2024-10-17
(This is entry 15 of #100DaysToOffload)
I'm mulling over setting up a watch list again. I had one back when I used to watch anime, but I really never respected it. I would just go through the new shows each quarter and go, 'eh, this looks decent' and chuck it on the watchlist. The end result was a huge great list of things that I didn't really want to see particularly because they had meaning, or were historic, but rather because I had trawled through everything new and wanted to add things on I could watch.
But when it came time round to actually watching something, I would either have to then re-trawl through my watchlist to find something that actually looked decent, or just watch something else altogether. In other words, there was no respect for the watchlist; it was more just a place for me to chuck whatever as a mental note not to forget that it looked moderately decent.
So, if I have a watch list again (or, because my choice of media is more varied, more like a 'consume list', or an 'engage list': it will have not just movies and series, but also books and whatever else) then I think I should try to keep it pure. Only add things I really would value to watch, or think 'oh, I really wish I would have seen that by now'. So for instance, in terms of anime (that I used to watch), that would be the few things that I want to see before I stop watching anime altogether. Evangelion, or, all the Ghibli movies, or Mushishi, that sort of thing that I really do want to see. Not just whatever new anime pops in each new season.
Likewise, in terms of reading, this would be important books, like the Jane Austens or Brontes, not just any old book I happen to stumble across, or every single book on my bookshelf.
Then, the list remains small, and manageable. And that's important, because I really do want to engage in it, otherwise I wouldn't do it, right?
The power of a list, and the folly of a cluttered list, in short.