The Best 20 Films of 2015 ............according to me, anyway.............

Yes, it has been more than two months since our last entry!

In film, 2015 was the year of reality as many of the most exceptional films we saw were either documentaries or based on true stories.

There are exceptions, of course, including "Mad Max: Fury Road" chosen as the best film of the year by Bilge Ebiri of "New York" magazine as well as film critics Manohla Dargis and Wesley Morris.

Meanwhile, Amy Nicolson of "The Village Voice" named Quentin Taratino's much-anticipated western "The Hateful Eight" as the third best film of the year even though it did not make the "Film Comment" top 50 list, which had the Todd Haynes film "Carol" as the top film of the year.

Here is our top 20..........since we reside in a small market, we are hoping to catch up as we explain in our entry in our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com which we cheekily entitle "The Best Films of 2015 That We Haven't Seen.".............

1. Listen to Me Marlon (documentary; pict. top)

2. Spotlight

3. Best of Enemies (documentary)

4. Trumbo

5. Steve Jobs (pict. center)

6. The End Of the Tour

7. Mad Max: Fury Road

8. About Elly (Iran)

9. Amy (doc; pict. bottom)

10. The Wolfpack (doc)

11. White God (Hungary)

12. Wild Tales (Argentina)

13. Phoenix (Germany)

14. The Big Short

15. The Hateful Eight

16. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

17. What We Do in the Shadows

18. Time Out of Mind

19. Mistress America

20. Love and Mercy

http://www.filmcomment.com/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com

Sunday Washington Post Comic Strips Survey: Steve Jobs in Hell

Greetings to our blog readers in Cuba, Denmark, and Egypt.....

This week, Scott Hilburn took the brave task of having his comic strip "The Argyle Sweater" take on the complex and surreal topic of what the late Steve Jobs  (pict. top) would have to deal with if he ended up in hell. In the comic strip, which does not have set characters like "Peanuts" or "Garfield," two demons give Jobs an iPhone and play several practical jokes on him through the device which of course irritates the cellphone entrepreneur.

The comic strip "Lio" also took to fantasy escapism with a strip that has Lio, the title character, whistling at his father to look at a shark fin floating in make-shift outdoor pool. The image for this strip that we are using is of two shark fins at a pharmacy in Yokohama, Japan.

Jim Toomey's comic strip "Sherman's Lagoon" regularly features sharks as well. In this week's strip, Sherman, the title character and a shark, tries to talk to his Uncle Phil via Skype and there are technical problems as well as mutual difficulties in finding things to talk about.

Insects also figured prominently in several Sunday strips this week including Keith Knight's autobiographical "Knight Life" in which two mosquitoes (bottom image) try to bite his legs and converse with each other in the process!

Here is our top ten:

1. The Argyle Sweater 

2. Foxtrot

3. WuMo

4. Pearls Before Swine

5. Lio

6. Knight Life

7. Sherman's Lagoon

8. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

9. Candorville

10. Dustin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.comicskingdom.com

http://www.gocomics.com

http://www.kchronicles.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Steve Jobs

Today, we conclude our month-long series of quotes from people who passed away within the calendar year of 2011.


Originally, we were contemplating quoting Kim Jong-Il, the ruthless North Korean dictator whom we actually quoted in 2010 when we were quoting one person from all 32 of the countries in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. We simply couldn't find anyone else from North Korea to quip.

Our quote today though comes from Steve Jobs (1955-2011) who died at age 56 on
Oct. 5, 2011 from complications due to cancer. He was a techno wizard innovator responsible for many gadgets, such as the iPhone, the iPod and the i Pad. He is also the subject of an acclaimed, best-selling biography by Walter Isaacson.


Jobs was also technically (pardon the ironic use of the word) a Middle Eastern American since his biological father was from Syria. Isaacson said that ironically Jobs unknowingly met him as the Syrian immigrant ran a deli near Palo Alto, California,the town with Stanford University where Jobs resided.

Here is the quote:

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

Virtual Postcard from Kentucky- Bennett's Mill Covered Bridge

This is one of the rare times when I post a blog entry with a laptop. Contrary to popular opinion, I am really not that tech savvy even though I run two blogs. Assuredly, the recently deceased Steve Jobs might have been very iritated with me!

While I did see the Mud River Covered Bridge in Milton, WVa, thanks to directions from a senior citizen who once served in the military and was celebrating Veterans Day today, this image is of the Bennett's Mill Covered Bridge near Arentum, Ky, which I have not visited. But, since I am in Kentucky for the weekend, I thought it would be more appropriate.

The bridge is located in Greenup County, home of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, in the far northeast part of the Bluegrass State, on Route 7. It was built in 1855, and restored in 2003. 171 cars pass the bridge each day.

And, since it's getting past midnight here, I better quip Porky Pig and say: "That's all Fffffolks!"