Be Mine: A Look Back at Project Valentine

3/01/2011

Another viewing project completed!  Before I get to my closing thoughts, here's a scorecard of everything I watched this month.

Date
Block
Title
Rating
2/1ClassicGentlemen Prefer Blondes
5
2/2ClassicHis Girl Friday
3
2/3ClassicOn a Clear Day You
Can See Forever
2
2/4ClassicFrom Here to Eternity
4
2/5Manic Pixie Dream Girls(500) Days of Summer
5
2/6Manic Pixie Dream GirlsGarden State
3
2/7Manic Pixie Dream GirlsHarold and Maude
1
2/8Manic Pixie Dream GirlsAnnie Hall
4
2/9My Creepy ValentineTwilight
2
2/10My Creepy ValentineNew Moon
3
2/11My Creepy ValentineEclipse
3
2/12My Creepy ValentineWuthering Heights
5
2/13Dude, That's So GayBrokeback Mountain
5
2/14Dude, That's So GayThe Wedding Banquet
4
2/15Dude, That's So GayThe Incredibly True
Adventure of 2 Girls in Love
3
2/16Dude, That's So GayKissing Jessica Stein
5
2/17Ugh, Let's Watch Julia RobertsSomething to Talk About
1
2/18Ugh, Let's Watch Julia RobertsNotting Hill
4
2/19Ugh, Let's Watch Julia RobertsRunaway Bride
1
2/20Ugh, Let's Watch Julia RobertsEat Pray Love
2
2/21SexytimeSecretary
4
2/22SexytimeLast Tango in Paris
4
2/23Sexytime9 1/2 Weeks
2
2/24SexytimeDamage
5
2/25HeavyweightsLove Story
4
2/26HeavyweightsBeauty and the Beast
4
2/27HeavyweightsA Walk to Remember
3
2/28HeavyweightsThe Notebook
5

Like all nerds, I like to see what the numbers tell us.  My top category in terms of ratings, was the Dude, That's So Gay block, with a 4.25.  That was followed closely by Heavyweights (4), and Sexytime (3.75).  A fondness for the gays and kinkiness - why yes, I am a Democrat, why do you ask?

As a sidenote, I saw in yesterday's news that Jane Russell died.  I started out my month watching her in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and ended the month hearing about her passing away.  I feel like there's a certain poetic symmetry in that.  I say this with all possible respect for her memory - she was easily the hottest woman I watched this month.  That's not a light statement, considering that I saw Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Nicole Ari Parker, Kim Basinger, and Taylor Lautner topless this month.

I also saw that An Affair to Remember just became available to watch instantly today, and I probably would have included it in the project had it been available sooner.  Oh well, next year, right?

Now, on to the movies.  As I did with Project Horror, I'm going to leave you with a few recommendations.  My top picks to pass along would be The Notebook, (500) Days of Summer, and The Wedding Banquet.  Under no circumstances should anybody ever watch Runaway Bride, but I suppose I'm several years too late with that recommendation.  Part of the fun with this project was watching movies that I would probably never have bothered with otherwise.  Of course, I'm talking about the Twilight movies here.  You know, they're still not really for me, and I'm probably not ever going to read the books (except as possible future blog fodder...), but I can see the appeal.  I still reject the notion put forth by Twilight and other movies that high school is the best setting for finding love.  Think of the high schoolers you know.  Is there anything more insufferable than listening to them talking about their relationships?  (I'm sorry to any high schoolers who may be reading this.  I'm sure your relationship is different!)

Although it was three days shorter than Project Horror, I actually found Project Valentine to be more of a challenge.  I think there's a couple of reasons for that.  One is just because of what I'm accustomed to watching.  When a horror movie is bad, you can still enjoy it as a Bad Horror Movie.  When a romance is bad, it just eats your soul.  Second was the requirement that I put on myself to find a lesson in each movie.  This proved to be much harder than I had originally thought.  There were days when I took it more seriously than others, but what I found as the month progressed is that some movies just did not apply to my marriage except through a real stretch of the imagination.  Either that, or they all contained very similar lessons and I had to keep thinking of new ways to word them.  The overall lesson ended up not being one I saw in a movie at all, but was rather the result of the watching.  Courtney works nights, so I watched many of these on my own.  On the nights when she was home, we would watch together, side by side on the couch.  My lesson is that I am very fortunate to have a wife who not only puts up with my silly projects, but who I really love spending time with.

To close, thank you very much to everybody who came along for Project Valentine!  I was amazed at the amount of response this one got.  I had friends telling me about showing it to their whole offices.  My sister overheard a couple in a restaurant talking about it.  A woman at the gym who I've never met before told me she'd been reading it!  For an attention seeker like me, this was like heroin.  Getting to do something fun and having so many folks enjoy taking part in it, too, has been a great reward, and I'm thankful to all of you who read my posts.

Stay tuned.  I'm working out the details for a future project to start soon if I can get everything ironed out.  If you're interested in keeping up, please feel free to use that RSS Feed icon, or the e-mail subscription box or Follow button over there on the right side of the screen, and I always welcome comments or messages!

9 comments:

Matt said...

Speaking of high schoolers talking about their love lives, tonight I listened to the old This American Life episode called "My Experimental Phase," which concluded with a grown woman reading her junior high diary for a group of people. Wow. Lubbock was so dull compared to this girl's Miami Beach lifestyle, and I'm actually kind of thankful for that. But it was damn funny.

Courtney said...

1) Yes, you are a huge nerd for your scorecard and the analysis of said scorecard.

2) It was fun getting to watch some of these with you!

3) I'm looking into rehab programs for folks who refer to attention for their blog as heroin.

4) See!! Me working nights has brought yet another positive thing to you: getting to watch a movie every night, without worrying if I want to see it or not.

In all honesty, as much as I picked on you about this, I think it was much more interesting than Project Horror. It was fun reading your feelings about all of the movies, and I have to laugh that the Twilight movies weren't even rated the lowest! You just never know, huh? I'm looking forward to seeing how your next project works out.

Andrea G. said...

Glad to see Courtney's comment! Was very much wondering about her take on this project as it was supposed to add lessons for your marriage.good luck on the next project!

Danny said...

Thank you, Courtney. Since the idea for this one came from you, it was nice to have you onboard. And I'm as surprised as you are about liking some things less than Twilight!

Thank you for putting up with my silliness, and for feeding my addiction by commenting. I love you.

Becca said...

I didn't realize they allowed Democrats in Lubbock! I enjoyed reading this one as well. And I totally get the blog comment/attention as heroin thing. Totally.

Unknown said...

Bravo on another project well done, DH. I'll have you know that the only reason in the world that I have created a Google Friend Account is so I can "officially" follow your blog. (Sorry, Court. Label me an enabler.)

We still need to get that beer...

Danny said...

Thanks, Chad, both for reading and for going to the effort of setting up an account to follow me! You should follow Ali's blog, too, since I know you and Heather are buds with her.

I know. I gave us a 12/31 deadline, and we failed to meet it.

NorthPhxAgent said...

Will sent me here, via a link on faceBook. OMG I thought I was the only person in the ENTIRE world who's ever seen Kissing Jessica Stein. Very excellent movie, although I agree with your analysis (in the actual movie review post) about the somewhat disappointing ending. Thanks for doing this! Courtney, thanks for putting up with the project. Looking forward to the next one...

Danny said...

I'm glad to have you here! I'm going to have to start paying Will a commission for all of the word of mouth he's given my blog.

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