(Airplane!, 1980, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker)
I don't know if it's me or Airplane!, but there's something that makes this film impossible to write about. This blog post has been sitting on my dashboard in various incarnations for months, and I think about it literally every day and say to myself "today I will write the Airplane! blog and get out of my funk and start moving on this project again." Of course, inevitably, I get distracted by Facebook and Youtube and the internet in general and I don't actually do that. I just think to myself "tomorrow... tomorrow I will actually write that post." And, once again, that will inevitably not happen and the whole vicious cycle starts again.
You see, dear readers, I am not good at projects. I currently have at least 3 half-finished knitting projects (including 2 scarves and one pair of socks) sitting in my room gathering dust. I also have all the posters that were previously on my walls now sitting on my floor, waiting for the room redecoration that I've been talking about doing since July. I still haven't finished playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or Super Mario Galaxy. I haven't finished sewing a dress that I was planning on wearing to a function that happened about 6 months ago. The long story short is that I don't finish projects well. I never have. It's a character flaw that I know I have and will probably always be fighting against. The problem is that I also seem to have an unexplainable need to start projects, which is probably causing me a lot more problems than my inability to finish them.
However, the thing about this blog, this particular project, is that for some reason I have it in my mind that it is entirely necessary for me to finish it. Unlike that half-knitted sock in my room, I feel that this blog is something that absolutely has to be completed. After this project evolved from a two-person endeavour into a solo mission I became even more determined to keep it going. I knew that it would be hard for me to stick to such a large undertaking, but I promised myself that I would not give up on it. Partly because I'm trying to break that nasty habit of not finishing things, and partly because this particular project means something more to me.
I didn't mention this when I wrote up High Fidelity because it didn't fit in with the format that I chose, but there's one specific scene in that film that kind of speaks to me because it calls to attention something that I often find myself thinking about: the job that I would want if could have literally any job in the world. Well, the truth is that if I had my way I would be writing the film reviews for Rolling Stone. I would love to have Peter Travers's job. That's it. And for me, giving up on this blog would be like admitting to myself that I don't ever have a chance at having that job. I have to keep writing about these 1000 films because, in my mind, that makes my dream that much closer to being real. Of course, in my ideal world I'd be writing Rolling Stone's film reviews in the 1970's when Kubrick was still making films and awesome things like Star Wars were being seen for the first time. Alas, that is not a possibility. However, it is entirely possibly for me to keep writing this blog, thereby making me one baby step closer to being the next Peter Travers.
So, in case you haven't noticed, this post is not about the film Airplane!. I realized today that this post was never going to be about Airplane! and was probably never really meant to be about Airplane!. Airplane! is a great film and an excellent example of satirical comedy. It's frequently ranked as one of the greatest American comedies, and is remembered as being uproariously funny and highly quotable. Leslie Nielsen's role as Dr. Barry Rumack is remembered as one of his best, and my viewing of the film coincidentally fell only a few days before his death, which made it especially poignant. And... that's it. Honestly, that's all I could ever think of to say about Airplane!. So that's all I'm going to say about it.
I've made a lot of promises about how I'm going to be better about updating the blog more frequently (for the 7-ish of you who care) and try to watch more of the weird movies. Well... I'm taking those back. I think my problem is that I try to keep a schedule (which I hate) or watch the weird movies (which I just straight up don't want to do), and I can't do that. It's just not going to happen, now or ever. So I'm replacing it with this promise: I won't give up on this project. Not entirely, not ever. I don't know if I'm making the promise to myself or to my readers (to those of you who've stuck with me, thanks), but I'm making it. I have to. It's the only way. So now I'm going to walk away from this blasted post that gave me the most brutal blogger's block that has ever existed and end by saying that the next post will definitely be about a movie and not about my own introspection. I promise.
You see, dear readers, I am not good at projects. I currently have at least 3 half-finished knitting projects (including 2 scarves and one pair of socks) sitting in my room gathering dust. I also have all the posters that were previously on my walls now sitting on my floor, waiting for the room redecoration that I've been talking about doing since July. I still haven't finished playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or Super Mario Galaxy. I haven't finished sewing a dress that I was planning on wearing to a function that happened about 6 months ago. The long story short is that I don't finish projects well. I never have. It's a character flaw that I know I have and will probably always be fighting against. The problem is that I also seem to have an unexplainable need to start projects, which is probably causing me a lot more problems than my inability to finish them.
However, the thing about this blog, this particular project, is that for some reason I have it in my mind that it is entirely necessary for me to finish it. Unlike that half-knitted sock in my room, I feel that this blog is something that absolutely has to be completed. After this project evolved from a two-person endeavour into a solo mission I became even more determined to keep it going. I knew that it would be hard for me to stick to such a large undertaking, but I promised myself that I would not give up on it. Partly because I'm trying to break that nasty habit of not finishing things, and partly because this particular project means something more to me.
I didn't mention this when I wrote up High Fidelity because it didn't fit in with the format that I chose, but there's one specific scene in that film that kind of speaks to me because it calls to attention something that I often find myself thinking about: the job that I would want if could have literally any job in the world. Well, the truth is that if I had my way I would be writing the film reviews for Rolling Stone. I would love to have Peter Travers's job. That's it. And for me, giving up on this blog would be like admitting to myself that I don't ever have a chance at having that job. I have to keep writing about these 1000 films because, in my mind, that makes my dream that much closer to being real. Of course, in my ideal world I'd be writing Rolling Stone's film reviews in the 1970's when Kubrick was still making films and awesome things like Star Wars were being seen for the first time. Alas, that is not a possibility. However, it is entirely possibly for me to keep writing this blog, thereby making me one baby step closer to being the next Peter Travers.
So, in case you haven't noticed, this post is not about the film Airplane!. I realized today that this post was never going to be about Airplane! and was probably never really meant to be about Airplane!. Airplane! is a great film and an excellent example of satirical comedy. It's frequently ranked as one of the greatest American comedies, and is remembered as being uproariously funny and highly quotable. Leslie Nielsen's role as Dr. Barry Rumack is remembered as one of his best, and my viewing of the film coincidentally fell only a few days before his death, which made it especially poignant. And... that's it. Honestly, that's all I could ever think of to say about Airplane!. So that's all I'm going to say about it.
I've made a lot of promises about how I'm going to be better about updating the blog more frequently (for the 7-ish of you who care) and try to watch more of the weird movies. Well... I'm taking those back. I think my problem is that I try to keep a schedule (which I hate) or watch the weird movies (which I just straight up don't want to do), and I can't do that. It's just not going to happen, now or ever. So I'm replacing it with this promise: I won't give up on this project. Not entirely, not ever. I don't know if I'm making the promise to myself or to my readers (to those of you who've stuck with me, thanks), but I'm making it. I have to. It's the only way. So now I'm going to walk away from this blasted post that gave me the most brutal blogger's block that has ever existed and end by saying that the next post will definitely be about a movie and not about my own introspection. I promise.
No comments:
Post a Comment