You say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind; I think you better close it and let me guide you to Chipotle Mexican Grill.
I'm really jonesin' for some Mexican food right now. I haven't had much to eat today at all. Is this blogworthy? Maybe, maybe not. Part of me feels weird that living in San Diego I spend so much time at Chipotle which, of all horrible conglomerates, is owned by McDonald's and is a national chain and has no regional flavor at all. On top of that it's located in plastic-surgery land, accessed only by America's Worst Parking Lot. Why do I go there as opposed to say, a place like Wahoo's or El Portal; someplace with regional flare? Frankly, I dunno. Actually, I think I just like the food more. Pains me to say it. Portal is great, no kidding; but if Portal were right next to Chipotle, I'd be tempted to go to Chipotle nine times out of ten. I feel like I've failed my local community. Frankly, I'm just really starving for some Mexican. I'll feel guilty, but dang, I'll feel so good at the same time.
The GSA Movie night went off with only a few hitches last night. Showed the second-best film ever made: Ran. According to me, here are the top five:
1. 2001
2. Ran
3. Double Indemnity
4. Walkabout
5. The Last Wave
#'s 4 and 5 are up for negotiation, but I stand firm on the first three. I'd appreciate your lists. Importantly, this is not a list of my "favorite" movies (although there is a certain overlap). I think there is a clear distinction between thinking a movie is one's favorite, and thinking the movie is the best. I've been thinking about this as a counterexample to John Stuart Mill's proof of the principle of utility in Chapter Four of Utilitarianism (as reconstructed by Geoffrey Sayre-McCord): Mill relies on the idea that desiring something is desiring something as good, under the guise of its goodness. But I think this is clearly false: I desire to watch Ghostbusters, but I don't desire it as good. I desire it as a sort of base pleasure, a few nutty laughs, that bit where Rick Moranis talks about all the previous incarnations of Gozer. I don't desire it because I think it's somehow good, nevertheless, if I were given a chance to watch Ghostbusters or Ran, most of the time I would pick Ghostbusters. But Ran is better. FAR better. And, in fact, though I believe Double Indemnity is one of the best movies ever, when I desire it, I don't desire it under that guise: I desire it for the base pleasure, the fun double-crosses, and the funny speeches of Edward G. Robinson.
Sorry for the topic scramble. These are my thoughts for the day.
The GSA Movie night went off with only a few hitches last night. Showed the second-best film ever made: Ran. According to me, here are the top five:
1. 2001
2. Ran
3. Double Indemnity
4. Walkabout
5. The Last Wave
#'s 4 and 5 are up for negotiation, but I stand firm on the first three. I'd appreciate your lists. Importantly, this is not a list of my "favorite" movies (although there is a certain overlap). I think there is a clear distinction between thinking a movie is one's favorite, and thinking the movie is the best. I've been thinking about this as a counterexample to John Stuart Mill's proof of the principle of utility in Chapter Four of Utilitarianism (as reconstructed by Geoffrey Sayre-McCord): Mill relies on the idea that desiring something is desiring something as good, under the guise of its goodness. But I think this is clearly false: I desire to watch Ghostbusters, but I don't desire it as good. I desire it as a sort of base pleasure, a few nutty laughs, that bit where Rick Moranis talks about all the previous incarnations of Gozer. I don't desire it because I think it's somehow good, nevertheless, if I were given a chance to watch Ghostbusters or Ran, most of the time I would pick Ghostbusters. But Ran is better. FAR better. And, in fact, though I believe Double Indemnity is one of the best movies ever, when I desire it, I don't desire it under that guise: I desire it for the base pleasure, the fun double-crosses, and the funny speeches of Edward G. Robinson.
Sorry for the topic scramble. These are my thoughts for the day.
posted by dd0031 at 4:19 PM
10 Comments:
Have you tried Don Carlos' Taco Shop?
1. Ghostbusters
2. Star Wars Ep. 5
3. Star Trek 2
4. Star Wars Ep. 6
5. Star Wars Ep. 4
Runner up: Star Trek 4.
definitely try Don Carlos. I'm not well-viewed in films, but:
1. Amores Perros
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Memento
4. Rushmore
5. From Dusk Till Dawn
I'm serious about #5.
Sometimes good art is unpleasant; Boys Don't Cry was an excellent work, but I hope never to see it again. Ran is another well-crafted but unpleasant film (though I do want to see it again at some point). I'm not sure that I think these cases pose a counterexample to Mill, though. For one thing, he doesn't require that desiring something is desiring it as good; he knows people desire the vicious as well as the virtuous. He just thinks that the only possible evidence we could ever have that anything is good is that someone somewhere desires it.
Post the God Damned new castrato shit. Ass.
Oh, and Yeah, Chipotle may be majority owned by McDonalds, but they sure have some damned fine buritos. ...as I'm eating Orange Shrinp from PF Changs...
chipotle sucks. end of story.
1. Species 3
2. Encino Man
3. Cannonball Run 2
4. Scrooged
5. Castlefreak
Adam -
I was more referring to Geoff Sayre-McCord's Mill. (And I'm not sure if even GS-McC thinks his reconstruction is plausible beyond making the argument in para. 3 reasonable.)
1. Vertigo
2. Seven Samurai
3. City Lights
4. The Godfather
5. Blade Runner
Klaus -
There's a movement in film circles nowadays that rejects the "Director's Cut" of Blade-runner in favor of the voice-over original version. Dust thou have a preference?
Yes. I'm still with the director's cut... I hate movies when movies end off the map. How else can I explain that? The original brings Deckard and his Robo-Girl to that pastoral scene, full of green. Where the f--- is this? And it's so obvious that it's a tacked-on happy ending...
I wouldn't necessarily punish them for a happy ending, but to just have a voiceover suddenly say, "Turns out there was no expiration date on Rachel, etc." is pretty lame.
I understand that the voiceover in the original is supposed to give it a noir-feel, but that seems superficial. The plot, the lighting, the feel of the whole freaking thing is already noir.
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