1st priciples

I came to a realization this weekend. I haven't been going to the movies enough. It's been easy, really, over the last year or so, to just stop being motivated to go. I've even seen it happen to some of my best friends, people who I thought were as appreciative of filmmaking as I am. They just... drop away. When you can't get your buddy out to see Star Wars, you know you won't get him out for anything at all. I'm not that interested in falling into that trap. And it is a trap. Here's what keeps me away from the movies:

1) They just aren't as good as they used to be.
2) I'm too busy/tired to get up the energy to go, besides Leah will be stuck with Max if I go out.
3) There's lots of DVD stuff I still need to watch

These are all completely valid reasons. Not. Here's what I need to keep reminding myself.

1) Movies are just as good, if not better than they have ever been. Every age and generation of this stuff has had its share of greatness, and its full share of supercrap. We just think the old stuff was way better, either because we grew up with it or because we selectively filter and simply don't remember all the crap we've seen.

2) I may be tired and busy, but I'm not nearly as tired or busy as I was before the breathing machine kicked in, and the thing I keep forgetting is that I don't get tired watching a good movie, I get energized. I have come out of great cinema exhilarated, ready to go hard at it. If I need to sneak away to a late show here or there and lose a little sleep, so be it.

3) There may be a hundred DVD's sitting up there waiting, but how did they get there? I saw the movies, in a theatre, and it made me love them so much I went out and bought them. But it starts in the theatre.

So I'm not going to let myself fall into an age spiral where I see less and less, do less and less, and just pass out of existence with no involvement in anything. Fuck that to high holy hell, I'm still enjoying myself down here.