I made a list of noteworthy films to recommend to a friend, basing it off the previous one (in the older posts), and adding a lot more.
---

Here's a list of notable directors and some great starting points for getting into their films. The latter half of the list consists of notable genre films and just some unstored goodness.

Directors

Brian De Palma
- Carlito's Way
- Blow Out

Steven Soderbergh
-Out Of Sight
-The Limey

Danny Boyle
- Shallow Grave
- Trainspotting

Steven Shainberg
- Hit Me
- Secretary

Todd Solondz
- Welcome to the Dollhouse
- Happiness

Gus Van Sant
- Drugstore Cowboy

Coen Brothers
- The Big Lebowski
- Everything else they've done, basically.

Spike Lee
- Do The Right Thing
- Mo' Better Blues

Martin Scorsese
- Raging Bull
- Taxi Driver
- Bringing Out The Dead
- The Departed

Steven Spielberg
- Schindler's List
- Jaws
- Duel
- The Indiana Jones Trilogy

Jim Jarmusch
- Dead Man
- Stranger Than Paradise
- Night On Earth

David Cronenberg
- Crash
- Videodrome

Orson Welles
- Touch of Evil

John Waters:
- Cecil B. Demented
- Crybaby

Peter Jackson:
- Dead Alive

Terry Gilliam:
- Brazil
- 12 Monkeys (and the Behind the Scenes documentary on the bonus features)

David Lynch:
- Elephant Man
- Mullholland Drive

Oliver Stone
- Platoon

Woody Allen:
- Annie Hall
- Shadows and Fog

Alfred Hitchcock:
- Strangers on a Train
- Rear Window

Wes Anderson
- Rushmore
- The Royal Tennenbaums

Sofia Coppola
- The Virgin Suicides
- Lost in Translation

Mel Brooks
- Anything.

P.T. Anderson:
- Boogie Nights
- Punch Drunk Love
- Magnolia
- There Will Be Blood
- Everything else. This guy is amazing.

Stanley Kubrick
- Paths of Glory
- 2001
- Full Metal Jacket
- The Killers
- Dr. Strangelove

Terrence Malick
- Badlands
- The Thin Red Line

Francis Ford Coppola
- The Godfather I, II and III
- The Conversation
- Apocalypse Now

Tim Burton
- Ed Wood

Quentin Tarantino
- Pulp Fiction
- Death Proof

Kathryn Bigelow
- The Hurt Locker
- Near Dark
- Strange Days

Jonathan Demme
- Stop Making Sense
- The Silence of the Lambs

Darren Aronofsky
- Requiem for a Dream
- The Fountain
- The Wrestler
Christopher Nolan
- Following

Michael Mann
- Heat
- Collateral
- Manhunter

Charlie Chaplin
- City Lights
- Modern Times

John Carpenter
- The Thing
- Halloween
- Escape From New York
- They Live

Michel Gondry
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Martin McDonagh
- In Bruges

Sam Raimi
- The Evil Dead series
- A Simple Plan
- The Gift

David Fincher
- Zodiac
- Se7en


International Film

Jean-Luc Godard
- Breathless
- Band of Outsiders

Akira Kurosawa
- Rashomon
- Seven Samurai
- Ran

Wong Kar-Wai
- In The Mood For Love
- Chungking Express
- 2046

Pedro Almodovar
- All About My Mother
- Talk To Her

Ingmar Bergman
- Persona
- Wild Strawberries

Tom Tykwer
- Wings of Desire

Lars Von Trier
- Dancer in the Dark
- Element of Crime
- Europa
- The Boss of it All

Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Accatone

Werner Herzog
- Stroszek

Federico Fellini
- 8 1/2
- La Dolce Vita

Michael Haneke
- Funny Games
- The White Ribbon
- Benny's Video

Jean Pierre Jeunet
- Amelie
- Delicatessen
- The City of Lost Children

Jean-Pierre Melville
- Le Samourai
- Le Cercle Rouge
- Un Flic

Fatih Akin
- Head-On
- The Edge of Heaven

Guillermo del Toro
- Pan's Labyrinth
- The Devil's Backbone
- Cronos

Krysztof Kieslowski
- Blue
- White
- Red (in that order)

Genres

Modern Day Film Noir:
- L.A. Confidential
- Chinatown (Polanski)

Documentaries:
- Rize
- Dogtown and Z-Boys
- The Endless Summer
- Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Werner Herzog)
- The Fog of War (Errol Morris)
- Man on Wire

Horror:
- Halloween (John Carpenter)
- The Thing ("" "")
- Alien

Italian Horror:
- Lucio Fulci's Zombie
- The Beyond
- Susprira (Dario Argento)

Italian Giallo:
- The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (Sergio Martino)

Action/Adventure:
- The Rock (Michael Bay - I am totally serious.)
- Gladiator

Sci-Fi:
- Donnie Darko
- Primer
- Blade Runner

Classic:
- On The Waterfront
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford)
- The Apartment
- Peeping Tom

Asian Cinema:
- Tetsuo The Iron Man
- Sympathy for Mr. Vengance
- Mother
- Oldboy
- Lady Vengeance
- Memories of Murder

Asian Horror:
- Audition
- A Tale of Two Sisters

Cult Classics:
Blaxploitation - The Mack
Evil Dead 2

Western
- Once Upon A Time In The West

Film Noir:
- Double Indemnity
- Maltese Falcon
- Casablanca
- The Set-Up
- Murder, My Sweet
- Sunset Blvd.
- M. (Fritz Lang)

Biopics:
- Basquiat
- Before The Night Falls
- Capote
- JFK
- American Splendor

LGBT:
- Mysterious Skin
- C.R.A.Z.Y.

Unsorted stuff:
Silent - Nosferatu
Frankenstein (1930's)
Bride of Frankenstein
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Musicals)
Billy Wilder movies
The Graduate (70's)
Chopper
Bronson
Adrift In Tokyo
Waltz with Bashir
Hunger (2009)
Red Road (Andrea Arnold)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Let's update the list, shall we?

Brian De Palma - Carlito's Way
Steven Soderbergh - Out Of Sight
Modern Day Film Noir:
- L.A. Confidential
- Chinatown (Polanski)
Shallow Grave - Thriller
Trainspotting - Modern
American Beauty
Steven Shainberg:
- Hit Me
- Secretary
Todd Sollondz - Welcome to the Dollhouse
Gus Van Sant - Drugstore Cowboy
Every Coen Brothers Movie - *The Big Lebowski EDIT: I've seen most of them, does that count as striking them out?)
Spike Lee:
- Do The Right Thing
- Mo Better Blues
Scorsese:
- Raging Bull
- Taxi Driver
Documentaries:
- Rize
- Dogtown and Z-Boys
- The Endless Summer
Steven Spielberg:
- Schindler's List
- Jaws
- Duel
Jim Jarmusch - Dead Man
American Splendor
Crash
Mysterious Skin
C.R.A.Z.Y.
David Cronenberg - Naked Lunch
Horror (John Carpenter):
- Halloween
- The Thing
Italian Horror:
- Lucio Fulci's Zombie
- The Beyond
- Susprira (Dario Argento)
Italian Giallo:
- The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (Sergio Martino)
Donnie Darko
Primer
Blade Runner
Badlands
Charlie Chaplin:
- City Lights
- Modern Times
The Wizard of Oz
Fritz Lang's M
Silent - Nosferatu
Western - Once Upon A Time In The West
Film Noir:
- Double Indemnity
- Maltese Falcon
Casablanca
Frankenstein (1930's)
Bride of Frankenstein
Orson Welles - Touch of Evil
Classic:
- On The Waterfront
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford)
Experimental/Asian Cinema:
-Tetsuo The Iron Man
Horror:
- Audition
- A Tale of Two Sisters
Cult Classics:
Blaxploitation - The Mack
Evil Dead 2
John Waters:
- Cecil B. Demented
- Crybaby
Peter Jackson:
- Dead Alive
Terry Gilliam:
- Brazil
- 12 Monkeys
Any Tim Burton Movie
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Musicals)
Pulp Fiction
Billy Wilder movies
Comedies:
Wes Anderson
Mel Brooks
P.T. Anderson (EDIT: I love this guy!):
- Boogie Nights
- Punch Drunk Love
- Magnolia
Italian Film:
8 1/2 - Fellini
La Dolce Vita
The Graduate (70's)
Breathless - Godard - French New Wave
Band of Outsiders
Rashomon - Akira Kurosawa (Japanese)
Ran
Chungking Express - Wong Kar-Wai
Persona - Bergman
Wings of Desire - German
Element of Crime - Lars Von Trier
Accatone - Pier Paolo Pasolini
All About My Mother - Almodovar
Kubrick Films - 2001
The Godfather series
David Lynch:
- Elephant Man
- Mullholland Drive
Oliver Stone - Platoon
Woody Allen:
- Annie Hall
- Shadows and Fog
Alfred Hitchcock:
- Strangers on a Train
- Rear Window
Peeping Tom (Classic Horror)
Biopics:
- Basquiat
- Before Night Falls
- Capote
- JFK

A letter to my blog

---

Dear blog,

I seem to have forgotten to invite you to New Year's with me. Oh, stop crying, it's not something to be worried about. I know, I know, we've done it for what, six years now? It just slipped my mind in my old age. I swear, you were on my mind when Dick Clark's count hit "1", the whole time.

Anyways, happy new year. I haven't forgotten all that you've done for me all these years. I'll try to write in you more.

Eric

P.S. - Maybe not.

Last night, I came up with a quick storyline for a dramatic short. It was based on a line that I found on OneSentence.org, a site that collects one sentence stories from anyone who wants to submit. The original line was "As I paused on the stairs, I couldn't shake the image of her standing alone in the center of the room, crying." With that, I began to piece together a plot about the degradation of a relationship, break-ups, and the after-effects of a shattering argument.

I decided for it to be a bit of a cold drama, versus a comedy. It's one of those things that I've always wanted to try but never got the opportunity to.

Quick draft of storyline:
A man recounts the story of his turbulent break-up to his best friend, which leads him to realized he'd made a mistake in leaving.

Chronologically ordered:
-Phil and Jenna get into a heated argument over "intentions" and the "state of their relationship."
-Phil leaves Jenna, but not before exchanging harsh words.
-Phil pauses on his way out, considering going back to apologize, but instead decides to keep it to himself and leaves.
-Phil discusses the breakup with his best friend the day after.
-After vocally reflecting on it, Phil regrets his decision to leave Jenna.
-Phil attempts to speak to Jenna, but in turn, Jenna lets Phil know the repercussions of what he did.
-Phil and Jenna decide to stay apart.

In order of appearance:
-Phil discusses the breakup with his best friend the day after.
-After vocally reflecting on it, Phil regrets his decision to leave Jenna.
(We see hints and flashes to the argument the night before, but nothing definite.)
-Phil attempts to speak to Jenna, but in turn, Jenna lets Phil know the repercussions of what he did.
(Jenna describes her end of the situation to Phil. We see the night before, in complete form with Jenna's V.O.)
-Phil and Jenna get into a heated argument over "intentions" and the "state of their relationship."
-Phil leaves Jenna, but not before exchanging harsh words.
-Phil pauses on his way out, considering going back to apologize, but instead decides to keep it to himself and leaves.
-Jenna blah blah blah, her end is tragic or something.
-Phil and Jenna decide to stay apart.

Remember that list of 120 or so movies that I was told to watch last summer? I've started going through the list and I've crossed out what I've watched over the past year. Got some suggestions to add to it?

Brian De Palma - Carlito's Way
Steven Soderbergh - Out Of Sight
Modern Day Film Noir:
- L.A. Confidential
- Chinatown (Polanski)
Shallow Grave - Thriller
Trainspotting - Modern
American Beauty
Steven Shainberg:
- Hit Me
- Secretary
Todd Sollondz - Welcome to the Dollhouse
Gus Van Sant - Drugstore Cowboy
Every Coen Brothers Movie - *The Big Lebowski
Spike Lee:
- Do The Right Thing
- Mo Better Blues
Scorsese:
- Raging Bull
- Taxi Driver
Documentaries:
- Rize
- Dogtown and Z-Boys
- The Endless Summer
Steven Spielberg:
- Schindler's List
- Jaws
- Duel
Jim Jarmusch - Dead Man
American Splendor
Crash
Mysterious Skin
C.R.A.Z.Y.
David Cronenberg - Naked Lunch
Horror (John Carpenter):
- Halloween
- The Thing
Italian Horror:
- Lucio Fulci's Zombie
- The Beyond
- Susprira (Dario Argento)
Italian Giallo:
- The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (Sergio Martino)
Donnie Darko
Primer
Blade Runner
Badlands
Charlie Chaplin:
- City Lights
- Modern Times
The Wizard of Oz
Fritz Lang's M
Silent - Nosferatu
Western - Once Upon A Time In The West
Film Noir:
- Double Indemnity
- Maltese Falcon
Casablanca
Frankenstein (1930's)
Bride of Frankenstein
Orson Welles - Touch of Evil
Classic:
- On The Waterfront
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford)
Experimental/Asian Cinema:
-Tetsuo The Iron Man
Horror:
- Audition
- A Tale of Two Sisters
Cult Classics:
Blaxploitation - The Mack
Evil Dead 2
John Waters:
- Cecil B. Demented
- Crybaby
Peter Jackson:
- Dead Alive
Terry Gilliam:
- Brazil
- 12 Monkeys
Any Tim Burton Movie
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Musicals)
Pulp Fiction
Billy Wilder movies
Comedies:
Wes Anderson
Mel Brooks
P.T. Anderson:
- Boogie Nights
- Punch Drunk Love
- Magnolia
Italian Film:
8 1/2 - Fellini
La Dolce Vita
The Graduate (70's)
Breathless - Godard - French New Wave
Band of Outsiders
Rashomon - Akira Kurosawa (Japanese)
Ran
Chungking Express - Wong Kar-Wai
Persona - Bergman
Wings of Desire - German
Element of Crime - Lars Von Trier
Accatone - Pier Paolo Pasolini
All About My Mother - Almodovar
Kubrick Films - 2001
The Godfather series
David Lynch:
- Elephant Man
- Mullholland Drive
Oliver Stone - Platoon
Woody Allen:
- Annie Hall
- Shadows and Fog
Alfred Hitchcock:
- Strangers on a Train
- Rear Window
Peeping Tom (Classic Horror)
Biopics:
- Basquiat
- Before The Night Falls
- Capote
- JFK

I recently made a rap mix for one of my coworkers shortly before I left. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Here's the tracklist.

Should I post it? Do you like hip-hop and R&B enough to wanna hear it?

some of these new changes for the new version of blogger are pretty limiting.

Edit:
for one thing, the group blog/ownership issue is a big one. i was in a bit of a crisis last month, as i inadvertently gained ownership of at least five blogs that weren't mine. for the time being it's fixed, though, but i'm still co-owner of the blogs that aren't mine. i don't like having it all linked to my gmail as it is.

i've also had some template issues, but they were fixed up after this post was done.

haven't posted in a while...

i'm in digital photography now, trying to waste time for a bit.

yeah. i gotta get some food or something.

if you're wondering about the name change -- don't ask. i made some mistakes that'll be fixed soon.

Late for work today, for the first time in two months. It's totally my fault though. This morning, I got the monitor for the Mac G4 today. After getting back from the ortho (who I don't have to see again 'till May!), I hooked it up. I got distracted, and long story short, I was 7 minute slate. Oops.

One of these days I wouldn't mind being late for a totally valid reason, like getting into a street brawl, or being hit by a car, or a court summons against the brawlers or the drivers. Man, that'd be pretty out of the ordinary.

So I'm slowly falling asleep at my desk. This isn't good, and it won't do me and good if I'm caught. So I'm masking it well by coding the calls as fast as I can (as I'm supposed to do normally for work... -_-) Writing too, writing helps cover up the fatigue. I'm paying for all my late nights of near death no sleep experiences this week. I've consistently slept at like... 2:30, 3AM doing nothing at all, nothing productive anyways. Nothing NSFW either. Seriously just trying to sleep. I don't know. I don't know which of these issues I should deal with first, the insomnia or the productivity issues.

Speaking of productivity, the coffee machine fucked up today, and is giving out free coffee and hot chocolate. This is perfect! This is exactly what I need. Ifjasflkajflk I forget what I was gonna write. I burned my tongue with a mocha coffee, the first of the three I drank tonight. I have a bit of a lisp now. It's a little embarassing.

I'm gonna go and pick up my guitar again. It's been a while.

I can finally get back to writing again. Got one of the longer surveys, so I also have long moments of nothing in between.

I dusted off the old Blockbuster gold card, and decided to rent "Bully". It,s quite an intriguing game. For all of the exaggerations about school and society, it gets the basic ideas of daily life down pretty accurately. For example, you have classes that have to be attended, guards that bust you for truancy, being out of uniform, and bullying (duh), and the ever popular clique divisions in school. It's pretty tightly knit, and very well done. As an aside, all the controversy behind the game was pretty way off, as the lead character, you're more or less a defender of the people being bullied, sorta like a bully to bullies, y'know? But that's probably pretty obvious.

So Christmas is in 12 days! Are you excited? I'm excited. So excited, in fact, that I've made a Christmas themed mix...

Just kidding. I haven't and won't.

I feel like going back to some old habits that I broke years ago. No, this isn't where I come out and confess that I'm a smoker, I don't do that stuff.

No, it's not that sort of habit.

I think I want to go back to playing Dance Dance Revolution. Don't ask why, but I've gotten this urge recently to go back into that stuff. Arcading and all that. Hell, getting a home pad isn't even a bad idea, I wouldn't mind that either. But I dunno. It's been a while, and I'm outta shape. Maybe this could be part of a workout regimen, where I couple this with eating right, so I can get fit.

In other news -- I have one of these bad boys.You all probably already know anyways, but I got a DS Lite recently. I'm slowly amassing a collection of games, and staking out Wi-Fi hotspots near my frequent hangouts. I love it, but if only that alarm clock and all that came with a daily planner. Every portable stylus thing should have a daily planner. Man, then the DS would be like the greatest thing ever.

***

It's a little weird being the one of the few out of all my friends to be ending as early as I am. A bunch of people I know are at Vanier and Marianopolis, and they've got exams or another week to kill in school. Whatever, it's almost over, it'll be fine. I've got three months worth of stuff that I'll need to catch up on with everyone I haven't seen.

I feel like I'm half dead. In the past 48 hours, I've only slept about 8. I'm something of a zombie right now, but it'll be over soon. Tomorrow, for all intents and purposes, is my last real day of class. One last in-class essay to do for English, but then that's it. I normally have three classes sthat day, but -- holy shit I've gotta find something to do besides going back home. Being home really just translates to doing nothing, which is what I hope to avoid. Shit... I'm dozing. This is such a bizarre feeling. I figure I can keep this up just so long that I don't start hallucinating. It sorta happened last night, I thought I was seeing bugs.

Do I wanna get on this metro? Nah, no seats. I'll head to the end of the station, there's always space there.

So I managed to type out two 1000 word essays in an hour and a half. I feel like a superhero or something. It was pretty fucking awesome, blazing through them like that. I like it when I get a rush of creativity like that, it's alway so--hey, someone I know. Gotta run.

Scribbles from the notebook
7:15PM
I just tried my hand at writing out a short story, but it just isn't panning out. I can only commit for something like that for just so long. But right now, I'm writing to stay alive. See,I'm at work now, I've got fifteen minutes to kill, and unlike other days, today is going by so painfully slow. Business numbers -- and people with no VCRs -- line my day, and because of that, there are no surveys being done... not that it matters, as I'm still getting paid. But still. As one of my co-workers used to say, "The dialer gods aren't with me tonight."
7:45PM (On Break)
I was gonna go over to Al-Taïb tonight, but it didn't really pan out when I realized that more or less every day this week, pizza's been dinner. So instead, I went for the quick and dirty Big Mac. I'll probably walk a bit of the ways home tonight to get it out of me.

Time just slips right on through when you don't really pay attention. I got home from work at around 10PM and decided to play around a bit with Wing Commander 3. I don't realize it right away, but by the time I call it quits, it's 11:55PM and I've got class in 8 hours. Damn.

I guess I've got reason to not be sleeping right now though. The story's simple, I fell asleep at work. Yes, I fell asleep at my desk, while calling people to do surveys. I figured it was about time, my fatigue was bound to catch up to me. I'm glad that a couple of things that could've happened didn't happen, like me getting caught, or me snoring, all that embarassing stuff. But man, that'd be pretty funny if it did.

"Eric. Eric!"
"Hmnhm? *wipes drool off*"

It's probably around here that I would get a stern talking to, but my arms hurt, so I won't bother around with typing that out. Needless to say, it'd involve office equipment fights and a computer monitor crashing onto the street. Picture it, it's a sweet mental image.

So what's new with me? Not really anything. Single again. *thumbs up*

Beyond that, there isn't much else to talk about. I have a new gadget. The DS Lite now has a near permanent spot in my bag. It's so great to have, it's like having one of those nifty Tricorders from Star Trek, minus the ability to point it at things and have it tell me whether it's alive or dead.

I haven't really played my guitar in a long time. I get a good couple of hours in now and then, but it's exactly that, a couple of hours. Of course, it's spread out across a day, so really, it's only a few minutes. I think it's mainly because I don't have any sort of goal to play towards. There's no talent show that I wanna play, there's no gigs in the future... I don't really have a purpose like I did in High School. What should it be now, to score some women?

Yeah, no...

Anyways. I'm out. Hopefully this is the (re)start of a regular thing.

You have to watch this video. Bollywood does it's take on Thriller.

Yes. BOLLYWOOD. FUCKING. THRILLER.

Beavis and Butthead - Nosebleed

So NFW Productions went and did it again. AJ, with the help of a great deal of people (even me!) developed a short film about... Lunch. This one's called Mission: Lunch. Please feel free to comment!

In light of everything, I had a great deal of free time yesterday, so I messed around in Garry's Mod.

OH MY GAWD, KANG! BARNEY'S JUST DROPPED THE ELBOW! THE PEOPLE'S ELBOW! MAH GAWD STOP THE MATCH!




And the real thing, to contrast:

Wow, I didn't even think to post my schedule for Dawson here! Here it is.