- Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940)
- Rank: #15
- Published: 1925
- Publisher: Charles Scribner’s Sons
- Pages: 182
- First Line: “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.”
- Last Line: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
- ML Edition: #117 (1934 – discontinued in 1939)
- Acclaim: Modern Library Top 100 English-Language Novels of the Century #2; All-TIME List
- Film: 1926 (lost), 1949 (**) , 1974 (**.5) , 2000 (TV movie), 2002 (as G), 2012
- First Read: Spring, 1990
June 2012
29 June, 2012
Top 100 Novels #15: The Great Gatsby
Posted by nighthawk4486 under Erik, film, lists, literature | Tags: film, fitzgerald, lists, literature, top 100 |[12] Comments
25 June, 2012
Thomas at Story Land
Posted by nighthawk4486 under Family, Thomas | Tags: Story Land, Thomas |Leave a Comment

Veronica teaches Thomas to milk a fake cow. I take a picture and refrain from Wisconsin cheese or cow tipping jokes.
So we went to Story Land to celebrate Thomas’ birthday.
If you’re not from this area, Story Land is a nice little amusement park that happens to be in the middle of nowhere. Well, in the middle of the White Mountains. Yet, somehow, even though I am roaming everywhere in the Fox Cities (pop. 360,000), in this valley tucked up in a mountain range in northern New Hampshire (pop. 185,000), I had perfect phone reception.
To get back to the point, we had a nice time. It’s an amusement park based around fairy tales. Well, the older parts of the park are based around fairy tales. We went on some rides, played with some water, had a nice Sunday out. (I don’t know which surprised me more about the park though – that they let people bring in outside food or that they actually have designated smoking sections inside the park.)
The Cinderella aspects of the park (there is a castle and a pumpkin ride – the picture to the right is not the ride, it’s a designated picture spot – the actually pumpkin ride coach holds something like 8 people – it was quite sizable) worked nicely – Thomas and I have been slowly watching our way through the Disney Animated Films and we just finished Cinderella on Friday.
There is also a video here of Thomas and V on the flying shoe ride. There’s not much action to it, so you are forewarned.
20 June, 2012
It might seem incredible, but Thomas is now 8.
For those of you who haven’t seen him in a while, he’s gotten pretty big. He’s now 4’4 1/2″ (pretty much the same height I was on my 8th birthday).
This was also the last day of school, so there was lots of excitement. Thanks to everyone who called or sent him a card or otherwise wished him a happy birthday. Tomorrow he and Veronica are going to the Museum of Science (to make up for him missing the field trip there while we were in Wisconsin) and on Sunday all three of us are headed to Storyland in New Hampshire.
15 June, 2012
The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 2003
Posted by nighthawk4486 under Academy Awards, Erik, film, lists | Tags: 2003, academy awards, eastwood, film, lists, lord of the rings, peter jackson, year in film |[9] Comments
The 73rd annual Academy Awards, for the film year 2003. The nominations were announced on 27 January 2004 and the awards were held on February 29, 2004.
Best Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Mystic River
- Lost in Translation
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- Seabiscuit
Most Surprising Omission: Cold Mountain
Best Eligible Film Not Nominated: City of God
Best Eligible English-Language Film Not Nominated: In America
Rank (out of 84) Among Best Picture Years: #4
11 June, 2012
The Year in Film: 2003
Posted by nighthawk4486 under Academy Awards, Erik, film, lists | Tags: 2003, academy awards, eastwood, film, golden globes, lists, lord of the rings, peter jackson, tarantino, year in film |[16] Comments

“I am no man.” The reason that Thomas would have been Eowyn had he been a girl. And you only think I’m kidding.
My Top 20:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Mystic River
- Lost in Translation
- City of God
- In America
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- Finding Nemo
- Kill Bill Volume 1
- A Mighty Wind
- Whale Rider
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- American Splendor
- The Station Agent
- Dirty Pretty Things
- The Triplets of Belleville
- Nowhere in Africa
- Tokyo Godfathers
- The Barbarian Invasions
- The Last Samurai
- Divine Intervention
4 June, 2012
We’ve had to go out of town for personal reasons. If you know us, send an e-mail and we’ll explain. If you just like to read the posts, check back next week for the next year in film (2003), the next Top 100 Novel (Great Gatsby), and whatever random shit that comes into my head and comes out of my keyboard. In the meantime, enjoy a random picture of Thomas.
1 June, 2012
Top 100 Novels #16: Anna Karenina
Posted by nighthawk4486 under Erik, film, lists, literature | Tags: film, foreign novels, lists, literature, russian literature, tolstoy, top 100 |[4] Comments
Anna Karenina (Анна Каренина)
- Author: Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910)
- Rank: #16
- Published: 1877
- Publisher: The Russian Messenger
- Pages: 838
- First Line: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
- Last Line: “I’ll get angry in the same way with the coachman Ivan, argue in the same way, speak my mind inappropriately, there will be the same wall between my soul’s holy of holies and other people, even my wife, I’ll accuse her in the same way of my own fear and then regret it, Ill fail in the same way to understand with my reason why I pray, and yet I will pray – but my life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of it, is not only not meaningless, as it was before, but has the unquestionable meaning of the good which it is in my power to put into it!”
- ML Edition: #37 (four dust jackets – 1930, 1931, 1942, 1966), Giant #23 (three dust jackets – 1935, 1963, 1966), tan cover, gold hardcover, Modern Library Classics
- Film: many, including 1935 (***), 1948 (***), 1967 (***), 1997 (**) and 2012 (****)
- First Read: Summer, 2000