12 Things for 2018

As you well know, New Year resolutions rarely hold up after the first month of the year, if that. Instead of making a list of unrealistic goals, I thought I would steal an idea from David Arington over at Helix Reviews. OK, maybe “steal” isn’t the word I want to use. I’m adapting the idea. How’s that? For the past couple of years, David has made a list of things he wants to experience before his next birthday. There are a total of 12 items on the list to represent the 12 months in a year. (Makes sense, right?) None of the things on the list have to be done; this is more of a wish list of movies, television, comics, and maybe even games I’d like to check out by the end of next year. All right. This list is in no particular order, by the way. Enough explaining. Let’s get to it! * Re-watching the MCU * After the release of the Infinity War trailer, someone posted an image stating if you watch one MCU movie every week, you can get them all in before it hits theaters in May. Challenge accepted. The bonus challenge is watching them all with my wife. She’s missed most of them, but is extremely excited for Infinity War. (She’s great, isn’t she?) * ALIEN Franchise * As a kid I wasn’t allowed to watch horror movies, so I’m making up for lost time now that I’m 30. Alien is a much talked-about franchise, not just in horror, but in science fiction. I’ve watched the first two films and seen Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. The challenge here is to finish the rest of them. Should I throw the Predator films in here, too? * Begin reading a new comic publisher regularly (Valiant, Image, Dynamite, etc) * Over the last year I’ve seen that I am stuck in a rut when it comes to reading comics and I want to break out of it. I find that my collection - physically and digitally - is 85% Marvel and 15% DC. I want to expand my knowledge of publishers and read something outside of the Big Two. What would you suggest that I start with? * American Film Institute Top 100 * I would love to call myself a film buff, but I’m not. I’m a fan of film, but unfortunately since starting the podcast I’ve fallen into primarily watching and anticipating superhero movies. We’re about more than that here! Over the next year I want to begin watching the AFI Top 100 movies. I see this as challenge because there are films on here that I probably wouldn’t watch otherwise. I believe this will give me a better grasp and appreciation of the film industry and what it has to offer. As an exception, though, I’m going to skip anything I’ve already seen. (Seems obvious, right?) * Kiss Kiss Bang Bang * For whatever reason, this keeps coming up in various movie lists I find on the internet. I know absolutely nothing about it, so it’ll be a nice surprise for me. It’s streaming on Amazon Video right now, so I’ve decided it has to be a must-watch for me in the coming year. Who doesn’t like Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer, am I right? * The Exorcist * I’m already terrified of Linda Blair even though I haven’t seen this. I’ll save this for a day when I don’t have to sleep for a month. * The Shining * This one is a little of a cheat. I’ve actually watched part of this movie, but never finished it. (I know! Shame!) That’s the challenge in 2018: finish The Shining.