It’s my birthday today.

A few years ago, a friend of a friend got me started on an annual tradition. The idea is to make a list of things you want to do in the next year. You make it on your birthday and seal it in an envelope. Odds are, within a week you’ll forget at least half the list.

On your next birthday you open the list and have this serendipitous moment of seeing what you managed to do.

For the last two years, I have morphed that idea into my own little bit of geekery. I turned the list into movies I wanted to see over the course of the next year. Given my affinity for the number, I chose twenty one titles. Out of last year’s twenty one, I got through six:

CRONOS
EVIL DEAD
GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES
HIGH NOON
PAPRIKA
SCHIZOPOLIS

That’s two years in a row I’ve scratched off less than a third. I wonder when this tips past serendipitous and towards pathetic!

This year’s list is below.

Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m off to figure out something to do with my day off…

BREATHLESS
THE FALL
EAST OF EDEN
24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
WILD STRAWBERRIES
PRIMER
FITZCAROLDO
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARK
MARNIE
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
SLEUTH
HARD CORE LOGO
SERPICO
CHARIOTS OF FIRE
RULES OF THE GAME
FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL, KILL
SWING TIME
THE WARRIORS
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
ACE IN THE HOLE
SLEEPER

18 Replies to “New Candles (My Birthday Tradition)”

  3. Happy Birthday Ryan!

    Of you list I still need to see: Breathless (on my Blind Spot list), East of Eden, Wild Strawberries, Fitzcaroldo, The Passion of Joan of Ark, Sleuth, Swing Time, and Ace in the Hole.

    From the ones I have seen, all I will say is you are in for a good year of film watching.

  4. Happy Birthday Ryan !! Have a Good One !!

    Nice List. I have seen only 3(Wild Strawberries, Ace in the Hole and Serpico) but they all have Top 100 potential for me and quite a few I want to see myself, especially Sleuth, Breathless and Rules of the Game.

  5. Happy Birthday.

    Interesting list. I have seen the following:
    – Breathless (both the Godard original and the Richard Gere remake)
    – Marnie (saw it when it played at the Lightbox)
    – The Squid and the Whale (I think you’ll like this one)
    – Hard Core Logo
    – His Girl Friday

  6. Happy Birthday man… I would offer a drink, but as you can see I’m only a mere comment.

    Of your list I’ve seen:

    THE FALL – down right gorgeous. The reason we still talk about Tarsem
    PRIMER – confusing as hell, good luck getting it in one go
    MARNIE – meh… I almost forgot that Hitchcock did this film
    THE SQUID AND THE WHALE – blah
    ACE IN THE HOLE – Billy Wilder at his utter best… I’d try to argue it’s ability to compete with THE APARTMENT, but the internet would shun me.
    SLEEPER – not my kind of thing.

    Otherwise most of what you have up there are films I want to watch… like WILD STRAWBERRIES & SERPICO.

    Anyways I hope many great movies for you on this day, your nameday. Don’t be a Joffrey now.

  12. Happy birthday, Ryan! That list of the next 21 films is amazing. You’ve got a good year coming your way if you watch those (and I haven’t seen half of them myself).

    Also, kudos for recognizing the mystical awesome powers of the number 21. It’s black jack, it’s legal drinking age, it’s Roger Clemens number before he left the Red Sox… It’s the perfect number.

  13. Hope you had an awesome birthday, Ryan. What a cool tradition. I love how it morphed into a list of movies.

    I’m just gonna be honest and say I haven’t heard of half the films you listed. Can I just say that there are too many films out there to watch?!

    Which movie on your list are you looking most forward to seeing?

    1. I’m probably most looking forward to either ACE IN THE HOLE (since I grow more a fan of Billy Wilder with every subsequent film of his I watch), or BREATHLESS (since it’s a glaring blind spot and one of the all-time best).

      If you haven’t heard of some of these, I recommend looking them up (even though I haven’t even seen them yet). Something that has come with being a big movie lover for a few years now is that I’ve scratched off a lot of the usual suspects, and now find myself trying to bone up on the foreign titles and the more arty fare.

      1. I’ll have to do that. There are so many great hidden gems out there, and I’m always excited when I’m able to watch one of them.

        Looking forward to seeing what you think of those movies.

    1. The trick is to try and forget the list – don’t go back and reference it through the year, just see what you co-incidentally remembered to finally see.

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