My desert island countdown continues (see Monday’s post for the full explanation).

Desert Island Musical Artists – #1 – Bob Dylan

Dylan was the man when I first became a true music fan, listening to his old LPs on a turntable on the island of my 10th grade bedroom. He’s still the man three decades later.

Having Dylan’s immense discography on hand means I can revisit American history, both political and musical. It lets me lose myself in the grizzled folk and blues songs passed down through the generations by people who suffered far worse fates than life on a deserted island. It puts 50 years of poetry in my hands, and in my ears.

It even gives me a soundtrack in case I find Jesus.

Desert Island TV Series – #1 – Breaking Bad

In the pilot episode, Walter White describes chemistry as “the study of change.” And over five exquisite seasons, we watched him change from a nebbish to a criminal mastermind, at the cost of his soul.

But the beauty of Breaking Bad is how every one of its characters changed, and how our feelings changed about them. Bullies became heroes, comic figures became tragic, villains became victims and the dead became ghosts that haunted the living.

The miracle of Vince Gilligan’s creation and execution of this show is that he and his team always worked without a net. They followed their characters into the most dire of circumstances without ever knowing how — or if — they’d escape. That style made the show spontaneous and alive, and somehow it never backfired.

This is TV at its very finest. To quote The Princess Bride‘s Westley: “I’ve never seen its equal.”

Desert Island Movie Directors – #1 – The Coen Brothers

Recently the president of my company came to town and visited with the senior leadership group. He went around the table asking each of us about our professional background as well as something personal about ourselves that others in the room probably didn’t know.

When he got to me, I offered up that I studied film in college with the intent of working in Hollywood as a screenwriter and director. He asked a follow-up question: “Who’s your favorite director?”

He probably didn’t know what sort of existential dilemma he had summoned up in the span of three seconds. What I said next would define me, not just in his eyes but in the eyes of the universe itself. This wasn’t the time to hem and haw about top fives or top tens or how our favorites can shift from day to day and year to year. He needed a quick answer.

My quick answer was “The Coen Brothers.” And as I said it I knew it was the right one.

This final desert island pick lines up nicely with the previous one, as Breaking Bad owes a tremendous debt in its style and tone to the work of the Coens. Clearly these works live in a sweet spot for me. I admire many different creative approaches (like those of Spielberg, Allen, Hitchcock and Linklater) but none so much as the deadpan formalism of the Coens.

The Coens’ films are perfect for my island because I’ve always felt that they are the most rewatchable of any filmmaker. I never fully appreciate or understand their work after one viewing. Even after many viewings, I discover new secrets. And those many viewings are always delightful, never anything resembling work.

Fire up the coconut-powered DVD player… I’m ready for the trip. I think I’ll start with Miller’s Crossing. No, Raising Arizona. Make it The Big Lebowski. Or Inside Llewyn Davis. Ah, just take your pick. I’ve got all the time in the world, and the perfect way to fill it.