82. LOST ANGELS: SKID ROW IS MY HOME

50 blocks in downtown los angeles.  an area long ago designated as skid row in an attempt to provide low income housing.  in the beginning, the majority were drunks.  but after mental hospitals were closed in the 80's, the vast majority of skid row inhabitants have mental illness.  the majority are not sleeping on the street, as one might think.  the area has the largest concentration of single rooms, rented by people who earn less than $300/month.  still many do live on the streets and we meet many of them.  what the film shows is that some are educated; some have been married and have children; some worked in jobs.  we learn others have struggled their entire lives, been victims of abuse, struggled with substance addiction.  many actually FIND themselves on skid row and turn their lives around.  many find love and acceptance on skid row.  there is community and a general acceptance of who each one is.  i feel that i learned a lot, but i also feel like the majority of the people in this film were the ones that somewhat were getting their lives together.  even in this group, however, we see the mental or physical health issues that contributed to finding themselves on skid row.  is it a sad place?  maybe  should it be eliminated?  the speakers in the film think not.........where would thousands of displaced, mentally ill people go if this home were gone?  it's an interesting concept; one i'm going to try to think more about.

81. DESIGN IS ONE: LEILA AND MASSIMO VIGNELLI

this married couple came from italy to the united states in '57, she an architect and he a designer.  they became one of the power couples for design, ranging from graphics to the ny subway system guide to furniture and jewelry, household goods, churches, offices and corporate logos.  massimo prides himself on bringing "helvetica" to the u.s.  they like things simple and functional.  i've never given a lot of thought to corporate logos, for example, but this team designed the "ford" logo and the "american airlines" logo.  watching a film like this brings that into focus......everything is designed by someone and the best designed products don't really change; there's just no need.  i've looked at a lot of national park brochures and now i know that massimo used his grid system to design the layout for those.  back in the day when i kept the arch information desk stocked with brochures from the parks, they were very different.  now, the are graphically more interesting thanks to massimo.  the film shows him celebrating his 80th birthday in 2012.  he states his hope is that he lives on forever.  that seems likely given the proven longevity of so many of his creations.

80. LE BARE

only fair.  i don't feel that i learned much with this film, nor was i very entertained, which is some surprise, considering the film topic is a male strip club in dallas.  the film is produced by joe manganiello, one of the stars of magic mike.  this club may be the inspiration for that film, but it doesn't come off as hot at all.  the men are totally buff; most of them are respectful of women.  they eat healthy and exercise and most don't abuse alcohol, drugs or women.  but, it just falls flat.  i guess the most interesting takeaway is that the male dancers get both money and a sense of appeal and self esteem from their work; the women who come to the club feel accepted by the men and get confirmation that a hot man can find them attractive and acceptable.  even if it's all done for the act, those emotions seem powerful enough to keep the women spending big and the men doing what they can to raise the level of spending.  i'll just wait for the sequel to magic mike, which is guaranteed to be more interesting than this film.

79. ALIVE INSIDE: A STORY OF MUSIC AND MEMORY

the capacity of music to reach deep into our soul and revive memories past.  that's the theme of this film.  a social worker took an ipod to a nursing home and placed headphones on a man who is always disengaged and non-verbal.  he sprang to life--singing, talking, and telling stories.  it was amazing!  an expert notes that the part of the brain which stores music and associated memories is generally not touched with alzheimer's.  he began on a quest to provide ipods to all 16,000 nursing homes in the united states.  lofty goal for sure, but steadily, more and more homes are jumping on board to provide the experience to their residents.  i cried through this whole film!  it is sweet to see these blank, empty faces revitalized with good memories.  i think i've just decided a perfect gift for my mom for christmas!

78. BOUND BY FLESH

wow, it's been 2 moths since i last watched a netflix documentary.  there's been travel and family obligations and, of course, the start of a new television season.  i've been watching american horror story: freak show, so when i saw the film "bound by flesh" about conjoined twin sisters, i chose it as my netflix comeback.

the hilton sisters, as they came to be called, were born in england in 1908, to an unwed mother, who shrieked at the sight of the conjoined infants and refused to raise them.  her barkeep employer saw potential in the infants and took them as her own, selling admittance to the rear room to see the sight.  they were conjoined at the back/butt area.  nowadays, they certainly would not stay conjoined, since they didn't share any organs and each had 2 arms and legs.  however, in this day, there was no question of separating them.  and, mrs hilton exploited the curiosity.  they were taught to be entertainers, singing and playing musical instruments.  their lives became large and they were once the highest paid vaudeville act in the country.  but they were sheltered for all of their life, until the early 20's.  after emancipating themselves from a bogus contract, they were left to live life on their own, have adventures, experience all they had missed.  they drank, smoked, caroused.  one of the twins even became pregnant.  they couldn't sustain the entertainment life as the world shifted from stage entertainment to film and lived out the end of their days as produce clerks in a local grocery store.  it's always an interesting story to me--how people cope with their particular adversities.  i'd never heard of daisy and violet hilton....but, now i have!