Top Ten List

I have decided to put together a few lists. Why am I doing this you ask? Well, I am at work and I am bored. Please don’t be jealous that I have nothing better to do at work. Some days I am actually busy. Wow, sorry I almost got that out without laughing. My work is like most things in life, “Hurry up and wait,” but now I have this place to ramble on about whatever I want.

What is on my mind today? Well, I am getting a little tired of telling people not to do stupid things yet they go ahead and do them anyway. For example, “Don’t run in shoes that don’t have laces, you will fall am bust your @$$.” The response I get is “No I won’t”, and then 10 minutes later they get really mad at me when I am laughing and saying I told you. I wonder why that is? Yes, I am sure my dad could say the same thing about me. Maybe it is just the best way to learn. Funny thing is that it is not just the kids; it is people at work too.

I do have one memory (at least I think it’s a memory, I could be making it up) of a lesson my dad attempted to teach me. It dealt with the “new” automatic garage door which at the time this was a novelty (we always did have the new technology pretty quick) as opposed to the “old” automatic garage door opener. Some of you may remember the old one, dad yelling “get your @$$ out of the car (usually in the rain) and open the damn door.” At any rate, my dad thought it would be a good time to teach me one of those “I told you so” lessons. The “beneficial” training involved the use of this fancy new piece of technology. At the age of 5 or 6, I thought I was getting to do something cool by going out into the garage and climb in the car then hit the magic button to close the door. Never once did it occur to me that I had an issue with closing a car door without smashing my fingers. This is where I feel my memory may be making things up because I feel like I had to close that damn garage door everyday for a week. Now I now coming from Oklahoma I may be a little slow sometimes but it seems ridiculous that it took me a week to learn this handy skill. Again, who knows, maybe I am just making all this up. I have had an adult beverage once or twice in my life that may or may not have harmed some brain cells.

Any way here are my lists:

Top Ten Movies: (kind of like the Big Ten conference with eleven teams)

1. Braveheart - Best movie of all time, not even up for debate. This movie characterizes a man living his life for love of both a woman and his country. Vivid images and story.
2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - A film way ahead of its time. Science Fiction that still captivates me today.
3. Caddyshack - "Cinderella story.. outta nowhere... former greenskeeper about to become the Masters champion." enough said.
4. A Beautiful Mind - Showcases acting at its finest. Russell Crowe playing John Nash a schizophrenic, a work of art.
5. The Natural - one of the greatest sports movies of all time. Not to mention it show that a person can never be too old to achieve their dreams
6. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Saw this at the theater with my dad and Uncle Richard. My dad was laughing so hard I thought he was going to die. Plus I think about this movie every time I go into Chicago.
7. Batman The Dark Knight - Incredible acting and storytelling. (See yesterdays blog post)
8. I, Robot - Will Smith one of my favorite actors. This is a movie I can watch over and over again.
9. Elizabethtown - This is hard to explain, it is just a great movie.
10. Airplane! - "Shirley you can't be serious" "I am and don't call me Shirley"
11. Armageddon - Cheesy movie maybe but fantastic. The characters all played perfect together, very good side stories.
12. Saving Private Ryan - Very emotional film. Once I was able to get myself prepared to get past the first scene, the rest of the movie did not disappoint. Now Black Hawk Down would have made the list but the book was much better.

This was a difficult list to make. There are so many movies that I love. I imagine that this list changes, aside from the top 3, from week to week depending on any recent viewings.

Movie Character Pantheon:
These are all characters that become something bigger than their role. There are in no particular order. Also ever changing for the moment.

1. Ferris Bueller - Who has not wanted to be him at one point or another
2. John McClane - "Yippee-ki-yay, Mother@#@$@."
3. Ty Webb - "Find your center, picture the shot, Danny...picture it. Turn off all the sound...just let it happen...be the ball. Be the ball, Danny..."
4. Cornel Nathan Jessup - The kind of man we need on that wall
5. Indiana Jones - Leather Jacket, bull whip and a cool hat
6. Spock - Always logical
7. Crash Davis - Showed us how to love the game of baseball
8. Forest Gump - Life is a box of chocolates
9. Andy Dufresne - constantly striving to make the most of his troubles
10. The Joker (Heath Ledger) - Crazy, just plain crazy.

Tomorrow I will work on some music lists.

Until tomorrow.