A Few Simple Rules

I realize that establishing a set of rules for a project of this nature could be seen as the antithesis of the free-spirited, light-hearted venture that I claim to want to conduct. In fact, one could argue that setting and following rules is for the legalistic corporate bean-counter persona I’m trying to change!!  However, I’ve given it some thought and I’m convinced that a few simple rules will actually enhance the process and provide greater opportunity for experiencing the sense of accomplishment and success that comes from achieving one’s goals.  And so in the interest of adding a minimal amount of structure to an otherwise free-wheeling personal growth and enjoyment-seeking endeavour, I’ve created the following rules to guide A Year at the Movies:

• Rule #1:  I will watch (at least) one movie a day for 365 days starting January 1, 2011 – no ifs, ands or buts.  Well, maybe a few buts … but I’m severely ill, but I had a car accident, but there was a death in the family.  I can’t think of any other acceptable excuses but time will tell. If I do miss a day then I have to make it up either by planning in advance and doubling up beforehand or making it up after the fact.
• Rule #2:  Each month of movie-watching will be defined by a theme which will determine the movies I watch that month (for instance, the classics or literary adaptations or a particular director/actor or a specific genre), the number of movies I watch that month and, in most cases, the actual movies I watch that month (i.e. I’ll usually try to make a list in advance). 
• Rule #3:  Once I start a movie I have to finish it.  If I’m bored, scared, incredulous, grossed out, disinterested … it doesn’t matter, I have to finish.
• Rule #4:  I will include a variety of genres including those I don’t traditionally watch (like horror) and will watch films that span the decades of movie making.
• Rule #5:  I will write six days a week, every week during A Year at the Movies (subject to the same qualifications set out in Rule #1), writing about the movies I’m watching, the feelings and/or memories that the movies elicit, the reaction I’m getting at home or from my blog … anything related to the process.

Preparing for A Year at the Movies, in particular setting up this blog, reminded me of something I read in Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project (see also www.happiness-project.com) where, in month three of her year-long project, she created a blog.  In her research on cultivating happiness, she had discovered that challenge and novelty are key elements in happiness.  Just at the time she was trying to incorporate novelty and challenge into her own happiness project, someone suggested she start a blog.  She (like me) felt daunted by the technological challenge and apprehensive about the potential exposure to public criticism and failure. But she persevered and proved the experts right: “Seeing that first post hit the screen gave me an enormous rush of triumph. I couldn’t believe I’d managed to do it. The experts had certainly been correct about the happiness effect of novelty, challenge and an atmosphere of growth.” (p. 77)

I can attest to the feeling of euphoria that first post elicits!  And so as I prepare to officially begin A Year at the Movies tomorrow, one accomplishment already under my belt, I wish you all a Happy New Year.  Be safe!!

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Welcome to “A Year at the Movies”

Welcome to the unofficial launch of my new blog and my new project, A Year at the Movies (official launch date is January 1, 2011, so please come back). This blog is intended to be a memoir of one year spent watching movies, where I will document the films I watch and discuss how they entertain, educate, provoke, encourage, amuse, move, inspire, motivate and (hopefully not too frequently) bore or downright disgust me.

A few unrelated notions underlie my one year “movie project” and this blog. First off, it’s not like I’ve been a big movie aficionado all my life. Far from it, in fact. I’ve always been more of a reader than a watcher (or a doer, for that matter). But I do like movies, and when my younger son spent a year or so working at a video rental outlet becoming something of a movie expert, foreign films and all, and constantly enthused about it, I started to feel like I was missing out on something. And when a quick review of the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Best Movies revealed that I’d only seen twenty of them, watching movies no longer seemed frivolous but an educational necessity!

The second motivating factor stems from my penchant for the “do something for a year and write about it” genre of nonfiction/memoir, also called experiential writing or annualism or, by those clearly less enamored of the genre, “stunt journalism”. I’ve basically read them all, here is just a sampling. First was Eat Pray Love, the inspirational account of Elizabeth Gilbert’s year of travel and self-discovery. You may have heard of it, seen the movie … or seen her on Oprah!!  Then came The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating, the equally inspirational but probably less well-known account of Alisa Smith’s and James MacKinnon’s year of eating locally which came out just before Barbara Kingsolver’s similar memoir, Animal Vegetable Mineral: A Year of Food Life, which of course I also read.  This was followed, at least in my reading history, by Julie & Julia (Julie Powell’s year of gastronomic delight, cooking through Julia Child’s most famous cookbook), then No Impact Man (Colin Beavan’s attempt to live for a year in New York City making absolutely no net impact on the environment), then Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project (subtitled “Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun”) and, finally, A.J. Jacobs’ The Know-It-All, an account of his year spent reading the entire 33,000 page Encyclopaedia Britannica in, as the book’s subtitle states, “one man’s humble quest to become the smartest person in the world”. You think watching movies is crazy???

The final motivating factor (besides having time on my hands) is my unrelenting enthusiasm for setting New Year’s resolutions. I do it EVERY year and over the years have sometimes been successful, and sometimes not so much, in carrying through with my resolutions. A resolution to watch movies for a year sounds a lot more fun than a resolution to lose weight and/or eat healthy (which is apparently the choice of 51% of the resolution-setting population).

And then, in a moment of inspiration (or perhaps insanity … that remains to be seen), I thought “Why not set a New Year’s resolution to watch movies for a year and write about it?”  And so here we are, A Year at the Movies.  Call it what you will – a mid-life crisis, a means of escaping reality, a waste of time, a sad excuse for being plain-old lazy – but I am committed!  And to demonstrate my seriousness, I’ll be back tomorrow, New Year’s Eve (I have nothing better to do), to document the “rules of the road”. 

And then … January 1, 2011, KICK OFF!!!!

PS.  I’ve never blogged before, so consider this a work in progress.  Any advice about improving the content, format and appearance of my blog would be welcome!

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