6. To Kill a Mockingbird

Perhaps the best child performances ever; a heroic father figure; riveting courtroom drama and the tragedy of justice unserved; compelling mystery; what's not to love?

7. A Christmas Story

Jean Shepherd's greatest tales portrayed nearly perfectly, capturing a time and place that is both vintage and universal. A complete delight any time of year.

8. Field of Dreams

The full range of emotions and a fantastic mystery, followed by one of the great payoffs: "Hey - Dad? You wanna have a catch?" 'Nuff said.

9. Up

A sweet and heartbreaking opening love story, followed by a wondrous mix of fantastic adventure, growing friendships and occasional uncontrollable laughter. Simply a pure delight.

10. Raiders of the Lost Ark

In keeping with my post the other day, here (slowly but surely) come my favorite 10 movies, with the "why" in 25 words or less.

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#10 - Raiders of the Lost Ark. A game-changing thrill ride - quests, daring feats, heroic acts, a feisty beautiful heroine (Karen Allen!), mystery and intrigue, and Nazis - I hate these guys.
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I find that, although these are remarkable bits of film-making, the list is more about my emotional or intellectual reaction to the movies, and mostly the former. Give me a thrill and a lump in the throat, and you're one of my favorite films.

So, Citizen Kane and Gone With the Wind and other  admittedly great films don't make this list, but - well, you'll see.

Christmas Hymns and Carols

Update: Here's an updated link to hear/download Uncle Warren's Attic #14.

My favorite all-time music of this season is from the Robert Shaw Chorale: Christmas Hymns and Carols, Volumes I and II. On the day after Thanksgiving, Mom would break out the 33 1/3 rpm Robert Shaw records, slap them (OK, place them gingerly) on the turntable and it was Christmastime: "Joy to the world! The Lord is come ..." (You can hear that moment recollected in UWA #14.)

Of course, the day I discovered eBay I started looking for the 78 rpm version of those albums, which were recorded in the post-war 1940s, a cappella with gorgeous vocal arrangements. Here's a threesome of how good it sounded ...

Greatest movie - 25 words or less

A friend of mine started a Facebook thread talking about the worst big-budget movie of all time. He said The Patriot. I said Titanic. Others made their case for Pearl Harbor and Waterworld. Others chimed in with their own moments when they walked out of the movie theater feeling cheated out of two or three hours of their lives.

Along the way he brought up why he'd mentioned the subject:

For admission essays Columbia University is now asking prospective students to state in 25 words of less the greatest movie of all time. Naturally, I turned the question on end and wondered what's the worst.

It's fun to think about movies that failed to deliver, but I also like the original premise: An elevator speech about what you think is the greatest movie of all time, and why. You have just 25 words to state your case – depending on the size of your words, that's essentially a Tweet.

It's A Wonderful Life: On the brink of suicide, a man is introduced to the reality that every individual has immeasurable value and a purpose.

There's 21 words, and if you make me include the title I still kept it to 25. Hey! This is fun. I think I'll do this with my whole top 10.

How about you? What's the greatest movie of all time, and why? You have 25 words. Go! (For fans of films like Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the 25 words doesn't have to include the title.)

Free album: Wanting to Live Forever (1986)

On the morning of Jan. 27, 1986, I woke up with a powerful urge to create something, so I picked up the 12-string and started strumming chords. D - G -D - G - D - G ...

I liked the sound but I couldn't think of a new way to make a transition to a third chord - and then the words started coming out.

I sat down this cold morning to write myself a folk song;
I sat down this cold morning to right the world's eternal wrongs.

Best and worst lines ever, in one song

I liked Neil Diamond before he was Neil Diamond. I was a big fan from his very first single, "Solitary Man," on Bang Records in 1966. Always thought he got a little full of himself when he moved to Uni Records and especially after he landed at Columbia. Instead of nifty little pop-rock songs like "Cherry Cherry" and "I'm A Believer," he started writing bombastic epics. Some of them worked out, some of them didn't, and once he managed both in the same song.

It's "I Am I Said," which has some of his best lyrics and the very worst ever, within seconds of each other.

Free album: Purring Like A Lamb (1975)

Today's free album finds a twentysomething w.p. bluhm working his first day job in Waupaca, Wis., and spending weekends playing in the radio station's recording studio, tracking back and forth between the two big monoraul reel-to-reel machines.

It was also my first experience outside the realm of nylon six-strong guitar plucking, as the newly earned money in my pocket allowed me to buy the 12-string guitar that I still favor today. These tunes were my first experiments with the new, fuller sounding instrument.

Free album: 'Watershed' by w.p. bluhm (1985)

The fall of 1984 through early 1986 was the most prolific period of my life as an amateur songwriter so far. In the summer of '85, enamored of Springsteen's Nebraska, I recorded Watershed with just my voice on solo guitar. The results were so-so. After recording a multitracked album, Folks Songs, that December, I had second thoughts about the Springsteenesque approach and, in a blaze of work Dec. 21-22, 1985, I recorded this "official," multitracked version of Watershed.

To me, these 14 songs fit together as well as any group of songs I've ever assembled among the 20 albums I've inflicted on friends and family. I handed out C-45 cassette copies to anyone willing to listen.

If you want to sing out, sing out

I got nothing to add to these sentiments.