The best thing about making a list

Is crossing things off of it. (That is, assuming it is a "to-do" or "to-see" or "to-read" or "to-hear" or "to-write".... I think you get it, right? If it's a list of things that ought to be crossed off, a wish-list, or a checklist, the best part is...

Crossing things off of it.

So here's a list of the movies nominated for Oscars this year:

1. Avatar (Best Picture, Directing, Cinematography, Art direction, Film editing, Original score, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects)
2. The Blind Side (Best picture, actress in a lead role)
3. District 9 (Best picture, film editing, visual effects, adapted screenplay)
4. An Education (Best picture, actress in a lead role, adapted screenplay)
5. The Hurt Locker (Best picture, actor in a lead role, cinematography, directing, film editing, original score, sound editing, sound mixing, original screenplay)
6. Inglorious Basterds (Best picture, actor in a supporting role, Cinematography, directing, film editing, sound editing, sound mixing, original screenplay)
7. Precious (Best picture, actress in a lead role, actress in a supporting role, directing, film editing, adapted screenplay)
8. A Serious Man (Best picture, original screenplay)
9. Up In The Air (Best picture, actor in a lead role, actress in a supporting role - twice, directing, adapted screenplay)
10. Up (Best picture, animated feature film, original score, sound editing, original score)
11. The Last Station (Actor in a supporting role, actress in a lead role)
12. Julie and Julia (Actress in a lead role)
13. A Single Man (Actor in a lead role)
14. Invictus (Actor in a lead role, actor in a supporting role)
15. Nine (Actress in a supporting role, art direction, costume design, original song)
16. Crazy Heart (Actor in a lead role, actress in a supporting role, original song)
17. The Messenger (Actor in a supporting role, original screenplay)
18. The Lovely Bones (Actor in a supporting role)
19. In The Loop (Adapted screenplay)
20. Coraline (Animated feature film)
21. Fantastic Mr Fox (Animated feature film, original score)
22. The Princess and the Frog (Animated feature film, original song - twice)
23. The Secret of Kells (Animated feature film)
24. Ajami (Foreign language film)
25. The Milk of Sorrow (Foreign language film)
26. Un Prophete (Foreign language film)
27. El Secreto De Sus Ojos (Foreign language film)
28. The White Ribbon (Foreign language film, cinematography)
29. Burma VJ (Documentary feature)
30. The Cove (Documentary feature)
31. Food, Inc (Documentary feature)
32. The Most Dangerous Man In America (Documentary feature)
33. Which Way Home (Documentary feature)
34. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Art direction, costume design)
35. Sherlock Holmes (Art direction, original score)
36. Young Victoria (Art direction, costume design, makeup)
37. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Cinematography)
38. Bright Star (Costume design)
39. Coco Avant Chanel (Costume design)
40. Il Divo (Makeup)
41. Star Trek (Makeup, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects)
42. Paris 36 (Original song)
43. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (Sound mixing)
44. "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province" (Documentary short)
45. "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner" (Documentary short)
46. "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant" (Documentary short)
47. "Music By Prudence" (Documentary short)
48. "Rabbit A La Berlin" (Documentary short)
49. "French Roast" (Short film - animated)
50. "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" (Short film - animated)
51. "The Lady and the Reaper" (Short film - animated)
52. "Logorama" (Short film - animated)
53. "A Matter of Loaf and Death" (Short film - animated)
54. "The Door" (Short film - live action)
55. "Instead of Abracadabra" (Short film - live action)
56. "Kari" (Short film - live action)
57. "Miracle Fish" (Short film - live action)
58. "The New Tenants" (Short film - live action)

It's like a pre-fab "To-Watch" list. No thought necessary, just movies that possess some remarkable quality, even if it's just a performance worth seeing or sound editing that is really, well, out of this world. (Susannah might have just groaned, but I don't care.) So if you look at this list as a "To-Watch" list, then what could I cross off immediately?

Well...

1. Avatar
2. Precious
3. Up In The Air
4. A Single Man
5. Nine
6. Crazy Heart
7. The Lovely Bones
8. Coraline
9. Sherlock Holmes
10. Young Victoria
11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (uh, duh)

That's, oh, eleven of the forty-three feature length movies nominated and zero of the fifteen short films. But that's eleven instances of instant gratification. In the meantime, then, I had thirty-two films to see before March 7th. (Lists have to have a deadline. "Before I die" for the bucket lists that people make. "To-Read" lists usually get deadlines of "Before my paper is due." etc. This list has Oscar Sunday as a natural endpoint. Success or failure will be determined by whether or not I make my movie-watching deadline.)

Let's see what else I have managed to cross off that list.

1. The Blind Side
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Julie and Julia
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. Star Trek

That is six of thirty-two movies to watch by March 7th, which means I have twenty-six feature length films to watch in twenty-four days. Which, really, if you think about it, isn't that daunting. The only problems I foresee? Movies not yet on DVD, but out of theaters? Foreign films not yet released in America, or at least my part of America? Running out of money? All legitimate concerns, I suppose. But I'm not going to think about that right now, because I'm on a high. I'm still going to say that I can do this, and I'm going to believe myself.

Because it's worth it. I'll keep you updated. Also, I really hope they let Ryan Bingham get on stage and sing his song. And I hope he wears his cowboy hat. Because he was a really good concert and he may be shy in interviews, but the boy knows how to work a stage.