Best things 'in life'

1) Health.
2) Wife.
3) Financial independence.
4) Unpressured free time.
5) Running.
6) Having house & grounds in good shape.
7) The Internet.
8) Music/audio system.
9) Building a computer and having it work the first time it is turned on.
10) "Casablanca"; Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights"; any film by Eric Rohmer; most films by Woody Allen.
11) 1982 Chateau Pichon Lalande; 1978 Chateau Palmer (both better, by a slight margin, than any of several Lafite, Mouton, and Margaux I have tasted).
12) Finding a desirable antique radio in good shape.
13) A world series title by the New York Yankees.

-- Al

""Casablanca"; Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights"; any film by Eric Rohmer; most films by Woody Allen."

..a few of my favorite films:

1.All About Eve
2.A Woman Under The Influence
3.Cherry Blossoms (new addition)- a film by director Doris Dorrie
4.Chinatown
5.Citizen Kane
6.Forbidden Games
7.400 Blows
8.Hannah and her Sisters
9.I Am Cuba
10.Knife in the Water (and/or Crazed Fruit: boats and sensuality big in both films)
11.La Strada
12.Nights of Cabiria
13.Notorious
14.Pandora's Box
15.Raging Bull
16.Rebecca
17.Sansho the Bailiff
18.Seventh Seal
19.Stroszek
20.Sunset Boulevard
21.The Battle of Algiers
22.The Marriage of Maria Braun
23.The Third Man
24.The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
25.Through a Glass Darkly
26.To Kill a Mockingbird
27.Ugetsu
28.Vertigo
29.Virgin Spring
30.Wages of Fear
31.Winter Light

I don't like calling this a "best of" list because there are just so many great films from every corner of the world that I have not seen. Note: Chaplin and Keaton favorites not on this list, but 'City Lights' and 'The General' are certainly classics films, and lest we forget the insightful documentaries from the Maysles brothers. The films "The Man with a Camera" and "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" are well worth watching for an insight into human activity and sights from the final year of the 1920's. "The Man with the Camera" has a superbly imaginative soundtrack as well. With increasingly short attention spans, many film viewers don't have the patience to sit through an epic 4-disc saga, but if you are willing - please do yourself a favor and see Masaki Kobayashi's "The Human Condition".

That's a really excellent list, ByeGolly! I might have included "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" on my very brief list, if I had thought of it at the time.

Luis Bunuel is probably worthy of mention as well. If you've never seen it, check out "Nazarin" when you get a chance -- one of his lesser known works, but in my opinion his best.

Regards,
-- Al

"Luis Bunuel is probably worthy of mention as well."

I've seen most of Bunuel's films - and that's well before Netflix launched.

Noticed how many go on & on about Blu-Ray (and their home theater setups). I'll stay focused on content of film over new technologies in film/film playback every time. Kinda like audio where the music matters more to me than the equipment I play it on (C:

"Waking up is the single "Greatest" thing IMHO that is."

..unless you're waking up in an ICU bed with a dozen tubes in you, a pool of urine between your back and the plastic mattress cover and pain every f-ing where.

..unless it's after a serious binge accompanied with a headache like a cluster migraine with someone jack hammering in the room next to you.

In these (and other) cases, not waking up is the single greatest thing that is.