Your Recommendations for Every Country, State, CA County - Help Needed

[Minkin]

So, as some of you might have noticed over the years - I am the slowest person working the "Conquer the World" challenge - as we have turned it from a simple "watch movie = complete" to a full-on immersive experience. We look for music, take a Google Maps tour, make a food dish, watch travelogues, do themed activities, and research the everlasting fuck out of it.

One recent change though: I want this to be a "best of" for each location - thus, this is a never-ending project! As I want it to represent a quality experience, and not just whatever immediately comes to mind about a location. So, I want the best music, the best films, the most interesting facts, etc.

Thus, I need everyone's help - to find the highest quality, (mostly/sorta) obscure gems (so no Star Wars) for each location.

Here's how you can help:

Here's a spoiler tagged list of every country, US State + Territory, Canadian Province, and California County (oh and stateless folks as well, can't forget them)

Spoiler

===================================================================
Africa: (55)

001. Algeria
002. Angola
003. Benin
004. Botswana
005. Burkina Faso
006. Burundi
007. Cabo Verde
008. Cameroon
009. Central African Republic
010. Chad
011. Comoros
012. Democratic Republic of the Congo
013. Djibouti
014. Egypt
015. Equatorial Guinea
016. Eritrea
017. Eswatini
018. Ethiopia
019. Gabon
020. Gambia
021. Ghana
022. Guinea
023. Guinea-Bissau
024. Ivory Coast
025. Kenya
026. Lesotho
027. Liberia
028. Libya
029. Madagascar
030. Malawi
031. Mali
032. Mauritania
033. Mauritius
034. Morocco
035. Mozambique
036. Namibia
037. Niger
038. Nigeria
039. Republic of the Congo
040. Rwanda
041. Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
042. Senegal
043. Seychelles
044. Sierra Leone
045. Somalia
046. South Africa
047. South Sudan
048. Sudan
049. Sao Tome and Principe
050. Tanzania
051. Togo
052. Tunisia
053. Uganda
054. Zambia
055. Zimbabwe

===================================================================
Asia: (48)

056. Afghanistan
057. Armenia
058. Azerbaijan
059. Bahrain
060. Bangladesh
061. Bhutan
062. Brunei
063. Cambodia
064. China
065. Georgia
066. India
067. Indonesia
068. Iran
069. Iraq
070. Israel
071. Japan
072. Jordan
073. Kazakhstan
074. Kuwait
075. Kyrgyzstan
076. Laos
077. Lebanon
078. Malaysia
079. Maldives
080. Mongolia
081. Myanmar
082. Nepal
083. North Korea
084. Oman
085. Pakistan
086. Palestine
087. Philippines
088. Qatar
089. Saudi Arabia
090. Singapore
091. South Korea
092. Sri Lanka
093. Syria
094. Taiwan
095. Tajikistan
096. Thailand
097. Timor-Leste
098. Turkey
099. Turkmenistan
100. United Arab Emirates
101. Uzbekistan
102. Vietnam
103. Yemen


===================================================================
Europe: (48)

104. Albania
105. Andorra
106. Austria
107. Belarus
108. Belgium
109. Bosnia and Herzegovina
110. Bulgaria
111. Croatia
112. Cyprus
113. Czechia
114. Denmark
115. England
116. Estonia
117. Finland
118. France
119. Greece
120. Hungary
121. Iceland
122. Ireland
123. Italy
124. Kosovo
125. Latvia
126. Liechtenstein
127. Lithuania
128. Luxembourg
129. Macedonia
130. Malta
131. Moldova
132. Monaco
133. Montenegro
134. Netherlands
135. Northern Ireland
136. Norway
137. Poland
138. Portugal
139. Romania
140. Russia
141. San Marino
142. Scotland
143. Serbia
144. Slovakia
145. Slovenia
146. Spain
147. Sweden
148. Switzerland
149. Ukraine
150. Vatican City
151. Wales
===================================================================
States of Germany (16)

152. Baden-Württemberg
153. Bavaria
154. Berlin
155. Brandenburg
156. Bremen
157. Hamburg
158. Hessen
159. Lower Saxony
160. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
161. North Rhine-Westphalia
162. Rhineland-Palatinate
163. Saarland
164. Saxony
165. Saxony-Anhalt
166. Schleswig-Holstein
167. Thuringia

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North America: (22)

168. Antigua and Barbuda
169. Bahamas
170. Barbados
171. Belize
172. Costa Rica
173. Cuba
174. Dominica
175. Dominican Republic
176. El Salvador
177. Greenland
178. Grenada
179. Guatemala
180. Haiti
181. Honduras
182. Jamaica
183. Mexico
184. Nicaragua
185. Panama
186. Saint Lucia
187. Saint Kitts and Nevis
188. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
189. Trinidad and Tobago

===================================================================
Oceania: (14)

190. Australia
191. Fiji
192. Kiribati
193. Marshall Islands
194. Micronesia
195. Nauru
196. New Zealand
197. Palau
198. Papua New Guinea
199. Samoa
200. Solomon Islands
201. Tonga
202. Tuvalu
203. Vanuatu

===================================================================
South America (12)

204. Argentina
205. Bolivia
206. Brazil
207. Chile
208. Colombia
209. Ecuador
210. Guyana
211. Paraguay
212. Peru
213. Suriname
214. Uruguay
215. Venezuela

===================================================================
Other

216. Antarctica
217. The Moon

===================================================================
Stateless Side Project
01. Abkhazia
02. Ainu
03. Andalusia
04. Artsakh
05. Aruba
06. Assam
07. Balochistan
08. Basque
09. Bermuda
10. Bougainville
11. Catalonia
12. Cayman Islands
13. Chechnya
14. Circassia
15. Cook Islands
16. Curaçao
17. Faroe Islands
18. French Guiana
19. Gibraltar
20. Hong Kong
21. Igboland
22. Isle of Man
23. Karen
24. Khalistan
25. Kurdistan
26. Macau
27. Māori
28. Mari
29. Maya
30. Niue
31. Northern Cyprus
32. Quechua
33. Romani
34. Sami
35. Somaliland
36. South Ossetia
37. Svalbard
38. Tamil
39. Tibet
40. Transnistria
41. Tupi
42. Uyghur
43. Visayan
44. Wayuu
45. Yorubaland
46. Zulu

===================================================================
===================================================================
US States (49)

01. Alabama
02. Alaska
03. Arizona
04. Arkansas
05. Colorado
06. Connecticut
07. Delaware
08. Florida
09. Georgia
10. Hawaii
11. Idaho
12. Illinois
13. Indiana
14. Iowa
15. Kansas
16. Kentucky
17. Louisiana
18. Maine
19. Maryland
20. Massachusetts
21. Michigan
22. Minnesota
23. Mississippi
24. Missouri
25. Montana
26. Nebraska
27. Nevada
28. New Hampshire
29. New Jersey
30. New Mexico
31. New York
32. North Carolina
33. North Dakota
34. Ohio
35. Oklahoma
36. Oregon
37. Pennsylvania
38. Rhode Island
39. South Carolina
40. South Dakota
41. Tennessee
42. Texas
43. Utah
44. Vermont
45. Virginia
46. Washington
47. West Virginia
48. Wisconsin
49. Wyoming

========================================================================
US Territories (6)

01. American Samoa
02. District of Columbia
03. Guam
04. Northern Mariana Islands
05. Puerto Rico
06. U.S. Virgin Islands

========================================================================
Canada (13)

01. Alberta
02. British Columbia
03. Manitoba
04. New Brunswick
05. Newfoundland and Labrador
06. Northwest Territories
07. Nova Scotia
08. Nunavut
09. Ontario
10. Prince Edward Island
11. Quebec
12. Saskatchewan
13. Yukon

========================================================================
California Counties (58)

01. Alameda
02. Alpine
03. Amador
04. Butte
05. Calaveras
06. Colusa
07. Contra Costa
08. Del Norte
09. El Dorado
10. Fresno
11. Glenn
12. Humboldt
13. Imperial
14. Inyo
15. Kern
16. Kings
17. Lake
18. Lassen
19. Los Angeles
20. Madera
21. Marin
22. Mariposa
23. Mendocino
24. Merced
25. Modoc
26. Mono
27. Monterey
28. Napa
29. Nevada
30. Orange
31. Placer
32. Plumas
33. Riverside
34. Sacramento
35. San Benito
36. San Bernardino
37. San Diego
38. San Francisco
39. San Joaquin
40. San Luis Obispo
41. San Mateo
42. Santa Barbara
43. Santa Clara
44. Santa Cruz
45. Shasta
46. Sierra
47. Siskiyou
48. Solano
49. Sonoma
50. Stanislaus
51. Sutter
52. Tehama
53. Trinity
54. Tulare
55. Tuolumne
56. Ventura
57. Yolo
58. Yuba

I ask that you copy this spoiler tag into a post of your own, and give me Recommendations for:
Film
Music
Food
Books
Travelogues
Phrases
Or even interesting facts


An example would be:

123. Ireland - Secret of the Kells (2009) + Soda Bread + The Drunk Irish Band

I ask that you edit your post whenever you feel like it - and add in new discoveries or changes - as I will reference them when I'm working on that location. If I don't see any/many recommendations for a location, I will post in this thread asking for recommendations.

So treat this thread as one of those shitty clickbait fill-in-the-blanks quizzes "which movie do you like best for each country!?" I know this is adding fuel to the list-maker's fire, but it will serve a noble purpose - and go miles to help me find content for each place.

The rules are - the film has to either originated/created in the location, or been filmed in said location, or lastly been set in that location (since how else will we get Delaware content?). For music - that the group/band started in that location or associated with that location, and if worse comes to worse (looking at you Vatican City) - be about the location. Same with books. And Food / travelogues / fun facts should be directly connected to the location. Note: IMDB's "produced in" is a terrible metric, as to me The Shining is a Colorado film, not a "UK production". So keep that in mind.

Notes:
-Stateless side project is a temporary list that might be added to over time (if films and etc become available) - stateless side project is open to suggestions!
-I'm still not 100% certain on Germany, as I haven't dug deep enough to see if its possible yet.
-Yes the CA counties are possible - I have found at least one film for every county in my research
-USA/Canada/California/Germany aren't listed since we're doing the individual parts that add up to a whole - so Canada is complete once all provinces are done, there's no just "Canada" entry, just its provinces.

-If I lived in a fantasy dream world, then every single national division (state, county, prefecture) & ethnic identity would be covered. But clearly there isn't a film for every single American Indian tribe, so I must go with large/broad territories instead, sigh.

So pluck away and copy + paste my list, and get started on helping me explore the world!

Thanks everyone!

(mods feel free to move this wherever you see fit)

I will post a companion piece to this which will document my progress in the Film Logs section, but for the full experience, you'll have to visit my blog!

Edit - It appears zzzorf is technically doing the same thing, but I hope my recommendation thread will be more casual and more "fill in the blank" + I will use this for asking for recommendations.

[Minkin]

We are currently working on Inyo County (California) next.

From the information I've found, here's a list of possible films, I ask for ask high-priority recommendations!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: ... California
http://www.filminamerica.com/Southwest/SCA/InyoCounty/

Star Trek: Generations (1994) - Watched already (rating: 5/10)
Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm (1937) - Watched already (rating: 2/10)

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Blue Steel (1934)
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
Broken Arrow (1950)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Chaplin (1992)
Six-String Samurai (1998)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Death Valley (1982)
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Wanderer of the Wasteland (1945)
-------------
-Robinson Crusoe on Mars is high on the priority list, as is Zabriskie Point.

-Im not going to do Star Wars, because what's the point?

-Ive found this list of books for the county if anyone is familiar with any of them.

-No idea what I'm going to do for food yet - but I'll find something, I always do!

All suggestions for Inyo County are encouraged/welcome/hoped for!

[maxwelldeux]

Commenting so I can follow along, broadly because this is my preferred form of travel - movies! But also, I think I can substantively add to one of the more obscure film countries: Liberia

My cousin was born in Liberia and adopted to the US by my uncle when she was about 2.5 years old (she's 19 now). Recently, she tried to locate her birth parents... and she was successful! So with this news, I've been trying to delve a bit more into Liberia to understand some more about the culture there to share in the experience with my cousin.

Anyway...

027. Liberia - Murder in the Cassava Patch (2012)

Liberia probably has only about a dozen or so movies that you could broadly consider to be "Liberian" - and a large proportion of those are documentaries about the civil war or its tangential effects. Murder in the Cassava Patch is not one of those - it's a relatively straightforward murder mystery set in one of the rural villages. I like it because it's the best cultural deep dive for the country I've managed to find. There's a bit set in the city (Monrovia), but it's mostly in the village, so you get to see the rural/urban contrast there. My cousin's family is from a rural area, so I really appreciated that sort of setting. You get to see family dynamics, local religious beliefs/practices, etc. It's a nice non-war introduction to the country, and my favorite I've seen - for context, I've seen three docs from Liberia (all war-tangential) and one other narrative film, Johnny Mad Dog, also about the civil war.

For food, I'm not sure how I'd recommend food to you from a distance, but I'll tell you what Wife and I managed to find. I'm not sure there is much of a Liberian-specific cuisine, but we were looking for West African restaurants in Seattle (most of them unfortunately closed during COVID), but we managed to find a pop-up restaurant with a Liberian chef. So that was cool. Good food, interesting spice blends. Would recommend.

[jvv]

A couple of recommendations (per province) for 134. Netherlands

Not the best of the best, but it's a start and I'm sure some other Dutchies can expand on this. Province - Movie, Song

Groningen - De Poolse Bruid (1998), Ede Staal - t Hogelaand
Friesland - Nynke (2001), De Kast - In Nije Dei
Drenthe - Bartje (1972-1973), Skik - Op Fietse
Overijssel - Fanfare (1958), Bökkers - Annie Uut de Bochte
Gelderland - Oorlogswinter (2008), Frank Boeijen Groep - Kronenburg Park
Utrecht - Het wassende water (1986), Herman van Veen - Anne
Noord-Holland - Ciske de Rat (1984), Nick & Simon - Rosanne
Zuid-Holland - Spetters (1980), Harrie Jekkers - Oh, oh, Den Haag
Zeeland - Wilde mossels (2000), Bløf - Aan De Kust
Noord-Brabant - De bende van Oss (2011), Guus Meeuwis - Brabant
Limburg - Gluckauf (2015), Rowwen Hèze - Bestel mar
Flevoland - Nieuwe gronden (1933), Edsilia Rombley - Hemel En Aarde