Despite this week having included literal blood, sweat and tears, I’ve come out of it feeling like I’ve been affirmed on many levels. Thankfully sweat was the only one of these I experienced—a woman’s fall in a rehearsal and a breakdown in a colleague’s creative partnership respectively fulfilled the other components of the adage. Making theatre is not always pretty. Especially when there is wounding involved—physical or otherwise.
But, this semester the feeling that this program is helping me achieve my personal and career goals has increased dramatically. Being involved in the creation of actual theatrical productions, working on “real world” artistic projects and exercises, a one-act play and giant casebook under my belt, the opportunity to speak at a conference and the support of my professors in that extra-curricular academia and my professional future have all contributed to a sense of satisfaction and peace. I’ve been given the agency and the room to make things happen and be involved in ways I felt had only been able to peripherally before.
As I gain the connections, skills, and practice to pursue my creative interests on a professional level, I am even more aware of the value in maintaining my personal interests because they truly go hand in hand—and they also keep me sane. Joss Whedon has said, “You can either watch TV or you can make TV.” I understand the spirit of this quote to be that to be an active practitioner of television you cannot be a passive consumer of television. Of course, this doesn’t mean you don’t watch TV. On the contrary, it means you must make a choice to actively engage the medium in order to think critically about the creation of the art. The same, I would say, goes for film.
It is partly for this reason that a few years ago, I began to keep a list of every film I see during the course of a year. I also was inspired to adopt it from my friend Kj, for whom the practice has been a long-standing tradition. It has become something of a personal benefit too—to record my viewing habits is to record a little bit of me. I also like lists.
Since my move to New York, I have also started to record every theatrical performance I attend. Stay tuned for that list. For now, take a look at my Film Viewings 2009. You can check out 2008’s list here.
Total Films Watched: 116
Average Per Week: 2.23
Last Film Watched in Seattle:
Girls Will Be Girls
First Film Watched in New York:
Zombieland
Films Watched Twice:
Star Trek
Watchmen
Avatar
Save Me
Dialogical Film Club Viewings:
He’s Just Not That Into You
Fireproof
Save Me
Hell House
Documentaries:
Confessions of a Superhero
For the Bible Tells Me So
Helvetica
Man on Wire
Hell House
Food, Inc.
When Boys Fly
Planet B-Boy
Autism: The Musical
This is It
Ghost of the Abyss
Biggest Wastes of Time:
Zombieland
Inkheart
Eagle Eye
Otto; or, Up with Dead People
Fame (2009)
Top 5 Films of 2009:
Moon
Star Trek
(500) Days of Summer
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Watchmen
Viewings 2009
*denotes theatrical viewing
Valkyrie*
Saturn in Opposition (Saturno Contro)
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Soldier's Girl
Querelle
The Empire Strikes Back
Boy A
Confessions of a Superhero
Superman: Doomsday
For the Bible Tells Me So
Futurama: Bender's Game
Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild!
Towelhead
He Likes Guys
Eastern Promises
Helvetica
Serenity*
Were the World Mine*
Slumdog Millionaire*
Planet B-Boy
The Houseboy
Push*
City of Ember
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Coraline*
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Total Recall
Twilight
Save Me
The Secret Life of Bees
Watchmen*
Otto; or, Up with Dead People
Penelope
Shag
Let the Right One In
Watchmen*
Man on Wire
Wonder Woman
Eagle Eye
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Les triplettes de Belleville
Logan's Run
The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Star Trek (2009)*
Rambo: First Blood
Transsiberian
The Fall
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Terminator Salvation*
Dead Snow*
Moon*
Ching Yan (The Beast Stalker)*
When Boys Fly
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Patrik Age 1.5*
(500) Days of Summer*
Up*
Cold Souls*
He's Just Not That Into You
The Reader
Doubt
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen*
Tropic Thunder
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Inkheart
Outlander
Rachel Getting Married
Fanboys
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*
Fireproof
Re-Animator
Brick
Save Me
Star Trek (2009)*
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
District 9*
Girls Will Be Girls
Zombieland*
Hercules (1997)
Coco avant Chanel*
Daredevil: The Director's Cut
Whip It*
Resident Evil: Degeneration
Synecdoche, New York
Autism: The Musical
New York, I Love You*
Bridget Jones's Diary
Legend (Theatrical Version)
8 1/2
Pieces of April
Volver
Legend (Director's Cut)
Hell House
Dangerous Liaisons
American Psycho
Valmont
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire*
Gods and Monsters
Ink
Wall Street
Death Becomes Her
Aliens (Special Edition)
Eyes Wide Shut
Food, Inc.
Titanic
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Nine*
Avatar*
The Proposal
Jennifer's Body
Fame (2009)
This Is It
New Moon
Ghosts of the Abyss
2 comments:
How'd you determine this?!
I keep track!
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