Notions

Every so often, I get these notions. Once, many years ago when I worked at home as a freelance writer, I had this idea that I'd listen to my entire CD collection from A to Z (yes, at one time my CDs were in alphabetical order; they're still sort-of in that order, but not quite): so start with a CD I picked up in Prague at this jazz club (it was a collection of live songs played at the club), and end with John Zorn's incredible Spy vs. Spy. I don't remember how far I got - the optimist in me likes to think that I made it to at least Vic Chesnutt's About to Choke, but I fear I only made it as far as, say, The Beatles' White Album - but it was a futile attempt. Who knows, perhaps I might revive that challenge. (I can always attempt it on my iPod, although I tend toward the shuffle feature when listening to music on it.)

I have a new goal: to watch every film listed on Sight and Sound's top film list from 2002. Quixotic? Perhaps. I could make it easy on myself and confine myself to the Top Ten critics' and directors' lists, but that seems too easy. (I've also seen most of them - just missing Lawrence of Arabia from the directors' list, Sunrise and Battleship Potemkin from the critics' list.) To get me going, I figured I'd rewatch most of the top ten, so I took out the DVD of Citizen Kane from the library. It's been about a decade since I last saw the film, so it was great to revisit. (It also came with the DVD of The Battle Over Citizen Kane, which was interesting.)

So how am I going to attack the Sight and Sound list? Not quite sure yet, actually. I haven't had much success going from A to Z with music, so it's probably not the best approach. I think I'll just do it randomly: print the list out and cross out films when and after I seen them. I'll do it by whim. If all goes well, watch this space for updates.