Should the Democratic party be saved?

This is a serious question. And no, I don't mean can it be saved. I mean, is the Democratic Party good for anything at all? The few Democrats left in office are completely useless, spineless creatures as far as I can tell; they may bleat feebly about Alito, but they're not prepared to actually do anything about it. (And it's not just Alito that prompted this rant - this appears to be a pattern these days.)

I know that there's actually an outside chance that the Democrats could regain at least partial control of Congress in November, but I'm starting to wonder if this is even a good thing. Might be better to just scrap it and start over. (Not gonna happen, I know. But I still wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea.)

Top 100 movies

I saw a meme-like thing - as usual, I've forgotten where I saw it - where you went through the American Film Institute's "Top 100 movies" and marked which you have and haven't seen. But that seems sort of boring to me, so I'm going to make it a little more complicated than that. Behold, categories!

Among my favorites:
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)

Seen more than once, liked, but not quite enough to put in the list above:
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
(Actually, most of the above probably would have made the "favorites" list at one time but have gotten demoted over the years!)

Seen once and liked:
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
66. NETWORK (1976)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

Seen once, was somewhat disappointed:
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
69. SHANE (1953)
61. VERTIGO (1958)

Seen once, liked, but was so depressing I never wanted to see again:
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
83. PLATOON (1986)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)

Seen more than once, still think is depressing:
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)

Seen more than once, but not really one of my favorites:
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)

Seen, liked, still think is overrated:
1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)

Am massively ambivalent about:
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
48. JAWS (1975)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
82. GIANT (1956)
89. PATTON (1970)


Twenty-six movies I haven't seen:
(Actually, I have seen at least part of every of these, I think, but haven't watched all the way through.)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)

(Don't give me crap about the Godfather movies, ok? I'm not very interested in mafia movies, in general. I feel worse about Sunset Boulevard.)

Movies from Netflix, part two

(another resurrected-from-the-wreckage-of-diary-x entry)

The Virgin Suicides - I have had the book for some time but haven't read it, and I nearly took it and put it in the giveaway pile the morning after I saw this movie, because this was the most depressing goddamn movie I have ever seen, and I couldn't imagine that I would ever read the book. I have backed off that a little - at least, I still have the book. I might read it someday. This is a good movie (it's Sofia Coppola's first movie, which I didn't realize until I saw the credits), but good lord, is it depressing. I suspect that I may have overidentified with it somewhat because it takes place in the era - the 70s - when I was a teenager. It's possible that everybody doesn't find this quite as disturbing as I did, I don't know.

The Machinist - another one of my husband's picks. Good, but odd and rather disturbing. I think most of the press it got was for the fact that it's one of those movies where the star (Christian Bale, in this case) lost a massive amount of weight for the role. He plays a man who hasn't slept in a year.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - This is my favorite Harry Potter book, and while I don't think they completely did it justice, at least they didn't screw it up too badly. It helped immensely that they gave it to a decent director (Cuaron).

Farscape, Seasons One & part of Two - You know, the fact is, I want to like Farscape more than I really do like it. Oh, I mean, I do like it, I just don't quite love it like a lot of people seem to. It's always worth watching, though. (Well, there might be a few exceptions to that. There's a couple of episodes that are so bad they're sort of excruciatingly embarrassing to watch.)

Ken Burns' Civil War - I'd completely forgotten we watched this until I saw it on the list. This was a couple of years ago (before I cancelled Netflix the last time) - I really would like to own this set because this is something I will watch from time to time, but it's ridiculously expensive ($125 or so for 5 CDs, I think). When it comes down to the $50 range someday I will buy it. (It's 15 years old now, you'd think it'd be time to reduce the price.) Anyway, this series was what got me started on that Civil War kick that I was talking about the other day, back years ago. There was this, and then there was that Gettysburg movie (which is extremely spotty as far as the acting goes, but which does, I think, give you a fair idea of what the battle was like, overall) and then I read the book it was based on - The Killer Angels - which is absolutely a wonderful book and I would recommend to everybody who's at all interested in the subject. (And from there I went to reading Shelby Foote, all three thousand pages, and then things like Grant Moves South and Battle Cry of Freedom.)