book, podcast, movie, tv

sunrise walk at kailua beach

It’s a beautiful early morning, as I sit and drink my coffee and listen to the birds in the trees. There is a little breeze so it’s comfortable still. I’ve got some chores around the house to do and then this afternoon is my shift at our local PD resource center. I take calls and walk-ins and provide information to people about PD and work on our newsletter. The saying about getting back more than I give, is really true. I’ve met the most interesting people from all walks of life and learn so much more about PD than I’d know otherwise.

I just finished reading The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. It’s a true story of master thief Stéphane Breitwieser, who over a ten year period stole over 200 pieces of art from museums and cathedrals all over Europe. He never sold the pieces but rather kept them in one room, in the attic of his mothers house where he lived. It’s an easy read at 240 pages and a good end of summer book. I part read the book and listened to the audio version.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is funny. From her role as Elaine in the classic TV show Seinfeld to her hysterical mile a minute snarky sayings in Veep, she now has a podcast call Wiser Than Me. In it, she interviews celebrity women older and presumably wiser than her. What I love about the podcast is that the women are at an age where they have clearly reflected on their lives and honestly share their regrets and the things that really have meaning to them. I came away with some gems.

Oppenheimer - I haven’t been to many movies in the theater lately, so going to a three hour movie seemed a little daunting, but I’m glad I went. It’s about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the group of scientists who in the 1940’s developed the atomic bomb and how it forever changed the course of history. He is played by Gillian Murphy, who I loved in Peaky Blinders, as well as Robert Downy Jr. and Matt Damon.

I just look at Martin Short when he scrunches his face and it makes me laugh. Only Murders in the Building is in it’s third season on Hulu and I just adore it. It’s a silly murder mystery series with Steve Martin and Selena Gomez and this seasons many guest stars include Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep.

Hope you’re well and that your summer is just what you want it to be. 💗

top 100 movies

In the last few years, I’ve started enjoying watching classic movies. I was never a movie person, so most of the movies I saw were the movies I took the kids to when they were growing up. But as I had more time, I noticed that I’d stumble across an old movie on TV and I loved the escapism into a time past. Aside from the movies themselves, it was fun to observe the décor, fashion, lifestyle, and culture of the time. Then I found a podcast called Unspooled, where the hosts watch the movies on the American Film Institutes Top 100 Films list. Each episode breaks down one movie in depth and I thought it would be a good way to choose new movies to watch. If you want to start with just one episode, listen to episode 116, where they go over the list and talk about what movies they would add or take away from the list. Here is the list and the titles in bold are the ones I’ve seen so far.

1. CITIZEN KANE - 1941

2. THE GODFATHER - 1972

3. CASABLANCA - 1942

4. RAGING BULL - 1980

5. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN - 1952

6. GONE WITH THE WIND - 1939

7. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - 1962

8. SCHINDLER'S LIST - 1993

9. VERTIGO - 1958

10. THE WIZARD OF OZ - 1939

11. CITY LIGHTS - 1931

12. THE SEARCHERS - 1956

13. STAR WARS - 1977

14. PSYCHO- 1960

15. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY - 1968

16. SUNSET BOULEVARD - 1950

17. THE GRADUATE - 1967

18. THE GENERAL - 1927

19. ON THE WATERFRONT - 1954

20. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - 1946

21. CHINATOWN - 1974

22. SOME LIKE IT HOT - 1959

23. THE GRAPES OF WRATH - 1940

24. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL - 1982

25. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - 1962

26. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON - 1939

27. HIGH NOON - 1952

28. ALL ABOUT EVE - 1950

29. DOUBLE INDEMNITY - 1944

30. APOCALYPSE NOW - 1979

31. THE MALTESE FALCON - 1941

32. THE GODFATHER PART II - 1974

33. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST - 1975

34. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS - 1937

35. ANNIE HALL - 1977

36. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI - 1957

37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES - 1946

38. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE - 1948

39. DR. STRANGELOVE - 1964

40. THE SOUND OF MUSIC - 1965

41. KING KONG - 1933

42. BONNIE AND CLYDE - 1967

43. MIDNIGHT COWBOY - 1969

44. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY - 1940

45. SHANE - 1953

46. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT - 1934

47. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE - 1951

48. REAR WINDOW - 1954

49. INTOLERANCE - 1916

50. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - 2001

51. WEST SIDE STORY - 1961

52. TAXI DRIVER - 1976

53. THE DEER HUNTER - 1978

54. M*A*S*H - 1970

55. NORTH BY NORTHWEST - 1959

56. JAWS - 1975

57. ROCKY - 1976

58. THE GOLD RUSH - 1925

59. NASHVILLE - 1975

60. DUCK SOUP - 1933

61. SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS - 1941

62. AMERICAN GRAFFITI - 1973

63. CABARET - 1972

64. NETWORK - 1976

65. THE AFRICAN QUEEN - 1951

66. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK - 1981

67. WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? - 1966

68. UNFORGIVEN - 1992

69. TOOTSIE - 1982

70. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - 1971

71. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN - 1998

72. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - 1994

73. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID - 1969

74. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - 1991

75. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT - 1967

76. FORREST GUMP - 1994

77. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN - 1976

78. MODERN TIMES - 1936

79. THE WILD BUNCH - 1969

80. THE APARTMENT - 1960

81. SPARTACUS - 1960

82. SUNRISE - 1927

83. TITANIC - 1997

84. EASY RIDER - 1969

85. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA - 1935

86. PLATOON - 1986

87. 12 ANGRY MEN - 1957

88. BRINGING UP BABY - 1938

89. THE SIXTH SENSE - 1999

90. SWING TIME - 1936

91. SOPHIE'S CHOICE - 1982

92. GOODFELLAS - 1990

93. THE FRENCH CONNECTION - 1971

94. PULP FICTION - 1994

95. THE LAST PICTURE SHOW - 1971

96. DO THE RIGHT THING - 1989

97. BLADE RUNNER - 1982

98. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY - 1942

99. TOY STORY - 1995

100. BEN-HUR - 1959

There’s so many good ones but a few of my favorites are Rear Window, All About Eve, & The Apartment. Grace Kelly in Rear Window and the set overlooking the apartment complex is fantastic. Bette Davis in All About Eve, whom I didn’t appreciate until a few years ago, is marvelous, and Jack Lemmon & Shirley McClaine in The Apartment is fun and sad at the same time.

The movies I’d like to see next are It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert and Bonnie & Clyde with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. II’ll watch a good war movie with Marc since that’s more of his thing than mine, but not so much if I’m choosing, so I’ll probably pass on most of them on the list. And I’m probably the last person not to have read or watched To Kill a Mockingbird, so that’s on the list to watch also. I found that if you want to go down a fantastic rabbit hole of different genres of must watch movies, just google “best movies of all time lists”. Being a lover of lists, it’s a fun way to structure my movie watching rather than just randomly watching shows. What are you favorite movies?