Marilyn and Her Records

 

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go…

It’s been a wonderful weekend in San Francisco, as I’m sure you’ve seen if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, but it’s time to end the birthday walk-a-bout and head back to The Six.

However, there is one last nameday tradition that needs to be taken care of, and since a Matineecast posted yesterday, this annual task arrives a day late.

In case you were wondering about the photo, Miss Monroe was also born on the first of June back in 1926.

I have one teeny movie-related tradition where my birthday is concerned.

Many moons ago, Someone I know once suggested I make a list of things I want to do before my next birthday and seal the list in an envelope. Then, the next year I was to open the envelope on my birthday, see what I’d managed to serendipitously accomplish (since most of the list is almost immediately forgotten), and then make a new list.

The thing is, these aren’t supposed to be treated as resolutions, or a checklist to finish like the Blindspot Series. It’s more of a quiet hope for the year ahead, to be greeted with amusement or contemplation the next year depending on how things shook down.

For instance, when I look at last year’s list, I see that I only got around to three of them. Is this cause for concern, or wallowing in what I’ve been wasting time doing? Far from it. I’ve had a pretty good go of things over the last year – and reveled in many wonderful films for the first time. So even though I didn’t scratch off more of these 21, it’s no reason for alarm.

But tradition is tradition, so let’s see which of these I can get to before June 1st, 2016…

 

2046
AGUIRRE: THE WRATH OF GOD
PORCO ROSSO
BACKBEAT
CARLOS
L’ATALANTE
any of the FAST & FURIOUS movies
MIGHTY APHRODITE
MON ONCLE
RIFIFI
THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS
THE VANISHING
WALTZ WITH BASHIR
MY DINNER WITH ANDRE
CONAN THE BARBARIAN
A LITTLE PRINCESS
BOXCAR BERTHA
KICKING & SCREAMING (N. Baumbach)
DIVA
BODY HEAT
HOW THE WEST WAS WON

12 Replies to “What Have You Done? (My Birthday Tradition)”

  1. Great list Ryan. I only saw a little bit of HOW THE WEST WAS WON by chance the other day and, though it looks great, I think the way it’s shot means I’ll wait for a cinematic viewing of it rather than watch at home.

    1. I keep thinking I’ve seen it, but then I realize I’m confusing it with THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (both westerns, both log titles). We’ll see if I happen upon it in the year to come.

  2. Happy Birthday Ryan! 🙂 I was wondering about the photo and I’m very glad you stated why haha… I had a keyring when I was a kid that told me that Omar Sharif shared my birthday… Not exactly Marilyn! I did enjoy your instagrams from San Francisco, I hope you had a great time!

    1. Morgan Freeman is also born on June 1st, but he pales in iconography to Marilyn. And sharing a birthday with Omar is nothing to sneeze at!

      Thanks for the well-wishes, and for digging all my photos…and again, thanks for that avatar photo which never fails to make me smile.

  3. I’ve actually seen 8 of those…

    allow me the now not so well looked upon response; “You haven’t seen RIFIFI!!!” that one is pretty good…

    I’d say that you should skip Aphrodite. It’s very lesser Allen…

    But anyways, a tradition is tradition. Let’s see what the next year brings.

    Happy Birthday man.

    1. Confession: I think this is the second time RIFIFI is making an appearance on this entry. I think that’s a sign I should try to remember what I “sealed in the envelope” this year.

      Thanks, sir.

  4. I’ve seen 12 of these, and while there are a lot of good choices, I have one piece of advice:

    Watch Kicking and Screaming now!

    Happy birthday.

    1. If I remember correct (and who are we kidding, I usually don’t) KICKING AND SCREAMING is on Netflix Instant, so that should be scratched by this time next year.

  5. Happy birthday, Ryan! Solid list of things to see. Mighty Aphrodite and Conan are two of my all-time favs, so I say go for those first.

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