PRINCE POPPYCOCK

The Siren staggers back into the room, thoroughly worn out from the holiday rush and traveling to the Pacific Northwest laden with toys and toddlers. She hopes all her patient readers had happy, healthy holidays and are ready for 2009.

Does anyone do New Year's Resolutions anymore? Anyone? Well, the Siren does. She makes them work by trying to pick attainable goals. So, not "I will no longer cuss," but rather, "I will no longer cuss in front of anyone under the age of 10." This year is bringing some changes, including a part-time day job. If I want to continue blogging at my current, medium-regular pace I had better get serious and get organized. Herewith, the Siren's 2009 Cinephile Resolutions, and what prompted each.

1. I will watch more foreign films. I have huge--ridiculously huge--gaps in my foreign-film watching, which was brought home when I was researching which DVDs to buy for my annual Happy Birthday to Me Amazon.com order. I think if I am conscientious, I can see one foreign movie per week, for a total of 52 by the end of the year. To keep myself honest I plan to post as I see them, but I won't be writing full-scale essays on each. The Siren tends to write when the muse raps her over the knuckles, and that doesn't happen for every movie, whether she likes the film or not. Then again, it will feel rather silly to post a string of stars or a sentence like "Awesome flick!" after, for example, I finally get around to seeing Pickpocket. If I don't want to write about the film, perhaps I will just post a still to indicate I watched it. Like this one, which was, indeed, an awesome flick, as I expected:




2. I will watch more silent films. My viewing gaps are not quite as embarrassing for this category, and one per week will be harder, especially if I am keeping up with my foreign-film resolution. So I think one per month will be the minimum goal and if I manage more than that I can always come back and brag about it.

3. I will finally figure out this whole RSS thing so I can keep up with my blog reading.

4. I will go ahead and get the damn Tivo. (No one under 10 just read that, I hope?)

5. I will make more of an effort to stagger outside my Siren lair and venture to the cinema. I will do this, at least occasionally, for new releases. Once there, I will not whine about the inevitable nuisances like over-air-conditioned theaters, the house lights blazing through the opening credits so people can get more junk food, inappropriate laughter or the overgrown person in front of me who refuses to slouch.

All right, let's hear your resolutions, or guffaws at mine. And once again, Happy 2009!

(Top picture from It'll Take the Snap Out of Your Garters!)