The Blog: It's Live!

I've talked about writing a blog forever.  Usually this involved visions of
high-minded ideas about sharing profound thoughts with hundreds of loyal
followers.  Well, I’ve given up on waiting for those profound thoughts to fill
up blank pages, and instead I’m going to focus on something simple.  Just one
word:   Movies.

Recently my dad and I were talking on the phone and he mentioned the AFI
(American Film Institute)'s top 100 movies of all time.  Thanks to the wonders
of the internet, I checked out the list and was impressed.  Originally published
in 1997, they even updated it ten years later to reflect newer films.  What I
like about the list, though, is the conversation it starts.   The discussion
about which movies should be there.   Why a film is or isn't there.    Whether
the AFI favors musicals or ignores foreign films.  And so forth.   The only
issue I have with the list is that it’s ranked from 1 to 100, as if you could
really say that Casablanca is a better film than Star Wars.  Is it really valid
to say that Citizen Kane is a BETTER movie than The Godfather?  Well, perhaps
it’s valid but it’s simply misleading to say any of these films are any better
than another.  It’s about as valid as saying, "Ford is better than Chevrolet
because Dodge made the Hemi" In my opinion, the list should have just been
alphabetical.  You can’t go wrong with the alphabet.

As I read through the list of films, I noticed that it was difficult to say for
sure which ones I’d seen or not seen.  Some were very memorable and I’m sure
I’ve seen them.   Saving Private Ryan?  Yep, I own the DVD and have watched it
and re-watched it.  Rocky?  Standard TBS fare; seen it many times.  The
Philadephia Story?  Uh.. hmm.. yea I’ve heard of it, I’ve probably seen it..
maybe.  American Graffiti? Yea, I’m sure I’ve seen it but I barely remember
it.   My checklist turned into a messy chickenscratch of "yes", "probably",
"maybe", "saw some of it", and "think I’ve seen it all but never straight
through".  In my almost-50 years I’ve seen most of these movies but I was
actually pretty surprised at how many I couldn’t clearly recall much about.

So my mission was clear.  Watch all 100 movies.  And hey, while I’m at it, why
not blog about it?

Before getting started, I had to make a rather stressful decision about the
order to watch the movies in.  Should I try to watch them in ascending or
descending order?  Stick with the trusty alphabetical approach? Should I go by
genre or year produced? Seen/not seen?  Decisions, decisions.  Finally I decided
to just go with my mood swings and pick a random movie each day. Not sure I’ll be able to keep up a pace of one movie per day, but I’ve set that goal to maintain some level of focus.  

In final preparation for my journey, I’ve typed the list into a spreadsheet and stocked up on popcorn.  The lazyboy awaits!