Organizing Life

I’ve been on sort of a kick the past many months to organize my life, trying to get stuff done more quickly and help kick my lifelong habit of procrastination, laziness, and general lack of any organization.

I’ve always enjoyed organizing things, which is weird because it doesn’t really seem like it would fit my personality. But I am the type that will organize, arrange, and re-organize my DVD collection over and over again. When I was a teenager I spent many hours organizing Magic cards, Star Wars cards, CDs, tapes, and more plus I would always buy backpacks and stuff with a ton of pockets so that I could organize which would go in what pocket and all that. I’m a little obsessive under the surface.

Several months ago I triple-booked myself for 3 different things one Sunday morning, I knew it was time to start being more organized with my schedule. First I bought a day planner at Target, which worked for about 2 days. I found myself really enjoying filling out all these little pages of information but the thing was just too large and cumbersome to carry around with me so it was never around when I needed to write down a date.

Then I thought a PDA would be the cure-all for me, so I decided on a model (HP iPaq rx3115) and started to save up a few hundred to get it. In my “let’s save money” phase I was casually researching pda stuff and happened upon the mention of a Moleskine notebook, which I quickly found a deep affinity for (as you will likely see in future postings) as a way to write down thoughts and ideas on the go.

I finally saved up enough to buy my PDA and it was great, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the included PIMs (Personal Information Management software) so I purchased a software upgrade, which worked perfect. Unfortunately, then I had to carry around a PDA, Moleskine, Fisher Space Pen (for the moleskine), iPod, lighter, cell phone, keys, and wallet. So now I’ve eliminated the PDA (probably to sell on eBay eventually) and I’m attempting to do all of my day planning with a combination of my Moleskine and another productivity piece I use - my Backpack which lets me set up reminders that will call my cell phone at specified times and gives me a nice place to plan out blog ideas.

I wonder where this obsession with organization comes from? I get this idea that I could be doing so much more of something else if I could just figure out the quick easy way to do what I already have to. I think I’m getting more organized - but I don’t know if I’m getting any more done.

-----

Commercials

Here are a couple of great commercials I ran into over the last couple of days. Why don’t I ever see commercials this good on the actual television?

Rexona - Stunt City

SeV iPod

-----

The Machinist

4 (out of 4) Fantastic, Christian Bale is quickly becoming a new favorite actor.  He lost something like 90 pounds for this role and, it’s disgustingly obvious in his skeleton form. In the vein of Memento, The Machinist has you guessing and working out in your mind all the way up til the end of the film, and begs to be watched again once the conclusion is revealed.  Cinematography is fantastic, and there is plenty of brain-candy to keep you thinking and theorizing.

-----

White Noise

0 (out of 4) Michael Keaton’s not-so-triumphant return. This is your generic “The Ring” leftover that tries too hard to be clever when it isn’t. The ending was pointless - it eluded to something mysterious, but I just didn’t care to guess what it was.

-----

The United States Of Leland

2 (out of 4) An interesting movie with an indie appeal to it. I really cared for the characters and almost wished I could find out more about them, especially the central family. A little too preachy but all in all a pretty decent movie.

-----

War Of The Worlds

2 (out of 4) Acting and special effects were fantastic, although I grew weary of Dakota Fannings medoicre screams. See this in the theater if you can, the carnage is massive and definitely enjoyable.  The ending felt very rushed and I left the theater hearing the murmurs of “So wait, did this happen or was it that other thing.  And was it related to this?”

-----

Some Like It Hot

1 (out of 4) Part of the problem I had enjoying this movie is that, it just isn’t funny anymore.  The humor is very outdated and feels that way.  The biggest problem I had with this movie though, is that Jack Lemmon was easily the most likable character on screen, but unfortunately he was about the only one I enjoyed. Tony Curtis just annoyed me, his “rich guy” and “Josephine” impersonations felt like something off of a Gilligan’s Island episode, in other words - complete cheese. I don’t know if there’s some great history behind this movie that has it so acclaimed, but for me the only thing that keeps this from a zero is that laughs brought on by Jack Lemmon. That and blood Type-O.

-----

The Station Agent

3 (out of 4) About a midget, er… dwarf. An odd little story about Fin, a dwarf who inherits a train station in a small town. I’ve been talking about liking characters in movies a lot lately, but this is another film here the characters definitely make this worth the watch.

-----

The Triplets Of Belleville

3 (out of 4) One of the most original animated features I’ve seen in a while. I would liken this to Spirited Away for all of it’s very bizarre but creative elements… although I felt Triplets to be more entertaining - and not to mention hilarious at parts. Although it’s short and the plot is about as complex as an 8-page children’s book, this is a must-see just for the originality and humor.

-----

Primer

2 (out of 4) A very short, bizarre, and hard to understand film - definitely not for your average movie watcher. But part of the thrill of this movie is that the characters themselves are struggling to understand what’s happening right along with you as they try to figure out what it is that they have created. At 73 minutes it’s a short ride, but a very original and intrigueing one that explores some of the complications of short time travel in a similiar vein of Memento or Pi.

-----