Making a large vat full of hot cider (with rum) and putting out munchables for the party. We’ll play some board games and possibly listen to some cheesy 80’s music. It’s always made sense to do things like that on New Year’s Eve. Why go out? It’s expensive, uncomfortable and silly. We have everything we need right here.
Remember: a full glass of water, 2 Aleve, a multi-vitamin before bed. And you’ll be fine.
Last day of the year! Last chance!
Rob’s Best of 2008. Not necessarily released in 2008, these are nevertheless some of the tracks I’ve been listening to all year:
If you’d like a copy, leave a comment with your email address & I’ll send you the download link.
Edge of Seventeen [1998]
1. He goes to a gay bar for the first time … and orders a Fuzzy Navel.
2. He face pushes against the car window, fogging it up.
3. "He doesn’t give a shit about me." When he says it we know it’s not exactly true, but it’s one of those lies we tell ourselves when we’re young. It’s one of those lies we try to convince ourselves is true. When we’re young. Years later we realize the truth is a lot fuzzier.
Into the Night [1985]
1. A man is sitting at the edge of a table, talking on the phone. He seems annoyed. "Have I ever lied to you?" It’s Jim Henson, making a cameo.
2. Ed puts a coin into the pay phone and starts dialing a number. A man walks up to him and says, "Very funny." He wheels the pay phone away; it’s only a movie prop.
3. Over the opening credits is a montage of nighttime LA gas stations and stores. Ed Ruscha. Then we see the wreckage of a horrible car accident, policemen milling about. Andy Warhol.
The Fly [1986]
1. Circuit board stuck in his back.
2. Jeff Goldblum gestures using a french fry, drawing lines of imaginary type in the air.
3. "Ever heard of insect politics?"
The Great McGinty [1940]
1. "He voted thirty-seven times? No one can vote thirty-seven times!"
2. As they drive at break-neck speed through the rainy night, mud spatters across the headlights.
3. "You’re not a wrong guy, you’re just a tough guy."
Today’s date is December 27. Outside it’s almost 60 degrees and it’s pouring rain right now. And this is Chicago. The street is an enormous pool of standing water where the melted snow and ice has combined with the rain. The cars parked on the street look like boats. Something very peculiar going on.
Notorious [1946]
1. Devlin sits alone at a cafe, on the left side of the frame, opposite an empty chair. Dissolve to: Alicia sitting alone in a restaurant on the right side of the frame, opposite an empty spot in the booth.
2. Throughout the movie Hitchcock highlights Claude Rains’ diminutive stature. People tower over him, especially his mother and Alicia.
3. She sits up in bed, leaning on her elbow. She reaches across to her night table and picks up a cigarette box, taking off the lid and sliding a cigarette into her slit-like mouth. This is her way of thinking up a plan.
