Monday, January 01, 2007

The Top 10 reasons why I don't have my Top 10 list ready yet

1. I am such a wuss that I still can't decide whether two or three films I would like to include would be eligible for a Top 10 of 2006 list. (Of course, it's my list, so I should be able to make the rules, right?)

2. Due to various demands on my time -- like, the six college courses I taught during Fall 2006, the master's thesis prospectus I finally prepared, and the full-time job I landed in December -- I still haven't seen all of the eligible movies I want to see.

3. I devoted an entire week to serious drinking after the death of my father. He would have wanted it that way: We're Irish.

4. I devoted what seemed (to me, anyway) an unusually large amount of time to writing obituaries for other people. Indeed, I often found myself thinking of something Francois Truffaut said: "Each year we have to cross out names from our address book, and a moment comes when we realize we know more dead people than living." On the other hand: When I repeated that quote to a dear friend, she countered: "Well, that's why you have to keep making new friends."

5. I missed several screenings to stay home and watch Keith Olbermann's "Special Comments."

6. I missed several other screenings because, while I waited for my insurance company to process my claim after my car was totaled by an uninsured driver, my transportation options were seriously limited.

7. I missed a few more screenings because they were scheduled on nights when I just didn't feel like going to the movies. (Hey, it happens.)

8. During the past week, I have had to cope with several interruptions -- including, no kidding, a power brownout on New Year's Eve -- while viewing and re-viewing films on DVD.

9. I feel fairly crummy today -- and not because of any New Year's Eve revelries. Truth to tell, I have sleep apnea, but because of the aforementioned brownout, I wasn't able to use my CPAP machine while I slept -- or, more accurately, tried to sleep -- last night.

10. I strongly suspect that there aren't many of you out there impatiently awaiting any Top 10 list I might complete.

In any event: I hope to have the list posted by Thursday. Maybe Wednesday, if the electricity doesn't go out again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are lots of films I haven't seen yet for '06, and even so, no top ten list will ever be complete. I wonder what someone's top ten list would be like if they could see every film released world over? I bet it'd be radically different...Anyhow, just a thought. For me the best film of the year was The Fountain.

Anonymous said...

Hey Joe,
Where's the Top 10? Read you in the Post for years and love to disagree with you.