The Goal
My 28th birthday was July 6. I set myself (the possibly crazy) goal of reading all the books on this list and watching all the movies on the AFI's 100 years, 100 movies list before I turn 30. That's a rate of 1 book and 1 movie per week for the next two years.
The Reason
Lots of movies on the list I've already seen. Some of the books I've read. Some I was assigned but never finished, many others I've simply never read.
I believe that exposure to good writing makes you a better writer. One of the most common pieces of advice is to read more. Beyond that, I think that reading great literature helps you think. And, whether you like a book or not, when it's a seminal work, having read it improves your understanding of other literature. All art exists in a dialog with the art that has gone before, with the audience, and with the time and place that created it (I would love to be able to teach a course that combined art history, literature, and history). Being conversant with many of the major works of the Western canon simply creates a richer understanding of the world and of the other books you read. Plus, books get to be classics for a reason, either because the story is so well-told or because of the impact they had. Either one of those reasons is a good one for reading a book.
The same thing holds true for film. Even if you don't like Gone With the Wind (for example), it's a major cultural influence. I like being familiar with the source material for references, quips, and quotes. And also understanding how those films influenced films that came later.
And, as my facebook profile says, I've always been a sucker for a well-told tale.
The Methodology
Unless I've watched the film or seen the book in the past 12 months, it goes on the list. You can argue all you want about whether the book list I picked is the best, but I think it's relatively inclusive, and you can't argue that any of those books aren't great, and they're not ranked. The film list was easier to pick a source, since I knew the AFI had done a list, and I tend to agree with their assessment.
Some of the movies on the list I own, but they're all in my Netflix queue (some of them are available on Netflix Instant Play).
The books are all available through my public library. The local branch is a short walk away and is open into the evening three nights a week. They don't have all of the books at my local branch, but they do have a fantastic hold system which allows me to order the books from the other branches and pick them up. They also have a great online account management system, which makes it easy to place holds or renewals from home. Many of them are also available free for the Kindle, which was my birthday present from my parents. This is great, because it allows me to carry multiple books with me, and because of the built-in dictionary. I'm pretty good at figuring out meaning from context (I've always had high reading comprehension skills), but the Kindle makes it super-easy to look up a word in the dictionary, which really helps me understand the shades of nuance better (and lets me confirm that I'm deducing the meaning correctly). And when reading older works, understanding the archaic meaning of a word that has a different usage today is important. I'm trying to avoid paying for books, unless I already own them or can get them for less than $5. Many of these books I have a copy of somewhere (I have Faust in the original German from when I read it in college), and I don't want duplicates, and I already have so many books and so little space that adding to it doesn't make a lot of sense.
Ideally, I'll post here on my thoughts about each book or movie. Currently, I'm partway through three different books (I was caught out without the paperback Grapes of Wrath, so I started Moby Dick, and when Mellville's prose got to be a little too intense, I started The Awakening), and I've watched Fargo.
If you follow me on Twitter (@evelynpchester), you'll see which movies I'm watching, which book I'm reading, and I may also tweet quotes from books via my Kindle.
Wish me luck!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
SCOTUS Job Opening
Dear Mr. President:
Attached please find my CV for consideration for the Supreme Court Justice vacancy.
I believe that I possess the qualities you stated you are looking for in a Supreme Court Justice: a love of the Constitution, respect for the judicial process, and empathy. And while I do not possess a law degree, the Constitution does not make that a requirement. Nor does the Constitution stipulate an age requirement the way it does for elected office, and I believe that my youth would be an asset on the bench.
I look forward to discussing my qualifications with you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Evelyn Chester
PS- I know the confirmation would be tricky, but with a solid Democratic majority in the Senate and the right strategy, we could manage it.
Attached please find my CV for consideration for the Supreme Court Justice vacancy.
I believe that I possess the qualities you stated you are looking for in a Supreme Court Justice: a love of the Constitution, respect for the judicial process, and empathy. And while I do not possess a law degree, the Constitution does not make that a requirement. Nor does the Constitution stipulate an age requirement the way it does for elected office, and I believe that my youth would be an asset on the bench.
I look forward to discussing my qualifications with you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Evelyn Chester
PS- I know the confirmation would be tricky, but with a solid Democratic majority in the Senate and the right strategy, we could manage it.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Seriously?
So, earlier this evening, a friend of mine sent me a link to this video:
Which piqued my curiousity, so I watched the original:
Which, unsurprisingly, made me angry. I wanted to do an eloquent, point-by-point rebuttal of their points, but I couldn't find the script online and I didn't think that watching the video enough times to transcribe it properly would be good for my blood pressure.
Fortunately, Keith Olbermann said basically what I want to say:
How does my right to marry whomever I choose hurt anyone? How does the expansion of rights take away anyone's rights? My faith teaches that all love should be honored and celebrated, so why does your faith get to be the one that defines marriage for everyone? How does saying that civil marriage has to be defined by civil law mean that a religious institution has to change the religious definition of marriage? There's already a difference! Gay couples get married in churches all the time. Plenty of clergy won't perform marriages that are otherwise legal under civil law, because the religious law they follow doesn't allow said marriage. The National Organization for Marriage says that it takes away their right to define marriage a certain way, and means that people are allowed to call them bigots. Guess what? I'm already allowed to call you a bigot, because a)the First Amendment says I am, and b) you are. Also, you can define marriage any darn way you want. You can define any word any darn way you want, though I wouldn't advise it, as it tends to make communication difficult. My marriage doesn't need your recognition to be valid, it only needs the government to recognize it. There are plenty of marriages I've seen and not approved of, but it's not my business.
You can teach your children whatever you want. Teach them that your god only wants people to have sex with their spouse (of the opposite sex!) in the dark in the missionary position with their eyes closed for the purposes of reproduction and will smite them down if they do it any other way. You're allowed. You're an idiot, but you're allowed. Teach them that homosexuality is wrong in the eyes of the god you believe in. Because that's not led to any suicides or anything. You don't have to teach your children to be tolerant and accepting if you don't want to. That's what I plan on teaching my kids, but hey, you know, whatever. I'll teach my kids that all men and women are brother and sisters and that "a wrong done to one man is a wrong done to all men", you teach your kids that it's OK to tell people they're going to hell because of who they love. It's a free country, after all. But as Sondheim says, "be careful what you say, children will listen." Polls already show that as the next generation comes of age, support for same-sex marriage is growing, as is support for equality in general, so I'm actually not too worried.
Funny how once I start writing, I get on a roll. But oh, for a pen of fire, to match my muse.
Which piqued my curiousity, so I watched the original:
Which, unsurprisingly, made me angry. I wanted to do an eloquent, point-by-point rebuttal of their points, but I couldn't find the script online and I didn't think that watching the video enough times to transcribe it properly would be good for my blood pressure.
Fortunately, Keith Olbermann said basically what I want to say:
How does my right to marry whomever I choose hurt anyone? How does the expansion of rights take away anyone's rights? My faith teaches that all love should be honored and celebrated, so why does your faith get to be the one that defines marriage for everyone? How does saying that civil marriage has to be defined by civil law mean that a religious institution has to change the religious definition of marriage? There's already a difference! Gay couples get married in churches all the time. Plenty of clergy won't perform marriages that are otherwise legal under civil law, because the religious law they follow doesn't allow said marriage. The National Organization for Marriage says that it takes away their right to define marriage a certain way, and means that people are allowed to call them bigots. Guess what? I'm already allowed to call you a bigot, because a)the First Amendment says I am, and b) you are. Also, you can define marriage any darn way you want. You can define any word any darn way you want, though I wouldn't advise it, as it tends to make communication difficult. My marriage doesn't need your recognition to be valid, it only needs the government to recognize it. There are plenty of marriages I've seen and not approved of, but it's not my business.
You can teach your children whatever you want. Teach them that your god only wants people to have sex with their spouse (of the opposite sex!) in the dark in the missionary position with their eyes closed for the purposes of reproduction and will smite them down if they do it any other way. You're allowed. You're an idiot, but you're allowed. Teach them that homosexuality is wrong in the eyes of the god you believe in. Because that's not led to any suicides or anything. You don't have to teach your children to be tolerant and accepting if you don't want to. That's what I plan on teaching my kids, but hey, you know, whatever. I'll teach my kids that all men and women are brother and sisters and that "a wrong done to one man is a wrong done to all men", you teach your kids that it's OK to tell people they're going to hell because of who they love. It's a free country, after all. But as Sondheim says, "be careful what you say, children will listen." Polls already show that as the next generation comes of age, support for same-sex marriage is growing, as is support for equality in general, so I'm actually not too worried.
Funny how once I start writing, I get on a roll. But oh, for a pen of fire, to match my muse.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
To my children, who have not yet been conceived:
Today, we changed the world for you. OK, really we changed it in November, when we stood up and said "Yes We Can", but it became real today. I was at work, at the home of a man who helped make today possible, and I felt his presence with me. I nearly cried as President Obama made his speech, as he promised to help make America a country I can be proud to give to you.
For America is a gift. I was given America by my immigrant ancestors, who took a chance on a brave new world being better. I was given America by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, by Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, by Martin Luther King Jr and Gloria Steinhem. I was given the gift of America by millions of men and women of all races and creeds who worked to make it a better country, but whose names we don't remember. By the over 30,000 men and women buried in Arlington National Cemetery and the millions more buried in national cemeteries throughout the country. America was built by sweat and tears and toil and courage and joy and hope.
This America is an experiment, and sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it doesn't, but we can't ever give up. We work today to give our children a better America than the one our parents gave us, but we remember that our parents worked to make it better than the one they had. Our Constitution says "we the people" and "in order to make a more perfect union." Our union is not perfect, but daily we strive to make it more so, and today we took a step further in that direction.
So, to my children, who are as yet only a twinkle in my eye, I hope you can forgive me for not having a better story of Jan 20 2009, and I hope that the country you inherit is even better than the one I dream of today.
For America is a gift. I was given America by my immigrant ancestors, who took a chance on a brave new world being better. I was given America by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, by Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, by Martin Luther King Jr and Gloria Steinhem. I was given the gift of America by millions of men and women of all races and creeds who worked to make it a better country, but whose names we don't remember. By the over 30,000 men and women buried in Arlington National Cemetery and the millions more buried in national cemeteries throughout the country. America was built by sweat and tears and toil and courage and joy and hope.
This America is an experiment, and sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it doesn't, but we can't ever give up. We work today to give our children a better America than the one our parents gave us, but we remember that our parents worked to make it better than the one they had. Our Constitution says "we the people" and "in order to make a more perfect union." Our union is not perfect, but daily we strive to make it more so, and today we took a step further in that direction.
So, to my children, who are as yet only a twinkle in my eye, I hope you can forgive me for not having a better story of Jan 20 2009, and I hope that the country you inherit is even better than the one I dream of today.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The love of my life
My love affair with the 21st Century in general and the Internet in particular continues unabated.
I got a new laptop for Christmas, it is shiny and I adore it, especially because it runs much faster and quieter than my old one (which probably could have been made to run faster with some extra TLC, but not quieter). I also got a Western Digital portable harddrive, which I just used to transfer all my important files (documents, pictures, music) from the old laptop, making updating my iPod much more straightforward.
I've had a USB thumb drive for years, and I love it too, it makes it much easier to keep important documents on hand.
I actually like Vista, though some things take a bit getting used to, and the new Office (though on my home computer I use Open Office, we have the latest MS Office at work). I like the games, even. And I really dig Microsoft Media Center, because it lets you interact with some cool online media (it has The Guild, which is a very cool web show).
And I love Twitter and other social networking sites, even though it's dorky. It's just silly and fun and reminds me that I have a post on social networking to finish.
I listen to music via Pandora, I save my favorite websites to Delicious (I'd tell you my name, but most of my bookmarks are fanfic or work-related, and thus not particularly interesting to a general audience).
I'm sitting here with my laptop on my lap (atop its cooling station) with a headset on (I was recording some spoken stuff) and typing away and I just feel very connected to everything. It's neat.
In other news, it is very cold in DC, and I am ready for the Inauguration to be over, as are, I think, most Washingtonians.
I got a new laptop for Christmas, it is shiny and I adore it, especially because it runs much faster and quieter than my old one (which probably could have been made to run faster with some extra TLC, but not quieter). I also got a Western Digital portable harddrive, which I just used to transfer all my important files (documents, pictures, music) from the old laptop, making updating my iPod much more straightforward.
I've had a USB thumb drive for years, and I love it too, it makes it much easier to keep important documents on hand.
I actually like Vista, though some things take a bit getting used to, and the new Office (though on my home computer I use Open Office, we have the latest MS Office at work). I like the games, even. And I really dig Microsoft Media Center, because it lets you interact with some cool online media (it has The Guild, which is a very cool web show).
And I love Twitter and other social networking sites, even though it's dorky. It's just silly and fun and reminds me that I have a post on social networking to finish.
I listen to music via Pandora, I save my favorite websites to Delicious (I'd tell you my name, but most of my bookmarks are fanfic or work-related, and thus not particularly interesting to a general audience).
I'm sitting here with my laptop on my lap (atop its cooling station) with a headset on (I was recording some spoken stuff) and typing away and I just feel very connected to everything. It's neat.
In other news, it is very cold in DC, and I am ready for the Inauguration to be over, as are, I think, most Washingtonians.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving
"To commemorate a past event you kill an animal and eat it. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." Anya, in "Pangs" Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Except we never really had much pie at our Thanksgivings. I think I was 24 the first time I had pumpkin pie. But I digress.
I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a roof over my head, heat, running water, suffrage, the Internet. I have wonderful friends and great parents.
And on Thanksgiving, I like to reflect not only on what I have that I'm thankful for, but on the story of Thanksgiving and on the courage of the people who made this country. The Pilgrims are not my favorite people in history, because Calvinism isn't my favorite thing, but to get on a boat and sail off to an unknown land to build the country you want takes guts. And the countless millions who followed, who came to this land both in search of opportunity and against their will. When I went to Berlin to study, I traveled in the relative luxury of an airplane, I had modern telecommunications to reach my loved ones at home, I'd studied the language for three years and I knew that I was going home again. My immigrant ancestors had none of that. They might never see the faces or hear the voices of their loved ones again. And yet they took that risk in the hopes of a better life for themselves and their descendants. And together they helped to build this country, a country that isn't perfect, but tries to be.
Except we never really had much pie at our Thanksgivings. I think I was 24 the first time I had pumpkin pie. But I digress.
I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a roof over my head, heat, running water, suffrage, the Internet. I have wonderful friends and great parents.
And on Thanksgiving, I like to reflect not only on what I have that I'm thankful for, but on the story of Thanksgiving and on the courage of the people who made this country. The Pilgrims are not my favorite people in history, because Calvinism isn't my favorite thing, but to get on a boat and sail off to an unknown land to build the country you want takes guts. And the countless millions who followed, who came to this land both in search of opportunity and against their will. When I went to Berlin to study, I traveled in the relative luxury of an airplane, I had modern telecommunications to reach my loved ones at home, I'd studied the language for three years and I knew that I was going home again. My immigrant ancestors had none of that. They might never see the faces or hear the voices of their loved ones again. And yet they took that risk in the hopes of a better life for themselves and their descendants. And together they helped to build this country, a country that isn't perfect, but tries to be.
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