Pajiba

Hah! Early in for a change!

Album: Fables of the Reconstruction / Reckoning, REM -- A cheat, but a friend gave me these two as a Christmas present. This gift started a life-long love affair with REM, and "Driver 8" and "Don't Go Back to Rockville" led me to explore authentic country like Johnny Cash.

Song: "Once," Pearl Jam -- This song epitomizes the angry album Ten, which nursed me through the roaring implosion of my first marriage.

Movie: Barcelona -- As with Pearl Jam, I discovered this introspective film at just the right time to get through a major crisis. The mood and dialogue resonate perfectly if you've got something lonesome but hopeful inside you.

To be honest, I think I'm still waiting for that magical moment to come. Sometimes my taste in movies hovers between shameful and downright humiliating! I would say though, that my boyfriend has really got me watching classic movies in the last year, and the one that changed my mind about them (I thought anything without colour was D-U-L-L)was North by Northwest. Probably not the best movie ever, but it really showed me that black and white doesn't mean BORING. I also am easing up and letting him take me to more of "his type of movies" and surprisingly, I am enjoying them all. Perhaps the days when I got really excited about the latest Will Ferrel drivel are slowly coming to an end....

Dustin - we're like Mike and Ike, we think alike!

album: Elvis Costello, Spike (song also: God's Comic) - my teen self went - Oh, THAT'S how songwriting can be. Ooooohhhhh it's good, and then there's the part where it's ABOUT something!

movie: Aliens - I've said it before, and it's been covered on this site, but a woman, who is not like a man, who can kick ass BECAUSE she's a woman. Hell YES.

Pump Up the Volume. I think I was waiting for something or someone to tell me that I wasn't wrong to feel disenfranchised and that maybe it was OK to hate school and all the bull shit that came with it. Pump Up the Volume did that for me. I wonder if it still holds up. I may have to netflix it just to see if it still hits me the way it did the first time I saw it.

I would say the movie Gone With the Wind, only because it was the first "old movie" that I ever got into and loved. I watched it towards the end of 9th grade shortly after finishing the book (which I now count among my favorites). This sparked an old movie obsession with my friends, and the following summer and school year consisted of James Dean, Cary Grant, and the wonderful Clark Gable. I think it was that movie that really solidified my interest and constant viewing of movies.

I know this is gonna sound like a cop-out, but Star Wars Episode IV did it for me. I wasn't even seven yet when my mom took me (and my brother) to see it, and I can remember certain portions of the flick and that setting/experience SO CLEARLY. Lifelong sci-fi geek from that day on...

And the first time I heard When Doves Cry - I always tell people that before then I listened to the radio, and after... After I listened to music.

Album: Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique After I heard this album (I think I was 12) it made me want to listen to music outside of the usual top 40 and start digging a little further in to new sounds (to me this is the Pet Sounds of the 90's generation). I also started to track down all of the recordings they sampled from which brought about a passion for 60's in 70's pop at a young age.

Song: Minor Threat - Minor Threat When I discovered Minor Threat muuuuch after they disbanded (I think I was 15) it led me to attending live music at the local level.

Movie: A Clockwork Orange At 14, a old (to me at least) movie with a promise of boobs and a little of the ol' ultravoilence was too much to pass up. It delivered in that aspect, shed light on movies outside of the typical Adam Sandler and Chris Farley fare the rest of my friends were quoting in insessantly.

the low end theory by tribe called quest. i'm not sure about the movie. maybe texas chainsaw massacre. i will never not be afraid of the middle of nowhere.

It's always a little embarrassing to open up in these types of threads because of poor music/movie tastes and choices made during adolescence. That being said, the album that marked a turning point in my listening tastes was Wild by Erasure. I got this cassette for free when I worked in a music store in 8th grade, but I didn't listen to it until about a year later. It made me see that I could enjoy music that wasn't being played on the local top 40 station. This album lead me to Black Celebration by Depeche Mode, which in spite of whatever opinions there are on Depeche Mode, it's hard to argue that this is their best. album. ever. And of course I've continued to evolve from there. Thankfully.

The movie that forever changed by viewing perspective was Barton Fink. My boyfriend (now husband) introduced me to it. It was the first movie I ever watched that didn't have a pat, convenient, happily-ever-after ending, and it thoroughly confused me. The Mr. teased me for years about this. But it opened me up to a whole different mind set of what a movie could be.

Movie: The Piano

Song: Shine on You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd

Movie: Fight Club. I was 15, and until then Disney movies and romcoms had been my penchant. Raised in a quasi-sheltered home, I was unaware that anything better or deeper existed. Someone else rented Fight Club and brought it to my house, and behold: a love affair was born. That movie got me started really loving movies. I was just talking to someone about that the other day, how that movie was truly a defining moment (or 2 hours) that forever shaped my future tastes.

Album: probably Ben Folds Five's self-titled album, but I was a little younger for that one. Again, shaped my taste for life. I've moved on to liking Ben as a solo artist more now, but damn if I don't have some deep-seeded memories interlaced with that CD. Later on as a fresh high-school grad I had a similar experience with R.E.M. and "Losing My Religion". This is embarassing, but I used to write Michael Stipe letters that I never sent about how only he understood me. Oh God, my face still gets red just thinking about it! Ah, angst.

Album - "Misguided Roses" by Edwin McCain. I bought the cd for one song and I ended falling more in love with every other track on the album. It is one of my most treasured cds.

Song - "Pure Energy" by Information Society. I remember being very young and listening to this song with my sister and just dancing and dancing. I had never heard anything like it before.

Movie - "The Usual Suspects" I was so completely blown away.

First off, OMYGOSHCLARENCEANDALABAMA! AWESOMEILOVEYOU!

Now that's out of my system.

Albums: "Disintegration", The Cure because I was a terribly maudlin teenager, and it help me work through all my horrid angst, depression, and unrequited love.

And "Little Earthquakes", Tori Amos because I was/is/whatever a very angry bitter young woman and sometimes misery really fucking wants company and a good tune to hum.

Songs: There are some beautiful and moving spiritual songs that Johnny Cash and Ralph Stanley sing. Every time I hear them my life is changed and renewed.

Movies: Yes, wait for it. "Dead Poets Society" Honestly, it was after seeing that movie that I decided all I wanted of my life was to make a positive impact on people. Yeah, still haven't gotten around to it, but I am very well intentioned.

Second, "Master and Commander" for a bit of a weird reason. The character of Blakeney, the little midshipman, inspired me to raise a son as strong and brave as that boy was.

Album: Weezer - The Blue Album. This was the first cassette that I ever bought with my own money. It was a symbolic experience. I was now forming my own musical identity. And that album couldn't have been a better choice.

Song: The Message - Funkmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Growing up in the late 80s early 90s I wasn't exposed to a lot of substantial rap music. This was the first song that I took notice of what the artist was saying.

Movie: Pulp Fiction - I know this movie gets a lot of hate. But, it totally changed my perception of what movies can be. I guess coming in at a close second place would be "The Royal Tenenbaums". Which was the first Wes Anderson movie I saw.

I used to write Michael Stipe letters that I never sent about how only he understood me. Oh God, my face still gets red just thinking about it! Ah, angst.

Awesome story, domo -- have you seen that performance art thing in NYC where people read embarrassing letters and stories from their early lives? It's pretty amazing . . .

And, everyone else, just curious: Am I the oldest person on this website? I'm 40.

Song: Over the Hills and Far Away, Led Zeppelin. At the tender age of 15, as a beginner to the guitar, that song absolutely floored me. That was the moment that switched me from obeying the gods of radio to seeking out music that actually moved me.

Other songs that instantly ushered in or reinvigorated various phases in my musical life:
Overture 1928, Dream Theater
Man on the Side, John Mayer
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Coheed and Cambria
Boston and St. John's, Great Big Sea

Movie: Swingers. Seeing this movie awakened me to the fact that movies didn't have to be blockbusters to be entertaining, and that realism is a powerful film tool. It also served as a great bonding tool with my closest friends and my eventual Best Man.

Music has played a much bigger part in my life than movies have.

socalledonlycousins - you're older than me but only by a year. feel better?

Movie: I'm thinking I might be ridiculed for this choice, but Pulp Fiction did it for me. Subject matter, storytelling, performance, and a fucking killer soundtrack all in one. At the time it came out, I was hooked on it and it wound up being the first movie I paid to see more than once (four times). As a sidenote, this movie does not make my top five, 'twas just the movie that really made me dig movies more. As another sidenote, I think QT is quite the douchebag nowadays. I think he shot his load with this film...

Album: Metallica-Ride the Lightning. I can't honestly remember the last time I listened to the friggin' thing (or heavy metal for that matter), but it was the album that made we want to own more albums. And more albums. And more albums. Now I'm broke. Thank god for oragan-farming!!

Song: Too many to name - too many experiences linked to too many songs linked to too many memories and me proclaiming "now this, this here is what fucking music is about". So can't name one victorious. However, "Fans" by Kings of Leon was the last song that really made me all... guh. Hellifiknow what it was, but that song knocked it outta the goddam park for me.

Movie - Boyz N the Hood Where in LA is this South Central? What! It's right down the street from me?!? You mean, not all black people live in nice houses, shop at the Gap, and attend private schools?!?

Song/Album - The Wrong N***a to F**k Wit , Death Certificate, Ice Cube Further down the rabbit hole into my discovery of this thing called "the 'hood" and the plight of my people stuck in it.

For music, something by Pink Floyd; I can't remember what, but my brother discovered them and made me listen to them when I was twelve or so. That pretty much defined my musical tastes from then on, and they remain my favorite band.

For movies, I guess Apocalypse Now. I can't claim my teenage ass had any real idea what was going on in that one, and if I tried to view it again I doubt I'd be able to separate the nostalgia from any real appreciation of its quality. But still, it was the first "adult" movie that I dubbed my favorite.

Movie: I'm thinking I might be ridiculed for this choice, but Pulp Fiction did it for me. Subject matter, storytelling, performance, and a fucking killer soundtrack all in one. At the time it came out, I was hooked on it and it wound up being the first movie I paid to see more than once (four times). As a sidenote, this movie does not make my top five, 'twas just the movie that really made me dig movies more. As another sidenote, I think QT is quite the douchebag nowadays. I think he shot his load with this film...

Album: Metallica-Ride the Lightning. I can't honestly remember the last time I listened to the friggin' thing (or heavy metal for that matter), but it was the album that made we want to own more albums. And more albums. And more albums. Now I'm broke. Thank god for oragan-farming!!

Song: Too many to name - too many experiences linked to too many songs linked to too many memories and me proclaiming "now this, this here is what fucking music is about". So can't name one victorious. However, "Fans" by Kings of Leon was the last song that really made me all... guh. Hellifiknow what it was, but that song knocked it outta the goddam park for me.

Movie : One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest
Music : Fugazi, the day I discovered PUNK

Song: "Take Me To The River" by Talking Heads

In the late '70s I listened religiously to the Top 40. Commercial radio then basically consisted of disco, turgid arena rock, r&b, and post-hippie balladeering. The first time Casey Kasem introduced this song, I honestly thought he was kidding. I thought it was a joke. It took me a few listens to decide they were just on a different plane than anyone else I'd heard.

Album: Combat Rock by The Clash

Music could be political and, unlike most of the Vietnam-era stuff, belligerent at the same time.

Movie: Jean de Florette

I decided to take a chance on a movie that 1) I had to read, and 2) contained no martial arts. I enjoyed it immensely for itself (and Manon of the Spring was even better), but more than that I realized that the number of movies it was possible for me to enjoy had just increased by a factor of ten. Trips to the video store were newly exhilarating.

"The Seer's Tower" and "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!" by Sufjan Stevens on his Illinoise album. After really listening to these songs I fell even deeper in love with them. "The Seer's Tower" is euphoric. If I could choose, I would die with the music of Sufjan Stevens playing in the background. My bangs are cut this way because I am emo-tional. Hahaha.

The Birds is my movie. It was the first movie my mom ever shared with me. Her aunt and uncle had worked at a movie-theater and so her and her cousin would watch all the movies, and this one scared the hell out of her when she was a kid. She bought me The Birds as if it was a gift from God himself, and watching it has since inspired a deep love for things that may not appear as shiny on the outside as others , but once you get past that they are so much better.

This was a great comment diversion Dustin.

Like Tanner, Pulp Fiction changed my life but for a different reason. For some reason, the scenes in that movie shattered whatever innocent view of the world I had left.

As for the song, there was a song I heard while working at a greek restaurant the summer before college titled, "Den thelo tetious filous" (I don't want friends like that) by Pashalis Terzis. He's an amazing singer that made me appreciate international music and for the first time truly feel the sadness that can be conveyed in a song.

Album: When I was young, we got a cassette of Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill that I played until it just fucking broke. I can still recite the words to Paul Revere from goddamn memory. But the album that still kinda gives me the giggles was Nerf Herder's Nerf Herder. The self-titled nerd rock, it's just awesome. It's a mere ten songs, but those ten songs told me, shhh. it's okay, it's fun to be lame.

Movie: Swingers. Yep. There's a documentary on the DVD where Doug Liman says something along the lines of "We didn't want to make this like a hollywood production. We wanted to make this 4 kids with a camcorder in Pennsylvania." And that was literally me and my friends.

Then, I went to film school in Boston and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. My little bald head melted open, and my brain puddled out, and my heart exploded. I finished my degree, packed my bags, and moved my ass out to California.

I figured, I look like Kevin Smith, I write like Charlie Kaufman, and I bust ass like Jon Favreau. Maybe I can make it in this town!

So, anyway, you want fries with that?

Huh?
What??
Who's old???

All I know is that you damn kids better get off my damn lawn! :-D

Album: Bloddletting by Concrete Blonde. It signaled my shift from heavy metal music to more alternative music and it was right around the time (senior year of highschool)that I started re-defining my musical tastes that I had a shift in my world view on a great many things.

Movie: Reservoir Dogs. I saw this my Freshman year of college. I must have seen this movie at least 12 times in the theater that year, including 5 nights in a row during one week. I think Dustin summed it up nicely above "[it was the movie] that inspired me to dig deeper into independent and genre flicks (and appreciate violence outside of the horror context)."

Rock 'n' Roll High School

Which I unfortunately saw in college instead of high school. Oh, the havoc that might've been wrecked had I seen it a few years earlier. But it still broke the hold "authority" had on me, and gave me to the Ramones.

Express - Love and Rockets

This led me away from the Crue and the radio. Thank goodness.

The Fly - Cronenberg's version. I saw it before much of my life experiences had accumulated. It got me thinking about the nature of life, disease and love. It suggested to me that I could view film as art and allegory for life. Thefore, got me to view humans differently than perhaps I would have without seeing it.

The Fly - Cronenberg's version. I saw it before much of my life experiences had accumulated. It got me thinking about the nature of life, disease and love. It suggested to me that I could view film as art and allegory for life. Thefore, got me to view humans differently than perhaps I would have without seeing it.

Album: Everybody else is doing it, so why can't we? by Cranberries. I was a freshman in high school, and I wept while I listened, all the way through. Of course, you feel everything a little more in high school, but it still counts.

Song: Still You Turn Me On by ELP. Soft and hard, just like real love.

Movie: True Romance, absodamnlutely. Made me determined to find a Clarence to my Alabama, and I think I did. You're so cool...

socalled: you're no fun. you're getting mellow in your old age. i was baiting you, hoping to get a rise out of you. thanks a lot.

Heathers.

It's like, all my faves were already picked! Is my hipster-style "other"ness offended, or am I home? Mommy? Mommy, is that you?

Song- Today, Smashing Pumpkins. It's not like it's my favorite song ever, but I was raised in a strict household where jazz was music and anything else was GARBAGE GET THAT OUT OF MY HOUSE, and hip-pop was the only acceptable form in my ghetto high school, so one evening I snuck into the living room to flick on MTV with the sound down to, like, 2- I've never been the same.

Albums- Surfer Rosa, uff said, and The Fragile.

Movie- Almost Famous. I'd have Patrick Fugit's expressive-eyed babies to this day (Wristcutter Review?) Also, when I was growing up, anything Mighy Ducks changed my life. Those were real issues, man! A little older, Sixteen Candles.

Shut up, I'm a girl, I was a teen, it was awesome, kay?

After spending many years as a shy, stuttering, socially awkard kid who attended a new school every year I was presented with another fresh start at the beginning of high school when I was shipped up to my grandparents farm that was an hour drive from anything. Being moved into the most wonderbread of towns where people openly wore cowboy boots was a culture shock given that we were the only white family in our apartment complex in the city. The culture shock of it all was what I needed to take me out of my wall flower stage and cliched as it is Nirvana's Nevermind along with Heathers and Pump Up the Volume taught me that I didn't have to conform if I didn't want to. I could be smart and snarky and everything that no one else in that town was. I learned that I didn't have to like life or school or people and that I wasn't a compleate freak because I didn't. Knowing all this definitely made getting through high school easier on me and now I can look back and laugh about being one of the few people in that school who even knew who Kurt Cobain was before his suicide. I listened to NWA and Public Enemy instead of Shania Twain and Garth Brooks...and I'm better for it today.

HarshBetty: used record shops still exist. i've just spent 200£ rooting around used record shops here in London on my days off. and good call on the Dance Craze- i "inherited" (read: stole- he's not dead yet, he just doesn't have a record player) that one from dad's record collection.

and good call on the Blade Runner, too- i saw that in the theatre when it came out. i was six. my dad had taken me to see Bambi, or something, and we were both so bored that my dad decided that i was old enough to see Blade Runner and we snuck across the hall in the multiplex to see it. i love my dad.

Album - Master of Puppets, by Metallica. Shut up. It was a brilliant album that made me realize that metal could be smart, which led me to Minor Threat's Out of Step , Helmet's Meantime, and into oblivion. Although cmoody's pick of Pump Up The Volume was pretty awesome.

Movie - Two picks: either The Killing Fields or Ghostbusters.

Yes, I am dead serious about all of this.

Withnail:
The Who's Quadrophenia, eh? I've got the rest- Guess what I'm doing tonite!

P.S. I left out Morrissey. I actually left out Morrissey. My best friend just disowned me. "To daaii by your saaaeeed, oh, the pleasure, the priviledge is maaaaaiiine..." Exactly.

Album- Superunknown by Soundgarden. Until then I was a lonely pre-teen listening to Top 40 radio and singing along to Les Miserables in my bedroom. Then I bought that record- I'm ashamed to say only because I thought Chris Cornell was cute after seeing the Black Hole Sun video. It blew my mind and I never looked back. I've been a rock chick ever since.

Whoa David.. nice pick! :)

random thoughts:

movies: when harry met sally, rushmore, east of eden, the graduate

songs: pretty much anything off of "transatlanticism" by death cab, bill joel "scenes from an italian restaurant," jeff buckley "last goodbye" (after a bad breakup)

If anyone feels that I'm a walking cliche, my excuse is that I'm a (recently discovered) 'millenial', so joke away.

Album: Dark Side of The Moon - even tho I was 30 years too late to remember it's release, I still managed to wear out 3 CDs of it. I can't even begin to describe the many conversations and life- (as well as mind-) altering situations that arose because of the marathon Friday night bake-fests accompanied by this album.

Song: No Myth - Michael Penn/Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind - I don't think these two songs could be any different, but they have always stuck with me. I don't even know why, but something about them lent themselves to cruising down to NYC from Connecticut on an early Saturday morning in my mom's drop top Seabring. I think I always liked knowing that no matter how confusing my adolescent life was, there was ALWAYS something else that made less sense - and I loved it.

Movie: The Talented Mr. Ripley/Gattaca - TTMR has been one of my favorite films for so long. Even the first time I saw it and had no idea what the undertones were, it spoke to me. Between the beauty of Italy and the cunning skill of Tom, it was just an all-around magical afternoon activity. Gattaca (also with Jude Law) was the first movie that actually made me think about my existence. It wasn't too hard to believe that the genetic engineering of the 'future' was right around the corner. And of course, two hot men made the poignancy all that much better.

If anyone feels that I'm a walking cliche, my excuse is that I'm a (recently discovered) 'millenial', so joke away.

Album: Dark Side of The Moon - even tho I was 30 years too late to remember it's release, I still managed to wear out 3 CDs of it. I can't even begin to describe the many conversations and life- (as well as mind-) altering situations that arose because of the marathon Friday night bake-fests accompanied by this album.

Song: No Myth - Michael Penn/Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind - I don't think these two songs could be any different, but they have always stuck with me. I don't even know why, but something about them lent themselves to cruising down to NYC from Connecticut on an early Saturday morning in my mom's drop top Seabring. I think I always liked knowing that no matter how confusing my adolescent life was, there was ALWAYS something else that made less sense - and I loved it.

Movie: The Talented Mr. Ripley/Gattaca - TTMR has been one of my favorite films for so long. Even the first time I saw it and had no idea what the undertones were, it spoke to me. Between the beauty of Italy and the cunning skill of Tom, it was just an all-around magical afternoon activity. Gattaca (also with Jude Law) was the first movie that actually made me think about my existence. It wasn't too hard to believe that the genetic engineering of the 'future' was right around the corner. And of course, two hot men made the poignancy all that much better.

Beerfest, life changing moment: scene when they pull the "old Trojan keg" gag it was a very clever move never done by Americans, you see.

Powerful, powerful piece of cinema.

Oh, and I don't much care for the Hall and Oats hate. It was what it was for the time.

Music: The Cars' first album, Talking Heads Fear of Music, Elvis Costello's My Aim is True, and The Police's Outlandos d'Amour were all such a breath of fresh air after the stagnant and arid Disco Era.

Movie: I'm being just a tad flippant when I cite Sixteen Candles. I saw this with several girlfriends and I remember being the only one who thought that the Anthony Michael Hall character was cuter and more interesting than the generic cute guy, although I was too embarrased to admit it back then.

Movie: The Legend of Bagger Vance

Movie: I'd been reading SF/Fantasy since I was in third grade or so and had caught the original Star Trek in reruns here and there and still, like many SF geeks my age, Star Wars: A New Hope blew my 16 year-old mind. The idea that the kind of fiction that I'd read and loved could actually be translated into visuals was just incredible.

Also, Han Solo? Totally hot. What, I was 16!

Music: The song I first remember loving all out of proportion was Simon and Garfunkle's "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her." I don't really know why, but that song can still make me tear up.

Also, I listened to my parents' copy of Rimsky-Korsikov's Scheherezade and fell madly in love with it at the age of, oh maybe 10 or so. It was the first time I realized what my ballet teacher was trying to make me understand: that music could tell a powerful story without any lyrics at all.

Album: American Recordings IV, Johnny Cash. Pure, unadulterated brutal retrospection. LOVE IT!

Song: Brick, Ben Folds Five. This song was released right around the time I was freaking out about my obligatory Freshman pregnancy scare. Needless to say, to hear a song that so perfectly described a moment in my life made me realize that there was life beyond Chris Ledoux and Warren G.

Movie: Heathers. I saw this movie after it was quoted in my High School newspaper. "Lick it up, Baby. Lick it up . . ." God. Finally, I was able to see another girl who had a visceral hatred for the Heathers of this world like I did.

Album: Jeff Buckley "Grace." 'nuff said about that album, I suspect, but it's some deeply moving stuff. Also, throw in tragic death of musician to said deeply moving album, and you stir up a lot of profound feelings in a teenager. I still can't believe he fell into the Missippi.

Urgh, transformative movie is just so tough to come up with! These two came out in the same year my senior year of college and blew my mind: "Moulin Rouge" & "Amelie." I don't own a lot of dvds, but I own those two, I also own both the soundtracks. Excellent!

I see that there is someone on this thread named Withnail, but I do not see one of my all time faves Withnail and I. I connected with that movie when I was 19 because I related to Withnail's blind hedonism and wit. I still love that movie and watch it once a year, but it is a different movie when you are 39 years old(!) and now I identify with 'I' who lived the crazy life but got his act together at the end.

Another youthful fave that still holds up for me is 'Harold and Maude.' When you describe the movie it sounds corny and cliched, but when you see the movie it moves you to tears. Well, at least it moves me to tears.

Songs: "Everybody Hurts" by REM (there was a breakup, I was in college, what more needs to be said), "Smells like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, "Just Like Heaven" by the Cure, "Karaoke Soul" by Tom McRae. Every time I discover something new I feel like my perspective shifts open a little bit more. I like that.

Movies: "The Color Purple." I think that was the first serious movie I ever saw. It came out when I was 15 or so and I think after that I wanted a little bit more from my movies than a few jokes and a sappy conclusion.

Alblum: American Edit by Dean Grey (it's a mashup album of American Idiot by Green Day and many, many other songs), Joshua Tree by U2, the first time I really heard Sgt. Pepper's.

HJ, will you marry me?

Chin your drinks everyone! If we vomit, David, it's on you, literally and figuratively.

While I was a precocious early teen seeing movies like Hannah and Her Sisters at the movies in the 9th grade -- the movie that really hit home just how cool movies could be, i.e. not mainstream Hollywood, was The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Senior year of high school, a few friends of mine saw the movie at least 3 times in the rundown indie theater in town. It opened up movies for me, no doubt.

My introduction to indie/alternative music started when I was 10. My sister set up this great system where she would sell me the albums that she no longer wanted. She would pick the one song off each album that she felt that I would most enjoy then play it to me a few times over a week. At the end of the week she would offer me the album for half the price she bought it. Within a few years I was a massive fan of Ben Folds Five, Sound Garden, You Am I and Smashing Pumpkins. So with that intoduction...

Album: Ben Folds Five - Self titled album
Song: Kid A - Radiohead
Movie: Picnic at Hanging Rock (at the age of 12 it was the most beautiful and haunting thing that I had ever seen)

Sean, wow. Boston and St. John's is one of my all time favorite tearjerker songs. I listened to it when I was literally flying over St. John's on my way to Ireland and I was leaving my boyfriend behind. Good good choice.

Album: A Perfect Circle's Mer De Noms. It was the first album I bought of my own volition that wasn't pop music, and that I honestly loved every song on. I still listen to it fairly often.

Song: Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Sonata, Op. 40. I grew up in a family of classical music lovers, and was fairly surrounded by it, but I never used to listen to it except when I played it. This was the first classical piece I listened to without my parents putting it on or recommending it. I now listen to classical fairly regularly because of it.

Movie: Difficult to say, but probably The Big Sleep. Made me fall in love with noir, Bogart, and great dialogue, and has probably refined my taste in movies considerably (though the weakness for bad action movies remains).

Songs: Almost too many to list. Off the top of my head: Simon & Garfunkle's "The Dangling Conversation," Metallica's "One," which showed that metal wasn't just for the scary kids, and most recently "Onore Michi" by Aki Yashiro, which blew me away. It's so breathlessly beautiful, and I'm thisclose to ordering the single from Japan, since that's the only way I've been able to find it.

As for movies, there haven't been as many of those; I'd have to say On Dangerous Ground (Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino) for introducing me to noir, and my daughter's favorite "My Neighbor Totoro." Totoro confirmed for me that "cartoons" can be art, and I haven't stopped devouring them since.

Album: OK Computer, Radiohead. It completely changed the way I thought of music.

Song: Scars, Papa Roach. Not because it's a particularly good song, but those are the words that I needed to hear at that point.

Movie: American History X. For too many reasons to list.

I would give myself some reason to it, but it would take too long...and isn't the movie that changed your life supposed to defy simple explanation?

Movie: Cabaret
Album: The Execution Of All Things, Rilo Kiley
Song: "Famous Blue Raincoat", Leonard Cohen

Movie: Heathers. Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?

Album: Weezer's blue album. It was my first favorite album that wasn't one of my dad's. Say It Ain't So is their best song ever.

Movie: LA Confidential. I saw it the first week of college and it marked a clear line in the sand between who I was before and who I got to be afterward. While I absolutely love the movie, it was more about the experience, the freedom, the time of day, the clothes I wore, how rapt I was by the story, and the walk back to my dorm room. The Big Lebowski and Nobody's Fool would be close seconds in terms of how they affected me.

Album: Erotica by Madonna. My mother bought it for me for my 14th birthday after telling me she'd never have that filth in her house. Madonna helped make this girl a woman (in many ways) plus I realized just what power my 14-year-old self had over my mother. And that kicked off the years-long struggle for us to have an adult relationship.

Song: "Evolve" Ani Difranco. Specifically the last verse: "so I walk like I'm on a mission/ cuz that's the way I groove/ I got more and more to do/ I got less and less to prove/ it took me too long to realize/ that I don't take good pictures/ cuz I have the kind of beauty/ that moves"

Blood on the Tracks by Bobby D....

Pulp Fiction...not my favorite movie but it was just so different...I'd never seen anything like it before. Left an indelible mark on my teenybopper brain

i think i feel old.

movie: brazil. disturbing. beautiful. irreverant.

Alas, lass (see what I did there?), I'm sitting at a desk in San Francisco, grinding down the little man for the Big Man, plotting nasty perimeter defenses to keep both the fuckers out of my castle, and daydreaming about my next life as a dog-herd. Mr. Paddy is presumably safely asleep in the bosom of Erin right now, dreaming about his wife and her bosoms of Erin.

Blood Simple

Movie: CABARET!

As a teen, in the 1970s, this movie rocked my world. It still does! Perfection! Divine decadence!

The Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz paved the way for me as an actor at an early age.

Albee's brilliant Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf did the same for me as a writer in the late early nineties as did Grapes of Wrath.

Rush inspired me at first by Neil Peart's lyrics then by the craftsmanship and dedication.

And, I am only slightly ashamed to admit it due to its schmaltz factor, Cory Hart's "Never Surrender" pulled me out of a bluer than blue funk coming out of high school.

Lola, it counts or matters to the extent we're all here nattering about stuff we like . . . which means it counts or matters completely. Opine and post!!

Album: Pearl Jam, "Ten"
I was a teenaged, glammed-out hair bear, when this album dropped. I traded in my Aquanet and Def Leppard t-shirt for some Converse and flannels shortly thereafter. And to whomever said they saw this vid for the first time on on 120 Minutes, ME TOO! It was like a door was kicked in, a cold wind rushed over me..I had never heard my angst put in such terms.

Movie: "Singles"
I'm witcha, MG. All of my friends and I saw and loved this movie, and we all played the soundtrack to death. I actually went to Seattle the summer after this movie came out and made my parents drive me around looking for the Mother Love Bone wall (which we found!!) No other movie captures the feel of the early 90's for me like this one does. Plus, Crowe's dialogue was just awesome. :-)

As you can see, I came of age during the so-called "grunge" years. What can I say?

Movie - All That Jazz. Really.

Popular Music, with vocals - I was introduced to four things at the same time:

- Steely Dan, anything.
- Frank Zappa, especially Zoot Allures.
- Robert Fripp / Brian Eno & similar.
- Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light.

Some years before music kind of saved my life:
- Stan Kenton, Kenton '76

For a while I could actually play that stuff.

Movie - All That Jazz. Really.

Popular Music, with vocals - I was introduced to four things at the same time:

- Steely Dan, anything.
- Frank Zappa, especially Zoot Allures.
- Robert Fripp / Brian Eno & similar.
- Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light.

Some years before music kind of saved my life:
- Stan Kenton, Kenton '76

For a while I could actually play that stuff.

I'm so late now it does not matter what I write, but anyway! I am happy Pulp Fiction got a few mentions, that one really gnawed at me at a young age. Royal Tannenbaums is another one- it came out when I was 16ish and when I left the theater and got home I started sobbing, and I am not even sure why.

But I want to give a little prop to American Beauty, a movie that left me feeling sharper, clearer, than I had felt in a long time. It reinforced all these doubts I had about family and yes, consumerism, but mostly it was transcendant. I admit to getting really choked up about the plastic bag scene-- "There's so much beauty in the world my heart feels like it might burst," you know? All I can feel is gratitude. It's... probably something that helped make up my mind to 'be an artist', whatever that cliche means.

Album: War - U2 -- years after release played non-stop on my walkman --started a lifelong love affair I don't care what you all say.

Song:
In Your Eyes - Gabriel (esp when played on ghetto blaster by Lloyd Dobbler)

Movies: 16 Candles

Better Off Dead (
when I LOVED it and found it HILARIOUS and told everyone to go see it....then no one else really liked it I recognized my penchant for oddity)

Pretty in Pink
(i'm an 80s girl)

Singles
(probably most re-watched movie of my life excluding Finding Nemo, et al)

Adult Life Movie:
Before Sunset

The Crow

This came out my freshman year of high school, and I first saw it a week or two after the school year had ended. Up until this point I had been a rather lost individual who played a few sports, and had a few friends, but wasn't really good with either. I was just starting to think about doing theater, which would be the true life-changing catalyst later on. But as far as personal taste and culture: The Crow, both the movie and the soundtrack, was my major eye-opener to a world beyond top 40 radio and Tom Hanks movies.

maylai: Oh, I remember the first time I saw Pearl Jam play "live," on Saturday Night Live, playing "Alive." (That's a lot of lives in one sentence.) Absolutely electric; gave me chills. BTW, isn't it about time for another groundbreaking music revolution?

As a little kid, I watched a lot of TVO [T.V. Ontario]. Saturday Night @ the Movies, hosted by Elwi Yost, was the greatest show ever. It was always some classic or other, followed by interviews with old stars/directors/writers/etc. I was mesmerized by the silent movie "Greed". This show, full of all things "OLD", perfectly balanced out my consumption of 80's movies like "Pretty in Pink". As for music, my older cousins introduced me to so-called "Alternative" music, and the likes of Madonna and Bon Jovi could just never be cool again.

Movie: The Virgin Spring. Enough said.

Album: Short, Sharp & Shocked by Michelle Shocked. Up to then, my music choices had been heavily influenced by radio and older brothers and sisters, but Michelle was all mine.

Movie: a toss-up between
The Big Chill - At 15, it was probably the first movie I ever saw with my friends that dealt with adult concerns, and was not aimed at teens. My Glenn Close/Kevin Kline/William Hurt love goes back a loooong way.

The Producers - the brilliant 1964 original. I still laugh myself sick over Gene Wilder's blue blanky scene.

Don't kill me, but...

movie: Garden State (trust me, I knooow)

music: Jeff Buckley's "Grace" album ... found serendipitously in a $5 bin and bought because I'd heard of him once on VH1 ... and thank goodness

aud--Short Sharp Shocked was my 2nd choice! "Memories of East Texas" totally woke me up not letting my small town drag me down.

Movie #1: Star Wars. The original. I was 11 when I saw it, and it almost made my geeky sci-fi girl self cool for a moment or two.

Movie #2: El Norte. Made me believe that films could have desperately sad subjects and equally sad endings and still be incredibly good.

The Third Man: The movie not only changed my perspective on cinema but also saved me from drowning my self in the Riene River in Koln, Germany. A couple friends of mine in the service and I went up there from Ramstein one weekend to unwind and basically get shit faced drunk on German beer. We were at a pub when I feel heads over heels form a swiss femme fatale named Sophie who had eyes only for my friend Jesse. Drunk and saddened by the alluming fact that I was going to remain alone forever I decided to throw myself in the Riene and since I can't swim basically I'd be ghost like Swayze from then on. But just before I reached the river I saw this old theater with "Orson Welles in the Third Man" on the marquee. So instead of throwing myself into the abyss I found myself sitting in a smoke-filled cinema in Koln, Germany. And my life was changed forever. It told a story of existential loss and betrayal. It was sad and knowing, and its glorious style was an act of defiance against the corrupt world it pictured. Seeing it, I realized how many Hollywood movies were like the pulp Westerns that Holly Martins wrote: naive formulas supplying happy endings for passive consumption. Of all the movies I had ever seen, this one most completely embodied the romance of going to the movies.
I left the theater that night happy to be alive. So what if my friend was in our hotel room that minute railing the girl of my dreams. There would be other girls but rarely would there be another film like that.

The Princess Bride defines exactly who I am as a person.

Movie: Tigerland. An understated little gem that speaks volumes about the Vietnam War without ever stepping foot outside the US. Also introduced me to the then unknown Colin Farrell, long before he destroyed viewer confidence with dross like SWAT and Miami Vice.

Music: Green Day's Dookie. The perfect companion to my adolescent suburban ennui.

Otis Redding saved my life.
He turned me from the Spice Girls to music with soul. This was also when I realized I was very, very different from the other girlies in my grade.

And my parents brainwashed me into abandoning the Little Mermaid to Star Wars when I was 7. I wept every time an Ewok was blown up, and I began to appreciate film. This was also when I should have realized that I was going to be miserable in high school. I guess it'd be smarter if I said it was Casablanca, but no, it was all effing Han Solo.

...and The Princess Bride. TL said it just right.

Album- 2112, by Rush. Not long after it came out, my buddy across the street invited me over to listen to it on his kick-ass stereo. I was completely and utterly stunned (largely because my dipshit parents only listened to C&W). Rush is still far and away my all-time favorite group.

Song- Pachelbel's Canon in D. 'Nuff said.

Movie- Zulu. This film opened my eyes to the fact that there was a metric butt-load of history out there I was not being told about in school. That led to me learning about the whole rest of the world I was also not being told about. That eventually led to an interest in in such diverse things as astrophysics and engineering, which in turn led to Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, and then to the room with mattress wallpaper where I currently reside.

Fun fact about the movie: Early on, a Zulu runner comes into the kraal and pants out a message (in Swahili) to the seated King about the massacre at Isandlwana. After the first take, the stuffy English director thought the actor's lines took too long, and instructed him to say something "foreign-sounding" and short. What the actor (a real Zulu) actually said was, "I am not getting paid enough for this part."

God Damn it am I jealous of you people. Being only 16 I have never had a really life changing moment related to pop culture, I really really want/need one of those. HOWEVER, Arcade Fire's Neon Bible really changed my taste in music to something I can be proud of, and something that I associate with being me. It is all I listened to for 2 weeks, and it opened my world up to other fantasticly indie bands, which I have relied on in these troubling times I/we am/are going through.

After my non-answer that was just about a book, I realized something. When I was about 12 or 13 my father forced my siblings and I to watch The African Queen. We griped and complained and by the end of the movie were all riveted. There were tears. In my burgeoning sexuality, Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn taught me about romance and sexual chemistry. I learned to appreciate the classics and the beauty of an incredible movie. Sadly my father's taste didn't hold up as he was one of the four people in the world who enjoyed Waterworld, enjoyed it so much I think he owns it.

Great topic...

As stated in Dustin's opening, mine was "Empire of the Sun." Away at school when I was 19 or so, in 1989 or 1990, just got my first "Hi-Fi" VCR hooked up to my stereo (as it was) a boombox with external speakers. Sounds quaint now, but it was "the Shit" then- when just a stereo TV was something special.

Anyway, I rented it and was in awe. First time I really understood "cinematography", I'm thinking of when Jim runs up the hill and sees the mass of soldiers in that really wide shot.

I was in the Aviation industry then, and have always had a love of all airplanes, like Jim. For airplane buffs, nothing sounds like an old radial engine. I remember how cool it sounded on the "quaint" Hi-Fi system, actually hearing it travel from left to right on the screen and the sound went through "both" speakers.

I thought it was a great cast, great story. Made a difference to me. Just IMDB'd it, Ben Stiller was in it. Who knew? Haven't seen it in years, need to Netflixx, better yet, Amazon.com myself a copy.

Anyway, after this movie, my roommates were still looking for the early 1990's equivalent to the Deuce Bigalow or Andrew Dice-Clay movies, and I was hunting for the next Oscar nominees.

Fast Forward about seven years, and I have something new to me, The Independent Film Channel. And the first movie that made an impact, "Once Were Warriors." Another movie I'll never forget, one it's own merit, and as it made me a huge fan of Independent Film. I could go on for a while about that movie, but my post is long enough. "Tough to watch" is my disclaimer to anyone I tell the movie about.

Since then, countless rentals and watching of films on cable most people outside of the "Pajibasphere" have never heard of, many a sore ass after my 25th screening on the eighth day of the film festival that I also worked 16+ hours as a volunteer while still working a 40 hour week at the day job.

So, I have two films. "Empire of the Sun" made me a fan of quality movies in general, and "Once Were Warriors" pushed me into the Indies, big time.

"Changed my Life" is a powerful statement, but I definitely devote a lot of time to quality movies as a result of these two films. Between the time I spend on Pajiba, working and attending Film Festivals, pre-screening films for my local festival (got a box in my living room I should be watching now), reaching for the movie review section of the newspapers on Friday before anything else, subscribing to NPR's Movie podcast, never mind all the DVR'd movies and trips ot the local art cinema... Maybe "Changed my life" is valid.

Don't know if it changed my life, but REM's "Life's Rich Pageant" has been a favorite album, I still listen to weekly, for however how long it's been out now. Every song, every lyric.

Of course, how could I not fire up that album now from my iTunes.

I know it's probably cliche'd by now to say that a Shins album changed your life, but what the hell, it changed mine, and as I'm only nineteen now and the life-changing I speak of happened when I was seventeen...

It was Chutes Too Narrow, their second album, that did it for me. Took me through the most tumultuous November of my life.

So many great comments from the "Pajibasphere." I hope I made that term up in my last post and don't just think I did.

I risk spending a "man-card" but Little Earthquakes is one of my favorite albums. I haven't heard in years.

Back in 1994 my car was stolen, but I got it back. Among other things (like all my Christmas shopping), they took my stock GM car stereo, but left every single one of my tapes. I was pleased, yet insulted that they bothered to eject the Tori Amos tape. My buddies teased me, "They think they stole a girl's car." I didn't care. I loved that album and was glad I still had it.

Ironically, a year later, exactly to the day (Christmas Eve), I took my shithead brother to the mall, and despite constant reminders over the years, he didn't lock his door, and when I came back to my car, every single one of my tapes were stolen. But nothing else. The circle of life I guess.

Star Wars. I was six years old, opening day. My best friend Mark, his parents and I were at the local cinema. The lines were around the buidling. They brought us back a week or two later to see it. But I was there opening day. Can't begin to count or guess the nubmer of hours we played Star Wars over the years. Acting it out ourselves, action figures, anything and everything we could.

You haven't heard Metallica's "One" until you've heard it Bluegrass. Iron Horse I think it is.

I worked for a company called A.T.E. I wrote a great parody to Midnight Oil's "Blue Sky Mine". With the lyric, "Nothing is as precious as a plane in the sky!" Funny stuff. I swear.

Breakfast Club. A riff in my relationship with my father (one of many) that he does not remember (one of many) related to his love of (many) an Old Style. Remember that movie for a number of reasons, most of them good.

"The Crow." Pardon my French, but my exact quote after seeing that movie the first time. "Fuck!"

The Great Silence, I mostly agree with you, "Wish you were here" is perfect. But "Mother" is sadder.

Song: Buckwheat Zydeco at the age of 3 kind of defined my musical mantra for life (Whatever I like, no matter what anyone thinks) but I think my life-changer might have been Green Day's "When I Come Around". It led me into music I could introduce to my dad, rather than the other way 'round. Being from the East Bay (20 minutes from Berkeley) I had access to a lot of indie and punk...not bad for a 12 year old.

Album: Um...Say Anything's "...is a real boy" actually. Everyone else hates it and I love it, I adore their shows. It's intellectual, political dirty-minded, tongue-in-cheek, self-effacing, rocking, and emotionally raw all at once. Changed my once ultra-negative opinion about seeing bands live, and inspired me to abandon engineering for art. Also saw me through the biggest depression of my life, and helped me steer my way out. The first concert I saw with my now husband (the only other so far is Weird Al. Rawk.)

After much thought, the winner for movie has to be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was the first movie that kept me up for two hours after it was over, just mulling it over and trying to decide whether I like it or not. The verdict is that I do, I bought it and watched it post-breakup (the last guy before my now-husband). I love to think about things, and that movie gave me so much to chew on. My other forays into indie movies had been wholly negative before this (The Good Girl, Ghost World) but because of Sunshine I found Brick and other great loves of my movie collection.

Van Halen's self titled debut album 'Van Halen' changed things for me. It opened the door to so many other bands that I just got. Its that thing about music that you can't explain. Hearing Eddie play guitar that way just made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Detroit Rock City was the song that opened the door to Van Halen and all other kinds of rock. I really can't explain this one because the lyrics don't mean much. The riffs are good but I think they just serve as the buildup to the solo which is probably my favorite of all time. Its the first song that I realized the guitar was speaking to me even more so than the lyrics.

Dogma was a movie that changed me. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school from K-12. I wouldn't say it was a bad experience. I just got to a point where I didn't care about all the church stuff. And then I saw Dogma and it just made me think about the church and religion in a deeper way than I did before. It also made me an instant Kevin Smith fan which opened the door to many more great movies.

Being near towards an old-timer, but a first-time poster (been reading since I found out Dustin lives almost literally just up from the road from me), I couldn't help but feel some nostalgia reading through the comments.

My parents were/are "old": my dad was nearly 50 when I graduated high school. Before he was married, he had a lot of Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath and Santana records. My mom brought her Simon and Garfunkel and Fleetwood Mac records when they were married. I think the Bob Dylan albums were more or less equally shared. I wish I knew which one of them bought the original recording of Tommy--it might explain some things.

Watching Tommy on film was probably the one thing that showed me that movies were a vehicle for displaying more than anything I had previously imagined. It didn't have to be Star Wars or Indiana Jones or anything Disney, it didn't have to make you laugh, or root for some character over the others...film was meant to make you think, to consider that the world was not, in fact, and despite all arguments by Big Brother, okay. The world was fucked up, but that's just the way it was. To me, even though it was a rock opera, it was honest in such a visceral way.

Insofar as albums of merit are acknowledged, there are, perhaps, too many to recount. SuperUnknown has been mentioned, which might be my favorite, but for deeply meaningful, I might have to go with The Verve's Urban Hymns. Nowhere near to being the first, maybe not even the most powerful in my collection, but when I heard it for the first time, it meant more to me than simply words and music.

For most influential song, I think I'm going to have to select Don McLean's "American Pie", although growing up I would've sworn someone told me the name of the song was "The Day the Music Died." As with Tommy above, the song was filled with so much emotion that hearing it was like a light going on and saying "Guess what, there are layers and layers of meaning to life and language that it will take you a lifetime to figure out."

Movie: The Doctor, which is crazy but I cried so much at the end--the story of the farmer at the end reminds me of my father who pushes people away and wants people around him so much.

Album: Ten. As a (slightly angry) freshman who had never listened to anything but Top 40 music (if I even had access to music), Pearl Jam's sound was shattered the little glass bubble I had been living in. It is still one of my favorite albums.

The film that changed my life forever is Almost Famous. The line when Lester Bangs asks William Miller if he's the star of his school and William says "No, they all hate me" and Lester says, "Don't worry, you'll meet them again on their long journey to the middle." I fell in love with Cameron Crowe. I was a 15 year old buying all the soundtracks and posters to all Crowe movies. I even own the Fast Times book pre-movie! You know with out Jeff Spicoli on the cover.

movie: "Dead Poets Society." I was 13 and I couldn't stop thinking about it for a week afterwards. Okay yeah, it's sentimental and melodramatic and yada yada, but it's also soul-crushingly beautiful, and opened me up to a whole new world of literature, poetry and seizing the day.

album: Beck's "Odelay." I was 15 and it was unlike anything I had ever heard before. I'm still in love with Beck deep down.

song: I can't really remember one song changing my life, but songs that have had a major impact on me are --
"Pull My Strings" Dead Kennedys
"Hallelujah" Leonard Cohen
"Both Hands" Ani Difranco
"Drive" Incubus
"Box of Rain" Grateful Dead

Album: Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not - The Arctic Monkeys. made me want to be a musician.

Song: Miss Misery- Elliott Smith. made me realise depression isn't something to be ashamed of.

Film: Groundhog Day - made me see you can make everything better if you try hard anough

Album: Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring. After an (admittedly fun) adolescence listening to riff-rock and metal, this both opened my eyes and blew my mind. I'd still list it as my favourite album of all time.

Song: Queen - Innuendo. The first single I bought. One could argue it was just a heavier retread of Bohemian Rhapsody, but Bo Rhap was my dad's. This was mine, and I loved it. It was like five songs in one, which seemed an awfully good bargain. And I confess to feeling a genuine thrill in being partly responsible, no matter how small my contribution, of it crashing straight in at Number 1. Freddie Mercury was, and still is, the only musician I've ever genuinely mourned.

Film: The Terminator. I was about eight when I first saw this on VHS, and I think one can guess the impact it would have had. I can still remember the sheer adrenaline rush of it. Disney could go suck a nut from now on.

Crowded House and Talk Talk...I love you people. I don't care if I have to drink either.

Movie: Ruby in Paradise. I'm still waiting in vain for it to come out on CD, but living in Tennessee watching Ruby escape her life in Tennessee for time to be by herself and just think and be... I loved that.

Album: REM, Out of Time. Sophomore year of high school. Not their finest hour (that might be Fables IMHO), but it was the album that really opened my eyes to music beyond top 40.

Book: I have to add a book. The Outsiders. I just remember reading that when I was like 12 or 13 and having a total change of perception about life and reality.

Film: The 400 Blows directed by Francois Truffaut - this is the film that opened my eyes to the benefits of foreign cinema. This film remains in my top 5 all-time favorites.

Runners-Up:

Good

Bugsy Malone - Who knew musicals could be so fucking cool? This film has been a staple in my life since seeing it for the first in the late 70's.

Bad

Bram Stoker's Dracula (directed by FFCoppola)

This really opened my eyes to hype not equaling quality. This movie is pure shit. Hard to see a master go down in flames. How can the same man who made The Conversation have done this?

Psycho (directed by Gus Van Sant)

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? This film was the capper to me regarding remakes and has forever given me pause when remotely considering watching a remake. Not saying there aren't good remakes out there, but they are SOOOOOOOO few and far between.

Album:

(tie)
No Control - Bad Religion

I love the anger in these guys. Shy of the sixties music that my parents listened to, I hadn't really heard any socially conscious music (exception of some Fugazi) that really lampooned the times we were living in. "I Want to Conquer the World" is one of the finest songs ever recorded.

Master of Puppers - Metallica

While not my favorite Metallica album, this one is power packed with amazing lyrics. Who would have thought all of the dirty dudes in high school were on to something (although the guys in my school likely missed the point)? Songs about drug addiction, false prophets, war, the mistreatment of mental health patients...really? One of the most thought provoking albums I've ever heard, and the music is pretty damn good as well. 'Tis a shame that this band is a shell of what they once were.

Two movies for two different resons:

Gladiator- I remember watching this after it won the oscar and thinking, "This piece of shit is the best film of the year?!" The academy died for me on that day and I have been better for it ever since.

Psycho- Alfred is god's director.

Arcade Fire - Funeral - After I listened to this album several times and it sounded better each time I heard it I realized that the music that is the hardest to find is generally more rewarding. That album led me down a path to indie and unusally music that still satisfies and surprises me.

1994. Heavenly Creatures. kate winslet yesterday, today & forever.

Movie: Pulp Fiction. I cannot believe that so many people have mentioned this movie and then felt the need to apologize for it. Pulp Fiction is hands down the movie that made me love movies, made me addicted to movies. Say what you will about Tarantino, but I dare anyone between the age of 25-35 to put in Pulp Fiction and not feel like it is a part of them.

Album- Pearl Jam- Ten.

Song- Turn the Page, Bob Seger. I'm from Detroit, you have to love Bob Seger, it's required.

Album: Another Side of Bob Dylan

summerteeth! Let's go get sushi, and not pay!

Movie: Repo Man. The summer before my senior year I watched it every day. I was babysitting for a rich cousin who had a vcr *and* HBO...that was the high life in a small town in 1985. The dialogue, the music, it's intense!

Album: Sex Pistols-Never Mind the Bollocks. This definitely started me on a path to a whole new world of punk and alternative music. I first heard it early in high school. It wasn't my parents music and it wasn't the pop music on the radio. After that my music tastes improved greatly.

socalled, I have 3 years on you, so maybe I am the elder-stateswoman here.

I know, these kids are pups, talking about stuff that has come out awfully recently....

As for me, the album, as cheesy as it sounds, had to be The Wall, by Pink Floyd. I listened to a lot of different music growing up, but this hit while I was in high school, and the whole idea of the story album, and the story it told of isolation, overbearing mother, bad relationships and such really spoke to me.

The single song has to be Wasted Time by the Eagles. Not a really profound choice, but if you really listen to the lyrics, it will tear you up.

And movies? I am a movie-holic, so I could go on for days about movies that are important to me. The Great Race, because Natalie Wood played such a great "liberated" character, "The African Queen" just because it is an awesome movie with some of the best acting ever put on film, "The Graduate" because it exposed the dirty little secrets in all our lives, "Close Encounters" because part of (supposedly) took place near where I grew up and still live, and because it showed the cost of following what you truly believe and that the government is not always your friend. But, my top honor, cheesy as it may be, has to go to "It's a Wonderful Life." I grew up watching it, and happened to watch it again during one of the darkest periods of my life. It showed me, again, that you have to grab onto what you have in front of you, if it means that much to you, and take care of it. I still watch it every year and bawl like a little weeny at the end.

Oh, and I love "Delicatessen" and "City of Lost Children" too. Showed me how very cool and bizarre French cinema can be, and how much American cinema has to learn!!!

I must note...I was ages 6 through 9 when I would accompany my father.

Movie: White Mischief or Aria. A former teacher introduced me to the Art House cinema in Columbus, Ohio, and I've never been the same since.

Music: Berlioz's Damnation of Faust. I saw a concert version of the opera, and never listened to pop music again. (Well, almost never).

The movie that changed the types of movies I watch (but not so much my life...): Welcome to the Dollhouse. And I second (or third?) whoever posted Green Day's Dookie for music. Check and check!

I don't remember the album that changed my life.

Or, rather, the story I'm about to tell I don't actually recall happening. My mom and dad too (and are still kinda confused about it, but whatever).

When I was about six I caught this crazy fever. To quote my father I was "talking out of my head", glassy eyed, whole nine. So they're giving me this ice bath and the radio is playing. Up to this point I'd been pretty non-communicative, basically staring off into space and muttering to myself about care bears coming to tea and paying daddy rent or some bullshit, I don't know.

Anyway, U2's Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For comes on the radio. After the first few bars I start sobbing uncontrollably. I cried through the whole song, but the only thing that got them to quit the hysterics was to turn the radio up.

After that I wore out my dad's record collection.

As to movie? Almost Famous. It made me sad I couldn't be a groupie.

As to that song--I still tear up involuntarily when it's on the radio.

Song: Ben Folds "Carrying Cathy". It made me think long and hard about what it means to lean on the people around you.

Movie: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" because it was the first movie I HATED and everyone around me loved. It paved the way for my current ability to not give a rat's ass what anyone says about just about anything until I've had a chance to see/hear/do the thing myself.

Movie that changed my life: Fight Club. Nuff said.

Album(s) that changed my life: Violent Femmes (self-titled from 1982) and Pixies's Doolittle. I listened to both tapes when I was around 14 and I still listen to them today, that's longetivity for yah...Also, Depeche Mode's Music for the Masses was another huge life changer, as well as Nirvana's In Utero (they wanted it to suck, but it was the best album they EVER made! How ironic!)

Song that changed my life: Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit (I think my ears did a double take the first time I heard the video on MTV, yeah, when they used to play videos...those days are long gone...)

Movie: Film has always been an extremely emotional experience for me, whether im watching Almost Famous or The Babysitters Club (I still get upset when I think about being left at a carnival in the rain). However the first movie that felt like an old friend to me was The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys.

Album:Lit- A Place in the Sun. I was 11 and this was the first album that made me realize I liked guitars better than drum machines.

Song: I don't have a song that changed my life but I do have a radio station. Growing up in the Boston-area I listened to WFNX on 101.7, right? That station introduced me to some of my faavorite bands.

Movie: The Rapture. Not the best movie, but I suddenly felt like I wasn't the only one who wasn't feeling the Christianity.
Not to say that it's wrong/bad, but it wasn't working for me. I also felt like it was o.k. to question what everyone else was doing and whether or not that was right for me.

Album: Ten. Saved me from Celine Dion and ushered in a new era of angst and mild-rebellion.
Also gave me the longest lasting crush I've ever had on someone I've never met.

Album: Tim by The Replacements - Slightly before my time but an older friend of mine let me borrow it - Rock never got any better than this.

Movie: Jean de Florette - the first art/foreign film that I watched and enjoyed - tied with Silence of Lambs which showed how strong psychological terror could be.

So late to the game but I can't resist!

Movie: Stand by Me (the one and only time I've walked out of a theater and demanded that we go back in and watch it all over again. I was 11 and it said everything about being 11 that I needed to say.)

Album: Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill (sixth grade, the first album I can remember buying)

Song: Metallica - Fade to Black (sigh I miss Metallica)

Movie: Crash
Album: LFO - LFO
Song: Tubthumper by Chumbawamba

I'd have to say The Rocky Horror Picture Show or A Clockwork Orange. Both were seen around the same time when I was 13, and my mind was suddenly opened to the thought of... other?

nothing's shocking. i was a chubby, insecure, musically backward rocker chick until that album. that album changed everything.

jane's addiction was close to perfect as a band gets.

as for movies, the breakfast club was in several strange ways the foundation on which my life was built.

Movie that changed my life- Pulp Fiction. I sat in that theater amazed that dialogue could turn such unsavory people into charming likable characters.

Song that changed my life- This Charming Man by the Smiths. I was in the 8th grade, and my record (yes record) collection included the soundtrack to saturday night fever and Foreigner 4. I was a Pophead through and through, until I heard Moressey sing those eloquent delicious lyrics. There was no turning back. Wonderfully for me it was the early 80's, so alternative really was alternative (I had to tune in a Canadian radio station to tape the Smiths, Husker Du, black flag and the cure) and it fueled my life long quest for the smart, interesting and meaningful (and sometimes just raw and painful)lyric and sound. I still have my first pair of Doc Martens....

cheers!

Without a doubt: Wings of Desire. I started renting all the obscure german cinema I could get my hands on. Although to be fair, I think brazil was the first spark that there was a world of non-john-hughes-movies. Album? The Pink Opaque by the Cocteau Twins.

Why yes, I was an odd 14-year old.

All of my music ones are embarrasing:

Song: "El Scorcho" by Weezer. When I was 12, I basically listened to a). the Beatles or b). bands that sounded like the Beatles (i.e. Oasis, Kula Shaker, and Blur-light). I was a nerd and it was 1997. Anyway, one night I stayed up late watching MTV and saw the video for this song around 3 AM. I thought it was the most brillant thing ever. It was my first, "there is music outside of the 60s" moment.

Album: Oh, so cringeworthy, "Letting off the Happiness" by Bright Eyes. Okay, so this was my first foray into indie rock. I was 15, and like a lot of 15 year-olds, I was totally an emo/goth. I listened to the Smiths, the Cure, Joy Division etc. Anyway, my friend was really into him and she was also a huge Smith fan, so I decided to give him a shot. With in the first 10 seconds, I totally fell in love. I still think this is his best album.

Movie: Rushmore. Prior to this I was a huge romantic comedy buff. I rented this from the library when I was 14, because of Bill Murray. And I totally dug it. Afterwards, I would shortly become the biggest film snob ever...well, for a suburbanite high schooler.

oddly enough, the album Ramones Mania opened me up to every kind of music i now listen to.. we went from there to..Ramones,,SexPistols,, Clash/Pixies to (somehow) blues & jazz which in turn gifted me..the song that changed my life forever, the first tme i heard 'A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall' by Bob Dylan.
..Hello (riffraff) this image of his face is just enough.. The rocky horror picture show and trainspotting are the two movies that, at very different stages in my life, managed to rip way my preconceived notions of cinema to reveal something significantly more profound, and gave me an ideal to which i still cling.

Way too late but I had to really think to narrow the choices to one each and thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the other Pajibite choices.

Movie: Midnight Cowboy - My sister and I were able to convince the theatre management that we were adults and therefore permitted to see an X rated film although we were only 15 and 16, respectively. Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman and Brenda Vaccaro, all simply perfect and a shining rebuke to the characatures they all later became. It was a profound and lasting introduction to adult emotions and relationships.

Album: The Ramones by The Ramones. Too complicated a history but intertwined with moving to New York, actually being admitted to CBGB & OMFUG when everyone else was dying to get into Studio. Having my sister date Joey Ramone, with disatrous lows and disastrous highs.

Song: Night Moves by Bob Seger. Woke last night to the sound of thunder. How far off I sat and wondered? Started singing songs from 1962. Ain't it funny how the night moves? When you just don't seem to have as much to lose, with Autumn closing in. As cheezy as it sounds, I choreographed a modern ballet to this song (along with Brown Eyed girl; original and Jose Feliciano versions) which got me the best grade at Julliard that semester.

Album: European Tour 1972
Song: China Doll-probably saved me when there wasn't much about me worth saving.
Movie: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Movie: The Tin Drum
Album: Fables of the Reconstruction

I went to college and met a beautiful JAP who introduced me to culture in the form of Woody Allen movies and indy flicks with subtitles. I've been different ever since. Also, that same freshman year, I was exposed to the college radio station, and found REM. I was no longer quite so into Rush. Great topic. Gets me all winsome-like.

Movie: Highlander. In high school at the time, but this movie awoke a lifetime love of History, and moved me away from Science. The first jump back into time for the 'clans' battle changed everything for me.

The song "Electric Blue" by Ice House, the whole album "The Swing" by INXS, and Noiseworks' signature album.
All around the same time, when I was finally free and grown up, and also at my most aesthetically pleasing. ;)

I'm older .. so .. Annie Hall changed me. Hate
Woody now. Pretty much hate Diane too.

Movie: There have been quite a few that meant something to me, but the one that triggered an actual change was definitely Whale Rider. I've never cried so hard at any point in my life.

Album: "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie. Totally fun and totally genius.

Song: "Soma", by Smashing Pumpkins. It broke my 14 year old heart.

Movie: Fiddler on the Roof. I saw it when I was very young. It made me want to be an actor, and it made me want to be a Jew.

Album: Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen. I grew up in the convoluted Art Rock 70's, which is all well and good, but the simplicity and spookiness of this album revolutionized my whole approach to songwriting.

Song: Gotta say; Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love. Turn it up loud. Way loud. And then just sit back and let it kick your ass.