GuyOnAWire

Let’s start with the obvious. I’ve been away from this channel for quite some time, and yeah, I miss it. I thought that in order to be more productive in my writing career, I had to focus on the projects that could lead to paid gigs, like my screenplays. But then, I’d get home after a long day, and I’d do nothing, or waste time. The point is, I wasn’t writing.

When I wrote new blog posts in the past, it utilized a different part of the brain, but at the end of the day, I used my brain. The constant stream of output allowed the narrative functions to relax, and the analytical processes to ignite. I loved the feeling of being productive in multiple facets. If I was able to paint something (that I didn’t hate), I’d do that more, but even if I painted something God awful now, it would serve the same purpose as a blog. It’s an expression of the mind through other channels and that’s freeing. I miss that.

So here’s what I’m going to do.

Starting this month, I’ll be posting my yearly tradition of detailing all of the films I had seen in 2019, as well as ranking my Top Ten of the same year. In addition to these lists – since we’ve entered a new decade – I’ll make a Top Fifty of the Decade. The “Top” lists are my personal favorites, and they may not represent the best of the decade, although, there will obviously be lots of overlap.

Also in January, I’m reviving an old series. #52Pick-Up is back. I was sitting in a nerdy bar last night, and on the television was a Twitch stream of someone playing an SNES game. I didn’t recognize the game (honestly, it looked like a rip-off of A Link to the Past), and it got me thinking, “What if I played that game today for the first time? Would it hold up?” That’s when I realized there were a lot of “classics” that people ragged on me for not yet watching and I could view them for this series for the first time and see if they stand the test of time.

So now, the series will be #52PickUp: Fresh Deck. Expect to see films like A Fish Called Wanda, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Top Gun, Caddyshack, Scanners, The Untouchables, Romancing the Stone, Little Shop of Horrors, The Player, Scarface, and Raising Arizona.

There’s no limit in terms of year of release except that these will all be films I haven’t seen released before 2010. This list is much more exciting because I’m able to (finally) catch up on films I’ve been meaning to see while also sharing my first experiences in these worlds with you, the reader.

–Jamie (@GuyOnAWire now connected to Instagram because I don’t use Twitter)