Eight Best...Pixar Films

#8. Toy Story 2


#7. A Bug's Life



#6. Cars



#5. The Incredibles



#4. Ratatouille



#3. Monsters, Inc.



#2. Finding Nemo



#1. Toy Story

Early in the Morning, I'm Callin' YouTube, Vol. IX

Ever wonder what Danny Devito playing the air guitar looks like? Wonder no longer!

I was never a big fan of Heath Ledger. While I'm anxiously waiting to see how he fares as the Joker in The Dark Knight, I don't much care for a lot of his old work: A Knight's Tale is rather terrible, Brokeback Mountain is horribly overrated and his Bob Dylan in I'm Not There is decent, but nothing special. Frankly, the role I most associate him with is Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You. Not the greatest movie in the world, but one that features a memorable scene of Heath singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You."

Steve Holt!

While home, I watched the first two episodes of American Idol, which will probably be the only two episodes of Idol I watch this year. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to hear the original song, "I Am Your Brother" by Renaldo Lapuz. Basically, Renaldo came into the studio looking like a homeless pimp, and sang his song to Simon about how they're brothers. It's one of the greatest Idol moments of all-time, right up there with Clay Aiken's performance of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."

But now for some good music: "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry

My Faves

Yesterday, my dad sent me an e-mail about Frank Sinatra: The Man, The Music, The Legend, an anthology of essays about Ol’ Blue Eyes brought together at a 1998 conference held at Hofstra University. After reading the briefing by Benjamin Schwartz, literary and national editor of the Atlantic, I began to think of how much I enjoy Sinatra, although I hardly mention him on Five Best. From there, my thoughts drifted towards if I could only hear five bands or artists for the rest of my life, who would they be? Here’s what I came up with, in no particular order:

Bob Dylan
-If you’ve read my blog even once, you know how much I love Dylan. Plus, he’s got a long discography of fifty plus albums—and how could I go the rest of my life without hearing my two favorite albums, Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde.

Frank Sinatra
-Lots of albums, lots of different emotions he can stir up, amazing voice…need I continue?

The Beatles
-Although they didn’t release as many albums as Dylan or Sinatra, they’re the freakin’ Beatles! Of course I’d include them.

And here’s where it gets tough. Those three choices I thought of without even really, well, thinking, but for my final two, I’m left wondering whether I should choose two rock bands. Or maybe some jazz? Can I go the rest of my life without hearing Once More, With Feeling again? So, after much thought, here are my final two:

Louis Armstrong
-When I asked my dad who he’d have on his list, he included Louis (along with Dylan, Sinatra, Paul Desmond and either Bill Evans or Ben Webster) and I didn’t. In an e-mail I sent back to him after getting his choices, I mentioned that I’d probably pick Monk or Coltrane over Louis but upon second thought, I would choose Louis for one main reason: vocals. Although I might listen to Monk and ‘Trane more, I don’t think I could go the rest of my life without hearing his work with Ella Fitzgerald.

For the last slot, I thought about Richard Thompson, Miles Davis, the Kinks, the Ramones, Neil Young, the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and David Bowie, but my choice inevitably came down to two: The Clash or Tom Waits. And my last artist is:

Tom Waits
-I may actually like the Clash more than Waits, but it simply comes down to the amount of albums and how good they are. The Clash has two masterpiece albums (The Clash and London Calling) while Waits only has one (Rain Dogs), but there aren’t that many other Clash albums (I mean, I could go the rest of my life without Super Black Market Clash, and I wouldn’t too upset). As for Waits, he doesn’t have a bad album on his résumé, and has a lot more of them as well.

So here they are:







Who would be in your group?

Five Worst...NFL Mascots

#5. Steely McBeam (Pittsburgh Steelers)



#4. Ragnar the Viking (I love these wheels)



#3. Mid-90s San Diego Chargers



#2. Sourdough Sam



#1. Washington Redskins (pre-racism?)

Five Best...Songs from Closing Time

#5. "Rosie"

Well I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
All that you left me was a melody.

#4. "Ol' 55"

And my time went so quickly, I went lickety-splickly
Out to my old '55
As I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy,
God knows, I was feeling alive.

#3. "Martha"

And those were the days of roses, poetry and prose
And Martha all I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows, we'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

#2. "Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)"

I can see by your eyes, it's time now to go
So I'll leave you to cry in the rain,
Though I held in my hand, the key to all joy
Honey my heart was not born to be tamed.

#1. "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You"

Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue,
Well the music plays and you display your heart for me to see,
I had a beer and now I hear you calling out for me
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you

Five Worst...Movies Based on Video Games

#5. Pokemon 3: The Movie

All Pokemon movies could easily have this spot, but the designation goes to the third one because of its subtitle. The Movie? How terrible is that? Maybe this should start catching: Great Expectations: The Book, Lost: The Television Show on ABC Not To Be Confused with that Dean Cain Movie or Herpes: The Sexually Transmitted Disease.

#4. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

I was never a huge Mortal Kombat fan, for I rather spent my time playing Mario or various sports game. But when I went to my cousin's house, I would play it for long periods at a time and loved hearing the oh-so-familiar "Let's fight!" This movie, a sequel, made me lose all fond feelings for the game with this kind of dialouge:

Jax: Man, you barbecued his ass!

Shao Kahn: You should have killed me... when you had the chance... brother.
Rayden: My brother died a long time ago. His heart, anyway.

Now that's intense.

#3. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider


Angelina Jolie, hot. This movie, not.

#2. Super Mario Brothers

While I do have fond memories of this movie (especially the elevator scene where the Goombas begin to sway to elevator music), I can't give too much credit to a movie that has its main actor, Bob Hoskins who played Mario, say this about it: "The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Brothers. It was a nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare." Yikes.

#1. Street Fighter

This poster says it all:

Five Best...Songs from Wilco's Sky Blue Sky

#5. “Either Way”

Maybe the sun will shine today
The clouds will blow away
Maybe I won’t feel so afraid
I will try to understand
Either way

#4. “Hate It Here”

I try to stay busy
I do the dishes, I mow the lawn
I try to keep myself occupied
Even though I know you’re not coming home

#3. “What Light”

If you think you might need somebody
To pick you up when you drag
Don’t loose sight of yourself
Don’t let anyone change your bag

#2. “On and On and On”

One day we’ll disappear together in a dream
However short or long our lives are going to be
I will live in you or you will live in me
Until we disappear together in a dream

#1. “You Are My Face”

I have no idea how this happens
All of my maps have been overthrown
Happenstance has changed my plans
So many times my heart has been outgrown