26 January 2021
16 July 2020
15 July 2020
actually saw NEOWISE Tuesday night
Waited until after twilight passed and took the dog for our after dinner stroll. We rode the elevator up to the top of a parking garage since it's probably the highest place I have access to and mostly gets me above the trees. The dog didn't care much for the elevator ride but that's probably because it was his first time. We had to maneuver around someone sleeping in whatever you would call the glass enclosure that protects the elevators. Didn't have any luck up finding the comet up there - might have been because I didn't know exactly where to look, but there was also a lot of light pollution between streetlights and the lights on the top of the parking structure.
A couple blocks to the north is a school with a couple blocks of sports fields. I wasn't sure if it would be worthwhile, but as we approached I saw a guy on the south side with two tripods set up. Bingo! It was pretty hard to pick out initially, but I saw what looked like a long, faint smudge, so I asked if I was looking in the right place. I was. He invited me to look through his binoculars and he showed a couple pix he'd grabbed. It was pretty cool and I'm glad I was able to see it.
We returned by the school nearest home but the view wasn't as good. Might have seen it there too, but it was really faint.
I really, really wish I had a place to go where I could enjoy the night sky. Can only see the brightest objects (like the big dipper or Jupiter or the ISS) from around here. If I wanted, I could walk for an hour or so ...
But then there's the walk back and it would be pretty late. Also, local highways lack sidewalks (even in the city). Gotta love ODOT.
A couple blocks to the north is a school with a couple blocks of sports fields. I wasn't sure if it would be worthwhile, but as we approached I saw a guy on the south side with two tripods set up. Bingo! It was pretty hard to pick out initially, but I saw what looked like a long, faint smudge, so I asked if I was looking in the right place. I was. He invited me to look through his binoculars and he showed a couple pix he'd grabbed. It was pretty cool and I'm glad I was able to see it.
We returned by the school nearest home but the view wasn't as good. Might have seen it there too, but it was really faint.
I really, really wish I had a place to go where I could enjoy the night sky. Can only see the brightest objects (like the big dipper or Jupiter or the ISS) from around here. If I wanted, I could walk for an hour or so ...
But then there's the walk back and it would be pretty late. Also, local highways lack sidewalks (even in the city). Gotta love ODOT.
13 July 2020
04 April 2015
Movie Reviews
Do you find movie reviews useful? If so, what kind - other than one's you agree with, of course?
I've given up reading about movies before watching them. Started the process some time ago and have completely given up. I prefer to watch a movie as 'cold' as possible. Yes, the heat is on or I'm under a blanket. By 'cold' I mean with virtually no knowledge of the film. I know the name, might know actors or director, and often know some general buzz about the film.
Okay, what's general buzz? For example, I know that Interstellar takes place in space. But that's
really all I can tell you about it. Oh, other than it's on a number of lists, either as a best or most popular film.
And this is where I now get 99.99% of my film recommendations. For years I've been working through such well-known lists as the IMDb Top 250, the National Film Registry (US), Ebert's Great Movies, Empire 500, the Criterion Collection and FilmMovement catalogs. But since I've seen so many of the titles on these lists, I continued to search for other lists until I came across I Check Movies. As of today, they have 162 Official Lists and thousands of others, compiled by members of the site.
While some of the Official Lists might seem obscure, say Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art or Yle News' Best Finnish Films of All Time, especially if you're not in art house cinema or from Europe, and maybe even if you are - or are based on someone's opinion, Spike Lee's Essential Film List or Halliwell's Top 1000, all can be argued as having a rationale for inclusion or exclusion of a given title. One might not agree that Movie X is one of the Top 1000 movies of all time, but really, like most art, qualifying cinema is quite subjective.
And this brings me back to why I don't pay any attention to reviews. I mentioned the late Roger Ebert earlier. While I occasionally disagreed with him, his opinions were reasoned, based less on emotion, and he had decades in the film industry, most of which was spent reviewing films for the Chicago Sun Times or on the syndicated TV show At The Movies. There are others, and thanks to the wonder of the Internet, we can actually see what Jonathan Rosenbaum or AO Scott thought of a given film they reviewed back when. But do you really look up reviews before adding a movie to your Netflix cue? (I don't use Netflix - I prefer my local library.)
No, most people either rely on one of three things:
What's a casual movie viewer to do?
Depends. If you think your time and money are being well-spent finding movies using your current method, keep doing it.
If not, then may I suggest finding a list of films that jibes with your interests. Like Martial Arts films? Check out Sohu.com's 100 Classic Martial Arts Films. Or maybe Cult movies are you thing. Try 500 Essential Cult Movies from the book by Jennifer Eiss et al or The New Cult Canon by Scott Tobias at the AV Club. There are probably almost as many lists of films as there are movies available online and on DVD.
Give a list a try.
I've given up reading about movies before watching them. Started the process some time ago and have completely given up. I prefer to watch a movie as 'cold' as possible. Yes, the heat is on or I'm under a blanket. By 'cold' I mean with virtually no knowledge of the film. I know the name, might know actors or director, and often know some general buzz about the film.
Okay, what's general buzz? For example, I know that Interstellar takes place in space. But that's
And this is where I now get 99.99% of my film recommendations. For years I've been working through such well-known lists as the IMDb Top 250, the National Film Registry (US), Ebert's Great Movies, Empire 500, the Criterion Collection and FilmMovement catalogs. But since I've seen so many of the titles on these lists, I continued to search for other lists until I came across I Check Movies. As of today, they have 162 Official Lists and thousands of others, compiled by members of the site.
While some of the Official Lists might seem obscure, say Amos Vogel's Film as a Subversive Art or Yle News' Best Finnish Films of All Time, especially if you're not in art house cinema or from Europe, and maybe even if you are - or are based on someone's opinion, Spike Lee's Essential Film List or Halliwell's Top 1000, all can be argued as having a rationale for inclusion or exclusion of a given title. One might not agree that Movie X is one of the Top 1000 movies of all time, but really, like most art, qualifying cinema is quite subjective.
And this brings me back to why I don't pay any attention to reviews. I mentioned the late Roger Ebert earlier. While I occasionally disagreed with him, his opinions were reasoned, based less on emotion, and he had decades in the film industry, most of which was spent reviewing films for the Chicago Sun Times or on the syndicated TV show At The Movies. There are others, and thanks to the wonder of the Internet, we can actually see what Jonathan Rosenbaum or AO Scott thought of a given film they reviewed back when. But do you really look up reviews before adding a movie to your Netflix cue? (I don't use Netflix - I prefer my local library.)
No, most people either rely on one of three things:
- Word of Mouth - "Hey, you have to see the latest Sandra Bullock picture." Um, need I say more? Unless I agree with this person that Sandra Bullock is the greatest actor working in Hollywood, chances are I'm going to be quite disappointed - not always, some of her work is worthwhile.
- Current Reviews - These are largely found in various media outlets and may range in quality from serious critical commentary to sharing of studio press releases. These tend to be most helpful when one is trying to decide which of the sixteen movies to see at the local cinerama googaplex. Quality varies greatly and may depend on who owns the media outlet or how much advertising they buy.
- Peer Review - What you find on something like IMDb. Needless to say, I find this a very mixed bag. So many reviews proclaimed The Lego Movie Oscar worthy. Ugh!
What's a casual movie viewer to do?
Depends. If you think your time and money are being well-spent finding movies using your current method, keep doing it.
If not, then may I suggest finding a list of films that jibes with your interests. Like Martial Arts films? Check out Sohu.com's 100 Classic Martial Arts Films. Or maybe Cult movies are you thing. Try 500 Essential Cult Movies from the book by Jennifer Eiss et al or The New Cult Canon by Scott Tobias at the AV Club. There are probably almost as many lists of films as there are movies available online and on DVD.
Give a list a try.
13 July 2014
My Top (93) IMDb Ratings
Anyone who knows me knows I'm very much into something I called 'filmed entertainment.' Included in this expansive phrase are feature movies, short subject films, documentaries, TV series, made-for-TV movies, and TV mini-series. Of course I've watched all these things since I was a young kid; however; I grew more serious about cinema, especially international cinema, after 1995. My tastes run from popular TV programs to arthouse and experimental films.
In the early 2000's it was clear that I had to somehow keep track of what I've seen, what I want to see, and what I should see. After the fifth time I pulled the same item off the library shelf thinking hmmm, this looks interesting only to watch the first two minutes and think isn't this the one where he does....yeah, I've seen this already! So, I started tracking what I'd watched on IMDb and I also developed a very detailed, many paged spreadsheet. I rely on my spreadsheet so much now that I rarely walk up to the library shelf (other than their version of 'New Releases') -- I simply search for things on my various lists, place holds, and watch them as they arrive.
To date I have rated 5,995 titles on IMDb and have 6,222 items listed and 'seen' in my database. Why the difference in numbers? Well, 217 titlez in my spreadsheet aren't even cataloged in IMDb and even after downloading my IMDb data, comparing it to my spreadsheet, updating both, I still have managed to lose ten titles -- after completing my comparison the number was three, so roughly one title a month seems to fail to update on IMDb. Oh well.
Anyway, as I approach my 6,000 IMDb rated title, I thought it was time to provide some listings about something I seem to care so much about. To start off a series of posts, I decided to list all items I have rated 10 out 10 stars on IMDb. What does a 10 star rating mean? Are these the best movies of all time? Are they somehow the most important or simply my favorites? This is a very difficult question to answer mostly since there are no guidelines for how many stars one user assigns a movie. For instance, someone might give every movie with Ben Affleck in it a 10 and every movie with Matt Damon in it a 1 on principle. I have tried to develop a rating system that resembles how we were graded as students. In school, a C was considered average and minus a curve, a score of 70-79% (correct) was generally a C. This is where I start. I then add and subtract a star for things that stand out to me related to acting, cinematography, design, plot, stupidity, originality -- okay, I admit, it's a very inexact science. I also freely admit that my ratings are highly subjective and you will probably notice a difference between my rating and IMDb's weighted average.
One note, generally a really good/great movie will only score 9 stars on my rating -- to earn that tenth star, it has to have that something extra; it must move me emotionally. So, the movies and TV programs listed below are each examples of works that have touched me deeply.
I will make some more remarks over this series of posts related to ratings and such. Please, feel free to ask questions though I'm unlikely to 'discuss' (aka argue) a item's merits. If you haven't seen some of these movies and TV programs, I hope you will track them down. They may not touch you the same way they have touched me, but you'll see what does, in fact, touch me.
The Top 93 are not provided in an discernible order.
Enjoy!
In the early 2000's it was clear that I had to somehow keep track of what I've seen, what I want to see, and what I should see. After the fifth time I pulled the same item off the library shelf thinking hmmm, this looks interesting only to watch the first two minutes and think isn't this the one where he does....yeah, I've seen this already! So, I started tracking what I'd watched on IMDb and I also developed a very detailed, many paged spreadsheet. I rely on my spreadsheet so much now that I rarely walk up to the library shelf (other than their version of 'New Releases') -- I simply search for things on my various lists, place holds, and watch them as they arrive.
To date I have rated 5,995 titles on IMDb and have 6,222 items listed and 'seen' in my database. Why the difference in numbers? Well, 217 titlez in my spreadsheet aren't even cataloged in IMDb and even after downloading my IMDb data, comparing it to my spreadsheet, updating both, I still have managed to lose ten titles -- after completing my comparison the number was three, so roughly one title a month seems to fail to update on IMDb. Oh well.
Anyway, as I approach my 6,000 IMDb rated title, I thought it was time to provide some listings about something I seem to care so much about. To start off a series of posts, I decided to list all items I have rated 10 out 10 stars on IMDb. What does a 10 star rating mean? Are these the best movies of all time? Are they somehow the most important or simply my favorites? This is a very difficult question to answer mostly since there are no guidelines for how many stars one user assigns a movie. For instance, someone might give every movie with Ben Affleck in it a 10 and every movie with Matt Damon in it a 1 on principle. I have tried to develop a rating system that resembles how we were graded as students. In school, a C was considered average and minus a curve, a score of 70-79% (correct) was generally a C. This is where I start. I then add and subtract a star for things that stand out to me related to acting, cinematography, design, plot, stupidity, originality -- okay, I admit, it's a very inexact science. I also freely admit that my ratings are highly subjective and you will probably notice a difference between my rating and IMDb's weighted average.
One note, generally a really good/great movie will only score 9 stars on my rating -- to earn that tenth star, it has to have that something extra; it must move me emotionally. So, the movies and TV programs listed below are each examples of works that have touched me deeply.
I will make some more remarks over this series of posts related to ratings and such. Please, feel free to ask questions though I'm unlikely to 'discuss' (aka argue) a item's merits. If you haven't seen some of these movies and TV programs, I hope you will track them down. They may not touch you the same way they have touched me, but you'll see what does, in fact, touch me.
The Top 93 are not provided in an discernible order.
Enjoy!
|
Title
|
Year
|
Type
|
My Stars
|
AVG
Stars
|
# of Ratings
|
When I Rated Item
|
|
2009
|
Feature
|
10
|
6.8
|
782
|
11 months ago
|
|
|
1997
|
Documentary
|
10
|
7.7
|
1,546
|
28 Sep 2004
|
|
|
1995
|
Mini-Series
|
10
|
8.5
|
266
|
27 Sep 2004
|
|
|
1997
|
Feature
|
10
|
6.9
|
2,157
|
13 Dec 2008
|
|
|
2005
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.2
|
1,382
|
16 Nov 2007
|
|
|
1997
|
TV Series
|
10
|
7.8
|
564
|
12 Aug 2007
|
|
|
2009
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.9
|
645
|
28 Feb 2010
|
|
|
2002
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.0
|
1,749
|
30 Jun 2005
|
|
|
2004
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.5
|
229
|
02 Nov 2007
|
|
|
1974
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.3
|
2,707
|
28 Oct 2009
|
|
|
1970
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.4
|
1,750
|
5 months ago
|
|
|
1990
|
Mini-Series
|
10
|
9.4
|
3,067
|
03 May 2008
|
|
|
1959
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.5
|
2,009
|
24 Oct 2011
|
|
|
2001
|
Mini-Series
|
10
|
9.3
|
3,530
|
16 Sep 2008
|
|
|
1961
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.7
|
1,527
|
24 Oct 2011
|
|
|
2003
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.2
|
13,478
|
5 months ago
|
|
|
2001
|
Documentary
|
10
|
7.9
|
8,238
|
20 Mar 2009
|
|
|
1973
|
TV Series
|
10
|
9.6
|
3,571
|
12 Oct 2010
|
|
|
1985
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.8
|
3,373
|
02 Oct 2010
|
|
|
1945
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.9
|
3,626
|
10 months ago
|
|
|
1990
|
Mini-Series
|
10
|
8.9
|
1,947
|
31 Aug 2007
|
|
|
1951
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.2
|
11,040
|
06 Oct 2010
|
|
|
1998
|
Mini-Series
|
10
|
8.9
|
5,129
|
31 Aug 2004
|
|
|
1987
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.8
|
39,178
|
01 Apr 2001
|
|
|
1994
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.0
|
7,860
|
14 Dec 2007
|
|
|
2000
|
Mini-Series
|
10
|
8.6
|
1,994
|
30 Sep 2009
|
|
|
1952
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.2
|
10,903
|
20 Feb 2009
|
|
|
2008
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.1
|
19,444
|
16 Mar 2010
|
|
|
1987
|
TV Series
|
10
|
9.0
|
279
|
07 Mar 2008
|
|
|
2008
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.2
|
840
|
11 Aug 2010
|
|
|
1959
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.5
|
1,510
|
24 Oct 2011
|
|
|
2008
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.3
|
412
|
09 Aug 2008
|
|
|
2005
|
Short Film
|
10
|
7.4
|
1,169
|
05 Aug 2009
|
|
|
1998
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.3
|
1,163
|
16 Nov 2007
|
|
|
2001
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.4
|
719
|
21 Jun 2008
|
|
|
1972
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.8
|
24,300
|
20 Jan 2010
|
|
|
2004
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.3
|
18,714
|
21 Mar 2008
|
|
|
2006
|
Documentary
|
10
|
7.7
|
1,137
|
29 Mar 2008
|
|
|
1982
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.2
|
16,432
|
19 Aug 2009
|
|
|
1961
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.3
|
22,099
|
05 Oct 2007
|
|
|
1982
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.4
|
12,792
|
23 Feb 2007
|
|
|
2005
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.7
|
13,198
|
25 Jan 2008
|
|
|
2004
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.1
|
175
|
12 Jul 2005
|
|
|
2003
|
Feature
|
10
|
6.9
|
490
|
28 Oct 2009
|
|
|
2001
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.8
|
622,990
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1972
|
Feature
|
10
|
9.2
|
618,844
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1993
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.2
|
9,678
|
6 months ago
|
|
|
2002
|
TV Series
|
10
|
9.5
|
75,968
|
19 Dec 2008
|
|
|
2002
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.7
|
279,246
|
11 Apr 2008
|
|
|
2011
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.1
|
116,371
|
4 weeks ago
|
|
|
1997
|
Documentary
|
10
|
8.7
|
451
|
03 May 2008
|
|
|
1983
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.8
|
148
|
03 May 2008
|
|
|
2005
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.2
|
400,858
|
16 Mar 2007
|
|
|
2003
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.9
|
599,506
|
24 Aug 2004
|
|
|
1998
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.6
|
390,692
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
2006
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.5
|
133,165
|
11 Apr 2008
|
|
|
2002
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.7
|
537,521
|
24 Aug 2004
|
|
|
1996
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.2
|
247,162
|
20 Feb 2009
|
|
|
2004
|
TV Series
|
10
|
9.0
|
29,947
|
18 Jan 2008
|
|
|
2010
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.2
|
210,741
|
24 Aug 2011
|
|
|
2002
|
Short Film
|
10
|
7.5
|
673
|
19 Aug 2009
|
|
|
1974
|
Feature
|
10
|
9.1
|
395,647
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
2005
|
TV Series
|
10
|
9.0
|
44,281
|
21 Dec 2007
|
|
|
2001
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.9
|
45,303
|
03 May 2008
|
|
|
2006
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.0
|
235,457
|
21 Mar 2008
|
|
|
2004
|
Short Film
|
10
|
7.1
|
436
|
28 Oct 2009
|
|
|
2004
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.1
|
242,661
|
12 Dec 2009
|
|
|
2008
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.6
|
104,084
|
15 Dec 2009
|
|
|
2004
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.2
|
147,159
|
02 Mar 2007
|
|
|
2002
|
Short Film
|
10
|
6.9
|
284
|
19 Aug 2009
|
|
|
2008
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.8
|
123,031
|
16 Jan 2010
|
|
|
1994
|
Feature
|
10
|
6.8
|
365
|
01 Apr 2001
|
|
|
1981
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.5
|
99,550
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
2000
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.1
|
99,758
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1962
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.5
|
109,776
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1995
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.6
|
61,185
|
09 Mar 2007
|
|
|
1972
|
TV Series
|
10
|
8.4
|
16,676
|
30 Sep 2009
|
|
|
1990
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.0
|
108,178
|
03 May 2008
|
|
|
2003
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.1
|
32,861
|
22 Jun 2010
|
|
|
1988
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.4
|
59,064
|
02 Mar 2007
|
|
|
1989
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.9
|
72,640
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1985
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.7
|
38,499
|
17 Jun 2010
|
|
|
1983
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.0
|
66,237
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1999
|
Mini-Series
|
10
|
8.4
|
42
|
27 Aug 2004
|
|
|
1969
|
Documentary
|
10
|
6.7
|
53
|
02 Dec 2009
|
|
|
1960
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.4
|
57,689
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1996
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.0
|
51,216
|
04 Aug 2003
|
|
|
1991
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.4
|
32,810
|
17 Jun 2010
|
|
|
2004
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.0
|
39,354
|
12 Dec 2009
|
|
|
1956
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.8
|
29,401
|
04 Nov 2009
|
|
|
1955
|
Feature
|
10
|
8.2
|
37,232
|
02 Dec 2009
|
|
|
1997
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.4
|
14,946
|
12 Apr 2001
|
|
|
2003
|
Feature
|
10
|
7.6
|
41,316
|
16 Sep 2004
|
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