2 + 2 = 5.

1 and 2) Films about doomed relationships.

Any initial problems I had with Eternal Sunshine have been, uh, erased. I watched the newly-released DVD over the weekend and couldn't believe how perfect it is. Charlie Kaufman's honest-to-the-marrow writing mixed with the one-two punch of the Jim Carrey /Kate Winslet performances and Michel Gondrey's organic camera-trickery floored me (again) and cemented it as the best movie I've seen all year.

And then there's In the Mood For Love. Re-watching it this weekend convinced me it's one of my all-time favorites. The plot seems so simple and unadorned with acting that is so quiet and understated. Of course, beneath that surface is a fucking vortex of longing and sad irony and hypocrisy, all of it shot with WKW's trademarked controlled sensuality. So classic that I have no problem when people throw around comparisons to Casablanca and Brief Encounter.

3) "Knock Yourself Out" by Jon Brion (from I ♥ Huckabees).
Jon's song (essentially the main theme to Huckabees plus lyrics) manages to sum up the film's zen-yearning with precision and whimsey in a pop setting. If only David O. Russell could have done the same.

4) The Voyager Golden Record.

In fourth grade my mind was blown when I heard that aboard the Voyager space craft was a Carl Sagan-approved disc of images and sounds and information about Earth. The theory was that as the Voyager drifted out of our solar system and into far away galaxies, some aliens might find it and this disc would explain who we are. Fifteen years later I stumbled across the official NASA page that details everything on the disc. My mind was blown again.

5) "The Aquarium (From Les Carnival des Animaux)" by Saint-Saens.
...aka the theme from Days of Heaven and Visions of Light. I've always loved this weird piece of music that gets used in every Academy Award montage and constantly on TCM. I mistakenly thought that it was part of Morricone's score to Days of Heaven and, as the soundtrack has been long out-of-print, figured I wouldn't be owning it any time soon. Then I did a little interweb research and realized I was 99 cents away from having it. The iTunes store saves the day again.