Top 10 List on ranker

Okay so I've composed a new list for Ranker.com

This particular list is a subject that's very close to my heart... the top 10 movies most unfairly crapped on.

So how's about giving it a read?!

I have an opening preface to a novel idea that I'll be posting tomorrow afternoon.

Dream a little Dream of Me

"...living in that foggy, jumbled blur which is a whole lot like the ragged edge of sleep, that gray zone between light & dark, or between sleeping and waking, or living & dying, where you know you're not unconscious any more but don't know yet what day it is or who you are or what's the use of coming back at all..." - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I am currently reading One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I've owned this book for roughly four years but never read it. I bought it at a random yard sale my friend Dylan and I passed by while walking around Media. Why did I post that particular quote? I cant' 100% say. As I read this book, I came to that passage... the only passage that was highlighted. It does however seem quite suitable. I was going to write about my favorite moment of each day... is that point where you're half awake/half asleep. You know you can get up but you force yourself to finish your dream and stay asleep. At that point the dream isn't a "reality" to you anymore, but it's more like a movie playing before you in front of your minds eye. It's that world you wished you lived in sometimes, other times it's a world of horror.

My dreams have never made much sense to me. But i felt like perhaps I'd write a little bit about the dreams I have had in my past. My most recent dreams have been... well... strange to say the least. Here's my favorite most recent dreams:

1) I dreamt a few days ago that the back of my head for some unexplainable reason grew a mouth and eyes. Whenever I spoke, the mouth on the back of my head would move too. That dream freaked me out so much that when I woke up... I literally rubbed the back of my head to make sure there was no face

2) I also recently dreamt I was about to win a spelling bee... but it got interrupted when The Blob came and attacked. I was forced to fight the blob and save the town... no complaints about that dream, it kicked ass.

There's two types of dreams that have been re-occurring and I'm sure when I finally have a nervous breakdown and see a therapist they'll explain to me the deeper means to these:

1) the current reoccurring dreams always involve my teeth falling out... that's just weird

2) Ever since my sophmore year of high school, I've had dreams where I'll be at random locations (School, family party, the mall, a party at a friends house, etc). The location is always some place with high traffic. And in all these dreams, I'm always laying on the ground with my eyes closed. I hear people say how I'm "asleep" and then they have conversations. The entire dream is just me listening in on their conversations. I (not so) shamefully most admit that since roughly my freshmen year of college... I have actually done this very tactic at parties where I felt out of place.

There's one more dream that I think should be mentioned. This dream makes no sense to me. As far as I know, there is no deeper meaning to it. But it is the scariest dream I think I've ever had. In retrospect... it's not scary. But I had this dream probably when I was only 5/6 years old but to this day I still distinctly remember it. This dream made me afraid to go to bed for DAYS after having it. This build up is simply to make you really let down (and maybe laugh) when you read how kinda lame the dream is.

I was 5 or 6 years old. I was standing in an alley with Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters. Suddenly Slimer came out and flew at Peter (much like in the first movie) except this time... he didn't slime Peter... he snapped him in half. As if that sight of a man being snapped down the middle wasn't frightening enough... he wasn't dead. Both halves worked and acted perfectly fine. Peter was complaining about how much it hurt but not in a screaming way, in a monotone, almost sarcastic way. Meanwhile the legs where just sorta walking around. I remember eventually he got up and started crawling towards me and that's when I woke up screaming.

I think dreams are such an interesting thing. They always make me wonder about my own decisions and wants. I think everyone has suffered from what I call post-dream depression or "the puppy wasn't real" syndrome. When I was younger I had at least 2 dreams where my family had gotten a new adorable puppy. The dreams were so vivid that when I woke up... I was depressed the dog in fact didn't exist. One of the times, i literally believed the dog did exist for the first few minutes of being awake and the depression hit in a sudden wave.

What I really don't understand however is the love in my dreams. I very rarely have sex dreams or "wet dreams". In fact the amount of "shit, gotta change my sheets" moments in my 24+ years of existence could be counted on a single hand. It seems as if I tend to cock block myself, even in the realm of dreams. The most recent was a dream in which Sarah Silverman kept throwing herself all over me, but I told her I "couldn't do that to Jimmy (kimmel)". The weirdest part of this is that I'm not really a Jimmy Kimmel fan. Don't watch his show, or movies or anything. I don't hate the guy but I mean, his ex-girlfriend wanting to bang me should have NO barring on me taking up the offer.

Frequent readers of my blogs, or even people unfortunate enough to have given me their screen name and thus get Emo-y IMs from me, know that I don't have what I would consider "a luck filled love life." There's currently someone in my life who I'm very, very much in love with me. This can hardly be called news. I can own up to being "in love" with at least... 4 different girls in the last 3 years. I still stand by my feelings of love towards those women. There's something very different about this particular girl though. I like (love) her, from the best I can tell she however simply enjoys my company. This isn't really particularly different than the previous "loves". Also unlike the previous "loves" there are countless moments where I second guess her feelings towards me and think that maybe... just maybe... she loves me in return. But I write it off as wishful thinking and move on with my life.

However, normally, my friends and family members who meet the past girls... tend to echo my thoughts "it's just wishful thinking Matt" they'll say. However with this new girl... everyone sees the same thing that i see. They see "A perfect couple" or "someone who clearly is in love with me"... I cried a little when my sister texted me recently saying "I hope you too end up together. You're so cute together and you seem so much happier when you're around her". It almost seems like the only person who DOESN'T agree to these opinions would be the girl in question... and I'm fairly certain she tends to get last say on her relationship status.

This girl. This person who I "love". Has never, ever made a cameo in any dreaming. Not once as far as I can recall. Not in a sexual way, not in a friendly side-kick way... not even in the background of an extra to the best of my knowledge. I spent most of my day at work thinking about her and her moving and how there's so much I wish I could say but it wouldn't change anything. I've written a rough draft of a screen play about this person, mentally made a mix CD for when she leaves in a few months... but yet... at night when I go to bed and can go into a whatever world I want to be in... she is never there.

I'm not a deep person, I'm not subtle, I'm not even very smart. But I really wish that I could understand why I feel like any of this matters. I am fairly certain this girl is going to move away, and our friendship will suffer and end. Not on bad terms... but strictly a distance issue. And strictly because, I can't help but feel like I'm a very interchangable and replaceable person in her life that will easily be forgotten. I'll however never forget her. And at the end of the day, that's my biggest problem.

The Rob Gordon Traits

When I was in high school, back before the world of facebook and twitter… everyone in the world had a livejournal. I had such a livejournal and I would update it quite frequently. I specifically remember when I was in my senior year of high school, my last class of the day was a computer education class. It was the easiest A in the world. In a 45 minute class we were required to write one page of text and print it. After that if we had time left over in class (roughly 40 minutes or so) we could just go online. So basically the class was “sit on the internet and get an A”.

I’ll never forget taking a quiz on a website to post on my LJ (what us cool kids called LiveJournal in those days) titled “What John Cusack Character are you?” All I wanted to be was Lloyd Dubler or maybe even LaneMeyer. The result was Rob Gordon from High Fidelity. I remember being upset. Don’t get me wrong, I love High Fidelity but Rob Gordon’s character is a selfish asshole… was I really that? I mean I guess I do love music but still!

Recently though I’ve realized that the survey is extremely accurate. I think most guys wish they were Lloyd Dubler or Lane Meyer because that’s clearly want women want (or act like they want). Lane Meyer is a nerdy guy who gets a little obsessed but he doesn’t let his short comings get the best of him and at the end of the day skis the K12 and gets the French girl (who was far hotter than his original girlfriend anyway). What guy wouldn’t want that ending in their life?

Then there’s Lloyd Dubler, no one exemplifies undying love like Lloyd. The infamous “In your Eyes” moment is gut-wrenching at times because when look at his face it is a face of someone who doesn’t want to live. He doesn’t just like Diane Court, he doesn’t lust over her, he is head-over heels in love with her.

But Rob Gordon? Rob has had multiple relationships (easily more that Lloyd and Lane combined) but he’s never totally satisfied. I re-watched High Fidelity and it saddened me how much I related to Rob. The dialogue he says is painfully close to thoughts I’ve had myself.

I’ve had friends fuck girls they knew I liked. I have girls that are friends in my life that I want nothing more than to be with, but I know it won’t happen and instead have to force smiles when they move on to their new relationship. Granted my relationship life is very limited compared to Rob, but the amount of crushes that I’ve had are quite comparable.

I think at the end of the day, most guys are Rob Gordon, whether they admit it or not. They wonder where they went wrong in relationships, how they fucked up with this person or that person. Who is the new guy your ex is with? Was she seeing him while you were both together? I’ve even wanted to track down some of the past relationships and see if they’re unhappy, just to make myself feel better. Men are strange creatures indeed.

I guess that survey all those years ago were right. I’m just like Rob Gordon… just without a record store.

Sex, Porn, Addiction and Murder: The Last Nail in my Coffin

Before reading this it should be noted that if you are a relative or family member that it might be a good idea to skip this particular blog entry.

Recently (today) I made a very weird DVD purchase. While I was in the Best Buy my eyes ventured toward a DVD called American Serial Killers: Portraits of Evil. I’ve always had a very bizarre interest in Serial Killers, a fascination that apparently only Chuck Klosterman and John Waters can relate to. There’s something about how evil someone must be to not just kill another human being, but further do the things involved in these cases such as eating people, making soup bowls of skulls or having sex with corpses. When I purchased this DVD my friend Graham made a statement “Good purchase, it’s sure to put that final nail in the never getting laid coffin”. Well Graham, if that wasn’t true with that DVD purchase… this blog entry is sure to put the nail in there.

In retrospective this DVD I purchased will be in my collection forever. And since I alphabetize my DVD collection it’s safe to say this DVD will always be on the first 2 shelves. No matter what I do, any time I meet someone, this will be one of the first DVDs that they see and I’ll most likely lie and say that I bought it as a conversation starter and if they read my blog than they will immediately call me out and force me to explain my purchase. In the show How I Met Your Mother Neil Patrick Harris’ character Barney Stinson wanted to make his house completely uninviting to women and thus proudly displayed his porno collection. I can’t help but wonder if that would seem less weird to people than having a DVD chronicling the worst examples of humankind. Ironically sex is typically associated with both.

What if I started displaying porn (if I owned any) proudly? Why should that be a problem? What man doesn’t watch porn? God knows that I watch it. I’d hardly call myself an addict. I don’t need to watch it every day, I’ve even gone multiple weeks without it, a fact that has shocked many of my male friends. I think that porn is a wonderful thing actually. It gives you a chance to see things that you probably would NEVER do if you had a chance. I, for example, end up watching a girl getting double teamed because well, I’d never ever want to have sex with someone while another guy is there (even if he’s in on the action). To Steal a joke from Mike Birbiglia (because I 100% agree with him) “I know when I’m done having sex my first thought is ‘thank god, no one else saw that’”. I’d also never have a three-way with two girls because I refuse to disappoint two women at once.

I don’t understand the addiction to porn. But I really don’t understand the notion that having an addiction to porn is necessarily a bad thing. I mean I’m not saying it’s a good thing because an addiction to anything is bad, but we all have addictions. I’m addicted to collecting crap like DVDs, CDs, Books and Comic Books that help make me look like a pretencious geek. But what is the harm in someone wanting to look at two people fuck so he can give himself some loving? He’s not hurting anyone. He could be out there acting like one of the people in my American Serial Killers DVD but he’s not. And one could argue that he’d actually get laid more, I mean John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer got lots sex out of it. I’d put Ed Gein on here but I don’t think fucking a corpse counts has having sex, does it?

Is there any point to this blog? Well the answer is, is there ever really? The answer to that is, of course not. If there’s nothing else it all comes down to the original statement by Graham, this has been the last nail in my coffin.

What I've heard past & present

Top 10 Albums of 2009

10. Bishop Allen: Grrrr - This is admittedly not their best album. I didn't like the album when I first heard it, however after seeing them live and hearing what these songs they way they've been intended to hear and realized they are brilliant!

Recommended Track: Cue the Elephants

9. Ben Folds: University A Cappella - After seeing the video of a college a capella group singing his cover of "Bitches Ain't Shit" ben folds decided to have an online contest where a capella groups could submit their videos and he'd pick the best ones and put them on a CD. Some tracks are better than others and I was extremely disappointed by the rendition of "Evaporated"

Recommended Track: The University of Georgia performing You Don't Know Me

8. Norah Jones: The Fall - This CD is completely different than anything Norah Jones has previously released. It focuses more on Pop than the Jazz and Country of her past albums. Norah Jones will never record another "Come Away With Me" but that doesn't make this album any less interesting.

Recommended Track: Chasing Pirates

7. Flight of the Conchords: I Told You I was Freaky - Flight of the Conchords' second season was less than stellar. Compared to how brilliant the first season was the second season felt rushed and certainly lacked the laugh out loud jokes that make the first season so enjoyable. Regardless their second album is still a great album and not as a comedy CD but as a musical accomplishment it is impressive, perhaps even more impressive than their debut album last year.

Recommended Track: Sugarlumps

6. Weezer: Raditude - People give Weezer a bunch of crap for not being "Pinkerton Weezer" but what makes no sense to me is that this album is literally Weezer doing what Weezer does best, making good catchy songs. Is every single track on Raditude a winner? No, but Weezer (much like Green day and Blink 182) are always above average even at their worst.

Recommended Tracks: The Girl Got Hot

5. Lonely Island: Incredibad - Lonely Island has always been well loved for their songs on SNL. Between Lazy Sunday, Dick in a Box and I'm On a Boat. When they announced a CD release it was tough to decide if it was going to be hilarious or a disappointment, but with this release it's proof that Lonely Island to Hip Hop is what Tenacious D is to Metal. I believe you could play this CD at a party and no one would know it was a comedy CD unless they listened to the lyrics

Recommended Track: Punch you in the Jeans

4. Relient K: Forget and Not Slow Down - Relient K of now is not the same band I saw in a church basement a decade ago. Ten years ago the band was a christian blink 182, they were young and weird and silly, occasionally they'd talk about God but they more mostly about a G-rated good time. Now they're mature and writing concept albums and this is their finest record as the "new Relient K". It's a story of a break-up and a break-down and then a rebuild.

Recommended Track: Part of It

3. Mewithoutyou: It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright! - Mewithoutyou is another band that has changed quite a bit over the years. For two albums they were poetic post-hardcore screamo, suddenly, they stopped screaming and put down their electric guitars for acoustic guitars. A few years ago this change occurred but with their newest album under the production/guest vocals of "Brother" Danielson Smith the band created one of the most magical CDs of the decade channelling elements of Neutral Milk Hotel and other alt-folk indie rockers

Recommended Track: The Fox, The Crow & The Cookie

2. The March Hare: Mister Nimbus - No band breaking up upsets me more than The March Hare. Not enough people know who this band is because they were an unsigned indie band from Philadelphia, they were a band for almost 4 years before finally releasing their first (and last) LP. It is one of the most amazing and well constructed albums I've ever heard. Everytime I listen to it, it provides me something new to love about it.

Recommended Track: Dial 9-11

1. fun. - Aim & Ignite - When the Format broke up and I heard that Nate had formed a new band featuring members of Anathallo & Steel Train I felt there was no way the album would be a disappointment. As it got closer and closer to the CD release I started worrying it would disappointing like the Star wars Prequels... thankfully the former thought was the correct one. Every single second of this album is brilliant, every line of lyric, every plug of a string all of it. It's amazing from start to finish.

Recommended Track: Besides the whole fucking album... The Gambler or Be Calm

TOP 10 CDS of 1999

1. The Get Up Kids: Something to write Home About - The Get Up Kids is the greatest Emo CD ever written and easily one of the top 100 greatest CD ever made, everyone should own this album if they don't already.
2. The Ataris: Blue Skies, Broken Hearts, next 12 Exits - This isn't the Atari's best album in my opinion (99% of Punk Music fans will disagree with me) but regardless it's an amazing album. It contains the song San Damis High School Football Rules which is the greatest pop punk song ever written.
3. Eminem: The Slim Shady LP - I think that "My Name Is..." might very well be the greatest debut single ever. This album has some of the greatest tongue-in-cheek word play in rap history.
4. Blink 182: Enema of the State - This is the album that made Blink 182 the biggest band in the world for a while and with good reason, it's catchy and fun. We can only hope that with their new album they can still keep it as fun as this album.
5. Limp Bizkit: Significant Other - Limp Bizkit has become the butt of various jokes now about the music scene but this album is incredible. Limp Bizkit is NOT Fred Durst... its all about the visionary musical styles of Wes Borland
6. Jimmie’s Chicken Shack: Bring Your Own Stereo - The entire album is about Jimi's old girlfriend, I'm sorry that he got his heart broke but if it means that the music was going to be this amazing then I'm glad it happened
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication - This is when the band really started to shine as more than just a wacky group of California musicians
8. Fenix*TX - One of the Original Punk-Ass bands singing songs like "The rooster song" which starts every line with "I gotta big cock"
9. Dogwood: More than Conquerors - The lead vocalist always leaves something to be desired by he's got alot of power in his off-key singing.
10. “Weird Al” Yankovic: Running with Scissors - Possibly one of Al's greatest albums

What I've Seen past and present

10. Community College  - Nobody has seen or heard of this movie because it was made by my friends in New Jersey. It's an original and funny movie that works almost like a live-action Calvin & Hobbes constantly dancing between fantasy and reality. I think in time it can become a real cult classic.

9. Watchmen - Not everyone loved Watchmen but I for one felt this was the best movie adaptation of the comic you could ever possibly get. I think we also got a better ending out of this movie than we did in the comic not to mention pitch-perfect performances of characters we've loved for years.

8. Funny People - While the movie is admittedly very long and feels like two different movies combined into one it's the heart of the film that really makes it memorable. The best part of this movie is the way it uses real footage of it's actors to blur the lines of reality in a touching film.

7. Zombieland - Someone once told me this was the best zombie movie of all time. I don't agree with that particular statement but it is one of the more well written ones in recent time. I think that the 2nd half of the movie is much more entertaining than the first half specifically when the film picks up stem with a very unexpected but hilarious cameo

6. The Hangover - It was advertised as a really offensive in your face comedy from the same people who gave us Road Trip and Old School. While it had offensive humor it wasn't like the typical college humor gross out. It was a smart, well-written and compelling mystery full with unexpected twists and turns and hilarious one liners.

5. Crank 2 - I'll admit that Crank and Crank 2 are not the most brilliant movies ever written but I will say that I will NEVER have as much fun watching a movie as I did the first time I watched Crank 2 in the theaters. The entire film plays like a giant fuck you to the typical action genre. It's unrealistic, fast-paced, violent and crude and it doesn't give a shit about it. That's the true charm.

4. District 9 - I managed to avoid almost everything about this movie so when I finally saw it I was legitimately surprised as to what it was about. What I thought was going to just be an alien war film actually turned out to be an interesting and touching picture about immigration and human rights. The documentary style ads such an interesting level of realism and the interviews early on pull you in wondering what happened to the main character.

3. Up - Pixar seems to almost never be able to do wrong. Everyone told me multiple times that it's impossible to cry during Up. They were absolutely write. Every emotion moment hits each chord so well that it's hard to not get teary-eyed every 15 minutes or so. Pixar created a children's adventure film that's also a more touching love story than anything Nicholas Sparks ever wrote.

2. Adventureland - Poor Advertising practically murdered this film before it had a chance. Adventureland is a relatable story of post college life. It's greatest appeal is that there is no villain in this film, even the characters we're supposed to dislike are likeable. If only this wasn't advertised as "Superbad and Waiting in an amusement park"

1. (500) Days of Summer - One of the best stories ever written about a break-up is so perfectly constructed around the motions of loss. It jumps around and tells the story in an almost pitch-perfect way with great songs, great performances and wonderful fantasy elements. In the same company as Eternal Sunshine, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Annie Hall

In retrospect... ten years ago, these are the best movies from 1999

10. Being John Malkovich - Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman give us one of the most bizarre mind-fuck films ever

9. Office Space - Working in a cubic never looked so awful but Mike Judge's directoral debut is the ultimate work-rebellion story

8. Man on the Moon - Jim Carey brings the best performance of his life in this telling of Andy Kaufman's life. Extremely touching and well written.

7. Run Lola Run - The brilliant foreign film teaching us in 3 different version of the same story about how the smallest little thing could change the course of an event.

6. Titus - Shakespeare has never seemed so violent and outrageous. Where Shakespeare's original lacks in story the adapation makes up in appearance

5. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut - The South Park boys hit the big screen in a musical comedy that is better written than any of the mainstream musicals in the last few years (I'm looking at you Hairspray)

4. American Pie - The most honest high school film not written by John Hughes. The characters are relatable and their personal growth is touching

3. The Iron Giant - Brad Bird proved his brilliance in this 2-D film that mixes comedy, sci-fi and mixes lots of heart to create a wonderful fantasy that leaves you wanting more each viewing

2. Election - One of the darkest high school films ever made. While American Pie and John Hughes films are touching Election shows the darkness in high school hiarchy.

1. Fight Club - This very well might be one of the best movies of the 90's. It will be a film that is watched and re-watched and studied over and over again for years to come.

and a season for change

It's incredible how the holidays can make some people (ie: Myself) become very emotional and reflective. I spend roughly 8 or 9 hours with my family for Thanksgiving and it leads to me running back to my blog that hasn't been touched since July. Is this a return to form? Not likely, it's simply me finally having something to say. Much has happened over roughly 6 months of time. I've made new friends, made plans of the future, made DVD purchases and started new jobs. I've even witness some major celebrities die. This is about death and influence.

This thanksgiving I was on the verge of crying at least three different times. All three of those times were due to some form of death be it real or fictional people. All of these incidents were related to Television and movies which is sad. I almost feel like Peter Sellers in Being There. The first incident was during my breakfast with the family, we finished up and I was helping my mom clean the table. While I cleaned I told her all about the film Up. Without even watching the movie but simply reflecting on the first 15 minutes I got teary-eyed. When I spoke of the undying love that Carl had for Ellie, I couldn't help but wish for a similar love to enter my life. Someone whom I've described in a previous blog about Before Sunset. I know that I won't be alone forever, but with every passing day the patience to wait for someone to love gets harder and harder.

Shortly after cleaning the dishes my mother wanted to watch the Sesame Street: 40 years of Sunny Days DVD that I had recently purchased. I told her i consider it to be the greatest DVD in my DVD collection. (For those of you curious the rest of the top 10 goes: 2. Clerks X, 3. The Muppet Show: Season 1, 4. Kaiju Big Battle Volume 1, 5. Marx Brothers: Silver Screen Collection, 6. The State: The Complete Series, 7. Monster Squad, 8. Tenacious D: Complete Masterworks Volume 1, 9. Monty Python & the Holy Grail, 10. Undeclared: the Complete Series) There is a segment on the DVD that has made me cry every single time I've seen it, it's the infamous sequence in which Big Bird discovers that Sesame Street resident Mr. Hooper has died. What makes the scene all the more emotionally heart-wrenching is the fact that the actor who played Mr. Hooper really had died and the cast members who are speaking about him are clearly emotional over the lose of their very good and close friend/co-worker.  This to me also shows the brilliance behind a man like Jim Henson. He gave us incredibly realistic characters out of nothing more than clothe. I think every person can relate to the Muppets in some way and in most cases everyone can be compared to at least one Muppet. That however is an essay for another day.

Finally I got my grandmother's house where I had some lunch, afterwards I went down in the basement where my family was watching television. As they flipped through the channels I realized something very strange. Almost every channel seemed to be playing a John Hughes movie. Uncle Buck was on one channel, Planes, Trains & Automobiles on another channel, a Home Alone Marathon on FX. This was all the more upsetting because John Hughes death this fall was the first time that I've gotten upset at the loss of a celebrity in years. There are three speeches or dialogue exchanges from the three movies that I named that truly showed the brilliance beauty behind John Hughes that will make his death all the more upsetting to me.

Uncle Buck

"I don't think I want to know a six-year-old who isn't a dreamer, or a sillyheart. And I sure don't want to know one who takes their student career seriously. I don't have a college degree. I don't even have a job. But I know a good kid when I see one. Because they're ALL good kids, until dried-out, brain-dead skags like you drag them down and convince them they're no good. You so much as scowl at my niece, or any other kid in this school, and I hear about it, and I'm coming looking for you!"

What's not to love about this comment. So many times in my life I've felt like teachers and other adults have looked down at me and my friends for still believing in ourselves. We allow ourselves to work terrible jobs just so we can spend the weekends writing, drawing and filming all hoping to one day be something important. John Hughes knew the importance of that and saw the way that some people see being a "day-dreamer" and "having an active imagination" as being a "bad kid".

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

"You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I'm an easy target. Yeah, you're right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you... but I don't like to hurt people's feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I'm not changing. I like... I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. 'Cause I'm the real article. What you see is what you get"

I don't know if it's the dialogue, John Candy's delivery or a combination of the both but this is my all-time favorite moment in a movie. In my life (and I'm sure everyone else's) we've found people who are so unhappy and negative. As often as I get depressed or upset sometimes, I still try to be a caring and understanding individual. So many times I've thought this speech in my head when dealing with people who seem to hate everyone and everything. John Hughes always did love the types of outcasts that the rest of the world turned their shoulder on and nothing speaks that better than this monologue.

Home Alone

To write everything that is said in the scene I want to cover would take up fair too much space. It's close enough to christmas for you to pop your copy of Home Alone in (come on, you know you own it and if you don't what the hell are you doing!?) and watch it. The scene that touched me is the scene where Marley (Kevin's creepy neighbor) and Kevin are talking in the church. Marley opens up about not having seen his son in years and being afraid to call him and apologize and with the complete innocence of an 8-year old Kevin simply suggests that he try it anyway. 

John Hughes loved children. It was clear in everything he wrote. Almost every movie was a love letter to kids from 8 to 18. Home Alone shows his understanding of childhood innocence better than any film before it or after it.

It's now 7PM on Thanksgiving night, I have to work Black Friday tomorrow but I don't care because I am now... officially in the Christmas Spirit.