This is a recipe that has so much potential for variation… of ingredients and wine! You’ll notice only the Kick Ass sauce has measurements. Put in more of what you love and less of what you don’t.
Read More →Paul Watches Movies
It’s no mistake that I’ve always been a movie geek. Every Friday in high school we’d head down to the Pickwick Theatre for whatever was showing. When you could rent VHS movies, I became addicted, especially when I lived alone in downtown Chicago – it was my main form of escape. Now, Susan and I look forward to our Sunday matinee in front of our widescreen TV at home.
When done right, a movie is an experience like no other – it can affect you in so many ways, from the plotting to the acting to the writing to the beautiful images and incredible places it takes you.
As a cool little side note, my maternal grandfather started working at Kodak in Rochester, NY in 1910 when he was only 13 years old. He started out as a “sweeper boy” in the Kodak fire department. Everything he learned, he learned on the job and when he retired in the 1970s, he was designing and repairing the big commercial movie developing machines. So I guess movies are in my blood.
The list below reflects about thirty-plus years of serious movie watching, but all the movies aren’t serious – far from it. It doesn’t cover every movie I’ve loved, but rather the ones that have remained burned in my mind’s eye as something truly amazing to see.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
Apocalypse Now (1979) *
Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall
Arrival (2016)
Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker
Baby Driver (2017)
Ansel Elgort, Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm
The Big Sleep (1946)
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall
Blade Runner (1982) *
Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
The Blues Brothers (1980)
John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway
Bridesmaids (2011)
Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren
District 9 (2009)
Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope
Django Unchained (2012)
Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
Ex Machina (2014)
Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac
Fargo (1996)
William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi
Gladiator (2000)
Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall
Harold and Maude (1971)
Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles
The Iron Giant (1999)
Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston
Iron Man (2008)
Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
A Knight’s Tale (2001)
Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell
Léon: The Professional (1994)
Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden
Lost in Translation (2003) *
Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) *
Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle
My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory
O Lucky Man! (1973) *
Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López
The Princess Bride (1987)
Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright
Pulp Fiction (1994)
John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson
Rogue One (2016)
Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
Snowpiercer (2013)
Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Talking Heads
Streets of Fire (1984)
Michael Paré, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis
The Thin Man (1934)
William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan
True Stories (1986)
David Byrne, John Goodman
Unforgiven (1992)
Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman
Whiplash (2014)
Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist
Wonder Woman (2017)
Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman
Zombieland (2009)
Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson
* – Movies about which I have said “Wow, this is the best movie I’ve ever seen!” at one time.
Read More →Paul Reads Words
Reading is one of my great pleasures in life. I take time, every day if possible, to read, even if it’s only just a few minutes. It’s relaxing, expands my mind and my library of experiences and provides a much-needed challenge to my ideas and values.
Way back when, I took a course in speed reading – but really it was just about speed-skimming and not very satisfying at all. I read pretty slowly, but slow and steady wins the race.
Below is an ever-incomplete, always-updated list of fiction and non-fiction that has made a difference in my life. Give a few titles a try! Many thanks to Jess Bybee for requesting this and forcing me to organize this resource and get it posted!
Fiction
7th Sigma
Steven Gould
Age of Madness Series (trilogy)
Joe Abercrombie
American Gods
Neil Gaiman
The Armageddon Rag
George R.R. Martin
Company of Liars
Karen Maitland
Constellation Games
Leonard Richardson
Crooked Little Vein
Warren Ellis
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury
The Doomsday Book
Connie Willis
The Drowned Cities
Paolo Bacigalupi
Easy in the Islands
Bob Shacochis
Farewell, I’m Bound to Leave You: Stories
Fred Chappell
Feed (Newsflesh Trilogoy)
Mira Grant
Fiend
Peter Stenson
The First Law Series (trilogy)
Joe Abercrombie
Freaky Deaky
Elmore Leonard
Gold Bug Variations
Richard Powers
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
Greasy Lake and Other Stories
T. Coraghessan Boyle
I Am One of You Forever
Fred Chappell
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino
Junky
William S. Burroughs
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
J. Ryan Stradal
The Lady in the Lake
Raymond Chandler
The Last Good Kiss
James Crumly
Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America
Brian Francis Slattery
Liminal States
Zach Parsons
Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
The Long Goodbye
Raymond Chandler
The Milkweed Triptych
Ian Trellis
Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology
Bruce Sterling (editor)
Neuromancer trilogy
William Gibson
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman
On Stranger Tides
Tim Powers
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus
Orson Scott Card
The Peripheral
William Gibson
Playing For Keeps
Mur Lafferty
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
River of Gods
Ian McDonald
Sandman Slim novels
Richard Kadrey
Shipbreaker
Paolo Bacigalupi
The Simple Art of Murder
Raymond Chandler
Speaker for the Dead (need to read Ender’s Game first)
Orson Scott Card
Songs of Fire and Ice
George R.R. Martin
Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance
Richard Powers
Time and Again
Jack Finney
The Twenty Year Death
Ariel Winter
Too Like the Lightning
Ada Palmer
Under the Poppy
Kathe Koja
The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi
Non-Fiction
Architecture: Form, Space, Order
Francis Chin
American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields
Rowan Jacobsen
Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us
Maggie Koerth-Baker
Brain Rules
John Medina
Caught in the Middle: America’s Heartland in the Age of Globalism
Richard C. Longworth
The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson
The Education of Henry Adams
Henry Adams
The Elegant Universe
Brian Greene
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S. Thompson
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
James Gleick
Getting Things Done
David Allen
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Joseph Campbell
How Music Works
David Byrne
The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
James Gleick
It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens
Dana Boyd
Justinian’s Flea
William Rosen
Kitchen Confidential
Anthony Bourdain
Life
Keith Richards
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan
Parallel Worlds
Michio Kaku
Reality is Broken
Jane McGonigal
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work
Matthew Crawford
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman
Richard Feynman
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Theodore Roosevelt biography trilogy
Edmund Morris
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell
Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud
The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?
Jared Diamond
Zeitoun
Dave Eggers
If you are interested, like I am, in game development, writing and psychology, here is the great “Game Designer’s Bookshelf” list from the Game Designer’s Workshop: http://boffo.us/gdw/BookshelfByTopic.html.
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We were very fortunate to find a nice rental when we decided to move to Oregon. There are literally zero decent rentals and this one was so cute and just perfect for us.
Read More →Goat Cheese Ravioli
This is one of my favorite summer dishes that is actually a bit time consuming but worth it! We have evolved from using wonton wrappers to making fresh pasta but the wrappers are a quicker way to get these tasty beauties in your mouth.
Read More →Lemony Lemon Pasta with Spinach and Lemons
If you are looking for a lemon kick in all the right ways, this easy and delicious pasta dish hits all the notes!
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