Saturday 23 February 2013

Day #1 - February 23

SAM'S BITTERSWEET MUSINGS ON THE YEAR HE DIDN'T SEND OUT HIS MOVIE REVIEWS...

A funny thing happened last year. I was finishing off my top ten list of movies for the year 2002. For those of you first receiving this: since 1998, I have done a list every year on the eve of the announcement of the Academy Award nominations. For me, it’s fun to write. For others, it may be fun to read, though you new readers should not count on such pleasure. Think of it more as a high school reunion: some fun times, but mostly an informational/slightly dull experience. Okay, hopefully I’ve lowered expectations enough.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I was finished the list actually. I had typed it into an e-mail and was in the process of adding all of the required e-mails of those who tolerate the list as something of an oddity, joke, or exemplification of Sam being a movie geek (yes, I just used ‘exemplification’ instead of ‘example’, sue me, I’m learned). But then. My computer crashed and the list and all those witty barbs were lost (BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE was #1 by the way). And not having the energy to rewrite the whole damn thing, I decided to give up. But here’s where the funny thing comes in. Friends I had lost touch with e-mailed me quite worried. They had not received my year-end list. They wondered whether I was mad at them. Or perhaps that I had forgotten them. Or even pondered if I was still alive. So I came to a realization. This list had become bigger than an exercise. It had become a standard of communication for friends forgotten in Pennsylvania, Illinois, or wherever they now live (remember, they’re forgotten). My list was a reassurance. A post-holiday coma treasure, if you will. Of course, knowing this new importance associated with my list made me rewrite the thing, right?

Nope.

Mom's note: Can't say much...quietly shedding a tear for my talented son.

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