Since I checked out hte list of the 100 worst movies according to Rotten Tomatoes, I thought I would go through the Best of the Best (80 Best Movies). I don’t know that I would rate them the best, but then I’m not one of their movie critics.

I am curious to see how many of these movies I’ve seen.

1. Crash (75)–Rented to see what the hype was about. Predictable.
2. Forest Gump (73)–Good at the time, but now made fun of by entirely too many.
3. A Beautiful Mind (71)–Great acting
4. Gladiator (70)
5. Out of Africa (67)
6. Driving Miss Daisy (65)
7. Gigi (64)–Always liked this musical.
8. The Sound of Music (63)–Will never forget this one, but I’ve only seen it on TV. I own it, but don’t watch the DVD.
9. Titanic (61)–Leonardo DiCaprio
10. Chicago (55)
11. The English Patient (54)–I have no idea how this movie made the list. I know many loved it. I ahve to agree with Elaine on Seinfeld.
12. Gentleman’s Agreement (50)–Great movie. Hollywood stepped out a limb at the time.
13. American Beauty (43)
14. Terms of Endearment (42)–Always loved this one. It was filmed at my alma mater.
15. Rain Man (40)
16. Kramer vs. Kramer (39)
17. Million Dollar Baby (38)
18. Rocky (37)–The stairs are famous. Anyone who visits Philly, do go INSIDE the art museum. It’s well worth it.
19. My Fair Lady (36)
20. Shakespeare in Love (33)
21. The Departed (30)–Wrote about this one in an earlier post. Great!
22. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (29)–I saw all 3 in the theaters.
23. Silence of the Lambs (22)
24. It Happened One Night (21)–The beginning of the romantic comedies. Often copied, never duplicated. Clark Gable was great.
25. West Side Story (20)
26. Schindler’s List (17)
27. Gone with the Wind (16)
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (11)
29. Annie Hall (10)
30. The Godfather Part II (9)
31. Casablanca (8)
32. Rebecca (5)–Great Hitchcock movie. Must see.
33. All About Eve (3)
34. The Godfather (1)

Of this list, I own 11. Also, I saw 34 of 80 of the best movies compared to 21 out of 100 of the worst. I think it’s a pretty good list overall.

My you recover quickly from St. Patrick’s Day drinking, if you were silly enough to get that drunk. On second thought, if you’re an adult who was dumb enough to have a hangover because you didn’t hydrate or eat, then mayb your handover serve as a reminder to be a smarter drinker next time.

Yes, you can own your own element from the periodic table. Well, you don’t actually get any of that element, but you do get to help graduate students at Western Michigan University. The fund is an emergency fund to allow students to continue their studies when faced with serious financial problems. The first student to receive funds needed to travel abroad for a family funeral. The prices of the elements aren’t cheap. They range from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $10,000. There are plenty of elements left.

Element Fundraiser 

I came across the 100 worst movies list while browsing SFgate. Since a columnist wrote he had not seen any of the movies on the list, I had to check it out to see if I had seen movies on there. I thought the movies might be obscure, but I was very much mistaken.

Here’s my list of watched movies on the worst movie list with their rank:

1. Catwoman (100)–Frankly, I enjoyed it. I liked the cats too.
2. Say It Isn’t So (96)–Yep, kind of a stinker. Are they really brother and sister? Eew!
3. First Daughter (92)–Can we get Mrs. Cruise into better, more adult roles?
4. Man of the House (89)–Truly too stupid to finish. I think I’ve only seen parts.
5. White Noise (85)–Moral: Don’t record EMF and listen to talking spirits.
6. The Skulls (77)–Nothing else was on that day.
7. My Boss’s Daughter (73)–Kutcher makes nice eye candy, even if his antics are annoying.
8. The Order (71)–I liked this one for it’s weirdness.
9. Surviving Christmas (67)–I have no idea why I sat through this one.
10. Gigli (55)–I watched this just to find out if the critics were right. Yep, it was awful.
11. Envy (53)–One long, boring morality play.
12. Yours, Mine and Ours (52)–Remake. I thought this one was funny and cute.
13. Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (50)–Saw the first one. This one was okay.
14. Summer Catch (48)–Not sure why this movie was made. More eye candy.
15. Swept Away (47)–Again, saw to see if the critics were correct. Wasn’t as bad as they said, but wasn’t great either.
16. The Fog (41)–Thought the synopsis sounded good at the time. Not much to it.
17. The Perfect Man (35)–I thought it was stupid. Was it a teen movie or an adult movie?
18. The In Crowd (27)–Rainy day. Nothing else to watch.
19. Down to You (25)–I thought it was cute when I saw it.
20. The Whole Ten Yards (19)–Yep, stunk.
21. Christmas with the Kranks (18)–Poor adaptation of a Grisham story. I’d hang my head if I were him.

Well my vote for all time worst movie didn’t even make the list. I hated “Mr and Mrs Smith.” Bad, bad, bad movie.

None of those movies on the list were seen in the movie theaters. I’m sometimes held captive by HBO or Starz. Some I rented. At least I didn’t pay $10 to see any of them. I own one of them (Catwoman).

Wednesday was Pi Day. For those of you who aren’t into math, that’s pi…3.14… That crazy infinite number that you may have used once in calculating stuff with circles. My son thinks pi is cool. I think he knows pi to 21 digits. I know 12. How many do you know?

I found a website that has huge posters that have the first 1 million digits. I much prefer phi over pi.

Who would think that finding something you can completely get behind would be such a daunting task? I’m still on the hunt for a project. I know that I will lose excitement for any project that I’m not excited by in the beginning. I need to find what moves me. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what that is. The idea behind the project is to create something and then pass it off to others to lead and run. So it’s a little like giving birth, raising a child and hoping for the best when that child goes into the world. I have a couple more weeks to come up with something.

So far out of asking around, the one that moves me is to create some sort of support system for parents of teens who hurt themselves or take drugs. So those kinds of problems. big ones. Particularly if you’re a parent. The poor parents probably feel like they failed. It’s not a city-wide project, just intended to include synagogue members at first, but perhaps it could be a Jewish resource. Not sure. I have to find out more. I need to know what exists already. There needs to something for the teens as well and perhaps a program for those nearing middle school.

Well my Monday was less than exciting. I went to the salon to get my hair and nails done. I have to say that my toes look great. Today was also the first day I picked up the neighbor’s daughter from school. This is a new thing and might last until the end of the school year or until my schedule doesn’t allow it.

I’m tired. All the stress from last week has gotten to me. I’m finally getting over sinus trouble only to be extremely tired. And why not? It’s not like I’ve slept much in the past week.

I had a relatively uneventful weekend. I suppose I needed that after the past week. Although last week was much more difficult for others than for me. It was just a little more stress than I’m used to. With the time change and the pollen, my body is a bit messed up. The weather is just beautiful here. Everything is blooming.

I nearly forgot until I began writing that the burial for Mr. O’s uncle is today. Why today and not after the funeral? I have no idea. It seems rather odd to me. I’m used to seeing funerals that happen within a day or two of a death.

Well I survived the day. I expected that I would, but from the comments by Mr. O’s cousins, survival is the best I could hope for. I was warned to stay away from their family dysfunction. They were joking about staying away. Every family has it’s bit of oddness, weirdness and craziness. Mine is no exception, which of course was brought up by Mr. O himself. Thanks so much. Actually the cousins are great. Inclusive to a stranger when they didn’t have to be.

The funeral was good though. Everything that was said made me wish I had met him. Although it probably wasn’t possible, I wish I had known his uncle before he ever got sick and got so sick that he wasn’t really there. Everyone made him sound like a great man and quite cool. He had lots of friends and created many memories with them that will last forever. It is sad that he died so young (59) and due to a particularly nasty form of cancer. I wonder if his cancer was a physical symptom of the family issues. No disease occurs without some emotional or spiritual component. However, his death did bring a large group of people together to share an aspect of their lives even if was just for a few hours.

In Judaism there are prayers for everything. Even a prayer for returning home after a funeral, which I want to include here (from On the Doorposts of Your House, ed. Chaim Stern):

Out of the depths I cry to You, Eternal One, hear my supplication. A heavy burden has fallen upon us and sorrow has bowed our heads. And now we turn to You, the source of life, for comfort and help. Give us the eyes to see that pain is not Your will, that somewhere there weeps with us One who feels our trouble and knows the suffering of our souls. We seek the light that will dispel the darkness that has overtaken us. let us find it in the love of family and friends, in the sources of healing that are implanted within all the living, in the mind that conquers infirmity and trouble. Grand us the strength to endure what is inescapable, the wisdom to accept what cannot be undone, and the courage to go on without bitterness or despair. Amen.

Neir l’rag-li d’va-reh-cha, v’or li-n’ti-va-ti. B’o-r’cha nir-eh or.

Your word, O god is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path. by Your light shall we see light.

This was my first Catholic funeral. Some of the prayers just didn’t speak to me in the same way as the Jewish prayers. But, the priest said something that touched me that I had forgotten: every person in your life is a gift. Some stay for only a short while, and some stay for a long time whether that is through life circumstances or death. It’s so easy to be caught up in the daily things everyone has to do. It’s so easy to forget the importance of people in our lives. It’s so easy to take them for granted.

My apologies for not keeping up with this blog this week. With Mr. O’s uncle’s funeral and all the family drama that has gone along with it, I haven’t thought much about blog posts. I haven’t wanted to blog about the stuff going on or how I feel about it either. Last night was the “visitation.” I have hardly been to funerals. I remember my dad’s mother’s funeral when I was a kid. I remember there was an open casket, but I don’t remember looking at her. I suppose I was afraid of the body.

There was an open casket. I hadn’t gotten close enough to even see until the visitation was nearly over, and the family was standing up front. My first thought was that he didn’t look real. Waxy. Mr. O said even he didn’t recognize his uncle. I much prefer funerals without open caskets. My grandfather was adamant that he not have an open casket. He didn’t want anyone remembering him that way.

I think I spent the better part of the day on the phone. I’m so tired of the phone. After the two long weekends of Landmark, I am not finished. There’s a seminar class that lasts 10 sessions after the first seminar. Silly me. I once again volunteered to be a group leader. Now I want to strangle the group members. Can they show up on time? No. Can they make meetings? No. Can they do the assignments? No. Although I can’t say that I’ve seriously done the assignment this week, even though I’ve been on the phone constantly. I suppose I can count the conversation I had today with those of the group who chose to show up. Now I need several more to complete the assignment. I’m dealing with everyone else’s stuff but my own. And since I am dealing with others’ stuff, I talk with other friends about how I’m dealing with this stuff. Make any sense? Probably not, but it makes some sense to me. Often, I’m lost. I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. Oh, and I have one nasty sinus infection to go along with all this. It began on Monday. Now, I’m barely able to breathe. I’m now a literal mouth-breather. No, that is not some comment on my mental capacity, although it too has diminished due to the killer headache that accompanies these infections. If this infection doesn’t get me, the people around me will.