Now that I've seen at least 50 of AFI's Top 100 Movies of all Time, and because Sarah asked me about it, I thought I'd compile my own "Clarke's Top 100 Movies of all Time." These are just mine, so feel free to bash/disagree if you want. There's not a whole lot of "classics," because if I put some of 'em on there, it'd just be me being pretentious, so I'm going with what I really think. Also, if you're super bored, you can copy the list and put it in a reply and see which ones you've seen (this is a requirement for Sarah, so I can see how much work I have to do =) Anyway, here it is:

Clarke's Top 100 Movies of All Time
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
4. Almost Famous
5. Casablanca
6. Lost in Translation
7. Citizen Kane
8. Roman Holiday
9. Spirited Away
10. To Kill A Mockingbird
11. Jurassic Park
12. High Fidelity
13. The Royal Tenenbaums
14. Forrest Gump
15. Pulp Fiction
16. Pan's Labyrinth
17. The Godfather
18. Annie Hall
19. Brick
20. Saving Private Ryan
21. Jaws
22. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
23. Fight Club
24. The Shawshank Redemption
25. Serenity
26. When Harry Met Sally
27. From Russia With Love
28. Some Like it Hot
29. Rushmore
30. Good Will Hunting
31. Field of Dreams
32. Shakespeare in Love
33. Breakfast at Tiffany's
34. Sabrina (1954)
35. Toy Story
36. The Music Man
37. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
38. Dr. Srangelove
39. Sideways
40. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
41. Back to the Future
42. A Boy Named Charlie Brown
43. My Fair Lady
44. Young Frankenstein
45. Star Wars: A New Hope
46. Clerks
47. Children of Men
48. Volver
49. As Good As it Gets
50. The Graduate
51. How to Steal A Million
52. Mullholand Drive
53. Schindler's List
54. The Maltese Falcon
55. Gladiator
56. Manhattan
57. The Lion King
58. Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban
59. Uncle Buck
60. Dogma
61. Casino Royale
62. Castaway
63. Sleepless in Seattle
64. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
65. Spaceballs
66. American History X
67. Broken Flowers
68. Love and War
69. Match Point
70. The Emperor's New Groove
71. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
72. Plains, Trains and Automobiles
73. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
74. Say Anything...
75. Jerry Maguire
76. The Treasure of the Sierra Madres
77. Big Fish
78. Camelot
79. West Side Story
80. Caddyshack
81. Memento
82. Aladdin
83. Elizabethtown
84. Finding Forrester
85. King Kong (2005)
86. Finding Nemo
87. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
88. Election
89. Babel
90. Rounders
91. Love Actually
92. American Splendor
93. The Sword in the Stone
94. Golden Eye
95. Duck Soup
96. The Holiday
97. 21 Grams
98. I am Sam
99. Death Proof
100. Kingdom of Heaven

So yeah, there you go.

In other news, I made it into my Tolkien class (yes!) and every other one I wanted. Hopefully my last semester at college'll be a good one.

Finally, Georgia, you need to check out the soundtrack to the movie "I'm Not There" (the one about Bob Dylan). Actually, Sarah, since you're not a big fan of Dylan's voice, you may like it, too. I can get it to either of you right away, just let me know. Check out this tracklisting! http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?EAN=886971203820&delay=y&PV=y&z=y&cds2Pid=18835&linkid=1032356

Here's my newspaper story this week, a review of the rerelease of "The Maltese Falcon." It's a great flick - as people like wieimmer know. Check it out!

The Maltese Falcon

Happy birthday to wieimmer! Hope it's a great day!

So, today was a good day for the materialistic side of me (that everyone has to satiate every now and then) but not good for the ol' wallet. Thank God I have a job. Here's what was on my shopping list today:

Books - Terry Brook's new one, Armageddon's Children
DVDs - LOTR...for the third time. Bloody New Line knows all they have to do is add new bonus features/documentaries/raw footage and I'll buy it. The bastards. 
Music - Bob Dylan - Modern Times. wieimmer , we'll have to talk once we've both had a chance to listen to it. 
              Ray LaMontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black
              Beach Boys - Pet Sounds - it's the albums 40th anniversary, and is one of the best albums EVER, and I don't own a copy, so I had to get it. 

On other notes, good luck to herminia with moving back to college in the coming days! I'll be thinking of you, and I hope it goes well.

And a very Happy Birthday to rjade829

Cheers for now, friends!

For anyone who has ever been curious about Bellatrix Black-Lestrange, or just had an interest in the whole dark side of Harry Potter the loverly aniraangel has created roses_december a community about Bella's life. She knows her shit, so this is the place to be for people who have an interest. It sould be fun!

So last night I watched Sean Connery receive AFI's Lifetime Achievement award, and it just brought back how much of a bad ass he is. He is hands down, the best Bond there ever was, and he's just a great actor. They were talking about his movies, and kind of skipped over "Finding Forrester," which I thought was a great film, and he gave a very unique performance with some actual vulnerability. But it was still great. 

And I have to say herminia and aniraangel are seriously two of the coolest girls ever. They're just amazing - and it's not just the fact that they're both outrageously talented in many ways - but they're both just extremely kind and generous. Plus they take real good care of my ego, so it all works out. I just had to let 'em know how well I think of them both!

Hopefully I'll have some time for writing soon. Until then...

Hey all, a friend of mine,  aniraangel just created a community for her Harry Potter artwork and fics (of which I've betaed a few). Go give them a look over at unfettered_sin! It's good stuff! 

Title: The Importance of A Moment - Softly Before I Scream
Author: calmacil_20
Rating: PG to PG-13, just to be safe
Pairing: Harry/Hermione
Genre: Angst/Dark
Disclaimer: I don't own Potter, only the talented J.K. Rolwing can say that. 
Warning: Character death.
Summary: The first piece of a two-parter on aftermath of the battle between Harry and Voldemort
Author's Note: This is my first real attempt at writing "dark" fiction, so I hope that everyone likes it. The idea for how Harry defeats Voldemort is my own thought on the subject, so please forgive if you think it is way off; it's just how I thought it might play out. I have to say thank you so much to inretrospect for betaing this for me! You're truly a friend in need. I'd personally like to dedicate this piece, and its counter-part, to the amazing people that were so generous in helping me with my newspaper project (aniraangel, inretrospect, herminia, jeanniefillion and neroli66) and also to starromance14 for always inspiring me with her own work. If you get a chance, give the music I'm listening to a try, because I selected it especially to go with the piece. Other than that, I really, really hope everyone enjoys this and I'd say grab a tissue, because that's what I was aiming for, but I'll leave that up to you. Cross-posted all over! Feedback is appreciated, and enjoy! Oh, and if you're wondering how this could be a two-parter, once you've finished read it, take a closer look at the title...

 

The lot of good, and I mean LOT, is that starromance14 is out of the hospital! I'm so glad she's out and feeling better; I was worried for a while there! That's a big thing to be thankful for. The bad is that I'm stuck at work instead of at home watching "Lost" like I should be. If someone at home doesn't tape it for me, there's gonna be hell to pay...

I've finally finished my Book Trilogy that I've had hanging over my shoulder for months now and now I'm just waiting on the betas, so I finally turn to what else I should write...and therein lies the rub, because I'm havin' a hard time summoning up the energy. People responded really well to my Mal/Inara stuff, so I'd really like to try my hand at that again (I have an idea involving "Heart of Gold"), but I'd also like to delve a little more into Jack/Kate because I've only written one of those. Lately, however, all I can think of is H/Hr stories. I've got one stand-alone piece in my head (although I've been toying with the idea of writing it, then rewriting it, reversing the characters-which will make more sense if I actually get around to it) and a tentative idea for a bit of a series. The stand-alone is one thing, but I think I'm a little intimidated about the series. Some of the writers I've been reading (herminia,starromance14 and h_weasley just to name a few) just write these fantastic series stories that I could never touch, especially 'cause I'm bound by the "try to fit it into canon" thing, which really limits what I do. I suspect if I can actually force myself to write, it'll probably come smoother, but that's easier said than done. Of course, this usually happens this time of year; we get close to summer and the end of school, and I lose all drive to do much of anything productive, which is why I'm not writing an english paper I should be or studying for a math test. I just really want to write, and need to get it into gear.

Title: Shifting the State of Being
Author: calmacil_20
Characters: Kaylee/Simon focus, but like always, the rest get a mention.
Pairing: Kaylee/Simon
Summary: Things change a bit for Kaylee and Simon.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Joss is the king. I'm merely a humble servant.
Spoilers: Serenity movie and a reference to Serenity the episode.
Author's Note: Okay, this is a piece I wrote for the fantastic neroli66 who not only got me into the whole Firefly 'verse, but also has been kind enough to beta all my stories, quickly and accurately. She commented the other day that she was still waiting for me to write a Kaylee/Simon piece, so I thought I would write this one for her. A special nod goes to azuremonkey for being kind enough to do this beta (even though she'll never admit it). My sincerest thanks! As always feedback is appreciated, and I hope everyone enjoys this, especially Neroli. I wrote this 'un for you!

( Shifting the State of Being )

The extremely talented neroli66 has posted a fantastic River/Jayne story that takes a whole new spin on Jayne's past. For a shock to the system (in a fantastically good way), this is where you want to be:

Jailbait

Finally! I have a jazz friend! I can't even begin to say how happy I am I finally have someone I can talk jazz too! Wooot!