My Movie Challenge

Last week the wife came home and made a bold declaration. "There's tons of movies ... really good ones ... that I need to see."

See, she'll watch hours of Real Housewives and tons of useless crap on Bravo and E! but when I've mentioned watching movies of actual value, I get the eye rolls and the "it's probably got subtitles in it, doesn't it?" kind of wisecrack. One of her co-workers told her about AFI's Top 100 movies of all time list, and decided she wanted to conquer the list.

CHALLENGE!

I rattled off the list, and we figured out how many movies she hadn't seen and I hadn't seen. To her shame, she's about 60 movies away from completing, which honestly isn't that bad unless you see the ones she hasn't seen (I'm missing about 20 movies). So below is the AFI 100 list. Bold titles are what we need to see. Bold with an asterisk are films I've already seen, Bold with a dash are movies she has already seen.

1. CITIZEN KANE*

2. CASABLANCA*

3. THE GODFATHER

4. GONE WITH THE WIND

5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA*

6. THE WIZARD OF OZ

7. THE GRADUATE*

8. ON THE WATERFRONT*

9. SCHINDLER'S LIST

10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE*

12. SUNSET BLVD.

13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

14. SOME LIKE IT HOT-

15. STAR WARS

16. ALL ABOUT EVE-

17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN

18. PSYCHO

19. CHINATOWN*

20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST*

21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH

22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY*

23. THE MALTESE FALCON*

24. RAGING BULL*

25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL

26. DR. STRANGELOVE*

27. BONNIE AND CLYDE*

28. APOCALYPSE NOW

29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE

31. ANNIE HALL*

32. THE GODFATHER PART II

33. HIGH NOON

34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD*

35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT

36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY*

37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY

39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO*

40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST*

41. WEST SIDE STORY

42. REAR WINDOW

43. KING KONG (1933 version)

44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION

45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE*

46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE*

47. TAXI DRIVER*

48. JAWS

49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID*

51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

53. AMADEUS

54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC

56. M*A*S*H**

57. THE THIRD MAN*

58. FANTASIA

59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE

60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

61. VERTIGO

62. TOOTSIE

63. STAGECOACH

64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND*

65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

66. NETWORK*

67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE*

68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

69. SHANE*

70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION*

71. FORREST GUMP

72. BEN-HUR*

73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS

74. THE GOLD RUSH

75. DANCES WITH WOLVES

76. CITY LIGHTS

77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI*

78. ROCKY

79. THE DEER HUNTER*

80. THE WILD BUNCH

81. MODERN TIMES

82. GIANT

83. PLATOON*

84. FARGO

85. DUCK SOUP

86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY

87. FRANKENSTEIN*

88. EASY RIDER*

89. PATTON

90. THE JAZZ SINGER*

91. MY FAIR LADY-

92. A PLACE IN THE SUN

93. THE APARTMENT*

94. GOODFELLAS

95. PULP FICTION

96. THE SEARCHERS*

97. BRINGING UP BABY-

98. UNFORGIVEN

99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER*

100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY

This week, we knocked three off the list.

The African Queen: Neither of us had seen this is a 1951 movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. She's a missionary in the Congo and he's a crusty boat captain during World War I. A lot funnier than I had expected, with some funny interplay and a story about the two of them forced to survive on a riverboat in Africa.

North by Northwest: The wife hadn't seen this Hitchcock classic. Starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint (as well as an uber-young Martin Landau), it's about a businessman who gets mistakenly confused as a spy. This movie has the famous crop-dusting chase scene as well as the climactic scene on Mount Rushmore. As Hitchcock movies go, I'm still always going to consider Rear Window my favorite, because it's just an awesome, tense movie and features probably the hottest woman ever with one of the best 'hot woman enters the scene' moments, Grace Kelly.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?: Another the wife had not seen, this one stars Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier. Sidney meets a nice girl in Hawaii and they decide to get married, so she brings him home to meet the folks. He's black, she's white, and interracial marriage is illegal in 17 states so everyone is in a panic except the happy couple. Tracy died two weeks after filming the movie ended, so at least in his last speech in the film is a damn good one.

My Paper Challenge: April and May Edition

I have slacked off on reporting the continuing results of my paper challenge, but at least I didn't slack off on actually collecting the paper and weighing it. So now you are getting two months' worth in one post.

April's count was 3.58 pounds.
May's count was 3.88 pounds.

Seems like I am starting to get a handle on all this paper. If I can keep it under 4 pounds per month, that is on track to best the national average of 41 pounds of junk mail per year, because more than 50% of the paper I am recycling is not junk mail. After getting rid of a majority of my junk mail, now more than half of my paper weight comes from efforts to find paper to recycle from bills and other press releases I get from game companies and such. I am recycling more than 41 pounds of paper per year, and that is way better than it just be junk delivered to my house that I don't want. I think it may be time to start expanding my paper challenge outreach to others besides myself. My first two tasks will be my mom (and why note, she just looooooves it when I pick on her) and, oddly enough, my wife.

You see, my wife has only partially embraced my green obsession. Yes, she definitely is on board for the most part, but there are times when I see her (without meaning to) toss paper and recyclable materials into the trash can and then watch me fish them out later. It drives me nuts. I thought being a good example in the household would convert her, but instead it's like she's regressing. Some shock therapy might be in order. Or maybe I have to buy her dinner or get her some flowers. Hell, I don't know, she's a woman.

So instead of spending my time trying to convert some of my friends, I now am going to have to buckle down and get the wife full engaged on the issue. Of course, she fears that we're going to become like some of these people whose only next step is to kill each other. I think we can do this without the divorce, but thanks for the confidence-builder, honey.

My Paper Challenge: March Results

Months ago I gave myself a challenge: Collect all the recyclable paper I received and weigh it to determine how much of an impact my paper consumption was affecting the environment. That makes it sound like a daunting task, but it's not considering I can't really scientifically say how my paper consumption screw over Mother Earth. But I was determined to find out anyhow, and see what I could do to trim it back as a matter of making a difference.

I first did this test in December, and the results were mixed. I had churned through nearly 8.5 pounds of paper. I was hoping that this was high, since December is a huge month for video game deliveries, press releases and advertisements for the holidays. I decided that since it was a (theoretically) heavy month, I needed to see what some other typical months were like to get some better statistics.

So I started back up again in March. I collected as much as I could remember to, and I think I did a good job, but I will post later about a rather disappointing realization that hindered or skewed my efforts. Anyhow, without further ado, my March weight in recyclable paper ... 4.76 pounds.

OK, three months later I nearly halved my paper intake. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself. I've definitely been more vigilant about harping on game companies to not bother with the press releases in the packages they send (I get 4 other versions of them through e-mail, so I get the info already). Now it's just a matter of continuing this study and seeing how wildly up or down December and March were. I've already started for April, so you'll hear back about this soon enough.

My Paper Challenge: Solutions

I'm about to restart my paper challenge. Going to hold on to another month's worth of recyclable white paper, newspaper, magazines and stuff so I can see how I am doing in reducing my consumption and impact.

Before March gets here, I am going to give you all some solutions I have used to help cut things down. They are simple, super low cost and, in the best American way, do most of the work for you. This way, you can continue being lazy. Like me.

Last year I subscribed to a service called GreenDimes. They have since changed their name to MailStopper, but that name actually best describes what they do. For $20 a year, they help you maintain a database of all the junk mail you get and help eliminate it for you. Sending e-mails, letters and phone calls to remove you from lists. It's a hugely beneficial service, and I have been pleasantly pleased with how little mail I get now. And $20 is nothing and the return is fantastic. Just passing along some statistics, here are some numbers they have posted:

343,011 members thus far
1,368,524 trees planted (they automatically plant 5 trees in a forest preserve in the midwest and northwest just for joining)
2,836,230 catalogs have stopped arriving in mailboxes
19,463,690 pounds of junk mail have been stopped

It takes about 90 days for the catalogs and mail to noticeably begin to decline. I'm a big supporter and if you want an easy way to cut out the garbage that is just a waste and you're throwing away already, it makes a difference.

Another service along the same lines is available at 41pounds.org. I am not familiar with this one, but a couple friends have mentioned it. Either way, make a difference and go for it. If someone has any questions about how this stuff works, let me know. But it's really quite simple, and making things easy helps get everyone to take that first (or 11th) step toward do-gooderness.

My Paper Challenge: Results

Yeah, so I am a couple months' late turning in this report. If you missed out, you can read up what this project was all about here. But put simply, I saved an entire month's worth of paper that could be recycled so that I could see how much of an impact I was making in my efforts to go green.

I did this back in December, and I'll admit that I did it then because it was a busy month for gaming companies to send me stuff and Christmas cards and all that jazz.

It took me awhile to actually find the time to weigh it, since I didn't have a scale at home and had to lug it all to work and weigh it on a postage scale we have. The weight results: 8.36 pounds.

I went through nearly 8.5 pounds of paper in one month. For you math idiots (like me) out there, that comes out to just over 100 pounds in a year, assuming I sustained that each month. But now comes the point when I have to dig through it all and find out where I can cut down on some of the usage. Are there bills I still get that I can go paperless on? Am I still getting credit card solicitations that should have been cut out by taking my name off the mailing lists? Who are the bad seeds that are cluttering my life that I don't need.

Not sure how low I can get it, but I am interested in the journey, and any amount of paper cut out can't hurt. I'll post some solutions I have used and heard of soon to help you all out as well. Also, I think I'm gonna make this a year-long challenge. I'm going to start in March and do a monthly tally, because I do realize that one month does not make this an entirely scientific study. And you know me, I'm all about science.

My Paper Challenge: My Fault

So I had a massively busy final day at work and did not get a chance to do my final weigh-in and examination of all the paper and such that I have been saving up as part of my one-month challenge. I had hoped to dissect the whole experience over the holiday break, but now it's gonna have to wait until I get back to DC. But don't worry, I'm not forgetting about you all, who are anxiously awaiting the breakdown. All three of you. But you are the few but faithful.

My Paper Challenge: Video Games

So I'm about two weeks away from the end of my paper challenge. If you missed the original post, here it is. Anyway, as part of the project, I said I would give updates on how things were going.

One of the biggest paper contributors in this challenge thus far has been the video game companies that send me their games to review. That picture on the right is no joke. That is my mail nearly every day. Inside each of the 6-8 packages is a bunch of stapled press releases that mean absolutely nothing to me. It's breakdowns of what makes the game so "fun" and a "must review" kind of title. As if that is really going to sway me. About 85% of the time, I can tell upon opening the package whether its a game I am going to review or not.

Not that I am a dick about what I review. But when I get six games a day, and only review three a week, the math is against me and the game companies at every turn. Seeing all this worthless paper included in the packages just doesn't make any sense. If other reviewers are persuaded by this stuff, then I don't know what to tell you. The amount of paper these companies could save by skipping these included press sheets is staggering. Plus, you must remember that I get all the EXACT same info through the companies, whose reps e-mail me nonstop, which makes more sense than printing it all out.

Besides griping about it here, I have started making inquiries to the PR reps about not including the paper in mailings anymore. We'll see what comes of it. Maybe it's the start of getting changes made.