Snarkastic

Robber Barons

I've been up for twenty hours. I'm getting a nasty cold. We got third tonight. This is not a bad thing. This is what we were hoping for. This is a great victory in its own small way. Had an amazing time at the celebration up in Manchester and found a shortcut home that cut what I thought would be a two-hour drive to under an hour. Sure, I leave New Hampshire in less than 24 hours, but personal grownth and all that jazz. All the staffers got their marching orders to satisfactory locations. Guess what? I'm working in Tennessee next week. Prolly in Nashville. Maybe in Chatty. I got offered a paid position, but turned it down because it's in Maine. I'll be home Sunday night and appearing at Joan's Super Bowl Throwdown at Castle Greyskull. Leaving Monday or Tuesday, depending on when I can get in to see the doctor. Remaining NH diaries posted soon. Everybody vote. I'm crawling my victorious ass into bed.

"Cwoald anuf fwah yah?"

Taking time out of my busy election day schedule to let you know that not only did Johnny Depp get an Oscar nomination, so did Keisha Castle-Hughes and.....Fernando Meirelles. I can't believe how spot-on these nominations are, apart from the whole Seabiscuit fiasco. Still, it's always nice to have a clearly defined loser. Start your wishful-thinking ballots now.

I'll cut you.

No Sudden Movements

Now that you're properly briefed...

So my birthday (Wednesday) was pretty atrocious. I had a peanut-butter-and-marshmallow-fluff sammich at midnight, but that was about the high point. That, and I got to meet The General.

C_____ M____ and I got packed off at an early hour to UNH to help them set up for their event. We were worried about filling the 300-seat room. There were 550 people there before we stopped counting. Finally managed to find an overflow room to accomodate them all. Helped the advance people play riot control. Got menaced by a Dean goon and annoyed by Kucinich and Larouche hippies. When people were pissed about not getting in, I told them I was a staffer and it was my birthday and I wasn't allowed in the room, either. (This after being bodily removed from the room by the fire marshal, but that's another story.) That usually shut them up. This guy who turned out to be the General's brother-in-law overheard me and motioned me into the green room, and I got to meet General Clark and Mrs. Clark. We talked about the miserable cold. The General signed my birthday card. (That almost caused an international incident, the details of which are not fit for print.) Then back to Dover, then to Rochester for our big town hall meeting. I had forgotten my gloves today, so working otuside was miserable. I busied myself talking to press people during most of the meeting itself, but I got some pretty good pictures as well. (God, this is dry. Sorry. It's been a slow few days.)

The meeting was over, and most of the people left were staffers and press. I was sort of leaning against a door in an exhausted daze when I heard clicking. I looked up and this woman was snapping pictures of me. She's an "embedded" correspondant (see, it's funny because "embedded" implies a war zone, and she's from Texas covering the Democratic....oh, forget it) with the Dallas Morning News. She interviewed me for a sidebar or a paragraph or something in her "Trail Mix" column. (Get it? Get it????) I'll let y'all know if it actually makes it into the paper. I've also been interviewed for the Hartford paper, the UNH paper, the NYU paper, and the local NPR station. It's really a strange experience. The NPR lady did say I gave her some good sound bites, though.

I got so lost coming home that night, from sheer exhaustion. It felt like I'd been to a rave. Except for no hippies. Except for the Kucinich people. I got lost and went to Maine again that night. Now I've been three times, only once driving in that direction on purpose (but didn't know I'd been in Maine till I left the enxt morning). They can keep it. I was talking to Jesse for much of this time, so he can fill you in on the hysterical details. I finally made it back to Strafford and went straight for the chocolate milk instead of the wine. Go figure.

Let's see....Thursday was debate prep, all day. Around four, all the staff and interns and volunteers and supporters from all the offices of all the campaigns got together at St. Anselm's college and very nearly Made War Upon Each Other. It was like Homecoming crossed with a protest rally. Two people got maced. I got out of there before that happened, just as Kerry's people were coming over the hill with a bagpipe band. Yeah.

A word on the campaigns: It's painfully apparent to most people at this point that Clark and Edwards are the only major campaigns running without the aid of some form of God Damned Lunatics. Kerry's people roughed up a couple of our staffers yesterday. Lieberman's staffers steal signs, which is actually illegal. Kucinich has the aforementioned hippies. Dean has....well, his Standing Heterodox Army. I talk to Edwards' people whenever I can, and my experiences with them have been overwhelmingly positive.

I apparently like his policies, too. I went over to SelectSmart last night and plugged in all my preferences, and got The Good General at the top of my list at 93%. Good to know. Edwards was second. Not that I'd switch camps or anything had the scores been reversed, but these internet quizzes have been right before. (Nick and I were at something like 90% on dear, departed SparkMatch, calculated almost two years before we hooked up.)

I started this post at 10:19 this morning. It's now 11:23 at night. Quickly then, the rest of Days 7 and 8 (because it's just too, too scintillating for words, but I might have to write a book someday): I made it out of the debates and down to Boston alive and barely scathed. Had a birthday date with 'Bus in the North End, spent the next night in Bedford, and finally, finally, finally saw Big Fish before wrenching myself back up to New Hampshire, all my magnolia genes shrieking in protest. Playing ketchup with the rest of the week will have to wait till later. It's too cold to have any body parts exposed, even typing fingertips.

Reading: Scripts again...Lab submissions are due early this year. I found out day before yesterday. What could possibly go wrong?
Seen: Big Fish

There's no 'T' in 'Tyrant'

Bigger update later, when Nick is awake and I do not have to type so slowly and quietly. For now, I send you here. It's horrid, for one thing. So very, very horrid. And yet...if ever Joan and I had taken my "All of Isenfunk has been unleashed" thing to its logical conclusion, we might now find ourselves someplace like this. I am mustering all my strength not to shriek with laughter and awaken 'Bus. It reads like something we'd come up with after a night of drinking, yeah? Look especially to the "Nine leaving Minas Morgul" and "brace of coneys" efforts. And "You shall not pass". And "Be who you were born to be". And....oh, poppets, just go!!

Your call is important to us. Please stay on the--

Days 4 & 5
It's late and I'm punchy.

Well, 'Bus and I made it to Boston without incident, but on the way back I accidentally went to Maine. Yeah, me neither.

Yesterday was aiight. This week is going to be hell, though. Lots of canvassing of and phone calls to neighborhoods that have been called twelve times by eight candidates in the past two days. I'm not really exaggerating that much. I spent my first night in Strafford with my host fambly, finally. My host mommy, Robin, is introducing The General at an event tomorrow in Portsmouth. I'm proud. My birthday's in two hours. It will probably be unpleasant, as I was suckered into working all day because we're hosting a smaller event and I might actually get to meet He Himself. And if you think I'll use my birthday to leverage this in any way possible, you're goddamn right.

I'm supposed to be in Manchester right now, watching his response to the State of the Union, but something came up and I couldn't get there. 'Bus is there and I am not. And I will spend my birthday being Shouted At by Strange Yankees.

After the primary (27th), I plan on taking a couple days off to snowboard and/or spend time with Bus. Beyond that, it appears that I might actually be sent to Nashville for a week or so to work on the primary there. I think I could do a lot of good someplace like that where I know everydamnbody. Beyond that beyond -- who knows? I'm postponing my AmRep dreams for the moment. It's not going anywhere. (Dear Heavenly Thing, Please do not burn down the ART in response to my previous comment. I love you and I'll be good.)

Highlights:

• This drunken Kerry supporter who came into our office and went Batshit on one of our Batshit interns.
• Dean's shrieking gaffe in Iowa and shrinking poll leads in New Hampshire.
• Winning the Iowa caucuses office pool, a cool $35.
• The fact that the abovementioned primary means things are going to stay interesting for a very, very long time.

asdfjkl;
H

Reading: Jessica S's thesis
Seen: State of the Union
What I've Learned To-Day: The light switches for the bathrooms in this part of the country? Are all outside the actual bathrooms. All of them. Everywhere. Really. Even at Nick's grandmother's house. (Dear Heavenly Thing, It's me again. Please send me to Louisiana. They have Democrats there, too. Honest. And sweet tea.)

Ist das nicht ein cuckoo clock?

Days 2 & 3
Yesterday morning we did a little bit of paperwork and phone calls in the office, then headed over to Pembroke for the rally. We spent a lot of time standing around and looking important, then Jersey Mike and I were dragged off by Other Mike in an hour-long expedition to buy him a new phone. We got back just as a knot of Kerry supporters arrived with a sign advertising a chili dinner with the man. They had chili, and we had Michael Moore. Yeah, me neither. We chased them about a mile down the highway, they came back a couple of blocks and stayed put. The rest of the afternoon before the event began was spent heckling the opposition volunteers who came to our rally to get attention because their own candidates can't get a crowd or camera time. Nick and Jersey Mike and I got a good spot in a tiny triangle of space between the press bleachers and the VIP seats to watch the whole shebang. Pictures to follow, and video, if possible. Turns out the guy I was standing next to was the creator of one of the Bush in 30 Second ads that won the MoveOn contest. We talked politics and television for awhile. There were some Clark staffers, the Enron whistle lady, Mary Beth Whatsername, John Dalton, a couple senators, Ted Sorensen, and other notables. The rally rocked. Right when I was reaching out to shake Michael Moore's hand, a camera lens fell on my head.

I brought 'Bus back to the Dover office with me for a few hours, and we did canvassing packets until the crazies left and it was just us and JP. We talked shop, web surfed, and drank, then headed out to the middle of nowhere (we didn't find out until we saw the "Welcome to New Hampshire" sign the next morning that we'd actually gone to Maine) to spend the night at this huge farmhouse with this crazy old lady. She didn't precisely know we were coming, and we got into a bit of a Mexican standoff with her dog. Good times. Discovered a family tree stuffed in a corner for the Morses, dating back to 1653 in Newbury, Mass. Stayed up late, got up later to our first snow. The weather was actually quite balmy - 28 degrees and snowing, which felt alarmingly pleasant after the last couple of days. We dug our cars out and headed in. I was packed off straightaway to Strafford with my new host mommy. The place was a lot farther away than Charlie said it was gonna be - it took us about 50 min to get there - but is was bad weather, and I made it back in about 35. The house is totally gonna be worth it. I'm staying with this couple, R_____ and J__, and their 11-year-old daughter, 2 dogs, and cat. They're ex-Marines, and felt bad about living too far away to get in the middle of things much, so they're compensating by lavishing me with love, which I totally dig. I have my own bedroom and bathroom with an internet connection, and they're insisting on feeding me and doing my laundry as well. R_____ even showed me where they keep the booze. ;) I'm really going to love it there - it's a shame I'll only be there till the 28th. I hope I have this much luck in other places. When I finally made it back, Nick and JP and I went out canvassing, then Nick and I made fast tracks to Boston since the weather was turning yucky. We stopped off at his grandmother's house in Bedford to watch the end of the football game (THE COLTS LOST AND THE GODDAMN PATRIOTS AND PANTHERS ARE PLAYING IN THE SUPER BOWL - PTB, SEE ME!!!!!), and we're both sleepy, so we're crashing here for the night. This house is 300+ years old and jammed full of stuff and bedrooms. Nick and I are sleeping in his Dad's old room (I think) in cherry twin beds about 4 feet off the ground.

Highlights:

• The Dean 40. (40 bottle cozies made from pictures of him all Angry Pants and bumper stickers)
• Discussing with two staffers how to get Clark to ride around in a hovercraft, amphibious attack vehicle, etc., and somehow prompt the Washington Post headline "Clark Can Fly".
• Holly: "Do we recycle bottles?" Other Interns: "We usually just leave them in front of the Kerry office."
• Speaking of which: Left to right, the order of businesses on our block: Chinese restaurant, sub shop, Clark office, empty store, alley, Kerry office, convenience store, Dean office. It makes things pretty interesting. Kerry's people are crazier than Deaniacs - who knew??
• And speaking of that: Chasing Kerry marauders away from our event with sticks.
• The Goddamned Dirty Hippies For Kucinich Pom Squad and Drum Circle. I swear, I'm not making this up.
• Meeting Michael Moore. Totally worth the bump on the head.

P.S. Day 1 post up under OFFICER ON DECK post. Do not miss this fine nugget of comedy funk.

Officer on Deck

I'll still just pimp some stuff for y'all to take a look at when you can:

Official campaign website
General Clark's stances on Pretty Much Everything
Michael Moore's endorsement

Register. Vote. Get involved. Don't you want to be like me? Seriously, though. Do something.

Places In The Sun

Highlights:

• Learning that I get to see Michael Moore up close and in person tomorrow.
• Being asked out by a staffer after less than three hours in the Dover office.
• All the "Wes Wing" jokes in the Manchester office.
• Talking to this one pair of walk-ins. After most of the staff had left for the day, it was just me and three other guys hanging out. My boss bought me dinner because I'm New Intern, and we were drinking and watching SNL. A couple came into the office and told us that their sons had gotten back from Kuwait that night, and after they heard the stories they had to tell, both of them drove straight over to the Clark office to sign up for whatever help they could give.

Reading: Everything Clark's ever touched that I can get my hands on. I need to get smarter, fast.
Seen: Nick and I watched East is East last night. It's pretty great.
Basking In: The warm glow of affection from the letters I got from my Whittlets today. Love y'all.
What I've Learned So Far:
It goes without saying for one's laptop, camera, etc., but don't leave your shampoo in the car all day in subzero weather, as massaging ice crystals into your scalp is not a pleasant way to spend an evening. Also? Drinking with your co-workers after hours is where the real learning takes place.

I'd like to thank the Academy...

OK, lies.

But still. I can't imagine what will happen if Return of the King gets clotheslined. How can anyone not be WRECKED at the end of that movie? How can an undertaking like this pass without recognition? Money doesn't suffice. Anyone slamming this film outright has no heart.

Onward.

You know what's a lot more fun to think about? This time next year, the Best Director nomination list could read something like this: Stone, Scorsese, Petersen, Almod?var, and Bergman. Not to mention this guy, and this guy, and the fact that the guy who directed Monster's Ball is offering this. Look at that cast. LOOK at it!....Depp, Winslet, Hoffman, Christie, Mitchell, and Kelly Macdonald as Peter Pan. S'brilliant. And speaking of brilliant...

It's never really a bad time to be a geek, is it?

I bet they're always warm as toast
They always seem to smile

'Ello, poppets.

I made it. It took eleven hours yesterday. Stupid snow. Stupid traffic. Stupid Pennsylvania. My interview's in three hours. It's still really cold. The Fish survived the journey and seems very content not to be dashed against the sides of the tank at every turn. Y'all should post, now. V. scruffy. Still not king.

Sinspiration

I'm in Virginia. The trip up was mostly blissfully uneventful. God Be Praised for hotel rooms avec broadband. The only other thing I've done is add some more company taglines on the left (updated, by the way, as Joan and I come up with them). There's something so irreparably collegiate about running away to work for The Man. Aren't I adorable?

P.S. "After all, an orgasm is better than a bomb".

Go Sparkle

I'm leaving. Just a matter of getting dressed and throwing things in the car.

The car. I got a new one for my birthday, which was a shock. The understanding was that I'd take Mother's Saturn and that she'd get a new one, but the radiator was doing some strange things and Daddy didn't want me to be 900 miles away with a busted ride, so yesterday I took a white Saturn (just like the one we already have) for a test drive. I was in love with it, but it's no longer under warranty, so it was nixed and I got a shiny white 2003 Stratus instead. it's almost as good. I haven't named it yet.

The plan right now is for me to finish packing, meet Joan for lunch, and drive as far as Harrisonburg, VA tonight, as there's a hotel there with people that know me. I'll do the remaining eight or nine hours tomorrow, stay with 'Bus for a couple of days, then we're going up to Manchester together on Friday.

Sorry I didn't get to see everyone, but for the most part it couldn't be helped. Thanks to The Damned for a great go-way party and the Gift Basket From Hell. Y'all rock. Very much mad love is in order to Nick and Joan, who understand why this is something I need to do and have been with me all the way. (And if you're thinking torrid thoughts.....you're not far off.)

Also, I'm stopping off on the way up to get Colts swag, that I might spread the Manning gospel in the lions' den of the Frozen Yankee Northland.

Speaking of which, I'd better get going or I'm never going to make it up there.

As ever,
H

Can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding

I'm a dead man.

You're It.

So I just got a phone call I've been waiting for. I'm leaving on Tuesday for Boston/New Hampshire and points beyond to work for General Clark and/or American Repertory Theatre. I definitely have a place at the campaign; not so certain at Hahvad. I'll be gone for my birfday, sad clown; but doing something that actually matters for once, happy clown. I prolly won't see any of you before I go. I thought I'd have more time, but the guy at the Manchester office wants me up there next week, so no time for love, Docta Jones. Anyway, I love you monkeys more than my own feet (and if you've ever seen me drunk, you know how much I love my feet), and I don't know when I'm coming back, but I shall think of you fondly and often. Stay in touch.

THE / DOG | ATE \ SOMETHING

Up for a good three hours and I only now noticed it's snowing all the way down here. I shall surely post again in the morning, so that I may verbiate upon this process to my Black Little Heart's content (of course, employing my Very Favorite Hollyism). 'Tis such a season again, At Last.

...I can't wait that long.

It snows! It does snow! It is snowing! It snew!! It has SNOWN!!

Lock me up, and throw away the key.

I Are Manticore

Did I never post the sequel to the Tri Delt poem?

ROSES ARE RED
DAHLIAS ARE BLACK
TRI DELTA'S NEW NIGHTLY RATES
ARE LOWER THAN EVER

They eats that up with a spoon in the clubs, they do. Speaking of which, a suspicious new venue calling itself the Comedy Zone has opened where the Soup Kitchen used to be off 40. I tell you now we must venture there, and, if it is indeed a comedy club, Heckle.

So what else? I cut off what I've come to think of as my Secret Garden Split Ends. It's pretty short and will take some getting used to. I'm not knocking the show, though. It was very nearly the end of me several, several times, but it's still the best work with my name on it. How tragic that only Lunchy cared enough to see it. Shame on y'all.

Onward.

By popular demand*, the drink recipes from NYE:

*****
NEW ALLISON'S MAMBO MARGARITAS
from The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner

In a big pitcher (NOT NOT NOT a blender), combine ice with the following:
12 oz can frozen concentrated limeade
12 oz 7-Up (not Sprite)
12 oz Corona
12 oz tequila

You can use nasty tequila, too, 'cos the Corona makes it all better. It's a Fizzy Lifting Drink for people who hate the stuff, like me.

*****
CAPTAIN MORGAN'S CANDY SHOTS
Conceived by the lovely Joy G________

Dissolve Island Pineapple Jello mix in hot water per box instrustions. When it comes time to pour in a cup of cold water, substitute Parrot Bay instead. Pour in baby cups or muffin tins, cool as directed, and slurp up.

*****
JESSE'S BBC SHOTS
Now in its third year of circulation, this recipe is a sure hit with drama kids.

Float one part Bailey's on one part root beer schnapps in a shotglass. Top with whipped cream and throw back.

*****
And speaking of Joy, love and mad props to her for acing her GMAT. Now if we could just find a place to live in the fall that can contain the egos (and wardrobes) of her, me, Joan, and Jay.....we might have to shack up in a warehouse somewheres.

Also: Et tu, asshat? (Caesar's gone AWOL, which is totally his prerogative; I just wish he didn't think he needed to include me in his little game or what have you. Damned if we didn't just dote on him like a coupla geishas for awhile there, but you have to earn that dotage, and I haven't seen him since right after the show closed.) I wish my beer was as cold as your heart, cowboy. C'est la guerre.

I think that about does it.....oh, wait, Joan would prolly want me to say something about saving the tree octopus. If you get a moment to poke around this site, take a look at "Kelvin is Lord!" as well. Good for gigglage.

Reading: MTYNTBT
Seen: I forgot to mention About a Boy. I didn't think it was as great as everyone said it would be.

While you're down here, take a moment to glance at our side-splitting drama company taglines. See, this looks like a marathon post, but really, I just skipped a lot of lines.

*two IMs and an email

Du bist so waehlerisch

Happy Birthday to my Evil Twin. Well, and to Erin and Alex and Daria too, and me in 13 days, but mostly to Keiran, because it's actually timely. You've come a long way, baby.

Frankie Five Angels

The weather has gone from Key West to Reykjavik in about twelve hours. Welcome to the valley. Bring your sun hat and your snowshoes.

Joan's back, Thank The Gods. If I had gone more than one hour without her OR 'Bus I surely would have succumbed to A Dreadful Malaise. We had the kind of evening that can only happen to us, with the potential for Hard Copy material magnified tenfold by the fact that Ryan was with us. We exchanged Christmas presents, to howls of delight. Joan got Mystery Date: The Game. I got Mono and Black Death. Mono has eyelashes!! That's a sentence that's never been typed before, that is.

So Ryan got a GPS thingy for Christmas (no, not from us), and the three of us went geocaching, which I had never done and highly recommend. We acquired a couple of action figures and a squirt gun, and left behind a plastic flask, some Oliver(!) swag, and LOTR valentines. Our next mission is to plant a cache in Steak & Slash, covered in bubblegum and ashes to match the surroundings. Anyway. We were sitting in our booth, thankfully sans Michael (who very nearly ran us down in the parking lot as we sprinted for the cinema, but that's another story), and the talk turned as always to movies. I mentioned the piece that Pamie wrote about how pretending that Julia Roberts was from the future made Mona Lisa Smile so much more believable. I should've known better. They could not be dissuaded from trying it out. At least Ryan bought my ticket. So we loaded up on Cherry Coke and Sudafed (no, I'm not joking. Hi, Mom!!) and prepared for the worst. Good thing, too. The high (low?) point of the whole mess was the idyllic Maypole scene, beautifully shot and costumed, whose presence in the film was to indicate that It Was May.....set to an a cappella version of "Istanbul". Yes, the song. My eyes....dear sweet tap-dancing baby Jesus, my EYES. We compensated by taking the time frame inference one crucial step further by imagining (out loud) that not only was Jula Roberts from the future, but that she was, in fact, a killer robot. This enabled the three of us to punctuate all dramatic flourishes on the screen with loud interjections of "CH-CH CH CH-CH" (as orchestrally realized in the Terminator instrumental theme). Forgive Mike Newell, Father, for He Hath Sinned. And when Team Hawlowe/Moran ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.....babies.

Reading: Still with More Things You Need To Be Told. Have handed TYNTBT off to Daria.
Last "Film" Seen: Mona Lisa Cyborg
Quote of the Evening: "Oh, hell; Gepetto's wedged under the brake pedal." (Joan)

Ta ta,
H

All I ever wanted was your life.

After three incredulous inquiries, A Clarification: : Directly below, by "Top Ten", I meant not "Most Important", in large part because I missed SO MANY MOVIES (Far From Heaven, City of God, I'm looking at you), but "The Ten Films To Which I Rocked Out The Very Most". If you want a "real" list, go read some "real" critic's website. I'll have a "better" list when I can "afford" to eat, let alone throw down eight friggin' fifty at Downtown West every damn Friday. Not that I don't long to with every fiber of my Black Little Heart, but it's all I can do for now to keep myself in Cornflakes And Gin.

I did set out, at one point, with my original list and a list of other movies I saw last year, to do the Important Films Categorical Imperative Canonical list, but most of them wound up back in there anyway, owing mostly to my Pining For The Resurgence Of The American Epic. When I looked at what I was typing and saw "Because it's About Damn Time someone made a movie about Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis as Elvis and JFK fighting a mummy preying on a nursing home in East Texas", I gave up; I gave in. I am what I am. Give me the hook or the ovation.

Reading: Things You Need To Be Told and More Things You Need To be Told, by Lesley Carlin and Honore McDonough Ervin
Seen: More like "Spiritually Assaulted By" Quills. I finally saw the whole thing last night. Gawd. I Need A Grown-Up.

Kochka!!

The subject of Cool Names for Future Pets was tossed about recently at a Monkey Conclave, and I came up with a really keen name for a new kitten that has since been wiped from my memory. (Anyone happen to recall? It wasn't as funny as 'Box's notion of naming a puppy Miramax, but I remember getting a few laughs.) In the meantime, though, if I ever get a New Kitty, I shall name it Consigliere. I have the feeling that Any Cat for whom I am well suited would appreciate such a moniker. For now, though, I have a fishy named Bibi, which is Bad French Adoration for Beta Bus 2.0. (1.0 was from Harry's Aquarium and died in four hours. Shop OR First, my lily-white ass.) Speaking of 'Bus? He's back in Bahstan. Miss you, 'Bus.

Go, You Monkeys

Top Ten Films of 2003, in alphabetical order, top-heavy with epics (but it's not my fault there were so damned many amazing examples):
Angels in America (far too cinematic to be relegated to the Glowing Box)
Bubba Ho-Tep
Camp
Down with Love
Kill Bill
Love Actually
Master and Commander
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Return of the King

Technically released in 2002, didn't make it to me in Europe till 2003, and deserving a place on the above list, in order of preference:
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (Belongs in the top five at least, if not higher)
The Quiet American
Whale Rider
The Dancer Upstairs

Honorable Mentions, in order of preference:
Secondhand Lions
Intolerable Cruelty
The Hours
Finding Nemo
X-Men 2
Mystic River