A few literary, film and television faves to pass the time

By NATHANIEL WOODWARD

    I’m going to level with you all, I’ve just finished two weeks of law school finals and my brain is a bowl of lukewarm soup.
    So, as I brainstormed about what I felt I should write about this week my ideas were less than inspiring.
    So instead I’m cashing in my chips this week and you’re going to get my “top 10” list.
    I’ve been asked on several occasions about my various top 10 or favorite lists and since my intellectual capabilities as of today are rivaled only by the occasional moderately smart Bonobo, I figured I’d capitulate and write about (cue Julie Andrews) some of my favorite things.
    Best movies of all time: I refuse to rank my favorite movies. I love movies and my “favorite” would depend on my mood and genre, yet I will provide you with a list of films every human should not only watch but quote regularly.
    •A Late Quartet: This is my go to movie. It’s heartfelt, smart and just dramatic enough to elicit some feelings from this emotionless law school robot.
    •Pulp Fiction: not your typical family flick but epic nonetheless. If all movies on Earth were to be destroyed and I could save only one, it’d be this.
    •True Grit (Jeff Bridges): This may be controversial but here it goes, John Wayne was one of the worst actors in history. Truly, he’s awful and his version is just plain terrible. That being said, the Cohen brothers 2012 remake is the best major studio movie in the last 20 years hands down. This is a film I could watch every single day.
    •Tombstone: Of course this is on my list, it’s the perfect western, epic, dramatic, funny and all-together an emotional rollercoaster.             What else could be said? I’m your huckleberry.
    Best Television shows: Again, it depends on genre but I’ll mention my go-to favorites.
    •Sherlock (BBC): this is the best drama ever produced, period. Each episode is a movie and they only made a handful of them over nearly a decade. It’s honest, thrilling, intelligent and they quit making them before it got terrible, unlike so many other shows.
    •Breaking Bad: Yes, this old chestnut. It is arguably the best American drama ever made and it’s timing and flow are unmatched. I’ve never watched a show that gave me more anxiety than this one, it’s certainly not for the faint of hear.
    •Frasier: I get a little misty when I think about his show now that John Mahoney had died but I loved everything about this show. It was smart, incredibly funny and altogether a good time to watch. I wish this was one of the shows they were going to reboot.
    Finally the best books: There are way too many good books to make a list I’d feel good about so I’ll just mention the books I’ve read recently that rocked my world.
    •Wild, From lost to Found of the PCT: This book/memoir by Cheryl Strayed was recently made into a major film starring Reese Witherspoon, which was great in its own right, but the source material, this book was a great read. It has great flow, heartfelt stories and is above all, brutally honest.
    •Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman: I love this book and have read it a half-a-dozen times but I recently re-read it and loved it all over again. Richard Feynman was a physicist and one-heck-of-a character during the great nuclear age of America. This is a light-hearted read that passes the time far too quickly.
    •Walt Disney, Triumph of the American Imagination: This is one of the best biographies ever written. Author Neal Gabler holds nothing back and gives an incredibly in depth and comprehensive view of the Entertainment mogul’s life. It’s popular to trash Walt Disney and promote a lot of folklore about his life and views, but this book handles each with those pesky little things called facts. Walt Disney Rules.
    Well that’s it, my recommendations for how to spend the next several months. You’re welcome world.