Thursday, September 23, 2021

At the end of 2012, I posted this...


2012: I read 42 books, 365 short stories, 16 plays and 59 movies at a theater. No doubt the short story reading cut at least 5 books off of my usual tally. I actually read more than 365 stories because I didn't finish some of the lousy ones. I doubt I will read a story a day this year because the actual picking out a story every day was time consuming. The movie watching is clearly an expensive hobby for me. But I see at least half of them for $5 at a matinee.Why am I guilty for not reading more books and guilty for seeing too many movies? Goal next year to read at least one book a week. Thirty years ago, I read three books a week.  

This year, I saw three movies at a theater. No plays really unless I count the ones I zoomed from zooming sites. Probably about the same amount of books and far less short stories. In 2012, I took part in an effort to read and report on a short story a day. 

If I had known what was coming in so many ways, I would have seen more plays and movies for sure.

7 comments:

George said...

I feel sorry for the actors and singers who make their living performing for live audiences. Diane and I have attended a couple of plays in 2021, but everyone was masked and had to prove they were vaccinated (I'm all for this, but it's cumbersome).

The streaming services--HULU, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, AMAZON Prime--keep us busy, but I miss the Big Screen for some movies.

I read a lot more books because of the Pandemic!

Jeff Meyerson said...

The last movie we saw in the theater was March 10 or last year, ORDINARY LOVE, which, frankly, I had to look up just now to remind myself what it was about. (Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville are married a long time, she gets breast cancer.) The last time we were in the live theater was longer: November 25, 2019 we saw SCOTLAND, PA off-Broadway with Patti on her visit to New York. It was a musical version of a modern updating of MACBETH. We do have tickets to see two shows in the coming months - TO KILL A MACKINGBIRD and the revival of COMPANY. I suppose we will go back to the movies (maybe, depending on whether they follow Ron DeSantis rules or sensible ones) in Florida this winter. We have gone to one concert (same rules George mentioned above) to see The Eagles, and we have tickets to see The Mavericks twice before we go to Florida.

As for reading, this year has been better. I am trying to read three books a week but dont think I'm close, but I have already read over 675 short stories, mostly in anthologies and single author collections.

To be honest, I don't really miss going to the movies. I am more than happy to watch them on television. I'll let you know how the theater feels once we've been back to it.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Actually, I'm closer than I thought, about 10 books shy of my goal.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I am seeing two local plays over the next month. CLUE and a courtroom drama I am not familiar with. I will have to keep a mask on because they won't require proof of vaccination in Michigan. Our governor is afraid to require anything.

Todd Mason said...

Sorry for the deprivation...I haven't Loved the cinema experience, too often, though the larger screen is good for a variety of things (the chatter of others, the fluctuations of cinema temperature, the prices, and sometimes in art cinemas a tiny screen being among the things it's not good for). Boy, I've had a lot of distractions, over the last decade, and they don't seem to be thinning out. And perhaps I spend too much time with the web, definitely more than I should with video.

Alice fell and wrenched her back yesterday, and managed to step in dog excrement while limping in the front door after driving home. That's the kind of year its been, micro and macro. But you knew that, about the latter.

Todd Mason said...

Among the highlights has been seeing some comedian shows online, most from the comedians' various houses, one or two in slightly more formal settings.

Rick Robinson said...

I haven’t been in a movie theater in years now, can’t even remember the last movie I saw…possibly HUGO in 2011. My reading is down, both in 2020 and this year. I just don’t seem to have energy for it. Because of the pandemic, we don’t have guests and don’t go out to eat or do anything except basic necessity. I probably lead the most boring life imaginable.