So: I'm not a social media person. Which is why I'm here on good ol' G+, and that only occasionally. In the last 10 - 20 years, I've come to want to hear from myself less and less, which is why the number of "I"'s and "my"'s in this post is going to make me highly uncomfortable. 99% of my life these days is wrapped up in my kids, and working (which is primarily for the kids), and, occasionally, when there is a moment that she is not wrapped up in the kids, for +Rosie Verratti -- a good life for someone who doesn't want to hear from himself.
But that remaining 1% of my life is -- and has been for years -- movies.
I don't really care about social media, and yet: Recently I have been inspired by my brother +matt verratti 's ongoing series of G+ posts discussing the record albums he is listening to. And years ago -- he may have forgotten -- my old friend +Wally Weaksauce told me that I should write about the movies I'm watching. Instead of taking his advice, I've just been watching -- and accumulating, hundreds and hundreds of movies and television shows. And, generally, falling in love with so much of what I watch. Maybe I'm an emotional pushover, but I've found that when I start with a work of art -- something, usually, that a critic much wiser than I has recommended -- I almost always find something in it that moves me. Or teaches me, or amuses me, or scares me -- something that makes me grateful that I took the plunge and experienced it.
As a challenge to myself, I am going to start documenting what I watch. I don't want to write a summary or hook up with commercial sites and carry their advertising -- and I don't want to try and review anything. Instead, I'm going to focus on a few things: one idea or image or theme or concept that really struck me in the viewing, in a short essay; any connections to other movies that I own or have seen which jumped out at me; and (to counter that) the guilt-list of movies I've not seen which this movie makes me want to explore.
I've got one ready to start. I'll post with the hashtag #WhatThomWatched, and will try to post every time I get to see something -- probably a couple times a month. Sometimes it'll be a theatrical showing or a rental but more often it'll be something out of my own collection; as I circle back and re-watch old favorites I'll post about those. I welcome comments and discussion but I won't mind a bit if there's no one else who wants to join in -- really, this is a journal; I'd do it privately, but it's one of the few times that I've wanted to do something which might be of limited interest to someone -- so, the posting. Yeah, on G+. I know, it's silly. (It's like what I used to say about form poetry and "little literary" journals -- you might as well "publish" your stuff by writing it on the flyleaf of a library book and sticking it back on the shelf.) I'll hold onto a copy of it all in case someone has a better tech suggestion (are blogs still a thing?*), but know ahead of time: I won't do Facebook, and Twitter would explode if it saw even one of my "short" posts.
Thanks for reading! I'll add a link to one of those "wise critics" I mentioned above -- Glenn Erickson has turned me on to more movies and more unforgettable experiences over the years than anyone, with his fantastic critical writing. If you want full-service reviews and not my scattered impressions, his DVD Savant is the place.
DVD Savant, Glenn Erickson's Review Column at DVD Talk - dvdsavant.com
*As of updated version, published in Blogger a week later: Apparently so.
(-) (-) (-) Judex >>
No comments:
Post a Comment