Update - April Sixteen

I haven't been great at keeping this thing updated, but I've gone back through and added the things I know I've done in the last month or so. Here they are:

-went to Chicago (and Wrigley) with Erin ("Travel" #3). You can see pictures at my facebook.
-went to the Frist (also with Erin) ("Nashville" #13) and saw the excellent modern art and Aaron Douglas exhibits. Do yourself a favor and go before both leave (June 1 and May 11, respectively).
-got paid for ghostwriting some historical liner notes for a series of 3 EMICMG Publishing releases called, 15 Hymns/Worship Songs/Songs That Changed the Church. ("Work" #3) This was really, really exciting.
-saw James Farrell and the Farrelltones (okay, that's not the name of his band) at FooBar ("Nashville" #1)

The pace has slowed, but there's room for this to be cyclical, of course. I'll be back at the AFI list again soon, and the Pulitzer list, and the big list... I think I burned myself out in that initial sprint. Ha.

Update - March Five

- watched On The Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, Sullivan's Travels, Swing Time ("Do" #2). Received The Gold Rush.
- posted another blog
- wrote a letter to Joel

Again, I'm having trouble keeping track with these occasional posts. I'm noting things in the original list (which I bumped below to make it easier to reference), but I may not get everything into these updates.

Update - February Fourteen (That Is, Valentine's Day)

- Watched Night At The Opera (#85) and Casablanca (#3) ("Do" #2)
- Wrote to 7 more publishers ("Work" #1)
- Contacted a professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School who's designing my next tattoo. ("Get" #3)
- Received Sullivan's Travels (#61) and Swing Time (#90) in the mail.
- Made tentative plans to go to 2 shows next week, one of which is at RCKTWN, which is a venue that I haven't yet knocked off. ("Nashville/TN" #1)

I think there may have been more, but I'm starting to lose track. Maybe that's a good thing?

More Rentals, and West End Pt. 2

Just rented:

A Night At The Opera (#85, 1935)
Dr. Strangelove (#39, 1964)
On The Waterfront (#19, 1954)
A Streetcar Named Desire (#47, 1951)
Vertigo (#9, 1958)

I have plans to watch Yankee Doodle Dandy tonight, and I still have Ben Hur here, as well, so it'll be a busy week.

Also, took inventory of most of the AFI list at the West End BB, and found that they had at least 40 more (that is, apart from the ones I've just rented) of the movies on the list that I've yet to see. That's great news, as it means I'll be able to finish at least the 50 I'm trying to see, and perhaps the whole darn list.

Update: Watched Yankee Doodle Dandy. Was hilarious to see James Cagney try to pull off the part of a song-and-dance man. E and I were laughing a bunch at his spoken-word style of "singing." Watched A Night At the Opera tonight, too.

Update: ...and I've decided to return Ben Hur, unwatched. I just don't care enough about movie #100 to watch over 3 hours worth of it. Y'know?

One More Movie Down

Just watched Nashville (1975). ("Do" #2)

I must have missed something. I'd swear there've been at least 100 movies made that were better than that one.

Day Seventy - Progress Report

Today is day 70 of my 1001 day odyssey, so I thought I'd do a quick status check to see if I'm keeping pace. I know I lost some time to the Christmas season there. The result is encouraging:

Goals Accomplished: 9.5%
Time Elapsed: 7%

(That 9.5% figure takes into account the percentages of multi-tiered goals completed... lots of .12 and .06's there.)

Onward.

AFI Update, and renting movies in Nashville

Being impatient as I am, I've been doing a lot of in-store swapping of movies to maximize the dent I'm making in the AFI list. I had been accustomed to going to the Blockbuster on Gallatin Rd. in Inglewood, but was really discouraged by their selection. Problem solved.

If you're thinking of undertaking this sort of endeavor in the Nashville area, the Blockbuster on West End has an outstanding inventory of these movies. West End is most certainly my new Blockbuster.

Update - February Six Thru Nine

-Watched One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (disturbing, but excellent. Chief is a great character, and I loved Nicholson.), Taxi Driver (interesting and unsettling. Glad I saw it once.), Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and 12 Angry Men (Loved both. Really excellent movies.) ("Do" #2)

Also rented Ben Hur and Nashville. I'll watch those in the next day or two.

Update (2/8): Yankee Doodle Dandy just arrived in the mail.
Update (2/9): Watched All The President's Men today and saw Disappointed By Candy/Harrison Hudson @ The Rutledge ("Nashville" #1) last night. Ran into Joe Kirk there. Awesome.

Also, Mat Kearney was there. He's everywhere. I think he's following me. Ha.

Update - February Five

Note to self: no waiting 3 weeks to update again. I've been trying to backtrack and figure out what belongs in this update, and I think (think) I've got it covered. Here goes... with possible exceptions, because, well, dem's da breaks, as we say in suburban New Hampshire.

Completed:

- got rid of books I didn't need or want ("Simplify" #1)
- got rid of CDs I didn't need or want ("Simplify" #4)
- got rid of DVDs/VHS tapes I didn't need or want ("Simplify" #5)
- got my glasses ("Health" #5)
- saw Heypenny @ Mercy Lounge ("Nashville/TN" #1)
- made meals for myself for 4 days and counting ("Health" #2)
- saw The Apartment (funny, and certainly racy for its time), which was on the AFI list. ("Do" #2)
- watched the final pre-Super Tuesday primary debates for both parties. ("Do" #3)
- wrote a new entry and posted a couple of old entries at my other blog ("Do" #5)
- wrote to Joel ("Family and Friends" #3)
- started reading A Confederacy Of Dunces (1980) ("Read" #1)
- have been in contact with 2 publishers ("Work" #1)

Also, if you haven't voted in your state's presidential primary, stop reading this and go do it.

Can this work? Can I pull this off?

As I said in my original post to this blog, I'm a compulsive goal-setter, and only sometime goal achiever. A few weeks after I posted that blog, my church small group had a discussion about the New Years Resolution phenomenon, and several of us chimed in on whether or not we'd ever kept a resolution. I have. To my memory, I have kept only one, and it was an unhealthy resolution that I kept in a not-quite-as-unhealthy manner. Nonetheless, I was happy to be among those who had kept one. It gave me hope, you see.

One thing that's making this list go by is that some of my friends are spurring me on, watching this list, reminding me when I have an opportunity to knock one or more of these goals. So far, it's been great, very encouraging, and I'm hopeful, if not entirely confident that I'll complete the whole list. The multi-tiered ones are particularly daunting, but I'm at least determined. We'll see how that all goes.

And hey, if you're inclined to want to participate in one of the tasks listed here, and are looking for someone to come along, well, I'm clearly your guy. Give a shout.

Update: New Glasses

2 pair, ordered from ZenniOptical.com. Total price: $47.90, S&H and prescription lenses included.



The first pair are the conservative choice, and the ones I feel most comfortable with. But I'm giving the plastic frames with 10% amber lens tint a shot. Not my usual, but I've gotta say, I kinda dig.

Update - January Seventeen

Here's a quick update on my 101:

- ordered new glasses (two pair!) from ZenniOptical.com ("Health" #5)
- started reading The Reivers (1963) ("Read" #1)
- read The Apostles' Creed, The Nicene Creed, and the 95 Theses (3/5 of "Faith" #4)
- read Psalms 1-9 (9/150 of "Faith" #5)
- saw Heypenny at The Basement ("Nashville" #1)

I'm really excited about the glasses; it's part of an experiment of mine, both fashion-wise (with trendy, plastic frames) and bargain hunting-wise (2 pairs with shipping = $47.90). Erin warned me about the dangers of ordering things like glasses online, but I disagree (the benefit outweighs the risk anyway, I think), and will be interested to see how well these glasses work out.

Also, because I've read the psalms before, and have caught myself skipping lines, zoning out, and re-reading passages, I'm recording myself reading them aloud, in the hope of having them ring truer than they do as just words on a page. I remember vividly hearing this young woman recite a good chunk of Philippians once, and thinking how beautiful scripture was when spoken aloud conversationally, rather than academically. I'm just trying to make them come to life a little more, and maybe to reach David's heart a little more, by trying to capture his tone at the time of writing. We'll see. Obviously it's kinda geeky, and I do it when no one else is in the house, but it's an interesting project, and that's what this whole thing is about, right? :)

LIST: 20 Nashville Venues and the Shows I Saw There

1. Windows On the Cumberland - Wild Honey/Larissa Maestro
2. The Family Wash - some Boston blues/Americana act
3. Exit/In - Biscuits and Gravy/The Lonely Hearts; How I Became The Bomb
4. The Basement - Heypenny; Matthew Perryman Jones/Glen Phillips
5. Station Inn - Farewell Drifters
6. Mercy Lounge - Heypenny; Space Capone
7. The Rutledge - Disappointed By Candy/Harrison Hudson; Waves On Waves/Heypenny/Umbrella Tree
8. Kimbro's Cafe - The Dust Poets
9. Wildhorse Saloon - taping of CMT's Can You Duet?
10. Grand Ol' Opry - Grand Ol' Opry Live (Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Restless Heart), GMA Dove Awards
11. FooBar - James Farrell/Larissa Maestro/Treble-icious/Joe Bob and His Low Eb String
12. Uptown 162 - Cornerstone/HM/Gyroscope GMA Showcase
13. Rocketown - Tooth & Nail Records GMA Showcase
14. 3rd & Lindsley - Everyday Visuals; Mike Farris; The Dirty Guv'nahs
15. Christopher's Pizza - Rhona Kelley
16. Trevecca Nazarene (a stretch) - Jon Foreman/Deas Vail
17. Edgehill Studios - a couple random songwriters
18. Bluebird Cafe - Glen Phillips/Dan Wilson/Kevin Griffin/Daniel Tashian
19. City Hall - The Dynamites/DJ Egon
20. The End - Armed Forces; We Were the States
21. Borders West End - Matt Wertz

Update - January One

Progress Report #1 - 1/1/8

The lead-up to Christmas and New Years has kept me from being as aggressive with my list as I'd hoped. This will make the multi-tiered goals (reading and film-watching, mostly) more difficult, but certainly not too much so.

That said, I'm happy to report the first few victories (in red on the master list), and a couple of works-in-progress (green):

Completed (in no particular order):

1. I finished scanning my magazines and took them to my local recycling center. ("Simplify" #2)
2. I sent my digital camera off to Canon to be repaired, a mere 8 days before the warranty expired. I received notice from them that the repairs were covered, and I should be getting it back any day now. ("Do" #7)
3. I got rid of about a garbage-bag-and-a-half of clothes I haven't worn in quite some time. This, along with the magazine scanning, was done as part of my move, and I'll probably do another round soon, but this was significant progress. ("Simplify" #3)

In Progress:

1. One of the items on my private list is, by God's grace, underway. I'm both excited and scared, and I'd ask that those of you who are so inclined, please pray for wisdom, humility, and confidence at their appropriate times, for me. ("Private" #1)
2. I've started memorizing Philippians. ("Faith" #6)
3. I went to a show at Windows on the Cumberland. Seedy place, but the music was great. My Coke came in a can. ("Nashville/TN" #1) Also, I caught a great roots/blues act from BOSTON at The Family Wash.

That covers the progress for now. I'll update again soon!

LIST: AFI Top 100 Movies of All Time

1.	Citizen Kane (1941)
2.	The Godfather (1972)
3.	Casablanca (1942)
4.	Raging Bull (1980)
5.	Singin' in the Rain (1952)
6.	Gone with the Wind (1939)
7.	Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8.	Schindler's List (1993)
9.	Vertigo (1958)
10.	The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11.	City Lights (1931)
12.	The Searchers (1956)
13.	Star Wars (1977)
14.	Psycho (1960)
15.	2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16.	Sunset Blvd. (1950)
17.	The Graduate (1967)
18.	The General (1927)
19.	On the Waterfront (1954)
20.	It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
21.	Chinatown (1974)
22.	Some Like It Hot (1959)
23.	The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24.	E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
25.	To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
26.	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27.	High Noon (1952)
28.	All About Eve (1950)
29.	Double Indemnity (1944)
30.	Apocalypse Now (1979)
31.	The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32.	The Godfather Part II (1974)
33.	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
34.	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35.	Annie Hall (1977)
36.	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37.	The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38.	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39.	Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40.	The Sound of Music (1965)
41.	King Kong (1933)
42.	Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43.	Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44.	The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45.	Shane (1953)
46.	It Happened One Night (1934)
47.	A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48.	Rear Window (1954)
49.	Intolerance (1916)
50.	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51.	West Side Story (1961)
52.	Taxi Driver (1976)
53.	The Deer Hunter (1978)
54.	M*A*S*H (1970)
55.	North By Northwest (1959)
56.	Jaws (1977)
57.	Rocky (1976)
58.	The Gold Rush (1925)
59.	Nashville (1975)
60.	Duck Soup (1933)
61.	Sullivan's Travels (1958)
62.	American Graffiti (1973)
63.	Cabaret (1972)
64.	Network (1976)
65.	The African Queen (1951)
66.	Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67.	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68.	Unforgiven (1992)
69.	Tootsie (1982)
70.	A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71.	Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72.	The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73.	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74.	The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75.	In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76.	Forrest Gump (1994)
77.	All the President's Men (1976)
78.	Modern Times (1936)
79.	The Wild Bunch (1969)
80.	The Apartment (1960)
81.	Spartacus (1960)
82.	Sunrise (1927)
83.	Titanic (1997)
84.	Easy Rider (1969)
85.	A Night at the Opera (1935)
86.	Platoon (1986)
87.	12 Angry Men (1957)
88.	Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89.	The Sixth Sense (1999)
90.	Swing Time (1936)
91.	Sophie's Choice (1982)
92.	Goodfellas (1990)
93.	The French Connection (1971)
94.	Pulp Fiction (1994)
95.	The Last Picture Show (1971)
96.	Do the Right Thing (1989)
97.	Blade Runner (1982)
98.	Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99.	Toy Story (1995)
100.	Ben-Hur (1959)

Titles in yellowish are ones I'd already seen prior to starting this whole thing, so they don't count. The 50 will come from the remaining titles.

***Update 1/30: I have put many of these in my Blockbuster Online queue. They're in green, and barring delays, they're scheduled to come in reverse order, starting with Ben Hur. Game on.

***Update 2/9: If you're thinking of undertaking this sort of endeavor in the Nashville area, the Blockbuster on West End has an outstanding inventory of these movies. I can't say the same for Gallatin Rd. in Inglewood, but West End is most certainly my new Blockbuster.