Ten Things I Like

Rubin and Ed

Rubin and Ed is a 1991 buddy comedy written and directed in Utah by a local filmmaker named Trent Harris. The film stars Crispin Glover as a weirdo named Rubin Farr, and Howard Hesseman as a a sad-sack named Ed Tuttle. This is a very odd and hilarious film, and it is a true cult classic. It is so unknown that when Crispin Glover appeared in character as Rubin on The Late Show with David Letterman, nobody got the joke, and Crispin Glover was escorted off the set after nearly kicking Letterman in the head while wearing a pair of enormous platform shoes. I think Rubin and Ed is a nearly perfect film.

Mellow Gold

Beck Hansen has been my favorite musician since I was sixteen, and his debut album Mellow Gold is still my favorite album of his. It's an eclectic mix of genres including folk, psychedelic rock, thrash, and hip hop, and the album is buoyed by young Beck's youthful, rebellious energy. The album regularly shifts tones from goofy, to angry, to darkly surreal, to party-ready, and for me at least it is never the least bit boring.

Doc Watson

Doc Watson was an American folk, blues, and bluegrass singer and guitar player from He was born in rural North Carolina in 1923, and died in 2012. My dad played and sang many of his songs, and mimicked his virtuosic-yet-subtle guitar style, and I grew up deeply immersed in his music. He gave me an appreciation for American roots-music that I have found extremely rewarding.

The Things They Carried

I love this book. It's a sort of collection of rambling, semi-autobiographic short stories about the Vietnam War written by Timothy O'brien. It's immersive, sad, poetic, and very anti-war.

The Truman Show

This is my favorite movie, though I'm not entirely sure why. I find it nearly flawless. Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a man who has unknowingly been the star of a massive reality TV show his entire life. His friends, family, acquaintances, and the entire population of the island he lives on are all in on it. The movie approaches the dark subject matter and philosophical implications with a deft hand, and I think it is an extremely interesting, unique, and poignant movie.

Calvin and Hobbes

This comic strip by Bill Waterson is probably the best comic strip of all time. I loved it when I was 7 years old and started reading it for the first time, and I love it even more now that I am older and I can more fully appreciate it's virtues. It has been fueling my imagination, and expanding my vocabulary for almost 17 years.

Louie

I have only recently become acquainted with this show, and I haven't even seen all of the fifth and latest season, but I think it's a very special sitcom. I enjoy Louis CK as a standup comedian, but I think he is a visionary as a writer, director and editor. This show chronicles the life of a divorced father of two and standup comedian living in New York and trying to raise his kids while battling constant existential angst. It's an inventive sitcom, inspired by French New-Wave cinema and the more experimental, cerebral comedy of Steve Martin. I find this show to be incredibly uplifting and inspiring.

New Meadows ID

This is not a piece of media, it's my hometown. I don't know if it counts as part of this assignment, but the syllabus said "ten things", so I'm writing about it. New Meadows is a small town with a population of only 553, located about 2 hours north of Boise. It is not the nicest town, and it has been declining for several decades, but it's located in a beautiful mountain valley, and it's where I grew up. I love it!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

This sitcom isn't for everybody. It's cast of characters is the most loathsome, heinous bunch of individuals to ever defile a TV screen, and it's Seinfeld-on-cocaine style of humor is grating to many viewers. I think it's hilarious, and that the writers do an excellent job of handling the cruel, horrific subject matter and making it comedic while constantly tempting us to love the characters in spite of their multitude of gravely serious faults.

Red Fish Lake ID

This is also not a piece of media, it's a lake in Idaho. My family used to go camping by this lake every summer. My grandpa ran the campground back in the sixties, and my dad used to spend every summer at this lake. I have always kind of felt like this lake and the campground belong to my family. There is a log on the shore of the lake where my dad used to sit and fish for hours. His name is carved on the log. Down the shore a ways there's another log. My uncle's name is carved on that one.