Writing Update
It has been some time since I have blogged. No, I have not
been a victim of writer’s block. Quite the contrary actually, I have been
editing and finalizing things for the publication of my first book, I’m Trying Here: A Memoir of love, Loss,
and Misadventure. I am still sending
it to publishers, but since the average publisher promises to respond in 2-3
months, I decided to self-publish my work as an e-book on Amazon and Kindle in
the meantime. I am simply putting the final touches on the cover, and then it
should be available online within the week. Stay tuned on my social media
outlets, where I will make more official announcements of release dates and any
other pertinent information. Thanks for the love and support for my highly
lucrative writing career. Post script: The book will likely be available for 99
cents. So sacrifice one Diet Coke so you can afford my book when it comes out.
Grazie.
A few months ago I reached a landmark in my personal history
of film watching. I hit 1,000 films viewed. This seemed significant if not
trivial, but I was in the middle of finishing my book, so a blog post that
would entertain me more than anyone else was put on the backburner. Thirty
movies later I have decided to revisit the topic ever so briefly. Let’s first rewind
to the moment I decided it was a crucial practice to record every movie I had
ever seen. Circa 2001, I am 14 years old and for whatever reason decided that
my progeny needed to be privy to the movie titles that had been absorbed
throughout my life. I started with all the movies in my house, and then
attempted an alphabetical list to help remind me of random movies I had seen
over the years. Within a few hours my list grew to several hundred titles.
Obviously there are movies from my childhood that I will never remember, but
that is okay. Ever since that fateful day, I have not gone to the cinema,
rented a Redbox, pirated a movie, or seen a documentary without recording it.
I know what you are thinking. Besides satisfying my own
maniacal urges to write down everything that happens in my life, what is the
bloody point? To me, the purpose of this practice is threefold. One, as with
anything else, the more I write things down, the more I remember them. Ergo,
anytime I hear a movie title thrown out there, I am rarely wondering if I have
seen it or not. When others are quibbling about which sub-par movie Nicholas
Cage was in last year, I am usually able to recall the title, and elicit a
warning concerning the terrible plot and mediocre cinematography.
Besides my ability to recall titles and miscellaneous movie
trivia, I find it motivates me to watch new movies. Everyone has their
favorites, but I learned long ago that there are so many movies out there it is
silly to repeatedly watch the same movie over and over again. So when faced
with the option of watching Dumb and Dumber or some obscure French film, I am
almost always going to side with the subtitled unknown. This is not because I
am a Francophile or an especially avid lover of foreign flicks, but rather
because it could be a great movie, and whether it is or is not, I will never
wonder. And at least I will be able to add it to my list, and perhaps bring it
up in a pretentious conversation in the future.
The last reason for my OCD-like list making is my ever
increasing cinephilia. I love movies, plain and simple. On more than one occasion
I have been to the movie theater three times in one day. A nice matinee and
enough popcorn to instantly destroy my health, brings me joy. I love the
previews and I love discussing symbolism and parallelisms. I love researching
movies after I have seen them to find out how the script came into existence,
what actors were originally considered and what anachronisms were committed
during filming. Just like my restaurant ritual makes me want to eat out more,
writing down each movie I see only makes me want to see more movies.
Despite my love of avant-garde productions, I am no movie
snob. I love chick flicks and have been guilty of enjoying movies from the
Oxygen channel. To me the best movies are the movies the make you think, and
that tug at your emotions. Below is my current Top-5 Movies Ever List (in no
specific order).
1.
High Fidelity
2.
Braveheart
3.
The Shawshank Redemption
4.
Legends of The Fall
5.
When Harry Met Sally
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