Don't try this at home

When I first started writing film reviews I didn't have access to advance screenings, so moviegoing marathons ruled my Fridays or Saturdays. (It depended on which day I had to be at work.) Seeing three or four in a day was not unusual, and a return trip the following day wasn't out of the question. Eventually I found out how to attend the press and promo screenings. I still saw a film or two on the weekend, but I viewed the majority during the week. To conserve time and fuel I've gone back to the old model this year. I'd even been cutting out some of the films I knew would not be worth my time.

This has been a mostly smart change, but with nearly thirty films opening in commercial release here in the last three weeks, playing catch-up and sampling the goods (for deciding what to review on the show) has chewed up a lot of recent weekend hours. I saw three films yesterday--all duds--and three more today. Tomorrow brings one more. (Good thing I went to the promo for Flash of Genius last week, I guess.)

As I left the theater around 4:15 this afternoon, I shook my head and wondered how I used to do this every week. (And yes, I know I've thrown down more films in one day than I did over both of these, but that's the film fest exception.) Granted, I didn't see much I liked, but that's almost beside the point when you're a critic. Knitting has been good at slowing me down and reminding me to take a breather. A case like this weekend provides a shining example.

After seeing Blindness I'll park myself at home in observance of the lessons knitting has taught me. I'm tempted to trek to Ohio State to see Bruce Springsteen play at a rally for Obama, but I went to a similar event four years ago. Lots of standing around and waiting. More importantly, though, I have a sock that needs finishing. I won't be doing that if I'm hanging around The Oval for the better part of the afternoon and early evening.