These images sum up some of what's going on right now in my life..

Tally for '10

Yes, I know we're already a good three months into 2011, but I finally finished copying my movies watched/rewatched list from all my little scribbled post-it notes. For 2010, like 2009, I wanted to keep track of all my movie viewings. Here's my results:

141 movies watched

Of these, 38 were new or new-to-me
103 were rewatched

I only saw 4 movies in the theater:

• Avatar
• Toy Story 3
• Inception
• Tron Legacy

(and 3 of those were in 3D!)

Among the new-to-me watchings included these how-did-I-not-see-it-before classics:

• The Lady Vanishes
• His Girl Friday
• Ball of Fire
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Dinner at Eight
• Dead Reckoning
• Murder on the Orient Express
• The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 and 1952 versions, 1937 is superior!)
• In a Lonely Place

And there were 13 titles I (re)watched more than once:

• (500) Days of Summer
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Sense and Sensibility
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog
• Tron (in preparation for the sequel)
• Star Trek
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
• Seven Days in May
• Back to the Future
• The 39 Steps
• Julie and Julia
• Desk Set
• You've Got Mail

Overall, I'm right in line with 2009, where I watched (shockingly) 141 movies also! That was made up of 45 new/new-to me and 96 rewatchings, only 2 in the theater and 12 different multiple rewatched titles. (And strangely, the only one that made the rewatching list both years is You've Got Mail!)

One thing that did change in 2010 was having Instant Netflix available. I will say that it changed how I watched movies and perhaps influenced which movies I chose, but overall my consumption seemed about the same.

Now that I know my baseline, this year I'm simplifying by only keeping track of new and new-to-me showings. I'm at 10 so far!

Gluttony: Don't Play With Your Food

Watermelon skin carving from Vid Nikolic on Vimeo.

Vinyl Wednesday: Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman

Despite growing up with this album and hearing it almost every Sunday thanks to my father, it still happens to be in with my all-time favourite albums. Stevens just knows the way into my heart and what to say while he's there. If Cat Stevens was a preacher, I would follow him regardless of the religion. Ok, so he's chosen a different career, but I still love the guy.

With this collection of songs, you get to dive into another world and swim about in luscious harmonies and a very sweet man that loves you very much. I don't know what else to say about this album other than it will comfort you and give you peace. And it's a lot of fun.

Track Listing:
(Side I)

Where Do The Children Play

Hard-headed Woman

Wild World

Sad Lisa

Miles From Nowhere

(Side II)

But I Might Die Tonight

Longer Boats

Into White

On The Road To Find Out

Father & Son

Tea For The Tillerman

Beautiful & Haunting: James Jean (Artist)

 James Jean produces some incredibly stunning paintings, full of imagination and wonder, with such skill that you're immediately immersed in his world the moment you set your eyes on them. I first fell in love with his work when I saw some graphics he had done for Prada, and at that point he hadn't made much of his personal work public as he had for commissioned pieces, but at the time his sketchbooks (which are still on his website) were enough to blow me away. James Jean took a hiatus from commissioned pieces to work on personal projects some time ago and from there blossomed a whole side of his artwork I had never seen before. His sketchbooks have a lot of figure renderings and the like, but his paintings have so much more depth and narrative that you can't help but fall in love with them. I received a copy of his book Kindling, a large book of poster pull-outs of a few of his recent works (which are currently displayed along the entire length of my apartment), and they are mind-blowing. Take a look at some of his work to see for yourself, and I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Young Once: Pt. II

 Jeff Bridges, 1991

 Steve McQueen

 Mickey Rourke

 Tony Curtis

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise

Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen and Art Garfunkel (on the set of Carnal Knowledge, 1971)

Meryl Streep

MALE MODELS FOR THE WIN

Boys of Milan & Paris FW2011 from Justin Wu on Vimeo.