Personal Canon.
My personal cannon consists of what I use, treasure, and most frequently recommend. It’s more than just “what I like”; it’s the things I cherish that have shaped who I am and what I am inspired by.
# Films
- 12 Angry Men, directed by Sidney Lumet, 1957
- Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater, 2014
- City Lights, directed by Charlie Chaplin, 1931
- Hunt for the Wilderpeople, directed by Taika Waititi, 2016
- Lady Bird, directed by Greta Gerwig, 2017
- Stand By Me, directed by Rob Reiner, 1986
- The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont, 1994
- The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir, 1998
# Books
- Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, 1996
- The Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, 1963
- The Giving Tree, written by Shel Silverstein, 1964
- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams, 1979
- The Phantom Tollbooth, written by Norton Juster, 1961
- The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy, 2006
- The Stand, written by Stephen King, 1978
- Where the Red Fern Grows, written by Wilson Rawls, 1961
# I'll always go to the theater when _____ is in the cast
- Amy Adams — Arrival, American Hustle
- Ayo Edebiri — The Bear, Bottoms
- Daniel Day-Lewis — There Will Be Blood, Lincoln
- Daniel Kaluuya — Get Out, Nope
- Emma Stone — Poor Things, Easy A
- Frances McDormand — Fargo, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
- Gary Oldman — Darkest Hour, The Dark Knight
- Jeffrey Wright — Asteroid City, Casino Royale,
- Jesse Plemons — Game Night, The Power of the Dog
- Mads Mikkelsen — Another Round, Rogue One
- Paul Giamatti — The Holdovers, Sideways
- Ralph Fiennes — Schindler’s List, The Dig
- Viola Davis — The Help, Fences
- Willem Defoe — The Florida Project, The Lighthouse
# Anything directed by _____ is a must see
- Adam McKay — Vice, The Big Short
- Bong Joon Ho — Parasite, Snowpiercer
- Charlie Chaplin — City Lights, Modern Times
- Greta Gerwig — Lady Bird, Little Women
- Hayao Mayazaki — Kiki’s Delivery Service, The Castle of Cagliostro
- James Cameron — Avatar, The Terminator
- Ken Burns — Baseball, The National Parks, Civil War
- Quentin Tarantino — Pulp Fiction, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
- Robert Eggers — The Witch, The Norseman
- Stanley Kubrick — 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining
- Steven Spielberg — Raider’s of the Lost Ark, Jaws
- Wes Anderson — Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom
# I'll read anything that _____ puts on paper
- Agatha Christie — The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Death in the Clouds
- Bill Bryson — A Walk in the Woods, I’m a Stranger Here Myself
- Colson Whitehead — The Underground Railroad
- Cormac McCarthy — The Road, No Country for Old Men
- John Steinbeck — Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath
- Jon Krakauer — Into the Wild, Into Thin Air
- J.R.R. Tolkien — The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings
- Stephen King — The Stand, The Green Mile
- Sylvia Plath — The Bell Jar
# Creatives whose output I'm obsessed with
- Ansel Adams — photographer — The Tetons and the Snake River, Monolith
- Beau Miles — content creator — A Mile an Hour, Bad River
- Caspar David Friedrich — artist — The Stages of Life, Seashore by Moonlight
- Dan Carlin — podcaster — Blueprint for Armageddon, The Destroyer of Worlds
- Drew Struzan — artist — Indiana Jones posters, Star Wars posters
- Edward Hopper — artist — Nighthawks, Morning Sun
- Elizabeth Gould — artist — The Birds of Australia
- Jessica Hische — illustrator
- Jimmy Chin — director/photographer — Free Solo, Meru
- John James Audubon — artist/naturalist — The Birds of America
- KangHee Kim — artist
- Mattias Adolfsson — artist — Tall Ship and Palaces, Oak
- Nathan Fielder — comedian/performance artist — The Rehearsal, Nathan For You
- Norman Rockwell — artist — Boy on High Dive, Tough Call
- Tom Davies — content creator — Straight Line Missions, How Not to Travel
- Richard Scarry — artist — What Do People Do All Day?, Best Word Book Ever