1. The Interrupters
2. Melancholia
3. Beginners
4. The Future
5. Meek’s Cutoff
6. Tree of Life
7. Martha Marcy May Marlene
8. Bridesmaids
9. Weekend
10. Putty Hill

Runners up: Terri, If A Tree Falls, Bill Cunningham New York, Tabloid, Jane Eyre, Superheroes

Still need to see: Margaret, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Take Shelter, Pariah, Into The Abyss, Bombay Beach, Buck, The Skin I Live In, Like Crazy, Tomboy, Project Nim, Senna, My Week With Marilyn, Certified Copy, Like Crazy, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Marwencol, Cave of Forgotten Dreams

“Cinema is an indirect art…it conceals as much as it reveals.”

“Truffaut once said that all great directors must sacrifice some aspect of filmmaking to achieve something brilliant — in essence, the bedsheet never covers the whole bed. And no one has worked harder to go as deep as possible exploring the complexity of human interrelationships than Cassavetes, and while he did love other aspects of film, he would give up anything — the framing, the editing, the continuity, the smoothness of the story, paradoxically even his own understanding of the characters — to reach a certain ecstatic emotional depth. He wanted you to feel as intensely and thoughtfully about his films as you did about your own life, and sometimes (perhaps by definition all the time) that means you can’t fully understand them.”

-Hadrian Belove, Programmer of Cinefamily in Los Angeles

“As a photographer and documentarian I happily place my fate and faith in reality. Reality is my caretaker, the provider of subjects, themes, experiences — all endowed with the power of truth and the romance of discovery. The closer I adhere to reality the more the honest and authentic my tales. After all, knowledge of the real world is exactly what we need to better understand, and possibly, to love one another. It’s my way of making the world a better place.”

- Albert Maysles

FILMS
Daddy Longlegs
Fish Tank
Winter’s Bone
The Exploding Girl
The Tillman Story
Black Swan
Greenberg
Catfish
Inception

Films I have yet to see that could make their way onto the list: Somewhere, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Blue Valentine, Dogtooth, I Am Love, Tiny Furniture, The Fighter, Rabbit Hole, Waiting for Superman, Carlos, White Material, A Prophet

MUSIC
Beach House – Teen Dream
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday
Sleigh Bells – Treats
Lower Dens – Twin Hand Movement
Drake – Thank Me Later
Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
The National – High Violet
Best Coast – Crazy For You
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Runners up: Grass Widow – Past Time, Warpaint – The Fool, M.I.A. – Maya, Vampire Weekend – Contra

BOOKS/STORIES
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
Safari and Ask Me If I Care by Jennifer Egan
A Widow’s Story by Joyce Carol Oates
Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever by Justin Taylor

“The film of tomorrow appears to me as even more personal than an individual and autobiographical novel, like a confession, or a diary. The film of tomorrow will be an act of love. The film of tomorrow will not be directed by civil servants of the camera, but by artists for whom shooting a film constitutes a wonderful and thrilling adventure. The film of tomorrow will resemble the person who made it, and the number of spectators will be proportional to the number of friends the director has.”

-
Francois Truffaut

I’ve been watching and re-watching a lot of movies (and parts of movies) lately in preparation for Seafarer. Here are some of them:

Ratcatcher
Rachel Getting Married
Nobody Knows
L’Avventura
Margot at the Wedding
Nights and Weekends
Hunger
My Summer of Love
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Wholphin shorts
Safdie brothers shorts
Show Me Love
A Woman Under the Influence

“Someone who has sufficient compassion can make a film about anything.” – Howard Suber

I saw this quote on the blog for the talented and prolific duo of Sparrow Songs and found it inspiring and truthful.

Sparrow Songs consists of two guys, Alex Jablonski and Michael Totten, who make one short documentary a month every month for a year. The shorts are pretty great and seem to be fueled by a very compassionate curiosity about the world around them, which again, is inspiring (word of the day).

I’m so excited about this next project and feel so grateful and lucky to the many awesome friends that are helping to make it happen. I can’t wait to start shooting…September is getting closer and will be here before I know it. In the meantime, help us raise our fundraising goal on Kickstarter in time!

Music

dirty projectors – bitte orca
micachu and the shapes – jewellery
grizzly bear – veckatimest
lightning dust – infinite light
animal collective – merriwether post pavilion
tegan and sara – sainthood
the yeah yeah yeahs – it’s blitz!
st. vincent – actor
tune-yards – bird-brains
fever ray – fever ray

honorable mention: sunset rubdown – dragonslayer, mos def – the ecstatic , the gossip – music for men, neko case – middle cyclone, the fiery furnaces – I’m going away, YACHT – see mystery lights, the xx – xx, vivian girls – everything goes wrong

09 albums I’m currently listening to but haven’t listened to enough to judge: girls – album, japandroids – post-nothing, rihanna – rated r, alicia keys – the element of freedom, the dream – love vs. money

Movies

The Landlord*
Fantastic Mr. Fox
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Beeswax
Bright Star
Goodbye Solo
Medicine for Melancholy
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Beaches of Agnes
The Messenger

*this was my favorite movie I’ve seen all year, but it came out in 1970, so it’s technically disqualified

might make the list but haven’t seen yet: Gomorrah, Summer Hours, In the Loop, Precious, Sugar, 35 Shots of Rum, Mammoth, Broken Embraces, Inglorious Basterds

Other random 2009 pop culture enjoyments/discoveries: This American Life Seasons 1 and 2, Radiolab, Super Mario Bros for Wii, Beatles Rock Band, A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, Susan Sontag – Reborn: Journals & Notebooks 1947-1963, Smashburger, printmaking class/wood engraving tools, Mad Men, Parks and Recreation, Bored to Death, banana chocolate chip muffins from Blue Line, pub quiz victory, smartwool socks