Ten Best Films of 1991- Slacker Changed Everything

The year 1991 was a groundbreaking one for the independent film movement, which has sadly been taken over by big Hollywood studios. And, films like "Slacker" and "My Own Private Idaho" helped make the year the equivalent of 1939 for the indy movement. There were some good Hollywood films as well. Two which did not make the list are "Thelma and Louise" and "JFK."

Here is our choices for the ten best of 1991:

1. Slacker (Richard Linklater)

2. Raise the Red Lantern (China. Zhang Yimou)

3. Night on Earth (Jim Jarmusch)

4. My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)

5. Barton Fink (Coen Bros.)

6. Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg)

7. An Angel at My Table (New Zealand. Jane Campion)

8. Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)

9. Bugsy (Barry Levinson)

10. Cape Fear (Martin Scorsese)

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Syria is Still a Mess

The following disturbing tweet came from "The New Yorker" this afternoon:

"Reports from inside Syria: "There was nothing but shooting and sound of explosion, no water, no electricity."

Turkey, my late father's country, has brought in 8,500 refugees from Syria so far. Many of the refugees are staying at a camp in Boynuegin in the Hatay province. I was not aware that actress/humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie had visisted the camps back on June 17.

The image above is a mosque in Aleppo, Syria, the country's second largest city.

SIDEBAR: I just finished reading comic writer Jane Borden's debut memoir "I Tottally Meant To Do That," which I got from the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC. The book is about Borden's transition as she relocated from Greensboro, NC, to New York. In an interview with "The New York Daily News," Borden said: "Moving to New York City is an adjustment for anyone. But it's particularly a tough transition when you come from the South."

Quote of the Day: Anton Chehkov

Los Angeles Theatre Works (LATW) is releasing an audio production of Anton Chehkov's very famous play "The Three Sisters" this week. The cast includes Jon Hamm from AMC's "Mad Men."

Here is the quote from the Russian legend:

"One usually dislikes a play while writing it, but afterward it grows on one. Let others judge and make decisions."

THE DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME DEPT: As someone who got into the bad habit of 'spying on the enemy' a few years ago, I actually get emails from right wing groups I hate and despise. One of these groups is the pompously-named Campaign for Liberty, based in Bristow, Va., outside Washington, DC. I got a chain email from the group leader John Tate, and I simply responded (and, I am not going to retract it!) by saying: "You bozos have moved so far right that Barry Goldwater would be a hippy now."

This actually made me realize that I wasn't sure how to spell hippy. The Urban Dictionary spells the term which is in reference to '60s era pot-smoking beatnicks 'hippie,' but both spellings exist at various places on the net.

SIDEBAR: I've definitely lived in a unique life as a human secularist with Muslim heritage (I am a Turkish-American) living in a very Christian fundamentalist part of North Carolina. But, during Ramadan, when Muslims have to go without food and water until sundown, I both appreciate what Muslim endure and I take delight in the fact that as a human secularist I am not subjected to their religious rituals. Of course, people like the Rev. Terry Jones, the Koran-burning minister in Gainesville, Fla., hates people like me just as much!

Last week, NPR's signature show "All Things Considered," reported that Omar Shahin, an imam (Muslim cleric) in Phoenix said that many people from his mosque were asking him if they could drink water given that it was 105 degrees outside. Shahin told NPR that if one was feeling sick from the dehydration, that it was indeed acceptable to go for the Dasani bottle.

In the same report, Johar Abdul-Malik, who is the director of an Islamic center in Falls Church, Va., near Washington, DC, said that he missed his soy tea green lattes at Starbucks.

Next Ten Films in My Netflix Que

Here are the next ten films in my Netflix que. I have been a customer with the company since 2005, but like many subscribers, I felt frustrated by their recent, sudden shift in pricing strategy. I downgraded from three dvds at a time to two, so it may well take a longer amount of time to see these films, but here is where they are in que:

1. "Dogtooth" (Greece. 2009. Dir-Giorgis Lanthimos)

2. "Bhutto" (doc. 2010. Duane Baughman)

3. "Days and Nights" (Egypt. 1955. Dir- Henry Barakat)

4. "Benny's Video" (Austria. 1992. Dir- Michael Haneke)

5. "Man Push Cart" (2005. Dir- Ramin Bahrani)

6. "The Stoning of Soraya M." (2008. Dir- Cyrus Nowrasteh)

7. "Electra, My Love" (Hungary. 1974. Dir- Miklos Jancso)

8. "Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven" (Germany. 1975. Dir- R.W. Fassbinder)

9. "Husbands" (1970. Dir- John Cassavetes)

10. "Pumping Iron" (doc. 1977. Dir- George Butler)

In the Whoops Dept., Part 3

Perhaps, I should have just stayed home and read the last four issues of "Rolling Stone!"

In the Whoops Dept., Part Two

&*%$#@#$%^&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made the same mistake again.

In the Whoops Dept

We just posted an entry with a great quip from the underground comic artist R.Crumb which was meant for this blog by accident on "The Daily Vampire." But, we will post it here as well: "When I come up against the real world, I just vacillate."

In my case, I just blog!