List of the going and the gone

Here was something that caught my eye. It’s just a list of the things younger Americans either don’t know or will never learn about. A reminder of just how old I am, and how much the world has changed.

A couple of the things that really struck me about this list of 100 things kids will never know includes:

Typewriters – which is how all my college papers were done, and I still occasionally use

Super-8 film and cameras – which is not a great loss, but is visually interesting

Walkman’s – do people under 30 even know what they are?

Cassette tapes and/or 8-tracks –see Walkman

3 networks on television – yep before cable there were just 3 major channels

An album – though CD’s and DVD’s may be called that, I mean the original vinyl discs

A television without a remote control, in black and white, and/or with a round dial

A phone that is not digital, nor portable

Television stations turn off for the night – yes they used to not be 24/7

A floppy disc – do they even have that for computers any more? Remember when they came in 5 inch size?

Atari video game systems and the joysticks they had – or Intellivision. There was another one too.

Reading books – an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, an almanac, or just a regular book for entertainment

Writing letters to talk to friends - For that matter, calling someone and having to call back because there were no answering machines, text, IM, and so on

Writing full grammatically correct, properly spelled sentences

Learning how to write in script

Life without a computer

Playing games on a board with people

Going down the block to use a payphone, or a payphone that you could close the door on

Being restricted to just 1 ringer sound

Doing math in school without a calculator – that includes trigonometry, algebra, calculus, and geometry

Slide rules – I don’t even remember that

A library card catalogue system

Paper wrapping on candy bars

There are many more things that the list at Geekdads has. A few things they left out include:

A time before music videos – buying a record just because the singers sounds good

Cartoons only being on tv for 2 hours during the week and 5 hours on Saturday

Banking hours being the only time to go to a bank

Pizza costing 55 cents

Beer cans with pull-tops

Soda and orange juice in glass bottles

No warning labels – on anything

One phone company for the nation – Ma Bell and it was cheaper

When being a soldier was an honor – still is in my eyes

Drinking was legal at 18

Using tokens to get on the subway in NYC – they cost a little as 50 cents as I remember

Not having to worry about school shootings, or the loner students, or child molesters

A time when rap was about having fun

Break dancing

Men wearing platform shoes

Growing afros 14 inches or more – not for braiding just the afro (men and women)

Non-digital clocks

Playing outside

There is so much more. Just imagine though what the next generation will not know or forget.

Movies to see before you die

There is nothing quite like a list of something to get the blood boiling. When that list happens to be of movies, and is called the 100 movies to see before you die, well you can imagine I was like a moth to a flame.

This Yahoo list is pretty good though. In fact I have seen 74 out of the full 100. When it comes to lists of great movies, I normally have far more issue with some of the choices. But this list is very much on the mark.

But they did get a few wrong.

Like Princess Monoke. A very good anime film. But not something you must see before death. I'd substitute that with Akira or Ghost in the Shell. Both are dazzling in the story and art. Far more compelling anime.

They touched on martial arts films, including Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon. A true classic. But not the only style of martial arts film worthy of viewing. For a story that is completely different yet deep in thought and martial arts try Circle of Iron as an addition to your top 100 list.

I have to be excited about this list as they included one of my favorite films, and one that most people never heard of. M. That is a classic and groundbreaking. It may be old and sub-titled, but it is powerful cinema and that's what matters.

The list leaves out The Princess Bride, which I think is great on a comedic and swashbuckling level. And they did not include a universal classic The Adventures of Robin Hood. How can they not have Errol Flynn's most renown role.

Still the list does have Blazing Saddles and Do The Right Thing. Something I'm glad to see as films starring Black actors or directors normally seem to not exist in these kinds of lists.

Though they ignored Malcolm X, by Spike Lee. There is a reason why this was Denzel Washington's first Oscar nominated role (which he was robbed of), and why the movie itself was robbed of an Oscar Award. Once you see it I think you will agree.

I like that the list includes: the original 12 Angry Men, Alien, Apocalypes Now, Blade Runner, Bridge on the River Kwai, Die Hard, Dr. Strangelove, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, the original King Kong (one of the first films I ever saw and remember to this day), Groundhog Day, It's a Wonderful Life, Lawrence of Arabia, M.A.S.H. (yes it was a movie long before it was a television show), Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Animal House, Nosferatu (second film I recall ever seeing), Schindler's List, Seven Samurai, Some Like It Hot, Star Wars (the first of the series in 1977), To Kill A Mockingbird, and Usual Suspects. I find them all to be essential films that everyone should see at least once.

Also included in that list of core movies (besides the others I mentioned above) that everyone should see is Being There. A Peter Sellers film unlike anything he did before it. This is comedy of a cerebral nature yet enjoyable just to watch and eat popcorn with.

Overall this list is very good. One of the better lists to come out of Yahoo. But it isn't perfect. At least to me. And I think if you take the time to compare the movies I would add to the list, you'll see how much better it becomes in total.

95 of the top 100 greatest movie characters

Oh the fight is on. It seems that British magazine Empire made a list of the top 100 movie characters ever. This of course could not go without dispute. and thus Yahoo had to throw in their 2 pennies with a list of the top 25.

And I think that both lists have some merit but forget quite a bit. And the order of the characters is just plain dumb. Empire has Tyler Durden (Fight Club) as Number 1, Yahoo goes with The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin's films). While the Tramp is a good choice I think it isn't the best.

So here is my entry into the foray. Without question I will be told I am wrong to varying degrees. But that is the nature of a top list.

1.Harvey (Harvey)- The number 1 spot has to go to the only character that is never seen or heard from, is spoken about in virtually every 3rd line, is the center of attention, and is loveable.
2.Darth Vader (Star Wars series) - this is what bad guys are
3.HAL-9000 (2001) the definition of paranoia and what happens without the 3 laws
4.Morpheus (Matrix) the heart of the entire series
5.Mad Max (Mad Max series) defining the loner
6.Ellen Ripley (Alien quadrology) The most powerful woman character on several levels
7.Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs) The power of a mind twisted
8.Willie Wonka (original version Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) The joy of childhood in an adult
9.Malcolm X (Malcolm X) The example of what a life can become
10.Captain (Das Boot) The ultimate in determination
11.Popeye Doyle (French Connection) Perserverance personafied
12.T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) Ambition and a dream made real via willpower and planning
13. Lee (Enter the Dragon) The fusion of mind and spirit
14.John McClane (Die Hard series) The worst of being in the wrong place wrong time
15.Han Solo (Star Wars trilogy) Swashbuckling in space
16.Ferris Bueller (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) The perfect in the right place and right time
17.Keyser Soze (Usual Suspects) The least is the greatest among us
18.James Bond (007 series)
19.The Terminator (The Terminator series)
20.Ghengis Noonian Khan (Star Trek: Wrath of Khan)
21.Lieutenant Colonel William "Bill" Kilgore (Apocalypse Now)
22.Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones series)
23.The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin's films)
24.Mr Blonde (Reservoir Dogs)
25.Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump)
26.Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry)
27.Dr. Strangelove (Dr. Strangelove)
28.Ash (Evil Dead)
29.Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane)
30.Blondie (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
31.C3PO and R2D2 (Star Wars)
32.Inigo Montoya (Princess Bride)
33.Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction)
34.Mr. Virgil Tibbs (In the Heat of the Night)
35.Roy Batty (Blade Runner)
36.Will Kane (High Noon)
37.Norma Desmond (Sunset Blvd.)
38.Arthur Chipping (Goodbye Mr. Chips)
39.V (V for Vendetta)
40.Zatoichi (Zatoichi series of films)
41.The Major (Ghost in the Shell)
42.Inspector Clouseau (original Pink Panther series)
43.Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)
44.Michael Meyers (Halloween series)
45.Roy Dillon - (The Grifters)
46.Lilly Dillon (The Grifters)
47.Chris (The Magnificent 7)
48.Max Bialystock (The Producers),
49.Yojimbo (Yojimbo, Sanjuro)
50.Jason Bourne (Bourne series)
51.Capt. Hilts "The Cooler King" (The Great Escape)
52.Hans Beckert (M)
53.Rooster Cogburn (True Grit)
54.Ray Charles (Ray)
55.Princess Leia Organa (Star Wars)
56.Atticus Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird)
57.Saul (Soylent Green)
58.Chance the gardener (Being There)
59.Fred C. Dobbs (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
60.Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
61.Dracula
62.Frank White (King of New York)
63.Agent Smith (Matrix series)
64.E.T. (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial)
65.Jack Torrance (The Shining)
66.The Car (Christine)
67.Snake Plissken (Escape From New York)
68.Lt. Frank Drebin (The Naked Gun)
69.Luke (Cool Hand Luke)
70.George Bailey (It's A Wonderful Life)
71.Mathilda (The Professional)
72.G. Joubert (3 Days of the Condor)
73.Robin Earl of Locksley (Adventures of Robin Hood)
74.Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
75.Maximus Decimus Meridius (Gladiator)
76.the kids (Village of the Damned)
77.Mystery Woman (Blues Brothers)
78.Alice (Alice in Wonderland)
79.Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver (original Mr. Roberts)
80.Ken Pile (A Fish Called Wanda)
81.Witch of the West (Wizard of Oz)
82.Marv (Sin City)
83.Norman Bates (Psycho original)
84.Dil (Crying Game)
85.Damien (Omen original)
86.Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg (The Caine Mutiny original)
87.Zed (Killing Zoe)
88.Lawrence Garfield (Other People's Money)
89.Mary Kate Danaher (The Quiet Man)
90.John "Bluto" Blutarsky (Animal House)
91.Alice (Resident Evil series)
92.John Robie (To Catch a Thief)
93.Chief Bromden (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
94.Old Yeller (Old Yeller)
95.Cujo (Cujo)

Each of the characters in the above films stands out, and their loss is one that makes a vacuum. Though the roles are not always the biggest they are powerful.

Some might dispute the inanimate or anime characters. But that does not prevent the characters from being as real or influential as any other. Some may wonder about why there are so few women. The honest answer is that until relatively recently there just haven't been many roles written where women are prominent or have a truly standout role. Some might discount the characters that reflect real people. But these movies are not the actual person's life and still their characters are larger than life.

And why does my list stop where it does? Well how might you round out this list? What might you change?

VH1’s Top 100 of rap music celebrates the positives of the genre

I just noticed something that really caught my attention. VH1 has compiled a list of the top 100 rap music songs. Now that is something that I am sure will create huge debate.

The main question is the importance of groups at the start of rap, the empowerment movement in rap (which was sadly short lived), and the gangsta rap genre that has now become the redundant and endless form that dominates music videos and radio. I for one have no love of gangsta rap, nor the performers that populate the genre.

In it’s birth rap was a celebration of joy. The earliest songs, which I recall from my youth, were not that long ago, just about 29 years now. They were about enjoying friends and good times. The groove was infectious and lead to the growth of the fledgling music format.

But like all things rap grew up. In fact it did so with a speed and determination. By the mid 1980’s until 1992 rap had a meaning. Not all rap, but a good portion of it. There was a pride in the Black community and it was reflected in the music. The music was an oral declaration of unity and progress. This too was reflected in the music videos of the art form, if you were lucky enough to spot one on television.

The first 13 years that rap music existed it was called a fad by mainstream music. It was viewed as a joke. It was diminished and tossed aside by the entire music industry, even though music executives would not dare to stop making the highly lucrative music. But throughout this time rap music was also something that the White masses of the nation neither understood nor craved.

Then there was N.W.A. and the music industry executives found what they had been waiting for. A guttural base expression of African Americans as impoverished, uneducated, violent criminals waiting to be unleashed upon the nation.

I realize, now and then, that N.W.A. was expressing yet another face of what many African Americans experience everyday in America. I understand that they were crying out about the less than American Dream life that was being shoveled into their lives. And there is no doubt in my mind that the intention was never to glorify violence and drugs, or women as sexual gratification objects. But I am equally sure that the music industry sought only that aspect of the sub-genre.

So in looking at the top songs in this sect of music, what should take prominience. The songs that have made the most money, the artists that were promoted most by greedy executives, the songs that hoped to unify and empower African Americans, or those that just celebrated life?

It seems that VH1 considered all these things in making their list.

The number 1 songs was found to be Public Enemy’s Fight The Power.



This song was the pinnacle of the empowerment genre of rap. It was the rally cry for involvement in voting, being active in the community, and making Government accountable to the people. It was just after this song came out that music executive ran to find a distraction, and flooded the airwaves with anything but another rap song of this nature and message.

Second on the list was the Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight



This is the song and group that started the entire music genre. It was the first rap song to burst forth from the nightclubs and basements of the Bronx out to the mainstream of the national airwaves.

Third on the list was the crossover hit by Run DMC Walk This Way.

[The video is blocked from being embedded on a site. Aerosmith has great lawyers it seems.]

So in the first 3 songs we see that the expressions of fun, respect, pride, and ability are the foremost examples of what all rap music really is. And I can agree with these choices.

The top 20 is rounded out by a mix of predominately these themes, with a sprinkle of the more modern, repulsive, generic, pedantic, and demeaning gangsta rap songs that have infected the airwaves since 1992. In fact going through the list you will see that the entire list is filled with mostly artists that ceased being played on the air the day that gangsta rap was born. That’s a statement indeed.

Now I’m sure some will argue this. They will note that Tupac, or Eminem, or Snoop Dogg, and others had meaningful and powerful songs. Some of them are on the list too. But like the law of averages, or probability, even the worst entertainers will eventually get it right once or twice. I mean even William Hung got to make 2 albums and stardom.

The list will be shown on VH1. I’m sure many will have different opinions. But I say that Public Enemy was the greatest rap group ever – both for what they said and what they tried to do. But Heavy D, Sugar Hill Gang, Erik B. and Rahkim, Digital Underground and a few others still make my favorites list too.