The year in watching a lot of movies

For this first time in my life, I decided to keep a list of every film I saw over the course of the year. Then some hoodlums broke into my house and stole my computer, taking the only copy of my list with them. Some would have taken that as a sign. Perhaps man was not meant to know and ponder such matters. Perhaps I was tampering in God's domain.

But I said nay, and started the list again. Conveniently, the crooks stole my computer at the end of June which allows me a tally for half the year which I can then double to approximate the entire year. In the second half of '05, I watched 90 films on DVD or VHS, and 82 theatrical releases. The figures are sort of slippery: DVD/VHS includes films released this year, but later released on VHS or DVD (so, for instance, when I caught this year's The Devil's Rejects last week, that went in the DVD tally, not the theatrical tally).

That's 172 total films for the half year. Though it's an estimate, doubling that figure gives you 344 — practically a movie a day.

Just imagine the sorts of productive things I could do with my life if that energy could be focused on things that weren't related to cinema.