Projects at the Fluvanna County Historical Society

Projects at the Fluvanna County Historical Society:

It's true that now that I have a new job, I will have less time to spend at the Historical Society, but I can't seem to stop cold turkey. So I'm going in with whatever time I have because I've taken on a number of projects that I'm not willing to hand off just yet. Such as...

I'm working on an awesome little exhibit on the School Systems in Fluvanna. I'm unsure of when the exhibit will be put up, but the research is turning up some pretty cool things. The focus is mostly on the 19th century schools-- the private schools and the start of the first public schools in the South after the Civil War.

So I was trying to flesh out this exhibit-- deciding what would make this interesting to the school-aged kids, and thinking of ways to get them really involved. This was especially important to me after a mom and her 3 year old came through the Old Stone Jail Museum for a tour one afternoon and he kept tugging on her arm and saying, "I want to go home." This sounds like it would be annoying, but it was totally excusable because they were British, and it just didn't come off as bratty that way. I'm such a sucker for accents...

Anyway, Judy and I decided to add Discovery Boxes to the exhibit where kids could try writing in the same style and with the same materials--like quill pens and ink-- that they used in the 19th century. We're thinking of other kinds of Discovery Boxes to make too! Suggestions welcome!

The AFI Top 100 Project

I am 22 and have seen 32 of the 100 movies on the American Film Institute’s list of all-time greatest movies, and there are at least seven more of which I have seen partially. This list intrigues me, and I plan on investigating.

It is my mission to watch every single movie on this list: the good, the bad and the ugly. I have always enjoyed watching classic movies, but this goal to see all of these movies started when I saw AFI’s countdown of these movies on television, and from there on in it became almost an obsession.

The list is composed of all different genres, although there are few comedies and horror films. I guess they don’t typically meet the qualifications which “enrich and nurture the art of film in America", which AFI lists on its website as the reason for the Institute’s founding. I've got the list of movies here, and although I don't know if I agree with all of them, I'm going to try to look at the reasons they might have been placed where they are-- including the shots, the scene setup, the acting, the music, the costumes, and then, of course, the story line. Strangely enough, some of the movies I began watching after I saw this list surprised me as to how they made the list based on the story line alone (A Streetcar Named Desire...).

Here's the list-- I put a mark next to the ones I have seen completely:

1. Citizen Kane, 1941.

2. The Godfather, 1972.

3. Casablanca, 1942. *

4. Raging Bull, 1980. *

5. Singin' in the Rain, 1952.

6. Gone With the Wind, 1939. *

7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.

8. Schindler's List, 1993.*

9. Vertigo, 1958.*

10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939. *

11. City Lights, 1931.

12. The Searchers, 1956.

13. Star Wars, 1977.*

14. Psycho, 1960.*

15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968.

16. Sunset Blvd., 1950.

17. The Graduate, 1967.*

18. The General, 1927.

19. On the Waterfront, 1954.

20. It's a Wonderful Life, 1946. *

21. Chinatown, 1974.

22. Some Like It Hot, 1959. *

23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.

24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982. *

25. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962.*

26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939. *

27. High Noon, 1952.

28. All About Eve, 1950.

29. Double Indemnity, 1944.

30. Apocalypse Now, 1979.

31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941.*

32. The Godfather Part II, 1974.

33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975.

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937.*

35. Annie Hall, 1977.

36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.

37. The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946.

38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948.

39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964.

40. The Sound of Music, 1965.*

41. King Kong, 1933.

42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967.

43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969.

44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940.*

45. Shane, 1953.

46. It Happened One Night, 1934.

47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951.*

48. Rear Window, 1954.

49. Intolerance, 1916.

50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.*

51. West Side Story, 1961.*

52. Taxi Driver, 1976.

53. The Deer Hunter, 1978.

54. M-A-S-H, 1970.

55. North by Northwest, 1959.

56. Jaws, 1975.*

57. Rocky, 1976.

58. The Gold Rush, 1925.

59. Nashville, 1975.

60. Duck Soup, 1933.

61. Sullivan's Travels, 1941.

62. American Graffiti, 1973.

63. Cabaret, 1972.

64. Network, 1976.

65. The African Queen, 1951.*

66. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.*

67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966.

68. Unforgiven, 1992.

69. Tootsie, 1982.

70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971.

71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998.

72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.*

73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.

74. The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.*

75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967.

76. Forrest Gump, 1994.*

77. All the President's Men, 1976.

78. Modern Times, 1936.

79. The Wild Bunch, 1969.

80. The Apartment, 1960.

81. Spartacus, 1960.

82. Sunrise, 1927.

83. Titanic, 1997.*

84. Easy Rider, 1969.

85. A Night at the Opera, 1935.

86. Platoon, 1986.

87. 12 Angry Men, 1957.

88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938.*

89. The Sixth Sense, 1999.*

90. Swing Time, 1936.

91. Sophie's Choice, 1982.

92. Goodfellas, 1990.

93. The French Connection, 1971.

94. Pulp Fiction, 1994.*

95. The Last Picture Show, 1971.

96. Do the Right Thing, 1989.

97. Blade Runner, 1982.

98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.

99. Toy Story, 1995.*

100. Ben-Hur, 1959.

That's all for now. When I watch a few more of these, I'll tell you what I think about them. And don't hate on me for never having watched Rocky and The Godfather parts I and II, and 2001: A Space Odyssey-- I get enough of that from my brother. I know I have seen parts of each of these movies, but I can't say for certain whether I saw the entire thing. These will probably be the first on my list to get scratched off-- based solely on the fact that Travis keeps pestering me to watch them with him. Stay tuned!