Thursday Thirteen 100: a movie list

I see the BBC has recently polled a bunch of critics about the top films of the 21st Century.

It's an interesting list because it largely avoids mass market movies that may sell well at the box office but are largely derivatives of a franchise. There's also a few in the list that somehow 'feel' as if they have been around longer than the list implies - Lost in Translation is 2003, for example.

I estimate to have seen around only half of the ones listed, so there's an interesting project to look up a few more that have somehow slipped past.

The top spot goes to a movie which I have watched two or three times. David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. A displaced Hollywood dream. No wonder the critics enjoy it. I'm not sure if I'd put it top, although I'd have it in my upper quartile at least.

A low budget one that's made the list is David Glazer's haunting Under the Skin, which I've also seen several times and its good that the original Tomas Alfredson version of Let The Right One In is included instead of the re-make.

Much to consider, if you like movies. Feel free to scroll...

21st Century 100 Greatest Films - BBC Poll

100. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
100. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
100. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)
99. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)
98. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002)
97. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)
96. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003)
95. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
94. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
93. Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)
92. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
91. The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, 2009)
90. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, 2002)
89. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
88. Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)
87. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
86. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
85. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)
84. Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
83. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
82. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009)
81. Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)
80. The Return (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003)
79. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)
78. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
77. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007)
76. Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
75. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
74. Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)
73. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
72. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
71. Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)
70. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)
69. Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
68. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
67. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
66. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003)
65. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
64. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)
63. The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, 2011)
62. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
61. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
60. Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
59. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
58. Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène, 2004)
57. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)
56. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, director; Ágnes Hranitzky, co-director, 2000)
55. Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013)
54. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011)
53. Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)
52. Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
51. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
50. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)
49. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014)
48. Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015)
47. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014)
46. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
45. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)
44. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
43. Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)
42. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)
41. Inside Out (Pete Docter, 2015)
40. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
39. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
38. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)
37. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)
36. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)
35. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
34. Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015)
33. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
32. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
31. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
30. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
29. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)
28. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002)
27. The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)
26. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
25. ​Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
24. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)
23. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)
22. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
20. Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
19. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
18. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)
17. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)
16. Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)
15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
14. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
12. Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)
11. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2013)
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
9. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang, 2000)
7. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
2. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
1. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

poking around inside Facebook

My use of Facebook has always been limited.

I didn't much care for the face mash premise of the original site, found the whole 'throwing sheep' era bizarre and except for a period where I auto-copied blog posts across, my use has been mainly as a backup for occasional marketing.

Recently I took a look at Facebook's own automated marketing aimed back at me.

They are far from the mark, deriving preferences for Daily Mail, Hong Kong English pop, Michael Flatley and Indian sanskrit voluntary organisations.

Maybe that's my price of erratic usage, or possibly it's as share-price-destroyingly bad with everyone else?

#FANS magic marker @thesixtwenty

A couple of extra cuts of the video. Tilted and Oh Well.

ça ne tient pas debout
Le ciel coule sur mes mains
ça ne tiens pas debout
Sous mes pieds le ciel revient

Under my feet the sky comes back

#FANS @thesixtwenty promo video - 180g vinyl edition

FANS

Theatre meets gig.

A show for anyone who’s ever loved music.

Should be enjoyed at Maximum Volume

Based on people’s love affair with music, FANS is an eclectic mix of stories told through raucous live music, scripted drama and verbatim theatre.

Full of emotion, humour and musical pulse, featuring real fan confessions from North East England music fans.

Part gig. Part Musical. FANS includes well known hits, original music and a cast of top local musicians and performers. It’s a loud, fun and heart-warming tribute to music lovers.

@thesixtwenty #FANS

Book online : thesixtwenty.com 6 September to 1 October North East

CAST : Meghan Doyle, Andrew Bleakley, Chris Foley and Charlotte Raine

Conceived and Directed by Melanie Rashbrooke.
Written by Nina Berry. Designed by Luke W. Robson
Technical Manager Craig Spence, Musical Director Chris Foley

Created through Bridging the Gap, an ARC initiative with Arts Centre Washington, Alnwick Playhouse & Northern Stage.

Supported by public funding by Arts Council England and The Sunday for Sammy Trust.

#FANS @thesixtwenty @arcstockton @AlnPlayhouse @ArtsCtrWton @northernstage @altweet_pet @welovencl @whatsonne

#FANS with stomp and arena @thesixtwenty

Okay, the colour version, with added stomp and arena.

#FANS @thesixtwenty @arcstockton @AlnPlayhouse @ArtsCtrWton @northernstage @altweet_pet @welovencl @whatsonne

Time to meet a few FANS.

FANS

Theatre meets gig.

A show for anyone who’s ever loved music.

Should be enjoyed at Maximum Volume

Based on people’s love affair with music, FANS is an eclectic mix of stories told through raucous live music, scripted drama and verbatim theatre.

Full of emotion , humour and musical pulse. featuring real fan confessions from North East England music fans.

Part gig. Part Musical. FANS includes well known hits, original music and a cast of top local musicians and performers.

It’s a loud, fun and heart-warming tribute to music lovers.

@thesixtwenty #FANS

Book online : http://thesixtwenty.com

Lightroom to eleven for #FANS

We are starting to assemble a press pack and some promo pictures for FANS now.

There's the requirement for headshots, group shots, exteriors and promo shots with the logo included. I'm sure some will appear on twitter too, so there's a need for some with that very wide format.

Time to turn Lightroom up to 11.

*no walls damaged during the making of this picture

And, of course, that 'eleven' moment.

a day on the island

Maybe time for a little boat trip.

Across to the island.

Be there in time for breakfast at the train station that doesn't run any trains.

Although it does have a passing trade in cyclists and walkers.

Then find a spot of beach that nobody else uses to spend some hours counting the waves.

Okay, a few people might use it.

And perhaps visit somewhere with more of a seaside postcard look.

Before thinking about something else to eat, perhaps brought in across the jetty.

Then evening in the busy town.

Aware that the sun is going down.

Then to head back for the harbour.

Wait for the crossing back.

And check out the moon.

bikes designed to be cycled anti-clockwise

I noticed that some of the USA Olympic cycling team have been riding around on a left-sided bike. By that, I mean that the bike chain is on the other side.

To start with I wondered if I was mistaken, but it's a definite thing this time around as part of the engineering. The design has been optimised for the direction that bikes go around the track in a velodrome.

I'm all for finding marginal gains, improving aerodynamics and so on, but I can't help wondering if this apparently yaw reducing optimisation is a little unbalanced compared with everyone else?

I assume there's no rules about this type of thing, although I seem to recollect that lightweight carbon frames and the use of disk brakes have previously caused issues when the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has taken a look.

Maybe it's all different for the Olympics?

#FANS start guitar practice @thesixtwenty

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb

Above video's soundtrack is Dire Straits vs Sex Pistols vs Basement Jaxx vs Simian vs Fatboy Slim [DJ Moule]

#FANS at the @AlnPlayhouse stage door with the tour bus @thesixtwenty

Music fans need to know how to locate the tour bus.

It's often around by the Stage Door. Maybe need to bust out the G-Slide to get into the space.

#FANS @thesixtwenty video 1 : just a test test test. Play loud.

A short video sting for #FANS.

30 seconds and 100 album covers. And the Beastie Boys saying

microphone check
One two one two, this is just a test

#FANS, @thesixtwenty, @arcstockton, @AlnPlayhouse, ArtsCtrWton, northern stage, altweet_pet, welovencl, whatsonne

FANS

Theatre meets gig.

A show for anyone who’s ever loved music.

Should be enjoyed at Maximum Volume

Based on people’s love affair with music, FANS is an eclectic mix of stories told through raucous live music, scripted drama and verbatim theatre.

Full of emotion , humour and musical pulse. featuring real fan confessions from North East England music fans.

Part gig. Part Musical. FANS includes well known hits, original music and a cast of top local musicians and performers. It’s a loud, fun and heart-warming tribute to music lovers.

@thesixtwenty #FANS

Book online : http://thesixtwenty.com