I love mushrooms. And it looks like Dan Cederholm is a big fan of them as well.

This might not seem like earth-shattering news, but there was one sentence in Dan’s post that really struck a chord:

It’s funny how we box ourselves in.

I’ll admit it: I am often extremely rash in making decisions that pertain to my tastes and interests. Unlike Dan, I’ve always known that I love mushrooms, but I’ve been guilty of boxing myself in in the past. A few examples…

“I don’t wear jeans.” It’s true, I was one of those snobby kids in high school that thought men should only wear khakis and chinos (and dress pants, of course) so that they always look professional. That was, of course, until I slipped into a fresh pair of Hugo Boss jeans in college and never looked back. Now, I own more pairs of jeans than there are days of the week.

“I don’t eat eggplant.” These days, I find that statement absolutely ridiculous. Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables. There was a time, however, when I could barely look at an aubergine without feeling sick. Now I actually use eggplant in my cooking more than any other vegetable.

“I don’t watch hockey.” A real sports fan in Canada (especially Toronto) can get frustrated easily. Even when big things are happening in other major sports, every sports broadcast will lead with hockey news. There was a time when the World Series was on at the same time as pre-season NHL, and almost every bar in the city was showing hockey. That’s just ridiculous. So you can understand why I grew up hating hockey. While it is still not my favorite sport, these days I’m always glad to watch some NHL playoffs and some Memorial Cup highlights.

“I don’t eat onions.” Yeah, so that hasn’t changed. I can’t stand onions.

All that being said, I just wanted to share these examples to get you all thinking about how easy it is to say the word “no” or “never.” Next time you box yourself in, think about Dan and his mushrooms.

Have you changed your mind — and climbed out of the box — on something you felt strongly about recently?

This short note is my small way of saying thank you to all my friends. Or more specifically, to all my friends that have helped me stay employed over the past three years.

See, when you’re working as a freelance consultant, your next paycheck is never guaranteed. Most freelancers I know spend almost as much time looking for new gigs as they do working for their current clients. The benefits of self-employment are great, but you’ve got to go in expecting that you’re going to be working for many more hours than you’re actually billing out to your clients.

Me? I’ve been lucky.

Most of my clients have come to me through referrals. When you’ve got other people speaking on your behalf, it drastically reduces the time you spend looking for new work.

To all of you that have been Sameer Vasta evangelists over the past three years, thank you for saving my sanity — and my social life.

The peer referral is often as, if not more, important than the client referral — particularly when the person referring you is in the same industry. It says a lot when a peer can turn around and tell a client, “I can’t do that for you right now, but I know someone that can.”

In a recent article on peer referrals on Web Worker Daily, Jenneth Orantia writes:

Peers aren’t going to risk tarnishing their reputation by recommending someone whose work they’re not familiar with.

Giving a peer referral implies a large amount of trust, and I really appreciate everyone that has trusted me enough to sing my praises from time to time.

I’m trying to return the favor in any way possible. One way is by spreading the good word in person, but another is by recommending people and services on GigPark. (If you’re not using GigPark yet, go sign up now, I’ll wait here until you get back.) If I’m already your biggest fan and I haven’t recommended you just yet, let me know and I’ll fix that oversight.

Thank you again to everyone that has been my friend and my referral all rolled into one. I owe you dinner.

Special thanks to the always-awesome Connie Crosby who was influential in helping me score my most recent gig.

A fantastic quote over on WWTDD (via):

Cameron Diaz was spotted in Santa Monica on the set of “My Sister’s Keeper” yesterday, in which she plays the sister of a girl with leukemia. In the movie, Cameron’s character shaves her head as a show of support. In reality, Cameron took the easy way out and used a cap and makeup. A real actor would have shaved their head. Daniel Day Louis would have actually given himself leukemia.

I’m no Daniel Day Louis fanboy, but I will admit that he’s a remarkable actor. Reading this quote, I was reminded of why actors like DDL always manage to garner immense respect from the filmerati, and Diaz simply becomes a pop culture icon.

It’s not because she won’t shave her head. Instead, it’s because DDL realizes that his job is not only to make us believe in the character he plays, but also to make himself believe in the actions of that character. Not an easy thing to do.

My current gig as a policy analyst with the government aside, my job title in my freelance consulting career is ‘storyteller’ or some variant of the storytelling theme.

So when I read this quote on Put Things Off today (yes, I know it is an old post), I was, well, extremely put off:

Your job title isn’t the place to be creative. If you craft beautiful logos, kern type all day and your best friend is a certain lady called Helvetica, you’re most likely a Graphic Designer. If you design for the web, you are a Web Designer. If you code for the web, you are a Web Developer. If you craft crisp, concise, colourful copy, you are a Writer. If you run a commercial blog, you are a Blogger. If you sell photographs, you are a Photographer.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Now, I’ll admit that there are too many freelancers that use non-descriptive canned titles like “creative” and “director,” but I’d argue that there is a lot of room for creativity in a job title when it aptly describes what you do.

On being Head of Magic

One of my favorite people in Toronto — and one of the best marketers I have ever met — currently works at Freshbooks. His name is Saul Colt, and his title at Freshbooks is Head of Magic.

It might sound odd to you, but his job title is perfect. Saul’s job is really magical: he turns everyday product users into fans, evangelists, and spokespeople. By reaching out to every customer in the manner that that touches them most dearly, he facilitates transformations among Freshbooks users.

On top of all that, like a true magician, Saul Colt is a true showman. He doesn’t just talk about his product — instead, he engages his audience and makes them believe like they’re a part of the magic as well. Unlike most magicians, however, Saul does not keep his tricks a secret. Instead, he shares his wisdom and ideas on his blog so that we can all learn from him. Which, I guess, is why he’s the Head of Magic instead of just a magician.

If Saul had any other title than Head of Magic, I’m sure he’d do his job equally well. If Nick Cernis had his way, Saul would probably be called Marketing Lead or something mundane like that. But a title of Marketing Lead doesn’t really describe what Saul does; he’s not just a marketer, but instead is truly magical in the way he makes every single user feel like they’re the most important person in the world.

On being a Storyteller

As the example above demonstrates, your job title doesn’t have to be boring, but it has to be descriptive.

A few years ago, when I decided to get into content consulting, I struggled with finding a title that would adequately describe what I do. A lot of my work involved writing, but I wasn’t a writer. A lot of my work involved strategy, but I wasn’t really a strategist. A ton of my work involved coming up with ideas, but innovator didn’t really do the trick either.

What I realized very quickly though, is that whether I was coming up with ideas, strategy, or words, in the end I was helping people accomplish one important goal: to tell their story in the best possible way to the right people. I was, in fact, a storyteller. (I’ve since realized that storyteller not only serves as a great job title, but also describes what I do in my personal life as well.)

I tell stories. I’m a storyteller. According to Nick Cernis, my chosen job title would probably be considered frivolous and detrimental to my reputation. On the contrary, I think it describes me perfectly.

On sharing the love

Oh, and one more tidbit: I’ve been writing for blogTO for a few years now, and most of what I do for the blog is share my love for the city of Toronto. Someone once told me that every single time I speak about my city, it’s like I’m giving it a big hug.

I guess it’s not surprising that on my blogTO business card, my title is “Hugger Extraordinaire.” If nothing else, it provides a great way to get conversation going. Plus, everyone that reads it inevitably asks for a hug, and I’m always looking to share the love.

What is your job title? Does it adequately describe what you do? If you could create your own job title, what would it be?

Yesterday, I went through a list of must-read fiction books and discovered I had read about one-fifth of the list. Today, I’m going to continue to be inspired by Jason Kottke and examine a list of 1001 must-watch movies.

Most of you know me as a bit of a film nerd, so it’s probably not surprising that I’ve actually seen 411 of the 1001 movies on the original list. I’ve included my matches from the original list below (it is quite long), but like Kottke, I’ve added a little section on additions and subtractions immediately after the initial list, so keep scrolling.

I’ve also highlighted my favorites again with an (*) asterisk.

• The Great Train Robbery (1903)
• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
• Les Vampires (1915)
• Nanook of the North (1922)
• Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror(1922)
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
• Metropolis (1927) (*)
• Sunrise (1927)
• The General (1927)
• The Jazz Singer (1927)
• The Docks of New York (1928)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• Dracula (1931)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Shanghai Express (1932)
• Duck Soup (1933)
• King Kong (1933)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• Camille (1936) (*)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• Olympia (1938)
• Stagecoach (1939)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Gone With the Wind (1939)
• Daybreak (1939)
• Wuthering Heights (1939)
• Fantasia (1940)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• Pinocchio (1940) (*)
• Citizen Kane (1941) (*)
• The Lady Eve (1941)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Dumbo (1941)
• Casablanca (1942) (*)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• Brief Encounter (1946)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
• My Darling Clementine (1946)
• Beauty and the Beast (1946)
• Great Expectations (1946)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
• The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
• Adam’s Rib (1949)
• On the Town (1949)
• Rashomon (1950) (*)
• All About Eve (1950)
• Sunset Blvd. (1950)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• The African Queen (1951)
• An American in Paris (1951)
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
• Roman Holiday (1953)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
• On the Waterfront (1954) (*)
• Animal Farm (1954)
• Rear Window (1954)
• The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
• The Seven Samurai (1954) (*)
• Guys and Dolls (1955)
• The Man from Laramie (1955)
• Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• 12 Angry Men (1957) (*)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• Mother India (1957)
• Cairo Station (1958)
• Gigi (1958)
• Vertigo (1958)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
• Ben-Hur (1959)
• Rio Bravo (1959)
• La Dolce Vita (1960) (*)
• Psycho (1960)
• The Apartment (1960)
• Spartacus (1960)
• La Jetee (1961) (*)
• Lola (1961)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
• The Hustler (1961)
• West Side Story (1961)
• A Dog’s Life (1962)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• Lolita (1962)
• Keeper of Promises (1962)
• The Birds (1963)
• The Nutty Professor (1963)
• 8 1/2 (1963) (*)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Shock Corridor (1963)
• The Leopard (1963)
• The Haunting (1963)
• The Servant (1963)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Scorpio Rising (1964)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• Dr. Strangelove (1964)
• A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
• Before the Revolution (1964)
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
• The War Game (1965)
• The Battle of Algiers (1965)
• The Sound of Music (1965) (*)
• Alphaville (1965)
• Pierrot Goes Wild (1965)
• Faster, Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
• In the Heat of the Night (1967)
• The Graduate (1967) (*)
• Cool Hand Luke (1967)
• Point Blank (1967)
• Wavelength (1967)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• The Jungle Book (1967) (*)
• Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
• The Producers (1968)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• A Touch of Zen (1969)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• Midnight Cowboy (1969)
• Easy Rider (1969)
• Patton (1970)
• M*A*S*H (1970)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971) (*)
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) (*)
• Walkabout (1971)
• Harold and Maude (1971)
• Get Carter (1971)
• The French Connection (1971)
• Shaft (1971)
• Dirty Harry (1971)
• The Last Picture Show (1971)
• The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
• Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
• Cabaret (1972)
• Last Tango in Paris (1972)
• Sleuth (1972)
• Deliverance (1972)
• Solaris (1972)
• The Godfather (1972) (*)
• Cries and Whispers (1972)
• Badlands (1973)
• American Graffiti (1973)
• Papillon (1973)
• Enter the Dragon (1973)
• Mean Streets (1973)
• The Long Goodbye (1973)
• The Wicker Man (1973)
• Serpico (1973)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• The Harder They Come (1973)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)
• Chinatown (1974) (*)
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• The Godfather Part II (1974) (*)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) (*)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
• Nashville (1975)
• Jaws (1975)
• Carrie (1976)
• All the President’s Men (1976)
• Rocky (1976) (*)
• Taxi Driver (1976) (*)
• Ascent (1976)
• Star Wars (1977)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• Annie Hall (1977) (*)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• Killer of Sheep (1977)
• Eraserhead (1977)
• The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• Grease (1978)
• Days of Heaven (1978)
• Dawn of the Dead (1978)
• Shaolin Master Killer (1978)
• Up in Smoke (1978)
• Halloween (1978)
• Alien (1979)
• The Tin Drum (1979)
• All That Jazz (1979)
• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
• Life of Brian (1979)
• Apocalypse Now (1979) (*)
• The Jerk (1979)
• The Muppet Movie (1979)
• Manhattan (1979)
• Mad Max (1979)
• Nosferatu: Phantom Of The Night (1979)
• Ordinary People (1980)
• The Shining (1980) (*)
• Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• The Elephant Man (1980)
• Airplane! (1980)
• Raging Bull (1980)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Chariots of Fire (1981)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981)
• E.T.: The Extra-Terestrial (1982) (*)
• The Thing (1982)
• Poltergeist (1982)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• The Evil Dead (1982)
• Tootsie (1982)
• Gandhi (1982)
• Fanny and Alexander (1982)
• A Christmas Story (1983)
• Videodrome (1983)
• Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
• The Big Chill (1983)
• Money (1983)
• Terms of Endearment (1983)
• The Right Stuff (1983)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1983)
• Scarface (1983)
• Amadeus (1984)
• The Terminator (1984)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
• Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• A Passage to India (1984)
• The Breakfast Club (1985) (*)
• Out of Africa (1985)
• The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
• Back to the Future (1985) (*)
• The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985)
• Brazil (1985)
• Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
• The Quiet Earth (1985)
• The Color Purple (1985)
• Manhunter (1986)
• Stand By Me (1986)
• Blue Velvet (1986)
• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) (*)
• She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
• The Fly (1986)
• Aliens (1986)
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) (*)
• A Room with a View (1986)
• Children of a Lesser God (1986)
• Platoon (1986)
• Caravaggio (1986)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
• Goodbye Children (1987)
• Broadcast News (1987)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• Moonstruck (1987)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• Fatal Attraction (1987)
• Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
• The Vanishing (1988)
• Bull Durham (1988)
• Ariel (1988)
• The Thin Blue Line (1988)
• Akira (1988) (*)
• Cinema Paradiso (1988) (*)
• A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
• The Naked Gun (1988)
• Big (1988)
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
• Die Hard (1988)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (*)
• Rain Man (1988)
• The Accidental Tourist (1988)
• Batman (1989)
• When Harry Met Sally (1989) (*)
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) (*)
• Do the Right Thing (1989) (*)
• Roger & Me (1989)
• Glory (1989)
• Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)
• Say Anything (1989)
• Goodfellas (1990) (*)
• Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
• King of New York (1990)
• Dances with Wolves (1990)
• Pretty Woman (1990)
• Edward Scissorhands (1990) (*)
• Total Recall (1990)
• Boyz ‘n the Hood (1991)
• Naked Lunch (1991)
• Thelma & Louise (1991)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• JFK (1991)
• Slacker (1991)
• Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991)
• Strictly Ballroom (1992)
• The Player (1992)
• Reservoir Dogs (1992) (*)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
• Unforgiven (1992)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
• Candy Man (1992)
• The Crying Game (1992)
• Groundhog Day (1993) (*)
• Short Cuts (1993)
• Philadelphia (1993)
• Jurassic Park (1993)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• Schindler’s List (1993) (*)
• Three Colors: Blue (1993)
• The Piano (1993)
• The Wedding Banquet (1993)
• Three Colors: Red (1994)
• Hoop Dreams (1994)
• Forrest Gump (1994) (*)
• Clerks (1994)
• Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Natural Born Killers (1994)
• The Last Seduction (1994)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (*)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994)
• Through the Olive Trees (1994)
• Casino (1995)
• Babe (1995)
• Toy Story (1995) (*)
• Braveheart (1995)
• Clueless (1995)
• Heat (1995)
• Seven (1995) (*)
• The Usual Suspects (1995) (*)
• Fargo (1996) (*)
• Independence Day (1996)
• Secrets and Lies (1996)
• The English Patient (1996)
• Lone Star (1996)
• Trainspotting (1996)
• Scream (1996)
• Deconstructing Harry (1997)
• L.A. Confidential (1997)
• Happy Together (1997)
• The Ice Storm (1997) (*)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Kundun (1997)
• The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
• Taste of Cherry (1997)
• Open Your Eyes (1997) (*)
• Mother and Son (1997)
• Titanic (1997)
• The Celebration (1998)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) (*)
• Run Lola Run (1998) (*)
• Rushmore (1998) (*)
• Pi (1998)
• The Thin Red Line (1998)
• The Idiots (1998)
• Ring (1998)
• There’s Something About Mary (1998)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Beau Travail (1999)
• The Blair Witch Project (1999)
• All About My Mother (1999)
• Three Kings (1999)
• The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
• Fight Club (1999) (*)
• Being John Malkovich (1999) (*)
• American Beauty (1999) (*)
• Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• The Matrix (1999) (*)
• In the Mood for Love (2000)
• Gladiator (2000)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000) (*)
• Amores Perros (2000)
• Meet the Parents (2000)
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
• Traffic (2000)
• Memento (2000) (*)
• Dancer in the Dark (2000)
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
• Amelie (2001)
• And Your Mother Too (2001) (*)
• Kandahar (2001)
• Spirited Away (2001)
• The Piano Teacher (2001)
• No Man’s Land (2001)
• Moulin Rouge (2001)
• Monsoon Wedding (2001)
• Mulholland Dr. (2001)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) (*)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
• Gangs of New York (2002)
• The Pianist (2002) (*)
• Talk to Her (2002)
• City of God (2002) (*)
• Chicago (2002)
• Adaptation (2002)
• Far from Heaven (2002)

Here are the 25 movies I’ve seen that were added in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edition of the list:

• Muriel’s Wedding (1994)
• Shine (1996)
• The Big Lebowski (1998) (*)
• Bus 174 (2002)
• Hero (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
• The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
• Oldboy (2003) (*)
• Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• The Best of Youth (2003)
• Lost in Translation (2003) (*)
• Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
• A Very Long Engagement (2004)
• Sideways (2004)
• The Passion of the Christ (2004)
• Collateral (2004)
• The Aviator (2004)
• Million Dollar Baby (2004)
• Cache (2005) (*)
• Paradise Now (2005)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005) (*)
• Tsotsi (2005)
• The Constant Gardener (2005)

And while I don’t know what the very latest edition of the book has added or deleted (since I don’t have a copy of the changes), I’ve seen all ten of the films Kottke has seen, at least. And if I may quote him for one minute: “Removing Caché for Apocalypto? No fucking way.” Here are the ten added films that Kottke lists on his blog that I’ve also seen:

• Crash (2004)
• Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• The Prestige (2006)
• United 93 (2006) (*)
• Children of Men (2006) (*)
• El Laberinto del Fauno (2006) (*)
• The Queen (2006)
• Apocalypto (2006)
• The Departed (2006) (*)
• Volver (2006)

There are 446 movies mentioned in this post, so if you’re looking for some suggestions on what to rent this weekend, this might be a good place to start. And if you have seen them all, how about feeding me some suggestions as to what to check out next?

How many of the 1001+ have you seen? Are there any I missed that you consider a must-see? Let me know.

When I was young, my father used to chastize me for not looking up from my book while crossing the street. Calling me a “bookworm” was an apt metaphor: when I picked up a book, I crawled inside it and very rarely broke free to see the light of day until I was done.

These days, I don’t read as many books as I did back then — partly because of the fact that I’m a big magazine and periodical reader now. I certainly don’t read as much fiction, as my literary diet now consists of almost solely non-fiction works.

So when Jason Kottke posted a link to this list of 1001 fiction books everyone must read before they die, I was a bit nervous to take a poll of how many on that list I had already consumed.

Turns out, I wasn’t doing too badly. Out of the 1001, I have already read 204 and have added quite a few of the rest to my library hold list.

I’ve posted a list of all the 204 I have read below and highlighted my favorites with an (*) asterisk. I’d definitely love your input on what I should read next if you have some tips and suggestions.

• Never Let Me Go — Kazuo Ishiguro
• Saturday — Ian McEwan (*)
• Slow Man — J.M. Coetzee
• The Plot Against America — Philip Roth
• The Light of Day — Graham Swift
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time — Mark Haddon (*)
• Family Matters — Rohinton Mistry
• The Double — José Saramago
• Everything is Illuminated — Jonathan Safran Foer
• Kafka on the Shore — Haruki Murakami
• Middlesex — Jeffrey Eugenides
• Youth — J.M. Coetzee (*)
• Gabriel’s Gift — Hanif Kureishi
• Atonement — Ian McEwan
• Fury — Salman Rushdie (*)
• Choke — Chuck Palahniuk
• Life of Pi — Yann Martel (*)
• The Feast of the Goat — Mario Vargos Llosa
• White Teeth — Zadie Smith
• City of God — E.L. Doctorow
• The Human Stain — Philip Roth
• The Blind Assassin — Margaret Atwood
• Timbuktu — Paul Auster
• The Ground Beneath Her Feet — Salman Rushdie
• Disgrace — J.M. Coetzee (*)
• Intimacy — Hanif Kureishi
• Amsterdam — Ian McEwan
• The Hours — Michael Cunningham
• The God of Small Things — Arundhati Roy (*)
• Memoirs of a Geisha — Arthur Golden
• Enduring Love — Ian McEwan
• Underworld — Don DeLillo
• Jack Maggs — Peter Carey
• Fugitive Pieces — Anne Michaels
• Infinite Jest — David Foster Wallace
• The Moor’s Last Sigh — Salman Rushdie
• A Fine Balance — Rohinton Mistry (*)
• Captain Corelli’s Mandolin — Louis de Bernieres
• The Shipping News — E. Annie Proulx
• Trainspotting — Irvine Welsh
• On Love — Alain de Botton (*)
• The Virgin Suicides — Jeffrey Eugenides
• The English Patient — Michael Ondaatje
• Black Dogs — Ian McEwan
• American Psycho — Bret Easton Ellis
• Vertigo — W.G. Sebald
• The Buddha of Suburbia — Hanif Kureishi
• Remains of the Day — Kazuo Ishiguro (*)
• Catâ’s Eye — Margaret Atwood
• Foucault’s Pendulum — Umberto Eco
• The Satanic Verses — Salman Rushdie
• Oscar and Lucinda — Peter Carey
• The Black Dahlia — James Ellroy
• Beloved — Toni Morrison
• Watchmen — Alan Moore & David Gibbons
• Love in the Time of Cholera — Gabriel Garci­a Marquez
• The Cider House Rules — John Irving
• Contact — Carl Sagan
• The Handmaid’s Tale — Margaret Atwood
• Neuromancer — William Gibson
• Shame — Salman Rushdie
• The Life and Times of Michael K — J.M. Coetzee
• The Color Purple — Alice Walker
• Broken April — Ismail Kadare
• The Name of the Rose — Umberto Eco
• A Bend in the River — V.S. Naipaul
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams (*)
• The Sea, The Sea — Iris Murdoch
• In the Heart of the Country — J.M. Coetzee
• The Shining — Stephen King
• Song of Solomon — Toni Morrison
• Interview With the Vampire — Anne Rice
• Ragtime — E.L. Doctorow
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas — Hunter S. Thompson (*)
• The Wild Boys — William Burroughs
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings — Maya Angelou
• Slaughterhouse-five — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
• The Godfather — Mario Puzo
• Ada — Vladimir Nabokov
• 2001: A Space Odyssey — Arthur C. Clarke
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Philip K. Dick (*)
• One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garci­a Marquez
• In Cold Blood — Truman Capote
• The Magus — John Fowles
• Catâ’s Cradle — Kurt Vonnegut
• The Graduate — Charles Webb
• The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — Ken Kesey
• A Clockwork Orange — Anthony Burgess
• Franny and Zooey — J.D. Salinger (*)
• To Kill a Mockingbird — Harper Lee
• Naked Lunch — William Burroughs
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Truman Capote
• Things Fall Apart — Chinua Achebe
• The Midwich Cuckoos — John Wyndham (*)
• On the Road — Jack Kerouac
• Doctor Zhivago — Boris Pasternak
• The Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Talented Mr. Ripley — Patricia Highsmith
• Lolita — Vladimir Nabokov (*)
• The Quiet American — Graham Greene
• The Last Temptation of Christ — Nikos Kazantzákis
• Bonjour Tristesse — Francoise Sagan
• Lord of the Flies — William Golding
• Casino Royale — Ian Fleming
• The Old Man and the Sea — Ernest Hemingway (*)
• Day of the Triffids — John Wyndham
• The Catcher in the Rye — J.D. Salinger (*)
• The End of the Affair — Graham Greene
• I, Robot — Isaac Asimov
• Nineteen Eighty-Four — George Orwell (*)
• Doctor Faustus — Thomas Mann
• The Plague — Albert Camus
• Animal Farm — George Orwell
• The Razor’s Edge — William Somerset Maugham
• The Little Prince — Antoine de Saint-Exupery (*)
• The Outsider — Albert Camus
• For Whom the Bell Tolls — Ernest Hemingway
• The Power and the Glory — Graham Greene
• The Grapes of Wrath — John Steinbeck
• Finnegans Wake — James Joyce
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day — Winifred Watson
• Nausea — Jean-Paul Sartre
• Of Mice and Men — John Steinbeck
• The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien
• Out of Africa — Isak Dineson
• Gone With the Wind — Margaret Mitchell
• Burmese Days — George Orwell
• Brave New World — Aldous Huxley (*)
• The Maltese Falcon — Dashiell Hammett
• A Farewell to Arms — Ernest Hemingway
• The Sound and the Fury — William Faulkner
• Les Enfants Terribles — Jean Cocteau
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover — D.H. Lawrence
• The Sun Also Rises — Ernest Hemingway (*)
• The Great Gatsby — F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Trial — Franz Kafka
• A Passage to India — E.M. Forster
• Siddhartha — Herman Hesse
• Ulysses — James Joyce
• The Age of Innocence — Edith Wharton
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man — James Joyce (*)
• Rashomon — Akutagawa Ryunosuke
• Tarzan of the Apes — Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Sons and Lovers — D.H. Lawrence
• Ethan Frome — Edith Wharton
• A Room With a View — E.M. Forster
• Heart of Darkness — Joseph Conrad (*)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Kim — Rudyard Kipling
• The Turn of the Screw — Henry James
• The War of the Worlds — H.G. Wells
• The Invisible Man — H.G. Wells
• Dracula — Bram Stoker
• The Time Machine — H.G. Wells
• Tess of the D’Urbervilles — Thomas Hardy
• The Picture of Dorian Gray — Oscar Wilde
• La Bete Humaine — Emile Zola
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Robert Louis Stevenson
• Germinal — Emile Zola
• Treasure Island — Robert Louis Stevenson
• Nana — Emile Zola
• The Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Anna Karenina — Leo Tolstoy
• Ben-Hur — Lew Wallace
• Around the World in Eighty Days — Jules Verne
• Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There — Lewis Carroll
• War and Peace — Leo Tolstoy
• The Idiot — Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Little Women — Louisa May Alcott
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth — Jules Verne
• Les Miserables — Victor Hugo (*)
• A Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
• Madame Bovary — Gustave Flaubert
• Walden — Henry David Thoreau
• The Scarlet Letter — Nathaniel Hawthorne
• David Copperfield — Charles Dickens
• Wuthering Heights — Emily Brontë
• Jane Eyre — Charlotte Bronte
• Vanity Fair — William Makepeace Thackeray
• The Count of Monte-Cristo — Alexandre Dum
• The Three Musketeers — Alexandre Dumas
• The Pit and the Pendulum — Edgar Allan Poe
• A Christmas Carol — Charles Dickens
• The Fall of the House of Usher — Edgar Allan Poe (*)
• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby — Charles Dickens
• Oliver Twist — Charles Dickens
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame — Victor Hugo
• Ivanhoe — Sir Walter Scott
• Frankenstein — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
• Pride and Prejudice — Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility — Jane Austen
• Justine — Marquis de Sade
• Confessions — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Dangerous Liaisons — Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
• Tristram Shandy — Laurence Sterne
• Candide — Voltaire (*)
• A Modest Proposal — Jonathan Swift
• Gulliver’s Travels — Jonathan Swift
• Robinson Crusoe — Daniel Defoe
• Don Quixote — Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
• The Thousand and One Nights — Anonymous (*)
• Metamorphoses — Ovid
• Aesop’s Fables — Aesopus

Not as extensive as I would like, so it looks like I have a whole lot more reading to go before I die.

How many of the 1001 have you read? Are there any I missed that you consider a must-read? Let me know.

Two Sundays ago, I spent the entire afternoon watching coverage of the Kentucky Derby on NBC.

I gawked at the Hat Parade, laughed at Terrell Owens’ popcorn comments, quivered in anticipation as the horses approached the posts, and sat enthralled as Big Brown blew away the competition as the colt raced towards the finish line.

And yes, I cried when the filly, Eight Belles, fell after her second place finish and had to be euthanized.

Finding a scapegoat

In light of the Eight Belles tragedy, PETA had decided to start a media firestorm to convince people that horse racing is cruel.

Now, I’ll acknowledge that PETA, in the past, has done a lot of great things with regards to the treatment of animals. I just think that this time, they’ve gone too far.

For some inexplicable reason, one of the major points in PETA’s campaign has been to call for the suspension of Eight Belles’ jockey Gabriel Saez, as well as the banning of her trainer from ever training another horse.

How the unfortunate incident at Churchill Downs has anything to do with the jockey is beyond me, and I’m an avid horse racing fan. Yet, PETA continues to show its ignorance and stubbornness by trying to make its point through a scapegoat.

A perfect example of PETA’s inanity was demonstrated when spokesperson Nicole Matthews came on to Mike Tirico’s ESPN Radio show and refused to address Tirico’s questions about the jockey and instead decided to read off her talking points cue cards.

You can download the full show here, but here’s an excerpt:

Tirico: Did he do something that other jockeys haven’t done in the recent past?

Matthews: Well, horse racing is a dirty, greedy money game.

Tirico: That’s a big picture question, Nicole, and I understand that and we can get that for a brief moment in a minute. But come back to my point. Did he do something that somebody in the seventh race at the Derby didn’t do?

Matthews: Well, you know, thoroughbreds are raced on hard dirt surfaces, too young and too often and they’re whipped viciously as they come down the stretch.

Tirico: Let me try my question a third time. Did he do something that a jockey didn’t do in the sixth race at Churchill Downs Saturday. You can say you don’t know, it’s okay.

Matthews: [inaudible] horses is a standard practice, of course.

If PETA continues to be this ignorant and can not even respond to a rational question with regards to their complaints, they immediately lose any credibility with regards to anything they can say about horse racing.

Making room for change

The idiocy of PETA’s arguments (and yes, I did say idiocy, because it can not be described as anything else) aside, I will agree that the horse racing industry need to make a few changes in order to protect the health and well-being of the horses. Most people believe that banning whipping will be an excellent first step, but my major concerns do not revolve around the races themselves, but in breeding.

It is no secret that race horses are bred for size and speed; other factors such as strength and endurance are not priorities for horses running in high-stakes races that are usually just a few furlongs. This means that many horses are not bred for long careers, but instead for big finishes in lucrative races.

PETA should have targeted these kinds of breeding practices that are creating weaker (albeit faster) horses instead of trying to scapegoat a jockey that has done nothing wrong but do his job, and do it well. Even a small bit of research would have helped them realize that they’re taking the wrong approach; apparently PETA doesn’t value research as much as public demonstrations.

I love animals, but next time PETA opens their mouth to say anything about any issue, I’m tuning out. And it’s entirely their fault.

I’m not even going to pretend otherwise: I’m a momma’s boy, to the core.

If you knew my mom, you wouldn’t blame me. She’s one of the kindest, smartest, and most generous women I’ve ever known. She makes me smile every single day, and she taught me the most important lesson I have ever learned: the best thing I could ever be is myself, so forget trying to be someone I’m not.

I read an article the other day that said that most men rarely ever call their mothers. I find this shocking. I call or text or email my mother every day. Even if I’ve seen her that same day. If that’s supposed to make me some kind of soft push-over, so be it. My mother is more important to me than some societal stereotype.

I read another article that said if mothers were to be paid for the work they do, they would receive six-figure salaries every year. Honestly, I think they’re lowballing. Growing up, my mom acted as doctor, teacher, psychiatrist, arbiter, fashion consultant, historian, mediator, career counsellor, and much more. You try doing all those jobs at the same time; six figures just wouldn’t cut it.

So today, on Mother’s Day, and every day after this, I’m not going thank my mom for everything she has done for me. It just wouldn’t be enough. Instead, I’m going to show her the fruits of her labor; I’m going to prove to her that her hard work raising me resulted in a son that reflects the goodness and compassion that she emanates every day.

Happy Mother’s Day mom. You have always been my inspiration and continue to be my motivation to be the best me I can be.

Back when I was in high school and college, there were several bad behaviors that were often worn as badges of honor by my fellow students: not studying for an exam, pulling an all-nighter, getting so drunk that you can’t remember being taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, hooking up with people you don’t know, etc.

Now, as we’ve all grown up, most of us have seen the folly of our ways and would hardly brag and boast about many of these immature activities. Except for one:

Being able to function on little-to-no sleep is still seen as a noble trait. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.

Sleep makes you a better person…

A recent post on Signal vs. Noise listed a few drawbacks to sleep deprivation:

• Stubbornness.
• Lack of creativity.
• Diminished morale.
• Irritability.

Speaking from personal experience, every single one of those drawbacks is completely true. I only wish it didn’t take me over 25 years to realize that a lack sleep makes me an unproductive, unhappy, and unfriendly person.

What David Heinemeier’s post forgets to mention is that not only does sleep deprivation affect your mental capacity, it also affects you physically. Sluggishness is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lack of sleep-related health problems: not spending enough time in bed can lead to weight gain and obesity, which in turn is a precursor for all sorts of problems like diabetes and heart disease.

…bragging about your lack of sleep does not.

We all know that adequate sleep is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. So why do we tend to revere people that don’t get enough?

There was a time when I admired people that could function on four hours of sleep (I get about six hours a night myself) and would ask them for tips on how to stay awake without suffering from exhaustion. These days, I look up to people that get eight hours of sleep and still have time to work, play, and spend time with their families.

If you think about it, people who “don’t have enough time” to sleep a healthy amount are not the productivity machines we assume them to be. Instead, they’re just bad at time management.

We should be admiring the people who put in efficient work days, spend time on leisure activities, manage to take care of themselves and their families, give back to their communities, and somehow are still able to get a serious amount of shuteye.

So next time someone brags to you about only sleeping for four hours a night and putting in exceedingly long days at the office, tell them you got eight hours of sleep last night and smile. They’ll soon realize that they’re not in college anymore, and that bad behaviors are no longer badges of honor; instead, they’re markers of immaturity.

It’s just past eleven at night, so it’s time for me to hit the sack. Good night.

I watch movies so you don’t have to.

And also because I enjoy them considerably.

Summer is the season of blockbusters. Hollywood studios spend millions of dollars in production and marketing to entice us all to take a trip to the local cinema and watch childish humor, unrealistic action, and overwrought drama. And I love it.

Like many other people who work in film criticism and appreciation, I love a meticulously-crafted independent film that has considerable artistic merit. That being said, I also love to see what Hollywood can produce when it pulls out all the stops: the blockbuster shows the true power of the film industry to push the boundaries of imagination and technology.

Some may argue that the blockbuster is losing its luster, but there’s no denying the appeal of the big-budget summer movie. The summer itself conjures up images of hot days, disposable income, romantic flings, and lots of time to waste: a perfect fit for the film industry who provides air conditioning and a great way to spend that time and money with your romantic flings.

Let me help you pick the good from the bad. Below, you’ll find a week by week breakdown of the standout and sleeper hit for each set of releases. For the movies that I have already seen, I have included a diamond rating (out of 5: ♦♦♦♦♦) next to the film title. Films that have been creating a lot of buzz but are almost guaranteed to disappoint will be marked as notable omissions.

Do note that finding a standout and sleeper for every single week was incredibly difficult because of the weakness of some of the releases for some weeks. Forgive me if I was stuck picking some duds over the summer.

May 2

Standout: Iron Man (♦♦♦)
Sleeper: Son of Rambow (♦♦♦♦)

May 9

Standout: Speed Racer
Sleeper: Frontier(s) (♦♦♦)

May 16

Standout: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Sleeper: Reprise (♦♦♦♦)

May 23

Standout: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Indiana Jones is going to be in the top three films of the summer. Releasing anything in the same week is the epitome of bad business.)

May 30

Standout: Sex and the City: The Movie (The only reason I have this film as the standout is because nothing else of interest is coming out this weekend — I’m wary of this film’s quality.)

June 6

Standout: Kung Fu Panda
Sleeper: Mongol (♦♦♦)
Notable Omission: You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

June 13

Standout: The Happening
Sleeper: The Incredible Hulk

June 20

Standout: Get Smart
Sleeper: The Love Guru

June 27

Standout: WALL·E
Sleeper: Wanted (Sure, this looks like an absolutely fantastic film, but betting against Pixar is not a smart thing to do. WALL·E is the in the top three films of the summer.)

July 4

Standout: Hancock
Sleeper: The Wackness (♦♦♦♦)

July 11

Standout: Hellboy II: The Golden Army (If this film is anything like the first one, it will be an instant classic that nobody will go see because they’re too busy watching that ridiculous Eddie Murphy movie coming out this week.)

July 18

You want to hear predictions? Well, here you go: The Dark Knight will not only be the best (quality-wise) blockbuster this summer, but it will also be highest grossing film of the season. In fact, I’m going to say it’ll be the second highest-grossing film of the year. And that Heath Ledger gets nominated for an posthumous Academy Award.

How’s that for expectations?

July 25

Standout: The X-Files: I Want To Believe
Sleeper: Step Brothers

August 1

Let’s pretend this weekend doesn’t exist. Because there’s clearly nothing even remotely tolerable opening. (Unless, of course, you can tolerate Brendan Fraser, but that’s definitely a skill I haven’t acquired just yet.)

August 8

Standout: Pineapple Express
Sleeper: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

August 15

Standout: Nothing Is Private (♦♦♦♦♦)
Sleeper 1: The International
Sleeper 2: Tropic Thunder

August 22

Standout: Hamlet 2
Sleeper: Bangkok Dangerous

That’s all for now, I guess. I’ll write an update post at the end of August either apologizing for all the mis-picks in this post, or gloating about how I got everything right. Either way, there’s an exciting summer of movie-watching ahead.