Pop Culture Consumption: 2009 Report

Here's a summary of my pop culture consumption in 2009.

Film

I saw 133 films this year:

• 1 one star
• 20 two stars
• 76 three stars
• 36 four stars
• 0 five stars

My average film rating for the year was 3.10.

Of the 133 films, 50 were new (released in 2009). Here's my top 15:

1. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
2. Precious (Lee Daniels)
3. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)
4. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
5. Adventureland (Greg Mottola)
6. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Hayao Miyazaki)
7. Bruno (Larry Charles)
8. Coraline (Henry Selick)
9. A Serious Man (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
10. An Education (Lone Scherfig)
11. (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
12. Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer)
13. Away We Go (Sam Mendes)
14. The Girlfriend Experience (Steven Soderbergh)
15. The Hangover (Todd Phillips)

Honorable mentions include I Love You, Man (John Hamburg), Whatever Works (Woody Allen), Paper Heart (Nicholas Jasenovec), Taking Woodstock (Ang Lee), Big Fan (Robert D. Siegel), and In the Loop (Armando Iannucci).

The three most disappointing 2009 films I saw were (listed in no particular order):

• The Invention of Lying (Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson)
• Cold Souls (Sophie Barthes)
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Chris Weitz)

I also saw 83 older films for the first time (films not released in 2009). The films from this list that I enjoyed the most include (listed in no particular order):

• Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
• Kicking and Screaming (Noah Baumbach)
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen)
• 9 1/2 Weeks (Adrian Lyne)
• Living in Oblivion (Tom DiCillo)
• Anything Else (Woody Allen)
• Monster Camp (Cullen Hoback)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley)
• Swingers (Doug Liman)
• The Great Happiness Space (Jake Clennell)
• Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman)
• The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
• Man on Wire (James Marsh)

Television

I saw one or more seasons of 21 television shows this year (both old and new shows). My favorites include (listed in no particular order):

• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Californication
• This American Life
• The Shield
• Flight of the Concords
• In Treatment
• NewsRadio
• Mad Men
• Brotherhood
• True Blood
• Summer Heights High
• Entourage
• Eastbound & Down
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Books

I didn't get to read as many books as I would have liked this year. In 2009, I read the following (listed in no particular order):

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Smashed by Koren Zailckas
• The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe

1/05/2010

My Top 100 Films: 2009 Edition

Every serious film nerd has taken the time to compile a top hundred list. So, here's mine. I'm calling it the "2009 Edition" because I'd like to do this once every five years or so, and see how it changes.

For what it's worth, I'm generally uncomfortable with listing any film as being in my top 100 if (a) I've seen it less than three times, and/or (b) it was released in the last three years. With regard to (b), I've made a few exceptions, but I moved them pretty far down on the list. Point being: I feel like a film has to age some before you can really decide how much you like it. Also, keep in mind that I'm not arguing these are the best 100 films ever made, but that these are the 100 films I love the most.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
2. The Insider (Mann, 1999)
3. Kids (Clark, 1995)
4. The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)
5. Crumb (Zwigoff, 1994)
6. Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)
7. Sexy Beast (Glazer, 2000)
8. Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
9. Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 1984)
10. Lovely & Amazing (Holofcener, 2001)
11. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
12. Magnolia (Anderson, 1999)
13. Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
14. American Beauty (Mendes, 1999)
15. Punch-Drunk Love (Anderson, 2002)
16. Ghost World (Zwigoff, 2001)
17. Bully (Clark, 2001)
18. DiG! (Timoner, 2004)
19. Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001)
20. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
21. I Heart Huckabees (Russell, 2004)
22. Jackie Brown (Tarantino, 1997)
23. The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973)
24. The Dreamers (Bertolucci, 2003)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
26. Dazed and Confused (Linklater, 1993)
27. Clueless (Heckerling, 1995)
28. Capturing the Friedmans (Jarecki, 2003)
29. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Mitchell, 2001)
30. Sabrina (Pollack, 1995)
31. Kill Bill: Volume 1 (Tarantino, 2003)
32. Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Tarantino, 2004)
33. Singin' in the Rain (Donen, 1952)
34. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
35. Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999)
36. The Cell (Tarsem, 2000)
37. Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001)
38. Natural Born Killers (Stone, 1994)
39. 24 Hour Party People (Winterbottom, 2002)
40. Tombstone (Cosmatos, 1993)
41. Rounders (Dahl, 1998)
42. Casino (Scorsese, 1995)
43. Good Will Hunting (Van Sant, 1997)
44. The Royal Tenenbaums (Anderson, 2001)
45. Almost Famous (Crowe, 2000)
46. The Asphalt Jungle (Huston, 1950)
47. Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
48. American History X (Kaye, 1998)
49. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
50. Boogie Nights (Anderson, 1997)
51. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Gibney, 2005)
52. Se7en (Fincher, 1995)
53. Startup.com (Noujaim/Hegedus, 2001)
54. There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)
55. Auto Focus (Schrader, 2002)
56. Sex, Lies and Videotape (Soderbergh, 1989)
57. Wayne's World (Spheeris, 1992)
58. Badlands (Malick, 1973)
59. Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)
60. Wonder Boys (Hanson, 2000)
61. The Squid and the Whale (Baumbach, 2005)
62. The Blair Witch Project (Myrick/Sanchez, 1999)
63. Lorenzo's Oil (Miller, 1992)
64. Triplets of Belleville (Chomet, 2003)
65. Traffic (Soderbergh, 2000)
66. Lolita (Kubrick, 1962)
67. Point Break (Bigelow, 1991)
68. True Lies (Cameron, 1994)
69. Romeo + Juliet (Luhrman, 1996)
70. Welcome to the Dollhouse (Solondz, 1995)
71. The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
72. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Geronimi/Luske/Reitherman, 1961)
73. Fear (Foley, 1996)
74. Igby Goes Down (Steers, 2002)
75. Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002)
76. Gosford Park (Altman, 2001)
77. The Game (Fincher, 1997)
78. Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (Cassavetes, 2004)
79. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
80. Boiler Room (Younger, 2000)
81. Moulin Rouge! (Luhrman, 2001)
82. Object of My Affection (Hytner, 1998)
83. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Zemeckis, 1988)
84. Top Gun (Scott, 1986)
85. Annie Hall (Allen, 1977)
86. Rebel Without a Cause (Ray, 1955)
87. Empire Records (Moyle, 1995)
88. Eagle vs Shark (Cohen, 2007)
89. Comedian (Charles, 2002)
90. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder, 1974)
91. Full Frontal (Soderbergh, 2002)
92. The Kid Stays in the Picture (Burstein/Morgen, 2002)
93. Friday (Gray, 1995)
94. The Original Kings of Comedy (Lee, 2000)
95. The Basketball Diaries (Kalvert, 1995)
96. Rachel Getting Married (Demme, 2008)
97. Superbad (Mottola, 2007)
98. Not Another Teen Movie (Gallen, 2001)
99. Spellbound (Blitz, 2002)
100. The Good Girl (Arteta, 2002)

Here are some interesting bits of info about this list:

• Statistically speaking, my favorite years are: 2001 (11 films), 2002 (10 films), 1995 (9 films), 1999 (8 films), and 2000 (7 films). But if you ask me, 1999 is hands down my favorite movie year.
• There are 17 films on the list released before I was born, including four in the top 20.
• There are 10 directors with more than one film on the list: Stanley Kubrick (6), Paul Thomas Anderson (5), Quentin Tarantino (4), Steven Soderbergh (3), David Fincher (3), Woody Allen (2), Larry Clark (2), Jonathan Demme (2), Baz Luhrman (2), Terry Zwigoff (2).

8/18/2009

DiG!

The following essay, which is about Ondi Timoner's 2004 documentary "DiG!," is the second in what will hopefully be a series. My goal is to write about every five-star film I've ever seen. The series is inspired by Roger Ebert's The Great Movies.

In one of the opening scenes of "DiG!," Matt Hollywood screams at Anton Newcombe, "In every spiritual tradition, you burn in hell for pretending to be God and not being able to back it up!" If there was a thesis statement for "DiG!," then Hollywood has hit the nail on the head.

"DiG!" is a documentary that was nine years in the making about two American bands you may very well have never heard of: The Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM) and The Dandy Warhols (The Dandies). In the mid-1990's, both bands were, unlike most others, playing music that didn't sound like Pearl Jam or Nirvana. They were each doing something different, and even though they didn't sound remotely like one another, they enjoyed each others company and admired each others work. They were friends and they had big naive plans of starting a musical revolution. Early in the film, Anton Newcombe, the lead singer of the BJM and the film's crazed star for the most part, stares into the camera and exclaims, "I'm here to destroy this fu--ed up system. I will do it. That’s why I got the job. I said let it be me; I said use my hands. I will use our strength. Let’s fu--in’ burn it to the ground." Continue this essay after the jump...

The film is full of these fabulous quotes from Newcombe, who is hell bent on making ground-breaking music and destroying everyone who gets in his way. Problem is: Anton is the person who most often gets in Anton's way, so he spends most of his life destroying himself. Anton seems to be split right down the middle: he wants to become a commercial success while at the same time despising the thought; he understands he needs band mates to play the other instruments but would much prefer if he could do it all himself; he wants to change music forever but wants nothing to do with the American music scene. And so, most of the film is about Anton running in circles and beating himself up. He fights endlessly with everyone in his life, often on stage during performances. In one scene, Anton picks a fight with his band mates during a gig at the Viper Room, in front of an audience of record executives from Elektra who are ready to sign him. He fights with his fans who aren't quiet or respectful enough during his performances. He fights with his producers for not having the patience to do punch-in after punch-in late into the night. He fights and fights and fights and, at the end of the day, he's left with nothing but his self-produced and distributed albums that only a handful of people ever hear and all agree are nothing short of brilliant.

The Dandies, on the other hand, refer to themselves as the "most adjusted band in America." They sign a deal with Capitol Records and soon become a hit in Europe and eventually America. They understand what it takes to deal with record executives and inner band squabbles and, as their careers take off, they watch in awe as the BJM set themselves on fire again and again. As the film rolls on, the two bands pull further and further apart, so much so that, by the end, it almost feels like a scripted drama about the "right" and "wrong" ways to start and run a rock band.

Going into the movie I had never heard of either band, nor the director (Ondi Timoner), and I recognized hardly any single person involved (aside from David LaChapelle or Harry Dean Stanton, both of whom make brief cameos). It's not one of those documentaries where you have to know or care about the band beforehand to enjoy the ride (like "loudQUIETloud: A Film about the Pixies" or "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco"). The film is more about being young and talented and crazy in America in the late 20th century, and it captures the essence of this brilliantly. For The Dandies, it's about watching a smart band go from nothing to something. For the BJM, it's about watching a talented group of musicians run into brick walls, proving it's not all about sheer talent.

By the time the credits rolled, I found myself almost numb with awe at how crazy Anton really was. You hear stories of crazy artists, but seeing it with your own eyes is something entirely different. It makes you realize that there really are people who live on earth but not in reality, people that are brilliant at a single thing and hopelessly terrible at everything else. And as sad as that is, it sure makes for a great documentary.7/23/2009

Crumb

The following essay, which is about Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary "Crumb," is the first in what will hopefully be a series. My goal is to write about every five-star film I've ever seen. The series is inspired by Roger Ebert's The Great Movies.

The best films revolve around the most interesting people. Of all the films I've seen, none allow me to spend time with a more fascinating person than Robert Crumb, a comic book artist, “the Brueghel of the last half of the 20th century” argues one art critic. His drawings are like nothing you've ever seen: crazy, sadistic, perverted, and, above all, wildly offensive. But no matter who you are and how much your stomach turns when you see them, you can't look away, can't deny that they are impossibly special.

Most people this talented are either terribly introverted--and as a result horrible subjects for a film--or completely uninterested in letting a documentary film crew follow them around. But sometimes the stars align and out comes a film like this. The story goes that Terry Zwigoff, the film's director and Crumb's close friend, was depressed and defeated in the mid-1980s. Legend has it that Zwigoff made Crumb agree to the film by threatening to shoot himself. Of course, in this case, as in many cases, legend isn't actually true (this turned out to be a rumor accidentally started by Roger Ebert). But, as Tony Wilson says in the fabulous "24 Hour Party People," "Given the truth or the legend, always print the legend," so this is the way I like to think the film came about.

The documentary mostly involves Crumb chatting about his work and his life and spending time with his family, friends, and fans. And while that doesn't sound especially riveting, it is. The parts of the film I enjoy the most are those with his two brothers, Charles and Max. Continue this essay after the jump...

Charles is a forty something recluse who hasn't done much else with his life than ingest heavy doses of antidepressants and read upstairs in his mother's house surrounded by cats. It's clear from the very first moment we meet him that Charles is fiercely intelligent and terribly broken. He knows it too. Charles talks to the camera about wanting to bludgeon Robert over the head when they were children out of jealousy. Robert finds this amusing and laughs in the corner of the room as the camera pans over to get his reaction. The two have a strange bond. We learn that Charles got Robert, and the rest of the family, interested in comics. In fact, he demanded they dedicate their lives to little else when they were children; they even ran a makeshift publishing company out of the house. But as cute as this sounds, a bunch of kids writing comics, it's clear that it was anything but. Charles had an unhealthy obsession with, among other odd things, comics, and he demanded perfection, especially from Robert who admits that he still seeks Charles's approval. After meeting Charles, we get the distinct impression that something terrible happened to him and his brothers when they were children. Maybe it wasn't one specific event, but a series of events. Robert found a way to deal with it, which explains his work. Charles didn't, which explains his life or lack thereof. We never find out exactly what was so horrible about their up bringing, though it's clear their father had something to do with it.

Next we meet Max Crumb, who only confirms our suspicion of terrible childhood experiences. Max looks a little younger than Robert and is just a step above homeless, living in what looks to be a one bedroom apartment where he sits on beds of nails and passes pieces of fabric through his intestines by swallowing them whole. While Charles is broken and defeated, Max is upbeat and psychotic. He tells distributing stories of his inability to control himself around women in public and shows us his artwork which, while clearly not without plenty of merit, looks like something that came out of a physc ward.

The more we understand about Robert's past and his family, the more interesting his work becomes. Once you get the full picture, Robert's work takes on a third dimension, as it becomes clear that he isn't just someone trying to get attention by drawing distributing pictures. Rather, you can see that the work is genuine and therapeutic, that it is self-medication. We rarely see Robert siting without a pen and pad in front of him, scribbling away. He doesn't appear to have much control over what comes out. He's a zombie, a machine.

Yet, his work isn't purely therapeutic. It also argues a specific worldview, which sees modern humanity as utterly sick and evil. His wife, who shares a similar vantage point, tells the camera of a time she visited a friend and watched in awe as the woman's fat pre-teen son sat in a giant helmet-shaped chair mesmerized by a video game in front of him. This is how Robert sees the world, especially Americans, as people who lack any sense of "intellectual curiosity."

You leave the film with a dark and haunting feeling that's hard to understand. It's like everyone in the film knows some terrible secret that explains everything: where Robert's talent and work comes from and why the Crumb's are so destroyed. But revealing the secret, or even confirming that one exists, is absurd and not the point. The point is to get by, by sitting on nails, swallowing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and drawing women without heads. And sure, it leaves the audience rather hollow and frustrated to never get the answer, but it makes for a perplexing and ominous film that sticks with you for days. As Robert would say, "How perfectly god damned delightful it all is, to be sure."6/20/2009

Using PHP to Detect a User's Browser

I needed a quick way to detect what browser any given user visiting my site was using. I used this information to serve them a custom CSS stylesheet. And sure, PHP claims to have a built-in method to achieve this functionality: get_browser. But I ran into problems with that dude: it's slow, it returns way more info than I need (an array of data the tells me everything the browser is capable of), and, the nail in the coffin, it didn't work on my web server (I get a "browscap ini directive not set" error).

Instead of dealing with these issues (which, I believe, would mean calling GoDaddy, who runs my server), I built my own little custom method. I'll show it off after the break. Here's the script.



Download the .php file here.

I'm simply using PHP's Switch feature, which seems to work pretty well. Feel free to borrow and improve it.

Disclaimer: I'm not a PHP expert. I'm sure someone (everyone?) will come along and say this is wildly incorrect, but, hey, it works for me and it is reasonably efficient (thanks to the breaks). In other words, I'm not claiming it's perfect, I'm saying it works for me and I thought I'd share.3/26/2009

I just saw Robert Altman's MCCABE & MRS. MILLER for the first time. Overall, I did not enjoy the film. I think it deserves praise for its sheer ambition, but that does not hide the fact that it is dull, lifeless, and unengaging. Nonetheless, I stumbled across two pieces of criticism on the film that I really enjoyed.

The first piece is from Roger Ebert.

All of the characters know each other, and the camera will not stare at first one and then another, like an earnest dog, but is at home in their company. Nor do the people line up and talk one after another, like characters in a play. They talk when and as they will, and we understand it's not important to hear every word; sometimes all that matters is the tone of a room.

The second piece is from Cinephobia.com's Stephen Rowley. He touches on something I found very difficult to deal with at first: the film's sound design, which is, by design, very inaccesible.

Which isn’t to say the chaotic, hard-to-discern sound of McCabe doesn’t have its detractors. Beatty hated it, feeling Altman had pushed a style which worked in MASH too far. Even the film’s editor, Lou Lombardo, has said it was poorly recorded and compared its sound to an out-of-focus picture. Certainly the film treads a fine line; not being able to hear every word adds has its own inherent realism, but at the same time missing things tends to take you out of the experience. (Pauline Kael wrote that “it takes a while to realise that if you didn’t hear someone’s words it’s all right,” which sounds like a rationalisation to me.) But perhaps having something that is a borderline stuff-up work anyway is part of what makes a great director great. When I saw Altman’s final film, A Prairie Home Companion, I kept thinking that nobody else would get away with the slapdash construction Altman did there, and I still haven’t made up my mind whether that’s a testament to Altman or an indictment of critical double standards. In McCabe, however, the case for greatness is clearer cut. The sound, considered on its own, might not work, but as I’ve said it makes possible other aspects of Altman’s technique that definitely do: improvisation, realism, and atmosphere. These qualities give the film life and character, and McCabe & Mrs Miller is a beautiful mood piece that creates an almost trance-like effect.

I think I actually enjoyed reading these pieces more than I did watching the film. I especially liked Rowley's description of the film. He said it was "a film based on atmosphere and character rather than narrative." This is a great way to explain some of my favorite films, for example Francois Truffaut's work and Sofia Coppola's work. But the key difference between these director's films, which I love, and MCCABE, is that the former are centered around character's I care about. MCCABE, on the other hand, is centered someone I never get to know and therefore never grow to care about.3/21/2009

My Favorite Nirvana Lyrics

Lately I've been listening to little else but Nirvana. I've always liked their music, but lately I love it. I think I'm responding primarily to Kurt Cobain's lyrics. He captures in such simplicity and depth feelings of apathy, self-doubt, and anhedonia.

After the jump I'll list some of favorites Nirvana lyrics.Here are some of my favorite lyrics.

• Things have never been so swell. I have never felt to feel pain. You know you're right. (You Know You're Right)
• Light my candles in a daze 'cause I've found god. (Lithium)
• Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint. Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (Heart Shaped Box)
• I'm on my time with everyone. (Pennyroyal Tea)
• I'm not like them, but I can pretend...I think I'm dumb. (Dumb)
• What else should I be. All apologies. (All Apologies)
• I wish I was like you. Easily amused. (All Apologies)
• Hurt yourself. Want some help. Please myself. (Polly)
• Here we are now. Entertain us. I feel stupid and contagious. (Smells Like Teen Spirit)
• And I forget just what it takes. And yet I guess it makes me smile. I found it hard, it's hard to find. Oh well, whatever, nevermind. (Smells Like Teen Spirit)
• Love myself, better than you. I know it's wrong, so what should I do? (On a Plain)

Most of these are pretty obvious and from the band's most popular songs. Nonethless, I wanted to put them all in one place. 2/25/2009

Batch Submit Tasks to Remember the Milk

The web-based task manager Remember the Milk is awesome (Lifehacker explains why it's so excellent here). I recently found out, however, that their batch task import feature has a minor flaw.

The problem is that, since the import relies on an e-mail client, and since most e-mail clients automatically wrap lines (usually at around 72 characters), tasks that are longer than the auto-wrap limit will be split over multiple lines and will import as multiple tasks. As RTM explains in their documentation, if you can change your e-mail client not to auto-wrap text, this isn't a problem for you. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to disable the auto-wrap in any of the e-mail clients I had access to. Since I had a bunch of tasks to import, I decided to come up with a way around this limitation.

After the jump I'll show you the quick and easy batch import form I built that will get around this problem.Here is the quick and easy batch import form I built that will get around this problem. Simply define your Remember the Milk import address, the specific list you want to import tasks into (the list must already exist), and then list the tasks you want to import (one task per line; if you include bullet characters (e.g. * or #) at the start of each line, they will automatically be removed by RTM).1/21/2009

How to Ballpark your Retirement Nest Egg

There are lots of tools online to help you estimate how much money you will have in the future based on specified conditions: CD calculators, 401K calculators, inflation calculators, etc. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a single website that combines all of these different estimates together into a single figure that answers the most important question of all: what will my annual income be when I retire?

After the jump, I'll show you how I used a bunch of different calculation tools together to answer this question.Below I'll show you how I used a bunch of different calculation tools together to answer this question.

Before we begin, keep in mind this tutorial assumes you will be contributing to a 401k and that you will one day be eligible for social security benefits in the United States. It also assumes that once you retire, you will live off the interest of your 401k via a certificate of deposit. If you don't agree with any of these assumptions, feel free to make changes to the instructions below as you see fit.

Also, regarding your retirement age, keep the following in mind.

The earliest you can retire and receive [social security] benefits is age 62, but your payments will be reduced if you retire before your full retirement age. The age for receiving full benefits and the reduction for early retirement is increasing. The schedule will add two months each year until 2027, when workers born in 1960 and later will have to be 67 years old to qualify for full benefits. Eligibility for reduced benefits at age 62 won't change, nor will the age of eligibility for Medicare, which is 65. (Source)

If you were born in 1960 or later, here is a page that breaks down just how penalized you will be for retiring before your full retirement age. Here is a similar page if you were born before 1960.

OK. Let's get started. For each step below, click the link, fill out the respective calculator, then enter the calculated amount into the form towards the bottom of this page.

Step 1: Estimate what your 401K will be when you retire. For rate of return, try 4%. Enter the total amount in the form below. Keep in mind that, after you complete all of the steps below, you can repeat the whole process again, but this time use 8% here (or whatever number you like). This will allow you to prepare for different scenarios.

Step 2: Determine how much your 401k will be worth after inflation. For the amount, enter the number you calculated from Step 1. For starting year, enter the year you plan on retiring. For target year, enter this year. After hitting Calculate, you can see what inflation rate was used for each year by clicking Show Rates. Try not to cry when looking at how badly inflation is going to eat away at your nest egg. Enter the total amount in the form below

Step 3: Determine how much you can make a year off the interest of your 401k. For the CD amount, enter the figure you found in Step 2 so that you are working with the actual value, not the inflated value. For interest rate, something like 5% is conservative and reasonable. For number of months, enter 12. Enter the total amount of interest earned over a year in the form below.

Step 4: Calculate your annual social security benefits. Ensure you select today's dollars. After your enter all the correct information and click Calculate, enter the dollar amount that appears next to Your monthly retirement benefit in the form below. Be sure to take into account the potential penalty you may incur if you retire before your full retirement age.

Step 5: Fill out the following form then click Calculate. Enter numbers and decimal points only. Do NOT enter dollar signs or commas. Scroll down to the bottom of the page after submitting the form.

Step 1 Result:

Step 2 Result:

Step 3 Result:

Step 4 Result:

The page will refresh and give you your figures below.

1/20/2009

A New and Improved Filmnut!

Welcome to the completely redesigned Filmnut. It's all very exciting! Now that I've taught myself a thing or two about PHP and CSS I've put my new skills to work. The result is hopefully a much fancier little website.

After the jump, I'll highlight some of the cool new features on the site.Below is a list of some of the site's fancy new features.

• A blog powered by Google's Blogger.
• A right-hand sidebar on most pages that gives a real-time look at what I'm up to: my current Twitter status, the last three movies I've seen, and some cool calculations on the Film, TV, and Lit pages.
• A PHP function that automatically serves you a custom CSS stylesheet based on the browser you are using.
• A detailed About page that tells you all about yours trully.

Like what you see? Drop me a line at jpowers at gmail dot com.1/01/2009