Happy New Year 2018
Here we are
again, the last day of the year. Another year went by and that one went super
fast. It feels like yesterday I was sitting here writing a New Year post.
In any
case, Happy New Year to all readers of this blog. May 2018 bring happiness and
joy to all.
So, what happened
in that split second that was 2017?
My movie
project is continuing more or less as planned. I went from movie no. 368 on the
List to no. 422. That makes 54 movies, exactly the same as last year. This has
brought me from 1959 to 1963.
I cannot
say that I am overjoyed with the List in the sixties, though. My apprehension
at all the experimental and obscure films I saw on the horizon was not
unfounded. It seems more the rule than not when my reviews take a negative
slant, especially when you add the massive amount of French new wave films of
which only a few have struck a chord with me. There are highlights of course,
and I live and breathe for those, but all that junk taking up space on the List
has also encouraged be to introduce a new feature on my blog: two to three
movies each year that should have been on the List. It turns out that these
years are not actually as terrible as they look on the List, that there are
several movies out there that ought to be there instead of some of that dross I
am committed to watch.
I get some
help from Bea at Flickers in Time to pick my off-list movies (thank you for
that, Bea!) and while I may still be missing some truly wonderful movies, at
least I get to pick up some obvious mistakes of the editors. Adding the
off-List movies to my count makes it almost respectable too.
On the
movie side I also keep discovering new 1001 blogs, which I add to my blog roll.
It is great to see there are still people who take on this project and I love
reading what other people have to say about the movies I have watched.
On my book
blog things are happening in a far more sedate pace. 2017 saw me adding 6 books
to my list, which certainly does not sound like much, but is actually better
than my stated goal of 5 books per year. It becomes a little better when I add that
two of the books completed were 1000 pages bricks, Gargantua and Pantagruel,
which I hated and Don Quixote, which I loved. I am in full swing with the next
one and expect to review it in January. Maybe my count sounds better if I add that
those 6 books cover a 50 year period. Yeah, now I feel I can hold my head high…
Sadly, I
have found very few book blogs doing this project. If anybody knows of such
sites, do let me know and I will add them to my blog roll.
Again, I
wish everybody a great 2018. May you all enjoy the movies you watch and the books
you read and all the things that matter a lot more than movies and books.
Thomas
Sørensen
Kfar-Saba
31/12-2017
