Those 100 books I was supposed to read before college... and still haven't finished.

I like to read, and sometimes I even love it... but it takes a lot more effort to read a book than it does to watch a movie, or listen to music. Besides the occasional textbook and a few choice reads, I didn't accomplish much in this area. I suppose I will [or should] be adding "read much more" to my 2012 list of hopefuls.

15 out of 100... this is shameful. Especially because I don't think I read a single one of these this year. Ouch.

I did read some good books that are not on this list, though; "The 100th Kill" by Charles Sasser, "For Love of the Game" by Michael Shaara, and "The Litigators" by John Grisham were a few of my favorites. I'm also in the middle of a few classics... "The Last Day of a Dying Man" by Victor Hugo, "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, "Their Eyes Were Watching God"by Zora Neale Hurston (which I would have finished had I not lost the book... ), and Dante's "Inferno".

If nothing else, the pain of seeing the list in this condition should be motivation enough for me to do better in 2012.

--	Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua	Things Fall Apart
Agee, James	A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane	Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James	Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel	Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul	The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte	Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily	Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert	The Stranger
Cather, Willa	Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey	The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton	The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate	The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph	Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore	The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen	The Red Badge of Courage
Dante	Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel	Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel	Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles	A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor	Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick	Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore	An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre	The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George	The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph	Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo	Selected Essays
Faulkner, William	As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William	The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry	Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott	The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave	Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox	The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von	Faust
Golding, William	Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas	Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel	The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph	Catch-22
Hemingway, Ernest	A Farewell to Arms
Homer	The Iliad
Homer	The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor	The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale	Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous	Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik	A Doll's House
James, Henry	The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry	The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz	The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong	The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper	To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair	Babbitt
London, Jack	The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas	The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García	One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman	Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman	Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur	The Crucible
Morrison, Toni	Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery	A Good Man Is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene	Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George	Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris	Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia	The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan	Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel	Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas	The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria	All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond	Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry	Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D.	The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William	Hamlet
Shakespeare, William	Macbeth
Shakespeare, William	A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William	Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard	Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary	Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon	Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander	One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles	Antigone
Sophocles	Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John	The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis	Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher	Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan	Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William	Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David	Walden
Tolstoy, Leo	War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan	Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire	Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr.	Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice	The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith	The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora	Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt	Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar	The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee	The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia	To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard	Native Son

Top 10 Most Downloaded Songs

Music Reviews are not my forte (so to speak), but then again I'm not particularly experienced in any form of reviewing, so here goes nothing.


(please note: I couldn't seem to find a reliable source for this list-every list I saw had different top earners, but most lists, at the very least, contained the same top 10 in one order or another--a few names that are missing from this one that I saw on others would be Lady Gaga [Born This Way], Justin Bieber [Never Say Never], and P!nk [F**kin' Perfect]).

1) We Found Love-Rihanna
Ok-I really enjoyed this song at first. It's got a good vibe to it, and I can't say it isn't catchy. HOWEVER-I burnt out on it after the 37 millionth time it played on my radio while I was sitting in the oh so dreadful rush hour traffic. Music is far too overplayed, and this song is DEFINITELY NOT AN EXCEPTION! Poor Rihanna... I'm beginning to hate her and it isn't even her fault.
2) It Will Rain-Bruno Mars
Not a Bruno Mars fan. He's too whiny. Hated this song at first, learned to tolerate it, hated it more when it became yet another overplayed song.
3) Sexy and I Know It-LMFAO
Stupid, kind of annoying, and very fun. LMFAO usually leaves me with my mouth hanging open in utter disbelief (if I try to listen to the lyrics, that is), because the material NEVER bares ANY semblance of logical sense, but the overly egotistical song is good for a listen; it also provides entertainment in the world of amateur karaoke, let me tell you!  
4) Without You-David Guetta
I'm becoming a Guetta fan, actually. This song is beginning to be overplayed, but after roughly 3,000 plays so far... I'm not changing the channel in a rush.
5) The One that got Away-Katy Perry
Not my favorite from ol' Perry. E.T. is much preferred, in my opinion. This one just gets kind of annoying after the first chorus.
6) Good Feeling-Flo Rida
As I would indicate if this were Facebook: 'Like'. I liked it the first time, and I still like it. The instrumental makes me feel like I'm in a video game, and the sound is quite appealing.
7) Stereo Hearts-Gym Class Heroes
First listen-thought it was the dumbest song ever. Today (3 million listens later), I pump up the volume and sing along. No lies.
8) Ni**as in Paris-Jay Z and Kanye West
Don't know this one at all, actually.
9) Moves Like Jagger-Marron 5
MOST HATED SONG OF ALL TIME. THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT.
10) Someone Like You-Adele
I'm becoming an Adele fan. I've loved all of her [released] songs (haven't heard the whole album), and I even coerced my piano playing friend to learn some of her stuff so that we could belt it out together. I love everything about her-the lyrics, the music, the style- but I especially love that her sound is competing among all of the pop music that monopolizes the industry. She's different and it's working out for her. I can dig that.

Honorable Mention who probably made some hefty $$$ this year: Nikki Minaj. Super Bass, anyone? Again, this is another artist/song that I didn't enjoy the first few times around, but this song definitely grew on me. Sometimes, when I'm all alone.... I actually try to rap it.

I ALSO DISCOVERED: OWL CITY and MUMFORD AND SONS. Never would have listened to either of these in times past, but friends have a lot of influence over a person... and mine fixed me up with some easy listening. Highly recommend any and every song/album from either artist. 

AFI's Top 100 Movies-AKA the goal that will take me the rest of my life to accomplish.

My AFI Top 100 list update for 2011: I doubt that I'll be adding to it before the year ends (Ben-Hur is a possible addition, though). Highlighted in yellow are, unfortunately, NOT the movies remaining on the list... they're the few that I've managed to watch not just in 2011, but in all years of my life to date.  There are 23 1/2 highlighted (the half being on account of the fact that I can't seem to finish A Streetcar Named Desire... hopefully someday I will, but I strongly doubt it. I have a low tolerance for films that haven't sparked ANY interest in the first 35 minutes). This brings me about 21 closer than I was this time last year (I kid... a little), so I guess I did accomplish something. 

Other notes about movies not pertaining to "the list".... I watched far too many war flicks this year and I'm still mildly depressed (I kid... again). Can't lie though; there are few genres that I truly enjoy, and historical films are probably #1 for me. I tried to balance my viewing by watching at least one comedy/chick flick/stupid movie/animated film for every 1-3 war films. This method worked fairly well, and I actually enjoyed a ton of stupid movies simply because they made me laugh (a feat never before accomplished to quite this extreme, for me). 

And can I tell you how excited I am for 2012 films?!!! The top few that I can think of off of the top of my head:

1) The Lorax

2) The Hunger Games 

3) Titanic in 3D....?

4) Beauty and the Beast in 3D....??

5) Men in Black 3...???

6) Snow White and the Huntsman

7) Spiderman (another?!)

8) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

9) Ice Age (another?!)

10) The Bourne Legacy (another?!)

11) TWILIGHTTTTTT!!!!ASOEIFJF!!!!! (lol jk... my online persona may be nebulous at times, but rest assured-I am no tweenie)

12) THE HOBBIT!!!!!!! 

In yellow are the ones that I am legitimately excited for, in the bright, painful to look at bluish color are the ones that I will watch (though probably not in theatres) just.... because, and the rest I find both amusing and also relatively disappointing, but might go see if I am especially bored. I hate the 3D thing, though. Just a note.

1.CITIZEN KANE (1941) 

2.CASABLANCA (1942) 

3.GODFATHER, THE (1972) 

4.GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) 

5.LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) 

6.WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939) 

7.GRADUATE, THE (1967) 

8.ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) 

9.SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) 

10.SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) 

11.IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) 

12.SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) 

13.BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE (1957) 

14.SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) 

15.STAR WARS (1977) 

16.ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) 

17.AFRICAN QUEEN, THE (1951) 

18.PSYCHO (1960) 

19.CHINATOWN (1974) 

20.ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975) 

21.GRAPES OF WRATH, THE (1940) 

22.2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) 

23.MALTESE FALCON, THE (1941) 

24.RAGING BULL (1980) 

25.E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) 

26.DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) 

27.BONNIE & CLYDE (1967) 

28.APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) 

29.MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) 

30.TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) 

31.ANNIE HALL (1977) 

32.GODFATHER PART II, THE (1974) 

33.HIGH NOON (1952) 

34.TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) 

35.IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) 

36.MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969) 

37.BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE (1946) 

38.DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) 

39.DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) 

40.NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) 

41.WEST SIDE STORY (1961) 

42.REAR WINDOW (1954) 

43.KING KONG (1933) 

44.BIRTH OF A NATION, THE (1915) 

45.STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A (1951) 

46.CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971) 

47.TAXI DRIVER (1976) 

48.JAWS (1975) 

49.SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937) 

50.BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) 

51.PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE(1940) 

52.FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) 

53.AMADEUS (1984) 

54.ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) 

55.SOUND OF MUSIC, THE (1965) 

56.M*A*S*H(1970) 

57.THIRD MAN, THE (1949) 

58.FANTASIA (1940) 

59.REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) 

60.RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) 

61.VERTIGO (1958) 

62.TOOTSIE (1982) 

63.STAGECOACH (1939) 

64.CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) 

65.SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE (1991) 

66.NETWORK (1976) 

67.MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (1962) 

68.AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN (1951) 

69.SHANE (1953) 

70.FRENCH CONNECTION, THE (1971) 

71.FORREST GUMP (1994) 

72.BEN-HUR (1959) 

73.WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939) 

74.GOLD RUSH, THE (1925) 

75.DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) 

76.CITY LIGHTS (1931) 

77.AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) 

78.ROCKY (1976) 

79.DEER HUNTER, THE (1978) 

80.WILD BUNCH, THE (1969) 

81.MODERN TIMES (1936) 

82.GIANT (1956) 

83.PLATOON (1986) 

84.FARGO (1996) 

85.DUCK SOUP (1933) 

86.MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) 

87.FRANKENSTEIN (1931) 

88.EASY RIDER (1969) 

89.PATTON (1970) 

90.JAZZ SINGER, THE (1927) 

91.MY FAIR LADY (1964) 

92.PLACE IN THE SUN, A(1951) 

93.APARTMENT, THE (1960) 

94.GOODFELLAS (1990) 

95.PULP FICTION (1994) 

96.SEARCHERS, THE (1956) 

97.BRINGING UP BABY (1938) 

98.UNFORGIVEN (1992) 

99.GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967) 

100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

ADDED MOVIES:

The General

Intolerance

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Nashville

Sullivan's Travels

Cabaret

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Saving Private Ryan

The Shawshank Redemption

In the Heat of the Night

All the Presidents Men

Spartacus

A Night at the Opera

12 Angry Men

Swing Time

Sophie's Choice

The Last Picture Show

Do the Right Thing

Blade Runner

Toy Story

End of the year---time to reflect?

Honestly didn't think I'd forget my password... again. Clearly my memory is not what it once was. Kicking myself for forgetting it during one of the biggest times of the year for me (for entertainment and time to spend writing about it, as I had some time off from both work and school). I've seen, read and listened to much since my last post, but I won't have time to catch up on the reviews until... well, I really have no idea when. But I did want to catch up on a few things before we hit 2012 (because once we start the new year I will probably follow my personal annual tradition of disregarding basically anything and everything I can from the previous year-particularly things of this nature that really don't matter at all).

Quick side note---the NBA---I missed you, Beautiful, and I am glad you are back. Seeing my team play with a vengeance has been rather enjoyable. It got me to wondering why the season is so long in the first place... maybe a shorter season would do us good....? Don't know and don't care, at the moment. I am just GLAD GLAD GLAD to have it back!

Another note--I am considering making a new year's resolution that has to do with me eliminating my disgusting need for a list to accompany every mundane aspect of my life. I need to not need a list-but I feel like this will never happen, so who cares... here are my lists for the year, posted in several entries in an effort to avoid one large blurb that I won't want to proofread all at once!