Listology

I think for my New Years Resolution I'm going to start posting more substantive things to this blog. So, on that note, here's a trio of lists I found online:

1. On Wikipedia, an extensive list of notable films that were recut before being released. Some of them are pretty well-known: the infamous 9-hour cut (no, not a typo) of Greed and the 5 1/2 hour cut of Heaven's Gate, the version of Blade Runner with the dubbed Harrison Ford voiceover, and the "Love Conquers All" edit of Brazil, to name a few. But honestly, did there really need to be a 140-minute cut of Bedknobs & Broomsticks? Did that story demand nearly two and a half hours to be fully told? Also, if you've ever been held captive by an older relative on a perfectly good Saturday afternoon and forced to endure It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, just be thankful that someone had the common sense to cut that movie down from its original 192-minute length. That's over three hours of listening to you grandfather say, "You know who that is? That's Jimmy Durante! Hey, you know who that is? That's Sid Caesar! Pay attention! These guys are legends!"

2. Reasonable Conservative Jon Swift has posted a lengthy list of the year's best blog posts, as chosen by the people who wrote them. I wasn't invited to participate, but I didn't write anything especially good last year, so it all works out.

3. Finally, the Buffalo Beast's annual list of the Most Loathsome People in America is always one of my year-end favorites, and this year is no different. I think they were a little hard on Master Chief and the Founding Fathers, but it's hard to argue with most of the rest, especially #9.