lists – bengarvey.com

Top 100 Movies

It was 2009 the last time I revised this list and I’ve seen many movies since then. Some were kicked off by newcomers or just didn’t feel as important in 2018. There’s a new #1 for the first time and it shouldn’t be much of a surprise if you know me. I should analyze which decades rank the best and compare the choices to my previous list, but for now, here they are.

rank	title	year
100	The Iron Giant	1999
99	Run Lola Run	1998
98	The Lego Movie	2014
97	Logan	2017
96	Terminator 2	1991
95	Amelie	2001
94	District 9	2009
93	Eraserhead	1977
92	Mystic River	2003
91	2001: A Space Odyssey	1968
90	Up	2009
89	Sideways	2004
88	Memento	2000
87	Howl’s Moving Castle	2004
86	Jackie Brown	1997
85	Life Is Beautiful	1997
84	The Big Sick	2017
83	The Matrix	1999
82	Monster’s Ball	2001
81	Drive	2011
80	This Is Spinal Tap	1984
79	Toy Story 3	2010
78	Interstellar	2014
77	Schindler’s List	1993
76	Young Frankenstein	1974
75	The Virgin Suicides	1999
74	Coco	2017
73	The Graduate	1967
72	The Kids are Alright	2010
71	Office Space	1999
70	Monty Python’s Life of Brian	1979
69	Kung Fu Panda	2008
68	Kung Fu Panda 2	2011
67	Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981
66	American Movie	1999
65	The Wolf of Wall Street	2013
64	Lion	2016
63	Swimming Pool	2003
62	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	2000
61	Superbad	2007
60	GoodFellas	1990
59	Beasts of the Southern Wild	2012
58	The Goonies	1985
57	Ghost World	2001
56	Birdman	2014
55	Wall-E	2008
54	The Godfather	1972
53	E.T.	1982
52	Taxi Driver	1976
51	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me	1992
50	The Shawshank Redemption	1994
49	Fargo	1996
48	A Clockwork Orange	1971
47	The Social Network	2010
46	Inland Empire	2006
45	Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure	1985
44	The Fountain	2006
43	Lost in Translation	2003
42	The Silence of the Lambs	1991
41	Blue Velvet	1986
40	Django Unchained	2012
39	Inception	2010
38	The Wrestler	2008
37	Notes on a Scandal	2006
36	Blade Runner	1982
35	The Third Man	1949
34	There Will be Blood	2007
33	The Grand Budapest Hotel	2014
32	The Revenant	2015
31	Citizen Kane	1941
30	Sexy Beast	2001
29	Zodiac	2007
28	Lost Highway	1997
27	Black Swan	2010
26	Groundhog Day	1993
25	Monster	2003
24	Throne of Blood	1957
23	Kill Bill: Vol. 2	2004
22	The Piano	1993
21	Rushmore	1998
20	The Pianist	2002
19	The Aviator	2004
18	Chinatown	1974
17	Blue Valentine	2010
16	Get Out	2017
15	Caddyshack	1980
14	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	2004
13	Rear Window	1954
12	Winter’s Bone	2010
11	Pulp Fiction	1994
10	The Last Picture Show	1971
9	Star Wars: Episode IV: The Empire Strikes Back	1980
8	No Country for Old Men	2007
7	City of God	2002
6	Primer	2004
5	Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope	1977
4	Dr. Strangelove	1964
3	Vertigo	1958
2	House of Sand and Fog	2003
1	Mulholland Drive	2001

Best Things This Year (2014)

What I like about 2014 was that it was more about things I built, rather than found and enjoyed.

1. Lineage
How do you browse 250 years of genealogical data? My Aunt Peggy has been doing genealogical research for decades and I created a system to view this data and show family relationships. I demoed Lineage at the February Philly JS Dev Meetup and at the Digital Analytics Association Symposium in October.

2. Public Speaking
I did more public speaking this year, mostly talking about data visualization, AngularJS, and some of my projects, including Lineage and the Bulldog Budget.
– Data Visualization and Expression at the Digital Analytics Association Symposium
– Data Expression with D3 at the Philly Javascript Meetup
– 14 Slides on ng-repeat at Angular Philly
– How the !@#$ and I Going to Upgrade to Angular 2.0? at Angular Philly

3. Kids Morning Adventure
I productized the morning routine I invented for getting my kids ready for school. Morning Adventure gamifies the process, motivating kids to be more independent and makes sure we get to school on time. I can’t imagine life without it now.

4. David Lynch
I got to see David Lynch give a talk at the opening of his art exhibit at PAFA.

4.1 More
I also got to see Biz Stone, a Peregrine Falcon, and this lady who skied to PATCO on a snowy day.

5. Books I read this year
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
Thank You Eliot Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
Diamond Age by Neal Stephensen
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann
Ingenius by Jason Fagone
All the World is Lost by Patrick Hipp
Eloquent Javascript by Marijn Haverbeke
A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin

6. Movies / TV
This year I watched and enjoyed
True Detective
The Lego Movie
House of Cards
Regular Show
Wolf of Wall Street
Django Unchained

7. Space Bounce Game
A bunch of us at RJMetrics volunteer to spend time mentoring 8th graders from Philadelphia schools. We built Space Bounce with the kids during our fall session. It uses a great javascript library for making HTML5 games called Phaser.

8. The Report Builder
I spent 2014 at RJMetrics writing the best chart builder in the universe. I’m super proud of what we accomplished and how much we improved the experience of building charts.

9. Viz War @ Philly Tech Week
My colleague, Austin Lopez, and I participated in Philly Tech Week’s Data Viz War and we won Best Pro Team for our NCAA tournament visualization.

10. Monument Valley
I didn’t play too many new games this year, but I enjoyed Monument Valley with Sasha and Owen. You help guide Ida through a beautiful, Escheresque world. It reminded me a lot of Sword and Sworcery.

Read about my previous years
Best Things This Year (2013)
Best Things This Year (2012)
Best Things This Year (2011)

Best Things this Year (2011)

Here are some best things I’ve come across this year. Not all are new, or even new to me, but they kicked ass in 2011

1. Kids Dungeon Adventure – A floortop RPG for pre-school age kids and their geeky parent(s). What started out as a little game with my daughter grew into a full fledged eproduct and side business. This project was life changing for me.

2. Notepadd++ – I used the same text editor for Windows for at least 11 years, Editpad. I finally decided to try Notepadd++ and was blown away by how much more I liked it. Color coding for almost any language and built in FTP are enough right there. Love it. Side note: Editpad was introduced to me by a college friend, Jonathan Meyer, who passed away soon after college. I often think about how much he’d love what is going on with the Internet over the last 10 years.

3. HTML5 – Have you seen how fast modern browsers can draw on an HTML5 canvas? Mobile browsers still need work, though.

4. Garageband for the iPad – I love the iLife Garageband, but the iPad version is amazing and portable. Check out the theme song I recorded for Rock the Animals with Sasha. At this point the song is a bigger hit than the game.

5. Thingiverse – I built a Makerbot Thing-o-Matic at work and have been obsessed with finding a use for it other than making crappy bottle openers.

6. Sword and Sworcery – Best iOS game of the year. It’s King’s Quest meets Punch Out while having coffee with David Lynch. Jim Guthrie’s music on it is amazing (listen).

7. Honoro Vera Garnacha – Best new wine I tried all year. It’s Spanish and only $8.99.

Honoro Vera Garnacha - Best new wine I tried this year

8. Movies – I don’t think I saw any new releases in 2011, but here are all the movies I liked that I saw this year in no particular order: The Kids are Alright, Blue Valentine, The Social Network, Kung Fu Panda, Catfish, Toy Story 3, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Scot Pilgrim vs. the World, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Shutter Island.