Just watched “Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening” last night. So good.

Strolling into the Windward Farms market, I was approached by a hungry homeless man. When I told him I had no cash, he asked me to pick him up some bread and bologna. How strange. The place doesn’t sell sandwiches, so I bought a bag of trail mix for him. I handed it to him and he promptly replied, “I can’t eat peanuts; I don’t have teeth!” He lifted up his top lip to show off his toothless gums. “There’s a store right there that sells sandwiches”. “That’s mexican food, sir”. “Right past it. It’s a market”. I couldn’t back out now, so I caved in. I walked across the street with him and let him have a small shopping spree. He ended up with a big pack of hot dogs, a block of cheese, and some baked potato chips. He wished me a Merry Christmas and ran off,  leaving me standing on the corner with the bag of trail mix.

Birdhouses made out of cigar boxes!

2009 seemed to have gone by so quickly for me. Time started flying the second Use All Five was founded. It’s difficult to step back and think about how much myself, and the company has grown in the small amount of time. I’ve decided that I need to take the time to get back to posting my thoughts, stories, inspiration, photography, design, and anything else that I stumble upon. I haven’t posted since 2008, so I decided to put together a list of what I’ve been up to this past year.

This year I:

• Moved to the beach
• Reunited with my father in Australia
• Ate meat for the first time in over a year
• Gave my mother away in her Vegas wedding
• Started a family of plants
• Finished “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” in a week
• Managed to get everybody I know obsessed with “It’s Always Sunny”
• Was so happy Rachel found my long lost 35mm camera
• Designed a record cover
• Actually thought Pete Campbell became a strong and likable character
• Learned about Michael Jackson’s death over twitter
• Went to Lacma 5+ times, Moca twice, Moma, and Legoland (childhood nostalgia)
• Watched every major Tarantino film
• And I started to follow basketball

10. The Apartment

Sunset Blvd. is probably Billy Wilder’s most important film, but The Apartment is a great, simple story told very well. The camera work is also top notch.

9. Control

Honestly, I didn’t know much about Joy Division being in my early 20’s. But since seeing this film, JD is in my top 3 on last.fm. The film doesn’t idolize Ian Curtis, but portrays an honest image of the singer. It’s beautifully shot, the actors do a stellar performance of the songs, and the Joy Division story is told flawlessly. My favorite biopic of all time.

8. The King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters

There’s a lot of controversy around the integrity of the documentary regarding The King of Kong. Apparently Billy Mitchell isn’t as much as a jerk as the film makes him out to be. However, the story is fantastic. It’s a Rocky for nerds.

7. Goodfellas

The Departed only has a good ending—it’s essentially a Steven Seagal flick glossed up by one of the greatest living directors. Goodfellas has heart, character metamorphoses, golden camerawork—just to name a few qualities. The Oscar for Departed was a pity award.

6. The Shining

Scary, fun, exciting—filmmaking at its best.

5. In Cold Blood

This Truman Capote adaptation might not be as thorough as the novel, but it’s highly detailed-oriented. Robert Blake gives a terrifying performance.

4. Dial M For Murder

Vertigo is Hitchcock’s best film. End of story. However, Dial M For Murder will be one of the most fun and entertaining Hitchcock movies you’ll ever see. Vertigo’s good for the textbooks, Dial M is just a great entertaining movie you can keep on watching.

3. There Will Be Blood

Perfect in every way. It’s long, but never boring. The dialog is short, but never dry. It’s shot in a very simple way, but looks beautiful and different. There are so many layers of meaning in this film—it’s so difficult to think about. It’s very similar to Once Upon a Time in the West, being nuance based, political, and very sharp. It also helps having Jonny Greenwood doing the score.

2. 8 1/2

Italy’s Citizen Kane. Every shot is impeccable. Marcello Mastroianni is fantastic. I consider it superior to Citizen Kane.

1. Helvetica

I have an obsession with typefaces. This movie made my mind spin uncontrollably for many days after I watched it. It made me question everything I knew about typography. World renowned designers give their argument on why Helvetica is perfect or evil. I found the most inspiring part to be the interview of Experimental Jetset, where they explain how they try to get emotion out of a typeface that has none.