14 Good Movies and List Love.
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Lists. My days are filled with them: emails yet to read, things that need to be done, folks whose calls I’ve missed, songs that’ve played in itunes, groceries to buy, movies to watch…
Truthfully, I love lists. Writing them, crossing them off, iPhoning them, emailing them, saving them, reading them.
I use lists to stay motivated! I find it exciting to be able to cross things off a list – and the yearning to see a list full of strike-thrus is just what I need sometimes to get going, or keep going. I make a white board “to-do” list with the kids almost daily. At the beginning of this year, I blogged my New Year’s Resolution list (of course, creating a list to stay motivated doesn’t actually guarantee those things will be done).
I create lists to remember things. How many times have I been to the grocery store, standing in the middle of an aisle, with two children buzzing around me, and myself knowing what I needed to get is… right there… on the tip of my tongue… (if only I’d made a list!)
I start them to stay organized! If I know my day is going to be full, I have a lot to get done, and perhaps not quite enough time (is there ever enough time?), I create a list with approximate times assigned to each task. Okay, maybe I’m a little weird, but it keeps me focused, and helps the kids know what to expect next.
Sometimes? I make lists purely for fun.
Like the time I challenged myself to pick 10 music albums I couldn’t live without, if I were stranded on a desert island. Or, when I reached out to my Twitter followers & asked for their favorite emotional songs. Or, when I listed the tunes I most liked to sing to my babies.
These last couple of weeks, following a fun list-making challenge offered up by one of our co-workers, I spent creating a list of my Top 100 Favorite Movies. I was excited, and challenged by this list idea! Ranking one hundred movies? Impossible! Yet, once I got into the process, I realized there were actually FAR more than 100 movies that I’d consider for the list, and when I got down to the nitty gritty, there were quite a few that ended up not making the cut. I won’t bore you with the whole list (assuming that you and I may not enjoy lists to the same extent). But, I will give you the first 14. Why 14? Because #14 happens to be a movie about a fella who likes… making lists. So, here:
1) Life is Beautiful (La Vita è Bella)
2) The Princess Bride
3) The Abyss
4) Running on Empty
5) Say Anything
6) The Sound of Music
7) Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
8) E.T.
9) The Shawshank Redemption
10) Stand by Me
11) The Graduate
12) Gorillas in the Mist
13) Willow
14) High Fidelity
**Editing to add: I recently saw Inception. Which means, that pretty much everyone on this list would get bumped down one (though I haven't decided whether Inception is #1 or #3). But because I mention a list of 14 so many times, I won't change everything up - for posterity.**
Interestingly, as I looked over my list, I realized how many (seven) of those top 14 have a lot to do with music. Maybe all movies have a lot to do with music. Or maybe that’s why I’m drawn to certain films. I’m not sure I see any deeper meaning ther, but... it’s just interesting. Yet another reason I like lists – sometimes you discover things you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Also interestingly, Adam took on this challenge around the same time as I. We didn’t collude with one another, yet, when all was said & done, we ended up with 66 of the same movies on our lists! Wow. I guess that’s what happens when you share 16 years of your life with someone. Add that to my list of things I love about my husband. Great taste in movies.
So, do you like making lists? Tell me about your favorite lists. Or, I’d take a list of your top 14 too.