Tracking Your Progress

[Charity]

There is a great site called Lists of Bests that lets you create lists and track your progress. It is a fantastic way to keep a record of the books you have read and hope to read.

You can use it for personal lists (like 'Books I'm Reading in 2008'), definitive lists (like 'Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the Century'), or awards lists (like 'Pulitzer Prize Winners').

There is already a list for Rory's Book Club, so go check it out and track your progress.

Hope this helps. :-)

[Charity]

I've currently completed 15% of the list. Not too shabby...but not spectacular either. I hope to knock out at least 10 more in the next couple of months.

Good luck to you, Marlene! :-)

[Sharon]

I'm also at 15%!

[M0rfeus]

I also have 15%. I'm beginning to think that's a canned percentage...

;)

[Meghan]

Nope Tom. I'm at 32%.

[Robbie]

I got 22%

[Dottie]

That site doesn't WANT members I made about a dozen attempts to get an account -- first one thing and then another every time -- why don't they give an option to contact them after a reasonable number of trys? This isn't really so awful because I can add, subtract, multiply and divide without them. Their loss. Some days I really HATE computers. Be back after we go visit the railroad exhibit with our houseguests!

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Intimidating percentage, Meghan!

[Sarah]

Wow, Meghan, that's impressive. I'm at 18%. But re-reading some of those titles really renewed my interest in them! I think this year I should try to stick to the list for my reading. I mean, it's not likely that I won't read anything that's not on the list, but I think I'm going to try and at least make half of the books I read this year come from this list.

[Meghan]

Yeah this club has really helped me. But Rory just had great taste! She has a lot of my favorites on her list.

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

What's weird is I own right around half of the books already! Guess I should get reading... only at 20%.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

Thanks for this link. I've been on this site before, but didn't know about this feature. A new obsession! :)

O.K., just did the Best Pictures. I've never seen Oliver! Just realized.

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

"Oliver!" is really, really long!

My hang up is "West Side Story." I have started to watch it sooo many times, intent on finally seeing this touted film. Ugh. I just get bored... or maybe it's annoyed... so quickly! I've yet to make it through. I think it's all the singing and dancing... after a while I just want to get to the story. Now, I do like musicals, but for some reason that one I've just not been able to get through - thus far. Once I was making progress and might have done, actually, but my DVR freaked out and I lost the recording. Whatev.

By the way, the best picture for 1928 is "Wings." It was the first movie ever to receive an Oscar. I'm not sure why that other one is listed.

[Sarah]

Michele, are you kidding? West Side Story is one of my all-time favorites, mostly because of the music and incredible choreography! I am so very sad that I am too old to play Maria. It will always be one of the great regrets of my theatre life.

[Charity]

Apparently, in 1928 there was no 'Best Picture' award. It was actually two separate awards...'Most Outstanding Production' (won by "Wings") and 'Most Artistic Quality of Production (won by "Sunrise"). The next year, the Academy instituted a single award called 'Best Production,' and decided retrospectively that the award won by "Wings" had been the equivalent of that award, with the result that "Wings" is often erroneously listed as the winner of a sole 'Best Picture' award for the first year. The title of the award was eventually changed to 'Best Picture' for the 1931 awards. (According to Wikipedia.)

However, a lot of movie lists still credit "Sunrise" with its 'co-award' that was given the first year, since there wasn't a true distinction given to the category until later.

Hope that clears things up. :-)

[Tiffany]

Sarah - West Side Story was the first musical my mom took me to see when I was little and started my love of theatre. =)

[Alison, the guru of grace]

O.K., go to the list of bests and look up E! entertainment's list of best chick flics. I'm at 96%! This is my highest list, so I guess this is my favorite genre. And I never knew.

Let's see, the ones I haven't seen: Never Been Kissed and The Joy Luck Club!

You know, those early Best Pictures seem a little boring to me (not that I've seen them so I really shouldn't say). My first favorite is 1934...It Happened One Night.

[Dini, the master of meaning]

Wow, Alison - 96%? I only got 30%.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

I'm kind of embarassed. I need to lay off the movies. I do love that lists site, though. :)

[Angie]

Alison you must see the Joy Luck Club. It is excellent!

[Sarah]

I've seen 90% (45) of them. I have not seen:

Terms of Endearment
The Joy Luck Club
The Bridges of Madison County
Waiting to Exhale
Mystic Pizza

Now I'm off to do the high school movies list...

[Jamie]

That one is fun! I'm at 86% and I haven't seen Terms of Endearment, The Notebook, The Joy Luck Club, Fried Green Tomatoes, St. Elmo's Fire, The Bridges of Madison County, or Moonstruck.

[Sharon]

I'm at 74%. And the rest were already on my "To See" list...I really need to get on that. Haha.

[Hippo dari Hongkong]

Great links! thanks a lot Charity
I am at 45% on Oscar Best Movie... I've never watched West Side Story, I'm really dying to watch that movie :(
Alison-I got 70% on chicks flicks! I need to "reduce" this chicks movie :)

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Well, Alison... the only one I haven't seen on that list is Thelma & Louise, so I'm at 98%. I know, I know... I'm not a real girl because I haven't see that. Sigh.

I do have to comment that I really NEVER considered Wedding Crashers as a "chick flick." Not even close! But whatev... I've still seen it.

This actually is NOT my favorite genre. Yes, I've seen loads of them, but then I've just seen loads of movies - period. Anyhoo, now you've got me wondering about other lists!

I'm such a list freak that this site might be a very bad thing indeed for me!

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Oh, but Erie, remember there are loads more movies on the Oscar and other lists than on the chick flick list, so the amounts may vary greatly... the percentage looks higher since it has less titles.

[Charity]

Oh, Alison...I also LOOOOVE 'It Happened One Night'. It is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. We studied it when I was in film school and I thought it was spectacular.

Interesting note...when they asked Claudette Colbert what it was like to kiss Clark Gable she said that it was pretty awful because his breath smelled really bad (from all the cigars he smokes). I always thought that was really funny.

Another 'old' fave has to be 'Bringing Up Baby'. If you haven't seen that, you must see it soon! Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant...amazing!

[Charity]

I'm only at 84%. But, I'm sure I'll get to the rest of them sometime soon.

I was thinking about the film genre, 'Chick Flicks', and how they basically boil down to either 'tear-jerkers' or 'romantic comedies'. It is pretty amazing that these are now all considered 'Chick Flicks'...especially when you look back through the years (30s, 40s, 50s) and see that movies with those same qualities were just movies that everyone went to see...not just 'chicks'...and they are now considered 'classics'. Interesting...

[Alison, the guru of grace]

HIGH FIVE MICHELE! I was really worried about myself having seen all those chic flicks! And I was wondering what Wedding Crashers was doing on there, too. I thought all the romance was a little tongue-in-cheek...Owen Wilson & Rachael McAdams riding the bikes to a picnic??? And regarding Thelma & Louise, two words: Brad Pitt.

Sarah: Of the ones you listed, I would have to say Mystic Pizza is a must-see. It was Julia Robert's first movie...and it's got Lili Taylor...it's just really sweet and non-pretentious, if not a little cheesey. O.K., but which of those weren't a little cheesey, though??? :)

Jamie: I think everyone would agree you must see The Notebook! That movie was coming on at 3 am once when I was just about to go to bed, and I stayed up and watched the whole thing. It's like crack. Or a chocolate pie.

Erie at 70% on chic flicks? Good for you! For the record, there is a "best action movies" list on there, I think it's EW. I'm sure my husband has seen all of them (not to stereotype men and say they all like action movies, but he happens to really LOVE them). I didn't score too high on it.

Here's the reason I'm so glad I'm on Flixster (Thanks, Heather). I had given It Happened One Night five stars via Netflix, but I can't remember why I loved it so much. Another bit of trivia: Clark Gable wearing the plain white t-shirt in one scene was very RADICAL...and spawned men all over the country wearing plain white t-shirts (I guess this was part of the early James Dean look). I'm sure CG was one reason I liked that movie so much...

And Angie, I do want to see The Joy Luck Club! Is the book on Rory's list? I want to read it too.

Another good list is EW's best tearjerkers...

[Charity]

Here is a list on Lists of Bests that has other books mentioned on the show, if anyone wants to add it: Books Referenced on Gilmore Girls

It is listed as 'Rory Gilmore Book List', but it consists primarily of books that are mentioned on the show, not necessarily books that were on the Rory Gilmore WB (CW) book list.

[Jamie]

Alison,

I've thought of renting The Notebook a few times, but I've been avoiding tearjerkers (for the most part) so I've always passed on it. Perhaps I'll give it a try, though, after all. I do feel like I'm missing something. I also checked out The Joy Luck Club, since I wasn't very familiar with it. It looks good, so it's on my list now.

[Sarah]

Charity, I don't think it was just Clark Gable's cigars. He notoriously suffered from halitosis.

[Charity]

You're right, Sarah. I don't think I would have wanted to kiss him either. :-)

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Actually, Alison, the big to-do about the t-shirt in It Happened One Night is that when undressing, he actually wasn't wearing one. The sales of "undershirts" plummeted and nearly crippled the industry. The reason it is not common practice today for men to wear them under suits and such is for this very reason.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

For real? My gosh, I screwed that up. I guess I should do my research before I start spouting trivia. I knew it was something about the t-shirt!! Thank you, Michele. And now that you mention it, that's totally correct and my other thing was totally nuts.

Just came from B&N...picked up two books and put them back. I'm going to the library tommorrow. Wish me luck!

[M0rfeus]

regarding the chick flicks--no one is immune. even *i'm* at 52%. Higher than I would have thought!
;)

T

[Hippo dari Hongkong]

Tom, don't be "sad" about your chick flicks list, mine are higher than your 52% Heh..
My IMDb's Top 50 Action Movies are at 82%. "A great last ditch tackle" on my chick flicks! Thanks Alison and say hello to your husband! ha-ha-ha

I'am at 48% at EW's best tearjerker. I'll do anything to get myself a copy of An Affair to Remember. And again, West Side Story is on the list :(
46% at IMDb best war movies :(
85% at EW's scariest movies (Yippie!)

Michele, indeed there's a lot of list in here! I'm crazy bout this list! Heh..

[whichwaydidshego, the sage of sass]

Okay, seriously... the action list is lame because like a third of it is Japanese films. I watch LOADS of action, but like where am I going to see those? I protest.

[Robbie]

Whoa, Tom--I just barely beat you at 54%!

[Courtney]

Wow, I was completely shocked, because I have been on a classics bender recently, but it turns out I am at 98% as well -- The Notebook, which I refuse to watch, is the only one I haven't seen. Although I agree with Michele that Wedding Crashers is not really my idea of a chic flick -- not like Steel Magnolias or Legally Blonde.

[Sarah]

Why do you refuse to watch The Notebook? I don't love Nicholas Sparks books but I think The Notebook was a good movie. Definitely sappy, sure, but good and well acted.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

Wha? Best war movies? I need to check on that. Although I bet I haven't seen a lot of them. I love the scary movies one...also EW did a "Best Sports Movies"...not sure if it's on there.

Erie: An Affair to Remember is so delicious! And everytime, I cry...EVERY TIME!

[Courtney]

Sarah -- it really has nothing to do with the movie itself and more with my Dad's love of Nicholas Sparks and sappy movies that made him cry. I am not generally a big fan of non-Capra sap, but cannot seem to handle it at all since my Dad has died. I have heard wonderful things about the acting from other friends, but it may be awhile before I hit 100% of chic films.

I am definitely a fan of a good romantic comedy or a well-acted love story, so I think the 98% makes sense. Mostly, we watch A LOT of movies in our house and I have been a movie fiend pretty much since birth, so there isn't a lot I haven't seen.

[Sarah]

Well, Courtney, that's a pretty good reason.

I agree that there were a couple on that list that I wouldn't call "chick flicks."

[Hippo dari Hongkong]

Michele-regarding those Japanese movies (all of them are Kurosawa's works)I suggest you to give it a try ( I would recomend Ran though) Even George Lucas, Spielberg and Clint Eastwood are influenced by him.
The Seven Magnificent (Yull Bryner) is an adaptation of Seven Samurai. That movie really hurts my eyes. Over 3 hours in black and white! And Eastwood adapted Yojimbo in his cowboy movie too but I'm not quite remember the movie (not The Good The Bad and The Ugly though)

Alison-I've never ever watched Cary Grant in "action" in every movie! I've seen Deborah Kerr once in The King and I. Cry EVERY TIME? Waw.. I do need to see the movie then. I'm in a sappy mood :)

[Meghan]

Michele - you have to see Kurosawa's movies. He's simply genius. Seven Samurai is based on King Lear (I think...some Shakespeare play). It's referenced in so many other works (SS not KL). Plus it really gives a look at how samurai lived. The Magnificent Seven is a remake of it, and supposedly pretty good too. But it's a western style, which is not my favorite, so I haven't seen it. His movies are all on dvd and you can get a collector's box edition. Plus, I'm sure they show them on some channel, somewhere. Most of his works are considered "classics".

And yes, Erie, you must see An Affair to Remember. It's what Sleepless in Seattle was based on, only much better. Plus, the port in France they stopped at? It's still a popular cruise ship destination and it really does look like that still! It was one of my favorite stops.

West Side Story is good. Although I laugh through most of it. It's just funny to think of street gangs breaking out into song and dance right before the big rumble.

[Hippo dari Hongkong]

Uh.. uh.. Meghan, I think it wasn't Seven Samurai that based on Shakespeare play. It was Thorne of Blood (based on Machbeth actually) and I own six DVDs of Kurosawa's movies. Most of his works has a Hollywood adaptation. George Lucas was influenced by Hidden Fortress when he make a Star Wars. Oh, and now I remember that Clint Eastwood made his Fistful of Dollars based on Yojimbo.

Meghan, thanks for your "support" regarding this An Affair to Remember and I'm impress you knew about Akira Kurosawa :)

[Charity]

I actually did a final term paper on 'Rashomon' in film school. It is probably my favorite of Kurosawa's films. :-)

[Meghan]

Erie - you're right. Sorry. Ran is the movie based on King Lear. I get names confused all the time (just ask Sarah).

I just read that Seven Samurai is considered the movie that started the whole recruiting and gathering of heroes into a team to accomplish a specific goal plot device. Thought that was kind of cool.

[Hippo dari Hongkong]

Thanks Meghan for mentioning Ran. You see, I get confused too between Ran and King Lear (I'm not confuse anymore) :)

Charity-Ran is my all time Kurosawa's movies :)