Movies/filmmaking, hiking, dogs, history and stuff.
Music
Avril, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Skye Sweetnam, Marion Raven, Simple Plan, Black Eyed Peas, smooth jazz, techno, house, ambient, chill, jungle, trip hop, hip hop, blues, world, classic rock (including remixes sampled into new stuff), Dvorák's 9th, Mendelssohn's 4th, and lots of other stuff.
However, I'm not here to discover new artists to listen to, so I rarely accept random friend requests from musicians. Sorry. If I know you in real life, that's a different story.
Movies
The Surreal:The Butterfly Effect (see also Bress & Gruber's Final Destination 2);
Fight Club;
Memento;
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (see also Charlie Kaufman's Being John Malkovich);
Requiem For A Dream (Ellen Burstyn was robbed and the Oscars jumped the shark here -- let's see Julia Roberts try a role like this);
Identity;
12 Monkeys (Gilliam's best);
Vanilla Sky (most improved remake of a foreign film);
Dragonfly;
Twin Falls Idaho (awesome cinematography for under $1M);
Birdy;
The Cell;
Happy Accidents (everyone I recommend this to has thanked me, except for Doug);
Birth (strangely mesmerizing);
Groundhog Day;
Altered States (why did Paddy Cheyefsky take his name off this?);
Cronenberg's The Fly (now THAT'S how to do a remake)
The Dark Side:Leaving Las Vegas (absolute best film of the 1990s, according to me and Martin Scorsese);
What's Eating Gilbert Grape;
House Of Sand And Fog;
Dirty Pretty Things;
The Deep End;
Kalifornia (Brad Pitt at his most over-the-top);
Reservoir Dogs (Quentin's best);
From Dusk Till Dawn (Quentin's 2nd-best);
The Hidden;
Basic Instinct (there's more to it than the interrogation scene, people);
Body Double (best classic De Palma);
To Die For;
U-Turn;
Body Heat (the original "neo-noir");
Deathtrap (most memorable surprise ever)
All-Time Favorites which happen to all be from 1979:All That Jazz;
Breaking Away;
The China Syndrome;
A Little Romance
All-Time Classic Comedies:Airplane!;
Life Of Brian (the only truly great Monty Python movie);
The Gods Must Be Crazy;
Risky Business;
The Opposite Of Sex (Christina Ricci's best work);
Ruthless People;
The Sure Thing;
An American Werewolf In London (no, it wasn't a horror movie);
The Jerk;
Clerks;
Blame It On Rio
Favorite Foreign Films:Run Lola Run;
Run Lola Run (so great it's worth mentioning twice);
Wings Of Desire (source material for my directorial debut, Begleiter);
The Motorcycle Diaries;
Amores Perros;
Honorable Mentions: Amélie, Beijing Bicycle, Nine Queens
Top 11 Musicals:West Side Story;
Fiddler On The Roof;
1776 (I was in the play in high school -- "New York abstains, courteously");
Tommy;
Mary Poppins;
The Idolmaker (my brother based his life on this movie);
Fame;
Evita;
The Blues Brothers;
Xanadu (hahaha, really, call it a guilty pleasure if you must);
The Buddy Holly Story (all the music was recorded live, no lipsynching to playback, and unlike La Bamba, it wasn't all-consumed with the plane crash);
Honorable Mention to Jean Luisa Kelly's scenes from Mr. Holland's Opus
Chick Flicks I Admit to Loving:The Joy Luck Club;
My Girl;
Sleepless In Seattle;
Four Weddings And A Funeral;
Fly Away Home;
Thelma & Louise;
Before Sunrise (pretend there never was a sequel, it turns out it's better not knowing if they got back together)
Milos Forman Films, Best to 4th Best:Ragtime;
Hair;
Amadeus (see also the lesser-known classical composer biopic Immortal Beloved);
The People vs. Larry Flynt (see also the best 1st amendment biopic, Bob Fosse's Lenny);
Honorable Mention to Man On The Moon for resurrecting Andy Kaufman
Favorite Kubricks:2001: A Space Odyssey (see also the feature-length version of the "Dawn of Man" sequence, Quest For Fire);
A Clockwork Orange;
Lolita (also the Adrian Lyne version)
My Robert Altman Picks:The Player;
Short Cuts;
Dr. T & The Women (yes, I do know I'm the only one in the world who liked this);
Honorable Mention to Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean - when is this coming out on DVD?
Overlooked Scorsese:After Hours;
The King Of Comedy
Favorite Stephen King Adaptations (and 3 of them are from the same book):The Shawshank Redemption;
Apt Pupil;
Dolores Claiborne;
Stand By Me
Best Contemporizations of Classic Literature:Clueless;
Cruel Intentions
Greatest Disney Animated Features:The Lion King;
Fantasia
3 Movies that Reminded Me I Wanted to Write:
Albert Brooks' Mother;
With A Friend Like Harry;
Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry
And the Rest of My Hall of Fame:Go;
Closer;
Jaws (whatever happened to the guy who directed this?);
Star Wars (the original 1977 version only, none of the sequels come close);
Matchstick Men (Alison Lohman delivers the best performance by any actor ever);
Superman (1 & 2);
Ordinary People;
Startup.com (best documentary);
Point Break (another guilty pleasure);
Primary Colors (best political movie);
Halloween (best slasher);
The Purple Rose Of Cairo (best overlooked Woody Allen);
Ed Wood (Tim Burton's best);
Glengarry GlenRoss (David Mamet's best);
The Wedding Singer (Adam Sandler's best);
Magnolia (P.T. Anderson's best);
Poltergeist (best movie with a "Directed by Tobe Hooper" credit);
Sunset Blvd. (best "old" movie);
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut;
Unforgiven;
Heaven Can Wait;
Paper Moon;
Atlantic City;
Bound (The Wachowskis' best);
Shattered Glass;
Boiler Room (great supporting performance from Ron Rifkin);
A Walk In The Clouds;
Frances (great model for writing biopics);
Playing By Heart (great overlooked ensemble comedy that failed to be noticed because of its generic title, changed from the more distinctive "Dancing About Architecture");
Threesome (best gay movie);
Hardcore;
The Bad News Bears (the original);
The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel (best big screen remake of a classic tv show);
Crossroads (1986, not the Britney Spears one);
The Frisco Kid (see also the next-best Jewish movie, When Do We Eat?)
Television
South Park, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Hannah Montana channel surfing
Books
Don't have time.
Heroes
Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Larry Flynt, Barack Obama.
About me: I recently escaped from the world of software to focus more on my screenwriting. I have four completed feature-length spec screenplays. The first one has been optioned and has one of the stars of "Dawson's Creek" attached, as well as interest from an Oscar nominated actress. Another one landed me an agent, was recently requested by Lionsgate and HBO, and has attracted interest from Oscar nominee Edward James Olmos. I have also done a few rewrites on assignment.
I wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning and critically acclaimed short film "Begleiter" starring Ken Osmond -- the guy who played Eddie Haskell on the original "Leave it to Beaver" series -- and featuring an original score by jazz fusion pioneer Alphonse Mouzon of Weather Report. (In a previous life, I was a well-known jazz critic.)
I am also the president of SAN DIEGO FILMMAKERS, the first, largest, and only networking organization for the filmmaking community in San Diego!
For more, see this article from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Who I'd like to meet: Independent film financiers, producers, actors, musicians, San Diegans, people who think Ashlee Simpson is retarded, no, wait, that's too many people.
[Unfortunately, I was getting too many fake friend requests from porn sites so I had to restrict friend requests to people who know my last name. If you really do know me but just can't spell my last name, just send me a message and remind me how we know each other and I'll add you.]
Dan - Award-Winning Filmmaker's Friend Space (Top 19)
HEY DAN! awh i miss you tooo!!! how are you seety? goodness you wouldnt even believe! i work 2 jobs! well ess you remeber working with the kids? extended school services..i love it reallly..its like my second disneyland and then i work at gettoooo vons..but i like that one too ive been going to that one for yearsss..soo i know it like the back of my hand. but how are you?
And well wishing is in order for you also! I'll share some of Friday's festivities with you, since you went through all the trouble. You take the West Coast, I'll take the rest...heehee.
Heyy dan!!! Your stilll invited to my spring concert for dance, but its at steel canyon, so you might not want to come cause its going to be kinda far from you, BUT YOU WOULD SO ENJOY IT. il totally let you know when it is...but how have you been? Im still with jeff and things are reallly goood!i misssssssss you and rhonda says hi! Ttul :]
