Random Movies and Linked Movies

Recently, I had more than two weeks at home, without Sherry, leaving me with two weeks of evenings which I could fill with whatever solo entertainment I wanted.  But I anticipated a problem.  

 You see, my pattern, when I have a block of time on my own, is that I feel like watching "something,"  but indecision paralyzes me.  I end up wasting so much time considering all of my options that I end up avoiding the issue by channel surfing, or getting distracted by things, until I don't watch any of the many, many options I have. (I own a very large number of movies, not to mention multiple TV series.  And of course, I have access to the myriad offerings from the streaming services.)

So, I was facing this period of opportunity, and I discussed the situation with my friends. Eric Nelson had a clever idea - list all the movies I wanted to see, assign each a number, and then roll dice to make my choice. Simple, random, and no reason to doubt whether I really wanted to see the movie which chance had selected. After all, if I had put it on the list, I must want to see it.

I really liked the base concept - starting with "make a list of movies I would really like to see right now."  

You see, I own a large number of movies (have I said that already?) And the reason I own them is because I would enjoy seeing them again.  However, I don't always feel in the mood to see some of them.  So, the start of this process was to look at my movies and create a list of movies I wanted to see at the time I was making the list.

This worked out very well.  I ended up with a list of over 20 films.  I wasn't going to have time to see all of these, so I started organizing them -- with the intent to use the second part of Eric's idea -- to assign numbers and roll dice.

As I organized, a few interesting things happened.

First, and most helpfully, I discovered that some of the movies were "must watch."  That is, as I considered all of the movies I had put on the list, and as I looked ahead to several nights of viewing, I knew there were several that I really, really wanted to watch, and with so much opportunity ahead of me, I didn't need to trust to randomness. I just put those on the top of the list. (Side Note: Christopher Nolan films were prominent on the "must watch now" list. Batman Begins; The Dark Knight; The Prestige.)

Next, I would put a movie on the list, and then realize that another movie -- a connected movie -- was not on the list, but should be. I hadn't been super focused when creating the first list, so I neglected even considering a few - a few which ended up on my list because they had some similarity with another film which had made the first cut.  For example, once I noticed those Nolan films I mentioned above, I remembered that I had not seen "Memento" since I first bought it, and it became a "must watch." After augmenting the list, the final number from which I selected was 25 movies deep, with another 12 I decided to save for the future.

Finally, this "Linked Movies" concept spread through my list, and made organizing it even easier, and watching the movies even better.  My final list was grouped into pairs or triples of movies which were linked somehow.  Then I assigned a number to the group, so when I eventually finished the "must watch" movies, I rolled a die and ended up watching a linked group.

Examples will help.  

One of my groups was "Ella Enchanted" and "A Knight's Tale." While there are several similarities, the "link" in my mind was "uses modern music in a medieval setting."  I get such a kick out of "Somebody to Love" in "Ella" and "The Boys are Back in Town" in "Knight's."

Another group was "Field of Dreams" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."  The link here? Lead character fathers whose lives were taken over by a strange compulsion.

It all worked marvelously.  I saw all the movies on my "must watch" list, and then saw one or more of the movies from five other groups - where the group was chosen my rolling a die.  (I had 10 "random" groups.)  I watched 12 movies in those two weeks (plus a couple of limited series on streaming services.)

And now I have the list. And I am facing another few days alone, so the list has come into play again.  I just watched "Stand By Me" and am moving from that to "The Shawshank Redemption."  (Great movies based on Stephen King stories.)

What fun!