#86 Party of Five

There was a period during the mid to late nineties when Party of Five was essentially the be all and end of all of Horstmanian television. My sister, Lauren was particularly hooked thanks in no small part to a crush on Scott Wolf and a natural affinity for the show's extreme cheesiness. The main reason I loved the show(at least early on) was that I was allowed to stay up an extra hour on Wednesday's to watch it. We didn't have cable growing up, so at this point Fox seemed incredibly edgy and cool (when we started getting WB instead of PAX it was like discovering a new continent). Lauren was of course a huge fan of Bailey played by Scott Wolf, an optimistic yet cheesily troubled brother who was committed to holding the family together. I identified with Claudia, Bailey's beloved longest sister a bit a bit of a genius who was unable to avoid the family schmaltz gene. Megan, undoubtedly beginning to suspect with horror the extent of her siblings' eccentricity remained a detached Julia. The crowning moment of Party of Five in my opinion was win Claudia tearfully told Bailey that she could no longer be around him if he continued drinking a scene which has oft been lovingly lampooned in Horstmania.

#87 Company

My Love of Company can be traced back to a two CD collection of great Broadway songs I had growing up. On the second Cd, wedged between Cabaret and "I Want To Be Happy" from No, No, Nanette was Elaine Stritch singing "The Ladies Who Lunch". It became one of my favorite songs even though most of the reference's went over my head (Pinter, Mahler, though not the Vodka stinger). I connected with the cynical poignant tones of the song to this day I count it among my favorite songs and use it as an emotional outlet. I even have a large picture in my room of Elaine Strich and several cocktail glasses and the words "Does anyone still wear a hat?". Years later my love of the song would lead me to trying out Follies (also by Sondheim) and then Company itself. The musical is a modern, urban, cynical look at relationships that includes a number of other songs I've fallen for (though certainly not to the same degree)many of which contain that same cleverly cynical melancholy that makes Ladies Who Lunch so powerful. Ultimately, Company matters so much to me because it served as my gateway into Sondheim a name I guarantee you haven't heard the last of on this list.

#88 The Jungle Book

Okay so yes, Rudyard Kipling wasn't the most forward thinking person but I can't help it, I still love The Jungle Book (the book). Kipling was absolutely wonderful at blending scientific knowledge and complex personalities in creating his animal characters in a way that completely brought the jungles of India to life. The culture and laws of the jungle felt like a description of the way things were and not a prescription human conventions and stereotypes on nature. I'm particularly fond of Kaa's Hunting, perhaps my favorite chapter in all of literature. In it Mowgli is kidnapped by the monkeys and Baloo and Bagheera enlist the aid of the ancient python Kaa to rescue him. The description of Kaa and his battle with the monkeys is at once terrifying and beautiful. Apollonian that I am I love to read into Kaa's struggle a victory for order, serenity, and reason over the chaos and cacophony of the monkeys. Much as I love it The Jungle Book came at a cost for me, I can no longer enjoy the Disney movie because it's such a poor interpretation of the book, it caused me to implement a policy of not reading novels that inspire movies I love.

#89 Mulan

Sorry for the long break in posts my few loyal followers, I was caught up in end of quarter stuff and then my new found summer freedom. Mulan will, I think, forever and always be my favorite Disney film for a number of reasons. For one it's the only one I remember seeing at the theater. It also seems to me like it was the last great conventionally animated movie before cgi took over. More personally I'm an eternal fan of actress Ming-na(who provided Mulan's voice) because I loved her on ER. Mulan herself is a great character the only Disney heroine who manages to get off her butt and do something and actually make her own story which she does in a charmingly misguided way, thanks to Mushu. Additionally the music is incredibly catchy, Honor to Us All in particular is a favorite of mine. My sister and I are prone to mocking Grandma Fa's overwrought delivery. While we're on the subject, since Mulan is the only Disney movie on the list I feel like I need to mention the shall we say unique history my sisters and I have with Disney songs. One of us owned a book of Disney songs (Lauren?) and I remember not only singing but choreographing Disney song performances. Most notably on car trips we invented a game in which we sang the lyrics of a song (most famously Part of that World from The Little Mermaid) taking turns singing each word it sounds horribly choppy and often over-dramatic and is a great way to kill some time.