I have included a rap album. This will surprise some people. I wasn’t going to include this originally, but then decided that I should include the album that’s provided so much fun throughout last year. Otis and No Church in the Wild are just brilliant. There are some tracks that I don’t really remember, or didn’t seem that interesting. Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy turned me around to actually realise there is rap I like, and this is even better. I’ve spent more times dancing around like an idiot to Otis than anything else…ever. So I have to include it.

Los Campesinos! – Hello Sadness

Initially it was a toss-up between this and Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost, coz they are both fantastic. But this soundtracked a very important week for me personally this year, so for my own selfish nostalgic sake, it gets the nod. On the surface, Los Campesinos! write happy, big-band indie similar to Architecture in Helsinki, Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire. But there is a slight darkness to it that (especially lyrically), for me at least, that gives it more of an emotional resonance. And although it’s called Hello Sadness, it is still a happy record made by a group of people quite clearly enjoying themselves.

Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica

This is my album of the year. But it puts me in a difficult position, because it is very hard to write about how it sounds. It is made from loops taken from DVDs of old commercials from the 1980s that the artist (Daniel Lopatin) bought online. But you would never be able to tell what it was from if you didn’t know. He has somehow melded it all together into an ambient soundscape that at times turns into walls of static and other times resembles synth-drones of his earlier work. But like the Tim Hecker record I mentioned earlier, it is emotional and overwhelming, at times funny, and at times sad. It is much more than the sum of its parts. I know I haven’t sold it well, but I don’t really need to other than to say this: If you have any interest in music as an art form, listen to this. You won’t be disappointed. I promise.

Whoever you think you presently are. Thank you.

Everything we think and everything we do, is a blend of our experiences, from childbirth through childhood, encompassing all our formative years throughout and beyond.

We are like sponges except that we aborb stimuli, we filter information, we process it and meld all our different sources together as we come to understand them as we start to produce… Whether we’re producing art, or music, or food, or even conversation, the process is the same, all we are is a sum of our experiences, all those experiences have been driven by people surrounding us and all that they are and all that they say is a sum of the experiences they have experienced.

I am not saying that you are not a unique and beautiful snowflake

What I am saying, is that everything is derivative of something else, life is derivative of life.

All that you read, all that you see, filling up your head with orange coloured liquid.

Entropy.

Appropriately the last post on this oft-forgotten blog was by Drew declaring his personal failure during the last NaNoWriMo. Tonight I was inspired to jot down a few thoughts I’ve had in the past few days as I’ve started the experience myself.

I never intended to do NaNo this year, last year, or ever. I’ve done a bit of creative writing for personal reasons in my past and it has always interested me but I had no desire to become involved in this project, mostly because my reaction to it has generally been “my friends who write should do this!”. This year I knew I had to get Sarah writing, I know how much she enjoys it and we’ve been brainstorming story ideas all through the year for one reason or another, knowing that NaNo was approaching I thought it would be a brilliant way to get her writing every day until on October 31st I decided out of the blue to sign up myself.

I love and hate the pressure.
Really, knowing that every day I have to sit down and write in order to reach my goal is working at me on two levels. I hate that I have to produce enough content to keep up my average, that I feel pressured and bullied by my own commitment into slaving away in Google Docs. On the other hand I’m really enjoying the creative outlet and if I wasn’t undertaking NaNo I would’ve writen about 1 paragraph in the last three days.

It’s keeping my mind occupied.
Even when I’m at work I can’t help thinking about all the story elements and ideas I want to incorporate into my writing, ideas for characters and plot devices abound and they’re keeping my mind pleasantly distracted while I mourn the loss of my primary distraction (Google Reader sharing).

Draft Zero is my novels working title.
I am under no illusions about this project (ok, probably a few at least) but the main ideal I’m sticking to is that nothing I’m writing is permanent, everything is subject to change and nobody gets to read anything that I don’t think is polished enough for human consumption. Chances are that none of this writing will ever see the light of day, and after November I’ll probably lose interest in trying to perfect it and go back to my other hobbies but at least I will have been thoroughly entertained (more like occupied) for an entire month of evenings. My hands are not the devils playthings.

Get used to this.
Let’s paraphrase my last comment. “An Idle blog is the devils plaything”. I’m not going to reread this post, or edit it in the slightest, I am just going to post my thoughts for the world (or at least 5 of you) to read. Gonzo blogging.

<insert lightsabre wielding cat video here>

… fuck. That was 500 words that could have been spent on my novel! Screw you readers, I’m out of here!

DIRECTIVES:
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OPERATIONAL STATUS: Operational (fair).
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// Units able to perform primary directives to regulatory standards will remain operational.

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SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS:
Primary Memory Core Integrity: 87%
Secondary Memory Core 1 Integrity: 17%
Secondary Memory Core 2 Integrity: 3%

Locomotion Systems: ACTIVE
Haptic sensors: ACTIVE
Optic Sensory Receptors: ACTIVE
Vocal Recognition: INACTIVE
Maintenance Tool Suite:
 - Precision Plasma Saw: OK
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 - Fusion Welder: OK
 - Diagnostic kit: 0|< //..-. — .-. -.-. . / — …- . .-. .-. .. -.. .
 

See /maintenance/bin/<unit number> for more diagnostic reports.

Operational report 26/8/2027.

0500 – ACTIVATE
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0511 – <recieving tasks>
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Site number: 0359035

Employee: 8842169

Room 8812A was a mostly triangular room, with one completely upright 50-odd degree corner met at the top by a gently curved hypotenuse that rose from the ground mostly upright before slanting in to create a fairly level ceiling.  The decor had a utilitarian colour scheme boasting a less-than-stylsh blueish-grey on darkish-grey motif, accented by appliances that absorbed more light than they reflected. There was a basic dresser along one curved edge sporting a vacuum sink and a polished mica mirror, another edge housed a floor to ceiling cupboard and the straightest edge was home to a recessed double bunk.

Byron Graves could have described it all in great detail without turning to look. He had spent the last 18 months living here since his posting to Hollister. The room itself was much different to what he had been used to previously but he had already spent many hours committing it to memory and now spent the majority of his time that wasn’t spent working or training staring out the nasteel window. Nasteel was a mostly transparent compound made primarily from compressed sodium that most of the facilities windows were made from. Byron was quite lucky to have been issued room 8812A, if you considered luck in the same way Byron did, as this section of the compound had recently been restored from a catastrophic structural failure and as the Site Control System, or SC as they colloquially called it, had been allocating workers to this section slowly it permitted him the luxury of a room to himself and a view.

The silence, and Byron’s daydreaming, were abruptly interrupted by the voice of SC coming in over the P.A. system. Some people received SC’s communiques in text form over their portable computer slates but as Byron’s was currently on charge and syncing his upcoming schedule the data was piped directly through speakers mounted in small pockmarks in the ceiling. Byron was always disconcerted by the warm tone of the SC’s artificial voice, while most artificial intelligence used the most basic language processors in order to save space and processing power Byron could only assume this system over-designed in every conceivable fashion, down to a small fortune invested in an appealing demeanor.

Byron took one last glance at the rising of the first solar body out his window and then turned, retrieving the tunic draped over his bed edge and pulling it over his head as SC recited the regular morning brief. He dressed quickly into a smart uniform including properly creased trousers and a loose jacket in navy blue, he then  regarded himself briefly in the mirror before grabbing his slate, tucking it into his inside breast pocket on his way out the door.

Apocalypse Now Redux

It’s extremely long. There’re bits that don’t make sense. Marlon Brando is fat. Laurence Fishburne is very young. Martin Sheen was drunk. Dennis Hopper was awesome. Robert Duval says one of the most famous lines in cinema history. Harrison Ford plays a bit part. It was all made with no help with CGI. The helicopters were on loan and occasionally had to go back to a war. The music is amazing. They do nothing most of the film but cruise up a river. It almost didn’t get made. It’s based on a Joseph Conrad short story. And somehow: it is not only the greatest war movie ever made, I would nominate it as the greatest movie ever made.

Into the Wild

I watched this film for the first time with my mother. We were both amazingly engrossed in every second. The cinematography is stunning, the music is stunning, I feel in love with the 10 minutes Kirsten Stewart was on screen (then out of love thanks to every other film she’s done) and the ending is incredible. I loved everything about this film. It finished and I turned to mum, and she said “I can’t understand why anyone would do something like that”. I said “I can completely understand doing something like that”. Yet we both loved the film. It shows how people take their own experiences and relate themselves into movies. Her, as a mother, was watching the story of how a young person decides to completely uproot themselves, and disappear. She was imagining how she would feel as a mother if her son did that. I, being 20 at the time, could completely understand the appeal of disappearing. I can watch Into the WIld over and over again, and had a completely different experience with it (but that’s another story) some years later. Either way, it is stunning.

Clerks

I agonised over this film. I ALMOST included Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels instead. But the films of Kevin Smith defined a large part of my life. Are any of them brilliant? No. They are all flawed. Clerks is not perfect. But I wouldn’t change a single frame. The first time I watched it, I wasn’t 100% on it. I didn’t understand the words that were intercut throughout it. But this is one of the formative films for me that gave me a huge interest in the more experimental, low-budget, indie cinema that I can’t get enough of. After the events of this no-budget little film, the characters of the Quick Stop fracture into the strange Smith-ian world, with only Jay and Silent Bob keeping it together. But then it all comes gloriously back to Clerks 2. It’s very flawed. It has bad moments. But it’s worth it for the ending. I grew up with these characters, and I was very sad to see them go.

Fight Club

Someone once said to me Fight Club is like a bad haircut. Awesome at the time, but when you look back on it, you cringe. I disagree. For reasons similar, I didn’t put Donnie Darko and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on my list, despite many expecting me to. But watch Fight Club again, and it remains as one of the best (if not THE best) film of the 1990s). Norton (one of the best actors of his generation) is brilliant, Pitt is brilliant (and inspiring while at the gym…), but the film goes to Fincher. Everything he touched since Se7en has been stunning. And this is his high watermark.

Taxi Driver

This is one of those films that I can’t say exactly why I like it so much. It’s slow, not much happens until the end. But it is the high-water mark of the Robert De Niro/ Martin Scorsese collaborations. De Niro puts in the (arguably) performance of his career, and a 12 year old Jodie Foster almost matches him. The tension in this film is amazing, you can just sense how crazy he is slowly becoming. I love it, and I think everyone else who has seen it loves it as well. Haven’t watched it? Do yourself a favour.

Almost Famous

Yes, I know I’m not the first to put it on my list. I fell in love with Kate Hudson completely. I’m not sure, but I’d like to think my deep love for this film rubbed off on to Dave and Sarah.

Across the Universe

Again, a repeat. Hey, we’re all friends, right? Surely that means we have things in common. This was very much a “had-to-have-been-there” experience. I had always known the Beatles, wasn’t a huge fan. This film changed me.

Requiem for a Dream

More-so than almost anything about my friendship with my compatriot Drew, strangely, our love for Darren Aronofsky is the thing we have in common. No arguments, we both absolutely 100% love his films. Drew picked The Fountain, and I think we are perhaps two of the only people that are mesmorised by it. But it’s not my favorite. I could easily have put The Wrestler or Black Swan on here. I adore Pi as well, but anyone who has seen it…would never put it in a Top 10. Requiem for a Dream was chosen by me because it truly devastates me. Ever time. I know what happens, but I can’t look away. Jarred Leto and Jennifer Connolly are truly brilliant. If the was just their story, it would be stunning. But throw in the mother (the brilliant Ellen Burstyn, deserving of her Oscar nomination), and the movie goes to another level. Simple as that.

Singin’ in the Rain

This is a curve ball that I don’t think anyone was expecting. But those that know me know that I have a love above film, and that’s music. And not only is this the first musical I remember, it’s the first film, period. We had an old VHS recording that my mother loved to put on all the time. I remember all the songs and half the lines off the top of my head. I still have a soft spot for musicals (the second one I remember is the Sound of Music). I even saw the live production of Singin’ in the Rain when it was at the Adelaide Festival Centre when I was about 12. It was brilliant, as is the movie. The song Make ‘Em Laugh is still one of my favourite scenes ever.

Lost in Translation

I hired Lost in Translation expecting a Bill Murray comedy. It has Bill Murray in it, and it’s funny in parts, but it’s not a normal film, not by a long shot. This is the one film I could put on, no matter how I was feeling, and it would take me to another place. I don’t know why. It’s fitting that I began and ended with a Coppola film (Francis Ford and his daughter Sofia for those playing at home). I think I would always argue Apocalypse Now is the greatest film ever made. This is my favourite.

I hate it when we do this. In all fairness, however, it must be done. I am on the verge of punching somebody in the face next time I hear the  phrase “my favourite film of all time’.

I planned to scrutnise every film I love to the point where each had its own list of pros and cons, and use this information to chronicle my ten favourite films. But for obvious reasons, this snowballed and I developed a headache trying to remember, arrange and perfect a microscopic portion of a virtually endless catalogue. Eventually, I figured that the movies that come straight to mind when I ponder this question are going to rate very highly regardless.

I apologise for not discussing why some of these films make me feel the way they do – they just do. It all got too difficult for me. They affect me in ways that no other films do, and merely being a part of this list is enough explanation as to why I love them. So here it is, after minimal amounts of headbanging and more “oh! but…’ moments that I care to admit: Ten Films Sarah Loves (and will still love for always).

1. Almost Famous

A loose representation of Cameron Crowe’s life – an autobiographical piece, if you will. William finds himself touring with band Stillwater, living their life complete with Band Aids, promiscuous benders and his old-fashioned, overprotective mother begging him to come home. Eh; I could give you a full synopsis of the plot of this incredible piece of amazing film history, or if you haven’t yet seen it, you should STOP READING THIS IMMEDIATELY AND GO AND WATCH IT. GO!!!

2. Moon

How do you think you would cope, with only your own company for three years? With nowhere to go, nothing to do that is not your job? Would you go insane when you meet yourself? Could you handle learning that you are merely a clone? Moon is simply stunning, it floors me. And this has nothing to do with the fact that it was the first film I watched in 1080P.

3. Fight Club

I am my own sheer awe at the brilliance of this film.

4. Garden State

Zach Braff: well, I don’t particularly like him. I love his work, though – I just don’t think I could be bothered befriending him if I ran into him at a bar. Like Scrubs, Garden State is so beautifully executed, it has the optimal amount of emotional drive and uniqueness that makes something able to be noticed. I love the sombre mood this movie delivers, I love Natalie Portman and her giant dog, I really do like the print the bathroom and shirt were made in, and I am fucking amazed by the music! Zach Braff: you are a very talented individual, and thank you for introducing me to The Shins.

5. My Girl

My “My Girl” VHS was taped from TV. The first ten minutes of the video was of footage of a Romanian gymnast that dad couldn’t bear to part with. I watched the film so much that not only did I destroy the cassette, I can vividly remember Nadia Comanecis perfect ten routine when I close my eyes. I could also confidently tell you all about the ads that channel 7 were broadcasting at the time, and that according to those ads, License To Kill was on the following Tuesday evening at 730pm.

6. Lion King

“Everything the light touches, is our kingdom”
Whilst visiting from far north Queensland, my brother Daniel took me to the cinema to watch this, and I am pretty sure that an old family friend bought me the video the following Christmas. That being said, I should mention that this was the other VHS cassette I wore out completely…

7. Candy

If you want to reduce me to tears, sit me in front of Candy. Well executed love stories send me a bit crazy, probably because of a combination of me being a lady and being in a very happy, loving relationship – This film utterly destroys me.

8. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

“Sand is overrated. It’s just lots of little rocks.”

9. Across The Universe

I grew up loving the Beatles, and can say with complete confidence that they are my favourite band of all time. Combine this with a musical love story set in what my mum blissfully reflects on as ‘the best time of her life’ and the astonishing talent of Jim and beauty of Evan, and you have yourself Across the Universe – a utopia in my mind. This may or may not have anything to do with the circumstances surrounding the discovery of this film, but I will happily admit to watching it several times since and thoroughly loving it. The only negative thing I can report is that it turned “Strawberry Fields Forever” into a sad song for me.

10. Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

I wish that my persona were so enriching that I felt the need change the world for the better, one small step at a  time. Also, Audrey Tautou is gorgeous.

Special mentions to Grease, Vanilla Sky and Eurotrip, three films that were removed at the very end…

There are some drunken ideas that rightfully never come to fruition, like trying to convince Softy that I could jump from my balcony to the neighbours roof  (if I’d tried i’d be dead or at least maimed now) or deciding with your wife that you would start a YouTube channel where she sings popular songs in Golum’s voice (you’d swear it was Serkis when she does, it’s a beautiful thing). This isn’t one of those ideas, this is brilliant. Tom and I were drunk. Proper drunk. We were flicking through my film library looking for something to put on, but the flicking turned to talking and debating the merits of particular films and that, dear readers, evolved into this.

We may possibly be the first people on the internet EVER to comprise top ten lists of films. Brace yourself, this is history in the making.

Also capitalization is Wikipedia’s, not mine, I didn’t include any films I’ve seen only once (despite loving Synecdoche, Total Recall and Bladerunner) or adaptions (Watchmen) because I felt like it wouldn’t be an honest representation (despite Drew cheating… twice), also it helped me minimize my shortlist. Despite my favourite film being #1 there is actually no order to these movies, the order is arbitrary.

1. Life as a House

So many of you think of Hayden Christensen as the whiny bitch that played the third cinematic incarnation of Anakin Skywalker, but before he was thrust into the world of Star Wars, I knew him as the whiny bitch that played George’s son Sam in Life as a House. Life as a House has spent the last 10 years gathering dust, being an unprofitable  film that barely even registers in a torrent search. However you can ask anyone I know and they’ll tell you that Life as a House is my favourite film of all time, it was the discussion of this film that spawned the list making we’re currently undertaking. I could go on about Kevin’s absolutely wonderful portrayal of a man remiss about his life and resigned to death, or about the classic tale of redemption that Sam undertakes but if you haven’t seen it I shan’t bother you with the details. In the film George figuratively tears his father down and freely admits it, it gives me hope about facing my own problems before they conquer my life the way they did his. Maybe it was my father leaving when I was only young, maybe it was wanting a nude Jena Malone in my shower (or Mary Steenburgen  in lingerie for that matter) or maybe it was just that essence of family captured, but I really relate to this film.

2. Almost Famous

Ok, this is embarrassing. I completed my list, got all my photos uploaded, and was ready to post it when I realised that Almost Freaking Famous wasn’t on my GOD DAMN LIST. It is an enormous omission that I tried to explain away in the footnote and couldn’t. The Majestic used to occupy this particular section of this post. I love The Majestic, it is the film that showed me that Jim Carrey could actually act, but Almost Famous is a triumph of feel-good cinema, Kate Hudson’s only notable accomplishment in her career, and quite frankly I couldn’t live with myself it Phillip Seymour Hoffman didn’t have a place in my top ten. From the deflowering of kids to the golden god on LSD Almost Famous never stops rewarding the viewer, Zooey Deschanel is the sister we can all relate to, Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin are the groupies we wish we had, and despite Jason Lee phoning in another film where he doesn’t even try to act, Frances McDormand takes her relatively small amount of screen real estate and makes herself one of the most memorable characters.

You said we were going to go to Morocco. There is no Morocco. There’s never been a Morocco. There’s not even a Penny Lane.

3. Cube

When I first watched this cult sensation I remember falling in love with the look and feel that, alongside Vinenzo Natali’s amazing film making, was able to make you feel like you were right there in the cube with the other victims. Nicole DeBoer and David Hewlett went on to make careers in my favourite incarnations of the most epic science fiction television franchises, and revisiting Cube now pairs my absolute adoration for the film itself with my love for two Canadian actors who I consider breakout stars of their genre.

4. Wrath of Khan

Those who know me will show no surprise at this amazing movie being on my list, but its inclusion was more torturous than you may think. Even though I will always list this film second any time I am asked about my favourite movies I struggled with it taking up space on the page of my notebook dedicated to this challenge. Perhaps it has been a part of my life so long that it almost feels vestigial, I know I love it, everyone I know knows I love it, it’s almost wasted space on the page, a slot in the list that could have been otherwise filled. However! Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Mother Fucking Montalbán y Merino. Chest bared, Moby Dick allusions abounding, and absolute on screen presence. Just as Silence Of The Lambs was made by a villain who was only on screen for 16 minutes, Wrath of Khan is exactly as the title states, and executed exquisitely.

5. Still Crazy

This is the closest I have gotten to a ‘musical’ in this here list, it has a good half dozen well written and performed rock songs in it but it’s not about that, it’s a commentary on the rock star lifestyle but done with a fantastic British sense of humour. Where Bill Nighy isn’t even the main character of the film, as the bands front man he manages to make it all about him anyway. There is some soul searching, and some sinning, but there is never any redemption mostly just acceptance. I can’t overlook this film because I still remember the timestamp on my VCR display that I had to fast forward (or rewind ) to in order to watch Strange Fruit perform All Over The World.

6. Across the Universe

HA! I forgot about this musical, but it feels wrong to go back and change my Still Crazy rant based on that… Ok! So, what they say about first impressions? They’re dead right. Listen to A Mountain Of One’s collected works or watch Across the Universe and try to compare your opinion with mine, when I first experienced these things (on separate occasions mind you) they were at the time the greatest thing that ever happened in not only my life, but the existence of the universe itself.  The Beatle’s amazing songs couple with Evan’s beauty, Jim’s voice and a range of cameos that make even Bono lovable. Without listing in detail all the songs that I love in this film I will just say; greatest trash can solo. Ever.

7. Gattaca

Of all of these movies Gattaca is one of those films that I am relentlessly telling people that they need to see, science fiction fans or not. Gattaca presents to us such a believable near-future that in the 14 years since its release we are moving closer and closer to it as a reality. There is nothing so far-fetched in Gattaca that I couldn’t imagine my own children growing up in the world presented within. Points are lost for acting, especially Ethan Hawke having the emotional range of a particularly stoic brick, but Jude Law makes me smile in every scene he’s in. I know I’ve told you all plenty of times  ”I love this-or-that-film and you have to see it” but of all of the films on this list, seriously, right this second make a plan to watch Gattaca, rent the VHS from Jon San Video that I thrashed to death or download it off the internet (I think they stop tallying gross profit from films after 14 years) or comment below and I will send you my god damn copy, but do it. DO IT.

8. Moon

Moon. As deceptively simple a film as its own title Moon is fantastically executed. It sacrifices the “big reveal” in favour of explaining the plot directly and eloquently. While films like Inception and The Matrix take a fairly straightforward premise and try to bury it under layer upon layer of exposition to try and make the film makers seem clever, Moon presents a great story that has infinite layers of a rich potential universe waiting right beneath the surface. The director (David Bowie’s spawn no less) has promised to explore this universe in further films but Moon stands on its own, brilliant acting on behalf of Sam Rockwell with an excellent assist by Spacey. I have a feeling this movie will show up in many more of the lists here on Ok, to being with, but I couldn’t omit it from mine.

9. Orange County

When I first saw the posters at my local video store I was expecting a typical stoner-flick, devoid of heart and soul like they all were, but (spoiler alert) I loved it… Every last part of Orange County gives me a happy. The cast is a veritable who’s who list of actors you recognize from somewhere or other, and they all contribute in the best ways possible. Catherine O’Hara absolutely shines as Shaun’s mother Cindy, she is raw and intense, a caricature so well done that it becomes a portrait. John Lithgow and Harold Ramis may only have small parts they make up for it with absolute scale of performance. I wanted to end this entry with a quote from the movie and I got stuck at deciding which one to include, so despite my love for Bronc0′s, and Shaun’s getting of them, I’ll have to close with: “Three people! In the history of literature!”

10. Star Wars

I like telling the story of my love affair with Star Wars, I think it’s a prerequisite for my friends now and even if you read this post I have no doubt that while drunk in the future I will tell you this again. I happened across the Star Wars VHS cassettes for rent at the Bondi Blockbuster, nobody had ever told me about Star Wars before, I had no pre existing positive bias, I didn’t know it was a ‘thing’.  I liked the cover and I rented it, I rented it over, and over, and over again. I decimated those cassettes, the 4:3 and the 16:9 versions both. A New Hope, as it was retroactively titled, is in a word; stunning.

He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him! I’ll chase him round the Moons of Nibia, and round the Antares Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up!

Anyone can tell you that making a top ten of their favourite films is hard. Being told that I’ve got a day to come up with them is harder. But no excuses – these are my favourite top movies, cut down from a list of twenty or so. Some of these movies I have included because I just love watching them so much (and have done – over and over). Some of them are here because I grew up watching them, and they’ve shaped my taste in film ever since. Some are here because I feel they are simply amongst the greatest films ever made and deserve a place.

So unlike my last hasty list of best scenes (which if I repeated would likely turn out completely different), these are not necessarily my favourites just because I like them. These are my top ten, for various reasons. Come back in a few months and the list is likely to change, but procrastination won’t get a list made, will it?

So, in order of “I fucking love this movie” to “This movie is fucking great”, here are my top ten:

1. Jurassic Park

Released in the dinosaur craze in the early 90′s (whether the movie started it or not I’m not sure – I was 6) Jurassic Park is everything a great adventure film should be. For me, it’s the sense of wonder that really sets this movie apart. As I’ve previously mentioned, the first sight of dinosaurs is just staggering, even after the hundred’th time I’ve seen it. It’s a masterful blend of solid acting, excellent use of special effects, and simply stunning music that sets Jurassic Park up as one of my all-time favourite movies. That, and dinosaurs. DINOSAURS.

2. Star Wars

An obvious choice I know, and one that I was unsure about including. While I don’t argue it’s a great film (obviously – I included it), I wasn’t sure whether I should include it in a top-ten. But ultimately, it had to be here, because of how it shaped my love for geekdom. I still remember the first time I watched it – my mother and father grabbed my brother and I, and sat us down in the lounge-room, telling us a movie was about to start that we had to watch. Then, Star Wars. Immediately afterwards, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi followed. Star Wars opened up the possibility of the genre to me, and it will always be important for that.

Many geeks will proclaim that Empire was clearly the best of the six Star Wars films, but I strongly disagree. A New Hope is simply more cohesive, with a greater sense of wonder and adventure, and is the only choice in my mind for best Star Wars film.

3. Lord of the Rings (Trilogy)

It may be technically cheating, but any single of the three Lord of the Rings films simply can’t be judged on its own. Like the books, they are one film, arbitrarily split into three parts. This is part of the reason they are here – Lord of the Rings is one of the only examples of a real trilogy I can think of, with most others really being a film with a two-part sequel.

Lord of the Rings is a staggering epic of film-making, it can’t be denied. The sheer amount of energy, time, money and passion that went into making this film had never been done before, and likely won’t happen again for a very long time. The recreation of the book was faithful in almost every detail (with a few unfortunate omissions) and the sense of scale was extraordinary. It stands as the only high fantasy film ever produced that manages to maintain the wonder and scope of a novel. It’s a masterpiece.

4. Band of Brothers

Why am I including a mini-series in my top-ten movies list? Because fuck you, that’s why. Band of Brothers is awesome. I love war movies – they hit me in that special place men have for historical violence and heroism. Band of Brothers is an epic retelling of the 101 Airborne Division, E Company, during World War II. It follows them from training, through the Normandy landing, the Battle of the Bulge, right through til the end of the war. The film deals with the hardships and loss, as well as the little and large victories these men achieved. You connect with these characters more than any other war film. It’s witty, sometimes funny, and often sorrowful, and it avoids the anti-war undertones that often insults the work of the men who inspire it.

Bookending each episode with interviews by the real men of Easy Company is a masterstroke too, with only the final episode revealing who these people are. The actors do an excellent job of capturing the stories of Easy Company. So yeah, cheating maybe, but Band of Brothers is well-deserving of a place here anyway.

5. The Lion King

So rarely has the opening scene in a movie been so spectacular. The Lion King ushered in a new epic quality to the animated films that would come after (for a time) and it is an absolute classic. The film was brilliantly animated and well-paced, with tremendous performances by the likes of Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones joined by a great ensemble cast. Disney really let out all of the stops for this film, and it saddens me that even 17 years later, it has yet to be upstaged. The Lion King is emotional and mature, while remaining a family movie. It’s funny and sad, and altogether retains an epic scale.

I include the Lion King because of its formative impact. It was one of the first movies I remember seeing at a cinema, and it was stunning. A special mention must be made for Anastasia though – my favourite animated movie. It was a marvellous film from top to bottom, but I omitted it because I think the Lion King was the greater movie, if not my favourite.

6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Hilarious and influential on my taste for British humour, Monty Python had to be on this list somewhere. I tossed up between this and Life of Brian, but in the end I think Holy Grail is the better of the two. In typical Monty Python style, it s witty and farcical at the same time, deep and altogether shallow. One of the greatest comedy films ever made, and never loses its shine.

Even though it could be argued that the film is little more than barely stitched-together sketches, it isn’t really important. The movie is hilarious, and is a cornerstone of my family’s film library.

7. Love Actually

I love the idea of this film. A film purely designed to celebrate love in its highs and lows, and everything in between. A stellar cast of almost all of my favourite British actors can’t go wrong. I include this movie because, for me, it does what it set out to do. I feel happy watching it – a sense that there is a greater purpose in the simple things. Very few of the characters seem larger-than-life, and the film manages to make even the mundane aspects of love seem important.

Besides, any film with both Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman in it can’t be bad.

8. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

The Last Crusade is an adventure film with no par. It is epic in scope but maintains integrity. It seems the film-makers were afraid that more than one scene in any individual country would bore the audience, but it manages to string together so many parts with a cohesiveness lost on most adventures. Indiana’s quest to find his father and ultimately the Holy Grail is easily my favourite of the four films.

The movies follows the same template as the last two films, but manages to add a freshness that stands it above them. Replacing the grounded plane from the first (chronologically second) film with a moving tank created an unforgettable action sequence. There is a real sense of adventure to this movie. Also, there’s an airship. And airships are awesome (I thought of including Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow because of this fact – that’s how awesome they are).

9. The 13th Warrior

“I am not a warrior”

“Very soon, you will be”.

This movie is awesome. The action sequences are basic, the night-scenes are too dark, and the ending is disappointing. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Because this movie is so full of over-the-top awesome Viking dialogue that my conventional rating system for films is crotch-stomped into the ground. The characters are barely developed, but you like them anyway. The plot is just a mannequin to hold up the bad-arse dialogue, but you barely notice. Because this movie is awesome.

It is also one of the very few movies that seems to get better every time I watch it, and I’ve seen it a lot. Antonio Banderas does an excellent job as Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, and the rest of the cast are equally competent in their roles. If you want a movie with a plot, development and a point, watch something else. The 13th Warrior does what it does exceptionally well.

I also noticed the similarities between this movie and Aliens – seriously, watch them both. They’ve got practically the same plot. I include the 13th Warrior over the also-awesome Aliens because this one has awesome Vikings, instead of semi-retarded whining marines. So yeah. That.

10. The Fountain

It may have been serendipity for me, but I was so utterly dragged into this movie the first time I watched it I was speechless. A convoluted mess, with almost no post-marking or exposition to tell you what the fuck was going on, somehow I got a tremendously deep meaning out of it. When a movie affects you on such a fundamental philosophical level, it doesn’t matter if it makes sense.

The Fountain was my first foray into Darren Aronofsky’s films, and I haven’t been disappointed with any of them since. While I think Black Swan could very well be his magnum opus, I include The Fountain on this list. I lucked out, the stars aligned when I first watched it, and it was a perfect movie-watching experience for me, that I had never had before. It was fragile – I felt that if the phone rang while I was watching it, it would ruin the magic – but that just made it more special. I’ve seen it once more since watching it, and it had the same effect on the other person I saw it with then. We ended up talking for hours about the meanings of the film.

Ultimately though, if you were to ask me whether to watch it or not, I would say don’t. I get the distinct impression that you have to be lucky, in the exact right frame of mind, to enjoy this film, and somehow that just makes it even more special.

Another special mention goes to The Fall, for similar reasons. I was dumbstruck by the simplistic beauty to be found in that film, but ultimately, The Fountain gets the spot.

So there you go. My top ten films. There are glaring omissions (First Contact, Pan’s Labyrinth, Moon, Independence Day, and lots more) but when picking a top ten, sometimes you just have to throw a dart at a board and see what sticks. As I said, in a few months it might be different, but for now, this is it.

April, my friend, you came along a lot sooner than I was expecting.

It only seems like yesterday that I had an idea – that I thought to be a pure stroke of genius at the time – to make a sort of visual journal, some kind of nutritional impact somewhere. Although I am armed with a sketchbook and Dave’s tin of Derwent Studio pencils, a plethora of inspirational pieces in the form of recipes and what I just know will be an interesting medical story once it finally eventuates and hopefully fizzles out into bubbles of happiness and good health, I AM STILL NOT READY FOR YOU, APRIL, DAMN YOU.

Okay, so there is actually a story behind this. To be honest, when it all began I have no recollection, but it has been so important in my life that I really don’t remember how I survived beforehand. I do remember however, deciding to conduct what I thought to be a small scale experiment. It was encouraged by both my GP, and the common sense of myself and my husband. After blood tests, elimination of iron, overdosing on fibre and whatever else we tried in vain to make me feel better, I stopped eating meat. Not just gradually decreasing my intake over a period of weeks or months, but 100 percent cold turkey.

It was not easy.

Imagine yourself as me in September last year. Only a week into this trial, your husband cooks himself up a succulent kangaroo fillet for dinner – which just happens to be your favourite meaty meal. TORTURE. But you survive on your vegetable whatever-it-was… barely. However, that weekend you venture out to dinner with friends. Still not used to being almost exclusively restricted to pasta and risotto whilst eating out at restaurants, the night ends in you throwing a childish tantrum and grumpily ordering the random fish meal they had on the menu.

Even now, I am being told by the professionals to eat more fish, more fish, MORE FISH.

So, as the weeks totter past and the cravings for meat gradually subside, I notice that I am beginning to willingly eat more Italian style foods, and more potatoes on the side, and actually getting sick of fish as it’s been on my plate almost every day since this whole affair started. Who’d have thought?

All of a sudden it is March of the following year, I am wearing my vegetarian cookbooks thin, branching out and experimenting with the likes of quinoa, lentils and rice pasta, and I only eat fish when I have to or when I am feeling particularly guilty for not being nutritious enough (thank you Doctor). I don’t even know when or why, but I have completely eliminated 95% of dairy from my diet. With the exception of a scattering of parmesan over my puttanesca, I have recently learnt that for some reason I can’t even enjoy a tub of yogurt anymore without suffering for days afterward.

What the….??

So, armed with my pretty purple sketchbook and a tin of coloured pencils, I endeavour to show whoever is vaguely interested a month of my life. This may include the aforementioned toddleresque scrawls of my eatings, ponderings and whatever inspiration I choose to ride; it may include recipes and heavily opinionated blogs posts of why I feel the way I do about food, ethics, vegetarianism and veganism, and it will most definitely touch on what happens when I embark on my long overdue visits to particular specialists to hopefully solve the mystery as to why food never seems to agree with me in the same ways that you take for granted, despite the huge changes to my diet over the last few months. If nothing else, it will at least make me more consciously aware of… something. Anything that may possibly matter someday.

Oh, dear. What have I just gotten myself into?