Thursday, May 31, 2012

JOE MANGANIELLO | Men's Health photos

From True Blood to Magic Mike, there's no denying that Joe Manganiello is one of the hottest men in the world. Scruffy and with a bad boy image, this guys actually plays nice gentle giant roles. But in this month's Men's Health, the magazine has decided to milk the superhero image of the hunk and give the readers something more to enjoy. (*wink wink) :o)

Well, here he is. Enjoy! Toink! :o)



 

Terry suspended 3 games by UEFA


John Terry will miss the first 2 games of UEFA competitions next year, after being handed a 3 match suspension. He already missed Chelsea's final against Bayern Munich, which saw Chelsea being crowned Champions of Europe for the first time. The games which he's going to be successful are the final of the Super Cup against Atletico Madrid and the first game of the Champions League group stage. He was sent of for violent behavior, according to the referee report, and that's why he was handed a 3-match suspension. However the red card did not affect the outcome of the game as Chelsea drew with Barcelona to go through to the final against all odds. They won also the final with 4 players suspended which were John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Meireles and Ramires.

IF ONLY?...JOEY BARTON WOULD'VE BEEN A PERFECT REPLACEMENT FOR FRANK LAMPARD


If QPR's captain had really tried to be out of trouble, he would've been the right man to replace Frank Lampard, not with the entire English midfield in total chaos 'cos of injuries and potential injuries.

MEET FRANK LAMPARD'S REPLACEMENT - JORDAN HENDERSON


After a scan confirmed Lampard out of Euro 2012 due to a thigh injury he sustained in training, Jordan Henderson'll be taking his place...the 22year old Liverpool player...wait! another Liverpool player?

LAMPARD OUT OF EURO 2012!!!


Frank Lampard has been ruled out of Euro 2012 due to a thigh injury.Though he's about to clock 34, Frank's insisted he's not retiring from international soccer.

31 Day Challenge: Day 23 Inspired by a Movie

I am an Amazon freak. No, I do not mean the giant jungle women (shout out to Xena and Wonder Woman!), I mean the amazing website on which I spend all of my money. Every month or so they send me an email about "Artists on the Rise" and then give me a free album with a song from each person they talk about. I'm always on the hunt for a new favorite, and this time Amazon really helped out! [I actually just noticed that they have a new Blind Pilot album on there for like $8. Gah, now I have to buy it.] One of the awesome guys they promoted was J.D. McPherson. This guy sounds like old-school 50s/60s rock (back when it was rock-n-roll!)!! I'm seriously in love, so feel free to rock out to a few of his tunes while you look at my lovely fingers. The third one is actually a sweet video - look at that bass!




Today's challenge is inspired by a movie. I've already done a couple movie designs (which I think are way better than this one) so this time I decided to make 101 Dalmatians nails. I used a blobby-looking stamp to make the puppies' spots, added a red tape line for the collars, and  put a little orange dot for the tags. For my thumb I used a little pawprint stamp (kinda like the footprints they left in the snow!). Now I really want to watch the movie! Unfortunately I'm watching a horrible reality show called The Catalina, waiting for Rookie Blue to come on. *SIGH*




I won't lie, these were cuter in my head. Buuuuuut oh well. Now I know.


China Glaze White on White, Essie Licorice, Essie Action

WHAT PROFESSOR WOLE SOYINKA SAID ABOUT PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S RENAMING OF UNILAG MOSHOOD ABIOLA UNIVERSITY, LAGOS.


Professor Wole Soyinka, M.K.O. Abiola's children and ProDemocracy activists

“This is one gift horse which, contrary to traditional saying, must be inspected thoroughly in the mouth.
Primary from all of us must be a plea to the MKO Abiola family not to misconstrue the protests against the naming of the University of Lagos after their heroic patriarch. Issues must be separated and understood in their appropriate contexts. The family will acknowledge that, among the loudest opposing voices to Jonathan’s gift horse, are those who have clamoured tirelessly that MKO Abiola, the Nigerian nation’s president-elect, be honoured nationally, and in a befitting manner.
Next is my confession to considerable shock that President Goodluck Jonathan did not even think it fit to consult or inform the administrators of the university, including Council and Senate, of his intention to re-name their university for any reason, however laudable. This arbitrariness, this act of disrespect, was a barely tolerated aberration of military governance. It is totally deplorable in what is supposed to be a civilian order.
After that comes the bad-mouthing of MKO Abiola and the Nigerian electorate by President Jonathan who referred to MKO as the “presumed winner” of a historic election. While applauding the president for finally taking the bull by the horn and rendering honour unto whom honour is due, the particularities of this gesture have made it dubious, suspect, and tainted. You do not honour someone while detracting from his or her record of achievement. MKO Abiola was not a presumed winner, but the President-elect of a nation, and thus universally acknowledged.
It is sad, very sad, that after his predecessor who, for eight full years of presidency, could not even bear to utter the name of a man who made his own incumbency possible, along comes someone who takes back with the left hand what the right has offered. However, there is hope. Legalists have claimed that there is a legal flaw to the entire process. The university, solidly backed by other tertiary institutions nation-wide, should immediately proceed to the courts of law and demand a ‘stay of execution’. That should give President Jonathan time to re-consider and perhaps shift his focus to the nation’s capital for institutions begging for rituals of re-naming. After all, it is on record that the House of Assembly did once resolve that the Abuja stadium be named after the man already bestowed the unique title of “Pillar of African Sports”. He deserved that, and a lot more. What he did not deserve is to be, albeit posthumously, the centre of a fully avoidable acrimony, one that has now resulted in the shutting down one of the institutions of learning to whose cause, the cause of learning, President-elect MKO Abiola also made unparalleled private contributions.
Let me end by stressing that my position remains the same as it was when the University of Ife was re-named Obafemi Awolowo University. I deplored it at the time, deplore it till today, have never come to terms with it, and still hope that some day in the not too distant future, that crime against the culture of institutional autonomy will be rectified. Let us not compound the aberrations of the past with provocations in an era that should propel us towards a belated new Age of Enlightenment.

Bonus bet-at-home.com 900 de ron




Dati click pe reclama de mai sus pentru a deschide un cont la bet-at-home.
Peste 7 zile va incepe Campionatul European de fotbal si bet-at-home va ofera incepand de azi 01.06.2012 pana pe 20.06.2012 un bonus de 900 ron la prima depunere.
Bonusul reprezinta 50% din prima depunerea efectuata pana la 900 de ron.Daca va alegeti moneda in euro bonusul maxim este de 200 de euro.Mai pe romaneste,daca depuneti 1800 de ron primiti 900 ron.
Dupa ce ati reusit sa va faceti cont si ati realizat prima depunere intrati in meniul "Depuneri/Retrageri" "Utilizează bonus" si introduceti codul:EUR12.
Imediat bonusul de 50% va fi gata de pariere.Rulajul bonusului este de 4 ori toata suma(depunerea+bonusul) la cote de minim 1,70.Suma trebuie rulata in decursul a 90 de zile.
Dacă participaţi la această ofertă de bonus, în perioada de desfăşurare a promoţiei (1 iunie până la 20 iunie 2012, pentru ambele date, ora 12:00 GMT+2) nu este posibilă nicio retragere.
Bonusul este numai pentru pariurile sportive.
Pariorii din urmatoarele tari nu au drept la bonus: SUA, Franţa, Israel, Bielorusia, Serbia, Ucraina, Spania, Italia şi Turcia.
Bafta la pariuri!





THE QUEEN'S DIAMOND JUBILEE 2012


tah 2,3,4,5 june are said to be  bank holidays in uk as queen Elizabeth is marking the 60 yrs of queen's reign. its just so unbelievable mtu kukaa kwenye madaraka ya nchi for 60 yrs no wonder kaitwa queen leading the nation foa period of 60  si mchezo aisee cant wait to watch the queen on telly hahahh kama namuona vile

MJENGO WA WA MAREHEMU AMMY WINE HOUSE ON SALE

nyumba ya marehemu ammy winehouse aliyefariki last july kwa kifo kilichosababishwa na kujioverdose madawa ya kulevya  yauzwa kwa bei ya £2.7 m. one of the family spokemans said ""The Winehouses have decided to put the house on the market, with great regret. Amy loved that house but none of the family felt it appropriate that they should live in it.
"It was not practical to keep it empty while paying for its upkeep. It is a wonderful place and will be a happy family home for someone."

Scottish FA will not appeal Rangers' sentence


After the Rangers managed to overturn the decision for the transfer embargo, today the Scottish FA said that it will not appeal the sentence. When Rangers have been handed a transfer ban, Lord Glennie in court said that the SFA (Scottish FA) acted beyond their powers when they handed a 12-month transfer ban to Rangers. The SFA was disappointed that the matter ended up in court, but said that it will respect the court's decision, even though they have 21 days to appeal. The SFA said that it must obey the country's law, however it is very disappointed that one of its member took matters to court, since it incurred more costs. 

Track giants Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell ready for psychological warfare

Entertainer: Usain Bolt poses in front of the Colosseum in Rome ahead of the Diamond League meeting Photo: REUTERS

Steve Cram: track giants Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell ready for psychological warfare in Rome

The Telegraph - UK |By Steve Cram |7:00AM BST 31 May 2012


In Olympic year everything changes: even the bread and butter takes on a different flavour.

Take Thursday night's Diamond League meeting in Rome. The whole point of the Diamond League was to create juicy, television-friendly head-to-heads between the big guys. But in an Olympic year, the big guys have to be careful.

Normally they’d go to a meet like Rome thinking: yeah, I’ll go for the prize money and if I don’t get it, well there’s always next month. But with only a few weeks to go before London, you can’t accept coming third or fourth, you can’t afford to give your opponents the confidence boost of beating you.

Then again, of course, if you don’t show up your rivals are thinking: hold up, he’s scared of me.

Kenenisa Bekele is a prime example of the conundrum these kind of meets throw up. He was meant to be going to Eugene to race Mo Farah. Now he’s not. If you’re Mo you thinking: he doesn’t want to race me yet; he’s running scared. What a boost that will be to his preparations.

In Rome, though, enough of the big guns will be firing for us to get a decent idea of where their preparations are. Dai Greene, for instance. For me his attendance is a big sign of his confidence. Especially as this is his first significant outing of the season. Most British athletes would have had a couple of lesser runs first.

Now he’s world champion, however, Dai operates at the very top; frankly there’s no point in him running in Loughborough.

Sure, he’s taking a risk; if he doesn’t run well, there’s not that many weeks until Games. But he is a very level-headed guy. He’ll be confident he can start well, blast everyone away, then allow himself the chance to ease off.

And talking of relaxed, Usain Bolt will be there, running against Asafa Powell. Will there be early shots in psychological warfare that is the 100 metres? I’m not so sure Bolt needs to put one over on Powell. For me, in the big races Powell always looks defeated.

He can race fast, he has all the physical equipment, but when he comes up against Bolt, Tyson Gay or Justin Gatlin, something doesn’t quite click.

The bottom line is he’s not a great competitor. It’s about what’s between his ears; he’s a lovely looking runner who tightens up in competition.

As for Bolt himself, well he just had the worst run of his professional life the other day in Ostrava. But he has always saved his best for the big occasion.

From juniors, his opponents have always known when the chips are down he’ll win. Yes, he had a false start at the World Championships in Daegu, but he’s so very good at peaking at the right time, mentally and physically. What happens this weekend is no indication of what will happen in August.

Among the women, I’ll be intrigued to see how Caster Semenya runs. Undoubtedly she has struggled with all the attention that came her way after her 800m win in the worlds in Berlin in 2009, when she went from being an unknown country kid thinking she was just there to run, into a maelstrom. It hit her hard.

She effectively was obliged to take a year out to regroup and it was a bit much to expect her to be super fast on her return.

The South Africans have an early season in March and April and she did OK, looked pretty good. But I thought she looked a bit heavy.

Because of her physiology, because of how masculine she is, if she keeps putting muscle on, she’ll just bulk up and not get faster. Her coach has to be careful. She reminds me a bit of Tom McKean, he was a muscly 800m runner and frankly he was carrying that much he couldn’t run more than 820 metres.

Plus all four British relay teams will be in action in Rome, trying to get the baton round and register a time to qualify for the Games. I don’t think we should read too much into who lines up. I suspect Dwain Chambers will be in there in the men's 4 x 100.

There’s nothing in his performances that suggest he should be; in Ostrava, where Bolt appeared to be going backwards, Chambers was still a mile behind. But he’s always good box office so they’ll probably put him in.

There has been a lot of money spent on preparing for relays, but I haven’t seen lots of evidence of material benefit. I accept there’s an art to it.

But, like penalty taking, getting the baton round is very different in practice than in competition. Obviously in terms of flat out speed we’re nowhere near Jamaica or the US in combined individual times. But it is solely about the baton.

Predicting what happens in the relay is like trying to predict what will happen at the end of next season’s Premier League: silly. I think we have a chance to do OK come August. But then, I always think Sunderland are going to do OK.

Ledesma will stay at Lazio


Manchester City are interested in signing Cristian Ledesma, but he will remain with Lazio for the next season according to his agent. His agent said that Mancini always expressed his interest in him, and each year he wants him with him, but he wants to stay at Rome. He said that most probably he will end his career at Lazio. He transferred from Lecce in 2006, and has a contract with Lazio until 2015.

Casa de pariuri bet365


Cand am inceput sa pariez nu auzisem de bet365,betfair sau mai nou de casele asiatice.
Am o experienta de vreo 10 ani in pariuri iar inceputul a fost la o casa de pariuri terestra,asa numita casa de la coltul strazii.Acolo am riscat primii bani pe un carnat de 8 meciuri si bineinteles ca am pierdut.
Am avut norocul la cateva luni sa cunosc un prieten,Budan,care paria deja online.Atunci am invatat de la el cum sa imi deschid cont la o casa de pariuri online.Prima a fost Gamebookers si a doua Bet365.
Atunci,ca si acum,bet365 avea o oferta mare pentru pariurile live.Multe meciuri,multe sporturi chiar si la 4 noaptea gasesti un meci sa faci un ban cinstit.Mi-a placut mult si am ramas fidel acestei case de pariuri.
Am doar 3 case de pariuri online favorite iar printre ele se afla bet365.
Bet365 este bine cotata pe http://www.sportsbookreview.com/ un site specializat in verificarea caselor de pariuri.Aici bet356 este cotata la litera A ceea ce inseamna ca banii sunt in siguranta la aceasta casa.
bet365 a avut si are un bonus foarte bun pentru pariorii romani.Au un bonus de 200 de ron 100% din primul depozit cu un rulaj de 3 ori toata suma(depozitul+bonusul) la cote de 1,50 minim.
De asemenea in afara de acest bonus au inca 100 de ron pentru primul pariu pus de pe mobil.Dupa ce ati pariat 100 de ron pe o cota mai mare de 1,50 mai primti bonus 100 de ron.
La alte case de pariuri gasiti bonusuri de 50% sau mai putin...
Au multe metode de depunere:carduri bancare Visa sau Mastercard dar si portofele online moneybookers,neteller,etc.Daca depuneti prin moneybookers va recomand sa alegeti moneda la bet365 la fel ca cea din portofelul online, in felul asta nu veti pierde bani la cursul valutar cand se face conversia.De fapt va recomand,atunci cand va faceti conturi la casele de pariuri online,sa alegeti aceeasi moneda la toate.Eu le am in euro.
Inca ceva foarte important:atunci cand va deschideti contul la bet365 sa notati numarul de securitate din 4 cifre pe care il veti alege pentru ca va fi folositor pentru orice problema legata de aceasta casa de pariuri.
Peste vreo saptamana incepe Campionatul European si daca va plac pariurile deschideti cont la aceasta casa si nu veti regreta.Eu daca ma uit la un meci si nu pariez live parca nu mai are farmec,nu mai e nicio placere in vizionarea lui.
Bafta la pariuri!

Blog Makeover!



It was brought to my attention yesterday morning that my blog had possibly contracted a virus. With a little digging, I found out it was linked to the layout/background I was using for the blog. Immediately, I had to redesign the blog which took a lot of research and time.   I found this design below but didn't like the banner at all.  The hearts were killing me.  I'm a loving person but that's a little much.  I wanted some color contrast.


Then the search began for a new banner.  What you see below was the new banner for about an hour and then I realized it didn't really go with the blog background.



With some trial and error.....and I MEAN trial and error (computer crashing a few times) (losing all my work). I was able to finish my final look for the blog (see new banner below). I hope you like the new look.  It feels like it's a whole new blog.


STARS YAONDOKA BILA BOBAN NA CHOLLO.

Wachezaji wa Kilimanjaro Taifa Stars wameondoka Dsm alfajiri ya leo tayari kwa mchezo wao dhidi ya Ivory Coast utakoachezwa jumamosi huko ABIJAN
Kocha mkuu wa timu hiyo KIM PAULSEN amewataja wachezaji hao wawili zaidi kuwa ni HARUNA MOSH BOBAN na Saidi nassoro chollo ambao ni majeruhi wapya. Wachezaji ambao walikuwa ni majeruhi wakiwa kambini ni NURDIN BAKAR na THOMAS ULIMWENGU. Wakiwa katika uwanja wa Jomo Kenyatta , wachezaji wa TAIFA STARS ilibidi wakae kwa muda wa saa tano kusubiri ndege inayokwenda Ivory coast baada ya ile ya mwanzo muda wake kubadilihwa. Kutokana na kuchelewa huko huenda kikosi cha TAIFA STARS kilichtarajia kuingia IVORY COAST saa nane mchana kwa saa za Afrika mashariki sasa itaingia kati ya Saa mbili au tatu kwa saa za afrika mashariki.

MEET THE TALENTS OF THE MUCH ANTICIPATED "EVAEZI UNPLUGGED"




BEAZY



Afolabi Durotoye a.k.a BEAZY is the first Nigerian rapper to record and release the highest number of songs in a year (August 2010 – August 2011) totalling up to 52 songs.  Cousin to popular and successful motivational speaker; FELA DUROTOYE and one of the next rated young music producers; KID KONNECT, The soft spoken,  tall, dark, handsome and chunky rapper recently dropped his latest single “In The Mood” which is rising on charts around the country at a phenomenal pace.





M-TRILL



M-trill, which means MAYJAH (major) Trill is an award winning MC with great lyrical abilities. First, he picked up Best West Africa (musician) Channel O award for his song “Bounce”. People started paying attention to this Nigerian rapper and then he came out with another single called “Beautiful” (featuring a Ghanaian artiste). He also Won african music awArds in 2009 troxy, london and Best new act AMA europe. Since then, M-Trill has dropped series of songs from “Microfone killer” to “Trilla” to “Langwa” to “Kolobi” to “Go harder” just to mention a few. And now M-Trill is back with a new one which he titled “Aboh”. M-Trill is one Nigerian Rapper who definitely knows how to put words together.





AMAKA



Amaka is a Neo-Soul/Jazz/Hip Hop artiste. She started out singing with the pioneer Naija Hip Hop group –THOROUGHBREDS. She later set off on her own and has done numerous collabos with the likes of Mode 9, Sammy Okposo, Obiwon, Ill Bliss(Igbo Boy) and loads more. She was also part of the debut Girl Power Unleashed Project; showcasing some of Nigeria's finest female acts. She is currently working on her debut album.







OMOYE UZAMERE



Omoye Uzamere is a Lawyer turned Actor, Producer and Presenter and is also known as Brownie. She currently hosts the Rhythm Of The Night show on Silverbird's Rhythm 93.7 Fm and is passionate about women & children's rights.







ZEAL



The curvy 'stress reliever' and 'generation song' singer who took a 6 year break from the music industry is BACK and BETTER!!! With 2 new singles, 'get over it'and ' true to yourself', as well as a couture line, that caters to the artistically spirited. 'Urban Demi'! Mother and activist, Zeal welcomes her rebirth and a chance to share with music lovers her journey so far!







EFE-PAUL



For over a decade Efe Paul has held audiences, locally and internationally, spell bound with his words.



Widely regarded as one of Nigeria's leading Spoken Word Poet, Efe leads a generation of visionary artists in using the otherwise esoteric medium of poetry, as a transformative tool for the masses.







WANAWANA



Wana Wana as you call her is graduate from the University College for The Creative Arts with a first class degree in broadcast journalism.  She worked in the UK as a freelance features producer for the BBC world service and Resonance FM ( London 's only art radio station) and Camden Central radio. Wana honed her skills as a researcher whilst working for some of Britain 's biggest independent production houses. Wise Buddah, Above The Title and Somethin'Else Productions are just a few on the list.

Wana joined the Inspiration Fm crew in February 2009. Since then she assumed position co- hosting the breakfast show in the morning with Dan Foster, and the entertainment report as her alter ego "Mizz Info"( the ultimate gossip queen). She also presents and produces the Sunday interview as well as the programme "Beyond The Music", where she gets to interview the freshest and most exciting artists on the Nigerian music scene. An avid lover of music art and culture, she still juggles gigs as a freelance writer and content provider for websites. She also runs the Guerilla basement blog where she indulges in podcasting and writing satirical pieces with a lot of social commentary

ABIDAL ANAWEZA KUREJEA UWANJANI - DAKTARI.

DAKTARI aliyemfanyia upasuaji beki wa kimataifa wa Ufaransa na klabu ya Barcelona, Eric Abidal amesema kuwa mchezaji huyo anaweza kurejea tena uwanjani baada ya kufanyiwa upasuaji wa kupandikiza ini. Abidal mwenye umri wa miaka 32 alifanyiwa upasuaji kuondoa uvimbe uliokuwa umeota katika ini lake mwaka uliopita lakini baada ya kurejea tena uwanjani tena alilazimika kufanyiwa upasuaji mwingine wa kupandikiza sehemu ya ini lingine ambalo mpwa wake alijitolea April 10 mwaka huu. Daktari huyo aitwae Juan Carlos Garcia-Valdecasas amesema kuwa ni juu ya mchezaji mwenyewe kuamua kuendelea kucheza au kupumzika kabisa yeye hawezi kumzuia, kwani akiendelea vizuri kama hivi sasa haoni sababu ya mchezaji huyo kushindwa kucheza. Valdecasas aliendelea kusema kuwa ini ni kiungo ambacho huwa kinakuwa katika kipindi cha miezi mitatu hivyo Abidal atakuwa akipona taratibu katika kipindi cha miezi sita au mwaka mmoja na baada ya hapo anaweza kuendelea na maisha yake ya kawaida. Wachezaji wa Barcelona walivaa jezi anayotumia mchezaji huyo wakati wakisheherekea ushindi wa Kombe la Mfalme waliloshinda baada ya kuifunga Athletico Bilbao Ijumaa iliyopita.

May #RAK Wrap-Up Post


I LOVE R.A.K! I love receiving and sending out books. I get super excited to do both!

This month, I was not able to send any books or swags. Someone, however, decided to send me a book.

Stephanie from A Dream Within A Dream said she would send me Fever by Lauren DeStefano. I have not received it yet but I'm super excited! Thank you Stephanie!


UPDATE: I forgot to include this one!
Jen from Jen Ryland / YA Romantics was very sneaky! She sent me Last Rite by Lisa Desrochers (!!!!!) for this month's #RAK and an early birthday present for next month! Dare I say she's my favorite blogger? :D


Next month is my birthday month! I'm excited to do #RAK again! Cross your fingers, you might be the lucky person that will receive a book from me :)

Eredivisie top scorer looking to move


Bas Dost who plays at Heerenveen is looking at offers from England and Italy, but he is waiting for a high-profile club before accepting any offer. He managed to score 32 goals this season with Heerenveen, and so he finished the top scorer, and now he's looking for a different challenge, but he will only move if it's an offer away from Netherlands. His agent said that he already refused an offer from Aston Villa earlier this month, but which Aston denied and said it was a lie. Even in the Bundelsiga there is a lot of interest with Wolfsburg, Genoa, Bologna, Fiorentina, Everton and Fulham are some clubs who are looking to sign the player. However the agent refused to mention clubs names. The club want €12 million for him, as the price increased after a sensational season.

My Top 100 Films (61-80)

[The following is the latest entry in my Top 100 films. Click the links to see picks 1-20, 21-40 and 41-60.]

61. Once Upon a Time in the West (1969/Italy, USA/Sergio Leone)


Leone's homage/revisionist take on the Western reaches its pinnacle in this perfectly directed, almost Brechtian deconstruction. From the long, unbearably tense beginning (hands down the best film opening ever) to Henry Fonda's everyman image being perverted to suggest that violence and sadism is a cornerstone of the "average American." Leone helped create a Western icon in Eastwood's Man With No Name, but here he tears the whole damn place to the ground. Even so, he does it with such lush formalism it's nearly impossible to see him battering at the foundations until it all collapses.

62. Only Angels Have Wings (1939/USA/Howard Hawks)


Hawks' most spiritually pure film, of men being men and women not losing an inch to them. Cary Grant's deliberately aloof performance only makes him more irresistible, and the muted grief these pilots cannot express when they lose one of their own turns the heavy fogged airstrip where tehy operate into a grounded ghost ship, haunted by the freshly dead and soon-to-die. Hawks' direction has never been the kind one would call poetic (and that's a compliment), but the ethereal, haunting mood he casts in this film comes damn close. The three Hawks films in this list are all perfect. Bringing Up Baby is the perfect screwball comedy. Rio Bravo is the perfect Western. Only Angels Have Wings is the perfect...well, it cannot easily be fit into genre. For that reason, it may be the greatest among these equals.

63. Paris, Texas (1984/Germany, France, UK, USA/Wim Wenders)


One of the most piercing, on-point views of America came from a foreign director with multinational backing. Sounds about right. Harry Dean Stanton's quintessential performance as a prodigal son trying to repair the life he does not remember doubles as an abstract elegy for America, for the faded Old West where this is set, and for the American Dream that hollowed out Travis and his family. Intimate, poignant moments between people are as bewildering and unsettling as they are necessary and hopeful. All we have is each other, and sometimes not even that.

64. Park Row (1952/USA/Samuel Fuller)


I have a hate-hate relationship with journalism, but this unabashedly sentimental, if pulpy and caricatured, view of newspapermen is so infectious it makes me pine for its return to prominence. Packed with Fuller's cigar-plug dialogue, brutish action and unrepentant idealism, Park Row so thoroughly believes in journalism's fundamental role in American society that it ties the profession to the importation of our greatest symbol, the Statue of Liberty. Hey, no one could ever accuse Sam Fuller of playing it small. Contains that immortal line, "The day you learn to read, you're fired."

65. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid [preview version] (1973/USA/Sam Peckinpah)


Ignore the butchered theatrical cut (and the misleading 2005 special edition) in favor of the 1988 cut that tried its damnedest to get as much of Peckinpah's original vision back on the screen. Watching this cut, though, it's hard to imagine a more beautiful, if severe, epitaph for the West. The opening credits alone, with the stop-start fades in and out of color and the juxtaposition of an old Garrett's double cross with Billy's gang shooting the heads off chickens in the past, is worthy of canonization. But the rest of the movie is no less striking, finding no heroism in Billy's iconic fast-living, but also no comfort in Pat's cowardly long life. Peckinpah's infatuation and disgust with violence finds its greatest outlet here, searching desperately for something to love in the Old West and finding nothing. Slim Pickens' quiet, dignified, but deeply sad reaction to his fatal wounding haunts me forever and always.

66. A Perfect World (1993/USA/Clint Eastwood)


My rare connection to Clint Eastwood's work makes the ones I do love all the more special, and this portrait of doomed innocence in the run-up to Kennedy's assassination is one of his most unforced, affecting films. The politics tacitly expressed in Eastwood's films are conservative, but above all weary, dissatisfied with a world that seems to please nobody. Like other conservatives, Eastwood wants to go back to the past, but instead of reveling in it, he wishes to correct something in the hopes of setting the present on a better path. The so-called perfect world he gives to escaped convict Butch and the boy hostage he unwittingly sets free from his own prison is devastating for its fragility and ephemerality. Eastwood's own Texas Ranger serves as a revision of the trigger-happy characters he started to play around the time this film is set, a cop who wants a peaceable solution to the situation and can only look on in disgust when that hope, too, is revealed as just that.

67. Persona (1966/Sweden/Ingmar Bergman)


I want to revisit my early piece on this film, but I keep putting it off because I don't want to have another go until I feel I've truly understood the movie. I may be delaying a second post until my death. Bergman's reflexive drama is as playful as it is despairing, its use of metacinematic structure and style to  peel back the existential mystery of an actress gone mute. Is the movie a parable for man's inability to deal with tragedy, or art's? The straightest answer I could give is "Yes." But it's also Bergman's most focused insight into the horror of human existence and the vacuums of communication between people. The slow entwining of Bibi Andersson's and Liv Ulmann's beings ironically connote a breakdown in illusion as the film becomes ever more illusory. The last shot, revealing camera filming the actresses, should be a liberating reminder of the falsity of the image. Instead, it suggests that all life is false.

68. Phantoms of Nabua (2009/Thailand, Germany, UK/Apichatpong Weerasethakul)


I will not be able to state definitively my favorite Apichatpong Weerasethakul feature until I know he has made his last, for he continues to develop and enrich his themes and aesthetic with each new one. So I will instead select this 2009 short, inexplicably left off the Uncle Boonmee DVD despite being part of the same project that culminated in that masterful feature. At 10 minuts, Phantoms wastes no time, but it also doesn't particularly put forward a narrative. Instead, it presents a striking composition, a fluorescent light, a flaming soccer ball and a flickering film projector showing a film of lightning strikes all blazing in starless night. Eventually, the soccer ball hits the screen and burns it to cinders, reminiscent of the climax of Inglourious Basterds and Nick Ray's experimental short The Janitor. As the projector continues to shine light into the smoke, are we meant to see it as a breakdown of film's power, or of art being projected into the real world to become one with it? This alternately mournful and blissfully hopeful conundrum, when taken in tandem with Uncle Boonmee, marks the greatest, most evocative elegy yet made for the format of film.

69. Pinocchio (1940/USA/Ben Sharpsteen et. al)


Admittedly, the film is more a collection of vignettes than a unified narrative, but when animation looks this good, I'm happy to go anywhere it takes me. The more random the better. The rich variety of colors and stunning depth of field display a technical ambition no smaller than that of Fantasia. Pinocchio himself is, forgive me, a bit wooden, but this fantastical movie makes a frightfully adult case for how unforgiving this world is, especially to someone different. As Pinocchio heads from Geppetto's cozy, cluttered workshop to a cage, an exploitative freakshow, a morally and physically corrupting island of temptations and, finally, the belly of a whale, one gets the sense that he wants to be a real boy not to feel like he belongs to the world but so it will finally stop doing everything in its cosmic power to kill him.

70. Platform (2000/China/Jia Zhang-ke)


Jia's alternately wistful and critical view of China's modern history, both its Communist 20th century and shamelessly capitalistic new era, is best captured in this period piece about a troupe traveling around China at the end of the '70s and beyond to sing of Mao's accomplishments. But those who sing of Mao's trains have never actually seen one, and most still feel tied to an almost feudal existence never wholly overcome in the vast, geographically and even lingually segmented country. The decade slowly morphs the Peasant Culture Group of Fenyang into the commercialized All-Stars Rock 'n' Breakdance Electronic Band, but as with the Communist "upheaval," this capitalistic dawn changes little about the day-to-day existence of China's population, and indeed its only true innovation is to find new ways to keep people separate and lonely.

71. Playtime (1967/France/Jacques Tati) (TOP 10)


How can a comedy on this scale be so minutely controlled? Tati's long shots emphasize the alienation and dehumanization of modern life in such a way that he can also celebrate the struggle of the human spirit against the cage it built for itself. The precision of his setpieces—the see-through apartment complex, the rows of file cabinets revealed to be sealed-off cubicles—are as funny as they are evocative, and the extended climax in a brand-new restaurant slowly dismantled by its patrons is, as Jonathan Rosenbaum rightly said, “the most formidable mise-en-scène in the history of cinema.” But if Tati's desire to back away from modernist influence seems conservative, it should be noted that his release of his iconic Hulot into a much larger world of characters is a downright socialistic narrative decision.

72. Ran (1985/Japan/Akira Kurosawa)


Taken with Welles' treatment of Falstaff, Kurosawa's stupefying adaptation of King Lear is the best Shakespeare put to celluloid. Tatsuya Nakadai captures all of Lear's folly and crumbling arrogance as Hidetora, and his descent into madness is accentuated by chilling Noh stylings. Everything else is no less bombastic, be it Hidetora's caustic, wormy Fool or the gargantuan battle sequence of a castle being torn to ribbons, a sequence shot with more disgust than Kurosawa ever put into his camera. And this is the man who ended the supposedly heroic struggle of Seven Samurai with the boldest warrior literally ass-up dead in the mud. Not Kurosawa's last great film, but perhaps his last awe-inspiring one.

73. Red Desert (1964/Italy/Michelangelo Antonioni)


I'm still torn on Antonioni's modernist ennui, but strangely I feel it works far better in this color-streaked industrial fog than in L'Avventura's bleaker monochrome. Monica Vitti shines as a woman unable to adapt to the industrial environment of the film, with its unnatural shapes and colors, to the point that she can barely function. Yet underneath Vitti's disconnect and sexual tension with Richard Harris' understanding, equally alienated Corrado, the film makes an open case for the beauty of this man-made world, where not only the vividly colored objects have aesthetic appeal but even the cold gray steel that makes up the industrial realm's circulatory and respiratory systems. Antonioni may craft characters who see no future in altered, modern landscapes, but he does, keeping the movie from sinking into navel-gazing wistfulness.

74. The Red Shoes (1948/UK/Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger) (TOP 10)


"Why do you want to dance?" "Why do you want to live?" "Because I must." "Well I don't know exactly why, but I must." "That is my answer, too." And with that early exchange, I knew I'd found a film I'd cherish forever. The Archers' use of color is equalled by none, and this phantasmagoric, vividly subjective ballet film captures the overwhelming ecstasy and agony of artistic inspiration and drive like no other movie. The ballet sequences offer perhaps the first great step forward for film art after the end of the silent era, updating silent techniques into something even more magical as the music entwines flawlessly with the movements. The grim climax suggests the doomed fate awaiting all those who can do nothing but art, but that this will never dissuade anyone so inclined is part of their reason their art towers above all others.

75. Repulsion (1965/UK/Roman Polanski)


Polanski's psychological apartment nightmare is my favorite horror film by far, and the only one that truly terrifies me instead of just momentarily freaking me out. Given Polanski's infamous actions, there's a dark irony that, more than nearly any other male filmmaker, he understands women. I'll take his multifaceted, psychosexual portrait of Catherine Deneuve's stiff Carol over generations of thinly sketched knife-bait any day. Polanski's mastery with a camera is also evident even at this early juncture, the time-marking shots of decaying food and the silent nighttime hallucinations as perfectly composed as they are spontaneous and arresting. I don't watch this too often, but only because I like to sleep now and then.

76. Rio Bravo (1959/USA/Howard Hawks)


Perched on the cusp of the '60s and a subsequent downturn in American cinema and uptick in art cinema, this perfectly plotted, perfectly acted, perfectly shot Western seems a last hurrah for classic Hollywood. Made as a conservative response to High Noon, Hawks' film nevertheless always struck me as liberal, as John Wayne's hero tries to go it alone but is absorbed into a larger, mutually supportive community when it comes time to defend the small town. But regardless of what the film is "saying," Rio Bravo is so immaculately crafted that it can please anyone. Not a single moment is out of place, and that includes the songs.

77. The Rules of the Game (1939/France/Jean Renoir)


The "game" in the title could refer to aristocratic codes both followed and transgressed in Renoir's greatest feature, or maybe even life in general. But considering how much, and how quickly, its overlapping dialogue, deep-focus cinematography and fluid, playful camera movements trickled down into the language of cinema, the game for which Renoir sets down the rules may be filmmaking itself. I saw contempt in Renoir's view of the dying, oblivious aristocracy when I first saw the film, but now I see the slap he so desperately wants to give these people is a concerned corrective, not a furious assault. The spectre of coming upheaval hangs over this movie, and as repulsive and self-absorbed as these characters are, it's hard not to feel sorry for what they're about to experience.

78. Safe (1995/USA/Todd Haynes)


Haynes' domestic horror film is terrifying for its ambiguity. Like Nick Ray's Bigger Than Life, the "monster" is the American way of life. But where Ray regrettably tied James Mason's madness to a drug, Haynes leaves Julianne Moore's problems unnervingly unexplained. As the film tracks her attempts to diagnose and cure her reaction against her upper-middle-class environment, it conjures images of AIDS scares, cults and a world we'e made so antiseptic it now ironically infects us. And as that bleached, isolated life is exemplified by Moore's Carol, the victim is her own antagonist. I don't think it's any kind of coincidence, also, that Moore's character shares a name with the protagonist/villain of Repulsion.

79. Sansho the Bailiff (1954/Japan/Kenji Mizoguchi)


I have been thunderstruck by Mizoguchi for some time (seek out, please, his neglected and commercially unavailable Straits of Love and Hate), but Sansho the Bailiff eclipses all else I've seen by him. Mizoguchi's period piece shows a world where a governor's kindness gets him exiled, his wife sold into prostitution and his children made slaves. The film is unbearable, showing the corruption of the son, the maiming of the mother and, most hauntingly, the self-sacrifice of the sister, who as ever brings up the director's autobiographical guilt over the exploitation of his own sibling. There's also a scathing indictment of bureaucracy, the rampant sadism of the titular character made worse by the fact that he's the equivalent of an office manager, drunk on his modicum of power and sycophantic to his superiors. I only saw the film for the first time last week, but I was left so devastated, and so enamored with its indescribably perfect mise-en-scène, that I could not leave it off the list.


80. Seven Samurai (1954/Japan/Akira Kurosawa) (TOP 10)


The film that made me a cinephile. I'd seen and loved great movies before this, but afterward, I was never the same. Kurosawa crafts the shortest 3.5-hour film in history, an adroitly paced action epic that somehow manages to take wide, message-heavy digressions without losing an ounce of steam. This was also, along with Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, the film that made me notice how lens choices affected the image, Kurosawa's long lenses crushing the depth of field, turning each composition into a huge painting. It also emphasizes the bridging of connections between the samurai with each other and with the peasants they agree to defend, the gradual flattening of the image emphasizing their physical and spiritual proximity. The director cares so much for his characters that he does not revel in the savagery that consumes most of them, and indeed even shows their corpses embarrassingly placed to ward off any notions of heroic bloodshed. "We lost," as the sage samurai leader says as he overlooks what most would call a victory, and the final shot dwells not only the rescued living but the departed dead.