Free Man's Movie List

Free Northerner has The Free Man's Reading List and its a good list.  (I'd drop Seven Habits of Highly Effective People becasue is way too well liked by exactly the wrong sort of people.  And Add Robert Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy, because it is exactly the book to understand how a man should be.)

In any case, the question that inspired the list:

What should a person, if he wishes to think of himself as a free man of the republic, absolutely must read?

Movies are not as important as books.  You learn more from books.  Books are more interactive.  Books have more knowledge and wisdom.  [Most] books are not as abridged.  And so on.

But movies can be important, inspiring, and other positive words to be inserted here.

Also, I like them. 

And the inspiration for this list is becasue I have a coworker who has never seen the The African Queen, and perhaps not even any movie starring Humphrey Bogart.  What's up with that?

So here follows a list of movies that, while they don't give you any where near the same sort of physiological knowledge as the book does, nor do they provide any comparable sort of understanding of economics, nor do they provide...

But in order to have experienced the full extent of the classics of our culture a list of only books is incomplete.

(I have not linked to any of these becasue I don't know where or how you may view them.)

The movies a modern man should watch (chronological order):

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - The Movies starring Erroll Flynn were never great, but they are entertaining, and who is more alpha?

Stagecoach (1939) - Americans movies are known for westerns.  Watch the first big one, the first to really star John Wayne, and one directed by one of the most prolific western directors of all: John Ford.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Western Union (1941) - I knew I needed something starring Randolph Scott, so I went with my favorite one. 

Casablanca (1942) - If you're only going to watch one romantic movie, it may as well be the best one.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) - Its not money that corrupts, it merely shows us what we already are.

The African Queen (1951)

High Noon (1952) - My vote for the best ever movie.

Sabrina (1954) - If you're going to watch two romantic movies.

Seven Samurai (1954)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Ben-Hur (1959)

Good Day for a Hanging (1959) - Even though I don't care for most movies starring Fred MacMurry, Good Day for a Hanging is very underrated and comparable to High Noon.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

The Good, The Bad, the Ugly (1966)

Once Upon A Time in the West (1968)

The Wild Bunch (1969) - If you're only going to watch one violent movie, may as well make it the longtime most violent.

Patton (1970)

The Godfather (1972) - Overrated.

The Chinese Connection (1972) - Bruce Lee had to be here somewhere, even if his movies weren't great.

The Sting (1973)

The Godfather Part II (1974) - Also overrated.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Jaws (1975)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Rocky (1976)

Airplane (1980)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

First Blood (1982)

The Princess Bride (1987) 

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Schindler's List (1993) - I assume so; I haven't seen it.

Fight Club (1999) - I assume so; I haven't seen it.

The Matrix (1999) -  I assume so; I haven't seen it.

Fulltime Killer (2001)

Cowboy Bebop (2001)

Rocky Balboa (2005)

Election (2005)

Triad Election (2006)

The Good, The Bad, the Weird (2008) - Because I said so.

---

I recognize that this post is not living up to its title.

Hit me with my horrendous oversights.  And don't give me any of that Star Wars/ Trek nonsense either.

Hu is on First

90 miles from tyranny:

John Kerry: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China. 

Obama: Great. Lay it on me. 

John Kerry: Hu is the new leader of China. 

Obama: That's what I want to know. 

John Kerry: That's what I'm telling you. 

Obama: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China? 

John Kerry: Yes.

and so on...

The Bank of China Tower

I think that it would be cool to be a real estate developer.  And not just because I could be the villain in a huge number of children's movies.

On a related subject, I think that the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong is the best looking skyscraper in the world.

The Man in the White Suit

by Ben Collins



This is by and about the man who played "the Stig" on BBC's Top Gear.  (I like the following clip better than anything with the Stig in it, and it was also the third result in a search for Top Gear videos.)

Its an autobiography of his life as a professional car driver.  He's also been a movie stunt driver, raced, and done well in races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and so on.  No doubt a very interesting career.

However, his writing skills may be even less than mine (although he had a professional editor).  Its an interesting enough read, but I come to the conclusion that it would have been much better had it been written by a professional writer about him, rather than by him.

A while ago I reviewed How to Archer.  Also about a tv show that I like.  Like the Man in the White Suit, the tv show is very good and the books are merely getting by on the name recognition og the show.

Two books based on tv shows that I would watch were I watching tv, and both were books to avoid.

If you've only watched the shows, then you're already ahead.

Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia is a movie about a woman who cooked each of the five hundred and some recipes in Julia Child's book [insert book title here].

Apparently they made a movie out of this, a while ago.  For whatever reason, it struck me as a movie that I wouldn't mind watching.  Recently I acquired a dvd version of this movie (don't ask how).  So I watched it.

Before we begin, I'd like to point out that I was thinking about how I would live blog my watching it, but for the fact that Windows 8 does not have a media player, and so my tv, which works as my monitor and dvd screen, but not tv screen, needed a plug switched.  I need a version of windows for the programs I run, and I wonder if its worth uninstalling 8 and buying windows 7?  AAArgh!!

Also, the last movie that I watched that was not originally done in Cantonese and subtitled was...whenever I last watched a few minutes of the Cowboy Bebop movie, which was well dubbed from Japanese.  And the last movie I watched in English was....?

To start with; the last time I watched a dvd (for Johnnie To's Fulltime Killer) it began with lots of previews for movies that I thought looked cool.  Despite my inability to remember what any of them were.  (I need to watch the movie again, I suppose.  Drat.  :) )  Julie & Julia started with a government warning about how smoking is bad for you.  And that was followed by a preview for a movie starring Hugh Grant and that actress from Sex and the City.  And the previews just got better from there.  (Wasn't sleepless in Seatle made in the 90's?)

On the bright side, I realized that I was not then yet drunk enough to watch such a movie.  Three cheers for Guinness.  (I'm pissed as I write this, and I don't speell well sober.)

So the movie...

Meryl Streep, as far as I know, played Julia Child well.  Other than the heels, I cannot imagine a much less attractive [thin-ish, clean and healthy] woman.  And the modren "Julie" was played by Amy Adams, who looked quite mediocre with short hair.

Despite the young[-ish] (idk) modren actress being more appealing, I noticed that I could not help smiling when Meryl Streep was on, and needing more beer when Amy Adams was on.

As for the story...(how do you spell...meh..bleegh..).   It was...whatever.

I wonder if Julia Child was more of an author than a cook, if you believe the movie (don't do that) she seems to have graduated from a cooking school and then wrote the book straight away.  Also: who was her co-writer? Why do I not even know her name despite having just watched the movie?

So...whatever.

Luckily I had a palette cleanser to watch afterwords: Samurai Trilogy

Apparently it is not the best adaptation of my third favorite book of fiction, becasue it is TOSHIRO MIFUNE as musashi, and not MINAMOTO MUSAHSI as played by Toshiro Mifune. 


Moral of post:

I'm open to watching something else starring Meryl Strep, but have no interest in anything else related to Julie & Julia.

Breaking News!! Important News!! News to Overturn the World!!!

at RWC&G:

German women outnumber men for first time at Winter Olympics

I have to admit, this is something of a bittersweet moment for me.

Obviously, like most Americans, in a tradition passed down by my father, and to him from his father before him, I grew up tracking whether German women outnumbered German men in the Olympic Games.

and so on...

Government is Bad; News at 11

Vox has a post on how our government is failing.

I had a post on Matt Forney's website, pointing out that the debate over more/ less government has been resolved long ago.

There can be no debate that less government is better.  It has been decided many times over.

Hong Kong vs Detroit

More government:



Less government:



So what should you do?

1. Stop bothering with morons
2. Stop funding the government

If only the people who voted for Romney in 2012 stopped paying their taxes, how long would our oppressive government survive?  What percentage of the government is funded by Romney supporters?

If you have willfully ignored the evidence to the contrary and want more government, then you too should put your money where your mouth is.  Start your own commune, and you can kick all us racist misogynists out.  Also: Fuck you slaver!