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Friday, January 6, 2012
New Year's resolutions
11:40 PM / General / 
8 Comments
I'm not really that big a believer in New Year's resolutions - generally, I think that if something's worth changing about your life, you should do it as soon as possible rather than waiting for some arbitrary day on the calendar.
That said (hypocrite that I am), here's a quick list of a few of the things I'm hoping to achieve over the course of 2012.
Watch 100 new films
In 2011, I watched a total of 90 films for the first time (although technically the final film, A LONELY PLACE TO DIE, didn't finish screening until about half past midnight on the 1st of January). A reasonably impressive number, but one that I hope to beat this year, taking a leaf out of BadBlokeBob's book and watching a full one hundred. With 52 weeks in the year, that's an average of approximately two films a week - more than doable if I discipline myself. I'm a little ahead of myself already, having already watched six new films within the first week of the year.
In terms of what I actually intend to watch, I'm famously ill-disciplined, generally going for what grabs my attention and/or gets released on BD instead of working through a list of specific films I feel the need to see... which probably explains why I've missed out on seeing so many classics. (Still, that's probably a resolution for another year.) Still, though...
Go to the cinema more
Despite professing to be a film fan, the number of times I actually go to the cinema in the year is pretty downright tragic. This is primarily because I live in the suburbs and a visit to the cinema tends to mean a two-hour round trip (plus the requisite train or bus fare). I must admit, though, that the advent of Blu-ray, which at its best offers an unparalleled viewing experience in a home environment, has ever so slightly put a damper on the wow factor of a big screen presentation. (That said, I maintain that a proper theatrical screening remains the optimal way to experience a film.) As a result, I tend to rely on BD releases to catch up with the latest films, which invariably leads to my viewing being caught in a 3-6 month time warp.
This year, I'm going to make a point of going to see more films theatrically. Given the cost and logistics, I doubt I'll be going multiple times a week or anything like that, but even once a month would be a good basis on which to build. In any event, there are quite a few high profile releases this year that I will be making it a priority to see on the big screen - Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS and Pixar's BRAVE, to name two. I've already started out as I mean to go on by making a trip today to see Michel Hazanavicius' celebrated THE ARTIST - which, if not quite the masterpiece the critics have made it out to be, was still an immensely enjoyable experience.
Finish my PhD
I'm finally in the home stretch as far as my PhD thesis is concerned, having recently submitted the first draft of my final analysis chapter... a good three months later than originally planned, though that's not exactly unreasonable, given that (a) I took a three-month voluntary sabbatical a couple of years back in order to concentrate on my screenwriting (more on that in a bit) and (b) about a year ago, my supervisors and I made the decision to add an additional chapter to the thesis, which threw the schedule we'd previously drawn up completely out of whack.
Realistically, there's not really much of a choice about this: I'm in my fifth year of study, which is the standard length for a part-time PhD, so I'm not really in a position to say "Oh well, I can always finish it next year." I'm including this as a resolution, though, in the rather faint hope that it will serve as motivation. In many respects I suspect this is going to be the most intensive year of the bunch as far as studying and of course the actual writing are concerned: although the thesis can now be read from beginning to end (minus the conclusion chapter), the first couple of chapters are going to have to be more or less redone from scratch, and all of them will require substantial revision before submission.
Get somewhere with the screenwriting
It's not something I post much about, but I'm continuing to plug away at the screenwriting. I can't really go into specific details (non-disclosure agreements and all that), but my industry contact continues to be very supportive of my ramblings, and it would be very nice if this turned out to be the year that I finally managed to make some real headway. The two story structure courses I went on last year have, I feel, done me a world of good and stand me in good stead for my writing ventures this year. Last year I took part in Script Frenzy, a challenge held every April to write 100 pages in 30 days (the script I turned in wasn't exactly great by my estimation, but at least I got it done), and I intend to do the same this year.
Sorry for not going into any more detail here, but the moment I get an actual commission I guarantee I'll be shouting it from the rooftops.
Read more
Discounting books read for PhD research purposes, I read 16 novels in the last year: in order, THE GHOST by Robert Harris, NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro, FATHERLAND by Robert Harris, BLEED FOR ME by Michael Robotham, 1977 by David Peace, THE END OF THE WASP SEASON by Denise Mina, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT by Dennis Wheatley, PROOF OF LIFE by Karen Campbell, EYE OF THE NEEDLE by Ken Follett, ENIGMA by Robert Harris, LITTLE GIRL LOST by Brian McGilloway, AFTERWARDS by Rosamund Lupton, HORNET FLIGHT by Ken Follett, A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL by Martin Suter, THE DEAD WON'T SLEEP by Anna Smith and ARCHANGEL by Robert Harris. (Every year, I tend to discover a new author whose output dominates my reading. 2011, obviously, was my Robert Harris year.) Obviously, that count very much falls short of my film viewing, and while obviously the average book takes considerably longer to consume than the average film, I still reckon I could do better. I'm not going to make any promises except "more than 16", so we'll see.
First book of 2012: ABSOLUTION by Caro Ramsay.
So what about you guys? Anything you want to achieve within the next 12 months?
8 Comments
Colin:
I know what you mean about films gathering dust on your shelf. Picking up the BD of Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN when I'd already had (and not watched) the DVD for a number of years would be a case in point.
As for games, I picked up a couple in the last twelve months: DRAGON AGE II (which I finished in a few days) and ALICE: MADNESS RETURNS (which I must admit I haven't bothered to reinstall since I wiped my hard drive a few months back). STARCRAFT II is still getting good mileage from me, and I expect the same to be true of DIABLO III once it finally comes out. I'm more than capable of surviving on just a couple of games a year, provided they provide decent replayability.
Bosque:
Well, never say never. It's been good the last couple of months, mind you, and last night's HD/Cardiff relaunch was excellent.
Kev:
I suppose part of the challenge is picking the right time and venue to minimise that sort of behaviour. Since I work Saturdays, I've made Monday part of my de facto weekend, and suspect that's as good a time as any to avoid the worst excesses of inconsiderate fellow cinemagoers.
Matthew:
I wonder whether an attention span is something that can be "developed"? I suppose in theory, if there's any truth in the notion that MTV and its influence on the movie business have played a role in shortening people's attention spans, the same should be true in reverse.
(Posted on Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 10:49 PM)
Colin:
I think HEART OF THE SWARM is on Blizzard's famous "when it's done" schedule. It certainly seemed to be progressing nicely when they showed it off at BlizzCon last October (full discussion panel can be seen here), with pretty massive changes afoot for all three races.
(Posted on Monday, January 9, 2012 at 5:49 PM)
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1. colinr said:
I think my goals would be similar to yours, though in my case lazier since I'm not PHD/Screenplay material! :)
1.
I've been collecting more films than I have been watching for the last ten years or so, first on DVD then Blu, and in my purchase list similar to the one that you keep I have noted that I'm approaching the decade anniversary of the first film that I have had in my collection and have not yet watched! This has spurred me on to try and keep ahead of this benchmark, alternating 'personal deep catalogue' titles with the new stuff. I'm not sure I will keep up but it will be fun to try!
I think therefore that this is my film goal: to have watched everything that I bought back in 2002 and/or get to 100 films watched, whichever comes first!
2.
Again like yourself my goal is to read more. I usually save this for my train journeys to and from work but this year I plan to do more home time reading as well. Last year was a qualified success: I only tackled one book, but then again it was Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, so looking back no wonder it took the whole year! I'm still about 80 pages from the end, so I need to get a move on!
If you are looking for a recommendation in books may I suggest Dostoevsky's novel Devils. I really struggled with Crime and Punishment, which was the first Dostoevsky that I read (mostly because I hated the main character!), but Devils is a far, far more satisfying read.
I think I will set myself a more modest goal than your sixteen, perhaps to read five. I definitely want to read Dom De Lillo's Cosmopolis before the year is out, partly because it is a short book(!) and also because it keeps getting rumoured that this is going to be David Cronenberg's next film.
3.
Video games - I thought that I had not done very well in 2011 with video games but on a look back I realised that I had played entirely through: Limbo, Portal, Portal 2, Starcraft II, The Secret of Monkey Island (the revamped Steam version), Dead Island, F.E.A.R. 3, along with finishing Aliens Vs Predator and spending quite a bit of time on Civilisation V!
I usually barely get through one game a year so I think I know where the bulk of my time went! I'd like to see if I could reach the 'ten game campaigns' completed mark again, but in this category my skill level really dictates how well I am going to do, and I'm never really that skillful with games!
I have made a start on this, spending a couple of days of my new year week off (I normally work between Christmas and New Year) playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - I've never played any of the previous games and often have a difficult time with Fantasy RPGs, but I'm really enjoying the game so far. Especially when you have to fight the dragons and the heroic music blares out during the battle!
(Posted on Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 2:31 AM)