50 Favorite Albums

I've been wrestling with this for a while. I could keep going well past fifty (50), but I think that this is the right number. It forces me to edit myself and make tough choices but still gives a good idea of what my tastes and favorites are. I welcome your feedback, your ridicule, and your own tops choices that I might have missed.

1. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. The Beatles - Abbey Road
4. Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints
5. Van Morrison - Moondance
6. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
7. Radiohead - The Bends
8. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
9. Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin’ Simon
10. U2 - Achtung Baby
11. Little Earthquakes
12. Paul Simon - Graceland
13. Radiohead - In Rainbows
14. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
15. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
16. R.E.M. - Life’s Rich Pageant
17. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
18. Randy Newman - Sail Away
19. R.E.M. - Out of Time
20. Nirvana - Nevermind
21. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
22. Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album)
23. Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years
24. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
25. Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
26. Fiona Apple - When the Pawn . . .
27. Lyle Lovett - Pontiac
28. Blur - The Great Escape
29. James - Laid
30. Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual
31. They Might Be Giants - Flood
32. Ben Kweller - Sha Sha
33. Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway
34. Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
35. Radiohead - Kid A
36. Damien Rice - O
37. Blur - Parklife
38. Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One Is One
39. The Promise Ring - Wood/Water
40. Green Day - American Idiot
41. Weezer - Pinkerton
42. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
43. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
44. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
45. Harry Connick, Jr. - Red Light Blue Light
46. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
47. Belly - King
48. Michael Penn - March
49. Gorillaz - Demon Days
50. Lyle Lovett - Joshua Judges Ruth

101 Favorite Movies for 2008

With the Oscars last weekend and my best picks ever (22 of 24, though the winners were relatively predictable), I thought now would be as good a time as any to post my list of favorite films. It changes from year to year, and here area a few caveats for the list:

• My list is heavily subjective and in many cases is based on personal sentiment more than any critical consensus.
• I must see a film at least twice as a prerequisite. Often my opinion and enjoyment changes significantly on future viewings.
• A film must have been released at least one (1) year prior to the list largely to avoid undue credit stemming from the recent viewing.

The List:

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. It’s a Wonderful Life
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Jerry Maguire
5. When Harry Met Sally . . .
6. The Silence of the Lambs
7. Amelie
8. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
9. Sense and Sensibility
10. The Fisher King
11. Notting Hill
12. Brazil
13. Fight Club
14. About a Boy
15. The Royal Tenenbaums
16. Trainspotting
17. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
18. The Empire Strikes Back
19. Lord of the Rings
20. Rain Man
21. Heathers
22. Annie Hall
23. The Godfather
24. Say Anything
25. Fargo
26. This Is Spinal Tap
27. Groundhog Day
28. The Freshman
29. Kill Bill
30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
31. Scent of a Woman
32. Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade
33. The Third Man
34. Finding Nemo
35. Lawrence of Arabia
36. The Muppet Movie
37. Rear Window
38. Mother
39. Spider-Man
40. Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
41. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
42. Toy Story 2
43. Dr. Strangelove: . . .
44. American Splendor
45. Raiders of the Lost Ark
46. Home Alone
47. Amadeus
48. Die Hard
49. Back to the Future
50. Clueless
51. The Incredibles
52. Millions
53. Office Space
54. Magnolia
55. Almost Famous
56. Beauty and the Beast
57. Ocean’s Eleven
58. Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
59. Quiz Show
60. Grosse Pointe Blank
61. The Godfather Part II
62. The Truman Show
63. Dave
64. Four Weddings and a Funeral
65. The Last Emperor
66. Searching for Bobby Fischer
67. Aliens
68. Boogie Nights
69. Fried Green Tomatoes
70. The Dinner Party
71. Best in Show
72. M:I:3
73. Swingers
74. Little Miss Sunshine
75. Parenthood
76. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
77. Lost in Translation
78. Before Sunset
79. Rushmore
80. Singles
81. Dead Poets Society
82. Get Shorty
83. Some Kind of Wonderful
84. Major League
85. A Bug’s Life
86. Run Lola Run
87. Frankie & Johnny
88. The War of the Roses
89. Edward Scissorhands
90. Glory
91. The Matrix
92. The Goonies
93. Manhattan
94. Galaxy Quest
95. While You Were Sleeping
96. Shall We Dance? (Japanese Original)
97. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
98. School of Rock
99. High Fidelity
100. The Hunt for Red October
101. Napoleon Dynamite

My Life Via 25 Random Things

For those of you not on Facebook, there is a craze going around where you list twenty-five (25) random things about you. As with a chain letter, you send it to twenty-four (24) friends and the person who sent first a list to you. I have enjoyed reading others' lists and have been tagged several times. I will post my list to Facebook soon but wanted to give the blog the world premiere exclusive for a short while.

25 Random Things:

1. I was born in the Year of the Dragon, as was my Mom. I think that trait may have been the first thing that some of my in-laws liked about it. I hope it was not the last.

2. When I was really young, I was not afraid of the dark. That changed when my babysitter tricked me and made me watch Poltergeist. I was scared of just about everything afterwards, and I would even close my eyes, cover my ears and hum when horror film commercials played on television. When Poltergeist II was coming out, I even went so far as to turn off the television and leave the room at least once.

3. I get creeped out when I gaze too long at little spots (prime examples are the seeds in Kiwi fruit and ants moving in a recently disturbed anthill). Despite the general fear mentioned in number 2, it’s not a phobia, just a neurotic tic.

4. My brother and I were once extras in the Steve Martin and Debra Winger film Leap of Faith. We are at the end of the film standing near Meatloaf, yes, the Meatloaf.

5. I was a huge fan of The Muppets and Peanuts. My sensibilities and sense of humor originated with Jim Henson and Charles Schultz, and I mourned both of their deaths. On the end of the spectrum, I also watched a lot of Benny Hill and Three’s Company when I was a kid. That explains a lot.

6. I love cooking, though I do it infrequently these days, and enjoy reading cookbooks cover-to-cover. (Is that Jack Tripper rearing his head again?) My first full read was The Joy of Cooking, which lacks photographs or any narrative, when I first started to learn the joy of cooking.

7. My favorite brunch ever was a great combination of salty and sweet: a platter of French toast and a bowl of chili. I have tried to top it at home and at restaurants but continue to fail.

8. I am not vegetarian, but I have eaten vegetarian “chik” nuggets, patties and burgers for lunch almost every day since 1998. My favorite brand is Morningstar Farms and I enjoy almost all of its products. Eating less meat would not be a bad idea for most people in the U.S. would help the environment. I also eat the veggie stuff because it faster and cheaper than most lunch options.

9. When I was younger, I did not enjoy beer at all, in part because I thought the carbonation was too caustic. I did begin to enjoy single malt scotch during law school and was subsequently able to drink beer during my third year. Fat Tire was the first beer I actively enjoyed. I've enjoyed many good beers since, although my favorite alcoholic drink remains the caipirinha at Nacional 27. (I'll always settle for a margarita on the rocks, the first alcoholic drink I ever enjoyed.)

10. I have completed a Rubik's cube without cheating. However, that happened not when I was a child, but relatively recently during the summer of 2008 after hours of dedication.

11. One of my favorite pairs of shoes is a pair of adidas sambas, which I bought during high school in 1993. They still fit and I still wear them.

12. I sold concessions in the stands of Texas Stadium during high school, and during two of those seasons, the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. However, I remain a bigger fan of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Mavericks. I think I was spoiled in a way. Either that, or I love to suffer with my teams. (I like the Cubs a lot too.)

13. 3, 13 and 37 are my favorite numbers. Coincidentally, 3 and 13 have been good to me in roulette. Unfortunately, 37 is one numeral too high for my favorite casino game.

14. I became a poetry major, earning one of the eleven (11) spots through a competitive application and writing samples. Although I made the cut, once in the program, my poetry and analysis did not match up to those of many of my excellent classmates. Nonetheless, the close attention to language and individual word selection that I learned helped me more than expected during law school.

15. I went without a computer or a car during all three (3) years of law school in St. Louis. I would not have made it without Wash. U.’s new law library and computer lab, which factored into my decision to matriculate, pretty decent public transportation, and frequent rides from classmates. I have a car now and often wish that I did not.

16. My favorite athlete of all time is Andre Agassi. I thought he was cool in junior high – I even had the hightops with the black and fluorescent pink squares. As he and I got older, he became disciplined and dedicated, realizing the blessings he had with his natural talent. His career and recommitment mirrors my dedication to my studies during the same period. Style then substance.

17. Along those lines, I am ashamed of the fact that I can count and name the books I have read cover-to-cover, including those assigned for school. I have a lifelong quest to read every work of literature that had been assigned. I alternate a required reading title with a free choice. I have a very long way to go.

18. I am an Anglophile for literature, music, modern film and clothing. I am a Francophile for art, cuisine, culture, older film and clothing. I like clothes.

19. I have a passion for travel and have visited every continent except for Antarctica. Jenn and I are trying to figure out where to go next. Finalists before our 2008 trips included Macchu Picchu, Rio de Janeiro, Toyko, and Russia. (We have long planned on going to China, but that trip keeps getting postponed because of varying circumstances.) Right now, I’ve got some national parks on my mind.

20. Even when I am not traveling, I almost always have bag with me, whether it be a messenger bag, briefcase, or camera bag, to carry tech, water, food, and items to read.

21. I have long had an ability to fall asleep anywhere anytime. It makes long-distance travel easier with red-eye flights and with quick recovery from jet lag. Unfortunately, with poor allocation of bedtime, I often fell asleep in college even when I did not want to: in class, at the theater and the movies, and even during conversations that were important to me despite my hibernating appearance.

22. I earned my Eagle Scout award, but barely, and fifteen (15) years later, I still enjoy what I learned, whether it be knot-tying during camping trips or the principles "do a good turn daily" (a.k.a. a good deed every day) and "leave the world better than you found it." I just wish openly gay people were allowed to be scout leaders.

23. Most of my favorite activities are things, I now realize, which I would do with my family when I was young and that I still do with them now: movies, eating, and shopping. I also realize that I become more like my parents as time passes (except as to politics). These similarities include my hobbies and just about every positive trait I sometimes exhibit. I hope the trend continues.

24. I remember the moment that I realized that Jennifer was my match. It was not the first time I looked into her eyes, or went window shopping with her at Old Orchard, or even attended Mass in the chapel on-campus together (where our wedding later took place). It was one day when she questioned whether something that I had done (but completely unrelated to her) was “right”. (It wasn’t.) She could see through me, challenged me, and still wanted to be with me.

25. Though it took a while to get there, I am now obsessed with running and happily blame my family. My father used to be a marathon runner, wakin at 5 a.m. almost every day to run long distances. I joined cross country during high school in part so I might be able to keep up. (I wasn’t.) I gave up for a long while. Although I had no interest in a marathon or even running in the spring of 2008, Jennifer convinced me to run in the AIDS Marathon Training Program benefitting the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. We quickly grew to love running and have been doing habitually since. Even with our mismatched schedules, it is one of our constants of quality time that we share every weekend.

2009 Goals Update

As you may be aware, I wrestled with "New Year's Resolutions" but set some goals for 2009, all of which would be marked improvement (at least in quantity) over 2008. http://listimosa.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-years-resolutions.html

In short, my goals were as follows:

• To watch five (5) films in the movie theater.
• To read six (6) books.
• To shoot 1,000 exposures of photography for artistic purposes (excepting snapshots).
• To run 750 miles.
• To publish two (2) articles.
• To double my per-month savings as compared to 2008.

Work has been very busy in 2009, so my time has been limited. I think more regular hours may be coming soon. I still have some work to do but am pleased with the results on these so far. Some things fell to the side though -- we still have not mailed our holiday letter.

I watched two (2) films to give us Saturday night plans, which we almost never had during our marathon training. Having watched Slumdog Millionaire in 2008, we have two (2) more Best Picture nominees to see. When I was much younger, I would watch four (4) or all five (5) nominees almost every year.

I have read nothing of leisure so far. This one might be the most difficult for me to accomplish, especially since I got out of the habit, having read zero (0) books cover-to-cover in 2008. I think David Sedaris's most recent book will be my first try. I've been saving it. I'll be able to read it quickly but I won't want to finish it.

I have shot more than two hundred (200) exposures already and think that this one will be easy. A recent trip to D.C. and some photography assignments that have spurred further creativity have helped.

Keeping up with the running since our marathon, we have had a long run every Sunday along the lakefront despite the temperatures. With a second run most weeks, I have covered seventy-seven (77) miles as of today, with the longest run so far being fourteen (14) miles. I'll need to pick it up and run more than twice per week to hit my goal, but I think that the the effort has been pretty good given my schedule and the weather.

I have not written any articles but I have actively been trying to come up with a topic for the first one. I will be giving a presentation for work later this year and might develop an article topic out of that.

I met the savings goal for January, but our property tax will be due soon (and we do not escrow), and I suspect that we will owe some federal taxes in April.

I hope your resolutions and goals are going even better.

I.C.E., I.C.E., Baby

Jennifer and I got new cell phones relatively recently, and I just added my I.C.E. ("in case of emergency") number on my new phone yesterday. It got me thinking. The two of us have discussed many times but never explicitly named the items that we would grab with thirty (30) seconds while running out of our house in case of an emergency.

1. Phoebe & Arthur
2. Backup hard drive (thousands of digital photographs, as well as music and documents)
3. Our Wedding Album
4. Box of Film Negatives (from 1994 to 2006)
5. Cell phone and keys

After composing my list, I asked my emergency contact for her list, and without any input from me. Here's what she wrote:

1. Kinnier -- I would not leave unless he were with me.
2. Phoebe & Arthur.
3. The box in which I keep all of the love letters Kinnier has written me.
4. The photo album with my baby pictures.
5. Wedding rings -- These are insured, but I would not want replacements.

I am not sure what I expected, with the exception of Phoebe and Arthur. Presuming that she would indeed exit the burning building without me if I were out of town, I was almost too touched to list her list. She chose sentimental items, as I did mostly. But in comparison, my list seems like one of a unromantic pragmatic. (Compare her number 5 to mine.) Nonetheless, preparing this list turned out to be a good exercise for me. My number 4 is nowhere ready for quick getaway, overflowing out of a box stashed somewhere underneath the guest room bed. I am now resolved to organize the negatives and put them in a suitable location and storage container fit for a man on the go. Also, I was unaware of the existence of her number 3 (how big is that box anyway?), which goes to show that you never know . . . .

And soon the room can't tell you were here,
And there's dust in my hair.
And dusty air has gone crazy for something late in the year,
And water everywhere.
And (S.O.S.) it's very emergency. S.O.S. It's very
emergency.

-- The Promise Ring: "Emergency! Emergency!" from the album, Very Emergency

[Editor's Note: Jennifer takes off her rings to apply moisturizer at night and sometimes does not put them back on until morning.]

2008 Reading List

As one of my goals for 2009, I plan to read six (6) books, as compared to zero (0) books finished in 2008. (See the entry below for my other goals.) The feat would be a good one for me a failed reader, but many of my friends and family do much better and read more books during a good month.

Both my brother and my friend Brian are two people who read a lot. My brother lives in a monastery, and you can see that impacts half of his reading list. (Brian used to travel a lot as a consultant, but not much anymore.) As my brother told me, "If I’m not praying, then I’m probably in my cell reading. That’s part of being a monk, I guess." He is also in graduate student but excluded required reading, as well as books that he did not read cover-to-cover. I thought to ask Brian for a list of his 2008 reads. My brother loves lists, so he had been keeping track along the way.

I wish I read as much as they do. I start out at a disadvantage as both of them read much faster than I do, at least twice as fast. For most novels, I read approximately ten (10) pages per hour. Relatively recent exceptions are the Harry Potter books, which have margins that allow only a couple of dozen words per page, and the Da Vinci Code, which starts a new chapter, skipping to a new page, every few pages. Also, I just don't put the time in, which is a choice I make with the limited time I seem to have with other obligations and hobbies.

Books Read in 2008

K.C./Brother Philip (alphabetically by author, and chronologically for the same author)
1. Aristotle – Categories
2. Benedict XVI – Deus Caritas Est
3. Benedict XVI – Sacramentum Caritatis
4. Benedict XVI – Spe Salvi
5. Derek Bickerton – Language and Human Behavior
6. Benjamin Black – The Lemur
7. Heinrich Böll – The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
8. Louis Bouyer – The Meaning of the Monastic Life
9. Louis Bouyer – The Roman Socrates
10. Mikhail Bulgakov – The Master and Margarita
11. Paul Cobley – Introducing Semiotics
12. Jean Daniélou – Prayer: The Mission of the Church
13. John Deeley – C.S. Peirce and the Recovery of Signum
14. Francois de Sales – The Spiritual Conferences
15. Charles Dickens – Great Expectations
16. Albert Einstein – Relativity: The Special and General Theory
17. William Faulkner – As I Lay Dying
18. Penelope Fitzgerald – The Bookshop
19. Penelope Fitzgerald – Offshore
20. Penelope Fitzgerald – Human Voices
21. Penelope Fitzgerald – The Beginning of Spring
22. Penelope Fitzgerald – The Gate of Angels
23. Penelope Fitzgerald – The Blue Flower
24. Nadine Gordimer – My Son's Story
25. Brian Greene – The Fabric of the Cosmos
26. Graham Greene – Brighton Rock
27. Graham Greene – Travels with My Aunt
28. Graham Greene – Monsignor Quixote
29. Colin Harrison – Mrs. Corbett’s Request
30. Martin Heidegger – Introduction to Metaphysics
31. Victor Hugo – Les Misérables
32. Basil Hume – To Be a Pilgrim
33. Kazuo Ishiguro – A Pale View of Hills
34. Henry James – The American (in progress)
35. Søren Kierkegaard – Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing
36. Søren Kierkegaard – The Sickness unto Death
37. Robert Kysar – John the Maverick Gospel
38. Laura Lippman – The Girl in the Green Raincoat (in progress)
39. Bernard Lonergan – Understanding and Being
40. Bernard Lonergan – Method in Theology
41. Michael J. Loux – Metaphysics
42. Gabriel García Márquez – Cien Años de Soledad
43. Cormac McCarthy – The Road
44. Ian McEwan – Saturday
45. Flannery O'Connor – Wise Blood
46. Joseph Ratzinger – ‘In the Beginning…’
47. José Saramago – Blindness
48. Angelo Scola – Hans Urs von Balthasar: A Theological Style
49. John Steinbeck – The Winter of Our Discontent
50. Hans Urs von Balthasar – Love Alone Is Credible
51. Hans Urs von Balthasar – Engagement with God
52. Evelyn Waugh – A Handful of Dust
53. Steven Weinberg – The First Three Minutes
54. Ludwig Wittgenstein – Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus


Brian (chronologically)

1. Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
2. I Hope They Server Beer in Hell – Tucker Max
3. World War Z – Max Brooks
4. Wish You Were Here – Mike Gayle
5. Fearless Fourteen – Janet Evanovich
6. Plum Lovin' – Janet Evanovich
7. Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain
8. I Was Told There'd Be Cake – Sloane Crosley
9. In The Woods – Tara French
10. The Book of Joe –Jonathan Tropper
11. Rigged – Ben Mezrich
12. Brand New Friend – Mike Gayle
13. When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
14. Creepers – David Morrell
15. Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less – Barry Schwartz
16. Mine All Mine – Adam Davies
17. The Spy Who Came For Christmas – David Morrell

N.B.: He started reading The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brain Greene in December 2007, but read most of it in January 2008.

New Year's Resolutions

I used to make New Year's resolutions when I was younger, but I almost always failed, eventually paralyzed by disappointment in past failings. It was at around the time that I stopped making resolutions that I had the resolve to "make things happen." The last few years have been good ones and I have gotten a lot accomplished except on the housework front. Nonetheless, as New Year's Rick-rolled around, I heard people around me discuss their goals for 2009, which I found remarkable enough to list here and to inspire me to try again.

(1) My brother advised that he wants to read 15,000 pages and to run 750 miles. (Without a specific goal, he read more than 17,000 pages and ran approximately 400 miles.)

(2) Some friends at work and I have begun to enjoy fine whiskeys together on a regular basis after work. While we enjoyed 16 year-old The Glenlivet Nàdurra (57.2%), Frank, the host this round, mentioned a goal -- to try every Scotch whiskey served at the Duke of Perth. The list of those spirits with their respective ages follows below.

(3) I have learned from history to some degree. However, as I consider making goals -- not resolutions -- for 2009, I wonder if the syntactical variance (goal vs. resolution) is enough to provide a tactical advantage so as to evade the doom of repeating my history of failed resolutions. It will be an interesting experiment at the very least. So here are my goals for 2009 to improve on 2008. Now that I've made them concrete, there's no backing down.

My Goals
To watch five (5) films in the movie theater.
To read six (6) books.
To shoot 1,000 exposures of photography for artistic purposes (excepting snapshots).
To run 750 miles.
To publish two (2) articles.
To double my per-month savings as compared to 2008.

Duke of Perth's Malt List
Highland
Balblair 16
Clynelish 14
Dalmore 12
Dalmore 21
Dalmore "Stillman's Dram" 28
Dalwhinnie 15
Edradour 10
GlenDronach "Original" 12
GlenGarioch 15
Glengoyne 10
Glengoyne 12
Glengoyne 17
Glenmorangie 10
Glenmorangie "Burgundy" 12
Glenmorangie "Madeira" 12
Glenmorangie "Port" 12
Glenmorangie "Sherry" 12
Glenmorangie 18

Island
Ardbeg (Islay) 10
Ardbeg "Uigeadail"
Bowmore (Islay) 12
Bowmore 17
Bowmore cask strength
Bowmore Darkest Sherry cask
Bruichladdich (Islay) 10
Bruichladdich "Links" 14
Bruichladdich 15
Bruichhabhain (Islay) 12
Carol Ila (Islay) 12
Caol Ila 18
Highland Park (Orkney) 12
Highland Park 18
Isle of Jura 10
Isle of Jura 16
Lagavulin 16
Laphroaig (Islay) 10
Laphroaig Orig. Cask Strength 10
Laphroaig 15
Talisker (Skye) 10
Talisker (Skye) 18
Tobermory 10
Scapa 14
Springbank 10
Springbank "100" 10
Springbank 15

Lowland
Auchentoshan 10
Auchentoshan "Three Woods"
Auchentoshan 21
Glenkinchie 10

Speyside
Aberlour 10
Aberlour 15
Aberlour a 'bunadh
Balvenie (Founders Reserve) 10
Balvenie (Doublewood) 12
Balvenie (Single Barrel) 15
Balvenie (Portwood) 21
BenRiach "Curiositas" 10
BenRiach 12
Benromach
Cragganmore 12
Cragganmore 16
Glenfiddich 12
Glenfiddich 18
The Glenlivet 12
The Glenlivet 18
Glenrothes "1992" 12
Macallan 12
Macallan "Cask Strength"
Macallan 18
Macallan 25
Macallan "Fine Oak" 10
Macallan "Fine Oak" 15
Oban 14
Strathisla 36
Tamdhu
Tomintoul 16

Vatted
Famous Grouse 18