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I want a better brain. Or I’m at least interested in how that happens. I want better knowledge, I want to make better decisions, and I want to be more mentally nimble. The first two items are better covered in a later post, but several of my goals for this year had to do with problem and puzzle solving. I’ve worked with Amy Shotwell on a site called WeffRiddles and headed into DC with her for the Washington Post’s Post Hunt (riddles on a city wide level for a day). I’ve always felt like I’m bad with words, so I’ve started doing crossword puzzles to stimulate that part of my brain. I’m to the point where I can solve the USA Today’s daily puzzles without guidance (http://puzzles.usatoday.com) and I’m training myself to get better at the NY Times’ puzzles (available online as well). For good measure, I also do some sudoku through www.websudoku.com (on the Evil setting). Keeping nimble doesn’t help me understand the unknowable, but it does help me consider different ways to think about it.
Outside of doing puzzles in my alone time, I’ve kept up with my habit of watching old movies. For at least the past five years, I’ve watched different lists of “great movies”, though I’d never really questioned why I was doing it. On a basic level, I think I never wanted to be on the wrong side of hearing “I can’t believe you’ve never seen [movie X]!” In order, here are the lists I’ve watched in that time in the order I watched them:
- AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies: here
- IMDB Top 250: here
- AFI’s 10 Year Anniversary: 100 Years, 100 Movies: here
- Roger Ebert’s Great Movies (finished in 2009): here
- Oscar Winners (finished in 2009): here
- All-Time 100 Movies (finished in 2009): here
Crossover between lists has really helped when it came to watching other old movies, but it’s beginning to feel like enough is enough. At some point, I have to accept that I cannot see or know everything; the best I can do is learn what I enjoy watching and hope that I can match those patterns to new movies and new experiences . So, I’m making one last go with movie lists hoping that what I’ve seen so far will give my curiosity proper guidance.
I’ve decided to start watching the NY Times’ Best 1000 Movies Ever Made (that’s a one with three zeroes). Thankfully, a web site has popped up to track these movies called ICheckMovies (my list can be found here <link>).I’ve seen 438 of the 1002 movies as of this writing. Each list has its own quirks (the NY Times list not excluded) but one of the bigger problems with this list has to do with movies that are out of print. This problem exists with other lists, but it’s amplified with this one because of its size.
At this point in time it’s easier than ever to watch old movies thanks to Netflix (470~ movies in queue from the list) and reselling sites (like EBay, Half.com, and Amazon). But even with those sites in place, there are about 10-15 movies that aren’t available for sale through the aforementioned distribution channels. I’ve secured all but one of the other movies through other means (in no particular order): emailed a guy through the IMDB forums for a DVD-R recording; found a RapidShare site that had a movie split into 8 chunks; found a re-seller who specializes in old movies and pornography (bought one of the former, none of the latter); found a Portuguese website that listed an eDonkey share; found a movie through BitTorrent. I’ve waited four weeks so far for one movie to complete downloading because it is being transmitted at slower than old modem speeds (less that 4KB a second) in irregular intervals.
While I can recognize how far we’ve come in making movies available for weirdos like myself, it seems like there’s a major opportunity being missed when it comes to this market. I would gladly buy or rent these movies if they were available, but I cannot because they don’t exist in this medium (or any other one for that matter). It reminds me of the beginning of the decade, when P2P clients were the only way to find new music online. For years, instead of supporting the creation of a distribution mechanism for online music, the RIAA sued those who tried to get access. Thankfully iTunes broke through that problem and there are now many legal means for purchasing music online, but this issue is still playing itself out with movies.
On the rental side, Netflix is beginning to meet that void. Over 100 of the 470 movies in my queue are set up for immediate streaming and, thanks to my new Blu-Ray player (thanks Santa!), I can watch those movies on demand. Other hardware components are beginning to meet the niche between computers and home entertainment systems, but it’s not what it could be. There’s still no way to play a ripped DVD through a streaming device (at least for the devices that I own) nor is there a single file that can store a ripped DVD (though Matroska performs similar functions). We’re still in the wilderness when it comes to getting movies/TV shows through the internet into a home entertainment systems, but it’s progressing a little bit at a time.
It’s hard to keep up with the cutting edge of technology, but it’s kind of fun to try. I’ve now got a networked hard drive/SAN device, along with backups for each data source (CD/DVD backup, laptop backup routine, RAID setup). I’ve tried to network my data so I can make it available from anywhere (my cell phone, another computer, etc.) though I’d say that’s more of a work in progress. Even though my information exists in different locations, my ability to access it has changed (and accordingly, so have my capabilities). The things that I would’ve previously done by myself (out of the eyes of God and everyone) are now literally attached to something bigger. The internet (and its interested parties) are growing another way for loners and everyone else to engage the world outside of their homes and heads. Once the technical limitations have been addressed, it will again be a matter of courage for people to plug in. And while there is risk involved, I feel optimistic about what’s possible. Right now one of those possibilities is with movies, but it is not the only way we can improve our online experience. What are we capable of when we begin to integrate the other things that exist online?
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