1. Women’s Prison (Lewis Seiler, 1955): Thank you, Turner Classic Movies. This movie was awesome. It’s all about the denizens of this women’s prison and how they revolt against their sadistic prison matron (Ida Lupino, with whom I’m now in love). The only bad thing was that the kindly prison doctor (a man) was the one who had to keep the crazy ladies from crossing the line; otherwise it was amazing. Revolution!
  2. Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (William Clemens, 1939): Wow, 1930s Nancy Drew is a bitch. She wants to solve mysteries, but she doesn’t, like want to get her hair messed up or something, so she makes her boyfriend do everything. She gets his pay docked because she insists on riding in his work truck and wasting his time, she gets him arrested (twice), oh and he gets fired because he was in jail. The movie ends with the police readying to arrest him a third time for obstruction of justice (again, Nancy’s fault). Hilarious!
  3. Brand Upon the Brain (Guy Maddin, 2006): Awesome. This movie is shot mostly silent, narrated by Isabella Rossellini, features extensive mommy issues, and one of the main characters is actually a fictional character who is actually also her brother. Hurray! (Seriously: I love Guy Maddin so hard.)
  4. Out of Sight (Steven Soderbergh, 1998): I always forget how much I love this movie. It was like ten minutes in when we got home last night and I wound up watching the whole thing. It’s totally orgasmic: it’s gorgeous, everyone’s perfect, it was right before the whole world figured out how good most of these people were (except J-Lo, who I still think is fantastic in this movie). The hotel bar scene is definitely one of my top love scenes ever.

True “celebrity” sighting story: Alex and I are in a Main Street Indian restaurant, sitting by the window and enjoying the Vegetarian meal for two (mmmm paneer), when these two dudes walk by. “That’s Bob Blumer,” Alex said. I got a good look at him when he stopped to admire the hipster bike store next door. It’s no the Chief, but Bob Blumer does have the same backpack as me.